audiobook – Page 123

Blackstone Audiobooks Overtstock Sale

SFFaudio News

Blackstone Audiobooks Overstock Sale SFFaudio receives FREE audio media in the mail on a regular basis. They generally arrive unsolicited (though sometimes not) and we take it that their arrival equates with a tacit understanding that we’ll either mention the receipt on the website and/or review the audiobook or audio drama. That’s the extent of our formal relationship with any publisher or retailer. We do not use affiliate links to Amazon, or any other audiobook retailer. This lack of affiliation means that we can never feel pressured into reviewing an audiobook or audio drama more positively (or negatively) than we might otherwise.

Now, with all that said, I think I can speak for most of the folks who work at SFFaudio and say that we are all especially fond of Blackstone Audiobooks.

There are a few reasons for this BA love. Blackstone picks great books to turn into audiobooks, pairing them with terrific narrators, and then releases them in DRM free version. That’s really all what you want from a publisher. But that isn’t the end of it. Every so often they blow-out audiobooks that are cramming their wharehouse space. And that’s why right now they’re offering 237 different audiobooks for just $9.99 each.

That’s a STUNNING DEAL my friends!

And, if you buy two audiobooks (or more) you’ll even get FREE SHIPPING (within the USA). Here are just a few of the many titles they’ve got for sale right now:

THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; read by Ben Kingsley
THE AENEID by Virgil; read by Frederick Davidson
ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND by Lewis Carroll; read by Michael York
THE CALL OF THE WILD by Jack London; read by Ethan Hawke
A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR’S COURT by Mark Twain; read by Carl Reiner
FRANKENSTEIN, OR THE MODERN PROMETHEUS by Mary Shelley; read by Simon Templeman, Anthony Heald, and Stefan Rudnicki
I AM LEGEND by Richard Matheson; read by Robertson Dean |READ OUR REVIEW|
IT’S SUPERMAN! by Tom De Haven; read by Scott Brick
KING KONG by Edgar Wallace and Merian C. Cooper; novelization by Delos W. Lovelace; read by Stefan Rudnicki |READ OUR REVIEW|
THE MARTIAN CHILD by David Gerrold; read by Scott Brick
THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY by Oscar Wilde; read by Simon Vance
THE PRESTIGE by Christopher Priest; read by Simon Vance
THE PRINCE by Niccoló Machiavelli; read by Patrick Cullen
ROCKET SHIP GALILEO by Robert A Heinlein; read by Spider Robinson |READ OUR REVIEW|
THE SPARTANS by Paul Cartledge; read by John Lee
SWEENEY TODD AND THE STRING OF PEARLS by Yuri Rasovsky; Performed by a full cast
TALES OF BEATRIX POTTER by Beatrix Potter; read by Nadia May
TARZAN OF THE APES by Edgar Rice Burroughs; read by Ben Kingsley
THE TEN-CENT PLAGUE by David Hajdu; read by Stefan Rudnicki
THERMOPYLAE by Paul Cartledge; read by John Lee
THE TIME MACHINE by H.G. Wells; read by Ben Kingsley
THE TRIAL by Franz Kafka; read by Geoffrey Howard
UTOPIA by Sir Thomas More; read by James Adams
V FOR VENDETTA by Steve Moore; read by Simon Vance |READ OUR REVIEW|
THE WAR OF THE WORLDS by H. G. Wells; read by Christopher Hurt
WE WISH TO INFORM YOU THAT TOMORROW WE WILL BE KILLED WITH OUR FAMILIES by Philip Gourevitch; read by Jeff Cummings
WHERE’S MY JETPACK? by Daniel H. Wilson; read by Stefan Rudnicki |READ OUR REVIEW|
THE WINTER OF FRANKIE MACHINE by Don Winslow; read by Dennis Boutsikaris
THE WORLD ACCORDING TO NARNIA by Jonathan Rogers; read by Brian Emerson

Posted by Jesse Willis

Naxos Audiobooks: 3 FREE Sherlock Holmes short stories

Aural Noir: Online Audio

Naxos Audiobooks, in partnership with AudioFile Magazine, is offering three unabridged Sherlock Holmes short stories FREE for download until December 29th, 2009! The first of these had already been made available, but the other two are definitely new to my collection (and SFFaudio). Narrator David Timson has a really terrific voice for Sherlock Holmes narration. Have a listen to Timson talk about Doyle and Holmes |MP3|. He’ll make you want to get the rest of the Sherlock Holmes short stories and the four Sherlock Holmes novels he narrated for Naxos.

