Category: News

The Princess And The Tin Box by James Thurber

SFFaudio News

First published in The New Yorker‘s September 29, 1945 issue, The Princess And The Tin Box is a short story by James Thurber that popped up onto my radar screen today. The screen read “fairy tale.” But, the more I think about it, the more I think The Princess And The Tin Box is actually more fable than straight-up fairy tale. Still, fairy tales and fables do go hand-in-hand, skipping through the minefield of morality (that’s just over the knolls of neurosis and just through the copse of everlasting obscuration). Either way both types of stories play upon our expectations. That’s the thing, in a realm where anything can happen, you’re supposed to be a wise reader if you’ll pause, every so often, and drop a metaphorically indigestible breadcrumb, making especially sure to take note of precisely where you placed it.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Lightspeed Magazine will have a podcast!

SFFaudio News

LIGHTSPEED MAGAZINE

Lightspeed Magazine is a “new online science fiction magazine published by the award-winning independent press Prime Books” – It’s first issue launches June 1, 2010.

The mag is edited by John Joseph Adams, a big audiobook fan who’s also the host of The Geek’s Guide To The Galaxy podcast and Andrea Kail, a “writer, critic, and television producer who worked for thirteen years on Late Night with Conan O’Brien.”

Lightspeed is set to run a mix of straight up Science Fiction and science articles. But, most exciting of all, was this bit from the press release:

We are also pleased to announce a new member of the Lightspeed team: award-winning audiobook producer Stefan Rudnicki, who will be producing the Lightspeed Magazine story podcast.

Stefan Rudnicki is an independent director, producer, narrator, and publisher of audiobooks. He has received more than a dozen Audie Awards from the Audio Publishers Association, a Ray Bradbury Award, a Bram Stoker Award, and a GRAMMY Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children for The Children’s Shakespeare. Outside of the audiobook industry, he’s probably best known for the dozen books he’s written or edited, from actor’s resource anthologies to a best-selling adaptation of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. He is also president of Skyboat Road Company, Inc., the most respected independent audio production team on the West Coast.

Lightspeed will adapt two of its four stories each month to podcast format. Issue one’s podcasts are “The Cassandra Project” by Jack McDevitt and “Amaryllis” by Carrie Vaughn.

As a special feature of the debut issue, in conjunction with the popular podcasts Escape Pod and Hugo Award nominee Starship Sofa, Lightspeed will present two bonus podcasts: “I’m Alive, I Love You, I’ll See You in Reno” by Vylar Kaftan will appear on Escape Pod on June 1 and “Cats in Victory” by David Barr Kirtley will appear on Starship Sofa on June 15.

Here is Lightspeed‘s complete posting schedule for the June 2010 issue:

June 1:
Fiction: “I’m Alive, I Love You, I’ll See You in Reno” by Vylar Kaftan
Author Spotlight: Vylar Kaftan
Podcast: “I’m Alive, I Love You, I’ll See You in Reno” by Vylar Kaftan (on Escape Pod)
Editorial by John Joseph Adams

June 3:
Nonfiction: “Is There Anybody Out There That Wants to Go Fast” by Mike Brotherton

June 8:
Fiction: “The Cassandra Project” by Jack McDevitt
Author Spotlight: Jack McDevitt
Podcast: “The Cassandra Project” by Jack McDevitt, narrated by Stefan Rudnicki

June 10:
Nonfiction: “The High Untresspassed Sanctity of Space: Seven True Stories about Eugene Cernan” by Genevieve Valentine

June 15:
Fiction: “Cats in Victory” by David Barr Kirtley
Author Spotlight: David Barr Kirtley
Podcast: “Cats in Victory” by David Barr Kirtley (on Starship Sofa)

June 17:
Nonfiction: “Top Ten Reasons Why Uplifted Animals Don’t Make Good Pets” by Carol Pinchefsky

June 22:
Fiction: “Amaryllis” by Carrie Vaughn
Author Spotlight: Carrie Vaughn
Podcast: “Amaryllis” by Carrie Vaughn, narrated by Stefan Rudnicki

