I Narrate "The Oval Portrait" On Journey Into...

Hey there, sir, would you take a look at that portrait there?  What shape would you say it is?  Not a circle, exactly, but definitely not a square or rectangle.  Hmmm.

The other day, I sat down to record some audio (I finished another reading of a Lara & The Witch story), when I got a text from Marshal Latham, reminding me it was Poe Month on his podcast.*  He was thinking of running "The Gold Bug" again (Princess Leia forbid), and I told him I could record something.  While I waited for his reply, I did a search for Edgar Allan Poe stories, and found "The Oval Portrait," which I had never read.  It was short, so maybe I could record and edit it in time.

A minute later, I got the message from Marshal, "How about The Oval Portrait?"

Well, it was Karma, I suppose, so I quickly performed the story, got it edited, and sent to Marshal the same day.  Like I said, it's real short.

So, the newest episode of Journey Into... is up and available.  Feel free to check it out HERE, and feel free-er to go HERE and support Marshal's fine podcast on Patreon.  Tell 'em Large Marge sent ya.

*To all who celebrate.

Podcast That Dares 52: The Man Who Collected Poe

I present Robert Bloch's 1951 short story, "The Man Who Collected Poe." Imagine the ultimate collection a fan could possess . . . what might it include?

Note: I mention the film "Torture Dungeon" a few times. The film was actually 1967's TORTURE GARDEN.  Sorry, boss.

Download the file directly by Right-Clicking HERE.

Support me on Patreon HERE!

Logo by Gino "The Moe Who Collected Pans" Moretto.

Marshal and I Fear "Premature Burial"

I mean, don't you?  If the answer is no, then we should end our vacation right here.

Over at the Outfield Excursions podcast, Marshal Latham and I talk about Roger Corman's THE PREMATURE BURIAL, a movie he tried to do on his own, without American International Pictures (and hence, he couldn't afford Vincent Price in the lead).*  Of course, when he shopped it around, the studio that bought distribution rights was, you guessed it, AIP.  

Anyway, based(ish) on Edgar Allan Poe's story of the same name, this 1962 flick tells of Guy (Ray Milland), who is terrified of being buried alive, and the woman who tries to reason with him.  There's nothing to fear in that, right?  Check out our review HERE.

*There were seven films in the Poe cycle, and Price starred in six of them.

My Voice on "Dr. Tarr & Professor Fether" on Journey Into...

Marshal Latham often celebrates Edgar Allan Poe's birthday by running a story or two of his in January and February.  He's weird that way.  

This week, you can check out his presentation of "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether" on his Journey Into... podcast.  I vaguely remember recording lines for this story back when I had a lot less white in my beard, and now I'm starting to look like a professor in a movie from the Fifties.

I haven't listened to the episode yet, so I could be wrong.  But hey, give it a listen, even if I'm not there, you can enjoy the story, can't you?

Check it out HERE.

I Perform "The Black Cat" on Journey Into...

Every year in January (or thereabouts), Marshal Latham has Edgar Allan Poe Month on the Journey Into... podcast.  And this year, I sent him a reading I did this past summer of his classic tale "The Black Cat."  So, it was only natural that he let me ruin the episode itself by my presence as a guest host.

Check it out HERE!

Rish Outcast 202: Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar

Rish presents the Edgar Allan Poe story, "The Facts In The Case of M. Valdemar."

To download the episode, just Left-Click HERE.

To support me on Patreon, go RIGHT HERE.

Logo by Gino "Edgar Allan" Moretto.

Rish Outcast 197: Will He Finish What He Begins?

Rish talks about abandoning stories partway through, and reads THE ENTIRETY of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Lighthouse."

To download the episode directly, just Right-Click HERE.

To support me on Patreon--finally?--just click HERE.

Logo by Gino "Finish Him!" Moretto.

Big and I Perform "Cask of Amontillado" On Journey Into...

Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado" is one of my favorite of his stories.  I'm never not affected by the "Yes, for the love of God" bit.*

So, it was quite a privilege when Marshal Latham asked me to perform the short story for the "Journey Into..." podcast.  And Big Anklevich got to give voice to Fortunato (I swear, he must've said "Amontillado!" a dozen times throughout), which is kind of nice.

