Tag: science fiction

Resonance FM’s: A Bite of Stars, a Slug of Time, and Thou

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

A Bite of Stars, a Slug of Time, and Thou - a Resonance FM podcastA Bite of Stars, a Slug of Time, and Thou is a podcast radio show (on Resonance FM 104.4 FM in London, U.K.) that you are absolutely going to love. The hosts, Elisha Sessions and Mark Sinker, along with various guests, talk about Science Fiction short stories from “SF’s Golden and Silver Ages.” Covering stories from 1927 to 1965, these are deep, articulate, and knowledgeable discussions, along with, in at least a couple of cases, complete, unabridged readings! Planet shaking stories, with intelligent commentary – I absolutely love it!

Episode 1 – Who Goes There?
By John W. Campbell; Read by Elisha Sessions
1 |MP3| – 1 Hour [READINGS OF CHAPTERS 2 & 4]
Sarah Clarke joins Mark Sinker and Elisha Sessions to discuss John W. Campbell’s “Who Goes There”, a 1938 science fiction novella about ice-bound scientists confronted with an alien who can become them. Elisha reads from the book in case you haven’t. As originally broadcast on Resonance FM 104.4 FM in London on April 1, 2008.

Episode 2 – A Pail Of Air
By Fritz Leiber; Read by Elisha Sessions
1 |MP3| – 1 Hour [ABRIDGED]
Tom Ewing joins Mark Sinker and Elisha Sessions to discuss Fritz Leiber’s “A Pail of Air”, written in 1951. It’s a short story about a kid, some rugs, and an Earth so cold that helium crawls. Will it crawl onto YOU? Elisha reads from the story in case you haven’t.

Episode 3 – The Segregationist
By Isaac Asimov; Read by Elisha Sessions
1 |MP3| – 1 Hour [???]
Alan Trewartha joins Mark Sinker and Elisha Sessions to discuss “Segregationist”, one of Isaac Asimov’s famous robot stories from 1967. Elisha reads from the story in case you haven’t.

Episode 4 – Beyond the Reach of Storms
By Donald Malcolm; Read by Elisha Sessions
1 |MP3| – 1 Hour [???]
Martin Skidmore joins Mark Sinker and Elisha Sessions to discuss the first space-travel story of the series, and the first truly obscure find, “Beyond the Reach of Storms” by Donald Malcolm.

Episode 5 – The Red Brain
By Donald Wandrei; Read by Elisha Sessions
1 |MP3| – 1 Hour [UNABRIDGED?]
Dave Queen joins Mark Sinker and Elisha Sessions to talk about the outrageous 1927 short story “The Red Brain”, written by Donald Wandrei when he was supposedly 16 years old.

Episode 6 – A Sound of Thunder
By Ray Bradbury; Read by Elisha Sessions
1 |MP3| – 1 Hour [UNABRIDGED]
Al Ewing joins Mark Sinker and Elisha Sessions to talk about “A Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury, the famed 1952 story about a dinosaur safari gone wrong. Lots of other Bradbury and time travel tales get a look in.

Episode 7 – The Tactful Saboteur
By Frank Herbert; Read by Elisha Sessions
1 |MP3| – 1 Hour [UNABRIDGED?]
Ken Hollings joins Mark Sinker and Elisha Sessions to talk about “The Tactful Saboteur” by Frank Herbert, a tale of civil servants and their multi-phase sexual life cycles from 1964.

Episode 8 – Build Up Logically
By Howard Schoenfeld; Read by Elisha Sessions
1 |MP3| – 1 Hour [UNABRIDGED?]
Kat Stevens joins Mark Sinker and Elisha Sessions to talk about Choose Your Own Adventure books, speaking with animals, and “Build Up Logically”, an unclassifiable short story written in 1950 by Howard Schoenfeld. It’s about two men who can summon the entire universe from thin air but spend most of their time at parties.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Review of Fleet Of Worlds by Larry Niven and Edward M. Lerner

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Review

Science Fiction Audiobook - Fleet Of Worlds by Larry Niven and Edward M. LernerFleet Of Worlds
By Larry Niven and Edward M. Lerner; Read by Tom Weiner
8 CDs – Approx 9.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2008
ISBN: 1433229420
Themes: / Science Fiction / Hard SF / Aliens / Physics / Space Travel / Sociology /

