Online Audio – Page 312

CBC Ideas Podcast has Richard Dawkins skirting Science Fiction

SFFaudio Online Audio

The chance to plug my favorite CBC podcast twice within the span of two weeks is a rare event. IDEAS does not often offer SFFaudio related programmes, but the latest entry in The Best Of Ideas podcast reveals a slight connection that’s just too good not to mention. The lecture, by none other than Richard Dawkins, is called Queerer Than We Suppose: The Strangeness Of Science.

This lecture was conducted on October 21st 2006 under the auspices of the Beatty Memorial Lecture as conducted at McGill University. The Beatty Memorial Lecture was created in 1952 to honour the legacy of McGill Chancellor Sir Edward Beatty.

You’ll find only tangential Sience Fiction references in the lecture itself |MP3|. Dawkins quotes from Douglas Adams – illustrates how quantum mechanics and its alternative explanations, “Many Worlds Interpretation” and “Copenhagen Interpretation” seem less like Science and more like Science Fiction to us. Indeed, quantum mechanics and natural selection are ripe fodder for Speculative Fiction. For natural selection think of Rudy Rucker’s Ware Tetralogy. For Quantum mechanics you need only think of George Alec Effinger‘s Schrodinger’s Kitten, Robert J. Sawyer‘s Neanderthal Parallax trilogy or any of the multitude of Parallel Universe stories all the way back to Murray Leinster‘s 1933 tale Sidewise In Time. I won’t try to digfest it all for you, check it out for yourself via direct download |MP3|. Or by pasting this feed into your podcatcher:

http://www.cbc.ca/podcasting/includes/ideas.xml

posted by Jesse Willis

NPR covers the emerging subgenre Economic Science Fiction

Online Audio

Rick Kleffell, NPR correspondent and podcaster had a fascinating 7 minute piece on the NPR’s Weekend Edition. The topic? The theme is Economics in Science Fiction:

During the Cold War, science-fiction tales of alien invasion mirrored society’s fear of Communism, and monsters from Frankenstein to Godzilla have tapped into our unease about the boundaries of science. But a new type of genre fiction has plots centering around business and economics. A book by T. C. Boyle takes the subject of identity theft and treats it like a horror story. Several other writers are also turning their attention to our preoccupation with finances and business, and finding fertile ground.

Listen via RealAudio or WindowsMedia HERE.

posted by Jesse Willis

Three MP3s of panels from The 59th World Science Fiction Convention

SFFaudio Online Audio

The Millennium PhilCon (the 2001 World Science Fiction Convention) ran from August 30, 2001 – September 3, 2001 in Philadelphia, PA. The Millennium PhilCon was “an interesting, fun, five days of panels, dialogues, game shows, readings and a few surprises along the way.” If you missed it you can still attend a few panels via these MP3 archives:

The Science We Don’t Understand
Panelists: Catherine Asaro, John Ashmead, John G. Cramer (M), Howard Davidson, Dave Kratz
|MP3| – 50 minutes [CONVENTION PANEL]
CONVENTION: WorldCon #59
HELD: Saturday September 1st 2001 – 5:00pm – 6:00pm
Science usually focuses on new discoveries and new understanding. But what have we left out? Where are the holes in our knowledge? What are the things we DON’T understand in physics, astronomy, biology, and mathematics?

So What Happened to Clavius Base? Why 2001 Is Nothing Like 2001
Panelists: Stephen Baxter, Michael F. Flynn, Daniel Hatch, Tim Kyger (M), Geoffrey A. Landis
|MP3| – 60 minutes [CONVENTION PANEL]
CONVENTION: WorldCon #59
HELD: Saturday September 1st 2001 – 6:00pm – 7:00pm
Panel discussion of the lack of 2001: A Space Odyssey in the actual year 2001.

The Phlogiston Belt: Changing Science And The Hard SF Writer
Panelists: Stephen Baxter, Jack McDevitt (M), Derryl Murphy, Larry Niven, Stanley Schmidt
|MP3| – 50 minutes [CONVENTION PANEL]
CONVENTION: WorldCon #59
HELD: Sunday September 2nd 2001 – 2:00pm -3:00pm
Hard SF writers discuss the troubles and challenges of seeing real science invalidate their stories. Of particular focus are stories about the Solar System and atomic physics.

posted by Jesse Willis

StarShipSofa Podcast covers James Tripree Jr.

