YOU ARE ODYSSEUS Episode 1: The Beginning

YOU ARE ODYSSEUS - the immersive, interactive audiobook podcast. EPISODE 1: The Beginning The War at Troy is over. What will you do now? CW: implied references to physical and s*xual abuse, as per historical context and mythology and the original story. Listen and become Odysseus, the many-minded man, the most famous adventure hero of all time. Enjoy this second-person retelling of Homer's Odyssey with a fully atmospheric audio backdrop, hear Odysseus' options at each story juncture, and see if you can make the same choices - based on the hero's own in the original epic. From the teacher (and illustrator) behind GreekMythComix http://greekmythcomix.com comes this beautiful retelling, featuring characterisations, literary features, scenarios and episodes directly from and inspired by translations of the original poem, from Troy to Ithaca. This audiobook podcast features the main Odyssey storyline from the interactive novel YOU ARE ODYSSEUS, in which you can read the story as your version of Odysseus, making the choices you think he should make, and seeing the outcome - original, alternative story elements based on suggestions from the original poem, the Epic Cycle, ancient authors and playwrights, and sparkling with additions from Ancient Greek mythology - https://laurajenkinsonbrown.co.uk/publications/you-are-odysseus/ Proudly part of Mnemosyne: The Memory Collective podcast collective, creators and educators dedicated to sharing knowledge that is accessible, contextualized, socially conscious, and inclusive. To find more from the Memory Collective, go to collectivemem.com https://www.mythsbaby.com/mnemosyne Sound effects courtesy of epidemicsound.com https://www.epidemicsound.com, freesound.org http://freesound.org, and the author’s own recordings. Intro/Outtro: TIME TRAVELLER, Tellsonic For show notes, references and credits go to laurajenkinsonbrown.co.uk/you-are-odysseus-audiobook-podcast/ https://laurajenkinsonbrown.co.uk/you-are-odysseus-audiobook-podcast/ Learn more about Liv's next group trips https://travelbugxlivalbert.my.canva.site/ to GREECE! Application deadline is November 30 (Subject to change due to demand). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Liv Albert?

  Hey nerds, really quick note from me. I want to tell you that we now have the applications open for the next set of listener group trips. This is us going back to the original, the trips that we have held in the past that have been so much fun, so successful and pretty affordable in terms of wandering around Greece with a bunch of nerds. So check out the details and get your applications in at mythsbaby.com/groups.

• 0:35Speaker 01

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• 1:16Speaker 01

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• 1:29Speaker 02

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• 1:55Speaker 03

  Don't use if allergic to Sky Rizy. Serious allergic reactions, increased infections, or lower ability to fight that may occur. Before treatment, get checked for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor about any flulike symptoms or vaccines.

• 2:07Speaker 02

  Thanks to Sky Rizy, there's nothing like clearer skin and better movement. And that means everything.

• 2:17Speaker 02

  Ask your doctor about Sky Rizy. Visit skyrizy.com or call 1-866-SKYRIZY to learn more.

• 2:36Speaker 04

  You Are Odysseus, a retelling of the Odyssey, written and read by L. Jenkinson Brown.

• 2:49Speaker 04

  Episode one, The Beginning.

• 2:58Speaker 04

  Tell me, oh listener, of that complicated man. Let the muse of epic poetry Calliope inspire you to tell a tale worthy of the generations to come. Can you make the same choices as Odysseus?

• 3:27Speaker 04

  A note before we begin. When you hear this sound,

• 3:33Speaker 04

  you're about to hear the choices Odysseus can make at this moment. After a pause, you'll hear this sound,

• 3:42Speaker 04

  after which will follow the choice Odysseus actually makes in the Odyssey. If you want to know what could have happened if Odysseus made a different choice, you'll have to read the book of You Are Odysseus instead. Try and think like Odysseus.

