News, Reviews, and Commentary on all forms of science fiction, fantasy, and horror audio. Audiobooks, audio drama, podcasts; we discuss all of it here. Mystery, crime, and noir audio are also fair game.
Here’s an interesting LINK. A Google Video archived interview with William Shatner done for the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation (yep, that’s the Emmys). “Video?!” you ask. Yes, but in the interview Shatner talks for a few minutes about his early Radio Drama career and what it takes to change an Eastern Canadian accent into Federation Standard English accent. The Shat is totally Airwolf!
LibriVox bills itself as “acoustical liberation of books in the public domain”, we bill it as “really cool”! The LibriVox volunteers read and record chapters of books in the public domain using the equipment they have at home, and then release the files as FREE audiobooks. The objective is to eventually make all books in the public domain available in the audio format. Several Science Fiction and Fantasy titles are already under way, and few have already been completed. Here’s a peek:
Completed Novels:
The Road To Oz by L. Frank Baum
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Completed Shorts:
A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift
Multiple Narrator Forthcoming:
Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
The Trial by Franz Kafka
Dracula by Bram Stoker
A Journey To The Interior Of The Earth by Jules Verne
Single Narrators Forthcoming:
Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott
The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson
Sky Island by L. Frank Baum
The Wizard Of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Beowolf
Anthem by Ayn Rand
A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain
The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
I swear I heard Promo Girl on CBC Radio One announce a special Christmas Day and Boxing Day (Dec 26th) special on Pierre Berton’s The Secret World Of Og. Unfortunately I don’t have a time or a link to give you. The CBC website doesn’t seem to have it listed. Did anybody catch the hours this Canadian fantasy classic will air on those days?. But it looks like it will air on Sunday Showcase at 10pm on Christmas Day and on Boxing Day at 4pm.
The Secret World Of Og: A Christmas Special
By Pierre Berton; Adapted by Beverley Cooper
Streaming Audio – Approx. 30 60 Minutes (?) [Audio Drama]
Broadcaster: CBC Radio One
Boradcast: Dec 25th 2005 (repeated Dec 26th 2005)
The story of five children, a missing baby brother, and a magical
adventure in a strange underground world beneath their playhouse,
filled with rivers, mushrooms and a community of green people who know
only one word, “OG”.
I’ve just discovered, better late than never, that CBC Radio One‘s Between The Covers program is broadcasting a Connie Willis Christmas story. It airs between December 19th and December 23rd 2005. Details follow…
Miracle
By Connie Willis; Read by Veena Sood
Streaming Audio – Estimated 70 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: CBC Radio One
Broadcast: Dec 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd 2005
An office worker hopes her handsome colleague will finally notice her at the office Christmas party. Willis takes on consumerism, seasonal movies, office celebrations and matchmaking in this whimsical romp through the North American Christmas season.
Great news everyone! The gifts are coming in fast and furious, and this one’s a real beaut. It seems the good folks at XM Radio’s SONIC THEATER have created a special offer for our benefit! By ordering three months of XM service via the link pictured below you will get one of two styles of XM Radio Recievers for FREE! The FREE models usually cost between $50 and $100.00 in stores so this is a very sweet deal. To get it type in the special XM website link into your browser URL field, it’s the link pictured in the image below, hit enter and when prompted enter the special email code pictured on the image. Deluxe model recievers are also available at a discounted prices. The promotion expires at the end of December so snap it up while you can. Bear in mind you need to purchase a minimum of three months XM Radio subscription (@ about $13.00 per month). It isn’t at this time known whether this offer will work for Canada, but even if it does bear in mind that Sonic Theater is not yet included in the XM Satellite Radio’s Canadian service. You lucky, lucky Americans!
The Unnameable: Four Tales by H.P. Lovecraft
By H.P. Lovecraft; Read by David Cade
1 CD – 1 Hour 16 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Tales Of Orpheus / www.DavidCade.net
Published: 2005
ISBN: 0955209005
Themes: / Fantasy / Horror / Cthulhu Mythos / Cats / Music /
“We were sitting on a dilapidated seventeenth – century tomb in the late afternoon of an autumn day at the old burying ground in Arkham, and speculating about the unnamable.”
Dumb move guys, being in Arkham was the first mistake. Hanging out at the cemetary at twilight was the second. You don’t get a third with Lovecraft. Fortunately we get both a third and a fourth! This collection contains four complete Howard Philips Lovecraft short stories! Included are:
“The Book”
Told in a creepy first person, a disembodied voice, a voice that decries the day it discovered “the book”, in a library beside a great black oily river. The voice has forgotten its family, its life, even its own name. You will never forget this story. Probably written in 1933, a point at which Lovecraft was at the height of his powers, it shows.
“The Music Of Erich Zann”
One step from vagrancy, our anonymous narrator, recalls a fellow lodger Erich Zann. They shared a decrepit building on a mysterious French street, but Zann’s eerie music was not nearly as haunting as horror that chased him. First published in 1921, still
powerful.
“The Cats Of Ulthar”
A cryptic fable that gives reason to why killing a cat may be the most dangerous thing one can ever do. There are two kinds of people in the world: Dog people and
cat people. H.P. Lovecraft was obviously a cat person. Cats are mysterious, small but quite powerful and work best at night, just like this story. First published
1920.
“The Unnameable”
Randolph Carter, who we already know from The Statement Of Randolph Carter recalls the events which followed their visit to an Arkham, MA cemetary. This is the only story in this collection considered part of the Cthulhu Mythos and Carter is probably the only character to survive two brushes with the who should not be named. First published 1923.
British actor David Cade reads all four tales. There is some question in my mind on one matter, does having an English accent whilst reading very American stories necessitate a conflict? It probably would if there was much dialogue – but seeing as Lovecraft was far friendlier with exposition than he was with speaking parts it isn’t much of an issue at all. Cade is effective at bringing the mostly expository prose to gruesome life. All four stories are framed by muscial excerpts that are very well matched to the thematic material. One thing that bothered me greatly though was the lack of titles, each track is distinctly seperated by music, but the stories themselves are not named in the audio, one must look at the back of the CD case to find out which story you are listening to – something a blind listener would be unable to do.
Posted by Jesse Willis