Podcasts about Beowulf

Elizabeth previews Beowulf, translated by Leslie Hall in 1892.This season is a premium exclusive. Thank you for supporting our show. Try The Sleepy Bookshelf Premium free for 7 days: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sleepybookshelf.supercast.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Are you loving The Sleepy Bookshelf? Show your support by giving us a review on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Follow the show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. See our entire bookshelf on: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://slumberstudios.com/sleepybookshelf. Listen to the music from The Sleepy Bookshelf in a relaxing soundscape on Deep Sleep Sounds:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxRt2AI7f80⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Having an issue with The Sleepy Bookshelf or have a question for us? ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Check out our FAQs⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Connect: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Thank you so much for joining us here at The Sleepy Bookshelf. Now, let's open our book for this evening. Sweet dreams

Send a textStar Wars has always had a never ending supply of cool monsters, mercenaries, and myths. So much so that we are making it into a regular segment! On our first edition we dive into some of the monsters that make Star Wars so unique, and we talk about our favorite mercenaries! Try to tame your inner Rancor while you go sort your inventory! Turn up your headphones, dial back your sensibilities, and join the wretched hive of scum and villainy as we take the low road to resistance on Season Six, Episode Forty Two of Force Insensitive!Send Email/Voicemail: mailto:forceinsensitive@gmail.comDirect Voice Message: https://www.speakpipe.com/ForceInsensitiveStart your own podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=386Use our Amazon link: http://amzn.to/2CTdZzKFB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ForceInsensitive/Twitter: http://twitter.com/ForceNSensitiveFacebook: http://facebook.com/ForceInsensitiveInstagram: http://instagram.com/ForceInsensitive

Christopher "Highlander" Lambert stars as a side-character in his own story. He's a businessman, she's dead, and the real protagonist has a cool vendetta and a sword!DISCLAIMER: Language and Spoilers!THE HUNTEDdir. J.F. Lawtonstarring: Christopher Lambert; John Lone; Joan Chen

In this episode, we wrap up the Beowulf portion of our "Life, Death, and Meaning with Beowulf and Boethius" study.Watch the video of this episode and subscribe to my YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/Sh85l-PlWqUBecome a patron of Mythic Mind at patreon.com/mythicmindListen to all THREE Mythic Mind podcasts:Mythic MindMythic Mind GamesMythic Mind Movies & Shows(or become a patron to get all three shows in one ad-free feedBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mythic-mind--5808321/support.

Charlotte and Jo go deep on jealousy, self-hatred, and vulnerability in a conversation that touches on A Separate Peace, The Go-Between, Beowulf, and more. Then the canny and intrepid Maya Binyam joins for a discussion about the category of little girlhood, ambiguity in fiction, and female desire.Maya Binyam is the author of Hangman. Her writing has appeared in the New Yorker, the Paris Review, Best American Short Stories, and elsewhere. She is a 2025 - 2026 Rome Prize Fellow at the American Academy in Rome. Please consider supporting our work on Patreon, where you can access additional materials and send us your guest and book coverage requests! Books discussed on all seasons of the podcast are aggregated here on Bookshop. Questions and comments can be directed to readingwriterspod at gmail dot com. Outro music by Marty Sulkow and Joe Valle.Charlotte Shane's most recent book is An Honest Woman. Her essay newsletter, Meant For You, can be subscribed to or read online for free, and her social media handle is @charoshane. Jo Livingstone is a writer who teaches at Pratt Institute.To support the show, navigate to https://www.patreon.com/ReadingWriters Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we continue our "Life, Death and Meaning with Beowulf and Boethius" series with the mythological death and resurrection of the Baldur, the Norse god.Watch the video of this episode and subscribe to my YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/K-DIsUnigngListen to all THREE Mythic Mind podcasts:Mythic MindMythic Mind GamesMythic Mind Movies & Shows(or become a patron to get all three shows in one ad-free feed)Become a Tier 3 patron to join our Silmarillion study, has now begun! patreon.com/mythicmindBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mythic-mind--5808321/support.

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we continue our series on Ultima IV. We talk about the boat, we talk about dungeons (a tiny bit), we deep dive into NPCs and consequences, we talk about the quests and how everything is in the world, and answer some listener email. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: More of Ultima IV (Much more, in B's case) Issues covered: revisiting locations and finding new things, a game that does a lot with a little, everything existing in the world, getting to know the world, NPCs sharing sprites and being hard to remember, getting a ship and fighting your way on, broadside combat, dying to a waterspout, wanting to search the oceans, badly simulating tacking, riding a horse, being interrupted in any location, trying to replicate the tabletop experience, feeling like a "yes" game, whether what you do matters, can you be a thief, watering down a morality system, having a limited palette of options at any one time, layering frosting, taking out the friction and icky feeling, the niche audience of some RPGs, taking elements from older games and bringing them into modern games, asking questions of the player who is also the character, avoiding the uncanny valley, an aside into adventure mode, the horseshoe effect on NPCs, reaching the limits of what the human brain can contemplate, an aside into Dunbar's number, facing the same challenges, chunking chapters, feeling the anxiety of there being too much, coalescing your notes from time to time, the telescope moment and seeing the map, the lack of loot, preparing to do things, validating your assumptions, having to revisit everywhere, the friction of Pikmin, getting good controllers, handheld mode, the Wavebird, bouncing off character creation, character creation we've liked, wanting a story to wrap around a more specific character, the generic hero, having fun with a character creator, a freeing character creator. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Final Fantasy (series), Gold Box (series), Eye of the Beholder, Outer Wilds, The Witcher (series), Beowulf, Dungeons & Dragons, Wizardry (series), BioWare, Mass Effect, BioShock, Dishonored, CD Project Red, Cyberpunk 2077, Baldur's Gate III, Thief, Robin Hood, VtM Bloodlines, Undertale, Dark Souls, Land of the Lost, Dwarf Fortress, Planescape: Torment, Metroid / Castlevania, Richard Garriott, Sasha, Pikmin, Nintendo, Shigeru Miyamoto, Switch, PlayStation, Analog Pocket, Ashton Herrmann, Monkey Island, Wing Commander, Morrowind, Fallout 3, Dragon Age: Origins, Bethesda Game Studios, Blizzard, World of Warcraft, Diablo (series), Metal Gear Solid V, Hideo Kojima, Saint's Row IV, Call of Cthulhu, Asher, Cuphead, KyleAndError, Hitman, FFSZilla, MGS: VR Missions, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.  Note: Because Ultima IV has very little music to speak of, I will be substituting music from later in the series in the openings to these episodes TTDS: 38:30 Links: Majuular Ultima IV video recommended by Chris  Next time: Finish Ultima IV Twitch: timlongojr and twinsunscorp YouTube Discord  DevGameClub@gmail.com 

A few weeks ago I shared my dream American Lit curriculum here on the pod, and soon after I heard from a British Literature teacher who was hoping for some new unit ideas for her curriculum too. She shared her starting point, which sounds like a highly engaging set of texts: "Our long reads," she wrote, "are The Princess Bride, Macbeth, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and Beowulf- a hero's journey theme!" So today I'd like to brainstorm with you, throwing out ideas for a British Lit curriculum, based on some of these starting texts and a few more I'll throw into the mix. Get ready for a Holmes-inspired True Crime podcast project, Shakespearean book clubs, a mashup of dystopia and contemporary street art, and more. Whether or not you teach a British Literature course, I think you'll find some fresh ideas and inspiration for new unit possibilities today. Go Further:  Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast. Launch your choice reading program with all my favorite tools and recs, and grab the free toolkit. Join our community, Creative High School English, on Facebook. Come hang out on Instagram. Enjoying the podcast? Please consider sharing it with a friend, snagging a screenshot to share on the 'gram, or tapping those ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to help others discover the show. Thank you! 

