Anyway head here for a free copy of their new album “thank you”.

The Backsliders (often capitalized as THe BAcksliders) is a rock and roll band from Dallas, Texas. Their third and newest full-length album, “Thank You”, is available for  free download on their website, www.thebacksliders.com as of May 2009.

Touring from coast to coast in the U.S. and winning both “Best Hard Rock” award in 2008 and “Best Blues” in 2007 from the Dallas Observer Music Awards, THe BAcksliders are fronted by:

Kim Bonner (formerly of Polygram recording artist, Vibrolux)
Chris Bonner (Sons of Sound) on guitar
Jason Bonner (The Vain) on bass, and
Taylor Young (The O’s, Young Heart Attack) on drums.

I might wear different shades though.

The readings are being recorded and posted here so that the entire reading of the book can be watched for free.

I don’t know much about the book but I’ve never been dissapointed by Gaiman’s work so I’ll be sitting down to enjoy some of this even if it is aimed at real children.

Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a normal boy.

He would be completely normal if he didn’t live in a sprawling graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor of the dead.

There are dangers and adventures in the graveyard for a boy—an ancient Indigo Man beneath the hill, a gateway to a desert leading to an abandoned city of ghouls, the strange and terrible menace of the Sleer.

But if Bod leaves the graveyard, then he will come under attack from the man Jack—who has already killed Bod’s family. . . .

I really can’t stress enough how good these magazines are, especially when you consider that the market for short fiction is far from huge and healthy. TTA Press not only produce magazines full of great new fiction and interesting editorial, they also manage to make the magazines look, feel and probably smell great, which can come as a shock if you are used to reading the pulps.

The podcast seems similarly well produced, and fulfils both my love of short fiction and my love of other people reading stuff to me so I can give my eyes a rest. If you fancy some free short stories and you want to have a taste for what is available in the magazines then I highly recommend checking it out.

Welcome to Transmissions From Beyond, the biweekly podcast of stories selected from the pages of the TTA Press magazines Interzone (science fiction & fantasy), Black Static (horror) and Crimewave (crime & mystery) by editor Pete Bullock. New stories appear every other Monday.

You can find most of the Conan stories online as ebooks, along with the rest of Robert E. Howard’s writing as I think the majority of it is out of copyright. I’d recommend checking a few of them out as they still stand up fairly well today, it’s the pulp prose that gets me every time…

Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandalled feet.

The audio drama is produced by BrokenSea Audio, who do a great job of creating free audio dramas with really high production values and this one seems no exception.

Only one episode available so far but after listening I’m looking forward to the next and hoping they do a few more Conan stories.

Go and listen by Crom!

Episode #1:
Into the seaport town Messantia, of the southern Hyborian kingdom of ARGUS, the road of Kings led the twenty four year old Cimmerian barbarian- CONAN. Having gotten crossways with the local justice system over a friend of his and the death of a guardsman, Conan took the law into his own hands with his mighty broadsword. The guardsmen were not pleased by his northern Cimmerian ideas of justice, so CONAN “borrowed” a horse from the courts and fled looking for a ship.

The mercenary ship- The ARGUS, just so happened to be putting out to sea as CONAN thundered down the pier having just stormed through the market- guardsmen hot on his trail.

Will the ship’s captain, TITO, allow the Cimmerian passage, or will the guardsmen fill his back full or arrows first? And what of the legendary She-Devil Pirate Queen of the Black Coast?

I’m a few episodes in and really enjoying it. It’s the old “idiots/characters in space” format that made shows like Hitchhiker’s Guide and Red Dwarf so enjoyable and they really do have some great characters some of whom may be idiots.

It obviously contains quite a bit of US/Canadian humour but not so much to put me off listening and for me it’s quite interesting to hear something that isn’t about UK relations with another country.

In the year 2056 the US has declared war on the Ipampilashians and has sent the American armada to destroy their planet. Canada is the only country siding with the Americans. Canada has sent it’s only ship, The Canadia, in support of the American mission but the Canadia is not a warship. It’s a maintenance ship (they change light bulbs and plunge toilets). Max Anderson is the first American ever to be stationed on the Canadia. He was put there by the American admiral (his mother) to toughen him up but keep him out of any real danger. The only thing that Max and the crew of the Canadia agree on is that no one wants him there.

The show pokes fun at Canada/US relations and the bureaucracy of big business/the military.

Canadia 2056 was written by and stars Matt Watts who wrote and starred in the Steve the First and Steve the Second series.

It’s a time limited offer until the 13th May 2008 so hurry over here and get downloading.

It’s clearly a clever bit of promotion for the series but who cares when you are getting Star Wars books for nothing.

This is the era of Luke Skywalker’s legacy: the Jedi Master has unified the order into a cohesive group of powerful Jedi Knights. But as the new era begins, planetary interests threaten to disrupt this time of relative peace, and Luke is plagued with visions of an approaching darkness. Evil is rising again–out of the best intentions–and it looks as if the legacy of the Skywalkers may come full circle. Honor and duty will collide with friendship and blood ties as the Skywalker and Solo clans find themselves on opposing sides of an explosive conflict with potentially devastating repercussions for both families, for the Jedi order, and for the entire galaxy.

As I tend to ignore most of the news on April 1st due to the oh so hilarious April Fool’s jokes, I missed the start of PodCastle, a podcast I had been looking forward to some time.

It’s from the same people who produce EscapePod and PseudopPod, two superb fiction podcasts. PodCastle follows in their footsteps by publishing an audio fantasy story each week, read by various people and this time round introduced by a number of different people also.

I’ve only listened to the first couple but as with EscapePod and PseudoPod I am thoroughly enjoying it. I’m a great fan of short fiction and even more so when someone reads it to me.

If you like fantasy fiction then I’d suggest checking it out. It’s a free podcast but they do pay their author’s so if you enjoy it then you can always contribute via paypal.

PodCastle is the world’s first fantasy audio magazine. Each week we bring you short stories across the spectrum of fantasy from leading authors and new discoveries. Like our sister podcasts, Escape Pod and Pseudopod, PodCastle is entirely free to listen and share.

If you’re a fantasy writer, we’re a paying market for new fiction or reprints. Please see our submission guidelines for more details. And if you have any questions, please e-mail us. Thank you!

It’s from Audible so probably has the cursed DRM but you can always just burn it to CD. You’ll need to register but it’s no bad thing, Audible are a decent company and they have the odd free audio so it’s worth having an account.

It’s a great book I haven’t read in ages so I may just grab this one myself.

The Independent has teamed up with audible.co.uk to offer readers a free audio download of Iain Banks’ cult classic novel ‘The Wasp Factory’.

Over the course of the week you will be able to download the chapters from this celebrated novel and by Friday 11 April you will have all of the parts you need to make up the complete 6-hour audiobook.

First up is the Berkely Groks Science Show which I’ve listened to on and off for quite a few years now, looking at the archives it appears they have been broadcasting the show (at least on the radio) since 2001.

It’s a great show, well presented and if you are interested in science and technology then it’s up there with the best of the science podcasts.

Berkeley Groks is a weekly science radio program produced at KALX 90.7 FM in Berkeley, California. Each week, the hosts, Dr. Charles Lee and Dr. Frank Ling, take an in-depth look at recent events in the world of science and technology, and examine the effects of recent discoveries on our daily lives.
Each episode features an interview with a leading scientist, researcher, or industrialist discussing stimulating work in their field. The show often includes a humorous and entertaining segment; plus the world famous question of the week!

First up is Storynory, a free audio podcast providing a new story each week. There are both classic fairy tales and fiction plus newer original (I think) stories, all of which read by Natasha who has a really great voice for storytelling.

I can’t really fault it, the stories are great, they are well read, it’s free, you can grab the feed in iTunes or some other podcatcher and it and stick it on a cd or mp3 player for the car or just listen online. My daughter is a little young for these at the moment but she’ll definitely be listening to them once she can sit still for more than a few seconds.

I might just listen the Alice in Wonderland reading myself.

