Alternative Stories and Fake Realities
Alternative Stories
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Alternative Stories and Fake Realities is the anthology podcast of the spoken-word audio production company Alternative Stories.
Working with poets, novelists and dramatists we tell stories and share the work of writers including radio plays, short fiction, book excerpts and writer interviews. We also explore the things that inspire writers including folklore and mythology as well as sharing content from other podcasts produced by Alternative Stories.
With almost 150 podcasts to choose from we hope there'll be something here to enjoy if you're into literature, books and the spoken arts.
Please check out our website https://alternativestories.com/
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National Poetry Day 2021
Alternative Stories and Fake Realities
10/05/21 • 35 min
Welcome to our special anthology podcast celebrating the UK’s National Poetry Day 2021. We have a mix of poems from the podcast in the past year and new poems in forthcoming collections.
The presenter is Tiffany Clare
Readers (where not read by the poets themselves) are Marie-Claire Wood, Niall Wright and Charlie Richards
Sound design, soundscapes, and production are by Chris Gregory
- Kim Moore : “All The Men I Never Married” performed by Kim Moore with music by Dave Boraston. This is taken from Kim’s new collection of the same name, published this week by Seren Books
- Polly Atkin : “Epiphany Insomnia” and “Frog Season” peformed by Polly Atkin from her Seren Books collection “Much With Body”
- Mona Arshi “Egg” and “Hurry (A Migration Song)” read by Tiffany Clare
- Salena Godden “The Red Tower” from “Mrs Death Misses Death by Salena Godden (originally published as part of our podcast with Salena in July) read by Salena Godden
- Phoebe Stuckes “Baby, You Know What I want” and “Dolly Parton Enters a Dolly Parton Lookalike contest in a gay bar and does not place” read by Marie-Claire Wood from the Verve Poetry Press pamphlet “The One Girl Gremlin”
- Sarra Culleno “Tantrum” from her forthcoming collection “Bonds” read by the author
- Carolyn Jess-Cooke “Peeling The Skin”read by the writer from her forthcoming Seren Books collection “We have to Leave The Earth”
- Hannah Ingeborg “Brumation” read by the author and Joanne Sutton Smith “ A New York City Keening” read by Marie-Claire Wood taken from the Rare Swan Press Collection “100 Words of Solitude”
- Lisa O’Hare “Lockdown Life, A Roller-coaster of Emotions” from her Master House Publishing collection of the same name
- Gregory Leadbetter “Optics” read by Charlie Richards and taken from his Nine Arches Press collection “Maskwork”
- James O’Leary “Holding Joe” read by Niall Wright and Maggie Sawkins “Script” read by Tiffany Clare from the collection “A Wild and Precious Life edited by Zoe Gilbert and Lily Dunn.
Follow our poets on twitter
Kim Moore https://twitter.com/kimmoorepoet
Polly Atkin https://twitter.com/pollyrowena
Mona Arshi https://twitter.com/arshi_mona
Salena Godden https://twitter.com/salenagodden
Phoebe Stuckes https://twitter.com/phoebestuckes
Sarra Culleno https://twitter.com/sarra1978
Carolyn Jess-Cooke https://twitter.com/CJessCooke
Rare Swan Press (100 Words of Solitude publisher) https://twitter.com/rare_swan_press
Lisa O’Hare https://twitter.com/TheLisaOHare
Gregory Leadbetter https://twitter.com/GregMLeadbetter
Find out more about Seren poets, Kim Moore, Polly Atkin and Carolyn Jess-Cooke and buy their books via the Seren website and listen out for some special podcasts with Seren coming soon https://www.serenbooks.com/
Visit Nine Arches Press https://www.ninearchespress.com/
You can find out much more about National Poetry Day on 7th October by visiting the website https://nationalpoetryday.co.uk/ and twitter https://twitter.com/PoetryDayUK
Showcase Edition
Alternative Stories and Fake Realities
09/06/19 • 20 min
Alternative Stories and Fake Realities has been nominated for and Audio Verse 2019 Award in the category New Audio Play Production. The awards offer us the chance to showcase the best of our podcast and this edition takes clips and excerpts from a number of our podcasts by way of a taster for potential new listeners. We hope that existing listeners will also enjoy this brief journey through our first 8 editions and continue to enjoy the new productions we have planned.
