Tag: horror

CBC: Nightfall: Late Special by Clint Bomphray

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

Early last morning I played a Nightfall episode expecting it to be an adaptation of a William Hope Hodgson story – but it turns out I had selected the wrong one – what I got instead was a surprisingly surprising story – I kept expecting a stone ship to turn up, but it never did – instead there was a horrific car accident, some truly terrific voice acting, and a set of uniquely creepy circumstances – all of it optimized for the audio medium – this episode typifies the entire Nightfall series – it’s great audio drama – it’s truly frightening and it’s highly recommended!

CBC - NightfallNightfall #06 – Late Special
By Clint Bomphray; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 26 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBC Radio
Broadcast: August 8, 1980
Source: Archive.org
A car crash during a late season blizzard strands a young woman in an abandoned train station, where she meets a mysterious stranger who obliges her to make a singularly existential choice.

Cast:
Terry Tweed … Claire Acton
Chris Wiggins … Tom Parker, the Conductor
David Hughes … Vic
Trisha Allen … the Telephone Operator
Judy Sinclair … Claire’s Mother
Richard Donat & Frank Perry … Dick & Frank, the Police Officers

Recording Engineer:
John Jessop

Sound Effects:
Bill Robinson

Production Assistant:
Nina Callaghan

Story Editor:
John Douglas

Producer:
Bill Howell

[via, in part, Nightfall-25.com]

Posted by Jesse Willis

Hypnobobs: The Graveyard Rats by Henry Kuttner

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

Our First published, in Weird Tales, when Kuttner was just 21 years old, The Graveyard Rats became an instant classic. It has been one of my all time favourite horror stories since I first heard it – in The Greatest Horror Stories Of The Twentieth Century |READ OUR REVIEW| – it’s full of Lovecraftian imagery, has a loathsome protagonist, and it possesses an unshakeable claustrophobic menace that’ll keep you up late for fear of what sleep might bring.

Mr. Jim Moon’s reading of it, for his wondrous Hypnobobs, now makes it one of my all-time favourite podcasts episodes too.

The Graveyard Rats - Illustration from SHOCK
The Graveyard Rats by Henry Kuttner

Hypnobobs #08 - The Graveyard Rats by Henry KuttnerSFFaudio EssentialThe Graveyard Rats
By Henry Kuttner; Read by Jim Moon
1 |MP3| – Approx. 27 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Hypnobobs
Podcast: August 21, 2011
First published in Weird Tales, March 1936.

Podcast feed: http://www.geekplanetonline.com/hosting/originals/hypnobobs/feed.xml

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

And here’s a |PDF| constructed from it’s publication in Shock.

My depiction of Old Masson:
Old Masson by Jesse

Anthony’s depiction of Old Masson:
Old Masson by Anthony

Posted by Jesse Willis

The SFFaudio Podcast #160 – AUDIOBOOK/READALONG: Red Nails by Robert E. Howard

Podcast

The SFFaudio PodcastThe SFFaudio Podcast #160 – Jesse, Tamahome, and Brian Murphy (of The Silver Key and Black Gate) talk about Red Nails by Robert E. Howard (read by Gregg Margarite for LibriVox). The audiobook runs 3 Hours 21 minutes and the discussion begins after that.

Talked about on today’s show:
Comics, the comic adaptation of Red Nails, Conan Saga, Savage Tales, Barry Windsor-Smith, John Buscema, Storyteller, Wolverine, the REH Comics Yahoo! Group, Beyond The Black River, Tower Of The Elephant, Karl Edward Wagner, Queen Of The Black Coast, grimness, pirates, torture, lesbianism, happy endings, “so much for that decades old gang war”, it’s Red Nails is like a Tom Baker Doctor Who serial, haunted city, a feud culture, Tolkemec’s laser, “if it bleeds we can kill it”, Conan the chauvinist, Valeria kicks ass, is the story told from Valeria’s POV?, it begins like a mystery, the “dragon” is a dinosaur (sort of), Techotl, writer shorthand, Star Trek (Let That Be Your Last Battlefield), Techotl is Gollum-like, Red Nails as a gang war, why didn’t they all get rickets and starve, Howard was the original locavore, a roofed city vs. a domed city, Hatfields vs. McCoys, the black pillar of vengeance, ConanRedNails.com, HBO can do no wrong, copyright vs. trademark, Dark Horse’s Chronicles Of Conan #4, colour and colouring, Howard as a stylist, Book X of The Odyssey, The Land of the Lotus Eaters, The Dark Man: The Journal Of Robert E. Howard Studies, using digital copies to research (control-f), Aztec, Toltecs, cannibalism, Jack London, Harold Lamb, William Morris, J.R.R. Tolkien, H.P. Lovecraft, sword and sorcery, horror, The Black Stone, Worms Of The Earth by Robert E. Howard, Tantor Media’s tantalizing collection Bran Mak Morn: The Last King, condemn Howard’s racism praise his writing, Orson Scott Card, Al Harron of The Blog That Time Forgot, Apparition In The Prize Ring by Robert E. Howard, Ace Jessel, Solomon Kane, what will we do after?, just an average weekend with laser beams, the gonzo ending of Red Nails, BrokenSea’s The Queen Of The Black Coast audio drama, Bill Hollweg, legal trouble, Sherlock Holmes, Disney’s John Carter vs. Dynamite Entertainment‘s Warlord Of Mars.