Next is Storyline Online, a website from the Screen Actors Guild Foundation.

It features members of the guild reading stories on camera. You can only watch the stories online, with no option to download for portable devices but then they probably work better on a larger screen anyway. They are well read and by some big actors or at least some your children might recognise but not from any British actors as I think it’s an American union organisation.
I don’t like it as much as Storynory probably because of the lack of British voices but there are some decent stories and it might keep a small one entertained for a little while.

Have fun!

I’ve not listened yet but the first one was better than expected, and you’ve just got to love the idea of porn ‘wakka chikka’ inspired music.

WM Recordings has gladly agreed to host Volume 2 of Wakka Chikka Wakka Chikka – Porn Music For The Masses on it’s website, which means that once again; people all over the globe will be able to listen to and enjoy the soundtrack to their innermost fantasies.

Since the 2004 release of Wakka Chikka Wakka Chikka – Porn Music For The Masses Vol. 1 (with over 232,900 downloaded files to date!) on Comfortstand.com, the needs of the masses for new and exciting porn music tunes produced by artists from all over over the world has been temporarily met. Now the people have a new dose of “Porn Music Magic” to swing to/by. 20 tunes of porn groovieness and 1 bonus track with a ‘Behind The Scenes’ look at the industry will be sure to titillate even the most repressed listeners. It’s time to turn those lights down low again, and get it on – Wakka Chikka Wakka Chikka!

Alluding to both the Sherlock Holmes canon and the Old Ones of the Cthulhu Mythos, this Hugo Award winning short story will delight fans of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, H.P. Lovecraft, and of course, Neil Gaiman. A Study in Emerald draws listeners in through carefully revealed details as a consulting detective and his narrator friend solve the mystery of a murdered German noble. But with its subtle allusions and surprise ending, this mystery hints that the real fun in solving this case lies in imagining all the details that Gaiman doesn’t reveal, and challenges listeners to be detectives themselves.

This one is Stud – LSAD [puls07] and was originally released on the Dars records label in 2005 and has now been re-released for free on Pulsations For You at the kind request of the artist Alexey Devyanin.

The album is a nice chunk of electronica/IDM with a rather dark, even melancholic feel to it at some points. There are lighter moments but it is generally quite a slow, moody album which works very well on a decent set of headphones. Two thumbs up, loving track 2.

More About Stud

Stud aka Alexey Devyanin is a recognised name on Russian IDM scene,
mostly by his releases on several net labels (Kikapu, Kahvi, etc).

He’s also released electro-acoustic albums on the famous Swiss net
label Autoplate (sub label of Thinner) and Lampse, Miasmah on CD under
the name of Gultska Artikler.

Although Alexey has been making music since 1998, this is his debut album
release on steadily developing Dars Records, who have already released a
couple of Stud’s tracks on their compilations.

LSAD is a solid IDM album, and you can definitely feel that Alexey is
not a novice in the world of electronica. Those who closely followed
his work might recognise a few tracks from his demos and it’s a real
pleasure to finally hear all that material compiled as a finished and mature album.

First thing you notice is Stud’s crafty work in audio space – all the sounds
and patterns are arranged like blocks in a 3D game. For the most part, the album is rather sad and even dark, due to the prevailing melancholic melodies and scary ambient pads (Mauvaise Honte, Novapt). At some points the music becomes more positive and reminiscent of Boards of Canada’s childish nostalgia (Sunset Variations).

Most of the tracks are based on deep ambient atmospheres surrounded by complicated IDM rhythms, sometimes melodic, sometimes minimal, but always emotional and touching, uncovering new details every time. Good music for deep thinking, soul-searching, or even crying.

Set in the far flung future of 1965! this is classic 50s radio science fiction at it’s best. I love the innocence, paranoia and sheer hope and enthusiasm in future technology that can be found in 50s science fiction.

You can find the original series here, or actually the rerecording of the original series (which was wiped by the BBC as they liked to do at the time) which was recorded a few years later. Plus all the follow ups that were recorded years after the first series aired.

