On June 3, members of the Audio Publisher’s Associ…

On June 3, members of the Audio Publisher’s Association (APA) will meet at the Tavern on the Green in New York City and announce the winners of this year’s Audie Awards. To find the whole list of nominees, click here.

The science fiction and fantasy genres are well represented! Here are some of the categories in which genre titles are nominated:

Fiction, Unabridged
Going Postal, Terry Pratchett, HarperCollins Publishers
I Am Charlotte Simmons, Tom Wolfe, Audio Renaissance
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke, Audio Renaissance
Our Sunshine, Roberte Drewe, Bolinda Publishing, Inc.
The Darling, Russell Banks, BBC Audiobook America

Note: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell also appears on the Audie Award Literary Fiction nominee list. It’s also one of the Hugo nominees this year.

Science Fiction
Brimstone, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, Time Warner Audiobooks
Horizon Storms, Kevin Anderson, Recorded Books, LLC
Lost Boys, Orson Scott Card, Blackstone Audiobooks
The Consciousness Plague, Paul Levinson, Listen and Live Audio, Inc.
The Quantum Rose, Catherine Asaro, Blackstone Audiobooks

The children’s categories usually have some fantasy titles, and this year is no exception. The Neil Gaiman Audio Collection (Neil Gaiman, HarperCollins) is in the Children’s Titles for Ages Up To 8 category, and four out of the five titles in the Children’s Titles for Ages 8+ category are genre titles.

One disappointment is that the Short Stories/Collections category has no science fiction or fantasy nominees. A shame for a genre which produces so much short fiction.

And a final note – A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket (Harper Collins, narrated by Tim Curry) is one of the three nominees for Audiobook of the Year. The other two nominees are My Life by Bill Clinton (Random House, narrated by Bill Clinton) and Ulysses by James Joyce (Naxos Audiobooks, narrated by Jim Norton with Marcella Riordan).

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Review of The Best Christmas Ever by James Patrick Kelly

Science Fiction Audiobook - The Best Christmas Ever by James Patrick KellyThe Best Christmas Ever
By James Patrick Kelly; Read by James Patrick Kelly
FREE MP3 DOWNLOAD – 38 minutes, 19 secs [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: James Patrick Kelly
Published: 2005
Themes: / Science Fiction / Christmas / Nostalgia /

Albert Paul Hopkins was the last man. The biops were determined to see to his every need. It had only been eight months since the last Christmas so it was definitely time for another one, the man needed another one. And if this wasn’t the best Christmas ever it might be his last!

This is the first James Patrick Kelly short story MP3 available through Fictionwise, but it was actually available along with several other short stories on James Patrick Kelly’s own FREE READS website back in 2004. First published on SciFiction, the online fiction wing of the sci-fi channel, The Best Christmas Ever has been nominated for a 2004 Hugo in the best short story category. As the story progresses facts about what has happened to the world start to slip out, and it seems that something has made mankind all but exitnct. In its place are creatures called “biops” which are able to morph into any living thing. This is a very pogniant tale of a man who duitfully continues to exist when he clearly doesn’t want to and how his continued existence effects those around him. You might think of it as a James Patrick Kelly version of I Am Legend. Kelly is great at incorporating narrative information into his plots and his reading is as always excellent. There are a couple time he stumbles over a word or two and I could here pages turning but none of that really harms the production. Available for FREE on the Fictionwise site and JPK’s FREE READS site. It’s like an early Christmas present, now go unwrap it!

Posted by Jesse Willis

Everybody’s talking about podcasting these days, e…

SFFaudio News

Everybody’s talking about podcasting these days, either that or starting their own and then talking about it. We’ve collected some resources for the Science Fiction and Fantasy audio fan who is finally ready for the MP3 experimentation to begin…

The Dragon Page
A long running Arizona radio show has transitioned from mere frequency and amplitude modulations to the exciting world of Podcasting! But in a disturbing turn it has started to multiply at a truly alarming rate! The Dragon Page has spawned three, count em three, podcasts and a number of spin-off serial novels. Will they become the Walmart of SF & F podcasting? Tune in and see…

