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.
Hallowe’en In A Suburb
By H.P. Lovecraft; Read by ????
1 |MP3| – Approx. 2 Minutes [POETRY]
Podcaster: NeedCoffee.com’s 32 Days Of Halloween
Podcast: October 6, 2010
First published in the March 1926 issue of National Amateur (as “In A Suburb”).
Podcast feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/32days
Here’s Virgil Finlay accompanying illustration, and the text itself, as it appeared in the September 1952 issue of Weird Tales:
[Many thanks to Gorgon776]
Posted by Jesse Willis
The Music Of Erich Zann is one of H.P. Lovecraft’s most popular short stories (it runs just 3,450 words).
Here are the opening lines:
“I have examined maps of the city with the greatest care, yet have never again found the Rue d’Auseil. These maps have not been modern maps alone, for I know that names change. I have, on the contrary, delved deeply into all the antiquities of the place, and have personally explored every region, of whatever name, which could possibly answer to the street I knew as the Rue d’Auseil. But despite all I have done, it remains an humiliating fact that I cannot find the house, the street, or even the locality, where, during the last months of my impoverished life as a student of metaphysics at the university, I heard the music of Erich Zann.
That my memory is broken, I do not wonder; for my health, physical and mental, was gravely disturbed throughout the period of my residence in the Rue d’Auseil, and I recall that I took none of my few acquaintances there. But that I cannot find the place again is both singular and perplexing; for it was within a half-hour’s walk of the university and was distinguished by peculiarities which could hardly be forgotten by any one who had been there. I have never met a person who has seen the Rue d’Auseil.
The Rue d’Auseil lay across a dark river bordered by precipitous brick blear-windowed warehouses and spanned by a ponderous bridge of dark stone. It was always shadowy along that river, as if the smoke of neighboring factories shut out the sun perpetually. The river was also odorous with evil stenches which I have never smelled elsewhere, and which may some day help me to find it, since I should recognize them at once. Beyond the bridge were narrow cobbled streets with rails; and then came the ascent, at first gradual, but incredibly steep as the Rue d’Auseil was reached.”
And the Rue d’Auseil, by the way, translates to “street of the threshold” – most appropriate.
Public domain:
The Music Of Erich Zann
By H.P. Lovecraft; Read by Cameron Halket
1 |MP3| – Approx. 19 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: October 19, 2008
|ETEXT|
A student of philosophy is forced, by lack of funds, to to take lodgings in a run down rooming house in a strange part of Paris. First published in National Amateur (March 1922), then later in the May 1925 issue of Weird Tales.
Creative Commons:
Episode #100 – The Music Of Erich Zann
By H.P. Lovecraft; Read by B.J. Harrison
1 |MP3| – Approx. 30 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Pseudopod
Podcast: July 25th, 2008
Commercial audiobook:
The Dark Worlds Of H.P. Lovecraft, Volume 4: The Rats In The Walls, The Shunned House, The Music Of Eric Zann
By H.P. Lovecraft; Read by Wayne June
3 CDs – 2 Hours 41 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audio Realms
Published: 2006
ISBN: 1897304242
|READ OUR REVIEW|
Discussion:
Episode #23 – The Music Of Erich Zann
Participants Chris Lackey, Chad Fifer and Andrew Leman
1 |MP3| – Approx. 29 Minutes [DISCUSSION]
Podcaster: H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast
Podcast: September 12, 2010
Other:
There is a very good comics adaptation, by writer Roy Thomas and artist Johnny Craig, done for issue #5 (June 1970) of Marvel Comics’ Chamber Of Darkness (the title was changed to The Music From Beyond).
Here’s a disturbingly wordless stop motion animation adaptation:
Posted by Jesse Willis
SFSignal Podcast #70 features me and six other folks very quickly discussing Science Fiction (and other) podcasts. Unfortunately I think a lot of the best stuff came after the actual podcast ended. At least that’s the part of the discussion I enjoyed most. As a part of that I also invited Matthew Sanborn Smith to participate in an upcoming new releases and recent arrivals podcast.
In episode 70 of the SF Signal Podcast, Patrick Hester asks our irregulars: Do you listen to podcasts? Which ones, and do you listen to fiction podcasts?
