Category: Audio
- Anna Gregson - January 11th, 2010
This week the wonderful people at Podcastle, the audio fantasy fiction magazine, have brought us ‘Narcomancer’, a novelette from the very talented N.K. Jemisin. In the author’s own words,
“It’s set in a secondary world that consciously evokes ancient Egypt and Nubia. And the Jungian collective unconscious. And some other stuff.
Take a listen here, and if you like what you’re hearing, check out N. K. Jemisin’s debut fantasy novel, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (UK/US/ANZ), published next month.
Oh, and just a warning from the author about the podcast: ‘Rated R for smex and violence’. Now you’ll just have to check it out!
by Anna Gregson • Post a Comment • Posted in: All posts, Audio, Contents, Orbit Australia, Orbit UK, Orbit US
- Alex Lencicki - September 23rd, 2009
Apparently I am what is known as an Unreliable Narrator, though of course if you believe everything you’re told you deserve whatever you get.’
Iain M. Banks is back with TRANSITION, an apocalyptic fable for terrible times.
And starting today we’re serializing the abridged audio edition of TRANSITION on iTunes. Each Tuesday and Friday you can download a new chapter of the abridged edition for free.
“TRANSITION is a book that makes you think, one that makes you look at the world around you in a different light, and it’s also a properly thrilling read. If only more contemporary fiction was like it.” — The Independent
by Alex Lencicki • 1 Comment • Posted in: All posts, Audio, Orbit US, Uncategorized
- Alex Lencicki - September 21st, 2009
Artistic Whispers Productions has staged a wonderful full-cast reading of chapter one of Gail Carriger’s forthcoming SOULLESS. Listen to it here. And while you’re listening, explore the Victorian fashion of SOULLESS.
by Alex Lencicki • 1 Comment • Posted in: All posts, Audio, Orbit US, Uncategorized
- Darren Nash - July 15th, 2009
Following on from last week’s post about the publication of Saturn’s Children and Wireless, I see that the powers that be on the excellent SF podcast magazine, Escape Pod, have offered up their latest podcast and lo! it is none other than Charles Stross‘s ‘Rogue Farm’, which appears in the aforementioned Wireless.
So, point your iTunes, web browser or enslaved artificial intelligence at Escape Pod, and enjoy some free Strosstime: ‘Rogue Farm’, recorded at Balticon 43.
by Darren Nash • Post a Comment • Posted in: Audio, New Titles, Orbit Australia, Orbit UK
- Darren Nash - March 2nd, 2009
BBC Radio is currently running Sci-Fi Season on Radio 3, Radio 4 and Radio 7, a worthy endeavour of which we heartily approve! What’s more, we’re delighted to inform you that if you happen to be near one of those new-fangled wirelesses this Thursday at 2:15pm, you can listen to an adaptation of the wonderful Culture story The State of the Art by Iain M. Banks, starring, among others, Sir Antony Sher.
And in the unlikely event that you need an even bigger incentive, The State of the Art has been adapted for radio by Paul Cornell, who some of you may know from the adventures of a certain Time Lord, so on Thursday 5th March at 2:15pm, we trust you’ll all be tuning your dials to Radio 4.
by Darren Nash • 1 Comment • Posted in: All posts, Audio, News, Orbit UK
- Darren Turpin - November 28th, 2008
BBC Radio Drama producer Gemma Jenkins has been in touch to let us know about a brand new radio play, written by Orbit’s own Mike Carey, that will be aired on BBC Radio 7 in January.
The half-hour drama, entitled ‘Hide and Seek’, will be broadcast on Sunday January 25th as part of a weekly series of dark, unsettling pieces narrated by writer, actor and the BBC’s new ‘Man in Black’, Mark Gatiss (League of Gentlemen, Doctor Who).
The ‘Man in Black’ first appeared on BBC radio in the 1940s, delivering his chilling tales to spellbound listeners in ‘Appointment With Fear’. He returned in ‘Fear on 4′ in the ’70s and again in the late ’80s / early ’90s. Mark Gatiss takes up the dark mantle to tell five new stories, including Mike Carey’s.
Here’s how the BBC press release describes ‘Hide and Seek’:
Amelia Stowe lies confined to a bed, her eyes bandaged, while she recovers from an operation to remove a tumour from the visual cortex of her brain. With long days of recuperation stretching before her, she agrees to take part in an experiment conducted by one of the hospital psychiatrists, Dr Bewlay. He’s developed a method of unlocking and recording memories from very early childhood.
