I recorded myself reading Edgar Allan Poe’s “A Cask of Amontillado” for the Tales Told When the Windows Rattle series. Season One of this series is complete, and you can find the video version on the YouTube channel or those videos and the (downloadable) audio-only files right here. “Amontillado,” though, is part of an interim sub-series I’m calling Tales Told Whenever I Feel Like It!, which should help keep me occupied until Season Two of the regular series appears in mid-October.
I especially like to record Poe’s tales because, so often, he tosses in important aural elements: the beating heart in “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the muffled meow in “The Black Cat,” or the tinkling bells of Fortunato’s jester cap in “Amontillado.” Clearly, Poe had an ear, and he knew a familiar sound in a frightfully unfamiliar situation can add a certain something to a creepy story.
If you’d like to hear what I mean, my take on “Amontillado” is up at YouTube. I also started a new page for the “Whenever” readings. I might be able to squeeze in one or two more of these before Season Two begins this autumn.
— Tim
BROM BONES BOOKS 