Spider Robinson reads The Persistence Of Vision by John Varley

SFFaudio Online Audio

Spider On The Web - Spider Robinson’s podcastJohn Varley’s Hugo and Nebula award winning 1978 novella The Persistence Of Vision is the latest unabridged story to be recorded by Spider Robinson for his Spider On The Web podcast.

Wow! Could your life get any more thrilling than this?

The Persistence Of Vision is the perfect tale for these times. With those bread riots we’ve all got planned for next week and all. Now, all we’ll have to do is let a few of our nuclear power plants do The China Syndrome-thing, get the survivors together, form a few farm collectives, shave off all our body hair, and then paint ourselves a nice shade of purple.

Science Fiction Audio - The Persistence Of Vision by John VarleyThe Persistence Of Vision
By John Varley; Read by Spider Robinson
1 |MP3| – Approx. 2 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Spider On The Web
Podcast: November 2008
Wandering the roads and rails of a future USA, our narrator learns the art of living in a dead economy. Only a mysterious wall on the New Mexico/California border and a collective of the blind-deaf keep his wandering feet from moving on.

And, here are the details for the new Audible Frontiers version (which is done by a different narrator and is minus the sounds of pages turning)…

Audible Frontiers Science Fiction Audiobook - The Persistence Of Vision by John VarleyThe Persistence Of Vision
By John Varley; Read by Peter Ganim
Audible Download – 2 Hours 29 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: September 2008
Listen to a sample |MP3|
On the surface, this Hugo and Nebula Award-winning classic is about a drifter who comes to stay in a New Mexico commune founded by a group of deaf-blind people. But beneath the story, author John Varley examines deep, universal issues. What is the nature of communication? What does an individual gain – or lose – by subsuming himself to the whole? Can an outsider ever truly “belong”? Varley says that he has had more response to this story than anything he has ever written, that some readers have even told him it changed their lives. Listening to The Persistence of Vision, it is easy to understand why.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Spider Robinson is Audible’s latest Sci-fi Guest Editor

SFFaudio News

Spider Robinson is Audible’s latest Sci-fi Guest EditorSpider Robinson is guest editor over on Audible.com right now. That means he’s written an essay (titled “The Missing Audiobooks“) and made a list of Audible audiobooks he recommends.

Here’s a snippet from the essay:

“Where are all the audio short story collections and anthologies?

Audiobook editors solemnly assure me that surveys prove audiobook readers hate short stories, whether in single-author collections or anthos. But if I ask where I can find those surveys they change the subject. So I can’t prove the pollsters bungled the job; I just strongly believe it. But in the case of science fiction, I’m certain: they’re dead wrong. There’s a vast audience for short SF; always has been.”

And here are Spider’s picks:

Several stories from… 2000x [from The Hollywood Theater of the Ear] |READ OUR REVIEW|

A Sheckley Trilogy by Robert Sheckley [from Wonder Audio] <--- from SFFaudio's own staff!!! The Retrieval Artist by Kristine Kathryn Rusch [from Deuce Audio] <--- from SFFaudio's own staff!!! Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge by Mike Resnick [from Audible Frontiers]

The Winds of Marble Arch by Connie Willis [from Audible Frontiers]

The Golden Man by Philip K. Dick [from Blackstone Audio]

Antibodies by Charles Stross [from Infinivox] |READ OUR REVIEW|

10 to the 16th to 1 by James Patrick Kelly [James Patrick Kelly’s StoryPod]

Posted by Jesse Willis

Options by John Varley – podcast on Spider On The Web

SFFaudio Online Audio

Spider On The Web - Spider Robinson’s podcastJohn Varley’s Hugo and Nebula nominated short story Options is the latest unabridged tale to be recorded by Spider Robinson for Spider Robinson’s Spider On The Web podcast. More of Varley’s work, four novels, will soon be available via Audible.com too. According to Varley, Titan, Wizard, and Demon will be read by Allyson Johnson. While The Ophiuchi Hotline will be read by Gabra Zackman. Jeanne Robinson, who’s Spider Robinson frequent co-author, and spouse, also has some news with her new project The Stardance Movie. Looking forward to it Jeanne!

