Campfire Classics Podcast

Episode 25- Fairying Around: A Christmas Tale

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!!
25 episodes!  This feels like a quarter life crisis or something.
We have a new author this week.  Mary E. Wilkins Freeman!  Heather reads her short story entitled "The Christmas Masquerade".  And it is a wild ride.  A ride on loose horses, with drunk babies, and full of cherries.
And so many other strange twists and turns.  There is honestly too much to cover here, so just give it a listen.
"The Christmas Masquerade" can be found in the 1893 collection The Pot of Gold and Other Stories.
 
Oh!  And special thanks to Craig Kellberg, for his recordings of Away in a Manger and God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen. 
So sit back, light a fire (or even a candle), grab a drink, and enjoy.

Episode 24- Dreams, Feasts, and Fire Island

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!!
December 2020 starts with some big life news from our hosts.  Back into our regular rotation, this week's story comes from an author named E.F. Benson, who, in addition to having a fabulous moustache, was the writer of many horror and satire shorts.  This story is called "The Room in the Tower".
Our hosts start by sharing the big news before going on to such important topics as recurring dreams, bad decision making in horror stories, and possibly have some disturbing premonitions. 
"The Room in the Tower" was published in a collection of the same name in 1912.
So sit back, light a fire (or even a candle), grab a drink, and enjoy.

Episode 23- Rather an Old Ass

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!!
Movember is coming to a close as we prepare for Thanksgiving.  Poirot returns for one more adventure, this one entitled "The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor." Ken's moustache listens in as Heather gets her second try at the great Belgian detective.
See the moustache at movember.com/m/kensandberg
This week, Heather shows off her dance moves, Ken finally comes clean about his medical training, and seriously...what is a turnip faced watch!?
"The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor" was published in the magazine The Sketch in 1923 and can be found in the short story collection Poirot Investigates.
So sit back, light a fire (or even a candle), grab a drink, and enjoy.

Episode 22- Bronchitis my Butt

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!!
Movember moustache tribute week number 3!  Hopefully you have not tired of M. Poirot.  Campfire Classics hasn't. This week's mystery is "The Million Dollar Bond Robbery." Ken takes the helm, reading this uncommonly silly adventure, and, of course, continues his moustache growth at movember.com/m/kensandberg.
This week's talking points include a real life mystery, finding an insult that isn't an insult, and a particular personal discomfort, which is discussed at length.
"The Million Dollar Bond Robbery" was published in the magazine The Sketch in 1923 and can be found in the short story collection Poirot Investigates.
So sit back, light a fire (or even a candle), grab a drink, and enjoy.

Episode 21- Derelict in the Ditch

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!!
Week two of the Movember moustache tribute from Campfire Classics brings us another Poirot Mystery from Dame Christie.  This one is called "The Disappearance of Mr Davenheim", and Ken continues to raise money for Movember with his sad moustache which you can see at movember.com/m/kensandberg.
This week, Heather gets to take her first turn at the great Belgian detective and his French accent with...mixed success.  Our hosts learn more about moustaches than anyone knew you could learn, cast a couple of new Poirot film adaptations, and try to figure out where The Big D has disappeared to.
"The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim" was published in the magazine The Sketch in 1923 and can be found in the short story collection Poirot Investigates.
So sit back, light a fire (or even a candle), grab a drink, and enjoy.

Episode 20- Psycho Psychic or That Darn Cat

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!!
Week one of the Movember moustache tribute from Campfire Classics kicks off with a Poirot Mystery from the great Agatha Christie called "The Adventure of the Cheap Flat". Ken will be raising money for Movember, and you can check out his moustache progress or donate some money at movember.com/m/kensandberg.
This week, our co-hosts make unfounded accusations against left handed people, discuss the origins of the Mario Brothers, and start training to become international spies.
Also, did you vote yet?
"The Adventure of the Cheap Flat" was published in the magazine The Sketch in 1923 and can be found in the short story collection Poirot Investigates.
So sit back, light a fire (or even a candle), grab a drink, and enjoy.

