Jesse Willis – Page 404

CBC R1: Dates for Steve I & Steve II, no word on JMS’ Al

SFFaudio News

CBC producer Joe Mahoney, on his blog, has dropped two dates for the summer 2007 rebroadcasts the two earlier comedy Science Fiction series he had a hand in making:

Monday July 23rd to Friday July 27th for Steve the First

and Monday July 30th to Wednesday August 1st for Steve The Second.

Unfortunately, Joe still doesn’t have have much info on when J Michael Straczynski’s CBC Radio series The Adventures of Apocalypse Al will air. Joe writes:

“…there was talk of taking the ten five minute episodes [of The Adventures of Apocalypse Al] and stringing them all together and perhaps broadcasting them as two twenty-five minute long episodes… on two consecutive Saturday mornings, perhaps. But that’s probably just idle talk and speculation. Plus it was designed to be broadcast in five minute segments… I’m not sure it would sustain at a greater length.”

Hey CBC honchos, why not make The Adventures of Apocalypse Al the world’s first ever public radio drama podcast? 5 minute episodes would work splendiferously as podcast!

Not only would this be cooler than hell, it’d be a great way to gauge the effectiveness of advertising a CBC podcast on CBC radio stations to see what kind of traffic flow such a campaign would make. I’m willing to bet it’d be huge PR coup too. C’mon guys we need our JMS!

posted by Jesse Willis

H.P. Lovecraft DOCUMENTARY on BBC Radio 3

SFFaudio Online Audio

BBC Radio 3 has re-aired a fascinating documentary from November of last year…

Weird Tales – The Strange Life Of H.P. Lovecraft
Radio Broadcast – Approx. 45 Minutes [DOCUMENTARY]
BROADCASTER: BBC Radio 3
BROADCAST: Sunday June 10th 2006 @ 20:00 – 20:45 (UK TIME)

“Geoff Ward examines the strange life and terrifying world of the man hailed as America’s greatest horror writer since Poe. During his life Lovecraft’s work was confined to lurid pulp magazines and he died in penury in 1937. Today, however, his writings are considered modern classics and published in prestigious editions. Among the writers considering his legacy are Neil Gaiman, S.T. Joshi, Kelly Link, Peter Straub and China Mieville.”

This is available via the ‘Listen Again‘ right now and the link should be around for the next 5 days or so.

posted by Jesse Willis

Decoder Ring Theatre’s Summer Showcase begins next weekend

SFFaudio News

Decoder Ring Theatre's Summer Showcase

One week from today a bold new tradition begins! Gregg Taylor and his stupendous crew of audio dramatists begin podcasting their Decoder Ring Theatre SUMMER SHOWCASE. Every 2nd Saturday throughout the summer will see a brand new Decoder Ring production. Here’s the Summer Series rundown:

June 16: The Magic of the Movies by Tim Prasil (suspense)
June 30: The Crasher by Tim Prasil (suspense)
July 14: Deck Gibson and the Stardust Dancers by Matt Wallace (space adventure)
July 28: Deck Gibson and the Last Squadron Fighter by Matt Wallace (space adventure)
Aug 11: I.D. 0 by Gregg Taylor (sci-fi noir)
Aug 25: Slick Bracer and the Giant Nap by Eric Deckers (comedy-mystery)

Even though only three of these shows are SFFaudio related I’ll be listening to each and every one! Gregg and crew are creating unbeatable audio drama year round. And, if you’re not already a fan of either The Red Panda or Black Jack Justice be sure to have a peek at the new Wikipedia entry for Decoder Ring too.

posted by Jesse Willis

Mister Ron’s Basement – Fortunate Island by Max Adeler

SFFaudio OnlineAudio

Mister Ron’s Basement podcast has completed the serialization of the 1880 novelette Fortunate Island by Max Adeler. Ron has even built a special webpage that makes it easy to listen to. The tale concerns a contemporary American professor (contemporary to 1880) and his daughter who find themselves stranded on “a mysterious island filled with castles, knights, and descendants of King Arthur’s kingdom.” Apparently, Adeler was convinced that Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court published eight years after Fortunate Island, had plagiarized much from his tale. Mister Ron himself thinks there are “certainly some compelling arguments to be made for Adeler’s case.” Have a listen and decide for yourself.

Fortunate Island
By Max Adeler; Read by Ron Evry
8 MP3s – Approx. 4? Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Mister Ron’s Basement
Podcast: Apr – May 2007
This novelette originally appeared as “Professor Baffin’s Adventures” in Beeton’s Christmas Annual (1880). All subsequent printings are under the title Fortunate Island

And don’t forget, you can subscribe to Mr. Ron’s podcast, and visit the basement daily, via this feed:

http://slapcast.com/rss/revry/index.xml

posted by Jesse Willis

BBC Radio 7 reruns Brave New World

Online Audio

Though BBC7 doesn’t offer a single podcast [GRRR!], the do have one endearment that we can appreciate… re-runs! BBC Radio 7’s the 7th Dimension is re-broadcasting the ten part abridgment of Brave New World. Aldous Huxley’s dystopian classic, first published in 1932, depicts an ominous,l but not wholly repulsive vision of future society. This abridged version has been previously broadcast on both BBC7 and BBC4.

Brave New World
By Aldous Huxley; Read by Anton Lesser
10 X 15 Minute Episodes – Approx. 2.5 Hours [ABRIDGED]
BROADCASTER: BBC7’s The 7th Dimension
BROADCAST: Monday to Friday at 6:45pm (repeats 12:45am) UK Time*
A nightmare vision of the future, where humans are battery farmed and cloning and consumerism is rife.

All ten parts will be made available via the Listen Again service shortly after they air.

posted by Jesse Willis

Who Knows What Evil Lurks In the Hearts Of Men? Doc Savage!

SFFaudio Online Audio

Okay, before you click anything, first note, Mark Butler has placed an important disclaimer on his website, Mark’s Place, about these readings:

THESE BOOKS ARE COPYRIGHTED AND THESE FILES MAY NOT BE LISTENED TO WITHOUT FIRST BEING PURCHASED IN PRINT FORM. BY CLICKING ON THE LINKS BELOW YOU AGREE THAT YOU ARE A LEGAL OWNER OF A VERSION OF THESE BOOKS.

For those poor saps who haven’t already got ’em, paperbook or pulpmag copies of both of these out of print beauties can often be found on either eBay or Abebooks.com.

First up is, Doc Savage: Birds Of Death, which was originally published in Doc Savage Magazine‘s October 1941 issue. It follows The Man Of Bronze and his associates as they “battle strange yellow canaries whose mere song can kill a man and then bring him back to life!” This pulpy romp takes you from the streets of New York to the deepest darkest jungles.

Narrator, and Savage enthusiast, Mark Butler sez:

“I read this book into the microphone, trying to give the proper emphasis to the words and convey the feelings being written about. I’m not very good with different voices so the various characters sound a lot alike. But the story shines through my attempts. I’ve also added a lot of sound effects. Its not an ‘audio adaptation’ but I think it really enhances the audio.”

Doc Savage: The Birds Of Death
By Kenneth Robeson (AKA Lester Dent); Read by Mark Butler
14 MP3 Files – Approx. 3 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Source: Mark’s Place
Posted: 2004
Doc’s musical accomplishments are almost as well known as his scientific genius – but even he can’t match the peculiar talent of the strange yellow canaries whose sweet music is the song of death!

Chapter 01 |MP3| Chapter 02 |MP3| Chapter 03 |MP3|
Chapter 04 |MP3| Chapter 05 |MP3| Chapter 06 |MP3|
Chapter 07 |MP3| Chapter 08 |MP3| Chapter 09 |MP3|
Chapter 10 |MP3| Chapter 11 |MP3| Chapter 12 |MP3|
Chapter 13 |MP3 | Chapter 14 |MP3|

A similar description accompanies, The Living Shadow, this is a single narrator reading that includes sound effects. First published in 1931, in hearing it you’ll be hearing the original Shadow character, in his first ever story! It’s difficult to imagine that this character has spanned more than 75 years of spicy tales that can …”cloud men’s minds”… hmmm, what was I saying?

The Shadow: The Living Shadow
By Maxwell Grant (AKA Walter B. Gibson); Read by Mark Butler
38 MP3 Files – Approx. 6 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Source: Mark’s Place
Posted: 2006
“The Living Shadow is the first Shadow novel. It sets the tone for all of the stories to follow. The Shadow recruits Harry Vincent and we learn with Harry about the Shadow’s remarkable organization and methods. The story is full of mystery as Harry gradually learns the real truth behind the Laidlow murder and the missing diamonds.”

MP3s:
|Introduction|
|01|02|03|04|05|06|07|08|09|10|
|11|12|13|14|15|16|17|18|19|20|
|21|22|23|24|25|26|27|28|29|30|
|31|32|33|34|35|36|37|

Thanks so much Mark!

posted by Jesse Willis