Campfire Classics Podcast

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!!

Wow!  This is a weird one.  Our hosts recorded from different timezones!  That's nothing new for most podcasts, but this was an odd experience here at Campfire Classics.

Regardless, this week, our intrepid heroes return to the writing of one Mr. L. Frank Baum.  Last tackled back in January, this episode comes jam packed with new facts about the author and TWO new stories.  That's right folks, it's a two for one deal!  "The Queen of Quok" and "The Girl Who Owned a Bear" all in one sitting! You can't miss that.

Hijinks and shenanigans ensue as Heather tries to carve her way through these two stories.  We learn that that "peg-topping" is not as kinky as it sounds, we hear ALL of heather's voices, and we invent "desecration yoga" (tm).  All in a days work.

"The Queen of Quok" and "The Girl Who Owned a Bear" were both published in American Fairy Tales in 1901.

Promo this week from Ta2squid Podcast.  Check him out, and tell him you want to hear Campfire Classics on his show!

Remember to tell five friends to check out Campfire Classics.

Now sit back, light a fire (or even a candle), grab a drink, and enjoy.

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!!

Neither rain, nor snow, nor too many Margaritas shall keep us from bringing you this show.

And this week, we test a part of that promise.  But which part? I'll bet you can guess!

This week Ken gets to read a loopholed Public Domain story from beloved children's author and apparent psychopath Roald Dahl.  Heather has chosen for Ken a story called "Lamb to the Slaughter," and I have it on good authority that it's not nearly as depressing as that title makes it sound!

It's a twisted web our author weaves.  Unsurprising if you've actually read the horrifying book version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  And along the way our hosts get some real good work done, like starting a Happy Birthday choir, dashing their own political futures, and asking the age old question "Have you ever seen a sheep nipple?

"Lamb to the Slaughter" was first published in 1953 and has since been adapted into an episode of Alfred Hitchcock presents.  Well Alfred, I guess great minds do think alike.

Promo this week from Hindsight Movie Reviews, a podcast that has Ken actively seeking a guest spot.

Remember to tell five friends to check out Campfire Classics.

Now sit back, light a fire (or even a candle), grab a drink, and enjoy.

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!!

Bienvenue, nos amis!  Welcome, our friends!

That's right! This week we're taking a crack at French literature, and Heather gets to swing at that sweet sweet troubling language.

Our story today comes from author Maurice Marie Émile Leblanc, a French writer often compared favorably to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  The story Ken has chosen for Heather is called "The Arrest of Arsène Lupin," and is the first ever appearance of the great gentleman-burglar and detective Arsène Lupin.

It is a fascinating case, but not so fascinating that our hosts stay completely on topic.  To Ken and Heather's credit, their tangents are almost relevant this time 

We have officially entered the Brenaissance Era.

"The Arrest of Arsène Lupin" was first published in 1905 and started nearly 30 years worth of crime and mystery stories.

Promo this week from Boozed and Confused, another couple hosted podcast that delves in to the odd, creepy, and possibly supernatural mysteries in our history.

Remember to tell five friends to check out Campfire Classics.

Now sit back, light a fire (or even a candle), grab a drink, and enjoy.

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!!

This week's author is a man who has not only been suspected of actual time travel, but has also been compared to American National Treasure Nick Cage.

Did you get my pun?  National Treasure?

Graham Green (the writer, not the actor from Dances With Wolves) wrote "The End of the Party," and then almost a hundred years later Heather decided Ken should read it.  So he did.  And now you are moments away from listening to that very read.  So in a way, you too are an actor in Dances With Wolves.

As is always the case our hosts do their best to stay on topic, but important things do have a way of derailing them.

What are the rules to Stab Apple?

"The End of the Party" was first published in 1929 and has been reprinted in many anthologies.  Graham Greene considered it one of his best stories.

Remember to tell five friends to check out Campfire Classics.

Now sit back, light a fire (or even a candle), grab a drink, and enjoy.

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!!

Are you ready for some new bits!? Here comes Science: Just in Case, a new segment of questionable scientific value where Ken explores stupid ways to set things on fire and Heather listens on in abject horror.

The we get to the literature. This week, Heather reads for us another tale from SciFi great H. G. Wells. Ken has chosen a story called "The Truth About Pyecraft". But you could be forgiven for hearing "Pie Craft".  We were definitely hoping for a story about baked goods and witches.

