Solstice Story Hour
A reading of M. R. James’ “Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad”
This event concluded on December 21, 2025.
For Weirdosphere’s first solstice event, in 2024, Weird Studies co-hosts Phil Ford and J. F. Martel did a live reading of M. R. James’ ghost story “Lost Hearts,” with musical accompaniment by Montreal composer Pierre-Yves Martel, who also creates and performs original compositions for the Weird Studies podcast. Following the reading of James’ ghostly tale, J. F. and Phil engaged in a discussion on the story’s intensity, on their appreciation of spectral experiences and impressions, and on the liminality between the light and the dark.
This year, while Pierre-Yves performs a live score, J. F. and Phil will read aloud M. R. James’ ghost story “Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad.” After reading the story, Phil and J. F. will again engage in a dialogue reflecting on what they have read. Whether it is the shortest day of the year where you are or the longest, this tale is sure to creep up your spine and crawl across your skin, raising the fine hairs.
The cost for the event is only $30 for new members to our learning community, making it a great way to join Weirdosphere for the new year. As a member, you will immediately become eligible for a discount on our winter offering, Hunting the White Whale: A course on Moby-Dick, co-taught by Erik Davis and J. F. Martel, starting January 20, 2026.
If you’re already a member of the Weirdosphere learning community, register for Solstice Story Hour from within the Weirdosphere Mighty Network to receive your member discount.
To accommodate various time zones and busy holiday schedules, the event will be recorded for asynchronous viewing. Whether you join us live on the day or enjoy later at your convenience, reserve your space now for this hauntingly festive experience!
Schedule
PLEASE NOTE: This event concluded on Dec 21, 2025. Registering for an event after its conclusion grants you access to the video recording.
Instructor Bio
J.F. Martel is a Canadian author, filmmaker, lecturer, and cultural critic known for his work on the arts, philosophy, and the uncanny. With a background in film production and an interest in metaphysics, Martel explores the intersections of creativity and the ineffable, challenging conventional boundaries of understanding. He is best known for his book Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice, which argues for the intrinsic value of art beyond commodification and utilitarianism. Martel’s writings often appear in various publications, where he discusses the spiritual and existential dimensions of culture. As a filmmaker, he has directed several documentaries and short films. Through his work, Martel invites audiences to reconsider their perceptions of reality and embrace the mysteries that lie beneath the surface of the workaday world. He co-hosts the Weird Studies podcast with the music historian Phil Ford.
Pierre-Yves Martel is a Montreal-based musician and composer whose work moves between early music and contemporary experimental practices. A specialist of the viola da gamba, he also explores modular synthesis, field recording, and other instruments, approaching sound as sound—focusing on timbre, texture, and the act of listening itself. His wide-ranging output includes numerous solo albums, scores for film and dance, long-standing collaborations such as the improvised trio Hübsch Martel Zoubek, and original music for the arts and philosophy podcast Weird Studies. Alongside an active international concert career, Martel develops site-specific and long-form projects (including the 600-minute Ephemera for Radio Bloc Oral), often combining improvisation, composition, and soundscape.
Phil Ford (Ph.D. University of Minnesota, 2003) is an associate professor of musicology at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. He has also taught at Stanford University and the University of Texas at Austin. His work has dealt especially with postwar American culture and music (jazz, pop, film music, the avant-garde), as well as sound, musical performance, philosophies of experience, and the intellectual history of counterculture. He is the author of Dig: Sound and Music in Hip Culture (Oxford University Press, 2013) and has published essays in Representations, Journal of Musicology, Musical Quarterly, and elsewhere. He was the founder and lead writer for the blog Dial ‘M’ for Musicology, which ran from 2006 to 2018, and nowadays co-hosts an arts and philosophy podcast, Weird Studies, with philosopher J. F. Martel. His current work concerns magical and contemplative styles of thought, feeling, and experience in various contexts, musical and otherwise.