Marshal put the performance out on his podcast, and you can check it out AT THIS LINK.  It's a classic story for a reason, and I hope people feel the three of us did it justice.

*In fact, I wish I could be that cold.  And calculating.  And murderous.  I'm working on it.  Every day.

I Guest On A "Journey Into..." Poe Episode

It's Edgar Allan Poe Month at the Journey Into... podcast!  I had talked to Marshal Latham a few months ago, about "William Wilson," a story Poe had published that I had tried (three times!) to do in audio for my own show (and failed).

Anyway, Marshal got the excellent Dave Robison to narrate the story, and to my surprise, he asked me if I'd guest on the show with him to talk about "William Wilson."  We talk about the challenges of the Poe story, and the Stephen King connection that brought me to it.  Very cool.

Check it out HERE.

I feel like the caption should be "I will turn your face to alabaster, when you find your servant is your master."  But that might just be me.

Rish 'n Big Take Over The "Journey Into..." Podcast (Part Deux)

Recently, Marshal Latham over at the "Journey Into..." podcast edited and ran "The Gold Bug" by Edgar Allan Poe, and promptly had a nervous breakdown.  Anybody would.

So, he asked others if they would produce an episode of his show, sort of guest-hosting like Joan Rivers, Dave Letterman, and Jay Leno used to do for Johnny Carson.  Dave Thompson, Podcastle Enforcer did a show, and Marshal asked us to do one too, centered around "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson.

1948's short story is one of the classics of the 20th Century, and while I don't think the NBC 1951 version we "presented" on the show does it justice, it was still fun to talk about it.

I thought it would be amusing to tie Marshal up and stick him in the basement, and maybe it's only amusing to me, but we're over there, making his controlled, reverent show quite the opposite.

Check it out, if you wanna, at this link: http://www.journeyintopodcast.blogspot.com/2014/03/journey-91-lottery-by-shirley-jackson.html

Also, back in January, we took part in a group poetry reading session scripted by Señor Latham, that should be enjoyable.  It's at this link: http://strewnalongthepath.blogspot.com/2014/03/9-strewn-along-path-impromptu-poe-etry.html

Rish

Rish's story "The Gold Bug" on the "Journey Into" podcast

Our buddy Marshal Latham has a contest every year on his show, "The Journey Into..." podcast, in honor of Edgar Allan Poe.  The rule of the contest (the only rule, other than length) is that it has to take the title of a Poe story or poem, and has to . . . I don't know, be in his style or milieu.

I considered entering the contest last time, thinking immediately of a time when our family traveled to California, and I saw the same car (with a copy of Hustler magazine in its window) both in Redlands and Santa Monica, California (despite the two cities being two hours distant from one another).  I didn't know what story I could make out of that, except that I could make the car a VW beetle, and call the story "The Gold Bug."

I missed it that year, but went ahead and wrote a story with that title for the next one, and it's available over there in audio form right now.  It tells the tale of an eleven year old boy encountering a mysterious car on a family vacation, and is narrated by Pat Krane of the "That TV Show" and "Convert To Raid" podcasts.

Writing is a funny thing.  As a would-be screenwriter, I often had premises or ideas for fantastic scenes that I knew would work (or make great movies or sequences in them), but the challenge was creating a framework around the scenes, or a narrative from the premise itself.  That is much harder, and most of the time (if I had to guess, I'd say 65% to 75% of the time), I realize that the work it's going to take to make a script out of an idea, or to come up with a series of events leading up to those brilliant scenes would not be worth it, not on spec, anyway.

I still hold to the theory that there is a bang-up story in the car with the dirty magazine in the window, but I'm not sure if "The Gold Bug" is that story.  Regardless, it was one of the winners of the contest (and Marshal swears he did not see the authors' names when he judged it), so it's conceivable that someone out there will like it.  Check it out here: http://www.journeyintopodcast.blogspot.com/2014/02/journey-88-gold-bug-by-rish-outfield.html

Rish Outfield, Goldbugger