science fiction – Page 203

Philip K. Dick’s We Can Remember It For You Wholesale on BBC7

Online Audio

Everyone needs a good bit of Dick now and then. Luckily, we’ve spotted some, one of his best in fact. A tale full of false memories, soulful wishes and the planet Mars – all classic Dick themes. Quail is a man who longs to visit Mars. His shrewish wife denies him even the day-dream. But when he discovers that he’s actually already been there, as an agent for a sinister government agency, things start getting a bit confused. Is he really a deep cover Black-Ops assassin with suppressed memories and a false identity? Or is he just a sad shmendrik with delusions of grandeur?

We Can Remember It For You Wholesale
By Philip K. Dick; Read by William Hootkins*
2 Parts 2 Broadcasts – [UNABRIDGED?]
Broadcaster: BBC7 / The 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Thurs. June 7th & Fri. June 8th @ 6:30pm & 12:30am (U.K. Time)
This novelette was first published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction‘s in April 1966 issue.
*The reader for this one was William Hootkins, aka “Red Six” from the original Star Wars. Cover me Porkins!

posted by Jesse Willis

The Sci Phi Show talks Rudy Rucker and panpsychism

The Sci Phi Show, has a Rudy Rucker flash fiction story which first appeared in the January 2006 issue of Nature. The tale’s called Panpsychism Proved. Jason, the show’s host, uses the story to talk about the philosophical idea of panpsychism (the idea that the entirety of the universe is “mind”). Have a listen|MP3|, then go on over to The Sci Phi Show forums and post your thoughts – they won’t post themselves …. or will they?

To subscribe to The Sci Phi Show’s podcast feed use this link:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheSciPhiShow

posted by Jesse Willis

CBC Radio One airing Canadia: 2056 episode 7

SFFaudio OnlineAudio

Neither rain, nor heat, nor “bandwidth exceeded” notifications shall keep this blog from it’s appointed posts! It’s Friday, so we’re here to remind you of what that means. Indeed! It is Canadia: 2056 day! Episode 7 day! It’s airing on CBC Radio One station across Canada this morning starting at 11:30 am in all time zones (Noon in Newfoundland). Listeners who aren’t patiently waiting at their radios for the appointed hour still have an opportunity to hear it ONLINE via the Streaming Radio Map – be sure to click the time zone in your area at 11:30am. Only THREE more episodes to go!

Here’s the official CBC Radio hotsheet description:

“Head for outer space this morning aboard Canadia 2056, the lone Canadian government spacecraft, sent to support an American space armada fighting hostile aliens. The Canadia receives word that their budget is being cut and the Captain has to decide what to trim. Doc Gaffney isn’t happy with his decisions and takes drastic action. Anderson makes a new best friend, oh – one more thing – the American fleet disappears. Canadia 2056, this morning at 11:30 (noon NT) on CBC Radio One.”

What are those who’ve been listening thinking of the show?

posted by Jesse Willis

Utopia by Sir Thomas More and Dystopia from

SFFaudio Online Audio

Utopia and dystopia go hand in hand, and LibriVox obviously knows this. They’ve got the audiobooks to prove it. One retro Science Fiction story and a proto-Science Fiction book. First up is Sir Thomas More’s foundational Utopia – a book which has probably influenced more SF than even Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein. Second is a short story from mainstream great E.M. Forster. First published in 1909, it is a dystopia that predicts computers, television, the internet, instant messaging, videoconferencing, google and even pizza delivery – at least sort of. If you’ve got a portable MP3 player be sure to use the handy podcast feeds!

Utopia
By Thomas More; Read by Jenilee
1 Zipped File of MP3s or podcast – Approx. 4 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: May 2007
“This book is all about the fictional country called Utopia. It is a country with an ‘ideal’ form of communism, in which everything really does belong to everybody, everyone does the work they want to, and everyone is alright with that. This country uses gold for chamber pots and prison chains, pearls and diamonds for children’s playthings, and requires that a man and a woman see each other exactly as they are, naked, before getting married. This book gave the word ‘utopia’ the meaning of a perfect society, while the Greek word actually means ‘no place’. Enjoy listening to this story about a country that really is too good to be true.”

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/utopia-by-thomas-more.xml

The Machine Stops
By E. M. Forster; Read by Erin Tavano and Jenilee
3 Zipped MP3s or via podcast – 1 Hour 12 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: May 2007
Almost all humans have lost the ability to live on the surface of the Earth. Each individual lives in isolation in a ‘cell’, with all bodily and spiritual needs met by the omnipotent, global Machine. Most humans welcome this development, as they are skeptical and fearful of first-hand experience. People forget that humans created the Machine, and treat it as a mystical entity whose needs supersede their own. Those who do not accept the deity of the Machine are viewed as ‘unmechanical’ and are threatened with “Homelessness”.