–Cover to Cover
A podcast with a literary science fiction and fantasy bent, authors are interviewed frequently, hosted by Michael R. Mennenga and Evo Terra.
http://dragonpage.com/

–Slice of Sci Fi
A podcast with a spec fic media and Star Trek bent, hosted by Michael R. Mennenga and Evo Terra.
http://www.sliceofscifi.com/

–Wingin’ It
Two bent SF & F geeks, Michael R. Mennenga and Evo Terra, podcasting without a net.
http://dragonpage.com/

Evo Terra came up with the term, “Podiobooks”, for serially podcast audiobooks and he’s built a site showcasing four spec fic novels that are doing just that, the first three were associated with The Dragon Page prior to the the creation of the Podiobooks site, but they’ve generously included a fourth independent author’s “podiobook” there too:

–MOREVI: The Chronicles of Rafe and Askana
Tee Morris and Lisa Lee’s paperbook novel Morevi: The Chronicles of Rafe and Askana gets serially podcast with Tee Morris reading and engineering.
http://www.teemorris.com/podcast

–Earthcore, Scott Sigler’s geology and mining centered novel is being serially podcast. It plays out like a technothriller in the vein of a Lincoln Child novel only far, far angrier. Sigler reads it himself.
http://www.scottsigler.net/earthcore/

–The Pocket and the Pendant, Mark Jeffrey’s young adult fantasy novel being serially podcast.
http://markjeffrey.typepad.com/

–Tom Corven is a tale being written and read by Paul Story. Story (a pseudonym) originally hails from Scotland but he’s writing it in Split, Croatia and podcasting it serially from a cybercafe there.
http://www.dreamwords.com/TomCorven.htm

Rev Up Review
British blogger and SF author Paul Jenkins’ new podcast sounds very promising indeed. His second podcast carefully surveys what’s available in the speculative fiction podcast field and what of it is worth listening to. He’s also reading his short story “The Journey of Jonathan Cave”, but part one starts with his first “experimental” podcast so be sure to check that one out first.
http://www.rev-up-review.co.uk/

The Seanachai
Thanks to Paul S. Jenkins for finding this one. The Seanachai is a “weekly(ish)” podcast of dramatic storytelling and commentary by Patrick E. McLean.
Funny fantasy so far!
http://www.goodwordsrightorder.com/

Nuketown Radio Active
Speculative fiction reviews from “a geek dad”. Includes movie, book, game, comic book, web site and podcasts reviews.
http://www.nuketown.com/music/archive.php?type=74

The Comic Geeks
A podcast about comic books, toys, memorabilia, science fiction and more.
http://www.thecomicgeeks.com/

SFSite.com Podcasts
MP3 reviews of audiobooks!
http://www.sfsite.com/depts/podcast.xml

Matamea Rising
“A fictional serialized radio show”. Despite that description this radio style serial actually exists!
http://www.matamea.org/podcast/

“Next, I Hem a Cyclic Door”
A project using “podcasting”, comic book panels and video to tell an episodic science-fiction story across different mediums. A collaboration between comic book artist Tim Dedman and Code Owl Productions founder Gabriel Walsh. Dedman and Walsh exchange scripts and execute each other’s idea.
http://www.codeowl.com/nextihemacyclicdoor/

Have we missed a podcast? Let us know!

Posted by Jesse Willis

Review of The Precipice by Ben Bova

Science Fiction Audiobooks - The Precipice by Ben BovaThe Precipice
By Ben Bova; Read by Scott Brick, Amanda Karr, and Cast
10 CD’s – 12 hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audio Renaissance
Published: 2005
ISBN: 1593974906
Themes: / Science Fiction / Asteroids / Environment / Nanotechnology / Space Travel / Moon / Corporations /

The Precipice is first book in Ben Bova’s Asteroid War series, which itself is part of the larger group of novels called The Grand Tour. All of the Grand Tour novels appear on audio, the earliest ones abridged, and the later ones unabridged. Of all the Bova novels I’ve heard on audio (Mars, Return to Mars, and Venus), this is the best, possibly because it’s the first unabridged one I’ve heard, more likely because the novel was fine, traditional science fiction peopled with complex characters. The plot was interesting, and the details more so. I really enjoyed this book.

