Scott D. – Page 8

The Year’s Top Short SF Novels, ed. by Allan Kaster

SFFaudio Recent Arrivals

Science Fiction Audiobook - The Year's Top Short SF Novels edited by Allan Kaster

Life is good! Infinivox just released their latest: The Year’s Top Short SF Novels, edited by Allan Kaster.

CONTENTS:
“Return to Titan” by Stephen Baxter
“Jackie’s-Boy” by Steven Popkes
“The Sultan of the Clouds” by Geoffrey A. Landis
“Seven Cities of Gold” by David Moles
“A History of Terraforming” by Robert Reed
“Several Items of Interest” by Rick Wilber
“Troika” by Alastair Reynolds

All seven stories are unabridged and run approx 2 hours each.

Infinivox says:

Short novels may well be the perfect length for science fiction. They are movie length tales that resonate with moxie while exploring characters, new worlds, and ideas. The stories in this unabridged audio collection are the best-of-the best short science fiction novels published in 2010 by current and emerging masters of this form.

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Angry Robot on Brilliance Audio

SFFaudio Recent Arrivals

Angry Robot is “a global imprint dedicated to the best in modern adult science fiction, fantasy and everything inbetween.” These titles represent the start of a parnership between Angry Robot and Brillance Audio.

Darkness Falling: Forever Twilight Book I by Peter Crowther, read by Luke Daniels, 13 hours	Debris: The Veiled Worlds by Jo Anderton, read by Kate Rudd, 15 hours
Moxyland by Lauren Beukes, read by Nico Evers-Swindell, 8 hours	Reality 36 by Guy Haley, read by Michael Page, 13 hours
Roil: The Nightbound Land by Trent Jamieson, read by Ralph Lister, 11 hours	Triumff: Her Majesty’s Hero by Dan Abnett
Zoo City by Lauren Beukes, read by Justine Eyre, 10 hours

For a live list of audiobooks received by SFFaudio, subscribe to our NewAudiobookIn Twitter feed.

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Philip K. Dick from Brilliance Audio

SFFaudio Recent Arrivals

The Divine Invasion by Philip K. Dick, read by Dick Hill, 9 hours	Lies, Inc. by Philip K. Dick, read by Luke Daniels, 7 hours
Now Wait for Last Year by Philip K. Dick, read by Luke Daniels, 8 hours	The Simulacra by Philip K. Dick, read by Dick Hill, 9 hours
The Transmigration of Timothy Archer by Philip K. Dick, read by Joyce Bean, 9 hours

For a live list of audiobooks received by SFFaudio, subscribe to our NewAudiobookIn Twitter feed.

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Review of Star Wars: Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn

SFFaudio Review

Star Wars: Heir to the Empire, 20th Anniversary Edition
By Timothy Zahn; Read by Marc Thompson
13 Hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2011
Themes: / Science Fiction / Fantasy / Star Wars / Revolution / Space Opera /

Listening to Star Wars: Heir to the Empire on unabridged audio was nostalgic for me. I read the novel in print when it came out almost 20 years ago. I liked it then, and I enjoyed this audiobook, too.

There have been many Star Wars audiobooks. Until a few years ago, the available titles were abridged, anywhere from 3 hours to 9 hours in length. One of the qualities of those short audiobooks that I liked is that they successfully incorporated the Star Wars sounds, and I LOVE the Star Wars soundscape. I expected this unabridged reading to leave those sounds behind, but I’m very happy to report that they are here. This audiobook opens with the John Williams opening score, and there are plenty of light sabers, droids, wookies, and blasters throughout. Awesome.

Listen to an excerpt: |HERE|

It’s a few years after the Battle of Endor (from Return of the Jedi), and the New Republic now has to deal with the fact that they’ve won. Many of the characters we know from the original film trilogy are here: Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and her husband Han, Chewbacca, R2D2, C3PO, Lando Calrissian, etc. Making things difficult for our heroes is Grand Admiral Thrawn and an unstable Dark Jedi named Joruus C’Boath.

I was impressed with Marc Thompson’s skilled narration. He was able to evoke these well-known characters with his voice, from outright impression to a cadence change or other verbal tic. I always knew which character was speaking.

This novel came out well before the film versions of Episodes 1, 2, and 3, so there are blessedly no midi-chlorians here. If you like the original Star Wars films and have considered reading one of the novels, this audiobook is an excellent place to start. I enjoyed revisiting Lucas’ universe, and it’s an entertaining story.

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

What to know what new audiobooks have arrived?

SFFaudio News

metaSFFaudio Logo Here at the SFFaudio Research and Development Lab, we’ve been ~~watching TV~~ hard at work on innovative solutions to match you with your audiobooks.

That’s why, when we noticed that Scalzi started to use Twitter to list his incoming books, we immediately ~~spent hours reading his list~~ leapt into action. We stole his idea, called it our own, and started our own feed called NewAudiobookIn. Turns out that is a very quick and easy way to note everything that comes in.

For those that aren’t on Twitter but use RSS readers to read blogs, I suggest you use this link to read the new Twitter feed as an RSS feed:
http://api.twitter.com/1/statuses/user_timeline.rss?screen_name=NewAudiobookIn

Our regular Twitter feed, @SFFaudio, will not be changed.

Stay tuned for other copied innovations, like the new SFFaudio Grill. We’ve also been playing with a new thing all the kids are doing called YouTube. Coming soon!

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Review of The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor by Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga

SFFaudio Review

The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor
By Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga; Read by Fred Berman
10.5 Hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Published: 2011
Themes: / Horror / Zombies / Survival / Post-apocalypse / Evil /

“It may be confidently asserted that no man chooses evil, because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks.” — Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Men

Because I enjoyed the TV series so much, I was eager to listen to this. My expectations were not too high because (1) it’s a media tie-in and (2) it’s an origin story. Those are not a pair of my very favorite things, but I’m delighted to report that this is a very good novel. There is plenty of zombie mayhem, but foremost this is a horror story in the tradition of Stephen King. In other words, it’s not about the zombies but about people and what monsters bring out in them.

It’s also a satisfying origin story. I knew going in that The Governor (Philip Blake) was an exceptional bad guy. The story of his journey from normalcy to that level of bad could not have been an easy story to tell, but job well done. It was both compelling and surprising. Most importantly, I found the characters and their actions believable. Often reprehensible, sometimes jaw-dropping, but believable. As Philip Blake, his brother, his daughter, and others make their way to Atlanta in their suddenly changed and extremely violent world, I was forced to ask myself what I’d do in their situation, and I wasn’t always comfortable with my answers.

As far as I know, this is the first time I’ve heard a Fred Berman narration. There’s a lot of grisly uncomfortable stuff here, and I can’t imagine another narrator handling it better. I look forward to hearing him again soon. I’m not ready for another intense zombie novel, though. Maybe he’s narrated something with puppies.

Posted by Scott D. Danielson