Prologue: JV Torres talks about his love of audio drama! This week in the Society we return to a fan favourite, “The Soul Patrol” by David Koenigsberg. Our heroes of the Soul Patrol investigate the kinds of terrible crimes only humans could commit upon each other. They explore the psyche’s of villains that most likely go undetected by mere mortal law enforcement, and that brings some interesting questions to mind. There’s some long abiding principles that have run out of favour in our society today. The idea of “sinning in thought” is not considered nearly as important compared to sinning in deed. In the past, even horrendous villainous thoughts had far reaching consequences- in the Soul Patrol they are footprints of crimes to be committed- as much as eyes are the windows to the soul. Writing celestial characters can have real power in stories. They give us the opportunity to look at metaphors and archetypes to shine the lamp of truth upon who we are and where we’re going. Stand by as we go soaring off into another Soul Patrol adventure. After, an interview with Jonithan Patrick Russell of Dream Realm Enterprises.
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
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!
It’s the final episode of the Sonic Summerstock Playhouse for season 11th and we finish with a double feature beginning with Third Soldier from JV Torres and completing with another X-Minus play from The Amigos, “Junkyard”.
“The Rise of King Asilas” is a fascinating, thought-provoking, audio series currently in its third season. The brainchild of JV Torres, who writes and stars as King Asilas, the show received a Latin Podcast Award in the category of “Performing Arts” and is nominated again in the “Drama” category for 2020.
“…a unique, reflective series worthy of attention . . . ”
Mr. Torres got interested in creating his own full-cast audio series replete with extended music and sound design via an unusual source – linguistics.
“I studied linguistics at Notre Dame of Maryland University. Linguistics is how I got into podcasting in the first place.” Mr. Torres was comparing the dialogue and accents used in old-time radio detective shows and comparing these to features he heard in modern audio drama. He then decided to produce his own modern audio drama series, and the rest is history. Or, perhaps more appropriately to his “King Asilas” series, alternate history!
“The Rise of King Asilas” starts off from a recognizable vantage point – the current divide in American society between conservatives and progressives. According to the plot of this series, this division leads to extreme factionalism and a variety of localized independent movements. Enter the U.S. General Asilas Roman, who invites these leaders to a conference where he has them and many of their followers assassinated. The United States is then abolished, and “The New Kingdom of America” is begun, with Asilas as absolute monarch. The series proceeds as this everyman-dictator deals with personal relationships (his wife Queen Rebecca and a love interest), foreign policies (future negotiations with King George, whom we assume to be the son of the real-life Duke and Duchess of Cambridge), and “night terrors” (doubtless a human reaction to the draconian measures Asilas has enacted).
Set 40 or 50 years in the future, the series is a modern dystopia with suggestions of works in the genre such as “Brave New World,” Mr. Torres comments that a major reference point is the Book of Revelation, for he states that “nothing is more utopian or dystopian than the Bible.” Indeed, there are biblical markers throughout the series, such as an appearance to King Asilas by the Angel Gabriel, who presents Asilas with a sort of Rosetta Stone which the king orders to be translated.
Yet “The Rise of King Asilas” is not merely science fiction due to its dystopian features, but also because of such elements as conspiracies of monsters and meetings with extraterrestrials (alien “close encounters” is a motif especially in season 2). By season 3, King Asilas turns his focus to religion, as he becomes more devout, and the Catholic Church and the Pope become a serious focus of the series. “Because we have thought of God and have the idea of God,” King Asilas has already noted to his doubting protégé Abigail in the first season, “there is a God.” Rare indeed is the adventure audio series which postulates the ontological argument for the existence of God.
There is also a JV Torres novel which bears the same title as the podcast drama. The novel and the audio series complement each other, telling the same story but presenting some different scenes so that each format enriches the other. The “King Asilas” novel is by no means the only book penned by Mr. Torres, as he works in second-language acquisition and has published a textbook. He intrigued us with the comment that “a textbook I published for English learners connects with strategies I employ in the audio series.” Indeed, the book is referenced in the credits of each episode and funds the production of the series. In the series, Mr. Torres is joined by the vocal talents of both professional and first time actors. Standing out for special mention is Clarence Jackson, who is ardent and complex as President Jackson, the last elected American commander-in-chief whose fate it is to relinquish the United States to the reign of King Asilas. John Doby also turns in a highly effective, low-key performance portraying Quintin Capone, the ominously named confidant of Asilas who helps the King retain power with Capone-like methods.
For these podcasts, Mr. Torres has teamed up with the Mutual Audio Network. The moniker of this network takes us back to traditional radio broadcasting. Radio listeners may remember the now-defunct Mutual Radio Network, famous for “Mutual Radio Theatre” and the radio version of “The Larry King Show,” which featured Mr. King’s occasional skit contacting extra-terrestrial life on the fictional Planet Fringus. Listeners of audio drama, whether coming from the entry point of older radio theatre or modern podcast audio dramas, should certainly give this unique, reflective series their attention. As Mr. Torres comments, “ I believe we are on the cusp of a digital renaissance in the podcasting world — if we are not there already!”
Link to the series: kingasilas.buzzsprout.com Link to Website: theriseofkingasilas.com
Listen to The Rise of King Asilas weekly on Mutual’s Monday Matinee now available at all your favourite listening nodes:
RSS Feed: http://feeds.megaphone.fm/MUTUAL2587748521 Apple Podcasts/Itunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/monday-matinee/id1459541042 Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/monday-matinee Google Podcasts/Play: https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cDovL2ZlZWRzLm1lZ2FwaG9uZS5mbS9NVVRVQUw1MzcwODUxMDM4 iHeart Radio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-monday-matinee-30795458/
