STORIES TELLING STORIES

My mother has been moved to hospice care to spend her remaining days. I've been spending as much time with her as I can. I decided to read her stories and share it over livestream. This is "A Christmas Memory" by Truman Capote. It's been a difficult few weeks but we're doing the best we can as a family right now. After discovering that the hospice house has really good internet speeds I...

“This week on LOCKED IN A VACANCY we’re celebrating a milestone… having hit 25k downloads for the STORIES TELLING STORIES podcast! It may seem like an unusual metric to celebrate, as most social media looks for nice, round numbers to mark as milestones… but 25 is my lucky number and we’re going to make it count. In celebration of the occasion, I’ve got a special guest joining us this episode… She’...

As of release, today is Thursday, November 12, 2020. It is notable for being the birthday of a relative and patron of the podcast so I am wishing you a wonderful one, Holly, and I hope that despite 2020 being how 2020 is, that you are able to enjoy it wholeheartedly as you enter your third decade on this Earth. You deserve it! Looking around at the very real prospect of a “third wave” taking hold...

It’s that time of year again to get SPOOKY! I am DJ Bland and welcome to this very special episode of Stories Telling SCARY Stories! ooOOOOooo! Today we’re bringing you three super short tales of terror and fear, drug up from the depths of the unnamed internet, sure to send a shiver down your spine, just like the Simpsons apparently still do, but let’s be real, who even cares what happened beyond...

Horror as a media genre relies on the subterfuge of normality to achieve its goals… drawing from basic fears derived over millions of years of human evolution and experience. The collective “we” learned to fear things that can, have, and indeed do cause harm to our person and our fellow humans… things that creep in the darkness, large teeth, claws, falling from great heights, living things decease...

In 1842, transcendent author of romanticism and godfather of american horror Edgar Allen Poe released “The Masque of the Red Death,” a short story that follows prominent fictional character Prince Prospero and his lengthy attempts to avoid a dangerous plague, known as the Red Death, by hiding in his abbey. He, along with many other wealthy nobles, hosts a masquerade ball in seven rooms of the abbe...

What started as a silly idea of mine a little over three years ago has morphed into something I could never have anticipated. In episode 1 I finished the silly submarine story that Mrs Hazeltine shared in the film that inspired this podcast. I wanted to tell stories. I wanted to write. I wanted to flex my artistic muscles during my theatrical off-season. And now as the STS podcast is on its 50th e...

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg has died. She was a trailblazer. An icon. A hero and an inspiration to generations of young women. Through sheer will, tenacity, and some may say an abject bitter hatred that affixed her soul to her aging bones, she fought through multiple cancers, chemotherapy, and surgeries that would bring most people to their knees and yet she persisted. Call her a har...

There’s an epidemic affecting content creators that seems to be coming to a head. This issue is not a modern one… but our increasingly interconnected world has seen it increase to millions more than ever before, spanning every platform, and across every conceivable medium. You may not have experienced it yourself, but I guarantee you know someone who has. It can start harmlessly enough… with an un...

The tragic and sudden loss of Chadwick Boseman, after a secret four-year battle with colon cancer has shocked and saddened the world. This is my eulogy for a remarkable man, told in part with his own words, and in relation to Plato telling of The Death of Socrates. Having been a fan of comic book stories for as long as I can remember, being alive for the rise and supremacy of Marvel at the box off...

Growing up I took a great deal of pride in being considered mature for my age. Wise. An old soul. A kid in body but of sage spirit; mostly silent, but thoughtful and reliable. Reliable. Dare I say “sophisticated.” My teachers loved me, most of them that is. Bus drivers liked me. I maintained a solid rapport with everyone from the lunch ladies to the librarian. I was given special projects, added r...

“I don’t have any regrets. If I were to die today, I would be content in the life I lived. I’m true to myself, true to my desires, and I’ve accomplished everything I’ve set my mind to. I’ve lived lavishly, loved deeply, embraced a life of honesty and truth, and have nothing but warmth and contentment in my heart. So if death wants to knock on my door tonight, I will go gladly on to the next great...

Today is August 8th, 2020. And three years ago today I took the monumental first step of launching this podcast. I had little experience in the medium, besides appearing on an episode of “THE NIHILIST PODCAST NETWORK” but as a writer, storyteller, and performer I felt like it could be a good medium to keep me focused in my theatrical off-season. Little did I know it would carry me through ups, dow...

