fantasy – Page 78

Review of Queen Of The Black Coast adapted from the story by Robert E. Howard

SFFaudio Review

Queen Of The Black Coast
Based on the story by Robert E Howard; Performed by a full cast
7 MP3s – Approx. 3 Hours 30 Mintues [AUDIO DRAMA]
Podcaster: Broken Sea’s Hyborean Sagas
Podcast: June 2008 to December 2008
Themes: / Fantasy / Piracy / Magic / Noir /

Okay so the cover art for this one isn’t official, not in the slightest. But, since I’m making it for my own collection I thought I’d share with you. The original art came from my personal copy of issue 100 of Marvel Comics’ Conan The Barbarian. It was rendered by John Buscema and Ernie Chan as the final instalment of the Belit story, which had run since issue 58. Those Marvel comics are what got me into the original Robert E. Howard stories to begin with. And, Queen Of The Black Coast is my favourite Conan story. And, now this is my favourite amateur audio drama.

Bill Hollweg, who spearheaded this project, has faithfully adapted Howard’s original narrative. There are changes, but not too many, and when they exist it’s to make it work as an audio drama. This is the tale that gave Conan his gigantic melancholies. It’s a noir fantasy, rich and powerful, pulpy and inspiring. Conan, a northern barbarian, is on the run from the law and hops aboard an outbound ship. Soon after he’s fighting off pirates, and next becoming one himself. Meeting the Belit, the “queen” of the black coast, he begins a passionate romance with the rash and selfish pirate queen. Their adventures together, his loyalty, and her lust for treasure, lead them up a poisoned river, and ultimately to their doom. It’s bloody wonderful.

The audio tapestry is as rich as any amateur audio production ever recorded – with sound effects and music, narration and acting, all at the top of its form. But, the show wasn’t an instant hit with me. Stevie Farnaby’s Conan turned me off at first. His voice just wasn’t right. Episode 1’s acting, where we first hear his raspy growl, was cartoonish, too brutish, not right. But as episode 2 rolled in, and episode 3 rolled on, and episode 4 became 5, and 6 became 7, I came to the conclusion that Stevie Farnaby is the voice of Conan and I was wrong about what Conan sounded like. I’d been voicing him in my head for about 25 years, he didn’t sound like Stevie Farnaby’s Conan. Other fine work includes the narrator Ralph Walters. He’s the voice of the Zombie Astronaut and about a dozen other characters on the Freqency Of Fear podcast. He’s quite a vocal chameleon and does excellent work here. Other actors include director Bill Hollweg himself, voicing much of Belit’s crew, and Charlene Harris as the titular queen. One thing to remember going into this folks, none of the actors were in the same room when this was recorded. They did their lines in a quiet room with no feedback. This is a huge problem in amateur audio drama – the acting can often feel stiff – I’m happy to say this rarely happens in QotBC. Highly recommend listening for fans of Robert E. Howard’s Conan.

Part 1 |MP3| Part 2 |MP3| Part 3 |MP3| Part 4 |MP3|
Part 5 |MP3| Part 6 |MP3| Part 7 |MP3|

Podcast feed:

http://brokensea.com/hyboreansagas/?feed=podcast

Posted by Jesse Willis

StarShipSofa’s Aural Delights: China Miéville’s ‘Tis The Season +MORE

SFFaudio Online Audio

It’s CHRISTMAS!

And… to celebrate this fine time, the StarShipSofa has decked herself out in holly, tinsel and mistletoe. This week sees her Christmas Special and what better way to enjoy this festive season with some grand and festive stories, all accompanied by a great looking cove by science fiction artist Skeet Scienski.

Click here to listen to the full Aural Delights No 56 China Miéville mp3

Editorial: Tony C Smith

Flash Fiction: A Christmas Tale by Davis Kopaska-Merkel

Flash Fiction: Robowassailing by Allen Steele

Fact: Sofa Art by Skeet

Main Fiction: ‘Tis The Season by China Miéville

Narrators: Diane Severson, MCL, Amy H Sturgis

Subscribe to the podcast via this feed:

http://www.starshipsofa.com/rss

Posted by Tony C. Smith

Mister Ron’s Basement: A Journey To The Sun & The Ghost Exstinguisher

SFFaudio Online Audio

Mister Ron, from Mister Ron’s Basement Podcast has a couple of vintage spoofs of SF and Fantasy for us. Ron writes:

“it turns out that Stanley Huntley must have had a passion for spoofing Jules Verne. Just a few months after he had put A Trip to the South Pole in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle in 1880, he went after Around the World in Eighty Days with the story A Journey to the Sun by Jules Verne, Jr. It features the English Baronet Sir Fillemup Frog, who bets his friends that he can climb up to the Sun. It’s a silly, but fun story.”