The driving force of the novel is the adversarial relationship between Dan Randolph and Martin Humphries, who are both extremely successful corporate CEO’s. The world is in environmental disarray because the “Greenhouse Cliff” has been reached – the point at which environmental change becomes rapid and unstoppable. The reaction to this by Randolph is to find a way to help. Humphries’ reaction is to find profit opportunities. They both look toward the asteroid belt, whose mineral wealth Randolph sees as mankind’s savior, and Humphries sees as a giant dollar sign. They both struggle for the upper hand as they prepare mankind’s first trip to the asteroid belt.

The novel has another character well worth mentioning. Her name is Pancho Lane, and the first time we meet her in the novel, she is on a space station conning five fellow workers out of a month’s salary. She’s a smart-mouthed, independent, strong female astronaut that plays a huge role in the plot, and is one of those characters that you miss when a novel is done.

The cover of the audiobook lists the readers as “Scott Brick, Amanda Karr, and cast”. Brick and Karr are very strong readers, and have the largest parts in the book. Amanda Karr read the portions of the novel from Pancho Lane’s point of view, and gave the character just the right amount of attitude.

The other readers also performed well. I recall in an earlier post on this site, I mentioned that I wasn’t too fond of multiple-reader audiobooks, and that I preferred single narrators. I did mention Ender’s Game as an exception, which was produced by Stefan Rudnicki, as this one was. Since then, I’ve heard enough of these multiple-reader audiobooks (all produced by Rudnicki) to realize that if an audiobook is edited properly and you have capable performers all around, then the multiple-narrator technique employed here is preferable to single-narrator audiobooks for the simple fact that I immediately know whose POV the story is coming from at any time, which makes listening a more immersive experience. The voices drew me in faster as I picked up the book after putting it down between listens, as if the characters themselves were doing the reading.

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Roger Gregg and the Crazy Dog Audio Theatre are at…

SFFaudio News

Roger Gregg and the Crazy Dog Audio Theatre are at it again – their latest series, The Last Harbinger starts on Ireland’s RTE Radio One this week. Those not in Ireland can listen online – Episode One is now available. A description of the series:

The people of Moloch are running out of time. Their seas are dead. Their ice caps are gone. Their air is filled with toxins. A twisted civilization that celebrates greed is destroying itself. Can Truth save a world from self destruction? The Last Harbinger is a scathingly satirical allegory which exploits the potential of the audio medium to lampoon a decadent world of hunger, disease and injustice.

This latest ‘audio movie’ production (5 parts) from Ireland’s multi-award winning Crazy Dog Theatre company features an all star cast including Phil Proctor of Rugrats, state-of-the-art location recordings and an original music score.

And don’t forget the Quandary Phase of Hitchhiker’s – Episode One is online this week. Listening now…

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Review of Primordial Chili by Tom Gerencer

Science Fiction Audiobook - Primordial Chili by Tom GerencerPrimordial Chili
By Tom Gerencer; Read by Tom Gerencer
MP3 Download -14 Minutes 58 Seconds [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: www.telltaleweekly.com
Published: 2004
Themes: / Science Fiction / Humor / Food /

Have you ever had one of those days when everything just seems to go right? Even when it’s wrong? Primordial Chili is a laugh-out-loud thrill-ride of culinary perfection, taken to cosmic proportions. The planets align, the gods speak, and supper turns out pretty good, too.

A substantially superlative and surpassingly silly short story about chili. Gerencer’s tale of the creation of the greatest chili ever made easily passes through the awkward Carrot Top kind of silly, bypasses altogether the elegantly silly Douglas Adams kind of silly, and heads straight towards the very silly indeed kind of silly, the Monty Python silly. The prose is ground to a fine consistency and layered with silliness atop silliness that climbs over itself to new heights of silliness. Gerencer’s narration doesn’t do too much here other than straight read it. I don’t know if Gerencer’s humor would work in novel length, it’d be worth trying, but the more I hear of his short stories the more I’m finding I wouldn’t much care about the novels just as long as his short stories continue to be this good – oh and of course keep coming. Primordial Chili was first published in Science Fiction Age magazine’s November 1999 issue. Did I mention this was the first audiobook to make me really hungry?

Posted by Jesse Willis