Listen to this episode

Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff

I think you will find episode 308 to your liking. I start right off with a story from the pages of this month’s Antipodean magazine. The very graphic tale of an alien ummmm “visit”. “Phobic” by Kevin J. Phyland. Fair warning, the story contains strong images that some people might find unsettling.

From there I travel over to the blog. I review the blu-ray “Hanna” which I found moderately entertaining, next is a catchy tune called the bio-tech blues, you may not be able to follow all the lyrics, but you still find your toes tapping. Explorers think they have found the booster engines of the Apollo 11 Saturn V rocket in 14,000 feet of water! The opening story came from this month’s Antipodean online flash fiction magazine. I take a moment going down through the rest of the stories available. There is more evidence every day supporting dark energy as the power source driving the galaxies apart. Once again a short piece of music. This time the “Zelda Girl” this time we are treated to 1 voice and one instrument blended through 120 tracks. Peter Hollens does the vocals and Lindsey Sterling does the  violin that and 120 tracks becomes Skyrim, it is truly an amazing piece of work. I have seen trailers on Youtube for a remake of Total Recall without Arnold S. and it looks BETTER! Not so cartoony and fake plastic sets and much better lightening…Might just be watchable!

And finally part one of Maya Kaathryn Bonhnhoff’s If it ain’t broke…. where one scientist has found a way not to be a total clutz all the time… But the solution is not always optimal…

Listen to this episode

Edward McKeown

Today in episode 306 of Beam Me Up – one can count on a boat load of entertainment. Yes a boatload!

Dan made the suggestion that Space Truckin from Deep Purple would make an excellent show opener which I agreed to!

Jeremy stops by to talk about the Disney movie, John Carter of Mars. I wish I could have spent more time on the review, but today was really loaded up.

After our review, I head over to the Beam Me Up blog at www.wrfrbeameup.blogspot.com.
For this week’s news. Scientists and researchers at the Virginia Tech, the University of Texas and other schools are working together to develop the robotic jellyfish that runs on sea water to move its artificial muscles. NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has returned some great photos of its first stop off at the asteroid Vesta. While at the NASA website I took a look at how Messenger is doing at Mercury. On March 17, 2012, MESSENGER successfully wrapped up a year-long campaign to perform the first complete reconnaissance of the geochemistry, geophysics, geologic history, atmosphere, magnetosphere, and plasma environment of the solar system’s innermost planet. NASA is considering the ISS as a platform for a mock Mars mission, based somewhat on the results of the Russian land based experiment a few years ago. One of the main research points would be the effects of microgravity on the astronauts over an extended period of time. I play The audio from the 14th Symphony of Science video.
“The World of the Dinosaurs” is a musical celebration dinosaurs, their habits, extinction, and our methods of learning about them. Featuring Alice Roberts, Bill Nye, Nigel Marvin, Dallas Campbell and more. Easily worth the price of admission for sure!

This week’s story is part 2 and the conclusion to Ed McKeown’s Final Test which was excellently read by our most talented reader Ron Huber. This week the high school students come toe to toe with a most fearsome alien in a truly desperate effort to keep Earth from becoming a food source for alien carnivores.

That and more. I am all cued up and ready to go!

Listen to this episode

Ed McKeown

Ok, today’s show is a clear example of what happens when Paul lets things get away from him! Yep, I had said that I would run Final Exam starting earlier in March. For some reason I confused that with Keith Latch’s “One Law”. What does that mean to you? Other than you get almost 45 minutes of story time this week!

To get the toes tappin I play a live cut of Mr. Spaceman by the Byrds.

In the first story, part one of “Final Exam” by Ed McKeown. A YA short story that really will appeal to all ages. In Final Exam, the fate of mankind may really have fallen to a group of intrepid high school students. All they needed to do was pass…..the test….The Final Exam.

I close episode 305 with the conclusion to Keith Latch’s “1 Law” We have learned so far that there is only one true law – You will NOT edit time. There isn’t any defense and punishment is swift and final. Part two put our enforcer Carson in one of his strangest jobs yet. One where the very mission itself may end his existence!

Between the stories I review the movie “In Time”, where the “currency of the realm” is time itself. Is the movie worth the “Time” it takes to watch it? Listen and find out….

