Tag: Marion Zimmer Bradley

The SFFaudio Podcast #078 – TALK TO: Fred Godsmark

Podcast

The SFFaudio PodcastThe SFFaudio Podcast #078 – Jesse talks with Fred Godsmark of Audio Realms and TheAudiobookShop.com:

Talked about on today’s show:
Audio Realms, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror audiobooks, Dark Realms Audio, Dark Desires Audio, what’s up with all the paranormal romance?, paranormal romance makes money, “paranormal romance is horror without the teeth”, the demographics of paranormal romance, Richard Laymon, The Travelling Vampire Show, Flesh, horror-thriller, Stand By Me, Dark Mountain, People Of The Dark, Robert E. Howard’s Celtic Conan vs. Robert E. Howard’s Cimmerian CONAN, C.H.U.D., Bram Stoker’s Lair Of The White Worm, The D’Ampton Worm, The Last Man On Earth, Vincent Price, Jesse’s Vincent Price Picture, Mel Blanc, Jack Palance, Kirk Douglas, Rumpelstiltskin, Dorchester Publications, Hard Case Crime, The Empty House and Other Ghost Stories by Algernon Blackwood, Wildside Press, The Haunted Island, Mr. Creepy Voice: Wayne June, The Call Of The Wild by Jack London, The SFFaudio Challenge, Dracula, H.P. Lovecraft, Gene Simmons‘ H.P. Lovecraft, S.T. Joshi, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Andre Norton, best fantasy novel 2007: Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper |READ OUR REVIEW|, Brian Hollsopple, The Caspak Series by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Doug McLure, Michael Moorcock, Audio Realm’s the Elric audiobooks, “there’s something wrong with living in Texas”, Elric of Melniboné by Michael Moorcock |READ OUR REVIEW|, Audio Realms is a small company with a big attitude, Audible.com, Brian Keene, TheAudiobookShop.com (MP3 downloads with no DRM), “Audible.com is where audiobooks happen”, the many formats of Audio Realms audiobooks, laserrot, the merits of the MP3-CD, dealing with distribution, Amazon.com is the Borg of books, working with robots named Bambi and Thumper, selling audiobooks to library, do you know anyone who uses WMA format?, Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, A Princess Of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Arvid Nelson’s Warlord Of Mars comic, The SyFy Channel vs Space: The Imagination Station, Sanctuary, it could be a “princess” movie, Donald Duck Of Mars, Duck Dodgers, BoingBoing’s Scrooge McDuck/Inception story, Donald Duck audiobooks, keep that horse in hay, horses are the new green cars.

Jesse Willis

LibriVox: The Planet Savers by Marion Zimmer Bradley

SFFaudio Online Audio

LibriVoxMarion Zimmer Bradley is best known as the author of The Mists Of Avalon, but her most long running series is set not in a fantasy middle ages of Earth, but rather on a far future Earth colony called Darkover. There are more than 40 books in the Darkover series. We have the very first one now available, thanks to LibriVox.org and the laudable narrator Mark Douglas Nelson!

The story’s pretty cool too, it’s told in first person by Dr. Jay Allison, an amnesiac. Allison shortly discovers that he is the only doctor on the planet qualified to solve the coming medical crisis, a “48-year fever” that’s a planetary pandemic that recurs at 48 year intervals. Making things even more difficult, we soon discover that his amnesia, is actually being caused by his multiple personality disorder (aka dissociative identity disorder).

The Planet Savers was first published as a “short novel” in a 1958 issue of Amazing Science Fiction magazine. In 1962 it became immortalized as one half of one of the famed Ace Doubles series (# F-153):

ACE DOUBLE (F-153) The Planet Savers by Marrion Zimmer Bradley

LIBRIVOX - The Planet Savers by Marion Zimmer BradleyThe Planet Savers
By Marion Zimmer Bradley; Read by Mark Douglas Nelson
4 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 3 Hours 11 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: May 28, 2010
The Terran colony on the planet Darkover faces imminent destruction by a plague of the deadly Trailmen’s Fever. The only hope is to develop a serum in time, but this requires the cooperation of the elusive native Trailmen, the brilliant parasitologist Dr. Jay Allison, and his split personality. First published in Amazing Science Fiction Stories, November 1958.

