FinalRune Newsletter
(Horror)
Written by James Comtois
Alex wakes in a run-down New England hospital with foggy memories of a car accident. He asks nurses about his missing girlfriend, Elizabeth, but can't seem to get any answers. In fact, he can't seem to get anything straight from anyone. And - was that a scream in the distance?
Alex soon realizes that his condition is more critical than he first believed. Because very, very soon, he is coming back, and he may not have such great ideas for Alex.
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Running Time: 33 minutes
Download Intensive Care
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Matthew J Boudreau, Samantha Mason, and Frederick Greenhalgh
This production was recorded on location at North Dam Mill in Biddeford, Maine, October 2011.
Location recording by Fred Greenhalgh and Michael DiAmeda
Sound Design and Music by Matthew J Boudreau and Barbara Truex
Original Art by Monique Boudreau
Special Thanks to Doug Sanford, Carolyn Gosselin, the City of Biddeford, RODE Microphones and the ZOOM Corporation
(Speculative Fiction)
Some time in the not so distant future, the world as we know it is starting to unravel. The United States is mired in unwinnable wars, gas is scarce and the transportation system grinds to a halt. Homegrown terrorists take out the electric grid. Food is strictly rationed and distributed by the military. As citizens grow increasingly angry with the government, martial law is called in to maintain peace.
And then things really start to get bad.
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Download The Cleansed - Episode 0 - The Breaking
For more info about The Cleansed, see our new website for the series.
Mixed and Mastered by Mind’s Eye Productions. Recorded on location at the Biddeford Airport in Biddeford Maine and other locations in Southern Maine. Additional sound effects courtesy of Mind’s Eye Productions and SoundDogs.com.
Music: Bad-ass rock tunes "Sailing" and "Walking Dead" by The Big Coffin Hunters, groovy funky jazz tune recorded and produced by University of Maine Augusta Audio program, and cover of “Run Through the Jungle” courtesy of Gringoman, lyrics licensed through Limelight.
Special thanks to:
Season 1 of the THE CLEANSED coming March 2012. For now support the project and learn about the story and characters at http://thecleansed.com

Brent Askari (left) warns Paul Drinan and Kym Dakin about rebel soldiers who are igniting jet fuel

Randall Farr records as Burke Brimmer, Lisa Muller-Jones, and Chris Newcomb rush towards an abandoned home during the apocalypse

Rylee Ann Doiron and Philip Hobby sprint for safety after a military air base is assualted by rebel soldiers.
More photos in our online photo gallery
In a back back back door meeting in the White House, the President and his most trusted advisors discuss a new conflict which is unavoidable, absolutely essential to America (at least insofar as justifying the ballooning Department of Defense budget).
This new conflict, nay, War, will be a War fought against one of the most pervasive ills that has cursed civilization since the beginning. A War on... Poverty.
Wait. Poverty? How do you attack poverty?
This tongue in cheek 5 minute treat was produced for an audio engineering course Fred recently took with Dave Moulton (a Grammy nominated engineer) with the University of Maine in Augusta.
Voted most likely to get Fred on an FBI watch list!
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Download The War on The War on Poverty (MP3)
This production was recorded in-studio at Mind’s Eye Productions for a University of Maine Augusta audio engineering class, Spring 2010. Sound effects and additional music courtesy of Sounddogs.com and Soundrangers.com.
Special thanks to the UMA Audio 319 class for the spring of 2010.
The Troll is shattered, but not all is over. Jamie climbs a remote mountain as sunset falls, and discovers something very special in the woods... and inside of himself.
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Instead of tearing him to shreds, the troll lamented to Jamie about his woes in a world full of humans and not enough magic. When a police officer intruded on his last refuge, the troll lashed out, and now he and Jamie are on a run, with desperate hopes of making it far from civilization before daybreak.
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Jamie's friend Rick egged on the troll - and found out what a monster is really made of. While Jamie sits tied up, waiting to see what the monster will do to him, his coworkers start to wonder what happened...
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Jamie hit something on the road home from a party last night - something BIG. And now his buddy Rick has him going back to the scene of the crime. What they find will change them both forever...
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Killer artwork by Simon Adams
(Adventure/Fantasy)
Written, Directed and Produced by Frederick Greenhalgh
What would happen if a troll still lived in the diminishing wild around us?
To explore that question comes FinalRune's new show, The Troll of Stony Brook.
An awkward teenager, Jamie, is driving home one night from a party when he hits something - something big. His pushy co-worker, Rick, talks him into going back to the scene of the accident... and what they find will change them both forever.
This show, like most things on the internet, is being released with both free and paid versions. The free version features individual scenes, 5-7 minutes long. A new one will appear each Friday in July, 2010.
The paid version allows you to skip the wait and hear the entirety of the show right now and get some free music tracks.
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Download the Troll of Stony Brook: Episode 1Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Download the Troll of Stony Brook: Episode 2Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Download the Troll of Stony Brook: Episode 3Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Download the Troll of Stony Brook: Episode 4Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Download the Troll of Stony Brook: Episode 5The show, in its entirety, is available as a paid download for the ridiculously small sum of $2.99. For this, you get:
Recorded on location in South Portland and Alfred, Maine the spring of 2010. Additional studio recording courtesy of Mind's Eye Productions.
Special thanks to Matt Morris, video guy extraordinaire.
An old lady tormented by lewd phone calls blasts a man with a shotgun as he walks in through the door, and Brattleboro's everyman detective, Joe Gunther, is called out to investigate.
It's clear that not everything is as it seems - the description of the phone calls and the dead man outside don't match up.
And even stranger, the dead man and the old lady were jurors on the same controversial trial three years ago.
So begins "Open Season," the inaugural Joe Gunther novel from Archer Mayor (THE PRICE OF MALICE, OCCAM'S RAZOR), an author who has earned lofty praise from The New York Times and Chicago Tribune.
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Running Time: 28 minutesDownload the Joe Gunther Pilot! (MP3)
Written by Archer Mayor, audio adaptation by Fred Greenhalgh. Produced and Directed by Fred Greenhalgh.
Field recording by Randall Farr, original score by James Munro. Holiday music by Kevin Macleod.
In a startling divergence from traditional audiobook production, Vermont Audio Drama Podcasting commissioned FinalRune Productions to produce a pilot episode for what will become a serialization of the novel "Open Season."
This pilot was recorded in FinalRune's signature on-location recording style at an old house in South Portland, Maine (courtesy of Mad Horse Theater Company) with a compliment of excellent Maine-based actors including Audie-award winning narrator Bill Dufris.
Actors crowded into the back seat of a car and drove through the snow, got out of cars and walked up stairs while shouting lines, and acted off one another in claustrophobic rooms - much like recording a movie, only without the camera.
Recording on-location imparts a sonic reality and level of richness impossible to achieve in a traditional sound studio. The finished production sounds much more like an "audio movie," resulting in a more engrossing listening experience.
The episodic nature of the project is also uniquely suited to the way we listen today. This serial will be easily listened to on an iPod, Kindle, iPad, or other mobile device. Like the old time radio days, installments will about 30 minutes long, leaving listeners eager to hear what will happen next!
If you'd like more information on the audio pilot, or to hear more of it, contact Vermont Audio Drama Podcasting.
We're also starting a mailing list, if you want to hear when more news is available on this project, just drop in your email below (we will use it for NOTHING else!).
And there's plenty more good audio available right now produced by FinalRune - check out our stories page to get listening.
(Suspense/Horror)
Written by George Toudouze, adapted for radio by James Poe
Three men who tend the light at a reclusive island off the coast of French Guiana see a rogue ship adrift in the Atlantic. The reason for the derelict ship soon becomes obvious - it has been overrun by hundreds of thousands of ferocious ship's rats.
The rats land on the isle and soon we are in for a claustrophobic tale of terror as the three men struggle to keep their minds from cracking under the pressure of thousands and thousands of squeaking, scratching, hungry rats.
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Running Time: 24 minutes"Three Skeleton Key" is among the most famous of old time radio tales, and making something anew here was a challenge. FinalRune's approach was to take a group of talented actors from the Mad Horse Theater Company and recording them in and around a real lighthouse to enhance the acoustic reality and physicality of the performance.
Many people have chronicled how much this story scared the bejesus out of theme when they were young. Learn much more about its history on the Escape and Suspense! Blog.
Great pictures of this location recording are available in FinalRune's photo gallery and on Flickr.>
Producer and Director: Fred Greenhalgh
Field recordist Randall Farr, Musical Score by Barb Truex.
Recorded on location at Goat Island Lighthouse off the coast of Cape Porpoise, Maine. Special thanks to the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust and lighthouse keepers Scott and Karen for use of the facility.
To learn more about the Mad Horse Theater Company, visit their website, www.madhorse.com
Hear this bone-chilling audio experience in its entirety:
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Running Time: 1 hour, 28 minutesSee photos from this production.
Ghost Behind the Black Door:
Losing You is Hell
Bone Lake
Third Shift
H1NSane
Live sound effects by Paul Drinan and "Goober," computer FX by Michael Townsend, live music performed by Barb Truex.
Mixing: Dave Bunker. Additional production assistance by Dianne Ballon.
WMPG, Portland, Maine's community radio arranged for the venue and provided the live stream and radio broadcast of this show.
The show was a fundraiser for WMPG's PowerUP! Campaign, which seeks to raise $250,000 to upgrade the signal strength of the station's main transmitter and move it to a better location.
If you like this show, don't miss the chance to donate to WMPG! We hope to bring this show back in 2010.
(Suspense/Horror)
Written by Lucille Fletcher (Who Else?)
A retelling of the classic from Suspense!
A bedridden neurotic woman dials a number and is accidentally connected to a call between two men who are plotting a murder. She becomes increasingly frantic as no one takes her fright seriously and time begins to run out.
Prepare to be spooked all over again in this thrilling adaptation!
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Running Time: 27 minutes, 30 secondsProducer and Director: Fred Greenhalgh
Field recordist Randall Farr, Musical Score by Barb Truex.
Recorded on location in the Greater Portland Maine area the summer of 2009.
To learn more about the Mad Horse Theater Company, visit their website, www.madhorse.com

FinalRune had the awesome opportunity to collaborate with Portland, Maine-based Mad Horse Theater Company in the re-creation of some classic old-time radio plays.
Two of the stories came straight out of the radio canon - Three Skeleton Key and Sorry, Wrong Number, with the lesser-known The Most Dangerous Game rounding out the project.
Production wrapped in September 2009. Read up about the field production or see a photo slideshow.
Wealthy big-game hunter Sanger Rainsford falls off his boat in the middle of the Caribbean and finds himself on a curious island. He finds the mansion of General Zaroff, a Cossack who has a taste for the hunt, and will go to any extreme to keep himself entertained.
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More Info on The Most Dangerous Game

A bedridden neurotic woman dials a number and is accidentally connected to a call between two men who are plotting a murder. She becomes increasingly frantic as no one takes her fright seriously and time begins to run out.
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More Info on Sorry, Wrong Number

Three men who tend the light at a reclusive island off the coast of French Guiana see a rogue ship adrift in the Atlantic. The reason for the derelict ship soon becomes obvious - it has been overrun by hundreds of thousands of ferocious ship's rats.
The rats land on the isle and soon we are in for a claustrophobic tale of terror as the three men struggle to keep their minds from cracking under the pressure of thousands and thousands of squeaking, scratching, hungry rats.
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(Adventure)
Written by Richard Connell, New Audio Adaptation by Fred Greenhalgh
Adapted anew from the short story - a retelling of the story heard in the 1940s on Escape and Suspense!
Wealthy big-game hunter Sanger Rainsford falls off his boat in the middle of the Caribbean and finds himself on a curious island. He finds the mansion of General Zaroff, a Cossack who has a taste for the hunt, and will go to any extreme to keep himself entertained.
A thrilling tale with a lot of history (thank you Wikipedia)
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Running Time: 28 minutesProducer and Director: Fred Greenhalgh
Field recordist Randall Farr, Musical Score by Barb Truex, Classical Music by Kevin MacLeod
Recorded on location in the Greater Portland Maine area the summer of 2009.
To learn more about the Mad Horse Theater Company, visit their website, www.madhorse.com
(Comedy-Drama)
Written and Produced by Frederick Greenhalgh
An unexpected storm throws Norman D. Waits off his course to... somewhere.
The island where he lands is nice enough, with old sea salts that welcome him with open arms and a bar that's always open. But as it becomes increasingly clear that no one ever seems to leave the island, Norman finds himself in a fight to get moving to some distant shore or remain trapped in this half-baked paradise forever.
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Running Time: 30 minutesDownload "Waiting for a Window" (MP3)
Original Music Composed by Barbara Truex
Audio Engineering by Randall Farr
Additional Production Assistance by Adam Ferguson
Sound recorded on location in and around Portland, Maine.
(Horror)
Written and Produced by Frederick Greenhalgh
FinalRune's latest tale of terror eclipses everything we've attempted so far, with a story that is chilling to the bone, the best performances to date, a stellar score and terrifying field FX recording on location on foggy and mysterious stretches of Downeast Maine.
Two teenage friends start scaring each other on the drive to a dismal "haunted" house on the coast of Maine. But when their innocent fun starts to become all too real, they soon realize what true terror is. A nod to Stephen King in a tale inspired by a true story too haunting to forget.
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Running Time: 21 minutes
(Fantasy)
Written and Produced by Frederick Greenhalgh
Sir Grace was the most valiant of all knights, decked in glorious armor that glowed in the sun and a record of dragon-slaying and maiden saving on par with none. But a battle with a renowned wizard with ambiguous ambitions forces Sir Grace to consider things he never imagined, and face his greatest enemy yet: himself.
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Running Time: 24 minutes
(Comedy) Running Time: 27m20s
Written by John Coons, Adapted by Frederick Greenhalgh
Welcome to Williamsville, where tradition and routine dictate the ebb and flow of life. Yet, Williamsville is not without its stories... How do one repressed arsonist, a sexually-charged geriatric, a slimy drug dealer and a soccer mom on steroids combine in the most exciting thing to happen in Williamsville since 1936? Starring a cast of talented and twisted University of Southern Maine students.
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Running Time: 28 minutes
(Drama) Running Time: 15m07s
Written and Produced by Frederick Greenhalgh
The unconventional Christmas story of a business man whose life is changed by a random encounter with a stranger. Narrated by the ineffable John Coons.
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Running Time: 16minutes
(Horror) Running Time: 12m
Written and Produced by Frederick Greenhalgh
A chilling audio horror story: A young man's joyride one October night turns into a hell he could never imagine. Originally published in Blue Murder Magazine.
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Running Time: 12 minutes
(Drama) Running Time: 66m24s
Written and Produced by Frederick Greenhalgh
A tale inspired by the myth of Orpheus. A young man heads to New Orleans in search of his missing lover, and finds something he never expected: himself.
This was my senior thesis for my BA, and I have a site with essays on New Orleans, radio drama, and the myth or Orpheus to complement Day of the Dead.
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Running Time: 1 hour, 6 minutesAudio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Day of the Dead Promo

Now in its third year, Radio Drama Revival has new plays every week, with over 175 episodes to date!