BBC: WS has Gaiman’s Anansi Boys as a Radio Drama

SFFaudio Online Audio

BBC World ServiceA BBC World Service adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Anansi Boys starring Lenny Henry is going to be broadcast on BBCWS Radio stations later today.

God is dead. Meet the kids. When Fat Charlie’s dad named something, it stuck. Like calling Fat Charlie “Fat Charlie.” Even now, twenty years later, Charlie Nancy can’t shake that name, one of the many embarrassing “gifts” his father bestowed — before he dropped dead on a karaoke stage and ruined Fat Charlie’s life.

Anansi Boys - Audio DramaAnansi Boys
Based on the novel by Neil Gaiman; Performed by a full cast
1 Broadcast – 1 Hour [AUDIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC World Service / World Drama
Broadcast: Nov 17th 2007 @ 20:01 GMT

This program should be available on the World Service’s “listen again” program for 7 days following the broadcast.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Broken Sea Audio: Open Casting Call for Robert E. Howard’s Queen Of The Black Coast

SFFaudio News

Conan And BelitBroken Sea Audio Productions, and producer Bill Hollweg, are casting the role of Conan (the Cimmerian) for an upcoming audio drama version of Robert E. Howard’s Queen Of The Black Coast.

The “Queen of the Black Coast” was a novelette by Robert E. Howard first published in the May 1934 issue of Weird Tales. Here’s a brief description (without spoilers):

In the seacoast kingdom of Argos, after a brush with the Hyborian legal system, Conan hops aboard a southward bound ship. Off the coasts of Kush the ship is boarded by black corsairs under the Shemitish she-devil, Bêlit. Conan joins her crew, becomes her consort, and for a long time they harry the Hyborian and Stygian ports. During this stage of his career, Conan gains the name of Amra, the Lion, which is to follow him throughout his later life.

Characters in the story include (but are not limited to):

* Conan
* Bêlit
* N’Gora
* N’Yaga
* Tito
* Winged One

Please take note, this is still only a casting call for Conan himself, more casting will be done in later weeks. At that time I’d guess that having a Kushite, Khemish, Shemitish, Argosean or Stygian accent will probably help your chances of landing a role.

Here’s some info from the official press release:

This is a cast call for the character of CONAN alone. I need a Barbarian the lay a swath of destruction across the audio realms! Ever wanted to brandish a broadsword in the Hyborian Age? This is what I want from the voice actor doing CONAN…

POWER…PURE POWER that OOZES from the headphones… That said- I also want the actor to make this role his with a swipe of a VA (voice acting) broadsword!

I do not want bad Arnold Impersonations. This character is a fave of my from almost as far back as I can remember- so I am wanting something special for this production. An Austrian Accent is fine, or whatever accent you have or can do – I am open to giving it a listen. But I want to believe in this character, so it needs to have power behind the lines. And I am not talking about just screaming them here . There will be more casting calls soon and the script is still being cobbled together as we speak, but for now I need to find Conan first and foremost. Please send in lines in mp3 format, 44100hz 192k and label the file:

Conan_aud_.mp3 to: [email protected]

I have left in bits of the actual prose to give a feel for the scene/character. The VA lines are in black.

GOOD LUCK BY CROM!

Auditions Close December 10, 2007

_______________________________________________________________

Hoofs drummed down the street that sloped to the wharfs. The folk that
yelled and scattered had only a fleeting glimpse of a mailed figure on
a black stallion, a wide scarlet cloak flowing out on the wind. Far up
the street came the shout and clatter of pursuit, but the horseman did
not look back. He swept out onto the wharfs and jerked the plunging
stallion back on its haunches at the very lip of the pier. Seamen
gaped up at him, as they stood to the sweep and striped sail of a
high-prowed, broad waisted galley. The master, sturdy and black-
bearded, stood in the bows, easing her away from the piles with a
boat-hook. He yelled angrily as the horseman sprang from the saddle
and with a long leap landed squarely on the mid-deck.

Ship Captain: Who invited you aboard?

CONAN: Get under way CAPTAIN!

Ship Captain: But we’re bound for the coasts of Kush!

CONAN: Then I’m for Kush! Push off, I tell you!