Have a listen |MP3| or subscribe: http://www.sfsignal.com/podcast.xml
I took notes and think I got most of the podcasts that were mentioned:
Me:
–The Cthulhu podcast
–Lightspeed magazine podcast
–Forgotten Classics
–The Science Fiction Book Review Podcast
–Gweek
–HuffDuffer.com
Fred Kiesche (of the Lensmen’s Children blog):
–Escape Pod
–Beware Of The Hairy Mango
–The H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast
–The History Of Rome
–Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History
–The Incomparable! podcast
–Geek Life
–Writing Excuses
–Adventures In SciFi Publishing
–The Tolkien Professor
–The D6 Generation
–The Nerdist
–The Command Line
–Living Proof Brewcast
–365 Days Of Astronomy
–Spark
–Quirks And quarks
–The Naked Scientist
Jeff Patterson (of the Gravity Lens blog):
–The Nerdist
-The Doctor Who Cast
–RiffTracks
–Changesurfer Radio
John DeNardo (of SFSignal.com):
–Functional Nerds
–Beware Of The Hairy Mango
–Notes From Coode Street
–StarShip Sofa
–The Skiffy And Fanty Show
Paul Weimer (of Blog, Jvstin Style):
–Russian Rulers Podcast
–Ancient Rome Refocused
–Heatflash
–the Speculate! Podcast
–Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me
–Three Moves Ahead
Matthew Sanborn Smith (of Beware Of The Hairy Mango podcast):
–StarShip Sofa
–The Tobolowsky Files
–Tank Riot
–Around Comics
–RadioLab
–Lightspeed
–The New Yorker Fiction Podcast
–Luke’s Creative Podcast
–Dunesteef
–Kick-Ass Mystic Ninjas
–I Should Be Writing
Patrick Hester (of SFSignal.com):
–Seattle Geekly
–Dragon Page
–Adam Carolla
–Slice Of SciFi
–The Babylon Podcast
–The Geekdad
–Mac Tech Break
–Podiobooks.com
Posted by Jesse Willis
The SFFaudio Podcast #119 – Scott, Jesse and Tamahome talk to author Paul Malmont about his novel The Astounding, The Amazing, And The Unknown.
Talked about on today’s show:
The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril, Jack London In Paradise, Hawaii, The Iron Heel by Jack London, the rise of the oligarchy, The Washington Post review of The Astounding, The Amazing, And The Unknown, Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, L. Ron Hubbard, the Philadelphia Experiment, the movie The Philadelphia Experiment, “a psuedo-historical event” vs. “a cultural phenomena”, legend, John W. Campbell, Astounding Science Fiction, Unknown (magazine), Kamikaze pilots vs. the Kamikaze group, L. Sprague de Camp, chemistry, Orange Nehi, the Tunguska event, Nikola Tesla, the Wardenclyffe Tower, historical fiction, meta-science fiction, Walter B. Gibson, Lester Dent, H.P. Lovecraft, the “hero pulps” vs. science fiction pulps, The Shadow, Doc Savage, L. Ron Hubbard as a tragic hero, Dianetics, an atomic age religion, Virginia Heinlein, Janet Asimov, Gertrude Asimov, “The robot felt…”, using social networks to promote a novel, Frank Herbert, Aleutian Islands, the Manhattan Project, Cleve Cartmill and the atomic bomb, The Green Hills Of Earth, Tim Powers, “twenty weird true things”, Murdoch Mysteries, the AC DC wars, remixing modern historical fiction, Iain M. Banks, mash-ups, The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril has zombies, the TVO interview with Walter B. Gibson, magic, In Search Of….
Posted by Jesse Willis
The SFFaudio Podcast #117 – Scott, Jesse and Tamahome talk about audiobooks, the recent arrivals and the new releases.
Talked about on today’s show:
We have some genuine Science Fiction!, The Year’s Top Ten Tales Of Science Fiction Vol. 3 edited by Alan Kaster, Damien Broderick, Robert Reed, Steve Rasnic Tem, Ian R. Macleod, Luke Burrage, The Mars Phoenix has Science Fiction (2008), John W. Cambell, The Things by Peter Watts, 8 Miles should be title 12.1 Kilometers, the metric system can’t be sold politically in the U.S.A., florescent lightbulbs are unamerican, Corner Gas, Larry Niven, Harvest Of Stars by Poul Anderson, totalitarianism, Jerry Pournelle, The Boat Of A Million Years by Poul Anderson, immortality, utopia, Blackstone Audio, the French meter stick (is actually made of platinum and iridium not silver), Charles Stross, Free Apocalypse Al, Where are all the Ted Chiang audiobooks?, Steal Across The Sky by , The Astounding, The Amazing, And The Unknown by Paul Malmont, Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, L. Ron Hubbard, The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril, Lester Dent, Doc Savage, H.P. Lovecraft, remixing pulp era authors with pulp era stories, Edgar Allan Poe, the boring cover of The Astounding, The Amazing, And The Unknown, Shadow On The Sun by Richard Matheson (a western that’s also supernatural horror), I Am Legend, Gatherer Of Clouds by Sean Russell, Vancouver Island, Dragon’s Time by Anne McCaffrey and Todd McCaffrey, Brian Herbert, Citadel Of The