C.J. Henderson – SFFaudio

Recent Arrivals: Audio Realms and Dark Realms Audio

SFFaudio Recent Arrivals

Here’s a stack of mostly horror titles that have been inching their way into my dreams! It’s a solid mix of public domain novels (and collections) along with brand spanking new series and standalones. Check out Brian Keene’s modern horror tale, Castaways (its at the bottom). Keene writes comics, it may be the best place to start with the modern stuff! With regards to the PD material, I’m torn between People Of The Dark, which includes my favorite Conan story Queen Of The Black Coast, and Algernon Blackwood’s The Empty House And Other Ghost Stories. All of these titles should also be available in MP3-CD editions and MP3 download editions via TheAudiobookShop.com too.

A novel idea, take several of the modern issues of Weird Tales, and make an audiobook out of it…

Weird Tales
By various; Read by Wayne June and others
5 CDs – Approx. 6 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audio Realms
Published: August 2009
ISBN: 9781897304075
Includes tales from issues #336, 337 and 338 of Weird Tales: The Unique Magazine
Stories included:
Ripper! by William F. Nolan
Shore Of Night, Shore Of Day by Katrien Rutten
Hearts And Minds by Barbara Krasnoff
The Ghost Of Me by Melinda Thielbar
The Sacredotal Owl by Michael Bishop
Sympathy For Dragons by John Gregory Betancourt
The Upper Berth by F. Marion Crawford

This cover looks rather boring on first glance, but look closer, it has a bit more than you expect…

A Princess Of Mars
By Edgar Rice Burroughs; Read by Brian Holsopple
6 CDs – Approx. 6 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audio Realms
Published: August, 2009
ISBN: 9781897304457
Ex-confederate army captain John Carter finds himself unwittingly transported to Mars, while fleeing Apache Indians. This new world is populated by a race of monstrous Martians, whose culture is based on the ability to fight for their race. Fortunately, the gravitational difference between Mars and Earth has given him the strength that he will need for survival.on this hostile planet. John Carter battles ferocious Martian creatures, but gains the respect of the beautiful Dejah Thoris, Princes of Helium. This is the first of eleven in the ‘Mars’ series.

This is the second novel in a new series, but I’m betting that wouldn’t effect the story one whit…

Hunt: Through The Cradle Of Fear (#2 in the Adventures Of Gabriel Hunt series
By Gabriel Hunt (aka Charles Ardai); Read by Jim VanDusen
6 CDs – Approx. 8 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audio Realms
Published: November 2009
ISBN: 9781897304761
From the towers of Manhattan to the jungles of South America, from the sands of the Sahara to the frozen crags of Antarctica, one man finds adventure everywhere he goes: GABRIEL HUNT. Backed by the resources of the $100 million Hunt Foundation and armed with his trusty Colt revolver, Gabriel Hunt has always been ready for anything – but is he prepared to enter… The Cradle Of Fear? When a secret chamber is discovered inside the Great Sphinx of Egypt, the mystery of its contents will lead Gabriel to a remote Greek Island, to a stone fortress in Sri Lanka … and to a deadly confrontation that could decide the fate of the world!

Five words: QUEEN OF THE BLACK COAST. ’nuff said…

The Weird Works Of Robert E. Howard – Volume Two: People Of The Dark
By Robert E. Howard; Read by Wayne June, Brian Holsopple, Gary Kohler, Bob Barnes and Charles McKibben
5 CDs – Approx. 5.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audio Realms
Published: August 2009
ISBN: 9781897304136
People Of The Dark is the second volume of The Weird Works Of Robert E. Howard presented in audiobook form. It continues to offer many of Howard’s works from the classic magazine Weird Tales meticulously restored to it’s original texts. This volume contains;People Of The Dark, Queen Of The Black Coast, The Garden Of Fear, The Haunter Of The Ring, Valley Of The Worm, The Challenge From Beyond and includes some of his famous heroes such as Conan.

The Willows gave me the willies, so I’m thinking these are perfect tales for a dark and stormy night and a bucket of ice cream…

The Empty House And Other Stories
By Algernon Blackwood; Read by Brian Holsopple
6 CDs – Approx. 6 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audio Realms
Published: August 2009
ISBN: 9781897304686
Most connoisseurs of modern horror fiction rate Algernon Blackwood (1869-1951) as the finest horror writer of all time. Blackwood was unsurpassed in originality, atmosphere, and characterization. His finest works still surprise and shock today’s readers. The Empty House And Other Stories, originally published in 1906, was Blackwood’s first collection. It includes such classics as the title story, A Haunted Island, A Suspicious Gift, and many more.

This one sounds like a reverse Marco Polo story, with dragons, sorcerers and magic instead of pasta…

Gonji: Red Blade From The East (Volume 1)
By T.C. Rypel; Read by Brian Holsopple
8 CDs – Approx. 9 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audio Realms
Published: July 2009
ISBN: 9781897304549
Cast out from his Japanese homeland, Gonji, the Samurai warrior, journeyed across barbaric Europe in the quest of Vedun, the distant city in the loftiest peaks of the Carpathian Alps. Ceaselessly fighting the hated plague and hostile peasants, Gonji struggled to reach the mighty walls of majestic Vedun. But demons and dragons, and mages and monsters pursued the warrior across the wintry plains and the jagged mountains. His swords flashing with fury, Gonji battles his foes and strengthened his will, determined to conquer his hardships, and fulfill his destiny!

