Recent Arrivals from Blackstone Audio

SFFaudio Recent Arrivals

Science Fiction Audiobook - Dark is the Sun by Philip Jose FarmerDark is the Sun
By Philip Jose Farmer; Read by Rebecca Rogers
14.2 Hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2010

Fifteen billion years from now, Earth is a dying planet, its skies darkened by the ashes of burned-out galaxies, its molten core long cooled. The sunless planet is nearing the day of final gravitational collapse in the surrounding galaxy. Mutations and evolution have led to a great disparity of life-forms, while civilization has resorted to the primitive.

Young Deyv of the Turtle Tribe knew nothing of his world’s history or its fate. He lived only to track down the wretched Yawtl who had stolen his precious Soul Egg. Joined by other victims of the same thief—the feisty Vana and the plant-man Sloosh—he sets off across a nightmare landscape of monster-haunted jungle and wetland. Their search leads them ultimately to the jeweled wasteland of the Shemibob, an ageless being from another star who knows Earth’s end is near and holds the only key to escape.
 
 
Science Fiction Audiobook - Empire Builders by Ben BovaEmpire Builders
By Ben Bova; Read by Stefan Rudnicki
11.7 Hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2010

Dan Randolph never plays by the rules. A hell-raising maverick with no patience for fools, he is admired by his friends, feared by his enemies, and desired by the world’s loveliest women. Acting as a twenty-first privateer, Randolph broke the political strangle-hold on space exploration, and became one of the world’s richest men in the bargain.

Now an ecological crisis threatens Earth—and the same politicians that Randolph outwitted the first time want to impose a world dictatorship to deal with it. Dan Randolph knows that the answer lies in more human freedom, not less—and in the boundless resources of space. But can he stay free long enough to give the world that chance?
 
 
Horror Audiobook - Vampire$ by John SteakleyVampire$
By John Steakley; Read by Tom Weiner
11.7 Hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2010

Suppose there really were vampires. Dark, stalking, destroying. They’d have to be killed, wouldn’t they? Of course they would. But what kind of fools would try to make a living at it?

In best-selling author John Steakley’s vampire classic, one tightly knit band of brothers devotes itself to hunting down the monsters that infest the modern world—for a price. An exciting blend of horror and western genres, Vampire$ is a twenty-first-century Ghostbusters with an edge.

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Recent Arrivals: Stephen King

SFFaudio Recent Arrivals

Horror Audiobook - Firestarter by Stephen KingFirestarter
By Stephen King; Read by Dennis Boutsikaris
15 Hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Published: 2010

Charlie McGee inherited pyrokinetic powers from her parents, who had been given a low-grade hallucinogen called “Lot Six” while at college. Now the government is trying to capture young Charlie and harness her powerful firestarting skills as a weapon.
 
 
Horror Audiobook - Cujo by Stephen KingCujo
By Stephen King; Read by Lorna Raver
14 Hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Published: 2010

Left to fend for herself by her workaholic husband, Donna Trenton takes her ailing Pinto to Joe Cambers’s garage for repairs-only to be trapped with her son, Tad, in the sweltering car by the Cambers’s once-friendly Saint Bernard, Cujo, now a monstrous and rabid killer.
 
 
Horror Audiobook - Roadwork by Stephen KingRoadwork
By Stephen King; Read by G. Valmont Thomas
10 Hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Published: 2010

When a highway project puts Barton Dawes out of work and threatens to destroy his home, he has more than enough time on his hands to plot his revenge. Driving his wife and friends away with his obstinate refusal to give in, he pushes the powers that be to the limit, take a stand against what he sees as a criminal act in progress.
 
 
Horror Audiobook - The Long Walk by Stephen KingThe Long Walk
By Stephen King; Read by Kirby Heyborne
11 Hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Published: 2010

On the first day of May, 100 teenage boys meet for a race known as “The Long Walk”. If you break the rules, you get three warnings. If you exceed your limit, what happens is absolutely terrifying.
 
