Title: Drabblecast
Author: Multiple
Producer: Norm Sherman
Type: Flash Fiction Podcast
Genre: Who Knows
Availability: Free Download (Podcast)

My Two Cents: Wow oh wow. Kevin Anderson gets a low and reverential bow for me for turning me on to the Drabblecast, and for that matter the whole universe of audio fiction podcasts — EscapePod, PodCastle, SteamPod, Dunesteef, Psuedopod, etc. This is the kind of stuff that I wish I were doing.   Well, on top of running Radio Drama Revival. It’s what I originally had in mind for FinalRune. Sorta.

I’m going to review each of the other audio fiction podcasts in their own time, but I want to give a special bow to what Norm Sherman is doing with the Drabblecast. As someone who is lacking completely to an ounce any talent producing music, I was blown away by him throwing in absolutely stunning song about a mutant turtle in a recent episode. Presuming he does the music for the actual stories he reads, too, well that’s just damn good.

Norm’s show isn’t strictly audio drama but if you’re a fan of stories in sound you’ll like it. It’s the shortest of the audio fiction ‘casts — it rarely runs more than 15 minutes — so if you’re like me, and find brevity the heart of audio, then you’ll dig it. There’s never a dull moment on this podcast.

Some other time I might comment on specific episodes which I love – there are a bunch.  For now I encourage you just to mosey over to the Drabblecast and start listening.

Title: Dead and Gone
Author: Adaptation of James Joyce
Producer: Chatterbox Audio Theater
Type: Audio Drama
Genre: Drama
Availability: Forthcoming download

My Two Cents: If you’re a loyal listener to the show, you’ve heard me rave about the Chatterbox Audio Theater, a Memphis-based audio theater group who have brought us excellent adaptations (Kafka’s In the Penal Colony) as well as stunning originals (The Dead Girl, anyone?). Their latest, “Dead and Gone,” does not disappoint.

“Dead and Gone” is a Southern retelling of the James Joyce tale, “The Dead.” Yes, you heard me right.

Not only does Chatterbox have the guts to take on James Joyce, but they transpose wintry and gloomy Dublin with Memphis. F–in brilliant! The adaptation is right-on, from the transposition of an ill-fated love from Galway to New Orleans, to the accusation of misplaced loyalties from “West Briton” to “Scallywag.”

Good, good, good.

My hat also goes off to the great cast of Chatterboxers, who put umph and vitality into every ounce of their performances. The production is serious drama, and while the sound effects and music are understated, they fit this terse and introspective story well.

As far as listening to this fabulous production? It’s not available for public consumption from Chatterbox’s website just yet. I caught one of their notices to hear it live on WKNO in Memphis. The next opportunity is Sunday, August 16 on KUNM-FM, 6PM MDT (8PM for us in the East). Here’s the live listen link: http://kunm.org/listen/. If you miss the live event, you’ll be able to hear it from Chatterbox’s website, eventually.

Serious drama in audio is about as hard as it gets. But Chatterbox pulls it off with the hardest artist there is, and in spades. Bravo!

Title: A Canticle for Leibowitz
Author: Walter Miller, Jr. (Adapted)
Producer: NPR
Type: Audio Drama
Genre: Adaptation of a Novel
Availability: Hard to Find

My Two Cents: Hats off to Chris Dueker for getting me a copy of this classic series released by NPR. Listening to this is tragic not just because of the story (which is a powerful testament to the screwiness of our species and the solipsism of our world), but because this kind of work isn’t being produced anymore. NPR captures a remarkable and distant sound here that isn’t BBC or OTR or anything resembling MAD. It’s its own vibe which sadly only captured by this remarkable drama.

If you’ve never read the novel, A Canticle for Leibowitz is one of the earliest post-apocalyptic stories set in a nuclear future where monks preserve the last bastion of knowledge for when humans will be fit enough to appreciate it again. Imagine Fallout if instead of ultra-violence the protagonists were pacifists. Like, if Mad Max had gone into the priesthood instead of grabbing a dune buggy.

The whole “sound” of Leibowitz is much different than many productions today — the whole audio portrait is subdued, quiet, understated. Compare than to the flash-bang of Hollywood and even most audio drama today. The simple, sparse sound effects and pervasive but muted music underscore a simple time, of simple people, where the truth of the story is allow to bubble up rather than smash you in the face with a mallet. I’m in love with Carol Colin’s narrator. She has transformed the entire idea of the narrator in audio drama.

