Sam reviews: The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter, Read by Michael Fenton-Stevens for Harper Audio

Posted on 2013-02-11 at 17:19 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

The Long Earth: A Novel by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter (2012) Read by Michael Fenton-Stevens (2012) for Harper Audio (review copy)

Review by Sam: I'm completely of two minds on this audiobook. First, and this is not one of those minds but rather a comment, there isn't quite the humor and wit as in Pratchett's Discworld books, but then again this isn't at all that kind of story. It's a story that's more earnest than that, not a send-up or pastiche of the kind of novel it pretends to be on the surface. It really is a sf novel with two big ideas: a "stepper box" (simple Radio Shack level electronics and ... a potato) which allows humans to step between alternate worlds, and also a well-done distributed AI (also with a bit of a Pratchett-esque "hook", in that this AI gains legal recognition by claiming to be a reincarnated Tibetan motorcycle repairman). There's some interesting examinations of both ideas. With the alternate worlds, Pratchett and Baxter move on past the first and second ideas (e.g. jumping into another world, walking past the bank vault's wall, and jumping back to gather the cash; assassinations; heading for well-known gold mines and oil wells; etc.) and past even the new Pilgrim and "back to primitivism" colony expeditions to the social-political implications: the poor urban centers emptying out into the verdant, fertile, unclaimed wilds. Overpopulation and deep poverty in India? What if with a potato and some wires you could step into a world where an orchard of unpicked apples rests near a stream of fresh, unpolluted water, alongside a soft green field ready for planting? And the further implications of these get at least a cursory exploration, as nation-states grapple with this exodus of their tax base, etc. There are even some more twists, such as a minority who cannot step, or if they can step it is only with severe side effects beyond the "normal" nausea and vomiting. This creates a quasi-religious political movement, and an interesting side-plot through the novel.

Posted in reviews | Tagged harper-audio, michael fenton-stevens, stephen baxter, terry pratchett, the long earth

Sam reviews: Building Harlequin's Moon by Larry Niven and Brenda Cooper, read by Tom Weiner for Blackstone Audio

Posted on 2013-02-10 at 12:32 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

Building Harlequin’s Moon by Larry Niven and Brenda Cooper (2005) Read by Tom Weiner (2012) for Blackstone Audio (review copy)

Review by Sam: This is a book I was very interested in when it was originally published back in 2005, but it was another year before I finally picked it up. It quickly became one of my favorite science fiction novels, and remains one of my favorites of the 2000s. Combine Larry Niven's geo-engineering and orbital mechanics with Cooper's humanism and futurism, add a few thousand years and you get a book with interesting technical and social issues with well-rendered and well-voiced characters -- and particularly strong female characters. When I saw that it was coming out in audio, I knew it was time for a re-read.

Posted in reviews | Tagged blackstone audio, brenda cooper, building harlequin's moon, larry niven, tom weiner

The Human Division Listen-A-Long, Episode 4: A Voice in the Wilderness

Posted on 2013-02-08 at 07:25 by Dave Thompson

The Human Division, Episode 4: A Voice in the Wilderness by John Scalzi, read by William Dufris Length: 49 minutes.

Welcome back to the AudioBookaneers The Human Division Listen-A-Long! This week, we're discussing episode 4: A Voice In the Wilderness. This is spoiler territory, so if you haven't listened to the story yet, you may want to go do that.

Usually, I do a little recap before getting into my own thoughts, but today, well, screw that. Today, we're gonna honor a member of The Human Division who deserves to have his body cloned and turned green, or at least get some kind of honorary coat of jade. This man has a difficult, sometimes thankless job, but he continually handles it with staunch professionalism. Today, we're here to honor WILLIAM FREAKING DUFRIS with the ZOMG medal of Awesome. Because HOLY SHIT folks, Dufris killed in this week's episode.

Posted in The Human Division Listen-a-Long | Tagged john scalzi, the human division, william dufris

Release Week: Sean Ferrell's Man in the Empty Suit, Spider Robinson's The Free Lunch, Manil Suri's The City of Devi, and Neal Asher's The Departure

Posted on 2013-02-06 at 14:39 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

Led by an intriguing concurrent new release, the first release week of February also brings an author-narrated science fiction novel a bit over 10 years in the waiting since its print publication, several other good-looking concurrent release titles, another big haul of Audible Frontiers titles, and, of course, the next installment in John Scalzi's The Human Division, A Voice in the Wilderness: The Human Division, Episode 4. Of course, no release week would be complete without my "seen but not heard" complaints, of which there are several this week led by A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent by Marie Brennan, which has been on my radar an awfully long time. And, also of course, a few more "Whispersync for Voice" price quirks at the bottom of the post, after the upcoming release calendar.

PICKS OF THE WEEK:

Concurrent with its hardcover/ebook release from independent NYC-based Soho Press is a book which had not even made it onto my radar before its release: Man in the Empty Suit By Sean Ferrell, Narrated By Mauro Hantman for AudioGO -- "Say you're a time traveler and you've already toured the entirety of human history. After a while, the outside world might lose a little of its luster. That's why this time traveler celebrates his birthday partying with himself. Every year, he travels to an abandoned hotel in New York City in 2071, the hundredth anniversary of his birth, and drinks 12-year-old Scotch (lots of it) with all the other versions of who he has been and who he will be. Sure, the party is the same year after year, but at least it's one party where he can really, well, be himself. The year he turns 39, though, the party takes a stressful turn for the worse. Before he even makes it into the grand ballroom for a drink he encounters the body of his forty-year-old self, dead of a gunshot wound to the head. As the older versions of himself at the party point out, the onus is on him to figure out what went wrong--he has one year to stop himself from being murdered, or they're all goners." This is an intriguing enough premise, but what pushes it over to edge to being the most tempting release for me this week is the blurb from Charles Yu, author of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe:  "Ferrell's humor and invention will draw you in, and the real emotion in his writing will keep you reading. A clever premise that deepens into a surprising and moving story about fate, identity, and how we shape our own lives and the lives of those around us." And The Guilded Earlobe has already reviewed the audiobook: "As a tale of time travel, with its intermingling concepts of fate and free will Farrell succeeds where so many other tales of time travel fails. Its brilliantly built plot, complicated character and hints of a near future world were enough to keep my brain spinning in a dizzying euphoria. It may not have had the emotional impact of many more character driven tales, but like the best puzzles, it will never truly leave your mind."

The Free Lunch By Spider Robinson was first published in 2001, and here is narrated by the author for Blackstone Audio -- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins. "Under the façade of the world’s finest theme park lies a secret which could alter the course of human history. Mike and Annie, refugees from the world outside, find a home underground, behind the scenes of Dreamworld, a theme park where hope exists as it does nowhere else. But Dreamworld is threatened by a jealous competitor who kills what he can’t have. As if this were not trouble enough, the two discover that each day there are more of the “trolls” who maintain Dreamworld than there were the day before. As the trolls continue to multiply, they must discover why, or it could mean the end of Dreamworld -and the real world. Knotted in conflict and turmoil, what was a wonderful, carefree place becomes a battleground on which Earth’s future is at stake. Only Mike and Annie, two unconventional heroes, can save it."

The City of Devi: A Novel By Manil Suri, Narrated By Vikas Adam and Priya Ayyar for Blackstone Audio -- "Editors Select, February 2013 - Mumbai is emptying out under the looming threat of a nuclear bomb. Amidst the chaos a woman sets out to look for her missing husband in a city now mostly occupied with marauding thugs. I love a good dystopian story, and Manil Suri's absurdist pre-apocalyptic novel has been praised for its astute insights into humanity, divinity, and love - all at the end of the world. —Michael, Audible Editor"

Posted in Release Week | Tagged release week, sean ferrell, spider robinson

The Human Division Listen-A-Long, Episode 3: We Only Need the Heads

Posted on 2013-02-01 at 07:30 by Dave Thompson

The Human Division: Episode 3: “We Only Need the Heads,” by John Scalzi, read by William DufrisLength: 1 hour, six minutes

Hello, and welcome back to our latest Listen-A-Long for the Human Division. Be warned, as this is a discussion post, so spoilers ensue. Okay, let’s get moving.

Recap!

We kick off with Hart being summoned by Abumwe to watch as the Clarke is being dismantled both literally and figuratively. Abumwe’s diplomatic team is being split up, and she’s left with her least favorite diplomat: Hart. Poor Hart. He puts up with a lot of shit. She explains that they’re going into diplomatic negotiations with Bula over their uncolonized planet Wantji. Only problem is, a wildcat colony has taken up residence there, and while Abumwe and Hart are negotiating, Harry Wilson and the CDF will attempt to remove the colony, or traces of it’s existence.

Unfortunately, everyone in the colony (New Seattle, apparently, which was where last week’s entire episode was set - looks like they didn’t find the cargo) appears to be dead. One of the CDF Redshirts (Jefferson) pukes at what they find. The colonists appear to have been eaten.

Worse yet, Harry realizes that two of the dead people are CDF marines themselves, undercover. Harry has their heads (thus the title, kind of) taken back up to the ship to be scanned, and sure enough, they have BrainPals. Stupid CDF. After some more work, Harry figures out there was very likely a third CDF spy. They’ve found his body planetside. Bad news, though - his head is missing. Before they can get everyone off the planet, Bula ships show up, weapons hot.

Abumwe and Hart pretty quickly figure out that something is off with the ambassador they’ve been meeting with. Cols. Egan and Rigney show up to explain to Abumwe that yes, the CDF had planted spies in the wildcat colony. They order Abumwe to lie to her Bula counterpart if questioned.

Well, Abumwe is definitely questioned. She lies, saying she had no knowledge of the colony or the CDF. The Bula ambassador breaks off the negotiations, and presents Hart and Abumwe with a box. A box which contains something the Bula are returning to the CDF.

Well, you don’t have to be Brad Pitt or Morgan Freeman to figure this one out - even a headless CDF marine knows what’s in the box. But instead of having Abumwe and Hart open it, Scalzi chooses to let them stare at it in abject horror.

TO BE CONTINUED!!!

My Thoughts!

Okay, I love this episode. It may be my favorite thus far. (I know we’re only three in. Still.) We’re back to our B-Team, and it’s great to watch them do what they do best. Especially when their best, at least at this point, just isn’t good enough to win the day.

Abumwe maybe moreso - we kind of hate how she keeps picking on Hart, calling him useless, etc. But I didn’t completely expect her to lie to the Bula ambassador at the end, and you could tell it cost her. Not only the negotiations, but something personal.

Harry is still smart, still figuring stuff out before most everyone else, but he’s not quite fast enough this time, and it looks like he and his new CDF compatriots will be captured.

I have to admit, I didn’t realize this wildcat colony was New Seattle at first, primarily because none of the characters from last week’s episode were found. Perhaps they’ll show up, somewhat intact, later? At least, I don’t think they were? Was one of the body’s found a medic? Is that who was recording the transcript last week?

Also what the hell is going on with that wildcat colony? Where’s Chen, and the medics? Who set them up? Why are the CDF spying on them? Is it just to gauge how the Conclave will react? We still don’t know who boarded the colony’s supply ship, or why. Part of me is wondering how innocent Col. Egan is in all this.

Narration-wise, Dufris continues to be in top form, here. No hyperventilating, no begging for water, just a little bit of vomit. Good job, Dufris! NOW JUST TELL US WHAT’S IN THE BOX! (Even though we already know!)

Those are my thoughts! What are yours?

Posted in The Human Division Listen-a-Long

Received, January 2013

Posted on 2013-02-01 at 02:51 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

It started with a couple of boxes from Brilliance Audio, with Father Gaetano’s Puppet Catechism by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden, both of Catherynne M. Valente’s Fairyland books, Steven Erikson’s Forge of Darkness, and This Book Is Full of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don’t Touch It by David Wong:

And continued with a pair of digital download review copies, Lost Things: The Order of the Air by Melissa Scott and Jo Graham (from Crossroad Press) and The Dirty Streets of Heaven: Bobby Dollar, Book 1 by Tad Williams (from Penguin Audiobooks):

And even two kids titles, digital review copies from Nation9, Sherlock Holmes - Speckled Band and he Dragon King:

And today to end the month, Hachette sent a review copy of Gun Machine by Warren Ellis:

And also a box came from Tantor Audio, with Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch, Your House is on Fire, Your Children all Gone by Stefan Kiesbye, and Sold by Patricia McCormick:

And one more title from Brilliance Audio, Jasper Fforde’s The Last Dragonslayer, coming out Feb 5:

Whew. Luckily, several of these are quite short, and I’ve already listened to a few. (I’d already bought and listened to the first of Valente’s Fairyland books late last year.) I’ve got some good, varied listening ahead, though it’s a bit lacking in the science fiction department.

Posted in received

Release Week: Jay Lake's Kalimpura, James P. Blaylock's The Aysleford Skull, Norse Code, and (of course) another episode of The Human Division

Posted on 2013-01-30 at 19:43 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

Now that's what I'm talking about -- an absolutely monstrous release week, with a long list of concurrent new releases, exciting previously released books coming to audio for the first time, and even another haul of Dungeons and Dragons audiobooks. And that's just the past few days -- already this week had brought us Norse Code by Greg van Eekhout and The Disaster Diaries by Sam Sheridan, and of course it also brings the next installment of John Scalzi's The Human Division, with We Only Need the Heads: The Human Division, Episode 3. And, also of course, and as has gotten to be the usual thing for these "release week" roundups, a few more "Whispersync for Voice Price Quirks" at the bottom of the post.

