Venus Sky Trap!

TVAMD Presents an Audio Adventure that pays homage to the scifi novels of the 60's and the radio serials of yesteryear. Sir St. John C. O'Herlihy reads the exciting adventures of Rocky Montana as he fights to stop the evil Rotwang Institute from dominating the world. Written and Read by Sir St. John C. O'Herlihy Starring Rusty Pass as Rocky Montana and R.M. Dijkerman as Commandant Saugstaub Music by Brooks Robinson Prologue In the second installment of the Rocky Montana adventure, Rocky is thawed out on the other side of the solar system and 600 years in the future. But that's just the beginning of his troubles... Written and Read by Sir St. John C. O'Herlihy Rusty Pass as Rocky Montana Lynn Stahlhut as Professor Boobelfish Ben Sutton as Captain Xando Zaan Will Maslen as Durge Roxon Featuring "The Doorway to the Gods" by Brooks Robinson Chapter One  In the third installment of the Rocky Montana adventure, Rocky and Professor Boobelfish work to escape from the space pirates while Xando Zaan faces mutiny. But a common threat may force them all to work together... Written and Read by Sir St. John C. O'Herlihy Rusty Pass as Rocky Montana Lynn Stahlhut as Professor Boobelfish Ben Sutton as Captain Xando Zaan Gary Lance as the Centurion Featuring music by Brooks Robinson Chapter Two  In the fourth installment of the Rocky Montana adventure, Rocky is brought before the Queen of Space after becoming a prisoner of the Galactic Armada. Now they want to send him on a secret mission to fight the evil Morlaks. But the Queen has other plans for Rocky first... Written and Read by Sir St. John C. O'Herlihy Rusty Pass as Rocky Montana Nindiy Meyer-Gleaves as Queen Treoptera Ruud Dijkerman as Regent LeGwynne Gary Lance as the Centurion Featuring music by Brooks Robinson Chapter Three

Venus Sky Trap, Chapter Three: The Queen of Space

TVAMD Presents an Audio Adventure that pays homage to the scifi novels of the 60's and the radio serials of yesteryear.

In this fourth installment of the Rocky Montana adventure, Rocky is brought before the Queen of Space after becoming a prisoner of the Galactic Armada. Now they want to send him on a secret mission to fight the evil Morlaks. But the Queen has other plans for Rocky first...

Written and Read by Sir St. John C. O'Herlihy

Rusty Pass as Rocky Montana

Nindiy Meyer-Gleaves as Queen Treoptera

Ruud Dijkerman as Regent LeGwynne

Gary Lance as the Centurion

Featuring music by Brooks Robinson

Listen Now!

Surviving the Zombie War, Part 7

Now that the apocalypse has happened, it's only a matter of time until there are zombies. So it's best you prepare yourself. Don't want to end up like the twinkie, do you? Everyone thought they'd last forever too. Share these teachings on the internet (until the grid crashes), memorize them and spread the word verbally to as many people as will listen. Hopefully the illustrations will help to break the language barrier, but if not you may have to translate it wherever necessary. This will save lives, so it’s your duty to get the information to everyone you can.

What is the Zombie War? Actually, this term is a misnomer. The zombie outbreak will destroy any government or military infrastructure within a matter of days or weeks. After that the human race will be its own army and anyone left alive will be a soldier.

And the only way to win this war will be to stay alive.

PART SEVEN:

Useful Items

Weapons are helpful, but they may not come in as handy as just having tools. You can’t depend too heavily on technology. The phone lines will be down, the roads will be too damaged to sustain vehicular traffic, the power will go out as soon as the monster gets within two feet of the building and your flashlight batteries will die seconds before you do.

Guns jam, but a hammer will never fail you. Learn to recognize those items that give you the best possible chances of staying alive.

Useful items:

1. Guns & ammo
2. Knife
3. Lighter
4. Flashlights & chem lights
5. Basic first aid
6. Walkie-talkie, radio (police scanner) & batteries
7. Food and water

All of these items can be kept in your home or car (reference State Law regarding the legality of where guns can be kept), so they can be ready when the situation calls for them.

Knives are good for lots of things.

Carry a pocket knife and a hatchet. They’re both useful as weapons and as tools. In most situations a large knife or machete will do everything a hatchet can do or more, so these might make a better choice. They’re also lighter and easier to carry.

Flashlights are good for lots of things.

Keep a decent LED light on you; they’re bright and lightweight. Pocket pen lights are good. A heavy duty mag lite might be good if you’re carrying a bag.

Don’t waste time on batteries.

Focus on replacing any flashlight that isn’t working.  If batteries become available, replace any as needed, but don’t carry extra batteries. They’ll just weigh you down. Keep some rechargeables in case you find a power source, but otherwise make do with what you can find.

Chem lights might be useful for emergencies, but I wouldn’t pack more than one or two and I wouldn’t use them liberally. In movies they’re always throwing them down a hole to see how deep it is; I wouldn’t call that a very practical use.

Fire is a good element to have at your disposal.

In a lot of ways you’ll be better off reverting to caveman practices. Overcoming a dependence on technology (even mechanical devices like firearms) means mastering fire and how to harness it. Learn how to create fire (this is another situation where Boy Scout training comes in handy) and where that fails keep as many fire-making implements on hand as you can.

This is like the hammer rule in that there is elegance in simplicity. If you’ve got a flashlight that’s fine, but fire will also make light. And fire kills things! Maybe if you had a mag lite that could be a bludgeon, but you’re not going to kill a monster with a flashlight (unless it’s a gremlin or something).

Stock up on disposable lighters and matches instead. They’re easier to come by and easier to carry than batteries and flashlights.

You don’t want to have to rely on the night vision of your camcorder to make your way through the dark subway tunnels. I’d much rather have fire there.

Maintain communication.

Forget anything that requires a central node or a recharge station. Walkie-talkies work on common batteries (or rechargeables), they’re lightweight with a limited range and communicate peer to peer.

I know I just said to forget batteries, but if you have to have them for anything, this would be the best use for them. Use these sparingly to conserver power, but remember that batteries die eventually whether you use them or not.

CB’s and ham radios might also work, but be careful who’s listening. They have a longer range and might attract marauders or representatives of the New World Order.

Rudimentary communication like visual signals and forward planning are more useful because they rely on the resourcefulness and organization of the individuals.

This is caveman thinking again: Learn to communicate and coordinate as a unit without depending on technology.

Surviving the Zombie War, Part 6

Now that the apocalypse has happened, it's only a matter of time until there are zombies. So it's best you prepare yourself. Don't want to end up like the twinkie, do you? Everyone thought they'd last forever too. Share these teachings on the internet (until the grid crashes), memorize them and spread the word verbally to as many people as will listen. Hopefully the illustrations will help to break the language barrier, but if not you may have to translate it wherever necessary. This will save lives, so it’s your duty to get the information to everyone you can.

What is the Zombie War? Actually, this term is a misnomer. The zombie outbreak will destroy any government or military infrastructure within a matter of days or weeks. After that the human race will be its own army and anyone left alive will be a soldier.

And the only way to win this war will be to stay alive.

PART SIX:

Weapons

As far as seeking supplies, some might recommend looting a gun store. That’s a bad idea for obvious reasons. Personally, I would go to a place where there’s nobody with guns, even if I’m one of them. Food and water are the higher priority; you can go looking for weapons (if you don’t already have them) once you’re entrenched somewhere with a food supply.

In the Dawn of the Dead remake the guy who holes up in the gun store eventually gets it. He lasts a long time, but eventually he runs out of food. The guys in the mall hold out longer because they have access to food and water.

You can reasonably carry several pistols on your person or in a duffel. Keep a primary and backup handgun on your person at all times.

·        The primary should be a semi-automatic (8 shots or more) with  hammer action and laser sight.

·        Hammer action gives you the option to cock the gun for quicker firing in a pinch and laser sights help you line up head shots faster.

·        Keep a couple of extra magazines on your person and a couple more in your bag if you have one.

·        On laser sights, don’t count on 100% accuracy. Test it out and practice keeping a steady hand. Laser sights don’t guarantee a hit, they just make it easier to line up the shot.

·        I’d keep this strapped to your side like a six-gun. It won’t be in your way as much and it won’t hurt to show anyone you run into that you’re heeled.

·        Your backup should be a compact revolver, preferably a smaller .38 designed for concealability.

·        This is a good weapon for an ankle holster. It can also fit easily into a pocket.

·        Shake down any slide action weapon to work out the kinks; new guns should be fired a couple hundred times to break them in so they don’t jam. Keep it cleaned and oiled.

Keep your safety on.

Gun safety may seem like a frivolous concern, but consider how many casualties are sustained in war-time due to friendly fire. Keep one in the chamber with the safety on. I would also avoid “Safe Action” trigger safety pistols, because they require more pull-back when firing. You want safety until things get dusty, then you need a hair trigger.

Don’t be too stingy with your ammo.

You need to be proficient with every gun you own, and to stay in good form they have to be fired every now and then.

·        Ammo becomes less reliable over time, too, so there’s no use holding onto the same stock too long.

·        If you stumble upon a massive cache of ammo, resist the urge to overstock. I’d use that as an opportunity to get in some much needed target practice and hide the rest. You might be out that way again.

·        Keep your shells if you can. They might be reusable, but I suspect ammunition and empty shells will become a form of currency in the zombie war.

·        People with the means will re-load them and recycle them, so the empty shells will have value.

Don’t weigh yourself down with weapons or supplies.

Running away is still the best defense. You don’t want to get tangled up or trip over your gear when you’re getting mobbed by zombies.

Carry a rifle or a shotgun, but probably not both. It’s best to carry this with you, but when you need yours hands free you can keep it in your bag (if you have one) or get a shoulder-strap.

Bags and straps are tricky in terms of encumbrance. A strap can get caught on something and nearly get you killed (like in Indiana Jones and the Lost Crusade) or it can conveniently catch on something and save your life (like in Jurassic Park 3). I’ve been in situations where a bag was an asset and others where it was a liability. Try it out and get to know what you’re comfortable with. This is an ongoing issue to consider and what works for you now might not work for you later on.

A weapon is also a tool.

And vice versa. The most useful items are those that have a practical purpose both on the battlefield and off it, like a shovel or an aluminum bat.

Most of the greatest weapons you already have in your house. Just grab a hammer! You could ruin someone’s whole world with a hammer. And in some scenarios the human beings who created the monsters might still be around, trying to eliminate the witnesses. A hammer would do a lot of damage to those guys.

Knocking down doors might be just as important as knocking in heads, so anything with a little heft is good to have around. But don’t knock down a door if you’re looking to hole up. Any door you can knock down shouldn’t pose much of a challenge to a zombie horde. But at least with a bat you can clock them in the face as they get through.

ON AUTOMATICS VS. REVOLVERS:

While semi-automatics fire more shots, they’re also more likely to jam and can take longer to reload. If this is your weapon of choice, make sure you have as many spare magazines as possible. It’s much quicker to change the clip of a semi-automatic than it is to reload a revolver, but loading the clip itself is a tedious process.

Revolvers are more reliable and load faster, especially if you have a speedloader. One disadvantage with the revolver is that they can’t hold as many shots and they don’t automatically eject spent cartridges. Clearing the cylinder is an added step that costs you precious time when reloading.  

The mechanics of the revolver are simpler and they’re more reliable. They’re also quicker to fire: Just pull back the hammer and you’re a hair-trigger away from splatsville.

I prefer the auto because you can keep a couple of extra magazines at the ready, which gives you more rounds to work with in a pinch.

The most important thing is to have something that works right and shoots straight, because like my dad says: “If you’re fighting something that takes more than 6 bullets to kill, you’re dead anyway.”