The SFFaudio Podcast #161 – READALONG: Among Others by Jo Walton

Podcast

The SFFaudio PodcastThe SFFaudio Podcast #161 – Jesse, Scott, Tamahome, and Jenny (of Reading Envy) talk about the Nebula-winning novel Among Others by Jo Walton.

Talked about on today’s show:
What does ‘Among Others’ mean?, “the most meta book ever”, Jo on Coode Street, what’s your favorite book?, Interlibrary Loan, the Welsh accent of the audiobook, is there a plot?, “it’s post-fantasy”, list of sf books referenced, how many have you read?, books in The Canon, Jo’s Tor blog, no cyberpunk, The Litany of Fear from Dune, learning about Judaism, Roger Zelazny, Luke’s review of Lord Of Light (not Amber), 1960’s – 1980’s only, getting book recommendations, no internet!, Harlan Ellison in The Comics Journal, used bookstores, “I’d rather have a Heinlein than a headmistress!”, non-fiction too, Plato (The Socratic Method), the fairy world, Virgil, acupuncture, were the fairies ‘real’?, Among Others on The Writer And The Critic with Cat Valente, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, The Tempest, grief, did Mor steal her sister’s identity?, The Wizard Of Earthsea, do the book choices reflect themes?, we want an index, karass (see Cat’s Cradle), I, Claudius, Chi, other Nebula nominees, God’s War has bugs, Embassytown, Jo Walton on series, Jo on the Hugos, we’re waiting for the hugo novella blog series, The Paper Menagerie (online audio), how well read do you have to be to appreciate Among Others?, Hyperion, “it’s a book-love book”, which books from the list will you read next?, The Wind’s Twelve Quarters is the best, old Delany, Sturgeon’s A Touch Of Strange, what’s that Sturgeon novel with three brains in a jello mold on Mars internet??, James Tiptree Jr., The Dispossessed (Luke’s review), Stand On Zanzibar is on audio, length of books, Jo’s Small Change series is on audio, Tor is drm-free, don’t forget Baen and Angry Robot and Nightshade, the kindle hit Wool is optioned for a movie, “umm…no”

I happened to have this old paperback:

James Tiptree Jr. - Out Of The Everywhere (cover)

Posted by Tamahome

CBC: Nightfall: Late Special by Clint Bomphray

SFFaudio Online Audio

Early last morning I played a Nightfall episode expecting it to be an adaptation of a William Hope Hodgson story – but it turns out I had selected the wrong one – what I got instead was a surprisingly surprising story – I kept expecting a stone ship to turn up, but it never did – instead there was a horrific car accident, some truly terrific voice acting, and a set of uniquely creepy circumstances – all of it optimized for the audio medium – this episode typifies the entire Nightfall series – it’s great audio drama – it’s truly frightening and it’s highly recommended!

CBC - NightfallNightfall #06 – Late Special
By Clint Bomphray; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 26 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBC Radio
Broadcast: August 8, 1980
Source: Archive.org
A car crash during a late season blizzard strands a young woman in an abandoned train station, where she meets a mysterious stranger who obliges her to make a singularly existential choice.

Cast:
Terry Tweed … Claire Acton
Chris Wiggins … Tom Parker, the Conductor
David Hughes … Vic
Trisha Allen … the Telephone Operator
Judy Sinclair … Claire’s Mother
Richard Donat & Frank Perry … Dick & Frank, the Police Officers

Recording Engineer:
John Jessop

Sound Effects:
Bill Robinson

Production Assistant:
Nina Callaghan

Story Editor:
John Douglas

Producer:
Bill Howell

[via, in part, Nightfall-25.com]

Posted by Jesse Willis

Think: The Lives Of Jack London (an interview with biographer James L. Haley)

SFFaudio Online Audio

Think with Krys BoydThink, a “topic-driven interview and call-in program hosted by Krys Boyd” from KERA (in Texas), covers many topics. But back on July 22, 2010 it broadcast an episode entitled The Lives Of Jack London. Here’s the official description:

He prospected for gold, hunted seals and wrote some of the most popular adventure novels of the early 20th Century. But what was Jack London really like? We’ll talk this hour with biographer, historian and novelist James L. Haley whose new book is “Wolf: The Lives Of Jack London” (Basic Books, 2010).

|MP3|

In many ways this is a surprising interview – well worth hearing. There are a few facts I’d never heard before and a few fascinating interpretations. The strangest part, at least for me though, were about London’s socialism and the lengths Hayley goes to apologize for it.

Very good news, by the way, the audiobook of Wolf: The Lives Of Jack London is available from Blackstone Audio and it’s read by Bronson Pinchot!

Posted by Jesse Willis

Hypnobobs: The Graveyard Rats by Henry Kuttner

SFFaudio Online Audio

Our First published, in Weird Tales, when Kuttner was just 21 years old, The Graveyard Rats became an instant classic. It has been one of my all time favourite horror stories since I first heard it – in The Greatest Horror Stories Of The Twentieth Century |READ OUR REVIEW| – it’s full of Lovecraftian imagery, has a loathsome protagonist, and it possesses an unshakeable claustrophobic menace that’ll keep you up late for fear of what sleep might bring.

Mr. Jim Moon’s reading of it, for his wondrous Hypnobobs, now makes it one of my all-time favourite podcasts episodes too.

The Graveyard Rats - Illustration from SHOCK
The Graveyard Rats by Henry Kuttner

Hypnobobs #08 - The Graveyard Rats by Henry KuttnerSFFaudio EssentialThe Graveyard Rats
By Henry Kuttner; Read by Jim Moon
1 |MP3| – Approx. 27 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Hypnobobs
Podcast: August 21, 2011
First published in Weird Tales, March 1936.

Podcast feed: http://www.geekplanetonline.com/hosting/originals/hypnobobs/feed.xml

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

And here’s a |PDF| constructed from it’s publication in Shock.

My depiction of Old Masson:
Old Masson by Jesse

Anthony’s depiction of Old Masson:
Old Masson by Anthony

Posted by Jesse Willis

CBS Radio Mystery Theater: The Rise And Fall Of The Fourth Reich by Henry Slesar

SFFaudio Online Audio

Karel Thole illustration for The Rise And Fall Of The Fourth Reich - from Urania #729

I have a sudden desire to eat Uncle Ben’s rice and buy a 1976 Buick. Yes folks I’ve been listening to more CBS Radio Mystery Theater.

The episode this time was called The Rise And Fall Of The Fourth Reich and was written by Henry Slesar.

Slesar was an interesting writer. He wrote in nearly every capacity that a writer can. Being a copywriter (he apparently coined the phrase “coffee break”). But he wrote plenty of fiction too. He was the head writer on an intriguing sounding daytime soap opera (a thriller series modeled after Perry Mason books), he wrote movie screenplays, TV movie scripts, mystery novels, and dozens of radio dramas. But he also wrote a lot of SF short stories – and that’s where things get a bit murky because I’m actually not sure if this story was an adaptation of the text, or if the text was an adaptation of the play. The play of The Rise And Fall Of The Fourth Reich aired first, being broadcast in the spring of 1975. But the short story of the same name came out shortly thereafter in F&SF.

For our purposes I guess it doesn’t really matter too much either way because the only version of the story available in the audio format is the CBS Radio Mystery Theater play.

Set in Mexico, in the 1970s, the storyline isn’t radically dissimilar from the 1976 Ira Levin novel The Boys From Brazil (later to be made into a film of the same name). I enjoyed the plotting, which features both the quest for immortality, the fruit of horrific Nazi experiments, and most of all the desire for revenge.

Here it is, as it aired exactly 37 years ago today…

CBS Radio Mystery TheaterCBSRMT #0275 – The Rise And Fall Of The Fourth Reich
By Henry Slesar; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 46 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBS Radio
Broadcast: May 16, 1975
A Nazi fantasy? In this weird tale, two scientists discover an aged and sickly Adolf Hitler in 1970’s Mexico City. They begin to try and restore his health and youth through their experiments. First published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, August 1975.

Cast:
Robert Dryden
Ken Harvey
Paul Hecht
Joe Silver

The Rise And Fall Of The Fourth Reich by Henry Slesar - from Fantasy & Science Fiction, August 1975

[via the wonderful CBSRMT.com]

Posted by Jesse Willis

The Window by H.P. Lovecraft

SFFaudio News

One of the poems, The Window, in my recently acquired H.P. Lovecraft collection from Gollancz (Eldritch Tales: A Miscellany Of The Macabre) struck me as the perfect jumping off point for a thousand more Lovecraftian adventures. The book is really terrific. It features many wonderful illustrations by Les Edwards.

The poem itself is on page 324 unfortunately isn’t illustrated, but the text is available via Wikisource, and here it is from its publication in Weird Tales:

The Window by H.P. Lovecraft

And here are a couple of readings found on YouTube:

The poem was also adapted to comics. It appeared in the Marvel Max series H.P. Lovecraft’s Haunt Of Horror (#3) – with art by Richard Corben:

Richard Corben's illustration of The Window from H.P. Lovecraft's Haunt Of Horror #3

Posted by Jesse Willis