Radio Free Earth Channel

Welcome to the Radio Free Earth Channel, an Apple Subscription Channel, debuting The Voice of Free Earth.

The Voice of Free Earth began life as a novel by Michael Klein, a book of stories published in 1992 to critical acclaim, and remains in print to this day, including both Kindle and Google Play ebook editions. Thirty years later, these stories have been rewritten for the spoken word and given voice by the aging author himself in weekly, thirty-minute episodes—a gripping and epic tale spanning ten hours on Apple’s Radio Free Earth Channel.

Set in Free Earth, a farming community in California's rural San Joaquin Valley, they are the stories of Christopher Beale—something of a chronicle of his life as the son of a larger-than-life country doctor, Doc Beale. Doc Beale is the main character, as seen through the lens of Christopher. It is a story filled with humor, joy, and the overriding feeling that danger and violence is always imminent—Christopher always in denial struggling to normalize the madness.

The story opens with a sweeping panorama of this place called Free Earth; then Doc Beale prepares a ritual end to his life. Without resolution, the listener is transported back in time and introduced to Christopher's world as his life unfolds in the 1950's and early 1960’s. Christopher is alone and isolated, emotionally paralyzed by both his reverence for and fear of his father, while mesmerized and blessed by the sights and sounds of Free Earth. The Voice of Free Earth will take the listener on a wildly irreconcilable ride, constantly being torn between Doc Beale’s profoundly ethical relationship with his patients, his practice of medicine, and his darker side that is revealed with his own family—and most specifically with Christopher.

When Nashville singer/songwriter Julie Grower, having been deeply moved by the novel, introduced the author to her original song Hometown Hallelujah—it was magical. Michael Klein saw the beautiful bright light of an idealized hometown, and the dissonance between it and the stories about Christopher’s hometown, was delicious. Rich in irony and truth. Hometown Hallelujah greets the listener, then that beautiful voice soothes under Julie’s blue skies. Grab a copy of your own on iTunes where you'll find all her songs and albums.

This spoken word performance was designed in the spirit of an NPR program, and is now available as an Exclusive Apple Subscription Podcast. Ad-free, just like NPR, and it will come to you weekly—before it goes public. You’ll be invited to direct exchange with the author, and get additional episodes not available to the public. That will include episodes that share and respond to your missives, sent to the author via Facebook Messenger.

www.facebook.com/TheVoiceofFreeEarth

The Voice of Free Earth has been widely and wonderfully reviewed over the years, but space allows only one brief excerpt, a review by Karen Way. It was first published in The Wounded Healer Journal, then reprinted in Scientific American, amongst others.

"Many of us wonder—'How can it be that I have so many positive memories of childhood and yet all these terrible things happened to me?' In the stories that form The Voice of Free Earth, Michael Klein shows how it's done. In prose that is lucid, sweet and heartbreaking, he shows how childhood creates its own spell in the midst of irrational violence and persists with hope and even joy—until the child becomes adult and the spell is broken.

I want to know more about how he built the self that could write this book and become the father of the sons to whom it is dedicated. Why did Michael Klein name his hometown Free Earth? I think about the freedom of Christopher's boyhood as he dodged among dangers he refused to acknowledge. But I also think Free Earth is a place created by exercising the freedom to tell the truth. In that case, we can all live in Free Earth. Michael Klein shows us how easy that is, and how almost impossibly hard.”

Legal Notice:

The Radio Free Earth Channel, an Apple Subscription Channel, and The Voice of Free Earth are wholly owned by Michael Klein, copyright 1992-2022

Contact:

Michael Klein

20145 Vikings Crest Loop NE

3-305

Poulsbo, Washington

98370

Phone/Text:

206-321-1859