This introductory sound files provides an overview of what Alternative Stories is all about and describes and previews some of our upcoming productions.

This introduction is voiced by Kelli Winkler and features the voices of Tiffany Clare, Catharine Daddario and Jackie Jorgenson.

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Find out more at alternativestories.com

In the first of our stories based on episodes from Ovid's Metamorphoses we explore the story of King Midas using a modern re-telling.  The audio drama "Collateral Damage" features Tiffany Clare as Laura, Sally Richards as Constantina, Georgie Lauridsen as Carol and Ash Steel as Mike.  Sound effects are from Freesounds.com and music is by Chris Gregory.  The presenter is Kelli Winkler.

Continuing our theme of new writing based upon stories from Ovid's Metamorphoses (and from mythology in general) this episode features an audio drama and poem based on the myth of Daphne and Apollo.  The audio drama "No Words" features Tiffany Clare as Naomi, Charlie Richards as Robert and Federico Foglia as The Museum Attendant.  Narration is by Kelli Winkler and original music is by Chris Gregory.  

For more information please visit alternativestories.com Please subscribe to hear past and future episodes. 

Emily Horner, a talented singer songwriter struggles with confidence, anxiety and identity in our latest audio drama.  Taking the name "Echo" as a mask to hide behind, Emily begins to make her way in the world of professional music.  This episode stars singer songwriter Micah Cottingham (MICVH) as Echo and features some of her original music.  This music is used with Micah's permission. 

Two cousins reunited after many years unearth a dark family secret that threatens to destroy their relationship.  In a break from our theme of mythology we consider the ways in which different individuals can view the same set of events drawing vastly different conclusions.  Strong language and sexual references. Listener discretion is advised.

Catharine Daddario :  Veronica
Tiffany Clare : Amber
Nathan Powell : Sam
Kelli Winkler : Presenter
Chris Gregory : Music and Script
freesounds.org : sound effects
Find out more at alternativestories.com
Contact : office@alternativestories.com 

Alternative Stories and Fake Realities has been nominated for and Audio Verse 2019 Award in the category New Audio Play Production.  The awards offer us the chance to showcase the best of our podcast and this edition takes clips and excerpts from a number of our podcasts by way of a taster for potential new listeners.  We hope that existing listeners will also enjoy this brief journey through our first 8 editions and continue to enjoy the new productions we have planned. 

Presenter :  Kelli Winkler
Music : Chris Gregory and Micah Cottingham
Writing : Chris Gregory and Chelsie Buckner
This edition features the acting talents of Tiffany Clare, Catharine Daddario, Abby Hilden, Jackie Jorgensen, John Weber, Carla Rose Smith, Charlie Richards, Micah Cottingham and Andrew Woods
"Victim of Medusa" was written and performed by Chelsie Buckner

We would like to take the opportunity to thanks the Audio Verse Awards team and those listeners kind enough to nominate us. 

Find out more at https://alternativestories.com
contact us : office@alternativestories.com 
Social media - Twitter @StoriesAlt . Instagram @stories.alt

In the first of a series of mini episodes, Farewell Monologues, we explore departure, saying goodbye, endings and changes.  In this monologue Abby Hilden is Sarah, a young woman leaving a relationship and contemplating lost time and an uncertain future.

Sarah :  Abby Hilden
Presenter Kelli Winkler
Music and sound design : Chris Gregory

For more information visit our website https://alternativestories.com/
Follow us on Twitter : https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt
and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/

In our first poetry special edition of the podcast we feature the work of three poets: Will Burns, Chelsie Buckner and Julie Stevens.  

The podcast is presented by Kelli Winkler and Chris Gregory
Will Burns @TroubledStriker on twitter
Chelsie Buckner @poemsandpeonies on instagram
and Julie Stevens @jumpingjulespoetry on twitter and instagram.

Find out more about the poets including further links at our website alternativestories.com and follow us on twitter https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/

In the second of our series of Farewell Monologues we take a look at bereavement through the eyes of our regular presenter, Kelli Winkler.  The loss of a loved one is tough and a very individual experience.  In this monologue Kelli gives us an insight into her experience of loss and the memories and feelings it provokes. 

Kelli Winkler :  Writer and performer
Tiffany Clare :  Presenter
Music is written and performed by Chris Gregory
This podcast is dedicated to the memory of Judith Dale Hutchison

For more information on this podcast including biographies of our writers and actors please visit our website https://alternativestories.com/

Please also check us out on social media
Twitter https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/

In this latest edition of our Farewell Monologues series of short episodes Chelsie Buckner, the poet known as Poems and Peonies, performs her verse story, Mojave.  We also provide details on how writers, poets and dramatists can contribute to the podcast.

Mojave : Written and performed by Chelsie Buckner
Music : Written by Chris Gregory and performed by Chris Gregory, Anjy Hall, Cherish Burk and Al Jordan
Presenter : Kelli Winkler

Find out more about Chelsie and her work here https://www.instagram.com/poemsandpeonies/

For more information about the podcast please visit http://alternativestories.com/

Follow us on social media . https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt . https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/

In this edition poet Cheyenne Bramwell presents her long form poem Fading Fires which she performs herself.  In the style of an epic poem, this work imagines a civilization, reeling from war and hardship and learning to live at peace once more.

Fading Fires written and performed by Cheyenne Bramwell
Music and soundscape by Chris Gregory
Sound effects by Freesounds.org
Presented by Kelli Winkler

Find out more about Cheyenne Bramwell and read more of her work by visiting her website
https://www.cheyennebramwell.com/

If you would like to know more about The Alternative Stories and Fake Realities Podcast please visit https://alternativestories.com/

Alison Daniels is given a wind-up musical box to look after overnight.  But what secrets does the box hold and why does it keep playing of its own accord?  Our ghostly short story A Musical Box is read by Abigail Reno. 

Reader : Abigail Reno
Presenter : Kelli Winkler
Original music, soundscape and writing by Chris Gregory
Whispers in the background!! : Cheyenne Bramwell

To find out more about Alternative Stories and Fake Realities please join us on social media
https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt
https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/
and our website https://alternativestories.com/

Find out more about Abigail Reno by clicking here https://www.instagram.com/goblin_qveen/
and here https://www.facebook.com/abigailrenoaudio/
And you can listen to her podcast, Diary of An Old Soul here https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/diary-of-an-old-soul/id1475525295

A novelist tries to come to terms with the process of finishing her novel and talks about the mixed emotions she feels about reaching this landmark.  Written and performed by Jackie Jorgenson this humorous piece is dedicated to all writers and novelists and particularly to those participating in National Novel Writing Month 2019

This edition also includes a trailer for our forthcoming multi-part audio drama production, Anglia which will commence on 15th November.

Written and performed by Jackie Jorgenson
Music and sound design by Chris Gregory
Presented by Kelli Winkler
Sound effects from https://freesound.org/

Anglia Trailer :  Voice: Charlie Richards Music and sound design: Chris Gregory 

Find out more about Jackie Jorgenson by visiting her Facebook Page  https://www.facebook.com/JackieJorgensonActor/

Anglia part One : Arrivals

The year is 2029 and the effects of climate change are taking hold all around the globe.  In one small coastal community in eastern England waves of migrants are coming ashore to escape the wars and famine the climate crisis are causing in their own countries.  This is the story of three women whose lives are affected by the crisis. This is the first of four parts.

Millie: Tiffany Clare
Rachel : Jackie Jorgenson
Awira : Saya Zahawi
David : Charlie Richards
Laura :  Catharine Daddario
Willa : Kelli Winkler
Other parts : Chris Gregory
Presenter : Kelli Winkler
Music written and performed : Chris Gregory
Sound effects : Freesound.org
ANN News Jingle : Stonefree

Please visit https://alternativestories.com/ for more information about Anglia and our other productions
Please also check us out on social media  : https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt and  https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/ 

Anglia Part Two : Migrants

Journalist Rachel Woods continues her investigation into the migrant crisis unfolding in a remote part of Eastern England.  Meanwhile Millie meets Awira, a migrant trying to evade the British authorities. 

The year is 2029 and the effects of climate change are taking hold all around the globe.  In one small coastal community in eastern England waves of migrants are coming ashore to escape the wars and famine the climate crisis are causing in their own countries.  This is the story of three women whose lives are affected by the crisis. This is the second of four parts.

Millie: Tiffany Clare
Rachel : Jackie Jorgenson
Awira : Saya Zahawi
David : Charlie Richards
Laura :  Catharine Daddario
Willa : Kelli Winkler
Other parts : Chris Gregory
Presenter : Kelli Winkler
Music written and performed : Chris Gregory
Sound effects : Freesound.org
ANN News Jingle : Stonefree

Please visit https://alternativestories.com/ for more information about Anglia and our other productions
Please also check us out on social media  : https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt and  https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/ 

A press kit for Anglia is available on request from office@alternativestories.com

Anglia Part Three  : Shadows

Journalist Rachel Woods' investigation into the ongoing migrant crisis continues with help from Millie.  Meanwhile, Kurdish migrant Awira and her friends are starting to feel the net tighten around them.  What can Rachel and Millie do to help?

The year is 2029 and the effects of climate change are taking hold all around the globe.  In one small coastal community in eastern England waves of migrants are coming ashore to escape the wars and famine the climate crisis are causing in their own countries.  This is the story of three women whose lives are affected by the crisis. This is the third of four parts.

Millie: Tiffany Clare
Rachel : Jackie Jorgenson
Awira : Saya Zahawi
David : Charlie Richards
Laura :  Catharine Daddario
Willa : Kelli Winkler
Other parts : Chris Gregory
Presenter : Kelli Winkler
Music written and performed : Chris Gregory
Sound effects : Freesound.org
ANN News Jingle : Stonefree

Please visit https://alternativestories.com/ for more information about Anglia and our other productions
Please also check us out on social media  : https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt and  https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/ 

A press kit for Anglia is available on request from office@alternativestories.com

Anglia Part Four : Endings

A storm is gathering as Rachel and David head out to sea with the mysterious Davies.  Millie and Laura are trying to find Rachel while Awira's fate lies in the balance.  

The year is 2029 and the effects of climate change are taking hold all around the globe.  In one small coastal community in eastern England waves of migrants are coming ashore to escape the wars and famine the climate crisis are causing in their own countries.  This is the story of three women whose lives are affected by the crisis. This is the final part of Anglia

Millie: Tiffany Clare
Rachel : Jackie Jorgenson
Awira : Saya Zahawi
David : Charlie Richards
Laura :  Catharine Daddario
Willa : Kelli Winkler
Other parts : Chris Gregory
Presenter : Kelli Winkler
Music written and performed : Chris Gregory
Sound effects : Freesound.org
ANN News Jingle : Stonefree

Please visit https://alternativestories.com/ for more information about Anglia and our other productions
Please also check us out on social media  : https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt and  https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/ 

A press kit for Anglia is available on request from office@alternativestories.com

Jim Neat : The Case of a Young Man Down on his Luck by Mary J. Oliver.  

In this edition of the podcast we adapt extracts from Mary J Oliver's memoir / travelogue / poetry collection about her father, Jim Neat, a hobo in depression era Canada. This edition of the podcast also includes some information about our forthcoming writer submission requests which will be going out in January. 

Poetry Readers :  Tiffany Clare, Charlie Richards, Mary J Oliver 
Diary Readers : Jackie Jorgenson, Tiffany Clare, Charlie Richards
Narration and presenting : Tiffany Clare and Kelli Winkler 
Wayfaring Stranger sung by Caroline Mincks 
Original music score written and performed by Chris Gregory

Jim Neat : The Case of a Young Man Down on his Luck is published by Seren Books.  We would like to thank Seren for their cooperation and support in making this podcast. 

It's not all fun and parties when you have to spend Christmas away from your friends and family.  For our Christmas edition we meet some of the members of the Out of Towners Club as they plan for Christmas in New York City.  

Dan - Miguel Antonio
Jack - Charlie Richards
Jessica - Tiffany Clare 
Allison - Mary McDonald
Jenny - Jackie Jorgenson
Adam - Josh Winkler 
Kylie - Caroline Mincks
Kelli - Kelli Winkler 

The Out Of Towners Club was written by Jackie Jorgenson, Mary McDonald, Kelli Winkler and Chris Gregory with additional material by Miguel Antonio and Caroline Mincks
The presenter is Kelli Winkler
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen was arranged and performed by Chris Gregory and Anjy Hall
Sound effects and non-copyright music elements are from freesound.org
The Alternative Stories theme tune is written by Chris Gregory and published by Scared Crow Music. 

In this first episode of the year we look back at our the content from our first season and preview some of the new stories we'll be producing in 2020.   We also offer an invitation to new writers, poets and dramatists to submit their work for consideration for being included in the podcast. 

Submissions should be sent to office@alternativestories.com 

In this episode you can hear the voices of Catharine Daddario, Tiffany Clare, Charlie Richards, Jackie Jorgenson, Abby Hilden, Saya Zahawi, Miguel Antonio and Mary MacDonald.

Writers are Chris Gregory, Jackie Jorgenson Mary J Oliver and Mary MacDonald

The presenters are Kelli Winkler and Chris Gregory
Music and soundtrack are by Chris Gregory and published by Scared Crow Music

Wayfaring Stranger by Caroline Mincks contemplates the end of everything through a simple folk tune passed down through the generations of one family.  Part reminiscence, part warning, this is a story brilliantly written and told.

Wayfaring Stranger is Number 5 in our series of Farewell Monologues

Written and performed by Caroline Mincks
Original music score and soundscapes by Chris Gregory
The presenter is Kelli Winkler
The singer of the first version of Wayfaring Stranger is Anjy Hall
Sound effects are from freesound.org

We are social on

https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt
https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/

Caroline Mincks 
https://twitter.com/saucymincks

Like Tying a Shoelace by Sonia Rosa Ciocca is a short drama looking at the options we have in our lives and how our futures could be different based on the choices we make.

Like Tying a Shoelace is based on a short story by Sonia Rosa Ciocca

The woman is played by Abby Hilden, the man by Miguel Antonio

The presenter is Kelli Winkler

Original music and soundscapes are by Chris Gregory and published by Scared Crow Music

If you enjoyed this story please check out more by Sonia Rosa Ciocca please visit her website https://soniarosawrites.com/ where you can find Shoelace" and more excellent stories.
Please also visit her on social media where she posts as @soniarosawrites on both instagram and twitter

If you enjoyed this podcast please subscribe to Alternative Stories and Fake Realities in your favourite podcast app and follow us on social media

We post as https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt  and https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/

In "Into the Glasshouse" by Nicole Matta a young woman embarks on a journey of self discovery and finds herself becoming involved with a group of artists, musicians and poets in New York's East Village

This is an excerpt from the forthcoming novel of the same name by Nicole Matta. 

Babydoll :  Abigail Reno
The Musician : Miguel Antonio
Joel : Chris Gregory
Eva : Kelli Winkler
Other parts are played by members of the cast. 

The Presenter is Kelli Winkler

Original music is by Chris Gregory and Miguel Antonio and published by Scared Crow Music
Sound effects are from Freesound.org

Find out more about Nicole Matta by visiting https://nicolematta.com/

And visit her on twitter  https://twitter.com/NovemberHume

and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/coleygirl23/

For more on Abigail Reno visit https://www.abigailreno.com/

There are sexual and drug references in this podcast : Please be advised. 

This edition we feature poetry from Peter Finch.  His new collection, "The Machineries of Joy" is published by Seren Books on 17th February.  We feature 9 poems from the collection in the podcast 

The Road West 
The RoadWest #2 
Hendrix Island
Clarksdale
Ty Draw 
First Hearing Bob Dylan "Baby Let Me Follow You Down" 
Boots 
The Machineries of Joy 
ABC of Birds 

Our readers are Gavin Duff, Dafydd Morse, Nerys Howell and Chris Gregory
Soundscapes created by Chris Gregory 
The Presenters are Nerys Howell and Kelli Winkler 
Sound effects are from freesound.org

You can find out more about Peter Finch by visiting www.peterfinch.co.uk and about Seren Books by visiting www.serenbooks.com

Nerys Howell is the writer and presenter of Seren, a new audio drama podcast which we highly recommend.

In this episode we feature flash fiction from 4 British Writers.  All 4 stories have as a theme parents or parenthood.

"The Bear" by Mark Anthony Smith is read by Tanya O'Sullivan
"Sorry" by Della McEwen is read by Afia Yale
"She's my Mum" by Lena Stone is read by Joy Hayward
"Father, Son" by Siobhian R.Hodges is read by Dafydd Morse

The presenter is Kelli Winkler
Original music and soundscapes are by Chris Gregory and published by Scared Crow Music
Sound effects are from freesound.org

"The Bear" was originally published by the online literary journal “Nymphs” which we highly recommend.  You can find it at nymphspublications.com

Follow our writers and read more of their work
https://twitter.com/MarkAnthonySm16
https://twitter.com/DellaTheWriter
https://twitter.com/SiobhianAuthor

And follow the podcast at https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt and https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/

"This Rough Magic I Abjure" by Ruthanne Reid plus a preview of our new fantasy miniseries "The Angel's Callling" by Victoria J Price and news of the UK International Radio Drama Festival at which our drama "No Words" will be featured.

"This Rough Magic I Abjure" by Ruthanne Reid features her character Grey who also appears in her novella "String".  Follow Ruthanne on twitter for more details  https://twitter.com/RuthanneReid
Grey -  Chris Gregory
"The Throne" - Joy Hayward
Music and soundscape by Chris Gregory
Extract from The Tempest, Act 5, Scene 1 by William Shakespeare read by Chris Gregory

In the preview of "The Angel's Calling" by Victoria J Price you can hear the voices of Tiffany Clare, Annabelle Broad, Kirsty Woolven, Saya Zahawi, Charlie Richards, and Maddy Searle.  Original music score by Chris Gregory

In the excerpt from "No Words" which originally appeared in our Daphne and Apollo edition (June 2019) you ca hear the voices of Tiffany Clare and Charlie Richards.  The original music score is by Chris Gregory.
Find more about the UK International Radio Drama Festival by following the festival's  twitter account here https://twitter.com/radiodramafest

The presenter is Kelli Winkler

Follow us on social media :  https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt and  https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/

"The Girl and the Angel", Part 1 of the Angel's Calling by Victoria J.Price, a fantasy audio drama miniseries from the Alternative Stories and Fake Realities Podcast.

Part 2 https://www.buzzsprout.com/411730/3133174-the-angel-s-calling-part-2

Earth's parallel world, Ohinyan is home to angels, witches and magical creatures but an impending disaster in the world means that some of these beings are visiting Earth to seek help. 

Narrator :  Tiffany Clare
Fia Aldridge : Annabelle Broad 
Sophie Aldridge and Jo : Kirsty Woolven
Alexander : Charlie Richards 
Paramedic : Tanya O'Sullivan 
Nurse : Karen Cooper 
Hazel: Maddy Searle 

Music and soundscapes were by Chris Gregory and published by Scared Crow Music

Sound effects were from Freesound.org and from BBC Sound Effects

The presenter is Kelli Winkler 

The Angel’s Calling is adapted from her original novella by Victoria J Price and published with the author’s full permission and cooperation.

Find out more about Victoria J Price by following her on social media
https://twitter.com/victoria_jprice
https://www.instagram.com/victoriajprice/
and on her website   https://victoriajprice.com/

"Alexander's Mission", Part 2 of the Angel's Calling by Victoria J.Price, a fantasy audio drama miniseries from the Alternative Stories and Fake Realities Podcast.

Part 3  https://www.buzzsprout.com/411730/3214291-the-angel-s-calling-part-3

Earth's parallel world, Ohinyan is home to angels, witches and magical creatures but an impending disaster in the world means that some of these beings are visiting Earth to seek help. 

Narrator :  Tiffany Clare
Fia Aldridge : Annabelle Broad 
Jo : Kirsty Woolven
Hazel: Maddy Searle 
Alexander : Charlie Richards 
The Lady Noor : Saya Zahawi
Student Advisor : Tanya O'Sullivan 
The Dying Woman : Annika Kordes
The Homeless Man: Chris Gregory
Other parts were played by members of the cast 

Music and soundscapes were by Chris Gregory and published by Scared Crow Music

Sound effects were from Freesound.org 

The presenter is Kelli Winkler 

The Angel’s Calling is adapted from her original novella by Victoria J Price and published with the author’s full permission and cooperation.

Find out more about Victoria J Price by following her on social media
https://twitter.com/victoria_jprice
https://www.instagram.com/victoriajprice/
and on her website   https://victoriajprice.com/

We featured a trailer for Cheyenne Bramwell's new podcast Word Wonk.  You can find out more by visiting the links below
Twitter:https://twitter.com/WordWonkPod
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/wordwonkpod/ Website:https://www.cheyennebramwell.com/word-wonk-pod    Email:WordWonkPod@gmail.com

And find out more about Listen, Rinse, Repeat by visiting the website
http://listenrinserepeat.libsyn.com/

Artists in Isolation is a special edition of the podcast looking at the ways in which artists can adapt their working lives and creative processes to cope with the isolation caused by the Covid 19 crisis.  It features actor Jade Matthew, folk musician John Spiers and writer, blogger and podcaster Christina Castaneda.

We would like to thank Jade, John and Christina for their time in writing and recording their pieces.  Please listen out for Jade and John in future editions of the podcast.

