Shows
The Libertine GospelThe Serpent's InvitationI have been told I am beautiful. A cruel kind of beauty, the kind that inspires devotion and hatred in equal measure. My name, Isabelle, is whispered with reverence in salons scented with perfume and cigarettes. I belong to them, the women who rule this gilded prison of chandeliers and velvet. They are rich, old, powerful, and insatiable. These are my patrons, my jailers, my tormentors.It began innocently enough, though that is a lie I tell myself when I need to sleep. I was seventeen, an orphan with a fragile personality. Madame Violette found me first...
2026-03-0224 min
The Libertine GospelThe Taking of Emmeline Beaumont by Ronald MacLennan King Louis XIV, The Sun KingTo grasp the decadent cradle that gave rise to Mademoiselle Violette and her infamous Velvet Salon, one must first consider the era of King Louis XIV, the Sun King, whose reign from 1643 to 1715 was a pageant of grandeur meticulously crafted to project power. Yet behind this veneer of golden majesty, the court of France was steeped in a cauldron of such scandalous debauchery that it made the ancient city of Sodom appear, by stark comparison, like a mere convent.Louis XIV, the self-proclaimed Dieudonné (”God-given”), centralized all power...
2026-02-0447 min
The Libertine GospelThe Taking of Emmeline by Ronald MacLennanI am Emmeline, just eighteen years old, my body a ripe offering that high society has meticulously groomed like a flower behind silk curtains. I am taller than most women, and my breasts are firm and high, with a small waist and hips that flare with a lush, decadent curve, like the mouth of a chalice meant to receive every excess. My skin is milk poured over rose, my hair a fair chestnut blonde, and between my thighs the untouched seal of maidenhood still gleams like a pearl. They call me innocent, but I know myself to...
2026-01-0916 min
The Libertine GospelConfessions of a Libertine by Ronald MacLennan On the table beside me, the accoutrements of last night’s indulgence remained: a half-empty bottle of Bordeaux, a leather-bound book splayed open to its most illicit chapter, and the ashes of burnt incense. I had consumed only a small, almost negligible amount of wine. Intoxication, I believe, is best achieved not through the vulgar dulling of the senses through drink, but rather in the crystalline, unfettered anarchy of the imagination. The open book in my hands still displayed the passage I lingered over before retiring to bed—a verse too passionate, too shamefully explicit, and...
2025-11-2428 min
The Libertine GospelThe Velvet Salon: Inside Madam Violet’s Court of Blood by Ronald MacLennanThe Chamber Beneath the CityFew names in Edinburgh’s long and haunted history inspire as much fascination and unease as Madam Violet, the enigmatic matron of the so-called Vampire Hive. Her legend has always lingered like a perfume—intoxicating, impossible to forget.But while tales of her undead dominion have persisted for centuries, one location remains more feared than all others: The Velvet Salon. Said to be the heart of her coven, the Salon was not merely a lair. It was a court—a place where blood, power, and beauty mixed...
2025-11-1030 min
The Libertine GospelThe Story of Madame Violet and the Edinburgh Vampire VaultsAnimated version of Edinburgh’s South Bridge at nightThe Shadow of EdinburghEdinburgh has always been a city of contrasts. By day, its spires rise proudly against the Scottish sky, symbols of Enlightenment and reason. By night, however, the Old Town whispers secrets older than reason itself. Beneath its cobbled closes and beneath the wind-battered turrets, there lies something that neither history books nor tourist guides ever dare to mention: The Hive.Locals whisper about it in hushed tones, claiming that a secret society of vampires has lived be...
2025-10-3118 min
What Barrie's Talking AboutTrade Fights, Good Deeds, and Ice-Cold StrugglesIt’s been another busy week in Barrie and What Barrie’s Talking About is breaking down the stories that hit home for our community.
From international trade drama to local good deeds and the latest from the Barrie Colts, here’s what’s on this week’s episode.
Trade Tension: Trump, Tariffs, and Ontario’s TV Ad
Trade talk between Canada and the U.S. took a sharp turn this week after President Donald Trump abruptly halted discussions.
The reason? Ontario ran an anti-tariff ad on American television — featuring a clip from form...
2025-10-3035 min
The Libertine GospelThe Story of Madame Violet and the Edinburgh Vampire Hive by Ronald MacLennan Animated version of Edinburgh’s South Bridge at nightThe Shadow of EdinburghEdinburgh has always been a city of contrasts. By day, its spires rise proudly against the Scottish sky, symbols of Enlightenment and reason. By night, however, the Old Town whispers secrets older than reason itself. Beneath its cobbled closes and beneath the wind-battered turrets, there lies something that neither history books nor tourist guides ever dare to mention: The Hive.Locals whisper about it in hushed tones, claiming that a secret society of vampires has lived beneath the ci...
2025-10-2718 min
The Libertine GospelThe Haunting of Sarah MurphyThe apartment smells wrong without him, and I hate it. I hate how the walls seem to lean in like they’re gossiping about his absence. I hate how my keys sound too loud when I set them down because there’s no one here to tease me about always losing them.Three days. It’s been three days since the accident. Three days of my mother making me tea I don’t like and looking at me with those eyes that say my baby is broken and I can’t fix this.I ste...
2025-10-1124 min
The Libertine GospelThe Libertine Gospel by Ronald MacLennanYoung Gen Z libertines—those who seek radical self-expression, sensual liberation, and emotional authenticity outside the bounds of traditional morality—are shaping their own gospel, distinct from past generations. Their preoccupations often blend old provocations with modern anxieties, producing a unique, digitally saturated, and emotionally raw philosophy of liberation.Gen Z Libertines: Breaking Algorithms and the Code of ConformityIn the ultra high tech underbelly of the digital age, a new breed of rebels has emerged—Gen Z libertines, young visionaries who reject the shackles of conventional morality and societal expectations in fav...
2025-09-1818 min
The Libertine GospelThe Libertine Gospel by Ronald MacLennanThey are everywhere, the herd. They bustle politely in cafés, bow their heads in church pews, form neat queues, and nod along to lectures that bore them into spiritual extinction. They smile without warmth. They f**k without heart. They live not by the pulse, but by the clock.They are not alive—they are preserved.I watch them with the mingled pity and disgust that a man feels for a caged lion who no longer remembers the taste of blood. They wear their leashes with pride. Their obedience is not forced—it is chose...
2025-09-1703 min
The Libertine GospelThe Seductress by Ronald MacLennan It was our annual New Year’s Eve party. A traditional black and white tie affair. The party had been in full swing for at least an hour before I noticed her. The band was playing and the guests were dancing. In hindsight, the fact that she slipped past me without me noticing was unusual. My eyes are like radar at these gatherings, scanning for any new or intriguing faces. Somehow, she slipped past my awareness until the moment she stepped into the grand ballroom.I was pouring myself a drink, my usual gin and tonic, when...
2025-08-2116 min
The Libertine GospelThe Libertine Gospel by Ronald MacLennanThere is nothing noble in a tamed man.I have stared into the mirror of society and seen not faces, but masks—smooth, hollow, interchangeable. I have watched as individuals, once shimmering with peculiar radiance, surrender their edges for the approval of the mob. They speak not their own truths but repeat those which will not cost them anything. They suppress hunger in favor of harmony, passion in favor of politeness, and then, confused by their own anemia, blame the world for being dull.I do not want harmony. I want the discordant cry of th...
2025-08-2004 min
The Libertine GospelThe Libertine Gospel by Ronald MacLennanThey call freedom a virtue when it conforms to their paper-thin values—when it is neat, bloodless, and contained within the fence of legality. They whisper it proudly in textbooks and speeches, but only so far as it marches to the rhythm of the state, the family, and the church. The moment freedom becomes wild and uncompromising, it ceases to be a virtue and becomes, in their trembling mouths, a vice.I, with unrepentant lips, declare: yes. It is a vice, and it is divine.To me, freedom is not a prize to be...
2025-08-1604 min
The Libertine GospelIntimate Revelations: A Trippy Nude Picnic at Loch an Eilein by Ronald MacLennan Inspired by the painting “A Summer Day” (1927) by Gerda WegenerHere I am, sprawled out on a blanket with my two lovers, having an afternoon picnic by the wild, untamed shores of this Scottish loch, its dark waters reflecting the afternoon light. Loch an Eilein, set amidst the ancient pines that tower like silent guardians around us, and the island in the middle of the loch where lie the ruins of a small 14th-century castle. The LSD is kicking in hard, and the water looks like it's breathing, rippling with secrets.I, L...
2025-08-0813 min
The Libertine GospelThe Libertine Gospel: Part I: The Fetters of DecorumI do not begin with an apology, nor do I descend to the infantile realm of justification. I spit upon the altar of virtue, and in its place I offer only one thing: my unshackled will.From the moment of my first breath, the world conspired to domesticate me. Swaddled in white cloth, kissed by the sour milk of expectation, I was offered a cradle of obedience and told it was love. I remember—though none do recall it with me—the cold gleam in the eyes of those who cooed above my head, already plotting to bind...
2025-08-0705 min
The Libertine GospelThe Liberating Ride of Lady GodivaThe morning air was crisp, caressing my skin like a lover’s embrace, but I, Lady Godiva, felt none of its chill. That morning, I rode through the cobblestone streets of Coventry naked, my exposed skin crawling with the weight of a thousand unseen eyes. The streets of Coventry were deserted. Not a single person in sight.My husband, Leofric, the Earl of Mercia—his cruel dare echoing in my mind like a dirty prayer: "Ride, Godiva. Ride naked through the town square, and I shall grant your wish," Leofric mocked one night, his voice laced with veno...
2025-07-3109 minWhat Barrie's Talking AboutRemembering Gordon Lightfoot, Putting A Stop To Garage Fires, Talking Sex With Your Grandparents And More
We're back with another episode of What Barrie's Talking About ... A podcast that brings you all the local news stories that matter to you.On this week's episode we talk about a national treasure, preventing garage fires, talking about sex with grandma and more!What Barrie's Talking About This Week1. The Loss Of A National TreasureSinger and songwriter Gordon Lightfoot died this week at age 84. Born in Orillia, he was a frequent performer at the Mariposa Folk Festival. Ian MacLennan catches up with the festival's Pam Carter to talk about the...
2023-05-0437 min