I’ve been half ready to board the steampunk train (or the metaphorical steam powered conveyance of your choice) for a while now. I’m not sure exactly why it is so appealing to me. I love airships, I love Sherlock Holmes, I love reading about Victorian and Edwardian eras – but is that it?
I remember when William Gibson and Bruce Sterling wrote The Difference Engine – I was digging the concept. I remember when the RPG game Space: 1889 came out – and I was digging the vibrations that was throwing off too. The only problem was, and is, I still haven’t played the game and still haven’t read the book. I’ve really been quite negligent in my steampunk studies. Luckily there’s a neighbour, over in Alberta, who’s set himself a five year mission, to blog about the genre in a scholarly way.
And his latest post is about steampunk audiobooks! Check it out. He makes a list of Audible.com available audiobooks with the steampunking theme.
The SFFaudio Podcast #035 – Jesse and Scott talk new releases and recent arrivals with 2 of the 3 internet celebrities that were on last week’s podcast:
Talked about on today’s show:
recent arrivals and new releases, Audible.com, The Fountains Of Paradise, A Fall Of Moondust, Arthur C. Clarke, space elevator, Dyson sphere, augmented reality, William Gibson’s Virtual Light |READ OUR REVIEW|, Minding Tomorrow by Luke Burrage, audiobook narration, The Prisoner, disaster, The Poseidon Adventure on the moon, the “BRADBURY 13” radio drama series, A Sound Of Thunder [BRADBURY 13] based on the story by Ray Bradbury, A Gun For Dinosaur by L. Sprague de Camp, A Galaxy Trilogy Vol. 3 includes (Giants From Eternity by Manly Wade Wellman, Lords Of Atlantis by Wallace West, City On The Moon by Murray Leinster), Tom Weiner, Hater by David Moody, apocalypse, zombies, Stephen King’s Cell |READ OUR REVIEW|, Left 4 Dead, what makes zombies so compelling?, Of Bees And Mist by Erick Setiawan, book reviewing (using stars or scores), Metacritic.com, A Dribble Of Ink, Subterranean Press, The Sharing Knife Vol. 4 Horizon by Lois McMaster Bujold, The Curse Of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold |READ OUR REVIEW|, Star Trek by Alan Dean Foster, Alien by Alan Dean Foster, Star Trek: The Animated Series, Predator by Paul Monette, The Abyss by Orson Scott Card, The Abyss (the movie), endings, the goldfish effect, Science Fiction exposes you to a world, Fantasy immerses you in a world, Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Abyss, The Terror by Dan Simmons, abridgements, Simon Vance, Hyperion by Dan Simmons, Q Squared by Peter David, John de Lancie, LibriVox.org, Short Science Fiction Collection Vol. 025, Belonna Times, Brigands Of The Moon by Ray Cummings (read by Seth1864), The Pirates Of Erzats by Murray Leinster (read by mylantus), slide rules and calculators and abucci, Korean finger counting, Photoshop as a calculator, what jugglers are like, sculptor Jonathan Borofsky, The Pleasure Of My Company by Steve Martin, Magic square, Benjamin Franklin, Mandelbrot set, an entire issue of Astounding Stories of Super-Science – September 1930 as an audiobook, the Speech Accent Archive. An excerpt from Star Trek by Alan Dean Foster (the audiobook novelization of the 2009 film)
There’s a terrific mix of Science Fiction, Mystery and Crime stories, novels and dramatizations set to be broadcast this week. It looks like every single one is a repeat, but I can’t think of any set of repeats better sounding than these! So what are you waiting for? All of them should be available in your Radio Downloader browser right now!
The High Window
Based on the novel by Raymond Chandler; Performed by a full cast
1 Broadcast – Approx. 90 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 7
Broadcast: Saturday August 1, 2009 @ 1pm and 1am When wise-cracking private eye Philip Marlowe is hired to track down a valuable missing coin, he quickly discovers that contact with it invariably has fatal consequences. Dramatised by Bill Morrison, John Tydeman’s production was first broadcast in 1977. Stars Ed Bishop.
The Mortal Immortal
By Mary Shelley; Read by Shaun Dooley
1 Broadcast – Approx. 30 Minutes [ABRIDGED?]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 7
Broadcast: Sunday at 6.30pm and 12.30am Driven to despair by disappointment in love, alchemist’s assistant Cornelius drinks a potion which he discovers to be the elixir of life. At first, Cornelius revels in what he sees as his good fortune – until the drawbacks of his action slowly start to become clear. This production by Gemma Jenkins was specially made for Radio 7 and first broadcast in 2005.
Slipstream
By Simon Bovey; Performed by a full cast
5 Broadcasts – Approx. 2.5 Hours [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 7
Broadcast: Monday to Friday, August 3 – 7, 2009 @ 6pm and Midnight When 150 aircraft are shot down in one raid, Colonel Barton fears the destruction was the work of Slipstream, a terrifying new weapon developed by the enemy. Barton determines to find the weapon before it can be used again. Simon Bovey’s World War Two drama was specially commissioned for Radio 7. Produced by Marc Beeby, it stars Rory Kinnear and Tim McMullan and was originally transmitted in 2008.
