Brilliance Audio – Page 34

Recent Arrivals – Brilliance Audio

SFFaudio Recent Arrivals

The Tangle Box
By Terry Brooks; Read by Dick Hill
10 CDs – 12 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2008
ISBN: 9781423350392

Everything should have been quiet and pleasant for Ben Holiday, former Chicago lawyer become sovereign of the Magic Kingdom of Landover. But it wasn’t.

This is the fourth Magic Kingdom of Landover novel, the first being Magic Kingdom For Sale: SOLD!. Brilliance has all three previous books available too, with the fifth, Witches’ Brew forthcoming.

Black Lightning
By John Saul; Read by Phil Gigante
11 CDs – 13 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2008
ISBN: 9781423355816

For five years Seattle journalist Anne Jeffers has pursued the horrifying story of a sadistic serial killer’s bloody reign, capture, trial, and appeal – crusading to keep the wheels of justice churning toward the electric chair. Now the day of execution has come. A convicted killer will meet his end. Anne believes her long nightmare is over. But she’s dead wrong. . . .

Within days, a similar murder stuns the city. As the butcher stalks his next victims, creeping ever closer to her, Anne is seized by an icy unease, a haunting sense of connection to these unspeakable crimes. And, relentlessly, she hears the eerie echo of the dead man’s last words to her: “Today won’t end it. How will you feel, Anne? When I’m dead, and it all starts again, how will you feel?”

Blood Noir
By Laurell K. Hamilton; Read by Cynthia Holloway
11 CDs – 13 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2008
ISBN: 9781597378956

Jason Schuyler is a werewolf. He’s also one of Anita Blake’s best friends, and sometimes her lover. And right now he needs her – not to be a vampire hunter, or a federal marshal, or a necromancer, or even for her rank in the werewolf pack, but because his father is dying. He needs Anita because she’s a pretty woman who loves him, who can make him look like an everyday guy, who agrees to go home with him and help him say good-bye to the abusive father he never loved. The fact that Jason is about as much an everyday guy as Anita is a pretty woman is something they figure they can keep under wraps for a couple of days in a small town. How hard can that be?

Really, by now, Anita Blake should know better.

Marmee Noir, ancient mother of all vampires, picks this weekend to make a move. Somehow she has cut the connection that binds Anita and Jean-Claude, leaving Jean-Claude unable to sense what is happening. Dangerous even as she sleeps, buried in darkness for a thousand years somewhere beneath the old country of Europe, Marmee Noir reaches out toward power. She has attacked Anita before, but never like this. In Anita she senses what she needs to make her enemies tremble…

Brilliance has published a whole lot of unabridged Laurell K. Hamilton.

Bloodfever
By Karen Marie Moning; Read by Joyce Bean
8 CDs – 9 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2008
ISBN: 9781423341932

MacKayla Lane’s ordinary life underwent a complete makeover when she landed on Ireland’s shores and was plunged into a world of deadly sorcery and ancient secrets.

In her fight to stay alive, Mac must find the Sinsar Dubh – a million-year-old book of the blackest magic imaginable, which holds the key to power over both the world of the Fae and of Man. Pursued by Fae assassins, surrounded by mysterious figures she knows she cannot trust, Mac finds herself torn between two deadly and irresistible men: V’lane, the insatiable Fae who can turn sensual arousal into an obsession for any woman, and the ever-inscrutable Jericho Barrons, a man as alluring as he is mysterious.

For centuries the shadowy realm of the Fae has coexisted with that of humans. Now the walls between the two are coming down, and Mac is the only thing that stands between them….

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Review of Armageddon’s Children by Terry Brooks

SFFaudio Review

Armageddon’s Children
By Terry Brooks; Read by Dick Hill
12 CDs – Approx. 14 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2006
ISBN: 1423322568
Themes: / Fantasy/ Post-Apocalyptic / Demons / Elves / Quest /

The first entry in Terry Brooks’ new Genesis of Shannara trilogy, Armageddon’s Children starts things off brilliantly. It is immediately engrossing, capturing the listener’s attention from the first minute clear through its cliffhanger ending. Set on an Earth where civilization has been mostly destroyed by war, diseases, and by demonic entities it is a world inhabited by mutants, demons, elves and humans, all hiding from an inevitable end. Post-apocalyptic fantasy is an odd sub-genre but Brooks pulls it off well, mostly combining the feel of post-apocalyptic science fiction with the trappings of fantasy.

