Second video featuring Helen as Georgette herself!

As mentioned before, we made three videos for our last campaign featuring the delightful Helen Davidge, who will also be playing a young Georgette in season 2: Heyer Today.

This was the second one and we still think she’s utterly charming in it. Ignore the mention of our season 1, as that’s complete – all our funds are going towards editing, producing and putting together our epic podcast all about Georgette Heyer.

We only need £145 to reach the halfway mark of our target, so really, any amount helps.

There are only 6 days left to donate…so do it now!

We hope you enjoy it!

xx

Sara-Mae

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Season 2: Heyer Today sneak preview

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Help us raise the money to complete Fable Gazers season 2, which takes a deep dive into the life and work of Georgette Heyer, plus a book club, a cinematic investigation and amazing guests like Stephen Fry, Joanne Harris, Mary Jo Putney and more. 

Support us now! Go to our crowdfunding page here: https://igg.me/at/heyertodaypodcast/x/13375442#/

Music provided, with kind permission from Jerome Alexander of Message to Bears, Emma Gattrill and original theme tune composed by Sara-Mae Tuson and Tom Chadd.

Featured guests include:

Stephen Fry, biographer Jennifer Kloester, best-selling author Joanne Harris, film producer Andy Paterson, literary agent for Heyer’s estate, Peter Buckman. Also Geraldine Elliot, Jaclyn Greenstock, Aidan Truss, Jane Keehn and her book club.

Check out this episode!

Come & hear our short audio piece live at East Cast Away!

Come and hear our marvellous little audio piece ‘A Blind Bit of Difference’.

Travel writer and broadcaster Rob Crossan is going blind, so he takes a mental tour around London. Rich with the sounds of the city he loves, and full of his elegiac language, he savours the things he’ll miss when his sight deteriorates fully. With music composed by visually impaired artist, James Risden.

We’re exploring the idea of doing a longer podcast season around disability and navigating urban spaces, but in the meantime listen to this extract, which features Rob reading an article he wrote for the Evening Standard: ‘Burgers and bus brakes: that’s when I know I’m home’. Read it here.

Where: Dalston Eastern Curve Garden

When: 18/07/2019

Time: 7pm

 

 

 

Support our 2019 crowdfunder for season 2: Heyer Today

 

We’re so excited to be launching our Indiegogo campaign to help us complete our epic second season: Heyer Today.

This is another labour of love for senior producer, Sara-Mae Tuson, who has long been a mega fan of the author who’s life we’re exploring.

“Initially, I was looking for other podcasts about Regency romance queen Georgette Heyer – because I love her books. But I couldn’t find anything, which astounded me. That was three years ago now, and since then I’ve interviewed over 39 people, compiling hours of audio.”

How are you going to make all that into something people will want to listen to?

“It’s a massive challenge [laughs] – I hope I’m up to it. It’s really important to me, because I’ve had so many people be so generous with their time and expertise. Stephen Fry, for example. He was only meant to talk to me for 15 minutes, instead of which, he chatted for an hour on diverse aspects of Heyer’s life and books. Peter Buckman the agent for her estate – he’s been incredibly kind too, and I’m so excited about the work he’s doing in adapting one of her books. And there are loads more wonderful people: Joanne Harris, Mary Jo Putney, Heyer’s biographer Jennifer Kloester, Susannah Fullerton and many more.”

So tell us about the campaign, what do you need the money for?

“I wish we didn’t need to ask for money, but alas, when you’re keen to offer a 24 episode season with original music, audio drama and a book club(!) for free, it means you have to depend on the generosity and support of your listeners and friends to help complete it. I have really high standards in terms of how good I want the podcast to sound, so the money raised will give me, and my friends who help me out, the time to edit, produce and finesse the podcast into something I think is really unique. I genuinely don’t think there’s anything else like this.”

What will donors get for their donations?

“We have a lovely selection of ‘perks’ – from first listens to the Stephen Fry episode, to bonus material from The Sugar Baby Confessionals, How to Start An Award Winning Podcast consultancy sessions with me to getting your name read in the credits. But really, the best thing is knowing you’re a part of the Fable Gazers team, helping our indie company to make beautiful, free ear-scapes.”

Want to help support Fable Gazers and be a part of our journey?

Donate now! 

