Audible SF/F @audiblesff - Tumblr Blog

What's in a name? A farewell to "The Audible SF/F Blog"

When I started "The Audible SF/F Blog" in June 2011, I was hoping that the double meaning of "audible", that is both the well-known audiobook company and the state of being, er, audible, which is so very characteristic of audiobooks, wouldn't create TOO much confusion. While the first words of the site description are "completely unaffiliated", when people look only at the short name, whether on Twitter @AudibleSFF or Facebook, or wherever, it's pretty obvious that it wasn't a good idea.

So: a new name! I've been toying around with a few possibilities for the better part of a year, but it's been actually fairly hard to find something that is available on both Facebook and Twitter, and also isn't someone's well-established pseudonym out there. And which both I and Dave (Thompson) both like.

But late last week, Dave sent me: "The AudioBookaneers". Yes. That's it. That's the name we've been waiting on: Dave and I are now The AudioBookaneers, sailing the seven seas of audiobooks in search of treasure and monsters.

Along with the name change (Twitter and Facebook, done) it was also a good time to make one more move, to a blog set up for multiple contributors. Tumblr does have a few things in that area, but only for "secondary" blogs, not for this "primary" one, and there wasn't any way to move this one to being a secondary one. So the new site is on Wordpress, which also hosts Bull Spec, and so I'll only have to remember how to use one blogging platform, at least for a little while.

So, this is pretty much the last bit of new blog-like content here on the now "old" Tumblr site of "The Audible SF/F Blog". I'll post a few reminders through early next year that "hey, we moved!" but, for now: Hey, we moved! I hope you'll come follow along on our continuing audiobook adventures, and: stay tuned pretty soon for info on something we're calling "The Arrrrrrrrrrrdies", our version of year-end audiobook awards for our listening year. (Some of those "rrr"s may be redacted. Or not...)

-Sam and Dave, The AudioBookaneers

#meta

Received: I finally put in some fall requests a couple weeks ago, and Brilliance Audio took me pretty seriously to the tune of 5 titles. Clockwork Angels by Kevin J. Anderson, read by Neil Peart; The Mongoliad Book 2 by Neal Stephenson et al, read by Luke Daniels; The White Forest by Adam McOmber; Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson, read by Ralph Lister; and Night Watch.

#received #brilliance audio

All Hallow's Listen Part 1: Dave Thompson reviews The Halloween Tree by Rad Bradbury

[Editor's note: "All Hallow's Listen" will be a 3-part series this October, featuring Dave Thompson's reviews on Halloween-suitable audiobooks. Stay tuned each Friday!]

The Halloween Tree By Ray Bradbury Narrated by Bronson Pinchot for Blackstone Audio Length: 3 hrs and 11 mins Release Date: 07-25-11

Review by Dave Thompson: All Hallow's Listen #1: An October Essential

#dave thompson #ray bradbury #reviews #the halloween tree #all hallows listen #all hallows read

First thoughts on Downpour: DRM-free and beta-testing

Downpour is a new multi-publisher DRM-free digital audiobook (and physical audiobook) website and iOS app launched by Blackstone Audio, with titles from Recorded Books, Hachette Audio, and more. The site is a bit slow at times (note: it is still in Beta) but it is certainly usable, though a link here and there is wonky (when browsing Science Fiction titles, which are by default and always by default sorted by title, try clicking to sort by release date and you'll instead get the page for Captain's Blood by William Shatner). Overall it is set up quite a lot like Audible.com, with a-la-carte purchases of digital downloads and monthly "credit" based plans, and the addition of physical audiobook listings.

The iOS app misses some of the higher-end functionality (swipe control mode, listening badges) and some miscellaneous features (bookmarks, annotations, etc.) but for what I need it to do (download, play, and delete, and on rare occasions listen at 1.5x speed) it just works. Playback continues in background mode (when I am multi-tasking or with the screen off or locked -- and the Downpour app does set the lock screen to the book cover, which I like) and responds to most handset controls (play/pause, forward double-click, and back triple-click) but not to fast-forward (hold on second click) or fast-reverse (hold on third click) for seeking through the audiobook. I very rarely use any of these missing features, and so I've started using the app (and site) for a growing share of my audiobook purchasing and listening. I'd only recently started using Audible's "bookmark" feature to mark the position I start listening to before falling asleep, to help assist in "now where did I leave off..." playback position recovery in the morning, so that might be another one I'd look at -- fast-forward and fast-reverse are also mainly ones I use for "now where did I leave off..." questions. I do find myself missing the "go back 30 seconds" feature from the Audible app, though, so that might be one for the Downpour engineers to poke on. Update: There is both a "go back 30 seconds" and "go forward 30 seconds" gesture, see the Disqus comments below.

The app remembers playback position across sessions -- closing the app and re-opening it, my listening position is restored. It also remembers playback positions across multiple audiobooks. (Without these two features, and the background mode and handset controls mentioned above, I wouldn't be using it.) Unlike the built-in iOS music player, but like the Audible app, the Downpour app does not resume playback automatically after a phone call ends. One small issue is that after closing the app, re-launching it returns me to the bookshelf rather than the last played book automatically. Another nitpick in checking out the Downpour app's feature set was that on-screen display settings (whether to show the position slider and speed control) were not saved across sessions. (Another is that selecting a different audiobook from the Downpour app library stops playback of the currently playing audiobook, but doesn't automatically start playback of the newly selected audiobook, though I haven't decided whether I like this latter "feature" or not.)

