Story Radio Podcast: Recent Episodes
Story Radio Podcast
A new monthly podcast dedicated to celebrating the literary short story and all things bookish. Bite-size short fiction for writers and readers everywhere. Listen to a short story or interview on the 1st of each month at 12:00am.
Hosted by Tabitha Potts and open to established, new and emerging writers in the English language. Always free to submit.
We are a small organisation run by volunteer writers and producers (Tabitha Potts and Martin Nathan) hoping to benefit the writing community.
Our eventual aim is to be self-funding and to pay our writers and actors for each short story we produce. Visit our Patreon if you would like to support our work and access exclusive content.
Send us your stories
Visit the Submissions page on our website
https://www.storyradio.org
Or contact Tabitha Potts at submit@storyradio.org
About us
Tabitha Potts is a writer living in East London. She has had several short stories published in print and online and been short-listed and long-listed for various awards, most recently the Sunderland University Short Story Award. In a previous life, she was a BBC Radio Drama producer.
Read more at http://www.tabithapotts.com.
Martin Nathan has worked as a labourer, showman, pancake chef, fire technician, and a railway engineer. His short fiction has been published by Tangent Press, HCE and Grist and his poetry has appeared in Finished Creatures, Erbacce and Aesthetica. His novel – A Place of Safety is published by Salt Publishing.
Website: http://www.martinnathan.co.uk
This month on Story Radio, Tabitha Potts and Martin Nathan talk to Marc S. Perlman about his debut novel, The Riddle of the Trees, published by Koehler Books on 10th March 2026.
The novel opens with two journeys that will soon collide. In Belarus, a physicist is murdered by a KGB agent; in America, Jack Miller boards a flight to Eastern Europe hoping to understand the rift that has divided his Holocaust-surviving father and grandfather for decades. Before too long, their stories intersect in a tense international conflict focused on the Polish and Belarusian borders which meet in the Belavezskaya Forest. It's a fast-paced espionage novel with a fascinating backdrop.
We talk to Marc about how he was inspired to write the novel while cycling through the Belavezskaya Forest from Poland into Belarus, about how he worked on the motivations for his main character and how he researched the spycraft used in the story.
Marc S. Perlman lives with his wife and son in New York City, where he works as a lawyer and does much of his writing after his son finally agrees to go to bed. A graduate of Bowdoin College and Cardozo Law School, he has a lifelong interest in history and has travelled extensively throughout Eastern Europe. The Riddle of the Trees is his first novel.
Produced by Martin Nathan.
Martin Nathan has worked as a labourer, showman, pancake chef, fire technician and a railway engineer. His short fiction has been published by Tangent Press, HCE and Grist and his poetry has appeared in Finished Creatures, Erbacce and Aesthetica. His novel, A Place of Safety, is published by Salt Publishing.
Story Radio CIC is supported by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and Allia Impact.
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In this episode, Martin Nathan and Tabitha Potts speak to Darren Coffield, artist, author and host at the Colony Room Green, about his book Hen, Mistress of Mayhem: A Portrait of Henrietta Moraes. We learn about Moraes' appalling childhood, her work as a writer, her life in Bohemian Soho, her friends, lovers and husbands and what it was like to be a muse and model for Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud and Maggi Hambling.
This episode was produced by Martin Nathan.
Martin Nathan has worked as a labourer, showman, pancake chef, fire technician, and a railway engineer. His short fiction has been published by Tangent Press, HCE and Grist and his poetry has appeared in Finished Creatures, Erbacce and Aesthetica. His novel – A Place of Safety is published by Salt Publishing.
Donate
We are a volunteer-led organisation and appreciate any donations towards our running costs.
Buy us a coffee
Become a patreon
Contact us
Visit our our website Storyradio.org
Story Radio CIC is supported by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and Allia Impact.
Tabitha Potts is interviewed by Martin Nathan about her debut novel, The House of Dust and Shadows, published by Rowan Prose Publishing on June 16th 2026.
The House of Dust and Shadows is a Gothic mystery novel about the death of a famous painter and how it affects his three daughters when he disinherits all three of them in favour of someone else. We discuss ghosts, art and monstrous fathers in our first ever video interview.
The House of Dust and Shadows is available for pre-order and is being published by Rowan Prose Publishing on June 16th, 2026.
Tabitha Potts is a short story writer and novelist, recognised with an Honourable Mention in the Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize. Her debut novel will be published by Rowan Prose Publishing in 2026.
Story Radio CIC is supported by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and Allia Impact.
In Wolf.Normal., a divorced mother impulsively decides to go on a challenging wilderness hike with a group of strangers. Over a day's hiking and a night sleeping in a remote cabin, she finds a strength and power within herself that she never realised existed before.
Wolf. Normal was written and read by Lynne Curry. The producer was Tabitha Potts.
The short story was first published in Literally Stories on March 27, 2026.
Alaska/Washington author Lynne Curry—nominated for the 2025 Best of the Net Anthology, the 2024 Pushcart Prize and Best Microfiction—founded “Real-life Writing,” https://bit.ly/45lNbVo and publishes a monthly “Writing from the Cabin” blog, https://bit.ly/3tazJpW and a weekly “dear Abby of the workplace” newspaper column. Curry has published twenty-six short stories; seven poems; two articles on writing craft, and six books.
Sound:
Wolves - Yellowstone National Park by Nivatius -- https://freesound.org/s/519592/ -- License: Creative Commons 0
Photo of wolf courtesy of Scott Liddell at Morguefile.com
It has come to our attention that individuals posing as Story Radio have been approaching writers asking for payment to be on the show. We never ask writers to pay to submit to us; you can visit our Submissions page and send us a story for free or contact us via email to offer us an author interview. If you want to support us, we do have a Patreon and other ways to donate on our website (below).
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Ava Glass: The Hiding Season
This week on Story Radio, Tabitha Potts and Martin Nathan talk to Ava Glass (shortlisted for the CWA Steel Dagger and dubbed "the new Queen of spy fiction" by The Guardian) about her compelling new novel, The Hiding Season, published by Penguin on 26th March 2026.
The Hiding Season marks a bold departure from Ava's acclaimed Emma Makepeace series. Where those novels followed a trained British intelligence officer, this book places an entirely ordinary woman — Maya Landry, recently escaped from a broken marriage and working at a remote Montana ski resort — at the centre of a deadly conspiracy. When Maya witnesses a murder and finds herself with no one to believe her, she is forced to abandon her identity, her home, and everything she knows in order to survive.
In this conversation, we find out what drew Ava to write a different kind of spy story, told in the first person, set firmly on American soil, and focused on the collateral damage an intelligence operation can inflict on those who stumble, unwittingly, into its path. We learn about the craft decisions behind The Hiding Season: the novel's distinctive time structure, which resists a straightforward linear narrative; the challenge of writing a resourceful but untrained protagonist; and the atmospheric weight that the landscapes of Montana, Texas, and Chicago bring to the story.
We also talk about what it means to reinvent yourself — a theme that resonates far beyond the world of espionage — and about the two figures at the novel's heart: Maya, who must outwit her pursuers on instinct alone, and Riley Maguire, the FBI agent whose motives she cannot quite bring herself to trust.
Drawing on her years working alongside British intelligence and her earlier career as a crime reporter in America, Ava Glass brings a rare depth of knowledge to The Hiding Season, her most personal novel yet.
Produced by Martin Nathan.
Martin Nathan has worked as a labourer, showman, pancake chef, fire technician, and a railway engineer. His short fiction has been published by Tangent Press, HCE and Grist and his poetry has appeared in Finished Creatures, Erbacce and Aesthetica. His novel – A Place of Safety is published by Salt Publishing.
Story Radio CIC is supported by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and Allia Impact.
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In this episode of Story Radio, we are delighted to welcome Lottie Moggach to discuss her gripping new novel, Mrs Pearcey (published by Phoenix Books on 5th February 2026).
Inspired by the true crime that scandalised 1890s London, the novel follows Hannah Teale, a bright young woman whose life becomes entwined with the trial of Mary Pearcey - a woman accused of a brutal double murder in Camden Town. When Mary's fiance Cosmo, a journalist, is undercover in an asylum, Hannah decides to try to help him by investigating the case and writing about it herself.
We discuss researching historical novels and learn about Moggach's fascinating connection to the real life Mrs Pearcey, how Fleet Street journalism evolved, how close Hannah is to being a Victorian 'New Woman' and the reasons for our cultural obsession with true crime.
