science fiction – Page 243

Review of Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson

Brown Girl In The Ring
By Nalo Hopkinson; Read by Peter Jay Fernandez
6 Cassettes – 8 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Recorded Books
Published: 2001
ISBN: 0788752286
Themes: / Fantasy / Science Fiction / Dystopia / Organ harvesting / Canada / Caribbean / Voodoo /

To uncover the future voices of science fiction, Time Warner Publishing sponsored a contest that attracted hundreds of submissions. Brown Girl In The Ring was the winning entry, announcing author Nalo Hopkinson to the world as a tremendous new talent. Brown Girl In The Ring is set in a future Toronto. An economic breakdown and a rising crime rate means the middle and upper classes have left and only the underclass remains there – a significant portion of which is of Carribean descent. Toronto’s citizens have been walled away from the rest of Canada, but now the upper classes need something from the untouchables within Toronto city limits – they need their orphans. If you think of the New York in the movie “Escape From New York”, move it a few miles North and East, you’ll get an idea of the general setting. This is a “what would the world be like if…” story, which makes it sort of SF, but there is also magic or more properly magics (both good and bad) that influence the character’s lives, and deaths too, and this is certainly not plausible in my buttoned down scientist’s hat worldview (scientists do wear hats right?). Which tends to make me think it must be fantasy, kind of like Star Wars with its “force” must be fantasy.

I think I’ve thought of a term to describe it too, you’ve heard of Cyberpunk and Steampunk right? Well maybe Brown Girl In The Ring is Voodoopunk? I wasn’t sure what I was getting into with this audiobook, it has a vocabulary and an outlook I’d never experienced in a novel before. But on the other hand it did have some things that I recognized. It has a story – a very strong story – that was told as if the author had told dozens like it before and she guided me through it with a sure hand. What’s even better is it has a strong finish. I was worried I wasn’t going to be satisfied with where the story was going, I was happily surprised. Nalo Hopkinson knew what she was doing. I didnt anticipate the dénouement, but it makes sense and is very satisfying even though it is subtle. Maybe it makes it even more satisfying because it is subtle.

As for the production, it’s a Recorded Books audiobook so of course every word of the novel’s text is present. A very good thing too! It would have been a mistake to abridge a story as complex as this one. The cover art is perfect, I think it even surpasses the original paperback artwork!

Not being from the Caribbean myself I thought Peter Jay Fernandez did a great job with the accents and voices. I have been informed however that Fernadez is definitely mis-reading some of the phrases, so badly in some cases that he accidently changes their meaning. It didn’t detract from the experience for me, but if you are at all familiar with Carribean pronounciation and accents it may make it somewhat distracting.

posted by Jesse Willis

Review of Big Big Space by Roger Gregg

SFFaudio Review

Big Big Space: The Complete Series
By Roger Gregg; Performed by a full cast
3 CD’s – 3 Hours [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: Crazy Dog Audio Theatre
Published: 2001
ISBN: 689232069827
Themes: / Science Fiction / Comedy / Audio Drama /

Included in this 3 CD set are three hilarious one-hour audio dramas in 6 episodes – The Cabaret of Forbidden Celestial Delights, Big Jim Chancer and the Space Pirates, and The Zombies of Dr. Krell. The shows were originally broadcast on Ireland’s RTE Radio 1.

The cast of characters includes the crew of the starship Amadan: Captain Roslyn Sane, First Officer Hoax Minstrel, Counselor Disco Trojan, and Robot RomManDroid. The scripts have a lot of fun at the expense of the genre, and at the mainstays of Star Trek especially. Captain Roslyn Sane sounds and acts much like Trek’s Captain Janeway, and David Murray is brilliant as First Officer Hoax Minstrel – I swear he’s performing the part as “William Shatner as Captain Kirk” with hilarious results. The crew experiences adventures, dealing with teenage fractal quarks, evil accountants, and demanding extras, and poking witty, merciless fun at science fiction along the way.

All three shows were recorded live – live cast, live music, live effects, and live audience – which harkens back to the golden age of radio comedy. The shows are thoroughly entertaining and very funny. The live audience obviously enjoyed themselves, and so did I.

Don’t take my word for it! Listen to one of the episodes (“Who’s Afraid of Rotwang Krell”) at the Crazy Dog website.

The set is also available from ZBS.

posted by Scott D. Danielson

Review of Star Trek: Captain’s Blood by William Shatner, with Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens

Star Trek Audiobooks - Captains Blood by William Shatner and Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens Captain’s Blood
By William Shatner with Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens; Read by William Shatner
2 Cassettes or 3 CD’s – 3 Hours [ABRIDGED]
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Audio
Published: 2003
ISBN: 0743533593 (Cassette), 0743533607 (CD)
Themes: / Science Fiction / Star Trek / Romulans / Genetic engineering /

Ever since The Return, the audio of which I consider one of the best Star Trek experiences out there (it would have made an excellent movie), I’ve eagerly listened to all of the Shatner Star Trek novels. The novels are both good and bad. The bad? I tired of the “Captain Kirk, you’re the only one who can do this…” line, with all its variations, back in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. The good? All of Star Trek is woven into these stories. In this novel, for example, characters from the Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Star Trek: Voyager play roles in the plot, and attention is paid to the history of those shows.

The story takes place soon after the events in the Star Trek: Nemesis film. James T. Kirk is alive and well due to events that occur in earlier Shatner Star Trek novels. He is retired and has a 5 year-old son who is a mixture of many races – also due to events in earlier novels. The story opens with the apparent death of Ambassador Spock during a public peace rally on Romulus. News of this gets to the Federation, who contacts Kirk and asks him to go to Romulus to find out what happened. Inexplicably, he brings his 5 year-old on the dangerous mission. The plot reveals what really happened to Mr. Spock, as well as some secrets regarding Kirk’s son.

Shatner’s reading is very Kirk-like, and sound and music are used throughout to excellent effect. The Star Trek audiobooks have a consistently high production quality.

This story, though, just misses. It seems forced, unimportant, and at times just plain implausible. The ending is open for another novel – maybe that one will approach the high standard set by The Return.

Click here for more on Star Trek audio!

posted by Scott D. Danielson

Review of No Truce with Kings by Poul Anderson

Science Fiction Audiobook - No Truce With Kings by Poul Anderson No Truce With Kings
By Poul Anderson; Read by Tom Teti
4 Cassettes – 4 Hours 40 minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Dercum Press Audio [ActiveBooks #ABS02]
Published: September 1987 – OUT OF PRINT
ISBN: 1556562675
Themes: / Science Fiction / Exploration / Sea Voyage / Civil War / Military / Galactic Civilization / Telepathy /

DERCUM ACTIVE BOOKS
Dercum’s Active Books are a contemporary approach to classic literature. This collection, when complete, will number over sixteen volumes and will be one of the most comprehensive anthologies of science fiction and fantasy stories ever produced. Book Notes are and exclusive feature of all Dercum Fantasy Listening Cassettes. At key points in our stories, musical accents are added for your listening pleasure.

Though it doesn’t state it in the title, this audiobook actually contains two tales by Poul Anderson, the 1961 Hugo winning novelette “The Longest Voyage” and the 1964 Hugo winning novella “No Truce With Kings”. “The Longest Voyage” follows a junior officer on board the ship of a latter day Magellan. But this global circumnavigation is on a faraway planet, populated by humans who have lost their ancient technologies. As their society has rebuilt itself it builds new caravels that can take them farther and farther afield. But the new civilizations they discover on a distant shore hold a secret to both their past and their future.

“No Truce with Kings” is set in a post-apocalyptic United States, a feudal future made up of small nations constantly at war with each other. As the battles and intrigues unfold, hidden societies and shadowy organizations begin to show that their wars do not go unnoticed.

“The Longest Voyage” was enjoyable, it reminded me of Robert J. Sawyer’s Farseer, minus the talking dinosaurs. “No Truce With Kings” was well conceived, a cross between Mad Max and Jeremiah, but the execution was less than I had hoped for. Still and all, I enjoyed both stories and it was a very good listen.

This audiobook is a curious mix of excellence and shoddiness. The stories are certainly very worthy of adaptation, the reader Tom Teti is decent if not spectacular, providing only a minimal performance. But the packaging is just plain bad, missing digits in the ISBN, the reader’s name would be unknown except that the packaging has come unglued and revealed it beneath one of the two cassette holders (a place where no one would ever possibly see it!). They also ignored a title, no mention of the inclusion of “The Longest Voyage” appears except on the cassettes themselves and in small font on the back of the package. The jacket design is almost non-existent giving us only some generic clipart. In addition, the genre is labeled fantasy when both stories are actually science fiction. On the other hand the recording and the sound production is truly excellent! Including as always with Dercum Active Book titles the haunting Dercum Audio music, which starts to play before the story and which re-appears when a story ends or when a tape flip is coming up. It is a truly excellent theme music for science fiction or fantasy audio production and one which I am always pleased to hear. But the best part, the very best part of this audiobook is the added introduction which is so very appropriate and so well written, introducing the stories and the author, really enhancing the experience. Overall I’m very glad to have finally found a copy of this out of print and obscure audiobook, but I can’t say its perfect, I have to wonder if some of the reasons for the fall of Dercum Audio have anything to do with their lack of follow through? To get such a great property, to execute the recording so well, to produce it with such forethought and then to package it in an unattractive and poorly designed package… its a real tale of what might have been.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Review of Neuromancer by William Gibson

