Snoozecast

Tonight, we’ll read from “Lessons in Chalk Modeling, the New Method of Map Drawing” written by Ida Cassa Heffron and published in 1900.  Geography is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. It is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding of Earth and its human and natural complexities—not merely where objects are, but al...

Tonight, we’ll read the next part to “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea,” a classic science fiction adventure novel by French writer Jules Verne. In the last episode, Captain Nemo and Professor Arronax smoke seaweed cigars together as they chat in the saloon. Nemo explains that the Nautilus is the perfect ship both due to its electrical power and the fact that, travelling below the surface of...

This episode is brought to you by our Patreon Supporters and by heavenly bodies.  Tonight, we’ll read the opening to The Influence of the Stars published in 1904. It was written by Rosa Baughan, the eldest daughter of an eminent London newspaper man. She soon established a reputation of her own - as one of the most intriguing spiritualists in Victorian Britain. In her short life, she published mor...

Tonight, we’ll read the opening to the 1940 mystery “Behind the Green Door”, part of the “Penny Parker” series written by Mildred Wirt, also known by Mildred Benson. Benson was a journalist and prolific writer, under many pseudonyms, who is best known for creating the Nancy Drew series. Along with being the heroine of the series, Penny Parker was a high school student turned sleuth who also sporad...

Tonight, we’ll read the next part to “The Secret Garden”, a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett published in 1911. In the last episode, Dickon tends the vegetable garden he keeps at home in the evenings, after working on the flowery Secret Garden in the daytime. Sometimes his mother, Mrs. Sowerby, keeps him company. Dickon shares the secret with her, and she bakes rolls for the children to satiate th...

Tonight, we’ll rebroadcast “The Opal”, a fairy tale about how the gemstone was formed. This story originally aired on December 7th, 2020. Depending on the conditions in which it formed, precious opal may be iridescent with white, black, or nearly any color of the visual spectrum as a background color. Black opal is considered to be the rarest, whereas white, gray, and green are the most common. Op...

Tonight, we’ll read “The Million Dollar Bond Robbery”, a short story written by Agatha Christie and published in 1924 as part of her “Poirot Investigates” series. In this story, a million dollars of bonds disappear from under a young man’s nose and he is being held accountable. If you enjoy this episode, be sure to listen to our first Poirot story, “The Western Star” which aired in June of 2022 an...

Tonight, we’ll read the next part to “Winnie-the-Pooh” a children’s story written by A.A. Milne and published in 1926. This collection of short stories features an anthropomorphic teddy bear, Winnie-the-Pooh, along with his friends Christopher Robin, Piglet, Eeyore, Owl, Rabbit, Kanga, and Roo. In the previous episode, we read the second half of chapter five, in which Piglet met a Heffalump, and a...

Tonight, we’ll rebroadcast the second and final part of “An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving”, a short story written by Louisa May Alcott. This story originally aired on November 23rd, 2020. Please find the first part of this story that aired on Monday. In part one, the Bassett parents rush off when they hear that the grandmother was very ill, just as a snowstorm was starting. This left all the children...

Tonight, we’ll rebroadcast the opening half from “An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving”, a short story written by Louisa May Alcott. This story originally aired on November 16th, 2020. The second half will air in our next episode. “An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving” is a simple story set in the early 1800s, featuring a country family in New Hampshire. It’s full of idyllic and peaceful descriptions from an ea...

Tonight, we shall read the next part to “Pride and Prejudice”, written by Jane Austen. In the last episode, Lydia is overjoyed when the wife of Colonel Forster invites her to Brighton. Kitty is peevish not to be included. Elizabeth secretly advises her father not to allow Lydia to go, but he does not take her concern seriously. Before the departure of the regiment, Elizabeth meets Wickham. She see...

Tonight, we’ll rebroadcast the story of “The Devoted Friend,” written by Oscar Wilde and published in 1910. This episode originally aired on November 9, 2020. Wilde was an Irish poet and playwright. He is best remembered for his epigrams and plays, his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, and the circumstances of his criminal conviction for his homosexuality. In this fable, told by a linnet, or songb...

