A short story by James Winterbottom

This story was partly inspired by the Pied Piper of Hamlin and partly inspired by a story in The Guardian about how the Deputy Mayor of New York was looking to appoint a Director of Rodent Mitigation to combat the city’s rat problem. I thought it was funny how they were in a situation where they could really do with the Pied Piper turning up to help them.

This will be the last podcast upload for a little while but please stay subscribed as I’ll be putting out more stories later in the year. Thank you all for listening to my stories these last few months! I’ll be back soon.

James

The post 27 – Director of Rodent Mitigation appeared first on ShortStoryCast.

A short story by James Winterbottom

This story is about a bank manager that goes off the rails and decides to rob his own bank after he becomes disillusioned with how the job he used to love has changed too much. This story is influenced by the time I spent working as a banking advisor in a small branch of a bank in 2005. Some of the details included in the story are true or based on the things I heard while I was working there. Other bits are made up.

One thing I didn’t include, but I wish I had found a way to crowbar in, was the story that was doing the rounds about the bank manager in my area that had a breakdown and spent the morning hiding in a cupboard to try and avoid the area manager who was trying to have a meeting with them about their poor sales figures.

If you would like to get in touch, please feel free to email me at [email protected], on Twitter or on Facebook.

I’ll be back soon with another short story. In the meantime, please remember to subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Goodbye!

James

The post 26 – An Inside Job appeared first on ShortStoryCast.

A short story by James Winterbottom.

WARNING: This story contains adult references and may offend those of a more delicate disposition. Please skip this story if you’re easily offended.

Chris’ best friend Mike died of a sudden illness and didn’t have time to get rid of his “personal items” from his room in his mother’s house. His dying wish was for his best friend to clear out all his dirty secrets from his room, so his mother won’t find them after he has gone. This is the story of Chris getting rid of his friend’s sensitive personal possessions after he died.

If you would like to get in touch, please feel free to email me at [email protected], on Twitter or on Facebook.

I’ll be back soon with another short story. In the meantime, please remember to subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Goodbye!

James

The post 25 – The Sin Eater appeared first on ShortStoryCast.

A short story by James Winterbottom. Using Siren Head, a character created by Trevor Henderson.

This is a spooky story about a boy that is invited into the woods at night by a bully to try and find Siren Head. Both boys find more than they bargain for!

Here’s a picture of Siren Head, to give you an idea of what he looks like.

You can buy Trevor Henderson’s artwork of Siren Head and many other creations online or check out his online portfolio of artwork.

If you would like to get in touch, please feel free to email me at [email protected], on Twitter or on Facebook.

I’ll be back soon with another short story. In the meantime, please remember to subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Goodbye!

James

The post 24 – Hunting Siren Head appeared first on ShortStoryCast.

If you’ve been sacked by your therapist then shopping centre Santas are actually a pretty good alternative. Or at least that’s what the main character in this story believes. Read the story to see if you agree with him or not.

Written and performed by James Winterbottom.

Merry Christmas! This will be my last podcast of 2022, so Happy New Year too. I’ll be back in 2023 with more short stories for you.

If you would like to get in touch, please feel free to email me at [email protected], on Twitter or on Facebook.

I’ll be back soon with another short story. In the meantime, please remember to subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Goodbye!

James

The post 23 – Santa Therapy appeared first on ShortStoryCast.

If you ask a private detective to investigate your husband you have to be prepared to hear the answers. This story is all about a wife finding out what her husband has been doing on a Wednesday night for the last few months. It’s not an affair, as she thought, but for her, it feels worse. The private detective thinks otherwise, he thinks it’s just harmless fun.

This is a short story written by James Winterbottom and performed by Claire Winterbottom.

Here’s the video I mentioned in the podcast about the brony convention, as you can probably imagine it’s pretty inappropriate in places:

Here’s a link in cases the video doesn’t work for you: https://youtu.be/GmULc5VANsw.

If you would like to get in touch, please feel free to email me at [email protected], on Twitter or on Facebook.

I’ll be back next week with another short story. In the meantime, please remember to subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Goodbye!

James

The post 22 – Not an affair… appeared first on ShortStoryCast.

Written and performed by James Winterbottom

What if every little mistake you’ve ever made haunted you for the rest of your life? What if only people that had never done anything wrong could get jobs? This week’s story is set in the near future where tough new laws mean that even tiny mistakes from your past can have big implications for your future. Would you have anything to fear?

Here’s a link to the review I mentioned on Apple podcasts. I’ll post a screenshot below too, as it wasn’t loading for me in some browsers for some reason:

If you would like to get in touch, please feel free to email me at [email protected], on Twitter or on Facebook.

I’ll be back next week with another short story. In the meantime, please remember to subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Goodbye!

James

The post 21 – Your Permanent Record appeared first on ShortStoryCast.

Sometimes people seem nice on the surface but not far beneath the pleasant exterior there is a darker side waiting to come out. This story is about one of those people, who you might meet and think are perfectly pleasant but actually are completely sociopathic. 

He Seems Nice is a short story that is written and performed by James Winterbottom. 

If you would like to get in touch, please feel free to email me at [email protected], on Twitter or on Facebook.

I’ll be back next week with another short story. In the meantime, please remember to subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Goodbye!

James

The post 20 – He Seems Nice appeared first on ShortStoryCast.

!!!PLEASE NOTE: THIS CONTENT IS NOT APPROPRIATE FOR CHILDREN!!!

It’s hard to be a children’s entertainer when you’re wife has left you for her pilates instructor, you don’t have access to see your son anymore, you’re struggling to control your weight and your alcohol consumption and the demons in your head make it hard to keep your friendly YouTube persona up when you’re on camera. So filming a fun video at the laundromat isn’t easy for Cowboy Jim. In this short story, you get to learn about how this unlucky cowboy’s life is unravelling on him while he’s trying to get to the end of his video where he explains how to do laundry to kids without breaking down.

Keep The Energy Up is a short story written by James Winterbottom and performed by Ashe Russell. 
It’s a parody of a YouTube video made by Cowboy Jack which you can find here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sz6eQ_SfYBY.

The character in the story isn’t meant to be Cowboy Jack, it’s an entirely different character, who is trying to copy the kind of video Cowboy Jack makes but fails because he’s making the video for cynical reasons. 

If you would like to get in touch, please feel free to email me at [email protected], on Twitter or on Facebook.

I’ll be back next week with another short story. In the meantime, please remember to subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Goodbye!

James

The post 19 – Keep The Energy Up! appeared first on ShortStoryCast.

Where do ideas come from?  What happens if they run out?

This story examines what looks at what might happen if the source of inspiration dries up and you have to take extreme measures to try and get your creative inspiration flowing again. The consequences are unexpected. 

A short story written and performed by James Winterbottom. 

If you would like to get in touch, please feel free to email me at [email protected], on Twitter or on Facebook.

I’ll be back next week with another short story. In the meantime, please remember to subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Goodbye!

James

The post 18 – The Well appeared first on ShortStoryCast.