Myths and legends are a massive part of our culture. We have the original versions of them that still stay with us, mostly intact, but because of how important and well known they are we're always getting new versions of them that are changed and added to to reflect our contemporary culture. Big stories like King Arthur, Robin Hood, Beowulf, the Odyssey, The Journey to the West and many other stories keep getting new versions in our modern world. The Greek myths beings quite old, very detailed, and well written get a LOT of different versions, which has been happening since antiquity. Even the Romans like Ovid revised them, his versions were made to reflect his own cultural and political realities. Most recently there's the Nolan version of the Odyssey coming out. Some are annoyed at the various non-white people in certain roles, but that's a trend that's been popular for about 30-40 years or so and simply reflects our modern diverse cultural and ethnic makeup. The only thing that irks me are the stupid costumes and reinterpretation of the armour, but also the silly commentary concerning it- on one hand you have supporters of the crude fantasy styles in the film and on the other supporters of ancient Mycenaean styles. The thing is though that Ancient Greeks ALWAYS depicted their mythological figures armoured like hoplites (or naked), with Corinthian helmets. That wasn't a case of them showing the figures in contemporary fashions either- hundreds of years after those styles were dead they were still used for the characters. So there was never a need to reinterpret them OR imagine them in archaic "historically accurate" styles, they should always be shown as classical Greek warriors. /rant Beowulf shows up in various ways, there are direct and indirect interpretations. One of the interesting aspects is that people use the monster, Grendel, for their indirect interpretations- Everything from Friday the 13th (the first one), to Frankenstein (at least as an inspiration to the various adaptations), Jaws, The 13th Warrior, Split Second (a monster in futuristic flooded London), you could even include Predator and Alien. Journey to the West is a very important story to many cultures in eastern Asia because it's tied closely with Buddhism and the spread of that religion on the continent. It was important to me when I grew up with endless TV repeats of the dubbed Japanese series Monkey Magic, starring Masaaki Sakai, Japanese pop sensation (The Spiders), and perennial charismatic TV personality. It featured comedy, endless fighting with demons and monsters, and the retelling of various stories. This version was so popular that people have remade it rather than just the myth itself, and it's inspired films and TV shows with the costumes it used for the characters. Many others now know the myth through the Dragon Ball anime and Manga, with Goku as the Monkey King. Disney's anthro version of Robin Hood had a gigantic impact on the creation of furry culture. The King Arthur myth, focussing on the heroic journey of a random, scruffy orphan into a prophesied king of a nation shows up everywhere in fantasy and Scifi, examples include Star Wars and the fantasy series The Belgariad and Malloreon by David Eddings and many others, including more direct versions like Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail, Disney's Sword in the Stone, and the fantastic Excalibur. The Jewish myth of David and the giant Goliath show up over and over in things too because of the focus on an underdog who triumphs despite huge odds and then goes on to become a famous ruler. What are your fave myths that keep on inspiring popular culture (directly and indirectly), and what is your fave version? This week we have another best off from Gunwallace and this time it's - Ripping off King Arthur - We're all preparing for the big event here with this theme. It's a weird mixture of a Rocky theme, fantasy epic, and 8 bit video game music… as if were were about to see a pixelated, medieval fantasy themed version of Mortal Kombat! The fight showdown to end all fight showdowns! - I chose this because it mentions King Arthur, a mythical figure. Originally from: Quackcast 451, 4th of Nov, 2019. Topics and shownotes Links Featured comic: Exposure - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2026/feb/03/featured-comic-exposure/ Featured music: Ripping off King Arthur - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Ripping_Off_King_Arthur/ - by Arspitzer, rated M. Special thanks to: Gunwallace - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Gunwallace/ Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/ Kawaiidaigakusei - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/kawaiidaigakusei Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/ VIDEO exclusive! Become a subscriber on the $5 level and up to see our weekly Patreon video and get our advertising perks! - https://www.patreon.com/DrunkDuck Even at $1 you get your name with a link on the front page and a mention in the weekend newsposts! Join us on Discord - https://discordapp.com/invite/7NpJ8GS

We are continuing through my Life, Death, and Meaning with Beowulf and Boethius course with the text of Beowulf from Beowulf's return to Geatland to the introduction of Wiglaf.Watch the video of this episode and subscribe to my YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/wGYtaI0sT6cListen to all THREE Mythic Mind podcasts:Mythic MindMythic Mind GamesMythic Mind Movies & Shows(or become a patron to get all three shows in one ad-free feed)Become a Tier 3 patron to join our Silmarillion study, which begins in February! patreon.com/mythicmindBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mythic-mind--5808321/support.

We are continuing through the Life, Death, and Meaning with Beowulf and Boethius course with a presentation of the Saga of the Volsungs.Watch the video of this episode and subscribe to my YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/i-Pimd-PYH8Listen to all THREE Mythic Mind podcasts:Mythic MindMythic Mind GamesMythic Mind Movies & Shows(or become a patron to get all three shows in one ad-free feed)Become a Tier 3 patron to join our Silmarillion study, which begins in February! patreon.com/mythicmindSupport Josh and purchase his course here: https://www.patreon.com/joshtraylor/shopBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mythic-mind--5808321/support.

In this episode, we complete our quest to find out which fictional character is the ultimate fighter in our 2025 Unmatched tournament! To run the tournament, I identified our 16 most-played Unmatched heroes, then set up some brackets to pit them against each other. A few episodes ago, I reported on the first half of the tournament: the first-round games that whittled our list of heroes to the Elite 8. Today, I'm excited to share the second half of the tournament!As a reminder, the hero who wins each battle isn't necessarily the hero who moves on in the tournament. The teenager and I play a game with each pair of heroes, then discuss the game and the heroes and decide which of the two heroes we like playing the most. That's the hero that moves on to the next round.Achilles, Little Red, Houdini, Invisible Man, Beowulf, Jekyll & Hyde, Shakespeare, and T-Rex! Who will be the champion?Episode Resources:Buy Unmatched sets on Amazon.Listen to our 2023 review of Unmatched.Listen to Part 1 of our 2025 Unmatched tournament.Music:"Open Road," Purple Planet Music"Field of Heroes," Tabletop AudioSend us a textPodcast Links: Order a First Player Token coffee mug. Visit the First Player Token website. Join the FPT Facebook group. Follow @firstplayertoken on Bluesky. Join the Family Tabletop Community on Discord.

Tras la desaparición del imperio romano en Gran Bretaña la isla cayó en manos de un conjunto de pueblos llegados de la Europa continental, fundamentalmente de lo que hoy es Alemania y Dinamarca. Estos pueblos de origen germánico, los anglos, los sajones y los jutos, se apoderaron paulatinamente de la antigua Britannia romana, donde se encontraron con una población local, los britanos, que estaba tibiamente romanizada. Siempre se creyó que la invasión había sido violenta y se materializó desplazando a los britanos. Esta idea tan bien asentada y glosada por las crónicas de aquella época, entre ellas la de Beda el Venerable, ha evolucionado a raíz de los descubrimientos de la arqueología moderna. Fue un proceso mucho más orgánico y tranquilo en el curso del cual las distintas tribus se fueron colonizando el territorio y asimilando a los britanos. Conforme estos grupos se asentaron, la geografía política de la isla se fragmentó en una serie de reinos rivales conocidos como la Heptarquía. Estos reinos eran Northumbria, Mercia, Anglia Oriental, Essex, Kent, Sussex y Wessex. Este periodo fue una era de guerreros y jefes tribales, pero también el escenario de una de las conversiones al cristianismo más famosas de la historia de Europa. Los germanos abandonaron el paganismo y se pasaron en masa a la iglesia de Roma. En ello tuvo mucho que ver la llegada de la misión gregoriana a Kent en el año 597 y la influencia de las iglesias celtas desde el norte. Aquello marcó un renacimiento cultural que floreció especialmente en los monasterios. Fue en estos centros donde se preservó el conocimiento clásico y donde surgieron obras maestras de la literatura y el arte, como el poema épico Beowulf y los manuscritos iluminados que fusionaban la estética entrelazada germánica con la simbología cristiana. La estructura social anglosajona estaba rígidamente jerarquizada. A la cabeza estaba el rey y su séquito de nobles guerreros, conocidos como “thegns”, que estaban vinculados al monarca por lazos de lealtad personal. Debajo de ellos, la gran mayoría de la población estaba compuesta por los “ceorls”, hombres libres que cultivaban la tierra y formaban la base de la economía, que en la Gran Bretaña de entonces era eminentemente agraria. Esta relativa estabilidad se vio sacudida a finales del siglo VIII con la aparición de una nueva amenaza: las incursiones vikingas. Los ataques escandinavos desmantelaron casi todos los reinos anglosajones. Sólo quedó el de Wessex como último bastión de resistencia con el rey Alfredo el Grande a su cabeza. Alfredo detuvo el avance danés y emprendió ambiciosas reformas educativas y militares. Con los sucesores de Alfredo, especialmente el rey Athelstan, se consolidó por primera vez la idea de una Inglaterra unificada, la llamada “Englaland”. Este periodo de madurez política vio el desarrollo de instituciones administrativas algo más complejas, como el consejo de sabios o Witan, y la división territorial en condados o shires. A pesar de la conquista normanda en 1066, que marcó el fin de la era anglosajona, el legado de este pueblo perduró en el idioma inglés antiguo, en el sistema legal de derecho consuetudinario y en una estructura parroquial que sobreviviría durante siglos, lo que vendría a demostrar que los anglosajones no fueron simples invasores, sino los padres de lo que terminaría siendo Inglaterra. Para tratar este tema nos acompaña Yeyo Balbás, bien conocido por la audiencia de La ContraHistoria y que, aparte de ser toda una autoridad en lo referente a los visigodos, sabe mucho también de los anglosajones. A él se debe la traducción de “Anglosajones. La primera Inglaterra”, el libro de Marc Morris que publicó hace no mucho la editorial Desperta Ferro. Bibliografía: “Anglosajones. La primera Inglaterra” de Marc Morris - https://amzn.to/3NJqE1O “La Inglaterra anglosajona” de Carlos Domínguez - https://amzn.to/4roXcwD “Breve historia de Inglaterra” de Simon Jenkins - https://amzn.to/4t8oLM2 “La formación de Inglaterra” de Isaac Asimov - https://amzn.to/4a2aEiV Colección Grandes Autores de la Literatura Gredos - literaturagredos.com · Canal de Telegram: https://t.me/lacontracronica · “Contra el pesimismo”… https://amzn.to/4m1RX2R · “Hispanos. Breve historia de los pueblos de habla hispana”… https://amzn.to/428js1G · “La ContraHistoria del comunismo”… https://amzn.to/39QP2KE · “La ContraHistoria de España. Auge, caída y vuelta a empezar de un país en 28 episodios”… https://amzn.to/3kXcZ6i · “Contra la Revolución Francesa”… https://amzn.to/4aF0LpZ · “Lutero, Calvino y Trento, la Reforma que no fue”… https://amzn.to/3shKOlK Apoya La Contra en: · Patreon... https://www.patreon.com/diazvillanueva · iVoox... https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-contracronica_sq_f1267769_1.html · Paypal... https://www.paypal.me/diazvillanueva Sígueme en: · Web... https://diazvillanueva.com · Twitter... https://twitter.com/diazvillanueva · Facebook... https://www.facebook.com/fernandodiazvillanueva1/ · Instagram... https://www.instagram.com/diazvillanueva · Linkedin… https://www.linkedin.com/in/fernando-d%C3%ADaz-villanueva-7303865/ · Flickr... https://www.flickr.com/photos/147276463@N05/?/ · Pinterest... https://www.pinterest.com/fernandodiazvillanueva Encuentra mis libros en: · Amazon... https://www.amazon.es/Fernando-Diaz-Villanueva/e/B00J2ASBXM #FernandoDiazVillanueva #anglosajones #inglaterra Escucha el episodio completo en la app de iVoox, o descubre todo el catálogo de iVoox Originals

We are continuing through the Life, Death, and Meaning with Beowulf and Boethius course that I led in the Fall of 2024 with the text of Beowulf from the death of Grendel to Beowulf's departure from Denmark.Many topics are discussed in this episode, including the hero's relationship with fortune and mortality, Beowulf's Christology, inspirations for C.S. Lewis's Narnia and That Hideous Strength, and more!Watch the video of this episode and subscribe to my YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/wGYtaI0sT6cListen to all THREE Mythic Mind podcasts:Mythic MindMythic Mind GamesMythic Mind Movies & Shows(or become a patron to get all three shows in one ad-free feed)Become a Tier 3 patron to join our Silmarillion study, which begins in February! patreon.com/mythicmindBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mythic-mind--5808321/support.

Modern masculinity is stuck repeating ancient mistakes. By examining Achilles, Odysseus, and Beowulf, this episode breaks down three powerful warrior archetypes, and the predictable ways they fail. Rage, endurance, and legacy all matter, but none of them work alone. The real lesson is integration, restraint, and succession.00:00 – Why Being “Dangerous” Is Failing Men01:05 – Why Ancient Warrior Stories Still Matter03:10 – Achilles: Rage, Ego, and the Reactive Alpha09:40 – Why Rage Feels Powerful (and Why It Backfires)12:30 – Odysseus: Endurance, Strategy, and Restraint18:40 – Intelligence Without Humility Still Fails21:45 – Beowulf: Legacy, Duty, and the Succession Problem26:40 – The Warrior Sequence Most Men Miss29:30 – Strength, Endurance, and Legacy Explained32:00 – The Warrior Mindset Most Men Never ReachSend us a text

Charlotte and Jo spring into the new year with a conversation about ancient poetry: Beowulf, The Iliad, and Dante's Inferno as translated by Mark Musa, Mary Jo Bang, and Danny Lavery. They're then joined by the wise and wonderful Hanif Abdurraqib who—after sharing a scoop about what series of book he reads every year (!)—reflects on the formative impacts of his encounter with Gloria Naylor's The Women of Brewster Place. Other titles discussed: Toni Morrison's Jazz, Bebe Moore Campbells' Your Blues Ain't Like Mine, Lloyd Alexander's The Chronicles of Prydain. Hanif Abdurraqib is a writer from the east side of Columbus, Ohio.Danny Lavery's translations of The Inferno can be found here.Please consider supporting our work on Patreon, where you can access additional materials and send us your guest (and book!) coverage requests. Questions and kind comments can be directed to readingwriterspod at gmail dot com.Charlotte Shane's most recent book is An Honest Woman. Her essay newsletter, Meant For You, can be subscribed to or read online for free. Her social media handle is @charoshane.  Jo Livingstone is a writer who teaches at Pratt Institute.To support the show, navigate to https://www.patreon.com/ReadingWritersAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

"DOME with bamfomania" is the greatest freestyle-rap/comedy podcast IN THE WORLD. If the beat drops while you're talking about it... You gotta rap about it. This week, we are joined Corbin Butler, a rapper from Chino Hills, CA. We get into the nitty gritty of impossible beef, Erika Kirk, Beowulf, black women, Pamela Anderson, and more! Also, freestyles! If you would like to support the show, get access to episodes early, bonus episodes, and other content weekly, sign up at https://patreon.com/DOMEwithbamfomania Beats of the week: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1apwiHfKPd92WelEcVJNznxZ615ja7gjs-y04i21-H14/edit?usp=sharing Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/corbinhbutler/ https://www.instagram.com/bamfomania/ https://www.instagram.com/bubbawhyy/ https://www.instagram.com/sultansatire/ https://www.instagram.com/_hiterry/ Listen to "DOME with bamfomania" on all podcast platforms: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/dome-with-bamfomania/id1601495349 https://open.spotify.com/show/2IMnymbj1RU5U0NVXYLH9T?si=3ffba705f3a24e8f https://soundcloud.com/bamfdome Listen to bamfomania music on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1w5Z3rwfh4BOU78BKZgFbk?si=rQB7uhH_SKmYrzYyI_Kvkg Listen to Sultan Satire music on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4fvxByDc6w4Q49dcl9AKYS?si=LWa1-oSnQYmVZB1_qTKzTg If you enjoy this content, please like, comment, subscribe, and share

“Heroes and Demons” 30th-anniversary reflections Harry Kim's disappearance draws the Voyager crew into a medieval mystery as a holodeck recreation of the Old English epic Beowulf starts converting people into energy. There's just one person on the ship who can safely venture into the holographic forest to find the young ensign: the Doctor. That trip into the unknown leads to many firsts for the man briefly called Schweitzer, and reveals a very Star Trek story. In this episode of To The Journey, hosts C Bryan Jones and Matthew Rushing continue our 30th-anniversary retrospective that will take you through all of Star Trek: Voyager, one episode at a time. In this installment, we discuss “Heroes and Demons,” how tapping into elements unique to the series creates a story true to the core of Star Trek, how it sets the stage for The Doctor's character, and what we think of his choice of name. Chapters Intro (00:00:00) The Setting (and the Sets) (00:02:11) A Doctor's Tale (00:13:03) Tapping into the Promise of Voyager (00:17:36) T'Pol Sidebar (00:24:27) Schweitzer! Schweitzer! (00:27:04) Final Thoughts and Ratings (00:31:04) Closing (00:32:53) Hosts C Bryan Jones and Matthew Rushing Production C Bryan Jones (Editor and Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer)

We are continuing through the Life, Death, and Meaning with Beowulf and Boethius course that I led in the Fall of 2024 with the J.R.R. Tolkien's essay, "The Monsters and the Critics," in which he argues that Beowulf is best approached as fantasy.Watch the video of this episode and subscribe to my YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/D3NNtUAKgKsListen to all THREE Mythic Mind podcasts:Mythic MindMythic Mind GamesMythic Mind Movies & Shows(or become a patron to get all three shows in one ad-free feed)Become a Tier 3 patron to join our Silmarillion study, which begins in February! patreon.com/mythicmindBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mythic-mind--5808321/support.

Who is Beowulf? What is Beowulf? Who is the legendary Shield Sheafson? What is Grendel? What is the relationship between the paganism of the setting and the Christianity of the poet? We are continuing through the Life, Death, and Meaning with Beowulf and Boethius course that I led in the Fall of 2024 with the text of Beowulf up to the death of Grendel.Watch the video of this episode and subscribe to my YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/hfXkVOhopn8Listen to all THREE Mythic Mind podcasts:Mythic MindMythic Mind GamesMythic Mind Movies & Shows(or become a patron to get all three shows in one ad-free feed)Become a Tier 3 patron to join our Silmarillion study, which begins in February! patreon.com/mythicmindBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mythic-mind--5808321/support.

To prepare for Homer, Virgil, Beowulf, the Eddas, and Dante—The Heights begins with Tolkien. In a talk from 2016, former middle school core teacher and current upper school classics teacher Tom Cox defends the place of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings in the epic tradition. He then explains why Middle Earth is so uniquely suited to the middle school, using Samwise the Stouthearted as our guide to the heart of a middle school boy. Chapters: 2:46 Rethinking "the middle" 4:01 How LotR prepares boys for upper school 7:57 How LotR meets boys in middle school 12:47 Contrasted with other epics 14:41 Samwise as a middle school model 24:47 Tolkien's lessons for teachers and parents 26:07 Samwise the Stouthearted: earning his epic epithet 31:18 "Bear one another's burdens, fulfill the law of Christ" Links: The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien The Iliad by Homer, prose translation by A. S. Kline Plutarch Podcast by Tom Cox Becoming Greece, textbook by Bill Dardis and Tom Cox Becoming Rome, textbook by Bill Dardis and Tom Cox Also on the Forum: The Forum Faculty Podcast hosted by Tom Cox The Hope of Hobbits and the Despair of Denethor by Tom Cox Featured Opportunities: The Art of Teaching Boys Conference at The Heights School (January 7-9, 2026 / May 6-8, 2026)

Send us a textIn this episode we are excited about 2 Retellings of the Epic Poem...Beowulf!  Step into 2 really GREAT backlist books and one Book in Hand that is being published this month. We think you're going to like this!Featured Books:The Mere Wife by Maria Dahvana Headley (LH)Bea Wolf by Zach Weinersmith art by Boulet (LP)Book in Hand:The Storm by Rachel Hawkins (LH)Books Mentioned in This Episode:The Wife Upstairs by Rachel HawkinsThe Heiress by Rachel HawkinsThe Villa by Rachel HawkinsAdditional Books That Go Along with Our Stack:Beowulf by the Beowulf PoetVersions/Translations of Beowulf by:R.M LiuzzaSeamus HeaneyGrendel by John GardnerThe Legacy of Heorot by Larry NivenBeowulf, Dragon Slayer by Rosemary SutcliffGrendel's Mother: The Saga of the Wyrd-Wife by Susan Signe MorrisonWays to contact us:Join us on Patreon for extra content: https://www.patreon.com/c/BookBumblePodcastFollow us on Instagram - @thebookbumbleFacebook:  Book BumbleOur website:  https://thebookbumble.buzzsprout.comEmail:  bookbumblepodcast@gmail.comSupport the showPlease rate and review us, subscribe, follow us on Insta, and join our Team Patreon! It won't be the same without you!

Charlotte and Jo spring into the new year with a conversation about ancient poetry: Beowulf, The Iliad, and Dante's Inferno as translated by Mark Musa, Mary Jo Bang, and Danny Lavery. They're then joined by the wise and wonderful Hanif Abdurraqib who—after sharing a scoop about what series of book he reads every year (!)—reflects on the formative impacts of his encounter with Gloria Naylor's The Women of Brewster Place. Other titles discussed: Toni Morrison's Jazz, Bebe Moore Campbells' Your Blues Ain't Like Mine, Lloyd Alexander's The Chronicles of Prydain. Hanif Abdurraqib is a writer from the east side of Columbus, Ohio.Danny Lavery's translations of The Inferno can be found here.Please consider supporting our work on Patreon, where you can access additional materials and send us your guest (and book!) coverage requests. Questions and kind comments can be directed to readingwriterspod at gmail dot com.Charlotte Shane's most recent book is An Honest Woman. Her essay newsletter, Meant For You, can be subscribed to or read online for free. Her social media handle is @charoshane. Jo Livingstone is a writer who teaches at Pratt Institute. To support the show, navigate to https://www.patreon.com/ReadingWriters Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We are continuing through the Life, Death, and Meaning with Beowulf and Boethius course that I led in the Fall of 2024 with an introduction to Beowulf.Watch the video of this episode and subscribe to my YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/rK0IWdhM9ikListen to all THREE Mythic Mind podcasts:Mythic MindMythic Mind GamesMythic Mind Movies & Shows(or become a patron to get all three shows in one ad-free feed)Become a Tier 3 patron to join our Silmarillion study, which begins in February! patreon.com/mythicmindPurchase the complete Fiction & Philosophy of C.S. Lewis course here: The Fiction & Philosophy of C.S. LewisBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mythic-mind--5808321/support.

Become a patron of Mythic Mind at patreon.com/mythicmind. For the rest of 2026, the discount for annual patronage is increased to 50%!Watch the video of this episode and subscribe to my YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/NQ2juXJW2qcListen to all THREE Mythic Mind podcasts:Mythic MindMythic Mind GamesMythic Mind Movies & Shows(or become a patron to get all three shows in one ad-free feed)Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mythic-mind--5808321/support.

