DANGEROUS ASSIGNMENT, THE OCTOPUS, CAPTAIN FUTURE, AND MORE! FROM RADIO ARCHIVES!
September 21, 2012
“A modern day soldier of fortune finds mystery and intrigue in lands strange and romantic on Dangerous Assignment!”
This ad copy for NBC’s globe hopping adventure of intrigue and espionage captured the essence of Dangerous Assignment perfectly. Each week, Steve Mitchell was summoned to the office of the unnamed agency he worked for by his superior, the Commissioner. There, details of a plot that normally meant harm and death might come to the United States were revealed and Steve would be off on another action packed trip to uncover the plot, rout out the villains, and keep America safe for another week.
Dangerous Assignment is an excellent example of pulpy Post World War II action, especially with its focus on Mitchell. Played by Brian Donlevy in a two fisted, head on style, Mitchell is the sort of hero America looked for in entertainment in the 1950s. Devoutly patriotic, ready to defend the United States at the drop of a hat, and prepared to stand against any menace, mostly foreign, that might endanger the lives of honest Americans. Definitely not the only character to rise out of the paranoia and concern of Americans about Communists and other foreign threats throughout the 1950s, Steve Mitchell is wonderfully conceived in that mold and played to the hilt by Donlevy.
Dangerous Assignment, Volume 2 from Radio Archives features episodes of this classic series restored to sparkling audio quality and full of intrigue, suspense, and humor, making every episode a fun listen for any fan! Ten hours, twenty shows of great fun. $29.98 Audio CDs/$14.99 Download.
Because of your great response, Digital Downloads of any of our Old Time Radio sets will be priced at 50% off the regular Audio CD price through the end of the year. You get the same sparkling high quality audio content as our compact disc collections at a reduced price, Delivery immediately upon payment, and the ability to play them on your phone, computer, or portable device! Purchase the audio collections you love and enjoy them in a whole new way!
Rapid Fire Radio
A Column by Tommy Hancock
Reviews!
Crime Club – Anthology series were a staple in the bygone era of Radio Drama and one of the best examples of that type focused on mystery and suspense was Crime Club. The Crime Club collection from Radio Archives spotlights episodes from the show’s second incarnation, hosted by the rather mysterious Librarian. Listeners thrilled each week to criminals’ vile deeds, dashing detectives’ derring do, and enough mystery to fill a paddy wagon. Based on stories from the Crime Club imprint from Doubleday books, Crime Club is not only a great set of exciting mysteries, but also shows just how well good books are when adapted into great audio! Join the Crime Club yourself today. $29.98 Audio CDs.
Cocoanut Grove Ambassadors, Volume 1 – Back in the 1930s, there was no music like Big Band and there was no better place to hear it than the Cocoanut Grove in Hollywood. The Cocoanut Grove Ambassadors, Volume 1 set features the hottest horns, the best beats, and the finest music of the Big Band Era in the place that anyone who wanted to be anybody went to hear bands led by greats like Phil Harris. This is a stunning bit of time travel, taking the listener back to an era when people spun around on the dance floor and the only kind of band was big! Also, these rare recordings are presented in this collection in stunning audio quality, giving you the feeling that the band is really just across the room. Enjoy a night out in 1930s Hollywood with The Cocoanut Ambassadors, Volume 1 from Radio Archives! $29.98 Audio CDs/$14.99 Download.
Have Gun Will Travel, Volume 1 – “Have Gun, Will Travel Reads the Card of a Man…” This line opens one of the most popular television westerns of all time, featuring the character of Paladin, a man for hire in the Old West. Have Gun, Will Travel Volume 1 from Radio Archives features classic episodes from the radio version of the series, which started after the Television show began. Radio’s Paladin was a bit more sophisticated and gentleman like than the TV version, thanks in large part to actor John Dehner, but the essence of the character was maintained. Paladin was a dangerous man to be on the wrong side of and Dehner blends that restrained ferocity with genteel trappings extremely well. If you want a dose of fun western action, then get Have Gun Will Travel, Volume 1. $29.98 Audio CDs/$14.99 Download.
