podiobook – Page 2

FREE SF Podiobook: The Black Star Passes by John W. Campbell

SFFaudio Online Audio

Scott D. Farquhar‘s latest audiobook effort is a complete and unabridged reading of one of our original SFFaudio Challenge titles…

You’ll probably remember Scott from either his stunningly awesome reading of Star Surgeon or as one of the stalwart troopers from the Prometheus Radio Theatre troupe. Scott claimed The Black Star Passes back in November. After you start enjoying it, please consider donating a few $$ towards his narration. At Podiobooks.com 3/4’ths of every dollar will end up in Scott’s hands, which means he’ll be all the more inclined to record another. The other 25% goes to covering Podiobooks.com’s expenses (download bandwidth, server space, etc.).

The Black Star Passes
By John W. Campbell; Read by Scott D. Farquhar
20 MP3s – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Podiobooks.com
Published: July 2008 – ????
Three separate SF stories by Campbell, written for Amazing Stories magazine: The Black Star Passes, Piracy Preferred, Solarite. These tales are tied together by a recurring cast of characters (Arcot, Morey and Wade).

Posted by Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Challenge Audio: Rebels Of The Red Planet by Charles L. Fontenay

SFFaudio Online Audio

Produced as part of the 2nd Annual SFFAudio Challenge, Rebels Of The Red Planet is now a FREE UNABRIDGED audiobook! All props go to Paul Campbell of Estalvin’s Legacy and Cossmass Productions for the entirety of the production. Paul tells us he’s taking a holiday in Spain staring tommorow. After this marathon of audiobook narration we should probably pay for the whole trip. Instead, cheap bastards that we are, we’ll offer him something far less expensive, but far more esteemed than mere money – our sincere appreciation. We at SFFaudio salute you Paul Campbell – and thank you for the hours of rebellious Martian fun you’ve brought to life!

I’m going to listen to the whole novel straight away.

When Paul gets back from that trip, he can choose his prize from among the Challenge offerings. If you’re inspired by Paul’s acheivement, check out the challenge, there are plenty of prizes left and titles to be claimed.

Now, here it is, first published by Ace Books in 1961 and now available for the first time as an audiobook (and podiobook) we are pleased to present…

Rebels Of The Red Planet
By Charles L. Fontenay; Read by Paul Campbell
18 MP3 Files – 5 Hours 54 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Cossmass Productions / Podiobooks.com
Published: December 2007 – April 2008
MARS FOR THE MARTIANS! Dark Kensington had been dead for twenty-five years. It was a fact; everyone knew it. Then suddenly he reappeared, youthful, brilliant, ready to take over the Phoenix, the rebel group that worked to overthrow the tyranny that gripped the settlers on Mars. The Phoenix had been destroyed not once, not twice, but three times! But this time the resurrected Dark had new plans, plans which involved dangerous experiments in mutation and psionics. And now the rebels realized they were in double jeopardy. Not only from the government’s desperate hatred of their movement, but also from the growing possibility that the new breed of mutated monsters would get out of hand and bring terrors never before known to man.

Subscribe to the podcast feed:

http://cossmass.co.uk/series/rebelsredplanet/feed

Or download the individual files from HERE.

Or get a custom Podiobooks feed HERE.

Posted by Jesse Willis

New Releases – John Scalzi, Murray Leinster, Robert Sheckley, H. Beam Piper

New Releases

Audible has just posted a new title from WonderAudio.com (WOOHOO!)… And it’s a two for one – two classic tales from the Dean of Science Fiction – Murray Leinster.

“Sam, This Is You” and “The Other Now”
By Murray Leinster; Read by Mac Kelly
Audible Download – 65 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Wonder Audio / Audible
Published: March 2008
“Sam, This Is You” is a humorous look at Sam, a telephone lineman and inventor. Sam’s invented a device to talk to himself back in time. Unfortunately, Sam’s main interest is courting Rosie, and his love life is being sabotaged by his worst enemy – his future self. “The Other Now” is a poignant love story. When Jimmy Patterson loses his beloved wife, Jane, in a car accident, he believes he begins to get messages from her. Can their love be enough to reunite them?