Edgar Allan Poe-nus Episode - Halloween 2020

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!!
Back in August, we read this story thinking it might be a good 10th episode.  Instead, it was upsetting.  So now you get to hear it for Halloween!Trigger warning: This is a Poe horror story and the character is not nice to people or small animals.
So, today we're taking a swing at Edgar Allan Poe's short story The Black Cat. Along the way, we cast Hollywood's most believable psychopath, make WILD predictions about the ending based on nothing, and get a surprise visit from Hercule Poirot.
So sit back, light a fire (or even a candle), grab a drink, and enjoy.

Episode 19- Rock 'n' Roll Reaper

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!!
Our final regular release in October 2020 is another spooky story.  This one comes to you from American Author Robert William Chambers.  The story "In the Court of the Dragon" leaves our hosts a little confused.  Okay, a lot confused, but it is incredibly engaging and comes from a collection called The King in Yellow.  During their attempt to understand this tale of terror our hosts discuss the quirks of cathedral architecture, learn that "voluntary" doesn't always mean what you think it does, and question just what type of music the devil would play.
And it all kicks off with an impromptu song.
If you already heard this week's True Crimes and a Lie, you can catch the story by jumping to 16:50.
"In the Court of the Dragon" was published in the collection The King in Yellow in 1895.
So sit back, light a fire (or even a candle), grab a drink, and enjoy.

True Crimes and a Lie, Vol. 4

Here's a little sneak peek of the action coming up in the next Campfire Classics!  That's right, it's another True Crimes and a Lie! a gameshow within a podcast, where Heather tries to determine fact from fiction and Ken tries to come up with a snappy tagline.
Can you tell which story is fiction?  And can you guess the super subtle theme that holds these stories together?
 

Episode 18- A Comely Wench

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!!
This week we're promoting #comelywench.
The great Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is most well known for authoring the most enduring detective of modern literature, Sherlock Holmes.  But Heather and Ken are shocked to learn in this episode that he wrote other characters, too!  We learn a little about Heather's first impression of Ken, look up a bunch of new words, and put out a call for your favorite haunted objects!"The Leather Funnel" was first published in the June 1903 issue of The Stand Magazine.
So sit back, light a fire (or even a candle), grab a drink, and enjoy.

Episode 17- Don't Be a Bullying Seaman

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!!
And a belated Happy Birthday to Ken, who turned 36 (if we're counting quarantine birthdays) yesterday!
This week, Heather reads an unsettling seafaring story by British author, Victorian hunk, and erstwhile bodybuilder William Hope Hodgson. "The Voice in the Night" is an eerie journey, and our hosts compensate by finally learning what the poop deck is, coming up with euphemisms for "drunk, and trademarking a new burlesque entertainment style.
If you've already enjoyed this week's "True Crimes and a Lie", you can get to the story by jumping to the 13:27 mark.
"The Voice in the Night" has been adapted and reprinted many times, but was first published in the November 1907 edition of Blue Book Magazine.
So sit back, light a fire (or even a candle), grab a drink, and enjoy.

True Crimes and a Lie, Vol. 3

Check out the newest installment of True Crimes and a Lie, A Gameshow within a Podcast all about telling true crime from fake crime.Enjoy this now or as part of Campfire Classics' Episode 17.And please write in and let us know if you have ideas for better taglines!

Episode 16- The Purpose of My Coming

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!!
For most of you, welcome back!
Algernon Blackwood was a wildly influential writer whose admirers include SciFi and Fantasy greats J.R.R. Tolkien and H.P. Lovecraft! This week's Campfire Classic is his story "The Wood of the Dead".  The writing is incredible and our hosts are enthralled, but do get a little off topic.  Surprise surprise.  They discuss book burning, forget how old they are, and try to decide how much tramping is too much tramping.
#countrified
"The Wood of the Dead" is part of Blackwood's 1906 collection The Empty House and Other Ghost Stories.
So sit back, light a fire (or even a candle), grab a drink, and enjoy.

