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When Sasha and Gemma’s mother dies they are contacted by the mysterious solicitor Clark, with news that the rambling and isolated family home, Harrington Hall has been left to the sisters as part of the will.  There’s a catch however: in order to gain their inheritance Sasha and Gemma must spend a night together in the abandoned house…

 Content warning : This drama contains strong language and depictions of peril and horror.

 In The Gathering by Lewis Carter you can hear

Miztli Rose as Sasha 
Phoebe Batteson Brown as Gemma 
Alex White as Tom 
Chris Gregory as Clark
Sarah Golding as Mrs Harrington
Marie-Claire Wood as Rosie 
And Emily Inkpen as the nurse 
Other voices were played by members of the cast.

Production, sound design, music and editing were by Chris Gregory

Recordings of Sasha and Gemma were by Phoebe Batteson Brown

Casting was by Chris Gregory and Lewis Carter

Sound effects were from Freesound.org and created by the team

The presenter in this podcast is Tiffany Clare 

The script for The Gathering is copyright Lewis Carter and may not be reproduced in whole or part without the consent of the author. 

 
Lewis Carter is an award winning writer and filmmaker living and working in South Wales.
You can follow Lewis on twitter here https://twitter.com/fictionist4hire
And Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/fictionist4hire/

Miztli Rose and Phoebe Batteson-Brown are actors and comedians based in London.
You can find out more about Phoebe here https://www.spotlight.com/6773-7863-8669
And follow her on twitter here https://twitter.com/phoebebbrown
And Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/phoebe_batteson/
Read more about Miztli here http://www.miztliroseneville.com/
Follow Miztli on twitter here https://twitter.com/RoseNeville1
And Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/miztli_rose/
Phoebe and Miztli work together as the comedy duo “Ladylikes” and you can find out more about them here https://ladylikescomedy.wixsite.com/ladylikes and listen to an Alternative Stories Podcast featuring Ladylikes here https://www.buzzsprout.com/411730/3479755-ladylikes-in-lockdown

 Emily Inkpen, Alex White, Chris Gregory and Tiffany Clare have all appeared in the science fiction drama The Dex Legacy which is also produced by Alternative Stories.  Find out more about The Dex Legacy, listen and subscribe via our website here https://www.thedexlegacy.com/

 If you’ve enjoyed The Gathering please check out more Alternative Stories drama via this Podchaser link  https://www.podchaser.com/profile/lists/16596/edit

Listen out for more drama from Alternative Stories in the coming weeks. 

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The Sylvia Plath literary festival celebrates the life and work of one of the twentieth century’s most influential poets.  Taking place over the weekend of the 21st to 23rd of October in Hebden Bridge and Heptonstall in West Yorkshire, the festival will feature events led by and featuring contemporary poets.  In this podcast we hear from some of the poets appearing at the festival with their thoughts on Plath and readings of their poems. 

 Thank you for listening to this edition of the Alternative Stories and Fake Realities Podcast

 You can find out about each of the poets featured in this podcast via the following links
Polly Atkin. https://pollyatkin.com/
Jessica Mookherjee https://thejessicapoet.com/
Daniel Fraser https://danieljamesfraser.wordpress.com/
Michael Crowley http://michaelcrowley.co.uk/
Maureen Boyle https://twitter.com/BoyleMo

 Find out more about the Sylvia Plath Literary Festival, order the After Sylvia anthology and book tickets for in-person and online events visit the festival’s website here  https://plathfest.co.uk/
Follow the festival on social media
https://twitter.com/PlathFest
https://www.instagram.com/plathfest/

 You can hear more from Polly Atkin by listening to her interview on the new Alternative Stories produced Seren Poetry Podcast.  https://www.buzzsprout.com/2035359

 And hear from Plathfest director Sarah Corbett in an extended interview in this podcast  https://www.buzzsprout.com/411730/11406109 

This podcast has been presented by Chris Gregory and Tiffany Clare.  Each of the contributors recorded their own poems for this programme. 

Production, sound design and editing were by Chris Gregory 

 Follow Alternative Stories on social media 

https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt

https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/

 and contact us by email at [email protected] 

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For National Poetry Day 2022 we are sharing an anthology of poems recorded for the Seren Poetry Podcast which is launched on 6th October.  All of the poems in this selection broadly related to this year’s  National Poetry Day theme of the environment.

