Hey, we’re not just sitting around on our duffs here you know, we’re renovating this place, slowly but surely. In fact, we’ve just updated our already extensive Star Trek audiobook page. Check it out, and all of the new titles listed HERE.
A huge THANK YOU in the renovation goes out to Ian McLean. If you too have information, images or whatnot for any of our sub-pages, drop us a line, we could use the extra hand.
Joey Chivers’ read along site ReadAlongAdventures.com is another in the recent spate of Record/Book combination sites we’ve been telling you about. Here’s how Joey describes his her mission:
“Remember those great read-along books and tapes from when you were a kid? We sure do. In the days before computers and DVD and VHS, this was the next best thing to watching a movie or a TV show. You put in the tape, open the book, and read along with the cheesy voice over and cool sound effects. And there was no way you could possibly forget when it was time to turn the page.”
More than two dozen adventures have been converted from paper and cassette books into flash animated e-books with accompanying audio. The craftsman-like translation from hard-copy to electronic version has produced an effect very much like the original books. If you’re feeling nostalgic, or have young kids yourself you should definitely download a few. Available on the site are:
Star Wars, Star Trek, James Bond, Mary Poppins, Indiana Jones and many others. Check them all out HERE.
Joey has also assigned himself herself the task of cataloging an ongoing list of all the Read-Along books that have ever been published. If you have some Read Along records or tapes that you think probably aren’t yet listed head on over and look.
*updated May 10th 2007
Power Records Plaza is a blog with affectionate memories of an obscure 1970s and 1980s record company called, you guessed it… “Power Records.” The site is run by Shawn, a Canadian with nostalgia for the story LPs he and his brother grew up listening to. On PRP blog you’ll find images and sound files that will please any Power Records fan. If you want to suddenly find yourself awash in memories of listening to these records in your basement and wasting away a Saturday afternoon then this is the blog for you. There’s way too much to list in one post but I’ll give you a couple of representative samples…
The Amazing Spider-Man: Invasion Of The Dragon Men
Power Records; Performed by a Full Cast
7″ 45-rpm record & Book – [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: Power Records
Published: 1974
Product #: PR-24
Spider-Man must stop an invasion of New York by hideous fire breathing aliens.
An MP3 download for this record can be found on the right hand side of the PRP blog. And for this title a hardcore Power Records fan has combined the book with the audio into a movie that you can find on youtube:
Video |PART 1|
Video |PART 2|
Star Trek: Dinosaur Planet
Power Records; Performed by a Full Cast
7″ 45-rpm record & Book – [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: Power Records
Published: 1979
Product #: PR-45
The Enterprise encounters a race of intelligent dinosaurs.
An MP3 download for this record can be found on the right hand side of the PRP blog. And a hardcore Power Records fan has combined the book with the audio into a 2 part movie that you can find on youtube:
Video |PART 1|
Video |PART 2|
Other Power Records characters listed on the PRP blog include: The Six Million Dollar Man, Man-Thing, Wonder Woman, G.I. Joe, Batman, Superman, The Justice League Of America, Space 1999, Planet Of The Apes, Captain America, Conan The Barbarian and MUCH MORE!
Star Trek: Vulcan’s Soul Book II – Exiles
By Josepha Sherman and Susan Shwartz; Read by Richard Poe
9 CDs – 10.5 hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Recorded Books
Published: 2006
ISBN: 1419315129
Themes: / Science Fiction / Star Trek / Vulcans / Romulans /
This is an excellent book. It is the second in a trilogy, the first one being Exodus and the next one being Epiphany. Recorded Books has published the first two in unabridged format, read by Star Trek actor Richard Poe (he played Gul Evek on TNG, DS9 & Voyager). I expect them to release the third when it is appears in print next year.
Exiles tells the story of the Vulcans who departed their planet because of an impending nuclear holocaust and traveled across space to find a new home on the planets of Romulus and Remus, two thousand years before the Dominion War and the Romulan struggle against the Watraii.
Intertwined with that story is the 24th century mission of the U.S.S. Alliance. Her hastily assembled task force includes Spock, Saavik, Scotty, and Data. In Exodus, the Romulan world was threatened by a race called the Watraii, and here our heroes attempt to infiltrate their homeworld to rescue a prisoner and a revered Romulan artifact. Not much is known about the Watraii, other than they claim owning the planets Romulus and Remus before the Exiles colonized them.
Richard Poe again does an excellent job narrating. He depicts the individual characters well, giving them emotion and even breathlessness to characters who are sick. Data and Spock are given their familiar speech cadences, and appropriate accents are given to Scotty and other characters. A first-rate Trek novel, very well written, and very well read.
SFFaudio has shamelessly stolen this entire post from the awesome Slice of SciFi news website:
First it was the Klingon and the Romulan Empires, the Mirror Universe followed by the Borg and Dominion – but until now, Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets have never come up against an enemy as terrifying as this menace from outside the normal fabric of Trek’s space and time. The Daleks have Invaded.
Battlestar Galactica vrs. the Enterprise? Childsplay! Darker Projects takes a serious look at what would happen if the Daleks from the Doctor Who universe were to find themselves on the other side of a rift in the time/space continuum right smack in the Star Trek verse.
In “Gateway,” Part I of episode “Invasion,” when all contact is lost with the Starship Defiant and Starbase Gateway, the covert operatives of Section 31 are sent to investigate. Only to make a dark discovery. Aboard the Nosferatu, Section 31 investigates this rift and a new threat it has brought into an area of space that not even the Dominion want anything to do with.
Part 2 of “Invasion” is called “Doomsday Unleashed” and continues the story as the invading forces advance into the galaxy, Captain Dalonna considers making a deal with the Federation’s greatest enemy – if there is any hope of stopping them. Meanwhile Mak comes face to face with the one enemy he’d believed destroyed long ago.
Written and directed by Eric Busby, “Section 31″ from Darker Projects is one of the most creative and exciting audio fan productions on the net today and one which Slice of SciFi highly recommends for all Trek enthusiasts and lovers of great scifi serials.
Thanks for this story SoSF guys!
Star Trek: Vulcan’s Soul: Exodus
By Josepha Sherman and Susan Shwartz; Read by Richard Poe
6 Cassettes – 8.5 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Recorded Books
Published: 2005
ISBN: 141930920X
Themes: / Science Fiction / Star Trek / Vulcans /
I have read the previous works by Josepha Sherman and Susan Shwartz, titled Star Trek: Vulcan’s Forge and Star Trek: Vulcan’s Heart, and both were excellent. Star Trek: Vulcan’s Soul: Exodus is no different. All are excellent meditations on what it means to be Vulcan, and Exodus delves into the planet’s history, back to the time of Surak, the Vulcan who guided his race into suppressing their emotions and adhering to logic. The main focus of this novel is a group of Vulcans who are preparing to leave the planet. These people eventually become the Romulans, and their story will continue into the next books, titled Exiles and Epiphany. Plus, a story that takes place in the 24th Century after the Dominion War, where the Romulan homeworlds are threatened by the alien Watraii. Spock and his wife Saavik, as well as centenarian Admirals Uhura and Chekov, assemble a fleet of Federation, Klingon and
Romulan ships, against Starfleet orders, to deal with them. (I guess if McCoy can still be alive to take a tour of the Enterprise-D 100+ years after his first tour as Kirk’s chief medical officer, then I guess Uhura and Chekov can still be alive after the Dominion War.)
I also like the addition and update of another Original Series character, The Romulan Commander from “The Enterprise Incident”, and I’m pleased to see she’s finally been given a name: Charvonek.
The audiobook is read by Richard Poe(who played Gul Evek in several episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager). You’d think that his deep, distinctive voice would make it hard to give voice to the women in his story, but he manages admirably. He also does well at giving emotion to the characters, applying just the right anger and sadness, and even adding breathlessness to fight scenes. I can’t wait to hear the next book.
Ed. – This audiobook is the first Unabridged Star Trek novel we’ve come across. Recorded Books has very recently published an Unabridged version of the second book in the series, Star Trek: Vulcan’s Soul: Exiles, also read by Richard Poe.