Campfire Classics Podcast Promo

A quick audio promo for a taste of what we do over here at Campfire Classics Podcast. Check us out for some great stories and a lot of laughter! 
Thanks from the team at Campfire Classics,
Ken and Heather

Episode 15- Alan the Demon Dinosaur

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!!
I think they've gone off the deep end this week!  What is up with this demon dino!?This week's read is an engaging story by English author Edith Nesbit called "Man-Size in Marble".  The tale is full of twists and turns, and so is the episode.  Heather proves that there are some things a Catholic never forgets, Ken wants to hire a housekeeper, and the entire episode might be an anti-smoking ad.
"Man-Size in Marble" can be read in Nesbit's 1893 anthology Grim Tales.
So sit back, light a fire (or even a candle), grab a drink, and enjoy.

Episode 14- Everything's an Innuendo

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!!
Welcome back to another installment! This week, Ken takes a swing at a spooky story, recommended to us by some new friends on the social media.  "What Was It? A Mystery" was written by Fitz James O'Brien, another man with a massive moustache (check out his picture on his Wikipedia page).  This week: Ken is bad at math, Heather wants to move in with a ghost, and will someone attempt a celebrity impersonation!?
"What Was It? A Mystery" was first published in 1859.
So sit back, light a fire (or even a candle), grab a drink, and enjoy.

True Crimes and a Lie, Vol. 2!

Bonus Mini Episode of our new Podcast within a Podcast Game Show- True Crimes and a Lie!!!
Ken reads the summary of three crimes, two are true crimes and one is a fictional crime from a book.
Play along with Heather to try and guess which two are true, and which one is a lie! Get it? True Crimes and a Lie!  
Enjoy!

Episode 13- Eat the Cake

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!!
This is a big one! TWO stories AND a new game that you can play along with at home.  We're reading stories by H.H. Munro, AKA Saki. How well do you  know true crime, Heather takes a crack at some French words, and little girls are terrifying.
"The Boar Pig" and "The Open Window" both appear in the 1914 short story collection Beasts and Super-Beasts.
So sit back, light a fire (or even a candle), grab a drink, and enjoy.

True Crimes and a Lie, a Gameshow Within a Podcast

What's this!? This is strange!Released as a bonus mini-episode, this is pulled straight from our upcoming episode, "Eat the Cake".In our new Gameshow Within a Podcast, we play True Crimes and a Lie, where we read the summary of three crimes, and try to guess which ones are real, and which one is the plot of a mystery novel.Enjoy!

Episode 12- Here Comes the Boom Boom

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!!
We've got an outsourced recommendation this week! Ken tries, with mixed success, to read a well known story that somehow neither he nor Heather had read before, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce.  Heather has words for the Confederate flag, Harrison Ford makes an unexpected appearance, and our author might be a time traveling Vampire.
Originally published by The San Francisco Examiner on July 13, 1890, this story was later added to the collection Tales of Soldiers and Civilians.
So sit back, light a fire (or even a candle), grab a drink, and enjoy.

Episode 11- Don't Go in the Moist Hole!

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!!
Our 11th episode, and we're back home in NYC! This week, Heather tries to read an H.P. Lovecraft short called "The Tomb"!  We chat music mash-ups, yell at the book like it can hear us, and learn so many new words!
"The Tomb" was first published in the March 1922 issue of The Vagrant.
So sit back, light a fire (or even a candle), grab a drink, and enjoy.

Episode 10- Liza! Descending the Stairs

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!!
For our 10th episode, we're going back to our favorite writer, the great Agatha Christie!  Once again, she has written a twisting, turning, and titillating little tale.  Would Agatha vape if she were alive today?  Is Poirot going to survive this ordeal? And what will make Hastings ejaculate this time? In Agatha we trust.
"The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge" was first published in 1923 and appears in the anthology Poirot Investigates.
So sit back, light a fire (or even a candle), grab a drink, and enjoy.

