TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home

Free sci-fi ‘radio’ drama from Silent Universe, complete with a bonus: Scottish burrs

By David Rothman

In this era of net.radio, who needs a network to air radio drama? I’m awaiting the inevitable productions of, say, Dickens favorites, perhaps starting with shorter works such as A Chrismas Carol. We’re talking true drama with actors and sound effects, not just primitive podcasts. Hey, War of the Worlds, now a public domain staple, was good enough for an Orson Welles adaptation.

Meanwhile, speaking of the above, check out the entertaining Silent Universe, “a new take on an old idea: radio theater, direct to your iPod.” It’s sci-fi oriented, and I’ll pass on more details from J. Marcus Xavier, the executive producer of the podcasts:

…I’m contacting you in regards to some information about my production that you may find useful and interesting for your blog. It’s a new take on an old idea: radio theater, direct to your iPod.

The Silent Universe is a sci-fi adventure drama, with writing that has been compared to the intrigue of TV shows like “24″ and “Battlestar Galactica.” Unlike a typical “talk format” podcast, the Silent Universe is remix of audio theater, featuring a cast of actors, sound effects, foley work and original musical scoring.

Our first episode premiered on February 15th, 2006, and was downloaded over 2000 times. Additionally, we received much fanfare and positive reviews from both the blogosphere and podcasting worlds. We’ve been featured in online publications such as Slice of Sci Fi, Sci Fi Crows Nest, PRweb, Spaceship Radio, PodcastingNews and others. Our second episode premiered on June 7th, and our third episode is currently in production (planned release date is sometime in August, God willing).

We also invite our audience to do more than just listen; we encourage them to discuss the podcast with the production staff on our online forums (honesty is preferred to flattery, though a little flattery never hurt anyone, hehe). We welcome feedback and critiques on episodes, suggestions for future plot ideas, and even spec script submissions for hopeful science fiction writers.

You can visit the Silent Universe at www.silentuniverse.com. We have two versions of our podcast: a low-bitrate free version in mono, and a CD-quality stereo version (available for $2.49 per episode individually or $1.49 per episode on a subscription basis). If any of your staff would like FREE PRESS-ACCESS to the CD-quality stereo version of the Silent Universe for review purposes, please let me know in a reply to this email.

Notice the free option? What’s more, you get to hear some fetching Scottish burrs. Oh, and I like the item of the feedback forums as well. If the late Orson Welles were young and alive and just starting his career, he might well be doing what SU is up to even if the content were different. Nice going.

Confession: I’m a sucker for Scottish accents, including one from our own Sadi Ranson-Polizzotti, our e-book editor.