A Journey to the Sun
By Jules Verne, Jr. (aka Stanley Huntley); Read by Mister Ron
1 |MP3| – Approx. 11 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Mister Ron’s Basement
Podcast: November 17th 2008
Also up from the basement, from 1905, what may be the original ghost-busting story…

The Ghost-Extinguisher
By Gelett Burgess; Read by Mister Ron
1 |MP3| – Approx. 25 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Mister Ron’s Basement
Podcast: October 2008
A scientist discovers perfects the Japanese technique for disabling ghosts and putting them in jars.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Review of 52, Parts 1 and 2 by Greg Cox

SFFaudio Review

52: Part 1 and 52: Part 2
By Greg Cox; Performed by a full cast
12 CDs or 2 MP3-CDs – Approx. 12 hours [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: Graphic Audio
Published: February 2008
ISBN: 9781599503684 (part 1), 9781599503691 (part 2)
Themes: / Fantasy / Superheroes / Supervillains / Robots / Time Travel / Crime / Advertising /

The premise of this comic book series translated to graphic novel and then ultimately to audiobook is relatively simple. After a showdown between the Justice League and an assorted gang of supervillains, all the superheroes disappear. Superman, gone. Batman, likewise. Wonder Woman, ditto.

That leaves things wide open for the B-grade villains to wreak havoc and the B-grade heroes to step up and stop them. “52” refers to the weekly events of the year that follows and that are presented in a “real-time” format. We are taken into the story lines of various heroes and sidekicks which are occasionally interwoven.

Supernova and his trusted robot companion Skeets come from the future to capitalize on the lack of heroes by selling advertising rights while fighting crime. Hardboiled former cop Renee Montoya encounters The Question who leads her into an investigation of Intergang activities in Gotham. Black Adam intrigues and frightens the world by attempting to stop crime with such methods as ripping a villain in half on national television. However, his powers can be turned to good when he encounters Isis who immediately points out the error of his methods. And so on.

The adventures unroll and pick up steam in Part I. Naturally, we are left with many cliffhangers and even the stories that seem ended have more to reveal in Part II. Unfortunately Part II is much more muddled than Part I, especially with new villains and heroes suddenly randomly appearing – even sometimes seemingly from out of nowhere. This probably is because the actual comic book featured many more characters and stories than could be contained in this audio offering. In an attempt to keep things on track it may have been necessary to suddenly thrust a new character into the mix. Sadly this merely serves to muddle the stories and leave the listener wondering who all these people are. Also, some of the originally intriguing story lines either seemed to peter-out or take a turn for the worse leaving us not caring. Such was the case in Black Adam’s story. After his family’s story has developed, Isis suddenly acts completely uncharacteristically, sending Black Adam on a destructive spree. Perhaps it was the tendency of the narrative to describe every blow of a fight which made this part of the story suddenly seem to drag. In audio, unlike comic books, we don’t need to hear every “BIFF” or “BAM” to know what is going on. It seems likely again that problem stems from editing the story line to fit onto two CDs instead of mirroring the four graphic novels that were necessary to contain the original comic books.

52 is a full cast recording with sound effects. The recording is really wonderful and the voice talent is spot on in conveying all the emotions and action that we don’t get to see in the original comic book form. Although the 25 actors can be difficult to link to characters at first, the patient listener will soon find identification easy. The cover calls this recording a “movie in your mind” and that is accurate. Everything the listener needs for a full, rich experience is contained inside … except for the clear story line of Part I being continued successfully in Part II.

If you already are a fan of this series then this audiobook is probably worth your money. Otherwise, you will need to be a dedicated fan of superheroes in general to care enough to get to the end of Part II.

Posted by Julie D.

New Fantasy from Brilliance Audio

SFFaudio Recent Arrivals

Here are three epic fantasies, hot off the press from Brilliance Audio!

