Tag Archives: Fiction

TBM-Mirror Mirror: Day Three

by

Mirror-Mirror-Logo

Description:

Plano, TX. Twenty twenty-five. October third.
Clients trust me with their heads. They sit in the chair, drape the cape, and give me permission to change how they look. But lately I don’t trust my own mirrors.

✨ Mirror, Mirror runs throughout October on Tales from the Tub. Subscribe so you don’t miss a reflection.

Episode Cast:

Nuchtchas

Links and References

Transcript: Mirror Mirror: Day Three

Credits:

Contact:

 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:48 — 3.6MB)

TBM-Mirror Mirror: Day Two

by

Mirror-Mirror-Logo

Description:

Cambridge. Twenty twenty-five. October second.

I didn’t mention it at first—sounded like the sort of story people put online for clout. But it happened in the gents, brushing my teeth before lecture. My eyes blinked. The reflection blinked after, like it was playing along. I told myself I was knackered. Revision, too much caffeine. Easy excuse.

✨ Mirror, Mirror runs throughout October on Tales from the Tub. Subscribe so you don’t miss a reflection.

Episode Cast:

Thomas Jancis

Links and References

Transcript: Mirror Mirror: Day Two

Credits:

Contact:

 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:48 — 3.2MB)

TBM-Mirror Mirror: Day One

by

Mirror-Mirror-Logo

Description:

October First

You remember the rules. Don’t look in a mirror in the dark. Don’t keep a cracked one. Don’t catch your sleeping face in a black screen at three a.m. You learned them from neighbors and grandmothers and the hush that follows a flicker in the hallway. You pretend you don’t believe them. You still keep them.

✨ Mirror, Mirror runs throughout October on Tales from the Tub. Subscribe so you don’t miss a reflection.

Episode Cast:

Melissa A. Bartell 

Links and References

Transcript: Mirror Mirror: Day One

Credits:

Contact:

 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:56 — 4.4MB)

TBM-Mirror Mirror: Day Zero

by

Mirror-Mirror-Logo

Description:

Before the stories begin, here’s a short introduction to Mirror, Mirror — a cycle of thirty-one monologues. Each one is a self-contained tale, but together they create a larger arc. Some are strange, some unsettling, some surprisingly tender, all centered around the ways we see ourselves… and what looks back.

Day Zero sets the stage. Think of it as a prologue, a quick welcome before we step into the glass.

✨ Mirror, Mirror runs throughout October on Tales from the Tub. Subscribe so you don’t miss a reflection.

Other Voices:

N/A

Links and References

Transcript

Credits:

  • The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using Audacity.
  • Bathtub Mermaid blog header art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media
  • Sound Effects are from Freesound.

Contact:

 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:57 — 2.1MB)

Phantom Ship

TBM-2509.19-Sea-and-Stars

by

Phantom Ship

Description:

Tonight I have not just one story, but three—threads of salt and myth, memory and resistance—woven from sea and sky.

We’ll begin with a queen on the waves and a lieutenant among the stars.

We’ll slip next into the Bay that pretends to bless but always demands her price.

And finally, we’ll meet the Phantom of the Anclote, bound to a mermaid’s bargain, forever turning storms aside.

#audio #talesfromthetub #essays #shortstories #flashfiction #pirates #ghosts #mermaids #storms #startrek

Links and References

Free Women of Sea And Stars
The Bay that Storms Forget
The Anclote Phantom and the Mermaid’s Debt 

 

Credits:

  • The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using Audacity.
  • Bathtub Mermaid header art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media
  • Sound Effects are from Freesound.
  • Music for this episode is by StudioKolumna 

Contact:

 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:16 — 31.0MB)

Fish Nets

TBM-2412.20 – Dogfish Days of Advent – The Gift of the Mergi

by

Fish Nets

Description:

#audio #shorfiction #dogdaysofpodcasting  #dogdaysofadvent #dogfishdaysofadvent #mermaidadvent #mermaidlore

Excerpt:

A handful of pearls. That was all Nerissa had. Oh, she’d grown up in Poseidon’s Grotto, with abalone combs and aquamarine and moonstone gems, but when she’d left the great ocean to marry a land-walker, she’d forfeit her jewels and pirate’s treasure hoards and kept only the handful of her nameday pearls.