The presenters in this edition are Kelli Winkler and Annabelle Broad

Find out more about our guests below:

Jade Matthew
https://twitter.com/jade_matthew
https://www.instagram.com/jade.matthew/
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5242037/

John Spiers
https://twitter.com/squeezyjohn
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJHIyrMTAG9ZiE_AtnJRcZg
https://squeezyjohn.com/

Christina Castaneda
https://www.instagram.com/savvycreativechristina/
https://www.facebook.com/savvycreativechristina/
https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/the-savvy-creative-christina-castaneda-RxiZjsNUnqY/

"The Witches' Secret", Part 3 of the Angel's Calling by Victoria J.Price, a fantasy audio drama miniseries from the Alternative Stories and Fake Realities Podcast.

Part 4  https://www.buzzsprout.com/411730/3299698-the-angel-s-calling-part-4

Earth's parallel world, Ohinyan is home to angels, witches and magical creatures but an impending disaster in the world means that some of these beings are visiting Earth to seek help. 

Narrator :  Tiffany Clare
Fia Aldridge and Runa  : Annabelle Broad 
Sophie: Kirsty Woolven
Hazel: Maddy Searle 
Alexander : Charlie Richards 
The Lady Noor : Saya Zahawi
Teenage Girl : Joy Hayward
The Waiter : Chris Gregory
Other parts were played by members of the cast 

Music and soundscapes were by Chris Gregory and published by Scared Crow Music

Sound effects were from Freesound.org 

The presenter is Kelli Winkler 

The Angel’s Calling is adapted from her original novella by Victoria J Price and published with the author’s full permission and cooperation.

Find out more about Victoria J Price by following her on social media
https://twitter.com/victoria_jprice
https://www.instagram.com/victoriajprice/
and on her website   https://victoriajprice.com/


And find out more about Listen, Rinse, Repeat by visiting the website
http://listenrinserepeat.libsyn.com/

In this short extra edition of the podcast we bring you two poems from British poet Sarra Culleno.

The pomes featured are Green Man and Clearing up After Children

Our presenter and reader in this edition is Annabelle Broad
Poems are by Sarra Culleno
Sound design, editing and original music by Chris Gregory
Sound effects (birdsong) is from Freesound.org

London born and Manchester based, Sarra Culleno is a poet, mother of two and English teacher who is widely published and performs at poetry events across the UK. She writes about children’s rights, motherhood, identity, gender, age, technology, the environment, politics, modern monogamy and education. She features in numerous podcasts, radio shows, and literary festivals as Featured Poet. She was longlisted for the Cinnamon Press Pamphlet Prize.

Find Sarra online here
https://twitter.com/sarra1978
https://www.instagram.com/sarracullenopoetry/
https://www.facebook.com/sarracullenopoetry
ttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOXQq5kcpq5hhOZBvA0T_Ag
Sarra1978@hotmail.com

All poems are copyright Sarra Culleno and are performed here with the express permission of Sarra.  

"The End of The Beginning ", Part 4 of the Angel's Calling by Victoria J.Price, a fantasy audio drama miniseries from the Alternative Stories and Fake Realities Podcast.

Earth's parallel world, Ohinyan is home to angels, witches and magical creatures but an impending disaster in the world means that some of these beings are visiting Earth to seek help. 

Narrator :  Tiffany Clare
Fia Aldridge  : Annabelle Broad 
Sophie: Kirsty Woolven
Hazel: Maddy Searle 
Alexander : Charlie Richards 
The Lady Noor : Saya Zahawi
Teenage Girl : Joy Hayward
The Waiter : Chris Gregory

Other parts were played by members of the cast 

Music and soundscapes were by Chris Gregory and published by Scared Crow Music

Sound effects were from Freesound.org 

The presenter is Kelli Winkler 

The Angel’s Calling is adapted from her original novella by Victoria J Price and published with the author’s full permission and cooperation.

Find out more about Victoria J Price by following her on social media
https://twitter.com/victoria_jprice
https://www.instagram.com/victoriajprice/
and on her website   https://victoriajprice.com/


In this edition we ran trailers for two new shows.  Find out more about them and listen here

Tales From the Aether "The Witch of Rockwood Cove"
Twitter  https://twitter.com/SharedManifest
Listen here :  https://anchor.fm/talesfromtheaether

Conversations : An Audio Drama
Twitter : https://twitter.com/ojscriptwriters
Listen here : https://open.spotify.com/show/3Y6wWMtWcl5ouxXqvNQLD7?si=T3ncPETFRcWiCBFStpWTSg

Rachel Lightfoot is a comedian, poet and blogger from Sheffield, South Yorkshire and in this short episode she shares her thoughts, fears, observations and ideas about isolation alongside a couple of her poems. 

Script written and performed by Rachel Lightfoot
Poems "Too Much Girl" and "The Fanatic" by Rachel Lightfoot with soundscapes by Chris Gregory

Sound design by Chris Gregory
Sound effects from freesound.org
Original sound recordings by Rachel Lightfoot

Find and follow Rachel on social media
https://twitter.com/Rachel_L_Poet
https://www.instagram.com/lightfoot_rachel/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbmRmb6terR-VW9EQKdk1gQ

This episode contains some strong language and mild sexual references 

The Witch Bag is a poetry collection by Sarah Corbett.  Originally published in 2002, 18 years on we review and reimagine the collection assessing its impact as art and on the life and career of Sarah as a poet.

The narration is by Sarah Corbett herself and readings are by Jade Matthew, Tiffany Clare and Amy Forrest

The Witch Bag read by Jade Matthew
Green Rose read by Tiffany Clare
Black Crow Woman read by Jade Matthew
To the Spider read by Tiffany Clare
Spook read by Tiffany Clare
First Light read by Amy Forrest
Eclipse read by Amy Forrest
Cornwall 1974 read by Amy Forrest
Starfish read by Amy Forrest
Sculpture: Girl Standing read by Tiffany Clare

Music, soundscapes and sound design by Chris Gregory

The presenters in this edition are Kelli Winkler and Annabelle Broad

The Witch Bag is published by Seren Books and we thank them for their assistance in the making of this podcast.

You can purchase a copy of The Witch Bag from https://www.serenbooks.com/
and from Amazon.

Follow Sarah Corbett on social media at https://twitter.com/sarahcorbett70 for details about her other poetry collections and her upcoming novel.

Follow Seren on social media  https://twitter.com/SerenBooks and  https://www.instagram.com/serenbooks/

In this special edition we look at the techniques, processes and practicalities of creating audio drama with the creators of some of the best and most exciting drama podcasts out there.  We discuss writing, casting, working with actors, directing and recording as well as the touchy subject of monetising your show.

Our guests are
David S. Dear of A Ninth World Journal
Karin Heimdahl of the Y2k Audio Drama
Jackie Jorgenson of Tales From the Aether
and Oscar and Jade Wenman-Hyde of Conversations: An Original Audio Drama

Our presenters are Kelly Winkler and Amy Forrest
Music and sound design are by Chris Gregory

Find out more about our guests and their podcasts by checking these links

A Ninth World Journal ninthworldjournal.com
https://twitter.com/9thWorldJournal
Y2k Y2Kpod.com 
https://twitter.com/Y2Kpod
Tales From The Aether https://anchor.fm/talesfromtheaether
https://twitter.com/SharedManifest
Conversations https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/conversations-an-original-audio-drama/id1502764717
https://twitter.com/ojscriptwriters

And find Listen, Rinse, Repeat here https://listenrinserepeatpodcast.com/
https://twitter.com/Podcast_LRR

Listen out for our future edition on the art, skills, techniques and technicalities of voice acting which features today's presenter Amy Forrest

This week we bring you comedy sketches and conversation from Phoebe and Miztli of the acclaimed sketch comedy duo Ladylikes.  Recording separately in lockdown they talk cats, shopping, growing vegetables, working from home, daytime TV  and the best and worst aspects of lockdown.

Ladylikes in Lockdown is written and performed by Phoebe Batteson Brown and Miztli Rose

The presenter is Annabelle Broad and sound mixing and editing are by Chris Gregory

If you'd like to find out more about Ladylikes please check out their website https://ladylikescomedy.wixsite.com/ladylikes

And their youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcsGb6376GeVJLrqVx1QfkQ

And follow them on twitter https://twitter.com/LADYLIKESCOMEDY
and facebook Ladylikes - Home | Facebook

Very Short Stories : A Microfiction Special With Charlotte O'Farrell

Very short stories and microfiction are terms for tiny pieces of writing that can tell an entire tale in a small number of words.  On twitter the hashtag #VSS365 is used to signify these stories told in a single tweet.  A skilled proponent of VSS is British writer Charlotte O'Farrell who joins us on the podcast today.  We have worked with Charlotte to turn some of her stories in Alt Stories episodes for the Listen Rinse Repeat podcast which is promoting handwashing during the Covid 19 crisis by putting out tiny episodes timed to ensure a good handwash (20 - 40 seconds) and to keep listeners entertained while they clean.   Charlotte talks about the VSS phenomenon and why she loves it and provides some tips for writers wishing to have a go.  We also feature writing from Victoria J Price, Lena Stone, Mark Anthony Smith and Natalie Reilly Johnson

In this edition you can hear the voices of
Saya Zahawi
Maddy Searle
Daffyd Morse
Joy Hayward
Simone Lowe
Annabelle Broad

Our presenter is Kelli Winkler and our special guest is Charlotte O'Farrell

If you'd like to find out more about our writers please follow them on social media Charlotte O'Farrell. https://twitter.com/ChaOFarrell
Victoria J Price https://twitter.com/victoria_jprice
Natalie Reilly Johnson https://twitter.com/nreillyjohnson
Mark Anthony Smith https://twitter.com/MarkAnthonySm16

if you'd like to know more about the Listen Rinse Repeat podcast follow it on social media here  https://twitter.com/Podcast_LRR
And Listen/ subscribe here http://listenrinserepeat.libsyn.com/website

We would like to thank all our contributors and especially Charlotte O'Farrell for their time in helping to make this podcast.  

In this edition we explore podcasts producing historical audio drama.  In a medium dominated by Sci Fi we look at some podcasters telling stories from the past and their inspiration and methods for doing this.

We feature Jill Korn from L'Histoire Audio,  Christopher Knighton and Debbi Christophers from Lottie's Diary and Jackie Jorgenson of Shared Manifest Entertainment, the production company behind Tales from the Aether. 

You can hear original music by David Simpson (theme to Confessional) and Chris Gregory (Kyna's Theme from The Witch of Rockwood Cove)

In our trailer for the upcoming Alternative Stories and Fake Realities audio drama "Selkie" by Signe Maene you heard the voices of Sophie Macnair, Lewie Watson and Simone Lowe with music by John Spiers.

The Presenter in this edition is Kelli Winkler

To listen to L'Historie Audio please visit  https://www.jillkorn.com/audio-drama
And follow Jill and her team on social media at https://twitter.com/LHistoireAudio

To listen to Lottie's Diary you can visit https://anchor.fm/lottie-fisher
And say hello on social media https://twitter.com/LottieSdiary

And to listen to The Witch of Rockwood Cover go to https://anchor.fm/talesfromtheaether
and to follow Jackie Jorgenson and Shared Manifest on twitter  https://twitter.com/SharedManifest

In this special edition presented by Amy Forrest we look at the techniques, equipment and training you'll need to make a career as a voice actor by talking to a number of actors who have made the switch successfully.  Our actors come from a variety of backgrounds ranging from stage and screen to podcasts and commercial voiceover work and each provides insight and advice for prospective new voice talent.  We particularly hope that actors whose careers have been put on hold by coronavirus, like our presenter Amy, can find useful advice to set themselves up to do voice work.

Our guests are :

Amy Forrest https://twitter.com/amyforrest26
Kirsty Woolven https://twitter.com/kirstywoolven
Jade Matthew https://twitter.com/jade_matthew
Alan Mandel  https://twitter.com/alan_mandel
Saya Zahawi https://twitter.com/SayaZahawi
Maddy Searle  https://twitter.com/maddy_abstract
Tiffany Clare https://twitter.com/TiffanyEclair
Charlie Richards https://twitter.com/CharlieDTR
Sarah Golding https://twitter.com/SarahofGolding
Kelli Winkler https://twitter.com/KelliWinkler

A number of podcasts are mentioned in the show and here are links to a selection of them

https://twitter.com/Y2Kpod in which Kirsty and Maddy both appear
https://twitter.com/ArrivalsPod created by and starring Kirsty
https://twitter.com/PrickwillowPod created by and starring Maddy
https://twitter.com/RedValleyPod which features Alan Mandel
https://twitter.com/MadivaP is Sarah Golding's podcast about voice acting
http://quirkyvoicespresents.buzzsprout.com/199207 Sarah Golding's podcast about women's health 

Amy, Kirsty, Jade, Saya, Maddy, Tiffany. Charlie and Kelli all appear in Alternative Stories and Fake Realities 

You heard clips from Alternative Stories and Fake Realities, The Prickwillow Papers and Red Valley.  We would like to thank Maddy, Alan and the creators of Red Valley for allowing us to use these clips. 

All recommendations for equipment, software, courses and teachers are the preferences of our guests and do not necessarily represent the views of Alternative Stories and Fake Realities.  This podcast cannot be held responsible for these recommendations and individuals should always do their own research before purchasing any equipment mentioned in this podcast. 

In the first of a series of short podcasts featuring female poets from the county of Cornwall in the extreme south west of England we feature Sarah Cave and her poem cycle The Eidolon Triptych. Poems are read by Jade Matthew with music and soundscapes by Chris Gregory

The Eidolon Triptych is written by Sarah Cave and performed here with her full permission and cooperation.
 
The soundscapes used in this edition are published by Scared Crow Music and sound effects are from Freesound.Org.

The presenter in this edition is Kelli Winkler

If you would like to find out more about Sarah Cave please follow her on twitter where she posts as https://twitter.com/campanilecave

You can find more of Sarah's work at https://www.knivesforksandspoonspress.co.uk/ and, as mentioned in the podcast,  at https://www.guillemotpress.co.uk/

We'll be featuring more women poets from Cornwall on the podcast soon.  These will include, Mary J Oliver, Ella Frears, Lesley Hale and Angela Stoner.  Please subscribe to hear these editions and our other content. 

A Memory of Robin is an audio drama from writer David Green.  It tells the story of Gem, the daughter of a woman called Robin whose last few days of life we follow through extracts from her voice diary as she seeks to escape the confines of an increasingly oppressive and totalitarian government.

In A Memory of Robin by David Green characters were played as follows:

Robin - Jackie Jorgenson
Gem, her daughter - Abby Hilden
The Voice of the Nation - Kelli Winkler

A Memory of Robin was based on the short story of the same name by David Green.  Additional material and adaptation were by Chris Gregory.

Original music was composed and performed by Chris Gregory and published by Scared Crow Music
Sound design ,editing and soundscapes were by Chris Gregory
Sound effects were from Freesound.org

The presenter was Kelli Winkler

Find out more about David Green by following him on twitter https://twitter.com/DavidpGreen83
And visit his website www.davidgreenwritercom.wordpress.com
And facebook https://www.facebook.com/davidgreenwriter/

Be Warned: Episode contains swearing and references to suicide

In this edition, the second in our series featuring women poets from Cornwall in the South West of England, we feature the work of Mary J Oliver.  We also look at Cornwall itself and its enduring influence on artists, writers and poets with presenter Hollye Sangster.

The poems featured in this podcast are

"To the uninhabited Island of Cara" read by Tiffany Clare with music and soundscape by Chris Gregory
"Torso to Torso" read by Tiffany Clare
"Undressing the Dead" and "Play to Win" both read by Piers Owen with music by Judith Bailey performed by Deborah Came (piano)
"NGO Lunch Break : Accra" read by Jade Matthew with music and soundscape by Chris Gregory

Some of the poems in this podcast are included in Mary's 2019 book "Jim Neat : The Case of a Young Man Down on His Luck" which is published by Seren Books

We would like to thank Mary J Oliver for her help and cooperation in the making of this podcast and for her ongoing support of our podcast.

The presenter in today's edition is Hollye Sangster with additional contributions from Kelli Winkler

Sound effects used in this podcast were from Freesound.org

If you would like to find out more about Mary J Oliver please follow her on twitter https://twitter.com/mjoliver4

and to read more about Mary and her book, "Jim Neat" (the subject of a previous Alternative Stories Podcast) please click here  https://www.jimneat.com/

You can purchase "Jim Neat" directly from Seren Books by clicking here https://www.serenbooks.com/

In this short bonus edition we preview our forthcoming audio drama Selkie by Signe Maene.  We talk to Signe herself and to Sophie Macnair who plays the selkie in our story. We also hear from John Spiers, the folk musician who performs the theme music for the drama.

 In this edition you heard the voices of
Signe Maene
Sophie Macnair
John Spiers
Simone Low
Lewie Watson
Kelsey Griffin

If you would like to find out more about Signe Maene and her other work please visit her website https://signemaene.com/
You can also follow her on twitter https://twitter.com/MaeneSigne
and on instagram https://www.instagram.com/signemaene/?hl=en

If you'd like to find out more about John Spiers and his various projects please visit his website https://squeezyjohn.com/
follow him on twitter https://twitter.com/squeezyjohn
and subscribe to his YouTube channel here https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJHIyrMTAG9ZiE_AtnJRcZg

You can follow Sophie Macnair on twitter here https://twitter.com/liloldsoph

If you'd like to see the video version of the trailer included in this podcast you can visit the Alternative Stories and Fake Realities YouTube Channel  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKUqSlCAsOnOWU0eIMANScA

Selkie is an original audio drama by Signe Maene.  Selkies are mythical creatures from northern European folklore.  Seals that can transform to human form by shedding their skin they are particularly prevalent in Scottish folklore .  In our story, Andrew discovers a selkie whilst walking on the beach near his home.  He immediately falls in love aiming to make the selkie his wife.

In Selkie by Signe Maene the parts were played as follows

Sophie Macnair as The Selkie
Lewie Watson as Andrew
Simone Low as Andrew's Mother
Kelsey Griffin as a Selkie and singer of Ae Fond Kiss
Stevie Skinner as a Selkie

The music is arranged and performed by John Spiers based on the traditional folk tune "The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry"
"Ae Fond Kiss" (trad. with lyrics by Robert Burns) is performed by Kelsey Griffin
Additional music and soundscapes are by Chris Gregory and published by Scared Crow Music

Sound effects are from Freesound.org
Sound mixing and editing are by Chris Gregory
The presenter in this edition is Kelli Winkler

Signe Maene is a Belgian writer, academic and folklore specialist.  You can follow her on twitter https://twitter.com/MaeneSigne and view her website at https://signemaene.com/

John Spiers is a folk musician and player of many squeezebox style instruments.  You can follow him on twitter at https://twitter.com/squeezyjohn and view his website here  https://squeezyjohn.com/. Follow John's YouTube channel to see and hear him in action https://www.youtube.com/user/squeezyjohn1

Follow Alternative Stories on Twitter at https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt
On Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/
And contact us directly via office@alternativestories.com 

In part 3 of our series on creating audio drama we discuss sound design and music with guests Hedley Knights from We Fix Space Junk, Daniel French from Fishbonius Sound Design and the Chronosphere Fiction Podcast, Richard Campbell from Red Valley, John Bartmann of the How I Make Music podcast and Chris Gregory of Alternative Stories and Fake Realities.

If you've ever wanted to get into creating audio drama this podcast will help you master the basic skills of sound design and editing you'll need to learn.  We also hope that established sound designers and composers will find plenty to enjoy and learn in this podcast.

You heard clips from the following shows in this podcast

We Fix Space Junk
Red Valley
Chronosphere Fiction
Alternative Stories and Fake Realities
You also heard the track " Heart of Acceptance" by John Bartmann

All extracts and clips are provided by the contributors and are used with their permission. They may not be reproduced except with the owner's consent.

Follow our contributors on social media and listen to their shows here

Hedley Knights https://twitter.com/Hedley_K
Hedley's production company : Battle Bird https://twitter.com/BattleBirdProd
and We Fix Space Junk https://twitter.com/WeFixSpaceJunk
Listen and by We Fix Space Junk merch here  https://battlebird.productions/

Daniel French https://twitter.com/Fishbonius
Chronosphere Fiction https://twitter.com/ChronosphereFi1
Listen to Chronosphere Fiction here http://chronosphere.podbean.com/

Richard Campbell
Red Valley Podcast https://twitter.com/RedValleyPod
Listen to Red Valley here https://pod.link/redvalley

John Bartmann https://twitter.com/johnisthemusic
Website and podcast http://johnbartmann.com/music/

Chris Gregory
Alternative Stories and Fake Realities https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt

Sound design and mixing in this edition were by Chris Gregory
The Alternative Stories and Fake Realities Theme music is by Chris Gregory and published by Scared Crow Music
The presenter in this edition is Kelli Winkler 

This edition is called Raven.  It features the short story "The Raven's Call" by Charis McRoberts and a preview of The Seeing Trees, our forthcoming audio drama which features a raven. This podcast also includes interviews with Charis McRoberts, Kaitlin Felix author of "The Seeing Trees" and Amy Forrest.

The Raven's Call is written and performed by Charis McRoberts with music by Chris Gregory.  It is reproduced with Charis' permission.

The Seeing Trees trailer features the voices of Lewie Watson, Tiffany Clare, Charlie Richards and Amy Forrest.  The Seeing Trees is written by Kaitlin Felix and will be published on the podcast on Friday 4th June.  You can also hear a short interview with Kaitlin

We also reproduce an interview from the BBC's Podcast Radio Hour in which Amy Forrest talks about the ways in which Alternative Stories has adapted to the Covid 19 pandemic.  This is the full version of a piece which was truncated for the BBC broadcast.

Sound design, music and mixing are by Chris Gregory.  Music is published by Scared Crow Music.

