This week, we continue with Alice's journey through the Looking Glass Land, where everything is backwards, or opposite, or just plain odd. The theme of opposites seems to have been important for Lewis Carroll - Alice's journey to Wonderland began outside on a warm spring day, whereas her travels in Looking Glass Land began inside on a cold autumn one. The theme of playing cards was pervasive in Wonderland, whereas Looking Glass Land features chess. Now we meet Tweedle Dum and Tweedle D...
Apr 13, 2022•36 min•Season 1Ep. 116
This week, we begin a new Tale in a familiar world - we return with Alice to Wonderland in 'Through The Looking Glass' by Lewis Carroll. Although the first book, 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' is often most remembered, it was actually after this sequel was published that interest in Wonderland took off. Expect strange occurrences, baffling logic, fantastical characters and maybe even a Jabberwocky... If you'd like to support The Well Told Tale, please visit us o...
Apr 06, 2022•52 min•Season 1Ep. 115
This week, we have the dramatic final part of "The Picture of Dorian Gray". Dorian's conscience has been starting to prick at him, but a more pressing danger awaits him. James Vane, the brother of actress Sybil Vane, who Dorian abandoned so many years ago, has finally tracked him down, hell bent on vengeance. What will James Vane do when he catches Dorian? Will Dorian's conscience win out? And what will happen to the picture of Dorian Gray? If you'd like to support The W...
Mar 16, 2022•52 min•Season 1Ep. 112
Last week, Dorian committed an act he cannot come back from - he murdered Basil in cold blood after showing him his portrait, the true face of his depravity. After all these years of degradation, does he still have a conscience to trouble him? If you'd like to support The Well Told Tale, please visit us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thewelltoldtale Books - (buying anything on Amazon through this link helps support the podcast): The Picture of Dorian Gray - https://amzn.to/31UykXq The ...
Mar 09, 2022•50 min•Season 1Ep. 111
Last week, Dorian locked away his portrait from prying eyes, and we learned of his indulgences over the years. Free from the visible signs of his degradation, he is happy to indulge every vice and hide behind his ever-present beauty, but how long can he keep up this pretence? If you'd like to support The Well Told Tale, please visit us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thewelltoldtale Books - (buying anything on Amazon through this link helps support the podcast): The Picture of Dorian Gr...
Mar 02, 2022•57 min•Season 1Ep. 110
Dorian is getting crueller by the day, and with every transgression depicting itself in the painted face of his portrait, Dorian has decided to store the canvas away where it can't be viewed accidentally. But his own face remains untainted. What will Dorian do, knowing that his misdeeds are never going to be visible to others? If you'd like to support The Well Told Tale, please visit us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thewelltoldtale Books - (buying anything on Amazon through this ...
Feb 23, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 109
Last week was a watershed moment for the innocence of Dorian's youth. His idealised love for Sybil Vane ended in terrible circumstances and now, Dorian's soul has been irrevocably changed. So too, has his portrait. To Dorian's disbelief, the corruption that has crept in under Lord Henry's tutelage has not changed his perfect beauty, but his picture now bares a cruel smile. He has shielded the portrait from view, but what will he do when a friend wants to see it? If you'd...
Feb 16, 2022•24 min•Season 1Ep. 108
This week, we return to Victorian London's seedy theatrical world to learn more about the relationship between Dorian Gray and young actress Sybil Vane. Dorian is keen to show Sybil and her sublime talent off to his friends Lord Henry and Basil, and all seems well. However, this is where our Tale takes a dark turn... If you'd like to support The Well Told Tale, please visit us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thewelltoldtale Books - (buying anything on Amazon through this link helps...
Feb 09, 2022•56 min•Season 1Ep. 107
Dorian has been enjoying living life away from its sheltered beginning. Following Lord Henry's teachings, he has been going regularly to the theatre over the last several weeks and has met - and got engaged to - the actress Sybil Vane, who refers to him as Prince Charming. Is all this moving a bit too fast? If you'd like to support The Well Told Tale, please visit us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thewelltoldtale Books - (buying anything on Amazon through this link helps support t...
Feb 02, 2022•42 min•Season 1Ep. 106
Last week, we saw the completion of Basil's portrait of Dorian Gray. Lord Henry Wotton has taken the impressionable youth under his wing, much to Basil's dismay. Lord Henry was taken with the picture, which he mused had captured Dorian at the peak of his beauty, and opined on how unfortunate it was that the picture would stay perfect while Dorian himself degenerated with age, and not the other way around. Leaving philosophical musings aside, Lord Henry has determined it's high tim...
