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The Spider #89 Audiobook
The Spider and the Slave Doctor
by Norvell W. Page writing as Grant Stockbridge
Read by Nick Santa Maria
In the name of Humanity, young Doctor Gilmuir bravely faced execution for a ghastly murder he didn’t commit! And Richard Wentworth, the only man who could save him, must first crush the slaves of the Man in the Red Mask — the master-killer whose nation-wide terror plague was calculated to monopolize all life-giving drugs! The Spider walks through thirty-six breathless, death-strewn hours!
A deeply religious man, Norvell W. Page began infusing his latter Spider stories with undercurrents of a strange spiritual quest. A Tibetan monk became a recurring character, issuing prophecies. Psychic phenomenon became a constant theme. Jesus was often evoked. In the 100th novel, Death and The Spider, Wentworth battles the Grim Reaper himself to rescue President Roosevelt. Just when the series couldn’t get any weirder, it ended like a fever breaking.
The Spider magazine folded with the October, 1943 issue, battered and bloodied by the onslaught of the new comic book superheroes, wartime paper shortages which led to wholesale cancellations of pulp magazines, and the tragic death of Norvell W. Page’s first wife, Audrey. He coped by abandoning fiction altogether and becoming a writer for the Office of War Information, later working for Washingtonian entities ranging from the Atomic Energy Commission to various Presidential Commissions. He died in 1961, never imagining that the Spider would birth a weird posterity.
Nick Santa Maria breathes life into the Spider in The Spider and the Slave Doctor. Originally published in The Spider magazine, February, 1941.
Chapter 1: On the Trail
Chapter 2: Murder’s Sideline
Chapter 3: Murder’s Dividends
Chapter 4: Poison Pool
Chapter 5: The Net Tightens
Chapter 6: Surrender
Chapter 7: Crime Marches On!
Chapter 8: Nita Chooses
Chapter 9: The Spider Strikes!
Chapter 10: Treachery
Chapter 11: Death’s Inspection
Chapter 12: Death Watch
Chapter 13: Death Dance
Chapter 14: Twenty-four Hours
Nick Santa Maria Nick was born early in life in Brooklyn, NY. His theatrical background is based in Comedy Improv. He was a long standing member of the late lamented Miami based, Mental Floss, where he served as head writer/composer. From there he began his career in commercials, voice-overs, TV, Film, and theatre. He has performed in many roles on the stage including his award winning turn as Nick in Over The River And Through The Woods, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, as Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls, in The 25th Annual Putnam Country Spelling Bee as Mr. Panch (3-D Theatricals), Mr. Bromhead in No Sex Please, We’re British at The Norris, and as Pseudolus in, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at the Norris Theatre. Television: The Buffalo Bill Show, B.J. Stryker, and two Disney Christmas Specials. Off Broadway: Writer/Composer/Performer on Secrets Every Smart Traveler Should Know, Soundtrack on RCA Victor. Broadway: Vince Fontaine in Tommy Tune’s production of Grease. He also appeared in every domestic company of Mel Brooks’ The Producers, understudying everyone from Nathan Lane and Jason Alexander, to Tony Danza and David Hassellhoff. He was the original Genie in Disney’s Aladdin, a Musical Spectacular, soundtrack on Disney Records. Nick is a resident of Los Angeles and is currently writing a book about classic film comedians, Nick’s been a long time film historian, and has written several articles on the topic.
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