LibriVox: Second Variety by Philip K. Dick

SFFaudio Online Audio

LibriVoxWe talked about it on the most recent SFFaudio Podcast, I’ve listened to it, and I declare it: awesome. Here comes one of the coolest new releases from LibriVox.org this year:

Second Variety by Philip K. Dick!

And with the release there’s now a new file format that makes it easier for some users too. The M4B format is a fully bookmarkable file type that’s compatible with what I use to listen to most audiobooks, Apple iPods. Here’s the full description:

An M4B file is an audio file which can be bookmarked. This is the audio-book file type. These files can have chapter markers which can be skipped through as you would skip through files on a play list. They can have built in cover art and chapter images. They will remember where you left off each time you stop the file and come back to it . And variable speed settings on iPods and a growing number of other mp3 players can be utilized by this file type. The ability to bookmark allows for as little as one large file instead of many small ones without the burden of fast forwarding to find your spot every time you resume listening or the fear of otherwise losing your place. The reduced number of files also makes browsing through your files to find your book and your place in it much less effort.

In fact there’s a whole catalogue of M4B LibriVox audiobooks available.

LIBRIVOX - Second Variety by Philip K. DickSecond Variety
By Philip K. Dick; Read by Gregg Margarite
1 |M4B| File or 2 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 1 Hour 44 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: April 22, 2010
Early victories by the USSR in a global nuclear war cause the United Nations government to retreat to the moon leaving behind troops and fierce autonomous robots called “Claws”, which reproduce and redesign themselves in unmanned subterranean factories. After six bloody years of conflict the Soviets call for an urgent conference and UN Major Joseph Hendricks sets out to meet them. Along the way he will discover what the Claws have been up to, and it isn’t good… First published in the May 1953 edition of Space Science Fiction Magazine.

Podcast feed: http://librivox.org/rss/4248

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

[Thanks also to Betty M. and Elizabeth Klett]

Posted by Jesse Willis

The SFFaudio Podcast #056 – READALONG: The Status Civilization by Robert Sheckley

Podcast

The SFFaudio PodcastThe SFFaudio Podcast #056 – Jesse and Scott talk with Rick Jackson, Gregg Margarite, Jerry Stearns and Julie Davis about Robert Sheckley’s The Status Civilization!

Talked about on today’s show:
Wonder Publishing Group (Wonder Audio and Wonder Ebooks), LibriVox.org, Acoustic Pulp, Sound Affects, Great Northern Audio Theatre, Doctor Who, The Prisoner, Riverworld by Philip Jose Farmer, deep Science Fiction, Deathworld by Harry Harrison, The Space Merchants (aka Gravy Planet) by Frederik Pohl and Cyril M. Kornbluth, Preferred Risk by Frederik Pohl and Lester del Rey, Gladiator At Law by Frederik Pohl and Cyril M. Kornbluth, Anarchaos by Donald E. Westlake, a religion based on evil, satire, Friedrich Nietzsche‘s “master-slave morality,” good and evil, David Hume‘, the naturalistic fallacy, cognitive dissonance, original sin (aka atavistic guilt), Skulking Permit by Robert Sheckley, Breaking Point by James Gunn |READ OUR REVIEW|, psychology, society, robots, This Perfect Day by Ira Levin, utopia, dystopia, libertarianism, rebellion, “a benign evil,” narrating audiobooks, Mark Douglas Nelson, This Crowded Earth by Robert Bloch, Deathworld 2 by Harry Harrison, Watchbird by Robert Sheckley, Second Variety by Philip K. Dick, Tunnel Under The World by Frederik Pohl, Bellona Times, X-Minus One, Mark Time , Yuri Rasovsky, Raymond Z. Gallun, Bing, Seeing Ear Theatre, Orson And The Alien, The SFFaudio Challenge, turning modern public domain books into audio drama, Night Of The Cooters by Howard Waldrop, Jack J. Ward, The Sonic Society, Brian Price, Alfred Bester‘s review of The Status Civilization (from The Magazine Of Fantasy And Science Fiction, December 1960), the naming of “Tetrahyde”, a readalong on The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester, the “amazing” audio drama version from BBC Tiger Tiger, The Count Of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, Frederik Pohl’s review of The Status Civilization (from January 1961 issue of Worlds Of If), the competition between the LibriVox and the commercial versions of audiobooks, Plato’s Cave, precognition, John W. Campbell, skrenning, scrying, Icelandic cook books!

