Five Free Favourites

Five Free Favourites #18: The 5 first Philip K. Dick AUDIOBOOK/READALONG episodes of The SFFaudio Podcast

SFFaudio Online Audio

Five of my favourite SFFaudio podcasts are our first five Philip K. Dick AUDIOBOOK + READALONG episodes. We’ve done more than five podcasts about Philip K. Dick stories, but these five all have the audiobook up front!

I think they are among the best podcasts we’ve recorded.

Five Free Favourites

1. The SFFaudio Podcast #109 (May 23, 2011)
AUDIOBOOK/READALONG: The Hanging Stranger by Philip K. Dick
|MP3|
Also available, the |PDF|
Narrator: Mac Kelly
Participants: Jesse, Scott, Tamahome
First published in Science Fiction Adventures, December 1953.

2. The SFFaudio Podcast #122 (August 22, 2011)
AUDIOBOOK/READALONG: Beyond The Door by Philip K. Dick
|MP3|
Also available, the |PDF|
Narrator: Gregg Margarite
Participants: Scott, Jesse, Tamahome, Gregg Margarite
First published in Fantastic Universe, January 1954.

3. The SFFaudio Podcast #153 (March 26, 2012)
AUDIOBOOK/READALONG: Small Town by Philip K. Dick
|MP3|
Also available, the |PDF|
Narrator: Gregg Margarite
Participants: Jesse, Tamahome, Gregg Margarite
First published in Amazing Stories, May 1954.

4. The SFFaudio Podcast #194 (January 7, 2013)
AUDIOBOOK/READALONG: Of Withered Apples by Philip K. Dick
|MP3|
Also available, the |PDF|
Narrator: Julie Davis
Participants: Jesse, Tamahome, Jenny, Julie Davis
First published in Cosmos Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine, July 1954.

5. The SFFaudio Podcast #224 (August 5, 2013)
AUDIOBOOK/READALONG: Exhibit Piece by Philip K. Dick
|MP3|
Also available, the |PDF|
Narrator: Mark Turetsky
Participants: Jesse, Jenny, Maissa Bessada, Mark Turetsky
First published in If: Worlds Of Science Fiction, August 1954.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Five Free Favourites #17: SFFaudio’s Socialist Leanings

SFFaudio Online Audio

This post, over on The Weekly Ansible, is, apparently, China Miéville’s list of 50 SFF “Works Every Socialist Should Read.”*

We’ve talked about four of the books and short stories on the list and done five shows on them.

I think each of them is pretty terrific, so I’ve added links to where you can download them:

Five Free Favourites

#1 – The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1892)
SFFaudio Podcast #178 (AUDIOBOOK/READALONG) – |MP3|
“Towering work by this radical thinker. Terrifying short story showing how savage gender oppression can inhere in “caring” relationships just as easily as in more obviously abusive ones.”

#2 – Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift (1726)
SFFaudio Podcast #094 (READALONG) – |MP3|
“Savage attack on hypocrisy and cant that never dilutes its fantasy with its satire: the two elements feed off each other perfectly.”

#3 – The Island of Dr Moreau by H.G. Wells (1896)
SFFaudio Podcast #140 (AUDIOBOOK) |MP3|
“Like a lot of Wells’s work, this is an uneasy mixture of progressive and reactionary notions. It makes for one of the great horror stories of all time.”

#4 – The Island of Dr Moreau by H.G. Wells (1896)
SFFaudio Podcast #140 (READALONG) – |MP3|
“Like a lot of Wells’s work, this is an uneasy mixture of progressive and reactionary notions. It makes for one of the great horror stories of all time.”

#5 – We by Yevgeny Zamyatin (1924)
SFFaudio Podcast #192 (READALONG) – |MP3|
“A Bolshevik, who earned semi-official unease in the USSR even in the early 1920s, with this unsettling dystopian view of absolute totalitarianism. These days often retrospectively, ahistorically, and misleadingly judged to be a critique of Stalinism.”

*the original article from Fantastic Metropolis is “temporarily available.”

Posted by Jesse Willis

Five Free Favourites #16: The 5 first H.P. Lovecraft episodes of The SFFaudio Podcast

SFFaudio Online Audio

Five of my favourite SFFaudio podcasts are five of our H.P. Lovecraft episodes. I think they’re some of the best podcasts we’ve ever recorded.

