audiobook – Page 119

LibriVox: Short Science Fiction Collection Vol. 024

SFFaudio Online Audio

Who wants FREE Science Fiction short story audiobook collection?

I do! I do!

And here it is…

Short Science Fiction Collection Vol. 024
By various; Read by various
10 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 4 Hours 59 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: August 7, 2009
Science Fiction is speculative literature that generally explores the consequences of ideas which are roughly consistent with nature and scientific method, but are not facts of the author’s contemporary world. The stories often represent philosophical thought experiments presented in entertaining ways. Protagonists typically “think” rather than “shoot” their way out of problems, but the definition is flexible because there are no limits on an author’s imagination. The reader-selected stories presented here were written prior to 1962 and became US public domain texts when their copyrights expired.

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/short-science-fiction-collection-24.xml

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

The Altar At Midnight
By C.M. Kornbluth; Read by Gregg Margarite
1 |MP3| – Approx. 14 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: August 7, 2009
Doing something for humanity may be fine—for humanity—but rough on the individual! From Galaxy Science Fiction November 1952.

The Defenders
By Philip K. Dick; Read by mkargo
1 |MP3| – Approx. 49 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: August 7, 2009
No weapon has ever been frightful enough to put a stop to war—perhaps because we never before had any that thought for themselves! From Galaxy Science Fiction January 1953.

Foundling on Venus
By John de Courcy and Dorothy de Courcy; Read by Gregg Margarite
1 |MP3| – Approx. 19 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: August 7, 2009
Venus was the most miserable planet in the system, peopled by miserable excuses for human beings. And somewhere among this conglomeration of boiling protoplasm there was a being unlike the others, a being who walked and talked like the others but who was different—and afraid the difference would be discovered. You’ll remember this short story. From Fantastic Universe March 1954.

The Leech
By Robert Sheckley; Read by Bellona Times
1 |MP3| – Approx. 42 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: August 7, 2009
A visitor should be fed, but this one could eat you out of house and home … literally! From Galaxy Science Fiction December 1952.

The Repairman
By Harry Harrison; Read by Linda Dodge
1 |MP3| – Approx. 38 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: August 7, 2009
Being an interstellar trouble shooter wouldn’t be so bad … if I could shoot the trouble! From Galaxy February 1958.

Second Landing
By Floyd Wallace; Read by Linda Dodge
1 |MP3| – Approx. 16 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: August 7, 2009
A gentle fancy for the Christmas Season—an oft-told tale with a wistful twistful of Something that left the Earth with a wing and a prayer. From Amazing Science Fiction Stories January 1960.

The Talkative Tree
By Horace Brown Fyfe; Read by Linda Dodge
1 |MP3| – Approx. 23 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: August 7, 2009
Dang vines! Beats all how some plants have no manners—but what do you expect, when they used to be men! From Worlds of If January 1962.

They Twinkled Like Jewels
By Philip Jose Farmer; Read by Gregg Margarite
1 |MP3| – Approx. 38 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: August 7, 2009
It was only a year and a half ago that Phil Farmer, till then a totally unknown (editorially speaking at any rate) young man of Peoria, wrote himself a novel that won him instantaneous acclaim as perhaps the hottest new science fiction writer currently astir. Its title was The Lovers and since then he has gone right on proving himself a top-hand craftsman. From Fantastic Universe January 1954.

Warm
By Robert Sheckley; Read by Bellona Times
1 |MP3| – Approx. 23 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: August 7, 2009
It was a joyous journey Anders set out on … to reach his goal … but look where he wound up! From Galaxy Science Fiction June 1953.

Wind
By Charles L. Fontenay; Read by Linda Dodge
1 |MP3| – Approx. 38 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: August 7, 2009
When you have an engine with no fuel, and fuel without an engine, and a life-and-death deadline to meet, you have a problem indeed. Unless you are a stubborn Dutchman—and Jan Van Artevelde was the stubbornest Dutchman on Venus. From Amazing Science Fiction Stories April 1959.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Aural Noir review of Killing Floor by Lee Child

Aural Noir: Review

Killing Floor
By Lee Child; Read by Dick Hill
12 CDs – Approx. 14 Hours 48 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2004
ISBN: 9781423339854 (cd)
Themes: / Thriller / Murder / Mystery / Detective / Georgia / Conspiracy / Counterfeiting / Music /

All is not well in Margrave, Georgia. The sleepy, forgotten town hasn’t seen a crime in decades, but within the span of three days it witnesses events that leave everyone stunned. An unidentified man is found beaten and shot to death on a lonely country road. The police chief and his wife are butchered on a quiet Sunday morning. Then a bank executive disappears from his home, leaving his keys on the table and his wife frozen with fear. The easiest suspect is Jack Reacher – an outsider, a man just passing through. But Reacher is not just any drifter. He is a tough ex-military policeman, trained to think fast and act faster. He has lived with and hunted the worst: the hard men of the American military gone bad.

