The SFFaudio Podcast #033

Podcast

The SFFaudio PodcastThe SFFaudio Podcast #033 – Jesse and Scott are burning bright this podcast. We’re talking new releases, recent arrivals, and future audiobook releases. We also briefly discuss the 2009 Hugo Awards. Around the middle we talk about BBC radio drama, specifically those based on the writings of Iain M. Banks and Alfred Bester. Feeling tenser? Perhaps you know the answer to this question…

“How can you get away with murder when everyone knows your thoughts?”

Talked about on today’s show:
New Releases, Recent Arrivals, Infinivox, Aliens Rule edited by Alan Kaster, How Music Begins by James Van Pelt, Okanaggan Falls by Carolyn Ives Gilman, Laws Of Survival by Nancy Kress, Full Cast Audio, Emperor Mage by Tamora Pierce, Red Planet by Robert A. Heinlein, William Dufris, Have Space Suit Will Travel by Robert A. Heinlein |READ OUR REVIEW|, Tantor Media, The White Plague by Frank Herbert, Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert, The Road To Dune |READ OUR REVIEW|, Ireland, Whipping Star by Frank Herbert, The Coming Of Conan The Cimmerian by Robert E. Howard, Todd McLaren, METAtroplis The Dawn Of Uncivilization |READ OUR REVIEW|, Brilliance Audio, Audible.com, Brilliance Audio is releasing hardcopy DRM free versions of the Audible Frontiers audiobooks, Kurt Vonnegut, Audible Modern Vanguard, Dennis Boutsikaris, A Prayer For Owen Meany by John Irving, Fear Nothing by Dean Koontz, Keith Szarabajka, Sfsignal.com story on Iain M. Banks’ next novel Transition (podcast or audiobook?), RadioArchive.cc, State Of The Art (BBC Radio Drama) based on the story by Iain M. Banks, BoingBoing story on Geoff Ryman’s novel The Child Garden to be podcast (with music), Simon Bloom: The Octopus Effect by Michael Reisman, Simon Bloom: The Gravity Keeper by Michael Reisman |READ OUR REVIEW|, The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester or Tiger Tiger by Alfred Bester, there is no audiobook version of The Stars My Destination, the 1991 BBC Radio Drama version of Alfred Bester’s Tiger Tiger, telepathy, teleportation (jaunting), The Demolished Man would make an amazing audio drama, Fondly Fahrenheit by Alfred Bester, the 2009 Hugo award winners, The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman |READ OUR REVIEW|, Shoggoths In Bloom by Elizabeth Bear (SSS Aural Delights version), Exhalation by Ted Chiang, The Erdman Nexus by Nancy Kress (is not available in audio), Inside Job by Connie Willis (is), Drive by James Sallis (a novella, is too), Wii Sports Resort, Wii Motion Plus, Bowman, turning off cable TV, X-Box 360, Wii Fit, Netflix, watching soccer/football without TV, Free:The Future Of A Radical Price by Chris Anderson, YouTube Star Wars fan Lego animation vs. Lucas Star Wars on DVD.

Posted by Jesse Willis

News: New Blake’s 7 Audio Drama coming in August

SFFaudio News

Jan ChappellBlake’s 7 fans can rejoice! B7 Productions has announced the next Blake’s 7 “The Early Years” audio drama CD. This is a prequel series story exploring the origins of one of the key B7 characters prior to her meeting Roj Blake. Jan Chappell, the original Blake’s 7 Cally, returns to the role she made famous back in 1978.

The announced release includes two prequel stories on a CD with the plots centering on the alien telepath Cally and her clone sisterhood. The CD includes two thirty-minute adventures, Blood & Earth written by Ben Aaronovitch and Flag & Flame written by Marc Platt.

