Kurt Vonnegut – Page 5

LibriVox: Short Science Fiction Stories Collection #005

SFFaudio Online Audio

The “Short Science Fiction Collections” from LibriVox are FREE and FUN! Here’s the latest, which includes mostly new stories (a couple of stories previously recorded by other narrators). My recommended listens from this collection include: Summit, Crossroads Of Destiny and A Matter Of Magnitude. Also, listen to The Untouchable and Quiet, Please, if only for the voice of new narrator Jerome Lawson. Lawson is trying and achieving distinctive voices for each character – it’s not polished to perfection yet, but he’s really got something there. Lawson also has great sound set-up too. I’d like to hear more of his work in the next collection – or in novella or novel length work. And, thanks to all the narrators and the administrators at LibriVox for these! We appreciate it folks!

Short Science Fiction Collection Vol. 005
By various; Read by various
10 Zipped MP3s or Podcast – Approx. 5.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: April 2008
“Science fiction (abbreviated SF or sci-fi with varying punctuation and case) is a broad genre of fiction that often involves sociological and technical speculations based on current or future science or technology. This is a reader-selected collection of short stories, originally published between 1931 and 1962, that entered the US public domain when their copyright was not renewed.”

Stories included:

2BR02B
By Kurt Vonnegut Jr.; Read by Hoosemon
1 |MP3| – Approx. 16 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: April 2008
In the not so distant future an over-populated planet requires that every birth be balanced by a death. When Edward K. Whelig, Jr.’s wife births triplets he needs to find three people willing to enter a local suicide booth and give him the receipt…

The Burning Bridge
By Poul Anderson; Read by Alex C. Telander
1 |MP3| – Approx. 52 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: April 2008
Usually there are two “reasons” why something is done; the reason why it needs to be done, and, quite separate, the reason people want to do it. The foul-up starts when the reason-for-wanting is satisfied … and the need remains! This story was first published in Astounding Science Fiction magazine’s January 1960 issue.
*From Worlds of If, January 1962.

Circus
By Alan E. Nourse; Read by RK Wilcox
1 |MP3| – Approx. 16 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: April 2008
Not a strange-looking man, Morgan thought. Rather ordinary, in fact. A plain face, nose a little too long, fingers a little too dainty, a suit that doesn’t quite seem to fit, but all in all, a perfectly ordinary looking man. *First published in 1963 in “The Counterfeit Man -More Science Fiction Stories”.

Crossroads of Destiny
By H. Beam Piper; Read by Alex C. Telander
1 |MP3| – Approx. 21 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: April 2008
No wonder he’d been so interested in the talk of whether our people accepted these theories! *First published in the July 1959 issue of Fantastic Universe Science Fiction magazine.

Egocentric Orbit
By John Cory; Read by Elanor
1 |MP3| – Approx. 6 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: April 2008
It took a long time for human beings to accept that our little piece of meteoric rubble wasn’t the exact and absolute center of the Universe. It does appear that way, doesn’t it? It may not take so long for a spaceman to learn … First published in Astounding Science Fiction’s May 1960 issue.

A Matter Of Magnitude
By Al Sevcik; Read by RK Wilcox
1 |MP3| – Approx. 13 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: April 2008
When you’re commanding a spaceship over a mile long, and armed to the teeth, you don’t exactly expect to be told to get the hell out … *First published in the pages of Amazing Science Fiction Stories, January 1960.

Quiet, Please
By Kevin Scott; Read by Jerome Lawsen
1 |MP3| Approx. 6 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: April 2008
Groverzb knew what he wanted—peace and quiet. He was willing to scream his head off for it!
*First published in Worlds of If magazine’s November 1961 issue.

The Untouchable
By Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.; Read by Jerome Lawsen
1 |MP3| – Approx. 11 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: April 2008
“You can see it—you can watch it—but mustn’t touch!” And what could possibly be more frustrating … when you need, most violently, to get your hands on it for just one second… *From Analog magazine’s December 1960 issue.

Summit
By Mack Reynolds; Read by RK Wilcox
1 |MP3| – Approx. 12 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: April 2008
Almost anything, if it goes on long enough, can be reduced to, first a Routine, and then, to a Tradition. And at the point it is, obviously, Necessary. *First published in Astounding Science Fiction’s February, 1960 issue.

