RAPID FIRE RADIO, THE MOON POOL, DOC SAVAGE, AND MORE FROM RADIO ARCHIVES!
June 1, 2012
Rapid Fire Radio
A Column by Tommy Hancock
Reviews!
The Lives of Harry Lime, Volume 1 – Long before the term was even invented, Orson Welles brought one of entertainment’s most loved and hated anti heroes to life. The Lives of Harry Lime, Volume 1 collects 20 episodes spotlighting Lime’s escapades prior to his first appearance (and death) in the film ‘The Third Man’. Welles brings the skill, talent, and most definitely the irascible charm that typifies many of the roles he played, both on radio and screen. Combine that with exotic locales, strong supporting cast, and stories that were better written than most on the air at the time, and the Lives of Harry Lime, Volume 1 definitely stands out as a Radio Classic! And it’s yours today for $29.98 from Radio Archives!
The Weird Circle, Volume 1 – Radio Drama in the Twentieth Century saw many shows featuring new stories of horror, terror, and strangeness. One program, however, chose to reach a bit farther back into the past and share classic tales of suspense and chills with then modern audiences and did it extremely well. The Seminal works of terror from Edgar Allan Poe, Wilkie Collins, And Balzac (along with classic standards from Dickens, Bronte, and more) performed and restored at top quality! The Weird Circle, Volume 1, contains twenty consecutive episodes as aired in 1943-44! Need a bit of fright in the night? Then enter The Weird Circle, Volume 1 for only $29.98 at Radio Archives!
Date with The Duke – Although the early 20th Century is rife with musicians who pioneered new musical forms, who reached heights most only dream of, and who still ring strong in the memories of fans today, none had a greater impact perhaps than Duke Ellington. Not only a consummate performer, Ellington exemplified the way one person could turn himself into both a household name and a popular piece of American Culture. Date with The Duke, collecting twenty episodes of the show, is just a shimmer of the bright star that Ellington (and all those who played and sang for and with him) still is today in Entertainment. Find out how much fun music can be by getting Date with The Duke today for only $29.98.
All-Star Western Theatre – Missing the days of singing cowboys, blazing six shooting, dashing heroes, and hilarious high plains antics? Want your dose of all that in a radio show? Then All Star Western is for you! Featuring guest stars, mostly prominent Western film actors, and spotlighting the music of Foy Willing and the Riders of the Purple Sage, All Star Western is the closest radio could come to a Saturday afternoon matinee! Equal parts country and western music, fast galloping ten gallon adventure, and enough humor to shoe a horse, All Star Western is definitely a whole passel of fun! Only $29.98 from Radio Archives! Character Spotlight!
Riverdale, USA! A small town many have visited for over 70 years in the pages of Archie Comics is home to one of the best-known teen characters ever! And that red headed romance tangled adolescent has also taken up residence at Radio Archives! Laugh out loud as Archie juggles Betty and Veronica and gets head over heels in and out of trouble with Jughead, all with the lovable charm he’s won fans over with for seven decades! Enjoy The Adventures of Archie Andrews, 7 hours on CD, for only $20.98 at Radio Archives!
Hancock’s Favorite Episodes!
Want to know what shows I can’t help but listen to over and over? Each newsletter, I’ll share an all time favorite episode of a program available from Radio Archives and how You can enjoy it as well!
“A Man With a Scar” – Richard Diamond, Private Detective, Volume 1
Private Eye Richard Diamond (played to the hilt by Dick Powell) brings all his dry wit and charm to this fantastic story. Hired to help the son of a parole board member who believes he murdered a man, Diamond jokes and punches his way through murder that may not be and potential blackmail. This story has all the staples of a good Diamond episode, including the song at the end, but the tale itself is the star. It proves so strong that Blake Edwards, the scribe of ‘Richard Diamond’ brought it to TV almost verbatim in an episode of “Peter Gunn!” Find ‘A Man With a Scar’ on ‘Richard Diamond Private Detective, Volume 1 for $29.98 at Radio Archives!
“Weird Tales” was a proposed radio series recorded in Hollywood in 1932 and based on stories in the famous horror themed Pulp of the same name, notable for featuring such iconic authors as Robert E. Howard and H.P. Lovecraft. The series was produced by Hollywood Radio Attractions, 4376 Sunset Drive, Hollywood. In a promotional flyer for the program, they advertise three episodes that had been produced and the company was planning to record a total of 52 half-hour shows. Scholars looking at the history of “Weird Tales” magazine have heard about the series for years, but no recordings of the shows themselves or many detail about the series have surfaced until now.
