Robert Jordan – Page 2

Recent Arrivals: Penguin Audio, Macmillan Audio, Brilliance Audio

Friday, November 26, 2010Friday, November 26, 2010 Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Recent Arrivals

Here are three very different recently arrived audiobooks – one humor, one Fantasy, one Science Fiction. What do they have in common? This post!

Perhaps it’s a contractual obligation? If you work for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart maybe you’re actually required to write and release a short audiobook. Or it may be just a wise decision? What I do know is that we have an obligation to tell you about all the audiobooks we receive, including this one…

I’m Dreaming Of A Black Christmas
By Lewis Black; Read by Lewis Black
4 CDs – Approx. 5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Published: November 2, 2010
ISBN: 9780142428559
Christmas is supposed to be a time of peace on earth and goodwill toward all. But not for Lewis Black. He says humbug to the christmas traditions and trappings that make the holiday memorable. In I’m Dreaming Of A Black Christmas, his hilarious and sharply observed book about the holiday, Lewis lets loose on all things Yule. It’s a very personal look at what’s wrong with Christmas, seen through the eyes of “the most engagingly pissed-off comedian ever.”* [*Stephen King] From his own Christmas rituals – which have absolutely nothing to do with the presents or the Christmas tree or Rudolph – to his own eccentric experiences with the holiday (including a USO Christmas tour and playing Santa Claus in full regalia). I’m Dreaming Of A Black Christmas is classic Lewis Black: funny,razor-sharp, insightful, and honest. You’ll never think of Christmas in the same way.

This is, apparently, the penultimate book in the Wheel Of Time series. The first book in the series, The Eye Of The World, came out in 1990, that’s twenty years ago. According to the Wikipedia entry it would take 17 days, 11 hours and 30 minutes for you to every unabridged audiobook in the series so far. Based on the price of this one, $91.99 CDN, and the first one, $59.95 USD, I’m guessing a complete set would set you back slightly more than $1,000. Now, based on these statistics, I’m betting that fat fantasy (or phat fiction? or heroic fantasy?) fans must be both extremely patient and very well-to-do.

Towers Of Midnight (Wheel of Time #13)
By Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson; Read by Kate Reading and Michael Kramer
30 CDs – Approx. 38 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Published: November 2010
ISBN: 9781427210227
The Last Battle has started. The seals on the Dark One’s prison are crumbling. The Pattern itself is unraveling, and the armies of the Shadow have begun to boil out of the Blight. The sun has begun to set upon the Third Age. Perrin Aybara is now hunted by specters from his past: Whitecloaks, a slayer of wolves, and the responsibilities of leadership. All the while, an unseen foe is slowly pulling a noose tight around his neck. To prevail, he must seek answers in Tel’aran’rhiod and find a way–at long last–to master the wolf within him or lose himself to it forever. Meanwhile, Matrim Cauthon prepares for the most difficult challenge of his life. The creatures beyond the stone gateways–the Aelfinn and the Eelfinn–have confused him, taunted him, and left him hanged, his memory stuffed with bits and pieces of other men’s lives. He had hoped that his last confrontation with them would be the end of it, but the Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills. The time is coming when he will again have to dance with the Snakes and the Foxes, playing a game that cannot be won. The Tower of Ghenjei awaits, and its secrets will reveal the fate of a friend long lost. This penultimate novel of Robert Jordan’s #1 New York Times bestselling series–the second of three based on materials he left behind when he died in 2007–brings dramatic and compelling developments to many threads in the Pattern. The end draws near. Dovie’andi se tovya sagain. It’s time to toss the dice.

Phat Fiction

We talked about this audiobook back in SFFaudio Podcast #074, but somehow it never got scanned – until now! In fact, I’m listening to this one now, and LOVING IT.

