Bailey’s Writing Tips podcast – short stories episode no.17

Bailey’s Writing Tips podcast ‘short stories’ episode number 17 went live today and contained three flash fiction pieces that have appeared on my blog as Flash Fiction Fridays. Do email me should you like to submit your own.

This episode contained: Three pieces by non-fiction author, autobiographer and interviewee Abbie Lipschutz, Cafe Mort (716 words) by prose author, poet, lyricist and interviewee Nathan Weaver (you may need to forgive my French accent in that one) and Autumn preserves (122 words) by short story author and poet Susan Moffat.

See the green links above to read the stories… or hear my dulcet tones on the podcast, which is available via iTunes, Google’s Feedburner, Podbean (when it catches up), Podcasters (which takes even longer) or Podcast Alley (which doesn’t list the episodes but will let you subscribe).

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For nine decades, Abbie Lipschutz has been a fighter, lover, writer, dilettante musician and classical music commentator. He is a clinically happy soul who possesses Offensive Charm and Unjustified Arrogance, qualities that have served him well over the years. He was a kibbutznik in Palestine in the early 40s, a veteran of the Dutch Prinses Irene Brigade in World War II, and a volunteer in Israel’s War of Independence, 1948-1949. By then he had long lost his beliefs in the Zionist-Socialist dreams. Nonetheless, he joined, feeling that 2000 years of persecution had been enough.

Having made a living for 50 years as a wholesale diamond peddler throughout the American South, he discovered the vastness of our land, its Big Sky and its multi-colored characters. He ended his diamond career in 1999 after being held up at gunpoint. Seeing van Gogh’s painting, “The Potato Eaters,” at age 14 changed his life by turning him into a political radical, which he has still remained. Thoreau’s phrase, “Most men live lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them,” confirmed what van Gogh’s painting had conveyed to him years before. Husband, father, and grandfather, he has written a memoir filled with the sights, sounds, scents, songs and surprises of a soulful, vigorous life well-lived. His book connects the generations in one grand sweep of hope, love, and peace. Abbie’s website is http://www.abbielipschutz.com and you can watch his video at http://youtu.be/C-xpHaz2P3s.

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Nathan Weaver has been writing for roughly 15 years, though badly in the beginning, and focusing on short stories, novellas and screenplays. He has recently been honing his craft towards writing novels, completing a draft of his first novel in summer 2011, which is the beginning of a series of crime novels set in a high school setting and titled Hardboil High.

Aside from storytelling, he is an independent filmmaker and lyricist for Blue Solace. You can read a lot of his shorter works and excerpts from longer ones, for free, at his blog Tales from Babylon, and you can find this event on his http://talesfrombabylon.fanbridge.com/tourdates page.

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Born in 1969, Susan Moffat grew up in County Durham, in the North East of England, during the period of the Miner’s Strike, mass unemployment and the very beginning of the technological boom.

She studied Computer Studies in the late 80’s, and worked in IT for a book distribution company for almost 10 years, before taking time out to become a mother. She now works part time as a librarian in a Special Needs Secondary School.

In 2010 she started a degree course in creative writing and film and TV sceenwriting.

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Thank you for downloading / listening to this short story episode – I hope you enjoyed it. The next episode will be a hints & tips episode in a fortnight, then short stories return a fortnight thereafter.

All the details of these episodes are listed on this blog’s Podcast Short Stories page and my email address to submit a short story for critique (or review for the Short Story Saturdays) is morgen@morgenbailey.com.

The podcast is available via iTunes, Google’s Feedburner, Podbean (when it catches up), Podcasters (which takes even longer) or Podcast Alley (which doesn’t list the episodes but will let you subscribe).

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books and I also have a blog creation service especially for, but not limited to, writers.

Unfortunately, as I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t review books but I have a feature called ‘Short Story Saturdays’ where I review stories of up to 2,500 words. Alternatively if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me reading it / talking about and critiquing it (I send you the transcription afterwards so you can use the comments or ignore them) 🙂 on my ‘Bailey’s Writing Tips’ podcast, then do email me. They are fortnightly episodes, usually released on Sundays, interweaving the recordings between the red pen sessions with the hints & tips episodes. I am now also looking for flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays and poetry for Post-weekend Poetry.