I’d heard about Lee Child for a while before I started reading his books. For a time there there was some confusion in my mind about who he was and what he wrote. I heard vague talk down the isles of bookstores. “Got any Child?” They’d say. “Lincoln?” They’d whisper. Or was it “Lee?” Then I’d hear about some character called “Repairman Jack” – or was it “Jack Reacher?” So with the confusion in the hearing it took a while longer than usual for the facts about who wrote what to float up from my unconscious to the part of my brain that thinks: “interesting.” The last time I heard about Lee Child was in Jolly Olde Books in Port Moody. That’s a used bookstore I frequent. The guy who runs the place reads Lee Child, and a couple of other booksellers I see in their from time to time were reading him too. They got to talking about how addictive the series was and that was the final clincher. When you run a used bookstore you really have your pick of books. They were reading Lee Child, so I thought I’d better get on the case too. Luckily Brilliance Audio has released most of this series, with at least one other done by Random House Audio.

But, even having the audiobook in hand, I had a hard time getting interested in listening to it. It sure doesn’t help to have such a generic title. And just look at it, the cover art is boooring. Apparently this is a very popular series, a bestselling series. That explains both the generic cover and the generic title. Killing Floor, the name sounds like just about every other techno-thriller/courtroom thriller/forensics thriller you’ll find in the supermarket paperback book rack; and that cover art only tells you vaguely about the genre – nothing about the story. The story starts out promisingly enough though. The story is told in first person, past tense (my preferred person and tense) by the protagonist, Jack Reacher. He tells us what is happening without much embroidery. When Reacher is arrested for murder, within the first few seconds of the novel, I was intrigued. It seemed like some sort of variation on David Morrell‘s First Blood: A stranger walks into small town USA and is arrested by corrupt cops. Fun. When the facts of Reacher’s backstory eventually drip out I still found myself fairly interested. Child’s explanation as to why Reacher is such a bad-ass actually makes pretty good sense too. What kind of police deal with the world’s most dangerous criminals? Child’s answer is: Military Police. The criminals the US Army deals with have been trained with every conceivable deadly art: firearms, hand to hand combat, artillery, grenades, demolitions – the many different ways of killing. A military policeman (MP) has to be trained better with these weapons than the criminals he confronts. And so an MP has to deal with the army’s best trained criminals: Green Berets, Rangers, Delta Force. Jack Reacher, we eventually find out retired from the army as a Major, having run his own criminal investigation unit (homicide investigation). A bit convienient but not too implausible. The mystery itself seems fairly interesting and Child wants to play fair. But there is one giant co-incidence that badly mars the narrative. It’s fairly well lampshaded by Reacher, but even in doing that I wasn’t wholly willing to forgive Child.

This novel has plenty of good characters and characterization. I can also see the seeds of themes that will probably reappearing in later books in the series. Like many novels of the last 25 years that I complain about Killing Floor is overly-long for the material it contains. The action sequences in the later chapters of the book are solid, but there were too many for the machinations of the plot. After listening all the way through I’d say this a solid novel with fairly good storytelling. I can see exactly what Lee Child is doing and am not particularly impressed. He’s gonna make a lot of money, but I can’t imagine anyone would ever bother to re-read one of these books. More likely they’ll just pick up another in the series and get more of the same kind of thing, just a bit different. It’s a slightly less obvious Mack Bolan story, a romance novel for men. So this is several steps removed from anything like spectacular.

Narrator Dick Hill has been a major audiobook narrator for longer than I’ve been an audiobook listener (that’s a long time). In Killing Floor he personifies Jack Reacher with a conspiratorial first person voice. When playing the other major players, criminals, love interests and fellow investigators he switches tone just enough to make it clear who’s speaking. I hope he reads more books in this series as if he does, and I get up enough interested to read another, I’d like him to narrate it.

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: The Valley Of Fear by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Aural Noir: Online Audio

LibriVox I’ve previously written about the Sherlock Holmes novel called The Valley Of Fear. It feels like a rather unusual Holmes novel given that Holmes isn’t actually present in the majority of the narrative. But, if you think about the most famous Holmes story of them all (also a novel) The Hound Of The Baskervilles, you may also recall that Sherlock Holmes wasn’t in that one much either. Unlike The Hound Of The Baskervilles, where most of the action stems from a local English legend, most of plot of The Valley Of Fear takes places in the United States – taking inspiration from a real life criminal conspiracy. Still, Conan Doyle isn’t importing everything. We get lots of details about master-criminal Professor Moriarty and his non-fiction inspiration (Jonathan Wild) too.

This newly released version, available free from LibriVox.org, is a complete narration by a single reader, Katie Riley. While she hasn’t given us the definitive FREE edition, there are several mispronunciations in the first few chapters, her reading is serviceable.

The Valley Of Fear
By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; Read by Katie Riley
15 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 6 Hours 23 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: February 8, 2010
Doyle’s final novel featuring the beloved sleuth, Sherlock Holmes, brings the detective and his friend to a country manor where they are preceded by either a murder or a suicide. A secretive organization lies culprit and an infiltration of it is in order.

Podcast feed: http://librivox.org/rss/3664

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

[Thanks also to Diana Majlinger and Leni]

Posted by Jesse Willis

Commentary: Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe

SFFaudio Commentary

Speaking of Sir Walter Scott and Ivanhoe… I’ve been much into Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe over the last six months. I’ve watched three different video adaptations. One was a theatrical version from the 1950s, one was a TV movie from the early 80s and one a TV miniseries from just a few years ago. I am currently re-reading the black and white comic book adaptation by Pocket Classics and I’ve also snagged the audiobook from LibriVox.

Ivanhoe
By Sir Walter Scott; Read by various
44 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 19 Hours 25 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: June 09, 2009
The fortunes of the son of a noble Saxon family in Norman England as he woos his lady, disobeys his father, and is loved by another. Set in late 12C England and in Palestine with Richard Cœur-de-Lion at the Crusades.

Podcast feed: http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/ivanhoe-by-sir-walter-scott.xml

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

[Thanks also to Annise and Snemand]

Besides being a rollicking adventure, a heartfelt romance, a rough history lesson and a plea for peace between Christians and Jews, Ivanhoe is also a series of fun etymological English lessons. Consider, the first few sentences of the novel’s dialogue. Ivanhoe begins with a conversation between two Saxon slaves:

“The swine turned Normans to my comfort!” quoth Gurth; “expound that to me, Wamba, for my brain is too dull, and my mind too vexed, to read riddles.”

“Why, how call you those grunting brutes running about on their four legs?” demanded Wamba.

“Swine, fool, swine,” said the herd, “every fool knows that.”

“And swine is good Saxon,” said the Jester; “but how call you the sow when she is flayed, and drawn, and quartered, and hung up by the heels, like a traitor?”

“Pork,” answered the swine-herd.

“I am very glad every fool knows that too,” said Wamba, “and pork, I think, is good Norman-French; and so when the brute lives, and is in the charge of a Saxon slave, she goes by her Saxon name; but becomes a Norman, and is called pork, when she is carried to the Castle-hall to feast among the nobles; what dost thou think of this, friend Gurth, ha?”

Above Gurth (the fool) explains to Wamba (the swineherd) the logic behind calling meat that’s still on the hoof and meat that’s on the table by two different English words. “Swine” is the Saxon word for pig and “porc” [pork] is the Norman [French] word for pig. Soon after this scene these two Saxon slaves are confronted by troupe of Norman knights who proceed to turn one of Wamba’s Saxon swine into proper Norman pork.

The novel features plenty of back and forth. Indeed the more I think about it, the more I think classic Doctor Who took it’s pacing from Ivanhoe what with folks: being kidnapped, ransomed, dressing in disguise, falling in love with their enemies, forgiving each other, and fighting in chivalric combat. There are plenty of villains too. With an unforgiving father, a witch-smelling warrior-priest [those pesky Knights Templar], an ignoble Norman nobleman (who redeems himself in the end), a kvetching Jew and his fetching Jewess daughter. Yeah, I love this story!

