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July 1, 2011

It’s a Download Bonanza at RadioArchives.com!
* New Downloads: The Lost Episodes of Fibber McGee and Molly
* Python Isle: Reviews Are Coming In
* New in Pulp Fiction
* Who Knows What Evil…
* New: Classic Whodunits with Sherlock Holmes
New Downloads: The Lost Episodes of Fibber McGee and Mollyra050-200-4241434For over two decades, whenever the front doorbell rang at 79 Wistful Vista, millions of radio listeners could be sure that laughter was soon going to follow. For behind that door lived a memorable couple whose misadventures entertained audiences both young and old for more than twenty years.

Fibber McGee and Molly were an institution on radio, bringing us belly laughs thru the dark days of the Great Depression, the challenging years of World War II, and well into the prosperity of the 1950s. And now, thanks to a new series of Digital Downloads from RadioArchives.com, you can enjoy hour after hour of smiles and chuckles with the irrepressible Fibber, sweet and patient Molly, and all of their bizarre neighbors – including Wallace Wimple, the Old Timer, and McGee’s friend and sometimes nemesis Doc Gamble.
With the discovery of literally hundreds of long-lost NBC master recordings, RadioArchives.com has brought you twelve collections of “The Fibber McGee and Molly Show” on audio compact discs. Now all of these great sets can also be purchased as Digital Downloads – and at a price considerably lower than the comparable CD set! Just visit RadioArchives.com today and browse our new Digital Downloads section, where you’ll find Fibber and Molly, “The Lux Radio Theater”, Orson Welles in “The Lives of Harry Lime”, and many other radio and audiobook favorites. Place your order, download your sets, and in just minutes you’ll be enjoying some great audio entertainment.

Digital Downloads from RadioArchives.com come to you as high bitrate MP3 files to ensure that you’ll enjoy the same sparkling audio fidelity as in our CD sets. You can play them on your computer, on most mobile phones, or on your favorite portable device – and, whether you live in Seattle, Stockholm, or San Juan, each downloadable collection is available worldwide with immediate delivery and NO postal charges to pay!

So stop by RadioArchives.com today and enjoy our new and ever-expanding array of Digital Downloads – and watch out for that closet door!

Python Isle: Reviews Are Coming In At Radio Archives, we always like to please our customers. But we’ve truly been overwhelmed by the compliments we’re receiving about “Python Isle”, the Doc Savage adventure that introduces our new line of pulp audiobooks!

Dale from Littleton, Colorado writes:
Absolutely fantastic! The narrator did all kinds of different voices for all the characters and kept everything very well paced. All audiobooks should be like this one.

Larry Scheflin writes:
I’ve been listening to “Python Isle” and I must say that Michael McConnohie has done an excellent job. His voice characterizations are a joy. Kudos to all and thanks for a wonderful listening experience.

From the All Pulp Blog, reviewer Tommy Hancock writes:
“Python Isle” is the stuff pulp dreams are made of. From fistfights and gun battles to harrowing chases in various locales all the way to an epic conflict aboard a zeppelin, “Python Isle” delivers all the thrills and chills anyone could want. It’s more than a treat, better than a nice surprise. It is simply New Pulp storytelling at its best.

If you thrill to the excitement and suspense that only a great adventure story can provide, you’ll want to visit RadioArchives.com today and pick up your copy of “Python Isle”. Written by Will Murray and directed and produced by Roger Rittner – the same team that brought you “The Adventures of Doc Savage” radio series – this eight hour collection also features two exclusive and newly recorded interviews with the author and striking cover art by Joe DeVito. Priced at just $25.98 for the 8-CD set or $17.98 for the Digital Download, this action-packed tale is one we know you’ll want to share with your entire family. And, next month, be sure to watch this newsletter for our next exciting audiobook, in which the Man of Bronze faces one of his most challenging foes: the mysterious White Eyes!

