Robert Sheckley – Page 16

A Bite of Stars, a Slug of Time, and Thou has Aye and Gomorrah by Samuel R. Delany

SFFaudio Online Audio

The second series of A Bite of Stars, a Slug of Time, and Thou is underway, and the podcast radio show (on Resonance FM 104.4 FM in London, U.K.) has out-done itself by recording a terrific and moving reading of Aye and Gomorrah by Samuel R. Delany. Victoria de Rijke joins Mark Sinker and Elisha Sessions to talk about the story and Delany in general. This is insightful listening about one of the most well written and unusual stories in all of Science Fiction.

Episode 11 – Aye, and Gomorrah
By Samuel R. Delany; Read by Elisha Sessions
Podcast – 1 Hour [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: A Bite Of Stars, A Slug Of Time, And Thou
Podcast: September 23rd, 2008
Winner of the 1967 Nebula Award for best short story. First in Harlan Ellison’s seminal 1967 anthology, Dangerous Visions.It takes place in a world where astronauts, known as Spacers, are neutered before puberty to avoid the effects of space radiation on gametes. They are fetishized by a subculture of ‘frelks’, those attracted by the Spacers’ unattainability and unarousability (‘free-fall-sexual-displacement complex’). The mischief-loving Spacers exploit this for amusement and money — and possibly out of loneliness and a desire to recapture their lost sexuality. The story tells of a Spacer’s poignant meeting with a female frelk.

The previous show presents a J.G. Ballard short story, a tough one, not quite as easily accessible (which is saying something)…

Episode 10 – Track 12
By J.G. Ballard; Read by Elisha Sessions
Podcast – 1 Hour [UNABRIDGED?]
Podcaster: A Bite Of Stars, A Slug Of Time, And Thou
Podcast: September 16th, 2008
A Science Fiction short story about electromusic? Yup. A retelling of Poe’s The Cask Of Amontillado? Very likely. Fully comprehensible? Maybe. Published in a 1958 issue of New Worlds.

And, the first show, of the second series, has a classic Robert Sheckley tale, only 5 pages long, but also a massive epic [I just wish there wasn’t any background music or SFX during the reading]…

Episode 09 – Zirn Left Unguarded, The Jenghik Palace in Flames, Jon Westerley Dead
By Robert Sheckley; Read by Elisha Sessions
Podcast – 1 Hour [UNABRIDGED?]
Podcaster: A Bite Of Stars, A Slug Of Time, And Thou
Podcast: September 10th, 2008
“It’s got swords, vast space battles and God’s receptionist.”

The one bad thing about this podcast (other than the lack of title and author name at the beginning of the story) is there are no direct links available (for hotlinking), you’ll have click through or subscribe to the podcast to get the files – which likely means about ~~75%~~ 60% of the people who listen to podcasts via direct links won’t get to hear it. Slug Of Time guys, it’s time to fix that!

Here’s the podcast feed for the few of you who know how to use it:

http://freakytrigger.co.uk/slugoftime-podcast/feed/

Posted by Jesse Willis

New Release – The Status Civilization by Robert Sheckley

New Releases

The Status Civilization
By Robert Sheckley; Read by Mark Douglas Nelson
5.5 hrs. – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Wonder Audio
Availiable at Audible and iTunes

Will Barrent has no memory of the murder for which he was convicted. He will now have to live his life sentence on the prison planet Omega. The few that survive there do it by committing crimes. And the more adept the planet inmates are at higher crime, the more they climb their bizarre anti-social ladder. They all must live in a society where drug addiction is mandatory, as is the worship of the Dark One. Barrent’s goal is to find why he was sent to this mad world and to clear his name and return to Earth. But first he must survive – for a life sentence on Omega is usually a short sentence indeed.

Posted by The Time Traveler of the Time Traveler Show

Five Free Favourites #3

SFFaudio Online Audio

Five Free Favourites
Five more faves, five more of my best bets. These are stories to make your mind say “yum yum” and your wallet say “nightie-night”…

1.
After A Lean Winter
By David Farland; Read by Rick Jelinek
1 |M4A| File – Approx. 1 Hour [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: MechMuse
Podcast: Spring 2006
I’m very pleased to see all the released MechMuse stories still available online. Of the dozen or so of stories released, I think this one is my favourite. It’s set six months or so after the events of H.G. Well’s The War Of The Worlds and features a protagonist named “Jack London,” who like the other residents of the Yukon, is still struggling against a Martian menace that still survives up there.

2.
Beyond Lies The Wub
By Philip K. Dick; Read by Mac Kelly
1 |MP3| – [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: The Time Traveler Show
Podcast: December 2006
The best Xmas gift I received in 2006 was this podcast short story! This was Dick’s first ever published tale, it’s one of his best too. And, I find holds up to multiple listenings. I recommend it often. Knowledge of Homer’s Odyssey is recommended.

3.
The Green Odyssey
By Philip Jose Farmer; Read by Mark Douglas Nelson
10 Zipped MP3s or Podcast – 6 Hours 6 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Published: December 2006
Publisher: LibriVox.org
This FREE audiobook was created on a dare. As one of the titles from the first SFFaudio Challenge I asked budding narrators to make single-voiced audiobooks from a list of public domain titles. This was the very first to meet the challenge – it is also one of the best. Set on a grassy plain on an obscure alien planet – it’s fast, funny, and makes for quite a romp. A novel in the spirit of Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court

Subscribe using this feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/the-green-odyssey-by-philip-jose-farmer.xml

4.
Star Surgeon
By Alan E. Nourse; Read by Scott D. Farquhar
14 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – 5 Hours 25 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Podiobooks.com
Published: October 2007
Dal Tigmar is an alien doctor with a sort of interstellar Médecins Sans Frontières. As a recent graduate of the Galaxy’s most prestigious medical school, on Earth, he’s been trained to treat every disease in the book. But racism isn’t a disease even he can treat. This is a real peppy 50 year old novel, that still crackles with energy. It plays out like a typical Heinleinian juvenile, minus the lectures. You’ll love it.

5.
X-Minus One: The Lifeboat Mutiny
Based on the story by Robert Sheckley; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 28 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: NBC Radio
Broadcast: September 11, 1956
Provider: Archive.org
I find a lot of X-Minus One hit or miss, but this Robert Sheckley story works. In fact, I’ve used the script for it twice just this month! Kids love it, adults love it. It’s funny, and it’s FREE! My only nit-pick is that the actor playing the lifeboat is not emotional enough – he totally underplays the scripted dialogue. When I do this part, I always play it highly emotional.

I’m still soliciting podcasters and bloggers for their lists, if you’ve a batch of five free faves you think just can’t be ignored, either post em below, or send me an email.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Durkin Hayes Audiobooks for sale

SFFaudio News

Durkin Hayes Audiobooks

I’ve been selling Durkin Hayes Paperback Audio audiobooks for about 10 years. None of them are available on Audible.com as DH Audio (formerly Durkin Hayes, formerly Listen For Pleasure) was going bankrupt about the same time Audible.com took off. These are all out-of-print audiobooks, and I think they’re some of the very best ever put to tape. Anybody want to buy some?

All of these are $5.00 each (U.S. or Canadian). That’s $0.01 above the original retail price. Buy 6 or more and I’ll throw in free shipping to the USA. For other countries (including my own country of Canada) I’ll charge a flat shipping fee of $5.00 for an unlimited number of audiobooks. All of these are single cassette audiobooks. They’re all “brand new” and “shrinkwrapped”. I’ve heard all of them, some pretty recently. If you have any questions please post em below or email. Money orders and PayPal are both ok. Details follow the pics:

First up an anthology of awesomeness selected by Isaac Asimov (for print) and Martin Greenberg (for audio) in 7 parts…

Isaac Asimov’s All Time Favorite Science Fiction Stories – Volume I
Edited by Martin H. Greenberg; Read by Rene Auberjonois
1 Cassette – Approx. 60 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Includes: “Captive Market” by Philip K. Dick and “The Last Of The Deliverers” by Poul Anderson
*The cover incorrectly states the title of the Poul Anderson story as (The Last Of The Defenders) , it is actually “The Last Of The Deliverers”
ISBN: 0886469481
QUANTITY IN STOCK: VERY FEW

Isaac Asimov’s All Time Favorite Science Fiction Stories – Volume II
Edited by Martin H. Greenberg; Read by Rene Auberjonois
1 Cassette – Approx. 72 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Includes: “World Of A Thousand Colors” by Robert Silverberg and “Impostor” by Philip K. Dick
ISBN: 0886469430
QUANTITY IN STOCK: A FEW

