In this edition of the podcast we're chatting with writer, folklorist and historian Amy Boucher about plans for more from the world of her folk horror audio drama The Best of Men which was originally broadcast on this podcast. 

 

If you would like to find out more about the project to make season 2 of The Best of Men and to pledge your support to the project via our kickstarter campaign you can do so here.  Remember the campaign runs until 23rd May so please back it by then to enjoy our rewards and support our project. 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cgregory/the-best-of-men-a-folk-horror-audio-drama

To listen to the first two episodes of the drama via this podcast’s archive please go to 

Part one   https://www.buzzsprout.com/411730/12499890-the-best-of-men-an-audio-drama-part-one

Part two https://www.buzzsprout.com/411730/12600423-the-best-of-men-an-audio-drama-part-two

And to find out more about writer Amy Boucher and the folklore of Shropshire  please follow her on X formerly twitter here https://twitter.com/g0blinegg

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Following the loss of her father,  Margo is trying to come to terms with bereavement and the unkindness of her classmates at school when she begins to experience some strange encounters.  In this moving drama by Gemma Johnson, performed by members of the Creative Youth Company we explore Margo's journey towards recovery and the individuals and communities that help her. 

In Margo’s story by Gemma Johnson you can hear 

 Margo:  Sophia Horton

Aggie:  Aubrey Johnson

Mum:  Gemma Johnson

Bev the Librarian/TV Narrator:  Jade Taylor

Kelly:  Millie Millington

Kelly's Friend:  Millie Dyson

Daz:  Charlie Woodhouse

Daz's Mate 1:  John Paul Harrison

Daz's Mate 2: Shaye Williams

Mr Bradley:  Chris Gregory

Simon:  Michael Johnson

Auntie Pat:  Sehra Hussain-Choudhry

The sound effects for Toby were provided by Poppy Sue the labrador

Margo’s story was Recorded on location at St Martin's Church, Castleton. Greater Manchester.  

 The cast of young actors are members of the non profit group The Creative Youth Company: [email protected]

 Margo's story is based on an original script by Gemma Johnson 

The audio drama was directed by Chris Gregory and Gemma Johnson 

Production, sound design and editing were by Chris Gregory for Alternative Stories

Gemma Johnson is co-founder of a non profit organisation that supports children and young people with paranormal education.  To find out more please visit the website: www.juniorparanormalevents.co.uk or email [email protected]

 We would like to thank everyone who generously backed and supported this project via our fundraising campaign or through offering their time and expertise.  

 The script for Margo’s Story  is copyright Gemma Johnson and may not be copied or reproduced in whole or part except with the permission of the author.  

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Camlann is the new audio drama from Tin Can Audio written by Ella Watts.  In this special edition we chat with Ella and sound designer / composer Amber Devereux of Tin Can Audio about the creation of the show.  

Chris Gregory and Dex Legacy writer Emily Inkpen chatted with Ella and Amber via zoom so the sound quality isn't always perfect.  We hope this doesn't spoil your enjoyment of the conversation. 

Camlann is a post-apocalyptic drama based on folklore and Arthurian legend 
You can listen and subscribe by searching "Camlann" in your favourite podcast app or....

To listen via Apple please click here https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/camlann-an-audio-drama/id1714630550

And Spotify here https://open.spotify.com/show/1sXRFAqZoVduDQ0NgcD8Fl?si=f585aedabd2f40ba

 Follow the Camlann team on X here https://twitter.com/camlannpod

As always for new audio drama productions, if you enjoy episode one (which is out on Monday 15th January) please subscribe, leave a rating or review.  These small acts of kindness go a long way to raising the profile of the show

 Find out more about Amber Devereux and their Tin Can Audio production company here https://www.tincanaudio.co.uk/

Follow Tin Can Audio on Twitter here https://twitter.com/TinCanAudio

 And visit Ella's website here https://www.ella-watts.com/

And follow her on twitter here https://twitter.com/GejWatts

Emily Inkpen is the writer of The Dex Legacy audio drama (which you can find out more about here https://www.thedexlegacy.com/ ) books and short fiction.  