App wishlist, first thoughts: First, see the "go back 30 seconds" feature above. Second, though this is a bit random, I would very much like to use this app to play my own library of MP3-CD audiobooks, transferred to my phone. (The iOS music player's lack of remembering playback position in a playlist or album makes MP3-CD playlist listening so frustrating that using Chapter and Verse to build an M4B is right on the edge of worth the effort.) I'm not sure yet about downloading the entire audiobook in one part -- for longer audiobooks, being able to download one 8-hour part at a time (as Audible breaks audiobooks "into parts to make the download faster", don't ya know) makes space management on my phone (always full of pictures) more, er, manageable. But then frustrating when I'm ready for the next part and no-where near a WiFi connection. So, maybe that's six of one and a half-dozen of the other.

Anyway. Why am I, a 11.5-year Audible customer shopping around for apps? I took a look at Tantor's app late last year or early this year, but it wasn't nearly ready for prime time. (I haven't checked it out since, and it appears to have been discontinued.) The main reason is that the audiobooks I buy from Downpour are DRM-free, and there was an app to try out, and after using it a bit, I found that it worked well enough to use. (Simply Audiobooks and others have DRM-free audiobooks, but no apps. It looks like there's a very recent thread about someone building an app for eMusic, but nothing concrete to check out yet.)

The main drawback is that while Downpour doesn't appear to have any titles which Audible doesn't have, it doesn't have many titles which Audible does have -- including the long list of excellent titles from Audible Frontiers and Audible Inc. and Neil Gaiman Presents and Brilliance Audio and other Amazon-owned imprints, which it seems unlikely will ever be available at Downpour. But, while I'll still be using Audible for titles I can't get elsewhere, I'm making the switch now for the purchases where I can get a DRM-free audiobook. Now to wait for book 2 of Michael J. Sullivan's Riyria Revelations to show up (books 1 and 3 are available) along with Max Gladstone's Three Parts Deada, nd Larry Niven and Brenda Cooper's Building Harlequin's Moon...and hey, since this is DRM-free, where is my Cory Doctorow library?

Further notes: A random wishlist for the future of Downpour:

more royalties to audiobook creators than the Audible/ACX default 25% -- I have no idea on the current terms or how to publish on Downpour, which leads to:

an ACX-style audiobook creation exchange and publishing portal which lets creators keep more of their rights and more of their sales

affiliate relationships with the IndieBound bookstores, similar to the Kobo ebook net revenue split, and while I'm at it:

finish up that in-progress Android app, so Downpour will work on the Kobo tablet among other devices

bring on more publishers, like Iambik, Crossroad Press, Buzzy Multimedia, Tantor, Dreamscape, AudioGO, ...

maybe: integrate with Goodreads to display reviews, add "to read", etc. (It appears Downpour does allow reviews by visitors who have not purchased the audiobook they are reviewing, but there are scant reviews and ratings so far.)

a coming soon section where I can add the titles to my wishlist and be notified when they are published

let me add authors to a list and be notified when new audiobooks are published

While I'm all "pie in the sky" dreaming:

split Blackstone and Downpour -- vertical towers are bad

even more pie in the sky than that: split Downpour.com and the app -- or at minimum open source the Android app, or manage some kind of community source project (goal: allow me to point the app at my Tantor library)

provide a lightweight mobile website for browsing, adding to wishlist, etc.

maybe: enter the libraries market to provide some competition for Overdrive

not a problem now, while I only have a few titles, but when/if I get to hundreds I will need better library management both online and in the app

integrate with Kobo for a "Whisperlink for Voice" and "Immersion Reading" experience (probably there are patents in the way for that)

#miscellaneous #downpour

Release Week: Tad Williams, Steven Erikson, Iain M. Banks, and The Lord of the Rings

What the second release week in October lacks in the staggering numbers department, it makes up for with three absolutely stellar titles: urban fantasy from Tad Williams, the latest Iain M. Banks "Culture" novel, and the long-awaited first audio installment of Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen epic fantasy series. And! The long-awaited digital audio release of the Rob Inglis narrations of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

I've bemoaned the US audiobook absence of The Dirty Streets of Heaven: Bobby Dollar, Book 1 By Tad Williams for quite a few release weeks now, but this week brings a Penguin Audio production of George Newbern's narration: "You’ve never met an angel like Bobby Dollar. ... Brace yourself - the afterlife is weirder than you ever believed."

Last Wednesday saw the the long-awaited first audiobook in The Malazan Book of the Fallen epic fantasy series: Gardens of the Moon: The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Book 1 By Steven Erikson, Narrated by Ralph Lister for Brilliance Audio. Is it post-modern epic fantasy? Post-structural epic fantasy? That's a debate for brighter minds than mine, but this 1999 novel heralded a many-layered tapestry of characters and storylines: "The Malazan Empire simmers with discontent, bled dry by interminable warfare, bitter infighting, and bloody confrontations with ancient and implacable sorcerers. Even the imperial legions, long inured to the bloodshed, yearn for some respite. Yet Empress Laseen’s rule remains absolute, enforced by her dreaded Claw assassins. For Sergeant Whiskeyjack and his squad of Bridgeburners, and for Tattersail, their lone surviving mage, the aftermath of the siege of Pale should have been a time to mourn the many dead. But Darujhistan, last of the Free Cities, yet holds out. It is to this ancient citadel that Laseen turns her predatory gaze."

