Saturday, 4 January 2020

Happy New Year 2020 Dear Listeners


Happy New Year, Listeneroos!

Let’s do this 2020 thing! I wish it a sweet and nourishing year for all of you.

I started last year (2019) with beautiful intentions and promises to create and publish new stories consistently. I was full of ideas but unfortunately, life had other plans and my body put me into survival mode and took emergency measures against long-term stress and fatigue, effectively fogging out my creative mojo for months. This treadmill is way too common, as I know from the many listeners who have written to me about how SBS was a comfort in insomnia, depression, and anxiety.

So many people have been in touch, in fact, and said such lovely things to encourage me to keep writing that I have begun to understand more how this is part of why I am here (on planet earth) and blessed with words, a tongue, and vocal cords. I want this year to be different and I want to shape myself more around the creative output of SBS.

It amazes me that even in a dry year the ‘listener stats’ looked so good. I have resisted numerous offers of sponsorship and licensing the work to paid apps because it’s fundamental to me that Stories from the Borders of Sleep is offered freely for all and the flow is not disturbed with advertising. There have to be spaces where we can get away from that hustle, right?

Some people think I’m crazy taking this line, especially since I (and millions of others) would like nothing more in the world than to get up in the morning and just write rather than have a ‘proper job’. Nevertheless, others have asked me about making financial contributions and I don’t have any system, so I am trying a new thing ...

I looked at all the crowdfunding options and tbh most of them scare me. I don’t want to split listeners into tiers based on contributions or put time into developing 'exclusive content' that I could be putting into making stories available for everybody. I’m not here to hustle; I’m here to create and to share. However, there was one I liked called ‘Buy Me A Coffee’. People can make a one-off donation to buy me a coffee and keep fuelling the brain. An option will eventually be available for anyone to make a monthly contribution that would help me to buy myself more writing time and days I could spend creating more regular episodes.

There it is. I don’t want anyone to feel the tiniest bit of ‘should’ or ‘ought’ about it. We are all fighting battles on numerous fronts and SBS is just the thing I have to share that might help to spread some magic and wonder and make it be more liveable for some. I feel downright cheeky even mentioning it after such a dry year, but if you’d like to help with money, thank you SO much and here’s how (use this link or the button below - no sign up is required).

Above all thank you for listening, for waiting, for being here, for the waves and the ‘Hi’s, the likes and the follows. Thank you for reading this far. May your 2020 be auspicious and filled with curiosity, wonder and sweet dreams.

Seymour


Buy me a coffeeBuy me a coffee

Monday, 19 November 2018

Rehoming


Dear Listeners,

There are some things you will discover about plants in this episode that I hope will make you never see the world quite the same again. Moreover, Episode 40 must be some sort of milestone, and this one is appropriately a little different.

This story was inspired by and written for a couple of lovely listeners, one of whom helped with some ideas and the other of whom I hope didn't see it coming as a wedding anniversary surprise. I hope you enjoy listening in and sharing the experience; it's been a lot of fun to compose.

For those who need it, here's the direct link, but don't forget you can subscribe with iTunes or whatever your flavour of podcatcher, using the links on this page. Come on over to facebook or drop me an email or comment if you'd like to feedback or start a conversation. I love hearing from people around the world who are 'tuning in'.

The music this week is by Erik Ask Upmark, another beautiful offering from Magnatune. Thank you for listening. I hope you enjoy this one. And many thanks to Ben and Maria!

 Seymour

Saturday, 14 July 2018

Water Cure


Dear Listeners,

Welcome to Episode 39.

This story was inspired by its soundtrack. The evocative background soundscape was created by a listener to the podcast who is also a professional composer for TV, film and radio. It's "a combination of synthetic drones, electric guitar played with a toothbrush and acoustic guitar picking." Paul Morris is his name and you are heartily encouraged to go and indulge your ears with his SoundCloud offerings at https://soundcloud.com/paul-morris-music-for-film.

Apart from that, I'll just let it kind of speak for itself, and I hope you enjoy listening.

As usual, you can use this direct link to download the episode, listen on the embedded player above (if it's working), or grab with your favourite podcatcher app doodah thingy.

Many thanks to Paul for contributing his work to the magical mix of SBS!

Onwards: to the Borders of Sleep!

Seymour

Sunday, 20 May 2018

Mortal Uncoil


Dear Listeners,

Episode 38 for you!

I did some long car journeys by myself recently.I improvised stories to keep myself amused. The roads were long and the weather was hot. I suppose that was the starting point for this bit of mind travel. I hope you enjoy coming along, too.

Here's your direct link. Of course you can use the player above or find us with iTunes or your podcatcher of choice as well. If you're enjoying the podcasts, drop me a line and say 'hi' by comment or email, or come and chat on the Facebook page - be great to meet you!

This week's soundtrack is by Satori on Magnatune. Lovely.

Thank you for listening,

Seymour

Sunday, 14 January 2018

Poor Butterfly

Dear Listeners,

It has been a while - a long while - since the last episode was published. In the meantime I have had wonderful emails, comments and feedback from so many of you that I have finally found the time to get writing and recording again.

This story was sort of inspired by reading "Flappers" by Judith Mackrell and by a favorite song by Huw Williams, "The Summer Before the War". I hope it feels nostalgic.

Here's your direct link to the mp3, and you can get previous episodes on the "Archive" page.

I'm looking forward to bringing you more in 2018. If you're on the Facebook, join us there, too: https://www.facebook.com/bordersofsleep/

Thank you so much for listening!
Seymour

Wednesday, 23 September 2015

My Journey


Dear Listener,

Here's episode 36 - a number that is pleasantly divisible - so we're bringing you something slightly diffrent: a little of the tale of how 'Stories from the Borders of Sleep' was born. It's personal and autobiographical, but I hope you like it. I trawled this up from some material I wrote about three years ago when we started the podcast.

Here's your direct link to the MP3. Check out the archives page for the back catalogue.

The gentle music in the background is from a firm favourite, Cari Live.

May your dreams be sweet!

Seymour

Tuesday, 1 September 2015

The Night of the Nipperquins


Dear Listener,

A few months ago, a dear friend asked if I might read a 'bedtime story' to the guests at his wedding, right at the end of the evening, before they went home.

This is the story I wrote for the occasion, recounting what may be the strangest wedding night of all time. It is dedicated very affectionately to my friends, the happy couple (James and Marie), whose marriage I hope will be full of even more mystery and imagination than I could conjure for this little offering.

Your direct link to the MP3 is here. The music is from Cari Live's album 'Mindreader'.

It went down very well with the guests, and it was a real pleasure for me to try a story on a live audience - something I don't get to do very often.

I hope you enjoy it, too.

Wishing sweet dreams for you and all those you treasure,

Seymour.

Monday, 20 July 2015

Hitting it Out of the Park


Dear Listener,

Welcome to episode 34. As an editor, in my "bread and butter" day job, I've come across a lot of juicy business jargon that I've taken great delight in "decommissioning". But what was to be done with all these baffling metaphors, many of which seem to have been "re-purposed" from the sportsfield to the boardroom?

Put them in a story of course ...

This is an episode dedicated to corporate daydreamers, opponents and proponents of boardroom bluster, meeting doodlers and anyone who has ever had to circle the waggons, eat their own dogfood or deploy blue-sky thinking - this is for you.

Here's the direct link for download, or you can listen using the embedded flash player at the top of the post.

The sound track is from "Waiting" by Benji Goodrich, which is such a lovely album that I recommend you go here to listen to all of it on Magnatune.

Enjoy the podcast, and try to stay awake in those meetings.

Sweet dreams,

Seymour

Wednesday, 8 July 2015

Thrice Buried



Dear Listener,

As the gap between episodes gets longer so, it seems, do the podcasts. I shall try to do some shorter ones next. This one will fill your ears for about 28 minutes - but I hope you enjoy it. It's really a story for spring time (that's when I started writing it) but if you're in the northern hemisphere, and it comes to you in the dog days of Summer, I still hope that you enjoy it.

Picture Credit: Ben Hudson
For those who need it here's a direct link to download the MP3. You'll also find us on iTunes, if that's how you get your fix, or you can click on the embedded player at the top of this post to listen. Go to our archive page if you want to find links to all the previous episodes in one place.

Thank you very much if you've been in touch by email, Facebook or comment to encourage me in the last few months. Notably, one listener in Australia sent me a picture he'd drawn of how he thought Tolly Pep-Me might look. Another listener in New Zealand got in touch because she was sharing the stories with her book group, and that led to a great conversation. Many of you have dropped me a line to tell me you've appreciated the stories for all sorts of reasons. It thrills me to hear from listeners and I'd love to meet you on our Facebook page, where I'll also try to keep you up to date on what's happening in the world of Borders of Sleep.

If you're curious about the soundtrack to this episode, check out the work of Kourosh Dini and the harp playing of Cheryl Ann Fulton on Magnatune.

That's all for now, but let's do this again sometime soon.

Wishing you sweet dreams,

Seymour

Tuesday, 1 July 2014

Kalakut's Gift


Dear Listener,

Welcome to episode 32! We've passed the milestone of providing a bedtime story for each night of the month, but we press on. Once again I apologise for the slowdown in producing fresh stories over the last year and thank all the listeners who have left comments or emailed me to say that they are enjoying the stories and to ask for more.

Here is a story about a little girl and a volcano. For many months, I just knew I wanted to write a story about a little girl and a volcano, but that was it: no plot, no further idea but this image in my mind of a tiny girl and a huge volcano. Finally it is here. As much as I'd like to unwrap for you all the layers of what this story means to me, I leave it to you to take your own interpretation from it, and I'd actually rather hear about what it means to you - that is always more interesting.

Tim did a great job on this without being able to use his usual software so I hope the sound is up to scratch - it seemed more important to get a fresh episode out than to have it quite as polished as usual.

For those who prefer to download the MP3 directly, here's a link. But please consider subscribing to the feed using a podcast client or grabbing it from iTunes. There's also an archive of all the episodes so far if you need to catch up. The podcast also now has a facebook page where I'm hoping I'll get to meet and interact with you more, so check it out.

Finally, the beautiful cello music in the background (and sometimes the foreground) of this episode comes from an album by Emily Burridge on magnatune.com.

Well I hope you enjoy this and have sweet dreams until next time,

Seymour