mars – Page 15 – SFFaudio

The SFFaudio Podcast #049

Podcast

The SFFaudio Podcast #049 – Jesse and Scott talk about recent arrivals, new releases, audiobooks, podcasts and plenty more!

Talked about on today’s show:
SFFaudio.com is 7 years old, So I Married An Axe Murder, San Fransisco, California, Alcatraz, recent arrivals, Brilliance Audio, military SF, Fearless: The Lost Fleet Book 2 by Jack Campbell, space opera, Gene Roddenberry‘s Andromeda, Buck Rogers, Live Free or Die: book 1 in the Troy Rising series by John Ringo, Paperback Digital, Cally’s War by John Ringo and Julie Cochrane |READ OUR REVIEW|, John Ringo can give his books away and sell books too, Time’s Eye: A Time Odyssey Book 1 by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter, it’s not a sequel it’s an “othrquel“, time is orthogonal to space (in relativity theory), Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke, benevolent aliens, malevolent aliens, H.P. Lovecraft, The Eternal Wall by Raymond Z. Gallun, LibriVox, Gregg Margarite, time travel, Blackstone Audio, Identity Theft by Robert J. Sawyer, Mars, consciousness uploading/downloading, Treason by Orson Scott Card, A Planet Called Treason by Orson Scott Card, Stefan Rudnicki, Spider Robinson, Melancholy Elephants by Spider Robinson |READ OUR REVIEW|, copyright, copyfight, the philosophy of art, The Graveyard Book |READ OUR REVIEW|, The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling, Harry Potter, The Dark Is Rising, A Wizard Of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin, ripping off Heinlein is legit when you are Spider Robinson, Friday by Robert A. Heinlein, new releases, Wonder Audio, The Men Return & Worlds Of Origin by Jack Vance, Brilliance Audio, The Songs Of Dying Earth: Stories In Honor Of Jack Vance, Gene Wolfe, The Book Of The New Sun by Gene Wolfe, David D. Levine, Tk’Tk’Tk’ by David D. Levine, The Moon Moth by Jack Vance |READ OUR REVIEW|, Suldrun’s Garden, The Green Pearl, Madouc by Jack Vance, Swimming Kangaroo Books, Need For Magic by Joseph Swope, BBC Audiobooks America, Great Classic Science Fiction: Eight Unabridged Stories, Forgotten Classics podcast talks James Gunn’s The Road To Science Fiction series, paperback book bags, A Game Of Thrones coming to HBO, A Game Of Thrones by George R.R. Martin |READ OUR REVIEW|, Roy Dotrice, John Lee, Shogun (the TV miniseries), FlashForward, Stephen King’s Storm Of The Century, 1408, Scott’s Pick Of The Week: Steve, The First by Matt Watts |READ OUR REVIEW|, @ the CBC store, radio drama, post apocalypse, humor, Canadia: 2056 |READ OUR REVIEW|, The Hitch-hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, Jesse’s Pick Of The Week: The Chronicles Of Solomon Kane, Roy Thomas, Howard Chaykin, Robert E. Howard, The Iliad, Ralph Macchio, Red Shadows by Robert E. Howard, religion, Solomon Kane, The Punisher.

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: Short Science Fiction Collection 029

Wednesday, February 17, 2010Friday, February 12, 2010 Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

Gregg Margarite and his crew of gallant Librivoxateers have created another ten tales of SF for the Short Science Fiction Collection series. Most tales in this collection are new to audio, spanning the years 1941 to 1960. The most famous author in this collection is probably Katherine MacLean, she’s got her own wikipedia entry and seems to have a substantial following. But there’s another authoress in this collection who is not as well known. If you’ve seen The Twilight Zone episode called Time Enough At Last you’ll be interested to hear it was adapted from a Lyn Venable short story. She’s got one story in this collection too.

Short Science Fiction Collection 029
By various; Read by various
10 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 2 Hours 39 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: October 21, 2009
Science Fiction is speculative literature that generally explores the consequences of ideas which are roughly consistent with nature and scientific method, but are not facts of the author’s contemporary world. The stories often represent philosophical thought experiments presented in entertaining ways. Protagonists typically “think” rather than “shoot” their way out of problems, but the definition is flexible because there are no limits on an author’s imagination. The reader-selected stories presented here were written prior to 1962 and became US public domain texts when their copyrights expired.

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/short-science-fiction-collection-029.xml

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

The 4-D Doodler
By Graph Waldeyer; Read by Gregg Margarite
1 |MP3| – Approx. 34 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: October 21, 2009
The Professor’s head, suspended above the body, glared about. The mouth moved rapidly— From Comet, July 1941.

