Knightmarish Reviews:

"...brought to mind characters like The Shadow and The Phantom and made me pine for the era of my grandparents."

Chad Derdowski, Mania.com

"... a great story wonderfully produced by the DeCoder gang. Am hoping you've more of these in store for us? Please!!! This was tons of fun."

Ron Fortier, Airship 27 / The Pulp Factory

The show is straight out of the era of the Radio Dramas. Organ music, dramatic dialogue, the boy assistant, the super-car, the Nazi's, the ray guns, the superhero who refers to himself in the Third Person...

Fortunately, this is exactly the place to play that sort of show.

--- StephensMat, AudioDramaTalk.com

Ive Been Posting This Around...

But I thought I would post it here too...

Would there be any interest in an illustrated version of the radio play script, complete with illustrations, photos, my editorial notes and maybe a bonus Knightmare short story?

Say $1.99 for a Kindle / PDF download or $5.99 print ? (I'm estimating pricing here)

Please comment.

Pulp 2.0 Theatre of the Mind

Just a reminder...

The Knightmare: The Murder Legion Strikes at Midnight can be found here:

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Don't forget to join our Facebook Group or check out Decoder Ring Theatre's other radio adventures!

Thanks for your support of New Pulp Media.

The Knightmare: The Murder Legion Strikes at Midnight Pt. 2

Is here.

The Knightmare races to Carol Lane's rescue as the top-secret Nazi shock troops of the Murder Legion strike at the reception at the Griffith Observatory.
Can The Knightmare elude the vengeful Lt. McGrath and escape the attacks of fantastic weapons developed in Hitler's evil laboratories?

Tune in and find out!

Got to our Fans of the Knightmare Facebook page.

Or join the fun at the Audio Drama Talk boards!

This Just In...

From my sister-in-law, Gail:

I just finished listening to The Knightmare. Just FYI, it scared the hell out of Sunny!!! She was lying in the hall sleeping and made a beeline under my chair when the program began! Ha ha It must be a success if it scares small children and animals?? : ) I enjoyed it and can’t wait for the next episode. It reminded me of nights working at Burcliff’s in Mishawaka. We would play episodes of The Shadow as we worked the lines. Nothing like the good ol’ days, right?

Yes, that's me - scaring small children and animals.

(Painting "Urubamba" by Gail)

For Immediate Release: Knightmare Launches New Pulp Media

Radio Audiences to Thrill to
Internet Adventures of
The Knightmare




Bill Cunningham and Decoder Ring Theatre
network across internet to produce
2-part radio adventure,
"The Murder Legion Strikes at Midnight."

Collaboration launches media company to produce "New Pulp Media"

May 26, 2009 - Los Angeles, CA: Bill Cunningham's New Pulp Media (NPM) announces their internet radio adventure,
THE KNIGHTMARE: The Murder Legion Strikes at Midnight will premiere May 31st, 2009 on Decoder Ring Theatre (www.decoderringtheatre.com). This collaboration marks the first media release for NPM and a new radio adventure program for Decoder Ring which produces The Red Panda Adventures and Black Jack Justice for enthusiastic audiences worldwide.

"The Knightmare is a character originally created by poverty row movie producer Cameron Tyler back in the late thirties. Tyler wanted to create a movie serial and radio drama at the same time so they could promote one another. This is similar famous mystery man The Shadow who leveraged his simultaneous radio and magazine appearances," said Cunningham. "I acquired the rights to the Knightmare character Tyler had outlined, but was never able to complete because Pearl Harbor derailed his plans."

Originally, Cunningham wrote a movie script updating the character, but later decided to lay the groundwork for a new, web-based serial project by recreating the adventures of the original Knightmare for radio. Enter Gregg Taylor, head of Toronto's Decoder Ring Theatre company which had been developing new radio adventures done in a classic style for internet audiences.

"We met on the internet and immediately checked each other's 'geek cred," said Taylor. " We kept in touch and followed each other’s projects, often running along parallel lines like the online Astonishing Adventures! Magazine. The day came when we both realized that several seasons and damn near a million downloads later, Decoder Ring had grown into a swell outlet for the mysterious Knightmare… a way to start the ball rolling on a quest to conquer all media and finally get me a ticket to that movie that I wanted to see so badly."

The Knightmare is a hero cut from the same cloth as The Shadow or The Green Hornet. He is "The Master of Fear" whose catch phrase "I know what you fear" clues audiences in to his mysterious power to overcome evildoers. In this 2-part episode, The Knightmare goes up against Hollywood gangsters, the Police and yes, Nazis - the dreaded Murder Legion - who are here to rob a charity event taking place at the famous Griffith Observatory.

"The Knightmare radio adventure is definitely a ride on the fun train for those fans of old time radio, comics, movie serials and pulps. We've peppered the story with plenty of nods to our childhood influences, but what's really fun about the show is that it wouldn't have happened if it weren't for the internet," says Cunningham.

This internet radio collaboration is the launch for NPM, Cunningham's company label for pulp-styled material he and other partners create and distribute via the internet. This includes adventure podcasts like The Knightmare; pulp stories and novels for digital and print; Comics and eventually Video serials. "The pulp publishing model was always "Make it fast, make it inexpensive (I won't say 'cheap'), but most of all make it entertaining," smiles Cunningham.

"Thanks to the internet and its myriad possibilities to collaborate, market and distribute we can produce a variety of entertaining pulp media with a high degree of style, quality and fun. I've been very fortunate to collaborate with people like Gregg Taylor, Scott Godlewski and Matt Bennett who publish Mysterious Adventure Magazine (http://mysterious-adventure.blogspot.com), and dozens of other people creating art, stories and other new pulp media."

NPM has already signed a publishing deal with noted author and filmmaker Donald F. Glut (THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK novelization, Gold Key comics' THE OCCULT FILES OF DR. SPEKTOR, and the cult motion picture DINOSAUR VALLEY GIRLS. ( www.donaldfglut.com) to release several of his novels for Amazon's Kindle format as well as collector's print editions through Createspace. "We are collaborating with writers and artists to republish classic pulp in new, definitive editions as well as create new adventures based on the pulp template” says Cunningham. “In addition, NPM is cultivating our fans and our brand very carefully using all of the free web tools at our disposal like our Fans of the Knightmare Facebook Page.

We aim to create an interactive, innovative business model that brings the creators and audience together as part of the company. Scheduled for release later this summer 2009 will be author Glut's 1970's styled horror blaxploitation novel: BROTHER BLOOD (textless artwork by Nik Macaluso) and other higher profile projects to be announced.


(c) 2009 by individual creators respectively. New Pulp Media (NPM) is a trademark of Bill Cunningham.

Bill, What's it Like Writing an Internet Radio Adventure?

You write. You rewrite.

You worry that you're clear and entertaining even though this is your first radio script. You worry about getting the tone of a 1939 radio adventure "right." You worry about being able to give the actors what they need to make it sing. You work in all of those influences that hit you as a kid as being "cool."

You kill all your darlings, polish then hit "Send."

Then you wait...and wait...and wait...sending the occasional message to the elves in Toronto as they do their work. Then you wait some more...

until you get this.

And then the smiles come and you realize it's real.

Then you realize it's only the beginning!

Kid Schlocko Loves New Pulp Media !

as evidenced by his blog post here.

Kid Schlocko aka Tim Shrumm is a pulp filmmaker who creates these incredible puppet theater films as well as DIY SFX at his blog LOST IN SCHLOCK.

Go check it out.

New Pulp Media Loves The Knightmare !

I wanted to pass along some of the linkage we've received for our upcoming Knightmare radio serial "The Murder Legion Strikes at Midnight" debuting May 30th on Decoder Ring Theatre.

The first is a bit of two-fisted promotion by our own Scotty Godlewski.

Dave Flora of Ghost Zero fame has tweeted for us: you can reach him here: @dave_flora

and "Pappy" Ron Fortier has linked with us over at Airship 27.

If you link to any Knightmare post or our Facebook Page then please shoot me an email and send me the link.

The picture left is from historic Mack Sennett / Keystone studios in Edendale (Now Echo Park) - a suburb of Los Angeles.

If the original Knightmare serial and radio show had gone forward as Cameron Tyler had planned this would have been where they shot it.

For the whole story, please join our Facebook Group.

And above all: SUPPORT NEW PULP MEDIA!