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The Bone Diver is the latest novel from Chicago born novelist Angie Spoto who now lives in Edinburgh. Telling the story of Keir, an expert diver who is unable to kill, The Bone Diver is a gothic tale of family, the legend of the selkies and a young woman who is offered an impossible choice.

Find out more about Angie Spoto and buy a copy of The Bone Diver by visiting her website here https://www.angiespoto.com/

Follow Angie Spoto on social media here
https://x.com/angiespotowrite
https://www.threads.net/@angiespotowrite
https://www.instagram.com/angiespotowrite/

Visit the Black and White website here https://blackandwhitepublishing.com/

Find out about the Cymera Festival which is a speculative fiction literary festival held annually in Edinburgh https://www.cymerafestival.co.uk/


To find out more about Alternative Stories and our work you can follow us on social media
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https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/
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Contact us by email at office@alternativestories.com

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In this episode we chat with blogger, poet and freelance writer Alanna Duffield about her writing and the art of blogging. With advice and thoughts on topics, style, frequency of posts and titles this not only a guide to getting started as a blogger but also an insight into Alanna's own creative practice. We end with a look at Alanna's poetry.

Throughout this episode you can hear excerpts from Alanna's blog posts and poems. These are written, performed and recorded by Alanna Duffield and may not be reproduced in whole or part except with the written permission of the author.

Alanna Duffield is a writer, blogger and poet whose work explores pop culture, relationships, human connection, grief, nature and - of course - writing itself.

Her poetry and short stories have been published by the BBC, Dear Damsels and Aurelia Magazine. Her essays and journalism have been published by Cosmopolitan, Metro and Stylist. She also runs SILT, a weekly lifestyle publication on Substack.

Alanna has performed her poetry at Luxembourg Gallery, Mayfair and she was a headline performer for VERSES, a London-based poetry collective.

You can read Alanna's blog art alannaduffield.substack.com
Her poetry blog is here thelinebreak.substack.com
and you can follow her on Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/alannaduffield/


To find out more about Alternative Stories and our work you can follow us on social media
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https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/
or visit our website https://alternativestories.com/
Contact us by email at office@alternativestories.com

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In this episode we chat with fantasy author Alethea Lyons about her series of novels and short stories called The Seer of York. We look at the influences on Thea's writing including the folklore of the British Isles and the inspiration that the City of York has been on her world. Along the way we hear excerpts from Alethea's writing read by Emily Inkpen

Find out more about Alethea Lyons by visiting here website here https://alethealyons.wixsite.com/stories

Links to Alethea's social media channels and many other locations can be found here https://linktr.ee/alethearlyons

You can find out about Alethea's publisher, Brigid's Gate Press here https://brigidsgatepress.com/

If you'd like to find out more about our reader Emily Inkpen and hire her for your voice or writing project you can do so here https://www.emilyinkpen.com/

We mentioned Rhianna Pratchett's BBC series about creatures from British folklore and you can listen here https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/m001tgpb

To find out more about Alternative Stories and our work you can follow us on social media
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https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/
or visit our website https://alternativestories.com/
Contact us by email at office@alternativestories.com

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In this episode we share two short audio dramas by Nottingham based playwright and short fiction author Robbie Laughton.

These were two of four plays we recorded with Robbie and our cast in August. You can listen to our first podcast featuring Robbie's dramas "Hairy Fairy" and "Tormeted" which has since been featured on BBC Radio, here https://www.buzzsprout.com/411730/episodes/15864824

Please note that "Dog Only Knows", our second drama contains very strong and abusive language throughout. Listener discretion is advised.

Hair's Breadth
When Bob goes to the supermarket to buy extra supplies for a barbecque, he brings home more than a selction of wine and some hollandaise sauce... in fact, he forgets the hollandaise altogether.

In “Hair's Breadth” by Robbie Laughton Chris Gregory played Bob, John was played by David Monteith and Emma by Holy Gillanders. Other voices were played by members of the cast.

"Hair's Breadth" was directed by Emily Inkpen and recorded at Orpheus Studio in London by Richard Campbell. Sound design and production was by Chris Gregory. Music was by Franz Gordon.

The script for “Hair's Breadth” is copyright Robbie Laughton and may not be produced in whole or in part except with the written permission of the author.

Dog Only Knows
Dog walking can be frustrating when your dog doesn't want to follow orders and the whole world seems to be against you.

In “Dog Only Knows” by Robbie Laughton The Man was played by David Monteith. Other voices were played by Holly Gillanders and Robbie Laughton.

"Dog Only Knows" was directed by Emily Inkpen and Chris Gregory and recorded at Orpheus Studio in London by Richard Campbell. Sound design, music and editing were by Chris Gregory.

The script for “Dog Only Knows” is copyright Robbie Laughton and may not be produced in whole or in part except with the written permission of the author.