The presenter in this edition of the podcast is Kelli Winkler

Find out more about Charis McRoberts by following her on social media where she posts as https://twitter.com/CharisMcRoberts

Find out more about Kaitlin Felix by following her on twitter https://twitter.com/KatiGirl90 and at her website https://katifelix.com/

You can follow Amy Forrest on Twitter https://twitter.com/amyforrest26

Join us for The Seeing Trees, the full audio drama in our next podcast.

In the forests of Scandinavia a family is besieged by a malicious raven which watches and follows them everywhere they go.  How will they escape from this curse and at what cost?  The Seeing Trees is a dark nordic mystery with elements of violence, peril, horror, language and elements that some listeners may find disturbing. Please do not listen if you object to any of the above. 

In the Seeing Trees By Kaitlin Felix…

 Charlie Richards played Trygve 
Lewie Watson was Harleif
Tiffany Clare was Mother
Amy Forrest played Freja
Chris Gregory was Magnus and Townsman
Annika Kordes played Townswoman 1
Karen Cooper played Townswoman 2

The incantation was performed by Charlie Richards, Tiffany Clare, Kaitlin Felix and Chris Gregory with coaching, support and counselling by Kaitlin!

 Original music and soundscapes were by Chris Gregory

The Seeing Trees was adapted from her original short story by Kaitlin Felix and Chris Gregory

The presenter is Kelli Winkler 

 You can find out more about Kaitlin Felix and read more of her work by visiting her website www.katifelix.com or following her on twitter where she posts as https://twitter.com/KatiGirl90

 If you have enjoyed this edition and haven’t yet subscribed to the podcast you can do so in apple podcasts, spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Once you’ve subscribed you’ll have all future editions of Alternative Stories delivered to your podcast feed the moment they are released.   If you would leave us a rating and review and perhaps recommend us to a friend we would be very grateful

 We have more drama coming soon with “The Lake Isle”, a psychological drama which examines the ways in which we communicate in the digital age, “The Bomb”, a sci fi drama by Emily Inkpen and a follow up to our drama “The Out-of-Towners Club” by Jackie Jorgenson and Mary MacDonald.  We’ll also have more poetry from Ella Frears Angela Stoner and Lesley Hale in our Cornish Poets season.

You heard a trailer for Sane Time Sane Place, the new podcast by Phoebe Batteson-Brown and Miztli Rose of Ladylikes  https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/sane-time-sane-place/

In this edition we feature poems from Cornish Poet, Ella Frears.  Ella is one of the most prominent young poets in Britain at this time with her collection "Shine Darling" attracting praise from many quarters including the Guardian Newspaper in its selection of the best recent poetry books.  Readers are asked to note that this episode contains strong language and explicit content which some readers may find offensive.  Please avoid if this is likely to be the case.

All poems are by Ella Frears and recreated here with Ella's permission
Poems are read by Tiffany Clare with soundscapes and music by Chris Gregory
Sound design and editing are by Chris Gregroy
The presenter is Hollye Sangster
A quote from poet and critic Mark Waldron from the Offord Road website is recreated in part in this edition of the podcast.

You can follow Ella Frears on twitter where she posts as https://twitter.com/EllaFrears

Ella Frears is published by the excellent Offord Road Books who also publish Will Burns who was featured in an earlier edition of this podcast. 
You can follow Offord Road on twitter here
https://twitter.com/OffordRoadBooks
and visit their website here
https://www.offordroadbooks.co.uk/
You can purchase Shine Darling, Ella's acclaimed new poetry collection from which these poems are taken directly from Offord Road via this address

This has been the third in our series of short podcasts featuring female poets from Cornwall. 

You can listen to the Sarah Cave edition here
https://www.buzzsprout.com/411730/3662434-sarah-cave-poetry

And the Mary J Oliver podcast here
https://www.buzzsprout.com/411730/3755186-mary-j-oliver-and-cornwall

Still to come in the series Lesley Hale and Angela Stoner. 
 
Please subscribe to hear these and all our other content the moment it is released

In this edition we preview our upcoming drama The Lake Isle with lead actor Kelsey Griffin.  We also look ahead to another drama production, a sequel to our 2019 Christmas production, The Out of Towners Club written by Jackie Jorgenson and Mary McDonald. 

In this edition you can hear the voices of Kelsey Griffin, Sophie McNair, Jackie Jorgenson, Mary McDonald, Tiffany Clair and Federico Foglia.  

The presenter is Kelli Winkler 

You heard extracts from "The Lake Isle" by Chris Gregory and Clarke Wainikka, "Out of Towners" by Jackie Jorgenson and Mary McDonald and "No Words" by Chris Gregory

Music and sound design are by Chris Gregory and published by Scared Crow Music. 

The Lake Isle will feature in the next edition of the podcast while Out of Towners will appear later in June. 

A psychological drama in which Kirsty Monroe, a busy young executive in London struggles to maintain a relationship with her younger sister whilst holding down a difficult job.  When Helena disappears Kirsty must track her down and try to patch up their failing family. 

In the Lake Isle you can hear 

Kelsey Griffin as Kirsty Monroe
Sophie MacNair as Helena Monroe
Carl Wharton as Mr Monroe 
Warren Graham as Michael, the counsellor
Chris Gregory as the man in the coffee shop

The Lake Isle is written by Chris Gregory and Clarke Wainikka with script review by Sophie MacNair and Kelsey Griffin
Music, sound design and mixing are by Chris Gregory
The presenter is Kelli Winkler

If you’d like to find out more about writer Clarke Wainikka you can follow her on twitter via  https://twitter.com/clarkewainikka at her webpage https://www.clarkewainikka.com/

If you’re a regular listener and would like a namecheck on the podcast or access to Alternative Stories bonus material and merchandise please contact us via office@alternativestories.com  Please contact us also if you would like to recommend a writer, poet or dramatist for inclusion in future editions.

You can contact us via twitter https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt
and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/

The National Theatre stage production of Small Island by Andrea Levy will be available to watch worldwide on the NT At Home YouTube channel from 7PM on Thursday 18th June for a week.  Amy Forrest who has appeared in recent episodes of this podcast was part of the cast playing the role of Mrs Ryder and in this short edition she discusses the importance of the play, how she was cast in it and the importance of the arts during the coronavirus crisis.

Small Island is by Helen Edmundson based on the original novel by Andre Levy and will be available between 18th and 25th June via the National Theatre Youtube channel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pac-Furijsw
If you watch please consider making a donation to the National Theatre to support its work and employees during lockdown.

If you would like to find out more about Amy Forrest please follow her on twitter https://twitter.com/amyforrest26 and listen to her appearances on Alternative Stories including in the audio drama The Seeing Trees

If you have enjoyed this podcast please subscribe to hear more from Alternative Stories and Fake Realities 

In part 4 of our short series on women poets from Cornwall we feature three poems from performance poet Lesley Hale. 

Lesley is originally from the north of England but moved to Cornwall 20 years ago.  Her poetry in this podcast explores themes of music, travel and relationships.

Fugue : Libretto and Score is read by Tiffany Clare
Dust is read by Tanya O'Sullivan
Guitar Lesson is performed by Chris Gregory

All poems are by Lesley Hale and used with her full permission. They may not be reproduced without her permission
Music, soundscapes, sound editing and production are by Chris Gregory
The presenter in this edition is Hollye Sangster

You can find out more about Lesley Hale and her poetry by following her on twitter where she posts as https://twitter.com/_LesleyHale_ 

Please subscribe to Alternative Stories and Fake Realities to hear our new content the moment it's released.  We're available on all major podcast platforms.  

Allison and Jenny have been together for 6 months but Jenny is falling out of love with New York City.  Can their relationship survive if she moves away from the city?

Out of Towners is a comedy drama written by Jackie Jorgenson and Mary McDonald and based on the characters, Allison and Jenny which originally appeared in our audio drama The Out of Towners Club which appeared at Christmas 2019 (series 1 Episode 22)

Allison  : Mary McDonald
Jenny : Jackie Jorgenson
Kylie : Caroline Mincks
Dan: Miguel Antonio

The presenter is Kelli Winkler
Additional material was written by Chris Gregory
Music, sound design and production were by Chris Gregory
Sound effects are from Freesound.org
Music is published by Scared Crow Music

Out of Towners is an Alternative Stories 2020 production for the Alternative Stories and Fake Realities Podcast

You can follow Jackie Jorgenson and find out more about her work by following her on twitter https://twitter.com/jackiejorgenson
Follow her podcast Tales From The Aether here https://anchor.fm/talesfromtheaether

Follow Mary McDonald here https://twitter.com/MaryMcDonald_

You can follow Alternative Stories on twitter here https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt
And on instagram here https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/

Dragon Cloak and other poems by Angela Stoner is the fifth and last in our series of podcasts featuring the work of women poets from Cornwall. 

The poems in this podcast are

"Swimming my Way Home" read by Jade Matthew
"Dragon Cloak" read by Sophie MacNair
"Travels with Dad" read by Amy Forrest

The presenter of this podcast is Hollye Sangster

Sound design, music, editing and production are by Chris Gregory
Sound effects are from freesound.org

Please listen to the other podcast in this series featuring Sarah Cave, Mary J Oliver, Ella Frears and Lesley Hale.

If you've enjoyed this podcast please check out more by Angela Stoner by visiting her page at Oversteps Books https://overstepsbooks.com/poets/angela-stoner/

and her page at the Penzance Literary Festival website https://www.pzlitfest.co.uk/speaker/angela-stoner/

In the podcast you heard a mention of the Hypatia Trust which is based in Penzance Cornwall.  Here is a link to their website https://hypatia-trust.org.uk/ and twitter account https://twitter.com/hypatia_trust

Here is a brief overview of the work of the Trust 
The Hypatia Trust was formed to collect, and make available, published and personal documentation about the achievements of women in every aspect of their lives. Central to activities has been the care, development and re-distribution of the Hypatia Collection, a unique set of sub-collections of books, artefacts, and archives, by and about women.

Created initially to oversee a major collection of women’s literature now placed on permanent loan to the University of Exeter, the Hypatia Trust has extended its interests to a wide and international range of educational engagements and partnerships.

Important to the Trust’s activities has been the will to make available – through research, publication and exhibition – the worthwhile achievements of women, so often overlooked, and even suppressed in written histories. 

Its educational activities focus on issues that affect women in families, community and society, and on the continuing need for documentation and support to their concerns.

Through the trees is an anthology about trees and woodlands, their folklore and mythology.  Dealing with the subjects of transformation and change into and from trees our writers use poetry and monologue to tell their stories inspired by folk and fairy stories, classical mythology and lived experience.

The pieces in part 1 are
Laurus Nobilis written and performed by Charis McRoberts
Changing by Sarah Corbett performed by Amy Forrest
I'll Be Gone Soon written and performed by Tanya O'Sullivan

Music, sound design and production are by Chris Gregory with sound effects from Freesound.org.  Original music is published by Scared Crow Music.

This edition is presented by Kelli Winkler

In the next part of Through The Trees we'll have writing by Sarra Culleno, TAK Erzinger, Sarah Corbett and Signe Maene and performances by Kelsey Griffin, Tiffany Clare and Amy Forrest

You can find more about Charis McRoberts by following her on twitter here https://twitter.com/CharisMcRoberts
Sarah Corbett here https://twitter.com/sarahcorbett70
And to hire Tanya O'Sullivan for voice acting or writing assignments click here https://www.fiverr.com/tanyaosullivan

You can hear more by Charis McRoberts in our podcast called Raven (Season2 episode 27) and Sarah Corbett in the episode called The Witch Bag (Series 2 episode 15)

Through the trees is an anthology about trees and woodlands, their folklore and mythology.  Dealing with the subjects of transformation and change into and from trees our writers use poetry and monologue to tell their stories inspired by folk and fairy stories, classical mythology and lived experience.

The pieces in part 2 are

The Woodcutter's Children by Sarra Culleno read by Tiffany Clare with music by Fay Hield
Arbol by TAK Erzinger read by Tiffany Clare
The Fairy Tree by Signe Maene read by Kelsey Griffin
Dark Moon by Sarah Corbett read by Amy Forrest
Serenade by TAK Erzinger read by Tiffany Clare
Extract from the audio drama "No Words" performed by Tiffany Clare and Federico Foglia

The presenter is Tiffany Clare
Music and production are by Chris Gregory

You can listen to "No Words" in full here https://www.buzzsprout.com/411730/1341199-the-daphne-and-apollo-episode

In this podcast we featured the track "Willow Glen" by Fay Hield which appears on the Topic Records album "Old Adam" .  We would like to thank Topic Records and Proper Records for their kind permission to use this track and particularly to Glen Johnson for enabling this.  You can find out more about Topic Records, The World's Oldest Independent Record Label, here
https://www.topicrecords.co.uk/
You'll also find more about Fay Hield's upcoming album Wrackline which will be released on September 11th here. Listen out for news of another exciting collaboration between Fay and Alternative Stories on the podcast and by following us on Twitter and Instagram.  You can follow Fay on twitter here https://twitter.com/fayhield

To find out more about Signe Maene who is also the author of our recent audio drama "Selkie" please visit her website here https://signemaene.com/ and follow her on twitter here https://twitter.com/MaeneSigne
You can hear Selkie by clicking here https://www.buzzsprout.com/411730/3858479-selkie

Sarra Culleno is a poet and writer who has previously appeared on Alternative Stories.    Please check out Sarra's poems on her youtube account https://www.youtube.com/user/sarra1978 and follow her on twitter here https://twitter.com/sarra1978

Sarah Corbett's collection The Witch Bag was the subject of an Alternative Stories edition in April.  You can find out more about Sarahby following her on twitter https://twitter.com/sarahcorbett70. and listen to The Witch Bag here  https://www.buzzsprout.com/411730/3386344-sarah-corbett-the-witch-bag

TAK Erzinger is an American writer and artist living in Switzerland.  She'll be appearing in another edition of Alternative Stories very soon.  Find out more about her and her work by following her on Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/takerzinger/

Forthcoming podcasts from Alternative Stories include:  The Bomb, an audio drama by Emily Inkpen,  Mother of Floods by Madeleine F White, poetry from Jennifer Wong and Out of The Darkness, a collaborative piece on the lifting of lockdown with writers reflecting on their experiences during the Covid 19 crisis.

Please subscribe to hear all of this and follow us on twitter for more news and updates https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt

In this edition we bring you an interview with Emily Inkpen, the author of our forthcoming science fiction audio drama The Bomb.  We also have previews from the drama and a look forward to some other upcoming content.

Emily Inkpen is a British writer  and her sci fi novel The Blood Road is currently in query.  The Bomb is a prequel to this novel series but contains events pivotal to the main story. 

In the clips you can hear the voices of Harri Rees Jones, Kelsey Griffin, Charlie Richards, Annika Kordes, Lewie Watson and Emily herself.  Warren Graham and Chris Gregory join the cast but are not heard in these clips.

The presenter and interviewer in this podcast is Kelli Winkler
Music, sound design and production are by Chris Gregory
Music is published by Scared Crow Music

Follow Emily Inkpen on twitter  https://twitter.com/emilyinkpen
and instagram https://www.instagram.com/emilyinkpen/
to learn more about her work and for news of upcoming publications

In the interview Emily recommended the original Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy radio version.  This is available via Audible through this link
https://www.audible.co.uk/series/Hitchhikers-Guide-radio-plays-Audiobooks/B00HSSYM74

Follow Alternative Stories and Fake Realities on twitter here https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt
And on instagram here https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/

In the edition we review the new novel, "Mother of Floods" by Madeleine F White and bring you an interview with the author.  We have excerpts from the novel read by Madeleine herself and we look at her plans for a sequel and other writing projects begun during lockdown.

The presenter is Kelli Winkler
Sound design, music and production are by Chris Gregory
Sound effects are from Freesound.org

If you are interested in reading Mother of Floods you can purchase it in paperback or e-book form via Crowsnest books by following this link  https://www.crowsnestbooks.com/
The book and e-book can also be purchased from Amazon.

You can follow Madeleine on twitter here https://twitter.com/madeleinefwhite

Please subscribe to Alternative Stories and Fake Realities for more author interviews, previews and analyses into the writing process.

Coming soon we'll bring you
Poetry from Jennifer Wong
Audio drama : The Bomb by Emily Inkpen
Audio drama : Out of the Darkness - a collaborative piece inspired by the easing of lockdown in London featuring Katherine Priddy, Marie-Claire Wood, Warren Graham, Charis McRoberts and more

and much more.

Please follow us on twitter for more news and updates around our future podcasts  https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt

Jennifer Wong is a poet living and working in London and originally from Hong Kong.  Her poems deal with the idea of life in a city and culture very different from our own.  As well as her poems, in this podcast Jenny offers insight into her writing process and provides background to the 5 poems we feature. 

The poems in this edition are; 

• Arrivals 
• Dim Sum at Joy King Lau
• The Colour of Race 
• Catch 22 in Simplified Language
• Diary of a Miu Miu Salesgirl 

All poems are written and performed by Jennifer Wong
Music, sound design, soundscapes and production are by Chris Gregory
Sound effects are from Freesound.org
The presenter is Holly Sangster
Letters Home, Jenny's 2020 poetry collection, is published by Nine Arches Press and we thank them for allowing us to recreate these poems in this podcast

If you'd like to learn more about Jennifer Wong you can visit her website here
https://jenniferwong.co.uk/
And you can follow her on twitter here https://twitter.com/jennywcreative

You can learn more about Nine Arches Press and purchase Letters Home here
https://www.ninearchespress.com/
You can follow Nine Arches Press on twitter here https://twitter.com/ninearchespress

Please check out our other poetry content including podcasts featuring Ella Frears, Mary J Oliver, Sarah Corbett and Peter Finch by subscribing to the podcast in your favourite podcast app or in a streaming service such as Spotify. 

Jenny recorded the content for this podcast at home without access to professional recording equipment.  We hope the variable sound quality does not spoil your enjoyment of this podcast. 

Thank you once again to Jenny for sharing her poems with us in this podcast. 

Dex Industries' top scientist has developed a new weapon and it's about to be tested but how devastating will the new bomb be?  The Bomb is a prequel to The Blood Road series of novels by Emily Inkpen

In The Bomb by Emily Inkpen:

Warren Graham plays Tristan
Annika Kordes is Osa
Kelsey Griffin plays Isra
Lewie Watson plays Devek
Harri Rees-Jones is Varian
Charlie Richards plays Ren
Chris Gregory plays Nathaniel
Emily Inkpen plays "Auto"

The presenter is Hollye Sangster
Music, sound design and production are by Chris Gregory
Sound effects are from Freesound.org

You can find out more about Emily Inkpen and her work by following her on twitter
https://twitter.com/emilyinkpen and at her website here https://www.emilyinkpen.com/

You can listen to an interview with Emily on our preview edition here
https://www.buzzsprout.com/411730/4641992-the-bomb-an-interview-with-author-emily-inkpen

Please follow Alternative Stories on twitter here https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt
and on instagram here https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/

Undertow is a short story by Nicholas John inspired by and featuring music from British acoustic duo Show of Hands. 

Undertow is written and performed by Nicholas John with music by Show of Hands
Show of Hands are Phil Beer and Steve Knightley
The presenter of this edition of the podcast is Karen Cooper
Sound design and editing are by Nicholas John and Chris Gregory

Nicholas John is a writer and music journalist.  You can find out more about him by following him on twitter https://twitter.com/WordSong_

Show of Hands are a folk / acoustic duo from Devon.  The band comprises Steve Knightley and Phil Beer. You can follow them on twitter here https://twitter.com/showofhandsnews.
and visit their website here https://www.showofhands.co.uk/

Given events of the year so far it is more important than ever that you support musicians and performers  wherever possible.  Like all other forms of live entertainment revenue from gigs and performances has completely dried up for most bands and artists.   There is no better way of supporting the music industry than by ordering a CD, digital download or other item of merchandise from artists you enjoy.  If you've enjoyed this podcast please take a listen to more by Show of Hands and consider supporting them by ordering their new album from their online store.  https://smarturl.it/bfielddancefloor

Copyright on the story Undertow: Nicholas John

Publishing Copyright on the song Undertow: (Steve Knightley/MCPS Ltd)
Sound Copyright is owned by Show Of Hands and is used by kind permission of Hands On Music.
The original version of the song Undertow is taken from the Show Of Hands 2006 album 'Witness'

As lockdown eases in London a group of friends decide to meet up for the first time in three months.  As they travel they reflect on what lockdown meant to them.  This is a collaborative audio drama project with some of our actors writing and performing their own parts in the production.

Out of the Darkness was written by Katherine Priddy, Charis McRoberts, Marie-Claire Wood and Chris Gregory with additional material by Warren Graham.

Warren Graham played Michael
Katherine Priddy was Freya
Marie-Claire Wood played Georgia
Sophie Macnair was Alex
Chris Gregory played David

The presenter was Karen Cooper

Sound Design, soundscapes and production were by Chris Gregory
Sound effects were from freesound.org
The news clips were from public domain sources including Downing Street Press Briefings
The Song "Wolf" was written and performed by Katherine Priddy and produced by Simon J Weaver.
Additional music was by Chris Gregory

This podcast is dedicated to anyone who lost a loved-one, their job or livelihood during the pandemic.  Our thoughts are with you.  We are aware that many people were much more seriously affected by the events of the last few months than the characters in this drama.  The story is not intended to be representative of the entire population but merely to the experiences of the characters depicted. 

