audiobook – Page 129

New Releases – Bradbury, Knight, & Brown – from Wonder Audiobooks

New Releases

Ray Bradbury’s fantastic tale of hyper-accelerated life spans of forgotten humans on an alien world.

The Creatures That Time Forgot
By Ray Bradbury; Read by Mark Douglas Nelson
1 hr, 48 min.- [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Wonder Audio
Published: 2009

Available at Audible & iTunes

Mad! Impossible world! Sun-blasted by day, cold-wracked by night – and life condensed by radiation into eight days! Sim eyed the Ship – if he only dared reach it and escape! … but it was more than half an hour distant – perhaps the limit of life itself! From the author of Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man. Originally published in the Fall 1946 issue of Planet Stories. It was later reprinted under the title Frost and Fire.

And part of the Noir Masters series and the author of The Fabulous Clipjoint:

The Wench is Dead
By Fredric Brown; Read by William Coon
57 min.- [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Wonder Audio
Published: 2009

Available at Audible & iTunes

Howard Perry has become a drunk – a skid row bum. It wasn’t always so, and he has hopes of returning to be a respected university student. But now he spends his days washing dishes to buy enough booze to hopefully blackout at night. His only friend is a prostitute name Billie the Kid. But Billie is just a working girl, and it would be stupid for him to care too much for her.

Of course Perry isn’t exactly making the smartest choices as he continues his downward spiral. And when he goes to borrow a drink from Billie’s neighbor, who soon turns up murdered, things are looking even worse for Perry.

A wonderfully bizarre tale by SF Grand Master, Damon Knight.

Rule Golden
By Damon Knight; Read by William Coon
3hr- [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Wonder Audio
Published: 2009

Available at Audible & iTunes

As a newspaper publisher, Robert James Dahls found the news disconcerting; in fact, inexplicable. News items like two boxers simultaneously knocking each other out, prison guards sick and unable to guard the prisoners, policemen shooting fleeing culprits and collapsing themselves, battered wives with husbands suffering the same injuries that they inflicted.

Dahl catches wind of a large experimental facility that is being led by the U.S. Department of Defense. His suspicions coincide with the strange, beyond-coincidental behavior that he’s been observing. For what’s on the grounds of the facility is much more radical than anything that was claimed to be found in Roswell. Not just an alien but one that has a strange effect on the human race, where the Golden Rule works in reverse: Be done by as you do to others.

How can we get along without conflict? What will happen to the human race? Dahl soon finds himself a fugitive helping a bizarre alien save or destroy the Earth!

Did you know you can get either of these titles, as well as any other Wonder Audio title for just $7.49? Just sign up at Audible.com/WonderAudio

Posted by Rick Jackson

LibriVox: Short Science Fiction Collection Vol. 022

SFFaudio Online Audio

Here’s another almost all new-to-audio collection from LibriVox.org. Ten tales of Science Fiction from the tail-end of the “Golden Age Of Science Fiction.” These stories span the years 1947 to 1962. We’ve got LibriVox volunteers like
book coordinator Gregg Margarite, proof-Listener “julicarter” and meta-coordinator/cataloguer Lucy Burgoyne, to thank for ogranizing, proofing and cataloguing it. But we shouldn’t forget to thank the narrators either! Thanks for this fun collection of Public Domain audio goodness! We appreciate it.

Short Science Fiction Collection Vol. 022
By various; Read by various
10 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 4 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: August 4, 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-22.xml

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

Flight Through Tomorrow
By Stanton A. Coblentz; Read by Derek Bever
1 |MP3| – Approx. 16 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: August 4, 2009
Super warfare has destroyed the old race of man, but elsewhere a new civilization is dawning… From Fantasy Book Vol. 1 number 1 (1947).

Happy Ending
By Fredric Brown and Mack Reynolds; Read by Gregg Margarite
1 |MP3| – Approx. 31 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: August 4, 2009
A world had collapsed around this man—a world that would never shout his praises again. The burned-out cities were still and dead, the twisted bodies and twisted souls giving him their last salute in death. And now he was alone, alone surrounded by memories, alone and waiting… From Fantastic Universe September 1957.

Lost In The Future
By John Victor Peterson; Read by Reynard T. Fox
1 |MP3| – Approx. 8 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: August 4, 2009
Did you ever wonder what might happen if mankind ever exceeded the speed of light? Here is a profound story based on that thought—a story which may well forecast one of the problems to be encountered in space travel. From Fantastic Universe January 1954.

