Lost Sound: The Forgotten Art of Radio Storytelling

Lost Sound: The Forgotten Art of Radio Storytelling by Jeff Porter

Radio storytelling is a special art. There have been great accomplishments in the past. The form has seen somewhat of a rebirth now with Podcasts. However, most podcasts play it safe while pandering to their audience. Classic radio would serve up popular fare while also taking risks. The bulk of the book presents case studies of innovations in radio storytelling. There are discussions of classic mysteries, sound effect impacts, orchestration of "voices" in arctic storytelling, and the specialist "news" of NPR. This is one book that would be greatly served by a separate production for the audiobook. Significant time was spent describing radio production. It would have been better if these productions could have been played for themselves instead of being described.

Cards on the Table (Dramatised)

 Cards on the Table (Dramatised) by Agatha Christie

Some people are playing bridge at a house. They include a group of people that have gotten away with crimes and a collection of sleuths. Then a murder occurs. They all try to identify who may have a motive and ability to commit the crime. There are a few false confessions. However, the detective focuses on the card game to discover the culprit. The way they wrote the bridge scores ends up being a primary clue.

The Father Brown Mysteries, Volume 1

The Father Brown Mysteries, Volume 1 by G.K. Chesterton 

This collection of 8 father brown books from the library is split into two at the library. Most of the stories come from the first Father Brown book, but a couple come from later books. Father Brown is a Catholic priest who uses logic and knowledge of human behavior to solve mysteries. In most of the cases, he uncovers details about the cases based on how the suspects acts. He will also use insights of "tricks" of human behavior to help debunk suppositions of supernatural. For instance, in "The Invisible Man", he debunks the supposition that "nobody" was there, to point out that the postman had passed by - and had the opportunity to remove the body. The stories are short and the radio productions are well done.

The stories included:

• The Blue Cross
• The Secret Garden
• The Queer Feet
• The Arrow of Heaven
• The Three Tools of Death
• The Flying Stars
• The Point of a Pin
• The Invisible Man

And Then There Were None (Dramatised)

And then there were none is a sanitized version of Agatha Christie's popular mystery novel. Ten people that have caused the deaths of others are together on an island. There is a poem about 10 little soldier boys in each room. (In previous editions, there were other terms that would be offensive today.) Each one suffers death in a strange way. In the story, each of the people suffers death in a similar way. It turns out somebody was seeking "revenge" in this way. People may think they can escape their misdeeds, but they find the way back to them.

Bradbury 13

Thirteen Ray Bradbury stories were dramatized as semi-modern radio plays. The quality is well done. The stories often end with a cliff that leaves you pondering. (And the "screaming lady" story that ends with everything neatly wound leaves you feeling odd that it was so neatly concluded.) Bradbury loves to use the colonization of Mars to comment on our current society. Earthlings freely disregard the Martians - even in cases when the Martians are merely assimilating earthlings from the past.

The dramatizations are top notch. The stories are "science fiction" in a very loose sense of the word. Bradbury spends a lot of time exploring space ships and the colonization of Mars. However, he is primarily telling human stories. Replace space with the oceans and Mars with the new world, and we have the same story in a historical setting. "Time Safari" is one of the few stories that would qualify as "science fiction" when removed from its surroundings. People travel in a time machine to hunt dinosaurs. However, they are careful to stay on the paths and only hunt a dinosaur that was about to die anyway. Even the smallest change from that many years ago could potentially have great ramifications in the future. (Though you have to wonder if even the mere alternate execution of the T-Rex could also have serious impacts.)

A Fall of Moondust

A ship goes on a site-seeing trip on the moon. The trip is so non-eventful that the captain is out chatting with the passengers. However, a sudden moonquake buries the ship. Everybody is ok, however, oxygen is limited to a week. And, they soon discover that heat may be their biggest problem.

Outside, the traffic controllers notice the ship is missing, but don't see any sign of it. However, a scientist is able to use his knowledge to help pinpoint the ship's trace. Eventually they send down some pipes to pump in oxygen and later rescue the passengers.

This is, at its core, a disaster story. It just happens to be set on the moon. The radio play was well done. It is a pity that this form isn't used more. It combines the dramatization of a movie with the "you can listen while you are doing stuff" nature of an audiobook.

Ulysses

I picked up a copy of Ulysses at the local library, not sure exactly what type of "version" it was. It turns out it was a BBC radio version of the book created a few decades ago. The performance is fairly good, though there are a couple episodes with actors talk at very different volumes. It became almost impossible to hear the quieter ones without cranking the volume (and then the louder ones were much too loud.)

The book is often near the top of people's best-of lists. However, it is long and hard to read. This seemed like a good introduction. After listening, however, I think I'll pass on the full book. It seems a clear case of style over substance. I did like the "idea" that he had. The juxtaposition of different styles may make it worth reading just to see how it all plays out on paper. However, the content is just not appealing. We have a day in a life of some Irishman. It resembles the voyage of Odysseus. I liked the way it was told. I just didn't care about any of the people or what they were doing.