I inhaled Mrs Pearcey. What an incredible book. Gripping and creepy and compulsive, yet deeply touching . . . brilliant - Sabine Durrant
About Lottie MoggachLottie Moggach is the acclaimed author of Kiss Me First, Under the Sun, and Brixton Hill. She lives in North London with her husband, son and dog.
This episode was produced by Tabitha Potts.
Tabitha Potts is a short story writer and novelist, recognised with an Honourable Mention in the Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize. Her debut novel will be published by Rowan Prose Publishing in 2026.
Story Radio CIC is supported by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and Allia Impact.
We speak to Sally Page, best-selling author, about her new novel Six Little Words. Six Little Wordsfollows two strangers embarking together on a Shakespeare-inspired scavenger hunt only to learn that you’re never too old to find love or pursue your dreams.
We discuss mid-life romance, friendship, exploring your creativity, writing the male voice, lies, synaesthesia, painting and more.
Blackstone Publishing is the US publisher and the publication is 24 Feb 2026.
HarperCollins is the UK publisher and the publication day is 12 March 2026.
About Sally Page:
Sally Page is the internationally bestselling author of The Keeper of Stories, The Book of Beginnings, and The Secret of Flowers. After studying history at university, Sally moved to London to work in advertising. In her spare time, she studied floristry, eventually opening up her own flower shop, an experience that offered a unique window into people’s lives that has inspired her writing. She has two daughters, bestselling author Libby Page and Alex, a doctor. She lives in Dorset.
This episode was produced by Martin Nathan.
Martin Nathan has worked as a labourer, showman, pancake chef, fire technician, and a railway engineer. His short fiction has been published by Tangent Press, HCE and Grist and his poetry has appeared in Finished Creatures, Erbacce and Aesthetica. His novel – A Place of Safety is published by Salt Publishing.
Long hidden in an attic, vivid and revelatory poems shine a new light on the life and loves of Iris Murdoch.
In the dusty attic of Iris Murdoch’s Oxford home lay a battered, black chest. In 2016, when the chest was finally opened, Murdoch’s life in poems was revealed.
Renowned for her fiercely intelligent novels and groundbreaking philosophy, Murdoch was one of the great writers of the twentieth century. Yet she is also known for her equally radical life – intense friendships, relationships with both men and women, and an open marriage – about which much has, often controversially, been written. Now, her tightly wrought and vivid poems reveal a new, deeply personal account in Murdoch’s own voice. They range over the preoccupations closest to her heart, from the state of Ireland to memories of a first love lost in the Second World War.
We speak to Dr Miles Leeson, one of the editors of Poems from an Attic by Iris Murdoch, to learn more about this exciting discovery and how it adds to our understanding of the work of the famous philosopher and novelist.
Dr Leeson also reads three poems from the book, 'Reverie in Winchester Cathedral', 'I find that honesty is a hard thing', and 'Macaw in the Snow'.
Dr Miles Leeson is Director of the Iris Murdoch Research Centre at the University of Chichester and Visiting Research Fellow at Kingston University. He is Lead Editor of the Iris Murdoch Review, Series Editor of Iris Murdoch Today with Palgrave Macmillan, host of the Iris Murdoch Podcast, and has published widely on Murdoch’s work.
He published Iris Murdoch: Philosophical Novelist in 2010, the edited collection Incest in Contemporary Literature (2018), the festschrift Iris Murdoch: A Centenary Celebration (2019), the co-edited collections Iris Murdoch and the Literary Imagination (2022) and Iris Murdoch and the Western Theological Imagination (2025), co-edited her selected poetry Poems from an Attic: Selected Poems 1936-1995 (2025), and is currently writing Visiting Mrs Bayley and Other Essays (2026) Iris Murdoch and Feminism and editing The Oxford Handbook of Iris Murdoch (2028).
You can find out more about him and his work here:
https://www.chi.ac.uk/people/miles-leeson/
Iris MurdochIris Murdoch was born in Dublin in 1919. After working in the Treasury and in the UN, she discovered philosophy, eventually becoming Fellow at St Anne's College, Oxford. Her philosophical concerns are at the heart of the 25 novels for which she became famous, gaining the Whitbread Prize for The Sacred and Profane Love Machine and the Booker Prize for The Sea, The Sea. Until her death in 1999, she lived in Oxford with her husband, the academic and critic, John Bayley. She wrote poetry all her life.
The Iris Murdoch Society
Buy the book: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/470920/poems-from-an-attic-by-murdoch-iris/9781784746124
Music: “The Silver Swan” (O. Gibbons), performed by Denis Carpenter, Clara IMSLP (CC BY 3.0): https://clara.imslp.org/work/51148 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ IMSLP+1
This episode was produced by Tabitha Potts.
Tabitha Potts is a short story writer and novelist, recognised with an Honourable Mention in the Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize. Her debut novel will be published by Rowan Prose Publishing in 2026.
Story Radio interviews Mathew Gostelow, the editor of Silent Screams: An Anthology of Quiet Horror, about trends in the horror genre, the meaning of 'quiet horror', the child's perspective in horror writing, contemporary vs historical fiction and many other topics such as Twin Peaks and Frankenstein.
We listen to a reading of 'Barnabas Calstock's Last Wish' by the author Terry Holland (Trigger warning: this story contains references to war and violence that some listeners may find disturbing).
About Mathew Gostelow
Mathew Gostelow haunts a leafy suburb of Birmingham, UK. His CV is a chaotic patchwork quilt, including journalism, pheasant farming, catering, and marketing. Mat’s taste in art, music, film, and literature is equally eclectic, although he tends to gravitate towards anything with a creepy, dreamy aesthetic.
If you catch him staring intently into the middle distance, Mat is either thinking about Twin Peaks or cooked breakfasts.
Some days he wakes early and scribbles strange tales.
Mat has written several books, including two speculative short story collections entitled An Ill-Stitched Menagerie and See My Breath Dance Ghostly, and a novella-in-flash; Dantalion is a Quiet Place. Mat has also co-written a horror-thriller novella called Watcher with his friend JP Relph, and edited an anthology of quiet horror short stories, titled Silent Screams.
He has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Best Microfiction.
You can find Mat on Twitter: @MatGost, and BlueSky: @MatGost.
Website: https://weirding-words.blogspot.com/p/about.html
Substack: https://matgost.substack.com/
About Terry Holland
Terry Holland grew up in Essex, England, before studying in London and Berlin. He has dabbled in the theatre, music, journalism, translation and the occult and currently lives in the Netherlands with his black cat, Mackem, who is a reincarnation of a wise woman and herbalist known as Black Meg, persecuted as a witch in the northeast of England in the seventeenth century. He writes flash and short stories and will never, ever write a novel.
He bleats his Wordle scores @terryholland.bsky.social
The Producer was Martin Nathan.
Martin Nathan has worked as a labourer, showman, pancake chef, fire technician, and a railway engineer. His short fiction has been published by Tangent Press, HCE and Grist and his poetry has appeared in Finished Creatures, Erbacce and Aesthetica. His novel – A Place of Safety is published by Salt Publishing.
Cover image by Eric Brenner
www.ericwbrenner.com
A man who is the main carer for his stubborn and independent elderly mother experiences increasingly eerie encounters with mysterious creatures in the marshy landscape surrounding her home.
Written by Daniel Jeffreys
Dr Daniel Jeffreys works as a university lecturer with a special interest in the weird tale. His fiction has appeared in Esquire, LITRO, AMBIT and The London Magazine.
Read by Nigel Fyfe
Nigel Fyfe is a British actor and voice artist based in North Yorkshire. He has built a diverse career across stage, screen, and voiceover work.
Produced by Tabitha Potts
Tabitha Potts is a short story writer and novelist, recognised with an Honourable Mention in the Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize. Her debut novel will be published by Rowan Prose Publishing in 2026.
Effects
Bowers Marsh SoundScape by naturenotesuk | License: Attribution 4.0 Sounds
August 6, 2025 marked eighty years since the nuclear bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.
"The Misappropriation of Clouds" is a fictional short story based on a member of the writer's own family. This individual unwittingly played a part in one of the most devastating tragedies in human history — Hiroshima.
Following the 80 year commemoration of the bombing of Hiroshima, "The Misappropriation of Clouds" is an elegy to those who lost their lives in the bombing and a poem for all those who carry on the hope that we can do better.
