The Lightning Rod of Lost Luck

About this episode

In this episode, Matthew Mitchell tells the story of Jasper, a spark-chaser in the Shimmering Desert, who discovers a mysterious amber rod.

Visit the “A Bedtime Story” show website to submit your story ideas for a future episode! Welcome to A Bedtime Story. I'm Matthew Mitchell, and tonight's story is titled The Lightning Rod of Lost Luck, Part 1 of this week's series: The Static Sands. Jasper lived in a place where the ground was not made of dirt, but of millions of tiny glass beads. They called it the Shimmering Desert, a vast expanse where the wind whispered in a language made of friction and static. In the Shimmering Desert, weather was not about rain or temperature; it was about the intensity of the electrical charge in the air. Jasper was a spark-chaser by trade. He spent his days wandering the dunes with a collection of copper jars, hoping to catch the stray bolts of blue energy that danced between the glass peaks. His home was a small hut reinforced with lead shielding, tucked behind a ridge of obsidian. It was a modest life, but Jasper was content. He had his jars, his collection of odd-shaped stones, and his favorite tool, a long pole made of magnetized iron. He used the pole to test the air, watching for the way his hair would stand on end just before a surge of power arrived. One afternoon, while…

People in this episode

Host: Matthew Mitchell

Topics covered

• fantasy
• adventure
• imagination
• storytelling
• children's stories

Keywords

• Jasper
• Shimmering Desert
• spark-chaser
• amber
• static electricity
• fantasy story
• children's bedtime story

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: The Lightning Rod of Lost Luck, The Static Sands

Places: Shimmering Desert, obsidian

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