New Audiobook Imprint Available for Public Libraries

SFFaudio News

Recorded BooksEditor, anthologist and blogger John Joseph Adams points us to this February 15th 2008 press release…

Recorded Books, LLC, the world’s premier publisher of unabridged audiobooks since 1979, announces the release of a new imprint of audiobooks that will be available for immediate release to public libraries—Science Fiction. With the growing popularity of the science fiction and fantasy genres, fans are demanding more sci-fi literature on audiobook. The Sci-Fi imprint from Recorded Books features many award-winning authors, including Piers Anthony, Terry Brooks and Ursula K. Le Guin. Among the current releases are Now and Forever by Ray Bradbury, The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman, and Blindsight by Peter Watts. Recorded Books, which operates a New York City recording studio, employs award-winning Broadway and Off-Broadway actors to record some of the world’s most popular and critically acclaimed titles.

Thanks JJA!

Posted by Jesse Willis

Prisoners Of Gravity – Amnesia / Total Recall: watch or listen to the show

SFFaudio Online Audio

As nobody other than my good friend Rachelle Shelkey has been doing much boosterism for our favorite television show I thought I’d give it another boost… Prisoners Of Gravity was absolutely the best interview theme show I’ve ever seen. The three videos below make up the bulk of one episode from the 5th (and final) season of PoG. The episode is titled “Amnesia / Total Recall“.
In the show Commander Rick, the host, talks to David Cronenberg, Walter Jon Williams, C.J. Cherryh, Harry Harrison, Pat Cadigan, Nancy Kress, Kim Antieau, Samuel R. Delany, Ray Bradbury, Megan Lindholm and Terry Pratchett about the use of AMNESIA and TOTAL RECALL as themes in Science Fiction.

Prisoners Of GravityPrisoners Of Gravity – “Amnesia / Total Recall”
1 |MP3| – Approx. 27 Minutes [AUDIO FROM VIDEO]
Broadcaster: TV Ontario
Broadcast: Wednesday December 15, 1993

“This week Commander Rick continues to explore the theme of memory, taking an in-depth look at amnesia in discussions with guests: film director and screenwriter David Cronenberg – who was the original choice to write and direct the movie Total Recall; and speculative fiction authors Walter Jon Williams (Voice Of The Whirlwind), C.J. Cherryh (Heavy Time), Harry Harrison (The Turing Option), Pat Cadigan (Fools), Nancy Kress (Brain Rose), Kim Antieau (“Another Country”) and Samuel R. Delany (Dhalgren). Commander Rick also looks at the idea of eidetic or photographic memory in discussions with guests: Ray Bradbury (The Illustrated Man), Megan Lindholm (Alien Earth) and Terry Pratchett (Small Gods).”


Part 1 of 3:

Part 2 of 3:

Part 3 of 3:

Posted by Jesse Willis

Recent Arrivals: Bradbury, LeGuin, Card

Science Fiction Audiobook Recent Arrivals
We constantly get great stuff from Blackstone. Every few weeks we seem to get a title by Orson Scott Card or Lois McMaster Bujold. I decided to check their site to see how many audiobooks by these authors they have published recently. The tally:

Orson Scott Card-13 unabridged audiobooks
Lois McMaster Bujold-13 unabridged audibooks

And the great authors keep coming in!

Fantasy Audiodrama - Something Wicked This Way Comes Something Wicked This Way Comes
By Ray Bradbury;
Performed by Jerry Robbins and the Colonial Radio Players
2 CDs – 2 Hours [AUDIODRAMA]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2007
ISBN: 9781433210792

“By the pricking of my thumbs…something wicked this way comes.”

Ray Bradbury has dramatized his literary classic, Something Wicked This Way Comes, into this first-class audio drama, produced by The Colonial Radio Theatre on the Air, complete with a full cast, sound effects, and original music.

“Cooger and Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show” comes to Greentown, Illinois, one week before Halloween. Two boys, Jim Nightshade and Will Halloway, soon discover the evil of this carnival, which promises to make your every wish and dream come true. But with those wishes and dreams comes a price that must be paid. Behind the mirrors and the mazes is the nightmare of a lifetime.

Invasive Procedures
By Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston;
Read by Stefan Rudnicki
10 CDs, 12 hrs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2007
ISBN: 9781433210822
Listen to sample

George Galen is a brilliant scientist, a pioneer in gene therapy. But Galen is dangerously insane. He has created a method to alter human DNA, not just to heal diseases, but also to “improve” people: make them stronger, make them able to heal more quickly…and make them compliant to his will.

Frank Hartman is also a brilliant virologist, working for the government’s ultra-secret biohazard agency. He has discovered how to neutralize Galen’s DNA-changing virus. Now he is the one man who stands in the way of Galen’s plan to “improve” the entire human race.

This taut thriller takes the listener a few years into the future and shows the promise and danger of new genetic medicine techniques.

