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Serial Tales - Joan Juliet Buck's Littleburg Tales



Single-voiced Urban fantasy Serial Audio Book


Synopsis:

‘Serial Tales’ are set in Littleburg, the Hudson Valley hamlet that time forgot, until time remembered it. In Littleburg, the veil is so thin that the other world is in your face, and half the population are shamans. The psychic old guard must incorporate the post-Covid newbies , which leads to some powerful collective hallucinations, including, perhaps, the Second Coming. As a result , local hotel owner Vince and millionaire pop star renter Cobbler Martin think they have been given the mission to fight the darkness with light. Magical realism full of twists, laughs, and gut-punches told with a velvet voice, these stories owe a debt to Philip Pullman, MR James, Saki, John Wyndham, and ‘Lady Asquith’s Third Ghost Book’ These spoken serials began in September 2021 on Radio Free Rhinecliff with ‘The Companion Fog’ , an 8-chapter novella about a cloud you have custom-made to protect you from bad news. Season 1 of Littleburg is available at radiofreerhinecliff.org/joan-juliet-buckrsquos-serial-tales.html . Laurie Anderson’s disquieting theme music sets the tone. Graphic design by Betsy Sarles. Produced by Matty Rosenberg & Joan Juliet Buck @ Radio Free Rhinecliff © 2022 Joan Juliet Buck


Format: Audio Book

Continuity: Serial

Voices: Single

Genres: Urban fantasy

Not tagged: [Maturity] [Creator demographics] [Character demographics] [Country of origin] [Transcript] [Completion status] [Content warnings]

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Episodes:

Everlasting Light

Wed, 28 Dec 2022 19:04:10 +0000

While half of Littleburg is re-enacting what might have been the Second Coming right there, Vince decides he may sell the hotel Liminal to the devil's ex wife, and invites her to try it for a month. She bullies the whisperers out of the counting house of souls in the hotel basement. They may take the other spirits with them-- stand by for season 3, Littleburg without ghosts. Vince flies with Harriet to London to join Cobbler who's been working with the King on the secret mission she and Vince were given by the angel last year , and King Charles's (real ) Christmas speech proves how hard he's been working to fight darkness with light.

Theme by Laurie Anderson

Graphic design by Betsy Sarles.

Produced by Matty Rosenberg & Joan Juliet Buck @ radiofreerhinecliff.org

Direct MP3 link


Flesh and Metal

Sun, 18 Dec 2022 03:50:56 +0000

The devil’s ex wife thinks Beyoncé was right about Harry and Meghan, Vince ponders points of doctrine— was that Jesus being reborn right here a year ago, or was it as abstract as Schrödinger’s cat? Nonsense tales of fear and faith grow towards a showdown between Vince and the Tesla people who are entitled and very, very hurt.

Theme by Laurie Anderson

Graphic design by Betsy Sarles.

Produced by Matty Rosenberg & Joan Juliet Buck @ radiofreerhinecliff.org

Direct MP3 link


The Rules of Ethiquette

Sat, 03 Dec 2022 20:51:21 +0000

Celeste Granting, on her bi- yearly check-in with the Board of spirit guides, draws up the sketch of a new set of ethics, which the voice of the board calls"ETHIQUETTE". Going beyond the rules of the Old Testament, she channels a wide harvest of new commandments. She will also discover just how repellent social life has become.

Theme by Laurie Anderson

Graphic design by Betsy Sarles.

Produced by Matty Rosenberg & Joan Juliet Buck @ radiofreerhinecliff.org

Direct MP3 link


The Nature of The Universe

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 18:41:46 +0000

Vince is tempted to join the young star Cobbler in London without his wife Harriet, so he seeks advice from his friend the seer Celeste. Who’s desperately trying to find ways to save her clients from new waves of despair. She tries to list reasons for gratitude , and they both end up practicing stichomancy with a text from before the birth of Christ .

Theme by Laurie Anderson

Graphic design by Betsy Sarles.

Produced by Matty Rosenberg & Joan Juliet Buck @ radiofreerhinecliff.org

Direct MP3 link


What Is Home?

Sat, 19 Nov 2022 05:07:41 +0000

After months under surveillance, Cobbler is deemed clean and able to work with King Charles, who explains to Cobbler over tea at home how they will fight darkness. The singer is intimidated ; the King is worried about the coming winter. And he's having problems with his birds. How do you plot a mission when your mode is set to small talk? And how is the man with yellow hair like permafrost?

Theme by Laurie Anderson

Graphic design by Betsy Sarles.

Produced by Matty Rosenberg & Joan Juliet Buck @ radiofreerhinecliff.org

Direct MP3 link


It's not Alzheimer's, it's Long Covid

Sun, 23 Oct 2022 11:34:39 +0000

Don Gonzales is listening to a bootleg audio of Cobbler's magnificent song, without knowing it's hers. Vince and Harriet have had problems with Phantom internet services, and Blake, once gentle and humble, has now been humiliated into helpless outrage.

Theme by Laurie Anderson

Graphic design by Betsy Sarles.

Produced by Matty Rosenberg & Joan Juliet Buck @ radiofreerhinecliff.org

Direct MP3 link


The Prisoner

Sat, 15 Oct 2022 13:20:56 +0000

Cobbler Martin is in London, confined under surveillance for her role in setting off the storm that killed many, including her host the oligarch. She is interrogated by an official whom doesn’t believe her, she befriends her guards, she falls into despair, and then she finds a reason to hope.

Theme by Laurie Anderson

Graphic design by Betsy Sarles.

