AUDIO ROUNDUP: Masters Of Science Fiction

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Masters Of Science FictionMasters Of Science Fiction aired its first episode last night on ABC stations in the USA. We’ve got all the audio dope on this video program…

HERE‘s an audio recording from NPR and TV critic David Bianculli talking about the show. What makes this series so intriguing is that it is using actual Science Fiction stories (GASP!) for its episodes…

The first tale was based on John Kessel’s A Clean Escape (which was previously adapted into a Seeing Ear Theatre Original Playhouse audio drama (no longer available online). Hardcopies of this audio drama can be found in an out of print collection, available on ABEBooks.com (and one is currently on on ebay.com):

Seeing Ear Theater, Volume 1
By Terry Bisson, Brian Smith, James Patrick Kelly, Allen Steele, John Kessel and Gregory Benford
FULL CAST PRODUCTIONS with introductions by Harlan Ellison
2 Cassettes – Approx 3 hrs. [UNABRIDGED DRAMATIZATIONS]
ISBN: 0787118133
Date Published 1998
Published by Dove Audio

Stories Included:
THREE ODD COMEDIES by Terry Bisson
“They’re Made Out of Meat”
“The Toxic Donut”
“Next”
Into The Sun by Brian Smith
Think Like a Dinosaur by James Patrick Kelly
The Death of Captain Future by Allen Steele
A Clean Escape by John Kessel
The Bigger One by Gregory Benford

Also, BuddyTV.com has an |MP3| interview with Sam Waterson about his role in the Masters Of SF first episode A Clean Escape (and irreverently about his role on Law and Order).

More, WUNC in North Carolina has a terrific radio interview |MP3| with Kessel about the adaptation of his short story A Clean Escape to TV.

New FREE AUDIOBOOK: Marion Zimmer Bradley’s The Colors Of Space

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A new LibriVox title has piqued our interest. It’s Marion Zimmer Bradley’s 1963 novel The Colors Of Space. Sadly, this is not the ideal audio version of it as it has multiple readers – who seem to have randomly chosen their chapters. I think the ethos of LibriVox is absolutely wonderful, but the output, especially in cases like this seems more geared towards project completion and narrator convenience rather than listener preference. That said, the audiobook is 100% free and very easily downloadable either by a Zipped Folder full of MP3s, singly in individual file of MP3 or OGG Vorbis formats and by the podcast feed (including a one click iTunes subscription).

LibriVox audiobook - The Colors Of Space by Marion Zimmer BradleyThe Colors Of Space
By Marion Zimmer Bradley; Read by various readers
15 zipped MP3 Files or podcast – 5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: July 29th 2007
Bart Steele, a Space Academy graduate, has the potential to gain the secret of an alien “warp drive”, a super-fast technology for interstellar travel. He’ll have to get some surgery, and spy upon an alien race to do it but he’s . lucky because by a bit of genetic quirk Bart can see a wider optical range than ordinary humans. Still, countless human spies have already failed to gain the secret.

You can get the entire novel in podcast form, via this handy url:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/the-colors-of-space-by-marion-zimmer-bradley.xml

StarShipSofa podcast talks about Robert A. Heinlein

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Podcast - Star Ship SofaThe long promised StarShipSofa coverage of SF master Robert A. Heinlein is now complete. Three shows, and approximately three hours, of discussion by two hard-core Heinlein enthusiasts. Awesome!

Part 1 |MP3| Part 2 |MP3| Part 3 |MP3|

And be sure to subscribe, the SSS boys have a Michael Moorcock show (and short stories!) in the works. Plug this podcast URL into your podcatcher to get the feed automatically:

http://starshipsofa.libsyn.com/rss

Stanisław Lem’s Solaris to air on BBC Radio 4

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Online AudioBoth our regular U.K. contributor Roy, and a friend of SFFaudio, Paul Jenkins (of The Rev Up Review Podcast and The Plitone Revisionist podiobook) have written in to say that the latest issue of the Radio Times gives some brief details on an exciting new BBC Radio 4 “Classic Serial” that is set to be aired as two one-hour episodes beginning on Sunday July 29th…

Solaris
By Stanisław Lem; Performed by a full cast
2 One Hour Broadcasts – 2 Hours [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 4 / Classic Serial
Broadcast: Sunday Jul 29th 2007 @ 3 pm (UK Time)
The radio debut of ‘s science-fiction classic. A psychologist is sent to a run-down space station to find out what has happened to its crew. When his long-dead wife turns up, he finds himself in deep trouble.

Cast:
Kris – Ron Cook
Rheya – Joanne Froggat
Snow – Tim McMullan
Sartorius – Stuart Richman
Woman – Maxine Burth
Crew:
Producer by Polly Thomas
Adpted by Hattie Naylor
Repeated on Saturday at 9 pm

No other details available yet, but the Classic Serial website is here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/classic_serial.shtml

Both episodes should be available via the ‘listen again‘ service after broadcast.

Thanks Paul and Roy! At only two hours it looks like they aren’t going with the Tarkovsky script for this one eh?

Mini J. Michael Straczynski interview on Amazon.com

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Amazon.com Screening RoomAmazon.com‘s Screening Room has a 12 minute interview with J. Michael Straczynski, talking to him about the upcoming Babylon 5 Lost Tales DVD release and writing in general. The WMA file is available HERE. UPDATE: try clicking on THIS and following the textual links to the WMA file. Damn WMA! One attentive reader pointed out there is a direct link to the |WMA|. Thanks!

I’ve just read a review of the DVD by a lucky viewer who got a copy more than a week before the July 31st release date. That reviewer described the new direct to DVD show this way:

Wow! If anything felt like we were coming home, this did – Absofragginglutely! Joe promised he would knock this one out of the ballpark and he delivered. Direct to DVD is the way for the B5 universe to survive.

Really looking forward to this DVD. And, Apocalypse Al must be freed.

Another PUBLIC DOMAIN Science Fiction novel audiobooked: The Lani People by J. F. Bone

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Maureen O’Brien, of the Maria Lectrix podcast has completed the recording and release of another public domain Science Fiction novel…

Science Fiction Audiobook - The Lani People by J. F. BoneThe Lani People
By J. F. Bone; Read by Maureen O’Brien
21 MP3 Files – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Maria Lectrix
Published: July 2007
In the far future, a veterinarian fresh out of school is hired to care for a small flock of valuable alien animals on an out-of-the-way world. But why so high a salary? There must be some catch to it…