Tessera

BlogMyWiki @blogmywiki.bsky.social · 2w ago

Several *exciting* Listen with Other things lined up for the next few months. Out in a few weeks, a print collection of eight original stories, including an expanded version of The Mind Children not heard on the podcast...

Cover reveal: Stories from Listen with Other

I'm delighted to announce that I'm working on a collection of my own short stories that have featured on the Listen with Other…

magpie.listenwithother.co.uk

David Quantick @quantick.bsky.social · 2w ago

THE HYENA Launch Party: substack.com/home/post/p-...

THE HYENA

Launching soon...

substack.com

Emma Samms MBE @emmasamms.bsky.social · 4w ago

The fabulous October issue of @cotswoldlife.bsky.social magazine is out, and my column’s topic this month is the big feelings I have about living walls..

David Quantick @quantick.bsky.social · last mo.

Just a reminder that my YA novella IMAGINE A FRIEND is getting nice word of mouth and is still available *everywhere*. www.amazon.co.uk/Imagine-Frie...

Imagine a Friend : Quantick, David: Amazon.co.uk: Books

amazon.co.uk

@leesparey.bsky.social · last mo.

There are things that are impressive, and there are things my friend Vicki Carter does. (If it looks like a dot on a black background, zoom out and remember she's swimming) maps.findmespot.com/s/58JF#live/...

Vicki Carter

Catalina Channel Swim

maps.findmespot.com

BlogMyWiki @blogmywiki.bsky.social · last mo.

The final episode of THE MIND CHILDREN is now live... some digital archaeology and two more trips to deepest Somerset uncover even more secrets about the elusive creator of the lost 1970s TV show. The Final Program: episode 8 of series 9 of LISTEN WITH OTHER: listenwithother.co.uk/s9-e8-the-fi...

Keith Seatman @keithseatman.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Will be tuning into tonight’s Freakzone. Featured album is the BBC Radiophonic workshops Pink Album. This album was for so many of us an introduction to the weird wobbly and inspirational sounds and world of the Radiophonic Workshop. @stuartmaconie.bsky.social

BlogMyWiki @blogmywiki.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Can anyone recommend a good T-shirt vendor for selling merch, Redbubble or similar? I’m a bit out of touch and would like to get a few shirts available again. (I had a Spreadshirt shop years ago but somehow lost control of it or they deleted it.)

BlogMyWiki @blogmywiki.bsky.social · 3mo ago

It’s Friday, it’s not 5 o’clock, it’s not Crackerjack, but you can explore another 70s kids’ show - and eight other stories - in my fiction / short story podcast. No GenAI used, all self-hosted, no ads*. I’d be delighted if you gave LISTEN WITH OTHER a try. *Flange Ts&Cs apply

BlogMyWiki@blogmywiki.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Stuck indoors? Why not explore LISTEN WITH OTHER, slightly strange short story podcasts with short episodes, no ads, many with original music by @leesparey.bsky.social and one guest author: @raynewman.bsky.social. Find all nine series on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and at listenwithother.co.uk

A gallery of all the cover art from nine series. They look like 1970s BBC schools LPs.

@leesparey.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Pure Shores is such a beautiful, perfect pop song #totp

@leesparey.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Happy Petribore day to all those who tolerate

@leesparey.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Not only does my friend invent stories, he invents authors to write those stories and then gets the books printed too. Such a great idea :-)

BlogMyWiki@blogmywiki.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Proof copy of the Mind Children mini-book has arrived... I had huge fun doing the blurbs for other Avonside books at the back. Now wondering what to do with these... worth trying to sell a few? Promos? Music by @leesparey.bsky.social

BlogMyWiki @blogmywiki.bsky.social · 3mo ago

You remember and love The Tomorrow People? But do you remember THE MIND CHILDREN?

BlogMyWiki@blogmywiki.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Bob and Dave are the only people who remember a lost 1979 children’s TV show called The Mind Children. Join them in six short episodes as they uncover the mystery of its cancellation and its elusive creator. Look for series 9 of LISTEN WITH OTHER where podcasts are found. listenwithother.co.uk

christhebarker @christhebarker.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Andy Burnham in a parody of Andy Capp.
First panel, Andy is at the bar with a man wearing a flat cap who says: I see they’re callin’ ye the second coming lad…
panel 2: Andy reacts: By ‘eck! They’re alikening me to JESUS?!
panel 3: man replies: nay lad… to t’Stone Roses difficult second album…
panel 4: man gives punchline: A few years too late and overly reliant on nostalgia for t’glory days o’ the hacienda…

BlogMyWiki @blogmywiki.bsky.social · 3mo ago

The final shocking instalment of The Mind Children is out now! Find series 9 of LISTEN WITH OTHER it on Apple, Spotify, other podcast providers and at listenwithother.co.uk

BlogMyWiki @blogmywiki.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Episode 5 of The Mind Children is now live. Bob & Dave get closer to unlocking the mystery of what happened to the forgotten TV show’s author. Original music by @leesparey.bsky.social Look for LISTEN WITH OTHER series 9 on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and at listenwithother.co.uk

@leesparey.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Is it possible to win an election without even getting enough votes to get your deposit back? (asking for a fiend)

@leesparey.bsky.social · 4mo ago

An excellent book :-)

David Quantick@quantick.bsky.social · 4mo ago

All ages welcome!

@leesparey.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Nice excuse to put my headphones on this eve :-)

BlogMyWiki@blogmywiki.bsky.social · 4mo ago

The Mind Children are back! Bob and Dave get their hands on a typescript of the unbroadcast final three episodes. In episode 4 The Mind Children conduct an experiment in social and mental engineering at the school Christmas fair. listenwithother.co.uk #podcast #fiction #writing #audiobook

BlogMyWiki @blogmywiki.bsky.social · 4mo ago

The Mind Children are back! Bob and Dave get their hands on a typescript of the unbroadcast final three episodes. In episode 4 The Mind Children conduct an experiment in social and mental engineering at the school Christmas fair. listenwithother.co.uk #podcast #fiction #writing #audiobook

BlogMyWiki @blogmywiki.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Episode 4 of THE MIND CHILDREN is coming. Bob and Dave get their hands on the unpublished manuscript of the missing episodes.... FInd episodes 1-3 at listenwithother.co.uk

BlogMyWiki @blogmywiki.bsky.social · 4mo ago

A teaser for episode 4 of THE MIND CHILDREN. Bob and Dave get their hands on the unpublished manuscript of the missing episodes.... FInd episodes 1-3 at listenwithother.co.uk

Orange battered paperback of 1970s HTV kids' series The Mind Children by Damon Allan.

4. The Death of the Author
Susan Grey had grown to dread Christmas. Once it
had been a magical time of year, filled with an
indescribable sense of excitement she only realised
had ever existed now that it was gone. It wasn't just
not kelieving in Father Christmas, there was
something else missing. She supposed this was
what growing up was like.
She dreaded the school Christmas fair in
particular, although, this being her final year at
primary school, it would at least be her last.
Her father, Jonathan, worked as a salesman for a
computer company. Once it had been a novelty, she
was proud of her dad, setting up the huge mini-
computer in the school hall, where he charged five
pence a go for printing out customised stories. You
typed in your name and said if you were a boy or a
girl and the names of some of your friends, and a
huge, loud machine printed out a customised
adventure story. There were random elements, so
even if you used the same names every year, you
got a different story. Some were set in forests with
wizards and dragons, some were set in old
fashioned boarding schools, another story was set
in space. You never knew what you were going to
get, but they always had a happy ending.
But now some of Susan's classmates had
computers at home. Micro-computers, her dad
called them, saying the word with contempt. He

said they were making the machines he sold
obsolete. Sometimes he said they were making him
obsolete as well.
The school hall was getting busy with busybodies
busying themselves. Stalls were being set up, the
stage was being cleared for the choir to sing carols.
The scent of mulled wine started to mask the usual
smell of sweaty socks and stale mashed potato. In
the far corner by the serving hatch, Jonathan Grey
was setting up the mini-computer. Three large
filing-cabinet-sized boxes, a VDU and a line
printer. The ABC 17/23 mini-computer was on its
last legs, but he was fond of the machine. A reliable
old workhorse, albeit one soon to be put out to
pasture. Or worse. He wasn't sure if Amalgamated
British Computers would still be a going concern
by next Christmas, but either way with Susan
leaving primary school this year, it would probably
be his last school fair, though of course he'd offer
to come back next year. He looked round for Susan,
then spotted her with her friend Joanne. He tried to
call out to her to come over, but she ignored him
and ran off with her friend. Joanne's mum, minding
the mulled wine, was watching him, and wandered
over.
*They grow up so fast,' she said.
"Yes, yes they do,' he said, sitting at the VDU and
typing some commands in.
She silently passed him a paper cup of mulled
wine, and he drank it, not looking away from the

