“Where Stories Are Told” by Khaki and Friends

Speaker: 00:00:00

You’re listening to The Voice of Dog.

Speaker: 00:00:03

Today’s story is

Speaker: 00:00:04

“Where Stories Are Told”

Speaker: 00:00:06

by Khaki, your faithful fireside companion,

Speaker: 00:00:09

and friends — but before we get to that,

Speaker: 00:00:12

I’d like to take a moment to reflect on this last year we’ve shared.

Speaker: 00:00:16

One year ago the first story

Speaker: 00:00:19

aired on The Voice of Dog.

Speaker: 00:00:21

The reality of the pandemic had arrived in my country,

Speaker: 00:00:24

and all over the world people were feeling isolated

Speaker: 00:00:27

and uncertain and powerless.

Speaker: 00:00:29

I started this podcast because I wanted to do something about it

Speaker: 00:00:32

—anything, just to make something,

Speaker: 00:00:34

anything, better for someone.

Speaker: 00:00:36

Anyone. I decided

Speaker: 00:00:39

I wanted to tell people stories.

Speaker: 00:00:42

Stories that would give them courage, or hope, and if nothing else, something to look forward to.

Speaker: 00:00:48

Even if they didn’t listen to the stories,

Speaker: 00:00:50

I still wanted people to know that someone

Speaker: 00:00:52

cared enough about them

Speaker: 00:00:54

to have a new story for them to enjoy,

Speaker: 00:00:56

every time they came back.

Speaker: 00:00:58

The first was, appropriately,

Speaker: 00:01:00

“Bad Dog!” by my friend Rob Baird.

Speaker: 00:01:03

A story of unfairness, and powerlessness in the face of power — but also a story of defiance

Speaker: 00:01:08

and of hope. Many other writers have contributed stories since then.

Speaker: 00:01:13

There’s a name for writers who’ve had stories on this podcast, you know.

Speaker: 00:01:17

They’re “Friends of the Fireplace” —

Speaker: 00:01:19

in early stories I sometimes mentioned that,

Speaker: 00:01:22

though I realized I never explained why, and fell out of the habit. 163 stories have appeared on The Voice Of Dog

Speaker: 00:01:30

in the last year.

Speaker: 00:01:32

163, by 82 writers — well, 83 now, including me.

Speaker: 00:01:40

Speaking of which:

Please enjoy: 00:01:43

“Where Stories Are Told”

Please enjoy: 00:01:46

by Khaki and Friends

Please enjoy: 00:01:49

‘Twas night, dark and stormy /

Please enjoy: 00:01:52

a story before me /

Please enjoy: 00:01:54

of a grace and a glory that touches a heart

Please enjoy: 00:01:58

In spite of the weather /

Please enjoy: 00:02:00

which rages on whether / we're gathered together

Please enjoy: 00:02:03

or farther apart

Please enjoy: 00:02:06

Our passions rebelling

Please enjoy: 00:02:08

/ depression dispelling / compelled by the telling of tales by a fire

Please enjoy: 00:02:13

Of villains notorious /

Please enjoy: 00:02:15

victors,victorious /

Please enjoy: 00:02:16

glorious stories are what we require

Please enjoy: 00:02:19

Our weapon of choice is / our bevy of voices! /

Please enjoy: 00:02:23

We bellow, rejoicing courageous and bold!

Please enjoy: 00:02:27

When readers and fighters / and lovers and writers / discover they're welcome Where stories are told!

Please enjoy: 00:02:35

That hum from afar is / the strum of guitar as this / baritone rogue introduces himself,

Please enjoy: 00:02:42

Your faithful companion / and grateful rapscallion / proceeds to read prose from a book off his shelf

Please enjoy: 00:02:48

Through mysteries

Please enjoy: 00:02:49

Orphic / and anthropomorphic / it all may sound queer but it's just what you seek.

Please enjoy: 00:02:55

If this one’s too bawdy / or that one too naughty /

Please enjoy: 00:02:58

then friend, do not fear there's another next week.

Please enjoy: 00:03:01

So put on a kettle / of something to settle /

Please enjoy: 00:03:04

your worries and hardships And ward off the cold

Please enjoy: 00:03:08

This haven of ours is / where wordsmithing artists / impart you catharsis where stories are told.

Please enjoy: 00:03:16

With magical animals / tragic and fragile / alliances signed between lions and boars,

Please enjoy: 00:03:23

And maybe a meerkat / oh, baby, it's clear that / our stable of fables Is far from explored.

Please enjoy: 00:03:29

These sagas alluring /

Please enjoy: 00:03:31

and yarns reassuring / both new and enduring are sure worth a look;

Please enjoy: 00:03:36

With cooked cornucopias,

Please enjoy: 00:03:37

urban zootopias,

Please enjoy: 00:03:39

doozies you’ll find when you open a book.

Please enjoy: 00:03:42

With mice as Sherlockers / and rabbits as coppers /

Please enjoy: 00:03:45

and puppies as paupers and Princes of old

Please enjoy: 00:03:49

Embrace our traditions / and make them your missions to / brandish your visions where stories are told.

Please enjoy: 00:03:56

Now this riddle expound: / Where may dragons be found / where the sphinx’s words sound in the voice of the dog?

Please enjoy: 00:04:04

The wolf on the water /

Please enjoy: 00:04:05

the tail of the otter /

Please enjoy: 00:04:07

the bear-prince’s daughter, the crackling of logs?

Please enjoy: 00:04:10

It's chaste or it's hoary /

Please enjoy: 00:04:12

it's all allegory / but you all have stories your souls yearn to tell.

Please enjoy: 00:04:16

So stand in defiance /

Please enjoy: 00:04:18

when self-doubting silence / would leave them untold and forgotten as well.

Please enjoy: 00:04:23

The speech you'd be speaking /

Please enjoy: 00:04:24

the ears it's been seeking / may meet

Please enjoy: 00:04:26

and embrace amid praises extolled

Please enjoy: 00:04:30

If you write it, and share it /

Please enjoy: 00:04:32

and take special care it / may soon find a place here where stories are told.

Please enjoy: 00:04:39

When the plan’s fallen through, /

Please enjoy: 00:04:41

and all hope’s fallen too, / and the rent’ll be due on a desperate age

Please enjoy: 00:04:46

Injustice systemic /

Please enjoy: 00:04:48

and fearful polemic / in time of pandemic when futile wars wage.

Please enjoy: 00:04:53

Is it too much to ask /

Please enjoy: 00:04:55

when I put on my mask, / or my headphones, to bask

Please enjoy: 00:04:58

in the worlds that could be

Please enjoy: 00:05:00

That just for a moment /

Please enjoy: 00:05:01

I may feel at home at / the fireside, alone

Please enjoy: 00:05:04

but together with thee? So let us all near be, / if only in theory: /

Please enjoy: 00:05:09

the voice that we hear,

Please enjoy: 00:05:10

the companions we hold

Please enjoy: 00:05:13

And long may we dwell here / And all will be well here / or so I’ve heard tell, here where stories are told.

Please enjoy: 00:05:20

We’re readers, we’re fighters /

Please enjoy: 00:05:23

we’re lovers, we’re writers /

Please enjoy: 00:05:26

we’re all here united

Please enjoy: 00:05:30

where stories are told.