Links and References

Guest Voices:

N/A

Support:

The Bathtub Mermaid is now on Patreon! If you like the stories and essays I share, and want to have occasional visits from Me-Me del Mare, please consider subscribing.

Credits:

  • The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using Audacity.
  • Bathtub Mermaid album art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media
  • Sound Effects are from Freesound.

Contact:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 9:35 — 10.3MB)

Basil and Zoe - 25 Years

TBM-2308.04-DDOP.04 – Twenty-Five Years – Year Two: Cotton

by

Athletic Socks

Basil and Zoe - 25 YearsDescription:

#audio #flashfiction #flashfic  #dogdaysofpodcasting #basilandzoe #twentyfiveyears #anniversarygifts

Excerpt:

“Perhaps I should save this for times when we are at home, and not on the ship,” Basil suggested.

 

Links and References

Guest Voices:

  • N/A

Support:

The Bathtub Mermaid is now on Patreon! If you like the stories and essays I share, and want to have occasional visits from Me-Me del Mare, please consider subscribing.

Credits:

  • The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using the Auphonic iPhone app and Audacity.
  • Bathtub Mermaid album art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media
  • Sound Effects are from Freesound.

Contact:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:32 — 1.7MB)

BrassRings

TBM-2305.02 – Rings, Suits, and Joy

by

BrassRings

Description:

#audio #shortshort stories #carousels #GrimReaper #BasilandZoe

Excerpt:

Basil often reminds me that the universe is full of strange things, and not all of them are massive events. I resolve to think of the evangelist as one of them.

Links and References

Readers:

Stories:

Brass Rings

A Suit to Die For

Joy in All Things (A Basil and Zoe story)

Support:

The Bathtub Mermaid is now on Patreon! If you like the stories and essays I share, and want to have occasional visits from Me-Me del Mare, please consider subscribing.

Credits:

  • The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using the Auphonic iPhone app and Audacity.
  • Bathtub Mermaid album art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media
  • Sound Effects are from Freesound.

Contact:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 18:32 — 19.3MB)

Long-time Companion

TBM-2106.08 – Long-time Companion

by

Description:

#audio #flashfiction #ballet #liketheprose

Excerpt:

At first our relationship was tenuous. I wasn’t sure where to put my hands, how much pressure to use. Sometimes my hand would slip, or I’d lift the wrong leg, and my foot would make abrupt contact. It hurt me far more than it did him.

Links and References

Support:

The Bathtub Mermaid is now on Patreon! If you like the stories and essays I share, and want to have occasional visits from Mei-Mei del Mare, please consider subscribing.

Credits:

  • The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using the Auphonic iPhone app and Audacity.
  • Bathtub Mermaid album art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media
  • Sound Effects are from Freesound.

Contact:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:51 — 3.7MB)

Robot head looking front on camera isolated on a black background

TBM-2104.30 – Sleeping Positions (A Basil and Zoe Vignette)

by

Robot head looking front on camera isolated on a black background

Description:

#audio #flashfiction #basilandzoe #vignette

Excerpt:

Basil reached out and brushed some of my hair out of my face. “It is true that I do not require sleep,” he said in a gentle tone. “But I am capable of sleep. However, I do not believe that is your real concern. You have ‘crashed’ here many times while I was working or writing.”

Links and References

Support:

The Bathtub Mermaid is now on Patreon! If you like the stories and essays I share, and want to have occasional visits from Mei-Mei del Mare, please consider subscribing.

Credits:

  • The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using the Auphonic iPhone app and Audacity.
  • Bathtub Mermaid album art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media
  • Sound Effects are from Freesound.

Contact:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 4:12 — 5.8MB)