About Amy Waddell
Amy Waddell is a writer and film director living between Paris, France and Sedona, Arizona. She has just completed Mask Maker, a novel about American artist Anna Coleman Ladd who found an innovative way to help WW1 soldiers disfigured in trench warfare reintegrate into society after having been ostracized by the French government. Amy has also written several original scripts for Pan Européenne in Paris, adapted David Lodge's novel "Thinks", and created documentaries for the Annenberg Foundation on subjects ranging from genocide in Darfur to Native American struggles. Her work spans narrative fiction, screenwriting, and documentary storytelling.
CREDITS:
Writer: Amy Waddell
Producers: Amy Waddell & Helen Fitzgerald
FX & Sound Editor: Daniel Lawrence
Voice Actor: Gerard Maguire
Music Composer: Yuval Ron
Music:
Arden-ohmanOrchestraVfrankLuther-CanThisBeLove1930.mp3 (archive.org)
Sad War Music 01 by Magmi.Soundtracks License: Creative Commons 0
Photo: Courtesy of Seemann at Morguefile.com
Poppet is the story of a young girl growing up in a hippy commune in rural England in 1976. She resents her mother, their social worker and most of all the commune leader, Dion. Over a long harvest season, Poppet learns what she must sacrifice in order to be free.
A folk-horror inspired short story by Tabitha Potts, Poppet won an Honourable Mention in the Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize in 2022 and you can read it on their website.
We will be taking a short production break for summer, so our next episode will be on October 1st.
Tabitha Potts is a short story writer and novelist, recognised with an Honourable Mention in the Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize. Her debut novel will be published by Rowan Prose Publishing in 2026.
Sound effects:
bonfire flames sizzling by florianreichelt -- https://freesound.org/s/563764/ -- License: Creative Commons 0
bongos_2.flac by KJose -- https://freesound.org/s/610357/ -- License: Creative Commons 0
Skylark recording - author's own
Image used for podcast credit:
By AliAsterix - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=125885918
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Our Writers' salon on the theme of libraries explores characters as diverse as saints, memories, universities, the necessity of writing novels, dystopian visions of the future and seed banks. We chose the theme of Libraries because at a time of book burning and censorship the Library remains a place of freedom of thought and expression.
Our first reading is 'Members of Dead Libraries' written by Declan Geraghty. He is a working class writer and poet from Dublin. He’s had poetry published in Shanghai Poetry Lab, Epoque Press, Militant Thistles, Cry of the Poor and the Brown Envelope Book. His latest short story featured in Lumpen London issue 11. He has won a mentorship with Words Ireland, and their national mentoring program for new writers. He's recently won a scholarship place with The Stinging Fly Play It Forward Programme, and been awarded a mentorship with Skylight 47. The story is read by Simon Roberts.
Our next reading 'All Saints' is by Lindsay Gillespie. Lindsay was born in South Wales, and lives in the South Downs. In between she has been a graphic designer and illustrator, lived in New Delhi, Washington DC, France and taught English in Tokyo. In 2018-2019, she was enrolled in the Creative Writing Programme of New Writing South. She writes short and not-so-short stories and was a Costa 2021 Short Story Award finalist. A year later, she was a finalist for the Bridport Short Story Prize. Other short stories have been shortlisted in nine competitions in recent years including Fiction Factory, Exeter, Oxford Flash Fiction, Fiction Factory Flash, Rhys Davies, Frome, ChipLit, Edinburgh and Fish.
Martin Nathan reads his short story, 'D is for Dentist'. Martin’s short fiction and poetry has appeared in a range of journals and his novel A Place of Safety is published by Salt Publishing. His dramatic writing has been shortlisted for the Nick Darke award and the Woodward International Prize.
Simon Roberts, based in West London, performs his short story 'Does the world need any more novels?' alongside Jananne Rahman. Simon Roberts writes short stories and flash fiction. His story Dirty Chicken & Rice was a 2024 Plaza Prizes finalist, and his adaptation of The Slaves of Solitude was produced by Questors Theatre in 2024. He was a finalist in this year's Fish Flash Fiction Prize.
‘The Library’ written and read by Martha Stutchbury explores the transformation / decline of a university library, through the eyes of a librarian working on the special collections floor. Martha Stutchbury is an events producer living and working in London. She studies creative writing part-time at Birkbeck University, and has worked as a researcher on creative non-fiction projects including Kate Summerscale’s ‘The Book of Phobias and Manias’, commissioned by the Wellcome Foundation.
Finally, founder and co-host of the Story Radio Podcast, Tabitha Potts is a short story writer and novelist, and has been published in various literary magazines and anthologies. She received an Honourable Mention in the Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize for her story Poppet and is publishing her debut novel in 2026 with Rowan Prose Publishing. She reads from her original short story 'The Hum'.
The photograph used as the podcast cover for this episode was taken by Tabitha Potts and shows the Library at Charleston House.
In this episode Story Radio visited a fascinating exhibition about mudlarking on the Thames and interviewed some of the mudlarks and other people involved in the exhibition. London Museum Docklands recently opened its new major exhibition Secrets of the Thames: Mudlarking London’s lost treasures (4 April 2025 – 1 March 2026) and we were delighted to be among the first to visit it.
The first major exhibition on mudlarking, it explores fascinating finds from the Thames foreshore, an internationally important archaeological site, and the role of mudlarks in uncovering thousands of years of human history. Historically a trade of the Victorian poor, in recent years mudlarking has grown to be a popular hobby for history lovers, with licensed mudlarks uncovering many significant new finds from the Thames.
We spoke to artist Amy-Leigh Bird about her work, inspired by everyday items she finds along the foreshore, Tom Ardill, Curator (Paintings, Prints and Drawings), who told us more about the artworks that were commissioned for the exhibition, and mudlark Tim Miller, Chairman of the Society of Thames Mudlarks.
There is one swear-word in this episode. The mudlarking world has its controversies!
The episode ends with an exclusive reading by Martin Nathan from his novel, The Pain Clinic, which has a scene set by the Thames.
The photograph used to illustrate this podcast is © Alessio Checconi /London Museum. It shows the neck from a stoneware bottle with a bearded face known as a Bartmann bottle 1500s – 1600s. The bearded face decorating the neck lies half-buried on the foreshore.
A Story Radio Salon on the theme of Love, with readings from works in progress by some of our regular writer guests.
Kristin Burniston is a graduate of the MA Screenwriting program at the University of Arts London. In 2023, her short film scripts TREE and HAIRY MARY were selected by the City of Angels Film Festival, WOFFF (where HAIRY MARY placed 2nd), and Best-Script, London.
Recently, Kristin‘s script EGGS was made into a short film and will soon be released on to the festival circuit. Currently, Kristin is working on a London-based children’s animation, a crime fiction TV series, and a feature film script based on her menopausal rite-of-passage novel.
Lindsay Gillespie was born in South Wales, and lives in the South Downs. In between she has been a graphic designer and illustrator, lived in New Delhi, Washington DC, France and taught English in Tokyo. In 2018-2019, she was enrolled in the Creative Writing Programme of New Writing South. She writes short and not-so-short stories and was a Costa 2021 Short Story Award finalist. A year later, she was a finalist for the Bridport Short Story Prize. Other short stories have been shortlisted in nine competitions in recent years including Fiction Factory, Exeter, Oxford Flash Fiction, Fiction Factory Flash, Rhys Davies, Frome, ChipLit, Edinburgh and Fish.
Miki Lentin completed an MA in Creative Writing at Birkbeck and was a finalist for the 2020 Irish Novel Fair with Winter Sun. His short stories have been published in Litro and Story Radio. He released his short story collection Inner Core in 2022, and his debut novel Winter Sun was published by Afsana Press.
Lana Citron is a prize-winning author and scriptwriter with twenty years’ professional writing experience. She has published five novels, two non-fiction books and numerous short stories, plays, poems, film scripts, articles and book. Extracts read today are from her book Edible Pleasures, a Textbook of Aphrodisiacs.
Martin Nathan‘s short fiction and poetry have appeared in various journals. His novel A Place of Safety is published by Salt Publishing. His dramatic writing has been shortlisted for the Nick Darke Award and the Woodward International Prize. Martin will be reading from a new short story.
Founder and co-host of the Story Radio Podcast, Tabitha Potts is a short story writer and novelist. She received an Honourable Mention in the Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize for her story ‘Poppet’ and is publishing her debut novel The House of Dust and Shadows in 2026 with Rowan Prose Publishing.
The podcast is recorded live in the Colony Room Green bar.
Not Yet is the story of Gabrielle, a woman traveling to the absurdly picturesque coastline of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula with her son, their first family trip since her separation from his father. It is a place that holds many memories, and when she suddenly finds herself bleeding uncontrollably all over Tulum, the past catches up with her.
It’s a startling, powerful story about womanhood, family, youth and mid-life, that is undeniably topical.
Joanna Hershon is the author of five novels. Her writing and short stories have appeared in The New York Times, Granta, One Story, The Virginia Quarterly Review, among others, and her work was shortlisted for the O. Henry Prize Stories. Joanna has received fellowships from Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and the Edward Albee Foundation. She is currently an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Columbia University. Joanna grew up in New York and lives in Brooklyn with her husband, and their twin sons and daughter.
This show was produced by Tabitha Potts.
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Sound effects
beach-wave-cliff-tulum-ruins.wav by Geoff-Bremner-Audio -- https://freesound.org/s/667331/ -- License: Creative Commons 0
Airy wind chimes quintet at Hunter's Tor, Teign Gorge by Philip_Goddard -- https://freesound.org/s/700528/ -- License: Attribution NonCommercial 4.0
Podcast Cover Image
Source Tulum Archaeological Site - Quintana Roo - Mexico - 01
Author Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
Let The Good Times Roll.
Larry has been a circus clown for over thirty years. Now, with the threat of closure, he stands to lose everything.
About Duncan Robert Illing
Duncan is a writer living in Brighton, his first short story Let The Good Times Roll was published in June 2022 in Brighton & Beyond, A West Hill Writers Anthology.
A writer of fiction, memoir, non-fiction and script, a radio presenter, producer, musician, composer and former A&R manager. Duncan’s writing can be found on Substack, he’s focussing on his next writing projects which include a novel.
CREDITS
Let The Good Times Roll
A story by Duncan Robert Illing
Adapted by Duncan Robert Illing and Kristin Burniston
Larry was played by Andrew Lancel.
Mr Brotherton by Andy M Milligan.
The Administrator by Laura Finnemore
Grace by Shona Graham
Billy by John Kennard
Stewart by James Merganser
Pete by Rob Vincent
Directed by Kristin Burniston and Duncan Robert Illing.
Produced by Duncan Robert Illing
Additional credits:
Entrance of the Gladiators by Julius Fučík performed by the U.S Marine Band, music and performance are both public domain.
Jazz music listed as copyright free and Creative Commons for use.
Clown act music listed as copyright free for use.
Any additional sourced sound effects listed as copyright free and/or public domain at source.
Clown image source listed as copyright free, and its specific adaptation is under copyright.
All remaining aspects of this drama production are under copyright.
In this episode Martin Nathan and Tabitha Potts interview Lead Curator Dr Eleanor Jackson and Julian Harrison, about the British Library's latest blockbuster exhibition, Medieval Women: In Their Own Words, where visitors will discover how the voices of medieval women still resonate across the centuries and speak powerfully to our world today.
We discuss famous historical figures such as Joan of Arc and Julian of Norwich as well as discovering forgotten women such as the the rebel Margaret Starr who joined in the Peasant's Revolt, Maria Moriana, a woman who argued that slavery was illegal in order to prevent herself being sold, and the mediaeval Welsh poet Gwerful Mechain who wrote a poem praising the vagina.
Medieval Women: In Their Own Words runs at the British Library from 25 October 2024 – 2 March 2025. The exhibition is supported by Joanna and Graham Barker and Unwin Charitable Trust.
Reading: Hafsa bint al-Hajj, translated by Yasmine Seale.
Music: Early Music New York, Frederick Renz, Director, which comes from "Music for Medieval Love; Early Music New York, Frederick Renz, Director; exCathedra Records, USA."
This episode was produced by Tabitha Potts
Tabitha Potts is a short story writer and novelist, recognised with an Honourable Mention in the Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize. Her debut novel will be published by Rowan Prose Publishing in 2026.
Our second live recording of six writers reading their work in the intimate surroundings of the Colony Room Green bar. There will be occasional drink mixing and pouring, laughter and doors opening!
Listen to Lana Citron talk about food as an aphrodisiac, Sue Hubbard read her novel Three about food as a source of emotional renewal, Lindsay Gillespie read her story about ravenous mermaids enjoying a night out at a seaside resort, Dr Stuart Gillespie talking about the way capitalism and agribusiness has corrupted our global food supplies, Martin Nathan reading a short story about how food evokes memories and Tabitha Potts reading a speculative short story about alien sin eaters.
Content warning: Lana Citron's reading at the beginning of the podcast includes a description of animal abuse/cruelty from the writings of the Marquis de Sade which some listeners may find disturbing.
Lana Citron is a prize-winning author and scriptwriter with twenty years' professional writing experience. She has published five novels, two non-fiction books and numerous short stories, plays, poems, film scripts, articles and book. Extracts read today are from her book Edible Pleasures, a Textbook of Aphrodisiacs.
Sue Hubbard is an award-winning poet, novelist and art critic who is new to Story Radio. She has published five collections of poetry, Everything Begins with the Skin (Enitharmon), Ghost Station and The Forgetting and Remembering of Air (Salt), Swimming to Albania (Salmon Poetry) and Radium Dreams (Women's Art Collection, Murray Edwards College, Cambridge) in collaboration with the artist Eileen Cooper RA, and a series of poems, God's Little Artist (Seren).
Her novels include: Depth of Field, (Dewi Lewis), Girl in White (Cinnamon and Pushkin Press), Rainsongs, (Duckworth, Overlook Press US, Mercure de France and Yilin Press, China) and Flatlands (Pushkin Press and Mercure de France). Rothko's Red, her collection of short stories, was published by Salt. She is currently working on a fifth novel, provisionally titled Three, which she reads in this podcast.
Lindsay Gillespie was born in South Wales, and lives in the South Downs. In between she has been a graphic designer and illustrator, lived in New Delhi, Washington DC, France and taught English in Tokyo. In 2018-2019, she was enrolled in the Creative Writing Programme of New Writing South. She writes short and not-so-short stories and was a Costa 2021 Short Story Award finalist. A year later, she was a finalist for the Bridport Short Story Prize. Other short stories have been shortlisted in nine competitions in recent years including Fiction Factory, Exeter, Oxford Flash Fiction, Fiction Factory Flash, Rhys Davies, Frome, ChipLit, Edinburgh and Fish.
Our next reader is Dr Stuart Gillespie, a non-fiction writer who’s also new to Story Radio. He has four decades of experience in nutrition and development since his first position as nutrition coordinator in a rural development project in southern India in the early 80s. His book Food Fighttells the tale of how the food system we once relied upon for global nutrition has warped into the very thing making us sick. It will be published by Canongate in 2025.
Martin Nathan's short fiction and poetry have appeared in various journals. His novel A Place of Safety is published by Salt Publishing. His dramatic writing has been shortlisted for the Nick Darke Award and the Woodward International Prize. Martin will be reading from a new short story.
Founder and co-host of the Story Radio Podcast, Tabitha Potts is a short story writer and novelist. She received an Honourable Mention in the Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize for her story 'Poppet' and is publishing her debut novel The House of Dust and Shadows in 2026 with Rowan Prose Publishing. Tabitha reads from 'The Sin-Eater', originally published in Fudoki Magazine.
In 19th-century Sweden, Caesaria is kept in a doctor's mansion as a trophy: she is the first baby to be born alive from one of his c-sections.
In a Gothic ambience, Caesaria narrates in first person her experiences in the mansion and her encounters with its mysterious inhabitants and visitors. Does she know where she comes from? Where is her mother? Is there a world beyond these walls?
We interview Hanna Nordenhök about her Gothic tale, published for the first time in English by Heloise Press on the 24th October 2024. Inspired by a real-life nineteenth-century medical miracle, it explores issues - women's bodies and women's rights - that are vitally contemporary.
Our wide-ranging discussion covers some international writers and film-makers whose work listeners might not be familiar with so we thought we would list them here.
Authors
Ágota Kristóf - 1935 – 2011: Hungarian author
The Notebook Trilogy and The Illiterate are available in translation
Birgitta Trotzig 1929 – 1935: Swedish author
Her work seems currently only available in Swedish or translated into French or Spanish.