The Speed Of Dark
By Elizabeth Moon; Read by Jay Snyder
12 CDs – Approx. 14 Hours 47 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: August 27, 2010
ISBN: 9781441875068
Sample: |MP3|
Thoughtful, poignant, and unforgettable, The Speed Of Dark is a gripping exploration into the world of Lou Arrendale, an autistic man who is offered a chance to try an experimental “cure” for his condition. Now Lou must decide if he should submit to a surgery that may change the way he views the world — and the very essence of who he is.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Recent Arrivals: Macmillan Audio: The Way Of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

Thursday, September 30, 2010 Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Recent Arrivals

Ye gods! This is the first audiobook that I’ve genuinely worried might break my scanner. In short, it’s looooong – weighing in at a titanic 45.5 hours on 36 CDs. The Way Of Kings is the first in a proposed 10 book series! Check out the resonant voice of Michael Kramer in the sample MP3 below, it’s terrific!

The Way Of Kings: Book One Of The Stormlight Archive
By Brandon Sanderson; Read by Kate Reading and Michael Kramer
36 CDs – Approx. 45.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Published: August 31, 2010
ISBN: 9781427209757
Sample |MP3|
Widely acclaimed for his work completing Robert Jordan’s Wheel Of Time saga, Brandon Sanderson now begins a grand cycle of his own, one every bit as ambitious and immersive. Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter. It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them. One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable. Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by over-powering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity. Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar’s niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan’s motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Review of The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

Thursday, February 25, 2010 Scott D.

SFFaudio Review

The Gathering Storm – Book Twelve of The Wheel of Time
By Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
Read by Kate Reading and Michael Kramer
26 CDs – 34.5 Hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Published: 2009
ISBN: 9781593977672
Themes: / Fantasy / Epic fantasy / Good and Evil / Power / Politics / Religion / Magic /

The Gathering Storm is the first of the final trilogy of The Wheel of Time series. It was a long time coming, and I am pleased to report that Brandon Sanderson did an outstanding job. I actually spent part of my listening time looking for stylistic differences from the other books, but hats off to Sanderson for pulling this off. He nailed the tone of the other books, and tells a good story.

There are so many characters in these books, with different styles of speaking, that Michael Kramer and Kate Reading would be forgiven for inconsistencies in their narration, as they’ve done all 11 volumes that come before this one. That’s over 230 hours of audio! But they were right on, too. Their professional, enjoyable narration gave the book an additional source of continuity. These two are the voices of the Wheel of Time series.

So much has happened in this series that to say much about the plot here will spoil previous volumes. It should suffice for me to say that I enjoyed this book enough that I’ve started the series over from the beginning, in anticipation of the upcoming pair of concluding novels.

Posted by Tricia

Recent Arrival: The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

Thursday, November 5, 2009Thursday, November 5, 2009 Scott D.

SFFaudio Recent Arrivals

Here’s the first of the final three novels of the massive Wheel of Time series. Kate Reading and Michael Kramer continue narrating, which is great news.

Tarmon Gai’don, the Last Battle, looms. And mankind is not ready.

The final volume of the Wheel of Time, A Memory of Light, was partially written by Robert Jordan before his untimely passing in 2007. Brandon Sanderson, New York Times bestselling author of the Mistborn books, was chosen by Jordan’s editor—his wife, Harriet McDougal—to complete the final book. The scope and size of the volume was such that it could not be contained in a single book, and so Tor proudly presents The Gathering Storm as the first of three novels that will make up A Memory of Light. This short sequence will complete the struggle against the Shadow, bringing to a close a journey begun almost twenty years ago and marking the conclusion of the Wheel of Time, the preeminent fantasy epic of our era.

In this epic novel, Robert Jordan’s international bestselling series begins its dramatic conclusion. Rand al’Thor, the Dragon Reborn, struggles to unite a fractured network of kingdoms and alliances in preparation for the Last Battle. As he attempts to halt the Seanchan encroachment northward—wishing he could form at least a temporary truce with the invaders—his allies watch in terror the shadow that seems to be growing within the heart of the Dragon Reborn himself.