Please enjoy: 00:05:38

This was “Where Stories Are Told”,

Please enjoy: 00:05:41

a riff on the traditional Irish masterpiece

Please enjoy: 00:05:43

“The Humours of Whiskey”,

Please enjoy: 00:05:45

by Khaki, your faithful fireside companion, and friends —

Please enjoy: 00:05:49

and I’d like to take a moment

Please enjoy: 00:05:53

to thank them. Rob Baird,

Please enjoy: 00:05:55

for Games at Götterdämmerung,

Please enjoy: 00:05:57

Bad Dog! Televassi,

Please enjoy: 00:06:00

for BlueBucks, Counter-Culture

Please enjoy: 00:06:03

Huskyteer, for The Lion of the Low Countries,

Please enjoy: 00:06:06

The Zeroth Protocol,

Please enjoy: 00:06:08

Once We Were Meerkats

Please enjoy: 00:06:10

NightEyes DaySpring,

Please enjoy: 00:06:11

for Glory of the Gods,

Please enjoy: 00:06:13

Foxing for Pizza,

Please enjoy: 00:06:14

The Tomb Guardian,

Please enjoy: 00:06:16

Loving You is Wrong

Please enjoy: 00:06:18

Altivo Overo,

Please enjoy: 00:06:19

for Rabbit Food, How Menander Got His Name,

Please enjoy: 00:06:22

A Close Port of Call,

Please enjoy: 00:06:24

Beyond Mundane Horizons,

Please enjoy: 00:06:26

Catch Me If You Can, Coyote's Voice,

Please enjoy: 00:06:29

The Blue Eye of the Desert God,

Please enjoy: 00:06:32

Harvest Home, All That Glitters,

Please enjoy: 00:06:35

Gibbous Moon Waning

Please enjoy: 00:06:37

Toledo the Horse,

Please enjoy: 00:06:38

for Fuzzy Memory,

Please enjoy: 00:06:39

Returning, Secret

Please enjoy: 00:06:42

Domus Vocis, for Edge of the Universe,

Please enjoy: 00:06:45

Somewhere in the White Void, Hades & Philos:

Please enjoy: 00:06:48

Prelude, Bounty Hunter Uncle

Please enjoy: 00:06:51

Frances Pauli, for Rats,

Please enjoy: 00:06:53

The Lion Sleeps, Always Tomorrow

Please enjoy: 00:06:57

Ryan Campbell,

Please enjoy: 00:06:59

for 6 Unbelievable Facts About Unicorns That Will Completely Blow Your Mind,

Please enjoy: 00:07:03

Eagle's Splendour

Please enjoy: 00:07:05

Mary E. Lowd, for Katelynn and the Hummingbird, Marge the Barge, Shreddy and the Dancing Dragon,

Please enjoy: 00:07:12

Summer Strawberries,

Please enjoy: 00:07:14

Rapscallions, Shreddy and the Carnivorous Plant,

Please enjoy: 00:07:18

Ecto Cafe, The Canoe Race,

Please enjoy: 00:07:21

A Real Stand-Up Guy

Please enjoy: 00:07:23

Daniel Lowd, for The Canoe Race,

Please enjoy: 00:07:26

A Real Stand-Up Guy

Please enjoy: 00:07:29

Kandrel, for The Pack,

Please enjoy: 00:07:31

The Adventurers, Adrenaline High,

Please enjoy: 00:07:34

Salute the Flag, To Find You

Please enjoy: 00:07:37

Carrizo Kitfox, for The Rat's Gift

Please enjoy: 00:07:40

Faolan, for Earning his Stripes

Please enjoy: 00:07:43

Dark End, for The Aviatrix

Please enjoy: 00:07:46

Bill Ricardi, for Unseelie Pie,

Please enjoy: 00:07:49

The Fastest Blade

Please enjoy: 00:07:51

Kyell Gold, for Cleaning Up,

Please enjoy: 00:07:53

To Catch a Thief, Agent Friendzone

Please enjoy: 00:07:57

B. P. Rugger, for Colour Me Terrified,

Please enjoy: 00:08:00

Of His Flesh the Mystery Sing

Please enjoy: 00:08:02

Slip-Wolf, for The Charitable Pact of a Soft Hearted Fool, Kypris' Kiss

Please enjoy: 00:08:08

Field T. Mouse,

Please enjoy: 00:08:10

for A Little Distraction

Please enjoy: 00:08:12

Pascal Farful, for The Hadfield Robbery,

Please enjoy: 00:08:15

The Sacred Cross,

Please enjoy: 00:08:16

Nobody's Home

Please enjoy: 00:08:18

Madison Scott-Clary,

Please enjoy: 00:08:20

for Gigs, Disappearance,

Please enjoy: 00:08:22

Milkshakes and Foxes, The Fool Ocean Tigrox,

Please enjoy: 00:08:27

for Food, Feuds and Fake Flora

Please enjoy: 00:08:30

Renee Carter Hall,

Please enjoy: 00:08:32

for The Wishing Tree C.

Please enjoy: 00:08:33

C.F. Becker, for A Day With the Skaraks Nenekiri Bookwyrm,

Please enjoy: 00:08:39

for A Gentle Rustling of Leaves,

Please enjoy: 00:08:41

Unpredictability

Please enjoy: 00:08:44

Metassus, for The Library,

Please enjoy: 00:08:46

At The Inn, Whitewash,

Please enjoy: 00:08:48

Salted Beef, Crystal,

Please enjoy: 00:08:50

Dear Sara, Snowed In

Please enjoy: 00:08:54

Ben Goodridge, for Hot Dog

Please enjoy: 00:08:56

SignificantOtter,

Please enjoy: 00:08:58

for Lone Kergiby, for Giving Thanks,

Please enjoy: 00:09:02

Home Again, A Number's Game

Please enjoy: 00:09:05

Dwale, for The River in the Mist,

Please enjoy: 00:09:08

Behesht Spottystuff,

Please enjoy: 00:09:10

for The Conqueror,

Please enjoy: 00:09:12

Nonna, Let Them Have Cake Faora Meridian, for Empty, Not So Above It All Alison Cybe, for Don't

Please enjoy: 00:09:14

Forget your Comic Books!,

Please enjoy: 00:09:22

Space Warrior Hitachi,

Please enjoy: 00:09:24

I Never Wear Underwear

Please enjoy: 00:09:27

Skunkbomb, for A Rock Among Millions,

Please enjoy: 00:09:30

"Broadstripe, Virginia Smells Like Skunk"

Please enjoy: 00:09:33

Dan Leinir Turthra Jensen,

Please enjoy: 00:09:35

for You Are Our Lifeboat,

Please enjoy: 00:09:37

Flying Rat, No Peas In My Garden

Please enjoy: 00:09:40

W.R. Frixmargen,

Please enjoy: 00:09:42

for Glorvan and the Cart,

Please enjoy: 00:09:44

Little Light Show

Please enjoy: 00:09:46

Crimson Ruari, for Galician Sled,

Please enjoy: 00:09:49

Tokyo Tension, Going Home,

Please enjoy: 00:09:52

Somewhere In The Cypress,

Please enjoy: 00:09:53

Gate-Keeper Jaden Drackus,

Please enjoy: 00:09:57

for The Fox and the Lion Cosplayer Jay "Shirou" Coughlan, for Dragon Roasted Coffee Beans

Please enjoy: 00:10:04

Joel Kreissman, for A World Lost

Please enjoy: 00:10:08

TJ Minde, for Missed Feelings,

Please enjoy: 00:10:11

Like Playing a Volkswagen

Please enjoy: 00:10:13

Kirisis "KC" Alpinus,

Please enjoy: 00:10:15

for No Dogs Gre7g Luterman,

Please enjoy: 00:10:19

for Dragonslayer

Please enjoy: 00:10:21

John Bailey, for Twilight Sparkle Goes to Bed

Please enjoy: 00:10:25

Amy Clare Fontaine,

Please enjoy: 00:10:27

for Of a Hawk and a Lighthouse

Please enjoy: 00:10:29

Ian Madison Keller, for The Widehorn Herd,

Please enjoy: 00:10:32

Bucking the Trend,

Please enjoy: 00:10:34

Blind Date Blues

Please enjoy: 00:10:36

Royce Day, for Oiled Leather,

Please enjoy: 00:10:38

To Catch the Lightning,

Please enjoy: 00:10:40

At Prayer MikasiWolf,

Please enjoy: 00:10:43

for Kenyak's Saga, A Part of the Machine, A Leap Forward,

Please enjoy: 00:10:46

A Leap Forward, A Leap Forward Chapter I,

Please enjoy: 00:10:48

by Kenneth Grahame, for The Wind in the Willows, The Wind in the Willows

Please enjoy: 00:10:54

Tempo, for Robin Hood and Her Valkyrie

Please enjoy: 00:10:57

Utunu, for Water Rob MacWolf,

Please enjoy: 00:11:01

for Fourth Man Left Outside,

Please enjoy: 00:11:04

"The Last Journey Of Theodore Vulcek,

Please enjoy: 00:11:06

Leader, Beloved Husband, and Pack Brother",

Please enjoy: 00:11:08

and for writing half of today’s song.

Please enjoy: 00:11:11

H.J. Pang, for Remembering the Forgotten

Please enjoy: 00:11:15

Thurston Howl, for Ghosts of Cinnamon and Lavender Ian Madison Keller, for Blind Date Blues, Blind Date Blues

Please enjoy: 00:11:19

SakaraFox, for A Well-Deserved Rest

Please enjoy: 00:11:23

Dirt Coyote, for I'm Just Your Stud,

Please enjoy: 00:11:26

Leave It for the Morning,

Please enjoy: 00:11:28

You Can Watch Me Dance

Please enjoy: 00:11:30

Blouie the Blue Heeler,

Please enjoy: 00:11:31

for Aurora Borealis

Please enjoy: 00:11:34

K.C. Shaw, for Sound Check

Please enjoy: 00:11:37

Mog Moogle, for Over the Top

Please enjoy: 00:11:40

Roland Jovaik, for Variables

Please enjoy: 00:11:44

Killick, for Sky Defender

Please enjoy: 00:11:46

J.B. Rockwell, for Monkeyshines

Please enjoy: 00:11:50

Weasel, for These Are The Days of Our Lives

Please enjoy: 00:11:53

Dire, for Mischief Makers

Please enjoy: 00:11:56

J.F.R. Coates, for Lights In The Sky

Please enjoy: 00:11:59

Alice Clawford, for Feeling Sheepish

Please enjoy: 00:12:03

Anhedral, for Abstinence

Please enjoy: 00:12:05

Kayode Lycaon, for A Lazy Monday,

Please enjoy: 00:12:08

Date Night Tanner Silverpaw,

Please enjoy: 00:12:11

for Winter Snow Al Song, for Tempus Imperfectum

Please enjoy: 00:12:16

Aelius, for Urban Mystic, The Scout

Please enjoy: 00:12:19

Herr Wozzeck, for Shopping Trip

Please enjoy: 00:12:22

Darius Davis, for Familiar Encounter

Please enjoy: 00:12:26

Reid Minnich, for Hostage,

Please enjoy: 00:12:28

Chinchilla Attack

Please enjoy: 00:12:29

Lauren Rivers, for Morning Coffee

Please enjoy: 00:12:32

JS Hawthorne, for Endless Winter Kenneth Grahame, for The Wind in the Willows

Please enjoy: 00:12:36

Vixyy Fox, for The First Snow Waltz Nachtfangen, for Cease Fire

Please enjoy: 00:12:43

I’d also like to thank my friend Colson Grainger for the use of his song

Please enjoy: 00:12:47

“Intensely Beautiful and Strange”,

Please enjoy: 00:12:49

a favourite of mine,

Please enjoy: 00:12:50

whose gentle guitar has bookended every story to date.

Please enjoy: 00:12:54

And last but not least,

Please enjoy: 00:12:57

I'd like to thank you, too.

Please enjoy: 00:13:00

With all the love in my heart,

Please enjoy: 00:13:01

and al the wisdom of the universe:

Please enjoy: 00:13:04

Thank you for listening

Please enjoy: 00:13:06

to The Voice of Dog.