Alternative Stories and Fake Realities

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 herehttps://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

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

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/

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/

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.

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

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 [email protected]

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 storehttps://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 herehttps://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.

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

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 herehttps://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.