audiobook – Page 168

New Releases – An Audible.com downpour of audiobooks

New Releases

Well why not start a New Releases post off with a year old audiobook? Yup, we missed an important release. Narrator Simon Vance sez of the audiobook:

“‘HMS Terror’ actually existed as a ship and the names used in the book are those of the actual crew. Other things mentioned in the book are based on fact as well – like the life boat found miles from the ship with certain items in it. I think Dan Simmons has done a masterful job weaving this tale in amongst the facts of the case.”

And author Dan Simmons himself sez of it:

“The Terror, while definitely containing elements of the fantastic and horrorific, was definitely not SF and was four-out-five-parts historical novel to one part horror or fantasy.”

It got nominated for a Stoker Award and is rumored to be on the Hugo ballot too.

The Terror
By Dan Simmons; Read by Simon Vance
CDs – 8 Hours 47 Minutes [ABRIDGED]
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Published: March 2007
ISBN: 1600240763
Listen to an |MP3| sample
The men on board HMS Terror have every expectation of triumph. As part of the 1845 Franklin Expedition, the first steam-powered vessels ever to search for the legendary Northwest Passage, they are as scientifically supported an enterprise as has ever set forth. As they enter a second summer in the Arctic Circle without a thaw, though, they are stranded in a nightmarish landscape of encroaching ice and darkness. Endlessly cold, with diminishing rations, 126 men fight to survive with poisonous food, a dwindling supply of coal, and ships buckling in the grip of crushing ice. But their real enemy is far more terrifying. There is something out there in the frigid darkness: an unseen predator stalking their ship, a monstrous terror constantly clawing to get in.

An audible exclusive by a wife and husband team…

Island Realm: Crystal Doors, Book 1
By Rebecca Moesta and Kevin J. Anderson; Read by Joshua Swanson
Audible Format – 8 hours and 15 min. [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible.com
Published: March 2008
Fourteen-year-old cousins Gwen and Vic have lived together ever since the mysterious deaths of Gwen’s parents and the disappearance of Vic’s mother. But Vic’s scientist father accidentally transports them through a magical crystal door to the island of Elantya. Cobblestone streets and silver towers mark the picturesque island, a trading hub and center of knowledge that runs on advanced physics and sorcery. Vic and Gwen are soon caught in a tempest of ancient magic, vicious creatures, fierce battles, and a territorial feud with the sea-dwelling Merlons.

And the sequel…

Ocean Realm: Crystal Doors, Book 2
By Rebecca Moesta and Kevin J. Anderson; Read by Joshua Swanson
Audible Format – 8 Hours 5 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible.com
Published: March 2008
Gwen and Vic are still celebrating their victory in the battle with the Merlons when they learn that Vic’s father has finally made it through the crystal doors to the magical island of Elantya. But their victory is short-lived when they and their friends are kidnapped by their underwater enemies and taken beneath the sea. There, they learn of a scheme that could bring Elantya to ruins. Can they escape in time to save the island from destruction?

The anticipated third in the series of Brad Lansky adventures was just released (after almost two years since the last episode). Where have you been Brad? What adventures have you had? Find out…

Brad Lansky and the Face of Eternal Fire
By J.D. Venne; Performed by a full cast
1 CD or MP3 Download – Approx. 1 hour [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: Protophonic.net / Spoken Network
Published: February 2008
Brad and Alex spent two years exploring the Cygnus arm of the Milky Way when they received a classified message from the Sol Ambassador to the Trilux System. Fifty Earth-years have elapsed since they parted ways with Giri Null in Trilux, and much has happened in that time; Giri Null somehow managed to win over most of the Grefim and execute his plans for a new culture with alarming speed. Those who opted not to follow their new Lord promptly invaded planet Lithom, destabilizing all of Trilux.

This audiobook picks up where “Skylark Three” left off…

Skylark of Valeron (Skylark Series – Book 3)
By E.E. Doc Smith; Read by Reed McColm
1 MP3 CD – Approx. 9.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Books In Motion
Published: March 2008
ISBN: 1596078855
Our hero families are in deep space when they are attacked by the intellectuals. In order to survive the attack they rotate into the 4th demention and are captured. They must make it back to 3space and find their way home. Unfortunately they find themselves hopelessly lost but are able to save another race and make their way home!

