The SFFaudio Podcast #843 – READALONG: Mistress Of Mellyn by Victoria Holt

The SFFaudio Podcast #843 – Jesse and Cora Buhlert discuss Mistress Of Mellyn by Victoria Holt

Talked about on today’s show:
Eleanor Alice Burford, two others, gothic romances, multigenerational family dramas, every book focused on a different woman from the same family, to name a doll, Harlequin Romances, her maiden name, historical novels, mysteries, mixed up with someone else?, early lesbian fiction?, this particular book is not very lesbian, specialized in straight romance novels, wrote a really long time, her best known pen-name, her first Victoria Holt novel, an excellent read, a little over 10 hours, a hardcover publication, the book that started the gothic romances, inspired by earlier books, women fleeing, very very good, how good it was, discovered something, aiming for, a phenomenon in the world happening, Jesse gets it now, sell a lot of books, used books, romance novels, they’re addicted, straight up romance novel, ridiculous and silly, the genre, making a distinction, gothics, romance, gothic romance, in comics, she’s interesting, she’s got something wrong with her, neurotic?, what it is, this is like escapism, a fantasy series, Dragonlance, really fun, teaches you nothing, escaping from the world, fantasy is the same thing, learning to swordfight in a book, fun but teaches you nothing, escaping their life, she’s not neurotic, overthinking things, her own experience of the world, what evolutionary purpose does it serve, gothic romances are like amateur detective novels, Tommy and Tuppence, Agatha Christie style, mysteries, cozy mysteries about cupcake bakers, it wasn’t their friend who was murdered, these are detective novels, and the mystery is, an menace, is this man the right person to marry, Jane Austen, the Byronic hero, Lord Byron, Mr Right and Mr Wrong, its a parody of the 18th century gothic, they’re absolutely connected, a descendant, what makes it so much better, hints of the supernatural, she looked like a fey, are you fey?, no wereford, don’t go out on the moors, the little people will pull you into a bog, supernatural threat, all the feelings that she has are justified, the final scene before the afterword, having the rugged pulled out from under me, perfectly red herringed all the way through, she would be the one, the killer, the source of all the weird happenings, totally surprised, skilled writing and fun to try and figure out if this is a suitable man for her, are these feelings I have all in my head, very standoffish, inappropriate kiss, aloof, 1980s, first person, the POV of the woman, the man is the mystery, he’s always flirting with you, go off to Australia, often such a guy, she needs to investigate, the mystery of who am I gonna marry, Philip K. Dick, what’s the difference between men and women, some time in the 19th century, later 19th century, trains, 1860 or up to 1890, described the clothing, men are different from women, women gestate babies for 9 months, a woman needs to be circumspect about the man she marries, lots of money vs. a little money, very little power, she’s poor, a gentlewoman, Jane Austen onward, gentry, find a job, governess, companion to a rich elder woman, worse jobs, not respectable jobs, a streetwalker, a high class prostitute, an actress, she doesn’t think she’s pretty, she is pretty, a romance trope, the heroine never thinks of herself as pretty, we don’t want her to be vain, not relatable, to the female reader, nice qualities, kind to the one kid, the non-verbal girl, a fairy child who got run over by a cart or something, she never married, just a servant to an old woman, telling this story, her great grandchildren, the room with two skeletons in it, snaps her out of her coma, two minutes ago, story’s over, she really strung me along, this book would make a great choose your own adventure, a Jane Austen based humorless one, an Austen scholar, aimed at teenagers, translated from English, because we don’t know he’s a good guy, I went and saw, as soon as she finds the diary, medallion or necklace back, contradicts the official story, turn to page 78, he chokes you to death, he murdered his wife, a mix of two previous famous books, Charlotte Brontë, Daphne Du Maurier, Rebecca, Jane Eyre, Martha, previous wife, mysterious presence, said to be dead but isn’t, are you okay with me spoiling these two, mentally ill, locked up in the attic, died in a storm, a lot of ghosts in this book, provoked him into murder, couldn’t just divorce, the big house burns down, the body of the wife and her sailboat, terminal cancer, the murderer, similarities to Rebecca, both set in Cornwall, an inversion of the most famous Sherlock Holmes story, The Hound Of The Baskervilles, Dartmoor, a Canadian who inherits the estate, Watson is the viewpoint character, the woman in danger is Sir John Baskerville, the neighbors are a brother and sister, an astronomer, the other one likes flowers, like a gothic romance, just a straight up murder mystery, wrote well into the 1980s, probably worth reading, historical, the formula’s older, rediscovered, perfected, Sir John Baskerville falls in love with the sister across the moor, the neighbour astronomer, wanted to inherit the