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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 our audio drama Hare Spell and a prequel to events in that story. 

The Hares of Horsenden Hill is written by Sarra Culleno and published by Mookychick.  

Ealine and the narrator were played by Stevie Skinner 
Amy Forrest played the hares 
Chris Gregory was the voice of the ancient storyteller
Original music was by Inge Thomson
Sound effects were from Freesound.org
Sound design, mixing and production were by Chris Gregory

In this episode we include an excerpt from the new podcast called The Portal by British musician and composer Martin Green.  As one third of the band Lau Martin has played numerous gigs and festivals.  He's also released a good deal of solo work and collaborated with other musicians in producing his work.   The Portal is Martin's venture into the world of podcasting and we're sure listeners of Alternative Stories and Fake Realities will enjoy it.   Listen to The Portal by searching "the portal martin green" in your favourite podcast app or follow the link below

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-portal-by-martin-green/id1532707187

To find out more about Martin and his music follow this link

https://www.martingreenmusic.co.uk/

To find out more about Sarra Culleno and her work please follow her on twitter here 

https://twitter.com/sarra1978

The Hares of Horsenden Hill is published by Mookychick.  Heres'a link to their website so you can read the original story and check out their other wonderful content 

https://www.mookychick.co.uk/

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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

Then I Reconsidered Prayer by Maria Taylor from her collection Dressing For The Afterlife published by Nine Arches Press and read by Tiffany Clare

Ty Draw by Peter Finch from the collection Machineries of Joy published by Seren Books and read by Nerys Howell

Black Crow Woman by Sarah Corbett from the collection The Witch Bag published by Seren Books and read by Jade Matthew

The Overwhelming Urge by Ella Frears from the collection Shine Darling published by Offord Road Books and read by Tiffany Clare

Greenman by Sarra Culleno read by Annabelle Broad first broadcast on the Alternative Stories and Fake Realities Podcast

Catch 22 in Simplified Language by Jennifer Wong from the collection Letters Home published by Nine Arches press and read by Jennifer Wong

Dark Moon by Sarah Corbett from the collection The Red Wardrobe published by Seren Books and read Amy Forrest

Boots by Peter Finch from the collection Machineries of Joy published by Seren Books and read by Dafydd Morse

East West by Mary J Oliver from the collection Jim Neat: The Case of Young Man Down on his Luck published by Seren Books and read by Charlie Richards

To the Uninhabited Island of Cara by Mary J Oliver read by Tiffany Clare 

We would like to thank all the poets, publishers and readers of these poems.

This edition is presented by Hollye Sangster
Music, sound design and production is by Chris Gregory
Sound effects are from Freesound.org

To contact the podcast please send us an email to [email protected]

or contact us on social media  
https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt
or https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/

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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. 

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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 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. 

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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/

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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

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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 Chris Gregory with additional material by Warren Graham.

Warren Graham played Michael
Katherine Priddy was Freya
Marie-Claire Wood played Georgia
Sophie Macnair was Alex
Chris Gregory played David

The presenter was Karen Cooper

Sound Design, soundscapes and production were by Chris Gregory
Sound effects were from freesound.org
The news clips were from public domain sources including Downing Street Press Briefings
The Song "Wolf" was written and performed by Katherine Priddy and produced by Simon J Weaver.
Additional music was by Chris Gregory

This podcast is dedicated to anyone who lost a loved-one, their job or livelihood during the pandemic.  Our thoughts are with you.  We are aware that many people were much more seriously affected by the events of the last few months than the characters in this drama.  The story is not intended to be representative of the entire population but merely to the experiences of the characters depicted. 

Katherine Priddy is a folk singer from Birmingham. You can find out more about her and her music by visiting her website  http://www.katherinepriddy.co.uk/ and you can buy "Wolf" and the EP it appears on by clicking on Store via this link.  There is also a video for the song which you will find by searching for Katherine's YouTube channel.
You can follow her on twitter here https://twitter.com/KatherinePriddy
and Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/katherinepriddy/

Please follow our other actors on twitter to find out more about their work and upcoming projects and if you are an audio drama producer wishing to hire them
Marie-Claire Wood https://twitter.com/MarieClaireWood
Warren Graham  https://twitter.com/wg973
Sophie Macnair https://twitter.com/liloldsoph
and Charis McRoberts https://twitter.com/CharisMcRoberts

This is the final podcast in season 2 of Alternative Stories and Fake Realities.  Thank you to all the actors, writers, musicians and poets who have appeared in this series.

Thank you also to our loyal and valued listeners.  We do hope you have enjoyed this finale to the season and that you will join us again in season 3 which will be starting in September. 

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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 is a writer and music journalist.  You can find out more about him by following him on twitter https://twitter.com/WordSong_

Show of Hands are a folk / acoustic duo from Devon.  The band comprises Steve Knightley and Phil Beer. You can follow them on twitter here https://twitter.com/showofhandsnews.
and visit their website here https://www.showofhands.co.uk/

Given events of the year so far it is more important than ever that you support musicians and performers  wherever possible.  Like all other forms of live entertainment revenue from gigs and performances has completely dried up for most bands and artists.   There is no better way of supporting the music industry than by ordering a CD, digital download or other item of merchandise from artists you enjoy.  If you've enjoyed this podcast please take a listen to more by Show of Hands and consider supporting them by ordering their new album from their online store.  https://smarturl.it/bfielddancefloor

Copyright on the story Undertow: Nicholas John

Publishing Copyright on the song Undertow: (Steve Knightley/MCPS Ltd)
Sound Copyright is owned by Show Of Hands and is used by kind permission of Hands On Music.
The original version of the song Undertow is taken from the Show Of Hands 2006 album 'Witness'

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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/

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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 Colour of Race 
• Catch 22 in Simplified Language
• Diary of a Miu Miu Salesgirl 

All poems are written and performed by Jennifer Wong
Music, sound design, soundscapes and production are by Chris Gregory
Sound effects are from Freesound.org
The presenter is Holly Sangster
Letters Home, Jenny's 2020 poetry collection, is published by Nine Arches Press and we thank them for allowing us to recreate these poems in this podcast

If you'd like to learn more about Jennifer Wong you can visit her website here
https://jenniferwong.co.uk/
And you can follow her on twitter here https://twitter.com/jennywcreative

You can learn more about Nine Arches Press and purchase Letters Home here
https://www.ninearchespress.com/
You can follow Nine Arches Press on twitter here https://twitter.com/ninearchespress

Please check out our other poetry content including podcasts featuring Ella Frears, Mary J Oliver, Sarah Corbett and Peter Finch by subscribing to the podcast in your favourite podcast app or in a streaming service such as Spotify. 

Jenny recorded the content for this podcast at home without access to professional recording equipment.  We hope the variable sound quality does not spoil your enjoyment of this podcast. 

Thank you once again to Jenny for sharing her poems with us in this podcast. 

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