medicine – Page 3

CBS Radio Mystery Theater: The Rise And Fall Of The Fourth Reich by Henry Slesar

SFFaudio Online Audio

Karel Thole illustration for The Rise And Fall Of The Fourth Reich - from Urania #729

I have a sudden desire to eat Uncle Ben’s rice and buy a 1976 Buick. Yes folks I’ve been listening to more CBS Radio Mystery Theater.

The episode this time was called The Rise And Fall Of The Fourth Reich and was written by Henry Slesar.

Slesar was an interesting writer. He wrote in nearly every capacity that a writer can. Being a copywriter (he apparently coined the phrase “coffee break”). But he wrote plenty of fiction too. He was the head writer on an intriguing sounding daytime soap opera (a thriller series modeled after Perry Mason books), he wrote movie screenplays, TV movie scripts, mystery novels, and dozens of radio dramas. But he also wrote a lot of SF short stories – and that’s where things get a bit murky because I’m actually not sure if this story was an adaptation of the text, or if the text was an adaptation of the play. The play of The Rise And Fall Of The Fourth Reich aired first, being broadcast in the spring of 1975. But the short story of the same name came out shortly thereafter in F&SF.

For our purposes I guess it doesn’t really matter too much either way because the only version of the story available in the audio format is the CBS Radio Mystery Theater play.

Set in Mexico, in the 1970s, the storyline isn’t radically dissimilar from the 1976 Ira Levin novel The Boys From Brazil (later to be made into a film of the same name). I enjoyed the plotting, which features both the quest for immortality, the fruit of horrific Nazi experiments, and most of all the desire for revenge.

Here it is, as it aired exactly 37 years ago today…

CBS Radio Mystery Theater CBSRMT #0275 – The Rise And Fall Of The Fourth Reich
By Henry Slesar; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 46 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBS Radio
Broadcast: May 16, 1975
A Nazi fantasy? In this weird tale, two scientists discover an aged and sickly Adolf Hitler in 1970’s Mexico City. They begin to try and restore his health and youth through their experiments. First published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, August 1975.

Cast:
Robert Dryden
Ken Harvey
Paul Hecht
Joe Silver

The Rise And Fall Of The Fourth Reich by Henry Slesar - from Fantasy & Science Fiction, August 1975

[via the wonderful CBSRMT.com]

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: The Hate Disease by Murray Leinster

SFFaudio Online Audio

Here’s a promising sounding novella from my buddy Gregg Margarite and LibriVox.org. It’s set in the same universe and features the same characters as one I just posted about. Murray Leinster’s interstellar medical hero Dr. Calhoun and his semi-sentient furry companion Murgatroyd are a fun pair and so while listening to the start of this one I was reminded of one of my favourite public domain audiobooks, Dr. Alan E. Nourse’s Star Sugeon |READ OUR REVIEW|. Thinking about that got me to thinking about the amount of medical Science Fiction out there. There’s probably a lot more than I know about. One other public domain audiobook I can think of off the top of my head is Lester del Rey’s Badge Of Infamy.

It’s a solid one!

And then, expanding beyond the public domain, I thought about Michael Crichton’s The Andromeda Strain |READ OUR REVIEW|. Given how much I enjoy it I’m thinking medical Science Fiction should be a lot more prominent in my reading than it actually is. But I don’t see a lot of NEW medical SF out there. What gives? Is medical SF just too hard to write now? Or must one be, like Nourse and Crichton, both a physician and a writer to write consistently write convincing medical Science Fiction?

Until I figure it out I’ve got this one…

The Hate Disease
By Murray Leinster; Read by Gregg Margarite
1 M4B, 2 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 2 Hours 2 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: October 28, 2010
Dr. Calhoun and his pet tormal Murgatroyd work for the Interstellar Medical Service making routine public health inspections on far-flung colonial planets. When they reach Tallien Three they are greeted with a rocket attack by the Paras, a mutated form of human rapidly replacing the “normals”. The normals think it’s a pandemic of demonic possession but Calhoun has his doubts. If he can keep from turning into a Para, or being assassinated by them he just might figure this thing out. First published in Analog Science Fact & Fiction August 1963.

Podcast feed: http://librivox.org/rss/4839

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

[Thanks also to Betty for prooflistening!]

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: This World Is Taboo by Murray Leinster

SFFaudio Online Audio

LibriVox My favourite thing (that I know of) to come out of Simpsonville, South Carloina is narrator Mark F. Smith. To me he’s just a voice, a dude who reads a lot of the audiobooks that I often listen to, but rarely comment on. This novel, particularly, is a rather special to me as it is the only audiobook I’ve ever attempted to record for myself. That attempt, thankfully lost on some old hard-drive somewhere, was a complete and utter failure. But when Mark F. Smith reads it I can see just how dismal was my reading was and how easy Smith makes it seem. Mark F. Smith’s voice isn’t particularly resonant, nor is it particularly distinctive. I don’t even think his voice a whole lot better than mine. But, what Mark’s voice has, which mine lacks, is a whole lot of consistency, a kind of vocal solidity which is absolutely required to make an audiobook truly listenable. Smith’s pronunciation isn’t perfect. But I know how hard that is too. Take this word: “Asclepius”

It’s the name of one of the ships in the story.