Isaac Asimov’s All Time Favorite Science Fiction Stories – Volume III
Edited by Martin H. Greenberg; Read by Rene Auberjonois
1 Cassette – Approx. 80 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Includes: “Silent Brother” by Algis Budrys and “Ishmael In Love” by Robert Silverberg
ISBN: 0886469511
QUANTITY IN STOCK: A FEW

Isaac Asimov’s All Time Favorite Science Fiction Stories – Volume IV
Edited by Martin H. Greenberg; Read by Rene Auberjonois
1 Cassette – Approx. 80 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Includes: “The Victim From Space” by Robert Sheckley and “Honorable Enemies” by Poul Anderson
ISBN: 0886469570
QUANTITY IN STOCK: A FEW

Isaac Asimov Presents Volume 5
Edited by Martin H. Greenberg; Read by Rene Auberjonois?
1 Cassette – Approx. 93 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Includes: “Wings Out Of Shadow” by Fred Saberhagen and “Exposure” by Eric Frank Russell
ISBN: 0886468612
QUANTITY IN STOCK: VERY FEW

Isaac Asimov Presents Volume 6
Edited by Martin H. Greenberg; Read by Rene Auberjonois?
1 Cassette – Approx. 93 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Includes: “The Ship Who Sang” by Anne McCaffrey and “Though Dreamers Die” by Lester del Rey
ISBN: 0886469732
*This one says its abridged by I believe that is an error.
QUANTITY IN STOCK: A FEW

Isaac Asimov Presents Volume 7
Edited by Martin H. Greenberg; Read by Rene Auberjonois?
1 Cassette – Approx. 104 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Includes: “Allamagoosa” by Eric Frank Russell, “The Last Monster” by Poul Anderson, and Why Johnny Can’t Speed by Alan Dean Foster
ISBN: 088646983X
QUANTITY IN STOCK: A FEW

Next 5 assorted short story collections…

Unicorn Variation
By Roger Zelazny; Read by Rene Auberjonois
1 Cassette – Approx. 83 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Includes:
Unicorn Variation by Roger Zelazny and “Angel Dark Angel” by Roger Zelazny
ISBN: 0886467365
QUANTITY IN STOCK: A FEW

Tales By American Masters: The Masque Of Read Death
By Edgar Allan Poe; Read by Win Phillips
1 Cassette – Approx 60 Minutes [UNABRIDGED?]
ISBN: 0886468949
Includes:
The Masque Of Read Death and Silence, A Fable by Edgar Allan Poe
QUANTITY IN STOCK: A FEW

Points Of Departure
By Pat Murphy; Read by Brenda Vaccaro
1 Cassette – [UNABRIDGED]
ISBN: 0886466296
QUANTITY IN STOCK: A FEW

Over The River And Through The Woods
By Clifford D. Simak; Read by Jonathan Frakes
1 Cassette – Approx. 97 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
ISBN: 0886467624
Includes: “Over The River And Through The Woods“, “Founding Father” and “Beachhead” all by Clifford D. Simak
QUANTITY IN STOCK: VERY FEW

Neighbor
By Clifford D. Simak; Read by Jonathan Frakes
1 Cassette – Approx. 84 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
ISBN: 0886467616
Includes: “Neighbor“, and “Desertion” both by Clifford D. Simak
QUANTITY IN STOCK: VERY FEW

Posted by Jesse Willis

New Release – A Sheckley Trilogy

New Releases

A new release from my favorite Audiobook publisher Wonder Audio. Okay, you got me. I’m the publisher, so of course it’s my favorite. But did you know we don’t review Wonder Audio titles at SFFaudio.com. Conflict of interest and all that, since I’m an editor here. But you know if I did review one, it would really rock ;)

A Sheckley Trilogy: Three Classic Tales of Science Fiction
By Robert Sheckley; Read by Mark Douglas Nelson
2 hrs. – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Wonder Audio
Availiable at Audible and iTunes

Robert Sheckley, master of the science-fiction short-story form, created numerous tales of dark humor. He had an entertaining gift for looking at society with a warped mirror, enabling us to see ourselves in a clearer reflection.

“Keep Your Shape” is from the perspective of an alien race with the unseemly ability to change shape. In “The Seventh Victim“, murder is legal and sanctioned by society, and the gunman’s victim is a beautiful woman. And when a spaceship filled with diverse alien life forms is stranded without a star drive, they only have one chance of getting home again. That chance is with a “Specialist” from Earth.

These three works were originally published in Galaxy and The Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy in 1953.

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