Reading, Short And Deep #263 – Doll I’ The Grass by Anonymous

Podcast

Reading, Short And DeepReading, Short And Deep #263

Eric S. Rabkin and Jesse Willis discuss Doll I’ The Grass by Anonymous

Here’s a link to a PDF of the story.

Doll I’ The Grass was first published in English in Popular Tales from the Norse, 1903.

Posted by Scott D. Danielson Become a Patron!

Reading, Short And Deep #195 – Oh, My Darling Clementine by Anonymous

Podcast

Reading, Short And DeepReading, Short And Deep #195

Eric S. Rabkin and Jesse Willis discuss Oh, My Darling Clementine by Anonymous

Here’s a link to a PDF of the poem.

Oh, My Darling Clementine is a traditional song that appeared in Cavalier, March 1953.

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Commentary: MP3-CD Audiobooks (old and new)

SFFaudio Commentary

The video below is a quick exploration of the MP3-CD audiobook format. It’s my favourite format for physical audiobooks. The packaging is small, the files are ready to be used, and they are cheaper audiobooks than their regular CD equivalent. The only disadvantage to the MP3-CD format is they don’t play on all CD players, and the ones they do play on may limit the volume output.

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox’s Horror Story Collection 004

SFFaudio Online Audio

Just added to the ever expanding LibriVox catalogue…

LibriVox Audiobook - Horror Story Collection 004Horror Story Collection 004
By Various; Read by various narrators
10 Zipped MP3s or Podcast – Approx. 2 Hours 24 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: June 9th, 2008
An occasional collection of 10 horror stories by various readers. We aim to unsettle you a little, to cut through the pink cushion of illusion that shields you from the horrible realities of life. Here are the walking dead, the fetid pools of slime, the howls in the night that you thought you had confined to your more unpleasant dreams.

The Dream
By Ivan Turgenev; Read by Pete Williams
1 |MP3| – Approx. 53 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

A Ghoul’s Accountant
By Stephen Crane; Read by Paul Curran
1 |MP3| – Approx. 7 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

A Haunted House
By Virginia Woolf; Read by Lauren Herzog
1 |MP3| – Approx. 5 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

The Man-Tiger (version 1)
By Anonymous; Read by Bobby Marcelino
1 |MP3| – Approx. 3 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

The Man-Tiger (version 2)
By Anonymous; Read by Sy
1 |MP3| – Approx. 3 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

Napoleon And The Spectre
By Charlotte Bronte; Read by Annoying Twit
1 |MP3| – Approx. 8 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

One Summer Night
By Ambrose Bierce; Read by Paul Curran
1 |MP3| – Approx. 6 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

The Street
By H.P. Lovecraft; Read by Glen Hallstrom
1 |MP3| – Approx. 14 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

A Test of Courage
By C.W. Leadbeater; Read by SWES
1 |MP3| – Approx. 10 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

A Wedding Chest
By Vernon Lee; Read by Tysto
1 |MP3| – Approx. 36 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/horror-story-collection-004.xml

My thoughts on this collection: Other than some bad pronunciations by narrator Pete Williams (who sounds a lot like Alex Wilson), Ivan Turgenev’s The Dream makes for a solid listen. It’s quite dreamlike and seems inspired by Turgenev’s own life. Beirce’s One Summer Night sounds like it would have been a great story if the setup narrator Paul Curran has had been tweaked a bit (there’s something wrong with the sound, it’s both too bassy and too whistly at the same time). Lovecraft’s The Street, narrated by Glenn Halstrom (AKA Smokestack Jones) is a good reading, but their still something wrong with his setup too (a persistent hiss). SWES’s narration of A Test Of Courage by C.W. Leadbeater, on the other hand is clear and completely noise free – but is way too fast! Tysto, who reads Vernon Lee’s A Wedding Chest, also has a good setup. His reading is a tad off. I’m not sure what the problem is, but the word that springs to mind is “cadence.”

Posted by Jesse Willis