The next release, a three story collection, includes a terrific tale by Robert Sheckley. I’ve even used The Monsters in the classroom, it showcases one of the very deeply central ideas of Science Fiction in a incisive and funny POV shift – the other two, I look forward to as well as they offer the same, tales told from the alien perspective…

A is For Alien
By Robert Sheckley, Miriam Allen DeFord & Evelyn E. Smith; Read by Pat Bottino, Sam Mowry & Candace Platt
Audible Download – 67 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Wonder Audio / Audible
Published: March 2008
In these three tales, you’ll experience stories from an alien perspective:
In “The Apotheosis of Ki“, by Miriam Allen DeFord, Ki, a primitive savage, encounters a spaceman. Can the two cultures communicate? In “Captain’s Mate“, by Evelyn E. Smith, we hear the tribulations of a crustacean-like alien who is captain of an all-human crew. The trouble begins as the ship drops out of hyperspace. They’re stranded a million miles from anywhere and the captain is acting strangely, even by her own standards. What passes for a moral is turned upside down in “Monsters“, by Robert Sheckley. Different rules of morality create havoc when a spaceship full of humans lands.

Equally as exciting is the follow up to John Scalzi’s SFFaudio essentially designated Old Man’s War…

The Ghost Brigades
By John Scalzi; Read by William Dufris
Audible Download – 10 Hours 28 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Macmillan Audio / Audible.com
Published: March 2008
The Ghost Brigades are the Special Forces of the Colonial Defense Forces, elite troops created from the DNA of the dead and turned into the perfect soldiers for the CDF’s toughest operations. They’re young, they’re fast and strong, and they’re totally without normal human qualms. For the universe is a dangerous place for humanity – and it’s about to become far more dangerous. Three races that humans have clashed with before have allied to halt our expansion into space. Their linchpin: the turncoat military scientist Charles Boutin, who knows the CDF’s biggest military secrets. To prevail, the CDF most find out why Boutin did what he did.

From the pages of Astounding Science Fiction (February and March 1955 issues), Podiobooks.com and Nathan Lowell comes the latest title in The Second Annual SFFaudio Challenge…

Time Crime
By H. Beam Piper; Read by Nathan Lowell
Podiobook – Approx. 2 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Podiobooks.com
Published: March 2008
“The Paratime Police had a real headache this time! Tracing one man in a population of millions is easy—compared to finding one gang hiding out on one of billions of probability lines! This story from 1955 has rocket ships, time travel, slaves, post-hypnotic suggestions, drugged citizens, and a complete disregard for human rights. And those are the good guys. As a look back in time at “classic” science fiction, it’s an interesting snapshot of a time when tobacco was common, sexism was unconscious, and female characters were a long way from Lara Croft.”

Posted by Jesse Willis

Maria Lectrix podcast: Legacy by James H. Schmitz

SFFaudio Online Audio

Maureen O’Brien has been quietly podcasting since September 2005, we’ve been talking about her since October 2006 when she podcast her first public domain SF novel. Since then she’s narrated an impressive collection: The Lani People by J.F. Bone, The Devolutionist by Homer Eon Flint, Star Hunter by Andre Norton, Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper and Dawn of Flame by Stanley G. Weinbaum. Her latest novel is one from our SFFaudio Challenge…Maureen sez of it:

“Legacy (aka A Tale of Two Clocks) is a darned good book by one of my favorite SF authors, James H. Schmitz. He’s best known for his Telzey Amberdon psi sci-fi stories (set in the same Galactic Hub as Legacy and including some of the same characters) and his very funny space opera The Witches of Karres. This book is a sequel to the short story “Harvest Time”, but you don’t have to read that first to understand this book. (I didn’t read it till after.) So welcome to the Hub, and say hello to your new friend, Trigger Argee! She’s not in the best mood when we first meet her, but you’ll like her even so.”

Six, of a total of 29 chapters, are out already…

Legacy
By James H. Schmitz; Read by Maureen O’Brien
Podcast – [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Maria Lectrix
Podcast: January 2008 –
Strange ancient machines possessing vast power have been discovered. Ruthless people want to control them. Governments, industries, and universities claw for jurisdiction, and scientists for discoveries and status. Trigger Argee just wants to go home and see her boyfriend — but first, she’s got a lot of mess to sort out.

Check it out on the Maria Lectrix podcast feed:

http://marialectrix.wordpress.com/category/fiction/science-fiction/feed/

Posted by Jesse Willis

FREE Podiobook Grey by Jon Armstrong nominated for a Philip K. Dick Award!

