Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast LitReading - Original Short Stories and Classic Tales

The end of the old year and the start of the new has traditionally been seen as an opportunity to start fresh by setting aside old grievances and moving forward with a clean slate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You've heard it dozens of times, so why not once more. Here's a Visit from St. Nicholas, was it penned by Clement Moore? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For many children, Christmas is the best day of the year. Yet, often it’s for selfish reasons. Some kids like it so much that they might wish that Christmas day might never end. One little girl father explains what it might be like if it was “Christmas Every Day” by William Dean Howells. William Dean Howells was a proponent of literary realism. Called “The Dean of American Letters’” he was a playwright, author, critic andThe Atlantic magazine’s third editor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While this is primarily a story for children, Christmas is the perfect time to explore our inner child and share that spirit with today’s kids. This story originally appeared on my Readastorus podcast. Being a scarecrow is a hard enough job in the best of times, but when winter comes, it can be miserable. Yet, for one scarecrow, a frosty Christmas brought a wonderful opportunity. Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman started writing children’s stories as a teenager to help support her family. She went on to become one of the premier female authors of the late-19th century. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This holiday tale features Reginald, a fictional young-man born to the Victorian upper crust in England, who finds himself at a stuffy family Christmas party and tries to liven things up a bit. Saki, the pen name of British author H.H. Munroe, loved skewering the upper class, wielding the weapon of character’s like Reginald, who appeared in several of his short stories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sometimes we fall so far that we are tempted to cross lines we never would have in better times. Feelings of inadequacy can become particularly acute during the holiday season, when we see so much apparent happiness. Our next story about one woman’s fall from grace and her Christmas redemption. Brilliant short story author, Mary E. Wilkins Freeman ’s "A Stolen Christmas" was published in Harper's Bazaar on December 24, 1887 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Santa and his friends face the most challenging Christmas in their long history as Santa is kidnapped. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When a bad harvest on the Canadian prairie means no Christmas for her cousins, a young woman does the only thing she can to rescue their holiday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When does the end justify the means and who gets to decide? One person's definition of morality may not be shared by others. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This seasonal story features a theme that will resonate with most couple’s in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Beginning his writing career as a newspaper reporter George Ade went on the become a nationally syndicated columnist, playwright, humorist and popular author in the early 20th century. Ade is best know for his series of fables based on American slang. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How many times have you read “A Christmas Carol” or seen it performed. Every year millions of families rewatch classic Christmas movies like “It a Wonderful Life,” "A Christmas Story" or even "Christmas Vacation?" For some reason these traditions never get old and create a sense of comfort in their ritual. There are a few short stories that occupy a similar place in our hearts. Like this special holiday reading of O. Henry’s enduring 1905 tale of unselfish love, "The Gift Of the Magi." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While Halloween is the season for scary stories, their popularity is timeless. That is why this dark tale of revenge still send chills down listeners spines after almost two centuries. The Cask of Amontillado was first published in the November 1946 issue “Godey’s Lady’s Book” which demonstrates the universal fascination with scary stories. Poe understood humanity’s greatest fears and exploited them masterfully, making him the all-time master of the horror genre. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rather than your typical October horror story, This chilling tale is a unique variation on your run-of-the-mill ghost story with a wicked twist at the end from the master of narrative misdirection, O. Henry. O. Henry, whose real name was William Sydney Porter, is considered one of the all-time masters of the short story. Known for his inventive twists, his work spanned many genres from comedy to horror. His short variegated life as draftsman, banker, and even federal convict, gave him a trove of experiences to weave into his tales. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Halloween approaches we begin a time for scarier stories. For this short tale with a chilling twist we turn to prolific 19th century stories Ambrose Bierce for "A Wireless Message." Ambrose Bierce is considered one of the 19th Century finest authors of shockingly realistic short stories. His most famous tale “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is one of our favorites and can be heard at Litreading. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Halloween approaches, here is a bonus scary Litreading from one of my favorite authors. It’s the story of a mysterious death in the 19th-century American wilderness. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Here is a relatively obscure tale of suspense for the scary season. After checking into a small hotel to convalesce for the summer, a man becomes curious about an enigmatic guest who has taken up residence and the other end of the hall. About the story: As I can only read stories in the public domain, you might wonder about the reference to a Hitler mustache. That’s because this story was published in 1934 and the copyright was not renewed. Julius Long was a lawyer and author of a few horror and detective stories. His work is not well known, but several of his stories, like this one, are quite good. He was not a prolific writer and died fairly young at age 47. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This classic horror tale is worthy of a scary season reprise. Humans are rarely content with their lot in life. We long for something more and, all too often, believe that, given the right opportunity, our lives can be made better in an instant through some fortunate event, like winning a lottery. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the owner of a 19th-century home, I often think about those lives lived here before us and what they must have been like. As our homes are so much a part of us, those who have gone before us leave traces of their lives and loves behind. Here is a very short, yet poignant tale of just such an old house. It seems that the author experienced the feeling of something lurking at the edge of human senses, feelings, and powerful emotions. This unique story straddles prose and poetry, as does much of Virginia Woolf’s work. Woolf’s unique writing talents came naturally from her well-read parents. Her father, Sir Leslie Stephen (he was knighted for his literary services), was the creator of the Oxford Dictionary of Biography. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is the scary season without a classic monster story? Like the campy creature features of the 50s and 60s, this story features a tiny annoyance turned into a killing machine. First published in 2020, this story returns to send chills down your spine. Late 19th and early 20th-century science fiction writers were fascinated with the wild and relatively unknown regions of the world, from which they imagined all manner of invaders from insects to lizards, even giant apes. H.G. Wells was a master of using our irrational fears of the unknown to craft masterful stories that still resonate today. In today’s story, the true tales of giant Amazonian ants are magnified into a tale much like a terrestrial “War of the Worlds.” Herbert George Wells was one of the preeminent science fiction writers of his day and his tales, including this one, have been the basis of dozens of movies. 1977’s “Empire of the Ants,” very loosely based on the short story, has the distinction of being one of the very worst. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This dark, thriller deserves to be included in our reprise of classic stories for the scary season. Written by one of America’s greatest writers, Sinclair Lewis, "The Willow Walk" features some fascinating characters, shocking twists, and powerful imagery. It is also one of our longest stories clocking in at over one hour. In addition to winning a Pulitzer Prize, Sinclair Lewis was the first American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1930. Like many great artists, he had a brief and truly brilliant period, after which the quality of his work declined markedly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This scary season, we are republishing our classic tales of horror. What led a man to live an isolated life at his ramshackle cabin, with a boarded up window, in the former American wilderness? What is the tragic story that led him to this doleful existence? Here is his traumatic tale. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Here is one of the greatest gothic horror stories of all time, originally produced for Litreading in 2019. As Halloween approaches, our tales of horror grow more grisly with a classic scary story, The Black Cat by one of America’s greatest devisers of dread, Edgar Allen Poe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We reprise another classic thriller from Litreading's archives for this year's scary season, In this episode, we go on an adventure off the coast of South America, as a famous big game hunter finds himself stranded on an island where hunting has been elevated to a new and frightening level. It’s time to play “The Most Dangerous Game.” "The Most Dangerous Game" has been called "the most popular story ever written in English" and was made into a 1932 movie. It’s author, Richard Connell was one of the most famous American short story writers in the early 20th Century. He was also a screenwriter who won an Academy Award in 1942 for his original screenplay “Meet John Doe.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's the scary season. Here's a unique Japanese ghost story originally recorded for Litreading in 2019. Ghost stories have been told around the world and are often based on mythical creatures or spirits. Those living in the cold, snowy regions of Japan created the legend of a winter spirit called Yuki-Onna (or snow woman) whose beauty allows her to prey on those lost in brutal winter storms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every October, we creep into the scary season on Litreading, digging deep into the trove of classic horror tales from around the world. Some of the most frightening stories of all time were penned more than 100 years ago by authors like Mary Shelly and Edgar Allen Poe. One of the greats of the early 20th century was H.P. Lovecraft, and this is one of his earliest tales. During H. P. Lovecraft’s short life (he died at age 46), he barely eked out an existence by ghostwriting and editing the work of others. Yet, as he struggled financially, he penned in obscurity what would soon be seen as some of the greatest gothic horror stories of all time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How can we best learn life’s secrets during our short lives? Is the best student the one with eyes fixed on the words in a book or focused on the world around them? That is the fundamental question of this profound short tale. Often, it is the shortest stories that impart the most profound notions. This tale is one of many thoughtful, brief short stories penned by late 19th-century American feminist author Kate Chopin. Chopin was a prolific writer, who published more than 100 short stories and novels before her death in 1904. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Imagine waking up in a strange and wonderful place with no memory and no one to guide you. Your world is filled with strange creatures and incredible beauty along with one enigmatic creature who looks similar to you but is still quite different. Here is the sequel to “Extracts from Adam’s Diary.” When Mark Twain (whose real name was Samuel Clemens) wrote “Eve’s Diary” he was in his 80s and had enjoyed and long career as an author, speaker, and publisher. Two years before its publication, Twain had penned “Extracts from Adam’s Diary” (also available on Litreading). Shortly thereafter his wife of 34 years, Olivia (Lily) died. While he never explicitly said as much, many believe this to be his final love letter to her. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What must life have been like in the Garden of Eden for the first man, Adam, and that new creature who suddenly appeared in his idyllic life? Well, left to the imagination of Mark Twain, the story takes a fanciful and funny early 20th-century take on Genesis. Extracts from Adam’s Diary was written in 1904, the final decade of Samuel Clemens's (aka Mark Twain’s) life, and was published as a short book. The character of Adam is obviously based on Twain himself, and Eve was his wife Lily. Shortly after writing this story, Lily died. This may have led to Twain penning “The Diary of Eve,” which was first published in 1905. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Here is a story for those times when you only have a few minutes for a story. While not long itself, this incredibly Kafkaesque parable may leave you pondering its meaning long after you have listened to "Before the Law." Bohemian author Franz Kafka is considered one of the greats. Few storytellers have had their names turned into adjectives. Orwellian, maybe Hitchcockian come to mind. But the best known of these is Kafkaesque, whose meaning is elusive, like that of many Kafka stories. I have my own somewhat religious interpretation of “Before the Law.” I will leave it to you to ponder your own.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This tale flips the traditional "boy meets girl" fairy-tale narrative by introducing a strong-willed nature loving girl who puts her own desires and beliefs ahead of those of a young man she meets in the woods. The child of a rural family doctor in Maine, Sarah Orne Jewett was writing short stories professionally from age 18. Most of her work was purchased by The Atlantic magazine, with the glaring exception of "The White Heron." The story went of the become the title piece of her first book and her most popular story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Human cruelty is nothing new. It has been a demon we have had to battle since the dawn of our kind. Yet, we also have the capacity to defeat our callousness and inhumanity (a term that drips with irony). This short powerful short story illustrates the depth our inner evil.Note: while this story shares a name with a Disney animated movie they are in no way related.One of the true masters of the short story, Guy de Maupassant was born in France in 1850. After serving in the Franco-Prussian War de Maupassant was taken in by well-known French author Gustav Flaubert where he was exposed to some of the greatest writers of the era. His stories were (and still are) so popular that the only Shakespeare has had more stories adapted into movies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Life in the ancient world was often brutal and cruel. Resources were often limited leading to leaders ruthless edicts. In this old Japanese folktale, a young peasant is faced with an impossible decision.Matsuo Basho, one of Japan’s most famous poets, was born 1644 and is known for creating the poetic style that eventually evolved into what are now known as haikus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This witty tale is about a veritable snake-oil salesman who uses his wares to help win the love of a beautiful young ward of an English Baronet. British author P. G. Woodhouse was one of the mid-20th century’s most popular humorists – on both side of the Atlantic. He was also a lyricist and screenwriter. While living in France a the beginning of World War II, he was imprisoned by Germany, for whom he made some controversial broadcasts. After the war he and his wife Edith moved to the United States. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Women’s health issues have long been explained away as emotional issues due to their role as the “weaker sex.” Serious illnesses were diagnosed as nothing more than hysteria and rest was prescribed. This ignorance of women’s real health problems is brilliantly portrayed in this haunting tale of a woman driven to the brink.The author, Charlotte Perkins Gilman actually suffered a horrible case of post partum depression for which she was treated in a similar condescending manner. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How times have changed. Just over a century ago, women were still fighting for the right to vote and the prevailing belief among men was that they were too emotional and fragile to do so. Our next story takes place, ironically, in a fictional Britain in the wake of a great plague. Join me as we travel back to a very different world in Hermann the Irascible by SakiSaki was the nome de plume of British author, H.H. Munro who was a prolific short story writer around the turn of the twentieth century. His wit, insight and style are unmistakable and incredibly enjoyable, even if the subject is a bit dated. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Here is the perfect story for those times when you need to fill a few minutes with entertainment. This tale is a surreal story of a 19th century soldier traversing a dangerous section of the the Great Plains on foot to deliver dispatches from one Old West fort to another.Having served in the Union Army, Ambrose Bierce was one of the greatest authors of short war stories and macabre tales. We feature a number of his stories here on Litreading, including his most famous, “The Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.”In his search for new material about which to write, he crossed the border into Mexico during the Mexican Revolution in the early 20th Century and never returned. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this truly chilling tale, we explore the darkest parts of the human mind - the hidden recesses where derangement resides.A word of caution: this tale is very dark and is not suitable for younger children. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since the dawn of our species, we have been bewildered by about that strange period of altered consciousness that occurs just before, during, and at the end of our daily slumber.Our next story expressively explores this activity that we all share and which still eludes understanding.This piece was more of an observational essay than a classic short story. Its author, Nathaniel Hawthorne was one of the young United States most brilliant fiction writers. Even today, his tales retain as much power as they had all most two centuries ago. His most famous novels were published at the dawn of the 1850s, “The Scarlet Letter” and “The House of the Seven Gables.