BY: JONATHAN LOWE

What does the future hold? Zizza is cautious, but optimistic. "Full cast audio is costly to produce, and so there are not as many titles available. This is also true for public radio stations, who find it more economical to produce news or talk shows. But I think the situation is improving over what it was just three years ago. With all the webcasting and iPod downloading going on, I think people will seek out audio drama, and already a new crop of directors and producers are studying the craft the same way as those who study stage acting. Our challenge is to produce better quality material, and take those interested to the next level of skills so that audio theater looks forward instead of backward."

For a befitting sampling of full cast stories this month, give a listen to A GROWN-UP'S HALLOWEEN, directed by radio drama pioneer Yuri Rasovsky for Blackstone Audio. "Dedicated to the thinking paranoiac," the collection includes stories by Kafka, Dostoevsky, Bierce, Twain, Shaw, and "A. Fiend."  (Probably Yuri himself). Eclectic and unusual, the audiobook was nominated for an Audie in 2007. Having directed my own audiobook, "Fame Island," Yuri also directs and reads a just-released collection of horror stories by Richard Matheson titled I AM LEGEND, with narrator Robertson Dean. The title story is about a man who might be the last human in a world of vampires, and his survival amid the ruins of what we imagine to be "civilization" is chilling, and also ironic - even comic - as Rasovsky's choices usually are.
 

JONATHAN LOWE is a novelist and audio book reviewer living in Tucson. A longtime judge in the Audie Awards, he has won writing awards from Audiofile, the SC Arts Commission, and Writer's Digest. Audio of his novels The Awakening Storm and Fame Island are available for download at Blackstone Audiobooks.