Audible SF/F

What's in a name? A farewell to "The Audible SF/F Blog"

Sat, 13 Oct 2012 20:51:00 -0400

When I started “The Audible SF/F Blog” in June 2011, I was hoping that the double meaning of “audible”, that is both the well-known audiobook company and the state of being, er, audible, which is so very characteristic of audiobooks, wouldn’t create TOO much confusion. While the first words of the site description are “completely unaffiliated”, when people look only at the short name, whether on Twitter @AudibleSFF or Facebook, or wherever, it’s pretty obvious that it wasn’t a good idea.

So: a new name! I’ve been toying around with a few possibilities for the better part of a year, but it’s been actually fairly hard to find something that is available on both Facebook and Twitter, and also isn’t someone’s well-established pseudonym out there. And which both I and Dave (Thompson) both like.

But late last week, Dave sent me: “The AudioBookaneers”. Yes. That’s it. That’s the name we’ve been waiting on: Dave and I are now The AudioBookaneers, sailing the seven seas of audiobooks in search of treasure and monsters.

Along with the name change (Twitter and Facebook, done) it was also a good time to make one more move, to a blog set up for multiple contributors. Tumblr does have a few things in that area, but only for “secondary” blogs, not for this “primary” one, and there wasn’t any way to move this one to being a secondary one. So the new site is on Wordpress, which also hosts Bull Spec, and so I’ll only have to remember how to use one blogging platform, at least for a little while.

So, this is pretty much the last bit of new blog-like content here on the now “old” Tumblr site of “The Audible SF/F Blog”. I’ll post a few reminders through early next year that “hey, we moved!” but, for now: Hey, we moved! I hope you’ll come follow along on our continuing audiobook adventures, and: stay tuned pretty soon for info on something we’re calling “The Arrrrrrrrrrrdies”, our version of year-end audiobook awards for our listening year. (Some of those “rrr”s may be redacted. Or not…)

-Sam and Dave, The AudioBookaneers

Received: I finally put in some fall requests a couple weeks...

Sat, 13 Oct 2012 20:10:24 -0400

Received: I finally put in some fall requests a couple weeks ago, and Brilliance Audio took me pretty seriously to the tune of 5 titles. Clockwork Angels by Kevin J. Anderson, read by Neil Peart; The Mongoliad Book 2 by Neal Stephenson et al, read by Luke Daniels; The White Forest by Adam McOmber; Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson, read by Ralph Lister; and Night Watch.

All Hallow's Listen Part 1: Dave Thompson reviews The Halloween Tree by Rad Bradbury

Fri, 12 Oct 2012 09:55:39 -0400

[Editor’s note: “All Hallow’s Listen” will be a 3-part series this October, featuring Dave Thompson’s reviews on Halloween-suitable audiobooks. Stay tuned each Friday!]

The Halloween Tree By Ray Bradbury
Narrated by Bronson Pinchot for Blackstone Audio
Length: 3 hrs and 11 mins
Release Date: 07-25-11

Review by Dave Thompson: All Hallow’s Listen #1: An October Essential

If you’re looking for a fun story to listen to this Halloween, look no further. Bradbury’s The Halloween Tree is about as essential to October as Linus and the Great Pumpkin. After listening to it, I’m kind of surprised there isn’t a stop motion film from Henry Selick in the works yet. [MORE]

One fateful Halloween night, a group of boys are taken on a journey by a mysterious prankster named Moundshroud in order to save their friend Pipkin’s life. They travel across the world and through history, exploring the origins and influences of Halloween from ancient Egypt to Celtic Druids, and the Day of the Dead. It’s both breezy and spooky, like you’re taking a train ride through Halloween country, and Bradbury is the conductor and tour guide, and it’s near impossible not to be infected with his joy for the holiday.

Pinchot’s narration is an excellent match for Bradbury’s lush prose, sometimes all boyish excitement, and other times completely haunting. There are times when he whispers, and if you’re in a noisy environment, it would be inaudible. But if you’re in a quiet, and hopefully dark place, listening by the light of Jack O’ Lanterns, it’ll send shivers up your spine

This is one of Bradbury’s October masterpieces, not quite as terrifying or as well-plotted as Something Wicked This Way Comes, but still an incomparable listening experience. If you’re looking for a short book with as much emphasis on fun as on spooky, The Halloween Tree is about as perfect of a Halloween listen you could hope for.

——

Dave Thompson is the host and co-editor of PodCastle, the fantasy fiction audio magazine, and the narrator of Tim Pratt’s Briarpatch. His own fiction has been published by Bull Spec and Apex Magazine, among others. You can follow him on Twitter @krylyr.

First thoughts on Downpour: DRM-free and beta-testing

Thu, 11 Oct 2012 06:32:00 -0400

Downpour is a new multi-publisher DRM-free digital audiobook (and physical audiobook) website and iOS app launched by Blackstone Audio, with titles from Recorded Books, Hachette Audio, and more. The site is a bit slow at times (note: it is still in Beta) but it is certainly usable, though a link here and there is wonky (when browsing Science Fiction titles, which are by default and always by default sorted by title, try clicking to sort by release date and you’ll instead get the page for Captain’s Blood by William Shatner). Overall it is set up quite a lot like Audible.com, with a-la-carte purchases of digital downloads and monthly “credit” based plans, and the addition of physical audiobook listings.

The iOS app misses some of the higher-end functionality (swipe control mode, listening badges) and some miscellaneous features (bookmarks, annotations, etc.) but for what I need it to do (download, play, and delete, and on rare occasions listen at 1.5x speed) it just works. Playback continues in background mode (when I am multi-tasking or with the screen off or locked — and the Downpour app does set the lock screen to the book cover, which I like) and responds to most handset controls (play/pause, forward double-click, and back triple-click) but not to fast-forward (hold on second click) or fast-reverse (hold on third click) for seeking through the audiobook. I very rarely use any of these missing features, and so I’ve started using the app (and site) for a growing share of my audiobook purchasing and listening. I’d only recently started using Audible’s “bookmark” feature to mark the position I start listening to before falling asleep, to help assist in “now where did I leave off…” playback position recovery in the morning, so that might be another one I’d look at — fast-forward and fast-reverse are also mainly ones I use for “now where did I leave off…” questions. I do find myself missing the “go back 30 seconds” feature from the Audible app, though, so that might be one for the Downpour engineers to poke on. Update: There is both a “go back 30 seconds” and “go forward 30 seconds” gesture, see the Disqus comments below.

The app remembers playback position across sessions — closing the app and re-opening it, my listening position is restored. It also remembers playback positions across multiple audiobooks. (Without these two features, and the background mode and handset controls mentioned above, I wouldn’t be using it.) Unlike the built-in iOS music player, but like the Audible app, the Downpour app does not resume playback automatically after a phone call ends. One small issue is that after closing the app, re-launching it returns me to the bookshelf rather than the last played book automatically. Another nitpick in checking out the Downpour app’s feature set was that on-screen display settings (whether to show the position slider and speed control) were not saved across sessions. (Another is that selecting a different audiobook from the Downpour app library stops playback of the currently playing audiobook, but doesn’t automatically start playback of the newly selected audiobook, though I haven’t decided whether I like this latter “feature” or not.)

App wishlist, first thoughts: First, see the “go back 30 seconds” feature above. Second, though this is a bit random, I would very much like to use this app to play my own library of MP3-CD audiobooks, transferred to my phone. (The iOS music player’s lack of remembering playback position in a playlist or album makes MP3-CD playlist listening so frustrating that using Chapter and Verse to build an M4B is right on the edge of worth the effort.) I’m not sure yet about downloading the entire audiobook in one part — for longer audiobooks, being able to download one 8-hour part at a time (as Audible breaks audiobooks “into parts to make the download faster”, don’t ya know) makes space management on my phone (always full of pictures) more, er, manageable. But then frustrating when I’m ready for the next part and no-where near a WiFi connection. So, maybe that’s six of one and a half-dozen of the other.

Anyway. Why am I, a 11.5-year Audible customer shopping around for apps? I took a look at Tantor’s app late last year or early this year, but it wasn’t nearly ready for prime time. (I haven’t checked it out since, and it appears to have been discontinued.) The main reason is that the audiobooks I buy from Downpour are DRM-free, and there was an app to try out, and after using it a bit, I found that it worked well enough to use. (Simply Audiobooks and others have DRM-free audiobooks, but no apps. It looks like there’s a very recent thread about someone building an app for eMusic, but nothing concrete to check out yet.)

The main drawback is that while Downpour doesn’t appear to have any titles which Audible doesn’t have, it doesn’t have many titles which Audible does have — including the long list of excellent titles from Audible Frontiers and Audible Inc. and Neil Gaiman Presents and Brilliance Audio and other Amazon-owned imprints, which it seems unlikely will ever be available at Downpour. But, while I’ll still be using Audible for titles I can’t get elsewhere, I’m making the switch now for the purchases where I can get a DRM-free audiobook. Now to wait for book 2 of Michael J. Sullivan’s Riyria Revelations to show up (books 1 and 3 are available) along with Max Gladstone’s Three Parts Deada, nd Larry Niven and Brenda Cooper’s Building Harlequin’s Moon…and hey, since this is DRM-free, where is my Cory Doctorow library?

Further notes: A random wishlist for the future of Downpour:

more royalties to audiobook creators than the Audible/ACX default 25% — I have no idea on the current terms or how to publish on Downpour, which leads to:
an ACX-style audiobook creation exchange and publishing portal which lets creators keep more of their rights and more of their sales
affiliate relationships with the IndieBound bookstores, similar to the Kobo ebook net revenue split, and while I’m at it:
finish up that in-progress Android app, so Downpour will work on the Kobo tablet among other devices
bring on more publishers, like Iambik, Crossroad Press, Buzzy Multimedia, Tantor, Dreamscape, AudioGO, …
maybe: integrate with Goodreads to display reviews, add “to read”, etc. (It appears Downpour does allow reviews by visitors who have not purchased the audiobook they are reviewing, but there are scant reviews and ratings so far.)
a coming soon section where I can add the titles to my wishlist and be notified when they are published
let me add authors to a list and be notified when new audiobooks are published

While I’m all “pie in the sky” dreaming:

split Blackstone and Downpour — vertical towers are bad
even more pie in the sky than that: split Downpour.com and the app — or at minimum open source the Android app, or manage some kind of community source project (goal: allow me to point the app at my Tantor library)
provide a lightweight mobile website for browsing, adding to wishlist, etc.
maybe: enter the libraries market to provide some competition for Overdrive
not a problem now, while I only have a few titles, but when/if I get to hundreds I will need better library management both online and in the app
integrate with Kobo for a “Whisperlink for Voice” and “Immersion Reading” experience (probably there are patents in the way for that)

Release Week: Tad Williams, Steven Erikson, Iain M. Banks, and The Lord of the Rings

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 11:07:00 -0400

What the second release week in October lacks in the staggering numbers department, it makes up for with three absolutely stellar titles: urban fantasy from Tad Williams, the latest Iain M. Banks “Culture” novel, and the long-awaited first audio installment of Steven Erikson’s Malazan Book of the Fallen epic fantasy series. And! The long-awaited digital audio release of the Rob Inglis narrations of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

I’ve bemoaned the US audiobook absence of The Dirty Streets of Heaven: Bobby Dollar, Book 1 By Tad Williams for quite a few release weeks now, but this week brings a Penguin Audio production of George Newbern’s narration: “You’ve never met an angel like Bobby Dollar. … Brace yourself - the afterlife is weirder than you ever believed.”

Last Wednesday saw the the long-awaited first audiobook in The Malazan Book of the Fallen epic fantasy series: Gardens of the Moon: The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Book 1 By Steven Erikson, Narrated by Ralph Lister for Brilliance Audio. Is it post-modern epic fantasy? Post-structural epic fantasy? That’s a debate for brighter minds than mine, but this 1999 novel heralded a many-layered tapestry of characters and storylines: “The Malazan Empire simmers with discontent, bled dry by interminable warfare, bitter infighting, and bloody confrontations with ancient and implacable sorcerers. Even the imperial legions, long inured to the bloodshed, yearn for some respite. Yet Empress Laseen’s rule remains absolute, enforced by her dreaded Claw assassins. For Sergeant Whiskeyjack and his squad of Bridgeburners, and for Tattersail, their lone surviving mage, the aftermath of the siege of Pale should have been a time to mourn the many dead. But Darujhistan, last of the Free Cities, yet holds out. It is to this ancient citadel that Laseen turns her predatory gaze.”

The Hydrogen Sonata By Iain M. Banks, Narrated by Peter Kenny for Hachette Audio, continues the “Culture” series: “The Scavenger species are circling. It is, truly, provably, the End Days for the Gzilt civilization. An ancient people, organized on military principles and yet almost perversely peaceful, the Gzilt helped set up the Culture 10,000 years earlier and were very nearly one of its founding societies, deciding not to join only at the last moment. Now they’ve made the collective decision to follow the well-trodden path of millions of other civilizations; they are going to Sublime, elevating themselves to a new and almost infinitely more rich and complex existence.”

Lastly, the 1999-91 Rob Inglis narrations for Recorded Books of J. R. R. Tolkien’s beloved The Lord of the Rings series are finally in digital audio download. I still have — and enjoy re-listening to — Martin Shaw’s narration of The Hobbit, but have heard quite a few compliments on the Inglis recordings which are all — all of them — quickly establishing themselves at the top of the Audible bestseller charts.

