adventure – Page 23

LibriVox: She by H. Rider Haggard

SFFaudio Online Audio

“She is a classic of the imagination, a milestone and foundation stone of a whole sector of fantastic novels upon which others have built and still build novels of wonder. The sector is that of the lost land, the lost race, the wonder that lies over the next mountain or beyond the farthest sea.” – Donald A. Wollheim (author of H. Rider Haggard’s Empire of the Imagination)

Complete and unabridged, H. Rider Haggard’s She! What’s that you say? You’ve been hankering for a story about a lost civilization ruled by gorgeous 2000 year old female-despot? That’s even what you thought the word Fantasy meant for all these years? Don’t know what I’m talking about?

She was a 19th century best-seller from the author of King Solomon’s Mines, its another tale set in Africa. A mysterious African kingdom in fact. It explores themes of “imperial arrogance, sexual obsession, power and isolation” and it’s all wrapped up in a high adventure format. Best of all, it’s out now in the form of a Public Domain audiobook from LibriVox!

She
By H. Rider Haggard; Read by various
29 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – 11 Hours 36 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: February 2008
At 5 years old Leo Vincey is left in the care of a Cambridge professor by the name of Horace Holly. His father leaves him a strange casket which he is to open on his 25th Birthday. On opening the Casket Leo and Horace discover the strange history of Leo’s ancestors. Leo and his adoptive father Horace must travel all the way to Africa in order to uncover the solve his family’s strange history.

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/she-by-h-rider-haggard.xml

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox and Edgar Rice Burroughs’ “John Carter / Barsoom” books

SFFaudio Online Audio

Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950) is best known for his Tarzan series of books. His second best known series is our topic for the day. The first three books in the John Carter of Mars series (AKA The Barsoom Series) are available via the tireless volunteers at Librivox! Enjoy…

A Princess of Mars (book one in the John Carter series)
By Edgar Rice Burroughs; Read by various readers
29 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: May 2006
“Part One of Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Mars-Series. Easy, swank, pulp read about an omnipotent gentleman teleported to Mars, finding an outlandish society of ape-, tree- and lizardmen, red-, white-, yellowmen, brains on legs, strange bastions and curious apparatuses, where the strongest survives and women are needy beauties to be saved. How can something be so platitudinous and at the same time so imaginative and enthralling?”

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/a-princess-of-mars-by-edgar-rice-burroughs.xml

The Gods Of Mars (book two in the John Carter series)
By Edgar Rice Burroughs; Read by JD Weber
22 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 7 Hours 41 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: November 2006
“The Gods of Mars is a 1918 Edgar Rice Burroughs science fiction novel, the second of his famous Barsoom series. It can be said that the novel set the tone for much science fiction to come. Its influence can clearly be seen in franchises such as Star Trek and Farscape. While Burroughs no doubt borrowed liberally from the pulp fiction of his day, particularly westerns and swashbuckling tales, the pacing and themes set the tone for the soft science fiction genre. The protagonist, John Carter, with his proficiency in hand-to-hand combat and flirtations with beautiful alien women, could be said to have set the mold for later influential icons like Captain James T. Kirk and James Bond. At the end of the first book, A Princess of Mars, John Carter is unwillingly transported back to Earth. The Gods of Mars begins with his arrival back on Barsoom (Mars) after a ten year hiatus, separated from his wife Dejah Thoris, his unborn child, and the Red Martian people of the nation of Helium, whom he has adopted as his own. Unfortunately, John Carter materializes in the one place on Barsoom from which nobody is allowed to depart: the Valley Dor, which is the Barsoomian heaven.”

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/the-gods-of-mars-by-edgar-rice-burroughs.xml

The Warlord Of Mars (book three in the John Carter series)
By Edgar Rice Burroughs; Read by JD Weber and Kara Shallenberg*
16 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 5 Hours 24 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: August 2007
“Warlord of Mars is an Edgar Rice Burroughs science fiction novel, the third of his famous Barsoom series. John Carter continues his quest to be reunited with his wife, the princess Dejah Thoris, and discovers more fantastic creatures and ancient mysterious Martian races.”* One point of interest, the reader for Warlord, JD Weber, mysteriously disappeared before recording the last chapter. After waiting several months, Kara Shallenberg recorded the last chapter.