 

Horror Audiobook - The Running Man by Stephen KingThe Running Man
By Stephen King; Read by Kevin Kenerly
8 Hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Published: 2010

The year is 2025. The Running Man< is America's favorite television game show. Ben Richards is the programs latest contestant- and the Hunters' latest target in a rigged game of death...

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Recent Arrivals from Brilliance Audio

SFFaudio Recent Arrivals

Fantasy Audiobook - A Local Habitation by Seanan McGuireA Local Habitation
By Seanan McGuire; Read by Mary Robinette Kowal
12 Hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2010
|Listen to a sample|

October “Toby” Daye is a changeling, the daughter of Amandine of the fae and a mortal man. Like her mother, she is gifted in blood magic, able to read what has happened to a person through a mere taste of blood.

Half-human, half-fae, outsiders from birth, most changelings are second-class children of Faerie spending their lives fighting for the respect of their immortal relations. Toby is the only changeling who has earned knighthood, and she re-earns that position every day, undertaking assignments for her liege, Sylvester, the Duke of the Shadowed Hills.

Now Sylvester has asked her to go to the County of Tamed Lightning — otherwise known as Fremont, CA — to make sure that all is well with his niece, Countess January O’Leary, whom he has not been able to contact. It seems like a simple enough assignment — but when dealing with the realm of Faerie nothing is ever as simple as it seems. January runs a company that produces computer fantasy games, and her domain is a buffer between Sylvester’s realm and a rival duchy whose ruler is looking for an opportunity to seize control. And that is the least of January’s problems. For Tamed Lightning has somehow been cut off from the other domains, and now someone has begun to murder January’s key people. If Toby can’t find and stop the killer soon, she may well become the next victim….
 
 
Paranormal Romance Audiobook - Love Bites by Lynsay SandsLove Bites
By Lynsay Sands; Read by Angela Dawe
8 Hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2010
|Listen to a sample|

True Love: Good from the First Bite…

Etienne Argeneau’s three hundred years of bachelorhood were at an end. Either that, or he’d be forever alone. He could only turn one human in his lifetime, and most of his kind created a life mate. If he turned this stranger… But what choice did he have? He had to help Rachel Garrett. The beautiful coroner had saved his life. To save hers, he would make her immortal.

…To the Last

Rachel Garrett awoke surprised. All she’d wanted was to get off the night shift in the morgue; now here she was staggering to her feet naked and in a strange place. But everything would be alright. She’d just make like a bat out of – Then she saw the man of her dreams emerging from his…coffin? And the look in his bright silver eyes said they’d be spending a lot of time together. She just hoped he tasted as good as he looked.

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Recent Arrivals from Full Cast Audio

SFFaudio Recent Arrivals

Science Fiction Audiobook - Starclimber by Kenneth OppelStarclimber
By Kenneth Oppel; Read by David Kelly and the Full Cast Family
10 CDs – 11 Hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Full Cast Audio
Published: 2010
ISBN: 9781934180952

Matt Cruse is back in the phenomenal third volume in Kenneth Oppel’s bestselling, award-winning series – and this time he’s heading for outer space. AIRBORN and SKYBREAKER, the first two books in the series, have been among our bestselling and most-honored titles, and we think you’ll find this one just as thrilling – if not more so. Featuring an international cast of larger-than-life characters, this is adventure fiction at its finest.
 
 
Science Fiction Audiobook - Space Station Rat by Michael J. DaleySpace Station Rat
By Michael J. Daley; Read by Daniel Bostick
3 CDs – 3 Hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Full Cast Audio
Published: 2010
ISBN: 9781936223053

There’s not much true science fiction available for the intermediate grades, so we were delighted to find this terrific outer space adventure story. Though it is humorous and exciting, its science seriously, as a good SF novel should. This is a solo read, provided by our own Dan Bostick, who was named one of the five best voices in Children’s Audio last year by AudioFile Magazine.

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Review of Silence Please by Arthur C. Clarke

SFFaudio Review

Finis! Happy Birthday to us!

