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Review: “Costume Not Included” by Matthew Hughes

costume-not-included-by-matthew-hughes-5394161It’s not easy being a superhero in the best of circumstances, so pity the poor man whose powers derive from a demon — and whose mother is dating one of the nation’s leading evangelical preachers. And when that young unfortunate’s name is Chesney Arnstruther, well…that’s someone whom you would not want to switch places with.

Chesney is the superhero of Costume Not Included, second novel in a trilogy called “To Hell and Back” — though it means that more puckishly than most fantasy books would — and I’ll direct you to my review of the first novel, The Damned Busters, for the precise details of how and why Chesney made that deal with the devil, how he did it without forfeiting his immortal soul, and why an actuary wanted to be a musclebound superhero in the first place.

There are two kinds of trilogy-middles: the ones that lose the energy of the first volume and mark time until the finale, and the ones that are happy to have gotten the scene-setting out of the way and leap into creating ever more complications to keep things interesting. Costume, luckily, is of the second type: the first book took a little while to get going, but this one hits its wry tone right up front and charges forward at exactly the right pace.

Really, how could you put down a novel that begins like this:

“I thought you weren’t speaking to me,” Chesney Arnstruther said into the phone.

“I’m not speaking to you,” said his mother. “I’m telling you something for your own good, is what I’m doing.”

I’ve spent the last several years haranguing anyone who wanders into Antick Musings about how essentially funny and entertaining a writer Matthew Hughes is — see my other reviews of Hughes books, all of which you should buy, read, and love, in approximately that order: The Other, Hespira, Template, The Spiral Labyrinth, and Majestrum — so I’ll leave that part as read: Hughes came into the SFF field writing Vance-inspired far-future books, but his influences were always deeper than Vance (not that being able to write as smoothly and sardonically as the great Jack Vance isn’t a monumental achievement to begin with), and he’s since shown that his essential qualities shine through in a variety of subgenres.

So, anyway: Chesney is a superhero, and he’s been doing well at it. Too well, actually: he’s wiped out pretty much all of the Golden Age-style street crime (guys in suits and fedoras robbing banks, muggings, and so forth) in his city, and his deal only extends so far. He can’t directly stop the sources of crime — which, in best superhero fashion, lies with a shadowy cabal that secretly runs that city — and his put-everything-into-the-right-boxes mind is not happy leaving a job undone. (His new girlfriend, Melda, is also pushing him in slightly different directions; she’s like to see him have a higher media profile and perhaps make some money from being the Actionary.)

Adding to the complications is that his mother’s new boyfriend — that noted thriller writer turned TV evangelist, Reverend Hardacre — has his own new, and very odd, theory about the secret cosmology of the world, and it’s becoming more and more clear that Hardacre is right. And the Devil is not entirely happy with the deal with Chesney — that lack of a soul coming his way vexes him, and the Devil’s whole raison d’etre is to trick and twist and sneak — and the Devil has deal with other folks who may help him cause trouble for Chesney.

So complications — very idiosyncratic, unique complications, of the kind only Hughes could create — proliferate, until Cheney finds himself chased closely by a smart police detective, meeting a Jesus Christ, (not the Jesus — not the current one, at least — but a prior, historical version) and having himself proclaimed as a new prophet by Hardacre. But Chesney still has Melda, and his demon Xaphan, on his side, plus his own inextinguishable drive for truth and justice. And there’s still one book to come in this trilogy.

Not to sound like a broken record, but Matt Hughes is a great, wonderfully entertaining writer — his dialogue pops, his people are quirky and real, and his situations could be written by no one else in the world. If you don’t like his work, there’s got to be something wrong with you.

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REVIEW: Bones the Complete Seventh Season

Bones has carefully straddled the line between light-hearted crime drama, ala Hart to Hart and taut melodrama. Over the seven seasons, showrunner Hart Hanson has carefully brought the main characters, Special Agent Seely Booth (David Boreanaz) and Dr. Temperance Brennan (Emily Deschanel), together, nicely balancing the “will they or won’t they?” romantic tension until finally, in the last season, they finally became a couple. Probably quicker than anticipated, thanks to a real life pregnancy, Brennan was with child.

The seventh season of Bones, now out on Blu-ray from 20th Century Home Entertainment, is a shorter than normal thirteen episodes because of the circumstances, but Hanson did not slow down the pacing, setting things up for a dramatic cliffhanger that left fans really hanging for the spring and summer.

Along the way, the supporting cast at the Jeffersonian Institute Forensic Sciences Department was also given their moments in the spotlight, proving they are one of the richest, most interesting ensembles on prime time. With all the personal issues surrounding the cast, it’s pretty impressive they still manage to fit in unique corpse of the week stories. Things kicked off with a body at a paintball event and continued forward. The forensic testing results remain ridiculously fast in arriving and Angela (Michaela Conlin) never meets a challenge whose butt she can’t kick so there are definite stretches of credulity, moreso this season than in the past. Sweets (John Frances Daley) lost some of his boyish charm as he grew deadly accurate with his service revolver.

The series nicely rotated the usual interns, freshening the group dynamic with regularity and the addition of southern gentleman Finn Abernathy (Luke Kleintank) was a nice addition. His flirtation and dating of Cam’s (Tamara Taylor) daughter was an interesting development that ultimately went nowhere.

The most unusual episode of the season has to be “The Suit on the Set” where Booth and Brennan travel to watch a film based on one of her books is being made. They skewer Hollywood’s inability to faithfully adapt a novel, going for busts and pyrotechnics over plot and characterization. A little silly but a refreshing change of pace.

The finale sees the return of criminal Christopher Pellant who goes out of his way to frame Brennan, turning her into a wanted felon. The problem here is that the circumstantial evidence mounts so high so fast, at least one of the characters should have at least questioned the absurdity of all this damning information pouring out at once. But nope, never happened. Instead, Brennan and her dad (Ryan O’Neal) take the baby and go on the run, leaving Booth behind.

Given the shortened season, one would have expected either additional special features to compensate or fewer given the dearth of material to work with. We get more of the latter than the former with two deleted scenes, commentary on one episode, a four minute Gag Reel, and two small pieces on the Hollywood episode. First, there’s Creating The Suit on the Set (10:59) on how the episode was made then a fun, fake Bone of Contention: On the Red Carpet (3:18)

I was late to the series and was able to plow through the first five seasons to jump on board but you cannot start cold with this season. It’s too involved in its continuity and character relationships to be totally accessible to a newcomer. But for those of us who are fans of this show, adapted from the novels by Kathy Reichs, it was a slid if flawed season and worth a second look.

