Robert A. Heinlein – Page 36

The SFFaudio Podcast #033

Podcast

The SFFaudio Podcast #033 – Jesse and Scott are burning bright this podcast. We’re talking new releases, recent arrivals, and future audiobook releases. We also briefly discuss the 2009 Hugo Awards. Around the middle we talk about BBC radio drama, specifically those based on the writings of Iain M. Banks and Alfred Bester. Feeling tenser? Perhaps you know the answer to this question…

“How can you get away with murder when everyone knows your thoughts?”

Talked about on today’s show:
New Releases, Recent Arrivals, Infinivox, Aliens Rule edited by Alan Kaster, How Music Begins by James Van Pelt, Okanaggan Falls by Carolyn Ives Gilman, Laws Of Survival by Nancy Kress, Full Cast Audio, Emperor Mage by Tamora Pierce, Red Planet by Robert A. Heinlein, William Dufris, Have Space Suit Will Travel by Robert A. Heinlein |READ OUR REVIEW|, Tantor Media, The White Plague by Frank Herbert, Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert, The Road To Dune |READ OUR REVIEW|, Ireland, Whipping Star by Frank Herbert, The Coming Of Conan The Cimmerian by Robert E. Howard, Todd McLaren, METAtroplis The Dawn Of Uncivilization |READ OUR REVIEW|, Brilliance Audio, Audible.com, Brilliance Audio is releasing hardcopy DRM free versions of the Audible Frontiers audiobooks, Kurt Vonnegut, Audible Modern Vanguard, Dennis Boutsikaris, A Prayer For Owen Meany by John Irving, Fear Nothing by Dean Koontz, Keith Szarabajka, Sfsignal.com story on Iain M. Banks’ next novel Transition (podcast or audiobook?), RadioArchive.cc, State Of The Art (BBC Radio Drama) based on the story by Iain M. Banks, BoingBoing story on Geoff Ryman’s novel The Child Garden to be podcast (with music), Simon Bloom: The Octopus Effect by Michael Reisman, Simon Bloom: The Gravity Keeper by Michael Reisman |READ OUR REVIEW|, The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester or Tiger Tiger by Alfred Bester, there is no audiobook version of The Stars My Destination, the 1991 BBC Radio Drama version of Alfred Bester’s Tiger Tiger, telepathy, teleportation (jaunting), The Demolished Man would make an amazing audio drama, Fondly Fahrenheit by Alfred Bester, the 2009 Hugo award winners, The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman |READ OUR REVIEW|, Shoggoths In Bloom by Elizabeth Bear (SSS Aural Delights version), Exhalation by Ted Chiang, The Erdman Nexus by Nancy Kress (is not available in audio), Inside Job by Connie Willis (is), Drive by James Sallis (a novella, is too), Wii Sports Resort, Wii Motion Plus, Bowman, turning off cable TV, X-Box 360, Wii Fit, Netflix, watching soccer/football without TV, Free:The Future Of A Radical Price by Chris Anderson, YouTube Star Wars fan Lego animation vs. Lucas Star Wars on DVD.

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: Year Of The Big Thaw by Marion Zimmer Bradley

SFFaudio Online Audio

From a new collection at LibriVox.org called Young Adult Short Works Collection Vol. 001 comes a short Marion Zimmer Bradley story.

Year Of The Big Thaw
By Marion Zimmer Bradley; Read by Tom Hackett
1 |MP3| – Approx. 15 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: July 5, 2009
In this warm and fanciful story of a Connecticut farmer, Marion Zimmer Bradley has caught some of the glory that is man’s love for man—no matter who he is nor whence he’s from. By heck, you’ll like little Matt. From Fantastic Universe, May 1954.

Also included in Young Adult Short Works Collection Vol. 001 is a humorous tale, Pigs Is Pigs by Ellis Parker Butler. I draw it to your attention primarily because it helped inspire Robert A. Heinlein’s The Rolling Stones (aka Space Family Stone). The Rolling Stones is a novel depicting an industrious family on an interplanetary tour of our solar system. One sequence, the part in which “Pigs Is Pigs” is mentioned, features an cuddly xenomorph called a “Flatcat.” Star Trek‘s David Gerrold later used a similar concept in his creation of the “Tribble.” Pigs Is Pigs is definitely neither Science Fiction or Fantasy, but it is funny. If you’re a bit curious have a listen |MP3|!

Posted by Jesse Willis

Escape Pod: All You Zombies by Robert A. Heinlein

SFFaudio Online Audio

Escape Pod’s Episode 200 is finally out! It’s one of my favourite time travel stories. In fact, All You Zombies is one of the most popular time travel stories of all time (according to a quick poll conducted at The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe). Listening to it now reminds me that gender reassignment surgery was a recurring theme in Heinlein’s writing (think I Will Fear No Evil). Thanks Escape Pod!

All You Zombies
By Robert A. Heinlein; Read by Steve Eley
1 |MP3| – [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Escape Pod
Podcast: July 2, 2009
“I was polishing a brandy snifter when the Unmarried Mother came in. I noted the time—10:17 P. M. zone five, or eastern time, November 7th, 1970. Temporal agents always notice time and date; we must.”

Podcast feed:

http://escapepod.org/podcast.xml

All You Zombies by Robert A. Heinlein - The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, March 1959

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: Gulliver Of Mars by Edwin L. Arnold

SFFaudio Online Audio

LibriVox First published as Lieutenant Gullivar Jones: His Vacation, in 1905, this novel is a precursor to, and the likely inspiration for, Edgar Rice Burroughs’s classic A Princess of Mars (1911). Despite my not having heard of it before now the novel has a long history of adaptation. Ace Books reprinted Arnold’s novel in paperback in 1964, retitling it Gulliver of Mars [sic]. A more recent Bison Books paperbook edition (from 2003) called it Gullivar of Mars.

