IT IS NOW TIME FOR THE FEBRUARY EPISODE OF YOUR STORIES. Well, the first part, anyway. This show we've got improviser Steve Persch regaling us with a tale of contextual coolness, blogger Shawn Boyle sharing his fear of the apocalypse, Nerdologues troupe member Kevin Reader reliving the glory days of eighth grade basketball and special guest stand-up Mat Elfring (of Comicvine fame) sharing some tales from his time in the comic book industry. Additionally, this month we're joined musically by one Matt Heckler, an excellent folk singer/songwriter from the south suburbs of Chicago.

Hey everyone, welcome to the January episode of the Nerdologues Present: Your Stories podcast. I hope everyone had a great holiday season! Once again we're coming at you with a great collection of audience-generated stories for your enjoyment. We've got a good one for you. You'll hear blogger Shawn Boyle calculate the preciousness of life mathematically. Comedian Andrew Bentley and myself share two love letters to musicians named Bruce - Dickinson and Springsteen, respectively. Additionally, Kevin Reader and Alex Talavera from the Nerdologues share stories from previous runs of sketch shows, including a scathing Amazon review and a Crisis on Infinite Alexes. If you want to be a part of the next Your Stories recording, it'll take place on Sunday, January 15 at a venue to be determined. Check www.nerdologues.com for more info!

Hey everybody, welcome to the second part of the Nerdologues Present: Your Stories December podcast. Like last time, the show you're about to hear was recorded live at the Pub Theater, 3220 N Lincoln Avenue in Chicago. Everything on this podcast has been created and performed by audience members who volunteered to share their stories. This time out, you'll hear from Chicago comedian and production master Jeremy Kanne, who recalls doing whatever it took to be cool in junior high. Blogger and film critic Aaron Pinkston gives us a taste into his neuroses for cataloging trivia, and the mysterious Angela shares a story of falling in love over some eloquently-written e-mails. PLUS I relate a recent experience involving broken hearts and comic books. As usual, the show also features live music from myself and Dwight Haesler of the band Take Cover.

To tie in with the Nerdologues sketch troupe's month-long run of shows in July entitled "The Skywalking Dead" -- which was all about the end of the world -- this month we've got a bunch of stories along those same lines. What messages of doom and gloom (or hope?) do our speakers have for the audience at home about the end of days?

The Nerdologues Presents: Your Stories is a storytelling podcast sponsored by the Chicago sketch comedy troupe the Nerdologues that features totally audience-generated content. Each month people share stories, songs, sketches and the like about their experiences being a nerd. They can be funny, poignant or even outright sad, but they're all honest and they're all fantastic.

Part 2 of July's revelry episode gets JUST AS CRAZY as the first one (by which we mean, it stays relatively sane but features people telling really entertaining-slash-reflective stories about their past exploits).

Our second half of exploring 1993 actually gets away from the topic a bit, but that doesn't mean we don't have an excellent collection of stories and music to share with you today!

In case you didn't get enough of crime and punishment last week (and of course you didn't!), we've got part 2 of 3 of May's show here for your listening pleasure! What happens when all society's order breaks down? What monstrous evil do we see underneath its external gleam? ... Well, those are questions a little beyond our scope, but these stories are great anyway!

The Nerdologues already did our official holiday show this year - thanks to everyone who saw it at iO! - but last Sunday our friend Jon Lester told a great seasonal story that it wouldn't make sense to hold until the January episode, so HERE is our official Christmas-y podcast, a sweet tale Jon has entitled "A Jew's Encounter with a Christmas Tree." Stick around after the story for Dwight and I jamming out on a holiday classic. Merry Christmas everyone!

Let's go BACK IN TIME (like the Huey Lewis song) for this month-long celebration(?) of 1993. There's a lot of good stuff here about nostalgia and growing up, and we promise that after listening to this episode you'll feel like you've been teleported to the past (not really).