Greetings all,

My wife recently had surgery for appendicitis, and between doing my work, taking care of her, and looking after my 4 year old son, I’m just too beat to write from scratch this week. My essay on Gordon Bok’s “Peter Kagan and the Wind” will therefore be postponed to next week. However, I’m not too tired to type up someone else’s words, so today I’m proud to present a lost piece of radio drama history.

After my review of his dramatic adaptation of Franz Kafka’s “Metamorphosis” went up, Erik Bauersfeld sent me a thoughtful and fascinating email response. Noting my interest in his cooperative 1984 Hörspiel USA project between Berkeley, California Pacifica station KPFA and German station WDR Köln, Mr. Bauersfeld kindly volunteered to send me information about it. The envelope he sent contained a 1984 copy of the KPFA’s Folio, which included summaries of all the Hörspiel USA dramas and an introductory article by Bauersfeld himself.

This was, of course, much too interesting to just file away. I contacted Bauersfeld and requested his permission to post his essay here, which he generously granted. Together with the show summaries, it presents a window onto a fascinating and all-too-brief bridge between the worlds of American radio drama and German Hörspiel. The dramas showcase an impressive level of dramatic invention and intellectual caliber, demonstrating philosophical depth and artistic boldness. While I share Bauersfeld’s regret that this international cross-pollination was cut short all too quickly, these nine broadcasts alone are an impressive accomplishment. They deserve wider recognition, and more than that, re-release.

I want to make it clear from the outset that this article only reprints Bauersfeld’s essay and the show summaries from the KPFA Folio issue. The words that follow are not my own, and I do not claim them. Furthermore, this post does not contain audio files of any of the actual shows. I only wish it did, as I’m dying to hear them myself. Nevertheless, I encourage any audio drama enthusiast to read on, and audio drama producers even more so. The ideas packed into these shows are rich, fertile, and inspiring, demonstrating even today how much further the artistic boundaries of audio drama can be pushed.

Again, my deepest gratitude to Erik Bauersfeld for allowing me to reprint his words and bring attention to this intriguing chapter of radio drama history.

The Project
by Erik Bauersfeld

Hörspiel USA all began when Robert Goss sent me his translation of a radio play about Helen of Troy written by Wolfgang Hildesheimer, with a note about doing it on KPFA. Hildesheimer is a distinguished Swiss writer, known for his radio work, novels, criticisms, and plays . . . but it was a long script, and I took months getting to it. But it took only minutes after reading the first several pages to get Robert on the phone. Of course, I told him, we must do it. But, I added, not as an amateur production with no funds for actors, directors or technicians.

The next day, I called the Goethe Institute in San Francisco and spoke to Ernst Schuermann. Talking over lunch, he told me he thought the Institute would be interested in funding the play. “But what about a series of Hörspiel instead of one play?” he suggested. And from there the project took off.

Robert Goss went to Köln, Germany, and then spent several months at Westdeutscher Rundfunk listening to over 90 Hörspiele and selecting thirty to choose from. Following that, I received an invitation by the Goethe Institute and WDR to visit radio stations in Berlin, Munich and Köln. It was at WDR Köln, with Paul Schultes, Klaus Schöning and Klaus Mehrlönder that the project was designed.

After that, we sent a series of applications to the U.S. National Endowment for the Arts for additional funds. In addition, WDR became interested in sending several of their directors to San Francisco to assist in the productions of works which they had originally directed. This resulted in two co-productions, Five-Man Humanity and Monologue, Terry Jo. In turn, WDR became interested in finding and commissioning writers and other radio artists in the San Francisco area for productions at WDR, Köln. At least half a dozen such commissions have already resulted. Thus began a major international exchange of radio art between WDR Köln and KPFA, the former’s first such project with American broadcasting.

The result of all this, our first series, Hörspiel USA will be broadcast on KPFA this month. Nine programs, ninety minutes each; six works translated and produced here in Berkeley (at Fantasy Studios) and six original WDR productions: in all, twelve Hörspiel never before heard in the United States.

During the two years of preparation, Ernst Schuermann was transferred to Munich where he now heads the main office of the Goethe Institute. He continues to support the project. Dr. Manfred Triesch, the new director of San Francisco’s Goethe Institute, has brought his own ideas, encouragement, and assistance to the project. At the Institute Library, a center is being developed for Hörspiel works: tapes of our own productions, plus a large collection of original WDR productions are available, as well as scripts and publications. Plans for a continuation of Hörspiel USA this coming year – with emphasis on the exchange of radio artists – are already underway.

Another development has had consequences of more national importance to those of us interested in radio drama – audiences and artists alike. With the coming of television and commercialism in broadcasting in this country, radio drama, which began so impressively, was literally wiped out. But in Europe it continued to develop into a fine art, ranging from the most accessible to the most experimental. For the first time, the United States was represented at the International Geneva Conference of Radio Drama. Four radio artists, Everett Frost of WGH, Boston; Yuri Rasovsky, from Chicago; Dean Boal from National Public Radio; and myself all attended. This, too, was an outcome of our project, through the efforts of Ernst Schuermann at the Goethe Institute and Dr. Schultes and Klaus Schöning at WDR. This extraordinary gathering of radio drama artists culminated with a recommendation by the European Broadcasting Union to our government for increased financial support for radio drama in this country.

Thus, a “regional, national, and international bridge of connections,” to use Klaus Schöning’s phrase, has been set up for the development and exchange of radio art. And even more: these developments and our current series have given KPFA an international status, as Charles Amirkhanian, our Music Director, already has throughout Europe for his artistry in sound poetry and contemporary music. During this past year, three programs were produced and broadcast by Klaus Schöning at WDR Köln on our work here at KPFA. Unlike in this country, radio is reviewed daily in the newspapers of Europe, and our work was fully and enthusiastically reported.

Erik Bauersfeld is director of the KPFA Drama and Literature Department.

Here ends Bauersfeld’s article. I’m attaching the original Broadcast schedule for Hörspiel USA below.

Broadcast Schedule, October 1984

Program One, Mon. Oct. 1, 8:00 pm

During October, KPFA, in association with Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln (West German Radio, Cologne) presents a series of nine programs to introduce our audience to the art of Hörspiel. this project, initiated by by funding from the Goethe Institute of San Francisco, and later by the National Endowment for the Arts, includes six classic Hörspiele, translated and produced Berkeley, and six original WDR productions. Two of the works in the series were co-produced by WDR Köln and KPFA (see article, page 1). Kalus Schöning, Dramaturg and producer at WDR Köln, was largely responsible for the development of this project, and on this first program, in conversation with Project Director Erik Bauersfeld, he discusses the art of Hörspiel in West Germany with many examples from its history, before and after the Nazi occupation of German radio. The program will follow with two complete works:

Hörspiel: An Introduction by Klaus Schöning. (WDR Köln production)

Five Man Humanity by Ernst Jandl & Friederike Mayröcker (produced in English)

Translated and directed by Robert Goss in consultation with Klaus Mehrlönder, director of the original WDR production. The two directors introduce the work with a discussion of its meaning and its production here at WDR. This brief work (17 minutes) is a classic in the WDR repertory, becoming in recent years a favorite with school children. Sound poets Jandl and Mayröcker have combined their abstract acoustical art with the cogent theme of militarization. In a Mother Goose-style, five men are born, grow up, educated, conscripted, imprisoned, tried, executed, and born again. The Bay area cast includes Leo Downey, Jack Shearer, Sigrid Wurschmidt, Jude Haukom, Craig Bray, David Frank, Steve LeGrand, Wallace Gorell, David Parr, Tyson Thomas, Ethan Eubanks, Jeffrey Johnson, and Daniel Goss. The work was produced at Fantasy Studios with technical production by Danny Kopelson.

Wind and Sea by Peter Handke (original WDR production)

Handke is one of the most prominent European writers and has produced several Hörspiel. In this brief and largely acoustical work, Handke directed and contributed the sounds of his own breathing. This original WDR production is introduced with a discussion by Klaus Schöning and Erik Bauersfeld.

Program Two, Sun. Oct. 7, 8:30 pm

The First Casualty of the Trojen War by Wolfgang Hildesheimer (produced in English).

Translated and directed by Robert Goss. Wolfgang Hildesheimer, one of Europe’s most prominent authors, has written many dramas for radio. Historically, he is one of the earliest writers for radio, and is still active. In his typically humorous style, this play (Das Opfer Helene) Helen of Troy tells the real story of how the Trojan War began and how unsuccessful she was in preventing it. A discussion of the play and its production introduces this program. The cast of Bay Area performers is as follows:

Helen – Hope Alexander-Willis

Menelaus – Jack Shearer

Hermione – Lorri Holt

Paris – Julian Lopez-Morillas

The play was produced at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley.

Program Three, Mon. Oct. 8, 8:00 pm

Monologue: Terry Jo by Max Bense & Ludwig Harig (produced in English).

Directed by Klaus Schöning. A co-production with WDR Köln. Mr. Schöning directed the original WDR production of this story about an American family murdered during a vacation cruise in the Caribbean. Their young daughter, Terry Jo, escaped on a raft and when rescued several days later, speaks incessantly and incoherently about the traumatic experience. We also hear the voices of others, taken from the testimony of the actual case. As Terry Jo becomes more clear, the others become more contradictory and obscure. The incident was reported in a French newspaper, from which the authors composed the piece. This is an exceptional example of a Hörspiel technique, which presents an objective and unsensational acoustical account of horrific events in daily life. Silences, edited pauses, and restraint are dramatic devices with some implication for survival in the contemporary world. The cast of Bay Area actors is as follows:

Terry Jo – Sigrid Wurschmidt

Voices – Robert Goss, Shabaka, Gus Johnson, Cyril Clayton, Nanos Valaoritis, Jenny Sterlin,David Parr, Steve LeGrand, Jerry Cornelius, Morgan Upton, Charles Dean, Elizabeth Keller, Pamela Marsh, and Erik Bauersfeld.

This work was produced at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley with technical production by Danny Kopelson.

Program Four, Sun. Oct. 14, 7:00 pm

Breakfast Conversations in Miami by Reinhard Lettau (produced in English).

Directed by R.G. Davis from a translation by Reinhard Lettau and Julie Prandi. Additional editing of the text by Robert Hurwitt. Directing and production assistance by Maria Gilardin. In this political satire, six former Latin American dictators meet in Miami and discuss their experiences as heads of state over a series of breakfasts at the airport hotel. Their interests shift from such matters as protection from kidnappers, popularity, and dealing with opposition parties to avant gardism, soap operas, sleeping late, and finding the “path to the inside” via cosmic thoughts and deep breathing. The cast of Bay Area performers is as follows:

Narrator – Pamela Marsh

Chairman – H. Robert Haswell

Mimosa – Charles Dean

Professor – James Cranna

Rosa – Morgan Upton

Schneider – Gail Chugg

Torrijos & Cellini – Don Sortor

Wessin – Bruce Mackey

The program was produced at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. Technical production by Danny Kopelson. Editing by Robert Howe. Sound design and production by Erik Bauersfeld.

