Escape Artists
Escape Pod => Science Fiction Discussion => Topic started by: CGFxColONeill on February 25, 2008, 04:11:31 AM
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What are some good audio books
I drive for about 7 to 8 hrs a week so I have a lot of time to listen so I want some recommendations
thanks in advance for the input
also links would be appreciated
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I haven't got time to make specific suggestions, but you could do worse than trying PodioBooks (http://www.podiobooks.com/).
Plenty of stuff there, and you choose what to pay, if anything. Most of the books are available serially or can be downloaded all at once, depending on how you want to receive them.
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What are some good audio books
I drive for about 7 to 8 hrs a week so I have a lot of time to listen so I want some recommendations
thanks in advance for the input
also links would be appreciated
I used to drive from Seattle to Portland and back every week, and I started by checking out the library. After trying a couple that were available right there, I started seeking out CD books by authors I already like (King's "Dark Tower" series, Gaiman's American Gods and Anansi Boys to name a few examples), and looking for SF in general, and ordering them into my local branch.
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ya podiobooks is good I have some of their stuff ( arewn was really good I thought)
thanks for the tip on the library also
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I recently finished some stuff at Podiobooks.com (Star Surgeon, Badge of Infamy, Taken Liberty) that led me to Prometheus Radio Theatre, where I've been working through the other Arbiter Chronicles episodes.
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If you get CDs from the library, you can use iTune to put them on your iPod. Then you have the best of both worlds. If you're a good boy and erase them after you listen to them, you're not even doing anything illegal.
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If you get CDs from the library, you can use iTune to put them on your iPod. Then you have the best of both worlds. If you're a good boy and erase them after you listen to them, you're not even doing anything illegal.
That depends on where you live, actually. I think that in the UK, for instance, it's illegal to make electronic copies of anything you borrow from a library, whether or not you keep it.
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If you get CDs from the library, you can use iTune to put them on your iPod. Then you have the best of both worlds. If you're a good boy and erase them after you listen to them, you're not even doing anything illegal.
ya as I understand it here in OK where I live it is legal to change format of media as long as you have it in your possession
as long as you get rid of it when you return it
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From podiobooks.com I really enjoyed Singularity (http://www.podiobooks.com/title/singularity), by Bill DeSmedt.
Also the "Golden Age of the Solar Clipper" trilogy - Quarter Share (http://www.podiobooks.com/title/quarter-share), Half Share (http://www.podiobooks.com/title/half-share), and Full Share (http://www.podiobooks.com/title/full-share), by Nathan Lowell. The POV character might be a bit too much of a Wesley Crusher, but it kept me engaged.
Brave Men Run (http://www.podiobooks.com/title/brave-men-run) by Matthew Wayne Selznick. Sort of a "Breakfast Club" meets young X-Men
The Plitone Revisionist (http://www.podiobooks.com/title/the-plitone-revisionist) was an entertaining sort of space opera.
People go on about Earthcore (http://www.podiobooks.com/title/earthcore), but I couldn't make it past episode three. Just didn't do it for me, but I might go back to it a couple of months from now.
If you like the classics, there's always Librivox (http://librivox.org/newcatalog/search.php?title=&author=&status=complete&action=Search), if you don't mind that some of them have uneven recording and reading quality. All from public domain texts, usually pre-dating 1923, but there are a few PD SF works that were originally published in pulps.
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The blog www.freelistens.blogspot.com (http://www.freelistens.blogspot.com) reviews freely downloadable audiobooks. My recommendations are all there.
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Librivox.org has a huge selection of free downloadable audiobooks, but the recording quality is hit and miss.
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You can't go wrong with any of Neil Gaiman's audiobooks - especially the ones he reads himself!
Although it costs some money, I have become addicted to Audible.com and highly recommend trying it out. At the very least you can get a free book through many of the podcast's that they sponsor (such as TWIT, Macbreak Weekly, and the Maccast to name but a few).
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You can't go wrong with any of Neil Gaiman's audiobooks - especially the ones he reads himself!
Seconded. Fragile Things and Coraline are read very nicely by Gaiman; I'm also fond of George Guidall's reading of American Gods (the first book I heard read by Guidall, who also does right by Herbert's Dune and Shelley's Frankenstein.)
But the high-water mark in Gaiman's audiobooks is set by Lenny Henry's reading of Anansi Boys.
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You can't go wrong with any of Neil Gaiman's audiobooks - especially the ones he reads himself!
I certainly enjoyed his Hugo-nominated short story How To Talk To Girls At Parties (http://www.neilgaiman.com/p/Cool%20Stuff/Short%20Stories/How%20To%20Talk%20To%20Girls%20At%20Parties) (free mp3 download).
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I certainly enjoyed [Neil Gaiman's] Hugo-nominated short story How To Talk To Girls At Parties (http://www.neilgaiman.com/p/Cool%20Stuff/Short%20Stories/How%20To%20Talk%20To%20Girls%20At%20Parties) (free mp3 download).
Also available in Fragile Things. I wonder if the download is the same reading as on the audiobook?
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If he's got a free audio version, why couldn't Escape Pod run it along with their other Hugo noms?
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I'm pretty sure I remember hearing that an offer was made, but that it wasn't accepted.
I'd imagine it has to do with, as you said, there already being an audio version of the story read by Neil himself. (Who else would you get to follow up Neil?) Still, that seems like kind of a funny reason for an author to not get it out to a group of people who haven't heard/read the story.
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Neil Gaiman's A Study in Emerald is available as a free audiobook. If you are looking for non-fic, I'd heartily recommend Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything. It's a great book that traces a broad circle about what we know, scientifically speaking, and also chronicles the history of the sciences themselves. It's an absolutely riveting piece of writing that balances humor with insight.
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Bad_Andy...you have a link for the Gaiman story? Or is it just on his website?
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Bad_Andy...you have a link for the Gaiman story? Or is it just on his website?
I found it at BoingBoing: http://www.boingboing.net/2008/01/26/gaimans-cthulusherlo.html (http://www.boingboing.net/2008/01/26/gaimans-cthulusherlo.html)
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I certainly enjoyed [Neil Gaiman's] Hugo-nominated short story How To Talk To Girls At Parties (http://www.neilgaiman.com/p/Cool%20Stuff/Short%20Stories/How%20To%20Talk%20To%20Girls%20At%20Parties) (free mp3 download).
Also available in Fragile Things. I wonder if the download is the same reading as on the audiobook?
It is the same version.
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Thanks!
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Walter Mosley put out a rather wonderful little sci fi novel called 'The Wave,' which I enjoyed on a playable audio thing from the library (not a tape; the library near me rents out these one-book audiobook players now). Looks like it's also available as a download. I quite enjoyed it and thought it was neat he branched into sci fi.
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I have used Podiobook as well and can recommend many of the same books listed in previous posts. I also have listened to some of Scott Siglers work and find him entertaining if you don't mind the ads. One thing I do on my drives (4 to 5 hours ensconced in my F250) is to make my podcasts playlists, in this way you don't need to constantly play the next episode, it happens automagically.
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Plug for my site , where I'm (slowly) reviewing the back log of free audio books I've listened to.
http://freeaudioreview.blogspot.com
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Yippee some else looking for audio books also. I have bought so many from amazon recently but need also suggestions on what is a good listen. I find within 15 minutes if it hasn't grabbed me I am gone and I am daydreaming. But time flies if audio is brilliant.
Will read all the suggestion that have been put forward and will look up all reveiws on each of them.
Just downloaded the curse of Chalion by Lois Bujold that was suggested by a person who drives all the time in USA anyone listened to that one yet???
Barbara sydney Australia