The Adventure of Silver Blaze
By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; Read by David Timson
1 |MP3| – Approx. 60 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Naxos Audiobooks
Published: 2009
One of the most famous images of Sherlock Holmes, Sidney Paget’s drawing of Holmes, complete with Deerstalker and Inverness cape, leaning eagerly forward to a an attentive Watson in a railway carriage as they hurtle towards their next adventure comes from ‘The Silver Blaze.’

The Adventure of the Stock-Broker’s Clerk
By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; Read by David Timson
1 |MP3| – Approx. 41 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Naxos Audiobooks
Published: 2009
In Stock-Broker’s Clerk, the intrepid pair travel by train to Birmingham, and it is nostalgic to think that despite it being 1889, when Holmes and Watson alighted at New Street station they would have been greeted by cobbled streets, eighteenth-century houses and a town still largely undeveloped.

The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans
By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; Read by David Timson
1 |MP3| – Approx. 71 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Naxos Audiobooks
Published: 2009
Trains feature consistently throughout the canon, incidentally and as a main component of the story as in ‘The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans’. It is popular amongst railway enthusiasts, as a significant part of the investigation takes place among the subterranean tunnels of the London Underground system.

[via AudioFile]

Posted by Jesse Willis

Billy: Messenger of Powers by Michaelbrent Collings

SFFaudio Online Audio

Look what popped into my spam folder (addressed to “undisclosed-recipients”):

Looking for a break from studying, research, work, the whole bit?

Would you like to read a book that is as good as – or better than – Harry Potter? Eragon? Twilight? Fablehaven?

How about if it is GUARANTEED… you don’t like it, you don’t pay.

At www.whoisbillyjones.com, that is EXACTLY what you get. BILLY: MESSENGER OF POWERS is the story of a high school student thrust into the world of the Powers – you or I would call them witches – when he discovers that he may be the key to victory in the upcoming war between Dawnwalkers and Darksiders.

I’ve just started listening to this audiobook. So far it is both well narrated and well written! A reference to “patriot missles” in the first chapter makes me think it was written about twenty years ago but that’s not the only thing that’s retro. Sadly, to make the site the Billy-crew seems to have used a frightful mid-1990s website template. The only thing missing from the site is a spinning GIF. It’s got music, sparkly purple mouse trails, a whimsical EULA and a color scheme right out of the heyday of GeoCities. But nowhere amongst all of the goo-gaws can you find the most important feature for a self published audiobook … a podcast feed!

So in the interest of usability I’ve made one (two actually because HuffDuffer has a 20 file max per feed). Here’s the skinny…

Billy: Messenger Of Powers
By Michaelbrent Collings; Read by Andy Bowyer
32 MP3 Files or HuffDuffer Podcasts – Approx. 16 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: WhoIsBillyJones.com
Published: 2009
Billy: Messenger Of Powers is the story of a high school student thrust into the world of the Powers – you or I would call them witches – when he discovers that he may be the key to victory in the upcoming war between Dawnwalkers and Darksiders.

HuffDuffer podcast feed (Part I):

http://huffduffer.com/tags/billy%3A_messenger_of_powers_parti/rss

HuffDuffer iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE| (Part I)

HuffDuffer podcast feed (Part II):

http://huffduffer.com/tags/billy%3A_messenger_of_powers_partii/rss

HuffDuffer iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE| (Part II):

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: Extract From Captain Stormfield’s Visit To Heaven by Mark Twain

SFFaudio Online Audio

LibriVox I’ve never tried any of the fancy modern pharmaceutical mood elevators. I’ve not yet had the need. I can usually brighten my day by using a carefully measured combination of a tall glass of cool carbonated beverage and a little Mark Twain. Side effects of this treatment may include a desire to brush one’s teeth and a congruently toothy smile.

