[LIVE]: with valravn
In 1933—34, a “round robin” novel, with each successive chapter by a different author, was published in the fanzines Science Fiction Digest & Fantasy Magazine. I first encountered the chapters by A. Merritt and Doc Smith in anthologies of their respective works. It so happens that Doc’s chapter is a direct sequel to Merritt’s, which made it obvious to see what was going on, & led me to suspect the existence of more stories. Continue reading “Cosmos”
I have now recorded The Moon Pool, by Abraham Merritt. It was a gruelling effort, requiring more than 10 hours. But that means plenty of shows!
It’s hard to say anything about Burroughs’ classic yarn, the foundation of the “planetary adventure” genre, that hasn’t been said before, elsewhere, and better. But think! It was the first story he ever sold, and if he had never written any more, would probably still be remembered as a landmark.
This was the first book I read & recorded for this project, and the original recording is quite rough. When I decided to read the two immediate sequels, The Gods of Mars and The Warlord of Mars (all three novels were bound together by the University of Nebraska Press in an attractive omnibus edition entitled Under the Moons of Mars, the title under which “Princess” was serialized in All-Story Magazine), I chose to read all three books in order, and make my re-recording of A Princess of Mars a Patreon exclusive.
This is in the nature of an experiment, albeit a protracted one.
Having come up with the idea of “live–action audiobooks”, or live–streaming myself reading, I realized that the recordings I was making in the process could be edited & sent out later as audio transmissions. aNONradio seemed like an ideal venue for this, in no small part because of its archive feature.
This is, then, a long–form spoken-word program, consisting mostly of my reading of classic science–fiction novels. I hope you enjoy!