Posted in: Season 3

Efflorescence by Miki Lentin

Efflorescence, a short story by Miki Lentin takes us into that time when a man bumps into a friend unexpectedly while on an evening walk, with surprising consequences.

Efflorescence is part of a collection of short stories released by Miki Lentin called I er Core, published by Afsana Press that is available to buy as an ebook and paperback with proceeds of all sales going to the refugee charity foodKIND.

Miki Lentin took up writing while travelling the world with his family a few years ago. He completed an MA in Creative Writing at Birkbeck in 2020 and was a finalist in the 2020 Irish Novel Fair for his first book Winter Sun.

He has been placed highly in competitions including Fish Publishing Short Memoir 2020 and 2022 and Leicester Writes and has been published in LitroStorgyStory Radio, MIR amongst others. Miki volunteers with refugee charity foodkind in Greece, and dreams of one day ru ing a café again. Find him on Twitter @mikilentin or read his work on his website.

https://www.mikilentin.net/my-writing 

The reader was Francis Gilbert.

Francis Gilbert has been writing fiction for many years. He is best known for his memoir, I’m A Teacher, Get Me Out of Here (2004 Short Books), his story of working as a young, incompetent i er-city school teacher in the 1990s. It was serialized as Radio 4’s Book at Bedtime, and spawned a sequel, Teacher on the Run (2006 Short Books).

 His novel The Last Day of Term (2011 Blue Door Press) is also set in school. However, more recently he has explored more personal topics in his fiction: Who Do You Love (Blue Door Press 2017) is about a middle-aged man reflecting upon a university romance, and Snow on the Danube (2019) is about a brother and sister torn apart by the Second World War.

For the past few years, he has been working on writing short stories. He was delighted to read Miki Lentin’s powerful short fiction, which he feels shares many similarities with his own work in its depiction of tortured, emotional men. He really loved Miki’s story Efflorescence, and hopes other people enjoy his reading of it, as much as he liked recording it.

His day job is as senior lecturer in education at Goldsmiths, but his heart truly remains in writing and reading fiction. 

http://www.francisgilbert.co.uk

http://www.bluedoorpress.co.uk

This episode was produced by Tabitha Potts.

Posted in: Season 3

A Mean Spirit by Joan Treacy

A group of mourners attend a funeral and a wake for a shopkeeper and we learn more about his past and relationships.

This short story was written and read by Joan Treacy.

Joan Treacy has been writing for about five years. She has written many short stories and several of them have been published in Irish magazines. She is a member of Leixlip library writing group and they have helped and encouraged her writing. She is also the author of a horror novel, Orchard House.

Produced by Martin Nathan

Martin Nathan has worked as a labourer, showman, pancake chef, fire technician, and a railway engineer. His short fiction has been published by Tangent Press, HCE and Grist and his poetry has appeared in Finished Creatures, Erbacce and Aesthetica. His novel – A Place of Safety is published by Salt Publishing.

Posted in: Season 3

Interview with Lindsay Gillespie and A Summoning Spell by Lindsay Gillespie

This month Martin Nathan interviews Lindsay Gillespie who was a finalist in the Costa Short Story prize this year with her story Pholas Dactylus. The Costa prize involves them recording the three stories and then a public vote.

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You can also listen to one of the stories she wrote for Story Radio two years ago, A Summoning Spell, read by Saskia Butler.

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If you would like to read her prize-winning story you can download Pholas Dactylus here.

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Warning: A Summoning Spell contains some adult language and is not suitable for under-18s.

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Posted in: Season 3

The Necropolis Railway by Tabitha Potts

A clerk goes to a funeral and meets a mysterious young woman in this short story set on the famous Victorian ‘Ghost Train’.

This story was written and produced by Tabitha Potts.

The story was read by Nigel Fyfe.

Nigel Fyfe is an actor and voiceover artist. Alongside stage and screen work, he has recorded audio drama with Wireless Theatre and Ragged Foils, and a number of audiobooks.

The photograph used to illustrate this podcast is by John Cunliffe of Scope Enterprise and is from the Hathaways of Haworth blog.

Sounds under CC-BY 3.0:

Steam Train 1.wav by Benboncan