Editor Interview: Story Radio

Short fiction podcast

I regularly read the Stinging Fly and Mslexia and enjoy many podcasts - Alt Stories and Strange Familiars are two I’ve listened to recently.

I like the work of so many writers it’s hard to choose, but recently I’ve enjoyed the work of Daisy Johnson, Emily St John Mandel and Julia Armfield. I read a lot of horror and crime and recently have been reading Francine Toon, Tana French and Andrew Michael Hurley. I like dark fiction with psychological depth and a feeling of the uncanny.

We work with emerging short story writers and help them get exposure through producing their work for our listeners. We run fiction workshops and literary salons as well. We also interview successful writers in various genres about how they approach their work.

We favour shorter, single voice narrated pieces that work well for audio but we have also featured audio dramas that have been submitted to us. We will consider genre/speculative fiction of a high literary quality.

It follows all our submission guidelines and comes with a short bio. We want to be surprised, delighted, made to think. We love short stories that really understand the audio format, so use language and voice in imaginative ways. Submissions containing hate speech, harassment, or discrimination based on race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or disability will not be accepted. Use of generative AI is not accepted. We love submissions that come with an MP3 of the author reading it in a very quiet room - but that’s not essential!

Most of our submissions are great, but please don’t send in non-fiction submissions!

I’m happy to get a short bio and credits if you have them, I am actively trying to encourage new writing though so will consider your work on its own merits.

We read everything (unless it’s non-fiction or spam).

Extensive discussion between myself and my co-host Martin Nathan. We often have different opinions.

Everything goes on a giant spreadsheet. We download all the work to our devices, read it and make notes, then discuss it.

We may suggest minor changes to the story but the editing is really about recording your work and producing it. We encourage writers to read and record their own work and make it sound as good as we possibly can.

Not currently but we are working on this.

We have always paid the costs ourselves, however we have just incorporated as a Community Interest Company (CIC) or non-profit. We have a Patreon and Kofi and you can support us by donating to us, by listening to, sharing or reviewing the show and by advertising on the show or sponsoring us. We have just won a grant to help us produce an anthology which is very exciting.

We use social media, press releases and newsletters and our own networks. We regularly host live events and fiction workshops and are in constant contact with literary agents and publishers.