New Releases – Reynolds, Child, Asimov, Willis

New Releases

Here’s a few new releases that have caught my eyes. There’s also a promise of a title to come that I just have to mention: Tantor Media has Scott Lynch’s The Lies Of Locke Lamora in the pipeline for a spring release! Somebody over in Tantor’s acquisitions department must be listening to our podcast!

Tantor Media - Redemption Ark by Alastair ReynoldsRedemption Ark
By Alastair Reynolds; Read by John Lee
24 CDs or 3 MP3-CDs – 29 Hours 30 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: February 2009
ISBN: 9781400109579 (CD), 9781400159574 (MP3-CD)
The sequel to Revelation Space


Random House Audio - Terminal Freeze by Lincoln ChildTerminal Freeze
By Lincoln Child; Read by Scott Brick
9 CDs – 10 Hours 30 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: 2/24/2009
ISBN: 9780739382028

Four hundred miles north of the Arctic Circle lies Alaska’s Federal Wilderness Zone, one of the most remote places on Earth. But for paleoecologist Evan Marshall and a small group of fellow scientists, an expedition to the Zone represents the opportunity of a lifetime to study the effects of global warming. The expedition changes suddenly, however, with an astonishing find. On a routine exploration of a glacial ice cave, the group discovers an enormous ancient animal encased in solid ice. The media conglomerate sponsoring their research immediately intervenes and arranges the ultimate spectacle—the animal will be cut from the ice, thawed, and revealed live on television. Despite dire warnings of a local Native American village, and the scientific concerns of Marshall and his team, the “docudrama” plows ahead—until the scientists make one more horrifying discovery. The beast is no regular specimen…it may be an ancient killing machine. And they may be wrong in presuming it dead.

BBC Audiobooks America - Pebble In The Sky by Isaac AsimovPebble in the Sky
By Isaac Asimov; Read by Robert Fass
Audible Download, 7 CDs, 1 MP3-CD – 8 Hours 6 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: BBC Audiobooks America
Published: January 28, 2009
ISBN: 9780792760504 (cd), 9780792761860 (mp3-cd)
One moment Joseph Schwartz is a happily retired tailor in Chicago, 1949. The next he’s a helpless stranger on Earth during the heyday of the first Galactic Empire. Earth, as he soon learns, is a backwater, just a pebble in the sky, despised by all the other 200 million planets of the Empire because its people dare to claim it’s the original home of man. And Earth is poor, with great areas of radioactivity ruining much of its soil – so poor that everyone is sentenced to death at the age of 60. Joseph Schwartz is 62.

BBC Audiobooks America - The Stars, Like Dust by Isaac AsimovThe Stars, Like Dust
By Isaac Asimov; Read by Stephen R. Thorne
6 CDs or 1 MP3-CD – 7 Hours 22 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: BBC Audiobooks America
Published: 2009?
ISBN: 9780792757863 (cd), 9780792758297 (mp3-cd)
Biron Farrell was young and naïve, but he was growing up fast. A radiation bomb planted in his dorm room changed him from an innocent student at the University of Earth to a marked man, fleeing desperately from an unknown assassin. He soon discovers that, many light-years away, his father has been murdered. Stunned, grief-stricken, and outraged, Biron is determined to uncover the reasons behind his father’s death, and becomes entangled in an intricate saga of rebellion, political intrigue, and espionage. The mystery takes him deep into space where he finds himself in a relentless struggle with the power-mad despots of Tyrann.

Blackstone Audio - Bellwether by Connie WillisBellwether
By Connie Willis; Read by Kate Reading
5 Cassettes, 1 MP3-CD, 5 CDs – Approx. 5.6 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: February 2009
ISBN: 9781433246234 (cassette), 9781433246265 (mp3-cd), 9781433246241 (cd)
Sandra Foster studies fads and their meanings for the HiTek corporation. Bennett O’Reilly works with monkey-group behavior and chaos theory for the same company. When the two are thrust together due to a misdelivered package and a run of seemingly bad luck, they find a joint project in a flock of sheep. But a series of setbacks and disappointments arise before they are able to find answers to their questions—with the unintended help of the errant, forgetful, and careless office assistant Flip.

Posted by Jesse Willis

New Releases – Poe, CBC Audio, Richard K. Morgan, Full Cast, S.M. Stirling, + MUCH MORE!

New Releases

Has it really been so long since we had a New Releases post? By the massive size of this one our last must have been a few light years back!

Audible Frontiers:

Audible Frontiers - Starship: Rebel, Book 4 by Mike ResickStarship: Rebel
By Mike Resnick; Read by Jonathan Davis
Audible Download – 8 Hours 45 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: December 16th 2008
The date is 1968 of the Galactic Era, almost three thousand years from now. The Republic, dominated by the human race, is in the midst of an all-out war with the Teroni Federation. Almost a year has passed since the events of Starship: Mercenary. Captain Wilson Cole now commands a fleet of almost fifty ships, and he has become the single greatest military force on the Inner Frontier. With one exception. The Republic still comes and goes as it pleases, taking what it wants, conscripting men, and extorting taxes, even though the Frontier worlds receive nothing in exchange. And, of course, the government still wants Wilson Cole and the starship Theodore Roosevelt. He has no interest in confronting such an overwhelming force, and constantly steers clear of them. Then an incident occurs that changes everything, and Cole declares war on the Republic. Outnumbered and always outgunned, his fleet is no match for the Republic’s millions of military vessels, even after he forges alliances with the warlords he previously hunted down. It’s a hopeless cause…but that’s just what Wilson Cole and the Teddy R. are best at.

The Ophiuchi Hotline
By John Varley; Read by Gabra Zackman
Audible Download – 7 Hours 55 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: September 2008

Coyote: A Novel of Interstellar Exploration
By Allen Steele; Read by Peter Ganim, Allen Steele, Therese Plummer
Audible Download – 17 hours and 36 minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: September 2008

Coyote Frontier: A Novel of Interstellar Exploration
By Allen Steele; Read by Peter Ganim, Allen Steele, Therese Plummer
Audible Download – 17 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: September 2008

Coyote Rising: A Novel of Interstellar Revolution
By Allen Steele; Read by Peter Ganim, Allen Steele, Therese Plummer
Audible Download – 17 Hours 32 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: September 2008

Galaxy Blues
By Allen Steele; Read by Mark Vietor
Audible Download – 10 hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: September 2008

After the Downfall
By Harry Turtledove; Read by Eric Michael Summerer
Audible Download – 17 Hours 55 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: September 2008

AudioBookCase:

The man with the foreboding voice takes on Stevenson’s most foreboding work…

AUDIOBOOKCASE - The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis StevensonThe Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde
By Robert Louis Stevenson; Read by Wayne June
3 CDs – [UNABRIDGED?]
Publisher: AudioBookCase
Published: December 2008?
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, (1886), has inspired analysis from a multiplicity of points-of-view, variously lauding it as a classic case study of good and evil, an examination of 19th century morals and psychological states, an inquiry into the essence of personality, personality disorder, and the nature of addiction. Of the work Stevenson himself said: “I send you herewith a Gothic gnome, interesting I think, and he came out of a deep mine, where he guards the fountain of tears.” And elsewhere: “Jekyll is a dreadful thing, I own, but the only thing I feel dreadful about is this damned old business of the war in the members. This time it came out; I hope it will stay in, in future.” Stevenson’s amiable style sets up an engaging personal rapport, sharing with the reader an enthusiasm and sense of wonder that remains today as rationale for the approbation of generations of admiring devotees worldwide.

Blackstone Audio:

Read by Michael Madsen, Sandra Oh, Edward Herrmann, and more (Blackstone commisioned this work done by the Hollywood Theater of the Ear)…

Blackstone Audio - The Maltese Falcon (Audio Drama)The Maltese Falcon
Based on the novel by Dashiell Hammett; Performed by a full cast
3 CDs or 1 MP3-CD – Approx. 3.1 Hours [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: November 2008
ISBN: 9781433252495 (cd), 9781433252501 (mp3-cd)
The Maltese Falcon first appeared in the pages of Black Mask magazine in 1929. Almost immediately it was acknowledged as not only a great crime novel but an enduring masterpiece of American fiction. Sam Spade, its protagonist, is the archetypal tough, cynical P.I., “able,” as his creator explained, “to take care of himself in any situation, able to get the best of anybody he comes in contact with, whether criminal, innocent by-stander or client.” And what a client! – the irresistible and treacherous femme fatale Brigid O’Shaughnessy.

Believing the book’s vividly drawn characters and memorable dialogue cry out for theatrical treatment, Blackstone Audio commissioned this faithful dramatization by the award-winning Hollywood Theater of the Ear, in which a brilliant cast brings to life all the excitement and suspense of Hammett’s original in the playhouse of the mind.

The literary equivalent of taking deliriants in church…

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
By Philip K. Dick; Read by Tom Weiner
6 CDs or 1 MP3-CD – 6.8 hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: September 2008
Not too long from now, when exiles from a blistering Earth huddle miserably in Martian colonies, the only things that make life bearable are the drugs. Can-D “translates” those who take it into the bodies of Barbie-like dolls. Now there’s competition: a substance called Chew-Z, marketed under the slogan “God promises eternal life. We can deliver it.” The question is: What kind of eternity? And who—or what—is the deliverer?

Sounding rather comic, and mainstream…

The Ghost In Love
By Jonathan Carroll; Read by Ray Porter
8 CDs or 1 MP3-CD – 9.3 hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: September 2008
Just after a man falls in the snow and hits his head on a stone curb, a ghost arrives to take his soul to the afterlife. But something strange occurs: the man doesn’t die. Flabbergasted, the ghost appeals to his boss for further direction and is instructed to stay with the man until the strange “problem” is worked out. But things get complicated when the ghost falls madly, deeply in love with the man’s girlfriend. Soon afterward, the man discovers he did not die when he was supposed to because, for the first time, human beings have decided to take back their fates from the gods.

Book 2 in Card’s SF version of the book of Mormon…

The Call Of Earth (Homecoming: Book 2)
By Orson Scott Card; Read by Stefan Rudnicki
9 CDs or 1 MP3-CD – 10.5 hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: September 2008
For millennia, the planet Harmony has been protected by the Oversoul, an artificial intelligence programmed to prevent thoughts of war and conquest from threatening the fragile remnant of Earth’s peoples. But as the Oversoul’s systems have begun to fail, a great warrior has arisen to challenge its bans. Using forbidden technology, the ambitious and ruthless General Moozh has won control of an army and is aiming it at the city of Basilica.

This sounds bizarre, interesting, and rather Russian…

The Sacred Book Of The Werewolf
By Victor Pelevin; Read by Cassandra Campbell
10 CDs or 1 MP3-CD – 11.7 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: September 2008
A. Huli, beautiful and curiously foxlike, has the appearance of a luscious fourteen-year-old girl, the mind of a sly Buddhist monk, and an endearing habit of name-dropping all the famous people she’s met over the past 2,000 years. She works as a classy prostitute in Moscow’s premier hotels, until one client goes inexplicably and fatally berserk at the sight of her and she has to leave in a hurry. Forced to advertise on the Internet, she comes to the attention of an intelligence officer who also happens to be a werewolf.

CBC Audio:

It is pricey at $54.95 CDN, but, it’s got never before heard content, and 7 full CDs of radio drama goodness!

CBC Audio - Canadia: 2056 Season 2 Director’s Cut by Matt WattsCanadia: 2056 (Season 2 Directors Cut)
7 CDs – RADIO DRAMA
Publisher: CBC Audio
Published: December 2008
Product ID: ERART00259
Volume 2 of this entertaining sci-fi comedy series, written by one of Canada’s best-loved comedy writers, Matt Watts. The United States has launched an armada to destroy an alien threat. Canada sends the nation’s only publicly-funded spacecraft, The Canadia – a ship with a single purpose – to plunge the Americans’ toilets. Includes episodes 11-24.

Full Cast Audio:

Book 3 in the Unicorn Chronicles series…

Dark Whispers: Unicorn Chronicles
By Bruce Coville; Multi-cast narration
10 CDs – Approx. 10.25 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Full Cast Audio
Published: September 2008
Listen to a sample |MP3|
As the unicorns of Luster prepare for an invasion led by their ancient enemy, Beloved, a troubling new clue to the dangers they face is discovered in an ancient scroll. As a result, the queen must send her granddaughter—the human girl Cara Dianna Hunter—to the Valley of the Centaurs, in quest of an ancient story that may hold the key to survival for all of Luster.

Graphic Audio:

Outlanders: Grailstone Gambit
By James Axler; Performed by a full cast
CDs – 6 hours [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: GraphicAudio
Published: September 2008

Superman: The Never-Ending Battle
By Roger Stern; Performed by a full cast
CDs – 6 hours [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: GraphicAudio
Published: September 2008

Recorded Books:

One of three Beart audibooks coming to Recorded Book’s new Sci-Fi imprint…

Undertow
By Elizabeth Bear; Read by Timothy Reynolds
9 CDs – 11.25 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Recorded Books
Published: September 2008
ISBN: 9781436119566
André Deschênes wants to escape his life as a hired assassin. He hopes to learn the art of conjuring, manipulating the odds of people’s lives. But a revolution is brewing in the city of Novo Haven, where an alien race is finally gaining ground, demanding they be treated as citizens. And before André moves on, he has a contract to fulfill.

For all your gaelic-nipponese needs look no farther than…

End Of The World Blues
By Jon Courtenay Grimwood; Read by James Yaegashi
12 CDs – 13.25 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Recorded Books
Published: September 2008
ISBN: 9781436147781
Iraqi war vet and part owner of an Irish pub in Tokyo, Kit Nouveau gave up on life a long time ago. But then his life is saved by a runaway, and Kit’s past might be the only thing that can save him from impending disaster.

The first in a series…

Greywalker
By Kat Richardson; Read by Mia Barron
10 CDs – 12.25 hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Recorded Books
Published: September 2008
ISBN: 9781436124492
Seattle P.I. Harper Blaine is viciously attacked and murdered—but after exactly two minutes, somehow she returns to life. Now she’s seeing strange things all around her—dark visions from the shadow world—and living a normal life may no longer be possible no matter how hard she tries.

From the author who is also a book critic…

Nova Swing
By M. John Harrison; Read by Jim Frangione
8 CDs – 9.5 hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Recorded Books
Published: September 2008
ISBN: 9781436124515
In this sci-fi noir, the physics-defying Saudade Event Site is a place to find strange landscapes and seemingly impossible physical phenomena—perfect for tourism. Into this environment comes Vic Serotonin, a “travel agent” whose newest client is a mysterious woman with a hidden agenda.

Asaro’s first audiobook for Recorded Books (several previous novels were published at Blackstone)…

The Ruby Dice
By Catherine Asaro; Read by Suzanne Toren
14 CDs – 17 hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Recorded Books
Published: September 2008
ISBN: 9781436135245
War between the Eubian Concord and the Skolians has devastated the galaxy before. Now another epic clash is brewing, and the leaders of both empires might be powerless to stop it. Further complicating matters, both men hide shocking secrets that could spell their doom.

Tantor Media:

Morgan does Fantasy! I’m there…

The Steel Remains
By Richard K. Morgan; Read by Simon Vance
13 CDs or 2 MP3-CDs – 16 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: January 2009
EAN: 9781400109630 (cd), 9781400159635 (mp3-cd)
Epic fantasy is worked over in classic Richard K. Morgan style, producing this unique combination of noir themes and savage action involving characters you wouldn’t want to meet but will love to follow.

An older World Fantasy Award winning novel from Tantor Media…

Replay
By Ken Grimwood; Read by William Dufris
10 CDs or 1 MP3-CD – 12 Hours 30 Minutes UNABRIDGED
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: November 2008
ISBN: 9781400110100 (cd), 9781400160105 (mp3-cd)
A time-travel classic in the tradition of Jack Finney’s Time and Again, Ken Grimwood’s acclaimed novel Replay asks the pro-vocative question: “What if you could live your life over again, knowing the mistakes you’d made before?”

You want alternate history? Bam!

The United States Of Atlantis (Book Two in the Atlantis Trilogy)
By Harry Turtledove; Read by Todd McLaren
13 CDs or 2 MP3-CDs – 16 hrs 30 min – Unabridged
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: December 2008
ISBN: 9781400107834 (cd), 9781400157839 (mp3-cd)
In the second book of the Atlantis trilogy, New York Times bestselling author Harry
Turtledove continues to rewrite the history of the world with the existence of an
eighth continent: Atlantis.

I knew that dog was really a ghost…

Sherlock Holmes Was Wrong (Reopening the Case of the Hound of the Baskervilles)
By Pierre Bayard; Read by John Lee
4 CDs or 1 MP3-CD – Approx. 4 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: December 2008
ISBN: 9781400109838 (cd), 9781400159833 (mp3-cd)
Eliminate the impossible, Sherlock Holmes said, and whatever is left must be the solution. But, as Pierre Bayard finds in this dazzling reinvestigation of The Hound of the Baskervilles, sometimes the master missed his mark. Using the last thoughts of the murder victim as his key, Bayard unravels the case, leading the reader to the astonishing conclusion that Holmes—and, in fact, Arthur Conan Doyle—got things all wrong: The killer is not at all who they said it was. Part intellectual entertainment, part love letter to crime novels, and part crime novel in itself, Sherlock Holmes Was Wrong turns one of our most beloved stories delightfully on its head. Examining the many facets of the case and illuminating the bizarre interstices between Doyle’s fiction and the real world, Bayard demonstrates a whole new way of reading mysteries: a kind of “detective criticism” that allows readers to outsmart not only the criminals in the stories we love but also the heroes—and sometimes even the writers.

These two novels will effect the masses who’ve played the videogame…

Mass Effect: Revelation (#1 in the Mass Effect Series)
By Drew Karpyshyn; Read by David Colacci
7 CDs or 1 MP3-CD – 9 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Published: Tantor Media
Published: November 2008
ISBN: 9781400110056 (cds), 9781400160051 (mp3-cd)
From the New York Times bestselling author Drew Karpyshyn comes the thrilling first
official novel based on the BioWare video game Mass Effect.

Mass Effect – Ascension (#2 in the Mass Effect Series)
By Drew Karpyshyn; Read by David Colacci
8 CDs or 1 MP3-CD – Approx. 9 Hours 30 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: December 2008
ISBN: 9781400110049 (cd), 9781400160044 (mp3-cd)
It’s humankind versus a race of machines bent on harvesting organic life in this second official novel based on the BioWare video game.

Originally released by Durkin Hayes abridged, here’s the first unabridged version of this non-Dune Frank Herbert novel…

Tantor Media Science Fiction Audiobook - The White Plague by Frank HerbertThe White Plague
By Frank Herbert; Read by Scott Brick
16 CDs or 2 MP3-CDs – 20 Hours 30 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: 12/08/2008
ISBN: 9781400105656 (cd), 9781400155651 (mp3-cd)
The White Plague, a marvelous and terrifyingly plausible blend of fiction and visionary theme, tells of one man who is pushed over the edge of sanity by the senseless murder of his family and who, reappearing several months later as the so-called Madman, unleashes a terrible plague upon the human race—one that zeros in, unerringly and fatally, on women.

Wer’re wild and wooly about this one…

Tantor Media Alternate History Audiobook - The Breath Of God by Harry TurtledoveThe Breath Of God
By Harry Turtledove; Read by William Dufris
12 CDs or 2 MP3-CDs – Approx. 15 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: 12/23/2008
ISBN: 9781400107841 (cd), 9781400157846 (mp3-cd)
Harry Turtledove, New York Times bestselling author of Opening Atlantis, presents more adventure in a Bronze Age that never was in this sequel to Beyond the Gap.

New series… merc chick with sword? SOLD!

Magic Bites (#1 in the Kate Daniels series)
By Ilona Andrews; Read by Renée Raudman
8 CDs or 1 MP3-CD – 9 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: December 2008
ISBN: 9781400110308 (cd), 9781400160303 (mp3-cd)
Mercenary Kate Daniels cleans up urban problems of a paranormal kind. But her latest prey, a pack of undead warriors, presents her greatest challenge.

A paperbook, now audiobook, from the pre-World Of Warcraft era. The first Warcraft audiobook…

Warcraft, Book One – Day Of The Dragon
By Richard A. Knaak; Read by Dick Hill
9 CDs or 1 MP3-CD – 11 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: 01/01/2009
ISBN: 9781400109869 (cd), 9781400159864 (mp3-cd)
An original tale of magic, warfare, and heroism based on the bestselling, awardwinning
electronic game from Blizzard Entertainment.

40 hours? Seriously? 40 hours? Seriously?

Pandora’s Star
By Peter F. Hamilton; Read by John Lee
32 CDs or 4 MP3-CDs – 40 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Published: Tantor Audio
Published: 11/17/2008
ISBN: 9781400107643 (cd), 9781400157648 (mp3-cd)
Set in the twenty-fourth century, this epic novel of a human-extraterrestrial war
engineered by an unknown omniscient being is by the bestselling author of The
Reality Dysfunction and Fallen Dragon.

Against The Tide Of Years (#2 in the Nantucket series)
By S.M. Stirling; Read by Todd McLaren
17 CDs or 2 MP3-CDs – 20 Hours 30 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Published: Tantor Media
Published: 11/17/2008
ISBN: 9781400106806 (cd), 9781400156801 (mp3-cd)
George R. R. Martin hailed S. M. Stirling’s bestselling novel Island in the Sea of Time as “an utterly engaging account of what happens when the isle of Nantucket is whisked back into the Bronze Age.” Now the adventure continues with Against the Tide of Years. Book two in the Island in the Sea of Time trilogy

On The Oceans Of Eternity (Book #3 in the Nantucket series)
By S.M. Stirling; Read by Todd McLaren
23 CDs or 3 MP3-Cds – 28 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: January 2009
EAN: 9781400106813 (cd), 9781400156818 (mp3-cd)
Award-winning science fiction author Harry Turtledove hailed Island in the Sea of Time as “one of the best time travel/alternative history stories I’ve ever read,” and Jane Lindskold called Against the Tide of Years “another exciting and explosive tale.” Now the adventures of the Nantucket islanders lost in the time of the Bronze Age continues with On the Oceans of Eternity.

The Scourge of God: A Novel of the Change (#5 in the Emberverse series)
By S.M. Stirling; Read by Todd McLaren
15 CDs or 2 MP3-CDs – 18.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: September 2008
EAN: 9781400106820 (cd), 9781400156825 (mp3-cd)
Rudi MacKenzie continues his trek across the land that was once the United States of America. His destination: Nantucket, where he hopes to learn the truth behind the Change that rendered technology across the globe inoperable. During his travels, Rudi forges ties with new allies in the continuing war against the Prophet, who teaches his followers that God has punished humanity by destroying technological civilization. And one fanatical officer in the Sword of the Prophet has been dispatched on a mission: to stop Rudi from reaching his destination by any means necessary.

Crusade (Destroyermen: Book 2)
By Taylor Anderson; Read by William Dufris
12 CDs or 2 MP3-CDs – 15 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Published: Tantor Media
Published: November 2008
ISBN: 9781400108077 (cd), 9781400158072 (mp3-cd)
The second novel in the Destroyermen trilogy finds the crew of the USS Walker in
alliance with the peaceful Lemurians against the warlike Grik when another, more
familiar foe joins in the fray. Book two in the Destroyermen trilogy.

Kushiel’s Scion
By Jacqueline Carey; Read by Simon Vance
22 CDs or 3 MP3-CDs – 28 Hours 30 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Published: Tantor Media
Published: November 2008
ISBN: 9781400109524 (cd), 9781400159529 (mp3-cd)
National bestselling author Carey opens a new trilogy set in the same extraordinary
world as her extended New York Times bestseller, Kushiel’s Avatar.

Sunshine
By Robin McKinley; Read by Laural Merlington
13 CDs or 2 MP3-CDs – 16 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Published: Tantor Media
Published: November 2008
ISBN: 9781400110087 (cd), 9781400160082 (mp3-cd)
In her first novel for adults. the Newbery Medalist and bestselling author pens an exciting, beautifully written, erotic addition to the popular vampire genre.

Embrace The Night
By Karen Chance; Read by Cynthia Holloway
13 CDs or 2 MP3-CDs – 16 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Published: Tantor Media
Published: November 2008
ISBN: 9781400108190 (cd), 9781400158195 (mp3-cd)
In this third entry in the popular Cassandra Palmer series, Cassie is forced to travel back in time to retrieve an ancient book of spells—although doing so could spell disaster for the world.

Trading In Danger (#1 in the Vatta’s War Series)
By Elizabeth Moon; Read by Cynthia Holloway
11 CDs or 2 MP3-CDs – Approx. 14 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
EAN: 9781400108275 (cd), 9781400158270 (mp3-cd)
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: November 2008
The first of the acclaimed Vatta’s War books, the exciting military science fiction series that features a swashbuckling spaceship-captain heroine who mixes commerce with combat.

Marque And Reprisal (#2 in the Vatta’s War Series)
By Elizabeth Moon; Read by Cynthia Holloway
11 CDs or 2 MP3-CDs – 13 Hours 30 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: November 2008
ISBN: 9781400108282 (cd), 9781400158287 (mp3-cd)
This action-packed sequel to Trading in Danger is the second installment in Nebula Award-winning author Moon’s military science fiction series featuring Kylara Vatta, who must save her family from ruin.

Valor’s Choice (Book One in the Confederation Series)
By Tanya Huff; Read by Marguerite Gavin
10 CDs or 1 MP3-CD – 12 Hours 30 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: November 2008
ISBN: 9781400109920 (cd), 9781400159925 (mp3-cd)
Listen to a sample MP3
In the distant future, humans and several other races have been granted membership in the Confederation—at a price. They must act as soldier/protectors of the far more civilized races who have long since turned away from war.

Posted by Jesse Willis

The SFFaudio Podcast #003

Podcast

The SFFaudio PodcastGenerally, this is our third podcast. Furthermore, it is a podcast of deep functionality. It’s universal really. Long story short, we talked about stuff. Join us in our secret society [book readers] where I (Jesse) say things like: Dune shot Science Fiction in the head.” and “Why I don’t like Science Fiction movies anymore.” and “You don’t name a king Augustus.” and “I hope the Earth explodes.”

In other words, the podcast’s length is commensurate with a function of your desire to listen to it.

Topics discussed include:

Crazy Dog Audio Theatre, The Zombies Of Dr. Krell, Roger Gregg, The Sonic Society, Radio Drama Revival, Whipping Star, Frank Herbert, Tantor Media, Dune, The Road To Dune, Children Of Dune, Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson, MP3 to iPod Audiobook Converter, iTunes 8.0, zombies, StarShipSofa, SFSignal.com, Ian McDonald, The River Of Gods, Lawrence Block, Donald E. Westlake, Stephen King, John Scalzi, Old Man’s War, Anathem, Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash, BBC Audiobooks America, Hard Case Crime, Ed McBain, The Lies Of Locke Lamora, Scott Lynch, Dragon Page: Cover To Cover, Roger Zelazny, Locus, The Dead Man’s Brother, Robert McGinnis, Glen Orbik, Behind The Black Mask: Mystery Writers Revealed, Christa Faust, Money Shot, public libraries, secret societies, Podiobooks.com, Evo Terra, The Book Of The New Sun, Gene Wolfe, Grifter’s Game, Random House Audio, The Colorado Kid, Aural Noir, Sunshine, 28 Days Later, I, Robot, I Am Legend, 2001: A Space Odyssey, 2010: The Year We Make Contact, Fortress Draconis (a book with a king named Augustus), Robert Capa, John Searle, Brian Cox (physicist), IMDB.com

Posted by Jesse Willis

Call Of The Wild by Jack London FREE @ SimplyAudiobooks.com (too bad it sucks)

SFFaudio Online Audio

Simply AudiobooksSeptember’s Free Download over on Simply Audiobooks website is Jack London’s The Call Of The Wild.

The Call of the Wild – Jack London’s classic 1903 story of Buck, a courageous dog fighting for survival in the Alaskan wilderness, is widely considered to be his masterpiece. Sometimes wrongly considered simply a children’s novel, this epic vividly evokes the harsh and frozen Yukon during the Gold Rush. As Buck is ripped from his pampered surroundings and shipped to Alaska to be a sled dog, his primitive, wolflike nature begins to emerge. Savage struggles and timeless bonds between man, dog, and wilderness are played to their heartrending extremes, as Buck undertakes a mystic journey that transforms him into the legendary “Ghost Dog” of the Klondike.

Call OF The Wild
By Jack London; Read by Michael Scott
WMD – [ABRIDGED]
Provider: SimplyAudiobooks.com / ThoughtAudio.com
Available: September 2008

Unfortunately, after a simple entry of a name and email address the download comes in a WMD file (Windows Media Download) making it virtually unusable. The MP3 files are in there, but they are very hard to get at. Unless you want to fiddle with it for more than an hour (that’s how long it took me) you’ll have to play it using a windows media device (a Zune presumably) or in a windows media player (sitting in front of your computer).
It’s absolutely not worth it. It turns out the audiobook pictured is not the audiobook you get. Simply Audiobooks displays the free audiobook as the UNABRIDGED Tantor Media version, as read by Patrick Lawlor, but instead what you actually download is the ThoughtAudio.com version (which is ABRIDGED and read by Michael Scott).

So, here’s my suggestion, download the public domain LibriVox version. That version of Call Of The Wild is UNABRIDGED, and is available in naked MP3s, a Zipped MP3 bundle, by torrent and as a podcast :

LibriVox Audiobook - Call Of The Wild by Jack LondonCall OF The Wild
By Jack London; Read by various readers
Zipped MP3s or Podcast – Approx. 3.25 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: October 2005

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/call-of-the-wild-by-jack-london.xml

The downside is that it is read by multiple readers, which is annoying, but at least it’s not going to suck up your valuable time.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Review of The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov

SFFaudio Review

The Naked Sun by Isaac AsimovThe Naked Sun
By Isaac Asimov; Read by William Dufris
7 CDs or 1 MP3-CD – 8 Hours 30 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: 2007
ISBN: 140010422X (CDs), 1400154227 (MP3-CD)
Themes: / Science Fiction / Mystery / Robots / Artificial Intelligence / Sociology / Alien World

On the beautiful Outer World planet of Solaria, a handful of human colonists lead a hermit-like existence, their every need attended to by their faithful robot servants. To this strange and provocative planet comes Detective Elijah Baley, sent from the streets of New York with his positronic partner, the robot R. Daneel Olivaw, to solve an incredible murder that has rocked Solaria to its foundations.

[disclaimer- As an audiobook publisher (www.wonderaudio.com), I have a working relationship with the narrator, William Dufris. I have no other professional associations with this title. Although I’ve kept the paragraph about the narration on this title brief, reader’s may question the objectiveness of the review in such cases. On the other hand, just because I have an association with an author or narrator doesn’t negate my reason or enthusiasm for that artist.]

The Naked Sun is a sequel to The Caves of Steel. It can be read or listened to without first acquainting yourself the first title, but it’s recommended that they be read in order…(The Caves of Steel was also designated an SFFaudio Essential by a different reviewer).

