Wake up! Time to die: Seeing Ear Theatre has died

SFFaudio News

Seeing Ear Theatre

Alas, my friends I bear sad tidings…. Seeing Ear Theatre is dead!

If you’d been putting off listening to the wonder that was Sci-Fi Channel (U.S.’s) bold experiment, Seeing Ear Theatre, you’ve made a horrible, irrevocable mistake. As we predicted, and dreaded, the long abandoned, much loved and now much missed Seeing Ear Theatre website is no longer offering their archives in the RealAudio format. If you click on any of the audio links now you’ll only hear an error message.

I’m really hoping for a reprieve here, but I’m afraid its not very likely. The site had been abandoned for so long, and we’d all gotten so used to the access to the comfy old shows that were still archived there. But, as the web-architecture for the site has been aging unattended for more than six years we really can’t say its was all that unexpected. Its still possible the files are on file somewhere, and just now inaccessible for some reason, but I don’t like our chances of seeing a fix.

Goodbye SET, you were the best of your kind, you were unique, ahead of your time, you will be sadly missed.

Seeing Ear Theatre
1997 – 2007
R.I.P.

posted by Jesse Willis

German language Radio Drama alive and well

SFFaudio Commentary

“Der Himmel ueber dem hafen hatte die farbe eines fernsehers, der auf einen toten kanal eingestellt ist.”

Neuromancer Radio Drama in GERMAN

If regular old Neuromancer is just too prosaic for your discerning tastes might I recommend the German language radio drama version?

Have a listen to a sample RealAudio track, its an urbane, laid-back delivery of William Gibson’s familiar story in audio dramatization form. The production is speckled with subtle musical cues and unexpected lines in English. It’s awesome. Thanks to Carsten Schmitt for the tip-off!

The entire drama is available on a 3-CD set through Der Audio Verlag (which translates into “The Audio Publishinghouse”). Also in the Der Audio Verlag catalogue are more German language radio dramatizations of the works of Isaac Asimov, Stanislaw Lem and many others. Especially cool sounding is the one titled Erinnerungsmechanismus by Philip K. Dick (which translates back into English as “Memory Mechanism”) There’s something comforting about the idea that radio drama is alive and well in Germany… aber es drückt mich nieder, daß mein Deutscher nicht bis zur Aufgabe ist.

posted by Jesse Willis

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

SFFaudio News

CBC Radio OneCBC 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

Online Audio BBC Radio 3BBC 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

Decoder Ring TheatreOne 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

Podcast - Mister Ron's BasementMister 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 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