During the Golden Age of Science Fiction, one writer towered over all others. The legendary Edmond Hamilton was the pulp pioneer who took over where Jules Verne and H. G. Wells left off. Hamilton wrote on a scale that dwarfed anything that had come before. Where other writer’s imaginations saw only expeditions to the Moon and Mars, Hamilton envisioned a future filled with an interplanetary police force, space pirates and fearsome weapons capable of destroying whole planets. Among readers of his early fiction in magazines ranging from Amazing Stories to Weird Tales, this penchant for galaxy-spanning space opera soon earned him the nickname of “World-Wrecker” Hamilton.
Although NASA has all but debunked the possibility of humanoid life on Mars and Venus—not to mention the frigid, inhospitable outer planets—21st century readers still thrill to Hamilton’s infectiously enthusiastic yarns, which influenced both Star Trek and Star Wars.
One of the most intriguing is The Three Planeteers, which ran in the January, 1940 issue of Startling Stories. Inspired by Alexandre Dumas’ classic adventure tale, The Three Musketeers, Hamilton’s reinterpretation of the concept brings together an Earthman, John Thorn, allied a pair of friendly aliens, Sual Av of Venus and hulking Mercurian, Gunner Welk, who are out to stop a sinister despot from shifting the balance of power from the peace-loving Alliance of Inner Planets to the planet-hungry League of Cold Worlds. When the resourceful trio are branded interplanetary outlaws, their only hope is to ally themselves with the renegade Companions of Space, led by the bewitching pirate princess, Lana Cain.
This swashbuckling space opera was the type of pulp Hamilton did best, and set the stage for his legendary Captain Future series, also from the publisher of Startling Stories. In that series, as in The Three Planeteers, Hamilton postulated a future Solar System inhabited by distinct races of aliens, each with their own characteristics and cultures. Against this backdrop, the non-stop action races from the inner worlds to the outer regions, with atom-pistols and ray-blasters frying combatants on both sides.
Joey D’Auria voices The Three Planeteers’ stellar cast of heroes and despicable space pirates. This is vintage space opera at its most arresting and audacious! Only $20.98 in a deluxe Six Audio CD set.
On the next long trip you owe it to yourself, whether you are a fan of comics, movies or just good storytelling, to give one of Will Murray’s Pulp Classic Audiobooks a try. With well over a dozen adaptations already available for download or on CD sets, Radio Archives http://www.radioarchives.com is now offering what may be their best work yet in the series, The Spider: The Flame Master.
With a full musical score and complete sound effects, this Audiobook is the closet thing to the thrill of a great radio drama that modern technology can create. Masterfully produced by Roger Rittner, the set explodes across your speakers with all the thrills that good storytelling can give a listener. He places you right at the center of a movie that your ears are hearing but your mind creates. The reality of what he accomplished this time out makes The Flame Thrower his best work yet in the series. He may have even topped his earlier work on the Doc Savage stories Python Isle and The Jade Ogre as well as the pulp classic Doctor Death, that is saying quite a lot.
What sets this apart from the earlier works is not the addition of the musical score or sound effects, for Rittner has skillfully employed those on previous Spider volumes in the series, it is the non-stop breathless action delivered by author Norvell Page’s original story. Working directly from the original story as it first appeared in March 1935, Rittner and his crew give the listener a full take on what Page brought to the page. Noted for his unbelievable actions sequences, Page’s reputation as a writer also rests on his highly imaginative plots.
In The Flame Thrower Richard Wentworth, known to many only as The Spider, faces Aronk Dong, the self-proclaimed Man from Mars, who unleashes the wrath of the heavens to subjugate Earth. But what is his real purpose? And hiding behind his deadly French Apaches is Toussaints Louvaine, a mysterious dealer in death who may be on Wentworth’s side … or may not. It is a story filled with possible betrayal, countless battles and some of the most amazing escapes ever found in a Spider story.
Listening to the story unravel on CD as I drove, I almost forgot my destination. Actor Nick Santa Maria has truly captured The Spider in the same way that Orson Wells captured The Shadow all those years ago. A veteran of television film and a noted voice over actor in video games as well as advertising, Santa Maria takes The Spider, Master of Men, seriously and his dedication to the character shows in his performance. He pulls you right into the story.
Working with Santa Maria is noted voice over actress Robin Riker. She plays Wentworth’s girlfriend and partner, Nita Van Sloan. Her delivery and intonation provides the perfect balance to the work of Santa Maria. It is a thrill to hear the two professionals bounce off of each other as skillfully as they do.
The popularity of books on tape and CDs testifies to how many people enjoy their favorite authors in their home and in their car. Having the capability to pause the action is just like setting a good book down to take a breather. Radio Archives Audiobooks series is one of the most exciting entertainment series out there today.
Everyone I have heard so far, and I have listened to Doc Savage, G-Man and The Green Lama in their releases, makes me want to hear more.
by Derrick Ferguson
The more I delve into classic pulp adventure fiction, particularly the characters and series that take place in America I have to wonder why foreign invaders and supercriminals and fiendish dictators didn't just go and try to overthrow some other country that didn't have masked avengers or guys like Jimmy Christopher aka Operator #5 protecting it. Don't these guys network or have a union hall where they meet to discuss why their plots to take over the country never work?
But with Jimmy Christopher on the job, it's no wonder why the United States of America stays safe. Known by his official designation of Operator #5, Jimmy Christopher is virtually a one-man strike force, answerable only to The President of The United States and charged with the defense of the country against any and all aggressors to national security whether they be domestic or external.
Operator #5: The Masked Invasion is an interesting audiobook to listen to for a number of reasons. First of all is Jimmy Christopher himself. He's not as flamboyant or as much of a lone wolf as say, Secret Agent X but he's equally as effective and as deadly. Jimmy is an excellent magician and there are a couple of times during the story where he takes the time to explain how he pulled off a trick to his daring young sidekick, Tim Donovan. Operator #5 is regarded as a forerunner of 1960's spies and I can see that in the outlandish villains, wild gimmicks and headlong, non-stop action. So if you're a fan of the spy novels and movies of that period, this audiobook was made for you.
The choice of Richard Epcar to narrate this audiobook is a good one as he does so in a firm, no-nonsense style that matches that of the character of Jimmy Christopher who is a pretty no-nonsense guy himself in his determined pursuit of Loo Kong and his method of blacking out the electrical power of entire cities, thereby plunging them into total darkness and chaos. Radio Archives again gets my thanks for such a quality product that as always gives the Movie Theater of My Mind an excellent and thoroughly entertaining workout.