Katherine Priddy is a folk singer from Birmingham. You can find out more about her and her music by visiting her website  http://www.katherinepriddy.co.uk/ and you can buy "Wolf" and the EP it appears on by clicking on Store via this link.  There is also a video for the song which you will find by searching for Katherine's YouTube channel.
You can follow her on twitter here https://twitter.com/KatherinePriddy
and Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/katherinepriddy/

Please follow our other actors on twitter to find out more about their work and upcoming projects and if you are an audio drama producer wishing to hire them
Marie-Claire Wood https://twitter.com/MarieClaireWood
Warren Graham  https://twitter.com/wg973
Sophie Macnair https://twitter.com/liloldsoph
and Charis McRoberts https://twitter.com/CharisMcRoberts

This is the final podcast in season 2 of Alternative Stories and Fake Realities.  Thank you to all the actors, writers, musicians and poets who have appeared in this series.

Thank you also to our loyal and valued listeners.  We do hope you have enjoyed this finale to the season and that you will join us again in season 3 which will be starting in September. 

Phoebe Stuckes is a poet living and working in London.  Her new collection Platinum Blonde is published this week by Bloodaxe Books.  We bring you 5 poems from the collection and an interview and thoughts on the poems from Phoebe herself. 

The poems you can hear are 
Bleach read by Marie-Claire Wood
Wet read by Tiffany Clare 
Paris read by Tiffany Clare 
Thus I Became a Heart Eater read by Marie-Claire Wood
and Confessional read by Nadia Wyn Abouayan

The presenters are Hollye Sangster and Kelli Winkler 

You can purchase Platinum Blonde directly from Bloodaxe Books via this link 
https://www.bloodaxebooks.com/

and follow Bloodaxe on twitter here  
https://twitter.com/BloodaxeBooks

Follow Phoebe Stuckes on twitter here 
https://twitter.com/phoebestuckes

Dressing For The Afterlife is the new collection from British Cypriot poet Maria Taylor.  Published by Nine Arches Press, the collection has been highly commended by the judges of the Forward Prizes for Poetry 2020.  In our podcast we feature nine poems from the book and an interview with Maria. 

In Dressing For The Afterlife you heard :

Prologue read by Marie-Claire Wood
Then I Reconsidered Prayer read by Tiffany Clare 
Ante read by Nadia Wyn Abouayen
And There She Was in the Shrunken Apartment like Joan Crawford, Toy Dog on her Lap read by Marie-Claire Wood
Learning the Steps read by Tiffany Clare 
I Began The Twenty-Twenties as a Silent Film Goddess read by Marie-Claire Wood
What it was Like read by Tiffany Clare 
Ophelia read by Phoebe Holmes 
The Floating Woman read by Phoebe Holmes 

The presenter and interviewer was Hollye Sangster
Music and soundscapes were by Chris Gregory
Sound effects were from freesound.org
Production and editing were by Chris Gregory

You can purchase Dressing For The Afterlife directly from Nine Arches Press via this link https://www.ninearchespress.com/

Follow Nine Arches Press on twitter here 
https://twitter.com/NineArchesPress

and you can find out more about Maria Taylor by following her on twitter where she posts 
as 
https://twitter.com/MariaTaylor_

Our preview was presented by Kelli Winkler.  
You heard a trailer for Hare Spell our new audio drama which you'll be able to hear on 18th September.  It is written by Fay Hield, Terri Windling, Sarah Hesketh and Sarra Culleno and features original music by Fay Hield and Inge Thomson.  You heard the voices of Sarah Golding, Amy Forrest, Stevie Skinner, Nadia Wyn Abouayen and Marie-Claire Wood. 

Hare Spell is based on and inspired by music from Fay Hield's new album Wrackline which is released on Topic Record / Proper Music Distribution on 11th September. 

You can purchase the album and find out more about it by following this link 
https://www.topicrecords.co.uk/2020/05/fay-hield-wrackline/

When three women receive letters from a sender in Devon they are intrigued enough to accept the invitation within and set off to travel to Dartmoor to meet the mysterious Sally Whitehorn.  What will they find there and will Sally's outlandish claims prove to be true? Our story explores real folk stories about hares and the mythology associated with them. 

Hare Spell is written by Terri Windling, Fay Hield , Sarah Hesketh and Sarra Culleno with additional material, editing and collation by Chris Gregory. 

You heard 
Amy Forrest as Molly
Sarah Golding as Sally
Stevie Skinner as Ealine
Nadia Wyn Abouayen as Katherine
Marie-Claire Wood as Amy
Chris Gregory as the hotel receptionist

Music was by Fay Hield and Inge Thomson

The songs "When She Comes" and "Hare Spell" are taken from the Topic Records album "Wrackline" by Fay Hield.  Copyright is held by Fay Hield under exclusive licence to Proper Music Publishing Limited.   We would like to thank Fay Hield, Topic Records and Proper Music Publishing Ltd for their kind permission to use these tracks.  

Musicians on Fay Hields tracks are Fay Hield, Sam Sweeney, Rob Harbron, Ben Nicholls and Ewan MacPherson with production by Andy Bell

The instrumental soundtrack recordings you heard are written and performed by Inge Thomson, copyright Inge Thomson and commissioned by the Alternative Stories and Fake Realities Podcast 

Direction, sound design and production of the audio drama is by Chris Gregory

Casting was by our writing team

 Sound effects are from freesound.org 

The presenters are Holly Sangster and Kelli Winkler

If you'd like to learn more about the participants in this drama the links below will point you to their websites or twitter feeds 

Fay Hield : https://fayhield.com/ 
Terri Windling : https://www.terriwindling.com/
Sarah Hesketh : http://www.sarahhesketh.co.uk/
Sarra Culleno :  https://twitter.com/sarra1978
Inge Thomson : https://www.ingethomson.com/
Amy Forrest: https://twitter.com/amyforrest26
Sarah Golding : https://twitter.com/SarahofGolding
Stevie Skinner: https://twitter.com/Stevieskinner_
Nadia Wyn Abouayen : https://twitter.com/NadiaWyn
Marie-Claire Wood: https://twitter.com/MarieClaireWood

and please follow Alternative Stories on : https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt for information on past and future editions of the podcast. 

Having arrived in Devon to visit the mysterious Sally Whitehorn, Molly, Ealine and Katherine contemplate the invitation that brought them there and the meaning of the ancient hare folklore she invokes.  Can what she is proposing really be true and what will it mean for the women? 

Hare Spell is written by Terri Windling, Fay Hield , Sarah Hesketh and Sarra Culleno with additional material, editing and collation by Chris Gregory. 

You heard 
Amy Forrest as Molly
Sarah Golding as Sally
Stevie Skinner as Ealine
Nadia Wyn Abouayen as Katherine
Marie-Claire Wood as Amy
Chris Gregory as the hotel receptionist

Music was by Fay Hield and Inge Thomson

The songs "When She Comes" and "Hare Spell" are taken from the Topic Records album "Wrackline" by Fay Hield.  Copyright is held by Fay Hield under exclusive licence to Proper Music Publishing Limited.   We would like to thank Fay Hield, Topic Records and Proper Music Publishing Ltd for their kind permission to use these tracks.  

Musicians on Fay Hields tracks are Fay Hield, Sam Sweeney, Rob Harbron, Ben Nicholls and Ewan MacPherson with production by Andy Bell

The instrumental soundtrack recordings you heard are written and performed by Inge Thomson, copyright Inge Thomson and commissioned by the Alternative Stories and Fake Realities Podcast 

Direction, sound design and production of the audio drama is by Chris Gregory

Casting was by our writing team

 Sound effects are from freesound.org 

The presenters are Holly Sangster and Kelli Winkler

If you'd like to learn more about the participants in this drama the links below will point you to their websites or twitter feeds 

Fay Hield : https://fayhield.com/ 
Terri Windling : https://www.terriwindling.com/
Sarah Hesketh : http://www.sarahhesketh.co.uk/
Sarra Culleno :  https://twitter.com/sarra1978
Inge Thomson : https://www.ingethomson.com/
Amy Forrest: https://twitter.com/amyforrest26
Sarah Golding : https://twitter.com/SarahofGolding
Stevie Skinner: https://twitter.com/Stevieskinner_
Nadia Wyn Abouayen : https://twitter.com/NadiaWyn
Marie-Claire Wood: https://twitter.com/MarieClaireWood

and please follow Alternative Stories on : https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt for information on past and future editions of the podcast. 

1st October is National Poetry Day in the UK.  This edition celebrates some of the poetry we have broadcast on the podcast in the last year and the poets and publishers we have worked with. 

In this podcast you can hear the following poems 

Thus I Became a Heart Eater by Phoebe Stuckes from her collection Platinum Blonde published by Bloodaxe Books and read by Marie-Claire Wood

Then I Reconsidered Prayer by Maria Taylor from her collection Dressing For The Afterlife published by Nine Arches Press and read by Tiffany Clare

Ty Draw by Peter Finch from the collection Machineries of Joy published by Seren Books and read by Nerys Howell

Black Crow Woman by Sarah Corbett from the collection The Witch Bag published by Seren Books and read by Jade Matthew

The Overwhelming Urge by Ella Frears from the collection Shine Darling published by Offord Road Books and read by Tiffany Clare

Greenman by Sarra Culleno read by Annabelle Broad first broadcast on the Alternative Stories and Fake Realities Podcast

Catch 22 in Simplified Language by Jennifer Wong from the collection Letters Home published by Nine Arches press and read by Jennifer Wong

Dark Moon by Sarah Corbett from the collection The Red Wardrobe published by Seren Books and read Amy Forrest

Boots by Peter Finch from the collection Machineries of Joy published by Seren Books and read by Dafydd Morse

East West by Mary J Oliver from the collection Jim Neat: The Case of Young Man Down on his Luck published by Seren Books and read by Charlie Richards

To the Uninhabited Island of Cara by Mary J Oliver read by Tiffany Clare 

We would like to thank all the poets, publishers and readers of these poems.

This edition is presented by Hollye Sangster
Music, sound design and production is by Chris Gregory
Sound effects are from Freesound.org

To contact the podcast please send us an email to office@alternativestories.com

or contact us on social media  
https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt
or https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/

Ealine is travelling home from work on the day on which lockdown is announced.  Weary from her workload, anxious about the future and worried about events in her past she deviates on her route home to visit Horsenden Hill where events from the ancient history of West London, Ealine's present and future coincide.   The Hare of Horsenden Hill is the origin story of Ealine from our audio drama Hare Spell and a prequel to events in that story. 

The Hares of Horsenden Hill is written by Sarra Culleno and published by Mookychick.  

Ealine and the narrator were played by Stevie Skinner 
Amy Forrest played the hares 
Chris Gregory was the voice of the ancient storyteller
Original music was by Inge Thomson
Sound effects were from Freesound.org
Sound design, mixing and production were by Chris Gregory

In this episode we include an excerpt from the new podcast called The Portal by British musician and composer Martin Green.  As one third of the band Lau Martin has played numerous gigs and festivals.  He's also released a good deal of solo work and collaborated with other musicians in producing his work.   The Portal is Martin's venture into the world of podcasting and we're sure listeners of Alternative Stories and Fake Realities will enjoy it.   Listen to The Portal by searching "the portal martin green" in your favourite podcast app or follow the link below

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-portal-by-martin-green/id1532707187

To find out more about Martin and his music follow this link

https://www.martingreenmusic.co.uk/

To find out more about Sarra Culleno and her work please follow her on twitter here 

https://twitter.com/sarra1978

The Hares of Horsenden Hill is published by Mookychick.  Heres'a link to their website so you can read the original story and check out their other wonderful content 

https://www.mookychick.co.uk/

The year is 2029 and the effects of climate change are taking hold all around the globe.  In one small coastal community in eastern England waves of migrants are coming ashore to escape the wars and famine the climate crisis are causing in their own countries.  This is the story of three women whose lives are affected by the crisis. This is the first of four parts.

Almost a year since we first broadcast Anglia we are revisiting it as part of our climate change season supporting Culture Declares Emergency

Millie: Tiffany Clare
Rachel : Jackie Jorgenson
Awira : Saya Zahawi
David : Charlie Richards
Laura :  Catharine Daddario
Willa : Kelli Winkler
Other parts : Chris Gregory
Presenters : Kelli Winkler and Tiffany Clare
Music written and performed : Chris Gregory
Sound effects : Freesound.org
ANN News Jingle : Stonefree


Please also check us out on social media  : https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt and  https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/ 

To find out more about Culture Declares Emergency please visit their website to find out how you can get involved in their work and offer your support. https://www.culturedeclares.org/

and follow them on twitter here https://twitter.com/CultureDeclares

The year is 2029 and the effects of climate change are taking hold all around the globe.  In one small coastal community in eastern England waves of migrants are coming ashore to escape the wars and famine the climate crisis are causing in their own countries.  This is the story of three women whose lives are affected by the crisis. This is the second of four parts

Almost a year since we first broadcast Anglia we are revisiting it as part of our climate change season supporting Culture Declares Emergency

Millie: Tiffany Clare
Rachel : Jackie Jorgenson
Awira : Saya Zahawi
David : Charlie Richards
Laura :  Catharine Daddario
Willa : Kelli Winkler
Other parts : Chris Gregory
Presenters : Kelli Winkler and Tiffany Clare
Music written and performed : Chris Gregory
Sound effects : Freesound.org
ANN News Jingle : Stonefree


Please also check us out on social media  : https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt and  https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/ 

To find out more about Culture Declares Emergency please visit their website to find out how you can get involved in their work and offer your support. https://www.culturedeclares.org/

and follow them on twitter here 
https://twitter.com/CultureDeclares

The year is 2029 and the effects of climate change are taking hold all around the globe.  In one small coastal community in eastern England waves of migrants are coming ashore to escape the wars and famine the climate crisis are causing in their own countries.  This is the story of three women whose lives are affected by the crisis. This is the third of four parts.

Almost a year since we first broadcast Anglia we are revisiting it as part of our climate change season supporting Culture Declares Emergency

Millie: Tiffany Clare
Rachel : Jackie Jorgenson
Awira : Saya Zahawi
David : Charlie Richards
Laura :  Catharine Daddario
Willa : Kelli Winkler
Other parts : Chris Gregory
Presenters : Kelli Winkler and Tiffany Clare
Music written and performed : Chris Gregory
Sound effects : Freesound.org
ANN News Jingle : Stonefree


Please also check us out on social media  : https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt and  https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/ 

To find out more about Culture Declares Emergency please visit their website to find out how you can get involved in their work and offer your support. https://www.culturedeclares.org/

and follow them on twitter here https://twitter.com/CultureDeclares

The year is 2029 and the effects of climate change are taking hold all around the globe.  In one small coastal community in eastern England waves of migrants are coming ashore to escape the wars and famine the climate crisis are causing in their own countries.  This is the story of three women whose lives are affected by the crisis. This is the last episode of our four part story.

Almost a year since we first broadcast Anglia we are revisiting it as part of our climate change season supporting Culture Declares Emergency

Millie: Tiffany Clare
Rachel : Jackie Jorgenson
Awira : Saya Zahawi
David : Charlie Richards
Laura :  Catharine Daddario
Willa : Kelli Winkler
Other parts : Chris Gregory
Presenters : Kelli Winkler and Tiffany Clare
Music written and performed : Chris Gregory
Sound effects : Freesound.org
ANN News Jingle : Stonefree


Please also check us out on social media  : https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt
and  https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/ 

To find out more about Culture Declares Emergency please visit their website to find out how you can get involved in their work and offer your support. 
https://www.culturedeclares.org/

and follow them on twitter here 
https://twitter.com/CultureDeclares

In the aftermath of her husband's death Martha and her teenage children Emmy and Henry are struggling to adapt to life without him.  Strange things are happening in their lives and whilst things may be starting to look up no one is quite sure what is causing these coincidences.  Please note : some strong language in this audio drama.

The Ark is written by Madeleine F White.  It is adapted from her novel Mother of Floods which is published by Crowsnest Books 

In The Ark you heard 

Sarah Golding as Martha 
Holly Skinner as Emmy
Harri Rees Jones as Henry 
Chris Gregory as Dave

Other voices were by Madeleine F White and members of the cast. 

Sound effects were from freesound.org

Music, soundscape, direction and production were by Chris Gregory 

The presenter in this edition is Kelli Winkler. 

 The Ark is adapted from the novel Mother of Floods by Madeleine F White.  “Mother of Floods” is published by Crows Nest Books and we would like to thank them for their kind permission to adapt the novel in this drama. You can visit their website and purchase Mother of Floods here 
https://www.crowsnestbooks.com/

And follow them on Twitter here 
https://twitter.com/crowsnestbooks

You can find out more about Madeleine F White by visiting her Good reads page here 
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50646333-mother-of-floods

And follow her on twitter here 
https://twitter.com/madeleinefwhite

Madeleine is also involved in the excellent writer's magazine Pen to Print which you can check out here
https://pentoprint.org/

In this edition of the podcast we look at spoken word poetry.  We feature a new project from Kent: a music and poetry collaboration by Nancy Gaffield and The Drift.  We look at spoken word record label Nymphs and Thugs and we hear from Lisa Mead, CEO and Artistic Director of Apples and Snakes.  The presenter is Marie-Claire Wood

There is some swearing and references to suicide and drug use  in this podcast. Please avoid if this is likely to offend

 In today’s podcast you heard: 

 An interview with Nancy Gaffield, Rob Pursey, Amelia Fletcher and Darren Pilcher of Nancy Gaffield and The Drift.   http://thedrift.uk/

 The track you heard was Wealden Part 3 : Song of The Shingle from the album Wealden published by Longbarrow Press as a book and CD pack
https://longbarrowpress.com/

 Wealden is also available as a digital download from The Drift’s record label Skep Wax  https://skepwax.bandcamp.com/

 Follow Nancy Gaffield, The Drift and Longbarrow Press on Twitter here 

https://twitter.com/nancyjgv1
https://twitter.com/thedriftkent
https://twitter.com/LongbarrowPress

 You also heard an interview with Matt Abbott, founding owner of Nymphs and Thugs.  https://nymphsandthugs.net/

 The poems you heard were 
“I Saw Goody Proctor Jogging Without a Face Mask” by Salena Godden
“Nowt Matters Now” by Toria Garbutt 

 You can buy content from Nymphs and Thugs including these recordings via their band camp page here
https://nymphsandthugs.bandcamp.com/

 Follow Nymphs and Thugs, Matt, Salena and Toria on twitter here
https://twitter.com/nymphsandthugs
https://twitter.com/MattAbbottPoet
https://twitter.com/salenagodden
https://twitter.com/ToriaGarbutt

 Our final interview is with Apples and Snakes and their Artistic Director Lisa Mead. Find out more about Apples and Snakes and link to their online content here https://applesandsnakes.org/   

and here for their excellent YouTube channel where you can see many poets performing live
https://www.youtube.com/c/ApplesandSnakesPoetry

 You heard poems by John Bernard and Adrian B Earle

 Follow Apples and Snakes, Lisa Mead, John Bernard and Adrian B Earle on twitter here
https://twitter.com/ApplesAndSnakes
https://twitter.com/applesMead
https://twitter.com/PoetBernard
https://twitter.com/Think_write_fly

 This podcast was presented by Marie-Claire Wood https://twitter.com/MarieClaireWood

 Production, sound design and editing were by Chris Gregory
Individual sound design and editing of the poems and interviews within the show were by the contributors

 We would like to thank all contributors to this podcast.  If you can please check out all the links we’ve posted, buy content from the suppliers and support artists, poets, musicians, writers and any creative endeavour you can during this difficult time. 

In today's podcast we look at the genre of climate fiction or "Cli Fi" and preview two upcoming audio dramas we'll be sharing as part of our Autumn climate season.  We talk to the authors of the two pieces, Anna Orridge and Kevan Manwaring and get their views on Cli Fi, writing in general and the stories that inspired our upcoming dramas.

In todays' podcast, presented by Kelli Winkler you heard the voices of Anna Orridge and Kevan Manwaring.

You heard clips from our forthcoming dramas Backdrop by Anna Orridge and Black Box by Kevan Manwaring

You heard the voices of actors Marie-Claire Wood,  Harri-Rees Jones, Kelley Costigan and Kelli Winkler in the Backdrop trailer. 
In the Black Box trailer you heard Danyelle Ellett, Lewie Watson and Charlie Richards.

Sound design, soundscaping and music are by Chris Gregory with effects from freesound.org

Backdrop will be out on 20th November with Black Box appearing in three parts on 28th November, 4th and 11th December

Links and social media

You can follow Anna Orridge on twitter here 

https://twitter.com/orridge_anna

 You can follow Kevan Manwaring on twitter here 

https://twitter.com/bardicacademic

 and visit Kevan’s wordpress site where you can read more of his writing here 

https://thebardicacademic.wordpress.com/


We ended the podcast with a recommendation for the novel America City by Chris Beckett

You can purchase America City from Blackwell’s here 

https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/America-city-by-Chris-Beckett-author/9781786491534

 You can download a free sample of America City here 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3H49Dxf9NTpHXrTybN80hxC/america-city-by-chris-beckett

 and you can follow Chris Beckett on twitter here 

https://twitter.com/chriszbeckett

 We are publicising the work of Culture Declares Emergency during our Autumn climate season.  You can follow them on twitter here 

https://twitter.com/CultureDeclares

 And you can pledge your support to their cause here 

https://www.culturedeclares.org/


Please note, we have bleeped out swearing in the trailer for Black Box.  When we put out the "real thing" all swearing will be fully audible (and beautifully delivered by Lewie Watson!) 

Also in the trailer for Black Box you heard Lewie singing a few lines from "King of The Road" by Roger Miller.  We don't own the rights to this and acknowledge all copyrights relating to the piece. 

