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.
Uvula Audio‘s James Campanella has added a complete reading of H.P. Lovecraft’s “quintessential work of horror” to his podcast feed. In China Miéville’s introduction to the Modern Library paperback edition of At The Mountains Of Madness, he describes the novella as “taxonomy as horror.” If you’re in the mood for some “mind blasting terror” – and really who isn’t these days – be sure to give it a shot.
CHARACTERS IN THIS AUDIOBOOK: Professor William Dyer – The narrator, a professor of geology at Miskatonic University, the leader of a 36 member expedition to Antarctica in 1930. Danforth – A graduate student (one of seven on the expedition) from Miskatonic University. Danforth is a bibliophile of the “bizarre.” Professor Frank H. Pabodie – A professor from Miskatonic’s engineering department. Professor Lake – A professor of biology at Miskatonic University. Professor Atwood – A professor of physics at Miskatonic U., and also a meteorologist.
At The Mountains Of Madness
By H.P. Lovecraft; Read by Craig Nickerson
6 MP3 Files – Approx. 4 Hours 53 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Uvula Audio
Podcast: September 2010 – October 2010 An Antarctic expedition discovers some uncanny fossils on the wind swept plateau. It leads to the discovery of a lost civilization and mind-blasting terror in the City of the Old Ones. Originally serialized in the February, March and April 1936 issues of Astounding Stories.
Part 1 |MP3| Part 2 |MP3| Part 3 |MP3| Part 4 |MP3| Part 5 |MP3| Part 6 |MP3|
Me? I like my Science Fiction hard and I like my SCIENCE easy. If you do too, take it easy, have a listen to some of these handy lectures about the hardest of the sciences (circa 1890), we’re talking old school pre-Einsteinian astronomy and physics!
And, to make it even easier be sure to check out the Project Gutenberg etext |HTML| edition too. It has plenty of associated charts, photographs and illustrations!
Pioneers Of Science
By Sir Oliver Lodge; Read by various 19 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 11 Hours 14 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Publisher: August 31, 2010 This book takes its origin in a course of lectures on the history and progress of Astronomy arranged for Sir Oliver Lodge in the year 1887. The first part of this book is devoted to the biographies and discoveries of well known astronomers like Copernicus, Brahe, Kepler, Galileo and Newton. In the second part, the biographies take a back seat, while scientific discoveries are discussed more extensively, like the discovery of Asteroids and Neptune, a treatise on the tides and others.
Preface
By Sir Oliver Lodge; Read by Availle
1 |MP3| – Approx. 2 Minutes [LECTURE]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Publisher: August 31, 2010
Lecture I: Copernicus And The Motion Of The Earth
By Sir Oliver Lodge; Read by Kathleen Nelson
1 |MP3| – Approx. 42 Minutes [LECTURE]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Publisher: August 31, 2010
Lecture II: Tycho Brahe And The Earliest Observatory
By Sir Oliver Lodge; Read by James Christopher
1 |MP3| – Approx. 32 Minutes [LECTURE]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Publisher: August 31, 2010
Lecture III: Kepler And The Laws Of Planetary Motion
By Sir Oliver Lodge; Read by Utek
1 |MP3| – Approx. 51 Minutes [LECTURE]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Publisher: August 31, 2010
Lecture IV: Galileo And The Invention Of The Telescope
By Sir Oliver Lodge; Read by Megan Argo
1 |MP3| – Approx. 40 Minutes [LECTURE]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Publisher: August 31, 2010
Lecture V: Galileo And The Inquisition
By Sir Oliver Lodge; Read by Megan Argo
1 |MP3| – Approx. 42 Minutes [LECTURE]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Publisher: August 31, 2010
Lecture VI: Descartes and his Theory of Vortices
By Sir Oliver Lodge; Read by Availle
1 |MP3| – Approx. 47 Minutes [LECTURE]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Publisher: August 31, 2010
Lecture VII: Sir Isaac Newton
By Sir Oliver Lodge; Read by Amy Gramour
1 |MP3| – Approx. 38 Minutes [LECTURE]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Publisher: August 31, 2010
Lecture VIII: Newton And The Law Of Gravitation
By Sir Oliver Lodge; Read by Edward W. LaBonte
1 |MP3| – Approx. 37 Minutes [LECTURE]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Publisher: August 31, 2010
Lecture IX: Newton’s “Principia”
By Sir Oliver Lodge; Read by John Kooz
1 |MP3| – Approx. 55 Minutes [LECTURE]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Publisher: August 31, 2010
Lecture X: Roemer & Bradley And The Velocity Of Light