Program Five, Mon. Oct. 15, 8:00 pm

Gertrude by Wolfgang Schiffer & Charles Dörr. (produced in English).

Directed by Oscar Eustis from the translation by Robert Goss. Consulting director for the production was the author and director of the original WDR Hörspiel, Wolfgang Schiffer. Gertrude had been admitted to a halfway house for rehabilitation. Most doctors diagnosed her as an incurable schizophrenic. Listening to the radio was one of her ardent pastimes and she began a series of letters to WDR Köln, where two producers took an interest in her and began to document her struggles to find a new place in society. This attention brought a new meaning and encouragement to her life. Then the program was completed and Gertrude was left, once again, to find her way alone. This original Hörspiel is an outstanding example of documentary used in a dramatic artistic form. Director Eustis tried, in this adaptation, to preserve some of the original documentation. The voice of Gertrude and the people in her life are heard, and our actors carry on the story. The program is introduced with a discussion of how this was accomplished. In the cast are:

Gertrude – Abigail Booream

Producer – Wolfgang Schiffer

Other voices – Drew Eshelman, Gus Johnson, Laural Ollstein, David Parr, Jenny Sterlin

The program was recorded on locations in San Francisco and Berkeley, with technical assistance by Karin Brocco; technical production at Fantasy Studios by Danny Kopelson. Music by Maggi Payne. Director of production for radio: Erik Bauersfeld.

Program Six, Sun. Oct. 21, 8:30 pm

Roaratorio by John Cage (original WDR production).

Radio Play Text by John Cage. This is the first broadcast of Roaratorio in its entirety, in the United States, and one of the most complex works for radio ever produced. It contains a grand total of 2293 sound effects, all referred to in the texts selected from James Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake. On this program, we first hear a discussion of the work with WDR producer and editor of Roaratorio, Klaus Schöning, including portions of a conversation with John Cage, and his address at Donaueschingen in October, 1979, on having received the Karl Sczuka Prize for the work. The first broadcast at WDR, Köln was October 22, 1979 with the following credits:

Voice – John Cage

Singer – Joe Heaney

Musicians – Seamus Ennis, Paddy Glackin, Matt Mallow, Peadher Mercier, Mell Mercier

Realization – John Cage & John David Fullemann

Cooperation – IRCAM Paris

Editor – Klaus Schöning

Assistant – Peter Behrensen

In this coming season, the Roaratorio will be staged for the Merce Cunningham Ballet Company. Two remarks by John Cage may help orient our audience for this broadcast. First, regarding the text: “I hope that Roaratorio will introduce people to the pleasures of Finnegan’s Wake when it is still on the side of poetry and chaos rather than something analyzed and known to be safe and law-abiding.” Secondly: “I had long come to the conclusion that the purpose of music, and I trust of Hörspiel, is to sober and quiet the mind, thus making it susceptible to divine influences.”

Program Seven, Mon. Oct. 22, 8:00 pm

On Reading Orwell by Mauricio Kagel (original WDR production).

Produced and broadcast this year, 1984 at WDR Köln in recognition of George Orwell’s novel about the same year. In Orwell’s science fiction vision, 1984 was dominated by a Big Brother who altered language technologically in ways that reinforced his dictatorship. Kagel’s text consists entirely of such words, a meta-language. For example, two words connection and secured, become connecticured; unification and clearness become unificearness. These words are spoken and chanted. The sounds represent all the acoustical events mentioned in Orwell’s book, in a form of the daily indoctrination of employees in 1984′s Ministry of Truth: “Hate broadcasts . . . having the goal of keeping ideological loyalty fresh by insistent repetition.” Kagel is perhaps the most inventive and prolific of all Hörspiel artists. His works in all details, recording, directing, editing, composing and producing, are by himself. His work is that of the true ‘auteur’ of radio art. The program includes a discussion of Kagel’s work and a conversation between him and Klaus Schöning, WDR director and producer.

Radio by Ferdinand Kriwet (original WDR production).

This Hörspiel was originally in the series Acoustica International, co-produced by WDR, Köln, French Radio, and Sveriges Riksradio, Sweden. It won the Primios Ondas Prize in 1983. Kriwet is a master of radio collage and Radio draws its composition from broadcasts and archives around the world. “Voices that continually surround us, speaking, singing, buzzing shortwave; a concentration of what is on the air, day in and day out.” The program is introduced by Klaus Schöning, with portions of taped remarks by the composer about his work.

Program Eight, Sun. Oct. 28, 7:00 pm

On tonight’s program, we present two Hörspiele by American writers and members of the international artists’ movement, Fluxus. Both works were commissioned and produced by WDR, Köln.

Natural Assemblages and the True Crow by Allison Knowles (original WDR production)

Allison Knowles won the 1982 Karl Sczuka Prize for her Hörspiel Bean Sequences. On this program, we hear her second work. It is based on her 1982 poetic journal, which explores the subconscious world of childhood. The sounds accompanying the text (read in German and English) were performed by the composer using toys and other reminiscences of childhood. The program is introduced by Klaus Schöning, WDR producer and director, in a discussion with the artist about her work.

Hsin Hsin Minh by George Brecht (original WDR production).

Born in 1925 in Halfway, Oregon, Brecht has been living in Köln since 1972. This is his first radio piece and it is based on the the text from one of the great poetical-philosophical works of Zen Buddhism, Hsin Hsin Minh. The author is the Third Chinese Patriarch, Seng Ts’an, who died in the year 606. “Return to the origin, and the sense of things will announce itself to you; hunt for it in objects and you will miss it.” The program is introduced by a discussion with Klaus Schöning, about the unusual composition of the work, which is performed in four languages: English, French, German, and Chinese.

Program Nine, Mon. Oct. 29, 8:00 pm

The Other and I (Die Andere und Ich) by Gönter Eich (produced in English).

An American family touring Europe have detoured on a hot Sunday afternoon in August, to swim at a resort on the north Italian coast. On the way they pass a desolate fishing village. An old woman stands at the foot of a bridge, watching them pass. Ellen, the mother, sees her and later is drawn back to find her. When she does, she enters a world and life from which there is no escape. Gönter Eich (1907-1972) is the mot famous of all German writers for radio. His work remains more classic that the “New Hörspiel” of the past several programs, but his style is poetic, full of imagery and themes that derive largely from German Romanticism. In 1953, he married the Austrian poet and novelist Ilse Aichinger. A year earlier he was awarded the Hörspiel Prize of the War Blind (one of th emost prestigious awards in West Germany in the 1950′s). Eich explored lost identities in his plays – lost identities between people, between words and their “external correlatives,” and between the living and the dead. The Other and I (Die Andere und Ich) is just such a typical Eich theme. Ellen Harland becomes lost or captured in the body and life of another woman. She cannot return to her own self and her comfortable world, but must live out the whole life of an impoverished woman in a desolate fishing village on the coast of Italy. Directed and produced by Erik Bauersfeld.

The cast of Bay Area performers is as follows:

Ellen Harland / Camilla – Winifred Mann

John Harland – Morgan Upton

Mother – Shirley Jac-Wagner

Father – H. Robert Haswell

Giovanni – Rick Cimino

Philomena – Lorri Holt

Antonio – Mark Rousseau

Aunt – Barbara Oliver

Recorded and produced at Fantasy Studios, Berkeley.

9 out of 10

An audio drama adaptation of Bram Stoker’s little-known prelude to his famous horror novel. The Good, the Bad, and the Vlad face off in one of old Germany’s forgotten valleys for the soul of a very foolish Englishman. Ironically, only the use of classical music mars Titania Medien’s otherwise classic production.

Adapted from the short story “Dracula’s Guest” by Bram Stoker, published posthumously in Dracula’s Guest and other Weird Stories in 1914.

Written by: Marc Gruppe.

Directed by: Stephen Bosenius and Marc Gruppe.

Titania Medien, 2007.

Language: German.

Availability: In print. Draculas Gast can be purchased either singly or as part of Titania’s 4 CD box set of Dracula. Amazon.de is a good source for German-speaking U.S. citizens and Canadians, since they accept credit cards and ship to the U.S.A. and Canada. (Many German sellers do not.)

Over 45 minutes.

Try before you buy: A short excerpt featuring Jonathan Harker making his colossally stupid decision to tour a spooky, abandoned town on Walpurgisnacht can be heard at the link below.
Dracula’s Gast Homepage

Es ist Walpurgisnacht! Bedenken sie! Walpurgisnacht!

It’s Walpurgis’ Night! Think about it! Walpurgis’ Night!

- Johann the coachman, to an unbelieving Jonathan Harker

I’ll be frank: I’m tired of Dracula audio dramas. There have been plenty of English and German productions already, and I’d bet my not-very-sharp canine teeth that more are on the way. Sigh. The only thing less original than adapting Dracula is reenacting, “modernizing”, or parodying Orson Welles’ one trick pony, The War of the Worlds. It’s been done, folks. Hell’s bells, even I did one for my local station back when I was a teenager. I have nothing against amateurs doing War of the Worlds riffs – I have nothing against amateurs doing whatever they want, so long as they don’t charge for it – but for professionals, it’s well past time to move on.

But Dracula’s Guest? Now this is more like it. Bram Stoker’s neglected little gem relates the story of what happened to Jonathan Harker en route to his fateful first meeting with Count Dracula. Some scholars believe this short story was supposed to be the first chapter of Stoker’s famous novel, others disagree. Titania Medien has sided with the first group, making Dracula’s Gast the opening act of its Dracula adaptation. In doing so they’ve finally given this short, atmospheric work its due.

Stopping in Munich on his way to Transylvania, Jonathan Harker (Simon Jaeger) decides to take a day off to enjoy the German countryside. Innkeeper Dellbrueck (Heinz Ostermann) nervously assents, assigning Harker his faithful coachman Johann (Christian Rode), and urging that he return before night falls. There’s a hint of snow in the air, you see. It also happens to be Walpurgisnacht, that Pagan holiday when the dead rise from their graves.

Things go well until Harker notices a charming path leading down into a picturesque valley. Enticed, Harker asks his coachman to take the detour. The affable Johann strangely refuses. When Harker presses him, the coachman tells him that the trail leads to an abandoned town. It seems the former residents fled seeking a new home where “the Living live and the Dead remain dead and not something frightfully different.”