Presenter : Kelli Winkler
Music : Chris Gregory and Micah Cottingham
Writing : Chris Gregory and Chelsie Buckner
This edition features the acting talents of Tiffany Clare, Catharine Daddario, Abby Hilden, Jackie Jorgensen, John Weber, Carla Rose Smith, Charlie Richards, Micah Cottingham and Andrew Woods
"Victim of Medusa" was written and performed by Chelsie Buckner
We would like to take the opportunity to thanks the Audio Verse Awards team and those listeners kind enough to nominate us.
Find out more at https://alternativestories.com
contact us : [email protected]
Social media - Twitter @StoriesAlt . Instagram @stories.alt
The Midas Episode
Alternative Stories and Fake Realities
06/28/19 • 30 min
In the first of our stories based on episodes from Ovid's Metamorphoses we explore the story of King Midas using a modern re-telling. The audio drama "Collateral Damage" features Tiffany Clare as Laura, Sally Richards as Constantina, Georgie Lauridsen as Carol and Ash Steel as Mike. Sound effects are from Freesounds.com and music is by Chris Gregory. The presenter is Kelli Winkler.
Support the show (https://ko-fi.com/alternativestories)
Postcards From Another World: An Audio Drama
Alternative Stories and Fake Realities
12/20/22 • 42 min
Making a life on a new world following a family tragedy, Lyra and Neeva reflect on their past lines as farmers on Epsilon while coming to terms with the realities of existence on their new home, Lunasetti. Postcards From Another World by Frasier Armitage is the winner of the 2022 Pen to Print audio play competition.
In Postcards from Another World by Frasier Armitage you heard
Sarah Golding as Lyra
Marie-Claire Wood as Neeva
Warren Graham as Zabo
Emily Inkpen as the computer
Rhiannon Armitage as the Lunasetti spaceport announcer
Chris Gregory as Privik.
Production, sound design and editing were by Chris Gregory for Alternative Stories
The original score was composed and performed by Chris Gregory
Sound effects were from Freesound.org
Casting advice, actor coaching and beta listening were by Frasier Armitage.
You can find out more about Frasier Armitage and his work by visiting his website here https://frasierarmitage.com/
You can follow Frasier on twitter here https://twitter.com/FrasierArmitage
And Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/frasierarmitage/
You can contact and hire our lead actors by visiting them online
Sarah Golding https://sarahgoldingvoiceactorandmore.weebly.com/
Marie-Claire Wood https://linktr.ee/MarieClaireWood
Warren Graham https://twitter.com/wg973
Emily Inkpen https://www.emilyinkpen.com/
The script for Postcards from Another World by Frasier Armitage was the winner of the 2022 Pen to Print audio play competition. We would like to thank Pen to print for their support in the making of this drama and for sponsoring this annual competition. The 2023 competition is open for entries now. We are looking for scripts of around half an hour (4- 5000 words) and the competition is open to UK residents only. You have until 31st March to submit your entires and you can find out more and enter the competition here
https://pentoprint.org/get-involved/competitions-2023/
We hope you’ve enjoyed listening to Postcards From Another World. Please join us in 2023 for more audio drama, poetry and fiction podcasts You can subscribe by searching for alternative stories in your favourite podcast app.
If you’ve enjoyed this audio drama please check out our other science fiction , fantasy and cli fi productions. Here’s a link to a podchaser playlist https://www.podchaser.com/lists/sci-fi-and-climate-fiction-on-alternative-stories-107aDoFzmM
You’ll also enjoy our science fiction serial drama The Dex Legacy by Emily Inkpen – search The Dex Legacy in your favourite podcast app to listen and subscribe.
https://www.thedexlegacy.com/
We’d like to end this podcast with a recommendation for an audio drama we think you’ll enjoy.. Set in the wilds of British Columbia, Darkstead is a fantasy crime drama by writer / director Lucy Gib Smith. You can listen and subscribe to Darkstead here https://www.darkstead.com/
Poetry from Nine Arches Press
Alternative Stories and Fake Realities
12/15/20 • 46 min
In this edition we look at Nine Arches Press, an independent poetry publisher from Warwickshire. We feature poems from 3 Nine Arches poets, Gregory Leadbetter, Rishi Dastidar and Geraldine Clarkson and have insight and recommendations from Editor and Director Jane Commane.
