Escape Pod continues what it started last year – they are offering audio versions of some of this year’s Hugo nominees. Available right now are these nominees for Best Short Story:
Impossible Dreams by Tim Pratt – |MP3|
The House Beyond Your Sky by Benjamin Rosenbaum – |MP3|
Eight Episodes by Robert Reed – |MP3|
Kin by Bruce McAllister – |MP3|
And over on Neil Gaiman’s site, you can get an audio version of the other Short Story nominee, How to Talk to Girls at Parties by Neil Gaiman
Okay, before you click anything, first note, Mark Butler has placed an important disclaimer on his website, Mark’s Place, about these readings:
THESE BOOKS ARE COPYRIGHTED AND THESE FILES MAY NOT BE LISTENED TO WITHOUT FIRST BEING PURCHASED IN PRINT FORM. BY CLICKING ON THE LINKS BELOW YOU AGREE THAT YOU ARE A LEGAL OWNER OF A VERSION OF THESE BOOKS.
For those poor saps who haven’t already got ’em, paperbook or pulpmag copies of both of these out of print beauties can often be found on either eBay or Abebooks.com.
First up is, Doc Savage: Birds Of Death, which was originally published in Doc Savage Magazine‘s October 1941 issue. It follows The Man Of Bronze and his associates as they “battle strange yellow canaries whose mere song can kill a man and then bring him back to life!” This pulpy romp takes you from the streets of New York to the deepest darkest jungles.
Narrator, and Savage enthusiast, Mark Butler sez:
“I read this book into the microphone, trying to give the proper emphasis to the words and convey the feelings being written about. I’m not very good with different voices so the various characters sound a lot alike. But the story shines through my attempts. I’ve also added a lot of sound effects. Its not an ‘audio adaptation’ but I think it really enhances the audio.”
Doc Savage: The Birds Of Death
By Kenneth Robeson (AKA Lester Dent); Read by Mark Butler
14 MP3 Files – Approx. 3 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Source: Mark’s Place
Posted: 2004
Doc’s musical accomplishments are almost as well known as his scientific genius – but even he can’t match the peculiar talent of the strange yellow canaries whose sweet music is the song of death!
Chapter 01 |MP3| Chapter 02 |MP3| Chapter 03 |MP3|
Chapter 04 |MP3| Chapter 05 |MP3| Chapter 06 |MP3|
Chapter 07 |MP3| Chapter 08 |MP3| Chapter 09 |MP3|
Chapter 10 |MP3| Chapter 11 |MP3| Chapter 12 |MP3|
Chapter 13 |MP3 | Chapter 14 |MP3|
A similar description accompanies, The Living Shadow, this is a single narrator reading that includes sound effects. First published in 1931, in hearing it you’ll be hearing the original Shadow character, in his first ever story! It’s difficult to imagine that this character has spanned more than 75 years of spicy tales that can …”cloud men’s minds”… hmmm, what was I saying?
The Shadow: The Living Shadow
By Maxwell Grant (AKA Walter B. Gibson); Read by Mark Butler
38 MP3 Files – Approx. 6 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Source: Mark’s Place
Posted: 2006
“The Living Shadow is the first Shadow novel. It sets the tone for all of the stories to follow. The Shadow recruits Harry Vincent and we learn with Harry about the Shadow’s remarkable organization and methods. The story is full of mystery as Harry gradually learns the real truth behind the Laidlow murder and the missing diamonds.”
MP3s:
|Introduction|
|01|02|03|04|05|06|07|08|09|10|
|11|12|13|14|15|16|17|18|19|20|
|21|22|23|24|25|26|27|28|29|30|
|31|32|33|34|35|36|37|
Thanks so much Mark!
The sounds of things to come…
|MP3|
The MP3 above was recorded as a special promo by Scott D. Farquhar of Prometheus Radio Theatre. It looks like the plan is to use it on an upcoming LibriVox community podcast. The novel it is promoting is Alan E. Nourse’s Star Surgeon, one of our SFFaudio Challenge titles. Likely, Star Surgeon is just a few hours (or days) away from being officially catalogued, but I couldn’t wait to tell you after I heard this 5 minute promo. And BTW, we’ve already got a peek at the all new cover art for the official release, so we’re recycling our old art for this post, one last time. It’s sounding great, and looking great, thanks ComposerScott!
Brilliance Audio has sent us lots of goodies this week.
Dragons Of The Highlord Skies: The Lost Chronicles Volume Two
By Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman; Read by Sandra Burr
13 CD, 16 hrs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2007
ISBN: 9781423316206
From the popular Dragonlance series. The first volume, Dragons of the Dwarven Depths, was reviewed by SFFaudio.
The Companions are back, and so are their enemies in the second volume of the Lost Chronicles.
Kitiara discovers that a former lover, Tanis Half-elven, and his friends were responsible for the death of Highlord Verminaard. This revelation puts Kit in danger, for Emperor Ariakas hears of the connection and suspects Kit of having arranged the assassination. He orders his witch, the exotic Iolanthe, to spy on Kit, who clinches her own doom by becoming obsessed with finding Tanis, convincing Ariakas that she is indeed a traitor. But Kit is not one to take a sentence of death easily.
Kit’s rival, Laurana, begins her own journey to destiny, as she travels to Icereach with Sturm, Flint, Tasslehoff, and three Solamnic knights led by Sir Derek Crownguard. The knights are on a quest for the fabled dragon orb that will be the salvation of Solamnia. What none of them know is that they are all being led into a deadly trap laid for them by the winternorn, the dark elf wizard Feal-Thas.
But it is Kitiara who faces the greatest challenge. To save herself, she vows to Takhisis that she will spend the night in Dargaard Keep, the dread castle of the death knight, Lord Soth. As she and Skie fly to challenge the death knight, Kit is well aware that in three hundred years, not one person who has ever faced Lord Soth has survived the ordeal.
Seeker: Book One of the Noble Warriors
By William Nicholson; Read by Michael Page
9 CD, 10 hrs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2007
ISBN: 9781423318354
A young adult novel that sounds promising. We received Jango: Book Two a couple weeks ago, and Brilliance was kind enough to send us this one!
On the rocky island of Anacrea, in a garden within the great castle-monastery called the Nom, lives the All and Only, the god who made all things. He is protected by an elite band of fighter monks. These are the Nomana, the Noble Warriors.Seeker, who lives on the island, is now sixteen, at last old enough to follow his brother into the ranks of the Nomana.
Far away, Morning Star, also just sixteen, is leaving home to achieve her lifelong wish to join the Nomana.
And when a beautiful, violent river bandit known as the Wildman finds himself helpless before two Nomana, he, too, is determined to become a Noble Warrior.
But these are dangerous times. Secret enemies have sworn to destroy Anacrea, and in the imperial city of Radiance, where human sacrifices are thrown to their deaths every evening, elaborate plans to attack the Nom are in place. Soon, in a shocking turn of events, Seeker, Morning Star, and the Wildman are caught up in a bloody and harrowing race to save the god of the Nomana – and themselves – from destruction.
And a couple titles for the young converts. These next two say 7+ for recommended age. They’re part of the Strange Matter series.
Toy Trouble
By Engle and Barnes; Multicast recording
2 CD, 2 hrs – [ABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2007
ISBN: 9781423308386
Karen Sanders loves toys. An avid toy collector, she’s always looking for strange and unusual playthings. Her room is practically a toy museum, from treasured rarities in collector’s cases to shoeboxes full of battered pieces and parts.
Karen’s friends tell her about a new store that just opened in Fairfield! A new toy store. She can’t believe it! Wasting no time, she and her friends rush to the opening of . . . Kepler’s Toys and Collectibles.
The selection is wonderful but Karen and her friends wonder why they are the only customers there when it first opens. Maybe it’s the strangeness of the shopkeeper, Mr. Kepler, that frightens people away. To their amazement, they find most every toy they ever wanted, each buying armloads, so many they can barely carry them home.
