Tag: science fiction

Review of Star Trek: Vulcan’s Soul Book II – Exiles

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SFFaudio Audiobook Review

Vulcan's Soul: ExilesStar Trek: Vulcan’s Soul Book II – Exiles
By Josepha Sherman and Susan Shwartz; Read by Richard Poe
9 CDs – 10.5 hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Recorded Books
Published: 2006
ISBN: 1419315129
Themes: / Science Fiction / Star Trek / Vulcans / Romulans /

This is an excellent book. It is the second in a trilogy, the first one being Exodus and the next one being Epiphany. Recorded Books has published the first two in unabridged format, read by Star Trek actor Richard Poe (he played Gul Evek on TNG, DS9 & Voyager). I expect them to release the third when it is appears in print next year.

Exiles tells the story of the Vulcans who departed their planet because of an impending nuclear holocaust and traveled across space to find a new home on the planets of Romulus and Remus, two thousand years before the Dominion War and the Romulan struggle against the Watraii.

Intertwined with that story is the 24th century mission of the U.S.S. Alliance. Her hastily assembled task force includes Spock, Saavik, Scotty, and Data. In Exodus, the Romulan world was threatened by a race called the Watraii, and here our heroes attempt to infiltrate their homeworld to rescue a prisoner and a revered Romulan artifact. Not much is known about the Watraii, other than they claim owning the planets Romulus and Remus before the Exiles colonized them.

Richard Poe again does an excellent job narrating. He depicts the individual characters well, giving them emotion and even breathlessness to characters who are sick. Data and Spock are given their familiar speech cadences, and appropriate accents are given to Scotty and other characters. A first-rate Trek novel, very well written, and very well read.

posted by Scott A.

Florida’s Government provides Free Audibook Downloads

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Online Audio

Lit2GoAs much as I complain about amateurs rehashing readily available commercial public domain audiobooks like Dracula and Frankenstein when there are solid versions available for free I can’t fault em. Lit2Go is a free online collection of stories and poems in Mp3 format designed for use in Florida’s public schools (the service is funded by a grant from the Florida Department of Education). Typical of the audiobooks available for download is the one below:

Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus
By Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) Shelley

Preface And Letters |MP3|
Chapter 1 |MP3|
Chapter 2 |MP3|
Chapter 3 |MP3|
Chapter 4 |MP3|
Chapter 5 |MP3|
Chapter 6 |MP3|
Chapter 7 |MP3|
Chapter 8 |MP3|
Chapter 9 |MP3|
Chapter 10 |MP3|
Chapter 11 |MP3|
Chapter 12 |MP3|
Chapter 13 |MP3|
Chapter 14 |MP3|
Chapter 15 |MP3|
Chapter 16 |MP3|
Chapter 17 |MP3|
Chapter 18 |MP3|
Chapter 19 |MP3|
Chapter 20 |MP3|
Chapter 21 |MP3|
Chapter 22 |MP3|
Chapter 23 |MP3|
Chapter 24 |MP3|

To search the archives for more Speculative Fiction like Edgar Allan Poe, L. Frank Baum and Beatrix Potter in the public domain (and other less interesting genres) click HERE. But remember these are for educational use only. A maximum of twenty-five (25) mp3 files may be used in any non-commercial, educational project without special permission. The use of more than twenty-five mp3s in a single project requires written permission from the Florida Center for Instructional Technology.

Posted by Jesse Willis

UPDATE: Here’s the podcast feed for Lit2Go’s reading of Frankenstein:

http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/rss/frankenstein.xml

Review of Songmaster by Orson Scott Card

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SFFaudio Audiobook Review

Audiobook - Songmaster, by Orson Scott CardSongmaster
By Orson Scott Card; Read by Stefan Rudnicki
10 CDs, 9 Cassettes,or 1 MP3 disc – 12.5 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2006
ISBN: 9780786178421 (CDs), 9780786180578 (MP3-CD), 9780786135097 (Cassettes)
Themes: / Science Fiction / Galactic Empire / Music / Education / Children / Despotism / Rebellion /

This early novel by Card is a precursor of many things to come from this great author. One of Orson’s favorite themes is that of a child with extraordinary talent coming of age. The child’s name is Ansset, and at very young age he is sent to the sequestered Songhouse. In the Songhouse, a powerful form of singing is taught that creates an abnormally strong emotional response in the listener. Ansset turns out to be exceptionally gifted singer and is groomed to be a Songbird.

The emperor, Mikal, who most believe to be the most horrible tyrant of the galaxy, wants to have a Songbird. Ansset is sent as a child to be Mikal’s Songbird. But there’s more to Ansset than what appears on the surface.

The writer’s credo “show, don’t tell” had to be abandoned in a sense. How does an author write about the impact of the music being sung without describing it? (telling). After all, the writer’s tools are words and not music. Card does show us the emotional impact that listeners have to the singing, so in that sense he is showing us. The great power of the songbird’s music could emotionally ravage a listener for good or ill. As a reader/listener, we need to believe this. So, how well does this novel succeed when it is about music, but is written in prose? In one word— beautifully. In the hands of less expressive author this could have been clumsy technique. This is a touching novel, in which you’ll care for Ansset.

