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Alice Through the Looking Glass - Part 1 (of 4)
06 Apr 2022
00:52:01
This week, we begin a new Tale in a familiar world - we return with Alice to Wonderland in 'Through The Looking Glass' by Lewis Carroll. Although the first book, 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' is often most remembered, it was actually after this sequel was published that interest in Wonderland took off. Expect strange occurrences, baffling logic, fantastical characters and maybe even a Jabberwocky...
Books - (buying books from our Bookshop.org shop helps support this channel while also supporting local bookshops, at no cost to you): Books by our favourite authors - https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/the-well-told-tale
This week, we have the dramatic final part of "The Picture of Dorian Gray". Dorian's conscience has been starting to prick at him, but a more pressing danger awaits him. James Vane, the brother of actress Sybil Vane, who Dorian abandoned so many years ago, has finally tracked him down, hell bent on vengeance. What will James Vane do when he catches Dorian? Will Dorian's conscience win out? And what will happen to the picture of Dorian Gray?
Last week, Dorian committed an act he cannot come back from - he murdered Basil in cold blood after showing him his portrait, the true face of his depravity. After all these years of degradation, does he still have a conscience to trouble him?
Last week, Dorian locked away his portrait from prying eyes, and we learned of his indulgences over the years. Free from the visible signs of his degradation, he is happy to indulge every vice and hide behind his ever-present beauty, but how long can he keep up this pretence?
Dorian is getting crueller by the day, and with every transgression depicting itself in the painted face of his portrait, Dorian has decided to store the canvas away where it can't be viewed accidentally. But his own face remains untainted. What will Dorian do, knowing that his misdeeds are never going to be visible to others?
Last week was a watershed moment for the innocence of Dorian's youth. His idealised love for Sybil Vane ended in terrible circumstances and now, Dorian's soul has been irrevocably changed. So too, has his portrait. To Dorian's disbelief, the corruption that has crept in under Lord Henry's tutelage has not changed his perfect beauty, but his picture now bares a cruel smile. He has shielded the portrait from view, but what will he do when a friend wants to see it?
This week, we return to Victorian London's seedy theatrical world to learn more about the relationship between Dorian Gray and young actress Sybil Vane. Dorian is keen to show Sybil and her sublime talent off to his friends Lord Henry and Basil, and all seems well. However, this is where our Tale takes a dark turn...
I would like to thank my patrons: Toni A, Joshua Clark, Maura Lee, Jane, John Bowles, Glen Thrasher, Ruairi, Cade Norman, Chris, Britt and Silja Tanner.
Dorian has been enjoying living life away from its sheltered beginning. Following Lord Henry's teachings, he has been going regularly to the theatre over the last several weeks and has met - and got engaged to - the actress Sybil Vane, who refers to him as Prince Charming. Is all this moving a bit too fast?
I would like to thank my patrons: Toni A, Joshua Clark, Maura Lee, Jane, John Bowles, Glen Thrasher, Ruairi, Cade Norman, Chris, Britt and Silja Tanner.
Last week, we saw the completion of Basil's portrait of Dorian Gray. Lord Henry Wotton has taken the impressionable youth under his wing, much to Basil's dismay. Lord Henry was taken with the picture, which he mused had captured Dorian at the peak of his beauty, and opined on how unfortunate it was that the picture would stay perfect while Dorian himself degenerated with age, and not the other way around. Leaving philosophical musings aside, Lord Henry has determined it's high time Dorian got a taste of everything debauched Victorian society can offer a young man...
I would like to thank my patrons: Toni A, Joshua Clark, Maura Lee, Jane, John Bowles, Glen Thrasher, Ruairi, Cade Norman, Chris, Britt and Silja Tanner.
Last time, we met Lord Henry Wotton, a hedonistic aristocrat, and his friend Basil Hallward, an artist who is infatuated with his muse, Dorian Gray. They discussed Dorian, a youth whose beauty has made a considerable impression on Basil, but he is reticent to let Lord Henry meet him, as he considers he might prove a corrupting influence on young Dorian. However, Lord Henry is about to get his way, and the eponymous portrait of Dorian Gray is about to be completed...
I would like to thank my patrons: Toni A, Joshua Clark, Maura Lee, Jane, John Bowles, Glen Thrasher, Ruairi, Cade Norman, Chris, Britt and Silja Tanner.
We start the New Year with a new Tale from one of the English language's greatest writers, 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' by Oscar Wilde. Wilde produced many plays, poems and short stories in his illustrious career, but this is his only novel, or rather, novella. He was feted in late Victorian society for his biting wit, but this story holds a much darker mirror up to the society he satirised so well.
