science fiction – Page 139

Review of Simon Bloom: The Octopus Effect by Michael Reisman

Monday, October 12, 2009Sunday, October 11, 2009 Scott D.

SFFaudio Review

Simon Bloom: The Octopus Effect
By Michael Reisman; Read by Nicholas Hormann
9.5 Hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Listening Library
Published: 2009
ISBN: 9780739382387
Themes: / Science Fiction / YA / Science / biology /

|LISTEN TO AN EXCERPT|

As another chronicle begins Simon Bloom and his friends are thrust back into mortal peril. This time the gang heads to the Order of Biology’s headquarters. When the gang gets there they find an unexpected surprise – it’s underwater! Simon and his friends must prepare themselves for battle against the evil Sirabetta (unsure on spelling) who somehow has regained her memory. Simon and his friends face enemies from other orders and the Order of Biology’s domain itself!

One of the things I liked most about this story was the author’s use of humor for the oddest things. When something gross or funny is described in the book it is described by using words like “air ripping”, or “vacuum cleaner bag smell”. I think that it is brilliant.

The reader, Nicholas Hormann, makes the experience of listening to this book all the more interesting. The way he reads just makes me laugh, you have to listen to the book to know what I mean. He is excellent with accents. When he reads characters in the story like Flangello (again not sure about spelling) he speaks with a very good Italian accent. Nicholas is not the most emotional reader, but this fact does not detract from the story one bit.

I encourage everyone to listen to this audio book, providing that one has read the first book (Simon Bloom: The Gravity Keeper), otherwise one might not understand the book in its full context. I absolutely loved this audiobook and I am sure any person that enjoys science will feel the same way.

Posted by DanielsonKid

CBC: Rollback by Robert J. Sawyer COMPLETED

Thursday, October 8, 2009Thursday, October 8, 2009 Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

Canada’s book reading radio show, Between The Covers, has just finished adding all 25 parts of Robert J. Sawyer‘s novel Rollback to its podcast.

For my own listening pleasure I’ve gone through and stripped out all the intros and extros so as to make it into one big clean audiobook file.

You can, and probably should, do the same to your own files if you’re planning to listen to this audiobook straight through. Here’s my suggestion:

Downloading the files from the feed (or HERE), dragging them into Audacity (a free digital audio editor) one at a time and snip-off the first and last 30 seconds (or so from) from each file. Then plop the resulting (shortened) MP3 files into another piece of software called MP3 to iPod Audiobook Converter. Export as one big M4B and drag into itunes under as a single new playlist. The above may seem slightly complicated (at least the first time around) but it’s not really that tough and it will improve your enjoyment of the audiobook.

Alternatively, I think Julie from Forgotten Classics has figured out a similar (or reverse) system using iTunes 9. That might work. But myself I like the idea that I can drag a single DRM-free file into Skype and send it out immediately to a friend (who uses iTunes) and have it show up in the right category, ready for bookmarked listening.

So, get downloading from the feed people! And hurry it up, because those files will only be there for a limited time – and that’s your only option at this point, at least until some thoughtful person (cleverer than me in the ways of torrent assemblage) puts a tracker for the novel up on RadioArchive.cc website. CBC should really be doing it actually, but that’s probably expecting a little to much at this point.

Rollback
By Robert J. Sawyer; Read by Alessandro Juliani
25 MP3s via Podcast – Approx. 6 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: CBC / Between The Covers
Podcast: September 7 – October 9, 2009
It’s 2009. Sarah Halifax decodes the first radio transmission from aliens. Thirty-eight years later a second message is received and Sarah – now 87 – may have the key to deciphering this one too …if she lives long enough. What would you do differently if you suddenly had another 60 or 70 yrs of life? Hugo and Nebula award-winner Robert Sawyer explores ethics on both the human and cosmic scale in this novel about becoming young again.

Podcast feed:
http://www.cbc.ca/podcasting/includes/betweenthecovers.xml

iTunes 1-Click |SUBCRIBE|

[Thanks to Heather Brown for making this happen at CBC!]

Posted by Jesse Willis

P.S. CBC is still sitting on it’s J. Michael Straczynski radio drama series. I protest this inaction! Do something with it CBC!

BBC Radio 7: Planet B

Wednesday, October 7, 2009Sunday, November 29, 2009 Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

Planet B is a Science Fiction radio drama series first broadcast on BBC Radio 7 in March 2009. It follows the journey of John Armstrong (played by Gunnar Cauthery) through the virtual world of a futuristic game. In an effort to find his girlfriend Lioba Fielding (Donnla Hughes) he becomes entangled in an array of strange scenarios, teleporting from each adventure to the next with his companion Medley (Lizzy Watts) while being watched by an antivirus programme called Cerberus (Chris Pavlo). The series was created by Sam Hoyle, Jessica Dromgoole and Matthew Broughton with James Robinson and ran for ten episodes. It was BBC 7’s biggest ever commission for an original drama series. A second series is currently in production and is scheduled to be broadcast in late November 2009.

So that’s what wikipedia sez about Planet B

Here’s what my friend Julie sez about Planet B:

“An amazing show.

Hopefully if you subscribe now then you can get the first couple of episodes. If not, I’ll send them to you. So very, very good …”

Thanks Julie. Because of your recommendation I am currently downloading the torrent from RadioArchive.cc. I don’t know how I missed the original podcast feed for the show!

Here’s the description of each episode:

Episode 1 Golden Moments – Approx. 29 Minutes
Opening episode of Radio 7’s new major science fiction series set in a virtual universe of infinite possibility. John is shocked to discover that he is attending his girlfriend Lioba’s funeral, again. Unsure whether it’s a dream, a drug induced hallucination, or – as his Auntie Cherry tells him – the grief, he tries to make sense of the fact that there’s no body in her coffin.

