[COMPLETE] Weird Tales Presents: The Strange World of Harry Houdini - tg

[flavo5000]

Weird Tales Presents: The Strange World of Harry Houdini, by Various, H. P. Lovecraft (1890 - 1937) et al.

This project is now complete! All audio files can be found on our catalog page: https://librivox.org/weird-tales-presents-the-strange-world-of-harry-houdini-by-harry-houdini/

In 1924, the odd and wonderful Weird Tales Magazine published a series of stories written (or ghost-written in at least one instance) by noted illusionist and skeptic Harry Houdini. In addition to these supposed exploits by the famous escape artist, the magazine hosted a series of "Ask Houdini" sections soliciting readers to ask questions of the great Houdini which he would respond to in turn in a future issue. These Ask Houdini segments are included here in addition to the Houdini stories to create a comprehensive collection of writings by and about Harry Houdini in Weird Tales! (Summary by Ben Tucker)

Source text (please read only from this text!):
No. 1: Ask Houdini (March 1924) https://archive.org/details/WeirdTalesV03n03192403/page/n83/mode/2up
The Spirit Fakers of Hermannstadt (1924)
No. 2: Part 1: https://archive.org/details/WeirdTalesV03n03192403/page/n3/mode/2up
No. 3: Part 2: https://archive.org/details/WeirdTalesV03n04192404/page/n51/mode/2up
No. 4: Ask Houdini (April 1924) https://archive.org/details/WeirdTalesV03n04192404/page/n85/mode/2up
No. 5: The Hoax of the Spirit Lover (1924) https://archive.org/details/WeirdTalesV03n04192404/page/n3/mode/2up
No. 6: Ask Houdini (May-June-July 1924) https://archive.org/details/WeirdTales1924050607ATLPM/page/n167/mode/2up
No. 7: Imprisoned by the Pharaohs by H.P. Lovecraft (May-June-July 1924) https://archive.org/details/WeirdTales1924050607ATLPM/page/n3/mode/2up

Target completion date:

Prooflistening level: Standard
Prospective PLs, please see the Guide for Proof-listeners.

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Magic Window:

BC Admin

LibriVox recording settings: mono (1 channel), 44100 Hz sample rate, 128 kbps constant bit rate MP3. See the Tech Specs

Intro to recording:
Leave 0.5 to 1 second of silence at the beginning.

For the first section, say:

"Section (or Chapter) # of Weird Tales Presents: The Strange World of Harry Houdini. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit librivox.org." [Optional: "Read by your name."] "Weird Tales Presents: The Strange World of Harry Houdini. Section Title."

For the second and subsequent sections, you may use the shortened intro if you wish:

"Section (or Chapter) # of Weird Tales Presents: The Strange World of Harry Houdini. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain." [Optional: "Read by your name."] "Section Title."

End of recording:
Say:

"End of section (or chapter) #." [Optional, and if not stated in the intro: "Read by your name, city, date."]

If you are recording the final section of the book, add:

"End of Weird Tales Presents: The Strange World of Harry Houdini."

Leave 5 seconds of silence at the end.

Filename: weirdtalespresents_##_houdini_128kb.mp3 where ## is the section number. (e.g. weirdtalespresents_01_houdini_128kb.mp3)

Upload to the LibriVox Uploader: https://librivox.org/login/uploader

MC to select: TriciaG

Copy and paste the file link generated by the uploader into the relevant Listen URL field in the Section Compiler, enter the duration in the Notes field, and post in this thread to let your PL and MC know that you have uploaded a file. You may also post the file link in the thread.

[mariechristian]

Hi! I'll be the DPL if you are interested. It will be my first time, but I think after proof listening my own work for the past year, I can handle it

Marie

[flavo5000]

Hi! I'll be the DPL if you are interested. It will be my first time, but I think after proof listening my own work for the past year, I can handle it

Marie

Sure! I'd be delighted! We just need an MC to setup the magic window and I should be able to start this one off.

[TriciaG]

There's no text link given. Is it available online?

[mariechristian]

Hi! I'll be the DPL if you are interested. It will be my first time, but I think after proof listening my own work for the past year, I can handle it

Marie

Sure! I'd be delighted! We just need an MC to setup the magic window and I should be able to start this one off.

[flavo5000]

There's no text link given. Is it available online?

Oops. I just added them.

[TriciaG]

OK, thanks. I'll set this up in a bit.

Regarding authors: all the texts are purported to be written by Houdini (although you say some were ghost written by others). So I don't see a reason to list any other authors unless there's conclusive evidence of that person having written one of these texts. Or am I missing something?

EDIT: I do see that Lovecraft and Houdini collaborated on the Pharaoh story. I suggest reading "[story title] by HP Lovecraft & Harry Houdini" in your intro to that one. The rest: is there evidence of other authors?

[flavo5000]

OK, thanks. I'll set this up in a bit.

Regarding authors: all the texts are purported to be written by Houdini (although you say some were ghost written by others). So I don't see a reason to list any other authors unless there's conclusive evidence of that person having written one of these texts. Or am I missing something?

EDIT: I do see that Lovecraft and Houdini collaborated on the Pharaoh story. I suggest reading "[story title] by HP Lovecraft & Harry Houdini" in your intro to that one. The rest: is there evidence of other authors?

Actually Imprisoned with the Pharoahs was entirely Lovecraft just ghost written as Houdini. The others are just rumored but nothing conclusive. I actually added Various because several of these articles are letter pages of random people writing in letters for Houdini to answer. I wasnt sure how to represent the fan letters.

[TriciaG]

I've given this a bit of thought, and I'm okay leaving the letter writers uncredited.

[flavo5000]

I've given this a bit of thought, and I'm okay leaving the letter writers uncredited.

Ok, so basically Imprisoned would be by Lovecraft. The first Ask Houdini (March 1924) would be by Edwin Baird, the editor of Weird Tales (This was the intro to solicit letters. No responses yet). Everything else would be credited to Houdini. Sound ok? I updated the metadata for each section to reflect this.

[TriciaG]

Sounds OK to me.

Moving this to Going Solo...

[flavo5000]

Hi! I'll be the DPL if you are interested. It will be my first time, but I think after proof listening my own work for the past year, I can handle it

Marie

Sure! I'd be delighted! We just need an MC to setup the magic window and I should be able to start this one off.

First section is up! A bit of a note here. This article includes a Preface by the editor that's found in italics on the bottom half of the second page of the story. I've included that first since it seems to read that way based on context.

[flavo5000]

Section 2 is also up! One other quick thing to note with this one. Notice that it's titled Except from The Eyrie. I've only included the portion of the article that discusses Houdini (the rest being unrelated letters from readers).

[mariechristian]

Section 2 is also up! One other quick thing to note with this one. Notice that it's titled Except from The Eyrie. I've only included the portion of the article that discusses Houdini (the rest being unrelated letters from readers).

Great! I'll listen this afternoon. This will be my very first! I read over the instructions for proof listening. For standard it says to listen without the text. Seems strange to me as I am one of those attention to detail type people. Can I follow the text?

Marie

[flavo5000]

Section 2 is also up! One other quick thing to note with this one. Notice that it's titled Except from The Eyrie. I've only included the portion of the article that discusses Houdini (the rest being unrelated letters from readers).

Great! I'll listen this afternoon. This will be my very first! I read over the instructions for proof listening. For standard it says to listen without the text. Seems strange to me as I am one of those attention to detail type people. Can I follow the text?

Marie

Sure. Do whatever you feel will get the best result.