You can follow Emily on twitter here https://twitter.com/emilyinkpen

 and instagram here https://www.instagram.com/emilyinkpen/

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Flood survival operations are underway aboard the Ark and Captain Noah has delegated command to his sons and their partners.  But as the voyage begins a spate of mysterious deaths prompt Parphia to turn detective and embark upon the world's first ever murder mystery.  She is determined to record every last clue and discovery as she tries to solve the crimes, but has she bitten off more than she can chew and can she survive the mysterious Ark killer?  

In Ark by Stephanie Weston you heard 

Tiffany Clare as Parphia

Charlie Richards as Japhet

Emily Inkpen as Olla

Stephanie Weston as Leah

And Chris Gregory as Ham

Ark was directed by Chris Gregory and Emily Inkpen 

 Sound design, music and editing were by Chris Gregory 

Ark was recorded at Orpheus Studio in London and by Richard Campbell 

Ark by Stephanie Weston was the winner of the 2023 Pen to Print Audio Play competition.  If you would like to enter the 2024 competition which is aimed at new and first time writers you'll need to be a resident of the UK and submit a script of approximately half an hour.  You'll find a full set of regulations and more details about the competition on the pen to print website
  https://pentoprint.org/get-involved/competitions-2023/

You can find out more about Stephanie Weston by visiting her website https://tabb.cc/stephanie-weston

And you can follow Stephanie on instagram here https://www.instagram.com/stephanie__weston/

This will be our final podcast of 2023 but we'll resume our seventh season early in 2024 

Ark is an alternative stories 2023 production for the Alternative Stories and Fake Realities Podcast.

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Our guest on this edition of Alternative Stories  is writer, writing coach and teacher Dr Rachel Knightley.  We chatted on zoom about Rachel’s short story cycle “Twisted Branches” 

 To buy a copy of Twisted Branches from the publisher Black Shuck Book please click the link below https://blackshuckbooks.co.uk/twisted-branches

 And find out more about Rachel and her wider work you can visit her website here https://www.rachelknightley.com/

 You can follow Rachel Knightley on X, formerly twitter, here https://twitter.com/DrRKnightley

And on Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/drrachelknightley/

 Read Rachel’s work on Substack here https://substack.com/@drrachelknightley

To find out more about Alternative Stories and our work please visit our website https://alternativestories.com/
You can follow us on X (formerly twitter)  https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt
On Instagram https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/
And on Threads https://www.threads.net/@stories.alt

Thank you for listening to this edition of the Alternative Stories and Fake Realities Podcast.  The interviewer was Chris Gregory who also did the sound design, music and editing. 

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In this edition we look behind the scenes at the making of our science fiction drama The Dex Legacy

This podcast originally went out as an episode of The Dex Legacy Podcast and was released before the current season started.

You can find out more about The Dex Legacy, subscribe and listen by searching The Dex Legacy in your favourite podcast app or by clicking the link below.
https://www.thedexlegacy.com/

 You can follow The Dex Legacy on X (formerly Twitter) at https://twitter.com/thedexlegacy

On Facebook https://www.facebook.com/thedexlegacy

 And on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/thedexlegacy1/

Unfortunately the London Lit Lab workshop led by Chris Gregory and Emily Inkpen has now passed but you can join further Alternative Stories writing for audio workshops with London Lit Lab here https://www.londonlitlab.co.uk/courses/

 And a free writing workshop looking behind the scenes at the Dex Legacy with Chris and Emily will be run by Pen to Print on 7th December and you can book here https://pentoprint.org/about/events/

Watch out for details of more writing workshops from Alternative Stories in the new year.

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The second season of the Seren Poetry Podcast begins this week and in this preview edition we chat with Sarah Johnson from Seren who will be the interviewer in this series and hear poems from the featured poets. 

 Thank you to Sarah Johnson from Seren for being our guest in this edition

Sound design and production are by Chris Gregory for Alternative Stories 

Subscribe to the Seren Poetry Podcast in your favourite podcast app by searching “the seren poetry podcast” or click the link below 

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2035359

To find out more about the Alternative Stories audio workshop series with London Lit Lab which features Chris Gregory and guests including actor and presenter Tiffany Clare go to the London Lit Lab website here  https://www.londonlitlab.co.uk/courses/

Workshops will be running weekly between now and mid-December

Find out more about Alternative Stories by visiting our website https://alternativestories.com/

And follow us on social media 

On X (twitter) https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt

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

And on Threads https://www.threads.net/@stories.alt

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Thank you for listening to this edition of the Alternative Stories and Fake Realities Podcast in which we chat with poet Matthew Stewart about his new Happenstance collection “Whatever you do, just don’t” 

 You can order a copy of the collection via Happenstance here https://www.happenstancepress.com/index.php/shop/product/47818-whatever-you-do-just-don-t/category_pathway-64

 And visit Happenstance to find out more about their work and publications here 

http://www.happenstancepress.com/

Find Happenstance on x here https://twitter.com/Nell_Nelson

To find out more about Matthew Stewart you can follow him on X, formerly twitter, here https://twitter.com/roguestrands 

And read Matthew’s blog Rogue Strands here http://roguestrands.blogspot.com/

This podcast is presented and edited by Chris Gregory 

You heard a trailer for the Seren Poetry Podcast series two as part of this podcast.  You can listen to season one and subscribe to be alerted when new episodes are available by searching for “The Seren Poetry Podcast” in your favourite podcast app or clicking the link below https://www.buzzsprout.com/2035359

To find out more about the Alternative Stories audio workshop series with London Lit Lab which features Chris Gregory and guests including actor and presenter Tiffany Clare go to the London Lit Lab website here  https://www.londonlitlab.co.uk/courses/

 Workshops will be running weekly between now and mid-December

Find out more about Alternative Stories by visiting our website https://alternativestories.com/

And follow us on social media 

On X (twitter) https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt

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

And on Threads https://www.threads.net/@stories.alt

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In this edition we chat with author Lyndsey Croal about her novelette "Have You Decided on your Question?" her audio drama "Daughter of Fire and Water" and the kickstarter campaign for the forthcoming climate change edition of the "Shoreline of Infinity" magazine which she will be editing.

 Find out more about Lyndsey Croal by visiting her website here https://lyndseycroal.co.uk/

Follow Lyndsey on twitter here https://twitter.com/writerlynds

And instagram here https://www.instagram.com/lyndscroal/

Order a copy of Lyndsey's novelette "Have You Decided on your Question?" from Shortwave Publishing here https://shortwavepublishing.com/catalog/have-you-decided-on-your-question-novelette/

Find out more about Shoreline of Infinity and back the kickstarter campaign we talked about in the interview here https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/soig/shoreline-of-infinity-the-climate-change-issue

 Listen to both parts of Lyndsey's Alternative Stories audio drama "Daughter of Fire and Water" here
https://www.buzzsprout.com/411730/7925203-daughter-of-fire-and-water-an-audio-drama-part-one

https://www.buzzsprout.com/411730/8017320-daughter-of-fire-and-water-an-audio-drama-part-two

 We'd like to thank everyone who backed the Dex Legacy kickstarter campaign.  With your help we reached our first stretch goal target meaning that all our recording costs have been covered.  Your generosity means that season 2 will definitely be happening.  Recording will start soon and we are aiming for a release in the autumn.
Find out more about The Dex Legacy by visiting our website at  https://www.thedexlegacy.com/

 Editions of alternative stories will be a little more sporadic over the summer period as our focus shifts to recording and editing new drama productions that we'll be sharing as part of our autumn season.  Listen out though for a couple of guest edited editions and more from our spell sounds soundscape series

 Subscribe by searching alternative stories in your favourite podcast app to have new editions delivered to you the moment they are released.

