Tantor Media, one of the coolest of the big audiobook companies, is offering a FREE MP3 DOWLOAD, complete and unabridged, of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Or The Modern Prometheus. It’s read by the excellent Simon Vance!
Details are as follows:
“The free download is for personal use only and is not for commercial distribution. Limit one download per customer. Offer ends 10/31/2010.”
As with last time, this might take a little hoop jumping. I had a lot of difficulty getting access to my account. After going through the recovery process, to reset my password, I found I couldn’t enter my name in the “Full Name” field. So, I used another email address and made a new account. That solved it!
Frankenstein, Or The Modern Prometheus
By Mary Shelley; Read by Simon Vance DOWNLOAD – Approx. 8 Hours 30 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: March 2008 Mary Shelley began writing Frankenstein when she was only eighteen. At once a Gothic thriller, a passionate romance, and a cautionary tale about the dangers of science, Frankenstein tells the story of committed science student Victor Frankenstein. Obsessed with discovering “the cause of generation and life” and “bestowing animation upon lifeless matter,” Frankenstein assembles a human being from stolen body parts. However, upon bringing it to life, he recoils in horror at the creature’s hideousness. Tormented by isolation and loneliness, the once-innocent creature turns to evil and unleashes a campaign of murderous revenge against his creator, Frankenstein. Frankenstein, an instant bestseller and an important ancestor of both the horror and science fiction genres, not only tells a terrifying story but also raises profound, disturbing questions about the very nature of life and the place of humankind within the cosmos: What does it mean to be human? What responsibilities do we have to each other? And how far can we go in tampering with Nature?
“SciFi fans, please join us for our second annual SciFiFest! Hugo & Nebula award winning authors Ted Chiang and Nancy Kress will read their work, answer questions, and challenge you to a SciFi trivia throwdown. Spiritual Successor (featuring the infamous Zach Mandeville) will lull you with tunes about suicidal superheroes, terminally ill space babies, and moon janitors. Local heroes Mutoid Men will close out the evening with their special brand of ‘particle-accelerated, Moog synthesized, scientific rock’n’roll.’ Come in costume and win a prize! The library is normally closed at this time and is only open for the program. This event is sponsored by the Friends of the Olympia Timberland Library.”
This event is FREE and open to the public.
SciFiFest 2010 Date: Saturday, October 23, 7:30pm Location:
Olympia Timberland Library
313 8th Ave SE
Olympia, WA Phone: 360-352-0595
As a special SFFaudio bonus, the first five attendees to send me (by email) a photograph (or suitable hand drawn facsimile) of themselves and Ted Chiang together at the October 23rd event will receive, by mail, his or her choice of one of the following unabridged audiobooks:
Carnival by Elizabeth Bear (Recorded Books, 11 CDs) On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers (Blackstone Audio, 10 CDs) The Caves Of Steel by Isaac Asimov (Tantor Media, 6 CDs) The Speed Of Dark by Elizabeth Moon (Brilliance Audio, 12 CDs) Zero History by William Gibson (Penguin Audio, 11 CDs)
To be eligible the emailed images must be received no later than 11:59 pm on October 31, 2010. Prizes shall be awarded in order of their receipt by email. The suitability of any hand drawn entries shall be determined by me. Please title your emailed entries “SciFiFest 2010”.
Of the latest Tantor Media releases, here are my picks for the three most exciting titles. Check out their complete August catalog here |PDF|.
The Most Powerful Idea In The World: A Story Of Steam, Industry, And Invention
By William Rosen; Read by Michael Prichard
11 CDs or 2 MP3-CDs – Approx. 13 Hours 30 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: June 2010
ISBN:9781400117093 (cd), 9781400167098 (mp3-cd) If all measures of human advancement in the last hundred centuries were plotted on a graph, they would show an almost perfectly flat line—until the eighteenth century, when the Industrial Revolution would cause the line to shoot straight up, beginning an almost uninterrupted march of progress. In The Most Powerful Idea in the World, William Rosen tells the story of the men responsible for the Industrial Revolution and the machine that drove it—the steam engine. In the process he tackles the question that has obsessed historians ever since: What made eighteenth-century Britain such fertile soil for inventors? Rosen’s answer focuses on a simple notion that had become enshrined in British law the century before: that people had the right to own and profit from their ideas. The result was a period of frantic innovation revolving particularly around the promise of steam power. Rosen traces the steam engine’s history from its early days as a clumsy but sturdy machine, to its coming-of-age driving the wheels of mills and factories, to its maturity as a transporter for people and freight by rail and by sea. Along the way we enter the minds of such inventors as Thomas Newcomen and James Watt; scientists, including Robert Boyle and Joseph Black; and philosophers John Locke and Adam Smith—all of whose insights, tenacity, and ideas transformed first a nation and then the world.
The Evolutionary Void (Book Three In The Void Trilogy)
By Peter F. Hamilton; Read by John Lee
20 CDs or 2 MP3-CDs – Approx. 25 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: August 31, 2010
ISBN: 9781400111848 (cd), 9781400161843 (mp3-cd) Exposed as the Second Dreamer, Araminta has become the target of a galaxywide search by government agent Paula Myo and the psychopath known as the Cat, along with others equally determined to prevent—or facilitate—the pilgrimage of the Living Dream cult into the heart of the Void. An indestructible microuniverse, the Void may contain paradise, as the cultists believe, but it is also a deadly threat. For the miraculous reality that exists inside its boundaries demands energy—energy drawn from everything outside those boundaries: from planets, stars, galaxies…from everything that lives. Meanwhile, the parallel story of Edeard, the Waterwalker—as told through a series of addictive dreams communicated to the gaiasphere via Inigo, the First Dreamer—continues to unfold. But now the inspirational tale of this idealistic young man takes a darker and more troubling turn as he finds himself faced with powerful new enemies—and temptations more powerful still. With time running out, a repentant Inigo must decide whether to release Edeard’s final dream: a dream whose message is scarcely less dangerous than the pilgrimage promises to be. And Araminta must choose whether to run from her unwanted responsibilities or face them down, with no guarantee of success or survival. But all these choices may be for naught if the monomaniacal Ilanthe, leader of the breakaway Accelerator Faction, is able to enter the Void. For it is not paradise she seeks there, but dominion.
Omnitopia Dawn
By Diane Duane; Read by Kirby Heyborne
12 CDs or 2 MP3-CDs – Approx. 15 Hours 30 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: August 2010
ISBN: 9781400118465 (cd), 9781400168460 (mp3-cd) In an increasingly wired and computer-friendly world, massive multiplayer online games have become the ultimate form of entertainment. And the most popular gaming universe of all is Omnitopia, created by genius programmer Dev Logan. For millions of people around the world, Omnitopia is an obsession, a passionate pastime, almost a way of life. But there’s a secret to Omnitopia, one that Dev would give his life to protect—the game isn’t just a program or a piece of code. It’s become sentient—alive. And it’s Dev’s job to keep it that way.
One of my favorite blogs for HuffDuffing files from is Escape-Suspense.com. The proprietoress there posts episodes from two classic radio drama series, Escape and Suspense. This latest story there is Beau Geste. “Beau” means “handsome” and “Geste” means “notable deed or exploit”, combined it is also the name of the main character. The story itself is a beautiful example of the iconic adventure tale. There have been multiple adaptations of this novel, to film, television, a stage play and of course radio. I really enjopyed this production, its short, sweet and adventurous.
Escape – Beau Geste
Based on the novel by Percival Christopher Wren; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBS Radio
Broadcast: June 6, 1948
Based on the novel, first published in 1924.
A column of French Legionnaires finds one of their fortresses manned by dead men. It looks like the sergeant was killed by one of his own troops. Who could have done it?
A flashback then unravels the mystery of the three English Geste brothers. The brothers, orphaned early in life, are raised by an aunt. Their raucous youths are filled with the literature of adventure and ritualized horseplay centered around these myths and legends. So when the family’s prized Blue Water sapphire turns up missing, each of the young men confesses to being the thief in order to protect the others, and one by one they head off to join the French Foreign Legion. The three brothers meet up in the deserts of Africa, where they fall under the command of the malevolent Sergeant Lejaune. Not content to merely be a martinet, Lejaune sets his sights on stealing the jewel, which rumor holds to be in the brothers’ possession. Meanwhile, the unruly troops he commands are planning a mutiny, and the marauding Tauregs pin this badly outnumbered and bitterly divided unit of Legionnaires at Fort Zinderneuf. The ensuing drama plays itself out as the French forces battle overwhelming odds. Ultimately, only a handful of men survive to discover the truth behind the Blue Water’s disappearance.
If there’s one public domain novel I don’t mind seeing endless re-releases and re-recordings of it’s this one…
The Call Of The Wild
By Jack London; Read by Jeff Daniels
CDs – Approx. 3 Hours 12 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Random House Audio
Published: May 25, 2010
ISBN: 9780307710260
Sample |MP3| Jack London’s The Call Of The Wild was written in 1903, but Buck’s gripping adventure makes for a thrilling listen on audio more than 100 years after it was first published. This gripping story follows the adventures of the loyal dog Buck, who is stolen from his comfortable family home and forced into the harsh life of an Alaskan sled dog. Passed from master to master, Buck embarks on an extraordinary journey that ends with his becoming the legendary leader of a wolf pack.
Now this should be interesting…
Wolf: The Lives of Jack London
By James L. Haley; Read by Bronson Pinchot
10 CDs or 1 Mp3-CD – Approx. 13 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: May 25, 2010
ISBN: 9781441758965 (cd), 9781441758972 (mp3-cd) Jack London was born a working-class, fatherless San Franciscan in 1876. In his youth, he was a boundlessly energetic adventurer on the bustling west coast—by and by playing the role of hobo, sailor, and oyster pirate. From his vantage point at the margins of Gilded Age America, he witnessed such iniquity and abuses that he became a life long socialist and advocate for reform. His adventures in the American wilderness and underworld informed his fiction, and his writing came to captivate the nation as it defined his era. Within his own short lifetime, London became the most popular, and bestselling, author of his generation. By adulthood he had matured into the iconic American author of such still-universally loved books as The Call Of The Wild, White Fang, and Sea Wolf, but in spite of his success, he was at war with himself. The highest-paid writer in America, he was constantly broke. Famous as he was for conjuring the brutality of nature in story after story and novel after novel, upon the actual deaths of his favorite animals he would dissolve into helpless tears. Sick, angry, and disillusioned, after a short, breathless life, he passed away at age forty, but he left behind him a glorious literary legacy. Award-winning author James L. Haley explores the forgotten Jack London—a man bristling with ideas, whose passion for social justice roared until the day he died. In Wolf, Haley returns Jack London to his proper place in the American pantheon, resurrecting the author of White Fang in his full fire and glory.
Made by makers…
Made by Hand: Searching for Meaning in a Throwaway World
By Mark Frauenfelder; Read by Kirby Heyborne
7 CDs or 1 MP3-CD – Approx. 8 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: June 07, 2010
ISBN: 9781400117819 (cd), 9781400167814 (mp3-cd) From his unique vantage point as editor in chief of Make magazine, the hub of the newly invigorated do-it-yourself (DIY) movement, Mark Frauenfelder takes listeners on an inspiring and surprising tour of the vibrant world of DIY. The Internet has brought together large communities of people who share ideas, tips, and blueprints for making everything from unmanned aerial vehicles to pedal-powered iPhone chargers to an automatic cat feeder jury-rigged from a VCR. DIY is a direct reflection of our basic human desire to invent and improve, long suppressed by the availability of cheap, mass-produced products that have drowned us in bland convenience and cultivated our most wasteful habits. Frauenfelder spent a year trying a variety of offbeat projects, such as keeping chickens and bees, tricking out his espresso machine, whittling wooden spoons, making guitars out of cigar boxes, and doing citizen science with his daughters in the garage. His whole family found that DIY helped them take control of their lives, offering a path that was simple, direct, and clear. Working with their hands and minds helped them feel more engaged with the world around them.
Frauenfelder reveals how DIY is changing our culture for the better. He profiles fascinating “alpha makers” leading various DIY movements and grills them for their best tips and insights. Beginning his journey with hands as smooth as those of a typical geek, Frauenfelder offers a unique perspective on how earning a few calluses can be far more rewarding and satisfying than another trip to the mall.
I always bet on the man with the bigger mustache…
Deathride: Hitler vs. Stalin—the Eastern Front, 1941-1945
By John Mosier; Read by Michael Prichard
10 CDs or 1 MP3-CD – Approx. 12.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: June 15, 2010
ISBN: 9781400117369 (cd), 9781400167364 (mp3-cd) John Mosier presents a revisionist retelling of the war on the Eastern Front. Although the Eastern Front was the biggest and most important theater in World War II, it is not well known in the United States, as no American troops participated in the fighting. Yet historians agree that this is where the decisive battles of the war were fought. The conventional wisdom about the Eastern Front is that Hitler was mad to think he could defeat the USSR because of its vast size and population, and that the Battle of Stalingrad marked the turning point of the war. Neither statement is accurate, says Mosier; Hitler came very close to winning outright. Mosier’s history of the Eastern Front will generate considerable controversy both because of his unconventional arguments and because he criticizes historians who have accepted Soviet facts and interpretations. Mosier argues that Soviet accounts are utterly untrustworthy and that accounts relying on them are fantasies. Deathride argues that the war in the East was Hitler’s to lose, that Stalin was in grave jeopardy from the outset of the war, and that it was the Allied victories in North Africa and consequent threat to Italy that forced Hitler to change his plans and saved Stalin from near-certain defeat. Stalin’s only real triumph was in creating a legend of victory.
We’ve talked about it on the podcast, and here it is…
Terminal World
By Alastair Reynolds; Read by John Lee
15 Audio CDs or 2 MP3-CDs – Approx. 19.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tantor Media
Publisher: June 1, 2010
ISBN: 9781400117116(cd), 9781400167111 (mp3-cd) Spearpoint, the last human city, is an atmosphere-piercing spire of vast size. Clinging to its skin are the zones, a series of semi-autonomous city-states, each of which enjoys a different—and rigidly enforced—level of technology. Following an infiltration mission that went tragically wrong, Quillon has been living incognito, working as a pathologist in the district morgue. But when a near-dead angel drops onto his dissecting table, Quillon’s world is wrenched apart one more time. If Quillon is to save his life, he must leave his home and journey into the cold and hostile lands beyond Spearpoint’s base, starting an exile that will take him further than he could ever imagine. But there is far more at stake than just Quillon’s own survival, for the limiting technologies of the zones are determined not by governments or police but by the very nature of reality—and reality itself is showing worrying signs of instability.
Death Cloud is the first in a series of novels in which Sherlock Holmes is re-imagined as “a brilliant, troubled and engaging teenager”…
Young Sherlock Holmes: Death Cloud
By Andrew Lane; Read by Dan Stevens
3 CDs – Approx. 3 Hours [ABRIDGED?]
Publisher: Pan Macmillian Audio
Published: June 2010
ISBN: 9780230745124 The year is 1868, and Sherlock Holmes is fourteen. His life is that of a perfectly ordinary army officer’s son: boarding school, good manners, a classical education – the backbone of the British Empire. But all that is about to change. With his father suddenly posted to India, and his mother mysteriously ‘unwell’, Sherlock is sent to stay with his eccentric uncle and aunt in their vast house in Hampshire. So begins a summer that leads Sherlock to uncover his first murder, a kidnap, corruption and a brilliantly sinister villain of exquisitely malign intent…
Tantor Media, one of the coolest of the big audiobook companies, is offering a FREE MP3 DOWLOAD, complete and unabridged, of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Or The Modern Prometheus. It’s read by the excellent Simon Vance!
Frankenstein, Or The Modern Prometheus
