science fiction – Page 107

New Releases: Solaris by Stanislaw Lem

Saturday, June 11, 2011 Jesse Willis

New Releases

Steve Feldberg, a past guest on the SFFaudio Podcast (#40), writes in to tell us about a new Audible Frontiers audiobook:

Hi Jesse –

I wanted to draw your attention to our all-new, unabridged recording of Stanislaw Lem’s Solaris. Not only is this the first time in audio for this classic – and not only is it narrated wonderfully by Alessandro Juliani of Battlestar Galactica – and not only is 2011 the 50th anniversary of the book’s publication – but this is a brand-new translation – and the first time the book has been translated directly from Polish to English. (The existing book is a translation from Polish to French and then to English; Lem always disavowed it as being incomplete.) Audible, in cooperation with the Lem Estate, commissioned this new translation by Bill Johnston of the Univ. of Indiana.

This is an audio exclusive; there are no current plans to publish this translation in any other form.

We’re really excited about this project. I hope you’ll give it a listen!

Thanks Steve!

And yeah, Solaris looks like it will make a really terrific listen. Early reviews are positively glowing. Check out including this compelling quote from Jason (in Kansas City, MO):

“Wow! Wow! and Wow! Brainy stuff for thinking people.”

Solaris: The Definitive Edition
By Stanisław Lem; Translated by Bill Johnston; Read by by Alessandro Juliani
Audible Download – Approx. 7 Hours 48 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: June 7, 2011
At last, one of the world’s greatest works of science fiction is available – just as author Stanislaw Lem intended it. To mark the 50th anniversary of the publication of Solaris, Audible, in cooperation with the Lem Estate, has commissioned a brand-new translation – complete for the first time, and the first ever directly from the original Polish to English. Beautifully narrated by Alessandro Juliani (Battlestar Galactica), Lem’s provocative novel comes alive for a new generation. In Solaris, Kris Kelvin arrives on an orbiting research station to study the remarkable ocean that covers the planet’s surface. But his fellow scientists appear to be losing their grip on reality, plagued by physical manifestations of their repressed memories. When Kelvin’s long-dead wife suddenly reappears, he is forced to confront the pain of his past – while living a future that never was. Can Kelvin unlock the mystery of Solaris? Does he even want to?

Posted by Jesse Willis

Recent Arrivals: Macmillan Audio – Halo: Cryptum by Greg Bear

Saturday, June 11, 2011Saturday, October 15, 2011 Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Recent Arrivals

Macmillan Audio The first book, of a planned trilogy, called the “Forerunner Saga.” The Halo wiki has a quote from Frank O’Connor (the Franchise Development Director for Halo) saying:

“It’s going to be a trilogy. A connected universe that will remain faithful to the scale and mysteries, while exploring the detail and challenges of a VERY powerful culture. This won’t be some skirt-raising exercise in Forerunner populist-ism. Folks know way more about Forerunners than you think, but we’re definitely going to respect that strange sense of wonder and awe that Bungie infused from day one. It will be BIG Greg Bear fiction in a faintly familiar place, but one that’s full of surprises. Think Eon.”

The audiobook also includes a three and a half minute introduction, written and read, by Greg Bear himself. In it he says that he drew inspiration for the trilogy from Olaf Stapledon, Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, E.E. Doc Smith, Larry Niven and Robert A. Heinlein. There’s also a sentence particularly about Ringworld.

