The Classic Tales Podcasts and Audiobooks

After wrapping up The Gods of Mars , B.J. Harrison and The Classic Tales Premium Podcast bring us David Copperfield , by Charles Dickens .  This book was released as a full novel in 1850, after being published serially the two previous years.  The actual title of the book is, The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery (Which He Never Meant to Publish on Any Account) .  As you probably know, Dickens got paid by the word. Dickens said that, like many parents, he had a favorite child, "and his name is David Copperfield ."  It is also B.J.'s all time favorite book.  If you ask him today, "What's your favorite book?"   He'll say, " David Copperfield, of course!"  If you'd asked him the same question ten years ago, he would have said, "Why, it is David Copperfield !"  If you ask him in five years.... well OK.  You get the idea. Why is this his favorite boo...

Cover from the first edition This week, we lampoon detectives the world over with " The Stolen White Elephant ," by Mark Twain!  This story was written in 1882, a time when detective stories were all the rage (think Edgar Allan Poe's " The Murders in the Rue Morgue ").  Mark Twain never missed an opportunity to poke fun at anything or anyone. B.J. Harrison has been thinking about producing this story for about three years. I take full credit (not really) for nudging him on a recent facebook post. The story is about a white elephant meant as a gift to the Queen of England from the Emperor of India.  Somehow, this animal, we'll call him Jumbo for the sake of brevity, disappears somewhere in New Jersey, and hilarity ensues.   Does this sound silly?  That's because this story is a farce, a light dramatic work in which highly improbable plot situations, exaggerated characters, and often slapstick elements are used for humorous effect .*  In thes...

This week, we are featuring a recent Fantasy work by Jeremy Laszlo, called The Choosing .  It is the first book in a series called The Blood and Brotherhood Saga . I am going to borrow the description of this book from the publishers.  It sounds very interesting.  Here it is: Seth is a young man torn by fear and indecision. His life no longer in his hands, he fears an uncertain future where the only certainty is a life of servitude to the kingdom. Fortunately for Seth, he is not alone. His brother, Garret, too attends the choosing ceremony where their fates will be decided. Together, the twins make their way to the castle city of Valdadore for the choosing ceremony, but along the way, Seth notices a strange new trend in his life. Time after time, strange circumstances befall him in what others might call a coincidence, but Seth knows something else is amiss and begins mentally cataloging each new and strange event. Learning his past is all a lie, Seth be...

Last Friday, marked the 6th anniversary of B.J. Harrison's The Classic Tales Podcast .  This gives me the perfect opportunity to write about some of my favorite stories he has produced during the many years I've listened to the Podcast. I am trying to remember what the first story I listened to was, I think it was Arthur Conan Doyle's " The Speckled Band ."  Although I had read that story a bunch of times, B.J. really made it come alive to me.  Ever since then, each time I read a Sherlock Holmes story, it is his version of the sleuth I hear in my head. Also, if you haven't heard B.J.'s  Jeeves and Wooster you are so missing out.  But don't worry, he has bundled all of the books and stories he's recorded by P.G. Wodehouse for you.  You will love every minute of it and be in constant stitches! But getting to listen to some of my favorite stories is only part of what makes me love this podcast.  There are so many wonderful books and short stori...

This week marks the release of the The Classic Tales Premium Podcast .   This means we get THREE episodes a week, when you count the regular Classic Tales Podcast . BJ Harrison will be releasing two episodes each week of the Premium Podcast as well as the Friday edition of the Classic Tales Podcast we all love and look forward to each week. BJ was really intimidated about the prospect of committing to produce three podcasts a week, but it looks like it will work out just fine.   Just make sure to subscribe and tell all your friends to do so too! How is he managing to produce three podcasts a week, you ask?   He’s figured out a way to " punch record " which basically erases the editing process, so he can get a great recording by using a little more care.  Lucky us! The first work BJ is producing for the Classic Tales Premium Podcast is The Gods of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs .   This is the second installment of Burroughs’ famo...

This week, we start on the sequel to Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland.   Published in 1781, many critics thought Through the Looking Glass was more mathematical and cerebral than Wonderland.   Thankfully, the story had passed down to us through the generations, so we can make our own judgments on the playfulness and darkness in the story. The story opens six months after Alice’s first adventure, on a cold and snowy November day.   Alice is playing with Dinah’s kittens and pondering, like only she can, on what the other side of her mirror might be like.   She gets up on the mantelpiece and finds that she can easily step through the mirror and find out.   On the other parlor, she reads, with the aid of the mirror, a poem called "The Jabberwocky."   As you listen to BJ read this poem, enjoy the level of darkness he puts into his narration of the poem.   Did you know that his favorite version of this is from a Muppets episode ?   He’s got...

The Arabian Nights originated in the oral folk tales originating from India, Persia (Iran), Iraq, Egypt, and Turkey among others. The original manuscript is now lost, consisting of a ninth-century text translated into Persian called Hazar Afsanah (A Thousand Tales). By the end of the thirteenth century, the principal tales were compiled and written down. The book’s Arabic title means Thousand and One Nights . Over the years, the collections anonymous editors added new tales to justify the title. The French scholar Antoine Galland was the man instrumental in bringing the tales to Western Culture, releasing his collection of Arabian Tales in 1704. The text used for the Classic Tales Podcast releases of the Arabian Nights tales are an English translation by H.W. Dulken, which is based on Galland’s sweeping translation. There are several other remarkable translations to date, perhaps the most notable being Sir Richard Burton’s translation (1885-1888) . The Burton tra...