Podcasts about Charles Dickens

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens Book 1 chapter 1 "The Period" narrated by Isaac BirchallSubscribe on YT or Join the Book Club on KO-FI and support me as an independent creator :D⁠https://ko-fi.com/theessentialreads⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfOFfvo05ElM96CmfsGsu3g/joinPodcast Link: ⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/13b1qP3WhCWxam9yc49vIF?si=4e279ef4f5f143a0⁠Summary:“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.” One of the most iconic opening lines in literature sets the scene of one of the most read novels in the world. Charles Dickens tells his readers about what is happening in both England and France, where this novel is set. France is less spiritual than England and has been making and spending a lot of money. There are rumblings of revolution on the horizon. England is out of order. There are robberies and burglaries taking place all over the country, even in the capital. The Lord Mayor of London was even robbed, and the Jails (gaols) are riotous. The Hangman is very busy punishing all ne'er-do-wells. SEO stuff I don't want to do. Charles Dickens' novel A Tale of Two Cities is one of the most sold books on the planet with over 200 million copies having been sold world wide. It is the most famous of Dickens' works and set in the bloody and violent French revolution. It blends the great history of the French revolution with the tale of a family. Raising enduring themes of imprisonment, injustice, social anarchy, resurrection, and the renunciation that fosters renewal, there is a reason that this novel has stood the test of time and has been enjoyed by readers all across the globe in many different languages.

"Mugby Junction" by Charles Dickens is a captivating exploration of human experiences and connections set against the backdrop of a bustling railway station. Through a series of interconnected tales, Dickens delves into themes of chance encounters, the complexity of human relationships, and the impact of travel on personal journeys. This enduring work resonates today as it reflects the timeless nature of human interaction and the unexpected moments that shape our lives. Dickens' masterful storytelling invites listeners to reflect on their own experiences and the significance of the paths we choose, making it a compelling listen for anyone interested in the intricacies of life and fate.

Une chronique de Laurent Lafourcade

Chaque dimanche, retrouvez le livre coup de coeur de la semaine : roman, thriller, littérature... laissez-vous inspirer pour vos prochaines lectures ! RDV chaque dimanche à 08h50 et 10h20 sur LYON 1ERE. Ecoutez LYON 1ERE sur lyonpremiere.fr, l'application et à Lyon sur 90.2FM et en DAB+.Hébergé par Ausha. Visitez ausha.co/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

Hoy compartimos el programa dedicado a la novela y al cómic de "CUENTO DE NAVIDAD" de Charles Dickens, y de las adaptaciones realizadas a cómic por Bruguera. Aprovechando el programa para recomendaros algunos libros y dar algunas noticias. También mandamos saludos y felicitaciones las Mercedes que hoy están de santo. DIRECTOR y LOCUTOR: Miguel A. Mateos Carreira GUION: Miguel A. Mateos Carreira REVISIÓN: Juan Ruiz y Grupo del New York Club Inklins Español MUSICA: GarageBand

Part one of a two-part series on self comparison opens with the hard truth that most people are not behind at all. Lesley Logan traces the borrowed scoreboards we inherit from parents, from past versions of ourselves, and from a social feed built entirely of highlight reels. She unpacks a goal she once wrote down that was never actually hers, and why envy works better as a diagnostic tool than a verdict.If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:Letting go of what no longer serves instead of accumulating more.Why feeling behind at thirty said nothing about actually being behind.Envy read as a highlight of what matters, not a judgment.How a goal written on a Lululemon worksheet was never actually hers.Four homework questions to answer before the radical success audit.Episode References/Links:Submit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questions If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Lesley Logan 0:00  I really do want you to stop outsourcing your metrics of happiness because you are comparing yourself on data that isn't the right data you need to get to where you want to go.Lesley Logan 0:11  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started.Lesley Logan 0:54  Hey, Be It babe, welcome, welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast. Today we're talking about self-comparison, and ooh, I don't know if you were raised on this line, but I was raised on self-comparison is a thief of joy. I guess they didn't have the self part. The comparison is a thief of joy, and you know what? It fucking is. So here's the deal: if you have ever looked at someone else's life online or in your community and felt this immediate sinking pit in your stomach telling you that you are behind, or you just see something, and you're just, "Why them? How do they get that?" I feel that for you. I really, really do. I heard a woman say this beautiful line at a talk the other day, and I'm going to have her on the podcast. She is scheduled, so we will have an episode with her, and we'll probably talk about this deeper. But she had said this, like, hit me. She said, "If comparison is high, clarity is low," and I think if that's all you get out of this episode, then I will, then I've done my job. But today we are going to break down the hard truth. You're probably not behind at all, right? And you know this, you know. But let's talk about why are you scoring yourself on someone else's scoreboard? Because that's what comparison is, right? Lesley Logan 1:58  When we compare yourself to somebody else, it's just like we're using someone else's life and their scoreboard and going, "We are behind," but really, you're in your own fucking game. So this first part. So on Thursday we'll have a second part. We're gonna just talk about comparison and do a radical success audit because I really do want you to stop outsourcing your metrics of happiness because you are comparing yourself on data that isn't the right data you need to get to where you want to go. This is called "Be It Till You See It," right? If you are using the wrong metrics to "Be It Till You See It," you're going to end up being on someone else's costume. It's going to be, don't even know what that is. "Be it till you are in their clothes." That's not going to work. So here's the deal: I am a 43-year-old woman who is talking to you right now, and oh my god, I think I was a 43-year-old in a child's body my whole life. Maybe not that old, but I definitely couldn't wait to be at the next level in the next stage. And I definitely compared myself to so many people. Being young was so hard. I was so hard on myself because, first of all, I didn't have a lot of money when I grew up, and all my friends really did. At least, if they didn't, it seemed like they did because they went to Disneyland before I could. They had cars when they were 16. I had to buy mine, right? Like there's all these just different things that they're so. Oh my god! I was in the AP classes, and these people were so smart. My B plus was the hardest work of life that I could get. My A minuses were, and they came so easy to them. Came so easy, right? And so I remember going to college, and everybody was like finding their husbands and getting married. And I was really proud to not get married in college.Lesley Logan 3:30  I mean, because one, my college was super expensive, and two, I'm, thank God, I didn't marry those men, I would have been divorced very quickly, and I probably would have had a life I didn't want to really have a hard time. So, but I do remember after 30, my 30th birthday. I remember just feeling, "Wow, I'm behind. I am behind." Because even though I knew I didn't want kids and that kind of thing, I wasn't married. In fact, I was broken up. I broke up with my partner, and I was semi-homeless, and I had to start over with my studio and blah blah blah, and I just felt behind. Wow, you know. And then it felt every single month of not being in a relationship with the right person was now I'm not going to get married at least until I'm 31. Then it's, you know what I mean, like. And then I just remember feeling I didn't have it all locked down, and I think a lot of women feel that way at a young age, whether or not you want to have children.Lesley Logan 4:24  There's this thing we've got to get this stuff done early, and as we know, that's not true. But it doesn't mean that it still doesn't feel true, right? It doesn't. It feels true. And there's also the idea, you know, retirement is around the corner. I mean, it's not really around the corner, but I want to retire early, so it's around the corner. Do I have enough money for that? I, I should have had this many members by now, so then I could do X, Y, and Z. And so it's just, it's a really hard time because there does feel like there's a timeline, and that we're trapped, and that we are behind, even if we don't look at other people, because there's just things we want to have done by now, and the reality is, as a business owner, as long as I've been, everything takes longer than we want. It will always have problems, and all of a sudden, you'll have been there, and you'll be looking back, and wow, how did that go? Lesley Logan 5:13  Like I was at Brad's birthday party, and with a friend, and he didn't know how we met, and so I told the story. I was like, "Yeah, that was 11 years ago. That's 11 years ago. 11 years ago, when we got married, fuck. Wow, time does fly when you're having a good time. But also, we have to remember that this is a really good time for us to edit, get rid of, let go of things, not just keep accumulating, because it makes it really difficult to find the success that you want if you're trying to carry all the things from the past decades with you. So, what do you have to let go of? Is it friends? Is it a dresser you've just been shoving more shit in? Is it a car? Is it a job? Is it a goal that isn't yours? Lesley Logan 6:03  So, for example, before I became a Lululemon ambassador, this would be 14 years ago, 15 years ago. When you come to the house, you'll see that my picture is on the wall here. It's fucking huge, and I don't know what to do with it. So it's just right there, staring at you, the guest bedroom, bathroom. But they had us do this goals thing: one year, five year, 10 year goals, right? And it had to be health related and personal and business or whatever, successful, whatever. And I put down that I wanted to do a yoga teacher training. I liked going to yoga classes. I had done a Pilates instructor teacher training. I was finishing up my second one, and I was, you know, I should do a yoga one because then I can teach yoga classes because that's what everyone does in fitness. They have 17,000 certifications. They could teach all these different formats, and I should do that. And then six months later, when I looked at that sheet, I hadn't even touched. I hadn't even Googled a yoga certification. Didn't even look one up. And guess what? There was one happening in Equinox where I worked, and I didn't even think, oh, I could do that one.Lesley Logan 7:00  None of that even came to my mind, and so what that meant was I was accumulating goals that weren't right for the success that I wanted to have, and so my love, we really need to be thoughtful about the things that we haven't let go of that no longer are serving a good purpose for us right now.Lesley Logan 7:20  All right. So next thing I want us to focus on before we get into our homework audit, I want us to talk about the borrowed scoreboard. Right. So this is ideal. We often get goals from our parents, but are often your parents put goals on you. I hear parents talk about their kids today and what school they're going to go to and how they're going to be, and what sports they're going to be in, and I'm, oh my god, do the, and I can't even keep my mouth shut, which has got me in trouble. Do they even like it? And they're going to like it. They get so defensive at me, and I'm, oh, this is I'm not supposed to talk. They're just supposed to talk at me. Okay, noted. But oftentimes our parents have had goals for us, right? And so we feel like we're disappointing people when we don't do those things, and so then not only do we do them or we try to have fun doing them, we kind of keep that goal as part of who we are supposed to be.Lesley Logan 8:10  We also have past versions of ourselves that we are using still to think about how we are doing things and if we're doing a good enough job. We 10 years ago definitely could handle a 12- to 13-hour workday and sleep and still do all the workouts and eat really well. And the person of me today cannot do that. If I don't get my work done in six hours, that's it. That's all I have, folks. And I have caught myself going, "Lesley. You should be able to do this. You just sit down at dinner and get another fucking hour of work done," and I just can't. So I can't. That's me in that moment comparing myself to an old self, using that old self's scoreboard and brain and things, and social media sucks for this, right? And so goes back to that thing: when comparison is high, clarity is low. If you open up socials and you are feeling bad about yourself when it's over, my dear, there's a big sign your scoreboard is not your own, because you know that it's all a highlight reel. You know that it has to be. That's the only way this works, because you definitely don't know the people that are made fun of for not having it being the weird ones that are doing something stupid on the strip, and it will be embarrassed that someone filmed them doing that. You don't want that, so you put out the highlight reel, and not to say that you should also put yourself up crying because I really hate videos of people crying. I think we know it's a highlight reel, and yet we'll compare ourselves to others. And the thing that you cannot get in 2200 characters or in a three-second hook is all the things that went wrong before that beautiful thing went up, right? Lesley Logan 9:49  It is so. I'm pretty transparent here, so I know you guys know how much shit our business has gone through to get the things going. Because if you're a member, we're very transparent with you. If you're a listener, we talk this happened, and then that happened, and we did this, and now we're here, and now it works, and it's great, and so exciting. But it's a journey. But most people don't share that stuff, right? And that stuff also isn't sexy, so nobody wants to listen to it, anyways, because you just sound like a complainer. But the reality is that social media makes us feel like we're always behind, that we're not thin enough, that we're not pretty enough, that we're not doing enough things for ourselves.Lesley Logan 10:20  My god, to tell you the truth, I hate how I look on this podcast, and yet I will tell you right now, I don't do anything to change how I look on this podcast. But when it comes out, wow, you don't look at the camera, it's like you can't make eye contact. It would be cool, Lesley, if you just did your hair, you know. But the other thing is, is I also know that I don't really care, but it's just there's just something about it because then I see some other beautiful person on their podcast and it's just crisp and clearly filmed in 4,000k or whatever it is, 4k and 4,000k. I sound like that woman who I had podcasts which is it's 20 2000 2026. Lesley Logan 11:00  Anyways, they just look so stunning, and I know how. What I that means that they took an hour and a half to set up that podcast to look that stunning, and I could do that too. But we're not doing that because that's not who I want to be on this. But the reality is that social media often has us comparing ourselves and feeling, "Wow, I do not measure up," but you're measuring yourself to somebody else, and all this, all the support that they have that you may or may not have, right? So I think it's really important that we remember that if we're looking at the shiny front, beautiful things that others are putting out there, we are often ignoring the hidden trade-offs of and the daily maintenance of that lifestyle. We pretend they have such a beautiful background, so that means everything is beautiful. No, probably not. Probably that's the stage that they're showing you. I do yoga with this woman, and I was like, your backyard is so pretty. She's, yeah, and if I were to move this computer three inches, you would see how much storage shit is out here, but you don't because this is the perfect space to look, and so just everybody is hiding all the things that they don't want people to see because they're afraid that that will mean that they're not as successful as they are. But that's not true because they are as successful they are with the junk in the background, right?Lesley Logan 12:12  All right. So we need to shift out of a comparison spiral, right? Obviously, we need to do that. We obviously need to have that as an ability. And what I would just want to say is, if you are able to notice that you are in a comparison spiral, that is the first fucking step, and that's a great thing because most people don't even realize that they are in a comparison spiral until they're spiraled out of control. So we need to use when we feel envy as this diagnostic tool that tells you where in your current life, what that is, what is that highlighting, right? So, if I see that somebody looks so stunning in their podcast and they just look like they actually know how what they're doing and their stats look amazing, it is a sign that I actually care that I want this podcast to be successful. It actually has nothing to do with whether I think I'm beautiful or not, that I'm capable. It has everything to do with. I actually give a fuck. I care. That's why I'm jealous a little bit, right? If I look at someone who looks like they have it all together because they are articulate in how they can share what their goals are, and they have these quippy sentences that they say, and that the comparison is high, clarity must be low. It means that I care about making sure that my points that I get to come across succinctly and effectively, right? So when you notice that you're having a little bit of that, you know, jealous eye, we call Darla Jelly Grace because she, when we give Bayon attention, she comes over wants attention, right? Because she wants attention too. That's why she's jelly of the attention he's getting. So it's okay to see something in someone else and want that for yourself. It is a highlight of the thing, right? And so, if you can use it as this, oh, this is important to me, rather than some judgment tool, right? Lesley Logan 13:57  It's a highlighter. It's an expander tool, not one that is talking about how well you measure up or down, right? It's a highlight. It's oh, it's almost like if you think about in the movie Scrooged, which I guess is Charles Dickens, right? When you're visited with the ghosts of Christmas past and present and future, you just see the life that you want the ghost, the ghost of future, Christmas future. This is how your life is going to be. That's what looking at someone else's life and having a little. That means it's something that you want you to have in your future, and so that really helps you and understand what you do have to audit to get that. What you do need to do to train yourself up to do that. What is what you do actually care about? Because sometimes we say we don't care about something, we actually do care about it, right? We do, and that's okay. So just keep that in mind, because sometimes we get envious, and then we get mad at ourselves for being envious, and really, then we miss out on what the envy was trying to tell us. So this is really, really important. You cannot embody, you cannot be your future self if you are trying to step into a costume design for someone else cannot cannot be it till you see it. If what you see is being somebody else and comparing yourself to that, that's you're not able to make decisions as them because you are not them, and that's okay, right? So you can use that person to be an inspiration and put that stuff on your vision board, but it still has to be you doing those things. And so, how would you do it? And that's where the uniqueness comes in. That's where the beauty comes in. That's where why we can have five different computers out there, and I like the one that I like because they designed it for the person that I am, and they market it that way, right? That that kind of thing. So when you see something, you go, "Oh, well, they've already done it, so I can't do it." No, not true, because no one's going to do it like you, whatever the thing is, whatever the it is. Lesley Logan 15:43  So since we talked about why we feel like there's a timeline, why we feel pressure, we've talked about the scoreboards, we've talked about comparison actually just being data and information, and I think we're pretty clear that using other people's stuff and then judging ourselves on it is not helping us out. So what I want to do on the next episode is go to the big question: like, what do we put in the place of comparison and scoreboards that are not our own? What do we put in place of that judgment? So in the next episode, we're going to stop questioning our old way and start actively building your custom definition of success that matches your real life, the life you want to have, and your energy and your current season, because that's what's so important, right?Lesley Logan 16:30  So I do want to give you some homework questions because I think that that will help us get you ready for the next episode. So even if you are banging these two next to each other, just take a moment, and I want you to take. If you have more than three goals, and your top three goals. If you only have three or less than your three goals that you're currently stressing over. So got them. So who taught you that these specific things equal success? So if you are working on goals and you're until I have this, then I can't have that. Who taught you that? Where'd that come from? You might have to do some morning pages on that. Next question. This is more of a cost-benefit analysis. If you magically woke up tomorrow with the exact life of the person you're comparing yourself to, what hidden daily trade-offs or responsibilities, what do you inherit that you actually don't want? So, if you woke up as a person you're jelly of, what do you think? There, what trade-offs would you get? Right? Oh my god, so funny when I think of that. Oh god, I do not want that.Lesley Logan 17:36  I definitely love my life because, right, because I wouldn't have the husband I have, or the dogs I have, or the house I have, or the morning routine I have, I'd have to. Oh my god! I'd have to have two assistants, right? All right. So that's their next question answer. Next one we call the envy decoder. Think of someone you envied recently, stripping away their specific job or relationship or lifestyle. What is the underlying feeling or energy that they have that your current life is missing. So that person that you envied, what do you do? You think that they have more freedom? Do they have more ease? Do they have more playfulness, more visibility? Take away the actual specifics and what's the energy and vibe that they're embodying that you have a little envious towards. That's going to help you understand what you're being till you see, because you might not even actually want to do the thing that they're doing. You just might want to feel at ease doing the thing you want to do, and they look so easeful. Lesley Logan 18:25  Last one is the version of it, you know, the Be It you are trying to be right now actually yours. Are you trying to fit into costume design for someone else? I remember my ex having a party, and I remember being in this fancy dress I had to wear at this party, and I remember looking around this party and going, "I don't even know who these people are." And remember going, "I don't even want to be at this party." And then I looked at the dress, my ex bought me this dress, but I don't love this. I don't like this dress at all, and just feeling whose life is this, right? So it was my reality check, and then I moved out and crashed my car. But anyways, that's a different story for a different day, and they happen kind of over a month apart, but most of the same time. Don't worry. But I want you to do those questions because I think it will really help you in the Be It Till You See It. All right. Lesley Logan 19:21  Well, we have another episode coming up on this topic to talk about those things, and I just want to say thank you for listening so very, very much. Please make sure you share this episode with a friend who needs to hear it. Maybe you share your success audit together. Send in your answers to the beitpod.com/questions. I would love to hear them all celebrate as a win. Whatever your aha moment is, you can be anonymous if you want. And if there's a topic you want us to discuss, you can send that there as well, beitpod.com/questions. And lastly, there's several ways to support this podcast. One is making sure we get more downloads by you telling your friends to listen to it. Another way is leaving a review. So if you haven't done that, I know it's really hard to do, but you can do it on Spotify and you can do it on Apple, and it would mean the world to me. Thanks so much. Have an amazing day. Oh, until next time. Go Be It Till You See It.Lesley Logan 20:01  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 20:44  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 20:49  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 20:53  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 21:00  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals..Brad Crowell 21:03  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

This week, the religious leaders challenge Jesus by asking, “Who gave you the authority to do this?” But Jesus turns the question back on them, exposing something deeper than a disagreement about authority. Peter Walsh and Elizabeth Garnsey ask what happens when the truth is right in front of us, but accepting it would require us to change. Through the Parable of the Two Sons, they explore the disruptive authority of Jesus, the danger of becoming too certain about our religious convictions, and why an honest “I don't know” can sometimes be an act of faith.Questions for ReflectionThemes & ApplicationThe religious leaders challenge Jesus because he does not possess the kind of official authority they recognize, yet the crowds have already recognized his authority to teach and heal. What gives someone spiritual authority? How do we discern the difference between institutional authority and authority that comes from God?The religious leaders did not change their minds even after they saw what was happening. What makes us hold onto a belief, position, or way of doing things even when something challenges it?Peter and Elizabeth describe the religious leaders as caught between their convictions, their status, public opinion, and their desire to defeat Jesus. Where can the desire to win an argument or defend our position keep us from genuinely seeking truth?Personal ReflectionWhen was the last time you genuinely changed your mind about something important? What allowed you to see differently?Peter asks what he needs to “pick up” and what he needs to “put down.” What might you need to put down in order to become more open to God? What might you need to pick up? It's boring until it's personal: Where do you see yourself in this story? Are you the son who initially refuses but changes his mind, the son who says the right thing but doesn't follow through, the religious leaders questioning Jesus, or perhaps someone else?Broader Spiritual ConsiderationsThe parable asks which son actually did the father's will, shifting attention from what each son said to how each ultimately responded. How does this complicate the relationship between belief, words, and action?Peter suggests that the religious leaders are not simply “bad dudes.” Their deeply ingrained religious commitments may actually make it harder for them to recognize God breaking into their world in an unexpected way. Can something good, including religious conviction, become an obstacle when we become unable to question it? Peter suggests that Jesus challenges these leaders so fiercely precisely because they are close to him in their concern for God, Scripture, and righteousness. What if Jesus' harshest challenges are not rejection, but invitations to transformation?References & ResourcesVocabularyAuthority — The chief priests and elders ask Jesus, “By what authority are you doing these things?” The episode explores the difference between the religious leaders' institutional authority and the authority people recognize in Jesus and John the Baptist.Inbreaking — Peter repeatedly describes the Kingdom of God as “breaking in”: God disrupting established patterns and opening up something new. The religious leaders' established religious framework makes it difficult for them to recognize this inbreaking of God.Repentance — Repentance here is worth understanding as more than feeling sorry: it involves a genuine change of mind, direction, and response.Books and AuthorsJames Alison — Elizabeth references Alison's description of the Parable of the Two Sons as one of the easiest parables in the Bible because its basic meaning seems so obvious, even though its challenge is anything but easy for those Jesus confronts. Andrew Marr, OSB — Elizabeth draws on Marr's alternative reading of the two sons as caught up in rivalry with one another, allowing their competition to distract them from their relationship with and responsibility to their father. (Read his blog)Thomas G. Long, Proclaiming the Parables — Peter returns to Long's idea of “nightmare parables,” stories intended to shock us into recognizing something about ourselves and changing course. Peter connects this idea with Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol and Matthew's imagery of weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Read the book)Organizations & MinistriesCenter for Action and Contemplation — Founded by Richard Rohr, the Center is mentioned as Peter discusses the relationship between contemplation, self-knowledge, and becoming more open to the work of the Spirit. (Learn more)News & Current Events"Jerusalem cafe bows to Haredi protests, will no longer open on Shabbat" — (Read about it)Learn more about St. Mark's at https://www.stmarksnewcanaan.org

Indian politics is deeply complicated, and existing frames don't do it justice. Srikrishna Ayyangar joins Amit Varma in episode 453 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss the deep dives he has made in the field, including with innovative methods like set theory. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Srikrishna Ayyangar on LinkedIn, Amazon and NLSIU. 2. A Logic of Populism: India and Its States -- Srikrishna Ayyangar. 3. Administrative Analysis -- Christopher Hood. 4. The Burden of Democracy -- Pratap Bhanu Mehta. 5. The Republic of Apathy (2007) -- Amit Varma. 6. Manish Sabharwal is a Good Ancestor -- Episode 451 of The Seen and the Unseen. 7. 300 Ramayanas — AK Ramanujan. 8. Can Economics Become More Reflexive? — Vijayendra Rao. 9. Biju Rao Won't Bow to Conventional Wisdom — Episode 392 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. Shaping the Political Arena -- Ruth Berins Collier and David Collier. 11. A Certain Idea of Europe -- Craig Parsons. 12. Building State Capability: Evidence, Analysis, Action -- Matt Andrews, Lant Pritchett and Michael Woolcock. 13. From Strength to Strength — Arthur Brooks. 14. The Age of the Partial Outsider — Janan Ganesh. 15. State Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Century — Francis Fukuyama. 16. John Collison's tweet on the world being a museum of passion projects. 17. The Structures of Everyday Life -- Fernand Braudel. 18. The Design of Everyday Things -- Don Norman. 19. What is Populism? — Jan-Werner Müller. 20. Why Both Modi and Trump are Textbook Populists (2017) -- Amit Varma. 21. The Populist Playbook — Episode 42 of Everything is Everything. 22. The Populist Zeitgeist -- Cas Mudde. 23. Populism: Its Meaning and National Characteristics -- Ghita Ionescu and Ernest Gellner. 24. The Macroeconomics of Populism in Latin America -- Rudiger Dornbusch and Sebastian Edwards. 25. Populism: Concepts in the Social Sciences -- Paul Taggart. 26. A Tale of Two Cities -- Charles Dickens. 27. Neoliberalism and the Transformation of Populism in Latin America: The Peruvian Case -- Kenneth Roberts. 28. Populism: What's in a Name? -- Ronaldo Munck. 29. Kiran Ahluwalia Finds Our Aam Zameen -- Episode 328 of The Seen and the Unseen. 30. Facts Don't Matter. Stories do (2016) -- Amit Varma. 31. Barack Obama roasting Donald Trump. 32. A Life in Indian Politics — Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jayaprakash Narayan). 33. Radically Networked Societies — Episode 158 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane). 34. Populism and Hindu Nationalism in India -- Ashutosh Varshney, Srikrishna Ayyangar and Siddharth Swaminathan. 35. The Logic of Social Science -- James Mahoney. 36. Ethnicity and Populist Mobilization -- Narendra Subramanian. 37. A Sixth Of Humanity: Independent India's Development Odyssey -- Devesh Kapur and Arvind Subramanian. 38. Raja Yoga -- Swami Vivekananda. 39. Evolution of Pragmatism in India, The: An Intellectual Biography of BR Ambedkar -- Scott Stroud. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Amit Varma, Shruti Rajagopalan and Pranay Kotasthane have just started a new YouTube Show called Watching the Wheels. You must watch it. You must! You simply must!! It's mast!!! Amit Varma runs a course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here. And have you read Amit's newsletter? It's madly active right now! Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It's free! Also check out Amit's online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: 'Rally' by Simahina.

Programa del Podcast Annavalaina dedicado a la obra "Historia de dos ciudades" de Charles Dickens. Tendremos como siempre la sección de biografía con alguna cosa curiosa o formato algo distinto, comentario, noticias (posiblemente) y recomendaciones, y la despedida con unas palabras sobre la obra. GUION: Roberto López Vázquez, Abiel Meza y Miguel A. Mateos Carreira, REVISION: Juan Ruiz y Maite Fernández junto al grupo de Madrid Sur del Club Inklings Español. LOCUTOR: Miguel A. Mateos Carreira MUSICA: GarageBand

MICHAEL DRUCKMAN; CRUNCH TIME: Career Pathways in the Age ofAI; Education & Future of Work; ‘Schools That Can'; Live from NY#realconversations #AI #careers #resilience #robotics CONVERSATIONS WITH CALVIN — WE THESPECIESHosted by Calvin SchwartzMeet MICHAEL DRUCKMAN: Started my 7th year hereat Conversations with Calvin We the Species. Over 500 interviews on 6continents. A global ranking in top 0.5% to 3 % in endurance stats. That meanssomething. This interview with Michael Druckman, author of ‘Crunch Time-CareerPathways in the Age of AI ', has to be one of the most important and HUGELYurgent interviews. It's beyond urgent. Reminds me of a Nevil Shute book, On theBeach.' The movie scared me. A nuclear war. Australia was the last placeunaffected by radioactivity. Words on banners in town. “There's still time,Brother.' No, there isn't a lot of time, as AI changes our world every 15minutes. What about five years from now? Michael Druckman and Illah RezaNourbakhsh have written an essential, powerful, provocative book on AI forstudents, parents, academics- actually, all of us earth denizens- even seniorcitizens, as I loosen my collar. We're not talking ten years or twenty yearsfrom now. Maybe five years. We, the species, need to be ready. The credentialsfor Michael and Illah are quite amazing. I've read the book, taken notes,absorbed it, and taken off my Rutgers hat. Serious move for me. Our interviewwas poignant. Michael is brilliant beyond grasp. Eloquent, devoted (via SchoolsThat Can, urban education), and passionate. As I like to do at this juncture,I'll deposit a few random words and thoughts from our interview. An enticement.Urgency. Sam Walton thought innovation was a risk. He just did it better. AI isNOT a spectator sport. University leaders are not prepared. A Californiauniversity is now looking for non-traditional students. Winston Churchill.Charles Dickens. Marshmallow test-delayed gratification. The Robots are coming.  $102 billion spent on human skills. $700billion spent on AI data centers. THINK. Where the evolution of AI currently stands. Resilience. Enough said.Many thanks to Jessica & Trish at Pellien Public Relations for thisconnection. Calvin

A thrilling new rollercoaster inspired by the hit movie franchise Fast & Furious, has officially opened at Universal Studios in Hollywood; NBC's Gadi Schwartz gives us an inside look. Also, we're hearing from HBO's "Game of Thrones," and "Industry" actor Kit Harington who's taking on another role in the new adaptation of the Charles Dickens' classic novel, "A Tale of Two Cities." Plus, Former NFL San Francisco 49ers Quarterback, Colin Kaepernick is sharing his journey before and after his career changing decision to take a knee during the singing of the National Anthem in 2016. And, a look at tech and gadgets to help improve your health and recovery. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

An awkward guest staying too long in your home seems an unlikely plot for a novel. But it's best-selling author Hans Christian Anderson visiting Charles Dickens, his 9 children, and his estranged wife. Anderson barely speaks English. “Five Weeks in the Country” by Francine Prose.