Pattern Recognition
By William Gibson; Read by Lorelei King
5 Broadcasts – Approx. 2.5 Hours [ABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 7
Broadcast: Monday to Friday, August 3 – 7, 2009 @ 6.30pm and 12.30am Cayce Pollard has an unusual allergy which leaves her hyper-sensitive to brand names. Instinctively aware of what products will and will not succeed, she enjoys a lucrative career in advertising. On a business trip to London, however, she finds herself involved in tracking down the maker of a strangley addictive online film – a search that proves to be extremely dangerous. This Radio 7 commission was first broadcast in 2007.
Down Payment On Death
By Jim Eldridge; Performed by a full cast
5 Broadcasts – Approx. 2.5 Hours [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 7
Broadcast: Monday to Friday, August 3 – 7, 2009 @ 1.30pm, 8.30pm and 1.30am Professional assassin Art Gordo is blackmailed into doing one last job by Clarke from ‘The Department’. Adapted by Jim Eldridge’s 1972 novel. Stars Dinsdale Landon as Art and Glyn Owen as target Allweather. First broadcast in 1976 on the BBC’s World Service.
The SFFaudio Podcast #017 – Brian Murphy of The Silver Key blog joins the podcast and talks to us about his terrific blog, writing habits, and how vikings and rappers are alike.
Talked about on today’s show: Seamus Heaney’s Beowulf, Michael D.C. Drout‘s Beowulf, Neil Gaiman‘s Beowulf, religion in fiction, god in fiction, Stephen King, Carrie, The Stand, Desperation, The Regulators, Kate Nelligan, Delores Claiborne, Cujo, The Tommyknockers, On Writing, Duma Key, The Dark Tower, George R.R. Martin, A Song Of Ice And Fire, Roy Dotrice, Pandora Star, Peter F. Hamilton, Audiofile magazine, how being a truck driver is worse than being in prison (without audiobooks), Mini-Masterpieces of Science Fiction edited by Allan Kaster, Fantasy, Brandon Sanderson, Robert Jordan, The Wheel Of Time, Robert E. Howard, J.R.R. Tolkien, my fantasy fiction rant, “fantasy fiction works best when magic is talked about but rarely seen”, The Cimmerian blog, Mark Finn’s Blood And Thunder, Michael Chabon, The Yiddish Policeman’s Union, Gentlemen Of The Road, Henry Treece, The Viking Trilogy: Viking’s Dawn, The Road To Mikligaard, Viking’s Sunset, Bernard Cornwell, Saxon Stories: The Last Kingdom, Michael Shaara, The Killer Angels, William Gibson, Neuromancer, The Dark Worlds Of H.P. Lovecraft, Wayne June, horror movie: Session 9.
QUICK! grab this podcast and its MP3s before they’re gone forever!
LTWL 124 (a first year course in the “Literatures of the World” department) is available now, but not for long. The University of California San Diego, which put out this course, takes its podcasts down shortly after a semester ends. Also note, all the files in this feed are completely unedited – this means there are long silences (often an hour of longer) and some files are a completely empty 2 hour block of silence. But, don’t let this deter you. Soldier on, start with lecture 2 (as it is the first file with content).
LTWL 124 – Science Fiction (Literatures of the World)
Professor Stephen Potts
18 Lectures – Approx. 24 Hours [UNIVERSITY LECTURES]
University: UCSD
Semester: Fall 2008
Syllabus:
Introduction: A History of the Future.
Science Fiction: Origins to Golden Age
The Weird World of PKD: Ubik by Philip K. Dick
SF History: The New Wave
New Wave SF:The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin
Hard Science Fiction: Timescape by Gregory Benford
SF Onscreen: 1900-1970s
SF Onscreen: After Star Wars
Guest Lecture: David Brin
Cyberpunk. Neuromancer by William Gibson
Guest Lecture: Vernor Vinge
The Graphic Novel. Reading: Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
Conclusions
BBC7 Describes their end of the year offering as: “William Gibson’s cult sci-fi thriller of a woman employed by multi-national companies to test new brands.” Unfortunately their reading of Pattern Recognition is abridged, and not “sci-fi” (or even Science Fiction really – |READ OUR REVIEW| of the unabridged version). Still, Gibson is a great stylist with some amazing ideas. This recording was previously broadcast in October of 2007.
A better year end gift for British subjects (and Earthlings in general) would be for the BBC to change its letters in 2009 to BPC (the British Podcasting Corporation). Come to think of it, a CPC (Canadian Podcasting Corporation) would be a great idea too.
Pattern Recognition
By William Gibson; Read by Lorelei King
5 Parts – Approx. 150 Minutes [ABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 7
Broadcast: Monday 29th December 2008 – Friday 2nd January 2009 “William Gibson’s cult sci-fi thriller of a woman employed by multi-national companies to test new brands.”
I’ve been half ready to board the steampunk train (or the metaphorical steam powered conveyance of your choice) for a while now. I’m not sure exactly why it is so appealing to me. I love airships, I love Sherlock Holmes, I love reading about Victorian and Edwardian eras – but is that it?
