vampires – Page 16

BBC7 For Halloween Week

OnlineAudio

BBC 7’s The 7th Dimension has two ghoulishly good readings airing this week as well as a lengthy radio dramatized version of the most famous vampire story ever told:

The Fall Of The House Of Usher
By Edgar Allan Poe; Read by Sean Barratt
STREAMING AUDIO – Approx. 30 Minutes – Stereo – [UNABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC7 / The 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Sunday October 28th and Sunday November 4th
Poe’s chilling short story about a family’s descent into madness.

Trouble With Lichen
By John Wyndham; Read by Joanna Tope
5 Parts – [ABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC7 / The 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Monday through Friday at 6.30 pm and 12.30am
“Biochemist Diana Brackley and her boss Francis Saxover have discovered that a rare strain of lichen can slow the ageing process. Idealistic Diana embarks on a lifelong mission to ensure that their discovery will benefit man-, and more particularly, woman-kind. But the trouble with lichen is that there’s not enough for everyone…”
Directed by Eilidh McCreadie.

Dracula
Adapted from the novel by Bram Stoker; Performed by a full cast
7 Parts – [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC7 / The 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Monday – Friday at 6pm and midnight (concludes Tuesday 6th Nov)
A chilling dramatisation of Bram Stoker’s vampire tale. Young solicitor Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania and his encounter with Count Dracula has unsettling consequences. Frederick Jaegar stars as Dracula, and the cast includes Bernard Holley, Phyllis Logan, Sharon Maharaj and Finlay Welsh. Dramatized for radio in 7 parts by Nick McCarty and first heard on Radio 4 in 1991, the director was Hamish Wilson.

Posted by Jesse Willis

ABC RN broadcasts Dracula: international and time shifting listeners despair

SFFaudio Commentary

ABC Radio National, Australia’s public radio broadcaster, is going to be airing an abridged reading of Dracula by Bram Stoker. We’d like to tell you all about it, but there’s very little to say. We’d like to point you towards the audio index where the novel would normally be archived for a full eight weeks after the broadcasts, but we can’t. Reason is:

“Due to copyright restrictions this reading is unavailable as audio on demand.”

Now of course it’s plausible that this particular recording of Dracula, one of the most recorded audiobooks of all time, is covered by copyright. In fact, it’d be damn unlikely that it isn’t covered by copyright. Few if any public broadcasters are using creative commons licenses. What the disclaimer should actually say is:

“Due to copyright restrictions, not normally present on our regular 21st century novels, this 19th century novel is unavailable for audio on demand.”

Why then did RN choose a BBC abridgment of a public domain novel that has such restrictions? Why choose to air a classic novel, a freely available text, and get a version that precludes both “audio on demand” and podcasting rights? Why ABC? WHY?

Are we to assume the restrictions weren’t a deal breaker in this case, because this particular abridgement is by far the best reading of Dracula ever recorded?!?!

Maybe it is. Listeners to the 2003 BBC broadcast of this version had the following to say about the production:

“Over the years, I have listened to many reading versions of Dracula. The problem with a single reader for the story is that it is not very convincing for a male reader to read Mina’s diaries. I am glad this BBC version finally got it right. With many readers giving their account of the story, the realistic and scary elements have been added to give listener a better feel of the story unfold. I hope in the future,multi-readers production can be a standard practice.”

“I also feel that in the case of Dracula, it is better to have multiple readers. The talented actors involved in this production have, in my opinion, brought this story vividly to life. It’s particularly nice to hear James D’Arcy – he has a wonderful voice for radio.”

“Now this is the kind of bedtime story you want, laced with blood, horror, and sexually charged gothic opulence. In this new adaptation of Bram Stoker’s classic, the various diary accounts of the four main characters are read by Michael Fassbender, James Greene, Gillian Kearney and James D’Arcy … Of course, you won’t sleep a wink.“

Those lucky folks in Australia who’ve got the ability to listen live to all ten parts as they air can still enjoy it. Here are the details for all three of you lucky devils…

Dracula
By Bram Stoker; Read by Michael Fassbender, Gillian Kearney, James D’Arcy and James Greene
10 parts – [ABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: ABC Radio National
Broadcast: Weekdays, July 2nd – 13th @ 2pm (repeats 11pm)
The most famous of all vampire stories, first published in 1897 and never out of print since. Dracula tells of a vampiric count, pursued relentlessly by those who would see him destroyed.

posted by Jesse Willis

Prisoners Of Gravity, the best damn TV show ever: Have a listen

Online Audio

If you like Science Fiction and you haven’t managed to catch a single episode of Prisoners Of Gravity, I pity you. I really do. The show was awesome. It was produced between 1989 and 1994 for TV Ontario (and syndicated sporadically across North America) – each episode was like an extended blog entry (before there was such a thing). The topics, each episode only had one, focused on a particular theme found in Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror and comic books.

The bulk of an individual show would be just ‘talking heads’ – it was an interview format show with multiple celebrity guests of the best kind, mostly SF&F authors. Each guest would talk about the subject at hand with the interviews having been done at conventions, bookstores and the like – but I can’t stress enough just how each show was so narrowly focused on a specific theme in Speculative Fiction. Here’s just a few of the episodes subjects:

Alternate Histories, Religion, War, Dreams, Watchmen (yup a whole show on the Alan Moore comic series), Cyberpunk, World-Building, Death, Vampires, Dinosaurs, Metamorphosis, Mars and many more.

What made the show so endearing, besides the absolutely stunningly cool content, was the unrelentingly geek-o-serious production. The show’s host, played by comedian Rick Green, was supposed to be a frustrated über-geek named Commander Rick, who had, prior to the show starting, fled the earth in his homemade rocket (packed ful of books and comics). Unforunately for the Commander, he crashed into a television satellite, from which he now broadcasts his show. His only companion there is Nan-Cy, the sardonic artificial intelligent computer system that keeps Rick alive and relatively sane.

If this shows sounds interesting, or you’re feeling nostalgic, click on over to my good friend Rachelle Shelkey’s fansite, Signal Loss, and have a peek around. No official DVDs are available, but there’s a message board and episode trading might be doable now with the promulgation of cheap DVD-Rs. I myself am sending Rachelle my entire collection of VHS tape, in the hopes I will be getting some episodes I’ve never seen before. If you have some episodes contact Rachelle! If we can get enough people interested maybe we can get a complete series run!

Now for the audio|MP3|. It is the first 5 minutes from an episode of Prisoners Of Gravity on the subject of Science Fiction Fandom. Enjoy!

posted by Jesse Willis

Though Podiobooks.com is leading the charge of del…

SFFaudio News

Though Podiobooks.com is leading the charge of delivering podcast audiobooks there are a number of independent novelists and podcasters who’ve started publishing on their own. We’ve assembled a list of some of the Science Fiction, Fantasy and related titles:

Ancestor
By Scott Sigler; Read by Scott Sigler and others
– STATUS: IN PROGRESS
A technothriller centered on a transnational corporation’s scheme to create a creature that can be used to harvest organs for human use. And rather than debate the issue …. extreme violence is our best option.
http://www.project-daemon.net/

Pirate Jack
By Allessandro Cima; Read by ??????
– STATUS: IN PROGRESS
A Young Adult novel about pirates with fantastic elements.
http://piratejack.blogspot.com/

The Master Of The World
By Jules Verne; Read by Eileen
[UNABRIDGED] – STATUS: IN PROGRESS
This famous public domain science fiction novel is being read by ~~the good folks~~ Eileen at The Public Domain Podcast. Good on ya e!
http://publicdomainpodcast.blogspot.com/

Forever Fifteen
By Kiberley Steele; Read by ??????
– STATUS: STARTED
The first and only teen vampire novel to be published so far. Think of it as Buffy the vampire. No slayer.
http://www.foreverfifteen.com/

Brace for Impact
By ?????????; Read by ????????
– STATUS: STARTED
“The mythology of Mick Aloha and Apocalypse Dowell, superhero / wrestling archenemies who must join forces for a common cause. If you’re looking for literature that will challenge your mind and improve your life…sorry.”
http://freepodcastnovel.com/

Tannis Island
By Gavin L. Lowe; Read by ????????
– STATUS: STARTED
“Two divers on holiday in the Middle East discover an artifact beneath the coral growth under the Red Sea.”
http://www.gavinsphoto.com/page2/page2.html

Angelikae: Take Flight
By Colin Coltera; Read by ????????
– STATUS: STARTED
Described as “Fantasy / Sci-fi.”
http://angelikae.blogspot.com/

Sermons on Little Known Gods
By Lauren Merritt; Read by ????????
– STATUS: STARTED
Described as “Humorous alternative fantasy.”
http://cedarhillservices.com/sermons/

and perhaps most exciting….

Burn
By James Patrick Kelly; Read by James Patrick Kelly?
– STATUS: BEGINS NOVEMBER
http://www.jimkelly.net/

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

Review of ENGLISH 3020 Studies In Narrative: Science Fiction & Fantasy

SFFaudio Review

Independent and Distance Learning – ENGLISH 3020 Studies In Narrative: Science Fiction & Fantasy
Lectures by P.C. Hodgell and Michael Levy
20 MP3 Lectures
LINK: http://lrc.lib.umn.edu/Engl3020.htm
Approx 19 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: University Of Minnesota
Published: 2002 (But recorded over several years)
Themes: / Non-Fiction / Science Fiction / Fantasy / Horror / Time Travel / Gothic Horror / Utopias / Dystopias / Religion / Vampires / Urban Fantasy / High Fantasy / Sword and Sorcery / Cyberpunk / Messiah / Apocalypse / Future War / Supermen / Robots / Feminism / Computers / Robots / Androids / Cyborgs / Dungeons & Dragons / Aliens /

Pat Hodgell and Mike Levy discuss the details of SF&F’s history in under 20 hours – no mean feat. Though in amongst the broad academic strokes there are many nice discussions listeners should note. These are academic university lectures, and not an entertainment talk show so the evidentiary schema is the primary focus.

The lectures are vaguely sequential to the history of science fiction and fantasy. The first lectures by Levy discusses the origins of Science Fiction, tackling the progenitive triumverate of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, H.G.Wells, and Jules Verne. The second lecture explores the early and mid twentieth century figures in the field: Edgar Rice Burroughs, Hugo Gernsback, John W. Campbell, Robert A. Heinlein. For the third and fourth lectures Fantasy author Pat Hodgell and the course’s instructor presents the origins of modern Fantasy from its roots in gothic novels and romanticism and then the various 19th century fantastic writings.

Levy’s turn on the fifth lecture covers the early Utopian and Dystopian stories with particular attention to the novels We, 1984 and Brave New World. His insightful commentary continues into the sixth lecture and covers post World War II SF with Astounding Vs. Galaxy Science Fiction Magazines, and the novels Frederik Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth’s The Space Merchants, Kurt Vonnegut’s Player Piano and John Brunner’s Shockwave Rider. For lectures seven and eight Hodgell investigates English Fantasy authors Charles Williams, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Handing off to Levy again for lectures nine and ten covering the general theme of Religion and the specific themes of Messiah and Apocalypse with the novel examples of James Blish’s A Case Of Conscience, Walter M. Miller Jr.’s A Canticle For Leibowitz, Arthur C. Clarke’s Childhood’s End and Robert A. Heinlein’s Stranger In A Strange Land.

Lecture eleven covers the theme of evolutionary Supermen – homo superior in his early fictional incarnations and where the strange motivation to write about them comes from. Lecture twelve is similar to eleven except its focus is on the manufactured heirs to humanity in the form of Computers, Robots, Androids and Cyborgs. This is also the first lecture to include a guest, SF author William F. Wu! Lectures thirteen and fourteen cover the ever popular Time Travel theme, including Connie Willis’ Firewatch, Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court, Michael Moorcock’s Behold The Man and two of Heinlein’s excellent SF short stories All You Zombies and By His Bootstraps.

Lectures fifteen and sixteen investigate fantasy fiction after Tolkien’s influence covering the various themes of Horror, Vampires, Urban Fantasy, High Fantasy, Sword and Sorcery and the influence of the role playing game Dungeons & Dragons. Among the stories specifically discussed are Fritz Leiber’s Smoke Ghost, Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend, Ursula K. Le Guin’s “Earthsea” novels, Terry Pratchett’s “Discworld” novels and Robert E. Howard’s “Conan” stories. Lectures seventeen and eighteen examine women’s role in science fiction, with the themes of Utopias and Feminism, discussion of the novels Venus Plus X by Theodore Sturgeon and The Left Hand Of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin, as well as discussion of it’s authors, the likes of Joanna Russ, Ursula K. Le Guin, James Triptree Jr. and Octavia Butler.

Lecture nineteen breaks from the lecturing professor mold with Pat Hodgell doing an interview in the home of Minnesota SF author Gordon R. Dickson. He talks about how he writes, where he gets his ideas (from history dontcha know) and about the writing process – and this is a very valuable interview as Dickson is now deceased. Dickson novels discussed include among others Dorsai! and Soldier Ask Not. Pat Hodgell concludes the lecture series with a roundtable discussion with herself, Levy and SF author Elanor Arnason. Together they talk about Cyberpunk, William Gibson’s Neuromancer and the film Blade Runner, the use of Aliens in SF and some final thoughts about where they thing SF and F is going.