ALSO OUT TUESDAY:

Three Parts Dead By Max Gladstone, Narrated by Claudia Alick for Blackstone Audio — Length: 13 hrs and 7 mins — “A god has died, and it’s up to Tara, a first-year associate in the international necromantic firm of Kelethras, Albrecht, and Ao, to bring him back to life before his city falls apart.” — This one just missed a more full-length inclusion above the fold and is a title I’m very interested in.
Collection: Into the Woods: Tales from the Hollows and Beyond By Kim Harrison, Narrated by Marguerite Gavin for Harper Audio — Length: 20 hrs and 6 mins
Fiction: We Are What We Pretend to Be: The First and Last Works By Kurt Vonnegut, Narrated by Colin Hanks, Oliver Wyman, and Suzanne Toren — Vonnegut’s first (a novella) and last (an unfinished novel) works
Eye of the Comet: Watchstar Trilogy, Book 2 By Pamela Sargent, Narrated by Angele Masters for Audible Frontiers — Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
Berserker Kill: Berserker, Book 12 By Fred Saberhagen, Narrated by Paul Michael Garcia for Blackstone Audio — Length: 17 hrs and 5 mins
Beowulf’s Children By Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Steven Barnes, Narrated by Tom Weiner for Blackstone Audio — Length: 16 hrs and 48 mins
Rebellion: The Tainted Realm Trilogy, Book 2 By Ian Irvine, Narrated by Grant Cartwright for Bolinda Audio — Length: 23 hrs and 6 mins — sequel to Vengeance: The Tainted Realm Trilogy, Book 1
Tea with the Black Dragon: Black Dragon, Book 1 By R. A. MacAvoy, Narrated by Megan Hayes for Audible Frontiers — Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins
Teen: Mystic City By Theo Lawrence, Narrated by Celeste Ciulla for Recorded Books — Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
Fiction: Jepp, Who Defied the Stars By Katherine Marsh, Narrated by Paul Michael Garcia for Blackstone Audio Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins — historical fiction which follows a court dwarf in the Spanish Netherlands and Denmark of the late 16th century

ALREADY OUT WEDNESDAY:

Anthology: V Wars: A Chronicle of the Vampire Wars By Jonathan Mayberry, Nancy Holder, John Everson, Yvonne Navarro, Scott Nicholson, James A. Moore, Keith R. A. DeCandido, and Gregory Frost, Narrated by Cassandra Campbell, Gabrielle de Cuir, Roxanne Hernadez, Arte Johnson, Lisa Reneé Pitts, John Rubinstein, Stefan Rudnicki, and Wil Wheaton for Blackstone Audio— Length: 18 hrs and 33 mins

EARLIER THIS WEEK:

Strings By Dave Duncan, Narrated by Victor Bevine for Audible Frontiers — Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins — also
The Cursed By Dave Duncan, Narrated by Peter Berkrot — Length: 17 hrs and 51 mins
Death Has Come Up into Our Windows: The Zombie Bible, Book 1 By Stant Litore, Narrated by Benjamin L. Darcie for Brilliance Audio — along with What Our Eyes Have Witnessed: The Zombie Bible, Book 2 — I have heard really good things about this series (Jeff VanderMeer in particular) and though I’m not usually that interested in a zombie book, what I’ve heard has me a bit on notice and a bit curious
The Tainted City: The Shattered Sigil, Book 2 By Courtney Schafer, Narrated by Andy Caploe for Audible Frontiers — Series: The Shattered Sigil, Book 2 — Length: 22 hrs and 52 mins — sequel to The Whitefire Crossing
A Darkness upon the Ice By William R. Forstchen, Narrated by Elijah Alexander for Blackstone Audio — Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
Incursion: The O.C.L.T. Series, Book 4 By Aaron Rosenberg, Narrated by Fred Kennedy for Crossroad Press — Series: O.C.L.T., Book 4 — Length: 7 hrs and 24 mins
Teen: Monument 14 By Emmy Laybourne, Narrated by Todd Haberkorn for Brilliance Audio — Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins
Short: In the Tall Grass By Stephen King and Joe Hill, Narrated by Stephen Lang — Length: 1 hr and 46 mins

SEEN BUT NOT HEARD:

The Indigo Pheasant (Longing for Yount Volume 2) by Daniel A. Rabuzzi (ChiZine, Oct 9) — follow-up to 2009’s The Choir Boats — “London 1817. Maggie Collins, born into slavery in Maryland, whose mathematical genius and strength of mind can match those of a goddess, must build the world’s most powerful and sophisticated machine - to free the lost land of Yount from the fallen angel Strix Tender Wurm.”
Anthology: After (Nineteen Stories of Apocalypse and Dystopia) by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling (Hyperion, Oct 9, 2012)
The Hive by Charles Burns (Pantheon, Oct 9)
Teen: The Bridge by Jane Higgins (Tundra, Oct 9) — “This grim first novel, set on a not-so-distant future Earth in a war-torn, divided city that could be Sarajevo, London, or just about any other metropolis, packs a significant emotional wallop.” (Publishers Weekly)
Teen: Iron Hearted Violet by Kelly Barnhill (Little, Brown, Oct 9) — “a plain princess finds a forbidden book that leads her to the last dragon in existence” (Locus)
Teen: The Assassin’s Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke (Angry Robot/Strange Chemistry, Oct 4) — “a young woman flees an arranged marriage to become a pirate on her own.” (Locus)
Janus by John Park (ChiZine, Oct 9) — “a man arrives on the colony world of Janus, where he discovers that, like many of the colonists, he has lost his memory of his life on Earth” (Locus)

LATER THIS WEEK:

Non-Fiction: Angela Carter: New Critical Readings by Sonya Andermahr and Lawrence Phillips (Oct 11, 2012) — no audio news

NEXT WEEK (Oct 16):

Only Superhuman by Christopher L. Bennett (Tor, Oct 16) — “2107 AD: A generation ago, Earth and the cislunar colonies banned genetic and cybernetic modifications. But out in the Asteroid Belt, anything goes. Dozens of flourishing space habitats are spawning exotic new societies and strange new varieties of humans. It’s a volatile situation that threatens the peace and stability of the entire solar system.”
The Twelve (The Passage, #2) by Justin Cronin (Ballantine, Oct 16) — sequel to The Twelve — coming to audio from Random House Audio
Bowl of Heaven by Gregory Benford and Larry Niven (Tor, Oct 16, 2012)
Father Gaetano’s Puppet Catechism by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden (St. Martin’s Press and Brilliance Audio, Oct 16)
The Walking Dead: The Road to Woodbury — The Walking Dead Series (#2 of 3) by Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga, Read by Fred Berman (Macmillan Audio, Oct 16)
The Fifty Year Sword by Mark Z. Danielewski (Pantheon, Oct 16, 2012) — originally released only in the Netherlands as a very, very limited edition, coming to the US in a new edition — no audio news
Fevre Dream by George R. R. Martin, read by Ron Donachie (Harper Audio, Oct 16) — Martin’s 1982 vampire novel set on the Mississippi River in 1857 — also coming are additional GRRM novels Dying of the Light and Windhaven

TWO WEEKS (Oct 23):

Red Country by Joe Abercrombie (Orbit, Oct 23) — “Shy South hoped to bury her bloody past and ride away smiling, but she’ll have to sharpen up some bad old ways to get her family back, and she’s not a woman to flinch from what needs doing. She sets off in pursuit with only a pair of oxen and her cowardly old step father Lamb for company. But it turns out Lamb’s buried a bloody past of his own. And out in the lawless Far Country the past never stays buried.” (emphasis mine…)
Beautiful Redemption (A Beautiful Creatures Novel) By Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (October 23, Dreamscape/Hachette Audio) — “The stunning and bittersweet finale to the New York Times bestselling Beautiful Creatures series.”

THREE WEEKS (Oct 30):

YA: Ruins by Orson Scott Card, from Brilliance Audio, simultaneously released with the hardcover from Simon Pulse — continuing the story of 2010’s Pathfinder (Simon Pulse, October 30)
Forge of Darkness by Steven Erikson — book one in a new prequel trilogy to Erikson’s Malazan series — published in print by Tor in September, forthcoming from Brilliance Audio which is also putting out the Malazan series in audio
Death’s Apprentice A Grimm City Novel By K.W. Jeter and Gareth Jefferson Jones (Thomas Dunne and Dreamscape Audio, Oct 30) — “Death’s young apprentice must stand on his own as he leads an uprising against the Devil.”
The Lion in Chains (A Foreworld Side Quest) by Mark Teppo (Brilliance Audio, Oct 30) — a “side quest” in the world of The Mongoliad
Kris Longknife: Furious by Mike Shepherd (Oct 30)
Krampus: The Yule Lord by Brom (Harper Voyager, Oct 30)
Cemetery Plot by Alex Granados (Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly Publishing, Oct 31) — “The apocalypse isn’t all it’s cracked up to be”.
The Warlock’s Curse: Veneficas Americana #3 by M.K. Hobson (Demimonde, Oct 31) — Kickstarter-funded self-published third book after The Native Star and The Hidden Goddess were published by Spectra
The Emperor’s Soul by Brandon Sanderson (Tachyon, Nov 1)

Cory Doctorow's Pirate Cinema, DRM-free and direct from the author

Mon, 08 Oct 2012 13:45:00 -0400

Via author Cory Doctorow’s blog, he is selling direct, EULA- and DRM-free downloads of his latest audiobook, Pirate Cinema (Listening Library, read by Bruce Mann), from his own website. It’s also available DRM-free from Simply Audiobooks, eMusic, BooksOnBoard, and Barnes & Noble (probably among others), but this is the first I can remember seeing a publisher-published audiobook being sold directly in this manner. (I have purchased some of his previous audiobooks DRM-free from some of the above stores, and anyone who follow’s Doctorow’s writings knows that being DRM-free is nothing new. But this is an interesting new development.)

Release week: Ironskin, Legion, Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, This Book is Full of Spiders, Building Harlequin's Moon, and a return to Fairyland

Wed, 03 Oct 2012 09:54:00 -0400

Well, I tried. I put together an interstitial release week post on Friday. Then again Monday morning. And still what’s left in this week’s haul is more than enough to keep all the listening hours in a year occupied. So, since we can’t listen to everything, here are my picks for the week. Since Monday. Luckily, several of them are short. And one of them is even free. However… there are a lot of picks. And this is mostly just from Tuesday.

I’ve been looking forward to Ironskin By Tina Connolly since late last year; it was one of my most-anticipated titles of 2012 in my “too big to be useful” preview of the year. Then I learned it was to be narrated by Roslyn Landor, whose narration of Joan Slonczewski’s A Door into Ocean is up there with my all-time favorites, and my anticipation level, if possible, went even higher. Well, now it’s here, in print and ebook from Tor and in a 9 hrs and 33 mins audiobook from Audible Frontiers: “Jane Eliot wears an iron mask. It’s the only way to contain the fey curse that scars her cheek. The Great War is five years gone, but its scattered victims remain—the ironskin. When a carefully worded listing appears for a governess to assist with a “delicate situation”—a child born during the Great War—Jane is certain the child is fey-cursed, and that she can help. Teaching the unruly Dorie to suppress her curse is hard enough; she certainly didn’t expect to fall for the girl’s father, the enigmatic artist Edward Rochart. But her blossoming crush is stifled by her scars and by his parade of women. Ugly women, who enter his closed studio…and come out as beautiful as the fey. Jane knows Rochart cannot love her, just as she knows that she must wear iron for the rest of her life. But what if neither of these things are true? Step by step Jane unlocks the secrets of a new life—and discovers just how far she will go to become whole again.”

Speaking of anticipated audiobooks, and my favorite narrators, Oliver Wyman (Finch, Gateway, Logan’s Run, on and on and on) narrates Brandon Sanderson’s novella Legion, which was published about two months ago in print from Subterranean Press and ebook by Sanderson’s own Dragonsteel Entertainment. And now here is the 2 hour Audible Frontiers audiobook which iseven (for a limited time) free: “Brandon Sanderson is one of the most significant fantasists to enter the field in a good many years. His ambitious, multi-volume epics (Mistborn, The Stormlight Archive) and his stellar continuation of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series have earned both critical acclaim and a substantial popular following. In Legion, a distinctly contemporary novella filled with suspense, humor, and an endless flow of invention, Sanderson reveals a startling new facet of his singular narrative talent. Stephen Leeds, AKA ‘Legion,’ is a man whose unique mental condition allows him to generate a multitude of personae: hallucinatory entities with a wide variety of personal characteristics and a vast array of highly specialized skills. As the story begins, Leeds and his ‘aspects’ are drawn into the search for the missing Balubal Razon, inventor of a camera whose astonishing properties could alter our understanding of human history and change the very structure of society. The action ranges from the familiar environs of America to the ancient, divided city of Jerusalem. Along the way, Sanderson touches on a formidable assortment of complex questions: the nature of time, the mysteries of the human mind, the potential uses of technology, and the volatile connection between politics and faith. Resonant, intelligent, and thoroughly absorbing, Legion is a provocative entertainment from a writer of great originality and seemingly limitless gifts.” Any audiobook which begins with Wyman saying “My name is …” is a keeper — that’s how Pohl’s Gateway begins, as does Sanderson’sLegion.

Under Mysteries/Thrillers and Fiction, Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore: A Novel By Robin Sloan, Narrated by Ari Fliakos for Macmillan Audio. At a bit under 8 hours: “A gleeful and exhilarating tale of global conspiracy, complex code-breaking, high-tech data visualization, young love, rollicking adventure, and the secret to eternal life - mostly set in a hole-in-the-wall San Francisco bookstore.”

Under Fiction, This Book Is Full of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don’t Touch It By David Wong returns us to the twisted — some say cracked — mind behind John Dies in the End. Narrated by Nick Podehl for Brilliance Audio at 14 hrs and 54 mins: “Warning: You may have a huge, invisible spider living in your skull. This is not a metaphor.”

A long-awaited audiobook indeed is Building Harlequin’s Moon (2005) By Larry Niven and Brenda Cooper, one of my favorite science fiction novels of the 2000s combining Niven’s hard sf edge on terraforming and solar kites with Cooper’s human characters. Now in audio, narrated by Tom Weiner for Blackstone Audio at 15 hrs and 27 mins: “The first interstellar ship, John Glenn, fled a solar system populated by rogue AIs and machine/human hybrids, threatened by too much nanotechnology, and rife with political dangers. The John Glenn’s crew intended to terraform the nearly pristine planet Ymir in hopes of creating a utopian society that will limit intelligent technology, but by some miscalculation they have landed in the wrong system. Short on the antimatter needed to continue to Ymir, they must shape nearby planet Harlequin’s moon, Selene, into a new, temporary home and rebuild their store of antimatter through decades of terraforming.”

Lastly, young readers (and older ones) can rejoice as we get to return to the world of Catherynne M. Valente’s The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making as book two, The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There is out today as well. Book one was voiced by the author, here book two is read by S. J. Tucker for Brilliance Audio at 8 hrs and 18 mins: “September has longed to return to Fairyland after her first adventure there. And when she finally does, she learns that its inhabitants have been losing their shadows - and their magic - to the world of Fairyland-Below. This world has a new ruler: Halloween, the Hollow Queen, who is September’s shadow. And Halloween has no intentions of giving Fairyland’s shadows back.”