Options
By John Varley; Read by Spider Robinson
1 |MP3| – [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Spider On The Web
Podcast: September 2008

Posted by Jesse Willis

2 Classic Frederik Pohl tales narrated by Spider Robinson

SFFaudio Online Audio

Spider On The Web - Spider Robinson’s podcastSpider On The Web has some amazing content for us this month. Disappointed at the number of short stories available in audio form Spider Robinson has a plan to solve this. He’s sought out and received permission to read some of his favorite SF short stories. Stories from some of the most influential SF writers of all time! The first is what Spider Robinson describes as “what very well may be the ultimate science fiction short story.” Folks, he ain’t just blowing smoke with that line. Frederick Pohl’s 1966 short story Day Million is a real contender for that accolade! Influential as hell, short, amazing, stunningly futuristic and still modern (except in addressing its audience). A tale will blow your mind! The second story by Pohl, We Purchased People, first published in 1973, has even more taboos broken in it. In fact, far more taboos in are broken in We Purchased People than you can shake any unmentionable body part at. This one was entirely new to me, but upon reflection I think it may be just as powerful. Frankly, it’s more frightening than hell. Science Fiction as Horror.

Day Million and We Purchased People by Frederik PohlDay Million and We Purchased People
By Frederik Pohl; Read by Spider Robinson
1 |MP3| – Approx. 67 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Podcast: Spider On The Web
Podcaster: August 2008

Here’s the podcast feed:

http://www.spiderrobinson.com/iTunes_feed.xml

Posted by Jesse Willis

Recent Arrivals – Dick, Heinlein, Card, Bujold, Robinson

Science Fiction Audiobook Recent Arrivals

We’ve got five new arrivals from Blackstone with the top names in the business–again!

dr_bloodmoney150.jpgDr. Bloodmoney, or How We Got Along After the Bomb
By Philip K. Dick; Read by Tom Weiner
7 CD, 8.5 hrs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2008
ISBN: 9781433245503

Philip Dick’s post-nuclear-holocaust masterpiece presents a mesmerizing vision of a world transformed, where technology has reverted back to the nineteenth century, animals have developed speech and language, and humans must deal with both physical mutations and the psychological repercussions of the disaster they have caused. The book is filled with a host of Dick’s most memorable characters: Hoppy Harrington, a deformed mutant with telekinetic powers; Walt Dangerfield, a selfless disc jockey stranded in a satellite circling the globe; Dr. Bluthgeld, the megalomaniac physicist largely responsible for the decimated state of the world; and Stuart McConchie and Bonnie Keller, two unremarkable people bent the survival of goodness in a world devastated by evil. Epic and alluring, Dr. Bloodmoney brilliantly depicts Dick’s undying hope in humanity.

SF audiobook - Memory of Earth by Orson Scott CardThe Memory of Earth; Homecoming Vol. 1
By Orson Scott Card; Read by Stefan Rudnicki
9 CD, 10.5 hrs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2008
ISBN: 9781433218705

High above the planet Harmony, the Oversoul watches. Its task, programmed so many millennia ago, is to guard the human settlement on this planet, to protect this fragile remnant of Earth from all threats. To protect them, most of all, from themselves.The Oversoul has done its job well. There is no war on Harmony. There are no weapons of mass destruction. There is no technology that could lead to weapons of war. By control of the data banks, and subtle interference in the very thoughts of the people, the artificial intelligence has fulfilled its mission.But now there is a problem. In orbit, the Oversoul realizes that it has lost access to some of its memory banks, and some of its power systems are failing. And on the planet, men are beginning to think about power, wealth, and conquest.

SF Audiobook - Stardance by Spider and Jeanne RobinsonStardance
By Spider & Jeanne Robinson: Read by Spider Robinson
7 CD, 8 hrs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2008
ISBN: 9781433244827

Shara Drummond was a gifted dancer and a brilliant choreographer, but she could not pursue her dream of dancing on Earth. So she went to space, creating a new art form in three dimensions. And when the aliens arrived, there was only one way to prove that the human race deserved not just to survive, but to reach the stars. The only hope was Shara, with her stardance.

The Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Stardance series pioneered the concept of zero gravity dance, which even sparked the interest of NASA and shortlisted co-author Jeanne Robinson for a seat on a space shuttle to become the first actual freefall dancer in space. Though the Challenger explosion cancelled that dream, now Jeanne is being given a second chance to choreograph dance in space…on film. See Stardance Home Page for more.

SF audiobook - Friday by Robert A. HeinleinFriday
By Robert A. Heinlein; Read by Hillary Huber
11 CDs – Approx. 14 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2008
ISBN: 9781433246502
Engineered from the finest genes and trained to be a secret courier in a future world, Friday operates over a near-future Earth, where chaos reigns. North America has become Balkanized into dozens of independent states, sharing only a bizarrely vulgarized culture. Now, Friday finds herself on shuttlecock assignment at the seemingly whimsical behest of her secret employer, known to her only as “Boss”. Traveling from one to another of the new states of America’s disunion, she is confronted with a series of professional as well as personal crises that put her to the test.

SF audiobook - Passage: The Sharing Knife part 3 by Lois McMaster Bujould TNThe Sharing Knife, Passage, Vol. 3
By Lois McMaster Bujould; Read by Bernadette Dunne
12 CD, 15 hrs – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2008
ISBN: 9781433234910

Filled with magic, heroism, and all-too-human characters, Bujold’s Sharing Knife saga is both a gripping adventure and a poignant romance. In this third volume, Fawn, the young farm girl, and Dag, the seasoned soldier-sorcerer, set off to find fresh solutions to the perilous split between their peoples and encounter new hazards both human and uncanny.

The farmers and riverfolk have long distrusted the power of the mysterious and aloof Lakewalkers, even though they depend on them for protection from the evil malices. The proud Lakewalkers, meanwhile, have exiled Dag after learning of his marriage to Fawn, the first outsider to be bound to a Lakewalker in their magical way. But as Dag’s natural Lakewalker ability to manipulate “ground energy” begins to develop in dangerous directions, he and Fawn realize that big changes are ahead.

AudioFile Magazine’s latest issue praises Variable Star audiobook

SFFaudio News

Audiofile MagazineAudiofile magazine’s February/March 2008 issue has designated an “earphones award” for an audiobook reviewed by SFFaudio’s own cool guy Scott Danielson.

Scott wrote, among other things, of Variable Star (by Robert A. Heinlein and Spider Robinson)…

“The novel is full of philosophical insight, exploding things, and space travel.”

Cool!

Also reviewed in this issue are…

Dune Messiah – The Dune Chronicles, Book Two
By Frank Herbert; Read by Scott Brick, Katherine Kellgren, Euan Morton, Simon Vance, et al.

Slan
By A.E. Van Vogt; Read by Oliver Wyman

A Civil Campaign
By Lois McMaster Bujold; Read by Grover Gardner

Blade Runner (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?)
By Philip K. Dick; Read by Scott Brick

His Majesty’s Dragon – Temeraire, Book 1
By Naomi Novik; Read by Simon Vance

Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Ravens Of Avalon
By Diana L. Paxson; Read by Lorna Raver

Empire
By Orson Scott Card; Read by Stefan Rudnicki, Orson Scott Card

As She Climbed Across The Table
By Jonathan Lethem; Read by David Aaron Baker

Girl In Landscape
By Jonathan Lethem; Read by David Aaron Baker

And over in the Mystery/Suspense section you’ll find a review of…

The Wheel of Darkness
By Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child; Read by Rene Auberjonois

In the audio theatre section…

Infinite Crisis: Part 2 (Superman, Batman, Wonderwoman)
By Greg Cox (and DC Comics); Performed by a Full Cast

There are a few other SFFaudio related reviews in their too! Audiofile magazine isn’t available on any newstand or specialty bookstore that I’ve seen here in Canada, but it is available by subscription, and may be available on some newstands in the USA. Check out their website HERE for how to get a copy.

Posted by Jesse Willis