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Mindwebs

is not really audio drama in the strict sense of the definition. This 1970s series out of WHA Radio in Madison, Wisconsin featured weekly readings of science fiction stories written by some of the genre's best writers. Nevertheless, since many of the readings were enhanced by music, periodic sound cues, and the occasional character voice, I consider them 'semi-dramatized', and therefore meriting inclusion on this site. Besides, the music was so well written, and the performance of Michael Hanson, the reader, so evocative of each story's mood, that the result was often better than most fully dramatized productions of the period. All voices were by Michael Hanson, except where noted.

According to Michael Hanson there were 169 half-hour shows which presented 188 short stories from 135 different authors. The series ran from April of 1975 until early 1984. Mr Hanson personally selected the music from a huge range of classical, jazz, pop, rock, electronic, etc., recordings (vinyl records, by the way). All the editing was done via the now antiquated 'cut-and-splice' method. He was backed by some marvellously adept technicians who were of enormous assistance; they were always identified at the end of each broadcast. (At the bottom of this page, I have included full cast and crew credits.)

"It is my hope and intention that this project will bring free enjoyment of Mindwebs to listeners new and old as long as sound exists. My sincere thanks to Darkman for making this possible. And my thanks to the myriad fans who've helped make this entire enterprise viable." --- Yours truly, Michael Hanson

I am in the process of greatly expanding the Mindwebs documentation. To make the information more accessable, I am breaking it up into several related pages:
Sources used to create my own log and double-check titles, dates and cast members: correspondence and interviews with Michael Hanson, Internet Speculative Fiction Database, 9XM Talking: WHA Radio and the Wisconsin Idea, Chapter a Day, New York Times, host.madison.com, correspondence with WHA Radio, correspondence with Dag Forssell, correspondence with Darkman, and correspondence with the estate of Mildred Clingerman.

Currently this archive contains 171 of 188 plotlines and 45 reviews

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Absalom

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Sci-Fi
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore, 1946

Due to mutations that occur every generation, children are becoming smarter than their parents before them. When a son intellectually surpasses his father at age eight, what are the implications?

With Michael Hanson (), Carol Cowan () and Rolfe Hanson().

See also: "Absalom" (Mindwebs), "Star Bright" (X Minus One) and "A Child Is Crying" (Mindwebs)

Reviews:

Adam and No Eve

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Future Earth
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Alfred Bester, 1941

When an energy conversion experiment goes awry, the earth is turned into an ash-filled landscape. The last man on earth—the person responsible—starts a dogged journey to the sea to set things right.

Reviews:

Affair with a Green Monkey

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Aliens
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Theodore Sturgeon, 1957

A nurse and her husband (a rehabilitation expert for the government) rescue a man from a brutal mob beating. The husband explains that mobs attack people who appear different because they think that anything different is dangerous... and this young man certainly appears different.

Reviews:

After the Myths Went Home

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Future Earth
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Robert Silverberg, 1969

Millennia from now, the bored human race amuse themselves by 'resurrecting' the great heroes and myths out of history and imagination.

Reviews:

Allegory

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Super Science
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: William T. Powers (aka: Bill Powers), 1953

An inventor seeking to patent his anti-gravity device comes up against a bureaucracy convinced that such a device is scientifically impossible.

With Michael Hanson (), Jim Fleming (), and Cliff Roberts ().

Reviews:
A brilliantly sarcastic example of what happens when the irresistible force of innovative, cutting-edge science runs smack dab into the immovable object of bureaucracy. At the time when Powers wrote this he was developing his own cutting-edge ideas which he calls Perceptual Control Theory (PCT). Perhaps the story is... well... an allegory? [8/10] --- zM

Apartment Hunting

Episode:
Duration: 20 min
Genre: Future Earth, Dystopia
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Harvey Bilker and Audrey Bilker, 1973

In an overcrowded future, a young couple achieve the right to their own apartment—if they can carve through the red tape in time to kill its present occupant before the deadline.

With Michael Hanson () and Rhonda Allen ().

Reviews:

Apple

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Speculative
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: John Baxter, 1967

In a time when miners tunnel into giant apples to collect the creamy, ripe flesh, others seek to keep the miners safe by destroying the moths that hide within.

Reviews:
Amazing descriptive imagery. I keep washing my hands to rid myself of the sticky-sweet juice stuck between my fingers and under my nails; I tread lightly to avoid sinking to my knees in a brown bog of decaying apple pulp. Yech. Concludes with some nice fighting-moth action. [8/10] --- zM

April in Paris

Episode: 114
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Time Travel
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Ursula K. Le Guin, 1962

Dr Barry Pennywither, a professor of French from Munson College Indiana, uses his one-year-long unpaid leave to further his studies in France. Dr Pennywither—unsocial, unmarried, under-paid, and unloved, living in an unheated, lonely garret on the banks of the Seine below the watchful eyes of Notre Dame—strikes up a conversation with another lonely man, Jehan Lenoir, and begins a promising friendship.

With Jay Meredith Fitts (Dr Barry Pennywither; Jehan Lenoir; Bota; Kislk).

Music featured in this episode includes:

Fantastic Stories of Imagination, Sep 1962 Terry Riley - A Rainbow in Curved Air Michel Legrand - I Love Paris


Snippet: Professor Barry Pennywither sat in a cold, shadowy garret, and stared at the table in front of him on which lay a book and a breadcrust. The bread had been his dinner, the book had been his lifework. Both were dry. Dr Pennywither sighed, and then shivered. Though the lower-floor apartments of the old house were quite elegant, the heat was turned off on April 1st, come what may; It was now April 2nd and sleeting. If Dr Pennywither raised his head a little he could see from his window the two square towers of Notre Dame de Paris, vague and soaring in the dusk, almost near enough to touch: for the island of Saint-Louis, where he lived, is like a little barge being towed downstream behind the island of the City, where Notre Dame stands. But he did not raise his head. He was too cold.

Reviews:
Le Guin starts with a foundation of loneliness and builds an edifice of hope and friendship, suggesting that loneliness might be the magic ingredient binding together spells of discovery and companionship. What starts as a gloomy tale, ends as a compassionate tale of hope. Jay Meredith Fitts puts in a fine performance creating the mood and setting the tone. By the way, the Medieval name Jehan is a precursor to the modern French name Jean. In Medieval times, the 'J' would have been pronounced as it is in German /y/ instead of the way it is in French /zh/. [8/10] --- zM

Available Data on the Worp Reaction, The

Episode:
Duration: 10 min
Genre: Super Science
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Lion Miller, 1953

At six years old, the mentally-challenged Aldus Worp begins collecting parts from the city dump. Nearly twenty years later, something miraculous happens.

Reviews:

Beachhead in Utopia

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Future Earth, Dystopia
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Lloyd Biggle, Jr., 1973

In the past 10 years, the International Poverty Control Agency has made great progress toward eliminating all poverty. William Zarney, however, has not been able to find work for 2 years. Something must be done about it.

With Michael Hanson () and Carol Cowan ().

Reviews:

Beyond the Wall of Sleep

Episode: ; 1983
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Supernatural
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: H.P. Lovecraft, 1919

An intern at a mental hospital relates his experience with an inmate and explores the notion that dreams, although often mundane, can sometimes reveal a separate mental realm.

Reviews:

Bible after Apocalypse, The

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Aliens, War
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Laurence M. Janifer

A part of New Jersey, a suburb of Cleveland, and a small town in the state of Washington become three columns of smoke as ships begin landing from the Crab Nebula.

With Michael Hanson () and Mary Armentrout ().

Reviews:

Born of Man and Woman

Episode: 004b
Duration: 14 min
Genre: Horror
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Richard Matheson, 1954
Awards: Hugo-retro (nom), 2001; SFWA - Hall of Fame, 1970

A classic story of a malformed youth kept locked in a cellar by his own horrified parents.

Music featured in this episode includes:

Born of Man and Woman, 1954 Tod Dockstader - Quatermass Jean-Claude Risset - Computer Suite from Little Boy


Reviews:

Brink of Infinity, The

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Speculative
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Stanley Weinbaum

A mathematician is held captive by a madman who demands he solve an impossible equation or be killed.

Reviews:

Builder, The

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Speculative
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Philip K. Dick

In 1950s suburbia, Elwood—a man who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and shuns most people—builds a boat in his backyard, to the annoyance of his wife and neighbors.

Reviews:

But as a Soldier, For His Country

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Speculative, Sci-Fi
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Stephen Goldin

Two career soldiers agree to re-enlist and enrol in an experimental program—they get a couple of months' leave and a bonus, and when they return to base they are cryogenically frozen until needed for the next war. When resurrected, they fight another war and then re-enlist... fight another war and re-enlist. Eventually science progresses to the point where are no longer frozen. Instead, their minds are recorded and their bodies are reconstructed when needed.

Reviews:
This story is told as as series of flashbacks. Some of the transitions are a little rough, so it's not always obvious if you are in the present or the past, which is a little disorienting. However, the story is interesting and the audio quality is good. So, as the story plods along, it gently pulls you along with it. By the time you finally figure out where the story is going, you're at the surprise ending. Not bad. [7/10] --- zM

Cage, The

Episode: 35
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Aliens, Space Exploration
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: A. Bertram Chandler, 1957

The space exploration vessel Lode Star, crash lands on a distant world far from the space lanes. After several years, the survivors are 'rescued' by aliens who think they are indigenous animals. Without the power of language, however, how can they communicate to their wholly-alien captors that they are rational beings and don't deserve to be kept in cages?

With Michael Hanson (), Ward Paxton, and Mindy Rattner ().

Music featured in this episode includes:

The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Jun 1957 xxxxx xxxxx


Snippet:

Reviews:
The main difference between the Mindwebs and SF 68 versions is that the Mindwebs version is a reading while the SF 68 version is a dramatization. Within that context, both are quite true to the original story. The Mindwebs version, however, focuses on the primitive conditions that the survivors endure, whereas the SF 68 version focuses more on the conditions after their captivity. Both versions have the same great ending... an ending that answers the question: what universal behaviour is manifested by all rational beings? I prefer the Mindwebs version because the sound quality is far, far better and the 'reading' format allows greater descriptive detail to be presented. Mindwebs [7/10]; SF 68 [6/10] --- zM

Carcinoma Angels

Episode: 001
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Speculative
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Norman Spinrad, 1967

A wealthy entrepreneur who has conquered every challenge life has to offer takes on his own mortality when he discovers he has cancer.

Music featured in this episode includes:

Dangerous Visions, 1967 Alice Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders - Ptah, the El Daoud The Gil Evans Orchestra - Blues in Orbit John Fahey - Guitar Vol. 4 / The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party and Other Excursions Karlheinz Stockhausen - Kontakte Bo Hansson - Sagan Om Ringen King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King Franz Schubert - Quintet in C, Op. 163, D. 956


Reviews:
Just loved the imagery of Harrison Wintergreen, supreme egotist, turning his scheming mind away from the external universe, toward the inner—to where he can ride the highways of his circulatory system... seeking out and battling the leering, red-eyed, black-clad, motorcycle-riding Carcinoma Angels. [8/10] --- zM

Castaway, The

aka: "Castaway"
Episode: 009b
Duration: 18 min
Genre: Space Exploration
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Charles E. Fritch, 1963

A futuristic Robinson Crusoe crash lands on a planet of eternal daylight, which makes the passage of time hard to quantify. He begins to measure his stay in a different manner.