The Hydrogen Sonata By Iain M. Banks, Narrated by Peter Kenny for Hachette Audio, continues the "Culture" series: "The Scavenger species are circling. It is, truly, provably, the End Days for the Gzilt civilization. An ancient people, organized on military principles and yet almost perversely peaceful, the Gzilt helped set up the Culture 10,000 years earlier and were very nearly one of its founding societies, deciding not to join only at the last moment. Now they've made the collective decision to follow the well-trodden path of millions of other civilizations; they are going to Sublime, elevating themselves to a new and almost infinitely more rich and complex existence."

Lastly, the 1999-91 Rob Inglis narrations for Recorded Books of J. R. R. Tolkien's beloved The Lord of the Rings series are finally in digital audio download. I still have -- and enjoy re-listening to -- Martin Shaw's narration of The Hobbit, but have heard quite a few compliments on the Inglis recordings which are all -- all of them -- quickly establishing themselves at the top of the Audible bestseller charts.

#gardens of the moon #iain m banks #release week #steven erikson #tad williams #the dirty streets of heaven #the hydrogen sonata #j.r.r. tolkien #the lord of the rings

Cory Doctorow's Pirate Cinema, DRM-free and direct from the author

Via author Cory Doctorow's blog, he is selling direct, EULA- and DRM-free downloads of his latest audiobook, Pirate Cinema (Listening Library, read by Bruce Mann), from his own website. It's also available DRM-free from Simply Audiobooks, eMusic, BooksOnBoard, and Barnes & Noble (probably among others), but this is the first I can remember seeing a publisher-published audiobook being sold directly in this manner. (I have purchased some of his previous audiobooks DRM-free from some of the above stores, and anyone who follow's Doctorow's writings knows that being DRM-free is nothing new. But this is an interesting new development.)

#cory doctorow #pirate cinema #drm #listening library

Release week: Ironskin, Legion, Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, This Book is Full of Spiders, Building Harlequin's Moon, and a return to Fairyland

Well, I tried. I put together an interstitial release week post on Friday. Then again Monday morning. And still what's left in this week's haul is more than enough to keep all the listening hours in a year occupied. So, since we can't listen to everything, here are my picks for the week. Since Monday. Luckily, several of them are short. And one of them is even free. However... there are a lot of picks. And this is mostly just from Tuesday.

I've been looking forward to Ironskin By Tina Connolly since late last year; it was one of my most-anticipated titles of 2012 in my "too big to be useful" preview of the year. Then I learned it was to be narrated by Roslyn Landor, whose narration of Joan Slonczewski's A Door into Ocean is up there with my all-time favorites, and my anticipation level, if possible, went even higher. Well, now it's here, in print and ebook from Tor and in a 9 hrs and 33 mins audiobook from Audible Frontiers: "Jane Eliot wears an iron mask. It's the only way to contain the fey curse that scars her cheek. The Great War is five years gone, but its scattered victims remain—the ironskin. When a carefully worded listing appears for a governess to assist with a “delicate situation”—a child born during the Great War—Jane is certain the child is fey-cursed, and that she can help. Teaching the unruly Dorie to suppress her curse is hard enough; she certainly didn't expect to fall for the girl's father, the enigmatic artist Edward Rochart. But her blossoming crush is stifled by her scars and by his parade of women. Ugly women, who enter his closed studio...and come out as beautiful as the fey. Jane knows Rochart cannot love her, just as she knows that she must wear iron for the rest of her life. But what if neither of these things are true? Step by step Jane unlocks the secrets of a new life—and discovers just how far she will go to become whole again."

Speaking of anticipated audiobooks, and my favorite narrators, Oliver Wyman (Finch, Gateway, Logan's Run, on and on and on) narrates Brandon Sanderson's novella Legion, which was published about two months ago in print from Subterranean Press and ebook by Sanderson's own Dragonsteel Entertainment. And now here is the 2 hour Audible Frontiers audiobook which iseven (for a limited time) free: "Brandon Sanderson is one of the most significant fantasists to enter the field in a good many years. His ambitious, multi-volume epics (Mistborn, The Stormlight Archive) and his stellar continuation of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series have earned both critical acclaim and a substantial popular following. In Legion, a distinctly contemporary novella filled with suspense, humor, and an endless flow of invention, Sanderson reveals a startling new facet of his singular narrative talent. Stephen Leeds, AKA 'Legion,' is a man whose unique mental condition allows him to generate a multitude of personae: hallucinatory entities with a wide variety of personal characteristics and a vast array of highly specialized skills. As the story begins, Leeds and his 'aspects' are drawn into the search for the missing Balubal Razon, inventor of a camera whose astonishing properties could alter our understanding of human history and change the very structure of society. The action ranges from the familiar environs of America to the ancient, divided city of Jerusalem. Along the way, Sanderson touches on a formidable assortment of complex questions: the nature of time, the mysteries of the human mind, the potential uses of technology, and the volatile connection between politics and faith. Resonant, intelligent, and thoroughly absorbing, Legion is a provocative entertainment from a writer of great originality and seemingly limitless gifts." Any audiobook which begins with Wyman saying "My name is ..." is a keeper -- that's how Pohl's Gateway begins, as does Sanderson'sLegion.

Under Mysteries/Thrillers and Fiction, Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore: A Novel By Robin Sloan, Narrated by Ari Fliakos for Macmillan Audio. At a bit under 8 hours: "A gleeful and exhilarating tale of global conspiracy, complex code-breaking, high-tech data visualization, young love, rollicking adventure, and the secret to eternal life - mostly set in a hole-in-the-wall San Francisco bookstore."