Blake's 7: The Early Years CALLY - Blood & Earth / Flag & FlameBlake’s 7 – Cally: Blood & Earth/ Flag & Flame
By Ben Aaronovitch and Marc Platt; Performed by a full cast
1 CD – Approx. 60 Minutes [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: B7 Productions
Published: August 24, 2009
ISBN: 9781906577070

Jan Chappell, who last played Cally back in 1980, says of her return to the series:

“It’s a source of utter bewilderment that Cally is still part of my life, but delighted to embrace her return. It’s astonishing to be playing the character thirty years on and to know that Blake’s 7 still has such an ardent following. Who would have known that back in 1978 we were making television history.”

Previous audio prequels have explored the early lives of Avon, Travis, Vila and Gan with future releases planned to reveal the origins of Jenna, Zen, Servalan and Blake. Those unfamiliar with this Blake’s 7 revival should |READ OUR REVIEW| of the first set. Excellent stuff!

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: Short Science Fiction Collection Vol. 012

SFFaudio Online Audio

LibriVox - Short Science Fiction Collection Vol. 012Short Science Fiction Collection Vol. 012
By various; Read by various
10 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 4 Hours 22 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: March 12, 2009
Science fiction (abbreviated SF or sci-fi with varying punctuation and case) is a broad genre of fiction that often involves sociological and technical speculations based on current or future science or technology. This is a reader-selected collection of short stories that entered the US public domain when their copyright was not renewed.

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/short-science-fiction-collection-vol-012.xml

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

LibriVox Science Fiction - As Long As You Wish by John O'KeefeAs Long As You Wish
By John O’Keefe; Read by Joelle Peebles
1 |MP3| – Approx. 11 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: March 12, 2009
From Astounding Science Fiction, June, 1955.
If, somehow, you get trapped in a circular time system . . . how long is the circumference of an infinitely retraced circle?

LibriVox - The Big Fix by George O. SmithThe Big Fix
By George O. Smith; Read by Alan Winterrowd
1 |MP3| – Approx. 58 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: March 12, 2009
Anyone who holds that telepathy and psi powers would mean an end to crime quite obviously underestimates the ingenuity of the human race. Now consider a horserace that had to be fixed…
From Astounding Science Fiction December 1959.

Future Science Fiction No. 30, 1956The Fourth Invasion
By Henry Josephs; Read by Tibbi Scott
1 |MP3| – Approx. 10 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: March 12, 2009
Psychopathology has offered possible answers to why, from time to time, people in large quantities “see” strange things in the sky which manage to evade trained scientific observers, or conform to what is known about the behavior of falling or flying bodies. And mass hysteria is by no means a product of the present century. But—what if these human foibles were deliberately being exploited? From Future Science Fiction No. 30 1956.

Goliah
By Jack London; Read by Gregg Margarite
1 |MP3| – Approx. 57 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: March 12, 2009

LibriVox - The Man Who Saw The Future by Edmond HamiltonThe Man Who Saw The Future
By Edmond Hamilton; Read by Gregg Margarite
1 |MP3| – Approx. 31 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: March 12, 2009
“Jean de Marselait, Inquisitor Extraordinary of the King of France, raised his head from the parchments that littered the crude desk at which he sat. His glance shifted along the long stone-walled, torchlit room to the file of mail-clad soldiers who stood like steel statues by its door. A word from him and two of them sprang forward.” First published in Amazing Stories, October 1930. Later reprinted in the February 1961 issue of Amazing Stories.

LibriVox Science Fiction - The Nothing Equation by Tom GodwinThe Nothing Equation
By Tom Godwin; Read by Janet Moursund
1 |MP3| – Approx. 20 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: March 12, 2009
From Amazing Stories December 1957. The space ships were miracles of power and precision; the men who manned them, rich in endurance and courage. Every detail had been checked and double checked; every detail except—

LibriVox - The Putnam Tradition by Sonya DormanThe Putnam Tradition
By Sonya Dorman; Read by Tibbi Scott
1 |MP3| -Approx. 15 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: March 12, 2009
Through generations the power has descended, now weaker, now stronger. And which way did the power run in the four-year-old in the garden, playing with a pie plate? From Amazing Stories January 1963.