The following poems are included - all are read by their authors. 

Polly Atkin - Queen of the Woods.  

Carolyn Jess Cooke - Confrontation

Christopher Meredith - Steampunk Jungle

Rhian Edwards – Blodeuwedd

Ben Wilkinson  - Mam Tor

Ilse Pedler – The Young Man and the Fox

Rosalind Hudis – The Plant Hunter

Eric Ngalle Charles  - Homelands

Kim Moore – All the Men I Never Married Number 35 

All of these poems are published by Seren and you can find out more about the poets and their collections and purchase them by visiting the Seren website https://www.serenbooks.com/

 You can listen to the Seren Poetry Podcast by searching for us in your favourite podcast app or following this link and selecting your favourite podcast player https://www.buzzsprout.com/2035359

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In this edition we speak to poets and poetry editors for Seren Books Rhian Edwards and Zoe Brigley and to poet and director of The Sylvia Plath Literary Festival, Sarah Corbett

You can listen to preview editions and subscribe to the Seren Poetry Podcast by searching “The Seren Poetry Podcast” in your favourite podcast app or by clicking the link below and selecting the platform on which you’d like to listen
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2035359

 The podcast formally launches on Thursday 6th October, the UK’s National Poetry Day, with an edition featuring poet Polly Atkin and her collection “Much With Body”

 You can find out more about Seren Books and buy books and poetry collections here https://www.serenbooks.com/
You can follow Seren Books on twitter here https://mobile.twitter.com/SerenBooks
And on Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/serenbooks

 
The Sylvia Plath Literary Festival takes place over the weekend of 21st, 22nd and 23rd October and is based in Hebden Bridge and Heptonstall in West Yorkshire.   Our interview is with poet and festival director Sarah Corbett.  

The interview commences at  42.30

 You can find out more about the festival and book tickets for events here  https://plathfest.co.uk/
Follow the festival on twitter here https://twitter.com/PlathFest
And on Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/plathfest

 
Contact Alternative Stories by email at [email protected]

The presenters in this edition are Chris Gregory and Tiffany Clare

The interviewer is Chris Gregory

Production, sound design and editing are by Chris Gregory

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In this edition we talk to audio drama creators about their shows, their production processes and tips for other creators.  We speak to Christina Castaneda, creator of Venice Magic Shop, David Johnson and Jodie Jasmine Hicks of Death in Podville, Emily Inkpen of The Dex Legacy, Jackie Jorgenson of Tales from the Aether and Lucy Gibb-Smith of Darkstead.

 Thank you to the creators who joined us for this special edition.  We are hugely grateful to all of them for taking the time to chat with us in this special edition.  We have links to their shows, websites and social media below so please follow, subscribe, link and download to support their work
Please note, this episode contains some swearing in the episode clips and trailers. 

 Christina Castaneda's podcast is called "The Savvy Creative" and you can listen to Venice Magic Shop and her other dramas here
https://thesavvycreative.libsyn.com/
Follow Christina and her work on twitter https://twitter.com/savvycreativecc
And instagram https://www.instagram.com/savvycreativepodcast

David Johnson and Jodie Jasmine Hicks of the Fenland Films Initiative's website is here https://www.fenlandfilmsinitiative.com/
You can follow them on twitter https://twitter.com/fenlandfilms
And instagram https://www.instagram.com/thefenlandfilmsinitiative

You can listen to Emily Inkpen's drama The Dex Legacy (which is produced by Alternative Stories) here https://www.buzzsprout.com/1868546
And follow Emily in twitter here https://twitter.com/emilyinkpen
And Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/emilyinkpen
In addition you can read Emily's scripts and find out more about The Dex Legacy at the show's website here https://www.thedexlegacy.com/

 You can listen to Jackie Jorgenson's podcast Tales from the Aether here https://anchor.fm/talesfromtheaether
And follow Jackie on Twitter here https://twitter.com/jackiejorgenson
And instagram here https://www.instagram.com/jackie.jorgenson

 Lucy Gibb-Smith's drama Darkstead can be found here https://www.darkstead.com/
And you can follow the show on twitter here https://twitter.com/DarksteadPod
And instagram here https://www.instagram.com/darksteadpodcast

