Edgar Allan Poe – Page 40

The Memory Palace: The Mad Gasser Of Matoon and Edgar Allan Poe’s death-day

SFFaudio Online Audio

One of the cool things about podcasting is that it’s old enought now to have developed it’s own distinct ethos. I’ve mentioned my favorite history podcast on SFFaudio before, it’s called Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History. Carlin takes the dramatic events of real history and makes them into a story – an amazing history story, told by an enthusiast. Another program I’ve long enjoyed is much more frequent than Carlin’s slowly releasing podcast. It follows essentially the same formula, but delivers the history in tiny five minute (or so) doses. Here are the most recent two podcasts from the feed of Nate DiMeo’s The Memory Palace.

a gas gas gas
By Nate DiMeo
1 |MP3| Approx. 6 Minutes [HISTORY STORYTELLING]
Podcaster: The Memory Palace
Podcast: October 28, 2009
This show tells the story of “The Mad Gasser of Mattoon.”

this ungainly fowl
By Nate DiMeo
1 |MP3| Approx. 5 Minutes [HISTORY STORYTELLING]
Podcaster: The Memory Palace
Podcast: October 16, 2009
This show tells what happened to Edgar Allan Poe on his death-day.

Podcast feed:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/thememorypalace

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

Posted by Jesse Willis

New Releases: Acoustic Learning – The Edgar Allan Poe Collection #10: Deus et Machina

New Releases

More Poe, from a different company, a different narrator and with some very rare stories…

The Edgar Allan Poe Collection #10: Deus et Machina
By Edgar Allan Poe; Read by Christopher Aruffo
4 CDs – 4 hours 38 minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Acoustic Learning
Published: September 2009
ISBN: 9780980058161
Edgar Allan Poe witnessed the Industrial Revolution as it roared into full gear, and he was fascinated by its possibilities. In this collection, Poe writes both factually and satirically of new technological advances in weaponry, transportation, biology, aeronautics, and more. Poe foretells how Anastatic Printing will revolutionize the writer’s craft, and creates the alchemical hoax Von Kempelen and His Discovery to unnerve the would-be prospectors of the upcoming California Gold Rush. The Deus et Machina collection also encompasses Poe’s philosophical explorations into the afterlife. At the threshold of death, we learn The Facts In the Case of M Valdemar and experience Mesmeric Revelation; in the cosmic halls of the life beyond, we eavesdrop on The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion, The Power of Words, and The Colloquy of Monos and Una, each discussion revealing a new and fascinating perspective of the spiritual universe.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Naxos Audiobooks: The Fall Of The House Of Usher, The Pit And The Pendulum & Other Tales Of Mystery And Imagination by Edgar Allan Poe

SFFaudio Online Audio

In lecture #4 of The Teaching Company’s Masterpieces of the Imaginative Mind: Literature’s Most Fantastic Works professor Eric S. Rabkin argues:

“The writing of Edgar Allan Poe has too often been dismissed for reasons that do not hold up under scrutiny. … The idea that he was an alcoholic is supported by the fact that he was found lying unconscious in an alley by a bar in his relatively young adulthood, in his 40s, and ultimately, a few days later died. In fact modern evidence that Richard Thompson at Purdue University has uncovered suggest that it is quite possible that Poe was allergic to alcohol, rather than an alcoholic. We have no evidence that he actually drank a lot. But even if he were an alcoholic claiming that his writing is nothing but the outpourings, as it were, of an alcoholic, is clearly foolish because if drinking alcohol made one a great and lasting writer the world would be full of them.

The idea that he was a pervert is based on the fact that he married his first cousin, who was only thirteen at the time, and that he never married again after her early death. It’s important to know that this first cousin, Virginia Clem, was of legal age when he married her, that marrying first cousins was not only legal but somewhat common at the time. His marriage was public, it was blessed by her mother. It was legal. It was devoted and it ended only with her death in 1847. They married in 1836, but in 1842, that is six years into the marriage, but five before her death, she was diagnosed with tuberculosis. And so for half of his marriage he lived in fear, in the knowledge, that his bride would come to an early demise. This does not sound to me like a pervert, it sounds to me like a deeply saddened man.”

