Audiobook Fix: Novellas from Audible Frontiers

As I’ve watched audiobooks climb in popularity over the past several years, I’ve wondered why short fiction hasn’t caught on more with listeners. Not short stories, generally, but rather novelettes and novellas, which, in my opinion, is where a lot of the best science fiction lives. On audio, most novelettes and novellas end […]

From the Podosphere: Escape Artists 2008 First Quarter Round-up

Before getting to this month’s reviews, I’d like to thank John Dodds for his care in piloting From the Podosphere since its inception. It’s a privilege to be taking over his excellent column.
In the coming months, I hope to highlight some diverse sources of short podcast fiction, but it can’t be denied that the […]

Audiobook Fix: Arthur C. Clarke

When I heard that Arthur C. Clarke had passed away, my reaction was probably the same as a lot of other fans. I wanted to read him again, right away. In one of his last interviews, he said that of all the things he did, he most wanted to be remembered as a […]

From the Podosphere: February 2008

Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver is a free podcast from BBC Radio 4. It’s a coming-of-age tale set in an unspecified prehistorical period. Young Torak’s father is viciously killed by a bear possessed by a demon. The boy is left alone in the ancient forest and sets out on an odyssey to a mystical mountain […]

Audiobook Fix: Audio Stross

Over the past several years, Allen Kaster and his crew at Infinivox have selected and produced consistently excellent short fiction in their Great Science Fiction series of audiobooks. Amongst their recent releases are three stories by Charles Stross: “Antibodies,” “Lobsters,” and “A Colder War.”
Charles Stross’s work is dense with tech information and […]

From the Podosphere: January ‘08

This month, From the Podosphere offers something other than the usual short story roundup: two audio dramas and one novella.
Podcast audio dramas, particularly genre work—which seems to be the majority of it—are like the bastard offspring of 50s and 60s radio serials, such as The Shadow and Sexton Blake, and audio space operas that were […]

Audiobook Fix: Wonder Audiobooks

Audible.com has recently added a bunch of short speculative fiction to its catalog. One of the more interesting new publishers there is Wonder Audiobooks, which produces unabridged versions of vintage genre fiction. Here are a few of the titles they offer:

“Fondly Fahrenheit” is Alfred Bester’s most famous short story, and it contains echoes […]

From the Podosphere: December ‘07 podcasts

Greg Van Eekhout’s “In the Late December,” read by Stephen Eley, is a good old-fashioned, sense-of-wonder, weird SF tale with a modernist twist. It seems that we are close to the end of all life in the universe, no less. Santa and his reindeer are still alive, as are some “children” scattered across different […]

From the Podosphere: November ‘07 podcasts

Before I talk about November’s batch of stories in Escape Pod, I want to put in good word for host, editor, and publisher, Stephen Eley. Eley’s introductions, his reflections and observations, philosophical musings, and snippets about his life, make for engaging listening, and the warmth and intelligence of his intros (and outros) give Escape […]

Audiobook Fix: WotF XXIII and A War of Gifts by Orson Scott Card

Audible.com is not new to publishing audio short fiction. In 2003, they published audio “Best of 2002″ collections from Asimov’s, Analog, and Fantasy & Science Fiction magazines. They followed that up with a whole year of Fantasy & Science Fiction audio goodness. Here in 2007, Audible offers another innovative audio collection: L. […]