Can I tell you a story?

23/07/2024

The raft grinds into the stones at the edge of the lake. On the rocky shore, he sits and builds a fire as though the dark doesn’t wait for him in the caves above. He spears a fish and cooks it in the coals, looking up at the stars like he could sit there all night.

There is no moon, but the stars turn the lake silver.

He doesn’t sleep, but he feels like he is dreaming.

He’s not afraid of the stars, but he is afraid of the waiting dark.

He spent the first years of his life there, in Tin Hat with the lightless. Of course they didn’t call it Tin Hat, but his refusal to call it by its own name is another small form of the rebellion that started the day that he left – or was taken. Which it was depends on whim or his audience or the phase of the moon; he has told so many different versions of the tale he no longer knows the truth. One thing was true though; he was never going back.

And here he is, going back. Except, of course, no one can ever truly go back to where they began. He’s a different man now, living a different life. Telling different lies to himself, different lies to the world. He can feel the memories waiting. True memories or more lies? Doesn’t really matter, he supposes, all of them are ghosts.

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Hear the rest now: Tin Hat, on Can I tell you a story - wherever you like to listen.

22/07/2024

A strange new story about a man who doesn't know what kind of man he wants to be.

Tin Hat - listen wherever makes your ears the happiest.

19/07/2024

Bolt doesn't know what kind of man he is, or what kind of man he'd like to be. The stories he tells about himself change each time they're told, until he no longer knows the truth of them. He goes back to his own beginnings, and he's not sure if he's betraying or rescuing the woman he takes from the darkness... perhaps he will never find out.

It's new story day today, and it's called Tin Hat. Ready for your ears wherever you like to listen.

✨😁

17/07/2024

I waited for Sabir to catch up.

That was unusual; usually it’s me lagging behind, wanting to run my fingers over the texture of walls and trees and stones like braille, only I’m not blind. The staircase in front of me was daunting, straight down the face of the cliff. Not that you could see the cliff itself, it was all built up, a warren of tea shops and food vendors and expensive smelling silk curtained rest rooms for the wealthy where someone would wash your feet while you took in the view, stacked one atop the other all the way up the stairs.

Sabir’s face was red already when he reached me, though it paled some when he saw the way down. I grinned at him and stepped off the edge, each stair catching the foot that I threw at it, step after step after step, descending into the town.

On the second last step I was stopped by a spear pointed right at my heart.

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Listen to the rest wherever you like to listen - The Invaders, one of my favourites, waiting for your ears.

16/07/2024

She sat on the throne and the lights went out. When they came on again, she was the queen. This wasn't what she wanted... how will she weasel out?

'The Invaders' - it's one of my favourites. Go listen to it, I hope you like it as much as I do.

✨😁

12/07/2024

On the shifting shingle, a woman crouched by the river, now slow moving and serene, and the breeze caught at her hair and blew it into her eyes. She didn’t try to tame it. Cocooned in a red parka, she picked up a white stone from the riverbank, smooth and cold in her hand. She held it a moment; she thought of throwing it to make a splash, or trying to skim it over the drifting surface. She’d never been good at making stone fly. She kept still with the stone’s weight in her hand, feeling the ache of its imagined absence. She put the stone in the pocket of her coat.

She was tied to the stone then.

The woman sat down, rocks grinding and shifting under her as she tried to find a comfortable seat. The weight of responsibility for the stone in her pocket was heavier than the weight of the stone. Her mind spun with questions she had no answers to. Do rocks feel things the way she felt things? Perhaps the stone would miss those it had lain with for as long as it had. She thought of putting it back on the bank, though even the act of lifting it had changed things; she could never put it back exactly as she found it. And if she did return it, drop it or place it back among all the other stones, would the white stone then feel abandoned? Chosen then rejected? In her mind, the stone was hurting either way.

She was a thoughtless catalyst, thinking after the fact.

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This week was bonus story week for patrons, and this is a section of the story. Become a patron to read the rest (bonus side effect of making me very happy - it's a nice feeling, people supporting my creative work).