Hugo Award + Scott Brick = MUST LISTEN!

Spin
By Robert Charles Wilson; Read by Scott Brick
Audible Format – 17 Hours 33 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible.com / Macmillan Audio
Published: March 2008
One night when he was 10, Tyler stood in his backyard and watched the stars go out. They flared into brilliance, then disappeared, replaced by an empty black barrier. He and his best friends, Jason and Diane Lawton, had seen what became known as the Big Blackout. It would shape their lives. The “sun” is now a featureless disk – a heat source, rather than an astronomical object. The moon is gone, but tides remain. The world’s artificial satellites have fallen out of orbit. Eventually, space probes reveal that the barrier is artificial, generated by huge alien artifacts. Time passes faster outside the barrier – more than a hundred million years per day on Earth. At this rate, the death of the sun is only about forty years away. Jason, now a promising young scientist, devotes his life to working against this slow-moving apocalypse. Diane throws herself into hedonism, marrying a sinister cult leader who’s forged a religion out of the fears of the masses. Earth sends terraforming machines, then humans, to Mars…and immediately an emissary returns with thousands of stories about the settling of Mars. Then an identical barrier appears around Mars. Life on Earth is about to get much, much stranger.

Abridged audiobooks were more common in 1999, here is a nice sounding example of the stuff that Audible is gathering from the dustier corners of the world…

The Midwich Cuckoos
By John Wyndham; Read by Jeremy Clyde
2 cassettes or Audible Download – Approx. 3 Hours [ABRIDGED]
Publisher: CSA WORD / Audible.com
Published: November 1999 / March 2008
ISBN: 9781901768480
A string of pregnancies start in the village of Midwich and nine months later sees the birth of some very unusual children. One of the classic science fiction novels which has spawned two films called Village of the Damned.

Not the original novel (which sadly isn’t available on audio yet) but some sort of quasi-prequel to the movie…

Jumper: Griffin’s Story
By Steven Gould; Read by Ted Barker
Audible Download – 6 Hour 51 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible.com / Macmillan Audio
Published: March 2008
Griffin has a secret. It’s a secret that he’s sworn to his parents to keep and never tell. Griffin is a Jumper: a person who can teleport to any place he has ever been. The first time was when he was four, and his parents crossed an ocean to protect the secret. The most important time was when he was nine. That was the day that the men came to his house and murdered his parents. Griffin knows that the men were looking for him, and he must never let them find him. Griffin grows up with only two goals: to survive, and to kill the people who want him dead. And a jumper bent on revenge is not going to let anything stand in his way.

And lastly, here is an absolutely fascinating idea for an audiobook, I’ll see if I cant get one of my ESL students to review this one…

‘I, Robot’ for Learners of English
By Isaac Asimov; Read by Tricia Reilly
Audible Format -2 Hours 31 Minutes [ABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible.com / Pan Macmillan Publishers Ltd.
Published: March 2008
Isaac Asimov’s classic collection of stories about a society where humans and robots live and work together on Earth and in outer space is both disturbing and prophetic. –The Macmillan Readers series is one of the most popular and respected series of readers for learners of English. Macmillan Readers are simplified retellings of an original work. They are created by highly experienced ELT writers.

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: Short Science Fiction Collection Vol. 004

SFFaudio Online Audio

Short Science Fiction Collections from LibriVox are coming in faster than we can listen to them. That’s cool! But seriously, how many different versions of Harry Harrison’s The Repairman do we really need? This collection includes the fourth unabridged reading that’s available online.

Short Science Fiction Collection Vol. 004
By various; Read by various
10 Zipped MP3s or Podcast – Approx. 5.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: March 2008
“Science fiction (abbreviated SF or sci-fi with varying punctuation and case) is a broad genre of fiction that often involves sociological and technical speculations based on current or future science or technology. This is a reader-selected collection of short stories, originally published between 1931 and 1962, that entered the US public domain when their copyright was not renewed.”