Fernanda Melchor (b.1982) Mexican: Paradais and Hurricane Season published by Fitzcarraldo
Films
The Wild Child - Francois Truffaut 1970
The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser Hans Werber Herzog 1974
The Knick - Steven Soderbergh (TV series) 2014-15
Hanna Nordenhök (Malmo, 1977) has been awarded several major literary honors for her work, both as novelist, poet and essayist. Her novel Caesaria (2020) scooped Swedish Radio’s Literary Prize and was shortlisted for Vi’s Literature Prize. Nordenhök also works as a translator from the Spanish and has been praised for her translations of Fernanda Melchor, Andrea Abreu and Alia Trabucco Zerán. Her last novel Wonderland (2023) was listed among the Best Books of the Year in Dagens Nyheter, Svenska Dagbladet, Expressen, Borås Tidning, Hufvudstadsbladet and Magasinet ETC, as well as shortlisted for Vi's Literature Prize.
Saskia Vogel is a writer and translator of over two-dozen Swedish-language books. Her novel Permission was published in five languages. She is a recipient the Berlin Senate grant for non- German literature, the Bernard Shaw Prize, two English PEN Translates Awards, and was a PEN America Translation Prize finalist. She was Princeton’s Fall 2022 Translator in Residence. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she lives in Berlin.
This episode was produced by Martin Nathan.
Martin Nathan’s short fiction and poetry has appeared in a range of journals and his novel – A Place of Safety is published by Salt Publishing. His dramatic writing has been shortlisted for the Nick Darke award and the Woodward International Prize.
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'At the Watts Memorial EC1' is a haunting recreation of some of the true stories told on the famous memorial in Postman's Park. The memorial commemorates brave people who lost their lives trying to save others in acts of heroic self-sacrifice in the last three centuries - most recently in 2007.
We hear the heart-breaking stories of William Donald of Bayswater, a railway clerk, Sarah Smith, a pantomime artiste, and Solomon Gamalan, an eleven-year-old boy, among others. One of these stories can also be heard in the September Writers Salon, where the author read it live in the Colony Room Green.
Written and read by Simon Roberts
Simon Roberts, based in West London, writes short stories and flash fiction. His story Dirty Chicken & Rice was a 2024 Plaza Prizes finalist, and his adaptation of The Slaves of Solitude was produced by Questors Theatre in 2024. He was longlisted for the 2022 Fish Short Story Prize.
Produced by Tabitha Potts
Tabitha Potts is a short story writer and novelist, recognised with an Honourable Mention in the Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize. Her debut novel will be published by Rowan Prose Publishing in 2026.
Music credits Poignant Piano Melodies Creating a Melancholic Atmosphere by Nancy_Sinclair | License: Creative Commons 0
Donate
We are a volunteer-led organisation and appreciate any donations towards our running costs.
Buy us a coffee
Become a patreon
Contact us
Visit our our website Storyradio.org
This month we are featuring short stories and flash fiction written at a creative writing workshop in Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park. The stories are loosely inspired by the gravestones of people who were buried in the cemetery.
They include Charlie Brown, boxer and publican, Alec Hurley, boxer, singer and husband of Marie Lloyd, the Woods family, who all died from influenza leaving only one surviving child and Maurice O'Connor, a workhouse doctor who committed suicide in mysterious circumstances.
Thank you to all the writers who participated in the workshop for lending us your imagination for the day, and to Claire Slack the Heritage Officer for telling us the compelling real-life stories of some of the people buried in the cemetery park.
This episode contains swearwords so has been marked as explicit.
A young girl is fascinated by the story of a magical being hidden in the forest outside her home, and goes out at night to look for her.
Written by Patrica Furstenberg and read by Lysandra Furstenberg.
With a medical degree behind her, writer and poet Patricia Furstenberg authored 18 books imbued with history, folklore, legends. The recurrent motives in her writing are unconditional love and war. Her essays and poetry appeared in various online literary magazines. Romanian born, she resides with her family in South Africa.
Follow her on Twitter @patfurstenberg
Find her on Facebook patriciafurstenbergauthor
The story was produced by Tabitha Potts.
Photo credit swatcop on Morguefile.com.
In this episode, Martin Nathan interviews Amanda Owen, the Yorkshire Shepherdess, about what writing means to her, and she reads an extract from her new book, Celebrating the Seasons with the Yorkshire Shepherdess, about the harsh but rewarding realities of living in tune with the seasons on one of the highest, most remote hill farms in the country.
A best-selling author, Amanda is also a full-time shepherdess with 800 sheep, a vintage tractor owner, sheepdog breeder, conservationist (the farm is a haven for nesting birds such as curlews and lapwings), horsewoman, and mother of nine.
Amanda and her family have worked the rugged land at Ravenseat Farm in Swaledale on the Yorkshire Cumbria boarder for more than 25 years and are passionate caretakers of the countryside.
This episode was produced by Martin Nathan. Martin Nathan’s short fiction and poetry has appeared in a range of journals and his novel – A Place of Safety is published by Salt Publishing. His dramatic writing has been shortlisted for the Nick Darke award and the Woodward International Prize.
A young woman spends time with her younger sister Anya in a deserted playground, while wrestling with her inner demons.
The story was written by Kae Hart. Kae is a university student who learned to speak by telling stories to everyone who would listen. The cashier at the local grocery store was her first fan. Since then, she has written stories, poems, and novels, and hopes to continue to do so.
The story was read by Claire Lubert.
Claire has been working for Humanitarian Organisations for the last eight years (currently Médecins Sans Frontières). She is also involved in writing projects and is a voice artist, having previously trained at Rada and worked as an actor in TV, Film and theatre. She is based in SW London.
Eventide was produced by Tabitha Potts.
The photograph used in this episode is courtesy of Cherie Durbin.
A young Australian boy learns some difficult lessons about temptation and faith when he meets another boy from a local religious cult.
This story was written and read by Doug Jacquier. He has lived in many places across Australia, including regional and remote communities, and has travelled extensively overseas. His poems and stories have been published in Australia, the US, the UK and Canada. He blogs at Six Crooked Highways.
This episode was produced by Tabitha Potts.
Recording of artist Jimmie P Rodgers under Creative Commons License 0 from qubodup at Freesound.org
Photo by Vintage Film Pics at Morguefile.com.
Goran Baba Ali, author of The Glass Wall, talks to Martin Nathan, Tabitha Potts and Miki Lentin about his novel and reads a brief extract.
The Glass Wall is about a teenage refugee who must relive the pain of his past to enter the land waiting behind a glass wall. Will his story be convincing enough to guarantee his safety?
Goran Baba Ali has written and published various literary and journalistic works in Kurdish, Dutch and English. The Glass Wall is his debut novel in the English language.
As an ex-refugee, originally from Iraqi Kurdistan, he has personally experienced some of the protagonist’s hardship in this novel, including a few weeks living in a desert.
The producer of this episode was Martin Nathan.
In this short story, a man waits in an anonymous hotel room in Madrid drinking beer and watching television while he waits for his lover, Pilar, to arrive.
This story was written by Declan Geraghty. Geraghty is a writer, poet and spoken word performer from Dublin.
It was first published by Epoque Press Ezine 2021.
The story was read by Miki Lentin, and produced by Tabitha Potts.
Sound effects taken from Freesound.org and licensed under the Creative Commons 0 license.
Photo by Pedrojperez at Morguefile.com
Martin Nathan, Tabitha Potts and Goran Baba Ali talk to Miki Lentin about his short story collection, Inner Core, recently published by Afsana Press. Includes a short reading by Miki Lentin. This interview was produced by Martin Nathan.
Inner Core is available to buy as an ebook and paperback with proceeds of all sales going to the refugee charity foodKIND.
Miki Lentin took up writing while travelling the world with his family a few years ago. He completed an MA in Creative Writing at Birkbeck in 2020 and was a finalist in the 2020 Irish Novel Fair for his first book Winter Sun.
He has been placed highly in competitions including Fish Publishing Short Memoir 2020 and 2022 and Leicester Writes and has been published in Litro, Storgy, Story Radio, MIR amongst others.
Miki volunteers with refugee charity foodkind in Greece, and dreams of one day running a café again. Find him on Twitter @mikilentin or read his work on his website.
https://www.mikilentin.net/my-writing
Efflorescence, a short story by Miki Lentin takes us into that time when a man bumps into a friend unexpectedly while on an evening walk, with surprising consequences.
Efflorescence is part of a collection of short stories released by Miki Lentin called Inner Core, published by Afsana Press that is available to buy as an ebook and paperback with proceeds of all sales going to the refugee charity foodKIND.
Miki Lentin took up writing while travelling the world with his family a few years ago. He completed an MA in Creative Writing at Birkbeck in 2020 and was a finalist in the 2020 Irish Novel Fair for his first book Winter Sun.
