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An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

WRITTEN BY:
Ambrose Bierce

NARRATED BY:
Michael Scott

Set during the time of the American Civil War, this story is about a man named Peyton Farquhar, a Confederate sympathizer who attempted to demolish the Owl Creek Bridge, but was caught and condemned to die by hanging. But all is not what it seems to be in this tale that has an irregular time sequence and a twist ending.

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ThoughtAudio PDF Transcript: TA0068_OwlCreekBridge_ AmbroseBierce.pdf

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Ambrose Bierce

Ambrose Bierce was an American editorialist, journalist, short-story writer and satirist. He wrote more than a hundred books and short stories, but is best known for his short story, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge and his satirical dictionary, The Devil’s Dictionary.

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Around the World in Eighty Days

WRITTEN BY:
Jules Verne

NARRATED BY:
Michael Scott

This is an entertaining and light story about Phileas Fogg, a wealthy bachelor who makes a wager with a friend at his club regarding how long it would take for a person to circumnavigate the globe. Not wanting to lose his bet, he immediately embarks on a trip around the world with his valet Passepartout. Follow along on their extravagant adventure on a number of fascinating transportation modes that must be fully completed within 80 days or the bet is lost.

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ThoughtAudio Transcript: TA0067_AroundtheWorld_JulesVerne.pdf

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Jules Verne
The Father of Science Fiction

Jules Verne is a French author best known for his fantastical science fiction novels, many which contained visionary concepts and machines well before they had actually been invented.

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Luck of Roaring Camp

WRITTEN BY:
Bret Harte

NARRATED BY:
Michael Scott

Cherokee Sal, the only woman in a remote mining camp dies while giving birth. The child is called Luck and is adopted by the complete camp. This exciting story is a touching tale of how the birth of a child brings together an entire community of men in an effort to care and raise the child in the harsh mining environment.

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ThoughtAudio PDF Transcript: TA0053_ LuckofRoaringCamp_BretHarte.pdf

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Brett Harte

This American author and poet is best remembered for his accounts of pioneering life in California.

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The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

WRITTEN BY:
Mark Twain

NARRATED BY:
Michael Scott as Mark Twain

Mark Twain’s “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” was first published in the November 18,1865, edition of The New York Saturday Press, under the title “Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog.” The story is set in a gold-mining camp in Calaveras County, California, and has its origins in the folklore of the Gold Rush era. It was one of Twain’s earliest writings, and helped establish his reputation as a humorist. He eventually included it as the title story in his first collection of tales.

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ThoughtAudio PDF Transcript: TA0051_JumpingFrog_MarkTwain.pdf

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Mark Twain

Mark Twain has been one of the most widely loved and celebrated American writers since his books were released in the late 1860’s.

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Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street

WRITTEN BY:
Herman Melville

NARRATED BY:
Michael Scott

This is a short story about a lawyer with offices on Wall Street in New York City. He runs an advertisement for a scrivener, or professional copyist, for his office and Bartleby responds to his advertisement and comes to work for the lawyer. At first Bartleby appears to be a competent worker, but later he refuses to work when requested, repeatedly uttering the phrase “I would prefer not to.” As Bartleby’s behavior escalates, the lawyer is confronted with how he will handle and respond to this bizarre behavior.
In 2001, the story was adapted into a movie titled “Bartleby”.

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ThoughtAudio Transcript: TA0049_Bartleby_HermanMelville.pdf

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Herman Melville
Herman Melville was an American novelist, essayist and poet. During his lifetime, his early novels were popular, but his popularity declined later in his life, until at the time of his death he had nearly been forgotten.

Melville’s most famous work was Moby-Dick and is often considered one of the greatest American novels. His short story “Bartleby the Scrivener” is among his most important pieces, and has been considered a precursor to Existentialist and Absurdist literature. In the 20th century there were several biographies about Melville and his vision by prominent writers, which started a rediscovery of his works and led to his current status as a significant American Writer.

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The Magic Shop

WRITTEN BY:
H.G. Wells

NARRATED BY:
Michael Scott

This is a charming tale from H.G. Wells about a young boy named Gip who visits a magic shop for his birthday with his father. But this is not just any magic shop – the shopkeeper insists that this is a genuine magic shop. The story is an entertaining adventure as Gip, like any young boy of his age, experiences the pure enjoyment of true magic while his skeptical father grapples with having to draw the line between slight of hand and genuine magic.
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ThoughtAudio PDF Transcript: TA0045_MagicShop_HGWells.pdf

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H.G. WELLS
Herbert George Wells was a British writer best known for his science fiction novels such as The War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man, The Island of Doctor Moreau and The Time Machine. However, he was arguably one of the most prolific writers in the history of literature, and wrote works in nearly every genre, including short stories and nonfiction. He was an outspoken socialist, and most of his works contain some notable political or social commentary.

