Today, we are listening to one of Henry Cuyler Bunner's most famous satirical sketches, first published in his 1891 collection Short Sixes: "The Nice People." Set in a summer boarding house perched on Orange Mountain, this story explores what happens when a polite, seemingly perfect young couple arrives and turns a group of small-town gossips completely upside down. It is a clever, funny look at societal expectations, conformity, and what it truly means to be "nice".

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In our last regular episode, we explored Guy de Maupassant’s famous masterpiece, “The Necklace”. We witnessed Mathilde Loisel spend ten years in grueling poverty to replace a piece of costume jewelry she believed was real.

Today, we dive into a fascinating companion piece by the very same author. This short story is called “The False Gems”. It acts as a brilliant, mirrored reflection to “The Necklace”. But while The Necklace is a tragedy about a fake item mistaken for real, today's story is a dark comedy about real items mistaken for fake. It features a husband who despises his wife’s love for cheap, imitation jewelry—until she passes away, and he discovers the shocking truth about her collection.

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This episode holds a story that has become a universal cautionary tale about vanity, class, and the crushing weight of a single mistake. Published in 1884, 'The Necklace' is perhaps the most famous work by the master of the short story, Guy de Maupassant. It follows Mathilde Loisel, a woman consumed by a longing for a life of luxury she believes she deserves, only to have her world shattered by one glittering evening.

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Today, we are cracking open a specific piece of literary history. We’re looking at two tales that were hand-picked over a century ago for the classroom in the 1921 collection, Modern Short Stories: A Book for High Schools.

This influential volume was edited by Frederick Houk Law, Ph.D., a scholar who believed that short fiction should not just entertain, but challenge the reader to think deeply about human nature. The two stories selected from his collection today do exactly that, placing characters in situations where there are no easy answers.

We’re exploring the high-stakes world of impossible choices, featuring two stories where a single decision can mean the difference between life and death.

First, we head to the front lines of the American Civil War in Jack London’s "War".

Next, we turn to a very different kind of tension in S. Weir Mitchell’s “A Dilemma”.

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Today, in this bonus episode we’re exploring the work of C.A. Mercer.

In this story, we follow a man returning to his childhood home after twenty years away. He expects to find the sprawling, majestic domain of his youth; instead, he finds a garden that has grown "dreary and desolate," past its prime and its paths narrowed by neglect.

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Today, we unseal a file from Perceval Gibbon, a man who saw the world from the deck of a merchant ship and the frontlines of war. Gibbon was a master of the 'ironic twist,' and today’s story is a masterclass in the high cost of human desperation. It’s a tale where the currency isn't just gold, but morality and survival.

In 'A Deal in Exchange,' we see that exact mastery on display—a farcical, tense journey of an accidental thief who finds that, sometimes, the universe has a very peculiar sense of justice."

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Today, we’re exploring True Crime of the early 20th Century.

In 1927, a man named Edward Henry Smith sat in a New York apartment, surrounded by the files of the world’s most baffling disappearances. He wasn't just a reporter; he was a student of the human shadow. Before his untimely death that same year, Smith would publish Mysteries of the Missing, a collection of cases that defied logic and law.

To Smith, the "Missing" weren't just gone—they were puzzles of chemistry and circumstance. But one case stood above the rest. A case that turned Fifth Avenue into a graveyard of secrets.

Today, we examine Smith’s account of Dorothy Arnold, a young woman of wealth, who walked out of her father’s upscale New York City home into a winter afternoon and never walked out.

Lets follow the trail through the eyes of a man who spent his life hunting for the truth in the dark.

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In today’s Bonus Episode “How Does It Feel To Be Free” by Manuel Komroff is in contrast to his story “The Little Master of the Sky”. Both explore the concept of liberty, however they approach it from opposite directions—one through the eyes of a free soul and the other through the eyes of a prisoner.

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Audiobooks narrated by Sally Barron can be found at:

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