Arnold’s novel bears a number of striking similarities to Burroughs’s. Both Gullivar and Burroughs’s protagonists are American servicemen who arrive on an inhabited planet Mars by apparently magical means.

A 2007 paperbook sequel exists: In Edgar Allan Poe on Mars: The Further adventures of Gullivar Jones Gullivar Jones appears alongside a young Edgar Allan Poe (in a series of two linked stories).

Marvel Comics adapted the character for the comic book feature “Gullivar Jones, Warrior of Mars” in issues #16-21 of Creatures on the Loose (March 1972 – Jan. 1973). The story was written by Conan comics scribe Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway, and SF novelist George Alec Effinger. The series then moved to Marvel’s black and white magazine, Monsters Unleashed #4 and #8 (1974). Marvel’s version modernized the setting, recast Gullivar as a Vietnam War veteran (think Heinlein’s Glory Road).

Did I mention I just picked up the first volume of Alan Moore’s League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen? Apparently the next volume includes cameos by both Gullivar and John Carter!

I love LibriVox!

Gulliver Of Mars
By Edwin L. Arnold; Read by James Christopher
20 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 6 Hours 16 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: May 3rd 2009
This escapist novel first published in 1905 as Lieutenant Gullivar Jones: His Vacation follows the exploits of American Navy Lieutenant Gulliver Jones, a bold, if slightly hapless, hero who is magically transported to Mars; where he almost outwits his enemies, almost gets the girl, and almost saves the day. Somewhat of a literary and chronological bridge between H.G. Wells and Edgar Rice Burroughs, Jones’ adventures provide an evocative mix of satire and sword-and-planet adventure.

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/gulliver-of-mars-by-edwin-l-arnold.xml

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

Posted by Jesse Willis

The SFFaudio Podcast #028

Podcast

The SFFaudio Podcast #028 – Jesse and Scott are joined by Luke Burrage of The Science Fiction Book Review Podcast. First up we talk about Luke’s show and reviewing Science Fiction. Later we ask the question for our time: Are the British taking over Science Fiction?

Talked about on today’s show:
Luke Burrage: International Juggler and Entertainer, Juggling Podcasts, Kick-Ass Mystic Ninjas, Gateway by Frederik Pohl, Perdido Street Station by China Miéville, NaNoWriMo, the “Void Trilogy” by Peter F. Hamilton, Richard K. Morgan, Black Man (aka Thirteen) |READ OUR REVIEW|, Altered Carbon |READ OUR REVIEW|, StarShipSofa’s Richard K. Morgan interview, Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer, Dune by Frank Herbert |READ OUR REVIEW|, Nightfall by Isaac Asimov, Nightfall by Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg, Use Of Weapons by Iain M. Banks, The Day Of The Triffids by John Wyndham, Alien 3, Blade, The Time Machine by H.G. Wells |READ OUR REVIEW|, I Am Legend by Richard Matheson |READ OUR REVIEW|, Inferno by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle |READ OUR REVIEW|, rating systems vs. rankings, The Door Into Summer by Robert A. Heinlein, the PC Gamer Podcast, Singularity Sky by Charles Stross, ebooks, Kirinyaga by Mike Resnick |READ OUR REVIEW|, Market Forces by Richard K. Morgan |READ OUR REVIEW|, Time Station Berlin by David Evans.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Recent Arrivals from Blackstone Audio

SFFaudio Recent Arrivals

The Green Hills of Earth
By Robert A. Heinlein; Read by Tom Weiner
6 CDs – 6.5 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2009
ISBN: 9780786167838

We pray for one last landing
On the globe that gave us birth;
Let us rest our eyes on the fleecy skies
And the cool, green hills of Earth.

The Green Hills of Earth is a collection of short stories from one of the masters of science fiction who has held readers spellbound for over thirty years. This collection includes “Delilah and the Space-Rigger,” “Space-Jockey,” “The Long Watch,” “Gentlemen Be Seated,” “The Black Pits of Luna,” “It’s Great to Be Back,” “‘—We Also Walk Dogs,’” “Ordeal in Space,” “The Green Hills of Earth,” and “Logic of Empire.”

Brotherhood of the Wolf
By David Farland; Read by Ray Porter
18 CDs – 22.5 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2009
ISBN: 9781433227028

Book Two in the Runelords Series

David Farland delivers the second in his high fantasy Runelords series, featuring a complex system of magic and a wondrous, expertly realized world. Raj Ahten, ruler of Indhopal, has used enough forcibles to transform himself into the ultimate warrior: The Sum of All Men. Ahten seeks to bring all of humanity under his rule, destroying anyone in his path. But young Prince Gaborn has fulfilled a two-thousand-year-old prophecy and become the Earth King, a mythic figure who can unleash the forces of the Earth itself. He has managed to drive off Raj Ahten, but Ahten is far from defeated. Striking at far-flung cities and fortresses, Ahten seeks to draw out the Earth King from his seat of power and to crush him. But as they weaken each other’s forces in battle, the armies of an ancient and implacable inhuman enemy issue forth from the very bowels of the Earth.

Bellwether
By Connie Willis; Read by Kate Reading
5 CDs – 6.5 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2009
ISBN: 978143324624

Pop culture, chaos theory, and matters of the heart collide in this unique novella from the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author of Doomsday Book.

Sandra Foster studies fads and their meanings for the HiTek corporation. Bennett O’Reilly works with monkey-group behavior and chaos theory for the same company. When the two are thrust together due to a misdelivered package and a run of seemingly bad luck, they find a joint project in a flock of sheep. But a series of setbacks and disappointments arise before they are able to find answers to their questions—with the unintended help of the errant, forgetful, and careless office assistant Flip.

Posted by Scott D. Danielson