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In this midsummer edition we continue the theme of nature writing .  We feature  Walking on Skylark Ridge by artist and writer David Suff.  The book charts David’s daily walk along the same route for a year beginning at the start of the UK’s first national lockdown in which we were restricted to an hour of outdoor exercise per day.  It discovers the changes in the nature along the route as the seasons change and explores the meaning of community as David shared his weekly updates in paintings and emails to his friends and followers locked down around the world 

Thank you for listening to Walking on Skylark Ridge from The Alternative Stories and Fake Realities Podcast.  The presenter  is Chris Gregory and the readers are Chris Gregory, Marie-Claire Wood and Tiffany Clare.

Sound design and editing is by Chris Gregory 

 You can buy a copy of Walking on Skylark Ridge, the book directly from David’s website and www.davidsuff.com where you’ll be able to see more pictures and read a bit more about it.  

 Visit David’s Instagram page to see more of his art here https://www.instagram.com/suffdavid/

  The music in this podcast is “The January Man” written by Dave Goulder and performed by Lau and Karine Polwart.   

Vocals and guitar by Karine Polwart and Kris Drever 
Martin Green played Accordion and Wurlitzer  
Aidan O’Rourke played Fiddle

 We are grateful to Mark Whyles and Tom Rose for their permission to use the track which you can find on the Evergreen EP by Kau Vs Karine Polwart 

 You also heard “Searching For Lambs” by Andrew Cronshaw which featured  Andrew Cronshaw playing maronvantele and zither
Recorded at home, May 2022
Courtesy of Cloud Valley Music / David Suff

You can find out more about the musicians you heard in this podcast by visiting their websites 

Lau   https://www.lau-music.co.uk
Karine Polwart https://www.karinepolwart.com/
Andrew Cronshaw http://cloudvalley.com/andrewcronshawhome.htm

 And to find out more about the work of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds visit their homepage here https://www.rspb.org.uk/

 If this is your first time listening to the Alternative Stories podcast please consider subscribing in your favourite podcast app to have all our future editions delivered directly to your feed the moment they are released.  You’ll also have access to our archive of over 120 past editions. 

Walking on Skylark Ridge is an Alternative Stories  2022 production for the Alternative Stories and Fake Realities podcast. 

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In today’s podcast we speak to two writers for whom nature, landscape and horses are important in their work.  Catherine Munro is the author of “The Ponies At The Edge of The World” about her life in Shetland and Madeleine F White whose poetry collection “The Horse And The Girl” explores riding, the environment and the landscape of Kent. 

 
Thank you to Catherine Munro and Madeleine F White for taking the time to speak to us for today’s podcast.  We’d like to thank Rider, an imprint of Penguin Random House and Lapwing Publications for allowing us to reproduce extracts from their books in this podcast. 

 Readings are by the authors, Catherine Munro and Madeleine F White

Interviews, editing and music were by Chris Gregory 

You can find out more about The Ponies At The Edge Of The World and buy a copy via Penguin Random House through this link

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/144/1446790/the-ponies-at-the-edge-of-the-world/9781846047268.html

Find out more about Catherine Munro and read her blog entries here 

 https://catherinemmunro.wordpress.com/

 You can follow Catherine on twitter here https://twitter.com/CatherineMMunro

Follow Rider Books on twitter here https://twitter.com/Rider_Books

And Penguin here https://twitter.com/penguinukbooks

Follow Madeleine F White on twitter for news of the release of The Horse and The Girl and how you can buy a copy when it is released later in June 2022 https://twitter.com/madeleinefwhite

The collection will be published by Lapwing Publications and you can visit their website here 

https://sites.google.com/a/lapwingpublications.com/lapwing-store/home

Order/ pre-order by emailing them on [email protected]

 Find out about and purchase Madeleine’s novel Mother of Floods via Good Reads here 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50646333-mother-of-floods

 During her interview Madeleine mentioned poetry and other writing that had influenced her work.  These were as follows 

·       Seamus Heaney – Digging and the Wishing Tree,

·       Exiled writers Jennifer Langer and Elena Croitoru,

·       Iraqi poetry, so closely bound up to land and suffering - Rain Song Poem by Badr Shakir al-Sayyab.

