Previous Shows - 2016
Welcome to Hour 25 Audio Index Hour 25 Background Hour 25 Newsletter
Bookstores and Other Places of Interest Links
Index to our previous shows
December 25, 2016 Christmas Readings
October 31, 2016 Halloween Readings
The Shows
Christmas Readings - 2016
Listen to this show
On Sunday - December 25th, 2016 - Hour 25 joined you to celebrate Christmas - a time of family and friends, a time of love and charity, a time when people act - for a few days - in the way we wish they'd act all year long.
And Christmas certainly falls within the purview of the literature of the fantastic - given that it involves a jolly man who travels around the world in a reindeer pulled sleigh giving toys and treats to children everywhere. And he does this all in one night. You can't get more fantastic than that.
And so Hour 25 joins you and your family in celebrating this magical holiday by continuing our long running tradition of reading you Christmas stories with an extra dash of the fantastic.
So pour yourself some eggnog, toss some decorations on your Christmas tree, light up the Yule log and sit back and relax 'cause you're on a journey to the worlds of your imagination with The Hour That Stretches.
Snap-Dragon by James Hain Friswell
Listen to this storyOur first story for tonight is Snap-Dragon by James Hain Friswell. In this story a man, who must be a cousin of Ebenezer Scrooge, decides that he wants no part of his family during the Christmas season. He avoids them and their holiday festivities and ultimately learns why this was a very bad idea.
This story revolves around a traditional English family game called Snap-Dragon, which involves filling a bowl with raisins and other treats, covering it with Brandy and then setting the liquor on fire. The family members next take turns trying to extract treats from this flaming mix while hopefully not getting their fingers too burned. {This is certainly not a game that is OSHA approved or suitable for over-protective helicopter parents.} Though this family fun-time goes back to the 16th century it is not commonly played today. {Imagine that.} But it does form an interested setting for the events in our first story.
P.S. We really don't recommend that you try this game at home. But that's just us.
A traditional family playing Snap-Dragon because nothing says family fun like sticking your hand into a fire to get some raisins.
The Mystery of My Grandmother's Hair Sofa by John Kendrick Bangs
Listen to this storyOur second story for the night is another Christmas ghost story by John Kendrick Bangs - The Mystery of My Grandmother's Hair Sofa. In this story a writer who has been getting some grief from his editor has a most unusual encounter with a ghost on Christmas Eve. Or does he? Hard to tell, but there is one piece of evidence suggesting that he managed to avoid a very unpleasant encounter with a visitor from the spectral realms.
John Kendrick Bangs was a writer working in the late 19th century and early 20th. He was well known for his humorous take on the supernatural that portrayed ghostly creatures in mundane situations doing decidedly unsupernatural things. His protagonists are often writers having problems with deadlines and editors and whose problems only get worse once ghosts come into the picture. {I suspect that many of his stories are semi-autobiographical - at least the parts that don't involves ghosts and ghoulies.}
Back in the day stories of this type became known as "Bangsian fantasies" and inspired other authors to take a fresh look at fantasy. Bangs's signature approach to supernatural and humor humor laid the foundation for today's urban fantasies ranging from The Twilight Zone to Buffy the Vampire Slayer and many others.
So tonight we're going to bring you a story set in Victorian times combining editorial demands, writerly problems, ghosts(?) and Victorian parlor furniture. We present for your enjoyment The Mystery of My Grandmother's Hair Sofa by John Kendrick Bangs.
Christmas Greetings from the Moon
Listen to a Christmas greeting from Apollo 8
I'll never forget Christmas Eve 1968 - when I went outside on a cold winter's night and looked up at the Moon, shining over snow and Christmas lights, and realized that at that very moment three men from Earth were circling that world. This proved that the Moon was not just a place for science fiction dreams but a real place just waiting for discovery and exploration. For a young man who had been dreaming of spaceflight for his whole life the inescapable reality of that moment was a dream come true.
So let us remember that as the crew of Apollo 8 orbited above our lifeless Moon that night, they looked back to see the Earth - a blue and green oasis floating against star filled blackness - and sent the world a Christmas greeting... The first ever from another world.
A Science Fictional Christmas
Back in the 1950's Galaxy Magazine had something of a tradition of publishing Christmas themed covers for their holiday season issues. While looking at them I was struck by the similarities between what Santa does and what engineers do when designing and flying missions to other planets.
First you must establish your mission requirements...
Next you must plan your mission...
Then you must travel through space whilst being careful to account for any mid-course encounters with other objects or spacecraft...
Upon reaching your destination you must carefully deploy your payloads...
And when your mission is completed you can sit down with friends and give a toast to a job well done.
Now go and enjoy the holidays with your family and friends. From all of us here at Hour 25, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and the happiest of New Years. And remember, when happiness comes to your party, be sure to give it a comfortable seat.
