Appaloosa Radio

Murder at the Gas Pump An original audio story for Appaloosa Radio   Coughlin, California has only had one murder. Bernard Winslow Schlafer (the Third) was a scion of one of the Central Valley’s richest and most important families. Yet, when the time came for him to assume responsibilities in the family businesses, he left Coughlin for Los Angeles where he eventually produced a sleazy reality game...

A Woman of Substance An original Audio Story for Appaloosa Radio In dedication to Mrs. Kay Fetner   Eugenia was just thirteen when her father married her off to an older man. This is the story of a girl from Charly, Arkansas who drove her Model A Ford to freedom and a new identity, to become a woman of substance. ~~~   I was playing with some of my cousins and my younger brothers up by the big che...

Souvenirs I Still Cherish Helen Stanberry’s Story as read by Lindsey Beth Hummel Chapter 5 Breathing Smoke They say that there is a forest fire burning just east of Deep Gap. The wind is blowing the smoke over here to Todd. We should not be having forest fires; the mountains always get plenty of rain, especially in the spring. But this year has been different. Almost no rain in March, April, or Ma...

Souvenirs I Still Cherish Helen Stanberry’s Story  as read by Lindsey Beth Hummel Chapter 3: Ralph Ralph Norris, my cousin, and the driver for the trip, was to my mind a rather handsome young man. He often seemed like Erroll Flynn, jumping into the car without opening the door, climbing up trees to get me a bird’s nest that I had fancied, and swimming out into a lake to retrieve my hat that had bl...

Souvenirs I Still Cherish Helen Stanberry’s Story as read by Lindsey Beth Hummel Chapter 4                   "1968 and Times are Changing" Let me tell you a secret. It is a secret everybody knows, but no one ever talks about. It is a secret you will never see in a history book. It is a secret that no one would ever tell an outsider. An ‘outsider’ (by the way) is anyone whose great-great-...

Souvenirs I Still Cherish Helen Stanberry’s Story  as read by Lindsey Beth Hummel Chapter 2: Travelling  I had carefully planned the trip. We would begin in Abingdon, Virginia where my father’s mechanic was making certain that everything on the blue Cord automobile was in perfect running condition. It gleamed in the sun and purred like a kitten. The original car had been a hard-top coupe, but my f...

The Church-Going Horses A Nell Trustmon Story The very first so-called western “ghost town” that I ever actually visited was Columbia, which was dubbed “ the gem of California’s mining towns ” by the local Chamber of Commerce. My husband’s family owned some property nearby and there was considerable discussion about turning the old, nearly abandoned town into a California State Park. He wanted to...

He Done Her Wrong --- Alma shoots Joe A Nell Trustmon Story from her magazine, Broken Tree Tales   In June 1909, the daughter of one of California’s first ‘gold bugs’ shot her fiancée, the son of a wealthy Portuguese fruit grower.  Alma Pike shot Joe Armez.  “Flying over the pretty little mining town of Auburn, California I immediately saw the Courthouse. It is situated on a hilltop that can be se...

Souvenirs I Still Cherish Helen Stanberry’s Story Chapter 1 Spoiled Rich Girl I was a rich, white girl who had never chosen to marry. Many of my fellow Southern women would have called me a spinster. I was Miss Hellen Elizabeth Stanberry when I was born and that is how I died. But lonely, I was not. I lived a satisfying (and sexually fulfilling) life of my own choosing. And I did it while teaching...

Appaloosa Radio Offers The Day They Hanged an Elephant Story by Joan Vannorsdall Schroeder  published in the May-June 1997 issue of the Blue Ridge Country   magazine available online at:   blueridgecountry.com/archive === Featuring the Ballad -- Mary the Elephant Performed by Chuck Brodsky From his album    Tulips for Lunch Available through YouTube and Spotify ===   Using original source material...

Appaloosa Radio Offers An original audio drama   from the City of 4,000 Spies Series   Information is Expensive PNB7Q knew Noble Son Dusko Rarrko from many eons of clandestine work together. Their relationship was as close as a data device and a sentient being could be.  The PNB7Q knew that what was left unsaid was often more important than what was spoken. Many times, a whiff of intuition had mor...

Appaloosa Radio Offers Motorcycles On the Express Bus 73 A Chapter 13   At a mountain cabin for a guys-only weekend away.   Larry: “You know, Charles, sitting here by this fire, I’m wondering about you and your background. What brought you into your studies and what caused you to start doing your graphic novels?” Charles: “Well, you know that I am British. Before I came to the United States, I was...

Appaloosa Radio Offers The Compendium On the Express Bus 73 A:  Chapter 12   As I thought about my experiences, I wondered whether the bus was in some way creating the transferences, moving me from my Larry self to the self of others. I asked Charles about my speculation. Charles provided a thoughtful response.  “In my research, I haven’t found evidence that inanimate objects have power over consc...