• 3:59Speaker 04

  The ancient Greek heroes were guided by klos, glory and renown, a name that lasts forever. Kudos, the things one must do to get klos. Aidos, shame intended to circumvent wrongdoing. Nostos, the need for homecoming. Xenia, the act of hospitality protected by Zeus, and their piety in respecting their pantheon of gods. Your story begins.

• 4:33Speaker 04

  You are Odysseus, Laertes' son. The whole world talks of your strategies and your fame has reached the heavens. The Trojan War is over. With your help, the Greeks have razed Troy, taken booty of goods, gold, and slaves, and now you and your fellow soldiers are due to head for home. You have been driven all this time by the yearning to return to your wife and tiny child. No longer a child now, a boy. Even just a young man, maybe almost into the first bud of manhood with his first beard, whom you were so loath to leave that you feigned madness to avoid coming to this wretched war. Rather your reputation than your family be lost to you.

• 5:18Speaker 04

  But that was then. Now your reputation is somewhat different, and so are you. But the image you hold of them in your mind is as constant as kainosura, the guiding stars. The day after the raising of Troy, with the booty counted out so each man gets his fair share and lines of bound Trojan women making their way, weeping to the ships of the Achaean heroes to whom they've been awarded, the men are celebrating. Much wine flows from fine, golden Trojan cups and rite of the spoils of victory, and the mood is jolly against the background of the sacked city and the setting sun. Then a call goes round.

• 6:00Speaker 04

  Agamemnon and Menelaus have called, an assembly. You are particularly confused. The sons of Atrius normally call on you and old Nesta, wise counselor, king of Pylos, to advise them before assembling the whole army. Unless this is an impromptu meeting to congratulate you on your plan to use the wooden horse you had Apias build to smuggle Achaeans into Troy to take out the guards and open the gate, you can't think what their purpose may be, especially when they're trying to corral men heavy in drink. Arriving at the meeting, you can immediately see that the two brothers are arguing on the mound used as a dais. You walk towards them, but to your surprise, they impatiently wave you aside,

• 6:43Speaker 04

  not even looking in your direction or pausing their argument. You see Nesta also standing confused away from them. You catch his eye. He makes a gesture with his eyebrows to suggest he's as confused as you. You go and stand next to both him and Darmadis, son of Tidesis. He is scowling, as he always does when Agamemnon is involved. The Atreides seem to stop their argument, or at least Orbanhead Menelaus breaks off to speak to the army first. He puts it to you that it should now be the concern of everyone to head straight home to their much-missed families across the sea. Someone near you mutters, of course he wants to get home. Now he's got Helen back.

• 7:27Speaker 04

  And there is laughter. You snort at this. Menelaus had been so geared up to recapture Helen and take her back to Sparta to be executed, that as he told you later, at the moment he saw her, his heart melted and he changed his mind. You haven't the heart to tell him of the rumors of what she did to melt his heart. However, Agamemnon, the blue glass on his golden tin carash glittering, then announces that not enough has been done to propitiate the goddess Athena and that the entire army should stay and make sacrifice to the wrathful goddess. The same wit that muttered before now pretend goths Ajax. This time, there isn't much laughter. It's already gone around the whole camp

• 8:11Speaker 04

  that during the sacking of the city, Ajax, son of Oileus, Ajax the Lesser, had assaulted the Trojan princess Cassandra when she was taking refuge at the statue of Athena, polluting the goddess's statue. And earlier today, he narrowly escaped being punished for the crime by his own side by claiming the same asylum as he had denied Cassandra and claiming innocence of any wrongdoing, given that it happened during the sack of the city when all was being claimed as Trojan spoil. The Achaean leaders, including you, had discussed the matter in an assembly and concluded that you felt he had a point and that it may upset Athena more if her asylum was not granted a second time.

• 8:54Speaker 04

  But Darmadis had surprisingly argued on behalf of the girl, who was now safely stored away on Agamemnon's ship as that great king's prize. Glancing at Darmadis now, you can see that he's glaring at everyone. Agamemnon and Menelaus have begun arguing again, and as their voices raise, so do those of the assembled men until the assembly is in uproar. Many of the soldiers, keen to make the most of this last night of celebration, begin to drift off back to their campfires. Finally, Agamemnon storms off, and you, Nesta, and Diamodis, and Menelaus on the mound ahead of you, are left behind. Ladies of the Achaeans, friends, will you come with me and leave this place?

