BRAIN PLUCKER

Archive for the ‘Audio’ Category

Here’s a reposting I did from the Science Fiction Oral History Association (SFOHA.org) website:

One of Science Fiction’s master short story writers, Phil Klass, passed away Sunday, February 7, 2010 at age 89. Phil Klass, who may be better known by the pseudonym William Tenn, wrote more than 60 SF stories. Connie Willis in her introduction to the book Immodest Proposals: The Complete Science Fiction of William Tenn, Volume 1
wrote:

Tenn’s stories are witty, clever, thought-provoking, ironic, intensely intelligent, touching, and hilarious. And too few and far between. Most of the stories in this collection were written in the fifties and sixties, and, until now, have been hard to find. I’m overjoyed that they will all be in print again and all in one place (though it’s also delightful to come across one in an anthology when you least expect it, and have him seduce or surprise or swindle you all over again), But I wish there were more of them.

He was named Author Emeritus by SFWA in 1999. Some of his more famous short stories (and this list is by no means complete) are:

• Brooklyn Project (1948)
• Venus and the Seven Sexes (1949)
• Down Among the Dead Men (1954)
• The Liberation of Earth (1953)
• Time in Advance (1956)

There is an excellent interview (well really it’s a monologue) with Phil Glass AKA William Tenn at Pulpnet.com. It was recorded at PulpCon 35 in 2006. Phil talks about working with John W. Campbell, Horace Gold and Fred Pohl among many others. He certainly had the gift of gab. If you feel saddened at his passing as I do, this recording will bring smile to your face.

Also there’s an another excellent interview from 2004 when he was on WNYC’s Spinning On Air. Which also has him reading his short story On Venus, Have We Got A Rabbi! [via: SFFaudio]

If you have any recordings of William Tenn, we’d love to post them here. Please contact us.

What classic SF audio drama actually adapted contemporary stories from great science fiction authors like:
Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Robert Sheckley, Robert Bloch, Fredric Brown, Ray Bradbury, Frederik Pohl, Fritz Leiber, and Philip K. Dick to name several? Well, that would be X Minus 1. The show started as Dimension X in 1950-51 for NBC Radio with stories adapted from Astounding Stories. But continued as X Minus 1 in 1955 and adapted their stories from Galaxy Science Fiction. There were also original scripts by George Lefferts & Ernest Kinoy which hold their own against the SF greats. There’s a total of 126 episodes.

The Flash Player below doesn’t show the playlist. There’s a better a one at Internet Archive. Plus, if you wish, you can download the shows there.

I’ve been digitizing some of the old cassettes in the SFOHA (Science Fiction Oral History Association) archive. I digitized an interview with Isaac Asimov from 1983. On the cassette case, scratchily written was “interviewed conducted by Bruce Coville“. I knew of a Bruce Coville who is a popular YA author and founder of Full Cast Audio. Could it be the same person? I sent an email to Bruce, and sure enough it is he. And he kindly granted SFOHA permission to post it online. The recording was to be transcribed to print, and it was recorded on a little recorder. The sound is okay considering all that. Isaac is little hard to hear sometimes, but overall quite understandable. So here it is:

via SFOHA:

This was an interview for a magazine that was conducted in Isaac Asimov’s New York apartment. Interestingly it was conducted by popular YA author, Bruce Coville in 1983 when he was … well, not as well known. Also taking part in the interview is photographer Bettina Cirone.

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[MP3]

I just posted a recording on the SFOHA site, though I’d share it hear. A couple of my heroes.

Here’s an interesting panel discussion with two Science Fiction Grand Masters, Frederik Pohl and Jack Williamson. They wrote some great books in collaboration with each other including the Starchild Trilogy and the under appreciated Saga of Cuckoo series. Fred Pohl collaborated with C.M. Kornbluth on the classic novel The Space Merchants as well as other novels and short stories. His most recent novel is a collaboration with the late Arthur C. Clarke called The Last Theorem. Jack Williamson passed away in 2006.

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MP3

“The Art, Science, and Combat of Collaboration.” ConFusion 14, Ann Arbor Inn, Ann Arbor, MI,
January, 1977.
Introduction by Jim Martin. Q&A.
Pohl and Williamson are veterans of collaboration with other authors–including a series of novels done with each other. They offer rare insights into an activity that seems more common in Science Fiction than with other types of literature. They also discuss problems in writing and in getting published.
51:00

Yesterday I posted a pretty cool recording at the SFOHA website. A true meeting of the minds.

What does the future look like from the past? This exciting program with three people that could not better represent the intelligentsia of futurism circa 1970. This recording is from a radio program called “Sound on Film”, a series on films and the people who make them. This episode is entitled “2001–Science Fiction or Man’s Future?” Recorded May 7th, 1970. Joseph Gelman is the moderator.

At the time of this recording Arthur C. Clarke had recently collaborated on the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey with Stanley Kubrick. Alvin Toffler’s mega-influential book, Future Shock, is about to be published. And Margaret Mead is the world’s foremost cultural anthropologist.

An intriguing conversation that still has relevance today.

