Category: Online Audio

Thus I Refute Beezly by John Collier (read by Vincent Price and Tom O’Bedlam)

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

I’d like to track down the original publication of John Collier’s Thus I Refute Beezly. Several sources cite the Atlantic Monthly publication (the October 1940 issue), but I don’t have a scan of that – if you’ve got one, please send me an email. See there’s a 1931 copyright date for it in the Penguin paperback anthology entitled Out Of This World (edited by Julius Fast) – but it doesn’t cite the original publication source. In the meantime here are two more readings other than Jim Moon’s terrific version (available HERE).

As read by Vincent Price:

As read by Tom O’Bedlam [ABRIDGED]:

Posted by Jesse Willis

Coode Street podcast #113 with anthologists James Patrick Kelly and John Kessel

Tamahome

SFFaudio Online Audio

Notes From Coode StreetJames Patrick Kelly and John Kessel came on Coode Street Podcast #113 to have a rather spirited discussion about science fiction.  They just put out a new anthology about The Singularity — Digital Rapture.  They talked about traditional (Campbellian?) sf vs ‘mainstream sf’ (see their anthology The Secret History of Science Fiction), and traditional sf vs ‘singularity sf’.  They also praised M. John Harrison’s book Light.  I’ll have to get back to that, but I found some of the characters very unlikeable.

|MP3| of the podcast episode.

Posted by Tamahome

 

LibriVox: My Favorite Murder by Ambrose Bierce

Jesse Willis

Aural Noir: Online Audio

My Favorite Murder by Ambrose Bierce

There are two readings of My Favorite Murder, by Ambrose Bierce, on LibriVox. Bill Mosley’s reading has a more appropriate accent, but Peter Yearsley’s is funnier, perhaps because of his English accent. The high minded language of the protagonist, combined with the frightening descriptions, makes Yearsley’s version more essentially hilarious.

If you’re familiar with Jack London’s Moon-Face, and liked that story, I think you’ll like this one too.

LibriVoxMy Favorite Murder
By Ambrose Bierce; Read by Bill Mosley
1 |MP3| – Approx. 25 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: June 3, 2010
First published in the San Francisco Examiner, September 16, 1888.

LibriVoxThe Parenticide Club – My Favorite Murder
By Ambrose Bierce; Read by Peter Yearsley
1 |MP3| – Approx. 49 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: December 29, 2005

And here’s a printable |PDF|.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Never Bet The Devil Your Head by Edgar Allan Poe

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

Never Bet The Devil Your Head was written by Edgar Allan Poe to mock his critics. It’s wit is as sharp as Voltaire’s Candide and it’s smirk is as wide as Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court, but it’s just the size of Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal.

Never Bet The Devil Your Head is the tale of Toby Dammit, a man of vice, who comes to a bad end.

Here’s a choice snippet:

“At five months of age he used to get into such passions that he was unable to articulate. At six months, I caught him gnawing a pack of cards. At seven months he was in the constant habit of catching and kissing the female babies. At eight months he peremptorily refused to put his signature to the Temperance pledge. Thus he went on increasing in iniquity, month after month, until, at the close of the first year, he not only insisted upon wearing mustaches, but had contracted a propensity for cursing and swearing, and for backing his assertions by bets.”

I highly recommended it.

Here’s an unabridged reading:

Voices In The DarkNever Bet The Devil Your Head
By Edgar Allan Poe; Read by Dawn Keenan
1 |MP3| – Approx. 22 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Voices In The Dark
Published: 2005
First published in Graham’s Magazine, September 1841.

And here’s a pointed, yet spritely, audio dramatization adaptation with the legendary Daws Butler playing Dammit:

CBS Radio WorkshopCBS Radio Workshop – Never Bet The Devil Your Head
Adapted from the short story by Edgar Allan Poe; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 1 Hour [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBS
Broadcast: July 28, 1957
Provider: archive.org

Cast:
John Dehner … Mr. Poe
Daws Butler … Toby Dammit
Howard McNear … the Devil

And finally here’s a |PDF|.

Posted by Jesse Willis

The Temple by H.P. Lovecraft

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

Here’s a recording of The Temple by H.P. Lovecraft. It was the his first professional sale. And, it’ll be the subject of an upcoming podcast.

It’s read for us by Mirko Stauch, a massive fan of Lovecraft, and a cool German dude with an authentic German accent – something highly appropriate for this story. He is a first time audiobook narrator, and yet, I think he’s done a fine job with it. Check it out for yourself!

The Temple by H.P. LovecraftThe Temple
By H.P. Lovecraft; Read by Mirko Stauch
1 |MP3| – 37 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Provider: Mirko Stauch
Provided: August 2012
The skipper of an Imperial German Navy U-boat, in World War I, documents the disaster and ruin of his ship and crew after they torpedo an enemy ship at sink it’s lifeboats. First published in Weird Tales, September 1925.

And here’s a |PDF| version.

Here’s an illustration from a David E. Schultz article found in Crypt Of Cthulhu #038 (1986):

Illustration from Crypt Of Cthulhu #038

And here’s Stephen Hickman’s rendition as seen in Science Fiction Age:
The Temple - painting by Stephen Hickman

Posted by Jesse Willis

The Yellow Sign by Robert W. Chambers

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

Have you read the Yellow Sign? Have you read the Yellow Sign? Have you read the Yellow Sign?

The Yellow Sign by Robert W. Chambers

Here is snippet from Mary Gnaedinger’s editorial description of Robert W. Chambers’ The Yellow Sign, a wonderfully creepy novelette published in Famous Fantastic Mysteries, September 1943:

Editorial from Famous Fantastic Mysteries, September, 1943

LibriVoxThe Yellow Sign
By Robert W. Chambers; Read by CrowGirl
1 |MP3| – Approx. 39 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: November 30, 2011
The King In Yellow is a monstrous and suppressed book whose perusal brings, fright, madness, and spectral tragedy. Have you seen the Yellow Sign? First published in 1895.

And here’s a |PDF| version.

The Yellow Sign - unsigned illustration From Famous Fantastic Mysteries
The Yellow Sign - unsigned illustration From Famous Fantastic Mysteries

Posted by Jesse Willis