Robert A. Heinlein’s Ordeal In Space on BBC Radio 7

Online Audio

BBC Radio 7 - BBC7Lucky you! BBC 7 has chosen Sunday, March 2nd 2008 to re-broadcast their specially commissioned Robert A. Heinlein reading of Ordeal In Space. The original transmission, last July, was part of a series celebrating the Heinlein Centenary. U.K. and non-UK residents can listen to the live stream or, the day after it airs, use the Listen Again service for 6 days following. Tune in for some vintage SF!

Ordeal In Space by Robert A. HeinleinOrdeal In Space
By Robert A. Heinlein; Read by Adam Sims
1 Broadcast – Approx. 30 Minutes [UNABRIDGED?]
BROADCASTER: BBC7’s The 7th Dimension
BROADCAST: Sunday, March 2nd 2008 @ 6.30pm and 12.30am (UK time)
To mark the centenary of Robert A. Heinlein’s birth, a thrilling tale that delves into the psyche of a traumatized spaceman. Astronaut, William Cole is back on earth recuperating from a terrible accident. He was rescued in the nick of time from being jettisoned into outer-space. It has left him with a debilitating fear of falling. Facing the prospect of never returning to a job he loves, he tries to adapt to life as a civilian. His struggle to overcome paralyzing fear is captured in exquisite detail.

Commentary: What are we missing?

SFFaudio Commentary

SFFaudio MetaBy any measure of the times were living in, there is a new audio renaissance. More audiobooks are getting made now than ever before. And more SF, Fantasy and Horror audiobooks are being released than ever before. Here’s a list of the top 10 SFF novels from Sci-Fi lists:

1. Frank Herbert Dune
2. Orson Scott Card Ender’s Game
3. Isaac Asimov Foundation
4. Douglas Adams Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
5. George Orwell 1984
6. Robert A. Heinlein Stranger in a Strange Land
7. Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451
8. William Gibson Neuromancer
9. Isaac Asimov I, Robot
10. Arthur C. Clarke 2001: A Space Odyssey

All of these novels have had UNABRIDGED AUDIOBOOK releases at some point or another. Several have had more than one unabridged release! That’s wonderful. But I’m still not satisfied. What novels are we still missing? Or rather, what novels are you missing.

Personally I’m missing a few, here’s a list of just 10 titles I’ve picked from out of the air. I’d like to see any and all of these made into unabridged audiobooks:

1. Scott Lynch The Lies Of Loch Lamora
2. Dan Simmons Hyperion
3. Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle The Mote In God’s Eye
4. Clifford Simak Way Station
5. Alfred Bester The Stars My Destination
6. Steven Gould Jumper
7. Alastair Reynolds Revelation Space
8. Robert J. Sawyer Golden Fleece
9. John Brunner Stand On Zanzibar
10. Ken MacLeod The Star Fraction

What novels are missing from your audiobook shelf?

Posted by Jesse Willis

Recent Arrivals: Blake’s 7, Heinlein and more

Science Fiction Audiobook Recent Arrivals


Performed by FULL-CAST
4 CDs, 225 min – [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: B7 Media
Published: 2007

This box set contains the episodes Rebel, Traitor, and Liberator as well 40 minutes of bonus features.

In the third century of the second calendar, the galactic Federation, once a beacon of democracy and peace, has become a corrupt tyranny. Roj Blake stood up for the ordinary people. The establishment framed him for crimes he didn’t commit and sentenced him to permanent exile on the notorious prison planet of Cygnus Alpha.

The Federation thinks it has seen the last of Roj Blake.

The Federation will wish it had.

Phantoms by Dean KoontzPhantoms
By Dean Koontz; Read by Buck Schirner
12 CDs – 15 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2008
ISBN: 9781423339267

They found the town silent, apparently abandoned. Then they found the first body strangely swollen and still warm. One hundred fifty were dead, 350 missing. But the terror had only begun in the tiny mountain town of Snowfield, California. At first they thought it was the work of a maniac. Or terrorists. Or toxic contamination. Or a bizarre new disease. But then they found the truth. And they saw it in the flesh. And it was worse than anything any of them had ever imagined…

Airman by Eoin ColferAirman
By Eoin Colfer; Read by John Keating
9 CDs – 11 hrs 20 min [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: December, 2007
ISBN: 0739359746

In the 1890s Conor and his family live on the sovereign Saltee Islands, off the Irish coast. Conor spends his days studying the science of flight with his tutor and exploring the castle with the king’s daughter, Princess Isabella. But the boy’s idyllic life changes forever the day he discovers a deadly conspiracy against the king. When Conor tries to intervene, he is branded a traitor and thrown into jail on the prison island of Little Saltee. There, he has to fight for his life, as he and the other prisoners are forced to mine for diamonds in inhumane conditions.

There is only one way to escape Little Saltee, and that is to fly. So Conor passes the solitary months by scratching drawings of flying machines on the prison walls. The months turn into years; but eventually the day comes when Conor must find the courage to trust his revolutionary designs and take to the skies.

Science Fiction audiobook - Sunrise Alley by Catherine AsaroSunrise Alley
By Catherine Asaro; Read by Hillary Huber
10 CDs – 11.5 hrs [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks
Published: December 2007
ISBN: 1433213007

When a shipwrecked stranger washed up on the beach near research scientist Samantha Bryton’s home, she was unaware that he was something more than human. He said his name was Turner Pascal—but Pascal was dead, killed in a car wreck. This man only held the remainder of Pascal’s consciousness in a technologically-enhanced humanoid body. He was, in fact, an experiment by the notorious criminal Charon, a practitioner of illegal robotics and android research. Charon has been secretly copying human minds into android brains, with plans to make his own army of slaves. On the run from this most ruthless criminal, Samatha and Turner seek help from Sunrise Alley, an underground organization of AIs and androids that have gone rogue. But these cybernetic outlaws are rumored to have their own hidden agenda.

Science Fiction audiobook - The Cat Who Walks Through Walls by Robert A. HeinleinThe Cat Who Walks Through Walls
By Robert A. Heinlein; Read by Tom Weiner
11 CDs – 13.5 hrs [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks
Published: December 2007
ISBN: 1433212918

When a stranger attempting to deliver a cryptic message is shot dead at his dinner table, Ames is thrown headfirst into danger, intrigue, and other dimensions where Lazarus Long still thrives, where Jubal Harshaw lives surrounded by beautiful women, and where a daring plot to rescue the sentient computer called Mike can change the direction of all human history.

AudioFile Magazine’s latest issue praises Variable Star audiobook

SFFaudio News

Audiofile MagazineAudiofile magazine’s February/March 2008 issue has designated an “earphones award” for an audiobook reviewed by SFFaudio’s own cool guy Scott Danielson.

Scott wrote, among other things, of Variable Star (by Robert A. Heinlein and Spider Robinson)…

“The novel is full of philosophical insight, exploding things, and space travel.”

Cool!

Also reviewed in this issue are…

Dune Messiah – The Dune Chronicles, Book Two
By Frank Herbert; Read by Scott Brick, Katherine Kellgren, Euan Morton, Simon Vance, et al.

Slan
By A.E. Van Vogt; Read by Oliver Wyman

A Civil Campaign
By Lois McMaster Bujold; Read by Grover Gardner

Blade Runner (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?)
By Philip K. Dick; Read by Scott Brick

His Majesty’s Dragon – Temeraire, Book 1
By Naomi Novik; Read by Simon Vance

Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Ravens Of Avalon
By Diana L. Paxson; Read by Lorna Raver

Empire
By Orson Scott Card; Read by Stefan Rudnicki, Orson Scott Card

As She Climbed Across The Table
By Jonathan Lethem; Read by David Aaron Baker

Girl In Landscape
By Jonathan Lethem; Read by David Aaron Baker

And over in the Mystery/Suspense section you’ll find a review of…

The Wheel of Darkness
By Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child; Read by Rene Auberjonois

In the audio theatre section…

Infinite Crisis: Part 2 (Superman, Batman, Wonderwoman)
By Greg Cox (and DC Comics); Performed by a Full Cast

There are a few other SFFaudio related reviews in their too! Audiofile magazine isn’t available on any newstand or specialty bookstore that I’ve seen here in Canada, but it is available by subscription, and may be available on some newstands in the USA. Check out their website HERE for how to get a copy.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Blackstone Audiobooks OVERSTOCK SALE awesome audiobooks $5.00 each

SFFaudio News

Blackstone AudiobooksBlackstone Audiobooks is having an absolutely amazing overstock sale! 114 titles are on sale, almost all of them for a rock bottom $5.00 each!

Check out these titles and the AMAZING prices!

KING KONG $5.00 – 5 CDs
By Edgar Wallace and Merian C. Cooper. Novelization by Delos W. Lovelace; Read by Stefan Rudnicki
|READ OUR REVIEW|

CITIZEN OF THE GALAXY $5.00 – 7 Cassettes
By Robert A. Heinlein; Read by Lloyd James
|READ OUR REVIEW|

SUPERMAN RETURNS $5.00 – 8 CDs
By Marv Wolfman; Read by Scott Brick
|READ OUR REVIEW|

DEATH MATCH $5.00 – 10 Cassettes
By Lincoln Child; Read by Barrett Whitener
|READ OUR REVIEW|

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO NARNIA $5.00 – 4 CDs
By Jonathan Rogers; Read by Brian Emerson

SFFaudio EssentialV FOR VENDETTA $5.00 – 8 CDs
By Steve Moore; Read by Simon Vance
|READ OUR REVIEW|

Posted by Jesse Willis

New Releases

New Releases

O’ audiobook, you of your flowing tears, you make me covetous…

Science Fiction audiobook - Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said by Philip K. DickFlow My Tears, The Policeman Said
By Philip K. Dick; Read by Scott Brick
7 Cassettes, 7 CDs or 1 MP3-CD – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks
Published: January 2008
ISBN: 1433211232 (cassettes), 1433211249 (cds), 1433211256 (mp3-cd)
Pop star Jason Taverner is the product of a top-secret government experiment that produced a selection of genetically enhanced people forty years ago. Unusually bright and beautiful, he’s a television idol beloved by millions—until one day, all records of his identity inexplicably disappear. Overnight, he has gone from being a celebrity to a being a man whom no one seems to recognize. And in a police state, having no proof of his existence is enough to put his life in danger.

This Asaro novel isn’t in the Skolian Empire series, but its tech will be familiar to those who’ve read them…

Science Fiction audiobook - Sunrise Alley by Catherine AsaroSunrise Alley
By Catherine Asaro; Read by Hillary Huber
11 Cassettes, 12 CDs or 1 MP3-CD – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks
Published:December 2007
ISBN: 1433212994 (cassettes), 1433213007 (cds), 1433213014 (mp3-cd)
When a shipwrecked stranger washed up on the beach near research scientist Samantha Bryton’s home, she was unaware that he was something more than human. He said his name was Turner Pascal—but Pascal was dead, killed in a car wreck. This man only held the remainder of Pascal’s consciousness in a technologically-enhanced humanoid body. He was, in fact, an experiment by the notorious criminal Charon, a practitioner of illegal robotics and android research. Charon has been secretly copying human minds into android brains, with plans to make his own army of slaves. On the run from this most ruthless criminal, Samatha and Turner seek help from Sunrise Alley, an underground organization of AIs and androids that have gone rogue. But these cybernetic outlaws are rumored to have their own hidden agenda.

Below is the third audiobook version of The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, the first being a very abridged reading by Robert Vaughn, the second, released through Recorded Books in 1999, was read by George Wilson.