REVIEW: Moonrise Kingdom

You have to credit director Wes Anderson with having a unique vision, one that is slightly off kilter compared with most of his fellow filmmakers. As a result, his films tend to visually interesting and highly stylized, getting notably quirky performances out of his cast. Moonrise Kingdom, his oddly sweet summer confection, is the latest such offering. He revels in dysfunctional groupings, in this case a family and local community, set in 1965, on the cusp of dramatic changes to society as a whole. This tale features two twelve year olds who run away as a storm looms over New Penzance, an isolated island off the coast of northern New England and has a kid’s book feel to it. In many ways, it reminded me of having fairy tale similarities to the hyper-realized rainbow bright Pushing Daisies.

You laugh at the oddball characters, marvel at the mannered performances from a stellar cast, and find your expectations upended time and again. You root for the kids, Sam Shakusky (Jared Gilman) and Suzy Bishop (Kara Hayward), to find happiness. To them, it’s a love story. He abandons his scout troop and she runs away from home, and you would too given her dazed dad Walt (Bill Murray) and adulterous mother Laura (Frances McDormand).

Sam is an orphan and his foster family doesn’t want him back so it falls to the local sheriff (Bruce Willis) and the scout master (Edward Norton) to mount the hunt. With the storm approaching, things are ratcheted high enough to snag the attention of Scout commander Pierce (Harvey Keitel) and Khaki Scout chaplain Cousin Ben (Jason Schwartzman) along with Social Services (Tilda Swinton); and yeah, that’s the character’s name.

While the storm and the missing children are whipping the adults up into a stylized frenzy, the two kids are innocent, unaware, and wholly devoted to one another. While every adult is flawed and mostly unlikable, the kids are fresh-faced and worthy of rooting for. What’s interesting is watching the effect their unseen devotion to one another is having on the adults as the film progresses. One by one, love transforms (or at least softens) the adults, the authority figures who are thinking of punishment and retribution.

The story is charming and riveting in its simplicity, a testament to Anderson’s skill as a storyteller. The movie is lovingly transferred to Blu-ray so the soft colors, a palette that works so well as an element, are well captured. The audio is also superb.

Amazingly, there are but three three-minute featurettes included on the disc: A Look Inside Moonrise Kingdom, Welcome to the Island of New Penzance, and Set Tour with Bill Murray.

Review: Mike Baron’s Helmet Head

Helmut Head • Mike Baron • Amazon Kindle book, available in all e-book formats • 206 pages • $4.99 download

The premise of Helmet Head is simple: Young Jewish motorcycle cop Peter Fagan inadvertently stumbles into the path of someone or something that stalks bikers and leaves them headless. Although there are plenty of outlaw bikers in the story, the killer targets anyone on a motorcycle. Right after he dispatches a member of the local southern Illinois biker gang, he pursues Fagan with frightening singleness of purpose. He pursues Fagan all the way to the biker hangout, a rundown, out of the way bar, where Helmet Head doesn’t kill anyone. Instead, he orders a drink. When the bartender refuses to serve him, he leaves. This sets the tone for a rather long stretch.

The action kicks into high gear again in the last third of the story, and if you can get past the mad scientist angle and the obligatory damsel in distress, it’s a fairly entertaining ride. The climactic conflagration is a smorgasbord of horror movie clichés – which might have worked, despite the rather offhanded way one of the main characters dies, if it weren’t for the rather anti-climactic (and inevitable) scene in which the villain meets his end.

Mike Baron is a good writer, and that shows early on in Helmet Head – and based on my extremely limited sample of self-published works of fiction, Helmet Head is the best-written one so far. The first few chapters are tightly paced, with just enough colorful metaphor to give the narrative depth. But good writing and good storytelling are not the same thing.

Helmet Head apparently started as an idea for a “slasher film,” and that unfortunately also shows. Unlike a non-stop action film, a good novel, even a slasher/horror/thriller novel, requires some characters with depth. Even if you don’t like the characters, you need to have some sense that they are real. For good or ill, you need to care what happens to them; otherwise you won’t keep reading to find out. This can be accomplished in a number of ways, but interspersing the main story with unrelated stories from the characters’ pasts only works if it gives the characters more depth or motivation or something that gives the reader a sense of empathy. In the case of Helmet Head, it just gives the characters … well … pasts. Fagan’s early life and Jewish heritage are apparently supposed to be significant in some way. As it turns out, not so much.

Helmet Head reads like a screenplay padded out to make a novel. The pieces just don’t fit together very well. The pacing is uneven. Aside from the occasional overly long asides into the various characters’ back stories, some scenes just don’t seem to make any sense at all. What does Fagan do after the biker gang takes off in pursuit of the monster that has just chopped off the head of their friend and tossed it through the bar window like a basketball? He goes in the back room of the bar and … takes a shower. Freshly showered, he “… stood in the doorway and scanned the room as he’d been trained to do.” This is because the entire bar is a potential crime scene … one in which he’s just taken a shower. And only after that does it occur to him that maybe he should find a vehicle and get the hell out of there and do something, anything.

To be fair, maybe I expected too much. I’m a big fan of Baron’s work on the comic book Nexus, which seamlessly weaves action, drama, humor, and moral conflict into compelling storylines. The most enjoyable aspect of my brief tenure in the comics industry was working with Mike on that book. Unfortunately, those qualities are sadly lacking in Helmet Head.

 

REVIEW: Rock of Ages

The film version of Rock of Ages, has a whiff of cannabalism about it. First, it took a series of 1980s songs and turned them into what has been branded a jukebox musical, since originality no longer matters on Broadway. The success of the stage version – five Tony nominations indicates someone liked it – led to it being optioned for production as a feature film. Broadway used to feed Hollywood source material and the trend has been reversed as risk adverse producers look for sure things, which are not necessarily quality things.

Thus, the film version of the musical based on a disparate collection of rock tunes, which were popular as I advanced through my adult years and saw my tastes changing, means I bring a series of prejudices to watching the film on the just-released Blu-ray. First of all, I am a big fan of many performers in the cast and applaud Tom Cruise for lightening up with several of his recent performances. He’s also backed by Alec Baldwin, Malin Akerman and Paul Giamatti. I also remain fond of Julianne Hough who is a far better dancer and country singer than rocker.

