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

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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…

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

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

XXX

Sara-Mae

Download and listen now

Producer Sara-Mae on Bibi does Soho show

We’re delighted that Sara-Mae is getting a chance to natter with queen of the airwaves Bibi Lynch on her marvellous Soho Radio show.

We’ll be chatting about season 1: The Sugar Baby Confessionals, plus developments with season 2, so look out for that.

Also on will be BBC Radio presenter Jo Good talking about her new podcast Dogs and The City, and comedian Phil Nichol will be discussing his Your Wrong tour.

Also… be sure to prime yourself by listening to the hilarious episode of Bibi’s Metro podcast Good Sex Bad Sex with ex-sex worker and comedian Miranda Kane. It features sugar baby heroine Ruby indulging in a titillating (or tintillating? You’ll have to listen to the podcast to get that in-joke) tête-à-tête –

Transcripts coming soon!

We’re working on making transcripts available for all the episodes, but, with each one being roughly an hour long, this is a process.

We really want to put the extra work into the scripts so we can evoke the feeling of the podcast for those who can’t hear the music or the finer nuances you get from being able to hear the actual voices.

In the meantime, you can go to our YouTube channel and turn on the subtitles for a sense of what we discuss.

Lots of love,

Sara-Mae

Episode 15 – The cookie crumbles

“He doesn’t love me, he doesn’t want me, he doesn’t need me?”

Two and a half years after starting our conversations, and one year since we last recorded, Ruby takes stock of the effect of the sugar baby experience on her life. There are tears and laughter in this final episode, as we hear Ruby bare ALL.
This climactic finale has Ruby breaking down, as she reveals the difficult choices she made in the name of love?have she and FP broken up? Is The Brit still a fixture in her life?

Find out in the final episode of The Sugar Baby Confessionals.

Music in this episode:

Laish –https://laishmusic.com

Kristen McClement – https://kristinmcclement.bandcamp.com

Mock Deer (Ricky Damiani) ? From his ep ‘How We Used To Live’ https://mockdeer.bandcamp.com

Laura Frances ? ‘Safe from me’ https://laurafrances.bandcamp.com/releasesor https://soundcloud.com/laura_frances(Fun fact: Sara-Mae duets on this demo track)

Scarlet Starlings – https://scarletstarlings.com? look out for their new album in 2019

 

Get in touch:

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Email us: fablegazers@gmail.com

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Check out this episode!