21 Comments

Thank you!

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Thanks! I live off of audio...it’s the main way I get to read and tune out the teenagers...

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I heard a reading once of one of Lovecraft’s stories that had had the audio warped so that it sounded like a broadcast from the early 20th century. It was a neat.

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With pleasure. Remember that 30 min of poems you recommended a while ago? Still listen to it on most days. Especially, Wild Geese. I never knew that a poem can be powerful enough, to make grass grow on Mars, so to speak. Powerful stuff.

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Great idea! I'm gonna see if there's audio of Jack London's 'To Build a Fire' 😊

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“The Souvenier” So good!

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Best gift this year!

Thank you

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Question. How do you feel about sound effects used during the audio reading of a story? Like ambient sounds. Would it enhance the experience or will they just end up being a nuisance?

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That depends on the production. Good writing doesn't need music to underscore the emotion, but I did grow up with CBS Radio Mystery Theater on Sunday nights so I enjoy the sound effects.

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I remember enjoying the Oates story, not the most frightening thing I’ve read, but the image of that car has stuck with me since.

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I really like that JCO story but I only consider it mildly unsettling.

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So I listened to Where are You Going, Where Have You Been and then two explanations. I guess it is is scary with all of the interpretation regarding boots and counting backwards to bible verses, etc. - but am I, as a reader, really expected to do all of this detective work to understand the story?

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When friends ask me for my favorite short stories, Sentiment by Dorothy Parker and Unnecessary Things by Tatyana Tolstaya come to my mind. And Watershed, a short story from Lauren Groff. Reading Watershed left me breathless. For me, these stories have unforgettable images, sentences that blew my mind, and most of all, they were moving.

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Have you read Parker's "The Standard of Living"? Absolutely charming. Check it out:

http://careerhigh.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/102407623/The%20Standard%20of%20Living.pdf

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JCO's where are you going is an unsettling story. I've only ever read it, never listened to it. I think its the shock of the ending *spoiler* that she just goes out of her house to him, despite everything her gut is telling her about him. The idea of that is scary.

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No, wait, but didn't he sound kind of hot?

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🤔 Well if it is ever a Netflix show then I'm sure he will be and then people can fill social media with drooling and deep understanding 😖😑

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Thanks, Chuck for the story recommendation.

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that joyce carol oates story you mentioned was very frightening... maybe moreso being a female. I am glad I did not read it as a teenager.

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P.S. It's the gradual collection of information and manipulation and threat that really can and does occur in life. And the fact that she's an adolescent and he is "older." It's like an extreme and sped up version of types of abuse.

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