The Yillian Way
By Keith Laumer; Read by John Larmour
1 |MP3| – Approx. 37 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: April 2008
The ceremonious protocol of the Yills was impressive, colorful—and, in the long run, deadly!

Subscribe to the podcast feed via this url:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/short-science-fiction-collection-vol-005.xml

Posted by Jesse Willis

New Releases

O’ audiobook, you of your flowing tears, you make me covetous…

Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said
By Philip K. Dick; Read by Scott Brick
7 Cassettes, 7 CDs or 1 MP3-CD – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks
Published: January 2008
ISBN: 1433211232 (cassettes), 1433211249 (cds), 1433211256 (mp3-cd)
Pop star Jason Taverner is the product of a top-secret government experiment that produced a selection of genetically enhanced people forty years ago. Unusually bright and beautiful, he’s a television idol beloved by millions—until one day, all records of his identity inexplicably disappear. Overnight, he has gone from being a celebrity to a being a man whom no one seems to recognize. And in a police state, having no proof of his existence is enough to put his life in danger.

This Asaro novel isn’t in the Skolian Empire series, but its tech will be familiar to those who’ve read them…

Sunrise Alley
By Catherine Asaro; Read by Hillary Huber
11 Cassettes, 12 CDs or 1 MP3-CD – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks
Published:December 2007
ISBN: 1433212994 (cassettes), 1433213007 (cds), 1433213014 (mp3-cd)
When a shipwrecked stranger washed up on the beach near research scientist Samantha Bryton’s home, she was unaware that he was something more than human. He said his name was Turner Pascal—but Pascal was dead, killed in a car wreck. This man only held the remainder of Pascal’s consciousness in a technologically-enhanced humanoid body. He was, in fact, an experiment by the notorious criminal Charon, a practitioner of illegal robotics and android research. Charon has been secretly copying human minds into android brains, with plans to make his own army of slaves. On the run from this most ruthless criminal, Samatha and Turner seek help from Sunrise Alley, an underground organization of AIs and androids that have gone rogue. But these cybernetic outlaws are rumored to have their own hidden agenda.

Below is the third audiobook version of The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, the first being a very abridged reading by Robert Vaughn, the second, released through Recorded Books in 1999, was read by George Wilson.

The Cat Who Walks Through Walls
By Robert A. Heinlein; Read by Tom Weiner
9 Cassettes, 10 CDs or 1 MP3-CD – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks
Published: December 2007
ISBN: 1433212901 (cassettes), 1433212918 (cds), 1433212925 (mp3-cd)
When a stranger attempting to deliver a cryptic message is shot dead at his dinner table, Ames is thrown headfirst into danger, intrigue, and other dimensions where Lazarus Long still thrives, where Jubal Harshaw lives surrounded by beautiful women, and where a daring plot to rescue the sentient computer called Mike can change the direction of all human history.

“Swashbuckling adventure, science fiction, betrayal and a bit of romance… no leprechauns and no fairies, and absolutely no apprentice wizards.” – Check out the trailer for this novel on Eoin Colfer’s website

Airman
By Eoin Colfer; Read by John Keating
CDs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: December 26, 2007
ISBN: 0739359746
In the 1890s Conor and his family live on the sovereign Saltee Islands, off the Irish coast. Conor spends his days studying the science of flight with his tutor and exploring the castle with the king’s daughter, Princess Isabella. But the boy’s idyllic life changes forever the day he discovers a deadly conspiracy against the king. When Conor tries to intervene, he is branded a traitor and thrown into jail on the prison island of Little Saltee. There, he has to fight for his life, as he and the other prisoners are forced to mine for diamonds in inhumane conditions. There is only one way to escape Little Saltee, and that is to fly. So Conor passes the solitary months by scratching drawings of flying machines on the prison walls. The months turn into years; but eventually the day comes when Conor must find the courage to trust his revolutionary designs and take to the skies.

