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Upcoming Events, Shows & Performances:

BEOWULF: Odds Bodkin Adult Zoom Storytelling Coming Feb. 7

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Her web handle is amilolomy and in her five-star review at my web store of Beowulf: The Only One, she writes, “I always find myself crying by the end of it.”

As a storyteller, that’s music to my ears. That means that I’ve found the emotional lightning in the tale. It means that the character I’ve built—Beowulf—with his voice and his lines, his pauses, his worried inner thoughts, is worth crying over when he dies. “Fate often saves an undoomed man if his courage holds” he says when he’s in danger. That line comes straight from the thousand year old text. Other lines come from me, since I’m not reciting the story. No, this is my re-imagined version of a tale about a singular hero. Fictionalized and brought to life for modern listeners with character voices and a full score on 12-string guitar.

Join me on Sunday, Feb. 7 at 5 pm EST on Zoom for a live performance of BEOWULF: THE ONLY ONE. Sponsored by Grendel’s Den. Tickets are $25.

Who knows, maybe you’ll cry at the end, too.

It’s Not Too Late for Odds Bodkin Story Downloads

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It’s Christmas Eve. Is it too late to buy a meaningful gift? No, not if you visit Odds Bodkin’s Shop and grab an All Collections + Bundle: all Bodkin’s audio tales for young children plus 3 long epics for older listeners and adults.

Download endless hours of classic listening in minutes.

Happy Holidays!

 

 

BEOWULF. Download Odds Bodkin’s Live Performance in Audio

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Adult storytelling at its most extreme and beautiful.

amilolomy (verified owner) –

This is the version that made me absolutely fall in love with the Beowulf story, and really understand why it has become such a classic piece of literature. There is such life and emotion in the way Bodkin tells it, that you just can’t get from reading it alone. He takes it from being a dry, unsentimental piece of curriculum and spins it into a deeply moving journey.

I always find myself crying by the end of it.

Buy Odds Bodkin’s telling of Beowulf here.

9 Full-Length Storytelling Albums for Kids 4-7 on a Single Flash Drive!

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Order your Beginner Drive today!

What’s on it? 9 Full-Length Storytelling Albums!

 

The Adventures of Little Proto: A Musical Dinosaur Story

Little Proto’s T-Rex Adventure: A Musical Dinosaur Story

Little Proto and the Volcano’s Fire: A Musical Dinosaur Story

The Teacup Fairy: Very Old Tales for Very Young Children

The Evergreens: Gentle Tales of Nature

With Twinkle in your Eye: Funny Folktales from Everywhere

Rip Roarin’ Paul Bunyan Tales

The Winter Cherries: Holiday Tales from Around the World

The Blossom Tree: Tales from the Far East

 

Coming Up Oct. 18: Odds Bodkin’s Zoom Performance of HERCULES IN HELL

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A Professor of Classics should know what he’s talking about, and Joseph Walsh of Loyola University Maryland certainly does. He and his students experienced an Odds Bodkin Zoom performance just three weeks ago. Here’s what he wrote:

“Odds Bodkin has been thrilling our students every Fall for years now with his live performances, and this year’s zoom performance of Iliad Book 1 was every bit as successful. We have gotten a good deal of feedback from the attendees, and it indicates that they were mesmerized, as usual.  Indeed, several students who had seen Odds perform in the past – and he has fans who come back every year – considered it even better.  They loved the fact that they could see his face up close, watch his fingers dance across his guitar and harp, and they thought not a bit of the usual intensity and beauty of his performance was lost.”

Now you can have a front row seat for yet another dynamic telling of a Greek mythology classic, HERCULES IN HELL. This GOLDEN HEADSET AWARD-winning spoken word tale features amazing voices, a score on 12-string guitar, and an exploration of the shocking myth of Hercules. His murders, his labors, his enslavement, his triumphs.

This is an adult storytelling. No children please.

Sunday, Oct. 18 at 5 pm EST on Zoom

Tickets are $15.

 

Sponsored by Grendel’s Den.

BACK TO SCHOOL AT HOME? BUY YOUR FAMILY AN EPIC DRIVE

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Literature. Music. Performing Arts. English Language Learning.

They all can be found listening to Odds Bodkin’s award-winning

stories.

“I’m so thrilled to have found your website and eagerly await reconnecting with your peerless storytelling.

Some thirty years ago I lived in New Hampshire, where my two young sons and I frequently caught your act. Cassette recordings also entertained us on our twice annual car treks to visit family in Ohio.

Now the boys are grown and living on opposite coasts while their parents have settled in Kentucky. Anticipating grandchildren and, thanks to the pandemic, more long drives to visit family, I went in search of an old favorite road companion. It feels like going home.

