Prometheus Radio Theatre: Night Train Through Maco

SFFaudio Online Audio

Prometheus Radio TheatreAfter months of single-voice readings, Prometheus Radio Theatre returns this week to what it does best: full-cast audio drama.  “Night Train Through Maco” is a post-Hallowe’en treat I based on a ghost story from my family’s home state, North Carolina.  For over a hundred years, travelers in the area of Maco Station reported seeing a light hovering over the railroad tracks near a swamp where a terrible crash had killed a conductor named Joe Baldwin.  In this short dramatization, we work in a little Southern history and a little turn-of-the-century (that’s the 20th Century!) melodrama, as a young couple on the run are pursued by her murderous suitor, and haunted by the conductor’s ghost.   Heather Scheeler and Ethan Wilson turned out some very lively and believable performances for this, and we really had an opportunity to let sound tell a story as we moved through runaway train cars, swamps, and dark and stormy nights.

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Podcast Feed: http://prometheus.libsyn.com/rss

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

Posted by Steven H. Wilson

The SFFaudio Podcast #080 – TALK TO: Eric Shanower

Podcast

The SFFaudio PodcastThe SFFaudio Podcast #080 – Jesse talks with Eric Shanower, the cartoonist for Marvel Comics’ The Wizard Of Oz series and Image Comics Age Of Bronze: The Story Of The Trojan War (available at HungryTigerPress.com).

WATCH OUT FOR THE FALSE ENDINGS!

Talked about on today’s show:
Artist Skottie Young, L. Frank Baum, black and white comics vs. color comics, colorist Jean-Francois Beaulieu, Classics Illustrated, the Tin Woodsman‘s story, Eric’s obsession with Oz, Oz is the first American fantasy, the Emerald City, Marvel Illustrated, DC’s Vertigo imprint, Roy ThomasThe Iliad, Age Of Bronze: The Story Of The Trojan War: The Thousand Ships, comics inspired by audiobooks, The March Of Folly: From Troy To Vietnam by Barbara W. Tuchman, the many and varied stories of the Trojan War, Conan comics, Garth Ennis, Neil Gaiman, Roy Thomas, marketing and promoting comics, Image Comics, comicbook end matter, maps, genealogical charts, pronunciation guides, bibliographies, Cressida’s star-fixation, the absence or presence of the supernatural, Homer’s The Iliad, Troilus and Cressida, where is the Trojan Horse?, Homer’s The Odyssey, The Judgement Of Paris, is there a tongue theme going on?, a seven part series, the industry trending from single issue comics to graphic novels, Garth Ennis’ Battlefield series, would a colour Kindle reinvigorate single issue comics?, Throwaway Horse, annotating comics, James Joyce‘s Ulysses (digital annotated), annotating The Age Of Bronze, re-coloring The Sandman, visiting the real Troy (in Asia Minor), the magnificent Windy Ilios, the Lion Gate at Myceane, the geography and economy of ancient Troy, portraying Odysseus’ madness, distracting Agamemnon, Homer’s dog (Argos), a very very old dog, listening to audiobooks, George Guidall’s reading of The Iliad (Recorded Books), The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory, historical fiction, Audible.com, Aeneas and The Aeneid, WATCH OUT FOR THE FALSE ENDING!, LibriVox.org, Iambik Audio, Paul Auster, City Of Glass, the listening habits of artists, It’s Superman by Tom De Haven, Blackstone Audio, paranormal romance, The Book Of Illusions by Paul Auster, Hunt Through The Valley Of Fear by Gabriel Hunt (aka Charles Ardai), Hard Case Crime, Memory by Donald E. Westlake, Jim Thompson’s The Grifters, Fools Die by Mario Puzo, I thought George Guidall could do no wrong until he read a Lillian Jackson Braun audiobook, RadioArchive.cc, audiobook torrent sites, Conan Properties International, The Hound Of The Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Skype screen sharing, The Guns Of August by Barbara Tuchman, Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household, Michael Jayston, LOOK OUT – THERE’S ANOTHER FALSE ENDING!, a costumed Halloween party, Frog Went A-Courting, the frog vs. the prince, A New Brain, vampires vs. zombies, going zombie, dinosaur Halloween costumes, making costumes is hard!, the Shaggy Man, The SFFaudio Challenge, The 4th SFFaudio Challenge on BoingBoing.net, The Mysteries Of Paris by Eugene Sue, The Wandering Jew by Eugene Sue, Hugh
McGuire, the number of listeners to the SFFaudio Podcast is insane, the difference between a professional narrator and an amateur narrator is that the amateur narrator gets to choose his books, Gregg Margarite, Edith Nesbit, pronunciation and inflection are important, music and sound effects in audiobooks is wrong, Fritz Leiber’s The Big Time, Peter Pan, multiple narrators for plays, audio drama, BBC, quality control in comics, cartoonists are better off today than ever before, Sturgeon’s Law, superheroes in comics, why podcast discussions are better than radio interviews, commercial concerns.

Image Comics - Age Of Bronze The Story Of The Trojan War by Eric Shanower

Posted by Jesse Willis

Markheim by Robert Louis Stevenson

SFFaudio Online Audio

William Coon, who appeared on SFFaudio Podcast #063, has a terrific sounding UNABRIDGED recording of Markheim by Robert Louis Stevenson over on LibriVox. Here’s what one of the proofers said about Bill’s narration:

“[Markheim] is GREAT! You’ve got just the right balance of shrewdness and madness and you really bring it off well. I listened to it over and over, catching new things every time. Thanks for several wonderful days of listening!”

Myself I’ve also been enjoying this narration as well as an abridged reading I found over on RadioArchive.cc (Markheim was also recorded for the first episode of a four part BBC Radio 7 Drama series entitled Short History of Gothic).

In a strange way Markheim is a kind of hardboiled/noir version of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Like Scrooge, Markheim is a sinner who at Christmas, finds himself confronted by the consequences of his sin. But whereas 19th century miserliness is Scrooge’s big problem, Markheim’s issue is of a more alarming type. His petty crimes have slowly accelerated from his youth, until now, when he finds himself, in this tale, a bloody-handed murderer. But like A Christmas Carol, both characters (Scrooge and Markheim) find their hinge points only when confronted by a visit from the supernatural.

Markheim as illustrated by Michael Lark

Illustration by Michael Lark, found in The Essential Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde – The Definitive Annotated Edition.

LibriVoxMarkheim
By Robert Louis Stevenson; Read by William Coon
1 |MP3| – Approx. 44 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: 2006
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BBC Radio 7 - BBC7A Short History Of Gothic – Markheim
By Robert Louis Stevenson; Read by Hugh Bonneville
1 Broadcast – Approx. 30 Minutes [ABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 7
Broadcast: December 12, 2009
Provider: RadioArchive.cc
“Hugh Bonneville reads Robert Louis Stevenson’s macabre tale charting one man’s rapid fall from grace.”

The Weird CircleWeird Circle – Markheim
Based on the short story by Robert Louis Stevenson; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 25 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: MBS, NBC, ABC
Broadcast: May 20, 1945
Provider: Archive.org
This is a radical adaptation, set in a contemporary (to 1945) setting, and providing much of the presumed back-story (stuff that isn’t actually in the text of Stevenson’s original tale).

Here are a couple more Markheim illustrations [this time by Lynd Ward – found in The Haunted Omnibus (1937)]

Robert Louis Stevenson's Markheim as illustrated by Lynd Ward - from The Haunted Omnibus (1937)

Robert Louis Stevenson's Markheim as illustrated by Lynd Ward - from The Haunted Omnibus (1937)

[also via Golden Age Comic Book Stories]

Posted by Jesse Willis

Voices In The Wind: The Pigeon Drop

Aural Noir: Online Audio

David Farquhar, of the audio drama theatre troupe Voices In The Wind, describes The Pigeon Drop as a “little experimental piece” that’s “a full cast reading with music and sound effects.” Myself I think that’s just another way of saying it’s an audio drama with narration. But then I’m saying this because I don’t want to be a pigeon. As the narrator tells in the story: “At this time the pigeons were usually worried at the prospect of the money slipping away. And they were also confused by the double-talk, but were hesitant to admit it, less they appear stupid.” Don’t let David’s words fool you, this is an audio drama (with narration).

Voices In The Wind Audio TheatreThe Pigeon Drop
By Michael A. Black; Adapted by David Farquhar; Performed by a full cast
MP3 Download – Approx. 11 Minutes [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: Voices In The Wind
Published: September 2010
A little crime story about the oldest con.

Cast:
KEITH BURNETT: The Narrator
NOELLE DUPUIS: Laura
PAT GOUGH: Mildred
JAN HOLT: Andrea
NORM MCLEOD: Police Detective

Directed by: Pat Gough
Recording/Post Production by: David Farquhar

Check out the Wikipedia entry on the pigeon drop scam.

And, here’s basically the same scene from The Flim-Flam Man (1967):

And here’s the Jamaican Switch (a slight variation on the Pigeon Drop) from The Sting (1973):

And from Michael Shermer Learns The Art Of Con Games:

Posted by Jesse Willis

BBC R4 + RA.cc: The Riddle Of The Sands RADIO DRAMA

SFFaudio Online Audio

BBC Radio 4RadioArchives.ccDid you know there’s a swift and peppy radio drama companion piece to the unabridged reading of Erskine Childers’ The Riddle Of The Sands? There is! Originally broadcast as a part of BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Night Theatre, and lovingly preserved over on RadioArchive.cc, you’re sure to enjoy this fast paced nautical espionage tale that not only changed the course of history, but also practically invented a whole new genre of fiction!

The Riddle Of The SandsSaturday Night Theatre – Erskine Childers’ The Riddle Of The Sands
Adapted by Roderick Graham; Performed by a full cast
1 MP3 File – Approx. 90 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 4 / Saturday Night Theatre
Broadcast: January 8, 1994
Provider: RadioArchive.cc
Edwardian nautical adventure yarn in which a hobby sailor, Davies, and his pal, Carruthers, upset Germany’s preparations for WWI.” Technical Presentation by Ian Pratt. Directed by Jane Morgan.
Cast:
Carruthers …… Laurence Kennedy
Davies …… Charles Simpson
Dolman …… Frederic Jaeger
Clara …… Joe Unwin
Von Brunning …… Wolf Kahler
Grimm …… Mikael Rolff
Barthols …… John Baddeley
Kiel Clerk …… Colin Pinney
Hawkins …… Simon Treves

Posted by Jesse Willis