Jan 26, 2022•56 min•Season 1Ep. 105
Last time, we met Lord Henry Wotton, a hedonistic aristocrat, and his friend Basil Hallward, an artist who is infatuated with his muse, Dorian Gray. They discussed Dorian, a youth whose beauty has made a considerable impression on Basil, but he is reticent to let Lord Henry meet him, as he considers he might prove a corrupting influence on young Dorian. However, Lord Henry is about to get his way, and the eponymous portrait of Dorian Gray is about to be completed... If you'd like to support...
Jan 19, 2022•34 min•Season 1Ep. 104
We start the New Year with a new Tale from one of the English language's greatest writers, 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' by Oscar Wilde. Wilde produced many plays, poems and short stories in his illustrious career, but this is his only novel, or rather, novella. He was feted in late Victorian society for his biting wit, but this story holds a much darker mirror up to the society he satirised so well. If you'd like to support The Well Told Tale, please visit us on Patreon: http...
Jan 12, 2022•34 min•Season 1Ep. 103
This Christmas week, we have a charming story from one of the world's greatest writers, Leo Tolstoy, called 'Where Love Is, God Is'. Arguably best known for his epic novels such as 'War and Peace' and 'Anna Karenina', Tolstoy did write a number of short stories, including this one, first published in 1885. This Tale is known by a few different names in the English translation, including 'Martin the Cobbler' for its protagonist, a humble shoe maker try...
Dec 22, 2021•32 min•Season 1Ep. 102
To celebrate our 100th episode, we asked our high tier Patrons to choose a poem, and they have selected Samuel Taylor Coleridge's masterwork "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." A Tale of life, death, tragedy, and consequences, this is an expansive story as told to an unwitting wedding guest by the ancient mariner himself. If you'd like to support The Well Told Tale, and get access to exclusive Patron-only Tales, please visit us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thewelltoldta...
Dec 08, 2021•32 min•Season 1Ep. 100
This week, we have a classic short story from W. W. Jacobs, the gothic horror classic "The Monkey's Paw." After its publication in 1902, it captured the public imagination, and was made into a film five times in the first half of the 20th century. More recently, it provided the inspiration for the Stephen King novel which he said scares him the most, 'Pet Sematary'. Much like the work it inspired, this Tale still serves as a reminder to be very careful what you wish for....
Dec 01, 2021•26 min•Season 1Ep. 99
Last week, we learned of the horrific backstory of our protagonist Nathaniel. Scarred by the death of his father in what would appear to be an accident involving the lawyer Coppelius, he has become convinced that this Coppelius is The Sandman, and worse still, that he has followed him to his university town in the guise of the trader Coppola. The idea is driving him insane, much to the concern of his love Clara and her brother Lothaire. Will he continue his dissent into madness? Is there any tru...
Nov 24, 2021•42 min•Season 1Ep. 98
This week we bring you the start of the dark fairy tale, "The Sandman," by E. T. A. Hoffman, written originally in German in 1816. The original legend of the Sandman most likely began in Scandinavia, and told of a benign being who would bring sleep to children by throwing sand in their eyes. This far darker take on the legend may well have inspired Neil Gaiman's masterful graphic novels, with a Sandman who is anything but child-friendly... If you'd like to support The Well To...
Nov 17, 2021•56 min•Season 1Ep. 97
This week, still in the Halloween spirit, we bring you what is widely regarded as the first modern vampire Tale, a short story called 'The Vampyre' by John Polidori. It is notable as the second most famous piece of literature to come out of the legendary ghost story competition held between Byron and Shelley and their friends over a wet weekend on the shores of Lake Geneva. That contest gave us 'Frankenstein' as well as this, the first story to fuse together various and dispa...
Nov 03, 2021•47 min•Season 1Ep. 95
We return, this Halloween week, to the twisted imagination of one of our favourite writers here at The Well Told Tale, Edgar Allan Poe. Unlike many of his other gothic Tales, his focus in this short story is not on the fantastic, or the phantasmagorical, but the terrifying reality with which the protagonist is presented. Published at the end of 1842, 'The Pit and the Pendulum' is a re-imagining of the horrors that faced those persecuted by the Spanish Inquisition. What it lacks in hist...
Oct 27, 2021•43 min•Season 1Ep. 94
This week, we again bring you three Tales in one - three of Rudyard Kipling's 'Just So' stories. Kipling used to tell these fanciful origin stories to his daughter every night, and she would insist that he told them each time in the same way, 'just so.' We have already heard about the camel, the whale and the rhinoceros; after these three there will be another six we may come back to, but for now, let us hear 'The Elephant's Child', 'The Sing-Song of ...
