Tantor offers Nightmares for 30% off + Free Shipping

News

Tantor Halloween Sale

Tantor Media, is having a sale and there are two ghoulishly good audio drama sets included (both of which we’ve reviewed)…

Nightmares On Congress Street Part 5Nightmares V
By Various; FULL CAST
2 CDs or 1 MP3 CD – 2 Hours [AUDIO DRAMA]
|LINK TO PURCHASE|
They’re baaaaaaaaaaaaacckkkkk!!! Rocky Coast Radio Theatre returns with yet another copious cornucopia of classic concoctions, crafted and compiled for the captive congregation (gotta love that thesaurus!). Nightmares on Congress Street, Part V offers dramatized adaptations (complete with music and sound effects) of chilling stories penned by Edgar Allan Poe, Hugh B. Cave, and H.P. Lovecraft, as well as a few additional treats. So douse the lights, snuggle up with your favorite corpse…(oops) “life-challenged” person, and prepare to be thoroughly goosebumped.

Nightmares On Congress Street Part 4Nightmares IV
By Various; FULL CAST
2 CDs or 1 MP3 CD- 2 Hours [AUDIO DRAMA]
|LINK TO PURCHASE|

Year four of the Rocky Coast Radio Theatre’s spooky radio performances includes theatrical interpretations of works by W.W. Jacobs, Edgar Allan Poe, and Robert W. Service—sure to send shivers down your spine!

posted by Jesse Willis

Review of Cheater by Orson Scott Card

SFFaudio Audiobook Review

Science Fiction Audiobook - Cheater by Orson Scott CardCheater
By Orson Scott Card; Read by Orson Scott Card
1 MP3 File – 33 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show
Published: October 2006
ISBN: None

Han Tzu was the bright and shining hope of his family. He wore a monitor embedded in the back of his skull, near the top of his spine.

A brand new story from the Ender universe. This story is an audio bonus in the current issue of Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show (issue #3). Han Tzu was a minor character in the SFFaudio Essential Ender’s Game, like previous audio entries in the Enderverse of late, this is a tale that ‘fills up the corners’ (as the Hobbits say) giving a backstory to the character nicknamed “Hot Soup.” Fans of the Enderverse will remember that Han Tzu was one of Ender’s toon leaders while he was in Dragon Army during the original novel Ender’s Game. Han Tzu later plays a more prominent role in the novels Shadow Puppets and Shadow Of The Giant. Here though, we meet him younger than anywhere prior in an interesting morality tale about Han Tzu and the circumstances of his admission to Battle School. His mother, who Han Tzu rarely gets to see, is a brilliant scientist. His father is one of the wealthiest men in China, a descendant of a famous Chinese family, and a businessman with long term plans for his son. Poor Han Tzu is never allowed to leave the confines of his father’s estate. Instead, the nation’s finest tutors are brought there to teach him, and even the few friends he gets to play with have been specially chosen, and likely been paid to be his friend. This has all been in an effort to mould him into a man capable of being the next Emperor of China. He might even get that chance, despite his father’s plans.

Though I can’t say I agree with his politics, I cannot dispute the power Orson Scott Card’s writing. This man knows how to tell a story and make you sympathize and love his wonderous worlds. Cheater is only tangentially related to Science Fiction; nothing SF happens in the story that hadn’t happend in Ender’s Game. That said, if you’ve read and liked other stories in the Enderverse you’ll want to hear this story. Like in Ender’s Shadow, spending more time with individuals of Ender’s jeesh (an inner circle or group of close friends) is a special treat. If Card wanted to record one of these tales for the next half-dozen issues of Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show I’d listen, and be eager to hear them. Card recorded this story in a relatively good sounding environment, but there is a noticeable hiss of white noise that follows his reading from start to finish. As to his performance, like a surprisingly high number of author/narrators, Card reads his own work very well though I imagine Stefan Rudnicki’s performance would have been even better.

Posted by Jesse Willis

H. Beam Piper’s Little Fuzzy as a FREE UNABRIDGED audiobook!

Little Fuzzy is a minor classic of Science Fiction by H. Beam Piper. Thanks to the wondiferous hobby of Maureen O’Brien it is now available in its unabridged entirety as an amateur produced MP3 audiobook. All 17 chapters are available now for free via archive.org.

Little Fuzzy by H. Beam PiperLittle Fuzzy
By H.Beam Piper; Read by Maureen O’Brien
17 Zipped MP3 Files – 6 Hours 45 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
PODCAST: Maria Lectrix
COMPLETED: October 2006

The planet Zarathustra is going through a dry spell. Land-prawns, ecologists, and scared bureaucrats are coming out of the woodwork. But there’s more trouble to come. The cutest little alien critter you’ve ever seen: Little Fuzzy.

The story revolves around determining whether a small furry species discovered on the planet Zarathustra is sapient. Along the way a gentle kind of libertarianism that emphasizes sincerity and honesty is advocated. This is generally considered a “juvenile” novel.

