Alternative Stories and Fake Realities

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail 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 Th...

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail 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 writte...

Send us Fan Mail 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 R...

Send us Fan Mail 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 Eate...

Send us Fan Mail 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 C...

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail 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 Col...

Send us Fan Mail 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 a...

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail 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 b...

Send us Fan Mail 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 McRober...

Send us Fan Mail 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 des...

Send us Fan Mail 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 Ch...

Send us Fan Mail 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 Lesso...

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail 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 M...

Send us Fan Mail 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 Fe...

Send us Fan Mail 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 explici...

Send us Fan Mail 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. ...

Send us Fan Mail 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 Ch...

Send us Fan Mail 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 t...

Send us Fan Mail 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....