Introducing Season Four

Introducing Season Four

by | Sep 19, 2023 | Season Four

Tall And True Short Reads

Season Four Trailer

Introducing Season Four (19 September 2023)

Season Four will start with a multi-part, longer short story I wrote in June 2023, Some Things Change, consisting of three vignettes set in different locations and times but with a common thread: a pair of cousins from Perth, Western Australia, exploring Australia’s troubled history and relationship with Indigenous peoples.

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Season Four Trailer

Show Notes

Introducing Season Four (19 September 2023)

Tall And True Short Reads is a storytelling podcast featuring short stories, blog posts and other writing from the Tall And True writers’ website, written and narrated by Robert Fairhead.

Season Four will start with a multi-part, longer short story I wrote in June 2023, Some Things Change, consisting of three vignettes set in different locations and times but with a common thread: a pair of cousins from Perth, Western Australia, exploring Australia’s troubled history and relationship with Indigenous peoples.

Support the podcast: https://supporter.acast.com/tall-and-true-short-reads

Buy Robert’s short story collections online:

Writer’s and Podcaster’s Insight 

When I launched Tall And True Short Reads in 2020, I called it an “audio fiction podcast”. But in my introduction to Season Three in September 2022, I observed how I’d realised I was producing storytelling episodes, whether based on short stories or blog posts, fiction or nonfiction, or tall and true tales.

In Season Three, I released 19 episodes featuring short stories, blog posts and other writing about my dogs, travels, and memoir pieces, including a multi-part instalment on my Two Visits to the Berlin Wall in 1987 and 1995 (listen to Part One and Part Two).

Season Four will also start with a multi-part episode, a longer short story I wrote for The Big Issue Fiction Edition in June 2023, Some Things Change. It consists of three vignettes, set in different locations and times but with a common thread: two protagonists, a pair of cousins from Perth, Western Australia, exploring Australia’s troubled history and relationship with Indigenous peoples.

While the story draws on elements of autofiction from my life growing up in Perth, it’s mostly imagination. But, the parts about Indigenous Australians are factual, as objective reading and research will confirm. And I wrote it while campaigning for a Yes Vote for the Referendum to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the Australian Constitution and afford them the respect of an enshrined Voice to Parliament on matters that affect their lives, culture and outcomes.

The first episode of Season Four will be released shortly. In the meantime, check your feed or the podcast website for the 78 episodes from the first three seasons of Tall And True Short Reads.

You can read all my blog posts, short stories and other writing at TallAndTrue.com. You can also buy my short story collections from the Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, and Kobo online bookstores — links are available in the show notes.

Please follow or subscribe to Tall And True Short Reads and rate and review it via your favourite app — doing so helps me share my storytelling with other listeners.

You can also support this podcast financially by making a small one-off or regular donation via the Acast Supporter Page.

And finally, please tell your family and friends about Tall And True Short Reads and the Tall And True writers’ website.

Podcast Theme

Royalty-free music from Pixabay.com: Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 15 in D major, Op. 28 ‘Pastorale’ – IV. Rondo. Allegro ma non-Troppo, performed by Karine Gilanyan.

Podcast Theme and Sound Effects

Royalty-free music from Pixabay.com: Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 15 in D major, Op. 28 ‘Pastorale’ – IV. Rondo. Allegro ma non-Troppo, performed by Karine Gilanyan.

Sound effects licensed under Creative Commons 0 from FreeSound.org.

Production Notes

Tall And True Short Reads produced using Audacity.

Podcast episodes recorded in Sydney, Australia, on the traditional lands of the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation.

Acast Podcast Supporter Page

Support this show https://supporter.acast.com/tall-and-true-short-reads.

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Introducing Season Four

Taking A Bow

by | Aug 31, 2023 | Season Three

Tall And True Short Reads

Taking A Bow

Episode 78 (31 August 2023)

I fell in love with live theatre when I saw my first London West End play as a newly-arrived backpacker in 1987. Over the next eight years, living in Brighton and Windsor, I attended countless professional and amateur productions. But I didn’t think in 1987 that one day I’d be up on stage, too, taking a bow.
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Taking A Bow

Show Notes

Season Three: Episode 78 (31 August 2023)

Taking A Bow is a memoir blog post from the Tall And True writers’ website, written and narrated by Robert Fairhead.

