Day: July 26, 2012

Shoggoth’s Old Peculiar by Neil Gaiman (live reading)

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio News

Here’s a live reading (audio only), by Neil Gaiman himself, of Shoggoth’s Old Peculiar. The story is a kind of mash up of a Peter Cook and Dudley Moore piece, that and the Cthulhu mythos, and also English pub culture.

Charles de Lint, in his review for The Magazine of Fantasy And Science Fiction (May 2005) described it thusly:

“Shoggoth’s Old Peculiar is very funny — laugh out loud funny, in places — but it’s to Gaiman’s credit that it’s not a complete farce. Somehow he manages to instill a touch of creepy dread to leaven all the humor.”

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Posted by Jesse Willis

Earbud Theater: Neil Gaiman’s Shoggoth’s Old Peculiar AUDIO DRAMA

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

Earbud TheaterEarbud Theater is a new audio drama podcast (without a podcast feed that I can spot). Casey Wolfe, who pointed it out to me, calls them “podplays” – which is a new word but and one that fits fine.

The first episode to catch my attention is an adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Shoggoth’s Old Peculiar!

Young American Ben Lassiter is touring the British coastline when he’s forced to take refuge from the rain at a pub in the town of… Innsmouth. Here he meets the peculiar Seth and Wilf who have something to teach Ben about life, Lovecraft, death and unspeakable horror. Adapted by Casey Wolfe and performed by Jake Borelli, Simon Verlaque, Rees Pugh and Joanne McCallin, please sit back and enjoy a pint of Shoggoth’s Old Peculiar.

I quite liked this 17 minute adaptation. It’s faithful to Gaiman’s original story and that’s always a good thing. But, I should point out the the MP3’s volume is too low – even wearing earbuds I had a hard time catching every bit of it.

|MP3|

Incidentally, the beverage of the title is likely inspired by a real beer with an odd taste.

Posted by Jesse Willis

MuseCon 2012: Guest Of Honor: Gregg Taylor of Decoder Ring Theatre

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio News

Gregg Taylor of Decoder Ring Theatre is going to be the GUEST OF HONOR at MuseCon 2012!

This Chicago area convention begins August 3, 2012.

Here’s the convention’s description:

Most kids create an imaginary world where they have friends nobody else can see and which allows them to be firefighters or astronauts or whatever strikes their fancy. We were all kids like that and, as we grew, we found the worlds of science fiction, fantasy, media, music, art and other interests that allowed us to escape from the
mundane world.

Within the fannish community, we’ve found folks who have similar interests. This society of accepting, like-minded people allows us to create and educate. Whether it’s science, writing, art, music or even new ideas of what family and religion mean, fandom is a pretty creative bunch. MuseCon is a place to explore that creativity and learn from each other. You don’t have to be an expert–all you need is a willingness to try.

Come and play with us!

Here’s the two page spread in the MuseCon program book about our hero:

Gregg Taylor - Guest Of Honor at MuseCon 2012

And here’s the complete |PDF|.

[Thanks Xap!]

Posted by Jesse Willis