2nd Completed SFFaudio Challenge title: The Queen Of The Black Coast by Robert E. Howard

SFFaudio Online Audio

SFFaudio’s Make An Audiobook Win An Audiobook Challenge #2Bill Hollweg of Broken Sea Audio Productions is the second challenger to complete a title in the Second Annual SFFaudio Challenge! Available now is a complete and unabridged reading of Robert E. Howard’s Queen Of The Black Coast read by Bill Hollweg!

This is a significant achievment as Queen Of The Black Coast is one of the world’s most important novelettes:

-There is a hefty page on Wikipedia detailing much about this influential tale.

-It took a stunning 40 issues of Conan: The Barbarian (the Marvel comic) to string out just a few lines in this tale.

-In the original Conan movie, which was not faithful to any particular Conan story, there was one clear aspect that was certainly taken from the end of Queen Of The Black Coast.

Broken Sea Audio Productions is “doing a full cast audio drama of this and other tales of Conan” – look for the audio drama version in early 2008.

Also, the good folks over at Broken Sea Audio Productions have fenced off a separate page for what they are calling “Hooligan Audiobooks”, there you’ll find all the BSAP single voiced narration tales. If you’ve never tried a Howard story, or never read a Conan tale, have a listen to this unabridged beauty:

Queen Of The Black Coast by Robert E. HowardQueen Of The Black Coast
By Robert E. Howard; Read by Bill Hollweg
Podcast – [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Broken Sea Audio Thursday
Podcast: November – December 2007
In the seacoast kingdom of Argos, after a brush with the Hyborian legal system, Conan hops aboard a southward bound ship. Off the coasts of Kush the ship is boarded by black corsairs under the Shemitish she-devil, Bêlit. Conan joins her crew, becomes her consort, and for a long time they harry the Hyborian and Stygian ports. During this stage of his career, Conan gains the name of Amra, the Lion, which is to follow him throughout his later life.

Chapter 1 |MP3| Chapter 2 |MP3| Chapter 3 |MP3|Chapters 4 & 5 |MP3|

Subscribe to the podcast feed:

http://brokensea.com/feed

Posted by Jesse Willis

Challenger begins podcasting: Queen Of The Black Coast by Robert E. Howard

SFFaudio Online Audio

Are you ready to hear the first ever podcast of a Conan tale? Are you ready for some furious freebooting? What about serious corsairage? Would it bother you if it were buccaneering? Are you truly ready for the blazing prose of the undisputed master of pulp fiction in one of his best loved tales? If the answer is yes to all of these questions then prepare yourself for the first chapter in…

Queen Of The Black Coast by Robert E. HowardQueen Of The Black Coast
By Robert E. Howard; Read by Bill Hollweg
Podcast – [UNABRIDGED]
Podcaster: Broken Sea Audio Thursday
Podcast: Started November 29th
In the seacoast kingdom of Argos, after a brush with the Hyborian legal system, Conan hops aboard a southward bound ship. Off the coasts of Kush the ship is boarded by black corsairs under the Shemitish she-devil, Bêlit. Conan joins her crew, becomes her consort, and for a long time they harry the Hyborian and Stygian ports. During this stage of his career, Conan gains the name of Amra, the Lion, which is to follow him throughout his later life.
Chapter 1 |MP3|

Subscribe to the podcast feed:

http://brokensea.com/feed

Posted by Jesse Willis

National Review Online: Conan and George R.R. Martin

SFFaudio Online Audio

National Review Online - Between The CoversThe National Review Online, the web-version of the National Review magazine, has an audio program called Between The Covers (not to be confused with the CBC Radio One book reading program of the same name). Available now, for online listening in the Flash audio format (SWF) are:

Paul M. Sammon on Conan: The Phenomenon:

“John J. Miller asks Paul M. Sammon, author of Conan: The Phenomenon, just why Conan is still a phenomenon after so very long. Sammon responds that these stories, which date back to the 1930s, ‘featured vivid storytelling, compelling characters, exotic locales, horrible creatures, delectable damsels; and all of this was wrapped up in propulsive prose and a consistent worldview.'” |SWF|

George R.R. Martin on Dreamsongs:

“George R.R. Martin, author of Dreamsongs (Vols. I and II), has been called the ‘American Tolkien.’ But he tells John J. Miller that science fiction, horror fiction, and fantasy were all his first loves, and that he his written in each of these genres. ‘It was all ‘weird stuff’ as my father liked to call it; imaginative literature as opposed to realistic literature — just different flavors thereof.'” |SWF|

Posted by Jesse Willis

LibriVox Short Horror Story Collection #2 – out now

sffaudio online audio

With two stories by H. P. Lovecraft and a Solomon Kane story by Robert Howard, there was no way that I could resist this latest LibriVox offering. Tales of horror and stories of the weird by the masters at the bargain price of $0.00.

Horror Story Collection 2
10 MP3 files – 2 hours 39 minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: LibriVox.org
Published: November 15th, 2007

“An occasional collection of 10 horror stories by various readers. We aim to unsettle you a little, to cut through the pink cushion of illusion that shields you from the horrible realities of life. Here are the walking dead, the fetid pools of slime, the howls in the night that you thought you had confined to your more unpleasant dreams.”

1. A Ghoul’s Accountant
By Stephen Crane; Read by Julie Bynum
1 |MP3| Approx. 6 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

2. Ex Oblivione
By Howard Phillips Lovecraft; Read by Maxim Lenyadin
1 |MP3| – Approx. 7 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

3. The Picture In The House
By H.P. Lovecraft; Read by: Glen Hallstrom
1 |MP3| – Approx. 20.5 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

4. Rattle of Bones
By Robert E. Howard; Read by Paul Siegel
1 |MP3| – Approx. 14.5 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

5. The Raven
By Edgar Allen Poe; Read by: Zoe Earley
1 |MP3| – Approx. 8 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

6. The Soul of the Great Bell
By Lafcadio Hearn; Read by Paul Sze
1 |MP3| – Approx. 16 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

7. The Story of Mimi Nashi Hoichi
By Lafcadio Hearne; Read by Mark Nelson
1 |MP3| – Approx. 24 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

8. The Tell-Tale Heart
By Edgar Allen Poe; Read by Sharontzu
1 |MP3| – Approx. 17 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

9. The Spider
By Hans Heinz Ewers; Read by DrWombat
1 |MP3| – Approx. 42 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

10. The Thing at Ghent
By Honore de Balzac; Read by Julie Bynum
1 |MP3| – Approx 4 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]

Get the complete audiobook in a big zipped file [zip], or use the
podcast feed:

http://librivox.org/bookfeeds/horror-story-collection-002.xml

Posted by Dave Tackett.

Broken Sea Audio: Open Casting Call for Robert E. Howard’s Queen Of The Black Coast

SFFaudio News

Conan And BelitBroken Sea Audio Productions, and producer Bill Hollweg, are casting the role of Conan (the Cimmerian) for an upcoming audio drama version of Robert E. Howard’s Queen Of The Black Coast.

The “Queen of the Black Coast” was a novelette by Robert E. Howard first published in the May 1934 issue of Weird Tales. Here’s a brief description (without spoilers):

In the seacoast kingdom of Argos, after a brush with the Hyborian legal system, Conan hops aboard a southward bound ship. Off the coasts of Kush the ship is boarded by black corsairs under the Shemitish she-devil, Bêlit. Conan joins her crew, becomes her consort, and for a long time they harry the Hyborian and Stygian ports. During this stage of his career, Conan gains the name of Amra, the Lion, which is to follow him throughout his later life.

Characters in the story include (but are not limited to):

* Conan
* Bêlit
* N’Gora
* N’Yaga
* Tito
* Winged One

Please take note, this is still only a casting call for Conan himself, more casting will be done in later weeks. At that time I’d guess that having a Kushite, Khemish, Shemitish, Argosean or Stygian accent will probably help your chances of landing a role.

Here’s some info from the official press release:

This is a cast call for the character of CONAN alone. I need a Barbarian the lay a swath of destruction across the audio realms! Ever wanted to brandish a broadsword in the Hyborian Age? This is what I want from the voice actor doing CONAN…

POWER…PURE POWER that OOZES from the headphones… That said- I also want the actor to make this role his with a swipe of a VA (voice acting) broadsword!

I do not want bad Arnold Impersonations. This character is a fave of my from almost as far back as I can remember- so I am wanting something special for this production. An Austrian Accent is fine, or whatever accent you have or can do – I am open to giving it a listen. But I want to believe in this character, so it needs to have power behind the lines. And I am not talking about just screaming them here . There will be more casting calls soon and the script is still being cobbled together as we speak, but for now I need to find Conan first and foremost. Please send in lines in mp3 format, 44100hz 192k and label the file:

Conan_aud_.mp3 to: [email protected]

I have left in bits of the actual prose to give a feel for the scene/character. The VA lines are in black.

GOOD LUCK BY CROM!

Auditions Close December 10, 2007

_______________________________________________________________

Hoofs drummed down the street that sloped to the wharfs. The folk that
yelled and scattered had only a fleeting glimpse of a mailed figure on
a black stallion, a wide scarlet cloak flowing out on the wind. Far up
the street came the shout and clatter of pursuit, but the horseman did
not look back. He swept out onto the wharfs and jerked the plunging
stallion back on its haunches at the very lip of the pier. Seamen
gaped up at him, as they stood to the sweep and striped sail of a
high-prowed, broad waisted galley. The master, sturdy and black-
bearded, stood in the bows, easing her away from the piles with a
boat-hook. He yelled angrily as the horseman sprang from the saddle
and with a long leap landed squarely on the mid-deck.

Ship Captain: Who invited you aboard?

CONAN: Get under way CAPTAIN!

Ship Captain: But we’re bound for the coasts of Kush!

CONAN: Then I’m for Kush! Push off, I tell you!

SFX: The captain cast a quick glance up the street, along which a squad of horsemen were galloping; far behind them toiled a group of archers, crossbows on their shoulders.

Ship Captain: Can you pay for your passage?

CONAN: I pay my way with steel! By Crom, if you don’t get under way, I’ll drench this galley in the ‘blood of its crew!

Ship Captain: Seein’ as ye put it that way- welcome aboard Barbarian…

———————————————————–

Later, underway on the Captain’s Ship, after escaping the city, Conan and the Captain talk.

CONAN: Who is Belit?

Ship Captain: The wildest she-devil unhanged. Unless I read the signs awrong, it was her butchers who destroyed that village on the bay. May I some day see her dangling from the yard-arm! She is called the queen of the black coast. She is a Shemite woman, who leads black raiders. They harry the shipping and have sent many a good tradesman to the bottom.

CONAN: Little use to resist if we’re run down,” he grunted. “But it rasps the soul to give up life without a struggle.

It was just at sunrise when the lookout shouted a warning.

MATE #1: PORT SIDE!!! A SHIP!!!

Around the long point of an island off the starboard bow glided a long lethal shape, a slender serpentine galley, with a raised deck that ran from stem to stern. Forty oars on each side drove her swiftly through the water, and the low rail swarmed with naked blacks that chanted and clashed spears on oval shields. From the masthead floated a long
crimson pennon.

Ship Captain: Damn!!! Tis her… Belit… And her damned ship…This sojourn ’tis doomed..

CONAN: We’d best stand to it- else we’ll all die with shafts in our backs, and not a blow dealt.

Ship Captain: Bend to it, dogs! We row to outrun the she-devil BELIT!!!

With a passionate gesture of his brawny fist, the bearded rowers grunted, heaved at the oars, while their muscles coiled and knotted, and sweat started out on their hides. The timbers of the stout little galley creaked and groaned as the men fairly ripped her through the water. The wind had fallen; the sail hung limp. Nearer crept the inexorable raiders, and they were still a good mile from the surf when one of the steersmen fell gagging across a sweep, a long arrow through his neck. Tito sprang to take his place, and Conan, bracing his feet wide on the heaving poop-deck, lifted his bow. He could see the details of the pirate plainly now. The rowers were protected by a line of raised mantelets along the sides, but the warriors dancing on the narrow deck were in full view. These were painted and plumed, and mostly naked, brandishing spears and spotted shields.

On the raised platform in the bows stood a slim figure whose white skin glistened in dazzling contrast to the glossy ebon hides about it. Belit, without a doubt. Conan drew the shaft to his ear–then some whim or qualm stayed his hand and sent the arrow through the body of a tall plumed spearman beside her.

Hand over hand the pirate galley was overhauling the lighter ship. Arrows fell in a rain about the Argus, and men cried out. All the steersmen were down, pincushioned, and Tito was handling the massive sweep alone, gasping black curses, his braced legs knots of straining thews. Then with a sob he sank down, a long shaft quivering in his sturdy heart. The Argus lost headway and rolled in the swell. The men shouted in confusion, and Conan took command in characteristic fashion.

CONAN: Up, lads!

SFX

CONAN: Grab your steel and give these dogs a few knocks before they cut our throats! Useless to bend your backs any more: they’ll board us ere we can row another fifty paces!

In desperation the sailors abandoned their oars and snatched up their
weapons. It was valiant, but useless. They had time for one flight of
arrows before the pirate was upon them. With no one at the sweep, the
Argus rolled broadside, and the steel-baked prow of the raider crashed
into her amidships. Grappling-irons crunched into the side. From the
lofty gunwales, the black pirates drove down a volley of shafts that
tore through the quilted jackets of the doomed sailormen, then sprang
down spear in hand to complete the slaughter. On the deck of the
pirate lay half a dozen bodies, an earnest of Conan’s archery.

The fight on the Argus was short and bloody. The stocky sailors, no
match for the tall barbarians, were cut down to a man. Elsewhere the
battle had taken a peculiar turn. Conan, on the high-pitched poop, was
on a level with the pirate’s deck. As the steel prow slashed into the
Argus, he braced himself and kept his feet under the shock, casting
away his bow. A tall corsair, bounding over the rail, was met in
midair by the Cimmerian’s great sword, which sheared him cleanly
through the torso, so that his body fell one way and his legs another.
Then, with a burst of fury that left a heap of mangled corpses along
the gunwales, Conan was over the rail and on the deck of the Tigress.

In an instant he was the center of a hurricane of stabbing spears and
lashing clubs. But he moved in a blinding blur of steel. Spears bent
on his armor or swished empty air, and his sword sang its death-song.
The fighting-madness of his race was upon him, and with a red mist of
unreasoning fury wavering before his blazing eyes, he cleft skulls,
smashed breasts, severed limbs, ripped out entrails, and littered the
deck like a shambles with a ghastly harvest of brains and blood.

SFX: Invulnerable in his armor, his back against the mast, he heaped mangled corpses at his feet until his enemies gave back panting in rage and fear.

CONAN: DIE!!! CROM!!! HARR!!! HAH!!! FEEL THE SWORD OF CONAN!!! ARRR!!!

Then as they lifted their spears to cast them, and he
tensed himself to leap and die in the midst of them, a shrill cry
froze the lifted arms. They stood like statues, the black giants
poised for the spear casts, the mailed swordsman with his dripping
blade.

Belit sprang before the blacks, beating down their spears. She turned
toward Conan, her bosom heaving, her eyes flashing. Fierce fingers of
wonder caught at his heart. She was slender, yet formed like a
goddess: at once lithe and voluptuous. Her only garment was a broad
silken girdle. Her white ivory limbs and the ivory globes of her
breasts drove a beat of fierce passion through the Cimmerian’s pulse,
even in the panting fury of battle. Her rich black hair, black as a
Stygian night, fell in rippling burnished clusters down her supple
back. Her dark eyes burned on the Cimmerian.

She was untamed as a desert wind, supple and dangerous as a she-
panther. She came close to him, heedless of his great blade, dripping
with blood of her warriors. Her supple thigh brushed against it, so
close she came to the tall warrior. Her red lips parted as she stared
up into his somber menacing eyes.

BELIT: Who are you? By Ishtar, I have never seen your like, though I have ranged the sea from the coasts of Zingara to the fires of the ultimate south. Whence come you?”

CONAN: From Argos… Belit…

BELIT: You are no soft Hyborian! You are fierce and hard as a gray wolf. Those eyes were never dimmed by city lights; those thews were never softened by life amid marble walls.”

CONAN: I am Conan, a Cimmerian…

Cool huh? I’m polishing my broadsword now (and that isn’t a euphemism for something by the way).

Posted by Jesse Willis

New Podcast: Dial P For Pulp

SFFaudio Online Audio

Dial P For PulpDial P For Pulp is a podcast for anyone interested in any aspect of the pulp magazines and books. Show No.1, just released, features a book review of Hardboiled Cthulhu, an interview with illustrator Tom Roberts about his work on Doc Savage: The Lost Radio Scripts of Lester Dent and also a reading of the first part of Red Shadows a Solomon Kane story by none other than the legendary pulp-master Robert E. Howard!

The first show is available for download |MP3|or you can subscribe to the RSS feed and get and all subsequent shows automatically:

http://dpfp.libsyn.com/rss/podcasts