podiobooks.com – Page 7

Podiobooks.com announces Q&A for Singularity

SFFaudio News

Bill DeSmett, author of the podiobook Singularity is planning on doing a wrap-up episode in a question-and-answer style. If you are a listener of this book and would like to get in on the action you have three options:

1. Email your question in plain text to: [email protected]

2. Record your question as an audio file and email it to [email protected]

3. Leave a voice mail by calling 206-888-2448

Questions can be about the characters in the book, what really goes on inside of a naked singularity, physics, Russian studies or anything else related to the novel or the author. More info can be found on the official Singularity website.

Evo of Podiobooks.com also adds “The best question or comment, as selected by our impartial panel of judges, will receive a free, autographed hardcover copy of Singularity.”

posted by Jesse Willis

iTunes: "Audiobook" vs. "Spoken Word": The NEW Winner Is You!

SFFaudio News

Conquer The World For better or for worse iTunes and iPods go together like two nesting spoons and with so many people getting iPods these days an audiobook company can not afford to ignore the trend. Independent providers like Podiobooks.com, TellTaleWeekly.org, and Fictionwise.com all have files that will work on iPods too – but frankly only the extremely savvy audiobook readers out there have even heard of any of them. If you want to generate a sizable listenership, you really need to be listed on either audible.com or iTunes. But just knowing this doesn’t mean your problems are over. The sad fact is that iTunes has contracted to get all of it’s audiobook content from audible.com – you cannot get around this exclusive contract if you produce auidobooks. Worse, audible.com gets nearly all of its content from only a few big publishers – that wasn’t always the case, but they really have some weird corporate thing going on there these days. So, if you can’t break into audible.com you’re stuck without iTunes distribution and therefore most iPods won’t ever have your audiobooks on them. But there’s a little loophole that you should know about, an indie music record label is releasing “spoken word” albums on iTunes!

Conquer The World Records* is releasing what amount to audiobooks in everything but the actual name “audiobooks.” The first fiction author to take advantage of this scheme is the world’s savviest podcast novelist Scott Sigler. His first podiobook EarthCore is available for $9.99 through Conquer The World’s “spoken word” album release on iTunes. Do a search in the music store for “Scott Sigler” in the artist category.

Science Fiction Audiobook - EarthCore by Scott Sigler EarthCore
By Scott Sigler; Read by Scott Sigler
20 Files – Approx 15 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Provider: ScottSigler.net / Conquer The World Records
Released: 2006
PRODUCT #: CTW – 32
Priced at: $9.99 USD on iTunes

Even better, two great Science Fiction shorts from Deuce Audio, SFFaudio’s co-editor Scott Danielson’s own audiobook company, are available now on iTunes:

Science Fiction Audiobook - Shed Skin by Robert J. Sawyer Shed Skin
By Robert J. Sawyer; Read by Stephen Hoye
3 Files – Approx 45 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Provider: Deuce Audio / Conquer The World Records
Released: 2006 – AVAILABLE NOW
PRODUCT #: CTW – 37
Priced at: $2.99 USD on iTunes
Do a search in the artist field with the search term “Robert J. Sawyer”

Science Fiction Audiobook - The Retrieval Artist by Kristine Kathryn Rusch The Retrieval Artist
By Kristine Kathryn Rusch; Read by Stefan Rudnicki
5 Files – Approx. 2 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Provider: Deuce Audio / Conquer The World Records
Released: 2006 – AVAILABLE NOW
PRODUCT #: CTW – 38
Priced at: $4.99 USD on iTunes
Do a search in the artist field with the search term “Kristine Kathryn Rusch”

Conquer the World will soon follow with a some other interesting titles:

Bang! A Love Story by Anthony Mora

A World of Assassins by Neil Davies

Johnnie and the Demon Queen by Erick “Fox” Braun

Controlled Chaos by Michael S. London.

And finally, SF author and Fordham University professor Paul Levinson has signed a deal to produce an exclusive release, entitled Spun Dreams, is currently under production (with Levinson performing it himself). The work is a collection of his short stories. The release will retail for $9.99 USD.

Enjoy folks!

*warning this is a slow loading myspace domain

UPDATE: SFFaudio contributor Esther rightly points out that there is an interesting iLounge about the iTunes/audible.com situation here:

http://forums.ilounge.com/showthread.php?p=878912&#post878912

She also particularily draws our attention to the “Audible Cranks It Up” article link and the “September 2005 issue of Publishing Trends” and their article on audiobooks. The PDF file contains the details of the terms of the audible.com agreement with iTunes (which runs through 2007 but which Apple can terminate given 6 months’ notice). Esther seems better informed on this issue than myself and was surprised to hear that Audible was “no longer working with small publishers” – I should point out that this last point is my personal anecdotal observation and is not drawn from any detailed study comparing the audible.com acquisitions from a few years back to the audible.com catalogue of today. I think however that I can say this, in the Science Fiction and Fantasy audiobook category of audible.com there are more small publishers with publication dates in the year 2000 than their are in 2006. Given the number and quality of new audiobook companies producing Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror audio today I think I am justified in my position of saying audible.com’s current catalogue restrictions are detrimental to SFFaudio listeners.

Posted by Jesse Willis

New Releases for May and June

New Releases

Dontcha just love new releases? I know we sure do, here’s a tasty batch for May and June. Also, I hope you all know that many of these titles are available in multiple formats (CD, Cassette, MP3, etc.) just follow the links to the publisher websites to see who has what.

Leading the charge this time is Random House Audiobooks with… wait for it… wait for it…

Science Fiction Audiobook - A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick A Scanner Darkly
By Philip K. Dick; Read by Paul Giamatti
8 Compact Discs – 9 hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: May 2006
ISBN: 073932392X
Our most requested title (by readers and reviewers alike) . I’m dying to hear how Paul Giamatti will perform it. Expect a review shortly.

Tell Tale Weekly has released a never before adapted audiobook of…

The Valley Of The Spiders
By H. G. Wells; Read by Alexander Wilson
MP3 Download – 29 minutes, 11 seconds [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: TellTaleWeekly.org
Published: May 2006
A SF/Fantasy Pulp Adventure Story from 1903. “Three adventurers face danger, death, and giant spiders, all for the capture love of a woman, in this classic pulp adventure story.” Just $1.00! And be sure to read the nice intro Alex Wilson wrote for it on the TellTaleWeekly site too.

And of course there is no stopping the indefatigable Podiobooks.com, they’ve got a sweet batch of new podcast novels in the offing:

Podiobook - Immortals by Tracy Hickman The Immortals
By Tracy Hickman; Read by Tracy and Laura Hickman
MP3 Files – [UNABRIDGED?]
Publisher: Podiobooks.com
Started: May 2006
It’s 2020, and an attempted cure for AIDS has mutated into a deadlier disease, V-CIDS. The U.S., under martial law, has set up “quarantine centers” in the Southwest. Searching for his gay son, Jon, media mogul Michael Barris smuggles himself into one of centers only to discover that it and the other centers are actually extermination camps. With a strange assortment of allies, including the leader of the camp’s gay barracks, an army officer and a local cowboy, Barris precipitates an inmates’ rebellion that promises the unraveling of the death-camp system and the overthrow of the government that established it.

Discovered Country
By Nora Fleischer
MP3 Files – [UNABRIDGED?]
Publisher: Podiobooks.com
Started: May 2006
Rosemary Halpern, a mild-mannered librarian from Boston, found herself trapped hundreds of years in the future. A future that faced a new Ice Age. A future where ghouls walked the Earth, ravenous for human flesh.

Sonic Fiction
Edited by Jeffrey Kafer; Read by Jeffrey Kafer
MP3 Files – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Podiobooks.com
Started: May 2006
An eclectic mix of authors from a range of ages and backgrounds. Featuring works of Science fiction, gritty war tales, murder and intrigue, comedy and farce, this is a book for any fan of short fiction. Let us tell you a story…

Prophecy Of Swords
By M.H. Bonham
MP3 Files – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Podiobooks.com
Started: May 2006
Nearly a thousand years ago a great warrior named Lachlan sought to unify his people, using the power of the Three Swords of Destiny. Before his victory, Lachlan was killed by his trusted friend, Allarun. Now, Allarun is still in power but haunted by dreams of Lachlan’s death curse: that Lachlan would return to avenge his death. Allarun’s decision is to destroy the very people Lachlan tried to unite.

Brilliance Audio has a lock on lengthy Fantasy titles this quarter – check these out…

Dragon’s Fire
By Todd McCaffrey and Anne McCaffrey; Read by Dick Hill
10 CDs – 12 hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2006
ISBN: 9781423314561

More lore from the planet called Pern!

Phantom
By Terry Goodkind; Read by Sam Tsoutsouvas
2 MP3-CDs – 23 hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2006
ISBN: 9781593356873
I don’t know much about Goodkind, anybody heard one of his?

Dragons of the Dwarven Depths: The Lost Chronicles, Vol. I
by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman; Read by Sandra Burr
13 Compact Discs – 15 hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 2006
ISBN: 9781423316107

A new Dragonlance book with the old beloved characters! I loved the classic first trilogy as a kid. I wonder if this one will be as good.