ALSO OUT TUESDAY:

Merge - Disciple: Two Short Novels from Crosstown to Oblivion continues Walter Mosley’s explorations of science fiction and fantasy through short novels which began earlier this year with The Gift of Fire & On the Head of a Pin: Two Short Novels from Crosstown to Oblivion. Narrated by Bernard K. Addison and J. D. Jackson for Random House Audio.
Teen: Son by Lois Lowry, narrated by Bernadette Dunne for Listening Library concludes Lowry’s multiple award-winning Giver Quartet. The raw vision of The Giver in 1993 introduced a dystopian world of Sameness; it is appropriate that the conclusion comes here during “banned book week”. Here: “When the young girl washed up on their shore, no one knew she had been a Vessel. That she had carried a Product. That it had been carved from her belly. Stolen. Claire had had a son. She was supposed to forget him, but that was impossible. When he was taken from their community, she knew she had to follow. And so her journey began.”
Daughter of the Sword: A Novel of the Fated Blades By Steve Bein, Narrated by Allison Hiroto for Audible, Inc. — Length: 17 hrs and 5 mins — A cursed samurai sword; the only female detective in Tokyo’s most elite police unit.
The Second Ship: The Rho Agenda, Book 1 By Richard Phillips, Narrated by MacLeod Andrews for Brilliance Audio — Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins
The Lost Stars: Tarnished Knight By Jack Campbell, Narrated by Marc Vietor for Audible Frontiers — Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
Death’s Rival: Jane Yellowrock, Book 5 By Faith Hunter, Narrated by Khristine Hvam for Audible Frontiers — Length: 13 hrs and 44 mins
The Vampire Shrink: Kismet Knight, Vampire Psychologist, Book 1 By Lynda Hilburn, Narrated by Hillary Huber for Brilliance Audio — Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
Collection: The Black Gondolier By Fritz Leiber, Narrated by Marc Vietor for Audible Frontiers — Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins
Teen: Fire Season: Star Kingdom, Book 2 By David Weber and Jane Lindskold, Narrated by Khristine Hvam for Audible Frontiers — Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
The Woman Who Died a Lot: A Thursday Next Novel, Book 7 By Jasper Fforde, Narrated by Emily Gray for Recorded Books — Series: Thursday Next Novels, Book 7 — Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
Between Two Fires By Christopher Buehlman, Narrated by Steve West for Blackstone Audio — Length: 14 hrs and 25 mins — “The year is 1348. Thomas, a disgraced knight, has found a young girl alone in a dead Norman village. An orphan of the Black Death, and an almost unnerving picture of innocence, she tells Thomas that plague is only part of a larger cataclysm - that the fallen angels under Lucifer are rising in a second war on heaven, and that the world of men has fallen behind the lines of conflict.”
Anthology: Chilling Ghost Stories By Charles Dickens, M. R. James, and E. F. Benson, Narrated by Andrew Sachs for AudioGO — Length: 1 hr and 59 mins
Teen: The Mark of Athena: The Heroes of Olympus, Book 3 By Rick Riordan, Narrated by Joshua Swanson — Series: Heroes Of Olympus, Book 3 — Length: 15 hrs and 8 mins
Kids: New Bolinda Audio productions of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Peter Pan
Dark Storm By Christine Feehan, Narrated by Erik Bergmann and Kristine Ryan for Penguin Audio — Series: Dark, Book 23 — Length: 14 hrs and 58 mins

EARLIER THIS WEEK:

Reminder that I rolled up release notes on a huge batch of audiobooks on Friday, as well as an 11-pack of Dave Duncan on Monday
Watchstar: Watchstar Trilogy, Book 1 By Pamela Sargent, Narrated by Angele Masters for Audible Frontiers — Series: Watchstar Trilogy, Book 1 — Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins — along with the shorter The Alien Upstairs, Narrated by Casey Holloway
Expendable: League of Peoples, Book 1 By James Allan Gardner, Narrated by Christine Marshall for Audible Frontiers — Series: League of Peoples, Book 1 — Along with Vigilant: League of Peoples, Book 3 (narrated by Laurel Lefkow), Hunted: League of Peoples, Book 4 (narrated by Adam Henderson), Ascending: League of Peoples, Book 5 (narrated by Marshall), Trapped: League of Peoples, Book 6 (narrated by William Dufris), Radiant: League of Peoples, Book 7 (narrated by Katherine Gibson) — book 2 is missing for the moment
More Duncan audiobooks: A Rose-Red City (Narrated by Christian Rummel) and Shadow (Narrated by Jonathan Davis)
Lens of the World: Lens of the World, Book 1 By R. A. MacAvoy, Narrated by Jeremy Arthur for Audible Frontiers — Series: Lens of the World, Book 1 — Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins — along with books 2 and 3 — and Damiano: Damiano, Book 1, Narrated by Nicholas Tecosky
Anthology: Short Stories: Ghosts, Vampires, and Werewolves By Vikram Chandra, Narrated by William Roberts for Spoken Ink — Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins — Angela Carter, Pushkin, and quite a few more
Gather Darkness! By Fritz Leiber, Narrated by Jonathan Davis for Audible Frontiers — Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
Teen: Magisterium By Jeff Hirsch, Narrated by Julia Whelan for Scholastic Audio — Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins — “Sixteen-year-old Glenn Morgan has lived next to the Rift her entire life, and has no idea of what might be on the other side of it. Glenn’s only friend, Kevin, insists the fence holds back a world of monsters and witchcraft, but magic isn’t for Glenn. She has enough problems with reality: Glenn’s mother disappeared when she was six, and soon after, she lost her scientist father to his all-consuming work on his mysterious Project. Glenn buries herself in her studies, and dreams about the day she can escape to the cold isolation of a research station on 813, a planet on the far side of the known universe.”
Classics: The Magician By W. Somerset Maugham, Narrated by James Adams for Blackstone Audio — Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins — an early 20th century novel of London, Paris, and Crowley-esque magicians

SEEN BUT NOT HEARD:

Kids: In a Glass Grimmly (A Tale Dark & Grimm #2) by Adam Gidwitz (Dutton Juvenile, Sep 27)
Mage’s Blood (Moontide Quartet 1) by David Hair (Jo Fletcher, Sep 27, 2012)
Ecko Rising by Danie Ware (September 28th 2012 by Titan Books)
Shifters by James LaFleur, Gordon Massie and Rich Dalglish (711 Press, Sep 28, 2012)
Collection: Baba Yaga’s Daughter and Other Stories of the Old Races by C. E. Murphy and Tom Canty (Subterranean Press, Sep 30, 2012)
Collection: Other Seasons: The Best of Neal Barrett, Jr. by Neal Barrett and Jr. (Subterranean Press, Sep 30, 2012)
Collection: Don’t Pay Bad for Bad & Other Stories by Amos Tutuola (Cheeky Frawg, “late September”) — A selection of previously uncollected and rare tales by the Nigerian master storyteller. Blurbed by Nnedi Okorafor. Introduction by Tutuola’s son and afterword by Matthew Cheney. (E-book only.)
Collection: Space Is Just a Starry Night, a collection of short fiction by Tanith Lee (Aqueduct, September 2012)
Anthology: Diverse Energies edited by Tobias Buckell and Joe Monti (Tu Books, Oct 1)
The Secret Book of Sacred Things by Torsten Krol (Atlantic, Oct 1, 2012)
The Bloodlight Chronicles: Redemption by Steve Stanton (ECW Press, Oct 1, 2012)
Blood Zero Sky by J. Gates (HCI, Oct 1, 2012)
Berserker Kill (Berserker series, Book 9) by Fred Saberhagen (Oct 1, 2012) — published in 1993, coming to audio from Blackstone Audio, read by Paul Michael Garcia
Collection: Wonders of the Invisible World by Patricia A. McKillip (Tachyon, Oct 1, 2012)
Dark Currents by Jacqueline Carey (Roc, Oct 2) — begins a new series, “Agent of Hel”
YA: Pirate Cinema by Cory Doctorow (Tor, Oct 2) — audio from Listening Library and directly from the author’s website (but not to Audible, due to DRM) — “Trent McCauley is sixteen, brilliant, and obsessed with one thing: making movies on his computer by reassembling footage from popular films he downloads from the net. In the dystopian near-future Britain where Trent is growing up, this is more illegal than ever; the punishment for being caught three times is that your entire household’s access to the internet is cut off for a year, with no appeal.”
YA: The Suburban Strange by Nathan Kotecki (Houghton Mifflin, Oct 2) — “Shy Celia Balaustine is new to Suburban High, but a mysterious group of sophomores called the Rosary has befriended her. Friends aside, Celia soon discovers something is not quite right at Suburban. Girls at the school begin having near-fatal accidents on the eve of their sixteenth birthdays. Who is causing the accidents, and why?”
Quantum Coin by E. C. Myers (Pyr, Oct 2)
HALO: The Thursday War by Karen Traviss (Macmillan Audio, Oct 2)
The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde — out in print previously in the UK, coming Oct 2 from Brilliance Audio concurrent with the US print release
Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone (Tor Books, Oct 2) — “A god has died, and it’s up to Tara, a first-year associate in the international necromantic firm of Kelethres, Albrecht, and Ao, to bring him back to life before his city falls apart.” — coming to audio from Blackstone Audio, read by Claudia Alick
Dead Space: Catalyst by Brian Evenson (Tor, October 2, 2012) — published in the UK July 17th 2012 by Titan
Redoubt: Book Four of the Collegium Chronicles (A Valdemar Novel) by Mercedes Lackey (Oct 2, 2012)
London Eye by Tim Lebbon (Pyr, Oct 2) — book one of “Toxic City
1635: Papal Stakes (Ring of Fire) by Eric Flint and Charles E. Gannon (Oct 2, 2012)
Collection: Night & Demons by David Drake (Baen, Oct 2) — Drake’s first collection since 2007’s Balefires has some overlap, but also a few stories not appearing since their first publication (“Codex”, “Dragon, The Book”, “The Waiting Bullet”, “The Land Toward Sunset”), and considerable new words in the form of story introductions
Anthology: Heiresses of Russ 2012: The Year’s Best Lesbian Speculative Fiction (Lethe Press) — second in this anthology series

NEXT WEEK (Oct 9):

The Hydrogen Sonata (Culture, #10) by Iain M. Banks (Orbit and Hachette Audio, Oct 9)
The Indigo Pheasant (Longing for Yount Volume 2) by Daniel A. Rabuzzi (ChiZine, Oct 9) — follow-up to 2009’s The Choir Boats — “London 1817. Maggie Collins, born into slavery in Maryland, whose mathematical genius and strength of mind can match those of a goddess, must build the world’s most powerful and sophisticated machine - to free the lost land of Yount from the fallen angel Strix Tender Wurm.”
Anthology: After (Nineteen Stories of Apocalypse and Dystopia) by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling (Hyperion, Oct 9, 2012)
The Hive by Charles Burns (Pantheon, Oct 9)
Non-Fiction: Angela Carter: New Critical Readings by Sonya Andermahr and Lawrence Phillips (Oct 11, 2012)

TWO WEEKS (Oct 16):

Only Superhuman by Christopher L. Bennett (Tor, Oct 16) — “2107 AD: A generation ago, Earth and the cislunar colonies banned genetic and cybernetic modifications. But out in the Asteroid Belt, anything goes. Dozens of flourishing space habitats are spawning exotic new societies and strange new varieties of humans. It’s a volatile situation that threatens the peace and stability of the entire solar system.”
The Twelve (The Passage, #2) by Justin Cronin (Ballantine, Oct 16) — sequel to The Twelve — coming to audio from Random House Audio
Bowl of Heaven by Gregory Benford and Larry Niven (Tor, Oct 16, 2012)
Father Gaetano’s Puppet Catechism by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden (St. Martin’s Press and Brilliance Audio, Oct 16)
The Walking Dead: The Road to Woodbury — The Walking Dead Series (#2 of 3) by Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga, Read by Fred Berman (Macmillan Audio, Oct 16)
The Fifty Year Sword by Mark Z. Danielewski (Pantheon, Oct 16, 2012) — originally released only in the Netherlands as a very, very limited edition, coming to the US in a new edition

THREE WEEKS (Oct 23):

Red Country by Joe Abercrombie (Orbit, Oct 23) — “Shy South hoped to bury her bloody past and ride away smiling, but she’ll have to sharpen up some bad old ways to get her family back, and she’s not a woman to flinch from what needs doing. She sets off in pursuit with only a pair of oxen and her cowardly old step father Lamb for company. But it turns out Lamb’s buried a bloody past of his own. And out in the lawless Far Country the past never stays buried.” (emphasis mine…)
Beautiful Redemption (A Beautiful Creatures Novel) By Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (October 23, Dreamscape/Hachette Audio) — “The stunning and bittersweet finale to the New York Times bestselling Beautiful Creatures series.”

FOUR WEEKS (Oct 30):

YA: Ruins by Orson Scott Card, from Brilliance Audio, simultaneously released with the hardcover from Simon Pulse — continuing the story of 2010’s Pathfinder (Simon Pulse, October 30)
Forge of Darkness by Steven Erikson — book one in a new prequel trilogy to Erikson’s Malazan series — published in print by Tor in September, forthcoming from Brilliance Audio which is also putting out the Malazan series in audio
Death’s Apprentice A Grimm City Novel By K.W. Jeter and Gareth Jefferson Jones (Thomas Dunne and Dreamscape Audio, Oct 30) — “Death’s young apprentice must stand on his own as he leads an uprising against the Devil.”
The Lion in Chains (A Foreworld Side Quest) by Mark Teppo (Brilliance Audio, Oct 30) — a “side quest” in the world of The Mongoliad
Kris Longknife: Furious by Mike Shepherd (Oct 30)
Krampus: The Yule Lord by Brom (Harper Voyager, Oct 30)
Cemetery Plotby Alex Granados (Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly Publishing, Oct 31) — “The apocalypse isn’t all it’s cracked up to be”.
The Emperor’s Soul by Brandon Sanderson (Tachyon, Nov 1)

Listening report: July 2012

Tue, 02 Oct 2012 09:57:00 -0400

After ending a run of eight audiobooks in my June listening with the amazing The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, I listened to seven audiobooks in August, with Michael J. Sullivan’s Theft of Swords, Daniel O’Malley’s The Rook, and G. Willow Wilson’s Alif the Unseen being the outstanding listens.

