Monday, February 4, 2013

JUST THE FACTS AND MORE-RADIO AND PULP HEROES AT RADIO ARCHIVES!

RadioArchives.com Newsletter

 
February 1, 2013

You can help Radio Archives - Borrowing Pulps!
Radio Archives is interested in borrowing pulps to OCR for future eBook and Audiobook projects. We work with original source materials and if you have original Pulps from the 1930s and 1940s, we would love to talk to you. If you want to help, please contact us at Service@RadioArchives.com
 
 

 
Known for breaking new ground in radio and entertainment, Dragnet was truly a pioneering program in many ways. This was most evident in the actual stories told in each episode, some sentimental, some brutal, all as realistic as show star and creator Jack Webb could make them. Strong stories and great characterizations make up every show featured in Dragnet, Volume 7.

The story featured in each episode is, as noted in the famous opening narration, “…true.” Although many shows focused on lesser crimes, Dragnet did not shy away from violence or topics thought forbidden. This program was in every sense a true police procedural and dealt with crimes of all sorts. Dragnet was one of the first radio shows to deal with crimes involving sexual motivations, true psychological issues, drug use among juveniles, and even the murder of children. Never gratuitous in its portrayal, Dragnet dealt with all crimes the same way that Jack Webb delivered Joe Friday’s lines - honestly and starkly.

The episodes featured in this volume are during a period of transition for Dragnet and for Joe Friday. Webb’s Friday had several partners performed by six different actors after the death of Barton Yarborough and before Ben Alexander became his partner permanently as Frank Smith.

The realistic interplay of characters on Dragnet captures a listener’s attention, giving fans that almost fly on the wall feeling as they listen to Friday and his partner investigate and interrogate. Enjoy episodes featuring honest, realistic stories and great performances on Dragnet, Volume 7.

 

 

 
 
 
Will Murray's Pulp Classics #21
by Donald E. Keyhoe
Read by Michael C. Gwynne. Liner Notes by Will Murray
 
 
 
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 given 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 riveting second encounter between Traile and Dr. Sin. The Mystery of the Golden Skull is read with pulsing intensity by Michael C. Gwynne. New York City is the stage. Horror is the watchword as Dr. Sin attempts to revive the secret society known as the Circle of the Golden Skull. What happens when Michael Traile steals the Golden Skull talisman—forcing Yen Sin to search for him?
 
Also included are a trio of Chinatown tales by Moran Tudury, Don Cameron, and Arden X. Pangborn. 6 hours $23.98 Audio CDs / $11.99 Download.
 
by Vic Sage from the Retroist
 
 
As always I would like to thank our friends over at Radio Archives for giving me the opportunity to review another of Will Murray's Pulp Classic audiobooks. This time around it's for what might possibly be the pulpiest sounding character I've ever had the privilege to learn about, Captain Satan: King of Adventure!
 
To be fair I always take my time looking over the newsletters that Radio Archives send me, just checking out the new Old Time Radio programs or Audiobooks that might catch my eye and that are worthy of your attention. Just a few weeks ago an item in the latest newsletter made me sit up straight and immediately send in a request to review Captain Satan, you see for many years now I've had a Captain Satan print hanging on the wall next to my Universal Monsters posters…the same image of Captain Satan above…I've always been so curious as to what this character was all about. Thankfully I got my chance and I've added this fantastic character to my top five favorite pulp characters of all time!
 
Why? Well, when author William O'Sullivan crafted Captain Satan and his wealthy alter-ego Cary Adair he took the best elements of the Scarecrow of Romney Marsh (Reverend Syn/Doctor Syn), the Shadow, Doc Savage and even some of Robin Hood and crafted a dark pulp avenger for the ages.
 
How can you not love Pulp prose like this: "He held in his hands the burning brand of Hell and in his heart was locked the courage of the Gods. Wise Guys and Tough Mugs, Crooks and their thieving Mobs knew the mark of Satan."
 
Now that Pulp writing is just from the intro and for Pulp Fiction fanatics you can spread it on some toast and eat it up! Don't take my word for it though, listen to the Opening Credits that Radio Archives has so kindly provided.
 
 
Sadly one of the reasons I couldn't find out much about the character was that O'Sullivan wrote only five Captain Satan novels in his day though he penned many Sports, Crime, and Aviation Pulp tales in his time. After listening to this first Audiobook for Captain Satan, the story which was originally published by Popular Publications in March 1938, I can only hope that Will Murray and the talented narrator/actor Michael C. Gwynne will team up to bring us the other four adventures in the series!
 
I cannot praise Michael C. Gwynne enough for his performance on this audiobook and I swear he is channeling James Coburn when he is playing the part of Cary Adair/Captain Satan…maybe with a bit of Patrick McGoohan thrown in as well? Michael is no stranger to retro TV and movies by the way, he landed roles on Dallas, Kojak, and Falcon Crest, Hill Street Blues, Cagney and Lacey, CHiPS, and an episode of Amazing Stories that just happened to be directed by Martin Scorsese before teaming up with the talented Will Murray.
 