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When the plans for a top-secret British defense project are stolen and the apparent thief is found dead, the government turns to legendary detective Sherlock Holmes to solve the mystery and find the documents. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marriage takes the simple concept of procreation and turns it into a lifelong commitment that can, at times, lead to unexpected anger and resentment. As Mark Twain once said, "God's great cosmic joke on the human race was requiring that men and women live together in marriage.” Anyone who has ever been married will see parallels to their own partnerships.Despite the fact that Edna Ferber never married, she was an astute observer of people. That led her to great success as a writer. Her 1925 novel, "So Big," was a best-seller and won Ferber a Pulitzer Prize. The book was made into three movies. Her subsequent book, "Show Boat" was turned into a popular musical and her 1952 book "Giant" was the seed for the popular move of the same name starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, and James Dean. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We have been sharing stories with each other since the beginning of time. On occasion these tales have been known to grow a bit tall, as was the case when four elderly seamen spent an evening with a widow sharing a variety of yarns each one wilder than the next. Then the wood adds a tale of her own.Frank Stockton was a 19th century author and humorist with an uncanny knack for poking fun a human failings. One of his most famous stories was "The Lady or the Tiger." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our second tale in this story series by a young Ernest Hemingway picks up a few months after our last story, "The End of Something," which you might want to hear before listening to this tale. A few month's after his breakup, Nick visits his friend Bill as a fall storm hits the Horton’s Bay region.Our second tale in this story series by a young Ernest Hemingway picks up a few months after our last story, The End of Something, which you might want to hear before listening to this tale in which Nick visits his friend Bill as a fall storm hits the Horton’s Bay region Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This story is part of a series of tales written by a young Earnest Hemingway. It’s a “slice of life” story about the conflicting emotions in a relationship between a young couple. “The End of Something” was written when Hemingway was in his early 20s and features a recurring semi-autobiographical character, Nick Adams. The story had its roots in an early romance that began when Hemingway was in his late teens. Nick became a regular part of Hemingway’s early works and is featured in our next tale which follows chronologically, “The Three Day Blow.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Halloween is the season of the macabre and one the greatest authors of dark frightening fiction was Edgar Allen Poe. This season I decided to share the Poe story that frightened me most when I was young.Considered to be the finest American Gothic writer of all time, Edgar Allen Poe loved to pen short stories. Of course, his best known tales are his darkest. This makes sense as Poe himself stated that he often suffered from bouts of depression and madness. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The lure of an illicit affair is not a new facet of human nature. People have been both tempting and tempted throughout time. But for a sudden twist of fate, our next story might have ended badly for everyone involved.Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was a 19th-century French author considered one the era greatest short storyist spinning realistic tales of the human condition Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Racism has always been an ugly part of the human condition. Yet, the horrors of racism in America are most undeniably illustrated by the treatment of African-Americans, particularly in the South. Here is just a small example of the pain caused by racial hatred in antebellum Louisiana.I have presented the story exactly as written, as the author, Kate Chopin, lived during this terrible period in US history. Just five years after the end of the Civil War, Chopin married a French-American and lived with him for more than a decade in Louisiana. While Chopin’s brilliant writing is as powerful today as it was more than a century ago, it, like so many other tales of the time, focused on the suffering of white characters, ignoring the true cruelty suffered by their slaves. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We aren't the first generation to be frustrated by advancing technology. More than a century ago, new fangled products were making people crazy like this gentleman who supposedly related our next hilarious tale Mark Twain.Mark Twain (the pen name of Samuel Clemens) had an unmatched knack for taking a normal story and turning it into a hilariously funny tall tale. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are those for whom work becomes an obsession to the detriment of their personal lives. The businessman in our next story gives new meaning to the modern term “workaholic.”William Henry Porter, better known as O. Henry led a short albeit intriguing life. Before he died in New York City in 1910 at age 47, Porter was a pharmacist, sheep ranch hand, draftsman, banker, and prolific author of short stories. Oh, and he was also a convicted embezzler who served time in federal prison. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Virginia Woolf demonstrates how simply focusing on one thing has the power to unleash torrents of thoughts and memories.Born Adeline Virginia Stephen in 1882, British author Virginia Woolf went on to become an icon of modern 20th century literature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Life has a nasty habit of throwing us curves that we can either cause us long-term misery or force us to make the best of a bad situation as illustrated in this very short tale.Anton Chekhov was undoubtedly brilliant. A physician by trade, his premier talent was writing. Chekhov had a unparalleled gift for understanding the depths of human emotions and sharing them first through his short stories and later, his plays. Chekhov once said “Medicine is my lawful wife and literature is my mistress.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices