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Across the Zodiac : The Story of a Wrecked Record

May 28, 2017anonradiolong-form, science fiction, spoken-wordpublius

Willy Ley encountered this Mars story in a German translation, and, failing to find the English original (possibly hampered by looking for it under the title Beyond the Zodiac, but Percy Greg was apparently a well-known English author), considered that it might be actually German. The confusion was not helped by the fact that author Greg presents himself as translating a found manuscript. Sam Moskowitz considers it the genesis of the Mars romance so characteristic of the early period of modern science fiction.

Continue reading Across the Zodiac : The Story of a Wrecked Record →

Armageddon 2419 AD

April 30, 2017anonradiolong-form, science fiction, spoken-wordpublius

This novel, by Philip Francis Nowlan, was edited together from two novelettes (one with the same title, the other entitled The Airlords of Han) which appeared in 1928—29. The first part, in fact, was published in the same issue of Amazing Stories as the first part of The Skylark of Space. And that’s why I’ve chosen to read it now, rather than later.

Continue reading Armageddon 2419 AD →

The Skylark of Space

April 2, 2017anonradiolong-form, science fiction, spoken-wordpublius

There is a sense in which Skylark is the science fiction novel. Its influence on the whole genre cannot be overstated. It launched the writing career of “Doc” Smith, and pioneered any number of things which became cliche later. As a result, I’m really pleased to have read it for you — and not at all pleased by the technical problems which left the recording sounding as though I was at the bottom of a well the whole time!

Continue reading The Skylark of Space →

Cosmos (and The Challenge from Beyond)

February 26, 2017anonradiolong-form, reading, science fiction, spoken-wordpublius

In 1933—34, a “round robin” novel, with each successive chapter by a different author, was published in the fanzines Science Fiction Digest & Fantasy Magazine. I first encountered the chapters by A. Merritt and Doc Smith in anthologies of their respective works. It so happens that Doc’s chapter is a direct sequel to Merritt’s, which made it obvious to see what was going on, & led me to suspect the existence of more stories. Continue reading Cosmos (and The Challenge from Beyond) →

The Moon Pool

February 5, 2017anonradiospoken-wordpublius

I have now recorded The Moon Pool, by Abraham Merritt. It was a gruelling effort, requiring more than 10 hours. But that means plenty of shows!

Recordings :

2017-02-17, HNtW 008, Foreword, Chapters 1—4 (no show on the 14th owing to my error)
2017-02-21, HNtW 009, Chapters 5—8
2017-02-24, HNtW 010, Chapters 9—11
2017-02-28, HNtW 011, Chapters 12—15
2017-03-03, HNtW 012, Chapters 16—18, plus introduction by Silverberg to U. of Nebraska Press edition
2017-03-07, HNtW 013, Chapters 19 & 20, plus New York Times book review
2017-03-10, HNtW 014, Chapters 21—23, plus beginning of Part 3 of Citadel of Lost Ships by Leigh Brackett
2017-03-14, HNtW 015, Chapters 24—26, and remainder of Citadel of Lost Ships Part 3.
2017-03-17, HNtW 016, Chapters 27—29, and a brief discussion of Auf Zwei Planeten by Kurd Lasswitz, courtesy of Willy Ley.
2017-03-21, HNtW 017, Chapters 30—33, and a brief discussion of the powers of two.
2017-03-24, HNtW 018, Chapters 34 & 35, concluding The Moon Pool, and Parts 4 & 5 of Citadel of Lost Ships, which thus also concludes.

Standard reminder to support these broadcasts if you enjoy them goes here.

A Princess of Mars

January 20, 2017anonradiolong-form, reading, science fiction, spoken-wordpublius

Archive links :

HNtW 001, 2017-01-20, Foreword, Chapters 1—4
HNtW 002, 2017-01-24, Chapters 5—9, plus the beginning of Part 1 of Citadel of Lost Ships by Leigh Brackett
HNtW 003, 2017-01-27, Chapters 10—13
HNtW 004, 2017-01-31, Chapters 14—16 and the remainder of Part 1 of Citadel of Lost Ships
HNtW 005, 2017-02-03, Chapters 17—20 and the beginning of Part 2 of Citadel of Lost Ships
HNtW 006, 2017-02-07 (repeated 2017-07-07), Chapters 21—23 and the conclusion of Part 2 of Citadel of Lost Ships
HNtW 007, 2017-02-10, Chapters 24—28 (complete) and the conclusion of Part 2 of Citadel of Lost Ships (repeated)

All these are .MP3 files, right on an hour long at 192 kbps (except for the first two, which were sent out at 128 owing to my own error), putting them right about 82 MB.

Standard reminder to support these broadcasts if you enjoy them goes here.

Hear Now the Words!

January 1, 2017anonradiolong-form, reading, show description, spoken-wordpublius

This is in the nature of an experiment, albeit one which is quite a long time in the making.

Having come up with the idea of “live-action audiobooks”, or live-streaming myself reading, I realized that the recordings I was making in the process could be edited & sent out later as audio transmissions. aNONradio seemed like an ideal venue for this, in no small part because of its archive feature.

This is, then, a long-form spoken-word program, consisting mostly of my reading of classic science-fiction novels. I hope you enjoy!

aNONradio timeslot : 15h UTC, Tuesdays and Fridays
Twitch streaming : typically 22h UTC, last Sunday of each month (but subject to change in light of my schedule — listen for announcements)
Patreon campaign : tip the storyteller, on a recurring monthly basis

Major works read so far :

A Princess of Mars, Edgar Rice Burroughs (shows 001—007)
The Moon Pool, Abraham Merritt (shows 008—018)
Cosmos, various authors, read as time permits rather than as a whole
The Skylark of Space, Edward Elmer “Doc” Smith (shows 021—028)
Armageddon 2419 AD, Philip Francis Nowlan (shows 029—034)

Shorter works read so far (as fillers, et cetera) :

Citadel of Lost Ships, Leigh Brackett (shows 002, 004, 005, 007, 014, 015, 018)
Shambleau, C.L. Moore (shows 038, 039)
Lorelei of the Red Mists, Leigh Brackett and Ray Bradbury (shows 040, 041, 042)

// aNONradio //

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