Author: Jesse Willis

LibriVox: Ultima Thule by Mack Reynolds

SFFaudio Online Audio

LibriVoxKaren Savage, one of the participants in this year’s SFFaudio Challenge, has completed her narration of Ultima Thule by Mack Reyolds and placed it on LibriVox.org! This is absolutely terrific! We’ll be sending Karen her choice of prize soon. If you’d like to hear this BRAND NEW, UNABRIDGED, FREE and PUBLIC DOMAIN audiobook you now have a half dozen ways do it. The files are available as a Zipped Folder full of MP3 files, via an iTunes 1-Click subscription, a regular podcast feed, or as individual file downloads. In fact I expect to see this as a torrent soon too.

In addition to being a really terrific narrator, Savage is a blogger, knitter and avid audiobook listener (check out her recent post about the less restrictive DRM on Net Library). Thanks so much Karen!

LibriVox - Ultima Thule by Mack ReynoldsUltima Thule
By Mack Reynolds; Read by Karen Savage
13 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 2 Hours 29 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: November 23, 2009
Ronny Bronston has dreamed all his life of getting a United Planets job that would take him off-world. He finally gets the opportunity when he is given a provisional assignment with Bureau of Investigation, Section G. But will he be able to complete his assignment and find the elusive Tommy Paine?

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/rss/3735

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

[Thanks also to Diana Majlinger]

Posted by Jesse Willis

BBC Radio 7: Planet B (series 2), The House On The Strand, A Stir Of Echoes

SFFaudio Online Audio

BBC Radio 7 - BBC7BBC Radio 7 has two “NEW COMMISSIONS” that should draw many a wandering ear. First up a Richard Matheson novel A Stir Of Echoes! Scott reviewed the UNABRIDGED Blackstone Audio version not too long ago |READ OUR REVIEW|. Julie and a few other folks will also be excited to learn that the second Planet B series begins this week too. Among the re-runs for the week ahead is a BBC7 commission 2005. The House On The Strand is a 1969 novel by Daphne du Maurier. I suspect most of the new releases will turn up on RadioArchive.cc sooner or later, or you could use Radio Downloader, either of those will work. Planet B (Series 2), on the other hand, is available via podcast and the first episode is already in the feed!

Planet BPlanet B (Series 2) – The Tender Trap
By Matthew Broughton; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 7
Broadcast: Sunday at 6pm and midnight
Kip is looking for love on the dating site, The Spark. But he gets more than he bargains for when a mysterious woman explodes into his world. Produced by James Robinson.
Starring:
Joseph Cohen-Cole
Tessa Nicholson
Emerald O’Hanrahan
Chris Pavlo
Melissa Advani
Adjoa Andoh

Podcast feed:

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/bbc7/planetb/rss.xml

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

The House On The Strand by Daphne du MaurierThe House On The Strand
By Daphne Du Maurier; Read by Julian Wadham
12 Broadcast – Approx. 6 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 7
Broadcast: Tuesday – Friday at 6.30pm and 00.30am
Daphne Du Maurier’s masterpiece is a beguiling combination of romantic atmosphere, haunting psychology and assured storytelling. The tale revolves round the narrator Dick Young, who escapes from his troubles in the form of a new drug, which transports him six centuries back in time. But his attempts to change history bring terror to the present and throw his own life into the balance.

A Stir Of Echoes by Richard MathesonA Stir Of Echoes
By Richard Matheson; Read by Trevor White
5 Broadcasts – Approx. 2.5 Hours [ABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 7
Broadcast: Monday – Friday at 1.30pm, 8.30pm and 1.30am
Tom Wallace lived an ordinary life in a seemingly normal neighbourhood until his brother-in-law hypnotises him; a chance event that awakens psychic abilities he never knew he possessed. Now he can hear the private thoughts of the people around him, and learns shocking secrets he never wanted to know.

Posted by Jesse Willis

When Zeppelins Ruled The Earth

SFFaudio Online Audio

Zeppelin V. PterodactylsI love the content of this 6 Minute lecture |MP3|. It was created by Simon Willison – but all the laughing from the audience, for some reason, makes me really, really mad.

Airships are FUN, not FUNNY.

Here’s the accompanying slideshow…

When Zeppelins Ruled The Earth

And while were at it:

And back to audiobooks, here’s the trailer for Skybreaker by Kenneth Oppel…

|HERE| is the audiobook version at Full Cast Audio.

[via many of HuffDuffers]

Posted by Jesse Willis

Recent Arrivals: The Complete Ripley Radio Mysteries and Catwings by Ursula K. Le Guin

SFFaudio Recent Arrivals

They are still “recent arrivals” when I borrow them from my local public library right?

Yeah, I thought so.

BBC Audio - The Complete Ripley Radio Mysteries based on the novels of Patricia HighsmithThe Complete Ripley Radio Mysteries
Based on the novels by Patricia Highsmith; Performed by a full cast
4 CDs – Approx. 5 Hours [RADIO DRAMA]
Publisher: BBC Audio
Published: 2009
ISBN: 9781408409473
Ian Hart stars in these BBC Radio 4 dramatisations of Patricia Highsmith’s five Ripley novels. Tom Ripley detests murder unless it is absolutely necessary. He prefers someone else to do the dirty work. But if he’s called on to act there is no one more cool, calculating and clever. In these dramatisations, BBC Radio 4 brings all Patricia Highsmith’s Ripley novels together in one thrilling series. In The Talented Mr Ripley, Tom makes a bid for another man’s inheritance and succeeds, but has he really got away with it? Ripley Under Ground is set a few years later, when Tom is living in luxury in a French chateau with his beautiful wife Heloise – but the clever art forgery which funds Tom’s expensive tastes is about to be uncovered. In Ripley’s Game,Tom sets up a man he dislikes to carry out two perfect murders, while in The Boy Who Followed Ripley, a rich young stalker arrives at Belle Ombre and he and Tom end up fighting for their lives. Finally, in Ripley Under Water, strange new neighbours show an overdeveloped interest in Ripley’s past. Will Tom’s shady dealings be exposed? Tense, thrilling and atmospheric, these dramatisations are perfect evocations of Highsmith’s unique, complex and brilliantly twisted crime novels.

Recorded Books - Catwings by Ursula K. Le GuinCatwings
By Ursula K. Le Guin; Read by Ursula K. Le Guin
1 CD – Approx. 30 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Recorded Books
Published: September 2008
ISBN: 9781428174375
Le Guin wrote this highly acclaimed novel about a very special litter of kittens. Mrs. Jane Tabby has always longed to get away from the cramped alleys of the city. She knows it is too late for her, but she thinks her longing may be the reason her litter of kittens was born with wings. When they are old enough to fly, she sends the four kittens, who become known as catwings, out into the world to find their home. But they find that danger does not lurk only in city alleyways.

Posted by Jesse Willis

BBC Radio 4: Grey Expectations

SFFaudio Online Audio

Radio Times: The Afternoon Play: Grey Expectations - review by David CrawfordBBC Radio 4The Radio Times is an invaluable resource for radio drama fans. I truly wish it was available at my local newstand here in Canada. I fuzzily recall something similar back in the 1980s for CBC Radio – but I can’t quite find anything online that matches that memory. Luckily a friend of the site, Roy, has a subscription to the U.K.’s Radio Times and he happily points us to these clippings. So here’s a clipping from next week’s BBC Radio 4 schedule…

BBC Radio 4 - Grey Expectations by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran Afternoon Play: Grey Expectations
By Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran; Performed by a full cast
1 Broadcast – Approx. 45 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 4 / Afternoon Play
Broadcast: Monday 30th November @ 14:15-15:00
Grey Expectations is the third – but not necessarily the last – in a trilogy of stories written by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran.

It follows on from the surreal My Blue Heaven (2006) and My Blue Wedding (2007) which told the story of Graham Slater, a redundant and downtrodden mouse-pusher whose life was transformed when he was offered a job by his childhood friend Laz. However, Laz turned out to be imaginary, blue and furry and lived in a parallel universe.

In this story, Graham learns what happened to all the billions the international bankers lost during the credit crunch – they have turned up in Laz’s blue furry world. Nobody knows what to do with the mountain of waste paper, but can Graham just get rid of it?

Stars:
Stephen Mangan
Rebecca Front
Phyllida Law
Toby Longworth

[Thanks Roy]

Posted by Jesse Willis

Sherlock Holmes pastiche: Sebastian Thorne

Aural Noir: Online Audio

Sebastian ThornNo doubt recalling my fondness for August Derleth’s Solar Pons, my friend Julie D. dropped me a line saying:

“the Sebastian Thorn stories paint a nice ‘modern’ Holmesian figure.”

Who? Thorn? Never heard of the fellow.

So, curious, I followed the link that Julie provided and saw that a young gentleman named Andrew Evelyn has been self-publishing his own present day Sherlock Holmes pastiche stories (starring a character named Sebastian Thorn).

Here is the series description:

Consulting detective Sebastian Thorn follows in the footsteps of Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot in solving baffling crimes and mysteries accompanied by his friend and partner James Ashton.

And most importantly there are audio versions! Andrew Evelyn has posted his stories into an iTunes podcast feed…

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

But, a little detective work also turns up the regular podcast feed too:

http://sebastianthorn.podbean.com/feed

[Thanks Julie!]

Posted by Jesse Willis