Frankenstein – Halloween Special
Based on the novel by Mary Shelley; Adapted by Dan Bianchi; Performed by a full cast
Length: 1 Hour 20 Minutes [LIVE STAGE PERFORMANCE]
Venue: The Kraine Theater @ 85 E 4th St., NYC
Date: Saturday, October 31, 2009 @ 3pm
Tickets: smarttix.com
Details: General Admission, $18 with code VICTOR, 212-868-4444
Official website: horsetrade.info In 1818, a 19 yr old girl, Mary Shelley, wrote the most influential, the most frightening science fiction novel of all time…about a scientist who dared to go where no man had gone before…in his quest to become God!
Very few people have heard of a novel called Mute Witness by Robert L. Fish (aka Robert L. Pike) – but many, many more have seen the 1968 film into which it was adapted: Bullitt, starring Steve McQueen and a Ford Mustang Fastback.
Personally I think naming a cop “Bullitt” just stupid. It’s like naming a fly fisherman “Rodd” or a janitor “Bukkett.” What you can’t argue with is that Bullitt is a good movie, with a really terrific chase sequence, despite the silly name.
A new radio play adaptation of the novel just aired on BBC Radio 4 and is currently available for listening via the BBC iPlayer. It’s also available over on RadioArchive.cc via torrent. But I got mine in the MP3 format via Radio Downloader. The voice acting appears to be by a British cast, playing New Yorkers. It works for me. See the Radio Times review, at left, for all the details.
Bullitt
Based on a novel by Robert L. Fish; Dramatized by Adrian Bean; Performed by a full cast
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 4 (Saturday Play)
Broadcast: 24th October 24, 2009 @ 14:30-15:30 “A gritty detective story set in the 52nd precinct in New York. Lieutenant Clancy is assigned to protect an important Mafia witness but when the witness is found dead Clancy has only a matter of hours to find the killer before his enemy, the assistant district attorney, finds out.”
Lieutenant Clancy ……………………….. Jason Isaacs
Ada Chalmers/Barnett/Renick/Johnny Rossi ……. Kerry Shale
Detective Kaprowski ……………………….. Lou Hirsch
Captain Wise/Johnny Rossi/Ships Officer ……. John Biggins
Dr Willard/Pete Rossi …………………… Stephen Hogan
Doc Freeman/Sergeant ………………….. Bruce Alexander
Detenctive Mark Kelly ……………………… Sasha Pick
Ann Renick/LAPD Officer …………….. Emerald O’Hanrahan
Hotel Manager/Chalmers’ Secretary ………….. Kate Layden
Directed by Pauline Harris
And though Halloween doesn’t really mean much in the U.K., BBC Radio 4 is doing something somewhat appropriate on this Saturday and the next following…
Haunted House: An Appointment With Fear
By Reece Shearsmith
2 Broadcasts – Approx. 60 Minutes [DISCUSSION]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 4
Broadcast: October 29 and November 5, 2009 @ 11:30-12:00 Comic actor Reece Shearsmith hosts energetic and witty illustrated discussions on horror, before an audience inside the reputedly haunted Sutton House in Hackney. Reece examines some classic scary moments from British radio and television and explores the ingredients for a classic horror story. He is joined by horror enthusiasts Mark Gatiss, Vic Reeves and Yvette Fielding.
Here’s one thing even the best audio dramatizations can’t do very well…
I’ve been on the look out for James Sallis audio since I reviewed Drive his fast paced crime novella. Here’s an old interview (2001) in which he talks to Fresh Air‘s Terry Gross about his biography of crime writer Chester Himes. |REALAUDIO|
Does anyone know of more James Sallis audio out there?
The White Moll
By Frank L. Lampard; Read by Rowdy Delaney 21 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – 8 Hours 45 Minutes – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Librivox.org
Published: November 15, 2008
Themes: / Crime / Gangsters / Superheroes / Thieves / New York City /
“…an angel of mercy who spends her time helping the poor in the slums of New York City is drawn into the criminal world when she attempts to help Gypsy Nan, who is not what she seems. Accused of a crime and on the run from the police, she must battle the most nefarious criminal gang in the New York underworld to prove her innocence.”
The White Moll is an exciting adventure story by Frank L. Packard who also wrote the wonderful Adventures Of Jimmie Dale. Set in New York’s shady underbelly of crime, we follow The White Moll as she strives to do good but finds herself framed by criminals who also blame her for ruining their schemes. Can she foil their plans and also save herself? And what of the adventuring thief with whom she has fallen in love?