New in Pulp FictionDuring the 1930s, both kids and grown-ups alike would often rush to their favorite newsstands to anxiously await the delivery of the latest magazines featuring their three favorite adventure heroes: Doc Savage, The Shadow, and The Spider! Now RadioArchives.com offers you a series of double-novel reprints featuring the timeless stories of these crime fighting icons, all featuring full-color covers and many special features! The new arrivals include:

“The Shadow, Volume 50”, priced at just $14.95, an extra-length special issue showcasing three of the Dark Knight’s most thrilling stories: “The Man from Shanghai”, “The Golden Dog Murders”, and “Jabberwocky Thrust”. Then, in “Doc Savage, Volume 45”, priced at just $14.95, The Man of Bronze returns in two of his most engrossing adventures: “Merchants of Disaster” & “Measures for a Coffin”. Finally, The Spider – pulp fiction’s legendary Master of Men – returns in two thrill-packed adventures, combined into one volume for the low price of just $14.95: “Slaves of the Dragon” and “The Spider and his Hobo Army”.

Often neglected and unrecognized in their own time, the stories of these three influential superheroes are now seen as classics of popular culture. If you love pulp fiction – or if you’re just discovering it for the first time – be sure to visit RadioArchives.com today and order copies of these and our other classic pulp fiction titles for your personal library.

Who Knows What Evil… “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow Knows!”…and so does John Olsen, whose insightful reviews share the web pages for every double-novel Shadow reprint offered by RadioArchives.com. John is the only fellow we know who has read, re-read, and re-re-read every adventure of this crime fighting foe of the underworld – all 325 of them – and, thanks to his generosity, he regularly shares his thoughts and opinions about the novels of the Knight of Darkness with the visitors to RadioArchives.com.

If you share John’s love of The Shadow, you may or may not share his opinions, but you’re sure to agree that he knows his subject and writes about it very well. If you’re only casually acquainted with this iconic vigilante of justice, we know you’ll appreciate John’s insightful reviews of his many adventures. And if you’ve never read a Shadow novel – well, there’s no one like John Olsen to entice you to get started right away!

So the next time you come to RadioArchives.com for entertainment, visit the Pulp Fiction section and read a few of John Olsen’s reviews. If you’re like us, we bet you’ll soon be just as big of a fan of The Shadow as he is – and understand completely that “The weed of crime bears bitter fruit. Crime does not pay! The Shadow Knows!”
New: Classic Whodunits with Sherlock HolmesIn the annals of detective fiction, there are many investigators who could lay claim to legendary status. But, for many, the most famous, the most unique, and the most emulated would be the pipe smoking, violin playing, and deer-stalker clad gentleman known as Sherlock Holmes.

Created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Holmes and his faithful friend and companion Doctor Watson have been a significant part of popular culture ever since their adventures first appeared in the Strand Magazine in 1887. In the years that have followed, Holmes and Watson have made their way to the stage, the movies, television, and even graphic novels – but, for fans of classic radio, “The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” remains among the best interpretations of these two unforgettable characters and their often baffling cases.

The two actors most associated with the roles during radio’s Golden Age were, of course, Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. But Rathbone’s departure from the series in 1946 resulted in another actor taking on the part: Tom Conway, the suave and handsome leading man who had recently been seen as The Falcon in the popular RKO movie series. Though long-time fans were understandably dubious of the change, Conway’s talents fit the role like a glove and he, along with Nigel Bruce, continued to broadcast the series from Hollywood for another successful season.

In “The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Volume 1”, RadioArchives.com brings you ten exciting and fully restored episodes from this little-known chapter in the life of the World’s Greatest Consulting Detective, just as originally aired in 1946 and starring Tom Conway and Nigel Bruce. Priced at just $14.98 for the five audio CD set, or $9.98 for the digital download, this collection also features original cover art by Timothy Lantz. Visit RadioArchives.com and add Sherlock Holmes to your personal library of mystery favorites right away!

(Note for long-time customers: this 5-hour collection is a repackaged re-release of the first half of a 10-CD set which we previously offered in our catalog. In addition to new cover art, all of the shows in this collection have been newly restored from the original masters to ensure outstanding audio fidelity.)
We’d love to hear from you! Send an e-mail to Service@RadioArchives.com or call us toll free at 800-886-0551 with your comments, questions, or suggestions.