However if you don’t fancy opening the dead treeware head over to the internet archive and snag this six part BBC radio adaptation.

I didn’t think this was in the public domain as is suggested so may be worth grabbing before it disappears.

This full-cast drama is based on the classic post-war ’science fantasy’ novel which made John Wyndham famous, and whose appeal endures to this day. Giles Cooper’s six-part adaptation stars Gary Watson, Barbara Shelley and Peter Sallis, with appearances from Doctor Who names Peter Pratt, Christopher Bidmead and David Brierley. Divided by blindness and societal breakdown, humanity is at the mercy of the carnivorous Triffids… This BBC Radio 4 production was made and broadcast in 1968, and later transmitted via World Service.

All I’ll say is that I just love the idea and the album name so I couldn’t resist posting it here. I haven’t listened to much of it but it doesn’t actually sound as terrible as you would expect.

No doubt there are some ‘interesting’ samples in there so probably not one for your childs new iPod unless you are in the mood for some challenging questioning.

Have fun.

Even if you have never seen a porn movie in your lifetime, almost everyone in the world knows what the ‘Wakka Chikka Wakka Chikka’ represents… Each person, upon hearing it, mentally interprets the ‘Wakka Chikka Wakka Chikka’ in their own way, fueling a range of emotions from lust to disgust. This CD represents 17 individual artists’ interpretations of the ‘Wakka Chikka Wakka Chikka’; each providing their own unique cultural and geographic spin on the vibe that is “Wakka Chikka Wakka Chikka’. From celebrations of the beauty of intimacy to a cautionary tale of excess, this collection of sound sculptures of the ‘Wakka Chikka Wakka Chikka’ mystique from around the world will guide you into the heart of all that is ‘Wakka Chikka Wakka Chikka’.

You’ll need to register with the site but it’s pretty quick and painless and once you do you’ll have access to all the free albums hosted there. All the music is published with Creative Commons licenses so it’s free and legal with the blessings of the artists. You can stream everything online or download mp3 or ogg copies of the tracks.

I’ve had a quick browse around and have already found a few albums worthy of further investigation. There is plenty of really terrible free music available online so a site like this can really help you filter out some of the crud as the social aspects of the site will tend to promote the best acts to the top of the lists.

Once I’ve checked it out a bit more I’ll review a few albums but I’d recommend it for anyone looking for some free tunes.

The story is very much of its time but that’s no bad thing. It’s cracking, fast-paced, action filled science fiction with that classic pulpy feel to it.

There is no real depth to the characters and the plot is pretty simple by today’s standards but sometimes you just want something easy to take in and entertaining and this easily meets the need.

Lured by its exotic gems, the space trader Solar Queen lands on the little-known planet of Sargol, only to find the ruthless Inter-Solar Company there ahead of them. Adapting quickly to the culture of Sargol’s feline inhabitants, the crew of the Queen beat out their rivals and successfully make a deal with the natives. But soon after takeoff, the Queen’s crew is stricken with a plague, and they are now banned from landing on any inhabited planet. Will the Queen’s crew save themselves, or be condemned to drift forever through space?

Find out more about Andre Norton and her other works here.

It’s fantastic science fiction-thriller-horror stuff, read very well by the author himself. The story moves pretty swiftly and it’s chock full of general nastiness and people being killed all over the place so lots of fun then.

The writing and narration isn’t always amazing but Scott’s enthusiasm makes up for it and as I said the story moves pretty quickly so any weak points are soon forgotten.

Deep below a desolate Utah mountain lays the largest platinum deposit ever discovered. A billion-dollar find, it waits for any company that can drill a world’s record, three-mile-deep mine shaft.

EarthCore is the company with the technology, the resources and the guts to go after the mother lode. Young executive Connell Kirkland is the company’s driving force, pushing himself and those around him to uncover the massive treasure.

But Kirkland and EarthCore are not the first to find this treasure. The mountain’s history reveals two centuries of disappearances, murder, and insanity.

The discovery of ancient platinum knives, razor-sharp despite lying untouched for 1,000 years, reveals evidence of an ancient culture. If the artifacts are genuine, they show a pre-historic empire that once spanned from the Southern tip of South America all the way up through the American Southwest.

