H. Beam Piper – Page 10

New from Librivox: The Return by H. Beam Piper & John J. McGuire

SFFaudio Online Audio

We love LibriVox and all of their amazing volunteers! Today’s specific love goes out to the shadowy admins that make it possible and to Reynard T. Fox for narrating this 1960 novella! Hip hip huzzah!

Here’s the teaser:

“The isolated little group they found were doing fine— but their religion was most strange—and yet quite logical!”

The Return
By H. Beam Piper and John J. McGuire; Read by Reynard T. Fox
2 MP3 Files – 1 Hour 21 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: November 4th 2007
Two-hundred years after a global nuclear war, two explorers from a research outpost, that largely survived the cataclysm, discover a settlement of humans who have managed to maintain their civilization despite ferocious cannibal neighbours, the Scowrers. However, the explorers must turn detective in order to understand the mystery of their hosts philosophy and religion.

Part 1 |MP3| Part 2 |MP3|

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/the-return.xml

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox short stories galore!

SFFaudio Online Audio

A “few” short hidden gems from Librivox.org. Among their short story collections, now up to number nineteen, are some very good short Fantasy, SF, and Horror stories. These stories run from two and a half minutes to nearly fifty two minutes long. All are good for a short listen between audiobooks.

Bread Overhead
By Fritz Leiber; Read by Cori Samuel
1 |MP3| – Approx. 36 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: October 25th 2007
The Staff of Life suddenly and disconcertingly sprouted wings — and mankind had to eat crow!

The Masque of the Red Death
By Edgar Allan Poe; Read by Juan Carlos Bagnell
1 |MP3| – 16 Minutes
Death comes to visit a prince who is trying to avoid a plague.
Themes: / Horror /

Dracula’s Guest
By Bram Stoker; Read by Dimitri Fotopoulos
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
A prequel to Dracula.
Themes: / Horror /

Ligeia
By Edgar Allan Poe; Read by Peter Yearsley
1 |MP3| – Approx. 47 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
A haunting tale of lost love.
Themes: / Horror /

The Damned Thing
By Ambrose Bierce; Read by Greg Elmensdorp
1 |MP3| – Approx. 21 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
It shall not drive me away. No, this is my house, my land. God hates a coward….
Themes: / Horror /

Facts Concerning The Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family
By H. P. Lovecraft; Read by Smokestack Jones
1 |MP3| – Approx. 22 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
A tale of unusual genealogy.

The Cats of Ulthar
By H.P. Lovecraft; Read by Cow Nose the 50 Pound Cat
1 |MP3| – Approx. 9 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Feline revenge.
Themes: / Horror / Cats /

Charon
By Lord Dunsany; Read by Steven Collins
1 |MP3| – 2 Minutes 30 Seconds [UNABRIDGED]
Themes: / Fantasy /
The ferryman Charon’s last duty.

The Music of Erich Zann
1 |MP3| Approx. 20 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
By H.P. Lovecraft; Read by Smokestack Jones
A college student wonders about the strange music played by an old man.
Themes: / Horror / Music /

In the Year 2889
By Jules Verne; Read by Esther
1 |MP3| – Approx 38 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Verne’s story about life in America a thousand years in the future.
Themes: / Science Fiction /

Crossroads of Destiny
By H. Beam Piper; Read by Trask
1 |MP3| – Approx. 23 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Themes: / Science Fiction /
Parallel universes and a television show.

The Gifts of Asti
By Andre Norton; Read by Mark Nelson
1 |MP3| Approx. 41 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Themes: / Fantasy /
Varta, the last priestess of Asti, lives alone with Lur, a telepath of the lizardfolk, in Asti’s isolated mountain retreat. Decadent Memphir has long since drifted away from the austere paths of Asti, and now the barbarians of Klem are sacking the city, and the smoke of its burning drifts up to the temple.

The Street That Wasn’t There
By Clifford D. Simak and Carl Richard Jacobi; Read by Peter Yearsley
1 |MP3| 36 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Themes: / Science Fiction /
Classic pulp action.
Read by Peter Yearsley

The Hoard of the Gibbelins
By Lord Dunsany; Read by Mark F. Smith
1 |MP3| – Approx. 11 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Themes: / Horror /
The Gibbelins eat, as is well known, nothing less good than man.

A World Is Born
By Leigh Brackett; Read by Rowdy Delaney
1 |MP3| – Approx. 52 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
The first ripples of blue fire touched Dio’s men. Bolts of it fastened on gun-butts, and knuckles. Men screamed and fell.
Themes: / Science Fiction /

Posted by Dave Tackett

Mark Nelson reads Tom Swift and starts a podcast

SFFaudio Online Audio

Amateur narrator extraordinaire Mark Nelson informs us that his latest auditory effort is already a smash hit, with downloads “off the charts.” Who knew that Tom Swift book would have such audiobook appeal? This 1961 novel comes from the 2nd series, following the adventures of Tom Swift’s son, Tom Swift Jr.. Tom Sr. engages in various kinds of research and still does a bit of inventing, which into science-fiction territory. The adventures from this series extend from the center of the Earth to the bottom of the ocean to the moon and, eventually, the outer solar system; with stops along the way at African antimatter volcanoes, lost New Guinea cities, and various wandering asteroids. You can visit this audibook through LibriVox.org or through Mark Nelson’s new podcast! Details follow…

Tom Swift and The Visitor From Planet X
By Victor Appleton II; Read by Mark Nelson
1 Zipped Folder of MP3 Files – 4 Hours 17 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox
Completed: April 2007
“Tom Swift Jr. and his associates at Swift Enterprises wait breathlessly for what may well be the most important scientific event in history—the arrival of the visitor from Planet X—a visitor in the form of energy. But there are factions at work determined to snatch the energy, which Tom has named Exman, from the young scientist-inventor’s grasp. First, a series of unexplainable, devastating earthquakes threaten to destroy a good portion of the earth, and Tom suspects the Brungarian rebels who obviously would like to capture Exman and use the space visitor to further their own evil purposes. With the security of Enterprises and Exman at stake, Tom creates two of his greatest inventions—a Quakelizor to counteract the simulated earth tremors, and a container or ‘body’ to house the energy from outer space. If the earthquakes cannot be stopped, the entire world will be threatened by destruction, and the Brungarian forces will conquer the earth. How Tom utilizes all his scientific knowledge to produce swift-action results and outwit the Brungarians makes one of the most exciting Tom Swift adventures to date.”

The SciPodBooks podcast, is the new podcasting arm of amateur audiobook narrating legend Mark Nelson. Each week a new chapter from one of Mark’s audiobooks will be in the feed. You’ll find readings of tales by such SF legends as H. Beam Piper, Andre Norton, Lafcadio Hearne, and William F. Harvey.

Subscriptions to the feed through this URL:

http://rss.mac.com/marknelson2/iWeb/SciPodBooks/SciPodCast/rss.xml

posted by Jesse Willis

Mark Nelson narrates 3 more SCIENCE FICTION audiobooks

SFFaudio Online Audio

Mark Nelson is my favorite amateur narrator, he’s a terrific reader, his recording environment is dead-silent and he’s reading great stuff at a champion’s pace. I bring this up because Mark has written in to inform me that he’s recorded three new additions for LibriVox‘s library of FREE SCIENCE FICTION AUDIOBOOKS! One of them was even on our SFFaudio Challenge list. Way to go Mark!

Plague Ship by Andre Norton is a complete novel from 1956, originally published under the Norton’s “Andrew North” pseudonym. Also completed are two H. Beam Piper novellettes: Oomphel In The Sky and Omnilingual. Compiled below are the details for each along with some art…

Plague Ship
By Andre Norton; Read by Mark Nelson
18 Zipped MP3s – Approx. 7 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: March 2007
Lured by its exotic gems, the space trader Solar Queen lands on the little-known planet of Sargol, only to find the ruthless Inter-Solar Company there ahead of them. Adapting quickly to the culture of Sargol’s feline inhabitants, the crew of the Queen beat out their rivals and successfully make a deal with the natives. But soon after takeoff, the Queen’s crew is stricken with a plague, and they are now banned from landing on any inhabited planet. Will the Queen’s crew save themselves, or be condemned to drift forever through space?

Oomphel In The Sky
By H. Beam Piper; Read by Mark Nelson
4 Zipped MP3s – Approx. 2 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: March 2007
Natives of the distant planet of Kwannon believe that their world is about to end, and in preparing for the apocalypse, may be unnecessarily bringing about their own demise. The planetary government can’t overcome its own bureaucracy to help them, and the military is overwhelmed. Can a single newsman change the course of a whole people, and save their world.
http://librivox.org/oomphel-in-the-sky-by-h-beam-piper/

Omnilingual
By H. Beam Piper; Read by Mark Nelson
5 Zipped MP3s – Approx. 2 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: March 2007
An expedition to Mars discovers the remains of an advanced civilization, which died out many thousands of years ago. They recovered books and documents left behind, and are puzzled by their contents. Would the team find their “Rosetta Stone” that would allow them to unlock the Martian language, and learn the secrets of this long-dead race?

posted by Jesse Willis

Our 1,000th Post! To celebrate we have another FREE AUDIOBOOK

SFFaudio Online Audio

This Is Our 1,000^th Post!

Mark Nelson, the prolific narrator who has already completed 2 Novels for our Make An Audiobook Challenge has written in to say he’s completed yet another Science Fiction audiobook! This one is the short story collection that he’d told us about back in late January. Mark has assembled, from various public domain H. Beam Piper tales, a collection he’s calling Five Sci-Fi Short Stories by H. Beam Piper . The collection includes:

–The Answer (this one was on our 1st Challenge list – it first appeared in Fantastic Universe Science Fiction, December, 1959)
–Temple Trouble (Astounding Science Fiction, April 1951)
–Police Operation (Astounding Science Fiction, July 1948)
–Flight From Tomorrow (A novelette from the pages of Future combined with Science Fiction Stories magazine, the September/October 1950 issue)
–Graveyard Of Dreams (from Galaxy Magazine‘s February 1958 issue)

Mark also reports that he’s got a story in a multi-contributor short horror collection (it is still going through proofing). Mark’s entry is The Beast With Five Fingers by William F. Harvey.

posted by Jesse Willis

Mark Nelson creates H. Beam Piper Short Story audiobook!

SFFaudio News

Mark Nelson, the prolific narrator who’s leading the pack in our SFFaudio Make An Audiobook Challenge informs me that he’s also got a short story collection in progress!

He’s calling it Five Sci-Fi Short Stories by H. Beam Piper and the collection includes, surprise surprise, 5 Science Fiction short stories by H. Beam Piper:

–The Answer (this one was on our 1st Challenge – it first appeared in Fantastic Universe Science Fiction, December, 1959)
–Temple Trouble (Astounding Science Fiction, April 1951)
–Police Operation (Astounding Science Fiction, July 1948)
–Flight From Tomorrow (A novelette from the pages of Future combined with Science Fiction Stories magazine, the September/October 1950 issue)
–Graveyard Of Dreams (from Galaxy Magazine‘s February 1958 issue)

And as usual I’ve made some art to go with the forthcoming release – oh, and in case you’re wondering who that guy in the reticle is, that’s H. Beam Piper himself:

Five Sci-Fi Short Stories by H. Beam Piper

In a related matter, I’m also going to pull one of the titles from the current challenge: Triplanetary by E.E. “Doc” Smith has been commercially released by Books In Motion. The idea behind the SFFaudio Challenge is to make audiobooks out of public domain books that are not already commercially available. In fairness though, if anyone has already started Triplanetary without claiming it, let me know when you complete it and I’ll do a post up.

posted by Jesse Willis