John Carter – The Sonic Society

As Jack J. Ward basks in one of his finest moments- that being in the very chair that Robert E. Howard wrote not only Conan- The Barbarian, but all his great works… He was asked recently to provide a list of all the scripts he has written for all his various incarnations and basic times. As we’re coming close to the 20th anniversary of The Sonic Society (Put it on your calendar folks- it’s September 1st, 2024, Jack has provided the list so far with some tantalizing suggestions of what you can expect now that he’s completed his masters’ degree:

The Sonic Society Collection:

The Sonic Society- The World’s Largest and Longest-Running showcase of modern audio drama

Pre-Mutual Audio Network Feed (The Radio Memories Network 2005-2019): https://sonic.libsyn.com/sonicsociety/2008/06

The Mutual Audio Network Feeds (2019 and Onwards):
The Broadcast Feed (on Sundays and Mondays) https://feeds.megaphone.fm/mani
Monday Matinee weekly (2015 onwards replays) https://feeds.megaphone.fm/MUTUAL5370851038
Sunday Showcase weekly (Current releases from 2019 onwards) https://feeds.megaphone.fm/MUTUAL9188504915

Sonic Echo– Conversations with Lothar Tuppan and Jeffrey Billard – The Amigos! with guests looking at the very best of old time radio.

Sonic Speaks– Jack interviews the makers and shapers of the audio drama world

Sonic Summerstock Playhouse– The summer season of the Sonic Society where producers from the modern audio drama community recreate old time radio scripts for fun with their contemporary acting troops!

Sonic Retrospectives– Our tribute summer series for those who have left the modern audio drama community too soon (SADLY ONGOING)
Bill Hollweg
Mark Bruzee

JACK WARD’S PRODUCTIONS AND SCRIPTS:
All produced scripts can be found at the Sonic Cinema Podcast or through Sonic Cinema website

The Sonic Cinema Production Classic Series: 2003-2005
The Shadowlands– Shadowlands Theatre was the premiere original anthology series from Jack J. Ward. Combining Suspense and Dark Fantasy, this exciting series became the basis for the Deadly Sins Series and other compelling tales of mystery, and horror.

The Seven Deadly Sins- A seven-part series of original tales from dark comedy to darker horror, plays of the past to terror of the future exploring the turning parts of the soul. Six parts completed: (Pride: And Low, Thou I Walk, Envy: Completion, Greed: Ghosts of the Present, Gluttony: Soul Survivor (Ogile Award Honorable Mention), Lust: Spin, Spin, Spin, Wrath: The Hitchhiker)
Graves’ Shift Starring Phillipa Graves– “Open for Business” The pilot first audio drama script written by Jack Ward from his time in university exploring the noir tales of his female detective
Biff Straker and the Spaceways (Old World)– The one-shot pilot episode of Jack’s parody of Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon with his own pulp hero, Biff!
Remotely Possible– A single Shadowlands episode exploring remote viewing and the depths of fear
Hill Manors- “More Action than a Burma Railroad” A live tribute to the great “Fawlty Towers” series by John Cleese & Connie Booth
Firefly- Old Wounds– The Internet’s first fan fiction of the science-fiction classic “Firefly”.
The Dead Line Anthology- Tales of crime drama inspired by Alfred Hitchcock Presents (Initial run included: Goth Girl, Jeremiah Crandal- Funeral Detective, Messages, Right Number Wrong Party, The Replacement Show, Rule of Three)
The Dead Line Shorts Anthology- less than a half hour presentations of this series (Initial run included: Anniversary, Choice, Deathbed Confessions, Duel, Fiend to the Old, John, Lighter, Night Driving and Sherry)