The narrator, Maureen O’Brien, first released each chapter as an instalment on her Maria Lectrix Podcast which she describes as “Six days a week of public domain audiobooks — mystery, history, adventure, devotion — for people with Catholic tastes.” About Little Fuzzy she writes:

“Right now, I’m making an audiobook of H. Beam Piper’s novel Little Fuzzy. It’s in the public domain and on Gutenberg, because Piper didn’t renew copyright. Piper is one of my younger brother’s favorite authors, so I’m really doing it for him. But the funny thing is that I actually am enjoying the book a lot more than I did back in junior high; I guess the legal and corporate maneuvering makes more sense to me now.”

Little Fuzzy is finished, I asked her what else she’d been working on. It seems that Maureen’s been in fandom more than a dozen years, helping out at some conventions and writting for an shared world superhero zine, Vanguard Dossier. She says…

“I record public domain stuff because I am cheap and have time on my hands. Also, it’s nice to give something back to the Internet that’s given so much to me. Back in the BBS days, you were expected to upload a certain amount of material to offset all the files from other people that you were downloading. I think I’ve done that now.”

And has she ever she’s recorded dozens of other stories, novels, poems and plays too!

“I’m afraid my choice of literary works is a bit haphazard, as I usually pick on whim something I like, something I’ve been meaning to read, or something I run across that looks interesting. My original plan was to podcast mostly short stories, short essays, and a few longer works. Instead, novels and epic poems have taken over my podcast.

For quite a while, I was broadcasting something from the works of antebellum New York SF/Fantasy writer Fitz James O’Brien every Monday. Partly this was because I like his stuff and think he’s unfairly neglected. But partly it’s because I had a hard time deciding what to read on Mondays and he narrowed that down quite a lot. But Fitz had a very interesting take on life, and I enjoyed that a lot. He was also amazingly prolific; there are still tons of stories by him that I haven’t done.

I also really enjoyed reading Lord Dunsany, who has been one of my all time favorite authors since I first encountered his stories. When he really gets rolling, his fantasy can veer abruptly from the highest flights of beauty and language to the silliest comedy within a few sentences. He was wonderful to read; and I fully intend to read some more stories by him later this year. I would love to hear someone adapt one of his spooky plays as an audio drama; I think they might work very well.

A lot of the epic poems I’ve podcasted are actually fantasy novels in poetic form. Lucan’s Pharsalia is full of witchcraft and horror, ancient Roman style. Scott’s The Bride of Triermain is pure fantasy, with King Arthur, demigoddesses, bards, phantoms, and all.”

It is all very cool and I’m going to be keeping my ear attuned to Maureen’s passion. I’ve subscribed to her podcast. If you’re interested you too can subscribe by plugging this feed into your podcatcher:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/MariaLectrixAudiobookClub/

posted by Jesse Willis

Special Guest-voice on Upcoming 7th Son Chapter

SFFaudio News

7th Son Book TwoI just received word from author J.C. Hutchins that coming up on the November 14th chapter of 7th Son Book 2: Deceit, there will be a voice to make every Browncoat on the planet go weak in the knees (and that includes male Browncoats!). Actor Nathan Fillion! For the five or so people who may not know yet, Nathan Fillion is best known for his role as Captain Malcolm Reynolds in the short-lived Firefly television series, and Serenity movie.

“It’s an absolute honor to have Nathan on the podcast,” Hutchins said. “Folks best know him as a well-grounded hero in a science-fiction epic. 7th Son — a reality-driven sci-fi thriller — is a good fit for his cameo. The current listenership of 7th Son will love his ‘previously on’ reading … but this provides a terrific reason for new listeners to hop aboard.”

Well, you know that this Browncoat AND 7th Son fan will be all ears…

You can grab the feed for the 7th Son Novel with this link:

http://www.jchutchins.net/7thSonPodcast.xml

posted by Dani

Singularity Podcast CONCLUDES Halloween!

Podcast - The SingularityBill DeSmedt, author of the podiobook Singularity, has recorded the final episode of his podcast, a Question and Answer show, hosted by Paul Fisher. The episode will go live tommorow, Halloween! I’ve been listening to the novel and have been blown away by the awesomeness. The podiobooks.com ranking has this audiobook rated at 5 out of 5 stars with more than 60 votes! If you like science, Science Fiction, action, and surprises ’round every curve, click on over to Podiobooks.com, sign up and subscribe, you won’t be sorry.

posted by Jesse Willis

The Willamette Radio Workshop haunts KBOO-FM 90.7

Online Audio

KBOO 90.7 FMThe Willamette Radio Workshop is working Halloween! Tuesday October 31st 2006 at 10:30am PST in Portland Oregon KBOO-FM 90.7 will feature two short offerings from WRW…

Through The Turnstile
By Carole Dane
“A post-apocalyptic tale of dark irony and reluctant human contact.”

The Outsider
By H.P. Lovecraft (adapted by Joe Medina)
Produced, performed and directed by Sam A. Mowry.

Go to http://www.kboo.fm/listen to stream the broadcast live.

posted byJesse Willis