Christmas Stories

Christmas Stories

By Tobias SturtSociety & Culture
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Christmas Stories episodes

  • Secret Satan - Episode 2

    In which we meet our detective, presentation designer in the Internal Communication Design Team of MaryMeadeMarple


    Secret Satan is a seasonal murder mystery in 24 episodes. When one of his work colleagues is murdered with a Secret Santa present the office Christmas party, Linus Sweet decides to try and find out whodunnit. At first it seems like the answer lies in their office's version of Secret Santra, which they call Secret Satan. But as Linus investigates, he begins to unwrap more mysteries. All may not be as it seems. In fact, this might not even be just a murder mystery, either.


    (Warning: Secret Satan contains references to the existence of sex, drugs and boring jobs)

    Secret Satan is written by Tobias Sturt and read by Jon Millington. The theme music is Holiday Weasel by Kevin Macleod from www.filmmusic.io. Our illustrations are by Jamie Lenman (http://www.jamielenman.com/portfolio/).

    The podcast is hosted by Acast and you should be able to find on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, Soundcloud and Stitcher, as well as Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/1cnV4Q5uFiZ667AwCeYWcD) and YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@xmasstories/podcasts).

    You can also read the episodes on our Substack: https://ruritania.substack.com/

    You can find all these links and more at our website: http://christmasstories.co.uk

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    7 min
  • Secret Satan - Episode 1

    In which the office Secret Santa presents are given out and someone unwraps... death!

    Secret Satan is a seasonal murder mystery in 24 episodes. When one of his work colleagues is murdered with a Secret Santa present the office Christmas party, Linus Sweet decides to try and find out whodunnit. At first it seems like the answer lies in their office's version of Secret Santra, which they call Secret Satan. But as Linus investigates, he begins to unwrap more mysteries. All may not be as it seems. In fact, this might not even be just a murder mystery, either.

    (Warning: Secret Satan contains references to the existence of sex, drugs and boring jobs)

    Secret Satan is written by Tobias Sturt and read by Jon Millington. The theme music is Holiday Weasel by Kevin Macleod from www.filmmusic.io. Our illustrations are by Jamie Lenman (http://www.jamielenman.com/portfolio/).

    The podcast is hosted by Acast and you should be able to find on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, Soundcloud and Stitcher, as well as Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/1cnV4Q5uFiZ667AwCeYWcD) and YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@xmasstories/podcasts).

    You can also read the episodes on our Substack: https://ruritania.substack.com/

    You can find all these links and more at our website: http://christmasstories.co.uk

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    10 min
  • The Elf Service - Episode 24

    Letters to Father Christmas. What is the Post Office to do with them? They can’t deliver them. They don’t know his address. They can’t return them. Who could be so cruel? Irving Jefferson has the answer and it’s brilliantly simple. But reporter Maddie Sharp is beginning to suspect that Irving Jefferson and his plan might not be as simple as they appear.


    The Elf Service is a story for Christmas in 24 daily episodes, written by tobias sturt and read by Jon Millington. The theme music is Santa Claus is comin’ to town by Riley Farley and their orchestra from The Internet Archive (https://archive.org/). Our illustrations are by Jamie Lenman (http://www.jamielenman.com/portfolio/).


    The Elf Service is inspired by a true story - the story of John Gluck, the Santa Claus man, a story I heard about on the sadly defunct Futility Closet podcast (https://www.futilitycloset.com/2020/09/28/podcast-episode-313-the-santa-claus-association/), and then discovered more thoroughly in Alex Palmer's biography of Gluck (https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-santa-claus-man-the-rise-and-fall-of-a-jazz-age-con-man-and-the-invention-of-christmas-in-new-york/9781493049158)


    Gluck was an entrepreneur (a slightly shady one at that) in pre-WWI New York, who started a charity taking letters written to Santa Claus and finding wealthy Manhattanites to answer them with presents. And there my story starts diverging (fairly dramatically) from real life.


    I've also been reading Crying the News, a history of America's news boys (https://uk.bookshop.org/books/crying-the-news-a-history-of-america-s-newsboys-9780197533338/9780197533338), which I discovered via the You're Wrong About podcast (https://yourewrongabout.buzzsprout.com/1112270/6500155)


    The Christmas Stories podcast is hosted on Acast and we also have a Substack newsletter. You can find out about both at christmasstories.co.uk

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    15 min
  • The Elf Service - Episode 23

    Letters to Father Christmas. What is the Post Office to do with them? They can’t deliver them. They don’t know his address. They can’t return them. Who could be so cruel? Irving Jefferson has the answer and it’s brilliantly simple. But reporter Maddie Sharp is beginning to suspect that Irving Jefferson and his plan might not be as simple as they appear.


    The Elf Service is a story for Christmas in 24 daily episodes, written by tobias sturt and read by Jon Millington. The theme music is Santa Claus is comin’ to town by Riley Farley and their orchestra from The Internet Archive (https://archive.org/). Our illustrations are by Jamie Lenman (http://www.jamielenman.com/portfolio/).


    The Elf Service is inspired by a true story - the story of John Gluck, the Santa Claus man, a story I heard about on the sadly defunct Futility Closet podcast (https://www.futilitycloset.com/2020/09/28/podcast-episode-313-the-santa-claus-association/), and then discovered more thoroughly in Alex Palmer's biography of Gluck (https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-santa-claus-man-the-rise-and-fall-of-a-jazz-age-con-man-and-the-invention-of-christmas-in-new-york/9781493049158)


    Gluck was an entrepreneur (a slightly shady one at that) in pre-WWI New York, who started a charity taking letters written to Santa Claus and finding wealthy Manhattanites to answer them with presents. And there my story starts diverging (fairly dramatically) from real life.


    I've also been reading Crying the News, a history of America's news boys (https://uk.bookshop.org/books/crying-the-news-a-history-of-america-s-newsboys-9780197533338/9780197533338), which I discovered via the You're Wrong About podcast (https://yourewrongabout.buzzsprout.com/1112270/6500155)


    The Christmas Stories podcast is hosted on Acast and we also have a Substack newsletter. You can find out about both at christmasstories.co.uk

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    17 min
  • The Elf Service - Episode 22

    Letters to Father Christmas. What is the Post Office to do with them? They can’t deliver them. They don’t know his address. They can’t return them. Who could be so cruel? Irving Jefferson has the answer and it’s brilliantly simple. But reporter Maddie Sharp is beginning to suspect that Irving Jefferson and his plan might not be as simple as they appear.


    The Elf Service is a story for Christmas in 24 daily episodes, written by tobias sturt and read by Jon Millington. The theme music is Santa Claus is comin’ to town by Riley Farley and their orchestra from The Internet Archive (https://archive.org/). Our illustrations are by Jamie Lenman (http://www.jamielenman.com/portfolio/).


    The Elf Service is inspired by a true story - the story of John Gluck, the Santa Claus man, a story I heard about on the sadly defunct Futility Closet podcast (https://www.futilitycloset.com/2020/09/28/podcast-episode-313-the-santa-claus-association/), and then discovered more thoroughly in Alex Palmer's biography of Gluck (https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-santa-claus-man-the-rise-and-fall-of-a-jazz-age-con-man-and-the-invention-of-christmas-in-new-york/9781493049158)


    Gluck was an entrepreneur (a slightly shady one at that) in pre-WWI New York, who started a charity taking letters written to Santa Claus and finding wealthy Manhattanites to answer them with presents. And there my story starts diverging (fairly dramatically) from real life.


    I've also been reading Crying the News, a history of America's news boys (https://uk.bookshop.org/books/crying-the-news-a-history-of-america-s-newsboys-9780197533338/9780197533338), which I discovered via the You're Wrong About podcast (https://yourewrongabout.buzzsprout.com/1112270/6500155)


    The Christmas Stories podcast is hosted on Acast and we also have a Substack newsletter. You can find out about both at christmasstories.co.uk

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    15 min
  • The Elf Service - Episode 21

    Letters to Father Christmas. What is the Post Office to do with them? They can’t deliver them. They don’t know his address. They can’t return them. Who could be so cruel? Irving Jefferson has the answer and it’s brilliantly simple. But reporter Maddie Sharp is beginning to suspect that Irving Jefferson and his plan might not be as simple as they appear.


    The Elf Service is a story for Christmas in 24 daily episodes, written by tobias sturt and read by Jon Millington. The theme music is Santa Claus is comin’ to town by Riley Farley and their orchestra from The Internet Archive (https://archive.org/). Our illustrations are by Jamie Lenman (http://www.jamielenman.com/portfolio/).


    The Elf Service is inspired by a true story - the story of John Gluck, the Santa Claus man, a story I heard about on the sadly defunct Futility Closet podcast (https://www.futilitycloset.com/2020/09/28/podcast-episode-313-the-santa-claus-association/), and then discovered more thoroughly in Alex Palmer's biography of Gluck (https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-santa-claus-man-the-rise-and-fall-of-a-jazz-age-con-man-and-the-invention-of-christmas-in-new-york/9781493049158)


    Gluck was an entrepreneur (a slightly shady one at that) in pre-WWI New York, who started a charity taking letters written to Santa Claus and finding wealthy Manhattanites to answer them with presents. And there my story starts diverging (fairly dramatically) from real life.


    I've also been reading Crying the News, a history of America's news boys (https://uk.bookshop.org/books/crying-the-news-a-history-of-america-s-newsboys-9780197533338/9780197533338), which I discovered via the You're Wrong About podcast (https://yourewrongabout.buzzsprout.com/1112270/6500155)


    The Christmas Stories podcast is hosted on Acast and we also have a Substack newsletter. You can find out about both at christmasstories.co.uk

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    17 min
  • The Elf Service - Episode 20

    Letters to Father Christmas. What is the Post Office to do with them? They can’t deliver them. They don’t know his address. They can’t return them. Who could be so cruel? Irving Jefferson has the answer and it’s brilliantly simple. But reporter Maddie Sharp is beginning to suspect that Irving Jefferson and his plan might not be as simple as they appear.


    The Elf Service is a story for Christmas in 24 daily episodes, written by tobias sturt and read by Jon Millington. The theme music is Santa Claus is comin’ to town by Riley Farley and their orchestra from The Internet Archive (https://archive.org/). Our illustrations are by Jamie Lenman (http://www.jamielenman.com/portfolio/).


    The Elf Service is inspired by a true story - the story of John Gluck, the Santa Claus man, a story I heard about on the sadly defunct Futility Closet podcast (https://www.futilitycloset.com/2020/09/28/podcast-episode-313-the-santa-claus-association/), and then discovered more thoroughly in Alex Palmer's biography of Gluck (https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-santa-claus-man-the-rise-and-fall-of-a-jazz-age-con-man-and-the-invention-of-christmas-in-new-york/9781493049158)


    Gluck was an entrepreneur (a slightly shady one at that) in pre-WWI New York, who started a charity taking letters written to Santa Claus and finding wealthy Manhattanites to answer them with presents. And there my story starts diverging (fairly dramatically) from real life.


    I've also been reading Crying the News, a history of America's news boys (https://uk.bookshop.org/books/crying-the-news-a-history-of-america-s-newsboys-9780197533338/9780197533338), which I discovered via the You're Wrong About podcast (https://yourewrongabout.buzzsprout.com/1112270/6500155)


    The Christmas Stories podcast is hosted on Acast and we also have a Substack newsletter. You can find out about both at christmasstories.co.uk

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    15 min
  • The Elf Service - Episode 19

    Letters to Father Christmas. What is the Post Office to do with them? They can’t deliver them. They don’t know his address. They can’t return them. Who could be so cruel? Irving Jefferson has the answer and it’s brilliantly simple. But reporter Maddie Sharp is beginning to suspect that Irving Jefferson and his plan might not be as simple as they appear.


    The Elf Service is a story for Christmas in 24 daily episodes, written by tobias sturt and read by Jon Millington. The theme music is Santa Claus is comin’ to town by Riley Farley and their orchestra from The Internet Archive (https://archive.org/). Our illustrations are by Jamie Lenman (http://www.jamielenman.com/portfolio/).


    The Elf Service is inspired by a true story - the story of John Gluck, the Santa Claus man, a story I heard about on the sadly defunct Futility Closet podcast (https://www.futilitycloset.com/2020/09/28/podcast-episode-313-the-santa-claus-association/), and then discovered more thoroughly in Alex Palmer's biography of Gluck (https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-santa-claus-man-the-rise-and-fall-of-a-jazz-age-con-man-and-the-invention-of-christmas-in-new-york/9781493049158)


    Gluck was an entrepreneur (a slightly shady one at that) in pre-WWI New York, who started a charity taking letters written to Santa Claus and finding wealthy Manhattanites to answer them with presents. And there my story starts diverging (fairly dramatically) from real life.


    I've also been reading Crying the News, a history of America's news boys (https://uk.bookshop.org/books/crying-the-news-a-history-of-america-s-newsboys-9780197533338/9780197533338), which I discovered via the You're Wrong About podcast (https://yourewrongabout.buzzsprout.com/1112270/6500155)


    The Christmas Stories podcast is hosted on Acast and we also have a Substack newsletter. You can find out about both at christmasstories.co.uk

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    15 min
  • The Elf Service - Episode 18

    Letters to Father Christmas. What is the Post Office to do with them? They can’t deliver them. They don’t know his address. They can’t return them. Who could be so cruel? Irving Jefferson has the answer and it’s brilliantly simple. But reporter Maddie Sharp is beginning to suspect that Irving Jefferson and his plan might not be as simple as they appear.


    The Elf Service is a story for Christmas in 24 daily episodes, written by tobias sturt and read by Jon Millington. The theme music is Santa Claus is comin’ to town by Riley Farley and their orchestra from The Internet Archive (https://archive.org/). Our illustrations are by Jamie Lenman (http://www.jamielenman.com/portfolio/).


    The Elf Service is inspired by a true story - the story of John Gluck, the Santa Claus man, a story I heard about on the sadly defunct Futility Closet podcast (https://www.futilitycloset.com/2020/09/28/podcast-episode-313-the-santa-claus-association/), and then discovered more thoroughly in Alex Palmer's biography of Gluck (https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-santa-claus-man-the-rise-and-fall-of-a-jazz-age-con-man-and-the-invention-of-christmas-in-new-york/9781493049158)


    Gluck was an entrepreneur (a slightly shady one at that) in pre-WWI New York, who started a charity taking letters written to Santa Claus and finding wealthy Manhattanites to answer them with presents. And there my story starts diverging (fairly dramatically) from real life.


    I've also been reading Crying the News, a history of America's news boys (https://uk.bookshop.org/books/crying-the-news-a-history-of-america-s-newsboys-9780197533338/9780197533338), which I discovered via the You're Wrong About podcast (https://yourewrongabout.buzzsprout.com/1112270/6500155)


    The Christmas Stories podcast is hosted on Acast and we also have a Substack newsletter. You can find out about both at christmasstories.co.uk

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    14 min
  • The Elf Service - Episode 17

    Letters to Father Christmas. What is the Post Office to do with them? They can’t deliver them. They don’t know his address. They can’t return them. Who could be so cruel? Irving Jefferson has the answer and it’s brilliantly simple. But reporter Maddie Sharp is beginning to suspect that Irving Jefferson and his plan might not be as simple as they appear.


    The Elf Service is a story for Christmas in 24 daily episodes, written by tobias sturt and read by Jon Millington. The theme music is Santa Claus is comin’ to town by Riley Farley and their orchestra from The Internet Archive (https://archive.org/). Our illustrations are by Jamie Lenman (http://www.jamielenman.com/portfolio/).


    The Elf Service is inspired by a true story - the story of John Gluck, the Santa Claus man, a story I heard about on the sadly defunct Futility Closet podcast (https://www.futilitycloset.com/2020/09/28/podcast-episode-313-the-santa-claus-association/), and then discovered more thoroughly in Alex Palmer's biography of Gluck (https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-santa-claus-man-the-rise-and-fall-of-a-jazz-age-con-man-and-the-invention-of-christmas-in-new-york/9781493049158)


    Gluck was an entrepreneur (a slightly shady one at that) in pre-WWI New York, who started a charity taking letters written to Santa Claus and finding wealthy Manhattanites to answer them with presents. And there my story starts diverging (fairly dramatically) from real life.


    I've also been reading Crying the News, a history of America's news boys (https://uk.bookshop.org/books/crying-the-news-a-history-of-america-s-newsboys-9780197533338/9780197533338), which I discovered via the You're Wrong About podcast (https://yourewrongabout.buzzsprout.com/1112270/6500155)


    The Christmas Stories podcast is hosted on Acast and we also have a Substack newsletter. You can find out about both at christmasstories.co.uk

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    15 min

About Christmas Stories

From the publisher's feed

Merry and magical stories that take Christmas seriously (or as seriously as it should be taken, which is both not at all and entirely too much). 24 episodes of a new Christmas story for adults read…

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