Listen to this episode

  

Nancy Fulda

Strange and creepy are the cornerstones of this week’s Beam Me Up broadcast. I start off first with T. Fox Dunham’s spin on a well worn science fiction theme. I read his “Freedom Day” Where a long lost space traveler only to find humans enslaved by mechanical overlords. Upon freeing the oppressed human race our stalwart traveler garners a reward that was far beyond anything he could have imagined.

Next from Earth Sky – news on the VLA telescope soon to be fully operational in Chile called Alma and feathers caught in ancient tree sap helps demonstrate that early flightless dinosaurs and ancient birds both used feathers but for varying purposes.

From there I head over to the Beam Me Up blog to discover that dinosaurs themselves were plagued by fleas just as much as modern animals, but these were no ordinary fleas! Next I review the blu-ray Batman: year one which follows the genesis of the Batman mystique from the comic book history time line, Hubble has detected a gas cloud thought to be the precursor to a supernova that could happen at any moment, Some voice over actors find it difficult to drop their assumed personas once the project is finished. Watch Ben Shelton’s web series The Daly Show – I have a link and the mentioned video – funny just can not describe it! The most distant object in the visible universe had been discovered. Light from the GRB has been traveling to us for 13.2 billion years, that makes it 96% of the age of the Universe itself. I find another Darwin hopeful….this brain trust is not to be believed! And finally from the blog comes one of the most disturbing ideas yet to improve on meat production. You will not believe your ears!

And finally part two of Nancy Fulda’s story Movement which is up for the Nebula this year in the short story department. Good Luck Nancy!

Listen to this episode

David Steffen

Little bit shorter episode this week. I misjudged how long the articles would take, but 298 still runs 50 minutes!

I start with a Librivox read of M. Cumming’s No Pets Allowed. He couldn’t do any real job, so they gave him a job that didn’t require him to do anything….guarding the treasure, and since there were no dishonest people anymore, he couldn’t get into trouble. But he was so far away and nothing to do…so maybe a pet? As long as no one knew…….

At the close of the hour I play Turning Back the Clock by David Steffen. He was too late! Mary was dead. Their life together was over. There was nothing he could do….or was there? If he could only get to the rift……..

Between the stories I go back to the BMU blog. This episode I recognize the crew loss of Apollo 1. Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee all lost their lives to fire brought about by a series of mistakes that proved fatal. But out of that was a little known tribute that you might not have heard about. The iconic voice of the 60s classic Lost in Space’s robot has died. Dick Tufeld who’s famous lines like “Danger, Will Robinson” and “That does not compute” died Jan. 22 he was 85. Asteroid 2012 BX34 makes an extremely close pass! Nasa rover Opportunity is once again gearing up for another mission. Space Adventures’ Eric Anderson, says basically in the commercial below, you give him 150 million and he will send you to the Moon. What Is The Air Force Using the X-37B Space Plane For? Xnewsman sends in some Star Trek gold. Interviews from 1966 of Shatner and Nemoy! In an effort to conserve diminishing power, NASA controllers turned of the heater to the ultraviolet spectrometer instrument aboard the Voyager 1 spacecraft.

and to make sure that I cover all the bases I head back and review the new x-men movie X-Men First Class.

Listen to this episode

Harris Tobias

Listen to this episode

Bart Meehan

This week on Beam Me Up podcast I offer it all! News Views and Reviews! First from the pages of Antipodean the online flash fiction magazine I read Love and Perpetual Motion by Bart Meehan. This tale puts a new spin on love conquering time. At the bottom of the hour is part two of Thief of Futures by Thomas Minton.

From the Beam Me Up Blog and not so much…. astronomers have discovered black holes of truly unimaginable size, an extra solar planet that all three bears would agree is “just right”, Voyager 1 for all intents and purposes has left the building or the solar system as the case may be and has already uncovered the unexpected! Derek Van Gorder and Otto Stockmeier are making a science fiction short with no cgi or green screen, just good ole movie making! How about some extended scenes? The CollegeHumor people have taken the Independence Day iconic “I want you to die!” scene and extended it to hilarious proportions, did you know that there are fuel cells that don’t HAVE to burn hydrogen? Oh and check out the Sony Playstation shorts that are called Great Films Fill Rooms they are great examples of1 take film making! I review the Transformers Dark of the Moon blu-ray directed by Michael “I will not do a Transformers 4” Bay and the silver RV that transported shuttle crew members has been retired to storage……sigh

Listen to this episode

Totally mixed bag of material on this week’s episode of Beam Me Up number 289.

