LibriVox: Short Science Fiction Collection 029

SFFaudio Online Audio

LibriVoxGregg Margarite and his crew of gallant Librivoxateers have created another ten tales of SF for the Short Science Fiction Collection series. Most tales in this collection are new to audio, spanning the years 1941 to 1960. The most famous author in this collection is probably Katherine MacLean, she’s got her own wikipedia entry and seems to have a substantial following. But there’s another authoress in this collection who is not as well known. If you’ve seen The Twilight Zone episode called Time Enough At Last you’ll be interested to hear it was adapted from a Lyn Venable short story. She’s got one story in this collection too.

LibriVox - Short Science Fiction Collection Vol. 029Short Science Fiction Collection 029
By various; Read by various
10 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 2 Hours 39 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: October 21, 2009
Science Fiction is speculative literature that generally explores the consequences of ideas which are roughly consistent with nature and scientific method, but are not facts of the author’s contemporary world. The stories often represent philosophical thought experiments presented in entertaining ways. Protagonists typically “think” rather than “shoot” their way out of problems, but the definition is flexible because there are no limits on an author’s imagination. The reader-selected stories presented here were written prior to 1962 and became US public domain texts when their copyrights expired.

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/short-science-fiction-collection-029.xml

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

LibriVox - The 4-D Doodler by Graph WaldeyerThe 4-D Doodler
By Graph Waldeyer; Read by Gregg Margarite
1 |MP3| – Approx. 34 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: October 21, 2009
The Professor’s head, suspended above the body, glared about. The mouth moved rapidly— From Comet, July 1941.


LibriVox - The Carnivore by Katherine MacLeanThe Carnivore
By Katherine MacLean; Read by tabithat
1 |MP3| – Approx. 12 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: October 21, 2009
Why were they apologetic? It wasn’t their fault that they came to Earth much too late. From Galaxy Science Fiction October 1953. Written under the pseudonym “G.A. Morris.”

LibriVox - Homesick by Lyn VenableHomesick
By Lyn Venable; Read by tabithat
1 |MP3| – Approx. 00:13:56 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: October 21, 2009
What thrill is there in going out among the stars if coming back means bitter loneliness? From Galaxy Science Fiction December 1952.


Amazing Science Fiction Stories May 1960Longevity
By Therese Windser; Read by Bellona Times
1 |MP3| – Approx. 5 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: October 21, 2009
A morality tale—1960 style. From Amazing Science Fiction Stories May 1960.



Fantastic Universe January 1954Lost In The Future
By John Victor Peterson; Read by Wendel Topper
1 |MP3| – Approx. 7 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: October 21, 2009
Did you ever wonder what might happen if mankind ever exceeded the speed of light? Here is a profound story based on that thought—a story which may well forecast one of the problems to be encountered in space travel. From Fantastic Universe January 1954.

Amazing Science Fiction Stories January 1960Man Made
By Albert R. Teichner; Read by Bellona Times
1 |MP3| – Approx. 25 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: October 21, 2009
A story that comes to grips with an age-old question—what is soul? and where?—and postulates an age-new answer. From Amazing Science Fiction Stories January 1960.


LibriVox - The Mathematicians by Arthur FeldmanThe Mathematicians
By Arthur Feldman; Read by faith
1 |MP3| – Approx. 9 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: October 21, 2009
We gave this story to a very competent, and very pretty gal artist. We said, “Read this carefully, dream on it, and come up with an illustration.” A week later, she returned with the finished drawing. “The hero,” she said. We did a double take. “Hey! That’s not the hero.” She looked us straight in the eye. “Can you prove it?” She had us. We couldn’t, and she left hurriedly to go home and cook dinner for her family. And what were they having? Frog legs—what else? From Amazing Stories Oct.-Nov. 1953.

LibriVox - McIlvaine's Star by August DerlethMcIlvaine’s Star
By August Derleth; Read by Gregg Margarite
1 |MP3| – Approx. 24 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: October 21, 2009
McIlvaine sat down to his machine, turned the complex knobs, and a message flamed across the void. From If Worlds of Science Fiction July 1952.