Podcast feed: http://librivox.org/rss/4246

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

Part 1 |MP3| Part 2 |MP3| Part 3 |MP3| Part 4 |MP3|

Here is a map of the planet Darkover (created for Wikipedia by David Speakman):

Map Of Darkover

[Thanks also to Betty M. and Diana Majlinger]

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: Year Of The Big Thaw by Marion Zimmer Bradley

SFFaudio Online Audio

From a new collection at LibriVox.org called Young Adult Short Works Collection Vol. 001 comes a short Marion Zimmer Bradley story.

Fantastic Universe May 1954Year Of The Big Thaw
By Marion Zimmer Bradley; Read by Tom Hackett
1 |MP3| – Approx. 15 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: July 5, 2009
In this warm and fanciful story of a Connecticut farmer, Marion Zimmer Bradley has caught some of the glory that is man’s love for man—no matter who he is nor whence he’s from. By heck, you’ll like little Matt. From Fantastic Universe, May 1954.

Also included in Young Adult Short Works Collection Vol. 001 is a humorous tale, Pigs Is Pigs by Ellis Parker Butler. I draw it to your attention primarily because it helped inspire Robert A. Heinlein’s The Rolling Stones (aka Space Family Stone). The Rolling Stones is a novel depicting an industrious family on an interplanetary tour of our solar system. One sequence, the part in which “Pigs Is Pigs” is mentioned, features an cuddly xenomorph called a “Flatcat.” Star Trek‘s David Gerrold later used a similar concept in his creation of the “Tribble.” Pigs Is Pigs is definitely neither Science Fiction or Fantasy, but it is funny. If you’re a bit curious have a listen |MP3|!

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: Short Science Fiction Collection Vol. 016

SFFaudio Online Audio

LibriVox - Short Science Fiction Collection Vol. 16Short Science Fiction Collection Vol. 016
By various; Read by various
10 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 3 Hours 19 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: May 2009
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, first published between 1951 and 1962, that entered the US public domain when their copyright was not renewed.

Podcast feed: http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/short-science-fiction-collection-vol-016.xml

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

Astounding Science Fiction June 1959All Day September
By Roger Kuykendall; Read by Bellona Times
1 |MP3| – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: May 19th, 2009
Some men just haven’t got good sense. They just can’t seem to learn the most fundamental things. Like when there’s no use trying—when it’s time to give up because it’s hopeless…
From Astounding Science Fiction June 1959.

Fantastic Universe January 1954Beyond The Door
By Philip K. Dick; Read by Gregg Margarite
1 |MP3| – Approx. 14 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: May 19th, 2009
Did you ever wonder at the lonely life the bird in a cuckoo clock has to lead—that it might possibly love and hate just as easily as a real animal of flesh and blood? Philip Dick used that idea for this brief fantasy tale. We’re sure that after reading it you’ll give cuckoo clocks more respect. From Fantastic Universe January 1954.

Astounding Science Fiction September 1955Blessed Are the Meek
By G.C. Edmondson; Read by M.White
1 |MP3| – Approx. 11 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: May 19th, 2009
Every strength is a weakness, and every weakness is a strength. And when the Strong start smashing each other’s strength … the Weak may turn out to be, instead, the Wise. This story was first published in the September 1955 issue of Astounding.

Fantastic Universe May 1954The Calm Man
By Frank Belknap Long; Read by Gregg Margarite
1 |MP3| – Approx. 29 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: May 19th, 2009
Dip the pen of a Frank Belknap Long into a bottle of ink and the result is always bound to be a scintillating piece of brilliant imaginative science fiction. And he’s done it again in the tortured story of Sally. From Fantastic Universe, May 1954.