Listen to this Newsletter!


Sit back, relax, and enjoy this newsletter as an Audio Podcast! Click anywhere in the colorful banner at the top and you’ll automatically hear the Radio Archives Newsletter, enhanced with narration, music, and clips from our latest collections! This audio version of our regular newsletter is a pleasant and convenient way to hear all about our latest products, as well as the newest pulp fiction reprints, special offers, and much, much more!

The releases we’ve described in this newsletter are just a small fraction of what you’ll find waiting for you at RadioArchives.com. Whether it’s pulp fiction classics, our new line of audiobooks, colorful and exciting items from Moonstone, timeless movies and television shows on DVD, or the over 150 compact disc collections and downloads containing thousands of sparkling and fully restored classic radio shows, we hope you’ll make RadioArchives.com your source for the best in timeless entertainment.

Win a Copy of Transformers: The Japanese Collection – Headmasters

transformers_japanese-_headmasters-_product_shot-272x450-5803484Capitalizing on the popularity of Paramount Pictures’ third installment in the live action Transformers franchises, Shout! Factory is releasing the long-awaited Japanese animated series which we talked about previously. The DVD set is coming out on Tuesday and to celebrate, we have one copy to give away to a lucky fan.

All you have to do is give us your best educated guess what the total domestic box office revenue of Transformers: Dark of the Moon will be when the theaters close at the end of business on Monday, concluding the holiday weekend. We want your guess by 11:59 Monday evening and the winning tally will be based on the finals as released by our friends at Box Office Mojo on Tuesday.

Meantime, here’s a look back at The Transformers: The Japanese Collection — Headmasters. The four disc set will come complete with Original Japnese Audio, English Subtitles, and an Art Gallery.

LEADER IN SUPER HERO COSMIC PULP DOES IT AGAIN WITH ‘STELLARAX’

White Rocket Books is proud to announce the publication of the sixth novel in the critically acclaimed Sentinels Saga from Van Allen
Plexico: STELLARAX!

The situation is dire. Four vast and powerful cosmic entities stand poised to destroy the Earth, while the spaceborne nano-virus called
the Blight turns everyone–human and alien–into mindless zombies.

With the mighty Ultraa near death and powerful Vanadium a captive of the enemy, Lyn Li and Esro Brachis have no other choice. They must lead a ragtag group of heroes and villains on a desperate mission. If they’re going out, they’re going out with a bang. It’s one last hurrah– before the end of the world!

Filled with action and adventure, SENTINELS: STELLARAX sees our heroes through their greatest challenges ever–and no one is the same
afterward.

With five full-page illustrations by Chris Kohler. (Trade paperback edition.)

Says Plexico: “This volume brings to a climax the world-shaking events that have been building from the very start. Readers have patiently awaited the  answers to a number of burning questions about the heroes and their predicaments, and a whole lot of answers are to be found in this book. Keen-eyed readers will spot connections that go back as far as the first chapter of the first volume as everything comes together for the big finish of the “Rivals”story arc. It’s the biggest and most ambitious volume yet and I’m
confident longtime and new Sentinels readers will love it. Add in Chris’s awesome artwork in the paperback version and you can’t possibly go wrong.”

Trade paperback: (314 pages; 5 full-page illustrations; $15.95)
Kindle / Nook / Kobo editions: ($2.99)

http://www.whiterocketbooks.com/sentinels

In addition, White Rocket is pleased to announce that–for the first
time ever–all six SENTINELS novels are available for the Kindle,
as well as in Epub format for Nook and other e-readers, at the low
price of only $2.99 each!

