alternative stories and fake realities podcast

Making a life on a new world following a family tragedy, Lyra and Neeva reflect on their past lines as farmers on Epsilon while coming to terms with the realities of existence on their new home, Lunasetti.  Postcards From Another World by Frasier Armitage is the winner of the 2022 Pen to Print audio play competition.

 In Postcards from Another World by Frasier Armitage you heard  
Sarah Golding as Lyra
Marie-Claire Wood as Neeva
Warren Graham as Zabo
Emily Inkpen as the computer
Rhiannon Armitage as the Lunasetti spaceport announcer 
Chris Gregory as Privik. 

 Production, sound design and editing were by Chris Gregory for Alternative Stories 
The original score was composed and performed by Chris Gregory
Sound effects were from Freesound.org
Casting advice, actor coaching and beta listening were by Frasier Armitage. 

 You can find out more about Frasier Armitage and his work by visiting his website here https://frasierarmitage.com/
You can follow Frasier on twitter here https://twitter.com/FrasierArmitage
And Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/frasierarmitage/

You can contact and hire our lead actors by visiting them online
Sarah Golding https://sarahgoldingvoiceactorandmore.weebly.com/
Marie-Claire Wood https://linktr.ee/MarieClaireWood
Warren Graham https://twitter.com/wg973
Emily Inkpen  https://www.emilyinkpen.com/

 
The script for Postcards from Another World by Frasier Armitage was the winner of the 2022 Pen to Print audio play competition.  We would like to thank Pen to print for their support in the making of this drama and for sponsoring this annual competition.  The 2023 competition is open for entries now.  We are looking for scripts of around half an hour (4- 5000 words) and the competition is open to UK residents only.  You have until 31st March to submit your entires and you can find out more and enter the competition here 
https://pentoprint.org/get-involved/competitions-2023/

We hope you’ve enjoyed listening to Postcards From Another World.   Please join us in 2023 for more audio drama, poetry and fiction podcasts   You can subscribe by searching for alternative stories in your favourite podcast app.

 If you’ve enjoyed this audio drama please check out our other science fiction , fantasy and cli fi productions.  Here’s a link to a podchaser playlist  https://www.podchaser.com/lists/sci-fi-and-climate-fiction-on-alternative-stories-107aDoFzmM

 You’ll also enjoy our science fiction serial drama The Dex Legacy by Emily Inkpen – search The Dex Legacy in your favourite podcast app to listen and subscribe.
https://www.thedexlegacy.com/

We’d like to end this podcast with a recommendation for an audio drama we think you’ll enjoy..  Set in the wilds of British Columbia, Darkstead is a fantasy crime drama by writer / director Lucy Gib Smith.   You can listen and subscribe to Darkstead here   https://www.darkstead.com/

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

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.

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. 

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/

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

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/

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

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/

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/Stori

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 

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.  

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/

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/