News, Reviews, and Commentary on all forms of science fiction, fantasy, and horror audio. Audiobooks, audio drama, podcasts; we discuss all of it here. Mystery, crime, and noir audio are also fair game.
Dragon Page Cover To Cover staffers Joe Murphy and Summer Brooks have spun off their own podcast! The Kick-Ass Mystic Ninjas Podcast specializes in discussions of classic science fiction novels. Two full shows have been released so far:
1. Hyperion by Dan Simmons – DIRECT DOWNLOAD MP3
2. Stranger In A Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein – DIRECT DOWNLOAD MP3
To subscribe, plug this into iTunes:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/kickassmysticninjas/
Posted by Jesse Willis
Just posted – a new Author Focus page featuring Grandmaster Robert A. Heinlein. Click here to see it!
Posted by Jesse Willis
The Rolling Stones
By Robert A. Heinlein; Performed By A Full Cast
8 CDs – 7 Hours 9 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Full Cast Audio
Published: 2005
ISBN: 1932076808
Themes: / Science Fiction / Young Adult / Space Travel / Newtonian Physics / The Moon / Mars / The Asteroid Belt /
When the Stone twins made up their minds to leave Luna City in a secondhand spaceship, they hadn’t planned on having their whole family accompany them. But the Stones are not your ordinary Lunar family – no way! – and their voyage through the solar system sure proves it.
Not long ago FULL CAST AUDIO contacted us, and gave us a heads-up – a new Robert A. Heinlein novel was coming. I was blown away by their first Heinlein adaptation so I tried to keep my expectations reasonable. “Lightning can’t strike twice”, I told myself. “Just be happy that it is being released. That’s what you asked for and that’s what you got. Don’t be disappointed if it doesn’t live up to your expectations.” I needn’t have worried. The Rolling Stones is as good as the superb full cast reading of Have Space Suit, Will Travel – maybe even a little better!
It is a Heinlein juvenile, written and first published in 1952, full of Heinleinian economics, politics, and family values, which all combine with a travelogue of interplanetary adventure. Dialogue moves the surprisingly light plot along, and the narrator provides the cultural and technological backdrop.
The Stone family is made up of father Roger, mother Edith, grandmother Hazel, the eldest child Meade, the youngest Buster, and the middle identical twins Castor and Pollux. The twins are natural born inventors and entrepreneurs, so when they go looking through the used spaceship yards on Luna they’ve got a scheme in mind. When Roger finds out about their plans he manages to turn the whole thing into a family venture. And off they go into the solar system.
If you like Heinlein you’ll love this novel but it’s a little different from most juvies in that it is more a series of smaller adventures. What I like best about the book is that it ably envisions a wonderful future of interplanetary travel in a completely scientifically accurate way. The economic model that would allow a family to buy a spaceship, fuel it and use it as their personal yacht may be unrealistic, but that won’t dampen your enthusiasm. It didn’t mine.
Most of the actors are new but Bill Molesky is back playing another father and Cynthia Bishop plays another mother figure. Peter Moller plays another small role, and FULL CAST AUDIO founder Bruce Coville makes another cameo too. Another plus – Daniel Bostick again directs. If I had my druthers, Daniel Bostick will direct all the future FULL CAST AUDIO Heinlein releases too (on the principle you don’t mess with success). The new actors are all perfect in their roles. There isn’t a false performance in the bunch.
A potential stumbling block was avoided. This is a third person perspective novel, as opposed to the first person of Have Space, Suit Will Travel, so they needed a narrator. Veteran voice over actor David Baker took the reins there and together with this full cast read another faithful adaptation of a Heinlein “juvenile” novel.
What’s really interesting though is that this is a straight reading with multiple readers, something I didn’t fully realize in Have Space Suit, Will Travel. There are no sound effects. There are just actors reading the text and a little accenting music at chapter openings. This was another excellent choice, a straight reading works well. You don’t need to paint in sound effects when the words evoke a mental image.
As is becoming the rule, the attention to detail found in the audio production extends to the fit and finish of the packaging. Jerry Russel’s original cover art is absolutely beautiful to behold. The CD case is the identical design to the Have Spacesuit, Will Travel case. A thick DVD style case, with the CDs stacked and secured by two plastic clamps. Perfect! Please FULL CAST AUDIO keep recording these Heinlein juvenile novels. I’d like to say I deserve it, but even if I don’t the novels sure do!