Soon they discover their toy-friends have a life all their own.And the name of their game is . . . trouble.
Plant People
By Engle and Barnes; Multicast recording
2 CD, 2 hrs – [ABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2007
ISBN: 9781423308508
Something strange is moving into the house behind Rachel Pearson’s – and only she knows it.
While exploring the vacant house, Rachel comes across some weird looking plants. They are large, green shells that have blossomed. . . letting whatever was inside them out.
Then, two months later, the Smith family moves into the empty house. They’re very odd people. Not only do Mr. and Mrs. Smith and their two weird children, Jane and Richard, look unsettling, they act strange as well. Jane seems to have a taste for bugs, while Richard disappears late at night with a shovel in hand, only to return early the next morning. It’s made Rachel very suspicious.
But soon that suspicion turns to fear when strange things happen to those who come into contact with the Smiths. Kids get sick. Parents disappear. And plants come to life.
Now no one’s left to believe Rachel, except for the Smiths. . .
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iTunes U, is a new section in the iTunes store offering the content of higher education institutions. Lectures and seminars dominate, some video, some audio. A few of the cooler ones that have caught our eyes are up already. The last set is a collection from Seattle Pacific University (a “Christian university of the liberal arts, sciences and professions”) as such these are lectures that look at their subject decidedly Christian POV. For those of you who don’t use iTunes we’ve also tracked down the original sources when we could find them. Either way, listen online or pop into the iTunes store and get U some education! |
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“The Craft of Science Fiction” By Joe Haldeman iTunes U download or 1 RealAudio file – 1 Hour 47 Minutes – [LECTURE] University: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Released: Nov. 2006 A lecture by MIT professor (and Science Fiction legend) Joe Haldeman. |
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“Nano-Ethics through the writing of Science Fiction” By Rosalyn W. Berne PhD. iTunes U download or 1 MP3 – 54 Minutes – [LECTURE] University: Arizona State University Released: May 2007 Berne is Associate Professor at the University of Virginia. |
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4 Tolkien Lectures By John G. West, Janet Blumberg, Peter Kreeft & Joseph Pearce iTunes U downloads & 1 Mp3 – Approx. 3 Hours 16 Minutes [LECTURES] University: Seattle Pacific University Released: 2001 Lectures included: Tolkien 1 of 4: “The Lord Of The Rings as a Defense of Western Civilization” by John G. West Tolkien 2 of 4: “Literary Background of The Lord Of The Rings” by Janet Blumberg Tolkien 3 of 4: “Wartime Wisdom: Ten Uncommon Insights from The Lord Of The Rings about Evil” by Peter Kreeft |MP3| Tolkien 4 of 4: “Tolkein, Man and Myth”* by Joseph Pearce * Please note, Tolkien’s name is spelled wrong in the 4th lecture’s title, be sure to enter the title as it appear above in the iTunes search. |
Scott D. Danielson, along with myself, is an SFFaudio founder. He’s now working as a reviewer, and as our “Web Kzin.” But his SFFaudio cred doesn’t end there. He’s also a long time Audiofile magazine reviewer, an Audie Awards judge, was a long-time columnist for SFsite and is a professional Science Fiction author. He’s also been running a little audiobook company and he’s just posted a story of interest about it to his personal blog…
Scott writes:
“I’m in the final stages of preparing audio for submission to Audible.com. My company, Deuce Audio, will soon have stuff for sale on Audible and iTunes, just as was planned when I started the darned thing almost three years ago. More on that sometime in the future, I’m sure. I haven’t even told the authors that these will be on there because I’ve told them that before and it didn’t happen. This time, the contract is signed, and the stories will be out there soon. So I’m closer, but I won’t believe it until I actually download one.”
There are other folks in similar situations to Scott and his Deuce Audio, other companies with Science Fiction and Fantasy and Horror audiobooks that are making deals to get their content onto Audible.com (and therefore iTunes too). We’ll try to let you know as they make their announcements. The future never sounded so good!