On a happier note, Naxos Audiobooks, in cooperation with Audiofile magazine, are giving away an audiobook full of melancholy Poey goodness. It’s only available until midnight on October 31, 2009 (when the link will presumably turn into a 404 pumpkin) so get downloading!!

The Fall Of The House Of Usher, The Pit And The Pendulum & Other Tales Of Mystery And Imagination
By Edgar Allan Poe; Read by William Roberts
45 Zipped MP3 Files – Approx. 4 Hours 52 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Naxos Audiobooks
Published: 2003
ISBN: 9789626342831
The horrors of the Spanish Inquisition, with its dungeon of death, and the overhanging gloom on the House of Usher demonstrate unforgettably the unique imagination of Edgar Allan Poe. Unerringly, he touches upon some of our greatest nightmares – premature burial, ghostly transformation and words from beyond the grave. Written in the 1840s, they have retained their power to shock and frighten even now.

Stories included:
The Pit and the Pendulum, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Masque of the Red Death, Ligeia, The Raven, The Cask of Amontillado, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Black Cat, The Premature Burial, The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar

Posted by Jesse Willis

Five Free Favourites: Halloween Edition

SFFaudio Online Audio

Fred here, and I think Jesse called it: October is audio drama month.

Here’s where people who think The Shadow is just something that shows up at 5 o’clock start paying attention to this art form that’s been kicked back to life by modern recording technology like some Frankenstein zapped with 50 million volts.

I’m featuring horror audio all month long on Radio Drama Revival but I’ve run into the same dilemma I run into every year – how to share ALL of the great horror audio that I can’t fit into my ‘pod?

Well, here’s a list of five entries, all gruesomely awesome, which I hope will help whet your bloodthirsty appetite this Halloween season.
Five Free Favorite Horror Radio Drama

1 – We’re Alive: A Story of Survival

Zombies!!! Take Resident Evil and mix it with the marines from Aliens and you wind up with something like the outcome of this zombie podcast.

A group of foul-mouthed marines ends up locked up in an apartment building with a scattered batch of survivors after a zombie holocaust breaks loose with little notice (or explanation).

This one is well-produced, action-packed, and is as much about an odd group of people trying to survive together as it is about the roving droves of hungry undead. Not to be missed.

Wormwood Audio Podcast 2 – Wormwood

Wormwood made it into my previous Five Free Favourites and it makes it again. Though not strictly “horror,” this brilliantly twisted thriller serial has ample spooks to make it a priority on any horror fan’s iPod.

If you haven’t been following, you have two full seasons to catch up on, tons of bonus content, and a third season coming up which is sure to send you to an early grave.

3 – The Grist Mill

Okay, the Grist Mill isn’t free but two episodes of their work are available for free download on Radio Drama Revival, so that sort of counts.

The one you should under no circumstances miss is God of the Razor. AM/FM Theater rightfully won the Ogle Award for this fine adaptation of Joe Lansdale’s classic horror short. There’s a reason you should stay out of basements in the South…

Also, Jeff Adams’ The Estates is an extremely awesome innovation to the spooky story meme – Stepford Wives meets The Shining. Thank you, Jeff.

4 – The Buoy (Part 1 and Part 2)
The Cape Cod Radio Mystery Theater has been at it for a while, and “The Buoy” is perhaps the crowning gem of their productions.

This is a good classic New England ghost story, which packs an even stronger punch because of its eerie parallels to the classic Poe tale, “The Pit and the Pendulum.” A man “from away” winds up tied to a buoy as the tide comes in, and recounts his terrifying tale.

As the water gets higher, and no escape is in site, the real terror sets in…

5 – Halloween in July

The Dunesteef Audio Fiction Magazine aired this back in March, but it is much better fitting for Halloween. Breaking the trend from the rest on the list, this is not strictly audio drama, but hosts Rish Outfield and Big Anklevich did a splendid job bringing the text to live. Writer Kevin Anderson also has a script in the mix for my upcoming Halloween Live Radio Drama.

