Author Archives

Description:

Actors live in mirrors. Dressing rooms, quick changes, endless makeup checks — the glass becomes a friend, until it smiles without you.

Day Eleven of Mirror Mirror, featuring Thomas Jancis, steps onto the stage where the reflection won’t stay in character.

🎧 Mirror Mirror is a 31-day audio fiction cycle for October — one haunting voice each day.

Episode Cast:

Thomas Jancis

Links and References

Transcript: Mirror Mirror: Day Eleven

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.
Music for this episode is Darkest Child by Kevin MacLeod via UppBeat

Contact:

BlueSky: @melysse.bsky.social
Facebook: MissMelysse
Instagram: @Melysse
Mastodon: @Melysse
Email: missmelysse@gmail.com
Or, leave a comment on this page.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:36 — 3.0MB)

TBM-Mirror Mirror: Day Ten

10 October 2025 by Melissa

Description:

Mirror Mirror: Day Ten – Those Behind the Glass
Outside time. October tenth.
The reflections speak again — not from one mirror, but from every surface that’s ever held your image. What if you were never the original? What if every glance you’ve ever given the glass has been one more offering?

Mirror Mirror is a 31-day audio fiction cycle unfolding through October — one voice, one story, one reflection each day. Listen, if you dare, to what waits behind the glass.

Episode Cast:

Melissa A. Bartell

Links and References

Transcript: Mirror Mirror: Day Ten

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.
Music for this episode is Darkest Child by Kevin MacLeod via UppBeat

Contact:

BlueSky: @melysse.bsky.social
Facebook: MissMelysse
Instagram: @Melysse
Mastodon: @Melysse
Email: missmelysse@gmail.com
Or, leave a comment on this page.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:48 — 3.7MB)

TBM-Mirror Mirror: Day Nine

9 October 2025 by Melissa

Description:

In Des Moines, a mother tries to comfort her daughter, who insists the girl in the bathroom mirror isn’t her reflection—but someone else who already knows her name. What begins as a child’s eerie game turns into something far more unsettling, as laughter echoes from behind the glass.

✨ 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 Nine

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.
Music for this episode is Darkest Child by Kevin MacLeod via UppBeat

Contact:

BlueSky: @melysse.bsky.social
Facebook: MissMelysse
Instagram: @Melysse
Mastodon: @Melysse
Email: missmelysse@gmail.com
Or, leave a comment on this page.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:02 — 3.8MB)

TBM-Mirror Mirror: Day Eight

8 October 2025 by Melissa

Description:

A janitor working nights in a Newark school starts to notice the reflections in the trophy cases behaving strangely. Faces from old team photos seem to move, to follow him across the hall. When he looks closer, he realizes the glass is full of people who shouldn’t be there at all.

This is Episode Eight 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 Eight

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.
Music for this episode is Darkest Child by Kevin MacLeod via UppBeat

Contact:

BlueSky: @melysse.bsky.social
Facebook: MissMelysse
Instagram: @Melysse
Mastodon: @Melysse
Email: missmelysse@gmail.com
Or, leave a comment on this page.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:14 — 3.6MB)

TBM-Mirror Mirror: Day Seven

7 October 2025 by Melissa

Description:

Outside Tim (October seventh)
Those Behind the Glass

We have learned your tricks. Draping towels across our faces, turning us to the wall, speaking bravely as you hurry past—none of it matters. We breathe beneath fabric. We listen in darkness. We continue when you believe us still.

Episode Cast:

Melissa A. Bartell

Links and References

Transcript: Mirror Mirror: Day Seven

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.
Music for this episode is Darkest Child by Kevin MacLeod via UppBeat

Contact:

BlueSky: @melysse.bsky.social
Facebook: MissMelysse
Instagram: @Melysse
Mastodon: @Melysse
Email: missmelysse@gmail.com
Or, leave a comment on this page.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:45 — 4.7MB)

TBM-Mirror Mirror: Day Six

6 October 2025 by Melissa

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:

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.
Music for this episode is Darkest Child by Kevin MacLeod via UppBeat

Contact:

BlueSky: @melysse.bsky.social
Facebook: MissMelysse
Instagram: @Melysse
Mastodon: @Melysse
Email: missmelysse@gmail.com
Or, leave a comment on this page.

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

TBM-Mirror Mirror: Day Five

5 October 2025 by Melissa

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:

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.
Music for this episode is Darkest Child by Kevin MacLeod via UppBeat

Contact:

BlueSky: @melysse.bsky.social
Facebook: MissMelysse
Instagram: @Melysse
Mastodon: @Melysse
Email: missmelysse@gmail.com
Or, leave a comment on this page.

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

TBM-Mirror Mirror: Day Four

4 October 2025 by Melissa

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:

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.
Music for this episode is Darkest Child by Kevin MacLeod via UppBeat

Contact:

BlueSky: @melysse.bsky.social
Facebook: MissMelysse
Instagram: @Melysse
Mastodon: @Melysse
Email: missmelysse@gmail.com
Or, leave a comment on this page.

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

TBM-Mirror Mirror: Day Three

3 October 2025 by Melissa

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:

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.
Music for this episode is Darkest Child by Kevin MacLeod via UppBeat

Contact:

BlueSky: @melysse.bsky.social
Facebook: MissMelysse
Instagram: @Melysse
Mastodon: @Melysse
Email: missmelysse@gmail.com
Or, leave a comment on this page.

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

TBM-Mirror Mirror: Day Two

2 October 2025 by Melissa

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:

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.
Music for this episode is Darkest Child by Kevin MacLeod via UppBeat

Contact:

BlueSky: @melysse.bsky.social
Facebook: MissMelysse
Instagram: @Melysse
Mastodon: @Melysse
Email: missmelysse@gmail.com
Or, leave a comment on this page.

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

Review: The Traveler’s Atlas of the World

It’s a celebration of curiosity — of countries we know by heart and those we might never reach, but can visit here, one breathtaking image at a time.

Review: National Geographic The Photographs: Iconic Images from National Geographic

The Photographs rekindles that same sense of wonder, distilled into one breathtaking collection. Across more than 250 images, National Geographic’s legendary photographers remind us what it means to see — truly see — our planet and ourselves

Review: Narrow the Road, by James Wade

About the book, Narrow the Road Genre: Southern Fiction, Literary Fiction, Coming of Age Publisher: Blackstone Publishing Pages: 306 Publication Date: 26 August 2025 In this gripping coming-of-age odyssey, a young man’s quest to reunite his family takes him on a life-altering journey through the wilds of 1930s East Texas, where both danger and […]

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