I find myself lately with a long commute on my hands.  What to do with all that wasted road time?  Listening to music (or, God forbid, talk radio) can get tiresome after a while.  Audio books to the rescue!  And then an unexpected package arrives - a mysterious CD.  What the heck is Space: 1889 "Red Devils"?  Great Scott, that's Anthony "C3PO" Daniels on the cover!  Upon further inspection, I discover that space travel started in the Victoria Era; that ironclad "ether ships" ply the vacuum of space; and that Britain and the great powers of Europe have divvied up the planets in yet another imperialistic contest.

Based on a role-playing game created by Frank Chadwick, Space: 1889 "Red Devils" is a beautifully produced 70-minute audio drama featuring, among other thespians, Anthony Daniels of Star Wars fame.  Written by Jonathan Clements (who happens to be one of the world's foremost experts on Japanese animation), "Red Devils" opens with the ether ship Perbindesh, led by Captain James Carter (Daniels) on a voyage to return Martian Prince Skerrun (Tam Williams) to his homeworld.  Other passengers include Professor Golightly (Ian Brooker), a slightly addled academic who knows more about Mars than nearly any human; his courageous daughter Georgina (Jo Castleton); plus Sir Henry Routledge (Ivor Danvers), newly appointed governor over Britain's Martian interests, and his Asian ward Charlotte Wong (Katarina Olsson), who chafes over her perpetual second-class status as a non-Caucasian and a woman.  Perhaps the most important passenger of all is neither a human nor a Martian, but a rock: an "arena stone," a priceless artifact that lies at the center of Martian culture.  Pursued by rival Germans and enterprising privateers, and infected with a traitor, will the Perbindesh arrive safely on Mars - or be blown out of the skies?

Space: 1889 "Red Devils" is a delightful homage to the golden age of adventure fiction, which includes the works of such greats as Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, H. Rider Haggard and Edgar Rice Burroughs.  The recording quality and sound effects are top-notch; the story (although peopled with clichéd characters) is a rip-roaring steampunk soap opera, a "scientific romance" in the truest sense of the term.  Anyone who enjoys retro-sci-fi will get a big kick out of Space: 1889.  
