London – Page 7

Aural Noir Review of The Adventures Of Sexton Blake

Aural Noir: Review

SFFaudio Essential The Adventures of Sexton Blake
Based on the character created by Harry Blyth; Performed by a full cast
2 CDs or MP3 Download – Approx. 2 Hours [RADIO DRAMA]
Publisher: BBC Audiobooks / Perfectly Normal Productions
Published: September 2009
ISBN: 1408410540
Themes: / Mystery / Adventure / Crime / Steampunk / Airships / London / Exmouth / Willesden /

Britain’s iconic and most prolifically chronicled sleuth explodes back into action in a brand new series of thrilling Adventures packed with incident and hilarity!

Back in 2006 we had a story about the new co-venture between Perfectly Normal productions and BBC Audiobooks. Audio drama legend Dirk Maggs was set to revive several “cult British comic characters.” This is the first of these. I hope there will be MANY MORE!

Sexton Blake, a renowned Baker Street detective, and his youthful assistant Tinker regularly face peril with deceptive disguises and flying fists. In between investigations they return to their Baker Street rooming house for endless lashings of tea and heaping plates of kippers. Their landlady, Mrs. Bardell, makes the food, debriefs the great detective, and commiserates with her neighbor, Mrs. H. (she’s also a landlady to another famous Baker street detective). The story begins aboard a runaway locomotive at the tail end of a kind of locked room mystery – after a few shootings by the various suspicious characters and a brief detour into the dining car’s wine cellar, the villain is revealed -only to escape by auto-gyro. When Blake returns to his Baker street residence he’s soon embroiled in a new investigation brought on by the arrival of a beautiful American actress. The investigation is both serpentine and ingenious, and it leads directly into the next – one in which an incredibly capable and amnesic woman saves Blake and Tinker from a false charge of burglary. Their investigation into her curious abilities and former profession lead Blake and Tinker into a house of deathtraps (or is that a deathtrap house). The action finally culminates in a thrilling saber duel atop a Zeppelin! At the beginning of each new episode there’s a mini-scene from an unrelated Sexton Blake adventure – each depicting Blake defeating either a rapscallious villain or a villainous rapscallion.

The Adventures Of Sexton Blake is jam packed with as much rib-tickling raillery as The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy. The script is unbelievably clever and funny. It features a kind of endless stream-of-consciousness wordplay that clearly follows in the tradition of Douglas Adams, Monty Python, and The Goon Show. What sets it apart from it’s forebearers is a strict adherence to the medium. The only possible way to tell this tale is as an audio drama. Perhaps the most amazing aspect is vaguely amazing feeling I got while listening to it. There’s this kind of general consensus by all the characters to LARP their way through the adventure. No one character has the final word on anything, and every character in the scene is constantly throwing new nuance on the mental pictures being created in the listener. It’s not so much a mystery you can solve by following the clues, it’s more of an adventure you can ride with a flashing smirk.

These adventures are brilliantly envisioned by a terrific combination of skilled comedic acting, an engaging theme song and thousands of layered sound effects. I’m betting the script was at least twice as thick, per minute, as a typical (or ordinary, or normal) one. The outstanding cast and crew has made The Adventures Of Sexton Blake a play that can stand shoulder to shoulder, chin to chin, and eye to eye, with the finest audio dramatizations ever produced – and not feel even the slightest weak in the knees. This is very highly recommended listening!

Crew:
Written by Mil Millington and Jonathan Nash; Directed by Dirk Maggs
Sound Design and Music by Paul Weir
Produced by David Morley

Cast:
Simon Jones ….. Sexton Blake, Adventuring Detective
Wayne Forester …. Tinker, his Plucky Assistant
June Whitfield …. Mrs Bardell, their Doughty Housekeeper
Graham Hoadly …. Professor Kew, a Spindly Cackler
Lorelei King …. Miss Elizabeth Mary-Louise Tarabelle Beauchamp
Simon Treves …. Inspector Coutts Of Scotland Yard
Felicity Duncan …. Miss Terry, Window-Leaping Adventuress
Susan Sheridan …. Mrs Hudson, Housekeeper To A Neighbouring Detective
Malcolm Brown …. Count Ivor Carlac, a Villainous Juggernaut
Philip Glassborow …. Cyril, A Grim Assassin
Oscar Sharp …. The Frantic Caller
William Franklyn …. The Mysterious Waiter