As happens, the movie adaptation was seriously reworked to accommodate the cast rather than cast around the script and soundtrack. Therefore, many numbers were cut, others mashed up, and several reassigned to different characters. This results in a movie largely unrecognizable from the stage version and a lesser effort at that. What made the show edgy and fun is replaced with watered down replicas.

The basic trio of story threads has would-be rock star Sherrie (Hough), arriving in Los Angeles and meeting Drew (Diego Boneta) so you have your love story. Then there’s the Bourbon Room, a doomed club in need of a miracle story that focuses on Dennis (Baldwin) and his fight against a mob led by Catherine Zeta Jones (still sexy), trying to shut it down. His last hope is a kick ass concert from Arsenal, fronted by Stacee Jaxx (Cruise), who is on the verge of going solo. Behind the scenes, his agent, (Giamatti) gums up the works.

Rock is meant to messy and fun and frenetic with high doses of energy. The voltage one expects from the music used, from Foreigner to Pat Benatar leans closer to a Smash rendition and the wattage is cut in half, robbing the movie of the verve the material deserves. It’s not all bad such as the pool table duet between Jaxx and Rolling Stone reporter Constance Sack (Akerman). But when you sing “I Love Rock n Roll”, you should be feeling ready to leap to your feet and dance, not check your watch.

Bad enough the core storylines are predictable as heck, but the movie telegraphs just about everything thanks to direction of Adam Shankman. None of the characters, save Jaxx, stands out, wasting plenty of potential from a stellar cast.

There are plenty of fun moments and Cruise is a revelation all over again. He rarely repeats himself and is excellent here, sabotaged by the lack of raw power around him.

You can watch the theatrical version or the extended version, with 13 more minutes of tedium. The highlight is the cut scene between Jaxx and Sherrie, as they sing “Rock You Like a Hurricane”  and nearly copulate, which smolders better than the rest of the film.

The Warner Home Video release comes as a combo pack with the Blu-ray, DVD, and of course ultraviolet digital. They do a fine job transferring the film and sound to disc so it rocks as best it can.

Poison’s Bret Michaels kicks off the extras with two featurettes: “Rock of Ages: Legends of the Sunset Strip” (29:56) with real rockers Pat Benetar and Sebastian Bach, members of Styx, REO Speedwagon, Twisted Sister, Quiet Riot, Night Ranger, Def Leppard, Winger, Whitesnake, Dokken, Foreigner, Poison, Journey, Warrant, Faster Pussycat, Vixen, Extreme and W.A.S.P. reminiscing about the rock scene in their heyday. “The Stories We Sing” (12:53) brings back many of these rock stars to discuss their inspirations for the greatest hits such as “Sister Christian,” “Can’t Fight This Feeling,” and the perennial “Don’t Stop Believin'”. This one is well worth a look.

There’s also the eight-part “Defining a Decade” (35:34), hosted by Hough and Boleta, that displays some embarrassing awkwardness between them but they manage to take us through the production of the film. You also get a look at the Broadway inspiration which deserved more screen time.

“Any Way You Like It” was re-edited into a full music video starring Mary J. Blige and Constantine Maroulis (who originated the Drew Bolley role on Broadway) but it can be skipped.

REVIEW: Star Trek: The Next Generation 365

Star Trek: The Next Generation 365
By Paula M. Block and Terry J. Erdman
Abrams Books, 744 pages, $29.95

Let me state upfront that Paula and Terry have been friends for a long time, but I adamantly maintain that they were the ideal people to write Star Trek 365 and the recently released Star Trek: The Next generation 365. Why? Because Paula has been intimately involved with the franchise since the 1980s and knows every nook and cranny within Paramount Pictures to find rare images or information. Terry is an experienced film publicist and has a keen understanding of what people like to know and has an engaging way of sharing that with enthusiasm.

Being the series’ 25th anniversary makes this a nice companion volume to the series; chock full of images, architectural and production drawings, special effects pictures, and some on set antics. Every episode from each of the seven seasons receives not only a brief synopsis but then stories about the show, told from a wide variety of angles. You get some of the best known tales such as the banana clip that became Geordi’s VISOR to lesser known stories in how episodes were conceived. Some of the best are the ones demonstrating how a kernel of a story lingered until the right opportunity, or the right writer, or both, arrived to solve the conundrum. A good example is how long it took to produce the acclaimed “Darmok”.

Given how many images Paula approved for use through the years, she knew which ones to avoid in the hopes of finding a fresh look at the series. One approach meant leaning more towards the black and white shots the still photographer took that have rarely been used, and that adds a nice quality to the book. Many of these are behind-the-scenes and between takes shots of the cast relaxing, prepping or goofing off.

To find fresh nuggets of information about the 178 episodes, the pair interviewed dozens of people who worked on the show over the eight years it took from conception to finale. As a result, they got not only interesting new anecdotes but found additional graphics for use, especially from production designer Richard James and visual effects producer Dan Curry. Effects associate Eric Alba is also credited for coming up with a variety of candid photos for use. All of this enriches the book and ensures that it’s not a retread of previously seen images or twice-told tales.

The comes with a foreword by Ronald D. Moore, who got his big break with an unsolicited script and has gone on to a creative career among the stars. The 365 series of pop culture books are nice, compact treasure troves that are well worth a look.

Mutual, Dr. Yen Sin, Michael C. Gwynne, New Doc and MORE All From Radio Archives!

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  • October 5, 2012

RadioArchives.com Newsletter

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October 5, 2012
 
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Any program in entertainment needs its own special energy, something that drives it to be the best of the best. When that special electricity comes from many different angles, then you get shows like those in Mutual Radio Theater, Volume 3.
 
An entry in the comeback of radio drama in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Mutual Radio Theater provided new and amazing shows five nights a week for its entire run. Written by leading names in radio, Mutual Radio Theater also sported something that every show needs to succeed. Star power.
 