Science Fiction audiobook - The Cat Who Walks Through Walls by Robert A. HeinleinThe Cat Who Walks Through Walls
By Robert A. Heinlein; Read by Tom Weiner
9 Cassettes, 10 CDs or 1 MP3-CD – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks
Published: December 2007
ISBN: 1433212901 (cassettes), 1433212918 (cds), 1433212925 (mp3-cd)
When a stranger attempting to deliver a cryptic message is shot dead at his dinner table, Ames is thrown headfirst into danger, intrigue, and other dimensions where Lazarus Long still thrives, where Jubal Harshaw lives surrounded by beautiful women, and where a daring plot to rescue the sentient computer called Mike can change the direction of all human history.

“Swashbuckling adventure, science fiction, betrayal and a bit of romance… no leprechauns and no fairies, and absolutely no apprentice wizards.” – Check out the trailer for this novel on Eoin Colfer’s website

Airman by Eoin ColferAirman
By Eoin Colfer; Read by John Keating
CDs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: December 26, 2007
ISBN: 0739359746
In the 1890s Conor and his family live on the sovereign Saltee Islands, off the Irish coast. Conor spends his days studying the science of flight with his tutor and exploring the castle with the king’s daughter, Princess Isabella. But the boy’s idyllic life changes forever the day he discovers a deadly conspiracy against the king. When Conor tries to intervene, he is branded a traitor and thrown into jail on the prison island of Little Saltee. There, he has to fight for his life, as he and the other prisoners are forced to mine for diamonds in inhumane conditions. There is only one way to escape Little Saltee, and that is to fly. So Conor passes the solitary months by scratching drawings of flying machines on the prison walls. The months turn into years; but eventually the day comes when Conor must find the courage to trust his revolutionary designs and take to the skies.

This 1983 Koontz novel has elements from John Carpenter’s version of The Thing, and the “shoggoths” envisioned in the works of H.P. Lovecraft…

Phantoms by Dean KoontzPhantoms
By Dean Koontz; Read by Buck Schirner
12 CDs – 15 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: January 2008
ISBN: 9781423339267
They found the town silent, apparently abandoned. Then they found the first body strangely swollen and still warm. One hundred fifty were dead, 350 missing. But the terror had only begun in the tiny mountain town of Snowfield, California. At first they thought it was the work of a maniac. Or terrorists. Or toxic contamination. Or a bizarre new disease. But then they found the truth. And they saw it in the flesh. And it was worse than anything any of them had ever imagined…

The King of modern horror, Stephen King, writes again…

Duma Key by Stephen KingDuma Key
By Stephen King; Read by John Slattery
18 CDs – 23 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Publisher: January 2008
A terrible accident takes Edgar Freemantle’s right arm and scrambles his memory and his mind, leaving him with little but rage as he begins the ordeal of rehabilitation. When his marriage suddenly ends, Edgar begins to wish he hadn’t survived his injuries. He wants out. His psychologist suggests a new life distant from the Twin Cities, along with something else…

Somehow we missed this classic in the fall releases…

Cat's Cradle by Kurt VonnegutCat’s Cradle
By Kurt Vonnegut; Read by Tony Roberts
6 CDs – 7 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: HarperAudio
Published: November 2007
ISBN: 9780061135200
Cat’s Cradle is Vonnegut’s satirical commentary on modern man and his madness. An apocalyptic tale of this planet’s ultimate fate, it features a midget as the protagonist; a complete, original theology created by a calypso singer; and a vision of the future that is at once blackly fatalistic and hilariously funny.

Here’s a podiobook that sound promising…

Beautiful Red by M. Darusha Wehm Beautiful Red
By M. Darusha Wehm; Read by M. Darusha Wehm
23 MP3 Files (Podcast) – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Podiobooks.com
Published: 2007 – 2008
The future is boring. Technology has solved the world’s most pressing problems, leaving people with tedious work and mundane play. Jack is a Security Officer Class 5, which sounds important, but isn’t. However, her banal life as a cubicle worker by day and tinkerer by night is interrupted when she discovers that her employer’s computer system has been invaded.

Posted by Jesse Willis