Oct 20, 2021•38 min•Season 1Ep. 93
Today, our story is another classic fairy tale, 'Beauty and the Beast'. Although it has taken inspiration from much older stories, like the myth of Psyche and Cupid, it first appeared in print after Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve wrote a version. It became more famous still when the author of many French fairy tales and morality stories, Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, abridged this earlier version, and gave us the Tale we read today. There are some notable differences betwe...
Aug 03, 2021•36 min•Season 1Ep. 83
Last week, we learned of the horrors that befell the Gardner farm after a meteorite landed near its well, emitting a strange colour that defied description. The produce has grown large, taking on this same strange colour, but is foul to the taste. The animals are growing grey and brittle, falling apart, and the trees sway even when there is no wind. The Gardner family have gone missing, mad, or died, leaving only Nahum Gardner. What fate will befall him? If you'd like to support The Well To...
Jul 28, 2021•39 min•Season 1Ep. 82
This week, we journey once again into the nightmarish world of H. P. Lovecraft with his sci-fi work from 1927, "The Colour Out Of Space". This was Lovecraft's own personal favourite of his short stories, and one of the best examples of his particular blend of science fiction and horror. As with many of his stories, it is as much about what you don't see as what you do. How can you avoid a horror you cannot describe? If you'd like to support The Well Told Tale, please vis...
Jul 21, 2021•43 min•Season 1Ep. 81
This week, we have the finale of 'The Island of Dr. Moreau' by H. G. Wells. Moreau is dead, killed by his own creations, who appear to be devolving back into their beast-like nature. Prendick and Montgomery have survived for now, but will they manage to escape? If you'd like to support The Well Told Tale, please visit us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thewelltoldtale Books - (buying anything on Amazon through this link helps support the podcast): The Island of Dr. Moreau - ht...
Jul 14, 2021•59 min•Season 1Ep. 80
This week, we have the penultimate part of Edward Prendick's nightmare on the island of Dr Moreau. Last week he was treated to a horrifying explanation of his scientific process. He also explained the presence of all the creatures on the island - they are the legacy of experiments to make animals more human, and none of them have gone entirely to Moreau's liking. Prendick still has no means of escape. Will he fall in line the way Montgomery did and stay on the island? If you'd lik...
Jul 07, 2021•57 min•Season 1Ep. 79
Our protagonist, Edward Prendick, has escaped the clutches of Dr. Moreau and his assistant Montgomery and is on the run. Not only does he have the mad scientist and his assistant to hide from, but he also has to contend with the beasts created by Dr. Moreau. Prendick has encountered some of these creations and taken part in the beasts' strange ceremonies. Could they be more ally than foe? Could they help him escape? And where can Prendick escape to? If you'd like to support The Well To...
Jun 30, 2021•36 min•Season 1Ep. 78
Last week, we left our protagonist, Prendick, on the Island of Dr. Moreau. Having met the eponymous doctor, Prendick finds he has no choice but to try and escape, but he's on an isolated island, with Moreau, Montgomery, and a host of Dr Moreau's terrifying creations. How can he possibly get off the island? If you'd like to support The Well Told Tale, please visit us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thewelltoldtale Books - (buying anything on Amazon through this link helps suppo...
Jun 23, 2021•30 min•Season 1Ep. 77
Last week, we left our protagonist, Edward Prendick, adrift on the ocean once more. Having been rescued from a shipwreck by unusual medical man Montgomery, he has been abandoned in a dinghy after a fight with the crew. Thankfully, he is near land - the mysterious island that Montgomery and his strange menagerie were heading for. Making it to the island is Prendick's only chance for survival. But what strange things await him there? If you'd like to support The Well Told Tale, please vi...
Jun 16, 2021•56 min•Season 1Ep. 76
This week, we return to one of our favourite writers here at The Well Told Tale, the grandfather of science fiction, H. G. Wells, and his classic, 'The Island of Dr. Moreau'. As with many of his books - a number of which we've covered on the podcast - this is a foundational classic in its own sub genre. In addition to being a thrilling Tale, it deals with some profound themes - how far is too far when it comes to scientific enquiry..? If you'd like to support The Well Told Ta...
Jun 09, 2021•39 min•Season 1Ep. 75
This week, we have a classic fairy tale from master of the genre Hans Christian Andersen, 'The Little Mermaid'. This is, of course, a very different story to the famous Disney film of the same name. Enchanting, beguiling, tragic, with hints of the morality tale and an absence of singing crabs, it is indeed a fairy tale, but perhaps more of a literary work than that simple title suggests. If you'd like to support The Well Told Tale, please visit us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.c...
Jun 02, 2021•56 min•Season 1Ep. 74