Red Nails - interior fold out art by Ken Kelly

Red Nails - Ending - art by Barry Windsor-Smith

Red Nails by Robert E. Howard

Red Nails illustration by Margaret Brundage from Weird Tales, July 1936

Red Nails illustration by Harold S. De Lay from Weird Tales, July 1936

Red Nails illustration by Harold S. De Lay from Weird Tales, August September 1936

Red Nails illustration by Harold S. De Lay from Weird Tales, October 1936

Red Nails by Robert E. Howard - illustration by George Barr

Red Nails - illustration by George Barr

George Barr ILLUSTRATION for Red Nails

Valeria by Geoffrey Isherwood (in the style of Barry Windsor Smith)

Red Nails - illustrated by Gregory Manchess

Posted by Jesse Willis

City Of Dreams: The Damned Are Playing At Godzilla Tonight on YouTube

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio News

SEEING EAR THEATRE - J. Michael Straczynski's City Of Dreams

You’ve heard rumors of the City of Dreams. It’s existence has been officially denied, although unconfirmed reports have placed it beneath the ruins of Machu Pichu in South America. Others say it’s in Arkham, Massachusetts, or hidden in a secret network of tunnels under Moscow.

But we’re here to tell you the truth. Do you want to know where the City of Dreams is?

It’s on YouTube! Yes, the wondrous Twilight Zone-esque series written by J. Michael Straczynski and produced as a part of The Seeing Ear Theatre is available on YouTube. Here’s the first episode:

Episode 1 – The Damned Are Playing At Godzilla Tonight

Part 1 of 3:

Part 2 of 3:

Part 3 of 3:

The dark, ominous tale of the bigoted owner of a small nightclub in the City of Dreams who faces a new sound, and a band that just won’t quit…on either side of the grave.

Written by J. Michael Straczynski

Cast:
Steve Buscemi
Kevin Conway
Christopher Burns
Kevin Daniels
Beth Glover
J.R. Horne
Ezra Knight

[via J. Michael Straczynski’s Twitter feed]

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: What Was It? by Fitz-James O’Brien

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

I’ve posted about this story before. It’s worth posting about again and again. What’s new now is this reading, which is PUBLIC DOMAIN, and therefore extremely handy. Included also, for the first time, is some really stunning art!

I’ve also added a PDF, for handy printing!

What Was It? by Fitz-James O'Brien

"In Five Minutes We Had A Plaster Mold Of The Creature"

What Was It? by Fitz-James O'Brien - illustration from Famous Fantastic Mysteries, December 1949

What Was It? by Fitz-James O'Brien - from A Stable For Nightmares, 1896

LibriVoxWhat Was It?
By Fitz-James O’Brien; Read by Peter Yearsley
1 |MP3| – Approx. 35 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: May 2006
|ETEXT|
One of the earliest known examples of invisibility in fiction is What Was It? by Fitz-James O’Brien – He’s been called “the most important figure after Poe and before Lovecraft” and this story serves as a kind of a bridge between the supernatural and the scientific, between the likes of de Maupassant’s The Horla and Wells’ The Invisible Man.
First published in Harper’s Magazine, March 1859.

Here’s a |PDF| complied from the Famous Fantastic Mysteries, December 1949 publication.

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: Under The Knife by H.G. Wells

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

Under The Knife by H.G. Wells

Here’s an interesting story by the always pioneering H.G. Wells – it’s Horror of sorts – or as close as the master of SF can come to it – it features an out of body experience, a near death experience, and astral projection!

Under The Knife by H.G. Wells - Editorial Introduction by Hugo Gernsback

Under The Knife by H.G. Wells - Illustration from Amazing Stories

LibriVoxUnder The Knife (aka Slip Under the Knife)
By H.G. Wells; Read by William Coon
1 |MP3| – Approx. 35 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: January 07, 2007
A patient, under surgery, relates his sense experiences as careens around the physical universe in a celestial journey. First published in The New Review, January 1896.

Here’s a |PDF| made from the March 1927 issue of Amazing Stories.

Posted by Jesse Willis