In a future London ravaged by the effects of climate change, a company is busy harvesting memories to build  virtual versions of the world before "The Withering".  But there are parts of her past Laura would rather forget.  This episode contains swearing and accounts of emotional abuse.  Listeners are advised to avoid this story if they are likely to be offended by either.

Backdrop is based on a short story by Anna Orridge and adapted by Anna Orridge and Chris Gregory

In Backdrop you'll hear
Marie-Claire Wood as Laura
Harri Rees-Jones as Marvin
Kelley Costigan as The Administrator
Kelli Winkler as the voice of Backdrop
Chris Gregory as Laura's father

Music, sound design and editing are by Chris Gregory
Sound effects are from freesound.org
The presenter in this edition is Kelli Winkler

This edition contains a trailer for Black Box by Kevan Manwaring in which you can hear the voices of Danyelle Ellett, Lewie Watson and Charlie Richards.  Part One of Black Box will be out on Friday 27th November.

If you would like to read the original short story upon which our audio drama is based you can do so here  http://mironline.org/backdrop/

You can find out more about our brilliant actors here

Marie-Claire  https://twitter.com/MarieClaireWood

Harri  https://twitter.com/HarriReesJones

Kelli  https://twitter.com/KelliWinkler

And Kelley https://twitter.com/KelleyCostigan

 And follow Anna on twitter here  https://twitter.com/orridge_anna

Please subscribe to alternative stories in your favourite podcast app to listen to all our content and have new editions delivered to your podcast feed the moment they are released.  If you’ve enjoyed Bakckdrop please give us a rating on apple podcasts, podchaser or any podcast app that allows it.  If you felt inclined to write a short review we would be very grateful as these help to raise the profile of the podcast. 

 Finally we’d like to thank everyone who entered our competition to win a copy of Fay Hield’s album over on twitter.  As you may recall, Fay is one of the UK’s foremost folk singers and was a co-writer of the drama Hare Spell which we released back in September. Her album Wrackline has been voted the second best folk album of the year by Songlines magazine and has been riding high in the UK folk album chart.  The lucky winners of the competition were Tanith Hicks, Rebecca Lambert and Lisa O’Hare and signed copies of the album should be with you very shortly. 

You can find us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt

and on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/

In Black Box, based on the novel by Kevan Manwaring, mankind is looking to the stars to find solutions to the failing climate on planet Earth.  We follow Captain Lake and Commander Boone on their missions.  Content warning; Swearing, drug references, peril, sexual references.

Black Box Part One : Ithaka, was written by Dr Kevan Manwaring, adapated from his original novel. 

In this episode you can hear:
Danyelle Ellett as Sentience
Lewie Watson as Captain Lake
Charlie Richards as Butler
Maisie Armah as Lake's wife
Chris Gregory as Salovar ("The Suit")
Kelli Winkler as Ultima Thule crew member
Other voices were by members of the cast

The presenter is Kelli Winkler
The original theme and incidental music are  by Chris Gregory
Sound effects are from freesound.org
Direction, sound design and editing are by Chris Gregory

Thank you to Kevan Manwaring for beta listening this edition and to our actors for going above and beyond in the recording of their parts for this production.

You can follow Kevan Manwaring on twitter here
https://twitter.com/bardicacademic

 And read his regular blog posts here 
https://thebardicacademic.wordpress.com/

 You can hear Kevan speaking about his writing, about Black Box in particular and on the topic of climate fiction in our recent edition called “Climate Fiction”  Alternative Stories Series 3 Episode 13

We have made 3 pilot episodes of Black Box, the drama,  based roughly on the first 3 chapters of the novel.  We’ll be assessing the possibilities of dramatizing the whole story at a later date.  In the meantime we’d love to hear your thoughts on Black Box and particularly on whether you’d like to hear more.  You can drop us a note via office@alternativestories.com or tweet us with your thoughts 

 If you’re an audio drama producer and have ideas about how we could take Black Box into full production we’d be very grateful for your views.

 If you would like to check out more Science Fiction on Alternative Stories please look for our dramas A Memory of Robin by David Green,  The Ark by Madeleine F White, The Bomb by Emily Inkpen and Backdrop by Anna Orridge.  You’ll be able to find them by searching our content on any podcast platform

Content warning:  The character of Captain Lake is depicted as a drug user in Black Box.  In one scene within this episode Lake is heard taking drugs or "shooting up". If listeners are likely to be offended by this please do not listen to this episode. 

 Next week on Alternative Stories and Fake Realities we’ll continue Black Box and introduce you to the character of Commander Boone.

In Black Box, based on the novel by Kevan Manwaring, mankind is looking to the stars to find solutions to the failing climate on planet Earth.  In episode two we meet Commander Boone and Dr Massimo from the Europa Mission.

Black Box Part Two : Europa, was written by Dr Kevan Manwaring,  adapted from his original novel.

In this episode you can hear:
Danyelle Ellett as Comamander Boone
Lewie Watson as Captain Lake
Charlie Richards as Dr Massimo
Warren Graham as Boone's father
Kelli Winkler as Boone's Mother

Other voices were by members of the cast

The presenter is Kelli Winkler
The original theme and incidental music are  by Chris Gregory
Sound effects are from freesound.org
Direction, sound design and editing are by Chris Gregory

You can follow writer Kevan Manwaring on twitter here
https://twitter.com/bardicacademic

 And read his regular blog posts here
https://thebardicacademic.wordpress.com/

As a bonus in this edition you can hear Kevan Manwaring talking about the inspiration for Black Box, the process of writing the original novel, of adapting it to audio drama and of recreating the visual elements for an audio drama audience.

We have made 3 pilot episodes of Black Box, the drama,  based roughly on the first 3 chapters of the novel.  We’ll be assessing the possibilities of dramatizing the whole story at a later date.  In the meantime we’d love to hear your thoughts on Black Box and particularly on whether you’d like to hear more.  You can drop us a note via office@alternativestories.com or tweet us with your thoughts 

 If you’re an audio drama producer and have ideas about how we could take Black Box into full production we’d be very grateful for your views.

 If you would like to check out more Science Fiction on Alternative Stories please look for our dramas A Memory of Robin by David Green,  The Ark by Madeleine F White, The Bomb by Emily Inkpen and Backdrop by Anna Orridge.  You’ll be able to find them by searching our content on any podcast platform.

Please join us next week for the final part of Black Box

Invisible Borders is a collection of poetry and short fiction by women writers with a connection to the county of Cornwall.  It is published by the Hypatia Trust and this podcast celebrates the release of the audio book version of the collection which has been produced by Alternative Stories.

In this podcast we celebrate the launch of the audio book version of Invisible Borders a collection of poetry and short fiction by women writers with a connection to the county of Cornwall.   Invisible Borders is now available in three formats: as a book, an e-book and now an audio book produced by Alternative Stories.  The audio book will be out on 11th December and will be available from the Hypatia Trust Bookshop
  https://hypatia-trust.org.uk/bookshop

This podcast is presented by Hollye Sangster.  

The readers are Marie-Claire Wood,  Katrina Naomi, Ella Frears and Mary J Oliver.

The poems you can hear in this podcast are 

• Hieroglyph Moth by Pascale Petit
• Warm Rain by Mary J Oliver 
• I knew Which Direction by Ella Frears
• Perfume Map by Penelope Shuttle
• Elsewhere by Katrina Naomi
• I am Becoming by Faye Wilson

You can hear interviews featuring 

• Miki Ashton from the Hypatia Trust
• Linda Cleary from Hypatia Publications
• Marie-Claire Wood, the actress who reads much of the work featured in the audio book
• Chris Gregory from the Alternative Stories Podcast 

Music, sound design and production are by Chris Gregory.  Sound recordings were by Marie-Claire Wood, Ella Frears and Linda Cleary.

We’d like to thank all our contributors to this podcast :  Miki Ashton, Linda Cleary, Marie-Claire Wood, Chris Gregory and poets Pascale Petite, Mary J Oliver, Ella Frears, Penelope Shuttle, Katrina Naomi and Faye Wilson.  We would especially like to thank the Hypatia trust for entrusting us with creating the audio book version of Invisible Borders.  Special thanks are due to Cultivator Cornwall and Sam Jackman for their valued support in the making of Invisible Borders.  

We would also like to thank Bloodaxe Books, Seren Books and Offord Road Books for granting permission to reproduce work by their writers in Invisible Borders and in this podcast.  

You can find out more about the Hypatia Trust by visiting their website
https://hypatia-trust.org.uk/

 Or follow the trust on twitter at  https://twitter.com/hypatia_trust

 You can follow Marie-Claire Wood on twitter at https://twitter.com/MarieClaireWood

 Find out more about Linda Cleary here  https://twitter.com/_freewriters

 And follow Alternative Stories on Twitter here https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt

Please subscribe to have all of our audio drama, poetry and fiction content delivered to your podcast feed the moment new episodes are released.

In Black Box, based on the novel by Kevan Manwaring, mankind is looking to the stars to find solutions to the failing climate on planet Earth.  In episode 3, Lake must try to get the space berg back on course for the Arkship Ithaka after the accident which sent it off course. Content warning; Swearing, drug references, peril, sexual references.

Black Box Part Three: The Shadow On The Ice was written by Dr Kevan Manwaring, adapated from his original novel.

In this episode you can hear:
Danyelle Ellett as Sentience
Lewie Watson as Captain Lake
Charlie Richards as Butler

The presenter is Kelli Winkler
The original theme and incidental music are  by Chris Gregory
Sound effects are from freesound.org
Direction, sound design and editing are by Chris Gregory

Thank you to our actors for going above and beyond in the recording of their parts for this production.

You can follow Kevan Manwaring on twitter here
https://twitter.com/bardicacademic

 And read his regular blog posts here
https://thebardicacademic.wordpress.com/

This is the last of 3 pilot episodes of Black Box, the drama based on Kevan Manwaring's novel.  We’ll be assessing the possibilities of dramatizing the whole story at a later date.  In the meantime we’d love to hear your thoughts on Black Box and particularly on whether you’d like to hear more.  You can drop us a note via office@alternativestories.com or tweet us with your thoughts 

 If you’re an audio drama producer and have ideas about how we could take Black Box into full production we’d be very grateful for your views.

 If you would like to check out more Science Fiction on Alternative Stories please look for our dramas A Memory of Robin by David Green,  The Ark by Madeleine F White, The Bomb by Emily Inkpen and Backdrop by Anna Orridge.  You’ll be able to find them by searching our content on any podcast platform

You can find out more about our fabulous cast by following them on social media
 
Follow Lewie Watson on twitter here  https://twitter.com/LewieEh

 Danyelle Ellett here  https://twitter.com/MyNamesDany

 And Charlie Richards here  https://twitter.com/CharlieDTR

Content warning:  The character of Captain Lake is depicted as a drug user in Black Box.  In one scene within this episode Lake is heard taking drugs or "shooting up". If listeners are likely to be offended by this please do not listen to this episode. 

 Next week on Alternative Stories and Fake Realities we’ll continue Black Box and introduce you to the character of Commander Boone.

In this edition we look at Nine Arches Press, an independent poetry publisher from Warwickshire.  We feature poems from 3 Nine Arches poets,  Gregory Leadbetter, Rishi Dastidar and Geraldine Clarkson and have insight and recommendations from  Editor and Director Jane Commane.

The poems featured in this podcast are
"Optics"  by Gregory Leadbetter from the Nine Arches Press collection "Maskwork" read by Charlie Richards
First extract from Saffron Jack by Rishi Dastidar from the Nine Arches Press Publication "Saffron Jack" read by Tiffany Clare
"Saint Rose of Lima's Revenge" by Geraldine Clarkson from the Nine Arches Press Collection "Monica's Overcoat of Flesh" read by Tiffany Clare
"The Ape At The End of The World" by Gregory Leadbetter read by Charlie Richards
Second extract from Saffron Jack by Rishi Dastidar read by Tiffany Clare
"Homily of Francis" by Geraldine Clarkson read by Charlie Richards
"A Young Woman Undressed Me And..." by Geraldine Clarkson read by Tiffany Clare

The presenter in this edition is Tiffany Clare
Production, sound design and soundscapes are by Chris Gregory
Jane Commane's interview was recorded by Kevin Brook at Soundbite Recording (link below)

Visit the Nine Arches Press website here  https://ninearchespress.com/
And follow them on twitter here https://twitter.com/NineArchesPress
And on Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/ninearchespress/

 Follow Gregory Leadbetter on twitter here  https://twitter.com/GregMLeadbetter
Rishi Dastidar here https://twitter.com/BetaRish
Geraldine Clarkson here https://twitter.com/GBClarkson
And Jane Commane here https://twitter.com/CommaJane

 For more about Soundbite Recording please visit their website here https://www.soundbiterecording.com/
You can find out more about our presenter and reader Tiffany Clare here https://twitter.com/TiffanyEclair
And Charlie Richards here https://twitter.com/CharlieDTR
And follow Alternative Stories here https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt

 
Rishi Dastidar is a fellow of “The Complete Works”, a consulting editor at The Rialto magazine, a member of Malika’s Poetry Kitchen, and chair of writer development organization Spread The Word.  He is editor of The Craft: A Guide to Making Poetry Happen in the 21st Century (Nine Arches Press). Saffron Jack is his second collection.

 Gregory Leadbetter is the author of two poetry collections, Maskwork (2020) and The Fetch (2016), both with Nine Arches Press, as well as the pamphlet The Body in the Well (HappenStance Press, 2007), Balanuve (Broken Sleep, 2021). His book Coleridge and the Daemonic Imagination (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011) won the University English Book Prize 2012.  He has written both poetry and radio drama for the BBC. He is Professor of Poetry at Birmingham City University.

Geraldine Clarkson has performed poems at the Royal Albert Hall, as part of the Proms Extra Late series broadcast on BBC Radio 3, and also at the Poetry Society AGM.  She is a former winner of the Ambit and Poetry London competitions and her first full collection Monica's Overcoat of Flesh was published by Nine Arches Press in 2020, with a pamphlet, Crucifox, forthcoming from Verve Poetry Press in 2021.  

Four friends have their Christmas travel plans disrupted by Covid but resolve to spend the holiday together sharing stories, customs and traditions from their homes.   Snowed In is an audio drama for this unique festive season by Charis McRoberts and Signe Maene

In “Snowed In” you heard 

Charis McRoberts as Aine
Lewie Watson as Jamie 
Jackie Jorgenson as Beth
Amy Forrest as Olivia
Fay Hield as herself
The presenter of this edition is Kelli Winkler

"Snowed In" was written by Charis McRoberts and Signe Maene with additional dialogue by Chris Gregory.  The cast advised on dialogue for each of their characters.

 Direction, sound design, soundscapes and incidental music were by Chris Gregory.
Sound effects were from Freesound.org

In the story, you heard an original recording of the Wassailing song “Sweet Master”  performed by Fay Hield.  This was an exclusive recording for the Alternative Stories and Fake Realities Podcast.  Fay Hield is a Topic Records recording artist.    “Sweet Master of Our Habitation” is a traditional Cornish wassailing tune.  The version sung by Fay in this podcast was arranged by Lou Killen    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Killen
The complete recording by Fay is included at the end of this podcast. 

 Charis McRoberts is a writer, poet and actor originally from Northern Ireland.  In 2020 Charis was named one of the BBC’s New Creatives and she has subsequently appeared on BBC Radio and in film productions as well as being part of a number of Alternative Stories podcasts.   https://twitter.com/CharisMcRoberts

 Lewie Watson is an actor from Elgin in the Scottish Highlands.  He has appeared in a number of Alternative Stories productions including Selkie, also by Signe Maene and most recently in Black Box by Kevan Manwaring   https://twitter.com/LewieEh

 Amy Forrest is an actor who has worked with the National Theatre in London and had television roles in shows such as Coronation Street and Call The Midwife.  Amy appeared in our acclaimed drama Hare Spell playing a role written by Fay Hield and in a number of other Alternative Stories productions during 2020 https://twitter.com/amyforrest26

Jackie Jorgenson is an actor, writer and podcaster originally from Canada but now living in the United States.  She has appeared in a number of Alternative Stories productions including “Out of Towners” which she also co-wrote and Anglia.  In 2020 Jackie launched her own podcast “Tales from The Aether” which we encourage listeners to check out.    https://twitter.com/jackiejorgenson

Signe Maene is a writer and folklorist from Belgium.  Signe wrote our popular drama Selkie earlier in 2020 and contributed short fiction to “Through The Trees” anthology https://twitter.com/MaeneSigne

 Fay Hield is a folk singer, academic and folklorist who regular listeners will know as one of the writers of our acclaimed drama Hare Spell which we released in September.  If you've enjoyed Fay's performance in this edition please find out more about her music including her latest album "Wrackline" which is released by Topic Records / Proper Music Distribution
 https://twitter.com/fayhield

https://www.fayhield.com/

 This is the last Alternative Stories Podcast of 2020.  We’ll be taking a short break until the end of January.   We wish all our listeners who celebrate it a very merry Christmas and a happi

In this short preview edition presented by Kelli Winkler we look forward to some of the drama and poetry productions we'll be bringing you as part of season 4 of the podcast. 

The preview includes

• A trailer for Daughter of Fire and Water, and audio drama by Lyndsey Croal starring Kelsey Griffin, Lewie Watson, Peter Forbes and Simone Low and with music by Cameron Mackay
• A trailer for Stella's Constellation by TAK Erzinger with the voices of Marie-Claire Wood, Sadie Pepperrell, Rhys Anderson and Simone Low
• St Rose of Lima's Revenge, a poem by Geraldine Clarkson read by Tiffany Clare
• Optics, a poem by Gregory Leadbetter read by Charlie Richards

Please subscribe to hear all of the content from our fourth season starting with part one of Daughter of Fire and Water on Friday 19th February. 

Sound design, production and editing in this edition are by Chris Gregory

Brida is the daughter of the goddess Callie and  bound by a spell her mother has cast, she is held captive beneath Callie's mountain fortress.   Longing to escape so that she may travel freely around the world,  Brida has tried many ways in vain to break the spell but the  visit of a  prince from the world beyond the mountain may suggest ways in which her captivity can be ended.

In Daughter of Fire and Water by Lyndsey Croal you heard
Kelsey Griffin as Brida
Lewie Watson as Angus
Peter Forbes as Cernun
and Simone Low as Callie

Music was by Cameron Mackay
Sound design, direction and soundscapes were by Chris Gregory
Sound effects were from freesound.org
The presenter of this podcast is Marie-Claire Wood

We would like to thank Lyndsey Croal, Anthea Middleton, Sam Canning and Gillian Bowman for their invaluable help in casting for this drama

Daughter of Fire and Water began as a character origin tale for Lyndsey's in-progress young-adult fantasy novel, though it morphed into something quite different by the end. She'd like to thank Julie Bertagna for prompting her to explore this back story, and Scottish Book Trust for their support over the past year. Inspiration also came from Scottish folklorist Donald Alexander Mackenzie's interpretation of the Cailleach's story.

If you would like to find out more about Lyndsey Croal and her writing, please visit her website   https://lyndseycroal.wordpress.com/

 To find out more about Cameron Mackay and to listen to more of his music please go to https://www.cameronmackay.co.uk/

 You can follow Lyndsey Croal on twitter here https://twitter.com/writerlynds
And Cameron Mackay here   https://twitter.com/CameronJMackay

 "Daughter of Fire and Water” is an alternative stories 2021 production for the alternative stories and fake realities podcast.  

Part two of Daughter of Fire and Water will be out on Friday 26th February.  Please subscribe to alternative stories and fake realities in your favourite podcast app to have this and all future editions delivered directly to your podcast feed the moment they are released. 

Brida is the daughter of the goddess Callie and  bound by a spell her mother has cast, she is held captive beneath Callie's mountain fortress.   Longing to escape so that she may travel freely around the world,  Brida has tried many ways in vain to break the spell but the  visit of a  prince from the world beyond the mountain may suggest ways in which her captivity can be ended.

In Daughter of Fire and Water by Lyndsey Croal you heard
Kelsey Griffin as Brida
Lewie Watson as Angus
Peter Forbes as Cernun
and Simone Low as Callie

Music was by Cameron Mackay
Sound design, direction and soundscapes were by Chris Gregory
Sound effects were from freesound.org
The presenter of this podcast is Marie-Claire Wood

We would like to thank Lyndsey Croal, Anthea Middleton, Sam Canning and Gillian Bowman for their invaluable help in casting for this drama

Daughter of Fire and Water began as a character origin tale for Lyndsey's in-progress young-adult fantasy novel, though it morphed into something quite different by the end. She'd like to thank Julie Bertagna for prompting her to explore this back story, and Scottish Book Trust for their support over the past year. Inspiration also came from Scottish folklorist Donald Alexander Mackenzie's interpretation of the Cailleach's story.

If you would like to find out more about Lyndsey Croal and her writing, please visit her website   https://lyndseycroal.wordpress.com/

 To find out more about Cameron Mackay and to listen to more of his music please go to https://www.cameronmackay.co.uk/

 You can follow Lyndsey Croal on twitter here https://twitter.com/writerlynds
And Cameron Mackay here   https://twitter.com/CameronJMackay

 "Daughter of Fire and Water” is an alternative stories 2021 production for the alternative stories and fake realities podcast.  

Our next production is called Stella's Constellation by TAK Erzinger and it will be out on Friday 5th March.
In the trailer for Stella's Constellation you heard the voices of Marie-Claire Wood, Simone Low,  Sadie Pepperrell and Rhys Anderson
  
Please subscribe to alternative stories and fake realities in your favourite podcast app to have this and all future editions delivered directly to your podcast feed the moment they are released. 