Master of None
By Neil Goble; Read by Dan Wylie-Sears
1 |MP3| – Approx. 33 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: August 4, 2009
The advantages of specialization are so obvious that, today, we don’t even know how to recognize a competent syncretist! From Analog Science Fact and Science Fiction February 1962.

No Pets Allowed
By M.A. Cummings; Read by Gregg Margarite
1 |MP3| – Approx. 7 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: August 4, 2009
M. A. Cummings (Monette to her friends) returns with another hauntingly persuasive story of a Tomorrow that may not be as gleaming as we hope. Her recent story, The Weridies, apparently delighted some and startled others—and this in Los Angeles! What’s happening there? From Fantastic Universe August 1957.

Now We Are Three
By Joe L. Hensley; Read by Roger Melin
1 |MP3| – Approx. 28 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: August 4, 2009
Where are we going? What will the world be like in the days—perhaps not too distant—when we have tested and tested the bombs to the finite degree? Joe L. Hensley, attorney in Madison, Indiana, and increasingly well known in SF, returns with this challenging story of that Tomorrow. From Fantastic Universe August 1957.

Rex Ex Machina
By Frederic Max; Read by Reynard T. Fox
1 |MP3| – Approx. 8 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: August 4, 2009
The domination of the minds of tractable Man is not new. Many men have dreamed of it. Certainly some of them have tried. This man succeeded. A science fictional letter from a father to a son. From Fantastic Universe May 1954.

A Transmutation of Muddles
By Horace Brown Fyfe; Read by Bellona Times
1 |MP3| – Approx. 44 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: August 4, 2009
An experienced horse-trader, bargain-haggler, and general swapper has a very special talent for turning two headaches into one aspirin pill… From Astounding Science Fiction September 1960.

The Velvet Glove
By Harry Harrison; Read by Gregg Margarite
1 |MP3| – Approx. 44 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: August 4, 2009
SF writer and editor Harry Harrison explores a not too distant future where robots—particularly specialist robots who don’t know their place—have quite a rough time of it. True, the Robot Equality Act had been passed—but so what? From Fantastic Universe November 1956.

When I Grow Up
By Richard E. Lowe; Read by Gregg Margarite
1 |MP3| – Approx. 20 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: August 4, 2009
A good many science fiction writers seem determined to depict children as little monsters. Not all children perhaps, and not with completely merciless regularity. But often enough to make us shudder. Only Richard Lowe remains independent. The youngster of this story isn’t a child monster at all. He’s just—a “destructor.” And that in itself is somehow unimaginably terrifying! From Fantastic Universe September 1956.

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: Short Science Fiction Collection Vol. 021

SFFaudio Online Audio

Here’s another double handful of Science Fiction short stories from LibriVox. It’s made up of nine all-new to audio stories and one previously recorded by another reader (My Friend Bobby). In addition to the kind work of its generous narrators, this audiobook was made possible by the “Dedicated Proof-Listener” designated “julicarter” and by the meta-coordinating and cataloging skills of Lucy Burgoyne. Finally, extra credit should probably go to Gregg Margarite, a seemingly powerful force in getting stuff done over at LibriVox.org. Thanks people – you be cool!

Short Science Fiction Collection Vol. 021
By various; Read by various
10 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 4 Hours 48 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: July 24, 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.

Cogito Ergo Sum
By John Foster West; Read by Gregg Margarite
1 |MP3| – Approx. 19 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: July 24, 2009
Are the Spirit and the Flesh one and the same thing? Or are they separate entities, dependent and at the same time independent of each other? Perhaps some great Cosmic Law holds this secret. But the one Universal Element that we can depend upon, apparently, is The Lucky Accident. From Fantastic Universe March 1954.

Dead World
By Jack Douglas; Read by Troy Bond
1 |MP3| – Approx. [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: July 24, 2009
Out on the ice-buried planet, Commander Red Stone led his Free Companions to almost certain death. They died for a dangerous dream that had only one chance in a thousand trillion to come true. Is there a better reason for dying? First published in Amazing Stories May 1961.

Divinity
By William Morrison; Read by aun
1 |MP3| – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: July 24, 2009
Bradley had one fear in his life. He had to escape regeneration. To do that, he was willing to take any chance, coward though he was—even if it meant that he had to become a god! From Space Science Fiction 1953.

The Gift Bearer
By Charles L. Fontenay; Read by Troy Bond
1 |MP3| – Approx. 11 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: July 24, 2009
This could well have been Montcalm’s greatest opportunity; a chance to bring mankind priceless gifts from worlds beyond. But Montcalm was a solid family man—and what about that nude statue in the park? From Amazing Science Fiction Stories September 1958.