Under Fiction, This Book Is Full of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don't Touch It By David Wong returns us to the twisted -- some say cracked -- mind behind John Dies in the End. Narrated by Nick Podehl for Brilliance Audio at 14 hrs and 54 mins: "Warning: You may have a huge, invisible spider living in your skull. This is not a metaphor."

A long-awaited audiobook indeed is Building Harlequin's Moon (2005) By Larry Niven and Brenda Cooper, one of my favorite science fiction novels of the 2000s combining Niven's hard sf edge on terraforming and solar kites with Cooper's human characters. Now in audio, narrated by Tom Weiner for Blackstone Audio at 15 hrs and 27 mins: "The first interstellar ship, John Glenn, fled a solar system populated by rogue AIs and machine/human hybrids, threatened by too much nanotechnology, and rife with political dangers. The John Glenn’s crew intended to terraform the nearly pristine planet Ymir in hopes of creating a utopian society that will limit intelligent technology, but by some miscalculation they have landed in the wrong system. Short on the antimatter needed to continue to Ymir, they must shape nearby planet Harlequin’s moon, Selene, into a new, temporary home and rebuild their store of antimatter through decades of terraforming."

Lastly, young readers (and older ones) can rejoice as we get to return to the world of Catherynne M. Valente's The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making as book two, The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There is out today as well. Book one was voiced by the author, here book two is read by S. J. Tucker for Brilliance Audio at 8 hrs and 18 mins: "September has longed to return to Fairyland after her first adventure there. And when she finally does, she learns that its inhabitants have been losing their shadows - and their magic - to the world of Fairyland-Below. This world has a new ruler: Halloween, the Hollow Queen, who is September’s shadow. And Halloween has no intentions of giving Fairyland’s shadows back."

#brandon sanderson #catherynne m valente #david wong #ironskin #legion #oliver wyman #release week #tina connolly #walter mosely #building harlequin's moon #brenda cooper #larry niven #mr penumbra

Listening report: July 2012

After ending a run of eight audiobooks in my June listening with the amazing The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, I listened to seven audiobooks in August, with Michael J. Sullivan's Theft of Swords, Daniel O'Malley's The Rook, and G. Willow Wilson's Alif the Unseen being the outstanding listens.

REVIEWS:

Earth Unaware By Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston, Narrated by Stefan Rudnicki, Stephen Hoye, Arthur Morey, Vikas Adam, Emily Janice Card, Gabrielle de Cuir, and Roxanne Hernandez for Macmillan Audio (review copy) -- Length: 13 hrs and 59 mins -- I have only read two Ender-verse novels, Ender's Game and Shadows in Flight (which is the most recent which follows Bean's storyline) but since Earth Unaware is a prequel, I didn't anticipate feeling lost. In fact I wasn't; though having some idea as to who Mazer Rackham is, and some manner of knowing his involvement in the First Formic War to come, not to mention who and what the Formics are, certainly helps. The former, actually, not so much, as Rackham does not appear too much and too deeply in this story; it's more of a cameo at this stage. This makes it doubly frustrating that Stefan Rudnicki narrates the "Wit" storyline. Wit O'Toole is an Earth-based commander of an internationally comprised special forces group. Following their training is somewhat, but not too interesting, and is not (and here we are still only in book one of the new series) connected in any obvious way with any of the other events of the book. With Rudnicki tied up on that storyline, the primary and most interesting storyline, that of the Ender-esque character Viktor, a boy born to a family of free miners, is given over to another narrator. This is not actually a complete disaster, as the Spanish/Portugese and Italian words and phrases are handled deftly, and through this storyline we encounter both this new culture of free miners, computer-assisted astrogation, and of course first contact with the Formics themselves. Other storylines include: a heartless corporate type Lem Jukes, developing a "gravity laser" (which seems likely to end up resulting in the final M.D. weapon Ender will eventually use to exterminate the Formics in the climax of Ender's Game) and not afraid to push around -- or kill -- a few free miners to keep the research secret and an honest official investigating that corporation, voiced by Emily Janice Card. While a lot of the story and development is either pedestrian, or a bit self-indulgent in Card's signature internal monologues, working through decisions and outcomes, there are some well-done scenes of collision, and particularly search and rescue. Extra track: the end of the audiobook features the now-customary interview with Orson Scott Card on the writing of the book, something I always enjoy hearing about.

Theft of Swords: Riyria Revelations, Book 1 By Michael J. Sullivan, Narrated by Tim Gerard Reynolds for Recorded Books -- Series: Riyria Revelations, Book 1 -- Sullivan's Riyria Revelations series was originally to be published as 6 books, but before book 6 even came out Orbit bought the series and repackaged the 6 books as three sets of two, this being the first such "mini omnibus", including "The Crown Conspiracy" and "Avempartha". "Riyria" is a group of two mercenaries (one a 3-sworded warrior named Hadrian, one a hooded thief named Royce) who have a certain reputation for being able to take on odd jobs of all kinds, and a backstory of jobs gone good and bad and the sarcastic banter to go with it. In "The Crown Conspiracy" the two are set up as the fall guys for the murder of a monarch, however, the powers which have done so have oh-so-spectacularly picked the wrong pair of thieves. The game is afoot, and we get an introduction to the powers and nations and (some tip) of the deeper history of the world along the way. As "Avempartha" opens, one of my favorite little bits of self-referential fun for the year is that a play is being put on roughly about the (legend-in-the-telling) events of the first book, with the play called... "The Crown Conspiracy". I love that. Light humor and a more honest and goodness of spirit, though hey, yes, they are mercenaries, inhabits these books than the more grim and gritty "everyone's an anti-hero" fests which have become a bit more the mode of epic fantasy. Author Sullivan certainly does have a thing for towers, as "Avempartha" centers around a mysterious tower near the site of a religious-based tournament of swordsmen, with the winner getting quite the prize indeed. However, the villager-eating beastie at the heart of this tournament may be more than the church has bargained for or can deal with. Enter, of course, Royce and Hadrian. Sullivan shows even better his deftness for fitting the pieces of his plots and subplots nicely together here, as by the end some things which were quite heavily hinted at are confirmed, setting up a world quite ready for conflict and change as the series goes forward. On the world, there are some very interesting touches, particularly in the nearly enslaved elven race as opposed to the elegant noble free and fair folk of stock-standard fantasy fare, as well as multi-layered systems of politics and religions, though at this point in the series we have not "zoomed out" too terribly far. Narration: Reynolds is very, very well-cast here, with a range of voices and accents which really make the story sing. A thoroughly enjoyable production.