Thanks for all you do.”

–A Recent Customer

If your children or grandchildren are heading back to school by staying at home this fall, get yourself an EPIC DRIVE with 18 full-length storytelling albums. From gentle nature stories to mythic adventures, they’re all told with characters, sounds and live acoustic music.

Click to read about the national media awards.

Find Odds Bodkin’s stories on Amazon Alexa.

ALEXA, PLAY ODDS BODKIN!

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“Alexa, open Bedtime Stories.”

That’s all you have to say to your Amazon Alexa to open a trove of Odds Bodkin’s audio stories for kids. The Evergreens. The Teacup Fairy. The Little Proto Trilogy of dinosaur adventures. The Elf of Springtime. The Rock n’ Roll Three Little Pigs. 38 stories in all, each told with beautiful music, wild characters and amazing vocal effects.

Yes, Odds Bodkin’s ancient craft is now available on the most high-tech of platforms. Parents’ Choice Awards. Indie Awards. Storytelling World Awards. The Dove Award. The Golden Headset Award. These timeless tales have won them all.

Of course, you don’t have to rely on Alexa when you own these stories, plus The Odyssey, Beowulf and Bodkin’s other tales for adults and teens. Just purchase an EPIC DRIVE, the complete collection of Odds Bodkin’s audio works.

Happy listening!

Candles and Imagination

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Long ago, when I began telling stories, I’d light a candelabrum at my feet. There in a darkened room the flames would dance across my face and kids loved it, until, of course, schools started to say, “No more, Mr. Bodkin. A kid might go up in flames. You dripped wax on our floor. Leave your portable campfire at home.” Even though I always cleaned up the wax, I stopped doing my candlelight shows.

I still recommend candelight, though, to people listening to my stories, especially the epics. Light a candle. Turn down the lights. Listen and dream.

Something about the flame quickens the mind’s eye.

For instance, Detroit Jewish News reviewed my telling of David and Goliath and said, “With nothing more than his guitar and voice, Odds Bodkin manages to paint a scene more captivating than much of what you see on the big screen.”

It won the Parents’ Choice Gold Award, the Storytelling World Award and the Dove Foundation Award. It’s an hour long.

Beowulf: The Only One just won the Storytelling World Award as well. It was recorded before a live adult audience in Cambridge, MA. It’s an hour and 20 minutes.

You can find lots of long-form stories like this at my download shop. Happy listening!

 

 

The Odyssey, Beowulf, David and Goliath, Hercules, and Sir Percival and the Fisher King are Classic Epics

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At 4 hours and 8 minutes, The Odyssey is the longest of Odds Bodkin’s epic audio tales, but the others average well over 70 minutes.

The Little Proto Trilogy, his original dinosaur adventure series, is more than 3 hours of immersive listening for kids 4 and up. They’ll listen again and again and again, especially at bedtime.

Get all these and 12 other FULL-LENGTH STORYTELLING ALBUMS on the EPIC DRIVE.

$99.95

You can listen to samples of all these award-winning mp3 audios at Odds Bodkin’s Shop.

 

 

Young Kids At Home: A 3-Hour Dinosaur Saga on Audio

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Sit them down to listen on a good sound system. Odds Bodkin’s famous “sound effects bursts” begin each Little Proto audio adventure.

This isn’t “Once Upon a Time.”

This is roaring wind, made with the human voice. Crickets. Far off dino calls. Three-ton foot falls.

Building underneath, there’s 12-string guitar music.

Then a young dinosaur’s voice. “I’m listening for the hoots of Iguanodons…” Little Proto sings. You can listen here:

 

So begin all three ultra-kid-friendly Little Proto dinosaur adventure stories. Generations of parents have bought them for their children ages 3 and up.

And now, you can buy them for your kids, too!

No TV required.

3 hours and 20 minutes about a young dinosaur growing up. Good for falling asleep, too.

Download the Trilogy now for $24.95

Winner of Parents’ Choice Gold and Silver Awards.

Journey to the Ends of the Earth: 4 hours of The Odyssey

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A hero’s journey like no other.

Narrated with live music on Celtic harp and 12-string guitar featuring 37 character voices.

Odds Bodkin’s 4-hour epic audio story, The Odyssey: An Epic Telling.

Odysseus. The Cyclops. Circe. The Sirens. Troy. Ithaca. The Underworld. The Isle of Cannibals. The Whirlpool. The Hall of Suitors. 42 episodes in all. 4 hours 8 minutes.

“a tour de force“–Dartmouth Department of Classics

“a consummate storyteller”–The New York Times

Download it here for $49.95