Tony Walker is simply the best narrator I've yet listened to! His Dracula is beyond compare.

Love this narrators voice, I find it so soothing thank u for the upload

To be completely honest, when I first started listening I stopped before the bit about the authors but because of your no-nonsense sense of humor and hearty insight it's become my favorite part ! I agree, though sometimes the artist's choices can muddle your opinion of their art, I find it is still possible to respect their work without respecting their actions or opinions!

Oh! i enjoy your ramblings at end. They're truly organic (or freerange?) the tangent you take!.

I'm behind with Tony- audio books- must catch up- I loved his "in full" reading of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Grey. Fantastic "gift" to narrate the entire novella, a story which seems timely - we live in such a celebrity fixated culture where looks and youth count for too much and it is making for a mass depressive mood world wide- thanks Tony - Namaste ( promise to catch up) Holly Golightly

Great job, Tony! I felt bad for Nathaniel. That man who finally gave him the "weatherglass" was a vile person indeed! Great story! I never knew he wrote the story The Nutcracker was based on.

We enjoy all your rambling Tony, whether late or early!

Gripping, fantastic narration, Tony! You truly are the best! More Hoffman, please?! Thank you!!!

Poor Clara in this story! Thanks for the story and the ramble. I enjoy them a lot.

Really looking forward to this. Dracula was fantastic! 👍🥇

Vabout time I’ve been waiting all night for this so I can go to sleep. Keep up the good work 👍

Really enjoyed this one. I don't know why but it reminded me of the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang; the Sandman being the Child Catcher in the film and there's also a part where the toy maker makes Truly Scrumptious into a clockwork doll. A bizarre comparison I know but my mind is rambling at this time of night, 03.01 hrs. I loved your ramble too, Tony. Looking forward to whatever you share next.

Oh my goodness, what a treat, Hoffman! I wonder if you'll be moving on to his less-known, and then increasingly strange, satiric work... And what after this? Kafka? He has some truly scary stories (the country doctor, for one)... I can't wait for this. -- You know Offenbach's opera that includes this story? try the version for TV put out by East Germany. Perhaps the rhythms and cadences there will further inspire your reading!

Finally settling down for this..I love the longer ones 💜

Freud wrote about this in his essay The Uncanny. I love Hoffman. My favorite is The King's Bride, but that's because bad poetry saves the day. This one is much scarier.

Lovely stuff, really enjoyed listening

Now that I'm working outside of home once again, it's harder for me to keep up with these stories as they come out. Nevertheless, your stories are always worth the wait, and most enjoyable. Thank you very much.

Thanks for the story

Perfect Freudian slip 1:31:44

Thank you for the story!

Got myself a cryin talkin sleepin walkin..... ...

The story reminds me of those young men who get obsessed with anime characters. They fall in love with cartoon waifus.

Thank you for the great reading and story! ❤🙏

Love your stories and your late night rambles Tony ! An avid listener of yours Athens , Greece . You are really helping me get through a hip replacement operation at the moment and I thank you for that 😊 ps interesting you mentioning us Greeks being the most disciplined in following regulations during covid pandemic . It is not in our genes but our “ responsible” behaviour was largely enforced on us by our authoritarian government and a lot of police monitoring …

This is not one I could sink my teeth into... I am trying.

Well read Tony. I enjoy all of your narrations.

Tony, I looked up Hoffman on Wikipedia and he was a very creative and smart man! He actually influenced Edgar Allan Poe and other writers in the 1800s. There's a self-portrait on his wikipedia page and there were lawyers on both sides of his family. Hoffman also wrote music and some operas! He sounds like a very bright and talented man! He had to uproot his family (wife & daughter) to get out of the throws of Napoleon's army and the war. He moved around quite a bit in Germany. He was also friends with Immanuel Kant! Apart from the syphilis, he had a very interesting life. There is also a synopsis of this story on Wikipedia. It lists all the characters and gives details for each. Unlike some of your listeners, I haven't heard of all these writers before so I love reading their bios. Crazy story, and I chuckled at your comment about your ruffled soul in contrast to well, I don't want to ruin it for anyone reading this. Anyway, well done! Great job and I will be reading more about the story and him on Wiki. Thank you for introducing me to such an interesting writer. Love your sense of humor! Look @ all the places you've gone, Japan, etc. Nicely done, Mr. Walker!

This story reminds me very much of the story of the ballet Copelia. It's a Russian ballet. I had a trio of stories as a child in which Copelia was one. There was also Petrushka and The Fire Bird. Anyways, loved your narration as usual!

Wow...that was all around brilliant! It's now 3:30 am and I've yet to sleep but I'm so glad I was able to listen to all without a break. Your ramble was especially entertaining, and I was riveted. Btw I have 2 dogs and 2 cats and they are all the best of friends (even though the dogs do more than a bit of bothering and molesting, the cats don't retaliate.) I think you deserve a big ginger kitty. They do seem to be the most affectionate and many have dog like qualities. Have a marvelous weekend 💜

Oh, Sheila, let him have the cat! They don’t do much damage and they bring so much more joy.

I own the movie In Bruges! Love it Great read

Really scary and uncanny. Do you think the episode when dr coppelius threatens to throw burning sand in the child's eyes is supposed to be a true réminiscence ? It is almost worse than the truly mad moments especially because of the father's reaction

Great to have this, thank you. The only thing that's a mystery is who was the translator and how did you choose them over others? It's a story on my reading list but too many versions out there.

What a strange person Nathaniel was! Excitable boy, they all said. Poor Clara. What a field day Reddit would have with that ex-boyfriend story.

See also Coppelia and Poor Things 😂

Mr Sandman bring me a dream😜

The Uncanny by Freud

👍👍👍👍👍

Truly, love is blindness ... Possible precursor to "Ex Machina"?

Dummies making more dummies. Oh, man…. I’ve met some automatons. Lars and the real girl” meets “Pinocchio!”

I just read Mary Shelley story The invisible girl and it is nothing like what you are describing here She was not born with a talent to be invisible things happen very differently in almost every respect from what you describe here about halfway through your description you touch him one or two points that are vaguely similar to something that actually happens in the story I don't think I'm going to listen to the rest of your description but I want to warn anybody who listens to your description the story they really ought to check it out with a story itself to see if you're not in fact totally different misrepresenting it