CRITICAL ACCLAIM FOR THE SENTINELS SAGA:

“Nobody – not even Abnett and Lanning – is doing cosmic superheroes as
well as Van Allen Plexico is doing them. Period.” –Barry Reese,
award-winning creator of The Rook

“Wow does the fun come across to the lucky readers.” –Ron Fortier,
Pulp Fiction Reviews

“You’ll find the spirit of Stan Lee’s characters and Roy Thomas’s
plots living and breathing in Plexico’s writing.” –OnceUponAGeek.com

“Excellent reads.” –Ric Croxton, The Book Cave

“I was enthralled. I enjoyed them all and still want more. –Mark
Haleuga, Gotham Pulp Collectors Club

SENTINELS: STELLARAX by Van Allen Plexico
published June 2011 by White Rocket Books
$15.95 paperback; $2.99 Kindle
ISBN 978-0984139248

Learn more about the Sentinels, with links to order in any format, at:
http://www.whiterocketbooks.com/sentinels

Stellarax at Amazon.com in paperback or for Kindle:
http://www.amazon.com/Sentinels-Stellarax-Van-Allen-Plexico/dp/0984139249

Jennifer Aniston Has A Potty Mouth

 

pt0701111-1607202This weekend, HORRIBLE BOSSES takes it’s place on the big screen as the next R rated comedy of the summer. We talk to JENNIFER ANISTON on how she took a far left from FRIENDS for this character, plus more with Dedrich Bader on being the BRAVE & BOLD BATMAN.
We take Monday July 4th off – but we’ll be back on Friday the 9th and between now & then, check our website for several Pop Culture updates each day!

Check out The Point Radio for constant pop culture updates – and please check us out on Facebookright here & toss us a “like”.

Crazy 8 Press Releases Second Preview of ‘The Camelot Papers’, On Sale July 8th

c8-final-logo-300-248-2494770In a case of the shoemaker’s children going barefoot, we didn’t mention anything beyond the teaser on Monday, but: ComicMix contributors Robert Greenberger, Glenn Hauman, and Aaron Rosenberg have joined with comic book writers Peter David, Michael Jan Friedman, and Howard Weinstein to form Crazy 8 Press, while we saw numerous writeups from The Beat, Bleeding Cool, and io9.

camelot_papers_100px-1006769However, we can advance the story a bit further: a second preview of the first book, The Camelot Papers by Peter David, has been added to the Crazy 8 Press Facebook page. Just go there and like the page, and you’ll get access to Chapters 2 and 3. (Chapter 1 is still available on the Crazy 8 Press website.

The Camelot Papers will officially go on sale on July 8, both to tie in with the “8” and the Shore Leave convention in Hunt Valley, MD, where all six founders will be in attendance– and doing a special comic related project together which we’ll tell you about when the time comes.

A Look Back at the First Captain American Feature Film

  • News
  • June 30, 2011

captainamerica_stills_1-293x450-7474526Marvel has been touting the July 22nd release of Captain America: The First Avenger, and has focused all their efforts on the latest entry in the Marvel Film Universe. What they don’t talk about are the previous screen incarnations of the Star-Spangled Avenger. Beyond the Lawrence-Gantry animated series of the 1960s, there were several telefilms on CBS featuring Reb Brown in a modified outfit that looked borrowed from Evel Keneval.

There was also, the 1990 movie that bizarrely featured the Red Skull as an Italian fascist. Poor Matt Salinger donned the chainmail but never quite looked comfortable. What’s amazing is that the screenplay by Stephen Tolin is based on a story he crafted with acclaimed crime novelist Lawrence Block. Clearly, he did it for the bucks.

Thankfully,  Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment’s “manufacturing on demand” program is making this forgotten film available just days before the new release. A part of MGM’s Limited Edition Collection, the low-budget offering stars Salinger (What Dreams May Come), Ned Beatty (Superman), Darren McGavin (The Night Stalker), Michael Nouri (Flashdance), Melinda Dillon (Close Encounters of the Third Kind) and Kim Gillingham (One Big Family).  The DVD will be available for sale on online retailers everywhere. We provide you with a trailer to remind you of what the film looked like.

