AMBIENT ARCANA
Strange and unusual stories from history, literature, myths and legends.
Episodes
A man takes a bartender to task for his indifference towards a young woman in need, but being ignored is the least of her worries.
It's Shirley Jackson's "Jack The Ripper"
All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar
Narrated by Jim Billbrough
Giant Bugs! With Hats!
Donald Wollheim's strange tale of entomological terror - "Mimic"
All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar
Narrated By Sean Brann
A lonely man has a chance romantic encounter with a rich, beautiful, and mysterious woman during a hot night in Rome.
Is she too good to be true? Probably...this is Ambient Arcana after all.
It's William Sansom's weird tale of the preternatural consequences of a casual hookup -
"A Woman Seldom Found."
All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar
Narrated by Jim Billbrough
In this episode a friendly family of Badgers helps out a starving Bear, only to have their kindness repaid with cruel betrayal. Also, Blood Magic!
"The Badger and The Bear." from "Old Indian Legends" Retold by Zitkala-Sa
All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar
Jim Billbrough as The Badgers, The Baby Bear, and The Narrator
Bob Familiar as The Bear
Joey Pesce as The Dakota Avenger
This episode is dedicated to our g...
In this episode we spend a delightful day in the New England hill country discussing the vagaries of cosmic dualism with a fiendishly pleasant host in Jerome Bixby's "Trace."
All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar
Narrated by Jim Billbrough
In this episode an interstellar trip to a distant nebula brings on a crisis of faith for the spaceship's astrophysicist in Arthur C. Clarke's Hugo Award winning story "The Star."
All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar
Narrated by Jim Billbrough
We'd like to dedicate this episode to our good friend, band-mate, landlord, and poker buddy Tristram Lozaw.
Tris was an excellent bass player, film composer, magazine pu...
In this episode we present a 6-pack of strange and unusual stories by "Mr. Kafkaesque" himself - Franz Kafka.
"At Night," "Poseidon," and "The Vulture" translated by Tania and James Stern
"The New Advocate," "A Fratricide," and "A Dream" translated by Willa and Edwin Muir
All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar
Narrated by Bob Familiar and Jim Billbrough
Story Order: "A Fratricide," "Poseidon," "A Dream," "The New Advocate,...
What would you do if you suddenly found your worst enemy completely at your mercy? Would you take revenge? Would you forgive?" Here are two stories that explore what happens when, out of the blue, the opportunity for vengeance arrives.
"One Of These Days" by Gabriel García Márquez
"Razor" by Vladimir Nabokov
All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar
Narration by Jim Billbrough
A man finds himself struggling against an invasive intelligence taking over his mind and trying to eradicate everything the man had previously revered and admired in Stefan Grabiński’s “Strabismus.”
Translated by Miroslaw Lipinski
All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar
Narrated by Jim Billbrough
Once again we spend the Yuletide season high up in the Himalayas with three stories from Albert Leroy Shelton's 1925 book Tibetan Folk Tales:
"The Wiley Poor Man," "The Story Of The Two Devils," and "The Story Of The Violinist."
All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar
Narration by Bob Familiar and Jim Billbrough
In this episode we explore what happens when a mild-mannered man is not only addicted to train travel but is actually transformed into a bold and charismatic person each time he rides the rails...and the consequences he must face when the ride comes to an end.
"In the Compartment' by Stefan Grabiński
Translated by Miroslaw Lipinski
All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar
Narrated by Jim Billbrough
Train sound effects b...
This Halloween, in the grand tradition of horror duo team-ups such as “Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman,” “Billy The Kid vs Dracula,” and “Sharktopus X Whalewolf,” we bring you David Mulholland and Robert Billbrough performing Edgar Allan Poe’s OG dungeon crawl - “The Cask Of Amontillado.” Robert Billbrough as Montresor David Mulholland as Fortunato Music by Man Tray: Kelvin...
In this episode a selfless Nightingale sings her heart out to create a Red Rose for a lovelorn Student, but is he truly worthy of such a precious gift?
It's Oscar Wilde's poignant tale of blood thirsty horticulture - "The Nightingale and the Rose."
All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar
Narration by Joey Pesce
Nightingale recordings by Pro Sound Effects
In this episode we present a twisted tale of twin brothers. The younger brother -a murderous, narcissistic hedonist who will stop at nothing to get what he wants; the older brother -a man who enjoys wearing silk kimonos, taking early morning walks in the garden, and neatly folding his towels after every use. Physically identical except for a small mole on the younger brother's thigh - a mole with a suspiciously sinister looki...
It's Family Values Gone Wild in Ambrose Bierce's Dark Comedy
"A Bottomless Grave."
Narration by David Mulholland
Music by Man Tray
Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar.
Have you ever felt like a helpless pawn being manipulated by mysterious and hidden higher-dimensional beings?
If so then this is the episode for you!
It's Nebula Award Winning Author Bob Leman's trans-dimensional, mind and body altering trip through an almost endless game of bizarre, sanity shattering, yet seemingly mundane tasks:
"Instructions."
All Music, Audio Production, and Narration by Bob Familiar
This is a special episode of Ambient Arcana marking the 80th Anniversary of V.E. Day - Victory in Europe Day - May 8th, 1945 when Germany officially surrendered to the Allied Forces ending World War II in Europe.
A reading from “Jeep Show” by Robert B. O’Connor. Jeep Show is the story of entertainment specialist Jim Tanzer who finds himself trapped in the front lines during the Battle Of The Bulge. The unexp...
We finish our current coverage of the works of British author Robert Aickman with a story that explores what happens when the face looking back at you in the mirror is not your own.
"Le Miroir" by Robert Aickman
All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar
Narration by Jim Billbrough
In this episode two young British women, serving in the 'Woman's Land Army' during WWII, decide to skip a dour farmer's Christmas party only to discover there are worse ways to spend the Holiday in Robert Aickman's
"The Coffin House."
All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar
Narration by Jim Billbrough
Mod dress? Thigh-boots? Impossibly long worm-infested hallways?
It's Robert Aickman's strange tale of a mysterious, ageless woman orbiting the life of a hapless man:
"Laura."
All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar
Narrated by Alex Fitzsimmons
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