RR.cc: Chillers – Four Tales Of Terror: Campbell, Ellison, Shepard, Delany

SFFaudio Online Audio

RadioArchive.ccSomeone in the RadioArchive.cc forums asked for, and received, a re-seeding of Chillers – Four Tales of Terror. If there’s an anthology that showcases the power of radio drama, this is it! Chillers was an utterly fantastic 4 episode series of stories adapted by Mike Walker. All four plays were based on excellent Science Fiction and Horror tales. The series was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between January 24th 2002 and February 14th 2002. Here are the details.

Chillers Four Tales Of TerrorChillers – Four Tales of Terror
Dramatized by Mike Walker; Performed by full casts
4 x 30 Minute Programs – Approx. 2 Hours [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 4
Broadcast: Jan. – Feb. 2002

“Who Goes There?”
Based on story by John W. Campbell; Performed by a full cast
1 Broadcast – Approx. 28 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Penned under the name Don A. Stuart, the novelette that this play was based on was first published in the August 1938 issue of Astounding Stories.
An alien being is found frozen in the ice of Antarctica. When it is thawed, it awakens, to become a threat to the small base camp. In fact, it’s a threat to all life on earth, as it can change shape and absorb the life and bodies of every living thing it comes in contact with.

“I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream”
Based on story by Harlan Ellison; Performed by a full cast
1 Broadcast – Approx. 28 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
The Hugo Award winning short story this play was based on first appeared in the March 1968 issue of Worlds Of If.
This is a tale of five people kept alive by AM, a computer that came alive, waged war and won against mankind. It’s hatred of mankind is so profound, that it kept these five alive only to torture them.

“Delta Sly Honey”
Based on story by Lucius Shepard; Performed by a full cast
1 Broadcast – Approx. 28 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
First appeared in a 1987 anthology entitled In the Field of Fire, which was a collection of SF and Fantasy stories dealing with Vietnam.
Taking place in the Vietnam War era, this is the story of a Southern country boy who exorcises his demons making late night broadcasts to phantom military units. Then, one answers.

“Corona”
Based on story by Samuel R. Delany; Performed by a full cast
1 Broadcast – Approx. 28 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
First published in Fantasy And Science Fiction Magazine‘s October, 1967 issue.
This is the story of an injured man and a girl who seeks death to free her from the pain that comes from her telepathic ability. Their common bond is a pop musician who offers peace to both.

Visit RadioArchive.cc |HERE| to download the torrent.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Dutch Treat The Audiobooks of Elmore Leonard

Aural Noir: Online Audio

My Elmore Leonard AudiobooksDutch Treat The Audiobooks Of Elmore LeonardAs you can see by my stack of Elmore Leonard audiobooks, gathered from my shelves, Dutch Treat: The Audiobooks of Elmore Leonard is just the kind of podcast I’m looking for. It’s on a highly specific subject, one that couldn’t really exist in any other format. The unnamed host takes clips from each Elmore Leonard audiobook (abridged and unabridged) to showcase Leonard’s terrific dialogue in the hands of some of the top narrators in the audiobook business. It was great to hear Grover Gardner, Joe Mantegna, Robert Forster chewing up Leonard’s dialogue once again. The only real detraction I see, in this super-fun podcast, is the highly unnecessary “strong language” warning.

It’s Elmore Fucking Leonard for fuck’s sake!

Actually there’s not a gratuity of swearing in these audiobooks, which makes the warning doubly annoying. Might as well say: “Elmore Leonard is a fiction writer, none of the events in these novels have actually happened.”

[sigh]

Okay, enough of my whining, have a listen.

Here’s the podcast feed:

http://dutchtreat.libsyn.com/rss

Posted by Jesse Willis

New Release from Audible Frontiers: The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

New Releases

Steve Feldberg, the spearhead behind the thrust that is Audible Frontiers, writes in to say:

“I wanted to draw your attention to our production of Paolo Bacigalupi’s THE WINDUP GIRL, which just went in the store this week.

Every review of this book is a rave – and it’s being called one of the best if not THE best SF books of the year.

Our production is especially great since it’s narrated by Jonathan Davis; you might recall that his narration of Robert J. Sawyer’s CALCULATING GOD won the 2009 Audie Award for Sci-Fi.

This one’s definitely worth a listen.”

Cool! Davis is also the narrator for the praiseworthy “Starship” series by Mike Resnick!

Audible Frontiers - The Windup Girl by Paolo BacigalupiThe Windup Girl
By Paolo Bacigalupi; Read by Jonathan Davis
Audible Download – Approx. [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: September 15, 2009
Anderson Lake is a company man, AgriGen’s Calorie Man in Thailand. Under cover as a factory manager, Anderson combs Bangkok’s street markets in search of foodstuffs thought to be extinct, hoping to reap the bounty of history’s lost calories. There, he encounters Emiko…Emiko is the Windup Girl, a strange and beautiful creature. One of the New People, Emiko is not human; instead, she is an engineered being, creche-grown and programmed to satisfy the decadent whims of a Kyoto businessman, but now abandoned to the streets of Bangkok. Regarded as soulless beings by some, devils by others, New People are slaves, soldiers, and toys of the rich in a chilling near future in which calorie companies rule the world, the oil age has passed, and the side effects of bio-engineered plagues run rampant across the globe. What happens when calories become currency? What happens when bio-terrorism becomes a tool for corporate profits, when said bio-terrorism’s genetic drift forces mankind to the cusp of post-human evolution? In The Windup Girl, award-winning author Paolo Bacigalupi returns to the world of The Calorie Man (Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award-winner, Hugo Award nominee, 2006) and Yellow Card Man (Hugo Award nominee, 2007) in order to address these poignant questions.

The novel’s title seemed familiar, so I looked on my bookshelf and spotted Infinivox’s The Fluted Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi (it’s also available via Audible.com).

[Thanks Steve!]

Posted by Jesse Willis

Free @ Audible.com: The Case Of The Missing Will by Agatha Christie

Aural Noir: Online Audio

Here’s a FREE Agatha Christie short story from BBC Audiobooks America [via Audible.com]. I have at least one friend who’ll snap up this download within about two seconds of seeing this post. And check out the narrator!

BBC Audiobooks America - The Case Of The Missing Will by Agatha ChrisiteThe Case of the Missing Will
By Agatha Christie; Read by David Suchet
FREE Audible Download – Approx. 21 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: BBC Audiobooks America
Published: 2008
Provider: Audible.com
Poirot receives an unusual request for help from a Miss Violet Marsh, who was orphaned as a child and went to live with her peculiar Uncle Andrew. He died a month ago, leaving a will with a strange clause. Marsh has given instructions that his “clever” niece is allowed to live in his house for one month and in that time she has to “prove her wits” and find his second will. If at the end of that time she hasn’t, all his worldly goods go to charitable institutions and she will be left with nothing. Can Poirot help her?

Posted by Jesse Willis

Free @ Audible.com: Free: The Future of a Radical Price by Chris Anderson

SFFaudio Online Audio

Hyperion BooksThis audiobook is a must listen for pretty much everyone who visits SFFaudio. It’s a fascinating history of the word and concepts of “FREE.” This is a word that affects you every day of your life. It’s a magic word, that creates fear, desire, curiosity, skepticism, love and hatred. If for no other reason listen for all the SFF genre mentions (though Anderson accidentally misnames one of Neil Gaiman’s books).

You’ll learn a ton by listening to this free book, I sure did! And, I bet if you listen to just 10 minutes you’ll have to listen to the whole thing.

In keeping with the recursive nature of the title, the UNABRIDGED audiobook version is FREE on Audible.com. It’s also available in a Zipped Folder for download from Wired magazine’s website |GET THE UNABRIDGED VERSION ZIPPED VERSION HERE|, from the publisher’s website (Hyperion Books) |HERE|. And it’s FREE in the Audiobook section of iTunes store too (that’s probably a first). Lastly it’s also available as an iTunes podcast too – do a search for it in iTunes (beware that the files are not ordered properly).

FREE The Future Of A Radical Price by Chris AndersonFree: The Future of a Radical Price
By Chris Anderson; Read by Chris Anderson
FREE Audible Download – Approx. 7 Hours 2 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Hyperion Audio
Published: July 2009
Provider: Audible.com
The New York Times best-selling author heralds the future of business in Free. In his revolutionary best seller, The Long Tail, Chris Anderson demonstrated how the online marketplace creates niche markets, allowing products and consumers to connect in a way that has never been possible before. Now, in Free, he makes the compelling case that, in many instances, businesses can profit more from giving things away than they can by charging for them. Far more than a promotional gimmick, Free is a business strategy that may well be essential to a company’s survival. The costs associated with the growing online economy are trending toward zero at an incredible rate. Never in the course of human history have the primary inputs to an industrial economy fallen in price so fast and for so long. Just think that in 1961 a single transistor cost $10; now Intel’s latest chip has two billion transistors and sells for $300 (or 0.000015 cents per transistor – effectively too cheap to price). The traditional economics of scarcity just don’t apply to bandwidth, processing power, and hard-drive storage. Yet this is just one engine behind the new Free, a reality that goes beyond a marketing gimmick or a cross-subsidy. Anderson also points to the growth of the reputation economy; explains different models for unleashing the power of Free; and shows how to compete when your competitors are giving away what you’re trying to sell. In Free, Chris Anderson explores this radical idea for the new global economy and demonstrates how this revolutionary price can be harnessed for the benefit of consumers and businesses alike.

Oddly, (or perhaps not if you’ve heard the book) the ABRIDGED audiobook version is NOT FREE!

is available |HERE|. There’s also a podcast feed of the abridged version HERE.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Subterranean Online: Lord Kelvin’s Machine by James P. Blaylock

SFFaudio Online Audio

Subterranean Press Sam A. Mowry, audio dramatist and audiobook narrator, points us towards the latest FREE audio release from Subterranean Press’s online magazine. It’s a STEAMPUNK novelette that was first published in the Mid-December, 1985 issue of Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine! Sez Subterranean:

“As we’ve recently published a brand new Langdon St. Ives adventure, The Ebb Tide, we thought it the perfect time to revisit one of the gentleman scientist’s other adventures, in a captivating audio read by Sam Mowry. Keep your lanterns, heavy winter jackets, and a firearm or two handy as you hear Lord Kelvin’s Machine.”

Lord Kelvin's Machine by James P. BlaylockLord Kelvin’s Machine
By James P. Blaylock; Read by Sam A. Mowry
14 Files or HuffDufer Podcast – Approx. 1 Hour 47 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Subterranean Online
Published: September 2009
A gentleman adventurer, explorer, and inventor, Langdon St. Ives, and his team of able assistants are desperately trying to stop the mad scheme of the evil Doctor Ignacio Narbando, who is threatening to move the Earth’s orbit into the path of an oncoming comet unless his demands are met. More than just for the sake of the world, though, St. Ives also seeks to avenge the death of his wife at the hands of Narbando. Meanwhile, the eminent British scientist Lord Kelvin has developed a machine that will thwart the two rivals’ plans and change the destiny of the whole planet.

Huff Duffer Podcast feed:

http://huffduffer.com/tags/lord_kelvin%E2%80%99s_machine/rss

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE| (courtesy of HuffDuffer)

Posted by Jesse Willis