Will Murray's Pulp Classics #22
Captain Zero Audiobook
#1 City of Deadly Sleep
by G.T. Fleming-Roberts
Read by Michael C. Gwynne. Liner Notes by Will Murray
192K
In 1949, Popular Publications, which had been out of the hero business since the cancellation of The Spider in 1943, decided to renter the fading field. The Shadow was still going strong on radio, even if his pulp magazine had been folded a few months before.
Veteran mystery pulpster G. T. Fleming-Roberts was tapped to pen the new series under his own name. He had a knack for clever plots, contemporary dialogue, and avoiding the most egregious pulp clichés. In that post-war era, readers expected their heroes to be more realistic, so Fleming-Roberts and his editors went for broke.
Their hero, Daily World copywriter Lee Allyn—apparently named in a nod to serial Superman Kirk Alyn—was a meek horn-rimmed fellow who possessed few heroic qualities. But between midnight and dawn, thanks to a scientific experiment that went awry, he turned invisible—except for his floating disembodied eyes.
It was as if Clark Kent had learned to become as invisible as Lamont Cranston, but remained a mild-mannered newspaperman.
Captain Zero fought crime in small-town settings, aided by fellow journalist, Doro Kelly. He had a lot in common with the early Spider-Man. Luck—both good and bad—dogged his nocturnal forays. He was often outnumbered, not to mention outfought and outwitted. For Lee Allyn, fighting crime was no lark. Especially when you didn’t even have a car—never mind a super-car.
In his first bumbling case, City of Deadly Sleep, Captain Zero gets the tar repeatedly beaten out of him by rival gangs before pulling out a victory by the skin of his invisible teeth.
Unfortunately, despite a trio of well-crafted stories, the time had passed for heroes like Captain Zero. He expired after only three stories. But they are refreshingly different, and RadioArchives.com is proud to bring them to crackling life in a series of audiobooks narrated by the unseen Michael C. Gwynne.
Also included are a fascinating fact story featuring Sherlock Holmes’ creator, Arthur Conan Doyle, called “Elementary, my Dear Corpse!” along with Russell Bender’s tense crime tale, “Killer for Sale!” Read by Michael C. Gwynne with short stories by Roy Worley and Roger Price.
#1 City of Deadly Sleep
by G.T. Fleming-Roberts
Read by Michael C. Gwynne
Chapter 1: The Voice From Hell
Chapter 2: Johnny The Turk
Chapter 3: The Zero Hour
Chapter 4: “I Can Use You!”
Chapter 5: Unknown Voyager
Chapter 6: Track of the Killer
Chapter 7: Death From Nowhere
Chapter 8: The Cold, Deadly Dawn
Chapter 9: Poison Ivy
Chapter 10: Joe Venetti
Chapter 11: The Big Squeeze
Chapter 12: The Secret of U.V.
Chapter 13: The Red House
Chapter 14: Hell’s Own Hideout
Chapter 15: Hot Box
Chapter 16: The Yellow Link
Chapter 17: Double-Cross
Chapter 18: Winner Take Cover!
Chapter 19: Unseen Witness
Chapter 20: Dead Man’s Pitch
Chapter 21: Lady Killer
Chapter 22: Dark Dawn
Elementary My Dear Corpse!
by James W. Booth
Read by Roy Worley
Killer for Sale!
by Russell Bender
Read by Roger Price
“One of my all-time favorite pulp magazines—brought to life!”
Will Murray is the Series Producer for Will Murray's Pulp Classics line of Pulp Audiobooks and Pulp eBooks. Will is the author of over 50 novels in popular series ranging from The Destroyer to Mars Attacks. Collaborating posthumously with the legendary Lester Dent, he has written to date twelve Doc Savage novels, with Skull Island, Death's Dark Domain, Desert Demons, Horror in Gold, and The Infernal Buddha now available. For National Public Radio, Murray adapted The Thousand-Headed Man for The Adventures of Doc Savage in 1985, and recently edited Doc Savage: The Lost Radio Scripts of Lester Dent for Moonstone Books. He is versed in all things pulp.
Michael C. Gwynne's outstanding achievements have encompassed all areas of entertainment – radio, television and film. Through out the sixties Michael could be heard as a DJ in San Francisco, New York City and Los Angeles. Shortly after breaking the Guinness Book of Records for nonstop drumming, 92 hours at the 1965 "Drum-A-Thon" in Honolulu, Michael was cast in the TV series The Psychiatrist by a young Steven Spielberg.
Michael went on to work behind the scenes on Spielberg's breakthrough film Jaws where he can be heard as the DJ on beach radios. He continued to land roles in popular television shows: Kojak, Dallas, CHiPS, Hill Street Blues, Cagney & Lacey, and Falcon Crest before he crossed paths again with Spielberg when he was cast in an episode of Amazing Stories directed by Martin Scorsese.
Although Michael has worked steadily as a character actor in television and film over the last three decades his first love is still radio where he enjoys the challenges of a fast paced production, bringing a character to life with nothing but his deep thrilling voice!
Captain Zero: #1 City of Deadly Sleep LINK
Replies
Thank you for sharing Rick.
Cheers!
Thank you!
Thank you so much!
I have a G-8 for either later or tomorrow. Enjoy! ---------------------- R