This book is not as hard-boiled as a typical noir-ish story but definitely holds its own in New York City’s seamy underbelly as unsavory characters plot thefts and murders with little regard for any sense of decency. The White Moll is a quick thinking and plucky heroine who never performs better than when her back is against the wall and we think there is no way out of a threatening situation. Packard wrote in the early 1900s but the stories have as much zest and adventure as when they were new.
Reader Rowdy Delaney has a low key narrative style. She does not attempt to change voice styles from one character to another yet we still get impressions of the characters as they appear. Her reading is smooth and steady, allowing the story to succeed or fail upon its own merits.
A short video of city lover China Mieville talking about H.P. Lovecraft’s The Horror Of Red Hook (which is set in New York City). Lovecraft didn’t like living in NYC.
Lovecraft spelled out his inspiration for The Horror At Red Hook in a letter to Clark Ashton Smith:
“The idea that black magic exists in secret today, or that hellish antique rites still exist in obscurity, is one that I have used and shall use again. When you see my new tale The Horror at Red Hook, you will see what use I make of the idea in connexion with the gangs of young loafers & herds of evil-looking foreigners that one sees everywhere in New York.” -from H. P. Lovecraft, Selected Letters Vol. 2
Lovecraft’s wife, Sonia Greene, wrote of her husband’s xenophobia:
“Whenever we found ourselves in the racially mixed crowds which characterize New York, Howard would become livid with rage. He seemed almost to lose his mind.”
-From Lovecraft: A Look Behind the Cthulhu Mythos
And here is a reading of the story itself…
The Horror Of Red Hook
By H.P. Lovecraft; Read by April Sadowski
1 |MP3| – Approx. 45 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Broken Sea Audio Productions
Podcast: October 2008 Red Hook is a mysterious slum in New York City, full of gangs, crime, and just perhaps a terrible cult. Detective Malone had a case that had tendrils extending into Red Hook. It seems that one Robert Suydam, a corpulent and scruffy recluse, has been looking younger, more radiant and prosperous. What does that have to do with the recent spate of kidnappings? First published in the January 1927 issue of Weird Tales.
“Mavis St. Paul had been a rich man’s mistress. Now she was a corpse. And every cop in New York City was hunting for the two-bit punk accused of putting a knife in her. But the punk was innocent. He’d been set up to take the fall by some cutie who was too clever by half. My job? Find that cutie – before the cutie found me.”
That’s Clay, the strong right arm of Ed Ganolese, talking above. Ed’s a NYC syndicate boss. The mob may have old roots but the syndicate, the crop of gangsters in this novel, only goes as far back as WWII. See during the show in Italy a bunch of D-Day Dodging G.I.s found themselves allied with some old-world black marketeers. And now, twenty or so years later, in the 1960s those bonds lead Clay down strange alleys. He’s forced to turn amateur detectivewhich is something new for a mob enforcer. But his boss Ed, but you call him Mr. Ganolese, is under the squeeze from the “parent company” in Italy. And when Ed asks, Clay does. So, Clay takes the case. He needs to solve the frame-up murder put over on a low level pusher named Billy Billy. Billy Billy is innocent – everyone knows he wouldn’t harm a fly – but the cops like him for the murder. And it looks bad for Billy Billy because he woke-up from his heroin induced stupor in the middle of the murder scene. Everyone knows he’s innocent, Ed knows, Clay knows but the cops, well they just don’t care. Since Billy is someone’s patsy and just a hair’s-breadth ahead of the law that means Clay has really got his work cut-out for him.
I had previously read the paperbook of this novel, but not with the Hard Case Crime title of The Cutie. When I read it originally the novel was called The Mercenaries. The strange thing is that the title seems to have influenced my opinion as to the character of the book, maybe its a combination of things. The title and the way it was read. When I first read the novel about five or six years ago I would have classified it as a rather dark, but with this new title, new cover art (by Ken Laager), and the brightly lit voice acting by Stephen R. Thorne it comes off as surprisingly light. Almost a caper in fact. Part of of it must also be because The Cutie is told in first-person from Clay’s point of view. Narrator Thorne brings a youthful confidence to the part (something my inner voice apparently didn’t). But, it’s still strange how Clay is really a cold blooded and murderous thug – Westlake gives him an excellent backstory. But then again perhaps I’m still hearing Thorne’s reading of Somebody Owes Me Money |READ OUR REVIEW|. The Cutie is fully utterly engaging, I found myself trying to solve the central mystery again, all the while marveling at Westlake’s masterful storytelling. The Cutie is a gritty, fast paced, and well plotted murder mystery with a highly unusual criminal/detective lead. If you haven’t tried a Westlake novel before this, now and with The Cutie is your perfect place to start – this was Donald Westlake’s first novel under his real name.
Frankenstein – Halloween Special
The Cutie