screen. In the VDU's screen he could see in
reflection Joanne's mum almost putting her hand on
his shoulder, thinking better of it, and moving away.
He looked up at the mural on the back wall of the
hall. It showed people dancing round the maypole
on the village green. You could see St Botolph's
church, the school, the Seven Magpies pub and
Compton Clumps, the trees on the hill that
overlooked the village of Compton Magna. They
said each person dancing round the maypole was
based on a real villager when it was painted in the
1950s. Today, something seemed to be different
about it. But he could not put his finger on it at all.

@leesparey.bsky.social · 4mo ago

The words "all about" and "the madrigals" may be stretching things a bit musically but Korg synths are definitely involved

BlogMyWiki@blogmywiki.bsky.social · 4mo ago

We're all about the madrigals now, @leesparey.bsky.social and me. And Korg synths. And there's a wee twist at the end of episode 6 that even I didn't see coming. Just need to record the bally thing now. Might take a few weeks. (Still looking for itinerant madrigal singers btw).

BlogMyWiki @blogmywiki.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Perfect listening for the solstice. Join Bob & Dave investigating the lost 70s TV show The Mind Children. 3 episodes out now, 3 more following soon. Apple Podcasts, Spotify, listenwithother.co.uk

BlogMyWiki @blogmywiki.bsky.social · 4mo ago

The Mind Children will return! Yesterday I wrote episode 5, so one final episode still to write, inevitably some re-writes then recording can begin. Episodes 1-3 can be found now under LISTEN WITH OTHER on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and at listenwithother.co.uk

BlogMyWiki@blogmywiki.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Enter the world of The Mind Children, an alien race who visited Earth in a 1979 children's TV series that has been forgotten and almost completely erased. Episode 1 is out now. Look for series 9 of LISTEN WITH OTHER on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and at listenwithother.co.uk

BlogMyWiki @blogmywiki.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Stuck indoors on a rainy day? Why not explore LISTEN WITH OTHER, slightly strange short story podcasts with short episodes, no ads, many with original music by @leesparey.bsky.social and one guest: @raynewman.bsky.social. Find all nine series on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and at listenwithother.co.uk

Montage of cover art of each series and episode.

BlogMyWiki @blogmywiki.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Join Bob & Dave as they track down the most forgotten 70s children’s TV show, the mystery of its cancellation and disappearance of its creator. 3 episodes out now. Another series is already being planned.

BlogMyWiki@blogmywiki.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Enter the world of The Mind Children, an alien race who visited Earth in a 1979 children's TV series that has been forgotten and almost completely erased. Episode 1 is out now. Look for series 9 of LISTEN WITH OTHER on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and at listenwithother.co.uk

@leesparey.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Robbie Williams can still hit those notes :-)

BlogMyWiki @blogmywiki.bsky.social · 5mo ago

The third (and final?) part of The Mind Children is out NOW. Dave is contacted by a listener and drives to deepest Somerset on the trail of the elusive creator of forgotten, missing-believed-wiped 70s TV series The Mind Children... on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and at listenwithother.co.uk

BlogMyWiki@blogmywiki.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Enter the world of The Mind Children, an alien race who visited Earth in a 1979 children's TV series that has been forgotten and almost completely erased. Episode 1 is out now. Look for series 9 of LISTEN WITH OTHER on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and at listenwithother.co.uk

BlogMyWiki @blogmywiki.bsky.social · 5mo ago

A quick late night listen… 2 short episodes out now, third to follow next weekend. Are you sitting comfortably?

BlogMyWiki@blogmywiki.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Enter the world of The Mind Children, an alien race who visited Earth in a 1979 children's TV series that has been forgotten and almost completely erased. Episode 1 is out now. Look for series 9 of LISTEN WITH OTHER on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and at listenwithother.co.uk