He has been placed highly in competitions including Fish Publishing Short Memoir 2020 and 2022 and Leicester Writes and has been published in Litro, Storgy, Story Radio, MIR amongst others. Miki volunteers with refugee charity foodkind in Greece, and dreams of one day running a café again. Find him on Twitter @mikilentin or read his work on his website.
https://www.mikilentin.net/my-writing
The reader was Francis Gilbert.
Francis Gilbert has been writing fiction for many years. He is best known for his memoir, I’m A Teacher, Get Me Out of Here (2004 Short Books), his story of working as a young, incompetent inner-city school teacher in the 1990s. It was serialized as Radio 4’s Book at Bedtime, and spawned a sequel, Teacher on the Run (2006 Short Books).
His novel The Last Day of Term (2011 Blue Door Press) is also set in school. However, more recently he has explored more personal topics in his fiction: Who Do You Love (Blue Door Press 2017) is about a middle-aged man reflecting upon a university romance, and Snow on the Danube (2019) is about a brother and sister torn apart by the Second World War.
For the past few years, he has been working on writing short stories. He was delighted to read Miki Lentin’s powerful short fiction, which he feels shares many similarities with his own work in its depiction of tortured, emotional men. He really loved Miki’s story Efflorescence, and hopes other people enjoy his reading of it, as much as he liked recording it.
His day job is as senior lecturer in education at Goldsmiths, but his heart truly remains in writing and reading fiction.
http://www.francisgilbert.co.uk
http://www.bluedoorpress.co.uk
This episode was produced by Tabitha Potts.
A group of mourners attend a funeral and a wake for a shopkeeper and we learn more about his past and relationships.
This short story was written and read by Joan Treacy.
Joan Treacy has been writing for about five years. She has written many short stories and several of them have been published in Irish magazines. She is a member of Leixlip library writing group and they have helped and encouraged her writing. She is also the author of a horror novel, Orchard House.
Produced by Martin Nathan
Martin Nathan has worked as a labourer, showman, pancake chef, fire technician, and a railway engineer. His short fiction has been published by Tangent Press, HCE and Grist and his poetry has appeared in Finished Creatures, Erbacce and Aesthetica. His novel – A Place of Safety is published by Salt Publishing.
This month Martin Nathan interviews Lindsay Gillespie who was a finalist in the Costa Short Story prize this year with her story Pholas Dactylus. The Costa prize involves them recording the three stories and then a public vote.
You can also listen to one of the stories she wrote for Story Radio two years ago, A Summoning Spell, read by Saskia Butler.
If you would like to read her prize-winning story you can download Pholas Dactylus here.
Warning: A Summoning Spell contains some adult language and is not suitable for under-18s.
A clerk goes to a funeral and meets a mysterious young woman in this short story set on the famous Victorian 'Ghost Train'.
This story was written and produced by Tabitha Potts.
The story was read by Nigel Fyfe.
Nigel Fyfe is an actor and voiceover artist. Alongside stage and screen work, he has recorded audio drama with Wireless Theatre and Ragged Foils, and a number of audiobooks.
The photograph used to illustrate this podcast is by John Cunliffe of Scope Enterprise and is from the Hathaways of Haworth blog.
Sounds under CC-BY 3.0:
Steam Train 1.wav by Benboncan
A young female writer is commissioned to write a post about a lethal rat trap for a content mill.
This story was written by Rebecca Lee. She lives in Charlottesville, Virginia. Her current project “selfie” is a series of medical poems. Her body of work can be found in The British Medical Journal, CHEST physicians, Dartmouth’s Life Lines and Harvard’s medical school journal, Third Space.
The story was read by Jessica Nettles. Jessica is a voice-over artist and a writer. Her influences range from Ray Bradbury to Flannery O’Connor and Shirley Jackson. She reads as voraciously as she can while balancing her career as an English Instructor and a writer of SouthernGothic and Historical Fantasy. Her first novel is Children of Menlo Park.
She is also featured in the gothic horror anthology, Off the Beaten Path 4 and has a story in the upcoming Georgia Gothic horror anthology produced by the Atlanta Chapter of HWA (Horror Writer’s Association). To hear more of her voice, check out Episode 775 of the horror podcast, Pseudopod, where she reads Michael McDowell’s “Miss Mack.”
To find more about her and her work check out jessicanettlesauthor.com. You also can find her on Twitter @steampunkengl and Instagram steampunkenglish.
The producer was Tabitha Potts.
The cover art is Mouse (1821) by Jean Bernard (1775-1883). Original from The Rijksmuseum. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel. Public Domain Free CC0 Image
Story Radio is taking a short break in the New Year so we will be back on February 1st. We'd like to wish you all a safe and happy holiday and New Year.
The scene is a retrospective exhibition of the work of a famous male artist. As the young female curator is interviewed by a journalist, we start to suspect there is more to his paintings than meets the eye.
Marie O’Shea is a short story writer living on the Beara Peninsula. Her work has appeared in, ‘Popshot’, ‘The Galway Review’, ‘The Blue Nib’, ‘The Caterpillar Magazine,’ ‘Literary Mama’ and ‘Storgy’.
Catherine Allison is a voice artist and actor living in SE London. She trained as part of the Battersea Arts Centre’s Development Theatre Company, working with directors such as Paul King, Steven Canny and Phil Wilmott. She also runs Master the Art, a training consultancy that helps people communicate with more confidence, influence and authority in the workplace and beyond.
Produced by Martin Nathan
Martin Nathan has worked as a labourer, showman, pancake chef, fire technician, and a railway engineer. His short fiction has been published by Tangent Press, HCE and Grist and his poetry has appeared in Finished Creatures, Erbacce and Aesthetica. His novel – A Place of Safety is published by Salt Publishing.
Photograph is by Martin Nathan.
An Irish farmer, Liam Og, decides to leave his farm to his unknown American nephew.
This short story was written and read by Steve Wade.
Steve Wade’s short story collection, ‘In Fields of Butterfly flames’, was published in October 2020 by Bridge House Publishing. His fiction has been published and anthologised in over fifty print publications. His short stories have won, been placed and shortlisted in numerous writing competitions.
Winner of the Short Story category in the Write By the Sea Writing Competition in 2019. First Prize Winner of the Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown Writing Competition 2020.
www.stephenwade.ie
This short story was produced by Tabitha Potts.
Sounds under CC0:
Sad Violin.wav by Cunningar0807
Image of violin:
Photo by lucas mendes on Unsplash
SALVAGE is set in Tide Mills, an abandoned village near Newhaven on the Sussex coast.
The traces of the mill and the childrens’ home can still be seen on the shingle beach.
Content warning: this drama contains some material listeners might find distressing
The piece was directed by Luke Blackwood-Stevenson
Cast:
JANE - Rubie Ozanne
BILL - Lewis Jenkins
SAM - Kieran Dooner
IAN - Hamish Brewster
FRED - Luke Blackwood-Stevenson
Recording engineer: Max Jukes
Script, music and location sounds: Martin Nathan
A location-based piece with audio triggered within the Tide Mills site will be released soon.
Martin Nathan’s short fiction and poetry has appeared in a range of journals and his novel – A Place of Safety is published by Salt Publishing. His dramatic writing has been shortlisted for the Nick Darke award and the Woodward International Prize.
Livingstone Franklin, a hospital cleaner, has a side hustle as a soul singer - and a crush on a beautiful colleague.
This story is written by Lindsay Gillespie, a Lewes-based writer. It is read by Luke Blackwood-Stevenson.
The producer is Martin Nathan. Martin Nathan has worked as a labourer, showman, pancake chef, fire technician, and railway engineer. His short fiction has been published by Tangent Press, HCE and Grist and his poetry has appeared in Finished Creatures, Erbacce and Aesthetica.
His novel – A Place of Safety is published by Salt Publishing. In 2020 he has been shortlisted for the Woodward International Playwriting Prize and the Nick Darke Award.
Sounds under CC-BY 3.0:
Janie Joelle accapella.wav by juskiddink
Photo by Octavio Lopez at Morguefile.com
In this month's short story, rebellious Maddy's reunion with her much older and more conventional sister goes disastrously wrong.
About the writer
Belgium based writer Sheila Kinsella’s short stories draw inspiration from her Irish upbringing. An avid watcher of people’s behaviour, and blessed with abundant natural curiosity, Sheila lures the reader into a shrewdly observed world via imagery.
Sheila graduated with an MA in Creative Writing (Distance Learning) from Lancaster University in the United Kingdom in 2017. Her stories have since been published in The Galway Review,The Blue Niband Severine Literary Journal amongst others.
The producer was Tabitha Potts.
Photo by schurch at Morguefile.com
A young woman leaves Jamaica for the UK, hoping to emulate her cousin Jacqueline by working as a nurse. When she arrives, nothing is quite as she expected it to be.
Jacqueline was written by Tatum Anderson. She is a journalist and writer from London. She received an MA In Creative Writing at Birkbeck, University of London and is now working on a PhD there in the autumn.
She has recently completed her first novelabout Jamaican soldiers in the First World War which was Highly Commended in the Blue Pencil Agency First Novel Award 2020. She is now working on a second novel.
The reader is Juliet Jordon. She is a recent Drama, Applied Theatre and Performance graduate. She is doing an MFA (Master in Fine Arts) in directing. She studied Acting at Morley College London on the Performing Arts HND course.
This story was directed and produced by Martin Nathan. Martin Nathan has worked as a labourer, showman, pancake chef, fire technician, and a railway engineer. His short fiction has been published by Tangent Press, HCE and Grist and his poetry has appeared in Finished Creatures, Erbacce and Aesthetica. His novel A Place of Safety is published by Salt Publishing.
Website: http://www.martinnathan.co.uk
The music and image used in this episode are both reproduced with the permission of Martin Nathan.
A young woman travels from her old life to her new, from the North to the South, on a Greyhound bus.
Content warning: this story mentions rape.
A Whittenberg is a Philadelphia native who has a global perspective. If she wasn’t an author she’d be a private detective or a jazz singer. She loves reading about history and true crime. Her novels include Sweet Thang, Hollywood and Maine, Life is Fine, Tutored and The Sane Asylum.
This short story was read by Antonia White. Antonia White studied Acting at Morley College London on the Performing Arts HND course.
The producer was Tabitha Potts.
The cover photograph was taken by R Miller on Flickr and is used under a Creative Commons Attribution License. It has been cropped.
We have two shorter stories this month, Knish by Martin Nathan and The Prison Poem by Rebecca Ruth Gould.
Knish by Martin Nathan
The knish is a lump of potato with pastry wrapped around it and baked. You can still buy them in Brighton Beach, Long Island, filled with kasha or beef or cherry and cream cheese or pretty much anything you want.
Like this story, it’s not what’s on the outside or on the inside that counts. It’s somewhere between the two that makes things different.
Written and produced by Martin Nathan.
Read by Luke Blackwood.
Martin Nathan has worked as a labourer, showman, pancake chef, fire technician, and a railway engineer. His short fiction has been published by Tangent Press, HCE and Grist and his poetry has appeared in Finished Creatures, Erbacce and Aesthetica.
His novel – A Place of Safety is published by Salt Publishing. In 2020 he has been shortlisted for the Woodward International Playwriting Prize and the Nick Darke Award.
The Prison Poem by Rebecca Ruth Gould
For over a thousand years, Persian poets have been writing about prison. One day, these poems stir a nervous conversation between lovers in modern Iran. “The Prison Poem” by Rebecca Ruth Gould recounts a millennium of poems in which imprisoned poets criticize their rulers.
Rebecca Ruth Gould is a writer, translator, and scholar. Her books include Writers and Rebels (2016) and the poetry collections Cityscapes (2019) and Beautiful English (2021). Her first short story collection, Strangers in Love, is forthcoming, as is The Persian Prison Poem (Edinburgh University Press). She was born in the US and now resides in the UK, where she teaches at the University of Birmingham.
Visit Rebecca Ruth Gould's website
Follow Rebecca Ruth Gould on Medium
Twitter @rrgould
Instagram @r.r.gould
The reader for The Prison Poem was Julia Lewis.
The music used in The Prison Poem was from a recording of musician Peyman Heydarian on Freesound.org by xserra and has an attribution license.
A party, a prank, and a dear friend passed away: "The Friends" by Maggie Nerz Iribarne celebrates and mourns a friendship through awkward laughter and silent tears.
Maggie Nerz Iribarne is a lifelong writer of journals, poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, memoir, and essays. She is happiest with a blank journal and a new pen in hand. A lucky and grateful woman in all ways, she gets to work as a writing tutor at Le Moyne College and practices her craft on the third-floor attic of her home in Syracuse, New York.
In November 2020 her short story, “Sick, but Sociable,” appeared in Malarkey Books’ anthology, What I thought of Ain’t Funny(http://malarkeybooks.com/what-i-thought-of-aint-funny).
Photo (adapted) by David P Whelen on Morguefile
Two friends shoot some pool on a Saturday night in Dublin. There's not much else to do. But what happens when one friend wants something different from the night out?
The Bowl was published on Storgy and is reproduced with their permission.
This podcast contains some adult language.
About Miki Lentin
Miki took up writing while travelling the world with his family a few years ago, and this year was a finalist in the 2020 Irish Writer’s Centre Novel Fair. As well as writing his first book, he writes short stories, the most recent of which achieved second prize in the short story memoir competition with Fish Publishing.
He has also been published by Storgy, Momaya Press and Village Raw Magazine, and writes book reviews for MIR Online. He is represented by @taffagent and you can follow him on Twitter @mikilentin
Producer
This podcast was produced by Martin Nathan.
Martin Nathan has worked as a labourer, showman, pancake chef, fire technician, and a railway engineer. His short fiction has been published by Tangent Press, HCE and Grist and his poetry has appeared in Finished Creatures, Erbacce and Aesthetica. His novel – A Place of Safety is published by Salt Publishing. In 2020 he has been shortlisted for the Woodward International Playwriting Prize and the Nick Darke Award.
Four men, friends since childhood, walk into a wood, where they find a pile of bones. This strange discovery will change their lives forever.
RD Mouton is an American Writer and Freelancer. He is currently pursuing a career in writing and completing his current projects, a short story collection and a young adult novel. He can be found on Twitter as @RDMakes.
Photo by Koan courtesy of Morguefile.com
Sound effect used are adapted from woodsbirds.wav by Sparrer on Freesound.org under the Attribution License
The producer is Tabitha Potts
The narrator is a health care aide who cares for a disabled woman (Betty) as best as possible and tends to her many hamsters, including Brutus, with the ultimate compassion.
It seems that Betty’s real confidant and friend is not the hamster she obsesses over in the story, but the young man who cleans out the hamster cages, cooks her meals, and buries her once-beloved rodents in the backyard.
This story originally appeared in Fleas on the Dog Online in 2020.
Mark Tulin is a poet, short story writer, and author residing in Ventura. He also has time to take pictures of the quirky people and strange objects he finds on Southern California's beaches.
Gordon Lawrie (author and editor of Friday Flash Fiction) writes, “Tulin’s skill lies in raising his central characters above everything that surrounds them.”
Mark had appeared in Fiction on the Web, smokebox, Vita Brevis Press, The Literary Hatchet, Amethyst Review, Friday Flash Fiction, The Daily Drunk, and podcasts and anthologies. His books include Magical Yogis, Awkward Grace, and The Asthmatic Kid and Other Stories.
Keep up to date on all of Mark Tulin’s stories, poetry, and books at:
www.crowonthewire.com
Photo © Mark Tulin
Music (faded in and out) from Comming Back by Loco Lobo under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Esteban, finder of lost things, awakes in his grave on November second to return home to his family for Dia De Los Muertos. But he overstays his allotted night and cannot find his way back. Time is running out, for if he stays out too long, he will be forgotten and fade away into nothingness.
This story originally appeared in Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores in 2018.
E.E. King is a painter, performer, writer, and biologist - She’ll do anything that won’t pay the bills, especially if it involves animals.
Ray Bradbury called her stories, “marvelously inventive, wildly funny, and deeply thought-provoking. I cannot recommend them highly enough.”
King has won numerous various awards and fellowships for art, writing, and environmental research.
She’s been published widely, most recently in Clarkesworld, Flame Tree, Cosmic Roots, and Eldritch shores and On Spec. One of her tales is on Tangent’s recommended reading 2019.
Her books include Dirk Quigby’s Guide to the Afterlife, Pandora’s Card Game, The Truth of Fiction, and The Adventures of Emily Finfeather.
Check out paintings, writing, musings, and books at:
www.elizabetheveking.com
www.elizabetheveking.com
https://twitter.com/ElizabethEvKing
amazon.com/author/eeking
Story copyright of the author E E King (all rights reserved).