During World War II, a brave American soldier (Salinger) volunteers to undergo experiments to become a new super-soldier, codenamed “Captain America.”  Infiltrating Germany to sabotage Nazi rockets pointed at the U.S., Captain America faces off with Nazi superhuman warrior Red Skull (Scott Paulin, The Right Stuff) who defeats the hero, throwing him into suspended animation.  Frozen for 50 years, Captain America is found and revived only to find that Red Skull has changed identities and has targeted the President of the United States (Ronny Cox, RoboCop) for assassination.  With America on the verge of utter chaos, it is up to one man to save the day!

THE BOOK CAVE GOES TO PYTHON ISLE AND GETS PLANETARY!

  • News
  • June 30, 2011
bookcavelogo-7012229
Will Murray, Roger Ritner and Michael McConnohie join the Book Cave crew to discuss Python Isle and future audio books.
Will Murray – www.adventuresinbronze.com
On Facebook: The Wild Adventures of Doc Savage.
Radioarchives.com
Michael McConnohie
              
              
              
 
Thu, 23 June 2011
Shelby Vick of the online Pulp magazine Planetary joins the Book Cave crew to talk about his site.
http://www.planetarystories.com/
After the first one — www.planetarystories.com/wonerlust.htm — the other links are www.planetarystories.com/W2.htm — www.planetarystories.com/W3.htm — www.planetarystories.com/W4.htm — www.planetarystories.com/W5.htm — www.planetarystories.com/W6.htm
Also, I left out someone really important: Ron N Butler, of the Atlanta Radio group, turned up by Jerry Page. Ron has developed Rory Rammer, Space Marshal as, for instance, in www.planetarystories.com/rammer.htm and www.planetarystories.com/planetoid.htm for instance. Rory Rammer is PERFECT for Planetary Stories.
our Associate Editor is Robert Kennedy

Attention Shoppers: Marvel’s Trying To Pull A Fast One This Week

  • Uncategorized
  • June 30, 2011

iron-age-1-two-covers-3747307

We’ve already heard a few complaints about the two comics racked above.

What’s the complaint? One’s an Avengers book, the other’s Captain Britain. They both look like retro-throwbacks to the 80’s, and they both look like they’re tying into The Iron Age miniseries, right? Okay, they’re a little pricy at $4.99, but–

–wait a minute. Open them up.

They’re the same comic.

These are both covers for The Iron Age #1. The series title is right up there, in that little red bar at the top of the issues. The Captain Britain cover? Marvel is considering that to be a variant cover.

Look at that picture of them on the rack. Would you have thought they were just variant covers, or would you have thought they were the same book? And would you be angry when you got home and discovered you paid $4.99 for a duplicate you didn’t want?

Consider this a public service announcement to help save money in these tough economic times. And the next time somebody behind the counter at your local comic book shop yells at you for looking through the books with the time-honored “This ain’t a library, bub!” you can simply tell them that you have to because comic book publishers are pulling stunts like this.

FORTIER TAKES ON BLOOD OF THE REICH!!

  • News
  • June 29, 2011

ALL PULP REVIEWS by Ron Fortier

BLOOD OF THE REICH
By William Dietrich
Harper Books
417 pages
Available July 2011
ISBN 13 – 978-0-06-198918-6

blood-1692004
You realize there are books reviewers are predisposed to like by the title alone.  When the good folks at the New York Journal of Books offered to send me this book, it was because I’d already reviewed an earlier book by the same author and liked it a great deal.  But being brutally honest here, I’d forgotten what that title was until they showed me the cover image to “Blood of the Reich.”  Ah, yes, William Dietrich, I thought, the fellow who created that Revolutionary version of Indiana Jones in his first book, “Napoleon’s Hero.”  Yes, I had enjoyed that historical romp and was curious as to what this new stand alone offering might contain in the way of a fun reading experience.

Once I read the marketing copy, I was hooked.  Nazis scientists racing to Tibet in hopes of finding a hidden mystical power in the lost city of Shambhala.  These plot elements scream pulp pleasure and I knew immediately this was my kind of book.  Dietrich’s background as a naturalist and historian allow him to create outlandish plots against authentic, real world settings and it is that richness of historical data that catapults “Blood of the Reich” into action from page one.