Larry Niven teams up with fellow science-fiction writer Edward M. Lerner to take a closer look at the events leading up to Niven’s first Ringworld novel. Kirsten Quinn-Kovacs is among the best and brightest of her people. She gratefully serves the gentle race that rescued her ancestors from a dying starship and nurtures them still. But, if only the Citizens knew where Kirsten’s people came from! A chain reaction of supernovae at the galaxy’s core has unleashed a wave of lethal radiation that will sterilize the galaxy. The Citizens flee, taking with them their planets, the Fleet of Worlds. Someone must scout ahead, and Kirsten and her crew eagerly volunteer. But as they set out to explore for any possible dangers in the Fleet’s path, they uncover long-hidden truths that will shake the foundations of worlds.

Not knowing much about Edward M. Lerner or his style, it’s hard to know precisely what parts of this novel he wrote. On the whole it definitely feels like a Larry Niven book. And of course that’s a very good thing. Surprisingly nice, this “known space” novel doesn’t feel like it’s just embellishing the dark corners we’d little explored before. There is material to be mined, and mine it they do. We learn more about the General Products corporation, early Puppeteer influence on Terra, and the back story to Niven’s classic The Borderland Of Sol. The heart of the novel though is Nessus’ interaction with a crew of Humans. As well, Niven and Lerner, introduce an entirely new and compelling alien species, though we really don’t get to interact with them. Its hard to get into much more without giving out a lot of spoilers. Suffice it to say, this is a fine, though definitely lesser entry into the “known space” canon. When recommending a novel universe, I would always start with the strongest book in that universe, and expand out from there. If you haven’t read any Niven novels before this one, go listen to Protector and Ringworld first. Then, if you are as enchanted as I was with it, come back to Fleet Of Worlds for more.

Tom Weiner, who is one of Blackstone Audio’s new narrators, previously heard in A Galaxy Trilogy, brings authority to the narrative of Fleet Of Worlds. He has to work pretty hard to do both the puppeteer contralto that is supposed to sound like “Cleopatra, Helen of Troy, Marilyn Monroe, and Lorelei Huntz all rolled into one.” But both it and the human females Weiner performs come off well enough – giving more of an impression of a voice change than any actual transformation.

Update: Edward M. Lerner tells me that that the follow up to Fleet Of Worlds, titled Juggler Of Worlds, is also slated for a Blackstone Audio release!

Posted by Jesse Willis

BBC Radio 4: The Further Adventures of the First King of Mars

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

BBC Radio 4Watching the trains, the skies and the Radio Times schedule in the U.K., our agent, codenamed “Roy” – has reliable intel on an important upcoming BBC Radio 4 broadcast. Peter Capaldi will be reading a Nick Walker story which is a follow up to the short story The First King Of Mars which aired during the Sputnik season in October of 2007. Here are details on the follow up…

The Further Adventures of the First King of Mars
By Nick Walker; Read by Peter Capaldi
5 Radio Broadcasts – Approx. 15 Minutes each [UNABRIDGED?]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 4 / Afternoon Reading
Broadcast: Mon., July 28th to Fri., 1 August 1st 2008 @ 3.30-3.45pm (U.K. time)
Peter Capaldi is back as The First King Of Mars. To mark the 50th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik in 2007, BBC Radio 4 commissioned Nick Walker to write a short story that captured the spirit of American Fifties B-movies and the pulp science fiction of magazines such as Amazing Stories. The result was The First King Of Mars. Now, in five thrilling, action-packed instalments, the story continues where it left off. Last year, Radio 4 left the brave and fearless commander employed to head up the first manned mission to Mars as he plummeted towards the planet with no luxuriously thick atmosphere to slow him down. This series discovers how he and his crew survive the impact – and whether there is indeed life on Mars.

These should be available via the Afternoon Reading “Listen Again” feature shortly after the broadcast.

