One of my major influences for this website and my podcast was the website RantMedia. RantMedia puts out audio, video, music, and print to the masses, mostly of the counter-culture variety. While I would dedicate an entire page to just their work, I've decided to highlight Tales From The Afternow this week. This was the first free audio book I was exposed to back in 2004, and it has remained one of my favorites. My explanation of it would not do it justice. Dystopian future, loss of freedoms, and a librarian who sends his story to us in the past. That is just a small percentage of what this audiobook is. It has two canon seasons, and one season which was outside of the time line, called The Witch Hunter Chronicles. If you enjoy science fiction, horror, or anything to do with cyber or steampunk, check this out!
Also for those interested: Afternow is being adapted into an animation short film! RantMedia and award winning animator David T. Krupicz are working on the short animation based upon 'Afternow Episode II: Little Rocks'. There is also a book based on the Afternow universe that is on its way, which I personally am eagerly awaiting!
SUMMARY (VIA RANTMEDIA)
Join Independent Librarian Dynamic Sean Kennedy VI as he takes you into a dark future where mega-corporations rule, listener licenses are easily violated, and even time itself is copyrighted.
As always, click the link to go their website, or hit play to hear the first episode, StreamJack, right now!
I found this Audio Novel on Christmas day, whilst I was working for some extra cash on the day. I was instantly entranced by the novel, and I am still in the process of finishing it. It has 12 parts within it, each about 40 minutes a piece. It is something of a black comedy drama with a complex but easily understood plot. It struck a tone with me specifically because the beginning of the audio novel is not unlike an unfinished novel I began writing when I was 17. I may begin writing it again, now that I can place it in audio book form. Enjoy this selection from Podiobooks, I know I have! Click the image below to be transferred to the Purgatory website, and click the play button to hear the first episode of Purgatory right here at Vertigo Media Network!
SUMMARY (VIA PODIOBOOKS.COM)
Charles Cunningham, a wealthy real estate developer, dies unexpectedly and finds himself in Purgatory, the place between heaven and hell. Though depressed about his early death, he befriends two other souls doing time there -- the writer Edgar Allan Poe and a music-loving deadbeat named Billy. Upon receiving a letter from God telling him he must learn some unnamed lessons before he can go to heaven, he convinces Poe to join him in the portal back to earth. They hope to make up for their past mistakes, but they arrive on earth in the year 2049, 42 years after Charles' death. Traveling from mid-21st century New York City to Las Vegas, Charles seeks out the daughter he neglected in life, though she is now in her eighties. However, an unfriendly soul from Purgatory follows them to earth. This soul, an employee with whom Charles had an affair and summarily fired, is determined to keep him from winning passage to heaven. She teams up with Charles' grandson, a debt-ridden gambling addict who has a talent for messing things up. Together, they hatch a deadly scheme to foil Charles' plan to get to heaven and net the grandson badly-needed money. Charles learns of their plans and enlists his friends to help stop them. Will they succeed?