The Carnivore
By Katherine MacLean; Read by tabithat
1 |MP3| – Approx. 12 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: October 21, 2009
Why were they apologetic? It wasn’t their fault that they came to Earth much too late. From Galaxy Science Fiction October 1953. Written under the pseudonym “G.A. Morris.”

Homesick
By Lyn Venable; Read by tabithat
1 |MP3| – Approx. 00:13:56 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: October 21, 2009
What thrill is there in going out among the stars if coming back means bitter loneliness? From Galaxy Science Fiction December 1952.

Longevity
By Therese Windser; Read by Bellona Times
1 |MP3| – Approx. 5 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: October 21, 2009
A morality tale—1960 style. From Amazing Science Fiction Stories May 1960.

Lost In The Future
By John Victor Peterson; Read by Wendel Topper
1 |MP3| – Approx. 7 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: October 21, 2009
Did you ever wonder what might happen if mankind ever exceeded the speed of light? Here is a profound story based on that thought—a story which may well forecast one of the problems to be encountered in space travel. From Fantastic Universe January 1954.

Man Made
By Albert R. Teichner; Read by Bellona Times
1 |MP3| – Approx. 25 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: October 21, 2009
A story that comes to grips with an age-old question—what is soul? and where?—and postulates an age-new answer. From Amazing Science Fiction Stories January 1960.

The Mathematicians
By Arthur Feldman; Read by faith
1 |MP3| – Approx. 9 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: October 21, 2009
We gave this story to a very competent, and very pretty gal artist. We said, “Read this carefully, dream on it, and come up with an illustration.” A week later, she returned with the finished drawing. “The hero,” she said. We did a double take. “Hey! That’s not the hero.” She looked us straight in the eye. “Can you prove it?” She had us. We couldn’t, and she left hurriedly to go home and cook dinner for her family. And what were they having? Frog legs—what else? From Amazing Stories Oct.-Nov. 1953.

McIlvaine’s Star
By August Derleth; Read by Gregg Margarite
1 |MP3| – Approx. 24 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: October 21, 2009
McIlvaine sat down to his machine, turned the complex knobs, and a message flamed across the void. From If Worlds of Science Fiction July 1952.

Stopover Planet
By Robert E. Gilbert; Read by Barry Eads
1 |MP3| – Approx. 16 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: October 21, 2009
Early morning deliveries were part of the Honeychile Bakery Service. But on this particular morning the service was reversed! From Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy August 1953.

Trees Are Where You Find Them
By Arthur Dekker Savage; Read by Barry Eads
1 |MP3| – Approx. 14 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: October 21, 2009
The trees on Mars are few and stunted, says old Doc Yoris. There’s plenty of gold, of course—but trees can be much more important! From If Worlds of Science Fiction November 1953.

[Thanks also to Wendel Topper and Lucy Burgoyne ]

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: Short Science Fiction Collection 027

Monday, February 15, 2010Thursday, April 8, 2010 Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

This new LibriVox collection of short SF has a few tales worthy of your ears. H. Beam Piper’s Weird Tales story, Dearest, is interesting and very Piper. The morality of it though is actually rather unnerving – and I’m not at all sure that that was intentional.

Short Science Fiction Collection 027
By various; Read by various
10 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 4 Hours 59 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: September 28, 2009
Science Fiction is speculative literature that generally explores the consequences of ideas which are roughly consistent with nature and scientific method, but are not facts of the author’s contemporary world. The stories often represent philosophical thought experiments presented in entertaining ways. Protagonists typically “think” rather than “shoot” their way out of problems, but the definition is flexible because there are no limits on an author’s imagination. The reader-selected stories presented here were written prior to 1962 and became US public domain texts when their copyrights expired.

Podcast feed:
http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/short-science-fiction-collection-027.xml

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

Dearest
By H. Beam Piper; Read by Ric F
1 |MP3| – Approx. 41 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: September 28, 2009
Colonel Ashley Hampton is an veteran of many battles. Now, in his golden years, he’s begun talking to himself. Ask him nicely and maybe he’ll tell you about his invisible playmate. From Weird Tales March 1951.

Flamedown
By Horace Brown Fyfe; Read by JohanG
1 |MP3| – Approx. 9 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: September 28, 2009
It was, of course, one Hell of an ending for a trip to Mars— From Analog Science Fact & Fiction August 1961.

The Flying Cuspidors
By V.R. Francis; Read by Bellona Times
1 |MP3| – Approx. 29 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: September 28, 2009
A trumpet-tooter in love can be a wonderful sight, if Local 802 will forgive our saying so; when extraterrestrials get involved too—oh brother! V.R. Francis, who lives in California and has previously appeared in men’s magazines, became 21 and sold to FANTASTIC UNIVERSE all in the same week.
From Fantastic Universe August 1958.

