Colin‘s reading of The Nine Billion Names Of God by Arthur C. Clarke is not nearly popular enough.
As of this post it’s only received a mere 17 viewings (or hearings).
Posted by Jesse Willis
Tag: computers
The Nine Billion Names Of God by Arthur C. Clarke (from Dercum Audio, 1991)
This recording of Arthur C. Clarke’s The Nine Billion Names Of God was produced by Dercum Audio – it’s that signature opening, that terrific, haunting music that begins at the ten second mark – that’s the giveaway. Produced in 1991, it is long out of print and a real treasure.
Part 1 of 2:
Part 2 of 2:
Posted by Jesse Willis
I, Mars by Ray Bradbury
Barton’s younger selves lived on, tormenting him for his living proof that their hopes were dead!
First published in Super Science Stories, April 1949, here’s Jim Moon’s 26 minute unabridged reading of I, Mars by Ray Bradbury. I first encountered this story under it’s alternative title, Night Call, Collect.
|MP3|
|PDF| made from its publication in Super Science Stories.
[Thanks to WonderEbooks!]
Posted by Jesse Willis
CBC: Nightfall: Assassin Game by John G. Fisher
One of the very few legitimately Science Fiction stories in the CBC Nightfall series was this one, Assassin Game by John G. Fisher. It’s set in a then future in which all university students, in the top fifth percentile, are required to play an assassination game. Exceptional players are recruited by all the best transnational mega-corporations which offer free, but illegal, training in the summers. Chris Wiggins, a great voice actor best known perhaps for his role on Friday The 13th: The Series, plays the school’s president. And a very young sounding Saul Rubinek plays the protagonist, a student, and star player, who is unwilling to pick a sponsor. There’s a whole lot going on in this half hour show – with a big back-story, a vintage future sound design (Star Trek and Pac-Man), and a noirish plot.
Devoted readers may note some strong similarities to Robert Sheckley’s Seventh Victim and derivative tales.
Nightfall #74 – Assassin Game
By John G. Fisher; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 28 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBC
Broadcast: November 5, 1982
Source: Archive.org
In the future, your career will be determined by now many students you eliminate at university. Assassin was just a game at first, then it got real.
Cast:
Saul Rubinek … Joel Unson (a computer science student)
Nicky Guadagni … Wendy Hirsch?
David Ferry … Martin (a political science student)
Ralph McPherson … Alex (Joel’s AI)
Peter Jobin … the computer and the man
Chris Wiggins … university president
Barbara Kyle … Miss and the PA announcer
Posted by Jesse Willis
Bill Moyers: A World Of Ideas – A conversation between Bill Moyers and Isaac Asimov
Among the many books in my maternal grandmother’s collection was Bill Moyers – A World Of Ideas which is subtitled “Conversations With Thoughtful Men And Women About American Life Today And The Ideas Shaping Our Future.” I’d read out of it, years ago, at her home and commented on it to her. She had lots of books, lots is a bit of an understatement, and when she died, and it came time to sort through everything, I thought this one was a keeper.
Essentially it is a collection of smart interviews that you can dip into to find fascinating transcriptions of a conversations between Moyers and some other thoughtful person.
My favourite conversation in it, so far, is from 1988, with the inspirational Isaac Asimov. Here’s a |PDF| and here’s an |MP3|
It is also available as a three part YouTube video series:
Posted by Jesse Willis
LibriVox: The Variable Man by Philip K. Dick
There’s a new FREE audiobook version of Philip K. Dick’s 1953 novella The Variable Man available from LibriVox and superstar narrator Gregg Margarite!
Here’s the teaser:
“He fixed things—clocks, refrigerators, vidsenders and destinies. But he had no business in the future, where the calculators could not handle him. He was Earth’s only hope—and its sure failure!”
Here are four different covers from various paperbook incarnations of this time travel tale…
And here’s the audiobook…
The Variable Man
By Philip K. Dick; Read by Gregg Margarite
3 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 2 Hours 49 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: May 3, 2010
Predictability has come a long way. The computers of the future can tell you if you’re going to win a war before you fire a shot. Unfortunately they’re predicting perpetual standoff between the Terran and Centaurian Empires. What they need is something unpredictable, what they get is Thomas Cole, a man from the past accidentally dragged forward in time. Will he fit their calculations, or is he the random variable that can break the stalemate? From Space Science Fiction September 1953.
Part 1 |MP3| Part 2 |MP3| Part 3 |MP3|
Podcast feed:
http://librivox.org/rss/4275
iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|
[Thanks also to Betty M. and Diana Majlinger]
Posted by Jesse Willis