Jesse Willis – Page 220

Fast Ships, Black Sails A PIRATE ANTHOLOGY

SFFaudio Online Audio

Do you love the sound of a peg leg stomping across a quarterdeck? Or maybe you prefer a parrot on your arm, a strong wind at your back? Adventure, treasure, intrigue, humor, romance, danger–and, yes, plunder. Oh, the Devil does love a pirate–and so do readers everywhere.

Swashbuckling from the past into the future and space itself…

Night Shade Books published Fast Ships, Black Sails an anthology of fantastik pirate stories in 2008. Since then there have been two audiobook versions made of the 18 stories contained within the collection. If more get turned into audiobooks I’ll add them to this post!

PC064: Castor On Troubled Waters
By Rhys Hughes; Read by Alasdair Stuart
1 |MP3| – Approx. 27 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: PodCastle
Podcast: August 4, 2009

EP226: Pirate Solutions
By Katherine Sparrow; Read by Sarah Tolbert, Kate Baker, Nate Periat, and Steve Eley
1 |MP3| – Approx. 42 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Escape Pod
Podcast: November 26, 2009

Contents:
Introduction: “Raising Anchor” by Ann & Jeff VanderMeer
Boojum by Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette
Araminta, or, The Wreck of the Amphidrake by Naomi Novik
Avast, Abaft! by Howard Waldrop
I Begyn as I Mean to Go On by Kage Baker
Castor on Troubled Waters by Rhys Hughes |MP3|
Elegy for Gabrielle, Patron Saint of Healers, Whores and Righteous Thieves by Kelly Barnhill
Skillet and Saber by Justin Howe
The Nymph’s Child by Carrie Vaughn
68˚06’N, 31˚40’W by Conrad Williams
Pirate Solutions by Katherine Sparrow |MP3|
We Sleep on a Thousand Waves by Brendan Connell
Pirates of the Suara Sea by David Freer & Eric Flint
Voyage of the Iguana by Steve Aylett
Iron Face by Michael Moorcock
A Cold Day in Hell by Paul Batteiger
Captain Blackheart Wentworth by Rachel Swirsky
The Whale Below by Jayme Lynn Blaschke
Beyond The Sea Gate Of The Scholar-Pirates of Sarskoe by Garth Nix

Posted by Jesse Willis

Commentary: SFSignal Mind Meld on the best of 2009

SFFaudio Commentary

John DeNardo of SFSignal.com recently asked me if I was “interested in participating in another Mind Meld.” I told him he should go back and audit a few more classes at the Vulcan Science Academy as he was obviously not mind melding with me well enough to know my answer would be: “Of course I would John!”

Here was the topic:

Q: What were the best genre-related books, movies and/or shows you consumed in 2009?

Here was my answer:

I expect to hear a few more audiobooks and audio dramas before the year is out, but at 11 months in I can already say 2009 has been a very good year for audio fans. Here are six genre audiobooks and audio dramas that I gave the SFFaudio Essential designation.

Audio Dramas:

The Adventures Of Sexton Blake – A rival of Sherlock Holmes, Sexton Blake is an unbelievably clever audio drama series. It is also very, very funny!

Blake’s 7 – The Early Years (Volumes 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, and 1.4) – this superior prequel series mines the back-stories of the titular characters. B7 The Early Years is intelligent social Science Fiction.

The Red Panda Adventures, Season 4 – A free podcast audio drama series about 1930s Toronto superheroes. It features top notch acting, fresh scripts and more heart than all the X-Men put together.

Audiobooks:

Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper – A planetary romance about little aliens with a culture and language that borders on sapience. This Audio Realms edition features an able narration by Brian Holsopple.

Starship: Rebel by Mike Resnick – The penultimate chapter in Resnick’s galaxy spanning space opera. Narrator Jonathan Davis makes this audiobook version the ultimate way to enjoy this great series.

Way Station by Clifford D. Simak – A bucolic rumination on immortality, conflict, and human nature. Eric Michael Summerer’s clear narration makes Simak’s anachronistic grammar come alive.

You can read it |HERE| along with a bunch of other folk’s own lists, including Mike Resnick’s!

Posted by Jesse Willis

BBC Audio: Hearts, Keys, and Puppetry by Neil Gaiman and the Twitterverse

SFFaudio Online Audio

Proving that Twitter is good for more than fomenting revolutions and letting people know what you’re having for lunch, BBC Audiobooks America has assembled a collaborative audiobook written by Neil Gaiman and the “Twitterverse.” It’s available for FREE |HERE| and I’ve assembled the disparate MP3 files into a HuffDuffer podcast feed too.

