Tall And True Short Reads
The Tall And True Short Reads podcast features short stories, blog posts and other writing written and narrated by Robert Fairhead from the Tall And True writers' website. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/tall-and-true-short-reads. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes
Mum's up first, though she doesn't like looking at her reflection nowadays. She splashes her face and turns away from me with a towel. Over her shoulder, I watch Mum gaze out the bathroom window. And when she turns back, Mum's wearing her pained expression again, like she's failed to solve the riddle of life.
Family Reflections is a short story from the Tall And True writers' website, written and narrated by Robert Fairhead.
I met Harry when he was six months old. He was the last of his litter, hiding under a kitchen table. And when the breeder dragged him out, Harry flopped his head on my leg and looked up at me with worried, brown eyes. At that moment, a bond formed between us, which lasted for just over twelve years.
My Good Dog and Muse is a blog post from the Tall And True writers' website, written and narrated by Robert Fairhead.
Jennifer swivelled her chair away from the laptop and stared at the lights receding into the distance beyond the high-rise office window. Her eyes had welled up reading Stephen's unexpected emailed demand, and she reached for a tissue to dab at the tears. "Twenty years," Jennifer exhaled softly, wiping her eyes.
Decisions is a short story from the Tall And True writers' website, written and narrated by Robert Fairhead.
After living and working in England from 1987, my wife and I returned to Australia in 1995, overland. Michael Palin's 1991 BBC series, Pole to Pole, inspired our journey and route, travelling from north to south for eight months. And along the way, we revisited Berlin, as I recorded in my travel journal.
Two Visits to the Berlin Wall is a travel memoir from the Tall And True writers' website, written and narrated by Robert Fairhead.
In 2019, approaching the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, I found a timely book in a secondhand bookshop: The Berlin Wall, 13 August 1961 – 9 November 1989 by Frederick Taylor. The book inspired me to write about my two contrasting visits to Berlin as a backpacker in 1987 and 1995.
Two Visits to the Berlin Wall is a travel memoir from the Tall And True writers' website, written and narrated by Robert Fairhead.
Handcuffed in the police car, I wished the lamp hadn't been magical. "That, sir, is a genuine antique," the stallholder had asserted when I'd stopped and inspected it at the secondhand market. The oil lamp looked like a prop from Disney's Aladdin. And I thought it would polish up and earn me a tidy profit.
The Magical Lamp is a short story from the Tall And True writers' website, written and narrated by Robert Fairhead.
Henry Rollins said, "A great way to learn about your country is to leave it." And I learned a lot about Australia while living overseas from 1987 to 1996. Books like Alice Nannup's When The Pelican Laughed (published by Fremantle Arts Centre Press in 1992) helped my education. And from her memoir, I learned about the Stolen Generation and a connection with my Nan.
Please note: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are warned ...
Eighty is the new fifty, or so I'm told. But my back wasn't this dodgy when I was fifty, and my knees lasted longer than a circuit of the park with the dog before seizing up. And I wasn't caught short so often that I needed to memorise the location of the nearest public toilet for emergency pit stops!
The New Fifty is a short story from the Tall And True writers' website, written and narrated by Robert Fairhead.
I'm taking a short break from writing and podcasting over the Xmas/New Year holiday period. But as a special treat for podcast listeners, I've put together a Kris Kringle collection featuring three "festive" episodes from the Tall And True Short Reads archive: The Gift, The Special Tree and The Spirit of Xmas.
The Kris Kringle stories first appeared on the Tall And True writers' website and were written and narrated by Robert Fairhe...
The writer John Banville observed, "Memory is imagination, and imagination is memory. I don't think we remember the past, we imagine it." I have vivid memories of my early childhood (I believe they're memories, not imagination), which is why the #5YearOldSelfie hashtag challenge on social media caught my eye.
Memories and Imagination is a memoir piece from the Tall And True writers' website, written and narrated by Robert Fairhead.
"Are we there yet?" Milly whines from the back seat. "I'm bored," adds Tyler. "Oh, for goodness sake!" I snap, eyeballing the pair in the rear vision mirror. "It's only been two hours." Kids nowadays! The drive has been smooth and fast compared to the narrow, windy roads of my childhood family holidays.
Are we there yet? is a short story from the Tall And True writers' website, written and narrated by Robert Fairhead.
I dread mornings like these when Facebook floods my timeline memories with posts and photos of Jas and the kids. On social media, we're still a happy family. Whereas in the real world, I live alone and only see the kids on weekends. But that's not Facebook's fault. It's just an algorithm.
Timeline Memories is a short story from the Tall And True writers' website, written and narrated by Robert Fairhead.
Read the story: https://www.ta...
One fine October Sunday in 2020, I returned home from the morning dog walk to be greeted with the news our annual council clean-up was happening on Monday. After previous clean-ups, I thought we had nothing left to throw out. And I looked forward to a long productive day of writing … until I checked the attic and shed!
Council Clean-ups and Recycling is a blog post from the Tall And True writers' website, written and narrated by Rob...
My wife and I visited Turkey in 1988. We had endured our first English winter and spent two weeks hugging the coastal sites and sunny beaches. We returned in 1990, venturing far from the coast to the mountains of eastern Turkey, where Kurds befriended us, and we learned a little of Kurdish culture.
Kurd Friends in the Mountains is a travel memoir blog post from the Tall And True writers' website, written and narrated by Robert Fairh...
This story begins at the end. But my time spent observing your planet has taught me humans like to process events and information in an orderly, if not entirely predictable, sequence. So forget the first sentence, and I'll serve you a linear tale. Just don't skip to the end and spoil it.
Once Upon A Time is a short story from the Tall And True writers' website, written and narrated by Robert Fairhead.
Read the story: https://www.tall...
Tall And True Short Reads is a storytelling podcast featuring short stories, blog posts and other writing written and narrated by Robert Fairhead from the Tall And True writers' website. Launched in September 2020, Season Three starts in September 2022 with a "story that begins at the end", Once Upon A Time.
Podcast website: https://www.tallandtrueshortreads.com
Support the podcast: https://supporter.acast.com/tall-and-true-sho...
In February 1998, I started an eight-week evening college course, Introduction to Philosophy. I was in my mid-thirties, and while I was aware of philosophers, I hadn't read their works and knew nothing about critical thinking. Our text was Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder. And our tutor was a Marxist.
My Marxist Philosophy Class is a blog post from the Tall And True writers' website, written and narrated by Robert Fairhead.
In their heyday, the Ian St James Awards offered the biggest fiction prize in the UK and Ireland. Launched by the thriller writer Ian St James in 1989 to encourage new writers, the awards were open to 5,000-10,000 word short stories by unpublished writers.
Thanks Ian St James Awards is a blog post from the Tall And True writers' website, written and narrated by Robert Fairhead.
Read the post on Tall And True: https://www.tallandtrue....
You know what it's like when you lose something. It's always in the last place you look. So I write down all the possible places the lost thing could be and work through the list in reverse order. But how do you find a lost hour? It's not like it can slip down the back of a sofa like coins or keys!
The Lost Hour is a short story from the Tall And True writers' website, written and narrated by Robert Fairhead.
In May 1992, the Sydney literary news was full of Tim Winton's success and his novel, Cloudstreet. And I thought it an omen. Winton was thirty-one, and I was thirty. He'd grown up in W.A., and so had I. He'd just won his second Miles Franklin Award. And I was having a second crack at being a writer!
Cloudstreet by Tim Winton - Omen or Inspiration is a blog post from the Tall And True writers' website, written and narrated by Robert ...
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