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/the-warlord-of-mars-by-edgar-rice-burroughs.xml

Posted by Jesse Willis

Radio Tales Of The Strange & Fantastic

SFFaudio Online Audio

Radio Tales Of The Strange & Fantastic is a website devoted to “bring[ing] you stories of the supernatural and the supernormal dramatizing the fantasies and the mysteries of the unknown.” The webmaster, Rich Carlson, has as his goal a “no frills (and no ads, no pop ups, no cookies) in a single page” of the best in OTR Speculative Fiction. And that’s just what it is! Newcomers to classic science fiction, fantasy, horror and adventure radio plays and long time fans of the medium can easily locate and download some of the best examples of the art form. RToTSF links to more than 50 hours of public domain favorites. With particular focus on the well-known novel and short story writers whose speculative works reached a wider audience via radio. Featured authors include the likes of:

Poul Anderson, Isaac Asimov, Ambrose Bierce, Algernon Blackwood, Ray Bradbury, Fredric Brown, John Brunner, Arthur C. Clarke, L. Sprague de Camp, Guy de Maupassant, Arthur Conan Doyle, H. Rider Haggard, Robert A. Heinlein, Shirley Jackson, M. R. James, Fritz Leiber, Murray Leinster, H.P. Lovecraft, Archibald MacLeish, Edgar Allan Poe, Frederik Pohl, Robert Silverberg, Curt Siodmak, Carl Stephenson, Dalton Trumbo, H. Russell Wakefield, Stanley Weinbaum, H. G. Wells, Jack Vance and Roger Zelazny.

This is a site worthy of repeated visits.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Review of Space Boy by Orson Scott Card

SFFaudio Review

Space Boy
By Orson Scott Card; Read by Stefan Rudnicki
2 CDs -Approx. 2 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2007
ISBN: 9781433207648
Themes: / Science Fiction / Family / Adventure / Physics / Wormhole / Aliens /

Is it space travel that children dream of, or merely visiting other worlds? Todd had always set his heart on being an astronaut, but when he meets an alien and travels to another world, he doesn’t use a spaceship; he just hangs out in his own back yard.

You can tell you’re reading an Orson Scott Card story pretty quickly. Not only are the characters and plotting top notch, there are also a number of themes that will echo. Siblings, family, doggerel. Card seems to understand children, boys especially. And his protagonist in Space Boy is very sympathetic, he’s the Space Boy of the title, he’s somehow memorized the entire history of the space program, from every satellite launch, to every shuttle mission right up to the modern era – he especially reveres the three yǔhángyuán (Chinese astronauts) who went to Mars and never returned. But instead of winning himself a used space-suit and hitching a ride aboard a passing spacecraft instead Todd manages a giant adventure that spans from his brother’s bedroom closet – to another planet – and back to his own backyard. No high tech gadgets are required, what’s needed instead is a little imagination, a garden hose and as much bravery as a 13 year old boy can manage. Todd lives with his father and little brother. We learn that his mother disappeared suddenly about four years ago under mysterious circumstances. Nobody really knows what happened, but Todd’s little brother insists that the monster in his closet ate her. The plot of the tale suddenly emerges when a hairy naked elf steps out of nothingness in Todd’s backyard one day. The elf, who really isn’t an elf at all, reveals that he’s a scientist from another planet. He travels through something he calls “worms.” Through the interrogation, while the alien is getting dressed we learn that Todd’s mother is still alive and that for her barely a week has passed. Now its up to Todd, with the help of his little brother to convince their dad that there mom is still alive – and then to come up with a plan to get mom back.

You can tell you’re listening to an Orson Scott Card story pretty quickly. Star narrator and audiobook producer Stefan Rudnicki has been associated with nearly every Card audiobook for the past ten years – including this one. His deep voice is full of pathos, wisdom and resonance. Here he’s tasked with performing a family, father, sons, a mother – and an alien too. I found myself basking in the warmth of this tight knit family. Card takes his time developing the characters, which allows Rudnicki room to bring them to life. Blackstone has outfitted the two-CD audiobook with original art and a sturdy ring-binder library case. This is another terrific addition to the Orson Scott Card audiobook-shelf. Recommended.

Posted by Jesse Willis

U.K. Audio Drama Podcast: Estalvin’s Legacy

SFFaudio Online Audio

SFFaudio Challenge entrant Paul Campbell (he’s working on Rebels Of The Red Planet) has been podcasting his Science Fiction audio drama series Estalvin’s Legacy since early this summer. This promising series features “Mystery, Adventure, Romance, Disaster and War across Alternate Realities” – all that and a cast of a dozen U.K voice actors! There are three episodes out so far. I’ve listened to the first, it drops you straight into the middle of a cast of complex characters with a backstory that begins to be revealed – very promising! And Estalvin’s Legacy has possibly the best tagline for an audio drama series I’ve ever heard:

“The universe exists – for now.”

Have a listen to the slick promo |MP3| and then check out the series itself…

Estalvin’s Legacy
By Paul W. Campbell; Performed by a full cast
Podcast – [AUDIO DRAMA]
Podcaster: Cossmass Productions
Podcast: Started June 2007
Ranging across the many parallel, and not so parallel, alternate realities of the Cossmass. Things aren’t right in the greater reality know as the Cossmass. It encompasses thousands upon thousands of alternate realities. The stability of the Cossmass has been weakening. The collapse of an entire reality stream is no longer a mere theory. The Kalsorin have an uneasy truce with the La’Shareti. Both have influence across several Reality Clusters. But the Kalsorin are keeping a secret from the La’Shareti that would bring a war that they could not win. In a remote Cluster: Nicolas is older than he looks, and his memory is fading fast. Sarah and Peter have only known each other a short time when Liam appears. Liam has travelled the Cossmass for many years, always keeping out of sight of the Kalsorin. Until now.

Subscribe to the podcast via this feed:

http://cossmass.co.uk/series/estalvinslegacy/feed

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox release of An antarctic Mystery by Jules Verne

OnlineAudio

A while back we brought you the story of LibriVox’s release of an audiobook version of Edgar Allen Poe’s The Narrative Of Arthur Godron Pym. Now, we can tell you about the sequel, written decades later by another author. An antarctic Mystery (AKA An Antarctic Mystery or The Sphinx of the Ice Fields) is a newley released unabridged audiobook read by Esther (AKA Starlite).

Listening to just chapter one, you’ll notice straight away the mention of what sounds like a fictional place. Namely, the “Kerguelen Islands”, a place so remote, so alien, it was the 19th century equivalent of the moon. The Kerguelen archipelago exists, it and a few other remote sub-Antarctic islands fly under French flags and are mostly used as research stations today. But, Kerguelen has a fascinating history. During World War II, Christmas 1940 in fact, a Nazi Kriegsmarine ship, named “Atlantis” visited and there dug “the most southerly German soldier’s grave.” In the 1960s and 1970s Kerguelen was used as an experimental rocket base, sending French and American rockets into suborbital flight. All rumors of secret Chinese or Nazi military bases on Kerguelen are completely unsubstantiated.

Back to the audiobook…

An Antarctic Mystery
By Jules Verne; Read by Esther
Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 8.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: October 23rd 2007
“Edgar Allan Poe’s telling of Arthur Pym is shown to be true as events come together that bring out clues that help Captain Len Guy trace the fate of his brother’s ship the Jane; the very ship that Arthur Pym was on board at the time of his disappearance. Through the efforts of Mr. Joerling, the crew of the Halbrane is enticed to make the trip to Antarctica to search for any survivors of the Jane.”

You can download the MP3s individually, in one big zipped folder or get the entire novel in podcast form via this feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/an-antarctic-mystery-or-the-sphinx-of-the-ice-fields.xml

Posted by Jesse Willis