The Status Civilzation (Planet Of The Criminals) GERMAN INTERIOR
The Status Civilzation (Planet Of The Criminals) GERMAN INTERIOR
The Status Civilzation (Planet Of The Criminals) GERMAN INTERIOR
The Status Civilization (Planet Of The Criminals) GERMAN INTERIOR
The Status Civilization (Planet Of The Criminals) GERMAN INTERIOR
The Status Civilization by Robert Sheckley
Signet - The Status Civilization by Robert Sheckley

Posted by Jesse Willis

The SFFaudio Podcast #054

Podcast

The SFFaudio PodcastThe SFFaudio Podcast #054 – Jesse and Scott talk about audiobooks, the recent arrivals, the new releases and the current listens.

Talked about on today’s show:
Full Cast Audio, Kenneth Oppel, Starclimber, alternate, Lionsgate City (aka Vancouver), Space Station Rat by Michael J. Daley, Red Planet by Robert A. Heinlein |READ OUR REVIEW|, Little Brother by Cory Doctorow |READ OUR REVIEW|, 1984 by George Orwell, Brilliance Audio, A Local Habitation by Seanan McGuire, Mary Robinette Kowal, Where Angels Fear To Tread by Thomas E. Sniegoski, angels, Roger Zelazny, Blackstone Audio, Frostbite by David Wellington, werewolves, 13 Bullets by David Wellington, vampires, Let The Right One In, Dead Snow, David Wellington’s “Monster Trilogy”, zombie apocalypse, Survivors (2008), Terry Nation, Survivors (1975 – 1977), 30 Days Of Night, dreamy vampires, Blackstone Audio, Vampire$ by John Steakley, John Carpenter’s Vampire$, bounty hunting, Dark Is the Sun by Philip Jose Farmer, Recorded Books, Saturn’s Children by Charles Stross, LibriVox.org, Rastignac The Devil by Philip Jose Farmer, Gregg Margarite, The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert, Love Bites by Lyndsay Sands, the paranormal romance problem, Blue Moon by Laurell K. Hamilton, Obsidian Butterfly by Laurell K. Hamilton, Single White Vampire by Lyndsay Sands, Penguin Audio, The Silent Sea by Clive Cussler and Jack DeBrule, Dirk Pitt, “Jacque Cousteau as James Bond”, Cujo by Stephen King, Firestarter by Stephen King, The Monster Of Florence by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi |READ OUR REVIEW|, The Running Man by Stephen King = reality television, Robocop, Thinner by Stephen King, The Long Walk by Stephen King, The Long Walk by Sławomir Rawicz, Siberia, walking from Siberia to India, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins |READ OUR REVIEW|, Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins |READ OUR REVIEW|, The Maze Runner by James Dashner, Cube, dragons, How To Train Your Dragon, Anne McCaffrey, Eragon, Around The World In Eighty Days by Jules Verne, Komodo dragons, Dragonslayer, Dragonheart, Smaug, The Geek’s Guide To The Galaxy podcast, DragonLance, Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George, Roadwork by Stephen King, The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy meets The Omega Man, where the pseudonym “Richard Bachman” came from, “everything comes back to Donald E. Westlake”, Blackstone Audio, Empire Builders by Ben Bova, Nova Audiobooks, NASA, cutting the Constellation program, CBS coverage of Apollo 11, Robert A. Heinlein was a commentator for Apollo 11, why do we have so little Heinlein audio and video?, Sheepfarmer’s Daughter by Elizabeth Moon, Oath Of Fealty by Elizabeth Moon, Graphic Audio, The Serrano Legacy, Galaxy Press, A Matter Of Matter by L. Ron Hubbard, The Crossroads by L. Ron Hubbard, time travel, Captive Market by Philip K. Dick, economics, Brilliance Audio, Saucer by Stephen Coonts Saucer: The Conquest by Stephen Coonts, Peter Watts, The Eyes Of The Overworld by Jack Vance, Breaking Point by James Gunn |READ OUR REVIEW|, Tales Of Dying Earth by Jack Vance, “Vance has ideas and style”, The Last Castle by Jack Vance, The Moon Moth by Jack Vance |READ OUR REVIEW|, The Geek’s Guide To The Galaxy interviews The Tolkien Professor.