Read the post on Tall And True: https://www.tallandtrue.com.au/blog/taking-a-bow

Podcast website: https://www.tallandtrueshortreads.com

Episode 77, My Dreams: https://www.tallandtrueshortreads.com/my-dreams/

Episode 40, My One Night Stand: https://www.tallandtrueshortreads.com/my-one-night-stand/

Support the podcast: https://supporter.acast.com/tall-and-true-short-reads

Buy Robert’s short story collections online:

Writer’s Insight

I shared Taking A Bow on Tall and True in November 2022. Sorting through some papers, I found a bundle of old scripts and theatre programs from England. Among them was the program from my 1991 debut performance, La Môme Piaf. And inside this, I found a fax, still legible after all these years, with handwritten well-wishes from my family in Australia:

  • My Nan wrote: “All the best for your play. I hope your first night is real special.”
  • My Dad joked: “Hope the play goes well and the prompter doesn’t get worn out.”
  • And my brother quoted Shakespeare: “Remember, nothing will come of nothing. Bring the house down.”

While I didn’t include the fax in the blog post, along with the scripts, programs and cast photos, it inspired me to dig out my diary entries and draw on my memories to write Taking A Bow.

And keen podcast listeners may recognise the dreams in the post, where I’m on stage and haven’t learned my lines, and a fellow actor hisses at me, “Improvise.” I used this in Episode 77 of Tall And True Short Reads for the short story, My Dreams, with a few subtle changes:

Then there’s the dream of standing on stage in a packed auditorium, and I’ve forgotten my speech. “Just improvise,” the TEDx director hisses. 

As I admitted in the Writer’s Insight for the My Dreams episode, I draw on elements of autofiction and true sentences for my fiction, and my actor’s anxiety dreams are an example of this.

There are links to the My Dreams episode and Episode 40, My One Night Stand, the story of my one-night as a stand-up comic, in the Show Notes.

I hope you enjoyed Taking A Bow with me. You can read the memoir post (and see my old cast photos) and all my short stories, blog posts and other writing at TallAndTrue.com. You can also buy my short story collections from the Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, and Kobo online bookstores — links are available in the show notes.

The next episode of Tall And True Short Reads, and the first for Season Four, will be released shortly. In the meantime, check your feed or the podcast website for earlier episodes from Seasons One, Two and Three. And follow or subscribe to the podcast and rate and review it via your favourite app — doing so helps me share my storytelling.

You can support this podcast financially by making a small one-off or regular donation via the Acast Supporter Page.

Finally, please tell your family and friends about Tall And True Short Reads and the Tall And True writers’ website.

Podcast Theme and Sound Effects

Royalty-free music from Pixabay.com: Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 15 in D major, Op. 28 ‘Pastorale’ – IV. Rondo. Allegro ma non-Troppo, performed by Karine Gilanyan.

Sound effects licensed under Creative Commons 0 from FreeSound.org:

Production Notes

Tall And True Short Reads produced using Audacity.

Podcast episodes are recorded in Sydney, Australia, on the traditional lands of the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation.

Acast Podcast Supporter Page

Support this show: https://supporter.acast.com/tall-and-true-short-reads.

View All Episodes

Contact Us

Introducing Season Four

My Dreams

by | Aug 8, 2023 | Season Three

Tall And True Short Reads

My Dreams

Episode 77 (8 August 2023)

I’m in the middle of a dream, though it might be nearer the beginning or end. Who can tell with dreams? I’m on a rocket, and the final countdown’s begun. “10, 9, 8 …” Then I look down at myself strapped in the seat and see I’m wearing pyjamas. “It’s only a dream,” I reassure myself.
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My Dreams

Show Notes

Season Three: Episode 77 (8 August 2023)

My Dreams is a short story from the Tall And True writers’ website, written and narrated by Robert Fairhead.

Read the story on Tall And True: https://www.tallandtrue.com.au/fiction/short-stories/my-dreams

Podcast website: https://www.tallandtrueshortreads.com

Support the podcast: https://supporter.acast.com/tall-and-true-short-reads

Buy Robert’s short story collections online:

Writer’s Insight

I wrote My Dreams for the Australian Writer’s Centre’s Furious Fiction writing challenge in June 2023. The brief for the 500-word short story was:

  • It had to begin in the MIDDLE of something
  • And include the words LOCKET, POCKET, ROCKET and SOCKET (or longer variations retaining the original spelling).