PICKS OF THE WEEK:

Kalimpura: Green Universe, Book 3 By Jay Lake, Narrated By Katherine Kellgren for Audible Frontiers -- Series: Green Universe, Book 3 -- Length: 11 hrs and 59 mins. Out also in print/ebook from Tor, while this is third in a series, via author @jay_lake on Twitter: “KALIMPURA should stand alone, but will make more sense & have more depth if you’ve read the first two. Not a ‘tight’ series.” Here is the publisher copy: "This sequel to Green and Endurance takes Green back to the city of Kalimpura and the service of the Lily Goddess. Green is hounded by the gods of Copper Downs and the gods of Kalimpura, who have laid claim to her and her children. She never wanted to be a conduit for the supernatural, but when she killed the Immortal Duke and created the Ox god with the power she released, she came to their notice.Now she has sworn to retrieve the two girls taken hostage by the Bittern Court, one of Kalimpura’s rival guilds. But the Temple of the Lily Goddess is playing politics with her life."

The Aylesford Skull By James P Blaylock, Narrated By William Gaminara for Audible Ltd -- Recently at the sf convention illogiCon, I heard praise after praise for Blaylock's writing both from guest of honor Tim Powers and other attendees; here, the first new steampunk novel in over twenty years from one of the genre's founding voices: "It is the summer of 1883 and Professor Langdon St. Ives - brilliant but eccentric scientist and explorer - is at home in Aylesford with his family. However, a few miles to the north a steam launch has been taken by pirates above Egypt Bay; the crew murdered and pitched overboard. In Aylesford itself a grave is opened and possibly robbed of the skull. The suspected grave robber, the infamous Dr. Ignacio Narbondo, is an old nemesis of Langdon St. Ives. When Dr. Narbondo returns to kidnap his four-year-old son Eddie and then vanishes into the night, St. Ives and his factotum Hasbro race to London in pursuit."

ALSO OUT THIS WEEK:

Posted in Release Week | Tagged james p. blaylock, jay lake, release week

The Human Division Listen-A-Long, Episode 2: Walk the Plank

Posted on 2013-01-25 at 07:13 by Dave Thompson

Walk the Plank (The Human Division, Episode 2) By John Scalzi, read by William Dufris Length: 39 minutes

Welcome to our second listen-a-long of John Scalzi's The Human Division. This week - Episode 2 - WALK THE PLANK!

But be warned! We're assuming you've heard the story (or read it), so spoilers abound!

Let's get started.

RECAP!

We listen to a transcript recording from a Wildcat colony (that is, an illegal colony unsupported by the CDF) who are looking for their supply freights. Their leader, Chenzira, is interrupted by two medic (Aurel and Magda) who have found a man who "isn't from around here." Malik is beaten up pretty bad, has some kind of disease, and will (at the very least) lose his leg.

Posted in The Human Division Listen-a-Long, Uncategorized

Release Day: Norse Code by Greg van Eekhout, read by Dave Thompson

Posted on 2013-01-24 at 19:12 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

Back in the summer of 2009 I was getting back into reading and, ok, writing a bit, and started discovering some very interesting authors on Twitter -- in particular the trio of William Shunn, Paolo Bacigalupi, and Greg van Eekhout. I had actually even picked up van Eekhout's Spectra-published debut novel from a bit earlier that year, Norse Code, plucked from the bottom shelf of the B&N fantasy section, based on the clever title and strong opening line and chapter. ("On the last true day of spring the nine worlds will ever know, my brother and I fly recon through the land of the gods.") But... I was also getting back into audiobooks in a big way, and after listening to audiobooks from Shunn (the excellent novella Inclination) and Bacigalupi (the award-winning and Jonathan Davis-narrated The Windup Girl), not to mention podcasts of van Eekhout's short stories (the PodCastle miniature "Carnival Park" remains one of my favorites) I kept looking for news of Norse Code in audio, but alas, nothing. The print book got buried in a stack of "to reads" and there was only the nagging memory of a book that kept slipping further and further into the "regrets" column. But! Then I was very excited to hear late last year that The AudioBookaneers' own Dave Thompson would be narrating the audiobook, for Audible.com itself no less. Dave is of course an experienced narrator (innumerable episodes of PodCastle, and Tim Pratt's novel Briarpatch) and, as I hope readers here have learned, listener of audiobooks. Well, the audiobook is finally here, and I for one am looking forward to finally getting past the prologue. (Now, how about van Eekhout's next books, Kid Vs. Squid and The Boy at the End of the World? Meanwhile, this isn't the last we'll hear from Dave in the near future, as he's just announced that he'll be narrating the first book in James Maxey's Dragon Age series, Bitterwood.)