Another year ends, and once more, it's time to reflect on our creative goals. I hope you can take the time to review your goals and you're welcome to leave a comment below about how the year went. Did you achieve everything you wanted to? Let me know in the comments. It's always interesting looking back at my goals from a year ago, because I don't even look at them in the months between, so sometimes it's a real surprise how much they've changed! You can read my 2025 goals here and I go through how things went below. In the intro, Written Word Media 2025 Indie Author Survey Results, TikTok deal goes through [BBC]; 2025 review [Wish I'd Known Then; Two Authors], Kickstarter year in review; Plus, Anthropic settlement, the continued rise of AI-narrated audiobooks, and thinking/reasoning models (plus my 2019 AI disruption episode). My Bones of the Deep thriller, pics here, and Business for Authors webinars, coming soon. If you'd like to join my community and support the show every month, you'll get access to my growing list of Patron videos and audio on all aspects of the author business — for the price of a black coffee (or two) a month. Join us at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn. Joanna Penn writes non-fiction for authors and is an award-winning, New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller author as J.F. Penn. She's also an award-winning podcaster, creative entrepreneur, and international professional speaker. You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. J.F. Penn books — Death Valley, The Buried and the Drowned, Blood Vintage Joanna Penn books — Successful Self-Publishing, 4th Edition The Creative Penn Podcast and my community on Patreon/thecreativepenn Unexpected addition: Masters in Death, Religion and Culture at the University of Winchester Book marketing. Not quite a fail but definitely lacklustre. Reflections on my 50th year Double down on being human. Travel and health. You can find all my books as J.F. Penn and Joanna Penn on your favourite online store in all the usual formats, or order from your local library or bookstore. You can also buy direct from me at CreativePennBooks.com and JFPennBooks.com. I'm not really active on social media, but you can always see my photos at Instagram @jfpennauthor. J.F. Penn — Death Valley. A Thriller. This was my ‘desert' book, partially inspired by visiting Death Valley, California in 2024. It's a stand-alone, high stakes survival thriller, with no supernatural elements, although there are ancient bones and a hidden crypt, as it wouldn't be me otherwise! The Kickstarter campaign in April had 231 Backers pledging £10,794 (~US$14,400) and the hardback is a gorgeous foiled edition with custom end papers and research photos as well as a ribbon. As an AI-Assisted Artisan Author, I used AI tools to help with the creative and business processes, including the background image of the cover design, the custom end papers, and the Death Valley book trailer, which I made with Midjourney and Runway ML. The audiobook is also narrated by my J.F. Penn voice clone, which took a while to get used to, but now I love it! You can listen to a sample here. I published Death Valley wide a few months later over the summer, so it is now out on all platforms. J.F. Penn — Blood Vintage. A Folk Horror Novel, and Catacomb audiobook I did a Kickstarter for the hardback edition of Blood Vintage in late 2024, and then in 2025, worked with a US agent to see if we could get a deal for it. That didn't happen, and although there were some nice rejections, mostly it was silence, and the waiting around really was a pain in the proverbial. So, after a year on submission, I published Blood Vintage wide, so it's available everywhere now. My voice clone narrated the audiobook, listen to a sample here. I also finally produced the audiobook for Catacomb, which is a stand-alone thriller inspired by the movie Taken and the legend of Beowulf set in the catacombs under Edinburgh. I used a male voice from ElevenLabs, and you can listen to a sample here. The book is also available everywhere in all formats. J.F. Penn — The Buried and the Drowned Short Story Collection One of my goals for 2025 was to get my existing short stories into print, mainly because they exist only as digital ebook and audiobook files, which in a way, feels like they almost don't exist! Plus, I wanted to write an extra two exclusive stories and launch the special edition collection on Kickstarter Collection and then publish wide. I wrote the two stories, The Black Church, inspired by my Iceland trip in March, and also Between Two Breaths, inspired by an experience scuba diving at the Poor Knights Islands in New Zealand almost two decades ago. There are personal author's notes accompanying every story, so it's part-short story fiction, part-memoir, and I human-narrated the audiobook. I achieved this goal with a Kickstarter in September, 2025, with 206 Backers pledging almost £8000 (~US$10,600) for the various editions. I also did my first patterned sprayed edges and I love the hardback. It has head and tail bands which make the hardback really strong, gorgeous paper, foiling, a ribbon, colour photos, and custom end papers. The Buried and the Drowned is now out everywhere in all editions. As ever, if you enjoy the stories, a review would be much appreciated! Joanna Penn Books for Authors Early in the year, How to Write Non-Fiction Second Edition launched wide as I only sold it through my store in 2024, so it's available everywhere in all formats including a special hardback and workbook at CreativePennBooks.com. While I didn't write it in 2025, I made the money on it this year, which is important! I also unexpectedly wrote the Fourth Edition of Successful Self-Publishing, mainly because I saw so much misinformation and hype around selling direct, and I also wanted to write about how many options there are for indie authors now. The ebook and audiobook (narrated by human me) are free on my store, CreativePennBooks.com and also available in print, in all the usual places. If you haven't revisited options for indie authors for a while, please have a read/listen, as the industry moves fast! All my fiction and non-fiction audiobooks are now on YouTube After an inspiring episode with Derek Slaton, I put all my audiobooks and short stories on YouTube. Firstly, my non-fiction channel is monetised so I get some income from that. It's not much, but it's something. More importantly, it's marketing for my books, and many audiobook listeners go on to buy other editions especially non-fiction listeners who will often buy print as well. I'm one of those listeners! It's also doubling down on being human, since I human narrate most of my audiobooks, including almost all of my non-fiction, as well as the memoir, and short stories. This helps bring people into my ecosystem and they may listen to the podcast as well and end up buying other books or joining the Patreon. Finally, in an age of generative AI assisted search recommendations, I want my books and content inside Gemini, which is Google's AI. I want my books surfaced in recommendations and YouTube is owned by Google, and their AI overviews often point to videos. Only you can decide what you want to do with your audiobooks, but if you want to listen to mine, they are on YouTube @thecreativepenn for non-fiction or YouTube @jfpennauthor for fiction and memoir. The Creative Penn Podcast and my Patreon Community It's been another full year of The Creative Penn Podcast and this is episode 842, which is kind of crazy. If you don't know the back story, I started podcasting in March 2009 on a sporadic schedule and then went to weekly about a decade ago in 2015 when I committed to making it a core part of my author business. Thanks to our wonderful corporate sponsors for the year, all services I personally use and recommend — ProWritingAid, Draft2Digital, Kobo Writing Life, Bookfunnel, Written Word Media, Publisher Rocket and Atticus. It's also been a fantastic year inside my Patreon Community at patreon.com/thecreativepenn so thanks to all Patrons! I love the community we have as I am able to share my unfiltered thoughts in a way that I have stopped doing in the wider community. Even a tiny paywall makes a big difference in keeping out the haters. I've done monthly audio Q&As which are extra solo shows answering patron questions. I've also done several live office hours on video, and shared content every week on AI tools, writing and author business tips. Patrons also get discounts on my webinars. I did two webinars on The AI-Assisted Artisan Author, which I am planning to run again sometime in 2026 as they were a lot of fun and so much continues to change. If you get value from the show and you want more, come on over and join us at patreon.com/thecreativepenn We have almost 1400 paying members now which is wonderful. Thanks for being part of the Community! Unexpected goal of the year: Masters in Death, Religion and Culture at the University of Winchester During the summer as I did my gothic research, I realised that I was feeling quite jaded about the publishing world and sick of the drama in the author community over AI. My top 5 Clifton Strengths are Learner, Intellection, Strategic, Input, and Futuristic — and I needed more Input and Learning. I usually get that from travel and book research, but I wasn't getting enough of that since Jonathan is busy finishing his MBA. So I decided to lean into the learning and asked ChatGPT to research some courses I could do that would suit me. It found the Masters in Death, Religion and Culture at the University of Winchester, which I could do full-time and online. It would be a year of reading quite different things, writing academic essays which is something I haven't done for decades, and hanging out with a new group of people who were just as fascinated with macabre topics as I am. I started in September and have now finished the first term, tackling topics around thanatology and death studies, hell and the afterlife in the Christian tradition, and the ethics of using human remains to inspire fiction, amongst other interesting things. It was a challenge to get back into the style of academic essay writing, but I'm enjoying the rigour of the research and the citations, which is something that the indie author community needs more of, a topic I will revisit in 2026. I have found the topics fascinating, and the degree is a great way to expand my mind in a new direction, and distract me from the dramas of the author community. I'll be back into it in mid-January and will finish in September 2026. Book marketing. Not quite a fail but definitely lacklustre. I said I would “Do a monthly book marketing plan and organise paid ad campaigns per month for revolving first books in series and my main earners.” I didn't do this! I also said I would organise my Shopify stores, CreativePennBooks.com and JFPennBooks.com into more collections to make it easier for readers to find things they might want to buy. While I did change the theme of CreativePennBooks.com over to Impulse to make it easier to find collections, I haven't done much to reorganise or add new pathways through the books. I'm rolling this part of the goal into 2026. I said I would reinvigorate my content marketing for JFPenn, and make more of BooksAndTravel.page with links back to my stores, and do fiction specific content marketing with the aim of surfacing more in the LLMs as generative search expands. I did a number of episodes on Books and Travel in 2025, but once I started the Masters, I had to leave that aside, and although I have started some extra content on JFPennBooks.com, I am not overly enthusiastic about it! I also said I would “Leverage AI tools to achieve more as a one-person business.” I use AI tools (mainly ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini) every day for different things but as ever, I am pretty scatter gun about what I do. I lean into intuition and I love research so I am more likely to ask the AI tools to do a deep research report on south Pacific merfolk mythology, or how gothic architecture impacted sacred music, or geology and deep time, rather than asking for marketing hooks. I intended to use more AI for book marketing, but as ever, I was too optimistic about the timeline of what might be possible. There's lots you can do with prompting, finessing things and then posting on various platforms, but I'm not interested in spending time doing that. My gold standard for an AI assistant is to feed it the finished book and then say, “Here's a budget. Go market this,” and not have to connect lots of things together into some Frankenstein-workflow. That's not available yet. Maybe in 2026 … Of course, I still do book marketing. I have to in order to sell any books and make money from book sales. We all have to do some kind of book marketing! I have my Kickstarter launches which I put effort into, as well as consistent backlist sales fed by the podcast, and my email newsletter (my combined list is around 60K). I have auto campaigns running on Amazon Ads, and I have used Written Word Media campaigns as well as BookBub throughout the year. This is basically the minimum, so as usual, must do better! I'm pretty sure I'm not the only author saying this! However, my business has multiple streams of income, and I have the podcast sponsorship revenue as well as the Patreon, plus sporadic webinars, which add to my bottom line and don't require paid advertising at all. Reflections on my 50th year I woke up on my 50th birthday in March in Iceland, by the Black Church of Budir out on the Skaefellsnes peninsula. As seals played in the sea and we walked in the snow over the ancient lava field under the gaze of the volcano that inspired Jules Verne Journey to the Centre of the Earth, and my short story, The Black Church, which you can find in my collection, The Buried and the Drowned. On that trip, we also saw the northern lights and had a memorable trip that marked a real shift for me. I've been told by lots of people that 50 is a ‘proper' birthday, as in one of those that makes you stop and reconsider things, and it has indeed been that, although I have also found the last few years of perimenopause to be a large part of the change as well. A big shift is around priorities and not caring so much what other people think, which is a relief in many ways. Also, I don't have the patience to do things that I don't think are worth doing for the longer term, and I am appreciating a quieter life. I'd rather lie in a sunbeam and read with Cashew and Noisette next to me then create marketing assets or spend time on social media. I'd rather go for a walk with Jonathan than go to a conference or networking event. In my Pilgrimage memoir, I quote an anonymous source, “Pilgrim, pass by that which you do not love.” It's a powerful message, and I take it to mean, stop listening to people who tell you what is important. Listen to yourself more and only pay attention to that which you feel drawn to explore. On pilgrimage, it might be turning away from the supposedly important shrine of a saint to go and sit in nature and feel closer to God that way. In our author lives, it might be turning away from the things that just feel wrong for us, and leaning into what is enjoyable, that which feels worthwhile, that which we want to keep doing for the long term. Let's face it, as always, that is the writing, the thinking, the imagination. As ever, I have this mantra on my wall: “Measure your life by what you create.” It's the creation side of things that we love and that's what we need to remember when everything else gets a little much. Many authors left social media in 2025, and while I haven't left it altogether, I don't use it much. I post pictures proving I am human on Instagram @jfpennauthor which automatically post to Facebook. I barely check my pages on Facebook though. I'm also still on X with a carefully curated feed that I mainly use to learn new cool AI things which I share with my Patreon Community. Double down on being human. Travel and health. Yes, I am a human author, and yes, I continue to age! When you've been publishing a while, you need to update your author photos periodically and I finally had a photoshoot I loved with Betty Bhandari Photography, which means I can add the new pics to my websites and the back of my books. Are you up to date with your author photos? (or at least within a decade of the last photoshoot?!) Here are a few of the pictures on Instagram @jfpennauthor. Healthwise, I gave up calisthenics as it was too much on top of the powerlifting and the amount of walking I do. I did another British Powerlifting competition in September in the M2 category (based on age) and 63kgs category (based on weight). Deadlift: 95kgs. Squat: 60kgs. BenchPress: 37.5kgs. While this is less overall than last year, I also weigh less, so I'm actually stronger based on lift to body weight percentage. I have also done a few pull-ups in the last week with no band, which I am thrilled with! On the travel side, Iceland was the big trip, and I also had a weekend in Berlin for the film festival, where I met up with a producer and a director around an adaptation of my Day of the Vikings thriller. That didn't pan out, as most of these things don't, but I certainly learned a lot about the industry — and why it doesn't suit me! Once again, I dipped my toe into screenwriting and then ran away, as has happened multiple times over the years. When will I learn? … Over the summer of 2025, I visited lots of gothic cathedrals including Lichfield, Rochester, Durham, York, and revisiting Canterbury, as part of my book research for the Gothic Cathedral book. I have tens of thousands of words on this project, but it isn't ready yet, so this is carried over into 2026 as it might happen then, depending on the Masters. I spoke at Author Nation in Las Vegas in November 2025, and before it started, I visited (Lower) Antelope Canyon, one of the places on my bucket list, and it did not disappoint. What a special place and no doubt it will appear in a story at some point! How did your 2025 go? I hope your 2025 had some wonderful times as well as no doubt some challenges — and that you have time for reflection as the year turns once more. Let me know in the comments whether you achieved your creative goals and any other reflections you'd like to share.The post Review Of My 2025 Creative And Business Goals With Joanna Penn first appeared on The Creative Penn.

