We think podcasts of books are the audio format of the future. Last year, we presented our founding barista’s novel, Wild Blue Yonder, and some other fictional works and old-time radio dramas in downloadable audio files. Jack’s been a DJ and media nut most of his life, so you never know what he’s gonna podcast next. OUR NEW PODCAST This week, we begin the new podcast series of Jack’s second novel, Madrone. It’s the second volume in the Nathaniel Hawthorne Flowers story, and it’s received rave reviews from readers. Now you can listen to it here. We’ll publish one chapter a week for the next 24 weeks. The podcast is read by Leonard Mailloux, a lifelong radio broadcaster and broadcast writing practitioner. Len is Senior Faculty in the Communications Department at Simmons College. Sound engineering by Walking…

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    Few readers have ever read Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald’s short story, “The Diamond As Big as The Ritz.” Even fewer know it was broadcast on an old-time radio show called “Escape” which ran for several years in the latter 1940s and early 1950s. And even fewer know it was broadcast three times, with three different casts, on “Escape” in 1947, ’48, and ’49. Sam Edwards stars as John T. Unger and Nina Columb as Kismine.  Enjoy a light-hearted fantasy thriller by an author from whom you would not expect such a tale!       Please click the arrow below to listen.

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A few weeks ago, we played a re-creation of a classic short story by Stephen Crane, “The Blue Hotel.” What you’re about to hear is another adaptation: an early radio serial, “Flash Gordon.” This is the debut episode from an original – although bootlegged – script, adapted from the original comic book. The radio program debuted on April 27, 1935, with this episode, “Flash Gordon on the Planet Mongo.” The cast is an ad hoc group of faculty and staff, The Lotsa Luck Players of the Fat Chance Radio Theatre, at the New England Institute of Art, circa 2007. The producer is Larry Miller; the production was directed by Jerry Goodwin. Larry and Jerry created and engineered the sound effects. The music is from Franz Liszt’s “Les Preludes,” a piece used again and again in old time radio…

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