06/07/2024

And that was before she even got to the maze town, found her way through and into the palace to see what was there...

'The Invaders' - out now 😁✨

06/07/2024

New story time! The town is built like a maze on purpose - only one way through to the palace. It's meant to make it hard for invaders; the town is so full of distractions and delights that usually they forget invasion before they get three streets in.

Not me though. I was determined to find my way through the maze town. I wanted to get into the palace and I did it, too. It was too easy. I didn’t have the sense to be afraid until it was too late…

03/07/2024

Working on my novel today. I’m starting to run into all the bits where past me was like:

I have no idea what happens here! Future me can figure that out!

Dammit, past me.

28/06/2024

I read. A lot. This week, I shared a list of all my 5 star reads for the year to date with my bonus behind the scenes patrons. There were TWELVE books that made the 5 star list. Con artists, pirates, romance, modern day fairy tales, twisty stories that bent my brain and absolutely delighted me - may the rest of my reading year be as great as the first half!

So if you're looking for some great book recommendations, become a behind the scenes patron and you'll find that list waiting for you :)

24/06/2024

How would you have a conversation with a city? Mia does it through drawings, but she didn't expect the city to start talking back...

New story, out now.

21/06/2024

NEW STORY DAY! We're back at the Complaints Department - a magic organisation tasked with resolving existential complaints posted to them through a letterbox to nowhere in an alley a city.

This time it's Mia posting drawings into the Complaints Department letterbox.

So many of her conversations are one sided, it never occurs to her that perhaps someone might talk back... until she starts finding drawings all over the city. Drawings almost the same as the ones she posted into the letterbox, except for one thing - in these new drawings, she isn't alone.

Slowly, things start to change...

18/06/2024

Here's a snippet of the outline of my novel, where the chapters and scenes get planned with enough detail to make sure the story is working.

There's so much to think about - dramatic tension, character motivation, actions and reactions, the overarching spine of the story and then all the smaller units that make up the bigger picture. They all have to work together to keep readers happy and interested - and then there's the actual writing of the words!

I am loving this process more than I've loved almost anything in my life.

17/06/2024

Did you hear the one about the woman who turned into a bird?

Now that we are 56(!) stories deep into this journey, I'm looking back at some of my favourites. Search for "The Last" and have a listen, and tell me what you think :)

08/06/2024

Someone trapped a fire spirit at the bottom of the ocean, not realising that would trap her too - she isn't free to follow her own whims until she finds a way to free the spirit too.

And so, she enlists the help of two women - one of whom is a swarm of bees, the other with a fish in her belly.

What happens next? Listen and find out...

I tried something new with this one, and have the help of two special guests - Carol and Megan. Thank you both for giving me a hand!

24/05/2024

When you have to row the mail across the moat to the castle, and the moat is full of things with teeth that will eat you and your co-worker is a pain in the ass...

It's new story day today - go listen, wherever you get your podcasts.

18/05/2024

"How badly do you want your answer?"

What if you came across a Wizard who could answer any question, in exchange for time... you choose - he could take a few days from the end of your life; you'd never miss them. Or, you could work for a few days - just a few days - you'd get to remember the days, then, but what task would you be set? Would the answer be worth what you did to receive it?

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This bonus story for Patrons is out RIGHT NOW. From $7/ month for this and many many other bonus stories...

17/05/2024

Today is bonus story day for patrons - they get a story about a Wizard who does strange things with time...

If you'd like to listen to this bonus story (and many other bonus stories waiting for you), sign up on Patreon from $7 a month and all the bonus stories will be yours (and you will also make me extremely happy by doing so).

Get more from Ellen M Clarke on Patreon

16/05/2024

If you stole an urn that contained either fortune or ill luck, which would you receive?

That depends on the answer to the question: if you got exactly what you thought you wanted, would it be a blessing, or a curse?

Norah and Zebediah break into a museum on the same night, intent on stealing the same thing - who will end up with the urn, and will they be blessed or cursed?

Find out in the latest story, out now.

✨😁

10/05/2024

If you got your heart's desire, would it be a blessing, or a curse?

Norah steals into the museum, intent on stealing something. Through a different window, Zebadiah does the same. They’re after an urn that might contain a blessing, or a curse – which it is depends on the answer to the question: what if you got exactly what you wanted?

Who will end up with the urn?

And will they receive a blessing, or a curse?

It's new story day - go listen and find out 😁✨

03/05/2024

This morning I did my grocery shopping as usual; unusually, this door was open and of course I had to wonder how he died and who killed him and why...

What do you think?

02/05/2024

Jos, this one's for you - the official 'Can I tell you a story?' Cat Count is here, and it's 4.

So really, the anonymous person who said my story The Station Master was dumb and horrible because it didn't have any cats in it had a point - only 6.897% of stories thus far feature cats.

I may have to rectify this in future.

✨😁🐈‍⬛

01/05/2024

I asked AI to make me a sign in white writing on black reading COMPLAINTS DEPARTMENT and this is what I got.

But the good news is I just finished writing another instalment of the Complaints Department. Silas continues to be mysterious, Ewan continues to be overworked, Sadie continues to be sunshine, and Simone continues to be wonderful, and the rising tide of complaints continues to cover the office floor in mountains of paper.

And if you've ever wondered what happened to the Senior Manager of the Complaints Department, you're not alone...

It'll be ready to listen to sometime in June, probably, by the time the recording and editing process is done 😁✨

01/05/2024

I found a ticket to an unusual circus and got lost in a hall of mirrors and I didn’t like what they showed me. The ringmaster told me this was no ordinary circus – that everyone there was the act they came to see.

He asked me if I liked my act and I had to say no, I didn’t like it at all.

To which he replied: if you don’t like your act, change it…

✨

Hall of Mirrors, the new story out now. Listen wherever you like to get your podcasts 😁

27/04/2024

It's me, I'm the special guest! invited me to join them in discovering in what world a battery is a system of government. The potato puns are off the charts... go listen!

Thanks for having me! It was a lot of fun 😁

22/04/2024

Every day, just before sunrise, Chance flips a coin. The stakes are high. Heads, time continues. Tails, it’s the end of days…

Trickster God Stacks the Odds - listen now wherever you get your podcasts 😁✨

12/04/2024

ONE (and a bit) YEARS OF STORIES!

I'm a bit late to my own party, but on the 17th of March, Can I tell you a story? turned ONE!

In that year (and a bit) there were:
49 stories released into the wild for your listening pleasure, including
34 stories available to everyone
15 stories available just for patrons

That's a lot of stories. Here's to another year full of strange tales.

Thanks for listening :)

08/04/2024

Here's some constructive listener feedback - my story The Station Master is dumb and horrible because it doesn't have any cats in it.

And, it's out now, so if you want to listen to a horrible dumb story with no cats, check it out. And if you listen on Spotify, there's an option to leave your own feedback at the end of the episode by answering the question "what did you think of this episode?" 😁✨

And now I'm off to buy a better story with cats in it.

05/04/2024

This week, for patrons, I'm trying something new. Here's a behind the scenes peek at how I figure out the plots for some of these strange stories! This is a preview, and if you want to hear the whole thing (and all the bonus stories) they can be found on Patreon.

30/03/2024

Aleida is afraid of the jungle. The way it’s crawling with life – vines and lichens and insects and animals, all striving and pulsing and reaching. If she stands still for long enough, she’ll be eaten alive. And it wouldn’t be personal – it’d just be because she was there.

Her uncle sends her into the jungle at night, searching for glowing mushrooms, and Aleida is sure there are hundreds, thousands of eyes staring at her in the dark. Her terror escalates until she runs out of fear… and finds something unexpected on the other side of it.

It's new story day! Go listen :D
Look for Can I Tell You A Story? It's in all the places - Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you like to listen.