Five Free Favourites

1. SFFaudio Podcast #126 – AUDIOBOOK/READALONG: The Statement Of Randolph Carter by H.P. Lovecraft – featuring a reading by the incomparable Wayne June (from the essential Dark Worlds Of H.P. Lovecraft Volume 3) – participants in the discussion include: Participants Scott, Tamahome, Jenny, Mr. Jim Moon and myself.

|MP3|

2. SFFaudio Podcast #138 – AUDIOBOOK/READALONG: The Crawling Chaos by Winifred V. Jackson and H.P. Lovecraft – featuring a reading specially recorded for us by the voice of Lovecraft the incredible Wayne June! – participants in the discussion included myself, Tamahome, Mr. Jim Moon and Wayne June himself!

|MP3|

3. SFFaudio Podcast #147 – AUDIOBOOK/READALONG: Pickman’s Model by H.P. Lovecraft – specially recorded by Mr. Jim Moon, of the incredibly awesome Hypnobobs Podcast – participants in the discussion included me, Tamahome, Wayne June, Mr. Jim Moon, and Mirko Stauch.

|MP3|

4. SFFaudio Podcast #168 – AUDIOBOOK: Cool Air by H.P. Lovecraft – specially commissioned for SFFaudio and read by one of the best audiobook narrators in the artform, Jonathan Davis!

|MP3|

5. SFFaudio Podcast #174 – AUDIOBOOK/READALONG: The Temple by H.P. Lovecraft – recorded, ably, by a first time narrator Mirko Stauch! The discussion which follows included myself, Julie Hoverson, and Mirko too!

|MP3|

Posted by Jesse Willis

Five Free Favourites #15: The 5 first appearances of SFFaudio Podcast semi-regulars

SFFaudio Online Audio

Five of my favourite podcasts, of our first 100 shows, include the first appearances of SFFaudio Podcast semi-regulars. This list is actually in order of how frequently they were on the podcast in those first hundred episodes.

Five Free Favourites

1. Luke Burrage first came to my attention through his Science Fiction Book Review Podcast. I had listened to his review of Robert J. Sawyer’s Hominids, and we talked about it on SFFaudio Podcast #022. Since then Luke’s been one of our most frequent guests.

#028 – |MP3|-|POST| – Scott and Jesse talk to Luke Burrage of the Science Fiction Book Review Podcast

Other Luke Burrage podcasts in the first 100 episodes:
#034, #035, #051, #064, #065, #073, #076, #084, #097, #098

2. Gregg Margarite was the first friend I actively solicited over the internet. I just found that every LibriVox audiobook he was narrating was exactly to my tastes.

#034 – |MP3|-|POST| – The SFFaudio Podcast #034 – READALONG: The Steel Remains by Richard K. Morgan

Other Gregg Margarite podcasts in the first 100 episodes:
#035, #042, #056, #073, #076, #082, #084, #087, #094, #098

3. The prolific Julie Davis runs several blogs and podcasts – most of which I follow avidly. I think I first heard her as a narrator on StarShipSofa in 2008, she then began narrating audiobooks for SFFaudio Challenges.

#019 – |MP3|-|POST| – Scott and Jesse talk to Julie Davis of the Forgotten Classics podcast

Other Julie Davis podcasts in the first 100 episodes:
#029, #036, #056, #061, #072, #076, #077

4. Brian Murphy is one of my all time favourite bloggers. The great writing on his The Silver Key blog, which I extolled in this post back in 2008, drew us to him as a reviewer and in our 17th episode we convinced him spend an hour with us.

#017 – |MP3|-|POST| – Scott and Jesse talk to Brian Murphy of The Silver Key blog

Other Brian Murphy podcasts in the first 100 episodes:
#025, #034, #042,

5. I first heard of Professor Eric S. Rabkin, a professor of English Language and Literature University of Michigan, back in 2003 when Scott sent me his first lecture series, Science Fiction: The Literature of the Technological Imagination |READ OUR REVIEW| from The Teaching Company. I was blown away. Then, after hearing the second second lecture series, Masterpieces of the Imaginative Mind: Literature’s Most Fantastic Works, in 2009, we invited him on to the podcast. Since then Rabkin has metaphorically delivered a series of intellectually concussive blows to our collective consciousnesses. We love to get Eric, as we now call him, on the show.

#044 – |MP3|-|POST| – Scott and Jesse talk to Professor Eric S. Rabkin of the University Of Michigan

Other Eric S. Rabkin podcasts in the first 100 episodes:
#051, #095

Posted by Jesse Willis

Five Free Favourites #14: Jesse’s Five Favourte SFFaudio Podcast READALONGS (of the first 100 shows)

SFFaudio Online Audio

It probably sounds arrogant to talk about SFFaudio’s own podcast being my favourite podcast. It may sound that way, but it also happens to be what I really think. Not only is recording the podcast the highlight of my week, it’s also my favourite podcast to listen to when it comes out on Mondays. In our first 100 SFFaudio Podcast episodes there dozens and dozens of episodes that I can recall in great depth, episodes where I learned something interesting and had a whole lot of fun while doing so. We talked to some truly amazing people and talked about great ideas in SFF. SFFaudio Podcast episodes come in several flavours, but amongst them I think my favourite kind of show is our READALONGS. READALONGS are essentially our book club show, where we pick an audiobook (or paperbook), and discuss it in great detail. There have been more than thirty READALONGS so far and I’m convinced it would be hard to find a single dud amongst them. Here are five of my favourite readalongs from our first 100 episodes.

Five Free Favourites

1. The SFFaudio Podcast #050 – |MP3|-|POST| – READALONG: The Turn Of The Screw by Henry James
This list isn’t in order of preference, but rather of chronology. That said, if I had a gun to my head I might pick this episode as my personal favourite. This is a book that just had two participants, Scott and me. When I think of our friendship over the last decade I think of this episode. Scott says that this is the episode where the show “shifted gears” and I think he’s right. The show starts with a clip from Eric S. Rabkin’s lecture entitled Masterpieces Of The Imaginative Mind .

2. The SFFaudio Podcast #056 – |MP3|-|POST| – READALONG: The Status Civilization by Robert Sheckley
The episode with the most participants, there are six: Scott, myself, Rick Jackson, Gregg Margarite, Jerry Stearns and Julie Davis. Normally we try to avoid having that many people in one show, but for this episode I think it mostly worked. Also, the book was fantastic. I’m a huge fan of Robert Sheckley. If you end up liking this episode check out #076 in which we discuss Sheckley’s Mindswap.

3. The SFFaudio Podcast #064 – |MP3|-|POST| – READALONG: The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester
Now this episode is cool for a number of reasons. One is that it’s an episode with both Julie Davis and Luke Burrage in the same episode (something that’s happened only twice). Alfred Bester is one of my favourite writers and this novel is one of the best Science Fiction books I’ve ever read. We all brought something to the table for this episode and we all walked away richer for it.

4. The SFFaudio Podcast #073 – |MP3|-|POST| – READALONG: Earth Abides by George R. Stewart
This episode has both Luke Burrage and Gregg Margarite. We discussed one of the best novels I’d never read before. This is also one of the longest episodes, coming in just shy of two hours. I came away from this book and this wonderful conversation both a smarter person and a wiser man.

5. The SFFaudio Podcast #082 – |MP3|-|POST| – READALONG: Memory by Donald E. Westlake
This episode saw the first appearance of Trent Reynolds, from The Violent World Of Parker. The novel, by one of my favourite authors, was wonderfully noir and we discussed its every turn and twist with a kindly eye. With Trent’s help (and that of Gregg Margarite’s) I walked away from this episode knowing we’d done a very good job. I was happily depressed for the following week.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Five Free Favourites: Memorial Day Weekend

SFFaudio Online Audio

Five Free Favourites

Every Memorial Day Weekend, thousands of Americans take to the roads for a vacation over the long weekend. Since the price of gasoline is so high, vacationers might want to take advantage of these free audiobooks about travel. These books were chosen to be fun, well-produced, and short, so go ahead and download more than one. Click on the title of each book for a full review and other download options.

1. Traveling with children:

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.

Narrated by Chrissi Hart

Ancient Faith Radio (iTunes link)

It may be too warm to travel by sled, but this classic about children traveling to a magical world by way of a wardrobe is sure to keep both you and the kids entertained.

2. Traveling to a foreign nation:

The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope.

Narrated by Andy Minter

LibriVox (zipped mp3s)

When I visit another country, I want to spend time among the people, not just snap pictures as an outsider. The protagonist of Prisoner of Zenda takes this philosophy a little too far when switches places as a lookalike of the king of the fictional European nation of Ruritania.

3. Traveling to get away:

The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan.

Narrated by Adrian Praetzellis

LibriVox (zipped mp3s or M4B file)

A South African man visits England, but finds London boring. When his chance involvement in a counter-espionage plot goes wrong, he must escape across the British countryside.

4. Traveling to a family reunion:

Thousandth Night by Alastair Reynolds.

Narrated by Sam Mowry

Subterranean Press (part 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15)

In the distant future, humankind can travel across the galaxy and clone themselves into a thousand copies. As one group of clones meets up to share their experiences, a plot is underfoot that could either save or harm the galaxy. Note: This book contains scenes of sex and violence.

5. Traveling through time:

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells.

Narrated by Scott Brick

Tantor Media (requires free registration)

Going on a long car trip only seems like it takes thousands of years. In H.G. Wells’ classic story, a man actually does travel thousands of years into the future and discovers what humanity has become.

Posted by Seth