Commentary: Second Life

Second Life

It is a fundamental law of the universe that at some point every blog must mention Second Life. Today is our turn.

Sorry about that.

I won’t be harping on the rampant commercialism in Second Life, nor the unrestricted virtual sex that seems to be the focus of it. I’m not all that interested. Rather I’d like to mention that a few places in Second Life that are worth visiting.

Snapshot from the OCTOBER COUNTRY in Second Life

1. October Country [Pictured above] – is a Halloween themed place that features radio dramas |TELEPORT| like the NPR version of The Empire Strikes Back.

2. Bantam Dell Island – a publisher’s home, featuring some events by authors |TELEPORT|

3. Podcast Island |TELEPORT| Which features podcasters and podcasting events.

4. Book Island |TELEPORT| Bookstores and authors pitching books.

On Sunday (tomorrow at the time of this post) there will be an author reading by Paul Levinson you can |TELEPORT| there at 2pm (Pacific Standard Time)

Posted by Jesse Willis

New Releases – 5 Classic SF Titles – Wonder Audio

SFFaudio New Releases

Five classic Science Fiction tales. Five more reasons to set up an audible.com or iTunes account.

[editor’s note – These titles below all come from a fellow editor’s audiobook company (Wonder Audiobooks). I’m begging you to give them a try. Its hard to appear purely fannish about these stories (given that I’m such good friends with the publisher) so I’ll just forget about trying to appear altogether unbiased and say these are really terrific listens. Fondly Fahrenheit alone will make you scream for joy. Reet!]

fondly_fahrenheit_150.jpgFondly Fahrenheit & Will You Wait?
By Alfred Bester; Read by Pat Bottino
70 min – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Wonder Audiobooks
Availiable at Audible and
Androids cannot kill! Yet that is the case for James Vandaleur’s rare multiple-aptitude android. Feeling he has no choice, Vandaleur flees the authorities, and finds himself in encompassed in even more horrendous murders. The heat is affecting the man-made servant, but scarier still is what is effecting Vandaleur’s mind. A pyrotechnic tour de forceby one the greatest writer and stylist of science fiction.

Chosen by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America as one of the greatest science fiction stories.

Cover - It's a Good LifeIt’s a Good Life
By Jerome Bixby; Read by William Dufris
51 min – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Wonder Audiobooks
Availiable at Audible and
What is more idyllic than a small mid-western agricultural town? Peaksville would sound like a scene right out of a Norman Rockwell painting. Except , little Anthony is a monster! What happens when a child is omnipotent, and with his mind he can execute his every desire and petulant whim? Tonight, there’s a birthday party for Dan Hollis at Anthony’s house. It’s a party all the townspeople will remember . . . always!

Another story voted as one of the greatest stories by SFFWA. The story was adapted into a classic Twilight Zone episode.

devil-on-salvation-bluf-150.jpgThe Devil on Salvation Bluff
By Jack Vance; Read by Candace Platt
61 min – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Wonder Audiobooks
Availiable at Audible and
On the planet, Glory, missionaries live in a constant unpredictable environment. Sister Mary and her husband, Brother Raymond, try to contend with the flits, which live satyr-like existences. The missionaries are exasperated with this world’s seemingly disregard for cause and effect. The only constant is the clock that they brought with them. And therein lies the problem.

the-game-of-rat-and-dragon-150.jpgThe Game of Rat and Dragon
By Cordwainer Smith; Read by Matthew Wayne Selznick33 min – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Wonder Audiobooks
Availiable at Audible and
Future humanity has found the secret of faster-than-light travel, but it comes with great dangers. To minimize these dangers, man can pilot ships through the up-and-out with cats as their partners. Underhill share his mind with his cat-partner, the Lady May, and must travel to the terrible open places between the stars. Only be working together can they defend themselves and the ship’s passengers against the dragons in the emptiness of space.

last-of-the-deliverers-150.jpgThe Last of the Deliverers
By Poul Anderson; Read by William Coon
32 min – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Wonder Audiobooks
Availiable at Audible and
A small town in Ohio leads a peaceful Utopian existence in a world after the collapse of the super powers. Their pastoral existence is rattled when an old communist comes to their village. Uncle Jim, the resident old capitalist wages an ideological battle with the traveling guest to the townspeople’s dismay.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Challenger begins podcasting: Rebels of the Red Planet by Charles L. Fontenay

SFFaudio Online Audio

Rebels Of The Red Planet by Charles L. FontenayLooking for old-fashioned pulpy goodness? Have a look, and a listen to the first chapter |MP3| of the newest SFFaudio Challenger’s podcast:

Rebels Of The Red Planet
By Charles L. Fontenay

The reader is Paul W. Campbell (of the “Cossmass” audio drama series Estalvin’s Legacy).