The Helpful Robots
By Robert Shea; Read by Donald Finch
1 |MP3| – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: July 24, 2009
“Robert J. Shea, of Rutgers University, makes an interesting contribution to robotics with this story of Rankin, who prided himself on knowing how to handle robots, but did not realize that the robots of the Clearchan Confederacy were subject to a higher law than implicit obedience to man.” From Fantastic Universe September 1957.

The Love Of Frank Nineteen
By David C Knight; Read by Bellona Times
1 |MP3| – Approx. 51 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: July 24, 2009
What will happen to love in that far off Day after Tomorrow? David C. Knight, editor with a New York trade publisher, agrees with the many impressed by “the range of possible subjects and situations” in science fiction. The result is a unique love story from that same Tomorrow. From Fantastic Universe December 1957.

My Friend Bobby
By Alan E. Nourse; Read by Bellona Times
1 |MP3| – Approx. 25 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: July 24, 2009
From the collection The Counterfeit Man and Other Science Fiction Stories by Alan E. Nourse published in 1963.

The Pygmy Planet
By Jack Williamson; Read by Gregg Margarite
1 |MP3| – Approx. 54 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: July 24, 2009
Down into the infinitely small goes Larry on his mission to the Pygmy Planet. From Astounding Stories February 1932.

Resurrection
By Robert Shea; Read by Daniele
1 |MP3| – Approx. 4 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: July 24, 2009
Robert J. Shea returns with this intriguing short-short predicting a not too distant future where medicine, not content with stimulating life and new growth in people who had already died, goes on to further experiments which Baron von Frankenstein would have found interesting. From Fantastic Universe December 1957.

Salvage In Space
By Jack Williamson; Read by Gregg Margarite
1 |MP3| – Approx. 49 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: July 24, 2009
To Thad Allen, meteor miner, comes the dangerous bonanza of a derelict rocket-flier manned by death invisible. From Astounding Stories March 1933.

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/short-science-fiction-collection-21.xml

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

Posted by Jesse Willis

FREE @ Audible.com: Paranoia by Joseph Finder

Aural Noir: Online Audio

Macmillan Audio (Audio Renaissance) released an unabridged version of Paranoia by Joseph Finder back in 2004. Now the audiobook is FREE to all Audible.com account holders. It’s available right now and for the next few days. Here’s a “radio ad” for the book |MP3|

Paranoia
By Joseph Finder; Read by Scott Brick
FREE Audible Download – 13 Hours 8 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Published: July 2009
Provider: Audible.com
Adam Cassidy is 26 and a low-level employee at a high-tech corporation who hates his job. When he manipulates the system to do something nice for a friend, he finds himself charged with a crime. Corporate Security gives him a choice: prison – or become a spy in the headquarters of their chief competitor, Trion Systems. They train him and feed him inside information. Now at Trion, he’s a star, skyrocketing to the top. He finds he has talents he never knew he possessed. He’s rich, drives a Porsche, lives in a fabulous apartment, and works directly for the CEO. He’s dating the girl of his dreams. His life is perfect. All he has to do to keep it that way is betray everyone he cares about and everything he believes in. But when he tries to break off from his controllers, he finds himself in way over his head, where nothing is what it seems and no one can really be trusted. And then the REAL nightmare begins…

There’s a free |PDF| version available too.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Review of Way Station by Clifford D. Simak

SFFaudio Review

SFFaudio Essential Way Station
By Clifford D. Simak; Read by Eric Michael Summerer
Audible Download – Approx. 7 Hours 5 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: 2009
Themes: / Science Fiction / Aliens / Galactic Civilization / Immortality /

In this Hugo Award-winning classic, Enoch Wallace is an ageless hermit, striding across his untended farm as he has done for over a century, still carrying the gun with which he had served in the Civil War. But what his neighbors must never know is that, inside his unchanging house, he meets with a host of unimaginable friends from the farthest stars.

This story spans more than a century, but most of the ‘action’ takes place in the middle of the 20th century, over a couple of months. See, a friendly alien recruited Enoch Wallace to become something of a galactic station master shortly after the American Civil War. Now, with his neighbors generally accepting his mysterious eternal youth, Enoch has a curious and unseen visitor watching him from the woods. Enoch is lonely, with his only friends being a completely deaf and mute young woman and his kindly mailman. Will the visitor in the trees learn the truth? Will Enoch help guide the Earth to its ultimate destiny? Read on!

