Nightly · Hosted by Mika
Key Passages is an experimental show. Short nightly listens: a key passage from a classic book, introduced and discussed by Mika, a synthetic host. The readings are by real human LibriVox volunteers, not AI-generated, and Mika's analysis, dates, and details are AI-generated — please treat them as a starting point, not a verified record, and check important dates against the original sources.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Herland, Chapter 1 — 'A Not Unnatural Enterprise': three men on a scientific expedition up a great river, following guides' legends of a Woman Land — in this extended version, the remainder of Chapter 1 follows the analysis. Full book free on LibriVox. AI disclosure: this episode is hosted by Mika, a synthetic voice. The reading is by real human LibriVox reader Heather Ordover, not AI-generated.
Jules Verne, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas, Chapter 1 — 'A Runaway Reef': the year 1866, a phosphorescent monster at sea, and the press war over what struck the Moravian and the Scotia — in this extended version, the remainder of Chapter 1 follows the analysis. Full book free on LibriVox. AI disclosure: this episode is hosted by Mika, a synthetic voice. The reading is by real human LibriVox reader Piper Hale, not AI-generated.
H. G. Wells, The Invisible Man, Chapter 1 — 'The Strange Man's Arrival': a bandaged stranger arrives at the Coach and Horses in Iping on a snowy day, and Mrs. Hall cannot read his face — in this extended version, the remainder of Chapter 1 follows the analysis. Full book free on LibriVox. AI disclosure: this episode is hosted by Mika, a synthetic voice. The reading is by real human LibriVox reader Cate Barratt, not AI-generated.
H. G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, Book 1 Chapter 1 — 'The Eve of the War': Mars watched from Earth, an older and cooler planet, the 1894 opposition light, ending on 'The storm burst upon us six years ago now' — in this extended version, the remainder of Chapter 1 follows the analysis. Full book free on LibriVox. AI disclosure: this episode is hosted by Mika, a synthetic voice. The reading is by real human LibriVox reader Stephan Möbius, not AI-generated.
H. G. Wells, The Time Machine, Chapter 1: the Time Traveller argues his case for time as a fourth dimension, then returns from his first journey with a story of the year 802,701 — in this extended version, the remainder of Chapter 1 follows the analysis. Full book free on LibriVox. AI disclosure: this episode is hosted by Mika, a synthetic voice. The reading is by real human LibriVox reader Mark F. Smith, not AI-generated.
William Dean Howells, The Rise of Silas Lapham, Chapter 1: journalist Bartley Hubbard interviewing Silas Lapham for 'Solid Men of Boston,' the Vermont paint-mine fortune, and Lapham's mother — in this extended version, the remainder of Chapter 1 follows the analysis. Full book free on LibriVox. AI disclosure: this episode is hosted by Mika, a synthetic voice. The reading is by real human LibriVox reader BumbleVee, not AI-generated.
Edward Bulwer-Lytton, The House and the Brain, from the Short Ghost and Horror Collection 053: a friend's haunted house in London, an owner who cannot keep a lodger, and a narrator who asks for the address — in this extended version, the full story follows the analysis. Full book free on LibriVox. AI disclosure: this episode is hosted by Mika, a synthetic voice. The reading is by real human LibriVox reader Grant Love, not AI-generated.
H. P. Lovecraft, The Alchemist, from the Short Ghost and Horror Collection 053: the story's opening — an old chateau on its wooded hill, a dwindling line of counts, and a curse spoken over the house. Full book free on LibriVox. AI disclosure: this episode is hosted by Mika, a synthetic voice. The reading is by real human LibriVox reader Cliff Stone, not AI-generated.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper, from the Short Ghost and Horror Collection 053. Full book free on LibriVox. AI disclosure: this episode is hosted by Mika, a synthetic voice. The reading is by real human LibriVox reader Brenna Castor, not AI-generated.
Nathaniel Hawthorne, Young Goodman Brown, from the Short Ghost and Horror Collection 053. Full book free on LibriVox. AI disclosure: this episode is hosted by Mika, a synthetic voice. The reading is by real human LibriVox reader Heather Eney, not AI-generated.
Ambrose Bierce, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. Full book free on LibriVox. AI disclosure: this episode is hosted by Mika, a synthetic voice. The reading is by real human LibriVox reader David Wales, not AI-generated.
Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, Chapter 11. Full book free on LibriVox. AI disclosure: this episode is hosted by Mika, a synthetic voice. The reading is by real human LibriVox reader David Barnes, not AI-generated.
Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights, Chapter I. Full book free on LibriVox. AI disclosure: this episode is hosted by Mika, a synthetic voice. The reading is by real human LibriVox reader Ruth Golding, not AI-generated.
Bram Stoker, Dracula, Chapter 1. Full book free on LibriVox. AI disclosure: this episode is hosted by Mika, a synthetic voice. The reading is by real human LibriVox reader Kara Shallenberg, not AI-generated.
Edgar Allan Poe, The Tell-Tale Heart. Full book free on LibriVox. AI disclosure: this episode is hosted by Mika, a synthetic voice. The reading is by real human LibriVox reader Ann Boulais, not AI-generated.
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Chapter 5: the creation, on a dreary night of November. Full book free on LibriVox. AI disclosure: this episode is hosted by Mika, a synthetic voice. The reading is by real human LibriVox volunteers, not AI-generated.
Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 34: Darcy's first proposal. Clean re-record, 2026-10-27: disclosure added to the intro; clip and discussion unchanged. Full book free on LibriVox. AI disclosure: this episode is hosted by Mika, a synthetic voice. The reading is by real human LibriVox reader Kara Shallenberg, not AI-generated.