The Last Class by Richard Banks -Vintage Science Fiction Short Story Audiobook human voice
Channel: Stories of Futures Past
Date: 2024-03-23

Many years ago Emile Zola wrote a tale, by this same title, of a French schoolmaster who was forced to leave his pupils by the victorious German troops after the Franco-Prussian War. The schoolmaster's last words were: Vive la France! 
Miss Hippiness, in this story, had no final words. But if she had, they might have been: "Long live the 20th Century!"

The gradually revealed dystopian world Miss Hippiness and her class actually lives in is just so very disturbing when you think about it.

This Richard Banks is another of the obscure Golden Age authors that I know next to nothing about. There does not seem to be any information about this specific author to be found online, or it might simply be a case of the proverbial needle in the haystack of namesake Richard Banks'. Anyway, there are only two stories one credited to this name.

No background music, by popular demand. Only my voice, croaks, wheezes, and all. Enjoy!

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Stories of Futures Past presents a vintage science fiction short story, narrated by myself, Tom Trussel. An actual, real living human being, warts and all. 

Any and all voices and effects are produced live during reading with my actual voice. No obnoxious after effects, synthetic voices or filters used.

English is not my first language. There will be inaccurate accents and the occasional strange pronunciation. No mockery is ever intended.

These stories are also good for English learners / ESL. The full text is right there on the screen in a big and easy to read font. Read along with me. It's great practice!


A note about channel donations:
At this point in my life I do not need nor ask for your money. I do this for the love of the short story and to help promote the enjoyment of science fiction and fantasy literature.

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After all, it’s not as if I’ll say no to money freely given. Any tips I receive will go towards better audio equipment for a cleaner sound in the future, and I will make sure to pay a portion forward to gutenberg.org myself.

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Copyright notice: 
The written text of this story is in the public domain, as determined by the researchers and transcribers at Project Gutenberg, or it has passed the 95-years-since-publication mark. The story is and should be free for anyone to enjoy. 

Boilerplate license wording off the Gutenberg website:
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If you would like to read some of my own paltry writings, they can be found at https://tomtrussel.com