May 2012 – Page 4

Think: The Lives Of Jack London (an interview with biographer James L. Haley)

SFFaudio Online Audio

Think, a “topic-driven interview and call-in program hosted by Krys Boyd” from KERA (in Texas), covers many topics. But back on July 22, 2010 it broadcast an episode entitled The Lives Of Jack London. Here’s the official description:

He prospected for gold, hunted seals and wrote some of the most popular adventure novels of the early 20th Century. But what was Jack London really like? We’ll talk this hour with biographer, historian and novelist James L. Haley whose new book is “Wolf: The Lives Of Jack London” (Basic Books, 2010).

|MP3|

In many ways this is a surprising interview – well worth hearing. There are a few facts I’d never heard before and a few fascinating interpretations. The strangest part, at least for me though, were about London’s socialism and the lengths Hayley goes to apologize for it.

Very good news, by the way, the audiobook of Wolf: The Lives Of Jack London is available from Blackstone Audio and it’s read by Bronson Pinchot!

Posted by Jesse Willis

Hypnobobs: The Graveyard Rats by Henry Kuttner

SFFaudio Online Audio

Our First published, in Weird Tales, when Kuttner was just 21 years old, The Graveyard Rats became an instant classic. It has been one of my all time favourite horror stories since I first heard it – in The Greatest Horror Stories Of The Twentieth Century |READ OUR REVIEW| – it’s full of Lovecraftian imagery, has a loathsome protagonist, and it possesses an unshakeable claustrophobic menace that’ll keep you up late for fear of what sleep might bring.

Mr. Jim Moon’s reading of it, for his wondrous Hypnobobs, now makes it one of my all-time favourite podcasts episodes too.

The Graveyard Rats - Illustration from SHOCK
The Graveyard Rats by Henry Kuttner

SFFaudio Essential The Graveyard Rats
By Henry Kuttner; Read by Jim Moon
1 |MP3| – Approx. 27 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Hypnobobs
Podcast: August 21, 2011
First published in Weird Tales, March 1936.

Podcast feed: http://www.geekplanetonline.com/hosting/originals/hypnobobs/feed.xml

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

And here’s a |PDF| constructed from it’s publication in Shock.

My depiction of Old Masson:
Old Masson by Jesse

Anthony’s depiction of Old Masson:
Old Masson by Anthony

Posted by Jesse Willis

CBS Radio Mystery Theater: The Rise And Fall Of The Fourth Reich by Henry Slesar

SFFaudio Online Audio

Karel Thole illustration for The Rise And Fall Of The Fourth Reich - from Urania #729

I have a sudden desire to eat Uncle Ben’s rice and buy a 1976 Buick. Yes folks I’ve been listening to more CBS Radio Mystery Theater.

The episode this time was called The Rise And Fall Of The Fourth Reich and was written by Henry Slesar.

Slesar was an interesting writer. He wrote in nearly every capacity that a writer can. Being a copywriter (he apparently coined the phrase “coffee break”). But he wrote plenty of fiction too. He was the head writer on an intriguing sounding daytime soap opera (a thriller series modeled after Perry Mason books), he wrote movie screenplays, TV movie scripts, mystery novels, and dozens of radio dramas. But he also wrote a lot of SF short stories – and that’s where things get a bit murky because I’m actually not sure if this story was an adaptation of the text, or if the text was an adaptation of the play. The play of The Rise And Fall Of The Fourth Reich aired first, being broadcast in the spring of 1975. But the short story of the same name came out shortly thereafter in F&SF.

For our purposes I guess it doesn’t really matter too much either way because the only version of the story available in the audio format is the CBS Radio Mystery Theater play.

Set in Mexico, in the 1970s, the storyline isn’t radically dissimilar from the 1976 Ira Levin novel The Boys From Brazil (later to be made into a film of the same name). I enjoyed the plotting, which features both the quest for immortality, the fruit of horrific Nazi experiments, and most of all the desire for revenge.

Here it is, as it aired exactly 37 years ago today…

CBS Radio Mystery Theater CBSRMT #0275 – The Rise And Fall Of The Fourth Reich
By Henry Slesar; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 46 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBS Radio
Broadcast: May 16, 1975
A Nazi fantasy? In this weird tale, two scientists discover an aged and sickly Adolf Hitler in 1970’s Mexico City. They begin to try and restore his health and youth through their experiments. First published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, August 1975.

