AMBIENT ARCANA

“The Story Of An Hour” and “A Pair Of Silk Stockings” by Kate Chopin

Two stories about the elusive dream of freedom- A secret dream suddenly dashed and a dream unlooked for fulfilled.
Kate Chopin’s “The Story Of An Hour” and “A Pair Of Silk Stockings.”
Narrated by Arline Billbrough
Music by Paul Billbrough
Produced by Bob Familiar
 

“In A Grove” by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

In 1950 Akira Kurosawa merged two of Ryūnosuke Akutagawa’s short stories together to make his classic film “Rashomon.”Last episode we covered the story that gave the film it’s name and in this episode we explore the story of the murder at the heart of that film, told by seven characters with seven different, often conflicting accounts:
“In A Grove” by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa
Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar
Narrated by Mandy Familiar, Bob Familiar, Joey Pesce, Shannon Wilson, Jace Wilson, Danielle Barry, Matt Gruenberg, and Jim Billbrough

“Rashōmon” by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

 In this episode we contemplate whether it is better to accept death with your morals intact or to survive by any means necessary.
Ryūnosuke Akutagawa’s “Rashōmon”.
Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar
Narrated by Jim Billbrough
 
Some sound effects in this episode were licensed from
Pro Sound Effects
240 Kent Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11249
licensing@prosoundeffects.com

Three Stories by Jorge Luis Borges

 A trio of strange and beautiful fever dreams by Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges-“The Rejected Sorcerer,” “The Circular Ruins,” and “The Two Kings and The Two Labyrinths.”
All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar
Narrated by Jim Billbrough
We’d like to express our thanks to Jon Fredette of “The Oddcast” podcast for his advice and encouragement on this episode. If you like Ambient Arcana there’s a good chance you’ll like ”The Oddcast.”
Here’s a link to Jon’s homepage featuring his podcasts, music, and more: https://www.jonfredette.com/
 
Some other useful links:
 
https://bobfamiliar.bandcamp.com/
 
https://www.facebook.com/ambientarcana
 
ambientarcana@gmail.com
 
 

“Gods Of The North” A Conan The Cimmerian Story

In this episode we chase away the winter blues with a bloody sword in Robert E. Howard’s coldest Conan story - “Gods of The North” (aka. “The Frost-Giant’s Daughter”).
All Music and Music & Audio Production by Bob Familiar
Narration by Rick Weidner, Danielle Barry, Matt Gruenberg, Mandy Familiar, Bob Familiar, and Jim Billbrough
 
Some useful links:
 
https://bobfamiliar.bandcamp.com/
 
https://www.facebook.com/ambientarcana
 
ambientarcana@gmail.com
 

“Mother Sauvage” by Guy de Maupassant

Bonne année! Joyeux 2024!
We start our Third Season with a fiery French tale of one woman’s burning need to find balance in a hostile universe. It’s Guy de Maupassant’s torrid tale of red hot revenge! -
“Mother Sauvage.”
All Music and Music & Audio Production by Bob Familiar
Narrated by Veronica and Joey Pesce, Bob Familiar, and Jim Billbrough
Recorded by Joey Pesce and Bob Familiar
If you think we judged Robert W. Chambers a bit harshly on his anti-German attitudes here’s a link to his WWI novel “In Secret” at Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5748
Not to be confused with a recommendation.
 
Some useful links:
 
https://youtube.com/@bobfamiliarmusic
 
https://bobfamiliar.bandcamp.com/
 
https://www.facebook.com/ambientarcana
 

More Tibetan Folk Tales by A.L. Shelton

 Once again we travel to the magical land of Tibet for the Holiday Season.
 In this year’s Yuletide offerings a painter and a carpenter commit supernatural postal fraud, a donkey and a rock get arrested for assaulting a jar of oil, a pair of crippled birds dispense great wealth and harsh justice, a sociopathic rabbit distributes stolen goods with murderous intent, and a goiter at a ghost party is about as welcome as a fruitcake. It’s Albert Leroy Shelton’s posthumously publish page turner - “Tibetan Folk Tales”
All Music and Music&Audio Production by Bob Familiar
Narrated by Bob Familiar and Jim Billbrough
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

“The She-Wolf” by Saki (H.H. Munro)

 In this episode of Ambient Arcana we explore the mysteries of ‘Siberian Magic’ and the unexpected social challenges that having one’s hostess turned into a wolf can put upon a party guest - It’s “The She-Wolf” by Saki (H.H. Munro)
Music and Music&Audio Production by Bob Familiar
Narrated by: Jace Wilson, Shannon Wilson, Mandy Familiar, Bob Familiar, and Jim Billbrough
“The She-Wolf” was published in the short story collection “Beasts and Super-Beasts” by Saki back in 1914. While searching for this month’s story we came across an excellent audio version of this book on LibriVox narrated by Justin Brett.
Here’s a link to that book on LibriVox:
https://librivox.org/beasts-and-super-beasts-by-saki/
 
And here’s a link to the Project Gutenberg version of the book:
https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/269/pg269-images.html

The Statement of Randolph Carter

Nothing says Halloween quite like Trick or Treating in an ancient swampy cemetery in shadow haunted Florida!
It’s H.P.Lovecraft’s grim tale of grave robbing gone wrong -  “The Statement of Randolph Carter.”
 
All Music and Music & Audio Production by Bob Familiar
Narrated by Bob Familiar and Jim Billbrough
Recorded Almost Live at Sounds Familiar Studios

From Beyond

 In this episode we dust off our vestigial sense organs and fire up our Pineal Glands to take a mind bending peak beneath the thin veil of our reality in H.P. Lovecraft’s psychedelic mad scientist revenge romp - “From Beyond!”
 
Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar
Narrated by Bob Familiar and Jim Billbrough