Things just keep getting better in podcasting – check out Holtzbrinck Podcasts, who are now podcasting excerpts from their audiobook releases. Both Tor and Audio Renaissance are subsidiaries of Holtzbrinck Publishers. This week, they have excerpts from Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card and The Precipice by Ben Bova. Good stuff, and free.
Posted by Scott D. Danielson
Hey, it looks like Books on Tape is selling off some of their cassette stock – Click here for the science fiction and fantasy titles. Included on the list are Elizabeth Moon’s Nebula-winning The Speed of Dark, William Gibson’s Neuromancer, George R.R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones, and Robert Jordan’s Eye of the World.
Posted by Scott D. Danielson
Technical Error
By Arthur C. Clarke; Read by David Zinn
37 Minutes – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: 2005
Themes: / Science Fiction / Hard SF / Parallel Worlds
/ Math Fiction /
Another FREE streaming audio short story by Arthur C.
Clarke from Assistive Media. An ingenious concept for a story, Technical Error shows why Arthur C. Clarke is who he is – excellent ideas executed intelligently. The premise is too good to spoil but I’ll give you a hint – imagine a world in which 90% of people are left handed.
This streaming audio story also includes a little introduction written by Clarke. Unfortunately David Zinn doesn’t pause between the introduction and the story’s start – making it slightly confusing. The reading is adequate; Zinn doesn’t have too much to work with given the dialogue and characters, since both are rather flatish. One more minor quibble, it sounds as if someone forgot to turn off the air conditioning in the recording studio.
Available at AssistiveMedia.org.
REALAUDIO LINK: http://www.assistivemedia.org/amrams/TechnicalError.ram
Posted by Jesse Willis
The Harvest
By Alec Sand; Read by John Pruskin
1 MP3-CD – 4 hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Academic MP3 Audiobooks
Themes: / Science Fiction / Space Travel / Biology / Alien life / Medicine /
Click here for an Audio Trailer
The Harvest is a short novel of future history. No, it’s a bit more than just that. Alec Sand has created a detailed future in which his characters move. It is a future in which a substance called iridium has changed things significantly – it’s a substance from which power is derived and the finding and mining of iridium occupies much of mankind’s time. The Harvest is hard science fiction in which the ideas and concepts generously flow.
In this future, Gideon and his sister Dara reside. Dara has a disease that Gideon is somehow convinced has a cure somewhere “out there”, so he takes her with him on a mining expedition to a new planet. Dara finds much there.
There was some lecturing during the story, which I felt slowed things down a bit. The author could have found smoother ways to introduce information, but it was all interesting, and I found myself eager to know what happened next. I liked the story as a whole very much.
John Pruskin narrates, and overall was very good at keeping my interest. There were a few errors in the narration, but again – I was always eager to continue, and a listener can’t ask for much more than that. He maintained a good, consistent pace throughout and read with clarity.
A unique aspect of this audiobook is its soundtrack. There are several songs that play at various times throughout the audiobook, usually as bridges between chapters or sections. A band called Silk84 provides this music, and the songs are included in full in a different folder on the MP3-CD. I’m listening to some of this music as I write this… I like it! The music ranges from upbeat dance music to beautiful piano music, and though I didn’t always feel the music matched my mood while listening, what Academic did with music in this audiobook is unique and it worked! Yeah, Silk84… I like the sound of your guitar. (You can find Silk84 on iTunes.)
You can get a copy of The Harvest from Academic MP3’s website by clicking right here.
Posted by Scott D. Danielson
Our very own reviewer Mary Robinette Kowal (a name I’m convinced you’ll be seeing often attached to published fiction) has an audio story available on a website called The First Line. The story is called “Rampion” and it can be downloaded here. The story will leave you wanting more! And The First Line? An excellent concept. Check it out!
Just posted – a new Author Focus page featuring Grandmaster Robert A. Heinlein. Click here to see it!
Posted by Jesse Willis