The Pebble Inspector Podcast

We wade ever further from the shore, stray ever further from god and into the arms of mammon. I interview myself, pretending to be somebody else as somebody else. I am faced with the prospect of not being this generation’s voice/generational talent/bestselling author and I risk avian flu for the sake of a poem. All this and more, a bit more, not much more in this week’s episode.

Works mentioned:

Calypso by David Sedaris

Also mentioned:

Wordarium at The Gregson, Lancaster

Mnemotope Magazine from Bog Bodies Press

The Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell

New episode every Friday.

www.jamesgraywriter.co.uk

A quick and dirty episode this week as I squeeze in a recording aboard a Northern Rail service. I read from the latest developments in possibly the weirdest piece I’ve written. Expect more toe chat, quarter zip pullovers, digital footprints, more moths, the dissolution of self both physically and mentally and of course, bicycles.

Works mentioned:

The Third Policeman by Flann O’Brien (Read by Jim Norton)

New episode every Friday.

www.jamesgraywriter.co.uk

This week I keep digging into the weird and let the obsession with another James Gray consume me. I explore identity, absurdism, belief, ethics, moths, donkeys, banana bread, castles and throwing enough sh*t to see what sticks.

Works mentioned:

The Boy, The Bucket And The Persistent Tide by Charlie Jermyn as read by the author on the Off The Page With Bog Bodies Press podcast

The Castle: Adventures in a World of Unravelling Men by Jon Ronson (& Penguin Audio)

Escape From New York by Zadie Smith

Also mentioned:

ME THANKY (Joel Golby Substack)

The Blindboy Podcast, particularly this week’s episode

Not mentioned but also read:

Solitude by Ursula le Guin

New episode every Friday.

www.jamesgraywriter.co.uk

From navel gazing to staring at my feet, this week I have the sniff of an idea, talk about the process of coaxing that idea out from its den and then dissect the poor thing, live on air. I try to come to terms with having feet like a city pigeon, I take a moment to appreciate good orators and we welcome Heaney onto the pod.

Works mentioned:

The Boy, The Bucket And The Persistent Tide by Charlie Jermyn as read by the author on the Off The Page With Bog Bodies Press podcast

The Third Policeman by Flann O’Brien

St Kevin and the Blackbird by Seamus Heaney

Also mentioned:

Eoghan Walls

Sextet Lit Mag

Six Foot Gallery

New episode every Friday.

www.jamesgraywriter.co.uk

Seagulls and toilet cleaner and hangovers and double yellow lines and love and falling for scams and acceptance at last and regrets and small ‘s’ sins and weird tasting bourbon biscuits and the fear of reading out the work of people you’ve met. All this and more in this, the thirteenth episode of the PIP.

Works mentioned:

Erin Go Brách by Seán Óg Ó Murchú

A Short History Of Irish Lines by Dr James Lattin (I can’t find the exact title on his site but there’s plenty of others to go at)

Also mentioned:

Roundstone Storytelling Festival

Sextet Lit Mag

Six Foot Gallery

New episode every Friday.

www.jamesgraywriter.co.uk

We take to the high seas for the first ever waterborne pebble inspection. I record on a very noisy ferry en route to the Roundstone Storytelling Festival and read from my own version of a fairytale, an uneasy bedtime story for any age. I also read from a couple of books I read this week that have helped crowbar me out of last week’s maudlin rut. Have at it.

Works mentioned:

Rain by Kirsty Gunn

Millstone Grit by Glyn Hughes (A newer version than mine with an intro by Benjamin Myers, who’s class)

Also mentioned:

Roundstone Storytelling Festival, Galway

Wordarium at The Gregson, Lancaster

New episode every Friday.

www.jamesgraywriter.co.uk

CONTENT WARNING: She’s a salty one.

This week sees me cast adrift into the world of being a freelance, by which I mean jobless, writer. I write a story too horrible to finish and I spiral into a pit of self pity and misery live on air. I talk about pirates, vikings, jellyfish and storytelling with a brief interlude for some chat about holiday plans.

Works mentioned:

Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned by Wells Tower

The Heart In Winter by Kevin Barry

Also mentioned:

Roundstone Storytelling Festival, Galway

Wordarium at The Gregson, Lancaster

Verbalise & Poetry Club at the Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal

New episode every Friday.

www.jamesgraywriter.co.uk

I take a look back at a year spent working on a masters in creative writing at Lancaster University and ask was it worth it? Did I learn owt? What the fuck do I do now? Could I have spent £10k more wisely?

And a first for The Pebble Inspector Podcast, we have listener’s letters!

Works mentioned:

The Tent by Margaret Atwood

Four Stars by Joel Golby and his Substack

Check out Jenn & Eoghan’s work

Listen to The St Elwick’s Neighbourhood Association Newsletter Podcast

New episode every Friday.

www.jamesgraywriter.co.uk

The death throws of a dissertation and an entire masters… I talk about writing that most hated of things, a critical reflection; trying to sound clever about all the stuff you just made up. Expect poorly pronounced french, poorly pronounced english, frostbite and lots of making it up as I go along.

Works mentioned: The Years by Annie Ernaux

Skulking about in cupboards, laughing at my own jokes and generally living my best life.

You can expect, in no particular order:

Alligator wrestling

Bashed heads

Poultry pulling

Dead dogs

Winter winds

Weasels strike back

Fargo (1996)

Works mentioned:

A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers, Granta Magazine & The Abundance by Annie Dillard

New episode every Friday.

www.jamesgraywriter.co.uk