It’s Friday night again and we present another podcast, this week the second episode of “Saratoga Noir” from  our friends at ZBS Media. Be sure to follow along in the accompanying comic strip created by Genevieve Shapiro, whose splendid art has appeared here at the Café a few times in the past. We love her illustrations! This is the second of 20 episodes. If you like what you hear – and see – let us know and we’ll post some more episodes. If you scream really loud, maybe we’ll post them all! But if you just can’t wait for more, hop over ZBS where you can download the entire work, and many, many others, for chump change. Please click on the arrow to listen to Episode 2 of “Saratoga Noir.”

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You know you’re often going to be surprised by our creative offerings, and this month’s podcast is no exception. It’s a Christmas story, but likely not one you might be thinking of. If you ever enjoyed Mystery Science Theater 3000, you’re going to enjoy the heck out of this. Many thanks to Anthony, Garrett and Bobby, our new friends and colleagues at The Story Cauldron, for this offering. The Story Cauldron is a weekly podcast that finds the folktales, fables, and philosophies behind your favorite films. Join us every Wednesday as we dive into what Tolkien called the “Cauldron of Story” or the final result of imagination + art, to see where our movies come from. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good-night! Please click on the link below to listen to the podcast. https://www.thestorycauldron.com/listen/diehard…

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Steal the Stars is the story of Dakota Prentiss and Matt Salem, two government employees guarding the biggest secret in the world: a crashed UFO. Despite being forbidden to fraternize, Dak and Matt fall in love and decide to escape to a better life on the wings of an incredibly dangerous plan: they’re going to steal the alien body they’ve been guarding and sell the secret of its existence. Steal the Stars is a noir science fiction thriller in 14 episodes, available worldwide on all major podcast distributors through the Macmillan Podcast Network. Listen to the first episode here, and subscribe to Steal the Stars at any of the following links:  iTunes | Google Play | SoundCloud | Spotify | Stitcher | RSS Please click on the arrow below to listen to Episode 1 of “Steal the Stars.”

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Last month, Ruby Fink and I presented a 90–minute workshop on podcasting at the Willamette Writers Conference to keenly interested authors. Ruby heads Faux Fiction Audio, a podcast production company, and is my partner in podcasting my fiction. She’s also developing podcasts for other authors and publishers because podcasting, or audiobooks, is becoming a Pretty Big Deal in Media Land. Which is why I love finding podcasts for you to listen to each month. In my endless search for ever more interesting audio I came across “The Ferryman,” our offering this month. It’s one of the more bizarre listening experiences in the genre and I wish I could tell you more about it, but whoever  created it – and I suspect the name “Nic Antoine” is a nom de plume [a nom de mic??] – remains…

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As we bid adieu to August and prepare to surrender to September, one last LibriVox audiobook to treat your ears, one of the great adventure stories of all time: King Solomon’s Mines by H. Rider Haggard. The notion of finding a long-lost treasure is a literary archetype which found itself reborn in the “Indiana Jones” movies, and it’s a powerful and captivating story – whether on page or screen. Sir Henry Rider Haggard [British; 1856-1925] was a major proponent of the “discovery of a lost world” genre, and is best known for King Solomon’s Mines and She, both of which have been made into movies several times. This LibriVox recording was done by a terrific narrator, John Nicholson. Here are the first 5 chapters. Be sure to visit LibriVox and download the entire novel.  

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This novel, first published in 1908, is a classic story of Mary Lennox, a quiet, withdrawn little girl who goes to live with her uncle. He lives in an enormous house which possesses a – yes, a secret garden, about which Mary grows intensely curious. Perhaps because of this fascinating novel, the secret garden has assumed the mantle of an archetype for the spiritual quest. We present here the first three chapters of The Secret Garden, read by Kara Schallenberg in this Librivox recording. If you like what you hear, you can download the entire work here. My three favorite Goodreads friends all give Kara’s reading five stars. Please click on the arrows below to listen to the first three chapters. More great Librivox stories in store for you in the coming weeks!  

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