Of Now And Then

By E.M. Forster, 1909 After initial publication in The Oxford and Cambridge Review, the story was republished in Forster's The Eternal Moment and Other Stories in 1928. After being voted one of the best novellas up to 1965, it was included that same year in the populist anthology Modern Short Stories. In 1973 it was also included in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two. The Machine Stops describes a world in which most of the human population has lost the ability to live on the surface of the Earth. Each individual now lives in isolation below ground in a standard room, with all bodily and spiritual needs met by the omnipotent, global Machine. Travel is permitted, but is unpopular and rarely necessary. Communication is made via a kind of instant messaging/video conferencing machine with which people conduct their only activity: the sharing of ideas and what passes for knowledge. MUSIC: Candlepower (Chris Zabriskie) Tomie's Bubbles (Candlegravity) Of Now And Then retells fantasy and future fictional stories in the public domain produced as audiobooks. The show is voiced, edited and produced by Aram Vartian. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By E.M. Forster, 1909 After initial publication in The Oxford and Cambridge Review, the story was republished in Forster's The Eternal Moment and Other Stories in 1928. After being voted one of the best novellas up to 1965, it was included that same year in the populist anthology Modern Short Stories. In 1973 it was also included in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two. The Machine Stops describes a world in which most of the human population has lost the ability to live on the surface of the Earth. Each individual now lives in isolation below ground in a standard room, with all bodily and spiritual needs met by the omnipotent, global Machine. Travel is permitted, but is unpopular and rarely necessary. Communication is made via a kind of instant messaging/video conferencing machine with which people conduct their only activity: the sharing of ideas and what passes for knowledge. MUSIC: "Candlepower" by Chris Zabriskie) "Tomie's Bubbles" by Candlegravity) Of Now And Then retells fantasy and future fictional stories in the public domain produced as audiobooks. The show is voiced, edited and produced by Aram Vartian. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By Mark Twain, 1904 Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher and lecturer. Among his novels are The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), the latter often called "The Great American Novel." "The War Prayer", a short story or prose poem by Mark Twain, is a scathing indictment of war, and particularly of blind patriotic and religious fervor as motivations for war. MUSIC: "Candlepower" by Chris Zabriskie "Patriotic songs of America" by New York Military Band and the American Quartet "Tomie's Bubbles" by Candlegravity Of Now And Then retells fantasy and future fictional stories in the public domain produced as audiobooks. The show is voiced, edited and produced by Aram Vartian. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By H.P. Lovecraft, 1927 Howard Phillips Lovecraft (August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American author who achieved posthumous fame through his influential works of horror fiction. Virtually unknown and published only in pulp magazines before he died in poverty, he is now regarded as one of the most significant 20th-century authors in his genre. Lovecraft was born in Providence, Rhode Island, where he spent most of his life. Among his most celebrated tales are “The Call of Cthulhu” and “The Shadow over Innsmouth“, both canonical to the Cthulhu Mythos. Never able to support himself from earnings as author and editor, Lovecraft saw commercial success increasingly elude him in this latter period, partly because he lacked the confidence and drive to promote himself. He subsisted in progressively straitened circumstances in his last years; an inheritance was completely spent by the time he died at the age of 46. "The Colour Out of Space" is a science fiction/horror short story by American author H. P. Lovecraft. An unnamed narrator pieces together the story of an area known by the locals as the "blasted heath" in the hills west of the fictional town of Arkham, Massachusetts. Special thanks to our good friends BattleBards for their amazing sound effects! MUSIC: "Cylinder Two" by Chris Zabriskie "Gagool" by Kevin MacLeod "Dark Elf City" by Mike Bridge "Moorland" by Kevin MacLeod "Unlight" by Kevin MacLeod "The Tale of the Spine Breaker" by Stephane Lorello "This House" by Kevin MacLeod "Trance of Cluster" by Ars Sonor "Bellow" by Ben Carey "Oneiri" by Kai Engel "Oppressive Gloom" by Kevin MacLeod "Away" by Twilight Tipi "Touch the Darkness" by Kai Engel "Somnolence" by Kai Engel "Dancing on the Edge" by Kai Engel "Universe in Hands" by Kai Engel "Tomie’s Bubbles" by Candlegravity "Candlepower" by Chris Zabriskie Of Now And Then retells fantasy and future fictional stories in the public domain produced as audiobooks. The show is voiced, edited and produced by Aram Vartian. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices