Season Four: Episode 100 (1 October 2024)

Twin Souls in the Universe 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/twin-souls-in-the-universe

Read the “What’s in a Name?” blog post: https://www.tallandtrue.com.au/blog/whats-in-a-name

Listen to Episode 8 of Tall And True Short Reads, Splendid Views.

Episode 92 of Tall And True Short Reads, The Lost and Found Story.

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

Buy Robert’s short story and microfiction collections online:

• Amazon Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/Robert-Fairhead/e/B086HZ36NM
• Apple Books:     https://books.apple.com/us/author/robert-fairhead/id1436773436
• Rakuten Kobo:  https://www.kobo.com/au/en/author/robert-fairhead

Story Insight

I wrote Twin Souls in the Universe, originally titled The Hum of the Universe, for the Australian Writers’ Centre’s August 2024 Furious Fiction writing challenge. Their brief for the 500-word story was:

• It had to take place UP IN THE AIR.
• The first sentence had to include a colour and a number — I used a “Blue 15” raffle ticket because blue, not pink, was Mae’s favourite colour as a girl, and at 15, she had decided to become an astronaut.
• And it had to contain the words DOUBT, PACK and SILENCE (longer variations with the core spelling were permitted).

Expanding on the “UP IN THE AIR” setting, the Writers’ Centre explained characters could not stand on solid ground or in or on water at any point in the story, including in a building or tower attached to the ground, up a tree, or on a boat, etc. They could also be in space but couldn’t set foot on the moon or another planet.

Being a Star Trek fan, this last line about space had me thinking of transporter malfunctions, with Scotty unable to “beam up” and reassemble Captain Kirk. Thus, my story about the first test pilot trial of the matter transference program was born.

Three items of interest for podcast listeners:

• The main character in my story, Mae, is UP IN THE AIR at all times, although she reflects on things that happened on the ground. Perhaps this broke the criteria because my story wasn’t showcased or longlisted for the August challenge. More likely, other stories were better than mine.
• I wanted my central characters to pay homage to the pioneers of space travel, hence, Yuri, for the Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin (of course!). I planned to name my female character Sally after the first American female astronaut, Sally Ride. But as I explained in the “What’s in a Name?” blog post on Tall And True, I’d already used Sally twice, for August 2021 and 2023’s Furious Fictions, Episodes 8 and 92 of Tall And True Short Reads. So, I renamed her Mae after Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman to travel into space.
• The story was originally titled The Hum of the Universe because it had a different ending. After Yuri said, “I came looking for you”, Mae replied, “I hoped you would”, and suddenly she heard the hum of the universe. The line was a callback to the silence and loneliness her atoms had experienced. But the day after submitting the story, I realised I’d used the wrong callback. So, when I shared it on Tall And True, along with other edits to tighten the narrative, I changed the last line to … and their atoms swirled like twin souls in the universe. And I changed the title!

I made a few more tweaks to the story when drafting the script for this podcast episode, including the last line, which now reads … and their atoms swirled like twin souls dancing to the hum of the universe.

I hope you enjoyed Mae and Yuri’s dance in the universe as much as I enjoyed writing, editing and narrating it. You can read Twin Souls in the Universe and my selected short stories, blog posts and other writings at TallAndTrue.com. You can also buy my short story and microfiction collections from the Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, and Kobo online bookstores — links are available in the Show Notes.

This is Episode 100 of Tall And True Short Reads, a major milestone marking the end of Season Four of the podcast, which I launched in September 2020. I’m taking a short break before the launch of Season Five.

In the meantime, search your favourite feed or the podcast website to listen to all 100 episodes and the season trailers. And follow or subscribe to the podcast and rate and review it via your favourite podcasting app — doing so helps share my storytelling.

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

Finally, thanks for listening to the 100th episode of Tall And True Short Reads. Please tell your family and friends about the podcast 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:

• Ambient Universe Hum: https://freesound.org/people/FALL-E/sounds/713436/
• Hooray!: https://freesound.org/people/Vesperia94/sounds/403057/

Production Notes

Tall And True Short Reads is 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.

Season Four: Episode 99 (17 September 2024)

My Speech 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-speech

Listen to Episode 90 of Tall And True Short Reads, A Good Story.

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

Buy Robert’s short story and microfiction collections online:

• Amazon Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/Robert-Fairhead/e/B086HZ36NM
• Apple Books:     https://books.apple.com/us/author/robert-fairhead/id1436773436
• Rakuten Kobo:  https://www.kobo.com/au/en/author/robert-fairhead

Story Insight

I wrote My Speech for the Australian Writers’ Centre’s monthly Furious Fiction writing challenge in September 2023. The brief was:

• The story must start and end with the same sentence
• Feature something being inflated
• And include the words FLAG, FLAME, FLASH, and FLATTER. (Longer versions were okay if they retained the original spelling.)

The first (and last!) sentence, “I’m getting too old for this”, popped into my head immediately.

As for something being “inflated”, I thought of egos, especially after settling on my characters on the stage: the PM, her senior ministers and the mining industry executives. But the “state-sponsored blank cheque to dig more mines and inflate company profits and executive bonuses” suited the story better.

A flag-decked stage for the speech, the flames of climate change, a flash of inspiration and the ministers and mining company executives flattering the PM had me ticking off the rest of the brief.

However, I sailed past the Furious Fiction 500-word limit and had to cull my darlings to reign in the story. But as I commented on social media during the weekend, writing too many words is better than staring at a blank page!

I drew on several pieces of autofiction for the story: I loved Enid Blyton’s Famous Five series and wrote a Blytonesque adventure story as a ten-year-old, Sand Island, the tale of which I narrate in Episode 90 of Tall And True Short Reads, A Good Story. And ever since then, like my speech writer, I’ve felt I have a bestselling novel building inside me.

I enjoyed my furious weekend of writing and was proud when I submitted My Speech to the Writers’ Centre late on Sunday evening. And I was thrilled to find it featured in the Furious Fiction Showcase for September and to read the judge’s thoughts:

Wonderfully observed with a clever framework built around a PM’s speech, the real action happens backstage with our speechwriter (the real heroes of any politician’s profile – yes, even Obama had people writing his words). As jaded as the green coal being proffered onstage, this writer reminisces on how they got here and the kind of writing that actually inspires them. The intermittent snippets of the campaign speech interplay beautifully with the narrator’s growing dissatisfaction – each building to a climax of sorts. The “too old for this” line was made most famous by Danny Glover in the 1980s Lethal Weapon movies, but here it feels equally memorable – instantly relatable for anyone who has ever written words for others!

Interestingly, I’ve not watched any of the Lethal Weapon movies, so I haven’t heard Danny Glover say my opening and closing lines. But I’m sure those of us of a certain age have uttered or thought it at least once or twice!

I hope you enjoy My Speech and that it doesn’t leave you “as jaded as the PM’s green coal”. You can read this and my selected short stories, blog posts and other writing on TallAndTrue.com. You can also buy my short story and microfiction 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, the milestone episode 100, will be released shortly. In the meantime, please check your feed or the podcast website for earlier episodes from all four seasons. And follow or subscribe to the podcast and rate and review it via your favourite podcasting app — doing so helps share my storytelling.

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

Finally, please share this episode with family and friends and spread the word 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:

• Camera shutter burst: https://freesound.org/people/Lumamorph/sounds/505476/
• Tapping microphone: https://freesound.org/people/susychristiansen/sounds/149034/
• Applause: https://freesound.org/people/sagetyrtle/sounds/32260/
• Typewriter: https://freesound.org/people/supersupernator/sounds/519622/

Production Notes

Tall And True Short Reads is 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.