Egwene al’Vere, the Amyrlin Seat of the rebel Aes Sedai, is a captive of the White Tower and subject to the whims of their tyrannical leader. As days tick toward the Seanchan attack she knows is imminent, Egwene works to hold together the disparate factions of Aes Sedai while providing leadership in the face of increasing uncertainty and despair. Her fight will prove the mettle of the Aes Sedai, and her conflict will decide the future of the White Tower—and possibly the world itself.

The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

The SFFaudio Podcast #039

Podcast

The SFFaudio Podcast #039 – Jesse and Scott are joined by Fred Greenhalgh of Final Rune Productions (and the Radio Drama Revival podcast) to talk about the twin arts of radio drama and audio drama.

Talked about on today’s show:
Modern radio drama, The Sonic Society podcast, Roger Gregg, William Dufris, H.P. Lovecraft, Halloween, horror, The Grist Mill, Dark Passenger by Fred Greenhalgh, Willamette Radio Workshop, zombies, The Drabblecast podcast, Dunesteef Audio Fiction Magazine, WMPG, Maine, equipment for recording, Zoom Q3, Zoom H2, software for editing audio, Audacity, Adobe Audition (formerly Cool Edit Pro), Pro Tools, The Most Dangerous Game, Three Skeleton Key, Infidel by Roger Gregg, “field recording” audio drama, Marantz PMD660, the growth of amateur audio drama, AudioDramaTalk.com, Mad Horse Theatre Company, Waiting For A Window by Fred Greenhalgh, 2008 Ogle Awards, Wireless Theatre Company, The Grimm Of Stoddesden Hall, folklore, mythology, Medusa On The Beach, New Orleans, fantasy, Day Of The Dead by Fred Greenhalgh, the Dragonlance series by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, Robert Jordan, Final Fantasy, German audio drama (“Hörspiel”), the freakonomics of audio drama (dubbing drives interest in audio drama), the Torchwood radio dramas, Lux Radio Theatre, Academy Award Theatre, will radio drama revive?, what’s wrong with terrestrial radio?, what’s wrong with satellite radio?, Sirius Channel #163, radio drama in decline?, CBC mothballing radio drama, Colonial Radio Theatre, turning radio drama into cartoons, The Anne Manx series, Anne Manx animated (on YouTube), Radio Repertory Company of America, Decoder Ring Theatre’s The Red Panda Adventures, machinima, Creepshow, Wormwood, is the month of October for radio drama?, or is it just Halloween?, The War Of The Worlds, Simon Jones, The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy (radio drama), The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams, The Adventures Of Sexton Blake, Dirk Maggs, stream of consciousness, post modern audio drama, Yuri Rasovsky‘s The Cabinet Of Dr. Calagari, Tom Lopez (aka Meatball Fulton), The Cabinet Of Dr. Fritz, Cellphone Theatre, ZBS.org, Audible.com’s new stereo format, Bradbury 13, 90 Second Cellphone Chillin’ Theatre, Blackstone Audio’s The Maltese Falcon, narration in audio drama, Rogue Male, storytelling and medium, First Blood, RadioArchive.cc.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Chapter Two of The Gathering Storm Available at Tor

Thursday, September 24, 2009Saturday, October 24, 2009 Seth Wilson

SFFaudio Online Audio

The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson Tor appears to be going all-out in its promotion of the 12th installment of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series, The Gathering Storm, co-written by Brandon Sanderson. In partnership with Macmillan Audio, Tor.com has made the novel’s second chapter, “The Nature of Pain” narrated by Kate Reading, available for online listening.

The Gathering Storm, Chapter Two, “The Nature of Pain”

Registration on Tor.com is required, but it’s fast and free to sign up. The novel’s Prologue, “What the Storm Means”, is also available at Audible for a low price, and the first chapter, “Tears from Steel”, is readable–sadly no audio–at Tor.com. The Gathering Storm will be released on 27 October.

Posted by Seth Wilson