2 Seeing Ear Theatre plays, and an Asimov short story podcast + MORE

Online Audio

Pirate TV Theatre Classic Radio DramaDiscovered this cool podcast in the iTunes podcast directory… Pirate TV Theatre Classic Radio Drama is an unwieldy name for a podcast with this much terrific audio content. Some of it is classic Radio Drama, some of it is more modern Audio Drama (Radio Drama that was never broadcast on radio), none of it is “TV” and some of it is audiobook. The site itself doesn’t allow direct downloads (only online listening) but if you subscribe to the podcast you can access all of the following in the ubiquitous MP3 format…

Included in the feed are radio drama episodes from:

Suspense (The Dunwich Horror by H.P. Lovecraft)

Dimension X (includes The Green Hills Of Earth by Robert A. Heinlein and First Contact by Murray Leinster, plus more)

X Minus 1 (includes Surface Tension by James Blish, and Colony by Philip K. Dick, plus many more)

Skeleton
By Ray Bradbury; Performed by a full cast
(a 1996 BBC4 Radio Drama, part of the “Tales of the Bizarre” series, introduced by Bradbury himself)

As well as two Seeing Ear Theatre audio dramas:

Murder Mysteries
By Neil Gaiman; Performed by a full cast
(a Seeing Ear Theatre audio drama in two parts)

Orson The Alien! The Untold Story Behind The War Of the Worlds
By Terry Bisson, Brian Smith and George Zarr; Performed by a full cast
(a Seeing Ear Theatre audio drama)

And one story from an audiobook:

It’s Such A Beautiful Day
By Isaac Asimov; Read by Ed Bishop
(from a 1986 audiobook in two parts – from defunct audiobook publisher Listen For Pleasure)

Plug this podcast feed into your podcatcher to get started:

http://www.nomig.net/radiodrama/itunesrss.xml

Or, visit the site and listen online – where you’ll find plenty more, including:

The Caves Of Steel
By Isaac Asimov; Performed by a full cast
(The 1989 radio dramatization that aired on BBC Radio 4)

New Releases: Audible drops content bomb SF and Fantasy titles galore

New Releases

Audible.comAudible.com has just dropped a content bomb of brand new and older unabridged titles into their catalogue. This is all stuff never before seen on audible…

ALL NEW TITLES:

Acacia: The War with the Mein – Book 1
By David Anthony Durham; Read by Dick Hill
29 Hours 30 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor

Slan Hunter
By A.E. van Vogt and Kevin J. Anderson; Read by Scott Brick
9 Hours 10 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Books On Tape

The Dark River
By John Twelve Hawks; Read by Scott Brick
12 Hours 55 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Books On Tape

The Earth Will Shake: The Historical Illuminatus Chronicles Vol. I
By Robert Anton Wilson; Read by Scott Crisp
12 Hours 7 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Deepleaf Audio

Illuminatus! Part I: The Eye in the Pyramid
By Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson; Read by Ken Campbell and Chris Fairbank
13 Hours 20 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Deepleaf Audio

OLDER TITLES – BUT 100% NEW TO AUDIBLE:

The Illustrated Man
By Ray Bradbury; Read by Paul Hecht
8 Hours 15 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Recorded Books

Dragonsong (Book 1 of the Harper Hall Trilogy)
By Anne McCaffrey; Read by Sally Darling
7 Hours 15 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Recorded Books

Dragonsinger (Book 2 of the Harper Hall Trilogy)
By Anne McCaffrey; Read by Sally Darling
10 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Recorded Books

Dragondrums
(Book 3 of the Harper Hall Trilogy)
By Anne McCaffrey; Read by Sally Darling
9 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Recorded Books

Darwin’s Radio
By Greg Bear; Read by George Guidall
17 Hours 30 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Recorded Books
*This one was previously available but only in abridged form from Dove Audio

On A Pale Horse (The Incarnations of Immortality Book 1)
By Piers Anthony; Read by George Guidall
13 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Recorded Books

Wielding A Red Sword (The Incarnations of Immortality Book 4)
By Piers Anthony; Read by George Guidall
10 Hours 16 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Recorded Books

Being A Green Mother (The Incarnations of Immortality Book 5)
By Piers Anthony; Read by Barbara Caruso
12 Hours 45 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Recorded Books

For Love Of Evil (The Incarnations of Immortality Book 6)
By Piers Anthony; Read by Barbara Caruso
12 Hours 15 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Recorded Books

BBC4 Afternoon Play The Veldt by Ray Bradbury

SFFaudio Online Audio

Just a reminder, the BBC 4 Afternoon Play that just aired is still available through the “Listen Again” service. Of it, one listener writes: “I was riveted by today’s drama, The Veldt. Truly chilling and a brilliant evocation of a whole, troubling yet thoroghly (SIC) engaging environment. Radio drama at it’s best.” I’m listening to it now. I have to agree, sounds great so far!

Online AudioAfternoon Play: The Veldt
By Ray Bradbury; Performed by a Full Cast
1 Broadcast – Approx. 45 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 4
Broadcast: Tuesday 22nd May -14:15-15:00 (U.K. Time)
“An updated version of a classic SF story by Ray Bradbury, adapted from the stage play by Mike Walker, about a playroom that becomes a beguiling tempter, drawing two young children into secret, deadly adventures”

This is available via the Radio 4 Afternoon PlayListen Again” service for 7 days following the broadcast.

posted by Jesse Willis