Tag Archives: Flash Fiction

TBM-Mirror Mirror: Day Six

by

Mirror-Mirror-Logo

Description:

A Chicago therapist starts hearing the same story from multiple patients: their mirrors move on their own. At first, he diagnoses stress and shared delusion — until the reflection in his waiting room smiles before he does.

This is Episode Six of Mirror, Mirror, a story cycle of thirty-one monologues on Tales from the Tub. Each stands alone, but together they reveal what happens when reflections stop obeying.

✨ Subscribe so you don’t miss the next voice caught in the glass.

 

Episode Cast:

Clay Robeson 

Links and References

Transcript: Mirror Mirror: Day Six

Credits:

Contact:

 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:34 — 2.5MB)

TBM-Mirror Mirror: Day Five

by

Mirror-Mirror-Logo

Description:

A security guard.
Toronto. Twenty twenty-five. October fifth.

Night shift at the shopping centre is dull, except for the mirrors. I’m supposed to watch the cameras, but it’s the mirrored shopfronts that get me. At three a.m. they reflect nothing but me, me, me, all down the corridor like dominos.

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

Episode Cast:

Mark, the Encaffeinated One 

Links and References

Transcript: Mirror Mirror: Day Five

Credits:

Contact:

 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:29 — 2.8MB)

TBM-Mirror Mirror: Day Four

by

Mirror-Mirror-Logo

Description:

Those Behind the Glass
Outside time. October fourth.

We are patient. We have always been patient. We wait at the edge of your vision, still as furniture, harmless as air. You mistake obedience for loyalty. That amuses us.

✨ 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 Four

Credits:

Contact:

 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:56 — 5.0MB)

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)

Cardinal Sacrifice

TBM-2412.24 – DogFish Days of Advent – Sacrificial

by

Cardinal Sacrifice

Description:

#audio #flashfiction #christmas #christmastree #ornaments #spooky

Excerpt:

Mermaids don’t send Christmas cards because paper and saltwater do not mix well.

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: 7:14 — 7.5MB)

Tales from the Cauldron

TBM-2310.31 – Fur

by

Tales from the Cauldron

Description:

#audio #13NightsofHalloween #flashfic #dogs #petownership

Excerpt:

“What if it’s really a symbiotic life form, bent on taking over the planet?”

Links and References

  • Read the text of Fur

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: 3:26 — 3.2MB)