Captain Radio Review: Saki’s Quail Seed

May 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Captain Radio Audio Reviews

Graphic - FunGraphix.com | Theme music - Shane Lamb

Title: Quail Seed (19 Nocturne Boulevard Anthology)
Producer: Julie Hoverson and Wheeality Productions
Type: Drama
Genre: Social Satire

Rating: AD-G*
Availability: Free – 19NocturneBoulevard.com

Greetings, Audionauts – Captain Radio here with a review of Saki’s Quail Seed, adapted and produced by Julie Hoverson and Wheeality Productions.

Gumshoe Image

High-profile classic literary oracles, like H.G. Wells and George Orwell, have astounded readers with profound and often disturbing scientific and social insights into the future. However, audio drama producer Julie Hoverson holds that lesser-known but certainly competent writers, such as Edwardian era author H.H. Munro, known better by his pen name, Saki, could cleverly employ biting humor to reveal equally rare foresights into mundane matters:

[SOUND BYTE]

Gumshoe Image

Struggling small businesses today could garner an insight or two from Quail Seed which opens with Mr. Scarrick, a small-town shop owner who, having just topped off his inventory, abruptly faces dismal Christmas sales:

[SOUND BYTE]

However, some local gossips, trying to be discrete as they surreptitiously browse Scarrick’s lowly local establishment before traveling to the big city to make their purchases, witness two bizarre visitations, first, that of an unusual boy:

[SOUND BYTE]

Even as the ladies cackle feverishly over the departed boy, a stranger and more imposing customer stalks in:

[SOUND BYTE]

In no time the entire exurban community is abuzz, both about the strange visitors and Scarrick’s puzzling perfidy. On subsequent days, shoppers mill about the store, draining the shelves of goods, at last gasping when the strange boy, the imposing man and Scarrick’s deceit all score an encore. With that, the rumor dam crumbles:

[SOUND BYTE]

And no one can resist shopping at Scarrick’s thereafter for fear of foregoing the finale of all this unfathomable intrigue, perhaps … not even you.

Saki’s engaging satire, minimalistically, tastefully, and warmly adapted by Hoverson, might well be served as a delicious after-dinner dessert with a sherry apéritif or Turkish coffee. Though Hoverson jests about making relatively casual casting decisions for her many works thus far, no character of Quail Seed seems truly out of place or unapproachable here. Enjoy.

Listen to Julie Hoverson and Wheeality Production’s adaptation of H.H. Munro’s  Quail Seed currently podcast on the Captain Radio’s Audio Drama Showcase or by visiting 19NocturneBoulevard.com where you can hear three other standout Saki yarns as well as over 60 other short Hoverson pieces.

You can also hear a podcast of Hoverson’s Mark Time Award-winning scifi drama, The Outpost, right here on Radio Drama Revival.

Until next time, Audionauts, this is Captain Radio, signing off!

 

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Captain Radio Reviews Quail Seed from Julie Hoverson and Wheeality Productions

 

* Rating based on the Audio Drama Directory Ratings System.

 

Filed Under: 19 Nocturne Boulevard, Captain Radio Reviews, Classic Retellings, Drama, English, Podcast, Radio Drama Tagged With: , , , ,

The True History of Magic Bullet: An interview with Alan Stevens, producer of Kaldor City and Faction Paradox. (Part 2 of 2)

June 15, 2009 By 3 Comments

mblogoo

Part 2 of my interview with Magic Bullet producer / writer / audio dramatist Alan Stevens picks up where we left off and hits the following topics: knowing when to end stories, the creative potential and individual fulfillment to be had in writing with licensed properties, why Avon and Iago are psychopathic bastards (or are they the same psychopathic bastard?), and of course, Faustian bargains. As in part 1 of this interview, audio clips from Kaldor City are embedded throughout. Additional sound clips from Magic Bullet’s The True History of Faction Paradox audio serial can be found in my overview of that series here.  To go directly to Magic Bullet’s website, click their logo above.

Stevens is a unique voice in the field, and whether you agree with his positions or not, you can’t fault the dedication, quality, or intelligence behind his work. Whether you consider yourself a “genre fan” or “above such things”, if you value good audio drama then you need to read this interview.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Adventure, comedy, Drama, English, Genre, Gothic, Horror, Interviews, Interviews, Malleus, Science Fiction, UK and Ireland

The True History of Magic Bullet: An interview with Alan Stevens, producer of Kaldor City and Faction Paradox. (Part 1 of 2)

June 8, 2009 By 5 Comments

mbslogoo

Today I present part one of the Malleus interview with Alan Stevens of Magic Bullet, audio dramatist, writer, and producer of the Kaldor City and The True History of Faction Paradox audio drama serials. In this installment, Stevens discusses what drew him to audio drama and how Magic Bullet came to be, why he recast the Faction Paradox audio dramas, and what makes sound designer Alistair Lock a genius. Alan has an engaging wit and an interesting approach, and the article is embedded with sound clips from both the Kaldor City and The True History of Faction Paradox serials that illustrate why Magic Bullet is a force to be reckoned with in the British audio drama scene. Don’t pass this one by. 

(You can go directly to Magic Bullet’s website by clicking on their logo above. Further sound clips from The True History of Faction Paradox can be found in my overview of the series here. Part 2 of the interview can be found here.)

[Read more...]

Filed Under: English, Fantasy, Genre, Gothic, Horror, Interviews, Malleus, Mystery, Region, Science Fiction, UK and Ireland

Malleus interview: Nigel Fairs speaks on The Faction Paradox Protocols

May 19, 2009 By 1 Comment

Faction Paradox 1: The Eleven-Day Empire

This week I’m pleased to post my interview with Nigel Fairs, who cast, directed, composed and mixed the Faction Paradox Protocols published by BBV. Many know Nigel from his work on the Sapphire and Steel and Tomorrow People audio drama serials from Big Finish productions. In this interview Nigel gives a good-humored, at times surprisingly frank account of his work on the first Faction Paradox audio series. You can learn more about Nigel Fairs at his website.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Adventure, Drama, English, Fantasy, Gothic, Horror, Interviews, Malleus, Region, Science Fiction, UK and Ireland

Faction Paradox: A Layman’s guide to the Audio Drama Serials

May 4, 2009 By 5 Comments

Welcome to the Malleus critical overview of the Faction Paradox audio drama serials, The Faction Paradox Protocols (BBV) and The True History of Faction Paradox (Magic Bullet). Before we discuss the Faction’s past, let’s take a brief glimpse at its future. Courtesy of Alan Stevens and Magic Bullet, I’m honored to present the web premiere of this exclusive clip from The True History of Faction Paradox #5: Ozymandias.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Guided by a recurring vision and a fragment of poetry, two adventurers take the first steps onto a journey which will lead them to an alien world of nightmarish architecture, insect civilisations and strange women who are much more than they seem…

For on this planet, a tribunal is assembling– a tribunal which will decide the final contest between Horus and Sutekh, and with it, the fate not only of the Osirian Court and Faction Paradox, but of the universe itself.

Click below for more clips from the entire Faction Paradox range, and a frank look at a fascinating and uncompromising science fantasy series unlike anything you’ve heard.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Adventure, Drama, English, Fantasy, Gothic, Horror, Malleus, Science Fiction, UK and Ireland

Faction Paradox: As Much as It’s Known, an introduction by series author Lawrence Miles

March 30, 2009 By Leave a Comment

The Faction Paradox Protocols: The Eleven Day Empire

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Audio track 1 from The Faction Paradox Protocols: The Eleven-Day Empire (the first episode of the first series) appears courtesy of Bill Baggs of BBV media, copyright 2001. Click the CD cover to go directly to the BBV website.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Audio Track 1 from The True History of Faction Paradox: Coming to Dust (the first episode of the second series) appears courtesy of Alan Stevens of Magic Bullet, copyright 2005. Click the CD cover to go directly to the Magic Bullet website.

How to introduce Faction Paradox?

On the one hand it’s best to discover and unravel its mysteries yourself, on the other without some knowledge of its parent series, Dr. Who, you are at a disadvantage – one that a short field guide could easily remedy. Neither approach is entirely sufficient, so why not have both?

Today’s post is for the Romantics, detectives, and explorers. I’m reprinting Lawrence Miles’s “Faction Paradox – As Much as It’s Known”, an introduction which captures the cryptic poetry and subversive humor of the series. I’m also putting up the first tracks from each of the audio drama lines, BBV’s The Faction Paradox Protocols and Magic Bullet’s The True History of Faction Paradox. No context or backstory today – just let the opening lines engulf and enchant you the way only beginnings can, as in Italo Calvino’s If on a winter’s night a traveler.

Next week I’ll post a rough guide for the practically-minded. It will lay out some basic history of the series, highlight important themes, characters, and concepts, and comment on the strengths and weaknesses of the audio dramas. You can think of it as a thread leading you through Miles’s lexical labyrinth. Or if you’re not a fan of Theseus, you can think of it as a crude form of cheating.

(I will, however, try not to spoil major plot elements of the series.)

Later weeks will feature interviews with Nigel Fairs, director / composer / sound designer / actor for BBV’s The Faction Paradox Protocols, and Alan Stevens of Magic Bullet, producer of The True History of Faction Paradox.

Finally, a brief primer on Dr. Who audio drama spin-offs can be found in last week’s post.

Now read on for series author Lawrence Miles’s introductory essay:

Faction Paradox, as Much as It’s Known

[Read more...]

Filed Under: English, Fantasy, Gothic, Horror, Malleus, Mystery, Science Fiction, UK and Ireland
« Older Posts