If you have been listening to the podcast lately you know that we are reading a complete novel, chapter by chapter, each week. The book is called Anything You Can Do, and was written by Randall Garrett. I thought it would be a good idea to take a blog moment and throw the spotlight on this amazing writer.

Randall Garrett (1927 – 1987) was an American science fiction and fantasy author. He contributed to the science fiction pulp magazines of the 1950s and 1960s. Garrett is best known for his work on the Lord Darcy series. Darcy is a detective in an alternate history, created by Garrett, where things are governed by the rules of magic rather than physics. These novels are rich with jokes, puns, and the main character is the stuff of Sherlock Holmes.

Garrett was a storyteller at heart and was highly sought after as a speaker or presenter for science fiction conventions. He was a complicated man. Although cherished by his friends, he horrified many women, to whom he routinely introduced himself with obscene propositions. Isaac Asimov once referred to Garrett offending Judith Merril enough that she emptied an ashtray over his and Garrett’s heads.

Garrett became ill in the summer of 1979 and spent the last eight years of his life in a coma. He was married to fellow author Vicki Ann Heydron who, while Garrett was comatose, largely wrote the Gandalara Cycle fantasy series. She credited the series to the both of them.

This Week’s Podcast:

On the podcast this week we probably the funniest listener story to date. It is a UFO story and should not be missed. You can listen to this podcast on Thursday at Ron’s Amazing Stories, download it from iTunes, stream it on Stitcher Radio or on the mobile version of Spotify. Do you prefer the radio? We are heard every Sunday Night at 8:00 PM (PST) on AMFM247.COM. Check your local listing or find the station closest to you at this link.

The Calendar:

July 19 – RAS #337 – Growing Up 2!
July 26 – RAS #338 – Terror At Alamo Lake
August 02 – RAS #339 – Backyard UFO
August 09 – RAS #340
August 16 – RAS #341
August 23 – RAS #342
August 30 – RAS #343

On the blog this week we throw the spotlight on Mark Nelson who is an Audiobook Narrator. He is the guy that you listen to when you buy the audio version of your favorite novel. After getting his degree in Radio-TV and Theater, he spent the next 25 years languishing in human resources. After a layoff in 2007, when his job was shipped to Singapore, he decided to get back to his theater roots and began audiobook narrating. He has done some voice-over work, but book narrating is his first love. You can listen to some of his work at LibriVox.org for free. Mark will join us on this week’s podcast with a great story and we talk to him about all manner of subjects.

Want to know more about Mark? Head to his website.

Librivox – Free Public Domain Audiobooks

Our Charter – To make all books in the public domain available, for free, in audio format on the internet.

LibriVox volunteers record chapters of books in the public domain, and then LibriVox releases the audio files back onto the net for free. All their audio is in the public domain so you may use it for whatever purpose you wish. The readers are free to choose the books they wish to record. LibriVox sees itself as a library of audiobooks. Volunteering for LibriVox is easy and does not require any experience with recording or audio engineering or acting or public speaking. All you need is a computer, a microphone, some free recording software, and your own voice. We accept all volunteers in all languages, with all kinds of accents. We operate almost exclusively through Internet communications on our forum, where all your questions will be answered by our friendly community.

This Week’s Podcast:

On the show this week we do have guest Mark Nelson. We have a science fiction tale read by Mark and a ghost story from the famous Aldolpho Hotel in Dallas TX. You can listen to this podcast on Thursday at Ron’s Amazing Stories, download it from iTunes, stream it on Stitcher Radio or on the mobile version of Spotify. Do you prefer the radio? We are heard every Sunday Night at 8:00 PM (PST) on AMFM247.COM. Check your local listing or find the station closest to you at this link.

The Calendar:

June 21 – RAS #333 – Growing Up!
June 28 – RAS #334 – Mason Henry Blue
July 05 – RAS #335 – Guest Mark Nelson
July 12 – RAS #336 – Podcast Replay?
July 19 – RAS #337 – Throwback Thursday 2
July 26 – RAS #338 – Detective Week

Despite being an incredibly respected science fiction writer, not much is known about the life of Tom Godwin. The author of three novels and around thirty short stories. He was forced to drop out of school in the third grade, yet he managed to write one of the most famous and controversial short stories in the science fiction genre. “The Cold Equations” was originally published in Astounding Magazine in 1954 and was Godwin’s fourth published story.

“The Cold Equations,” tells the story of Marilyn whose only fault is that she has been raised in a world that has sheltered her to the point of ignorance. She does not realize the perils of space and she pays for it. She does not die because of aliens, blasters or even an explosion in space. She dies because she is uninformed, and idealizes the hazards of space. She failed to understand the basic premise that weight equals fuel usage. Too much weight equals a shorter flight time.

This story made many critics realize that science fiction was not all warp-speed and flashing lights. Godwin proved that the genre could be deep, dark, and scary. Did Marilyn have to die? Fuel in a space is a tricky thing. Take a look at our own history in space and you will see the point. Despite solutions drawn up by other writers (as well as by Godwin himself), the answer is yes. Not because she deserved it, but because life is, sometimes, more often than not, unfair. Though the story was written and published in the ’50s, the concept grips us still.

On the podcast this week we will feature another of Goodwin’s tales, with the same sort of impact. It is called, “The Nothing Equation,” and is a science fiction short story that explores the loneliness of space.

This Week’s Podcast:

Also on this podcast, we will have another edition of, Johnny Is It True, and more of your stories and submissions. You can listen to this podcast on Thursday at Ron’s Amazing Stories, download it from iTunes, stream it on Stitcher Radio or on the mobile version of Spotify. Do you prefer the radio? We are heard every Sunday Night at 8:00 PM (PST) on AMFM247.COM. Check your local listing or find the station closest to you at this link.

The Calendar:

April 26 – Throwback Thursday – RAS #325
May 03 – These Are Your Stories – RAS #326
May 10 – After The Movies – RAS #327
May 17 – The Answer – RAS #328
May 24 – The Nothing Equation – RAS #329
May 31 – Memorial Day Replay – RAS #330

On the podcast this week we have Author J.D. Horn. He will be talking about this new book, The King of Bones and Ashes. J.D. was raised in rural Tennessee and has since carried a bit of its red clay in him while traveling the world, from Hollywood to Paris, to Tokyo. He studied comparative literature as an undergrad, focusing on French and Russian in particular. He also holds an MBA in international business and worked as a financial analyst before becoming a novelist. He has race bibs from two full marathons and about thirty half marathons. J.D. has written the highly successful and Wall Street Journal best-selling series of books, The Witching Savannah series.

The King of Bones and Ashes – Magic is seeping out of the world, leaving the witches who’ve relied on it for countless centuries increasingly hopeless. While some see an inevitable end of their era, others vainly try to retain the power they covet. Young Alice Marin is using magic’s waning days to delve into the mystery of numerous disappearances in the occult circles of New Orleans. Yet, discovering the cause of the vanishings could be the only way to escape her future and that of all witches.

This Week’s Podcast:

You can listen to this podcast on Thursday at Ron’s Amazing Stories, download it from iTunes, stream it on Stitcher Radio or on the mobile version of Spotify. Do you prefer the radio? We are heard every Sunday Night at 8:00 PM (PST) on AMFM247.COM. Check your local listing or find the station closest to you at this link.

The Calendar:

March 01 – Words At War (Replay) – RAS #317
March 08 – UFO and Other Stories – RAS #318
March 15 – Hawk Larabee – RAS #319
March 22 – The Man Who Stole The Bible – RAS #320
March 29 – Special Guest J.D. Horn – RAS #321

Without change, something sleeps inside us and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken. – Frank Herbert

I remember as a senior in high school my English teacher, Mr. Mitchell, had us read the science fiction novel, Dune, by Frank Patrick Herbert, Jr.  When the teacher handed me my copy of the book my first reaction to it was how thick the darn thing was and we only had three weeks to read it!  I could have done in three days! It was that enthralling.

Dune tells the story of Paul Atreides. In the year 10191, a spice called melange is the most valuable substance known in the universe, and its only source is the desert planet Arrakis. A royal decree awards Arrakis to Duke Leto Atreides displacing his sworn enemies, The Harkonnens. They take back their kingdom by force and, it is up to Paul to lead the natives of Arrakis in a battle for control of the planet and its spice. It is classic science fiction and won a Hugo Award for Best Novel.

Dune’s author, Frank Herbert, is another story. Though he became famous for science fiction, he was also a newspaper journalist, photographer, short-story writer, book reviewer, ecological consultant, and lecturer. Because of a poor home environment, he ran away in 1938 to live with an aunt and uncle in Salem, Oregon. In 1939 he lied about his age to get his first newspaper job at the Glendale Star. Herbert then returned to Salem in 1940 where he worked for the Oregon Statesman newspaper (now The Statesman Journal).  He began writing short-stories for science pulp magazines in 1952 and never looked back.  

Herbert began researching Dune in 1959.  The novel originated while writing a magazine article on the Dunes of Florence, Oregon. He became too involved and ended up with more raw material than he needed. Also, the article was never written but did plant the seed that led to Dune. In all, Dune took six years of research and writing to complete. The book was much longer than any commercial science fiction of the time and, it was rejected by nearly twenty book publishers. One editor prophetically wrote, “I might be making the mistake of the decade, but …”

The Chilton Book Company (known mainly for its auto-repair manuals) offered a $7,500.00 advance plus future royalties for the rights to publish the book. The rest is history. Frank went on to pen five total books based on Dune and each was a classic in its own right. Frank passed away in Madison Wisconsin in 1986.

This Week’s Podcast:

On the podcast this week we have three classic tales. A short story from the author of the Dune Series of novels, A true-crime tale from Scotland Yard and a listener’s tale about his foster grandmother. You can listen to this podcast on Thursday at Ron’s Amazing Stories, download it from iTunes, stream it on TuneIn Radio or listen to it on your radio Saturday night at 6pm Eastern time. Check your local listing or find the station closest to you at this link.

The Calendar:

November 02 – David Larsen’s Marionette (HE #19)
November 09 – Old Rambling House (RAS #303)
November 16 – Suspense Week – (RAS #304)
November 23 – Thanksgiving Podcast Replay
November 30 – (RAS #305)