audiobook – Page 124

LibriVox: Security by Poul Anderson

SFFaudio Online Audio

New from LibriVox.org, and featuring the voice talent of Gregg Margarite is:

Security by Poul Anderson

This isn’t the first recording of this 1953 Science Fiction novelette. Maureeen O’Brien (of the Maria Lectrix podcast) recorded a version previously. It, along with a whole bunch more Poul Anderson audio, can be found on our POUL ANDERSON page!

Security
By Poul Anderson; Read by Gregg Margarite
2 MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 1 Hour 19 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Puiblished: December 4, 2009
Security, tells the story of a compartmentalized government physicist ordered by secret police to complete experiments aimed at developing a new weapon. He is brought to a hidden space station and put in charge of the project but there are many questions. In a world of spies watching spies it’s sometimes hard to know what’s patriotic. First published in Space Science Fiction February 1953.

Part 1 |MP3| Part 2 |MP3|

Podcast feed: http://librivox.org/rss/3798

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

[Special thanks also to Betty M. and James Christopher @ LibriVox]

Posted by Jesse Willis

Review of Wyrms by Orson Scott Card

SFFaudio Review

Wyrms
By Orson Scott Card; Read by Emily Janice Card
9 CDs – 11.5 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2008
ISBN: 9781433218542

Themes: / Science Fiction / Diplomacy / Slavery /

“Wyrms” by Orson Scott Card was first published in 1987. I read the book then and loved it. I loved the world, the characters and the STORY.

It got lost as it was published between two Hugo and Nebula Award winning novels, Ender’s Game and Speaker For The Dead. It didn’t deserve it.

It’s been over 20 years since I read the novel, and I have never completely forgotten the book, or its impact. When I got the audiobook, read by Card’s daughter, Emily, I was thrilled to have the chance to experience it again.

Can the book be as good as I remembered? I wondered. But not for long. Before I had finished two chapters, I was hooked. Again.

Patience is the seventh seventh seventh daughter of the space captain who first came to Imaculata. She’s the daughter of the rightful heir to the kingdom, the Heptarch. But she and her father serve the current ruler as diplomats. And slaves.

Her entire life, her father has protected her from her destiny. But, when he dies, she’s must run for her life, and face a destiny that has been prophesied for generations. A destiny that that will save the world – or destroy it.

I highly recommend this book. The story is compelling and well paced, the characters complex, and the world believable.

The audiobook is well done, except that I had a problem differentiating one or two of the lesser voices. As my only complaint, it’s pretty minor. I enjoyed Emily Card’s interpretation of Patience and the other main characters.

On a scale of 1-10, I’d give it a definite 9. Get the audiobook. Get the paperback. While you’re at it, get the 6-volume comic books by Jake Black. You’ll thank me for it later.

Posted by Charlene C. Harmon

SpeakingVolumes: Roger Zelazny read by Roger Zelazny

SFFaudio News

Neill Smith sez:

“…two Roger Zelazny audiobooks … have become available in unabridged form on CDs – Nine Princes In Amber and A Night In Lonesome October as originally read by Roger. You may know about these (and future Zelazny unabridged titles to finally be rereleased) but I just happened on the news. If you don’t know, the company is Speaking Volumes. I got the news from the newsgroup alt.books.roger-zelazny on Google. According to Chris Kovacs on this group, the releases will include Roger’s readings of Blood of Amber and Knight of Shadows which were not released in unabridged form on cassettes.”

It looks like Speaking Volumes will have quite a number of Roger Zelazny audiobooks published! But this new publisher doesn’t only have Zelazny, Speaking Volumes is doing some other titles that look very cool:

Medicine Cup / Microbe by Bill Clem (two medical thrillers paired as double novel along the lines of the old Ace and Tor doubles)

Three novels by Max Allan Collins novels

We’re going to try to get some of these in as review copies too.

[Thanks Neill!]

Posted by Jesse Willis

FREE @ Audible.com: RINGWORLD by Larry Niven

SFFaudio Online Audio

Drop that tasp and grab this link! I’ve got a FREE and UNABRIDGED version of Larry Niven’s Ringworld! You’ll need an Audible.com account. Hurry now, there’s no telling when this offer will dry up so grab it while you can!

Ringworld: Free Version
By Larry Niven; Read by Tom Parker (aka Grover Gardner)
FREE Audible Download – Approx. 11 Hours 15 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 1996
Provider: Audible.com
Welcome to Ringworld, an intermediate step between Dyson Spheres and planets. It is 93 million miles in radius – the equivalent of one Earth orbit or 600 miles long – 1,000 meters thick, and much sturdier than a Dyson sphere. What other advantages are there to this world? The gravitational force created by a rotation on its axis of 770 miles per second means no need for a roof. Walls 1,000 miles high at each rim will let in the sun and prevent much air from escaping.

Larry Niven’s novel Ringworld won the 1970 Hugo Award for Best Novel, the 1970 Nebula Award for Best Novel, and the 1972 Ditmars, an Australian award for Best International Science Fiction.

|READ OUR REVIEW|

[via This Week In Tech]

Posted by Jesse Willis

Commentary: SFSignal Mind Meld on the best of 2009

SFFaudio Commentary

John DeNardo of SFSignal.com recently asked me if I was “interested in participating in another Mind Meld.” I told him he should go back and audit a few more classes at the Vulcan Science Academy as he was obviously not mind melding with me well enough to know my answer would be: “Of course I would John!”

Here was the topic:

Q: What were the best genre-related books, movies and/or shows you consumed in 2009?

Here was my answer:

I expect to hear a few more audiobooks and audio dramas before the year is out, but at 11 months in I can already say 2009 has been a very good year for audio fans. Here are six genre audiobooks and audio dramas that I gave the SFFaudio Essential designation.

Audio Dramas:

The Adventures Of Sexton Blake – A rival of Sherlock Holmes, Sexton Blake is an unbelievably clever audio drama series. It is also very, very funny!

Blake’s 7 – The Early Years (Volumes 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, and 1.4) – this superior prequel series mines the back-stories of the titular characters. B7 The Early Years is intelligent social Science Fiction.

The Red Panda Adventures, Season 4 – A free podcast audio drama series about 1930s Toronto superheroes. It features top notch acting, fresh scripts and more heart than all the X-Men put together.

Audiobooks:

Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper – A planetary romance about little aliens with a culture and language that borders on sapience. This Audio Realms edition features an able narration by Brian Holsopple.

Starship: Rebel by Mike Resnick – The penultimate chapter in Resnick’s galaxy spanning space opera. Narrator Jonathan Davis makes this audiobook version the ultimate way to enjoy this great series.

Way Station by Clifford D. Simak – A bucolic rumination on immortality, conflict, and human nature. Eric Michael Summerer’s clear narration makes Simak’s anachronistic grammar come alive.

You can read it |HERE| along with a bunch of other folk’s own lists, including Mike Resnick’s!

Posted by Jesse Willis

BBC Audio: Hearts, Keys, and Puppetry by Neil Gaiman and the Twitterverse

SFFaudio Online Audio

Proving that Twitter is good for more than fomenting revolutions and letting people know what you’re having for lunch, BBC Audiobooks America has assembled a collaborative audiobook written by Neil Gaiman and the “Twitterverse.” It’s available for FREE |HERE| and I’ve assembled the disparate MP3 files into a HuffDuffer podcast feed too.

Hearts, Keys, and Puppetry
By Neil Gaiman and the Twitterverse; Read by Katherine Kellgren
9 MP3 Files or HuffDuffer Podcast – Approx. 1 Hour 45 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: BBC Audio
Published: December 1, 2009
So began the Twitter Audio project, with a dazzling first line penned by New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman. What followed was an epic tale of imaginary lands, magical objects, haunting melodies, plucky sidekicks, menacing villains and much more. From mystical blue roses to enchanted mirrors to pesky puppets, this classic fable was born from the collective creativity of more than one hundred contributors via the social network Twitter.com in a groundbreaking literary experiment. Together, virtual strangers crafted a rollicking story of a young girl’s journey with love, forgiveness, and acceptance.

Chapter 1 |MP3| Chapter 2 |MP3| Chapter 3 |MP3| Chapter 4 |MP3| Chapter 5 |MP3| Chapter 6 |MP3|
Chapter 7 |MP3| Chapter 8 |MP3| Chapter 9 |MP3|