Image copyright Greg Willis adapted with his permission. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Music used in this podcast is adapted (extracts used and fades applied) from:
La llorona by Trío La Aurora licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License.
The Edge is part of a series of location-based pieces exploring the stories and power of landscape. They use GPS location to trigger various sections when you run the app in the link supplied and you are in the correct location.
This piece runs from Birling Gap to Beachy head and explores some of the stories associated with the area. It works either as a clifftop walk or a walk at beach level (although you need to walk on a falling tide).
Despite its beauty Beachy Head has long had associations with loss and destruction. The cliffs were a favourite place of Aleister Crowley, the notorious Great Beast and Satanist, and the piece includes some of the battles between him and local clergy.
Written, produced and read by Martin Nathan.
Martin Nathan has worked as a labourer, showman, pancake chef, fire technician, and a railway engineer. His short fiction has been published by Tangent Press, HCE and Grist and his poetry has appeared in Finished Creatures, Erbacce and Aesthetica. His novel – A Place of Safety is published by Salt Publishing. In 2020 he has been shortlisted for the Woodward International Playwriting Prize and the Nick Darke Award.
A Chicken that Shares our Values looks at the bipolar experience, how a simple phrase or marketing slogan can plunge us into the super-charged, symbolic world. As meaning-machines how and when do we let go?
Daniel’s stories have appeared in Esquire, Ambit, The London Magazine, Litro and The Lampeter Review. He is in the third years of a PhD in the weird and eerie and completing a novel Highly Strung
Read more on his blog Conan the librarian: https://conanlibrarianlondon.wordpress.com/
Photo by Spudgun67 / CC BY-SA
In this short story, two city-dwellers move to a remote house in the countryside and are unsettled by their experiences in their new home.
Written, produced and read by Tabitha Potts
Tabitha Potts is a writer living in East London. She has had several short stories published in print and online and been short-listed and long-listed for various awards, most recently the Sunderland University Short Story Award. In a past life, she was a BBC Radio Drama producer. Read more at http://www.tabithapotts.com
This podcast uses these FX sounds from freesound:
Spookywood.mp3 by priestjd (https://freesound.org/people/priestjd/)
Magpie_WingsFlapping.wav by digifishmusic https://freesound.org/people/digifishmusic/)
Original music composed by Rufus Harman
In 'BFFs' by Marianne Rogoff, a woman in mid-life contemplates whether or not she's ready for any new relationships while on a road trip.
MARIANNE ROGOFF is the author of the Pushcart-nominated story collection Love Is Blind in One Eye, the memoir Silvie’s Life, and numerous travel stories, short fictions, essays, and book reviews. BFFs was a Finalist for the Ernest Hemingway Flash Fiction Prize 2018 and “Featured Fiction” in Fiction Southeast on 02/05/2020.
BFFs short story and illustrative photo © Mariane Rogoff all rights reserved
Sounds under CC-BY 3.0:
ocean-LaJolla.wav by xserra
We have two shorter pieces exploring grief and loss as part of the Waterloo Festival.
“Final Unveil” is written and read by Saskia Butler, a writer and performer who lives in Lewes, Sussex.
“A Summoning Spell” is written by Lindsay Gillespie, a Lewes-based writer and read by Saskia Butler.
Note: these stories deal with trauma events. There is some adult language used so this episode is not suitable for under 18s.
Tatum Anderson is a journalist and writer from London and The Invisibles tells of her time as an inpatient at St Thomas's Hospital.
She has just received an MA In Creative Writing at Birkbeck, University of London and will begin a PhD there in the autumn. She has recently completed her first novelabout Jamaican soldiers in the First World War and is writing her second.
The story was read by actor Miranda Harrison. You can find out more about her work on her website https://mirandaharrison.co.uk.
The Invisibles was produced by Martin Nathan. Martin Nathan has worked as a labourer, showman, pancake chef, fire technician, and a railway engineer. His short fiction has been published by Tangent Press, HCE and Grist and his poetry has appeared in Finished Creatures, Erbacce and Aesthetica. His novel – A Place of Safety is published by Salt Publishing.
Website: http://www.martinnathan.co.uk
The photo used for this episode was adapted from a photo by lisaleo at Morguefile.com
Persepolis by Miki Lentin tells the story of a meeting between a volunteer Tony and a refugee Ali at a refugee support centre in Waterloo. Under a backdrop of a production of 'End Game' that is playing in the Old Vic Theatre, the story looks at both characters, and asks what it is they are both trying to escape from.
Written and produced as part of the Waterloo Festival.
About the author/producer
Miki took up writing while travelling the world with his family a few years ago. Last year he completed a MA in Creative Writing at Birkbeck University, and this year was a finalist in the 2020 Irish Writers Centre Novel Fair. As well as finishing his first book, he writes short stories, the most recent of which achieved second prize in the short memoir competition with Fish Publishing.
He has achieved second prize in the Momaya Press Short Story Award 2019 and has also been published by @Villageraw Magazine and Elixir Magazine online. He also writes book reviews for MIR Online. Miki is a Trustee of The Reading Agency, volunteers with the Refugee Council and at refugee camps in Calais and Greece, and dreams of one day running a café again. His agent is Cathryn Summerhayes @taffyagent. Find him on Twitter @mikilentin
The applause sound FX comes from Orange Free Sounds and has been mixed under a Creative Commons Attribution license.
Photograph of theatre by photographer hotblack at Morguefile.com
An encounter with a girl begging on the street proves hard to escape from in this short story written and produced by Martin Nathan and read by Simon Balcon.
This is our first short story as part of the Waterloo Festival online.
Waterloo Festival is an annual celebration of arts, community and heritage in the artistic heart of London.
We will run a series of Waterloo-based stories over May and June so please subscribe to hear more.
Martin Nathan has worked as a labourer, showman, pancake chef, fire technician, and a railway engineer. His short fiction has been published by Tangent Press, HCE and Grist and his poetry has appeared in Finished Creatures, Erbacce and Aesthetica. His novel – A Place of Safety is published by Salt Publishing.
Website: http://www.martinnathan.co.uk
© Martin Nathan
Simon Balcon is a local actor who has performed in a wide range of stage roles.
https://www.spotlight.com/interactive/cv/1/M55939.html
The hidden tensions of a family holiday in Europe and a child's birthday party are explored in this short story by Martin Nathan, read by Luke Blackwood.
Martin Nathan has worked as a labourer, showman, pancake chef, fire technician, and a railway engineer. His short fiction has been published by Tangent Press, HCE and Grist and his poetry has appeared in Finished Creatures, Erbacce and Aesthetica. His novel – A Place of Safety is published by Salt Publishing.
Website:
https://www.martinnathan.co.uk
© Martin Nathan
Luke Blackwood is an actor and you can read about his work here:
https://www.northone.co.uk/portfolio/luke-blackwood/
The image used to illustrate this podcast is from Rawpixel under the CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
The music used in this production is 'I'm glad my wife's in Europe' used under license from Pond5.
What does it mean to do good in today’s society? A short story, Meringues, by Miki Lentin explores what happens when a newly arrived refugee from Iran accompanies his host to a charity Christmas Party, and shows the unintended consequences of what happens when people put their needs above those of helping others.
© Miki Lentin all rights reserved.
Miki Lentin has just finished a Creative Writing MA at Birkbeck University. He is a finalist in the Irish Writer’s Centre Novel Fair 2020, has appeared twice at MIR Live, writes book reviews for MIR Online, achieved 2nd prize in the Momaya Press Short Story Award 2019, and has been published by The Elixir Magazine online. He is a Trustee of The Reading Agency and volunteers @refugeecouncil and at refugee camps in Calais and Greece. Find him on Twitter @mikilentin
Photo by lauramusikanski at Morguefile.com
Crow Girl is a 'folk horror' tale of a young girl found abandoned in a hedgerow and brought up in a remote village. She has a hard and loveless life and struggles to survive - her only allies are the birds she befriends.
© Tabitha Potts all rights reserved.
Tabitha Potts is a writer living in East London. She has had several short stories published in print and online and been short-listed and long-listed for various awards, most recently the Sunderland University Short Story Award. In a past life, she was a BBC Radio Drama producer. Read more at http://www.tabithapotts.com
This short story uses the following sound from Freesounds under CC0:
Crows.wav by ken788
The illustration for Crow Girl is by Amy Shepheard
Music is created by Rufus Harman.