Of the many detectives that fill pages and thrill OTR listeners, none of them are more unique than Nero Wolfe. Don’t believe me? Listen to The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe collection. Featuring the incredible Sidney Greenstreet as the title character, a role I think he was born to play, this program took the quirky brownstone bound detective and turned a spotlight on him that brought him to cranky, brilliant life. Granted, Wolfe ventured out into the wilds of fresh air more frequently in this show than he did in Rex Stout’s novels and the program went through a variety of actors in search of the right Archie Goodwin, but it’s the character of Wolfe that makes this show stand out as a classic. Set in his ways, curmudgeonly and spoiled, yet a ‘chair bound genius’. That makes great radio. Find out by getting The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe. $29.98 Audio CDs/$14.99 Download.
Read by Joey d’Auria
The origin of Captain Future is the stuff of Science Fiction legend.
Thrilling Publications editor-in-chief Leo Margulies and his main SF man, Mort Weisinger, attended the first World Science Fiction Convention in New York back in 1939. Impressed, Margulies blurted out, “I didn’t think you fans could be so damn sincere!” Huddling, they concocted Captain Future on the spot.
That was the legend. In reality, Margulies and Weisinger had been brainstorming the concept for many months. Conceived as a Doc Savage of the future, Curt Newton was at first called Mr. Future. After the death of his parents, Newton was raised by a trio of surrogate parents—Grag the robot, Otho the android and Simon Wright, a scientist whose brain was kept alive after his body failed. These three reared up Curt in a secret laboratory on the Moon. His mission: to protect planetary peace.
Weisinger turned to the most popular SF writer of his generation, Edmond Hamilton, whose well-received novel starring The Three Planeteers had kicked off the first issue of Startling Stories months before. Known as “The World-Wrecker,” for his audacious star-spanning Space Opera yarns, Hamilton reimagined the new hero as Captain Future, basing the series on The Three Planeteers. The action was set in the far future—the 1990s!
Given his own magazine, the Ace of Space debuted in Captain Future and the Space Emperor, a rollicking romp that raced from the Moon to Jupiter. Backed up by his trusty proton pistol and his three nonhuman aides, Captain Future patrolled the known planets in the Comet, a supercool spaceship that camouflaged itself as a fiery comet.
The exploits of Captain Future thrilled readers from 1940 to 1951, and later became an internationally syndicated Japanese animated TV show. Here is his debut story, narrated in true retro-heterodyne style by Joey d’Auria. $23.98 Audio CDs/$11.99 Download.
By Derrick Ferguson
Most of our heroes in the pulp entertainment we all love and enjoy so well generally make do with two identities. There’s the civilian identity they use to interact with the regular folks during the daytime. And there’s the masked avenger, complete with mask, cape, slouch hat and blazing automatics they are at night. That’s usually more than enough for them to get by and do their job. Not so for Jeffrey Fairchild. He’s got not one but two alter-egos he needs to get his job done. As Jeffrey Fairchild he’s the administrator of a state-of-the-art hospital he built with the fortune left him by his father, a world famous physician. But he’s also kindly Dr. Skull, the elderly East Side practitioner who works the slums to heal the sick. And when some serious medicine has to be dished out he’s also The Skull Killer, a phantom that hunts New York underworld crusading against crime and criminals.
And he needs an extra identity to confront The Octopus, a truly bizarre super criminal who unleashes a hideous plague that turns ordinary men and women into horribly disgusting creatures that look like the grandchildren of Cthulhu.
Radio Archives has produced another nail-biting, action-packed audiobook in The Octopus: The City Condemned To Hell. It’s a bit more nightmarish in scope than other audiobooks I’ve heard from Radio Archives and that’s a testament to the always superb production values that assures listeners another suspenseful listening experience that picks you up and carries you along for a fun, if frightening ride. As usual, I intended to listen to just a few chapters at a time but that trick never works. I settled in and listened to the entire thing in one sitting and I can think of no higher compliment to pay to yet another excellent Radio Archives production.
Receive an exciting original Spider adventure for FREE! 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.
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 get a copy of this classic.
See what the Total Pulp Experience is for yourself. These exciting pulp adventures have been beautifully reformatted for easy reading as an eBook and features every story, every editorial, and every column of the original pulp magazine.
Send an eMail to eBooks@RadioArchives.com and start reading your FREE copy of the Spider #11 within seconds! Experience The Best Pulps the Past has to offer in the most modern way possible!
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 eReader! Presenting Pulp Icons such as the Spider and Operator #5 as well as wonderfully obscure characters like the Octopus and more, Will Murray’s Pulp Classics brings you the best of yesterday’s Pulp today!
The Spider heard the first dread rumors in the secret councils of the Underworld. A keen-witted, ambitious criminal leader named El Gaucho — backed by a powerful army of brutal killers — was pillaging the West. Looting, ravaging, slaughtering wantonly, the master-mind of crime was ruthlessly following a plan which would make him King of America! Richard Wentworth — the debonair aristocrat who is in truth the deadly Spider, protector of the oppressed — knew that he must strike quickly, or die! For Wentworth, ever running a double risk, forced now to sacrifice a brave, dear friend to ghastly torture, faced a grim, new danger in the bounty-hunters who wanted to collect El Gaucho’s reward — its own weight of the purest gold for the Spider’s head! Total Pulp Experience. These exciting pulp adventures have been beautifully reformatted for easy reading as an eBook and features every story, every editorial, and every column of the original pulp magazine.
They came at night — the clouds of blood-thirsting, poisonous vampire bats — led by a strange man-thing who flew high in the black sky, directing their horrible slaughter. Blood was their desire, and they sucked it from the veins of helpless infants, from the white throats and breasts of frantic women, from the hands and faces of terrorized men. While the authorities doubted and dallied, one man — Richard Wentworth, that brilliant aristocrat who, as the dread Spider, strikes terror in the Underworld — realized that this was another of the devastating onslaughts of lawless genius. Never before was the Spider so badly handicapped. With his beloved Nita captive, his loyal servants out of the battle, himself unarmed and pursued by law and criminal, he must fight the greatest battle of his life when every chance seems lost and every hope is gone..! Total Pulp Experience. These exciting pulp adventures have been beautifully reformatted for easy reading as an eBook and features every story, every editorial, and every column of the original pulp magazine. As a special bonus, Will Murray has written an introduction especially for this series of eBooks.
Out of the East, eight centuries ago, the first Mongol Horde rode forth under the mighty Genghis Khan, and became the first ‘yellow threat’ to the West. Now a new one has reared, to which that ancient invasion stands as a mere escapade. High-explosives! Deadly bacteria! Poison gases! Flaming thermite! The greatest cities in the West lying in smoking ruins; invaders gutting the very heart of our nation! How can Operator 5, betrayed, condemned, hunted by his own countrymen, fight both them and the enemy? How can he save, from a subjection more horrible than death, the beloved land of his birth? Total Pulp Experience. These exciting pulp adventures have been beautifully reformatted for easy reading as an eBook and features every story, every editorial, and every column of the original pulp magazine. As a special bonus, Will Murray has written an introduction especially for this series of eBooks.
Curt Newton, Joan Randall and the Futuremen cruise into a strange world peopled with weird, pallid inhabitants, on the quest of a lost satellite which was mysteriously plucked from the sky!… 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. The exploits of Captain Future, Wizard of Science, originally appeared in the pages of Captain Future and Startling Stories magazines back in the days before NASA’s manned space program. Captain Future returns in these vintage pulp tales, reissued for today’s readers in electronic format.
Out of the night as the city slept, hideously deformed monsters that once were men and women came crawling from their underground sanctuaries… And a panic-mad populace searched for Dr. Skull, condemned of bringing millions of innocent men, women and children to ghastly destruction! The Octopus — fiend of evil! He appeared once, in a single pulp magazine issue, and never appeared again. The magazine never made to a series, for some reason. It was over-the-top action and audacious weird-menace thrills. A classic, the likes of which has never been seen again! One of the rare supernatural series the pulps, The Octopus returns in this vintage pulp tale, reissued for today’s readers in electronic format. Total Pulp Experience. These exciting pulp adventures have been beautifully reformatted for easy reading as an eBook and features every story, every editorial, and every column of the original pulp magazine.
All eBooks produced by Radio Archives are available in ePub, Mobi, and PDF formats for the ultimate in compatibility. When you upgrade to a new eReader, you can transfer your eBook 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! and RadioArchives.com!
Radio Archives is very proud to announce that we have Upgraded all of our Pulp eBooks, and you can upgrade the eBooks you have purchased from Radio Archives for FREE.
We have upgraded every one of the Will Murray’s Pulp Classics eBooks. We made the eBooks look better by polishing the formatting, making the graphics crisper, and a new Table of Contents when you open the book just like in a pulp magazine. As part of the upgrade every eBook has been proof-read several times so you can enjoy these wonderful pulp stories as they were written.
We made it easier to purchase by eliminating the zipfile. Buy a Will Murray’s Pulp Classic from your iPad or other mobile reading device, and be reading within seconds. There is no need for a desktop computer.
When you see the Radio Archives brand on a product, you can be assured of its excellence.
Customers who have purchased the previous eBooks can upgrade to the new versions at no additional cost. Send an email to Service@RadioArchives.com and we will send the instructions on how to upgrade.
The Master of Darkness investigates baffling mysteries in two classic pulp novels by Walter B. Gibson writing as “Maxwell Grant.” First, The Shadow must unravel the baffling mystery of “The Ribbon Clues” to stop a serial killer and unearth hidden millions! Then, to unmask a diabolical supercrook, The Shadow follows a bizarre trail of murder that leads from San Francisco to Chicago and Manhattan as “Death Rides the Skyway” in an thrill-packed tale of industrial sabotage and deadly greed. This instant collector’s item showcases both classic pulp covers by George Rozen and the original interior illustrations by legendary artist Tom Lovell, with historical commentary by Will Murray. Buy it today for $14.95.
The pulp era’s greatest superman returns in two titanic tales by Lester Dent writing as “Kenneth Robeson.” First, the unbelievable sight of “The Man Who Fell Up” sets Doc and Pat Savage on the trail of the Man of Bronze’s missing aides and a super-weapon that could change the course of World War II. Then, the FBI wrongly links Doc Savage and his aides to brutal outbreaks of mindless insanity! Can the Man of Bronze elude the G-Men long enough to solve the incredible mystery of “The Three Wild Men”? This double-novel collector’s edition features both original color pulp covers by Emery Clarke, Paul Orban’s classic interior illustrations and historical commentary by Will Murray, writer of ten Doc Savage novels. Buy it today for $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 “Laboratory Of The Damned” (1936), Poisoned! Struck down by a deadly assault from a mad murderer, the Spider finds his friend Stanley Kirkpatrick, Commissioner of Police, doomed to a stupor of living death. Nor is he the only victim… also stricken with the dread malady is Richard Wentworth’s fiancee, Nita van Sloan! The Spider battles both the Law and the Underworld to survive! Then, in “Hell’s Sales Manager” (1940), The Brand wields a weird new weapon that sucks everything in its path into a vortex of destruction! How can even the Master of Men fight an enemy that seems to simply vanish? While this reign of terror goes unchecked, the Spider finds his every effort hampered by a human bloodhound assigned to track down and eliminate him. 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!
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.
By John Olsen
The identity of the sinister figure known as “Death’s Harlequin” is a mystery. He’s a strange, costumed superspy who is working to cripple America!
What we know of this sinister figure is strange, to say the least. He is only known by the name “Number One.” He dresses in a Harlequin’s costume, a shapeless black satin smock with wide white ruffles at the neck and huge white ornamental buttons. But his face… his face is horrible. It’s the face of a dead man; a living corpse in the costume of a Harlequin!
Number One is working to destroy America’s ability to enter the war; all this under the direction of a warlike foreign dictator. And The Shadow must stop him, free the innocent blackmail victims from their evil grasp, and reveal the hidden identity of the head of the spy ring. Whew! The Shadow’s going to be one busy hero!
This story was written by Theodore Tinsley, not Walter Gibson. Tinsley was faithful to Gibson’s writing style. He is known, however, for a bit more sex and violence than is Gibson. And in this story, that reputation is well-deserved.
Tinsley’s villain is a true sadist. A shrill giggle from his thin lips shows that he enjoys the torture and death. He’s depicted as a real degenerate. Tinsley’s graphic descriptions of sadistic torture and murder exceed what Gibson ever did.
Number One only employs women. Five women. When one is eliminated for whatever reason, she is replaced with a new recruit. All five are dressed identically in a white silk swimsuit, a rubber bathing cap and a slitted white mask. None can identify any of the others, even when all five meet together in the secret headquarters below Madame Alyce’s beauty establishment.
The sinister Number One carries a unique weapon. It looks like a wide-muzzled tear-gas pistol. Instead of a bullet, it spits out a quick puff of brownish vapor in a tiny dark cloud that surrounds its victim, meaning instant death.
A final note is regarding a strange metal in Number One’s underground lair. It’s a queer shiny alloy that’s used to panel the secret rooms and jail cells. This unknown alloy of grayish steel has the unique property of being able to disappear. Number One can spy on the prisoners in his jail cells.
So, for a great spy novel, with trap-doors, underground tunnels, hidden rooms, secret headquarters and all the usual Shadow twists and turns, this one can’t be beat!
Get this tale and another classic Shadow novel in The Shadow, Volume 19 for $12.95 from Radio Archives!
Comments From Our Customers!
Christopher Southworth writes:
Thanks in advance for performing the upgrade – nothing is more frustrating to me than settling in to read a book which hasn’t been formatted correctly or contains typos. I’m very curious to see the letter columns to get the feel for how the novels were received at the time of initial publishing.
Kent Hare writes:
Let me commend you on making the backup features and columns available. That’s an area of the old pulps that I’ve always been interested in but not really been able to check out for myself other than very occasional reprints.
Ian Douglas writes:
I would certainly like to have my previously ordered ebooks from RadioArchive upgraded. Thank you for the offer; and keep up the great work.
Charles R.L. Power writes:
Please send the upgrade instructions, thanks. I thought your books were remarkably well formatted already, particularly in comparison with some other distributors who don’t seem to understand the ebook formats at all. But I don’t object to improvements on excellent.
Jeff Thomason writes:
I just received the email newsletter telling me about upgraded eBooks. I’m very excited about this. How do I download the updated versions?
Robert Craig writes:
I love the the concept of the Total Pulp Reprint Experience! I’m going to love all of the extra goodies now included with each ebook. As a regular purchaser of your ebooks (I’ve bought each and everyone that you’ve produced!), I’m thrilled by the upgrade, and I’m looking forward to re-downloading my collection. Well worth the wee bit of extra effort on my part…thanks for doing the heavy lifting on your end! I chatted with Will Murray at PulpFest last month…and he said that I would be thrilled with what was to come from Radio Archives. He was right! Thanks again for the great packaging of these digital pulp treasures.
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We received quite a few comments about the FREE Spider eBook. A few are listed below.
Thanks so much for this offer. I’ve purchased radio show CDs from you in the past, but this will be a good opportunity to sample your eBook wares.
Thanks for the chance to see what these pulp books are about…I have read your many reviews and I am curious…
Sounds great
Would like to take advantage of your generous offer of a sample free Spider ebook
This is both very generous and nice of Radio Archives to offer this free eBook (Spider). I’m a big fan of Doc Savage, yet have never read the Spider. I look forward to reading this.
I love the Spider, send me my free book
Please send me the free ebook. Looking forward to sampling and if I like it, I will buy more. Thank you.
I have over 45 volumes of your great Shadow, Avenger, The Whisperer novels. I would love a copy of The Spider in PC form.
I am willing to sample your eBook offerings (and have been curious about them for a while).
FREE?! You’re giving away something as awesome as a Spider pulp adventure for FREE? Well, you can’t pass up a deal like that! Please send! Thanks.
I’d like to try these new format eBooks. Can I please get a copy of Spider #11?
I’ve been a Murray fan since the Destroyer series FIRST came out, a pulp fan since early 70s, and I’ve read half dozen or so Spider novels. I am looking forward to sampling these stories!
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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