Each night of the week, a different star hosted – Lorne Greene, Andy Griffith, Vincent Price, Cicely Tyson, and Leonard Nimoy. These stunning talents, though, were only the beginning. The shows were peopled with stars from both classic radio and modern television and movies. Names from the golden era of radio drama included John Dehner, Vic Perrin, Hans Conried, Marvin Miller, Parley Baer, Elliot Lewis, Jeff Corey, Virginia Gregg, and Lurene Tuttle. Modern entertainment lent some of its best talent as well, including Tom Bosley, Marian Ross, Lloyd Bochner, Rick Jason, Frank Campanella, Toni Tennille, Arthur Hill, and Jesse White.
 
Mutual Radio Theater, Volume 3 contains 20 Stereo episodes featuring legendary talent alongside up and coming stars of the early 1980s. Combined with the stellar writing talents of such greats as Arch Oboler, Mutual Radio Theater, Volume 3 is a must have for any Radio enthusiast! $59.98 Audio CDs/$29.99 Download. For the next two weeks, Save $20.00 on the Audio CD version.  Introductory Priced at only $39.98!
 

 

“A modern day soldier of fortune finds mystery and intrigue in lands strange and romantic on Dangerous Assignment!”
 
This ad copy for NBC’s globe hopping adventure of intrigue and espionage captured the essence of Dangerous Assignment perfectly. Each week, Steve Mitchell was summoned to the office of the unnamed agency he worked for by his superior, the Commissioner. There, details of a plot that normally meant harm and death might come to the United States were revealed and Steve would be off on another action packed trip to uncover the plot, rout out the villains, and keep America safe for another week.
 
Dangerous Assignment is an excellent example of pulpy Post World War II action, especially with its focus on Mitchell. Played by Brian Donlevy in a two fisted, head on style, Mitchell is the sort of hero America looked for in entertainment in the 1950s. Devoutly patriotic, ready to defend the United States at the drop of a hat, and prepared to stand against any menace, mostly foreign, that might endanger the lives of honest Americans. Definitely not the only character to rise out of the paranoia and concern of Americans about Communists and other foreign threats throughout the 1950s, Steve Mitchell is wonderfully conceived in that mold and played to the hilt by Donlevy.
 
Dangerous Assignment, Volume 2 from Radio Archives features episodes of this classic series restored to sparkling audio quality and full of intrigue, suspense, and humor, making every episode a fun listen for any fan! Ten hours, twenty shows of great fun. $29.98 Audio CDs/$14.99 Download.

 
Because of your great response, Digital Downloads of any of our Old Time Radio sets will be priced at 50% off the regular Audio CD price through the end of the year. You get the same sparkling high quality audio content as our compact disc collections at a reduced price, Delivery immediately upon payment, and the ability to play them on your phone, computer, or portable device! Purchase the audio collections you love and enjoy them in a whole new way!
 

 

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Read by Michael C. Gwynne
 

Ever since Sax Rohmer conceived Dr. Fu Manchu, thriller writers have attempted to emulate his sinister appeal. No class of authors vied to out-villain Rohmer more than the pulp writers of the 1930s. The very best of these imitations was the work of top pulpateer Donald E. Keyhoe, later to make headlines as the retired Air Force officer who claimed that flying saucers were real.
 
Dr. Yen Sin lasted only three issues in 1936, but Keyhoe’s short-lived trilogy was a memorable attempt to give the “Yellow Peril” theme a mature and suspenseful treatment. The premise is a familiar one—a sinister Chinese super-scientist out to conquer the world. Pitted against him is the Q-Group, headed by State Department operative Michael Traile, who because of a childhood accident cannot sleep. Instead, he employs Yoga as a substitute. Under Traile are a host of secret agents, chief of whom is Eric Gordon of the F. B. I., who reports personally to Director John Glover—actually J. Edgar Hoover. Adding a dash of feminine mystique is Sin’s mysterious cohort, Sonya Damatri, while Eric Gordon’s girlfriend, Iris Vaughan, furnishes the series’ love interest.
 
Beginning with The Mystery of The Dragon’s Shadow and continuing through The Mystery of the Golden Skull and The Mystery of the Singing Mummies, the running battle between Dr. Yen Sin and his sleepless nemesis is a riveting roller-coaster ride of exotic torture, diabolic doom devices and sudden death that rages from Washington, D. C. to San Francisco! One wishes that Popular Publications had seen fit to publish the promised fourth installment, The Mystery of the Faceless Men…This series was that good!
 
Here is the suspenseful first encounter between Dr. Sin and the forces dedicated to destroying his Invisible Empire. The Mystery of the Dragon’s Shadow is read with appropriate gravity by Michael C. Gwynne. Also included are a trio of Chinatown tales by Frank Gruber, Arden X. Pangborn and radio’s famed Arch Obler. Six exciting hours. $23.98 Audio CDs/$11.99 Download.
 
Introducing our newest Audiobook Reader: Michael C. Gwynne
 

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Click to Listen to the extended podcast of this interview.
 
Will Murray’s Pulp Classics Line of Audiobooks continue to thrill and excite listeners, due in great part to the fantastic voices bringing these treasures of the past to life for modern fans. In a continuing effort to provide the best in Audiobook entertainment, Radio Archives has added not just another Audiobook reader to the already sterling lineup, but a performer with background in Radio, Television, and Films, and with such a distinctive, vibrant sound all his own that he can only be called ‘The Voice’.
 
Michael C. Gwynne, although new to Radio Archives, is in no way new to Radio. From his early childhood of listening to classic radio programs while waiting for his father, Big Band leader Frankie Kaye, to come home from work late at night, Gwynne discovered an interest very early on in what he heard. “I grew up with a lot of music around the house and a lot of uncles who weren’t really uncles sleeping over on couches and spare beds and lots of laughter well into the early morning hours. My first babysitter was a golden dialed radio that sat in the corner of my little room where my brother and I slept and it was telling stories and singing songs and I thought that’s what the rest of the world was doing.”
 
