June 21st, 2010
by Ambrose Bierce
1 hour, 14 minutes
Unabridged Story Collection
1891, 1894, 1909
Susie Berneis and Robert Bethune narrate five stories by Bierce, full of vivid characters, precise and evocative language, surprises and suspense.
An Occurrence on Owl Creek Bridge
A life, flashing before the eyes, and a miraculous escape from certain death, suddenly becomes–something else entirely. Bierce’s strangest and most famous fantasy. A French film adaptation of “Owl Creek Bridge” won the Academy Award for short film in 1963, and also became the hightest-rated episode of The Twilight Zone.
Staley Fleming’s Hallucination
The ghost of a Newfoundland dog with a white forefoot–and hungry for revenge!
The Damned Thing
A wild, ferocious animal determined to drive a man off his land-or or drive him insane, once he realizes the strange truth about the danger he faces.
Diagnosis of Death
A doctor whose incredibly accurate diagnoses are not at all conducive to a long and healthy life.
The Boarded Window
A window forever boarded up; a love forever gone.
Written a century ago, these stories still capture the imagination with vivid, precise language that bites–and may even draw blood. This Freshwater Seas production presents these five classics performed by Susie Berneis and Robert Bethune, with subtle musical underscoring to enhance and enrich Bierce’s words.
Note: The podcast includes only “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.” All five stories are included in the downloadable bundles.
Originally for sale on June 21, 2005, and released free with a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial License five years later. See the Mission page for why.
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Tags: 1-2 hours, 1891, 1894, 1909, 19th Century AD, 2005 Release, 2010 Release, 20th Century AD, Ambrose Bierce, Fantasy, Fiction, Free, Horror, Podcast, Popular Author, SF Story, Speculative, Susie Berneis and Robert Bethune (readers), The Longer Stuff, War
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June 21st, 2010
Mark Twain’s Mark Twain Lies! essays, concluded. This one’s “On the Decay of the Art of Lying,” while the previous was “My First Lie (and How I Got Out of It).”
(This post exists solely for the benefit of the podcast. See initial entry for more info and download options or you are likely to be eaten by a Grue.)
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June 21st, 2010
by Mark Twain
37 minutes, 26 seconds
Two Unabridged Humor Essays
1882,1899
Includes the Telltale Weekly comedic recordings of Mark Twain’s “My First Lie (And How I Got Out of It)” and “On the Decay of the Art of Lying.”
From “My First Lie (and How I Got Out of It):”
“As I understand it, what you desire is information about ‘my first lie,
and how I got out of it.’ I was born in 1835; I am well along, and my
memory is not as good as it was. If you had asked about my first truth
it would have been easier for me and kinder of you, for I remember that
fairly well. I remember it as if it were last week. The family think it
was the week before, but that is flattery…”
From “On the Decay of the Art of Lying:”
“Observe, I do not mean to suggest that the custom of lying has suffered any decay or interruption–no, for the Lie, as a virtue, a principle, is eternal; the lie, as a recreation, a solace, a refuge in time of need, the fourth Grace, the tenth Muse, man’s best and surest friend, is immortal, and cannot perish from the earth while this club remains. My complaint simply concerns the decay of the art of lying…”
Two humorous essays/speeches read by Alex Wilson.
Originally for sale on June 21, 2005, and released free with a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial License five years later. See the Mission page for why.
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Tags: 1882, 1899, 19th Century AD, 2005 Release, 2010 Release, 30-60 minutes, Alex Wilson (reader), Essay, Free, Humor, Mark Twain, Nonfiction, Podcast, Popular Author, The Longer Stuff
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June 14th, 2010
by Oscar Wilde
25 minutes, 49 seconds
Unabridged Fairy Tale
1899
Oscar Wilde’s fable about the true meaning of happiness (and, um, just a wee bit of antisemitism).
Originally for sale on June 14, 2005, and released free with a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial License five years later. See the Mission page for why.
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Tags: 15-30 minutes, 1899, 2005 Release, 2010 Release, 20th Century AD, Alex Wilson (reader), Fables and Fairy Tales, Fiction, Free, Oscar Wilde, Podcast, Popular Author, SF Story, Short Story, Speculative
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June 7th, 2010
Percy Shelley’s Present at a Hanging & An Arrest, concluded.
(This post exists solely for the benefit of the podcast. See initial entry for more info and download options. These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.)
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June 7th, 2010
by Percy Shelley
43 minutes, 21 seconds
Unabridged Formal Poem
1820
Shelley at his most playful (starting with the dedication to his wife, Frankenstein author Mary Shelley: “On her objecting to the following poem, upon the score of its containing no human interest.”), combining Greek and Egyptian myths into a fanciful meditation on creativity.
A longform poem of the fantastic, read by Alex Wilson.
Originally for sale on June 7, 2005, and released free with a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial License five years later. See the Mission page for why.
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Tags: 1820, 19th Century AD, 2005 Release, 2010 Release, 30-60 minutes, Alex Wilson (reader), Fantasy, Formal Verse, Free, Percy Shelley, Podcast, Poetry, Speculative, The Longer Stuff
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May 31st, 2010
by James Joyce
21 minutes, 58 seconds
Unabridged Short Story
1914
“It was Joe Dillon who introduced the Wild West to us. He had a little library made up of old numbers of The Union Jack , Pluck and The Halfpenny Marvel . Every evening after school we met in his back garden and arranged Indian battles. He and his fat young brother Leo, the idler, held the loft of the stable while we tried to carry it by storm; or we fought a pitched battle on the grass. But, however well we fought, we never won siege or battle and all our bouts ended with Joe Dillon’s war dance of victory…”
The second coming-of-age story in James Joyce’s collection Dubliners, classic tales dealing thematically with miscommunication, isolation, class differences, and emotional paralysis in Joyce’s Ireland.
Originally for sale on May 31, 2005, and released free with a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial License five years later. See the Mission page for why.
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Tags: 15-30 minutes, 1914, 2005 Release, 2010 Release, 20th Century AD, Alex Wilson (reader), Fiction, Free, James Joyce, Podcast, Popular Author, Short Story
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May 10th, 2010
by James Joyce
23 minutes, 51 seconds
Unabridged Short Story
1914
“There was no hope for him this time: it was the third stroke. Night after night I had passed the house (it was vacation time) and studied the lighted square of window: and night after night I had
found it lighted in the same way, faintly and evenly. If he was dead, I thought, I would see the reflection of candles on the darkened blind for I knew that two candles must be set at the head
of a corpse. He had often said to me: ‘I am not long for this world,’ and I had thought his words idle. Now I knew they were true…”
The first story in James Joyce’s collection Dubliners, classic tales dealing thematically with miscommunication, isolation, class differences, and emotional paralysis in Joyce’s Ireland.
Originally for sale on May 10, 2005, and released free with a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial License five years later. See the Mission page for why.
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Tags: 15-30 minutes, 1914, 2005 Release, 2010 Release, 20th Century AD, Alex Wilson (reader), Fiction, Free, James Joyce, Podcast, Popular Author, Short Story
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May 5th, 2010
of The United States of America
27 minutes, 29 seconds
Unabridged Historical Document
1787
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America…”
Read by John Jennens.
Originally for sale on May 5, 2005, and released free with a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial License five years later. See the Mission page for why.
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Tags: 15-30 minutes, 1787, 18th Century AD, 2005 Release, 2010 Release, Free, Government, John Jennens (reader), Law, Nonfiction, Podcast, United States of America, US History
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April 26th, 2010
by Robert Frost
45 minutes, 56 seconds
Unabridged Lyrical Poetry Collection
1913
A Boy’s Will is the first poetry collection by Robert Frost. Includes 32 poems, painting pictures of New England and tackling Frost’s famously grand themes of isolation, death, coming of age (in literature and in life), and the world’s natural spirituality.
Part I:
Into My Own
Ghost House
My November Guest
Love and a Question
A Late Walk
Stars
Storm Fear
Wind and Window Flower
To a Thawing Wind
A Prayer in Spring
Flower-Gathering
Rose Pagonias
Asking for Rosas
Waiting–Afield at Dusk
In a Vale
A Dream Pang
In Neglect
The Vantage Point
Mowing
Going for Water |
|
Part II
Revelation
The Trial by Existence
In Equal Sacrifice
The Tuft of Flowers
Spoils of the Dead
Pan with Us
The Demiurge’s Laugh
Part III
Now Close the Windows
A Line-Storm Song
October
My Butterfly
Reluctance
|
Note: The podcast includes only the first third of the collection. The complete, unabridged poems are included in the downloadable bundles.
Read by Alex Wilson.
Originally for sale on April 26, 2005, and released free with a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial License five years later. See the Mission page for why.
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Tags: 1913, 2005 Release, 2010 Release, 20th Century AD, 30-60 minutes, Alex Wilson (reader), Formal Verse, Free, Podcast, Poetry, Poetry Collection, Popular Author, Robert Frost, The Longer Stuff
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