By Sir Oliver Lodge; Read by Mark F. Smith
1 |MP3| – Approx. 39 Minutes [LECTURE]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Publisher: August 31, 2010
Lecture XI: Lagrange And Laplace – The Stability Of The Solar System, And The Nebular Hypothesis
By Sir Oliver Lodge; Read by Michael Lipschultz
1 |MP3| – Approx. 33 Minutes [LECTURE]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Publisher: August 31, 2010
Lecture XII: Herschel And The Motion Of The Fixed Stars
By Sir Oliver Lodge; Read by Kathleen Nelson
1 |MP3| – Approx. 32 Minutes [LECTURE]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Publisher: August 31, 2010
Lecture XIII: The Discovery Of The Asteroids
By Sir Oliver Lodge; Read by Ali Kazerani
1 |MP3| – Approx. 16 Minutes [LECTURE]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Publisher: August 31, 2010
Lecture XIV: Bessel – The Distance Of The Stars, And The Discovery Of Stellar Planets
By Sir Oliver Lodge; Read by Availle
1 |MP3| – Approx. 29 Minutes [LECTURE]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Publisher: August 31, 2010
Lecture XV: The Discovery Of Neptune
By Sir Oliver Lodge; Read by Ali Kazerani
1 |MP3| – Approx. 23 Minutes [LECTURE]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Publisher: August 31, 2010
Lecture XVI: Comets And Meteors
By Sir Oliver Lodge; Read by John Kooz
1 |MP3| – Approx. 34 Minutes [LECTURE]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Publisher: August 31, 2010
Lecture XVII: The Tides
By Sir Oliver Lodge; Read by J. M. Smallheer
1 |MP3| – Approx. 38 Minutes [LECTURE]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Publisher: August 31, 2010
Lecture XVIII: The Tides, And Planetary Evolution
By Sir Oliver Lodge; Read by Simon Dexter
1 |MP3| – Approx. 42 Minutes [LECTURE]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Publisher: August 31, 2010
[Thanks also to Availle, mim@can, J. M. Smallheer]
I was talking with a friend of mine about Nevil Shute. Shute has been blipping onto my radar since about ten years ago when my Science Fiction uncle gave me a copy of Slide Rule: The Autobiography Of An Engineer. Over the years I’ve gotten into Shute’s fiction, notably On The Beach and A Town Like Alice. Most recently I just finished watching, and listening to No Highway In The Sky, a pair of adaptations of Shute’s novel No Highway. Here’s the premise:
The Rutland Reindeer, a recently developed trans-Atlantic passenger aircraft, is approved for flying. But one Anglo-American scientist thinks the Reindeer’s tail may just up and fall off when it hits the golden number of flight hours. He’s got the numbers to prove a catastrophic failure is inevitable, but that won’t be enough to ground the already flying Reindeer. So, he’s dispatched to Labrador to inspect the wreckage of a recently crashed Reindeer. It was reported to have been downed by “pilot error” but our scientist thinks it may have been metal fatigue. Then comes the twist we can see coming from miles away, our hero finds himself flying aboard just such another doomed aircraft. Can the logic of his calculations be enough to persuade the captain to turn the Reindeer back to England? Or will they crash into the North Atlantic?
Jimmy Stewart and Marlene Dietrich reprise their roles on Lux Radio Theatre’s adaptation of the film – the main difference between this version, and the movie (besides the lack of video), is the in-studio audience laughing at the character based comedy in this story of suspense. It’s well worth a listen!
No Highway In The Sky
Based on a novel by Nevil Shute; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 56 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBS / Lux Radio Theatre
Broadcast: April 21, 1952 Theodore Honey (James Stewart) is a highly eccentric “boffin” with the Royal Aircraft Establishment. A widower with a precocious young daughter, Honey is sent from Farnborough to investigate the crash of a “Reindeer” airliner in Labrador, which he theorizes occurred because of a structural failure in the tail caused by sudden metal fatigue. To test his theory in his laboratory, an airframe is continuously shaken in eight-hour daily cycles. It isn’t until Honey is aboard a Reindeer that he realizes he himself is flying on one such aircraft and that it may be close to the number of hours his theory projects for the fatal failure. Despite the fact that his theory is not yet proven, Honey decides to warn the passengers and crew, including actress Monica Teasdale (Marlene Dietrich).
Here’s a section of the Dell Mapback edition of No Highway showing the locations mentioned in the story:
The SFFaudio Podcast #060 – Jesse and Scott talk about recently arrived audiobooks!
