Cead Fáilte
A thousand welcomes to Crann na beatha Short Stories and Poetry for July 26th, 2024
I am Terrance Ó Domhnaill, your village scéalaí, back again this week with more stories and poems from authors around the world.
I have three short stories and three poems for you. To start, I have found some short stories about dragons that I will be reading in the next couple of weeks, starting today. I have a different kind of ghost story and I am starting a new serialized space story from a writer on Substack that I started last week. Then I have a selection of poems for you to cap it all off.
So gather round once more and let me read to you under the shade of the crann na beatha, the tree of life. Click play above to listen to the show.
My program is a little short of thirty minutes this week, despite my having six selections for everyone. I am starting to run short of good, readable stories these days.
I am able to find a few but it is taking more time out of my week to scrounge around to find them. I have started selecting more stories from Substack writers now but even they are requiring a lot of read time to vet them for readability and language. Some writers seem to think that foul language needs to be written in to emphasize parts of the stories. I respect that but I can’t read them to any audiences that may have minor children listening.
I also have to look at length. It takes a lot of work to read a fifteen minute or more story or chapter, then add in all of the appropriate sound effects.
I am having doubts about the long term sustainability of this podcast because of this shortage. It is cutting into time I need for other things. If I had a helper to find and review the stories and poems for me every week, I might consider continuing. As it is, since this is not a paywalled podcast, I don’t know of anyone in their right minds who would work with me for free.
I do it because I love to tell stories and I am okay with just working for the odd donation now and again. But I can’t ask anyone else to be that generous with their time. Especially with the economy as it is. Everyone is working every side hustle they can to make a couple extra dollars these day.
My plan is to take it until Samhain, which is the end of my calendar year. Then close it so I can get back to writing my books this winter. I am very far behind on my current book. It is about halfway finished so I need to complete the draft and find an editor.
This particular book is a military anthology full of soldier and sailor adventure stories dating back to the 1970’s and into the 21st century. They are all fictional stories, some based on my own personal exploits through the years. I am not divulging which ones. I hope to have it on the shelves by next spring.
Then, it will be book two of my Fugitives in a New United States series after that. As you can see, I am ambitious about writing books so I need to find the time to sit down and start writing again. I can’t do it if I am spending the majority of my week producing podcasts.
I will still produce The Village Oak Tree as it gives me an outlet for my activism and right to peaceful protest, while we still have it. I just won’t be as active with it as I have been. Once a week will be enough. No more strange guests that give me the shivers.
Here are this week’s selections:
Conversations with a Dragon
The princess doesn’t need saving…
The Real Ghosts of the Tower
What will Lotta discover after the death of her best friend?
Innocent
This world lies in pieces
The Window
— poem
That is all I have to offer this week for this newsletter. We live in strange times and things don’t look to be getting any better. I do have some stories and poems picked out for next week and I am working on finding more, as always. I wish everyone luck in the coming week ahead as we navigate through these dark times. I will be back again next week. Sláinte
Go raibh maith agat. Thank you for your support. I hope you enjoyed the variety of stories and poems again this week. If you like the video, 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