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The Guilded Earlobe reviews Arwen Elys Dayton's Resurrection

Posted on 2012-01-23 at 15:09 by Sam

Link: The Guilded Earlobe reviews Arwen Elys Dayton’s Resurrection

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Review: The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson

Posted on 2012-01-21 at 01:58 by Sam

What: Mistborn: The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson, narrated by Michael Kramer for Macmillan Audio on 9 CDs, with bonus PDF of The Elendel Daily


How: Review copy requested from Macmillan Audio after seeing it as a loose-leaf late insert in their catalog.

Why: I’ve heard a lot of praise for Sanderson’s Mistborn novels and really enjoyed hearing him read from (and talk about) The Way of Kings in person in the fall of 2010, where I got a chance to talk to him a little and turned the event into an article in Bull Spec #3. I missed the 1-credit introductory price for The Way of Kings (asleep at the switch, alas) but eventually listened to Elantris and really found the magic system compelling. I’ve also enjoyed the episodes of his Writing Excuses podcast, and following his forays into fantasy literature conversations on reddit, where he comments as mistborn. (And where he’s just spent time answering questions about The Alloy of Law for the Fantasy Bookclub.) I haven’t actually read his Wheel of Time novels yet, either. I was starting to get curious about The Alloy of Law and asked Sanderson if the previous trilogy was required reading. When he said no, and the title showed up in Macmillan’s catalog, I decided to go ahead and see if he was right. (He was, but more about that later.)

The Story:

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The Guilded Earlobe continues its "Welcome to the Apocalypse" series with "Top 5 Post Apocalyptic Novels: Plants That Kill"

Posted on 2012-01-20 at 15:41 by Sam

Link: The Guilded Earlobe continues its “Welcome to the Apocalypse” series with “Top 5 Post Apocalyptic Novels: Plants That Kill”

Triffids make an appearance, but my money’s on kudzu.

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Release Week Wednesday: The Flame Alphabet, Shadows in Flight, and The Coldest War

Posted on 2012-01-18 at 19:00 by Sam

For this release week (Tuesday, Jan 17) my top audiobook picks are The Flame Alphabet by Ben Marcus and Shadows in Flight by Orson Scott Card, along with The Coldest War by Ian Tregillis.

The Flame Alphabet by Ben Marcus is out from Recorded Books (Knopf, Jan 17, 2012) — a story of a world where the voices of children become lethal to their parents, and a boy who sets out in search of a cure. I’m not that impressed by the audiobook cover:

So here is the book cover as well:

On Audible: The Flame Alphabet By Ben Marcus is narrated by Andy Paris for Recorded Books.

Also out this week is Shadows in Flight by Orson Scott Card (Macmillan Audio, Tor Books, 17 Jan 2012) — Volume 5 in The Shadow Series which follows Bean after the events of Ender’s Game, beginning with Ender’s Shadow:

On Audible: Shadows in Flight By Orson Scott Card is narrated by Stefan Rudnicki, Emily Janice Card, Scott Brick, and Kirby Heyborne (with I’m guessing our usual afterword from Orson Scott Card) and comes in a little under 6 and a half hours: “At the end of Shadow of the Giant, Bean flees to the stars with three of his children - the three who share the engineered genes that gave him both hyper-intelligence and a short, cruel physical life. The time dilation granted by the speed of their travel gives Earth’s scientists generations to seek a cure, to no avail. In time, they are forgotten - a fading ansible signal speaking of events lost to Earth’s history. But the Delphikis are about to make a discovery that will let them save themselves, and perhaps all of humanity in days to come. For there in space before them lies a derelict Formic colony ship. Aboard it, they will find both death and wonders - the life support that is failing on their own ship, room to grow, and labs in which to explore their own genetic anomaly and the mysterious disease that killed the ship’s colony.” The audio excerpt at Audible is from Rudnicki, who provides the bulk of the narration.