I set my story in the middle of a dream. And although I’ve never dreamed of a rocket launch, I drew on some of my dreams for the story. For instance, at school in my pyjamas, on a bus in the buff, soaring like an eagle, playing guitar like a legend, forgetting my lines on-stage, and perhaps, once or twice, dreaming of an old girlfriend.

However, as with all my fiction, while I draw on elements of autofiction and a true sentence here and there, most of it is pure imagination. As I mentioned, I’ve never launched a rocket or made a TEDx speech. And my wife is still alive.

But I have dreamed of being visited by departed relatives and even a dear old dog. That doggy dream felt so real I could feel his coarse hair on my fingers when I reached down to pat him. And I found it comforting to touch and see him again.

I hope you enjoyed listening to My Dreams. You can read this and all my short stories and all my short stories, blog posts and other writing at TallAndTrue.com. You can also buy my short story collections from the Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, and Kobo online bookstores — links are available in the show notes.

The next episode of Tall And True Short Reads will be released shortly. In the meantime, check your feed or the podcast website for earlier episodes from Seasons One, Two and Three.

And follow or subscribe to the podcast and rate and review it via your favourite app — doing so helps me share my storytelling.

You can support this podcast financially by making a small one-off or regular donation via the Acast Supporter Page.

And finally, please tell your family and friends about Tall And True Short Reads and the Tall And True writers’ website.

Podcast Theme and Sound Effects

Royalty-free music from Pixabay.com: Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 15 in D major, Op. 28 ‘Pastorale’ – IV. Rondo. Allegro ma non-Troppo, performed by Karine Gilanyan.

Sound effects licensed under Creative Commons 0 from FreeSound.org:

Production Notes

Tall And True Short Reads produced using Audacity.

Podcast episodes are recorded in Sydney, Australia, on the traditional lands of the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation.

Acast Podcast Supporter Page

Support this show: https://supporter.acast.com/tall-and-true-short-reads.

View All Episodes

Contact Us

Introducing Season Four

My Most Memorable Wimbledon

by | Jul 14, 2023 | Season Three

Tall And True Short Reads

My Most Memorable Wimbledon

Episode 76 (14 July 2023)

I was weaned on Wimbledon growing up in Australia. Year after year, I’d stayed up half the night to watch the finals on TV. And here I was in the northern hemisphere, able to witness the match in broad daylight for the first time, with an Aussie in the final, for goodness sake, and Mrs B wasn’t interested in tennis!
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My Most Memorable Wimbledon

Show Notes

Season Three: Episode 76 (14 July 2023)

My Most Memorable Wimbledon (originally titled Wimbledon Lost in Translation) is a travel blog post from the Tall And True writers’ website, written and narrated by Robert Fairhead.

Read the post on Tall And True: https://www.tallandtrue.com.au/blog/wimbledon-lost-translation

Podcast website: https://www.tallandtrueshortreads.com

Support the podcast: https://supporter.acast.com/tall-and-true-short-reads

Buy Robert’s short story collections online:

Writer’s Insight

I shared My Most Memorable Wimbledon, originally titled Wimbledon Lost in Translation, on Tall and True in September 2018, drawing on my memories and travel journal entries from my trip to Nijemirdum, in the northern Netherlands state of Friesland, with my girlfriend in 1987.

I had got on well with Jan’s mum when I met her in Sydney and was pleased that she’d liked me, too, as Jan assured me when giving his parents’ address. But the look of bewilderment on Mrs B’s face at her front door was likely only matched by my (poorly masked) disappointment that I wouldn’t be watching Pat Cash play in the Wimbledon final.

I later explained to Mrs B, with Roel’s help, that Cash had won Wimbledon. And that instead of asking for badminton rackets and a shuttlecock, I’d tried to tell her this in the morning. Mrs B was embarrassed, but again with Roel’s help, I reassured her that I would always remember 1987 as one of my favourite Wimbledons.

