Audiobook release day: Zone One by Colson Whitehead, Richard Kadrey's Aloha from Hell, and more

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Audiobook release day: Zone One by Colson Whitehead, Richard Kadrey's Aloha from Hell, and more

Posted on 2011-10-18 at 16:35 by Sam

On the heels of a brief mention in TIME magazine and a glowing review by Jeff VanderMeer for Barnes & Noble, Zone One: A Novel By Colson Whitehead is out from Random House Audio, concurrent with its release in hardcover from Doubleday:

Narrated by Beresford Bennett, Zone One is both a zombie novel and a wry satire and it’s been on my watch list for a good bit. (Again, hat tip to Jeff VanderMeer, the source of many books in my too-long “to read” list.) There’s been plenty of building attention to the novel, from an interview and excerpt in Harper’s Magazine (with another excerpt in Equire, another glowing review in The Guardian, and another interview in GQ) to being named Oprah’s Book Of The Week. Heck, it’s even Bookrageous’s first pick for its book club. (And the book is featured in The Atlantic’s recent explorative article on literary/genre boundaries, with yet another interview in The Atlantic besides.)

Also out is Aloha from Hell (a Sandman Slim novel) By Richard Kadrey, from Brilliance Audio and narrated by MacLeod Andrews continuing as the voice of Sandman Slim and Kill the Dead:

All three Sandman Slim books are part of Audible.com’s “Frighteningly Low Prices” sale which started today and continues through October 31, with Aloha from Hell coming in at $5.87 — there probably won’t be a better time to pick up the third installment.

Also member/sale priced at $5.87 are a pile of new Philip K. Dick audiobooks from Brilliance Audio:

More? There’s more. While these aren’t on my to-read list, another pair of big releases today in the fantasy and science fiction section:

  • The Infernals: A Novel By John Connolly Narrated by Tim Gerard Reynolds From Simon & Schuster Audio — “From New York Times best-selling author John Connolly, a wonderfully strange and brilliant novel about a boy, his dog, and their struggle to escape the wrath of demons.”
  • Dearly, Departed By Lia Habel Narrated by Kim Mai Guest From Random House Audio — “The year is 2195. The place is New Victoria - a high-tech nation modeled on the manners, mores, and fashions of an antique era. A teenager in high society, Nora Dearly is far more interested in military history and her country’s political unrest than in tea parties and debutante balls. But after her beloved parents die, Nora is left at the mercy of her domineering aunt, a social-climbing spendthrift who has squandered the family fortune and now plans to marry her niece off for money. For Nora, no fate could be more horrible -until she’s nearly kidnapped by an army of walking corpses.”

Along with two more categorized in fiction, though Palahniuk’s certainly straddles some fences:

  • Damned By Chuck Palahniuk Narrated byTai Sammons From Blackstone Audio, Inc. — “Are you there, Satan? It’s me, Madison,” declares the whip-tongued 13-year-old narrator of Damned, Chuck Palahniuk’s subversive new work of fiction. — 7.5 hours, $9.78
  • Non-genre: Double Dexter: A Novel written and narrated by Jeff Lindsay from Random House Audio — the fifth book in Lindsay’s popular series: “Dexter Morgan is not your average serial killer. He enjoys his day job as a blood spatter analyst for the Miami Police Department… but he lives for his nighttime hobby of hunting other killers. Dexter is therefore not pleased to discover that someone is shadowing him, observ­ing him, and copying his methods. Dexter is not one to tol­erate displeasure… in fact, he has a knack for extricating himself from trouble in his own pleasurable way.”

And there’s even a pair of YA releases today I want to mention:

  • Beautiful Chaos: Beautiful Creatures, Book 3 By Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl Narrated by Kevin T. Collins From Hachette Audio — “Ethan Wate thought he was getting used to the strange, impossible events happening in Gatlin, his small Southern town. But now that Ethan and Lena have returned home, strange and impossible have taken on new meanings. Swarms of locusts, record-breaking heat, and devastating storms ravage Gatlin as Ethan and Lena struggle to understand the impact of Lena’s Claiming. Even Lena’s family of powerful Supernaturals is affected - and their abilities begin to dangerously misfire. As time passes, one question becomes clear: What - or who - will need to be sacrificed to save Gatlin?”
  • The Scorpio Races By Maggie Stiefvater Narrated by Steve West and Fiona Hardingham From Scholastic Audio — from the author of Shiver, Linger, and Forever: ”With her trademark lyricism, Maggie Stiefvater turns to a new world, where a pair are swept up in a daring, dangerous race across a cliff—with more than just their lives at stake should they lose.”

Lastly, there’s also a 2 hour, $2.63 novella: Countdown: A Newsflesh Novella By Mira Grant Narrated by Brian Bascle — Grant’s Feed: The Newsflesh Trilogy, Book 1 picked up 20 years after the Rising, the 2014 event which defines Grant’s series — “Countdown” takes place in the event’s more immediate aftermath.

MISSING IN ACTION:

UPDATE: Some late additions to the crop of releases:

Posted in regular | Tagged audible, audiobooks, zone one