Tag: science fiction

Review of Human Weakness by Karen Traviss

Scott D.

SFFaudio Review

The 7th Anniversary Reviewapalooza continues! May contain nuts.

Science Fiction Audiobook - Halo EvolutionsHuman Weakness
By Karen Traviss; Read by Jen Taylor
Contained in Halo: Evolutions
90 Minutes – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Published: 2010
Themes: / Science Fiction / Military SF / Artificial Intelligence / Computers / Aliens /

I have died more deaths per minute in Halo than anyone else I know. I spawn, look around, and thud. Or boom. Or thump thump thump. I spend a LOT of time waiting to spawn. Don’t like to brag, but my rate of death has to be some kind of record.

So I listened to this Halo story by Karen Traviss. “Human Weakness”, it’s called. It’s a good story about an artificially intelligent computer that is left behind when The Flood arrives and the humans run for their lives. The story is about something called “The Gravemind”, a borg-like malevolent entity that assimilates data, and it’s attempt to infiltrate the left-behind AI. No matter how much the Gravemind tries to convince the AI to allow it access, the AI refuses. Interesting! Not too many humans in this story.

I mentioned this to a friend of mine whose Halo death rate is respectable. I told him that the AI’s name was Cortana, and he knew exactly who that was. Then I realized that she’s the girl that talks to me at the beginning of Halo 3. That sent me to the Halopedia, where everything started coming together. I haven’t played much Halo in story mode, obviously, but I’m more interested in doing so than I was. A big storyline!

And oh yeah! The narrator was top-notch. Her name is Jen Taylor.

The description of the Halo: Evolutions anthology:

When humanity expanded beyond the safety of Earth to new stars and horizons, they never dreamed what dangers they would encounter there. When the alien juggernaut known as the Covenant declared holy war upon the fragile human empire, millions of lives were lost—but, millions of heroes rose to the challenge. In such a far-reaching conflict, not many of the stories of these heroes, both human and alien, have a chance to become legend. This collection holds eleven stories that dive into the depths of the vast Halo universe, not only from the perspective of those who fought and died to save humanity, but also those who vowed to wipe humanity out of existence.

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Review of Eros, Philia, Agape by Rachel Swirsky

Scott D.

SFFaudio Review

Yet another story in SFFaudio’s 7th Anniversary Exposition of Excellent Stories! Step right up…

Science Fiction Audiobook - Eros, Philia, Agape by Rachel SwirskyEros, Philia, Agape
By Rachel Swirsky; Read by Rachel Swirsky
1 Hour 12 Minutes – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tor.com (Tor Story Podcast #013)
Published: 2010
Themes: / Science Fiction / Love / Robots / Divorce / Children / Relationships /

Adriana shrugged. “They’re all beautiful, right?”

“We’ll need specifications.”

“I don’t have specifications.”

The salesman frowned anxiously. He shifted his weight as if it could help him regain his metaphorical footing. Adriana took pity. She dug through her purse.

“There,” she said, placing a snapshot of her father on one of the display tables. “Make it look nothing like him.”

I’ve been really lucky this month. I’ve listened to thirteen stories, and they’ve all been winners. This one may be the best of the lot!

Adriana goes through with the purchase in that scene above – she buys herself a robot husband named Lucian. She then has a baby named Rose. Though Rose has none of Lucian’s DNA (he has none to give, of course), this is a family. The decision to purchase a robot whose body is made to order and whose personality can be molded to fit does not prevent relationship problems, though. It introduces different ones.

You can probably tell from just that short section that Adriana is a character with a lot of internal conflict. I immediately cared about her, and Lucian, and little Rose. This is a wonderful story that I’ll be reading again.

You can grab the story |HERE|

Or subscribe to the Tor Story Podcast at this link: http://feeds.feedburner.com/TorDotStories

Enjoy!

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Review of Suicide is Painless by Don Norum

Scott D.

SFFaudio Review

Back in SFFaudio’s first year, a moose bit my sister…

Science Fiction Audiobook - Suicide is PainlessSuicide is Painless
By Don Norum; Read by Paul Campbell
55 Minutes – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Cossmass Infinities
Published: 2010
Themes: / Science Fiction / Military SF / Battles / Aliens /

If you’ve got circuits installed all over your body, does that make you a cyborg? Or do you need to have metal limbs or something? Not sure, but in “Suicide is Painless”, Don Norum presents us with Lucia, a beautiful female plus circuits. Those circuits allow her to interface with her battle machine in a deep way – submerged in fluid to help with shock absorption, she connects with machine and fights with lots of firepower. I loved the descriptions of how she joined with the machine.

