Weekly Short Stories Archives - Page 22 of 27

Bloodchild – Octavia Butler – Literary Roadhouse Ep 30

September 2, 2015 Maya Goode 00:58:32 5 Comments

Rated Explicit

Next week’s story is The School by Donald Bartelme

Bloodchild by Octavia Butler received high marks from all three of us this week which is pretty rare and says a lot about the author. This is only our second science fiction story and the first that truly felt deeply sci-fi so I was a little nervous suggesting it. I am glad I did. Bloodchild provided great fodder for a fun discussion on gender, symbiosis and diversity in fiction. The story was also a wonderful example of science surpassing it’s genre.

Don’t forget, to rate the story! For the history of our goofy system, see Anais’ post “Read Short Stories or Ray Bradbury Cries.” If you want to design a Bradberry, we’d love to see it. On a scale of 1-6 Bradberries, how do you rate “Bloodchild“? Tell us in the comments below or via voicemail, and we will give the final tally on the next episode.

Next week’s story is The School by Donald Bartelme.

The Half-Skinned Steer – E. Annie Proulx – Literary Roadhouse Ep 29

August 26, 2015 Maya Goode 00:40:22 4 Comments

Rated Explicit

Next week’s story is Bloodchild by Octavia Butler.

I want to thank everyone for their kind words and understanding for last weeks late podcast. This week, we read Annie Proulx and while Maya entered the podcast torn about the time shifts, both Anais and Gerald loved the story. This was a deeply dense and nuanced tale that took close reading to fully appreciate the skill and artistry. Maya also recommends listening to the story on Audible. Close Range by Annie Proulx is a collection of stories based in the rural communities in Wyoming. If you don’t have Audible already, click here for a free trial.

Don’t forget, to rate the story! For the history of our goofy system, see Anais’ post “Read Short Stories or Ray Bradbury Cries.” If you want to design a Bradberry, we’d love to see it.

Listeners gave last week’s story “Sonny’s Blues” by 5.5 Bradberries.

So tell us, on a scale of 1-6 Bradberries, how do you rate “The Hal f-Skinned Steer“? Tell us in the comments below or via voicemail, and we will give the final tally on the next episode.

Next week’s story is Bloodchild by Octavia Butler.

Sonny’s Blues – James Baldwin – Literary Roadhouse Ep 28

August 19, 2015 Maya Goode 0:52:45 2 Comments

Rated Explicit

Next weeks story is The Half-Skinned Steer by E. Annie Proulx

This week both Anais and Maya fell in love with James Baldwin and Gerald is left with a quandary. I also have to say, Anais did an excellent job on this weeks Audio!

Don’t forget, to rate the story! For the history of our goofy system, see Anais’ post “Read Short Stories or Ray Bradbury Cries.” If you want to design a Bradberry, we’d love to see it.

Listeners gave last week’s story “The Start of the Affair” by 3.5 Bradberries.

So tell us, on a scale of 1-6 Bradberries, how do you rate “Sonny’s Blues“? Tell us in the comments below or via voicemail, and we will give the final tally on the next episode.

Next week’s story is The Half-Skinned Steer by E. Annie Proulx.

The Missing Episode

August 17, 2015 Maya Goode 0 Comments

6 months, 4 hosts… I never thought it would happen. Last weeks recorded episode will not be released until Wednesday. This means, we finally missed an episode but it wasn’t for lack of trying. A problematic computer, an upgrade… a missing driver with an invisibility cloak all combined until I was completely unable to edit the episode and have you heard us raw? No really, editing is so not optional. So on Wednesday, you will finally get to hear us talk about James Baldwin and the audio will be edited by Anais. Please be nice to her, it’s only her second time. Hopefully in two weeks, I’ll be on a nice new shiny system and we’ll all be back to our regularly scheduled lives. Oh and Wednesday’s episode… it’s fantastic so don’t miss it.

Love,

Maya

The Start of the Affair – Nuruddin Farah – Literary Roadhouse Ep 27

August 5, 2015 Maya Goode 01:00:38 5 Comments

Next week’s story is Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin. You can also read it here.

This podcast is available on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spreaker. Please take a few moments to leave a review (for Spreaker follow & heart us). Those reviews encourage us and help us be found by new listeners.

Rated Explicit

This week Rammy joined us for an unexpectedly lively discussion. It was an odd episode where we spent half the time debating the actual content of the story. Anais and Gerald came into the conversation sure of summary and ready to record. Then it was immediately clear that Rammy and Maya read the same story so differently that it was almost like discussing two different stories.

Don’t forget, to rate the story! For the history of our goofy system, see Anais’ post “Read Short Stories or Ray Bradbury Cries.” If you want to design a Bradberry, we’d love to see it.

Listeners gave last week’s story “The Empty Family” by Colm Tóibín 5 Bradberries.

So tell us, on a scale of 1-6 Bradberries, how do you rate “The Start of the Affair“? More importantly, was James black or white? Tell us in the comments below or via voicemail, and we will give the final tally on the next episode.

Next week’s story is Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin. You can also read it here.

The Empty Family – Colm Tóibín – Literary Roadhouse Ep 26

July 29, 2015 Maya Goode 00:52:05 2 Comments

Next week’s story is The Start of the Affair by Nuruddin Farah.

Rated clean for language, but not so clean for audio quality. Maya spent the week at a writer’s conference, and Anais edited the audio for the first time. Please forgive the audio rookie.

This week we read a short story by Irish author Colm Tóibín, whose novel The Blackwater Lightship Gerald has read before. Gerald loved the short story, but Maya and Anais who are new to Tóibín had lukewarm feelings towards the story. Anais was turned off by the lack of conflict, and Maya was alienated by a surprisingly distant voice for a first person narrative.