Into the Black: Odyssey One By Evan Currie, Narrated by Benjamin L. Darcie for Brilliance Audio (Length:14 hrs and 55 mins) — This one I listened to around other audiobooks over the course of a few months. Currie’s self-published 2011 space sf novel was picked up by Amazon.com’s 47North, polished up, and given a full 2012 re-release in print, e-book, and audiobook. Here, Into the Black sees a new starship, the series-eponymous Odyssey, with a new, experimental long-distance “jump” style drive, captained by a veteran of a more terrestrial fighter pilot squadron, make its first jump, encounter the wreckage of an alien ship, and adventure onward. There’s definitely something “long tail” here, as there’s certainly a voracious market for bulk space opera, but the characters/plot/story/tech was about as stock as they come — again, certainly there’s a market here, it just isn’t me. I did want to check out another of the 47North/Brilliance titles after Neal Stephenson’s (et al) The Mongoliad. Thus far: capable enough productions, though mediocre books; the editorial selections of Brilliance Audio proper (Saladin Ahmed’s Throne of the Crescent Moon, Catherynne M. Valente’s Dirge for Prester John) and sister Amazon-owned Audible.com (too many good titles brought to audio to even begin to list, but let’s start with Jeff VanderMeer’s Finch, Frederik Pohl’s Gateway, Jo Walton’s Among Others, ...) set a higher bar at the top end than, thus far, 47North has achieved. (Though certainly every publisher puts out a clunker for a given reader/listener now and then.) Here Darcie’s narration is instantly recognizable as the “classic space sf” mode of narration: clean, dry, and precise, with minimal vocal gymnastics to distinguish speakers. Die-hard fans of space adventure fiction who burn their way through novels and audiobooks will find enough “there” there. Thanks again to Brilliance Audio for the review copy CD set, which was well-produced with appropriately moody disc intro/outtro music as well.

The Rook: A Novel By Daniel O'Malley, Narrated by Susan Duerden for Dreamscape Media and Hachette Audio -- When a novel opens with a young woman waking up without memory, in a park, surrounded by a circle of dead bodies wearing plastic gloves, there's a good chance the novel is a thriller. Myfanwy Thomas is in mortal peril, and she doesn't know why, or from whom. The driving forces of this book are many, not all of them natural, as into the midst of all this it turns out that Thomas is a "Rook, a high-ranking member of a secret organization called the Chequy that battles the many supernatural forces at work in Britain." And that she has superpowers, too. And so in addition to staying alive and finding out why and from whom she is in mortal peril, she has a country and planet to save. There are absolutely stunning send-ups of dragon and vampire births which are just knife-slices of realistic badassery: "Why yes, this is pretty damned close to how I'd imagine a freaking dragon would behave, isn't it!" There are bizarre self-gene-hacking "Grafters" which practice a forbidden supernatural tech, leading to all manner of fungal-group-mind insanity. There are conspiracies within conspiracies, reveals, chases, escapes, fights, night clubs, ... and then you add the Chequy's American counterparts coming in for a mini-convention of superpowered overload. Structurally, the book is also interesting. The main storyline follows the Myfanwy who has no memory; interleaved with this we have letters from the "old" Myfanwy which, read in order reveal more and more of the conspiracy, some just-in-time foreshadowing, and a red herring or two, just because, hey, why not? leading to, of course, in true thriller style, a show down of show downs and a very, very satisfying denouement. Narration: Duerden is fantastic as Myfanwy (pronounced "Miffany") and many of her accents and characterizations -- particularly of the grotesque grafters -- are fantastic. Her American accents leave a little more to be desired, but they distinguish well. Just an overall excellent audiobook and book, very recommended.