Wealth and fame lie under that Utah mountain, but at three miles below the surface, where the rocks are so hot they burn bare skin, something has been waiting for centuries. Waiting … and guarding. Kirkland and EarthCore are about to find out first-hand why this treasure has never been unearthed.

Wormwood

When a strange vision of murder sends him to a small town to investigate, Dr. Xander Crowe discovers that Wormwood is no ordinary town. Secrets lurk within every resident, from the innkeeper to the town librarian to the waitress at the diner. The seemingly idyllic surface of the town hides a mystery unlike anything he’s ever experienced. Navigating through this tiny, isolated town in the foothills of Northern California, Crowe finds himself drawn into a web of dark conspiracy, strange romance, and arcane mysticism. And now, as Crowe begins to unravel the mystery at the heart of Wormwood, he finds that his very presence there may not be a coincidence at all…

Dr Xander Crowe makes for a fantastic central character and the writing so far (I’ve only listened to the first episode) is spot on with some great dialogue and a pretty decent voice cast too. It has a slightly weird gothic feel to it and they are conciously aiming it at the Buffy, Hellboy, Twin Peaks, etc crowd so you can get an idea of where its heading.

It seems audio drama is finding a new home on the internet with the multitude of both amateur and proffessional dramas, audiobooks and podcasts. I hope this trrend continues as its something of a dying art form and desrves more attention than it often gets.

Turn off the TV, stick on the mp3 player, sit back and relax.

Librivox if you don’t already know is a site that publishes recordings of volunteers reading material from the public domain. This includes a great many classic works of fiction and is fast building into a great source of free audiobooks and short audio readings. The rather brilliant but huge aim being to make all public domain books available as free audiobooks.

Get a zipfile containing the whole release here or head over to the Librivox site to download the separate stories.

They are planning on a new Doctor Who series next year which could be interesting assuming they can cast the parts well.

We are a keen group of audio drama fanatics who create podcast and free download stories in audio format.Included in our line up is original fantasy, sci-fi, horror, drama, comedy and fan-works and audio versions of great films (like Planet of the Apes and Logans Run)

This is probably my favourite podcast. I’ve always been a fan of short fiction, particularly short science fiction and I’m an avid reader of Asimov’s, Analog and Interzone whenever I can lay my hands on a new copy. So the idea of an online audio magazine featuring science fiction short stories was likely to be popular with me.

You don’t need my biased view as a recommendation though, the quality of this podcast is quite self evident if you take this time to have a listen. The fiction really is of a high quality (whilst you don’t pay them, they do at least pay their authors) on the whole, and even when the quality dips it is still usually entertaining or interesting. They have even read Hugo Award nominees for the last few years for an idea of just how good some of the fiction is.

Go listen and look forward to Pod Castle, yet another podcast in this family which will be concentrating on Fantasy and should turn out to be another worthy bookmark.

His latest reading of his published 1989 novel “Look Into The Sun” completed yesterday on the podcast and he promises to be back with more.

If you check the feed you’ll find plenty of other stories, columns and a few novels and novellas all written and read by the author. Whilst there are many podcast audiobooks around there are not so many established authors giving their stuff away free so I applaud the few that are.

Jim Kelly has published quite a few novels, novellas and short stories and is a regular columnist for Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine.

Actually its a great website hosting a lot of old time and not so old time radio, mostly SciFi, horror, mystery etc. There are some great old shows, Day of the Triffids, X minus 1, The Twighlight Zone, The Shadow.

Its usually bad sound quality, muffled, cheesy as hell played by wooden actors but also often very well written by some of the top authors in the genres and I love it.

There are some great podcasts around and Pseudopod is one of the finest you can treat your ears to. A weekly horror fiction magazine with one short piece of horror fiction being read for you each episode.

The quality of fiction is pretty high, I’ve not yet listened to all 61 odd episodes but there have only been a few I’ve not enjoyed at all.

If you like audiobooks and you like horror then you really should head over and start downloading.