The Science Fiction Fix

Podcast Review: Aural Delights No 33

Posted on July 27th, 2008 | by admin |

It’s about time I actually review an individual podcast isn’t it. That was the original intention of this website. But I find so many good Science Fiction resources out there that it’s hard to focus on podcasts in general. So I’ll make it a point to start reviewing individual podcasts mixed in with my other ramblings.

Today I’m reviewing StarShip Sofa’s Aural Delights No 33 (mp3). The podcast itself is almost a full hour and a half of content from the science fiction genre. The format of Aural Delights consists of a short poem, a piece of flash fiction, a fact/reality piece, finishing up with the feature content which is a full story. All of them individually narrated and usually by the author themselves.

The first piece I found interesting was Terry Edge’s “Point of View“, which was an essay on his experiences of writing science fiction for today’s market. He also goes into detail about writing in first and third person focusing on the strengths and weaknesses of each for science fiction writing.

The second piece I enjoyed was the feature piece by Robert Reed. Robert Reed is a well known current science fiction writer and much of his work can be found in popular science fiction periodicals like Asimov’s Fantasy and Science Fiction. His story “Roxie” is about a man dealing with his aging dog, while the Earth is under the threat of a comet that has a high likelihood of striking.

I found Robert Reed’s “Roxie” interesting, but it focused primarily on the relationship between Roxie and his owner. Occasionally there was mention of the comet which was two years away with calculations of it’s trajectory getting more grim. It was a good story, yet it wasn’t hard-core science fiction and I have been finding alot of science fiction like this lately. There seems to be a trend towards telling a story people can relate to, while adding a scifi element that doesn’t seem to be the focus but rather something happening in the background affecting the characters to some degree.

Still, Aural Delights always some unique content that makes it stand out. You can download this episode by the link above or go to the Starship Sofa website which can be found in my blogroll.

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