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Today will be the last day when I'm not officially on vacation. I've been off duty for the past couple of days – but still on call – but starting monday 4th, I'm looking forward to doing as little as possible for four glorious weeks. I expect to do a whole lot of audiobook reading, though. Even though I've cut down on the number of books I'm reading at once, my pace and shere enthusiasm of audio- and podiobooks has not deterred. Today I'll be taking a look at something I started listening to over at PodioBooks.com, but have since moved over to the direct feed from the author – as that contains a whole lot more.
The works of
Decoder Ring Theatre
Decoder Ring Theatre is a group founded by head writer Gregg Taylor, doing old-fashioned audio dramas. Like short audiobooks, except all roles are played by different actors. Although there is some continuity, each half-an-hour episode is a self-contained story so it's not even necessary to read/listen to them in order.

I started at PodioBooks.com by listening to Season One of Black Jack Justice, which tells the story of 1940:s hard-boiled private detective Jack Justice and his partner Trixie Dixon, Girl Detective, and the cases they are presented with. The style of storytelling is very film noir-ish, reminiscent of among others Dick Tracy. There's the contact in the police – in this case liutenant Vic Sabien, who reluctantly helps out even though he can't stand the detectives. There's always a damsel in distress, on the run from their gangster husband, or something of the like.

The presentation is very atmospheric, with a jazzy baseline continously in the background, and the characters narrating their inner thoughts in the midst of conversations. The stories are not whodunnits, as there's very rarely any mystery concerning who the culprit is (although there are some episodes where I felt a sudden pride in figuring out who did it, and even why the crime was committed in the first place, way before it was revealed…). Although the series is filled to the brim with stereotypes it still manages to stay fresh. Much of this has to do with the fact that the episodes are short, and the characters are both well written and well played.

Being, as I was, very pleased with the first season of Black Jack, I wanted to see what else this group of enthusiasts had come up with, and began my journey with what seems to be their main product – when I downloaded and listened to Season One of the Red Panda Adventures. The Red Panda is a superhero, bearing many similarities to Batman and the Green Hornet. He fights crime in Toronto with his trusty side-kick The Flying Squirrel with the help of some ingenious inventions, like static shoes, with which our protagonist duo can climb walls. The Red Panda also possesses world-class hypnotic abilities.

When not fighting evil masterminds and their thug henchmen on the streets of Toronto, The Red Panda is a young multi-millionaire playboy (ever heard that before???), and the Flying Squirrel is Kit Baxter, his driver (remember those two similarities I mentioned earlied?). This “civilian” alter-ego is not The duo battles against evil-doers like The Golden Claw, Kid Chaos, The Mad Monkey and Professor Zombie.

Similarly to Black Jack Justice, the thing that surprises me the most with The Red Panda Adventures is that, in spite of all the stereotypes and cliches, it still remains fresh and original. In the Red Panda Adventures, much of the amusement comes from the romantic tension between the lead characters. Both seem to be secretly but madly in love with the other, but neither dares say it out loud. Seems fighting evil masterminds and mystical Legions of the occult is somehow easier than telling somebody about your feelings. The people acting as this crime-fighting duo do a great job impersonating this connection – and if I haven't misunderstood things completely they are, in real life, married to each other (Gregg Taylor himself and Clarissa Dernederlanden Taylor)

Having enjoyed both Black Jack Justice and the Red Panda Adventures (if forced, I'd choose the Red Panda as my slight favorite of the two…) I switched from listening to them at PodioBooks.com to their own site at Decoderringtheatre.com, where they have a master RSS-feed containing both stories, as well as bonus episodes called “showcases”, where new characters are introduced, written both in-house and by guest authors. Fantastic shows like Deck Gibson: Far Reach Commander and Slick Bracer, P.I., for example. As these are only guest appearances I won't go into detail about them, less to say they're all well worth a listen.

I've really enjoyed the productions of the Decoder Ring Theatre, and I whole heartedly recommend them to everybody! Being as they aren't continuing stories, you can take as long a break in between episodes as you see fit, as you don't have to remember where the story left off. This also means you can easily read them “on the side” while reading other, longer audiobook novels, from great sites like PodioBooks.com, and Librivox.org (similar to Podiobooks, except they have books that are published but in the public domain).

I can't even remember when I last listened to music on my iPod!!!