Appaloosa Radio Offers On the Express Bus 73 A -- Chapter 11:    I Never Knew Charles   “Larry. Even though you and I work in extremely close proximity, I don’t think you know much about me.  My avocation is writing, and drawing comic books, or, as the publishing trade now says, graphic novels. My specialties are stories about parapsychology and paranormal experiences. I don’t create fiction. Inst...

Appaloosa Radio Offers On the Express Bus 73 A -- Chapter 10:    Easy Ed’s Liquor In this Chapter, Larry’s original self transfers into a hard-working single parent attempting to raise her kids. Mrs. Guadalupe Valenzuela is on her way to a new job when Larry thoughtfully intervenes.  Had Mrs. Valenzuela had worked her regular Friday night shift at Easy Ed’s Liquor and Convenience Store, she would...

Appaloosa Radio Offers On the Express Bus 73 A Chapter 9:           It Could Have Been Me Larry ruminates on a terrible accident that happened when he was a member of the Sailing Club. ~~~ Many contemporary hi-tech employees ride express commuter buses daily to and from their work sites. Mr. Larry J. Connors is just one of the many.  Larry is a numbers guy, a veritable filing cabinet for numbers,...

Appaloosa Radio Offers On the Express Bus 73 A -- Chapter 8:           Gifts In this Chapter, Larry transitions from the Major Tim Augustine self back to his previous Larry self, but everything has changed. He now has unexpected skills and his attitudes about many things have changed. He feels like a stranger in his own (original) body. Even Doreen, his previously infuriating colleague, has become...

On the Bus 73 Express Chapter 7 -- Gravy Dr. Neire      “Do you remember Major Tim Augustine?” Larry    “Yeah. It seemed so real. Like Larry was gone. Completely replaced by Tim. I was him. Not me.” ~~~ I now think of my self, the me that I am, as connected, tied together, unified. A collective, not a solitary unity. The best metaphor I can use is music, really beautiful, well-played music. My roo...

Appaloosa Radio Offers On the Bus 73 Express  A multi-episode original story   Chapters 1 to 6 RE-CAP Many contemporary hi-tech employees ride express commuter buses daily to and from their work sites. Larry Connors is just one of the many. He is a numbers guy, a veritable filing cabinet for numbers, whose speciality is making fiscal projections, doing benefit analyses, and generating cost-to-pric...

“Hack” A fictionalized docu-drama   In 1930, the Chicago Cubs’ centerfielder, Hack Wilson had what has been described as the greatest season ever for a National League baseball player. He led the League with a 356 average, hit 56 home runs, and produced 191 R.B.I.s. He scored 146 runs and drew 105 walks.  In his career with the Cubs, he made over 400 putouts, and he had a throwing arm that rockete...

Appaloosa Radio offers Reflexology   An Unsolved Murder Mystery   The small business sat in an Austin strip mall between a pizza place and a nail salon, three doors down from a Japanese Sushi restaurant. On its red neon sign was the single word “reflexology.” The proprietor specialized in what he called “oriental foot massages,” stimulating the nerves, and improving a body’s health.  It was 5:45 i...

Shoe-Makers and Raincoats A Lies & Detection Episode Jonas interviews Soviet Master Spy Leopold Trepper   Jonas builds this episode from The Great Game the 1977 personal memoirs of Soviet Master Spy, Leopold Trepper.  In the interview, he explores how Trepper created a believable covert identity in spite of language issues and close scrutiny by the police. The interview also details how Treppe...

Appaloosa Radio Offers LILLI An original audio story   There had been no food in the house for a week. No rice. No fish. No vegetables. The chickens had been killed last season. Even the chickens’ coarse feed was long gone. Yesterday, Mother found some garbage scraps. Rancid. Smelly. Covered in creatures. She boiled it to make a soup. But not enough charcoal for the fire to heat it. Mother asked t...

Appaloosa Radio offers Unfamiliarity An original audio story “With light wings, I did o’er-perch these walls, for stony limits cannot hold me out.”   When I was in high school during the 1960s, I believed that I wanted to write. During my sophomore year, I took a Creative Writing course as my elective.  Three weeks into the course, we shared our first stories. Mine did not go well. Or at least tha...

Psychiatrist  A Lies and Detection Episode Featuring an interview with Soviet Spymaster, Leopold Trepper   Jonas Chartogaro is the pseudonym of a recently retired Federal Agent. During his career, he served as a government polygraph examiner with over 25 years of experience. Prior to his Federal service, he worked as a New York police officer, investigating arsons, robberies, and murders. He posse...