Produced by Matty Rosenberg & Joan Juliet Buck @ radiofreerhinecliff.org

Direct MP3 link


Halfway Hotel

Sat, 01 Oct 2022 12:18:46 +0000

As the world hurtles towards total chaos, VInce, the anxious owner of the Hotel Liminal, wrestles with the problem of good and evil , as embodied by his hotel and its potential new owners. His barman Don is thrilled that America can hit an asteroid in far outer space. Meanwhile, the devil's ex-wife is getting bored in the sticks, which can only lead to trouble.

Theme by Laurie Anderson

Graphic design by Betsy Sarles.

Produced by Matty Rosenberg & Joan Juliet Buck @ radiofreerhinecliff.org

Direct MP3 link


Angel to the Rescue

Fri, 17 Nov 2023 04:29:28 +0000

The angel who brought Mary and Joseph to Littleburg two years ago --for what might have been the second coming-- returns for another world-shaking bit of business. It turns out that when the devil's ex-wife fired the demons from the Counting House of Souls in the basement of the Hotel Liminal , they scattered out into the world and caused global havoc. How do you put the demons back in the box?

Theme by Laurie Anderson

Graphic design by Betsy Sarles.

Produced by Matty Rosenberg & Joan Juliet Buck @ radiofreerhinecliff.org

Direct MP3 link


Watch The Dead, Count the Living

Sat, 24 Sep 2022 10:00:00 +0000

The age-old battle between faith and reason plays out at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. The woman who married the devil twice, and divorced him, moves into Littleburg , which creates a crisis in the mysterious room 13 of the hotel Liminal.

Theme by Laurie Anderson

Graphic design by Betsy Sarles.

Produced by Matty Rosenberg & Joan Juliet Buck @ radiofreerhinecliff.org

Direct MP3 link


They Will Replace Us

Sat, 08 Apr 2023 10:07:43 +0000

Luella Diamond thinks $130,000 is chicken feed hush money, and because there are no ghosts left to soften the air in the Hotel, everyone in the bar has to get drunk. Minnie Gonzales the realtor shows the house that never sells to the brand conceptualizer who's now in big trouble.

Theme by Laurie Anderson

Graphic design by Betsy Sarles.

Produced by Matty Rosenberg & Joan Juliet Buck @ radiofreerhinecliff.org

Direct MP3 link


Meet The King

Sat, 17 Sep 2022 01:58:43 +0000

London: Cobbler Martin, having provoked a flood and a fire while singing for a shadowy oligarch in a London garden , awakens in a starchy bed, guarded by a nurse who might not be a nurse. The queen is dead. The U.K. government is keeping an eye on Cobbler, who is startled and awed by the arrival of the new King Charles. Who has some very good news for Cobbler, and hints that they are fighting the same fight .

Theme by Laurie Anderson

Graphic design by Betsy Sarles.

Produced by Matty Rosenberg & Joan Juliet Buck @ radiofreerhinecliff.org

Direct MP3 link


The Cold Light Of Reality

Sat, 11 Mar 2023 11:45:17 +0000

The Littleburg witch Celeste Granting has to give up her practice and go back to her prosaic old name-- Laura Appleby-- because the invisible world has gone silent since the ghosts were fired from the hotel. Laura no longer believes in the woo-woo stuff: She will devote herself to the dreary mantra IT IS WHAT IT IS. But then she realizes that Pluto is about to go into Aquarius , for the very first time since the tumultuous years between 1777and 1797. Our war of independence and the French Revolution. What heads are going to roll this time? Buckle your seatbelt and get out the popcorn. This announces a wild ride through living history. Come back for the next episode.

Theme by Laurie Anderson

Graphic design by Betsy Sarles.

Produced by Matty Rosenberg & Joan Juliet Buck @ radiofreerhinecliff.org

Direct MP3 link


The Twist of the Compass

Thu, 15 Sep 2022 10:56:00 +0000

To kick off the second season of The Serial Tales of Littleburg, author Joan Juliet Buck provides a briefing on the events of Season One, with a comprehensive Who’s Who of the denizens of the Hudson Valley hamlet where so many city dwellers fled during the pandemic. But the the veil between worlds is thinner in Littleburg , and the price of admission may be steep. We learn about the three new witches: Celeste Granting, formerly in HR, now a professional seer with an anger problem; Kenella, a rich elder who sacrificed her good cashmeres to the moths of initiation; and Gigi Larsen, a troublemaker on every level. The locals: Minnie Gonzales the realtor who stalked the creepy heir to a house she wants, Vince and Harriet, puzzled owners of the haunted Hotel Liminal, Ebenezer Shallow, the man who lost his luck through lies, and Cobbler Martin, the luminous young pop star hoping to soothe her thwarted entitlement with a view of the river. We learn about the events last Christmas , a visit that was either a collective hallucination or a true visitation, and left Vince the hotel owner and Cobbler the pop star with the conviction that they had a mission to fight the darkness. After this show, you'll be up to date on the events and ready for the next episodes of the Serial Tales of Littleburg. Season 1 is available at radiofreerhinecliff.org/joan-juliet-buckrsquos-serial-tales.

Theme by Laurie Anderson

Graphic design by Betsy Sarles.

Produced by Matty Rosenberg & Joan Juliet Buck @ radiofreerhinecliff.org

Direct MP3 link


Into a world without ghosts

Sat, 28 Jan 2023 11:26:44 +0000

After Luella Diamond has fired the soul counters and spirits from the hotel Liminal, they aggregate into a snowball that pulls all the other spirits out of Littleburg. The sudden clarity leaves the inhabitants with only reality , and that is going to be hard. Celeste loses her powers during a seance , and realizes she may have chosen the wrong life path.

Theme by Laurie Anderson

Graphic design by Betsy Sarles.

Produced by Matty Rosenberg & Joan Juliet Buck @ radiofreerhinecliff.org

Direct MP3 link