In a small alpine village Stella contemplates her strange life and origins as a number of mysterious events unfold around her.  Stella's Constellation is a magical realist story by Swiss American author TAK Erzinger.

In Stella’s Constellation by TAK Erzinger you heard 
Sadie Pepperrell as Stella,
Simone Low as the Narrator
Marie Claire Wood as Lagrimas
Rhys Anderson as Jurgen 

 Music, sound design, direction and soundscapes were by Chris Gregory
Nana De Falla was sung by Marie-Claire Wood
Sound effects were from freesound.org
The presenter in this edition is Kelli Winkler

TAK Erzinger is an American/Swiss poet and artist with a Colombian background. Her poetry has been featured in Bien Acompañada from Cornell University, The Muse from McMaster University, The Galway Review, River South from Wilkes University and more. Her debut poetry collection entitled, “Found: Between the Trees” was published by Grey Border Books, in Canada in 2019 and her forthcoming poetry book “At the Foot of the Mountain” is being published by Floricanto Press.  The audio drama you just heard, “Stella’s Constellation” is an excerpt from a book she is currently writing under the same title, inspired by magical realism and the folklore of South America and central Europe.  She lives in a Swiss valley with her husband and cats.

 You can find out more about TAK by visiting her website and following her on social media 
 https://takerzinger.wixsite.com/poet

And follow her on twitter https://twitter.com/ErzTak

And Instagram https://www.instagram.com/takerzinger/

You can follow Alternative Stories on twitter here https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt

And on Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/

And contact us by email on office@alternativestories.com 

To book a place on our Writing for Audio Drama Course with Pen To Print please follow this linkhttps://pentoprint.org/eventbrite-event/pen-to-print-an-introduction-to-writing-for-audio-drama-with-chris-gregory/

And to enter the Pen To Print competition to write an audio drama click here https://pentoprint.org/get-involved/competitions/

In the coming weeks on alternative stories we have poetry, conversation and more audio drama for you.  Our poetry content for season 4 will begin with a podcast featuring Katrina Naomi and also include poems from Gregory Leadbetter and Geraldine Clarkson in the coming weeks.  We have a discussion on folklore and its relevance to modern audiences coming soon as well as new audio drama from Chris Beckett, Emily Inkpen, Fiona Mountain and Anna Chorlton.  Subscribe to Alternative Stories and Fake Realities in your favourite podcast app to have all new editions delivered directly to your feed and to gain access to our growing library of drama, poetry and fiction podcasts.

In this edition we speak to poet Katrina Naomi about her life and writing.  We feature six poems from Katrina's collection Wild Persistence (Seren Books 2020) and hear Katrina's recommendations for other poets we should read.

The presenter of the podcast is Tiffany Clare
Poems are read by Katrina Naomi, Laura Dunnion and Nadia Wyn Abouayen
The interviewer is Chris Gregory
We would like to thank Seren Books for their support and for allowing us to work with poems from Wild Persistence
Production, sound design and music are by Chris Gregory

You can visit Katrina’s website here www.katrinanaomi.co.uk

And follow her on twitter here  https://twitter.com/KatrinaNaomi

 Wild Persistence is available from Seren Books    Wild Persistence | Seren Books

as is Katrina’s second collection The Way the Crocodile Taught Me    The Way the Crocodile Taught Me | Seren Books   

Katrina’s pamphlet Typhoon Etiquette  is available via this link   Katrina Naomi – Typhoon Etiquette (vervepoetrypress.com)  

For signed copies of all of Katrina’s books please visit the bookshop on her website here Books – Katrina Naomi

And you can read and subscribe to Katrina’s newsletter here Katrina Naomi's poetry newsletter - 'short & sweet' (mailchi.mp)

 The poets Katrina recommended in our discussion and their collections are 
·       Caroline Bird - The Air Year
·       Natalie Diaz - Postcolonial Love Poem
·       Caleb Femi - Poor
·       Peter Redgrove - Collected Poems

To find out more about Pen To Print please visit their website here
 https://pentoprint.org/

 enrol on our audio drama writing course here
https://pentoprint.org/eventbrite-event/pen-to-print-an-introduction-to-writing-for-audio-drama-with-chris-gregory/

 and enter our audio drama competition here (closing date is 2nd April 2021)
https://pentoprint.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Pen-to-Print_Audio_Play_Comp_How-to_Enter_Rules_TCs_2021.pdf

 And you can read Write On! Magazine here
https://pentoprint.org/product-category/magazines/

 Please subscribe to Alternative Stories in your favourite podcast app to have all future editions of the podcast delivered to you the moment they are released.

If you have a moment please leave us a rating and review in your podcast app

Join us next week for a discussion about folklore, folk stories and folk songs with some amazing guests from the world of writing, academia and folk music. 

Since Alternative Stories started almost two years ago we have produced a number of audio dramas based on episodes from folklore.   This discussion edition looks at the ways in which folklore continues to inspire writers , academics, musicians and podcasters. 
 
 This edition is presented by Marie-Claire Wood
 Production and music are by Chris Gregory

Our guests in this edition are 

Dee Dee Chainey   https://twitter.com/DeeDeeChainey
Folklore Thursday https://twitter.com/FolkloreThurs
The Folklore Thursday website http://www.folklorethursday.com/

Terri Windling https://twitter.com/terriwindling
Terri’s website https://www.terriwindling.com/info/

Mark Norman  https://twitter.com/folklorepod
The Folklore Podcast http://www.thefolklorepodcast.com/

Bella Hardy : Folk Musician  https://twitter.com/bellahardy
You can buy Bella's music via her website  https://www.bellahardy.com/

Professor Carolyne Larrington  https://twitter.com/profcarolyne
Carolyne’s website includes links to her books https://carolynelarrington.wordpress.com/

Signe Maene  https://twitter.com/MaeneSigne
And visit her website  https://signemaene.com/

Dr Kevan Manwaring  https://twitter.com/bardicacademic
Visit his website here  https://thebardicacademic.wordpress.com/

Lyndsey Croal   https://twitter.com/writerlynds
Visit her website here https://lyndseycroal.wordpress.com/

Kaitlin Felix  https://twitter.com/katigirl90
And visit her website here https://katifelix.com/

Amy Boucher   https://twitter.com/Nearlyknowledg1
And visit her blog here https://nearlyknowledgeablehistory.blogspot.com/

We have prepared a full set of show notes with more information and links for each of our guests and our recommended podcasts here
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AkNqhywad3YvSYQxHhWP2Yf8IcCIRRFM/view?usp=sharing

Drama excerpts in this edition were from Hare Spell , The Seeing Trees, Selkie
and Daughter of Fire and Water  You can listen to all our folklore related content here
 https://www.podchaser.com/lists/folklore-and-fairytale-on-alternative-stories-107a9Gdi9h

In two weeks time we’ll be bringing you an audio drama based on the latest novel by British SciFi author Chris Beckett.  Listen to “Two Tribes” on 2nd April. Please subscribe to alternative stories in your favourite podcast app to have this and all future editions delivered to you t

As a historian in the bleak, climate-ravaged twenty-third century, it's Zoe's job to record and archive the past, not to recreate it. But when she comes across the diaries of Harry and Michelle, who lived two hundred years ago, she becomes fascinated by the minutiae of their lives and decides to write a novel about them, filling in the gaps with her own imaginings.  Listeners are warned that this episode contains explicit language. 

In Two Tribes by Chris Beckett you heard

 Verity Blyth as Zoe 
Rosa Samuels as Cally
Charlie Richards as Harry
Sadie Pepperrell as Michelle
And Marie Claire Wood as Letty

The presenter is Tiffany Clare 
The main theme for Two Tribes is by Scott Ander 
 Sound design, soundscapes and direction are by Chris Gregory
Casting was by Chris Gregory and Chris Beckett
The script was adapted from Chris Beckett’s original novel by Chris Gregory and Chris Beckett
Sound effects are from freesound.org

This audio drama is an adaptation of part of the novel Two Tribes. If you would like to read the full novel it is out in paperback in the UK now and details on how to buy it are posted below

Chris Beckett has been involved throughout the process of making this drama and we would like to take this opportunity to thank him for his time and expertise and for allowing us to work with his brilliant story.
 
We would also like to thank  Kate Straker of Corvus / Atlantic Books for her help and cooperation in the making of this audio drama.  

You can find out more about Chris Beckett by visiting his website here
http://www.chris-beckett.com/
Follow Chris on twitter here https://twitter.com/chriszbeckett
And purchase Two Tribes here
On Hive  https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Chris-Author-Beckett/Two-Tribes/25602398
And on Amazon  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Two-Tribes-Chris-Beckett/dp/1786499339/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1615034100&sr=8-1

 You can visit Corvus via their website here https://atlantic-books.co.uk/corvus/
Follow Corvus on twitter here https://twitter.com/CorvusBooks

The theme tune for this edition is is called “The Hunt” by Scott Ander, from his EP “The Holocene” which you can listen to here
https://soundcloud.com/user-498615231/sets/the-holocene
You can follow Scott on Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/scottandermusic/

 Follow Alternative Stories on twitter for a chance to win one of 3 free copies of Two Tribes signed by Chris Beckett in our competition starting on Friday 2nd April
https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt

You can book to join one of our upcoming audio drama writing workshops via this link
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/148761496641 

Join us next week for a special edition featuring Two Tribes author Chris Beckett.  We'll have an interview with Chris, clips and excerpts from his recent and upcoming books and reflections on his writing practices.   As part of this short season on science fiction writers we'll also have an interview with Emily Inkpen.  We'll look forward to her new audio drama The Hunt, reflect on last year's drama The Bomb and learn more about her approach

 Chris Beckett is one of the UK’s leading science fiction writers.  His novel Dark Eden won the prestigious Arthur C Clarke Award for the best UK published science fiction novel of the year in 2012 and his latest novel Two Tribes was published to considerable critical acclaim in 2020.  In this podcast we have an interview with Chris and extracts from his novels.  Listeners are advised that there is some explicit language in this podcast.

Thank you to Chris Beckett for taking the time to record this interview with us.  The excerpts you heard were from the following novels

The presenter of this podcast is Tiffany Clare
The interviewer is Chris Gregory
Sound design and production were also by Chris Gregory

 America City (published in 2017) The reader was Marie-Claire Wood 

Beneath the World, A Sea (published in 2019) – excerpts were read by Harri Rees Jones 

Tomorrow (due to be published in July 2021) – excerpts were read by Charlie Richards and Tiffany Clare

You also heard excerpts from our audio drama adaptation of Two Tribes with the voices of Verity Blyth, Rosa Samuels, Sadie Pepperrell and Charlie Richards

 Chris’s novels and short story collections are published in the UK by Corvus Books which is an imprint of Atlantic Books.  We’d like to thank Kate Straker from Corvus / Atlantic for her help in the making of this podcast and for allowing us to use these excerpts.   

 You can purchase Chris Beckett’s novels via Hive here   https://tinyurl.com/3kk8f6w4

And via Amazon here   https://tinyurl.com/4ebs6whj

Visit Chris’ website here http://www.chris-beckett.com/

You can visit Corvus’ Website here  https://atlantic-books.co.uk/corvus/

 Follow Chris on twitter here https://twitter.com/chriszbeckett

And Corvus here https://twitter.com/CorvusBooks

Chris’s reading recommendations in the podcast were 

 Sunken Land Begins To Rise Again by M John Harrison
https://www.gollancz.co.uk/titles/m-john-harrison/the-sunken-land-begins-to-rise-again/9780575096370/

 Mr Loverman by Bernardine Evaristo
https://tinyurl.com/yzyhrwhw

 Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake
https://tinyurl.com/b6wjehs

 Next week on the podcast, in the second part of our short series in which we talk to science fiction authors we’ll feature Emily Inkpen.  Listeners may recall Emily’s audio drama The Bomb which we published last summer.  Coming soon we’ll have Emily’s latest drama The Hunt and in the interview Emily talks about the process of writing drama, how The Hunt fits into her wider literary universe and how the process of writing her novel series The Dex Legacy is going.  

 Follow us on twitter for more details and follow Emily Inkpen on twitter to find out more about her writing.

 Alternative Stories on twitter https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt
Emily Inkpen https://twitter.com/emilyinkpen

 If you are interested in writing audio drama you can join our forthcoming introductory workshop in which we’ll work with extracts from Alt Stories dramas via the link below

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/148761496641

Emily Inkpen is a a British science fiction writer and audio dramatist.  Her drama The Bomb was one of our most popular podcasts of 2020.  In this edition we talk to Emily about world building for Sci Fi writers, her working practice, the influence of writing audio drama on her prose work and her forthcoming audio drama The Hunt.  We hear extracts from her novel The Blood Road and from The Bomb.

In this edition you heard readings from Emily’s novel “The Blood Road” read by Laura Dunnion and Harri Rees Jones 

You also heard extracts from the audio drama “The Bomb” with the voices of Emily Inkpen, Warren Graham, Kelsey Griffin, Harri Rees Jones, Charlie Richards, Lewie Watson and Annika Kordes. 

 The presenter of this edition is Tiffany Clare 

The interviewer is Chris Gregory

Sound design, music and audio drama production are by Chris Gregory

 You can find out more about Emily Inkpen’s work and writing by visiting her website here https://www.emilyinkpen.com/

You can follow her on social media via twitter here https://twitter.com/emilyinkpen

And on Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/emilyinkpen/

 The play-out music in this edition is an exclusive extract from the theme music to Emily’s forthcoming drama “The Hunt “ written by Allen Stroud.

As well as being a composer, Allen Stroud is a writer and chair of the British Science Fiction Association You can find out more about Allen by visiting his website here  https://www.allenstroud.com/

 
Subscribe to Alternative Stories to hear The Hunt when it is released.

You can access all our science fiction and climate fiction content including Emily’s first audio drama The Bomb via this link

https://www.podchaser.com/lists/sci-fi-and-climate-fiction-on-alternative-stories-107aDoFzmM

 And follow us on social media via twitter here https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt
And Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/

 If you are interested in learning more about writing audio drama you can join one of our zoom workshops on the subject.  Our next Introduction to Writing For Audio Drama workshop will be on 17th May at 6.30PM UK time and you can register via the Eventbrite link

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/an-introduction-to-writing-for-audio-drama-with-alternative-stories-tickets-148761496641

 Next week on Alternative Stories we bring you new writing from Alexandra Beaumont and Lisa O’Hare as well as previews of two forthcoming audio drama productions “Keeper of Songs” by Fiona Mountain and “The Silver Ball” by Anna Chorlton. 

In this edition we look at new books from two exciting British writers, poet Lisa O'Hare and novelist and short story writer Alexandra Beaumont.  We have extracts from each book and interviews with their authors.

Thank you to Lisa O'Hare and Alexandra Beaumont for taking part in this podcast. 
The presenter of this edition has been Sally Walker-Taylor
The interviewer was Chris Gregory
Poems from Lisa's book "Lockdown Life, A Rollercoaster of Emotions" were read by Lisa O'Hare
Extracts from Alexandra's book " Testament of the Stars" were read by Holly Skinner"
Production, sound design and music were by Chris Gregory

We would like to thank Master House Publishing for allowing us to reproduce Lisa's poems and Gurt Dog Press for permission to share the excerpts from 'Testament of the Stars"

Visit all of Lisa O'Hare's links here https://linktr.ee/lisa.ohare
And follow her on twitter here https://twitter.com/TheLisaOHare

 Visit Master House Publishing’s website and order Lisa’s book here  https://masterhousepublishing.com/
And follow Master House on twitter here https://twitter.com/MasterHousePub

You can find out more about Alexandra Beaumont and read some of her short fiction via her website here https://abeaumont75.wixsite.com/home
And follow her on twitter here https://twitter.com/ABeaumontWriter

 Visit Alexandra’s publisher Gurt Dog Press here https://gurtdogpress.com/
And follow the press on twitter here https://twitter.com/GurtDogPress
Pre-order a copy of Testament of The Stars here https://gurtdogpress.com/testament-of-the-stars-by-alexandra-beaumont/

 To find out more about our forthcoming audio drama productions The Hunt by Emily Inkpen, The Silver Ball by Anna Chorlton and our next podcast, Keeper of Songs by Fiona Mountain please follow us on social media

You can follow Alternative Stories via twitter here https://twitter.com/StoriesAltAnd on Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/

 In our extract from Keeper of Songs you heard the voice of Nicholas John
In our extract from The Silver Ball you heard the voices of Carly Barnes, Kate Edney and Tiffany Clare 

 If you would like to join one of our workshops on writing audio drama please follow the link below   We are taking bookings for our course on 17th May

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/an-introduction-to-writing-for-audio-drama-with-alternative-stories-tickets-148761496641?aff=ebdsoporgprofile

 There'll be no Alternative Stories podcast next week.  We return on Friday 7th May with a new audio drams Keeper of Songs by Fiona Mountain starring Amy Forrest and Keeley Lane

In this edition we chat with historical novelist Fiona Mountain about her forthcoming novel and audio drama “The Keeper of Songs”.  We include excerpts from the audio drama of and from some of her other novels and talk about the role of music in inspiring Fiona, her historical research and the effects of the pandemic on her creativity. 

 This edition features excerpts from the forthcoming audio drama of The Keeper of Songs starring Amy Forrest and Keeley Lane and adapted from her novel of the same name by Fiona Mountain.  It features the track “Henry and Clara” by Bella Hardy which is reproduced with Bella’s permission. 

 The audio drama is produced by Nicholas John with Audio edit, mix and mastering: David Pickering Pick at ffg media  www.ffgmedia.co.uk

 You can find out more about Fiona Mountain and order her books by visiting her website https://www.fionamountain.com/ 

 To join Fiona’s mailing list to be informed when pre-order for The Keeper of Songs opens please click the link at the foot of the website home page. 

 If you would like to purchase copies of Fiona’s novels you can visit her Amazon page here 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fiona-Mountain/e/B001HMN6QU?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_4&qid=1568592964&sr=1-4-catcorr

 You can follow Fiona on social media via twitter here https://twitter.com/FionaMountain

And on Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/fionamountainwriter/

 To find out more about Bella Hardy and to purchase copies of her albums you can visit her website here  https://www.bellahardy.com/

Fiona mentions folk singer and writer Sam Lee during the podcast.  You can find out more about Sam, his music and his latest book all about the nightingale by visiting his website here   https://samleesong.co.uk/

  If you would like to book a place on our Introduction to Writing for Audio Drama Workshop on 17th May you can do so via our Eventbrite page here
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/an-introduction-to-writing-for-audio-drama-with-alternative-stories-tickets-148761496641

 Subscribe to Alternative Stories in your favourite podcast app to have all future editions delivered to your feed the moment they are released and to access our full archive of audio drama poetry and fiction podcasts. 

Follow us on social media to find out what we’re up to and to get news on forthcoming podcasts via twitter here https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt

And Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/
You can contact us via email office@alternativestories.com 

Coming soon we’ll have poetry from Gregory Leadbetter and drama from Anna Chorlton and Emily Inkpen. 

In this special edition we’ll be listening to poems from four regular contributors to the podcast and hearing a little about their approaches to writing poetry.  

The presenter is Sally Walker-Taylor
Sound recordings in this podcast were made by the contributors and sound design, mixing and music were by Chris Gregory

 The poems in this podcast are 

 Binder’s Blue by Marie Claire Wood
The Afternoon Route by TAK Erzinger
Bellwether by Kevan Mawaring
Little Red Morrigan by Sarra Culleno
Kintsugi in the Age of Social Media by Marie-Claire Wood
Chemical Bonds by TAK Erzinger 
Calving of the Berg by Kevan Manwaring 
Ab-Zohr’s Temple Sonnet (Offering To The Waters) by Sarra Culleno 
My Mother’s Dresser by Marie-Claire Wood 
Canto de mi Sangre (Song of My Blood) by TAK Erzinger
Choices by Kevan Manwaring 
The Beach-Goers by Sarra Culleno 

Marie-Claire Wood is an actor, writer, model and presenter.  She has presented several episodes of Alternative Stories and appeared in our dramas Backdrop. Hare Spell and Out of The Darkness for which she was a co-writer.  She is an accomplished poetry reader and can be heard reading poems by Phoebe Stuckes and Maria-Taylor in series 3 of Alt Stories and as the lead voice in our audiobook version of the Invisible Borders anthology by Hypatia Publications.   Marie-Claire will be appearing in the new audio drama series Small Gods soon.

 Find out more about Marie-Claire and follow her on twitter here https://twitter.com/MarieClaireWood

 TAK Erzinger is an American Swiss writer with Colombian background currently living in Switzerland.  Her collection “At The Foot of The Mountain” has recently been published by Floricanto Press and is available to buy via links in TAK’s twitter feed and from Amazon.  TAK was the writer of our recent audio drama “Stella’s Constellation” which was based on part of an upcoming novel.  She is also an accomplished artist and has contributed poems to our “Through The Trees” anthology. 

 Find out more about TAK and follow her on twitter here https://twitter.com/ErzTak

 Dr Kevan Manwaring is a Senior Lecturer in creative writing at the Arts University in Bournemouth.  The author of many works of fiction and poetry he was the writer of our audio drama Black Box which was based on his award-winning novel of the same name.  A committed ecologist and writer in the field of climate fiction, Kevan also contributed to our special edition on that subject as well as to out discussion on folklore recently.   We are planning further projects with Kevan and you should follow him (and us) to find out more about them.

