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Apr. 5th, 2014
A Rose for Ecclesiastes
Apr. 5th, 2014 02:30 pmOne of the podcasts that I frequently listen to is called Escape Pod. They take science fiction short stories and read them as audiobooks.
In general it's newish fiction, that is, SF short stories that have been published elsewhere within the last few years. They're also more and more a primary market - that is, the first place a new work is published.
And sometimes they read some of the old classics. The recently did a favorite of mine, A Rose for Ecclesiastes by Roger Zelazny. Zelazny is best known for his Amber series, but he has written quite a few other things as well. His short stories especially are especially beautiful. He likes playing with language, and does it well. In A Rose for Ecclesiastes the language reminds me a lot of Ray Bradbury, and this particular story would fit quite nicely in among the Martian Chronicles (not least for being set in the same kind of Mars as those stories.) His trademark irreverent wit comes through as well, and there are a few places where the main character is at least a little reminiscent of Corwin of Amber.
I'd recommend giving it a listen. It's an older story (from the early 60s), and keeps getting reprinted for a reason. If audio fiction isn't your thing, as a bonus the text of the entire story is on their web site as well: http://escapepod.org/2014/02/28/ep437-rose-ecclesiastes
In general it's newish fiction, that is, SF short stories that have been published elsewhere within the last few years. They're also more and more a primary market - that is, the first place a new work is published.
And sometimes they read some of the old classics. The recently did a favorite of mine, A Rose for Ecclesiastes by Roger Zelazny. Zelazny is best known for his Amber series, but he has written quite a few other things as well. His short stories especially are especially beautiful. He likes playing with language, and does it well. In A Rose for Ecclesiastes the language reminds me a lot of Ray Bradbury, and this particular story would fit quite nicely in among the Martian Chronicles (not least for being set in the same kind of Mars as those stories.) His trademark irreverent wit comes through as well, and there are a few places where the main character is at least a little reminiscent of Corwin of Amber.
I'd recommend giving it a listen. It's an older story (from the early 60s), and keeps getting reprinted for a reason. If audio fiction isn't your thing, as a bonus the text of the entire story is on their web site as well: http://escapepod.org/2014/02/28/ep437-rose-ecclesiastes