Science Fiction Audiobooks - Earthlight and Other Stories by Arthur C. ClarkeSilence Please
Contained in Earthlight and Other Stories: The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke 1950-1951
By Arthur C. Clarke; Read by Various
Publisher: Phoenix Books
Published: 2010
Themes: / Science Fiction / Pubs / Sound / Opera / Physics /

What is it about a good pub that makes it such a good place to tell a story? Spider Robinson’s Callahan says “Shared pain is lessened; shared joy, increased.” That’s a good enough reason for me. Someone line me up with a pint, and one for my friend Spider. Let’s see who comes along.

“Silence Please” is Arthur C. Clarke’s first White Hart story of the fifteen that were later collected as The Tales of the White Hart. After the unnamed main character tells us of his surroundings (and how difficult this pub called The White Hart is to find), Harry Purvis sidles up to tell the tale of The Felton Silencer, a device that uses noise-canceling technology to deaden sound over a large area. The best use for such an engineering marvel? Revenge, of course!

The physics behind The Felton Silencer are explained fully. Never has an info dump been more entertaining! And the results make me eye those noise-canceling headphones suspiciously. Best use them only for emergencies.

The presentation is superior – Christopher Cazenove gives this one a dramatic read that comes off like a great British comedy.

A long while ago, Fantastic Audio published a series of audiobooks that contained all of the stories in The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke, a huge collection of Clarke’s short fiction that was published (appropriately enough) in 2001. Phoenix Books is now re-issuing these audiobooks on Audible, at excellent prices. The Earthlight and Other Stories (1950-1951) collection is a great one to start with because in addition to this White Hart story, “The Sentinel” (which later inspired 2001: A Space Odyssey), “Time’s Arrow”, and “Earthlight” are there, too.

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Review of The Crossroads by L. Ron Hubbard

SFFaudio Review

The penultimate review in the story-a-day 7th Anniversary Fun Run!

Science Fiction Audiobook - The Crossroads by L. Ron HubbardThe Crossroads
By L. Ron Hubbard; Read by a Full Cast
Approx 50 mins – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Galaxy Audio
Published: 2010
Themes: / Science Fiction / Farming / Economics / Politics / Time / Trading / Vegetables /

Eben Smith is frustrated with government, who has offered (ordered?) to pay him to plow under his crops. But, these crops are “tangibles”, as Eben says, and it don’t make no sense to him. So he piles up the vegetables in his wagon, and heads off to find a buyer, leaving his wife to worry about him causing trouble with the government.

A day or so later, he arrives at The Crossroads. Four roads meet there; one concrete, one full of boulders, not passable except on foot. Another was made of metal. That leaves his own, a dirt road with a double row of ruts made by wagon wheels. Eben, not sure where to go from there, stops and waits for “someone with information”.

Eben has visitors, of course, and is a shrewd trader. Each visitor has his own quirks, and his own things he finds valuable. Eben sees things no farmer from the 1940’s has ever seen.

The story has a good quality. It’s very enjoyable pulp fiction, originally published in Unknown Fantasy Fiction in February 1941. It reminds me a bit of Clifford D. Simak, who, 17 years later, wrote “The Big Front Yard”. Eben has the same sort of can-do attitude as the main character in that story. Just as interesting are Eben’s distrust and criticism of the US government. Not much has changed in the last 70 years.

This CD is one of many in a series of L. Ron Hubbard stories published by Galaxy Press. It was extremely well done. There’s a main narrator, behind which are sound effects. Other actors perform the dialogue. Birds chirping set the roadside scene at high noon, and none of the effect are overpowering. Most of Eben’s visitors speak English, but one of them doesn’t. The spoken language was very well done, too. I become convinced after listening to this, the excellent Warhammer titles from The Black Library, and the great stuff coming from Graphic Audio, that it is not this type of audiobook I dislike. If it’s done well, it’s good stuff. It’s just so easy to do terribly.

With a pair of headphones, this was a very enjoyable listen.

Posted by Scott D. Danielson