I’d like to give a massive shout-out to the following people for supporting STORIES TELLING STORIES on Patreon… Jim Ross Holly Tamara Tom Thank you so much for your support! If you’d like to help support the show and hear your name listed before future episodes, head on over to Patreon.com/StoriesTellingStories It is now August 1st. July has come and gone and I took a meaningful and necessary brea...

“In Another Country” was published in 1927 as part of the “Men Without Women” collection of short stories by 20th century icon Ernest Hemmingway.” The story is told through the eyes of an unnamed member of the Ambulance corps in Milan, Italy following World War 1, presumed to be from the perspective of Nick Adams, a character that Hemmingway created to see the world through his own eyes. The story...

George Moore was a novelist, short-story writer, poet, art critic, memoirist and dramatist. Although his work is sometimes seen as outside the mainstream of both Irish and British literature, he is as often regarded as the first great modern Irish novelist, influencing such authors as James Joyce, who we have also featured on this series. "So On He Fares" is the 10th chapter in a collect...

Katherine Mansfield was a poet and short story writer of the “modernist” style, born and raised in colonial New Zealand. But unfortunately, like so many influential artists, her time on Earth was short… losing her young life to tuberculosis at the relatively young age of 34. She died leaving behind an impressive body of work, which took years of editing and preparation for her estranged spouse Joh...

One of the most influential authors of the 20th century, James Joyce was an author of Irish descent who helped define the modernist avant-garde movement, and is most fondly remembered for his novel "Ulysses" which is an artfully crafted retelling of Homer's Odyssey. But this week we take a deep dive into his lesser know work... DUBLINERS is an anthology of 15 short stories Joyce publishe...

Nestled in the halfway point in Chuck Palahniuk's book "Haunted" a novel of a collection of short stories written by a collection of aspiring suffering artists, "The Nightmare Box" is a story about the psychological effects of the unknown... with true terror coming from the sort of suffering one must undertake alone... DRAMATIC READING BY ERIC R HILL This week marks my second s...

A surprisingly popular Scholastic children's book with a dark tale to tell is the subject of episode 7 of LOCKED IN A VACANCY, as we explore "The Escape" by J.B. Stamper in our dramatic reading, and examine a news story about a real life ice cream shop in MA that closed down after a single day after customers were so nasty to a 17 year old girl that she quit. Profanity laced verbal assau...

Ambrose Bierce, held in regard for his skill in horror writing alongside contemporaries Poe and Lovecraft, is a fascinating figure who died with nearly as much fascination as he lived... Today we examine one of his lesser-known horror stories... THE BOARDED WINDOW... on episode 6 of LOCKED IN A VACANCY... Dramatic reading by Eric R Hill I’d like to give a shout-out to the following people for supp...

This week on LOCKED IN A VACANCY we chat about the ongoing effects of lockdown on our mental and emotional health, and tackle a dramatic reading of Ray Bradbury's short story "THE FOG HORN." Dramatic Reading by Eric R Hill As always, a HUGE shoutout to our Patrons JIM ROSS HOLLY TAMARA Stay Safe, Stay Healthy, Stay Home, and as always, Stay Whimsical!

Another week in isolation... this time we look at a story by Ernest Hemmingway that tells the tale of a soldier, home from The Great War and feeling lost and disconnected from his life. Nothing is interesting, he has no desire to do ANYTHING... a feeling a lot of us can relate to right now. Dramatic reading by Eric R Hill HUGE THANKS TO OUR PATRONS! Jim Ross Holly Tamara SOCIALS Facebook: https://...

LOCKED IN A VACANCY ep3 has series producer Eric R Hill discussing the latest developments in the ongoing "Stay Home" order in his state, plus the disastrous economic impacts that could come if, as planned, three of the Vermont State Colleges close... He then takes us through a dramatic reading of H.G. Wells' incredible work "The Door in the Wall." Written by H.G. Wells Produce...

LOCKED IN A VACANCY ep2 discusses the brilliant but short-lived life of Anton Chekhov and dives into a dramatic re-telling of his classic short story "The Bet" Read by Eric R Hill