Harker responds with a young man’s impetuousness and an Englishman’s skepticism. He dismisses Johann’s backwoods superstitions, saying he’ll tackle the valley on foot and return in his own good time. Reluctantly the coachman takes his leave, asking God and Mary to watch over Harker. Someone is indeed watching over Harker, but it isn’t God. A dark silhouette observes him from afar, and a strange white wolf tracks his every move through the valley.

Of course, things get worse from there in this cautionary tale. The weather turns, and the sky darkens with the onset of a sudden winter storm. Harker is haunted by disembodied female laughter. Seeking shelter from the cold, he makes his way into the abandoned town and is inexorably driven into the mausoleum of Countess Dolingen. Her malevolent presence teases and drives him on, and Harker seems doomed to reawaken the Countess and become her first meal. But Harker is working for an extraordinary patron, and Dracula is not one to cross.

Titania Medien has set out to create the definitive hoerspiel library of horror classics through its Gruselkabinett line, of which Dracula’s Gast is the 16th release. I’m fond of the line for its high standards and its willingness to tackle titles that are off the beaten path (like Dracula’s Gast) in addition to more well-known material. Although not every production has been stellar, Dracula’s Gast has all the hallmarks of Gruselkabinett’s strongest releases.

The casting is rock-solid, filled in the German manner with actors known and advertised by the American and British Hollywood stars they dub. The CD’s back cover tells us that the all-star cast of Dracula’s Gast features the German voices of Heath Ledger, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Christopher Lee, Michael Caine, and Scarlett Johansson. Simon Jaeger (the Heath Ledger guy) gives Jonathan Harker, a vanilla character at the best of times, the bravado and vulnerability of youth. This is really Harker’s story, saved from being a monologue only by numerous flashback scenes that detail the origin of his business trip and his relationship with Mina Murray (Tanja Geke). Everyone performs well in these supporting roles, but Juergen Thormann’s (the Michael Caine guy) Peter Hawkins was particularly memorable for the naturalness of his fatherly warmth for Harker. Joachim Hoeppner’s courtly, hard voice makes him a fine Dracula, but those wishing to hear the Count in action would be better served by Gruselkabinett’s full Dracula adaptation. The Count’s appearance in Dracula’s Gast accomplishes all it needs to, but fans are duly warned that it is brief.

If the production has one flaw, it is its use of classical music. Bosenius and Gruppe opt to use Paul Dukas’ well-known “Sorcerer’s Apprentice” as a leitmotif, weaving snatches of it throughout the drama, right up to the famous BUM BUM BUM BUM! of the finale. The supernatural aspect of “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” would seem well suited to a play about vampires, and Paul Dukas is almost certainly a more accomplished composer than Titania could have hired. So why doesn’t it work?

Audio dramatists would do well to remember that music is a storytelling device, not just an atmosphere generator. This is particularly the case for works like “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”, which was written as a musical adaptation of Goethe’s 1797 poem, “Der Zauberlehrling”. The true genius of “Apprentice” is how Dukas caught the spirited, macabre humor of Goethe’s poem and put it into his music. Walt Disney’s Fantasia segment with Mickey Mouse didn’t put any comedy into the “Apprentice” that wasn’t already right there in the musical notation. Quite the opposite; Mickey’s battle with the brooms works because it draws its jaunty horror straight from Dukas’ score.

Unfortunately, Goethe’s / Dukas’ humor really has no place in the humorless Dracula’s Gast. Placing the wry concluding beats of “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” at the end of Stoker’s tale makes it sound as though Bosenius and Gruppe are winking at the audience, turning the macabre tale into a weird jest. Since the dark events of Dracula’s Gast immediately precede those of Dracula, a chill of foreboding would have been more appropriate. Gruppe and Bosenius didn’t overlook this problem entirely, because they used dark, synthesized tracks for the play’s more overtly sinister scenes. While this original music is aesthetically unremarkable, unlike Dukas’ famous work it fits the story Dracula’s Gast actually tells. In short, Dukas’ “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” is musically superior but dramatically out of context.

I’m hardly the first person to say this: many German fans have complained about the jarringly inappropriate use of classical music in the Gruselkabinett line. And in all fairness, Dracula’s Gast is more successful in its implementation of classical music than other releases have been. In Titania’s Dracula adaptation, for example, the vampiric resurrection of Lucy Westenra is accompanied by Claude Debussy’s 1894 Pr?lude ? l’apr?s-midi d’un faune, which, like “Apprentice”, was based on a poem (by St?phane Mallarm?, c. 1876) with a very different theme. Although both works concern supernatural creatures and have sexual overtones, the horror of Lucy’s return fits poorly with the benign wonder of Debussy’s light reverie. Quite simply, the script and score tell different, incompatible tales. Rather than lending their dramas a patina of class, Gruselkabinett’s line-wide use of classical music feels unnecessary, distracting, and ingratiating.

Classical music aside, ultimately Dracula’s Gast succeeds on sheer atmosphere. Stoker’s tale is as much about Winter’s sudden power to transform the familiar into the foreign as it is about the undead. As such, Dracula’s Gast is genuinely “unheimlich”. This German word literally means “un-home-like” (as homes are what are most familiar to us, and most disturbing when they are rendered alien), but it is generally translated in English as “uncanny”. In the later pulp circles of Lovecraft this kind of story would be coined “the weird tale”. Dracula’s Gast may not have the same strong characterization, clever plotting, or even stark chills of Stoker’s more famous novel, but it still appeals to our terror of what is both ever-present and ever-strange: the land of the dead we coexist with every day.

Later this week (sorry for the delay): What would be an even more unlikely, uncanny audio drama adaptation than Dracula’s Gast? How about Erik Bauersfeld’s 1982 production of Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis? (English)

This?week Malleus focuses on the emergence of explicit?sex in two mainstream audio drama serials, (insofar as a mainstream exists in this field), one German, one American.? These productions go way beyond the light eroticism that flits through Tom Lopez’s ouevre or the bawdy puns?of the Firesign Theater.? Now that public radio drama is shifting towards private audio drama, is this new?frankness?a sign of things to come?

This article contains no explicit images – that’s kind of the point – and?isn’t going to offend any rational adult.? I don’t recommend allowing children to read it.?

For most of audio drama?s history sex has barely been mentioned.? Hardly surprising given that audio drama started?out as?radio drama,?broadcast to the general audience of?1940?s and 50?s America.??Not exactly the most artistically liberated period for the airwaves or the country in general:? these were people who felt morally threatened by Jackson Pollock’s drip paintings, for goodness’ sake.

I can only think of one simulated sex scene from a drama that aired over public radio ? the Android Sisters? song-story ?Sss-X Minus One? (the title is a play on the?classic 1950?s sci-fi radio show X Minus One) from ZBS productions? 1982 sci-fi serial, Ruby.? This 3-minute scene consisted of the two sisters coyly asking listeners to touch them ?here? and ?there?, then moaning suggestively.? No dirty words, nothing literally described, but the meaning was clear.? And this was of course the punchline ? at the end the sisters reveal that the tale wasn?t about sex at all, but an illustration of how easy it is to use sexual suggestion to plant manipulative images in your head.? The song was a little Zen koan about the nature of advertising.

There are probably a few other exceptions, but by and large audio drama has perforce been a chaste medium.? Not just in ?prudish? America, either:? it?s the same story in Germany, and so far as I?m aware, Britain and Canada.? If the French had had a thriving audio drama culture to go with their cinema and bandes dessin?es I?m sure they would have invented sound effects for bobbing breasts and rising erections.? But since they don?t, they haven?t.?

Nowadays audio drama production has shifted from public broadcasting to private companies in the U.S.A. and some other parts of the world, and with that shift taboos and FCC restrictions have lifted.? Explicit aural sex is beginning to make itself heard in two audio drama markets for the first time at roughly the same time: Germany and the United States.

In Germany the first mainstream audio drama I?m aware of to feature actors simulating sex (mostly heavy breathing, with the sound of clothes tearing) is Don Harris, Psycho-Cop 02:? Der Club der H?llens?hne, released last year.? The sex scene is disturbing not so much for the act itself?as its Oedipal overtones, given that it takes place between the hero and an ageless, mysterious woman who tells him she was ?almost his mother? (she wasn?t and they?re not related, but still).?

Don Harris is the newest creation of author Jason Dark (Helmut Rellergerd), whose John Sinclair: Edition 2000 series has been a cornerstone of the German audio drama revival and is still going strong.? Since Don Harris, like Sinclair, is yet another occult detective in a hoerspiel field overcrowded with them, Dark and Random House have played up the ?mature? angle to set Harris apart and appeal to an older, presumably more sophisticated audience.? With only 2 releases out the series is still quite young, and it remains to be seen if sex scenes will help Don Harris find and keep an audience or not.?

(Dark?s John Sinclair also spawned a lowbrow parody serial rife with sexual puns called Jac Longdong.? Imagine if someone created an audio serial riff on Jack Flanders called, say, Jack Fellatio or something.? Longdong actually precedes Harris, but since it is more about bawdy humor than simulated sex it falls outside of this discussion.? Besides, no force on earth could compel me to listen to a series with that title, much less?analyze it.)

In the US, sex in audio drama remains rare, with one very large exception:? Graphic Audio.?

Graphic Audio puts out a large array of dramatized audiobooks,?most of which fall under the broad category of ?Men?s adventure?:? science fiction, westerns, action, military, espionage, and post-apocalyptic to name a few.? (They’re now starting to release “Women’s adventure” titles like Rogue Angel?and?The Serrano Legacy?with female protagonists as well.)? Some of their series carry a ?Mature? label, and for good reason.? Graphic Audio prides itself on doing unabridged performances of pulpy paperbacks, and when said works contain sex scenes they don?t cut or shy away from them.? When it comes to sex (and violence) Graphic Audio lives up to its name.?

I was surprised by the oral sex scene that popped up in the middle of Deathlands #45:? Starfall, complete with romantic music, explicit narration, moans, and yes, even suggestive sound effects.? That’s right, sound effects.? It?s more than a little amusing to hear Richard Rohan, who has the classic announcer?s voice you?ve heard on countless advertisements, suddenly start describing the state of the hero?s stimulated ?manhood? in his neutral, dulcet tones.? Deathlands releases often have at least one sex scene.? You can hear one of the tamer ones, with Rohan?s narration, here: http://www.graphicaudio.net/p-61-52-zero-city.aspx.

And so far as I know, that?s it.? German and American producers are still testing the waters.? But after years of being banned from the airways, graphic sex is beginning to emerge?in private sector audio dramas as a minor but significant contributing element.?