Beyond Pandora
By Robert J. Martin; Read by Jerome Lawsen
1 |MP3| – Approx. 5 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

The Infra-Medians
By Sewell Peaslee Wright; Read by John Larmour
1 |MP3| – Approx. 42 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

The Misplaced Battleship
By Harry Harrison; Read by Barny Shergold
1 |MP3| – Approx. 59 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: March 2008
It might seem a little careless to lose track of something as big as a battleship … but interstellar space is on a different scale of magnitude. But a misplaced battleship—in the wrong hands!—can be most dangerous. First published in the April 1960 issue of Astounding Science Fiction magazine.

Missing Link
By Frank Herbert; Read by Kim Cutler
1 |MP3| – Approx. 43 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: March 2008
The Romantics used to say that the eyes were the windows of the Soul. A good Alien Xenologist might not put it quite so poetically … but he can, if he’s sharp, read a lot in the look of an eye!

The Quantum Jump
By Robert Wicks; Read by Jerome Lawsen
1 |MP3| – Approx. 23 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: March 2008
Captain Brandon was a pioneer. He explored the far reaches of space and reported back on how things were out there. So it was pretty disquieting to find out that the “far reaches of space” knew more about what went on at home than he did.

The Repairman
By Harry Harrison; Read by Rowdy Delaney
1 |MP3| – Approx. 32 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

Sodom and Gomorrah, Texas
By R.A. Lafferty; Read by lucylou40
1 |MP3| – Approx. 19 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: March 2008
The place called Sodom was bad enough. But right down the road was the other town—and that was even worse!
First published in Galaxy magazine’s, December 1962 issue.

Stairway To The Stars
By Larry Shaw; Read by R. J. Davis
1 |MP3| – Approx. 43 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

Traders Risk
By Roger Dee; Read by Susan Umpleby
1 |MP3| – Approx. 35 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

Wizard
By Larry M. Harris; Read by Alex C. Telander
1 |MP3| – Approx. 38 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: March 2008
Although the Masquerade itself, as a necessary protection against non-telepaths, was not fully formulated until the late years of the Seventeenth Century, groups of telepaths-in-hiding existed long before that date. Whether such groups were the results of natural mutations, or whether they came into being due to some other cause, has not yet been fully determined, but that a group did exist in the district of Offenburg, in what is now Prussia, we are quite sure.

Podcast feed:

COMING SOON

Posted by Jesse Willis

Review of The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

SFFaudio Review

The Metamorphosis
By Franz Kafka; Read by Alex Wilson
3 Zipped MP3, OGG or AAC files – 2 Hours 15 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: The Spoken Alexandria Project
Published: 2006
Themes: / Fantasy / Surreal / 1910s / Insects /

At first read, The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka is a bizarre, almost nonsensical story. Gregor Samsa, a traveling salesman, wakes up to find himself transformed into a giant bug of some sort. No explanation is given for how or why this metamorphosis occurred. Gregor himself seems more concerned with being late to a work assignment than the circumstances of his change.

As the novella progresses, The Metamorphosis becomes more about the unspoken negotiations inside a family as in who does what chores, who makes money for others, and who just gets in the way. When Gregor can no longer provide for the family’s needs, Gregor’s father changes from an invalid to a dedicated worker. Along the way, Greta converts from a loving sister to a young woman looking for suitors. The bizarre transformation of Gregor is not the most important transformation in the family, as evidenced by the final lines.

Alex Wilson, the founder of Spoken Alexandria, provides a understated, but compelling reading. The sound quality is top-notch, even when listening over headphones. The tone of voice is like someone waked in the middle of dream, lending an appropriate otherworldliness to the story of alienation.

