Masters Of Horror – the original stories in audio

SFFaudio Online Audio

Masters Of HorrorOver the past few years I’ve bought more than a dozen of DVDs featuring episodes of Masters Of Horror. MOH was a cable TV show that brought together Horror stories and Horror filmmakers in hour-long formats. Several of these shows were rather lame – but a few were very good or even excellent.

Three episodes that were rather good were adapted from public domain stories…

Weird Tales July 1933The Dreams In The Witch House
By H.P. Lovecraft; Read by MorganScorpion
2 MP3 Files – Approx. 90 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Provider: Archive.org
Part 1 |MP3| Part 2 |MP3|
Written in January/February 1932, it was first published in the July 1933 issue of Weird Tales. Apparently this story was “heavily influenced by Nathaniel Hawthorne’s unfinished novel Septimius Felton.”

The Damned Thing
By Ambrose Bierce; Read by Greg Elmensdorp
1 |MP3| – Approx. 21 Minutes
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: September 4, 2006
First published in 1893.

The Black Cat
By Edgar Allan Poe; Read by Ralph Snelson
1 |MP3| – Approx. 27 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: April 11, 2008
First published in the August 19th, 1843, issue of The Saturday Evening Post.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Full Cast Audio – a documentary on Full Cast Audio production

SFFaudio News

If you’re looking for the deluxe treatment of audiobooks look no farther than a Full Cast Audio audiobook. Never tired one before? Well then check out a documentary called Full Cast Audio: A Family of Voices that illustrate exactly what the FCA producers Bruce Coville and Daniel Bostick (along with all those talented narrator/actors) put into a Full Cast Audio audiobook production.

Part 1

Part 2

[via Mary Burkey’s Audiobook Blog]

Posted by Jesse Willis

Update: Frequency Of Fear Lite and Regular FoF

SFFaudio Online Audio

You may have noticed SFFaudio has a new WordPress theme. Ya, well, it isn’t purely cosmetic. We were forced to do some self-surgery due to complaints of too much server usage. I blame you visitors and all your damn clicking. But ours isn’t the only blog with a facelift -The Zombie Astonaut has rejiggered his Frequency Of Fear Lite podcast site with a new look. Says ZA:

As some of you may know, we edit the original wraparound stories into their very own self-contained audio drama (emphasis on the “audio”, not so much on the “drama”). They’ve been featured on the Sonic Society’s podcast, the Jack And Shannon Show. We also had a page set up for those with a link to the right, but frankly, the page sucked. I wasn’t crazy about the layout or how difficult it was to update, and Doc hated all the pastel colors I didn’t notice because I’m terribly colorblind. In came Dr. Wilheim Von Martinez to save the day! After accidentally re-inventing the Tofurkey, he set up a marvelous new Frequency Lite page, one that is more organized and allows for comments. We’ll be expanding the page to include character and actor bios, as well as other fun stuff. Check it out!

The Frequency Of Fear Lite

But that isn’t all, over on the regular site…

Frequency Of Fear

There is an unusual interview based episode created when the Zombie Astronaut visited “the first annual Indy Paracon, a paranormal convention in Danville, Indiana.” There, Zombie spoke with four different ghost hunters – Chris Dedman, Paul Browning (Clarksville Ghost Hunters), Michael D. McDonald (Kindred Moon Paranormal Society) and Sarah Neher (In Nomine Paranormal Research). They gave tips on the equipment ghost hunters need and how to protect yourself from the demonic possession (prayer).

I listened to the whole show and came away thinking that some of these folks the Zombie Astronaut interviews seem to think their hobby can be dangerous – I agree with this. And I speak with experience. Pretending can be dangerous. When I was a kid I spent a summer with a family friends’ kid. He was about 3 years older than me and really into wrestling TV shows – let me tell you a half-nelson suplex on an unsuspecting kid who doesn’t have cable TV and has no idea what a suplex was – let alone a half-nelson suplex – that is dangerous.

That said, as long as these ghost hunters are only pretending to experience the regular old melancholy apparitions who mope about in dark corners and say things like “my toys” rather than pretending the full-on Tobe Hooper style poltergeists – they’ll probably be okay. Of the guest who suggested prayer prior to all ghost hunting activities – I wish ZA would have asked one more question of him. Namely: If there is a prayer for the prevention of a broken collar-bone.

Posted by Jesse Willis

KAMN: The Black Company by Glen Cook

SFFaudio Online Audio

The Kick Ass Mystic Ninjas Podcast
Most of the time when The Kick Ass Mystic Ninjas put out a podcast they are reviewing and discussing books and movies I’m quite familiar with. Their latest show is quite the exception. I had somehow never heard nor seen The Black Company by Glen Cook prior to their podcast about it. That so, they’ve convinced me it really needs to be an audiobook. If you’re unfamiliar with the novel, go have a listen, if you’ve read it already, be sure to check it out too |MP3|.

Podcast feed:

http://www.kickassmysticninjas.com/shows/feed/

Posted by Jesse Willis

3 FREE Audiobooks from Random House Audio

SFFaudio News

Random House Audio - 3 Free AudiobooksRandom House Audio is offering three FREE audiobooks to folks who subscribe to their monthly newsletter. HERE is the link to the website where you can sign up. An email confirming your subscription will include a link to where you can download all three audiobooks. All three are in the MP3 format. The audiobooks are:

Merrano Of The Dry Country Approx. 58 Minutes [AUDIO DRAMA] Based on the story by Louis L’Amour
The master storyteller once again brings the Old West to life in this action-packed, full cast dramatization. Violence and prejudice are brewing in the drought-stricken land of Mirror Valley, where death turns friends into enemies and enemies into friends. From 1990.

Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark (Magic Tree House, No. 1) by Mary Pope Osborne – Approx. 39 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Where did the tree house come from? Before Jack and Annie can find out, the mysterious tree house whisks them back to the prehistoric past. Now they have to figure out how to get home. Can they do it before dark, or will they become a dinosaur’s dinner? From 1992.

Percy Jackson And The Sword of Hades by Rick Riordan – Approx. 77 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
First published in a back to back paperbook version for World Book Day in the UK. This short novella takes place between Books 4 and 5 of the Percy Jackson series. As far as I can tell this is its fist audiobook release.

[via Mary Burkey’s Audiobook Blog]

Posted by Jesse Willis

1882 Time Travel story on Mister Ron’s Basement

SFFaudio Online Audio

Podcast - Mister Ron's BasementWhen Mark Twain was accused of plagiarizing Max Adeler’s The Fortunate Island for his novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court he responded by saying that he read Adeler’s story, liked it, and thought there was no resemblance. However, the Adeler story he compared to his own that appeared in the 1882 Fortunate Island book was a different one – An Old Fogy – one of the first time travel stories ever written.

For tonight’s Saturday Night Special story we have presented An Old Fogy, the tale of an old man (written in 1882) who wished to return to simpler times of sixty years previously. The old man gets his wish.

If you could imagine a Twilight Zone episode written in 1882, you might have this brilliant tale.

Time: approx forty-one minutes.

The Mr. Ron’s Basement Podcast will be moving to a new server in a couple of months after over four years at slapcast, but the link is certainly good for a while.

You’ll find the story at:

http://slapcast.com/users/revry/7263

Posted by Mister Ron