Posted by Fred Greenhalgh

BBC 7: Scots Gothic – the influence of Scotland on Edgar Allan Poe

SFFaudio Online Audio

If you love Edgar Allan Poe (and really who doesn’t?) you’ll want to get your mitts on today’s BBC 7 documentary!

Scots Gothic – A Portrait Of Edgar Allan Poe In Ayrshire
1 Broadcast – Approx. 30 Minutes [DOCUMENTARY]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 7
Broadcast: June 27th 2008 @ 9am and 7pm
Billy Kay investigates the impact of Scotland and its culture on the great American author Edgar Allan Poe. As a boy, Poe made an extended visit to Ayrshire in the company of his Scots-born foster father – where the vivid local folklore, bodysnatching stories and school task of recording graveyard epitaphs are all believed to have influenced the development of Poe’s dark imagination. Local historians discuss this world of “Scots Gothic”, with readings from John Buick and Keith Fleming.

It’s already in the “Listen Again” section! Go check it out!

Posted by Jesse Willis

Miette’s Bedtime Story Podcast

SFFaudio Online Audio

Here’s a podcast that I’ve been listening to, on and off (mostly off), for years. Miette is a mystery to me and seemingly pretty much everyone else. She’s been putting out a weekly (or so) podcast since 2005 and yet we don’t know a lot about her. We know she loves to read short stories. That she’s got an accent people don’t easily pin down, and that she’s got a dog. Other than that…. well, we really don’t know.

What makes it all even more puzzling is that she’s an “obscurantist.”

Now I like the obscure, but she, well… she’s just out there – Miette has gone past the obscure and into the hinterlands of the truly odd. Every once in a while I want to throw her a lasso (or a lifeline) but I’m kind of afraid because she might pull me out there with her!

That sheer out-there-ness also makes me feel so normal. Miette’s the absolute omega to the omnivorous celebrity mainstream and me I’m just the guy who gets to say “sorry I don’t have TV” three or four times a week.

Perhaps Miette is from a parallel universe?

It would explain a lot.

Assembled below are some of the Miette-read tales that attracted me to her podcast. None of them are youur typical short story – most are experimental in some way, usually they’re at least odd, strange, or weird. The thing is though, these tales that I’ve picked here are the most centric of Miette’s stories!

SFFaudio interest:

Fun With Your New Head
By Thomas Disch; Read by Miette
1 |MP3| – Approx. 7 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

The Cask of Amontillado
By Edgar Allan Poe; Read by Miette
1 |MP3| – Approx. 22 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

The Assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy Considered as a Downhill Motor Race
By J.G. Ballard; Read by Miette
1 |MP3| – Approx. 7 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

The Red Room
By H.G. Wells; Read by Miette
1 |MP3| – Approx. 7 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

I See You Never
By Ray Bradbury; Read by Miette
1 |MP3| – Approx. 11 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

How the World Was Saved
By Stanislaw Lem; Read by Miette
1 |MP3| – Approx. 11 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

The Necrophil
By Felipe Alfau; Read by Miette
1 |MP3| – Approx. 40 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
A story about a woman who dies too much.

The Yellow Wallpaper
By Charlotte Perkins Gilman; Read by Miette
1 |MP3| – Aprrox. 47 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

The Ghosts
By Lord Dunsany; Read by Miette
1 |MP3| – Aprrox. 15 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

On An Experience In A Cornfield
By Robert Sheckley; Read by Miette
1 |MP3| – Approx. 29 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

The Judgment
By Franz Kafka; Read by Miette
1 |MP3| Approx. 30 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

A World of Sound
By Olaf Stapledon; Read by Miette
1 |MP3| – Approx. 18 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas
By Ursula K. Le Guin; Read by Miette
1 |MP3| – Approx. 20 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

of Aural Noir interest:

A Letter to A.A. (Almost Anybody)
By Charles Willeford; Read by Miette
1 |MP3| – Approx. 29 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

The Lost Soul
By Ben Hecht; Read by Miette
1 |MP3| – Approx. 29 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

It Had To Be Murder
By Cornell Woolrich; Read by Miette
2 MP3s – Approx. 84 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Part 1 |MP3| Part 2 |MP3|

Podcast feed:

http://www.miettecast.com/feed/

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

Posted by Jesse Willis