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Fantasy Literature reviews the recently released audiobook for Kage Baker's The House of the Stag
Posted on 2011-09-07 at 18:31 by Sam
Link: Fantasy Literature reviews the recently released audiobook for Kage Baker’s The House of the Stag
From the article: “Too little of Kage Baker’s work has been produced on audio, so when I saw that Audible Frontiers had recently released The House of the Stag, I snatched it up. It’s read by Sean Crisden, whose voices are perfect for Baker’s dry humor. He’s absolutely hilarious in the scene where the theater manager is explaining the stock characters of epics to Gard.
I didn’t need the plotline about the promised child, even though it eventually joined Gard’s story. Gard’s adventures were so fascinating that I was always disappointed when the POV switched, but these interludes didn’t last long, fortunately. It’s rare that I say this, but I was sad when The House of the Stag was finished. I wanted more and I felt again the loss of such a brilliant writer.”
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Audible.com classics sale -- ends September 13
Posted on 2011-09-06 at 18:00 by Sam
Link: Audible.com classics sale — ends September 13
There’s a 50% off sale covering 100 “classics” ending September 13 at 11 AM EST. It’s partitioned by author last name rather than curated into any kind of categories, so… good luck finding things!
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Audible.com release day: Two Marla Mason Novels by T.A. Pratt (and more)
Posted on 2011-09-06 at 17:23 by Sam
Link: Audible.com release day: Two Marla Mason Novels by T.A. Pratt (and more)
While The Tears of the Sun: A Novel of the Change (Emberverse Series, Book 8) by arrated by Star Wars: Heir to the Empire (20th Anniversary Edition): The Thrawn Trilogy, Book 1 by arrated by
The first four novels of his urban fantasy series are already in audio, having been released in February 2009, all arrated by : Blood Engines: A Marla Mason Novel, Poison Sleep: A Marla Mason Novel, Dead Reign: A Marla Mason Novel, and Spell Games: A Marla Mason Novel. Today sees the Audible.com release of the online serialized novel set in the same world Broken Mirrors: A Marla Mason Novel and the prequel novel Bone Shop: A Marla Mason Novel:
Also today are:
- Exiled: Clan of the Claw, Book One by arrated by
- Star Wars: Heir to the Empire: Behind the Scenes: An Expanded Universe Is Born by narrated by Free Excerpt: Star Wars: Heir to the Empire - Behind the Scenes
- The Astonishing Secret of Awesome Man by narrated by
- YA: Ashes: Ashes Trilogy, Book 1 by narrated by
And three more novels, brought to my attention for different reasons:
- Sanctus: A Novel by narrated by
- rated by
- y arrated by Masked edited by Lou Anders and looks to be an interesting take on a few mythological oddities:
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Time: Welcome to TIME on Tumblr
Posted on 2011-09-06 at 14:04 by Sam
Link: Time: Welcome to TIME on Tumblr
There’s something to be said for an 88-year-old with a Tumblr account.
Since 1923, TIME has reported the world’s history and somewhere along the way, we became a part of it. TIME co-founder Henry Luce once said, “I became a journalist to come as close as possible to the heart of the world.”…
Hey hey! TIME has a Tumblr page now.
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Currently listening to: The Passage by Justin Cronin
Posted on 2011-09-04 at 14:23 by Sam
Link: Currently listening to: The Passage by Justin Cronin
Having just finished listening to Sean Barrett’s excellent narration of Patrick Suskind’s disturbing and strange Perfume (not available at Audible.com US), I’m starting into The Passage by arrated by
This is one of course I saw at Audible.com last June (2010) when it was released, with some rotating banner ads, etc. You can’t get to everything, and this is one I skipped — just not that interested in vampires or zombies, really, and I was additionally still in a reactionary “I’m not going to read these forays into genre fiction from literary novelists” nonsense mood.
But I got over it, as more people to whom I turn for recommendations kept praising the novel. In his article “Altered Beast” (TIME magazine) Lev Grossman really pitches it well. The novel made TIME’s top 10 post-apocalyptic novel list and eventually made it onto TIME’s Top 10 fiction books of 2010 list. Though ignored by the Nebula and Hugo voters (herein I point toward my own “I will ignore forays into genre fiction from literary novelists” nonsense), it was nominated for a Black Quill Award. Just last week, Scott Brick recorded some thoughts about why The Passage was one of the best books he’d ever narrated. Anyway, the final straw was running into it on the audiobooks shelf of my local library. So: onward into vampiredom!
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Audible.com "First Friday" for September 2011 (and other recent bits and pieces)
Posted on 2011-09-02 at 15:36 by Sam
Link: Audible.com “First Friday” for September 2011 (and other recent bits and pieces)
Today’s “First Friday” releases include Up Against It by narrated by
The Kingless Land: The Band of Four Series, Book 1 by Nadia May, the new (well, to Audible, it is the 2001 Blackstone Audio production) edition is narrated by
As for me, I’ve recently finished listening to Gun, with Occasional Music by arrated by
Which I don’t intend to review at too much length, other than that while the story was interesting, it had been built up a bit too much perhaps for me as compared to the actuality of the book. And it seemed (again for me) that the narrator here was either a bit miscast or a bit misdirected. There are several tracks along which a noir can proceed, and the narration can emphasize these: campy, dark, classic, gritty, etc. Here the narrator was clear, and some of the characterizations were solid, but the mainline narration was in a voice which just did not suit the opportunity for a more darkly read near future dystopian read such as Lethem’s imagined world of evolved animals, make, inquisitors, etc.
And I am about half-way through Perfume by Patrick Suskind, narrated by Sean Barrett. It’s not available on Audible.com for US customers, and so it came to me via a friend who’d bought the Penguin Audio UK MP3-CD version with the promise that it was an amazing listen:
So far, that’s been very true indeed, giving me a great deal of confidence in checking out Barrett’s other narrations which are available (Kafka on the Shore in particular).
ALSO! I saw the audiobook on the shelves of a local bookstore earlier this week, and today HarperMedia’s tumblr blog gives us First Listen: Wildwood by Colin Meloy. I’ve heard (and keep hearing) very good things about this upper-middle grade book, and hope to find time to sneak it into my more adult reading before too much longer.
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Audiobook release day: Hellbent by Cherie Priest and The Measure of the Magic by Terry Brooks
Posted on 2011-08-30 at 13:57 by Sam
Link: Audiobook release day: Hellbent by Cherie Priest and The Measure of the Magic by Terry Brooks
Hellbent by narrated by Boneshaker (narrated wonderfully by Wil Wheaton and Kate Reading by the way) return to the world of Bloodshot and her vampire-thief Raylene Pendle (AKA Cheshire Red):
With The Measure of the Magic: Legends of Shannara, narrated by Bearers of the Black Staff.
Also out today is The Leftovers by arrated by Wildwood by arrated by
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The Guilded Earlobe reviews Lewis Shiner's Glimpses
Posted on 2011-08-30 at 13:46 by Sam
Link: The Guilded Earlobe reviews Lewis Shiner’s Glimpses
From the review: “Lewis’s tales of a time bending rock fan gives us an intimate look at rock legends as well as a realistic portrayal of a middle aged man whose faith in rock and roll to change the world is put to the ultimate challenge. … I was amazed by the amount of love and detail Shiner presented his rock and roll idols with. He humanizes rock legends like Brian Wilson and Jimi Hendricks in a way I have never seen before, giving them such depth of character that even someone like me, who admires their work but was never truly a fan, is easily pulled into the tale. … You can truly feel the passion for the material in narrator Stefan Rudnicki’s performance of Glimpses. Rudnicki’s iconic deep bass voice perfectly fits main character Ray Shackleford, yet where he truly excels is in his ability to give a full range of performances, including iconic rock stars, and complicated women.”
Back to me: Glimpsesby arrated by
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Just added at Audible.com: The Orange Eats Creeps by Grace Krilanovich!
Posted on 2011-08-29 at 15:35 by Sam
Link: Just added at Audible.com: The Orange Eats Creeps by Grace Krilanovich!
Wow! I’ve heard a lot of great things about this 2010 avant garde fantasy novel, and now, courtesy a Recorded Books production of an Angela Goethals narration, The Orange Eats Creeps by Grace Krilanovich has come to Audible.com:
Quoth the publisher’s description:
A MacDowell Colony fellow and a finalist for the Starcherone Prize, Grace Krilanovich was also nominated for a Pushcart Prize. During the 1990s in the Pacific Northwest, a hobo vampire gang on drugs causes horrific chaos everywhere they go—from trashing supermarket breakrooms to crashing senior center pancake breakfasts. Amidst the danger one girl, who benefits (and suffers) from drug-induced ESP, searches desperately for her foster sister.
Here’s the book cover, in case that rings any bells:
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Big Scary Blog: Meet Audio Book Narrator of the Pine Deep Trilogy, Tom Weiner
Posted on 2011-08-26 at 17:39 by Sam
Link: Big Scary Blog: Meet Audio Book Narrator of the Pine Deep Trilogy, Tom Weiner
A really nice interview over at Jonathan Maberry’s Big Scary Blog with narrator Tom Weiner. In it, some brief mention of some of Weiner’s favorite projects, including Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle and The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, Robert Heinlein’s The Cat Who Walks through Walls, Poul Anderson’s Harvest of Stars: The Harvest of Stars Series, Book 1, and Inferno by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.
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