Like the first book, the main character is Earthman detective Elijah Baley. And he is reunited with robot and assistant Daneel Olivaw. He is sent to Solaria, which is hostile to Earth, to investigate a murder. Asimov takes the setting of The Caves of Steel and flips is on it’s head. In that first book the setting was of a vastly overpopulated Earth living in the confines of gigantic city/buildings. The mere thought of being outside is frightening to Earth’s inhabitants.

In The Naked Sun, Elijah Bailey, is sent to the planet Solaria to investigate a murder. Solaria’s inhabitants live on vast estates alone or with their spouses. They communicate with one another via holographic telepresence. They call this “viewing” versus “seeing.” “Seeing” is when they are in one another’s physical presence. They have a natural aversion to “seeing” and consider it a social taboo. This has additional relevance to our own society, or should I say to our social media networked world. Socially, we have moved closer to the virtual aspects of a world like Solaria than the world of 1956 when the novel was first published in Astounding Stories.

Asimov’s writing style is very clean, sparse and not very stylistic in a literary way. He’s fond of moving the story along with one-on-one dialogue. This is not untypical of the mystery genre and serves the Robot Novels very well. One of William Dufris’ strengths is handling dialogue. And he’s perfect for these novels. His voice characterization are distinctive, and he’s got a gift for pacing a conversation.

The murder mystery is very satisfying and there’s a much larger implication between the future of Earth and the Spacers giving the novel a larger feel than just a murder mystery with a SF setting. I find The Caves of Steel and The Naked Sun to be the best of Asimov’s novels and should be on every SF enthusiast’s list of must listens.

There is another sequel with Elijah Baley and Daneel Olivaw called The Robots of Dawn. This title was written much later in Asimov’s career and is also published by Tantor with William Dufris as narrator.

Posted by The Time Traveler of the Time Traveler Show

Review of The Caves Of Steel by Isaac Asimov

SFFaudio Review

Science Fiction Audiobook - The Caves of Steeel by Isaac AsimovThe Caves of Steel
By Isaac Asimov; Read by William Dufris
6 CDs – 7.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Published: 2007
ISBN: 9781400104215
SAMPLE |MP3|
Themes: / Science Fiction / Mystery / Robots / Artificial Intelligence / Sociology / New York /

A millennium into the future, two advancements have altered the course of human history: the colonization of the galaxy and the creation of the positronic brain. Isaac Asimov’s Robot novels chronicle the unlikely partnership between a New York City detective and a humanoid robot who must learn to work together.

Elijah Baley and his wife and son live in an overcrowded New York city (the titular Caves Of Steel) in our distant future. Outside the insular Earth, humans have colonized many planets with their robot servants to assist them. These “Spacer” worlds are rich, have small populations, and high standards of living. The Earthers all live in vast city complexes and never venture outside. The Spacers maintain an embassy, from which they seek to help their backward progenitors – but this help is both resented and rebuffed. The latest incident is revealed when Elijah Bailey, a New York detective, is called into his superior’s office and tasked with solving a murder in the “spacer” enclave. But his boss has one more demand of him. Elijah must partner up with a robot named R. Daneel Olivaw for the duration of the case.

Asimov’s vision of New York in The Caves Of Steel fits neatly somewhere in between the well envisioned arcologies like “Todos Santos” (Larry Niven and Steve Barnes’ Oath Of Fealty), future cities like “Mega-City One” (Judge Dredd) and that of “Diaspar” (found in Arthur C. Clarke’s The City And The Stars). As such it is an experience not to be missed. The mixture of politics, psychology and sociology that’s found in Asimov’s Foundation novels is also present. But central to the experience of The Caves Of Steel is Mystery. It is a Mystery in a Science Fiction setting and not the other-way round. The well realized economy, culture, and characters (this latter in a surprisingly good turn for Asimov) are all carefully explained so as to set up the mystery – even the red-herrings are important to the plot.

Isaac Asimov basically invented the small sub-genre of the Science Fiction Mystery, and this was the novel that started it all. I’ve read lots of other books of his, including one straight Mystery that was set at a Science Fiction convention (starring a detective modeled on Harlan Ellison). And like that novel, this one keeps you guessing right up until the very end. That’s a good thing too – Asimov doesn’t cheat. We’ve got a city full of suspects, but the motive – when it’s ultimately revealed – is as logical as the deduction is sound.

It isn’t an insult to say that William Dufris sounds like a robot. He sounds like a robot when it’s a robot speaking, and sounds like a man when it’s a man speaking. He can also inflect his voice to sound more feminine – which is handy for females (and female robots too). Suffice it to say William Dufris reads Asimov’s spare and unadorned prose with alacrity. I’m excited to say the sequel, The Naked Sun is also available from Tantor!

Posted by Jesse Willis