Electric Vicuna Productions: 2006-2021

Firefly- Old Wounds “Wedding Day” – The much demanded follow up to the Internet’s first fan fiction of the science-fiction classic “Firefly”.
The Wave Front Anthology- a science fiction collection that explores futuristic societies, distopic nightmares, technological travesties and bleak tomorrows. (Initial run includes: Borrowed Time, Black Knight, Alone in the Night (Mark Time Silver award winner), Voting is Anonymous
The Wave Front Shorts Anthology- less than a half hour presentation of this series (Initial run includes: Acquisitions, Alien Invasion Cancelled, Distant Voice, Galaxy Master versus the Varn, Name Please, Nanites, Pets, Reservations, Spring, Trans-Humanity, Voices)
The Dead Line Anthology- (Continued run includes: “Faith” also as the final Deadly Sins Script for “Sloth”, Daybreak, Coach #6, Clay Pigeon Shooting)
The Dead Line Shorts Anthology- (Continued run includes: I’m Home)
Darker Musings Anthology Series- an anthology series of fantastical mystery and terror.
Inspired by Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone, Darker Musings always includes an air of another world that may be an alternate universe, or a terrifying nightmare, one in which the characters can not wake up.(Initial run includes: Breathing Space (one-man show), Muse of Madness, One by One, and Phil Morris~ Celestial Lawyer
The Darker Musings Shorts Anthology- less than a half hour presentation of this series (Initial run includes original and original adaptations of: Barney, Bravery. Plague Studies, The Chaser, The Monkey’s Paw, and Tulpa)
Gate, a coming of age fantasy series in 10 parts; Gate McNeil, a young girl, discovers she is the one person in the world who can challenge the darkness and demons threatening to take over the world
The Jack and Shannon Show- in an homage to great sit-coms of old, two hosts of the Sonic Society fictionalize their life and friends (3 Seasons)
Spaceways Starring Biff Straker (New World)– imaginary pulp hero Stephen “Biff” Straker takes part in a secret experiment to prove Albert Einstein’s Theory of Relative Time. The experiment goes wrong and Straker is thrown from the 1990s into the 31st Century! – STILL IN PRODUCTION
The reboot fun action series, no longer a straight parody. (Initial 5 episode run: Year Zero: The Future is Now, The Haunted World, The Fallen Angel, The Pool of Death, The Man Called Methuselah – STILL IN PRODUCTION
Consortium Comics Anthology- is a collective series of superhero shorts by Jack J. Ward (Initial run includes: Blue Defender, Any Man) – STILL IN PRODUCTION
Action Adventure Audio Theatre, pulp-pounding adventures inspired by the OldTime Radio series Escape (Initial episode: The Most Dangerous Game) – STILL IN PRODUCTION

The Sonic Cinema Production Returns Series: 2022-

Retro Rockets Anthology- From the far-flung silver age of science fiction, comes a new anthology. (Initial episode: Spirit Drive) – STILL IN PRODUCTION
The Wave Front Anthology- (Series continues with: Market Crash) – STILL IN PRODUCTION
The Christmas Wreath- Seasonal stories to touch the heart and delight the ear (Initial release: The Gift of the Magi) – STILL IN PRODUCTION

Jack Ward adaptation Scripts Produced for Colonial Radio Theatre:

Dead Ahead– On a restless ocean, a group of weary survivors contemplate their grim fortune: What had started out as a fun little fishing trip soon turns into a nightmare of damnation, trapped on a floating prison.
Vincent Price Presents Volume 3– “The Best in the Universe” Dramatized by Jack J. Ward, from a story by Paul J. Salamoff. Assignments on frontier planets always irritate intergalactic mob hitman Randall Stiles and his partner Jake Mackey, and this mission would soon prove why.

New Series Currently in Production (Unreleased):

Prairie Fire- an audio drama Weird Western 10 part series
Flight of the Airmen- At the turn of the 20th century who are the protectors of the skies for this strange modern age? Canada’s The Airmen!
Wingman– Ripped from the archives of the fictional radio theatre of the 1930’s. Wingman and Fly Boy save the world from Nazis infiltrators and evil criminals in America!
Adventures by North!- In the early 20’s in Canada, a group of adventurers found their way exploring every mystery this vast country concealed!
The Fates of Mace Windu- By mass request this audio Star Wars fan fiction six-part series explores what happened to Mace Windu at the end of George Lucas’ prequel
John Carter- A Princess of Mars- The original Science Romance of the first of the pulp space heroes is explored through the first full-audio drama adaptation of the best-selling novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs!
Proximity– A Third Age (First Person) account of humanity’s attempt to reach the Proxima star system.

Other things to look for. Script collection books on many of these series, and upcoming work through The Mutual Audio Network.

Special Thanks to Lothar Tuppan (The Ninth Tower Productions) and Jeffrey Billard (Audio Groove Cats Productions)- THE AMIGOS!, David Ault co-host and the “Kevin Bacon” of 6-Degrees of separation in Audio Drama (David Ault Actor, Narrator, and Science Communicator), and the rest of the United Artists of Audio from Mutual- Pete Lutz (Narada Radio Company), John Bell (Bell’s in the Batfry), JV Torres (The Rise of King Asilas), Scott Mosher (CNY Table Reads). Joshua Price and the Queen of Audio Drama herself Tanja Milojevic (LightningBolt Theater of the Mind), Richard Frohlich (Texas Radio Theatre), Richard Summers (aka Captain Radio!) and Austin Beach (Broken Bard Studios) who constantly and eternally inspire, collaborate, and support his work!

