Author: Jesse Willis

Free @ Harper Audio: Richard Matheson, Neil Gaiman, Marcia Talley

SFFaudio Online Audio

Harper Audio, as part of their “Summer of Books” promotion, is giving away three must download short stories from their recent and upcoming audiobook releases. These are “limited time” releases, so download them right away.

Harper Audio - Road Rage by Richard Matheson, Stephen King and Joe HillDuel (from Road Rage)
By Richard Matheson; Read by Stephen Lang
1 |MP3| – Approx. 63 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Harper Audio
Published: February 2009
“Driving to San Francisco, a businessman finds himself the victim of a deadly game being played by the driver of a huge, mysterious truck. Later to become Steven Spielberg’s classic 1971 film.”

Harper Audio - Fragile Things by Neil GaimanA Study In Emerald (from Fragile Things)
By Neil Gaiman; Read by Neil Gaiman
1 |MP3| – Approx. 50 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Harper Audio
Published: September 2006
Alluding to both the Sherlock Holmes canon and the Old Ones of the Cthulhu Mythos, this Hugo Award winning short story will delight fans of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, H.P. Lovecraft, and of course, Neil Gaiman. A Study in Emerald draws listeners in through carefully revealed details as a consulting detective and his narrator friend solve the mystery of a murdered German noble. But with its subtle allusions and surprise ending, this mystery hints that the real fun in solving this case lies in imagining all the details that Gaiman doesn’t reveal, and challenges listeners to be detectives themselves.

Harper Audio - Two Of The Deadliest edited by Elizabeth GeorgeCan You Hear Me Now (from Two Of The Deadliest)
By Marcia Talley; Read by
1 |MP3| – Approx. 20 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Harper Audio
Published: July 2009
“Need can make men desperate, but greed, in my experience, makes men stupid.” – From a new collection of short stories featuring “Lust, Greed, and Murder from Outstanding Women of Mystery”

[via Mary Burkey’s Audiobooker blog]

Posted by Jesse Willis

Maria Lectrix: Tanks by Murray Leinster

SFFaudio Online Audio

Over at the Maria Lectrix blog and podcast Maureen’s posted all three parts of her reading of Murray Leinster’s Tanks. This is a Military Science Fiction story from the January 1930 issue of Astounding Stories of Super-Science (the very first issue). Sez Maureen:

“I liked this story. It has the Leinster sense that ordinary people with their ordinary habits and ordinary weaknesses, are still strong and capable of doing big things, and what is important often goes unnoticed by the eye. This is more or less the opposite of the nastier side of sf/f’s tendency to tell stories of wish fulfillment, where one Supuh Speshul Geenyus saves all those declasse morons who laughed at him in school. Spinrad’s The Iron Dream is not particularly kindly, but he’s right that if you take elitist Speshulness too far, it’s where totalitarianism comes from.

Astounding Stories Of Super Science January 1930Tanks
By Murray Leinster; Read by Maureen O’Brien
3 MP3 Files – Approx. 77 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Maria Lectrix
Podcast: August 2009
In an eerie future that never was, but might have been, two ordinary soldiers hold the fate of a war in their nicotine-stained hands.
Part 1 |MP3| Part 2 |MP3| Part 3 |MP3|

[Tanks so much Maureen!]

Posted by Jesse Willis

BBCR4: The Tale Of The Knight, The Witch And The Dragon

SFFaudio Online Audio

A few folks out there have been saying we need more audio drama coverage. In answer to this I thought I’d give more play to more of the AD recommendations that come my way. Today, I draw your attention to one episode of “the best-remembered and most often privately-recorded of all BBC Radio Drama series” – Saturday Night Theatre. SNT was broadcast on BBC radio stations from 1943 to 1997. One of the BBC’s flagship radio drama programs, it showcased both adaptations of literature and all-original plays. Most of these recordings are lost (a full listing of SNT broadcasts is available HERE), but through the good graces of fans in the U.K. some of these lost shows are becoming available once again. That’s where this particular play comes in. Bill Hollweg of Broken Sea Audio Productions sez:

“I listened last night and this is BY FAR the best Fantasy AD since LOTR [The Lord Of The Rings] by the BBC- you will be AMAZED at the stereo mix- there’s a scene with a winding stair case in a castle that will knock your socks off

Plus Capt Picard [Patrick Stewart] as a knight the has seen better days is just FANTASTIC! This is not a small kids tale but a great FANTASY!!!

ALL MIXERS should LISTEN TO THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

BBC Radio 4The Tale Of The Knight, The Witch And The Dragon
By J.C.W. Brook; Performed by a full cast
1 Broadcast – Approx. 84 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 4 (Saturday Night Theatre)
Broadcast: Saturday 8th April 1978
“…a story of the past… the past of the imagination where all things are possible. A tale of power, love, sacrifice and of when the last fingers of myth and legend, sorcery and magic, trailed across the Earth before the world was so. It is a cosy world at peace. Where war is a make-believe and people know their place. A set, defined, established land of order and tranquility where evil only lies in the past… but that past approaches fast.”

Cast:
Patrick Stewart … The Knight, Sir Hugh of Monreth
Peggy Paige … The Witch Kavern
Anthony Newlands … The King
Elizabeth Proud … The Princess Edith
Gavin Campbell … Sir Edmund
Henry Knowles … The Herald
Marcus Campbell … Ian, Sir Hugh’s Page
Sheila Grant … Jane, The Princess’s Gentlewoman
Kate Binchy … Marianne, The Witch’s Daughter
Kenneth Shanley and Jonathan Scott … The King’s Subjects
Timothy Bateson … Scrimp, the Story Teller
Peter Howell of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop … sound effects and score
Directed by Ian Cotterell

Available for download via Mediafire |HERE|

Posted by Jesse Willis

TVOF: Interviews with Hal Clement, Poul Anderson, A.E. van Vogt, Isaac Asimov and Frederik Pohl

SFFaudio Online Audio

TVOF - The Voices Of FandomThe Voices Of Fandom, is a website I’ve just discovered. It has interviews, radio shows, testimonials and a lot more (like the fan made Ray Bradbury audio drama). Here is just a fraction of the cool recordings found over on TheVoicesOfFandom.com:

1982 Interview with Hal Clement – |MP3|
Raw unedited original interview recorded for the Science Fiction Radio Show (KOCV).

1982 Interview with Poul Anderson – |MP3|
Raw unedited original interview recorded for the Science Fiction Radio Show (KOCV).

1982 Interview with A.E. van Vogt – |MP3|
From The Science Fiction Radio Show (KOCV).

1972 Interview with Isaac Asimov and Frederik Pohl – Part 1 |MP3| Part 2 |MP3|
Raw interview material for an unfinished show.

T The Voices Of Fandom is a great resource for Science Fiction fans and scholars alike. Check it out.

[via Blue Tyson @ HuffDuffer.com]

Posted by Jesse Willis

SFsite review of Infinivox’s The Year’s Top Ten Tales of Science Fiction

SFFaudio News

The Year's Top Ten Tales of Science FictionThe Year’s Top Ten Tales of Science Fiction edited by Allan Kaster, is the subject of the latest review by audiobook (and graphic novel) enthusiast Susan Dunman over on SFsite.com. Susan sez of it “there’s something here for any science fiction fan to appreciate and enjoy.” She singles out The City of the Dead by Paul McAuley as her favorite story in the collection. She also slams one tale saying “I don’t think I ever really got the point, unless it was that scientists can believe and do incredibly stupid things.” To find out which one get’s Susan’s scorn, go on over to SFsite to |READ HER REVIEW| in full.

[Thanks Julie]

Posted by Jesse Willis