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Podcasting may be light or nonexistent for the next few days. I’m sick again, and of course it’s something upper respiratory. Well, I’m used to it by now.

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#643: Ch. 21, The Nebuly Coat by John Meade Falkner

The Nebuly Coat continues. The wind rises and stormclouds gather as Mr. Westray discovers more of the caterpillar picture’s secrets.

Chapter 21

37:15.

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#642: Part 2, “On the Ruin of Britain” by St. Gildas the Wise

“On the Ruin of Britain” concludes with a description of how good the island of Britain is and how badly its people behave. Much of this is allusive (passing references to Pelagius the heretic, Mount Badon, Aurelius Ambrosianus, etc.). We hear much of the stupidity of King Vortigern (or Gurthtigern) and the guile of the Saxon mercenaries as well. But mostly we hear about how people who live in prosperity and safety tend to forget how their ancestors won it for them.

Yep, it’s a hearty healthy heaping helping of Arthurian primary source goodness and Fatherly admonition, that’s also relevant to today! Enjoy! (Or squirm….)

Part 2

40:49.

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#641: Part 1, “On the Ruin of Britain” by St. Gildas the Wise

January 29 was the feastday of St. Gildas the Wise: bishop, early British Christian, and primary source for the days of King Arthur. I don’t think he’s usually counted among the Fathers, but I hereby exercise my power of whim and rampant bias toward Celts by saying he is. So there. Heck, he’s a lot older than that Sassenach Father, the Venerable Bede. (He is too a Father! See Mike Aquilina’s note!)

“On the Ruin of Britain” is the primary source of which we speak. (Though the Lorica Gillas is pretty darned cool also, if I may say so.) Here is part 1, the preface — or as I think of it, the warmup to his epistle of strong criticism of the contemporary British for being lazy, cowardly louts, unlike the men who won at Mount Badon.

The men who won at Mount Badon were the men of Ambrosius Aurelianus and/or King Arthur, which honestly is not all that harsh a criticism, if you think about it…. Especially since it implies they could be that good, if they worked at it.

Part 1

12:14.

UPDATE: Forgot to mention about St. Gildas being a player in The Grail Code‘s feast of Arthurian goodness. (You can read more about the book here.)

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#640: Ch. 20, Bk. 3, Pastoral Care by St. Gregory the Great

Pastoral Care continues telling us how to make saints and influence sinners, with tips on how to talk both to people who give generously to others, and those who grab stuff even from the poor.

Book 3, Chapter 20

15:20.

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#639: Chs. 13-15, Book IV, Against Heresies by St. Irenaeus of Lyons

Against Heresies continues, with more on how Jesus fulfilled and extended the Law, but did not abrogate it. Also, God did not need our obedience; but rather, our obedience to the Law is good for us; and how the Law was changed because people’s hearts were hard and Moses wanted to make it easier for them to keep it.

Book 4, Chs. 13-15

24:04

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#638: Chs. 7-8, “The Devolutionist” by Homer Eon Flint

“The Devolutionist” continues with an analysis of what our star travelers (by way of a telepathy machine)  have seen in Capella’s solar system thus far. Then we see the next bit of the story of the Capellan cardiologist who fell from the sky.

Chapter 7: A World Becalmed, and Chapter 8: The Upper Crust

25:26.

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#637: Ch. 4, The Lani People by J. F. Bone

The Lani People continues, as our space veterinarian protagonist meets his employer’s annoying nephew.

Just in case nobody’s figured this out — not a novel for little kids, probably not work-safe.

Chapter 4

12:20.

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#636: Ch. 18, Cabbages and Kings by O. Henry

Cabbages and Kings concludes with an early experiment in screenplay-style writing.

Chapter 18: The Vitagraphoscope

7:18.

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#635: Ch. 17, Cabbages and Kings by O. Henry

Cabbages and Kings continues with its penultimate chapter, as O. Henry finally explains all the loose ends about that suitcase full of money.