estate, make the baronet close, kill him too, the final distant heir, the girl falls in love, I don’t want my husband to kill you, all very solid, that is not perceived as a romance, an amateur detective, hiding in a cave, investigating this spooky old house, not a gothic romance, what makes it a gothic romance, the possibility of marrying in, what does Connan Tremellyn do for a living?, goes on business trips, could have been red herrings, a rich landowner, tenant farmers, my money is in slaves, my money is in rum, Mansfield Park, do we want to marry him?, she marries the younger son, what makes this book so interesting and significant, investigating along, not knowing right up to the end, the appeal of this, beautiful women fleeing castles at night with a high lit window, this is part of a woman’s mind, I’m dating this guy, he’s physically stronger, he could hurt me, how do I know that he is good?, Joanna Russ, scholarly article, another person’s blog post, neither love stories, adventure stories with passive protagonists, she’s the opposite of that, the actions she takes, she takes this job, then she realizes this kid is traumatized, needs to get back on the horse, why the book is so long, lemme raise this kid, not as brain damaged, teach her letters, worrying about this journal she found, writes a letter to the previous governess, presents that information, she is doing an active investigation, whenever men are giving her gifts, almost a swordfight parrying, verbal techniques rather than physical techniques, great dialogue, all the men are sinister but no men in this book are evil, an evil woman, the wife is coded as evil, slave plantations, Caribbean, she’s mentally ill because she’s mixed race, am I going crazy?, is this a dream?, why is she always second guessing?, that’s the quality of she’s doing the investigation, not taking everything at face value, when presented with the horse, the right instinct, the stabling of this horse, the reason that guy is a bad guy, he’s not thinking things through, what we would think of a little suspect, realistic character flaws, cheating on my first wife, a very elderly husband, I’m disaffected, when I marry you, don’t listen to the rumors, Victoria Holt tricking us very effectively, the formula that birthed the gothic romance, the new explanation, when the elderly sir died, this is why this book is so long, he wasn’t a useless character, he was a red herring, he might have been murdered, suspected poison, is she being used?, sure looks like it, is she gonna go confront him?, at any of the points where she’s questioning what to do, the gothic novel boom had ended by the 80s, not enough overlap, sensuality and kissing, there’s implied sex, on screen there’s kissing that’s it, The Flame And The Flower by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, half-rape, Heartquest Dungeons & Dragons romance novel, not a true romance, you literally are going on a quest to save your village, bad water in the well, cute guy, to expand the customer base to girl, the most popular German one, The Dark Eye, a German D&D knock off, early sword & sorcery, nerdy guys, more Tolkienesque, specialty import shops, advertised on television, mainstream board game company, was it available in East Germany, it would fit, on a train in 1989, 16 years old, a city partnership, for the fall of the east europe, the other person is just like me, what was then the Soviet Union, Latvia, student exchange, see for myself what its like, 3 days from Bremen, Berlin to St. Petersburg, for obvious reasons, endless three day train ride, two guys had the dark eye, Poland, someone probably did play it in East Germany, didn’t care about board games, gothic romance choose your own adventure, write those extra scenes, end up murdered, shoved into the murder hole, the old priest’s hole, there’s a skeleton in there, yay!, perfectly reasonable to expect, crazy woman locked in the attic, child locked in the basement, buried alive, Edgar Allan Poe, essentially a perfect book, long but justified, a murder mystery, the romance, 8 and half hours in when he asks her to marry, mostly it’s about the kids, common gothic thing, I want to marry you, Mr Darcy is besotted with Elizabeth, dude what are you doing, the only threat is his eyebrows and his gloominess, the mysterious unknowable, mad bad and dangerous to know, Lord Byron left the country, they are stay at homes, having to flee the country, the scandal is so great, Bluebeard, there is a Bluebeard scene in this book, Bros. Grimm, The Castle Of Murder, Fitcher’s Bird, three daughters, take her away, I would like to marry your eldest daughter, third time, the only sister, parents what are you doing, she’s very suspicious, here are the keys to any room in the house, do not go in there, oh and take this egg and carry it with you always, an old woman skinning guts, chopped up in a bowl, egg to drop and get stained, the truth is out, this bluebeard character, murdering his wives, maybe he has sex with him, one way of ending the story, where’s that egg?, oh good, now we can have a good marriage, psychologically, a woman needs to be locked up, his wife was not faithful to him, she is going to be faithful, good at rebuffing, so true, only to give birth to children from that man, Bluebeard’s test, the woman’s test, a mental investigation, some of those memes, man and woman are lying in bed, about the Roman Empire, women need to investigate the man’s head, the baby won’t be supported, the gap between the genders, not knowing what motivates the other, note that folktales, fairytales, warnings, be careful about who you’re marrying, stories written by Hans Christian Andersen, the Brothers Grimm stories are fairytales, orally transmitted, cautionary tales, art fairy tales, Charles Perrault, little mermaid, Copenhagen, put a nail in the coffin, being happy, perfectly grokked, propose this scenario, imagine this novel gender swapped, a lady who has a big castle, she needs a tutor for her son, she’s very standoffish, she’s not sure that her son is her son, that is Jesse’s point, there are things going on in this kind of fiction that allow us to see inside of people, gender flip public domain stories, King Of The Black Coast, My Cousin Rachel, you don’t have the kid in this one, is Jilly Flower the most important character in the book?, she leads things in directions, she’s not, neither is the daughter, step daughter, not a bio-daughter, she’s a bastard, she’s a cuckoo-kid, who is the most important character in the book, the narrator, she’s absolutely not passive, that quote doesn’t make any sense, active in every respect, at the height of the gothic romance boom, Tansy Rayner Roberts, woman and the house, who is the Mistress of the title, mistress has a second meaning, the title of the book can refer to the murderer, it does refer to the child as well, both children, half sisters, slept with everything that moved, a realistic book, really well put together, another part of the universe, why are gothic romances so appealing?, this is a real phenomena, you don’t write novels about men investigating women’s past, weird incel guys, as long as it hasn’t been for the last nine months its probably fine, in the 21st century, always virginal, the servants in this house, the mother of Gilly, walked into the sea, Beyond The Door is awesome, that night at the dinner table, her hand to her mouth, sharp nails, her bosom rising and falling, a cuckoo clock, just like my mother had when Pete was still alive, Carl got it for me wholesale, a funny little sound, what’s the matter with you you’ve got your clock haven’t you, the opening of the story, its in Fantastic Universe, only for her, won’t do it for Larry, smash you, breaks his neck, very near the end of the story, what?!, what is this?, nobody cares except for Jesse, there’s a hidden story inside of this story, like my mother had, when Pete was still alive, never hear Pete again, why is that in there?, if you’re paying attention, there’s a nosy neighbour across the street, suss out whether she was cheating, the neighbour’s last name is Peters, we heard from the nosy neighbour, Larry Thomas, why is Pete the presumed half brother, Doris, it’s all about cuckolding, the wife is cheating on him, he comes home unexpectedly, they were having sex, informing on this household, her husband cheated with Doris’ mom, he murdered him, the same kind of psychology, women are biologically different than men, men just have to hope that women are faithful, that difference makes for a vast exploration of genres of story, pretty much all of them, if we had access to alpha centurian literature, Alien Nation, George Fransisco, retarded guy at work, prefertilizes women, the fertilization ceremony, everybody celebrates, not something that normally happens in our culture, made possible by his contribution, that’s what makes science fiction amazing, that’s what its really about, not just an alien with a ray gun, isn’t that cool?, Nancy Drews, Hardy Boys, she is an amateur detective, something’s gone missing, she has a girlfriend, she’s not dating, teen mysteries, next week, some kind of early advent coffee, 4.5 hours, aimed at kids, this was very solid, one of the best books, let’s talk about Rebecca, it’s public domain status, there’s several movies, the Hitchcock one, fairly recent version, Charles Dance, Diana Rigg, Game Of Thrones, she was the old woman giving really good advice, a British actor, Sean Bean, Sharpe’s Rifles is the one where he doesn’t get killed, Goldeneye (1995), he’s a white ruissian mad at the British, a great backstory, very few good Bond movies after the fall of the Berlin Wall, not really about the Cold War, it wasn’t the Russians, he slept with them, they gave him an Order of Lenin, License To Kill, James Bond does Miami Vice, the Bond movies died with Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, products of the 60s and 70s, the modern ones with Daniel Craig, Newcastle Birmingham accent, part of the promotion of the film requires that you pretend, Sean Connery, the best James Bond movie is the Cannonball Run (1981), plastic surgery, a Jew who wants to be James Bond, they’re all fairly good, George Lazenby, it has Diana Rigg, a very good movie, the guy who plays Jaws [Richard Kiel] is in Cannonball Run (1981) too, some cookies, we have bad food in North America, truck stop bakery, a well lit bakery, American style diner, discovered the cookies, cookies in the background, see you next week.