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/the-machine-stops-by-e-m-forster.xml

posted by Jesse Willis

Blake’s 7 The Audio Adventures update

SFFaudio Online Audio

Blake’s 7 The Audio Adventures series, now streaming exclusively on the Sci-Fi Channel UK website, has been pumping out their short audio drama segments at a delightfully quick pace. Added to the cast, in the more recent episodes, has been Robin Of Sherwood alumnus, Michael Praed. The total run for this show is going to be 36 segments, with new parts released Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

Rebel – Chapter 1: Hard Targets
By Ben Aaronovitch; Performed by a full cast
Streaming Audio – 7 Minutes [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: Sci-Fi Channel UK
Published: May 2007

Rebel – Chapter 2: Enemy Of The State
By Ben Aaronovitch; Performed by a full cast
Streaming Audio – 9 Minutes [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: Sci-Fi Channel UK
Published: May 2007

Rebel – Chapter 3: First Contact
By Ben Aaronovitch; Performed by a full cast
Streaming Audio – 7.5 Minutes [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: Sci-Fi Channel UK
Published: May 2007

Rebel – Chapter 4: The Derelict
By Ben Aaronovitch; Performed by a full cast
Streaming Audio – 7 Minutes [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: Sci-Fi Channel UK
Published: May 2007

Rebel – Chapter 5: No Surrender
By Ben Aaronovitch; Performed by a full cast
Streaming Audio – 6 Minutes [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: Sci-Fi Channel UK
Published: May 2007

Rebel – Chapter 6: Plan B
By Ben Aaronovitch; Performed by a full cast
Streaming Audio – 6 Minutes [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: Sci-Fi Channel UK
Published: May 2007

Rebel – Chapter 7: Space Fall
By Ben Aaronovitch; Performed by a full cast
Streaming Audio – 5 minutes 30 Seconds Minutes [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: Sci-Fi Channel UK
Published: May 2007

Rebel – Chapter 8: Survivors
By Ben Aaronovitch; Performed by a full cast
Streaming Audio – 7 Minutes 30 Seconds [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: Sci-Fi Channel UK
Published: May 2007

Rebel – Chapter 9: Tertiary Stage
By Ben Aaronovitch; Performed by a full cast
Streaming Audio – 6 Minutes 30 Seconds [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: Sci-Fi Channel UK
Published: May 2007

Rebel – Chapter 10: Hero
By Ben Aaronovitch; Performed by a full cast
Streaming Audio – 6 Minutes [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: Sci-Fi Channel UK
Published: May 2007

Rebel – Chapter 11: The Offer
By Ben Aaronovitch; Performed by a full cast
Streaming Audio – 7 Minutes [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: Sci-Fi Channel UK
Published: May 2007

Rebel – Chapter 12: Exiles
By Ben Aaronovitch; Performed by a full cast
Streaming Audio – 6 Minutes [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: Sci-Fi Channel UK
Published: May 2007

Also, Resonance FM, a community based radio station in London, U.K., has a lengthy “behind the scenes” style interview with the creators of the Blake’s 7 The Audio Adventures. It was recorded at this year’s Bristol international Comic Expo. U.S.A. audio drama creators will be extremely jealous of the obvious popularity of audio drama in the U.K.. Not mentioned in the interview, but also fascinating, is that the actors union in the U.K. has negotiated a precedent setting contract with the B7 Audio Adventures team. Have a listen |MP3|.

posted by Jesse Willis

FREE Elizabeth Bear audio fiction from Subterranean Press!

SFFaudio Online Audio

Subterranean Press, which produces the “Subterranean Online” magazine, has just released their Summer 2007 issue, and is offering another free audiobook, this one from the issue’s primary focus SF author Elizabeth Bear! This audiobook is read by the talented narrator, and SFFaudio’s very own, Mary Robinette Kowal! Wax is the second standalone tale in Bear’s new mosaic novel New Amsterdam.

Wax
By Elizabeth Bear; Read by Mary Robinette Kowal
7 MP3s – Approx. 1 Hours 14 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Subterranean Press
Published: May 2007
|MP3 Chapter 1|MP3 Chapter 2|MP3 Chapter 3|
|MP3 Chapter 4|MP3 Chapter 5|MP3 Chapter 6|
|MP3 Chapter 7|
Abigail Irene Garrett drinks too much. She makes scandalous liaisons with inappropriate men, and if in her youth she was a famous beauty, now she is both formidable–and notorious. She is a forensic sorceress, and a dedicated officer of a Crown that does not deserve her loyalty. She has nothing, but obligations. Sebastien de Ulloa is the oldest creature she has ever known. He was no longer young at the Christian millennium, and that was nine hundred years ago. He has forgotten his birth-name, his birth-place, and even the year in which he was born, if he ever knew it. But he still remembers the woman who made him immortal. He has everything, but a reason to live. In a world where the sun never set on the British Empire, where Holland finally ceded New Amsterdam to the English only during the Napoleonic wars, and where the expansion of the American colonies was halted by the war magic of the Iroquois, they are exiles in the new world–and its only hope for justice.

posted by Jesse Willis