But does aural sex sell?? I have no idea. Listening to simulated sex does about as much for me as the prospect of watching cartoon characters get it on:? nothing.? Of course, my lack of interest hasn?t stopped a large pornographic animation industry from making a lot of money, so I?m probably not the best person to ask.?

The truth is that if aural sex sells even half as well as its visual counterpart, it’s here to stay.?

Next week:??Before the events of Dracula, did the world’s most notorious vampire save Jonathan Harker’s life?? Malleus takes a close look at Bram Stoker’s little-known prequel to his classic tale, as dramatized by Titania Medien, in a review of Gruselkabinett 16:? Dracula’s Gast.? (Dracula’s Guest, German)

10?out of 10

Lausch’s adaptation of R. A. Salvatore’s?Forgotten Realms?novel carves a bold new?niche for dark fantasy into Germany’s burgeoning?audio drama market.??A tight script, outstanding performances, and rich atmosphere?make?Der Dritte Sohn?what most?h?rspiele?only claim to be:? atemberaubend. (Breathtaking.)

Die Saga von Dunkelelf 1 – Der Dritte Sohn

(Saga of the Dark Elf 1 – the Third Son)

Adapted and directed by G?nter Merlau?from a story by R. A. Salvatore.

Lausch, 2006.? www.merlausch.de

1 CD, approximately 70 minutes.

Availability:? In print.

Language:? German.

Try before you buy:? Click the headphones on the Lausch homepage?to hear Drizzt?s mother determine his future.? http://www.merlausch.de/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7&Itemid=21.

Nie zierte ein Stern dieses Land,
noch sendete die Sonne ihre w?rmenden Strahlen hieher.
Niemals wurde der Laut eines Vogels vernommen.
Nichts herrscht als tiefe ahnungsvolle Stille,
und das tosenden rauschen der Schwarzen Ruhe.
Dies ist nicht die Welt des Lichts.?
Dies ist die Unterwelt,
Verborgen unter der Oberfl?che der vergessenen Reiche.

No star ever graced this land,
Nor has the sun sent its warming beams here.?
Birdsong has never been heard.
Nothing holds dominion but deep, ominous quiet,
and the thundering roar of the Black Silence.
This is not the world of Light.
This is the Underworld,
hidden?beneath the surface of the Forgotten Realms.?

- Drizzt Do’Urden,?opening monologue?(my translation)

Way back when Dungeons and Dragons?was first being cobbled together from bits of H.P. Lovecraft, Michael Moorcock, Fritz Leiber, and J.R.R. Tolkien,?the Dark Elves called Drow stood out as a strikingly original creation.? A decadent, psychopathic branch of “good” forest-dwelling Elves, the cthonic Drow were defined by their?sadistic matriarchal society.? There’s a disturbingly?chauvinist?subtext?to this fictional culture, as the Drow’s underworld setting, evil outlook, and?female-dominated?governance all smack of inverting the “natural order”, i.e. the “righteous” world of male?rule.? I have to wonder if D&D’s creators had overbearing mothers.?

In spite?(or perhaps because?) of their?suspiciously misandrist society, tales of the Drow have produced many colorful characters with viciously seductive bite.? The late Gary Gygax gave the Drow?D&D’s most memorable villain in woman-headed spider goddess Lolth, a giant?Arachne returned from Hades to?ensnare and devour?men’s souls.? There’s genius in the name Gygax chose (a corruption of the apocryphal Lillith?), as its sound vividly evokes the goddesses’ virulent?corpulence.? Try saying it out loud.? The nauseating way the word forces you to roll your tongue?actually feels unclean.

Author R. A. Salvatore gave the Drow?the anti-hero Drizzt do’Urden, a?young male striken with?conscience in a society devoid of it.? Drizzt’s name, which sounds like pissing against a wall, wasn’t quite?as brilliant as Lolth’s.? Nor was Salvatore’s?creation as original as Gygax’s dark goddess:? the solipsistic and decadent?city of Menzoberranzan bore more than passing?resemblance to Michael Moorcock’s?solipsistic?and decadent Dragon Isle of Melnibon?, and silver-haired, purple-eyed iconoclast?Drizzt owed a significant debt to white-haired, red-eyed?iconoclast?Elric.? But Salvatore parted company with Moorcock when he took the most powerful and disturbing elements of Drow matriarchal?culture and wove them into a socio-political tapestry nearly as rich and complex as that of Frank Herbert’s Dune.? Moorcock’s Melnibon? was never much more than an?orientalist?scaffolding to offset?Elric’s noble character; the politics and feuds of Salvatore’s Menzoberranzan made Drow society as?compelling as Drizzt himself.

Der Dritte Sohn opens with?the battle of the sexes front and center, as Drizzt is being born to Malice Do’Urden (Elga Sch?tz), ruler of House Do’Urden.? Drizzt will be?her third living son, and like any respectable Drow mother Malice intends to sacrifice?him to Lolth to ensure the spider-goddesses’?favor for a?genocidal sortie against a house of higher rank.? But Drizzt is spared when?the timely fratricide of his eldest brother by jealous sibling Dinin Do’Urden (Tim Grobe)?makes Drizzt?Malice’s second living son,?rendering the sacrificial ritual moot.? Nice people, those Drow.

Time passes and Drizzt survives the daily punishment of being male in House Do’Urden to develop a deep disgust for his fellow Drow.? Fortunately the ambidextrous Drizzt is exceedingly skilled with blades, so Malice places him under the tutelage of House weaponsmaster Zaknafein Do’Urden (Michael Prelle).? Zaknafein, Malice reveals with?calculated indifference, is Drizzt’s father.? It soon becomes apparent that the two share an unconventionally noble morality, and their relationship quietly blooms during sparring lessons.? Despite being powerless in his home, Zaknafein fights passionately where and when he can?to save the soul of his son from the?dark society?of the Drow.? The warmth of their father-son?lessons is interupted when that society brutally?intrudes, such as when Malice proudly?compels Drizzt to commit his first murder before her eyes.? The horror of such moments and Zaknafein’s helplessness to intervene?underscores the tenuous fragility of his bond with Drizzt.? It’s impossible to listen to this production and not feel for both of them, which is remarkable.? Not many fantasy novels can elicit that?kind of empathic response.

From this point on I was no longer a Drow . . . ?I was only Drizzt.

(The CD’s conclusion is spoiled in the paragraph below.? Skip it if you wish.)

Ultimately this first chapter is a plunge into darkness, as Drizzt?discovers?he owes his existence to the murder of his older brother.? Drizzt is compelled to renounce his world, his culture, and everyone he has known in order to be true to his own moral compass.? Even his beloved Zaknafein, he discovers, has taken part in?House Do’Urden’s?merciless?exterminations of rival Drow families.? Is his father just another?honorless?murderer like all the rest?? Feeling betrayed by the man he trusts most, Drizzt vents his despair in bloody?combat with?the monsters of the underworld.

Hey, they don’t call it dark fantasy for nothing.

As masterfully as the plot is laid out (and I’m not even getting into the significant sub-plot), a resolution like this would be damnably unsatisfying if the story ended there.? But this CD is only the?beginning of a saga that stretches over innumerable novels, and Lausch continues to release new adaptations of them at a rate of three a year (at the time of this writing 9 CD episodes have been released).??Der Dritte Sohn does stand on its own, however, as?a powerful and surprisingly moving?opening act.

I put this success?down to the drama’s consistent high quality.? Merlau takes a byzantine novel and makes it into?lucid drama,?introducing a complex culture and multiple plot-threads with?poetic economy.? As philosopher Martin Heidegger might have put it, Merlau’s script “worlds”, making the shadowy netherrealm of the Drow all too real.? Casting, that fine and rarely perfected art, is spot-on here.? This is particularly true for leading man Tobias Meister.? Many lesser actors would have just played Drizzt as an aloof bad-ass, and in doing so they would have killed?this story.? Tobias Meister’s Drizzt conceals his?emotions beneath a cooly dispassionate mask like an abused child, but?an innate sense of justice seeps through his every word and action.? It’s?a performance?made all the more?effective by Meister’s restraint.? Michael Prelle’s Zaknafein barely keeps?the desire to save his son hidden beneath?his gruff, business-like exterior.? From the moment she gives birth to Drizzt, the icy?strength Elga Sch?tz invests?in Malice leaves no doubt of her willingness to sacrifice anyone and everyone to?get what she wants.??I’m focusing on the story’s?three principle players here, but?the true strength of Der Dritte Sohn is that there isn’t a weak performance from the entire 15+ strong cast.? Even minor characters who only appear for a few minutes,?like?the sadistic Faceless?Master (Kurt Glockzin), leave a strong impression.?

A sweeping score?and minutely detailed sound effects complete the spell.? In fact, Die Dritte Sohn’s sound design reaches new heights of artistic excellence over?Lausch’s strong?fledgling efforts?Caine and Die Schwarze Sonne.? War drums throb in the background like the heartbeat of the underground empire, rising and falling with hypnotic intensity to support the action.? There are many outstanding aural moments, such as the scene where Zaknafein is covered with magical frost, the better to hide from the infravision of enemy Drow.? The creeping crackle of the ice over his body is so well realized you won’t just see it in your mind’s eye:? you’ll feel it bristling across?your own skin.? And once the frost spell is complete the acoustics?shift the listener from independent observer to Zaknafein’s perspective,?so that you hear his?associates through a distorting?layer of ice.??Roger Gregg’s amazing work notwithstanding, most?audio plays?situate the?listener in a?passively omniscient space somewhere outside the action.? Die Dritte Sohn’s magical frost scene subtly?locates you?within the story and?forces you to?viscerally identify with the reluctant weaponsmaster.?

Even following the popular success of Caine and Die Schwarze Sonne, mainstream h?rspiele websites like www.hoernews.de?were slow to recognize Lausch’s superior product.? After Drizzt no one is ignoring?Lausch anymore.? It’s nothing short of stunning that a company as young as this can produce?such?high?quality work, and it should serve as a lesson to all newcomers to the field.? If you want to make a splash, do daring, original work and do it as well or better than anyone else.? While it sounds impossible, Lausch’s?spellbinding chronicles of Drizzt prove that a scrappy little company with vision and talent?can compete with the biggest players?in the market.?

Next week:? Would you believe an old time radio style adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s beat fantasy, Dr. Sax and the Great World Snake?? (English)

Mwee Hee Hee Ha Ha Ha!

7 out of 10

Brimming with Gothic atmosphere, Larry Brent’s first audiobook adventure is a nostalgic reminder that as good as dramatic adaptations can be, an author?s original text has a charm all its own.