Mistress Of Mellyn by Victoria Holt

Mistress Of Mellyn by Victoria Holt

Mistress Of Mellyn by Victoria Holt

Mistress Of Mellyn by Victoria Holt

Mistress Of Mellyn by Victoria Holt

Mistress Of Mellyn by Victoria Holt

Mistress Of Mellyn by Victoria Holt

Posted by Jesse Willis

The SFFaudio Podcast #837 – AUDIOBOOK/READALONG: Mistress Of The Dark Pool by Russell Gray and The Cold Female by Dale Harlow

The SFFaudio Podcast #837 – Mistress Of The Dark Pool by Russell Gray (1 hour 3 minutes) from Terror Tales, May 1940 and The Cold Female by Dale Harlow (19.5 minutes) from Adam, January 1957. Both are read by Mike Vendetti. These are followed by a discussion of both. Participants in the discussion include Jesse, Alex (Pulpcovers), Cora Buhlert, and Tommy Patrick Ryan.

Talked about on today’s show:
Philsp.com Galactic Central, can’t get google to work, a huge magazine index, Sgt. Bilko, all the magazine contents, mostly all there, non-genre magazines, Cora’s entry is wrong, Stephenson Paine, only has one story, flourishing in the 1950s, this issue of Adam, pseudonymous, fairly well written, Jack Casanova, K. Robert Howard, a funny magazine, internet archive, before Palestine, you taking down, LibriVox is down, people who throw , PulpCovers, killed the internet archive, hackers?, online activists, a DDOS attack, LibriVox, one of the files was corrupted, work on something else, in 7 months when this podcast comes out Gaza wont be being destroyed, save the best for last, Russel Gray, excellent art, attractive and a good premise, Mistress Of The Dark Pool is just way too long, the biggest problem, an hour and 3 minutes, very similar, lakes, mountains, people in cabins, every stereotype ever, food and supplies and information, Cabin In The Woods, titular cabin, titular woods, go in clear eyed, weird sacrifice thing, the knew what they were getting into, willingly allow the vampire into your home, Reading, Short And Deep, connection through Eric [S. Rabkin], find the hidden sex, much clearer, definitely had sex with that woman, May 1940, written 5 minutes before it was published, before the US is involved in WWII, it wasn’t important yet, isfdb entry, Bruno Fisher (Russell Gray) (Harrison Storm), interesting quote, these markets, weird menace pulps, living in Florida with my family, terror/horror market, just one day the market was gone, 150 Philip K. Dick, the market collapses, it’s Chinatown, Jake, if you shutter the business that distributes magazines, paperback distribution, early 1990s, censorship, legal issue, a history of this, might be war related, all the way through the depression, ramping up for war, gonna be a paper shortage, preparing for war, army approved pulp, Playboy, I read it for the articles, the Saturday Evening Post of a certain niche, a magazine like Adam, much condensed, more censoriously, lot less placing breasts in hands, less explicit, implied more, some birds started chirping, Eric Rabkin comes out of the forest with his hat on, waterfalls and tunnels, fade away, necking in the surf, how many beds are in that house?, obsessed with the idea, too much to read, both stories use the same word, wood nymph, scary stories to tell in the dark, fireside ghost story kinda things, a filler story in Weird Tales, read versus listened, Mike Vendetti, how seriously he took it, very believable, so broad, come on guy, must be the daughter, who could have seen this coming?, a more enjoyable experience, weird menace pulps, both sex stories, ghost women in the mountain cabin, author vs. engineer, the author is the bad writer, the engineer is the good writer, forgive a lot of the things, nice art, paid by the word, seeing it in the relief, salacious title, could be a horse, sounds like it could be a Conan story, all of his titles, the blank of the blank, the castle of the harridans, a collection of Russell Gray stories, actual print book, Monster Of The Purple Mist, all sound awesome, go at it bro, Hostesses In Hell And Other Stories: The Selected Stories Of Russell Gray and My Touch Brings Death: And Other Stories, a new cover, no interior art, the artists on the shudder pulps worked overtime, great art, the editorial descriptions are good, the mangy dog he called her lover, I vowed I would kill girl I loved, way more appealing, too many scenes, repetitive, wife steps up and saves his ass, cool character, he doesn’t deserve it, the spell is have sex with this sexy lady down the street, skip to the discussion, find out pretty quick, in comparing it, so similar, the one was made longer, would it improve the story, pretty groany, yard work, describing her breasts, I’m so cold, start snuggling, reacts as a virile man should, adolescent fantasy, male fantasy, dear Ghost Story letters: you wouldn’t believe what happened to me!, jealousy is a thing, modelling Tommy’s mind, the alcoholism, drinking happening, pouring the alcohol down his throat, rye whiskey, the first alcoholism bad movie, The Lost Weekend (1945), a drug to escape reality, this potent medicine, a poison that’s hurting our health, enjoying a fine cigar, not going to make you beat your wife or drive drunk, a good glass of wine, a single malt scotch, useful for cooking, wine into cooking, so much more of it out there, the whiskey didn’t effect me, playing Hamlet, Richard Burton, what happens if I suddenly get a phone call, pulled over, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, way too drinky, a beautiful wife he loves, battles with alcohol, easier to pack up into the mountains, pretty normalized, an older time, drinking alone, a bad marriage, a lesbian or was going to murder you, women definitely drank alcohol, sherry, champagne, The Thin Man (1934), a comedy, social, the way it appears in this story, using it like a medicine, an alcohol spiral, the husband comes to his senses, the good wife helped him, saved her even though he was tired, personal psychology, go to a cabin in the woods, a beautiful woman requires you have sex with her, a mangy dog, he kills it, I didn’t mean to kill that dog, what happened to Amos?, perfectly normal, they left her body by the cabin with ribbons of skin, a better ending, together they bury the body, throws the whiskey bottle into the grave, he buried his demons along with his demons, he doesn’t believe in witchcraft, the red herring that makes it longer, six chapters, chapter titles are good, Americans are weird about alcohol, marksmanship competition, shooting clubs, the king and queen of the marksman, so German, get a gun license, a nice plaque, such a German thing, 35 and 75, nobody minds, much healthier attitude, get really drunk at a wedding, an addictive drug, Prohibition, grain into liquor, profit per ton of cargo, sever chronic alcoholism, rampant, Ecuador, major problem, French wine, getting schnockered, liquid, symbolic, Eric hat, a lake is very different than rain, or a cup of water on your desk, you go into the unconscious, let me tell you about it, a woman who goes into the water, her fantasy, her desire is the theoretical explanation for why the, sexy witch’s daughter, harridan harridan harridan, a dark liquor, the more lost you get, when you go in the water, went swimming, needed to clear my head, he’s going away from his wife, he’s straying, a symbol for femaleness, his engineering projects, the Canadian Rockies, in the off season, to go fishing, the thing that came out of the lake, the woman knocking on the door is a neighboring cabin woman, abusive husband, it went supernatural, she needs to come out of the lake, she’s a witch!, a market for science fiction, unusual, running away from a killer, and now we’re on the road together, in the mountains of Canada, not the end of the story, she’s dead, died a virgin, a male fantasy, Edgar Allan Poe, I at least married them, comes back to life, at least 20 years, really old women that looked young, The Lake by Ray Bradbury, the season is over, drag something from the lake, sandcastle, he will always love this girl, looks at his wife, why is this weird woman here?, an adult version of The Lake, never grows up, he still loves her, struck by the similarities, better scripter, retro review, on a lot of high school reading lists, May 1944, no school is in session, a link, how young, this is going to get weird, 19, it didn’t matter, might be committing crimes, she’s 19, she coulda been 16, 14 now, teacher and student, power dynamics, no one bats an eye, 14 and 19 year old, eyelashes batted, what do we make the names of Hulda and Amos, is that a name?, a witch name, a prophetess, Mother Hulda (Frau Holle), the legendary creature, what makes our character Hulda evil?, she’s old and ugly, a mangy narrator, our stupid narrator, linked to Christmas and winter folklore in the alpine region, always resorting to alcohol, stupider, mitigate it, pushed off the page, he uses the word to describe the male husband, supposedly a writer, in the mountains to get his novel finished, such a bad writer, he makes the connection for us, it explained by his alcoholism, the audience shouldn’t be ten times smarter, a different name, Timerider: The Adventure Of Lyle Swann (1982), back to the future, he’s his own grandpa, raped by his gandma, Cyngne, he didn’t make the connection, they share a family name, 6 pages, 19 and half pages, five times shorter, is it five better?, three times better, with great art, an anecdote you tell your friend, woman knocking on the door, a fish story, no creepy pun intended, he’s showing propriety, having sex with a ghost, just kinda sad, let me tell you about my Canadian girlfriend who’s a ghost and you can never find, almost wholesome, my dead lover who I turned into a dog for reasons, a shape changer, a dog by day, hot and sweaty sex, with I could have sex with humans, attracted to the wife, you dog, now you’ll live like a dog, don’t make the story longer, skinny dipping, the dog shows up, so crude and simple and badly written, kinda like it still, honest in its stupidity and baseness, Robert E. Howard, pretty good money, get enough sex in there, the explanation for why everything was happening was bizarre and bad, married couples never had children, sex happens, not newly married, three years, undue for the era, if you don’t have children, young children would be with them, off at military school, kinda the point of getting married, having kids, married characters in weird menace stories, New York brownstones, feeds you someone from the asylum, you attracted to the opposite sex, it complicates it and makes it weird, if this couple had a kid that was with them, why is daddy acting so weird, The Shining, a terrible drunk, as time goes on, this is a story about a guy who wants to kill himself, a bunch of King, a thing he says over and over again: I’m a horrible drunk, read The Mist, possibility he’s gonna kill his family, right before rescue shows up, a fog, the alcohol you’re imbibing, reading into his personal psychology, an assignment sorta style, gotta have a witch and a pool and a cliff, Test-Tube Frankenstein also had a cliff, I like cliffs, almost being stabbed, 1930 Margaret Brundage, lesbian whipping scenes, they look like they’re dancing, lesbian witch cult, way less about personal psychology and more to male psychology, so streamlined, three characters in the whole story, no personality other than hetero, the anecdote that it wants to tell, is she a wood nymph, could be a wood nymph, naked woman in the woods, a fleeting glimpse in the mist, life is a lot more interesting, straight to dryad, too complicated word for the target audience, straight out of Dungeons & Dragons, sprite, hamadryad, C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, J.R.R. Tolkien, the entire Chronicles Of Narnia, super-famous British actor, Kenneth Branagh, Vanessa Redgrave, Patrick Stewart, the performances are incredible, Phantastes: A Faerie Romance For Men And Women by George MacDonald, they all died on the same day, a photo of the Doctor, at the Kennedy assassination, C.S. Lewis