The Hour 25 Broadcast
Click here to listen to the entire show. {59:35}
OrClick here for the show's intro music. {0:41}
Click here for the show's opening. {1:41}
Click here for Suzanne's reading of Snap-Dragon by James Hain Friswell. {24:18}
Click here for Warren's reading of The Mystery of My Grandmother's Hair Sofa by John Kendrick Bangs. {27:32}
Click here for a Christmas greeting from the Moon. {2:53}
Click here for the show's closing. {2:30}
For more Christmas readings you can listen to our shows from 2015, , 2014, 2013, 2012, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002 and 2001.
And to add some music to your holiday season you might want to listen to our show featuring holiday carols with a Lovecraftian twist.
Click here for links to all of the previous Shows that you can listen to on the Hour 25 Website.
Halloween Readings - 2016
 |
 |
 |
Listen to this show
On Monday - October 31st, 2016 - Hour 25 joined you to celebrate Halloween - a time when green leaves turn shades of red and yellow, the nights get crisp and cool, darkness lingers and on this night of nights the spirits of the mysterious walk the Earth.
And in that spirit, Hour 25 is here to bring you stories of the fantastic, the mysterious and even the ghoulishly humorous.
So close the drapes, light the candles, sit back and relax and try not to wonder about those specters hovering just beyond the candlelight. You're on a journey to the worlds of mystery and imagination with The Hour That Stretches.
The Past by Ellen Glasgow
Listen to this storyOur first story for tonight is The Past by Ellen Glasgow. This story tells us about a woman who comes to work in a household where a dark force is threatening the happiness of a married couple. The ghost of an embittered lover is literally destroying their lives. It is a charming story of ghosts and romance showing us that if you try hard enough you can overcome dark forces without becoming one yourself. Love does triumph over evil.
Ellen Glasgow was born in 1873 and lived until the end of World War II. She is primarily known for her 20 novels about women from the South and wrote very little genre fiction. She was on the bestseller list five times and her last novel, In This Our Life, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1942. This was later turned into a movie starring Bette Davis and Olivia DeHaviland and directed by John Houston.
Tonight's romantic ghost story is one of the only seven short stories she is known to have written.
The Ghost Club by John Kendrick Bangs
Listen to this storyOur second story for the night is a humorous ghost story by John Kendrick Bangs - The Ghost Club. {And no, the Ghost Club is not some place where ghoulies come '6 to a pack' for $29.95.} Rather, it's a place where spirits come to socialize and have a little fun playing tricks on mortals.
John Kendrick Bangs was a writer and editor who worked in the late 19th century and early 20th. He was well known for his humorous take on the supernatural and his stories often featured writers who were bedevilled by mischievous spirits.
By portraying supernatural creatures in mundane situations he was able to make humorous commentaries on the foibles of contemporary society. He went so far as to publish A House Boat on the Styx which followed the misadventures of a group of spirits who decide that such a vessel would be a great place for parties in the afterlife, even if Charon didn't agree with them. At the end of the book Captain Kidd absconds with the houseboat, leading to the sequel Pursuit of the Houseboat wherein Sherlock Holmes and others go on a quest to return the houseboat to its rightful owners. The story is as funny - and silly - as this short description implies. Phillip Jose Farmer once said that A House Boat on the Styx was one of the inspirations for his Riverworld series.
Bangs's signature supernatural humor eventually became so popular and well known that such types of stories became known as "Bangsian fantasies". Even today we see echoes of his plot devices and stylings in urban fantasies and contemporary stories of the supernatural ranging from The Twilight Zone to Harry Potter. I mean, when it comes to juxtaposing the supernatural, the mundane and the humorous can you beat Buffy the Vampire Slayer?
So tonight we're going to bring you a story set in a Victorian drawing room filled with mischievous spooks and one gullible human. We have for you - The Ghost Club by John Kendrick Bangs.
The Hour 25 Broadcast
Click here to listen to the entire show. {1:53:19}
OrClick here for the show's intro music. {0:41}
Click here for the show's opening. {1:23}
Click here for Suzanne's reading of The Past by Ellen Glasgow. {1:08:40}
Click here for Warren's reading of The Ghost Club by John Kendrick Bangs. {40:37}
Click here for the show's closing. {1:58}
For more Halloween readings and interviews you can listen to our shows from 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2001 and 2000.
And to add some music to your holiday season you might want to listen to our show featuring holiday carols with a Lovecraftian twist.
Click here for links to all of the previous Shows that you can listen to on the Hour 25 Website.
If you enjoyed this show and would like to know when other interviews are uploaded to the Hour 25 Website, then send an email to me at wwjames@earthlink.net and I will add your name to the free Hour 25 Newsletter mailing list. That way you'll get a brief notice in your email every time a new show gets uploaded to the web.
Click here for information about the audio files used for Hour 25 and for information about configuring your browser and downloading audio players.
Please note Web Pages from external sites will open in a separate browser window and that Hour 25 Productions are not responsible for the content of any external Web Sites.