Posted in: Season 3

Pure at Heart by Patricia Furstenberg

A young girl is fascinated by the story of a magical being hidden in the forest outside her home, and goes out at night to look for her.

Written by Patrica Furstenberg and read by Lysandra Furstenberg.

With a medical degree behind her, writer and poet Patricia Furstenberg authored 18 books imbued with history, folklore, legends. The recurrent motives in her writing are unconditional love and war. Her essays and poetry appeared in various online literary magazines. Romanian born, she resides with her family in South Africa.

Follow her on Twitter @patfurstenberg

Find her on Facebook patriciafurstenbergauthor

The story was produced by Tabitha Potts.

Photo credit swatcop on Morguefile.com.

Posted in: Season 3
Dogs

Dogs by S P Murphy

A woman at home with her baby during lockdown hears the unsettling sound of dogs fighting in the street. It isn’t long before she is in danger herself – and she has to decide how to fight back.

Dogs by S P Murphy was first published in Litro Magazine.

S. P. Murphy is an American writer and arts consultant living in London. He has served on the board of PEN America and the Victoria and Albert Museum. He writes short stories and contributes articles on culture and politics to various publications. He is working on his first novel, a love story set in the US in 1970, when the nation was, like today, tragically divided.

This episode was produced by Tabitha Potts.

Posted in: Season 3

A terrible thing has happened by Elinora Westfall

It is March 1941 during the Second World War, and a young evacuee, Tabitha, is fascinated by the stories about a famous author who lives nearby.

Content warning: contains references to suicide.

The story is written and read by Elinora Westfall. Influenced by David Bowie, Virginia Woolf and Sally Wainwright, Elinora Westfall is a lesbian writer of stage, screen, fiction, poetry and radio from the UK.

Her novel, Everland, was selected for the Penguin and Random House WriteNow Editorial Programme, and her short films have been selected by Pinewood Studios & Lift-Off Sessions, Cannes Film Festival, Raindance Film Festival, Camden Fringe Festival and Edinburgh Fringe Festival, while her theatre and audio shows have been selected by The British Library and performed in London’s West End and on Broadway, where she won the award for Best Monologue.

The story was produced by Tabitha Potts.

Music used courtesy of Timbre of Freesound.org

Photo of Virginia Woolf By George Charles Beresford – Filippo Venturi Photography Blog, Public Domain.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50293324

Posted in: Season 3
Woman dressed as man sitting in wooden chair smoking cigar and laughing

Life in the dressing room of the theatre

This short story is about a young woman whose heart is stolen by a mysterious magician.

The story is written and read by Elinora Westfall. Influenced by David Bowie, Virginia Woolf and Sally Wainwright, Elinora Westfall is an Australian/British lesbian actress and writer of stage, screen, fiction, poetry and radio from the UK.

Her novel, Everland has been selected for the Penguin and Random House WriteNow 2021 Editorial Programme, and her short films have been selected by Pinewood Studios & Lift-Off Sessions, Cannes Film Festival, Raindance Film Festival, Camden Fringe Festival and Edinburgh Fringe Festival, while her theatre shows have been performed in London’s West End and on Broadway, where she won the award for Best Monologue.

Elinora is also working on The Art of Almost, a lesbian comedy-drama radio series as well as writing a television draoma series and the sequel to her novel, Everland.

The story was produced by Tabitha Potts.

Posted in: Season 3
Image showing deserted swings and snow

Eventide by Kae Hart

A young woman spends time with her younger sister Anya in a deserted playground, while wrestling with her inner demons.

The story was written by Kae Hart. Kae is a university student who learned to speak by telling stories to everyone who would listen. The cashier at the local grocery store was her first fan. Since then, she has written stories, poems, and novels, and hopes to continue to do so.

The story was read by Claire Lubert.

Claire has been working for Humanitarian Organisations for the last eight years (currently Médecins Sans Frontières). She is also involved in writing projects and is a voice artist, having previously trained at Rada and worked as an actor in TV, Film and theatre. She is based in SW London.

Eventide was produced by Tabitha Potts.

The photograph used in this episode is courtesy of Cherie Durbin.

Posted in: Season 3

The Glass Wall by Goran Baba Ali

Goran Baba Ali, author of The Glass Wall, talks to Martin Nathan, Tabitha Potts and Miki Lentin about his novel and reads a brief extract.

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The Glass Wall is about a teenage refugee who must relive the pain of his past to enter the land waiting behind a glass wall. Will his story be convincing enough to guarantee his safety?

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Goran Baba Ali has written and published various literary and journalistic works in Kurdish, Dutch and English. The Glass Wall is his debut novel in the English language.

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As an ex-refugee, originally from Iraqi Kurdistan, he has personally experienced some of the protagonist’s hardship in this novel, including a few weeks living in a desert. 

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The producer of this episode was Martin Nathan.

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Sound effects taken from Freesound.org and licensed under the Creative Commons 0 license.

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: Podcast Season 2
Rat Trap

Rat Trap by Rebecca Lee

A young female writer is commissioned to write a post about a lethal rat trap for a content mill.

This story was written by Rebecca Lee. She lives in Charlottesville, Virginia. Her current project “selfie” is a series of medical poems. Her body of work can be found in The British Medical Journal, CHEST physicians, Dartmouth’s Life Lines and Harvard’s medical school journal, Third Space.

The story was read by Jessica Nettles. Jessica is a voice-over artist and a writer. Her influences range from Ray Bradbury to Flaery O’Coor and Shirley Jackson. She reads as voraciously as she can while balancing her career as an English Instructor and a writer of SouthernGothic and Historical Fantasy. Her first novel is Children of Menlo Park.

She is also featured in the gothic horror anthology, Off the Beaten Path 4 and has a story in the upcoming Georgia Gothic horror anthology produced by the Atlanta Chapter of HWA (Horror Writer’s Association). To hear more of her voice, check out Episode 775 of the horror podcast, Pseudopod, where she reads Michael McDowell’s “Miss Mack.”

To find more about her and her work check out jessicanettlesauthor.com. You also can find her on Twitter @steampunkengl and Instagram steampunkenglish.

The producer was Tabitha Potts.

The cover art is Mouse (1821) by Jean Bernard (1775-1883). Original from The Rijksmuseum. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel. Public Domain Free CC0 Image

Story Radio is taking a short break in the New Year so we will be back on February 1st. We’d like to wish you all a safe and happy holiday and New Year.

Posted in: Podcast

BFFs by Marianne Rogoff

In ‘BFFs’ by Marianne Rogoff, a woman in mid-life contemplates whether or not she’s ready for any new relationships while on a road trip.

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MARIANNE ROGOFF is the author of the Pushcart-nominated story collection Love Is Blind in One Eye, the memoir Silvie’s Life, and numerous travel stories, short fictions, essays, and book reviews. BFFs was a Finalist for the Ernest Hemingway Flash Fiction Prize 2018 and “Featured Fiction” in Fiction Southeast on 02/05/2020.

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BFFs short story and illustrative photo © Mariane Rogoff all rights reserved

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Sounds under CC-BY 3.0:

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ocean-LaJolla.wav by xserra

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