aliens – Page 36

Review of Eifelheim by Michael Flynn

SFFaudio Review

Eifelheim
By Michael Flynn; Read by Anthony Heald
2 MP3-CDs – 17.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2007
ISBN: 1433206129
Themes: / Science Fiction / Philosophy / Religion / Catholicism / Aliens / Physics / First Contact / Black Death /

“Eifelheim” is a novel that’s not in a hurry. It’s a multiple course meal that offers helpings of philosophy, science, and religion at a leisurely pace that’s refreshing in today’s hurry-up climate. It was also a Hugo nominee for Best Novel of 2007.

The novel takes place in two times. In “Now”, two live-in scientists discuss and compare their findings on seemingly different subjects. One of them is investigating the absence of people in Eifelheim, a German town whose population disappeared during the 14th century. According to calculations of population patterns, this is a mathematical anomaly. The other scientist, a physicist, is trying to figure out why the speed of light is slowing down. That these two things are related is part of the story.

In the 14th century, a parish priest named Father Deitrich, who is dealing with the beginnings of the Black Death in his area, experiences first contact with an alien race that appears in his town of Eifelheim. Father Deitrich is a smart, compassionate priest, and, as he considers the aliens God’s children, he befriends them and cares for them as he can.

The focus occasionally switches back to the two scientists from “now”, who have conversations that shed light on the happenings in Eifelheim in the past. The main charm of this novel for me was the realistic portrayal of this honorable priest, and his culture. It portrays a medieval religion that was considered the source of all knowledge, and as such, the priest’s logical reasoning makes for compelling listening. To readers who enjoy philosophy and speculative science, and the history of both, it would be hard to find a modern novel more interesting.

Author Michael Flynn provides historical and physics notes at the end of the novel, and thanks should go out to Blackstone Audio for including them here in the audiobook. Narrator Anthony Heald does a tremendous job with the narration. He’s an excellent match with the material, handling accents and characters with unobtrusive skill. Choices he made with the alien voices were particularly effective.

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Norman Spinrad Audio Drama COMPLETED and DOWNLOADABLE

SFFaudio Update

Two months ago we told you about an unproduced Norman Spinrad, audio drama that was written for Omni magazine, and that was languishing unrecorded. Broken Sea contacted Spinrad and secured the okay for go-ahead. Mark Kalita and the good folks at Broken Sea Audio Productions have now COMPLETED it. Reportedly, Spinrad has given the dramatization a thumb’s up and it is available for listening…

Voice Over
By Norman Spinrad; Featuring a full cast
1 |MP3| – [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: Broken Sea
Published: August 2007
Talk radio shows are always a source of interesting characters, sometimes originating from the most unexpected places. But amiable, unflappable talk show host Bobby Edwards gets more than he bargains for when his airwaves are suddenly hijacked by a strange cast of callers from beyond the stars.

Featuring the vocal talents of:

Mark Kalita as Bobby Edwards
Elie Hirschman as: The Announcer, Debbie, Caller #3, Electronic Voice, Daffy Duck, JFK, Groucho Marx & Ma Bell
Chip Joel as: Mr. Spock, Porky Pig, Rod Serling, Orson Welles & Bert Parks
Doug Manllen as: Caller #2 & The Director

Directed by Mark Kalita
Post-production by Paul Mannering
Music by Scott Shannon – podsafeaudio.com

posted by Jesse Willis

BBC Radio 3 talks about Life, But Not As We Know It

SFFaudio Online Audio

BBC Radio 3 has an intriguing program available through their Listen Again service. A three part series about the consequences of the existence of alien life…

The Essay – Life, But Not As We Know It
3 Radio Broadcasts – Approx. 45 Minutes [DOCUMENTARY]
BROADCASTER: BBC Radio 3
BROADCAST: July 16th, 18th and 19th 2007
A biologist, a writer and a philosopher each explore their fascination with the notion of extraterrestrial intelligence and what such a discovery could mean for the future of humanity.

Part 1 – “Biologist Jack Cohen on why the discovery of aliens would change our view of biology, evolution and organised religion.”

Part 2 – “Writer Andrew Crumey delves into our literary past to discover a fascination with alien life dating back to the middle ages and beyond.”

Part 3 – “Philosopher Nick Bostrom explains why he believes that the discovery of aliens would be a disaster for the future of humanity and lead to the end of civilisation as we know it.”

All three parts are available HERE via the BBC Radio 3 Listen Again service for the next few days or so.

posted by Jesse Willis

Decoder Ring Theatre reaches farther with Deck Gibson

SFFaudio Online Audio

Decoder Ring Theatre SUMMER SHOWCASE continues with an all new two episode series about a manly space adventurer named Deck Gibson. I got an advance listen of this show, and it lives up to the stupendous quality Decoder Ring is becoming so well known for. The series is called:

“Deck Gibson – Far Reach Commander”

Both shows are written by Matt Wallace, the Parsec Award-winning writer and creator of The Failed Cities Monologues which first podcast through Variant Frequencies. The cast is, as always, made up of the talented actors and actresses from the Decoder Ring Theatre stable.

Deck Gibson Far Reach Commander

The first show is available now…

“Deck Gibson And The Star Dust Dancers” |MP3|

And in two week’s you’ll be able to hear the second adventure “Deck Gibson And The Last Squadron Fighter”!