Stephen Mitchell has translated or adapted some of the world's most beautiful and spiritually rich texts, including The Gospel According to Jesus, The Book of Job, Gilgamesh, Tao Te Ching, Bhagavad Gita, The Iliad, The Odyssey, Beowulf, The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet, and The Way of Forgiveness. In his latest book, The First Christmas: A Story of New Beginnings, he brings the Nativity story to life as never before. In this special episode, Jacke talks to Stephen about his translations, his search for spiritual truths, and his work imagining the story of the first Christmas from multiple points of view. PLUS Jacke continues his way up the charts of the Greatest Books of All Time with a look at #4 on the list, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. Note: A version of this episode first ran in December 2021. Join Jacke on a trip through literary England! Join Jacke and fellow literature fans on an eight-day journey through literary England in partnership with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠John Shors Travel⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ in May 2026! Scheduled stops include The Charles Dickens Museum, Dr. Johnson's house, Jane Austen's Bath, Tolkien's Oxford, Shakespeare's Globe Theater, and more. Learn more by emailing jackewilsonauthor@gmail.com or masahiko@johnshorstravel.com, or by contacting us through our website ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠historyofliterature.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. December update: Act soon - there are only two spots left! The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠gabrielruizbernal.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Help support the show at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/literature ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠historyofliterature.com/donate ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. The History of Literature Podcast is a member of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate Network. Learn more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

[School of Movies 2025] Jim Carrey plays Ebeneezer Scrooge in this unsettling adaptation (sometimes intentionally so, sometimes not). Here, we get to talk about what was possible in this performance capture version that has been done nowhere else, making it strange and special and awkward and precious. Continuing our season of going back to the start, we resurrected the Robert Zemekis incarnation of the perennial yuletide Dickens classic (which we covered back in December 2011 in conjunction with Muppet Christmas Carol... the froggy one we subsequently revisited in 2022). This is also part of an ongoing series analysing the five very uneven performance capture animation films of Image Movers Digital, starting with The Polar Express in 2004, graduating to Monster House in 2006 and closing out with the death-rattle of Mars Needs Moms in 2011. All three of those will be featured on our After School Club over the next few weeks. The remaining oddball adaptation of Beowulf from 2007 is our personal favourite of the quintet and we will finally be talking about it next year. This sub-series is also a part of the overall Zemekis Season we are conducting. Coming next year we will also showcase Forest Gump, Here, The Witches and the riotous Death Becomes Her. Also for Carrey fans, we have his second-finest dramatic performance, The Truman Show, coming very soon (the first-finest being this).

Patreon preview. Unlock full episode at https://www.patreon.com/stavvysworldThe Mastermind of Those Out of Their Mind, JP McDade, taps Myka Fox for the newest edition of McDade's Maniacs, to discuss the joys of shoplifting, Arizona childhoods, her dad's pragmatic dream of becoming a dentist, whether Stav is smart or dumb, Angelina Jolie in Beowulf, and much more. Myka, JP and Stav help callers including an adult man who doesn't like his best friend's nephew's girlfriend because she can't riff, and a woman who's mad that he male friend dogged a girl from Bumble.  Check out Myka Fox's podcast Great Hang: https://www.patreon.com/GreatHangSee Myka Fox live and follow her on social media:https://www.mykafox.com/http://instagram.com/mykafoxhttp://twitter.com/mykafoxhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/MykaFox☎️ Want to be a part of the show? Call 904-800-STAV and leave a voicemail to get advice!

We’re tracking down the wellspring of “dark academia” in Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, and plucking on threads that stretch out to current fantasy and science fiction literature, with reviewer Roseanna Pendlebury as our guide. Casella manages to throw some shade at Arrival, somehow, and also references Dumb & Dumber.   Podcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, and more at the Ancillary Review of Books.   Please consider supporting ARB’s Patreon! Guest: Roseanna Pendlebury Title: The Secret History Host: Jake Casella Brookins Music by Giselle Gabrielle Garcia Artwork by Rob Patterson Opening poem by Bhartṛhari, translated by John Brough Transcribers: Kate Dollarhyde and John WM Thompson References: Isaac Fellman’s Notes from a Regicide E.J. Swift’s When There Are Wolves Again Ned Beauman’s Venomous Lumpsucker  Rebecca Campbell's Arboreality Simon Roy's Griz Grobus & A Star Called The Sun Ursula Whitcher's North Continent Ribbon Tartt’s The Goldfinch Euripides’ The Bacchae Jane Alison's Meander Spiral Explode: Design and Pattern in Narrative Roger Ebert's review of Roger Avary’s film adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis's The Rules of Attraction (which, we didn’t get into this in the episode, is sort of in the Expanded Secret History Universe) Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Grey J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Sofia Samatar's The Practice The Horizon and the Chain R.F. Kuang's Katabasis & Babel Fellman's The Two Doctors Górski Marina & Sergei Dyachenko's Vita Nostra, translated by Julia Meitov Hersey Ceaușescu's bathroom Peter Farrelly’s film Dumb and Dumber Sir Arthur Conan Doyles’ Sherlock Holmes story A Study in Scarlet Ted Chiang's "Story of Your Life" vs. Denis Villeneuve's film Arrival Becky Chamber’s To Be Taught if Fortunate Emily Tesh’s The Incandescent Jill Murphy’s The Worst Witch "All art is perfectly useless" C.S. Lewis's Till We Have Faces Samatar's A Stranger In Olondria and The Winged Histories Fellman's The Breath of the Sun Katherin Addison's The Goblin Emperor & sequels Dungeons & Dragons Roseanna’s Small Press Dispatch series at ARB Roseanna's blog Tolkien's Beowulf & The Tolkien Reader Lina Palera’s Seikilos Epitaph with the Lyre of Apollo, CC BY-NC-SA 3.0*   *Note that ARB & AMOT are generally distributed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, but will match the CC of any incorporated material for particular posts/episodes.    

We’re tracking down the wellspring of “dark academia” in Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, and plucking on threads that stretch out to current fantasy and science fiction literature, with reviewer Roseanna Pendlebury as our guide. Casella manages to throw some shade at Arrival, somehow, and also references Dumb & Dumber.   Podcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, and more at the Ancillary Review of Books.   Please consider supporting ARB’s Patreon! Guest: Roseanna Pendlebury Title: The Secret History Host: Jake Casella Brookins Music by Giselle Gabrielle Garcia Artwork by Rob Patterson Opening poem by Bhartṛhari, translated by John Brough Transcribers: Kate Dollarhyde and John WM Thompson References: Isaac Fellman’s Notes from a Regicide E.J. Swift’s When There Are Wolves Again Ned Beauman’s Venomous Lumpsucker  Rebecca Campbell's Arboreality Simon Roy's Griz Grobus & A Star Called The Sun Ursula Whitcher's North Continent Ribbon Tartt’s The Goldfinch Euripides’ The Bacchae Jane Alison's Meander Spiral Explode: Design and Pattern in Narrative Roger Ebert's review of Roger Avary’s film adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis's The Rules of Attraction (which, we didn’t get into this in the episode, is sort of in the Expanded Secret History Universe) Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Grey J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Sofia Samatar's The Practice The Horizon and the Chain R.F. Kuang's Katabasis & Babel Fellman's The Two Doctors Górski Marina & Sergei Dyachenko's Vita Nostra, translated by Julia Meitov Hersey Ceaușescu's bathroom Peter Farrelly’s film Dumb and Dumber Sir Arthur Conan Doyles’ Sherlock Holmes story A Study in Scarlet Ted Chiang's "Story of Your Life" vs. Denis Villeneuve's film Arrival Becky Chamber’s To Be Taught if Fortunate Emily Tesh’s The Incandescent Jill Murphy’s The Worst Witch "All art is perfectly useless" C.S. Lewis's Till We Have Faces Samatar's A Stranger In Olondria and The Winged Histories Fellman's The Breath of the Sun Katherin Addison's The Goblin Emperor & sequels Dungeons & Dragons Roseanna’s Small Press Dispatch series at ARB Roseanna's blog Tolkien's Beowulf & The Tolkien Reader Lina Palera’s Seikilos Epitaph with the Lyre of Apollo, CC BY-NC-SA 3.0*   *Note that ARB & AMOT are generally distributed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, but will match the CC of any incorporated material for particular posts/episodes.    

