Cead Fáilte
A thousand welcomes to Crann na beatha Short Stories and Poetry for June 28th, 2024
I am Terrance Ó Domhnaill, your village scéalaí, back again this week with more stories and poems from online authors.
I just have two short stories and two poems this week. We have chapter twenty two of the ongoing story From Beyond the Water Wall, and part three of the young adult story about Renae and the pixie. Then I have two wonderful poems that might make you think a little about life.
So gather round once more and let me read them to you under the shade of the crann na beatha, the tree of life. Click play above to listen to this week’s selections.
There is so much going on in the world right now that this show becomes a little more important in some regards as a way to escape all of the chaos we find ourselves in.
I continue to search out good fictional stories and poems that may offer us a quiet moment but I need more help. I am starting to get to the bottom of the story well. I am still able to find good poetry for the most part but fictional stories that I can read to young children are becoming somewhat scarce these days.
I am having to search deep into Medium archives to find stories I can use in this podcast and I am coming up short. Are clean, short fictional stories becoming passé these days?
I am searching for writers over on Substack for diversity but more and more, I am finding more stories there than I am on Medium now. Medium fiction writers where are you? I have found a few stories that I have saved for future podcasts but the list is getting smaller.
The biggest issue I am having is the lack of diversity. I seem to be selecting from a very small pool of writers and that pool is getting smaller all the time. I hope my well doesn’t run dry at some point.
This show is becoming very popular around the world since I started less than a year ago. I started this podcast last year in late summer and now, it has thousands of listeners everywhere. Most of them are in the United States but there are still a lot of listeners outside of the United States that I want continue reading for as well.
If I run to low on writers at some point, I may have to resort to reading library books to keep the show going. There are certain writers that I read frequently that I wish to mention as a thank you for writing consistently such as Sara Fellers, H.R. Parker, and Don Woodby. I regularly read their stories these days as I search out more.
There are quite a few poets whom I have been honored to read their poems over the last year and I will continue to do so. As in all things, I try to read from a large selection of poets. I want to offer the chance for many different writers to have an opportunity to have their works listened to all across the planet.
I am still adding in dramatic sound effects where appropriate, to give the stories and poems more of a flair. Some poems I leave as they are because they so well written that they have no need for any additional backgrounds. Additional sound effects would actually cheapen them, if you know what I mean.
I am old enough to remember the old radio shows from the early 1960’s before television replaced them. This was before my parents bought their first black and white TV about 1964, as I recall. They all had sound effects to make the listeners imagine they were watching a show.
I remember listening to The Green Lantern, The Shadow and a couple of others back then. I just hope that my little show comes close to what those old radio shows were like back then. There are so many people around the world who don’t have access to a TV these days. Most of them do have access to a mobile device and the internet occasionally. Almost like a radio from bygone days.
This is another reason why I insist on reading only ‘clean’ stories because I want children to be able to listen to all of your stories and poems, along with their parents. Think of the children in the refugee camps around the world who only have access to a shared mobile device for any chance at this type of entertainment.
Believe it or not, there are a lot of people around the world who are fluent in English who would translate, if they knew about this show. I try to keep it at roughly thirty minutes or less so as not to push the boundaries of the children’s restless natures.
If you are an aspiring fictional writer and are interested in submitting story suggestions to me for reading in future podcasts, let me know. My main criteria is for them to be children friendly and long enough to keep their attention. These little one or two minute ‘drabbles’ usually don’t qualify. I do make exceptions for extremely good stories though, such as H.R. Parker’s Elemental series and others I find. But I keep the really short ones to a minimum.
Now for this week’s selections:
From Beyond the Water Wall
Chapter 22/25 — Through the Cave
The Blooming of the Violet Dusk Oak
Part Three: Will Renae’s and Vitty’s words reach Bobbie?
A Prophecy Foretold
A poem
In Watery Depths
A descent into tranquillity
That’s all I have for everyone this week. Thank you for joining me once again. I will be back next week with more stories. I have a story from a Substack writer next week for everyone. I hope you will join me again. Sláinte
Go raibh maith agat. Thank you for listening to the show today. I hope you enjoyed the variety of stories and poems again this week. If you like the show, please like, subscribe and reply as this goes a long way towards reaching more listeners around the world.
As a Seanchaí, I hope you will allow me to continue delighting you with a story or a poem here under the Crann na beatha. Maybe they will bring you a smile and take you away from your troubles for a time.
As I say good bye this week, I wish to leave you with this Irish blessing as you go about your day. “May your path rise up to meet you and the sun warm your bonnet as you walk down the lane to the pub. May your friends and relations bring you a pint after you retell these stories and poems I give you here.” Slán go fóill — goodbye for now.
T. Ó Domhnaill — Gaelic Seanchaí
Crann na beatha Stories and Poetry