Before I get too serious I offer Laura Shigihara singing Cube Land.  You really have to check out the YouTube video for this song!  Truly strange.

From the Blog this week – I review Necropolis by Michael Dempsey which is, for lack of a better description – an urban fantasy but with strong science fiction frameworks holding the story up and threaded through it all is a damn good detective murder / mystery!

Is it possible that scientists have discovered a particle that travels faster than the accepted universal limit of 186,282 miles per second, the speed of light.  It would appear that they had measured neutrinos particles which test results show that they traveled around 3.75 miles per second faster than the velocity of light.

To the great sadness of anyone that has ever read anything penned by Anne McCaffrey – the creator of Pern and it’s wonderful dragons has gone between and our world is colder for it.

Plus I spend some time just wondering what to do or for that manner, what I should say about a truly different medical class x-ray.  You can see it on the blog, but that is as far as I plan on taking it.  other that huh? WTF!

And at the bottom   DONT!!!   I play Claude and the Henry Moores written and read by Casey Wolf this story for all the world tell the tale of a man who comes to love art and his expression is probably one of the most unusual I have ever read before.   Now for you that love Casey’s work, she has three stories appearing in _Writers on the Wrong Side of the Road_, edited by Clayton Bye and Sassy Brit.  That sounds like something worth exploring!
Url to the book:  http://cjunewolfden.blogspot.com/

That’s….OMG I keep hearing Buzz Lightyear commercials on the tv!  That just isn’t right!

Once again… that’s about it this week.  Enjoy!

Listen to this episode

Ken Scholes

This week’s program goes by FAST!  I start a new series, an Urban Fantasy piece called Clock Work penned and voiced in part by Erin Bassett.    At the bottom of the hour is a strange tale of ultimate escapism called The Boy Who Could Bend and Fall from the very talented hand of Ken Scholes.

In between the two pieces I visit the Beam Me Up blog at wrfrbeameup.blogspot.com.

I review Thor on Blu-ray / DVD.  Directed by Kenneth Branagh  and starring Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, Tom Hiddleston as Loki and Anthony Hopkins as Odin.  A bit of a mixed bag of a movie. Lots of the same ingredients that drives any movie, but in the end for all the flash, not much substance.

On the flip side is  The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of the year vol 5 edited by  Jonathan Strahan.  Published by Night Shade Books.  A great collection of stories that some with recognize from the podcast and a ton of really good stories.

Back when the solar system was only 600 million years old the system looked and acted much much stranger than it does today. For instance it now appears that at this early stage in the formation of the solar system there may have been more than four giant planets initially, and some were ejected into inter-stellar space.

NASA was able to talk to the 35 year old Voyager 2 and give it commands that it carried out without pause.  The new configuration will all Voyager to conserve power and continue to do science well into the next decade!

Overall a great show.  Enjoy!

Listen to this episode

Cory Doctorow

This week on Beam Me Up episode 286 I start playing This must be the Place by new author Elliot Bangs.  In part one of this masterful tale we are introduced to  Lauren Wells and the main character Andria who through a year develop a something akin to a relationship but so strange that even Andria has to question he sanity.  Part one sets the stage this week.

But first a story from Cory Doctorow called Authorised Domain which Cory takes us into the near future where the digital certificate is not something to fool with!

Between stories I take a look at some of the reviews and articles from the past couple of weeks.

NASA would like to have a “Tractor Beam”. The problem is that no one has of yet ever built a tractor beam or even agreed on what constitutes a tractor beam,

Issue 161 of the Australian Flash SF online magazine Antipodean is now ready for downloading.

Photographer Peter Chang used an array of Canon 5D Mark IIs and motion control sliders to capture both indoors and outdoors time-lapse scenes in 3D, and it contains stunning visuals!

In an effort to eradicate mosquito borne illnesses researchers report initial success from the first test release into the wild of mutant  mosquitoes.  Their job….to pass on a lethal gene to their offspring that kills them before reaching maturity.

Facebook plans to build three giant server halls covering an area the size of 11 football fields 60 miles south of the Arctic circle in Sweden.

But first I review the bluray disk version of the movie Paul!