I find myself arguing with a lot of my fiction writing friends about what makes a good story. They typically talk about ‘the rules’ or ‘the formula’ that makes a story work. I typically talk about clarity, consistency (story logic) and originality of a story. We usually agree about style.

A couple years back a friend of mine (a filmmaker and used bookstore owner) was telling me about one of the scripts he was working on. He said something to the effect of “every story must have conflict.” That’s probably not a new concept, not original to him, but it was new to me – at least in those words. Now I love such sweeping declarations – they give my dialectical brain something to hack away at. It seems a fairly straightforward a concept – and on the face of it seems likely – but, that always gets me thinking: If it sounds so obvious it is probably at least partially false. So I thought about it for maybe thirty seconds and then pointed out that ‘pornographic films need not have conflict – but they can still have a story.’ Illustrating I said “Pizza delivery guy comes to the door – half naked woman answers – sex follows.” It has a beginning, a middle and a money shot. My friend and I both laughed. But, I’ve been thinking about this meme ever since. Now, with Way Station I think I have a more serious defeater to my friend’s all encompassing rule about storytelling. There is very little conflict in Way Station. That is actually a pretty common thing for author Clifford D. Simak. His stories are highly pastoral, full of backstories being revealed, mysterious farmers and friendly aliens. Conflict may be mentioned, as having happened long ago (or in some distant future) – but shots are rarely fired in anger. I’m thinking back on all of the Simak I’ve read, and in it all I can’t recall much conflict at all. And yet, I love his stories.

Eric Michael Summerer does a terrific job narrating this pastoral masterpiece. He portrays Simak’s characters with all the honesty, decency, and humanity that Clifford D. Simak put into them. Audible Frontiers has very kindly added an excellent and informative introduction written and read by another of Science Fiction’s most humane authors, Mike Resnick! Audible Frontiers has been adding so many new titles it is hard to keep up. This one will slow things down for you and even make life a little simpler. Thanks Simak!

Posted by Jesse Willis

Review of The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick

SFFaudio Review

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
By Philip K. Dick; Read by Tom Weiner
6 CDs – 6.8 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2008
ISBN: 9781433248221
Themes: / Science Fiction / Religion / Drugs / Mars / Aliens /

Not too long from now, when exiles from a blistering Earth huddle miserably in Martian colonies, the only things that make life bearable are the drugs. Can-D “translates” those who take it into the bodies of Barbie-like dolls. Now there’s competition: a substance called Chew-Z, marketed under the slogan “God promises eternal life. We can deliver it.” The question is: What kind of eternity? And who—or what—is the deliverer?

Reading Philip K. Dick is the literary equivalent of taking deliriants in church. Dick’s world is fully realized, his characters being windows into Dick’s own sympathies, his own passions. Dick seems to have observed the writing advice that goes: “Write what you know.” What Dick knows about is drugs, suburban druggie life, revealed religion, the conflict between an individual and the group, between women and men. If you look at the basic plot The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch scans as most similar to Alfred Bester’s The Demolished Man, in that a corporate war between the solar system’s two biggest multi-planetaries drives the action. But it doesn’t feel that way, it feels like a scaled-up version of Dick’s short story Wargame. Sure, the novel is supposed to be about life on Mars and big corporate business, but Dick’s Mars is mostly confined to a few intemperate draftees who couldn’t fake their way out of the draft. Upset with their new colonial life they spend all their time playing with Barbie style playhouses and taking mind altering drugs. I can almost picture Dick sitting in his living room watching his young daughters playing with their Barbie dolls. They sit on the floor, coveting their Barbie corvettes, their Barbie clothes and decorating their Barbie dream houses while Dick, sitting in an armchair above, looks down compassionately and philosophicaly as he reaches for the typewriter. Strangely, the novel also feels extremely prescient. At multiple times throughout I paused and thought about the PC game called The Sims – a game where your avatar must eat, sleep, and furnish her virtual home with virtual goods as you plan her idealized life. We seem to have gotten what Dick was driving at. For what is World Of Warcraft if not a Dickian reality minus the drugs? William Gibson would describe it as “a consensual hallucination” – Dick called it The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch.

Originally published in 1965, this is the first commercial audiobook release of The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch. Narrator Tom Weiner seems to be Blackstone Audio’s go-to guy when it comes to narrating the heavy hitters of Science Fiction. This is a good thing as Weiner brings a vast gravitas to his reading. Fans of George Guidall’s narrations will find Weiner similarly impactful. The cover art for The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch is all original for this production. This is more and more the case at Blackstone, which makes me happy, for I am covetous.

Posted by Jesse Willis