 Follow Kevan on twitter here https://twitter.com/bardicacademic

And visit his website here https://thebardicacademic.wordpress.com/

 Sarra Culleno may be best known to Alternative Stories listeners as one of the writing team behind our acclaimed audio drama Hare Spell.  That drama was partly inspired by Sarra’s original story The Hares of  Horsenden Hill which we also dramatised alongside Hare Spell. Sarra has contributed poetry to a number of editions of the podcast and we are incredibly proud and pleased to announce that her debut short fiction collection “Bonds” will be published later this year.  We’ll hear much more about that on Alternative Stories soon. 

 Follow Sarra on twitter here https://twitter.com/sarra1978

 We hope you enjoy listening to poems from all four contributors.  

At the height of the UK's lockdown Holly travels to Cornwall to visit her family.   As she learns more about the folklore and customs of the county her story becomes enmeshed with that of Hedrek, a hurler from Cornwall's distant past. 

In the Silver Ball by Anna Chorlton you heard, in order of appearance 

 Tim Cartwright As Conan 
Michael Fenner as the Vicar of St Cleer 
Jowan Jacobs as Hedrek
Jamie Trotter as Jago
Tiffany Clare as Holly
Kate Edney as Helen
Carly Barnes as Amy and Heather
And Sally Walker-Taylor as Mary

 Other voices were played by members of the cast

 The music in The Silver Ball was arranged and performed by Mike O’Connor based on traditional Cornish tunes. Additional music is by Chris Gregory

 Production, sound design and soundscapes were by Chris Gregory
Sound effects are from Freesound.org 
The presenter of this podcast is Sally Walker Taylor 

 If you would like to find out more about the author of The Silver Ball, the Cornish poet and folklorist Anna Cholrton You can follow her on twitter here https://twitter.com/anna_chorlton
And visit her website here http://www.annachorlton.com/

All the locations and customs mentioned in the story are based on real sites and events in Cornwall.  We’ll be chatting to Anna about hurling and especially about Cornwall’s many stone circles and the folklore associated with them in a future edition of the podcast. 

 We would like to thank all of our actors for taking part in The Silver Ball.  Most of the lines you heard were delivered by Cornish actors or actors with a strong connection to the county, recording from their homes. Recording took place before the UK’s lockdown restrictions eased, using the actors’ own recording equipment.  If the sound quality varies slightly we apologise and hope this doesn’t interfere with your enjoyment of the story. 

We’d also like to thank composer and musician Mike O’Connor for supplying the stunning music you heard in this drama.  You can find out more about Mike, his music and storytelling here http://www.lyngham.co.uk/mike_oconnor.html

Finally, we'd like to thank Anne Hughes, Harriet Chorlton, Les Harris and St Column Hurling.

 
If this has been your first time listening to Alternative Stories and Fake Realities please subscribe to hear more of our audio drama poetry and fiction podcasts the moment they are released.
 
Follow us on twitter for news of forthcoming releases and to interact with the podcast, our actors and writers https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt

You can also follow us on Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/

 If you are a writer wishing to submit a script or an actor wishing to audition please contact us via email at office@alternativestories.com 

100 Words of Solitude is a collection of writing on the subject of the solitude and isolation resulting from the Covid lockdowns.  100 pieces of  of exactly 100 words each by 100 writers from all around the world based on the Rare Swan Press publication and from the original concept by Simon and Philippa Holloway.
Trigger warning:  The podcast contains descriptions of death, loneliness, isolation and of mental illness.  If these are likely to upset or disturb you we suggest you skip this podcast. 

Our podcast is presented by Sally Walker Taylor

The readers are Sally Walker Taylor, Marie-Claire Wood and Chris Gregory

Production, sound design, music and soundscapes are by Chris Gregory with sound effects from freesound.org 
You heard interviews with Philippa Holloway and Renee Sigel

You can buy a copy of 100 Words of Solitude from Rare Swan Press here https://rareswan.wordpress.com/rare-swan-bookshop/

 Find out more about 100 Words of Solitude by visiting the project’s website here https://100wordsofsolitude.wordpress.com/

 Follow the project on twitter https://twitter.com/100WordSolitude

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/100WordsOfSolitude

 Visit Rare Swan Press’s website for news on 100 Words and all their other fantastic publications here rareswanpress.com

Follow the press on twitter https://twitter.com/rare_swan_press

 And Instagram https://www.instagram.com/rareswanpress/

  Renee Sigel of Rare Swan Press is also the publisher of the fabulous Literati Magazine which you can find out more about here https://literati-magazine.com/

 The 100 Words of Solitude project was established to record literary responses to enforced or self imposed isolation during the 2020 Covid 19 lockdowns, It gives voices to writers across the world to capture the emotional, cultural and social impact of isolation due to the pandemic.    This is an audio representation of some of the pieces from the collection.

Heartbreak in the Time of Corona  - Aisha Hamid 

For Robby Browne New York - Attracta Fahy 

Barrier Nursing – Tony Osgood 

Brumation – Hannah Ingeborg

Deadlines and Cuddles  - Shannon Kenny

Lenses and Laughter -   R.J Kinnarney

The Kids - Manuela Palacios

Everything is Connected – Oz Hardwick

Palimpsest – Brian Kirk

Solitude  - Amantine Brodeur 

Untitled – Aymeric Fromentin 

People Watching in the Age of Self Isolation – Christina Parisi

Green White Hysteria   - Blessing Jegede

2020-05d02.  – Jurgen Schoneich

What About The Homeless?   Ibrahim Babátúndé Ibrahim

Burnt City  - Paras Abbasi 

Absence - Debabrata Sahoo

Nomadic – Dominique Hecq

Germ Hunt – Alison Lock

Brooding - Mandira Pattnaik

Remote Therapy - Natalie Reilly-Johnson

The City Haunted by Kites – Katie Piper

A New York City Keening – Joanne Sutton-Smith 

Golden Angels – Shampa Sinha 

Never Forgotten -  Cindy Matthews 

Love Me As I Am – Paula Gannon-Savvides

Close - Eleni S Askim

 Sincerest and heartfelt thanks to all the participants in this podcast and apologies to all those writers whose work appears in the collection that we were not able to include in this show.

Kizzy is listening back through old recordings of her mother, Silva talking about the mystery of a missing folk singer, Molly Marrison who disappeared on the cusp of fame in the late 60s.  As the mystery deepens an older story, that of the runaway lovers from Derbyshire folklore, becomes entwined in the investigation.  The Keeper of Songs is adapted from the new novel by Fiona Mountain and features music by Bella Hardy. 

 In The Keeper of Songs by Fiona Mountain you heard 

Amy Forrest as Silva

Keeley Lane as Kizzy

Chris Gregory as Jeff   

Nicholas John as the news reader 

and Elsa Lamb, Susan John, and Elliot John as the voices in the news montage.

The music is by Bella Hardy

The presenter is  Sally Walker-Taylor

 This audio drama was written by Fiona Mountain based on her new novel of the same name.  You can purchase The Keeper of Songs, the book from Amazon and all the usual sources including selected local bookshops.  

You can find out more about Fiona Mountain by visiting her website at https://www.fionamountain.com/

You can also follow Fiona on social media where she posts as on twitter and as https://twitter.com/FionaMountain on twitter and as https://www.instagram.com/fionamountainwriter/ on Instagram.  

Order the Keeper of Songs from Amazon here https://tinyurl.com/39666j28

 The Keeper of songs was produced by Nicholas John.  Audio editing, mixing and mastering were by David Pickering Pick at ffg media  www.ffgmedia.co.uk

The news clips montage was produced by Leopard Belly  https://tinyurl.com/ymjh77sm

Follow Nicholas John on twitter here https://twitter.com/WordSong_

And David Pickering-Pick (FFG) here https://twitter.com/ffgaudio

 The song you heard in this production was “Henry and Clara” by Bella Hardy which is taken from her album “The Dark Peak and the White”.   Find out more about Bella and buy her music by visiting her website https://www.bellahardy.com/

And follow her on twitter https://twitter.com/bellahardy

 If you follow Alternative Stories on twitter where we post as https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt look out for our upcoming  competitions in which we’ll be giving away prizes from Fiona and from Bella Hardy.

 You may also be interested in listening to our recent podcast in which we interviewed Fiona and heard some passages from her previous novels.   You can find it here https://www.buzzsprout.com/411730/8482676 

 Coming up on Alternative Stories and Fake Realities we’ll have science fiction drama from Emily Inkpen, poetry from Gregory Leadbetter and a special edition in which we interview poet and novelist Salena Godden and hear dramatized excerpts from her debut novel Mrs Death Misses Death.  Please subscribe by searching for alternative stories in your favourite podcast app to have all new editions delivered directly to you on their day of release and to have access to our full archive of audio drama poetry and fiction podcasts 

Mrs Death Misses Death is the acclaimed debut novel from poet and activist Salena Godden.  Telling the story of a female death figure and a young writer called Wolf who strikes up an unlikely rapport with her, this podcast has  excerpts from the novel and a full length interview with Salena.  Listeners should note that this podcast contains swearing and descriptions of death.  If these are likely to upset or offend you please skip this podcast. 

 In Mrs Death Misses Death you heard an interview with  Salena Godden and our readers were Hadiya Morris, Kelsey Griffin and Nina Nikolic.  You heard excerpts from the audiobook of Mrs Death. 

 Sound design, music, soundscapes and production were by Chris Gregory with sound effects from free sound.org.

The presenter was  Tiffany Clare. 

If you would like to buy a copy of the book, e-book or audio book of Mrs Death Misses Death published by Canongate books they are widely available in bookshops and via online retailers. 
You can purchase it online via amazon or here via Hive
https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Salena-Godden/Mrs-Death-Misses-Death/25330558

You can also buy Mrs Death as an e-book via Hive or via the Kindle store on Amazon

The audio book version of Mrs Death is available here via the Audible store https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Mrs-Death-Misses-Death-Audiobook/1838851216
If you are outside the United Kingdom you should certainly be able to get hold of an e-book version of Mrs Death but you may also find that physical copies are stocked in your local bookseller.  Please check locally for availability

To find out more about Salena Godden please visit her website here http://www.salenagodden.co.uk/

And follow her on social media via twitter here https://twitter.com/salenagodden

And Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/salena.godden/

 Mrs Death Misses Death is published by Canongate Books.  You can visit their website here https://canongate.co.uk/

 We would like to pass on our heartfelt thanks to Canongate for allowing us to reproduce sections of the novel and the audio book of Mrs Death Misses Death.  We'd especially like to thank Salena Godden for her time, love, encouragement  and support in the making of this podcast.

Special thanks go to our voice actors  Hadiya, Morris  Kelsey Griffin , Nina Nikolic and Tiffany Clare for their brilliant contributions to this podcast.

In this special edition we look at the folklore and folk tales associated with the stone circles and standing stones of the British Isles.   Our guests are Anna Chorlton, Kevan Manwaring, Amy Boucher, Chloe Germaine and Catherine Munro and we visit stone circles from Cornwall up to Orkney and Shetland taking in Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, Shropshire and Cumbrian circles along the way. 

 Our guests in this podcast are Anna Chorlton, Kevan Manwaring, Amy Boucher, Chloe Germaine and Catherine Munro

 The presenter of this podcast is Kate Edney
The readers are Sally Walker Taylor and Ilaria Passeri
Music, sound design, editing and mixing were by Chris Gregory
Sound effects were from Freesound.org 

 As this is a long edition of the podcast we’re providing some timing notes for the various sections.  If your podcast player supports it you should be able to use clickable chapter markers to jump straight to these sections. If not the timings below should help you.
1.40 Cornwall with Anna Chorlton  https://twitter.com/anna_chorlton

14.00 Wiltshire and Oxfordshire with Kevan Manwaring https://twitter.com/bardicacademic

39.18  Shropshire with Amy Boucher https://twitter.com/g0blinegg

46.50 Cumbria with Chloe Germaine https://twitter.com/gothlit_chloe

1.13.45 Orkney and Shetland with Catherine Munro https://twitter.com/CatherineMMunro

 
Find out more about our contributors by following them on twitter or visiting their websites 

 Anna Chorlton   http://annachorlton.com/
You can find links to buy Anna’s book Cornish Folk Tales of Place which is mentioned in the podcast on her website.

Kevan Manwaring  https://thebardicacademic.wordpress.com/

Amy Boucher. https://linktr.ee/NearlyKnowledgeable 
Here you’ll find links to a number of Amy’s sites including her brilliant Nearly Knowledgeable History Blog

Chloe Germaine https://www.chloegermainebuckley.com/

Catherine Munro   https://catherinemmunro.wordpress.com/

 Follow alternative stories on twitter here https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt

And Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/

You can contact the podcast via our email address here office@alternativestories.com

In this podcast, we celebrate the publication of “Jane Is Trying” the eagerly awaited debut novel by writer, actor and comedian Isy Suttie.  Listeners will know Isy from the channel 4 series Peep Show, her BBC Radio 4 show “Isy Suttie’s Love Letters”, her critically acclaimed stand-up performances and from numerous other radio and TV appearances.   Jane Is Trying is Isy’s first novel and we chatted to her about the writing process and her inspiration for the book. 

 Jane is Trying will be out on 22nd July, the same day as this podcast is released.  It is published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson and we would like to thank them for allowing us to reproduce excerpts from the book.

 Readings are by Tiffany Clare
The presenter is Sally Walter-Taylor
The interviewer is Chris Gregory
Sound design, music and editing were by Chris Gregory

 If you would like to buy a copy of Jane Is Trying,  it is widely available through all the usual online resellers and in all good bookshops

 Buy via Wiedenfeld and Nicolson  https://www.weidenfeldandnicolson.co.uk/titles/isy-suttie/jane-is-trying/9781474600002/

Waterstones has signed copies here https://www.waterstones.com/book/jane-is-trying/isy-suttie/9781474600019

Buy through Hive here https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Isy-Suttie/Jane-is-Trying/25678533

And from Amazon (including Kindle version) here https://tinyurl.com/pvxmk2dd

Other links including to the Audible audio book version here http://hyperurl.co/JaneisTrying

 You can follow Isy on twitter here https://twitter.com/Isysuttie
And follow her podcast “ The Things We Do For Love” here  https://twitter.com/TTWDFL
And listen to “The Things We Do For Love” in you favourite podcast player here https://linktr.ee/ttwdfl

 Follow Weidenfeld and Nicolson on twitter here https://twitter.com/wnbooks

Following the deployment of the Rone Missile (in our drama The Bomb) tension is rising in Dex Industries.  Ren, Isra and Varian continue their fight in the Domonos Mountains but the rebels have new tricks up their sleeves.  The Hunt is part 2 of Emily Inkpen’s audio drama series based on her Dex Legacy universe.

 In “The Hunt” by Emily Inkpen you can hear

 Warren Graham as Tristan

Kamara Elliott as Varian

Kelsey Griffin as Isra

Charlie Richards as Ren

Annika Kordes as Osa

Lewie Watson as Devek

Stevie Skinner as Rhaya

Emily Inkpen as Auto

And Chris Gregory as Nathaniel

 
Music is by Allen Stroud

Sound design, editing and soundscapes are by Chris Gregory

Sound effects are from Freesound.org

The presenter is Emily Inkpen

 When we recorded The Hunt our cast also recorded a series of mini-episodes involving the same characters.  Please follow us, subscribe to the podcast for more news on these and when they’ll be released

Find out more about the Dex Legacy and Emily Inkpen’s novels, books and audio drama series please follow the link here https://www.thedexlegacy.com/

Follow Emily on twitter for more updates https://twitter.com/emilyinkpen

Our music is composed by Allen Stroud and you can find out more about him, his writing and news via his website here https://www.allenstroud.com/

And follow Allen on twitter here https://twitter.com/AllenJStroud

You can listen to part one of our Dex Legacy series, The Bomb via our own podcast feed here https://www.buzzsprout.com/411730/4786163-the-bomb-an-audio-drama

 Listen to our recent interview with Emily including excerpts from her novels here https://www.buzzsprout.com/411730/8339413-scifi-writers-emily-inkpen

 and catch up with all of Alternative Stories’ Science Fiction and Climate Fiction content via this Podchaser link  https://www.podchaser.com/lists/sci-fi-and-climate-fiction-on-alternative-stories-107aDoFzmM

The Hunt : Dex Legacy Episode 2 is an alternative stories 2021 production for the Alternative Stories and Fake Realities Podcast  - it was written and presented by Emily Inkpen. 

Maskwork is a 2020 collection by poet and academic Gregory Leadbetter.  Themes of folklore, ritual, theatre and nature combine in these vivid and resonant poems brought to life by the voices of our actors and with a commentary by Greg himself. 

 In Maskwork by Gregory Leadbetter you heard the following poems 

 Musician read by Charlie Richards 
Doe read by Charlie Richards 
Lapse read by Tiffany Clare 
Engine Pool, Earlswood Lakes read by Lewie Watson 
At English Bicknor read by Charlie Richards 
Unconscious Minister read by Tiffany Clare 
Tuisto read by Lewie Watson 
Sky Burial read by Tiffany Clare 
Sakadas at Delphi read by Tiffany Clare 
Scenery read by Sally Walker Taylor

 You heard a commentary and introductions to the poems by Gregory Leadbetter
Sound design, music and soundscapes were by Chris Gregory
Sound effects were from freesound.org
And the presenter in this podcast is Marie-Claire Wood.

 We would like to thank Jane Commane and Nine Arches Press for allowing us to recreate poems from Maskwork and Greg Leadbetter for his participation in the preparation and recording of this podcast.

 To find out more about Nine Arches Press and to hear more poems by Greg Leadbetter and other Nine Arches Press poets please listen to our special podcast featuring the work of the press which we put out in season 3 episode 19

Find out more about Gregory Leadbetter here https://www.versopolis-poetry.com/poet/323/gregory-leadbetter
And follow Greg on twitter here https://twitter.com/GregMLeadbetter

 Here’s a link to the Nine Arches Press website where you can find out more about the collection and buy a copy  https://ninearchespress.com/

 We would like to draw our listener’s attention to the Future Places Environmental Essay and Poetry Prize, a UK wide prize for environmental literature.  There is a top prize of £1500 for the writer of the winning essay and £800 for the winning poem. If Alt Stories listeners and contributors are interested in entering, you have until Midnight on 19th September to do so Find out more and enter here 

https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/future-places/activities/the-future-places-environmental-essay-and-poetry-prize/#d.en.496220

 You heard the voice of Karen Lloyd from the Lancaster University Future Places Centre. Visit Karen’s website here  https://karenlloyd.co.uk/ And follow her on twitter here https://twitter.com/karenlloydwrite

Book for our audio drama writing workshop with London Lit Lab here  https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/live-online-audio-drama-writing-for-sound-tickets-164463923021

 Book for our free Read Fest event about broadcasting in the pandemic on September 11th  https://pentoprint.org/eventbrite-event/readfest-broadcasting-through-the-pandemic-an-audio-perspective/

 And our read Fest introduction to writing for audio drama workshop https://pentoprint.org/eventbrite-event/readfest-an-introduction-to-audio-drama-with-alternative-stories/

In this special edition we look at “A Wild and Precious Life” an anthology of writing on the theme of recovery which was published by Unbound in May 2021.  We have a selection of pieces from the collection read by our actors and insight from some of the writers who submitted pieces to the collection.  We also speak to Lily Dunn and Zoe Gilbert who had the idea for the anthology, compiled and edited it. **Trigger Warning** This podcast contains references to drug use, trauma and bereavement as well as swearing.  Listeners likely to be affected by any of these should avoid this podcast.

In this podcast you heard the following pieces
“Script” by Maggie Sawkins Read by Tiffany Clare
“The Last Summer” by Susannah Vernon-Hunt read by Marie-Claire Wood
“Silence” by T K Saeed read by Tiffany Clare
“Begging For Change” by Gary Bryan read by Charlie Richards
“Lucky” by J L Hall read by Sophie McNair
“Holding Joe” by James O’Leary read by Niall Wright
“Matt’s Song” by Helen Rye read by Sophie McNair
“Last Orders Ladies and Gentlemen please” by John Pearson read by Chris Gregory
“What’s all this time for” by Ford Dagenham read by Chris Gregory
“Are You Intoxicated” by Rob True read by Chris Gregory

The podcast is presented by Tiffany Clare
The interviewer is Chris Gregory
Music, sound design and soundscapes are by Chris Gregory
We are proud to feature insight from the following writers on their contributions to A Wild and Precious Life:
Rob True
J L Hall
Maggie Sawkins
John Pearson
and Helen Rye

Buy a copy of A Wild and Precious Life
From Bookshop.org https://uk.bookshop.org/books/a-wild-and-precious-life-a-recovery-anthology/9781783529643 
From publisher Unbound (including e-book version)https://unbound.com/books/recovery/
In the UK you will also  find copies in many book shops.  Outside the UK you may find copies on Amazon and local online booksellers

Follow Lily Dun on twitter here https://twitter.com/Lilydunnwriter
and via her website here https://lilydunn.co.uk/

 Follow Zoe Gilbert on twitter here https://twitter.com/mindandlanguage
And at her website here http://zoegilbert.com/

 And follow London Lit Lab on twitter here https://twitter.com/londonlitlab
For more information on courses and workshops via their website here https://www.londonlitlab.co.uk/
To book onto our Writing for Audio Drama workshop on 6th November please click here https://www.londonlitlab.co.uk/course/live-online-audio-drama-writing-for-sound/

Welcome to our special anthology podcast celebrating the UK’s National Poetry Day 2021. We have a mix of poems from the podcast in the past year and new poems in forthcoming collections. 