This weeks story comes with an extra little content warning because the narrator is pretty callous and careless about body shaming.  What a dick.

Also, fair warning you will hear:

"The Truth About Pyecraft" was first published in 1903 in The Strand, which is almost as cool as Highlights for Kids.

Remember to tell five friends to check out Campfire Classics.

Now sit back, light a fire (or even a candle), grab a drink, and enjoy.

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!!

Let's kill Hitler!

Good, now we have your attention! Our story this week was chosen by Heather.  It's another of those strange, more recent stories that managed to slip between the copyright cracks back in the '50s.  Author Mack Reynolds, sometimes known as "Maxine", has a fascinating first in literature related to the Star Trek universe. But, this week's tale, while still SciFi, stays a little closer to home. While Ken reads "Unborn Tomorrow," your hosts run off on the usual tangents and memories form their past.

Which one of our hosts once set themself on fire?

"Unborn Tomorrow" was first published in Astounding Science Fiction June 1959. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed, so if you own the copyright...you screwed up!

Remember to tell five friends to check out Campfire Classics.

Now sit back, light a fire (or even a candle), grab a drink, and enjoy.

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!!

This week's piquant tale is a puerile journey of perfidious intimacy bred of propinquity. Also, we learned a lot of new words that we wanted to squeeze into this intro!!

Our story was chosen by Ken from the catalogue of Brazilian Literature.  Author Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, a criminally under appreciated artist in the English speaking world, brought us "The Fortune Teller," a short that will certainly please any fans of the Soap Opera or Telenovela genre.  And really anyone else.  Filled with over the top emotions, and a shocking number of Shakespeare references, this story literally fixed Heather's brain.  Just ask her.

Over the hour-ish long episode, your hosts dive into the writing, but also discuss such topics as:

"The Fortune Teller" was first published in Portuguese in 1884, and this translation into English was made in 1921.

Remember to tell five friends to check out Campfire Classics.

Now sit back, light a fire (or even a candle), grab a drink, and enjoy.

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!!

It's the season 2 premiere!

Which really means nothing more than we're restarting the episode count because it feels cool.

This week, Heather has selected a story for Ken to read by an author unknown to either of our hosts before this reading.  His name was John Kendrick Bangs, and he might have invented an adult film genre.  Or possibly just ghost story sub-genre.  You know it's hard to tell sometimes.  Regardless, the story is called The Water Ghost of Harrowby Hall: A Victorian Christmas Spirit Story," and Ken gives a pretty good effort at reading it.

Along the way, the hosts ask:

"The Water Ghost of Harrowby Hall" was the titular story in the 1894 collection The Water Ghost, and Others.

Remember to tell five friends to check out Campfire Classics.

Now sit back, light a fire (or even a candle), grab a drink, and enjoy.

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!!

Happy anniversary!

We've been doing this for a year! A full trip around the sun! 12 calendar pages! 57 episodes in 365 days.

To celebrate, we're reading a detective story by a woman who is one of the most important writers in the genre.  But no, it's not Agatha.  This week's story, "The Ninescore Mystery", was written by Baroness Emma Orczy, best known today for the stories of The Scarlet Pimpernel.

This story centers on a detective known as Lady Molly and her sidekick Mary. They get up to delightful shenanigans, and along the way your hosts tackle hard hitting issues like accents that melt cheese, the worst Bennet sister, and questionable hair gel.

"The Ninescore Mystery" was first published in the the 1910 collection Lady Molly of Scotland Yard.

Remember to tell five friends to check out Campfire Classics.

This week's promo is for SpyHards Podcast.  Give them a listen and let us know if they set you to melting and quivering.

So sit back, light a fire (or even a candle), grab a drink, and enjoy.

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!!

Have you had your taco today?

This week, your hosts extend a tentative olive branch to recent Campfire Classics villain Mark Twain as they read the short story that made him famous "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County".  Heather chose this story, and Ken does his best to read it, but it isn't a straight path through.  Along the way your literary companions get distracted by Philadelphia geography, spaying and neutering pets, and beefy tacos.

"The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" was first published in  the November 18, 1865 edition of The New York Saturday Press where it was wildly popular and catapulted Twain into the public eye. It has since been included in several short story collections.

Remember to tell five friends to check out Campfire Classics.

This week's promo is for Superiority Complex Podcast.  Check them out, and tell them their nerd friends at Campfire Classics sent you.

So sit back, light a fire (or even a candle), grab a drink, and enjoy.