The Thirteenth Warrior follows an exiled Arab diplomat (Antonio Banderas) who joins twelve Viking warriors to defend a village from mysterious attackers called the Wendol, that are like wolf people but mostly just people. It's like Beowulf told from another perspective kind of. Throwbacktheaterpodcast@gmail.com

What does it mean to be a warrior when the odds are not in your favor and even the world seems to have turned its back on you? Welcome to the world of the heroes in Northern European myth. The divine heroes Beowulf, Sigurd, and Starkadr and the Germanic warriors who venerated them, lived in a world of stark extremes, where courage, honor, and strength were tested at every turn. Their stories weren't just entertainment; they were guides for living boldly in a harsh and uncertain world.While we no longer live in these warrior cultures of the past, those of us attempting to walk this path in the modern world still face the same eternal questions:How do you live knowing that everything you love will one day die?How do you act with honor in a world no longer believes in it?How do you continue to fight when you feel as though the battle cannot be won?This is the world these warriors inhabited, and through their deeds, their trials, and their defiance, we find answers to the timeless questions of how to live, act, and fight with honor today.So, strap in and get ready for a wild ride through the world of the Germanic Hero.  It's all in this episode of the Pearl Snap Tactical Podcast!Resources:Laughing Shall I Die: The Lives and Deaths of the Vikings, Tom ShippeySaga of the Volsungs, translated by Jackson CrawfordThe History of the Danes, Saxo GrammaticusBeowulf, translated by Seamus HeaneySupport the showGet Members Only Content when you upgrade to a premium membership on our Substack page. Click here.Link up with us:Website: Pearl Snap TacticalInstagram: Pearl Snap Tactical X: Pearl Snap TaciticalThe views and opinions expressed by the guests do not necessarily reflect those of the host, this podcast or affiliates. The information provided in these shows are for educational purposes do not constitute legal advice. Those interest in training in the use of firearms or other self-defense applications are advised to seek out a professional, qualified instructor.(Some of the links in the episode show notes are affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase through these links, we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. We only recommend products or services we have personally used and believe will add value to our listeners.)

The holidays are coming and it's a good time to remember all the things you do not (or will not) miss about your cheating ex. We hear about puppets in church, obnoxious sneezing, and hair powder. Horrific hygiene and rage driving. Bizarre hobbies and bad attitudes. Sound engineer Beowulf does his best dramatic Grinchy Thurl Ravenscroft voice to read the list. Sarah and Tracy react in horror. Thank god, no more taxidermy.

Tommy Buoy from Yachtley Crue talks about their latest album, and Ann Powell, an actor who works at WSB, talks about Beowulf.

Hwæt a Movie is back! This time we dive deep into the uncanny valley epic Beowulf from 2007. Released at the height of Robert Zemeckis's motion-capture mania, this version of our favorite Old English classic promised to bring the poem to life like never before. It was slated to be an event like no other, at least for John and Andy. In this star-studded and CG-saturated film, Ray Winstone voices a Beowulf who looks suspiciously like an action figure and swaggers like he just killed nine nicors. He's accompanied by the ageless Wiglaf, played by Brendan Gleeson. The great Anthony Hopkins plays a jovial but somewhat mad King Hrothgar, Robin Wright plays the deeply troubled Queen Wealhtheow, and John Malkovich does his best John Malkovich as Unferth. But if we're honest, this is the Grendel family's movie from start to finish. Crispin Glover turns in a unforgettable performance as a Grendel who swells with anger and shrinks with vulnerability. Grendel's mother is a gold-dipped, shape-shifting femme fatale with stiletto feet. She's also very much Angelina Jolie. And then there's Grendel's little half-brother dragon. That's right, the dragon is part of the family! Is this adaptation a clever deconstruction of heroism and myth-making? Or just an excuse to get Beowulf naked on an animated dragon? Zemeckis, Gaiman, and Avary take some bold liberties with the source material in this one, and we're here to guide you through it all from the perspective of two curmudgeonly middle-aged medievalists. As always, this episode of Hwæt a Movie includes a thorough summary and discussion of the film, a brief Q&A, and our final ratings: how well the film handles Beowulf, Grendel, and Grendel's mother, plus our ever-important scores for faithfulness to the source and overall entertainment value. Beowulf (2007) was a wild ride to discuss, and we hope you enjoy it half as much as Beowulf enjoys shouting his own name. Or at least as much as Zemeckis likes cleverly blocking Beowulf's bare bits from view with conveniently placed objects. Once you've listened, let us know your thoughts. Is this the definitive Beowulf for the 21st century? Or just a fever dream in a damp cave? And do you forgive us for being grumpy when it comes to Beowulf movies? Reach out on social media and join the discussion: Sagathingpodcast on Facebook Sagathingpodcast on Instagram Sagathingpodcast on Bluesky Or join others like you on Saga Thing's unofficial official Discord All music taken from the film for this episode is written and produced by Glen Ballard and Alan Silvestri.

We trace the evolution of European literature as it emerged from the medieval period. This episode covers the heroic sagas of the Anglo-Saxons and Norse, Dante's divine journey in the Inferno, the universal stage of Shakespeare, and the rise of the novel and individual consciousness during the Enlightenment. To unlock full access to all our episodes, consider becoming a premium subscriber on Apple Podcasts or Patreon. And don't forget to visit englishpluspodcast.com for even more content, including articles, in-depth studies, and our brand-new audio series and courses now available in our Patreon Shop!

Join Justin as he chats with actor and artist Crispin Glover about his new film, No! You're Wrong, balancing filmmaking and acting, working with new directors, paranormal experiences, life after death, and more!Crispin Glover bio:Crispin Hellion Glover (born April 20, 1964) is an American actor, filmmaker and artist. He is known for portraying eccentriccharacter roles on screen. His breakout role was as George McFly in Back to the Future (1985), which he followed by playing one of the leading roles in River's Edge (1986). Through the 1990s, Glover garnered attention for portraying smaller but notable roles in films such as Wild at Heart (1990), The Doors (1991), What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), and Dead Man (1995). Starting with his role as the Thin Man in Charlie's Angels (2000), he began to star in more mainstream films. The roles in these films include a reprisal of the Thin Man in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003), portraying the titular character in Willard (2003), Grendel in Beowulf (2007), The Knave of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland (2010) and Phil in Hot Tub Time Machine (2010). From 2017 to 2021 he starred as Mr. World in the Starz television series American Gods. In the late 1980s, Glover started his company, Volcanic Eruptions, which publishes his books such as Rat Catching (1988) and also serves as the production company for the films he has directed, What Is It? (2005), It Is Fine! Everything Is Fine. (2007), and No! YOU'RE WRONG. or: Spooky Action at a Distance (2025). These films have never received a traditional theatrical release; instead, Glover tours with the films, holding screenings in theatres around the world.Information on No! You're Wrong, including a video preview:The first show is October 2, 2025, with the World Premiere at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.Upcoming shows:Oct 2 – NYC World Premiere @ MoMAOct 10–16 – IFC Center, NYCOct 18–19 – Aero Theatre, Santa MonicaOct 23 – Music Box, ChicagoNov 3 – Coolidge Corner, BostonLink to video preview of Crispin's new film:https://youtu.be/3grQdSO8jfA?si=ibZTyIg5tYEaUK_SIntro and outro theme created by Wyrm. Support Wyrm by visiting the Serpents Sword Records bandcamp page (linked below):https://serpentsswordrecords.bandcamp.com/Monsters, Madness and Magic Official Website. Monsters, Madness and Magic on Linktree.Monsters, Madness and Magic on Instagram.Monsters, Madness and Magic on Facebook.Monsters, Madness and Magic on Twitter.

Matt and David freak the hell out about Beowulf after an exploding flaming cinnamon disaster / triumph, and one of us still has glitter in our teeth. Hwæt?

Wir sprachen mit Tommy Krappweis über Mythen- und Sagenmotive in modernen Romanen, Filmen, Comics, Serien und nicht zuletzt seinem multimedialen Maraverse. Erzählen wir uns seit Tausenden von Jahren die immer gleichen Geschichten in neuem Gewand? Was genau macht die Faszination von Beowulf, der Edda oder der Artussage aus? Dabei verlassen wir immer wieder die Metaebene und betrachten, wie Tommy diese Motive mit größtmöglicher historischer Akkuratesse in seine eigene fiktive Welt bestehend aus Film, Serie, Romanen und vor allem Hörspielen einbaut und für Menschen jeden Alters modern aufbereitet. Diese Folge entstand mit freundlicher Unterstützung von Leonine Studios. Ihr findet unsere Umfrage hier. Wie man uns unterstützen kann, könnt ihr hier nachlesen. Zum HOAXILLA Merchandise geht es hier QUELLEN Story der Woche: War Tolkien Spinnenphobiker? Thema der Woche: Link zu Tommys Werken* Zum Maraverse Discord-Server Trailer: Dracula - Die Auferstehung *Affiliate Link

This week we get the energy up by having Mike Carroll talk about Beowulf again! We plan on coming out with an episode every first and third Friday of the Month for the rest of the school year and hopefully you come along for the ride with us! We are starting out with Grendel by John Gardner a deceptively short book for the complex magnitudes it contains. So sit back and enjoy our conversation about the Grendel in Grendel.  Host: Dr. Nic Hoffmann, Mike Burns, and Mike Carroll.   This elegantly haunting retelling of the Beowulf saga turns the tables: instead of the heroic warrior, the monstrous Grendel narrates the tale—from his vantage point, with his blend of bitter irony, existential rumination, and lonely longing. Grendel, the original “monster” of ancient legend, voices his own story in a world he finds bewildering and violent. He and his mute mother dwell in a cave, shaded from human society yet tormented by their encroachment. When a blind harpist—known as the Shaper—arrives at the Danish mead‑hall, Hart, his forged myths and stirring songs both enchant and horrify Grendel, setting in motion a philosophical struggle between storytelling's awakening magic and the stark, chaotic truths he senses beneath it.

9/11/25 - Catholic author Joseph Pearce discusses his new book Great Books for Good Men: Reflections on Literature and Manhood, originally commissioned by Exodus 90. Pearce reflects on how the treasures of classic literature, from Homer and Dante to Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, can shape Catholic men into virtuous, courageous, and holy human beings. He explains what inspired the book, how works such as The Odyssey, The Divine Comedy, Beowulf, and Hamlet remain relevant today, and why literature is a powerful guide for forming virtues like humility, courage, chastity, and wisdom. In a culture that often misunderstands masculinity, swinging between toxic extremes and weakness, Pearce shows how the great authors offer an alternative vision of authentic manhood rooted in the Catholic tradition. Great Books for Good Men is more than a literary reflection; it is a roadmap for men striving for virtue, holiness, and authentic self-giving. Get the book: https://ignatius.com/great-books-for-good-men-gbgmp/

Before Tolkien turned them into noble archers, medieval people believed elves were dangerous beings who shot invisible arrows that caused mental illness, stabbing pains, and livestock death.Join the DARKNESS SYNDICATE: https://weirddarkness.com/syndicateTake the WEIRD DARKNESS LISTENER SURVEY and help mold the future of the podcast: https://weirddarkness.com/surveyIN THIS EPISODE: Elves – they are portrayed as helpful and joyous when helping a shoemaker, or a jolly old man with a white beard at the north pole. But they are portrayed as evil in some other cultures – even claimed to be in league with the devil himself. And what do they have to do with Cain and Abel? We'll look at the history of elves. (A History of Elves) *** There was a struggle, one of the men fell through a window to the street below, breaking his neck. A case that practically solved itself according to police. That is… until they began questioning those involved. Then it began to get very murky, and a bit bizarre. (The Strange Death of Thomas Farrant) *** Do you believe in vampires? If you are thinking of the undead, immortal, blood-sucking creatures of the night who speak with a Hungarian accent, then probably not. Or if you are thinking of the kind of vampires with pale skin and mussed hair that sparkle, then definitely not. But that doesn't mean that vampires don't exist. They in fact do roam the earth in human form, and I'll tell you about them. (Are Vampires Real?) *** It's the story of two Georges, one with his father's name and one with not quite his father's name, one legitimate, one illegitimate – with the latter being very good with elephants. I'll tell you the odd life story of George Nyleve. (The Strange Story of George Nyleve) *** “Be quiet and give me the money in the cash drawer… This gun talks.” And with those words began a string of bank robberies conducted not by a gang of outlaws, or even a couple of bad men… but by one little old lady. (The Grandma Bandit)CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)…00:00:00.000 = Lead-In, “The Elves and the Shoemaker” by the Brothers Grimm00:05:56.641 = Show Open00:08:25.990 = A History of Elves00:20:28.857 = Strange Death of Thomas Farrant00:27:28.578 = Are Vampires Real?00:34:46.136 = Strange Story of George Nyleve00:44:09.835 = Grandma Bandit00:48:40.342 = Show CloseSOURCES AND RESOURCES FROM THE EPISODE…“The Elves and the Shoemaker” story was adapted from the Brothers Grimm by Margaret Hunt and posted at Kids Pages: https://tinyurl.com/y2rhxrlz“A History of Elves” by Gemma Hollman for Just History Posts: https://tinyurl.com/y5dsfbgo“The Strange Death of Thomas Farrant” by Les Hewitt for Historic Mysteries: https://tinyurl.com/y3w5yvrd“Are Vampires Real?” by Stephen Wagner for Live About: https://tinyurl.com/y3qanbbs“The Strange Story of George Nyleve” by William and Karen Ellis-Rees for London Overlooked: https://tinyurl.com/yynxc7od“The Grandma Bandit” by Robert A. Waters for Kidnapping Murder and Mayhem: https://tinyurl.com/yxpyxd9x=====(Over time links may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for the material I use whenever possible. If I somehow overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it in these show notes immediately. Some links included above may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)= = = = ="I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." — John 12:46= = = = =WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2025, Weird Darkness.=====Originally aired: July 27, 2020EPISODE PAGE at WeirdDarkness.com (includes list of sources): https://weirddarkness.com/DarkTruthAboutElvesABOUT WEIRD DARKNESS: Weird Darkness is a true crime and paranormal podcast narrated by professional award-winning voice actor, Darren Marlar. Seven days per week, Weird Darkness focuses on all thing strange and macabre such as haunted locations, unsolved mysteries, true ghost stories, supernatural manifestations, urban legends, unsolved or cold case murders, conspiracy theories, and more. On Thursdays, this scary stories podcast features horror fiction along with the occasional creepypasta. Weird Darkness has been named one of the “Best 20 Storytellers in Podcasting” by Podcast Business Journal. Listeners have described the show as a cross between “Coast to Coast” with Art Bell, “The Twilight Zone” with Rod Serling, “Unsolved Mysteries” with Robert Stack, and “In Search Of” with Leonard Nimoy.DISCLAIMER: Ads heard during the podcast that are not in my voice are placed by third party agencies outside of my control and should not imply an endorsement by Weird Darkness or myself. *** Stories and content in Weird Darkness can be disturbing for some listeners and intended for mature audiences only. Parental discretion is strongly advised.#ElvesHistory #MedievalElves #ElfMythology #GermanicFolklore #ElfShot #ElvesBeforeTolkien #NorseMythology #MedievalFolklore #ScandinavianFolklore #MythicalCreatures

Melvyn Bragg and guests explore dragons, literally and symbolically potent creatures that have appeared in many different guises in countries and cultures around the world. Sometimes compared to snakes, alligators, lions and even dinosaurs, dragons have appeared on clay tablets in ancient Mesopotamia, in the Chinese zodiac, in the guise of the devil in Christian religious texts and in the national symbolism of the countries of England and Wales. They are often portrayed as terrifying but sometimes appear as sacred and even benign creatures, and they continue to populate our cultural fantasies through blockbuster films, TV series and children's books. With:Kelsey Granger, Post Doctoral Researcher in Chinese History at the University of EdinburghDaniel Ogden, Professor of Ancient History at the University of ExeterAnd Juliette Wood, Associate Lecturer in the School of Welsh at the University of Wales. Producer: Eliane GlaserReading list:Paul Acker and Carolyne Larrington (eds.), Revisiting the Poetic Edda: Essays on Old Norse Heroic Legend (Routledge, 2013), especially ‘Dragons in the Eddas and in Early Nordic Art' by Paul AckerScott G. Bruce (ed.), The Penguin Book of Dragons (Penguin, 2022)James H. Charlesworth, The Good and Evil Serpent: How a Universal Symbol became Christianized (Yale University Press, 2009)Juliana Dresvina, A Maid with a Dragon: The Cult of St Margaret of Antioch in Medieval England (Oxford University Press, 2016)Joyce Tally Lionarons, The Medieval Dragon: The Nature of the Beast in Germanic Literature (Hisarlik Press, 1998)Daniel Ogden, Dragons, Serpents, and Slayers in the Classical and Early Christian Worlds: A Sourcebook (Oxford University Press, 2013)Daniel Ogden, The Dragon in the West (Oxford University Press, 2021)Christine Rauer, Beowulf and the Dragon (D.S. Brewer, 2000)Phil Senter et al., ‘Snake to Monster: Conrad Gessner's Schlangenbuch and the Evolution of the Dragon in the Literature of Natural History' (Journal of Folklore Research, vol. 53, no. 1, 2016)Jacqueline Simpson, British Dragons: Myth, Legend and Folklore (first published 1980; Wordsworth Editions, 2001) Jeffrey Snyder-Reinke, Dry Spells: State Rainmaking and Local Governance in Late Imperial China (Harvard University Press, 2009)Roel Sterckx, The Animal and the Daemon in Early China (State University of New York Press, 2002)Roel Sterckx, Chinese Thought: From Confucius to Cook Ding (Pelican Books, 2019)J. R. R. Tolkien, The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays (first published 1983; HarperCollins, 2007)Christopher Walter, The Warrior Saints in Byzantine Art and Tradition (Routledge, 2003)Juliette Wood, Fantastic Creatures in Mythology and Folklore: From Medieval Times to the Present Day (Bloomsbury Academic, 2018) Yang Xin, Li Yihua, and Xu Naixiang, Art of the Dragon (Shambhala, 1988)In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio production Spanning history, religion, culture, science and philosophy, In Our Time from BBC Radio 4 is essential listening for the intellectually curious. In each episode, host Melvyn Bragg and expert guests explore the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world.