Sleepy Stories

We start to get some hints of the sadness underlying this children's story. Fortunately, my gigglebox child is there to rescue us from it. She calls me on the "creepy Mickey Mouse" voice I gave the prince, which is delightful and a much-needed correction. Leave us a message if you're having fun. The sources for our text are the cyber-scribes at gutenberg.org;   Our theme song is Jimbo’s Lullaby by Claude Debussy performed by the Riverside Wind Consort via musopen.org. Pleasant dreams.

Welcome to Season 2.1 of Sleepy Stories! While we're reading The Princess and Curdie in the other half of the podcast, we're going to start putting up episodes of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince, also once a week. This is mostly because Lydia's getting more ambitious, and I always want to help. The Little Prince is an odd, beautiful story. It's a philosophical treatise as much as it's a fairy tale. A solitary aviator crashed in the desert meets an unusual figure-- a small boy, whom he realizes is probably from another world. It's satirical, ridiculous, hilarious, and sad in turns. One of the greatest pieces of children's writing ever. I'll try to warn you before the sad parts kick in. Leave us a message if you're having fun. The sources for our text are the cyber-scribes at gutenberg.org;   Our theme song is Jimbo’s Lullaby by Claude Debussy performed by the Riverside Wind Consort via musopen.org. Pleasant dreams.

10 chapters in, Curdie's beginning his journey. The past is a different country, and its narrative rules are slow and unsteady. That said, this is a nice piece of atmospheric writing. Lydia was incredibly sleepy when we were recording this one. There's also a contrast between her current maturity and when we recorded this, but when she gets tired she always tries to return to baby mode. Leave us a message if you're having fun. The sources for our text are the cyber-scribes at gutenberg.org;   Our theme song is Jimbo’s Lullaby by Claude Debussy performed by the Riverside Wind Consort via musopen.org. Pleasant dreams.

A nice, short episode after last week's relatively large one. Lydia is stupendously tired throughout this one, but it doesn't stop her from offering commentary. The story is mostly Curdie telling his parents that he has magic hands, and them not asking for much evidence for this extraordinary claim. I understand that MacDonald's writing about 'faith,' but I'm also a fan of questions. Leave us a message if you're having fun. The sources for our text are the cyber-scribes at gutenberg.org;   Our theme song is Jimbo’s Lullaby by Claude Debussy performed by the Riverside Wind Consort via musopen.org. Pleasant dreams.

This 35-minute behemoth had 2 full minutes of horrible mouth sounds and mushmouthed mispronunciations deleted from it. You're welcome. Lydia helped me edit this one. She was struck by the sheer amount of time and energy she spent on talking silly in this episode. Leave us a message if you're having fun. The sources for our text are the cyber-scribes at gutenberg.org;   Our theme song is Jimbo’s Lullaby by Claude Debussy performed by the Riverside Wind Consort via musopen.org. Pleasant dreams.

Curdie and his father, Peter, meet the Great Great Grandmother in the mines, in a kind of angelic glory. Also, Lydia brings in Angel Bear, who is a marvelous and well-behaved guest. I'd like to hear more questions from that one. Leave us a message if you're having fun. The sources for our text are the cyber-scribes at gutenberg.org;   Our theme song is Jimbo’s Lullaby by Claude Debussy performed by the Riverside Wind Consort via musopen.org. Pleasant dreams.

We got an incredibly energetic Lydia for this descent into MacDonald's mines. She was so energetic that I had to cut some audio where one of the many stuffies that visited us while we were recording ended up dancing on my microphone and I had to cut a little audio. I hope it wasn't too awkward. Also, sorry that I didn't put anything out for a couple weeks. I'm adjusting to my job, and just now finding time and energy again. While MacDonald's discussions about faith, theology, and magic sometimes bug me I kinda like this one. I like how he balances the miners' faith in dowsing rods and witches against their adamant disbelief in anything angelic. Leave us a message if you're having fun. The sources for our text are the cyber-scribes at gutenberg.org;   Our theme song is Jimbo’s Lullaby by Claude Debussy performed by the Riverside Wind Consort via musopen.org. Pleasant dreams.

