Page 25 of posts by: Sam

Release Week: Will McIntosh's Love Minus Eighty, Jon Steele's Angel City, Elizabeth Moon's Limits of Power, and Jason Sheehan's A Private Little War

Posted on 2013-06-12 at 15:38 by Sam

JUNE 5-11, 2013: After an absolutely over-packed release week last week, there's a bit of a calm before more big releases next week -- Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane and Max Barry's Lexicon for starters). Still, several audiobooks really catch my eye and ear this week, ranging from the latest standalone novel from Will McIntosh, to a follow-on to war journalist Jon Steele's The Watchers, to the latest novel in Elizabeth Moon's Paksennarion series, to a debut sf novel from food editor Jason

Posted in Release Week | Tagged elizabeth-moon, jason sheehan, jon steele, will mcintosh

Received: May 2013

Posted on 2013-06-07 at 18:49 by Sam

Another quiet month in the received column, as for the most part I still have a good backlog in the to-listen and to-review piles already. Still, there were a few things we couldn't resist asking for:

1. HACHETTE AUDIO: The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks; and Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan (Dave's current listen as of this posting):

2. HARPER AUDIO: The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker, read by George Guidall -- this one was wonderful, a magical delight of a book and audiobook:

3

Posted in received

Release Week: The Shining Girls, Liminal States, Shattered Pillars, Siege and Storm, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, The Wall, The Constantine Affliction, Clockwork Fairy Tales, Bullettime, The Choir Boats, and more

Posted on 2013-06-06 at 05:06 by Sam

MAY 29-JUNE 4, 2013: I really, really should have posted a "Release Midweek" this weekend, as I hardly know where to start in recapping this first release week in June. Do  I highlight the baker's dozen of Audible productions of ChiZine titles from last Wednesday, highlighted for me by Nick Mamatas' Bullettime and Daniel Rabuzzi's The Choir Boats? Do I focus instead on the concurrent new releases, and if so do I go with adult novels, young adult, anthologies, or maybe even a non-genre pick? Or do I

Posted in Release Week

The Shambling Guide to New York City Listen-a-Long: Chapter 5

Posted on 2013-06-04 at 02:46 by Sam

Welcome to the latest installment of The Shambling Guide to New York City Listen-a-Long, covering Chapter 5 of Mur Lafferty’s The Shambling Guide to New York City. As always, before I get into the write-up, a warning, that I’ll repeat each episode, that the discussion here is oh-so-spoilerific, so if that’s a concern, pop over and take the less-than-half-an-hour each to listen to the podcast episodes first. On to…

In

Posted in The Shambling Guide to NYC Listen-a-Long | Tagged mur lafferty

And the Audie goes to...

Posted on 2013-05-31 at 15:32 by Sam

The 2013 Audie Awards have been announced, including Ellen Kushner's Swordspoint (for best Audio Drama), Karen Thompson Walker's The Age of Miracles (for best Science Fiction), the new Audible production of Claire Danes' narration of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale (for best Fiction), the Neil Gaiman Presents production of Keith Roberts' Anita (for best Fantasy), and many more.

Congratulations to all the winners and nominees!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged audies, ellen kushner, neil gaiman presents, swordspoint

Release Week: Mur Lafferty's The Shambling Guide to New York City, Chuck Wendig's The Blue Blazes, Emma Newman's Any Other Name, and Hugh Howey's Shift

Posted on 2013-05-29 at 18:33 by Sam

MAY 22-28, 2013: It's a mammoth release week to (more or less) close May, ahead of a gigantic release day Wednesday (today) which I'll cover both in a post of its own and of course in a bit lesser detail in the next release week roundup. It's also a particularly big release week for self-published (a.k.a. "indie") titles again, and while Angry Robot on Brilliance Audio snags two of my picks of the week, my top pick is probably no surprise to anyone at this point. In the "seen but not heard" listings it's

Posted in Release Week | Tagged chuck wendig, emma newman, hugh howey, mur lafferty

The Shambling Guide to New York City Listen-a-Long: Chapters 3 and 4 (and release day coverage!)

Posted on 2013-05-29 at 02:25 by Sam

Welcome to the third installment of The Shambling Guide to New York City Listen-a-Long, covering both Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 of Mur Lafferty’s The Shambling Guide to New York City. As usual, first up a recap of some recent news about the book, starting with last Monday's Orbit Books interview with the author: Mur Lafferty on THE SHAMBLING GUIDE TO NEW YORK CITY. But the big news is, of course, as Mur writes on her own blog, that The Shambling Guide to New York City is Out!

The big release-day coverage

Posted in The Shambling Guide to NYC Listen-a-Long | Tagged mur lafferty

Revisiting the regional digital divide, again

Posted on 2013-05-23 at 02:29 by Sam

It's been a year since I last turned too much attention to the regional digital divide, and it's high time to give the bee's nest another poke.

There's still! no sign of a US release for China Mieville's Un Lun Dun, The Scar, or Iron Council, and... well, on and on. We did get, from Tantor Audio, Ben Aaronovitch's Peter Grant series, narrated wonderfully by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith as in the UK edition.

And we also got one of the pair of the Iain M. Banks audiobooks I'd bemoaned lack of access to last

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ben aaronovitch, china mieville, elspeth cooper, hugh howey, stella gemmell

Release Week: Will Self's Umbrella, Mark T. Barnes' The Garden of Stones, Dan Krokos' The Planet Thieves, and a free Neil Gaiman short

Posted on 2013-05-22 at 14:25 by Sam

May 15-21, 2013: A bit of a lull after last week's haul, but certainly none the lesser in top-level impact as a long, long hoped-for literary fiction title is here this week in the form of Will Self's Booker-shortlisted Umbrella. But don't worry, sf/f fans, whether "sf" or "f" strikes your fancy there are a few audiobooks to check out this week as well, of course. There's also a particularly strong crop of "indie" releases (see a selection of those in the "also out this week" listings) as well as a few more

Posted in Release Week | Tagged dan krokos, neil gaiman, will self

The Shambling Guide to New York City Listen-a-Long: Chapter 2

Posted on 2013-05-16 at 20:58 by Sam

Welcome to the second installment of The Shambling Guide to New York City Listen-a-Long, covering Chapter 2 of Mur Lafferty's The Shambling Guide to New York City. First, there's now a book trailer up, she'll be appearing on a live chat event via Shindig.com next week, and great reviews keep popping up all over the place -- like this starred review from Booklist. Before I get into the write-up: a warning, that I'll repeat each episode, that the discussion here is oh-so-spoilerific, so if that's a concern

Posted in The Shambling Guide to NYC Listen-a-Long | Tagged mur lafferty