So what does the story The Masked of the Damned entail? I'll avoid big spoilers of course but we learn early on from the character Jo Desher, who just happens to be the Head of the F.B.I. that things in Washington are going off the rails. Military officials are acting odd, crying for changes that will drastically lower the effectiveness of the armed forces. The Treasury Department is concocting a scheme that rational voices point out will shatter the economy as well as the Labor Department asking for permission to unionize all Government Employees including all branches of the Military.
 
Luckily for the Head of the F.B.I. though unbeknownst to him…at least for the time being…his well-to-do layabout friend Adair is none other than the legendary Captain Satan. After the two men survive no less than two assassination attempts it's time for Jo to leave for Washington D.C. and for the "good" Captain to assemble the Satan's Crew. Which is like a dark version of Doc Savage's The Fabulous Five, a collection of scoundrels with code names like Slim, Frenchie, Big Bill, Soapy, Kayo, Happy, Doc, Mike and Gentleman Dan who answer the summons of Captain Satan and you certainly are made aware with their introductions that it's not prudent or healthy to cross Captain Satan. Of course to be honest it's not necessarily healthy to team up with Captain Satan either…unlike Doc Savage's aides against crime and tyranny, the Captain's allies don't all get to come home and fight the good fight another day. Though with the Robin Hood aspect, the reason the Satan's Crew are convened is not 100% for noble reasons:
 
"You know my principles: To smash every crook I can lay my hands on—and what he has is mine. I'll break every petty or large crook, every swindling racketeer or grafting politician or gyp banker I can lay my hands on. The terms you already know. What they have is ours. I pay the expenses and take a one third cut. You boys split the remainder on equal shares."
 
So will Captain Satan and his Crew be able to take on this shadowy organization that seems to have infiltrated the United States Government? Will our soiled do-gooders be able to outsmart both the combined forces of G-Men headed by Jo Dershel and the evil 'Gang' that seems intent on wrecking the United States itself? What of the Mask of the Damned?
 
Well, you'll just have to pick up the first Captain Satan audiobook to find out won't you? It's available right this very minute from Radio Archives for a mere $11.99 as a digital download, which includes the bonus short story Mr. Detective Is Annoyed, read by Roger Price, you get 6 hours of Pulp entertainment that low price! If your prefer the physical discs you can pick it up on the site for $23.99 and if you would rather enjoy the prose version of the first appearance of Captain Satan you may download it on the site as an eBook for only $2.99!
 
 
 
New Will Murray's Pulp Classics eBooks
 
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 Captain Satan. Will Murray's Pulp Classics brings you the best of yesterday's Pulp today!
 
Over New York's hushed streets, the Whisper's fearsome mutter fell, telling men that the time had come to die! Throughout that entire panic-stricken metropolis, no man dared testify against a single criminal lest he, himself, be slashed to bloody bits by the invisible death which left no clue save a quivering, mutilated corpse! While the Underworld ran riot, and the helpless Law stood aghast, Richard Wentworth, as the Spider, loosed his mightiest effort — a counter-reign of terror which struck at the murder-maniac whose every word was a death-sentence and who had coined a fortune out of unclaimed corpses!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. $2.99.
 
Over Manhattan hung the bony, beckoning finger — signaling untold thousands to wholesale slaughter I For the Sleeping Death had crept into New York's doomed bedchambers, and those who dared lie down to slumber never awakened again! In this nightmare holocaust, ruled by a slaying Sandman, with the Underworld turned loose to ravage the red-eyed city, only Richard Wentworth, in the Spider's sinister guise, dared wage desperate battle for an insomnia-maddened people — against a murder-Morpheus who turned night into hell and sang to a doomed metropolis his terrifying lullaby 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. $2.99.
 
Men fought snarling in the streets over crusts of bread or ferreted, beast-like, through the charred ruins of some once-majestic building in search of food scraps... To such dire state had the city fallen when the Spider, weakened by weeks of illness, returned to take up his seemingly hopeless battle against the Food Destroyers. 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.
 
Jimmy Christopher, clean-cut, square-jawed and clear-eyed, was the star of the most audacious pulp magazines ever conceived — Operator #5. Savage would-be conquerors, creepy cults, weird weather-controllers and famine-creating menaces to our mid-western breadbasket... these were but a few of the fiendish horrors that Jimmy Christopher was forced to confront. Operator #5 returns in vintage pulp tales, reissued for today’s readers in electronic format. 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. $2.99.
 
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 by J. O. Quinliven, reissued for today’s readers in electronic format. $2.99.
 
Moving east from the ration's capitol at Washington, Dr. Yen Sin, saffron-skinned scourge of the Orient, sets up his hell-base in New York and under the banner of the Golden Skull, once again locks horns with Michael Traile, the Man Who Never Sleeps, and his partner Eric Gordon. What is the ghastly doom he brings with him to turn living men to rainbow-colored dust? Why should the flowers in his corpse garden have their heads removed, only to be sewed on again — backwards — by the surgeon mandarin? $2.99.
 
 
99 cent eBook Singles
Each 99 cent eBook Single contains a single short story, one of the many amazing tales selected from the pages of Terror Tales and Rangeland Romances. These short stories are not included in any of our other eBooks.
 