Posted by Listener of the Free Listens blog

Review of Seeker: Book One of the Noble Warriors by William Nicholson

SFFaudio Review

Seeker: Book One of the Noble Warriors
By William Nicholson; Read by Michael Page
9 CDs – 10 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2007
ISBN: 9781423318354
Themes: / Fantasy / Epic Fantasy / Young Adult / Religion / Magic / Science /

“Three Very Different Heroes, Brought Together By A Shared Dream”

An elite band of fighter monks called the Nomana (AKA the “Noble Warriors”) guard a garden on the island of Anacrea within which dwells “the god who made all things.” Seeker (AKA “Seeker After Truth”) is an extremely intelligent boy of sixteen. He lives on the island, and wishes to follow his brother, the improbably named “Blaze Of Justice”, into the ranks of the Nomana. His father disapproves and he is forced to apply in secret. Morning Star, a girl of sixteen, can read a person’s aura to determine their character and emotions. She has the same goal, namely to become a Noble Warrior. With her father’s blessing and a hired guard, Morning Star sets out on a long journey to Anacrea. The two applicants are joined in the application line by a unschooled but charismatic seventeen year old brigand known only as “Wildman.” Wildman too is determined to become a “hoodie” (his word for the Nomana) after he found himself and his gang defeated by just two of the Noble Warriors. Far away in the imperial city of Radiance, a plot is hatching which will eventually involve all three youths.

When I first started listening to Seeker I couldn’t place just what kind of fantasy novel I’d taken on. It opens in a classroom, with a student named “Seeker After Truth” taking an important exam and deliberately writing down all the wrong answers. Intriguing, huh? Seeker wants to fail – that way, he hopes his father, who is also the class’ teacher, will free him of his planned destiny.

Author William Nicholson is unusually sparse with description. The setting is a school, but what are the desks made of? I don’t know. Do they have electric lighting? No data available. It takes a while for the listener to settle on what sort of technological capacity these people have and it takes even longer to understand what kind of tale this will be. Is this deliberate? After finishing the novel I’m still not sure. This is Nicholson’s second fantasy trilogy, and he’s crafted a recognizably fantasy epic in an unusual form. Is the lack of visual detail deliberate? It may be. Nicholson had a hand in writing plays and film scripts before finding further success with novels. He wrote the film scripts of First Knight (the Arthurian legend starring Richard Gere), Shadowlands (a biographical film about C.S. Lewis), the Ridley Scott-directed film Gladiator, and most recently Elizabeth: The Golden Age!

What I am sure about is this novel, the first of a trilogy, is about the nature of religious experience. Looking at Nicholson’s upbringing and his career, his writing is never far from either fantasy or religion. And perhaps most interestingly, when the novel first came out, he offered a “personal challenge to the reader” – if you could figure out what the nature of the Anacrean god was, before book two or three came out, he’d send you free copies of the books. He said the Anacrean god “is something you can’t possibly imagine.” Intriguing stuff.

The religions of Anacrea (an island fortress) and the city of Radiance, capital of a vast mainland empire, are both monotheistic. Anacrea’s mysterious god is called the “all and only.” It grants its monkish priests special powers which I can liken only to those of Star Wars‘s Jedi Knights. The Radiance god is the sun in their sky, and the citizens there have practiced ritual human sacrifice at twilight for centuries to keep the sun returning. But there are no magical powers for religious practitioners of Radiance. Instead, the upwardly mobile middle class of Radiance concerns itself with commerce or competes for prestige by buying human sacrificial offerings from slavers. And the Radiance elite, who employ something they call “scientists” are developing a weapon to rid themselves of the meddlesome monks on Anacrea.

The novel is good, but it doesn’t stand well enough on its own for an unreserved recommendation. One of the aspects I quite enjoyed was a kind of a con-game played on some willing believers about four-fifths of the way into the novel. The ending, which provides some resolution, wasn’t particularly surprising or revelatory. Nicholson is a successful playwright and an Oscar nominated screenwriter. It remains to be seen whether the mystery at the center of this trilogy will be as big a payoff as Nicholson is claiming – he calls the Noble Warriors trilogy the “most important thing I’ve ever done.” I’m intrigued enough to listen to the second book, entitled Jango (also available from Brilliance).