Episode 2 New Boy – Approx. 28 Minutes
John and Medley learn to cope in the brutal environment of a nostalgic school world, where only bullies win.

Episode 3 Freak Show – Approx. 28 Minutes
Searching for Lioba, John finds himself in Freak Show, where celebrity is all. Will he find Lioba, or is this world a trap?

Episode 4 New Rome – Approx. 28 Minutes
John and Medley are transported to New Rome, a world of orgies and circuses, where the slaves are rebelling against the cruelty of the human controlled avatars.

Episode 5 Smart Money – Approx. 29 Minutes
John and Medley are pitched into the frantic world of buying low and selling high, unaware that they’re playing for his life.

Episode 6 The Wild Gang – Approx. 29 Minutes
Chuck Flint’s gang rule by gun law in Wild West World, where John finds himself in the role of Sheriff.

Episode 7 Catharsis – Approx. 27 Minutes
John is the captain of a space battleship in a world that’s so real he’s forgotten who he is. Can Medley make him remember?

Episode 8 Retreat – Approx. 28 Minutes
John and Medley find themselves in a strange religious retreat. Is it a cult or will they find real enlightenment here?

Episode 9 The Fast Track – Approx. 29 Minutes
Still stuck in a virtual world, it’s John’s last chance to save Lioba; can he work out how to navigate a path through Planet B?

Episode 10 Death’s Door – Approx. 29 Minutes
John and Lioba leave Planet B, and agree to meet in the real world, but can they ever really escape?

Posted by Jesse Willis

The SFFaudio Podcast #038: AUDIOBOOK: The Burning Bridge by Poul Anderson

Podcast

The SFFaudio Podcast #038 – Diverting from our usual agenda of talking about audiobooks, we’re presenting one. This comes courtesy of Rick Jackson, of Wonder Audio. It’s an unabridged reading of Poul Anderson’s short story The Burning Bridge!

And be sure to check out our authors pages section on POUL ANDERSON , it details other versions of this story and many other Poul tales.

The Burning Bridge
By Poul Anderson; Read by Amanda Fitzwater
1 |MP3| – Approx. 1 Hour 7 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: The SFFaudio Podcast
Podcast: October 5, 2009
Usually there are two “reasons” why something is done; the reason why it needs to be done, and, quite separate, the reason people want to do it. The foul-up starts when the reason-for-wanting is satisfied … and the need remains! First published in Astounding Science Fiction January 1960.

[thanks to Rick and Amanda]

Posted by Jesse Willis

Uvula Audio – Rip Foster Rides The Gray Planet by Harold L. Goodwin

Wednesday, September 30, 2009 Jesse Willis

J.J. Campanella writes in to say:

“I just wanted to inform you about a new bookcast that I am doing at UvulaAudio. We will be presenting the young adult science fiction novel Rip Foster Rides the Gray Planet. It was written by Harold Goodwin (aka Blake Savage) in 1952. You may remember that Goodwin also wrote Divers Down which we presented a couple of months ago. “Rip Foster” concerns the first mission of a young, newly commissioned officer (Lieutenant R.I.P. Foster) in the Space Corps’ Special Operations division.Although published in the 1950’s, the book has withstood the test of time and does not seem all that dated. Its actual astrophysics are very true to life and apparently quite accurate. The only problematic aspects of the book are all the assumptions about the presence of life on Mars and Venus. Several facets of the story will remind you of the original Star Trek – especially the Federation that Rip works for. It is possible that Gene Roddenberry was inspired by Goodwin’s text. We will be simulcasting the book on both our kids and adult podcaststreams.”

Cool!

Rip Foster Rides The Grey Planet
By Harold L. Goodwin; Read by J.J. Campanella
Podcast – [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Uvula Audio
Podcast: September 2009 – ????
Freshly graduated and commissioned Planeteer Lt. Rip Foster, already having to deal with inter-service rivalry with the Space Force crewmen with whom he serves, is tasked with retrieving an asteroid made of pure thorium from the asteroid belt and bringing it to Earth for use as fissionable material. But the totalitarian Connies have their own plans for the asteroid.

Podcast feed:

http://www.uvulaaudio.com/Books/Books.xml

Here’s the first chapter |MP3|

[Thanks Jim!]

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: Looking Backward: 2000-1887 by Edward Bellamy

Wednesday, September 23, 2009 Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

The newest release over on LibriVox is a solo reading of an 1888 SF novel. It should be of interest to our regular SFF literati and pretty much anyone else interested in things going on in 20th century history and modern American politics. Edward Bellamy’s novel, Looking Backward: 2000-1887, describes: unregulated stock markets, the use (and abuse) of credit cards, the rise of big box stores like Costco, socialism, and music downloading. In fact, Bellamy’s novel reflects certain aspects of our world rather uncannily! In particular: the present of the United States of America and the past of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

In addition to the narrator, Anna Simon, this audio book was produced dedicated proof-listener Marian Martin. Thanks ladies!

Looking Backward: 2000-1887
By Edward Bellamy; Read by Anna Simon
17 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 7 Hours 45 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: September 19, 2009
Looking Backward: 2000-1887 is a utopian novel by Edward Bellamy, first published in 1888. It was the third largest bestseller of its time, after Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. The book tells the story of Julian West, a young American who, towards the end of the 19th century, falls into a deep, hypnosis-induced sleep and wakes up more than a century later. He finds himself in the same location (Boston, Massachusetts) but in a totally changed world: It is the year 2000 and, while he was sleeping, the U.S.A. has been transformed into a socialist utopia. This book outlines Bellamy’s complex thoughts about improving the future, and is an indictment of industrial capitalism.

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/looking-backward-2000-1887-by-edward-bellamy.xml

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

Posted by Jesse Willis