And don’t forget to share with your friends. 😉

Subscribe to our mailing list for the latest news and updates (we never spam!)

Join our book club and start reading the books on our list now.

Lots of love,

The Fable Gazers posse

We won bronze at the British Podcast Awards!

Saturday, 18 May, was the British Podcast Awards, a fabulous gathering of some of the best talent in the UK podcasting world.

We were honoured to be there as nominees in the ‘Sex & Relationships’ category, along with Unexpected Fluids, #QueerAF, Project Pleasure (gold), Qmmunity (silver) and The Receipts Podcast.

Just being there really was a pleasure as it was a fab excuse to see some of our heroines/heroes and embarrass ourselves in front of Michael Sheen.

George The Poet swept the boards winning in 6 categories for his pod, Have You Heard George’s Podcast? but other amazing pods like Dear Joan & Jericho and My Dad Wrote A Porno (stay tuned for their new HBO special!) were also honoured.

We had a nail-biting time of it, waiting for our category, but it was amazing to be in the top 3 and take home the bronze.

Best of all, some of our best pod buds were there to support us, including Susan Stone from Dead Ladies podcast, Casual Birder queen, Suzy Buttress, Sarah Golding (audio drama voice actress extraordinaire), Fiona Thraille (voice actor, writer, producer and all around awesome lady) and Laun Ruttenberg.

Here are some pics of this immensely satisfying evening…

Laun Ruttenberg, Susan Stone, Sara-Mae Tuson and Suzy Buttress

Wall of awesome

Alix Fox and Sara-Mae Tuson

Lottie and Ben from Excuse The Mess (also won bronze!), Helen from Flixwatcher and Sara-Mae

My Dad Wrote A Porno trio: James Cooper, Alice Levine, Jamie Morton and Michael Sheen

Kobi Omenaka of Flixwatcher and The Wire Stripped and Sara-Mae take a knee

Our first audio drama accepted into prestigious Leipziger Hörspielsommer fest

 

Writer and senior producer, Sara-Mae, submitted our entry at the last minute.

“I thought, what the hell, it’s free,” she laughs. Originally a short story published in The Norwegian American (which is where this glorious illustration comes from), the audio fiction version has won through to the Leipziger Hörspielsommer audio drama fest in July.

The story is a black comic exploration of one woman’s psychosis…unless, that is, she’s the victim of gaslighting on a terrifying scale. Britt sees body parts everywhere in her house. She’s come to ignore it, but it’s really annoying when there’s no freezer space because of all the severed limbs. The question is, is she nuts, or is her husband an actual serial killer?

Finding voice actors to play the roles was a challenge at the last minute.

“I was just going to do all the lady parts myself, with my much put upon hubby Mike playing the terrifying/misunderstood ‘villain’ of the piece, Ando. Needless to say, he did a fantastic job…a little bit too good, actually…he managed to creep me out!”

One of the joys of the process was getting in touch with the immensely supportive audio drama community online.

“Suzy Buttress, the powerhouse behind the fab Casual Birder Podcast, suggested I try asking if anyone fancied doing the voices for some of the characters. Fiona Thraille (podcaster and writer extraordinaire) put up a notice for me on the FB page. Soon, I had two mega gifted voice actors Karin Heimdahl and Sarah Golding (of Madiva Podcast and about a million others). Karin’s reading of the vulnerable main character instantly appealed to me, and she managed to convey the confusion and repressed fear/anxiety of the character brilliantly.

“Sarah and I are, I feel, at the start of an audio drama odyssey – her audition was just SO great. She gave me about 4 different possible accents, added her own hilarious banter in between, and generally brought the (rather scary) therapist, Mrs Knutson, to life. I’m hoping to write something especially for her some time soon.”

You can hear ‘Finger in the Pie at the Leipziger Hörspielsommer audio drama fest on 13 July, 9pm, and the winning story will be announced on the evening of the 14 July.

Fingers (and pies) crossed we win!

 

The Sugar Baby Confessionals is nominated for the 2019 British Podcast Awards!

Whaaaaa….??

You mean to say The Sugar Baby Confessionals, season 1, our very first foray into the world we love, has been nominated in the ‘Best Sex & Relationships‘ category?

Yes. Yes indeed.

