Every Photo Tells…

To avoid a political incident and keep peace, the Freelance Hunters have to break into a castle. Not any castle.

by Hugh J O’Donnell

 
Find his Podcast at: Way of the Buffalo

This story is also available within the eBook collection of Freelance Hunters stories called “Glory’s Gauntlet and Other Tales”:
Smashwords
Amazon

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We’re very pleased to announce that “Every Photo Tells…” appears in two different categories as finalists in the 2013 Parsec Awards. The Parsecs are like the Oscars of the podcast fiction world and categories exist for novels, short stories, songs and more.

We’ve made the final selection for the category “Best Speculative Fiction Magazine or Anthology Podcast” as “Every Photo Tells…”, while Mark “Encaf1” Kilfoil’s wonderful steampunk scifi story ‘Tainted Roses‘ is a finalist in the “Best Speculative Fiction Story: Small Cast (Novella Form)” category. Congratulations to Mark for getting selected and thanks to all our contributors for helping to make the podcast such a success!

NEW! Until August 31st, you can get Every Photo Tells… Vol. 1 for ONLY 99c !! on Smashwords with promo code: HF35U !! :)

In a distant future, the journey back to earth is not an easy one.

By Jeffrey Hite

This story was inspired by the September 2011 photo.
 

Find his Website at: Jeffhite.com

[UPDATE] This story is also available as an eBook from Smashwords.

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The box reveals its last artefacts from the past.

by Mick Bordet

Available as a free eBook from Smashwords and Leanpub. The music from each episode is available as a download from Bandcamp.

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How did Del’s family entertain themselves through the blackouts and how does the old flute soothe the soul?

by Mick Bordet

Available as a free eBook from Smashwords and Leanpub. The music from each episode is available as a download from Bandcamp.

The audiobook is now also available from Podiobooks.com!

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Next out of Del’s box of obscurities is an instrument of revenge and a piece of musical legend.

by Mick Bordet

Available as a free eBook from Smashwords and Leanpub. The music from each episode is available as a download from Bandcamp.

Direct Download

Del’s journey of discovery takes her to her mother’s trip through the Andes and her uncle’s rather peculiar agricultural undertaking.

by Mick Bordet

Available as a free eBook from Smashwords and Leanpub. The music from each episode is available as a download from Bandcamp.

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When Del discovers a box full of strange musical instruments in the attic, it reveals more about her family history and holds some secrets to her own past.

by Mick Bordet

You might have noticed that Mick appeared not to have written anything for the last EPT prompt.

Now we can reveal why.

Earlier this year he spent several months creating music with some of the stranger instruments in his collection, blogging about the results and posting the music on Soundcloud. After some final edits and mastering, the music has now become a full album of instrumental gems that stride confidently between rock, classical, jazz, folk and blues.

To make the overall package more interesting, he also created some short stories about each instrument used in the album, but only when the latest EPT prompt appeared did he have the idea that would pull all these tales into one narrative, with the old house providing the perfect location for the whole story. These stories are available in eBook format in the album download (along with a set of photographs by Katharina) as well as being podcast here as a five-part special.

Available as a free eBook from Smashwords.

Listen to the album and download it from Bandcamp.

Direct Download

… downloads. Wow.

Across all our feeds, we’ve managed to get a total of half a million downloads since we started the podcast. This is quite amazing, given that not everyone starts with episode 1 since now we have over 100 episodes in the main feed. Apart from that, we have 5 anthologies on Podiobooks and a lot of eBooks out!

Over three years ago, on Valentine’s Day 2010, we launched the podcast with a photo that was taken in Edinburgh on Frederick Street. This is – quite literally – where it all started, so we saw it fit to be the first photo for our new project.

Some of you might not know the story, so let’s tell it again. Mick and Katharina had already been contributors of writing podcasts like 100 Word Stories and Great Hites whilst at the same time pursuing their own projects. Around that time, a photo exhibition opened in Vienna. The photographer prompted the visitors to write their thoughts of the photos on a piece of paper – the stories behind the photo, or what was going on in it – and throw the paper in a big box which was situated at the exit.

That’s where the idea for the podcast came from. Katharina had always been an avid photographer, so it was easy to get the pictures that would inspire the stories. We decided to open the podcast for submissions, but read all the stories ourselves in order to maintain a consistent level of quality. So far, it has worked well, especially for people who don’t have access to recording equipment, but would like to test the waters of podcasting their fiction.

Every once in a while a hiatus is required, to recharge the creative batteries – it isn’t easy to come up with a new story every month, even when you pick the photos that prompt them. A photo that might look promising could sit on your screen for hours without a single word underneath. But then there are others – like a duck on a plank – that prompt the most varied selection of stories. The credit for this goes entirely to Mick – there might have been a moment where Katharina didn’t know why she should take a plain photo of a duck on a plank. Somewhere between cybernetic robot assassin ducks, gangland posturing and a murder she was proven wrong.

Some photos trigger discussions about the place where they are taken that are longer than the stories submitted. That’s okay, too. In the end, it’s about uniting two different creative outlets – photography and writing – just as much as it’s about throwing two different creative people together – Katharina and Mick.

Last but not least, we want to thank you – the listeners, the readers and of course the contributors – without whom this wouldn’t have been possible.  :)

We are delighted to announce our first eBook collection of stories from EPT, which includes all Mick and Katharina’s stories from the first ten photographs, starting way back in February 2010. All ten photos are also included at the start of each chapter in full colour (if you have an ebook reader capable of colour, of course). It is available in all your favourite formats, so visit your on-line store of choice and download a copy.

Download from:
Smashwords for ePub, MOBI, PDF, and more.
Amazon (USA)
Amazon (United Kingdom)
Amazon (Canada)
Amazon (Germany)
iTunes US Store
iTunes UK Store
Once you have read the book, please consider leaving a review on Amazon, Goodreads, iTunes or anywhere else – that would really help us to spread the word!

Here’s the blurb…