Like many stories of this size, there is more than one main character. Armageddon’s Children has four: Logan Tom, a Knight of the Word is the foremost protagonist. Here has been given a mission to find a mysterious “gypsy morph” and lead it and a few human survivors to salvation. Logan, like most of the characters, must overcome self-doubt and accomplish his mission if humanity is to be saved. Another character, Angel Perez, another knight is sent with a tatterdemalion to find, and help save the elves. Hawk, a street urchin leads a small group of children. Kirisin, an Elf, is chosen to tend the Ellcrys, a sentient tree from the original Shannara series. The fates of all these characters are all intertwined and each must succeed in their respective quest if humanity and elfkind are to survive the looming destruction of the Earth.

Dick Hill, the narrator, is one of the better readers I’ve heard. Though the novel builds upon characters and ideas from earlier books in Brooks’ series, it stands on its own quite well. I haven’t heard or read many of them, yet I never felt as I were missing anything while I was listening to Armageddon’s Children. Indeed, the only complaint I have about the audiobook is a very minor one. This is a marketing problem. It is annoying that “Shannara” is not mentioned anywhere on the cover of the audiobook, despite the fact that it is the third largest word on the paperback version’s cover. Simply put I loved the audiobook of Armageddon’s Children and I can’t wait for the next in the series to be released.

Posted by David Tackett

New Arrivals-Hamilton, Saberhagen, Bujold, Greenwood

Science Fiction Audiobook Recent Arrivals
New titles from Brilliance and Blackstone Audiobooks.

A Lick of Frost
By Laurell K. Hamilton; Read by Laural Merlington
8 CDs -9 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audiobooks
Published: 2007
ISBN: 9781423340393

I am Meredith Gentry, princess and heir apparent to the throne in the realm of faerie, onetime private investigator in the mortal world. To be crowned queen, I must first continue the royal bloodline and give birth to an heir of my own. If I fail, my aunt, Queen Andais, will be free to do what she most desires: install her twisted son, Cel, as monarch…and kill me.

Dark Lord: Book One of the Falconfar Saga
By Ed Greenwood; Read by Christopher Lane
11 CDs – 14 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2007
ISBN: 9781423348917

When he mysteriously finds himself drawn into a world of his own devising, writer Rod Everlar is confronted by a shocking truth – he has lost control of his creation to a brooding cabal of evil. In order to save his creation – and himself – he must seize control of Falconfar and halt the spread of corruption before it’s too late.Dark Lord is the first epic installment in The Falconfar Saga from bestselling author Ed Greenwood.

Berserker Fury
By Fred Saberhagen; Read by Paul Michael Garcia
10 CDs – 12.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2007
ISBN: 9781433207525

Before George Lucas’s Death Star, before Star Trek’s Doomsday Machine, came the Berserkers, intelligent, space-faring killing machines whose sole purpose is to destroy all life. The Berserkers have developed a new trick: Berserker units that can pass for human-created androids. They’re gambling on the advantage this gives them and massing for an all-out attack on human-held space.

But the humans have developed a trick of their own. They’ve cracked the Berserkers’ basic codes and know what their battle plans are. Both sides are betting everything they have. For one of them, it will be the beginning of the end.

The Sharing Knife; Vol. 2, Legacy
By Lois McMaster Bujold; Read by Bernadette Dunne
11 CD, 13 hrs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2007
ISBN: 9781433207792

Here is volume two of this gripping adventure-romance filled with heroic deeds and wondrous magic. Fawn Bluefield, the clever young farmer girl, and Dag Redwing Hickory, the seasoned Lakewalker soldier-sorcerer, have been married all of two hours when they depart her family’s farm for Dag’s home on Hickory Lake Camp. But their arrival is met with prejudice and suspicion, setting many in the camp against them and threatening permanent exile for Dag.

Then Dag is called away by an unexpected and vicious malice attack on a neighboring hinterland, threatening Lakewalkers and farmers both. What his patrol discovers there will not only change Dag and his new bride but will call into question the uneasy relationship between their peoples and may even offer hope of a less divided future.

posted by The Time Traveler of the Time Traveler Show

Review of The Plant People by Barnes and Engle

Science Fiction Audiobook Review

Plant People
By Johnny Ray Barnes Jr. and Marty M. Engle; Multicast recording
2 CDs – 2 Hours [ABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2007
ISBN: 9781423308508
Themes: / Science fiction / Alien Invasion / Intelligent plants /

Rachel Pearson is a loner. Her only close friend, Tess, now lives in another city, and her life is measured in the days and hours between phone calls. One afternoon, as she is exploring the house under construction in a wooded lot near her home, she spies a strange plant from which something large has hatched, and its smell lures her to the edge of disaster. Two months later, the house is completed and a new family with teenaged children moves in. But strange things begin to happen around them, and Rachel wonders if they aren’t more than just odd people. Could they be something else entirely, something inhuman, with dark designs for mankind?