Determining that he wanted to be a part of what was coming out of radios all over the country, Gwynne set off at a very early age to do just that. “I realized I really loved the magic of radio and it had been my first babysitter, the golden dial that told me stories and scared me to death in the middle of the night and then sang songs. And so I thought wouldn’t that be interesting as a job. This would be in the late 50’s and I started listening to a lot of people on the radio and they were seeming to have a wonderful time playing that Top 40 brand new Rock and Roll Music. By the end of the ninth grade when the school promised to pass me only if I went to another school in the tenth grade, I took my mother’s typewriter into the basement. I wrote some letters to a few radio stations and asked them if there was any jobs to be had and one of them responded rather positively, if I would send an audition tape. I had no idea what that was, we didn’t have a tape recorder in those days…Then I thought, you know what, this is not going to work. I hitchhiked to this little radio station which by then we had moved to Toronto, so it was in a suburb of the big city and showed up on a Saturday afternoon. I just showed up… And I got the job. So radio went from one thing to another…Radio I realized combined two of my favorite passions – radio and traveling. I had a road itch.” Following his passions, Michael found himself in Berkley California, then Natchez, Mississippi and Mobile, Alabama and Monterey, California and Honolulu, Hawaii, as well as more radio jobs that eventually landed him in San Francisco in 1966.
 
Although his avenue into entertainment, Radio would not hold Michael C. Gwynne forever. An interest in acting as well as quite a bit of providence led him into a career full of roles in Television and film as well as interactions and friendship with noted Hollywood actors, such as Robert Mitchum. “I had to try my hand at acting. I had no experience, but like any other thing I’ve done, I had to try it for myself to see if I could do it. So I arranged for the radio station in San Francisco to switch me to their sister station in Manhattan, WWRL, where I did the all night show and studied acting with Stella Adler during the day. All that seemed to be for naught, it was too much like school…but finally I realized just like anything else I had to try it, so quite coincidentally a letter came from a friend I knew in San Francisco who said he was now living in Hollywood and that’s where the actors were and I should come out.”
 
After a coincidental meeting with Jerrold Freeman, a Producer at Universal, at a 1969 New Years Eve Party, Gwynne found himself with an acting job two weeks later. “I immediately went right into the business, I mean I know it sounds like the classic Hollywood story, but it’s what happened to me. One thing led to another…I didn’t even have an agent, it was only later when I met this young kid named Spielberg and Jerry Freeman also got him on at Universal, I did Spielberg’s first three TV shows.”
 
With roles in TV shows such as Kojak and MacGyver, as well as parts in movies like Sunset with James Garner and Bruce Willis and Private Parts, the Howard Stern movie, Gwynne still did not wander far from a particular interest he had in his youth – Pulps. “I started collecting Weird Tales when I was like fifteen years old. I used to go to every old book store I would see in any town I was in and ask them if they had any Weird Tales. And sometimes mostly they would laugh and say that was a Pulp twenty years ago, they’re not gonna be around anymore, but every now and again one guy would smile and disappear for a minute or two and bring one or two of them from the basement somewhere and I would spend like a dollar apiece for them and keep them, so I’ve amassed quite a collection.”
 
Of the title character of his debut audiobook in the Will Murray’s Pulp Classics line, Gwynne particularly enjoys not only the sheer over the top deviltry of Dr. Yen Sin, but also the fact that this villain has a truly formidable hero to spar with. “First of all, let’s look at this man’s name. Dr. Yen Sin. We all know what yen means and we all know what sin means, that’s how evil this guy is. He enjoys his evil. He’s got a yen for the sin. It’s rooted in a more interesting and singularly recurrent foe, the figure of Michael Traile, the man who could not sleep, the man who never slept. This is a man with almost equal power. Michael Traile began to intrigue me, a story about a young man in India who had a botched operation for a brain aneurism and found that the sleep aspect of the brain was interfered with and now he could no longer sleep. And he had to be taught how to take yoga relaxation exercises in order to keep him from just exploding. His mind couldn’t stop working and how even as a young man they had to constantly give him puzzles to solve, things to read, languages to learn. By the time he was fifteen he was speaking twelve different languages. He had grasped the deepest philosophies of the Orient and had gone on to become a bit of a scholar before he reached his twenties. So now Dr. Yen Sin has a formidable foe.”
 
Michael is clearly having fun with the tales he’s now telling for Will Murray’s Pulp Classics and feels like listeners and fans will as well. “Possibly, it has such a, there’s a quality to them. As soon as I started reading them aloud, I realized, whoa I can have some fun here, I’m not just delivering information. Most read material is delivering information. Pulps employed words of color, even exaggerated color. People thrummed when they talked, things bolted across the room, lightning flashed with a brilliant scientific blur across this room and several people were so satanic and their eyes glistened…As I’m reading them, I’m thinking, My God, I bet the police are going to be here any minute. They’re so big and wonderful and grand and glorious.”
 
Listen to Michael C. Gwynne as he brings Dr. Yen Sin #1 to life for Will Murray’s Pulp Classics from Radio Archives.

 

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FREE Spider eBook!

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Receive an exciting original Spider adventure for FREE! Part of the Will Murray Pulp Classics line, The Spider #11, Prince of the Red Looters first saw print in 1934 and features his momentous battle with The Fly and his armies of crazed criminal killers.
 
For those who have been unsure about digging into the wonderful world of pulps, this is a perfect opportunity to give one of these fantastic yarns a real test run. With a full introduction to the Spider written by famed pulp historian and author Will Murray, The Spider #11 was written by one of pulp’s most respected authors, Norvell W. Page. Writing as Grant Stockbridge, Page’s stories included some of the most bizarre and fun takes on heroes and crime fighting in the history of escapist fiction.
 
Even today Page’s scenarios and his edge-of-the-seat writing style are still thrilling both new and old fans everywhere. For those who have never read one of these rollercoaster adventures, you are in for a thrill. If you already know how much fun a classic pulp is, make sure you get a copy of this classic.
 

See what the Total Pulp Experience is for yourself. These exciting pulp adventures have been beautifully reformatted for easy reading as an eBook and features every story, every editorial, and every column of the original pulp magazine.
 
Send an eMail to eBooks@RadioArchives.com and start reading your FREE copy of  the Spider #11 within seconds! Experience The Best Pulps the Past has to offer in the most modern way possible!

 

 

The best of timeless Pulp now available as cutting edge eBooks! Will Murray’s Pulp Classics brings the greatest heroes, awesome action, and two fisted thrills to your eReader! Presenting Pulp Icons such as the Spider and Operator #5 as well as wonderfully obscure characters like the Octopus and more, Will Murray’s Pulp Classics brings you the best of yesterday’s Pulp today!