Tonight, we’ll read about the history of jewelry around the world, from “Jewels and the Woman” written by Marianne Ostier and published in 1958. Ostier was the principal designer and artistic driving force behind Ostier Inc., the New York jewelry firm she founded in 1941 with her husband Oliver. Marianne was an accomplished artist of painting and sculpture when she married Oliver, a third-generati...

Tonight, we’ll read the next part to “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea,” a classic science fiction adventure novel by French writer Jules Verne. In the last episode, Captain Nemo takes Aronnax on a tour of his private natural history museum. Nemo's cases are filled with rare specimens drawn from the seas of the world: corals, shells, starfish and lots of pearls. His collection is priceless. A...

Tonight, we’ll rebroadcast the opening to “Washington Square”, written by Henry James and published in 1880. This episode originally aired on November 18, 2020. The novel recounts the conflict between a dull but sweet daughter and her brilliant, unemotional father. The plot of the novel is based upon a true story told to James by his close friend, a British actress. The book is often compared with...

Tonight we’ll read another Australian fairy tale called “The Fairy City” written by Hume Cook and published in 1925. You can certainly pick up straight away on this episode, however if you’d like to listen to the first chapter of “Australian Fairy Tales” please find “The Magic Well” which aired on October 19th, 2022. James Newton Haxton Hume Cook, the author, was an Australian politician who serve...

Tonight, we’ll read the next part to “The Secret Garden”, a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett published in 1911. In the last episode, Colin claims the secret garden as his own, and in doing so Colin chooses to follow in his mother's footsteps and dedicate himself to nature and happiness. He is inspired by Mary and Dickon, and decides to become a scientist who devotes his life to the study of Magic....

Tonight, we’ll read about baking biscuits and gems from the “Civic League Cookbook” from North Dakota in 1913. Gems are little muffin-like cakes that were popular in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They were most often made using graham flour, and had very few other ingredients – some just required graham flour, water and salt. Graham flour is named after Sylvester Graham , a ministe...

Tonight, for our final episode of this year’s spooky sleep story series, we’ll read “The Haunted Orchard” written by British author Richard Le Gallienne and published in 1912. Born Richard Thomas Gallienne, the author changed his last name to “Le Gallienne” after college when he began working in an accountant’s office. Soon after he attended a lecture by Oscar Wilde, Le Gallienne abandoned his job...

Tonight, we’ll read the next part to “Winnie-the-Pooh” a children’s story written by A.A. Milne and published in 1926. This collection of short stories features an anthropomorphic teddy bear, Winnie-the-Pooh, along with his friends Christopher Robin, Piglet, Eeyore, Owl, Rabbit, Kanga, and Roo. In the previous episode, we read chapter four and the first half of chapter five, in which we are introd...

Tonight, we’ll read another excerpt from French writer Marcel Proust’s monumental “In Search of Lost Time” which is seven volumes long, and first published in 1913. “In Search of Lost Time” follows the narrator's recollections and experiences in the late 19th-century and early 20th-century high-society France, while reflecting on the loss of time and lack of meaning in the world. This series does...

Tonight, for our 600th episode, and the next in our October spooky sleep story series, we’ll read an excerpt from “The Castle of Otranto”, a novel by Horace Walpole. First published in 1764, it is generally regarded as the first gothic novel. Set in a haunted castle, the novel produced a new style that has endured ever since, and has shaped the modern-day aesthetic of the goth subculture. Although...

Tonight, we shall read the next part to “Pride and Prejudice”, written by Jane Austen. Our Friday rotation is capped at four series now, so that each episode will only be one month out from the next of a particular story. If you’d like to listen to this series or some of our others in order, please go to snoozecast.com/series. In the last episode, younger sisters Lydia and Kitty share some capital...

Tonight we’ll read an Australian fairy tale called “The Magic Well” written by Hume Cook and published in 1925. The author wrote this preface: “The Stories in this little book have been set down almost in the same words in which they were told. How the telling of them came about is a very simple matter. Having three children, each of whom loved a Fairy Tale, it somehow became the fashion, on Sunda...

Tonight, as part of this month’s spooky sleep story series, we’ll read from “Mysterious Psychic Forces” written by Camille Flammarion and published in 1907. Nicolas Camille Flammarion was a French astronomer, mystic and prolific author, including popular science works about astronomy, several notable early science fiction novels, and works on psychical research. He has been described as being obse...