Blackstone Audiobooks Overtstock Sale

SFFaudio News

Blackstone Audiobooks Overstock SaleBlackstone AudiobooksSFFaudio receives FREE audio media in the mail on a regular basis. They generally arrive unsolicited (though sometimes not) and we take it that their arrival equates with a tacit understanding that we’ll either mention the receipt on the website and/or review the audiobook or audio drama. That’s the extent of our formal relationship with any publisher or retailer. We do not use affiliate links to Amazon, or any other audiobook retailer. This lack of affiliation means that we can never feel pressured into reviewing an audiobook or audio drama more positively (or negatively) than we might otherwise.

Now, with all that said, I think I can speak for most of the folks who work at SFFaudio and say that we are all especially fond of Blackstone Audiobooks.

There are a few reasons for this BA love. Blackstone picks great books to turn into audiobooks, pairing them with terrific narrators, and then releases them in DRM free version. That’s really all what you want from a publisher. But that isn’t the end of it. Every so often they blow-out audiobooks that are cramming their wharehouse space. And that’s why right now they’re offering 237 different audiobooks for just $9.99 each.

That’s a STUNNING DEAL my friends!

And, if you buy two audiobooks (or more) you’ll even get FREE SHIPPING (within the USA). Here are just a few of the many titles they’ve got for sale right now:

THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; read by Ben Kingsley
THE AENEID by Virgil; read by Frederick Davidson
ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND by Lewis Carroll; read by Michael York
THE CALL OF THE WILD by Jack London; read by Ethan Hawke
A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR’S COURT by Mark Twain; read by Carl Reiner
FRANKENSTEIN, OR THE MODERN PROMETHEUS by Mary Shelley; read by Simon Templeman, Anthony Heald, and Stefan Rudnicki
I AM LEGEND by Richard Matheson; read by Robertson Dean |READ OUR REVIEW|
IT’S SUPERMAN! by Tom De Haven; read by Scott Brick
KING KONG by Edgar Wallace and Merian C. Cooper; novelization by Delos W. Lovelace; read by Stefan Rudnicki |READ OUR REVIEW|
THE MARTIAN CHILD by David Gerrold; read by Scott Brick
THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY by Oscar Wilde; read by Simon Vance
THE PRESTIGE by Christopher Priest; read by Simon Vance
THE PRINCE by Niccoló Machiavelli; read by Patrick Cullen
ROCKET SHIP GALILEO by Robert A Heinlein; read by Spider Robinson |READ OUR REVIEW|
THE SPARTANS by Paul Cartledge; read by John Lee
SWEENEY TODD AND THE STRING OF PEARLS by Yuri Rasovsky; Performed by a full cast
TALES OF BEATRIX POTTER by Beatrix Potter; read by Nadia May
TARZAN OF THE APES by Edgar Rice Burroughs; read by Ben Kingsley
THE TEN-CENT PLAGUE by David Hajdu; read by Stefan Rudnicki
THERMOPYLAE by Paul Cartledge; read by John Lee
THE TIME MACHINE by H.G. Wells; read by Ben Kingsley
THE TRIAL by Franz Kafka; read by Geoffrey Howard
UTOPIA by Sir Thomas More; read by James Adams
V FOR VENDETTA by Steve Moore; read by Simon Vance |READ OUR REVIEW|
THE WAR OF THE WORLDS by H. G. Wells; read by Christopher Hurt
WE WISH TO INFORM YOU THAT TOMORROW WE WILL BE KILLED WITH OUR FAMILIES by Philip Gourevitch; read by Jeff Cummings
WHERE’S MY JETPACK? by Daniel H. Wilson; read by Stefan Rudnicki |READ OUR REVIEW|
THE WINTER OF FRANKIE MACHINE by Don Winslow; read by Dennis Boutsikaris
THE WORLD ACCORDING TO NARNIA by Jonathan Rogers; read by Brian Emerson

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: The First Men In The Moon by H.G. Wells

