SFFaudio – Page 885 – 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.

Two FREE Doctor Who audio adventures still online

Online Audio

Our U.K. correspondent, Roy, points out that “several interesting items are available free on the old BBC Cult website” and that the site has been “closed for some time now and is no longer supported by the BBC.” Among the items there are two audio Doctor Who adventures. Given that they may dispapear at any time click on over soon and enjoy…

Doctor Who: Real Time (A 6th Doctor Adventure)
By Gary Russell; Performed by a FULL CAST
25 Streaming Real Audio Files – Approx. 60 Minutes [AUDIO DRAMA]
WEBCASTER: BBC.co.uk
WEBCAST: 2002

There has been a series of mysterious vanishings on the desert planet Chronos in the 33rd century. Survey teams working for a university seem to have simply vanished amongst the pyramids on the planet. Alongside two other survey teams and an expert on cybernetics, the Doctor and Evelyn learn the deadly truth: that the planet Chronos is being used as a base for one of the Doctor’s oldest and deadliest foes — the Cybermen.

An extended version of Doctor Who: Real Time was released on CD by Big Finish Productions. The additional scenes are designed to help the plot along, including an opening scene set inside the TARDIS. Buying it would probably make listening about 10 times easier.

In 2003, the BBC commissioned Big Finish Productions to remake Shada (a famously uncompleted Doctor Who adventure) as an audio play. The result was webcast in six episodic segments, accompanied by limited Flash animation, on the BBC website using illustrations provided by comic strip artist Lee Sullivan. The illustrations are still available, but I’ve seen them and find they don’t add to the story.

For an expanisve list of Doctor Who on audio check out THIS Wikipedia entry. For an even more complete listing check out THIS one!

posted by Jesse Willis

Project Gutenberg has UNABRIDGED Robert Sheckley!

Online Audio

Great gods! Project Gutenberg has a complete reading of a Robert Sheckley novellete, Bad Medicine! This gem was first published under the Sheckley pseudonym “Finn O’Donnevan” appearing in Galaxy Magazine’s July 1956 issue. The name “Finn O’Donnevan” was used because Galaxy already had another short story in that same issue by Sheckley and the magazines worried about such things back then. Bad Medicine is a prototypical Sheckleyian story and that’s really saying something. The man wrote more than 400 stories in all! His work is tinged with dark, absurdist humor, and I enjoy the heck out of it. I don’t know who does this reading, but its good enough for FREE! You’ll love it…

Bad Medicine
By Robert Sheckley; Read by ???
1 MP3 File – 35 Minutes 38 Seconds [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Gutenberg.org
Published: 2005
“On May 2, 2103, Elwood Caswell walked rapidly down Broadway with a loaded revolver hidden in his coat pocket. He didn’t want to use the weapon, but feared he might anyhow. This was a justifiable assumption, for Caswell was a homicidal maniac.”

posted by Jesse Willis

Buck Rogers inspired Biff Straker takes to the "Spaceways"

Online Audio

Sonic Cinema, the people who are bringing you Firefly: Old Wounds have dug deep into their vaults to find some of their earlier projects. Writer Jack J. Ward’s was inspired Buck Rogers and the old pulp era audio dramas.

Downloadable from their website in MP3 is Biff Straker in… Spaceways!

posted by Jesse Willis

The Sonic Society is RABID after a bite of Crazy Dog’s The Silver Tounged Devil

Online Audio

The latest Sonic Society podcast includes one of Crazy Dog Audio Theatre‘s Diabolic Playhouse segments that was originally broadcast on RTÉ (Ireland National Radio). We’ve recently been debating the difference in quality between professional and amateur audio drama. Check out this show to see the professionals as The Sonic Society is presenting…
The Silver Tounged Devil The Silver Tongued Devil
A documentary of poetry, pretension, and possession.

We reviewed this show and the rest of the Diabolic Playhouse series in early 2005, this is what Scott wrote about “The Silver Tongued Devil”: “This entire piece is done like a radio documentary, NPR-style, complete with interviews of average people about the ‘Silver Tongued Devil’. The actors who did these segments were perfect! If I had listened to this on the radio without knowing that Crazy Dog had done it, I’d have thought it was news. Who is the ‘Silver Tongued Devil’? He’s an incredibly famous poet from Cork who has the god-like ability to make people swoon with his words. Again, the piece is multi-layered, achieving both hilarity and poignancy.”

posted by Jesse Willis

Nina Kimberly The Merciless by Christiana Ellis: COMPLETED

news

Christiana Ellis, who I was lucky enough to meet at WorldCon 2006, has now completed her podcast novel Nina Kimberly The Merciless. It is the comedic adventure story of a teenage barbarian princess faced with the task of dispensing with an obnoxious royal suitor. I haven’t finished listening yet, I’m still laughing and snorting my way through her topsy turvy adventure world, but it is fair to say that Nina comes off like Robert E. Howard’s Conan as channeled through Joss Whedon’s Buffy, with an added dash of Arrested Development. Ellis knows how to exploit fantasy’s well-trod paths for comic effect. If you’d been waiting for it to complete before starting now you can!

Nina Kimberly The Merciless
By Christiana Ellis; Read by Christiana Ellis
24 Chapters + 1 Question Show – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Podiobooks.com
Completed: September 2006

posted by Jesse Willis

The official George R.R. Martin Podcast launches

Online Audio

It looks like George R. R. Martin has been persuaded to join the growing ranks of Random House authors who’ll be doing “limited run” podcasts to promote their works. In eight episodes, George will “cover a range of topics from the birth of his acclaimed saga, to his experiences in Hollywood, to ‘weird stuff,’ and even reads an excerpt from his new paperback novel A Feast For Crows.” Out now is:

Episode 1: The Birth of A Song of Ice and Fire
In this first episode, George R. R. Martin discusses the origin of his bestselling “A Song of Ice and Fire” cycle.

You can subscribe to the podcast by plugging this feed into your podcatcher:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheGeorgeRRMartinPodcast

posted by Jesse Willis