Dan Shocker?s Larry Brent #1: Das Grauen schleicht durch Bonnards Haus
(Dan Shocker?s Larry Brent #1: Horror creeps through Bonnard?s House)

Written by Dan Shocker (J?rgen Grasm?ck)
(23. Januar 1940 in Hanau; ? 7. August 2007)

Read by Rainer Schmitt.
Produced by Lausch for Europa

3 CDs

Language: German

There?s something about a hero named ?Larry? that kills me. The name is so salt-of-the-earth that one of the minor characters in the movie?Pee-Wee?s Big Adventure, ?Amazing Larry?, was funny mostly because his name sounded like an oxymoron. Don?t get me wrong ? I love the Larrys in my life, including one of the sweetest and most honorable elderly men I?ve known and a college buddy with the most infectious laugh I?ve ever heard. But Larrys are sadly neglected when it comes to hero names. Well, Larrys of the world, take heart: in Germany your name is the stuff of legend.

That is, the legend of PSA secret agent Larry Brent, investigator of the paranormal. What, another German occult detective? Not another one, my friends: the first one. Dan Shocker?s (J?rgen Grasm?ck) square-jawed, laser-gun toting adventurer debuted in 1968 in Das Grauen schleicht durch Bonnards Haus, spawning a long-running series and inspiring a new horror-themed genre of German pulp publishing. This audiobook production of Das Grauen carries some historical interest then, since Larry Brent?s first adventure kicked off the occult detective trend that still defines a large segment of the German audio drama market.

What?s most unusual about the character Larry Brent in this day and age is his nationality: American (United States). German pulp writers, as a general rule, steadfastly avoid creating German heroes, generally preferring English-speaking protagonists (John Sinclair, Gabriel Burns) and exotic locales like Britain or Canada. Americans aren?t all that popular in Germany now, and it?s rare to see an American hero in a new German serial. Back in the 60?s and 70?s, though, West Germany was generally very positive about Americans (One German fellow pursued my mom for over a year with no success, poor guy) and American heroes were more prevalent in German pulps.

Larry is introduced to us as an FBI agent on vacation in France, but he never gets to enjoy the quiet charms of the Maurs district. Rumors are flying about giant bats attacking the local populace, strangely singling out those possessing blood type A. Shortly after arriving Brent discovers the corpse of one of their victims, a man whose self-destructing ring identifies him as the agent of a secret organization. His curiosity piqued, Brent investigates the horrific experiments of Dr. Canol and ultimately pursues the case to the forbidding manse of Egyptologist Dr. Bonnard. Are vampires plying their unholy trade in France, or is something even more bizarre at work?

Originally published in 1968, Das Grauen has its share of dated spy novel trappings. When else but the sixties could you get away with codenames like X-RAY-18? Nostalgia is definitely a selling point of this new audiobook series, which was made with long-time fans in mind. Europa produced 15 much-loved, bloody but very campy Larry Brent audio dramas back in the 1980s and has re-released them on CD as part of its ?R?ckkehr der Klassiker? (?Return of the Classic Writers?) line. Rainer Schmitt, the reader of this audio book, played hero Larry Brent in those productions.

Although Europa?s 1980?s audio dramas anticipated and inspired much of the contemporary work coming out of Germany, Europa itself hasn?t aged well as a producer of adult audio drama. (They still publish the popular children’s?series Die Drei ??? / The Three Investigators.)? Europa attempted to get into the newly rejuvenated adult audio drama market with two new Macabros recordings, but these were poorly produced by modern standards and weren?t well received. Wisely they?ve opted for the cheaper, less creatively demanding option of releasing Larry Brent as a series of audio books, and contracted production out to Lausch, one of Germany?s hottest young audio drama companies.

So how does it sound?

Rainer Schmitt ? considered THE voice of Larry Brent by German fans due to his audio drama portrayals of the hero back in the 80s – turns out to be a superlative reader. He breathes vibrant life into Shocker?s stock characters, giving the stolid French police chief grumbling presence and the morally conflicted Dr. Canol a delightfully anemic rasp. Schmitt has that rare ability to make you forget you?re listening to one man rather than a cast, and his versatility and verve makes this production compelling from start to finish. For this reviewer, Schmitt has become a name to watch out for.

Some German commentators have complained about Schmitt?s pacing, which is relentlessly fast. A more relaxed tempo wouldn?t hurt; it sometimes seems as though Schmitt is racing through Shocker?s text to squeeze it onto 3 CDs. But while Schmitt?s?rapidfire delivery?would have ruined Wuthering Heights, it?gives this pulp?adventure story a fitting rush of adrenaline.

The choice of music is interesting: Lausch opted to create a soundscape that evokes the 60?s / 70?s trappings of the original Brent novels. The music sounds like a basement Jazz combo, with a drum, piano, and some strumming violins added for Gothic tension. It?s a different approach than WortArt took with its modern, cinematic production of Jason Dark?s John Sinclair audiobook, Die R?ckkehr des Schwarzen Tod (Return of the Black Death). The music, like the story, is never really scary, but its exaggerated menace fits the material. Synthesized high-pitched bleats work particularly well in evoking the cries of giant bats and the pain of their piercing bites. The introductory / closing theme with its over-the-top maniacal laughter is, well . . . very, very German. I?ll leave it at that.

It is disappointing that Lausch has opted to use the same music tracks for both of their initial Larry Brent audio book releases instead of giving each its own soundtrack and individual feel. But I suppose this is a cost-cutting measure, and 14,95 Euros for 3 CDs is a tough price to beat.

There are few sound effects in the production outside of a well-placed thunderclap.

As supernatural detective stories go, I found this one surprisingly inventive. The plot doesn?t proceed in the direction you?d expect, and the characters, while 2-dimensional, all entertain. This is an origin story, and thus there are two interweaving plots ? the evil goings-on and the story of Brent?s first encounter with and adoption into the PSA, a paranormal investigative branch of the FBI. Shocker lays out some of the serial?s principle players such as the shadowy, blind director of the PSA and his gangly assistant, Bony. Brent himself is a likeable enough square-jawed type, although his introduction suffers from the principle ill plaguing German pulp-horror: a Deus-ex-Machina resolution. This is, in fact, the most literal Deus-ex-Machina ending I?ve ever heard. In a series named for its hero, you might expect Brent to resolve the situation through the application of his singular skills and intelligence. Not this time.

But if you want clever resolutions you should probably stick to straight mysteries. Occult detective stories, like horror tales, thrive more on generating a haunting atmosphere than ratiocinative logic. In this Larry Brent succeeds, after a fashion. You?re unlikely to be frightened, but as with a classic black-and-white horror film, you?ll likely fall under the spell of its outdated Gothic charm anyway. I don?t know if Bela Lugosi?s Dracula really scares people anymore, but he?s still a captivating presence onscreen.

All in all, ?Larry Brent? is a nice addition to an audio drama field crowded with occult detectives. Das Grauen schleicht durch Bonnards Haus is a welcome reminder that as good as audio drama adaptations can be, an author?s original, unedited text has a charm all its own.

Next Week: Malleus takes an exacting look at Highbridge audio?s Star Wars universe spin-off, Crimson Empire (English). Is the force with this audio drama?s charismatic anti-hero, or does his story choke on the stale ideas of an outworn franchise?

8?out of 10

A welcome interlude in the Middle Ages vampire serial for longtime fans and an accessible, self-contained starting point for newcomers.?

Blutkrieg ? Die Edition
Blood War ? the (collected) Edition

(This series was previously released on 5 individual CDs.? Although the stories are all self-contained, they are interconnected and build on one another.? I recommend this collected edition, which is considerably cheaper than buying the 5 singly.)

An audiobook by Wolfgang Hohlbein.? Read by the author.?
5 CDs, 377 minutes
ZYX music, 2007.

Blutkrieg is situated between books 8 and 9 of the dark fantasy series Die Chronik der Unsterblichen (Chronicle of the Undying.)?

Language:? German.

Try before you buy:

The first chapter of Blutkrieg, Die Schwarze Gischt, was premiered in segments on the German ?Neurotainment? podcast and is still available.? Use the links below to download this free and fully authorized broadcast.

http://www.audioads.de/files/254/np00004.mp3
http://www.audioads.de/files/255/np00005.mp3
http://www.audioads.de/files/256/np00006.mp3
http://www.audioads.de/files/257/np00007.mp3
http://www.audioads.de/files/258/np00008.mp3

Perhaps we are dead.? And this is Hell.

? Abu Dun

Germany?s horror novelist Jason Dark / Helmut Rellergerd is sometimes compared to American author Stephen King, but for emotional resonance, stylistic range, and page-turning eloquence I find Wolfgang Hohlbein a better analogue to the American master.? Hohlbein is an interesting hybrid:? he has roots in pulpy German grusel-serials (Der Hexer, Raven) but seems equally comfortable penning more sophisticated fantasy / horror novels (Unheil, Der Inquisitor, Dunkel.)? Of the many German authors who have tried to bridge these genres, Hohlbein has been the most successful, particularly with his middle-ages vampire serial Die Chronik der Unsterblichen.? Chronik began in 1999 with solid fantasy novels featuring elaborate plots and sizable casts.? With Blutkrieg, Hohlbein pauses his epic narrative for an interlude of elemental pulp fare.?

Die Chronik der Unsterblichen series currently rests on the shoulders of two protagonists:? haunted swordsman Andrej Del?ny and his comrade-in-arms, stolid ex-pirate Abu Dun.? Both are vampires, which in Hohlbein?s world means they regenerate quickly, have above-average strength, age slowly, and are subject to a demonic thirst for blood, something Andrej and Abu Dun choose to resist.

Abu Dun?s grim assessment,? ?Perhaps we are dead.? And this is Hell?, sums up Blutkrieg?s bleak Waiting for Godot / Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead atmosphere.? After being tricked into slaying a ship?s innocent crew, a repentant Abu Dun and Andrej set out to do the only decent thing left:? return the corpses to their Northern homeland for burial.? But the vampires soon find themselves alone and out of their depth in a frozen landscape that threatens their very survival and renders their physical and moral progress pyrrhic.? As their Scandinavian Odyssey becomes a personal hell the companions are forced to fight or make devil?s bargains with a host of malign powers, including werewolves, zombies, witches and dreamspiders.? The frigid wastes themselves are arguably the vampires? worst foe, perpetually threatening to swamp their lives and souls in a vast grey limbo.

