News, Reviews, and Commentary on all forms of science fiction, fantasy, and horror audio. Audiobooks, audio drama, podcasts; we discuss all of it here. Mystery, crime, and noir audio are also fair game.
The slicker than ever audio drama, Silent Universe, is out now with “Episode 6.” J. Marcus Xavier’s podcast series is tight and the show is flowing super-smoothly. This time around there’s a free upgrade to the “64kbps stereo” edition in the feed too. Normally you’d have to pay to get the premium sound edition like this. Download direct |MP3| or plug this URL into your podcatcher to have a listen:
http://www.silentuniverse.com/silentuniverse.xml
John W. Campbell Awardee (for “Best New Writer”) John Scalzi has posted some very exciting news to his Whatever blog:
“I had a nice chat with the producer of the audio version of Old Man’s War about the status of that; it’s in production now and everything about it seems to be moving along swimmingly. Neat.
One thing for folks who are interested in the audio version to be aware of: it’s going to be sold online only. I think this is fine, myself; it’s being produced by Audio Renaissance, Tor’s corporate cousin, so it won’t be at all difficult to find online once it’s done (I imagine it’ll be at audible.com and iTunes, etc), and not having to fiddle with packaging means it’ll be ready to go more quickly once it’s done. Also, you know. It’s not as if most of my readers don’t have that whole online thing going on.
I’ll keep you all plugged in with how the audio book version is coming along, and when it will be available, etc. For now, know that someone somewhere is reading OMW, in mellifluous tones, into a microphone, for you, eventually.”
And the plan is to have SFFaudio favorite narrator William Dufris narrating! Cool huh?
A new LibriVox title has piqued our interest. It’s Marion Zimmer Bradley’s 1963 novel The Colors Of Space. Sadly, this is not the ideal audio version of it as it has multiple readers – who seem to have randomly chosen their chapters. I think the ethos of LibriVox is absolutely wonderful, but the output, especially in cases like this seems more geared towards project completion and narrator convenience rather than listener preference. That said, the audiobook is 100% free and very easily downloadable either by a Zipped Folder full of MP3s, singly in individual file of MP3 or OGG Vorbis formats and by the podcast feed (including a one click iTunes subscription).
The Colors Of Space
By Marion Zimmer Bradley; Read by various readers
15 zipped MP3 Files or podcast – 5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: July 29th 2007
Bart Steele, a Space Academy graduate, has the potential to gain the secret of an alien “warp drive”, a super-fast technology for interstellar travel. He’ll have to get some surgery, and spy upon an alien race to do it but he’s . lucky because by a bit of genetic quirk Bart can see a wider optical range than ordinary humans. Still, countless human spies have already failed to gain the secret.
You can get the entire novel in podcast form, via this handy url:
http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/the-colors-of-space-by-marion-zimmer-bradley.xml
The long promised StarShipSofa coverage of SF master Robert A. Heinlein is now complete. Three shows, and approximately three hours, of discussion by two hard-core Heinlein enthusiasts. Awesome!
Part 1 |MP3| Part 2 |MP3| Part 3 |MP3|
And be sure to subscribe, the SSS boys have a Michael Moorcock show (and short stories!) in the works. Plug this podcast URL into your podcatcher to get the feed automatically:
http://starshipsofa.libsyn.com/rss
Both our regular U.K. contributor Roy, and a friend of SFFaudio, Paul Jenkins (of The Rev Up Review Podcast and The Plitone Revisionist podiobook) have written in to say that the latest issue of the Radio Times gives some brief details on an exciting new BBC Radio 4 “Classic Serial” that is set to be aired as two one-hour episodes beginning on Sunday July 29th…
Solaris
By Stanisław Lem; Performed by a full cast
2 One Hour Broadcasts – 2 Hours [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 4 / Classic Serial
Broadcast: Sunday Jul 29th 2007 @ 3 pm (UK Time)
The radio debut of ‘s science-fiction classic. A psychologist is sent to a run-down space station to find out what has happened to its crew. When his long-dead wife turns up, he finds himself in deep trouble.
Cast:
Kris – Ron Cook
Rheya – Joanne Froggat
Snow – Tim McMullan
Sartorius – Stuart Richman
Woman – Maxine Burth
Crew:
Producer by Polly Thomas
Adpted by Hattie Naylor
Repeated on Saturday at 9 pm
No other details available yet, but the Classic Serial website is here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/classic_serial.shtml
Both episodes should be available via the ‘listen again‘ service after broadcast.
Thanks Paul and Roy! At only two hours it looks like they aren’t going with the Tarkovsky script for this one eh?
Lots of CBC stories and news today, and though much of it is frustrating lots of it good too. First up the best news of all:
CBC Radio One has ordered an entire 2nd season of Canadia 2056! This announcement comes straight from Matt Watts himself. That’s right everybody, we’re gonna get 15 more episodes of pure Science Fiction Comedy Radio Drama gold! But that’s a long way away yet. First up is news that may effect your schedule for tomorrow morning ….
CBC Radio One will be re-broadcasting Steve The First and Steve The Second radio dramas, these were the two shows penned by Canadia 2056 scribe Matt Watts. The fun begins tomorrow, Monday, July 23rd and ends August 1st. The shows will air for 30 minutes on weekdays, at 11:30 a.m. in all time zones (except Newfoundland where it will begin at Noon).
Here’s the official description:
From the ashes of a post-apocalyptic world rose a slacker named Steve The First He balanced the world and brought civility back to civilization. He blew up in the process. Twenty-Five years later, dark times have returned; a military organization named the Dark Alliance is hell-bent on Provincial domination. They are one city shy of their goal, Orontonto. The city is holding up, but it is time to bring out their secret weapon. The son of Steve: Steve The Second.
There’s also Wikipedia entries on both shows: Steve I and Steve II.
Listeners worldwide can listen to the re-broadcast via the streaming radio service of CBC Radio One – you can find that RIGHT HERE.
Lastly, in accordance with the precedent set by Roman statesman Cato The Elder and his policy of ending every speech in the senate with “ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.” [“…and of course Carthage must be destroyed.”] In that I’m making it my policy to end every CBC related post with:
“…and of course Apocalypse Al must be freed.”
So…. great guns everybody, lots of good listening begins tomorrow, and of course Apocalypse Al must be freed.