This 1983 Koontz novel has elements from John Carpenter’s version of The Thing, and the “shoggoths” envisioned in the works of H.P. Lovecraft…

Phantoms by Dean Koontz Phantoms
By Dean Koontz; Read by Buck Schirner
12 CDs – 15 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: January 2008
ISBN: 9781423339267
They found the town silent, apparently abandoned. Then they found the first body strangely swollen and still warm. One hundred fifty were dead, 350 missing. But the terror had only begun in the tiny mountain town of Snowfield, California. At first they thought it was the work of a maniac. Or terrorists. Or toxic contamination. Or a bizarre new disease. But then they found the truth. And they saw it in the flesh. And it was worse than anything any of them had ever imagined…

The King of modern horror, Stephen King, writes again…

Duma Key
By Stephen King; Read by John Slattery
18 CDs – 23 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Publisher: January 2008
A terrible accident takes Edgar Freemantle’s right arm and scrambles his memory and his mind, leaving him with little but rage as he begins the ordeal of rehabilitation. When his marriage suddenly ends, Edgar begins to wish he hadn’t survived his injuries. He wants out. His psychologist suggests a new life distant from the Twin Cities, along with something else…

Somehow we missed this classic in the fall releases…

Cat’s Cradle
By Kurt Vonnegut; Read by Tony Roberts
6 CDs – 7 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: HarperAudio
Published: November 2007
ISBN: 9780061135200
Cat’s Cradle is Vonnegut’s satirical commentary on modern man and his madness. An apocalyptic tale of this planet’s ultimate fate, it features a midget as the protagonist; a complete, original theology created by a calypso singer; and a vision of the future that is at once blackly fatalistic and hilariously funny.

Here’s a podiobook that sound promising…

Beautiful Red
By M. Darusha Wehm; Read by M. Darusha Wehm
23 MP3 Files (Podcast) – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Podiobooks.com
Published: 2007 – 2008
The future is boring. Technology has solved the world’s most pressing problems, leaving people with tedious work and mundane play. Jack is a Security Officer Class 5, which sounds important, but isn’t. However, her banal life as a cubicle worker by day and tinkerer by night is interrupted when she discovers that her employer’s computer system has been invaded.

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: Short Science Fiction Stories Collection #002

SFFaudio Online Audio

Short Science Fiction Stories Collection #002
By various; Read by various
10 Zipped MP3s – Approx. 4 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: November 17, 2007
“Science fiction (abbreviated SF or sci-fi with varying punctuation and case) is a broad genre of fiction that often involves sociological and technical speculations based on current or future science or technology. This is the second volume of reader-selected collection of short stories originally published between 1941 and 1963, that entered the US public domain when their copyright was not renewed.”

Subscribe to the podcast feed via this URL:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/short-science-fiction-collection-vol-002.xml

Or get the stories individually:

LibriVox - 2BR02B by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. 2BR02B
By Kurt Vonnegut, Jr; Read by Bruce Bell-Myers
1 |MP3| – Approx. 18 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: November 17, 2007
In the not so distant future an over-populated planet requires that every birth be balanced by a death. When Edward K. Whelig, Jr.’s wife births triplets he needs to find three people willing to enter a local suicide booth and give him the receipt…

The Answer
By H. Beam Piper; Read by Nicodemus
1 |MP3| Approx. 25 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: November 17, 2007

The Blue Tower*
By Evelyn E. Smith; Read by Betsie Bush
1 |MP3| Approx. 34.5 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: November 17, 2007
*This is an SFFaudio Challenge #2 title!

Bread Overhead*
By Fritz Leiber;Read by Betsie Bush
1 |MP3| Approx. 33 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: November 17, 2007
*There are two other readings of this story available too! Here and here.

The Burning Bridge
By Poul Anderson; Read by Nicodemus
1 |MP3| Approx. 57 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: November 17, 2007

Second Sight
By Alan E. Nourse; Read by Jodi Krangle
1 |MP3| Approx. 27 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: November 17, 2007

Solomon’s Orbit
By William Carroll; Read by Anton
1 |MP3| Approx. 21 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: November 17, 2007

The Troubadour
By Robert A.W. Lowndes; Read by Cori Samuel
1 |MP3| Approx. 9 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: November 17, 2007

The Ultimate Experiment
By Thornton DeKy; Read by Nicodemus
1 |MP3| Approx. 9 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

Untechnological Employment
By E. M. Clinton, Jr.; Read by Tysto
1 |MP3| Approx. 6 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: November 17, 2007

Posted by Jesse Willis

BBC7 features: Vonnegut, and Secret Weapons of WWII

SFFaudio Online Audio

Remembrance Day Poppy As November 11th is Remembrance Day here in Canada I thought it ok to include a war history (almost alternate history) radio drama from BBC7. The play is set in Alberta on Lake Patricia (near Lake Louise). In the middle of the lake under the clear water lies the metal frame of Habakkuk, a ship for which a secret is about to be revealed. Everyone should listen for the fascinating true story of professor Geoffrey Pyke in…