Norse Code by Greg Van Eekhout Narrated by Dave Thompson for Audible, Inc. Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged dave thompson, greg van eekhout, norse code

Release Week: Miles Cameron's The Red Knight, two from Iambik, and Scalzi's The Human Division continues with "Walk the Plank"

Posted on 2013-01-23 at 17:31 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

Another fairly quiet week in terms of highly-anticipated concurrent releases, though a new 30-hour epic fantasy audiobook from Hachette Audio certainly raises some interest, and two Iambik Audio productions of recent small press releases are certainly quite intriguing. And, of course, Scalzi's The Human Division continues. (And! At the bottom, again some "Whispersync for Voice" price quirks I stumbled across this week.)

The Red Knight By Miles Cameron, Narrated By Matthew Wolf for Hachette Audio — Length: 30 hrs and 31 mins —out concurrent with the print/ebook from Orbit, this is the first book of the Traitor Sun Cycle -- "Twenty-eight florins a month is a huge price to pay for a man to stand between you and the Wild. Twenty-eight florins a month is nowhere near enough when a wyvern's jaws snap shut on your helmet in the hot stink of battle, and the beast starts to rip the head from your shoulders. But if standing and fighting is hard, leading a company of men - or worse, a company of mercenaries - against the smart, deadly creatures of the Wild is even harder. It takes all the advantages of birth, training, and the luck of the devil to do it. The Red Knight has all three, he has youth on his side, and he's determined to turn a profit. So when he hires his company out to protect an Abbess and her nunnery, it's just another job. The abbey is rich, the nuns are pretty, and the monster preying on them is nothing he can't deal with."

Machine (2012) By Jennifer Pelland, Narrated By Bev J. Stevens for Iambik Audio -- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins. Out last January in print/ebook from Apex, Machine is a story of bioandroid self-awareness and self-image: "Celia's body is not her own, but even her conscious mind can barely tell the difference. Living on the cutting edge of biomechanical science was supposed to allow her to lead a normal life in a near-perfect copy of her physical self while awaiting a cure for a rare and deadly genetic disorder. But a bioiandroid isn't a real person. Not according to the protesters outside Celia's house, her coworkers, or even her wife. Not according to her own evolving view of herself. As she begins to strip away the human affectations and inhibitions programmed into her new body, the chasm between the warm pains of flesh-and-blood life and the chilly comfort of the machine begins to deepen. Love, passion, reality, and memory war within Celia's body until she must decide whether to betray old friends or new ones in the choice between human and machine."

Monstrous Affections (2009) By David Nickle, Narrated By Robert Keiper for Iambik Audio -- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins -- Published in print/ebook by ChiZine in 2009: "Bleak, stark and creepy, Stoker-winner Nickle's first collection will delight the literary horror reader . . . 13 terrifying tales of rural settings, complex and reticent characters and unexpected twists that question the fundamentals of reality. All are delivered with a certain grace, creating a sparse yet poetic tour of the horrors that exist just out of sight . . . This ambitious collection firmly establishes Nickle as a writer to watch." (Publishers Weekly).

John Scalzi's The Human Division continues with Walk the Plank: The Human Division, Episode 2. Narrated of course by William Dufris, the episode comes in at a trim 39 mins this week, taking the format of a transcript of an interview with a seriously injured merchant marine deckhand who turns up in a remote and biologically hostile colony: "Wildcat colonies are illegal, unauthorized, and secret - so when an injured stranger shows up at the wildcat colony New Seattle, the colony leaders are understandably suspicious of who he is and what he represents. His story of how he’s come to their colony is shocking, surprising, and might have bigger consequences than anyone could have expected." Don't forget! Dave will be hosting part two of our Listen-a-Long of The Human Division on Friday! (Part one is here if you're looking to catch up.)

ALSO OUT THIS WEEK:

Posted in Release Week, Uncategorized | Tagged david nickle, iambik audio, jennifer pelland