And take a look at the PHENOMENAL company we’re in:

*Gravestone reads: ‘DIED CONTENT’*

But, if you’d like to vote for us to win the Listener’s Choice Award (after all, come on, look at who we’re up against, some of these people are our podcasting IDOLS) then do give us a cheeky show of support by supporting us.

And if you haven’t had a chance to write a lovely review on iTunes or wherever you get your podcast, please do, it really helps make us seem popular people find us.

Fingers crossed!

 

Check out this episode!

TSBC nominated for British Podcast Awards!

Whaaaaa….??

You mean to say The Sugar Baby Confessionals, season 1, our very first foray into the world we love, has been nominated in the ‘Best Sex & Relationships‘ category?

Yes. Yes indeed.

And take a look at the PHENOMENAL company we’re in:

I meeeeaaaannn….

*Gravestone reads: ‘DIED CONTENT’*

But, if you’d like to vote for us to win the Listener’s Choice Award (after all, come on, look at who we’re up against, some of these people are our podcasting IDOLS) then do give us a cheeky show of support by supporting us.

And if you haven’t had a chance to write a lovely review on iTunes or wherever you get your podcast, please do, it really helps make us seem popular people find us.

Fingers crossed!

March shenanigans…

It’s been a busy month all in all, as we crack on frantically with season 2, trying to put it together before December.

We’re also gearing up for some kind of fundraising event, possibly another Indiegogo.

But in the meantime we’ve been…
Counting our downloads:

Yaasss kweens! (And kings!)

It’s so lovely to know that people are still downloading our serial story. Please continue to help us grow by reviewing and recommending it to all your favourite people (and the gloomy ones too…it’ll cheer them up!)

With that in mind, why not help a podster out by grabbing a deal on our sexy, sexy merch? For the next 16 hours TeePublic is having a 35% off sale, so you’ll be able to grab your tees and totes for an amazeballs price. 

 

Events we’ve been knocking around at…

Flixwatcher had a little celebration to mark their 100th episode. it’s SUCH a fab podcast, combining a love of films with introducing the listener to new podcasts. We’ve been on two episodes (56, 66) and had a blast.

It was great to get a chance to celebrate with them.

 

Then there was the Podcast Support Group on Thursday 22. This is the event where podcasters meet to moan about recording mishaps, network and generally let their (collective) hair down.

Sara-Mae’s been working with the delightful Sarah Golding (audio vocal actor extraordinaire) but the two had yet to meet in the flesh. This state of affairs has been rectified…

So that’s what we’ve been up to. Watch this space, and don’t forget to

RATE

REVIEW &

RECOMMEND

   The Sugar Baby Confessionals

We love you!

x

 

Rubys are red, violets are blue…

And if you listen to The Sugar Baby Confessionals, you’ll be filled with ecstasy too!

Welp.

Looks like Hallmark won’t lose any sleep over our Valentine’s Day rhymes. 😉

It’s not been so very many months since we released our first episode of season 1, and the response has been utterly amazing.

We’ve had so much great feedback from so many quarters, that, with more than 22K downloads, we’re feeling very loved up indeed.

According to journalists and BBC broadcasters Bibi Lynch, Alix Fox and Rob Crossan, The Sugar Baby Confessionals is: “beguiling and off-kilter”, “thought-provoking”, “charming, funny and candid”. Sara DaSilva of Audible Feast said: “I am highly addicted to this show right now… I just love it.”

And writer Antonia Reed says: “The Confessionals quickly becomes a deep exploration of sexuality, psychology, romance and loyalty, and of the many things that complicate these aspects of life…Absolutely vital listening.”

We have a deep, burning passion for our listeners, especially those who leave reviews and pass on word about how much fun TSBC is.

It’s something a lot of small, indie podcasters bang on about, and the reason is, most of us aren’t earning a lot of money from making lovely, free podcasts. The hours of work we put in, most of the time, are done because we’re obsessed with crafting incredible audio.

FOR YOU, OUR HONOURED FRIENDS.

Good reviews are one of the few ways for us to raise awareness of our work and reach more people.

So go on, recommend us to a loved one this Valentine’s Day…and guarantee them 15 hours of hilarity, poignant sweetness with a healthy dose of sauce.

Hear are some more lovely reviews to inspire you into even greater flights of fancy…

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So join us in a bit of self love, HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY all you sexy people!

XXX

Sara-Mae

Download and listen now