posted Dec 12, 2025 by Tom Fasano
This is an audio rendition of the first chapter of Venice Beach Psalms—the first book in my planned Peter Blair Mystery series. The video mimics a typewriter effect synchronized with the voice-over.
You can purchase a copy and support my creative efforts at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
posted May 9, 2021 by Tom Fasano
This is an unabridged audiobook reading of “The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner,” Alan Sillitoe’s story about a boy in Borstal who uses his running ability to make a personal show of his contempt and defiance of authority. It was awarded the Hawthorn Prize for the best work of imagination in prose and established Alan Sillitoe as a leading English fiction writer.
In this audio presentation, the story is read by Tom Courtney, who starred in the highly acclaimed film version of The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner.
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner – Part 1
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner – Part 2
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner – Part 3
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner – Part 4
posted Jan 14, 2021 by Tom Fasano
This is a full-cast performance #11 featuring Robert Foxworth, Pamela Payton-Wright, Stuart Pankin, and Jerome Dempsey and cast. I use this full audio recording of The Crucible in my classroom and intend no copyright infringement. It’s for educational purposes only. It was produced by The Repertory Theatre of Lincoln Center (under the direction of Jules Irving and Robert Symonds) and directed by John Berry.
Be sure to check out my Crucible Study Notes on YouTube:
posted Jun 5, 2020 by Tom Fasano
David McCallum reads H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Dunwich Horror” in this vintage Caedmon recording from the 1960s. McCallum, famous for his role in “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.,” brings the right mix of restraint and dread to Lovecraft’s tale of cosmic horror in rural Massachusetts.
The story follows the strange Whateley family and their dealings with forces beyond human understanding. When young Wilbur Whateley dies under mysterious circumstances, something far worse is unleashed on the countryside. Lovecraft’s genius was in suggesting horrors rather than showing them, and McCallum’s reading captures that perfectly.
Caedmon Records pioneered quality spoken word recordings in the 1950s and 60s. They hired professional actors to create definitive performances of literary classics. This recording, with its striking cover art of the decaying Whateley farmhouse, represents that golden age of audiobook production.
posted Jun 5, 2020 by Tom Fasano
There is something quietly touching about this old Prestige LP, with its young Roddy McDowall gazing out in mid-sixties monochrome, as if interrupted in the act of remembering. His readings of Lovecraft’s tales — “The Outsider,” and “The Hound,” — unfold with a careful, almost ceremonious grace. McDowall doesn’t thunder or whisper conspiratorially; instead, he lets the stories rise on their own Gothic vapors, his voice offering the steady pulse beneath their unease.
The effect is less that of a haunted house and more that of a dimly lit study on a winter afternoon: shadows lengthen, language darkens, and dread forms slowly in the corners. McDowall has the rare ability to sound both cultivated and quietly afraid, which suits Lovecraft’s peculiar blend of antiquarian fussiness and cosmic despair. He reads as a man dusting off heirlooms that may, upon closer inspection, still breathe.
What remains is a small, dignified artifact from an era when horror could afford to move at a walking pace. The LP feels at once modest and enduring—a reminder that, sometimes, the most unsettling terrors arrive not with a shout, but with a gentle clearing of the throat before the first sentence begins.
posted Mar 20, 2019 by Tom Fasano
![Shakespeare Coriolanus [ Caedmon]](https://i0.wp.com/archive.org/download/02CoriolanusCaedmon2/R-9735810-1485552609-7548.gif.jpg?w=600&ssl=1)
Caedmon’s Coriolanus, fronted by a granite-voiced Richard Burton, is one of those LPs that feels like it’s been carved out of a hillside rather than recorded in a studio. Burton doesn’t so much speak the verse as detonate it—every line flares with that volcanic Welsh baritone that made even his grocery lists sound operatic. Jessica Tandy, Michael Hordern, Robert Stephens, and the rest of the cast round things out with a clean, unfussy delivery that keeps the focus exactly where it belongs: on Shakespeare’s most abrasive, least domesticated tragedy.
Director Howard Sackler opts for austerity—no sonic fireworks, no theatrical gimmickry. Just actors, breath, and text. And surprisingly, that’s enough. The result is a taut, muscular performance that captures the play’s chilly political undercurrents without ever slipping into doctrinaire sermonizing. Yes, it’s an artifact of the early ’60s Shakespeare boom, but it hasn’t yellowed. Like Coriolanus himself, it barreled into the world already half-made of stone.
posted Mar 4, 2019 by Tom Fasano
![Shakespeare - King John [Caedmon]](https://i0.wp.com/archive.org/download/01KingJohn1/King%20John.jpg?w=600&ssl=1)
This is a 1964 recording of Shakespeare’s “King John” by The Shakespeare Recording Society, distributed by Caedmon Records. The production was directed by Howard Sackler and featured:
This was part of a comprehensive series by the Shakespeare Recording Society to record all of Shakespeare’s plays. The series was notable for featuring distinguished British actors and high production values.
The album artwork is particularly striking, featuring a medieval-style illustration with armies, tents, and castles that captures the play’s historical setting during the reign of King John (1199-1216). The stylized art reflects the period’s illuminated manuscript aesthetic.
“King John” is one of Shakespeare’s less frequently performed history plays, focusing on political intrigue, the conflict with France, and the king’s troubled relationship with the nobility and the Pope. Having this on vinyl would have been an important cultural artifact in the 1960s, when recorded drama helped bring classical theater to wider audiences.