http://www.stevedaut.comwww.stevedaut.com

Steve's storytelling program, also entitled Telling Twain, is currently listed in the Michigan Arts and Humanities Council travel directory. Special online presentations can be arranged by emailing me through mail@stevedaut.com]]>enBooksCopyright Steve Dauthttps://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/5a54965ea543d636b7fcbfdd32b59485.jpghttp://www.stevedaut.comFri, 07 Apr 2023 22:10:48 +0000Steve DautSteve Dautmail@stevedaut.comThese are some of Mark Twain's best short stories, adapted and told by Steve Daut. Episodes include historical notes and comments from Steve's book, Telling Twain, available through Amazon. To learn more about Steve, visit www.stevedaut.com Steve's...www.stevedaut.com

Steve's storytelling program, also entitled Telling Twain, is currently listed in the Michigan Arts and Humanities Council travel directory. Special online presentations can be arranged by emailing me through mail@stevedaut.com]]>cleanepisodichttps://www.spreaker.com/user/stevedaut/the-great-beef-contracthttps://api.spreaker.com/episode/43269443Wed, 03 Feb 2021 17:09:46 +0000Steve DautThis story, first published in 1870, is refreshing in a way, because it demonstrates very clearly that a dysfunctional government bureaucracy has been with us for a long time, yet, we have managed to survive so far. So the next time you spend...698bureaucracy,bureaucrats,contracts,deepstate,dysfunction,frustration,government,humor,twaincleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/stevedaut/a-curious-dreamhttps://api.spreaker.com/episode/42992594Mon, 18 Jan 2021 15:53:51 +0000Steve DautIn this humorous but thought-provoking story, Twain reminds us to respect and honor those who have gone before. This is a adaptation is from a story Twain probably wrote around 1870, and was first published in 1875 in the volume, "Sketches New and...634cleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/stevedaut/mcwilliams-and-lightninghttps://api.spreaker.com/episode/42067608Fri, 20 Nov 2020 02:32:00 +0000Steve DautThis is one of three stories that Twain claimed was told to him by a man he met on his travels, Mr. McWilliams. I suspect the stories are homage to a couple he was friends with while he worked at the Buffalo Express.471humor,lightning,twaincleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/stevedaut/the-salesmans-tale
The music is "Barroom Ballet" by Kevin MacLeod, for FreePD.com]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/41959735Fri, 13 Nov 2020 16:05:59 +0000Steve DautThis story was originally called The Canvasser's Tale, was first published in 1876. I changed the name because in today's language, we would call the man Twain encounters a travelling salesman, as we reserve the term canvasser mainly for...
The music is "Barroom Ballet" by Kevin MacLeod, for FreePD.com]]>666echoes.,humor,twaincleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/stevedaut/membraneous-couphttps://api.spreaker.com/episode/41777292Tue, 03 Nov 2020 17:38:16 +0000Steve DautThis is one of three stories Twain wrote about the McWilliamses. He claimed that they were told to him by Mr. McWilliams, who he encountered on his travels, but it seems more likely to me that the stories were written in homage to friends who lived in...640croup,fiction,humor,twaincleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/stevedaut/a-fable_1https://api.spreaker.com/episode/41554295Tue, 20 Oct 2020 16:31:58 +0000Steve DautThis story was first published in 1909. As one of Twain's later stories, it was tightly written, and it is also very reminiscent of the folk tale genre that he was emulating. In fact, it sounds do much like an actual folk tale, that I tried to find...366animals,fable,humor,mirror,moral,twaincleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/stevedaut/a-medieval-romancehttps://api.spreaker.com/episode/41428943Mon, 12 Oct 2020 23:21:19 +0000Steve DautA convoluted European folktale with a particularly Twain twist at the end. Originally published in 1870 as The Awful, Terrible, Medieval Romance, Shakespeare would probably have appreciated this one.620cleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/stevedaut/the-professors-yarnhttps://api.spreaker.com/episode/41212472Tue, 29 Sep 2020 20:08:06 +0000Steve DautThis story was originally part of Twain's book, Life on the Mississippi. It's a story that takes me back to my childhood growing up on the Mississippi River, riding the Delta Queen and watching episodes of Maverick. It's a classic tale of riverboat life.833gambling,humor,maverick,riverboat,twaincleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/stevedaut/editing-an-agricultural-paper
The music for this episode is "Bleu" by Komiko, from FreePD.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/40962271Thu, 17 Sep 2020 22:21:47 +0000Steve DautThis story was first published in Galaxy Magazine and the Buffalo Express. Although it is certainly fiction, it is also very likely that it is based on arguments that he had with his partners at the Buffalo Express about increasing circulation versus...