Apparently this is the first in a series, perhaps something along the lines of Jim Butcher’s Dresden series?

The Things That Are Not There
By C.J. Henderson; Read by Charles McKibben
10 CDs – Approx. 9 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audio Realms
Published: July 2009
ISBN: 9781897304426
Private detective Theodore London ran the best agency in New York City until a demon-driven storm trashed his operation. Ready to quit the business, fate delivered a beautiful woman to his doorstep—one being pursued by an army of winged monsters determined to use her as the key to unlock a doorway that will lead the world to madness.

The plot of this novel kind of reminds me a bit of Terminal Freeze |READ OUR REVIEW|, but warmer…

Castaways
By Brian Keene; Read by Maynard McKillen
7 CDs – Approx. 8 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Dark Realms
Published: March 2010
ISBN: 9871897304709
They came to the lush, deserted island to compete on a popular reality TV show. Each one hoped to be the last to leave. Now they’re just hoping to stay alive. It seems the island isn’t deserted after all. Contestants and crew members are disappearing, but they aren’t being eliminated by the game. They’re being taken by the monstrous half-human creatures that live in the jungle. The men will be slaughtered. The women will be kept alive as captives. Night is falling, the creatures are coming, and rescue is so far away.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Audio Realms an update

SFFaudio News

Though fairly quiet of late, Audio Realms has been busy recording some classic SF, Fantasy and Horror that we’ll be telling you a lot more about very soon. The ringleader there, Fred Godsmark, says he’ll be following up the recently released Andre Norton novel “Voodoo Planet” (details of which have just been added to our ANDRE NORTON author’s page) with an unabridged release of Norton’s The Time Traders!

Audio Realms recently won accolades for their 2007 release called Little Fuzzy. That’s H. Beam Piper’s best loved novel! The acclaim came from none other than Publisher’s Weekly magazine! Little Fuzzy won “Best Fantasy AudioBook for 2007!”

Currently available from this Audio Realms are classics like:

The Land That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The People That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Out of Time’s Abyss by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Further, a new “urban horror” imprint of Audio Realms saw the release of two sure fire hits:

Hide And Seek by Jack Ketchum and
The Traveling Vampire Show by Richard Laymon

And their popular Dark Worlds of H.P. Lovecraft series is up to Volume 6 now too! But it doesn’t all end there. The near future portends even more goodies:

The Rising by Brian Keene
The Door Through Space by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Things That Are Not There by C.J. Henderson
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
People Of The Dark by Robert E. Howard (this includes a Conan story, Queen Of The Black Coast)

And even a Weird Tales collection!

Fred’s going to be sending review copies of a lot of these. That will make some serious internecine fighting in the SFFaudio review clubhouse. Which reminds me, I need to add some more obsidian shards to the end of my club.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Review of Misery and Pity by C. J. Henderson

Misery and Pity
By C. J. Henderson, read by Jeffery West, Bob Barr and C.J. Henderson
1 CD/ 55 minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audio Realms
Published: ??
ISBN: 0973159634
Themes: / Horror / Damnation / Possession / Vampires / Fantasy / Suicide / Charity

On the back cover of this audio book, C. J. Henderson is given the unblushing accolade “The Master of Modern Horror”, but I found the stories in this collection to be charming throwbacks. The stories often have classic arrangements, such as two old friends meeting at a restaurant to swap tales and compare their fates, or dark, Poe-like trips into hells of a character’s own making. They juxtapose the familiar with the impossible, the ominous with the disarmingly reassuring, and make for a tasty light lunch of dark imaginings.

The title story, read by Jeffrey West borrows, I assume, from Chinese myth, but in a way that doesn’t seem the least bit Chinese. Two old friends meet in an exotic Hong Kong Dim Sum where the diners bring their birds with them and let them roost in the rafters while they eat. A simple comment about one’s latest doings and destiny leads to a story of Chinese soul-vampires and a fiery confrontation with a monster that is the last of its kind. West’s narration is modern and seamless, almost invisible for its perfect attention to the story.

Bob Barr, on the other hand, narrates “Hope” with visible and sensational style. Somehow, he brings the narrative force of a tent revival and a fireside ghost story together, occasionally slowing the story to such a languid pace that you feel not only the weight of each syllable, but of their attack and decay as well. It’s very effective for a tale dealing with sin, damnation, and unutterable evil wearing the most insidious disguise.

But that’s where the professional narration ends, and where the quality of the material begins to dip, too. C.J. Henderson’s readings sound nerdy and occasionally belabored. And if he brings any authorial insight to the pieces, it is to point out that they are artificial and clattery. “The Buzzing of Flies” seems especially overwrought, as well as dull and predictable. “That’s the One” makes no real sense, being an illustration of life imitating a random thought about a specific work of art, but it has a loose freedom that seems to float where the previous story falls. Perhaps the finest of the final three is “Sacrifice”, which seems to be a wicked, wicked satire of the bizarre and pointless reactions we have to the injustices of the world.

All in all, Misery and Pity isn’t a bad way to kill almost an hour. The whole package has a likeable simplicity to it, and an unselfconscious lightness that makes it frivolously fun. Groundbreaking? Life-changing? Nah, but it is enjoyable.

Posted by Kurt Dietz