Page 51 of posts by: Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

A second look at Downpour

Posted on 2012-11-19 at 15:49 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

A little over a month ago, I gave my first thoughts on Downpour, a new DRM-free multi-publisher audiobook service from Blackstone Audio. Still officially in "Beta", I've had another month of buying, downloading, and listening, so it's maybe time to give a bit of an update.

A new iOS app version released in late October solves an occasional issue with play position save, by far the biggest issue for me. And an Android app is also available now, though I haven't been able to test it yet. (If Kobo wants to

Posted in regular | Tagged downpour

Release Week: Red Country, Annotated Shannara, six from Christopher Priest, and Goblin Secrets

Posted on 2012-11-14 at 18:33 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

In a packed week of exciting mid-week releases by Kameron Hurley (Rapture) and Walter Jon Williams (The Fourth Wall), it's Joe Abercrombie's Red Country which leads the way in new audio releases. However, all the news isn't great, as there is apparently no forthcoming audiobook for Cherie Priest's latest Clockwork Century novel, The Inexplicables.

Red Country by Joe Abercrombie, read by Steven Pacey for Hachette Audio -- Length: 19 hrs and 2 mins -- The third standalone novel in the world of Abercrombie's

Posted in regular, Release Week | Tagged cherie priest, christopher priest, goblin secrets, joe abercrombie, kameron hurley, red country, shannara, terry brooks, walter jon williams

Sam's listening report: September 2012

Posted on 2012-11-08 at 14:52 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

After dropping to six audiobooks in August, I downsized my listening even further, to the tune of just five in September. (And at that, a bit of a cheat perhaps, considering I'm counting the 1.5-hour podcast of a novella, but hey -- my column, my rules, and it was very enjoyable besides.) The month includes the second half and then some of my Neil Gaiman re-read and Neil Gaiman Presents study, ahead of going to a wonderful storytelling event which featured Gaiman and at which I was entirely too chicken to

Posted in Sam's Monthly Listening Report | Tagged ellen kushner, jeff vandermeer, karen thompson walker, light, m john harrison, marbelle, monthly listening report, neil gaiman, neil gaiman presents, podcastle, swordspoint, the age of miracles, the cage, the graveyard book

Release Week: Cooper's The Creative Fire, McDevitt/Resnick's The Cassanda Project, Brandon Sanderson's The Emperor's Soul, Alice Hoffman's Practical Magic, and more

Posted on 2012-11-07 at 15:16 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

November gets off to a big start, with a long list of noteworthy releases, four of which I'll highlight at a little more length, and several more worth checking out as well. (Meanwhile, my "most missing" this fairly busy week is Allen Steele's Apollo's Outcasts, out in hardcover and ebook from Pyr.)

The Creative Fire: Book One of Ruby's Song By Brenda Cooper, Narrated by Yetta Gottesman for Audible Frontiers -- Length: 13 hrs and 27 mins. Out in print and ebook from Pyr, it's a book I was very excited to

Posted in regular, Release Week | Tagged alice hoffman, brandon sanderson, brenda cooper, forge of darkness, practical magic, release week, steven erikson, the cassandra project, the creative fire

Release Week: A Sudden Outbreak of Magic, Ruins, and a Neil Gaiman gift edition and charity short

Posted on 2012-10-31 at 17:43 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

The last release week in October has a few intriguing new titles, along with a new "gift edition" of Neil Gaiman's Stardust and, as Dave already mentioned, a free short story by Gaiman as well.

A Sudden Outbreak of Magic: Contagious Magic By Michael Jasper, Narrated by Alyson Grauer is the one I've been waiting on the longest. At 8 hrs and 16 mins it is the first book in a series, in which book two is out in print and ebook, and book three is coming soon. I've been following the route of this book from

Posted in regular, Release Week | Tagged emily janice card, michael jasper, neil gaiman, orson scott card, release week, stardust, stefan rudnicki

Release Week: Rudnicki's Fantastic Imaginings, and more of Pohl's Heechee Saga read by Oliver Wyman

Posted on 2012-10-24 at 16:55 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

A pretty quiet release week, made even more so considering the deafening absence on this side of the pond that is the lack of Red Country By Joe Abercrombie, available earlier this week in the UK -- narrated by the voice of Abercrombie's First Law series no less, Steven Pacey. Will a US publisher do the right thing and back up the appropriately sized money truck(s) and bring us this next chapter in the story of Logen Ninefingers? Pretty please? (Update: Via The Guilded Earlobe, I find that this audiobook is

Posted in regular, Release Week | Tagged fantastic imaginings, frederik pohl, harlan ellison, heechee, oliver wyman, release week, stefan rudnicki

Listening report: August 2012

Posted on 2012-10-22 at 20:33 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

After seven audiobooks in July, three excellent, I managed just six in August, with one absolutely year's-best fantastic (The Drowning Girl by Caitlin R. Kiernan) another excellent (non-fiction, How to Build an Android), and three more well worth the listen, including science fiction (Chimera), fantasy (A Book of Tongues), and a collection (Fragile Things).

REVIEWS: (Caveat from the last two "monthly" reports also applies here; fairly off-the-cuff reviews, trying to claw back to the present and

Posted in regular, reviews, Sam's Monthly Listening Report | Tagged a book of tongues, chimera, fragile things, glory road, how to build an android, monthly listening report, reviews, the drowning girl

Received: Nine titles from Blackstone Audio

Posted on 2012-10-18 at 14:58 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

First, though chronologically last, the physical mp3-cd shipment, which includes Crossing Overby Anna Kendall (2010, The Soulvine Moor Chronicles, Book One), The Sword-Edged Blonde by Alex Bledsoe (read by Stefan Rudnicki, 2009, The Eddie LaCrosse Mysteries, Book 1), None So Blind by Joe Haldeman, Some Kind of Fairy Tale by Graham Joyce (read by John Lee), and The Fullness of Time by Kate Wilhelm:

Second, though chronologically first, four digital review copies:

• V Wars Edited by Jonathan Maberry, Read

Posted in received

Release Week: The Twelve, Bowl of Heaven, Roadside Picnic, and George R.R. Martin

Posted on 2012-10-17 at 20:05 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

Vampires and aliens are featured in two new highly-anticipated books in this mid-October release week, and aliens and vampires are also featured in new audiobooks of highly-regarded books published in past years.

The Twelve by Justin Cronin, read by Scott Brick for Random House Audio continues the story from Cronin's post-apocalyptic vampire novel The Passage which introduced a set of death row inmates used as experimental subjects for a virus discovered by an unfortunate South American expedition and the

Posted in regular, Release Week | Tagged bowl of heaven, george rr martin, gregory benford, justin cronin, larry niven, mike mignola, release week, roadside picnic, scott brick, the twelve

Received: 3 titles from Harper Audio

Posted on 2012-10-15 at 17:49 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

Received: More review copies from our fall requests are coming in, this batch includes three titles from Harper Audio:

• The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter
• Some Remarks by Neal Stephenson
• Dodger by Terry Pratchett

Posted in received, regular | Tagged dodger, harper-audio, neal stephenson, received, some remarks, terry pratchett, the long earth