Music featured in this episode includes:

Gamma 2, Nov 1963 Jacques Lasry and Francois Baschet - Les Structures Sonores


Reviews:

Cephes 5

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Sci-Fi
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Howard Fast (author of Spartacus)

A green space officer seeks out a venerable old counselor to help dispel his feelings that something is wrong onboard their starship. Instead of solace, however, the counselor can only offer a disturbing revelation.

Reviews:

Child Is Crying, A

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Sci-Fi
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: John D. MacDonald

A nervous military gets their hands on a freaky 7 year old boy who has an IQ well above Einstein's, an ability to calculate the future, and his own intentions for how that future will play out.

With Michael Hanson () and Stephan Elliott Hanson ().

See also: "Absalom" (Mindwebs), "Star Bright" (X Minus One) and "A Child Is Crying" (Mindwebs)

Reviews:

Computers Don't Argue

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Sci-Fi
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Gordon Dickson
Awards: Nebula (nom), 1966

A disagreement with his book club over an undue charge ignites a series of tragi-comical events that eventually lands Mr Walter A. Child on death row.

Reviews:
Love these humorous stories about individuals getting caught in the cogs of bureaucracy. I could sense the outcome within the first few hostile exchanges, but it didn't detract from the wonderful irony. If you enjoy this one, you might also enjoy "Allegory", "Beachhead in Utopia" and "Kellerman's Eyepiece". [8/10] --- zM

Corrida

Episode:
Duration: 8 min
Genre: Creatures, Horror
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Roger Zelazny

A story of a man tormented by a thing.

Reviews:

Country of the Kind, The

Episode: 028
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Future Earth
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Damon Knight, 1956
Awards: SFWA - Hall of Fame, 1970

In a world where violence and crime have been almost totally eliminated, a man engages in antisocial behavior.

Music featured in this episode includes:

The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Feb 1956 Bobby Hutcherson - Total Eclipse Bobby Hutcherson - Components Thijs Van Leer -Introspection Thijs Van Leer - Introspection 3 Focus - Hamburger Concerto


Snippet:

Reviews:

Crisis

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Aliens
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Edward Grendon

Earthmen meet to study a proposal from an alien race; the aliens wish to send an ambassador to Earth to see if Earth is mature enough for long-term interstellar contact. Should Earth accept the proposal at face value?

Reviews:

Day of the Butterflies, The

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Fantasy
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Marion Zimmer Bradley

A farm girl working in Manhattan starts to imagine the city is being invaded by the country.

Reviews:

Descending

Episode: 003
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Speculative
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Thomas Disch, 1964

A man finds himself on a series of escalators that only go down and seemingly don't lead anywhere.

Music featured in this episode includes:

Fantastic Stories of Imagination, Jul 1964 Terry Riley - A Rainbow in Curved Air Tangerine Dream - Phaedra Tonto's Exploding Head Band - Zero Time


Reviews:

Desertion

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Sci-Fi
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Clifford Simak

Four men have been transformed into native Jovian life forms and sent from the protective dome to explore the surface of Jupiter. None have returned.

Reviews:

Devil Car

Episode: 029
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Dystopian Future
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Roger Zelazny, 1965
Awards: Nebula (nom), 1966

To avenge the death of his brother, Sam Murdock and his death-car Jenny seek out the evil Black Caddy and its pack of wild cars.

With Michael Hanson () and Trisha Day ().

Music featured in this episode includes:

Galaxy Magazine, Jun 1965 Terry Riley - In C Focus - Hamburger Concerto


Snippet:

Reviews:
Murdock and his sentient car, Jenny, have to track down the leader of a herd of wild cars gone bad. How bad? These sentient cars have been killing off their drivers with carbon monoxide so they are free to roam the canyons of the West, killing off pedestrians and stealing fuel. The devil car of the title, a black caddy, has eluded all attempts at capture so far - he's tricky, keeping a corpse in his driver's seat so he looks tame. --- Anon

There's plenty of car-vs.-car action (Jenny is not only sentient, but well-armed), a tongue-in-cheek post-apocalyptic Old West feel, and some poignant moments as Jenny vacillates between her admiration for the Devil Car and her duty to serve her driver, Murdock. This story was probably one of the main inspirations for Steve Jackson's game Car Wars, which introduced the notion that "the right of way goes to the biggest guns." "Devil Car" is a fine example of the fun sub-genre of science fiction I call the post-apocalyptic car-centered road warrior stories. If you like it, check out similar stories by other authors, such as Why Johnny Can't Speed and Along the Scenic Route (I think one of these is Harlan Ellison's). --- Anonymous

All in all, an interesting take on what would happen if automobiles were granted the ability to think, and act on their own. A well written story, but I didn't think very highly of the main, come to that, the only featured human character. He reminded me a little too much of the crazy captain looking for the infamous white whale. I half expected him to start screaming, "From the heart of Hell, I stab at thee! For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee!" And the way he treated his car, come on. I was hoping something would happen to him from the half way point in the story, on up. --- Fallen Angel

Doing Lennon

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Time Travel
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Gregory Benford
Awards: Hugo (nom), 1966; Nebula (nom), 1966

A man comes up with a scheme to emerge from cryogenic sleep as rock-legend John Lennon. But can he fool the people in the year 2108 (or is it 2180?) and live out his dream?

With Michael Hanson () and Foster Padway, credited as 'L.A. Popsey' ().

Reviews:

Don't Look Now

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Mars, Aliens
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Henry Kuttner

A drunk in a bar harasses a fellow patron with warnings about Martians who are secretly controlling the world.

Reviews:

Dream at Noonday, A

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Sci-Fi
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Gardner Dozois
Awards: Nebula (nom), 1971

A man drifts between recollections of his childhood and observations of his present situation. The prose is dream-like, almost hypnotic in its effect, with an overall impact that may well stay with you for a lifetime... or not.

Reviews:

Dreamworld

Episode:
Duration: 8 min
Genre: Fantasy
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Isaac Asimov

A young boy immerses himself in daydreaming and fantasy, much to the chagrin of his aunt who is trying to raise him by rule and rod and pious memory of her deceased sister. "Face reality, Eddie", she constantly tells him.

Reviews:

Dry Spell

Episode: 170a
Year: 2018
Duration: 8 min
Genre: Speculative
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Bill Pronzini, 1970

Author John Kensington struggles to find a theme, a plot, or even a fleeting idea that he can develop into a saleable work. Discouraged and becoming desperate, he allows his mind to explore story threads that even he finds tenuous. When the ember of an idea starts to glow, he fans it, hoping that by ignoring all plot gaps and logical inconsistency he can ignite some kindling before the idea fades from memory.

Music featured in this episode includes:

Amazing Science Fiction Stories, Sep 1970 Miles Davis - Kind of Blue Hugh Le Caine - Compositions Demonstrations 1946-1974 Karlheinz Stockhausen - Telemusik / Mixtur


Snippet: The bane of all writers, John Kensington thought glumly, whether they be poor and struggling or whether they be rich and famous, is the protracted 'dry spell'. He sat staring at the blank sheet of yellow foolscap in his typewriter. His mind was as blank as that paper. Not a single idea. Not a single line of writing that even remotely reached coherency in almost three weeks. Sighing, Kensington pushed back his chair and got on his feet. He want to the small refrigerator in the kitchenette, opened his last can of beer and took it to the old Morris chair that reposed near his desk.

Reviews:
A good start to the new Mindwebs (2018) series. "Dry Spell" is a short story about the creative process and how artists struggle to find inspiration... stumbling, searching, feeling their way around obstacles, and sometimes spinning their mental wheels in circles. A bit like the Miles Davis piece "So What" which sets the tone and starts this story off. I'm not sure who selected the music -- whether it was Darkman or Michael Hanson -- but regardless, the result was spot-on. Technical Production was by Darkman, who upholds the Mindwebs tradition of superb craftsmanship, blending raw technical skill with an acute sense of timing. The story was well-written, but the ending was foreshadowed. I much preferred the second episode of the half-hour: "The Third Level". By the way, 'foolscap' is paper cut to the size of 8 1⁄2 × 13 1⁄2 inches. Foolscap was so called because, in the 18th century, folio-sized paper had the watermark of a fool's cap on it. [7/10] --- zM

Earthmen Bearing Gifts

Episode:
Duration: 9 min
Genre: Mars, Aliens
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Fredric Brown

The last of the dying Martians anticipate the arrival of the first explorers from Earth.

Reviews:

Eel, The

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Sci-Fi
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Miriam Allen DeFord

The Eel is a super-thief whose eventual capture has been an eagerly anticipated event on a dozen worlds across half the galaxy. The politicians, lawyers and bureaucrats have all been drooling over the opportunity to exact a lengthy and unpleasant vengeance... but will they manage to convict and punish him? The Eel did not earn his name for nothing...

Reviews:
Michael Hanson seemed to have perfected the art of picking excellent stories. Such is the case here, where an interstellar criminal, who might as well have been a contemporary of Jabba The Hutt, is put on trial until he final figures out how to work his final angle... --- Anonymous

En Passant

Episode:
Duration: 18 min
Genre: Speculative
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Britt Schweitzer

Suddenly, and without warning, a man loses his head and struggles to remain calm.

Reviews:

End, The

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Speculative
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Ursula Le Guin

While the members of a small seaside community kill their animals, destroy their possessions, and prepare for The End, a lone man wonders if maybe this isn't The End and life can continue in the guessed-at islands beyond the horizon.

Reviews:

End-of-the-World Rag, The

aka: "The End of the World Rag"
Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Speculative
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Jack C. Haldeman II

A rambling reminiscence about how Apathy killed incentive, desire, love, and everything we ever really cared about.

Reviews:

Enormous Radio, The

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Speculative
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: John Cheever

A couple's broken radio starts picking up conversations from elsewhere in their apartment block, and they can hardly resist becoming voyeurs into the sordid privacies of their neighbours.

With Michael Hanson () and Louise Strausbough ().

Reviews:

Eternal Machines, The

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Sci-Fi
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: William Spencer
Awards: Nebula (nom), 1967

A hermit with a poetic soul takes sole custodianship of a junk planet—the garbage dump of the galaxy—in order to build an eternal monument to his creative urges.

Reviews:

Eurema's Dam

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Sci-Fi
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: R.A. Lafferty
Awards: Hugo, 1973

He was the last of the dolts—the last of dumb kids. But, sometimes, stupidity is the mother of invention.

Reviews:

Ever-Branching Tree, The

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Time Travel
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Harry Harrison

A teacher takes his class on a field trip through time to explore the origins of life.

With Michael Hanson (), Ward Paxton, credited as Louis D. Crust (teacher), Alisha Potter (), Paul Gaylord (), David Craig (), Danny Lynch (), and Stephan Elliott Hanson ().

Reviews:
A very disappointing story that fails to evoke a strong enough sense-of-wonder or emotional connection to compensate for its lack of action and suspense. --- Dave Tackett

Evergreen Library, The

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Speculative
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Bill Pronzini and Jeffrey Wallmann

After Pruett Evergreen dies, his lawyer visits the Evergreen Estate to make sure everything is in order prior to passing on the bulk of the property, including the library, to the Enchiridion Society—a European group that has something to do with books.

Reviews:

Exhibition, The

Episode: 024
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Future Earth
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Scott Edelstein, 1973

William Francis Howell Markem, ident-a-gram 5551070023, is one of 8,997,020 living impressionist painters. He is still on the dole... which means he is an unknown... which means he is a failure... But he has just painted his 105th painting and if he can sell it, he just might become a Recognized Artist.

With Michael Hanson (), Jim Fleming (), and Louise Strausbough ().

Music featured in this episode includes:

Nova 3 - 1973 John Cale - Academy in Peril Frank Glazer - Piano Music of Erik Satie Alan Hovhaness - Wind Music of Alan Hovhaness


Reviews:

Final Exam

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Aliens
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Chad Oliver

The Advanced Martian History class from the American Academy take a field trip to see 'real live Martians'—the last of a dying race—and to witness an ancient ritual called The Death Dance. To the culturally myopic students, the Martians appear funny, childlike, quaint, and crazy. They're in for a surprise.

Reviews:
In some ways similar to the classic Bradbury tale "And the Moon Be Still as Bright", but in other ways quite different. I can't go into details without spoiling the plot, but definitely worth listening to. The closing music is wistful and melancholic—reminiscent of Kitaro or Tomita, though I can't quite place it—and evokes the restless clash of incompatible cultures. [7/10] --- zM

Fly, The

Episode: 020b
Duration: 9 min
Genre: Creatures
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Arthur Porges, 1952

A prospector, while taking a break for lunch, notices a spiderweb and watches an ancient, unfolding drama between spider and fly. But there is something strange about that fly.

The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Sep 1952


Reviews:

Fog Horn, The

aka: "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms"
Episode: 121
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Creatures
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Ray Bradbury, 1951

A lighthouse's lonely fog horn calls up a primeval horror out of the depths.

Served as the inspiration for the film The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.

Music featured in this episode includes:

Saturday Evening Post, Jun 1951 Olivier Messiaen - Et Exspecto Resurrectionem Mortuorum Samuel Barber - Adagio for Strings, Op. 11 Edvard Grieg - Peer Gynt Beaver and Krause - In a Wild Sanctuary Ralph Vaughan Williams - Sir John in Love


Reviews:
Some stories have great action. Some, charming dialog. The essence of this story is its descriptive imagery. This is not a Horror story—at least not in the usual sense—it is a story about "the sadness of eternity and the briefness of life". If you are the sort of person who can grieve for Grendel's mother, then this story is for you. Michael Hanson is perfect in this role: mournful and forlorn. [8/10] --- zM

Of the Mindwebs broadcasts which I have so far encountered, "The Fog Horn" has ended up being the story that I personally connected with the most. The Plesiosaurus or Elasmosaurus which arose from the deep, and the speculations about what it's been through, really struck a chord. The tale powerfully conveyed the feeling of waiting & longing... And though the information above notes that this 1951 story served as inspiration for the film "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms", I couldn't help but notice that the story evoked a certain atmosphere alike the original "Gojira" film, which was made just a few years later & released in 1954. It might be just a coincidence, but I felt there was a certain sorrow implicit to both of these dinosaurian creatures, across the two tales. --- ?nfinite-?nsect

Food Farm, The

Episode: 008
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Speculative
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Kit Reed, 1967

Nelly is a very big girl, and that's just how Tommy Fango likes them.

With Jay Meredith Fitts (Nelly).

Music featured in this episode includes:

Orbit 2, Jun 1967 Gerry Mulligan - The Age of Steam Kenny Burrell - God Bless the Child Herbie Hancock - Crossings Greenslade - Greenslade Electric Light Orchestra - No Answer


Reviews:

Funny Farm, The

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Supernatural
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Robert Bloch

When attempting to rob an eccentric comic book collector, a thief encounters some unexpected complications.

Reviews:

Game for Motel Room

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Aliens
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Fritz Leiber

After spending a satisfying night together, a man listens to his lover tell a bizarre tale about her life and her relationship with her husband.

With Michael Hanson () and the Laurie Mann, credited as 'Princess from the Magic Forest' ().

Reviews:

Garden of Time, The

Episode: 025
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Fantasy
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: J.G. Ballard, 1962

Count Axel and his wife enjoy a conservative life of refined pleasure, embracing what they consider to be the pinnacle of cultural achievement in music, art, and literature. They have temporarily isolated themselves, physically, from the relentless press of humanity by retiring to their countryside villa. When the aimless throng eventually advances on the villa, Count Axel exploits the eternal time flowers: crystalline flowers which subtly alter time and space when broken and dissolved.

Music featured in this episode includes:

Billenium - 1962 Karol Szymanowski - Masques and Etudes Jacques Lasry & Francois Baschet - Structures Sonores Paul Jacobs - Arnold Schoenberg Piano Music


Snippet: Toward evening, when the great shadow of the Palladian villa filled the terrace, Count Axel left his library and walked down the wide rococo steps among the time flowers. A tall, imperious figure in a black velvet jacket, a gold tie-pin glinting below his George V beard, cane held stiffly in a white-gloved hand, the count surveyed the exquisite crystal flowers without emotion, listening to the sounds of his wife's harpsichord, as she played a Mozart rondo in the music room, it echoed and vibrated through the translucent petals.

Reviews:
A hauntingly beautiful story. J.G. Ballard is a master at creating images with words and this story is no exception. "The Garden of Time" is a symbolic allegory, but what it actually represents... well, that's open to interpretation. I can think of a dozen different interpretations of this story. All of them sound right, but feel wrong, which means they are almost certainly wrong. What I do know is that the story has a simple plot, but a multiply-connected theme which Ballard emphasizes through the marvellous use of rich language. Even if you know exactly what is going to happen, this story is worth listening to. [8/10] --- zM

Gas Mask

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Future Earth
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: James D. Houston

One summer afternoon, at about 5:30, the eight lanes of traffic around Charlie Bates slowed to a creep and finally to a standstill. Gridlock. How long will it take to get moving again when there is nowhere to go? And what should Charlie Bates do in the meantime?

With Michael Hanson () and Louise Strausbough ().

Reviews:

Gift, The

Episode:
Duration: 7 min
Genre: Mars
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Ray Bradbury

On a trip to Mars, parents plan a special Christmas gift for their son.

With Michael Hanson (), Mary Armentrout (), and Rolfe Hanson ().

Reviews:

Great Slow Kings, The

Episode:
Duration: 20 min
Genre: Aliens
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Roger Zelazny

Twin reptilian monarchs who have lost their kingdom and all their subjects, save for one robot servant, ponder searching the galaxy for new subjects... but their painfully slow metabolisms make the effort difficult, to say the least.

Reviews:
Great use of irony! The contrast between the deliberate reptilian dialog and the urgency of the necessary action is quite amusing. The background music is well chosen and underscores the timelessness of the ruler's reign. Very nicely done. [8/10] --- zM

Gun without a Bang, The

Episode:
Duration: 20 min
Genre: Super Science
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Robert Sheckley

Dixon had ventured far from his spaceship and knew he was being followed, but he wasn't worried. He was a great believer in personal armament, and he was carrying The Weapon. He was protected. Why look for fuzzy economic, philosophical or political reasons when everything was so simple?

Reviews:

Hall of Machines, The

Episode: 010
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Sci-Fi
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Langdon Jones, 1968

A lengthy narrative describing the mechanical wonders of a repository of ancient machines whose purpose has long been forgotten.

Music featured in this episode includes:

New Worlds #180, Mar 1968 Morton Subotnick - Silver Apples of the Moon Harry Partch - Delusion of the Fury Tod Dockstader - Quatermass


Reviews:
Intolerably dull. --- Jeff Dickson

Hands of the Man

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Sci-Fi, Crime
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: R.A. Lafferty

A 'spotter' encounters a 'sky man' in a tavern and engages in a tricky and delicate negotiation for the sale and delivery of the truly impressive ring which the sky man is wearing.

Reviews:

Happily Ever After

Episode: 004a
Duration: 11 min
Genre: Creatures
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: William F. Nolan, 1965

A newly married couple settle on their own asteroid. Features music of Isao Tomita.

With Michael Hanson (narrator), Kerry Frumkin (Donald), and Marty Van Cleef (Paula).

Music featured in this episode includes:

Gamma 4 - Feb 1965 Bo Hansson - Ur Trollkarlens Hatt Tomita - Snowflakes Are Dancing Douglas Leedy - Entropical Paradise: Six Sonic Moog Environments


"I always wanted to try a simple variation on the Garden of Eden theme. Finally I did. The result is short, direct, and I sincerely hope, entertaining." --- William F. Nolan

Reviews:

Harrison Bergeron

Episode: 005a
Duration: 18 min
Genre: Future Earth, Dystopia
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., 1961
Awards: Prometheus Hall of Fame (nom), 2017

Classic story of a rebel in an age whose political correctness has lead to a fanatical devotion to the lowest common denominator.

With Michael Hanson (narrator), Carol Cowan (Hazel Bergeron), Ken Ohst (George Bergeron), Ward Paxton (news announcer), Marty Van Cleef (female news announcer), and Karl Schmidt (Harrison Bergeron).

Music featured in this episode includes:

The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Oct 1961 Pink Floyd - Obscured by Clouds Pink Floyd - More Alice Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders - Ptah, the El Daoud Paul Lincke - Glow-Worm (Gavotte Pavlova) Pink Floyd - Obscured by Clouds


Reviews:

Haunted Space Suit, The

aka: "Who's There?"
Episode: 005b
Duration: 13 min
Genre: Space Exploration
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Arthur C. Clarke, 1958

An astronaut on a spacewalk is convinced that something is trying to get into his spacesuit.

Music featured in this episode includes:

New Worlds Science Fiction #77, Nov 1958 Pink Floyd - Obscured by Clouds The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Countdown: Time in Outer Space


Reviews:

Helen O'Loy

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Robots
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Lester del Rey
Awards: SFWA - Hall of Fame, 1970

Two young men collaborate on modifying a household robot—originally meant only to cook food and clean—in order to allow it to have emotions.

Reviews:

Hell-Bound Train, The

aka: "That Hell-Bound Train"
Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Supernatural
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Robert Bloch, 1958
Awards: Hugo, 1959

A young drifter makes a deal with the Devil and promises to ride the Hell-bound train when the time comes.

Reviews:
A good story with another strong performance by Michael Hanson. My copy of this story has many skips in the recording—each from a few words to several sentences long—which made following the story extremely difficult. (I finally had to download the text and read along.) Several references are made to the song "Hell-Bound Train". I believe this is a nod to Chuck Berry and his song "Downbound Train", recorded in 1955 and released as the B-side to "No Money Down" three years before this story was written. However, as near as I can tell, Berry did not write the lyrics—they are from a much older poem dating at least to the late 1800s and possibly much earlier. [7/10] --- zM

I Kill Myself

Episode: 013
Duration: 20 min
Genre: Super Science
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Julian Kawalec, 1966

A scientist involved in the creation of an ultimate weapon begins to suffer pangs of conscience.

Music featured in this episode includes:

Vintage Anthology of Science Fantasy, 1966 Jacques Lasry & Francois Baschet - Chronophagie Edgar Froese - Aqua


Reviews:

I See You

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Super Science
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Damon Knight
Awards: Hugo (nom), 1977

A research engineer invents, produces, and distributes 'distant viewers' which allow users to see and hear anything across time and space: police monitor dissidents, dissidents monitor politicians, politicians monitor police. And so begins an era of absolute surveillance in which privacy and secrets no longer exist. But if there are no secrets, can crime and war survive?

Reviews:
An interesting premise which suffers from poor execution. The story of 'your' life is interspersed with a series of flashbacks which describe the invention and history of the 'distant viewer'. The historical account is dry and monotonous; 'your' life adds a personal, humanizing element. Both threads of the story are interesting, but don't really lead anywhere. The concluding remarks suggest a world of telepathy and instant communication where there is no crime or war, but don't explicitly state this and so everything is left open-ended and subject to your own interpretation. (If you'd like to explore the effect of telepathy and instant communication on crime and war, I suggest Spider Robinson's Deathkiller trilogy.) [6/10] --- zM

Icebox Blonde, The

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Robots
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Thomas N. Scortia

A stodgy husband is forced to confront his conservative mores when his wife has an affair, and the local supermarket is selling female androids in its freezer section.

With Michael Hanson (), Cliff Roberts (), and Linda Clauder ().

Reviews:

Impostor

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Future Earth, Aliens, War
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Philip K. Dick

Story of a future weapons scientist working to save Earth from an alien invasion who finds himself accused of being an alien changeling, a clone with a ticking time bomb in his body.

A version of this story was produced by Sci-Fi Radio. Also provided the basis for a movie of the same name.

Reviews:

In the Abyss

Episode: 031
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Sci-Fi
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: H.G. Wells, 1896

An undersea explorer uses a modified diving bell to descend to the bottom of the ocean where he makes an extraordinary discover.

With Michael Hanson () and Jeff Golden ().

Music featured in this episode includes:

Pearson's Magazine, Aug 1896 xxxxx xxxxx


Snippet:

Reviews:
An adequate but forgettable story, helped by better than average reading/voice acting. It does interestingly, in some ways, anticipate the undersea horrors that H. P. Lovecraft would later describe. --- Dave Tackett

In the Imagicon

Episode:
Duration: 17 min
Genre: Super Science
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: George Henry Smith
Awards: Nebula, 1967

Isolated on a cold and desolate colony world and nagged by a shrewish wife, a husband's only escape is through a virtual reality machine.

With Michael Hanson (), Bonita Cornute (), Louise Strausbough (), and Jay Meredith Fitts ().

Reviews:

Infinity of Loving, An

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Speculative
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: David Gerrold

Two young lovers, lucky to fall in love, fear that their love for each other will fail and so seek a means of joining that love together for all eternity.

With Michael Hanson () and Dolores Walker ().

Reviews:

Kaleidoscope

Episode: 006
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Space Exploration
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Ray Bradbury, 1949

When a meteor destroys a spaceship, its crew is hurled outward into space in a dozen directions. Their suit radios will maintain contact range for only a few hours. What do men talk about when death is imminent?

See also "Program Completed" (Miscellaneous Shows)

Music featured in this episode includes:

Thrilling Wonder Stories, Oct 1949 Jean-Claude Risset - Computer Suite from Little Boy Tangerine Dream - Phaedra H.P. Lovecraft - H.P. Lovecraft II Chick Corea - Inner Space Pearls Before Swine - The Use of Ashes Johann Sebastian Bach - E. Power Biggs Plays Bach in the Thomaskirche


Reviews:

Kellerman's Eyepiece

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Aliens
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Mary Elizabeth Counselman

Cyrus Kellerman orders a telescope eyepiece through the mail, only to find it discontinued. The newer model sent to him by the telescope company, however, seems to pick up more than just stars and moon craters. Like Allegory and Computers Don't Argue, this story was written in the brilliant form of back and forth correspondence.

Reviews:

King of the Beasts, The

Episode:
Duration: 7 min
Genre: Future Earth
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Philip Jose Farmer

A biologist of the future recreates extinct animals for a zoo/laboratory... including the most dangerous animal of them all.

Reviews:

Knock

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Aliens
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Fredric Brown

"The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock at the door." Aliens who have no concept of natural death have wiped out humanity, literally to the last man and woman, whom they put in a zoo as public curiosities.

With Michael Hanson () and Mary Armentrout (Grace).

Reviews:
Knock was produced for: 2000x, Dimension X (DX), Future Tense (FT), Mindwebs (MW), Seeing Ear Theatre (SET), and X Minus One (X-1). The plot is very simple and the success of each adaptation depends strongly on its actors. It's hard to choose a favourite because all versions were well-made and each production has its strengths and weaknesses. I rate all of them [7/10]. --- zM

The 2000x and SET versions are identical productions, except 2000x includes an introduction by Harlan Ellison and SET includes more closing music. The DX, FT, and X-1 versions share the same script, but have different casts. MW is a reading for two people with incidental music and sound effects.
Script
MW tops my list, because it is a reading of the original Fredric Brown story. SET is a close second because it closely follows the Brown story and modifies it only for dramatic effect. The DX/FT/X-1 versions introduce torture as a plot element, seemingly so Grace can fall in love with Walter's physical courage. (In the other versions she seems content to fall in love with his subtle and perceptive mind.)
Narrator
You just can't beat Norman Rose in the DX version. Wonderful tone, inflection, and pacing. But Ira Burton in the SET version is not bad and Michael Hanson in MW follows as a close third. Fred Collins in the X-1 version sounds like he should be selling ice cream, not introducing a horror story
Walter
By far the best is René Auberjonois in the SET version. His air of amused tolerance contrasts nicely with Grace's frustration with him not acting like a MAN! Luis Van Rooten is next best in X-1.
Grace
Best is Lori March in the X-1 version. Mary Armentrout (MW) has a beautiful, innocent/blushing voice, but lacks the intensity required by Grace's character. Lorna Raver is very good in SET, but the microphone is too close and it picks up every swallow and cluck in her throat. Very distracting.
Zan (George)
Best is Greg Moody in the Future Tense version. Followed closely by Luis Van Rooten in DX and X-1. The weakest is Hanson's character voice in MW. I found it distracting. Also distracting is Ira Burton's robotic-sounding voice in SET.
Sound Quality
SET, followed closely by DX and X-1. MW is also good. FT is garbled, but tolerable.

Language of Love, The

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Speculative
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Robert Sheckley

Story of a young lover, frustrated by his inability to articulate his love fully and precisely, who travels to the planet Tyana II to learn the 'Language of Love'.

With Michael Hanson () and Mary Armentrout, credited as 'Star Eyes' ().

Reviews:

Last Ghost, The

Episode:
Duration: 20 min
Genre: Ghosts
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Stephen Goldin
Awards: Nebula (nom), 1972

Eternity is a terrible place to endure alone. Especially when memory has failed and thought processes have nearly ceased. The last ghost struggles with... he searches for... he wants a... he desires some... he loves to....

With Michael Hanson () and Dolores Walker ().

Reviews:

Letter to a Phoenix

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Future Earth
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Fredric Brown

A retrospective on the human race from a man who has lived 180,000 years.

Reviews:

Liberators, The

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Future Earth, Dystopia
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Lee Harding

In the far distant future, a group of people awoken from the dream tanks flee the City, whose A.I. brain needs them to provide it with a human soul.

Reviews:
Excellent story, with an ethereal, melancholy score by Tangerine Dream that is perfectly suited to the mood of the tale. One of the best of the series. --- Jeff Dickson

Light of Other Days

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Sci-Fi
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Bob Shaw
Awards: Hugo (nom), 1967; Nebula (nom), 1967

A couple driving through the country notice a sign and stop at a farm advertising 'slow glass' for sale.

Reviews:
This Hugo-nominated short story from 1966 was written by Bob Shaw and introduces the concept of 'slow glass' - which I won't spoil for you. As usual, Michael Hanson manages to project the anger, frustration, bitterness, and longing of the characters he portrays even while mixing it with wonder and heart-breaking love. A powerful ending provides much to think about. [9/10] --- zM

Look Homeward, Spaceman

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Sci-Fi
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Robert Silverberg

Paul Robinson returns home on a 2-day furlough after 6 years in space and is surprised at what he finds.

With Michael Hanson () and Jay Meredith Fitts ().

Reviews:

Lucifer

Episode: 017b
Duration: 12 min
Genre: Future Earth, Dystopia
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Roger Zelazny, 1965

Two years after his last visit, Carlson returns to the dead city. It's been five years since the people died... five years since power last surged outward from the power cubes through the broadcast panel to the acropolis beyond, to where people talked with one another, shared music, books, food and other interests, and made love. It's been two years since Carlson's last attempt to bring light back to the dead city... two years since he swore he would never come back again.

Worlds of Tomorrow, Jun 1964


Snippet: The broadcast panel had a thousand eyes, but none of them winked back at him. He made the final adjustments for transmit, then gave the generators their last check-out. There was still some daylight to spend, so he moved from window to window pressing the Open button set below each sill. He ate the rest of his food then, and drank a whole bottle of water and smoked two cigarettes. Sitting on the chair, he thought of the days when he had worked with Kelly and Murchison and Djinsky, twisting the tails of electrons until they wailed and leapt out over the walls and fled down into the city.

Reviews:
On the surface, this is a simple story about a power engineer trying to fix some broken equipment. But on a deeper level it is a story about the Passion that drives the creation and maintenance of technology, technology that was built as a means to serve people, but which sometimes becomes and end in itself. If you focus too much on the plot, you'll miss the deeper meaning. And the Passion. Close your eyes and see what Carlson sees... feel what he feels. The title, by the way, refers to the Latin adjective lucifer (uncapitalized) which means light-bringing. [8/10] --- zM

Machine in Shaft Ten, The

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Aliens
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: John Harrison (as Joyce Churchill)

The discovery of a vast underground machine complex sends civilization into a frenzy of hysteria, despair, social upheaval and religious chaos. Apparently the Machine has been recording human emotions throughout history and transmitting their energy to some distant point in space. The scientist responsible for the discovery resolves to shut the complex down, regardless of what consequence might come of it when the Makers stop receiving...

See also: "The Sky Was Full of Ships" (Mindwebs)

Reviews:

Man from Earth, The

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Aliens
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Gordon Dickson

When the first Earthman arrives on the capital world of galactic civilization, he unwittingly commits an offence that could cost him his life.

Reviews:

Man Who Returned, The

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Horror
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Edmond Hamilton

An invalid awakens to discover he has been buried alive.

Reviews:

Man with English, The

Episode: 017a
Duration: 18 min
Genre: Speculative
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: H.L. Gold, 1953

Edgar Stone , the proprietor of a dry goods store, suffers a punctured tire in his own driveway as he arrives home for lunch. Never one to restrain an angry impulse, he then puts his foot through the screen door and gets into an argument with his wife and adolescent son. His fortunes take a downward turn, and he wakes to find himself in a hospital confronted by the surgeon who removed a bone splinter from his brain. He seems to be recovering well... except for a few unexpected complications.

With Michael Hanson (narrator, Edgar Stone [pop], Arnold Stone [boy], Dr Rankin, Mandy Loubin [lawyer]), Jay Meredith Fitts (Rita Stone [mom]), Carol Cowan (Miss Ellis), and Mindy Rattner (nurse).

Star Science Fiction Stories, 1953


Snippet: Lying in the hospital, Edgar Stone added up his misfortunes as another might count blessings. There were enough to infuriate the most temperate man, which Stone notoriously was not. He smashed his fist down, accidentally hitting the metal side of the bed, and was astonished by the pleasant feeling. It enraged him even more. The really maddening thing was how simply he had goaded himself into the hospital.

Reviews:
A short, humorous look at the way unsettled emotions can continue to build upon each other until they finally resolve in completely unexpected ways! Although the ending is foreshadowed as soon as the doctor proposes a cure, it is still funny. Cowan and Fitts show their versatility with character voices I have not heard before, and Michael Hanson plays all five male roles and manages a distinctly different character voice for each! The title, by the way, does not refer to language or nationality, but uses a different definition of English. [7/10] --- zM

Martian El Dorado of Parker Wintley, The

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Mars, Aliens
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Lin Carter

Parker Wintley is out of money, but not of luck or charm. He has secured a claim on a remote area of Mars where a cache of diamonds is ripe for the taking—if he can con them from the natives.

Reviews:

Maze, The

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Super Science
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Stuart Dybek

Through the use of radioactively-induced mutation and chemically-altered DNA, a researcher attempts to expand intelligence. He uses a maze to provide controlled problems of survival and a method of measuring, testing and selecting those mice that have been successful.

Reviews:

Meeting, The

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Speculative
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Frederik Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth, 1972
Awards: Hugo, 1973

Harry Vladik struggles with possible futures for his developmentally-challenged child.

Reviews:

Metal Man, The

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Sci-Fi
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Jack Williamson

Prof. Thomas Kelvin of the Geology Department of Tyburn College undertakes a solo expedition to find the source of El Rio de la Sangre and, hopefully, deposits of radium-bearing minerals that make the river radioactive.

Reviews:

Midnight Express

Episode:
Duration: 12 min
Genre: Fantasy
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Alfred Noyes

Fantasy and reality become blurred in a dream about a stranger at a dark train station.

Reviews:

Mist, The

Episode: 171b
Year: 2018
Duration: 15 min
Genre: Aliens
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Peter Grainger (as Peter Cartur), 1952


Music featured in this episode includes:

The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Sep 1952 Larry Kucharz - SMPHNCS - Electronic Symphonics Peter Michael Hamel - Organum Michele Mercure - Eye Chant


Snippet:

Reviews:

Monkey and the Lady

Episode: 171a
Year: 2018
Duration: 15 min
Genre: Speculative
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Neil Gaiman, 2017



With Michael Hanson (monkey) and Sarah Stettler (lady).

Music featured in this episode includes:

The Weight of Words, 2017 Hiroshi Yoshimura - Soundscape 1: Surround Joseph Daley - The Seven Heavenly Virtues The 442s - The 442s Lee Baxter - Space Escapade


Snippet:

Reviews:

Moth Race

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Future Earth, Dystopia
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Richard Hill

A future society of drug-induced pacifists finds emotional release through the minds and feelings of champions willing to risk their lives in a deadly game of car vs. computer.

Reviews:

My Object All Sublime

Episode: 034
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Time Travel
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Poul Anderson, 1961

An evening's musings between friends on time travel takes an unpleasant turn.

Music featured in this episode includes:

Galaxy Magazine, Jun 1961 xxxxx xxxxx


Snippet:

Reviews:
A slow-moving tale with almost no action. Drinks, cigars, and a late-night rambling discussion are followed by a surprisingly strong ending. The title, by the way, is a reference to song No. 6 in the Gilbert and Sullivan opera The Mikado. [8/10] --- zM

My object all sublime
I shall achieve in time—
To let the punishment fit the crime—
The punishment fit the crime;
And make each prisoner pent
Unwillingly represent
A source of innocent merriment!
Of innocent merriment!

Nackles

Episode: 088
Duration: 20 min
Genre: Fantasy
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Donald E. Westlake (as Curt Clark), 1964

Does God create Men, or does Man create gods? It might seem an academic question, but it seems that nearly every god has a corresponding devil. And if Man does create his own gods... then I guess the next question would be whether Santa Claus is a god?

Music featured in this episode includes:

The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Jan 1964 Frank De Vol and the Rainbow Strings - The Old Sweet Songs of Christmas The Ramsey Lewis Trio - Sound of Christmas Andre Kostelanetz - Wonderland of Christmas


Reviews:

Nature Boy

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Speculative
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Josephine Saxton

A somewhat surreal psychological tale about... er... about... Actually I have no idea what this story is about. Sorry.

Reviews:

Night He Cried, The

Episode:
Duration: 20 min
Genre: Aliens, Humour
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Fritz Leiber

A parody in which a peace-loving alien from Galactic Center attempts to reform a misogynistic man named Slickey Millane.

With Michael Hanson () and Mary Armentrout (alien).

Reviews:
A wonderfully light-hearted satire of the hard-boiled detective genre characterized by Mickey Spillane in his Mike Hammer series of novels. The clinically-exact diction and syntax of the female alien from Galactic Central (disguised as a voluptuous human), contrasts nicely with the violence and sexual innuendo from Slickey. Cracks me up every time I listen. [8/10] --- zM

Night in Elf Hill, A

Episode: 032
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Space Exploration
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Norman Spinrad, 1968

A spacer writes his Earth-bound psychiatrist brother to ask for help. He wants to be convinced not to return to one of the planets he's visited, because forever can be a very short time.

With Michael Hanson () and Mindy Rattner ().

Music featured in this episode includes:

The Farthest Reaches, 1968 xxxxx xxxxx


Snippet:

Reviews:

Night of the Nickel Beer, The

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Fantasy
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Kris Ottman Neville

Upon turning 40 and finding himself unable to sleep, a man takes a late-night walk through the mist and finds a bar which serves up nickel beer and tantalizes him with the promise of youth. A remembered past? A new beginning? Or a return to his wife sleeping at home?

With Michael Hanson () and Mary Armentrout, as 'Star Eyes' ().

Reviews:
A very slow-moving, timeless tale about lost youth and the choices one might face if given a chance to reclaim it. The mood is dreamy and nostalgic, as if the promise might not be real... but then again, it just might. What would you do? I found the ending satisfying, but others might not. [8/10] --- zM

Night That All Time Broke Out, The

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Sci-Fi
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Brian W. Aldiss

A couple purchases a home time converter, only to have the central timeworks plant go awry, turning a pleasant evening of decade jaunting into an annoying rewrite of history.

With Michael Hanson () and Mindy Rattner ().

Reviews:

Nine Billion Names of God, The

Episode: 026b
Duration: 17 min
Genre: Sci-Fi
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Arthur C. Clarke, 1953
Awards: Hugo (retro), 2004; SFWA - Hall of Fame, 1970

For 300 years, the monks at an obscure Tibetan monastery have been creating an exhaustive list containing every conceivable name of God. The project is expected to last another 15,000 years... unless the monks can convince Dr Wagner to modify his Mark V automatic sequence computer to work with letters instead of numbers and send the output to their new electromatic typewriters. If they are successful, then they should be able to wrap up in a few months.

Music featured in this episode includes:

Star Science Fiction Stories - 1953 Moe Koffman - Solar Explorations Ruth Laredo - Rachmaninoff: The Complete Works For Solo Piano


Snippet: Dr Wagner was scarcely conscious of the faint sounds from the Manhattan streets far below. He was in a different world, a world of natural, not man-made, mountains. High up in their remote aeries these monks had been patiently at work, generation after generation, compiling their lists of meaningless words. Was there any limit to the follies of mankind? Still, he must give no hint of his inner thoughts. The customer was always right....

Reviews:
Although the plot was mildly interesting and Michael Hanson did a fine job juggling the four male roles, I never really connected with the inscrutable monks. I understood what they were doing, but not why, and so never became emotionally involved with the story. "Venus" by Moe Koffman was a good choice for incidental music, and Rachmaninoff's Op. 3, No. 2: Prelude in C-Sharp Minor was an excellent choice for the punchline. [6/10] --- zM

None Before Me

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Speculative
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Sidney Carroll

A man devotes his life as a connoisseur to obtaining the best single piece of anything... until he develops an obsession with one of his acquisitions.

Reviews:

Number You Have Reached, The

Episode:
Duration: 22 min
Genre: Dystopia
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Thomas Disch

The last man alive on Earth, a former astronaut struggling to retain his sanity against the ravages of his conscience, is startled when his telephone rings and a lonely woman tries to strike up a conversation. Is the woman real or a figment of his imagination. How will he know?

With Michael Hanson () and Mindy Rattner ().

See also "Hallucination Orbit" (X Minus One).

Reviews:
The astronaut, although trained to work in isolation, suffers from a strong sense of guilt at being the last person alive. Even though it's not his fault, this sense of guilt, combined with loneliness and a craving for human companionship, impairs his ability to think rationally when his telephone rings. This is an okay story with good acting and music which explores the concept of 'isolation psychosis', although not by that name. This theme is explored to much greater effect in the X Minus One episode "Hallucination Orbit" which I strongly recommend. [6/10] --- zM

Or All the Seas with Oysters

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Sci-Fi
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Avram Davidson
Awards: Hugo (1958)

Struck by the fact that there are never enough pins and always too many coat-hangers, a bicycle shop owner begins to speculate on the possible parallels between natural and man-made objects.

Reviews:

Over the Line

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Space Exploration
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Barry Malzberg

Another 'generational starship lost in space' story. As a rite of passage, a young man asks the ship's computer the meaning of existence.

Reviews:
A real downer of a tale, though not surprising considering who wrote it. The computer is an analogy of God, and the space travelers condemned to purposeless wandering through eternity analogous to our own lives. The metaphor is so obvious that it is tiresome and predictable, and ultimately can offer no better conclusion other that that there is no conclusion. --- Jeff Dickson

Paingod

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Fantasy
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Harlan Ellison

Reluctantly appointed the universal dispenser of suffering, the 'pain god' has a revelation when he studies a few paltry mortals on a remote dust speck called Earth.

Reviews:

Paradise Regained

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Sci-Fi
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Cogswell Thomas (Theodore R. Cogswell and Theodore L. Thomas)

A group of escapees on a prison world aptly named Hell determine to make a home in the only livable valley on the planet.

Reviews:
A straightforward prison-escape story with an ironic twist that I didn't see coming at all. The incidental background music plays counterpoint to the dialog, creating the image of a truly hellish landscape. [8/10] --- zM

Paxton's World

Episode: 014
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Aliens
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Bill Pronzini, 1975

When a spacer gets marooned on a distant planet, he sets himself up as a god to the simplistic natives.

Music featured in this episode includes:

Future Corruption, 1975 David Sancious - Forest of Feelings Sergei Prokofiev - Greatest Hits


Reviews:

Petrified World, The

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Fantasy
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Robert Sheckley

A man's dreams intrude upon his experience of 'reality'.

Reviews:

Phoenix

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Fantasy
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Ted White and Marion Zimmer Bradley

After waking from an odd dream, a man struggles to understand the limits of his new 'wild talent' or psi power.

With Michael Hanson () and Linda Clauder ().

Reviews:

Place and a Time to Die, A

Episode:
Duration: 22 min
Genre: Speculative
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: J.G. Ballard, 1962

A retired police chief and a deputized used car salesman dig-in and prepare for a futile last-stand against an advancing army. The army, driven by generations of hate and resentment, have advanced across half the continent like an army of solider ants, and are unstoppable.

Reviews:
The politically-neutral retired police chief (Mannic), the fanatically right-wing deputy (Forbis) and the staunchly left-wing activist (Hathaway, a minor character) form three sides of a political triangle. Although Hathaway is eager to meet his ideological brothers, Mannic and Forbis have chosen this time and place to die... defending their ideals as best they can. The story deals mostly with the logistics of the advancing horde, diverts into politics briefly, but then returns for the final climax. Well told, with a twist ending. [7/10] --- zM

Place of the Gods, The

aka: "By the Waters of Babylon"
Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Future Earth, Dystopia
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Stephen Vincent Benét

A post-holocaust tale of a priest's son whose rite of passage is to venture to the forbidden ruins left by the long-departed gods.

Reviews:
A priests's son struggles with questions beyond his ken: Where are the gods? Why have they left? Where did they go? A quiet narrative, full of superstition and bemused curiosity, which builds slowly and has some satisfying twists at the end. Update: this version is good, but the 2000x version is even better! [8/10] --- zM

Plot is the Thing, The

Episode:
Duration: 18 min
Genre: Sci-Fi
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Robert Bloch
Awards: Nebula (nom), 1967

Having withdrawn into a fantasy world of old horror movies, a woman undergoes a severe form of rehab that challenges the borders of reality.

Reviews:

Pond Water

Episode: 015
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Robots
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: John Brunner, 1968

Scientists create an immortal super-robot named Alexander to rule the human race and who, like his namesake, possesses an insatiable thirst for conquest that extends across the stars.

With Michael Hanson (), Cliff Roberts (), Kerry Frumkin (), Jim Fleming () and Rick Murphy ().

Music featured in this episode includes:

The Farthest Reaches, 1968 Toru Takemitsu - Asterism, Requiem, Green, Dorian Horizon Jan Akkerman - Tabemakel


Reviews:

Portable Phonograph, The

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Future Earth, Dystopia
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Walter van Tilburg Clark

Four men, struggling to survive in a post-apocalyptic time, meet regularly to cherish memories of better times—reading from a few remaining books and listening to a few surviving recordings.

Reviews:

Power of the Sentence, The

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Fantasy
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: David M. Locke

An English professor lecturing about the use of sentences finds his examples are taking on a life of their own.

Reviews:

Preserving Machine, The

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Dystopia, Sci-Fi, Humour
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Philip K. Dick

Doc Labyrinth, like many people who read a great deal and have too much time on their hands, believes our civilization is collapsing. He laments the inevitable loss of Art, Literature, and Music. Especially Music, for music is fragile, delicate, easily destroyed and quickly forgotten. If a machine could be made, however, to process musical scores into living forms... forms with claws and teeth and an instinct for survival... then perhaps music could look after itself.

Reviews:
A well-written story with a truly novel plot! Philip K. Dick inverts the process of musical composition and creates animate beings from music! "The Mozart bird was pretty, small, and slender with the flowing plumage of a peacock. It ran a little way across the room and then walked back to him, curious and friendly." "The Beethoven beetle: stern and dignified. Intent and withdrawn on some business of its own." "The Schubert animal was silly: an adolescent sheep-creature that ran this way and that, foolish and wanting to play." Delightfully imaginative and full of gentle humour. If classical music isn't your thing, you might not enjoy this story, but give it a chance anyway. I think Hanson and crew had a lot of fun picking the background music for this one! [8/10] --- zM

Prez

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Speculative
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Ron Goulart

Norbert Penner, an unemployed editor-in-chief, courts Bennie Scott, a woman out of his class and beyond his means. She doesn't seem to mind, but her genetically-modified, talking dog, Prez, does. Tensions run high between Norbert and Prez when Bennie is forced to leave them alone for a few days on her palatial Connecticut estate.

With Michael Hanson (), Mary Armentrout (Bennie) and Stephan Elliott Hanson ().

Reviews:
Couldn't get my head around this story. I guess it's a story about the interpersonal relationship between Pres (confident, proud, distrustful, and sarcastic) and Norbert (sex-hungry, opportunistic). It's mildly humorous, plods along with rising expectations, and then ends abruptly with a twist. Then again, maybe it's just a shaggy dog story? [6/10] --- zM

Promises to Keep: A Science Fiction Drama

aka: "And Miles to Go Before I Sleep"
aka: "But I Have Promises to Keep..."
Episode: 002
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Space Exploration
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: William F. Nolan, 1958

A dying spaceman who has spent more than one-half his life in space, struggles to cheat death and find a way to keep the last promise he ever made to his parents—to return to see them one last time before he dies.

With Michael Hanson (), Jay Meredith Fitts (), Cliff Roberts (), Kerry Frumkin (), Ward Paxton (), and Louise Strausbough ().

Music featured in this episode includes:

Infinity, Aug 1958 Lucifer - Black Mass Nico - Desertshore Frank De Vol & The Rainbow Strings - The Old Sweet Songs Refugee - Refugee Moe Koffman - Solar Explorations


Reviews:

Public Hating, The

Episode:
Duration: 18 min
Genre: Future Earth
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Steve Allen

A criminal is sentenced to be telepathically hated in a public stadium by fifty thousand of his peers.

With Michael Hanson () and Harvey K. Black ().

Reviews:

Pure Gold

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Speculative
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Lord St. Davids

Bizarre story about a couple whose homebuilt sailboat spins gold off its mast on the open water.

With Michael Hanson () and Mary Armentrout, as 'Star Eyes' ().

Reviews:

Racer, The

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Future Earth, Dystopia
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Ib Melchior

Auto racing in the future has turned into a blood sport.

With Michael Hanson () and ??? ().

Inspiration for the movie Death Race 2000.

Reviews:

Rebel

Episode:
Duration: 21 min
Genre: Future Earth
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Ward Moore

A young man is confronted by his parents who wish him to conform to their style of living. Classic story told with a twist.

With Michael Hanson (), Carol Cowan (), and Rick Murphy ().

Reviews:

Remembrance to Come

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Horror
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Gene Wolfe

In this psychological tale, a literature professor wonders if he is seeing things when a strangely clad student turns up in his classroom and begins following him.

Reviews:

'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman

Episode: 030
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Future Earth, Dystopia
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Harlan Ellison, 1965
Awards: Hugo, 1965; Nebula, 1965; Prometheus (nom), 2010

A future society enslaved to the tyranny of the 'schedule' looks for a saviour in the form of a clownish prankster who refuses to punch the state time-clock.

Music featured in this episode includes:

Galaxy Magazine, Dec 1965 Frank Glazer - Piano Music, vol 2 Jean Dubuffet - Expériences Musicales Edgard Varèse - Music of Edgar Varèse Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon


Snippet:

Reviews:
You can't help rooting for Harlequin as he strikes back at the omnipotent State. Even though you suspect he will get squashed like a bug, there's a chance he'll survive or even bring down the system, right? The audio quality of the tape I have is muffled, but the performance of Michael Hanson is solid. This is a slow-moving tale, full of irony, which tends to drag a bit throughout the middle, but has a thought-provoking ending. [7/10] --- zM

Restricted Area

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Space Exploration
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Robert Sheckley

Scientists exploring a new world are unable to account for what they find: animals, plants, and mineral structures that simply shouldn't exist!

Reviews:

Roller Ball Murder

Episode: 007
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Future Earth, Dystopia
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: William Harrison, 1973

The murderous sport of Rollerball has become the world's most popular sport—with Johnathan E. it's most popular champion—and although he can survive the blood-soaked brutality of the game, can he survive its corporate exploitation?

Basis for two Hollywood films, both entitled Rollerball.

Music featured in this episode includes:

Esquire, Sep 1973 Jacques Lasry & Francois Baschet - Chronophagie Tod Dockstader - Quatermass


Reviews:
A fast-moving story depicting the sport of the future—brutal, callous, and barbaric—designed to satisfy the bloodlust of the spectator class while maximizing the profits of the corporate class. It's a nice premise, but it's hard to imagine a global corporation acting to maximize its short-term profits while destroying the roots that make that profit possible. Yeah, right. [8/10] --- zM

Weaving between a successful but hollow existence of an athlete in a deadly sport and his urge to seek something more, something found through knowledge; the tale conveys a sad attempt by him to reconnect with his first & only wife, despite having mates provided by his sponsoring corporation. There are some surprisingly merciless descriptions of the game's violence, like when one of Johnny's team-mates is killed. And Johnny himself relates his know-how concerning fatal blows which he can dole out with lethal precision & efficiency. This story also had quite a few memorable lines like: "I consider recent history, which is virtually all anyone remembers." or "Knowledge ... either converts to power or to melancholy." Music was used sparingly, but it was definitely effective at setting the impersonal, industrial atmosphere. And the reading itself was thoroughly given vitality through Mr. Hanson's delivery, which brought what once were words on a page to life. --- ?nfinite-?nsect

Rules of the Road, The

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Aliens
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Norman Spinrad

A great silver dome sits in the desert at Yucca Flats, featureless, except for an innocent-looking open entranceway. Ten military men have entered - none have returned. A civilian prepares to enter and discover if the dome is the key to the stars... or just a better mouse-trap.

Reviews:

Run, The

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Sci-Fi
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Christopher Priest

A senator responsible for the nation's missile silos confronts his humanity when malcontents challenge his passage on the road.

Reviews:

Running Around

Episode: 022a
Duration: 17 min
Genre: Time Travel
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Barry Malzberg, 1973

Dissatisfied with his life, the inventor of a time machine returns to the past to murder his father and thus pre-empt his own existence.

Music featured in this episode includes:

Omega, 1973 Julian Bream - 20th Century Guitar

Reviews:

Saucer of Loneliness, A

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Sci-Fi
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Theodore Sturgeon
Awards: Hugo (retro), 2004

After an unsuccessful suicide attempt, a woman explains to her rescuer how she received a message from a flying saucer, her subsequent imprisonment and interrogation by a government bent on discovering that message, and... her lifelong loneliness.

With Michael Hanson () and Tricia Day ().

Reviews:

Sentinel, The

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Aliens
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Arthur C. Clarke

In the late summer of '96 a lunar expedition exploring the great walled plain called the Mare Crisium—the sea of crises—detours to investigate a metallic glitter high an the ridge of an unclimbed peak.

This story was the basis for the film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Reviews:

Show Must Go On, The

aka: "So Lovely, So Lost"
Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Future Earth
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: James Causey

Man built better than himself. Anything he can do, his androids can do better. So he rarely bothers to do anything anymore. Except hate. In an effort to save mankind from a long drawn-out suicide, a new android show is being produced. Hopefully this will draw men away from the Hate Bars and give them hope in the future.

With Michael Hanson (), Cliff Roberts (), Kerry Frumkin (), Dolores Walker, credited as Delores DeMoon ().

Reviews:

Singularities Make Me Nervous

Episode: 027
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Time Travel
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Larry Niven, 1974

After traveling back in time via a black hole, an astronaut and his future self plan their financial freedom.

Music featured in this episode includes:

Stellar 1, 1974 Frank Zappa - Burnt Weeny Sandwich Frank Zappa - Waka/Jawaka - Hot Rats


Snippet:

Reviews:

Sky Was Full of Ships, The

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Aliens
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Theodore Sturgeon

On trial for the murder of an eminent scientist, the accused tells the jury an impossible tale of the discovery of a cave housing alien machinery.

Also produced for the television series Tales of Tomorrow, under the title "Verdict From Space".

See also: "The Machine in Shaft Ten" (Mindwebs)

Reviews:

Snake, The

Episode: 020a
Duration: 21 min
Genre: Speculative
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: John Steinbeck, 1963

The symbolic story of a mysterious woman who visits Dr. Philips in his laboratory and seems obsessed with watching a snake eat a rat.

Music featured in this episode includes:

A Baker's Dozen of Suspense Stories, 1963 Jacques Lasry & Francois Baschet - Chronophagie


Reviews:

Sound Machine, The

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Super Science
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Roald Dahl

Klausner is a man obsessed with sound. He develops a machine which converts ultra-sonic frequencies into audible tones... with unexpected results.

Reviews:

Squirrel Cage, The

Episode: 035
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Speculative
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Thomas Disch

A prisoner in a white-walled cube has no idea who his jailers are, what crime he has committed, or how long his incarceration will last.

Reviews:

Stair Trick

Episode: 121b
Duration: 13 min
Genre: Speculative
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Mildred Clingerman, 1952

A bartender, when asked, descends the stairs behind his bar to fetch an obscure vintage of wine from his cellar. Newcomers to the bar are amazed when they discover that there are no stairs and no cellar. Nobody ever really notices a bartender.

With Michael Hanson (narrator, stranger, customers, Dick) and Becca Pulliam (woman).

Music featured in this episode includes:

The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Aug 1952 Philip Glass - North Star


Snippet: First, somebody catches your eye; you look at each other past the Mask, beyond all the things life does to cover people up... hide them. And your eyes meet in a Far place, that's familiar to each of you. And that's a frightening thing. That's the beginning of the game. And the fear is part of the fascination. The game is, really, just hide-and-seek. Until neither can bear to hide any longer. But you can't play the game until you meet the right pair of eyes, now can you?

Reviews:
This story followed "The Word" in the Mindwebs episode which broadcasted them both, and while I preferred the first tale, this second half was still enjoyable as well. While I cannot say I truly understood what the trick with the stairs or cellar was, the atmosphere which dwelled in a sad place, did end on a mysterious, but hopeful note. The final minute of music also continued the extremely enjoyable "synth organ" audio, reminiscent of Joe Hisaishi's work on the "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind" soundtrack, which closed the whole experience very positively. Last but certainly not least, Michael Hanson and Becca Pulliam who provided the voices, really did bring these stories to life, and there was a certain tone in Mr. Hanson's voice in particular that harkens to an age before my time, but which I recognize when I heard him speak. Just something that a man of radio could only possess I suppose. But it shined through clearly in the spite of how things have gone in our world, and it's nice that it shall now be preserved & shared with a new generation.--- ?nfinite-?nsect

Star, The

Episode:
Duration: 16 min
Genre: Space Exploration
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Arthur C. Clarke
Awards: Hugo, 1956

A cleric on a deep space survey has his faith in God sorely tested when the expedition happens upon the ruins of a civilization destroyed when its parent star went nova.

Reviews:
Poignantly enhanced with a melancholy piece of classical music, which elegantly conveyed the pathos of the story. One can sense Clarke's almost angry brand of atheism in the premise. He seems to be saying that a God - assuming he/she/it exists - must by nature be cruel. --- Ed Corbeil

Subjectivity

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Space Exploration
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Norman Spinrad

Repeated attempts at manned interstellar flight have only succeeded in the crews going mad, until the planners program the latest ship with a holo-projector capable of rendering images from the minds of the crew. Bad idea...

Reviews:

Summertime on Icarus

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Space Exploration
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Arthur C. Clarke

An astronaut crashed onto the night side of an asteroid in tight orbit of the sun, faces a desperate flight of terror away from the rise of the sun.

Reviews:

Swimmer, The

Episode: 012
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Speculative
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: John Cheever, 1964

A middle-aged, but youthful, man attending a party in an affluent suburb of New York decides to head home by swimming across Westchester county. His journey—from residential pool to residential pool—is a blend of realism and surrealism, of myth and symbolism, and a commentary on the relationship between wealth and happiness.

Music featured in this episode includes:

The New Yorker, Jul 18, 1964 Roger Kellaway - Roger Kellaway Cello Quartet Keith Jarrett - Death and the Flower John Cale & Terry Riley - Church of Anthrax Hawkwind - Warrior on the Edge of Time The Mahavishnu Orchestra - Apocalypse


Reviews:

Sword Game

Episode:
Duration: 21 min
Genre: Sci-Fi
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Ben Neal Ramey (as H.H. Hollis)
Awards: Nebula (nom), 1969

A bored professor of Topology meets a grubby teenage girl who claims to be a wandering gypsy fortune teller. They wander off so she can tell his fortune... and begin an adventure of their own.

With Michael Hanson () and Vicki Nunn, credited as Vicki Smith ().

Reviews:

Swords of Ifthan

Episode: 022b
Duration: 6 min
Genre: Aliens
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: James Sutherland, 1973

A very short story about a man recruited into helping out a distant civilization still moldering in medievalism.

Music featured in this episode includes:

Omega, 1973 Andrew Rudin - Tragoedia Lennie Tristano - Lennie Tristano

Reviews:

Tank and Its Wife, The

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Sci-Fi
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Arsen Darnay

A military tank, T98, serving as a prosthesis for a stroke victim, goes AWOL to visit its wife.

Reviews:

Taste for Dostoevsky, A

Episode: 016
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Fantasy
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Brian W. Aldiss, 1967

A psychological tale which blends surreal stream-of-consciousness fantasy with reality.

With Michael Hanson (), Cliff Roberts (), Kerry Frumkin (), Linda Clauder (), and Ken Ohst ().

Music featured in this episode includes:

New Writings in SF 10, 1967 Arnold Schoenberg - Variations for Orchestra, Op. 31 Anton Webern - Six Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 6 Jean-Luc Ponty - Upon the Wings of Music


Reviews:

Test

Episode: 026a
Duration: 10 min
Genre: Horror
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Theodore L. Thomas, 1962

On a fine Spring morning, Robert Proctor takes his mother for a relaxing drive in the country. The weather is calm with excellent visibility, and the roads are clear and dry, providing superior traction. The engine has been finely tuned, by Robert himself, and is running strong. In short, it is a perfect day for a drive, which is good because although Robert is a very good driver—extremely careful and confident, with nerves of steel—he is about to learn there is more to driving than mere technical skill.

With Michael Hanson (narrator), Cliff Roberts (), Jay Meredith Fitts (mother), and Kerry Frumkin ().

Music featured in this episode includes:

The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Apr 1962 Hanz Wurman - The Moog Strikes Bach


Snippet: Robert Proctor was a good driver for so young a man. The turnpike curved gently ahead of him, lightly travelled on this cool morning in May. He felt relaxed and alert. Two hours of driving had not yet produced the twinges of fatigue that appeared first in the muscles in the base of the neck. The sun was bright, but not glaring, and the air smelled fresh and clean. He breathed it deeply, and blew it out noisily. It was a good day for driving.

Reviews:
A short, intense story that will leave you feeling a little dazed, slightly nauseous, and not quite ready for the drive home. [8/10] --- zM

That Only a Mother

Episode: 011
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Future Earth, Dystopia
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Judith Merril, 1948
Awards: SFWA - Hall of Fame, 1970

In a future plagued by radiation-induced mutations, one mother revels in her perfect and 'gifted' child.

With Michael Hanson (narrator; Hank), Carol Cowan (Maggie), Edward R. Murrow (news announcer), and Chaplain William Downey (himself), Stephan Elliott Hanson (child)

Music featured in this episode includes:

Astounding Science Fiction, Jun 1948 Roger Kellaway - Roger Kellaway Cello Quartet Toru Takemitsu - Asterism, Requiem, Green, Dorian Horizon Jan Akkerman - Tabemakel Harry Partch - Delusion of Fury Thijs Van Leer - Introspection


Reviews:

They

Episode: 023
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Fantasy
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Robert Heinlein, 1941

A paranoiac in a mental hospital is convinced that the world around him is a construct provided solely to prevent him from realizing the ultimate truth behind existence.

Music featured in this episode includes:

Street and Smith's Unknown, April 1941 Frank Glazer - Piano Music of Erik Satie


Reviews:

Third Level, The

Episode: 170b
Year: 2018
Duration: 13 min
Genre: Time Travel
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Jack Finney, 1950

An ordinary guy named Charley, anxious to return home to his wife, steps into the New York city subway at Grand Central and gets lost among the arches, corridors, stairs, open spaces, ticket windows and train gates and finds himself on a level he never knew existed. His friends tell him there is no Third Level, that he imagined it, that it was waking-dream wish-fulfillment, and that he is just trying to escape from a world full of insecurity, fear, war, and worry. Charley knows otherwise.

