METAtropolis Now on CD from Brilliance Audio

SFFaudio Recent Arrivals

Science Fiction Audiobook - METAtropolisMETAtropolis
By Jay Lake, Tobias Buckell, Elizabeth Bear, John Scalzi, and Karl Schroeder
Read by Michael Hogan, Scott Brick, Kandyse McClure, Alessandro Juliani, Stefan Rudnicki, and John Scalzi
9 Hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2009

METAtropolis is an audio shared-world anthology that recently was available only on Audible, where it was produced. But it was too big to be contained only in the digisphere – Brilliance Audio now has this on Audio CD and MP3-CD, and Subterranean Press is publishing a limited hardcover.

|READ OUR REVIEW| of this excellent anthology.

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Recent Arrival from Penguin Audio

SFFaudio Recent Arrivals

Fantasy Audiobook - The Magicians by Lev GrossmanThe Magicians
By Lev Grossman; Read by Mark Bramhall
17 Hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Published: 2009

Quentin Coldwater is brilliant but miserable. A senior in high school, he’s still secretly preoccupied with a series of fantasy novels he read as a child, set in a magical land called Fillory. Imagine his surprise when he finds himself unexpectedly admitted to a very secret, very exclusive college of magic in upstate New York, where he receives a thorough and rigorous education in the craft of modern sorcery.

He also discovers all the other things people learn in college: friendship, love, sex, booze, and boredom. Something is missing, though. Magic doesn’t bring Quentin the happiness and adventure he dreamed it would. After graduation he and his friends make a stunning discovery: Fillory is real. But the land of Quentin’s fantasies turns out to be much darker and more dangerous than he could have imagined. His childhood dream becomes a nightmare with a shocking truth at its heart.

At once psychologically piercing and magnificently absorbing, The Magicians boldly moves into uncharted literary territory, imagining magic as practiced by real people, with their capricious desires and volatile emotions. Lev Grossman creates an utterly original world in which good and evil aren’t black and white, love and sex aren’t simple or innocent, and power comes at a terrible price.

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Recent Arrivals from Blackstone Audio, with YouTubes!

SFFaudio Recent Arrivals

Science Fiction Audiobook - Flashforward by Robert J. SawyerFlashforward
By Robert J. Sawyer; Read by Mark Deakins
10.5 Hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2009

A scientific experiment begins, and as the button is pressed, the unexpected occurs: everyone in the world goes to sleep for a few moments while everyone’s consciousness is catapulted more than twenty years into the future. At the end of those moments, when the world reawakens, all human life is transformed by foreknowledge.

Was that shocking revelation a peek at the real, unalterable future, or was it only one of many possible futures? What happens when a man tries to change it, like the doctor who has twenty years to try to prevent his own murder? How will the foreknowledge of a part of “then” affect the experience of the “now”?

A great book! And it’s going to be a TV series this fall on ABC:


 
Horror Audiobook - Nightmare at 20,000 Feet by Richard MathesonNightmare at 20,000 Feet
By Robert J. Sawyer; Read by Various
10.5 Hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2009

One of the finest and most influential horror writers of the twentieth century, Richard Matheson (I Am Legend, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Somewhere in Time) has left his stamp on the collective imagination. Here are more than twenty of Matheson’s most memorable tales of fear and paranoia, personally selected by the author himself. Many of these stories have already entered into popular culture, including the title story, which became a landmark episode of The Twilight Zone, and “Duel”, the nail-biting tale of man versus machines that inspired Steven Spielberg’s first film.

Other stories include “First Anniversary,” “Dress of White Silk,” “Witch War,” “Dance of the Dead,” “Mad House,” “Prey,” “Blood Son,” “Crickets,” “Wet Straw,” “The Children of Noah,” “Through Channels,” “Old Haunts,” “Disappearing Act,” “The Holiday Man,” “Legion of Plotters,” “The Distributor,” “Long Distance Call,” “Slaughter House,” and “The Likeness of Julie.” Find out why Stephen King (who writes the introduction) has called Matheson one of his favorite writers.

And here is part of the famous Twilight Zone episode based on the cover story:


 
Science Fiction Audiobook - The Invisible Man by H.G. WellsThe Invisible Man
By H. G. Wells; Read by James Adams
5.5 Hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2009

On a freezing February day, a stranger emerges from out of the gray to request a room at a local provincial inn. Who is this out-of-season traveler? More confounding is the thick mask of bandages obscuring his face. Why does he disguise himself in this manner and keep himself hidden away in his room?

Aroused by trepidation and curiosity, the local villagers bring it upon themselves to find the answers. What they discover is a man trapped in a terror of his own creation, and a chilling reflection of the unsolvable mysteries of their own souls.

And here’s the trailer for The Invisible Man (1933) starring Claude Rains:


 
Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Recent Arrivals from Tantor Media

SFFaudio Recent Arrivals

Fantasy Audiobook - The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian by Robert E. HowardThe Coming of Conan the Cimmerian
By Robert E. Howard; Read by Todd McLaren
18.5 Hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: 2009

“Between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities…there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars…. Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand…to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandalled feet.”

In a meteoric career that spanned a mere twelve years before his tragic suicide, Robert E. Howard single-handedly invented the genre that came to be called sword and sorcery. Collected in this volume are Howard’s first thirteen Conan stories in their original versions and in the order Howard wrote them. Included are classics of dark fantasy like “The Tower of the Elephant” and swashbuckling adventure like “Queen of the Black Coast.”

Here are timeless tales featuring Conan the raw and dangerous youth, Conan the daring thief, Conan the swashbuckling pirate, and Conan the commander of armies. Here, too, is an unparalleled glimpse into the mind of a genius whose bold storytelling style has been imitated by many yet equaled by none.

The tales contained in The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian are “The Phoenix on the Sword,” “The Frost-Giant’s Daughter,” “The God in the Bowl,” “The Tower of the Elephant,” “The Scarlet Citadel,” “Queen of the Black Coast,” “Black Colossus,” “Iron Shadows in the Moon,” “Xuthal of the Dusk,” “The Pool of the Black One,” “Rogues in the House,” “The Vale of Lost Women,” and “The Devil in Iron.”
 
 
Science Fiction Audiobook - The White Plague by Frank HerbertThe White Plague
By Frank Herbert; Read by Scott Brick
20.5 Hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: 2009

A warm day in Dublin, a crowded street corner. Suddenly, a car-bomb explodes, killing and injuring scores of innocent people.

From the second-floor window of a building across the street, a visiting American watches, helpless, as his beloved wife and children are sacrificed in the heat and fire of someone else’s cause.

From this shocking beginning, the author of the phenomenal Dune series has created a masterpiece.

The White Plague is a marvelous and terrifyingly plausible blend of fiction and visionary theme. It tells of one man’s revenge, of the man watching from the window who is pushed over the edge of sanity by the senseless murder of his family and who, reappearing several months later as the so-called Madman, unleashes a terrible vengeance upon the human race. For John Roe O’Neill is a molecular biologist who has the knowledge, and now the motivation, to devise and disseminate a genetically carried plague—a plague to which, like those that scourged mankind centuries ago, there is no antidote, but one that zeros in, unerringly and fatally, on women. As the world slowly recognizes the reality of peril, as its politicians and scientists strive desperately to save themselves and their society from the prospect of human extinction, so does Frank Herbert grapple with one of the great themes of contemporary life: the enormous dangers that lurk at the dark edges of science.

