Revisiting The Wood Beyond The World by William Morris

SFFaudio Commentary

I am in error. Mark your calendars folks!

It seems I mis-gendered the very feminine voice of Cori Samuel who has rightfully pointed out my big error on her blog. Cori writes:

Soooo, almost a year after I started working on it, and several months after Mandarine agreed to take on the huge task of editing this lovely-crazy book, ’tis done. The Wood Beyond the World, by William Morris, is available as a LibriVox audiobook.

It’s a great fantasy story, with interesting characters and strange plots, and it was splendid fun to read the pseudo-archaic language, even if I was tearing my hair out over it at times. Annoyingly, I think the archive.org counter has broken again, it still registers only 197 downloads so far, or else no-one’s downloaded it since the first day it was released — which is possible! SFFaudio set the original challenge and gave the book a good mention in their (excellent) recent podcast, but unfortunately, they DID refer to me as a ‘he’ throughout, so perhaps this is one of those books it’s better to read about than to read/hear. Or else they’d gotten confused with the other semi-freely available recording of the book, which can be found at AudioBooksForFree and runs a whole 10 mins longer than mine (a slower pace, not any deficiency of text, I hasten to note!) Read with a lovely British male accent, but only the lowest audioquality is available for free.

Now I could plead that the podcast where I made this gaff was recorded at 5AM before any coffee was imbibed. That, I’m overburdened, overworked, and underpaid (zero is a number). But, the plain truth is, I hadn’t listen to Cori’s recording at that point.

Which was rather shoddy of me.

RECTIFIED!

I’ve now listened to part 1, and am working my way through part 2. This |MP3| ably illustrates Cori’s lovely, lovely, reading.

So, now I entreat any and all to do as I’ve done, and make that 197 number grow. Please, if you would, download, enjoy…

LibriVox Fantasy Audiobook - The Wood Beyond The World by William MorrisThe Wood Beyond the World
By William Morris; Read by Cori Samuel
12 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 5 Hours 20 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: October 9th, 2008
The Wood Beyond The World is a fantasy novel by William Morris, perhaps the first modern fantasy writer to unite an imaginary world with the element of the supernatural, and thus the precursor of much of present-day fantasy literature. His use of archaic language has been seen by some modern readers as making his fiction difficult to read, but brings a wonderful atmosphere to the telling. Morris considered his fantasies a revival of the medieval tradition of chivalrous romances. In consequence, they tend to have sprawling plots of strung-together adventures. In this story, Walter leaves his father and his own unfaithful wife and sets sail in search of adventure. This he finds aplenty, encountering love, treachery and magic in the Wood of the title and travelling through the Mountains of the Folk of the Bears. But can he find happiness and peace by means of this Quest?

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/the-wood-beyond-the-world-by-william-morris.xml

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox Fantasy: A House-Boat On The Styx by John Kendrick Bangs

SFFaudio Online Audio

LibriVoxHere’s a cool title that I’d never heard of before LibriVox catalogued it. It sounds like a fore-runner to Philip Jose Farmer’s Riverworld novels! The author, John Kendrick Bangs, is not a well known name today, but in his time, the late 19th century, he was the go to guy for a kind of weird Fantasy that takes it’s name from the man himself. Bangsian Fantasy, sounds like a combination of Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman and Mur Lafferty to me. Also, check out his short story Ghosts That Have Haunted Me, which was cataloged less that a month ago.

LibriVox Fantasy Audiobook - A House-Boat On The Styx by John Kendrick BangsA House-Boat On The Styx
By John Kendrick Bangs; Read by various
12 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: October 10th, 2008
Everyone who has ever died is in Hades! The novel begins when Charon, the ferryman with a monopoly on the business of transporting the dead across the river Styx, spots a mysterious houseboat on a bank of the Styx, where one’s never been before. There, various historical and mythological figures meet and discuss their lives and life in general.

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/a-house-boat-on-the-styx-by-john-kendrick-bangs.xml

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: Mary Shelley, William Morris and Horace Walpole

SFFaudio Online Audio

LibriVoxA recent flurry of furious audiobook cataloging over the past week on LibriVox.org has resulted in a massive new library of old SFF listens! Here are three old novels, almost ancient in fact. Now before you get too excited, they will be rather difficult listening for beginners – but, for a select few connoisseurs, these are priceless gems.

First up, from the author of the first Science Fiction novel….

LibriVox Science Fiction Audiobook - The Last Man by Mary ShelleyThe Last Man
By Mary Shelley; Read by various
32 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 18 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: October 9th, 2008
The Last Man is an early post-apocalyptic science fiction novel by Mary Shelley, which was first published in 1826. The book tells of a future world that has been ravaged by a plague. The plague gradually kills off all people. Lionel Verney, central character, son of a nobleman who gambled himself into poverty, finds himself immune after being attacked by an infected “negro,” and copes with a civilization that is gradually dying out around him.

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/the-last-man-by-mary-shelley.xml

Next, the first modern Fantasy novel (chosen from our 2nd Annual SFFaudio Challenge and nearly a year in the making) way to go Cori!

LibriVox Fantasy Audiobook - The Wood Beyond The World by William MorrisThe Wood Beyond the World
By William Morris; Read by Cori Samuel
12 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 5 Hours 20 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: October 9th, 2008
The Wood Beyond The World is a fantasy novel by William Morris, perhaps the first modern fantasy writer to unite an imaginary world with the element of the supernatural, and thus the precursor of much of present-day fantasy literature. His use of archaic language has been seen by some modern readers as making his fiction difficult to read, but brings a wonderful atmosphere to the telling. Morris considered his fantasies a revival of the medieval tradition of chivalrous romances. In consequence, they tend to have sprawling plots of strung-together adventures. In this story, Walter leaves his father and his own unfaithful wife and sets sail in search of adventure. This he finds aplenty, encountering love, treachery and magic in the Wood of the title and travelling through the Mountains of the Folk of the Bears. But can he find happiness and peace by means of this Quest?

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/the-wood-beyond-the-world-by-william-morris.xml

And, The forerunner for both, the first gothic novel!

LibriVox Gothic Novel - The Castle Of Otranto by Horace WalpoleThe Castle of Otranto
By Horace Walpole; Read by Great Plains
6 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 4 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: October 6th, 2008
The Castle of Otranto is a 1764 novel by Horace Walpole. It is generally held to be the first gothic novel, initiating a literary genre which would become extremely popular in the later 18th century and early 19th century. Thus, Castle, and Walpole by extension is arguably the forerunner to such authors as Ann Radcliffe, Bram Stoker, Daphne du Maurier, and Stephen King.

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/the-castle-of-otranto-by-horace-walpole.xml

Posted by Jesse Willis

Uvula Audio: Magical Isle of Yew by L. Frank Baum

SFFaudio Online Audio

Uvula AudioJames Campanella, of the Uvula Audio bookcast, writes in with details of his next project – L. Frank Baum’s The Enchanted Isle of Yew. This is a story with “classic storybook-type violence and mild trangendered themes” – which makes it sound awesome. Sez Jim:

“Baum’s book premieres on Friday October 10th and is more fantasy than SF, but it is still amazing. The story follows the travails of Prince Marvel as “he” travels around the legendary Isle of Yew in search of adventures. As usual with Baum stories, he introduced, very early in last century, some ideas that would later pop up in SF some 50 to 80 years later. Among other ideas, Baum lays the groundwork for what would become the main trope of the Paratwa novels by Christopher Hinz. He also introduces the first masochist ever to be found in a children’s book, as far as I know.”

You can subscribe through the podcast feed:

http://www.uvulaaudio.com/kids/Kids.xml

And for folks who haven’t experienced a Jim Campanella read story — you’re really missing out. Check out this recent review of Forgotten Classics |MP3|.

Posted by Jesse Willis

The SFFaudio Podcast #005

Podcast

The SFFaudio PodcastThe SFFaudio Podcast #005 is alive! Recorded at 5 am! By 5 (minus 3) people! We don’t claim to make sense.

Topics discussed include:

A Bite Of Stars, A Slug Of Time And Thou, Samuel R. Delany, Aye, and Gomorrah, arty Science Fiction, Resonance FM, Dangerous Visions, Orhan Pamuk, My Name Is Read, Fantasy, Muhammad, figurative art, movies about Jesus, movies about Buddha,
Paraworld Zero, Matthew Peterson, Audible.com, Audible Frontiers, John Varley, The Persistence Of Vision, Press Enter, Titan, Wizard, Demon, Wonder Audio, The Status Civilization, Robert Sheckley, Mark Douglas Nelson, The Accidental Time Machine, Joe Haldeman, Camouflage, Tobias S. Buckell, Sly Mongoose, Macmillan Audio, Old Man’s War, The Addams Family, Netflix, DVDs, new formats, VHS, Laserdiscs, Apple TV, iPod, Philippa Ballantine (she rented John Carpenter’s The Thing through iTunes), The Office, NBC, Zoe’s Tale, John Scalzi, Paul Williams, LibriVox.org, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Caspak Series, Tantor Audio, John Carter Of Mars, Waiting For A Window, Frederick Greenhalgh, William Dufris, The Grist Mill, The Slasher, F. Paul Wilson, Aural Noir, Joe R. Lansdale, The God Of The Razor, LibriVox’s Ghost Story Collection #006, Robert E. Howard, Gods Of The North, Solomon Kane, Conan, H.G. Wells, The Red Room, Robert Barr, The Man Who Was Not On The Passenger List, Nightfall, CBC, Stephen King, Blood And Smoke, 1408, The Red Room, ghosts, Simon & Schuster Audio, BoingBoing.net, The Ellsberg Paradox, fear, the unknown, Jaws, H.P. Lovecraft, The Statement Of Randolph Carter, Audio Realms, Wayne June.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Radio Drama Revival is Waiting For A Window

SFFaudio Online Audio

Radio Drama RevivalFrederick Greenhalgh of Radio Drama Revival podcast and radio show sez:

“My latest story, “Waiting for a Window,” is at long last up on my podcast. While I welcome people to check out the show on the podcast, I would ESPECIALLY encourage them to buy it on Echo Fiction.”

This FinalRune Productions is an original story of a man waylaid on his way somewhere else, Waiting for a Window stars Bill Dufris (William Dufris), Joe Duley, Charly Duley, Ed Patterson and Philip Hobby. And it features original music by Barb Truex.

Final Rune Productions Radio Drama - Waiting For A Window by Frederick GreenhalghWaiting For A Window
By Frederick Greenhalgh; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 26 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Podcaster: Radio Drama Revival
Podcast: September 26th 2008

Fred gave me a chance to listen to the high quality version. I’d describe it as a richly atmospheric and rather nautical version of Waiting For Godot. Or perhaps as a sailor’s version of The Prisoner. But, it’s not so much scary as it is comforting. A tall tale of the sea and a fine sounding audio drama.

Posted by Jesse Willis