Posted by Jesse Willis
Scott originally reviewed Very Bad Deaths in May – click here to see it. I finished it myself and wanted to comment:
I finally got a chance to listen to this one! I had a smile tattooed on my face while I listened to Spider spin his SF web. I knew I would be interested to hear this one especially because it is set in and around Vancouver, British Columbia, where I live and it is chock full of local details. But after hearing it, and realizing that most people who don’t live in BC probably couldn’t care less about the setting what I really wanted to talk about is something a lot of listeners/readers might have missed that they should care about. Spider Robinson wrote this novel as homage to Crime Writers Of America Grandmaster Lawrence Block. Most SF readers probably don’t know who Block is but they should. Block is a prolific and talented author working in the crime genre. In VBD Robinson uses many turns of phrase that are ones Block uses almost unconsciously in his many stories. Other giveaways include the theme of a horrifically understandable serial killer and a deep and abiding love of coffee. Robinson has done this sort of thing before – his novel Callahan’s Con was an homage to Block’s contemporary – fellow Crime Writers Of America Grandmaster Donald Westlake and Callahan’s Key was inspired by the writings of Robert A. Heinlein. Another neat feature of Very Bad Deaths is that it contains the only reference in fiction to the philosophical writings of Daniel Dennett that I know of – he also manages to tie Dennett’s concepts into the book’s plot.
Spider is currently “collaborating” with Heinlein on a novel titled Variable Star, I hope Blackstone Audio acquires the audio rights to that one and that they get Spider to narrate! Oh and a sequel to Very Bad Deaths is also in the works.
Listen to the GrandMasters of Science Fiction via online audio
Ever wonder what your favorite Science Fiction authors sound like? We can help. Here’s a complete list of the Science Fiction Writers Of America GrandMasters sorted by the year of their induction and the online audioclips and interviews that we know about.
PLEASE NOTE: File types vary ( .mp3 .m3u .ram .wav ).
Robert A. Heinlein (1974)
Stranger in a Strange Land – Time Enough for Love
“Robert Heinlein Day” – “eggs in one basket”
“colonies beyond Earth” – “through the universe”
Jack Williamson (1975)
-An interview from the Fast-Forward archives
Clifford D. Simak (1976) – None known
L. Sprague de Camp (1978) – None known
Fritz Leiber (1981) – None known
Andre Norton (1983) – None known
Arthur C. Clarke (1985) – None known
Isaac Asimov (1986)
-Asimov interviewed by Terry Gross 1986
-A Wired for Books interview from 1987
Ray Bradbury (1988)
-A Wired for Books interview from 1992
-A Wired for Books interview from 1993
Lester Del Rey (1990) – None known
Frederik Pohl (1992) – None known
Damon Knight (1994) – None known
A.E. van Vogt (1995) – None known
Jack Vance (1996) – None known
Poul Anderson (1997) – None known
Hal Clement (1998)
-An Hour 25 online interview
Brian W. Aldiss (1999)
-A Wired for Books interview from 1984
–A Wired for Books interview from 1986
Philip José Farmer (2000) – None known
Ursula K. Le Guin (2002)
-Three Hour 25 Interviews: Sep 2000 – Oct 2001 – Aug 2003
Robert Silverberg (2003) – None known
Posted by Jesse Willis
The Ninth Annual Mark Time Awards for the Best Audio Science Fiction of the Year (for production year 2004) were presented at the CONvergence Science Fiction Convention at the Sheraton Hotel South in Bloomington, MN on July 1st, 2005.
GOLD MARK TIME AWARD
-No Award given-
SILVER MARK TIME AWARD (tie)
“Paradox”
Strange Interludes, Fort Worth, TX
Stephen Couch, writer/producer
“Snowbank”
Icebox Radio Theater, International Falls, MN
Jeffrey Adams, writer/producer
HONORABLE MENTION
“Rod Renegade: Chaos for Hire”
Texas Radio Theatre, Arlington, TX
Shannan and Rich Frohlich, producers
SPECIAL AWARD – BEST ADAPTATION
“The Menace From Earth”
Atlanta Radio Theater Company, Atlanta, GA
William Alan Ritch, producer. Story by Robert Heinlein.
GOLD OGLE AWARD
“Next Years Girl”
Willamette Radio Workshop, Portland, OR
Sam A. Mowry and Cynthia McGean, producers
SILVER OGLE AWARD
-No Award given-
HONORABLE MENTION
“Three Skeleton Key”
One Act Players, San Mateo, CA
Glenn Carlson, producer
SPECIAL AWARD – BEST ADAPTATION
“Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein”
Willamette Radio Workshop, Portland, OR
Sam A. Mowry and Cynthia McGean, producers
Judges for the 2004 Mark Time and Ogle Awards were:
Simon Jones – “Arthur Dent” in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Kris Markman – National Audio Theatre Festivals
Brian Price – Great Northern Audio Theatre
Philip Proctor – The Firesign Theatre
Jerry Stearns – Great Northern Audio Theatre
Congratulations to everyone!
I, for one, have only heard one of these productions – if you are a producer of science fiction, fantasy, or horror audio drama, please consider sending them our way for review on SFFAudio. Click here to contact me for more information.
Posted by Scott D. Danielson