Alif the Unseen By G. Willow Wilson, Narrated by Sanjiv Jhaveri for Brilliance Audio -- Another fantastic audiobook, this time combining the Arab Spring, computer hackers for freedom of speech and counter-hacking agencies, and Djinn magic into a book which revolves around an ancient book that shouldn't exist in our world. Alif is a hacker in an unnamed Middle Eastern state, eking out a living by setting up anonymous servers and bulletin boards, etc. He's also fallen in love with a young women very out of his league for a long list of reasons: class and wealth, sure, but also Alif's heritage as the child of a native with an immigrant worker. At nearly the same time that Alif's beloved, Intisar, is betrothed to a prince, his own hacking programs are being turned against him by state security -- run by, as it turns out, this very same prince, known in hacking circles as the feared Hand -- and Alif's entire network has been compromised, putting him on the run. On the run with him is a young woman, Dina, who has been Alif's neighbor and friend for his entire life, and who is obviously in love with him and is right for him, but Alif is too much a moron to see, along with a mysterious and ancient book which Dina conveyed to Alif from Intisar, just as the state security guards have come calling. Enter a twisting back-alley of cell phone smugglers and, yes, Djinn; harrowing escapes and well-conceived and executed network hacking sessions, and further into both darkness and mystery. There were a few spots where either my credulity (doesn't this state police force have helicopters? if you corner a hacker, wouldn't you cut the phone and DSL lines?) or forced-reference-o-meter (a bit too cute on djinn prefering places abandoned by humans -- "Detroit is very popular") were tested, but this book really impressed me. Narration: The narrator was amazing with accents, genders, just wonderfully narrated; the author gave him quite a cast to work with in age, region, dialect, and even species and it all just comes out feeling spot-on. Again, recommended.

#alif the unseen #earth unaware #michael j sullivan #monthly listening report #orson scott card #the rook #theft of swords #james maxey #john scalzi #Carlos Fuentes #into the black

A weekend of new Dave Duncan audiobooks

Goodness. I put together a Friday "interlude" release week post, and then on Saturday 11 Dave Duncan audiobooks show up, all from Audible Frontiers:

Donald Corren narrates the Seventh Swordsman series:The Reluctant Swordsman, The Coming of Wisdom, and The Destiny of the Sword

Peter Ganim narrates Ill Met in the Arena

Derek Perkins narrates the Omar series: The Reaver Road, The Hunter’s Haunt,

Mark Ashby narrates the The Great Game series: Past Imperative, Present Tense, and Future Indefinite

Jennifer Van Dyck narrates Hero!

and Mil Nicholson narrates Magic Casement

Whew. Quite a week, and it's not yet Monday, let alone Tuesday.

#release week #dave duncan

Received: Shine Shine Shine by Lydia Netzer, read by Joshilyn Jackson for Macmillan Audio.

#received #shine shine shine

Release week... Friday? Ben Aaronovitch, Greg Bear, Philip Pullman, Mike Mignola, and J.K. Rowling

It feels like I just wrapped up a huge release week post two days ago, because I did. But so much has already come out since Wednesday that, well, I'd better post now because next week should have a huge list of new audiobooks as well. So here's an "interlude" release week post.

Leading the list is the Peter Grant series by Ben Aaronovitch, all narrated by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith for Tantor Audio. The three books, Midnight Riot: Peter Grant, Book 1, Moon Over Soho: Peter Grant, Book 2, and Whispers Under Ground: Peter Grant, Book 3, concern London constable (and eventual sorcerer's apprentice) Peter Grant whose "ability to speak with the lingering dead" sees him plucked from a paper-pushing assignment and "plunged into a world where gods and goddesses mingle with mortals and a long-dead evil is making a comeback on a rising tide of magic."

Also out Friday is 6-pack of audiobooks by Greg Bear, all out from Audible Frontiers. They are: Beyond Heaven's River, Strength of Stones, and Hardfought (Narrated by Ray Chase), Psychlone (Narrated by William Roberts), Dinosaur Summer (Narrated by Dave Courvoisier), and Slant (Narrated by Christine Williams).

Grimm Tales for Young and Old By Philip Pullman, Narrated by Samuel West for AudioGO -- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins -- "In this enchanting selection of fairy tales, award-winning author Philip Pullman presents his 50 favourite stories from the Brothers Grimm in a 'clear as water' retelling, making them feel fresh and unfamiliar with his dark, distinctive voice."

Joe Golem and the Drowning City By Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden, Narrated by Robert Fass for Macmillan Audio -- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins -- "In 1925, earthquakes and a rising sea level left Lower Manhattan submerged under more than 30 feet of water, so that its residents began to call it the Drowning City. Those unwilling to abandon their homes created a new life on streets turned to canals and in buildings whose first three stories were underwater. Fifty years have passed since then, and the Drowning City is full of scavengers and water rats, poor people trying to eke out an existence, and those too proud or stubborn to be defeated by circumstance. Among them are 14-year-old Molly McHugh and her friend and employer, Felix Orlov. Once upon a time Orlov the Conjuror was a celebrated stage magician, but now he is an old man, a psychic medium, contacting the spirits of the departed for the grieving loved ones left behind. When a séance goes horribly wrong, Felix Orlov is abducted by strange men wearing gas masks and rubber suits, and Molly soon finds herself on the run. Her flight will lead her into the company of a mysterious man, and his stalwart sidekick, Joe Golem, whose own past is a mystery to him, but who walks his own dreams as a man of stone and clay, brought to life for the sole purpose of hunting witches."

And Thursday saw the years-anticipated release of J. K. Rowling's first novel for adults, The Casual Vacancy, narrated by Tom Hollander for Hachette Audio at nearly 18 hours. With no magic or boy wizards in sight, it's still already topping Audible's weekly best-seller charts. (With just two days of sales so far.) "When Barry Fairbrother dies unexpectedly in his early forties, the little town of Pagford is left in shock. Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war. Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils…. Pagford is not what it first seems. And the empty seat left by Barry on the town’s council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen." There have been some good reviews, and some quite bad ones; one which intrigues me the most is by Lev Grossman for TIME, who (elsewhere) calls it "a triumph". Hm...

