Category Archives: Dog Days of Podcasting

TBM-2512.06 – Dog Days of Advent: Ember/Spark

by

Description:

Welcome to the Dog Days of Advent. I made a list of prompts, and wrote a bite-sized story for each one. They don’t live in the same universe, but they’re all a little off-kilter from what you might expect from holiday fare. And if you pay attention, you’ll notice that the last line of each story becomes the first line of the next. Today’s prompt is  Ember/Spark

Excerpt:

The circle widens, ripples spreading, and the two species drift into a shared rhythm — some with hands, some with arms, all with joy. In their mingled glow, something ancient rises, older than language or gravity: the understanding that warmth is not bound to flame, and family not bound to form.

Episode Cast:

Melissa A. Bartell

Links and References

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 and Music are from Freesound and UppBeat

Contact:

 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 4:40 — 6.2MB)

TBM-2512.05 – Dog Days of Advent: Frost

by

DDOA-05

Description:

Welcome to the Dog Days of Advent. I made a list of prompts, and wrote a bite-sized story for each one. They don’t live in the same universe, but they’re all a little off-kilter from what you might expect from holiday fare. And if you pay attention, you’ll notice that the last line of each story becomes the first line of the next. Today’s prompt is Frost.

Excerpt:

“It’s the longest night,” he says. “Not for sorrow — for balance. The dark gives the light a place to return to. Winter holds the world still, just long enough for hope to gather its breath.”

Episode Cast:

Mark, the Encaffeinated One

Melissa A. Bartell

Links and References

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 and Music are from Freesound and UppBeat

Contact:

 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:41 — 8.1MB)

TBM-2512.04 – Dog Days of Advent: Snowglobe

by

DDOA-04

Description:

Welcome to the Dog Days of Advent. I made a list of prompts, and wrote a bite-sized story for each one. They don’t live in the same universe, but they’re all a little off-kilter from what you might expect from holiday fare. And if you pay attention, you’ll notice that the last line of each story becomes the first line of the next. Today’s prompt is Snowglobe.

Excerpt:

The lights above them pulse, soft as breathing. She remembers that first storm — the fear of the power failing, the scramble to secure the greenhouse domes, the way they’d worked side by side in the cold until dawn. That was when it began, really: not the flirtation or the laughter, but the quiet respect that came from surviving something together.

Episode Cast:

Melissa A. Bartell

Links and References

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 and Music are from Freesound and UppBeat

Contact:

 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:12 — 6.8MB)

TBM-2512.03 – Dog Days of Advent: Orbit

by

DDOA-03

Description:

Welcome to the Dog Days of Advent. I made a list of prompts, and wrote a bite-sized story for each one. They don’t live in the same universe, but they’re all a little off-kilter from what you might expect from holiday fare. And if you pay attention, you’ll notice that the last line of each story becomes the first line of the next. Today’s prompt is orbit.

Excerpt:

Below her, ribbons of green and violet curl across the poles, shimmering like breath against the night. It’s not the first aurora she’s seen from orbit, but this one feels different — brighter, alive. She thinks of the Christmas lights her father used to hang along the eaves of their house, blinking patterns that never quite synced. He’d laugh every year and say, “Perfection’s overrated, sweetheart. Just make it shine.”

Episode Cast:

Melissa A. Bartell

Links and References

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 and Music are from Freesound and UppBeat

Contact:

 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:14 — 6.2MB)

TBM-2512.02 – Dog Days of Advent: Hearth

by

DDOA-02

Description:

Welcome to the Dog Days of Advent. I made a list of prompts, and wrote a bite-sized story for each one. They don’t live in the same universe, but they’re all a little off-kilter from what you might expect from holiday fare. And if you pay attention, you’ll notice that the last line of each story becomes the first line of the next. Today’s prompt is hearth.

Excerpt:

Outside, the church bells strike midnight — exactly on time.

Inside the café, the world softens around the edges. The espresso machine has gone quiet, its metal belly releasing one last sigh of steam. She wipes down the counter in slow, practiced circles. When she finishes, she pours herself a small mug from what remains in the pot — lukewarm, but still comforting — and brings it with her as she turns.

Episode Cast:

Melissa A. Bartell

Links and References

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 and Music are from Freesound and UppBeat

Contact:

 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:08 — 7.5MB)

TBM-2512.01 – Dog Days of Advent: Clock

by

DDOA-01

Description:

Welcome to the Dog Days of Advent. I made a list of prompts, and wrote a bite-sized story for each one. They don’t live in the same universe, but they’re all a little off-kilter from what you might expect from holiday fare. And if you pay attention, you’ll notice that the last line of each story becomes the first line of the next. Today’s prompt is “clock.”

Excerpt:

Time, for her, is elastic. Sometimes it stretches, gossamer-thin, like taffy pulled too far, and she can walk its length to touch the moment when her mother bent to kiss her scraped knee, or the instant she first realized she’d fallen in love. Other times it snaps tight and whips her forward, years ahead, where she sees a conversation that hasn’t happened yet, the face of a friend she hasn’t met.

Episode Cast:

Melissa A. Bartell

Links and References

Transcript: Clock 

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 and UppBeat

Contact:

 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:34 — 7.3MB)

TBM-2509.01 – Mermaid Minute – Happy Labor Day

by

Meme-Podcast-Square

Description:

You think mermaids just sit on rocks all day looking glamorous? Please. This ocean doesn’t run itself.

#audio #short #humor #mermaidminute

Links and References

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 header art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media
  • Sound Effects are from Freesound.

Contact:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:03 — 2.2MB)

TBM-2508.31 – Mermaid Minute: Happy Tails

by

Meme-Podcast-Square

Description:

But here’s the thing: thirty-one days is the challenge, and I showed up with twenty-nine shiny splashes of podcast sass. And in mermaid math, that still counts as a win.

#audio #short #humor #mermaidminute

Links and References

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 header art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media
  • Sound Effects are from Freesound.

Contact:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:51 — 3.1MB)

TBM-2508.30 – Mermaid Minute: Jaws Is 50

by

Meme-Podcast-Square

Description:

Because clearly the best way to honor the movie that made half the world afraid to swim is to make the shark literally jump out of the screen at you.

#audio #short #humor #mermaidminute

Links and References

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 header art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media
  • Sound Effects are from Freesound.

Contact:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:57 — 3.1MB)

TBM-2508.29 – Mermaid Minute – Underwater Dental Care

by

Meme-Podcast-Square

Description:

And flossing? Seaweed works fine, but we prefer jelly strands — extra slippery, biodegradable, and if you’re lucky, bioluminescent. Nothing says “fresh breath” like a glow-in-the-dark smile.

#audio #short #humor #mermaidminute

Links and References

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 header art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media
  • Sound Effects are from Freesound.

Contact:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:45 — 2.9MB)