The companions? saving grace turns out to be their devotion to each other, which not only gets them to watch each other?s backs but gives them heart and purpose.? In this sense Blutkrieg is a true ?buddy? narrative not unlike the bi-racial ?buddy cop? Hollywood films of the 1980?s.? Movies like Lethal Weapon steadfastly avoided contemporary racial schisms with a ?pass the popcorn? ethos of straight action and camaraderie.? Chronik adapts this approach to religious difference, with European Christian Andrej and Nubian Muslim Abu Dun regularly engaging in the teasing banter of their cop movie counterparts.? They maintain what anthropologists call a ?joking relationship?, defusing potentially schismatic differences through friendly one-upmanship.? It?s not hard to read a contemporary German wish to rise above the country?s sometimes nervous relationship with its large Turkish minority into Andrej and Abu Dun?s playful, empathic bickering.? Regardless, Hohlbein invests his characters with enough human depth that the selfless commitment beneath their mocking repartee remains credible and moving throughout.? Blutkrieg is ultimately a dark paean to fraternal love.

As in the first Chronik audiobook, the author himself narrates this release.? Although Hohlbein lacks an actor?s baritone timbre, his voice has the sincerity and urgency of a young priest?s.? He doesn?t so much perform these morality plays as testify them, drawing listeners in with his mesmerizing, quasi-confessional undertone.?

Hohlbein?s narration is supported by the series? infectiously melodramatic theme song and quieter musical passages featuring an erhu.? While this traditional Chinese instrument might seem out-of-place in Chronik?s European setting it somehow works, giving the story an otherworldly, melancholic air.? The recording?s sparse sound effects are less impressive:? canned metallic clangs and horse whinnies occasionally disrupt Blutkrieg?s potent spell.

For this long-time fan, hearing Hohlbein spin new tales of Andrej and Abu Dun feels like returning to a desolate but beautiful homeland.? Hohlbein puts out a new chapter of Chronik der Unsterblichen every year, but so far only the first two books and Blutkrieg have been produced as audiobooks.?

Here?s hoping for many more.

Next week:??Cleanse the pallet of angst and moral ambiguity with?the high impact Malleus?review of Graphic Audio’s post-apocalyptic adventure, Deathlands #73:? Labyrinth.? (English language.)

Below – The vampire Andrej returns home in the comic book adaptation of the first novel in the Chronik der Unsterblichen series.

Welcome to the final installment of a three-part essay discussing the supernatural in contemporary German h?rspiel. Today I?ll recommend three outstanding contemporary German audio dramas (with links to Mp3 samples) and finish up by considering what the thriving German audio drama market might teach the struggling American one.

Let?s get to the heart of the matter: the productions themselves. The following three h?rspiele releases are among the best of the contemporary boom. Naturally in a field this big there are many other titles I could have chosen: tune in to future Malleus columns for further coverage.

THREE OUTSTANDING CONTEMPORARY GERMAN AUDIO DRAMAS

Geisterj?ger John Sinclair: Der Anfang

by WortArt / L?bbe Audio

Geisterj?ger John Sinclair: Edition 2000 is the supernatural detective serial that kick-started the audio drama boom in Germany back in 1999, and it’s still going strong. It?s an action-packed blend of adventure and horror themes, and very pulpy in an old-school manner. Der Anfang (The Beginning) is a deluxe production with an even larger cast than normal and a cinematic sweep. As you might guess, it concerns the title hero’s first brush with the forces of darkness. Der Anfang sold so well that it became the first audio drama to crack Germany?s music charts. There are currently 42 Geisterj?ger John Sinclair CDs in release, with more in production.

Sample tracks: http://www.sinclairhoerspiele.de/downloads.php

Gabriel Burns #1: Der Fl?sterer (The Whisperer)

by Universal Music Family Entertainment.

Another supernatural serial, this is one of the most sophisticated h?rspiel productions on the market. Gabriel Burns is a bit like Chris Carter?s X-files in terms of generating creepy atmosphere and keeping tantalizing, unanswered questions forever just beyond the listener?s reach. Where John Sinclair is over-the-top action, Burns is restrained, subtle, and genuinely frightening. It also has some of the best, most atmospheric soundscape design I’ve heard anywhere. (Another haunting German serial, Edgar Allen Poe, comes very close.) Where John Sinclair audio dramas are adaptations from a book series, this original audio drama series inspired a book series. Gabriel Burns recently concluded its opening 22 CD story arc and is currently on its 28th release. This one is a true masterpiece in the making.

Gabriel Burns #1: Der Fl?sterer was released on CD and in a special DVD edition with Dolby Digital 5.1. Sound.

Sample tracks: www.gabriel-burns.de (click folgen (“episodes”) on the side, then click on an album cover and a list of sample tracks will appear.)

Gruselkabinett #3: Die Familie des Vampirs

(?The Family of Vampires?, adapted from a short story by A. K. Tolstoi)

by Titania Medien

Gruselkabinett isn’t a serial, but an expanding anthology of dramatized horror classics. I’m particularly fond of this series because of its high caliber acting, excellent production values, and willingness to tackle more obscure tales alongside the standards (while they do cover Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and The Phantom of the Opera, they publish even more stories off the beaten track – something I wish more English-language producers would do. Instead of recording the umpteenth English audio dramatization of Dracula, how about adapting it’s little-known prequel, Dracula’s Guest? Gruselkabinett did both.)

Die Familie des Vampirs is probably Gruselkabinett?s most critically acclaimed release, and for good reason: it’s one of the best vampire tales I’ve encountered anywhere, in any medium. Essentially it concerns an isolated peasant family in the dead of winter, a visiting stranger, and a breed of vampire that prefers to stalk those who loved it in life. The story begins when a father’s attempt to kill a local vampire goes amiss, and he returns to his wife and children – changed. It?s a harrowing fable about the dark power of denial and the insatiability of love.

Sample tracks: http://www.titania-medien.de/gruselkabinett_3.php

That wraps it up for my top three German audio drama recommendations to beginners. Now here are some ruminations on the

FIVE LESSONS FROM THE HOERSPIEL-BOOM FOR AMERICAN PRODUCERS:

1. Get ‘em while they’re young!

Germany?s audience for audio drama was built in the 1970?s and 80?s through mass-market cassette releases aimed predominantly at children. The explosion of talent today and the willingness of Germans to support it with their Euros is largely a product of childhood exposure to the medium. In the USA companies like ZBS managed to do this to a lesser degree, but German companies had a big advantage: their audio dramas could be purchased from mainstream stores. These days in the USA there are plenty of music stores and bookstores with children?s sections, but the audio drama presence on their shelves is practically nonexistent. In some ways the audio drama scene in the United States is much like the comic book scene: it?s aging.

It?s well recognized that the future of comic books as a viable American popular art is very much in doubt because children don’t read them any more: kids who might once have read comic books are playing video games, browsing the internet and watching home videos instead. Rather than rise to this challenge, major publishing houses like Marvel and DC have largely given up on attracting children and focused on milking their already existing, older fanbase more effectively. Many long-time comic book professionals cite this trend as a sign that their industry has no future.

Is the contemporary U.S. audio drama scene much different? If children aren?t introduced to compelling audio drama, either commercially or over the airwaves, where will tomorrow?s paying audience (or for that matter, tomorrow?s creators) come from? In Germany children?s h?rspiele are still being produced in substantial numbers along with the more adult-oriented material aimed at nostalgic 30-somethings. There is actually a young company in the U.S.A., founded by Jens Hewerer, that is producing English-language audio dramas in the h?rspiel tradition for English-speaking kids. Everyone with a stake in the future of this artform should wish him luck. You can read more about Mr. Hewerer’s company and personal quest here: http://www.giddio.com/AboutUs.html.

2. Price low to sell

Some audio dramatists seem to take their CD pricing cues from the music industry. This puts them at a serious disadvantage, since music industry CDs are well promoted on radio and television, and audio dramas are not. By and large the music CD purchaser has heard the content already and knows exactly what they?re getting when they plop down $18, but the audio drama purchaser is usually making a gamble. Many people, particularly new listeners, won?t gamble at those prices. German audio dramas were inexpensive in the 1970?s and 80?s, and they?re still inexpensive today. Prices are usually low enough that customers can act on impulse without much reflection.

The great price leveler will probably be internet distribution, as more and more people get used to downloading MP3s than buying a physical product. You can already see the substantial price drops internet downloads have facilitated for companies like Big Finish and Graphic Audio. Internet distribution also allows listeners to sample before they buy. By allowing potential customers to discover contemporary talent for free, I think Radio Drama Revival provides the field with an exemplary service here. (That’s not self-aggrandizement – Fred runs this site and the show, I just write here.) I?d guess whatever losses producers might accrue by posting their work for free on RDR is offset by future purchases from customers who would otherwise never have heard of them. It?s still worth keeping in mind, though, that a $5 audio drama download is much more likely to move than a $15 dollar one. Especially if your line emphasizes:

3. Serials, serials, serials

The cassette adventures that laid the foundation for today?s German boom were predominantly serials, and serials still dominate both adult and children?s h?rspiele today. In the old days these serials were sold one episode per cassette, nowadays they sell one episode per CD. Even most multi-part stories are generally sold one CD at a time. German fans tend not to complain as long as they don?t have to wait too long for the conclusion of a multi-part adventure, largely because the prices of individual CDs are kept low. British company Big Finish also releases single CD episodes of multi-part serials, but they price the individual CDs so high that collecting the entire story becomes prohibitive fast.

The bottom line is, getting customers hooked on a serial story is a good way to net future sales. By advancing the story one CD at a time, you minimize your initial production costs. Customers won?t mind if you don?t gouge them and if each CD tells a satisfying story in itself in addition to being a link in a longer narrative chain. Serial publishing doesn?t require a fast rate of output. Adult German serials generally put out 6 releases a year at most, with the majority managing 3 to 4. Some epics even crawl along at a pace of one CD per year! (The 12 CD limited series Abseits der Wege (Off the Beaten Path) is one of those: after 2 years they?ve released two of the 12 episodes. I have to say, though, that each episode has been well worth the wait.)

Some German companies are beginning to collect their single-CD releases in cheaper boxed sets after the single CD versions have been out for a couple of years. This repackaging at a lower cost helps move product after interest has cooled. In many ways it?s highly reminiscent of the strategy used by today?s American comic book publishers, who release stories first as serialized magazines and later collect them into cheaper trade paperbacks.

4. Licensing

The contemporary German scene isn?t limited to licensed products: far from it. But there are a lot more professional productions using licensed properties in Germany than in the United States right now, and these properties get attention and bring new listeners into audio drama as a medium. These range from obvious big-name properties (Star Wars) to the slightly offbeat (Forgotten Realms, Hellboy). There?s a lot of potential for good licensed product, particularly when the chances for further film or television continuations are slim to none, because there?s a built-in fanbase eager for more. American publisher Dark Horse comics has released a further ?season? of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with original creator Joss Whedon overseeing the project and writing lead stories, much as he did for the T.V. show. It?s Dark Horse?s top seller.

