"Chance's Motto" by Jasper L'Estrange | An EnCrypted Original | Audiobook

Mystery writer Amelia Cramphorne seeks to engineer a love-match between two eligible singletons in her village - but has second thoughts when she suspects handsome Peter Chance of having sinister motives. But is life imitating art or art imitating life in this strange tale?

In his essay "Stories I Have Tried To Write", the master of the antiquarian ghost story, M.R. James, outlined several plot ideas he'd been unable to develop. Naturally, other authors have since used these ideas for their own stories. One of the ideas James writes about concerns a Christmas cracker:

"If the right people pull it, and if the motto which they find inside has the right message on it...they will probably leave the party early, pleading indisposition; but very likely a previous engagement of long standing would be the more truthful excuse."

This one always intrigued me and I finally decided to try and write my own story using the Christmas cracker as the instigating object. What I have finished up with is clearly very far from what James intended, for which I am sorry. I took the idea and let my mind wander. Rather like the heroine of my story...

I hope you will indulge me sharing a self-penned story. More classic horror stories are on the way soon...

LIKE THIS ONE? TRY...
THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME?: Young Strickland's Affair    • "Young Strickland's Career" by J.D. Beresf...  
WHAT JUST HAPPENED?: Unseen-Unfeared    • "Unseen - Unfeared" by Francis Stevens | W...  
SHAGGY DOG STORIES: The Dream    • "The Dream" by A.J. Alan | Vintage radio s...  
MY PICK: A School Story    • "A School Story" by M.R. James | Classic g...  

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About the episode:

"Chance's Motto" by Jasper L'Estrange. Copyright (c) Jasper L'Estrange, 2021. Based on "Stories I Have Tried To Write" by M.R. James.


Chapters:
0:00 A Christmas story
5:59 Murder, she wrote
11:22 A game of chance
17:26 The party's over
20:25 The business at Lowell's
31:14 Two telephone conversations
35:45 Rendezvous at the lake
42:08 A postscript
45:22 Outro

Credit where credit's due:

End theme music: The Black Waltz by Scott Buckley | www.scottbuckley.com.au Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...


Incidental music:

Music used : " SNOW MAN " composed and produced by "Vivek Abhishek" Music link :   • [No Copyright Music] SNOW MAN  | Horror Mu...   SUBSCRIBE us on YOUTUBE: https://bit.ly/3qumnPH Follow on Facebook : https://bit.ly/33RWRtP Follow on Instagram : https://bit.ly/2ImU2JV

The House of Leaves by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song...
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

The Ghost Castle by Frank Schröter
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6602-the-gh...
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Sound effects: All sound effects sourced at Freesound.org

The recording was created using Audacity and BandLab. Podcast hosted by Anchor.

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#christmasghoststories #ghoststoriesforchristmas