Episode 9- A Seaman and His Candlestick

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a Literary Comedy Podcast!!
 
This week, we're recording from the deep woods of northern Minnesota.  "Blow Up With the Brig" is a haunting tale, told by Wilkie Collins, father of the modern English detective novel.  We fight off coyotes, write the summer's musical hit, and wax philosophical about the origin of violent seamen. 
"Blow Up With the Brig" is an early work from Wilkie Collins, originally published in 1859.
 
So sit back, light a fire (or even a candle), grab a drink, and enjoy.

Episode 8- Gibbles and Children Bits

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a new Literary Comedy Podcast!!
 
This week brings us round two with the great H.G. Wells.  This time the scope is not so interstellar as "The Star" (Episode 3), but "The Magic Shop" is equally engaging, and just as full of big words our hosts have to look up.  Ken's Mom calls him out, Mona Lisa turns out to be an Indian Guru, and...so many balls!
 
"The Magic Shop" first came to readers through the magazine Strand in 1903.
 
So sit back, light a fire (or even a candle), grab a drink, and enjoy

Episode 7- Hump Yourself 90 Miles

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a new Literary Comedy Podcast!!
 
Our seventh episode features an original improvised song, Dennis the Menace's unofficial origin story, and a cautionary tale to babysitters everywhere.
 
Written by O. Henry, "The Ransom of Red Chief" first appear in the July 6, 1907 issue of The Saturday Evening Post.
 
So sit back, light a fire (or even a candle), grab a drink, and enjoy

Episode 6- Oblige Them be Blowed

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a new Literary Comedy Podcast!!
 
In our sixth installment, we read a ghost story from M.R. James called "Wailing Well."  Heather complains about the weather, Ken's dialect work is regionally suspicious, and the English Boy Scouts have some peculiar practices.
 
"Wailing Well" was written in 1927, published in 1928, and included in M.R. James' 1931 book Collected Ghost Stories. 
 
So sit back, light a fire (or even a candle), grab a drink, and enjoy. 

Episode 5- Stoke My Smoke Rocket!!

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a brand new Literary Comedy Podcast!!
 
For our fifth episode we read Part 2 of "A Scandal in Bohemia" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. We discuss the King of Pop, Holmes gets down and dirty, and of course #stokemysmokerocket
 
"A Scandal in Bohemia" was originally published on June 25th 1881 in The Strand Magazine. It is the first of fifty-six short stories published as a collection in 1892 called The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
 
So sit back, light a fire (or even a candle), grab a drink, and enjoy. 

Episode 4- Observe Your Steps and Get Yourself Wet!

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a brand new Literary Comedy Podcast!!
 
For our fourth episode we read Part 1 of "A Scandal in Bohemia" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Heather dives back into her German dialect work, New Jersey gains another celebrity, and we dream of playing dress up Billy Porter and The Rock. 
 
"A Scandal in Bohemia" was originally published on June 25th 1881 in The Strand Magazine. It is the first of fifty-six short stories published as a collection in 1892 called The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
 
So sit back, light a fire (or even a candle), grab a drink, and enjoy. 

Episode 3- The Impotent Professor

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a brand new Literary Comedy Podcast!!
 
For our third episode we read "The Star" by the father of Science Fiction, H.G. Wells. Fun Facts comin' at cha.  Is Pluto a still Planet!? And wow, this feels like it was written yesterday!
 
"The Star" was originally published in 1897 and is considered to be the birth of the modern "Apocalyptic Space" story. 
 
So sit back, light a fire (or even a candle), grab a drink, and enjoy. 

Episode 2- Tombs and Moustaches

Welcome to Campfire Classics, a brand new Literary Comedy Podcast!!
 
For our second episode we read a ghost story by Charles Dickens. Heather shows off her "talent" for accents, a new frozen treat is discovered, and...Vampires?
 
"To Be Read At Dusk" was originally published in Heath's Keepsake in 1852 
 
So sit back, light a fire (or even a candle), grab a drink, and enjoy.