Of Now And Then is a podcast that retells fictional stories of the past and future as full audio dramas with rich voiceovers, music and sound effects that is recorded, edited and produced by Aram Vartian.

"The Machine Stops" by E. M. Forster.

After initial publication in The Oxford and Cambridge Review (November 1909), the story was republished in Forster's The Eternal Moment and Other Stories in 1928. After being voted one of the best novellas up to 1965, it was included that same year in the populist anthology Modern Short Stories. In 1973 it was also included in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two.

The Machine Stops The describes a world in which most of the human population has lost the ability to live on the surface of the Earth. Each individual now lives in isolation below ground in a standard room, with all bodily and spiritual needs met by the omnipotent, global Machine. Travel is permitted, but is unpopular and rarely necessary. Communication is made via a kind of instant messaging/video conferencing machine with which people conduct their only activity: the sharing of ideas and what passes for knowledge.

MUSIC

• Candlepower (Chris Zabriskie)
• Patriotic songs of America (New York Military Band and the American Quartet)
• Tomie's Bubbles (Candlegravity)