Dr. Freddie Drummond is in a great position: a fulfilling job, a wonderful fiancée, and the respect of titans of industry. So...why is he going out at night, living a double life?

Today's story was based on "South of the Slot" by Jack London.

Someday Henry Bemis is going to do it. Sometime he is going to go to that wonderful, glorious place and live the life of his dreams.

The place? Well, the public library, of course.

But...today is not that day.

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Today's episode was inspired by "Time Enough at Last" by Lynn Venable.

What happens when your nose leaves your face...and starts living a better life than you?

Today's episode was adapted from the story "The Nose" by Nikolai Gogol. You can find the full text here.

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You receive a letter from an old friend. He isn't doing well. He invites you to visit him at his house. His house...that's eating him whole.

Today's episode was inspired by "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe.

Two men, a servant and his master, take a drive on a snowy evening. The experience will forever alter both of their lives.

Adapted from "Master and Man" by Leo Tolstoy.

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It's the 2010s and nuclear war between the US and the Soviet Union has forced humanity into bunkers, scorching the planet and leaving only the Leadys, the semi-sentient robot fighters, to continue to wage the war above against other Leadys.

The humans below, however, think that their Leadys might have other motives...

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Adapted from "The Defenders" by Philip K. Dick.

We learn which crime Sherlock Holmes thinks is the absolute worst...and it's not what you think it is.

Also, the great detective tries his hand at crime himself. Once he crosses that line, will he be able to come back from it?

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Check out Best of the Worst! https://www.nextpod.com/botw

A young woman working as a servant for a cruel countess falls in love with the man across the street. It seems like a fairy tale, but are there more sinister motivations at play?

Adapted from " The Queen of Spades" by Alexander Pushkin

Sanger Rainsford, a big-game hunter, just wants to go home, but he finds himself on an island belonging to General Zaroff, a fellow hunter with twisted, unorthodox tastes.

Sanger refuses to go along with Zaroff, but what will last longer, Sanger's adherence to his principles...or his life?

Adapted by the Weisers from "The Most Dangerous Game"

Read the original: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/O._Henry_Memorial_Award_Prize_Stories_of_1924/The_Most_Dangerous_Game

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Humanity is isolated for their own safety in their homes, but they settle in to communicate through world-wide messaging and video calls, and face-to-face, person-to-person interaction becomes rarer and rarer, to the point that it's uncomfortable and awkward.

And no, the writer had no knowledge of the year 2020. E. M. Forster's prescient work of science fiction was first published in 1909.

After an ecological disaster, humanity is forced to flee underground, living alone in pods. But...it's not uncomfortable. In fact, it's the opposite. Humans have everything they could possibly need or want, thanks to the machine that oversees everything. But, when we give the power to watch over us to computers, who watches over the computers?

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Check out our new mini-cast, Best of the Worst! https://www.nextpod.com/botw-subscribe

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The original: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Machine_Stops/Chapter_I

**Disclaimer**

Warning: spoilers

A character struggles with loneliness and depression and tries numerous times to have the machine painlessly euthanize her, but it refuses.