Don’t forget, to rate the story! For the history of our goofy system, see Anais’ post “Read Short Stories or Ray Bradbury Cries.” If you want to design a Bradberry, we’d love to see it.

Listeners gave last week’s story “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver 5 Bradberries.

So tell us, on a scale of 1-6 Bradberries, how do you rate “The Empty Family”? Tell us in the comments below or via voicemail, and we will give the final tally on the next episode.

Next week’s story is The Start of the Affair by Nuruddin Farah.

Cathedral – Raymond Carver – Literary Roadhouse Ep 25

July 22, 2015 Maya Goode 1:01:05 4 Comments

Next week’s story is The Empty Family by Colm Tóibín

Rated Explicit

We read our first Carver story this week and it prompted a great discussion. Maya has been reading through Carver’s body of work and found the reading experience very different compared to Anais. Gerald was turned off by the narrator, and we delved a bit into how we feel when we confront a main character we don’t like.

Don’t forget, to rate the story! For the history of our goofy system, see Anais’ post “Read Short Stories or Ray Bradbury Cries.” If you want to design a Bradberry, we’d love to see it.

Listeners gave last week’s story “Safe, Somewhere” by Baird Harper 3.75 Bradberries.

So tell us, on a scale of 1-6 Bradberries, how do you rate “Safe, Somewhere”? Tell us in the comments below or via voicemail, and we will give the final tally on the next episode.

Next week’s story is The Empty Family by Colm Tóibín

Gerald’s Summer Road Trip in France

July 16, 2015 Gerald Hornsby 0 Comments

Seven weeks my wife, our dog, and I were away from home, most of the time without WiFi, which curtailed my ability to contribute to the Literary Roadhouse podcast. But now we’re back, with no immediate plans for long-term breaks, so normal service has been resumed.

I wanted to share with you the highlights from our little trip. Firstly, some background: we’ve been motor homing for our holidays since 2006, we retired in 2008, and we’re on our third motor home.

Our van.

We always enjoy traveling to France, where there is a bigger choice of places to stay than here in the UK.

Our route.

Some places we only stayed one night, as we traveled between towns, but our biggest stay was on an island off the West coast of France called Île de Ré, which is a beautiful island, much favoured by holidaying Parisians during August, and has a number of small, picture-postcard beautiful towns all connected by mostly traffic-free cycle paths. We did lots of cycling.

And visited some lovely towns and villages.

But it wasn’t all go. We needed a break to visit markets.

And take in the view.

Eat out occasionally.

Enjoy our own little barbecue.

Visit the occasional bar.

Enjoy a breakfast out sometimes.

And for Tess to play the fool.

And of course, I had to do some reading.

We had a great time!

A podcast for literary fiction discussions of short stories and novels.

Safe, Somewhere – Baird Harper – Literary Roadhouse Ep 24

July 15, 2015 Maya Goode 00:48:47 4 Comments

Next week’s story is Cathedral by Raymond Carver

Rated Explicit: Story contains mention of brothel, no cursing or explicit language but a kid might ask what a brothel is.

Oh, we didn’t seem to agree on anything this week. Anais had serious issues with Safe, Somewhere. Gerald liked it a great deal and Maya was head over heels in love with the story. The funny thing was, even though Gerald and Maya liked it, they saw many parts very differently. This story of a small one-company town was eye opening and fun to discuss.

Don’t forget, to rate the story! For the history of our goofy system, see Anais’ post “Read Short Stories or Ray Bradbury Cries.” If you want to design a Bradberry, we’d love to see it.

Listeners gave last week’s story “In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried” by Amy Hempel 4.5 Bradberries.

So tell us, on a scale of 1-6 Bradberries, how do you rate “Safe, Somewhere”? Tell us in the comments below or via voicemail, and we will give the final tally on the next episode.

Next week’s story is Cathedral by Raymond Carver

In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried – Amy Hempel – Literary Roadhouse Ep 23

July 8, 2015 Maya Goode 0:59:23 8 Comments

Next week’s story is Safe, Somewhere by Baird Harper

Rated Explicit

Guess who’s back! After a long vacation driving around Europe, Gerald joins us for a discussion of the short story, In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried. It sounds like he had a great trip and will soon write a post about his adventures. This week’s story touches on themes of death in a novel and brutally transparent way. It’s a story that touched us and brought up topics such as guilt, details in writing, and what it is that makes you trust a writer. I hope you enjoy this discussion as much as I did.

Don’t forget, to rate the story! For the history of our goofy system, see Anais’ post “Read Short Stories or Ray Bradbury Cries.” If you want to design a Bradberry, we’d love to see it.

Listeners gave last week’s story “The Servant’s Daughter” 2.75 Bradberries.

So tell us, on a scale of 1-6 Bradberries, how do you rate In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried? Tell us in the comments below or via voicemail, and we will give the final tally on the next episode.

Next week’s story is Safe, Somewhere by Baird Harper

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Weekly Short Stories

Each week The Literary Roadhouse podcast hosts deeply read and discuss one short story.

Bloodchild – Octavia Butler – Literary Roadhouse Ep 30

The Half-Skinned Steer – E. Annie Proulx – Literary Roadhouse Ep 29

Sonny’s Blues – James Baldwin – Literary Roadhouse Ep 28

The Missing Episode

The Start of the Affair – Nuruddin Farah – Literary Roadhouse Ep 27

The Empty Family – Colm Tóibín – Literary Roadhouse Ep 26

Cathedral – Raymond Carver – Literary Roadhouse Ep 25

Gerald’s Summer Road Trip in France

Safe, Somewhere – Baird Harper – Literary Roadhouse Ep 24

In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried – Amy Hempel – Literary Roadhouse Ep 23

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