5. Advertise?

This may be beyond most American producers’ budgets, but limited advertising on television and radio has benefited German series like John Sinclair and Gabriel Burns. For U.S. producers, internet advertising may be more viable.

Well, meine Damen und Herren, this concludes my introductory discussion of supernatural horror serials in contemporary German audio drama.

Next week I?ll switch to English material to begin a two-part review of ZBS productions? Jack Flanders: Midnight at the Casa Luna. Tune in for this and free Balinese Gamelan music recorded on location in Ubud, Bali by yours truly.

Tsch?ss!

Last week Malleus traced a rough history of German supernatural horror serials and considered their defining impact on the contemporary H?rspiel-Boom (audio drama explosion). What are some general characteristics of these new horror serial audios? I?ve made a list below of several trends I?ve noticed over the past 9 years, many of which differ from British and American tendencies. Read on to learn about casting practices, pricing, and for an answer to the strange riddle: Why do German audio horror serials rarely feature German heroes, and why are practically none of them set in Germany?

It?s a young scene:

Most prominent German audio dramatists are fairly young, prolific, and producing their best work now.

Audio dramas have found a profitable niche alongside audio books:

Audio books (H?rb?cher) are just as popular in Germany as they are in the U.S.A., but they haven?t driven audio dramas from the shelves in merry old Deutschland. Although audio books have a larger market, both genres are profitable and cohabit peaceably.

It remains to be seen whether that trend will last, given the considerably lower cost of audio book production. It?s much too early to make predictions, but more audio drama companies are testing the audiobook waters. Rather than introduce another drama series, Lausch is launching a new enhanced audiobook line of multi-voiced adaptations of the dark future Punktown stories. Big Finish, a private audio drama production company in the U.K., has been doing much the same recently with its recent Dr. Who-related audio book releases. Just diversification, or a sign of things to come?

Low cost:

Most German audio dramas are sold at a ?Schn?ppchen Preis? as cheap impulse buys, regardless of quality. With the dollar at record lows, the poor exchange rate considerably offsets this low cost for American buyers. Still, compared to American and British productions, they remain relatively inexpensive. Although music CDs in Germany typically sell for around 15,45 Euros, single CD audio dramas often run under 10 Euros, which is less than 7.68 British Pounds or 15 US dollars as of 03/15/08. By way of contrast, single cd releases of comparable quality (and casts about half the size) from British publisher Big Finish currently run $22.21 apiece.

Supernatural adventure is a driving force on the scene:

In the U.S.A. and to a lesser extent Britain (particularly outside of the BBC) science fiction dominates audio drama production. In Germany, sci-fi is definitely present (Takimo, Perry Rhodan, Star Wars), but supernatural and horror themes are more prevalent, in particular the occult detective sub-genre. The field is changing and diversifying, and children?s, mystery, fantasy and sci fi in particular constitute a sizable and growing presence. Still, the defining footprint of the supernatural sleuths remains clearly visible. It?s a legacy from the audiocassette horror serials of the 80?s, which were in turn inspired by the German horror pulp explosion that began in the late 60?s and caught fire in the early 70′s. See last week?s Malleus column for more on this.

Serials, both licensed and homegrown, lead the field:

CD serials sold one disc at a time are the driving force behind the German audio drama boom. Essentially these are the modern iteration of the Klassiker serials that were sold one cassette at a time in the 1980′s. Many of the new CD serials adapt licensed properties from Germany and the English-speaking world (books, movies, comics), although a healthy number of audio serials are self-originated by German creators. With notable exceptions like Graphic Audio and ZBS, there?s a bizarre lack of serials, licensed or otherwise, in the professional U.S. audio drama market right now. Outside of the BBC, England basically has a single private company specializing in licensed audio drama serials (Big Finish).

Non-German leading characters and locales predominate:

Strangely, most adult German audio drama serials feature leading characters who aren?t German and don?t live in Germany. Instead, the heroes are usually from English-speaking countries. Why?

Some of this can be traced back to the Grusel-Krimi supernatural crime genre that dominates the h?rspiel-field. When horror adventure pulps began in Germany the Hammer studios films coming out of England heavily inspired them. For many German writers of the time, England seemed a particularly exotic, Gothic setting for horror stories. This was certainly true for German-created British heroes John Sinclair and Tony Ballard. (Interestingly, Germany has had precisely the same exotic, Gothic appeal for many British writers, including Michael Moorcock (Hawkwind) and the creators of the Warhammer fantasy gaming universe.) Britain isn?t the only popular non-German locale for German writers. The first German horror pulp hero was American FBI agent Larry Brent. (Ah, those Germans. What American author would name his action hero ?Larry??) More recently Canada became the setting of Gabriel Burns, a superbly produced serial based in dark and mysterious ? wait for it – Vancouver.

The preference for English sounding names extended to the pseudonyms German pulp authors of the 1970?s adopted. Grusel-Krimi authors invented English pseudonyms ranging from the mild mannered (A.F. Morland, H.G. Francis) to the cartoonishly macabre (Jason Dark, Dan Shocker). As with English heroes and locales, English pseudonyms sounded more gothic and imposing to Germans than the authors? own German names. I?ve also heard it argued English names appealed because they seemed more cosmopolitan or international, presumably because of the dominance of English-language movies and television. While modern German writers generally use their own names (Volker Sassenberg hasn?t started calling himself “A.S. Jameson” or “Bob Evil”), so much material from the early pulps is still being mined for audio drama scripts that English pseudonyms remain highly visible.

Personally, I think Germany?s infamous post WWII guilt complex also plays a role in the continuing vogue for non-German heroes adventuring in English-speaking homelands (none of the audio dramas, of course, are actually in English). A number of German friends have told me they find the notion of fictional German heroes laughable. From an American perspective this is utterly bizarre. Americans generally prefer to consume stories about American heroes. Even when exotic locales are involved, there?s usually a (white male) American hero in the starring role.

All right, Americans are too stuck on themselves, particularly us white males. Still, I find Germany?s aversion to German heroes more than a bit sad. I hope someday a German audio drama producer will make a Grusel-Krimi serial set in Germany featuring credible, heroic German protagonists.

But I?m not holding my breath.

Large casts are the norm:

German casts tend to be big in horror, science fiction and fantasy audio dramas (and probably in other genres that I?m less familiar with). It?s common for single-CD German audio dramas to have casts of 15 professional actors or more. I can only speculate why. Perhaps German actors are less costly than their American and British counterparts. That would make a certain amount of sense, given that the audience for German-speaking work is quite a bit smaller than for English-language productions. German fans? limited tolerance for double- or repertory-style casting, both of which are common money and time saving devices in British and American audio drama, may also be a factor. (There are some German series, like Danger, that do use repertory casting, but Danger isn?t one of the better selling series, and I?ve seen a fair number of Germans complaining about its repetitious casts on bulletin boards.) I?ve even read angry complaints from German fans about the same actor playing two different roles in sequential episodes. Fan sentiment like that would put ZBS, Graphic Audio, Big Finish and countless other English-language audio drama producers right out of business.

Casts are fully professional and feature highly talented actors:

German actors are superlative. I?d put them up against the best the English-speaking world has to offer, including the BBC and Yuri Rasovsky?s Hollywood Theater of the Ear. Today most h?rspiel actors are drawn from Germany?s large synchro-sprecher (dubbing) industry, which primarily creates German dubs of American and British t.v. shows and movies. German dubbers, unlike their American counterparts from 70?s kung-fu films or modern anime, are excellent actors in their own right, so much so that many Germans prefer them to the original Hollywood actors? voices.

Since German synchro actors are most known to their German audience by the American actors they dub, some German audio dramas even advertise with those American actors? names. (?Featuring the German voices of Tom Hanks, Angelina Jolie, and Jack Nicholson!?) It?s ironic since audio drama is one area where German actors get to originate roles themselves, particularly when it comes to genres that are too expensive to produce in visual mediums. Germany hasn?t been a major film-producing center since the Weimar republic (this doesn?t mean there aren?t still great German films getting made, but there isn?t a German equivalent to Hollywood anymore), but in audio you will hear the most lavish productions imaginable. This is particularly true of genres like fantasy and sci-fi that are financially out of reach for German film directors working out of Germany. (Remember, Roland Emmerich made his films and fortune in Hollywood. And compared to many German audio drama producers he isn?t very talented.) Years ago RTL television did attempt a Geisterj?ger John Sinclair TV series, but low budget special effects made the supernatural show a farce. Volker Sassenberg?s supernatural epic Gabriel Burns might have made a fantastic TV show, but it would never get produced in Germany.

Repetitious use of music tracks:

This is a noticeable weakness of many German h?rspiele. While there are significant exceptions, many German h?rspiel serials tend to use the same music tracks in each episode rather than hire a composer to individually score each one. In some cases these tracks aren?t even produced or commissioned by the drama publisher, but licensed from vendors of stock music. As a result, some different audio drama serials even share the same music tracks. If you want to get a taste of what this canned music sounds like, listen to the ?Dick Dynamo? episode that was posted on this website on March 7^th. The music used in ?Dynamo? is the same that is used in the John Sinclair and Gespenster-Krimi lines. I should note, though, that those music tracks are much more crisply and professionally implemented in the German serials than in ?Dynamo?.

This is an area where British companies like Big Finish and American ones like ZBS really shine, as all of their productions, even serial episodes, are scored individually. As a result, each adventure has its own atmosphere and unique feel. Many German audio drama serials are more like T.V. shows that feature the same canned tunes in every episode.

Sound design:

Generally speaking German sound design is superb. At this point there aren?t many stylistic generalizations you can make. From the splatterpunk ?shock-effekten? of Geisterj?ger John Sinclair: Edition 2000 to the subtle, state-of-the-art soundscapes of Gabriel Burns, it?s really a question of mood and directorial preference. The sound design in Gabriel Burns in particular is equal to anything I?ve heard from the U.S.A. and Britain, and superior to most of it.

And that?s it for this week. Next time I?ll present some potential lessons the thriving German audio drama scene could offer its poorer American cousin. I?ll also spotlight three outstanding productions from the H?rspiel-Boom, with links to free MP3 samples so you can hear what I’ve been talking about.

The inaugural column of Malleus kicks off a three part investigation of the seminal role of supernatural horror in the contemporary German audio drama explosion. Discover the first German radio drama, learn about German pulp novels, and experience the terror of Konga the Man-Frog.