If you have enjoyed the podcast and are new to Alt Stories please check out more of our work by visiting our website https://alternativestories.com/

You can follow us on twitter https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt

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

And you can contact us via email at [email protected] 

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Performed by Carole Pluckrose  and Ria Knowles https://www.spotlight.com/1418-7861-2841

Produced in association with The Boathouse Barking CIC.   https://www.boathousebarkingstudios.com/ Instagram Facebook

 ©Carole Pluckrose 2023

Dedicated to Edgar, Anne and Sheelagh
 
Script editors :Claire Steele,  Jill Glenn, Constellations Consultancy

With thanks for their enduring support and critical friendship to: Tony Humphreys, Nick Crean, Carl Blackburn. Mark and Dan Horn, Martin Heaney, Julie Wedge, Dorinda Hulton, Pen to Print  and Grace and Phoebe Pluckrose-Oliver 

I started writing Notes From Dad's Room in 2017, a few months following my dad, Edgar's death in November 2016. As a writer and theatre maker it was the natural place to go.    In 2015 Edgar had been given 3/4 weeks to live following a heart condition which he had managed for over 30 years. With an imminent terminal diagnosis when no more could be done to improve his health he came back from hospital to die at home.  Despite all the predictions however he lived for a further 15 months. In large part this was to do with an attitude of mind and a full engagement still in the world, family and thought despite being bedridden and confined to his bedroom. Somehow he managed to live this period largely with grace and positivity by looking outside himself into the world, and stubbornly refusing to reduce his rich imagination and sheer love of life. He travelled through this time and space in much the way he had told me stories when I was a child.  

During this time I began a Facebook group,  firstly for updates about Edgar's progress, but soon it turned into an open, tender and insightful conversation about death and dying. It was full of rich reflections and the resounding message was that it was a much welcome space to open up the often taboo discussion about mortality, our own and those we love. It was also a space to share stories of parent/child relationships, about the things we lay down in our children's lives that have a lifetime of significance. 

The play is a result of these conversations and it has been through many iterations in the intervening years, with a rehearsed reading at UEL with Ria Butler, a Zoom reading during the pandemic. It's been scrutinised by critical friends, supported by writers and writing mentors Claire Steele, Tony Humphreys, Nick Crean, Carl Blackburn. 

Through making this piece we want to share the story of a journey of love and caring and the liminal space inhabited in the time of impending loss. We know that so many of us live lives of caring behind closed doors and the toll emotionally and economically can be enormous. We want to share this story as an act of commonality and solidarity with those travelling this path right now. 

 I am also a celebrant and have learnt so much from my work with families in grief when supporting them in writing and officiating funeral ceremonies.  

https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolepluckrose/
Carole Pluckrose instagram
 
Tickets and further details of our writing workshop day on 1st July https://tinyurl.com/354ut7s3

Support The Dex Legacy Season 2 fundraiser https://tinyurl.com/9ryhppyz

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Spell sounds is an audiofiction soundscape series in which we combine poetry and prose with sound effects to evoke places, spaces and landscapes 

 
In this edition you heard the voices of Tiffany Clare, Sally Walker Taylor, Cee Cee and Chris Gregory

You heard writing by 

Lyndsey Croal

Ange Wilson

Anna Chorlton

Josh Holton

Joana Varanda

Cee Cee

And Chris Gregory

 
Soundscapes, music, mix and editing were by Alternative Stories

Sound effects were by Alternative Stories and from Freesound.org

Please listen out for more from our Spell Sound series soon.  Thank you to everyone who has contributed pieces for the series. 

Next week on Alternative Stories we'll bring you Audio drama : Notes from Dad's Room by Carole Pluckrose

 
Subscribe by searching alternative stories in your favourite podcast app to have all editions delivered to you the moment they are released. 

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