Dave Frizzell’s “labor of love” began with writing short stories in junior high school, then evolved into a hobby of writing feature-film scripts.

Today, with technology at his fingertips, the Gainesville man has launched into writing horror-science fiction for downloadable audio dramas.

“I loved old-time radio,” Frizzell said. “I loved ‘The Shadow,’ ‘Green Hornet’ and ‘Little Orphan Annie,’ things like that.”

About a year ago, he founded Necropolis Studio Productions, which has created the series “Age of the Zombies,” about a group of plague survivors in a world of flesh-eating zombies; and “Call Me Jack,” a “speculative historical” take on the murderous campaign of Jack the Ripper.

“Age of the Zombies” was a finalist for an award at Dragon*Con, an annual convention in Atlanta focusing on popular culture surrounding science fiction and fantasy.

“It’s all free. It’s free podcasting,” said Frizzell, a Sam’s Club manager and eight-year Hall County resident, of the shows. “I guess it’s the excitement of creation, of making something that hopefully someone else will enjoy.”

Enthusiasts or just plain curiosity-seekers can check out Necropolis’ work at necropolisstudioprod.com, where they can download episodes and learn more about the cast and crew.

Visitors also can learn more about auditioning as a voice actor or writer.

Frizzell, a native of Daytona Beach, Fla., has assembled a cast and crew from throughout the world, including such far-off places as Ukraine, India and New Zealand.

“I send out the script to cast members. They record their lines and they send them back on MP3 (recordings),” Frizzell said. “They’ll do about three to five takes of each line, and we’ll mix it and put it together.”

Frizzell does the work from a studio in his home.

As for the dark themes in the productions, Frizzell sees his work more as addressing the question of “What if?”

An introduction to Necropolis states on the Web site: “In the recess of your mind lies a dark corner in search of the unknown. ‘What if?’ is the question and your imagination the driving force for the answer.”

Casting has started on a new audio drama, “Omega Road Chronicles,” a sort of “The Twilight Zone” meets “Outer Limits.”

“I have about 24 writers from around the world (working) on scripts,” Frizzell said. “We gave them a title and a brief premise of a story, gave them an example of a script and ... left up to them whether it was a good or bad outcome.”

He has received 13 scripts so far.

“We’re going to start auditions and get those casting roles done,” Frizzell said.

The first episode could be released in February.

Frizzell’s work has become a family affair.

“I enjoy it and I’m glad my dad’s doing it,” said his son, David III, a journalism major at the University of Georgia. “I look forward to doing more (work) with him.”

The 21-year-old has worked on one episode and is working on a script for “Omega Road.” Stephanie Frizzell, 17, a junior at Chestatee High School in northwest Hall, said she has helped her father choose voice actors and plans to help him write scripts.

“I want to be a voice actor too,” she said. “I really like the idea for ‘Call Me Jack,’ so I really want to be involved with that.’ ”
Stephanie said she is having fun working with her dad.

“I’ve always been kind of interested in books, movies and video games that have sort of a dark side to them,” she said. “I like how he pulls that into the stories.”

Dave Frizzell said he enjoys the bonding with his children.

“We’re close anyway,” he said. “We get to talk about different aspects of things and, with the stories, we build the characters up so you really know who the characters are — they’re not just meaningless characters, like in a quick film.”