Edgar Allan Poe – Page 42

ABC Radio National airs vintage Australian Ghost Story: The Illumined Grave

SFFaudio Online Audio

ABC Radio National’s Book Reading show is airing a new season of nineteenth century crime fiction, from both Australian and foreign authors. The crimes this week are all supernatural and horror related…

The Illumined Grave
By Mary Fortune; Read by Bill Young
3 Parts – [UNABRIDGED?]
Broadcast: Monday October 29th, Tuesday October 30th & Wednesday October 31st
Broadcaster: ABC Radio National / Book Reading
Born Mary Wilson in Ireland, Mary Fortune traveled with her father first to Canada and then to the Australian gold fields in 1855. She lived a colourful and precarious life in colonial Australia, a life reflected in her choice of pseudonym “Waif Wanderer”. Fortune made a living as a poet, wrote articles and stories and has become known as the earliest Australian crime writer. The Illumined Grave appears to be one of her ghost stories.

After the Accident
By Edward Dyson; Read by Gabriel Andrews
1 Broadcast – [UNABRIDGED?]
Broadcast: Thursday November 1st
Broadcaster: ABC Radio National / Book Reading
Edward Dyson was born near Ballarat in Victoria in 1865, and he received an interrupted education as his family frequently moved in search of work. But his experience of growing up in the company of miners became a creative store for the short stories and poems he would write as an adult.

The Cask of Amontillado
By Edgar Allan Poe; Read by ????
1 Broadcast – [UNABRIDGED?]
Broadcast: Friday November 2nd
Broadcaster: ABC Radio National / Book Reading
First published in the November 1846 issue of Godey’s Lady’s Book which was, at the time, the most popular periodical in America.

No podcast feed is available for these, but online listening is available for a few days via either RealAudio or WindowsMedia streams. Check that out HERE.

Posted by Jesse Willis

BBC7 For Halloween Week

OnlineAudio

BBC 7’s The 7th Dimension has two ghoulishly good readings airing this week as well as a lengthy radio dramatized version of the most famous vampire story ever told:

The Fall Of The House Of Usher
By Edgar Allan Poe; Read by Sean Barratt
STREAMING AUDIO – Approx. 30 Minutes – Stereo – [UNABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC7 / The 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Sunday October 28th and Sunday November 4th
Poe’s chilling short story about a family’s descent into madness.

Trouble With Lichen
By John Wyndham; Read by Joanna Tope
5 Parts – [ABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: BBC7 / The 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Monday through Friday at 6.30 pm and 12.30am
“Biochemist Diana Brackley and her boss Francis Saxover have discovered that a rare strain of lichen can slow the ageing process. Idealistic Diana embarks on a lifelong mission to ensure that their discovery will benefit man-, and more particularly, woman-kind. But the trouble with lichen is that there’s not enough for everyone…”
Directed by Eilidh McCreadie.

Dracula
Adapted from the novel by Bram Stoker; Performed by a full cast
7 Parts – [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: BBC7 / The 7th Dimension
Broadcast: Monday – Friday at 6pm and midnight (concludes Tuesday 6th Nov)
A chilling dramatisation of Bram Stoker’s vampire tale. Young solicitor Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania and his encounter with Count Dracula has unsettling consequences. Frederick Jaegar stars as Dracula, and the cast includes Bernard Holley, Phyllis Logan, Sharon Maharaj and Finlay Welsh. Dramatized for radio in 7 parts by Nick McCarty and first heard on Radio 4 in 1991, the director was Hamish Wilson.

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox short stories galore!

SFFaudio Online Audio

A “few” short hidden gems from Librivox.org. Among their short story collections, now up to number nineteen, are some very good short Fantasy, SF, and Horror stories. These stories run from two and a half minutes to nearly fifty two minutes long. All are good for a short listen between audiobooks.

Bread Overhead
By Fritz Leiber; Read by Cori Samuel
1 |MP3| – Approx. 36 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: October 25th 2007
The Staff of Life suddenly and disconcertingly sprouted wings — and mankind had to eat crow!

The Masque of the Red Death
By Edgar Allan Poe; Read by Juan Carlos Bagnell
1 |MP3| – 16 Minutes
Death comes to visit a prince who is trying to avoid a plague.
Themes: / Horror /

Dracula’s Guest
By Bram Stoker; Read by Dimitri Fotopoulos
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
A prequel to Dracula.
Themes: / Horror /

Ligeia
By Edgar Allan Poe; Read by Peter Yearsley
1 |MP3| – Approx. 47 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
A haunting tale of lost love.
Themes: / Horror /

The Damned Thing
By Ambrose Bierce; Read by Greg Elmensdorp
1 |MP3| – Approx. 21 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
It shall not drive me away. No, this is my house, my land. God hates a coward….
Themes: / Horror /

Facts Concerning The Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family
By H. P. Lovecraft; Read by Smokestack Jones
1 |MP3| – Approx. 22 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
A tale of unusual genealogy.

The Cats of Ulthar
By H.P. Lovecraft; Read by Cow Nose the 50 Pound Cat
1 |MP3| – Approx. 9 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Feline revenge.
Themes: / Horror / Cats /

Charon
By Lord Dunsany; Read by Steven Collins
1 |MP3| – 2 Minutes 30 Seconds [UNABRIDGED]
Themes: / Fantasy /
The ferryman Charon’s last duty.

The Music of Erich Zann
1 |MP3| Approx. 20 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
By H.P. Lovecraft; Read by Smokestack Jones
A college student wonders about the strange music played by an old man.
Themes: / Horror / Music /

In the Year 2889
By Jules Verne; Read by Esther
1 |MP3| – Approx 38 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Verne’s story about life in America a thousand years in the future.
Themes: / Science Fiction /

Crossroads of Destiny
By H. Beam Piper; Read by Trask
1 |MP3| – Approx. 23 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Themes: / Science Fiction /
Parallel universes and a television show.

The Gifts of Asti
By Andre Norton; Read by Mark Nelson
1 |MP3| Approx. 41 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Themes: / Fantasy /
Varta, the last priestess of Asti, lives alone with Lur, a telepath of the lizardfolk, in Asti’s isolated mountain retreat. Decadent Memphir has long since drifted away from the austere paths of Asti, and now the barbarians of Klem are sacking the city, and the smoke of its burning drifts up to the temple.

The Street That Wasn’t There
By Clifford D. Simak and Carl Richard Jacobi; Read by Peter Yearsley
1 |MP3| 36 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Themes: / Science Fiction /
Classic pulp action.
Read by Peter Yearsley

The Hoard of the Gibbelins
By Lord Dunsany; Read by Mark F. Smith
1 |MP3| – Approx. 11 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Themes: / Horror /
The Gibbelins eat, as is well known, nothing less good than man.

A World Is Born
By Leigh Brackett; Read by Rowdy Delaney
1 |MP3| – Approx. 52 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
The first ripples of blue fire touched Dio’s men. Bolts of it fastened on gun-butts, and knuckles. Men screamed and fell.
Themes: / Science Fiction /

Posted by Dave Tackett

Broken Sea Audio UPDATE: Edgar Allen Poe’s Raven & a NEW Jonny Quest

Online Audio

Broken Sea Audio, has started Halloween early with productions both familiar and un. Here’s the official line:

“Pride they say comes before The Fall. Well Fall is upon us, and pride we have in abundance. Pride in that since March of this year we have grown from an idea into a thriving audio drama production group. October is now here, and to celebrate this most special month BrokenSea Audio Productions presents a Halloween Season to thrill, disturb shock and entertain. We have dead things, serial killers, murder, monsters, strange visages and poems. We have original works and classics. We have some of the best voice acting talent out there and we have you, our dear listeners… So come with us now… down these stone steps… into the damp nitre infested darkness… there are some audio shows that we would like you to listen to……”

And, here are the first few releases…

All Hallows Eve by P.S. Gifford |MP3|

Permanent Beauty by P.S. Gifford |MP3|

Abattoir by P.S. Gifford |MP3|

The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe |MP3|

Also new in the BSAP lineup is…

Jonny Quest – The Audio Drama

Subscribe to it via this feed:

http://brokensea.com/jonnyquest/feed/

posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox goes to sea for Jules Verne and Edgar Allan Poe

SFFaudio Online Audio

Avast me hearties! LibriVox, that isle of audio sanity in an ocean of in, has been all at sea of late, but not in a bad way, not at all. The vast crew of LibriVox has been making sea Science Fiction stories – specifically with two speculative fiction classics from the 19th century. The completion of one of them was the subject of a March 25th commentary on the history of SF sea stories. That really warms my cockles, and may even warm yours. Have a listen to one or both of the titles listed below, I’m guessing they’ll shiver your timbers. And be sure to note the COOL NEW PODCAST FEED FEATURE found on completed LibriVox titles…

The Mysterious Island
By Jules Verne; Read by Mark F. Smith
Zipped MP3s or MP3 Podcast – Approx. 22 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: May 2007
A story of castaways, similar to Robinson Crusoe and The Swiss Family Robinson, this book details the escape from Civil War-era Richmond, Virginia, of five Northern men who dared to go aloft in a balloon in the midst of a hurricane. Deposited on a lonely island in the Pacific, they make do with Yankee ingenuity where Chance has left them nothing. Only later do they find they have a hidden benefactor: Captain Nemo, of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, who resides, alone, secretly on the island. In time, the tiny colony becomes so prosperous that it is able to rescue another castaway from an island a hundred miles away. But all their work will come to naught – their island’s volcano is about to awake!

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/the-mysterious-island-by-jules-verne.xml

The Narrative Of Arthur Gordon Pym
By Edgar Allan Poe; Read by various authors
Zipped MP3s or MP3 Podcast – Approx. 6.5 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: April 2007
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket is Edgar Allan Poe’s only complete novel, published in 1838. The work relates the tale of the young Arthur Gordon Pym who stows away aboard a whaling ship called Grampus. Various adventures and mis-adventures befall Pym including shipwreck, mutiny and cannibalism. The story starts out as a fairly conventional adventure at sea, but it becomes increasingly strange and hard to classify in later chapters, involving religious symbolism and the Hollow Earth.

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/narrative-of-arthur-gordon-pym.xml

posted by Jesse Willis

Commentary: The problem of Poe’s Pym

SFFaudio Commentary

Edgar Allan Poe’s only novel The Narrative Of Arthur Gordon Pym was published in 1838. The unabridged audiobook is available commercially, but the LibriVox version has been stalled at 85% completion for too long. This multi-reader project has been in production for more than a year, and I’m eager to see it completed. I believe it is a crucial work of early Speculative Fiction. It was an influence on H. P. Lovecraft, and his At The Mountains Of Madness and even Steven Utley and Howard Waldrop’s 1977 Black As The Pit, From Pole to Pole is similarly descended from Pym.

The Narrative Of Arthur Gordon Pym is crucial, not the least because I think a lot of us would like to hear some other related novels that were inspired to follow after it! For myself, one in particular stands out I’ve been hankering to hear is Jules Vernes’ The Sphinx Of The Ice Fields (AKA An Antarctic Mystery). This was Verne’s 1897 sequel to Poe’s Pym. I originally ran across this novel in relation to my fascination with sub-antarctic islands. One day, a few weeks back, I was doing my usual zoom and pan lunchtime tourism on Google Maps. That particular afternoon I spotted a cool little island called Île de la Possession (46°24′S 51°46′E), one of the extremely remote Îles Crozet,which is in a chain of tiny sub-antarctic islands owned by France. This one was particularly interesting looking as it was both volcanic and ice-free. There also happened to be a cool research station visible on the far East side of the island. In cross referencing the island with the images I was seeing on Google Maps I also spotted that they’d named its northern-most mountain “Monts Jules Verne!” It also has a rivers named “Moby Dick” and “Styx.” Now hearing all this you might think this is a real-life version of Vernes’ Mysterious Island, but in fact it has nothing to do with that novel’s made-up island, instead this very real island actually appears in Verne’s sequel to Pym, the novel The Sphinx Of The Ice Fields!

Îles Crozet

Now back to the business…. If you’re even half as excited about seeing the great lineage of Pym turned into audiobooks, please consider volunteering your voice to the project. There are only 4 chapters still unassigned and the majority of the other chapters are already completed.

One last thing, call it more inspiration: For an astoundingly-cool bibliography of Antarctic related fiction (from 1605 to the present day) have a look at Fauno Cordes’ “Tekeli-li” or Hollow Earth Lives: A Bibliography of Antarctic Fiction.

posted by Jesse Willis