I would like to thank my patrons: Toni A, Joshua Clark, Maura Lee, Jane, John Bowles, Glen Thrasher, Ruairi, Cade Norman, Chris, Britt and Silja Tanner.
This Christmas week, we have a charming story from one of the world's greatest writers, Leo Tolstoy, called 'Where Love Is, God Is'. Arguably best known for his epic novels such as 'War and Peace' and 'Anna Karenina', Tolstoy did write a number of short stories, including this one, first published in 1885. This Tale is known by a few different names in the English translation, including 'Martin the Cobbler' for its protagonist, a humble shoe maker trying to become a more virtuous man.
I would like to thank my patrons: Toni A, Joshua Clark, Maura Lee, Jane, John Bowles, Glen Thrasher, Ruairi, Cade Norman, Chris, Britt and Silja Tanner.
To celebrate our 100th episode, we asked our high tier Patrons to choose a poem, and they have selected Samuel Taylor Coleridge's masterwork "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." A Tale of life, death, tragedy, and consequences, this is an expansive story as told to an unwitting wedding guest by the ancient mariner himself.
If you'd like to support The Well Told Tale, and get access to exclusive Patron-only Tales, please visit us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thewelltoldtale
Books - (buying anything on Amazon through this link helps support the podcast): The Rime of the Ancient Mariner - https://amzn.to/3GnLLO0 Samuel Taylor Coleridge: The Major Works - https://amzn.to/3rR9phM Kubla Khan: A Pop-Up Version of Coleridge's Classic - https://amzn.to/3Ghg09e
I would like to thank my patrons: Toni A, Joshua Clark, Maura Lee, Jane, John Bowles, Glen Thrasher, Ruairi, Cade Norman, Chris, Britt and Silja Tanner.
This week, we have a classic short story from W. W. Jacobs, the gothic horror classic "The Monkey's Paw." After its publication in 1902, it captured the public imagination, and was made into a film five times in the first half of the 20th century. More recently, it provided the inspiration for the Stephen King novel which he said scares him the most, 'Pet Sematary'. Much like the work it inspired, this Tale still serves as a reminder to be very careful what you wish for...
I would like to thank my patrons: Toni A, Joshua Clark, Maura Lee, Jane, John Bowles, Glen Thrasher, Ruairi, Cade Norman, Chris, Britt and Silja Tanner.
Last week, we learned of the horrific backstory of our protagonist Nathaniel. Scarred by the death of his father in what would appear to be an accident involving the lawyer Coppelius, he has become convinced that this Coppelius is The Sandman, and worse still, that he has followed him to his university town in the guise of the trader Coppola. The idea is driving him insane, much to the concern of his love Clara and her brother Lothaire. Will he continue his dissent into madness? Is there any truth to the idea of the Sandman twisting his mind? Or will Clara be able to bring him back from the brink?
I would like to thank my patrons: Toni A, Joshua Clark, Maura Lee, Jane, John Bowles, Glen Thrasher, Ruairi, Cade Norman, Chris, Britt and Silja Tanner.
This week we bring you the start of the dark fairy tale, "The Sandman," by E. T. A. Hoffman, written originally in German in 1816. The original legend of the Sandman most likely began in Scandinavia, and told of a benign being who would bring sleep to children by throwing sand in their eyes. This far darker take on the legend may well have inspired Neil Gaiman's masterful graphic novels, with a Sandman who is anything but child-friendly...
I would like to thank my patrons: Toni A, Joshua Clark, Maura Lee, Jane, John Bowles, Glen Thrasher, Ruairi, Cade Norman, Chris, Britt and Silja Tanner.
This week, still in the Halloween spirit, we bring you what is widely regarded as the first modern vampire Tale, a short story called 'The Vampyre' by John Polidori. It is notable as the second most famous piece of literature to come out of the legendary ghost story competition held between Byron and Shelley and their friends over a wet weekend on the shores of Lake Geneva. That contest gave us 'Frankenstein' as well as this, the first story to fuse together various and disparate folk tales of the vampyre and the undead, and give us a modern narrative that would go on to inspire Bram Stoker and a host of other gothic horror writers.
I would like to thank my patrons: Toni A, Joshua Clark, Maura Lee, Jane, John Bowles, Glen Thrasher, Ruairi, Cade Norman, Chris, Britt and Silja Tanner.
We return, this Halloween week, to the twisted imagination of one of our favourite writers here at The Well Told Tale, Edgar Allan Poe. Unlike many of his other gothic Tales, his focus in this short story is not on the fantastic, or the phantasmagorical, but the terrifying reality with which the protagonist is presented. Published at the end of 1842, 'The Pit and the Pendulum' is a re-imagining of the horrors that faced those persecuted by the Spanish Inquisition. What it lacks in historical fact, it makes up for in spine-tingling terror...
