Recent Arrivals – Blish, Resnick, Metzler, Westlake

SFFaudio Recent Arrivals

Audible Frontiers - A Case of Conscience by James BlishA Case Of Conscience
By James Blish; Read by Jay Snyder
Audible Download – 7 Hours 55 Muinutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: November 2008
Father Ruiz-Sanchez is a dedicated man – a priest who is also a scientist, and a scientist who is also a human being. He has found no insoluble conflicts in his beliefs or his ethics…until he is sent to Lithia. There he comes upon a race of aliens who are admirable in every way except for their total reliance on cold reason; they are incapable of faith or belief.Confronted with a profound scientific riddle and ethical quandary, Father Ruiz-Sanchez soon finds himself torn between the teachings of his faith, the teachings of his science, and the inner promptings of his humanity. There is only one solution: He must accept an ancient and unforgivable heresy -and risk the futures of both worlds…

Audible Frontiers - Starship: Rebel, Book 4 by Mike ResickStarship: Rebel
By Mike Resnick; Read by Jonathan Davis
Audible Download – 8 Hours 45 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: December 16th 2008
The date is 1968 of the Galactic Era, almost three thousand years from now. The Republic, dominated by the human race, is in the midst of an all-out war with the Teroni Federation. Almost a year has passed since the events of Starship: Mercenary. Captain Wilson Cole now commands a fleet of almost fifty ships, and he has become the single greatest military force on the Inner Frontier. With one exception. The Republic still comes and goes as it pleases, taking what it wants, conscripting men, and extorting taxes, even though the Frontier worlds receive nothing in exchange. And, of course, the government still wants Wilson Cole and the starship Theodore Roosevelt. He has no interest in confronting such an overwhelming force, and constantly steers clear of them. Then an incident occurs that changes everything, and Cole declares war on the Republic. Outnumbered and always outgunned, his fleet is no match for the Republic’s millions of military vessels, even after he forges alliances with the warlords he previously hunted down. It’s a hopeless cause…but that’s just what Wilson Cole and the Teddy R. are best at.

Book Of Lies by Brad MeltzerThe Book Of Lies
By Brad Meltzer; Read by Scott Brick
10 CDs – Approx. 11.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Published: September 2008
ISBN: 9781600243806
Cain kills Abel in Chapter Four of the Bible. It is the world’s most famous murder. But the Bible is silent about one key detail: the weapon Cain used to kill his brother. That weapon is still lost to history.
In 1932, Mitchell Siegel was killed by three gunshots to his chest. While mourning, his son dreamed of a bulletproof man and created the world’s greatest hero: Superman. And like Cain’s murder weapon, the gun used in this unsolved murder has never been found. Until now. Today in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Cal Harper comes face-to-face with his family’s greatest secret: his long-lost father, who’s been shot with a gun that traces back to Michell Siegel’s 1932 murder. But before Cal can ask a single question, he and his father are attacked by a ruthless killer tattooed with the anicent markings of Cain. And so begins the chase for the world’s first murder weapon. What does Cain, history’s greatest villain, have to do with Superman, the world’s greatest hero? And what do two murders, committed thousands of years apart, have in common?

BBC Audiobooks America (via Audible.com) - Watch Your Back by Donald E. WestlakeWatch Your Back
By Donald E. Westlake; Read by William Dufris
Audible Download – 9 Hours 4 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: BBC Audiobooks America
Published: October 2008 (at Audible.com)
Provider: Audible.com
Hapless criminal John Dortmunder returns in another rollicking tale of disorganized crime from Grand Master of Mystery Donald E. Westlake. It’s the score of a lifetime: easy access to a lavish New York City apartment, hordes of valuables, and an absentee owner avoiding the lawyers of his unhappy ex-wives. But before they pull the job, Dortmunder’s crew is startled to find their beloved gin joint, the OJ, in the clutches of the Mafia – who consider it perfect for a little fraud, courtesy of a nice big fire. For tactical and highly superstitious reasons, the fate of the OJ is even more important to the crew than the enormous score. Now, Dortmunder and his gang are determined to split their time, fighting the mob, and robbing the rich simultaneously.

Posted by Jesse Willis

The SFFaudio Podcast #022

Podcast

The SFFaudio PodcastThe SFFaudio Podcast #022 – Jesse and Scott are guestless so they decide to talk about themselves and audio in the third person.

Talked about on today’s show:
LibriVox’s releases 1, 2, Wonder Audio, Mark Douglas Nelson, Audible.com’s “first book in a series” offer, Mike Resnick’s Starship Mutiny, Richard K. Morgan’s Altered Carbon, Robert J. Sawyer’s Hominids, the Science Fiction Book Review Podcast, Robert J. Sawyer, Wake, Golden Fleece, multiple voice recordings, Dune, Ted Chiang (“best short story writer ever”), Exhalation, Nightshade Books, Eclipse Two, British Science Fiction Awards, Tony Smith’s StarShipSofa, The Merchant And The Alchemist’s Gate by Ted Chiang; read by James Campanella |MP3|, Gene Wolfe, The Tree Is My Hat |MP3|, Edgar Allan Poe’s 200th birthday, Wayne June‘s readings of Poe Into That Darkness Peering Vol. 1 |READ OUR REVIEW|, Mars, Usher II by Ray Bradbury, Leonard Nimoy, Tommorow’s Crimes by Donald E. Westlake, Anarchaos, Drukin Hayes, Nackles, Santa’s Twin by Dean Koontz, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls by Robert A. Heinlein, By His Bootstraps, The Green Hills Of Earth, Gentlemen Be Seated, psychedelic William Shatner readings, Mimsy Were The Borogroves, Star Trek: New Voyages (aka Phase II), Star Trek audiobooks, Star Wars: Millennium Falcon by James Luceno; read by Mark Thompson, Star Wars: Splinter In The Minds’s Eye by Alan Dean Foster, Jonathan Davis, radio drama: Slipsteam by Simon Bovey, WWII, Fallout 3, The Adventures Of Herbert Daring Dashwood, 1950s, The Republic of Dave, Agatha’s song.

Posted by Jesse Willis

The SFFaudio Podcast #018

Podcast

The SFFaudio PodcastThe SFFaudio Podcast #018 – a podcast about audiobooks, audio drama, History and most of all mutiny! This is mutiny mister!

Talked about on today’s show:
One way to get around DRM (swapping iPods), Blackstone Audio arrivals, The Selected Stories Of Philip K. Dick Volume 1, The Selected Stories Of Philip K. Dick Volume 2, X-Minus One: Colony, The Days Of Perky Pat, Alpha, Catherine Asaro, Inferno, Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, New Releases, Starship: Rebel, Mike Resnick, Allen Steele, Coyote, Wayne June, The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, audio drama of The Maltese Falcon, Yuri Rasovsky, The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch, The Sacred Book Of The Werewolf, Victor Pelevin, Canadia: 2056 – Season 2, Matt Watts, Steve The First, Steve The Second, sez Scott: ‘Matt Watt’s stuff is way better than Red Dwarf, Matt Watt’s blog entry on Canadia: 2056, Nova Swing, M. John Harrison, Tantor Media, The Steel Remains, Richard K. Morgan, Replay, Ken Grimwood, Sherlock Holmes Was Wrong: Reopening the Case of the Hound of the Baskervilles, Pierre Bayard, Pandora’s Star, Peter F. Hamilton, The DIY Scholar Blog, Stephen Pott’s UCSD Literature Of The World course on Science Fiction, LibriVox’s release of Uller Uprising, H. Beam Piper, the Sepoy Mutiny, 1984, George Orwell, what’s wrong with writers today (their works are not inspired by History), Mike Resnick’s the exception to this rule.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Review of Starship: Mercenary by Mike Resnick

