I need to download some of those radio shows.
https://heinleinsociety.org/thsnexus/ |
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| Heinlein audio books https://heinleinsociety.org/thsnexus/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=1097 |
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| Author: | Blackhawk [ Thu Jul 28, 2011 6:50 am ] |
| Post subject: | Heinlein audio books |
I couldn't find a thread for this so I'm starting one. I have become a fan of audio books. I listen to them while I'm commuting or driving anywhere by myself. It lets me experience more books since I don't have as much time to read as I'd like. A company called Full Cast Audio is doing the Heinlein juveniles (though I prefer the modern term, Young Adult). As the name suggests, instead of a single narrator reading a book, their productions use a cast of actors performing the characters in the book and even include some sound effects and music. The result is closer to a radio play than a conventional audio book but it is really a distinctive art form. I have listened to Have Space Suit - Will Travel, The Rolling Stones, Red Planet and The Star Beast. They have just released Tunnel in the Sky. I have received my copy but haven't listened to it yet. I am sure that it will be as good as the others. It's available now at a special price and Red Planet is also available at a special sale price. I have no connection to this company other than being a fan of their work. I initially got their Heinlein audio books from my local library but I enjoyed them so much I decided to buy them from now on to do my small part in supporting their work. I hope that they'll be successful enough to produce all the Heinlein YA novels. They have Between Planets and Space Cadet listed as upcoming projects, but the release of BP has been delayed several times. I really want to get that one. |
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| Author: | Airgetlam [ Thu Jul 28, 2011 2:40 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Heinlein audio books |
Thanks for the post, Dan. So far, I'd stuck with the standard "simple reading of the text" audiobooks, but based on your comments, I'll have to give these Full Cast Audio versions a try, although my commute has dropped significantly since leaving San Diego. I have to agree, there's something pleasant about driving and listening to a book at the same time, especially when on long commutes. Keeps your mind pleasantly multi-tasking without significant danger, at least in my case, although I do have to admit to backing up the audio to rehear something after I've had an encounter on the road that requires more attention. |
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| Author: | Blackhawk [ Thu Jul 28, 2011 3:25 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Heinlein audio books |
Glad to share. There is another company called Graphic Audio that also does full cast readings of books, but they aren't doing any Heinlein. They are a first class operation, though, and I do recommend them if you like the kind of book they produce. Full Cast Audio seems to be operating on the edge, which is a shame because they do excellent work. I'm really looking forward to hearing Tunnel in the Sky. They even made The Star Beast, not my favorite Heinlein YA novel, completely entertaining. |
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| Author: | JackKelly [ Thu Jul 28, 2011 3:42 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Heinlein audio books |
Thank you! I'm a fan of audiobooks also - long commute. I'll check this out. |
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| Author: | Blackhawk [ Mon Aug 08, 2011 10:36 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Heinlein audio books |
| Author: | RobWright [ Mon Aug 08, 2011 1:38 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Heinlein audio books |
It's a 45 minute commute to work for me, totally worth it because I get to leave the furnace of the basin and decompress driving up into the mountains, and I listen to a large number of audiobooks. On the Heinlein front I have Friday, Time Enough For Love, Double Star, The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, Radio Dramas, radio adaptions of four or five of his short stories, and a quasi-full cast audio drama of Methuselah's Children done by the BBC. Rob |
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| Author: | Blackhawk [ Mon Aug 08, 2011 6:43 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Heinlein audio books |
A large percentage of Heinlein's work is available in audio format. I have found thirty seven audio productions, so far, not counting the radio broadcasts (such as X-1). I am not familiar with a BBC production but that sounds worth finding. As I mentioned earlier, Full Cast Audio has Between Planets and Space Cadet listed as future releases. If there is interest, I'll compile a list by company and post it. |
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| Author: | EdHEdH [ Tue Aug 09, 2011 8:57 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Heinlein audio books |
As we make a lot of car trips we also have stared audio books. On the last trip we did The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. We enjoyed it a lot. The full cast sounds like an interesting idea, although there are no ten year olds in our car so I don’t need to worry about content. It did look like to download you just went back through audio.com or I was missing something. I prefer MP3 as either car will play them. My commute is 10 minutes so don’t have time for a book then. |
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| Author: | Blackhawk [ Tue Aug 09, 2011 9:19 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Heinlein audio books |
I prefer MP3 format, too. I can put a whole book on a single disc that way and my vehicle audio system plays MP3s. If I get the audio book on CDs, as I did with the Full Cast Audio books, I rip them to MP3. |
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| Author: | BillMullins [ Tue Aug 09, 2011 11:24 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Heinlein audio books |
Check the for some of the radio shows. |
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| Author: | sakeneko [ Tue Aug 09, 2011 7:22 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Heinlein audio books |
I need to download some of those radio shows.
