Ian Fleming and Raymond Chandler in conversation

Aural Noir: Online Audio

There’s a fascinating conversation between Raymond Chandler and Ian Fleming available over on BBC Archives. It was first broadcast on the BBC “Third Program” on July 10th, 1958. In it the two famed authors, and friends, discuss each others novels in depth. But before you head on over there, consider this |MP3| first. It is a repeat broadcast, from 1988, that includes an informative introduction that the BBC Archives version lacks.

BBC Archives - Ian Fleming and Raymond Chandler

Here’s the official BBC Archives description:

Fleming and Chandler talk about protagonists James Bond and Philip Marlowe in this conversation between two masters of their genre. They discuss heroes and villains, the relationship between author and character and the differences between the English and American thriller. Fleming contrasts the domestic ‘tea and muffins’ school of detective story with the American private eye tradition and Chandler guides Fleming through the modus operandi of a mafia hit while marvelling at the speed with which his fellow author turns out the latest Bond adventure.

[via the Miskatonic Rara-Avis site and BBC Archives]

Posted by Jesse Willis

The SFFaudio Podcast #062 – TALK TO: Kelli Stanley

Podcast

The SFFaudio PodcastThe SFFaudio Podcast #062 – Scott and Jesse talk to author Kelli Stanley about her novel City Of Dragons!

Talked about on today’s show:
Paul Bishop (of the Bish’s Beat blog), TinEye.com reverse image search, the San Francisco Public Library, eBay, Evernote, scrivner, Zotero (a firefox add-on), ABEbooks.com, comics, Treasure Island (California), Chesterfield cigarettes, hardboiled vs. noir, Roman noir, Raymond Chandler, Nox Dormienda by Kelli Stanley, Mystery Readers Journal, “the protagonist is fucked on page one”, James M. Cain, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Double Indemnity, Oedipus is noir, Blood On The Moon, noir western, Robert Wise, Deadly Pleasures Magazine, reviewed to death, cozy fiction, why the A-Team is a terrible scourge (it’s anti-noir), torture-porn, Paul Verhoeven, Reefer Madness, apologists for Robert E. Howard, Ashoka (emperor of India), Plutarch, 1940s, Hays office, Baby Face (1933), the history of fuck, HBO’s The Pacific, the wikipedia entry for “Fuck”, 17th century, enlightenment/restoration era sex toys, “the only words that are truly vile are the ones that are used to hurt and ridicule others”, femme fatale, editing, Minotaur books, the City Of Dragons paperbook, point of view as a camera, William Gibson, Tantor Media, the audiobook version of City Of Dragons, historical female private detectives, the perverse incentive of the California divorce laws, Sally Rand’s Nude Ranch, 1939 World’s Fair, High-Octane Stories From The Hottest Thriller Authors edited by Lee Child, WWII, a fan of the Spanish Civil War, Irish fascists vs. the IRA, Father Charles Coughlin and the Christian Front movement, communism, cynicism, Abraham Lincoln Brigade, Sacramento Street in San Francisco, Sino-Japanese War, the Rape of Nanking, Quiet, Please, marketing a book is up to the author, Decoder Ring Theatre’s Black Jack Justice, KelliStanley.com.

38 appropriate uses of the English language’s most iconic curse:

Posted by Jesse Willis

The SFFaudio Podcast #061 – READALONG: City Of Dragons by Kelli Stanley

Podcast

The SFFaudio PodcastThe SFFaudio Podcast #061 – Scott and Jesse talk with Rick Jackson and Julie Davis about City Of Dragons by Kelli Stanley!

Talked about on today’s show:
Wonder Publishing, Brain Plucker, Science Fiction Oral History Association, Forgotten Classics, listening to audiobooks at double speed on the iPhone, Sansa Clip, Tantor Media‘s audiobook version of City Of Dragons by Kelli Stanley, Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Catholics should get noir, the Kelli Stanley Wikipedia entry, noir, hard-boiled crime fiction, smoking, 1940, San Fransisco, murder mystery, private detective, Chinatown, Miranda Corbie (the hero of City Of Dragons), Julie’s Happy Catholic blog post about City Of Dragons, modern editing (or the egregious lack thereof), historical fiction, Luke Burrage’s review of A Game Of Thrones, Samuel Shellabarger, Captain From Castile, “Chesterfields really satisfy!”, chick lit, PTSD, page 201, Territory by Emma Bull, They Can Only Hang You Once by Dashiell Hammett, movies vs. novels, page 3, The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester (our next readalong), using the font and the text on the page to help tell the story, racism, the Yellow Peril, is a female private investigation realistic for 1940?, backstory, the Pinkerton agency, b-girls and escorts, the Spanish Civil War, Donald E. Westlake, Travis McGee, John D. MacDonald, Ross Macdonald, Hostage For A Hood by Lionel White, Gold Medal paperback originals, Noir Masters: An Anthology, iPad, Wonder ebooks on iPad, Death Pulls A Doublecross by Lawrence Block, Blackstone Audio, Jim Thompson, Nothing More Than Murder, Forever After, Midnight Blue by Ross Macdonald, The Imaginary Blonde, you can’t have a noir series, The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson, Sam Spade, James M. Cain, Double Indemnity, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Mildred Peirce, Chinatown, worst ending ever, best ending ever, most depressing ending ever, Sunset Boulevard, Mickey Spillane, Perry Mason, Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott, Lew Archer, Harper (1966) starring Paul Newman.

