Tall And True Short Reads

Both Sides of the Story – Bosnia

Episode 28 (1 July 2021)

Bosnia and Herzegovina (1993): The roar of explosives devastated the peace of the valley. Tibor had covered his ears with his hands before Milo flicked the detonator switch, but the thudding explosion set off the bells in his head again. He dropped his hands as dust and grit rained down on him and his men. When the dust cleared, it revealed the shattered shell of the century-old farmhouse.

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Both Sides of the Story – Bosnia

Show Notes

Season One: Episode 28 (1 July 2021)

Both Sides of the Story is a collection of short stories from the Tall And True writers’ website, written and narrated by Robert Fairhead. The collection consists of four self-contained vignettes and a fifth piece that ties together and resolves the threads from all five stories. The podcast version is presented in six instalments with an introductory episode.

Copyright notice: Both Sides of the Story song written by Phil Collins from the Both Sides album (1993).

Read Both Sides of the Story – Bosnia: https://www.tallandtrue.com.au/short-stories/both-sides-of-the-story-bosnia

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:

Story Insight

In February 1994, I wrote a short story for the Ian St James Awards, inspired by Phil Collins’ 1993 hit song, Both Sides of the Story.

At the time, the news was full of stories about perpetrators of crimes for whom the public (including me!) felt little sympathy. But one night, I watched the Phil Collins Both Sides music video on MTV, with its juxtaposed scenes of violence and backstories. And I wondered if I could similarly show both sides of the news in a short story.

I wrote Both Sides of the Story as four self-contained vignettes and a fifth that ties together the pieces and resolves the “larger” short story. Bosnia, set in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1993, is the second of the vignettes. And the material for it came from the news I read in the daily newspapers and saw on the evening TV back then about the war taking place in Bosnia.

As I stressed in the earlier Introduction episode, my intention in writing this short story in 1994 was not to be an apologist for the characters or their actions. Then, as it is now, my goal was simply to follow Phil Collins’ lead and try to imagine both sides of the story.

Thanks for listening to this episode of Tall And True Short Reads. You can read all my short stories, blog posts and other writing at TallAndTrue.com.

The next episode and third vignette from Both Sides of the Story, A Council Flat, will be released shortly. In the meantime, please check your podcast feed for other short stories. And follow or subscribe to the podcast and rate and review it via your favourite listening app.

You can also buy the ebook collection of Both Sides of the Story from the Amazon Kindle or Kobo online bookstores.

And finally, please support this podcast 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. Thanks to Josh (VoiceOverMaster) Meyer for Audacity recording tips and tricks.

Podcast episodes are recorded in Sydney, Australia, on the land of the traditional custodians of the Eora Nation.

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