I put a few authors we hadn’t read before on a random wheel and spun it. Unfortunately this is the story the wheel chose for us and I’m not really convinced the author or the story is actually something I’ll ever want to read again.

The story isn’t bad, it just doesn’t fit what I would consider to be intriguing. The sentence structure is very long, and almost feels like the story is composed of run on sentences strung together with paperclips and hope. If you’re like me, and listen to podcasts to fall asleep to, this one might be the one you repeat over and over again.

This story can be summed up quickly. The main character has been conditioned by the world to hide his true thoughts about the world and the world that lives in his dreams. He becomes bothered with the perspectives of people living in the “real” world, calling them and their aspirations shallow and fickle. He lives in this world so much that the one he built in his dreams becomes inaccessible, and the longing to visit grows. Everything changes when he finds this silver key hidden by generations and generations of his family.

I hope you enjoy this episode.

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Goodnight,

Rachael

The music for this podcast was provided by Miles Agean. Check out his album, Alpenglow, on Apple Music & Spotify.

We do what we can to mitigate the pain of heartbreak. Some people cry in bed. Some people eat everything they have in their fridge. Some people dust themselves off, put on a camel costume and go to a party.

Our main character and his partner are minutes away from signing the marriage license when they break up. Since both of them are a part of the upper echelon, they have to understand that they’ll see each other frequently, but not like this.

F. Scott Fitzgerald has a lot of haters. Whether they hated Gatsby, or are disgusted with how he treated his wife, Zelda. Using her diary as content, publishing her work under his name, or putting her in the psych ward, to name a few of the most annoying actions. My only gripe with him and this story, though the theme seems to run throughout some of the other stories we’ve read so far - the description of black people in stories in the mid 1950s and earlier. I get it. Things were different back then, blah blah blah. It’s so disheartening and annoying to read about black people in stories from this time period where as soon as it’s mentioned that they’re “negro”, which is right away, the dialogue for that character consists of some corny exaggerated accent, and the overall demeanor of that person is meant to feel poor, or stupid, or less. The character is a part of that group but not in status of education level.

It’s also becoming clearer to me how hypocritical it is for people this day and age to say, “Black People make everything about race!” when race in these short stories is always established when a character is black, but not to describe the main characters, whom we can only perceive as white.

I hope you enjoy this episode.

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Goodnight,

Rachael

The music for this podcast was provided by Miles Agean. Check out his album, Alpenglow, on Apple Music & Spotify.

If I ever meet Nathaniel Hawthorne in the afterlife, he’ll never know peace. This story is about a successful scientist named Aylmer who falls and love and marries the most beautiful woman, Georgiana. The men want to be with her. The women are jealous of her.

The only flaw she has is a tiny birthmark in the shape of an infant hand on her cheek. The birthmark is a little red, so when she blushes, the mark fades. When she’s pale, the mark is more pronounced. As soon as Aylmer, (who even names their kid Aylmer?) marries her, he becomes disgusted with the fact that she has this birthmark and begins to make her physically uncomfortable in her skin.

I’m not a man hater by any means. I have my personal opinions about the roles that men and women play in society, but I also have doubts that a woman would ever do something like this. This guy Aylmer has some nerve.

I hope you enjoy this episode.

Be sure to Like, Comment, or Share this episode with your friends!

Goodnight,

Rachael

The music for this podcast was provided by Miles Agean. Check out his album, Alpenglow, on Apple Music & Spotify.

I want to get something off my chest. I feel as though it’s been a long time since our last TRUE invention. A tangible thing that flips the entire world on its’ axis hasn’t been released in a long time. Don’t fight me.

This story is all about an inventor investing all of his time and money into this flying machine. The papers, his community, and passersby mock him and laugh at this seemingly unattainable goal. They see him as a joke, which starts to get into his head.

Inventors have to be very brave and strong to do what they do. The constant noise and criticism can be overwhelming, and may derail the process. It’s not for the weak and takes a lot of dedication to filter out the negative voices.

Can you think of an invention you’d like to see? Or are you like me, in thinking we’ve done so much, there’s not really more tangible inventions to be created? Let’s chat in the comments.

I hope you enjoy this episode.

Be sure to Like, Comment, or Share this episode with your friends!

Goodnight,

Rachael

The music for this podcast was provided by Miles Agean. Check out his album, Alpenglow, on Apple Music & Spotify.

Wow. What a story. The first story on this podcast that made me think, “I should call him… Actually, I most definitely should not. ”

This story is written as a letter from one woman to an old lover. She’s actively running away from meeting him one last time because she realizes that nothing can come from another reunion. As the woman recounts the beautiful moments between them, oh so long ago, she comes to think about how their love had reached an end. She ruminates on how it felt to be in the same room again, as two different people, recounting their memories as adults mock their actions as young children. This story is poignant and tells a tale as old as time. Two people deeply in love, growing apart, and coming together once again and unearthing those old feelings.

The line that sticks out most to me? When the protagonist is thinking about what would happen if they continued to spend time together, she says “We would have robbed those dead people by substituting for our love of the past a fake and ludicrous make-believe. And the dead people would have cruelly avenged themselves by creating between us quarrels, distrust, coldness, and - what is more terrible than all the rest - a ceaseless jealous comparison of the present with the past.”

These two people were together for a long time in an undetermined time in the past. They have both grown, become more attractive, and experienced life away from each other. If they started seeing each other again, they would be constantly comparing each other to past versions of themselves, unable to see a future with each other through the nebulus of time between their past relationship and the current one. That love that was dead would be revived only to destroy them.

Is this woman making excuses or is she just incredibly self aware? In our everyday lives we often see our friends wanting to give their exes another chance. Send this to that friend in hopes that they see the same thing as I do. Sometimes the memories of that love are better than how the love itself in those moments felt, and it’s easier to come to terms with that, than reignite and get burned. Maybe your friend should get on the train and leave, just like this main character.

Like, Comment, or Share if you liked this episode. Goodnight!

The music for this podcast was provided by Miles Agean. Check out his album, Alpenglow, on Apple Music & Spotify.

Goodnight!

x Rachael

Don’t let that first line fool you, this story is interesting and made me laugh. Each story I read, I get more of an idea of the time period it was written, themes that may have been important back then, and how language changes over time. In this one, I found that in detective stories, I want more detail on how the protagonists solves the crime or problem. I want the step by step process on how the crime was committed and the trail left behind for the detective to find. His Last Bow didn’t give me that, but it did provide a unique perspective. Instead of following Sherlock Holmes and his way of solving a crime, it follows the man tasked with doing the deceiving and how his actions affect those he works with.

Arthur Conan Doyle is known for his universally loved detective stories. This one is a little different. It follows the German spy, Von Bork, as he finishes up his final mission - receive information from an Irish American to send back to Germany. This doesn’t work out as simply as he expects, the tides turn, and once again, I’m rolling my eyes.

I hope you enjoy this episode.

Be sure to Like, Comment, or Share this episode with your friends!

Goodnight,

Rachael

The music for this podcast was provided by Miles Agean. Check out his album, Alpenglow, on Apple Music & Spotify.

Once again we start a story with someone who’s on “an adventure”. Unfortunately, it feels as though adventure is a code name for trespassing on private property and getting flipped upside down- literally and figuratively.

Although this story is classified as a gothic, it seems more whimsy than dreadful and scary. The forest is alive and playing small tricks on Mr. Thomas, starting from the crossed out words on the letter, to the people that he swore he could see and hear, and of course, moving the gate over and over again. Is this the kind of punishment you wish on your neighbors who go onto your property? Let me know in the comments.

I never heard of Algernon Blackwood before this episode, but I like his writing and I think I’d read more from him. Up next though, we have more Sherlock Holmes, so be sure to check back in next week to listen to a detective story!

I hope you enjoy this episode.

Be sure to Like, Comment, or Share this episode with your friends!

Goodnight,

Rachael

The music for this podcast was provided by Miles Agean. Check out his album, Alpenglow, on Apple Music & Spotify.

Warning! This is a children’s story, but here are a few choice words.

A Prince is on bedrest which means he can’t do what he loves most about the job, making appearances in front of his adoring fans! As the young Prince tries to feel well enough to assume his responsibilities, he quickly comes to understand what it means to be Royalty, and just how clueless he’s been.

This story is a direct representation of life today. It tackles the concept of someone going beyond to make sure they’re fulfilling the role of the job, just to realize that no one before has ever been as diligent. The disillusionment that follows. The annoyance and adjustments made. Maybe even the resignation that the effort isn’t being rewarded, so they might just be better off doing the bare minimum.

Have you ever felt this way? Do you have a certain time that you think about when listening to this story? Let me know!

I hope you enjoy!

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Goodnight,

Rachael

The music for this podcast was provided by Miles Agean. Check out his album, Alpenglow, on Apple Music & Spotify.

Aldous Huxley wrote one of my favorite books known to man, Brave New World. Since I read it the first time in 9th Grade Honors English, I knew that it and Aldous Huxley would remain in my life forever. The amount of detail in his writing made it difficult to read back in that time, but as a nosy gal who needs to know everything about everyone, I thoroughly enjoyed it. He, along with my English teacher taught me that just because a book may seem long or complex, doesn’t mean we can give up on it. The stories that come are often worth the stumbling over words or rereading to capture the full scope of the setting.

This story may be short, but it is intriguing and fun. It’s about a man who wants to buy pictures for his new Manor House, and the Art Dealer who knows just what he might like. I know he wrote this in the 1920’s but did he have to include a slur? Don’t worry, I took it out. That made me so uncomfortable I basically short circuited like a robot with water in its’ motherboard.

I hope you enjoy this episode.

Like, Comment, or Share!

Goodnight,

Rachael

The music for this podcast was provided by Miles Agean. Check out his album, Alpenglow, on Apple Music & Spotify.

This week’s story is an Estonian fairy tale, translated to English, about a young boy trying to save his town from being eaten by a roving dragon. The only way he can do that is to make sure that he has the Ring of Solomon, that has written instructions - but where is it? And how does he decipher what to do?

Listen to this episode of With Rachael to find out!

I hope you enjoy.

Like, Comment, or Share if you liked this episode.

Goodnight,

Rachael

The music for this podcast was provided by Miles Agean. Check out his album, Alpenglow, on Apple Music & Spotify.