Radio Archives is giving you a chance to hear an episode of Weird Tales for Free! Similar to “The Witch’s Tale”, the show was created in such a way that they could be played as one half-hour program each week or split into two fifteen minute shows, completing one story each week. Click the Weird Tales Banner and listen to the Weird Tales radio show today!
Where does fantasy end and horror begin? Is there beauty in terror? Does horror possess a spiritual dimension? In these five classic tales written by acknowledged masters of the supernatural, these haunting questions are explored…but not fully answered.
Each of these timeless tales takes us to a different zone of terror, whether in a faraway land, or in a hidden pocket of the past. They strum chords in us we hardly suspect exist. They evoke our deepest fears as a kind of eerie wonder. And they whisper to our innermost souls that the reality we in which we dwell may be only one of many interpenetrating realms where mankind coexists in blind, uneasy ignorance….
First, in A. Merritt’s haunting “The Moon Pool,” we journey to the South Seas, where a moonlit pool hidden among the ruins of an ancient civilization conceals an inhabitant not of this Earth. “The Moon Pool,” is narrated by Joey D’Auria.
“The House and the Brain,” also known as “The Haunted and the Haunters” by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, explores the haunted house genre in a seminal story that inspired countless imitators. As you will hear, this is no ordinary ghost story. “The House and the Brain” is read by Doug Stone.
H. P. Lovecraft next takes us to Ireland for “The Moon-Bog,” one of his earliest eerie tales. “The Moon-Bog,” is told by Joey D’Auria.
Is “The Great God Pan” loose in the Welsh countryside? If so, what deviltry is he committing? Arthur Machen’s classic tale reveals the horrific answer. “The Great God Pan” is recounted by John Shelton.
Finally, H. P. Lovecraft returns us to our lunar theme in “What the Moon Brings,” voiced by Joey D’Auria.
The Spider Returns on “Wings of the Black Death”
A scourge not seen since the Middle Ages descends on America’s largest city, wielded by a criminal mastermind who threatens to wipe out New York … and reveal The Spider’s true identity in the process!
“Wings of the Black Death”, Norvell W. Page’s inaugural novel as author of The Spider, is now available in a deluxe audiobook from RadioArchives.com!
Following on the success of RadioArchives.com first Spider audiobook, “Prince of the Red Looters”, this new audio adventure pits Richard Wentworth, alias The Spider, against the first of a long line of evil malefactors devised by Page that would inhabit the webbed crusader’s life for the next ten years.
The Spider Battles a Vicious Foe
In “Wings of the Black Death”, Manhattan is under siege from a new brand of terrorist – a human monster who calls himself the Black Death. Unless the city fathers pay a monumental ransom, New York will become a city of unspeakable destruction.
As Will Murray says in his introduction, “With his first white-heat story, Norvell W. Page remade Richard Wentworth into a messianic avenger unlike anything pulp readers ever read before. Driven, deadly, The Spider was a daredevil caught between the law that branded him as a criminal and the underworld he terrorized with his metallic laugh and searing lead.”
Dynamic Narration and Production
Produced by Roger Rittner, with full period music score and extensive sound effects, “Wings of the Black Death”, like its predecessor, is narrated by Nick Santa Maria, with Robin Riker as Nita Van Sloan.
“Listeners who enjoyed ‘Prince of the Red Looters’ will delight in Nick’s dynamic narration,” Roger says, “as well as an extended and enhanced role for Robin as Nita battles the malevolent Black Death on her own. Will Wentworth come to the rescue? (Do you have to ask?)”
by Derrick Ferguson
The first thing you need to know about The Jade Ogre is that this sucker is long. 12 hours to be exact. Now, I don’t point this out to complain as The Jade Ogre is a Doc Savage adventure of truly epic proportions that fully deserves the length. I only mention this going in because I can usually listen to a Radio Archives audiobook in an afternoon as they’re perfectly made for me to listen as I’m doing household chores inside or out. But you’ll probably have to make time to listen to The Jade Ogre in separate chunks.
But anyway you choose to listen to it, you’ll have a rollercoaster of a listen. The action takes place in wildly different settings such as San Francisco, an ocean liner, and the deepest, most forbidden jungles of Cambodia which adds that international flavor I do so love in Doc Savage adventures. Unlike other pulp heroes, Doc’s turf is the entire world and I enjoy reading or in this case, listening to Doc Savage adventures that reflect this aspect of The Man of Bronze.
An added treat is that we get Doc’s spitfire cousin, Pat Savage in on this adventure, along with Monk and Ham. And this audiobook has one of the most bizarre and formidable villains Doc has ever faced: Quon, The Jade Ogre who strikes out to slay his victims with disembodied flying arms. And no, it doesn’t sound as ridiculous as it reads. In fact, The Jade Ogre gives Doc some of the roughest, most difficult challenges in his entire career.
Michael McConnohie is without a doubt the star of the show and I mean this most sincerely. Due to the unusual length of The Jade Ogre, there are quite naturally more characters to voice and Mr. McConnohie performs these different characters with his usual skill and professionalism. It never fails to amaze me how one person can perform so many different characters and make them all sound totally different from each other.
The Jade Ogre is quite simply an epic that I am glad was done in an unabridged form. Don’t let the length scare you away. If you’re a fan of Doc Savage or of Radio Archives’ marvelous pulp audiobooks then this is one you can’t pass by. The Jade Ogre for only $37.98 from Radio Archives today!
The best of timeless Pulp now available as cutting edge Ebooks! Will Murray’s Pulp Classics brings the greatest heroes, awesome action, and two fisted thrills to your E-Reader! Presenting Pulp Icons such as the Spider and Operator 5 as well as wonderfully obscure characters like Doctor Death and more, Will Murray’s Pulp Classics brings you the best of yesterday’s Pulp today!
Five new golden age Pulp tales exquisitely reformatted into visually stunning E-books!
With terrible swiftness, the Master of the Green Death had struck. His victims lay in the streets, verdant-hued and ghastly — and the Underworld, which he had protected against all reprisal, ran riot in a Manhattan horror-holiday of loot and murder! Another epic exploit of America’s best-loved pulp-fiction character of the 1930s and 1940s: The Spider — Master of Men! As a special Bonus, Will Murray has written an introduction: “Meet the Spider” especially for this series of eBooks.
When that first whine rose in the throat of a fellow worker and turned into a screaming, tearing dog-like howl, Nita van Sloan, laboring in a war factory, quickly summoned the Spider… And the Spider found a city mad with terror, its population fighting each other to escape the death that turned humans into howling maniacs… A grim, stark story with exciting, breath-taking action on every page — a story you will remember with startling clarity every time you hear a dog howl in the night… not a story for a faint-hearted reader! Another epic exploit of America’s best-loved pulp-fiction character of the 1930s and 1940s: The Spider — Master of Men! As a special Bonus, Will Murray has written an introduction: “Meet the Spider” especially for this series of eBooks.
by A. Merritt, H.P. Lovecraft, and others
Where does fantasy end and horror begin? Is there beauty in terror? Does horror possess a spiritual dimension? In these five classic tales written by acknowledged masters of the supernatural, these disturbing questions are explored…but not fully answered.
In his famous essay, “Supernatural Horror in Literature,” horror master H. P. Lovecraft singled out several novelettes as classics. Lovecraft, the 20th century’s greatest practitioner of his craft, was widely read and had impeccable taste in the literature of the fantasy and the supernatural. We’ve collected some of the most memorable of those stories Lovecraft praised for The Moon Pool and other Wonders.
Ride With Curt Newton, the world’s greatest space-farer, and the Futuremen as they leave the known star trails to penetrate the source of cosmic rays, the very core of the universe! Captain Future… the Ace of Space! Born and raised on the moon, Curt Newton survived the murder of his scientist parents to become the protector of the galaxy known as Captain Future. With his Futuremen, Grag the giant robot, Otho, the shape-shifting android and Simon Wright, the Living Brain, he patrols the solar system in the fastest space ship ever constructed, the Comet, pursuing human monsters and alien threats to Earth and her neighbor planets.
Curt Newton leads his valiant band of Futuremen in the thrilling campaign to preserve a priceless Lunar heritage! Captain Future… the Ace of Space! Born and raised on the moon, Curt Newton survived the murder of his scientist parents to become the protector of the galaxy known as Captain Future. With his Futuremen, Grag the giant robot, Otho, the shape-shifting android and Simon Wright, the Living Brain, he patrols the solar system in the fastest space ship ever constructed, the Comet, pursuing human monsters and alien threats to Earth and her neighbor planets.
When you purchase these beautifully reformatted eBooks from RadioArchives.com you receive all three formats in one ZIP file: PDF for PC or Mac computer; Mobi for Kindle and ePub for iPad/IPhone, Android, Sony eReader, and Nook. When you upgrade to a new eReader, you can transfer your eBook novels to your new device without the need to purchase anything new.
Find these legendary Pulp tales and more in Will Murray’s Pulp Classics, now available in the Kindle store and the Barnes and Noble Nook store! The best Pulp eBooks now available for only $2.99 each from Radio Archives!
1 cent Spider eBook!
For a limited time you can now download an exciting original Spider adventure for just one thin penny! Part of the Will Murray Pulp Classics line, The Spider #11, Prince of the Red Looters first saw print in 1934 and features his momentous battle with The Fly and his armies of crazed criminal killers. Their motto? Why “KILL THE SPIDER!” of course.
For those who have been unsure about digging into the wonderful world of pulps this is a perfect opportunity to give one of these fantastic yarns a real test run. With a full introduction to the Spider written by famed pulp historian and author Will Murray, The Spider #11 was written by one of pulp’s most respected authors, Norvell W. Page. Writing as Grant Stockbridge, Page’s stories included some of the most bizarre and fun takes on heroes and crime fighting in the history of escapist fiction.
Even today Page’s scenarios and his edge-of-the-seat writing style are still thrilling both new and old fans everywhere. For those who have never read one of these rollercoaster adventures, you are in for a thrill. If you already know how much fun a classic pulp is, make sure you download this bargain.
All eBooks produced by Radio Archives are available in ePub, Mobi, and PDF formats for the ultimate in compatibility. When you purchase this eBook from RadioArchives.com you receive all three formats in one ZIP file. When you upgrade to a new eReader, you can transfer your Spider novels to your new device without the need to purchase anything new. Use the PDF version when reading on your PC or Mac computer. If you have a Kindle, the Mobi version is what you want. If you have an iPad/iPhone, Android, Sony eReader or Nook, then the ePub version is what you want.
Altus Press is proud to announce the release of the third volume in its acclaimed Wild Adventures of Doc Savage series, written by Will Murray and Lester Dent, writing as Kenneth Robeson.
Set in the Fall of 1936, The Infernal Buddha tells the epic story of Doc Savage’s desperate quest to control the Buddha of Ice, a relic of unknown origin—and what may become the most dangerous object on Earth!
When a mummy arrives at Doc Savage’s New York headquarters wearing the clothes of his missing assistant, engineer Renny Renwick, Doc, Monk, and Ham rush to Singapore where they get on the trail of a swashbuckling pirate who calls himself the Scourge of the South China Sea, in whose hands a piece of the infernal Buddha has fallen. The trail leads to Pirate Island, the fate of Renny, and a mysterious box containing a terrible, unstoppable power.
But that is only the beginning of the quest into which the Man of Bronze plunges—one that will take him to the upper reaches of the Yellow Sea and a series a wild ocean battles against the vicious factions fighting for control on the infernal Buddha.
Before it is all over, every human life on Earth will tremble on the brink of eternity, and Doc Savage will face his greatest test.
“This may be my wildest Doc novel to date,” says author Will Murray. “The Infernal Buddha is a fantasy epic full of corsairs, criminals and other culprits. The menace is planetary. The threat, extinction. Doc Savage has a reputation for saving the world. This time he does it on the greatest scale possible. I began this book back in 1992, working from an opening situation Lester Dent started in 1935. Together, we have produced a true Doc Savage epic. And it only took about 75 years….”
The Infernal Buddha features a startling cover painted by Joe DeVito, depicting Doc Savage as the Buccaneer of Bronze! This cover was painted from a still taken in 1964 of legendary model Steve Holland, and is a variant pose shot for famed illustrator James Bama’s classic cover to The Man of Bronze. There has never been a Doc cover like it! Buy it today for only $24.95 from Radio Archives.
Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows! The Master of Darkness battles supercrime in thrilling pulp novels by Walter B. Gibson and Theodore Tinsley writing as “Maxwell Grant.” First, the Master of Darkness follows “The Triple Trail” that could lead to a million-dollar art treasure, in one of Walter Gibson’s all-time greatest masterpieces of misdirection! Then, The Shadow attempts to rescue his loyal agent from the clutches of the “Murder Genius” in Theodore Tinsley’s violent sequel to “The Prince of Evil.” This instant collector’s item showcases the original color covers by Graves Gladney and George Rozen plus the classic interior illustrations by legendary illustrators Tom Lovell and Edd Cartier, with historical commentary by Will Murray. BONUS: a thrilling adventure of Police Commissioner James Gordon, a.k.a. The Whisperer! Buy it today for $14.95.
The pulp era’s greatest superman returns in interconnected pulp thrillers by Lester Dent writing as “Kenneth Robeson.” First, the Man of Bronze and his Iron Men travel to “Pirate Isle” to rescue Johnny Littlejohn from the master criminal, Lord London. Then, the action continues as Doc Savage uncovers a lost civilization as he searches for the strange secret behind “The Speaking Stone” that speaks with the missing Monk Mayfair’s voice. This double-novel collector’s edition features both classic color pulp covers by Emery Clarke, Paul Orban’s classic interior illustrations and historical commentary by Will Murray, writer of nine Doc Savage novels. Priced at only $14.95.
One of the top crime-fighters from the golden age of pulp fiction, The Spider returns in two thrill-packed adventures written by Norvell Page under the pseudonym of Grant Stockbridge. First, in “The Spider and the Scarlet Surgeon” (1941), With unheard of skill, the Red Surgeon can change a patient into an imbecile… or a genius of crime! Not only can he alter the physical shell, but this mad doctor can even amputate parts of a victim’s personality, even their conscience. And his greatest ambition is to operate on none other than Stanley Kirkpatrick, Nita van Sloan… and the Spider! Then, in “The Spider and the Death Piper” (1942), Weird compelling music lures the inhabitants of Martinsville to suicide! By ones and twos at first, then in a stampede of maddened self-destruction. Even Richard Wentworth, with the iron will of the Spider, felt the irresistible calling of that Devil-tune! Can even the Master of Men prevail against an unearthly power that goads the listener to suicide? These two exciting pulp adventures have been beautifully reformatted for easy reading and feature both of the original full color covers as well as interior illustrations that accompany each story. Available now for $14.95!
By John Olsen
“Road of Crime” is a story of one man’s journey from the evil clutches of crime to the freedom of honest, clean living. And it’s all due to… you guessed it… the love of a good woman. And, of course, the just actions of The Shadow.
As our story opens, we meet our proxy hero Graham Wellerton. When we meet Wellerton, he’s one of Manhattan’s top bank robbers and mob lieutenant for King Furzman. And he’s just successfully knocked off the Terminal National Bank for thousands of dollars. But he’s not overly pleased with his success. Already the stirrings of a guilty conscience are beginning to make themselves evident.
The Shadow is involved from the very beginning. He has followed another of King Furzman’s lieutenants, “Wolf” Daggert, from the scene of a failed bank holdup which Daggert had attempted. He tracked Daggert to King Furzman. And while surreptitiously watching Furzman, he encountered Graham Wellerton.
Graham Wellerton, along with his gang, is heading out of Manhattan for Michigan where he plans a string of bank robberies in the mid-west. Wolf Daggert follows and takes over the gang, leaving Wellerton stranded several hundred miles short of Michigan. And that’s where young Wellerton’s gradual conversion from crime begins.
The tale is unlike most of Walter Gibson’s Shadow pulp mysteries. We follow a young man forced into crime as he gradually climbs his way up to respectability and eventually wealth.
As was typical in these very early Shadow stories, The Shadow plays only a minor role. He remains in the background, stepping in at crucial moments to help shape the destiny of this one young man. The Shadow’s part, though not large, is vital. And when he does show up, he dispenses justice with his huge automatics. And the dead bodies quickly begin to fall.
This is one of the more unique Shadow pulp stories. It’s a tale of redemption; one man’s fight to pull himself from the quicksand of crime. Young Graham Wellerton. We watch as he struggles with his conscience and finally regains the path of right and lawfulness. It reads very unlike most of the other Shadow stories. But I really liked it. A nice change of pace that I can recommend.
Read ‘Road of Crime’ and another full length Shadow novel in The Shadow Volume 11 from Radio Archives for only $12.95!
Comments From Our Customers!
C. Southworth writes:
I’m looking forward to seeing more issues online for Operator #5 soon!
Allan Smith from England writes:
Once more I have saved up some money to spend in great pleasure with you. Cheers and thanks in advance from England.
Pat Flannagan writes:
THANKS for that clip from the series Weird Tales. The sound quality was surprisingly good as was the acting. The writing however was dreadul. Perhaps that’s the real reason the show wasn’t picked up for a series. Shame though because if it had been maybe more people could have found out about H.P. Lovecraft’s works in his own day. Again, thanks for the clip.
Barney McCasland writes:
I agree that Wings of the Black Death was the best yet. Can’t wait for more of The Spider’s adventures. Also looking forward to more of The Black Bat, Green Lama and Doc Savage.
If you’d like to share a comment with us or if you have a question or a suggestion send an email to Service@RadioArchives.com. We’d love to hear from you!
The products you’ve read about in this newsletter are just a small fraction of what you’ll find waiting for you at RadioArchives.com. Whether it’s the sparkling audio fidelity of our classic radio collections, the excitement of our new line of audiobooks, or the timeless novels of the pulp heroes, you’ll find hundreds of intriguing items at RadioArchives.com.
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