"Het was de beste tijd, het was de slechtste tijd.” Met dat citaat van Charles Dickens opende voorzitter van de Europese Commissie Ursula von der Leyen vandaag haar jaarlijkse State of the Union-toespraak in Straatsburg. Na een zomer vol bosbranden, berichten over Russische sabotageacties en een rel over de migranten die de Spaanse Exclave Ceuta binnenkwamen, zijn de uitdagingen voor de EU gigantisch. Is ze ertegen opgewassen? Daarover Louise van Schaik, hoofd EU en geopolitiek bij Instituut Clingendael en Europa-correspondent Tijn Sadée.  (14:13) Gedichten uit Gaza  Genocide, vernietiging, haat en ontmenselijking. Achter al het vreselijke nieuws uit Gaza zitten mensen, met gevoelens en dromen. De jonge Palestijnse schrijfster Shrouq Doghmosh verwoordt die in haar bundel Niemand op de begraafplaats, die deze week in Nederland uitkwam.  Collega Edwin Koopman sprak met de vertaalster van de bundel, Djûke Poppinga. Presentatie: Nadia Moussaid. 

Happy Ber Months, everybody! The seasons are starting to change, and with it comes a new episode of Christmas Creeps! On this episode we dip into the world of Charles Dickens with a look at Robert Zemeckis' 2009 CGI adaptation of "A Christmas Carol". This one stars Jim Carrey and, because it was bankrolled by Disney, has earned itself the title Disney's A Christmas Carol, even though Disney's made plenty of versions of it over the years... But let's not let semantics get in the way of a good time, right? On this episode we'll be discussing the ways Zemeckis uses his CGI superpowers to stretch Jim Carrey's face and Charles Dickens' story in new, unnecessary directions. And hey, if you make it to the end of this one, ya get a little bit of video game chat as a treat! Questions/Comments? Email us at XmasCreeps@gmail.comTweet us @ChristmasCreepsVisit us on the web at ChristmasCreeps.com! Join our Discord channel!

Barbara Kingsolver's book Demon Copperhead is a retelling of Charles Dickens' David Copperfield set in today's Appalachia. Martha shares memories of a long-ago visit to Kingsolver's family farm in Virginia, where they discussed many of the same issues covered in this Pulitzer-winning novel. Plus, how could the Carp River in Michigan have that name long before carp existed in the area? The answer is in the history of immigration. And a high-schooler asks how throwing someone under the bus became a synonym for betrayal. Also: willipus-wallipus, lapslock, Fortune favors the audacious, del año del caldo, nonce words, a brain teaser with rhyming answers, a punning joke about Switzerland, clink, jing, jinglers, and janglers, drop a dime, and You shred it, wheat! Hear hundreds of free episodes and learn more on the A Way with Words website: https://waywordradio.org. Be a part of the show: call or text 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the United States and Canada; elsewhere in the world, call or text +1 619 800 4443. Send voice notes or messages via WhatsApp 16198004443. Email words@waywordradio.org. Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An actress found with her throat cut on Christmas morning, a socialite on trial for arsenic, a child butchered in Bradford, and not one of the cases found the end of the rope.EPISODE BLOG PAGE (includes sources): https://weirddarkness.com/HorrorByGaslightREAD or DOWNLOAD the full transcript of this episode: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/489cffteFEATURED STORIES IN THIS EPISODE:Nine murders from the reign of Queen Victoria, and the hangman went home after every one of them. In April 1891, a janitor at a Manhattan waterfront hotel opened the door to room 31 and found a woman the neighborhood called "Old Shakespeare" strangled and cut open, and within a day the New York papers were asking whether Jack the Ripper had crossed the Atlantic. In London, while the Ripper hunt filled the front pages, someone else was dropping the dismembered pieces of women into the Thames, one of them on the construction site of Scotland Yard itself. A Glasgow socialite stood trial for lacing her lover's cocoa with arsenic, barrister Charles Bravo lingered for days in his Balham mansion with antimony in his body and a household full of suspects, and Adelaide Bartlett walked out of court with liquid chloroform in her dead husband's stomach and no explanation of how it got there. Add a young Bradford boy whose mutilated body drew the Ripper's name north, a murdered London prostitute whose death gave Charles Dickens the killing of Nancy in "Oliver Twist", an actress found on Christmas morning with her throat cut and her door locked from the outside, and three siblings laid out in a Queensland paddock with their feet pointed west, and you have nine cases closed by verdict, by acquittal, or by nobody at all, with the questions still sitting open more than a century later.CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)…00:00:00.000 = East River Shadows00:07:15.256 = Show Open00:10:36.687 = The Gruesome Murder Of Shakespeare: Jack The Ripper In America?, Part 100:25:21.616 = The Gruesome Murder Of Shakespeare: Jack The Ripper In America?, Part 2 ***00:38:58.221 = The Gruesome Murder Of Shakespeare: Jack The Ripper In America?, Part 3 ***00:50:06.531 = The Thames Torso Murders: Victorian London's Forgotten Serial Killer ***01:13:04.687 = The Balham Mystery: The Inexplicable Poisoning of Charles Bravo ***01:35:52.584 = Blood On Boxing Day: The Gatton Murders ***01:48:01.563 = The Strange Affair of Madeleine Smith: Love, Poison, and Mystery02:02:16.844 = Bradford Butchery: The Tragic Case of John Gill ***02:19:36.644 = The Grimwood Murder: The Real-Life Crime Behind Oliver Twist's Darkest Scene02:34:13.930 = Christmas Murder Of A Forgotten Actress: The Case of Harriet Busman ***02:49:05.581 = The Pimilco Poisonings: Marriage, Minister, Murder, and Mystery ***02:59:24.285 = Show Close*** = Begins immediately after inserted ad breakLISTEN ON PODCAST APPS: Look for this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, Pandora, TuneIn Radio, and other podcast apps. Get a list of free listening apps here: https://weirddarkness.com/wdapps*No AI Voices Are Used In The Narration Of This Podcast*

Dominic is joined by the inimitable Dr. Joanna Hofer-Robinson and Dr. Pete Orford, for a lively discussion on their new publication The Plays of Charles Dickens .This is the first ever critical edition of Dickens' plays which include the early farces of The Strange Gentleman, The Village Coquettes, Is She His Wife, Or Something Singular, The Lamplighter … and his later collaborations of Mr Nightingale's Diary, The Frozen Deep and No Thoroughfare ...Original cover headshot of Dominic Gerrard © Jane Lloyd Original cover headshot of Joanna Hofer-Robinson c/o University of Warwick © Original cover headshot of Pete Orford c/o University of Buckingham © Background watercolour of Interior of St. James Theatre, London (c. 1835) by John Gregory Crace & sourced by Wikimedia CommonsPiano music of John Hullah & Joseph W. Turner played by Dominic GerrardAdditional Sound Effects have been provided under license through Epidemic Sound Support the showIf you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here  https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrardThank you so much!Host: Dominic GerrardSeries Artwork: Léna GibertOriginal Music: Dominic GerrardThank you for listening!

¿Merece la pena A Tale of Two Cities, la nueva adaptación de Historia de dos ciudades protagonizada por Kit Harington, Mirren Mack y François Civil? En este Razones Para Ver Express analizamos sin spoilers la nueva versión del clásico de Charles Dickens, una miniserie de cuatro episodios que apuesta por modernizar algunos de los elementos más importantes de la novela. Hablamos de la interpretación de Kit Harington como Sydney Carton, de la nueva versión de Lucie Manette, del polémico cambio que convierte el corazón romántico de la historia en un auténtico triángulo amoroso y de una producción histórica que destaca especialmente por su reparto, ambientación y puesta en escena. También analizamos qué funciona menos: algunas relaciones demasiado aceleradas, una visión bastante simplificada de la Revolución Francesa y los riesgos que supone modificar un clásico tan conocido. ¿Funcionan los cambios respecto a la novela de Dickens? ¿Es Kit Harington la gran razón para verla? ¿Y consigue esta nueva A Tale of Two Cities justificar otra adaptación de Historia de dos ciudades? Todo ello, como siempre, sin spoilers. #ATaleOfTwoCities #KitHarington #HistoriaDeDosCiudades #CharlesDickens #Series #CriticaSeries #RazonesParaVer #FueraDeSeries Únete a nuestro canal y apoya a FUERA DE SERIES: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFNyyACx7XbgZ4-S4jzNnGQ/join Únete a nuestro chat de telegram en el que miles de personas hablamos cada día de series: - Telegram – Grupo de debate: https://telegram.me/fueradeseries - Telegram – Canal de noticias: https://t.me/noticiasfds Síguenos en nuestras plataformas y podcast sobre series: - Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/es/podcast/fuera-de-series/id288039262 - Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/3RTDss6AAGjSNozVOhDNzX?si=700febbf305144b7&nd=1 - iVoox - https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-fuera-series_sq_f12063_1.html Redes Sociales - Twitter: https://twitter.com/fueradeseries - Facebook: https://facebook.com/fueradeseries - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fueradeseries/ - Youtube: https://youtube.com/fueradeseries Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Not even Doc Slammer, himself, could keep you from finding dreamland with the help of TT and a kind stranger.This is a reading / adaptation of The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens. I'm making it extra boring and meandering, but it may tangentially touch on subjects that some viewers may not find sleepy.This episode originally aired on Sleep With Me Plus. If you'd like to hear more bonus episodes (and get episodes without ads), you can start a free trial at sleepwithmepodcast.com/plusGet your Sleep With Me SleepPhones. Use "sleepwithme" for $5 off!!Are you looking for Story Only versions or two more nights of Sleep With Me a week? Then check out Bedtime Stories from Sleep With MeThis episode is produced by Rusty Biscuit aka Russell Sperberg.Show Artwork by Emily TatGoing through a hard time? You can find support at the Crisis Textline and see more global helplines here.HELIX SLEEP - Take the 2-minute sleep quiz and they'll match you to a customized mattress that'll give you the best sleep of your life. Visit helixsleep.com/sleep and get a special deal exclusive for SWM listeners!ZOCDOC - With Zocdoc, you can search for local doctors who take your insurance, read verified patient reviews and book an appointment, in-person or video chat. Download the Zocdoc app to sign-up for FREE at zocdoc.com/sleepAQUATRU - AquaTru is a countertop water purifier tested & certified to remove 84 contaminants, including chlorine, lead, forever chemicals, and microplastics! Get 20% off your water purifier by going to AquaTru.com and using promo code SLEEPPROGRESSIVE - With the Name Your Price tool, you tell Progressive how much you want to pay for car insurance, and they'll show you coverage options that fit your budget. Get your quote today at progressive.comTALKIATRY - Talkiatry gives you access to real psychiatric care with licensed clinicians who can diagnose and prescribe medication if it's right for you. It's a simple way to get effective treatment right from home. Head to Talkiatry.com/SLEEP to complete the short assessment and get matched with an in‑network psychiatrist in just a few minutes.QUINCE - Quince Superfood Greens cuts through all the nutrition noise with one simple, daily scoop that helps fill in your nutrient gaps and support your overall health. Head to quince.com/sleepwithme for free shipping and 365-day returns.DRIPDROP - DripDrop is doctor-developed, proven fast hydration that helps your body and mind work better. To get 20% off your first order, go to dripdrop.com and use promo code "sleep".COZY EARTH - Cozy Earth's bamboo sheets are guaranteed to give you a good night's sleep. The wick away heat and moisture to keep you cool in the summer nights. Head to cozyearth.com and use code SLEEP for 20% off! Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, and apparently it was also time for another adaptation of A Tale of Two Cities.MGM+ and BBC One's new four-part miniseries stars Kit Harington, Mirren Mack, and François Civil in a heavily reworked version of Charles Dickens' 1859 novel. The premiere, “Recalled to Life,” throws Lucie Manette, Charles Darnay, and Sydney Carton together almost immediately as news of Lucie's supposedly dead father, a treason trial, and the beginnings of a love triangle collide.On the podcast, we break down the first episode, compare Daniel West's version with Dickens' original story, and discuss some of its biggest changes, including Lucie's age-up, her dead proxy-father, and grave robbing. We also get into  the trial, the historical setting, other period-drama comparisons, and whether this show has impressed the critics.Tune in to hear our thoughts and rating. Welcome to Today's Episode!

Music, Lyrics & Book by Jill SantorielloDirected by Warren CarlyleStarring James Barbour, Craig Bennett, Brandi Burkhardt, Kevin Earley, Natalie Toro, Gregg Edelman & Aaron LazarOpened September 18, 2008Closed after 60 performances.

Fall asleep quickly tonight to one of the best selling books of all time by Charles Dickens. Support the podcast and enjoy ad-free and bonus episodes. Try FREE for 7 days on Apple Podcasts. For other podcast platforms go to https://justsleeppodcast.com/supportOr, you can support with a one time donation at buymeacoffee.com/justsleeppodOrder your copy of the Just Sleep book! https://www.justsleeppodcast.com/book/If you like this episode, please remember to follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts. Also, share with any family or friends that might have trouble drifting off.Goodnight! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Begin the march toward Halloween with six classic old time radio horror, mystery, suspense, and science fiction dramas from CBS Radio Mystery Theater, Suspense, Escape, The Whistler, Quiet Please, and The Weird Circle. Deadly Lessons brings together Fred Gwynne, Marian Haley, William Conrad, John Dehner, Joseph Kearns, Margo, Elsa Lanchester, Wyllis Cooper, and Charles Dickens in stories of gambling debts, Black Hills gold, seances, revenge, experimental flight, time travel, and buried testimony.As September darkens and Halloween draws closer, open the book, take your seat, and listen carefully. The signal has already written your name in the margin.☠ CBS Radio Mystery Theater - The Last Lesson - Fred Gwynne and Marian Haley star in Sam Dann's darkly comic mystery about a compulsive gambler, dangerous debts, a marriage for money, and a wealthy daredevil wife who refuses to make his escape easy. First broadcast October 13, 1975.⚓ Escape - The Notebook - John Dehner, Joseph Kearns, and William Conrad enter 1870s Dakota Territory, where two miners carrying news of a Black Hills gold strike are hunted by a stranger willing to kill for their claim. First broadcast July 26, 1953.⚡ Suspense - Finishing School - Margo and Elsa Lanchester lead a Gothic school mystery about a newly hired teacher, a student's death by fright, and secret seances that may be calling the dead back to life. Network broadcast December 30, 1943.☾ The Whistler - The Black Book - A ballet star's triumphant opening night becomes a carefully staged nightmare when the rival he once crippled returns with a meticulous plan for revenge. Broadcast April 28, 1947.✦ Quiet Please - One for the Book - Wyllis Cooper's strange science fiction time-travel tale sends Air Force pilot Max Westlake through a Mach 12 experimental flight from 1957 back to 1937, where he comes face to face with an earlier version of himself. Broadcast November 21, 1948.◆ The Weird Circle - Dr. Manette's Manuscript - Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities becomes classic radio Gothic horror as Dr. Manette's prison manuscript exposes cruelty, captivity, and the vengeance waiting to be collected. Broadcast November 28, 1943.This three-hour classic radio drama collection is made for late-night listeners who love vintage mystery, old time radio horror, supernatural fiction, Gothic suspense, science fiction thrillers, and eerie Halloween-season listening.The transmission closes the book, but the last page is still turning by itself.

Tonight, I am reading the Child's Story by Charles Dickens. Originally published in the 1800s, The Child's Story is a timeless account of the journey we all take from carefree childhood to spontaneous youth, to adulthood and marriage, and into our golden years. It is nearly 150 years after its original publication, and I still find it quite profound and emotional. For a version with our relaxing music, please scroll down to the next episode. Please leave a 5-star review & SUBSCRIBE on Apple and Spotify. Sleep Cove Premium Become a Premium Member for Bonus Episodes & Ad-Free listening: Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.sleepcove.com/support⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and become a Premium Member. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Get Instant Access⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and sign up in two taps. Our Sister Shows: - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sleep Cove⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - is our Sleep Hypnosis, Meditation and Bedtime Story channel, where you can find the perfect episode to help you sleep deeply all night long. - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Calm Cove⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠is our music Podcast, where you can find Relaxing Music, White Noise and Nature Sounds. - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Let's Begin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - is our Day Meditation podcast. Start your day feeling relaxed and positive, or take some time out to unwind with these calming meditations with wakeners at the end so that you can continue your day. - YouTube ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bedtime Story Channel⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - YouTube ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sleep Hypnosis & Meditation Channel⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Connect: - Join the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for a Bonus Meditation  - Facebook:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - Instagram:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - TikTok:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Recommended Products: Comfortable Sleep Headphones -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.sleepcove.com/headphones⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ The Best Mattress from Puffy:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sleepcove.com/puffy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ _______________ All Content by Sleep Cove is for educational or entertainment purposes and does not provide or replace professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your medical professional before making any changes to your treatment and if in any doubt, contact your doctor. Please listen in a place where you can safely go to sleep. Sleep Cove is not responsible or liable for any loss, damage or injury arising from the use of this content. _________________ Sleep Cove content includes guided sleep meditations, sleep hypnosis (hypnotherapy), sleep stories (visualizations) and Bedtime Stories for adults and grown-ups, all designed to help you get a great night's sleep Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tonight, I am reading the Child's Story by Charles Dickens. Originally published in the 1800s, The Child's Story is a timeless account of the journey we all take from carefree childhood to spontaneous youth, to adulthood and marriage, and into our golden years. It is nearly 150 years after its original publication, and I still find it quite profound and emotional. For a version without our relaxing music, please scroll up to the next episode. Please leave a 5-star review & SUBSCRIBE on Apple and Spotify. Sleep Cove Premium Become a Premium Member for Bonus Episodes & Ad-Free listening: Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.sleepcove.com/support⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and become a Premium Member. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Get Instant Access⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and sign up in two taps. Our Sister Shows: - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sleep Cove⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - is our Sleep Hypnosis, Meditation and Bedtime Story channel, where you can find the perfect episode to help you sleep deeply all night long. - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Calm Cove⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠is our music Podcast, where you can find Relaxing Music, White Noise and Nature Sounds. - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Let's Begin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - is our Day Meditation podcast. Start your day feeling relaxed and positive, or take some time out to unwind with these calming meditations with wakeners at the end so that you can continue your day. - YouTube ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bedtime Story Channel⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - YouTube ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sleep Hypnosis & Meditation Channel⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Connect: - Join the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for a Bonus Meditation  - Facebook:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - Instagram:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - TikTok:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Recommended Products: Comfortable Sleep Headphones -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.sleepcove.com/headphones⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ The Best Mattress from Puffy:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sleepcove.com/puffy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ _______________ All Content by Sleep Cove is for educational or entertainment purposes and does not provide or replace professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your medical professional before making any changes to your treatment and if in any doubt, contact your doctor. Please listen in a place where you can safely go to sleep. Sleep Cove is not responsible or liable for any loss, damage or injury arising from the use of this content. _________________ Sleep Cove content includes guided sleep meditations, sleep hypnosis (hypnotherapy), sleep stories (visualizations) and Bedtime Stories for adults and grown-ups, all designed to help you get a great night's sleep Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Your Clock Stuck at 8:40? Making Peace with the Past Through the Cross and Resurrection (Ephesians 5)Using Miss Havisham from Charles Dickens' Great Expectations as a picture of being stuck in the past, the message asks how to make peace with what cannot be changed. Drawing from Ephesians 5, it explains that people get stuck either through guilt over what they've done or grief over what they've lost. Paul reminds believers that they “were once darkness” but are now “light in the Lord,” so identity precedes behavior, and sins must be exposed to Christ's light, which brings healing rather than shame. The sermon contrasts chronos (time passing) with kairos (God-given moments to steward), urging wisdom to grieve without wasting what remains and warning against numbing pain. It concludes that the cross pardons guilt and the resurrection promises restoration, then assigns practices: “confess and bless” in groups and memorizing Ephesians 5:15–16.00:00 Miss Havisham at 84001:45 Clocks Stuck in Us03:12 Guilt and Condemnation04:54 Darkness to Light10:53 Expose Sin to Light12:04 Christ Shines Not Shames15:35 Grief and Regret17:08 Wisdom and Kairos21:06 Unmet Dreams and Loss29:39 Cross and Resurrection Hope32:09 Practices Confess and Bless34:42 Memorize and Sendoff

Charles Dickens started and edited a magazine called All The Year Round, a weekly collection of articles on a wide variety of topics. An anonymous correspondent in 1868-69 sent in these seven articles about life in the far West of the United States. - Summary by david wales

Dominic is joined by the inimitable Dr. Céline Prest who guides today's discussion on A Tale of Two Cities  - one of the most gripping, exciting and heart-rending stories that Dickens ever wrote. Céline completed her Phd at the Sorbonne University in 2016. Her doctoral research was awarded the André Topia Prize by the Chancellerie des Universitiés de Paris, and the Robert B. Partlow Jr prize by the Dickens Society. In 2019 she published a new edition of The Pickwick Papers for Gallimard. And in 2023 she published a monograph Le Spectre du document dans l'œuvre romanesque de Charles Dickens ...Original Photo of Céline Prest © Chancellerie des Universités de Paris - Sylvain Lhermie / Original Photo of Dominic Gerrard © Jane Lloyd / Original Dickens illustrations sourced from Michael John Goodman's incredible Charles Dickens Illustrated Gallery Support the showIf you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here  https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrardThank you so much!Host: Dominic GerrardSeries Artwork: Léna GibertOriginal Music: Dominic GerrardThank you for listening!

Nobody in the Victorian era who claimed to see a ghost described lace and corsets – that look came from the magazine trade that discovered ghost stories were cheap to print and easy to cut to length.EPISODE BLOG PAGE (includes sources): https://weirddarkness.com/VictorianGhostsREAD or DOWNLOAD the full transcript of this episode: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/4p69wekwFEATURED STORIES IN THIS EPISODE: Victorian-era ghosts… they seem to haunt not only our imaginations, but also our Halloween wardrobes. Why were people in the mid-to-late 1800s so obsessed with the supernatural? And why are we so fascinated by Victorian ghost stories still today? (What's The Deal With Victorian Ghosts?) *** The story of Queen Esther is chilling – full of an Iroquois warrior woman's quest for vengeance, brutal warfare, haunting legends, ghostly wails, and a curse that many believe still has power even today. (The Curse of Queen Esther) *** No one can remember exactly when the ghost story began, but records show it dates back to at least 1926. The tale centers around the Administration Offices of Rockford School District 205 on South Madison Street, formerly Rockford High School. Built in 1885, the school gained a spooky reputation due to eerie events reported in its underground tunnels. After a tragic accident in the school's swimming pool claimed the life of a student named Gosta Anderson, strange sightings and sounds fueled the legend of his restless spirit, haunting the very site where he died. (Gosta's Ghost) *** Plumas County, California, holds a chilling mystery that dates back to 1978. On a winter night with a half-moon, five friends left a basketball game at California State University, Chico, and drove away, never to be seen again. Their car was found abandoned on a remote mountain road, leading to a series of eerie discoveries, unanswered questions, and clues that still baffle investigators today. (The 5 Boys Who Never Came Back)CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)…00:00.00.000 = Short fiction story “Lost Hearts” by M.R. James00:24:29.734 = Show Open00:27:12.649 = What's The Deal With Victorian Ghosts?00:36:13.257 = The Curse of Queen Esther ***00:46:07.677 = The Five Boys Who Never Came Back01:06:21.586 = Gosta's Ghost01:12:56.658 = Show Close*** = Begins immediately after inserted ad breakLISTEN ON PODCAST APPS: Look for this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, Pandora, TuneIn Radio, and other podcast apps. Get a list of free listening apps here: https://weirddarkness.com/wdapps*No AI Voices Are Used In The Narration Of This Podcast*SOURCES and RESOURCES:Free Audiobook: “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens, narrated by Darren Marlar:https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/AChristmasCarolNarration: “The Signalman” by Charles Dickens, narrated by Darren Marlar: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/TheSignalman“What's The Deal With Victorian Ghosts?” source = Dan Nosowitz at Atlas Obscura: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/2p94894t“Lost Hearts” by M.R. James (public domain)“The Curse of Queen Esther” source = Creative History Stories: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/3bn9kwe8“Gosta's Ghost” written by Kathi Kresol for Haunted Rockford: https://www.hauntedrockford.com/gostas-ghost/“The 5 Boys Who Never Came Back” written by Cynthia Gorney in 1978 for the Washington Post:https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/2p8hkyef(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.)WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2026, Weird Darkness.Originally aired: May 17, 2024LIKE WHAT YOU'RE HEARING? WEIRD DARKNESS posts episodes 7 DAYS A WEEK! Listen FREE wherever you get podcasts or visit https://weirddarkness.com/listen. • Paranormal • True Crime • Ghosts • UFOs • Cryptids • Unexplained • Want even more? Become an OFFICIAL WEIRDO for commercial-free episodes, bonus episodes, weeknight live chats, audiobooks & more at https://WeirdDarkness.com/OFFICIAL

✨ Back To School Sale - Save 25% - https://dripl.ink/MUYZHEnds 23:59, Sunday 6th September.--Charles Dickens made the Victorian workhouse famous, but the reality behind Oliver Twist was even worse than fiction.  This episode tells how workhouses treated Britain's poorest people, and how pensions and the welfare state finally replaced them.  Oliver Twist and the image of hunger in workhouses Early poor relief and rising costs during the Industrial Revolution 1832 Royal Commission and 1834 Act creating national workhouses The harsh idea of less eligibility as a warning Who ended up in workhouses: the elderly, sick children, and women Small meals, family separation, and hard work like treadmills Andover scandal: starving people and an abusive, drunken master Charlie Chaplin's childhood in the workhouse Reforms pensions: National Insurance and 1948 changes Ongoing debates about welfare and supporting vulnerable people Full interactive transcript, subtitles and key vocabulary available on the website: https://www.leonardoenglish.com/podcasts/victorian-workhouses ---You might like:⚡️ Back To School Sale - Save 25% [ends 23:59, Sunday, 6th September]

John Maytham speaks to lead actor in Oliver – Jonathan Roxmouth who plays Fagin in the famous tale, written by Charles Dickens. Presenter John Maytham is an actor and author-turned-talk radio veteran and seasoned journalist. His show serves a round-up of local and international news coupled with the latest in business, sport, traffic and weather. The host’s eclectic interests mean the program often surprises the audience with intriguing book reviews and inspiring interviews profiling artists. A daily highlight is Rapid Fire, just after 5:30pm. CapeTalk fans call in, to stump the presenter with their general knowledge questions. Another firm favourite is the humorous Thursday crossing with award-winning journalist Rebecca Davis, called “Plan B”. Thank you for listening to a podcast from Afternoon Drive with John Maytham Listen live on Primedia+ weekdays from 15:00 and 18:00 (SA Time) to Afternoon Drive with John Maytham broadcast on CapeTalk https://buff.ly/NnFM3Nk For more from the show go to https://buff.ly/BSFy4Cn or find all the catch-up podcasts here https://buff.ly/n8nWt4x Subscribe to the CapeTalk Daily and Weekly Newsletters https://buff.ly/sbvVZD5 Follow us on social media: CapeTalk on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@capetalk CapeTalk on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ CapeTalk on X: https://x.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CapeTalk567 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Joseph Pearce joins Matt Swaim on the Son Rise Morning Show to explore Hilaire Belloc's haunting poem “Twelfth Night.” Set on a dark winter night, Belloc describes encountering a mysterious company of travelers whose song leads him to reflect on the journey to Bethlehem. Pearce explains how Belloc uses the imagery of darkness, fear, mystery, and light to explore the Christian life and the importance of trusting God even when we cannot see where the road is leading. The conversation also connects Belloc's poem with the tradition of ghost stories at Christmas, Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, and even Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. At the heart of Belloc's poem is a beautiful question: What might we discover if we are willing to follow the light rather than give in to fear?Support the show: https://www.sacredheartradio.com/donate-now/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's the Quick Book Reviews summer special, and Philippa is joined by the wonderful Elly Griffiths — bestselling author of the Ruth Galloway series — to talk holidays, her latest novel The Killing Time, and what's coming next in the world of time-travelling detective Ali Dawson.☀️ Holiday ChatElly is a self-confessed good traveller — half Italian, born in August, and happiest in the heat. She and Philippa cover:Dream holiday: a pale pink villa on the Amalfi Coast, a little boat, one evening a week with a local chef, and a carefully curated stack of booksNightmare holiday: Las Vegas — fake light, fake skies, rows of slot machines, and a pool you're not actually allowed to swim inThe art of the airport — checkers vs loungers, and why Elly is slowly becoming her husbandBuying your own book in an airport duty-free shop and having to pretend you didn't know it was thereThe Jodi Picoult book she left behind in a holiday rental with one chapter to go (it still haunts her)The worst possible holiday book: saccharine sweet, no darkness underneath, and the last chapter ripped out

In this message from our series How to Build a Life, a walk through the book of Proverbs, Grant Clark extends our look at wise counselors by turning the question around: what about the voices we must never listen to? Reading Proverbs 5 alongside Genesis 3, this sermon traces how seduction works, why the way that "seems right" ends in ruin, and how the same chapter that records the fall also announces the grace that rebuilds a life.The sermon opens with Proverbs 14:12: "There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way to death." A path can look desirable at the entrance while its finish line leads to ruin. Grant illustrates this with Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, where Ebenezer Scrooge is shown the end of his road, his own neglected grave, and wakes up a changed man who chooses a different way. That is how the warnings of Proverbs work: the father shows his son the end from the entrance.Proverbs 5 gives a visceral picture of this. The forbidden woman's lips "drip honey and her words are smoother than oil," but in the end she is "as bitter as wormwood and as sharp as a double-edged sword." Her feet go down to death. The father pleads with his son to keep far from her door, because at the end of that road a person laments: "I'm on the verge of complete ruin before the entire community."Warnings of Proverbs 5:1) Don't listen to everything you think.2) Don't go after everything you desire.3) Don't trust everything you feel.From there the sermon moves to Genesis 3:1-13, the Bible's paradigmatic picture of temptation and seduction, read as both a warning and a playbook that unmasks the serpent's schemes. The serpent, identified in Revelation 12 as "the ancient serpent who is called the devil and Satan, the one who deceives the whole world," opens with the first question in the Bible: "Did God really say?" He does not start with a bold statement; he plants a subtle seed of doubt about God's word and God's character.Eve's reply distorts what God actually said. In Genesis 2:15-17 God's command is an abundance of yes with one small no: free access to every tree, with a single warning attached to one. Grant shares Joshua Ryan Butler's illustration of an all-expenses-paid vacation to anywhere on earth with only one dangerous destination excluded. The serpent's tactic is to zoom in: he narrows Eve's focus from a garden full of yes down to the one no, and the offer of abundance starts to sound like restriction.Two details in the text expose the play. First, until this moment God alone has defined what is good; now Adam and Eve take it on themselves to call good the one thing God said would kill them. Second, the narrator consistently names God "Yahweh Elohim," the Lord God, the covenantal and personal name, but the serpent drops "Yahweh" and speaks only of "Elohim," and Eve takes the bait and does the same. The serpent casts doubt on God's word, then denies it, then dethrones God in his language while elevating Eve. He is a dangerous counselor, and his voice is reshaping how Eve sees God, herself, and the world."Eve is talking to Satan about her problems with God instead of talking to God about her problems with Satan." - Philip BethancourtLocked in on the one forbidden tree, Eve sees that it is "good for food and delightful to look at, and desirable for obtaining wisdom." A good desire has become an over-desire, an idol, and she has become discontent in the middle of abundance."What the heart most wants, the mind finds reasonable, the will finds doable, and the emotions find desirable." - Tim Keller## Practicing the Absence of GodDrawing on Alan Fadling's book A Non-Anxious Life, Grant contrasts practicing the presence of God, living aware that God is with us and for us, with practicing the absence of God: losing sight of God in our circumstances and making decisions with no reference to him. In Genesis 3 Eve is practicing the absence of God. She is no longer listening to his voice or thinking about him at all; she has bought the lie that God is holding out on her. Adam, meanwhile, is silent and passive through the whole exchange. He never challenges the serpent and never speaks God's word. Ruin comes not only through active rebellion but through passive abdication.They eat, their eyes are opened, and for the first time they hide from the Lord God in shame."What is shame? Disgust over having disobeyed. Shame tells us we are nothing better than our worst moments… Satan shifts from using his powers of deception to instead accuse… The serpent easily moves from seducing to shaming, from deceiving to devouring, from alluring to accusing." - Philip BethancourtThis, Genesis 3 shows us, is how to ruin your life: don't listen to God's word or wisdom, walk your own way, be seduced by things that look great from the outside, practice the absence of God, and you will find yourself isolated, exposed, and ashamed.## How to Rebuild a LifeBut Genesis 3 also shows us how to rebuild a life. First, God pursues them. Adam and Eve hide, and God does not reject or stonewall them; he comes looking, calling "Where are you?" The question is not for God's information but for their diagnosis, an Ebenezer Scrooge moment: which path have you gone down, and what will you do about it? Second, God covers their nakedness and shame. In Genesis 3:21 the Lord God makes clothing from skins for them, which means an animal died so their shame could be covered, an echo picked up when John the Baptist announces in John 1:29, "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." Ultimately Jesus dies to cover our shame and clothe us in his righteousness. Third, Genesis 3:15 gives the first preaching of the gospel, the protoevangelium: the offspring of the woman will strike the serpent's head while the serpent strikes his heel, fulfilled at the cross where Jesus crushes the serpent, is wounded in the process, and rises in victory over Satan, sin, and death. The serpent says God cannot be trusted; the cross says look how far God will go to save you.Reflection Questions:1) Name the Lie: In which ways are you currently tempted to DOUBT God's goodness to you? Are there any areas where you believe the lie that God is holding out on you? Or, that God is not for you?2) See the Entrance: Are there any specific areas where you are tempted to be seduced? To choose the way of Ruin, rather than the way of wisdom?3) From Ruin to Redemption: Are there any areas of your life where you need God's forgiveness? God to cover your shame? Or, to redeem a decision you have made?A closing word before communion adds one more observation: the devil tempts people with what they already have. He told Adam and Eve they would be like God when they were already made in God's image, and he offered Jesus the kingdoms of the world when every knee will already bow to him. Both Eve and Jesus responded to temptation with God's words; Eve changed them, Jesus did not. Know your Bible, not just for knowledge's sake, but to combat the lies of the enemy.Verses referenced:Proverbs 14:12Proverbs 5:1-14Genesis 3:1-13Genesis 2:15-17Revelation 12:9Genesis 3:14-15Genesis 3:21John 1:29Genesis 3:15Genesis 1:26-27Philippians 2:10-11John 3:16Romans 5:8

The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain, a novella by Charles Dickens, delves into the themes of memory and the spirit of the holidays, focusing on Professor Redlaw and those around him. As the last of Dickens' Christmas novellas, it reflects on the importance of understanding our past and the impact it has on our present, making it a timeless exploration of human emotions and connections. The story resonates with audiences today as it emphasizes the value of empathy and the need to confront our own experiences, particularly during the holiday season. Dickens' ability to weave profound insights into a festive narrative ensures that this tale remains relevant and thought-provoking, inviting listeners to reflect on their own lives.

In Episode 232, Sarah is joined by returning guest Anderson McKean of Page & Palette Bookstore for the 2026 edition of Micro Genres! Each year, this series gives us a chance to niche down even further into the kinds of books we love — spotlighting those very specific sub-sub-genres that capture a particular reading taste. This year, Sarah and Anderson have 10 all-new Micro Genres to share, along with standout books for each. With more than 80 books mentioned, you're bound to find a few new additions to your TBR — and maybe recognize a Micro Genre or two of your own. This post contains affiliate links through which I make a small commission when you make a purchase (at no cost to you!). CLICK HERE for the full episode Show Notes on the blog. Politically-Adjacent Stories (Sarah) The Hopefuls by Jennifer Close (2016) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [3:00]  Charlotte Walsh Like to Win by Jo Piazza (2018) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [3:11]  American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld (2008) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [3:36] Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld (2020) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [3:38]   Vantage Point by Sara Sligar (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [3:47] The Emperor of Ocean Park (Elm Harbor, 1) by Stephen L. Carter (2002) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [4:48]   Palace Council (Elm Harbor, 3) by Stephen L. Carter (2008) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [4:49]  The Boomerang by Robert Bailey (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [5:23] State of Terror by Louise Penny and Hillary Clinton (2021) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [6:14]  The Situation Room by George Stephanopoulos (2024) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [6:55]  Becoming by Michelle Obama (2018) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [8:18]  From the Corner of the Oval by Beck Dorey-Stein (2018) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [8:53]  Retellings that Are NOT Mythological (Anderson) Lady Tremaine by Rachel Hochhauser (2026) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [10:41]  The Beheading Game by Rebecca Lehmann (2026) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [10:58]  Beautiful Little Fools by Jillian Cantor (2022) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [11:55]  Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese (2022) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [12:23]  Honeysuckle by Bar Fridman-Tell (2026) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [12:55]  Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld (2016) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [14:03]  Anna K (Anna K, 1) by Jenny Lee (2020) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [14:08]  Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (2022) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [14:20]  The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson (2015) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [14:36]  The Favorites by Layne Fargo (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [14:48]  Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [14:57]  Wasp's Nest by Kat Stoddard (2026) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [15:26]  A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley (1991) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [15:39]  Other Books Mentioned The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1850) [12:32]  James by Percival Everett (2024) [12:36]  Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1813) [14:07]  Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (1878) [14:11]  David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (1850) [14:24]  Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith (1950) [14:41]  Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (1847) [14:55]  The Go-Between by L. P. Hartley (1953) [15:03]  The Philadelphia Story by Philip Barry (1939) [15:32]  King Lear by William Shakespeare (1608) [15:45]  Ministers Behaving Badly (Sarah) Dominion by Addie E. Citchens (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [16:36] Awake by Jen Hatmaker (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [16:45] God Spare the Girls by Kelsey McKinney (2021) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [17:19] The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman by Deesha Philyaw (Sep 29, 2026) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [17:36] The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall (2019) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [17:51] The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (1998) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [18:16] Dear Reader / Love Letters to Books (Anderson) This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page (2026) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [19:14] The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern (2019) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [19:53] The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai (2011) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [20:22] Dear Fahrenheit 451 by Anne Spence (2017) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [22:24] Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan (2012) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [22:37] The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin (2014) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [22:56] Other Books Mentioned I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai (2023) [20:29] The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai (2018) [20:31] Yellowface by R. F. Kuang (2023) [22:15] Dark Humor (Sarah) Rabbit Cake by Annie Hartnett (2017) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [23:52] Unlikely Animals by Annie Hartnett (2022) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [23:53] The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [23:55] Goodbye, Vitamin by Rachel Khong (2017) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [24:41] Cleo Dang Would Rather Be Dead by Mai Nguyen (2026) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [25:42] Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash (2026) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [25:51] The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne (2017) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [26:00] Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty (2024) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [26:47] Other Books Mentioned Real Americans by Rachel Khong (2024)  [24:44] Fantasy Even Sarah Might Like / Fantasy-Lite (Anderson) Conform (Conform Series, 1) by Ariel Sullivan (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [28:54] The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (2011) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [30:13] The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo (2024) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [30:39] The Atlas Six (The Atlas Trilogy, 1) by Olivie Blake (2022)* | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [30:53] A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic, 1) by V. E. Schwab (2015) | Amazon| Bookshop.org  [31:57] Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [32:02] The Midnight Train (The Midnight World, 2) by Matt Haig (2026) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [32:04] The Midnight Library (The Midnight World, 1) by Matt Haig (2020) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [32:05] The Measure by Nikki Erlick (2022) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [32:20] The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [32:25] The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard (2024) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [32:28] Other Books Mentioned The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, 1) by Suzanne Collins (2008) [29:03] The Handmaid's Tale (The Handmaid's Tale, 1) by Margaret Atwood (1985) [29:04] Like Friday Night Lights, But Book Form (Sarah) a.k.a. Sports Books That Are About Far More Than Sports The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach (2011) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [35:06]  The Slip by Lucas Schaefer (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [35:15]  The World According to Garp by John Irving (1978) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [35:51] In One Person by John Irving (2012) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [35:53]   Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid (2022) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [36:12]  The Flock by Ellen Bar (Apr 27, 2027) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [36:41]  The Last Days of Vic & Coco by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Mar 2, 2027) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [38:31]  Other Books Mentioned The Amateur by Chris Bohjalian (2026)  [37:29]  The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian (2007)  [37:48]  Women Rule the World (Anderson) The Romanov Empress by C. W. Gortner (2018) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [40:16]  Mademoiselle Chanel by C. W. Gortner (2015) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [40:41] Marlene by C. W. Gortner (2016) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [40:43] The Woman with the Cure by Lynn Cullen (2023) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [41:07]  Mrs. Poe by Lynn Cullen (2013) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [41:28]  Twain's End by Lynn Cullen (2015) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [41:31] Lady Clementine by Marie Benedict (2020) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [41:36]  The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict (2016) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [41:53] The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict (2019) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [41:47] Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen by Sarah Bird (2018) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [42:03] Other Books Mentioned Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler (2013) [43:13]  Isola by Allegra Goodman (2025) [43:32]  Royals (Sarah) The Royal We (The Royal We, 1) by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan (2015) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [45:04]  Red, White & Royal Blue (Red, White & Royal Blue, 1) by Casey McQuiston(2019) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [45:06]  American Royals (American Royals, 1) by Katharine McGee (2019) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [45:09]  Spare by Prince Harry (2023) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [45:19] The Force of Such Beauty by Barbara Bourland (2022) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [45:29] The Heir Apparent by Rebecca Armitage (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [45:48]   The Windsor Affair by Melanie Benjamin (2026) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [46:03]  This Land is Your Land (Anderson) Land by Maggie O'Farrell (2026) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [46:34]  Damnation Spring by Ash Davidson (2021) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [47:33]  I Will Send Rain by Rae Meadows (2016) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [47:52]  The Well and the Mine by Gin Phillips (2007) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [48:07]  Greenwood by Michael Christie (US Release 2020) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [49:03]  The Islanders by Lewis Robinson (2024) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [49:32]  The Shark House by Sara Ackerman (2026) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [49:40]  *Publication year reflects the later traditionally published edition for a book originally self-published.

Welcome to Season 5 of Storytime for Grownups! This season we are reading David Copperfield by Charles Dickens a few chapters at a time, with a few notes along the way. It's like an audio book with built in notes. So brew a pot of tea, find a cozy chair, and settle in. It's storytime!To submit a question or comment about this episode, click hereTo visit the merch store, click hereTo become a Storytime for Grownups member and gain access to our online community and monthly voice chats, click hereTo visit the Storytime for Grownups webpage, click hereTo learn more about your host, Faith Moore, click hereTo pick up a copy of Faith's novel, Christmas Karol, click hereTo join Faith's mailing list, click hereFollow Faith on X hereTo support the show financially, click hereSupport the show

TABLE OF CONTENTS THE JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW, 8-23-3036.Anatol Lieven: The discussion highlights a dystopian shift in modern naval combat, where the Russian ghost fleet employs Mad Max tactics, using netting and spikes, to defend against Ukrainian drone attacks. Anatol Lieven describes a global spread of drone technology that threatens energy prices and international stability. Both Russia and Ukraine suffer from the illusion of an imminent total victory, despite a grinding stalemate in which Russia holds a stronger economic position because of its self-funded war effort while Ukraine remains dependent on precarious European aid. Lieven warns of a potential sea war escalation if Russia retaliates against the seizure of its ships, potentially drawing NATO and the US into a direct naval clash. The conversation also touches on British politics, noting that Prime Minister Andy Burnham faces immense pressure regarding immigration and military spending despite his desire to focus on domestic issues. (1)Mary Anastasia O'Grady, Wall Street Journal editorial board: Venezuela is grappling with the aftermath of severe earthquakes while navigating a complex political transition under the Trump administration's influence. Despite increased oil production, major oil companies are hesitant to invest because of a lack of contractual assurances, bureaucratic overreach, and the absence of a legitimate rule of law. Mary Anastasia O'Grady explains that the current provisional government, led by Delcy Rodríguez, is associated with the previous narco-terror regime, creating a transparency crisis regarding oil profits held in US escrow accounts. While the administration pursues a three-phase plan of stabilization, recovery, and a return to democracy, O'Grady argues the regime is simply buying time to stay in power. As long as oil prices remain high and the US is preoccupied with conflicts in the Middle East, the illegitimate regime has little incentive to hold the free and fair elections demanded by popular opposition leader María Corina Machado. (2)Veronique de Rugy: Veronique de Rugy critiques the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, commonly known as the Jones Act, which requires cargo moved between American ports to be transported on ships that are US-built, US-owned, and US-crewed. Originally intended to protect the American merchant marine after World War I, the act has instead caused domestic shipbuilding costs to skyrocket, making American vessels four to five times more expensive than those built in Asia. Consequently, the US fleet has dwindled, and consumers face higher prices for goods as transportation shifts to more polluting methods such as trucking. Despite its failure to achieve its stated goals, the act is sustained by special interests, including unions and specific shipyards, which exert significant political influence. Current efforts to maintain waivers for energy and fertilizer transportation are facing strong opposition from 52 House Republicans. (3)Craig Unger: Craig Unger explores a sidetracked FBI counterintelligence investigation into Donald Trump's decades-long ties to Russian interests. Unlike criminal inquiries, counterintelligence investigations focus on national security breaches and the laundering of influence, even when no explicit crime is proven. Unger asserts that Russian mafia figures, acting as adjuncts to state intelligence, began bailing out Trump's failing real estate ventures as early as 1984. These transactions, often involving cash purchases of condominiums in Trump Tower, allegedly turned the former president into an asset of Russian intelligence. Unger argues that the Robert Mueller investigation was a dud because it focused narrowly on criminal acts rather than this broader compromise. The discussion concludes by noting Trump's consistent, long-standing hostility toward NATO, which Unger says mirrors Soviet-era talking points and raises ongoing concerns regarding US national security. (4)Graham McAleer: Pope Leo has issued a bold encyclical addressing the ethical and social threats posed by artificial intelligence. Graham McAleer explains that the Pope uses the biblical image of Nimrod and the Tower of Babel to characterize AI as a manifestation of human darkness and godlike pride. A primary concern is the asymmetry of wealth, in which a small, secretive class of Silicon Valley oligarchs controls a technology that operates largely outside state law. While the Church acknowledges AI's potential benefits in medicine and education, it warns that the oligarchic structure of the industry challenges state power and treats users as livestock for data farming. The Pope explicitly calls for government regulation to protect human dignity, yet McAleer notes the fundamental contradiction of expecting the state to control private entities that have already become more powerful than many governments. (5)Alex Wright — Multi-Part, Part One: Alex Wright, author of Empire of Ink: The Printers and Radicals Who Invented the American Newspaper, details the uniquely American invention of the newspaper, beginning with Mary Katherine Goddard's printing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Early printing was a grueling, high-status trade where printer's devils, or apprentices, worked with lead and ink balls. Technological evolution was driven by necessity; rag shortages in the nineteenth century led to bizarre experiments, including turning imported Egyptian mummy linen into paper. The Penny Press, pioneered by Benjamin Day, revolutionized the industry by catering to the working class with tabloids and hoaxes, much to the horror of elitists such as Charles Dickens. Wright emphasizes that early American journalism thrived on a sharing economy in which newspapers were exempted from copyright and postal subsidies encouraged editors to cut and paste each other's work, effectively networking the young nation together. (6)Evan Ellis, US Army War College and a State Department voice: Professor Evan Ellis provides a comprehensive update on Latin American stability, starting with Chile's President Kast, who is tackling immigration and the rise of gangs such as Tren de Aragua while balancing economic ties with China. In Colombia, President De la Espriella is implementing a hardline approach against narco-terrorists following a devastating 7.4 earthquake. The situation in Venezuela remains critical; while oil production has increased to 1.16 million barrels per day, there is zero transparency regarding the $13 million in monthly profits allegedly flowing to the Rodríguez gangsters. Opposition leader Dinora Figueroa is negotiating a gradual return to trust, but the regime shows no intention of relinquishing power. Finally, Ellis notes that El Niño poses a severe threat of drought to the Panama Canal, which will likely disrupt international shipping and further strain regional economies. (7)Wright's Part Two runs tomorrow and takes its own tail in that day's sequence.

Alex Wright — Multi-Part, Part One: Alex Wright, author of Empire of Ink: The Printers and Radicals Who Invented the American Newspaper, details the uniquely American invention of the newspaper, beginning with Mary Katherine Goddard's printing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Early printing was a grueling, high-status trade where printer's devils, or apprentices, worked with lead and ink balls. Technological evolution was driven by necessity; rag shortages in the nineteenth century led to bizarre experiments, including turning imported Egyptian mummy linen into paper. The Penny Press, pioneered by Benjamin Day, revolutionized the industry by catering to the working class with tabloids and hoaxes, much to the horror of elitists such as Charles Dickens. Wright emphasizes that early American journalism thrived on a sharing economy in which newspapers were exempted from copyright and postal subsidies encouraged editors to cut and paste each other's work, effectively networking the young nation together. (6)

Welcome to Season 5 of Storytime for Grownups! This season we are reading David Copperfield by Charles Dickens a few chapters at a time, with a few notes along the way. It's like an audio book with built in notes. So brew a pot of tea, find a cozy chair, and settle in. It's storytime!To submit a question or comment about this episode, click hereTo visit the merch store, click hereTo become a Storytime for Grownups member and gain access to our online community and monthly voice chats, click hereTo visit the Storytime for Grownups webpage, click hereTo learn more about your host, Faith Moore, click hereTo pick up a copy of Faith's novel, Christmas Karol, click hereTo join Faith's mailing list, click hereFollow Faith on X hereTo support the show financially, click hereNext time we'll be reading: Chapter 63Support the show

How can you tell where the real innovation in publishing is happening right now, and why is it emerging from the indie side first? How do you market your own book when you've spent 35 years marketing everyone else's? John Bond talks about Going Indie and what he's learned about authors who last. In the intro, my thoughts on writing with AI, Charles Dickens and encouragement for the 3-year-old dancing to K-Pop at the wedding, UK copyright law, The end of an era — Hugh Howey; Notre Dame, Paris; Today's show is sponsored by Bookfunnel, the essential tool for your author business. Whether it's delivering your reader magnet, sending out advanced copies of your book, handing out ebooks at a conference, or fulfilling your digital sales to readers, BookFunnel does it all. Check it out at bookfunnel.com/thecreativepenn This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn John Bond is the co-founder of Whitefox, a premium publishing services agency, and has over 35 years in traditional publishing, from bookselling to marketing and management. He's also the co-author of Going Indie: Publishing Your Book Your Way, with James Silver. 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. Show Notes Why 2012 was a watershed moment for publishing in the UK Whether the snobbery around self-publishing has finally gone How to co-write a book with someone, and why there's no formula The pride swallowing involved in getting endorsement quotes for your own book The shadow economy of indie sales that no industry chart measures The hallmarks of writers who build a long-term career You can find John at wearewhitefox.com. Transcript of the interview with John Bond Jo: John Bond is the co-founder of Whitefox, a premium publishing services agency, and has over 35 years in traditional publishing, from bookselling to marketing and management. He's also the co-author of Going Indie: Publishing Your Book Your Way, with James Silver. So welcome back to the show, John. John: Thank you, Jo. Thanks so much for having me. Jo: You were last on the show in 2022. You've been on a couple of times, but just set the scene. Tell people a bit more about you and your long background in publishing. John: I suppose I could say I started as a marketing manager at Penguin back in the early 1990s in London, and that role eventually evolved into running sales and marketing, as it often does. I did that at Penguin and at HarperCollins. Then I ran one of the publishing divisions at HarperCollins, including 4th Estate, and published Hilary Mantel and Jonathan Franzen and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and others. I left that in 2011 and set up Whitefox in 2012, and it's a classic startup story. It was somebody I worked with at HarperCollins. We sat around a kitchen table, came up with an idea for a business, which was Whitefox, and that's grown into the creative agency that it is today. Jo: So back then, did you think, “I can do this better”? Was that the impetus, “I can do publishing better than Penguin and HarperCollins”? John: No, I thought we would solve a problem. There's something very attractive about that whole startup mentality and beginning something from scratch. I mean, I was in my early 50s. I'd had a long career in traditional publishing. On the plus side, I knew a lot of people, and I thought I could get meetings, people would reply to my phone calls or my emails. On the downside, I didn't necessarily have the energy of a 20 to 25-year-old. I knew a lot of people and I knew quite a lot of things, and I also knew what problems something like Whitefox could solve. We set up with this idea that if we could galvanise and organise the diaspora of freelancers in the publishing space and make them available to anybody that wanted to make a book, that that would be quite a powerful thing. These incredibly creative, wonderful people who were below the radar and were not particularly valued or managed or utilised properly. I thought if we could access that and make that available not just to traditional publishing people who know about these people, but to individual authors, businesses, brands, people that wanted to make a book, and if you added a layer of our expertise from traditional publishing, that could be quite powerful, I suppose. That's what I was thinking back then. Jo: It's funny, though. You said these wonderful freelancers who were not particularly valued or managed or utilised properly. That could also apply to a lot of authors in traditional publishing. John: Totally. Totally. But if I'm honest, I don't think I was thinking about that. What's really evolved since we started, even in that 2011, 2012 period, is so much has happened to independent writers, indie authors. The whole ecosystem has become much more vibrant, and what is accessible to those writers is much greater. I'd like to think we've played a part in that. What that's done is put power back into writers' hands, and that quickly became apparent in the business as a byproduct of what we'd set up. Jo: Yes, and 2012 I do think in the UK was a pivot point, because I got into self-publishing in 2006/2007 when the Americans did with the beginning of the Kindle and the iPhone. Really the American ecosystem grew first. I happened to be in Australia, and so I think I was able to escape the negativity of the vortex in the UK, which took a number more years to embrace self-publishing as a force to be reckoned with as opposed to an embarrassing thing in the corner for vanity press. Do you see 2012 as a changing point in UK publishing? John: I think we'd just come out of the Kindle moment, hadn't we? There were all sorts of conversations going on about how that was going to change things forever. I think no one quite knew what the upshot of that was going to be, but we knew that it was incredibly disruptive. In 2012, Penguin, as it was then, before Penguin Random House, had offered to buy Author Solutions for $115 million, presumably seen as some kind of defensive measure as to what the market was going to evolve into. I think it felt like a real period of change. In the UK, James Daunt took over running Waterstones, and he was then ultimately going to run Barnes & Noble. It felt like a bit of a watershed. I think we were lucky in that sense, that maybe in the UK and in London, what we were creating coincided with an opening up of opportunity and creativity, and people wanting access to more tools to be able to do things themselves. Getting this idea that you invest in your own talent and what that could mean for your ability to do things quicker, better. Some of it was happenstance, but lucky for us. As you say, we then became aware that in a sense a lot of these things had come to fruition earlier on the US side. In London, that whole idea of setting up something that wasn't a traditional rights-owning model, but where you wanted to be working with people creatively, felt actually really exciting and timely. Jo: And when you started to work with independent authors, probably a couple of years after that, you started to work with a lot more indie authors and things really started to change in terms of the business side. Did you feel any of the snobbery from the traditional industry? Like you mentioned, you have a lot of contacts, a lot of connections. I came to your wonderful launch party and there were just people from all over the industry. I wondered if you got any kickback, or if anyone raised their eyebrows a little bit at who you were choosing to work with? John: Oh, definitely. And I would say I really think that's gone. You may think differently, Jo, but from my perspective, I think there has been such an evolution in the nearly 15 years that we've been going. So any of that residual snobbery, looking down your nose at people that were going DIY, producing multiple books, learning from every single publication. We've spoken about this before. I remember you sat on the panel of a FutureBook conference in the UK, which was run by a trade magazine, with this idea of looking at the, in quotes, “digital future of the business.” It felt like there were a lot of things being talked about, but not a lot of action on the traditional side. I suppose some sort of awe that there was some magic going on with people who were making a success of self-publishing. But then quite a lot of people looking down their noses at things that shouldn't get through the gatekeepers. I do think that's gone. Or if it's not completely gone, I can see it on the way out of the door, because there's no room for that when agents are struggling to sell books to publishers because publishers are looking at the next indie author, the next Freida McFadden, the next Sarah J. Maas, the next Rebecca Yarros. So whoever it may be, or wherever they're publishing, whatever they're doing now, wherever they may be, knowing that a lot of those people will already be publishing and be on not their first, second, third or fourth, but potentially their 10th or 11th book. It's a race to see who can help those authors, as a traditional publisher would see it, amplify what they're doing. I think the idea that there's an us and them, if it did exist then, which it certainly did in certain publishing quarters, is gone. I used to go to those conferences, like the FutureBook Conference, and certain publishers would talk about publishing, and when they meant publishing, they meant a really tiny area of quite literary, traditional imprints. That's what publishing meant. They didn't even mean publishing to mean educational publishing, or children's publishing, or academic publishing, and certainly not Kindle or POD or whatever. So I think that's had to change for very good, sound, commercial, economic reasons. Jo: Yes, you're right. I definitely have heard, as we go to similar events sometimes, and you do hear agents used to talk a lot more about finding books very occasionally in a slush pile, or doing courses so you could meet people and do pitch events and all this. Now it's often build an audience on BookTok or whatever, and sell lots of books, and traditional publishing as an amplifier, as you said. That's how I always hear them pitch it now, the question of— What can traditional publishing still do when indie authors can do so much? It does seem to be, well, we can amplify you, we can get you into traditional press, we can get you in traditional bookstores, we can help you with film and movie deals, that kind of thing. So that's really interesting, because that's actually changed quite a lot. They don't now seem to say, “Oh, well, we can make sure we pay you,” or, “We are editorial success as such.” John: I think they don't say editorial success or quality or indeed marketing, because that was what used to be said. I think there's an understanding that a lot of indie writers are better marketeers of their own books than traditional publishers, and if you go into the publishing machine, then you'll get your slot. It lasts for a certain period of time and then that moves on to another book. Whereas obviously if you're writing your own book and you're marketing your own book, you're able to do that yourself 24/7 wherever you are in the world, and you will know more about your readers and your audience and how that evolves than a traditional publisher would. What they probably mean now is, as you said, as much as anything, distribution, or even physical distribution. Because to be part of that process, I think that is still where a large conglomerate is able to wield some muscle, with this idea that if you physically want to see your book in bricks and mortar retailers in X outlets around the world, that's potentially easier to do if that is your aim, via a traditional publisher. So it is constantly evolving, because it used to be that marketing was the silver bullet, and I don't think that's the case anymore. Jo: No. We'll come back to marketing, shall we? Struggling with marketing. So let's get into your book. You recently co-wrote Going Indie with James Silver, Publishing Your Book Your Way. Obviously you already knew a lot about indie authors, so I wonder, what did you discover in the process of researching the book and the interviews you did? And I was one of your interviews. Did anything come up that surprised you, since you're already pretty embedded in the world? John: I would say some of it was reinforcing what I knew. So how everything is so intertwined, how in some ways unlinear everything is. People are doing lots of things in a different order to the way that traditionally writers would perceive this relay race of a manuscript gets passed to an editor, an editor passes on. That's just not how it is or needs to be anymore. I still think there is—not even a misconception—but I think there's a received wisdom that when you're talking about self-publishing, you're talking about fiction. The majority of books that Whitefox produces are not fiction, they're non-fiction. Some of them are quite mainstream, some of them are quite niche. That idea of connecting to your audience and your followers, and being slightly more scientific about how you find readers in your non-fiction niche, I think is still unspoken about in a way, in that genre fiction tends to be what people automatically assume the conversation is about. This probably doesn't surprise you, but I was pleasantly surprised to have it confirmed to me quite how much swapping and sharing there is of skills and knowledge in that space. I'm not saying indie writing is egoless at all, but there's quite a lot of sharing of knowledge and what works, and collaboration, which I think is great to see. Again, if you've, as I did many years ago, come out of corporate conglomerate publishing, traditional publishing, there's less of that by the very nature of the kind of organisation. And look, we just talked about marketing a little while ago. I do think this whole idea that the cutting edge of experimentation, it's not traditional publishing, it's indie writers. They are looking at not just how to find readers, but how to fulfil orders, how to make commercial sense of what they're doing from the absolute outset and get-go of what they're doing. And just how now the lines are blurring between what would be classified as traditional digital publishers and the writers who are doing their own thing, or doing their own thing on behalf of a few other writers. Those lines have completely blurred. There used to be this traditional hardback, paperback, X number of books a year, a year after hardback there's a paperback. This is the model we have been doing for centuries, and people doing things on their own. I think that's blurring massively, and the Venn diagrams of people's areas of expertise are just overlapping massively. Jo: Well, I think you're right there, and certainly the hardback special editions with sprayed edges and foil. A lot of us now are doing that first and not putting out the other, or putting out the rest of it at the same time. I dare say probably there are more indie authors with sprayed edge hardbacks than there are traditionally published authors. John: I'm sure that's right. And what's interesting is if you go to a traditional book printer, they are loving the direct communication with writers, that's not coming through traditional channels and traditional relationships. It's great business, it's interesting. I think that's something that's even developed in the last couple of years, that cutting out of some of the middle men required. Jo: Yes, and in terms of supporting freelancers and small publishing houses and printers and stuff, the other thing I've heard is that indie authors pay upfront, or they pay quickly, compared to some of these big publishers who are asking for long lead times and steep discounting. So actually a lot of these independent businesses are doing better under indie author work than they were under traditional. John: I think that's right, and that's what I mean also about the sharing of information and this collaborative idea of sharing creative knowledge. I mean, I'm making it sound like a kind of 19th century cooperative, which it isn't. I'm not suggesting that for a second. It's this idea that there's a lot of people learning a lot of things and there's a keenness to share some of that information, because if you've developed your own readership for your unique creative product, some of those learnings are very exciting. The printers I've spoken to love working on those kinds of things, because they are also being challenged to come up with new ways of developing ever more innovative physical product. Jo: Yes, I think it's a fun, creative time for sure. Things like Kickstarter, which you came on and talked about crowdfunding years ago, and I've obviously done. I think, what am I on now? Seven? I've just done my seventh. John: Wow. Jo: It's so much fun. But now what's happening is traditional publishers are arriving on Kickstarter and all that kind of thing. So we really see a blurring. Let's come back to your book, so Going Indie. You co-wrote it. Now obviously there are lots of positive sides of collaboration, but in terms of any challenges with collaboration and co-writing and the writing process of doing this? Because I've done this several times and I've found it very challenging. So tell us about the collaborative writing process. John: We thought a lot about it before we took it on. What I would say, having done it, is I am assuming there is no formula for how you do this. At Penguin I worked with a married couple who were crime writers, and they wrote books together. They merged their names so it appeared to be one name. I could not tell you, and they didn't share what that process was, whether they were writing different chapters or … I don't know. So I can only speak from my own experience. James is an established journalist. He's great with deadlines. He was very good at chivvying me along when I needed to be persuaded to hit the deadlines that I'd promised. I write blogs, I write newsletters, I write content for our website, but this is my first book. I've never written anything of this length. So in a way it started with the structure. It started with this idea that we would play to what we perceived as our respective strengths in terms of writing. We absolutely were not each writing every third word or anything like that. It was a process of trust in different parts. I thought, James had done some research and will be better at writing that. He deferred to me on areas that he took to be my areas of expertise. We did every interview for the book together. We went over the notes from those before they became part of the interviews for the book. And some of the book's elements are diagrammatic, so those are very easy to collaborate on. I think we tried to be professionally, creatively constructive with each other. So it was raising an eyebrow rather than shouting at each other if we didn't agree about something. A lot of it was down to the editing, and I don't know what your experience was like with a co-writer, but a lot of it came down to: here is something which is quite baggy. How do we, between us, make this as tight as we possibly can? I don't mean copy editing or proofreading. I mean the actual sort of, how do we get this into a pithy, usable, practical but discursive book? We didn't ever set out for this to be a pure reference book at all. We wanted to take a snapshot of what was going on. So a lot of it was genuinely trying to do some research and get people to feed into what was going on from lots of different perspectives, which is why we wanted to get mainstream traditional publishers, we wanted to get agents, we wanted to get indie writers, we wanted to get people who have all sorts of experiences and perspectives. That's what makes it what it is, which is, here's what we think are some of the interesting discussion points of what's going on now. Jo: It is a fantastic snapshot. I think it's really interesting—and obviously you also have seen my book, Successful Self-Publishing, which is on its fourth edition—this is one of the difficult things with snapshot type books. So have you already thought about that? I know this one has just come out, but have you thought, “Oh no, in five years we have to do it again”? John: Well, I think we thought we're going to have to address AI, which we do in the book, and we really tried to caveat that with saying, look, so much may change so quickly, and here we are talking about what we know now. We obviously tried to set the context for where we are now, and we tried as much as possible to make something which would last as long as we can. I think what we did think was, we have tried to make it as international a perspective as possible. But at the same time, we are a London-based agency, and a lot of the views will be from people based in the UK. So I think what I would like to explore is something that looks at potentially somewhere like the US, where I think there'll be different people that would perhaps have different perspectives on different things. So I think we thought about potentially there being future iterations of the book, but not yet. Jo: Not yet. This is the challenge with non-fiction, of course. On that, I would say what you just said around the US and stuff, the successful UK authors all use the same systems as the US. So I wouldn't say that the US … I mean, we all have the US companies we all use. I say Kobo is obviously Canadian, but I would say that we use the same ways of doing things. Obviously you might interview a different author, but … John: That was all I meant. I meant interviewing. Because we've interviewed agents and authors and publishers and they are largely UK based. So it was the idea that maybe there are some perspectives on things rather than systemic. Jo: Differences. John: Yes. Just that. Jo: So then I guess another challenge, we've kind of nodded to it so far, is marketing. So let's talk about the challenges of getting this book out in terms of publishing and marketing. Because you've been on the inner circle side, trying to do that for other people's books, but your own book, this is a whole nother thing. So tell us about that. John: Well, how do you do it, Jo? I mean, honestly, I've loved some of it. I get how you become completely obsessed with your book and trying to make sure that you can get it into the hands of the people that you want to get it into the hands of. We've got some great endorsement quotes, which was a task that, how can I say this? I would call it pride swallowing. The idea that you really try and get people to say nice things about your book and, if they don't reply, you think, “How much do I pester them? How much do I annoy them by asking them again nicely?” And the absolute sheer unadulterated joy when they come back with something positive that you can use and utilise in some way. So that whole process of waiting for feedback, I suppose, and hoping that people are going to like what you've done and help you spread the word for it. We had a launch event, we've given books away. We've published the book as ebook and POD. I think one of the great things about that is it's enabled us to be completely adaptable and make changes right up until the last minute. That drove everybody in my team completely crazy because we were making changes up until the last minute. So, is the book definitely going to be available on publication date? What's it going to do? You know, all of that kind of stuff. Also, just getting this idea that I suppose you can never stop. Is that a very obvious thing to say to a writer? It probably is. You just can't stop, because if you go, “Right, well, I've done it,” complacency is the enemy. Just as soon as you've got that quote, or someone said that they're going to give you an opportunity to talk about it on a platform, it's just another day and you've got to keep thinking about how you can spread the word and tell people that it exists. Jo: Yes, well, I think that's right, and particularly non-fiction, which unless it's very timely and you must get it out right now. But other than that— Most books you just have to keep marketing for years. Then just as you say, when do you stop? Well, you kind of never stop unless you want to, unless you want to retire and just give up, basically. Dean Wesley Smith, who's a big writer in the US and a kind of a mentor of mine in past years, he talks about it as this massive sea of books. And when a book arrives, he pictures it coming down and landing on the water. So the day you launch, it's landed on the water, and then it begins to sink. Then there are all these other books coming down. It's like this rain of books, and your book is sinking as soon as it lands. And your job is to keep it afloat somehow. John: Keep it afloat. Jo: Yes. John: I think you're right, and it's such an interesting perspective for us, who work with a lot of people who have one book. You know, they've spent 10 years writing it. It's their life story. It's their memoir. It's their self-help book. It's their book that accompanies them on their speaking journey, or whatever. Then there are the people who are writing constantly and can't stop writing because they're exercising that creative muscle all the time and wanting to get better, and wanting to improve and learn and understand why this works and why that hasn't worked. Just getting a glimpse into what it must be like for that person for whom writing is not a hobby. I kept saying to myself, “This is not something you're doing as a hobby.” I want this book to be of value to people, and if I'm investing that time and effort into something that I want to get out there, you've got to commit to whatever it is you need to do to make sure you're not sinking. Jo: Yes. John: I will now not be able to get that image out of my head. Jo: Yes. I know there's people listening who don't have a mind's eye, which I always find fascinating, but for those of us with a mind's eye, you can now picture that and you will never forget it. The other thing, I guess, is that, having done a lot, over 40 books now, the inevitable thing is you cannot keep pushing all of those books back up to the surface. So when you do get the bug as such of writing, the most interesting thing for all of us is always the next book. It's always like, ooh, the next thing I'm doing, I'm very excited about. So you do have to pick your battles on marketing. So have you got the bug, do you think? Are you thinking of other books in general? Because as you said, you must be, I guess, in your 60s. John: I am. Jo: You could retire. John: I am. You were talking about that long career. I could. I mean, I really love doing it, and I would love to do more. I think one of the things that surprised me was just how many ideas came up while we were doing the book about tangents that one could take it. I have no desire to write a novel. I don't want to do that. I wouldn't be very good at that. I do think there are some interesting spaces around where there's a kind of intersection of creativity and learning, and how you can develop books that would help people who are trying to achieve different things in different sectors of publishing. So without getting too granular about it, this book doesn't really address brands who want to become publishers, and I think that is something that our business has developed into working with, not just individuals, but businesses and brands. I think there's definitely spin-offs of this book which are not about repeating what we've done so far. And this whole idea of what you've been doing for a long time, what we've been doing since 2011, 2012, it's evolving now at such a speed. I mean, who would have known what was going to come out of TikTok? As you talk about TikTok to Shopify, that whole kind of new ways of finding readers, of taking books to market. As you said, Kickstarter, crowdfunding. There's all sorts of things that I think will emerge, because in a funny sort of way traditional publishing at the moment feels quite conservative with a small c. I mean, the bestsellers. Dan Brown is number one in the bestseller list this week in the UK as I speak, who has been a bestseller forever. And obviously new writers come along the whole time, but the market feels a little bit as if it's waiting now for innovation. I think if that innovation's going to happen, it's probably going to happen in the indie space before it happens in mainstream publishing. So people are coming to us and thinking, does that represent a trend? Does that represent something which could be a way of looking at something a little bit deeper, doing some research around and creating something which is not a long book, not a massive thesis, but something which is indicative of something which could be useful for people. Jo: Just coming back on the Dan Brown is in the bestseller list. I think this is completely to do with the way that traditional publishing measures things. For many years, more than a decade, probably since the beginning of Kindle, certainly the beginning of Kindle Unlimited, there is a shadow economy, I call it, or a parallel economy. I would say that almost zero of my own personal sales are measured by any industry standards. Anyone who makes any money from Kindle Unlimited or Kickstarter or Shopify, or selling direct in any form, or selling books at conventions, none of this is measured by any traditional things. As you know, the New York Times list, for example, does not include Amazon sales in their bestseller list. So you've got indie authors in the UK who are incredibly successful who have to decide, say, someone like LJ Ross, for example, decides, “Okay, I'm going to set up a proper imprint with Gardners or whatever so that I can get in bookstores so that I can hit a Sunday Times list or something.” So I would say that seeing things like Dan Brown on a bestseller list has almost no meaning in the shadow indie economy. John: No, you're absolutely right. We're not even able to see audiobook sales. Jo: Yes, audio. Any kind of borrows, like Spotify. John: No, you're completely right. I suppose I was making a broader cultural point, that it doesn't feel like there's an enormous amount of innovation going on or risk taking within what I would call mainstream trade publishing. And there doesn't seem to be the need to be, because there will be more consolidation. Small companies will be bought by big companies, so there's growth through acquisition. There's still a hope that something will take off that is a surprise, and there's still an enormous reliance on established brands who, even through the traditional metrics of how you measure them, are probably selling less, but still at the top of the pile. I suppose that's what I was meaning. Jo: Yes, and I agree with what the industry looks at as signals. It's just, as we said, a lot of these signals are invisible. So coming onto innovation, at London Book Fair this year there were a lot of sessions on AI, and you mentioned AI briefly, and there is a chapter in Going Indie on generative AI. And of course there's a lot of negativity and drama and lawsuits and this, that and the other. But at the same time, at London Book Fair, a lot of traditional publishers talking about using it, and of course they always say, “Oh, we use AI only in marketing and business, not with the creative or editorial.” Everyone makes this distinction. What are your thoughts on what's happening and where's it going with AI? Is a lot of this stuff not happening in public and just going on behind closed doors? John: I think so. We do have a chapter in the book on AI. We've generated summaries of every chapter using AI, which we explicitly said in the book as well. We've got our Ten Commandments of what we think are useful guidelines. I think that there has to be an enormous amount being done, whether it's experimentation or speeding up for efficiency's sake, or things that slow you down, within mainstream publishing. There has to be more than just the guardrails around the creative process. And clearly when we're talking about metadata, book description, cover copy, presumably royalty calculations, presumably if you're trying to grow your newsletters. There has to be an enormous amount of activity going on. We're driven by the market, so we do not commission. Writers come to us and they either want to work with us and we want to work with them, or that doesn't happen. So we're in a sense seeing what the market is seeing, and that is a whole range of things. As I've said before, there's a lot of sweeping generalisations out there, which if you look back to that Kindle moment, we were talking a little while ago about what was going on in 2010/2011, about the enormous broad brush strokes that were being perceived as a result of Kindle. Kindle has affected some areas of publishing, it's affected some not at all. I think it will be absolutely fascinating when the sweeping generalisations stop and there becomes, I suppose, even more transparency. The thing that people are looking for, isn't it? A little bit less opaqueness as to what is really being done. Because everybody's being so careful about what they say they're doing and what they're not doing. I suppose ElevenLabs is the one where people are openly engaging on the audio side. I mean, everyone is being so careful and cautious. Jo: Me too. John: What do you think? We spoke a bit about AI within the book, and I'm interested to know what you think. Jo: Well, I've obviously been openly talking about it since 2016. I openly talk about using it, and I've got my Patreon community where we talk about how we're using it, and tips on how to use it. But then, because I have been writing and publishing since 2007, 2008, I'm very strong in my creative voice. I'm very strong in my understanding of what I consider to be my level of output, and what I publish under my own name is what I publish under my own name. John: Totally. Jo: So the problem is for people who are less confident, I think, in what they're doing creatively perhaps. I know some people feel like they're scared it will take over or something. When you're as strong-minded as me, it's not taking over anything. John: It's not going to take over anything. And the other side of the coin is how many people are finding Whitefox using ChatGPT. Jo: Mm. John: I'm thrilled that we are emerging, through very detailed briefing of AI, as something that is worth engaging with. Jo: Positive marketing. John: Yes, exactly. As you say, I think there's a lot of negativity, and I think it will settle down eventually. I think less hysteria. Jo: Yes, hopefully sooner rather than later. So as we come to an end, you've been in the publishing industry a long time and seen a lot of people who have disappeared, but also those who've lasted. I wondered if maybe you could comment on those who last, because I definitely feel like I'm in my 50s now, and I want to keep doing this. I'm pretty obsessed with— What are the hallmarks of people who have a long-term career? So reflections on that. John: Oh, that's such a good question. I think there's some common characteristics and themes. So I think authenticity, I think this idea of being continually curious. I think there are people who can't help but create, and this idea that once you've sort of expelled once, that's enough. I think there's people that just can't stop creating, whatever you do with it. But this idea that the more you do, the better you get, the more you evolve and keep an open mind. I think there's definitely entrepreneurial writers who love this idea of keeping their readers engaged, and how that conversation is something that evolves and that collaboration evolves, is fascinating. I think if you love that, and you listen, there's always an opportunity to keep building on what you do. I love the writers who we work with. I can think of a writer who we're working on his fourth novel at the moment, and he is a bundle of positivity. No matter the trials and tribulations, the things that have gone wrong, his expectations definitely not being met with his first book. He definitely has this idea that he wants to keep writing, he wants to get better, and he is getting better. It isn't a journey that has a beginning and an end. It's something that will continue for as long as he wants to write. Every single book that he has published, he has learned and gained confidence, gained a network of connections that he's utilised himself now to not make the first half a dozen mistakes he made on the first book. Who knows where it will end up? But certainly the satisfaction he's getting, and the sales he's getting, are growing as he becomes savvier and quicker to make the right choices and decisions. So I think that's my honest answer to that. I think there are definitely people who think, “Phew, I have really wanted to do this book. Now I can rest easy. I've done my book.” Then there are people who really, whatever their objective, whatever the definition of success is from the get-go, just can't help creating. I do love that and respect that. I don't think our book falls quite into that category, because I think it's a slightly different thing. I think there are people who are still making a success of what they do and redefining that as they go on, and who are really open to ideas and input from different people and are not closed off. I love working with those people. Jo: So where can people find Going Indie and everything you do online? John: Well, Going Indie is available online at all good bookshops. It's available at Amazon and anywhere you buy books online as ebook and POD. Our website is wearewhitefox.com, and you'll find information about not just our book there, but a lot of other things that we're doing on that site. Jo: Brilliant. Well, thanks so much for your time, John. That was great. John: Thank you so much, Jo. It's been a pleasure. The post Going Indie, Publishing Innovation, And The Challenges Of Book Marketing With John Bond first appeared on The Creative Penn.

Why do families stop reading aloud once children learn to read for themselves? In this episode, we make the case that we may be stopping far too soon. We explore the history of reading aloud, oral recitation, Charles Dickens' public readings, the McGuffey Readers, and modern research on vocabulary, language development, story listening, and shared reading. You'll also hear why reading aloud should complement—not replace—phonics and independent reading, how it can become a bridge into books children aren't ready to tackle alone, and why shared stories naturally lead to conversations about courage, loyalty, justice, sacrifice, forgiveness, and human nature. Plus, you'll get practical read-aloud recommendations for children from preschool through the teenage years and simple advice for creating a family reading culture without turning every book into another school assignment. Your child may be able to read the book alone. But that doesn't necessarily mean you should stop reading it together. SCHOOL TO HOMESCHOOL RESOURCES:  Janae's Links for Vintage Books Sign Up for the School to Homeschool Newsletter School to Homeschool YouTube Channel CONNECT WITH US! Instagram Facebook janae@schooltohomeschool.com

Welcome to Season 5 of Storytime for Grownups! This season we are reading David Copperfield by Charles Dickens a few chapters at a time, with a few notes along the way. It's like an audio book with built in notes. So brew a pot of tea, find a cozy chair, and settle in. It's storytime!To submit a question or comment about this episode, click hereTo visit the merch store, click hereTo become a Storytime for Grownups member and gain access to our online community and monthly voice chats, click hereTo visit the Storytime for Grownups webpage, click hereTo learn more about your host, Faith Moore, click hereTo pick up a copy of Faith's novel, Christmas Karol, click hereTo join Faith's mailing list, click hereFollow Faith on X hereTo support the show financially, click hereNext time we'll be reading: Chapter 63Support the show

Welcome to Season 5 of Storytime for Grownups! This season we are reading David Copperfield by Charles Dickens a few chapters at a time, with a few notes along the way. It's like an audio book with built in notes. So brew a pot of tea, find a cozy chair, and settle in. It's storytime!To submit a question or comment about this episode, click hereTo visit the merch store, click hereTo become a Storytime for Grownups member and gain access to our online community and monthly voice chats, click hereTo visit the Storytime for Grownups webpage, click hereTo learn more about your host, Faith Moore, click hereTo pick up a copy of Faith's novel, Christmas Karol, click hereTo join Faith's mailing list, click hereFollow Faith on X hereTo support the show financially, click hereNext time we'll be reading: Chapter 62Support the show

We're relaunching Let It Roll by reposting every episode in chronological order by subject matter. In this episode, host Nate Wilcox welcomes back Dave Thompson to continue discussing Dave's book An Evolving Tradition: The Child Ballads in Modern Folk and Rock Music. This episode covers the very oldest examples of The Child Ballads, with lyrical themes dating back to the ancient Egyptians and Greeks, as well as the contributions of major literary figures like Sir Walter Scott and Charles Dickens. This episode originally dropped in 2024. GO TO THE LET IT ROLL SUBSTACK TO HEAR THE FULL EPISODE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ -- The final 15 minutes of this episode are exclusively for paying subscribers to the Let It Roll Substack. Also subscribe to the LET IT ROLL EXTRA feed on Apple, Spotify or your preferred podcast service to access the full episodes via your preferred podcast outlet. We've got all 350+ episodes listed, organized by mini-series, genre, era, co-host, guest and more. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to support the show. Thanks! Email ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠letitrollpodcast@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow us on Twitter.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Let It Roll is proud to be part of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pantheon Podcast⁠s⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Season 5 of Storytime for Grownups! This season we are reading David Copperfield by Charles Dickens a few chapters at a time, with a few notes along the way. It's like an audio book with built in notes. So brew a pot of tea, find a cozy chair, and settle in. It's storytime!To submit a question or comment about this episode, click hereTo visit the merch store, click hereTo become a Storytime for Grownups member and gain access to our online community and monthly voice chats, click hereTo visit the Storytime for Grownups webpage, click hereTo learn more about your host, Faith Moore, click hereTo pick up a copy of Faith's novel, Christmas Karol, click hereTo join Faith's mailing list, click hereFollow Faith on X hereTo support the show financially, click hereNext time we'll be reading: Chapter 61Support the show

Welcome to Season 5 of Storytime for Grownups! This season we are reading David Copperfield by Charles Dickens a few chapters at a time, with a few notes along the way. It's like an audio book with built in notes. So brew a pot of tea, find a cozy chair, and settle in. It's storytime!To submit a question or comment about this episode, click hereTo visit the merch store, click hereTo become a Storytime for Grownups member and gain access to our online community and monthly voice chats, click hereTo visit the Storytime for Grownups webpage, click hereTo learn more about your host, Faith Moore, click hereTo pick up a copy of Faith's novel, Christmas Karol, click hereTo join Faith's mailing list, click hereFollow Faith on X hereTo support the show financially, click hereNext time we'll be reading: Chapter 60Support the show

Join Scoots as he reads a new old novel and tries to wrap his head around what it means to say a word in the Pickwickian sense.This is a reading / adaptation of The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens. I'm making it extra boring and meandering, but it may tangentially touch on subjects that some viewers may not find sleepy.This episode originally aired on Sleep With Me Plus. If you'd like to hear more bonus episodes (and get episodes without ads), you can start a free trial at sleepwithmepodcast.com/plusGet your Sleep With Me SleepPhones. Use "sleepwithme" for $5 off!!Are you looking for Story Only versions or two more nights of Sleep With Me a week? Then check out Bedtime Stories from Sleep With MeThis episode is produced by Rusty Biscuit aka Russell Sperberg.Show Artwork by Emily TatGoing through a hard time? You can find support at the Crisis Textline and see more global helplines here.HELIX SLEEP - Take the 2-minute sleep quiz and they'll match you to a customized mattress that'll give you the best sleep of your life. Visit helixsleep.com/sleep and get a special deal exclusive for SWM listeners!ZOCDOC - With Zocdoc, you can search for local doctors who take your insurance, read verified patient reviews and book an appointment, in-person or video chat. Download the Zocdoc app to sign-up for FREE at zocdoc.com/sleepAQUATRU - AquaTru is a countertop water purifier tested & certified to remove 84 contaminants, including chlorine, lead, forever chemicals, and microplastics! Get 20% off your water purifier by going to AquaTru.com and using promo code SLEEPPROGRESSIVE - With the Name Your Price tool, you tell Progressive how much you want to pay for car insurance, and they'll show you coverage options that fit your budget. Get your quote today at progressive.comTALKIATRY - Talkiatry gives you access to real psychiatric care with licensed clinicians who can diagnose and prescribe medication if it's right for you. It's a simple way to get effective treatment right from home. Head to Talkiatry.com/SLEEP to complete the short assessment and get matched with an in‑network psychiatrist in just a few minutes.QUINCE - Quince Superfood Greens cuts through all the nutrition noise with one simple, daily scoop that helps fill in your nutrient gaps and support your overall health. Head to quince.com/sleepwithme for free shipping and 365-day returns.DRIPDROP - DripDrop is doctor-developed, proven fast hydration that helps your body and mind work better. To get 20% off your first order, go to dripdrop.com and use promo code "sleep".COZY EARTH - Cozy Earth's bamboo sheets are guaranteed to give you a good night's sleep. The wick away heat and moisture to keep you cool in the summer nights. Head to cozyearth.com and use code SLEEP for 20% off! Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Welcome to Season 5 of Storytime for Grownups! This season we are reading David Copperfield by Charles Dickens a few chapters at a time, with a few notes along the way. It's like an audio book with built in notes. So brew a pot of tea, find a cozy chair, and settle in. It's storytime!To submit a question or comment about this episode, click hereTo visit the merch store, click hereTo become a Storytime for Grownups member and gain access to our online community and monthly voice chats, click hereTo visit the Storytime for Grownups webpage, click hereTo learn more about your host, Faith Moore, click hereTo pick up a copy of Faith's novel, Christmas Karol, click hereTo join Faith's mailing list, click hereFollow Faith on X hereTo support the show financially, click hereNext time we'll be reading: Chapter 59Support the show

In this episode of The Autistic Culture Podcast, hosts Dr. Angela Kingdon and Matt Lowry, LPP reframe Hans Christian Andersen—not as the “awkward, difficult” writer he's often portrayed to be, but as a figure whose life and work reflect Autistic culture.