Audible SF/F

World Fantasy Awards 2012 nominees announced

The nominees for the 2012 World Fantasy Awards have been announced, and all five of the novels on the final ballot are available in audio. Let me run them down for you:

Those Across the River, Christopher Buehlman (Ace) — Those Across the River, Narrated by Mark Bramhall for Penguin Audiobooks — Length:9 hrs and 5 mins — Release Date:09-06-11 — this is one that interested me last year, mainly due to my affection for Bramhall’s narration on Lev Grossman’s The Magicians, and reviewed fairly positively by Bob Reiss over at The Guilded Earlobe
11/22/63, Stephen King (Scribner; Hodder & Stoughton as 11.22.63) — 11-22-63: A Novel, Narrated by Craig Wasson for Simon & Schuster Audio — Length:30 hrs and 44 mins — Release Date:11-08-11 — warmly reviewed (once again, it’s Bob at The Guilded Earlobe)
A Dance with Dragons, George R.R. Martin (Bantam; Harper Voyager UK) — A Dance with Dragons: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book 5, Narrated by Roy Dotrice for Random House Audio — Series: Song of Ice and Fire, Book 5 — Length:49 hrs — Release Date:07-12-11 — ADwD made my top 10 list in sf/f audio last year
Osama, Lavie Tidhar (PS Publishing) — Osama, Narrated by Jeff Harding for Audible Ltd — Length:8 hrs and 27 mins — Release Date:05-14-12 — two reviews here at Audible SF/F, the first by Dave Thompson, the second in my May listening roundup
Among Others, Jo Walton (Tor) — Among Others, Narrated by Katherine Kellgren for Audible Frontiers — Length:10 hrs and 39 mins — Release Date:08-05-11 — a lovely audiobook, reviewed both here in my January roundup, and (of course!) by Bob over at The Guilded Earlobe

In the novella category, at least one of the stories is available in audio, as Silently and Very Fast, Catherynne M. Valente (WSFA Press; Clarkesworld) was podcast in three parts by the always-excellent Kate Baker at Clarkesworld.

In the short fiction category, “The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees”, E. Lily Yu (Clarkesworld 4/11) was podcast first at Clarkesworld, read by Kate Baker, and later re-podcast at Escape Pod, read by Mur Lafferty; and “The Paper Menagerie”, Ken Liu (F&SF 3-4/11) are available in audio, with Liu’s story first podcast at PodCastle read by Rajan Khanna, and later re-podcast (with the same narration) at Escape Pod. (A fun note is that for the PodCastle recording, PodCastle editor and host Dave Thompson provides the introduction; Audible SF/F readers may recognize Dave as a frequent contributor to the blog.)

Whew! I am quite a fan of the World Fantasy Awards. The juries there seem to really find beautiful, well-written books (Among Others certainly qualifies), whether those released to great, best-selling fanfare (Stephen King, GRRM), those released by mainstream imprints (Those Across the River perhaps deliberately avoids outright classifying itself as having fantastic elements), or books you won’t find in any US bookstore — at least not yet (Lavie Tidhar’s Osama). In past years, the award has recognized Lewis Shiner’s shimmering Glimpses and Nnedi Okorafor’s Who Fears Death, nominated Jeff VanderMeer’s Finch, Lauren Beukes’s Zoo City, Karen Lord’s Redemption in Indigo, and generally found the kinds of books that I love. If you’ve found yourself in sympathy with my thoughts on fiction and audiobooks here, I do urge you to check out these books, whether in print or in audio.

Listening Report: May 2012

April’s claim of 9 audiobooks was a bit of a “cheat”; I included the late Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 although I had actually read it in (very) early May. Here, things were going to again a bit stretched as it took a few days into June to finish the audiobook which took up most of my late May as well (Kim Stanley Robinson’s 2312) but hey, again, it’s my blog, I include what I want, when I want, right? So. Six audiobooks in May, several outstanding including J.M. McDermott’s Last Dragon, Lavie Tidhar’s Osama, and KSR’s 2312.

REVIEWS:

Audiobook review: Osama by Lavie Tidhar

Osama by Lavie Tidhar

Narrated by Jeff Harding for Audible Ltd

Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins

Release Date: 05-14-2012 [PS Publishing | Goodreads | Audible UK]

Review by Dave Thompson: “Life Isn’t a Pulp Novel”

Lavie Tidhar’s Osama is not an easy or light novel. However, it is a very thought provoking one, and I suspect it’s one that’s going to stay with me for a long time.

What if Osama bin Laden never existed? What if his acts of terror were confined solely to pulp novels, the kind that are published alongside pornography? That’s the Philip K. Dickian world the novel takes place in.

Joe is a private detective hired to find the author of the Osama bin Laden: Vigilante books. As he travels across the world attempting to track down the writer, the distance between Joe’s fictional world and the real world begins to dissipate. The normal detective stuff happens - attempts are made on his life, he’s told to drop the case, etc. But it gets really interesting when Joe comes into contact with “refugees” - people who seem fuzzy around the edges and appear to be trapped - and he begins to question the nature of the world he inhabits, and even of himself.

The novel asks a lot of questions about how we cope with horrible acts of violence through escapism fiction, the war on terror, about choices that we make, and classic Dickian themes like what is reality, and who we are.

For example, at “OsamaCon” — a convention dedicated to the books put on by enthusiastic fans, complete with fanzines — Joe meets some fans of the bin Laden books, and asks them what’s the draw. The couple responds by saying, “To read about these horrible things and know they never happened … and when you’re finished, you can put down the book and get on with your life. To know it’s fiction - pulp fiction … And that’s where all these terrible things should stay … in the pages of a book.”