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| Author: | Blackhawk [ Wed Aug 10, 2011 9:32 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Heinlein audio books |
Here's a list of the Heinlein audio books that I have identified. I believe that the Library of Congress has done more as part of their books for the blind project but I haven't found them. The narrator's name is in parentheses. Lloyd James has done more Heinlein books than any other narrator and he is very good. I thought his voice and style were especially suitable for Double Star. Heinlein, Robert A 1939 - For Us, The Living (Burnson) 1942 - The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag (Weiner) 1947 - Rocket Ship Galileo (Robinson) 1948 - Beyond This Horizon (DeLotel) 1948 - Beyond This Horizon (Ganim) 1949 - Red Planet (Full Cast Audio) 1950 - Farmer In the Sky (Brick) 1950 - The Man Who Sold The Moon (Guidall) 1951 - The Green Hills of Earth (Shay) 1951 - The Green Hills of Earth (Weiner) 1951 - The Puppet Masters (James) 1952 - The Rolling Stones (Full Cast Audio) 1953 - Assignment in Eternity (Benson) 1953 - Revolt in 2100 (Johnson) 1953 - Starman Jones (Garcia) 1953 - Starman Jones (Skinner) 1954 - The Star Beast (Full Cast Audio) 1955 - Tunnel in the Sky (Full Cast Audio) 1955 - Tunnel in the Sky (Van Horn) 1956 - Double Star (James) 1956 - Time For the Stars (Major) 1956 - Time For the Stars (unk) 1957 - Citizen of the Galaxy (James) 1957 - Citizen of the Galaxy (Tipton) 1957 - The Door Into Summer (Lawlor) 1958 - Have Space Suit—Will Travel (Full Cast Audio) 1958 - Methuselah's Children (Athens GA) 1958 - Methuselah's Children (Burchard) 1959 - Starship Troopers (James) 1959 - Starship Troopers (Wilson) 1959 - The Menace From Earth (Mcquay) 1961 - Stranger in a Strange Land (Hurt) 1963 - Glory Road (Backman) 1963 - Orphans of the Sky (Summerer) 1963 - Podkayne of Mars (Card) 1963 - Podkayne of Mars (Pardee) 1965 - Farnham's Freehold (Major) 1966 - The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (James) 1966 - The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (Wilson) 1970 - I Will Fear No Evil (Gould) 1973 - Time Enough For Love (Avers) 1973 - Time Enough For Love (James) 1980 - The Number of the Beast (Guidall) 1982 - Friday (Buzzard) 1982 - Friday (Huber) 1982 - Friday (Lewis) 1984 - JOB; A Comedy of Justice (Garcia) 1984 - JOB; A Comedy of Justice (Smith) 1985 - The Cat Who Walks Through Walls (Weiner) 1985 - The Cat Who Walks Through Walls (Wilson) 1987 - To Sail Beyond the Sunset (McCartney) 1989 - Grumbles From The Grave (Major) 1999 - The Fantasies of Robert A. Heinlein (Scherer) 2006 - Variable Star (Robinson) |
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| Author: | beamjockey [ Thu Aug 11, 2011 7:00 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Heinlein audio books |
Thanks, Dan, that's a useful list. I have borrowed several of these from my local library, to expose my wife (who says she does not have time to read many novels) to good Heinlein on long car trips. Off the top of my head, there are also Old-Time-Radio versions of "Requiem," "The Roads Must Roll," "Universe" (Orphans in the Sky), "Destination Moon," and multiple versions of "The Green Hills of Earth." There may be others. |
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| Author: | DavidWrightSr [ Thu Aug 11, 2011 7:10 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Heinlein audio books |
| Author: | Blackhawk [ Fri Aug 12, 2011 12:10 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Heinlein audio books |
Okay, I found what may be the ultimate list of Heinlein in audio format, here: It lists the audio books I mentioned and the radio shows mentioned by others, and both audio books and radio programs that we had missed. It seems to be a very complete list and it provides a good deal of information about each item. Worth a look if you are interested in listening to Heinlein as well as reading him. |
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| Author: | Blackhawk [ Fri Aug 12, 2011 12:26 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Heinlein audio books |
Also, the radio drama By His Bootstraps can be downloaded here: |
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| Author: | JJGarsch [ Fri Aug 12, 2011 3:29 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Heinlein audio books |
Many thanks for the "By His Bootstraps" link - I happened to hear this on NPR in the late 1980s and am listening to it again now. It features Richard Dreyfuss, who turned out to be a great choice. |
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| Author: | Blackhawk [ Fri Aug 12, 2011 6:26 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Heinlein audio books |