June 24:
Nonfiction: “Every Step We Take” by Amanda Rose Levy

Posted by Jesse Willis

FREE COMICS: tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day

SFFaudio News

FREE COMIC BOOK DAYThe first Saturday in May is FREE COMIC BOOK DAY

Yep, that’s tomorrow folks. I’m currently reading Back To Brooklyn by Garth Ennis, Jimmy Palmiotti and Mihailio Vukelic – it’s okay. The best comic book that I’ve read recently was the truly tearful Pride Of Baghdad by Brian K. Vaughan and Niko Henrichon. I borrowed a copy from my local public library. It was so good I may have to buy a copy or two as gifts. I’ll check and see if they have it in stock tomorrow at Hourglass Comics (in Port Moody, B.C.) as I pick up my free comics swag.

VERTIGO - Pride Of Baghdad by Brian K. Vaughan and Niko Henrichon

Update:

Here’s a dramatized clip from Pride Of Baghdad (courtesy of Studio 360):

[Thanks Sodak!]

Posted by Jesse Willis

The Twilight Zone Companion

SFFaudio News

TowerReview.com has posted an excerpt from the new Blackstone Audio audiobook called The Twilight Zone Companion (Second Edition) by Marc Scott Zicree. Here’s the description:

The commentary is an excerpt detailing the episode “Nothing in the Dark” by George Clayton Johnson, with Gladys Cooper as the old woman. Death is played by Robert Redford. The audiobook is narrated by Tom Weiner for Blackstone. All five seasons are covered, with author’s notes on this second edition, intros, cast, a PDF of photos, and commentary on each episode, and an interview with Burgess Meredith.

[via burjreview.blogspot.com]

Posted by Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Readalong: a reminder

SFFaudio News

SFFaudio MetaAs I mentioned last Thursday an upcoming SFFaudio podcast, scheduled for an April 26 release, will be on the topic of Robert Sheckley’s novel The Status Civilization.

If you’re like me, you like doing the homework you’ve assigned yourself, so you’re probably furiously riffling through the pages of any and all SF reference books that you can get your grubby mitts on.

The Dictionary Of Science Fiction Places by Brian StablefordHere’s a relevant passage from one of my reference books, a sketched briefing on the planet Omega, and the city of Tetrahyde. These are the setting of The Status Civilization:

OMEGA – An EARTH -clone prison planet patrolled by guardships armed with, beam-weapons, which were programmed to annihilate anything rising above an altitude of five hundred feet. Its only city was Tetrahyde, located on a narrow peninsula whose landward side was bounded by a high stone wall.

Tetrahyde’s largest building was the Arena, site of the annual gladiatorial games. The Mutant Quarter – which was nasty and dangerous even by Omegan standards – was virtually a city within the city.

Prisoners deported to Omega were stripped of their specific memories but left with the knowledge that they had somehow proved themselves incapable of following the rules of civilized society. In consequence, they established a society of their own whose customs and mores were formed in frank opposition to those whose violation had resulted in their condemnation.

This rigidly stratified society relegated new arrivals to the bottom rank, below established Residents, who were themselves inferior to Free Citizens and Privileged Classes. Order was strictly and sternly maintained by armed Free Citizens known as Quaestors but rapid social advancement was available to those who demonstrated their prowess as killers.

Omega’s established religion was Satanism and its legal establishment was the Kangaroo Court, which administered Trials by Ordeal as well as handing down arbitrary judgments. Pleasure-seekers, ever-careful to avoid prosecution for non-addiction to drugs patronised the Dream Shop, the Euphoriatorium and the vacation resort at the Lake of Clouds, whose Satyr’s Grotto hosted an orgy every Saturday night. Average life-expectancy in Tetrahyde was about three years- a figure whose low value was maintained by such institutions as Hunt Day as well as the Lottery and the Games- but remained in spite of all its best efforts merely a distorted mirror image of the society that had spawned it.

(The Status Civilization, Robert Sheckley. 1960; Omega was also one of the alternative names of COLMAR; other locations harboring calculatedly oppositional cultures include TRANAI, Satirev (see VERITAS) and WALPURGIS III.)

-From The Dictionary Of Science Fiction Places by Brian Stableford (page 222)

Posted by Jesse Willis