Author Topic: Help me fill 20 hours of drive time.  (Read 5414 times)

Gamercow

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on: March 27, 2012, 05:26:44 PM
So, in a couple of weeks, I will be driving 10+ hours to Virginia to attend a wedding, then I will drive 10+ hours back the day after.  The last time I had significant driving to do, I listened to the EscapePod archives, but I am fully caught up on EP and PC, and have no interest in Pseudopod.  Any suggestions out there for a good 20+ hours of something to listen to while driving?  I'm hesitant to join Audible because of the subscription thing, I don't need another one of those.  And I have no iDevices, and no iTunes. 

The cow says "Mooooooooo"


Devoted135

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Reply #1 on: March 27, 2012, 05:48:26 PM
I'm not sure if you already listen to the Dunesteef, but they have a significant backlog that could easily fill that time even if you skipped all of their "after chatter". (They run a sf/f/h story with a full audio production and then talk about whatever they feel like afterwards.)

Radiolab is another fantastic podcast with a huge backlog, and it sounds like you would like kibitzer's Cast of Wonders and eytanz's Journey Into... podcasts as well.

For free audio books I go to Librivox, though if there's a good way to browse their archives I have yet to find it.



olivaw

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Reply #2 on: March 27, 2012, 05:52:24 PM
Most of the podcasts I listen to come from the BBC.

Sadly they don't do much fiction, but there's a large range of factual stuff, and some comedy and music.

Perhaps the most notorious of these is In Our Time, in which the slightly stuffy presenter Melvyn Bragg talks with various academics about an eclectic range of ideas, events and people in considerable breadth.



indiecowgirl

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Reply #3 on: March 27, 2012, 11:04:00 PM
If you like radio dramas there is The Decoder Ring Theater.  They have 2 long running dramas the Red Panda or Black Jack Justice which are great.  Currently both are in their 7th seasons. All the episodes are available at  http://www.decoderringtheatre.com/index.php?id=shows

You can also find free, full length, no subscriptions required, submitted by their author audiobooks at http://www.podiobooks.com/

I have a 8 hour car ride at least once a month and the Escape Artists podcasts and these two sites keep me entertained.



Sgarre1

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Reply #4 on: March 27, 2012, 11:47:50 PM
If you want to experience the equivalent of ESCAPE POD from the late 1970s (although with less  varied readers, although with more varied stories - simply because he never figured he had to get rights) - Check out the hours and hours of MIND WEBS - I already explained it all in a previous post on these boards, so I'll just link to that:

http://forum.escapeartists.net/index.php?topic=4605.0



Umbrageofsnow

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Reply #5 on: March 28, 2012, 12:49:16 AM
You might already listen to it, but Clarkesworld is another excellent SF podcast with a pretty long backlog.

With Librivox, you really have to know what authors to search for, and I'd always recommend listening to a few minutes before committing to a book.  The volunteer thing is great, but some books are just un-listenable.

I have personally enjoyed the Librivox reading of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "Lost World" and one or two of P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves books (can't remember which, and they aren't SF anyway, so not sure of your interest level.)



Bdoomed

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Reply #6 on: March 28, 2012, 04:37:50 AM
Every Radiolab ever

I'd like to hear my options, so I could weigh them, what do you say?
Five pounds?  Six pounds? Seven pounds?


Talia

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Reply #7 on: March 28, 2012, 03:55:11 PM
StarShipSofa has many lengthier episodes that would work well for such a car trip (although it's not all fiction, and not all the articles they run there of interest to me personally).

Also, let me recommend poking around Podiobooks.com. LOTS of free fiction, and although some of it is pretty terrible, some of it is great.

A couple of my favorites (which you may or may not have already heard, these have been around for a while)

Quarter Share by Nathan Lowell. There's a whole series of these books if you like the first one.

Guild of the Cowry Catchers by Abbie Hilton - Full cast fantasy (including at least one voice you'll recognize...) with sound effects and music.  It's the first book in a series that I pimp at every opportunity because the production and writing, to my mind, are EXCELLENT. Love it so very much.




Swamp

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Reply #8 on: March 28, 2012, 07:43:29 PM
it sounds like you would like kibitzer's Cast of Wonders and eytanz's Journey Into... podcasts as well.

I'll take credit (good and bad) for the Journey Into...  podcast  :)  I'm only up to 31 episodes, but I that might help with part of your trip.

If you want to experience the equivalent of ESCAPE POD from the late 1970s (although with less  varied readers, although with more varied stories - simply because he never figured he had to get rights) - Check out the hours and hours of MIND WEBS - I already explained it all in a previous post on these boards, so I'll just link to that:

http://forum.escapeartists.net/index.php?topic=4605.0

I missed this link when you first posted it.  Looking at the episode list, it looks amazing.  I will definately be listening.  Thanks for the tip, Sgarre1!

Facehuggers don't have heads!

Come with me and Journey Into... another fun podcast


Sgarre1

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Reply #9 on: March 28, 2012, 09:55:53 PM
No problem.  I'd love to hunt down Michael Hansen and get him to read for us (I guess I'd like to interview him as well, but that's more ESCAPE POD's area).

I think 3 of the episodes are of pretty dodgy quality (I remember at least two I had to listen to on the computer with the EQ tweaked out).  The variety is astounding - space opera, twist endings, P.K.Dickian mind-fucks, hard sf, gentle fantasy, philosophical ramblings, pulp, hippie sci-fi, character studies, even the occasional horror piece...  something to entertain (and annoy) everyone!



danooli

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Reply #10 on: March 29, 2012, 01:00:34 AM
http://www.loudlit.org/works/hfinn.htm


free Huck Finn.  Awesome narration.

(you can get it on itunes too...)



Devoted135

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Reply #11 on: March 29, 2012, 01:40:56 PM
it sounds like you would like kibitzer's Cast of Wonders and eytanz's Journey Into... podcasts as well.

I'll take credit (good and bad) for the Journey Into...  podcast  :)  I'm only up to 31 episodes, but I that might help with part of your trip.



Oh gosh, I'm so sorry Swamp! I wrote that from memory and clearly my brain was acting up that day. :-[



Fenrix

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Reply #12 on: April 24, 2012, 05:35:34 PM
You could cover about three hours right now with toastedcake.com, possibly four.

All cat stories start with this statement: “My mother, who was the first cat, told me this...”


DKT

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Reply #13 on: April 24, 2012, 05:53:56 PM
The Classic Tales podcast is doing Tom Sawyer for free.

This American Life is my favorite non-SF/F/Horror podcast.

And I heartily endorse what others have said: Drabblecast, Journey Into..., Cast of Wonders, Clarkesword, and Dunesteef. (Has anyone mentioned Lightspeed, yet? If not, well, them too!)


Fenrix

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Reply #14 on: April 24, 2012, 10:14:19 PM
There's also The Tolkien Professor which has some interesting content. I really liked his full analysis of The Hobbit. In anticipation of the movie this coming winter, he's participating in a series speculating about the niggling details of the upcoming film.

I am working through the lecture series on the Silmarillion, and it's still good but the production is of a college lecture series, so background noise and student participation impair the quality.


All cat stories start with this statement: “My mother, who was the first cat, told me this...”


Gamercow

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Reply #15 on: May 10, 2012, 02:23:48 PM
I ended up listening to "Lets Pretend This Never Happened" by the always hilarious Jenny Lawson, and "Heaven", "Hell", and most of "Earth", by our Mur Lafferty.  LPTNH was incredibly funny, and the first two books by Mur were excellently written and quite interesting.  Then in "Earth", the characters seemed to change on a very fundamental level, and become very unlikable to me.  Finished trip about 2/3 of the way through, and haven't bothered going back yet. 

Thank you all for the suggestions, I now have a huge list of stuff to get through whenever I have the time.

The cow says "Mooooooooo"


Devoted135

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Reply #16 on: May 15, 2012, 02:57:15 AM
Guild of the Cowry Catchers by Abbie Hilton - Full cast fantasy (including at least one voice you'll recognize...) with sound effects and music.  It's the first book in a series that I pimp at every opportunity because the production and writing, to my mind, are EXCELLENT. Love it so very much.

Talia, I listened to Prophet of Panamindorah and really liked it! I've subscribed to her Cowry Catchers feed, but it looks like only 3 of 5 books have been released yet. Am I interpreting this correctly?



Talia

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Reply #17 on: May 15, 2012, 03:05:24 AM
Guild of the Cowry Catchers by Abbie Hilton - Full cast fantasy (including at least one voice you'll recognize...) with sound effects and music.  It's the first book in a series that I pimp at every opportunity because the production and writing, to my mind, are EXCELLENT. Love it so very much.

Talia, I listened to Prophet of Panamindorah and really liked it! I've subscribed to her Cowry Catchers feed, but it looks like only 3 of 5 books have been released yet. Am I interpreting this correctly?

Yep, that's right. Book four should be out before TOO much longer, I imagine, though.



Devoted135

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Reply #18 on: May 15, 2012, 01:37:53 PM
Guild of the Cowry Catchers by Abbie Hilton - Full cast fantasy (including at least one voice you'll recognize...) with sound effects and music.  It's the first book in a series that I pimp at every opportunity because the production and writing, to my mind, are EXCELLENT. Love it so very much.

Talia, I listened to Prophet of Panamindorah and really liked it! I've subscribed to her Cowry Catchers feed, but it looks like only 3 of 5 books have been released yet. Am I interpreting this correctly?

Yep, that's right. Book four should be out before TOO much longer, I imagine, though.

Okay, sounds great! Thanks! *waits pseudo-patiently for the next book to be released*