Episode 21 of the Weird Tales Radio Show (14th June 2018) podcast is now available and carries a major interview with Peter Tolhurst, the author of the new book This Hollow Land - Aspects of Norfolk Folklore in which we talk about rural traditions, folk songs, frogbone rituals and medieval treasure hunters using black magick to raise a demon. (What do you mean, sounds like a typical Friday night?)

Click on the <player> button below or find the show on iTunes, YouTube and all the usual podcast platforms.

I'm going to be on Park Radio FM tonight from 6:10pm with Paul Shaw for another two hours of Waveney Valley... when it was – looking back at the history, folklore and bygone days of Diss, Harleston and the Waveney Valley. We'll also be going back in the musical time machine to play some tracks associated with the 10th of June. You can tune-in to Park Radio on 107.6 and 105.2 FM or listen online at ​http://www.parkradio.co.uk/ – just click on the player link.

A moving story now by Wendy Nikel that requires no further comment by me. Wendy's fiction has appeared in Fantastic Stories of the Imagination, Daily Science Fiction, Nature: Futures, and elsewhere. For more information visit http://www.wendynikel.com


A GIFT FOR HIS BELOVED, POST-APOCALYPSE
by Wendy Nikel


YEAR ONE: PAPER
It was hard to find paper after the apocalypse. It burns so easily, you see. So when he discovered the single spiral-bound notebook in the abandoned factory, he tucked it into his pack before the other scavengers could see. He hid it for three months until their anniversary arrived, and when she opened it and saw its uncharred pages, she cried.

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YEAR TWO: COTTON
She used to iron her blouses each day as she watched the morning news. Though she never complained about the stained sleeves or lost buttons that came with their new life, he searched every boarded-up department store until he found something in her size. It wasn't until she buttoned it up that he realized how thin she'd become.

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YEAR THREE: LEATHER
The city was no longer a haven, and on the road, they'd both have to fight. It was fitting, then, to give her gloves. They'd keep her hands from bleeding when they sparred. She sewed some broken bits of metal onto them and soon was a better scrapper than he was.

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YEAR FOUR: LINEN
He'd thought it'd been difficult to find paper. Linen was practically impossible. In the end, he'd settled for a scratchy, burlap sack that smelled of mold and a promise to replace it with something nicer as soon as he was able.

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YEAR FIVE: WOOD
He returned with two wooden boards slung across his back and an apology for the still-missing linen. When the boards were nailed into a cross and her initials carved, he wedged it into the cold earth and whispered his love… till next year.