REVIEWS:

Earth Unaware By Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston, Narrated by Stefan Rudnicki, Stephen Hoye, Arthur Morey, Vikas Adam, Emily Janice Card, Gabrielle de Cuir, and Roxanne Hernandez for Macmillan Audio (review copy) — Length: 13 hrs and 59 mins — I have only read two Ender-verse novels, Ender’s Game and Shadows in Flight (which is the most recent which follows Bean’s storyline) but since Earth Unaware is a prequel, I didn’t anticipate feeling lost. In fact I wasn’t; though having some idea as to who Mazer Rackham is, and some manner of knowing his involvement in the First Formic War to come, not to mention who and what the Formics are, certainly helps. The former, actually, not so much, as Rackham does not appear too much and too deeply in this story; it’s more of a cameo at this stage. This makes it doubly frustrating that Stefan Rudnicki narrates the “Wit” storyline. Wit O’Toole is an Earth-based commander of an internationally comprised special forces group. Following their training is somewhat, but not too interesting, and is not (and here we are still only in book one of the new series) connected in any obvious way with any of the other events of the book. With Rudnicki tied up on that storyline, the primary and most interesting storyline, that of the Ender-esque character Viktor, a boy born to a family of free miners, is given over to another narrator. This is not actually a complete disaster, as the Spanish/Portugese and Italian words and phrases are handled deftly, and through this storyline we encounter both this new culture of free miners, computer-assisted astrogation, and of course first contact with the Formics themselves. Other storylines include: a heartless corporate type Lem Jukes, developing a “gravity laser” (which seems likely to end up resulting in the final M.D. weapon Ender will eventually use to exterminate the Formics in the climax of Ender’s Game) and not afraid to push around — or kill — a few free miners to keep the research secret and an honest official investigating that corporation, voiced by Emily Janice Card. While a lot of the story and development is either pedestrian, or a bit self-indulgent in Card’s signature internal monologues, working through decisions and outcomes, there are some well-done scenes of collision, and particularly search and rescue. Extra track: the end of the audiobook features the now-customary interview with Orson Scott Card on the writing of the book, something I always enjoy hearing about.
Theft of Swords: Riyria Revelations, Book 1 By Michael J. Sullivan, Narrated by Tim Gerard Reynolds for Recorded Books — Series: Riyria Revelations, Book 1 — Sullivan’s Riyria Revelations series was originally to be published as 6 books, but before book 6 even came out Orbit bought the series and repackaged the 6 books as three sets of two, this being the first such “mini omnibus”, including “The Crown Conspiracy” and “Avempartha”. “Riyria” is a group of two mercenaries (one a 3-sworded warrior named Hadrian, one a hooded thief named Royce) who have a certain reputation for being able to take on odd jobs of all kinds, and a backstory of jobs gone good and bad and the sarcastic banter to go with it. In “The Crown Conspiracy” the two are set up as the fall guys for the murder of a monarch, however, the powers which have done so have oh-so-spectacularly picked the wrong pair of thieves. The game is afoot, and we get an introduction to the powers and nations and (some tip) of the deeper history of the world along the way. As “Avempartha” opens, one of my favorite little bits of self-referential fun for the year is that a play is being put on roughly about the (legend-in-the-telling) events of the first book, with the play called… “The Crown Conspiracy”. I love that. Light humor and a more honest and goodness of spirit, though hey, yes, they are mercenaries, inhabits these books than the more grim and gritty “everyone’s an anti-hero” fests which have become a bit more the mode of epic fantasy. Author Sullivan certainly does have a thing for towers, as “Avempartha” centers around a mysterious tower near the site of a religious-based tournament of swordsmen, with the winner getting quite the prize indeed. However, the villager-eating beastie at the heart of this tournament may be more than the church has bargained for or can deal with. Enter, of course, Royce and Hadrian. Sullivan shows even better his deftness for fitting the pieces of his plots and subplots nicely together here, as by the end some things which were quite heavily hinted at are confirmed, setting up a world quite ready for conflict and change as the series goes forward. On the world, there are some very interesting touches, particularly in the nearly enslaved elven race as opposed to the elegant noble free and fair folk of stock-standard fantasy fare, as well as multi-layered systems of politics and religions, though at this point in the series we have not “zoomed out” too terribly far. Narration: Reynolds is very, very well-cast here, with a range of voices and accents which really make the story sing. A thoroughly enjoyable production.
Into the Black: Odyssey One By Evan Currie, Narrated by Benjamin L. Darcie for Brilliance Audio (Length:14 hrs and 55 mins) — This one I listened to around other audiobooks over the course of a few months. Currie’s self-published 2011 space sf novel was picked up by Amazon.com’s 47North, polished up, and given a full 2012 re-release in print, e-book, and audiobook. Here, Into the Black sees a new starship, the series-eponymous Odyssey, with a new, experimental long-distance “jump” style drive, captained by a veteran of a more terrestrial fighter pilot squadron, make its first jump, encounter the wreckage of an alien ship, and adventure onward. There’s definitely something “long tail” here, as there’s certainly a voracious market for bulk space opera, but the characters/plot/story/tech was about as stock as they come — again, certainly there’s a market here, it just isn’t me. I did want to check out another of the 47North/Brilliance titles after Neal Stephenson’s (et al) The Mongoliad. Thus far: capable enough productions, though mediocre books; the editorial selections of Brilliance Audio proper (Saladin Ahmed’s Throne of the Crescent Moon, Catherynne M. Valente’s Dirge for Prester John) and sister Amazon-owned Audible.com (too many good titles brought to audio to even begin to list, but let’s start with Jeff VanderMeer’s Finch, Frederik Pohl’s Gateway, Jo Walton’s Among Others, …) set a higher bar at the top end than, thus far, 47North has achieved. (Though certainly every publisher puts out a clunker for a given reader/listener now and then.) Here Darcie’s narration is instantly recognizable as the “classic space sf” mode of narration: clean, dry, and precise, with minimal vocal gymnastics to distinguish speakers. Die-hard fans of space adventure fiction who burn their way through novels and audiobooks will find enough “there” there. Thanks again to Brilliance Audio for the review copy CD set, which was well-produced with appropriately moody disc intro/outtro music as well.
The Rook: A Novel By Daniel O’Malley, Narrated by Susan Duerden for Dreamscape Media and Hachette Audio — When a novel opens with a young woman waking up without memory, in a park, surrounded by a circle of dead bodies wearing plastic gloves, there’s a good chance the novel is a thriller. Myfanwy Thomas is in mortal peril, and she doesn’t know why, or from whom. The driving forces of this book are many, not all of them natural, as into the midst of all this it turns out that Thomas is a “Rook, a high-ranking member of a secret organization called the Chequy that battles the many supernatural forces at work in Britain.” And that she has superpowers, too. And so in addition to staying alive and finding out why and from whom she is in mortal peril, she has a country and planet to save. There are absolutely stunning send-ups of dragon and vampire births which are just knife-slices of realistic badassery: “Why yes, this is pretty damned close to how I’d imagine a freaking dragon would behave, isn’t it!” There are bizarre self-gene-hacking “Grafters” which practice a forbidden supernatural tech, leading to all manner of fungal-group-mind insanity. There are conspiracies within conspiracies, reveals, chases, escapes, fights, night clubs, … and then you add the Chequy’s American counterparts coming in for a mini-convention of superpowered overload. Structurally, the book is also interesting. The main storyline follows the Myfanwy who has no memory; interleaved with this we have letters from the “old” Myfanwy which, read in order reveal more and more of the conspiracy, some just-in-time foreshadowing, and a red herring or two, just because, hey, why not? leading to, of course, in true thriller style, a show down of show downs and a very, very satisfying denouement. Narration: Duerden is fantastic as Myfanwy (pronounced “Miffany”) and many of her accents and characterizations — particularly of the grotesque grafters — are fantastic. Her American accents leave a little more to be desired, but they distinguish well. Just an overall excellent audiobook and book, very recommended.
Alif the Unseen By G. Willow Wilson, Narrated by Sanjiv Jhaveri for Brilliance Audio — Another fantastic audiobook, this time combining the Arab Spring, computer hackers for freedom of speech and counter-hacking agencies, and Djinn magic into a book which revolves around an ancient book that shouldn’t exist in our world. Alif is a hacker in an unnamed Middle Eastern state, eking out a living by setting up anonymous servers and bulletin boards, etc. He’s also fallen in love with a young women very out of his league for a long list of reasons: class and wealth, sure, but also Alif’s heritage as the child of a native with an immigrant worker. At nearly the same time that Alif’s beloved, Intisar, is betrothed to a prince, his own hacking programs are being turned against him by state security — run by, as it turns out, this very same prince, known in hacking circles as the feared Hand — and Alif’s entire network has been compromised, putting him on the run. On the run with him is a young woman, Dina, who has been Alif’s neighbor and friend for his entire life, and who is obviously in love with him and is right for him, but Alif is too much a moron to see, along with a mysterious and ancient book which Dina conveyed to Alif from Intisar, just as the state security guards have come calling. Enter a twisting back-alley of cell phone smugglers and, yes, Djinn; harrowing escapes and well-conceived and executed network hacking sessions, and further into both darkness and mystery. There were a few spots where either my credulity (doesn’t this state police force have helicopters? if you corner a hacker, wouldn’t you cut the phone and DSL lines?) or forced-reference-o-meter (a bit too cute on djinn prefering places abandoned by humans — “Detroit is very popular”) were tested, but this book really impressed me. Narration: The narrator was amazing with accents, genders, just wonderfully narrated; the author gave him quite a cast to work with in age, region, dialect, and even species and it all just comes out feeling spot-on. Again, recommended.
Vlad By Carlos Fuentes, translated by Alejandro Branger, and narrated by Robert Fass for Dreamscape Media — Length: 2 hrs and 41 mins — First quarter is a slow, lovely build up, establishing the hard-working laywer Yves Navarro and his wife Asuncion, but by the midpoint, I was asking myself: At some point when a creepy old eastern European Count Vlad sets up very mysteriously in a blackout-windowed estate, and makes creepy comments about your wife, don’t your “VAMPIRE” alarms go off? Not this guy. Still it’s a moody, atmospheric, “Mexican gothic” feel, with some well-built personal touches — Yves and Asuncion had lost their son, horrifically; Yves is deeply self-conscious of his performance as a lover — all leading to a creepily ambiguous ending. Along the way, we sit through two retellings — the second is particularly beautiful — of the story of Vlad the Impaler, it’s well narrated enough by Fass that the story kept moving.
The Sagan Diary By John Scalzi, Narrated by Stephanie Wolfe with an introduction by John Scalzi for Audible Frontiers — Series: Old Man’s War — Length: 1 hr and 34 mins — The introduction (in the story itself, not Scalzi’s) by a complaining technician seems entirely incorrect; the diary contains psychological insights into dealing with a new identity, killing, otherness, and death, etc. and therefore seems fairly useful in an analytic sense. But I digress. The publisher copy sums it up pretty well: “a long novelette that for the first time looks at the worlds of the Hugo-nominated Old Man’s War and its sequel The Ghost Brigades from the point of view of Lieutenant Jane Sagan, who in a series of diary entries gives her views on some of the events included in the series… and sheds new light into some previously unexplored corners.” I’ve only read the first book in the series, so I don’t have the full picture, but I read Old Man’s War recently enough that the characters were fresh enough that these diaries found plenty of corners to creep into.

I also listened to the beginning of A Book of Tongues, the first book in the Hexslinger Trilogy, by Gemma Files (Iambik Audiobooks), and the first chapters of Chimera: The Subterrene War, Book 3 by T. C. McCarthy. Of course now (October 1, as I’m finally putting the finishing touches on this post) I’ve long since finished both, but for now, just the beginnings.

In my “real” reading I absolutely devoured Hush by James Maxey, book 2 in his Dragon Apocalypse series which started with January’s fanastically fun, creative, and imaginative Greatshadow. Here there’s yet more imagination on display, with a family of superpowered seafarers lending help to some returning adventurers from book one in an inter-dimensional battle with astrological implications. For me it wasn’t quite the romping wild ride as in Greatshadow, but Hush adds several new layers to the world, gives us a much wider view both of the more terrestrial geography but also, as mentioned, dimensions and astrological realms. And the ending… my, oh my, Mr. Maxey. There’s an ending for you. I’m eagerly looking forward to Witchbreaker early next year.

I also finally finished Jeff VanderMeer’s The Situation, which, well, having worked in a (very) large software engineering firm for a dozen years now, and 3 years working in IT for academia prior… that was pretty brilliant. And surreal. Fungal weirdness, transformations, petty yet deadly office politics, inscrutable management, bizarre projects, …

Speaking of VanderMeer, I’ve begun what will likely be a multi-year project of reading, slowly, Ann and Jeff VanderMeer’s anthology The Weird.In July it was merely a preview, reading through the table of contents and Michael Moorcock’s “Foreweird”. The oversized hardcover from Tor is a beautiful book. Huge; and beautiful.

Among other readings in new short fiction, I also read a new novella, “To Be Read Upon Your Waking”, by Robert Jackson Bennett in Subterranean Online, which was quite lovely and dark, and I was back on some podcasts in between books here and there, particularly catching up on some missed episodes of Toasted Cake — Ken Liu, Vylar Kaftan, Nathaniel Lee, Cat Rambo, …

August plans: Well, it being October, I already know what I listened to and read in August: Chimera, How to Build an Android, The Drowning Girl, Glory Road, Fragile Things, A Book of Tongues, and: comics!

A weekend of new Dave Duncan audiobooks

Sun, 30 Sep 2012 22:25:55 -0400

Goodness. I put together a Friday “interlude” release week post, and then on Saturday 11 Dave Duncan audiobooks show up, all from Audible Frontiers:

Donald Corren narrates the Seventh Swordsman series:The Reluctant Swordsman, The Coming of Wisdom, and The Destiny of the Sword
Peter Ganim narrates Ill Met in the Arena
Derek Perkins narrates the Omar series: The Reaver Road, The Hunter’s Haunt,
Mark Ashby narrates the The Great Game series: Past Imperative, Present Tense, and
Future Indefinite
Jennifer Van Dyck narrates Hero!
and Mil Nicholson narrates Magic Casement

Whew. Quite a week, and it’s not yet Monday, let alone Tuesday.

Received: Shine Shine Shine by Lydia Netzer, read by Joshilyn...

Sun, 30 Sep 2012 08:26:00 -0400

Received: Shine Shine Shine by Lydia Netzer, read by Joshilyn Jackson for Macmillan Audio.

Release week... Friday? Ben Aaronovitch, Greg Bear, Philip Pullman, Mike Mignola, and J.K. Rowling

Fri, 28 Sep 2012 17:02:40 -0400

It feels like I just wrapped up a huge release week post two days ago, because I did. But so much has already come out since Wednesday that, well, I’d better post now because next week should have a huge list of new audiobooks as well. So here’s an “interlude” release week post.

Leading the list is the Peter Grant series by Ben Aaronovitch, all narrated by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith for Tantor Audio. The three books, Midnight Riot: Peter Grant, Book 1, Moon Over Soho: Peter Grant, Book 2, and Whispers Under Ground: Peter Grant, Book 3, concern London constable (and eventual sorcerer’s apprentice) Peter Grant whose “ability to speak with the lingering dead” sees him plucked from a paper-pushing assignment and “plunged into a world where gods and goddesses mingle with mortals and a long-dead evil is making a comeback on a rising tide of magic.”

Also out Friday is 6-pack of audiobooks by Greg Bear, all out from Audible Frontiers. They are: Beyond Heaven’s River, Strength of Stones, and Hardfought (Narrated by Ray Chase), Psychlone (Narrated by William Roberts), Dinosaur Summer (Narrated by Dave Courvoisier), and Slant (Narrated by Christine Williams).

Grimm Tales for Young and Old By Philip Pullman, Narrated by Samuel West for AudioGO — Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins — “In this enchanting selection of fairy tales, award-winning author Philip Pullman presents his 50 favourite stories from the Brothers Grimm in a ‘clear as water’ retelling, making them feel fresh and unfamiliar with his dark, distinctive voice.”

Joe Golem and the Drowning City By Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden, Narrated by Robert Fass for Macmillan Audio — Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins — “In 1925, earthquakes and a rising sea level left Lower Manhattan submerged under more than 30 feet of water, so that its residents began to call it the Drowning City. Those unwilling to abandon their homes created a new life on streets turned to canals and in buildings whose first three stories were underwater. Fifty years have passed since then, and the Drowning City is full of scavengers and water rats, poor people trying to eke out an existence, and those too proud or stubborn to be defeated by circumstance. Among them are 14-year-old Molly McHugh and her friend and employer, Felix Orlov. Once upon a time Orlov the Conjuror was a celebrated stage magician, but now he is an old man, a psychic medium, contacting the spirits of the departed for the grieving loved ones left behind. When a séance goes horribly wrong, Felix Orlov is abducted by strange men wearing gas masks and rubber suits, and Molly soon finds herself on the run. Her flight will lead her into the company of a mysterious man, and his stalwart sidekick, Joe Golem, whose own past is a mystery to him, but who walks his own dreams as a man of stone and clay, brought to life for the sole purpose of hunting witches.”

And Thursday saw the years-anticipated release of J. K. Rowling’s first novel for adults, The Casual Vacancy, narrated by Tom Hollander for Hachette Audio at nearly 18 hours. With no magic or boy wizards in sight, it’s still already topping Audible’s weekly best-seller charts. (With just two days of sales so far.) “When Barry Fairbrother dies unexpectedly in his early forties, the little town of Pagford is left in shock. Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war. Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils…. Pagford is not what it first seems. And the empty seat left by Barry on the town’s council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen.” There have been some good reviews, and some quite bad ones; one which intrigues me the most is by Lev Grossman for TIME, who (elsewhere) calls it “a triumph”. Hm…

ALSO OUT SINCE WEDNESDAY:

The Snow Queen’s Shadow: Princess Novels, Book 4 By Jim C. Hines, Narrated by Carol Monda — Series: Princess, Book 4 — Length: 11 hrs and 48 mins
Reckoning: Indian Hill, Book 2 By Mark Tufo, Narrated by Sean Runnette — Series: Michael Talbot, Book 2 — Length: 12 hrs and 16 mins
Multiple Audible Frontiers productions of books by Jeffrey A. Carver and Robin W. Bailey
Or All the Seas with Oysters By Avram Davidson, Narrated by Darren Marlar — Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins
Anthology: An Apple for the Creature By Charlaine Harris (editor) and Toni L. P. Kelner (editor), Narrated by Angela Dawe and Luke Daniels for Brilliance Audio — Length: 12 hrs and 42 mins

ellenkushner: thepiratejenny: laziestgirlintown: justjosiehick...

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 11:05:48 -0400

ellenkushner:

thepiratejenny:

laziestgirlintown:

justjosiehicks:

ehahlil:

Are you with the ~~BANNED?~~

ALWAYS.

I’m with the banned.

But why are they only listing books that have been made into movies. And showing the movie versions? This is about BOOKS! This should have been done with book covers! It’s not like you can’t recognize any of these from the book cover!

Amen!

The Guilded Earlobe reviews Wool by Hugh Howey

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 09:34:09 -0400

I started hearing good things about Wool quite some time ago. Then Ridley Scott bought the film rights, and still I didn’t read it. Then Random House UK bought in, and still I didn’t read it. But now that The Guilded Earlobe has given the audiobook a “go for it” review, I’ll have to figure out how to fit it into a busy fall of listening.

Release week: The Mongoliad, Embedded, The Freedom Maze, Dodger, Under Wildwood, and Neil Gaiman Presents James Branch Cabell

Wed, 26 Sep 2012 10:49:00 -0400

The last Tuesday of September brings a sizable haul of interesting-looking audiobooks, from new sequels, to some of 2011’s most missing, new Terry Pratchett, and the return of Neil Gaiman Presents.

The Mongoliad: The Foreworld Saga, Book 2 By Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear, Mark Teppo, Nicole Galland, Erik Bear, Joseph Brassey, and Cooper Moo comes with quite a busy byline from Brilliance Audio, but once again it’s one narrator, Luke Daniels, who handles the dozens of accents and handful of storylines as the story picks up where it ended in Book One, the aftermath of the Mongolian invasion of Europe, 1241. Can’t get enough Foreworld? There’s also a 1.5 hour short, Dreamer: A Prequel to the Mongoliad, By Mark Teppo with, of course, Daniels at the helm.

2011 saw two strong entries in a very specific subgenre. TC McCarthy’s Germline ended up one of my favorites of the year last year, and now Embedded by Dan Abnett, narrated by Eric G. Dove for Angry Robot on Brilliance Audio, gives listeners another look at an embedded journalist in a military sf storyline. Where Germline focused on a near-future resource war in South Asia, Abnett takes a look at both a more distant future and setting, as well as a double meaning for ‘embedded’, as his journalist has himself ‘chipped inside the head of a combat veteran’ in a battlezone on a remote colony planet.

Small Beer Press published Delia Sherman’s The Freedom Maze late in 2011, and this book for young adults went on to win Norton, Prometheus, and Mythopoetic Awards, as well as be named one of Kirkus Review’s best of 2011, and be selected onto the Tiptree Honor Award List. Now it’s in audio, narrated by Robin Miles for Listening Library. “Set against the burgeoning Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, and then just before the outbreak of the Civil War, The Freedom Maze explores both political and personal liberation, and how the two intertwine. In 1960, thirteen-year-old Sophie isn’t happy about spending summer at her grandmother’s old house in the Bayou. But the house has a maze Sophie can’t resist exploring once she finds it has a secretive and playful inhabitant. When Sophie, bored and lonely, makes an impulsive wish inspired by her reading, hoping for a fantasy adventure of her own, she slips one hundred years into the past, to the year 1860. On her arrival she makes her way, bedraggled and tanned, to what will one day be her grandmother’s house, where she is at once mistaken for a slave.”

Another teen audiobook release this week is Dodger By Terry Pratchett. Read by frequent Pratchett narrator Stephen Briggs for Harper Audio, the book sees Pratchett turn his attention and wit to a street urchin in Dickensian London: “A storm. Rain-lashed city streets. A flash of lightning. A scruffy lad sees a girl leap desperately from a horse-drawn carriage in a vain attempt to escape her captors. Can the lad stand by and let her be caught again? Of course not, because he’s…Dodger. Seventeen-year-old Dodger may be a street urchin, but he gleans a living from London’s sewers, and he knows a jewel when he sees one. He’s not about to let anything happen to the unknown girl - not even if her fate impacts some of the most powerful people in England. From Dodger’s encounter with the mad barber Sweeney Todd to his meetings with the great writer Charles Dickens and the calculating politician Benjamin Disraeli, history and fantasy intertwine in a breathtaking account of adventure and mystery. Beloved and best-selling author Sir Terry Pratchett combines high comedy with deep wisdom in this tale of an unexpected coming-of-age and one remarkable boy’s rise in a complex and fascinating world.”

One of my “regrets” in 2011 was not making time for Colin Meloy’s Wildwood, a middle grade novel billed as an “American Narnia”. Now Meloy is back with a sequel, Under Wildwood, under his own narration for Harper Audio. At 13 hrs and 20 mins, it’s the longest audiobook mentioned so far in this post, though it’s aimed at the youngest listeners of the bunch. Who says kids these days don’t have attention spans?

Neil Gaiman Presents returns this week with three novels by 1920s literary satiric fantasist James Branch Cabell, all narrated by Robert Blumenfeld: Jurgen, The High Place, and Figures of Earth: A Comedy of Appearances. “A few words from Neil on Jurgen: Jurgen may be the most famous of James Branch Cabell’s books: It was certainly the one that put him on the map, when, in January 1920, the New York Society for the Prevention of Vice took his publisher to court for violating New York’s anti-obscenity law. Suddenly, Cabell went from an admired but semi-obscure author of literary satiric fantasy, to the guy everyone was reading because he was censored.”

ALSO OUT TUESDAY:

Amber Magic: Haven Series, Book 1 By B. V. Larson, Narrated by Mark Boyett for Audible Frontiers — Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins — along with Sky Magic: Haven Series, Book 2 and Shadow Magic: Haven Series, Book 3
Something Witchy This Way Comes: A Jolie Wilkins Novel, Book 6 By H. P. Mallory, Narrated by Allyson Ryan for Random House Audio — Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins — also a 2 hour Be Witched: A Jolie Wilkins and Rand Balfour Novella
A Bright and Terrible Sword By Anna Kendall, Narrated by Simon Vance for Blackstone Audio — Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins — “In this third and final installment of Anna Kendall’s Soulvine Moor Chronicles, Roger must race against time - and against death itself - if he is going to save both of his worlds.”
The Heart of Matter: Odyssey One, Book 2 By Evan Currie, Narrated by Benjamin L. Darcie for Brilliance Audio (47North) — Length: 15 hrs and 19 mins
The Wrong Goodbye: Collector, Book 2 By Chris F. Holm, Narrated by Brian Vander Ark for Angry Robot on Brilliance Audio — Series: Collector, Book 2 — “Because of his efforts to avert the Apocalypse, Sam Thornton has been given a second chance – provided he can stick to the straight-and-narrow.”
Founders: A Novel of the Coming Collapse By James Wesley Rawles, Narrated by Phil Gigante for Brilliance Audipo — Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
Teen: The Infects By Sean Beaudoin, Narrated by Nick Podehl for Candlewick on Brilliance Audio — Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
Teen: The Paladin Prophecy: Book 1 By Mark Frost, Narrated by Nick Chamian — Length: 15 hrs and 39 mins — “Young adult fantasy novel, first of a trilogy, by the author who co-created TV series Twin Peaks.” (via Locus Mag)
Phantom Nights By John Farris, Narrated by Frank J Cabanski for Crossroad Press — Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins

EARLIER THIS WEEK:

Empire of Light: Shoal, Book 3 By Gary Gibson, Narrated by Charlie Norfolk for Audible Ltd — Length: 14 hrs and 8 mins
Thomas World By Richard Cox, Narrated by Andy Caploe for Audible Frontiers — Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
Avogadro Corp: The Singularity Is Closer Than It Appears By William Hertling, Narrated by Rob Granniss — Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins
Skeleton Men of Jupiter By Edgar Burroughs, Narrated by William Michael Redman — Length: 2 hrs and 22 mins
This Is Not a Game By Walter Jon Williams, Narrated by Jefferson Mays for Recorded Books — Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
Midst Toil and Tribulation: Safehold Series, Book 6 By David Weber, Narrated by Kevin T. Collins for Macmillan Audio — Length: 28 hrs and 30 mins
Mogworld By Yahtzee Croshaw, Narrated by Yahtzee Croshaw for Open Book Audio — Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins — this is a book which naturally came up quite frequently at the weekend before last’s Escapist Expo, where Croshaw was a guest
By Grace and Banners Fallen: Prologue to A Memory of Light By Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson, Narrated by Michael Kramer and Kate Reading for Macmillan Audio — Length: 2 hrs and 58 mins
The Crack in Space, The World Jones Made, and Solar Lottery by Philip K. Dick in Brilliance Audio’s continuing series of PKD audiobooks
Teen: Outpost By Ann Aguirre, Narrated by Emily Bauer — Length: 10 hrs and 20 mins

SEEN BUT NOT HEARD:

Town of Shadows by Lindsay Stern (Scrambler Books, Sep 8) — featured this week on Weird Fiction Review, along with an excerpt
The Palace Job by Patrick Weekes (Tyche Books, Sep 17, 2012) — “From one of the writers that brought you the critically acclaimed Mass Effect [video game] trilogy comes a new Fantasy twist on the Heist genre.”
Collection: Still Life: Nine Stories by Nicholas Kaufman (Necon Ebooks, Sep 18) — from the author of Chasing the Dragon
Collection: Jagannath: Stories by Karin Tidbeck (Cheeky Frawg, Sep 22) — “This amazing collection by a wonderful Swedish writer has received glowing blurbs from the likes of Ursula K. Le Guin, China Mieville, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Karen Lord, and Karen Joy Fowler. Elizabeth Hand has written the introduction. We will have a book release party at the World Fantasy Convention in Toronto, with the author in attendance.”
Collection: Beautiful Sorrows by Mercedes M. Yardley (Shock Totem Press, Sep 22)
Alchemystic by Anton Strout (Ace, Sep 25) — Book One of The Spellmason Chronicles — “Alexandra Belarus is a struggling artist living in New York City, even though her family is rich in real estate, including a towering Gothic Gramercy Park building built by her great-great-grandfather. But the truth of her bloodline is revealed when she is attacked on the street and saved by an inhumanly powerful winged figure.”
Crown Thief by David Tallerman (Angry Robot, Sep 25) — sequel to the first book in this series which began earlier this year with Giant Thief
Seeds of Earth by Michael Cobley (Orbit, Sep 25) — first in a new space opera series
Bad Glass by Richard E. Gropp (Del Rey, Sep 25) — winner of the Del Rey/Suvudu Writing Contest from the author of the powerful 2011 short story “Filling up the Void” in Daily Science Fiction last year, here: “Something has happened in Spokane. The military has evacuated the city and locked it down.”
The Hallowed Ones by Laura Bickle (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Sep 25) — “Katie is on the verge of her Rumspringa, the time in Amish life when teenagers can get a taste of the real world. But the real world comes to her in this dystopian tale with a philosophical bent. Rumors of massive unrest on the “Outside” abound. Something murderous is out there. Amish elders make a rule: No one goes outside, and no outsiders come in.”
The Tainted City by Courtney Shafer (Night Shade Books, Sep 25) — second in a fantasy series after The Whitefire Crossing
Redlaw: Red Eye by James Lovegrove (Solaris, Sep 25) — second in a series after Redlaw
When the World Shook (Radium Age Science Fiction) by H. Rider Haggard and James Parker (HiLoBooks, Sep 25, 2012)
Anthology: Walk The Fire by J. Daniel Sawyer, Edward W. Robertson, Matthew Sanborn Smith and Brand Gamblin (Sep 25, 2012) — “A shared world anthology featuring stories from Jake Bible, Jason Andrew Bond, Brand Gamblin, Nathan Lowell, Patrick McLean, Edward W. Robertson, J. Daniel Sawyer, Matthew Sanborn Smith and John Mierau.”
Teen: The Shimmers in the Night by Lydia Millet (Small Beer, Sep 25) — second in a series afterThe Fires Beneath the Sea
Anthology: Rock On: The Greatest Science Fiction & Fantasy Hitsedited by Paula Guran (Prime Books, Sep 25) — sf/f on rock and roll
Anthology: The Book of Cthulhu II edited by Ross E. Lockhart (Night Shade Books, Sep 25)
Non-Fiction: Reflections: On the Magic of Writing by Diana Wynne Jones (Greenwillow, Sep 25)

LATER THIS WEEK:

Fiction: The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling (Little, Brown, Sep 27)
Kids: In a Glass Grimmly (A Tale Dark & Grimm #2) by Adam Gidwitz (Dutton Juvenile, Sep 27)
Mage’s Blood (Moontide Quartet 1) by David Hair (Jo Fletcher, Sep 27, 2012)
Ecko Rising by Danie Ware (September 28th 2012 by Titan Books)
Shifters by James LaFleur, Gordon Massie and Rich Dalglish (711 Press, Sep 28, 2012)
Collection: Baba Yaga’s Daughter and Other Stories of the Old Races by C. E. Murphy and Tom Canty (Subterranean Press, Sep 30, 2012)
Collection: Other Seasons: The Best of Neal Barrett, Jr. by Neal Barrett and Jr. (Subterranean Press, Sep 30, 2012)
Collection: Don’t Pay Bad for Bad & Other Stories by Amos Tutuola (Cheeky Frawg, “late September”) — A selection of previously uncollected and rare tales by the Nigerian master storyteller. Blurbed by Nnedi Okorafor. Introduction by Tutuola’s son and afterword by Matthew Cheney. (E-book only.)
Collection: Space Is Just a Starry Night, a collection of short fiction by Tanith Lee (Aqueduct, September 2012)
Joe Golem and the Drowning City byMike Mignola and Christopher Golden, Read by Robert Fass forMacmillan Audio (September 2012)
Midnight Riot, Moon Over Soho, and Whispers Under Ground in the Peter Grant series By Ben Aaronovitch, Read By Kobna Holdbrook-Smith for Tantor Audio (September 2012)
The Secret Book of Sacred Things by Torsten Krol (Atlantic, Oct 1, 2012)
The Bloodlight Chronicles: Redemption by Steve Stanton (ECW Press, Oct 1, 2012)
Blood Zero Sky by J. Gates (HCI, Oct 1, 2012)
Berserker Kill (Berserker series, Book 9) by Fred Saberhagen (Oct 1, 2012) — published in 1993, coming to audio from Blackstone Audio, read by Paul Michael Garcia
Teens/Kids: Magisterium by Jeff Hirsch (Scholastic Press and Scholastic Audio, Oct 1) — “On one side of the Rift is a technological paradise without famine or want. On the other side is a mystery.”
Collection: Wonders of the Invisible World by Patricia A. McKillip (Tachyon, Oct 1, 2012)
Building Harlequin’s Moon by Larry Niven and Brenda Cooper (Blackstone Audio, October 1, 2012) — I very, very much enjoyed this book in print (Tor, 2005) and am excited about taking a new look at it in audio
The Magician by W. Somerset Maugham, read by James Adams
for Blackstone Audio (Oct 1, 2012) — an early 20th century novel of London, Paris, and Crowley-esque magicians

NEXT WEEK (Oct 2):

The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There by Catherynne M. Valente (Feiwel & Friends, October 2, 2012)
Pirate Cinema by Cory Doctorow (Tor, Oct 2) — audio coming Oct 9 from Listening Library — “Trent McCauley is sixteen, brilliant, and obsessed with one thing: making movies on his computer by reassembling footage from popular films he downloads from the net. In the dystopian near-future Britain where Trent is growing up, this is more illegal than ever; the punishment for being caught three times is that your entire household’s access to the internet is cut off for a year, with no appeal.”
Ironskin (Ironskin, #1) by Tina Connolly (Tor, Oct 2) — audio coming narrrated by the wonderful Rosalyn Landor (Joan Slonczewski’s A Door Into Ocean)
This Book Is Full of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don’t Touch It by David Wong (St. Martin’s, Oct 2) — coming to audio from Brilliance Audio — sequel to John Dies at the End
Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan (FS&G, Macmillan Audio, Oct 2) — “A gleeful and exhilarating tale of global conspiracy, complex code-breaking, high-tech data visualization, young love, rollicking adventure, and the secret to eternal life—mostly set in a hole-in-the-wall San Francisco bookstore.”
HALO: The Thursday War by Karen Traviss (Macmillan Audio, Oct 2)
The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde — out in print previously in the UK, coming Oct 2 from Brilliance Audio concurrent with the US print release
The Woman Who Died a Lot (A Thursday Next Novel) by Jasper Fforde, read by Emily Gray for Recorded Books (Oct 2)
Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone (Tor Books, Oct 2) — “A god has died, and it’s up to Tara, a first-year associate in the international necromantic firm of Kelethres, Albrecht, and Ao, to bring him back to life before his city falls apart.” — coming to audio from Blackstone Audio, read by Claudia Alick
Dead Space: Catalyst by Brian Evenson (Tor, October 2, 2012) — published in the UK July 17th 2012 by Titan
The Lost Stars: Tarnished Knight by Jack Campbell (Oct 2, 2012)
YA: Fire Season (Star Kingdom) by David Weber and Jane Lindeskold (Baen, Oct 2)
Redoubt: Book Four of the Collegium Chronicles (A Valdemar Novel) by Mercedes Lackey (Oct 2, 2012)
The Lost Stars: Tarnished Knight by Jack Campbell (Oct 2, 2012)
1635: Papal Stakes (Ring of Fire) by Eric Flint and Charles E. Gannon (Oct 2, 2012)
Collection: Night & Demons by David Drake (Baen, Oct 2) — Drake’s first collection since 2007’s Balefires has some overlap, but also a few stories not appearing since their first publication (“Codex”, “Dragon, The Book”, “The Waiting Bullet”, “The Land Toward Sunset”), and considerable new words in the form of story introductions

TWO WEEKS (Oct 9):

The Hydrogen Sonata (Culture, #10) by Iain M. Banks (Orbit and Hachette Audio, Oct 9)
The Indigo Pheasant (Longing for Yount Volume 2) by Daniel A. Rabuzzi (ChiZine, Oct 9) — follow-up to 2009’s The Choir Boats — “London 1817. Maggie Collins, born into slavery in Maryland, whose mathematical genius and strength of mind can match those of a goddess, must build the world’s most powerful and sophisticated machine - to free the lost land of Yount from the fallen angel Strix Tender Wurm.”
Anthology: After (Nineteen Stories of Apocalypse and Dystopia) by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling (Hyperion, Oct 9, 2012)
Non-Fiction: Angela Carter: New Critical Readings by Sonya Andermahr and Lawrence Phillips (Oct 11, 2012)

THREE WEEKS (Oct 16):

Only Superhuman by Christopher L. Bennett (Tor, Oct 16) — “2107 AD: A generation ago, Earth and the cislunar colonies banned genetic and cybernetic modifications. But out in the Asteroid Belt, anything goes. Dozens of flourishing space habitats are spawning exotic new societies and strange new varieties of humans. It’s a volatile situation that threatens the peace and stability of the entire solar system.”
The Twelve (The Passage, #2) by Justin Cronin (Ballantine, Oct 16) — sequel to The Twelve — coming to audio from Random House Audio
Bowl of Heaven by Gregory Benford and Larry Niven (Tor, Oct 16, 2012)
Father Gaetano’s Puppet Catechism by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden (St. Martin’s Press and Brilliance Audio, Oct 16)
The Walking Dead: The Road to Woodbury — The Walking Dead Series (#2 of 3) by Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga, Read by Fred Berman (Macmillan Audio, Oct 16)
The Fifty Year Sword by Mark Z. Danielewski (Pantheon, Oct 16, 2012) — originally released only in the Netherlands as a very, very limited edition, coming to the US in a new edition

FOUR WEEKS (Oct 23):

Red Country by Joe Abercrombie (Orbit, Oct 23) — “Shy South hoped to bury her bloody past and ride away smiling, but she’ll have to sharpen up some bad old ways to get her family back, and she’s not a woman to flinch from what needs doing. She sets off in pursuit with only a pair of oxen and her cowardly old step father Lamb for company. But it turns out Lamb’s buried a bloody past of his own. And out in the lawless Far Country the past never stays buried.” (emphasis mine…)
Beautiful Redemption (A Beautiful Creatures Novel) By Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (October 23, Dreamscape/Hachette Audio) — “The stunning and bittersweet finale to the New York Times bestselling Beautiful Creatures series.”

FIVE WEEKS (Oct 30):

YA: Ruins by Orson Scott Card, from Brilliance Audio, simultaneously released with the hardcover from Simon Pulse — continuing the story of 2010’s Pathfinder (Simon Pulse, October 30)
Forge of Darkness by Steven Erikson — book one in a new prequel trilogy to Erikson’s Malazan series — published in print by Tor in September, forthcoming from Brilliance Audio which is also putting out the Malazan series in audio
Death’s Apprentice A Grimm City Novel By K.W. Jeter and Gareth Jefferson Jones (Thomas Dunne and Dreamscape Audio, Oct 30) — “Death’s young apprentice must stand on his own as he leads an uprising against the Devil.”
The Lion in Chains (A Foreworld Side Quest) by Mark Teppo (Brilliance Audio, Oct 30) — a “side quest” in the world of The Mongoliad
Kris Longknife: Furious by Mike Shepherd (Oct 30)
The Emperor’s Soul by Brandon Sanderson (Tachyon, Nov 1)

JUST ADDED TO THE LONG-RANGE CALENDAR:

Brimstone Angels: Lesser Evils: A Forgotten Realms Novel by Erin M. Evans (Dec 4, Wizards of the Coast) — “Well, I’m now behind on my own writing, because I couldn’t tear myself away from Lesser Evils. Then again, I’m only behind by a single day—because I really couldn’t tear myself away from Lesser Evils. If the next one’s not out until tomorrow, it’s still too far off. And if Evans is not already a name spoken of as part of the true Forgotten Realms pantheon, along with Kemp, Cunningham, and Salvatore, it can only be because she has fewer books out, and thus hasn’t reached everyone yet.” — Ari Marmell

Audiobook review: Welcome to Bordertown

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 14:14:00 -0400

Welcome to Bordertown: New Stories and Poems of the Borderlands
Edited by: Holly Black and Ellen Kushner
Performances by: MacLeod Andrews, Cassandra Campbell, Ellen Kushner, and Holly Black
Length: 18 hours and 8 minutes
Release date: 10 April 2012

Review by Dave Thompson: Bordertown Lives!

I feel in love with Welcome to Bordertown well before I actually read any of the stories. In her introduction, Terri Windling explains how Bordertown came to be: In the 80s, fantasy meant epic – primarily riffs on Tolkien, talking animals, and Sword and Sorcery. Windling was living in NYC, having conversations with writers and editors about mythology while punk music pounding at the bar stage. And when she was given the task of creating a shared world anthology, she had the idea to tap both a sense of rebellion and of tradition, and blend them into something different. Today, we call it Urban Fantasy, but at the time, it didn’t have a name, and it’s easy to forget how unique it was back then. [MORE:]

After a couple more introductions by editors Ellen Kushner and Holly Black (about thirty minutes all together), we learn that Bordertown disappeared 13 years ago (which is when the last collection came out), and nobody has seen it since. The collection opens up with Terri Windling and Ellen Kushner’s “Welcome to Bordertown” – which is easily my favorite story in this collection. It’s light, fun, and highly accessible, a story primarily about a boy whose older sister disappeared along with Bordertown thirteen years ago. When Bordertown is back, he hops in his pick-up truck to go find his now younger sister. His sister and a young Indian American also have viewpoints, and the fun that ensued between them had such an infectious sense of nostalgia and camaraderie, it made me want to jump in my own righteous mini-van, drive over to B-town, and stay up all night watching some bands and drinking them.

It’s not the only fun story in the collection. Cory Doctorow’s “Shannon’s Law” attempts to explore other worldly magic scientifically through a young, technical entrepreneur. Will Shetterly’s “The Sages of Elsewhere” finds Wolfboy – Bordertown’s most popular character (he probably appears in a cameo in at least half of these stories) – trying to make ends meet for he and his wife by keeping their bookstore afloat. And Tim Pratt’s “Our Stars, Our Selves,” follows a future rock star finding out what would happen if she got her wish. (I want to know: When does her album come out?)

The stories can also shift into a slightly darker tone, but perhaps with the exception of Janni Lee Simmer’s “Crossings,” the danger doesn’t feel terribly real or threatening. For example, “The Rowan Gentleman” by Cassandra Clare and Holly Black opens when a young woman stumbles into a theater and dies during a rehearsal. It’s a mystery filled with murder and the drug trade, and yet somehow, shades of The Scarlett Pimpernel and V for Vendetta, manages to be lots fun.

Nalo Hopkinson’s “Ours is the Prettiest” takes us on one of the strangest parades I’ve ever seen, with characters that depart from the typical Anglo-European/American cast, and some of the strangest events and creatures we see in this volume. Bordertown is a haven for outsiders – regardless of their nationality or sexual orientation.

Poetry is something I have very little experience with, but the poems and songs add a nice flavor to the collections as a whole, although I have to admit I wish the songs were actually put to music. At PodCastle, we had the privilege to run Amal El-Mohtar’s “Stairs in her Hair”, put to music, and it just doesn’t have the same power as a straight reading (no matter how good of a reader Cassandra Campbell is). Ellen Kushner read my favorite poem, Delia Sherman’s “The Wall,” which felt as if an NPR journalist had been sent to Bordertown to record different perspectives on it and Faerie. Neil Gaiman’s “A Song of The Song” is short and playful, and a nice set-up for the ending of the collection.

Charles de Lint’s “A Tangle of Green Men” is an interesting story to end the collection with because about 80% of it takes place outside of Bordertown. The first half is a love story that leads into a pilgrimage to Bordertown. I appreciated that this story featured a Native American protagonist, as well as a young blind character. Considering some of the difficulties Joey’s gone through, some of the outcomes and progressions felt a little too easy for me, but really, I guess that was the point. It also seems like it could very easily be the starting point of a larger story.

The performances by MacLeod Andrews and Cassandra Campbell are pretty impressive given the aforementioned diversity of the characters and stories. I’ve only experienced small doses of their work before, and wasn’t sure whether they’d be able to pull off all these different stories, but they do very good work here. (Kushner reads a couple poems and two introductions – I wish she’d been given the opportunity to read more, Black reads her introduction).

All in all, if you haven’t been to Bordertown before, I highly recommend the trip. It’s a strange, diverse place, and I hope it doesn’t take another thirteen years until we’re allowed to catch another ride there.

Table of Contents

Welcome to Bordertown, by Terri Windling & Ellen Kushner
Shannon’s Law, by Cory Doctorow
Cruel Sister (poem), by Patricia A. McKillip
Voice Like a Hole, by Catherynne M. Valente
Stairs in Her Hair (song*) - Amal El-Mohtar
Incunabulum, by Emma Bull
Run Back to the Border (song), by Steven Brust
Prince of Thirteen Days, by Alaya Dawn Johnson
The Sages of Elsewhere, by Will Shetterly
Soulja Grrrl: A Long Line Rap (song), by Jane Yolen
Crossings, by Janni Lee Simner
Lullabye: Night Song for a Halfie (song), by Jane Yolen
Our Stars, Our Selves, by Tim Pratt
Elf Blood, by Annette Curtis Klause
The Wall (poem), by Delia Sherman
Ours is the Prettiest, by Nalo Hopkinson
We Do Not Come in Peace, by Christopher Barzak
A Borderland Jump-Rope Rhyme (poem), by Jane Yolen
The Rowan Gentleman, by Cassandra Clare & Holly Black
The Song of the Song (song), by Neil Gaiman
A Tangle of Green Men, by Charles de Lint

——

Dave Thompson is the host and co-editor of PodCastle, the fantasy fiction audio magazine. His own fiction has been published by Bull Spec and Apex Magazine, among others. You can follow him on Twitter @krylyr.

