PodCastle, the fantasy fiction podcast, features “The Osteomancer’s Son” by Greg van Eekhout |MP3| and “Hippocampus” by M.K. Hobson |MP3|.
You can subscribe to the feed at http://feeds.escapeartists.net/PodCastle_Main
Posted by Charles Tan
Category: Online Audio
Escape Pod Features Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s “Elites”
Maia Whitaker reads “Elites” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch over at Escape Pod. Here is the |MP3|.
Subscribe to the podcast via this feed:
http://escapepod.org/podcast.xml
Posted by Charles Tan
LibriVox: Greener Than You Think by Ward Moore
Springtime! And thus the bi-weekly ritual (or so) of trimming the grass. Personally, I think it an old-fashioned, uninteresting, and ultimately pointless ritual. But, if you’ve a lawn, or in my case, if your mother does, you’ve got a job to do. It’s a noisy job too, but, with a pair of hard-shelled earmuffs, some earbuds, and an audiobook it needn’t be an altogether unpleasant task. Thankfully, LibriVox narrator Lee Elliot has something very appropriate to pipe through those earbuds. A novel about unstoppable grass (like I said, very appropriate):
“A triple-genre combo of science fiction, horror, and satire, Greener Than You Think is a forgotten classic that resonates beautifully with modern times. This is a faithful reading of a 1947 first edition text.”
I’ll be listening while mowing today.
Greener Than You Think
By Ward Moore; Read by Lee Elliot
45 Zipped MP3 Files or podcast – Approx. 14 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: May 22, 2008
Do remember reading a panic-mongering news story a while back about genetically engineered “Frankengrass” “escaping” from the golf course where it had been planted? That news story was foreshadowed decades previously in the form of prophetic fiction wherein a pushy salesman, a cash-strapped scientist, and a clump of crabgrass accidentally merge forces with apocalyptic consequences.
Podcast feed:
http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/greener-than-you-think-by-ward-moore.xml
Posted by Jesse Willis
CBC Radio One: Writers And Company – Sir Arthur C. Clarke
On March 31st CBC Radio One’s Writers And Company aired an interview, conducted in November 2000, with Arthur C. Clarke. I somehow missed this episode in the podcast feed (sorry folks). Unfortunately it is no longer in the podcast feed either. Fortunately it is still online. Have a listen |MP3|!
This may be the very best of the many Arthur C. Clarke interviews out there. Clarke talks his youth, Science Fiction, science, Astounding magazine, Meccano, Edgar Rice Burroughs, H.G. Wells, Olaf Stapledon, Eric Frank Russel, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and tons more. Kudos to the CBC and Eleanor Wachtel, as other people have noted, she’ truly is “the best arts interviewer in the business.”
Posted by Jesse Willis
BBC7 re-airing: Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov
BBC 7 is re-aring their specially commissioned readings of Arthur C. Clarke stories (and one Isaac Asimov one) in their 7th Dimension time-slot next week. Check these out when they air, or tune in via the “listen again” service after they air…
Before Eden
By Arthur C. Clarke; Read by Tim Pigott-Smith
Radio Broadcast – [UNABRIDGED?]
Broadcaster: BBC7 / The 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Monday at 6pm and midnight (UK time)
This space adventure set on Venus highlights the weight of responsibility which rests on explorers entering uncharted territories.
Summertime On Icarus
By Arthur C. Clarke; Read by Tim Pigott-Smith
Radio Broadcast – [UNABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC7 / The 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Tuesday at 6pm and midnight (UK time)
When an astronaut wakes up after an accident he finds himself on the asteroid, Icarus, which orbits close to the sun. Dawn is only moments away and it is about to get very hot. There is nowhere to hide and his communication is down – will he escape before the first rays of the sun find him?
All The Time In The World
By Arthur C. Clarke; Read by Nicholas Boulton
Radio Broadcast – [UNABRIDGED?]
Broadcaster: BBC7 / The 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Wednesday at 6pm and midnight (UK time)
“A clever tale about some alien art thieves who arrive to plunder Earth.”
The Parasite
By Arthur C. Clarke; Read by Nicholas Boulton
Radio Broadcast – [UNABRIDGED?]
Broadcaster: BBC7 / The 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Thursday at 6pm and midnight (UK time)
“A chilling tale about a man who starts having dreams of a monstrous creature from the future.”
And finally, Friday sees the re-broadcast of Isaac Asimov’s classic short story…
The Last Question
By Isaac Asimov; Read by Henry Goodman
Radio Broadcast – Approx 25 minutes – [UNABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC 7 / 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Friday at 6pm and midnight (UK time)
Asimov’s classic “man versus machine” short story. In the not too distant future, technology has advanced to the point where global affairs are managed by a huge computer called Multivac which supposedly can provide the answers to all questions… such as… “Can entropy be reversed?”
Posted by Jesse Willis
Free Audiobooks for a Summer Roadtrip
According to the Triple-A, over 31 million Americans will travel by road this Memorial Day weekend. If you’re one of those, you might want to bring along an audiobook or two to keep you company on the Interstate. Long drives are a great time to take in an audiobook, but also require a specific type of book. The plot has to be exciting enough to hold your interest on boring stretches of the Interstate, but simple enough that you can still pay attention to the traffic. Since you’ll be spending most of your money on gas, you might want to save your vacation budget by going with a free downloadable audiobook. I’ve come up with 5 recommendations for free road trip Science Fiction and Fantasy audiobooks:
* Quarter Share by Nathan Lowell – This novel, published by Podiobooks, tells the story of Ishmael, a new crewmember on a space freighter. The story and gentle didactic tone reminded me of classic adolescent science fiction like Have Spacesuit, Will Travel by Robert A. Heinlein.
* Trunk & Disorderly by Charles Stross – Stross reads his own work here in a novellette made available by Subterrannean Press. The story is a hilarious re-imagining of the Wooster and Jeeves stories by P.G. Wodehouse, but set in a futuristic universe. Not recommended for children.
* The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle – In probably the greatest Sherlock Holmes novel, Holmes and Watson confront a demonic hellhound threatening the life of their client. John Telfer performs a marvelous array of British accents in this excellent recording. Project Gutenberg provides two duplicate copies of the files: one at 11 kHz and a higher-quality version at 22 kHz.
* The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum – Even if you or your children have the movie memorized, the original book is worth a listen. J. Hall narrates the book in this LibriVox offering with a pleasant American accent that would be at home on NPR.
* Red Panda Adventures by Decoder Ring Theatre – Okay, so this one’s not technically an audiobook. The folks at Decoder Ring Theater produce an excellent show in old-time radio style about the adventures of a pair of wisecracking masked heroes. Download several episodes to fit the length of your trip.
Posted by Seth (Listener of the Free Listens blog)