Halo: Cryptum (Book One of the Forerunner Saga)
By Greg Bear; Read by Holter Graham
7 CDs – Approx. 8 Hours 40 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Published: March 29, 2011
ISBN: 9781427210081
One hundred thousand years ago, the galaxy was populated by a great variety of beings. But one species–eons beyond all others in both technology and knowledge–achieved dominance. They ruled in peace but met opposition with quick and brutal effectiveness. They were the Forerunners–the keepers of the Mantle, the next stage of life in the Universe’s Living Time. And then they vanished. This is their story. – Bornstellar Makes Eternal Lasting is a young rebellious Forerunner. He is a Manipular, untried–yet to become part of the adult Forerunner society, where vast knowledge and duty waits. He comes from a family of Builders, the Forerunners’ highest and most politically powerful rate. It is the Builders who create the grand technology that facilitates Forerunner dominance over the known universe. It is the Builders who believe they must shoulder the greatest burden of the Mantle–as shepherds and guardians of all life. Bornstellar is marked to become a great Builder just like his father. But this Manipular has other plans. He is obsessed with lost treasures of the past. His reckless passion to seek out the marvelous artifacts left behind by the Precursors–long-vanished superbeings of unknowable power and intent—forces his father’s hand. Bornstellar is sent to live among the Miners, where he must come to terms with where his duty truly lies. But powerful forces are at play. Forerunner society is at a major crux. Past threats are once again proving relentless. Dire solutions–machines and strategies never before contemplated–are being called up, and fissures in Forerunner power are leading to chaos. On a Lifeworker’s experimental planet, Bornstellar’s rebellious course crosses the paths of two humans, and the long lifeline of a great military leader, forever changing Bornstellar’s destiny …and the fate of the entire galaxy. This is a tale of life, death, intergalactic horror, exile, and maturity. It is a story of overwhelming change–and of human origins. For the Mantle may not lie upon the shoulders of Forerunners forever.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Review of The Adjustment Bureau by Philip K. Dick

Monday, June 6, 2011Monday, June 6, 2011 Jay

SFFaudio Review

The Adjustment Bureau (aka Adjustment Team)
By Philip K. Dick; Read by Phil Gigante
1 CD – Approx. 1 Hour [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: March 4, 2011
ISBN: 9781441894694
Sample |MP3|
Themes: / Science Fiction / Horror / Freezing Time / Adventure /

The Adjustment Bureau is a major motion picture based on Philip K. Dick’s classic paranoid story, The Adjustment Team. This is the short story, The Adjustment Team, which asks the question – Do we control our destiny, or do unseen forces manipulate us? Ed Fletcher is a real estate agent with a normal life, until one day he leaves the house for work a few minutes later than he should have. He arrives at a terrifying, grey, ash world. Ed rushes home and tells his wife, Ruth, who goes back to the office with him. When they return, everything is normal. But he soon realizes people and objects have subtly changed. Panic-stricken, he runs to a public phone to warn the police, only to have the phone booth ascend heavenward with Fletcher inside…

The short story Adjustment Team, was written by Philip K. Dick in 1953 and published in 1954. This story makes us re-consider why any chain of events happens. Is it we who construct our destinies or is there an agency that controls us? Dick, as illustrated in the story, suggests that beings of high mentality control the world. Also, there is a group of men who control time and make sure everything is working as they intend. They are called “The Adjustment Team.”

The main character in the story is Ed. He is a business man working for the Douglas and Blake Company. One day, a clerk from “The Adjustment Team,” was supposed to interrupt Ed’s chain of events – to make him arrive at his work before the team starts controlling that area called “Sector T310.” However, the clerk fails and makes a timing mistake. This eventually leads Ed to arrive at his company on time, and he sees “The Adjustment Team.” And, for the first time in his life Ed sees something that people shouldn’t ever see.

Phil Gigante narrated this short story with a strong voice, making the book more interesting than I had expected. His accent is American, with a low tone. At least a couple of short stories, by Dick, contain dogs that talk. A talking dog can be found in this story as well. In fact, Gigante narrated it as as a lazy hound. I highly recommend this audiobook to anyone who loves Dick.

Posted by Jay

How The Old World Died by Harry Harrison

Saturday, May 28, 2011Saturday, May 28, 2011 Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

Added sound effects, and real rush job on the reading don’t detract too much from the appeal of this cute short short story by Harry Harrison (its just five pages). Here’s the description from MisterNizz’s blog:

“A self-replicating machine is, as the name suggests, an artificial self-replicating system that relies on conventional large-scale technology and automation. Certain idiosyncratic terms are occasionally found in the literature. For example, the term “clanking replicator” was once used by Drexler to distinguish macroscale replicating systems from the microscopic nanorobots or “assemblers” that nanotechnology may make possible, but the term is informal and is rarely used by others in popular or technical discussions. Replicators have also been called “von Neumann machines” after mathemetician John von Neumann, who first rigorously studied the idea. In this short story, Harry Harrison depicts a future in a world transformed by Von Neumann machines.”

After listening to the story it sounds like a macro scale precursor to the grey goo problem to me.

How The Old World Ended by Harry Harrison How The Old World Died
By Harry Harrison; Read by Walt O’Hara
1 |MP3| – Approx. 10 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: misternizz.podbean.com
Podcast: May 26, 2011
This is how the world ended – and this is what will happen next! First published in the October 1964 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction.

[via Mister Nizz’s HuffDuffer.com]

Posted by Jesse Willis

X-Minus One: The Lifeboat Mutiny by Robert Sheckley

Wednesday, May 25, 2011Wednesday, June 7, 2017 Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

The Lifeboat Mutiny is a part of Robert Sheckley’s “AAA Ace Series.” The series has eight stories, each involving two partners in the far future encountering various unusual problems. One fan on LibraryThing described the series as being about “two of the unluckiest fellas who ever set out to make a fortune” – I’m still exploring the series, but I note that some non-AAA Ace Sheckley stories also seem to fit into that category – stories like Warrior Race and Untouched By Human Hands!

I find X-Minus One’s shows to be very hit or miss, but this Robert Sheckley story completely works. In fact, I’ve used the script for The Lifeboat Mutiny in school. Kids love it, adults love it. My only nit-pick with this adaptation is that the actor playing the lifeboat is not nearly emotional enough – he totally underplays the scripted dialogue – when I do this part, I always play the lifeboat as highly emotional.

X-Minus One – The Lifeboat Mutiny
Based on the story by Robert Sheckley; Adapted by Ernest Kinoy; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 28 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: NBC Radio
Broadcast: September 11, 1956
Provider: Archive.org
Two planetary surveyors purchase a second-hand lifeboat to survey a water planet not knowing that the ship contains an artificial intelligence created for a war five hundred years in the past.

First published in Galaxy Science Fiction’s 1955 issue with an illustration by Kossin:

Galaxy Magazine - April 1955 - The Lifeboat Mutiny by Robert Sheckley

Galaxy April 1955 - The Lifeboat Mutiny - Illustration by Kossin

Here’s The Middlebury Radio Theater‘s recording of the script too:

The Lifeboat Mutiny
Based on the story by Robert Sheckley; Adapted by Ernest Kinoy; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 20 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: The Middlebury Radio Theater Of Thrills And Suspense
Podcast: February 5, 2011

Posted by Jesse Willis

The SFFaudio Podcast #109 – AUDIOBOOK/READALONG: The Hanging Stranger by Philip K. Dick

Podcast

The SFFaudio Podcast #109 – a complete and unabridged reading of The Hanging Stranger by Philip K. Dick. First up, the complete story from Wonder Audio, followed by a discussion of it with Jesse, Scott, and Tamahome.

Talked about on today’s show:
Wonder Audio, Philip K. Dick, The Twilight Zone, Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, The Puppet Masters by Robert A. Heinlein, what is the Philip K. Dick way, empathy, a lack of empathy, paranoia, Science Fiction or Fantasy?, definitely a horror story, not a lot of technology, aliens, other dimensions, Lovecraftian!, who is the titular stranger?, Byron Sonne, Bradley Manning, The Invasion, what’s the purpose of controlling the humans?, Passengers by Robert Silverberg, The Hidden, Men In Black, gods, scary picture of Beelzebub, The Walking Dead, third person – deep penetration vs. omniscient, Fair Game by Philip K. Dick (SFFaudio Podcast #097), To Serve Man by Damon Knight, honeypot, would be cool: a TV series with a new PKD story every week, The Ray Bradbury Theater, H.G. Wells, The Star by H.G. Wells, next week: Dream Park by Larry Niven and Steven Barnes, Next A Good Story Is Hard To Find podcast: Stories Of Your Life by Ted Chiang, Fallen is brown!, Elias Koteas