died, Aldous Huxley, Paul Chadwick, comic book artist, Dark Horse, Concrete, Harlan Ellison, a movie with that scene, that’s in a movie, a newish movie, The Most Reluctant Convert, converting to Catholicism, Lovecraft says to Robert E. Howard: You should become a muslim, Robert E. Howard to Lovecraft: I will eventually, sweet as a nut, The Horse And His Boy, my favourite, the best book in the series, Voyage Of The Dawn Treader, writing/publication, how does that fit in, The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, Magician’s Nephew, The Last Battle, for the retro Hugos, so terrible, an all volunteer pickup basketball, a cartoon adaptation, series on DVD, live action, a BBC version, Prince Caspian, Lewis is public domain in Canada, semi-professional Chrisitan audio dramas, consider that, before we lose Tommy, The Tower Treasure, a shelf of them, December 1st, blind spots, Nancy Drews, simple, hilarious, teen detective stories, Enid Blyton, Lilith by George MacDonald, Odd John by Olaf Stapledon, Symposium by Plato, Fury by Henry Kutter, Paycheck and The Weapon Shop, A.E. Van Vogt, more pairings, all the reading on Saturday, wouldnt be new, close to an hour, a William Hamilton Osborne story, The Haunted Corridors, able to clean it up, The Noseless Horror, always happy to do Howard, precedes pretty much everybody, Assyrian, in Egypt, talk across space, recorded on the farm, a twist at the end, quite different, in Portland, can’t turn down Howard, advent coffee, looking through ebay listings, a striking cover, calling the museum that has his papers, The New Jersey Historical Society, the idea seems very novel, a scientist and his beautiful daughter, a “machine”, more of a ghost story, the cover is great, the little hint, the machine is kinda like a cellphone, in a different time, to hear what they can hear there, listening through time, an audio podcast, two hours of homework for Alex, mostly reader, audio processing issues, listen to podcasts, full cast audio dramas, a whole industry, mostly one company, still alive, excellent people doing these, Big Finish Blakes 7, actors out from carbonite, a kindly elephant, a kindly witch, action oriented stuff, licensed stuff, Knightrider, that’s for you, He-Man, the German voice of Tom Selleck, Midsomer Murders, the Max Max novelization, The Terminator novelization, if they exist they’re probably very expensive, Alan Dean Foster, a novelization of Total Recall?, Terry Bisson?, Piers Anthony, Poul Anderson, novelized everything, marginal movies, Iron Eagle (1986), Kevin J. Anderson, Timothy Zahn, personality defects, Predator (1987), took that hate, especially censorship, Huawei phone, Terrifier 3 (2024), Wild Robot (2024), Ladyhawke (1985), let us rent it, The Terminator (1984) at a young age, had to watch Ladyhawke again, an assigned seat, 1 ticket vs. ten tickets, a lot to do with real estate, everything ties together, new tech, delisted, woke now, trains and WWII and Ukranian War propaganda, chicken breeding, once or twice, your dad’s station, dull people talking about politics, it was fun, a gothic romance novel, a beautiful woman with perfect hair fleeing a castle at night, Slaughterhouse Five, the sixties people, Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, Victoria Holt, Marilyn Ross, A Place Of Sapphires, piracy, governess, more Scooby Doo than Dracula, an immigrant, a reverse Dracula, female fantasy, Jane Austen, Bridgerton, romantic comedy, romcoms, gothic romance movies, Frenchman’s Creek, Jamaica Inn, The Birds, drug induced time travel, Marghanita Laski, she’s a ghost, very stylish and well done, moved to Italy with husband, Mona Farnsworth, The Three Sisters Of No-End House, completely forgotten, nurse novels, pen-names, Swedish adaptations, lesbian, from 1960, cliffs of Cornwall, past tragedy and present danger, passions overpower reason, evil lurks in the shadows, perfectly in tune, kicked off the boom, dismissed, Northanger Abbey, those are bad, commit to this, literally includes a castle with a high lit window, wearing a nightgown, retro toy and game, getting a better handle on human nature through fiction, what compels humans, Harlequin romances, daylight savings, I don’t believe you, a stupid idea from the start, China has 1 time zone, 1 time zone for the whole planet, you’re somebody, the twitter blocking thing changing, logging into an alternate twitter account, blocked or deleted, bluesky is where the writers and covid panic people hangout, threads has women obsessed about menopause, toy collectors, Lego minifigs, square format, photography, twitter as it used to be, oh well, plain gone, mad at Cora, not sufficiently anti or pro, all the time, you cannot post about your book, focused on the news, American election about to happen, a massive increase in depression, every second tweet is about Trump, if Trump is the worst thing that happened to you, in what sense is he terrible, Russia is never going to attack us, might try to sell you some gas, Anne Applebaum, Nordstream 2, they’re proud of it, set this thing on fire, so furious, hate Biden, terrible woman, spend lots of money to protect against the Russians, rat out my neighbours, it is horrible being occupied, 2 million people of Russian origin in Germany, grew up in Kazakhstan, they work hard, gardening is ex-Soviet people, paves your driveway, Jewish people, sorry for the holocaust, escaped Ukraine, communicating is difficult, so stupid to fall for it, endless amounts of weapons and money into Ukraine, weapons into hot-war zones, Israel, exporting weapons, promise not to use them to commit genocide, the weapons industry, subcontractors, specialized weapons manufactures, Airbus, the people who build tanks, Heckler and Koch, Sigsauer, Walther, submarines, campus, shipyards, superyachts for rich assholes, techbros, oligarchs, stories to tell about rich people being assholes, the Russian oligarchs are gone, taxpayer money, terrible headache, go to sealevel, 4 meters above sealevel, for dinner,