Music featured in this episode includes:

Colliers, Jan 1950 Herb Ellis & Ray Brown - After You've Gone Harold Budd - Lovely Thunder Steve Reich - Different Trains / Electric Counterpoint


Snippet: Sometimes I think Grand Central is growing like a tree, pushing out new corridors and staircases like roots. There’s probably a long tunnel that nobody knows about feeling its way under the city right now, on its way to Times Square, and maybe another to Central Park. And maybe—because for so many people through the years Grand Central has been an exit, a way of escape—maybe that’s how the tunnel I got into... But I never told my psychiatrist friend about that idea.

Reviews:
True story: the original title of Herb Ellis & Ray Brown's classic "Detour Ahead" was "Wandering Around, Lost in Grand Central"! Well, maybe not. But it could have been, because it matches the story so well. And I have to say, "Different Trains" by Steve Reich for the closing music, was absolutely inspired. Technical production for this episode was excellent; sound quality, superb; Michael Hanson's voice, strong. Darkman's final cut nicely balances incidental music with voice while Mr Hanson is speaking, but lets the music shine when it's time for a 'solo'. Nicely done. The story is mysterious and well written and reminds me of "The Night of the Nickel Beer" with a similar sense of wistful longing mixed with nostalgia. Part of that is the selection of music, which bumps my rating up a notch. [9/10] --- zM

To See the Invisible Man

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Future Earth, Dystopia
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Robert Silverberg

Convicted of the crime of coldness, a man is sentenced to a year of 'invisibility', during which time no one will acknowledge his existence.

Reviews:

To the Dark Star

Episode: 021
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Space Exploration, Aliens
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Robert Silverberg, 1968

The mutual distrust and enmity among a trio of ill-matched astrophysicists sent on an expedition to observe the collapse of a dying star turn deadly when it becomes obvious one must sacrifice their life to complete the mission.

Music featured in this episode includes:

The Farthest Reaches, 1968 Morton Subotnick - Silver Apples of the Moon Michael Urbaniak - Fusion III


Reviews:

Through Time and Space with Ferdinand Feghoot

Episode:
Duration: 5 min
Genre: Humour
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Reginald Bretnor (as the anagrammatic pseudonym, Grendel Briton)

One in a series of over 80 very short story puns (also known as poetic story jokes or 'Feghoots') involving Ferdinand Feghoot resolving a situation encountered while traveling through time and space, culminating with a bad pun.

Reviews:

Top, The

Episode: 033
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Speculative
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: George Sumner Albee, 1962

In this subtly satirical allegory of American business, Johnathan Gerber receives a memorandum to meet with his boss and an elevator pass to reach the upper levels.

Music featured in this episode includes:

The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Aug 1962 xxxxx xxxxx


Snippet:

Reviews:

Treasure Hunt

Episode: 018
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Fantasy
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Joseph Green, 1965

A man's consciousness is transferred into the body of an alien, that he might better search for the Egg of Beauty... and of Life and Death. The egg of the Firebird.

Music featured in this episode includes:

From The Firebird, composed by Igor Stavinsky in 1910:

New Writings in SF 5, 1965 Moe Koffman - Solar Explorations Igor Stravinsky - The Firebird


Reviews:

Twenty-Four Letters from Underneath the Earth

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Dystopian Future
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Hilary Bailey

A woman discovers an unused tunnel designed to shuttle letters between Complexes - carefully controlled and isolated social environments of roughly 150 people probably located beneath the Preseli Hills in North Wales.

With Michael Hanson () and Marty Van Cleef ().

Reviews:

Unfinished, The

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Space Exploration, Aliens
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Frank Belknap Long

Two space explorers land on a remote jungle planet where they confront hostile natives.

Reviews:

Unremembered, The

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Future Earth
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Edward Mackin

A citizen in a society of the artificially rejuvenated experiences discontent.

With Michael Hanson (), Jay Meredith Fitts (), and Harvey K. Black ().

Reviews:

Valley of Echoes, The

aka: "La Vallée des échos"
Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Mars
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Gérard Klein

Three men explore the surface of Mars, searching for evidence of a legendary ancient civilization.

Reviews:

Veldt, The

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Super Science
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Ray Bradbury

A couple purchase a holo-theatre to keep their son and daughter amused, but the recreation of the sweltering African savannah the children concoct is anything but amusing...

With Michael Hanson () and Carol Cowan ().

See also "The House on Chimney Pot Lane" (CBS Radio Mystery Theater).

Reviews:

Vertical Ladder, The

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Speculative
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: William Sansom

A young man tries to impress a young woman by accepting a dare to climb a ladder extending high above the ground along the outside of a gasometer.

Reviews:

Walk in the Dark, A

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Sci-Fi/Horror
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Arthur C. Clarke

A hard-bitten engineer finishing up a contract on a remote colony planet has his pragmatism put to the test when he must face a long walk through a wilderness reported to be the domain of a nameless horror.

Reviews:
A well written and told story that is great for a creepy late night listening. The mood is nearly perfect with the only flaw being a slight rushing by the narrator, necessary to fit the story in its time limits. --- Dave Tackett

Wasted on the Young

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Future Earth
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: John Brunner

A future social system in which the young, up until age 30, are allowed to live at society's expense, charging any extravagance they desire to the state, after which they must repay that luxury with years of service.

Reviews:
A cautionary tale with a very satisfying ending. [8/10] --- zM

Weapon, The

Episode: 009a
Duration: 7 min
Genre: Sci-Fi
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Fredric Brown, 1951

A scientist working on WMD is confronted with an unusual form of protest from a concerned citizen.

Music featured in this episode includes:

Astounding Science Fiction, Apr 1951 Jacques Lasry & Francois Baschet - Structures Sonores The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground and Nico


Reviews:

Webster

Episode: 019
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Fantasy
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Greg Bear, 1974

A lonely spinster conjures up a lover out of the dictionary, but he doesn't quite live up to her expectations.

Music featured in this episode includes:

Alternities, 1974 Andrew Rudin - Tragoedia Charles Dodge - Earth's Magnetic Field


Reviews:

Weep No More, Old Lady

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Sci-Fi
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Charles L. Grant

A prodigious 'brain child' takes part in a secret government program to test the limits of mental development.

Reviews:

What Really Caused the Energy Crisis

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Super Science
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Paul Nahin

A physics professor at a local university explains to a doubting class of freshmen what caused the energy crisis in the latter half of the Seventies. He presupposes that the formula E=mc2 could be reversed and was extensively used by the military to create super-dense plating... Was he just a crazy old professor waiting to retire?

Reviews:

When It Changed

aka: "Whileaway: When It Changed"
Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Sci-Fi
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Joanna Russ, 1972
Awards: Hugo (nom), 1973; Nebula, 1973

After six centuries, the Men have returned. And the technologically advanced, all-female population of the former Earth colony are not entirely happy about it.

With Carol Cowan (Janet).

See also: "Houston, Houston, Do You Read" (Sci-Fi Radio)

Music featured in this episode includes:

Again, Dangerous Visions, 1972 Tangerine Dream - Rubycon Samuel Barber - Adagio for Strings, Op. 11


Reviews:
A somber, pensive story with slowly-building tension that never quite resolves itself into outright violence. The hauntingly beautiful background music underscores the tension and suggests an entire culture about to be lost—changed—forever. As the narrator says: "Take my life... but don't take away the meaning of my life." [9/10] --- zM

When We Went to See the End of the World

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Time Travel
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Robert Silverberg
Awards: Hugo (nom), 1973; Nebula (nom), 1973

Couples who regularly party with each other while civilization crumbles around them find novelty in traveling through time to see the end of the world.

Reviews:

Winner, The

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Sci-Fi
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Donald E. Westlake

The Guardian is combination radio transmitter/receiver. The receiver is surgically implanted into the body of a prisoner and induces incredible pain if the prisoner moves more than 150 yards from the transmitter. Escape is impossible... but that doesn't stop prisoners from making the attempt.

With Michael Hanson (), Cliff Roberts (), and Rolfe Hanson ().

Reviews:

Winter Housekeeping

aka: "Winter Housecleaning"
Episode:
Duration: 10 min
Genre: Fantasy
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Molly Daniel

What would it be like if old age were a substance that permeates the air, settles like dust around oneself, enters the body when one inhales, and, with proper breathing, can be exhaled as well?

With Michael Hanson () and Jay Meredith Fitts ().

Reviews:

Word, The

Episode: 121a
Duration: 14 min
Genre: Space Exploration
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Mildred Clingerman, 1953

After their ship is forced to make an emergency landing for repairs and additional food, three crew members venture forth to observe the hideous, indigenous population. With every step, they are painfully aware they are violating regulations... but nevertheless feel compelled to push on and examine the locals more closely.

With Michael Hanson (Cleo, Loedy, Munn) and Rhonda Allen (goddess-tall woman).

Music featured in this episode includes:

The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Nov 1953 Terry Riley - Happy Ending


Reviews:
This was a story where the music really did enhance and complement the reading. It actually reminded me of a track or two from the soundtrack to "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind" by Joe Hisaishi, due to the "synth organ" sound. The otherworldly & alien vibe evoked by said music also paired nicely with the twist about the crash landing. Even if the realization dawned early in the story for me, it is still an amusingly clever one. It does make one think about how certain customs, even if commonplace, must seem strange from an outside perspective! (Bonus: I got to first experience this tale on the eve of the holiday in October to which it was most fitting to be heard.) --- ?nfinite-?nsect

Worm, The

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Creatures
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: David Keller

The miller and his dog are the only ones left in Thompson Valley. The grist mill has stood for over 200 years, but now, nature is slowly taking the valley back from the farmers and millers who once lived there.

Reviews:

Young Girl at an Open Half-Door

Episode:
Duration: 30 min
Genre: Sci-Fi
Available for Listening Booth: Y
Story by: Fred Saberhagen

A newly installed, state-of-the-art, intrusion-detection system at an art gallery intermittently registers a disturbance. By the time a guard can get to the gallery where the disturbance originates, the signal has returned to normal.

With Michael Hanson () and Madeline Uranek, credited as 'Madeline the Traveller' ().

Note: "Young Woman at an Open Half-Door" is the title of a painting (oil on canvas) from the workshop of Rembrandt (Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn) circa 1645. It is currently on display at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Reviews:

Young Woman at Open Half Door

The following voice actors and actresses are credited in these programs. Some of the spellings have been confirmed by WHA radio and many by Michael Hanson, but others may have been lost to time. If anyone has information about the correct spelling of these names, please let me know!

CAST

CREW

Creator / Producer / Director / Host
Michael Hanson
Technical Operation
Burns, Mike
Cham, Bob
Correveau, Phil
Gordon, Steve
Grote, Rich
Hilsenhoff, Leslie
Marsh, Vic
Martinson, Tom
Nunn, Marv
Payne, Mary K.
Phillips, Marsha
Rieland, Al
Schmidt, Dan
Sieb, Don
Thompto, Dusty
Yahara, Ken
~~~~~~~
Darkman (2018 series)
WHA Music Director
Clauder, Linda
Series theme music (montage)
Jetsex, by Tonto's Expanding Head Band (1971)
Additional music
detailed under each episode listing