2001–Science Fiction or Man’s Future?
Length–54:18

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MP3

This Summer I got to be part of a singular event for me. I was the “sound engineer” for a Voice-Over seminar at the Chelsea Library in Michigan. It was given by two excellent voice-over actors that work in Hollywood. They are Yuri Lowenthal and Tara Platt. Check out their sites and you’ll see they have tons of cred! They’ve both done voices for NARUTO [Tara Platt (the voice of Temari) and Yuri Lowenthal (voice of Sasuke)]. Yuri is also the voice of BEN TEN on Cartoon Network as well. And like a said, tons of other voices.

Well it was an excellent seminar. They covered so much great material in the brief time they had. When it comes to Voice-Over Acting, they got it goin’ on! And now they have a new book coming out next month. I just found out that if you order it now, you can get for 15% off. Check out their book’s site and pre-order today. You can even get a signed copy. I can’t wait to get my copy.

Not only is Spider Robinson an excellent writer, he’s also an excellent reader. He’s done professional audiobooks for Blackstone Audio. I’ve listened to a number of them, and he’s really good (Stardance is excellent!). He’s also reads some awesome stories for his podcast, Spider on the Web.

On his lastest podcast he reads a classic story by Theodore Sturgeon, A Saucer Of Loneliness, as well as a Sturgeon title I’m not familiar with called Suicide.

Theodore Sturgeon is best know for his excellent novel More Than Human. Stylistically, he is arguable the best SF writer of the Golden Age. In fact, I’d readily accept that argument.

The great old time radio show X Minus 1 also did a dramatization of A Saucer of Loneliness. [MP3]. It was also made into a Twilight Zone Episode during the series second go in 1987.

Spider Robinson also reads Sturgeon’s Slow Sculpture in a previous podcast episode. [MP3]

Spider also plays a lot of music on the podcast. His tastes have some overlap with my own, and I like most of it. Plus, he’s budds with David Crosby which is way, way cool!

(via SFFaudio.com)

I got around to doing some sound processing and posting at the SFOHA site (Science Fiction Oral History Association). There are six panel recordings that all have some fascinating ideas. These were recorded January 23rd through the 25th earlier this year. ConFusion is long running con with a rich history. This year’s con was called Cryptic ConFusion. Next years con is I See By My ConFusion. It happens January 22-24 2010 at the Detroit-Troy Marriott.

[M] designates moderator

Sat Jan 24 10am
Plot: What turns great ideas into short stories or novels?
Description: We all know where ideas come from, don’t we? But what are we supposed to do with them after that? How do we translate those ideas into successful stories and novels? Come and find out!
(Kelley Armstrong, Violette Malan [M], Paul Melko, Catherine Shaffer and Sandee Rodriguez)

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Or download the MP3.

* * * *

Sat Jan 24 11am
Did Captain Kirk own a wallet?
Economics and SF how has science fiction has portrayed economics of the future over the years how have things changed, what are some of the enduring themes?
(Cory Doctorow, Tobias Buckell [M], Philip Edward Kaldon, Paul Melko and Matthew Stewart-Fulton)

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MP3.

* * * *

Sat Jan 24 12pm
Setting: Haven’t I been here before?
How important is setting to a reader’s understanding and enjoyment of the story? Is setting the real difference between S and SF? Are we overusing the settings we have, and are there any new ones?
(Violette Malan [M], Karl Schroeder, Catherine Shaffer, Doselle Young and Jim Frenkel)

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MP3

* * * *

Sat Jan 24 1PM
Meet the New Boss: Young adult SF
How it is the same and different from adult SF and how it has evolved over the years and where it is going. Will it overtake Paranormal Romance and become the next big thing?
(Cory Doctorow, Kelley Armstrong, Anne Harris [M], Jim Frenkel, Doselle Young, Steven Harper Piziks)

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MP3

* * * *

Sat Jan 24 3pm
Big Brother is Watching You!
Personal privacy in the electronic age we now have or will have chips on everything we own including pets, where is this all going? Is it a good thing or a bad thing?
(Cory Doctorow, David Rozian, Steve Buchheit, Karl Schroeder [M], Catherine Shaffer)

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MP3

* * * *

Sun Jan 25 12pm
Podcasting — the future of it
(Cat Rambo, Matthew Stewart-Fulton, Alexander Bouchard, and Rick Jackson)

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MP3

* * * *

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Some of you may know that I’m the president of the non-profit organization, Science Fiction Oral History Association. Well we had a board meeting on Sunday and it inspired me to work on the site tonight. There’s a lot of content to be added but there also four recordings posted there from Penguicon 2009. They all have me as panelist. But that doesn’t make them all bad . Check out the site at SFOHA.org. The recordings are:

Copywhat Copyrights! Open Source Licensing in Literature

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Or download the MP3.

Creating a Wikinomic Online Community

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MP3

Legal Issues and Podcasting

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MP3

Selling Your Soul – Marketing Your Work on a Limited Budget

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MP3

I did a panel with Sarah Elkins at Penguicon this Spring. Penguicon is the Science Fiction/Open Source Convention. I got to play the ignorant newbie (wow, what a stretch ) when it comes to creating Wiki communities. Fortunately for me, Sarah agreed to do the panel with me and was on top of the subject.

I’m started processing some recordings to place on the Science Fiction Oral History Association website. I’m currently the president of SFOHA. Progress has been slower than I expected on the site, but I’m now putting some energy into it.

Listen to the panel discussion …

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or download the MP3

Thanks again to Sarah for keeping it real