Tonight, we’ll continue our journey through "The Rose and the Ring," by William Makepeace Thackeray, first published in 1854. The previous episode aired last month.

In the last episode, we learned how Princess Angelica's parents neglected to invite Fairy Blackstick to her christening, resulting in Gruffanuff, the strict doorman, being transformed into a brass knocker as punishment for his rudeness. Now, as we turn the page, we explore the lively relationship between Princess Angelica and Prince Giglio.

Thackeray masterfully blends humor and fantasy, inviting us to witness the enchanting complexities of young love in this magical realm.

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Tonight, we’ll read the 22nd chapter of “Anne of Green Gables”, the classic 1908 novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery. This chapter is titled “Anne is Invited Out to Tea”

In the previous chapter, Anne is excited about the new minister and his wife Mrs. Allan, who she decides is a kindred spirit. Marilla invites the Allans to tea and Anne is allowed to bake a cake. Anne flavors the cake with what she thinks is vanilla, but ends up being Anodyne Liniment. Although Anne assumes the worst and becomes bereft, Mrs. Allan kindly forgives the mistake.

Anodyne Liniment was a topical pain reliever, not meant for consumption, let alone the flavoring of a cake. Ingredients may have included menthol, camphor and possibly turpentine, which would have created a bitter, medicinal and unpleasant flavor.

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Tonight, for the last episode of our 6th annual “Spooky Sleep Story Series”, we shall read a Snoozecast original, “The Cat Who Speaks Once a Year.” about a young girl Lila Everwood who loves Halloween especially – because it’s the only night of the year her cat, Toby, can speak. We hoped you tuned in every Wednesday this month for sleep stories of the darker variety- like classic horror literature and ghost stories. If you prefer to avoid the mildly macabre we hope you’ll enjoy one of our many other stories available wherever you listen to podcasts.

Every year Lila and Toby set out on Halloween on small adventures, solving magical mysteries and keeping their town of New Hope safe from mischievous spirits.

However, this Halloween is different, as Toby seems tense, hinting that the force they’ll be up against this year has been waiting for centuries to reclaim the town…

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Tonight, we’ll read the conclusion to a Snoozecast original sleep story titled “Max Morrow and the Train of Tomorrow.

Previously on Max Morrow…Max finds a mysterious train ticket in his grandfather’s old jacket that leads him to a hidden train station platform, where he boarded a strange, time-traveling train called The Flying Yankee. Inside, he meets Professor Aldous “Tock” Tickwell, who tells him he’s a new “Guardian of Time” and whisks him off to Munich, 1893 to help set right a potential developing ripple in time centered on a young Albert Einstein.

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Tonight, we’ll read the next chapter of “Good Wives” written by Louisa May Alcott titled “Heartache”. This is also known as the second half of the “Little Women” novel and is considered the 35th chapter as part of that work as a whole.

In the last chapter, Jo tried to make a living by writing sensational stories for a magazine, keeping it a secret from her family. She was successful, but when Professor Bhaer gently criticized such work as shallow and harmful, it made her reconsider. Realizing she was sacrificing her integrity for quick money, Jo burned her manuscripts and decided to stop writing anything she wouldn’t be proud of. Though it meant starting over, it marked a turning point as she chose a more genuine path, guided by her own conscience and the Professor’s encouragement.

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Tonight, as part of our 6th annual spooky sleep story series, we’ll rebroadcast the opening to “Carmilla”, an 1872 Gothic novella by Irish author Sheridan Le Fanu which first aired in October of 2022. Tune in every Wednesday this month for sleep stories of the darker variety- like classic horror literature and ghost stories. If you prefer to avoid the mildly macabre we hope you’ll enjoy one of our many other stories available wherever you listen to podcasts.

Originally published in 1872, Carmilla predates Bram Stoker’s Dracula by over 25 years and is considered one of the earliest works of vampire fiction. Sheridan Le Fanu’s novella is a gothic tale set in a remote Austrian estate, where a young woman named Laura encounters the enigmatic and alluring Carmilla. What begins as an unexpected friendship quickly descends into something far more sinister as Laura becomes entangled in Carmilla’s dark, seductive influence.

What makes Carmilla particularly fascinating is its portrayal of a female vampire with overtly sensual undertones, challenging Victorian norms. The novella is rich with gothic atmosphere, utilizing isolated settings, eerie dreams, and uncanny occurrences to build suspense.

