Tag: William Gibson

UCSD: LTWL 124 Science Fiction (a university course on SF)

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

QUICK! grab this podcast and its MP3s before they’re gone forever!

LTWL 124 (a first year course in the “Literatures of the World” department) is available now, but not for long. The University of California San Diego, which put out this course, takes its podcasts down shortly after a semester ends. Also note, all the files in this feed are completely unedited – this means there are long silences (often an hour of longer) and some files are a completely empty 2 hour block of silence. But, don’t let this deter you. Soldier on, start with lecture 2 (as it is the first file with content).

UCSD Department Of LiteratureLTWL 124 – Science Fiction (Literatures of the World)
Professor Stephen Potts
18 Lectures – Approx. 24 Hours [UNIVERSITY LECTURES]
University: UCSD
Semester: Fall 2008

Syllabus:

Introduction: A History of the Future.
Science Fiction: Origins to Golden Age
The Weird World of PKD: Ubik by Philip K. Dick
SF History: The New Wave
New Wave SF:The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin
Hard Science Fiction: Timescape by Gregory Benford
SF Onscreen: 1900-1970s
SF Onscreen: After Star Wars
Guest Lecture: David Brin
Cyberpunk. Neuromancer by William Gibson
Guest Lecture: Vernor Vinge
The Graphic Novel. Reading: Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
Conclusions

Podcast feed:

http://podcast.ucsd.edu/podcasts/rss.aspx?PodcastId=270

[via The DIY Scholar blog]

Posted by Jesse Willis

BBC7: Pattern Recognition by William Gibson

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

BBC Radio 7 - BBC7BBC7 Describes their end of the year offering as: “William Gibson’s cult sci-fi thriller of a woman employed by multi-national companies to test new brands.” Unfortunately their reading of Pattern Recognition is abridged, and not “sci-fi” (or even Science Fiction really – |READ OUR REVIEW| of the unabridged version). Still, Gibson is a great stylist with some amazing ideas. This recording was previously broadcast in October of 2007.

A better year end gift for British subjects (and Earthlings in general) would be for the BBC to change its letters in 2009 to BPC (the British Podcasting Corporation). Come to think of it, a CPC (Canadian Podcasting Corporation) would be a great idea too.

Pattern Recognition
By William Gibson; Read by Lorelei King
5 Parts – Approx. 150 Minutes [ABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 7
Broadcast: Monday 29th December 2008 – Friday 2nd January 2009
“William Gibson’s cult sci-fi thriller of a woman employed by multi-national companies to test new brands.”

Posted by Jesse Willis

The SFFaudio Podcast #014

Podcast

The SFFaudio PodcastThe SFFaudio Podcast #014 – Plenty of exciting jibber jabber for you today. It’s a good show, as long as you define good very narrowly.

Talked about on today’s show:
Wall-E, our infamous Wall-E is a criminal post, Bolt, Bill C-61, Brian Murphy‘s review of The Halloween Tree, Poe’s Children, StarShipSofa’s Richard K. Morgan interview, Hour 25, converting m3u into MP3, Coeur de Lion‘s podcast, the difference between “mainstream fiction”, “literary fiction” and “slipstream fiction”, Peter Straub, Margaret Atwood, Stephen King, Orson Scott Card, Michael Crichton, James Wallace Harris’ post about Science Fiction as a religion, A Man In Full, Tom Wolfe, Mike Resnick’s Starship series, space opera, David Brin, Startide Rising, the impenetrable Kelly Link, evolution in art, William Gibson‘s literary journey, Charles Stross is for connoisseurs of SF, modern painting’s inaccessibility: Voice of Fire, on an child’s SF education: give them Heinlein, Bradbury and Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book, The Call Of The Wild, Goosebumps, Gaiman’s signed poster deal, converting children to my religion: treating books with reverence, audio drama: Johnny Chase: Agent Of Space, review of Queen Of The Black Coast, amateur and professional audio drama, Colonial Radio Theatre vs. Broken Sea Audio Productions.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Prisoners of Gravity on Robots and Artificial Intelligence

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

Here’s another episode of Prisoners Of Gravity uploaded to YouTube (and audio’d by SFFaudio). The three videos below make up the bulk of one episode from the 2nd season of PoG. The episode is titled “Robots & Artificial Intelligence“. In the show, Commander Rick and guests talk to and about, Douglas Adams, Gregory Benford, Karel Čapek, Isaac Asimov, Nancy Kress, George Zabrowski, Stanislaw Lem, Robocop, Frank Miller, Robert J. Sawyer, Donald Kingsbury, Brian Fawcett, Pamela Sargent, Lewis Shiner, Roger Penrose, Judith Reeves-Stevens, Garfield Reeves-Stevens, Star Trek and Judith Merril and William Gibson, John Varley. This is a terrifc survey of the cross’d subjects of robots and AI. Check it out…

Prisoners Of GravityPrisoners Of Gravity – “Robots & Artificial Intelligence”
1 |MP3| – 25 Minutes [AUDIO FROM VIDEO]
Broadcaster: TV Ontario
Broadcast: Thursday, January 24th, 1991

“This week’s topic is Robots… unfortunately, NanCy, Commander Rick’s computer, changes the topic on him to Artificial Intelligence; Commander Rick manages to discuss a little of both with his guests. Including clips from Hardware and Robocop 2.”


Part 1 of 3:


Part 2 of 3:


Part 3 of 3:

Posted by Jesse Willis

Commentary: What are we missing?

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Commentary

SFFaudio MetaBy any measure of the times were living in, there is a new audio renaissance. More audiobooks are getting made now than ever before. And more SF, Fantasy and Horror audiobooks are being released than ever before. Here’s a list of the top 10 SFF novels from Sci-Fi lists:

1. Frank Herbert Dune
2. Orson Scott Card Ender’s Game
3. Isaac Asimov Foundation
4. Douglas Adams Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
5. George Orwell 1984
6. Robert A. Heinlein Stranger in a Strange Land
7. Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451
8. William Gibson Neuromancer
9. Isaac Asimov I, Robot
10. Arthur C. Clarke 2001: A Space Odyssey

All of these novels have had UNABRIDGED AUDIOBOOK releases at some point or another. Several have had more than one unabridged release! That’s wonderful. But I’m still not satisfied. What novels are we still missing? Or rather, what novels are you missing.

Personally I’m missing a few, here’s a list of just 10 titles I’ve picked from out of the air. I’d like to see any and all of these made into unabridged audiobooks:

1. Scott Lynch The Lies Of Loch Lamora
2. Dan Simmons Hyperion
3. Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle The Mote In God’s Eye
4. Clifford Simak Way Station
5. Alfred Bester The Stars My Destination
6. Steven Gould Jumper
7. Alastair Reynolds Revelation Space
8. Robert J. Sawyer Golden Fleece
9. John Brunner Stand On Zanzibar
10. Ken MacLeod The Star Fraction

What novels are missing from your audiobook shelf?

Posted by Jesse Willis

William Gibson’s Burning Chrome to air on BBC7

Jesse Willis

Online Audio

BBC 7's The 7th DimensionBBC7‘s Yes it is a re-run, but what a re-run it is! The 7th Dimension slot has aired Burning Chrome at least a couple times previously. The first time was way back in 2003. I’ve heard this Gibson story more than once now, and it is a terrific listen. First published in Omni magazine back in 1982 it tells the story of professional hackers trying to pull off a big heist. One line from this story — “…the street finds its own uses for things” — has become a widely-quoted aphorism.

BBC7 The 7th Dimension - Burning Chrome by William GibsonBurning Chrome
By William Gibson; Read by Adam Sims
2 Parts – [UNABRIDGED]
BROADCASTER: BBC 7 / The 7th Dimension
BROADCAST: Oct. 18th & 19th (Thursday and Friday) @ 6.30pm and 12.30am (UK Time)
Set in the world of cyberspace and computer hacking. Bobby Quine and Automatic Jack are trying to figure out a way of pulling off the one big score that will make them rich. But industrial espionage is a dangerous business, especially when they decide to rip off Chrome, the most ruthless figure in the local mob subsidiary.

posted by Jesse Willis