#release week #ben aaronovitch #greg bear #philip pullman #mike mignola #j.k. rowling

ehahlil

Are you with the BANNED?

justjosiehicks-deactivated20121

ALWAYS.

laziestgirlintown

I’m with the banned.

thepiratejenny

But why are they only listing books that have been made into movies. And showing the movie versions? This is about BOOKS! This should have been done with book covers! It’s not like you can’t recognize any of these from the book cover!

ellenkushner

Amen!

The Guilded Earlobe reviews Wool by Hugh Howey

I started hearing good things about Wool quite some time ago. Then Ridley Scott bought the film rights, and still I didn't read it. Then Random House UK bought in, and still I didn't read it. But now that The Guilded Earlobe has given the audiobook a "go for it" review, I'll have to figure out how to fit it into a busy fall of listening.

#guilded earlobe #wool #hugh howey

Release week: The Mongoliad, Embedded, The Freedom Maze, Dodger, Under Wildwood, and Neil Gaiman Presents James Branch Cabell

The last Tuesday of September brings a sizable haul of interesting-looking audiobooks, from new sequels, to some of 2011's most missing, new Terry Pratchett, and the return of Neil Gaiman Presents.

The Mongoliad: The Foreworld Saga, Book 2 By Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear, Mark Teppo, Nicole Galland, Erik Bear, Joseph Brassey, and Cooper Moo comes with quite a busy byline from Brilliance Audio, but once again it's one narrator, Luke Daniels, who handles the dozens of accents and handful of storylines as the story picks up where it ended in Book One, the aftermath of the Mongolian invasion of Europe, 1241. Can't get enough Foreworld? There's also a 1.5 hour short, Dreamer: A Prequel to the Mongoliad, By Mark Teppo with, of course, Daniels at the helm.

2011 saw two strong entries in a very specific subgenre. TC McCarthy's Germline ended up one of my favorites of the year last year, and now Embedded by Dan Abnett, narrated by Eric G. Dove for Angry Robot on Brilliance Audio, gives listeners another look at an embedded journalist in a military sf storyline. Where Germline focused on a near-future resource war in South Asia, Abnett takes a look at both a more distant future and setting, as well as a double meaning for 'embedded', as his journalist has himself 'chipped inside the head of a combat veteran' in a battlezone on a remote colony planet.

Small Beer Press published Delia Sherman's The Freedom Maze late in 2011, and this book for young adults went on to win Norton, Prometheus, and Mythopoetic Awards, as well as be named one of Kirkus Review's best of 2011, and be selected onto the Tiptree Honor Award List. Now it's in audio, narrated by Robin Miles for Listening Library. "Set against the burgeoning Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, and then just before the outbreak of the Civil War, The Freedom Maze explores both political and personal liberation, and how the two intertwine. In 1960, thirteen-year-old Sophie isn’t happy about spending summer at her grandmother’s old house in the Bayou. But the house has a maze Sophie can’t resist exploring once she finds it has a secretive and playful inhabitant. When Sophie, bored and lonely, makes an impulsive wish inspired by her reading, hoping for a fantasy adventure of her own, she slips one hundred years into the past, to the year 1860. On her arrival she makes her way, bedraggled and tanned, to what will one day be her grandmother’s house, where she is at once mistaken for a slave."

Another teen audiobook release this week is Dodger By Terry Pratchett. Read by frequent Pratchett narrator Stephen Briggs for Harper Audio, the book sees Pratchett turn his attention and wit to a street urchin in Dickensian London: "A storm. Rain-lashed city streets. A flash of lightning. A scruffy lad sees a girl leap desperately from a horse-drawn carriage in a vain attempt to escape her captors. Can the lad stand by and let her be caught again? Of course not, because he's...Dodger. Seventeen-year-old Dodger may be a street urchin, but he gleans a living from London's sewers, and he knows a jewel when he sees one. He's not about to let anything happen to the unknown girl - not even if her fate impacts some of the most powerful people in England. From Dodger's encounter with the mad barber Sweeney Todd to his meetings with the great writer Charles Dickens and the calculating politician Benjamin Disraeli, history and fantasy intertwine in a breathtaking account of adventure and mystery. Beloved and best-selling author Sir Terry Pratchett combines high comedy with deep wisdom in this tale of an unexpected coming-of-age and one remarkable boy's rise in a complex and fascinating world."

One of my "regrets" in 2011 was not making time for Colin Meloy's Wildwood, a middle grade novel billed as an "American Narnia". Now Meloy is back with a sequel, Under Wildwood, under his own narration for Harper Audio. At 13 hrs and 20 mins, it's the longest audiobook mentioned so far in this post, though it's aimed at the youngest listeners of the bunch. Who says kids these days don't have attention spans?

Neil Gaiman Presents returns this week with three novels by 1920s literary satiric fantasist James Branch Cabell, all narrated by Robert Blumenfeld: Jurgen, The High Place, and Figures of Earth: A Comedy of Appearances. "A few words from Neil on Jurgen: Jurgen may be the most famous of James Branch Cabell’s books: It was certainly the one that put him on the map, when, in January 1920, the New York Society for the Prevention of Vice took his publisher to court for violating New York’s anti-obscenity law. Suddenly, Cabell went from an admired but semi-obscure author of literary satiric fantasy, to the guy everyone was reading because he was censored."