Cast:
Robert Dryden
Ken Harvey
Paul Hecht
Joe Silver

The Rise And Fall Of The Fourth Reich by Henry Slesar - from Fantasy & Science Fiction, August 1975

[via the wonderful CBSRMT.com]

Posted by Jesse Willis

The Window by H.P. Lovecraft

SFFaudio News

One of the poems, The Window, in my recently acquired H.P. Lovecraft collection from Gollancz (Eldritch Tales: A Miscellany Of The Macabre) struck me as the perfect jumping off point for a thousand more Lovecraftian adventures. The book is really terrific. It features many wonderful illustrations by Les Edwards.

The poem itself is on page 324 unfortunately isn’t illustrated, but the text is available via Wikisource, and here it is from its publication in Weird Tales:

The Window by H.P. Lovecraft

And here are a couple of readings found on YouTube:

The poem was also adapted to comics. It appeared in the Marvel Max series H.P. Lovecraft’s Haunt Of Horror (#3) – with art by Richard Corben:

Richard Corben's illustration of The Window from H.P. Lovecraft's Haunt Of Horror #3

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: Mr. Spaceship by Philip K. Dick

SFFaudio Online Audio

The short story, Mr. Spaceship by Philip K. Dick, is about Philip Kramen and Commander Gross, two characters that are trying to end a war. To do it these agents have to build a ship guided by something intelligent so they can defeat the “yuks” (enemy aliens that are trying to invade Earth). Kramen and Gross determine that the ship should be guided by a disembodied human brain!

To this end they recruit Professor Thomas, a very aged man confined to his bed. The brain removal is a success, and Thomas gains control of the ship.

The story’s premise is similar, remarkably similar, to the later published tale, The Ship Who Sang. The Ship Who Sang by Anne McCaffrey was published in the April 1961 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction – eight years after Mr. Spaceship was published.

I think Mr. Spaceship is one of the most interesting Philip K. Dick works that I’ve read. Mr. Spaceship is a very well organized story that was planned out step by step. The writing was very clear, giving us the main problem, and how the characters were going to solve it. I definitely recommend Mr. Spaceship to readers who like science fiction stories.

Mr. Spaceship by Philip K. Dick

Mr. Spaceship
By Philip K. Dick; Read by Gregg Margarite
1 |MP3| – Approx. 1 Hour 11 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: June 27, 2010
|ETEXT|
A human brain-controlled spacecraft would mean mechanical perfection. This was accomplished, and something unforeseen: a strange entity called — Mr. Spaceship. First published in Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy, January 1953.

Here is a |PDF| made from scans of the original publication in Imagination.

Posted by Andrew Kang

Kansas Historical Society: The Bender Knife (a podcast about the Bloody Benders of Kansas)

Aural Noir: Online Audio

In research for another story I came across a cool podcast along the lines of BBC Radio 4’s The History Of The World In 100 Objects. Except that instead of it being a history of the planet it’s just the history of Kansas. The first epsiode of the KSHS’ Cool Things podcast to strike me (out of my chair, through the floor, and then into a shallow grave in a nearby field) was an episode on “The Bender Knife”. Here’s the setup:

Two men settled a claim near the town of Cherryvale in southeastern Kansas in 1870. John Bender, Sr., and John Bender, Jr., built a one-room timber cabin with a trap door that led to a stone cellar. Once the lodging was complete, the Bender men sent for the rest of the family, a mother and a daughter, both named Kate. The family outfitted the house with furniture and supplies, and hung a canvas curtain to divide it into two rooms. The Benders turned the front half into an inn and grocery store where travelers on the nearby Osage Trail could find rest, supplies, and a warm meal. Ma and Kate planted a garden and small orchard near the house. By all appearances, the Benders were like most area settlers: a family of German descent who came west for a fresh start.

Business at the Bender inn would have been brisk. The southeast corner of Kansas had recently opened to white settlers, and men regularly arrived with money to purchase land and livestock. This available cash made the area a dangerous place to travel. Settlers were easy prey for robbers, and it was not uncommon for people to go missing. No one took note of people looking for their family members. This changed when locals started disappearing.

You can read the full story HERE.

Bender Knife

|MP3|

And here’s the Wikipedia entry on the Bloody Benders.

Also check out their “Space Age Stove” episode (featuring a very cool Frigidaire Custom Imperial Flair stove).

Posted by Jesse Willis