Mistress Of The Dark Pool by Russell Gray
The Cold Female by Dale Harlow

Posted by Jesse Willis

The SFFaudio Podcast #247 – READALONG: On The Beach by Nevil Shute

Podcast

The SFFaudio PodcastThe SFFaudio Podcast #247 – READALONG: On The Beach by Nevil Shute; read by Simon Prebble. Jesse fends off illness to lead us in an intriguing discussion about Nevil Shute’s apocalyptic novel. This podcast features Jesse, Jenny, Seth, and Paul.

Talked about on today’s show:
Reversed seasons in Southern Hemisphere; novel originally serialized in London weekly periodical The Sunday Graphic; “on the beach” as naval phrase meaning “retired from service”; the novel almost universally acclaimed by critics and readers alike; what is the ideal time frame for an end-of-the-world scenario?; On The Beach as bleak existential novel; the author’s avoidance of political or religious polemic; 1959 movie starring Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, and Anthony Perkins; Australia as a secular nation; Earth Abides by George R. Stewart; Endgame by Samuel Becket; the novel as a metaphor for terminal cancer patients; The Star by Arthur C. Clarke; abstract sterile end-of-world mechanics, a “cosy catastrophe“; 2008 BBC radio adaptation; 2000 TV movie starring Bryan Brown, modernized and featuring a much more optimistic tone; Roland Emmerich’s disaster flick 2012; could the novel’s characters done more to ensure the continued survival of humanity?; fallout shelters, “duck and cover!”; Chernobyl; rampant alcoholism; euthanasia; attitudes toward media–were newspapers responsible for the war?; regression of technology in the novel; The Waveries by Fredric Brown; we wish the Cosy Catastrophe genre would supplant Paranormal Romance; reflection of a pre-WWI era arms race; 1959 movie version tackles Cold War paranoia; U.S. government’s criticism of the novel; Five Years by David Bowie; faced with the end of the world, our panel would evidently read Marcel Proust; needless revisions in film adaptations; much action takes place “off the page” in the novel; lookism; The Scarlet Plague by Jack London; Simon Prebble’s excellent audio narration; George Orwell’s 1984Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl and logotherapy; Jay Lake and his bout with cancer; Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, adapted by Alfred Hitchcock, and how we’re haunted by the people who are no longer with us; the novel’s three-dimensional characters; Nevil Shute employs typical British understatement; Lord of the Rings‘s Denethor and the idea of hopelessness; Egyptian tomb goods and attitudes towards death; Jesse plans his funeral rites.

On The Beach - illustration by John Rowland

On The Beach - Ralph Lane adaptation - RADIATION

Scorpion at Bremerton - illustration by Ralph Lane

ON THE BEACH - illustration by Ralph Lane - glass bricks

GENERAL - On The Beach by Nevil Shute

Posted by Seth Wilson

BBC Radio 7: Planet B (series 2), The House On The Strand, A Stir Of Echoes

SFFaudio Online Audio

BBC Radio 7 - BBC7BBC Radio 7 has two “NEW COMMISSIONS” that should draw many a wandering ear. First up a Richard Matheson novel A Stir Of Echoes! Scott reviewed the UNABRIDGED Blackstone Audio version not too long ago |READ OUR REVIEW|. Julie and a few other folks will also be excited to learn that the second Planet B series begins this week too. Among the re-runs for the week ahead is a BBC7 commission 2005. The House On The Strand is a 1969 novel by Daphne du Maurier. I suspect most of the new releases will turn up on RadioArchive.cc sooner or later, or you could use Radio Downloader, either of those will work. Planet B (Series 2), on the other hand, is available via podcast and the first episode is already in the feed!