SFFaudio Review

Audible Frontiers - Starship: Mercenary, Book 3 by Mike ResickStarship: Mercenary, Book 3
By Mike Resnick; Read by Jonathan Davis
Audible Download – 8 Hours 37 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: April 2008
Themes: / Science Fiction / Space Opera / Galactic Civilization / Aliens / Crime / Military SF / Space Station /

Seeking to find a new life, Wilson Cole first remade the Teddy R. as a pirate ship plying the spaceways of the lawless Inner Frontier. But military discipline and honor were a poor match for a life of pillaging and plundering, and Cole’s principles naturally limited his targets. Seeking a better way of life, the Teddy R. becomes a mercenary ship, hiring out to the highest bidder. Whether it’s evacuating a hospital before war can reach it, freeing a client from an alien prison, or stopping a criminal cartel from extorting money from a terrified planet, the crew of the Teddy R. proves equal to the task. Along the way they form a partnership with the once human Platinum Duke, team up with a former enemy, and make the unique Singapore Station their headquarters. But the life of a mercenary is not always predictable, and eventually circumstance pits Cole and the Teddy R. against his right-hand woman, the former Pirate Queen known as the Valkyrie. Soon the fragile trust that has grown between these two legends is put to the test as they find themselves on opposite sides of a job.

I’m gobbling up this terrific series like a yummy gummy candy. I can’t recommend it highly enough for space opera fans looking for a less restrictive and less incestuous version of the venerable Star Wars universe. Resnick uses all the tropes of space opera without creating any real new ones. This makes this a series without a lot of deep thoughts. But, that doesn’t mean its a series without value. The characters and scenarios are as compelling as hell, and with each book in the series Resnick has added at least one fascinating new crew member to join the vagabond gang of mutineers. Val (Valkyrie), a brash pirate whose mighty physical prowess is only matched by her joined the show in book two, as did David Copperfield, an alien who insists he’s the Dickens character (and that Captain Wilson Cole is his schoolboy chum “Steerforth”). In book three, this book, the two and a half characters from the first book: chief of security Sharon Blacksmith, alien engineer “Slick” (and his symbiotic “gorib” skin) get short shrift in order to make room for the added notable book 3 characters: a canny cyborg space station owner named the “Platinum Duke,” and an honorable enemy alien starship captain, once Wilson’s greatest enemies.

The prior to books in this series should probably be read first (and they are also available via Audible Frontiers). They set up the story line of the wandering Navy hero who got himself exiled. Now, as mutineers with a bounty on all their heads, and with their stolen powerful (but elderly) naval warship they try to make a living however they can (without actually breaking their captain’s moral code). Piracy and mercenary work with a moral code? Hard to do, but Cole and company pull it off – at least most of the time.

Like the first two books in this Audible exclusive audiobook series, Starship: Mercenary begins with an informative introduction by Resnick himself (this continues with the recently released Book 4). Narrator Jonathan Davis has narrated more than 30 Star Wars audiobooks. This is just his third book in this series, but he has given each of the dozen or so characters their own unique voices, keeping track of how he did the old ones and adding a few more distinctive new ones for this terrific adventure. As with the previous novels, much of the story is told through the words of the characters. Resnick makes every word count, and Davis does the same. There’s not one word of filler from either artist. The plot and descriptions are almost completely delivered via dialogue – one doesn’t even notice that the visual descriptions of nearly everything is virtually absent – it just doesn’t seem to matter when you’re making those images appear in your mind.

Posted by Jesse Willis

The SFFaudio Podcast #016

Podcast

The SFFaudio PodcastThe SFFaudio Podcast #016 – is really strange and very good – we talk about Dean Koontz, talking dogs, praise Robert J. Sawyer, his audiobooks and much more! Book covers, cover art, they matter!

Talked about on today’s show:
Audible.com, the new Audible Frontiers new releases, review of The Speed Of Dark, Mary Robinette Kowal, Blackstone Audio, The Selected Stories Of Philip K. Dick, Star Trek, Pandora’s Star, Judas Unchained, Peter F. Hamilton, Star Wars, Mike Resnick, The Last Colony, John Scalzi, Zoe’s Tale, William Dufris, Anathem, Robert J. Sawyer, Flashforward, Tantor Media, A Case Of Conscience, James Blish, 100% FREE Audiobook Black River by Dean Koontz (which is an SF suspense novella), Microsoft’s Zune now compatible with Audible.com, Dean Koontz, Dragon Tears, Jay O. Sanders, talking dogs, our new DEAN KOONTZ author page, Intensity, Seize The Night, Fear Nothing, Dean Koontz short stories that should be audiobooked: Nightmare Gang, Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein, RJS’ Flashforward as a TV series? = they’ll do it like the did The 4400, CERN, RJS predicted the current pope!, murder mystery Science Fiction, Illegal Alien, review of Calculating God, Golden Fleece, dinosaurs, Robert J. Sawyer’s weakest novel = End Of An Era (?), review of The Terminal Experiment, Wake, the WWW trilogy, available RJS audiobooks, Shed Skin, BBC Radio documentary on Wikipedia: The Wikipedia Story, Sarah Vowell, Assassination Vacation, The Wordy Shipmates, Vowelette, what “they” are doing wrong with audiobooks: no table of contents sux! No map sux!, Stefan Rudnicki‘s Skyboat Productions, Resonance, A.J. Scudiere, geology, magnetic polar reversal, review of Posing As People, Orson Scott Card, Mike Resnick’s Audible.com editorial, Stalking The Unicorn, Stalking The Vampire, cover art matters, Total Dick Head’s 2 hour celebration of Philip K. Dick’s 80th birthday.

Posted by Jesse Willis

New Releases – from Audible Frontiers

New Releases

Audible FrontiersSteve Feldberg, the man behind the awesome AUDIBLE FRONTIERS line over on Audible.com has detailed the new AF releases for December. Sez Feldberg:

“I’m especially excited by our multi-voice production on HYPERION, which utilizes five different narrators. If you’re familiar with the book’s structure – akin to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales – you’ll know that it lends itself to a number of distinct voices.”

I think that’s awesome too. Personally though I’m glad too that Book 4 in the Starship series is on this list!

Available now:

Audible Frontiers - Shadow Bridge by Gregory FrostShadowbridge
By Gregory Frost
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: December 2008
Includes an exclusive introduction by the author.




Audible Frontiers - Lord Tophet by Gregory FrostLord Tophet (book 2 in the Shadow Bridge Series)
By Gregory Frost
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: December 2008
Includes an exclusive introduction by the author.




Audible Frontiers - The Speed Of Dark by Elizabeth MoonThe Speed of Dark
By Elizabeth Moon
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: December 2008
A Nebula Award Winning Novel!




Audible Frontiers - Fast Times At Fairmont High by Vernor VingeFast Times at Fairmont High
By Vernor Vinge
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: December 2008
A Nebula Award Winning Novella!




Audible Frontiers - Forty Signs Of Rain by Kim Stanley RobinsonForty Signs of Rain (book 1 in the “Science in the Capital” trilogy
By Kim Stanley Robinson
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: December 2008
Includes an exclusive introduction by the author!




Audible Frontiers - Fifty Degrees Below by Kim Stanley RobinsonFifty Degrees Below (book 2 in the “Science in the Capital” trilogy
By Kim Stanley Robinson
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: December 2008
Includes an exclusive introduction by the author!




Audible Frontiers - Sixty Days And Counting by Kim Stanley RobinsonSixty Days And Counting (book 3 in the “Science in the Capital” trilogy
By Kim Stanley Robinson
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: December 2008
Includes an exclusive introduction by the author!




COMING SOON:

Starship: Rebel
By Mike Resnick
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: December 16th 2008
*A simultaneous release with the book; includes an exclusive introduction by the author!

Hyperion
By Dan Simmons
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: December 23rd 2008
A Hugo Award Winning Novel!

The Fall Of Hyperion
By Dan Simmons
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: December 23rd 2008
A Hugo and Nebula Nominated Novel!

Posted by Jesse Willis