Habakkuk of Ice
By Steve Walker; Performed by a full cast
1 Broadcast – [RADIO DRAMA]*
Broadcaster: BBC7
Broadcast: Thursday November 15th @ 11am and 5am
“There is a cold clear lake in Northern Alberta called Patricia. Take one of the two rowboats that lie beside the lake. Row out into the middle of the lake. Lean over the side. Open your eyes in the clear water and before your eyeballs freeze you will see the twisted metal skeletal remains that supported the body of Habbakuk, a battleship made of ice.”
*Incidentally you can read the script for the play HERE.

Next up is a “fast moving science fiction drama” by the team behind Cold Blood…

The Voice of God
By Simon Bovey; Performed by a full cast
5 Broadcasts – [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC7 / The 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Monday to Friday at 6pm and midnight
When a series of earthquakes rock Australia, seismologist, Sam Rideout and her outback guide Joshua Patamerri track the epicentre to a top secret facility researching the use of infrasound as a weapon. Following the mysterious death of the team’s seismologist, Sam and Joshua are asked to help.

Less interesting to myself (I’m not a super fan) is a collection of Kurt Vonnegut fiction including…

Report On The Barnhouse Effect
By Kurt Vonnegut; Read by Stuart Milligan
1 Broadcast – 30 Minutes [ABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC7 / The 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Sunday at 6:30pm and 12:30am
Professor Barnhouse discovers a way of channelling his mind to control the forces of nature. He sees his skill as a marvellous opportunity to secure world peace. However, the American government has other ideas.

Slaughterhouse 5
By Kurt Vonnegut; Read by Robert Jezek
4 Broadcasts – [ABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC7 / The 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Monday to Thursday at 6:30pm and 12:30am
Billy Pilgrim, is a boy soldier, an innocent abroad armed only with a pencil stub. He’s so traumatised by the experience of witnessing the decimation of Dresden by Allied bombing in February 1945 that he becomes unstuck in time, even to the extent that he experiences alien abduction.

Thanasphere
By Kurt Vonnegut; Read by Kerry Shale
1 Broadcast – 30 Minutes [ABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC7 / The 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Friday at 6:30pm and 12:30am
A military space mission is taken over by the voices of the dead, calling back to earth. How will the generals and scientist in charge cope with this sudden confrontation with mortality?

Posted by Jesse Willis

1970 Kurt Vonnegut speech on KPFA.org website

SFFaudio Online Audio

Radio station KPFA‘s “cover to cover OPEN BOOK” program has posted a 1/2 hour speech given by Kurt Vonnegut in 1970. Have a listen |MP3| to what one listener described this way: “After a rather fumbling introduction by the KPFA announcer, a somewhat rambling but interesting lecture by KV. He describes The Big Space Fuck among other matters…from 1970, with the scary words pre-empted by the sound of a plate smashing.”

posted by Jesse Willis

Starship Sofa podcast talks about Science Fiction’s authors and author/editors

SFFaudio Online Audio

Tony and Ciaran’s Starship Sofa podcast is chugging along, talking about Science Fiction in literate hour (or so) long chats. Below we’ve linked to the latest author and author/editor shows but you’ll also find email shows, shows on TV programmes and movies, a couple Christmas specials and even a theme show on religion in Science Fiction in their podcast feed. And if you surf over tho their website you’ll find the links to their older episodes too!

Recent shows author and author/editor shows:

Show #32: Classic Author: Jack Vance |MP3|
Show #33: Classic Author: Clark Ashton Smith |MP3|
Show #34: Classic Author: H.G. Wells |MP3|
Show #35: Classic Author: Charles Beaumont |MP3|
Show #37: Classic Author/Editor: John W. Campbell |MP3|
Show #38: Classic Author: Harry Harrison |MP3|
Show #39: Classic Author: Kurt Vonnegut Jr. |MP3|
Show #40: Classic Author/Editor: Frederick Pohl |MP3|
Show #41: Classic Author: Damon Knight |MP3|

To subscribe to the Starship Sofa podcast plug this feed into your podcatcher:

http://starshipsofa.libsyn.com/rss

posted by Jesse Willis