The poems featured in this podcast are
"Optics" by Gregory Leadbetter from the Nine Arches Press collection "Maskwork" read by Charlie Richards
First extract from Saffron Jack by Rishi Dastidar from the Nine Arches Press Publication "Saffron Jack" read by Tiffany Clare
"Saint Rose of Lima's Revenge" by Geraldine Clarkson from the Nine Arches Press Collection "Monica's Overcoat of Flesh" read by Tiffany Clare
"The Ape At The End of The World" by Gregory Leadbetter read by Charlie Richards
Second extract from Saffron Jack by Rishi Dastidar read by Tiffany Clare
"Homily of Francis" by Geraldine Clarkson read by Charlie Richards
"A Young Woman Undressed Me And..." by Geraldine Clarkson read by Tiffany Clare
The presenter in this edition is Tiffany Clare
Production, sound design and soundscapes are by Chris Gregory
Jane Commane's interview was recorded by Kevin Brook at Soundbite Recording (link below)
Visit the Nine Arches Press website here https://ninearchespress.com/
And follow them on twitter here https://twitter.com/NineArchesPress
And on Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/ninearchespress/
Follow Gregory Leadbetter on twitter here https://twitter.com/GregMLeadbetter
Rishi Dastidar here https://twitter.com/BetaRish
Geraldine Clarkson here https://twitter.com/GBClarkson
And Jane Commane here https://twitter.com/CommaJane
For more about Soundbite Recording please visit their website here https://www.soundbiterecording.com/
You can find out more about our presenter and reader Tiffany Clare here https://twitter.com/TiffanyEclair
And Charlie Richards here https://twitter.com/CharlieDTR
And follow Alternative Stories here https://twitter.com/StoriesAlt
Rishi Dastidar is a fellow of “The Complete Works”, a consulting editor at The Rialto magazine, a member of Malika’s Poetry Kitchen, and chair of writer development organization Spread The Word. He is editor of The Craft: A Guide to Making Poetry Happen in the 21st Century (Nine Arches Press). Saffron Jack is his second collection.
Gregory Leadbetter is the author of two poetry collections, Maskwork (2020) and The Fetch (2016), both with Nine Arches Press, as well as the pamphlet The Body in the Well (HappenStance Press, 2007), Balanuve (Broken Sleep, 2021). His book Coleridge and the Daemonic Imagination (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011) won the University English Book Prize 2012. He has written both poetry and radio drama for the BBC. He is Professor of Poetry at Birmingham City University.
Geraldine Clarkson has performed poems at the Royal Albert Hall, as part of the Proms Extra Late series broadcast on BBC Radio 3, and also at the Poetry Society AGM. She is a former winner of the Ambit and Poetry London competitions and her first full collection Monica's
Climate Fiction
Alternative Stories and Fake Realities
11/13/20 • 28 min
In today's podcast we look at the genre of climate fiction or "Cli Fi" and preview two upcoming audio dramas we'll be sharing as part of our Autumn climate season. We talk to the authors of the two pieces, Anna Orridge and Kevan Manwaring and get their views on Cli Fi, writing in general and the stories that inspired our upcoming dramas.
In todays' podcast, presented by Kelli Winkler you heard the voices of Anna Orridge and Kevan Manwaring.
You heard clips from our forthcoming dramas Backdrop by Anna Orridge and Black Box by Kevan Manwaring
You heard the voices of actors Marie-Claire Wood, Harri-Rees Jones, Kelley Costigan and Kelli Winkler in the Backdrop trailer.
In the Black Box trailer you heard Danyelle Ellett, Lewie Watson and Charlie Richards.
Sound design, soundscaping and music are by Chris Gregory with effects from freesound.org
Backdrop will be out on 20th November with Black Box appearing in three parts on 28th November, 4th and 11th December
Links and social media
You can follow Anna Orridge on twitter here
https://twitter.com/orridge_anna
You can follow Kevan Manwaring on twitter here
https://twitter.com/bardicacademic
and visit Kevan’s wordpress site where you can read more of his writing here
https://thebardicacademic.wordpress.com/
We ended the podcast with a recommendation for the novel America City by Chris Beckett
You can purchase America City from Blackwell’s here
https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/America-city-by-Chris-Beckett-author/9781786491534
You can download a free sample of America City here
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3H49Dxf9NTpHXrTybN80hxC/america-city-by-chris-beckett
and you can follow Chris Beckett on twitter here
https://twitter.com/chriszbeckett
We are publicising the work of Culture Declares Emergency during our Autumn climate season. You can follow them on twitter here
https://twitter.com/CultureDeclares
And you can pledge your support to their cause here
https://www.culturedeclares.org/
Please note, we have bleeped out swearing in the trailer for Black Box. When we put out the "real thing" all swearing will be fully audible (and beautifully delivered by Lewie Watson!)