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Recent Arrivals from Brilliance Audio

SFFaudio Recent Arrivals

Science Fiction Audiobook - Honor of the Queen by David WeberThe Honor of the Queen (Honor Harrington, Book 2)
By David Weber; Read by Allyson Johnson
13 CDs – 16 Hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2009
ISBN: 9781423395287

It’s hard to give peace a chance when the other side regards conquest as the only option and a sneak attack as the best means to that end. That’s why the Kingdom of Manticore needs allies against the Republic of Haven—and the planet Grayson is strategically situated to make a very good ally indeed. But Her Majesty’s Foreign Office overlooked a “minor cultural difference” when they chose Honor Harrington to carry the flag: women on the planet of Grayson are without rank or rights and Honor’s mere presence is an intolerable affront to every male on the planet.

At first Honor doesn’t take it personally; where she comes from gender discrimination is barely a historical memory, right up there in significance with fear of the left-handed. But in time such treatment becomes taxing and she makes plans to withdraw until Grayson’s fratricidal sister planet attacks without warning. Now, Honor must stay and prevail, not just for her honor, but for her sovereign’s, for the honor of the Queen.

“Following in the best tradition of C.S. Forester, Patrick O’Brian and Robert A Heinlein! These hugely entertaining and clever adventures are the very epitome of space opera.”—Publishers Weekly
 
 

Science Fiction Audiobook - Honor of the Clan by John Ringo and Julie CochraneHonor of the Clan
By John Ringo and Julie Cochrane; Read by Marc Vietor
12 CDs – 14 Hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2009
ISBN: 9781423395133

Three words that resound in the heart of the warrior. But what is duty when country is gone? Where does honor lie when allies are revealed as enemies, when friends are not who they seem and when enemies are the ones we love?

The Indowy “Bane Sidhe” conspiracy has grown strong, and the cunning and resourceful Darhel—tacit rulers of the Galactic Federation—have decided that the time has come to wipe that threat from the stars forever. What the Darhel don’t know is that humans have joined the rebellion—led by thief and assassin extraordinaire, Cally O’Neal. Now Cally is set to destroy a web of alien deceit millennia in the making. Only one obstacle lies in her path: the renowned warrior who stood tall and saved Earth from utter destruction during its first invasion by alien hordes—a legend who also happens to be Cally’s father!

Multiple New York Times best-selling John Ringo’s “Legacy of Aldenata” saga continues as beautiful assassin Cally O’Neal returns in a gripping interplanetary thriller.
 
Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Recent Arrivals: Warhammer

SFFaudio Recent Arrivals

Fantasy Audiobook: Warhammer: Slayer of the Storm God by Nathan LongWarhammer: Slayer of the Storm God
By Nathan Long; Performed by Danny Webb
1 CD – 75 minutes – [AUDIO ORIGINAL]
Publisher: The Black Library
Published: 2009
ISBN: 9781844167562

A new Gotrek & Felix story available only as an audiobook on CD!

Gotrek and Felix are in the port city of Marienburg when they stumble across a mysterious golden bracelet. Little do they realise that this is the very trinket dedicated to Stromfels – the ancient and evil Storm God – and he wants it back!

Our two heroes are attacked by the god’s minions and the bracelet is taken from them, but a stubborn and determined Gotrek refuses to relinquish it without a fight. Venturing deep into the Marienburg marshes in pursuit of the thieves, Gotrek and Felix find themselves confronting the embodiment of the Storm God himself…
 
 
Fantasy Audiobook: Warhammer 40,000: Heart of Rage by James SwallowWarhammer 40,000: Heart of Rage
By James Swallow; Performed by Toby Longsworth
1 CD – 75 minutes – [AUDIO ORIGINAL]
Publisher: The Black Library
Published: 2009
ISBN: 9781844167968

A brand new story exclusively available as an audiobook on CD!

Aboard the Imperial Navy frigate Emathia, Brother–Librarian Nord and Brother–sergeant Kale of the Blood Angels make a startling discovery – an alien tyranid hive ship, half–destroyed and drifting through space! Under orders from the Magos Xeren, the Blood Angels board the ship to locate a lost scout team. But their fate is far from straightforward. Little do Nord and Kale realise the horrors awaiting them. For they not only risk their bodies, but their very sanity as well.
 
Posted by Scott D. Danielson