Who’s the enemy? Cockroach-like creatures that infest asteroids in the asteroid belt. They’ve been there for millions of years, but they didn’t originate from there. Bring ’em on!

Paul W. Campbell himself performs the narration of this, the third story in his Cossmass Infinities podcast. He’s paying the authors with donations, so be sure to throw a tip their way if you like the story. I enjoyed Paul’s narration here and in Episode One: “Fluff and Buttons on the Teddy Bear Range” by Matthew Sanborn Smith.

Find Cossmass Infinities |HERE|

And the podcast feed:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/cossmass/infinities

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Review of The Game of Rat and Dragon by Cordwainer Smith

Scott D.

SFFaudio Review

Gathering, shindig, or hootenanny? You decide!

Science Fiction Audiobook - The Game of Rat and Dragon by Cordwainer SmithThe Game of Rat and Dragon
By Cordwainer Smith; Read by Matthew Wayne Selznick
32 Minutes – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Wonder Audio
Published: 2007
Themes: / Science Fiction / Space Travel / Telepathy / Cats /

Cordwainer Smith (Paul Linebarger) was an interesting guy who wrote very interesting fiction. He was an American intelligence officer during World War II, he traveled the world, and was an advisor to President Kennedy. In science fiction, his most famous work is probably the only novel he ever published: Norstilia. His short fiction is rich and creative.

“The Game of Rat and Dragon” was written in one sitting in 1956, according to J.J. Pierce (writing in another one of those Ballantine Best Of’s). Long distance space travel in this future occurs with the help of telepaths, but there’s a catch. Once a telepath is “out there” skipping along toward a destination, or “planoforming”, the telepath is in danger of being touched by entities called dragons – insanity is the usual result. The solution? Partners. Partners fly alongside ships in football-sized ships of their own, telepathically connected to the pilot. They are quicker than humans, and are able to destroy dragons before they make contact with ships – almost every time. Who are these partners? Purr.

The idea that there’s baddies living in some kind of hyperspacial plane has been visited often. Babylon 5 leaps to mind as a recent example. But Smith’s descriptions of “pinlighting” are poetic and uncommon. There’s not a heck of a lot of conversation in this one, but Matthew Wayne Selznick is up to the narrating challenge. The combination of Smith’s prose and Matthew Wayne Selznick’s voice worked very well – never a dull moment!

Wonder Audio (along with all their audio short stories) can be found: |HERE|

If you want to buy these stories on Audible (this one costs only $2.37), find the whole catalog |HERE|

Want to see the cover of The Best of Cordwainer Smith? Me too!

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Review of The Scarecrow’s Boy by Michael Swanwick

Scott D.

SFFaudio Review

7th Anniversary Festivus! For the rest of us.

Science Fiction Audiobook - The Scarecrow's Boy by Michael Swanwick“The Scarecrow’s Boy”
Contained in We, Robots, edited by Allan Kaster
By Michael Swanwick; Read by J.P. Linton
19 Minutes – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Infinivox
Published: 2010
Themes: / Science Fiction / Robots /

When a robot spends too much time alone, like the Scarecrow in this story, it asks questions like: “Do you think good and evil are hardwired into the universe?” If you are a veteran reader of robot stories, you know that when a robot starts to ask such questions, it’s about to buck its programming. A nice addition to the robot subgenre, and well narrated to boot.

“The Scarecrow’s Boy” is the first story is the almost-available We, Robots collection from Infinivox, edited by Allan Kaster! It will be released on March 23, and be assured that we’ll remind you on release day.

Infinivox releases excellent short fiction. Some of the latest:
“Guest Law” by John C Wright – |REVIEW|
Aliens Rule, edited by Allan Kaster – |REVIEW|
The Year’s Top Ten Tales of Science Fiction, edited by Allan Kaster – |SFFaudio Podcast #036, in which we discuss all the stories with Allan Kaster|

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Short interview with Eric S. Rabkin

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

Eight Forty-EightHere’s a short 2007 interview with Professor Eric Rabkin. It was broadcast on the Eight Forty-Eight program on Chicago Public Radio (WBEZ). In it Rabkin talks about the typically less than predictive relationship between Science and Science Fiction. |MP3|

Posted by Jesse Willis