Songs of Innocence and of Experience

WRITTEN BY:
William Blake

NARRATED BY:
Michael Scott

William Blake is known for some very mystical hard-to-understand poetry, but his “Songs of Innocence” and “Songs of Experience” is very different from his other work. Innocence was printed five years before Experience, but the books complement each other: the first consisting of poems telling of the innocence of the world, and the second tempering these poems with contrasting tales about experience. Here in beautiful, almost child-like simplicity, he describes childhood and purity, as well as the darker realities of corruption and disillusionment.

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ThoughtAudio PDF Transcript: TA0038_SongsofInnocence_WilliamBlake.pdf

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William Blake

William Blake was an English poet, painter, and print maker. Though largely unrecognized during his lifetime, today Blake’s work, produced in partnership with his wife Catherine, is widely known.

Blake was a strong libertarian, with a deep hatred of the tyranny that was rife during his lifetime. This is reflected strongly in his poems ‘Songs of Innocence and of Experience’, where he portrays upper class institutions and the Church of England as corrupt and exploiters of the weak in society. He dreamed of an idyllic England, free from corruption, which is mirrored in “The Echoing Green”. However, the impending tyranny in the poem shows that even he doubted that England would be free.

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The Monkey’s Paw

WRITTEN BY:
W.W. Jacobs

NARRATED BY:
Michael Scott

Like the genie of the lamp, the Monkey’s Paw holds a special ability to grant the owner of the relic three wishes. Listen to this short story unfold about a man and his wife and how they start off with a wish that they feel will bring their life more comfort – but in reality will turn it upside down.

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ThoughtAudio Transcript: TA0037_MonkeysPaw_WWJaobs.pdf

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W.W. Jacobs

Jacobs was an English author of both short stories and novels. While much of his work was humorous, he is most well-known for the story of the Monkey’s Paw, published in two different published collections of short story.

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The Wasteland

WRITTEN BY:
T.S. Eliot

NARRATED BY:
Michael Scott

The Wasteland is a highly influential and controversial 433-line modernist poem. It is perhaps the most famous and most written-about long poem of the 20th century, detailing the journey of the human soul searching for redemption, the decline of civilization, and the impossibility of recovering meaning in life. Despite the alleged obscurity of the poem — its shifts between satire and prophecy, its abrupt and unannounced changes of speaker, location and time, its elegiac but intimidating summoning up of a vast and dissonant range of cultures and literatures — the poem has nonetheless become a familiar touchstone of modern literature.

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ThoughtAudio Transcript: TA0032_WasteLand_TSEliot.pdf

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T.S. ELIOT

Thomas Stearns Eliot was one of the most distinguished literary figures of the 20th century, winning the 1948 Nobel Prize in Literature “for his outstanding, pioneer contribution to present-day poetry”. Although born in Missouri and attending Harvard, he lived most of his life in England. Eliot, while on a three month leave in the coastal resort of Margate for a period of convalescence possibly showed an early version of the poem to Ezra Pound. A year later Eliot had produced a 19-page version of the poem and Pound then made detailed editorial comments and significant cuts to the manuscript. Eliot dedicated the poem to Pound, referring to him as “il miglior fabbro”, Italian for “the better craftsman.”

Buffalo Bill Cody: Stories from the Old West

WRITTEN BY:
William Frederick Cody

NARRATED BY:
Michael Scott as
Buffalo Bill Cody

William Frederick Cody, known as Buffalo Bill, is one of the great icons of the pioneer years in the early American West. His exploits provide much insight into the life on the plains, with its Indians, cowboys, rough riders, and overall rugged existence. You are sure to enjoy this selection of entertaining stories from the Old West, written by the Honorable William F Cody.

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ThoughtAudio PDF Transcript: TA0025_BuffaloBillCody

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William Fredrick Cody, known as Buffalo Bill Cody

Buffalo Bill was an American soldier, bison hunter, and showman. He obtained his nickname after contracting to supply Kansas Pacific Railroad workers with buffalo meat. He associated with famous characters of the American Wild West and produced a variety show called Buffalo Bill’s Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World, which had an international reputation and helped create a lasting image of the American West. His character appears in books and magazines from the era with entertaining stories from the Old West.