It’s the first night of the experiment and Amelia is sent into a deep hypnotic trance – conversations drift in and out of focus; fragments of long-forgotten nursery rhymes float to the surface but who does that voice belong to which keeps whispering through her mind, claiming to have found her and which, more frighteningly, is still there in the room when she wakes up?
I’m looking forward to that one. Sounds like ideal entertainment for a long, dark Sunday evening in January. Spread the word, fright fans, and we’ll put a reminder out on the site nearer the time.
by Darren Turpin • Post a Comment • Posted in: Audio, News, Orbit UK
- Darren Nash - September 16th, 2008
You say ‘to-MAY-to’ and I say ‘to-MAH-to’,
You say ‘shu-NAR-a’ and I say ‘SHAN-uh-ra’,
‘shu-NAR-a’ . . . ‘SHAN-uh-ra’,
‘shu-NAR-a’ . . . ‘SHAN-uh-ra’,
Let’s call the whole thing Geekspeak. . .
Behold! The Gods of Geek have seen fit to bestow upon me a brand new, super-shiny iPhone, and – lo! – I have become addicted to podcasts.
Hmm. So what does the above mock-portentous gibberish have to do with the ill-conceived George and Ira Gershwin pastiche that opened this blog post? I’m glad you asked! This morning on the train in to work, I passed the time standing up, plotting horrible deaths for the train company executives who can’t organise enough seats for paying customers listening to Terry Brooks discussing his career on Rick Kleffel’s excellent Agony Column podcast.
This particular episode is a ‘cast of Geekspeak, Santa Cruz public radio station KUSP’s live weekly show. Terry talks about how he got started as a writer, his Shannara series (the latest volume, The Gypsy Morph, is available now), Star Wars, writing the Episode One tie-in and a whole lot more.
Check it out here.
by Darren Nash • 2 Comments • Posted in: Audio, Contents, Interviews, New Titles, Orbit Australia, Orbit UK
- Darren Turpin - July 31st, 2008
Charles Stross features in the latest podcast from Rick Kleffel’s Agony Column, which is a recording of a Geekspeak interview that was broadcast on KUSP radio on Monday.
Rick and Charlie, along with Lyle Troxell and Sean Cleveland, talk about a wide range of topics, including Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein; two of the major literary influences on Charlie’s recently-released novel Saturn’s Children.
They then go on to discuss the building blocks of the milieu that Charlie explores in Saturn’s Children: artificial intelligence, a robotics-based and dehumanised future extension of human civilisation, interplanetary travel, space exploration (and the necessity for robotics therein), memory backups and personality duplication, the class-structure of robotic society in the book, the ethics of programming an artificial intelligence and a whole range of other great sf-nal subjects.
You can visit Rick Kleffel’s Trashotron site to read the intro to the podcast, and then download the MP3 file from a link in the text.
by Darren Turpin • Post a Comment • Posted in: Audio, Contents, Interviews, Orbit UK
- Darren Turpin - July 21st, 2008
Ken MacLeod is the subject of the latest podcast interview at www.scifidimensions.com.
The discussion ranges across a number of subjects, including Ken’s new novel, The Night Sessions, which we’re publishing in the UK next month, and his previous title, The Execution Channel, which we published in paperback back in March.
Interviewer John C Snider also discusses with Ken how it feels to be nominated for awards, his current thematic interest in writing near-future speculation with an alternate-history twist, Heim theory, Ken’s politics (and how his views affect his writing), new media, blogging, how The Night Sessions was (partly) inspired by a U2 video, and much more.
Download the full 40-minute podcast file by visiting www.scifidimensions.com.
by Darren Turpin • Post a Comment • Posted in: Audio, Interviews, Orbit UK
- Darren Turpin - July 18th, 2008
Former military intelligence officer turned military-sf writer Robert Buettner is the subject of the 47th Adventures in SciFi Publishing podcast.
The first three volumes in Robert’s Jason Wander series are out now from Orbit US and will all be published by Orbit UK in August:
- #1 – Orphanage [US / UK]
- #2 – Orphan’s Destiny [US / UK]
- #3 – Orphan’s Journey [US / UK]
I’ve just finished Orphanage myself and I thought it was a cracking, high-octane read that will definitely appeal to fans of Allan Cole & Chris Bunch’s Sten series, but don’t just take my word for it: check out these two recent reviews of Orphan’s Journey at bookreviewsandmore and sffworld.
by Darren Turpin • 1 Comment • Posted in: Audio, Commentary, Interviews, Orbit UK, Orbit US, Reviews
