The latest Dragon Page Cover To Cover podcast has a revealing interview with Fantasy author Jim Butcher! You can download the |MP3| directly or subscribe to the show’s XML feed:
http://www.dragonpage.com/podcastC2C.xml
And be sure to re-read our first Jim Butcher audiobook review too.
NPR’s Fresh Air radio show has a fascinating 25 minute interview with author, SF and comic books fan, Michael Chabon. Host Terry Gross talked with Chabon about his newest book The Yiddish Policemen’s Union which is a murder-mystery novel set in an alternate history Alaska in which a flood of European Jews have settled in Alaska. It sounds like a fascinating book (the audiobook is coming out UNABRIDGED from HarperAudio).
Chabon’s novel trades on the fact that a Jewish homeland, other than Israel, was a major possibility immediately after WWII. In the interview Chabon mentions the fact that Uganda, Madagascar, Australia, Suriname and Alaska were all once considered suitable homelands for the Jews of Europe. I myself read a fascinating book last year about the “Fugu Plan” – a very real plan by the Empire of Japan to settle European Jews in, of all places, newly enslaved Manchuria!
To listen to the interview, CLICK HERE, you’ll need a RealAudio or WindowsMedia player.
Also, over on the HarperCollins website for the novel, there’s a flashy, flash animated trailer for The Yiddish Policemen’s Union which features an excerpt from Peter Reigert’s reading of the audiobook.
Dick Dynamo The 5th Dimensional Man is a new, great sounding, all original audio drama podcast featuring a giant cast of kewl weirdos. Shows come out on the 1st of every month. Two months in, two episodes in…
Episode 1: The Organic Nightmare
Episode 2: The 5 Carat Curse
Dani Cutler, our very own Audio Addict*Gregg Taylor of Decoder Ring Theatre describes Dick Dynamo like this:
“If you put Matt Helm and Roger Ramjet into the same teleporter and sent them through together, thus melding them into a single, slightly confused but cool being, then poured him into a sci-fi movie with a lot of heaving bosoms and fed everybody in sight as much ‘Captain Crunch’ as they could eat until they were buzzing like a hummingbird… That gives you a vague idea of where this one seems to be heading.”
Subscribe to the podcast feed with this URL:
http://www.dickdynamo.libsyn.com/rss
*Revised Apr 5th 2007
Canadia: 2056 episode 3 is airing across Canada this morning starting at 11:30 am in all time zones (except Newfoundland). Listen to CBC Radio One, if you’re in Canada or check out the Streaming Radio Map for the CBC Radio One station in your time zone and time-shift to catch it when its more convenient.
Here’s the official CBC Radio hotsheet description:
“Head for outer space this morning aboard Canadia: 2056, the lone Canadian government spacecraft, sent to support an American space armada fighting hostile aliens. This week, there’s trouble when a nuclear spill aboard the U-S fleet becomes the center of a tug-of-war between the Canadians and the Americans. What complicates matters is that the American elite cleanup force is headed by an ex-member of the Canadia crew who also had a relationship with the captain? That’s Canadia: 2056, this morning at 11:30 (noon NT) on CBC Radio One. “
First published in 1938, Anthem by philosopher/SF author Ayn Rand is one of the world’s most famous novellas! Anthem depicts a dystopian world that will be familiar to those who’ve read George Orwell’s similiarly-themed 1984 (published a full decade later). Both tales are set far in a future in which “equality” is strictly enforced, and individual thought are banned. In the society of Anthem, even individual names are banned with the protagonist known only as “Equality 7-2521.” His story is written as though it was his forbidden diary. You’ll find the full, fascinating, novella available through LibriVox.org…
And here are Virgil Finlay’s illustrations from the June 1953 issue of Famous Fantastic Mysteries:
Anthem
By Ayn Rand; Read by Chere Theriot
1 Zipped Folder of MP3 Files – 2 Hours 12 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox
Completed: May 2nd 2007
“A dystopic SF story taking place at some unspecified future date. Mankind has entered another dark age as a result of what Rand saw as the weaknesses of socialistic thinking and economics. Technological advancement is now carefully planned (when it is allowed to occur, if at all) and the concept of individuality has been eliminated (for example, the word “I” has disappeared from the language). As is common in her work, Rand draws a clear distinction between the “socialist/communal” values of equality and brotherhood and the “productive/capitalist” values of achievement and individuality. The story also parallels Stalinist Russia, which was currently going on at the time as the story was published.”
Amateur narrator extraordinaire Mark Nelson informs us that his latest auditory effort is already a smash hit, with downloads “off the charts.” Who knew that Tom Swift book would have such audiobook appeal? This 1961 novel comes from the 2nd series, following the adventures of Tom Swift’s son, Tom Swift Jr.. Tom Sr. engages in various kinds of research and still does a bit of inventing, which into science-fiction territory. The adventures from this series extend from the center of the Earth to the bottom of the ocean to the moon and, eventually, the outer solar system; with stops along the way at African antimatter volcanoes, lost New Guinea cities, and various wandering asteroids. You can visit this audibook through LibriVox.org or through Mark Nelson’s new podcast! Details follow…
Tom Swift and The Visitor From Planet X
By Victor Appleton II; Read by Mark Nelson
1 Zipped Folder of MP3 Files – 4 Hours 17 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox
Completed: April 2007
“Tom Swift Jr. and his associates at Swift Enterprises wait breathlessly for what may well be the most important scientific event in history—the arrival of the visitor from Planet X—a visitor in the form of energy. But there are factions at work determined to snatch the energy, which Tom has named Exman, from the young scientist-inventor’s grasp. First, a series of unexplainable, devastating earthquakes threaten to destroy a good portion of the earth, and Tom suspects the Brungarian rebels who obviously would like to capture Exman and use the space visitor to further their own evil purposes. With the security of Enterprises and Exman at stake, Tom creates two of his greatest inventions—a Quakelizor to counteract the simulated earth tremors, and a container or ‘body’ to house the energy from outer space. If the earthquakes cannot be stopped, the entire world will be threatened by destruction, and the Brungarian forces will conquer the earth. How Tom utilizes all his scientific knowledge to produce swift-action results and outwit the Brungarians makes one of the most exciting Tom Swift adventures to date.”
The SciPodBooks podcast, is the new podcasting arm of amateur audiobook narrating legend Mark Nelson. Each week a new chapter from one of Mark’s audiobooks will be in the feed. You’ll find readings of tales by such SF legends as H. Beam Piper, Andre Norton, Lafcadio Hearne, and William F. Harvey.
Subscriptions to the feed through this URL:
http://rss.mac.com/marknelson2/iWeb/SciPodBooks/SciPodCast/rss.xml