Posted by Jesse Willis

FREE SF Podiobook: The Black Star Passes by John W. Campbell

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

Scott D. Farquhar‘s latest audiobook effort is a complete and unabridged reading of one of our original SFFaudio Challenge titles…

You’ll probably remember Scott from either his stunningly awesome reading of Star Surgeon or as one of the stalwart troopers from the Prometheus Radio Theatre troupe. Scott claimed The Black Star Passes back in November. After you start enjoying it, please consider donating a few $$ towards his narration. At Podiobooks.com 3/4’ths of every dollar will end up in Scott’s hands, which means he’ll be all the more inclined to record another. The other 25% goes to covering Podiobooks.com’s expenses (download bandwidth, server space, etc.).

The Black Star PassesThe Black Star Passes
By John W. Campbell; Read by Scott D. Farquhar
20 MP3s – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Podiobooks.com
Published: July 2008 – ????
Three separate SF stories by Campbell, written for Amazing Stories magazine: The Black Star Passes, Piracy Preferred, Solarite. These tales are tied together by a recurring cast of characters (Arcot, Morey and Wade).

Posted by Jesse Willis

StarShipSofa has Vonda N. McIntyre and Robert Reed

Tony

SFFaudio Online Audio

Star Ship Sofa Podcast Science Fiction Magazine StarShipSofa The Audio Science Fiction Magazine, has on offer today one of the finest short story writers working in the field today.

We present, Robert Reed in our Aural Delights No. 33

Blast Off!

Listen to the mp3 show here!

Poetry: Goodbye Is Meaningless by Mark Rich 00:59

Flash Fiction: A Modest Proposal by Vonda N. McIntyre 02:30

Fact: Point of View Terry Edge 11:25

Main Fiction: Roxie by Robert Reed 26:54

Narrators: Jim Campanella, Amy H Sturgis, Diane Severson

Subscribe to the podcast via this feed:

http://www.starshipsofa.com/rss

Posted by Tony C. Smith

Review of At the Mountains Of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft

Scott D.

SFFaudio Review

At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. LovecraftDark Adventure Radio Theater: At the Mountains of Madness
Adapted by Sean Branney and Andrew Leman from H.P. Lovecraft’s original novel
1 CD – 75 minutes
Publisher: The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society
Published: 2006
Themes: / Science Fiction / Horror / Elder Things / Antarctica / Cthulhu Mythos /

The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society brought us a film last time, the 47 minute long The Call of Cthulhu. That film gained acclaim for adapting a renowned H.P. Lovecraft story into a silent-film, black and white style that was the type of films that Lovecraft watched in the 1920s. This time they have given us another classic in the form of a radio broadcast of At the Mountains of Madness in the style of the 1930s. This is brilliant work and every Lovecraft fan should buy the CD and enjoy it.

H. P. Lovecraft (1890-1937) is one of the premiere horror writers of the Twentieth Century. His dense prose, written in a style a century out of date, told stories of cosmic horror in which people often lost their sanity. At the Mountains of Madness is Lovecraft’s longest work, just topping 40,000 words, which makes it a novel, just barely. It is his favorite of mine because of the sense of wonder it evokes. Written in 1931, his normal publisher, Weird Tales, rejected it, and five years passed before Astounding Stories published the novel. The tale describes an expedition from Miskatonic University to the Antarctica which finds the ruins of an ancient civilization and flees awful horrors that should remain undisturbed.

This radio adaptation is eerily true to the original, even though the story had to be truncated to fit the radio form. The main plot points are all included, the flavor of Lovecraft’s writing is included with direct quotes from the original, and the overall effect of reading the original is maintained. They even used the word “cyclopean” twice, always my favorite Lovecraft adjective, along with “singular.” The faux radio broadcast is authentic in even including advertisements by the sponsor, a cigarette manufacturer, Fleurs-de-Lys. Three extra items are included with the CD: a newspaper clipping about the expedition, two reproductions of photographs taken by the expedition, and a reproduction from an expedition sketchbook.

Rumors from Hollywood whisper that Guillermo del Toro (director of Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth, and the upcoming The Hobbit) is also making a movie of our story. Sean Branney and Andrew Leman have set the standard, albeit in a different medium, that del Toro must live up to.

The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society has also just released another radio drama, Dark Adventure Radio Theatre: The Dunwich Horror.

Posted by Eric Swedin