Here’s a cross section of the different audiobook versions of this influential 19th century novel:

Dove Audio - Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott Ivanhoe
By Sir Walter Scott; Read by David Warner
4 Cassettes – Approx. 6 Hours [ABRIDGED]
Publisher: Dove Audio (NewStar Media)
Published: 1997
ISBN: 9780787110635

Ivanhoe
By Sir Walter Scott; Read by Jonathan Oliver
2 CDs – Approx. 2 Hours 39 Minutes [ABRIDGED]
Publisher: Naxos Audiobooks
Published: 1994
ISBN: 9626340258

Blackstone Audio - Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott Ivanhoe
By Sir Walter Scott; Read by Frederick Davidson
14 Cassettes – Approx. 20.4 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 1998
ISBN: 9780786195718

Ivanhoe [Parts 1 and 2]
By Sir Walter Scott; Read by Jim Killavey
14 Cassettes – Approx. 21 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Books On Tape / Jimcin Editions
Published: 1986
ISBN: 9780786195718

Brilliance Audio - Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott Ivanhoe
By Sir Walter Scott; Read by Michael Page
CDs or MP3-CD – Approx. Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2005
ISBN: 9781597370097 (cd), 1597370118 (mp3-cd)

HarperCollons Audio - Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott Ivanhoe
By Sir Walter Scott; Read by Brian Cox
2 Cassettes – Approx. 3 Hours 7 Minutes [ABRIDGED]
Publisher: HarperCollins Audio
Published: 1992, 1996
ISBN: 0001049283

Ivanhoe And The Lists Of Ashby
By Sir Walter Scott; Read by Doughlas Fairbanks Jr.
2 33 1/3 RPM LP Records – [ABRIDGED]
Publisher: Caedmon
Published: 1977

Highbridge Audio - Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott Ivanhoe
By Sir Walter Scott; Read by Ronald Pickup
2 Cassettes – [ABRIDGED]
Publisher: HighBridge Audio
Published: 1997
ISBN: 1565112113

And here’s a peek at the Pocket Classics edition (ISBN: 0883017393):

POCKET CLASSICS - Ivanhoe Pages 6 and 7

I wonder why there isn’t an audio drama version.

Posted by Jesse Willis

New Releases: Jonathan Stroud, Dean Koontz, Peter Straub, Star Wars, Robert B. Parker, S.J. Parris

New Releases

Here’s a batch of new releases!

We talked about the first two on the latest SFFaudio Podcast. Of the others that are forthcoming it is the length of Robert B. Parker’s novel Split Images that has me most excited. A new novel that’s just 4 CDs long but still UNABRIDGED? That’s terrific! Meanwhile Heresy, a new historical murder mystery written under a pseudonym, sounds very interesting. Random House is releasing the unabridged version only as a digital download. We can probably see that on audible.com later this month.

The Eyes Of Darkness
By Dean Koontz; Read by Tanya Eby
8 CDs – Approx. 10 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: January 3, 2010
ISBN: 1441817166
A year had passed since little Danny’s death – a year since his mother began the painful process of acceptance. But Tina Evans could have sworn she just saw her Danny in a stranger’s car…then she dreamed that Danny was alive. And when she awoke, she found a message waiting for her in Danny’s bedroom – two disturbing words scrawled on his chalkboard: NOT DEAD. Was this someone’s grim joke? Her mind playing tricks on her? Or something…more? For Tina Evans, it was a mystery she couldn’t escape. An obsession that would lead her from the bright lights of Las Vegas to the cold shadows of the High Sierras. A terrible secret seen only by…The Eyes of Darkness.

Heroes Of The Valley
By Jonathan Stroud; Read by David Thorn
CDs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: January 27, 2009
ISBN: 9780739382202

Halli Sveinsson has grown up in the House of Svein, hearing the legends of the heroes as all his forefathers did. Theirs is a peaceful society, where the violence of the past has been outlawed and disputes are settled by the Council. But young Halli has never quite seemed to fit in with the others. For starters, he is neither handsome nor tall, like his siblings. He’s stumpy and swarthy, with a quick mind and an aptitude for getting into trouble. Bored with everyday chores and sheepherding, he can’t help playing practical jokes on everyone, from Eyjolf, the old servant, to his brother and sister. But when he plays a trick on Ragnar of the House of Hakon, he goes too far, setting in motion a chain of events that will forever alter his destiny. Because of it, Halli will have to leave home and go on a hero’s quest. Along the way, he will encounter highway robbers, terrifying monsters, and a girl who may be as fearless as he is. In the end he will discover the truth about the legends, his family, and himself.

A Dark Matter
By Peter Straub; Read by Robertson Dean
12 CDs – Approx. 14 Hours 30 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: February 9, 2010
ISBN: 9780739322413
The incomparable master of horror and suspense returns with a powerful, brilliantly terrifying novel that redefines the genre in original and unexpected ways. The charismatic and cunning Spenser Mallon is a campus guru in the 1960s, attracting the devotion and demanding sexual favors of his young acolytes. After he invites his most fervent followers to attend a secret ritual in a local meadow, the only thing that remains is a gruesomely dismembered body—and the shattered souls of all who were present. Years later, one man attempts to understand what happened to his wife and to his friends by writing a book about this horrible night, and it’s through this process that they begin to examine the unspeakable events that have bound them in ways they cannot fathom, but that have haunted every one of them through their lives. As each of the old friends tries to come to grips with the darkness of the past, they find themselves face-to-face with the evil triggered so many years earlier. Unfolding through the individual stories of the fated group’s members, A Dark Matter is an electric, chilling, and unpredictable novel that will satisfy Peter Straub’s many ardent fans, and win him legions more.

Star Wars: Clone Wars: Gambit: Stealth
By Karen Miller; Read by Jeff Gurner
10 CDs – Approx. 12 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: February 23, 2010
ISBN: 9780739376898
The first installment of a two-book Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker adventure, set against the backdrop of the Clone Wars! – Planet by planet, darkness creeps across the galaxy. Among warriors and generals, among ordinary beings living in far-flung worlds, the fear will not go away: We are losing this war… Anakin Skywalker feels it, too. The Separatist Alliance, with ruthlessness and treachery, is beating the Republic to every strategic target. But after a costly clash with General Grievous for the planet Kothlis, Anakin has a mission that will focus his anxious mind. Alongside Obi-Wan Kenobi, he is posing as a long-lost native of Lanteeb, an impoverished world on the Outer Rim. This seemingly unimportant planet has drawn the interest of the Seps—and Anakin and Obi-Wan soon discover the disturbing reason: A scientist enslaved by General Lok Durd is drawing on Lanteeb’s one natural resource for a devastating bioweapon. Now Anakin and Obi-Wan have entered the eye of a storm. Their presence has been exposed, Lok Durd’s plans unveiled, and a fight has begun for survival behind enemy lines—and a chance of winning a war that must be fought at any cost.

Heresy
By S.J. Parris (aka Stephanie Merritt); Read by John Lee
5 CDs – Approx. 5 Hours [ABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: February 23, 2010
ISBN: 9780307714299
Masterfully blending true events with fiction, this blockbuster historical thriller delivers a page-turning murder mystery set on the sixteenth-century Oxford University campus. Giordano Bruno was a monk, poet, scientist, and magician on the run from the Roman Inquisition on charges of heresy for his belief that the Earth orbits the sun and that the universe is infinite. This alone could have got him burned at the stake, but he was also a student of occult philosophies and magic. In S. J. Parris’s gripping novel, Bruno’s pursuit of this rare knowledge brings him to London, where he is unexpectedly recruited by Queen Elizabeth I and is sent undercover to Oxford University on the pretext of a royal visitation. Officially Bruno is to take part in a debate on the Copernican theory of the universe; unofficially, he is to find out whatever he can about a Catholic plot to overthrow the queen. His mission is dramatically thrown off course by a series of grisly murders and a spirited and beautiful young woman. As Bruno begins to discover a pattern in these killings, he realizes that no one at Oxford is who he seems to be. Bruno must attempt to outwit a killer who appears obsessed with the boundary between truth and heresy. Like The Dante Club and The Alienist, this clever, sophisticated, exceptionally enjoyable novel is written with the unstoppable narrative propulsion and stylistic flair of the very best historical thrillers.

Split Image (a Jesse Stone novel)
By Robert B. Parker; Read by James Naughton
4 CDs – Approx. 4 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: February 23, 2010
ISBN: 9780739357484
The body in the trunk was just the beginning. Turns out the stiff was a foot soldier for local tough guy Reggie Galen, now enjoying a comfortable “retirement” with his beautiful wife, Rebecca, in the nicest part of Paradise. Living next door are Knocko Moynihan and his wife, Robbie, who also happens to be Rebecca’s twin. But what initially appears to be a low-level mob hit takes on new meaning when a high-ranking crime figure is found dead on Paradise Beach. Stressed by the case, his failed relationship with his ex-wife, and his ongoing battle with the bottle, Jesse needs something to keep him from spinning out of control. When private investigator Sunny Randall comes into town on a case, she asks for Jesse’s help. As their professional and personal relationships become intertwined, both Jesse and Sunny realize that they have much in common with both their victims and their suspects—and with each other.