SFFaudio Online Audio

StarshipSofa , the terrific U.K. podcast that specializes in Science Fiction authors has one heck of a show there. The hosts, Tony and Ciaran, have an especially crackin’ show this week, one that I am truly chuffed to tell you about. On offer today is a show on James Tiptree Jr. (AKA Alice Sheldon), a writer who lived a very extraordinary life. As the boys say, she “blazed across the Science Fiction skies” with her short stories of the 1970s. And stay tuned for her shocking ending!

Download the show direct |MP3| or subscribe to the feed:

And don’t forget to revisit their earlier subjects:

Show # 1: Classic Author: Alfred Bester |MP3|
Show # 2: Classic Author: John Brunner |MP3|
Show # 3: Classic Author: Algis Budrys |MP3|
Show # 4: Classic Author: Cordwainer Smith |MP3|
Show # 5: Classic Author: Stanislaw Lem |MP3|
Show # 6: Classic Film: Dark Star |MP3|
Show # 7: Classic Author: Philip K. Dick (Part 1) |MP3|
Show # 8: Classic Author: Philip K. Dick (Part 2) |MP3|
Show # 9: Classic Author: Philip K. Dick (Part 3) |MP3|
Show # 10: Classic Film: Capricorn One |MP3|
Show # 11: Classic Author: Henry Kuttner |MP3|
Show # 12: Classic Author: Robert Silverberg |MP3|
Show # 13: Classic Author: Joe Haldeman |MP3|
Show # 14: Classic Author: L. Ron Hubbard |MP3|
Show # 15: Classic Author: Harlan Ellison |MP3|
Show # 16: Classic Author: Douglas Adams (Part 1) |MP3|
Show # 17: Classic Author: Douglas Adams (Part 2) |MP3|
Show # 18: Classic Author: Robert Sheckley |MP3|
Show # 19: Classic Author: Roger Zelazny |MP3|
Show # 20: Classic Author: Iian M. Banks |MP3|
Show # 21: Classic Author: Ursula K. LeGuin |MP3|
Show # 22: Christmas Special Part 1 |MP3| & 2 |MP3|
Show # 23: Email Show |MP3|

posted by Jesse Willis

BBC7’s The 7th Dimension re-airs I Am Legend

BBC7’s The Seventh Dimension is rebroadcasting their unabridged reading of Richard Matheson’s classic 1954 novel I Am Legend! This mournful tale combines Science Fiction, Horror and Noir. It is, simply put, awesome.

When Robert Neville finds he is immune to the plague that has decimated the Earth’s population, he encounters unimaginable evil as he searches for a cure.

The reading starts Thursday January 11th 2007 at 6.30pm UK time. With a repeat at 12:30am that evening. Look for following episodes for the next eight weekday evenings. The narrator is Angus MacInnes, you may recognize his voice as that of Gold Leader from the original Star Wars movie. [LISTEN TO A CLIP]

posted by Jesse Willis

Escape Pod Podcast has vintage Silverberg!

SFFaudio Online Audio

Escape Pod has dug way back, to 1972 in fact, to bring us a vintage Robert Silverberg short story called When We Went To See The End Of The World. I liked it, and it is quite modern, despite being 34 years old.

EP086: When We Went To See The End Of The World
By Robert Silverberg; Read by J.C. Hutchins
1 MP3 File – [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Escape Pod
Podcast: December 28th 2006

Here’s the Grand Master’s own description of his Hugo nominated and oft reprinted tale:

“In a time of constant turmoil and disaster (rampant mutant viruses, terrorist bombings, pollution, and so on), a travel agency starts offering time-travel trips to see the end of the world. Among the keep-up-with-the-Joneses crowd, it’s the fashionable thing to do. The odd part is, everybody who goes sees something different.”

posted by Jesse Willis