#release week #neal stephenson #luke daniels #the mongoliad #embedded #dan abnett #the freedom maze #small beer press #neil gaiman presents #terry pratchett #dodger #colin meloy

Audiobook review: Welcome to Bordertown

Welcome to Bordertown: New Stories and Poems of the Borderlands Edited by: Holly Black and Ellen Kushner Performances by: MacLeod Andrews, Cassandra Campbell, Ellen Kushner, and Holly Black Length: 18 hours and 8 minutes Release date: 10 April 2012

Review by Dave Thompson: Bordertown Lives!

#cassandra clare #cory doctorow #dave thompson #ellen kushner #holly black #reviews #welcome to bordertown #neil gaiman

Release Week: Nalo Hopkinson's Midnight Robber, and Libba Bray's The Diviners

The middle of September brings a few audiobooks of interest, but my first thoughts on the week are 1. that I was at first incredibly excited when I saw the new Tad Williams urban fantasy novel The Dirty Streets of Heaven: A Bobby Dollar Novel, Book 1 listed -- but then it turned out I wasn't logged in, so Audible was showing me titles not available in my country, and now I have only the horrible, awful knowledge that the audiobook I want to listen to exists, and yet cannot be sold to me. And 2. That my "seen but not heard" list below includes Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff as well as, more mysteriously to me, Steven Erikson's Gardens of the Moon, which is out in physical media from Brilliance Audio. First world problems, I know. Still, a long-missing audiobook from Nalo Hopkinson and an anticipated new YA audiobook from Libba Bray make for a week worth listening to. Update: Via @MrsTad I have learned that the US audiobook is in production! Hooray!

My pick in adult sf/f releases this week is Midnight Robber By Nalo Hopkinson, Narrated by Robin Miles for Audible Frontiers. Published in 2000 by Aspect / Warner Books, the book was a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, and PKD Award, as well as a nominee for the James Tiptree, Jr. Award: "It's Carnival time and the Caribbean-colonized planet of Toussaint is celebrating with music, dance, and pageantry. Masked "Midnight Robbers" waylay revelers with brandished weapons and spellbinding words. To young Tan-Tan, the Robber Queen is simply a favorite costume to wear at the festival - until her power-corrupted father commits an unforgiveable crime. Suddenly, both father and daughter are thrust into the brutal world of New Half-Way Tree. Here monstrous creatures from folklore are real, and the humans are violent outcasts in the wilds. Tan-Tan must reach into the heart of myth and become the Robber Queen herself. For only the Robber Queen's legendary powers can save her life...and set her free." Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins.

Meanwhile in the "Teen SF/F" listings is the latest from Libba Bray, with her own audio introduction. The Diviners is narrated by January LaVoy for Listening Library: "Evie O'Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City - and she is pos-i-tute-ly ecstatic. It's 1926, and New York is filled with speakeasies, Ziegfeld girls, and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is that she has to live with her uncle Will and his unhealthy obsession with the occult. Evie worries her uncle will discover her darkest secret: a supernatural power that has only brought her trouble so far. But when the police find a murdered girl branded with a cryptic symbol and Will is called to the scene, Evie realizes her gift could help catch a serial killer." Length: 18 hrs and 14 mins.

#release week #nalo hopkinson #midnight robber #libba bray #the diviners

Interview: Tim Pratt, interviewed by Dave Thompson

Briarpatch By Tim Pratt Narrated by Dave Thompson via ACX for Timothy Pratt c/o Curtis Brown, LTD Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins Release Date: 08-27-12

Article and Interview by Dave Thompson

For the general public, Tim Pratt is one of the best kept secrets in fantasy fiction. I say this not just as someone who loves to read (and listen!) to Tim's work, but as someone who who has bought his stories to be featured at PodCastle, a podcast run by Anna Scwhind and myself. Tim creates interesting characters who always feel real, and typically puts them in a world similar to ours, with several very subtle differences. At a young age, Tim discovered he could entertain himself with his own writing, and has never stopped, becoming quite prolific. He's written and sold over a hundred short stories (it wouldn't surprise me if by the time this is posted, it'll be 200), and has written fifteen novels, including the Marla Mason books (as T.A. Pratt), and The Constantine Affliction as T. Aaron Payton.

A year ago, I got to read Tim Pratt's incredible contemporary fantasy fiction novel Briarpatch. As soon as I started reading it, I completely fell in love. Also, I knew it was a story that my voice was a good fit for. I'd been curious about taking a shot at reading audiobooks for a couple years now, so I emailed Tim and asked him if there were any plans for an audiobook. This ... maybe isn't the best way to go about becoming an audiobook narrator. But I knew Tim and felt comfortable asking him, and I felt comfortable that if he didn't like the idea, he'd tell me.

And so, this past summer, I spent just about every free moment I had recording Tim's amazing book. (The recording process could probably be a whole other post.) [Editor's note: Why yes, Dave, it could be a whole other post. Thanks for volunteering.] We used ACX, which was very easy to work with. When I turned everything in, I kept waiting for Tim to tell me that he wanted me to do something different (maybe even the whole thing). Instead, he told me how happy he was with it, and how much he liked some of the character voices. (Dave's note: I am not Roy Dotrice or Jim Dale. I have a very minimalistic approach to reading, which is part of why I knew I could read this one.)

And now, the book is out! It's even got a review! A positive one! People have bought it! Yay! I feel pretty lucky, to be completely honest, to have recorded Briarpatch at all, let alone as my first audiobook.

When I told Sam about all this, he suggested I interview myself about the process. Luckily, thus far, he's settled for me interviewing author Tim Pratt, who is decidedly more interesting!

#interviews #tim pratt #dave thompson

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