SFX: The captain cast a quick glance up the street, along which a squad of horsemen were galloping; far behind them toiled a group of archers, crossbows on their shoulders.

Ship Captain: Can you pay for your passage?

CONAN: I pay my way with steel! By Crom, if you don’t get under way, I’ll drench this galley in the ‘blood of its crew!

Ship Captain: Seein’ as ye put it that way- welcome aboard Barbarian…

———————————————————–

Later, underway on the Captain’s Ship, after escaping the city, Conan and the Captain talk.

CONAN: Who is Belit?

Ship Captain: The wildest she-devil unhanged. Unless I read the signs awrong, it was her butchers who destroyed that village on the bay. May I some day see her dangling from the yard-arm! She is called the queen of the black coast. She is a Shemite woman, who leads black raiders. They harry the shipping and have sent many a good tradesman to the bottom.

CONAN: Little use to resist if we’re run down,” he grunted. “But it rasps the soul to give up life without a struggle.

It was just at sunrise when the lookout shouted a warning.

MATE #1: PORT SIDE!!! A SHIP!!!

Around the long point of an island off the starboard bow glided a long lethal shape, a slender serpentine galley, with a raised deck that ran from stem to stern. Forty oars on each side drove her swiftly through the water, and the low rail swarmed with naked blacks that chanted and clashed spears on oval shields. From the masthead floated a long
crimson pennon.

Ship Captain: Damn!!! Tis her… Belit… And her damned ship…This sojourn ’tis doomed..

CONAN: We’d best stand to it- else we’ll all die with shafts in our backs, and not a blow dealt.

Ship Captain: Bend to it, dogs! We row to outrun the she-devil BELIT!!!

With a passionate gesture of his brawny fist, the bearded rowers grunted, heaved at the oars, while their muscles coiled and knotted, and sweat started out on their hides. The timbers of the stout little galley creaked and groaned as the men fairly ripped her through the water. The wind had fallen; the sail hung limp. Nearer crept the inexorable raiders, and they were still a good mile from the surf when one of the steersmen fell gagging across a sweep, a long arrow through his neck. Tito sprang to take his place, and Conan, bracing his feet wide on the heaving poop-deck, lifted his bow. He could see the details of the pirate plainly now. The rowers were protected by a line of raised mantelets along the sides, but the warriors dancing on the narrow deck were in full view. These were painted and plumed, and mostly naked, brandishing spears and spotted shields.

On the raised platform in the bows stood a slim figure whose white skin glistened in dazzling contrast to the glossy ebon hides about it. Belit, without a doubt. Conan drew the shaft to his ear–then some whim or qualm stayed his hand and sent the arrow through the body of a tall plumed spearman beside her.

Hand over hand the pirate galley was overhauling the lighter ship. Arrows fell in a rain about the Argus, and men cried out. All the steersmen were down, pincushioned, and Tito was handling the massive sweep alone, gasping black curses, his braced legs knots of straining thews. Then with a sob he sank down, a long shaft quivering in his sturdy heart. The Argus lost headway and rolled in the swell. The men shouted in confusion, and Conan took command in characteristic fashion.

CONAN: Up, lads!

SFX

CONAN: Grab your steel and give these dogs a few knocks before they cut our throats! Useless to bend your backs any more: they’ll board us ere we can row another fifty paces!

In desperation the sailors abandoned their oars and snatched up their
weapons. It was valiant, but useless. They had time for one flight of
arrows before the pirate was upon them. With no one at the sweep, the
Argus rolled broadside, and the steel-baked prow of the raider crashed
into her amidships. Grappling-irons crunched into the side. From the
lofty gunwales, the black pirates drove down a volley of shafts that
tore through the quilted jackets of the doomed sailormen, then sprang
down spear in hand to complete the slaughter. On the deck of the
pirate lay half a dozen bodies, an earnest of Conan’s archery.

The fight on the Argus was short and bloody. The stocky sailors, no
match for the tall barbarians, were cut down to a man. Elsewhere the
battle had taken a peculiar turn. Conan, on the high-pitched poop, was
on a level with the pirate’s deck. As the steel prow slashed into the
Argus, he braced himself and kept his feet under the shock, casting
away his bow. A tall corsair, bounding over the rail, was met in
midair by the Cimmerian’s great sword, which sheared him cleanly
through the torso, so that his body fell one way and his legs another.
Then, with a burst of fury that left a heap of mangled corpses along
the gunwales, Conan was over the rail and on the deck of the Tigress.

In an instant he was the center of a hurricane of stabbing spears and
lashing clubs. But he moved in a blinding blur of steel. Spears bent
on his armor or swished empty air, and his sword sang its death-song.
The fighting-madness of his race was upon him, and with a red mist of
unreasoning fury wavering before his blazing eyes, he cleft skulls,
smashed breasts, severed limbs, ripped out entrails, and littered the
deck like a shambles with a ghastly harvest of brains and blood.

SFX: Invulnerable in his armor, his back against the mast, he heaped mangled corpses at his feet until his enemies gave back panting in rage and fear.

CONAN: DIE!!! CROM!!! HARR!!! HAH!!! FEEL THE SWORD OF CONAN!!! ARRR!!!

Then as they lifted their spears to cast them, and he
tensed himself to leap and die in the midst of them, a shrill cry
froze the lifted arms. They stood like statues, the black giants
poised for the spear casts, the mailed swordsman with his dripping
blade.

Belit sprang before the blacks, beating down their spears. She turned
toward Conan, her bosom heaving, her eyes flashing. Fierce fingers of
wonder caught at his heart. She was slender, yet formed like a
goddess: at once lithe and voluptuous. Her only garment was a broad
silken girdle. Her white ivory limbs and the ivory globes of her
breasts drove a beat of fierce passion through the Cimmerian’s pulse,
even in the panting fury of battle. Her rich black hair, black as a
Stygian night, fell in rippling burnished clusters down her supple
back. Her dark eyes burned on the Cimmerian.

She was untamed as a desert wind, supple and dangerous as a she-
panther. She came close to him, heedless of his great blade, dripping
with blood of her warriors. Her supple thigh brushed against it, so
close she came to the tall warrior. Her red lips parted as she stared
up into his somber menacing eyes.

BELIT: Who are you? By Ishtar, I have never seen your like, though I have ranged the sea from the coasts of Zingara to the fires of the ultimate south. Whence come you?”

CONAN: From Argos… Belit…

BELIT: You are no soft Hyborian! You are fierce and hard as a gray wolf. Those eyes were never dimmed by city lights; those thews were never softened by life amid marble walls.”

CONAN: I am Conan, a Cimmerian…

Cool huh? I’m polishing my broadsword now (and that isn’t a euphemism for something by the way).

Posted by Jesse Willis

Review of Dreamsongs: Volume 1 by George R.R. Martin

SFFaudio Review

Selections from Dreamsongs, Volume 1 by George R.R. MartinSelections from Dreamsongs Volume 1: Fan Fiction and Sci-Fi from Martin’s Early Years
By George R.R. Martin; Read by Claudia Black, Mark Bramhall, Scott Brick, Roy Dotrice, Kim Mai Guest, Kirby Heyborne, and Adrian Paul
12 CDs; 15 hours; [UNABRIDGED SELECTIONS]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2007
ISBN: 9780739357125
Themes: / Science Fiction / Horror / Fantasy / Short Stories / Biography /

Audiobooks have evolved over the past few years in a number of ways. CD’s are now the norm, cassettes used to be. Many more titles are being made into audiobooks. But still, even though audiobooks are a distinct medium, they still haven’t taken the inevitable step away from print. This audiobook, which is quite excellent, is a good example of what I mean. Though this is a collection of short stories, nowhere, on the inside or outside of the packaging, does it list the Table of Contents. This kind of thing has audiobook listeners looking for the print version of the book for this information. It’s as if audiobooks are being made as an augmentation of their print counterparts. Surely, they should be created stand-alone. Information, like the Table of Contents of a short story collection, should not only be included, but it should be visible before purchase.

Still, like I said, this audiobook is excellent. It’s the first of three collections that contain selections from the three Dreamsongs books that collect George R.R. Martin’s short fiction. This Volume covers the early years of Martin’s career, from his fan fiction publications through his first sales to his first awards.