Also Blackstone Audiobooks has “returns” to re-releases, remakes and all look promising…

Ceteganda
By Lois McMaster Bujold; Read by Grover Gardner
1 MP3-CD – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks
Published: May 2006
ISBN: 9780786175116
This was previously recorded by the now defunct The Readers Chair – Grover Gardner makes this a remake.

Superman Returns
By Marv Wolfman; Read by Scott Brick
1 MP3-CD -[UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks
Published: June 2006
ISBN: 0786175729
Looks like a Movie-Tie In.

Animal Farm & 1984
By George Orwell; Read by Richard Brown and Ralph Cosham
1 MP3-CD – [UNABRIDGED]
PUBLISHER: Blackstone Audiobooks
PUBLISHED: June 2006
ISBN: 0786177144
Released seperately many times and by with many readers before, you can now grab them together. Orwell at his best.

Not much new Spec Fic over at the venerable Recorded Books, but this one caught our eye…

Vampirates: Demons of the Ocean
By Justin Somper; Read by John Curless
CDs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Recorded Books, LLC
Published: May 2006
ISBN: 1428110836

posted by Jesse

Cool new feature on J.C. Hutchins’ 7th Son Podcast

SFFaudio News

J.C. Hutchins‘ of the podcast novel/podiobook 7th Son, Book One: Descent tells us that he’s just added a cool new feature to his his podcast chapter readings. Each new podcast installment will include a “previously on” intro by a celebrity podcaster (or podcasting team). Look for the first chapter with this new feature starting tonight. The first guest introducer? Why it’s Evo Terra of the Farpoint Media podcasts! And in case you missed our preview of the show we’ll remind you that 7th Son, Book One: Descent is a FREE SF thriller intertwining cloning, bio-ethics and memory replication.

You can subscribe to the podcast directly using this XML feed:

http://www.jchutchins.net/7thSonPodcast.xml

Or you can subscribe through the terrific Podiobooks.com service for a more customizable delivery schedule.

posted by Jesse Willis

Voices: New Media Fiction is the first podiobook…

news

Voices: New Media Fiction is the first podiobook anthology, the brainchild of podcast legend Mur Lafferty. Chock full of spec-fic goodness this is a new collection of previously podcast fiction. When completed there will be stories from Jared Axelrod of The Voice Of Free Planet X, Patrick McLean of The Seanachai, Paul S. Jenkins of The Rev-Up Review, James Patrick Kelly of Free Reads, Jason Erik Lundberg of Lies and Little Deaths and J.R. Blackwell of 365 Tommorows, as well as the ubiquitous Cory Doctorow, and another 10 more!

The official Podiobooks.com announcement reads as follows:

“Milestone! We’re very happy to announce the release of Voices: New Media Fiction. Voices is edited by Mur Lafferty, and is only available from Podiobooks.com. It is also our 30th book

Voices: New Media Fiction brings together the pioneer short fiction podcasters. Experimenting from putting short-short fiction to novellas over their podcasts, these writers were the first to test the new medium for storytelling. Some wrote specifically for podcasts, some read previously published fiction, and some read entirely new stories. Some listeners asked if they could get just the stories in audio form, and that request brought about this podiobook. Cory Doctorow tells us a story about a post-apocalyptic government run by sysadmins and James Patrick Kelly narrates a story of a strange reconciliation. We’ve collected 18 stories for you, the first short fiction to go out over podcast, and look forward to bringing you more.”

Stories already available from the collection include:

Wolf in the Park
By Patrick McLean
A man is hunted – or is it haunted – by a monstrous wolf.

Barry Koleman, Hero
By Mur Lafferty
Barry grows up a bitter man, denied the superpowers that are his birthright.

The Journey of Jonathan Cave
By Paul S. Jenkins
Jonathan awakens from stasis to discover he’s on the last journey of his life.

Pandas Just Want to be Dogs
By Jared Axlerod
A man discusses desires and extinction with a panda.

Anda’s Game
By Cory Doctorow
A young girl realizes there’s more to her online gameplaying than just looting and leveling.

posted by Jesse Willis

Podiobooks.com, though still in BETA, is growing…

Online Audio

Podiobooks.com, though still in BETA, is growing like a baby hippo on steroids! More than a dozen podcast novels are currently available and more are on the way. Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror titles still predominate, but a few non-fiction and other genre titles are creeping in, including the delightful geek essays of Mur Lafferty. Here’s a snapshot of the current titles that are official Podiobooks: