The Classic Tales Podcast
Designed to make classic literature less intimidating, The Classic Tales Podcast has been showcasing the greatest literary authors for years. Narrating with gusto, BJ Harrison performs each word of the classic texts, elevating them with character voices, sharp accents and bridled emotion. Adventure, Mystery, Horror, Humor and more - The Classic Tales Podcast has something for everybody. It really is The Cure for the Common Commute. Winner - Outstanding Podcast Host: Arts and Entertainment , Society of Voice Arts and Sciences- 2022 Winner of w3 Silver Award by the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts-2022 Winner of w3 Gold Award by the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts-2021 Winner of Independent Audiobook Award for "Scaramouche", by Raphael Sabatini - 2021

Will the Four Just Men be caught when they deliver their final threat in person? Edgar Wallace, today on The Classic Tales Podcast.

Welcome to The Classic Tales Podcast. Thank you for listening.

The Classic Tales Podcast is listener supported. If you enjoy listening to The Classic Tales, please consider becoming a supporting member. It helps support the podcast, and it’s a great way to build out your library of classics. By making a monthly donation of just $5, you’ll receive a corresponding thank-you code for $8 discount off any audiobook order. Donate $10 a month or more, and you get a $17 discount. You win, and we get to keep going strong. Go now to www.classictalesaudiobooks.com and become a member today.

You can also purchase our app, or shop for t-shirts and other merchandise. Links can be found in the notes to today’s episode.

If you have the Classic Tales App, check your special features for more Meditations of Marcus Aurelius.

We’d also like to thank Spotify for being a partnering sponsor. 

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is coming along. I’m going to release this in two shots, as a Part One and Part Two, since it runs around 20 hours. So keep an eye open for Part One.

Please make sure your membership status is current, as I will be sending the completed audiobook out to all current financial supporting members. 

I’m going to be at the Fan X Comic Con in Salt Lake City! I’ll be on a panel called: The Life Changing Magic of Embracing your Inner Nerd. It will be on Saturday the 7th at noon. Apparently, I’m a bit of an authority on nerding loud and proud. If you’re in town, drop by. I’d love to see you, and I have stickers!

And now, The Four Just Men, part 3 of 4, by Edgar Wallace.

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Tap here to get early access to the Airr app, and share your favorite snippets of the episode with your friends! Share on Twitter @bjharrisonaudio, and your clip might be on the show!

 

Tap here to purchase Huckleberry Finn – the first Hybrid Audiobook

 

 

Tap here to go the The Classic Tales Merchandise store!

 

Hear us on roku:

 

 

Direct download: CT_642_TheFourJustMen_part3of4.mp3
Category:Literature -- posted at: 12:20am MDT

Why is one of the Four Just Men being treated as a prisoner amongst his fellow conspirators? Edgar Wallace, today on The Classic Tales Podcast.

Welcome to The Classic Tales Podcast. Thank you for listening.

The Classic Tales Podcast is listener supported. If you enjoy listening to The Classic Tales, please consider becoming a supporting member. It helps support the podcast, and it’s a great way to build out your library of classics. By making a monthly donation of just $5, you’ll receive a corresponding thank-you code for $8 discount off any audiobook order. Donate $10 a month or more, and you get a $17 discount. You win, and we get to keep going strong. Go now to www.classictalesaudiobooks.com and become a member today.

You can also purchase our app, or shop for t-shirts and other merchandise. Links can be found in the notes to today’s episode.

If you have the Classic Tales App, check your special features for more Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. 

We’d also like to thank Spotify for being a partnering sponsor.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is coming along. It’s tricky to try and sneak in a few hours to record over the weekend. I’m going to release this in two shots, as a Part One and Part Two, since it runs around 20 hours. So keep an eye open for Part One.

Please make sure your membership status is current, as I will be sending the completed audiobook out to all current financial supporting members.

And now, The Four Just Men, part 2 of 4, by Edgar Wallace.

 

Tap here to go to www.classictalesaudiobooks.com and become a financial supporter!

 

Tap here to get early access to the Airr app, and share your favorite snippets of the episode with your friends! Share on Twitter @bjharrisonaudio, and your clip might be on the show!

 

Tap here to purchase Huckleberry Finn – the first Hybrid Audiobook

  

Tap here to go the The Classic Tales Merchandise store!

 

Hear us on roku:

 

Direct download: CT_641_TheFourJustMen_part2of4.mp3
Category:Literature -- posted at: 12:58am MDT

How does a vigilante group styling themselves The Four Just Men raise the stakes against an inflammatory act of Parliament? Edgar Wallace, today on The Classic Tales Podcast.

Welcome to The Classic Tales Podcast. Thank you for listening.

The Classic Tales Podcast is listener supported. If you enjoy listening to The Classic Tales, please consider becoming a supporting member. It helps support the podcast, and it’s a great way to build out your library of classics. By making a monthly donation of just $5, you’ll receive a corresponding thank-you code for $8 discount off any audiobook order. Donate $10 a month or more, and you get a $17 discount. You win, and we get to keep going strong. Go now to www.classictalesaudiobooks.com and become a member today.

You can also purchase our app, or shop for t-shirts and other merchandise. Links can be found in the notes to today’s episode.

If you have the Classic Tales App, check your special features for more Meditations of Marcus Aurelius.

We’d also like to thank Spotify for being a partnering sponsor.

This week we have another sponsor: AudioFile Magazine. They have an amazing podcast that highlights the best of the best in audiobooks. Their episodes are frequent, and run around 5 minutes long. Continue listening after the story to hear an entire episode of their podcast: Behind the Mic with AudioFile Magazine

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is coming along. I’m running a little behind this week. It’s tricky to try and sneak in a few hours to record over the weekend. I’m going to release this in two shots, as a Part One and Part Two, since it runs around 20 hours. So keep an eye open for Part One.

Please make sure your membership status is current, as I will be sending the completed audiobook out to all current financial supporting members.

Today’s story is Edgar Wallace who co-wrote the groundbreaking story of King Kong with Merriam C. Cooper. Wallace was a prolific author, and at the time of his death, was known as “The King of Thrillers”. 

When Wallace finished writing The Four Just Men, he was sure he had a hit. The problem was, nobody else thought so. He couldn’t get it published. So, he self published it, and decided to advertise the novel on an unprecedented scale. He came up with a bold advertising gimmick: a £500 reward was offered to any reader who could guess how the murder in the novel was committed. Wallace was working for The Daily Mail newspaper at the time, and here he published the serialized version of the story along with the competition.

Well, it didn’t work out quite like he’d anticipated. While the book did well, it didn’t do that well. Furthermore, Wallace wasn’t quite as clever as he thought. Some people were guessing the ending. After three months, Wallace still hadn’t recouped his advertising investment, and he had more contest winners than he was planning for. So, the official list of winners kind of went unpublished, which kind of made a lot of people lose trust in The Daily Mail, which is really a bad thing when you’re, you know, a news source.

In the end, Wallace had to borrow £5,000 from his boss, so the newspaper could save face with their readers. Wallace’s working relationship with the paper soured after that, when it became evident that Wallace was in no hurry to pay the money back. But while the publishing of The Four Just Men was a bit of a fiasco, it did establish Wallace’s name as a writer.

The reason I chose this story was because while I was reading it, I was constantly fighting with myself. This was Wallace’s intention. Of The Four Just Men, he said, “The most lawless of us would hesitate to defend them, but the greater humanitarian could scarcely condemn them.” We aren’t supposed to be completely for or against them.

The story takes place before the two World Wars, when anarchists were big news in Europe. Today, we would likely dub them terrorists. They are vigilantes, who seek their own version of justice from the world. I hope you like it.

Warning: there are a couple offensive racial epithets in today’s episode, including the “n” word. 

And now, The Four Just Men, part 1 of 4, by Edgar Wallace.

 

Tap here to go to www.classictalesaudiobooks.com and become a financial supporter!

 

 

Tap here to get early access to the Airr app, and share your favorite snippets of the episode with your friends! Share on Twitter @bjharrisonaudio, and your clip might be on the show!

 

Tap here to purchase Huckleberry Finn – the first Hybrid Audiobook

 

Tap here to go the The Classic Tales Merchandise store! 

 

Direct download: CT_640_TheFourJustMen_part1of4.mp3
Category:Literature -- posted at: 1:26am MDT

What misfortune occurs when an ancient watchmaker pits his two protégés against each other? Lydia Maria Child, today on The Classic Tales Podcast.

Welcome to The Classic Tales Podcast. Thank you for listening.

The Classic Tales Podcast is listener supported. If you enjoy listening to The Classic Tales, please consider becoming a supporting member. It helps support the podcast, and it’s a great way to build out your library of classics. By making a monthly donation of just $5, you’ll receive a corresponding thank-you code for $8 off any digital audiobook download. You win, and we get to keep going strong. Go now to www.classictalesaudiobooks.com and become a member today.

There are many other ways you can also support the podcast, through purchasing our app, merchandise, or telling your friends about us. Links can be found in the notes to today’s episode.

If you have the Classic Tales App, check your special features for more Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. That’s still a thing.

You and also rate and review us at Spotify or Apple Podcasts. 

And the items in our FREE category have been changed, so head on over to the website for some free audiobooks.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is coming along. I’m actually using a combination of several translations to record this audiobook, as I’m using three at the same time. The one from J. Carroll Beckwith is the main one, but I’m also using the traditionally used anonymous translation as well as another audio version for additional reference. I have around four more hours to record.

Please make sure your membership status is current, as I will be sending the completed audiobook out to all current financial supporting members. 

Today’s story is by Lydia Maria Child, who lived from 1802 to 1880. She was best known for her stand against slavery and for her promotion of the rights of Native Americans. The musical version of her Thanksgiving poem, “Over the River and Through the Woods”, is still sung by children today.

Her story, “The Rival Mechanicians” has been lauded as one of the finest science fiction tales from the first half of the nineteenth century. The Western Literary Messenger declared it to be “above praise”, when it was first published in 1847.

There are so many diverse and profound elements to the story, however, I think I’ll let it speak for itself.

And now, The Rival Mechanicians, by Lydia Maria Child.

 

Tap here to go to www.classictalesaudiobooks.com and become a financial supporter!

 

Tap here to get early access to the Airr app, and share your favorite snippets of the episode with your friends! Share on Twitter @bjharrisonaudio, and your clip might be on the show! 

 

Tap here to purchase Huckleberry Finn – the first Hybrid Audiobook

  

Tap here to go the The Classic Tales Merchandise store!

  

Hear us on roku:

Direct download: CT_639_TheRivalMechanicians.mp3
Category:Literature -- posted at: 12:30am MDT

How can Khemsa’s dying words about following a golden thread possibly help Conan defeat the evil Master of Yimshah? Robert E. Howard, today on The Classic Tales Podcast.

Welcome to The Classic Tales Podcast. Thank you for listening.

The Classic Tales Podcast is listener supported. If you enjoy listening to The Classic Tales, please consider becoming a supporting member. It helps support the podcast, and it’s a great way to build out your library of classics. By making a monthly donation of just $5, you’ll receive a corresponding thank-you code for $8 off any digital audiobook download. You win, and we get to keep going strong. Go now to www.classictalesaudiobooks.com and become a member today.

There are many other ways you can also support the podcast, through purchasing our app, merchandise, or telling your friends about us. Links can be found in the notes to today’s episode.

You and also rate and review us at Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

And the items in our FREE category have been changed, so head on over to the website for some free audiobooks.

I’m very excited to announce that Annie, from the Join Us In France podcast, has agreed to write a special introduction for the Classic Tales Audiobook edition of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. She is a licensed historian and tour guide, and her insights into the history of the Notre Dame cathedral will deepen the experience of the audiobook.

After searching many different translations, the one I landed on by J. Carroll Beckwith was only published in a very limited edition of only 1000 copies. But it is by far the best I’ve come across.

Please make sure your supporter status is up to date, so you don’t miss out on this amazing production. Once it’s done, I’ll be sending the entire 20 hour-long audiobook to all current supporters.

This week we finish our story of Conan. It’s got some pretty gruesome violence, and the misogyny is back, too. The violence is pretty obvious, but parents might also want to stop and talk about the misogyny. If we point it out and talk about it, we can make sure it stops.

And now, The People of the Black Circle, Part 4 of 4, by Robert E. Howard.

 

Tap here to go to www.classictalesaudiobooks.com and become a financial supporter!

 

Tap here to get early access to the Airr app, and share your favorite snippets of the episode with your friends! Share on Twitter @bjharrisonaudio, and your clip might be on the show!

  

Tap here to purchase Huckleberry Finn – the first Hybrid Audiobook

  

 

Tap here to go the The Classic Tales Merchandise store!

 

Hear us on roku:

 

 

Direct download: CT_638_PeopleoftheBlackCircle_Part4of4.mp3
Category:Literature -- posted at: 1:24am MDT