Just over a month has passed since we heard that Audio Up Media, iHeartMedia, and Lee Metzger were teaming up for a podcast adaptation of the Stephen King short story Strawberry Spring, which was expected to be released sometime “this fall”. Well, the first day of fall is still three weeks away, but the first two episodes of Strawberry Spring are already available to listen to via the iHeartRadio app and across all podcast streaming platforms.
Further episodes of the podcast will be released every Wednesday for the next six weeks, bringing the adaptation to a total of eight episodes.
First published in a 1968 issue of Ubris magazine and later included in King’s 1978 short story collection Night Shift (buy a copy HERE), Strawberry Spring is described as an “unrelenting, modern day Jack the Ripper story”. The podcast follows
a determined reporter who hears the name “Springheel Jack” while listening to the radio, rekindling memories of a time when he was a student at New Sharon College during the sixties revolution. At this moment, he is reminded of the first time he heard of the bloody serial killer. This dark mystery quickly unfolds to a hunt for a killer, as our hero will stop at nothing to track down the vicious murderer even if it threatens his own survival. “Springheel Jack” is back to taunt New Sharon with fresh kills, each murder more violent than the last.
Written and directed by Lee Metzger, the audio adaptation has a voice cast that includes Garrett Hedlund, Milo Ventimiglia, Herizen F. Guardiola, Sydney Sweeney, Ken Marino, Al Madrigal, and Brec Bassinger.
Metzger produced Strawberry Spring with Phillip Alberstat.
I will be listening to Strawberry Spring, but I’ll probably wait until all eight episodes are released so I can “binge listen” to them instead of waiting a week between each installment.