If you were to take a stab at guessing the favourite audiobook of Canadians you’d be well to guess a Christmas story that includes a vampire, a ghost, and a mosquito.
Produced for CBC Radio this classic reading of Frederick Forsyth’s The Shepherd is superbly read by Alan Maitland (aka Frontporch Al, aka Fireside Al, aka Graveside Al).
Bonus: A CBC interview with Frederick Forsyth about the story, the interviewer is Barbara Budd!
Posted by Jesse Willis
ReCivilization is a new five part CBC radio show, by Don Tapscott one of the authors of Wikinomics and Macrowiknomics. The show is podcast and I’ve subscribed. I heard its first episode on the radio a few minutes ago starting about half-way through. It looks to be a pretty thoughtful show. There was an interview Sue Gardner (of the Wikimedia foundation) and Leo Laporte (of TWiT). Like CBC’s Spark the producers of ReCivilization are adding extended interviews to the website and blog.
Here’s the description:
In the first installment of ReCivilization, Don looks at the media and how the industrial-age model of mass production is giving way to new, collaborative and citizen journalism, enabled by the web. Under the old model, newspapers and broadcasters delivered the news to passive listeners and readers; in this new, digital age, anyone can be a publisher or a broadcaster – and traditional media is being forced to adapt. The episode also introduces Anthony D. Williams, Don’s longtime collaborator and a regular contributor to the series.
Podcast: http://www.cbc.ca/podcasting/includes/recivilization.xml
iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|
[Thanks mom!]
Posted by Jesse Willis
Fynn was a thirteen episode radio drama series of The Mystery Project (CBC Radio’s long running series featuring original radio drama produced in Canada and the UK). Flynn aired weekly in the Fall of 1994. Its eponymous hero was a private detective who lived on a sailboat in Vancouver harbour. The show was recorded in Vancouver too.
Here’s the description from the Thrilling Detective website:
“A middle-aged drop-out from UBC Law School , he now lives on the “Blarney Boy”, a weather-beaten sloop moored at the marina on Granville Island in the trendier-than-thou False Creek area, and works, when he feels like it, for his ex-boss lawyer Sam Greene, an eccentric old coot. All in all, though, he’d rather be sailing. It’s a simple life, and Flynn’s more than happy with things just the way they are. And then Sam’s niece, W.P. (Willie) Greene, arrives from Toronto to complicate life for everyone.”
Written by Lyal and Barbara Brown
Produced and Directed by Don Kowalchuck
Regular cast:
Boyd Norman as Flynn
Colleen Winton as Willie
Robert Clothier as Sam
Here are the broadcast details:
Episode 01 – Overdue Account – October 8, 1994/10/08
Episode 02 – Red Tiger – October 15, 1994
Episode 03 – Whirlpool October 22, 1994
Episode 04 – Ghosts – October 29, 1994
Episode 05 – Imaginary Enemies – November 5, 1994
Episode 06 – The Stalker – November 12, 1994 <-NEVER COMMERCIALLY RELEASED
Episode 07 - The Box – November 19, 1994
Episode 08 – The 12 Penny Black – November 26, 1994
Episode 09 – Framed – December 3, 1994
Episode 10 – Hollywood North – December 10, 1994
Episode 11 – The Fall – December 17,1994
Episode 12 – A Christmas Carol – December 24, 1994
Episode 13 – Year End Clearance – December 31, 1994
Durkin Hayes, which bankrupt itself in the early oughts, produced at six audio cassettes (each with two episodes) of the CBC radio drama series in the mid to late 1990s. Here’s all the remaining stock I have left:
In order from left to right here are the audiobooks and remaining stock levels:
Flynn: Whirlpool (also includes The 12 Penny Black) Quantity 1
ISBN: 0886467705
Flynn: Red Tiger (also includes Overdue Account) Quantity 3
ISBN: 0886468620
Flynn: A Christmas Carol (also includes Year End Clearance) Quantity 2
ISBN: 0886469805
Flynn: Ghosts (also includes Framed) Quantity 2
ISBN: 0886469783
Flynn: Imaginary Enemies (also includes The Box) Quantity 7
ISBN: 0886467608
The only one not pictured above is Flynn: Hollywood North (also includes The Fall) ISBN: 1552046087, I have one opened copy of it:
If you’re a fan of the show, remember it fondly, or are intrigued enough to give it a try. I’ll sell you cassettes for $5.00 each (that’s just 1¢ above the original retail price). Send me an email with the subject line THE MYSTERY PROJECT.
And with all six cassette releases above that makes twelve of the thirteenth episodes released. The unreleased episode, The Stalker, shall remain a mystery to me and the world until it gets some sort of release.
Posted by Jesse Willis
CBC’s sole radio drama series, Afghanada, finished off late last year. But there’s a brand new series beginning today at 11:30am!
Unlike Afghanada this new series will be podcast, making it CBC Radio’s second ever podcast radio drama series (the first being Backbencher).
Here’s the official description of Trust, Inc.:
“A new satirical drama that takes listeners within the walls of a public relations firm. The show follows the schemers and spinners who develop the messages and plot the ideal news narrative for their clients, and their counterparts in the news media who ultimately determine whether they succeed or fail in the quest for just the right headline and soundbite.”
The official Trust, Inc. site: cbc.ca/trustinc/
Here’s the promo |MP3|
Podcast feed: http://www.cbc.ca/podcasting/includes/trustinc.xml
iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|
Episode 1 – “Serena Jordan is thrilled. Just three weeks ago, she snagged an awesome new job at the major public relations firm, Leger & Pratt. Hired to be their social media expert, she’s been assigned to the Special Projects Unit, a boy’s club made up of team members Ben Lederman, Ricardo Sandoval and Marshall Whitman. Eager to impress, she’s at the table as the team meets the new ‘brief,’ city councillor, James Yearwood.The assignment: raise his profile as he prepares to make the jump to federal politics. No sweat. Yearwood’s articulate, passionate, good-looking and social media savvy. The boys think it’s s slam dunk. And so does Serena. Until he starts sexting her, that is. Now, Serena is stuck. Should she keep quiet? Tell her team? Confront her client? And possibly risk it all.”
The series is supported with a few fake websites, with real links (like legerpratt.com for the fake firm being portrayed ), the usual social media websites like Twitter and Facebook and such. There is also a promise of YouTube videos.
The “flacklife blog” – a blog about public relations – has a substantial interview with the series creator, Gregory J. Sinclair, HERE.
Posted by Jesse Willis
The SFFaudio Podcast #133 – Beyond The Black River by Robert E. Howard, read by Todd McLaren (courtesy of Tantor Media’s The Conquering Sword Of Conan). This is a complete and unabridged reading of the novelette (2 Hours 29 Minutes) followed by a discussion of it (by Jesse and Tamahome).
Talked about on today’s show:
Todd McLaren, Conan’s voice is confident, Balthus is the Jimmy Olsen to Conan’s Superman, Robert E. Howard’s avatar in Beyond The Black River is Balthus, “the damnedest bastard who ever lived”, “buckets of mead”, a noble death, a prominently displayed dog, barbarism vs. civilization, Red Nails, “the viking hat”, The Savage Sword Of Conan, Roy Thomas, John Buscema, Tam is a Conan novice, The Last Of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper, western, “alabaster skin”, the triumph of Barbarism (is the coda for the story), Texas, would the 1% agree with Howard?, Picts, the world of Hyboria, Cimmeria was a real place, history, historical romance, physical display, don’t overblow the homo-eroticism, Edgar Rice Burroughs, H.P. Lovecraft, autodidacts, Margaret Atwood’s interview on CBC’s Q, “occasionals”?, Walt Whitman and Henry James, The Turn Of The Screw, sword and sorcery, did Howard invent the barbarian as a character?, Genghis Khan, forbidden knowledge, Howard and Jack London, The Call Of The Wild, California, Alaska, Yukon, slavery, civilization to barbarism, “a Conan dog”, atavism, Zogar Sag is the Jesus to Jhebbal Sag’s God, secret language magic, secret symbols, Conan The Barbarian, Conan is at the height of his power, atavistic magic, “what was I missing”, chatty Conan, Brian Wood’s new Conan comic (adapting Queen Of The Black Coast), Barry Windsor Smith, “he’s busy getting revenge”, a distillation of what’s in the stories, Conan and the philosophers, Oliver Stone and John Milius, Conan The Destroyer, sword vs. sorcery, Berserk (manga), “if you were in the Hyborian age which god would you worship?”, “a Klingon god”, “who is the good guy in Beyond The Black River?”, why does Conan side with the Aquilonians?, “swarthy white men”, Conan is bronzed by the sun not swarthy, end the Jersey Shore references, “this is a war story”, Conan doesn’t believe in an external valuation, why is there only one Devil?, Gullah the Gorilla God – the hairy one who lives on the moon, Africa, Aquilonia is France, Hyboria is Europe, Hyperborea (boreal + hyper = far north), Stygia = Egypt, Texas history, the Picts are the Comanche in this story, Julius Caesar, degenerating white men, Kull, Brule The Spearslayer, “noble savage”, a “symphony of racism”, Bran Mak Morn: The Last King by Robert E. Howard, Kings In The Night, The Whole Wide World, The One Who Walks Alone by Novalyne Price Ellis, Vincent D’Onofrio as Robert E. Howard channeling Conan, photographs of Robert E. Howard, Howard was a LARPer, “Howard was a rough-hewn intellectual”, boxing, gun culture vs. cat culture, WWII, Lidice, “even a white man’s dog is worth more than seven Picts”, Bill Hollweg’s Queen Of The Black Coast audio drama, would Beyond The Black River make a good audio drama?, Lou Anders’ Hollywood Formula doesn’t work here, philosophy of the woods, audiobooks and comics are better than movies, SSOC #26 & #27, Dark Horse’s Savage Sword Of Conan, Volume 3, ostrich feathers tell a story, a frontier story, Weird Tales covers by Margaret Brundage, the Hulk, supple, Red Nails would be a good readalong, laser beams and dinosaurs.
Posted by Jesse Willis
Host Jian Ghomeshi of CBC Radio One’s Q has an astounding new interview with Margaret Atwood. Atwood’s latest book, In Other Worlds: SF And The Human Imagination, can be found in the “Literary Criticism” section of your local paperbook store.
Gomeshi talked to Atwood about the realistic novel, comics, Weird Tales and the “sluttish” reputation of SF.
One point in the interview left me confused and asking questions. Atwood claimed that “Conan the Barbarian is the literary descendant of Walt Whitman … and Henry James”.
I am floored.
What the fuck is she talking about?
Seriously, did she misspeak?
Did she mean to say that Robert E. Howard himself was their literary descendant?
Surely she didn’t mean the the character. Either way I don’t get it.
Or maybe she meant the stories themselves were somehow in the tradition of Walt Whitman and Henry James??? How could that be?
No matter how I look at it I don’t see how either Walt Whitman or Henry James ties into Howard. It just doesn’t make any kind of sense to me.
Does anybody know what the hell Atwood meant by that?
Seriously, I do not get it.
Will I have to buy her book to understand this thesis?
Have a listen |MP3|.
Podcast feed: http://www.cbc.ca/podcasting/includes/qpodcast.xml
Posted by Jesse Willis
P.S. CBC, please release Apocalypse Al. You can call it “scientific romance” or something else, just release it.