Le Fanu’s story is not only notable for its eerie ambiance but also for its early feminist subtext. Carmilla is portrayed as a powerful, predatory force in a genre that typically cast women as passive victims.

For fans of gothic literature and early vampire lore, Carmilla remains a foundational piece, paving the way for the vampire genre as we know it today, and offering a haunting tale of desire, fear, and the dangers lurking behind a beautiful façade.

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Tonight, we’ll read the opening to “The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices”, written in collaboration by Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins. Snoozecast first read this story back in the year 2020.

An instrumental event in Wilkie Collins’s career was an introduction in 1851 when he was in his late twenties, to Charles Dickens by a mutual friend. They became lifelong friends and collaborators. For example, first, Collins acted with Dickens in a play together. Among the audience were Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Then one of Collins's stories was published in Dickens's magazine the next year. Later that year Collins went on tour with Dickens's company of amateur actors.

“The Lazy Tour” reads as an autobiographical tour taken by the two of them in the north of Britain. What resulted is extremely whimsical, occasionally absurd, and it has to be said, very much of its time. The book takes place in the year 1857 and provides insight into the friendship and adventures of the pair of titans of Victorian literature.

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Tonight, we shall read the next part to “Persuasion”, the last novel fully completed by Jane Austen, and published in 1817. The story concerns Anne Elliot, an Englishwoman whose family moves in order to lower their expenses and reduce their debt, by renting their home to an Admiral and his wife.

In the last episode, Anne finally extricates herself from the long, awkward walk through the countryside by hitching a ride with Captain Wentworth’s parents, who happen to pass by in their carriage. Anne starts to look forward to meeting back up with Lady Russell after her two month stay with her sister, and moving on with her life. We will pick up our story where the group of young people went to visit the scenic town of Lyme on a lark, where Captain Wentworth has old friends.

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Tonight, for this month’s Snoozecast+ Deluxe bonus episode, we’ll read a Snoozecast original story titled “The Goose, the Fox and the Dog”. In this tale, a quiet farmer returns from a bustling town market with his purchases: a fox, a goose, and a sack of grain. On his way home, he faces a dilemma as to how to cross the riverbank with his goods. The small boat can only carry one of his new acquisitions at a time, but to do so would surely ruin the others before they could be transported across. While the animals ceaselessly squabble and fret, the simple farmer keeps them all safe with his patience and steadiness.

This story is inspired by the classic “river crossing puzzle” in which the object is to carry items from one river bank to another, usually in the fewest trips. The difficulty of the puzzle may arise from restrictions on which or how many items can be transported at the same time, or which or how many items may be safely left together. The earliest known river-crossing problems occur in a manuscript from the 9th century.

This type of puzzle is also a form of recreational mathematics, which is to say it is carried out for entertainment rather than for research, formal education or professional applications. These sorts of puzzles and games are often appealing to children and untrained adults and can inspire their further study of the subject. Some of the more well-known topics in recreational mathematics are Rubik's Cubes, magic squares, fractals, logic puzzles and mathematical chess problems, the culture and aesthetics of mathematics, amusing stories and coincidences about mathematics, and the personal lives of mathematicians.

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Tonight, to continue our 6th annual “Spooky Sleep Story Series”, we shall read the opening to The Phantom Coach by Amelia B. Edwards. Tune in every Wednesday this month for sleep stories of the darker variety- like classic horror literature and ghost stories. If you prefer to avoid the mildly macabre we hope you’ll enjoy one of our many other stories available wherever you listen to podcasts.

Catch up on previous years by finding our free standalone podcast series “Snoozecast Presents: Spooky Stories” or if you are a premium subscriber, look for “Snoozecast+” or “Snoozecast+ Deluxe: Spooky Stories” instead to listen ad-free.

The Phantom Coach by Amelia B. Edwards, first published in 1864, is a classic Victorian ghost story. Edwards, an accomplished novelist, traveler, and Egyptologist, was known for her keen storytelling abilities, especially in weaving the supernatural into everyday occurrences. In this tale, she explores the eerie and unsettling experience of a man lost in a snowstorm who encounters a mysterious coach that may not be of this world.

Set against a bleak, wintry landscape, The Phantom Coach delves into themes of isolation, fate, and the unknown. What sets The Phantom Coach apart from other ghost stories of its time is Edwards’ use of psychological suspense. Rather than relying on overt scares, she creates a slow-burn tension that lingers long after the tale is finished. The story reflects the Victorian fascination with the unknown and the afterlife, common themes in the literature of the period, making it a quintessential example of 19th-century ghostly fiction.

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