The sound quality of these lectures isn’t great. There are many background noises, people whispering, lecturers too close and too far from the mic, Gordon R. Dickson coughs a bit and various other aural annoyances are legion. But, it was recorded at a good level and I don’t think I missed one word that was above a whisper – these are lectures and they are free so don’t complain! The funny thing is after hearing these lectures I feel a very strange urge… to learn more about Minnesota. I’ve never had that urge before but Pat Hodgell and Mike Levy manage to include so many Minnesota references and connections into their lectures they sold me on the whole ‘10,000 Lakes to Explore’ deal! Hmmm, maybe these lectures are being given away for free because their underwritten by the Minnesota Tourism Bureau? In any case I heartily recommend you give one or some of these lectures a try they are good listening and good edjamacation.

Here’s a breakdown of the lectures::

Lecture 1 – 29 Minutes 6 Seconds – SF FOUNDATIONS
(LINK: http://lrc.lib.umn.edu/dai/P131_1A.MP3)

Lecture 2 – 27 Minutes 8 Seconds – SF FOUNDATIONS
(LINK: http://lrc.lib.umn.edu/dai/P131_1B.MP3)

Lecture 3 – 26 Minutes 46 Seconds – FANTASY
FOUNDATIONS
(LINK: http://lrc.lib.umn.edu/dai/P131_2A.MP3)

Lecture 4 – 27 Minutes 10 Seconds – FANTASY
FOUNDATIONS
(LINK: http://lrc.lib.umn.edu/dai/P131_2B.MP3)

Lecture 5 – 26 Minutes 7 Seconds – THE FUTURE
(LINK: http://lrc.lib.umn.edu/dai/P131_3A.MP3)

Lecture 6 – 26 Minutes 3 Seconds- THE FUTURE
(LINK: http://lrc.lib.umn.edu/dai/P131_3B.MP3)

Lecture 7 – 28 Minutes 2 Seconds- HOBBITS AND INKLINGS
(LINK: http://lrc.lib.umn.edu/dai/P131_4A.MP3)

Lecture 8 – 27 Minutes 9 Seconds- HOBBITS AND INKLINGS
(LINK: http://lrc.lib.umn.edu/dai/P131_4B.MP3)

Lecture 9 – 27 Minutes 18 Seconds- SCIENCE FICTION AND
RELIGION
(LINK: http://lrc.lib.umn.edu/dai/P131_5A.MP3)

Lecture 10 – 26 Minutes 57Seconds – SCIENCE FICTION
AND RELIGION
(LINK: http://lrc.lib.umn.edu/dai/P131_5B.MP3)

Lecture 11 – 27 Minutes 18 Seconds – SUPERMEN
(LINK: http://lrc.lib.umn.edu/dai/P131_6A.MP3)

Lecture 12 – 28 Minutes 11Seconds – ROBOTS, ANDROIDS
AND CYBORGS
(LINK: http://lrc.lib.umn.edu/dai/P131_6B.MP3)

Lecture 13 – 26 Minutes 7 Seconds- TIME TRAVEL
(LINK: http://lrc.lib.umn.edu/dai/P131_7A.MP3)

Lecture 14 – 27 Minutes 11 Seconds – TIME TRAVEL
(LINK: http://lrc.lib.umn.edu/dai/P131_7B.MP3)

Lecture 15 – 28 Minutes 2 Seconds – MODERN FANTASY AND
HORROR
(LINK: http://lrc.lib.umn.edu/dai/P131_8A.MP3)

Lecture 16 – 43 Minutes 47 Seconds – MODERN FANTASY
AFTER TOLKIEN
(LINK: http://lrc.lib.umn.edu/dai/P131_8B.MP3)

Lecture 17 – 27 Minutes 30 Seconds -WOMEN IN SCIENCE
FICTION
(LINK: http://lrc.lib.umn.edu/dai/P131_9A.MP3)

Lecture 18 – 27 Minutes 57 Seconds -WOMEN IN SCIENCE
FICTION
(LINK: http://lrc.lib.umn.edu/dai/P131_9B.MP3)

Lecture 19 – 44 Minutes 16 Seconds – AN INTERVIEW WITH
GORDON R. DICKSON
(LINK: http://lrc.lib.umn.edu/dai/P131_10A.MP3)

Lecture 20 – 43 Minutes 46 Seconds – CYBERPUNK AND
ALIENS
(LINK: http://lrc.lib.umn.edu/dai/P131_10B.MP3)

Posted by Jesse Willis