The Sci Phi Show, has a special show about Australian SF author Greg Egan. Have a listen|MP3|. Another recent show |MP3| featured an exclusive interview with none other than Orson Scott Card!
Subscribers to The Sci Phi Show are also able to hear a vintage talk by Douglas Adams. Grab the podcast feed via this url:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheSciPhiShow
Audible.com, which long ago had much original SFF content, may be gearing up for a renewed push to get more. I have evidence: First there’s James Patrick Kelly’s StoryPod – Volume 1 of which has just wrapped. Second, there’s a new and exclusive Orson Scott Card audiobook on Audible now. These two facts, combined with some other evidence I’m not able to disclose at this time, make me fairly confident that Audible is looking to expand their original SFF content. WOOHOO!
The new Card story is called Pretty Boy. It first appeared in Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show issue #2. Unfortunately it is very expensive through Audible. It sells $17.95 on Audible.com itself and $15.95 on iTunes (Audible has a monopoly on audiobooks in the iTunes store). I can’t imagine other circumstances I’d do this, needless to say audio is the medium we prefer, but for the sake of budgets, you can get the original text version for only $2.50 through Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show (and it comes with a bunch of other choice content- including another OSC story in audio AND SFFaudio co-founder Scott Danielson’s excellent short story: Adrift). Here’s the detail on the audio edition…
Pretty Boy
By Orson Scott Card; Read by Scott Brick
1 AA File – 47 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible.com
Published: 2007
How do you systematically destroy a child with love? It’s not something that any parent aspires to do, yet a surprising number come perilously close to achieving it. So begins Orson Scott Card’s new story from the Ender Universe, a profound meditation on parents and offspring focusing on the childhood of one of Ender’s Battle School challengers, Bonzo Madrid, and the circumstances that lead him to his unique place in the Game.
Professor Courtney Brown‘s course at Emory University is a Political Science course entitled Science Fiction and Politics (Political Science 190). We’ve talked about this course more than once. But, as the new lectures appear in the feed, this podcast gets renewed interest, and thus prompts new posts. So here’s another, this one lists all the currently available lectures (Spring 2007 is now completed at Emory). Brown’s lectures below are from two semesters and feature some incisive political insights found in more than a dozen SF novels.
Lectures available:
01: Introduction and Overview |MP3|
02: Foundation by Isaac Asimov (1 of 2) |MP3|
03: Foundation by Isaac Asimov (2 of 2) |MP3|
04: Foundation And Empire by Isaac Asimov |MP3|
05: Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov |MP3|
06: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (1 of 2) |MP3|
07: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (2 of 2) |MP3|
08: The Left Hand Of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (1 of 2) |MP3|
09: The Left Hand Of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (2 of 2) |MP3|
10: The Uplift War by David Brin (1 of 2) |MP3|
11: The Uplift War by David Brin (2 of 2) |MP3|
12: Darwin’s Radio by Greg Bear (1 of 2) |MP3|
13: Darwin’s Radio by Greg Bear (2 of 2) |MP3|
14: How to write your essays |MP3|
15: Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (1 of 2) |MP3|
16: Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (1 of 2) |MP3|
17: The Forever War by Joe Haldeman (1 of 2)|MP3|
18: The Forever War by Joe Haldeman (2 of 2)|MP3|
19: Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick (1 of 2) |MP3|
20: Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick (2 of 2) |MP3|
21: The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein (1 of 3) |MP3|
22: The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein (2 of 3) |MP3|
23: The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein (3 of 3) |MP3|
24: Neuromancer by William Gibson (1 of 2) |MP3|
25: Neuromancer by William Gibson (2 of 2) |MP3|
26: On free will [based on Isaac Asimov’s Foundation trilogy] (1 of 2) |MP3|
27: On free will [based on Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World] (2 of 2) |MP3|
28: The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin (1 of 2) |MP3|
29: The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin (2 of 2) |MP3|
30: Spin by Robert Charles Wilson (1 of 2) |MP3|
31: Spin by Robert Charles Wilson (2 of 2) |MP3|
32: The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov (1 of 2) |MP3|
33: The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov (1 of 2) |MP3|
You can subscribe to the podcast via this feed:
http://www.courtneybrown.com/classes/scifi/mp3/cb_SciFiPoliticsClass1.xml
Also, Dr. Brown tells me that he’s been getting requests from some of his students for more female Science Fiction authors. He asks if we have any “top-of-the-list suggestions?” He’s been using Hugo and Nebula award winning novels, but we all know that there are plenty of novels out there that haven’t won a Hugo or a Nebula that are still worthy of examination. Can you think of any Dr. Brown should add to his class for next year?