Dragonheart (Pern)
By Todd McCaffrey; Read by Emily Durante
17 CDs – 20 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2008
ISBN: 9781423373261

Foundation
By Mercedes Lackey; Read by Nick Podehl
9 CDs – 10 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2008
ISBN: 9781423307570

Wizard’s First Rule
By Terry Goodkind; Read by Jim Bond
7 CDs – 8 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2008
ISBN: 9781423321637

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

New Releases

It’s been a while since we did a new release update, though we’ve been announcing quite a few on The SFFaudio Podcast. Here are a few, expect more to follow soon.

Swallowing Darkness
By Laurell K. Hamilton; Read by Claudia Black
10 CDs – 11 Hours 30 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: November 4th, 2008
ISBN: 9780739370445

I am Meredith, princess of faerie, wielder of the hands of Flesh and Blood, and at long last, I am with child–twins, fathered by my royal guard. Though my uncle, Taranis, King of Light and Illusion, claims that he is the true father since he abducted me from my home, betrayed, and defiled me. And now he has branded my guards as a threat to my unborn children. Bearing an heir has placed me halfway to my aunt’s throne, that much closer to my reign over the Unseelie Court–and well ahead of her son, my cousin Cel, in this race. Now I must stay alive to see my children born and claim my place as queen. But not all in faerie are pleased with the news, and conspirators from every court in the realm plot against me and mine. They seek to strip my guards, my lovers, from me by poisoned word or cold steel. But I still have supporters, and even friends, among the goblins and the sluagh, who will stand by me. I am Meredith Nic Essus, and those who would defy and destroy me are destined to pay a terrible price–for I am truly my father’s daughter. To protect what is mine, I will sacrifice anything–even if it means waging a great battle against my darkest enemies and making the most momentous decision ever made as princess of faerie.

Brisingr
By Christopher Paolini; Read by Gerard Doyle
23 CDs – Approx. 27 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Published: September 20th, 2008
ISBN: 0739368044

BRISINGR EXCLUSIVE: The audio edition of Brisingr features a revealing Q & A between best-selling author Christopher Paolini and editor Michelle Frey. OATHS SWORN . . . loyalties tested . . . forces collide. Following the colossal battle against the Empire’s warriors on the Burning Plains, Eragon and his dragon, Saphira, have narrowly escaped with their lives. Still there is more at hand for the Rider and his dragon, as Eragon finds himself bound by a tangle of promises he may not be able to keep. First is Eragon’s oath to his cousin Roran: to help rescue Roran’s beloved, Katrina, from King Galbatorix’s clutches. But Eragon owes his loyalty to others, too. The Varden are in desperate need of his talents and strength—as are the elves and dwarves. When unrest claims the rebels and danger strikes from every corner, Eragon must make choices— choices that take him across the Empire and beyond, choices that may lead to unimagined sacrifice. Eragon is the greatest hope to rid the land of tyranny. Can this once-simple farm boy unite the rebel forces and defeat the king?

Red Planet
By Robert A. Heinlein; Read by William Dufris and a full cast
6 CDs- 7 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Full Cast Audio
Published: October 2008
ISBN: 9781934180518
Jim Marlowe’s Martian pet, Willis, seems like nothing more than an adorable ball of fur with an astonishing ability to mimic the human voice. But when Jim takes the creature to academy and runs afoul of a militantly rigid headmaster, his devotion to his pet launches the young man on a death-defying trek across Mars. Accompanied by his buddy, Frank, Jim must battle the dangers of a hostile planet. But it is not only the boys’ lives that are at stake: They have discovered explosive information about a threat to the survival of the entire colony—information that may mean life or death for their families. An irresistible mix of thrilling adventure, crackling dialogue, and brilliant speculation, deftly seasoned with politics, philosophy, and a touch of the mystic, Red Planet is classic Heinlein. Note: This recording uses the author’s preferred text, restoring many cuts made by the original editor.

Guest Law
By John C. Wright; Read by Tom Dheere
1 CD – 52 minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Infinivox
Published: October 2008
ISBN: 9781884612831
There be pirates in the vast void of space! Does not the poet say: “Beware the strangeness of the stranger. Unknown things bring unknown danger?” The noble ship Procrustes was silent as a ghost. Warships can be silent if they are slow; only their missiles need speed. And so it was silently, slowly, that the Procrustes approached the stranger’s cold vessel.

Posted by Jesse Willis