SFFaudio – Page 870 – News, Reviews, and Commentary on all forms of science fiction, fantasy, and horror audio. Audiobooks, audio drama, podcasts; we discuss all of it here. Mystery, crime, and noir audio are also fair game.

Recent Arrivals

Science Fiction Audiobook Recent Arrivals

Inhumanity Quest
By T. Ray Gordon; Read by Richard Sellers
1 CD – 72 Minutes [ABRIDGED]
Publisher: Apex Audio Theatre
Published: 2005
UPC: 701376151425
Described as: “[An] audio book audio drama/science fiction/adventure. In the distant future a war for the survival of humanity rages. The enemy is powerful and ruthless and will stop at nothing to ensure mankinds extermination.”

Jeffrey Combs Read H.P. Lovecraft’s Herbert West Re-Animator
By H.P. Lovecraft; Read by Jeffrey Combs
1 CD – 72 Minutes [ABRIDGED]
Publisher: Beyond-Books.com
Published: 1999
UPC: 619981033428
Described as: “‘The Herbert West-Reanimator’ serial was six gruesome tales inspired by Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, and was a group of stories Lovecraft considered to be his ‘poorest work – stuff done to order for a vulgar magazine, and written down to the herd’s level.’ Contrary to Lovecraft’s opinion of his own work, Re-animator is a very enjoyable macabre tale filled with suspense and dread.”

Infidel
By Roger Gregg; Performed by a Full Cast
2 CDs – 72 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Publisher: Crazy Dog Audio Theatre
Published: 2006
UPC: 69232098568
Described as: “Infidel takes place in the early 13th century during the Fifth Crusade. In the context of the factual history of the Crusade, Infidel tells the fictional story of brothers Hugh and Philip of Beauvais, and Omar, the youngest son of the sultan and to whom Hugh becomes a tutor and unlikely friend.” *Given the historical setting this may not strictly fit into the fantasy category but Crazy Dog does audio drama right. It should be fun.

Danse Macabre – An Anita Lake, Vampire Hunter Novel
By Laurell K. Hamilton; Read by Cynthia Holloway
18 CDs – Approx. 21 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2006
ISBN: 1596008687
Described as: “These days, Anita Blake is less interested in vampire politics than in an ancient, ordinary dread she shares with women down the ages: she may be pregnant. And, if she is, whether the father is a vampire, a werewolf, or someone else entirely, he knows perfectly well that being a Federal Marshal known for raising the dead and being a vampire executioner, is no way to bring up a baby. “

Armageddon’s Children
By Terry Brooks; Read by Dick Hill
12 CDs – Approx. 14 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2006
ISBN: 1423322568
Described as: “[A] gripping chronicle of a once-familiar world now spun shockingly out of control, in which an extraordinary few struggle to salvage hope in the face of terrifying chaos. Logan Tom is doomed to remember the past and determined to rescue the future. Far behind him lies a boyhood cut violently short by his family’s slaughter, when the forces of madness and hate swept our world after decadent excesses led to civilization’s downfall. Somewhere ahead of him rests the only chance to beat back the minions of evil that are systematically killing and enslaving the last remnants of humanity. Navigating the scarred and poisoned landscape that once was America and guided by a powerful talisman, Logan has sworn an oath to seek out a remarkable being born of magic, possessed of untold abilities, and destined to lead the final fight against darkness.”

posted by Jesse Willis

Review of From Here To Infinity: An Exploration of SF

Science Fiction Audibook Review

From Here To Infinity: An Exploration of Science Fiction
Lectures by Professor Michael D.C. Drout
7 CDs or 7 Cassettes – Approx. 7 hours [LECTURES]
Publisher: Recorded Books
Series: The Modern Scholar
Published: 2006
ISBN: (cassettes) 1419388754; (CDs) 1419388762
Themes: / Non-Fiction / History of Science Fiction / Lectures /

Esteemed professor Michael D.C. Drout traces the history of science fiction in this series of stimulating lectures. From Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein to today’s cutting- edge authors, Drout offers a compelling analysis of the genre, including a look at hard-boiled science fiction, the golden age of science fiction, New Wave writers, and contemporary trends in the field.

I remember my Science Fiction English course in High School. Perhaps it was because I was at the peak of my teenage-angst snobbery, but I felt the teacher was teaching the course against her will. I left with a dislike of the “scholarly pursuit” of SF in the classroom.

After listening to Professor Drout, all those dislikes were washed away. He has a real knowledge of the history of Science Fiction and its roots. Although I’m not an expert, I pride myself on my knowledge of the genre’s history. Much of the material was not new to me, but Drout’s enthusiasm and pacing made the listening a pleasure.

Starting with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, he recounts the major progressions of SF up to Neal Stephenson and beyond. He offers some original thinking on how he categorizes many of the authors. I never considered Ray Bradbury a surrealist until Drout compared his work with J.G. Ballard. And anybody who devotes a large amount of a lecture to Cordwainer Smith is easily going to win me over.

Lectures included:

1 What Is Science Fiction?
2 The Roots of Science Fiction
3 Mysterious Lore, Marvelous Tech: The 1930s
4 Hard-Boiled Science Fiction: The 1940s
5 The Grand Master: Robert A. Heinlein
6 Onward and Outward: The 1950s, Space Travel, Apocalypticism, and the Beautiful Weirdness of Cordwainer Smith
7 A New Set of Questions: The “New Wave” of the 1960s and 1970s
8 The World Builder: Frank Herbert
9 The Surrealists: Ballard and Bradbury
10 The Computer Revolution: Cyberpunk and the 1980s
11 Post-Punk: Neal Stephenson
12 Women and Gender
13 The Satirists
14 The Shape of Things to Come

posted by The Time Traveler

Plug into the new Pullman, Paolini, Pierce Interview Podcast

Online Audio

In the wake of The George R. R. Martin Podcast wrapping up. A new limited run Random House promotional podcast called Pullman, Paolini, Pierce Interview has caught my attention. The series is set for a 9 show run. Four shows have already been released, the upcoming shows include topics like… “On religion in their stories”, “On gender roles in their works”, “On inspiration and good reads”, “On relating to their characters” and
more!

Episodes already released include:

Episode 1 |MP3| Animals
Episode 2 |MP3| Betrayal
Episode 3 |MP3| Their Worlds
Episode 4 |MP3| Growing Up

Subscribe using this feed:

http://www.randomhouse.com/teens/3ps/index.xml

posted by Jesse Willis

The Complete Chronicles Of Narnia set to Air on BBC Radio 7

Online Audio

Christmas comes early this year! If you’re in the UK during December you’ll want to tune your DAB (Digital Audio Broadcast) radios to BBC 7. This because, The 7th Dimension slot has been virtually cleared for broadcasting The Complete Radio Dramatizations of The Chronicles Of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. The event begins Monday (December 4th), with Lewis’ first book in the series The Magician’s Nephew. But that’s just the start, The 7th Dimension will be broadcasting all seven books, over 28 dramatized episodes, from Monday to Friday in The 7th Dimension/Fantasy Zone slot throughout December and into January. The final episode of the final book in the series, The Last Battle, ends this epic on Wednesday January 10th 2007. It is a Narnia marathon!

For those poor folks outside the UK, like me, we’ll have to suffer by either trying to listen to the streaming broadcast on the BBC 7 site or more profitably, use the ‘Listen Again‘ feature which allows us to listen for up to 7 days after the broadcast in a web browser.

posted by Jesse Willis

FULL CAST AUDIO tells us to expect Tamora Pierce, Shannon Hale, Robert A. Heinlein and Kenneth Opel AUDIOBOOKS!

Daniel Bostick, producer director and actor at Full Cast Audio tells us…

“The following recordings are coming down the pipline in the next few of months:

THE WILL OF THE EMPRESS by Tamora Pierce (December 2006)
PRINCESS ACADEMY by Shannon Hale (January 2007)
THE STAR BEAST by Robert A. Heinlein (1st quarter 2007)

For trivia fans: Fantasy Author Tamora Pierce and her husband Timothy Liebe will play cameo voice roles in PRINCESS ACADEMY.

Breaking news: We are in the casting stage of SKYBREAKER, Kenneth Oppel’s sequel to AIRBORN [SFFaudio Review Forthcoming]. It will record in February 07 for release later in the year.

We’re also considering participation in the Robert A. Heinlein Centennial in Kansas City next summer.”

Cool stuff.

posted by Jesse Willis

Haruki Murakami Podcasts

Japanese fantasist Haruki Murakami won the 2006 World Fantasy Award for his novel, Kafka on the Shore. Listen to a 20-minute podcast about Murakami’s works from that link, then follow up with a listen to an AudioFile podcast with Q & A about the audio version of Kafka on the Shore. The first 6 minutes of the 28-minute linked podcast give the publisher’s remarks about the audio production of this work, followed by the AudioFile review.

Then subscribe to hear the “Wind Up Bird Podcast” from Naxos audiobooks via this feed:

http://www.naxosaudiobooks.com/rss-xml/naxosaudiobooks.xml

or just download the MP3 directly. NAXOS is starting to sell its audiobooks as direct download mp3 files without DRM, and with accompanying PDF files of the CD inserts. Check out their new Download Shop for a few free examples, and for Murakami’s A Wild Sheep Chase. You can also subscribe to get streaming access to their entire spoken word library.

Posted by Moriond