The Blackstone titles are new releases. The Tantor titles are backlist titles that we requested.
Memory
By Lois McMaster Bujold; Read by Grover Gardner
MP3 Disc or 12 CDs, Approx. 14.5 hrs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2007
ISBN: 9781433201158(MP3 disc); 9781433201141(CDs)
From the back cover:
Dying is easy. Coming back to life is hard. At least that’s what Miles Vorkosigan thinks, and he should know, having done both once already.
Thanks to his quick-thinking staff and incredible artistry from a medical specialist, Miles’s first death won’t be his last. But it does take some recovery, a fact he has been reluctant to admit. When he makes the mistake of returning too soon to military duty, he finds himself summoned home to face the Barrayaran security chief, Simon Illyan. But Miles’s worst nightmares about Simon Illyan are nothing compared to Illyan’s own nightmares. Under suspicion himself, Miles must seek out the answers to Ilyan’s nightmares or see the inevitable destruction of Imperial Security and, with it, the Empire.
Seventh Son: Tales of Alvin Maker, Book 1
By Orson Scott Card; Read by Scott Brick and others
MP3 Disc or 8 CDs, Approx. 9 hrs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2007
ISBN: 9781433200960(MP3 disc); 9781433200953(CDs)
From the back cover:
From the author of the award-winning Ender’s Game comes the unforgettable story of young Alvin Maker, the seventh son of a seventh son.
Born into an alternative frontier America where life is hard and folk magic is real, Alvin is gifted with power, but he must learn to use his gift wisely. Dark forces are arrayed against Alvin, and only a young girl with second sight can protect him.
The World Set Free
By H.G. Wells; Read by Shelly Frasier
MP3 Disc or 6 CDs, Approx. 6.5 hrs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: 2002
ISBN: 1400150108 (MP3 disc); 1400100100(CDs)
From the back cover:
In this thought-provoking masterpiece, H.G. Wells predicts the inventions that will inadvertently lead to mass destruction, forcing the world to “start over”. You will see many similarities between H.G. Wells’ new world and today’s world due to the recent technological revolution. This stimulating novel will leave you wondering if and when the remaining predictions will come to pass!
Eric Brighteyes
By H. Rider Haggard; Read by Shelly Frasier
MP3 Disc or 9 CDs, Approx. 11 hrs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: 2001
ISBN: 1400150280 (MP3 disc); 1400100283(CDs)
From the back cover:
This deftly crafted Viking tale depicts the terror, tragedy and vanity of life. The ill fated lovers, Eric and “Gudruda the Fair”, fall victim to the jealous Swanhild’s sorcery. Eric and his ‘thrall’ must overcome treachery, bloodthirsty foes, the open sea and blizzards as he battles to win his beloved Gudruda. Will the star-crossed lovers triumph over the fate of the Norns and the spite of Swanhild?
Orson Scott Card‘s classic Ender’s Game has just started being broadcast on XM Satellite Radio’s “Sonic Theater” Ch: 163.* The new show is called Orson Scott Card’s Universe, and for the first set of broadcasts will feature Card’s best known novel. The show started on March 5th 2007.
This is the real deal folks, the Audio Renaissance full-cast production, an SFFaudio Essential, featuring a full-cast and starring Stefan Rudnicki and Harlan Ellison!
Broadcast times:
Monday to Friday @ 12:30 & 8:30 PM EST (30 Minutes)
Repeated serially on Saturdays @ Midnight-2:30 AM EST (5 X 30 Min.)
*This station is not available outside of the USA.
Sci-Fi Scoundrels podcast tends heavily towards TV Sci-Fi, but every so often they give their opinions on books. Hosted by the self styled “bad boys” of Sci-Fi the podcast is done very conversationally. Some people claim it is “irreverent” and full of “keen insights.” Myself, I’ve found this roundtable podcast potty-mouthed, low brow and marginally entertaining. Its more for the slow pitch podcast fan who likes swearing for swearing’s sake and also likes Sci-Fi. Check out one of the podcasts to see if this is for you. I’d recommend trying the Ender’s Game show. In that one the Scoundrels bring the goods to the table, critiquing how the elementary age kids of that novel aren’t speaking very realistically. That one is very meta show – but a careful listen will show these guys aren’t quite as dopey as they at first sound.
Sci-Fi Scoundrels – Episode 38 – Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451|MP3|.
Sci-Fi Scoundrels – Episode 51 – Vernor Vinge’s Marooned In Real Time |MP3|.
Sci-Fi Scoundrels – Episode 53 – Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game |MP3|.
Subscribe to the scoundrels via this feed:
http://scifiscoundrels.com/?feed=rss2&category_name=podcasts