Posted by Jesse Willis

NPR: Blade Runner – Dreams of Electric Sheep

SFFaudio Online Audio

There’s an old NPR/WNYC piece on Blade Runner that casts the fear of Nexus 6 androids on Earth as a kind of allegory for racism and slavery. Perhaps we could coin a term for this. How about, “The Plastic Peril”? Although that sounds a bit too much like a reference to Autons.

Dreams Of Electric Sheep
By Phillip Martin
June 29, 2007
25 years ago this week, Blade Runner debuted in American theaters. It was set in a Los Angeles of the future, but its portrayals of race and racism had plenty of resonance in 1982. Reporterlooks back on a classic of cyborgian social criticism.

|MP3|

[via HuffDuffer and Adactio]

Posted by Jesse Willis

The SFFaudio Podcast #051 – TOPIC: THE YELLOW PERIL

Podcast

The SFFaudio PodcastThe SFFaudio Podcast #051 – Jesse and Scott are joined by Luke Burrage and Professor Eric S. Rabkin to discuss THE YELLOW PERIL.

Talked about on today’s show:
The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu by Sax Rohmer (aka The Mysterious Dr. Fu-Manchu) – available via Tantor Media, fix-up novel, hypnosis, Sherlock Holmes, the yellow peril incarnate, the yellow peril as the hordes of asia, the Chinese Exclusion Act (USA), Chinese Immigration Act, 1923 (Canada), Tamerlane (the scourge of god), The Yellow Peril by M.P. Shiel, The Purple Cloud by M.P. Shiel, racism, WWI, colonialism, Burma, Thuggees, Boxer Rebellion, genius, The Talons Of Weng Chiang, if you read it as Fu-Manchu being the hero you may like the story more, mad scientist, Faust, Paradise Lost by John Milton, Robur-Le-Conquérant by Jules Verne (aka Robur-The-Conqueror aka The Clipper of the Clouds), The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells, The White Man’s Burden by Rudyard Kipling, colonialism, The Invisible Man, the other colored other, The League Of Extraordinary Gentleman by Alan Moore, Hawley Griffin (The Invisible Man), Allan Quatermain, Captain Nemo, Dr. Henry Jekyll/Mr. Edward Hyde, Mina Murray (from Dracula by Bram Stoker), English 418/549: GRAPHIC NARRATIVE (Winter 2010), The Invisible Man shows I and II, If I Ran The Zoo by Dr. Seuss, Jonah And The Whale, Suess’ anti-Japanese propaganda during WWII, Japanese internment during WWII in USA and Canada, Aryan, India, Nazi Germany, The Thule Society, Sri Lanka, racial stereotypes, Marco Polo, Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, gender and skin color, blondness, Karamaneh (the love interest in The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu), femme fatale, Black Widow (1987), miscegenation, the Chinese hordes vs. the insidious Japanese, War With The Newts by Karel Čapek, Japan, LibriVox.org, Sixth Column by Robert A. Heinlein, beauty as goodness (in fairy tales), King Kong, Last And First Men by Olaf Stapledon, Star Maker, The Iliad by Homer, The Old Testament, The Science Fiction Hall Of Fame edited by Robert Silverberg, Arena by Fredric Brown, Plato, the red scare, Jack London, The Lathe Of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin, Arslan by M.J. Engh, Chung Kuo by David Windgrove, selective memory, polarized memory, Middlemarch by George Eliot, Encounter With Tiber by Buzz Aldrin and John Barnes, China Mountain Zhang by Maureen F. McHugh, Superfusion: How China and America Became One Economy and Why the World’s Prosperity Depends on It by Zachary Karabell, Firefly, Limehouse, London, Detroit, The Man In The High Castle by Philip K. Dick |READ OUR REVIEW|, alternate history, SS-GB by Len Deighton, Fatherland by Robert Harris, Gorky Park, North Korea, the North Korea embassy in East Berlin.