SFFaudio News

Evo Terra of Podiobooks.com has just posted an very impressive story to the podiobooker blog. Read on…

“Jon Armstrong just emailed me with some FANTASTIC news that is so hot, even the official PKD Award site hasn’t updated their site with the info yet:

For Immediate Release

2007 Philip K. Dick Award Nominees Announced

The judges of the 2007 Philip K. Dick Award and the Philadelphia SF Society are pleased to announce seven nominated works that comprise the final ballot for the award:

GREY by Jon Armstrong (Night Shade Books)
UNDERTOW by Elizabeth Bear (Bantam Spectra)
FROM THE NOTEBOOKS OF DR. BRAIN by Minister Faust (Del Rey)
NOVA SWING by M. John Harrison (Bantam Spectra)
GRADISIL by Adam Roberts (Pyr)
ALLY by Karen Traviss (Eos)
SATURN RETURNS by Sean Williams (Ace Books)

Jon made a podiobook version of Grey and it’s been getting great feedback from the listeners — including me! Strange, edgy, and about as far our as you can get. Definitely not your standard SF fare!”

Go listen to the FREE podiobook HERE!

Posted by Jesse Willis

A serialized novel, blog and podcast: The Hole by Aaron Ross Powell

SFFaudio Online Audio

Aaron Ross Powell is blogging and podcasting his post-apocalyptic novel. Aaron sez:

“The book grew out of an idea I had while reading Under the Banner of Heaven, a book about Mormon history. So I suppose it’s, in a sense, a Mormon apocalypse story. I originally intended it as a long-ish short story, but it grew on me until I figured it’d work best as a novel. Doing it in blog posts was mostly meant as a motivational tool. I’d written half of another novel some time ago, but I had a difficult time making myself actually sit down and write. Writing online, in the open, meant that I’d have an audience waiting for each new piece, making me kind of obligated to produce. And that’s worked terrifically. The response has been far larger and enthusiastic than I could’ve ever expected, so I imagine I’ll keep with this method after The Hole‘s finished and I start on my next novel.”

After hearing that I asked Aaron about the connection between his other website Symbolic Order (a non-fiction site) and The Hole. Here’s what he said:

“I’d never thought much about the connection between the two, though I suppose it’s there. Symbolic Order was launched in 2000, I believe, with my good friend, Trevor Burrus — who’s now a fellow student of mine at the University of Denver’s law school. It was mainly meant to serve as an outlet for our non-fiction writings and essays, and so the topics addressed have drifted over time as our interests change. Recently, this has meant a lot of religious articles, since both Trevor and I are fascinated by the topic. This interest lead me to grab Krakauer’s book [Under The Banner Of Heaven] when I saw it on the CD rack at the library. I listened to it and was hooked on Mormonism, primarily because of the opportunity that particular faith yields to study a major religion’s formation at a time when the events were substantially documented — as clearly isn’t the case with standard Christianity, Judaism, or Islam. I kind of just had a “what if…” idea while reading one of the accounts of Joseph Smith’s finding/forging of the Book of Mormon and decided to run with it. That’s actually the part of the novel I’m most concerned about: I think the idea is pretty neat and I’m excited to get those plot points exposed, but I’m going to have to work hard to make it believable. I’m optimistic, but we’ll have to see. — At the broader level, from a non-believer’s perspective, religion is science fiction and it is fantasy. A god leads his chosen people on bloody battles throughout the realm. A merchant discovers pseudo-magical powers and becomes a great monarch. The secret history of America is exposed in ancient and hidden texts. The only difference is that, with religion, people believe it. That’s why I think of someone like Smith as a fantasist in the same vein as, say, Lovecraft. They’re imagining mythos and exploring their implications. Except that Smith ended up with millions of followers who think his vision will lead them to immortal bliss. It’s an odd relation, literary fantasy and religion, and one I haven’t thought much about. Now that you’ve drawn it to my attention, I’ll have to do so. Maybe my next piece of Symbolic Order…”

Right now, only the first five parts, of the existing fifty-two blogged ones, have been podcast. They are extremely short, but powerful, and remind me of the opening chapter of Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend.

Subscribe to the podcast via this feed:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheHoleAudiobook

Posted by Jesse Willis