The third title I’d like to feature this week is an unexpected one, The Coldest War By Ian Tregillis Narrated by Kevin Pariseau for Audible Frontiers:

Second in Tregillis’s Milkweed Triptych after 2010’s Bitter Seeds, here: “Someone is killing Britain’s warlocks.” This one is a surprise for me, as I wasn’t expecting the audiobook until the July 17 hardcover release from Tor.

ALSO OUT TUESDAY:

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Posted in regular, Release Week | Tagged release week

Untitled

Posted on 2012-01-18 at 18:53 by Sam

Received: Shadows in Flight by Orson Scott Card, read by Stefan Rudnicki, Scott Brick, and a full cast for Macmillan Audio. Out January 17.

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Audible 48-Hour Sale: 100+ titles at $7.95 each (ends Jan 19 at noon EST)

Posted on 2012-01-17 at 21:22 by Sam

UPDATE: The sale has been extended to Jan 21 at 3 PM EST.

Audible has unveiled a new 48-Hour Sale. As often happens, it’s not sorted in any way, not even fiction vs. non-fiction. So here’s my scan for interesting things, including the recent full-cast American Gods and both The Magicians and the sequel The Magician King:

FICTION:

YOUNG ADULT:

NON-FICTION:

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Audio Bibiliophile reviews The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor by Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga

Posted on 2012-01-17 at 20:08 by Sam

Link: Audio Bibiliophile reviews The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor by Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga

“Now I seem to be a sucker for a good zombie book, and I like to think that I know good ones from bad. The Walking Dead: Rise of The Governor is a good one, I mean great one, possibly one of the best zombie stories I have ever listened to. Pure, unadulterated, original, breathtaking and enough surprises to keep you guessing.”

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Neil Gaiman: ACX - if you're a writer, an actor, a producer

Posted on 2012-01-17 at 18:50 by Sam

Link: Neil Gaiman: ACX - if you’re a writer, an actor, a producer

neil-gaiman:

I thought I’d remind those of you on Tumblr who are writers, producers or actors (and that smaller group of you who are “rights holders”) that ACX - Audiobook Creation Exchange - is a wonderful thing, and it works.

Here’s the press-release type anouncement we did when it went live: …

And there’s some ACX-matched audiobooks coming this year I’m looking forward to, starting with Alan Baxter’s MageSign and RealmShift.

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Review: The Stress of Her Regard by Tim Powers, read by Simon Vance

Posted on 2012-01-17 at 14:00 by Sam

I’m pleased to welcome a new regular contributor to the Audible SF/F blog: Dave Thompson. While we have plans (a podcast? two-contributor reviews?) he’s starting out with a review of The Stress of Her Regard by Tim Powers, read by Simon Vance for Blackstone Audio. Out in April of 2011, the novel was originally published in print in 1989 by Ace Hardcover. A new book, Hide Me Among the Graves: A Novel is due out in March from William Morrow.

Review by Dave Thompson

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Posted in regular | Tagged blackstone audio, dave thompson, review, simon vance, the stress of her regard, tim powers

Interview Monday: narrator Robertson Dean on William Gibson's Distrust That Particular Flavor

Posted on 2012-01-16 at 14:00 by Sam

Dear readers of Audible SF/F, you are in for a treat. Today’s installment of Interview Monday is a conversation with narrator (and stage, film, and TV actor) Robertson Dean.

Dean has narrated nearly 200 titles, from Beowulf to all manner of current fiction and non-fiction, and has become for all intents and purposes the voice of William Gibson in audio, having narrated 2007’s Spook Country, 2010’s Zero History, a 2011 unabridged production of Neuromancer, and the just-released essay collection Distrust That Particular Flavor. He is perfectly cast for Gibson’s books, particularly his characterization of Milgrim in Spook Country and Zero History, and I was very happy to interview him via e-mail after a brief phone conversation.

Q: First off: Hooray for more William Gibson! Before narrating his books, had you read much of his work?

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