Posted by Jesse Willis

Lecture – Necronomicons: The Scariest Book in the World

SFFaudio Online Audio

Necronomicons: The Scariest Book in the World
By Dan Harms
1 |MP3| – Approx. 79 Minutes [LECTURE]
Provider: Yog-Sothoth.com
Recorded: May 28th, 2009
The Necronomicon was once the most famous book that never existed – until a few decades ago, when the first copies appeared on the market. From Lovecraft to Grant to… well, you name it! This is the story of their non-existence, their existence, and their secret stories. Dan Harms reveals the history of these books, their relevance in the broader current of the grimoire tradition, and their impact upon magical practice. Recorded at Treadwell’s bookshop, London.

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: Bat Wing by Sax Rohmer

Aural Noir: Online Audio

“A crime thriller with a voodoo twist, from the creator of Fu Manchu.”

Is this the first great summer audiobook from LibriVox? I think it may very well be. Just image listening to this tale in on a summer evening, a tall glass of cold beverage in hand, the sun setting, the bats flying out of their belfries. So cool.

Bat Wing
By Sax Rohmer; Read by Mark Douglas Nelson
12 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 9 Hours 14 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: June 12, 2009
Private detective Paul Harley investigates a mysterious case involving voodoo, vampirism, and macabre murder in the heart of London. The first book in the Paul Harley series, written by Sax Rohmer, author of The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu. Originally published in 1921.

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/bat-wing-by-sax-rohmer.xml

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox: The Beetle by Richard Marsh

SFFaudio Online Audio

LibriVox a panel from The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen Attentive readers of Alan Moore’s The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen may have noted this panel…

…according to Jess Nevins, of The Fourth Rail, it depicts a “giant beetle in [a] vacuum tube.” and asserts that it

“is the Beetle, from Richard Marsh’s The Beetle (1897). In that novel, a shapechanging Egyptian princess, who can take the form of a giant, malign beetle, a beautiful androgyne, and an old woman or man, pursues a vendetta against a British M.P.”

Prior to the release of The Beetle as a LibriVox audiobook I hadn’t even heard of it. But a little online research indicates that The Beetle came out the same year as Bram Stoker’s Dracula and initially outsold it! How did I not hear of this book before?

The Beetle
By Richard Marsh; Read by various readers
48 Zipped MP3 Files or Podcast – Approx. 11 Hours 56 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: April 24, 2009
A story about a mysterious oriental figure who pursues a British politician to London, where he wreaks havoc with his powers of hypnosis and shape-shifting, Marsh’s novel is of a piece with other sensational turn-of-the-century fictions such as Stoker’s Dracula, George du Maurier’s Trilby, and Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu novels. Like Dracula and many of the sensation novels pioneered by Wilkie Collins and others in the 1860s, The Beetle is narrated from the perspectives of multiple characters, a technique used in many late nineteenth-century novels (those of Wilkie Collins and Stoker, for example) to create suspense.

Podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/the-beetle-by-richard-marsh.xml

iTunes 1-Click |SUBSCRIBE|

Posted by Jesse Willis

New Releases – Audible Frontiers January 2009

New Releases

Here’s the latest batch of Audible Frontiers titles releasing exclusively through Audible.com for January 2009. The last two on this list are likely the most anticipated (I’m looking at you here Greg). Also on tap are the first four books in Alan Dean Foster’s “Pip and Flinx” series with a promise of the “entire series” over “the next several months … culminating in the May 19th simultaneous publication of Flinx Transcendent, the final book in the series.” That should make quite a few ADF fans happy. And, the sequel to Cally’s War is on the list too! There are also plans to bring this entire BAEN books series to audio.

The Tar-Aiym Krang (book 1 in the “Pip & Flinx” series)
By Alan Dean Foster; Read by Stefan Rudnicki
Audible Download – 7 Hours 16 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: January 2009
Foster’s first published novel!
Moth was a beautiful planet, the only one with wings – two great golden clouds suspended in space around it. Here was a wide-open world for any venture a man might scheme. The planet attracted unwary travelers, hardened space-sailors, and merchant buccaneers – a teeming, constantly shifting horde that provided a comfortable income for certain quick-witted fellows like Flinx and his pet flying snake Pip. With his odd talents, the pickings were easy enough so that Flinx did not have to be dishonest … most of the time. In fact, it hardly seemed dishonest at all to steal a starmap from a dead body that didn’t really need it anymore. But Flinx wasn’t quite smart enough. He should have wondered why the body was dead in the first place…

Orphan Star (book 2 in the “Pip & Flinx” series)
By Alan Dean Foster; Read by Stefan Rudnicki
Audible Download – 7 Hours 40 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: January 2009
One man in the Universe holds the key to the mystery of Flinx’s past – and that man is trying to kill him! It is a strange childhood for a kid, to be adopted by the restless Mother Mastiff and raised in the bustling marketplace of Drallar. Flinx never knew the mom and dad who abandoned him years ago. In fact, his birth has always been shrouded in mystery. But Flinx eventually discovers that his unknown parents have left him a curious legacy – extraordinary mental powers that are both a marvelous gift and a dreaded curse. This double-edged legacy will lead Flinx, along with his loyal protector, the mini-dragon Pip, on a harrowing journey in search of the truth . . . about who he is and where he comes from. It is a daring adventure that brings him to another world – and into the clutches of one of the most evil and powerful men in the galaxy…

The End Of The Matter (book 3 in the “Pip & Flinx” series)
By Alan Dean Foster; Read by Stefan Rudnicki
Audible Download – Approx. 8 Hours [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: January 2009
Accompanied by his faithful minidrag Pip and a most troublesome alien called Abalamahalamatandra – Ab for short – Flinx set out for Alaspin, the ruggedly primitive homeworld of his flying snake. There he hoped to find the giant man with the gold earring who somehow held the key to Flinx’s mysterious past and to the strange powers he possessed. Chasing down his heritage was trouble enough, but Flinx didn’t know what real trouble was until he realized that the Qwarm – a deadly assassin squad – were three steps behind him with a contract to kill. But the minidrag’s homeworld did not offer safety and Flinx had a terrible time just staying alive … a matter complicated to no mean degree by a collapsar already set on an unstoppable death course across the galaxy!

For Love Of Mother-Not (book 4 in the “Pip & Flinx” series)
By Alan Dean Foster; Read by Stefan Rudnicki
Audible Download – 8 Hours 14 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: January 2009
He was just a freckle-faced, red-headed kid with green eyes and a strangely campelling stare when Mather Mastiff first saw him an the auctioneer’s block. One hundred credits and he was hers. For years the old woman was his only family. She loved him, fed him, taught him everything she knew – even let him keep the deadly flying snake he called Pip.Then Mother Mastiff mysteriously disappeared and Flinx took Pip to tail her kidnappers. Across the forests and swamps of the winged world called Moth, their only weapons were Pip’s venom . . . and Flinx’s unusual Talents.

Honor Of The Clan (book 10 in the Legacy of the Aldenata series)
By John Ringo and Julie Cochrane; Read by Marc Vietor
Audible Download – 13 Hours 57 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: January 2009
The Posleen War Rages On – Undercover! Clan O’Neal Battles for the Right – And With Each Other! The Indowy “Bane Sidhe” conspiracy has grown strong, and the cunning and resourceful Darhel – tacit rulers of the Galactic Federation – have decided that the time has come to wipe that threat from the stars forever. What the Darhel don’t know is that humans have joined the rebellion – led by thief and assassin extraordinaire, Cally O’Neal. Now Cally is set to destroy a web of alien deceit millennia in the making. Only one obstacle lies in her path: the renowned warrior who stood tall and saved Earth from utter destruction during its first invasion by alien hordes – a legend who also happens to be Cally’s father!