Reader Michael Page, a ten audiobook veteran for Brilliance Audio, is a British actor who narrates well. His males are distinguishable, his female voices are too, at typically a pitch lower. At one point though, when we meet a roadside oracle, in what proves to be a funny scene, Page presents a character with a Monty Python-style falsetto. His rendition of the “Wildman,” a major figure in the book, is always filled with a fun bluff gusto. The packaging itself features the handsome paperbook art. Each disc does too, and each opens and closes with a musical cue which is handy for people swapping discs. Each disc has 99 files, the idea being it makes for more accurate bookmarking. But if you’re planning on ripping a disc to put on your MP3 player be aware that not all programs make ripping a disc with this many files easy.

Lastly, a quibble. They’ve spelled “Noble” (of an exalted character) as “Nobel” (like the Swedish chemist). This was fixed for the sequel’s cover.

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox – Short Science Fiction Collection Vol. 003

SFFaudio Online Audio

“It’s sci fi. It’s short. It’s stories. Done!”

Short Science Fiction Collection Vol. 003
By various; Read by various
10 Zipped MP3s or Podcast – Approx. 5 Hours 45 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: February 2008
This is the third volume of reader-selected short stories originally published between 1941 and 1963, that entered the US public domain when their copyright was not renewed.

And All the Earth a Grave
By C.C. MacApp; Read by Mark F. Smith
1 |MP3| – Approx. 17 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: February 2008
From Galaxy Science Fiction, December 1963. There’s nothing wrong with dying—it just hasn’t ever had the proper sales pitch!

The Big Bounce
By Walter S. Tevis; Read by Jerome Lawsen
1 |MP3| – Approx. 20 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

The Dark Door
By Alan E. Nourse; Read by Bruce Bell-Myers
1 |MP3| – Approx. 49 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

Gambler’s World
By Keith Laumer; Read by Mark F. Smith
1 |MP3| – Approx. 55 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: February 2008
This is one of Laumer’s “Retief” tales. Starring Jame Retief, the main character in a series of satirical adventures detailing the Corps Diplomatique Terrestrienne and their interaction with alien cultures. This tale was first published in the Worlds of If’s November 1961 issue.

An Incident On Route 12
By James H. Schmitz; Read by Grumpy Old Squid
1 |MP3| – Approx. 12 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: February 2008
First published in the pages of the January 1962 issue of Worlds of If magazine.

The Repairman
By Harry Harrison; Read by Taras Shuper
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

Tight Squeeze
By Dean Ing; Read by Jerome Lawsen
1 |MP3| – Approx. 35 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
He knew the theory of repairing the gizmo all right. He had that nicely taped. But there was the little matter of threading a wire through a too-small hole while under zero-g, and working in a spacesuit! From Astounding Science Fiction February 1955.

Time and Time Again
By H. Beam Piper; Read by R. J. Davis
1 |MP3| – Approx. 49 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

Warning from the Stars
By Ron Cocking; Read by R. J. Davis
1 |MP3| – Approx. 45 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

The White Feather Hex
By Don Peterson; Read by Karen Wolfer
1 |MP3| – Approx. 33 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

Subscribe to the podcast version via this url:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/short-science-fiction-collection-vol-003.xml

Go back and get Volume #001 and Volume #002 too!

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox Science Fiction Audiobook: Key Out Of Time by Andre Norton

SFFaudio Online Audio

Fresh from the depths of LibriVox, Key Out Of Time by Andre Norton is book 4 in the “Time Trader” series. called the “Ross Murdock” and “Time War” series, the connected novels, explored Celtic Europe, and Ice Age America, in “a breathtaking synthesis of anthropology, archeology, and hard science fiction.” Wikipedia calls it a “pivotal exploration of time travel, as a method of fictionally exploring lost cultures.” Very cool. The three later books, penned beginning more than 30 years later, were co-authored by various hands.

Key Out Of Time
By Andre Norton; Read by R.J. Davis
18 Zipped MP3s or Podcast – Approx. 6 Hours 35 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: February 2008
“Ross Murdock and Arthur Ashe continue their adventures in Time and Space on the World of Hawaika. Hawaiian and Polynesian settlers help Ross and Ashe discover the way the world has changed from the data tape to present time. Helped by a girl, Karara, and her two trained dolphins, Tino-rau and Taua.”

Subscribe to the podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/key-out-of-time-by-andre-norton.xml

Posted by Jesse Willis