 

Cholera! Like Death’s own handmaiden, it was reaping a grim harvest. Corpses piled high in the streets of New York. Innocent men, women and children died faster than their wasted bodies could be cremated. Pestilence reached fatal fingers into every home; terror haunted every breast… Richard Wentworth — whom the Underworld knows and fears as the Spider — realized that a new criminal maniac, keen-witted and ruthless, had loosed the devastating disease to further his own mad ambitions. And the Spider, hampered as ever by the Law, hunted tirelessly by the vengeful lawless, accepts a challenge to the strangest duel in the world, in which the prize he strives to win seems to be disgrace and death! Total Pulp Experience. These exciting pulp adventures have been beautifully reformatted for easy reading as an eBook and features every story, every editorial, and every column of the original pulp magazine.
 
A depraved Oriental monster had planned the wholesale abductions. White slavery — the horrible traffic in women’s bodies and souls — was stripping America of women. Hunted avidly by the Dragon’s loathsome followers, they vanished, never to return, doomed at best to a vile life in the ghastly harems of the East… Richard Wentworth — whose adventures as the Spider have made him famous throughout the world — was the only hope of salvation for American womanhood. Pursued by G-men, with his beloved Nita captured by the Dragon, Richard Wentworth must battle on, when all others have gone down in shameful defeat! Total Pulp Experience. These exciting pulp adventures have been beautifully reformatted for easy reading as an eBook and features every story, every editorial, and every column of the original pulp magazine. As a special bonus, Will Murray has written an introduction especially for this series of eBooks.

 

At the heart of a vast international spy ring sat a devilishly cunning Master of Intrigue, spinning a plot intended to render the United States helpless against every foreign onslaught. Wealth, power and brains he had recruited to his organization; evil, destruction and death were the weapons with which he plied his diabolical game: the disarming of the greatest nation in the world! Against this terrible combination, against this hellish overlord, Operator 5 pitted his own brains and strength in a counter-struggle which placed Jimmy Christopher and his beloved Diane in the very jaws of Death! Total Pulp Experience. These exciting pulp adventures have been beautifully reformatted for easy reading as an eBook and features every story, every editorial, and every column of the original pulp magazine. As a special bonus, Will Murray has written an introduction especially for this series of eBooks.

 
Terror Tales Arthur Leo Zagat, Book 1

In 1934 a new type of magazine was born. Known by various names — the shudder pulps, mystery-terror magazines, horror-terror magazines — weird menace is the sub-genre term that has survived today. Terror Tales magazine was one of the most popular. It came from Popular Publications, whose publisher Harry Steeger was inspired by the Grand Guignol theater of Paris. This breed of pulp story survived less than ten years, but in that time, they became infamous, even to this day. This ebook contains a collection of stories from the pages of Terror Tales magazine, all written by Arthur Leo Zagat, reissued for today’s readers in electronic format.

 

In 1934 a new type of magazine was born. Known by various names — the shudder pulps, mystery-terror magazines, horror-terror magazines — weird menace is the sub-genre term that has survived today. Terror Tales magazine was one of the most popular. It came from Popular Publications, whose publisher Harry Steeger was inspired by the Grand Guignol theater of Paris. This breed of pulp story survived less than ten years, but in that time, they became infamous, even to this day. This ebook contains a collection of stories from the pages of Terror Tales magazine, all written by Ray Cummings, reissued for today’s readers in electronic format.

 

All eBooks produced by Radio Archives are available in ePub, Mobi, and PDF formats for the ultimate in compatibility. When you upgrade to a new eReader, you can transfer your eBook to your new device without the need to purchase anything new.
 
Find these legendary Pulp tales and more in Will Murray’s Pulp Classics, now available in the Kindle store and the Barnes and Noble Nook store! and RadioArchives.com!

 
 
Radio Archives is very proud to announce that we have Upgraded all of our Pulp eBooks, and you can upgrade the eBooks you have purchased from Radio Archives for FREE.
 
We have upgraded the Will Murray’s Pulp Classics eBooks. We made the eBooks look better by polishing the formatting, making the graphics crisper, and a new Contents page when you open the book just like in a pulp magazine.
 
We made it easier to purchase by eliminating the zipfile. Buy a Will Murray’s Pulp Classic from your iPad or other mobile reading device, and be reading within seconds. There is no need for a desktop computer.
 
Customers who have purchased the previous eBooks can upgrade to the new versions at no additional cost. Send an email to Service@RadioArchives.com and we will send you instructions on how to upgrade.
 

 

 
 

The shattering sequel to Fortress of Solitude.
 
The Doc Savage exploit that went untold for 74 years—Death’s Dark Domain!
 
In the aftermath of the evil John Sunlight’s pillaging of the secret Fortress of Solitude, a dreadful super-weapon has fallen the hands of a Balkan dictator intent upon seizing control of the vampire-haunted zone of desolation known as Ultra-Stygia. War is imminent. Monsters are loose in the disputed region. A strange darkness falls over the sinister landscape. Only Doc Savage, the Man of Bronze, understands the terrible threat to humanity. And only he can prevent the terror from spreading…
 
There are unknown Things prowling the darkest patch of land on the planet. Haunted by creatures that might have emerged from the Hell’s lowest regions, ancient Ultra-Stygia has turned into a cauldron of conflict between rival countries. Monster bats careen through the night sky. Invisible Cyclopes patrol the scorched battleground. And a power beyond understanding robs men of their vision.
 
Can the 20th century’s premier scientist and superman untangle this Gordian knot of carnage before neighboring nations are drawn into an apocalyptic new world war? Or will the Man of Bronze succumb to an unstoppable power he himself has unleashed upon mankind?
 
From the frozen Arctic to the war-torn Balkans, Doc Savage and his fighting five follow a winding trail of terror to a blood-freezing climax.

 
Death’s Dark Domain features a fantastic cover painted by Joe DeVito! Buy it today for only $24.95 from Radio Archives.

 

 
 

Back in print after 20 years! The rare Lester Dent-Will Murray collaboration resurrecting the original pulp superman…

 
Also available is the first Altus Press edition of Will Murray’s 1993 Doc Savage adventure, The Forgotten Realm. Deep in the heart of the African Congo lies a secret unsuspected for thousands of years. Doc Savage and his men embark on a quest to discover the secret of the strange individual known only as X Man, X for unknown. Before they come to the end of the trail, they find themselves fighting for their lives like gladiators of old!
 
No one knows who—or what—the strange being who calls himself “X Man” truly is. He was found wandering the ruins of a crumbling Roman fort, dressed in a toga, speaking classical Latin—and clutching a handful of unearthly black seeds.
 
Declared insane, the X Man patiently tends his weird plants until the day, impelled by a nameless terror, he flees Wyndmoor Asylum to unleash a cyclone of violence that is destined to suck the mighty Man of Bronze into the blackest, most unbelievable mystery of his entire career. For far from Scotland lies a domain of death unknown to the world and called by the ancient Latin name of Novum Eboracum—New York!
 
From the wild Scottish moors to the unexplored heart of darkest Africa, Doc Savage and his indomitable men embarked upon a desperate quest for the Forgotten Realm….
 

The Forgotten Realm features a spectacular cover painted by Joe DeVito! Buy it today for only $24.95 from Radio Archives.

 

Eerie Halloween Special
The Master of Darkness investigates baffling mysteries in two classic pulp novels by Walter B. Gibson writing as “Maxwell Grant.” First, a deadly outbreak of “Gypsy Vengeance” pittin gclan against clan can only be ended by The Shadow’s justice! Then, the Knight of Darkness must pierce the mystery behind a silver veil to end the murderous crimewave commanded by “The Veiled Prophet.” BONUS: legendary sleuth Nick Carter investigates murder on the set of a Shadow movie in a classic story from the Golden Age of Comics! This instant collector’s item showcases the original pulp covers by George Rozen and Graves Gladney plus the classic interior illustrations by Tom Lovell and Edd Cartier, with historical commentary by Anthony Tollin and Will Murray. Buy it today for $14.95.

 

Expanded Manuscript Edition Plus Supersnipe!
The pulp era’s greatest superhero returns in two incredible tales by Lester Dent writing as “Kenneth Robeson.” First, Doc, Monk and Ham journey to the Indo-China jungles to solve the strange enigma of “The Flaming Falcons” in a novel expanded from Lester Dent’s original 1939 manuscript. Then, what is the bizarre connection between “The Two-Wise Owl” and the murder of Ham Brooks’ brother? BONUS: Supersnipe, “the boy with the most comic books in America,” gets imto mischief on the set of a Shadow movie in a classic story from the Golden Age of Comics! This double-novel collector’s edition features both original color pulp covers by Emery Clarke, Paul Orban’s classic interior illustrations and historical commentary by Will Murray, writer of ten Doc Savage novels. Buy it today for $14.95.

 

Expanded Manuscript Edition Plus Supersnipe!
The pulp era’s greatest superhero returns in two incredible tales by Lester Dent writing as “Kenneth Robeson.” First, Doc, Monk and Ham journey to the Indo-China jungles to solve the strange enigma of “The Flaming Falcons” in a novel expanded from Lester Dent’s original 1939 manuscript. Then, what is the bizarre connection between “The Two-Wise Owl” and the murder of Ham Brooks’ brother? BONUS: Supersnipe, “the boy with the most comic books in America,” gets imto mischief on the set of a Shadow movie in a classic story from the Golden Age of Comics! This double-novel collector’s edition features both original color pulp covers by Emery Clarke, Paul Orban’s classic interior illustrations and historical commentary by Will Murray, writer of ten Doc Savage novels. Buy it today for $14.95.

 

One of the top crime-fighters from the golden age of pulp fiction, The Spider returns in two thrill-packed adventures written by Norvell Page under the pseudonym of Grant Stockbridge. First, in “Laboratory Of The Damned” (1936), Poisoned! Struck down by a deadly assault from a mad murderer, the Spider finds his friend Stanley Kirkpatrick, Commissioner of Police, doomed to a stupor of living death. Nor is he the only victim… also stricken with the dread malady is Richard Wentworth’s fiancee, Nita van Sloan! The Spider battles both the Law and the Underworld to survive! Then, in “Hell’s Sales Manager” (1940), The Brand wields a weird new weapon that sucks everything in its path into a vortex of destruction! How can even the Master of Men fight an enemy that seems to simply vanish? While this reign of terror goes unchecked, the Spider finds his every effort hampered by a human bloodhound assigned to track down and eliminate him. These two exciting pulp adventures have been beautifully reformatted for easy reading and feature both of the original full color covers as well as interior illustrations that accompany each story. Available now for $14.95!
 

 

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By Dr. Art Sippo

 

A man is rescued from Long Island Sound by life guards and then tries wildly to escape. But he is eventually caught by a crowd of ruffians who burn his mouth with acid and cut the tendons in his hands as a warning to a woman called Diamond Eve Post to stay away from Taz. The mutilated man makes his way instead to Doc Savage’s headquarters. Unable to speak or write he attempted to communicate with the bronze man by dipping his foot in ink and writing on the carpet. But he dies before he can complete the message. Meanwhile Diamond Eve Post arrived to enlist Doc’s aid in the matter of Taz when the 86th floor headquarters is stormed by the villainous Captain Flamingo and his crew.
 
Eventually, Doc and his men are taken prisoner and secretly taken out to sea on a ship headed to the Caribbean. They escape, to find themselves abandoned on the ship in the middle of the ocean with no one else on board. After several hours, men arise from the sea wearing no special diving equipment though they obviously have been underwater working for a long time. How can this be?
 
Doc Savage and his intrepid crew have come in between two warring factions both vying to control the secrets of Taz which is hidden deep underneath the sea. What is Taz? What is the mystery under the sea that is worth killing for? Can Doc trust Diamond Eve Post? Or are all hands turned against him and his men.
 
The Mystery Under the Sea is a tale of high adventure and ancient mystery. Doc Savage will confront a secret form the forgotten past of mankind: a secret that is worth billions to whomever controls it. But can even he defeat an enemy armed with the power of Taz? Don’t miss this exciting saga! Only $12.95 from Radio Archives!
 

Comments From Our Customers!
 
Pat writes from New Zealand:
I love that all this is being done! A wonderful idea indeed. Keep up the good work.
 
Somehow though, I can’t seem to find an easy way to select an audio book by the reader. I am hoping that you have a heap being read by ‘The Voice’ Michael Gwynne (and others of course). If the readers were listed and that list would pop up for me ….or offer any OTHER way of spotting and selecting them easily, I would be in seventh heaven.

 

If you’d like to share a comment with us or if you have a question or a suggestion send an email to Service@RadioArchives.com. We’d love to hear from you!

 
The products you’ve read about in this newsletter are just a small fraction of what you’ll find waiting for you at RadioArchives.com. Whether it’s the sparkling audio fidelity of our classic radio collections, the excitement of our new line of audiobooks, or the timeless novels of the pulp heroes, you’ll find hundreds of intriguing items at RadioArchives.com.
 
If you no longer wish to receive our newsletter, or if this newsletter has been sent to you in error, please reply to this e-mail with the subject line UNSUBSCRIBE and your name will immediately be removed from our mailing list.
 

Review: “Lust” by Ellen Forney

Like many papers, Seattle’s weekly — I think I’m supposed to say “alternative weekly,” though there’s no established industry of stodgy weeklies for those alt-weeklies to be the alternative to — The Stranger has personal ads, in which its lovelorn or just horny readers try to find each other for mutually beneficial activities. Unlike other papers, though, The Stranger has Ellen Forney (cartoonist and teacher of cartooning, author of Monkey Food, which I just realized I read and reviewed a couple of years back) illustrating one of those ads — from the LustLab section, where strangers anatomize in explicit detail their sexual needs and wants to find just the perfect kinky partner — every week.

Lust collects a whole bunch of those ads, along with five interviews that Forney did with some ad-writers. And I will warn you: a number of the ads and folks in here are certainly kinkier than you are, no matter how kinky you are — kink isn’t a linear spectrum, and there are folks here off in various directions, seeking their very particular nirvana. Assuming you can handle the idea of other people having sex in ways you don’t think you would enjoy, Lust is cute and fun — each of Forney’s illustrations is like a little advertisement or calling card (like those cards that used to paper London) for that person’s desires, with a clean, illustrative style that varies a lot for the different pieces.

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REVIEW: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 1

dkr-1-box-art-300x408-5015305Years in the making, Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns was never intended to rewrite the rules for the Caped Crusader or become the template for a generation of storytelling. It was, though, the culmination of a series of events that occurred at DC Comics and in Miller’s professional development that nicely dovetailed together. The right book, character, and creator all arrived at the right time, when an audience was ready to accept the radical re-imagining.

Ever since the four-part story heralded the arrival of the Prestige Format and was the first entry in the current field of graphic novels, The Dark Knight Returns has been an influential touchstone to storytellers. Its use of character, page construction, color, and theme showed that four-color heroes can be used for darker concepts, exploring new ideas. As a result, people have been clamoring to see it adapted for the screen, any screen, so it could continue to thrill us. We were teased with the folk at Warner Animation paying homage to Miller’s art style and now-iconic imagery in Animaniacs and Batman the Animated Series.

dkr_r1_22695-300x168-1421279At long last, Warner Premiere has delivered their finest effort, paying tribute to the story written and pencilled by Miller, inked by Klaus Janson, and colored by Lynn Varley. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 1 is out on home video, as a Combo Pack (Blu-ray, DVD, Ultraviolet) and shows the affection from the first frame.

Bob Goodman remained utterly faithful to the story, compressing the first half of the graphic novel into a brisk 76 minutes that still contains the moments you want. Commissioner James Gordon and Bruce Wayne have a nice, warm friendship, Alfred remains his acerbic self, and Carrie Kelly is gung-ho and awkward. The first half of the story deals with several threats to Gotham City, first the gang known as the Mutants and their muscle-bound leader who wants to own the town; and Harvey Dent, seemingly physically cured but proving his mind is as fractured as ever. And watching from confinement is a homicidal maniac long-thought drugged into submission.

silhouette-300x168-9408823The best thing director Jay Oliva, who cut his teeth on Man of Steel and Green Lantern: Emerald Knights), did was show us what Miller could only hint at: a 50-year old man who really has to struggle to keep up. He strains to climb a rope and isn’t fast enough to take down the mutant leader the first time they brawl (in fact their two fights is almost a template for the Batman-Bane confrontations in The Dark Knight Rises). This is a 50+ hero who hasn’t seen action in a decade, but we know from the opening scene he remains addicted to adrenaline and action. His return evokes the creature of the night that first established his reputation in the city and once more inspires the populace.

batman-300x168-4756800Visually, Miller’s beefed up main characters and gritty style is nicely replicated, complete with making Batman larger-than-life so he dwarfs Carrie and most other mortals. The story remains a future from the fixed point of the 1980s since the story is dependent on that particular view of America, which means so much of the technology appears antiquated by today’s standards but works wonderfully. There’s also a nice meta shout-out to other titles from 1985-87 that helped reshape comics: Crisis on Infinite Earths, Watchmen, and V for Vendetta.

inside-tank-300x168-3332752As usual Andrea Romano has assembled a stellar cast for the voices and while most will lament the absence of Kevin Conroy as Batman, Peter Weller more than ably fills the cape and cowl with gravitas. He’s older, wearier. David Selby’s Gordon has much of the same feeling which is nicely contrasted by Ariel Winter’s Carrie. Wade Williams as Dent and Michael McKean as a blowhard psychiatrist nicely round out the cast.

Interestingly, the packaging avoids imitating Miller’s style, a curious choice. Similarly, Miller, Janson and Varley’s lack of participation in the extras is glaring. They are merely represented with a digital comic excerpt from issue one of The Dark Knight. Instead, we get “Her Name if Carrie…Her Role is Robin” (12:00) with Grant Morrison, Mike Carlin, Alan Burnett, Bruce Timm, and others discussing the radical use of a girl as the new sidekick. There are some nice bits placing this in an historic context.  The 2008 “Batman and Me: The Bob Kane Story” (38:00) is reused here and we’re reminded of the egotistical Kane avoiding sharing credit with anyone.

On the Blu-ray is a Two-Face two-parter from Batman the Animated Series. There’s also a sneak peek of part two, due out in early 2013.

It’s a shame Miller wouldn’t participate and the film lacks a commentary track since bringing this to life appears to have been a labor of love for all involved.

New Who Review – “The Power of Three”

The Doctor is very good at saving the world, but very poor at sitting still.  So when he’s stuck waiting a full year for an invasion to start, it gives a new meaning to cabin fever.  The Year of the Slow Invasion, the year The Doctor got involved in Amy and Rory’s life and not the other way around.  A very personal episode (featuring the entire world), rife with spoilers, so sit back, and keep your eye on the box.

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