https://mobile.audible.co.uk/search?keywords=Sea%20of%20sorrows
I'm sure most of us were expecting this but it's up for pre-order. Release is Alien Day! ;D
Cast includes -
QuoteTom Alexander, Mark Arnold, Sagar Arya, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Laurence Bouvard, Philip Bullcock, John Chancer, Stockard Channing, Cedric Cirotteau, Simon Darwen, Andrea Deck, Oris Erhuero, Tony Gardner, Walles Hamonde, Andrew James Spooner, Loreli King, Tayla Kovacevic Ebong, Laurel Lefkow, Sandra-Mae Luyck, Theo Maggs, Alan Marriott, Gary Martin, Pauline Mclynn, Eric Meyers, Naoko Mori, Sarah Pitard, Kerry Shale, Thomas Stroppell, Emma Swan, Martin T Sherman, Steve Toussaint and Ryan Wichert.
I recognize Covenant's Mother, Andrea Deck and Lefkow. Not sure about any other names without googling.
So they are actually doing a Audio Drama of it? strange then why this is last when it was the second book.
Chronologically it was the last, though.
That is true, I wonder then if they are going to do the Rage trilogy next. They would be next chronologically as they are set some time after Sorrows, I need to read them again but I just couldn't really get into it the first time, too weird. :laugh:
I'd love for them to keep going and do the Rage War (and not just 'cause I'd get to hear my name) and it'd give them another 3 years of material. But I'd also love to have some original dramas too.
Cool to hear this is coming. Just like the other two books, the novel had some big flaws that really dragged it down, but these dramas have been so well-made it's impossible for me not to enjoy them.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Mar 19, 2018, 08:37:09 AMBut I'd also love to have some original dramas too.
Yeah, that's be awesome.
I ended up enjoying Sea of Sorrows the most. I can't quite say why but it had a bit of an old school feel about it, like it fit in with the old Bantam/Millenium novelizations. The only bit that dragged it down for me was when the pace ground to a halt in the middle of the story when it kept stopping and starting again with all the tertiary characters meeting the Aliens, learning something about them, relaying the info, dying. And then again for the next few chapters.
There were an awful lot of redshirts in this book.
Lots of red shirts and some whose fate isn't revealed i.e Anderson. She just disappears from the story when Perkns and co are attacked. Other than the weird telepathy thing and the fact its set after Resurrection, I do like the story myself, I like how its about mercenaries and the W-Y side rather than plain white hat marines. The story got grayness in it and the mercs that are focused on are not as bad as they seemed upon their introduction. Mannings for example, is ruthless but does care for his mercs and even understands Decker's motives for something that happens later in the story.
I know some hated the concept but I totally dug the idea that the Xeno's awoke from their hibernation after scenting `The Destroyers' blood in Decker.
Yes it's a bit out there but as Hicks stated it did have an old school vibe about it - reminded me a lot of some of the 90s era DH comics.
The previous two audio dramas were superb (I'm listening again to River of Pain). Can't wait for this one.
Just remembered that there is a part in Sea of Sorrows that is possibly similar to those bad parts in Defiance and Covenant (Lope incident), almost forgot about it. A character mentions a woman being attacked by a facehugger but the way it is described is like the attack and eventual parasite death was seconds or minutes at most, another off-putting part from an otherwise potential decent story. It seems that while the trilogy is well written and enjoyable, there is quite a few moments that pull you out of it and even messes with the lore.
Great catch Hicks! Very excited about this! I've listened to the previous audibles far too many times (I can quote the lines as I'm listening haha) so I need this! Dirk Maggs is so good at translating these novels into audio dramas that I'm not worried about this one. I also strongly enjoyed "Sea of Sorrows" when it came out and wasn't put off by the empathic aspect of the main character (even though I disliked telepathic Queen Mothers in the old EU). Alien Day (week) 2018 is shaping up so nicely!
The cover is now up.
https://twitter.com/theonlyspoon/status/978559002413092864?s=19
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51WBVfhBKML._SL500_.jpg)
Rizzo!
Looks a bit unfinished around the upper lip, but I like it.
Although my thoughts on this book weren't very positive, I am very excited to hear this got made, for the shear quality of Dirk Maggs' awesome skills at making these audio plays. His works are truly inspired and brilliant. Heck, he might even be able to elevate this story into something very cool...
Man, I was just thinking earlier today how wonderful it would be if another audio drama was made, and then I see this. Best news I've heard all week. I hope they don't stop after this one. If there's any justice, we'll someday get audible dramas of Earth Hive, Nightmare Asylum and The Female War. And maybe, just maybe, an version of Gibson's Alien 3. What a masterpiece that could be. Ward's would be great too. Nevertheless, this is awesome news. Tremendous respect for what they've done so far.
Quote from: HuDaFuK on Mar 28, 2018, 08:25:36 PM
Looks a bit unfinished around the upper lip, but I like it.
Funny, I was going to say that about the lower lip. Isn't that an image of the Alien from Isolation?
definitely getting this, Dirk Maggs' is awesome, hopefully he gets to make some more of these, audio dramas/ radio plays are a real lost art
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Mar 19, 2018, 08:37:09 AM
I'd love for them to keep going and do the Rage War (and not just 'cause I'd get to hear my name) and it'd give them another 3 years of material. But I'd also love to have some original dramas too.
They have the Rage War series on audio already. Listening to Predator: Incursion now. It's narrated so it's not as cool as the acted out River of Pain and Out of the Shadows though.
I'm hoping for audio play versions too.
Just a reminder that this is now out! ;D
https://scifibulletin.com/books/tie-in-fiction/alien-review-sea-of-sorrows-audio/
Sounds like another winner. I know Shevvie is absolutely loving this too.
Will definitely be picking this up. Would like to re-read the novel first though, so not in any rush.
I have no inclination to re-read this novel. I literally forced myself to get through it. I am really looking forward to this audiobook though. The treatment on these things is just amazing. I am curious to see if this will make me want to reread the book. Who knows?
It'll be interesting to see if you can keep track of the characters a little better when they have different voices.
I struggled with the larger cast in River of Pain. I'm interested to see how I'll cope with this. lol
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Apr 27, 2018, 08:47:11 AMI struggled with the larger cast in River of Pain. I'm interested to see how I'll cope with this. lol
Re-reading the book immediately beforehand definitely helped with that. Partly why I wanna give this book another look before I dive into the drama.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Apr 27, 2018, 08:47:11 AM
I struggled with the larger cast in River of Pain. I'm interested to see how I'll cope with this. lol
I'm glad Colin Salmon got to redeem himself after AvP. :laugh:
Off topic question but why wasn't his character in the Fire & Stone series? Doesn't he...
Spoiler
get off of Hadley's Hope in the Onager?
Quote from: Denton Smalls on Apr 27, 2018, 10:12:13 PM
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Apr 27, 2018, 08:47:11 AM
I struggled with the larger cast in River of Pain. I'm interested to see how I'll cope with this. lol
I'm glad Colin Salmon got to redeem himself after AvP. :laugh:
Off topic question but why wasn't his character in the Fire & Stone series? Doesn't he...
Spoiler
get off of Hadley's Hope in the Onager?
No doubt. Colin rocked that role. ;) Seriously, he nailed it.
I just sped through it to see if there is any significant differences between the book and the audio.
Spoiler
Spoiler
There is, quite a lot infact, characterization, character fates either changed or extended etc Rollins's character is less ambiguous in terms of whether or not she is a robot, she is also more evil as rather than be pragmatic and nuke the site, she attempts to keep it intact and allow the colonies to be taken by the xenos
I must say, Sea of Sorrows was superb! :) I found it a little tricky to get through the book and don't remember a lot of the fine details, but having it actually played out on audio greatly enhanced the story for me.
Spoiler
While it was indeed a bit of an Aliens to OotS's Alien, interviews with the author have revealed that that was always the intent. Fox wanted this to be a bit of a soft reboot, setting all the pieces back on the board after Resurrection. Dekar was great to hear played by a real person, John Chancer really brings him to life. Same with the rest of the cast.
I was expecting to learn more about the dog aliens here, but I guess we're leaving that to another time, if any.
I also appreciated the way they worked natural sounding conversations about world happenings since Resurrection's ending into the script, didn't sound info-dumpy at all, so good job there :)
I wonder what they're gonna do next year... if they start on the Rage War trilogy, they'll be presumably locked in on that for the next three years. Due to when these books were originally written, there's a fair number of winks and nods to Isolation in these tales, so it'd be interesting for that to get adapted as well.
We've also got the new Cold Forge novel, which is fantastic, and I very much wouldn't mind hearing adapted at some point in the future, though I don't know if there's a standard grace period on this sort of thing. Out of the Shadows would have gone into production only about a year after the book came out...
There's also the film prologue novels, like Covenant Origins, and Hunters and Hunted, that they could adapt. I'm not sure I'd be super interested in Covenant Origins though, as it's more of a thriller than a horror, and doesn't really feature the creatures at all...
I guess while I'm listing everything off, there's also the comics (Fire & Stone / Life & Death could be quite epic), older novels (Original Sin, please and thank you), doing expanded adaptions of the films themselves (like the Star Wars radio dramas), or even writing original screenplays (is that still the right word for a non-visual medium?) for new audios.
Either way, looking forward to more! (And I do so hope they start putting out, like, two a year or something :3 )
Quote from: Denton Smalls on Apr 27, 2018, 10:12:13 PMOff topic question but why wasn't his character in the Fire & Stone series? Doesn't he...
Spoiler
get off of Hadley's Hope in the Onager?
Spoiler
No. He escapes on a different ship with another Marine, one of the W-Y scientists and a little girl. The Onager leaves some time before he escapes.
Quote from: HuDaFuK on Apr 30, 2018, 10:28:40 AM
Quote from: Denton Smalls on Apr 27, 2018, 10:12:13 PMOff topic question but why wasn't his character in the Fire & Stone series? Doesn't he...
Spoiler
get off of Hadley's Hope in the Onager?
Spoiler
No. He escapes on a different ship with another Marine, one of the W-Y scientists and a little girl. The Onager leaves some time before he escapes.
Ohhh that's right! Maybe he'll run into Hooper from Out of the Shadows...
So I'm about 25 mins in ... I like how they started with the interrogation/interview scene first.
Dirk Maggs did it again! Very entertaining but I'd like to give it a few more listens to really match voices to characters. I'd also like to give it a listen in one sitting which I was unable to do this time around. Here's to hoping the Rage War trilogy gets the Maggs treatment!
I definitely liked the audio version, the amount of significant changes was interesting but not unwelcome, the mercenaries are a tad more white hat than in the novel which I suppose makes them more likeable as characters to follow though I didn't mind the grayness of the novel.
Quote from: The Cruentus on May 04, 2018, 11:09:27 AM
I definitely liked the audio version, the amount of significant changes was interesting but not unwelcome, the mercenaries are a tad more white hat than in the novel which I suppose makes them more likeable as characters to follow though I didn't mind the grayness of the novel.
Would you (or anyone else, for that matter) happen to have a shortlist of the changes made? It's been so long since I read the book...
Sure, I have been updating the page on our wiki, its a bit rushed at the moment but here it is http://avp.wikia.com/wiki/Alien:_Sea_of_Sorrows_(audio_drama) This goes without saying but spoiler alert.
Thanks much! :)
Glad to hear so many people are liking it. I loved the first 2 and can't wait to give this one a listen. Here's hoping they start on Earth Hive or the first AVP novel next.
Quote from: Huggs on May 04, 2018, 11:06:15 PM
Glad to hear so many people are liking it. I loved the first 2 and can't wait to give this one a listen. Here's hoping they start on Earth Hive or the first AVP novel next.
I would confidently say that this is the best of the audios yet. Out of the Shadows had the somewhat expositiony updates from Ash, summarizing the situation thus far as if this were episodes being played in weekly radio installments. River of Pain had the narration-provide date & time stamps all over the place, and the cutting back and forth between Hadley's Hope and the frankly filler segments with Ripley (though it was great hearing Lefkow reprise the roll and expand on those scenes).
This one doesn't have any of that stuff; it works setting exposition naturally into the dialogue, everyone's well fleshed out, we occasionally cut up to the mothership in orbit but it's all involved in the same ongoing plot, everyone got great characterization, etc. The team behind these adaptions just gets better with every entry :)
Gave this another listen while I deep cleaned the shit out of my house. I enjoyed it much more this time listening to it in one sitting as it made matching voices to characters much easier. Is the med pod with kasyanov in the novel? It's been a while since I read it and I do not remember that at all.
Yes, but it's much less gruesome in the book - Ash just cuts her throat with a laser scalpel instead of completely vivisecting her as in the drama.
Well I remember that happening in "Out of the Shadows" but in this audio drama there's a whole subplot where Rollins recovers the medpod with the mummified remains of Kasyanov. I really don't recall this happening in the "Sea of Sorrows" novel.
I don't believe that's in the book. I'm currently re-reading prior to listening to this so I can confirm soon!
That definitely didn't happen in the book.
Cool thanks Hicks! Hopefully that means we'll be getting a review from you soon!
@TheBatman ya I didn't think so. But I think it's an interesting addition that really worked in the audio format.
Quote from: Xiggz456 on May 18, 2018, 11:20:56 PMWell I remember that happening in "Out of the Shadows" but in this audio drama there's a whole subplot where Rollins recovers the medpod with the mummified remains of Kasyanov. I really don't recall this happening in the "Sea of Sorrows" novel.
Oh, sorry, completely missed that this was in the
Sea of Sorrows thread and not the
Out of the Shadows one :laugh:
No, Kasyanov('s corpse) does not show up at all in the
Seas of Sorrows novel. Must've been added for the drama. Where does Rollins get her from though? The Marion breaks up at the end of
Out of the Shadows.
The Kianyga (or whatever the ship is called) was also collecting pieces of the wreck that was floating in orbit, they get a large piece that has the medpod with Kasynaov corpse in it.
Ah right. Thanks :)
Ya there's a fair amount of nods to the "Out of the Shadows" drama. Similar to the beginning of "River of Pain" where one of the atmospheric processor engineers was the brother of Welford from the Marion crew. It does help give the trilogy a connected feel that's more prevalent than its novel counterparts.
Quote from: Xiggz456 on May 22, 2018, 11:51:52 PM
Ya there's a fair amount of nods to the "Out of the Shadows" drama. Similar to the beginning of "River of Pain" where one of the atmospheric processor engineers was the brother of Welford from the Marion crew. It does help give the trilogy a connected feel that's more prevalent than its novel counterparts.
I also have to wonder if the wreck the salvagers were talking about with the rotten corpse inside was the remains of poor Hooper :(
I don't think so. The majority of the crew was killed in the Marion so it's most likely one of them. Hoop's probably a rotting corpse on a drifting transport millions of miles away ;D
Yeah, that's what the salvagers at the beginning of River of Pain were talking about, a shuttle they found drifting off in some system. "That stiff was ripe!" apparently :(
Quote from: HybridNewborn on May 23, 2018, 02:53:06 AM
Yeah, that's what the salvagers at the beginning of River of Pain were talking about, a shuttle they found drifting off in some system. "That stiff was ripe!" apparently :(
It was the Alpha Celi system or something like that I believe.
Quote from: Huggs on May 23, 2018, 03:11:02 AM
Quote from: HybridNewborn on May 23, 2018, 02:53:06 AM
Yeah, that's what the salvagers at the beginning of River of Pain were talking about, a shuttle they found drifting off in some system. "That stiff was ripe!" apparently :(
It was the Alpha Celi system or something like that I believe.
I hope that wasn't Hoop :( I loved him. I want him to survive to another entry.
Quote from: HybridNewborn on May 23, 2018, 02:53:06 AM
Yeah, that's what the salvagers at the beginning of River of Pain were talking about, a shuttle they found drifting off in some system. "That stiff was ripe!" apparently :(
Oh man I never thought of that! It certainly is possible but I'm still holding out hope that Hoop made it.
So then if Hoop is died a lonely drifter in space what of Col Bracket and co from River of Pain? Did they wage a small war similar to that of the plot of Defiance?
I like to think the original rewritten comics star them after having changed their names in an attempt to escape scrutiny.
Quote from: HybridNewborn on May 24, 2018, 02:26:41 AM
I like to think the original rewritten comics star them after having changed their names in an attempt to escape scrutiny.
I like this idea.
Quote from: HybridNewborn on Apr 28, 2018, 04:50:33 PM
I wonder what they're gonna do next year... if they start on the Rage War trilogy, they'll be presumably locked in on that for the next three years. Due to when these books were originally written, there's a fair number of winks and nods to Isolation in these tales, so it'd be interesting for that to get adapted as well.
I think the Isolation nods mostly came from Dirk and the Audible's rather than the books themselves. I've been enjoying that aspect.
I really enjoyed this one. I think Dirk's changes did a lot to improve the original story. I feel like I missed the Aliens a bit in this one, though. Will be working on a proper review for the site soon.
Quote from: Prez on May 24, 2018, 01:22:51 AM
So then if Hoop is died a lonely drifter in space what of Col Bracket and co from River of Pain? Did they wage a small war similar to that of the plot of Defiance?
I think both were open avenues for them to explore later on if they wanted to. Ultimately they went with the route opened by Sea of Sorrows. I still hope to see Hoop again.
They're getting their money's worth out of that suit.
Perhaps making up for the lack of in the film! :o
A snippet of script: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/G/02/AudibleUK/en_GB/cruk/email/merch/2019/May_AudibleNewcomersCompetition/ALIEN.pdf