LibriVox - Stopover Planet by Robert E. GilbertStopover Planet
By Robert E. Gilbert; Read by Barry Eads
1 |MP3| – Approx. 16 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: October 21, 2009
Early morning deliveries were part of the Honeychile Bakery Service. But on this particular morning the service was reversed! From Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy August 1953.

LibriVox - Trees Are Where You Find Them by Arthur Dekker SavageTrees Are Where You Find Them
By Arthur Dekker Savage; Read by Barry Eads
1 |MP3| – Approx. 14 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: October 21, 2009
The trees on Mars are few and stunted, says old Doc Yoris. There’s plenty of gold, of course—but trees can be much more important! From If Worlds of Science Fiction November 1953.

[Thanks also to Wendel Topper and Lucy Burgoyne ]

Posted by Jesse Willis

ESCAPE: North Of Polaris and SUSPENSE: Report From A Dead Planet

SFFaudio Online Audio

Bill Hollweg, one of the creative dudes at BrokenSea Audio Productions, just sent me an email suggesting I listen to an episode of Escape titled North Of Polaris. He describes it as “fantastic” and “dark.” Sez Bill:

“This sounds so Rod Serling and Twilight Zone-ish and Planet Of The Apes-ish– it’s uncanny. No talking apes mind you- but the new rulers of the world are pretty ravenous.”

EscapeEscape – North Of Polaris
By Charles Smith; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 26 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBS Radio
Broadcast: May 17, 1953
Provider: Escape-Suspense.com
A group of astronauts travels twenty million miles to explore a post-apocalyptic planet. They will have to spend 48 hours before their ship returns. Their challenge is to stay alive on this dead world until their ship comes back to get them.
Stars: William Conrad, Hy Averback, Eddie Firestone, Vivi Janiss, Ralph Moody and Frank Gerstle.

The Escape-Suspense blog also points out that Suspense did a similarly themed show called Report From A Dead Planet in 1960.

SuspenseSuspense – Report From a Dead Planet
By George Bamber; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 20 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBS Radio
Broadcast: July 10, 1960
Provider: Archive.org
A four-man crew lands on a newly discovered, dead planet – which once held life. They find a dead city where once a civilization stood.
Stars: Lester Damon, John Larkin, William Mason and Phil Meader

Posted by Jesse Willis

BBC R4: The Loop

SFFaudio Online Audio

Radio Times - Today's Choices - Afternoon Play: The Loop by Jane AndersonBBC Radio 4Hey folks! If you’re a fan of both The Twilight Zone and audio drama you’ll definitely want to set your Radio Downloader queue to capture this meta-fictional radio play set to air on BBC Radio 4…


Radio Times - Today's Choices - Afternoon Play: The Loop by Jane AndersonThe Loop
By Nick Perry; Performed by a full cast
1 Broadcast – Approx. 45 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 4 / Afternoon Play
Broadcast: Wednesday 18th November 14:15-15:00
When a young boy toys with his dad’s mobile phone, middle-aged Englishman Nick Perry finds himself speaking to a young stranger called Jim in New York – in 1959. As they talk, they discover that they are both writers: Nick is struggling with his first radio play and Jim’s just started on an ambitious new TV show, The Twilight Zone.

Nick Perry …… Ivan Kaye
Jim Giller …… Edward Hogg
Old Man …… Peter Marinker
Policeman …… Rhys Jennings
Dolores …… Emerald O’Hanrahan
Woman …… Melissa Advani

Directed by Toby Swift

[Thanks Roy]

Posted by Jesse Willis

The SFFaudio Podcast #037

Podcast

The SFFaudio PodcastThe SFFaudio Podcast #037 – Jesse and Scott talk about the latest audiobook releases, audiobook narrators and plenty more. It’s a show full of “stage-actory goodness” in which we learn the ultimate truth:

“the monster frozen in the ice is definitely alive”

Talked about on today’s show:
Scott is living the sequel to High Plains Drifter, Hercules by Geraldine McCaughrean, Full Cast Audio, Who was the greatest Greek hero?, Perseus, Odysseus by Geraldine McCaughrean, American Gods by Neil Gaiman, Achilles, Guest Law by John C. Wright, Infinivox, Aliens Rule edited by Allan Kaster, “How Music Begins” by James Van Pelt, Listening Library, the Becka Cooper series, Terrier by Tamora Peirce, Bloodhound by Tamora Pierce, Random House Audio, The Year Of The Flood by Margaret Atwood, Audible addiction, Audible Frontiers, The Wind Up Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi, Jonathan Davis, Infinivox’s The Fluted Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi, Recorded Books, Saturn’s Children by Charles Stross, Wild Voices Audio, The City And The Stars by Arthur C. Clarke, Blind Lake, Bridge Of Years, Darwinia, Spin by Robert Charles Wilson, Julian Comstock by Robert Charles Wilson, Hachette Audio, Transition by Iain M. Banks (UNABRIDGED), also the podcast version, Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks, Dune: House Atredies by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, Blackstone Audio, Treason by Orson Scott Card, Audible.com’s latest sale includes: Kindred by Octavia E. Butler, Ringworld by Larry Niven, The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell, Stalking The Vampire by Mike Resnick, Waystation by Clifford Simak, Grover Gardner, Born Standing Up by Steve Martin, The Jerk, Macmillan Audio, The Box: Uncanny Stories by Richard Matheson, The Twilight Zone (1985), “Button Button” by Richard Matheson, (the collection also includes: Girl Of My Dreams, Dying Room Only, A Flourish Of Strumpets, No Such Thing As A Vampire, Pattern For Survival, Mute, Creeping Terror, Shock Wave, Clothes Make The Man, The Jazz Machine, ‘Tis The Season To Be Jelly, The Mystery Of Grace by Charles de Lint, Slings & Arrows – Series 1, Podkayne Of Mars by Robert A. Heinlein, Armor by John Steakley, John Carpenter’s Vampires
FlashForward by Robert J. Sawyer, Star Trek by Alan Dean Foster, FlashForward (the TV series), revealing or realizing the solution to a mystery in fiction, Terminal Freeze by Lincoln Child, Zachary Quinto, The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury, Shed Skin by Robert J. Sawyer, Burn Me Deadly by Alex Bledsoe, Sword Edged Blond, Blood Groove, Escape From Hell by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, The Mote In God’s Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, first contact, gender, feminism, The Gripping Hand by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, iPhone, audiobook functionality, CBC Radio and NPR apps.

Posted by Jesse Willis

BBC Radio 7 and Radio 4: Fatherland and You’re Entering The Twilight Zone

SFFaudio Online Audio

SFFaudio’s covert agent in the U.K., codenamed “Roy”, has dug up some very interesting intel and delivered it to our email dead drop:

“As you said on SFFAudio that you liked Anton Lesser in the Falco series, you may want to note that he stars in the five part serialisation of Robert Harris’s Fatherland running on BBC7 this week (this serialisation from 1998 is actually an extended version of the 2 hour play first broadcast on R4 in 1997). You may not have spotted this as it is not in the daily dedicated ‘7th Dimension’ slot.”

BBC Radio 7 - BBC7Beginning on Monday and running daily, BBC7 is airing their adaptation of Robert Harris’ bestselling novel Fatherland. This powerful and award winning drama, examines an alternate history in which the Nazi empire never fell. The setting is 1960s Berlin, on the cusp of Hitler’s 75th birthday. Dramatised and produced by John Dryden, it stars Anton Lesser and Andrew Sachs. This will definitely be one to catch via the Listen Again service!