He was such a creature as even the bravest fled from in frenzied fear! 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 classic story from the pages of Terror Tales magazine, reissued for today’s readers in electronic format. $0.99.
 
 
Vivacious Vida played her handsome, honkatonk boss against the dashing, millionaire grandee — till she lost both that wild night when Grasslands branded her a notorious woman. One of the most popular settings for romance stories was the old west, where men were men and women were women. As many a swooning damsel could attest, "There's something about a cowboy." The western romance became one of the most popular types of magazines sold during the early and mid-twentieth century. $0.99.
 
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 storeBarnes and Noble Nook store, and RadioArchives.com! Search for RadioArchives.com in iTunes with over 200 eBooks are available.
 
Receive an exciting original Spider adventure 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 chance 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!
 
 
Richard Wentworth, in the guise of his crime-fighting alter-ego, returns in two 1930s tales of The Spider. First, in "Slaves of the Crime Master" (1935), criminal mastermind The Tempter broadcasts his message of evil via the radio, urging the maddened populace to destroy! Lured by his mysterious and persuasive voice, the youth of the nation flock to join his army of vicious criminals. His path blocked by police and criminals alike, The Spider wages a seemingly hopeless crusade to save humanity. Then, in "The Spider and the Fire God" (1939), its pay tribute or die as the Fire God demands his just dues and destroys the unbelieving in a burst of searing flame. Not since ancient times have so many people worshipped a strange and terrible god, abandoning their religion for fear of agonizing death. The Spider alone remains to battle this monstrous cult-leader from Hell! 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. $14.95! On sale for $12.95, save $2.00
 
The Master of Darkness battles global crime conspiracies in two classic pulp novels by Walter B. Gibson writing as "Maxwell Grant." Following the departure of Commissioner Weston, The Shadow attempts to prevent a Wall Street crisis brought on by "The Garaucan Swindle," in the pulp classic that introduced Police Commissioner Wainwright Barth. Then, The Shadow must find a way to stop the secret gas that causes "The Death Sleep" to prevent a criminal plot to crack the United States Mint and the Bank of London. This instant collector's item reprints both classic pulp covers by George Rozen plus the original interior illustrations of Tom Lovell, with historical commentary by Will Murray. $14.95.
 
The pulp era's legendary superman returns in two action-packed novels by Alan Hathway and Lester Dent writing as "Kenneth Robeson." First, the Man of Bronze confronts the deadly menace of The Headless Men, decapitated zombies commanded by a mad genius in the landmark 100th Doc Savage novel. Then, in his first solo adventure, a disguised Doc Savage travels to King Joe Cay to infiltrate a gang of schemers. This double-novel collector's edition features the original color pulp covers by Emery Clarke and Modest Stein, Paul Orban's classic interior illustrations and historical commentary by Will Murray, writer of ten Doc Savage novels. $14.95.

This is an authentic replica of an original pulp magazine published by Girasol Collectables. This edition is designed to give the reader an authentic taste of what a typical pulp magazine was like when it was first issued - but without the frailty or expense of trying to find a decades-old collectable to enjoy. The outer covers, the interior pages, and the advertisements are reprinted just as they appeared in the original magazine, left intact to give the reader the true feel of the original as well as an appreciation for the way in which these publications were first offered to their avid readers. To further enhance the “pulp experience”, this edition is printed on off-white bond paper intended to simulate the original look while, at the same time, assuring that this edition will last far longer than the original upon which it is based. The overall construction and appearance of this reprint is designed to be as faithful to the original magazine as is reasonably possible, given the unavoidable changes in production methods and materials. $35.00
 
 
 
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! $24.95.
 

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! $24.95.
 
Comments From Our Customers!
 
Andy Wood from England writes:
Firstly, I just bought your entire Fibber McGee & Molly collection as MP3 Downloads and I am astounded! I've been a long time OTR fan and collector and have had every available F&M episode for a long time, but to discover all these unheard 15 minute programs is unreal and the QUALITY is astonishing!! Even on the 1939-40 episodes! Some of those were previously inaudible, as were some of the 50's ones.
 
Also, another firm favourite of mine is the WJSV Complete 1939 Broadcast Day which I've had in various forms over the years in varying quality and completeness. Your's looks like the last word. Any new stuff on the way? I'll be buying lots from you and can't believe I haven't found you before now. Keep up the amazing work as it's truly appreciated!
 
Clement Falardeau from Quebec writes:
First of all thank you for the great special offers you had for the holidays. It was a wonderful occasion to discover some of your products or complete our collections. I got your Nightbeat audiobook. Great idea! I hope you will offer more new stories from Nightbeat. Don't hesitate to explore other OTR series as well. I have bought most of your audiobooks and I really love them. I keep watching for the release of new Doc Savage audiobooks.
 
L. J. Field writes:
I'll be purchasing the rest of these eBooks in the coming months. Love your site and what you're doing. Thank You!
 
Christopher Southworth writes:
Thanks for the reading opportunities. I look forward to more "yellow peril" pulps as they arrive and am hoping for more G-Man detectives soon! Happy Holidays!
 
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.
 
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