In 1938 Kurt Raeder, a German archeologist, is given an assignment by Hitler’s personal advisor, SS Chief Heinrich Himmler.  Raeder and a handful of loyal Nazis scientists are to travel to Tibet, seek out the lost city of Shambhala and there retrieve an ancient power known as Vril.  Himmler and the members of the arcane Thule Society believe this Vril could tip the balance of the coming war in Germany’s favor and fulfill Hitler’s mad dreams of a Third Reich world conquest.

Raeder is an intellectual sadist and the temptation to achieve personal glory, maybe even immortality, through the success of such an undertaking is much too great for him to resist.  And so the mission is launched.  At the same time, American intelligence agencies discover Raeder’s purpose and recruit their own academic agent, zoologist Benjamin Hood, to go after the Nazis and beat them at their own game.  Failing that, he is to sabotage their efforts and assure Vril never becomes a German weapon.

Now this rollicking race across the world is exciting enough but Deitrich ups the ante by creating a second storyline; this one taking place today.  Rominy Pickett is a computer publicist living in Seattle when she is kidnapped by a mysterious, handsome journalist, who claims her life is in danger from Neo-Nazis.  They believe her to be the great granddaughter of Benjamin Hood.  These want-to-be Nazis have uncovered the records of Raeder’s Tibetan mission and hope Rominy will lead them to rediscover what was found in those rugged mountains back in 1938.  Thus is a smart, witty, normal young woman suddenly hurled head first into a life-or-death race around the globe accompanied by a charismatic stranger who appears to be a physical embodiment of all her romantic fantasies.  But is he really her knight-in-shining armor or someone with ulterior motives using her to achieve his own dark agenda?

“Blood of the Reich” is a barn-storming novel that sets its sights high and never fails to deliver on them.  My singular criticism is that the convoluted mystery of Rominy’s past and her evolution from frightened victim to pistol toting survivalist challenged even my willing suspension of disbelief.  Deitrich’s prose is much more accomplished when dealing with the 30s whereas his modern sequences aren’t as assured.  Still, this book has so much pulp goodness within its pages, I can’t help but recommend it enthusiastically.  It would make one hell of a great film. 

Bantam to Publish Games of Thrones Adaptation

  • Uncategorized
  • June 29, 2011

gothrones01-cov-virgincen-300x450-9905506What will you do while awaiting the second season of HBO’s stellar adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones? Well, there’s that slightly overdue fifth book in the series coming in a matter of weeks then there’s today’s announcement that the first novel is being adapted for comics.

NEW YORK, NY – June 29th, 2011 – Bantam Books, an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group, announced today Alex Ross and Mike S. Miller as the cover artists for the comic adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones series.

The series will be illustrated by Tommy Patterson and adapted and scripted by Daniel Abraham, the award-winning and bestselling author of The Long Price Quartet.  The first issue of the monthly comic-which will be published by Dynamite Entertainment-is planned to release in September 2011, with compilations of the comics in graphic novel form to follow under the Bantam imprint.

“It has been fifteen years since I first edited A GAME OF THRONES, and it is a genuine joy to be revisiting and adapting this landmark novel into a format that suits it so perfectly,” says Senior Editor at Random House Anne Groell.  “George’s writing has always been highly visual, painting rich, detailed and striking images in the reader’s minds and hearts.  And now seeing such a talented group of artists bringing that so vividly to life is truly exciting.  I couldn’t be more pleased with everything I have seen so far–and I can’t wait for what is yet to come!”

“It’s a real privilege and a treat to be involved with reinterpreting Game of Thrones,” says writer Daniel Abraham.  “It’s a brilliant piece of work, and watching the strength of that story come into a visual medium is fantastic.”

“George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones is the best book series I’ve ever read,” says cover artist Mike Miller.  “Not just in the fantasy genre, but in ANY genre.  Just as I hear people saying Game of Thrones is the best series on TV, I’m sure they’ll be saying the same about the comic book.  You can’t find a better writer anywhere than George, and I was very excited to get the opportunity to draw covers for the comic book adaptation.” (more…)

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