BBC Radio Drama Fatherland by Robert HarrisFatherland
Based on the novel by Robert Harris; Performed by a full cast
5 Parts – Approx. 2.5 Hours [RADIO DRAMA]
BROADCASTER: BBC 7
BROADCAST: Monday September 7 – Friday September 11 @ 1.30pm, 8.30pm and 1.30am (UK time)
Nazi Germany has won the war. Churchill is living in exile. King Edward and Queen Wallis are puppet monarchs of the UK. It is 1964, a week before Hitler’s 75th birthday. Anton Lesser stars as the Berlin detective called to investigate the suspicious death of a retired German senior civil servant.

Also on the schedule…

You're Entering The Twilight Zone (Radio Times - Jeremy Aspinall)BBC Radio 4There’s a new documentary called You’re Entering The Twilight Zone, which looks back at the venerable The Twilight Zone franchise. It airs on BBC Radio 4 next week. It’s a 30 minute doc that sounds very solid so I’ll be adding this to my Radio Downloader subscription too. It airs September 15th 2009 on BBC Radio 4 @ 11:30 (U.K. time).

“Alan Dein explores the classic American television series The Twilight Zone, as well as the life and imagination of its creator, Rod Serling.

Fifty years ago, Serling ushered audiences into a new realm of light and shadow. He had already electrified the new medium of television with his powerful dramas and their explorations of race, morality and capitalism, but now he offered glimpses of American dreams and nightmares.”

[Thanks Roy!]

Posted by Jesse Willis

BBC7 Twilight Zone, Doctor Who, Kelly Link, John Wyndham +MORE

SFFaudio Online Audio

BBC Radio 7 - BBC7 There’s actually a lot to listen to (or eventually download via radioarchive.cc) over on BBC Radio 7 this weekend and next week.

Airing under the “7th Dimension” banner for the coming week on BBC7 are…

The Twilight Zone – Free Dirt
Based on the story by Charles Beaumont; Performed by a full cast
[RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 7
Broadcast: Saturday at 6pm and Midnight
Penny-pinching Luther acquires soil from a cemetery to grow his vegetables. But there’s a grim price he must pay. Starring Eric Bogosian, with Stacy Keach as the Narrator it was written by Charles Beaumont and adapted for radio by Dennis Etchinson.

Dalek I Love You Too
By Colin Sharpe; Performed by a full cast
[RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 7
Broadcast: Sunday at 6pm and Midnight
A sequel to Dalek I Love You, we revisit enigmatic hero Nigel English in his quest to find a part in the new Doctor Who series, with the hope of meeting his father, who Nigel believes to be the Doctor himself. First broadcast in March 2008.

Catch My Breath
By Marty Ross; Performed by a full cast
[RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 7
Broadcast: Monday to Friday at 6pm and Midnight
A contemporary horror story set in a remote Scottish country house. Another Radio 7 commission. First broadcast in March 2007.

Fantastic Journeys – The Faery Handbag
By Kelly Link; Read by Maggie Blake
[ABRIDGED?]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 7
Broadcast: Monday at 6.30pm and 12.30am
A distraught young woman reveals how a magical handbag has caused her to lose both her boyfriend and grandmother. New to Radio 7.

Trouble With Lichen
By John Wyndham; Read by Joanne Tope
[ABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 7
Broadcast: Weekdays at 6.30pm and 12.30am
Recorded especially for Radio 7A biochemist stumbles upon a discovery which could change the course of humanity by isolating a strain of lichen that actually slows down the aging process.

And airing under the “Crime and Thrillers” moniker is…

Above Suspicion
Based on the novel by Helen MacInnes; Read by Emma Currie
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 7
Broadcast: Monday to Friday at 9.30am, 8.30pm and 1.30am
As Europe teeters on the brink of World War II, a naïve young British couple are swept into the unfamiliar world of espionage. This series was made-for-Radio-7 and first broadcast in 2007 to mark the centenary of the birth of Helen MacInnes, the Scottish-American thriller writer who was hugely influential in the 1940s, 50s and 60s. It was produced by Eilidh McCreadie.

Posted by Jesse Willis