How can Michael and his companions hope to cross the mile wide Yenisei River, with no boat, raft or ferry? Jules Verne, today on The Classic Tales Podcast.

Welcome to The Classic Tales Podcast, where we use an audiobook format to give you an immersive experience in classic literature. You can get friendlier with the classics you know, and discover new favorites. I'm your host BJ Harrison. I'm a professional audiobook narrator, and I'm glad you could join us.

With the Audiobook Library Card, you gain access to everything I've personally curated from the public domain and recorded over the past 18 years. Every title was chosen with intent because it was calling to me for some reason. I needed to record it. After 18 and a half years of doing this, we're still winning awards and turning heads.

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Go to audiobooklibrarycard.com or follow the link in the show notes, and download and listen all you want.

I've discovered a new and easier way to listen to the audiobooks downloaded from the store, through the Audiobook Library Card or otherwise – it's the PocketBook App. It's just a little more intuitive than the KyBook app, and it's available for iPhone and Android. Links can be found in the show notes. I've also made a new video walkthrough so you can see how easy it is to download and listen using Pocketbook. Feel free to check it out.

Before we dive into today's story, I want to start a new little feature called the Word for the Week. Each week, we'll have a definition from the Devil's Lexicographer himself – Ambrose Bierce. Over the course of 30 years, Bierce nearly weekly wrote a cynical definition of a common word, sometimes consisting of poems, which he sold to various newspapers and periodicals. After 30 years, he collected all of these into one volume which came to be called The Devil's Dictionary. In keeping with the spirit of its creation, we'll hear one of his jocular definitions before we begin today's show.

So, the Word for the Week is Infancy, and here to read it is Ambrose Bierce himself:

INFANCY, n. The period of our lives when, according to Wordsworth, "Heaven lies about us." The world begins lying about us pretty soon afterward.

Thank you Mr. Bierce.

And now, Michael Strogoff, Part 8 of 9, by Jules Verne.

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