Mark Nelson narrates 3 more SCIENCE FICTION audiobooks

SFFaudio Online Audio

Mark Nelson is my favorite amateur narrator, he’s a terrific reader, his recording environment is dead-silent and he’s reading great stuff at a champion’s pace. I bring this up because Mark has written in to inform me that he’s recorded three new additions for LibriVox‘s library of FREE SCIENCE FICTION AUDIOBOOKS! One of them was even on our SFFaudio Challenge list. Way to go Mark!

Plague Ship by Andre Norton is a complete novel from 1956, originally published under the Norton’s “Andrew North” pseudonym. Also completed are two H. Beam Piper novellettes: Oomphel In The Sky and Omnilingual. Compiled below are the details for each along with some art…

Plague Ship by Andre NortonPlague Ship
By Andre Norton; Read by Mark Nelson
18 Zipped MP3s – Approx. 7 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: March 2007
Lured by its exotic gems, the space trader Solar Queen lands on the little-known planet of Sargol, only to find the ruthless Inter-Solar Company there ahead of them. Adapting quickly to the culture of Sargol’s feline inhabitants, the crew of the Queen beat out their rivals and successfully make a deal with the natives. But soon after takeoff, the Queen’s crew is stricken with a plague, and they are now banned from landing on any inhabited planet. Will the Queen’s crew save themselves, or be condemned to drift forever through space?

Oomphel In The SkyOomphel In The Sky
By H. Beam Piper; Read by Mark Nelson
4 Zipped MP3s – Approx. 2 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: March 2007
Natives of the distant planet of Kwannon believe that their world is about to end, and in preparing for the apocalypse, may be unnecessarily bringing about their own demise. The planetary government can’t overcome its own bureaucracy to help them, and the military is overwhelmed. Can a single newsman change the course of a whole people, and save their world.
http://librivox.org/oomphel-in-the-sky-by-h-beam-piper/

Omnilingual by H. Beam PiperOmnilingual
By H. Beam Piper; Read by Mark Nelson
5 Zipped MP3s – Approx. 2 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: March 2007
An expedition to Mars discovers the remains of an advanced civilization, which died out many thousands of years ago. They recovered books and documents left behind, and are puzzled by their contents. Would the team find their “Rosetta Stone” that would allow them to unlock the Martian language, and learn the secrets of this long-dead race?

posted by Jesse Willis

BBC Radio 3 to a new Karel Capek RADIO DRAMA

Online Audio

Online Audio BBC Radio 3All honourifics for this nice find go to our eagle-eyed U.K. contributor, “Roy”…

BBC Radio 3 will be re-airing a 2005 dystopian satire, a Radio Dramatization of Karel Capek’s War With The Newts. We suspect this will be available via the Radio 3 “Listen Again” for 6 days following the transmission but there are no guarantees so observe these details if you’d like to listen to the live broadcast:

War With The Newts by Karel CapekWar With The Newts
By Karel Capek; Dramatized by George Poles; Perfomed by a full cast
Radio Broadcast – Approx. 1 Hour 30 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
BROADCASTER: BBC Radio 3
BROADCAST: Sunday April 1st 2007 20:00-21:30 (U.K. Time)
When humanity encounters another race of intelligent bipeds sharing the Earth, what choice is there but to exploit it? When the existence of a group of speaking newts comes to the attention of the ruthless GH Bondy and his Salamander Syndicate, they find themselves turned into a commodity as the nations fight over them. At its heart, this joyously funny satire is a plea for decency and tolerance towards others, as relevant now as when it was first written in the 1930s.

posted by Jesse Willis

BBC announces Douglas Adams RADIO DRAMAS

News

BBC AudiobooksThe BBC has written in to tell us that there are three new dramatisations of Douglas Adams’s novels in the works! The two Dirk Gently novels (previously released as unabridged audiobooks) will be adapted into Radio Dramas! Also in the works is a Radio Dramatization of Adams’ last, and unfinished novel: The Salmon Of Doubt. These will all be published by BBC Audiobooks, beginning later this year and are being produced by Above The Title Productions with Dirk Maggs on board as director!

Maggs and Above The Title are the team responsible for the The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy‘s Tertiary, Quandary and Quintessential Phase productions. The three new series will also be broadcast on BBC Radio 4, beginning with Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency in October 2007. The other two titles are The Long Dark Tea-Time Of The Soul and Adams’s unfinished novel The Salmon Of Doubt. Each series will be comprise of six 30 minute episodes. Recording begins in May 2007. BBC Audiobooks will publish Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency on November 8th 2007 .

Personally I’m super-juiced at the prospect of hearing dramatizations of the Svlad Cjelli adventures – I still haven’t heard much about The Salmon Of Doubt though. Is that a Dirk Gently novel too?

posted by Jesse Willis

OTR Plot Spot dredges up: Deep Station Emerald

Online Audio

The OTR Plot Spot Logo Jeff Dickson, webmaster of the indefatigable OTR Plot Spot has posted up a neat sounding radio drama, one he describes as…

“A whodunit which comes across much like an Alistair MacLean thriller. Tense, gripping, with excellent writing, acting, and sound effects. Beyond the idea of an undersea habitat, there is very little here that is particularly futuristic. The most unusual aspect of the story involves a man-made virus which mutates its victims into psychopathic quasi-humans, a plot device which seemed unnecessary– the story could easily have been told without it. Nevertheless, I found it suspenseful, engaging, and well-plotted. If you’re a fan of the film The Abyss, you’ll likely enjoy this one.”

Deep Station Emerald
By Joe Turner; Performed by a full cast
4 Parts – Approx. 2 Hours [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 4
Broadcast: 1996
Part 1 “Five Miles Down” |MP3|
Part 2 “Conspiracy” |MP3|
Part 3 “Heat” |MP3|
Part 4 “And Then There Were Three” |MP3|
“The crew of a research base on the ocean floor discovers a source of cold fusion, the solution to all the world’s energy problems. Elation turns to terror, however, when a series of ‘accidents’ causes several deaths, and a strange virus which mutates DNA is loosed— obviously, someone on board is a killer…..”

posted by Jesse Willis

Blackstone Audiobooks buys the audio rights for 8 Philip K. Dick books!

News

LocusThe latest issue of Locus The Magazine Of The Science Fiction and Fantasy Field (the hardcopy edition) has a story of interest:

“Audio rights to Philip K. Dick’s The Man In The High Castle, Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said, Ubik, Valis, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, Dr. Bloodmoney, and two untitled story collections went to Haila Williams at Blackstone Audio via Russell Galen.”

Thanks to Scott D. Danielson for this find!

posted by Jesse Willis

The Time Traveler Show #14

SFFaudio Online Audio

The Time Traveler Show #14The Time Traveler Show podcast #14 came out yesterday. Along with the customary unabridged classic Science Fiction story:

Doom From Planet 4 by Jack Williamson was featured on the cover of Astounding magazine’s July 1931 issue. The story is read by Bill Coon (a favorite narrator over on LibriVox). Interestingly this story also ties in nicely with my commentary from yesterday (Doom From Planet 4 is set on a remote and mysterious volcanic island in the South Pacific – a possible “phantom island” in fact). To listen download the show directly |MP3| or plug this this podcast feed into your podcatcher to get the show:

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

Also, be sure to listen to the new Time Traveler Show PROMO |MP3|!

posted by Jesse Willis