Welcome to the second part of this month’s performed reading: Le Mort Vivant. Fleeing the hypnotic Violet, our monstrous youth returns to the questionable safety of home. Confronted by a scene of bloody murder, he finds the net closing in on all sides. Can he protect the girl from his mother? Is the mysterious stranger really his father? Can anything be salvaged from the conflagration? This is the conclusion of Steven Chapman’s secret origin of The Phantom of the Opera in all its tragic glory. (Oh, and here’s the link to part 1 in case you missed it.)
Show notes:
Le Mort Vivant can be found in the anthology, Primogen: Origins of Monsters, from Stitched Smile Publications. The book also contains stories from luminaries such as Josh Malerman, Ramsey Campbell and Nicholas Vince.
The future:
Le Mort Vivant is my sixth audio piece as ‘Fine-toothed Comb Productions’. Right now, it’s a hobby more than anything else. I’m learning the ropes in terms of narration, audio editing, soundscaping, and the like, with a view to eventually adding Audio Production and Narration to the available Services here at The Fine-toothed Comb.
My plan is to release one new recording each month for the rest of 2021. I already have stories booked in from Alice J. Black, Nicolas Papaconstantinou and John Travis. That leaves space for authors in November and December. If you have a tale you’d like to hear me tell (between 4000 and 6000 words long) then please do drop me a line. All I ask is the flexibility to edit slightly for my ease of performance, and to be able to freely host the audio file on my website. You’ll get a copy of the file to host/use as you wish one month after release. I make no money from this, but please do check with your publisher before volunteering; I don’t want to fall foul of any legal disputes.
Sound design and attribution:
All music and sounds are used under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License.
My regular Intro music is called The Fifth Life, by Circus Marcus.
My regular Outro music is called Post Bellum, by Dee Yan-Kee.
Both were sourced at Free Music Archive.
As with my previous pieces, I was unable to source a single generic soundscape to cover the whole of Le Mort Vivant. I’ve patched together something from various water effects, scrapes, fire, smashes, heartbeats and the like. Do you find they add to or distract from the reading? Would a low musical soundtrack underneath improve or wreck it? I welcome constructive feedback from all listeners. Please post in the Comments section below.
The sound effects in this recording are as follows:
Door – creak 02 by Jarred Gibb
Heartbeats 61 by patobottos
Chair scrape by Deleted User 2104797
Body fall 2 by Deleted User 2104797
Cinematic Punches by Bertsz
Combust by GrimGrum
Torch ambience loop by LordStirling
ThroatCutGurgle by shelbyshark
Water Explosion by Sheyvan
sauna hiss by IllusiaProductions
Underwater deep impact by Sheyvan
Rocky stream underwater sound by klankbeeld
Glas_Window_Drop_Slices_on_Floor_01 by TheSoundcatcher
If you enjoyed Le Mort Vivant, you may enjoy my other performed readings – available for free on my Audio page.
If you would like me to record some of your work, please reach out via my Contact page.
If you’re a podcaster who doesn’t have time to edit the audio, I’d be happy to discuss rates and work out a schedule.