Find out more about Robbie Laughton and his work by visiting his short fiction site Incredible Shorts here https://incredibleshorts.com/

The Writer's Gym Podcast
Produced by Alternative Stories and featuring Rachel Knightley, Emily Inkpen and Chris Gregory, the Writers' Gym Podcast tackles a different writing topic each week. With discussions, writing advice, anecdotes and writing challenges you'll enjoy the podcast if you are a writer, reader or someone who enjoys conversations about writing and books.
https://open.spotify.com/show/0myjCJkk2pt6jPfdIa0AAr?si=0fd7d646491f4f01

To find out more about Alternative Stories and our work you can follow us on social media
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https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/
or visit our website https://alternativestories.com/
Contact us by email at office@alternativestories.com

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In this episode we chat with novelist, academic and short story writer Philippa Holloway about her new short fiction collection "Untethered" which was published last month by Parthian. Along the way we hear excerpts from the collection performed by Emily Inkpen and Chris Gregory.

In this podcast you heard excerpts from the following stories

A Cloud of Starlings - read by Emily Inkpen
Handprints - read by Chris Gregory
Beached - read by Emily Inkpen

Sound design, editing, music and interviewing were by Chris Gregory

You can follow Philippa Holloway on X, formerly twitter here https://x.com/thejackdawspen

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

Find out more about Parthian Books and purchase a copy of "Untethered" here https://www.parthianbooks.com/

Follow Parthian on X here https://x.com/ParthianBooks

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

You can listen to Philippa's first podcast with Alt Stories in which we talked about her novel "The Half Life of Snails' here https://www.buzzsprout.com/411730/episodes/10479070-the-half-life-of-snails

Please follow Alternative Stories on social media here
https://x.com/StoriesAlt
https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/

And to contact the podcast please drop us an email at office@alternativestories.com
or visit our website here https://alternativestories.com/

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In this episodes we share a short series of monologues written by Stella Klein and performed by members of the Alternative Stories acting team.

Stella Klein is a London-based writer of very short stories and occasional poems. Her flash and micro fiction has appeared in print and online collections published by Fish, 101 Words, Spread the Word, FlashBack Fiction, Flash Fiction Magazine, Reflex Fiction and The Mechanics Institute Review.

Reclining Nude is performed by Tiffany Clare
Baristas is performed by Chris Gregory
The Day Susan McPhee Was Away is performed by Emily Inkpen
Sausalito is performed by Reginald West
Euphonium Blues is performed by Lewie Watson
Easy Peasy Lets Make Love is performed by Emily Inkpen
and Craft Coffee and Climate Change is performed by Chris Gregory

Sound design, editing and music on all monologues is by Chris Gregory

Four of these monologues have previously been published:

• Baristas in City of Stories, Vol. 2. Spread the Word 2018
• Sausalito (earlier version titled Licorice King) Flash Fiction Magazine, April 2020
• Reclining Nude: Fish Anthology, Fish Publishing 2020
• Craft Coffee and Climate Change, in Defence of Pseudoscience, Reflex Fiction Volume 5. Reflex Press, 2022

Please follow Alternative Stories on social media here
https://x.com/StoriesAlt
https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/

And to contact the podcast please drop us an email at office@alternativestories.com
or visit our website here https://alternativestories.com/

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In this episode we chat with fantasy author Alexandra Beaumont about her new novel Dissonance of Birdsong (Brigids Gate Press 2024)

Alexandra Beaumont is a fantasy author and folklorist whose debut novel "Testament of the Stars" was also featured on this podcast. Her latest book, Dissonance of Birdsong draws on the folklore and landscape of Cornwall.

You can listen to our original interview on this podcast here https://www.buzzsprout.com/411730/episodes/8376524

To find out more about Alexandra Beaumont and her work please visit her website here https://abeaumont75.wixsite.com/home
You can follow her on X here https://x.com/ABeaumontWriter
and Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/abeaumontwriter
To order copies of Dissonance of Birdsong, please follow the links in Alexandra's Linktree https://linktr.ee/AlexandraBeaumontAuthor

To find out more about Alexandra's publisher, Brigids Gate Press you can visit their website here https://brigidsgatepress.com/
and follow them on X here https://x.com/BrigidsGate

You can follow Alternative Stories on social media via the links below
https://x.com/StoriesAlt
https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/

If you'd like to back the Dex Legacy Season Three Kickstarter please go to https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/emilyinkpen/the-dex-legacy-science-fiction-audio-drama-season-3

And to contact the podcast please drop us an email at office@alternativestories.com
or visit our website here https://alternativestories.com/

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In this episode of the podcast, recorded on a walk in The Welland Valley in eastern Leicestershire Chris Gregory is in conversation with novelist, poet and journalist Tim Relf. Tim writes fiction under the name T.R. Richmond and his novel "What She Left" is published by Penguin.

In this podcast you can hear three poems
Scrambler by Tim relf read by Jackie Jorgenson
Blackberries by Tim Relf read by Chris Gregory
Adlestrop by Edward Thomas read by Tim Relf

To find out more about Tim and his work please follow him on X, formerly twitter here https://x.com/timrelf
You can also visit Tim's page at the Professional Writing Academy here https://www.profwritingacademy.com/team/tim_relf

If you'd like to see some of the view Chris and Tim describe in this discussion we'll post some pictures on the Alternative Stories social media pages here
https://x.com/StoriesAlt
https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/

If you'd like to back the Dex Legacy Season Three Kickstarter please go to https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/emilyinkpen/the-dex-legacy-science-fiction-audio-drama-season-3

And to contact the podcast please drop us an email at office@alternativestories.com
or visit our website here https://alternativestories.com/

Support the show