The audiobook is narrated beautifully by Stefan Rudnicki. Mr. Rudnicki conveys an introspective and measured performance that suits the novel perfectly. There are parts of the text that he has to convey by singing. He does this in an understated manner that doesn’t undermine the emotional context of the scene. And the recording is up to the usually high standards that we expect of a Blackstone audiobook. If you’re fan of Ender’s Game or Card’s other works and you haven’t read or heard Songmaster—get it! If you’re not familiar with OSC’s works, this is a good place to start.

posted by The Time Traveler of the Time Traveler Show

FREE MP3 NOVELETTE: The Sagan Diairy by John Scalzi

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Online Audio - Free Science Fiction Audiobook

Blog - John Scalzi's WhateverJohn W. Campbell Award winning author John Scalzi writes:

“I have something special for you today, and something I am extraordinarily proud of. To celebrate the release of [The Sagan Diary] I and Subterranean Press have arranged for a reading of the book — the entire novelette — here on the Whatever. But it’s not me who will be reading the book. The Sagan Diary is meant to be the thoughts of Jane Sagan, as she looks over her life after the events of The Ghost Brigades and prepares for the life which will be detailed in The Last Colony. I wanted voices closer to hers than my own. So I asked some friends if they would speak for Jane Sagan: I asked Elizabeth Bear, Mary Robinette Kowal, Ellen Kushner, Karen Meisner, Cherie Priest and Helen Smith. Happily for me (and for you) they said yes. Each of them recorded a chapter (or more, in the case of Mary Robinette Kowal), and took the words I wrote for Jane and gave them extra dimensions — made more of them than I would be able to make of them myself. If you’ve wondered what Jane Sagan sounds like, she sounds like this. I was delighted to hear her voice coming through these readings, and deeply humbled by the efforts these women provided in letting Jane speak with them and through them. Without prejudicing your own hearing, let me say that I found myself getting emotional listening to these words given voice.”

The novelette in question is set in the same universe as Scalzi’s novels Old Man’s War and The Ghost Brigades…

The Sagan Diary
By John Scalzi; Read by various readers
9 MP3 Files – Approx. 81 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Subterranean Press / Scalzi.com/whatever
Published: February 2007

Download the entire audiobook:
Preface |MP3| Chapter 1 |MP3| Chapter 2 |MP3| Chapter 3 |MP3| Chapter 4 |MP3| Chapter 5 |MP3| Chapter 6 |MP3| Chapter 7 |MP3| Chapter 8 |MP3|

And as a point of interest you can click on over to SFFaudio’s own Mary Robinette Kowal’s blog to read and hear about her reading of The Sagan Diary – in that post Mary shows how just a few stumbling words can make a relatively short audiobook much longer.

posted by Jesse Willis

Review of The Stonehenge Gate by Jack Williamson

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SFFaudio Audiobook Review

Science Fiction Audiobook - The Stonehenge Gate by Jack Williamson, read by Harlan EllisonThe Stonehenge Gate
By Jack Williamson; Read by Harlan Ellison
7 CDs – 8.5 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2006
ISBN: 9780786146550 (Cassette), 9780786174119 (MP3-CD), 9780786167784 (CD)
Themes: / Science Fiction / Stargate / Journey / Slavery / Evolution / Aliens /

Click here for audio sample.

This is Jack Williamson’s last book, at least it’s the last book published in his lifetime. The man has had a long career, a very long career. Jack’s first story was published in the fairly new Amazing Stories in 1928. Jack has been able to adapt his fiction to the changing and maturing literature that we call Science Fiction, again and again.

One admirable quality of Jack’s work that remained consistent over the nine decades in which he wrote, was his ability to tell a good yarn. His stories can always hold your attention, and he never forgot to have a beginning, middle and an end. This may sound like a trait that all writers should have, but it is really not the case. This always kept Jack’s works above the average SF writer.

In The Stonehenge Gate, we have four poker buddies that find a gateway into other worlds. The four characters are academics who are excavating a site under the sands of the Sahara. Will is an English Professor who narrates the story. Ram is an African professor who has a strange birthmark that mimics the shape of the Stonehenge Gate that they find. Stranger still is that the birthmark seems to be hereditary.

They soon pass into many new worlds throughout this novel. The majority of the novel takes place in a world inhabited by a preindustrial society with institutionalized black slavery. The characters have to grapple with functioning in this world while supporting abolishinest causes. There’s a dark quality to this part of the journey that has more than a passing nod to Joseph Conrad’s Heart Of Darkness.

Harlan Ellison’s narration is spectacular. This is likely the only audiobook that is written by one SF Grand Master and read by another. Of course, there aren’t any SF Grandmaster’s that have also won an Audie award like Harlan has. Harlan throws himself into his acting. He’s energized and seems to be convincingly living the parts he’s portraying to a greater degree than can be said of most voice actors.

How does this book stack up against the rest of the Williamson cannon? I don’t believe this is one of Jack’s best books nor one of his lesser efforts. Placing it somewhere in the middle. But in the case of Jack, that’s a pretty damn good book.

posted by The Time Traveler of the Time Traveler Show

More Public Domain SF: The Lani People by J. F. Bone

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SFFaudio Online Audio

Maureen O’Brien, of the Maria Lectrix podcast is working on yet another public domain Science Fiction novel. Maria writes:

“Yes, I’m starting another short SF novel. I can’t help myself! It’s the perfect SF form! And hey, it’s a 1962 novel that’s in the public domain!

The Lani People by J. F. Bone has an unusual protagonist — a veterinarian fresh out of school in the far future. It’s another example of a theme that seems to have been in the air in the early sixties and seventies — who counts as human? And how can we live with ourselves, if we define someone human as less?”

Science Fiction Audiobook - The Lani People by J. F. Bone

It sounds cool huh? After all the chapters are finished we’ll post a link to where you can find the complete novel. If you’d like to follow along while these readings progress subscribe by plugging this feed into your podcatcher:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/MariaLectrixAudiobookClub/

posted by Jesse Willis