Invasion
By Murray Leinster; Read by Gregg Margarite
1 |MP3| – Approx. 59 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: September 28, 2009
The whole fighting fleet of the United Nations is caught in Kreynborg’s marvelous, unique trap. From Astounding Stories March 1933.

Keep Out
By Fredric Brown; Read by Megan Argo
1 |MP3| – Approx. 8 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: September 28, 2009
With no more room left on Earth, and with Mars hanging up there empty of life, somebody hit on the plan of starting a colony on the Red Planet. It meant changing the habits and physical structure of the immigrants, but that worked out fine. In fact, every possible factor was covered—except one of the flaws of human nature… From Amazing Stories March 1954.

Fantastic Universe September 1955 The Long Voyage
By Carl R. Jacobi; Read by Bellona Times
1 |MP3| – Approx. 42 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: September 28, 2009
When we published Carl Jacobi’s last story we had no assurance he would be with us so soon again. For when a uniquely gifted science-fantasy writer becomes radio-active on the entertainment meter and goes voyaging into the unknown, he may be gone from the world we know for as long as yesterday’s tomorrow. But Carl Jacobi has not only returned almost with the speed of light—he has brought with him shining new nuggets of wonder and surmise. From Fantastic Universe September 1955.

Navy Day
By Harry Harrison; Read by Gregg Margarite
1 |MP3| – Approx. 13 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: September 28, 2009
The Army had a new theme song: “Anything you can do, we can do better!” And they meant anything, including up-to-date hornpipes! From If Worlds of Science Fiction January 1954.

One-Shot
By James Blish; Read by Bellona Times
1 |MP3| – Approx. 32 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: September 28, 2009
You can do a great deal if you have enough data, and enough time to compute on it, by logical methods. But given the situation that neither data nor time is adequate, and an answer must be produced … what do you do? From Astounding Science Fiction August 1955.

Sjambak
By Jack Vance; Read by Gregg Margarite
1 |MP3| – Approx. 1 Hour [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: September 28, 2009
Wilbur Murphy sought romance, excitement, and an impossible Horseman of Space. With polite smiles, the planet frustrated him at every turn—until he found them all the hard way! From If Worlds of Science Fiction July 1953.

Two Timer
By Fredric Brown; Read by Gregg Margarite
1 |MP3| – Approx. 5 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: September 28, 2009
Here is a brace of vignettes by the Old Vignette Master … short and sharp … like a hypodermic! From Galaxy Science Fiction February 1954.

[Extra thanks to Gregg Margarite, Wendel Topper and Lucy Burgoyne]

Posted by Jesse Willis

SFPRP: The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells

Sunday, January 17, 2010 Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

Luke Burrage, in the first of two shows with me as a guest on Science Fiction Book Review Podcast, is reviewing and talking about The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells. Its a fun exercise, we run down the whole book and talk about other invisibility stories too. Have a listen…

SFBRP #078 – H.G. Wells – The Invisible Man
1 |MP3| – Approx. 58 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: SFBRP.com
Podcast: Monday, January 18, 2010

Here’s what we talked about:
The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells, the public domain status of the writings of H.G. Wells, Luke and Jesse in conversation, The War Of The Worlds, The Island Of Dr. Moreau, The First Men In The Moon, Luke’s review of The Time Machine, Sussex, invasion literature, mad scientist, horror, thriller, the village of Iping, invisibility, scientific invisibility, What Was It?, haunted house, the 2000 film Hollow Man, Smoke by Donald E. Westlake, the development of the invisibility meme, creating tension in a scene with exposition, Luke’s review of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, the Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Lawrence Kasdan Raiders Of The Lost Ark story conference |PDF|, a Nazi monkey, Griffin (the titular Invisible Man) as an anti-hero, The Ring Of Gyges (found within Plato’s The Republic), invisibility as a cipher for moral character, invisibility is good for nothing other than spying, if you’re an invisible person you’ll need a confederate, The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, Miss Pim’s Camouflage by Lady Stanley, WWI, Invisible Agent, WWII, isolation, moral isolation, anonymity, Eric Rabkin’s point about, refractive index, albinism, the sleight of hand that H.G. Wells uses in The Invisible Man and The Time Machine, The Crystal Egg by H.G. Wells, Mars, long distance communication, what is the serious problem with invisibility? [the answer is a DEFEATER for any truly HARD SF story], the background for The Time Machine is Charles Darwin, evolution and the class system, the background for The War Of The Worlds is invasion literature, war and colonialism, Eddie Izzard‘s colonialism through flags, the background for The Invisible Man is personal responsibility, isolation and moral character, Thomas Marvel (the tramp with an invisible friend), the parallels between The Invisible Man and Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson and Fawlty Towers, psychopathy, sociopathy, the one ring’s invisibility, invisibility for burglary is only half as useful as you’d expect, imagine the Sauron’s ring in the hands of Denethor, Boromir, or Gandalf!, the filmspotting podcast, visit Luke’s website!

http://www.sfbrp.com/?feed=podcast

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

Posted by Jesse Willis

Candlelight Stories: A Princess Of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Wednesday, November 18, 2009 Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

I first experienced Alessandro Cima’s narrative abilities back in 2005. Back then podcasting was barely a toddler – still wobbly legged, with novel length podcasts being few an far between. Cima was reading his own young adult Pirate Jack.Here’s the “Pirate Jack” pitch:

Young Jack Spencer sees his father’s boat-building business destroyed by a powerful land developer. Then Jack unearths three ancient scrolls that propel him on a dangerous adventure through time in search of a pirate treasure. When Jack finds himself aboard the pirate ship Revenge he enters a life or death world of ship battles, jungle islands, prison escapes, gold, and treachery.

It was and is a compelling pirate adventure story (with some fantastic elements). If you’ haven’t heard it you can check it out through the same podcast feed as his latest project. He’s about a third of the way through this novel…

A Princess Of Mars
By Edgar Rice Burroughs; Read by Alessandro Cima
Podcast – [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Candlelight Stories
Podcast: 2009
This is the first John Carter of Mars novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the author of the Tarzan books. It was his first novel, published in 1917 and it’s a work of rip-roaring science fiction that has inspired many of the great writers in the genre. The story concerns soldier John Carter who is mysteriously transported to the red planet where he fights to protect his princess against impossible odds and many peculiar creatures. The book is very much a product of its time, with outdated ideas about the red planet and outdated social ideas. But if you can just go along for the adventurous ride, you are in for a sci-fi space opera swashbuckling treat.

Podcast feed:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/CandlelightStoriesAudio

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

Posted by Jesse Willis

GeekBlips: TV that inspires

Sunday, November 8, 2009 Jesse Willis

SFFaudio News

Robyn Lass, the editor of GeekBlips.com asked me to contribute to a “blogger opinion” article, kind of a mind meld like post (of the kind SFSignal.com regularly does). Here’s the question she asked:

“If you could have the ability/gadgetry of your favorite science fiction TV or Movie character and join them – in their world – on one of their adventures, who would it be and why?”

Yeah. So, I wasn’t sure I could answer the question. Join their adventures? That’s not me exactly. But, there was something there. I thought about it for a few hours. Then, I finally wrote this:

A few years ago there was a pirate broadcast called Prisoners Of Gravity that would regularly interrupt a lame TV Ontario nature show called Second Nature. Lasting just under a half hour, it was hosted by a crazy Canadian who had strapped a rocket to the roof of his Camaro, launched himself into space and then crashed into an orbiting satellite. From there, in his high castle, Commander Rick (aka Rick Green) lived, surrounded by the things he’d brought with him: computers, comics and lots of paperback books.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, a shadowy crew of SF fans would rove the bookstores and Science Fiction conventions recording interviews with the creators of SF and Fantasy. They’d take the interviews with writers like Robert J. Sawyer, Alan Moore, Ray Bradbury, Neil Gaiman and Garth Ennis, and upload them all to Commander Rick in the satellite. From there Rick would record these interviews onto audio cassettes and keep them for use in his live broadcasts. He would also make use of the telephone and satellite video feeds that he had access to in order to record live interviews with his guests during the show. The programs were compiled and broadcast with the help of a mute, but highly intelligent, computer named NanCy. Topics discussed were different every episode,with individual shows on censorship, superheroes, humor, religion, fairy tales, Mars, cyberpunk, war, overpopulation, sex and much, much more.

The series aired 139 episodes over a five years mission – it is rumored that Commander Rick died (having perhaps run out of food) – but it is also rumored that he returned to earth – since then NanCY has managed just a very few transmissions in the form of reruns. There was no better news magazine program that explored SF, Fantasy, Horror and comics and their various themes and ideas.

I’ve been thinking it would be really great to strap a few solid rocket boosters to the roof of my own car and do my own show. In the meantime I’ve been bidding on ebay for used spacesuits. One day I may win one.

You can see the original article |HERE|. You’ll find a few other peoples’ answers too.

Posted by Jesse Willis