SFFaudio Online Audio

Listening For The League's Gentlemen At LibriVoxThis is the 5th in a series of post examining the LibriVox audiobooks that feature characters found in Alan Moore’s League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Unlike the others, this doesn’t only speak to a character, but rather to a fictional material and its inventor. Cavorite and Dr. Cavor both originate in the 1901 novel The First Men In The Moon by H.G. Wells. It tells the tale of Cavor, and his adventures with this new material. Cavorite can shield any object coated in it from gravity. Thus it flings anything it is attached to into space. In the novel Dr. Cavor and his crew use Cavorite to build a spherical spaceship, which they use to travel to and land on the Moon. Alan Moore has a very different use for Cavorite in The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen. He also gives Dr. Cavor a first name, “Selwyn” – that’s something that Wells himself neglected to do.

LibriVox - The First Men In The Moon by H.G. WellsThe First Men In The Moon
By H.G. Wells; Read by Mark F. Smith
Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 8 Hours 3 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: November 6, 2007
Britain won the Moon Race! Decades before Neal Armstrong took his “giant leap for mankind” two intrepid adventurers from Lympne, England, journeyed there using not a rocket, but an antigravity coating. Mr. Bedford, who narrates the tale, tells of how he fell in with eccentric inventor Mr. Cavor, grew to believe in his researches, helped him build a sphere for traveling in space, and then partnered with him in an expedition to the Moon. What they found was fantastic! There was not only air and water, but the Moon was honeycombed with caverns and tunnels in which lived an advanced civilization of insect-like beings. While Bedford is frightened by them and bolts home, Cavor stays and is treated with great respect. So why didn’t Armstrong and later astronauts find the evidence of all this? Well, according to broadcasts by Cavor over the newly-discovered radio technology, he told the Selenites too much about mankind, and apparently, they removed the welcome mat!

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/the-first-men-in-the-moon-by-hg-wells.xml

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: Security by Poul Anderson

SFFaudio Online Audio

LibriVoxNew from LibriVox.org, and featuring the voice talent of Gregg Margarite is:

Security by Poul Anderson

This isn’t the first recording of this 1953 Science Fiction novelette. Maureeen O’Brien (of the Maria Lectrix podcast) recorded a version previously. It, along with a whole bunch more Poul Anderson audio, can be found on our POUL ANDERSON page!

LibriVox - Security by Poul AndersonSecurity
By Poul Anderson; Read by Gregg Margarite
2 MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 1 Hour 19 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Puiblished: December 4, 2009
Security, tells the story of a compartmentalized government physicist ordered by secret police to complete experiments aimed at developing a new weapon. He is brought to a hidden space station and put in charge of the project but there are many questions. In a world of spies watching spies it’s sometimes hard to know what’s patriotic. First published in Space Science Fiction February 1953.

Part 1 |MP3| Part 2 |MP3|

Podcast feed: http://librivox.org/rss/3798

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

[Special thanks also to Betty M. and James Christopher @ LibriVox]

Posted by Jesse Willis

Review of Wyrms by Orson Scott Card

SFFaudio Review

Science Fiction Audiobook - Wyrms by Orson Scott CardWyrms
By Orson Scott Card; Read by Emily Janice Card
9 CDs – 11.5 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2008
ISBN: 9781433218542

Themes: / Science Fiction / Diplomacy / Slavery /

“Wyrms” by Orson Scott Card was first published in 1987. I read the book then and loved it. I loved the world, the characters and the STORY.

It got lost as it was published between two Hugo and Nebula Award winning novels, Ender’s Game and Speaker For The Dead. It didn’t deserve it.

It’s been over 20 years since I read the novel, and I have never completely forgotten the book, or its impact. When I got the audiobook, read by Card’s daughter, Emily, I was thrilled to have the chance to experience it again.

Can the book be as good as I remembered? I wondered. But not for long. Before I had finished two chapters, I was hooked. Again.

Patience is the seventh seventh seventh daughter of the space captain who first came to Imaculata. She’s the daughter of the rightful heir to the kingdom, the Heptarch. But she and her father serve the current ruler as diplomats. And slaves.

Her entire life, her father has protected her from her destiny. But, when he dies, she’s must run for her life, and face a destiny that has been prophesied for generations. A destiny that that will save the world – or destroy it.