Subscribe to the podcast feed to insure prompt delivery:

http://decoderring.libsyn.com/rss

posted by Jesse Willis

Zombie Astronaut collects BBCR4’s Chillers – Four Tales Of Terror

Online Audio

In early 2002 a limited run series of chilling Science Fiction tales aired on BBC Radio 4. The series was entitled Chillers (or Chillers – Four Tales of Terror). The scripts were by Gold Sony award winning dramatist Mike Walker, the original stories were by top SF authors. Before today I’d recommended to everyone who’d listen, the first of these, Who Goes There?. It is the finest half-hour of Science Fiction Audio Drama I’ve ever experienced. But now the entire four episode series is available in the Zombie Astronaut‘s latest issue. I’m going to be savoring the rest thanks to ZA!

Chillers – Four Tales of Terror
Dramatized by Mike Walker; Performed by full casts
4 x 30 Minute Programs – Approx. 2 Hours [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 4
Broadcast: Jan. – Feb. 2002

“Who Goes There?”
Based on story by John W. Campbell; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 28 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Penned under the name Don A. Stuart, the novelette that this play was based on was first published in the August 1938 issue of Astounding Stories.
An alien being is found frozen in the ice of Antarctica. When it is thawed, it awakens, to become a threat to the small base camp. In fact, it’s a threat to all life on earth, as it can change shape and absorb the life and bodies of every living thing it comes in contact with.

“I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream”
Based on story by Harlan Ellison; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 28 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
The Hugo Award winning short story this play was based on first appeared in the March 1968 issue of Worlds Of If.
This is a tale of five people kept alive by AM, a computer that came alive, waged war and won against mankind. It’s hatred of mankind is so profound, that it kept these five alive only to torture them.

“Delta Sly Honey”
Based on story by Lucius Shepard; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 28 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
First appeared in a 1987 anthology entitled In the Field of Fire, which was a collection of SF and Fantasy stories dealing with Vietnam.
Taking place in the Vietnam War era, this is the story of a Southern country boy who exorcises his demons making late night broadcasts to phantom military units. Then, one answers.

“Corona”
Based on story by Samuel R. Delaney; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 28 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
First published in Fantasy And Science Fiction Magazine‘s October, 1967 issue.
This is the story of an injured man and a girl who seeks death to free her from the pain that comes from her telepathic ability. Their common bond is a pop musician who offers peace to both.

posted by Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Challenge title: Star Surgeon by Alan E. Nourse COMPLETED

SFFaudio Online Audio

Scott D. Farquhar from Prometheus Radio Theatre has written in with some exciting news. He tells me that his unabridged reading of Alan E. Nourse’s novel Star Surgeon has been completed! This is one of the titles from in our SFFaudio Challenge! Scott took slightly longer than he’d expected to, but it was well worth the wait, the extra and attention Scott put into it has really paid off. The 1959 novel is now a 2007 audiobook!

This is one of those rare novels that tells its story from the point of view of an alien. One of those novels that make you dig deeper. It is the kind of Science Fiction that makes you think harder about human attitudes and prejudices, to really look beyond the surficial.

Star Surgeon is the story of Dal Timgar, a medical student, the first alien to attend a universally prestigious earth medical school. If Dal is to become the first fully-fledged star surgeon, he must fight the prejudices of his superiors, and then the rigors of an interstellar emergency.

This novel is widely respected by readers who’ve read it, and many think it represents Alan Nourse at his very best. In writing it, Nourse is expressing a subject dear to his heart as he himself was a doctor.

Star Surgeon
By Alan E. Nourse; Read by Scott Farquhar
14 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – 5 Hours 25 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: June 2007
When Dal Timgar, of all in his medical class, was denied assignment to a general practice patrol ship going out from Hospital Earth to serve the medical needs of the Galactic Confederation, it seemed to him that his eight years of study in the great medical center of the galaxy had ended in failure. He had worked hard and stood at the head of his class, but Dal was different from his medical colleagues in one important way. Born on a planet of a distant star, he was the first son of an alien race to attempt to become a qualified physician of Hospital Earth. Dr. Thorvold Arnquist, a power in Earth’s medical council, is determined that Dal Timgar shall have an equal chance with his Earth-born classmates to prove his skill as a physician and to earn his rank as Star Surgeon. He succeeds in getting Dal assigned, under protest, to the patrol ship Lancet, where Dal is faced with the full responsibilities of a patrol physician as well as the hostility of some of his crewmates. As the Lancet responds to calls of all kinds on planets of distant and unknown star systems, Dal’s skill and judgment as a surgeon are tested to the utmost. But it is not until he is confronted with a dreadful decision, which he alone must make, that Dal faces the final test–a test that will determine once and for all whether he is ever to become a Star Surgeon.

Subscribe to the podcast feed via this URL:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/star-surgeon-by-alan-edward-nourse.xml

Scott also sez:

“FYI… I’m doing another edit of the recording to submit to Podiobooks.com. It will be mostly the same, but I’ve cleaned up some minor issues and I’m adding only a bit of effects in some places like filters for loudspeaker and radio dialogue and such. Nothing really fancy, but just a bit cleaner and slicker. If I get a little batch of donations through podiobooks I may just have to pick another one to read….!”

Way to go Scott! Your hear that everybody? As soon as Podiobooks gets a copy of the revised edition of Star Surgeon hit that donation button!

posted by Jesse Willis