Posted by Jesse Willis

The SFFaudio Podcast #047

Podcast

The SFFaudio Podcast #047 – Jesse and Scott talk audiobooks, The Invention Of Lying (the perfect movie for audiobook fans), and hot blimp on zeppelin action.

Talked about on today’s show:
fantastic coffee, recent arrivals, Penguin Audio, Anita Blake, Laurell K. Hamilton, Bloody Bones, The Killing Dance, Burnt Offerings, narrator Kimberly Alexis, paranormal romance, Sookie Stackhouse, True Blood, Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, horror, Full Cast Audio, Emmie And The Incredible Shrinking Rat by Lynne Jonell, Skybreaker by Kenneth Oppel |READ OUR REVIEW|, the Matt Cruse series, SFFaudio Essential, Starclimber by Kenneth Oppel,Mainspring by Jay Lake |READ OUR REVIEW|, Blackstone Audio, Planet Of Exile by Ursula K. Le Guin, the Hanish Cycle series, The Word For World Is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin, Avatar, Audible Frontiers, Book Of The Road, Tales Of Earth Sea by Ursula K. Le Guin, A Wizard Of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin |READ OUR REVIEW|, Harlan Ellison, Recorded Books, The Dark Design by Philip Jose Farmer, more airships, current listens, Game Change, text to audiobook techniques, Dennis Boutsikaris, Engines Of God by Jack McDevitt, new releases, The Eyes Of Darkness by Dean Koontz, Brilliance Audio, Heroes Of The Valley by Jonathan Stroud, the Bartimaeus Trilogy, fantasy, quest, Jonathan Stroud’s Heroes of the Valley: Thalia Kids’ Book Club, Matthew Cody, Tantor Media, Time Travelers Never Die by Jack McDevitt, SFSignal’s review of Time Travelers Never Die, Battlestar Galactica, “McDevitt is ooh-wow Science Fiction in the Arthur C. Clarke tradition,” Flatland: A Romance Of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott, math-fiction, the LibriVox edition of Flatland, narrator James Langton, did you get your free audiobook from Tantor Media?, Scott Brick, The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, The Futurist by James P. Othmer, narrator William Dufris, Richard K. Morgan, narrator Simon Jones, Bill Murray, Robin Williams, Dead Poets Society, Zombieland, The Invention Of Lying is a romantic comedy that’s philosophical Science Fiction, Ricky Gervais, Jennifer Garner, Macmillan Vs. Amazon.com: ebook pricing dispute, John Scalzi’s Whatever post on the topic, Apple iPad, Amazon’s deletion of 1984, “bailouts for everyone!”, big evil corporations and the “tyranny of the bottom line”, Brilliance Audio, Killing Floor by Lee Child, one star reviews, the Cynical-C Blog, Daily Dose Of Ingersoll, You Can’t Please Everyone, Letter From Mark Twain To A Snake Oil Peddler, LibriVox: Extract From Captain Stormfield’s Visit To Heaven by Mark Twain, the merits and demerits of the iPad and the iPhone vs. the iPod Classic, Frederick Pohl’s The Way The Future Blogs, Pohl on Isaac Asimov |Part 1|Part 2|, the Moonies, Jerry Pournelle at Brigham Young University with Mormons and Scientologists, Life, The University & Everything 28, Margaret Atwood: History Denier, The Year Of The Flood by Margaret Atwood |READ OUR REVIEW|, Fredösphere, Orson Scott Card’s politics vs. his books, Apollo 11, Apollo 12, Apollo 14, Apollo 15, Apollo 16, Apollo 17, NASA’s Constellation Program, 10 NASA Inventions You Might Use Every Day, Wil Wheaton’s audiobooks are on Lulu.com, Just A Geek by Wil Wheaton |READ OUR REVIEW|, Memories Of The Futurecast, Julie’s Forgotten Classics podcast, Scott’s Pick Of The Week: Scenting The Dark And Other Stories by Mary Robinette Kowal, Subterranean Press, Ronald Rabbit Is A Dirty Old Man by Lawrence Block, epistolary novel, Cinderella Sims by Lawrence Block, Hard Case Crime, Jesse’s Pick Of The Week: Da Vinci’s Inquest, Intelligence, Castle, CSI is “six people standing around telling each other information they all already know,” Da Vinci’s Inquest does not use the pro forma police procedural TV show construction, Da Vinci’s Inquest is like The Wire but set in Vancouver, Acorn Video.

Posted by Jesse Willis