This is another one of MacDonald's discourses on faith. It doesn't move the plot forward much, except it does make sense for someone who's had a run-in with the magical or the miraculous to talk it over with loved ones. Make sure you stay through to the end of the episode if you want to know what it sounds like when a 5-year-old is done recording. She gets me. I done got got. Leave us a message if you're having fun. The sources for our text are the cyber-scribes at gutenberg.org;   Our theme song is Jimbo’s Lullaby by Claude Debussy performed by the Riverside Wind Consort via musopen.org. Pleasant dreams.

We begin what's going to be a long path of Biblical imagery for this book. I'll admit upfront that Curdie's response to being touched by a divine messenger is unexpected, though. In that vein, there's a pretty frank discussion between an adult and a five-year-old about the merits of hunting in this episode. I think it's a good idea for kids to know where meat comes from, but if you don't think your children are ready then you might want to steer clear. Other than that, pleasant dreams. Leave us a message if you're having fun. The sources for our text are the cyber-scribes at gutenberg.org;   Our theme song is Jimbo’s Lullaby by Claude Debussy performed by the Riverside Wind Consort via musopen.org. Pleasant dreams.

George MacDonald waxes poetic about magma and recaps the plot of his previous novel, "The Princess and the Goblin," in this chapter. For our part, Lydia takes me up on my offer to answer any questions she has, and I can't even get our podcast's name right, or the book's title either. Welcome to Season 2, and don't blame me. I voted for The Wizard of Oz. Leave us a message if you're having fun. The sources for our text are the cyber-scribes at gutenberg.org;   Our theme song is Jimbo’s Lullaby by Claude Debussy performed by the Riverside Wind Consort via musopen.org. Pleasant dreams.

As you can see, George MacDonald loved a good tautology. Here we are at the end of our first season. We'll stumble into "The Princess and Curdie" after the New Year. Also, looks like I was still calling this thing "Sleepytime Stories" right up until then. I'm genuinely curious to find out how deep that error stretches into Season 2! This is more of a denouement than a chapter, simply tying up a few loose ends and sending the characters on their way. However, it is framed by some super solid Lydia nonsense on either end, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I left the sound of my dad closing a somewhat difficult bedroom door because I thought it was funny. Sorry about that. :-) Thanks for giving us a good first year! We'll talk to you again in 2020.    -Matt Leave us a message if you're having fun. The sources for our text are the cyber-scribes at gutenberg.org;   Our theme song is Jimbo’s Lullaby by Claude Debussy performed by the Riverside Wind Consort via musopen.org. Pleasant dreams.

Lydia does some slight impromptu voice acting in this one-- I like it! She's also at her chirpiest, giving us constant commentary, so this may be one of my favorite episodes. Enjoy! Leave us a message if you're having fun. The sources for our text are the cyber-scribes at gutenberg.org;   Our theme song is Jimbo’s Lullaby by Claude Debussy performed by the Riverside Wind Consort via musopen.org. Pleasant dreams.

If you've ever wanted a chance to get to know a stuffed ray named Moon Eyes, she and Lydia are both chatting up a storm early on in this short episode. This is an aftermath chapter. While we know the Princess and Curdie are momentarily safe, we also know the goblins had a destructive contingency plan in place, so the story shifts to the miners' survival! Leave us a message if you're having fun. The sources for our text are the cyber-scribes at gutenberg.org;   Our theme song is Jimbo’s Lullaby by Claude Debussy performed by the Riverside Wind Consort via musopen.org. Pleasant dreams.

Curdie finally gets to have an apologetic chat with Princess Irene-- listen to children, y'all. Reunited, the heroes get to plan their next steps against the goblins, and realize that the goblins are about to do Something Terrible. Leave us a message if you're having fun. The sources for our text are the cyber-scribes at gutenberg.org;   Our theme song is Jimbo’s Lullaby by Claude Debussy performed by the Riverside Wind Consort via musopen.org. Pleasant dreams.

