Author Archives

Melissahttp://www.missmeliss.com

TBM 1710.12 – Just Breathe (and other stories)

by

Description:

Three pieces of spooky short fiction, read by the Bathtub Mermaid and Friends.

Excerpt:

I plunge backwards into the water. They always push you overboard in the split second when you forget to anticipate the shove. The theory is that if you can’t see the waves coming to greet you, you’re less likely to panic.

But I never panic.

Links & References:

Be Careful What You Wish For

Just Breathe

Biter Dot Com

 

Credits:

  • The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using the BossJock iPad app and Audacity.
  • Bathtub Mermaid album art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media
  • Music used for the opening and closing is David Popper’s “Village Song” as performed by Cello Journey. This music came from the podsafe music archive at Mevio’s Music Alley, which site is now defunct.
  • Photo Source: Flash-prompt Facebook Group.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 11:40 — 14.3MB)

Bloody Rose

TBM 1708.31 DDOP-31: Bloody Roses

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Bloody Rose

Description:

Flash prompt. Days after the fact. Kind of grim.

Excerpt:

It wasn’t usual anymore, the burying of bodies, but I had insisted. “I want to bring him home. I want to bury him next to his grandfather.”

And so, even though we live in an age when the dead are cremated and the ashes mixed into the gardens, or, if you had the resources, consigned to the heart of a star, we put the body of our stillborn son in stasis and carted him half way across the quadrant for an old-fashioned funeral.

Links & References:

Credits:

  • The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using the BossJock iPad app and Audacity.
  • Bathtub Mermaid album art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media
  • Music used for the opening and closing is David Popper’s “Village Song” as performed by Cello Journey. This music came from the podsafe music archive at Mevio’s Music Alley, which site is now defunct.
  • Photo Source: Flash-prompt Facebook Group.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 4:57 — 6.1MB)

Xmas House

TBM 1708.30 DDOP-30: Mel-Babble

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Xmas House

Description:

Mel Babble. Raw, unedited chatter. Probably you should just skip it.

Excerpt:

Vegetables can be cute. My house makes me sad.

Links & References:

Credits:

  • The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using the BossJock iPad app and Audacity.
  • Bathtub Mermaid album art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media
  • Music used for the opening and closing is David Popper’s “Village Song” as performed by Cello Journey. This music came from the podsafe music archive at Mevio’s Music Alley, which site is now defunct.
  • Photo Source: Personal Collection

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 10:49 — 13.4MB)

K'Ehleyr & Worf

TBM 1708.29 DDOP-29: Game Point

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K'Ehleyr & Worf

Description:

Several months ago, I was reminded that K’Ehleyr from Star Trek: The Next Generation and Marshall’s mom on How I Met Your Mother were both played by Suzi Plakson. Fanfiction happened. Nuchtchas was kind enough to read it for me.

Excerpt:

“Arch!” Again, her commands were spoken too quietly for him to hear, but the temperature dropped rapidly as the jungle was supplanted by a frozen pond surrounded by jagged peaks of snow and ice. “Take this,” she said, tossing him a long wooden stick that curved into a soft L-shape at the end.

“This is a hockey stick!”

“You know hockey? Good, that will help.” Again, with the purring. Why did she insist upon making that sound? Did she know how it got to him?

Links & References:

Credits:

  • The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using the BossJock iPad app and Audacity.
  • Bathtub Mermaid album art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media
  • Music used for the opening and closing is David Popper’s “Village Song” as performed by Cello Journey. This music came from the podsafe music archive at Mevio’s Music Alley, which site is now defunct.
  • Photo Source: Memory Beta.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 7:24 — 9.0MB)

Murder of Crows

TBM 1708.28 DDOP-28: A Murder of Crows

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Murder of Crows

Description:

Flash-fiction. Ravens and Crows aren’t quite the same bird.

Excerpt:

“I’ve grounded and centered and counted to ten – to fifty, even. I’ve done the incantation. I’ve drunk the calming tea, and no matter what I do, I cannot banish the thoughts of Unkindness for longer than a couple of minutes.”

“Unkindness? Unkindness?” The women tilted her head one way then another, peering at him from one bright eye at a time. “But, you’re not a Raven. You’re a Crow.”

Links & References:

Credits:

  • The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using the BossJock iPad app and Audacity.
  • Bathtub Mermaid album art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media
  • Music used for the opening and closing is David Popper’s “Village Song” as performed by Cello Journey. This music came from the podsafe music archive at Mevio’s Music Alley, which site is now defunct.
  • Photo Source: Flash-Prompt Facebook group.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 4:04 — 4.9MB)

TBM 1708.27 DDOP-27: Sunday Brunch: Thoughts on Community

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Description:

This week’s Sunday Brunch column – thoughts on Community.

Excerpt:

As is the nature of living organisms, Communities ebb and flow. Sometimes you’ll have intense relationships with only a few members of a community and more casual ones with the rest. Sometimes you’ll feel like there are people who don’t ‘get’ you, or you don’t really understand. I’ve come to learn that this is normal. It’s not bad or wrong, it’s just life.

Links & References:

Credits:

  • The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using the BossJock iPad app and Audacity.
  • Bathtub Mermaid album art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media
  • Music used for the opening and closing is David Popper’s “Village Song” as performed by Cello Journey. This music came from the podsafe music archive at Mevio’s Music Alley, which site is now defunct.

  • Photo Copyright: maglara / 123RF Stock Photo

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 8:01 — 9.5MB)

Sunbeam

TBM 1708.26 – DDOP-26: Vampire Fashion Tricks

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Sunbeam

Description:

Thomas Jancis reads “Vampire Fashion Tricks”

Excerpt:

“Results were inconclusive.”

“How so?”

“Well. Vlad didn’t combust or anything.”

“That seems conclusive to me.”

 

Links & References:

Credits:

  • The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using the BossJock iPad app and Audacity.
  • Bathtub Mermaid album art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media
  • Music used for the opening and closing is David Popper’s “Village Song” as performed by Cello Journey. This music came from the podsafe music archive at Mevio’s Music Alley, which site is now defunct.
  • Photo source: Facebook Flash-Prompt Group

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:33 — 3.4MB)

allef-vinicius-110498

TBM 1708.25 – DDOP-25: Truth and Power

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allef-vinicius-110498

Description:

“Truth” and “Power”  – two pieces of micro-fiction.

Excerpt:

“Sometimes,” I answered. “But sometimes Truth hides in darkness because it’s too real, or too painful, or because we aren’t yet ready to see it.” 

Links & References:

Credits:

  • The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using the BossJock iPad app and Audacity.
  • Bathtub Mermaid album art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media
  • Music used for the opening and closing is David Popper’s “Village Song” as performed by Cello Journey. This music came from the podsafe music archive at Mevio’s Music Alley, which site is now defunct.
  • Photo by Allef Vinicius on Unsplash

     

 

 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:48 — 3.4MB)

Age of Plastics Fish

TBM 1708.24 DDOP-24: The New Age of Plastics

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Age of Plastics Fish

Description:

Flash-fic, read by Selena Taylor. Life finds a way.

Excerpt:

She scooped the transparent fish out of the water, expecting it to gasp in desperation, but it seemed completely tranquil, suspended between her hands as content as it had seemed in the tide pool where she’d found it.  

Links & References:

Credits:

  • The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using the BossJock iPad app and Audacity.
  • Bathtub Mermaid album art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media
  • Music used for the opening and closing is David Popper’s “Village Song” as performed by Cello Journey. This music came from the podsafe music archive at Mevio’s Music Alley, which site is now defunct.
  • Photo source: Facebook Flash-Prompt group

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:31 — 3.1MB)

Vegetables

TBM 1708.23 – DDOP-23: Adventures in CSA

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Vegetables

Description:

This episode is SUPER RAMBLY! In a departure from her usual offering of stories, the Bathtub Mermaid discusses her first adventure with CSA.

Excerpt:

CSA – Community Sustained Agriculture. I received my first farmbox today. I was going to do a live unboxing, but it was too noisy – dogs were barking, a squall was forming. So I’m talking about it instead. Well, rambling, really.

 

Links & References:

Credits:

  • The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using the BossJock iPad app and Audacity.
  • Bathtub Mermaid album art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media
  • Music used for the opening and closing is David Popper’s “Village Song” as performed by Cello Journey. This music came from the podsafe music archive at Mevio’s Music Alley, which site is now defunct.
  • Photo by Alexandr Podvalny on Unsplash

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 11:55 — 14.2MB)