I highly recommend this book. The story is compelling and well paced, the characters complex, and the world believable.

The audiobook is well done, except that I had a problem differentiating one or two of the lesser voices. As my only complaint, it’s pretty minor. I enjoyed Emily Card’s interpretation of Patience and the other main characters.

On a scale of 1-10, I’d give it a definite 9. Get the audiobook. Get the paperback. While you’re at it, get the 6-volume comic books by Jake Black. You’ll thank me for it later.

Posted by Charlene C. Harmon

FREE @ Audible.com: RINGWORLD by Larry Niven

SFFaudio Online Audio

Drop that tasp and grab this link! I’ve got a FREE and UNABRIDGED version of Larry Niven’s Ringworld! You’ll need an Audible.com account. Hurry now, there’s no telling when this offer will dry up so grab it while you can!

Audible.com - Ringworld by Larry Niven (Blackstone Audio)Ringworld: Free Version
By Larry Niven; Read by Tom Parker (aka Grover Gardner)
FREE Audible Download – Approx. 11 Hours 15 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 1996
Provider: Audible.com
Welcome to Ringworld, an intermediate step between Dyson Spheres and planets. It is 93 million miles in radius – the equivalent of one Earth orbit or 600 miles long – 1,000 meters thick, and much sturdier than a Dyson sphere. What other advantages are there to this world? The gravitational force created by a rotation on its axis of 770 miles per second means no need for a roof. Walls 1,000 miles high at each rim will let in the sun and prevent much air from escaping.

Larry Niven’s novel Ringworld won the 1970 Hugo Award for Best Novel, the 1970 Nebula Award for Best Novel, and the 1972 Ditmars, an Australian award for Best International Science Fiction.

|READ OUR REVIEW|

[via This Week In Tech]

Posted by Jesse Willis

Fast Ships, Black Sails A PIRATE ANTHOLOGY

SFFaudio Online Audio

Night Shade Books - Fast Ships, Black Sails edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer Do you love the sound of a peg leg stomping across a quarterdeck? Or maybe you prefer a parrot on your arm, a strong wind at your back? Adventure, treasure, intrigue, humor, romance, danger–and, yes, plunder. Oh, the Devil does love a pirate–and so do readers everywhere.

Swashbuckling from the past into the future and space itself…

Night Shade Books published Fast Ships, Black Sails an anthology of fantastik pirate stories in 2008. Since then there have been two audiobook versions made of the 18 stories contained within the collection. If more get turned into audiobooks I’ll add them to this post!

PodCastlePC064: Castor On Troubled Waters
By Rhys Hughes; Read by Alasdair Stuart
1 |MP3| – Approx. 27 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: PodCastle
Podcast: August 4, 2009


Escape Pod LogoEP226: Pirate Solutions
By Katherine Sparrow; Read by Sarah Tolbert, Kate Baker, Nate Periat, and Steve Eley
1 |MP3| – Approx. 42 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Escape Pod
Podcast: November 26, 2009

Contents:
Introduction: “Raising Anchor” by Ann & Jeff VanderMeer
Boojum by Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette
Araminta, or, The Wreck of the Amphidrake by Naomi Novik
Avast, Abaft! by Howard Waldrop
I Begyn as I Mean to Go On by Kage Baker
Castor on Troubled Waters by Rhys Hughes |MP3|
Elegy for Gabrielle, Patron Saint of Healers, Whores and Righteous Thieves by Kelly Barnhill
Skillet and Saber by Justin Howe
The Nymph’s Child by Carrie Vaughn
68˚06’N, 31˚40’W by Conrad Williams
Pirate Solutions by Katherine Sparrow |MP3|
We Sleep on a Thousand Waves by Brendan Connell
Pirates of the Suara Sea by David Freer & Eric Flint
Voyage of the Iguana by Steve Aylett
Iron Face by Michael Moorcock
A Cold Day in Hell by Paul Batteiger
Captain Blackheart Wentworth by Rachel Swirsky
The Whale Below by Jayme Lynn Blaschke
Beyond The Sea Gate Of The Scholar-Pirates of Sarskoe by Garth Nix

Posted by Jesse Willis