The presenter is Tiffany Clare 
Readers (where not read by the poets themselves) are Marie-Claire Wood, Niall Wright and Charlie Richards
Sound design, soundscapes, and production are by Chris Gregory

• Kim Moore : “All The Men I Never Married”  performed by Kim Moore with music by Dave Boraston.  This is taken from Kim’s new collection of the same name, published this week by Seren Books 
• Polly Atkin : “Epiphany Insomnia” and “Frog Season” peformed by Polly Atkin from her Seren Books collection “Much With Body”
• Mona Arshi “Egg” and “Hurry (A Migration Song)” read by Tiffany Clare
• Salena Godden “The Red Tower” from “Mrs Death Misses Death by Salena Godden (originally published as part of our podcast with Salena in July) read by Salena Godden
• Phoebe Stuckes “Baby, You Know What I want” and “Dolly Parton Enters a Dolly Parton Lookalike contest in a gay bar and does not place” read by Marie-Claire Wood from the Verve Poetry Press pamphlet “The One Girl Gremlin”
• Sarra Culleno “Tantrum” from her forthcoming collection “Bonds” read by the author
• Carolyn Jess-Cooke “Peeling The Skin”read by the writer from  her forthcoming Seren Books collection “We have to Leave The Earth”
• Hannah Ingeborg “Brumation” read by the author and Joanne Sutton Smith “ A New York City Keening”  read by Marie-Claire Wood taken from the Rare Swan Press Collection “100 Words of Solitude” 
• Lisa O’Hare “Lockdown Life, A Roller-coaster of Emotions” from her Master House Publishing collection of the same name
• Gregory Leadbetter “Optics” read by Charlie Richards and taken from his Nine Arches Press collection “Maskwork” 
• James O’Leary “Holding Joe” read by Niall Wright and Maggie Sawkins “Script” read by Tiffany Clare from the collection “A Wild and Precious Life edited by Zoe Gilbert and Lily Dunn. 

Follow our poets on twitter

 Kim Moore https://twitter.com/kimmoorepoet
Polly Atkin https://twitter.com/pollyrowena
Mona Arshi https://twitter.com/arshi_mona
Salena Godden https://twitter.com/salenagodden
Phoebe Stuckes  https://twitter.com/phoebestuckes
Sarra Culleno https://twitter.com/sarra1978
Carolyn Jess-Cooke https://twitter.com/CJessCooke
Rare Swan Press (100 Words of Solitude publisher) https://twitter.com/rare_swan_press
Lisa O’Hare https://twitter.com/TheLisaOHare
Gregory Leadbetter https://twitter.com/GregMLeadbetter

Find out more about Seren poets, Kim Moore, Polly Atkin and Carolyn Jess-Cooke and buy their books via the Seren website and listen out for some special podcasts with Seren coming soon https://www.serenbooks.com/

Visit Nine Arches Press  https://www.ninearchespress.com/

 You can find out much more about National Poetry Day on 7th October by visiting the website  https://nationalpoetryday.co.uk/  and  twitter https://twitter.com/PoetryDayUK

Joshua Gillingham is a fantasy writer whose work is heavily inspired by Norse Mythology and the Icelandic  sagas.  In this edition of the podcast we have an interview with Josh and we hear his short story "An Empty Thing" Read by Alex C Stewart

The presenter in this edition is Sally Walker-Taylor
Sound design and music are by Chris Gregory
The interview with Josh Gillingham was recorded over zoom and we apologise for the sound variations in the recording.
The interviewer is Chris Gregory

You can find out more about Joshua Gillingham by visiting his website  

https://www.joshuagillingham.ca

and following him on twitter where he posts as https://twitter.com/JoshMGillingham

 You can buy Josh’s book The Gatewatch directly from Crows Nest Books here 

https://www.crowsnestbooks.com/product/the-gatewatch/

In this episode we featured a trailer for the new audio drama "Darkstead" by Lucy Gibb Smith.   
You can subscribe to Darkstead via the podcast’s website here https://www.darkstead.com/

And follow Darkstead on twitter here https://twitter.com/DarksteadPod

You can book onto the Alternative Stories audio drama workshop with  London Lit Lab on 6th November here  https://www.londonlitlab.co.uk/course/live-online-audio-drama-writing-for-sound/

 And book for the Introduction to Audio Drama for Science Fiction Writers with Chris Gregory of Alternative Stories and Sci Fi writer Emily Inkpen on 8th November here 

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/an-introduction-to-audio-drama-for-science-fiction-writers-tickets-180790508277?aff=ebdssbonlinesearch

In this edition of the podcast we hear from poet and activist Roy McFarlane.  Roy has two collections from Nine Arches Press and a third collection to be published in 2022.  In the podcast we share a selection of Roy’s poetry and hear about what inspires and influences his work.

In this podcast you heard the following poems 

 Papers read by Kam Elliott

Clinton McCurbin 1987 read by Kam Eliiott

Joy Gardner 1993 read by Hadiya Morris

How it Feels to Be Free read by Kam Elliott and Hadiya Morris 

To the Heron who stood with me in the ruins of another black man’s life read by Kam Elliott

 
Sound design and editing are by Chris Gregory

 If you would like to find out more about Roy McFarlane and his work you can visit his website  http://roymcfarlane.com/

And follow him on twitter where he posts as https://twitter.com/rmcfarlane63

 You can buy Roy’s poetry collections “Beginning with your last Breath” and “The Healing Next Time” from publisher Nine Arches Press via their website here https://www.ninearchespress.com/publications/poetry-collections/

Find out more about Nine Arches and follow them on twitter here  https://twitter.com/NineArchesPress

search websites in your area to find out about Black History Month events taking place near you. 

 Next on Alternative Stories we feature Seren Books, the South Wales based publisher celebrating their 40th anniversary in 2021

In this edition we celebrate the 40th anniversary of Seren Books, the publisher from south Wales responsible for launching the careers of many poets and for putting out a series of memorable poetry collections including a few featured previously on Alt Stories 

 In this podcast you can hear an interview with Seren’s outgoing poetry editor Amy Wack who leaves the press at the end of October 2021.  She looks back at her time with Seren and the changes to the style and readership of poetry since she joined. 

 The presenter of this podcast is Nadia Wyn Abouayen and the readers from Alt Stories are Tiffany Clare and Chris Gregory

 We feature the following poems in this podcast 

 “We are coming” by Kim Moore is taken from her recently published collection “All the men I never married” and is read by Tiffany Clare 

 “Yet, he remembers Baghdad” by Abeer Ameer from the 2021 collection “Inhale / Exile” read by Tiffany Clare 

 “Air Camera” by Christopher Meredith from his collection “Still” is read by Chris Gregory

 “Wrack of Summer” is taken from Polly Atkin’s latest collection “Much With Body” and is read by Tiffany Clare 

 “Karaoke King” is the title poem of Dai George’s latest collection which came out in June.  The reader is Chris Gregory. 

 “Paean for a cliff railway driver” is written and read by Paul Henry and is taken from the upcoming collection “As if to sing” to be published by Seren in 2022

 From the collection “Let Me Tell you What I saw” by Adnan Al Sayegh, the recording we include features the voice of translator Jenny Lewis reading the text in English whilst Adnan Al Sayegh reads the original Arabic version.  The music in the background is called “The Moon Fades” and it is reproduced here with the kind permission of Naseer Shamma 
Production, sound design, editing and music are by Chris Gregory unless stated.  
We would like to thank Sarah Johnson of Seren Books for her invaluable help in the making of this podcast and Amy Wack for sharing her thoughts on her time at Seren with us.  We’d also like to thank all of the contributing poets for allowing us to use their poems.

 If you would like to find out more about Seren Books and buy the collections featured you can do so by visiting the press’s website here  https://www.serenbooks.com/

You can also follow Seren on social media here 

https://twitter.com/SerenBooks

https://www.instagram.com/serenbooks/

 You can also follow our featured poets 

Kim Moore https://twitter.com/kimmoorepoet

Polly Atkin https://twitter.com/pollyrowena

Abeer Ameer https://twitter.com/hijjabi

Paul Henry https://www.paulhenrypoet.co.uk/

Dai George http://daigeorge.com/

Christopher Meredith https://christophermeredit9.wixsite.com/website

Adnan Al-Sayegh http://adnanalsayegh.com/eng/

 Please follow Alternative Stories on twitter at https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt for information on our upcoming drama, poetry and fiction podcasts as well as our workshops and writer / publisher services

In this edition of the podcast we look at “Somebody Loves You”, the debut novel by acclaimed poet Mona Arshi.  We’ll bring you extracts from the novel read by actress Rakhee Sharma, an interview and some of Mona’s poetry. 

The presenter in this edition is Sally Walker Taylor, the readers are Rakhee Sharma and Tiffany Clare. and the interviewer is Chris Gregory.

 Sound design, production and music are by Chris Gregory

 We would like to thank Mona Arshi for her time and support in the making of this podcast.  We’re also grateful to And Other Stories for allowing us to feature Somebody Loves You and reproduce extracts from it.

 If you would like to buy “Somebody Loves You” you can do so directly from the publisher by visiting  https://www.andotherstories.org/  where you can buy or pre-order a paperback or e-book version of the novel.    You can also buy the book through all the usual outlets 

 Alternative Stories is pleased to recommend bookshop.org – all purchases from this retailer support local bookshops of your choice.  

You can find out more about Mona Arshi by visiting her website https://www.monaarshi.com/

 And follow her on social media where she posts as https://twitter.com/arshi_mona 

And Instagram where she is https://www.instagram.com/monaarshipoetry/ 

  You can visit publisher And Other Stories’ website here https://www.andotherstories.org/

Follow them on twitter via https://twitter.com/andothertweets

And on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/andotherpics/

 If you have enjoyed this edition of the podcast please consider subscribing to have all our future editions delivered directly to your podcast feed.  We make audio drama, poetry and fiction podcasts as well as writer interviews and writing advice. 

 Coming soon on Alternative Stories we’ll be sharing a new audio drama, “Real Boy” by Cailean Steed and we’ll be chatting to novelist Zoe Gilbert, memoirist Lily Dunn and other guests about the art of storytelling.  

Bonds is the debut short story collection by poet, dramatist and friend of the podcast Sarra Culleno.  Dealing with the bonds between mothers and children as its main theme it skips genres between science fiction, fantasy and folklore.  We have an interview with Sarra and excerpts from the stories.

You can order a copy of Bonds directly from the CAAB Publishing website here https://www.caabpublishing.co.uk/store/Fiction-c45916043

It’s also available from Waterstones and Amazon

Follow Sarra Culleno on social media here 

https://twitter.com/sarra1978

https://www.instagram.com/sarracullenopoetry/

And follow CAAB Publishing on twitter here 

https://twitter.com/CaabPublishing

The readings from the story Machina Ex Deus which appears in Bonds were by Tiffany Clare and Alex White

In the excerpt from The Hares of Horsenden Hill you heard the voices of Stevie Skinner and Amy Forrest.  Music was by Inge Thompson 

The excerpt from Greenman was read by Annabelle Broad

Contact Alternative Stories at office@alternativestories.com to enquire about upcoming audio drama writing workshops as mentioned by Sarra in the podcast. 

In this podcast we look at the art and techniques of storytelling.  We speak to novelist Zoe Gilbert about the ways in which she uses folklore and folk tales as inspiration and backdrop for her storytelling and actress Tiffany Clare about telling stories through characters and narration.

Our first guest in this edition is Zoe Gilbert.  Zoe won the Costa Short Story prize in 2014.  He debut novel Folk was published to considerable acclaim and featured on BBC Radio.  Zoe's second novel Mischief Acts will be published in 2022.  She co-founded London Lit Lab with novelist and memoirist Lily Dunn who we'll be featuring in part two of this short series.

Find out more about Zoe and her work by visiting her website here
http://zoegilbert.com/
You can follow her on twitter here https://twitter.com/mindandlanguage

 Find out more about London Lit Lab and sign up for their courses and workshops here https://www.londonlitlab.co.uk/

 You can buy Folk as paperback, e-book or audiobook through all the usual outlets.

 Tiffany Clare is an actress working on stage, screen and in audio drama.  She has appeared in many Alternative Stories dramas being nominated for two audio verse awards for her appearances in our dramas The Adults in The Room and No Words.  The latter represented the UK at the International Radio Drama Festival in 2020.  Tiffany works as a voice artist in commercials, presents podcasts and has worked as a voice actor for video games. 

 If you would like to work with Tiffany you can contact her via her website https://www.voicebytiffany.com/

 In this podcast you can hear extracts from the following 

•  Two extracts from Mischief Acts by Zoe Gilbert read by Sally Walker-Taylor
• An extract from Folk by Zoe Gilbert read by Tiffany Clare
• An extract from The Seeing Trees by Kaitlin Felix featuring Tiffany Clare and Charlie Richards 
• An Extract from The Adults in the Room featuring Tiffany Clare and Catherine D’Addario

 We would like to thank Bloomsbury, Zoe Gilbert’s publisher for permission to recreate extracts from her books for this podcast.  You can visit Bloomsbury here 

https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/
And follow them on twitter here https://twitter.com/BloomsburyBooks

 
In our next podcasts you’ll be able to hear 

·      Storytelling Part Two featuring Lily Dunn

·      Real Boy, a new audio drama by Cailean Steed 

·      A folklore special edition about creatures, beasts and familiars in folklore guest-edited by Signe Maene

·      Midwinter Monologues – our Christmas 2021 edition featuring short seasonal monologues from a variety of writers. 

Mastrocherry is a tech company making poppets - highly realistic replicas of real humans.  Senior engineer Catherine Antonio and Junior Reclaim Engineer Fox Cameron have a problem.  A poppet has been returned by a VIP customer and they must diagnose the reasons for some alarming behavioural traits it has been displaying.  Can it really be possible that the poppet has become self-aware and started to display violent tendencies?

Real Boy is written by Cailean Steed and was the winner of the 2021 Pen To Print Audio Play Competition.  

In Real Boy you can hear 
Alex White as Fox
Kelley Costigan as Cat
Kirsty Woolven as Carlo
Carl Wharton as Father
Hadiya Morris as Mother
and Verity Blyth as Azure

Music, sound design, direction and production are by Chris Gregroy
Casting and character direction are by Chris Gregory and Cailean Steed 
Sound effects are from freesound.org 
The script for Real Boy is copyright Cailean Steed and the produced audio drama copyright Alternative Stories / Cailean Steed. 

 Find out more about our writer Cailean Steed by following  them on twitter at https://twitter.com/CaileanSteed

 We would like to thank Cailean for their invaluable work in the production of this drama.  

 Real Boy was the winner of the 2021 Pen to Print Audio Drama writing competition. If you are a dramatist and would like to enter the 2022 competition, please visit www.pentoprint.org for details of how to do so or to join an audio drama writing workshop.  These workshops are run by Chris Gregory from Alternative Stories and the next one will be on Thursday 20th January. 

 If you have enjoyed listening to Real Boy please check out our other audio dramas via our podcast feed.  

 Real Boy is an Alternative Stories 2021 production for the Alternative Stories and Fake Realities Podcast 

In this edition we resume the theme of storytelling, this time looking at the art and techniques of telling stories from real life. Our guest, Lily Dunn is a novelist, memoirist and teacher whose debut memoir, Sins of My Father will be out in March 2022. 

 Excerpts from Sins of My Father in this podcast are read by Lily Dunn
The interviewer is Chris Gregory
Production, sound design, music and editing are by Chris Gregory

 Lily Dunn is a writer, teacher and lecturer in creative writing and narrative nonfiction at Bath Spa University. She is the author of one novel, SHADOWING THE SUN, and co-editor with Zoe Gilbert of A WILD AND PRECIOUS LIFE, an anthology of recovery stories.

You can find out more about Lily by visiting her website here
https://lilydunn.co.uk/

And follow Lily on social media
Via twitter https://twitter.com/Lilydunnwriter
And Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lilydunnwriting/

Lily's memoir, Sins of My Father will be published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson in March.  We think W&N for permission to use excerpts from the book in this podcast.

Lily and Zoe Gilbert co-founded and teach for London Lit Lab.  If you have enjoyed listening to Zoe and Lily chatting about storytelling and the art of writing please visit their website at the address below to find out about and book onto their courses and workshops.
https://www.londonlitlab.co.uk/
For updates about London Lit Lab courses and activities follow them on social media here Via twitter https://twitter.com/londonlitlab
And Instagram https://www.instagram.com/londonlitlab/

 You can listen to part one of our Storytelling series with Zoe Gilbert and Tiffany Clare here https://www.buzzsprout.com/411730/9672055-storytelling-part-one-with-zoe-gilbert-and-tiffany-clare

Listen out for future podcasts about storytelling featuring professional storyteller Ilaria Passeri and playwright and scriptwriter Lucy Kaufman

If you have enjoyed this or any of our podcasts we would be grateful if you could provide us with a rating and review preferably on Apple Podcasts here
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/alternative-stories-and-fake-realities/id1470495562
or Podchaser here
https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/alternative-stories-and-fake-r-882341

 and if you would like to contact us, submit work or enquire about our actors, production services or course and workshops please drop us a note via office@alternativestories.com 

In this special edition guest-edited by Signe Maene we look at the folklore and folk stories associated with animals, beasts and familiars.  Our guests are Terri Windling, Zoe Gilbert, Willow Winsham, Icy Sedgewick and Natalja Saint-Germain

Thank you to Signe Maene, Terri Windling, Zoe Gilbert, Willow Winsham, Icy Sedgwick and Natalja Saint German for being out guests on the podcast today.  We’ve posted links so you can find out more about our guests and follow their blogs, podcasts, websites and social media as part of these show notes.

 Find out more about our guests by visiting their websites, listening to their podcasts and following them on social media 

 Signe Maene
https://signemaene.com/
Twitter https://twitter.com/MaeneSigne
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/signemaene/
Signe also co-edits the Wyrd Wednesday hashtag on twitter which you can follow here https://twitter.com/WyrdWednesday

 Terri Windling
https://www.terriwindling.com/
Twitter  https://twitter.com/terriwindling
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/bumblehillstudio/

 Zoe Gilbert
http://zoegilbert.com/zoe-gilbert/
Twitter https://twitter.com/mindandlanguage
Zoe teaches creative writing, often with a folkloric twist, with London Lit Lab.  Find out more here  https://www.londonlitlab.co.uk/

 Icy Sedgewick
https://www.icysedgwick.com/ where you can link to her books and her wonderful Fabulous Folklore Podcast
Twitter https://twitter.com/icysedgwick
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/icysedgwick/

 Willow Winsham
You can find Willow’s books for sale here https://www.amazon.co.uk/Willow-Winsham/e/B01DR996L4%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share
Twitter https://twitter.com/WillowWinsham
And follow Folklore Thursday which she co-runs with Dee Dee Chainey here https://twitter.com/FolkloreThurs

 Natalja Saint-Germain
Twitter https://twitter.com/bjorn_stjerne
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/natalja_stgermain/
Natalja also co-hosts the Swamp Sunday hashtag on twitter which you can follow here https://twitter.com/swampsunday

 You can listen to all our folklore and fairytale podcasts via this podchaser link
https://www.podchaser.com/lists/folklore-and-fairytale-on-alternative-stories-107a9Gdi9h

Midwinter Monologues is a collection of seasonal short fiction by 13 different writers.  We feature stories written and performed by Alternative Stories regulars such as Lewie Watson and Marie-Claire Wood and introduce some new writers and voices.  This anthology will put you in in a festive mood and help you to consider some alternative versions of Christmas.  We all have our own midwinter stories – what’s yours? 

 “The Hidden People” by Bean Swayer performed by Sally Walker Taylor

“To All A Good Life” by Lewie Watson performed by Lewie Watson

“Winter Monologue” by Marie-Claire Wood performed by Marie-Claire Wood 

“Home for the Holidays” by Jackie Jorgenson performed by Jackie Jorgenson

“The Sunday Morning Club” by Sally Goble read by Tiffany Clare 

“The Golden Ball” by Gessica Sakamoto Martini performed by Sally Walker-Taylor

“Turkey Story” By Jude Whiley-Morton read by Jude Whiley-Morton

“The Pond” by Carolyn Stockdale read by Tiffany Clare 

“Solstice” by Daniel Draper read by Daniel Draper 

“The Sun Stones” (A Solstice Story) by Kevan Manwaring read by Kevan Manwaring

“Monologue” By Ford Dagenham read by Chris Gregory 

“Trouble and Strife” By Janet O’Donnell read by Janet O’Donnell

“Unread Stories” By Maggie Sawkins read by Maggie Sawkins

 Thank you to all our writers and readers for their contributions to this podcast.  Special thanks to Lily Dunn, Zoe Gilbert and Ennis Welbourne of London Lit Lab for their help in finding us so many brilliant new writers for this edition.

You heard trailers for 2 new Alternative Stories productions in this podcast.
Find out more about the Dex Legacy by visiting our website https://www.thedexlegacy.com/
and subscribe to the podcast here https://www.buzzsprout.com/1868546 to hear our first episodes as they are released in January
Follow The Dex Legacy on twitter here https://twitter.com/thedexlegacy

 Write On! Audio from Pen to Print is a podcast aimed at writers everywhere.  You can subscribe here or by searching “Pen To Print” in your favourite podcast app https://anchor.fm/pentoprint
And follow Pen to Print on twitter here https://twitter.com/Pen_to_Print

 We also shared a trailer for our recent audio drama Real Boy by Cailean Steed.  Listen free here https://www.buzzsprout.com/411730/9690521-real-boy-an-audio-drama

 We would like to take this opportunity to wish all our listeners an enjoyable festive season and a creative, exciting and story-filled 2022.  From all at Alternative Stories, thank you so much for listening in 2021 and please join us again for season 6 next year.

If you would like to contact us while we're away please email us at office@alternativestories.com or follow us on  social media
 https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt
https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/