The latest issue of Locus The Magazine Of The Science Fiction and Fantasy Field (the hardcopy edition) has a story of interest:
“Audio rights to Philip K. Dick’s The Man In The High Castle, Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said, Ubik, Valis, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, Dr. Bloodmoney, and two untitled story collections went to Haila Williams at Blackstone Audio via Russell Galen.”
Thanks to Scott D. Danielson for this find!
The Time Traveler Show podcast #14 came out yesterday. Along with the customary unabridged classic Science Fiction story:
Doom From Planet 4 by Jack Williamson was featured on the cover of Astounding magazine’s July 1931 issue. The story is read by Bill Coon (a favorite narrator over on LibriVox). Interestingly this story also ties in nicely with my commentary from yesterday (Doom From Planet 4 is set on a remote and mysterious volcanic island in the South Pacific – a possible “phantom island” in fact). To listen download the show directly |MP3| or plug this this podcast feed into your podcatcher to get the show:
http://www.timetravelershow.com/shows/feed.xml
Also, be sure to listen to the new Time Traveler Show PROMO |MP3|!
DATAJUNKIE, the blog that delivers more high-res scans of vintage SF pulp art than you can shake a keyboard at has paired-up the images from the original magazine publications of Asimov’s The Caves Of Steel with the 1989 BBC Radio 4 audio dramatization. Go check out the lovely images in the DataJunkie post and listen to the acclaimed Science fiction murder mystery …. personally though I’m going to wait. I’d like to listen to the dramatization after I hear the Tantor release of the unabridged novel of The Caves Of Steel, it is coming out this spring!
The Caves Of Steel
By Isaac Asimov; Performed by a full cast
2 MP3 Files – Approx. 90 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 4
Broadcast: 1989
Adapted by Bert Coules. Starring Ed Bishop, Sam Dastor and Matt Zimmerman.
Click HERE to visit the original post with links to the 2 MP3s.
Edgar Allan Poe’s only novel The Narrative Of Arthur Gordon Pym was published in 1838. The unabridged audiobook is available commercially, but the LibriVox version has been stalled at 85% completion for too long. This multi-reader project has been in production for more than a year, and I’m eager to see it completed. I believe it is a crucial work of early Speculative Fiction. It was an influence on H. P. Lovecraft, and his At The Mountains Of Madness and even Steven Utley and Howard Waldrop’s 1977 Black As The Pit, From Pole to Pole is similarly descended from Pym.
The Narrative Of Arthur Gordon Pym is crucial, not the least because I think a lot of us would like to hear some other related novels that were inspired to follow after it! For myself, one in particular stands out I’ve been hankering to hear is Jules Vernes’ The Sphinx Of The Ice Fields (AKA An Antarctic Mystery). This was Verne’s 1897 sequel to Poe’s Pym. I originally ran across this novel in relation to my fascination with sub-antarctic islands. One day, a few weeks back, I was doing my usual zoom and pan lunchtime tourism on Google Maps. That particular afternoon I spotted a cool little island called Île de la Possession (46°24′S 51°46′E), one of the extremely remote Îles Crozet,which is in a chain of tiny sub-antarctic islands owned by France. This one was particularly interesting looking as it was both volcanic and ice-free. There also happened to be a cool research station visible on the far East side of the island. In cross referencing the island with the images I was seeing on Google Maps I also spotted that they’d named its northern-most mountain “Monts Jules Verne!” It also has a rivers named “Moby Dick” and “Styx.” Now hearing all this you might think this is a real-life version of Vernes’ Mysterious Island, but in fact it has nothing to do with that novel’s made-up island, instead this very real island actually appears in Verne’s sequel to Pym, the novel The Sphinx Of The Ice Fields!
Now back to the business…. If you’re even half as excited about seeing the great lineage of Pym turned into audiobooks, please consider volunteering your voice to the project. There are only 4 chapters still unassigned and the majority of the other chapters are already completed.
One last thing, call it more inspiration: For an astoundingly-cool bibliography of Antarctic related fiction (from 1605 to the present day) have a look at Fauno Cordes’ “Tekeli-li” or Hollow Earth Lives: A Bibliography of Antarctic Fiction.
Perhaps the strangest podcast I’ve ever listened to, Aliens You Will Meet is a 2nd person perspective guide to your future via a pre-cognitive meeting with an omniscient trip-planner, who will, like the The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, dispense crucial and bizarre information about… the aliens you will meet. The show, which is written by Jason Axelrod (an Escape Pod alumnus), feels like an extended writing exercise, funny and quite short – sometimes just a few words.
Listen to the Promo |MP3| or subscribe to the feed:
http://aliensyouwillmeet.libsyn.com/rss
Seminar: An Original Anthology Show, is a new full-cast audio drama from Pendant Productions. They’ve just released their 2nd show and it features two tales, one familiar one all new:
“The Raven”
By Edgar Allen Poe (adapted by William E. Spear); Performed by a full cast
“Genji”
By Darian Lindle; Performed by a full cast
Sound good? Then subscribe with this podcast feed:
http://www.pendantaudio.com/seminar-podcast.xml