I’m not sure where you can legitimately get this nowadays, but I recommend you do. It’s an epic journey (7.5 hrs) but well worth the trip.

Title: The Flickerman
Author: Lance Dann
Producer: Lance Dann
Type: Audio Drama
Genre: Not Quite Sure
Availability: Free Download

My Two Cents: I don’t want to give too much away on work that’s going to appear on the show, but I have to say something about Lance Dann’s The Flickerman. There’s nothing like it in audio. There might never be again. It’s worth listening to both as a unique audio event and for the intriguing story it tells.

On the surface, the story of The Flickerman seems pretty vanilla – a young man finds himself in a series of increasingly stranger random encounters and soon gets in over his head as things go weird. What makes this story eff’ing brilliant is that the narrative is hooked into Flickr, and the story calls upon you to explore photos through Flickr as the narrator’s life begins to unravel around him. Postmodernism pulled off exceedingly well.

Lance tells me… well, Lance tells me that this comes from tapes recorded by Cornelius himself, so I’m not sure what to tell you. The story bleeds the edge between reality, fantasy, text and subtext. The show does pick up at a slow pace, but if you’re along for the self-reflective ride, you’ll find yourself hooked on this thing.

The Flickerman will be featured on Radio Drama Revival later this month.

Title: The Halloween Tree
Author: Ray Bradbury (Adapted)
Producer: Colonial Radio Theater
Type: Adaptation of a Short Story
Genre: Fantastic Drama
Availability: Paid Release

My Two Cents: Jerry Robbins and The Colonial Radio Theater have had the incredibly awesome pleasure of working with Ray Bradbury and their treatment of his work doesn’t disappoint. The Halloween Tree is Bradbury at his imaginative best, and Colonial does a fine job as realizing that imagination in a fantastic audio adventure. This is a worthy listen that won the Silver Ogle Award this year.

If you would, imagine A Nightmare Before Christmas and its richly realized caricature of a Hallowen world, and you’ll have an idea of the kind of job Colonial has done in The Halloween Tree. A group of young kids, dressed in their Halloween best, go searching around a haunted house and find themselves chasing after one of their lost number into a series of more outrageous underworldly locations. The music and sound effects are completely over the top, which is befitting this high-adventure story.

If audio had CGI, this would be it. Luckily, we can do in sound what it takes millions of dollars for computers to do, and have our imaginations tickled more than the movies ever can. Bravo.

This week kicks off a new feature for Radio Drama Revival called Fred’s Fuze. Recognizing that there’s a TON of great stuff I listen to that doesn’t make it on the show (or takes months to get there) I’ve decided to start this to share my love of listening. And to see how shocked or surprised you are at some of the picks!

Why Fuze? Because I do not own an iPod. There, I said it. I also never read Harry Potter or watched Titanic. Once I see where the crowd is going, I go the other way. So it was with the iPod, and let me say, I’m pretty happy with my Sansa Fuze.

So, lest this turn into a product review let’s get into the first installment of Fred’s Fuze – Medusa on the Beach.

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Title: Medusa on the Beach
Author: Marty Ross
Producer: Wireless Theater Company
Type: Audio Drama
Genre: Modern Retelling of a Classic
Availability: Free Download

My Two Cents: I’ve been listening to the Wireless Theater Company’s work since they kicked off in 2007. Several things have impressed me — one, how deftly they jump from comedy to drama and back again, and two, how much the quality of their work has increased. Not that the first works weren’t good — they’re all solid listens — but they’ve obviously been studying their craft and learning from everywhere they can the last two years. They also seem to be getting access to more resources, which certainly doesn’t hurt!

Medusa on the Beach, I’m happy to say, is really quite a strong statement in audio. I’m a sucker for retellings of Greek myths (a retelling of Orpheus, after all, is what got me into audio drama to begin with) so I couldn’t click the download button fast enough when I heard about Medusa on the Beach.

I wasn’t disappointed. Medusa is a refreshingly original story. The plot has only so many twists — a disparaged small-town woman goes on a killing spree upon discovering Medusa’s head washed ashored — but man is this thing funny and a joy to listen to. Funny? A Greek tragedy? Well, you have to hear it to believe it. As I said, Wireless jumps back from comedy to drama with deft, even cheeky, precision.

Since it’s a free download, do feel free to check it out, just don’t be surprised if you hear it on the show sometime down the line!