We kick off our Sci-Fi February with Great Northern Audio Theater’s fanciful anti-saga, Thwack That Dirigible!, performed before a live audience at last year’s Mark Time Awards ceremony during the CONVergence CON for science fiction and fantasy media in Bloomington, MN.

Brian Price of Great Northern Audio Theater, who directed this piece that was also produced by his frequent collaborator, Jerry Stearns, joins us after our feature to give us an update on the upcoming 15th Anniversary Mark Time Awards which will feature some very special guests.

Brian also reminds producers they have till March 1st, 2012 to submit their sci-fi or fantasy/horror audio dramas for the competition by visiting the registration and information page at Great Northern Audio.

Finally, we get a personal glimpse at how former Texas Gulf Coaster Captain Radio™ is getting along with Old Man Winter on Fred’s rural Maine goat farm.

Listen carefully and you’ll hear an audio cameo appearance by Tanja Milojevic from Lightning Bolt Theater of the Mind.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast264.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 264

Today we stagger back from a GREAT trip out west to Minneapolis, Minnesota for the CONvergence science fiction and fantasy convention (known to you Twitterers as #cvg2011).

We received the 2010 Silver Mark Time for FinalRune‘s production The Cleansed: Episode Zero and celebrated with other winners, including Jonathan Mitchell (who created the spectacular Moon Graffiti), Matthew and Monique Boudreau and Samantha Mason of 1918, Domien and Eline of The Witch Hunter Chronicles, Cayenne Chris Conroy of TEKDIFF, and Jack Ward of Electric Vicuna/The Sonic Society rounding out this year’s winners, plus Brian Price, Jerry Stearns and Kris Markman of Great Northern Audio Theater, Jeff Adams of Icebox Radio Theater, and Scott Hickey of The Grist Mill.  That’s a lot of sonic energy!

We talk to these folks, recap the experience at CONvergence, and go on to play 1918 Season One in its entirety. And did I mention Captain Radio‘s great review of the Hazardous Players’ production Knighttime? Stay tuned…

Download audio file (rdr-podcast233.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 233

Matthew Boudreau, a stellar audio engineer and colleague from over at Audio Drama Talk, has kept me in the loop about the development of his new audio drama, 1918. The show promises absurd writing, a tight cast, and excellent production values. Here’s a quick trailer:

1918 Trailer 1 – More are Coming from Aural Stage Studios on Vimeo.

Here’s a blurb about the show from its creators:

It’s 1918 and aliens have crash landed on the planet. At the climax of World War I, Axis and Allied scientist are racing to find uses for alien technology. Triplanes and Sopwith camels are rigged with laser systems. Believed dead after being shot down, Manfred Von Richtofen, the infamous Red Baron is restored to health as a cybornetic robot and enlisted to aid Germany in it’s quest to fight the return of the aliens. But the key to their quest lies in the hands – or rather the voice – of a talented, capable and tenacious vocalist, Evelyn Ceriwyn, and the bumbling, but charming scientist, Dr. Henry Isotope.

Be sure to tune into the show at http://www.1918show.com/ on March 1!

Audio fans delight, there is fresh Jack Flanders to be had.  And boy, is it steamy.

As we showcased a few weeks back with Lady Windemere’s Brass Fantabulous, ZBS has been on a steampunk kick, culminating in the release of the newest Jack Flanders adventure, Steam Dreamers of Inverness.

In this tale, we’re invited back to that magical place, with thousand of windows like so many eyes turned inward, and re-introduced to our friends Jack, Mojo and Claudine.  Jack’s trying to figure out what to do with the old mansion when he discovers a mysterious device… When activated with steam, the device sends the user into a steamy, Victorian world of dreams. 

Get a taste of it in this sample:

Download audio file (SDI.mp3)

For fans of Jack, you’ll find all of Tom Lopez’s witty rapport (“This clean coal isn’t clean at all!” / “Well, it’s a dirty business”) as well as mystic overtones (Mojo gives us some anecdotes exposing the Buddhist heart of Christianity), and signature dimension-traveling exploits.  There’s a welcome, comfortable feel in that musty old castle, and a feeling throughout the production that everyone involved is happy to be back home.

The MP3 download of the 2-hour production is available on ZBS’ website for a meager $17.

If you’ve never had the joys of listening to Jack Flanders, I suggest you start the journey now, it’s a wonderful one to take:

• The Fourth Tower of Inverness – The original classic audio, ZBS’ original piece which mixes 60s culture, eastern mysticism, fire-breathing dragons, alchemy and dimension traveling for a romp unlike any before seen in audio
• Moon Over Morocco – Jack Flanders’ second adventure takes him to exotic Morocco, where legends of the desert are relived and he meets Mojo the mystic piano man
• Return To Inverness – I have a soft-spot in my heart for musty old mansions and so the Return to Inverness charmed me as much as the original.  Went Lady Jowls passes on, traveling Jack returns to the mansion to figure out what to do with it… Just in time to start getting hoodwinked with disappearing rooms, furniture, secret passages, and the other denizens of the mansion.

Visit ZBS’ site for a full listing of Jack Flanders adventures.

Well, call it a festival of short-form audio fiction. This week we hear the first serialized episode of FinalRune’s new tale, The Troll of Stony Brook, an exciting completely original audio drama that makes it out to the world and to your ears first.

Stay tuned all this month for additional episodes of the new show, or head to FinalRune to purchase the whole show now (for the ridiculously low price of $2.99).

We follow up with two parts of ZBS’ steamy new show, Lady Windermere’s Brass Fantabulous, which you saw earlier in the YouTube form and with a really bad ass mug.

So, let’s enjoy this excellent work. Just don’t ask me about the mysterious latin music in the background.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast180.mp3)
Download Radio Drama Revival – Episode 180