Story Euphoria 14: Prufrock

It’s easy to focus on the literary forms most conventionally associated with storytelling, like novels and short stories, but poetry has its own brand of storytelling power. This week’s podcast features The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. This poem was first introduced to me many years ago by my English teacher, Mr. Stewart of Monticello, and over the years I have delighted in discovering something new every time I revisit it. In a mere 131 lines of delicious, rolling verse, Eliot manages to coax from scattered images and half-formed arguments the entirety of the title character’s life. Download and listen.

If you would like to read this and other poems by T.S. Eliot, you can follow along with the text I used at Project Gutenberg, check out a volume from your local library, or buy a copy for your home library:



Production Notes:
Creator: Amanda Haldy
Theme Music: Nye Nate by Roger Leighton
Incidental Music: Material for a Dream by Josep Anton Garcia Rami.
and Better Than Me by Celeste Astara.

Story Euphoria 13: Myths of Odin

This week, Story Euphoria presents two myths about Odin, the All-Father of the Norse pantheon, as retold by Padraic Colum in The Children of Odin: The Book of Northern Myths. Download and listen!

You can follow along or read more myths at Project Gutenberg. You can also check your local library or get this book for your personal collection:



Production Notes:
Creator: Amanda Haldy
Theme Music: Nye Nate by Roger Leighton
Incidental Music: Transgenesis and Mountain by Megaplasma Factory Recordings
Suspense by Stephen Gashler
and One Good Eye by Doug Tapper.

Story Euphoria 12: The Open Boat

Stephen Crane is often noted as a forerunner of realism, inspiring the spare style of writers like Ernest Hemingway. In this story, Crane draws on a real life experience to explore the strain that so easily appears when modern man is stripped of the comforts of civilization and sees his own death through nature's eyes. Download and listen to The Open Boat, by Stephen Crane.

Production Notes:
Creator: Amanda Haldy
Theme Music: Nye Nate by Roger Leighton
Incidental Music: Fantastic Fly by Electro Wave

If you would like to read more by Stephen Crane, you can peruse the collection I used for free at Project Gutenberg, check out your local library, or buy a copy for yourself:

Story Euphoria 11: A Christmas Carol, Staves 4&5

Happy Holidays from Story Euphoria! We've reached the end of A Christmas Carol. Download and listen to the rousing conclusion!

Production Notes:
Creator: Amanda Haldy
Theme Music: Nye Nate by Roger Leighton
Incidental Music: Magical Mystery by Forsonmeyer
In Somber Dreams We Dwell, pt 2, by Ken Smalts
and Amazing Grace arranged and performed by John Chamley

Story Euphoria 10: A Christmas Carol, Stave 3

Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol continues with Stave 3, The Second of the Three Spirits. Download and listen!

If you missed the first two episodes of this series, check out the previous December podcasts.

Production Notes:
Creator: Amanda Haldy
Theme Music: Nye Nate by Roger Leighton
Incidental Music: Magical Mystery by Forsonmeyer
and a medley on O Come All Ye Faithful, by Larkin Productions

Story Euphoria 9: A Christmas Carol, Stave 2

Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol continues with Stave 2, The First of the Three Spirits. Download and listen!

Production Notes:
Creator: Amanda Haldy
Theme Music: Nye Nate by Roger Leighton
Incidental Music: Magical Mystery by Forsonmeyer
and Jingle Banjos, by G.H. Wikfors

Story Euphoria 8: A Christmas Carol, Stave 1

It's not much of an exaggeration to say "everyone" knows this story. We are surrounded by various adaptations where Muppets or modern misers in Brooklyn step in to fill familiar roles, yet when was the last time (if ever) you read Dickens' original? Our December-long journey through Dickens' timeless tale starts here. Download and listen!

If you want to follow along this month with a text of your own, you can get a digital copy for free from Project Gutenberg, or check your local library. You might also consider making a gift of it this season (maybe to yourself):



Production Notes:
Creator: Amanda Haldy
Theme Music: Nye Nate by Roger Leighton
Incidental Music: Magical Mystery by Forsonmeyer
and God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen performed by Bob Couchenour

Story Euphoria 7: Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen

It’s Thanksgiving weekend, and O. Henry lampoons Tradition and treats us to no less than two feasts, both of which must be, heroically, eaten by one man. Download and listen!

In case you are wondering about the Turkey Trust mentioned in the first paragraph, you can check out this New York Times article for a point of reference.

To read from The Trimmed Lamp, and other Stories of the Four Million for free, visit Project Gutenberg, or else borrow an O. Henry collection from your local library. Of course, you can always dress out your home library with a copy of your own:



Production Notes:
Creator: Amanda Haldy
Theme Music: Nye Nate by Roger Leighton
Incidental Music: Rag by David Alberto

Story Euphoria 6: Longhouse Stories

It’s American Indian Heritage Month, and seeing as how these nations have a rich oral tradition, Story Euphoria brings traditional storytelling to the forefront. Learn how Chipmunk got his stripes, why Rabbit has long ears and how Owl got such big eyes. Download and listen!

If you want more, check out this free online library of American Indian stories and legends.

Production Notes:
Creator: Amanda Haldy
Theme Music: Nye Nate by Roger Leighton
Incidental Music: Flight of the Arrows by Kathy Reynolds

Story Euphoria 5: Rothschild's Fiddle

This week’s podcast features a man who is hardly the sort you’re likely to invite over for tea. Yakov is a coffin maker whose existence is perpetuated—as well as tortured—by the losses he sees all around him. Anton Chekhov was a master at capturing the harsh and ironic voices of the Russian peasantry, and this is certainly the case in Rothschild’s Fiddle. Download and listen!

If you would like to read the same text I used, check it out at Project Gutenberg. Otherwise consider your local library, or snag a collection of Chekhov’s tales for yourself:



Production Notes:
Creator: Amanda Haldy
Theme Music: Nye Nate by Roger Leighton
Incidental Music: Gotta Go by Wicker Basket

Story Euphoria 4: Daughters of the Late Colonel

After the death of their father, Josephine and Constantia must contend with a household haunted by the decades of their lives spent devoted to his care. Even more perplexing than this untrustworthy world, in which they are confined and embattled in the viewpoint of the colonel's children, the two women are confronted with the impossible question of what comes next. Download and listen to The Daughters of the Late Colonel, by Katherine Mansfield!

Production Notes:
Creator: Amanda Haldy
Theme Music: Nye Nate by Roger Leighton
Incidental Music: Emil Waldteufel’s The Skater’s Waltz by Trick T Olly

Story Euphoria 3: Ghost Stories

It's Halloween, and this week's podcast features two old ghost stories with spooks looking for help in the world of the living--and scaring the wits out of their would-be-rescuers in the process. Download and enjoy!

Production Notes:
Creator: Amanda Haldy
Theme Music: Nye Nate by Roger Leighton
Incidental Music: Swamp Music by Lydia Kavina

Story Euphoria 2: A Painful Case

This week I read "A Painful Case," by James Joyce, a short story from The Dubliners that explores the consequences of a well-ordered life. Download and listen!

Production Notes:

Creator: Amanda Haldy

Theme Music: Nye Nate by Roger Leighton

Incidental Music: The Lonesome PicStrum by PicStrum

Story Euphoria 1: The Arabian Nights

This week's podcast features an excerpt from the frame story of the Arabian Nights Entertainments, Aldine Edition, translated by Dr, Jonathan Scott. Right-click download and listen!

Production Notes:

Creator: Amanda Haldy

Theme Music: Nye Nate by Roger Leighton

Incidental Music: Ishtar by Per Rinaldo