SFFaudio Review

Neuromancer
By William Gibson; Read by William Gibson
4 Cassettes – Approx. 6 hours [ABRIDGED]
Publisher: Time Warner AudioBooks
Published: August 1994
ISBN: 1570420599
Themes: / Science Fiction / Cyberpunk / Dystopia / Artificial Intelligence /

Neuromancer sent massive shockwaves though science fiction and popular culture upon its release in 1984. Those shockwaves can still be felt after 20 years. Neuromancer is the tale of Case, a console cowboy, otherwise known as a computer hacker who goes on a futuristic Odyssey spanning a nihilistic near-future Earth and slightly beyond. A rich background, experimentalist prose, cuttingly future-modern dialogue and a prophetic dystopian vision combine with a heist plot reminiscent of Elmore Leonard to make a novel that will undoubtedly win William Gibson an eventual title of GRANDMASTER.

Created for the 10th anniversary of the publication of William Gibson’s first and best novel, this audiobook is a SFFaudio listener’s delight! A careful abridgment and a masterfully executed production, this is perhaps the best version of Neuromancer in any form. While Gibson is by no means a trained actor or even a professional narrator, his voice is uniquely suited to this novel and his characters. Supplementing the terrific reading is a unique soundtrack made up of two U2 remixes, which really does amazing things. Now normally I’d say that the combination of accenting music, a non-professional narrator and an abridgment of the novel all would be a recipe for disaster. But this version of Neuromancer defies all my expectations, and makes this my candidate for perhaps THE BEST ABRIDGED AUDIOBOOK EVER PRODUCED!

Posted by Jesse Willis

Review of Isaac Asimov’s All-Time Favorite Science Fiction Stories, Volume 1

Science Fiction Audiobook - Isaac Asimov Isaac Asimov’s All-Time Favorite Science Fiction Stories, Volume 1
Ed. by Martin H. Greenberg; Read by René Auberjonois
One cassette – 60 minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Durkin Hayes Publishing Ltd.
Published: 1997 – Out Of Print
ISBN: 0886469730
Themes: / Science Fiction / Short Stories / Time Travel / Politics /

This audiobook contains two short stories:

In “Captive Market” by Philip K. Dick, an old woman gifted with precognition has previewed the futures to find one in which survivors on the radioactive Earth need supplies for their escape to a safe planet. As the proprietor of a small town country store, she has the business acuity to recognize this windfall; her canniness far outweighs any sympathy she may have for their plight. Making trip after trip into their time continuum with the supplies for which they pay in pre-war money, she selfishly refuses to tell them a vital fact she had also previewed — they will fail to escape. “Captive Market” ably demonstrates Philip K. Dick’s unique take on what is normally a by the numbers affair, the science fiction staple of time travel. He turns it on its ear to produce a great short story! “Captive Market” was first published in the magazine Worlds of If in April 1955.

Poul Anderson’s “The Last of the Deliverers”, is set a hundred years from now. Things have changed in the world, and the old rivalries between nations and ideologies are a thing of the past. But for Uncle Jim, who calls himself “a republican”, whatever that is, the old ways are the best ways. When another man, as old as Uncle Jim, showed up a great disagreement ensued after he called himself “a communist”. They both seemed to think that the fate of the community was at stake, and that if the people listen to them there would be no end of trouble. Uncle Jim insisted on something he called “capitalism”, and the communist wanted something called communism. The people all thought they were both crazy. “The Last Of The Deliverers” first appeared in The February 1958 issue of the “Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction”. Poul Anderson is probably just under the radar of a casual science fiction fan, but those who know his work and love it will love this one as much as I did. Anderson gives us a peek at ‘the long view’, and shows us how the passing of years makes fools of us all.

I have a strong affinity for obscure goodness, and this audiobook is a perfect example of exactly that. Durkin Hayes, the publisher, has been out of business for a few years now but even so, its strong line up of science fiction and fantasy short story collections are to be ignored only at extreme peril.

The Isaac Asimov’s Favorite Science Fiction Stories series ran to seven volumes, later a shorter but equally impressive follow-up series entitled Isaac Asimov Countdown 2000 ran for four volumes. Both series are actually made up of stories not by Asimov but by other authors, tales that Asimov though were important and interesting. Both of the stories in this, the first volume in the series, are performed extremely well by René Auberjonois, best known for his role on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. I highly recommended this audiobook, and the whole series, unfortunately due to Durkin Hayes being out of business you may have great difficulty finding a copy of this audiobook.

posted by Jesse Willis