Astounding Stories November 1932A Scientist Rises
By D.W. Hall; Read by David Adamson
1 |MP3| – Approx. 19 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: March 12, 2009
All gazed, transfixed, at the vast form that towered above them. From the November 1932 issue of Astounding Stories.

The Shadow And the Flash
By Jack London; Read by Gregg Margarite
1 |MP3| – Approx. 34 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: March 12, 2009

LibriVox - We Didn't Do Anything Wrong, Hardly by Roger KuykendallWe Didn’t Do Anything Wrong, Hardly
By Roger Kuykendall; Read by Joelle Peebles
1 |MP3| – Approx. 8 Hours 55 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: March 12, 2009
After all—they only borrowed it a little while, just to fix it— From Astounding Science Fiction May 1959.


Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: Short Science Fiction Collection Vol. 009

SFFaudio Online Audio

LibriVoxWith 9 volumes of short stories now out there’s no doubt there’s a plethora of SF listening available over on LibriVox.org. I love these collections, they have a good variety and not too much repetition …. oh wait, I take that last part back. It’s the constant repetition that is impairing these collections. LibriVoxateers, please stop recording Kurt Vonnegut’s 2BR02B. Otherwise, keep up the great work!

Sounding good in this collection are Jerome Lawson’s reading of The Cosmic Express and the quick humor of Frederic Brown’s Earthmen Bearing Gifts. The standout though is Irving E. Cox’s Impact. It is a tale about a deserter from an interstellar trading ship who causes the ship’s captain no end of troubles. It’s a cool old story despite the wretchedly old-fashioned woman teacher character (she’s jealous, blackmailing and shrewish).

LibriVox - Short Science Fiction Collection Vol. 009Short Science Fiction Collection Vol. 009
By various; Read by various
10 Zipped MP3s or Podcast – Approx. 4 Hours 25 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: January 20th 2009
Science fiction (abbreviated SF or sci-fi with varying punctuation and case) is a broad genre of fiction that often involves sociological and technical speculations based on current or future science and technology. This is a reader-selected collection of short stories that entered the US public domain when their copyright was not renewed.

LibriVox - 2BR02B by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. 2BR02B
By Kurt Vonnegut; Read by smokemonkey
1 |MP3| – Approx. 17 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Previous FREE MP3 versions of this story are HERE, HERE, and HERE and HERE. You can stop recording this very mediocre story now people.

LibriVox Science Fiction - The Cosmic Express by Jack WilliamsonThe Cosmic Express
By Jack Williamson; Read by Jerome Lawsen
1 |MP3| – Approx. 26 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: January 20, 2009
Originally published in Amazing Stories in November 1930, later reprinted in the December 1961 Amazing Stories. Unfortunately this reading excludes the 1961 introduction to the tale by Sam Moskowitz. You can read that HERE.

The Day Time Stopped Moving
By Bradner Buckner; Read by Tom Weiss
1 |MP3| – Approx. 43 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

LIBRIVOX Science Fiction - Earthmen Bearing Gifts by Frederic BrownEarthmen Bearing Gifts
By Fredric Brown; Read by Alan Winterrowd
1 |MP3| – Approx. 6 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: January 20, 2009
First published in the June 1960 issue of Galaxy magazine. “Mars had gifts to offer and Earth had much in return—if delivery could be arranged!” Another reading is available HERE.

LibriVox Science Fiction - Impact by Irving E. CoxImpact
By Irving E. Cox; Read by Tom Weiss
1 |MP3| – Approx. 54 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: January 20, 2009
From Amazing Science Fiction Stories, January 1960. They were languorous, anarchic, shameless in their pleasures . . . were they lower than man . . . or higher?

Longevity
By Therese Windser; Read by Betsie Bush
1 |MP3| – Approx. 4 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
From Amazing Science Fiction Stories May 1960. A morality tale—1960 style.

LibriVox Science Fiction Short Story - The Measure Of A Man by Randall Garrett The Measure of a Man
By Randall Garrett; Read by Barbara King Gardner
1 |MP3| – Approx. 25 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: January 20, 2009
From April 1960 Astounding Science Fiction magazine. “What is desirable is not always necessary, while that which is necessary may be most undesirable. Perhaps the measure of a man is the ability to tell one from the other … and act on it.” Another version is available HERE.

LibriVox Science Fiction - No Moving Parts by Murray F. YacoNo Moving Parts
By Murray F. Yaco; Read by Tom Weiss
1 |MP3| – Approx. 45 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: January 20th 2009
From Amazing Stories May 1960. We call them trouble-shooters. They called ’em Gypsies. Either way, they were hep to that whole bit about….

LibriVox Science Fiction - The Nothing Equation by Tom GodwinThe Nothing Equation
By Tom Godwin; Read by Daniele F.
1 |MP3| – Approx. 22 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: January 20th 2009
From Amazing Stories December 1957. The space ships were miracles of power and precision; the men who manned them, rich in endurance and courage. Every detail had been checked and double checked; every detail except—

LibriVox Science Fiction - The Stoker And The Stars by Algis BudrysThe Stoker and the Stars
By Algis Budrys; Read by Jason Mills
1 |MP3| – Approx. 25 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: January 20th 2009
From Astounding Science Fiction February 1959. When you’ve had your ears pinned back in a bowknot, it’s sometimes hard to remember that an intelligent people has no respect for a whipped enemy … but does for a fairly beaten enemy.

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/short-science-fiction-collection-vol-009.xml

Posted by Jesse Willis

Review of The Standards of Creation by James Campanella

SFFaudio Review

The Standards of Creation
By James Campanella; Read by James Campanella
MP3 Download – Approx 16.5 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Uvula Audio
Published: 2008
Themes: / Science Fiction / Mars / cybernetics / aliens / telepathy / genetic manipulation /

J.J. Campanella is perhaps best known in audio circles as a frequent narrator on StarShipSofa, which is where I first encountered him. His website, Uvula Audio, features Campanella’s narration of a wide variety of audiobooks ranging from L. Frank Baum to Doc Savage to P.G. Wodehouse. It does not take long to discover that narration is indeed a skill at which Campanella is expert. He handles foreign accents and different voices with an ease that makes it easy for the listener to visualize each speaker.

What is easy to miss, perhaps, is that Campanella’s own written work, The Standards of Creation, is included among the archived files. This is a shame as Campanella has written a fast-paced, multi-layered book that combines the best of action thrillers and science fiction. It definitely deserves to be noticed by more people.

Just a few of the elements woven into the story include:

• Martian colonies of Chinese and Americans, each hiding their secrets while trying to discover those of the other.

• Yarrow Hayes, a Nobel Prize winning biologist born and raised on Mars, who ironically is dying of an incurable disease.

• Alex Arodyne, a young scientific genius whose cynical outlooks threatens to cripple his promise.

• Belle, an undercover NATO agent whose cybernetic enhancements give her unparalleled skills but carry with them a price that lead her to take surprising steps.

• Who are Gabe and his mysterious boss? Is he really an alien using telepathy to speak to Alex in his dreams?

• What is the mysterious alien ship voyaging through the solar system?

• Just what are the standards of creation? How will they change the lives of each person in the story?

All this is set against a background containing some of the most classic science fiction elements: terraforming on Mars, life in the Martian colony, biological scientific development in the future such as the different versions of the cloned NATO officers, and an alien device that looks like a huge black marble silently making its way toward the sun while scientists struggle to communicate. All of this is laced with characters in impossible situations for which there is seemingly no solution.

Above all this is a book of secrets. Every person and every situation has at least one secret beyond those that we think have been revealed. This leads to an indepth look at free will and personal responsibility that both surprisd and delighted me.

I am not even including some of the subplots involving drug trafficking or an order of priests with a surprising yet practical hidden agenda. It might sound as if there is too much crammed into the story to make a good book. However, Campanella handles the many elements with ease to provide us with a truly original novel that is not only thought provoking but which also hearkens back to the times when science fiction included real science. We hope that his future endeavors branch out again from narration to include more novels such as this one.

Posted by Julie D.

Review of Dr. Bloodmoney by Philip K. Dick

SFFaudio Review

dr_bloodmoney150.jpgDr. Bloodmoney, or How We Got Along After the Bomb
By Philip K. Dick; Read by Tom Weiner
7 CD – 8.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2008
ISBN: 9781433245503
Themes: / Science Fiction / Telepathy / Post Apocalypse / Nuclear War / Satellites / Psychokinesis / California /

Philip Dick’s post-nuclear-holocaust masterpiece presents a mesmerizing vision of a world transformed, where technology has reverted back to the nineteenth century, animals have developed speech and language, and humans must deal with both physical mutations and the psychological repercussions of the disaster they have caused. The book is filled with a host of Dick’s most memorable characters: Hoppy Harrington, a deformed mutant with telekinetic powers; Walt Dangerfield, a selfless disc jockey stranded in a satellite circling the globe; Dr. Bluthgeld, the megalomaniac physicist largely responsible for the decimated state of the world; and Stuart McConchie and Bonnie Keller, two unremarkable people bent the survival of goodness in a world devastated by evil. Epic and alluring, Dr. Bloodmoney brilliantly depicts Dick’s undying hope in humanity.

The subtitle, of Dr. Bloodmoney is or How We Got Along After the Bomb, the idea for it came from the original publisher (ACE Books) who wanted to capitalize on the subtitle of the movie Dr. Strangelove. I can almost see it too. For me, this wasn’t Philip K. dick’s best novel. But, if you liked his best novel, you’ll like this one. I did. The thing is, no matter which one of Dick’s novels is your favourite, Doctor Bloodmoney will remind you of it – if only for the author’s voice. Dick, more than with any other emotion, writes with sympathy. You feel for his characters, their petty goals, their yearnings, their little prejudices. The plot on this one is almost unimportant, it’s also hard to sum up in a sentence, but I’ll try: A radio repairman with no limbs (due to phocomelia) has superpowers, which he uses to predict/cause WWIII, then becomes ultra-powerful as a big fish in a small pond.

The rule about writing what you know is more difficult in Science Fiction. Nobody’s been to Mars yet. Nobody has met an alien. But you can clearly see what Dick knows showing up on the pages of his SF novels. When he wrote Dr. Bloodmoney he was really into Jungian and Freudian analysis, he was reading Of Human Bondage and was probably an avid mushroom picker. The plot doesn’t really matter as this is a situation with a set of Dickian characters. What stands out, what will remain in my memory are the scenes, characters interacting with each other and themselves. Thinking their thoughts, acting their acts. When we meet the title character, Bruno Bluthgeld, for the second time later in the book, (he’s not the star), he’s showing off his talking sheep dog to a little girl. She asks to hear the dog speak. It does, and the tears came to my eyes. When Stuart McConchie goes into San Fransisco he parks his horse only to come back and find it eaten by the city’s underclass. It really is all there: The salesmen, the repairmen, the cheating wives, the murderous children and the sympathetic animals. Everything we expect from a Dick tale.

Blackstone Audio narrator Tom Weiner is fast becoming a new favourite. His natural timbre is basso but he can do a lot with it. Performance is the key, everybody gets a voice of their own. In this novel that’s especially necessary as there are more than a dozen characters sharing the plot and dialogue. Blackstone has more Dick headed to audiobook too. The Man In The High Castle has already been released. Ubik is winging it’s way to us right now and Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said, Valis, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch should be released over the next few months. We are living in very Dickian times my friends.

Posted by Jesse Willis