Release Week: Nalo Hopkinson's Midnight Robber, and Libba Bray's The Diviners

Wed, 19 Sep 2012 09:58:00 -0400

The middle of September brings a few audiobooks of interest, but my first thoughts on the week are 1. that I was at first incredibly excited when I saw the new Tad Williams urban fantasy novel The Dirty Streets of Heaven: A Bobby Dollar Novel, Book 1 listed — but then it turned out I wasn’t logged in, so Audible was showing me titles not available in my country, and now I have only the horrible, awful knowledge that the audiobook I want to listen to exists, and yet cannot be sold to me. And 2. That my “seen but not heard” list below includes Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff as well as, more mysteriously to me, Steven Erikson’s Gardens of the Moon, which is out in physical media from Brilliance Audio. First world problems, I know. Still, a long-missing audiobook from Nalo Hopkinson and an anticipated new YA audiobook from Libba Bray make for a week worth listening to. Update: Via @MrsTad I have learned that the US audiobook is in production! Hooray!

My pick in adult sf/f releases this week is Midnight Robber By Nalo Hopkinson, Narrated by Robin Miles for Audible Frontiers. Published in 2000 by Aspect / Warner Books, the book was a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, and PKD Award, as well as a nominee for the James Tiptree, Jr. Award: “It’s Carnival time and the Caribbean-colonized planet of Toussaint is celebrating with music, dance, and pageantry. Masked “Midnight Robbers” waylay revelers with brandished weapons and spellbinding words. To young Tan-Tan, the Robber Queen is simply a favorite costume to wear at the festival - until her power-corrupted father commits an unforgiveable crime. Suddenly, both father and daughter are thrust into the brutal world of New Half-Way Tree. Here monstrous creatures from folklore are real, and the humans are violent outcasts in the wilds. Tan-Tan must reach into the heart of myth and become the Robber Queen herself. For only the Robber Queen’s legendary powers can save her life…and set her free.” Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins.

Meanwhile in the “Teen SF/F” listings is the latest from Libba Bray, with her own audio introduction. The Diviners is narrated by January LaVoy for Listening Library: “Evie O’Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City - and she is pos-i-tute-ly ecstatic. It’s 1926, and New York is filled with speakeasies, Ziegfeld girls, and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is that she has to live with her uncle Will and his unhealthy obsession with the occult. Evie worries her uncle will discover her darkest secret: a supernatural power that has only brought her trouble so far. But when the police find a murdered girl branded with a cryptic symbol and Will is called to the scene, Evie realizes her gift could help catch a serial killer.” Length: 18 hrs and 14 mins.

ALSO OUT TUESDAY:

The Well of Tears: A Novel By Roberta Trahan, Narrated by Simon Vance for Brilliance Audio (47North) — Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins — “More than five centuries after Camelot, a new king heralded by prophecy has appeared. As one of the last sorceresses of a dying order sworn to protect the new ruler at all costs, Alwen must answer a summons she thought she might never receive.”
The Curse: The Belador Code, Book 3 By Sherrilyn Kenyon and Dianna Love, Narrated by Holter Graham for AudioGO — Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
Red Hood’s Revenge By Jim C. Hines, Narrated by Carol Monda for Audible Frontiers — Length: 11 hrs
Flu: Flu Series, Book 1 By Wayne Simmons, Narrated by Michael Kramer for Tantor Audio — Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins — I normally wouldn’t have noted a new zombie novel I haven’t heard much about, but being narrated by Michael Kramer (The Wheel of Time, The Alloy of Law, …) will get my attention.
The Soddit: Or, Let’s Cash in Again By A. R. R. R. Roberts, Narrated by Mark Perry — Length: 4 hrs and 2 mins — you can probably guess what this is going for, without any particular map to Mordor…
Teen: The Raven Boys By Maggie Stiefvater, Narrated by Will Patton for Scholastic — Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins — “There are only two reasons a nonseer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love… or you killed him.”
Teen: The Crown of Embers: Fire and Thorns, Book 2 By Rae Carson, Narrated by Jennifer Ikeda for Recorded Books — Length: 11 hrs and 41 mins
Teen: What’s Left of Me: The Hybrid Chronicles, Book One By Kat Zhang, Narrated by Kim Mai Guest for Harper Audio — Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins — “Eva and Addie started out the same way as everyone else - two souls woven together in one body, taking turns controlling their movements as they learned how to walk, how to sing, how to dance. But as they grew, so did the worried whispers. Why aren’t they settling? Why isn’t one of them fading? The doctors ran tests, the neighbors shied away, and their parents begged for more time. Finally Addie was pronounced healthy and Eva was declared gone. Except, she wasn’t…”
Teen: Boneland: The Weirdstone Trilogy, Book 3 By Alan Garner, Narrated by Robert Powell for Naxos — Length: 4 hrs and 59 mins — “Boneland is Alan Garner’s continuation of the story thread which began in his first and enduringly popular fantasy children’s novel, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, published in 1960, it has never been out of print.”
Mystery/Thriller: Fallen Masters By John Edward, Narrated by Edoardo Ballerini — Length: 16 hrs and 14 mins — author Edward is an “internationally renowned psychic” of a book billed as a cross between The Shack and Angels and Demons.
Fiction: Winter of the World: The Century Trilogy, Book 2 By Ken Follett, Narrated by John Lee — Length: 31 hrs and 48 mins

EARLIER THIS WEEK:

Sirius By Olaf Stapledon, Narrated by Nigel Carrington for Audible Ltd — Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins
The Last Bastion of the Living: A Futuristic Zombie Novel By Rhiannon Frater, Narrated by Kristin Allison — Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
The Legacy of Heorot By Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Steven Barnes, Narrated by Tom Weiner for Blackstone Audio — Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
The Stepsister Scheme By Jim C. Hines, Narrated by Carol Monda for Audible Frontiers — Length: 11 hrs and 29 mins
Dracula Cha Cha Cha By Kim Newman, Narrated by William Gaminara for Audible Ltd — Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins — I think this is book 3 in Newman’s Anno Dracula series
Short: The Thing from Lover’s Lane By Nancy Collins, Narrated by Shandon Loring — Length: 1 hr and 2 mins — a Bram Stoker Award nominee

SEEN BUT NOT HEARD:

Collection: The Shape of the Final Dog and Other Stories by Hampton Fatcher (Penguin/Blue Rider Press, Sep 13) — “Collection of 12 stories by the writer best known as the co-screenwriter of Blade Runner.” (Locus Mag)
Collection: Engraved on the Eye by Saladin Ahmed (Ridan, Sep 13)
The slant hug o’ time by George Drury Smith (Kitsune Books, Sep 15, 2012)
Anthology: Tesseracts Sixteen: Parnassus Unbound edited by Mark Leslie (EDGE, Sep 15)
A Pretty Mouth by Molly Tanzer (Lazy Fascist Press, Sep 16) — “Re-Animator meets The Secret History in this Tale of Sex and Science”
Turing and Burroughs by Rudy Rucker (Transeal Books, Sep 16) — “What if Alan Turing, founder of the modern computer age, escaped assassination by the secret service to become the lover of Beat author William Burroughs? What if they mutated into giant shapeshifting slugs, fled the FBI, raised Burroughs’s wife from the dead, and tweaked the H-bombs of Los Alamos? A wild beatnik adventure, compulsively readable, hysterically funny, with insane warps and twists—and a bad attitude throughout.”
The Painted Alphabet: A Mythical Story of Bali by Diana Darling (Sep 16, 2012)
Midst Toil and Tribulation (Safehold) by David Weber (Tor, Sep 18)
Anthology: A Book of Horrors edited by Stephen Jones (Sep 18, St. Martin’s Griffin)
Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff (Thomas Dunne, Sep 18 — Tor UK, Sep 1) — via Patrick Rothfuss: “honestly, you had me at ‘Japanese Steampunk.’” No, literally, the Big Idea quote here is: “Telepathic samurai girls and griffins in a Japanese-inspired steampunk dystopia.” (This is the point where a sizable number of people say “Shut Up and Take My Money.”)
YA: Adaptation by Malinda Lo (Little, Brown, Sep 18)
Legends of the Dragonrealm: Shade by Richard A. Knaak (Gallery Books, Sep 18, 2012)
The World of Might and Magic: The Ashan Compendium (Dark) by Ubisoft (Sep 18, 2012) — “The “Heroes of Might and Magic” compendium is a lavishly illustrated, hardback guide to the world of Ashan, the setting for twenty-five years of Might and Magic games”
Non-fiction: Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit by Corey Olsen and The Art of the Hobbit by Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Sep 18)
Finding My Elegy: New and Selected Poems by Ursula K. Le Guin (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Sep 18)

NEXT WEEK (Sep 25):

Collection: Beautiful Sorrows by Mercedes M. Yardley (Shock Totem Press, Sep 22)
Alchemystic by Anton Strout (Ace, Sep 25) — Book One of The Spellmason Chronicles — “Alexandra Belarus is a struggling artist living in New York City, even though her family is rich in real estate, including a towering Gothic Gramercy Park building built by her great-great-grandfather. But the truth of her bloodline is revealed when she is attacked on the street and saved by an inhumanly powerful winged figure.”
Crown Thief by David Tallerman (Angry Robot, Sep 25) — sequel to the first book in this series which began earlier this year with Giant Thief
Dodger by Terry Pratchett (HarperCollins, Sep 25) — audio coming Oct 1 from Isis
The Wrong Goodbye by Chris F. Holm (Angry Robot, Sep 25) — sequel to Dead Harvest — “Because of his efforts to avert the Apocalypse, Sam Thornton has been given a second chance – provided he can stick to the straight-and-narrow.”
Bad Glass by Richard E. Gropp (Del Rey, Sep 25) — winner of the Del Rey/Suvudu Writing Contest from the author of the powerful 2011 short story “Filling up the Void” in Daily Science Fiction last year, here: “Something has happened in Spokane. The military has evacuated the city and locked it down.”
The Mongoliad: Book Two (The Foreworld Saga) by Neil Stephenson, Greg Bear, Mark Teppo, et al. (47North, Brilliance Audio, Sep 25)
The Heart of Matter (Odyssey One, Book 2) by Evan Currie (Sep 25, Brilliance Audio) — sequel to Into the Black
The Hallowed Ones by Laura Bickle (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Sep 25) — “Katie is on the verge of her Rumspringa, the time in Amish life when teenagers can get a taste of the real world. But the real world comes to her in this dystopian tale with a philosophical bent. Rumors of massive unrest on the “Outside” abound. Something murderous is out there. Amish elders make a rule: No one goes outside, and no outsiders come in.”
Fiction: The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling (Little, Brown, Sep 27)
Ecko Rising by Danie Ware (September 28th 2012 by Titan Books)
Collection: Don’t Pay Bad for Bad & Other Stories by Amos Tutuola (Cheeky Frawg, “late September”) — A selection of previously uncollected and rare tales by the Nigerian master storyteller. Blurbed by Nnedi Okorafor. Introduction by Tutuola’s son and afterword by Matthew Cheney. (E-book only.)
Space Is Just a Starry Night, a collection of short fiction by Tanith Lee (Aqueduct, September 2012)

TWO WEEKS (Oct 2):

The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There by Catherynne M. Valente (Feiwel & Friends, October 2, 2012)
Pirate Cinema by Cory Doctorow (Tor, Oct 2) — audio coming Oct 9 from Listening Library — “Trent McCauley is sixteen, brilliant, and obsessed with one thing: making movies on his computer by reassembling footage from popular films he downloads from the net. In the dystopian near-future Britain where Trent is growing up, this is more illegal than ever; the punishment for being caught three times is that your entire household’s access to the internet is cut off for a year, with no appeal.”
Ironskin (Ironskin, #1) by Tina Connolly (Tor, Oct 2) — audio coming narrrated by the wonderful Rosalyn Landor (Joan Slonczewski’s A Door Into Ocean)
This Book Is Full of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don’t Touch It by David Wong (St. Martin’s, Oct 2) — coming to audio from Brilliance Audio — sequel to John Dies at the End
The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde — out in print previously in the UK, coming Oct 2 from Brilliance Audio concurrent with the US print release.
Teen: The Suburban Strange by Nathan Kotecki (Houghton Mifflin, Oct 2)
Collection: Night & Demons by David Drake (Baen, Oct 2) — Drake’s first collection since 2007’s Balefires has some overlap, but also a few stories not appearing since their first publication (“Codex”, “Dragon, The Book”, “The Waiting Bullet”, “The Land Toward Sunset”), and considerable new words in the form of story introductions

THREE WEEKS (Oct 9):

The Hydrogen Sonata (Culture, #10) by Iain M. Banks (Orbit and Hachette Audio, Oct 9)
The Indigo Pheasant (Longing for Yount Volume 2) by Daniel A. Rabuzzi (ChiZine, Oct 9) — follow-up to 2009’s The Choir Boats — “London 1817. Maggie Collins, born into slavery in Maryland, whose mathematical genius and strength of mind can match those of a goddess, must build the world’s most powerful and sophisticated machine - to free the lost land of Yount from the fallen angel Strix Tender Wurm.”

FOUR WEEKS (Oct 16):

Only Superhuman by Christopher L. Bennett (Tor, Oct 16) — “2107 AD: A generation ago, Earth and the cislunar colonies banned genetic and cybernetic modifications. But out in the Asteroid Belt, anything goes. Dozens of flourishing space habitats are spawning exotic new societies and strange new varieties of humans. It’s a volatile situation that threatens the peace and stability of the entire solar system.”
The Twelve (The Passage, #2) by Justin Cronin (Ballantine, Oct 16) — sequel to The Twelve
Father Gaetano’s Puppet Catechism by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden (Brilliance Audio, Oct 16)

FIVE WEEKS (Oct 23):

Red Country by Joe Abercrombie (Orbit, Oct 23) — “Shy South hoped to bury her bloody past and ride away smiling, but she’ll have to sharpen up some bad old ways to get her family back, and she’s not a woman to flinch from what needs doing. She sets off in pursuit with only a pair of oxen and her cowardly old step father Lamb for company. But it turns out Lamb’s buried a bloody past of his own. And out in the lawless Far Country the past never stays buried.” (emphasis mine…)

SIX WEEKS (Oct 30):

YA: Ruins by Orson Scott Card, from Brilliance Audio, simultaneously released with the hardcover from Simon Pulse — continuing the story of 2010’s Pathfinder (Simon Pulse, October 30)
Forge of Darkness by Steven Erikson — book one in a new prequel trilogy to Erikson’s Malazan series — published in print by Tor in September, forthcoming from Brilliance Audio which is also putting out the Malazan series in audio
The Lion in Chains (A Foreworld Side Quest) by Mark Teppo (Brilliance Audio, Oct 30) — a “side quest” in the world of The Mongoliad
The Emperor’s Soul by Brandon Sanderson (Tachyon, Nov 1)

Interview: Tim Pratt, interviewed by Dave Thompson

Tue, 18 Sep 2012 22:35:00 -0400

Briarpatch By Tim Pratt
Narrated by Dave Thompson via ACX for Timothy Pratt c/o Curtis Brown, LTD
Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
Release Date: 08-27-12

Article and Interview by Dave Thompson

For the general public, Tim Pratt is one of the best kept secrets in fantasy fiction. I say this not just as someone who loves to read (and listen!) to Tim’s work, but as someone who who has bought his stories to be featured at PodCastle, a podcast run by Anna Scwhind and myself. Tim creates interesting characters who always feel real, and typically puts them in a world similar to ours, with several very subtle differences. At a young age, Tim discovered he could entertain himself with his own writing, and has never stopped, becoming quite prolific. He’s written and sold over a hundred short stories (it wouldn’t surprise me if by the time this is posted, it’ll be 200), and has written fifteen novels, including the Marla Mason books (as T.A. Pratt), and The Constantine Affliction as T. Aaron Payton.