As I said in the Malleus podcast interview here on Radio Drama Revival, I originally intended to write a 3-part discussion of the entire H?rspiel-Boom. At that time I actually thought doing an overview would be pretty straightforward. Ha! As passionately as I?ve followed the significant supernatural horror element of the Boom, there are many prominent genres I haven?t pursued. These include westerns, children?s serials, straight krimis (mysteries), and science fiction, among others, all of which have a significant history in German audio drama. So rather than pretend to cover everything I?ve decided to focus on what I know well: supernatural horror h?rspiele from 1999 to the present day. This article is NOT a comprehensive overview of the history of German h?rspiel, or even of the recent H?rspiel-Boom. Instead, my intent is to give non-German speakers a context for the many supernaturally oriented h?rspiele that will be featured in upcoming Malleus reviews.

All that said, I do believe and will argue that the Grusel-Krimi (“spine-tingling crime”) genre has inspired and defined the post-1999 Boom more than any other. After all, it wasn?t Benjamin Bl?mchen: Edition 2000 that kick-started the explosion at the turn of the millennium. So while I admit my preference for horror serials, there are historical reasons to privilege them that go beyond personal taste.

Without further ado, the essay I like to call:

REVENGE OF THE GRUSEL-KRIMIS

Americans are used to hearing about audio drama?s inevitable decline. News programs and music drive radio drama off the air and audio books crowd audio drama off store shelves. By and large the BBC and a few older auteurs who produce a small amount of work on an irregular basis define the professional field that remains. (Yuri Rasovsky, Tom Lopez, Phil Proctor, etc.). Audio drama is a constant fight against the odds for most if not all of these producers, one that gets harder all the time as public funding evaporates and audiences shrink. This reality is so deeply ingrained in us that it?s hard to imagine things might be different elsewhere. But they are. In 2002 Yuri Rasovsky stated, “In certain areas of the world where TV is difficult, because of terrain, such as mountainous countries like Greece or the Balkans, radio drama is still a going concern. The best I’ve heard of any in the world is Serbo-Croatian. They make the BBC look like amateurs.” (see http://www.audiotheater.com/yuri.html)

Rasovsky isn?t under any illusions that American producers can emulate the success of radio drama in Greece, the Balkans, or even the U.K.. Given the current state of public radio and the ubiquity of television, its highly unlikely we?re going to see a renaissance of public radio drama in the U.S.A. any time soon. But what might be learned from a successful foreign model driven entirely by the private sector? T.V. is as much a fixture in Germany as it is here. But audio drama has been thriving more than ever in Germany as a commercial enterprise for almost ten years. And although science fiction enjoys a healthy share of the market in Germany, it doesn?t lead the field there as it does in the USA. Since 1999, and arguably much earlier in the 1980?s, that role has belonged to the Grusel-Krimi, or supernatural detective serial. (The term “Grusel-Krimi” is heavily associated with the series Larry Brent, which was first published in Silber-Grusel-Krimis. A more neutral term for the entire genre would be Grusel. I?ve decided to go with Grusel-Krimi anyway because it emphasizes both the mystery/detective/adventure and fantastical/horror elements that the leading German audio serials have embraced.) Here I?ll sketch a brief history of the Grusel-Krimi genre and consider the powerful role they play in the commercial H?rspiel-Boom today. I hope this will be of interest, and possibly of use, to English speaking audio dramatists and their fans.

Germany has a long history of audio drama. The first, Hans Flesch?s Zauberei auf dem Sender (Sorcery on the Radio), aired on October 24, 1924, just two years after the first radio sketch, “A Rural Line on Education,” was broadcast in the U.S. on Pittsburgh?s KDKA station. You can download a modern remake of Zauberei for free here: http://www.mediaculture online.de/fileadmin/mp3s/zauberei_sender.mp3. Among other things, this radio drama contains the most quintessentially German statement you?ll ever hear: “Aber letzten Endes wollen wir die Ordnung und Sie die Unordnung, und sicher ist die Ordnung das Richtige und die Unordnung das Falsche.” (But finally, we want Order and you want Disorder, and certainly Order is right and Disorder is wrong.) The villain of the piece, a chaotic sorcerer who torments an anal retentive radio broadcaster, might be viewed as a prophetic antecedent of the heavy supernatural bent in contemporary German audio drama.

But Germany?s current wave doesn?t descend directly from the public radio legacy of Zauberei, and for the most part it isn?t being broadcast. Rather, the CD-based H?rspiel-Boom traces its commercial roots to the audiocassette and LP adventures that German studios like Europa and Tonstudio Braun released in the 1970?s and 1980?s. Europa, Tonstudio Braun, and other companies published many genres, but one proved particularly influential: horror.

But what kind of horror? Traditional “Universal Monsters”-style horror had a prominent place in the 80?s pantheon of German audio drama. German authors like H.G. Francis (Hans Gerhard Franciskowsky) produced self-contained audio plays about classic monsters like Dracula, Frankenstein, and werewolves through Europa. Dramas of this kind are still being produced today: Dreamland Productions is recording modern takes on the H.G. Francis stories, and Titania-Medien?s Gruselkabinett line is doing outstanding adaptations of horror classics like Dracula and Carmilla. But it was really the occult detective serial, or Grusel-Krimi, from the 80?s scene that shaped the modern h?rspiel landscape more than anything else.

The occult detective serial? Grusel-Krimis? What the fahrvergn?gen are you talking about?

Good question. Occult detective serials are essentially a blend of pulp criminal adventure and supernatural horror, one British and American authors pioneered with limited success. Horror writers like William Hope Hodgson (Carnacki), Algernon Blackwood (John Silence), Seabury Quinn (Jules de Grandin), Manley Wade Wellman (John Thunstone), and more recently Brian Lumley (Titus Crow) have all taken a crack at investigators of the unknown. Many of their fictional creations first saw print in pulp magazines like Weird Tales, which ran from 1923 to 1954. German Grusel-Krimi authors started much later than their British and American pulp counterparts and, unlike them, never stopped writing. The first German Grusel-Krimi (most literally, “spine-tingling crime”) serial debuted in 1968 with the publication of Dan Shocker?s tale (J?rgen Grasm?ck) Larry Brent: Das Grauen schleicht durch Bonnards Haus (Horror creeps through Bonnard?s House).

Former chemist Jason Dark (Helmut Rellergerd) published his first Geisterj?ger John Sinclair story, Die Nacht des Hexers (Night of the Warlock), in 1973. He has since written well over 2,000 John Sinclair adventures, and is still cranking out new ones to this day. Ernst Vlcek?s and Neal Davenport?s (Kurt Luif) highly regarded D?monenkiller (Demon killer) serial likewise began in 1973. (Having read examples of all three, I can confirm that despite it?s name D?monenkiller is subtler and less formulaic than the others.) Although D?monenkiller concluded in 1977, the Zaubermond publishing house recently began publishing new adventures. (A new D?monenkiller audio drama series, not surprisingly, is in preparation.) The pulps (groschenromane, roughly equivalent to “dime novels”) die hard in Germany; nowadays those that do often return from the grave for a second commercial life.

All three of the serials mentioned above along with many others became the basis for Tonstudio Braun and Europa audio dramas in the 1980s. The German pulps already had a sizable fanbase that quickly gravitated to the dramatizations, and they became popular with children new to the source material as well. I?ve sampled some Tonstudio Braun Geisterj?ger John Sinclair adventures and Europa serials like Macabros and Larry Brent; to my ear they were probably well produced for their time, but today show their age and are more humorous than frightening. For pure camp, though, it?s hard to beat titles like Konga, Der Menschenfrosch (Konga the Man-Frog, from Dan Shocker?s Macabros serial.)

These and other single-cassette serial adventures made a strong impression on young listeners, and between the 80?s and the year 2000 many of their fans grew up. Some of those fans grew up to be talented producers whose work would far outshine the material that thrilled them as children.

Oliver D?ring was one of them. With WortArt, he went on to reinvent the Geisterj?ger John Sinclair series as Geisterj?ger John Sinclair: Edition 2000 in 1999.

Many date this revival as the beginning of the contemporary H?rspiel-Boom; D?ring himself traces the Boom?s start to the 1980?s cassettes that inspired him. Regardless of where you place the Boom’s beginning, most would agree that the Tonstudio Braun / Europa era had diminished by 1999, and that WortArt was initiating a new phase. The Edition 2000 Sinclair adventures, much better produced and acted than their 80?s predecessors (although Tonstudio Braun loyalists will hate me for saying that), met with considerable financial success. Germans weaned on the 80?s cassettes had gone on to get jobs and make money, and they were happy to spend it on this nostalgic comeback. John Sinclair: Der Anfang (John Sinclair: The Beginning) sold so well that it made Germany?s music charts in 2002, an unprecedented feat for an audio drama. Can you imagine, say, ZBS’ Ruby making the top 40 in the U.S.A.?

After Sinclair opened the way, other new audio dramas and revivals followed. Not all of them were occult detective serials, of course, but many of the flagship titles were. Today many of the big h?rspiel companies have at least one supernatural investigator in their stable, and more are on the way. Even brand new properties like the pseudo-historical Schwarze Sonne set in the 19^th century and modern thrillers like Schattenreich and Gabriel Burns are essentially updates of the occult detective legacy. It?s gotten to the point that Oliver D?ring now worries publicly about over-saturation of the niche he revived with Sinclair. But while a culling is probably inevitable, it hasn?t happened yet. Rather than topping out, the h?rspiel market has been steadily growing and diversifying since 1999, with new companies bringing more science fiction, fantasy, mystery, children?s, and thriller releases to the scene. Even D?ring himself, rather than cutting back, has chosen to roll the dice and begin another supernatural investigator series (the adult-oriented Don Harris: Psycho-Cop). When the market does reach its tipping point, I don?t anticipate a major crash but a gradual process of weeding out weaker material. H?rspiel looks to remain a vital pop subculture in Germany for some time to come.

Will Grusel-Krimis retain their preeminent place within the adult audio drama market? I?m inclined to say no, but despite steady diversification there are still more Grusel-Krimis published than any other genre, and their number is only increasing. Even if they lose their leading position, they will probably always constitute a significant portion of contemporary German audio drama. Certainly there are no signs that science fiction will take the crown from supernatural horror serials, so in this respect German and USA markets are likely to remain distinct.

For further information about the Grusel genre check out the following links:

In English:

http://groovyageofhorror.blogspot.com/2005_08_21_archive.html

(Scroll down for a frank and not entirely flattering discussion of German horror pulps.)

http://groovyageofhorror.blogspot.com/2005_11_06_archive.html

(English discussion of the first Grusel-Krimi, Larry Brent.)

In German:

http://gruselromane.de/specials/entwicklung/entwicklung.htm

(The most thorough account you?ll find on the net about the history of Grusel Heftromans from 1968 until the present day. The entire site is a treasure trove of information for those interested in the genre.)

Tune in next week for a look at common characteristics of Grusel-Krimi audio dramas and an answer to the strange question: “Why do adult German audio serials rarely feature German heroes?”