Bram Stoker – Page 7

LibriVox short stories galore!

SFFaudio Online Audio

A “few” short hidden gems from Librivox.org. Among their short story collections, now up to number nineteen, are some very good short Fantasy, SF, and Horror stories. These stories run from two and a half minutes to nearly fifty two minutes long. All are good for a short listen between audiobooks.

Bread Overhead
By Fritz Leiber; Read by Cori Samuel
1 |MP3| – Approx. 36 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: October 25th 2007
The Staff of Life suddenly and disconcertingly sprouted wings — and mankind had to eat crow!

The Masque of the Red Death
By Edgar Allan Poe; Read by Juan Carlos Bagnell
1 |MP3| – 16 Minutes
Death comes to visit a prince who is trying to avoid a plague.
Themes: / Horror /

Dracula’s Guest
By Bram Stoker; Read by Dimitri Fotopoulos
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
A prequel to Dracula.
Themes: / Horror /

Ligeia
By Edgar Allan Poe; Read by Peter Yearsley
1 |MP3| – Approx. 47 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
A haunting tale of lost love.
Themes: / Horror /

The Damned Thing
By Ambrose Bierce; Read by Greg Elmensdorp
1 |MP3| – Approx. 21 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
It shall not drive me away. No, this is my house, my land. God hates a coward….
Themes: / Horror /

Facts Concerning The Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family
By H. P. Lovecraft; Read by Smokestack Jones
1 |MP3| – Approx. 22 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
A tale of unusual genealogy.

The Cats of Ulthar
By H.P. Lovecraft; Read by Cow Nose the 50 Pound Cat
1 |MP3| – Approx. 9 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Feline revenge.
Themes: / Horror / Cats /

Charon
By Lord Dunsany; Read by Steven Collins
1 |MP3| – 2 Minutes 30 Seconds [UNABRIDGED]
Themes: / Fantasy /
The ferryman Charon’s last duty.

The Music of Erich Zann
1 |MP3| Approx. 20 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
By H.P. Lovecraft; Read by Smokestack Jones
A college student wonders about the strange music played by an old man.
Themes: / Horror / Music /

In the Year 2889
By Jules Verne; Read by Esther
1 |MP3| – Approx 38 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Verne’s story about life in America a thousand years in the future.
Themes: / Science Fiction /

Crossroads of Destiny
By H. Beam Piper; Read by Trask
1 |MP3| – Approx. 23 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Themes: / Science Fiction /
Parallel universes and a television show.

The Gifts of Asti
By Andre Norton; Read by Mark Nelson
1 |MP3| Approx. 41 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Themes: / Fantasy /
Varta, the last priestess of Asti, lives alone with Lur, a telepath of the lizardfolk, in Asti’s isolated mountain retreat. Decadent Memphir has long since drifted away from the austere paths of Asti, and now the barbarians of Klem are sacking the city, and the smoke of its burning drifts up to the temple.

The Street That Wasn’t There
By Clifford D. Simak and Carl Richard Jacobi; Read by Peter Yearsley
1 |MP3| 36 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Themes: / Science Fiction /
Classic pulp action.
Read by Peter Yearsley

The Hoard of the Gibbelins
By Lord Dunsany; Read by Mark F. Smith
1 |MP3| – Approx. 11 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Themes: / Horror /
The Gibbelins eat, as is well known, nothing less good than man.

A World Is Born
By Leigh Brackett; Read by Rowdy Delaney
1 |MP3| – Approx. 52 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
The first ripples of blue fire touched Dio’s men. Bolts of it fastened on gun-butts, and knuckles. Men screamed and fell.
Themes: / Science Fiction /

Posted by Dave Tackett

LibriVox: The Lair Of The White Worm by Bram Stoker

SFFaudio Online Audio

A new LibriVox title from the author of Dracula! I first encountered this strange tale while watching British television in the early 1990s – it was a very odd movie aired one afternoon – the film both fascinated and repelled. I’ve seen it a few times since then, and have appreciated its curious oddness more and more. Its almost magical in that respect. I haven’t read the book, nor listened to the audiobook (yet) but am pretty much convinced that the film will be absolutely nothing like the book. Many thanks should go to Betsie Bush for narrating the whole novel all on her own. Thanks so much Betsie!

The Lair Of The White Worm
By Bram Stoker; Read by Betsie Bush
28 zipped MP3 Files or podcast – 5 Hours 48 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: July 30th 2007
Adam Salton is contacted by his great uncle in England, for the purpose of establishing a relationship between these last two members of the family. Adam travels to Richard Salton’s house in Mercia, and quickly finds himself in the center of some inexplicable occurrences. The new heir to the Caswall estate, Edgar Caswall appears to be making some sort of a mesmeric assault on a local girl. And, a local lady, Arabella March, seems to be running a game of her own, perhaps angling to become Mrs. Caswall. There is something strange about Lady March, something inexplicable and evil.

Get the entire novel in podcast form, via this handy url:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/lair_of_the_white_worm_by_bram_stoker.xml

Two illustrations of the Lambton worm:

Lambton Worm - illustrator unknown

Lambton Worm - Illustration from More English Fairy Tales

posted by Jesse Willis

ABC RN broadcasts Dracula: international and time shifting listeners despair

SFFaudio Commentary

ABC Radio National, Australia’s public radio broadcaster, is going to be airing an abridged reading of Dracula by Bram Stoker. We’d like to tell you all about it, but there’s very little to say. We’d like to point you towards the audio index where the novel would normally be archived for a full eight weeks after the broadcasts, but we can’t. Reason is:

“Due to copyright restrictions this reading is unavailable as audio on demand.”

Now of course it’s plausible that this particular recording of Dracula, one of the most recorded audiobooks of all time, is covered by copyright. In fact, it’d be damn unlikely that it isn’t covered by copyright. Few if any public broadcasters are using creative commons licenses. What the disclaimer should actually say is:

“Due to copyright restrictions, not normally present on our regular 21st century novels, this 19th century novel is unavailable for audio on demand.”

Why then did RN choose a BBC abridgment of a public domain novel that has such restrictions? Why choose to air a classic novel, a freely available text, and get a version that precludes both “audio on demand” and podcasting rights? Why ABC? WHY?

Are we to assume the restrictions weren’t a deal breaker in this case, because this particular abridgement is by far the best reading of Dracula ever recorded?!?!

Maybe it is. Listeners to the 2003 BBC broadcast of this version had the following to say about the production:

“Over the years, I have listened to many reading versions of Dracula. The problem with a single reader for the story is that it is not very convincing for a male reader to read Mina’s diaries. I am glad this BBC version finally got it right. With many readers giving their account of the story, the realistic and scary elements have been added to give listener a better feel of the story unfold. I hope in the future,multi-readers production can be a standard practice.”

“I also feel that in the case of Dracula, it is better to have multiple readers. The talented actors involved in this production have, in my opinion, brought this story vividly to life. It’s particularly nice to hear James D’Arcy – he has a wonderful voice for radio.”

“Now this is the kind of bedtime story you want, laced with blood, horror, and sexually charged gothic opulence. In this new adaptation of Bram Stoker’s classic, the various diary accounts of the four main characters are read by Michael Fassbender, James Greene, Gillian Kearney and James D’Arcy … Of course, you won’t sleep a wink.“

Those lucky folks in Australia who’ve got the ability to listen live to all ten parts as they air can still enjoy it. Here are the details for all three of you lucky devils…

Dracula
By Bram Stoker; Read by Michael Fassbender, Gillian Kearney, James D’Arcy and James Greene
10 parts – [ABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: ABC Radio National
Broadcast: Weekdays, July 2nd – 13th @ 2pm (repeats 11pm)
The most famous of all vampire stories, first published in 1897 and never out of print since. Dracula tells of a vampiric count, pursued relentlessly by those who would see him destroyed.

posted by Jesse Willis

Mech Muse Issue #2 Streets – SFFaudio Staff Cheer!

Online Audio

Mech Muse Issue 2
Hot on the heels of the first issue’s podcast release comes the start of MechMuse‘s second issue of their ad-supported podcast. You can also visit the website and subscribe to the ad free version for just $7.00 per issue. The ad-supported FREE podcast is accessible via ~~this podcatching feed:~~

~~http://www.mechmuse.com/issues/fall-06/cover#~~ an iTunes Music Store search for the phrase “MechMuse”.*

The truly cool tales thus far released this issue are:
Mech Muse - Dracula by Bram Stoker Dracula
By Bram Stoker; Read by Ken Richman
1 ~~MP3~~ AAC* File – 2 Hours 13 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
*chapters 1 – 4 only (later chapters are still to come)

Mech Muse - Identity Crisis Identity Crisis
By Kevin J. Anderson; Read by Bob Barnes
1 ~~MP3~~ AAC* File – 2 Hours 2 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

Mech Muse - Rough Draft Rough Draft
By Kevin J. Anderson; Read by Rick Jelinek
1 ~~MP3~~ AAC* File – 38 Minutes 50 Seconds [UNABRIDGED]

Mech Muse - The Storyteller's Wife The Storyteller’s Wife
By Eugie Foster; Read by Rick Jelinek
1 ~~MP3~~ AAC* File – 54 Minutes 40 Seconds [UNABRIDGED]

Also, there are stories still to come for the Fall issue:

On My Way to Paradise by David Farland (Chapters 7-9)
Siren Song by David Farland
Reality, Interrupted by Jason Erik Lundberg
Dracula by Bram Stoker (Chapters 5-6)
Illusion by Mark Cole
Demon Pope by Richard Garnett

I got an early taste of these tales and managed to listen to both Kevin J Anderson stories – they rocked! When I met KJA at Worldcon I told him how much I was enjoying them and he said I was the second person that day to tell him that!

UPDATE:*Thanks to Nick for pointing out these details.

posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox bills itself as "acoustical liberation …

Online Audio

LibriVox bills itself as “acoustical liberation of books in the public domain”, we bill it as “really cool”! The LibriVox volunteers read and record chapters of books in the public domain using the equipment they have at home, and then release the files as FREE audiobooks. The objective is to eventually make all books in the public domain available in the audio format. Several Science Fiction and Fantasy titles are already under way, and few have already been completed. Here’s a peek:

Completed Novels:
The Road To Oz by L. Frank Baum
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Completed Shorts:
A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift

Multiple Narrator Forthcoming:
Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
The Trial by Franz Kafka
Dracula by Bram Stoker
A Journey To The Interior Of The Earth by Jules Verne

Single Narrators Forthcoming:
Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott
The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson
Sky Island by L. Frank Baum
The Wizard Of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Beowolf
Anthem by Ayn Rand
A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain
The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams

posted by Jesse

New Releases

Audio Renaissance

Saucer: The Conquest by Stephen Coonts in both abridged and unabridged versions. This is a sequel to a novel about the discovery of a 140,000 year-old spacecraft. I missed the first one, but would like to hear if it exists on audio – Audio Renaissance does not carry it if it does. Kirkus calls Saucer “a comic, feel-good SF adventure.”

First Meetings in the Enderverse by Orson Scott Card, read by Gabrielle de Cuir, Amanda Karr, and Stefan Rudnicki

I’m a fan of Orson Scott Card’s Ender novels, so this was a real treat. It contains 4 stories, one of which is the original Ender’s Game novella, the others stories from various places on the Ender timeline. All of Card’s unabridged Ender novels are being re-released by Audio Renaissance.

Saturn by Ben Bova, read by Amanda Karr and Stefan Rudnicki and others

Here’s the latest of Ben Bova’s Solar System novels. I’ve heard Mars and Return to Mars, but I’m not sure how these novels are related to this one, Venus and Jupiter.

Blackstone Audio

Ringworld’s Children by Larry Niven

I talked a bit about this last month, but it was really released in September, so here it is again.

