This Christmas week, we have a charming story from one of the world's greatest writers, Leo Tolstoy, called 'Where Love Is, God Is'.  Arguably best known for his epic novels such as 'War and Peace' and 'Anna Karenina', Tolstoy did write a number of short stories, including this one, first published in 1885.  This Tale is known by a few different names in the English translation, including 'Martin the Cobbler' for its protagonist, a humble shoe maker trying to become a more virtuous man. 

If you'd like to support The Well Told Tale, please visit us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thewelltoldtale

Books - (buying anything on Amazon through this link helps support the podcast):
War and Peace - https://amzn.to/3phqdNx  
Anna Karenina - https://amzn.to/3qetH2n   
The Greatest Short Stories of Leo Tolstoy - https://amzn.to/3eamHy9
Martin the Cobbler: A Christmas Story - https://amzn.to/32ovKsH

Films
War and Peace (1956) - https://amzn.to/3yMDHUD
Anna Karenina (2012) - https://amzn.to/3J4XVhb  
 
I would like to thank my patrons: Toni A, Joshua Clark, Maura Lee, Jane, John Bowles, Glen Thrasher, Ruairi, Cade Norman, Chris, Britt and Silja Tanner.

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This week as Christmas beckons, we return to the work of one of science fiction's undisputed greats, Arthur C. Clarke.  First published in Infinity Science Fiction magazine in 1955, it won the Hugo Award in 1956, and provided the inspiration for a well-known Christmas episode of The Twilight Zone in the 80s.  Thought provoking in Clarke's inimitable style, we join a group of space travellers on a mission far from home...

If you'd like to support The Well Told Tale, please visit us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thewelltoldtale

Books - (buying anything on Amazon through this link helps support the podcast):
2001: A Space Odyssey - https://amzn.to/3dKsFEO   
Childhood's End - https://amzn.to/31pBVt6   
The City and the Stars - https://amzn.to/3dKYtsZ

Films
2001: A Space Odyssey - https://amzn.to/35cfR6e     
Arthur C Clarke Collection: - https://amzn.to/34jZDcd
 
I would like to thank my patrons: Toni A, Joshua Clark, Maura Lee, Jane, John Bowles, Glen Thrasher, Ruairi, Cade Norman, Chris, Britt and Silja Tanner.

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To celebrate our 100th episode, we asked our high tier Patrons to choose a poem, and they have selected Samuel Taylor Coleridge's masterwork "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner."  A Tale of life, death, tragedy, and consequences, this is an expansive story as told to an unwitting wedding guest by the ancient mariner himself.

If you'd like to support The Well Told Tale, and get access to exclusive Patron-only Tales, please visit us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thewelltoldtale

Books - (buying anything on Amazon through this link helps support the podcast):
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner - https://amzn.to/3GnLLO0
Samuel Taylor Coleridge: The Major Works - https://amzn.to/3rR9phM
Kubla Khan: A Pop-Up Version of Coleridge's Classic - https://amzn.to/3Ghg09e

I would like to thank my patrons: Toni A, Joshua Clark, Maura Lee, Jane, John Bowles, Glen Thrasher, Ruairi, Cade Norman, Chris, Britt and Silja Tanner.

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This week, we have a classic short story from W. W. Jacobs, the gothic horror classic "The Monkey's Paw."  After its publication in 1902, it captured the public imagination, and was made into a film five times in the first half of the 20th century.  More recently, it provided the inspiration for the Stephen King novel which he said scares him the most, 'Pet Sematary'.  Much like the work it inspired, this Tale still serves as a reminder to be very careful what you wish for...

If you'd like to support The Well Told Tale, please visit us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thewelltoldtale

Books - (buying anything on Amazon through this link helps support the podcast):
Tales of Hoffman - https://amzn.to/3nmWPEC
Six German Romantic Tales, by Kleist, Tieck & Hoffman - https://amzn.to/3kGsQpp
Neil Gaiman's The Sandman Omnibus Vol 1 - https://amzn.to/3kK1gHI

I would like to thank my patrons: Toni A, Joshua Clark, Maura Lee, Jane, John Bowles, Glen Thrasher, Ruairi, Cade Norman, Chris, Britt and Silja Tanner.

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Last week, we learned of the horrific backstory of our protagonist Nathaniel.  Scarred by the death of his father in what would appear to be an accident involving the lawyer Coppelius, he has become convinced that this Coppelius is The Sandman, and worse still, that he has followed him to his university town in the guise of the trader Coppola.  The idea is driving him insane, much to the concern of his love Clara and her brother Lothaire.  Will he continue his dissent into madness?  Is there any truth to the idea of the Sandman twisting his mind?  Or will Clara be able to bring him back from the brink?

If you'd like to support The Well Told Tale, please visit us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thewelltoldtale

Books - (buying anything on Amazon through this link helps support the podcast):
Tales of Hoffman - https://amzn.to/3nmWPEC
Six German Romantic Tales, by Kleist, Tieck & Hoffman - https://amzn.to/3kGsQpp
Neil Gaiman's The Sandman Omnibus Vol 1 - https://amzn.to/3kK1gHI

I would like to thank my patrons: Toni A, Joshua Clark, Maura Lee, Jane, John Bowles, Glen Thrasher, Ruairi, Cade Norman, Chris, Britt and Silja Tanner.

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This week we bring you the start of the dark fairy tale, "The Sandman," by E. T. A. Hoffman, written originally in German in 1816.  The original legend of the Sandman most likely began in Scandinavia, and told of a benign being who would bring sleep to children by throwing sand in their eyes.  This far darker take on the legend may well have inspired Neil Gaiman's masterful graphic novels, with a Sandman who is anything but child-friendly... 

If you'd like to support The Well Told Tale, please visit us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thewelltoldtale

Books - (buying anything on Amazon through this link helps support the podcast):
Tales of Hoffman - https://amzn.to/3nmWPEC
Six German Romantic Tales, by Kleist, Tieck & Hoffman - https://amzn.to/3kGsQpp
Neil Gaiman's The Sandman Omnibus Vol 1 - https://amzn.to/3kK1gHI

I would like to thank my patrons: Toni A, Joshua Clark, Maura Lee, Jane, John Bowles, Glen Thrasher, Ruairi, Cade Norman, Chris, Britt and Silja Tanner.

Support the show

For this week's Tale, we have a short story from the master of science of fiction, Isaac Asimov.  Published first in 1952 in Space Science Fiction it is an unusual story for Asimov, in that it concerns aliens.  For most of his career, Asimov focussed on humanity and its future in his science fiction, having had an alien story rejected early in his career.  He did break that rule for "The Gods Themselves" to great critical acclaim, but still, 'Youth' remains an outlier with its story of alien encounter. 

If you'd like to support The Well Told Tale, please visit us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thewelltoldtale

Books - (buying anything on Amazon through this link helps support the podcast):
I, Robot - https://amzn.to/3byhb6w
The Complete Foundation Series: Books 1-7- https://amzn.to/3qKqEhA
Isaac Asimov: The Complete Stories Vol. 1 - https://amzn.to/2Mkx0Fy
The Positronic Man - https://amzn.to/3boQr8A

Films
I, Robot - https://amzn.to/3dCHuv5
Bicentennial Man - https://amzn.to/3qLvRFN   

I would like to thank my patrons: Toni A, Joshua Clark, Maura Lee, Jane, John Bowles, Glen Thrasher, Ruairi, Cade Norman, Chris, Britt and Silja Tanner.

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This week, still in the Halloween spirit, we bring you what is widely regarded as the first modern vampire Tale, a short story called 'The Vampyre' by John Polidori.  It is notable as the second most famous piece of literature to come out of the legendary ghost story competition held between Byron and Shelley and their friends over a wet weekend on the shores of Lake Geneva.  That contest gave us 'Frankenstein' as well as this, the first story to fuse together various and disparate folk tales of the vampyre and the undead, and give us a modern narrative that would go on to inspire Bram Stoker and a host of other gothic horror writers. 

If you'd like to support The Well Told Tale, please visit us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thewelltoldtale

Books - (buying anything on Amazon through this link helps support the podcast):
The Vampyre and Other Tales of the Macabre - https://amzn.to/2ZNSrVz
Vampire Classics (Illustrated) - https://amzn.to/3CHDrHt
The Diary of Dr. John William Polidori - https://amzn.to/3CFFUlT

Films
Bram Stoker's Dracula - https://amzn.to/3bAMa2l
Interview with the Vampire - https://amzn.to/3EzmuiU

I would like to thank my patrons: Toni A, Joshua Clark, Maura Lee, Jane, John Bowles, Glen Thrasher, Ruairi, Cade Norman, Chris, Britt and Silja Tanner.

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We return, this Halloween week, to the twisted imagination of one of our favourite writers here at The Well Told Tale, Edgar Allan Poe.  Unlike many of his other gothic Tales, his focus in this short story is not on the fantastic, or the phantasmagorical, but the terrifying reality with which the protagonist is presented.  Published at the end of 1842, 'The Pit and the Pendulum' is a re-imagining of the horrors that faced those persecuted by the Spanish Inquisition.  What it lacks in historical fact, it makes up for in spine-tingling terror...

If you'd like to support The Well Told Tale, please visit us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thewelltoldtale

Books - (buying anything on Amazon through this link helps support the podcast):
The Pit and the Pendulum - https://amzn.to/3jFwgIx
Edgar Allan Poe: The Ultimate Collection - https://amzn.to/3baXKAS
The Complete Poetry of Edgar Allan Poe - https://amzn.to/3jXvjvp

Films
The Pit and the Pendulum (1961) - https://amzn.to/3nAWZaq
The Pit and the Pendulum (1991) - https://amzn.to/3bcQ15w

I would like to thank my patrons: Toni A, Joshua Clark, Maura Lee, Jane, John Bowles, Glen Thrasher, Ruairi, Chris and Britt.

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This week, we again bring you three Tales in one - three of Rudyard Kipling's 'Just So' stories. Kipling used to tell these fanciful origin stories to his daughter every night, and she would insist that he told them each time in the same way, 'just so.'  We have already heard about the camel, the whale and the rhinoceros; after these three there will be another six we may come back to, but for now, let us hear 'The Elephant's Child', 'The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo' and 'The Beginning of the Armadillos'.

If you'd like to support The Well Told Tale, please visit us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thewelltoldtale

Books - (buying anything on Amazon through this link helps support the podcast):
Just So Stories - https://amzn.to/2PoZ0su
The Jungle Book - https://amzn.to/3sirWRR
Kim - https://amzn.to/2PpSK40

Films
The Jungle Book (animated) - https://amzn.to/2P26LF8
Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book (1994) - https://amzn.to/39b2xSs

I would like to thank my patrons: Toni A, Joshua Clark, Maura Lee, Jane, John Bowles, Glen Thrasher, Ruairi, Chris and Britt.

Support the show