Tag: humor

The Eyes Have It by Philip K. Dick

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

I posted last about Philip K. Dick’s shortest short story back in 2010. I’m reposting it because I’ve made a three page |PDF| to go with it (made from it’s first publication, Science Fiction Stories).

The Eyes Have It, is just a simple story about a literal man and the ridiculous alien invasion he imagines. It’s a silly little piece of fluff. A mere lighthearted thought experiment. Just a fun little story of no real account or import. In fact it’s barely …. wait one second … could it … ? …. what if … ? … HEY! That’s that just what they want you to think!!!

LIBRIVOX - The Eyes Have It by Philip K. DickThe Eyes Have It
By Philip K. Dick; Read by Gregg Margarite
1 |MP3| – Approx. 8 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: March 20, 2010
|ETEXT|
A little whimsy, now and then, makes for good balance. Theoretically, you could find this type of humor anywhere. But only a topflight science-fictionist, we thought, could have written this story, in just this way…. First published in 1953 in Science Fiction Stories #1.

Posted by Jesse Willis

A Beautiful Young Nymph Going To Bed by Jonathan Swift

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio News

A Beautiful Young Nymph Going To Bed is a satiric poem by Jonathan Swift. It was first published in 1731. One Wikipedia editor describes it like this: It features Corinna, “a young woman preparing for bed by deconstructing.” It’s awful, deeply sad, hilarious, and absolutely wonderful. Listen to Tom O’Bedlam’s narration:

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: Mountain Man by Robert E. Howard

Jesse Willis

Aural Noir: Online Audio

Robert E. Howard’s Breckinridge Elkins stories are humorous tall tales about a mighty naive but mighty muscled country boy. This one, the very first, starts off a little like Winnie The Pooh, but fear not, all Howard’s usual themes are in there. There’s a bit of a difference though, even though you’ve got a barbaric he-man battling civilized folk the story differs from a CONAN tale in that it’s set in the then contemporary world (1934) and also because it’s told in first person by an unreliable narrator.

The audiobook’s narrator, RK Wilcox, on the other hand, is a very reliable narrator, as you’ll hear in this solid reading of Mountain Man.

Mountain Man by Robert E. Howard

LibriVoxMountain Man
By Robert E. Howard; Read by RK Wilcox
1 |MP3| – Approx. 35 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: May 25, 2008
|ETEXT|
Introducing the famous Breckinridge Elkins of Hardrock County, suh-the first and foremost What-a-Man of 1934! He was raised on b’ar meat and panther milk – and strong men hunt a hideout when it’s his night to howl! First published in Action Stories, March-April 1934.

Here’s a |PDF| from the original publication in Action Stories.

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: The Man In Asbestos: An Allegory Of The Future by Stephen Leacock

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

LibriVoxThere’s a new great narrator working over on LibriVox and his name is Phil Chenevert.

Now when I say new I mean new-to-me, Chenevert has, apparently, been active on LibriVox since 2010. Since then he’s recorded an impressive number of audiobooks. I only discovered that after hearing his newly released, pitch perfect, reading of The Man In Asbestos: An Allegory Of The Future by Stephen Leacock (which is just one section of THIS audiobook).

You can check out all of his narrations HERE – based on what he’s recorded so far Chenevert seems to have a fondness towards children’s literature with several whole single narration audiobooks of Lewis Carroll, L. Frank Baum, and the Br’er Rabbit stories (which are awesomely accented) as well as a schooling manual (Dr. Montessori’s Own Handbook by Dr. Maria Montessori). But there are a few SF titles in his catalogue too.

LIBRIVOX - The Man In Asbestos by Stephen LeacockThe Man In Asbestos: An Allegory Of The Future
By Stephen Leacock; Read by Phil Chenevert
1 |MP3| – Approx. 27 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: April 16, 2012
A 20th century man travels to the distant future by typical means (eating donuts and reading comics) only to find himself in a museum of the 20th century. The museum’s curator isn’t exacty sure if it’s the year 3000 or not, but he is sure that life is better now that nobody dies, eats, or has a telephone. First published in 1911 as a part of Nonsense Novels.

[Thanks also to April Gonzales!]

Posted by Jesse Willis

Assorted Nonsense: Grownups Read Things They Wrote As Kids

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

Assorted NonsenseCBCer and SF fan Joe Mahoney put up this |MP3| on his blog, Assorted Nonsense. It’s a hilarious Science Fiction story recorded for the event called Grownups Read Things They Wrote As Kids, which was organized by Dan Misener of CBC’s Spark.

Joe wrote the story when he was 12, back in 1977. At that time it was meant to be a serious story. But as it was written when he was a kid it seems a whole lot funnier now.

He describes the whole experience HERE.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Writing Class by Robert Sheckley

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

In a provocative move (for a novice) one of Robert Sheckley’s earliest stories, Writing Class, is 1,000 word wonder about the proper construction of stories. This story came at the beginning of a career that would later produce 250 short stories. It took more than fifty years for it to get reprinted.

The audiobook for it was narrated by our friend William Coon for SFFaudio Challenge #6. Thanks Bill!

Eloquent VoiceWriting Class
By Robert Sheckley; Read by William Coon
1 |MP3| – Approx. 7 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Provider: Eloquent Voice
Recorded: November 13, 2011
Etext: |RTF|
“Never use cliches in describing alien life-forms,” Professor Carner admonished his class. But Eddie persisted—with good reason! First published in Imagination, December 1952.

And here’s the |PDF|!

Imagination December 1952 - Table Of Contents - includes Writing Class by Robert Sheckley

Posted by Jesse Willis