(urth) Audio recordings of Wolfe

[Son of Witz]

Just now, I got nowhere trying to search aph.org for Wolfe or New Sun.
any links?


As I've mentioned before, I scrounged the web for Wolfe audiobooks. 
I found MP3 recordings of the Tapes read by Roy Avers (great reading).
I assembled them all up into M4U audiobook format for consolidation and the Resume function.  I can make them available on line via megaupload or something. 

Again, I'm not sure if this is welcome or not.  I really only care if wolfe would be upset or not. any ideas anyone?

I did receive one request from someone who wanted a visually impaired family member to finally get into Wolfe.  I lost the email though, and have not been able to respond. (Curse whoever designed my webmail and put the Delete button so close to the Inbox button.)

What I would have said, is that these recordings have serious problems.  During the Lake Diaturna section, it wobbles in and out of audibility.  Overall, there are many points like this, and the volume wavers a lot.  So I would not recommend them for anyone's first pass on the books.  However, they are very good for reviewing the material if you've read them already. Much of my insights into subtext have come while listening rather than reading, and have allowed a third pass almost simultaneous to my second read.

anyway, no one really bit when I mentioned it. does anyone want them?
I've listened to Sword, Citadel, most of Urth, and a chunk of Shadow. they sound good enough. I was going to wait until I'd listened to all of them, but, hell, they're as-is, so what I found is what I could share.
I also have Wizard Knight, 3 of the long suns and one or two of the short suns.


and Nigel,
I haven't heard details, but I hope you're feeling better.

best,
~witz


>-----Original Message-----
>From: Lane Haygood [mailto:lhaygood at gmail.com]
>Sent: Friday, December 5, 2008 01:10 PM
>To: 'The Urth Mailing List'
>Subject: Re: (urth) Audio recordings of Wolfe
>
>If you have blind or seeing-impaired friends, ask them about getting the
>American Printing House for the Blind audio recordings of Wolfe's books.  I
>listened to the "Book of the New Sun" that way.  Made for an interesting
>series of car trips.
>
>Lane
>
>On Fri, Dec 5, 2008 at 3:06 PM, Nigel Price <nigelaprice at talktalk.net>wrote:
>
>> When I recently had the pleasure of meeting Gene Wolfe, among the things we
>> discussed were the various audio recordings which he has made over the
>> years. Amongst others recordings, he mentioned one which he had made some
>> time ago at a science fiction convention.
>>
>> The organisers set up recording equipment to make a professional-standard
>> recording of the panel which Gene was on with another author. (I think it
>> may have been Fred Pohl, but I'm not sure.) The authors arrived early, the
>> technician set the levels, started the recorder running and went off to
>> provide tech support at some other event in the convention. Gene and his
>> companion sat there waiting patiently, but absolutely no one turned up to
>> the panel! In the end, they decided to fake a discussion.
>>
>> They invited questions from the floor, and would then specify imaginary
>> members of the audience to ask questions, saying things like, "Yes sir, the
>> gentleman with the green T-shirt in the back row. What was your question?"
>>
>> To cover the lack of a question, Gene and Fred (or whoever) would then say,
>> "I don't think that the microphone picked up your question, so I'll repeat
>> it for the benefit of those listening to the recording. What you wanted to
>> know was..."
>>
>> They of course asked themselves all the questions about their own work
>> which
>> they always hoped fans would ask, and then answered them as they saw fit.
>>
>> Apparently they kept this up for the entire length of the proposed panel
>> session. Gene says that he never heard the recording broadcast or used in
>> any way and therefore supposes that the recording engineer tumbled to their
>> little game when he played back the tape. Still, it's interesting to think
>> that this recording might still be out there somewhere. I couldn't help
>> wondering what questions Gene asked himself, the questions which he wishes
>> we the fans would ask, presumably instead of the ones which we actually
>> come
>> up with!
>>
>> I wondered whether anybody here had a copy of this recording, or knew
>> anything more about it.
>>
>> The only Wolfe or Wolfe-related recordings of which I do have copies are:
>>
>>        - Wolfe reading "The Island of Dr Death and Other Stories" and "A
>> Solar
>> Labyrinth" on a Library of Congress recording
>>        - Neil Gaiman and others taking part in a dramatised reading of "The
>> Tree
>> is my Hat"
>>        - Gene Wolfe being interviewed for a BaltiCon podcast
>>
>> Again, I'd be fascinated to hear of any other recordings which are out
>> there.
>>
>> Nigel
>>
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>