·       Equestrian writing : Klaus Ferdinand Hempfling -natural horsemanship, which is so much about the bond and connection between horse and rider and the language/ non verb

 
If you would like to listen to Alternative Stories’ other podcasts you can find them here 

Our science fiction drama serial The Dex Legacy https://www.buzzsprout.com/1868546

Our podcast for writers, Write On! Audio https://anchor.fm/pentoprint

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In this edition we look at The Half Life of Snails, the debut novel by writer and academic Philippa Holloway.   The novel deals with issues surrounding nuclear energy and the communities it affects and we talk about Philippa's trip to the Chernobyl exclusion zone as part of our interview.  We have excerpts from the book read by Phoebe Holmes

In the Half-Life of Snails you heard the voices of Philippa Holloway and interviewer Chris Gregory.  The interview took place at Hack Green Secret Nuclear Bunker in Cheshire.  Our excerpts were read by Phoebe Holmes and reproduced with the kind permission of Parthian Books.
Sound design, production, editing and music were by Chris Gregory

You can pre-order a copy of The Half Life of Snails by visiting the Parthian website at  www.parthianbooks.com

Find out more about Philippa Holloway by following her on social media where she posts as https://twitter.com/thejackdawspen
and https://www.instagram.com/thejackdawspen/

 You can follow Parhtian Books on twitter here https://twitter.com/parthianbooksAnd Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/parthian_books/

 You can find out more about Hack Green Secret Nuclear Bunker by visiting their website at https://www.hackgreen.co.uk/
And follow then on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/secret_bunker/

 You can read Philippa Holloway's response to the Ukraine crisis here  https://www.walesartsreview.org/philippa-holloway-borders/

And find out about her academic work at the University of Staffordshire here https://www.staffs.ac.uk/course/english-literature-creative-writing-ba

Philippa has also written about psychogeography including this article  https://www.nawe.co.uk/DB/current-wip-edition-2/articles/7-walking-in-imaginary-shoes-by-philippa-holloway.html

Finally – please check out the other podcasts mentioned in this edition 

Write On! Audio https://anchor.fm/pentoprint

The Dex Legacy https://www.buzzsprout.com/1868546

And Chaika https://y2kpod.com/

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Ghostlore is an anthology of writing inspired by the folklore of ghosts and the supernatural. Edited by writer and audio dramatists Lyndsey Croal our second episode Hauntings, features the work of 11 writers and explores folklore from around the world. 

The readers are Sally Walker Taylor, Marie-Claire Wood, Lindz McLeod, Lyndsey Croal, Hadiya Morris, Chris Gregory, Amy Boucher and Christina Castaneda

Our pieces and writes are

The Witch by Amy Boucher
Amy Boucher is a passionate advocate of her native Shropshire’s folklore, ghostlore and local History. You can find her blog her https://nearlyknowledgeablehistory.blogspot.com/ and on twitter @g0blinegg

We Cower in a Ruined Castle and Hope Not to Hear a Ghost by Elou Carroll
Elou Carroll likes to tell ghost stories. You can find her work on www.eloucarroll.com

Ghost Feet by Ellen Forkin
Ellen Forkin is a writer and artist living in the magical Orkney Islands. Find her on Instagram @ellen_forkin and Twitter https://twitter.com/ellen_forkin 

Unrest by Vanessa Jae
Vanessa Jae writes horrifically beautiful anarchies, reads stories for Apex Magazine and translates for Progressive International https://twitter.com/thevanessajae

Huntress, Enchantress, Murderess by Lyndsey Croal
Lyndsey is a writer, audio dramatist and editor from Edinburgh. Find out more about her and her work here https://lyndseycroal.co.uk/

Welcome Home by Ai Jiang
Ai Jiang is a Chinese-Canadian writer, an immigrant from Fujian, and an active member of HWA. Find her on Twitter @AiJiang_  and online http://aijiang.ca

Naart Stuyck by Signe Maene
Signe Maene is a writer, folklorist and audio dramatist from Belgian.  Her work has been featured frequently in this podcast and a new audio play is in preparation.   signemaene.com/links/

 Ye Tak The Ghost Road by Callum McSorley
Callum McSorley is an author based in Glasgow. His short stories have been published by New Writing Scotland, Gutter Magazine, Shoreline of Infinity, and Monstrous Regiment among others. https://twitter.com/CallumMcSorley

The Accordionist by Anna Orridge
Anna Orridge is a writer from Croydon, whose short story 'Backdrop' was adapted for a an acclaimed Alternative Stories audio drama. You can find out more about her activism and writing on Twitter https://twitter.com/orridge_anna

A Fate Worse by Marisca Pichette
Marisca Pichette writes speculative fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. She is on Twitter as https://twitter.com/MariscaPichette  and Instagram as @marisca_write. Her website is: www.mariscapichette.com

The Island of Dolls by Sam W Pisciotta
Sam W Pisciotta is a writer and visual artist who believes, with his whole heart, that the glass is half-full.  Follow him on Instagram @silo34 and Twitter  https://twitter.com/silo34

 Music and production are by Chris Gregory
 More bio notes on our participants https://tinyurl.com/ncxpzm95
Sound effects are from freesound.org

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Ghostlore is an anthology of writing inspired by the folklore of ghosts, spirits and the supernatural. Edited by writer and audio dramatists Lyndsey Croal this first edition, Wilderness, features the work of 11 writers and explores folklore from around the world. 

 Ghostlore Part One, Wilderness is presented and edited by Lyndsey Croal.  The readers are Sally Walker Taylor, Marie-Claire Wood, Maria S Picone, Lyndsey Croal and Chris Gregory.

 The featured pieces and writers are 

The Goatherd by Cormack Baldwin
Cormack Baldwin is a speculative fiction writer and editor who emerged from the Alaskan bush one day and mosied down to Oregon.
https://cmbaldwin.carrd.co/

A Ghost of Bones and Bark by Alexandra Beaumont
Alexandra’s debut fantasy novel based on Tudor astrology and star-magic, Testament of the Stars, was published in April 2021.
[email protected]

Sing Sorrow To The Sea And the Waves Will Answer by Lyndsey Croal
Lyndsey is a science fiction, fantasy and speculative fiction writer from Edinburgh
www.lyndseycroal.co.uk

The Smiling Folk by E L Crocker
E L Crocker is a writer from Manchester. He cut his teeth in horror stories, but in recent years has turned to writing fantasy novels
https://twitter.com/ELCrocker3

Excerpt from “Mischief Acts” by Zoe Gilbert
Zoe is a prize winning short story writer, novelist and teacher based in Folkestone.  Her latest novel, Mischief Acts is published by Bloomsbury
https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/mischief-acts-9781526628817/

God is Neither Man Nor Ghost by Gessica Sakamoto Martini
Gessica Sakamoto Martini is a writer from Italy. Her writing has been published in Corvid Queen and featured in Alternative Stories podcast. She holds a PhD in Anthropology and tweets about folklore at https://twitter.com/GJMartini

Birth Story by Maria S Picone
Maria S. Picone/수영 (www.mariaspicone.com @mspicone on Twitter) is a Korean American adoptee and multigenre writer

Your Name Repeated by Tamara Rogers
Tamara writes mainly dark, surreal tales with a touch of science fiction. You can find her at www.thedustlounge.com and https://twitter.com/tamrogers

There is an Instinct by Melinda Salisbury
Melinda Salisbury is the three-time Carnegie nominated and bestselling author of multiple young adult novels, including the Sin Eater's Daughter series, the State of Sorrow duology, Hold Back the Tide, and Her Dark Wings.
www.melindasalisbury.com

The Hobby Lanterns by Cat Voleur
Cat Voleur is a writer, gamer, and podcaster. You can find her and more of her work through Twitter @Cat_Voleur and on her website http://www.catvoleur.com/

Spring Hollow Secret God Sleeping by Lorraine Wilson
Lorraine’s debut novel, the wilderness dystopian This Is Our Undoing, was released last year, and her second, The Way The Light Bends, a dark folkloric novel, is coming out in August this year. She tweets https://twitter.com/raine_clouds

 Music and production are by Chris Gregory

More bio notes on our participants https://tinyurl.com/ncxpzm95
Sound effects

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