Author: Jesse Willis

Review of Travel by Wire by Arthur C. Clarke

SFFaudio Review

Science Fiction Audiobook - Travel by Wire by Arthur C. ClarkeTravel By Wire
By Arthur C. Clarke; Read by David Zinn
11 minutes – [UNABRIDGED]
Published: 2005
Themes: / Science Fiction / Hard SF / Teleportation / Humor /

Arthur C. Clarke’s early stories all seem to reflect some shade of his particularly British sense of humor – something which is almost completely absent from his later work. It is as if he was a “playful writer” in his youth and then a “serious writer” later on. This one is particularly playful, and has some good science fiction content too. Also nice is a brief introduction to the story written by Clarke, taken from the The Best Of Arthur C. Clarke 1937-1955. This story, Clarke’s first, was originally published in “Amateur Science Fiction Stories” magazine in December 1937. Reader David Zinn doesn’t sport an English accent but his reading is otherwise
appropriate. Available, for free, on the excellent AssistiveMedia.org website.

REALAUDIO LINK:
http://www.assistivemedia.org/amrams/TravelByWire.ram

Posted by Jesse Willis

ABC Radio Australia has, for a short time, archive…

SFFaudio Online Audio

ABC Radio Australia has, for a short time, archived Rodney Hall’s near future literary Science Fiction novel The Last Love Story. It is available in RealAudio format. The novel is abridged in 15 parts, and aired between July 25th and August 12th 2005. It is read by Christopher Pittman, abridged by Gail MacCallum, and produced and directed by Anne Wynter.

Here’s the link:
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/arts/bkreadg/stories/s1415322.htm

Posted by Jesse Willis

Prisoners of Gravity

SFFaudio Online Audio

Prisoners of Gravity is a television show that originally ran on TVOntario from 1989-1994. It is a wonderful show full of science fiction and fantasy author interviews in a very entertaining format. Each show has a topic, like “Heroes and Superheroes”, “Collaborations”, and “Robots and Artificial Intelligence”. Commander Rick, the host, plays pre-recorded segments of various author interviews where they comment on the topic in question. It is an excellent show.

But it is a television show, and this site is devoted to audio. Though I think such a show would be FANTASTIC on audio (even this show would be great heard and not watched), it’s not available. What is available are a few audio clips on Signal Loss, a beautiful site dedicated to the show.

I wish Prisoners of Gravity was still on and I wish I could see reruns of past shows in the United States. Short of that, I wish I could download the audio from the shows to listen to in my MP3 player. Thanks for the site!

Posted by Jesse Willis

Here’s a really cool 29 minute radio documentary o…

SFFaudio Online Audio

Here’s a really cool 29 minute radio documentary originally produced for WZBC Boston radio by Benjamen Walker entitled “Saint Phil.” Host Benjamen Walker argues for the canonization of PKD. He talks with authors Jonathan Lethem and Josh Glenn about the Science Fiction genius Philip K Dick. He also gets “UBIK” tattooed on his body. You can listen to the MP3 at the WTRO Radio site by clicking HERE!.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Commentary: Very Bad Deaths

Commentary

Science Fiction Audio - Very Bad Deaths by Spider RobinsonScott originally reviewed Very Bad Deaths in May – click here to see it. I finished it myself and wanted to comment:

I finally got a chance to listen to this one! I had a smile tattooed on my face while I listened to Spider spin his SF web. I knew I would be interested to hear this one especially because it is set in and around Vancouver, British Columbia, where I live and it is chock full of local details. But after hearing it, and realizing that most people who don’t live in BC probably couldn’t care less about the setting what I really wanted to talk about is something a lot of listeners/readers might have missed that they should care about. Spider Robinson wrote this novel as homage to Crime Writers Of America Grandmaster Lawrence Block. Most SF readers probably don’t know who Block is but they should. Block is a prolific and talented author working in the crime genre. In VBD Robinson uses many turns of phrase that are ones Block uses almost unconsciously in his many stories. Other giveaways include the theme of a horrifically understandable serial killer and a deep and abiding love of coffee. Robinson has done this sort of thing before – his novel Callahan’s Con was an homage to Block’s contemporary – fellow Crime Writers Of America Grandmaster Donald Westlake and Callahan’s Key was inspired by the writings of Robert A. Heinlein. Another neat feature of Very Bad Deaths is that it contains the only reference in fiction to the philosophical writings of Daniel Dennett that I know of – he also manages to tie Dennett’s concepts into the book’s plot.

Spider is currently “collaborating” with Heinlein on a novel titled Variable Star, I hope Blackstone Audio acquires the audio rights to that one and that they get Spider to narrate! Oh and a sequel to Very Bad Deaths is also in the works.

posted by Jesse Willis