Posted by Jesse Willis

BBC Audiobooks America: New stock in from the UK

SFFaudio News

BBC Audiobooks America has just brought in a bunch of previously U.K. only BBC audiobooks. For North American customers this means a big savings on that crazy overseas shipping price. Among the available titles is the first in the series of radio dramatizations of Lindsey Davis books (Shadows In Bronze)! This is the “FALCO” series that I’m always telling everyone to try. Here’s the big list:

Posted by Jesse Willis

BBC Radio 7: Raymond Chandler, Mary Shelley, Simon Bovey, William Gibson

SFFaudio Online Audio

BBC Radio 7 - BBC7There’s a terrific mix of Science Fiction, Mystery and Crime stories, novels and dramatizations set to be broadcast this week. It looks like every single one is a repeat, but I can’t think of any set of repeats better sounding than these! So what are you waiting for? All of them should be available in your Radio Downloader browser right now!


BBC Radio Collection - The Big Sleep and The High WindowThe High Window
Based on the novel by Raymond Chandler; Performed by a full cast
1 Broadcast – Approx. 90 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 7
Broadcast: Saturday August 1, 2009 @ 1pm and 1am
When wise-cracking private eye Philip Marlowe is hired to track down a valuable missing coin, he quickly discovers that contact with it invariably has fatal consequences. Dramatised by Bill Morrison, John Tydeman’s production was first broadcast in 1977. Stars Ed Bishop.

The Mortal Immortal
By Mary Shelley; Read by Shaun Dooley
1 Broadcast – Approx. 30 Minutes [ABRIDGED?]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 7
Broadcast: Sunday at 6.30pm and 12.30am
Driven to despair by disappointment in love, alchemist’s assistant Cornelius drinks a potion which he discovers to be the elixir of life. At first, Cornelius revels in what he sees as his good fortune – until the drawbacks of his action slowly start to become clear. This production by Gemma Jenkins was specially made for Radio 7 and first broadcast in 2005.

Slipstream by Simon BoveySlipstream
By Simon Bovey; Performed by a full cast
5 Broadcasts – Approx. 2.5 Hours [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 7
Broadcast: Monday to Friday, August 3 – 7, 2009 @ 6pm and Midnight
When 150 aircraft are shot down in one raid, Colonel Barton fears the destruction was the work of Slipstream, a terrifying new weapon developed by the enemy. Barton determines to find the weapon before it can be used again. Simon Bovey’s World War Two drama was specially commissioned for Radio 7. Produced by Marc Beeby, it stars Rory Kinnear and Tim McMullan and was originally transmitted in 2008.

Pattern Recognition by William GibsonPattern Recognition
By William Gibson; Read by Lorelei King
5 Broadcasts – Approx. 2.5 Hours [ABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 7
Broadcast: Monday to Friday, August 3 – 7, 2009 @ 6.30pm and 12.30am
Cayce Pollard has an unusual allergy which leaves her hyper-sensitive to brand names. Instinctively aware of what products will and will not succeed, she enjoys a lucrative career in advertising. On a business trip to London, however, she finds herself involved in tracking down the maker of a strangley addictive online film – a search that proves to be extremely dangerous. This Radio 7 commission was first broadcast in 2007.

Down Payment On Death
By Jim Eldridge; Performed by a full cast
5 Broadcasts – Approx. 2.5 Hours [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 7
Broadcast: Monday to Friday, August 3 – 7, 2009 @ 1.30pm, 8.30pm and 1.30am
Professional assassin Art Gordo is blackmailed into doing one last job by Clarke from ‘The Department’. Adapted by Jim Eldridge’s 1972 novel. Stars Dinsdale Landon as Art and Glyn Owen as target Allweather. First broadcast in 1976 on the BBC’s World Service.

Posted by Jesse Willis