Talked about on today’s show:
Roger Ebert’s review of The Human Centipede, BoingBoing, World Horror Convention 2008, Salt Lake City, how the horror genre has changed, Hater by David Moody |READ OUR REVIEW|, anti-Americanism, Your Movie Sucks by Roger Ebert, Awake In The Dark by Roger Ebert, Roger Ebert’s review of Reservoir Dogs, recent arrivals, Tantor Media, The Horror Stories Of Robert E. Howard, Pigeons From Hell, Worms Of The Earth, The Cairn On The Headland, I Am Not A Serial Killer by Dan Wells, Dexter as a teenager, Columbine by Dave Cullen |READ OUR REVIEW|, the Writing Excuses Podcast, LUTE Brigham Young University, Mr. Monster by Dan Wells, The Eerie Silence by Paul Davies, science, SETI, Scott’s Pick Of The Week:Goodreads.com, social networking that works, Beowulf by Anonymous, Seamus Heaney‘s translation, The Epic Of Gilgamesh BBC Audio Drama, RadioArchive.cc, City Of Dragons by Kelli Stanley, the Bish’s Beat blog, private investigation, San Fransisco, The Spanish Civil War, Brilliance Audio, High Deryni by Katherine Kurtz, The Tales Of Dying Earth, Rhialto the Marvelous by Jack Vance, Seeing Ear Theatre, The Moon Moth by Jack Vance |READ OUR REVIEW|, social science fiction, Tale Of The Thunderbolt by E.E. Knight, vampires, alien invasion, The Space Vampires by Colin Wilson, Lifeforce, Vampires by John Steakley, what Steakley is doing with his novels (examining one small aspect of violence), The Guns Of August by Barbara Tuchman, Heist Society by Ally Carter, Luke Burrage’s review of Robert J. Sawyer’s Calculating God on the Science Fiction Book Review Podcast, WWW: Watch by Robert J. Sawyer, The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi, the Nebula awards, reading the Hugo nominees, Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast by Eugie Foster |READ OUR REVIEW|, Lawrence Santoro, Eros Philia Agape by Rachel Swirsky, Blackstone Audio, Enchantment by Orson Scott Card, Stefan Rudnicki, Sleeping Beauty, Jesse’s Pick Of The Week:Snow Glass Apples by Neil Gaiman, Snow White And the Seven Dwarfs, Bebe Neuwirth, The Dreaming blog, Murder Mysteries by Neil Gaiman, Nadya by Pat Murphy, werewolves, Poland, California, 19th century, Rachel In Love by Pat Murphy, Vampire Zero by David Wellington, civil war, The Bradbury Report by Steven Polansky, The Island, did Ray Bradbury write a cloning story?, what’s the best cloning novel you’ve ever read?, cloning doesn’t really live in fiction, Surrogates, Kiln People by David Brin, Cyteen by C.J. Cherryh, Where Late The Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm, Mimic by Donald A. Wollheim, Red Dwarf is a great hard Science Fiction series!, “what’s the best cloning novel?”, Blood Oath by Christopher Farnsworth, Bronson Pinchot, “shadowy conspiracy” = “secret secret”, The Bradbury 13 by Ray Bradbury, radio drama, The Hitch-hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy isn’t audio drama’s best exemplar (The Bradbury 13 is), City Of Truth by James Morrow, satire, religion, The Invention Of Lying, This Is The Way the World Ends by James Morrow, PaperbackSwap.com, Dan Carlin’s Common Sense podcast, oligarchy, talking points, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Obamacare, “-gate” is not a suffix meaning scandal, the difference between English and French, words map the world, words are the magic in our world, ZBS Foundation, Dinotopia: The World Beneath (audio drama), Yuri Rasovsky, a kid who doesn’t like dinosaurs?, Blake’s 7: The Early Years: Zen: Escape Velocity, Robin Hood, Zen and the Liberator is like Blake’s Sherwood Forest! Babylon 5, J. Michael Straczynski’s City Of Dreams.
Little Atoms is a podcast radio show from Resonance FM. It’s a “live discussion show, produced and presented by Neil Denny and Padraig Reidy. Little Atoms is a show about ideas. Each show features a guest from the worlds of science, journalism, politics, academia, human rights or the arts in conversation.”one of their older podcasts features an interview with author David Eagleman and a reading of one of the stories in his book. Here’s the description:
“David Eagleman [talks] about time perception, synesthesia and many possible afterlives. The interview includes David reading one of the short stories from his new book [Sum: Forty Tales From The Afterlives].”
Uvula Audio‘s James Campanella has added a complete reading of H.P. Lovecraft’s “quintessential work of horror” to his podcast feed. In China Miéville’s introduction to the Modern Library paperback edition of At The Mountains Of Madness, he describes the novella as “taxonomy as horror.” If you’re in the mood for some “mind blasting terror” – and really who isn’t these days – be sure to give it a shot.
At The Mountains Of Madness
Me? I like my Science Fiction hard and I like my SCIENCE easy. If you do too, take it easy, have a listen to some of these handy lectures about the hardest of the sciences (circa 1890), we’re talking old school pre-Einsteinian astronomy and physics!
No Highway In The Sky