Hearts, Keys, and Puppetry
By Neil Gaiman and the Twitterverse; Read by Katherine Kellgren
9 MP3 Files or HuffDuffer Podcast – Approx. 1 Hour 45 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: BBC Audio
Published: December 1, 2009
So began the Twitter Audio project, with a dazzling first line penned by New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman. What followed was an epic tale of imaginary lands, magical objects, haunting melodies, plucky sidekicks, menacing villains and much more. From mystical blue roses to enchanted mirrors to pesky puppets, this classic fable was born from the collective creativity of more than one hundred contributors via the social network Twitter.com in a groundbreaking literary experiment. Together, virtual strangers crafted a rollicking story of a young girl’s journey with love, forgiveness, and acceptance.

Chapter 1 |MP3| Chapter 2 |MP3| Chapter 3 |MP3| Chapter 4 |MP3| Chapter 5 |MP3| Chapter 6 |MP3|
Chapter 7 |MP3| Chapter 8 |MP3| Chapter 9 |MP3|

Podcast feed:

http://huffduffer.com/tags/hearts_keys_and_puppetry/rss

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

[via BBC Audiobooks America]

Posted by Jesse Willis

The Inheritors (An Extravagant Story) by Joseph Conrad and Ford Madox Ford

SFFaudio Online Audio

Mike Hagerty, in response to the Fourth Annual SFFaudio Challenge, has recorded and posted a 1901 Science Fiction(y) collaborative novel by two giants of English literature. You can currently get the entire audiobook for FREE either via LearnOutLoud.com or Archive.org. There are plans afoot to get it up on LibriVox.org as well (which will provide a very handy podcast feed). Thanks so much Mike!

The Inheritors (An Extravagant Story)
By Joseph Conrad and Ford Madox Ford; Read by Mike Hagerty
7 MP3 Files o 7 OGG Vorbis Files – Approx. 6 Hours 28 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Archive.org / LearnOutLoud.com
Published: November 2009
The Inheritors: An Extravagant Story (1901) is a quasi-science fiction novel on which Ford Madox Ford and Joseph Conrad collaborated. It looks at society’s mental evolution and what is gained and lost in the process. Written before the first World War, its themes of corruption and the effect of the 20th Century on British aristocracy appeared to predict history. In the novel, the metaphor of the “fourth dimension” is used to explain a societal shift from a generation of people who have traditional values of interdependence, being overtaken by a modern generation who believe in expediency, callously using political power to bring down the old order. Its narrator is an aspiring writer who himself makes a similar transition at a personal level only to feel he has lost everything.

Posted by Jesse Willis

NPR: Neil Gaiman Asks: Heard Any Good Books Lately?

SFFaudio Online Audio

There’s a brief “open mic” segment on today’s episode of NPR’s Morning Edition that I think you’d all like to hear:

Neil Gaiman, a self professed lover of audiobooks, is evangelizing the audiobook. For his segment he’s done some interviews with some audiobook movers and shakers. He’s spreading the good word, taking on the specific arguments of the unbelievers, and generally praising the audio medium. Have a listen…

Or download the |MP3|. Incidentally a click through to the NPR page on this segment also reveals two extended interviews with narrator Martin Jarvis…

and David Sedaris…

[via Audible.com’s Twitter feed]

Posted by Jesse Willis

A website for The Iron Heel by Jack London

SFFaudio Online Audio

The Iron Heel, one of the books that we’re turning into AUDIOBOOKS for the 4th Annual SFFaudio Challenge. It is being posted bit by bit, to a new website called TheIronHeel.net. The audiobook’s narrator and site runner, Matt Soar, is asking for feedback feedback on what he’s done so far. Here’s my feedback on your new site Matt:

Nice layout – simple and clean, with a blog format for easy RSS following. But! There is one serious deficiency that I see. There are simply not enough graphics!

<--So, I've made some for you! Let's really jazz up this very modern themed (but old aged) novel about a dystopian 20th century that (sort of) never was. Maybe someone out there on the internets has a cool map or something? Matt's also looking for feedback on the audio. Have a listen to Matt's reading of the Foreword |MP3| and Chapter 1 |MP3|.

Personally, after listening, I think you’re doing a very good job. It sounds like the mic or the mic setup could use a tweak in some way – there’s something not 100% right there. Otherwise the voicing sounds really terrific Matt!

Posted by Jesse Willis