"The Badger and The Bear." from "Old Indian Legends" Retold by Zitkala-Sa

All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar

Jim Billbrough as The Badgers, The Baby Bear, and The Narrator

Bob Familiar as The Bear

Joey Pesce as The Dakota Avenger

This episode is dedicated to our good friend Tim Halle. Lead singer of 'The Archbishop's Enema Fetish,' founder of a religion worshiping a certain Mrs. Zinman of Newton, Massachusetts, and affectionately called Satan by many who loved him, Tim deserves an episode all his own, but it would need to be a very, very long episode. So instead we present a story about one of Tim's favorite obsessions: Badgers. He was mad about the Badgers. He was also very fond of birds, but that's a story for another day. Maybe. We'll see. It's sort of besides the point allegorically speaking, but anyway...Badgers!

All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar

Narrated by Jim Billbrough

All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar

Narrated by Jim Billbrough

 We'd like to dedicate this episode to our good friend, band-mate, landlord, and poker buddy Tristram Lozaw.

Tris was an excellent bass player, film composer, magazine publisher, and writer. He was a major force in the Boston Music scene for decades, but, more importantly, our friend.  A simple Google search for 'Tristram Lozaw' will give you some idea of all that was left behind in the mighty wake of his life. We will miss him.

"At Night," "Poseidon," and "The Vulture" translated by Tania and James Stern

"The New Advocate," "A Fratricide," and "A Dream" translated by Willa and Edwin Muir

All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar

Narrated by Bob Familiar and Jim Billbrough

Story Order: "A Fratricide," "Poseidon," "A Dream," "The New Advocate," "At Night," and "The Vulture."

"One Of These Days" by Gabriel García Márquez

"Razor" by Vladimir Nabokov

All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar

Narration by Jim Billbrough

Translated by Miroslaw Lipinski

All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar

Narrated by Jim Billbrough

"The Wiley Poor Man," "The Story Of The Two Devils," and "The Story Of The Violinist."

All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar

Narration by Bob Familiar and Jim Billbrough

"In the Compartment' by Stefan Grabiński

Translated by Miroslaw Lipinski

All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar

Narrated by Jim Billbrough

Train sound effects by Pond5

Please note: this story deals with some adult themes so parents might want to give it a listen first before letting young kids hear it. No obscene language or explicit descriptions are used and the adult themed passages are portrayed in a rather outdated, quaint, and metaphorical way. At least we hope Grabiński is using metaphors...

It's Oscar Wilde's poignant tale of blood thirsty horticulture - "The Nightingale and the Rose."

All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar

Narration by Joey Pesce

Nightingale recordings by Pro Sound Effects

"The Twins" by Edogawa Rampo.

All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar

Narration by Jim Billbrough

"A Bottomless Grave."

Narration by David Mulholland

Music by Man Tray

Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar.

If so then this is the episode for you!

It's Nebula Award Winning Author Bob Leman's  trans-dimensional, mind and body altering trip through an almost endless game of bizarre, sanity shattering, yet seemingly mundane tasks:

"Instructions."

All Music, Audio Production, and Narration by Bob Familiar

A reading from “Jeep Show” by Robert B. O’Connor. Jeep Show is the story of entertainment specialist Jim Tanzer who finds himself trapped in the front lines during the Battle Of The Bulge. The unexpected German assault catches the American forces off guard, yet determined not to give way, even at the cost of their own lives.

"Jeep Show" by Robert B. O’Connor is out now and available at most booksellers.

https://jeepshowbook.com/

All music and audio production by Bob Familiar. Narration by Rick Weidner

Bob Familiar as Henry “Allie” Allison and Sergeant Kowalski Jim Billbrough as Jim Tanzer Matt Gruenberg as the 2nd Lieutenant and Captain Rose

Additional sound effects by Pro Sound Effects

Ambient Arcana will be back to our usual schedule at the end of June.

"Le Miroir" by Robert Aickman

All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar

Narration by Jim Billbrough

"The Coffin House."

 All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar

 Narration by Jim Billbrough

It's Robert Aickman's  strange tale of a mysterious, ageless woman orbiting the life of a hapless man:

"Laura."

All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar

Narrated by Alex Fitzsimmons

All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar.

Narration by Jim Billbrough

Albert Leroy Shelton's 1925 book "Tibetan Folk Tales"

All music and audio production by Bob Familiar

Narrated by Bob Familiar and Jim Billbrough

Edgar Allan Poe’s story of Mesmeric Malpractice - 

“The Facts In The Case Of M. Valdemar”

All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar

Narration by Jim Billbrough

 We’ve based our narration on Basil Rathbone’s abridged version of this story from his 1960 recording of Poe’s stories for Caedmon Records.

That narration can be found on YouTube here:

https://youtu.be/QlgUNHJDWtk?feature=shared

That record was a childhood favorite and using the abridged narration we heard as kids let’s us scratch that nostalgia itch, but for anyone who prefers the unabridged version, here’s a link to an excellent full text narration read by Bill Wallis:

https://youtu.be/0E_9GwyoSzs?feature=shared

All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar.

Narration by Jim Billbrough.

Additional Voices by Izzy Q. and The Artist Known As Φ.

All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar

Narration by Clark Goodpaster

Lake wave audio recording provided by Pro Sound Effects

“The One Who Waits” - A lonely old soul gets closer to the new neighbors in the worst possible way.

“The Pedestrian” -  A solitary man walks the empty streets of a TV dominated dystopia.

All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar

Narrated by Bob Familiar and Jim Billbrough

All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar

Narration by Jim Billbrough

While researching this story we found two more recent translations of “U Manik Raitong” by contemporary Khasi authors, both of which are worth checking out:

“Khasi Myths, Legends & Folk Tales” by Bijoya Sawian

(No direct link to the story on Google Books, but open the Table of Contents and follow the link to “U Manik Raitong”)

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Khasi_Myths_Legends_Folk_Tales/Unr2BEAEezoC?hl=en

…and

“U Manik Raitong” by Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih from his book “Around the Hearth: Khasi Legends”

U Manik Raitong - Monash Indigenous Studies Centre

  Apologies to the Khasi people for any mispronunciation of Khasi names or places in this episode. To balance things out we mispronounced some English words as well.

Kate Chopin’s “The Story Of An Hour” and “A Pair Of Silk Stockings.”

Narrated by Arline Billbrough

Music by Paul Billbrough

Produced by Bob Familiar

“In A Grove” by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar

Narrated by Mandy Familiar, Bob Familiar, Joey Pesce, Shannon Wilson, Jace Wilson, Danielle Barry, Matt Gruenberg, and Jim Billbrough

Ryūnosuke Akutagawa’s “Rashōmon”.

Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar

Narrated by Jim Billbrough

Some sound effects in this episode were licensed from

Pro Sound Effects

240 Kent Ave.

Brooklyn, NY 11249

licensing@prosoundeffects.com

All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar

Narrated by Jim Billbrough

We’d like to express our thanks to Jon Fredette of “The Oddcast” podcast for his advice and encouragement on this episode. If you like Ambient Arcana there’s a good chance you’ll like ”The Oddcast.”

Here’s a link to Jon’s homepage featuring his podcasts, music, and more: https://www.jonfredette.com/

Some other useful links:

https://bobfamiliar.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/ambientarcana

ambientarcana@gmail.com

All Music and Music & Audio Production by Bob Familiar

Narration by Rick Weidner, Danielle Barry, Matt Gruenberg, Mandy Familiar, Bob Familiar, and Jim Billbrough

Some useful links:

https://bobfamiliar.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/ambientarcana

ambientarcana@gmail.com

We start our Third Season with a fiery French tale of one woman’s burning need to find balance in a hostile universe. It’s Guy de Maupassant’s torrid tale of red hot revenge! -

“Mother Sauvage.”

All Music and Music & Audio Production by Bob Familiar

Narrated by Veronica and Joey Pesce, Bob Familiar, and Jim Billbrough

Recorded by Joey Pesce and Bob Familiar

If you think we judged Robert W. Chambers a bit harshly on his anti-German attitudes here’s a link to his WWI novel “In Secret” at Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5748

Not to be confused with a recommendation.

Some useful links:

https://youtube.com/@bobfamiliarmusic

https://bobfamiliar.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/ambientarcana

 In this year’s Yuletide offerings a painter and a carpenter commit supernatural postal fraud, a donkey and a rock get arrested for assaulting a jar of oil, a pair of crippled birds dispense great wealth and harsh justice, a sociopathic rabbit distributes stolen goods with murderous intent, and a goiter at a ghost party is about as welcome as a fruitcake. It’s Albert Leroy Shelton’s posthumously publish page turner - “Tibetan Folk Tales”

All Music and Music&Audio Production by Bob Familiar

Narrated by Bob Familiar and Jim Billbrough

Music and Music&Audio Production by Bob Familiar

Narrated by: Jace Wilson, Shannon Wilson, Mandy Familiar, Bob Familiar, and Jim Billbrough

“The She-Wolf” was published in the short story collection “Beasts and Super-Beasts” by Saki back in 1914. While searching for this month’s story we came across an excellent audio version of this book on LibriVox narrated by Justin Brett.

Here’s a link to that book on LibriVox:

https://librivox.org/beasts-and-super-beasts-by-saki/

And here’s a link to the Project Gutenberg version of the book:

https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/269/pg269-images.html

It’s H.P.Lovecraft’s grim tale of grave robbing gone wrong -  “The Statement of Randolph Carter.”

All Music and Music & Audio Production by Bob Familiar

Narrated by Bob Familiar and Jim Billbrough

Recorded Almost Live at Sounds Familiar Studios

Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar

Narrated by Bob Familiar and Jim Billbrough

“Ex Oblivione,” “Nyarlathotep,” and “The Book.”

All Music & Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar

Narration by Jim Billbrough

For further exploration of Lovecraft and his works we suggest checking out these websites:

The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society

https://www.hplhs.org/

And

Strange Studies of Strange Stories

(Formally The HP Podcraft Literary Podcast)

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/strange-studies-of-strange-stories/id1638947147

Or the older, more Lovecraft-centric version of the podcast, which is still active at this time:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-h-p-lovecraft-literary-podcast/id369757090

And there’s even a YouTube Channel:

https://youtube.com/@witchhousemedia?feature=shared

The word Eskimo has long been known to be a misnomer, even as far back as the mid 19th century. Since most of the material used here came from Ethnological surveys that sought to be as specific as possible the term occurs rarely in the collected stories and is mainly used in the titles of the works. 

All Music & Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar

Narration by Jim Billbrough

Three dark and evocative tales by surprise ending aficionado Ambrose Bierce:

"The Boarded Window," "John Mortonson's Funeral," and "The Applicant."

All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar

Music by Man Tray and Bob Familiar

All stories read by Bob Billbrough

Music and Audio production by Bob Familiar. Read by Bob Familiar, Jim Billbrough, and Special Guest Narrator Rick Weidner.

 “Diplomacy” and “Riki Baka” from the book “Kwaidan” and “Fragment” from “In Ghostly Japan”

We also introduce a new reader, Rick Weidner, who provides some much-needed low end to the narrations.

Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar

Read by Bob Familiar, Jim Billbrough, and Rick Weidner

Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar

Read by Jim Billbrough

Ambient Arcana would like to dedicate this episode to our good friend Gabrielle Agachiko who passed away last month. Gabrielle was a wonderful singer with a powerful voice and an irrepressible personality. We had been planning to have her read for the podcast, particularly the parts that called for goddess level intensity, but unfortunately fate stepped in. She was deeply loved by many and will be dearly missed. Hopefully we will meet her again in the next incarnation, if such things are possible.

Visits from distant relatives? Check!

A Christmas ghost story? Check!

Our last episode of season one features two stories from A.L. Shelton’s 1925 collection of “Tibetan Folktales” :

“The Man And The Ghost” & “Story Of A Juggler’s Tricks”

Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar.

Narration by Jim Billbrough & Bob Familiar.

Recorded Live (more or less) at Sounds Familiar Studios

Reading by Jim Billbrough

Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar

All Music used in this episode was by Man Tray

Please consider supporting Ambient Arcana on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/ambientarcana?fan_landing=true&view_as=public

Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar, Narration and Bio by Jim Billbrough. The poem introducing the story was read by Mandy Familiar.

Please consider supporting Ambient Arcana on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/ambientarcana?fan_landing=true&view_as=public

Titles and Time Markers:

The Oval Portrait/ 00:32

The Masque of The Red Death/ 9:59

Poe Bio and Credits/ 27:57

Titles and time markers are:

The Golden Goblet/ 00:32

A Most Exemplary Monk/ 11:50

Magical Arts/ 14:34

The Living Dead/ 23:04

Story and Time Markers are:

The Giant Turtle/00:32

Biting a Ghost/04:00

Wild Dog/08:09

The Dead Priest/11:10

The Lingering Death/13:50

Wailing Ghosts/15:56

The Girl in Green/19:19

Biography and Credits/25:53

“Kottō, Being Japanese Curios, With Sundry Cobwebs”.

Music by Bob Familiar.

Read by Jim Billbrough.