Lost by Tracy Hickman, is Harriest Klausner a robot?, Phil Gigante, SFSignal.com’s podcast interview with Tracy Hickman, Patrick Hester, Titus Awakes by Maeve Gilmore, Mervyn Peake, Simon Vance’s YouTube videos, Gormenghast (TV series), The Hitch-hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, grotesque, fantasy with no magic and no intelligent species other than humans, “a fantasy of manners”, “a comedy of manners”, metaphors are not spoilers, The Iron Druid Chronicles: Hammered by Kevin Hearne, viking vampires, “someone give that dog a bacon latte”, Very Bad Men by Harry Dolan, Stories Of Your Life And Other Stories by Ted Chiang, Tower Of Babylon, Story Of Your Life, Hell Is The Absence Of God, The Prophecy, Christopher Walken, Viggo Mortensen, Elias Koteas, Combat Hospital (kind of a dramatic remake of MASH), Keanu Reeves, Blair Butler, comics, Northlanders Vol. 5: Metal And Other Stories, non-vampiric vikings, Brian Wood, Blade Vs. The Avengers, Marvel Zombies, Iron Man has a blonde twin brother, The Walking Dead, Robert Kirkman, George R.R. Martin, Dust by Joan Frances Turner |READ OUR REVIEW|, Rule 34 by Charles Stross, A Colder War, Saturn’s Children by Charles Stross |READ OUR REVIEW|, Friday by Robert A. Heinlein, interstellar sex, I Will Fear No Evil by Robert A. Heinlein, the meaning of “Rule 34”, “Space Porn – that’s one sexy nebula”, Luke Burrage’s review of Halting State, Choose Your Own Adventure, “turn to page 61 for the acidic death bath”, Infocom, Lesiure Suit Larry, Heaven’s Shadow by David S. Goyer, William Coon, Resume With Monsters by William Browning Spencer, “just added” vs. “new releases” on Audible.com, Steven Gould audiobooks, Vortex by Robert Charles Wilson, iambik audio, Open Your Eyes by Paul Jessup, Flashback by Dan Simmons, a brand new UNABRIDGED release of Neuromancer by William Gibson, Penguin Audio, American Gods by Neil Gaiman (multi-narrator), George Guidall’s reading of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods |READ OUR REVIEW|, American Gods as a TV series, Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman |READ OUR REVIEW|, Odd And The Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman |READ OUR REVIEW| (even though it is too expensive), Deathworld by Harry Harrison is available on LibriVox narrated by Gregg Margarite, The City And The City by China Meiville, Embassytown, Hexed by Alan Steele, A Dance With Dragons by George R.R. Martin, NPR’s On Point podcast interview with George R.R. Martin, Sandkings, Nighflyers, A Song For Lya, Dreamsongs, Roy Dotrice, drones (unmanned aerial vehicles), Forever Peace by Joe Haldeman will be the subject for an upcoming podcast readalong, Upon The Dull Earth by Philip K. Dick will be the next SFFaudio readalong, what contest should we hold to give away The Selected Stories Of Philip K. Dick Volume 1 (and 2)?, rural fantasy, A Good Story Is Hard To Find podcast #009 The Mystery Of Grace by Charles de Lint, The Space Merchants by Frederik Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth.
Posted by Jesse Willis
Audio dramatist Marty Ross recommends we check out a new audio drama producer called 3D Horror Fi. Sez Marty:
I’m a professional writer of audio drama, specializing in the genres of SF and horror. Much of this has been for BBC Radio (the serials GHOST ZONE and CATCH MY BREATH, the anthology series THE DARKER SIDE OF THE BORDER.) Most recently, I’ve had a couple of Doctor Who audio books produced by Big Finish, NIGHT’S BLACK AGENTS and Lurkers At Sunlight’s Edge (which is basically Doctor Who meets H.P. Lovecraft!). But what I’m really seeking to plug here is my play BLOOD & STONE, which has recently been produced by 3DHorrorFi, a new web-based company specializing in horror and SF audio, using seriously state of the art technology. My play for them is gothic horror: you may be acquainted with the true story of Elizabeth Báthory, the Hungarian ‘bloody countess’ who bathed in the blood of innumerable servant girls to preserve her own beauty and was then punished by being locked away in a tower of her own castle. Well, my play imagines what would have happened if she had escaped, after convincing a seemingly naive servant girl of her innocence. I think it’s really good and this company deserves all the encouragement they can get – they’re just starting out, but with a little help, they could become major producers in the horror/SF field. If you check their website, www.3Dhorrorfi.com you could investigate what they offer: their other plays (not written by me) are good too, including the best adaptation of The Cask of Amontillado I’ve ever heard.
Thanks Marty! Yep, that sounds like some stuff we are interested in!
Posted by Jesse Willis