As interesting as the included stories are the biographical introductions to each section that are read by George R.R. Martin himself. These introductions are lengthy, though I would have enjoyed even more of them. He talks about his first writings, his first sale, his first nominations, and his first Hugo, for “A Song of Lya”. It’s a candid overview of a writer’s life, and I enjoyed it every bit as much as I enjoyed similar details in Stephen King’s On Writing.

A Four Color Fanboy, read by George R.R. Martin
“Only Kids are Afraid of the Dark”, read by Adrian Paul
“The Fortress”, read by Mark Bramhall
“And Death His Legacy”, read by Scott Brick
This section contains stories that Martin wrote for fanzines. If you want to read a villain’s monologue as written by George R.R. Martin, look no further than “Only Kids Are Afraid of the Dark”, which is a “hero meets demon prince” story. Adrian Paul gives the story an uplifting dramatic reading.

The Filthy Pro, read by George R.R. Martin
“The Hero”, read by Roy Dotrice
“The Exit to San Breta”, read by Scott Brick
“The Second Kind of Loneliness”, read by Mark Bramhall
“With Morning Comes Mistfall”, read by Claudia Black
Roy Dotrice should read all of George R.R. Martin’s fiction. He’s just got this gravel quality that seems to match so many of Martin’s heroes. In “The Hero”, Martin’s first story sale, which Dotrice reads, a future soldier who has finished his tour of duty decides not to re-enlist, and to request passage to Earth, as was promised when he signed on. Dotrice manages to make the soldier even more believable.

The Light of Distant Stars, read by George R.R. Martin
“A Song for Lya”, read by Mark Bramhall
“The Tower of Ashes”, read by Kirby Heyborne
“And Seven Times Never Kill Man”, read by Roy Dotrice
“The Stone City”, read by Adrian Paul
“Bitterblooms”, read by Kim Mai Guest
“The Way of Cross and Dragon”, read by Roy Dotrice
And here we see Martin at near full-strength. “A Song for Lya”, read by Mark Bramhall, is the centerpiece of this volume as far as I’m concerned. It won Martin his first Hugo, and is a moving story about a couple who arrives at a planet to investigate the influence of the indigenous alien religion on humans. “The Way of Cross and Dragon” again deals with religion, but this time in a form that closely resembles the Catholic Church.

Audible.com has all three volumes of Dreamsongs available now. Not only can you buy each volume, but they’ve also allowed you to purchase the individual sections of the books, each introduced by the author. Wonderful stuff!

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Review of Armageddon’s Children by Terry Brooks

SFFaudio Review

Fantasy Audiobook - Armageddon’s Children by Terry BrooksArmageddon’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.

Fantasy Audiobook - A Lick of Frost by Laurell K. HamiltonA 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.

Fantasy Audiobook - Dark Lord by Ed GreenwoodDark 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.

Science Fiction Audiobook - Berserker Fury by Fred SaberhagenBerserker 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.

Fantasy Fiction Audiobook - The Sharing Knife; Legacy by Lois McMaster Bujold 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
Listen to sample

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.

FREE Neil Gaiman short story A Study In Emerald

SFFaudio Online Audio

A wonderful gift from Harper Audio! A FREE Hugo Award winning (2004) Neil Gaiman short story, A Study In Emerald, it comes from Neil Gaiman’s collection entitled Fragile Things

Fantasy audiobook - short story - A Study In Scarlet by Neil GaimanA Study in Emerald
By Neil Gaiman; Read by Neil Gaiman
1 |MP3| – Approx. 49 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Harper Audio
Published: November 2007
Alluding to both the Sherlock Holmes canon and the Old Ones of the Cthulhu Mythos, this Hugo Award winning short story will delight fans of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, H.P. Lovecraft, and of course, Neil Gaiman. A Study in Emerald draws listeners in through carefully revealed details as a consulting detective and his narrator friend solve the mystery of a murdered German noble. But with its subtle allusions and surprise ending, this mystery hints that the real fun in solving this case lies in imagining all the details that Gaiman doesn’t reveal, and challenges listeners to be detectives themselves.

Posted by Jesse Willis