Know, oh Prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the world powers, there was an age undreamed of. Hither came Bill Hollweg. An audio hooligan. An artist whose pen was as sharp as Aquilonian steel, and whose steely gaze and keen hearing forged many an audio story. A man of gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth who loved Audio Drama, and was beloved by the AD Community.

Ask anyone who has been around for the Gold and Silver Ages of Modern Audio Drama, who they would pick as someone who loved the medium more than anyone else; and you’ll see one person consistently top everyone’s list: Bill Hollweg.

Bill began working with Darker Projects, almost fifteen years ago when modern audio drama was in its infancy on the Internet. Growing up like so many people our age, he had a love for old time radio (which he did his best to share in his show OTR Swagcast), and a uniquely talented hand for artwork. Bill made his money as a commercial artist. While he drew fantastical worlds, he listened endlessly to audio drama. He loved the theatrical and cinematic aspects of the medium, and had little time for audio books. Books? He’d rather read them!

Partnering originally with Paul Mannering, David Sobkowiak, and Mark Kalita, the four of them founded Broken Sea Audio and drew a lot of talented people in their wake including Stevie K. Farnaby, Steven Jay Cohen, Alexa Chipman, Cary Michael Ayers, Brian Bochicchio, Elaine Barrett and so many others. Bill penned most of the artwork for the website, and delved into developing a number of projects himself, as well as lending his prestigious production might to a number of other shows.

Bill was tireless. He often worked three day time jobs, and was up early in the morning at three or four editing audio drama.

Early on, Bill and I connected. He has said to me and publicly many times since then that one of his proudest moments in his audio drama career was getting his work showcased on The Sonic Society. Bill was a great early supporter of our Sonic Summerstock Playhouse, and for many years provided excellent shows that either kicked off the season or acted as finales. He was encouraging. Exuberantly so. But that was Bill. Bill made everyone feel like they were family. Calling everyone who shared his love for Audio Drama “brother man” and “my sister”. We were family.

Bill and I shared so many childhood loves, and I was honoured when he included me in many of his projects. I was Milo and Mendez in his long form adaptation of The Planet of the Apes. We shared a mutual love for Battlestar Galactica and he gleefully cast me as Apollo- a childhood dream of mine. Among the many roles, Bill asked me to play Hitler for his pulp action star Jake Sampson- Monster Hunter. Later I got to perform in his sequel to Jaws, Amity: Dark Waters. He gave my wife Ginny her first role in his science fiction original series 2109 Black Sun Rising where I acted as narrating host.

Bill’s enthusiasm was infectious. Many times after we spoke, I’d go off on a writing tear, returning hours later to talk to him about plot points of a script I wrote. He tirelessly reminded me to complete my John Carter- A Princess of Mars long before the movie came out. He similarly reminded me how often he listened and relistened to Firefly: Old Wounds– telling me it was fan drama that drove him to check out the original show. We talked continuously about putting together new episodes of M*A*S*H* set in a science fiction future war. He always called me “Hawk”, as his pick for the audio version of Hawkeye Pierce. Of course, I called him Trap.

Bill and I loved Conan the Barbarian and I was determined to come visit some day. He’d drive the two of us out to the Robert E. Howard Museum (our own pilgrimage). Bill’s adaptation of Howard’s Queen of the Black Coast is one of the finest I’ve ever heard.

To list off all of Bill’s projects and beloved audio dramas would take a post that would dwarf this one. He touched everyone in the community and communicated faithfully with so many on a regular basis.

Bill Hollweg leaves a legacy in family and friends and through his enormous talents in art and audio works, and he leaves a hole the size of a Black Sun Rising in our hearts that can never be filled without him.

Go listen to the legacy yourself at Broken Sea Audio Productions for here was and is, for me, the Grand Master of the Modern Age of Radio Drama.

Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen, Trap.

ADDITIONAL UPDATE: Bill’s Go Fund Me is Complete. His Daughter requests that if you wish to donate in the future you donate to stopsoldiersuicide.org

Tag: John Carter

The Definitive Collection of 20 Years of Jack J. Ward’s Audio Plays

By Crom, You are Missed!