The Yellow Peril

The Fiendish Plot Of Fu-Manchu (Thanks Gregg!):

Posted by Jesse Willis

New Releases – Philip K. Dick, Jack Vance & Andre Norton

New Releases

Three fantastic new releases from Wonder Audio, plus news on one eBook!

The Men Return & Worlds of Origin
By Jack Vance; Read by Tim Rowe
1 hr, 10 min.- [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Wonder Audio
Published: 2010

Available at Audible

Two vintage stories from the 1950s by science-fiction Grand Master Jack Vance, who wrote stories of adventure, detection, horror, and humor.

What the Critics Say:

“‘Worlds of Origin’: A mystery novel and a fine example of Vance’s trademark imagination with worlds and customs of alien origin. No less than a dozen wholly unique Vance worlds come to light during Magnus Ridolphs’ inquiry into the mysterious death of a man on a space-station retreat. ‘The Men Return’: [A] completely alien earth where our universal rule of cause and effect no longer has any meaning and only the insane flourish in the new dynamics.” (Amazon reviewer “Coriolous”)


The Defenders
By Philip K. Dick; Read by Mark Douglas Nelson
61 min.- [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Wonder Audio
Published: 2010

Available at Audible

Taylor felt life was pretty good. Sure, living in an underground bunker developing more sophisticated weapons to bomb the Soviets was less than ideal. But he had a pretty wife, and he was safe from the radioactive poisoned environment that existed above ground. The leadies, sophisticated robot servants, could inform them of the devastating destruction, the bombed out cities, and the further Soviet attacks. But it was a strange fact that the latest leadie to return to the bunker showed no sign of radioactivity. Strange enough for Taylor to be ordered above ground in a lead-lined suit to investigate. That Taylor didn’t want to go, wasn’t really an option!


People of the Crater
By Andre Norton; Read by Mark Douglas Nelson
1hr, 44min.- [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Wonder Audio
Published: 2010

Available at Audible

A flight to a lost world of Antarctica. Garin Featherstone has been sent to explore a mysterious blue haze that was spotted in the polar region. There he discovers a lost civilization and a strange environment of vivid green lands, crimson tree trunks, and golden rivers. He must save Thrala of the light against the lizard men.

This is Andre Norton’s first professional published story from 1947. Even the Grand Dame of science fiction had to have her first sale. And she shows her strengths in her first fantastic adventure story.

Did you know Wonder Audio also publishes eBooks and print books under the name of Wonder Publishing Group? Here’s one of their many new eBooks. And yes, that’s one sweet cover. :)

Venus is a Man’s World and Other
by William Tenn

Wry, brilliant stories from the late William Tenn. Stories of irony, poignancy, humor and satire. Vampires, time travel and paradoxes, government projects, war, and the battle of the sexes. Stories included are: VENUS IS A MAN’S WORLD, OF ALL POSSIBLE WORLDS, NULL-P, BROOKLYN PROJECT, SHE ONLY GOES OUT AT NIGHT, PROJECT HUSH, ME MYSELF AND I, and RICARDO’S VIRUS. The Science Fiction Encyclopedia ranked Tenn as “one of the genre’s very few genuinely comic, genuinely incisive writers of short fiction.”

FICTIONWISE | AMAZON KINDLE

Posted by Rick Jackson