• 9:39Speaker 04

  asks Menelaus, walking towards you all. His arms are raised in petition, and he looks tired but excited. Although you were distant kinsmen by marriage before Troy, your wife Penelope is Helen's cousin, you have become close friends over the course of the siege. Now his eyes lock with yours, and there is a touch of pleading in them. What will you do? Will you agree with Menelaus and head home? Or will you agree with Agamemnon and stay back to give more offerings to Athena?

• 10:17Speaker 04

  Yes, my friend. You are so eager to get home, that you decide to join your fleet of twelve ships with the fleet of Menelaus and leave Troy instead of staying with Agamemnon. Nesta and Darmadis also agree to leave with you. Menelaus is pleased at this show of support. You agree to move your ships out first thing in the morning.

• 10:40Speaker 04

  Dawn comes, fresh and rosy-fingered, and though your men are sluggards after drinking heavily the night before, their excitement to finally see their homes again makes them light on their feet. All the rest of the spoils and slaves and whatever food, water, and wine is left are loaded up. Before long, the ships are being pushed off the beach, where they have rested their black beaks in the sand for so long and into the water. Nesta suggested that you all meet at Tenedos, the island off the coast of Ilium, behind which the rest of the Achaeans had recently hidden their ships, to create the illusion that they had left, with nothing left behind but their abandoned camps and, of course, the wooden horse. As you round the island at the head of your small fleet,

• 11:25Speaker 04

  you can see the sails of Nesta and Darmadis. Not long after your twelve ships have beached alongside theirs, Menelaus's Spartan fleet arrives.

• 11:36Speaker 04

  That evening on the shore, you make the regular sacrifices to Zeus, but during the ensuing meal, the mood suddenly changes. You have been remembering moments from the war to each other, not to brag a sunlight, but rather in a desperate attempt to distract you from the fact that it is over. The war has been a way of life for a decade of your mortal lives, and has made no small impact. You have all felt the need to talk about it. But then Diomedes brings up a sore point between him and you: the Palladium.

• 12:14Speaker 04

  The wooden statue of Athena had rested in the Trojan shrine to the goddess. The daughter of Zeus had apparently made it herself to atone for her accidental killing of her friend, the Titan Pallas, whose name she wears in memoriam when at war. It had somehow come to sacred Ilium in the time of Iulus the Founder, and become the Trojan's greatest possession, believed to protect them always. After the death of Prince Alexander, beautiful woman stealing Paris, did not immediately end the war, you and Darmadis had been given the task of stealing it from its shrine on the Trojan Acropolis. Without its protection, and perhaps with the transference of Athena's favor from the Trojans to the Achaeans holding it,

• 12:58Speaker 04

  it was prophesied that Troy would fall. Just one of the many prophecies Agamemnon grasped at to ensure Achaean victory. And hadn't it now been proven? Just like the one about bringing poor Achilles's young son Neoptonomus, blazing Pyrrhus, to fight in the battle to continue his legacy, so that the Achaeans would win. And the one about having the bow of Heracles in their possession, so that the Achaeans would win. You'd particularly hated that one, seeing as you'd been voted the best choice to go and get it from Philoctetes, whom you'd previously convinced the rest of the Achaeans to abandon on Lepnos because of that stinking poison wound of his. He, as was expected, was not pleased to see you.

• 13:42Speaker 04

  Well, young Neoptonomus had proved monstrously effective in battle, and was now madly insisting his father's ghost speaks to him. And Paris had been fatally shot with Heracles's bow, his death just causing another row among the Trojans as to who got to marry Helen next. But the Palladium? To your complete shock, Darmadis now produces the sacred statue from inside a large sack by his feet. You did not know he had kept it, believing it to have come into Agamemnon's possession as all other items of significant value had done. Now Darmadis holds it in front of your face. Then he asks mockingly: "Do you wanna try killing me for it again,

• 14:27Speaker 04

  now that the war is over?" Is this true? Did you try to kill him for it?