Planet BPlanet B (Series 2) – The Tender Trap
By Matthew Broughton; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 7
Broadcast: Sunday at 6pm and midnight
Kip is looking for love on the dating site, The Spark. But he gets more than he bargains for when a mysterious woman explodes into his world. Produced by James Robinson.
Starring:
Joseph Cohen-Cole
Tessa Nicholson
Emerald O’Hanrahan
Chris Pavlo
Melissa Advani
Adjoa Andoh

Podcast feed:

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/bbc7/planetb/rss.xml

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

The House On The Strand by Daphne du MaurierThe House On The Strand
By Daphne Du Maurier; Read by Julian Wadham
12 Broadcast – Approx. 6 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 7
Broadcast: Tuesday – Friday at 6.30pm and 00.30am
Daphne Du Maurier’s masterpiece is a beguiling combination of romantic atmosphere, haunting psychology and assured storytelling. The tale revolves round the narrator Dick Young, who escapes from his troubles in the form of a new drug, which transports him six centuries back in time. But his attempts to change history bring terror to the present and throw his own life into the balance.

A Stir Of Echoes by Richard MathesonA Stir Of Echoes
By Richard Matheson; Read by Trevor White
5 Broadcasts – Approx. 2.5 Hours [ABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 7
Broadcast: Monday – Friday at 1.30pm, 8.30pm and 1.30am
Tom Wallace lived an ordinary life in a seemingly normal neighbourhood until his brother-in-law hypnotises him; a chance event that awakens psychic abilities he never knew he possessed. Now he can hear the private thoughts of the people around him, and learns shocking secrets he never wanted to know.

Posted by Jesse Willis

BBC 7 the Week Ahead: Daphne du Maurier, Tanith Lee and more

SFFaudio Online Audio

BBC Radio 7 - BBC7BBC Radio 7’s The 7th Dimension commissioned the following to mark the centenary of du Maurier’s birth…

The Blue Lenses
By Daphne du Maurier; Read by Emma Fielding
2 Parts – Approx. 60 Minutes [ABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 7 / The 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Sunday at 6.30pm and 12.30am
“One of the most celebrated and best-loved British authors of the 20th Century, wrote this dark fantasy exploring the sinister side of human nature. Marda West, whilst recovering from a serious eye operation, discovers that her vision has been heightened to a frighteningly new degree of clarity and the darker aspects of the human psyche which people prefer to keep hidden are on full display.”

Also from du Maurier, “First broadcast on BBC7 in 2005, a beguiling combination of romantic atmosphere, haunting psychology and assured storytelling”…

The House On The Strand
By Daphne du Maurier; Read by Julian Wadham
12 Parts – Approx. 6 Hours [ABRIDGED?]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 7 / The 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Monday to Friday at 6.30pm and 12.30am
First published in 1969 to critical and public acclaim, and was du Maurier’s personal favourite of all her novels. The tale revolves round the narrator Dick Young, who escapes from his troubles in the form of a new drug, which transports him six centuries back in time. But his attempts to change history bring terror to the present and throw his own life into the balance.

Also available in the week ahead, a chance to listen again to this popular, thought-provoking and gripping BBC7 thriller from 2006…

Jefferson 37
By Jenny Stephens; Performed by a full cast
4 Parts – Approx. 2 Hours [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 7 / The 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Monday to Thursday at 6pm and Midnight
“Set in the not too distant future, clones are made purely for those who can afford it, as spare-parts for surgery. The story tells of the life for these clones and the ways in which they are de-humanised – but their fundamental humanity cannot be thwarted.”

And, another chance to listen to this BBC7 commission from 2003…

Red As Blood
By Tanith Lee; Read by Stella Gonet
1 Part – Approx. 30 Minutes [ABRIDGED?]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 7 / The 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Friday at 6pm and Midnight
“This dark study of the Snow White fantasy”

All of these programs will be available via the “listen again” feature for a week after airing.

Posted by Jesse Willis

BBC Radio 4: The Birds by Daphne du Maurier + More eh?

SFFaudio Online Audio

Hey, more for the BBC, one on today, another on Saturday!

Most of the national BBC radio stations have been carrying a lot of Daphne du Maurier related programming of late. This, no doubt, to mark the centenary of her birth. In particular there’s an upcoming new radio production of her most famous work…

Online AudioSaturday Play – The Birds
Based on the short story by Daphne du Maurier; Performed by a full cast
1 Broadcast – Approx. 1 Hour [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 4
Broadcast: Saturday May 26th 2007 @ 14:30-15:30

Listen during the Saturday Play “Listen Again” program.

Also upcoming is a show one listener describes as: “Not particularly memorable from its first outing.” It’s a comedy series, set in 2012 – the second season, made up of four parts, starts Thursday night.

Online AudioDeep Trouble
By Jim Field Smith and Ben Willbond; Performed by a full cast
4 Parts – Approx. 30 Min. X 4 [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 4
Broadcast: Begins Thursday May 24th 2007 @ 23:00-23:30
The antics of an incompetent Royal Navy crew of the nuclear stealth submarine HMS Goliath. This episode: Disaster is threatened in the form of a new crew member, a noxious gas and a bad haircut.

Thanks go to Roy for this info!

posted by Jesse Willis