Also in the trailer for Black Box you heard Lewie singing a few lines from "King of The Road" by Roger Miller. We don't own the rights to this and acknowledge all copyrights relating to the piece.
The Gathering : An Audio Drama
Alternative Stories and Fake Realities
10/31/22 • 40 min
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.
Daughter of Fire and Water: An Audio Drama: Part One
Alternative Stories and Fake Realities
02/19/21 • 25 min
Brida is the daughter of the goddess Callie and bound by a spell her mother has cast, she is held captive beneath Callie's mountain fortress. Longing to escape so that she may travel freely around the world, Brida has tried many ways in vain to break the spell but the visit of a prince from the world beyond the mountain may suggest ways in which her captivity can be ended.
In Daughter of Fire and Water by Lyndsey Croal you heard
Kelsey Griffin as Brida
Lewie Watson as Angus
Peter Forbes as Cernun
and Simone Low as Callie
Music was by Cameron Mackay
Sound design, direction and soundscapes were by Chris Gregory
Sound effects were from freesound.org
The presenter of this podcast is Marie-Claire Wood
We would like to thank Lyndsey Croal, Anthea Middleton, Sam Canning and Gillian Bowman for their invaluable help in casting for this drama
Daughter of Fire and Water began as a character origin tale for Lyndsey's in-progress young-adult fantasy novel, though it morphed into something quite different by the end. She'd like to thank Julie Bertagna for prompting her to explore this back story, and Scottish Book Trust for their support over the past year. Inspiration also came from Scottish folklorist Donald Alexander Mackenzie's interpretation of the Cailleach's story.
If you would like to find out more about Lyndsey Croal and her writing, please visit her website https://lyndseycroal.wordpress.com/
To find out more about Cameron Mackay and to listen to more of his music please go to https://www.cameronmackay.co.uk/
You can follow Lyndsey Croal on twitter here https://twitter.com/writerlynds
And Cameron Mackay here https://twitter.com/CameronJMackay
"Daughter of Fire and Water” is an alternative stories 2021 production for the alternative stories and fake realities podcast.
Part two of Daughter of Fire and Water will be out on Friday 26th February. Please subscribe to alternative stories and fake realities in your favourite podcast app to have this and all future editions delivered directly to your podcast feed the moment they are released.
Spoken Word
Alternative Stories and Fake Realities
11/06/20 • 42 min
In this edition of the podcast we look at spoken word poetry. We feature a new project from Kent: a music and poetry collaboration by Nancy Gaffield and The Drift. We look at spoken word record label Nymphs and Thugs and we hear from Lisa Mead, CEO and Artistic Director of Apples and Snakes. The presenter is Marie-Claire Wood
There is some swearing and references to suicide and drug use in this podcast. Please avoid if this is likely to offend
In today’s podcast you heard:
An interview with Nancy Gaffield, Rob Pursey, Amelia Fletcher and Darren Pilcher of Nancy Gaffield and The Drift. http://thedrift.uk/
The track you heard was Wealden Part 3 : Song of The Shingle from the album Wealden published by Longbarrow Press as a book and CD pack
https://longbarrowpress.com/
Wealden is also available as a digital download from The Drift’s record label Skep Wax https://skepwax.bandcamp.com/
Follow Nancy Gaffield, The Drift and Longbarrow Press on Twitter here
https://twitter.com/nancyjgv1
https://twitter.com/thedriftkent
https://twitter.com/LongbarrowPress
You also heard an interview with Matt Abbott, founding owner of Nymphs and Thugs. https://nymphsandthugs.net/
The poems you heard were
“I Saw Goody Proctor Jogging Without a Face Mask” by Salena Godden
“Nowt Matters Now” by Toria Garbutt
You can buy content from Nymphs and Thugs including these recordings via their band camp page here
https://nymphsandthugs.bandcamp.com/
Follow Nymphs and Thugs, Matt, Salena and Toria on twitter here
https://twitter.com/nymphsandthugs
https://twitter.com/MattAbbottPoet
https://twitter.com/salenagodden
https://twitter.com/ToriaGarbutt
Our final interview is with Apples and Snakes and their Artistic Director Lisa Mead. Find out more about Apples and Snakes and link to their online content here https://applesandsnakes.org/
and here for their excellent YouTube channel where you can see many poets performing live
https://www.youtube.com/c/ApplesandSnakesPoetry
You heard poems by John Bernard and Adrian B Earle
Follow Apples and Snakes, Lisa Mead, John Bernard and Adrian B Earle on twitter here
https://twitter.com/ApplesAndSnakes
https://twitter.com/applesMead
https://twitter.com/PoetBernard
https://twitter.com/Think_write_fly
This podcast was presented by Marie-Claire Wood https://twitter.com/MarieClaireWood
Production, sound design and editing were by Chris Gregory
Individual sound design and editing of the poems and interviews within the show were by the contributors
We would like to thank all contributors to this podcast. If you can please check out all the links we’ve posted, buy content from the suppliers and support artists, poets, musicians, writers and any creative
Through The Trees Part 2
Alternative Stories and Fake Realities
07/17/20 • 21 min
Through the trees is an anthology about trees and woodlands, their folklore and mythology. Dealing with the subjects of transformation and change into and from trees our writers use poetry and monologue to tell their stories inspired by folk and fairy stories, classical mythology and lived experience.
