Leave a comment and share your thoughts: https://open.firstory.me/user/cln9oxg7r007d01xyhd0fadj5/comments

Hi everyone,
Costa here! I am taking a short break starting 23rd, for about two weeks. I’ve been trying my best to keep up with posts, but things might be a bit slower while I’m away. In the meantime, I’d love to get to know you better! If you have a moment, tell me:

• Since when you started listening (CAB, CNXP, etc)
• Your favorite episode so far
• What platform you listen on
• One thing you’d like to see improved on the channel

Make sure to leave a comment whenever you can, it means the world to me. (Firstory/YT) Until next time!

CostasNarrativeXP 2026 February feature
"East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
Published in 19 September, 1952
Distributed Proofreaders Canada Ebook

A sweeping family saga set in California’s Salinas Valley, exploring the timeless struggle between good and evil through generations of the Trask and Hamilton families.

Chapter 9-11
00:30 9 Cathy manipulates a brothel owner into becoming her protector and lover, but when her past is discovered, he brutally beats her and leaves her near death.
26:05 10 Tensions grow between Adam and Charles as their differences deepen, and Adam shares his dream of starting a new life in California, revealing a more flawed side of himself.
46:06 11 Adam rescues the injured Cathy, falls for her, marries her in secret, while Charles grows wary, predicting her destructive influence, and Cathy betrays Adam by sleeping with Charles.

Characters
Samuel Hamilton - warm, inventive Irish immigrant whose generosity, humor, and strong moral sense make him a beloved figure despite his lifelong struggle with poverty.
Adam Trask - gentle, idealistic, whose kindness and moral innocence shape his life, yet his naivety and favoritism toward one son bring quiet tragedy to his family.
Charles Trask - volatile, capable, whose violent temper and jealousy contrast with his honesty and loyalty, embodying a complex struggle between darkness and decency.
Cyrus Trask - a domineering, cunning patriarch whose favoritism and obsession with military honor shape the lives and rivalries of his sons.
Cathy Ames - strikingly beautiful, deeply manipulative and instinctively exploits others, she reveals a chilling absence of empathy or moral restraint.

Costa's Wordbook
Quirt n a short-handled riding whip with a braided leather lash (Quirt, like dirt)

Pipette n a laboratory tool, typically a thin tube with a bulb, used to accurately measure, transfer, or dispense small amounts of liquid, often by creating a vacuum. (pip Pet)

Selections of 2026
Brave New World, The Little Prince, Songs of a Dead Dreamer, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, Anne of Green Gables, Wuthering Heights, East of Eden, The Stranger, The Godfather, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Inferno, The Two Towers, Den of Thieves, Winnie the Pooh, The House at Pooh Corner.

Milestones
2021: 0 Full soundtrack, no editing, wife commentary, summary outline, irregular release
2022: 2.0 DaVinci editing, wordbook, book intro, AI host + illustration, chapter summary, scheduled release
2023: 2.1 Descript, CapCut, Suno score, character intro, weekly release
2024: 2.2 Standard condenser mic, Audacity, ChatGPT annotation + illustration, timestamp, 1-hour content

Available on
YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Reddit, Amazon Music, Firstory, Pocket Casts, KKBOX, Castbox, Noice, Podcast Addict, SoundOn, Castro, Player FM

Hi everyone,
Costa here! I am taking a short break starting 23rd, for about two weeks. I’ve been trying my best to keep up with posts, but things might be a bit slower while I’m away. In the meantime, I’d love to get to know you better! If you have a moment, tell me:

• Since when you started listening (CAB, CNXP, etc)
• Your favorite episode so far
• What platform you listen on
• One thing you’d like to see improved on the channel

Make sure to leave a comment whenever you can, it means the world to me. (Firstory/YT) Until next time!

CostasNarrativeXP 2026 February feature
"East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
Published in 19 September, 1952
Distributed Proofreaders Canada Ebook

A sweeping family saga set in California’s Salinas Valley, exploring the timeless struggle between good and evil through generations of the Trask and Hamilton families.

Chapter 1-3
00:30 1 Two mountain ranges frame California’s Salinas Valley, fertile yet unpredictable, where floods and droughts shape life and history from Native peoples to Spanish rule and early American settlers.
14:21 2 Irish immigrant Samuel Hamilton settles with his wife Liza in the harsh hills near King City, raising nine children on poor land, admired for his ingenuity and kindness but forever trapped in poverty.
27:22 3 Adam Trask grows up under his domineering father Cyrus beside volatile half-brother Charles, whose jealousy erupts into brutal violence after sensing their father favors Adam.

Characters
Samuel Hamilton - warm, inventive Irish immigrant whose generosity, humor, and strong moral sense make him a beloved figure despite his lifelong struggle with poverty.
Adam Trask - gentle, idealistic, whose kindness and moral innocence shape his life, yet his naivety and favoritism toward one son bring quiet tragedy to his family.
Charles Trask - volatile, capable, whose violent temper and jealousy contrast with his honesty and loyalty, embodying a complex struggle between darkness and decency.
Cyrus Trask - a domineering, cunning patriarch whose favoritism and obsession with military honor shape the lives and rivalries of his sons.

Costa's Wordbook
Swale n a low or hollow place, especially a marshy depression between ridges
Tule n a clubrush that is abundant in marshy areas of California (Two ly)
Brogue n a marked accent, especially Irish or Scottish, when speaking English (Bro gue)
Lilt n a characteristic rising and falling of the voice when speaking; a pleasant gentle accent
Diphtheria n a serious, contagious infection caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae bacteria, primarily affecting the nose and throat, or sometimes the skin (dip Thee ria)

Theosophy n any of a number of philosophies maintaining that a knowledge of God may be achieved through spiritual ecstasy, direct intuition, or special individual relations, especially the movement founded in 1875 as the Theosophical Society by Helena Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott 神智學 (the Aw sophy)
Philander v (of a man) readily or frequently enter into casual sexual relationships with women (phi Lander)
Busby n a tall fur hat with a coloured cloth flap hanging down on the right-hand side and in some cases a plume on the top, worn by soldiers of certain regiments of hussars and artillerymen (Bus bee)
Bellicosity n the behaviour or manner of someone who wants to fight or start a war (Belli cos sity)

Selections for 2026
Brave New World, The Little Prince, Songs of a Dead Dreamer, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, Anne of Green Gables, Wuthering Heights, East of Eden, The Stranger, The Godfather, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Inferno, The Two Towers, Den of Thieves, Winnie the Pooh, The House at Pooh Corner.

Milestones
2021: 0 Full soundtrack, no editing, wife commentary, summary outline, irregular release
2022: 2.0 DaVinci editing, wordbook, book intro, AI host + illustration, chapter summary, scheduled release
2023: 2.1 Descript, CapCut, Suno score, character intro, weekly release
2024: 2.2 Standard condenser mic, Audacity, ChatGPT annotation + illustration, timestamp, 1-hour content

Available on
YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Reddit, Amazon Music, Firstory, Pocket Casts, KKBOX, Castbox, Noice, Podcast Addict, SoundOn, Castro, Player FM

Leave a comment and share your thoughts: https://open.firstory.me/user/cln9oxg7r007d01xyhd0fadj5/comments

Hi everyone,
Costa here! I am taking a short break starting 23rd, for about two weeks. I’ve been trying my best to keep up with posts, but things might be a bit slower while I’m away. In the meantime, I’d love to get to know you better! If you have a moment, tell me:

• Since when you started listening (CAB, CNXP, etc)
• Your favorite episode so far
• What platform you listen on
• One thing you’d like to see improved on the channel

Make sure to leave a comment whenever you can, it means the world to me. (Firstory/YT) Until next time!

CostasNarrativeXP 2026 February feature
"East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
Published in 19 September, 1952
Distributed Proofreaders Canada Ebook

A sweeping family saga set in California’s Salinas Valley, exploring the timeless struggle between good and evil through generations of the Trask and Hamilton families.

Chapter 7-8
00:30 7 After years of drifting and hardship, Adam returns home to Charles, where they inherit a fortune and confront unresolved feelings about their father’s favoritism and death.
41:33 8 Cathy Ames is a beautiful, manipulative girl who deceives those around her from a young age, using charm and cruelty to control others while hiding her dark and dangerous nature.

Characters
Samuel Hamilton - warm, inventive Irish immigrant whose generosity, humor, and strong moral sense make him a beloved figure despite his lifelong struggle with poverty.
Adam Trask - gentle, idealistic, whose kindness and moral innocence shape his life, yet his naivety and favoritism toward one son bring quiet tragedy to his family.
Charles Trask - volatile, capable, whose violent temper and jealousy contrast with his honesty and loyalty, embodying a complex struggle between darkness and decency.
Cyrus Trask - a domineering, cunning patriarch whose favoritism and obsession with military honor shape the lives and rivalries of his sons.
Cathy Ames - strikingly beautiful, deeply manipulative and instinctively exploits others, she reveals a chilling absence of empathy or moral restraint.

Costa's Wordbook
Seminole n a member of an Indigenous people of the Creek confederacy, noted for resistance in the 19th century to encroachment on their land in Georgia and Florida, and now living mainly in Oklahoma (Semin nole)
Bindlestiff n a tramp; homeless (Bin dle stiff)
Caisson n a wagon (or chest) for holding or conveying ammunition (Kay sen)
Injun n off. an Indigenous person of North America (In jen)

Interlard v intersperse or embellish speech or writing with different material
Culvert n a tunnel carrying a stream or open drain under a road or railway

Selections of 2026
Brave New World, The Little Prince, Songs of a Dead Dreamer, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, Anne of Green Gables, Wuthering Heights, East of Eden, The Stranger, The Godfather, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Inferno, The Two Towers, Den of Thieves, Winnie the Pooh, The House at Pooh Corner.

Milestones
2021: 0 Full soundtrack, no editing, wife commentary, summary outline, irregular release
2022: 2.0 DaVinci editing, wordbook, book intro, AI host + illustration, chapter summary, scheduled release
2023: 2.1 Descript, CapCut, Suno score, character intro, weekly release
2024: 2.2 Standard condenser mic, Audacity, ChatGPT annotation + illustration, timestamp, 1-hour content

Available on
YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Reddit, Amazon Music, Firstory, Pocket Casts, KKBOX, Castbox, Noice, Podcast Addict, SoundOn, Castro, Player FM