A short story by Maxwell Conroe exploring John Coetzee's Nobel Laureate lecture and the psychiatrist's defense of Coetzee's reputation, narrated by Tim.

John Coetzee delivered one of the most audacious Nobel Laureate lectures on record. He took his audience all the way back to the romantic times of Daniel Defoe. Coetzee's lecture appears a very taxing piece of writing and to Maxwell seemingly lacks utility; then his psychiatrist steps in to defend Coetzee’s reputation.   

A short story by Maxwell Conroe reflecting on Mick Jagger's ability to gain attention and promote visibility for himself and his band, The Rolling Stones, narrated by Jane Speaks.

Getting attention is half the trick, knew Mr. Mick Jagger all along ‒ he never passed an opportunity to promote visibility of both himself and The Stones, his legendary rock band. Behind the poker face of Mick’s stage persona hid a determined and dedicated professional performer, as was observed up-close by a young medical doctor in the 1970s when he took Mr. Jagger in a Volkswagen Beetle to an X-ray machine in the middle of the night ‒ negotiating the labyrinth of Amsterdam’s canals ‒ to finally examine the performer’s sprained ankle. 

A short story by Maxwell Conroe wherein the protagonist encounters a vision of Albert Einstein, leading to recurring nightmares suggesting their responsibility for Einstein's death, narrated by Samuel L. Jackson.

Albert just happens to be there, in my living room. When I write ‘Albert’, it is not a parrot flying in from the terrace. No, this concerns ‘the’ Albert – Mr. Einstein, who simply appears and states “You know why I am here?” He looks exactly what you’d expect him to look like. When he finally leaves, I suffer from recurrent nightmares with frightening scenes; all suggesting that I am somehow responsible for Einstein’s death. 

A short story by Maxwell Conroe exploring the hidden secret within the seemingly innocent garden of a reclusive writer named Isaac, narrated by Jane Speaks.

Living alone in his secluded homestead, surrounded by his garden, Isaac (a writer) cares little for socials and generally thrives living the secluded life he had chosen to live. The seemingly innocent garden he dreamily stares into from his writer's den – it actually harbors a dark secret long lost. 

A short story by Maxwell Conroe exploring how fictional characters like Alice and the Hobbits gain more recognition than their creators and imagines Alice as the Queen of Hearts in a society fighting against global warming, narrated by Stephen Fry.

In the long run, the main characters of classic stories frequently become much better known than their creators. For example, Alice – from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland – and the Hobbits – from J.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and its Lord of the Rings-sequel – these characters presently have higher name recognition than their creators. Lately, the retired characters (with their creators long gone) appear to seek out new opportunities to make themselves heard and useful again; Alice – now the Queen of Hearts in a Hobbit-hole Society – seeks to prioritize the fight against global warming. 

A short story by Maxwell Conroe comparing the author's Mind Twisters to Kurt Vonnegut's graphic illustrations called Confetti, narrated by Jane Speaks.

I call my stories Mind Twisters. That is perhaps a very pretentious label, as I realized when stumbling upon the works by Kurt Vonnegut ‒ his graphic illustrations are labeled with a lovely unpretentious name: Confetti. Let me explain first what Kurt wanted to convey to his readers in Confetti, then I’ll come back to what I am after with my Mind Twisters. 

A short story by Maxwell Conroe inspired by Tolstoy's Hadji Murad, highlighting the tragedy of soldiers in a steel plant and the inevitability of human suffering, narrated by Samuel L. Jackson.

Maxwell shares a story where Tolstoy's war-memories of Hadji Murad are updated to highlight the tragedy of dying soldiers in the Hell of Mariupol's steel plant. War struggles never cease to create men tough as thistles. Tolstoy’s description of the thistle, which opens his story, is the tangible object of our suffering as men in life; ending with us sagging in quicksand or sticky mud that reclaims our ashes: ashes-to-ashes is what life is all about — nothing less, nothing more.