Fans of a rambunctious girl-child won't be disappointed by this episode! Ain't gonna lie, her antics made this the hardest episode to edit thus far. My apologies for not updating last week. I started a new job AND got the most persistent case of food poisoning at the same time! I'm adjusting my schedule accordingly. I'm also on a new computer, which I think overall improves the quality of this episode, but I have some things to learn about the new rig as well. All shall be well and all manner of things shall be well. Leave us a message if you're having fun. The sources for our text are the cyber-scribes at gutenberg.org;   Our theme song is Jimbo’s Lullaby by Claude Debussy performed by the Riverside Wind Consort via musopen.org. Pleasant dreams.

There's strong evidence that this episode is Peak Silly for this Daddy-Daughter team. Blame it on fatigue, blame it on my voice acting struggles-- The Cook gets 3 female voices before I realize the character's male-- blame it on a rambunctiously grumpy daughter who picks fights with pillows. All of the above honestly makes this episode one of my favorites. Leave us a message if you're having fun. The sources for our text are the cyber-scribes at gutenberg.org;   Our theme song is Jimbo’s Lullaby by Claude Debussy performed by the Riverside Wind Consort via musopen.org. Pleasant dreams.

Lydia felt very sick while we were recording this one. She was almost inaudible for a lot of it, finally prompting me to play with the "Amplify" effect in Audacity. There's a learning curve, but I think the podcast as a whole's going to be improved as a result. This was months ago. The Lyd's feeling just fine now. :-) Leave us a message if you're having fun. The sources for our text are the cyber-scribes at gutenberg.org;   Our theme song is Jimbo’s Lullaby by Claude Debussy performed by the Riverside Wind Consort via musopen.org. Pleasant dreams.

Hey! Back to our regularly scheduled postings this week! We recorded this back on Saint Patrick's Day, giving you a pretty good idea of how long it was before I actually started posting vs when we started recording. Another chapter where MacDonald has some long discussions about faith and moves the plot forward at the end as an afterthought. While I really enjoyed the previous chapter's writing, even as a Christian I think MacDonald's pro-faith argument here is disingenuous. It seems very character based, and if 2019's taught me anything, it's that people are terrible judges of character. Of course, on the pro-side Irene's appearance in the mines was basically a miracle. Curdie should be prepared to believe some extraordinary stuff from that weird little girl. Lydia surprised me with a shout-out to What If World this week. Mister Eric's work is fabulous and it's well-deserved. Leave us a message if you're having fun. The sources for our text are the cyber-scribes at gutenberg.org;   Our theme song is Jimbo’s Lullaby by Claude Debussy performed by the Riverside Wind Consort via musopen.org. Pleasant dreams.

There's a lot to unpack in this extra long episode, what with Lydia surprising me with Mister Crocodile and some fairly deep discussions. This is McDonald's hardest stance on faith yet, with Irene being the person who believes, and Curdie playing the rationalist. I'm happy that he seems sympathetic to both positions, at the very least. Leave us a message if you're having fun: https://anchor.fm/matthew-z-wood2/message The sources for our text are the cyber-scribes at gutenberg.org;   Our theme song is Jimbo’s Lullaby by Claude Debussy performed by the Riverside Wind Consort via musopen.org. Pleasant dreams.

We switch back to the Princess Irene's perspective, and her magic ring gets her into subterranean trouble in this episode. Irene's very young, so it's not surprising she's frightened past the point of tears. Even so, she's also a hero, as we'll soon see. Lydia couldn't stop stirring her Sleepytime tea in this episode. Sorry about the clinks, y'all. I like that she had so many questions-- it's good to have a young listener right in the room with me. Leave us a message if you're having fun: https://anchor.fm/matthew-z-wood2/message The sources for our text are the cyber-scribes at gutenberg.org;   Our theme song is Jimbo’s Lullaby by Claude Debussy performed by the Riverside Wind Consort via musopen.org. Pleasant dreams.