| Author: | Blackhawk [ Fri Sep 30, 2011 8:44 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Heinlein audio books |
Full Cast Audio has just announced Between Planets for preorder at 50% off the list price. I hope it has quality comparable to their other releases and have no reason to think it won't. Here's the link to the pre-order page: |
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| Author: | Blackhawk [ Mon Jan 30, 2012 12:36 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Heinlein audio books |
I just finished listening to Full Cast Audio's production of Between Planets. It was very well done and I enjoyed it. Between Planets is one of my favorite Heinlein novels so I was looking forward to this and it did not disappoint. The audio book is narrated by Bruce Coville and the characters are performed by many of the same artists who appeared in previous productions. The one thing I enjoyed most about this audiobook was hearing Sir Isaac Newton speak in a Cockney accent. Of course, that's how Heinlein describes him but I never quite heard it in my head when I read the book. The audio book fixed that. I also liked Charlie's Chinese accent and Joe's Texas accent. All the character performances were well done and made the book come alive. Full Cast Audio's next, and last, Heinlein production is Space Cadet. They have not published a release date but my understanding is that it is in post production. |
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| Author: | Blackhawk [ Mon Jan 30, 2012 12:43 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Heinlein audio books |
Another new Heinlein audio book release is Sixth Column from Blackstone Audio. It is read by Tom Weiner. I haven't listened to this yet so I can't comment on the quality, but I've listened to other Heinlein books read by Weiner and he is good. I know Sixth Column is not considered one of Heinlein's better works but I always liked it. Of course, I haven't read it in several decades so my memory of it may be colored by time. I'll post more comment after I've heard it. |
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| Author: | Blackhawk [ Fri Mar 09, 2012 11:00 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Heinlein audio books |
I have finished listening to the Blackstone audio book of Sixth Column. I have to admit it has not aged as well as most of Heinlein's work. There is more racism in the story than I remembered. The language used in the book is not as bad as what we soldiers used back during the Viet Nam war, but that did get pretty bad. The story is also about soldiers fighting an Asian enemy so the names and descriptions used by them are not unrealistic, but they are uncomfortable for modern sensibilities. Also, the "science" in the story involves a lot more hand waving than is normally found in a Heinlein story. I understand that's because the story was not wholely Heinlein's and it's clear that he did the best he could with what was given him. I kind of enjoyed all the "rays" in the sense that they made the story feel like something from the very early days of science fiction. These are criticisms of the book, however, and not the audiobook. The audiobook is very well done. The reader is highly professional and talented and made as good a job as any single reader could from this book. If you want an audio version of Sixth Column, this production will do just fine. |
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| Author: | Blackhawk [ Mon Mar 12, 2012 1:03 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Heinlein audio books |
| Author: | JohnBlack [ Wed Feb 12, 2014 5:23 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Heinlein audio books (time enough for love 2 versions) |
I enjoy reading books but do spend a lot of time in the car. I've recently been listening to Heinlein audiobooks. I note that audible.com is selling two different narrations of Time Enough For Love. One was released in 2007 narrated by Lloyd James One will be released Feb 14, 2014 and is narrated by Tom Weiner The Lloyd James version is listed as 25 hours 52 minutes The Tom Weiner version is listed as 23 hours 30 minutes Both are listed as unabridged. I would expect that a person's speaking rhythm/speed might affect narration time - but nearly 2.5 hours worth? I guess, maybe over the course of a 20+ hour reading it might be possible. Any thoughts on what the difference might be? |
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| Author: | Blackhawk [ Wed Feb 12, 2014 10:05 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Heinlein audio books (time enough for love 2 versions) |
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