Planet Stories January 1954The Crystal Crypt
By Philip K. Dick; Read by Gregg Margarite
1 |MP3| – Approx. 42 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: May 19th, 2009
Stark terror ruled the Inner-Flight ship on that last Mars-Terra run. For the black-clad Leiters were on the prowl … and the grim red planet was not far behind. First published in the January 1954 issue of Planet Stories.

Amazing Science Fiction Stories September 1958The Gift Bearer
By Charles L. Fontenay; Read by Bellona Times
1 |MP3| – Approx. 13 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: May 19th, 2009
This could well have been Montcalm’s greatest opportunity; a chance to bring mankind priceless gifts from worlds beyond. But Montcalm was a solid family man—and what about that nude statue in the park? From Amazing Science Fiction Stories’ September 1958 issue.

Fantastic Universe January 1957Out Of This World Convention
An essay by Forrest J. Ackerman; Read by Jozef Nagy
1 |MP3| – Approx. [CONVENTION REPORT]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: May 19th, 2009
An eye-witness account of the 14th World Science Fiction Convention in session. First published in Fantastic Universe in January 1957.


Astounding Stories November 1932A Scientist Rises
By D.W. Hall; Read by dana-allen
1 |MP3| – Approx. 18 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: May 19th, 2009
All gazed, transfixed, at the vast form that
towered above them. From the November 1932 issue of Astounding Stories.

Fantastic Universe January 1954Texas Week
By Albert Hemhuter; Read by Bellona Times
1 |MP3| – Approx. 11 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: May 19th, 2009
One of the chief purposes of psychiatry is to separate fantasy from reality. It is reasonable to expect that future psychiatrists will know more about this borderline than the most learned doctors of today. Yet now and again even the best of them may encounter situations that defy all logic. From the January 1954 issue of Fantastic Universe.

Fantastic Universe May 1954Year Of The Big Thaw
By Marion Zimmer Bradley; Read by Greg Weeks
1 |MP3| – Approx. 17 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: May 19th, 2009
“In this warm and fanciful story of a Connecticut farmer, Marion Zimmer Bradley has caught some of the glory that is man’s love for man—no matter who he is nor whence he’s from. By heck, you’ll like little Matt.”
From the May 1954 issue of Fantastic Universe.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Audio Realms an update

SFFaudio News

Audio RealmsThough fairly quiet of late, Audio Realms has been busy recording some classic SF, Fantasy and Horror that we’ll be telling you a lot more about very soon. The ringleader there, Fred Godsmark, says he’ll be following up the recently released Andre Norton novel “Voodoo Planet” (details of which have just been added to our ANDRE NORTON author’s page) with an unabridged release of Norton’s The Time Traders!

Audio Realms recently won accolades for their 2007 release called Little Fuzzy. That’s H. Beam Piper’s best loved novel! The acclaim came from none other than Publisher’s Weekly magazine! Little Fuzzy won “Best Fantasy AudioBook for 2007!”

Currently available from this Audio Realms are classics like:

The Land That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The People That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Out of Time’s Abyss by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Further, a new “urban horror” imprint of Audio Realms saw the release of two sure fire hits:

Hide And Seek by Jack Ketchum and
The Traveling Vampire Show by Richard Laymon

And their popular Dark Worlds of H.P. Lovecraft series is up to Volume 6 now too! But it doesn’t all end there. The near future portends even more goodies:

The Rising by Brian Keene
The Door Through Space by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Things That Are Not There by C.J. Henderson
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
People Of The Dark by Robert E. Howard (this includes a Conan story, Queen Of The Black Coast)

And even a Weird Tales collection!

Fred’s going to be sending review copies of a lot of these. That will make some serious internecine fighting in the SFFaudio review clubhouse. Which reminds me, I need to add some more obsidian shards to the end of my club.

Posted by Jesse Willis