Here is a recent Mark Twain…

Extract From Captain Stormfield’s Visit To Heaven
By Mark Twain; Read by Gregg Margarite
2 MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 1 Hour 28 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: December 8, 2009
In the afterlife grizzled sea captain Eli Stormfield finds himself piloting a ship to heaven. Despite a detour and some navigation errors he arrives but finds the transition to heavenly bliss a little disconcerting. – Although first drafted in the late 1870’s this story did not see print until the December 1907 and January 1908 issues of “Harper’s Magazine”. The next year it was made available as a Christmas gift book and represents the last volume Mark Twain published in his lifetime.

Part 1 |MP3| Part 2 |MP3|

Podcast feed: http://librivox.org/rss/3808

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

The carbonated beverage of the moment is PC Italian Soda – Blood Orange

[Thanks also to Annise!]

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: The First Men In The Moon by H.G. Wells

SFFaudio Online Audio

Listening For The League's Gentlemen At LibriVox This is the 5th in a series of post examining the LibriVox audiobooks that feature characters found in Alan Moore’s League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Unlike the others, this doesn’t only speak to a character, but rather to a fictional material and its inventor. Cavorite and Dr. Cavor both originate in the 1901 novel The First Men In The Moon by H.G. Wells. It tells the tale of Cavor, and his adventures with this new material. Cavorite can shield any object coated in it from gravity. Thus it flings anything it is attached to into space. In the novel Dr. Cavor and his crew use Cavorite to build a spherical spaceship, which they use to travel to and land on the Moon. Alan Moore has a very different use for Cavorite in The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen. He also gives Dr. Cavor a first name, “Selwyn” – that’s something that Wells himself neglected to do.

The First Men In The Moon
By H.G. Wells; Read by Mark F. Smith
Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 8 Hours 3 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: November 6, 2007
Britain won the Moon Race! Decades before Neal Armstrong took his “giant leap for mankind” two intrepid adventurers from Lympne, England, journeyed there using not a rocket, but an antigravity coating. Mr. Bedford, who narrates the tale, tells of how he fell in with eccentric inventor Mr. Cavor, grew to believe in his researches, helped him build a sphere for traveling in space, and then partnered with him in an expedition to the Moon. What they found was fantastic! There was not only air and water, but the Moon was honeycombed with caverns and tunnels in which lived an advanced civilization of insect-like beings. While Bedford is frightened by them and bolts home, Cavor stays and is treated with great respect. So why didn’t Armstrong and later astronauts find the evidence of all this? Well, according to broadcasts by Cavor over the newly-discovered radio technology, he told the Selenites too much about mankind, and apparently, they removed the welcome mat!

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/the-first-men-in-the-moon-by-hg-wells.xml

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: Allan’s Wife by H. Rider Haggard

SFFaudio Online Audio

LibriVox You can make a good case for the sexism in old books. Just look at the Book of Genesis: Lot’s Wife. Noah’s Wife. These are the ladies so oppressed that they didn’t even deserve names. However, I think we can attribute what looks like the exact came same kind of sexism in titling Allan’s Wife more to marketing than anything else. This is, after all, the third novel in the Allan Quatermain series. And it’s not actually very much about his wife, at least at the start. It tells more tales of Quatermain’s time in South Africa, his observations about two dueling witchdoctors (they use their magic to control lighting), his father’s death, and eventually the fate of his wife. For the record Allan Quatermain’s wife (of the title) is named “Stella Carson.” Come to think of it, some clever writer could probably do a whole series of YA books called The Adventures Of Allanah Quatermain (perhaps a secret grandaughter?). Until then…

Allan’s Wife
By H. Rider Haggard; Read by Elaine Tweddle
15 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 4 Hours 49 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: December 2009

Podcast feed: http://librivox.org/rss/3718

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

[Thanks also to mim@can and James Christopher]

Posted by Jesse Willis