Author: Jesse Willis

from ASTOUNDING: A Transmutation Of Muddles by Horace Brown Fyfe

SFFaudio Online Audio

From the pages of Astounding Science Fiction’s September 1960 issue comes a workmanlike SF story from one of the minor pitchers of SF. Horace Brown Fyfe (aka Andrew MacDuff) seems to have gotten just 15 or so his SF tales into Astounding over the years. The narrator, on the other hand, has a prolific website, and has even written and recorded his own tales including one about Alex a ‘half parrot and half penguin’ who travels from Tierra del Fuego to an Antarctic island inhabited by ancient Egyptians who hail him as their god incarnate (which reminds me of an episode of Tales Of The Gold Monkey). Here’s the story, read by Roy Trumbull, that caught my ears…

Story Speiler Science Fiction - A Transmutation Of Muddles by Horace B. FyfeA Transmutation Of Muddles
By Horace Brown Fyfe; Read by Roy Trumbull
2 MP3s – Approx. 39 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: StorySpieler.com
Published: 2008?
A judge is sent to a distant planet to mediate between a spaceship captain and an insurance adjuster. The natives have seized the captain’s spaceship as a gift from the great god Meeg and are turning it into a temple dedicated to Meeg.
Part 1 |MP3| Part 2 |MP3|

Check out plenty more tales, read by the same dude, over on the StorySpieler website HERE.

Posted by Jesse Willis

SWEET sound version of To Build A Fire by Jack London

SFFaudio Online Audio

LoudLit.orgLoudLit.org has a sweetly sounding version of Jack London’s classic short story To Build A Fire available for your listening pleasure. I’ve argued this tale is Hard Science Fiction. Even if you don’t agree (you dope), you’ll have to agree that it’s still an awesome story and in the same vein as Tom Godwin’s The Cold Equations. Hard SF set in the Yukon is there anything cooler?


LoudLit - To Build A Fire by Jack LondonTo Build A Fire
By Jack London; Read by Gregg Dugan
1 |MP3| – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LoudLit.org
Published: June 2007
And, after listening check out the terrific commentary for this awesome story over on JackLondons.net.

By the way, in an interesting twist on alternative economic models LoudLit.org appears to use what I’ll call the “happy hostage” model of audiobook production. They record the productions, then release bits of them as the ransom donations come in. Currently ransomed is The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott

SFFaudio Online Audio

LibriVoxRuth Golding writes in to say:

“I thought I would just drop you a line to let you know that we have today catalogued Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin Abbott at Librivox.org.”

Yes, we do find this of interest Ruth! There is another version available through Florida’s educational service (Lit2Go), but it’s nice to see a 100% FREE public domain version of this math fiction classic. This version is at least 3 years in the making, glad you stuck with it. Now, if this non-euclidean geometry headache will ever go away, I’ll give it a listen.

LibriVox Science Fiction - Flatland: A Romance Of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. AbbottFlatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions
By Edwin A. Abbott; Read by Ruth Golding
9 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: October 12th 2008
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions is an 1884 science fiction novella by the English schoolmaster Edwin Abbott Abbott. As a satire, Flatland offered pointed observations on the social hierarchy of Victorian culture. However, the novella’s more enduring contribution is its examination of dimensions; in a foreword to one of the many publications of the novella, noted science writer Isaac Asimov described Flatland as “The best introduction one can find into the manner of perceiving dimensions.” As such, the novella is still popular amongst mathematics, physics and computer science students.

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/flatland-a-romance-of-many-dimensions-by-edwin-abbott-abbott.xml

Posted by Jesse Willis

First review of The SFFaudio Podcast – in the blue spotlight

SFFaudio News

AzureScapeThe first external review of our SFFaudio Podcast is available for your education and exhaltation! Penned Seth Wilson, an SFF audio connoisseur of the blind kind, on a blog called AzureScape.net, it’s full of high praise for me (and tangentially for Scott too – though that’s got to be a highly secondary issue). He also rated me us at 5 stars on iTunes, natch.

Thanks Seth, you have great taste!

And, be sure to check out Seth’s review of the audiobook version of Neal Stephenson’s Anathem over on AzureScape too!

Posted by Jesse Willis

Maria Lectrix Podcast: Code Three by Rick Raphael – a HUGO nominee

SFFaudio Online Audio

The Maria Lectrix Podcast has more fiction content than the of other leading podcasts brands.

Clinical studies show that brushing your teeth while listening to a Maria Lectrix podcast prevents tooth decay and improves brain function.

In fact, 4 out of 5 lab-coated scientists agree that it’s public domain blend of humor and intelligence widens your smile while improving neuronal activity.*

Seriously though, Maureeen O’Brien, the ML podmistress/narrator of Maria Lectrix, has some of the best SF stories that ever get podcast. Here’s the latest, Code Three by Rick Raphael, it was originally published in the February 1963 issue of Analog. It promises to be a real contender for best SF story podcast in Autumn 2008. Want evidence? Here’s some: Code Three was nominated for a 1964 Hugo award! Here’s more: This story was later expanded to novel length!

Science Fiction Short Story Audiobook - Code Three by Rick RaphaelCode Three
By Rick Raphael; Read by Maureen O’Brien
7 MP3s – Approx. 3 Hours 4 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Maria Lectrix
Podcast: September – October 2008
“Code Three” is one of those speculative, gadget-filled, slice of life stories that some people will like and others find boring. I think it’s a rather interesting look at what someone in the early sixties thought that highways and law enforcement might be like in the eighties and nineties, if normal passenger cars had kept getting more powerful engines.
Part 1 |MP3| Part 2 |MP3| Part 3 |MP3| Part 4 |MP3| Part 5 |MP3| Part 6 |MP3|
Part 7 |MP3|

*4 out of 5 un-lab-coated scientists are also in agreement, with the study, but the general public don’t trust their opinions as much

Posted by Jesse Willis