I spent maybe five or six minutes researching it, and then figuring out how to pronounce it. I can do it now, like a champ actually – uh-sklee-pee-uhs – but, when I actually ran into it in the text I kept pausing to pronounce it, and ruining the audiobook’s flow. Smith’s pronunciation, though close, isn’t right, at least not exactly, but it does flow – and that’s far more than I could ever achieve.

Thanks Mark F. Smith. Your readings are appreciated on multiple levels!

This World Is Taboo
By Murray Leinster; Read by Mark F. Smith
8 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 4 Hours 1 Minute [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: June 17, 2010
Calhoun is an Interstellar Medical Serviceman, and he’s needed on Dara. Trouble is: Dara is forbidden. Taboo. And breaking quarantine will make Calhoun a presumed plague-carrier and subject to being shot on sight by anyone from Weald. But hey! If he did the smart thing, we wouldn’t have a story! But why are men from Dara shooting at him? First published in Amazing, July 1961 under the title Pariah Planet.

Podcast feed: http://librivox.org/rss/4390

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

[Thanks also to Ans Wink and Laurie Anne Walden]

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: The Planet Savers by Marion Zimmer Bradley

SFFaudio Online Audio

Marion 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

The 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):

[Thanks also to Betty M. and Diana Majlinger]

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: Short Science Fiction Collection Vol. 023

SFFaudio Online Audio

LibriVox In addition to the readers, this audiobook was produced by:

Book Coordinator: Gregg Margarite
Dedicated Proof-Listener: Wendel Topper
Meta-Coordinator/Cataloging: Lucy Burgoyne

Thanks guys!

I haven’t had a chance to listen to half of these yet but I did get a chance to enjoy the final tale in this collection. It’s by Fritz Leiber and is super-funny. It’s the tale of an alien invasion — of privacy. See when a Martian visitor lands on Earth he has the good sense to make his first contact with a professor of anthropology. The only question is, will the formalities actually start after the naturally necessary bodily functions finish?

If you find another good one in this collection put in a comment. I’d be much obliged!

Short Science Fiction Collection 23
By various; Read by various
10 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 4 Hours 22 Minutes [UNABRIDGED
Publisher: LibirVox.org
Published: August 4, 2009
Science Fiction is speculative literature that generally explores the consequences of ideas which are roughly consistent with nature and scientific method, but are not facts of the author’s contemporary world. The stories often represent philosophical thought experiments presented in entertaining ways. Protagonists typically “think” rather than “shoot” their way out of problems, but the definition is flexible because there are no limits on an author’s imagination. The reader-selected stories presented here were written prior to 1962 and became US public domain texts when their copyrights expired.

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/short-science-fiction-collection-23.xml

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

Bolden’s Pets
By Floyd L. Wallace; Read by Bev J. Stevens
1 |MP3| – Approx. 45 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibirVox.org
Published: August 4, 2009
The price of life was a life for a life—which was all the reward the victim looked for! From Galaxy Science Fiction, October, 1955.

A Filbert Is A Nut
By Rick Raphael; Read by Linda Dodge
1 |MP3| – Approx. 20 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibirVox.org
Published: August 4, 2009
That the gentleman in question was a nut was beyond question. He was an institutionalized psychotic. He was nutty enough to think he could make an atom bomb out of modeling clay! From Astounding Science Fiction November 1959.

The Hated
By Frederik Pohl; Read by Gregg Margarite
1 |MP3| – Approx. 23 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibirVox.org
Published: August 4, 2009
After space, there was always one more river to cross … the far side of hatred and murder! From Galaxy Science Fiction January 1958.

The Plattner Story
By H.G. Wells; Read by Gregg Margarite
1 |MP3| – Approx. 46 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibirVox.org
Published: August 4, 2009

Regeneration
By Charles Dye; Read by Wendel Topper
1 |MP3| – Approx. 24 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibirVox.org
Published: August 4, 2009
So long as there are men and women alive, in a livable environment, then a new beginning is possible. From Future combined with Science Fiction stories September 1951.

Rex Ex Machina
By Frederic Max; Read by Synergy
1 |MP3| – Approx. 6 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibirVox.org
Published: August 4, 2009
The domination of the minds of tractable Man is not new. Many men have dreamed of it. Certainly some of them have tried. This man succeeded. A science fictional letter from a father to a son. From Fantastic Universe May 1954.

Tales of Space and Time; The Star
By H.G. Wells; Read by Linda Dodge
1 |MP3| – Approx. 32 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibirVox.org
Published: August 4, 2009

The Success Machine
By Henry Slesar; Read by Troy Bond
1 |MP3| – Approx. 25 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibirVox.org
Published: August 4, 2009
Mechanical brains are all the rage these days, so General Products just had to have one. But the blamed thing almost put them out of business. Why? It had no tact. It insisted upon telling the truth! From Amazing Science Fiction Stories January 1960.

Unspecialist
By Murray F. Yaco; Read by Wendel Topper
1 |MP3| – Approx. 29 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibirVox.org
Published: August 4, 2009
A machine can be built to do any accurately described job better than any man. The superiority of a man is that he can do an unexpected, undescribed, and emergency job … provided he hasn’t been especially trained to be a machine. From Astounding Science Fiction, January, 1960.

What’s He Doing In There?
By Fritz Leiber; Read by Gregg Margarite
1 |MP3| – Approx. 12 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibirVox.org
Published: August 4, 2009
He went where no Martian ever went before—but would he come out—or had he gone for good? From Galaxy Science Fiction December 1957.

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