Rebels Of The Red Planet was first published in 1961 by Ace books. Fontenay was a WWII vet, who was “born in Brazil of a father who was by birth English and by parentage German and French, and of a mother who was by birth American and by parentage American and Scottish.” This mixed background caused him difficulty as he went from enlisted soldier to officer during the war. It seems that the security clearances for his secret work required clear citizenship. When not fighting wars or writing SF Fontenay was a newspaper man.

Here’s the blurb on Rebels Of The Red Planet:

Dark Kensington had been dead for twenty-five years. It was a fact; everyone knew it. Then suddenly he reappeared, youthful, brilliant, ready to take over the Phoenix, the rebel group that worked to overthrow the tyranny that gripped the settlers on Mars.


You can subscribe to the feed via this URL:

http://cossmass.co.uk/series/rebelsredplanet/feed

Posted by Jesse Willis

SSS presents: Lost Sorceress Of The Silent Citadel by Michael Moorcock

SFFaudio Online Audio

Star Ship SofaThe latest podcast from Star Ship Sofa is supposed to be pure Space Opera – and it is, if you don’t count my good friend Tony recounting the frightening brush with mortality that precedes Moorcock’s tale (that story is pure Horror). I hope we can all take a lesson from Tony’s incident and get our workplace helmets on before we get too excited about podcasting.

The reading that follows is just what we need after Tony’s tale, an unabridged reading of a 2002 Moorcock novelette called Lost Sorceress Of The Silent Citadel. Its an escapist, fannish, fun on Mars! A Space Opera, a “Planetary Romance”, an ode to Leigh Brackett, read by Mr. Fun himself Steve Eley! Enjoy…

Lost Sorceress Of The Silent Citadel by Michael MoorcockLost Sorceress Of The Silent Citadel
By Michael Moorcock; Read by Steve Eley
1 |MP3| – Approx. 90 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: StarShipSofa.com
Podcast: December 5th 2007
They came on the Earthling naked, somewhere in the Shifting Desert when Mars’s harsh sunlight beat through thinning atmosphere and the sand was raw glass cutting into bare feet. His skin hung like filthy rags from his bloody flesh. He was starved, filthy, making noises like an animal. He was raving — empty of identity and will. What had the ghosts of those ancient Martians done to him?

Good healing to you Tony!

Posted by Jesse Willis

The Time Traveler has FREE STORIES by Alfred Bester, James H. Schmidtz and Mack Reynolds!

SFFaudio Online Audio

The Time Traveler Show PodcastOur favorite Time Traveler is back from a forced hiatus (those darned time blisters) but he’s doing us right with the dispensation of three early Christmas gifts! As he himself puts it:

Three big stories for the price of none. Makin’ up for lost time. Read by three excellent narrators.

Now would be the perfect time to subscribe to the The Time Traveler Show podcast via this feed:

http://www.timetravelershow.com/shows/feed.xml

Or if you’re still in the downloading by the digital stone-age route:

The Time Traveler show Podcast #21: An SF TrilogyAn SF Trilogy
By various; Read by various
1 |MP3| – Approx. 1 Hour [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: The Time Traveler Show
Podcast: December 4th 2007

Prone
By Mack Reynolds; Read by Corey Redekop
If Ringworld‘s Teela Brown was on the extreme right of the bell curve of luckiness who was on the extreme left? This story will tell ya.

An Incident on Route 12
By James H. Schmidtz; Read by Mark Nelson
A gangster makes good, with the goods, only to get car trouble along the way.

Will You Wait?
By Alfred Bester; Read by Pat Bottino
Deals with the devil may be hard to get in the modern era, but they’re harder to enforce in the modern business climate.

Subscribe to the Time Traveler Show via this feed:

http://www.timetravelershow.com/shows/feed.xml

Posted by Jesse Willis

New audiobook column: @ The Fix

SFFaudio News

The Fix Online: Short Fiction ReviewScott Danielson has been writing about audiobooks for donkey’s years. Starting back in November he got one more outlet for his itchy fingers. His column in a new online Science Fiction and Fantasy review magazine called The Fix is cleverly titled “Audiobook Fix“. December is the second month of publication – in the latest column (December) you’ll find he covers the Writers of the Future, Vol. 23 audiobook and A War of Gifts by Orson Scott Card. Find it here!

Posted by Jesse Willis