The music for this episode is "Bleu" by Komiko, from FreePD.com.]]>549humor,storytelling,twaincleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/stevedaut/my-watchhttps://api.spreaker.com/episode/40724039Sun, 06 Sep 2020 02:55:56 +0000Steve DautIn this story, first published in 1870, Twain talks about his travails with getting a watch fixed that didn't need fixing. I have told this in front of various audiences and quickly discovered that I needed to explain what it was like to have a pocket...475humor,twain,watchcleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/stevedaut/the-killing-of-julius-caesarhttps://api.spreaker.com/episode/40551998Fri, 28 Aug 2020 22:29:31 +0000Steve DautThe Killing of Julius Caesar was first published in a compilation of stories, and is Twain's little exercise in imagining what it would be like to be a reporter in ancient Rome, writing about Caesar's murder. Not wholly successful, so I have tried to...620cleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/stevedaut/captain-stormfieldhttps://api.spreaker.com/episode/40415170Thu, 20 Aug 2020 01:48:56 +0000Steve DautTwain claimed that the original version of this story was his satiric counterpoint to The Gates Ajar, by Elizabeth Stuart Ward. It pokes fun at the absurd contradictions we carry about the nature of what Heaven is like. This adaptation is based on the...1440cleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/stevedaut/one-little-talehttps://api.spreaker.com/episode/40248464Mon, 10 Aug 2020 14:44:59 +0000Steve DautThis story is my adaptation of Twain's story entitled Two Little Tales. The original is a story within a story, but it seems to me that the "outer" story that wraps around the other one actually distracts from the message of the inner story, so I got...491cleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/stevedaut/running-for-governorhttps://api.spreaker.com/episode/40114500Sun, 02 Aug 2020 18:35:52 +0000Steve DautThis story is pure Twain, full of sardonic humor and dry wit. It is a telling statement of the nature of political campaigns, and manages to be a refreshing reminder that the squabbling we experience today have long been a part of politics in America.722cleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/stevedaut/five-boons-of-lifehttps://api.spreaker.com/episode/39990794Sun, 26 Jul 2020 20:03:23 +0000Steve DautThis is a minor adaptation of a dark and pessimistic story by Twain. It was written during a time when his wife, Libby, was dying and he was beginning to think about writing his autobiography. The story almost seems like a short autobiography itself,...375cleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/stevedaut/some-learned-fableshttps://api.spreaker.com/episode/39797586Thu, 16 Jul 2020 15:38:22 +0000Steve DautThis is one of the more complex episodes in the series. Twain's original was written in multiple parts, and the connection between them is not always consistent, so it took a fair amount of adaptation. On the others hand, it was great fun to put it...1736cleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/stevedaut/political-economyhttps://api.spreaker.com/episode/35584974Fri, 03 Jul 2020 04:22:00 +0000Steve DautIn trying to write an essay on political economy, Twain is interrupted repeatedly by a lightning rod salesman. In trying to dispatch the interruption quickly without looking foolish, Twain just makes things worse . . . . and worse . . . . and worse ....709cleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/stevedaut/a-ghost-storyhttps://api.spreaker.com/episode/32788411Wed, 24 Jun 2020 01:48:50 +0000Steve DautA Ghost Story was first published in an 1875 volume entitled Sketches New and Old. The inspiration for the story has been called "The greatest hoax every perpetuated on the American people". This episode contains both Twain's story and the true story...794cleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/stevedaut/arguing-with-a-ravenhttps://api.spreaker.com/episode/31266076Tue, 16 Jun 2020 20:29:26 +0000Steve DautAn excerpt from A Tramp Abroad that was published to promote that book in the Cincinnati Daily Star235cleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/stevedaut/the-facts-in-the-great-landslide-casehttps://api.spreaker.com/episode/29830358Sun, 07 Jun 2020 16:10:00 +0000Steve DautAn 1860's courtroom drama. Absurd as it sounds, it may have actually happened!643cleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/stevedaut/undertakers-chathttps://api.spreaker.com/episode/28379992Tue, 26 May 2020 18:49:46 +0000Steve Daut334cleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/stevedaut/thirty-thousand-dollar-bequesthttps://api.spreaker.com/episode/27467834Sat, 16 May 2020 01:56:52 +0000Steve DautThe Fosters have come into an unexpected bequest from a relative they didn't know existed. Is it a blessing or a curse? This is a modern, condensed adaptation of Twain's story, originally published in 1904. Adapted and narrated by Steve Daut.995cleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/stevedaut/mcwilliams-and-burglar-alarmhttps://api.spreaker.com/episode/27100327Mon, 11 May 2020 15:41:58 +0000Steve DautTwain's struggle with cutting edge technology, circa 1880.662cleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/stevedaut/the-wild-man-interviewedhttps://api.spreaker.com/episode/27049499Sun, 10 May 2020 22:07:34 +0000Steve DautOne of Twain's darkest stories, with some disturbing recent events included to underscore the power of the story. The original version of this story was published in the September 18, 1869 issue of the Buffalo Express.456cleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/stevedaut/journalism-in-tennessee-mixhttps://api.spreaker.com/episode/26962803Sat, 09 May 2020 14:09:28 +0000Steve DautSteve Daut's adaptation of a Mark Twain slapstick story about Fake News and the battles of journalism. For you sensitive souls out there, some violence is depicted in this episode.669fakenews,humor,twain,violencecleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/stevedaut/curing-a-coldhttps://api.spreaker.com/episode/26791521Tue, 05 May 2020 20:25:16 +0000Steve DautMark Twain's unique approach to curing a cold, first published in the May 42, 1867 edition of the Marshall County Republican483humor,marktwain,story,storytelling,talltalecleanfullhttps://www.spreaker.com/user/stevedaut/twain-frog-ott-1-2-19https://api.spreaker.com/episode/26703232Mon, 04 May 2020 15:59:38 +0000Steve DautThis is an adaptation of Mark Twain's first and best known short story, about a man with a very special frog.594book,comedy,humor,stories,talltale,twaincleanfull