A year ago, I got to read Tim Pratt’s incredible contemporary fantasy fiction novel Briarpatch. As soon as I started reading it, I completely fell in love. Also, I knew it was a story that my voice was a good fit for. I’d been curious about taking a shot at reading audiobooks for a couple years now, so I emailed Tim and asked him if there were any plans for an audiobook. This … maybe isn’t the best way to go about becoming an audiobook narrator. But I knew Tim and felt comfortable asking him, and I felt comfortable that if he didn’t like the idea, he’d tell me.

And so, this past summer, I spent just about every free moment I had recording Tim’s amazing book. (The recording process could probably be a whole other post.) [Editor’s note: Why yes, Dave, it could be a whole other post. Thanks for volunteering.] We used ACX, which was very easy to work with. When I turned everything in, I kept waiting for Tim to tell me that he wanted me to do something different (maybe even the whole thing). Instead, he told me how happy he was with it, and how much he liked some of the character voices. (Dave’s note: I am not Roy Dotrice or Jim Dale. I have a very minimalistic approach to reading, which is part of why I knew I could read this one.)

And now, the book is out! It’s even got a review! A positive one! People have bought it! Yay! I feel pretty lucky, to be completely honest, to have recorded Briarpatch at all, let alone as my first audiobook.

When I told Sam about all this, he suggested I interview myself about the process. Luckily, thus far, he’s settled for me interviewing author Tim Pratt, who is decidedly more interesting!

INTERVIEW:

Dave Thompson: Hey, Tim! Thanks so much for being willing to let me ask you some questions about Briarpatch! To start off, Briarpatch has a very American feel to it, and even alludes to the Br’er Rabbit/Uncle Remus stories. But Briarpatch is absolutely contemporary. What was it about those stories that influenced your novel? Were there any other influences?

Tim Pratt: I wouldn’t say it’s particularly American, as America is a place that contains vastnesses and multitudes; I grew up in the deep South, and now live in Berkeley CA, and despite a more-or-less common language and access to the same mass media, there are some striking cultural differences. Briarpatch is really very particularly Bay Area-an, about Oakland and to a lesser extent the East Bay in general and bits of San Francisco. I spent a lot of time walking around Oakland, and discovering all these little paths and parks and secret stairways and tunnels and fountains, and naturally began imagining that some of them would lead to even *more* secret worlds. That was the essential genesis of Briarpatch: to make literal and fantastic that sense that you might discover new worlds over the next ridge or up the next shaded stairway.

As for the Uncle Remus stories, they didn’t have a *lot* to do with it; I just liked the image of worlds tangled up together like a mess of thorns and briars, and so thought naturally of Brother Rabbit’s comfort in the briar patch, a place that would be disorienting and unpleasant for most people.

Other influences would include Tim Powers’s Last Call, another California contemporary fantasy (though his Southern California is different from Northern California in many ways); I thought of it often when writing my novel, and my character Arturo Glassini is a sort of sideways nod to the character Arky Mavranos from that book — a sidekick who has his own important journey to make.

Thompson: I know you’re a big Stephen King fan, and to some degree, reading Briarpatch made me think a lot about The Dark Tower - not so much the plot, but the way Stephen King used those books and characters and setting to tie a lot of his fiction together. With the worlds of Briarpatch, it seems like you have the potential to do the same thing. In fact, at times I thought I recognized settings in the Briarpatch that connected to some of your short stories, and even your Marla Mason books. Are there connections between these worlds, or is this just me being overly excitable? I could really geek out here, but I’d like to hear your thoughts before I embarrass myself!

Pratt: Yeah, I do admire the whole multiverse thing, and sometimes feel the same impulse to connect my fictional universes that King apparently feels. Characters from my short stories often pop up in my novels, and vice versa. Still, there are some of my fictional worlds that are essentially irreconcilable — the superhero stories like Captain Fantasy and the Secret Masters obviously don’t take place in the same universe as my Marla Mason urban fantasy books, and the world of The Nex is likewise it’s own reality, and many of my short stories are set in their own imaginary worlds. But Briarpatch is potentially a way to connect even those mutually-exclusive worlds — they all exist, somewhere in the Briarpatch; some are just more *plausible* than others. But all could, in theory, be reached from any other.

Whether I’ll actually do anything with all that potential connectivity is a different question. It’s possible to make things too neat, after all, and too much multiverse-crossover stuff can have the unhappy effect of making those fictional worlds seem too small, cozy, and constrained, instead of weird and sprawling. I don’t imagine myself doing a crossover (Marla Mason and Captain Fantasy battle Ismael Plenty!) any time soon. I’m not averse to jumping the shark, necessarily, but I don’t want to jump so far over the shark that you can’t even *see* the shark anymore.

Thompson: One of the things that I love about your work is how human the characters are - they all have their own personal motivations, they are all the heroes in their own personal stories, and even if you don’t like some of them, you can sympathize with them. Did you have any particular favorites? Were some of them harder to write than others? And do you see yourself returning to some of these characters or this story at some point in the future? (You know, in a less-vaguey Roland totally got a call out in Hearts of Atlantis-type way?)

Pratt: I love a lot of the people in this book, I have to say. Orville Troll and Bridget’s story is delightful to me. Arturo is great, especially his scenes with Echo. And as far as loathsome villains go, Echo is one of my favorites. Ismael’s exothermic weariness was fun to write. I despise Nicholas — he’s simply a traitorous little shit, with very little to redeem him, a small man with small ambitions, whereas Echo is at least MAJESTIC in her villainy.

Darrin is actually the character I found the most slippery to write, mostly because his essential quality is that he’s a seeker, a searcher — for Bridget, for his origins, for a purpose in life.

We might see Echo again. She’ll get bored with being a queen eventually, and who knows what damage she’ll cause after that?

Thompson:A lot of your short fiction has been podcasted, either at the Escape Artists Trifecta, and also The Drabblecast. Some authors seem hesitant about podcasting and Creative Commons. What do you appreciate about it? Has having your worked podcasted benefited you at all?

Pratt: Oh, I don’t know that it’s benefited me, apart from reaching tens of thousands of new listeners/readers… :)

Not a month goes by that I don’t get fan mail from someone who discovered my work via podcast. They have been wonderful and awesome and I owe a fair bit of my success to them, I suspect.

Besides, the podcasts pay, and since I sell them a lot of reprints, they pay me for doing zero new work. As a writer, getting paid again for something you already did is always lovely. I’ve also had the opportunity to do some audio originals, though, which is fun — it forces me to think about writing specifically for that audio medium. I think I’ve done a couple of audio original stories that would work much less well in print (like “Origin Story.”)

Thompson :Let’s talk about Marla Mason for a minute. Originally, you wrote four books in this series that were published by Bantam Spectra. Then the series ended, and you decided to self-publish the next volume. You’ve now done three additional Marla Mason novels on your own, via your website and most recently Kickstarter, and you’re planning to do at least one more. I’m not even sure how many short stories there are in her universe, but there’s a lot! What are the big differences between the processes? Have you been surprised at how the series continues to grow and expand? And what do you think the fan-base loves so much about Marla?

Pratt: The biggest difference in the process, now that I’m self-publishing, is that I have to do a lot more than just write a book; for one thing, I have to create various rewards — chapbooks, limited editions, creating my own e-books, etc. — to thank the donors who support my work directly. (They are awesome amazing people and I love them for letting me continue to write about these characters.) Commissioning cover art. Finding proofreaders. Etc. Fortunately I do print publishing layout and digital conversion at my day job all the time, so I have the skills. I’ve also been lucky to partner with John Teehan of Merry Blacksmith Press for the past couple of books — he produces the print editions, I handle the e-books. He’s a much better book designer than I am, so it works out well for everyone.

For the new books I serialized them online, and sometimes I was only writing chapters a week or so ahead of time. That was an interesting experience — working live without a net, making adjustments on the fly. For the most recent novel, Grim Tides, I wrote the whole book before I started serializing it, though, which was… rather more restful. I think I prefer that approach. There’s an energy to serializing live, but it comes at the cost of *expending* a lot of energy!

I was fortunate, for the first four books, to work with the marvelous editor Juliet Ulman, who taught me a *ton* about how to construct novels. So I feel like I have a handle, pretty much, on how to tell the stories I want to tell about Marla. And I have first readers who are willing to tell me when I screw something up, and copyeditors and proofreaders to keep me from making too many big egregious mistakes.And I do owe Random House for building my audience . Without their support early on, and the great distribution they had for the first four books, the series wouldn’t be a success — they’re the reason people heard about the series in the first place, mostly.

As for why people love Marla, I’m not sure. I love her because she DOES STUFF. She doesn’t brood or dither. Her greatest strength is also her greatest weakness: she refuses to admit defeat, and she just. never. stops. She also tends to have very little distance between thought and deed, which makes her a fun character to write. When a plan of action occurs to her, she follows it, immediately. She’s great at tactics. Not so great at strategy. And she’s amusingly foul-mouthed.

Thompson: Okay, okay. That’s enough about Marla. You did the audiobook of Briarpatch through ACX. What did you like about ACX - did it give you anything audiobook companies couldn’t?

Pratt: Hell, Dave, you tell me! I didn’t have to do much, apart from approve the chapters you uploaded. It is kind of cool being able to pick my own narrators, create my own cover art, etc. We’ll see if it’s successful. The whole self-publishing audiobooks thing is very much an experiment, and I’m eager to see how it turns out.

Thompson: What can readers and listeners expect next from you, both in text and audio?

Pratt: I just published a gonzo-historical/steampunk novel, The Constantine Affliction, under the name T. Aaron Payton (and we’re in talks with an audiobook publisher about producing that one).

I did a Kickstarter for my third story collection, Antiquities and Tangibles (the first two were traditionally published with small presses, but I figured I’d give crowdfunding a try this time; wow, it went well). That will be out in late 2012, if all goes well.

In late 2013 an anthology I co-edited with Melissa Marr, called Rags and Bones, will be coming out. It’s got stories by Kelley Armstrong, Holly Black, Carrie Ryan, Gene Wolfe, Neil Gaiman, Garth Nix, and more, and is very awesome.

Looking way ahead to 2014, I should have a fantasy novella called The Deep Woods coming out from PS Publishing. And there’s another Pathfinder Tales novel or two in the pipeline, probably another Marla Mason novel (tentatively titled Bride of Death), always new stories coming out from various places… Oh, you know. I keep busy.

Thompson: Glad to see you aren’t slowing down, Tim! Thanks very much for taking the time to do this!

Bonus! A short sampling of Tim Pratt’s short stories in audio:

The Secret Beach (A short, surprising contemporary fantasy, read by me!)
Fable from a Cage (A short, surprising, non-contemporary fantasy read by me! I don’t think in general I’ve got the best voice for more tradition Epic/S&S fantasy, but when I read this one, I knew I wanted to record it.)
Cup and Table (Not read by me, but easily one of my absolute favoritist short stories ever. The epitome of cool.)
Impossible Dreams (Also not read by me, but this is a sweet, charming story that won Pratt a Hugo several years ago. If you like movies, check this one out.)

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wanderlane: Art for AlphaBooks! Quentin Coldwater, from The...

Wed, 12 Sep 2012 15:55:21 -0400

wanderlane:

Art for AlphaBooks!

Quentin Coldwater, from The Magicians by Lev Grossman. Art by Andrew Neal.

Commentary at wanderlane.com!

Dozens of free Audible titles through Amazon's Whispersync for Voice push

Wed, 12 Sep 2012 14:12:00 -0400

It seems pretty far fetched, but Audiobooker reports that as part of Amazon’s push of their new “Whispersync for Voice” feature for Kindle and Audible that it has made $500 of audiobooks free. I’ve tried it, it does work, though I had to finally connect my Audible account with my Amazon account. The 26 titles are classics, including Frankenstein, The Wizard of Oz, Gulliver’s Travels, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, etc. read by professional narrators like Simon Vance, Alan Cumming, Jim Dale, and more.

Update: There’s also a significant discount for buying the audiobook for other Kindle books. Some titles include free ebooks like Four-Day Planet and The Cosmic Computer by H. Beam Piper ($9.95 sale price audiobook) and A Princess of Mars by Burroughs ($1.49 sale price audiobook), as well as discounts on non-free ebooks such as A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness or The Hunger Games trilogy, the Hugo and Nebula winning Among Others, Jim Butcher’s Storm Front, American Gods, Michael J. Sullivan’s Riyria Revelations, The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss, Ready Player One, The Night Circus, Kevin Hearne’s Iron Druid Chronicles, Foundation by Isaac Asimov, … For the complete list of Whispersync-ready titles, you’ll have to brose 750 pages of 20 items, though the sf/fantasy section “only” lists 1500 titles.

Afternoon Reading: Neil Gaiman and Felicia Day help narrate an awesome new fantasy audiobook by Ellen Kushner(via @io9)

Wed, 12 Sep 2012 14:08:17 -0400

Afternoon Reading: Neil Gaiman and Felicia Day help narrate an awesome new fantasy audiobook by Ellen Kushner(via @io9):

ellenkushner:

victusinveritas:

“If you love clever, whimsical fantasy, you won’t want to miss the new audiobook version of Ellen Kushner’s novel The Privilege of the Sword. There’s nothing better than a Kushner novel on a long afternoon .”

Thank you! I loved getting to read my own work for posterity - and having Neil & Felicia in it was a real thrill … along with exalted audiobook stars like Katherine Kellgren & Barbara Rosenblat. Plus music by Nathanael Tronerud. It’s an amazing production, and I hope it finds love for all!