Just Another Judgement Day (book 9 in the Nightside series)
By Simon R. Green; Read by Marc Vietor
Audible Download – 8 Hours 9 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: January 2009
There’s a new sheriff in town, and he’s got the Nightside’s rich and powerful quaking in their boots. He’s The Walking Man, and it’s his mission to exorcise sinners – with extreme prejudice. Problem is, the Nightside was built on sin and corruption, and The Walking Man makes no distinction between evildoers and those simply indulging themselves. He’ll leave the place a wasteland unless someone stops him, and P.I. John Taylor has been handed the job. No known magic or science can affect The Walking Man, and if John can’t discover his weakness, he’ll be facing the very Wrath of God.

Shortly forthcoming…

Endymion (book 3 in the Hyperion Cantos)
By Dan Simmons
Audible Download – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: January 20th 2009

The Rise Of Endymion (book 4 in the Hyperion Cantos)
By Dan Simmons
Audible Download – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: January 20th 2009
A Hugo Award nominee!

Posted by Jesse Willis

aBoSaSoTT: The Forgotten Enemy by Arthur C. Clarke

SFFaudio Online Audio

Rounding up recently wrapped second series of A Bite of Stars, a Slug of Time, and Thou is a pleasure. Hopefully this delightfully interesting podcast and radio show (on Resonance FM 104.4 FM in London, U.K.) will come back with a third series real soon.

In reverse order of podcast…

First, there’s a terrific tale by Arthur C. Clarke. Set in London, it’s the tale of a lonely man in a deserted London waiting for rescue. He can almost hear the helicopters. Yes, the helicopters. The slow, loud, helicopters coming inevitably from the north.

Episode 16 – The Forgotten Enemy
By Arthur C. Clarke; Read by Elisha Sessions
Podcast – 1 Hour [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: A Bite Of Stars, A Slug Of Time, And Thou
Podcast: 2008
First published in December 1948, in an issue of King’s College Review. In a bleak snow and ice covered London, a lone survivor faces isolation, polar bears and loneliness. But even his one hope, the idea that a rescue team is crossing the Atlantic ice sheet isn’t enough to stave off The Forgotten Enemy.

Less accessible, but probably just as interesting if you can get into it, is episode 15, which features some highly literary SF from Ursula K. Le Guin…

Episode 15 – Things
By Ursula K. Le Guin; Read by Elisha Sessions
Podcast – 1 Hour [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: A Bite Of Stars, A Slug Of Time, And Thou
Podcast: 2008
Written by Ursula Le Guin in 1970. This is a short story about a society sharply divided between nihilist marauders and maudlin do-nothings… and two people who don’t really fit in either camp. Oh, and masonry.

There’s a little editing error in this reading of The Squirrel Cage. And, past that point, Sessions’ reading becomes very quiet, you’ll have to turn up your volume. Despite these issues during the reading of the story, you’ll keep listening, almost as if you don’t have a choice. It’s a compelling narrative of a man trapped alone in a room with a subscription to the New York Times.

Episode 14 – The Squirrel Cage
By Thomas M. Disch; Read by Elisha Sessions
Podcast – 1 Hour [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: A Bite Of Stars, A Slug Of Time, And Thou
Podcast: 2008
It’s a story about a writer writing for no one, or for everyone – he’s not sure which.

Episode 13, a story by Brian Aldiss, feels oddly modern, despite its age. Charles Stross might have written it. It’s funny, poignant, and rather subversive – I’m not sure exactly what lessons it teaches, but I like the lesson very much. Perhaps All the World’s Tears is just a lesson in humility? Unfortunate sound effect additions don’t destroy the reading, but they are intrusive.

Episode 13 – All The World’s Tears
By Brian Aldiss; Read by Elisha Sessions
1 |MP3| – 1 Hour [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: A Bite Of Stars, A Slug Of Time, And Thou
Podcast: Oct. 7, 2008
The people and culture described in this 1957 short story by Brian Aldiss are human, but they don’t really act like it. Except for maybe the self-destructive part. It’s about a vitiated ecology, a mechanized society, and a desolate, wind-swept mansion where love may not be all you need.

Podcast feed:

http://freakytrigger.co.uk/slugoftime-podcast/feed/

Posted by Jesse Willis