Plant People has a spunky heroine with a delightful upper-Midwestern twang, and an entertaining little dash-about plot that is short and mindlessly fun. Even the prose mostly soars, though not without frequent bumps. The worst occur during action sequences, when phrases like “…and just at that moment, what should I find but…” appear with distracting frequency. But it also borrows a little too heavily from classic works like Invasion Of The Body Snatchers and The Day Of The Triffids, and strips the borrowed elements from their deeper subtext. On the whole, Plant People is like a sugar-free chocolate meringue: Briefly enjoyable, but ultimately empty of even the calories it took to chew.

[Editor’s Note: Plant People was originally written as part of the “Strange Matter” series (created by Marty M. Engle and Johnny Ray Barnes Jr.). The series takes place in the fictional town of Fairfield. Stories in the series generally center on the children attending Fairfield Middle School who encounter paranormal situations.]

Posted by Kurt Dietz

Audiobook company Brilliance Audio purchased by Amazon.com

SFFaudio News

Amazon.com has purchased audiobook publisher Brilliance Audio! Reportedly, Brilliance, a two decade old player in the audiobook business, will continue to run as an independent company. But the acquisition is part of an Amazon plan to “expand audio selection to customers.” Though Amazon does not say it in their press release, doubtless this is a part of their plan to split the downloadable audiobook market. Currently, Audible.com all-but-controls the audiobook download market with a extremely successful DRM‘d-audiobook download website and an exclusive contract with iTunes. Brilliance has a back catalogue of more than 1,000 titles and Amazon sez it has plans to increase the new audiobook the current production schedule at Brilliance.

posted by Jesse Willis

New Arrivals – Full Cast Audio, Blackstone Audio & Brilliance Audio titles

Science Fiction Audiobook Recent Arrivals

We’ve got some new arrivals that took a circuitous route to our door.

The Will of the Empress
By Tamora Pierce; Read by Full Cast
14 CDs, Approx. 15.5 hrs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Full Cast Audio
Published: 2007
ISBN: 9781933322391

From the website:
Tamora Pierce returns to the world of Circle of Magic for this smashing novel that brings the four young mages back together as teens. Suspense! Court intrigue! Romance! Fights! All the things that you love about Tammy’s books are here in abundance.

March Upcountry: Book 1 of the Prince Roger Series
By David Weber and John Ringo; Read by Stefan Rudnicki
2 MP3CDs, 14 CDs, or 12 cassettes; Approx. 17.5 hrs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2005
ISBN: 0786178523(MP3 discs); 078617577X(CDs), 0786137932 (cassettes)

“The dynamic duo of Weber and Ringo continue Prince Roger McClintock’s adventures, which are coming to constitute a military SF classic.”—Booklist

From the back cover:
The royal brat is in trouble.

Roger Ramius Sergei Chiang MacClintock was young, handsome, athletic, an excellent dresser, and third in line for the Throne of Man. So why wouldn’t anyone at Court trust him? It wasn’t surprising that he became spoiled, self-centered, and petulant. After all, what else did he have to do with his life?

But that was before his mother the empress packed him off to a backwater planet, a saboteur tried to blow up his ship, and he found himself shipwrecked on the planet Marduk, with jungles full of damnbeasts, killerpillars, carnivorous plants, and barbarian hordes with really bad dispositions. Now all Roger has to do is hike halfway around the planet, capture a spaceport from the Bad Guys, commandeer a starship, and then go home.

March to the Stars: Book 3 of the Prince Roger Series
By David Weber and John Ringo; Read by Stefan Rudnicki
2 MP3CDs or 14 CDs; Approx. 17.5 hrs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2005
ISBN: 9780786172603(MP3 discs); 9780786163410(CDs)

From the back cover:
Since his attempted assassination, which marooned him with his bodyguards on the hostile planet Marduk with its unending series of adventures, Prince Roger McClintock has evolved from a spoiled, petulant heir into a true leader of humans and aliens alike.

Road of the Patriarch
By R.A. Salvatore; Read by David Colacci
11 CDs; Approx. 13 hrs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2006
ISBN: 9781423316404

From the back cover:
THE ASSASSIN — A cold and emotionless killer for whom every soul has a price, even his own, embarks on a path to find out just how high that price can be.

THE MERCENARY — A dark elf of limitless guile dares to challenge a king, and carve for himself a place in the inhospitable World Above.

ILNEZHARATA and TAZMIKELL — A are ancient dragons of great power, accustomed to easily manipulating the humans around them. But not all humans are so easily led. When they pushed Entreri and Jarlaxle into the heart of the Bloodstone Lands, not even they could have imagined the strength of the human assassin’s resolve, or the limitless expanse of the drow mercenary’s ambition.

posted by The Time Traveler of the Time Traveler Show