• 14:36Speaker 04

  Yes, you did try to kill him, in the heat of the moment, when you thought all kudos for the capture of the statue could be yours, and doubled if the second-best warrior of the Achaeans, Darmadis did not make it back alive from the escapade. Though your outward appearance might be honorable and homesick, this war has hardened you, and given you a taste for glory, Cleos, that you cannot sate. Or, no! You would never do anything to willingly endanger the lives of your friends and kinsmen. Darmadis has become increasingly paranoid since you desecrated the Trojan temple of your patron goddess in search of the Palladium. From the moment he held it, he began questioning your motives in coming with him on this adventure. And he swiftly jumped to the conclusion

• 15:21Speaker 04

  that you planned to kill him and keep it, and the glory from capturing it, for yourself. You never intended any such thing. You didn't even want to go on the mission in case of angering Athena. But known for your cleverness in scheming, and as the hot-headed Darmadis's friend, the lot fell to you. Your only wish is to get safely home.

• 15:46Speaker 04

  The story is unclear, but what happens next is not. Now, Nesta and Menelaus jump to their feet, and within moments there is shouting and recrimination between all four of you. Darmadis attempts to swipe at you with the very Palladium you helped him steal. The altercation ends with you on one side, and Darmadis, Nesta, and Menelaus, your former friend, on the other. Realization strikes you. Perhaps Agamemnon was right? The argument first between him and Menelaus, and now between you and your friends? Perhaps Athena, or her father Zeus, has stirred up these feelings of hatred among you? Either way, you cannot be around any of them now. You decide to leave. Agamemnon has not heard of this disgrace, and it would be better to join him,

• 16:31Speaker 04

  and also spend some time sacrificing to Athena, if she is indeed angry with you. You turn your back and walk away.

• 16:41Speaker 04

  And immediately call the captains of your ships to you. You inform them that they are to reassemble their crews to immediately head back to Troy. There is much surprise and grumbling. Eurylicus, your second-in-command and a close kinsman, points out that this will be the second day in a row that the men have been denied an uninterrupted night of rest and celebration. But you interrupt his pleas and tell him sharply that- "It's too bad." He gives you a look of hurt surprise, but he still goes to help the captains break up the festivities and herd their crews back to the ships. Sometimes a harsh word is what's necessary. You need to be out of here as soon as possible, in case the situation with your former friends, particularly Diomedes, escalates,

• 17:25Speaker 04

  and your men hear his version of the story and consider you an ill omen.

• 17:33Speaker 04

  You would not normally sail at night, but the distance between Tenedos and the Achaean camp is short and safe, and before too long, you have again beached your ships. As soon as you arrive, the smell of burned meat and bone hits you. Aside from the funeral pyres of the war dead, you can see huge makeshift altars and the bloodied carcasses of butchered sheep and cattle. Agamemnon has already begun his sacrifices to Athena. Despite the sun being yet to rise, you immediately present yourself to the king of Mycenae. And although he is not particularly pleased at having been woken, his ire at you leaving is soothed by this return. He slaps you on the shoulder

• 18:17Speaker 04

  and tells you that he has planned for each of the ships to continue making sacrifices in the morning. As you leave, you wonder where all of these sacrificial victims are to be found. For the next two days, you help Agamemnon make sacrifice to Zeus and his daughter who wears the aegis, your patron goddess. However, you have your misgivings. The victim animals are in fact the entire supply left behind after the rout of Troy and all of what is left of the Achaean camp's flocks. Still, if it will appease Athena and Zeus and make the way home safe and without further spontaneous argument, it may be worth it.

• 19:00Speaker 04

  Finally, Agamemnon says you can all go home. Yet again, you immediately tell your captains to make ready their ships. You won't wait around anymore. The men are weary from boredom. There has not been much to do while the sacrifices have been made, save for watch, throw cornmeal at the required moment, and then eat. But even this has not been enjoyable. Agamemnon has ordered that there be no joyful feasting during these days of sacrifice, only solemn consumption of normal portions, and the rest of the meat saved for the journey home, which you know is ridiculous. It will spoil too quickly. It is more like svagia rites for the chthonic deities than the regular thuzia rites for Olympians. But Agamemnon is convinced

• 19:44Speaker 04

  that this is the only way to keep the Thunderer and his daughter happy after so much destruction. You felt like adding that it's no way to keep the soldiers happy, but kept your thoughts to yourself. Gratefully, you sail, away from Agamemnon and away from Troy forever.

• 20:21Liv Albert?

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• 26:33Speaker 04

  The same wind that blows your fleet of 12 ships from Troy takes you close to Ismarus, city of the Cicones. They had fought on the side of the Trojans during the war, and as such, are now fair game. You are surprised to see that none of your Akian colleagues has been to sack the city before you. These will be easy pickings to further enhance the already considerable treasures of bronze, gold, and women skilled in handcrafts that fills your fleet's hold. Unable to resist the chance to add to your war booty, you and your men make a surprise attack and sack the city, killing its menfolk and taking yet more women and plunder to add to that which you took from Troy.

• 27:16Speaker 04

  As ever, everyone gets their fair share. Your triumphant soldiers pull a cowering man in front of you. He is the Cicones' priest of Apollo, Maron, son of Euanthe's, and he begs for his life.

• 27:33Speaker 04

  Will you spare him? Or? Why bother? The men are in their element. Let them have him.

• 27:43Speaker 04

  As is right, you spare him and his family. In return, he takes you to his home at the Grove of Apollo at the edge of the ransacked town, and gives you fine gifts: seven talents of gold, a silver crater, and from his secret stores that not even his serving men and women knew of, 12 jars of wine.

• 28:08Speaker 04

  He offers you a taste. The smell is divine, but it is strong. He agrees. This prized wine is both amazingly delicious and extremely potent, to be mixed only one cupful of wine to 20 of water. You are pleased. It will last you well on the remainder of your trip.

• 28:32Speaker 04

  You're ready to leave, but your men have other ideas. They want to stay, drink, eat, and rest up on the Ismaran shore, having apparently been cheated of the opportunity to do so before.

• 28:47Speaker 04

  What do you do? They won't be reasoned with. Somewhat unwillingly, you settle down to a haunch of sheep and some wine and rest with them. Or? You decide they're wrong. You harangue them so much that they get up, sighing, and head back to the ships to set sail.

• 29:09Speaker 04

  For the first time since you came to Troy, you watch the sun set without trepidation and enjoy an evening of relaxation among your men.

• 29:21Speaker 04

  The scent of wood fires and strong wine wafts around you, and you relax. Soon you will be home, back in the arms of the wife you won by coming up with the oath for Helen's suitors that started the war in the first place.

• 29:37Speaker 04

  However, as soon as rosy-fingered dawn appears, there is a cry from your watchman.

• 29:44Speaker 04

  You scramble to your feet. The men around you are hurriedly putting on armor. Not far inland, you can see a line of armed men, and as you watch them approach, they roar a battle cry. They must be reinforcements from inland towns secretly sent for by the Cicones survivors after you routed them and then didn't leave. They arrive and are on you in moments. These are better and more numerous fighting men. You are very much taken by surprise.

• 30:16Speaker 04

  The battle lasts all day. Throughout the morning, you manage to hold your ground with volleys of spears, but as the day draws on, the Cicones allies break your ranks. They are brutal. It is all you can do to withdraw to the ships and get them in the water, men pushing the ship's black beaks off the beach, protected by others fighting. Once at sea, you make inquiries of your captain's signaling to each ship. Before you could finally withdraw and escape, you lost six men from each of your 12 ships. You grieve and salute your fallen men with a ritual call.

• 31:00Speaker 04

  It may be enough to get their souls across the Styx without a proper burial for their bodies, but it's all you can do to honor them.

• 31:09Speaker 04

  The mood is low. Clouds gather on the horizon. Darkness now sweeps down upon me.

• 31:24Speaker 04

  Land and sea are covered by cloud, and now a terrible gale hits you head on. The ships lurch their sails soon in tatters as the men fail to bring them in in time. So fast has the storm come. Row, you cry. The rest of your ships follow suit, and soon your men, rowing hard, are pulling your blacked-beeped vessels onto the safety of a foreign shore. For two days and two nights, you are forced to rest while the storm batters you. You cannot even leave the safety of your ships, hiding below and under the sails as makeshift shelters. Slaves and soldiers alike are uneasy in such limited space.

• 32:08Speaker 04

  On the third day, the weather suddenly clears. The storm seems to lift away and dissipate in moments. Eager to get going while you still have the chance, you give the order to all set out once more.

• 32:24Speaker 04

  You find your route again easily enough, and the sunlight and surf soothe your crew's disposition. But as your fleet rounds Cape Malia, the strong sea current and treacherous Boreas's winds are too much. Despite your best effort, you cannot beat them. You see Kithara slide past you until it disappears, and then you find yourself in unknown waters.

• 32:54Speaker 04

  For nine days and nights, you drift and wheel at the whim of the winds. Again, the mood on your ships is sour and fearful. There is talk of curses and angry gods.

• 33:11Speaker 04

  At long last, on the tenth day, land comes into view. Reeling with exhaustion and anxieties, you coax your ships onto the sand and disembark.

• 33:26Speaker 04

  After a brief search of your island's surroundings, you find and take on drinking water. The crew eat a quick meal by the ships, some staying on board their vessels to tend to the slaves. However, it's not in your nature to leave any land or peoples undiscovered, so you send a party of men from your ship, one man as your herald and two as his escort, inland as scouts.

• 33:53Speaker 04

  Time passes, and your men do not return.

• 33:59Speaker 04

  What do you do? They are lost. Leave them to it. This place is unlucky, and it would be best to leave. Or go and find them. You'll leave no man behind.

• 34:16Speaker 04

  Walking away inland, you hear voices. Your guard is up, but these voices are soft and mellow and suggest no hostility.

• 34:30Speaker 04

  You soon come upon your scouting party in a clearing, and they are not alone. They appear to have befriended the inhabitants of the island and are lying on the ground with a party of them. As you draw close, you see that rather than talking and exchanging gifts like civilized folk, they are in fact loling in relaxation and stupor. The whole group is, in fact.

• 34:58Speaker 04

  The eyes of the local people are round and glassy and black. The reclining group barely register your presence as you stand over them. After a time, one of your men slowly looks up. Noticing you, he giggles.

• 35:21Speaker 04

  The island people smile at you, happy, innocent smiles. One slowly rises to his feet and presents you with food. You peer at it. It appears to be their local fruit. What do you do? Take the fruit and taste? Or smack the fruit from their hand and manhandle your crew back to the ship. This is sorcery, and you'll have none of it.

• 35:53Speaker 04

  You angrily wave him away and speak to your men, urging them to get up and leave. But your scouts only want to graze on more of the fruit they've been given, and their hosts seem confused, smiles and eyes growing ever wider as they repeatedly offer you the fruit, even as you smack their fruit-laden hands away. You can't persuade the scouts to listen, so not without some violence, you grab your men by their hair and haul them to their feet, hoping the pain will snap them out of it. You push and kick them ahead of you, herding them like an angry shepherd, your flock weeping in pain and frustration at the loss of their delicious fruit. You look back,

• 36:37Speaker 04

  but the island people make no attempt to follow you. Perhaps they have forgotten you already.

• 36:44Speaker 04

  Arriving back at your ship, you tie up your wayward scouts with rope and push them under the rowing benches to sleep off whatever noxious drug has poisoned them so badly that they've lost all thoughts of Nostos, of returning home.

• 37:00Speaker 04

  Meanwhile, the rest of your crews, shocked and confused, have already taken their place at the oars. At your simplest command, they set to and row. This is no place to linger. Your ships move off, oars striking the waves.

• 37:18Speaker 04

  Night falls at last as you sail, but then a thick and murky fog sets in. It becomes impossible to see ahead, and not even the light of the moon helps you navigate through it.

• 37:33Speaker 04

  Some time passes, although with the fog so thick and the sea so smooth, it feels as though you have hardly moved at all.

• 37:42Speaker 04

  Then, with a sudden crash of keel on pebbles, and you find you have run aground on an unseen shore. The rest of your ships follow suit so easily and safely do they climb the beach alongside you that it is as if a god has guided you in.

• 37:59Speaker 04

  Somehow safely beached, you all clamber onto dry land and lie down to sleep, awaiting daylight to reveal to what island you have come.

• 38:12Speaker 04

  Rose-fingered dawn arrives, revealing to you happily that the fog has cleared. You can now see that you have come upon a new island, one lush with luxurious vegetation and woods, and, as you realize as you see movement along the trees, goats.

• 38:31Speaker 04

  You can also see, as you turn, taking in the rest of the small island, that the land is uncultivated and the goats are wild with no mortal presence. This will do nicely as a safe spot to take on water and feast. You call the men to get their hunting bows, and before long, the same god that allowed you to land so mysteriously has sent you goats enough for each of the ships to have nine each, with your men unanimously voting you ten as a sign of respect. A day of feasting ensues, accompanying the rich goat meat with the mellow wine from the ship's stores. The slaves, given tidbits from your feast, are quiet.

• 39:15Speaker 04

  The men look happy enough, and the feeling is mellow. As you fall happily asleep, stomach full and mind at ease, you fancy you can hear snatchers of voices on the wind and see lights from fires on the neighboring island across the water. But to find out what happens next, you'll have to come back for episode two.

• 39:50Speaker 04

  You Are Odysseus is an abridged reading of the book by L. Jenkinson Brown, a retelling of the Odyssey where you get to be the eponymous hero and see where your adventure takes you. Writing, recording, and sound design by L. Jenkinson Brown. All rights reserved. Go to laurajenkinsonbrown.co.uk for show notes and references. You Are Odysseus is part of the Memory Collective, creators and educators dedicated to sharing knowledge that is accessible, contextualized, socially conscious, and inclusive. To find more from the Memory Collective, go to collectivemem.com.

• 40:40Speaker 01

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  That's G A B B dot com forward slash get gab. Gab: Tech in Steps. Independence for them, peace of mind for parents.

• 41:33Speaker 02

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• 42:31Speaker 06

  Hi, it's Danny Pellegrino from Everything Iconic. Twelve celebrities, one Don, and cold, hard cash. From the producers of The Traitors comes The Mob, a new Hulu original series. The iconic Parker Posey hosts this unique reality competition show where twelve celebrity contestants shake down in an Italian villa to win a share of up to $250,000. Watch the new Hulu original series, The Mob, premiering October 26th on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for bundle subscribers. Terms apply.

• 43:06Speaker 04

  Enemy of My Dreams by Jenny Williamson is a historical romance novel set in the time of the late Roman Empire, where Alaric, a brutal Gothic warlord, and Julia, a Roman princess, with a love of good wine, team up to take down Rome.

• 43:24Speaker 07

  The much-awaited sequel, Game of Thieves, comes out December 8th. In this sequel, Julia and Alaric must overcome centuries of conflict to work together or the turbulent riptides of rebellion and the demons of their past will tear them apart.

• 43:37Speaker 04

  And now, for a limited time, when you preorder Game of Thieves through Burning Pages Bookstore, you'll get a signed book plate and a free art print of one of Jenny's favorite spicy scenes from across the series.

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