This week, we again bring you three Tales in one - three of Rudyard Kipling's 'Just So' stories. Kipling used to tell these fanciful origin stories to his daughter every night, and she would insist that he told them each time in the same way, 'just so.' We have already heard about the camel, the whale and the rhinoceros; after these three there will be another six we may come back to, but for now, let us hear 'The Elephant's Child', 'The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo' and 'The Beginning of the Armadillos'.
Today, our story is another classic fairy tale, 'Beauty and the Beast'. Although it has taken inspiration from much older stories, like the myth of Psyche and Cupid, it first appeared in print after Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve wrote a version. It became more famous still when the author of many French fairy tales and morality stories, Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, abridged this earlier version, and gave us the Tale we read today. There are some notable differences between this story and the famous Disney version - for example, a Cinderella-esque inclusion of some ugly sisters - but it will delight fans of Disney and lovers of original fairy tales alike.
Last week, we learned of the horrors that befell the Gardner farm after a meteorite landed near its well, emitting a strange colour that defied description. The produce has grown large, taking on this same strange colour, but is foul to the taste. The animals are growing grey and brittle, falling apart, and the trees sway even when there is no wind. The Gardner family have gone missing, mad, or died, leaving only Nahum Gardner. What fate will befall him?
Books - (buying anything on Amazon through this link helps support the podcast): The Complete Fiction of H. P. Lovecraft - https://amzn.to/2HdS1PD H. P. Lovecraft: Tales of Horror - https://amzn.to/36OnMri
This week, we journey once again into the nightmarish world of H. P. Lovecraft with his sci-fi work from 1927, "The Colour Out Of Space". This was Lovecraft's own personal favourite of his short stories, and one of the best examples of his particular blend of science fiction and horror. As with many of his stories, it is as much about what you don't see as what you do. How can you avoid a horror you cannot describe?
Books - (buying anything on Amazon through this link helps support the podcast): The Complete Fiction of H. P. Lovecraft - https://amzn.to/2HdS1PD H. P. Lovecraft: Tales of Horror - https://amzn.to/36OnMri
This week, we have the finale of 'The Island of Dr. Moreau' by H. G. Wells. Moreau is dead, killed by his own creations, who appear to be devolving back into their beast-like nature. Prendick and Montgomery have survived for now, but will they manage to escape?
This week, we have the penultimate part of Edward Prendick's nightmare on the island of Dr Moreau. Last week he was treated to a horrifying explanation of his scientific process. He also explained the presence of all the creatures on the island - they are the legacy of experiments to make animals more human, and none of them have gone entirely to Moreau's liking. Prendick still has no means of escape. Will he fall in line the way Montgomery did and stay on the island?
Our protagonist, Edward Prendick, has escaped the clutches of Dr. Moreau and his assistant Montgomery and is on the run. Not only does he have the mad scientist and his assistant to hide from, but he also has to contend with the beasts created by Dr. Moreau. Prendick has encountered some of these creations and taken part in the beasts' strange ceremonies. Could they be more ally than foe? Could they help him escape? And where can Prendick escape to?
Last week, we left our protagonist, Prendick, on the Island of Dr. Moreau. Having met the eponymous doctor, Prendick finds he has no choice but to try and escape, but he's on an isolated island, with Moreau, Montgomery, and a host of Dr Moreau's terrifying creations. How can he possibly get off the island?
Last week, we left our protagonist, Edward Prendick, adrift on the ocean once more. Having been rescued from a shipwreck by unusual medical man Montgomery, he has been abandoned in a dinghy after a fight with the crew. Thankfully, he is near land - the mysterious island that Montgomery and his strange menagerie were heading for. Making it to the island is Prendick's only chance for survival. But what strange things await him there?
This week, we return to one of our favourite writers here at The Well Told Tale, the grandfather of science fiction, H. G. Wells, and his classic, 'The Island of Dr. Moreau'. As with many of his books - a number of which we've covered on the podcast - this is a foundational classic in its own sub genre. In addition to being a thrilling Tale, it deals with some profound themes - how far is too far when it comes to scientific enquiry..?
This week, we have a classic fairy tale from master of the genre Hans Christian Andersen, 'The Little Mermaid'. This is, of course, a very different story to the famous Disney film of the same name. Enchanting, beguiling, tragic, with hints of the morality tale and an absence of singing crabs, it is indeed a fairy tale, but perhaps more of a literary work than that simple title suggests.
Books - (buying anything on Amazon through this link helps support the podcast): Hans Christian Andersen's Complete Fairy Tales - https://amzn.to/3cb8RLf Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales: An Illustrated Classic - https://amzn.to/3vJfcVZ The Little Mermaid (with original illustrations) - https://amzn.to/3wVMf9z
This week's Tale introduces us to another of Robert E. Howard's foundational epic fantasy characters, Solomon Kane. This is still a world of sword and sorcery but, arguably, a world closer to our own. As you'd expect from the creator of Conan, Kane is brooding, lone, and violent, but he has, perhaps, more of a mission in mind than Howard's later hero. But is his need to rid the world of monsters all that drives him?
Books - (buying anything on Amazon through this link helps support the podcast): The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane - https://amzn.to/3bRSXoH The Chronicles of Solomon Kane (graphic novel) - https://amzn.to/3bUaPj5 Conan: The Barbarian - Complete Collection - https://amzn.to/341JWWZ
Last week, we went to Canterville Chase where the Otis family have settled after moving to the English countryside from America. They were warned about the Canterville Ghost which has haunted the property for centuries, but upon encountering it, they seemed more irritated than scared. To make matters worse for the ghost, the Otis twins appear to enjoy playing practical jokes on him. He has never met a family so unwilling to be terrified and he's feeling rather lost. What is a ghost to do when no one is frightened of him?
This charming Tale is from one of the finest and funniest writers of all time, Oscar Wilde. "The Canterville Ghost" was Wilde's first published story, and has been adapted many times since for stage and screen. Wilde would perhaps become best known for his acerbic wit and poking fun at genteel society, but he would return to supernatural themes in his more frightening work "The Picture of Dorian Gray". As for the Canterville Ghost, he's had a long career of terrifying visitors to his stately home, but has he met his match in the form of the latest occupants?
This week, we return to one of our favourites, master of horror Edgar Allan Poe, and one of his most famous works, "The Tell Tale Heart." First published in 1843, it quickly became a classic. Be warned, its themes of murder and madness are not for the faint 'hearted'.
Books - (buying anything on Amazon through this link helps support the podcast): The Edgar Allan Poe Collection - https://amzn.to/2PJtV3a The Tell Tale Heart (graphic novel) - https://amzn.to/3syegCa
This week, we bring you three Tales in one - three of Rudyard Kipling's 'Just So' stories. Kipling used to tell these fanciful origin stories to his daughter every night, and she would insist that he told them each time in the same way, 'just so.' We may revisit his others at some point - there are twelve in all - but for now, let us hear 'How the Camel Got His Hump', 'How the Whale Got His Throat' and 'How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin'.
This week we present a Tale unusual in that it forms part of a more famous story, that of Bram Stoker's gothic masterpiece, 'Dracula'. Published after his death in a collection of short stories, it is almost certain that this was intended as the original opening to Dracula. It forms a prologue and an introduction to the world of the 'nosferatu', but it would seem Stoker's publishers did not consider it integral to the story we have come to know. So, how did Stoker first intend to introduce us to the horrifying world of Dracula?
Last week found Conan, King of Aquilonia, stripped of all his powers and imprisoned by the evil wizard Tsotha-lanti. A host of horrors await him in this dungeon. How will he escape and reclaim his kingdom?
Books - (buying anything on Amazon through this link helps support the podcast): Conan: The Barbarian - Complete Collection - https://amzn.to/341JWWZ The Complete Chronicles of Conan: Centenary Edition - https://amzn.to/3dCvOXn
This week, we return to the Hyborian Age for another Conan Tale, 'The Scarlet Citadel'. This takes place later in Conan's chronology, after he has become not just a skilled and mighty warrior, but the King of Aquilonia. However, how will he fare when all that has been stripped away from him?
Books - (buying anything on Amazon through this link helps support the podcast): Conan: The Barbarian - Complete Collection - https://amzn.to/341JWWZ The Complete Chronicles of Conan: Centenary Edition - https://amzn.to/3dCvOXn
In this penultimate episode, our narrator Julius really is 'down and out'. He's become obsessed with stopping Deborah taking over the entire park. So obsessed, he has lost his girlfriend Lil to his best friend, Dan. Where will he go from here?
Following the events of last week's episode, our narrator, Julius, is at an all time low. His attempt to sabotage Deborah's adjustments to the Hall of Presidents has failed; he's fallen out with his girlfriend Lil, and, perhaps worst of all, he is offline, cut off from the Bitchun Society and the world he knows. Where will he go from here?
This week, we return to the strange future world of "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom." Julius, our narrator, still doesn't know who killed him. Of course, in this world, death is not nearly as fatal as it could be, but Julius wants to know: who killed him, and more importantly, why?
Last week, we started a new Tale, entering a new world where death is no more, and people can live as long as they choose. Our narrator, Julius, has lived more than a century, but appears to be in his twenties. He's now living in Disney World with his girlfriend Lil, who is actually in her twenties. His friend Dan, who previously declared he would end his life when he'd 'done it all', has come to stay with them after achieving everything he wanted to and then trashing his valuable reputation. Lil has suggested he needs to 'go out on top', so how will he achieve this now he's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom?
Here at The Well Told Tale, we seek to share the best of sci-fi, fantasy and speculative fiction. For the past year we have focussed exclusively on classics of their genres, but this week's Tale marks an expansion into more modern works. "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom" is Cory Doctorow's debut novel, published in 2003, and is unusually issued under a creative commons license, allowing fans to reproduce and build on Doctorow's work, provided their results are also offered free from commercial gain. So follow us as we head to the Magic Kingdom, just not as we know it....
This week's Tale is the charming fantasy 'The Velveteen Rabbit' by Margery Williams. Beginning on a Christmas morning in the early 20th century, this story needs so little introduction, it's probably best just to pull up a chair, sit back and relax, as you imagine the excitement of a childhood Christmas morning.
Books - (buying anything on Amazon through this link helps support the podcast): The Velveteen Rabbit - https://amzn.to/3rnZKfY The Greatest Children's Classics of All Time - https://amzn.to/3hcqFXy
We return to Dunwich for Part 2 of Lovecraft's "The Dunwich Horror" Last time, we were introduced to the Whateley family in the isolated village of Dunwich. Something is going on at their farmhouse which scares all visitors. Young Wilbur Whateley is horribly deformed, and his mother has disappeared, but strange noises are heard in the farmhouse and something seems to be... growing in there. Old Man Whateley has just died, but he has left Wilbur with a mission, for which he will need to find a complete copy of the Necronomicon...
This is a horror story written in the 1920s by a disordered mind, so bear in mind the content is not for the faint hearted.
Books - (buying anything on Amazon through this link helps support the podcast): The Complete Fiction of H. P. Lovecraft - https://amzn.to/2HdS1PD H. P. Lovecraft: Tales of Horror - https://amzn.to/36OnMri
This week, we return to the Cthulhu mythos. H. P Lovecraft's seminal creation has been featured in a fair few episodes of The Well Told Tale and this third standalone tale is similar in tone to "The Call of Cthulhu" and "At the Mountains of Madness." Something unspeakable and horrible lies dormant under the surface of polite society, just as much as in the wild places of this world. But perhaps that something unspeakable is not waiting to be awakened; perhaps it is awake, and feeding... This is a horror story written in the 1920s by a disordered mind, so bear in mind the content is not for the faint hearted.
Books - (buying anything on Amazon through this link helps support the podcast): The Complete Fiction of H. P. Lovecraft - https://amzn.to/2HdS1PD H. P. Lovecraft: Tales of Horror - https://amzn.to/36OnMri
This week's tale is a sci-fi short story from legendary Sherlock Holmes creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Holmes was not his only bombastic hero, and this short story concerns another of his characters, Professor Challenger. He was first introduced in The Lost World, and features in a number of Conan Doyle science fiction stories. He may possess a similar analytical mind to Holmes, and although he is considered one of the greatest scientific minds in his world, Challenger is a brute, a huge specimen with a bristling beard and a quick temper. This Tale first appeared in 1920, and pits Professor Challenger against the inventor of a fascinating machine with potentially diabolical applications...
This week, we return to Sleepy Hollow for Part 2 of Washington Irving's beloved gothic Tale. We have met the cast of characters - school master Ichabod Crane, the object of his affection Katrina Van Tassel, and his rival for her attention Brom Bones. We have also heard the famed local legend of the Headless Horseman. Our protagonists are gathered together at a fabulous party at the Van Tassel's house. There has been much food and dancing, but now the mood has turned towards sharing of frightening stories. But are these just stories...?
To celebrate Halloween, we return to the work of Washington Irving with his gothic horror classic "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". Published 200 years ago, this classic Tale has been an inspiration to many since appearing in the collection The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent, even getting the Disney treatment. But with All Hallow's Eve lurking between both parts of this Tale, we return to the source, in all its horrifying, bloodcurdling detail...
Books - (buying anything on Amazon through this link helps support the podcast): Conan: The Barbarian - Complete Collection - https://amzn.to/341JWWZ The Complete Chronicles of Conan: Centenary Edition - https://amzn.to/3dCvOXn