Page 6 of posts by: Sam

Bookburners Listen-a-Long #1: Badge, Book, and Candle by Max Gladstone

Posted on 2015-09-16 at 16:41 by Sam

Bookburners is a just-launched episodic fiction project by new publisher Serial Box, the first of their season- and episode-based "shows" (for lack of a better term!) brought to us by all-star teams of writers in collaborative fashion. In Bookburners, "Magic is real, and hungry—trapped in ancient texts and artifacts, only a few who discover it survive to fight back. Detective Sal Brooks is a

Posted in The Bookburners Listen-a-Long | Tagged bookburners, max gladstone, serial box, xe sands

August WhispersyncDeal roundup: Ken Liu, Chuck Wendig, Joyce Carol Oates, Max Brooks, and more; read by Michael Kramer, Luke Daniels, Kate Rudd, Grover Gardner, Mary Robinette Kowal, and more!

Posted on 2015-08-27 at 17:33 by Sam

I keep getting later and later in the month with these... so this time, once more, with feeling, don't wait too long. The first two sections of deals all expire on August 31. Tick-tock.

First, a rough pass through the 156 Whispersync-enabled Monthly Deals for $3.99 or Less which, let me tell you, is a lot of titles. Here's what most caught my eye, and there are some really good ones:

The Grace of Kings (The Dandelion Dynasty) by Ken Liu, read by Michael Kramer for Simon & Schuster Audio for $1.99+$3

Posted in Whispersync Deals | Tagged arthur c clarke, chuck wendig, emily beresford, grover gardner, joyce carol oates, kate rudd, ken liu, luke daniels, mary robinette kowal, max brooks, michael crichton, michael kramer, Michael R Underwood

Downpour.com audiobook rental program review and offer

Posted on 2015-08-20 at 17:12 by Sam

I'd been meaning to check out Downpour.com's digital audiobook rental program for a while; there's a recent flurry of titles out that I really want to get to soon -- most recently Molly Tanzer's Vermillion and Aliette de Bodard's The House of Shattered Wings -- and there's only so much money in the audiobook slush fund for them. I've noticed the $5.95/$6.95 rental program for a while, but was never really quite that tempted. I like the idea of being able to go back and listen to a title again in a year or

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged downpour, simon vance

Locke Lamora meets Dostoevsky after the Apocalypse -- Review: Dancing with Bears

Posted on 2015-07-29 at 14:33 by Sam

It's a shame there are so few reviews of this 2012 audiobook of this 2011 novel, as this really was pretty fantastic. It's like: Scott Lynch's Locke Lamora meets Dostoevsky in the post-apocalypse. And as always Rudnicki is great; in this one he gets to show off a range of Russian accents, cyber wolves, giants, genetically engineered bear-men and Neanderthals, and a fascinating, hilarious pair of con artists in

Posted in reviews | Tagged michael-swanwick, stefan rudnicki

July #WhispersyncDeal roundup: Scott Meyer's Off to Be the Wizard, John Scalzi's The Human Division, V.E. Schwab's Vicious, Chuck Wendig's Blackbirds, Richard Ellis Preston, Jason Sheehan, and more

Posted on 2015-07-27 at 19:10 by Sam

When Amazon.com advertised "Kindle" deals in its Prime Day previews, I was admittedly excited. Maybe hundreds -- no, thousands, surely! -- of titles on discount? But, no, it was a few Kindle devices, not ebook titles. Alas. Still, that surely leaves not just me with a few extra bucks to spend on this month's #WhispersyncDeal listings, so here we go, starting with some choice picks from this month's 50 Kindle Books for $2 Each listings; and don't wait too long to take advantage as most of these deals only

Posted in Whispersync Deals | Tagged chuck wendig, jason sheehan, john scalzi, luke daniels, melinda snodgrass, richard ellis preston, scott meyer, wil wheaton, william dufris

June #WhispersyncDeal Roundup: James Bond, Max Gladstone, Pierre Grimbert, Mary Robinette Kowal, Arthur C. Clarke, Chuck Wendig, Richard Matheson, Cassandra Clare, and much more

Posted on 2015-06-21 at 03:26 by Sam

Well, June's over half over, so it's again past time to have the monthly #WhispersyncDeal roundup posted. I'm going to start with highlighting a few of the 13 James Bond titles that are on sale for $1.99+$3.99 this month, as the sale ends June 22. So, if you like 007, don't wait too long:

Casino Royale (James Bond - Extended Series Book 1) for $1.99+$3.99 by Ian Fleming (Author), Simon Vance (Narrator) -- "Introducing James Bond: charming, sophisticated, handsome, chillingly ruthless, and licensed to

Posted in Whispersync Deals | Tagged arthur c clarke, cassandra clare, chuck wendig, james bond, mary robinette kowal, max gladstone, pierre grimbert, richard matheson

Today's #WhispersyncDeal Roundup: Richard Phillips, Ben H. Winters, Water for Elephants, Amy Tan, and more

Posted on 2015-05-23 at 15:02 by Sam

Saturday, May 23: While the May #WhispersyncDeal roundup lists some ongoing deals (some of which expire tomorrow, some at the end of the month, and some which will just keep going as long as publishers keep offering these crazy upgrade prices) today brought a pile of one-day-only titles via the Gold Box Deal of the Day, including horror, YA fantasy, literary fiction, a 19th century ghost story, and more, starting with a pair of scifi titles from the "regular" daily deal list and moving right into those

Posted in Whispersync Deals | Tagged amy tan, ben h. winters, carrie anne noble, david devries, david ledoux, kate rudd, macleod andrews, megan chance, richard phillips, sara gruen, water for elephants

2015 Armchair Audies: Science Fiction

Posted on 2015-05-21 at 20:27 by Sam

I'm honored to be a guest judge this year for the The Armchair Audies, the audiobook blogosphere's annual "challenge" in conversation with the Audio Publishers Association Audies which will be awarded at the sold-out APA Audies Gala on May 28. This year I signed up for the Science Fiction category, if for no other reason than that I'd already listened to 3 of the 5 nominees, a 4th was very, very high on my wishlist, and the 5th came highly-recommended as well. (It didn't hurt that The Guilded Earlobe was

Posted in The Arrrdies | Tagged andy weir, armchair audies, audies, claire north, dark eden, john scalzi, lock in, rc bray, the martian, wil wheaton

May WhispersyncDeal roundup: The Paper Magician, The Second Ship, Neil Gaiman's Interworld, Neal Stephenson's The Mongoliad, and! a big look at 2015's new Whispersync-enabled releases from Podium, Brilliance, and more

Posted on 2015-05-12 at 21:15 by Sam

Another month, another Whispersync deal roundup. This one's a really good one, with sf, fantasy, YA, historical fiction, mystery, and! a deeper look at deals on new releases outside of the monthly Amazon sale listings. [Editor’s note: Since this series continues to draw some new readers/listeners who may be unfamiliar with Whispersync for Voice, in brief: after (or at the same time as) buying the Kindle edition you can add on the narration if an enabled Audible edition exists, often for a steep discount on

Posted in Whispersync Deals

Hugo Award nominees in audio, 2015 edition

Posted on 2015-04-16 at 19:34 by Sam

From an audiobooks standpoint, I don't have too much to say about this year's Hugo Awards controversy. However, I do want to cover the nominees in terms of what's available in audio, even though this listing is already out of date as nominees are disqualified (for prior publication, etc.) or withdrawn. Here goes, starting with the Best Novel nominees:

• Ancillary Sword, Ann Leckie (Orbit US/Orbit UK) -- read by Adjoa Andoh for Hachette Audio
• The Dark Between the Stars, Kevin J. Anderson (Tor Books

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged annie bellet, hugo awards, marko kloos