Chapter 17: Two Recalls

19:16.

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#633: Chs. 33-35, Book 3, The Ascent of Mount Carmel by St. John of the Cross

The Ascent of Mount Carmel continues, as St. John of the Cross starts to tells us about the spiritual good things, with a special note on the uses of holy images. (More on that next week.)

Book 3, Chapters 33-35

15:45.

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#632: Ch. 18, Fatherless Fanny by Anon.

Fatherless Fanny continues, as Miss Stanhope keeps her promise.

Chapter 18: A Dilemma

9:27.

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#631: “The Bacteriological Detective” by Arthur B. Reeves

“The Bacteriological Detective”, another mystery story from Arthur B. Reeves’ first collection of Craig Kennedy stories. Our crime-solving professor ventures into yet another scientific field….

“The Bacteriological Detective”

20:01.

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#630: Ch. 20, The Nebuly Coat by John Meade Falkner

The Nebuly Coat continues with another pivotal chapter, as Mr. Westray makes an important discovery.

Chapter 20

26:52.

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State of the Podcast

Yes, it’s a boring stats post. It’s been a year and a third since I started this thing. Time to report.

Both my blog and this podcast are currently Slimy Molluscs in the Truth Laid Bear Blogosphere Ecosystem. Only with your linky support can Maria Lectrix stay clam and Aliens in This World be my oyster. 🙂 My most frequent linkers are Mike Aquilina at Way of the Fathers and the nice gentleman at In Illo Tempore, but I also get tons of people from being linked by Julie at Happy Catholic and by being on Amy Welborn’s sidebar at Open Book. I also received a huge boost when archive.org put me into my own section of Audiobooks, and by the kind reviews at sffaudio.com. Still, you’d be surprised how many visitors I get from single links on blogs, and I’ve been extremely gratified by the interest from folks far outside St. Blog’s Parish. That’s good, because literature belongs to everyone. I hope you all enjoy stopping by.

The podcast and blog were both honored this year, when T.S. O’Rama named me one of Ohio’s Greatest Bloggers.  I am embarrassed to be honored in such company, but proud.

The download stats from archive.org and the download stats from WordPress and Feedburner have begun to diverge. For example, archive.org thinks there’s only been 4 downloads of the intro to The Everlasting Man since Friday night; whereas WordPress counts 15, and Feedburner seems sure there’s been 16. Clearly, there are local copies of audiofiles being kept around somewhere. Not that it matters, but it’s interesting to know.

Here are my top twenty downloads from archive.org, as of January 22, 2007:

1163 – Fifty-One Tales, Part 1, by Lord Dunsany

918 – The Ascent of Mount Carmel, by St. John of the Cross (unfinished)

525 – The Rosary

446 – Dawn of Flame, by Stanley G. Weinbaum

390 – Fifty-One Tales, Part 2, by Lord Dunsany

382 – “The Sword of Welleran”, by Lord Dunsany

353 – Europe and the Faith, Part 1, by Hilaire Belloc

350 – The Eye of Osiris, Part 1, by R. Austin Freeman

311 – “The Blue Sequin”, by R. Austin Freeman

307 – The Eye of Osiris, Part 5, by R. Austin Freeman

290 – Little Fuzzy, Part 1, by H. Beam Piper

277 – Fifty-One Tales, Part 3, by Lord Dunsany

272 – The Red Thumb-Mark, Part 1, by R. Austin Freeman

270 – The Dialogue of St. Catherine of Siena, Part 1

269 – “On the Pleasure of Taking Up One’s Pen”, by Hilaire Belloc

256 – “The Ring of Thoth”, by Arthur Conan Doyle

241 – Annus Mirabilis, by John Dryden

239 – Against Heresies, Book I, by St. Irenaeus of Lyons

229 – “A Message from the Deep Sea”, by R. Austin Freeman

214 – “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came” by Robert Browning

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