The pieces in part 2 are
The Woodcutter's Children by Sarra Culleno read by Tiffany Clare with music by Fay Hield
Arbol by TAK Erzinger read by Tiffany Clare
The Fairy Tree by Signe Maene read by Kelsey Griffin
Dark Moon by Sarah Corbett read by Amy Forrest
Serenade by TAK Erzinger read by Tiffany Clare
Extract from the audio drama "No Words" performed by Tiffany Clare and Federico Foglia
The presenter is Tiffany Clare
Music and production are by Chris Gregory
You can listen to "No Words" in full here https://www.buzzsprout.com/411730/1341199-the-daphne-and-apollo-episode
In this podcast we featured the track "Willow Glen" by Fay Hield which appears on the Topic Records album "Old Adam" . We would like to thank Topic Records and Proper Records for their kind permission to use this track and particularly to Glen Johnson for enabling this. You can find out more about Topic Records, The World's Oldest Independent Record Label, here
https://www.topicrecords.co.uk/
You'll also find more about Fay Hield's upcoming album Wrackline which will be released on September 11th here. Listen out for news of another exciting collaboration between Fay and Alternative Stories on the podcast and by following us on Twitter and Instagram. You can follow Fay on twitter here https://twitter.com/fayhield
To find out more about Signe Maene who is also the author of our recent audio drama "Selkie" please visit her website here https://signemaene.com/ and follow her on twitter here https://twitter.com/MaeneSigne
You can hear Selkie by clicking here https://www.buzzsprout.com/411730/3858479-selkie
Sarra Culleno is a poet and writer who has previously appeared on Alternative Stories. Please check out Sarra's poems on her youtube account https://www.youtube.com/user/sarra1978 and follow her on twitter here https://twitter.com/sarra1978
Sarah Corbett's collection The Witch Bag was the subject of an Alternative Stories edition in April. You can find out more about Sarahby following her on twitter https://twitter.com/sarahcorbett70. and listen to The Witch Bag here https://www.buzzsprout.com/411730/3386344-sarah-corbett-the-witch-bag
TAK Erzinger is an American writer and artist living in Switzerland. She'll be appearing in another edition of Alternative Stories very soon. Find out more about her and her work by following her on Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/takerzinger/
Forthcoming podcasts from Alternative Stories include: The Bomb, an audio drama by Emily Inkpen, Mother of Floods by Madeleine F White, poetry from Jennifer Wong and Out of The Darkness, a collaborative piece on the lifting of lockdown with writers reflecting on their experiences during the Covid 19 crisis.
Please subscribe to hear all of
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FAQ
How many episodes does Alternative Stories and Fake Realities have?
Alternative Stories and Fake Realities currently has 164 episodes available.
What topics does Alternative Stories and Fake Realities cover?
The podcast is about Poetry, Literature, Fiction, Drama, Audio Drama, Podcasts, Books, Arts and Literary.
What is the most popular episode on Alternative Stories and Fake Realities?
The episode title 'The Folklore of Animals, beasts and familiars with Signe Maene' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Alternative Stories and Fake Realities?
The average episode length on Alternative Stories and Fake Realities is 38 minutes.
How often are episodes of Alternative Stories and Fake Realities released?
Episodes of Alternative Stories and Fake Realities are typically released every 7 days.
When was the first episode of Alternative Stories and Fake Realities?
The first episode of Alternative Stories and Fake Realities was released on Jun 28, 2019.
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