LibriVox – Page 54

LibriVox: My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Styles Gannett

SFFaudio Online Audio

LibriVox

This audiobook is made from a respected kid’s fantasy book from 1948. It has a unusual narrative voice being the adventures of the narrator’s father. Even better the actual narrator of this audiobook is himself a kid! Yup, it’s made of pure awesomeness. Seriously, it’s got a drippy cat, a kid named Elmer Elevator, a baby dragon and 25 peanut butter sandwiches! What more do we need? Maybe seven tigers who love chewing gum? Check!

My Father’s Dragon
By Ruth Styles Gannett; Read by Gregory Holdsworth
10 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 51 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: September 14, 2009
A story about a boy who befriends a cat and then sets off on an adventure to rescue a dragon.

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/my-fathers-dragon-by-ruth-stiles-garnett.xml

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

The eText version of this book is also available at the University Of Pennsylvania’s Digital Open Library’s website. It’s definitely worth checking out as each chapter of this book has wonderful illustrations! See it |HERE|.

You can’t build up a proper Fantasy world without giving your reader a map, so here it is:

My Father's Dragon - Map Of The Island Of Tangeria And Wild Island

Also check out the Wikipedia.org entry for this book, it details the history, sequels and filmic adaptation.

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: Dracula by Bram Stoker

SFFaudio Online Audio

Listening For The League's Gentlemen At LibriVox Here’s another older LibriVox audiobook featuring a character found in Alan Moore’s League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Wilhelmina “Mina” Harker (née Murray) is lucky enough to survive this novel and then go on to be the core characters around which the events of Moore’s first comix collection swirl. She’s the proper Englishwoman wearing a large scarf over her neck. She plays a literally pivotal role in Vol. 1 of The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen. This version is not read by a single narrator, but, that’s okay in this case because Dracula is told from multiple (and ever shifting) viewpoints.

Dracula
By Bram Stoker; Read by various
27 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 16 Hours 31 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: May 10, 2006

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/dracula-by-bram-stoker.xml

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: King Solomon’s Mines by H. Rider Haggard

SFFaudio Online Audio

Listening For The League's Gentlemen At LibriVox This is the first in a series of posts in which I will examine LibriVox’s back catalogue looking for the characters and references that Alan Moore has put into his comic The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen. This, the first post, features Allan Quatermain, adventurer and man of action, in his first novel. This is prior to his descent into a despicable opium addiction. It’s a single voiced narration, and I’ve made some cool cover art for it too.

Read now Haggard’s introduction from the 1898 edition:

“The author ventures to take this opportunity to thank his readers for the kind reception they have accorded to the successive editions of this tale during the last twelve years. He hopes that in its present form it will fall into the hands of an even wider public, and that in years to come it may continue to afford amusement to those who are still young enough at heart to love a story of treasure, war, and wild adventure.”

King Solomon’s Mines
By H. Rider Haggard; Read by John Nicholson
20 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 9 Hours 50 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: 2006
King Solomon’s Mines, first published in 1885, was a best-selling novel by the Victorian adventure writer H. Rider Haggard. It relates a journey into the heart of Africa by a group of adventurers led by Allan Quatermain in search of the legendary wealth said to be concealed in the mines of the novel’s title. It is significant as the first fictional adventure novel set in Africa, and is considered the genesis of the Lost World literary genre. – Haggard wrote over 50 books, among which were 14 novels starring Allan Quatermain.

Podcast feed:
http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/king-solomons-mines-by-haggard.xml

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

Here’s the cool map from the back of the Dell Books “mapback” edition:

King Solomon's Mines - Dell Mapback map

Posted by Jesse Willis

Assorted new LibriVox Science Fiction short stories

SFFaudio Online Audio

Here are three short Science Fiction stories with a humorous bent. They’re taken from a new LibriVox audiobook called Coffee Break Collection 001. Book coordinator Bellona Times sez:

“This is a collection of short (15 minute or less readings) stories suitable for a coffee break at work or a short commuter ride. Emphasis for this collection is Humor in various genres — fiction and non-fiction.”

Beyond Pandora has been recorded previously (for the Short Science Fiction Collection Vol. 014) – it’s an SF story that tries hard to make a scary medical problem funny. I’m not sure that it succeeds with the humour, but it might be a fruitful line of medical inquiry anyway.

Graeme Dunlop brings his Australian accent to the reading of Hard Guy. This story too has been previously recorded (in Short Science Fiction Collection Vol. 015). It’s a hitchhiker and road gangs story set on an atomic highway.

The all new (to audio) story in this collection is Poppa Needs Shorts. It’s a silly little story that trades on a peculiarity of the English language. But it also makes a very interesting point, namely that toddlers are actually practicing scientists! Sure, baby-proofing your house might make it safer for your baby, but it defeats many of the experiments that your tiny scientist can perform. It’s a very clever tale. Narrator Patti Cunningham does a nice job reading it too.

Beyond Pandora
By Robert J. Martin; Read by msjodi777
1 |MP3| – Approx. 5 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: September 11, 2009
The ideal way to deal with a pest—any menace—is, of course, to make it useful to you… From Analog September 1962.

Hard Guy
By H.B. Carelton; Read by Graeme Dunlop
1 |MP3| – Approx. 7 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: September 11, 2009
There will be fine, glittering, streamlined automobiles in 2000 A.D. Possibly they will run themselves while the driver sits back with an old-fashioned in his hands. Perhaps they will carry folks down the highways at ninety miles an hour in perfect safety. But picking up a hitch-hiker will still be as dangerous as it is today. From Amazing Stories April 1956.

Poppa Needs Shorts
By Walt Richmond and Leigh Richmond; Read by Patti Cunningham
1 |MP3| – Approx. 13 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: September 11, 2009
Given valid data, you can reach completely wrong conclusions. But given a wrong conclusion, you can still get a right answer! From Analog Science Fact & Fiction January 1964.

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock

SFFaudio Online Audio

Mark F. Smith, of Simpsonville, South Carolina, is the sole narrator of the latest LibriVox gothic novel. It’s author, Thomas Love Peacock, was a close friend of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s and an employee of the East India Company. Writes Mark F. Smith:

“Peacock wrote Nightmare Abbey as a satire, and he has folded in allusions to or quotations from literally dozens of other works [the details of which are HERE]. He makes use of many long, impressive-sounding words (some of which he very possibly made up!). Ignore these and his occasional Latin phrase, treat the rest as a farce, and you’re on track for a fun listen!”

Nightmare Abbey
By Thomas Love Peacock; Read by Mark F. Smith
15 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 3 Hours 23 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: August 26, 2009
Deep in the fens of the British coast sits the gloomy mansion that goes by the name Nightmare Abbey. It is inhabited by persons of very low opinion of the human race, and in fact they pride themselves in the depths of their detestation. Others of its denizens believe the ultimate exercise and product of the human mind ought to be chaos. Now let the young master of the house get snared by the wiles of a beautiful young lady. And for good measure, toss in another beautiful young lady. Now Scythrop (named in honor of an ancestor who became bored with life and hanged himself) is about to find that two such make too much of a good thing!

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/nightmare-abbey-by-thomas-love-peacock.xml

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

Posted by Jesse Willis

The SFFaudio Podcast #034 – READALONG: The Steel Remains by Richard K. Morgan

Podcast

The SFFaudio Podcast #034 – Jesse and Scott have invited a roster of internet celebrities on for this podcast to talk about Richard K. Morgan‘s novel The Steel Remains. Listen in as…

Brian Murphy (of The Silver Key blog and The Cimmerian),

Gregg Margarite (LibriVox.org narrator and book coordinator),

and Luke Burrage (professional juggler and host of the Science Fiction Book Review Podcast) discuss…

The Steel Remains by Richard K. Morgan [AN UNABRIDGED AUDIOBOOK from TANTOR MEDIA]!

Talked about on today’s show:
The Cimmerian blog, Deathworld by Harry Harrison @ LibriVox.org, The Real Fantastic Stuff an essay by Richard K. Morgan, J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord Of The Rings, noir, Sci-Fi Dimensions interview with Richard K. Morgan (not Dark Horizons), homosexuality, nihilism, anti-hero, the Takeshi Kovacs novels (Altered Carbon, Broken Angels, Woken Furies), Morgan’s Thirteen (aka Black Man), Tolkien’s The Silmarillion, Adam Robert’s letter to Hugo fans (about the Hugo nominees), Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother, Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book, the Hugo Awards, Morgan’s Market Forces, Lord Valentine’s Castle by Robert Silverberg, George R.R. Martin’s A Song Of Ice And Fire, David Eddings, Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson, Terry Brooks, the Dragonlance series, magic, Tolkien’s use of magic, Morgan’s use of magic in The Steel Remains, characterization in The Steel Remains, recurring themes in Morgan’s novels, Robert E. Howard‘s Conan, what is Ringil Eskiath’s motivation?, what does everyone think of The Steel Remains?, what is the nature maps in Fantasy novels?, The Darkness That Comes Before by Scott Bakker. Next week we’ll talk about more audiobooks with these guys too.

Posted by Jesse Willis