Episode 15 – Bubbles

BUBBLES by Nicholas Thurkettle

Released: Jan. 5, 2015

Everyone here at the Lair has their little side projects; they’re the source of a lot of excitement and fun. Just ask those people we successfully shifted out of phase with our timeflow. Actually, they’ll never hear your question. And we’ll never hear their answer…Regardless, sometimes you just need to undertake some grandiose, nightmarish affront to man’s right place in the world for the sheer liberating fun of it. We learned that from the inspirational best-seller How Dr. Terrorbones Got His Groove Back, which is one of our favorite books in the Earbud Library.

Speaking of libraries, we learned that Nicholas Thurkettle has been undertaking to grow ours, and not by trying to invent some kind of Book Mutating Grow Ray, which is how we would have done it. No, he’s actually gone and written a book, a collection of short stories called Stages of Sleep that’s set to debut at all major digital booksellers sometime in early March. It contains 15 tales that tell, among other things, of a wounded soldier who decides to hibernate for the winter, of centaurs that invade our world to free us from the emasculating dangers of khaki, and a trip to Hell itself that even we are still trying to figure out. It’s a book about dreams, almost-dreams, and the truly bizarre state known as “being awake”.

It also contains this lovely morsel of strangeness that seemed perfect for us. We hope you enjoy it, and look for Nick’s book when it finally leaves our plane of reality and enters yours.

BUBBLES by Nicholas Thurkettle

You’re sitting on a porch. A gentle breeze is blowing. A friendly neighbor talks your ear off about this neighborhood you’ve just moved into. It’s a sweet place. They bake fresh pies here, and children still go to play in the park. There’s also that government lab…ever since they started up, there have been some side effects in town that you oughtta know about. The magnificent John Walcutt spins us a little yarn about coffee, the Universe, time, and his dear ol’ Dad in Bubbles.

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This episode was recorded with the assistance of the University of Texas at Austin’s Semester in L.A. program, so our hats go off to Mac Torluccio and all his students. At least, we think those are our hats.

The cover art is by the always-inspiring Kevin Necessary, and the Sound Design and Music are by Darren Lodwick, making a stirring Earbud debut with his lovely outdoor soundscape and a closing theme that gives us all the good chills.