Adventures in Time and Space with Max Merriwell by Pat Murphy

I’ve got this one in my to-be-heard pile and I’m eager to get to it. I know very little about Pat Murphy, but I see she won a Nebula Award for the novel The Falling Woman, which I don’t think is available on audio.

Jesse: Pat Murphy won a hugo and a nebula for a short story called “Rachel In Love”, which is a love story from the point of view of a chimpanzee. It’s been recorded a couple of times. There was also a single cassette collection of her short stories published by Durkin Hayes called “Points Of Departure”.

Brilliance Audio

Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, read by Jim Dale

I’m starting to see this one everywhere, but haven’t received any feedback from anyone on it. It’s aimed at the YA market – 9-12 year-olds – and is a prequel to Peter Pan. I may have to listen just to hear another Jim Dale performance. There’s an audio sample on Brilliance’s website.

Free Reads

James Patrick Kelly adds three more stories to Free Reads, a section of his site where you can download free audiobooks (MP3 format) of his stories. Included now are “Faith”, “The Best Christmas Ever”, and “Serpent”.

Jesse: This is an awesome value – cool and funny stories read by James Patrick Kelly and all it costs you is guilt if you don’t donate something to his future recording fund.

Harper Audio

The Neil Gaiman Audio Collection by Neil Gaiman, read by Neil Gaiman

This is an hour-long CD that contains readings of some children’s books by Neil Gaiman. Included are: The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish, Wolves in the Walls, Cinnamon, and Crazy Hair.

Jesse: Looking forward to this collection. I was worried this was just another repackaging of Coraline and the two Seeing Ear pieces. Glad to see it is all new to audio!

Paperback Digital

As reported here early this month, Paperback Digital is online with two new MP3 format audiobooks for sale: Spirits in the Wires by Charles de Lint and 1634: The Galileo Affair by Eric Flint and Andrew Dennis. I haven’t heard either of them, but they appear to be professionally done with William Dufris and Christine Marshall narrating. These books are available as downloads or on MP3-CDs.

Also from Paperback Digital is the X Minus One episode “Drop Dead” by Clifford D. Simak, which is available on Fictionwise.com, a site well-known for eBook sales. Paperback Digital is editing out commercials and doing what they can to improve the sound quality of several old radio shows. Next week they will be releasing these episodes:

The Green Hills of Earth and Destination: Moon by Robert A. Heinlein

The Orson Welles/Mercury Theatre Halloween broadcast of The War of the Worlds

The Orson Welles/Mercury Theatre broadcast of Bram Stoker’s Dracula

With Folded Hands by Jack Williamson

Colony by Philip K. Dick

The Coffin Cure and Prime Difference by Alan E. Nourse

Protective Mimicry by Algis Budrys

The Merchants of Venus by A.H. Phelps, Jr.

Jesse: Coming out of the blue as it did, Paperback Digital is the most exciting and surprising news in Science Fiction and Fantasy audiobooks so far this year!

Recorded Books

Swords of Night and Day, a science fantasy by David Gemmell and narrated by Christopher Kay. I’m unfamiliar with this, but it’s part of a something called the Drenai series.

Last, but certainly not least, here’s what Audible.com has added in the last month, many of which were mentioned above:

An updated edition of First Meetings by Orson Scott Card

Saucer: The Conquest by Stephen Coonts

Saturn by Ben Bova

High Druid of Shannara: Tanequil by Terry Brooks

Dune: The Battle of Corrin by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson

Ringworld’s Children by Larry Niven

Children of the Mind by Orson Scott Card

The Dragon’s Son by Margaret Weis

Stalking Darkness (Nightrunner #2) by Lynn Flewelling

Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke

Several titles from Brian Jacques’ Redwall series

Bimbos of the Death Sun and Zombies of the Gene Pool by Sharyn McCrumb

Titles from the Wingman series by Mack Maloney

Golem’s Eye by Jonathan Stroud

Titles from the Deathstalker collection by Simon R. Green

Collections of Arthur C. Clarke’s stories (The Nine Billion Names of God, The Songs of Distant Earth, etc.)

Wow! An excellent month for science fiction audio. Happy listening!

Posted by Scott D. Danielson