I hope you enjoyed My Most Memorable Wimbledon. You can read Wimbledon Lost in Translation and all my short stories, blog posts and other writing at TallAndTrue.com. You can also buy my short story collections from the Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, and Kobo online bookstores — links are available in the show notes.

The next episode of Tall And True Short Reads will be released shortly. In the meantime, check your feed or the podcast website for earlier episodes from Seasons One, Two and Three.

And follow or subscribe to the podcast and rate and review it via your favourite app — doing so helps me share my storytelling.

You can support this podcast financially by making a small one-off or regular donation via the Acast Supporter Page.

And finally, please tell your family and friends about Tall And True Short Reads and the Tall And True writers’ website.

Podcast Theme and Sound Effects

Royalty-free music from Pixabay.com: Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 15 in D major, Op. 28 ‘Pastorale’ – IV. Rondo. Allegro ma non-Troppo, performed by Karine Gilanyan.

Sound effects licensed under Creative Commons 0 from FreeSound.org:

Production Notes

Tall And True Short Reads produced using Audacity.

Podcast episodes are recorded in Sydney, Australia, on the traditional lands of the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation.

Acast Podcast Supporter Page

Support this show: https://supporter.acast.com/tall-and-true-short-reads.

View All Episodes

Contact Us

Introducing Season Four

Past Demons

by | Jun 25, 2023 | Season Three

Tall And True Short Reads

Past Demons

Episode 75 (25 June 2023)

Dylan woke with jackhammers pounding in his head and a tongue so furry it felt like it needed waxing. “Last time,” he croaked, rolling onto his back and resolving to quit drinking again or, at least, to stop bingeing. He stared up at the low ceiling of his studio apartment and replayed the office drinks.
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Past Demons

Show Notes

Season Three: Episode 75 (25 June 2023)

Past Demons is a short story from the Tall And True writers’ website, written and narrated by Robert Fairhead.

Read the story on Tall And True: https://www.tallandtrue.com.au/fiction/short-stories/past-demons

Podcast website: https://www.tallandtrueshortreads.com

Support the podcast: https://supporter.acast.com/tall-and-true-short-reads

Buy Robert’s short story collections online:

Writer’s Insight

I wrote Past Demons (originally titled Demons) for the Australian Writer’s Centre’s May 2023 Furious Fiction writing challenge. The brief for May’s 500-word short story was:

  • It must include a character who is BEING CHASED or doing the CHASING
  • The words BOIL, FRINGE and JUMP (or longer as long as they retain the original spelling)
  • And at least THREE CREATIVE SIMILES.

The simile from my opening sentence, “a tongue so furry it felt like it needed waxing”, occurred to me first. And this set me on the path of writing a story about a man hoping for a fresh start, chased by his past alcoholic demons.

I had no problems finding places for the required words — did you hear them? 

But the creative similes proved more difficult than I’d expected. And later, after reading the showcased stories and extra similies that stood out for the Furious Fiction judges, I realised I should have been more creative with mine. Although I was proud of “the bottle shop downstairs called to him like a siren song”. 

I hope you enjoyed Past Demons.  You can read this and all my short stories, blog posts and other writing at TallAndTrue.com. You can also buy my short story collections from the Amazon Kindle and Kobo online bookstores.

The next episode of Tall And True Short Reads will be released shortly. In the meantime, check your feed or the podcast website for earlier episodes from Seasons One, Two and Three.

And follow or subscribe to the podcast and rate and review it via your favourite app — doing so helps me share my storytelling.

You can support this podcast financially by making a small one-off or regular donation via the Acast Supporter Page.

Finally, please do the podcast and me a big favour by telling your family and friends about Tall And True Short Reads and the Tall And True writers’ website.

Podcast Theme and Sound Effects

Royalty-free music from Pixabay.com: Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 15 in D major, Op. 28 ‘Pastorale’ – IV. Rondo. Allegro ma non-Troppo, performed by Karine Gilanyan.

Sound effects licensed under Creative Commons 0 from FreeSound.org:

Production Notes

Tall And True Short Reads produced using Audacity.

Podcast episodes are recorded in Sydney, Australia, on the traditional lands of the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation.

Acast Podcast Supporter Page

Support this show: https://supporter.acast.com/tall-and-true-short-reads.

View All Episodes

Contact Us