Tag: Jules Verne

LibriVox: Doctor Ox’s Experiment by Jules Verne

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

LibriVoxHere’s a new audiobook from LibriVox that I am eager to hear. Eric S. Rabkin, who we had as a guest on the SFFaudio Podcast last year, had some fascinating insights about this story in his Teaching Company lecture series Masterpieces of the Imaginative Mind: Literature’s Most Fantastic Works. The narrator for the LibriVox audiobook version is Alan Winterrowd. He’s a blogger and podcaster (he started the Penny Dreadful Podcasts in March 2009).

LIBRIVOX - Dr. Ox's Experiment by Jules VerneDoctor Ox’s Experiment
By Jules Verne; Read by Alan Winterrowd
5 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 2 Hours 13 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: January 24, 2010
An early, light-hearted short story, published in 1872 by Jules Verne. It takes place in the Flemish town of Quiquendone, where life moves at an extraordinarily tranquil pace. Doctor Ox has offered to light the town with a new gas, but actually has other plans in place.

Podcast feed: http://librivox.org/rss/3562

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

[Thanks also to Elli and David Lawrence]

Posted by Jesse Willis

The SFFaudio Podcast #044 – TALK TO: Professor Eric S. Rabkin

Podcast

The SFFaudio PodcastThe SFFaudio Podcast #044 – Jesse and Scott are joined by Professor Eric S. Rabkin of the University Of Michigan to discuss fairy tales, fantastic literature and Science Fiction.

Talked about on today’s show:
Department Of English Language And Literature @ the University Of Michigan, the Winter 2010 semester: English 342 Science Fiction, English 418/549 Graphic Narrative, hey sign us up!, The Teaching Company, Science Fiction: The Literature Of The Technological Imagination |READ OUR REVIEW|, Masterpieces of the Imaginative Mind: Literature’s Most Fantastic Works, Franz Kafka, H.G. Wells, Edgar Allan Poe, Science Fiction (the most important literature for adults), I, Robot by Isaac Asimov |READ OUR REVIEW|, Brothers Grimm, fairy tales, Neuromancer by William Gibson |READ OUR REVIEW|, Asimov’s three laws of robotics, the conversation that is Science Fiction, humans are pattern seeking animals, Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein |READ OUR REVIEW|, The Forever War by Joe Haldeman |READ OUR REVIEW|, Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card |READ OUR REVIEW|, the ansible, Armor by John Steakley, Old Man’s War by John Scalzi |READ OUR REVIEW|, Gundam, The Ship Who Sang by Anne McCaffrey, Science Fiction as a form of children’s literature, Thomas Disch, Camp Concentration, 334, Kurt Vonnegut, The Plot Against America by Philip Roth, alternate history, Hugo Gernsback, pulp literature, paperback originals, adolescent power fantasies, Frank Reade and His Steam Man of the Plains by Noname, Ralph 124C 41+ by Hugo Gernsback, pushing science education through Science Fiction, The Time Machine by H.G. Wells |READ OUR REVIEW|, The Facts In The Case Of M. Valdemar by Edgar Allan Poe, From The Earth To The Moon by Jules Verne, Henry James and H.G. Wells in conversation over the future of fiction, The Portrait Of A Lady by Henry James, WWII, the societal effect of the G.I. Bill, tracking an author’s intentions, powerful fiction becomes classic?, Ted Chiang, Blankets by Craig Thompson, has Science Fiction crossed a certain cultural Rubicon?, Momento, Blindness by José Saramago, Briefing for a Descent into Hell by Doris Lessig, Galatea 2.2 by Richard Powers, has our culture become “fully Science Fictionized”?, does SF history begin with Frankenstein and end with Neuromancer?, Alan Moore, Watchmen, The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, pattern recognition, allusion (and literary allusion).

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea by Jules Verne

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

Listening For The League's Gentlemen At LibriVoxThis is the 4th in a series of post examining the LibriVox audiobooks that feature characters found in Alan Moore’s The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Moore suffused his pastiche of superhero superteams by stuffing his original narrative with dozens of literary characters. Here is another of the freely available audiobooks (at LibriVox.org) that features one of the main characters: Captain Nemo, the antagonist behind the mysterious ocean appearances of a giant sea monster, is the hero/villain of Jules Verne’s planetary spanning Science Fiction novel 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea.

LibriVox - 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea by Jules VerneTwenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
By Jules Verne; Translated by F.P. Walter; Read by various
47 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 16 Hours 30 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: March 10, 2007
Captain Nemo, The Nautilus, and the mysterious depths of the ocean. Unforgettable. Come join an adventure that will roam among coral and pearls, sharks and giant squid, with wonders of biology and engineering that will thrust us from the Antarctic to Atlantis. Whether voyaging a yarn of the glorious unknown, a tale of the darkness that grips the heart of men, or a reinterpretation of Homer’s Odyssey, we’ll all enjoy the fantastic trip. Seasickness optional.

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/twenty-thousand-leagues-under-the-sea-by-jules-verne.xml

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

Posted by Jesse Willis

New Releases: The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica

Jesse Willis

New Releases

Simon & Schuster Audio is publicizing the fourth book in a series of novels for “Young Readers” that may interest just about any reader of any age. Here, There Be Dragons is the first book in James A. Owen’s “The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica” series which is a “grand fantasy adventure that tells the story of four travelers — who happen to be C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, and H.G. Wells — as they travel through lands that may be familiar to readers of myths, legends, and fantasy literature.”

The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica

Here’s the book trailer for the third book in the series:

The trailer has me wondering if Jules Verne ever wrote a story with a time machine in it. That’s gotta be the H.G. Wells time machine right? Right?!?

Posted by Jesse Willis

FREE @ Audible.com: 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea [IN SPANISH]

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

S’il vous plaît excusez-moi. Je ne parle pas bien le français. En fait, je suce à elle. Mais j’ai encore moins en espagnol. Mais je veux encore parler de ce drame audio. C’est une version GRATUITE de 20,000 Leagues Audio Drama Jule Verne Under The Sea est disponible à l’Audible.com – en espagnol. Confus? Oui, moi aussi.

Fono Libro - 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea [IN SPANISH]20 Mil Leguas Viaje Submarino [20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in Spanish]
Based on the novel by Jules Verne; Performed by a full cast
FREE Audible Download – Approx. 1 Hour 40 Minutes [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: FonoLibro Inc.
Published: 2007
Provider: Audible.com
FonoLibro se enorgullece en presentar el audiolibro en español 20,000 Leguas de Viaje Submarino de Julio Verne considerada la primera y mejor novela de ciencia ficción de la literatura universal. Era el año 1866, y el océano pacifico estaba aterrorizado por monstruo marino. El gobierno americano envía a bordo del buque de guerra Abraham Lincoln al especialista en vida marina Pierre Aronnax a que investigue este hecho. Cuando esta nave es hundida por esta misteriosa criatura, el Profesor Aronnax y otros dos supervivientes descubren que no era un monstruo, sino un maravilloso submarino, el Nautilus, comandado por el enigmático Capitán Nemo. Nemo se rehúsa a llevar los sobrevivientes a tierra, sin embargo los lleva a bordo del maravilloso submarino en un fantástico viaje lleno de aventuras, tormentas, monstruos marinos, tesoros, y hasta la fabulosa ciudad perdida de Atlantis. FonoLibro les trae la obra maestra de Julio Verne en una impresionante dramatización, con un elenco completo, maravillosa música y efectos especiales que le harán sentir que esta en el fondo del mar a bordo del Nautilus viviendo esta maravillosa aventura.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Review of Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne

Scott D.

SFFaudio Review

Science Fiction Audiobook - Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules VerneJourney to the Center of the Earth
By Jules Verne; Read by Simon Prebble
7 CDs – 7.5 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2008
ISBN: 9781433243806
Themes: / Science Fiction / Classic / Geology / Dinosaurs /

In listening to Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth, I was struck by how much modern films like Raiders of the Lost Ark and National Treasure owe to this book. Although it was written way back in 1864, while the War Between the States was in full swing and the earth was a very different place, in many ways its thoroughly modern, at home alongside recent sci-fi novels like John Crichton’s Jurassic Park.

In summary, Journey to the Center of the Earth is a fast-paced and lively pseudo science/exploration story that manages to be mostly interesting and entertaining. Unfortunately, it also crosses over into unbelievable territory about three-quarters of the way through and ends with a classic deux-ex-machina, but I found I can live with it.

Journey to the Center of the Earth takes aim at the theory that the earth grows hotter the nearer that you travel to its center. Verne posits the idea that the earth’s core is inhabitable and houses massive cavities, caverns so huge that you cannot see their roof. At its center is a sea large enough that you can travel across its and lose sight of land all around. Science has of course since proven this idea impossible, but it makes for a fun story if you divorce it from reality.

Journey to the Center of Earth has a compelling opening that reminded me of The DaVinci Code–Professor Liedenbrock and his nephew Axel, the heroes of the story, find a coded note written in runes within the pages of an Icelandic saga. They puzzle through it and discover that it is a note written by Arne Saknussemm describing a passage he has found to the center of the earth. The opening is located in the interior of a dormant volcano in Iceland. Liedenbrock and Axel recruit an Icelandic guide and the three men embark on their journey.

I found Verne’s descriptions of overland and sea travel to Iceland interesting, and the first scenes of the descent fascinating. Verne vividly portrays the vast depths and terrifying downward drops of the volcano draft, and creates excitement and dread in two sequences in which Axel gets lost in the inky blackness and the three men nearly die of thirst.

Unfortunately I thought that the tale started to unravel once the men near the earth’s center, which contains ice age creatures, dinosaurs, and even early men. If the story didn’t literally jump a shark it certainly started to lose me once Liedenbrock and Axel’s small boat passes very nearly over an Ichthyosaurus. I was also puzzled with the abrupt ending–Liedenbrock and Axel gain great fame from their expedition, while others treat their claims with skepticism. But, inexplicably, no one ever bothers to re-trace their footsteps and verify their claims.

Still, you could do worse than pass the time by giving it the book a listen. It’s also skillfully read by English-accented, professorial-sounding narrator Simon Prebble.

Posted by Brian Murphy