Category: Online Audio

Podiobooks.com, though still in BETA, is growing…

Online Audio

Podiobooks.comPodiobooks.com, though still in BETA, is growing like a baby hippo on steroids! More than a dozen podcast novels are currently available and more are on the way. Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror titles still predominate, but a few non-fiction and other genre titles are creeping in, including the delightful geek essays of Mur Lafferty. Here’s a snapshot of the current titles that are official Podiobooks:

Aliens and Satanic Creatures Wanted: Humans Need Not Apply by Tony Ruggiero

AmerIndian 2192 by J. Scott Garibay

Brave Men Run by Matthew Wayne Selznick

Come, Let Me Whisper by Russell L. Burt

EarthCore by Scott Sigler

Lessons From A Geek-Fu Master by Mur Lafferty

Morevi: The Chronicles of Rafe and Askana by Tee Morris and Lisa Lee

Noggle Stones by Wil Radcliffe

Spherical Tomi: A Novel of Despair by Jack Mangan

The Pocket and the Pendant by Mark Jeffrey

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Tom Corven by Paul Story

posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox bills itself as "acoustical liberation …

Online Audio

LibriVoxLibriVox bills itself as “acoustical liberation of books in the public domain”, we bill it as “really cool”! The LibriVox volunteers read and record chapters of books in the public domain using the equipment they have at home, and then release the files as FREE audiobooks. The objective is to eventually make all books in the public domain available in the audio format. Several Science Fiction and Fantasy titles are already under way, and few have already been completed. Here’s a peek:

Completed Novels:
The Road To Oz by L. Frank Baum
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Completed Shorts:
A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift

Multiple Narrator Forthcoming:
Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
The Trial by Franz Kafka
Dracula by Bram Stoker
A Journey To The Interior Of The Earth by Jules Verne

Single Narrators Forthcoming:
Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott
The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson
Sky Island by L. Frank Baum
The Wizard Of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Beowolf
Anthem by Ayn Rand
A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain
The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams

posted by Jesse

The Penguin Podcast, the new podcasting arm of …

The Penguin Podcast, the new podcasting arm of Penguin Books UK and has decided to give a Christmas gift to everyone! They’ve started posting Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, the unabridged audiobook as podiobook-like podcast instalments! The first of five episodes presenting the classic Christmas ghost story starts today. They will only be available until January 3rd 2005 so start grabbing it now for FREE now!

A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story Of Christmas
By Charles Dickens; Read by Geoffrey Palmer
5 MP3s – Approx. 3 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: The Penguin Podcast
Podcast: Dec 15th 2005 to January 3rd 2006
Themes: / Fantasy / Christmas / Ghosts / Victorian /

Ebenezer Scrooge, whose name is now synonymous with greed and parsimony, believes Christmas to be ‘humbug’. Refusing to donate any of his fortune to the poor, he comforts himself by saying, ‘I don’t make merry myself at Christmas, and I can’t afford to make idle people merry.’ But then the ghost of his old partner, Jacob Marley, returns from the grave to haunt him. Dragging a long and heavy chain, representing his many sins, Marley sends down the three spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Future to warn Scrooge against a similar fate…

posted by Jesse Willis

From our friends at Great Northern Audio Theatre…

From our friends at Great Northern Audio Theatre!:

Dear Friends and Listeners:

The rogue comet, Skippy, is headed right for Big City. Who are you going to call? Ok, you called them and they weren’t home–who else are you going to call? That’s right SuperPal. “SuperPal: The Saving of the World” is the story of the plucking of Big City from total disaster told through press conferences and in-depth interviews with the people who say they knew SuperPal best: His agent, his girlfriend, and some other people.

SuperPal was recorded in July, 2005 live at CONVergence 2005 Science Fiction Convention in Bloomington, MN. We didn’t even know we were making fun of FEMA in this 28-minute audio satire, but sometimes you get lucky and get ahead of the curve.

At the last Great Northern Audio Theatre Board of Directors meeting Brian said, “We couldn’t even give away this show, if we tried.”

“Sure we could,” said Jerry. “We’ll just let them download it.”

“For free?”

“What the hay,” reflected Jerry.

“You’re killing me here, Jerry, you’re killing me,” said Brian.

So, for a limited time only (from now until Christmas) Click here and download our SuperPal MP3 files and enjoy. Be sure to download the credits PDF, so you’ll know who did what.

Prove Brian wrong.
Prove Jerry right (he usually is).
And download SuperPal: The Saving of the World” today.

A very Merry Christmas.
For Free.

Thanks,
Great Northern Audio Theatre

A podcast novel from just under the radar…. bu…

A podcast novel from just under the radar…. but soon to be looming large in your podcatcher…

Brave Men Run.
By Matthew Wayne Selznick; Read by Matthew Wayne Selznick
55 Chapters – Approx 30 Minute MP3 Installments [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: BraveMenRun.com / Podiobooks.com
Published: Started Nov 2005 – Concludes ??? 2006

Fans of Ultimate Spider-Man, silver age comics, and alternate history will enjoy this prose novel of teen angst and metahumans! Brave Men Run is a coming of age story set in an alternate 1980’s, where people with amazing talents and abilities suddenly make themselves known. Can young Nathan Charters find himself in this uncertain new world? Who is he, where did he come from, and is he part of a remarkable new minority… or just a misfit among misfits?

Described as “alternative history fantasy” and it may turn out to be just that, but whatever it is called, it’ll also be called X-CELLENT! A prose superhero novel without the funny looking long-underwear type costumes. After only three installments I’m totally hooked!

HERE‘s the promo in mp3 format.

Paul Jenkins of The Rev-Up Review podcast had this to say about the first couple of instalments of the podcast of Brave Men Run: “…well written with great dialogue. Utterly convincing and the podcast is well produced with good sound and superbly read by the author…” You can, BTW, hear the complete mini- review on the 13th episode of R.U.R. at about the 5 Minutes 40 Second mark.

I recently spoke with Matthew about how much I’m enjoying his podcast novel. I asked him about the X-Men like story. It turns out the idea for this “Soverign Era” novel came from a serialized fiction project Matthew worked on a few years ago. We also talked about the little tips of the hat to Silver Age Comics sprinkled throughout the narrative, the cerebral and realistic portrayl of what it would be like to have super powers and plenty more. I’m really jazzed about this one, and I think if you give it a shot you will be too. Matthew’s prose is clean and true and the production is matched by a terrific straight reading by the author. Like The Pocket And The Pendant this one’s available at Lulu.com in a Print On Demand paperbook edition as well.

You can also listen to the first part of a two part interview done with Matthew HERE the interviewer is Paul Puri of of the 5+5 Podcast – cool stuff. Looking forward to part 2 of that interview on the 5+5 Podcast soon too!

posted by Jesse Willis