The most difficult passages are those from the pulp novels - which turn out to be acts of terror that have occurred recently in our history. They’re gut-wrenching on so many different levels, and it’s difficult material to discuss and interact with it. Thankfully Tidhar’s writing doesn’t sensationalize it, and he handles it all with a certain amount of grace.

Jeff Harding gives a solid narration, but for some reason, it got off to a slow start and took a while for me to get completely invested in. That said, it’s worth sticking with. This is a book that’s lingered with me since I finished listening, and I’ll almost certainly reread at some point.

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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: Mark L. Van Name’s No Going Back and Lavie Tidhar’s Tel Aviv Dossier

May goes out fairly quietly in terms of raw numbers, but there are still two audiobooks I am pretty excited about, led for me by No Going Back: Jon & Lobo, Book 5 By Mark L. Van Name, Narrated by Tom Stechschulte for Audible Frontiers. Out concurrently with its print and e-book release from Baen, the book continues the Jon and Lobo series, which came to audio in one giant gulp last month. “Jon and Lobo are back–and everything is about to change. If they both survive. Haunted by memories of children he could not save, Jon Moore is so increasingly self-destructive that even his best friend, the hyper-intelligent Predator-Class Assault Vehicle, Lobo, is worried. When Jon risks meeting a woman from his distant past and undertakes a high-stakes mission, Lobo fears this will be their last. The job is illegal. They have to take on one of the oldest, most powerful men alive. Two different security forces are tracking them. And Jon is falling in love. Desperate and out of options on a world so inhospitable that its statues and monuments outnumber its living inhabitants, Jon and Lobo encounter their deadliest challenges yet. They must make decisions from which there truly is No Going Back.”

The second audiobook I’m most excited about this week is The Tel Aviv Dossier By Lavie Tidhar and Yir Yaniv, Narrated by Eric Meyers for Audible Ltd. Originally published in print by ChiZine in 2009, it’s the third of Tidhar’s books to come to audio after the mid-May release of his 2011 novel Osama and his novella An Occupation of Angels last year. Here’s the pitch for The Tel Aviv Dossier: “Through a city torn apart by violence they cannot comprehend, three disparate people: a documentary film-maker, a yeshiva student, and a psychotic fireman must try to survive, and try to find meaning - even if it means being lost themselves. As Tel Aviv is consumed, a strange mountain rises at the heart of the city and shows the outline of what may be another, alien world beyond. Can there be redemption there? Can the fevered rumours of a coming messiah be true? As the city loses contact with the outside world and closes in on itself, as the few surviving children play and scavenge in the ruins, can innocence survive? And is it possible for hope to spring amid such chaos?”

ALSO OUT TUESDAY:

For the third week in a row there are multiple major releases in the YA SF & F section, led by Railsea, a foray into a younger age category by the always brilliant China Mieville (Perdido Street Station, Embassytown, etc.). Narrated by Jonathan Cowley for Random House Audio, the audiobook comes in at just under 10 hours, and it also comes with heaps of praise for its ability to both engage younger audiences at a narrative level, with a world of trains and giant mole hunts, as well as offer a deeper reading with its references to Moby Dick and Mievillian critiques of power. It’s already bought, so it’s likely up next for me:

In adult sf/f and released Monday was another long-anticipated audiobook, Osama (2011) By Lavie Tidhar, which is narrated by Jeff Harding for Audible Ltd [Audible UK link here]:

“In a world without global terrorism Joe, a private detective, is hired by a mysterious woman to find a man: the obscure author of pulp fiction novels featuring one Osama Bin Laden: Vigilante…Joe’s quest to find the man takes him across the world, from the backwaters of Asia to the European Capitals of Paris and London, and as the mystery deepens around him there is one question he is trying hard not to ask: who is he, really, and how much of the books is fiction? Chased by unknown assailants, Joe’s identity slowly fragments as he discovers the shadowy world of the refugees, ghostly entities haunting the world in which he lives. Where do they come from? And what do they want? Joe knows how the story should end, but even he is not ready for the truths he’ll find in New York and, finally, on top a quiet hill above Kabul—nor for the choice he will at last have to make….”

Who likes this novel? Jeff VanderMeer, Christopher Priest, Paul Kincaid, theBSFA, the John W. Campbell Memorial Award jury, … I was very excited when Tidhar announced a multi-book audio rights deal with Audible, and Osama is here much, much sooner than I expected. Delightfully so! I am nearing the halfway point and am starting to put together my thoughts so far.

More! Thus far in 2012, Audible Frontiers has nearly every week produced a major author’s backlog in audio, and this week is another huge haul of audiobooks centered around a single author’s backlog as C. S. Friedman’s Magister Trilogy and Coldfire trilogy are both now out in audio, along with several standalone novels. (To toot my Bull Spec horn a bit here, I carry a review of Friedman’s Magister Trilogy along with an interview of the author by Dan Campbell in the current issue.) The Magister Trilogy is narrated by Elisabeth Rodgers, and comprises Feast of Souls: Magister Trilogy, Book 1 (2007), Wings of Wrath: Magister Trilogy, Book 2 (2009), and Legacy of Kings: Magister Trilogy, Book 3 (2011):

Meanwhile, the Coldfire Trilogy is read by R. C. Bray, and comprises Black Sun Rising: Coldfire Trilogy, Book 1 (1991), When True Night Falls: Coldfire Trilogy, Book 2 (1993), and Crown of Shadows: Coldfire Trilogy, Book 3 (1995), along with last week’s release of Dominion: A Coldfire Novella. Also new in audio are: The Madness Season (1990, Narrated by Jonathan Davis), This Alien Shore (1998, Narrated by Kathleen McInerney), and the Azean Empire novels In Conquest Born (1987, Narrated by Joe Barrett) and The Wilding (2004, Narrated by Marc Vietor).

ALSO NEW TUESDAY: