StarShipSofa features Bears Discover Fire by Terry Bisson and MORE

SFFaudio Online Audio

Star Ship SofaThe StarShipSofa Audio Science Fiction Magazine, delivers another blast in the world of it’s Aural Delights and hits her stride with a great edition.

Main Fiction: Bears Discover Fire by Terry Bisson

Winner of:

• 1991 Hugo Award for Best Short Story

• 1990 Nebula Award for Best Short Story

• 1991 Asimov’s Reader’s Award

• 1991 The Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award

• 1991 Locus Award

• 1991 SF Chronicle Award

I was driving with my brother, the preacher, and my nephew, the preacher’s son, on I-65 just north of Bowling Green when we got a flat. It was Sunday night and we had been to visit Mother at the Home. We were in my car. The flat caused what you might call knowing groans since, as the old-fashioned one in my family (so they tell me), I fix my own tires, and my brother is always telling me to get radials and quit buying old tires.

Article: Steampunk by Amy Sturgis 10:57

Flash Fiction: The Cootie Box by Paul Di Filippo 07:25

Article: DRM Issues by Cory Doctorow 52:00

Fiction: Little Brother by Cory Doctorow (30mins preview) 60:00

Music: Automaton by XJ3 01.12

Promo: Steampod 91:00

Narrators: Paul Gaggegi and Jim Campanella

Subscribe to the podcast via this feed:http://www.starshipsofa.com/rss

Posted by Tony C. Smith

Commentary: LibriVox makes being cool look easy

SFFaudio Commentary

LibriVoxI really like the attitude of the people over on LibriVox.org. In one thread on the LibriVox forums a first time poster makes note that ‘LibriVox titles are being sold on eBay for $’. Like that guy I too was quite shocked and a little dismayed when I found that out. Here’s me thinking:

These audiobooks are available for free and yet some people are actually SELLING them!?!?! How dare they!


But as Puffin1, a long time LibriVoxateer so sensibly points out…

“It’s okay. We [LibriVox] don’t mind. Everything we do is in the public domain. Thanks for your concern. Welcome to LibriVox. Have fun!”

How cool is that?

It really sums up the LibriVox attitude too. Another LibriVoxer, David Barnes (AKA earthcalling), pointed out that… ‘the seller credits LibriVox … and is providing a service that LibriVox doesn’t provide – namely audiobooks on CD.’

Their whole attitude is positive and relaxed, their idea is “the more recordings are ‘out there’, the better!” As it turns out, it’s actually a very good thing that a lot of the sellers on eBay are selling these audiobooks. eBayers looking for audiobooks can discover LibriVox that way.

One such person is a Texan named R. J. Davis (aka Rick).

Rick described himself as “mostly retired” and a “two year cancer survivor.” I’d describe him as one cool mostly retired cancer survivor who narrates audiobooks. Rick found LibriVox through one of these eBay retailers, and has, since joining in December 2007 (!), started narrating public domain Science Fiction for LibriVox! He’s already read individual short stories like:

“Time and Time Again” by H. Beam Piper
“Warning from the Stars” by Ron Cocking
“Stairway To The Stars” by Larry Shaw

And he’s solo-completed entire novels like:

Key Out of Time by Andre Norton
The Time Traders by Andre Norton

And Rick’s got two more Norton novels forthcoming…

Storm Over Warlock by Andre Norton
The Defiant Agents by Andre Norton

Rick is what I’d call a real audiobook fan. LibriVox makes being cool look easy, and that’s pretty amazing because narrating an audiobook is bloody hard work.

Posted by Jesse Willis

New Releases – Disney Fairies #6

New Releases

Out today is one for the Cicely Mary Barker set. But be WARNED, you’ll need to brush your teeth after listening! There’s almost as much sugar in the Disney Fairies audiobooks as was in in The Sonic Society’s Pony Tales (their April Fools Day show) I’m thinking Shannon and Jack could probably pitch Pony Tales |MP3| to Disney – seriously.

Disney Fairies Collection #6Disney Fairies Collection #6: “Dulcie’s Taste of Magic” & “Silvermist and the Ladybug Curse”
By Gail Herman; Read by Ashley Albert and Kathleen McInerney
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: May 13th 2008
ISBN: 9780739365038
Dulcie’s Taste of Magic
Poor Dulcie! After the overworked baking fairy nearly ruins breakfast, Queen Clarion tells her to take a holiday. But Dulcie’s vacation is no fun at all. Then Dulcie stumbles across an ancient magical recipe in the library. She’s desperate to try it out. But how can she bake the mysterious Comfort Cake if she’s not allowed in the kitchen?
Silvermist and the Ladybug Curse
Silvermist is the calmest water-talent fairy around and as cool as a deep mountain lake. But then an “unlucky” white ladybug lands on Silvermist’s head, and her orderly world goes topsy-turvy. Silvermist doesn’t believe in bad luck and silly old fairy superstitions. But all her troubles began after she found the white ladybug. Is Silvermist really under a curse?

Posted by Jesse Willis

Scott Brick Presents Fatal Revenant and Lord Foul’s Bane

SFFaudio News

Scott Brick PresentsFatal Revenant, the latest “Thomas Covenant” novel from Stephen R. Donaldson, is now on sale as an EXCLUSIVE AUDIOBOOK at ScottBrickPresents.com!

Scott Brick sez:

The wait is over! I am ecstatic to announce that Scott Brick’s latest audiobook, Stephen R. Donaldson’s FATAL REVENANT, is now on sale EXCLUSIVELY at ScottBrickPresents.com!

LORD FOUL’S BANE (the first in the series) is also for sale. Now who’s excited?

Posted by Jesse Willis

Sci-Phi Show interviews Rudy Rucker

Jason Rennie’s The Sci Phi Show, has has an exclusive podcast interview with Rudy Rucker. You may recall that The Sci Phi Show ran a short Rucker story called Panpsychism Proved a while back. Jason talks to Rudy about the “singularity”, the philosophical idea of panpsychism (the idea that the entirety of the universe is “mind”), quantum physics, cyberpunk, his novels and his philosophy on book distribution. Have a listen |MP3| or subscribe to The Sci Phi Show’s podcast feed:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheSciPhiShow

posted by Jesse Willis

Arthur C. Clarke talks about Stanley Kubrick

OnlineAudio

Undesirable Propagation UnitBack when websites were websites (in the late 1990s), somebody in Australia started collecting oddnesses. Taking its name from a term in a 1993 article in Wired magazine, Undesirable Propagation Unit is a collection of assorted weirdness – probably there’s some other stuff of interest on the site too (for somebody) but for our purposes there is an old ABC Radio National interview with Arthur C. Clarke. Curiously the program is mostly about the film of 2001: A Space Odyssey and Stanley Kubrick. Check it out:
Part 1 |MP3| Part 2 |MP3| Part 3 |MP3|

Posted by Jesse Willis