This Is A Panoramic Shot Of Most Of Dear Aunt Gertrude, My Comedy Improv Troupe. I'm Sporting The Orange

9. The Poet and The Thief, Part One. 

An intriguing short story written last year by Jen von Mountebank aka jayarrarr, one of our renowned editors here on Tumblr, and narrated by Russil Tamsen. Original text here.

The four characters include a grungy thief who talks in an odd pirate-ish patois, an upset and pompous poet, and Woody Allen as The Narrator, who says he made the other two up. Now they're all sitting in the same radio theater jail cell. It's a philosophical dissection about whether it's even possible for a writer to avoid borrowing/stealing. (The language is a tad complex, so listen closely!)

Part Two here.

All rights reserved. Russil Tamsen: narrator, comic improv actor, book editor, and author of 21 ebooks. Please visit my ebookstore at QuirkEbooks.com and follow audiobooknarrator. Know a piece of Tumblr fiction that deserves a great reader? Run it by me!

The Old Man Bar is the opening scene of the upcoming novel by Dylan O'Toole, and is narrated by Russil Tamsen. Original here. 4 mins.

A young out-of-town writer hits a dive bar, angling for some inspiration. He meets a grouchy old dude - and what a vivid character he is, the old geezer! Coincidence promptly entangles them both in a web of misunderstandings and threatening behavior.

I think most of us have met him along the way at some point.

All rights reserved. Russil Tamsen: narrator, comic improv actor, book editor, and author of 21 ebooks. Please visit my ebookstore at QuirkEbooks.com and follow audiobooknarrator. Know a piece of Tumblr fiction that deserves a great reader? Run it by me!

Gratuitous Photo of My Silliness

At The Whisky Girl, a flash fiction by Scott Syx aka cheshirecatgrins, read by Russil Tamsen. 4:21 mins. Original text here. 

An unlikely romantic encounter between a pair of drinkers starts at a noisy night club. The two grapple cautiously on the perilous road to intimacy - their respective emotional baggages casting long shadows along the way...

This piece said noir to me (although updated). So I said noir back! 

All rights reserved. Russil Tamsen: narrator, comic improv actor, book editor, and author of 21 ebooks. Please visit my ebookstore at QuirkEbooks.com and follow audiobooknarrator. Know a piece of Tumblr fiction that deserves a great reader? Run it by me!

A Public Resource is a short story-monologue written by Erika (processproduct), narrated by Russil Tamsen. 11 mins. Original text here.

Erika asked me to read this darkly humorous piece of hers (which was featured on Tumblr awhile ago) about a naive webcam girl who remains flippant even as she is literally starving. The  stranded gal entertains herself without food in her city basement during the chaotic aftermath of a blizzard. Love ya, Erika!  

All rights reserved. Russil Tamsen: narrator, comic improv actor, book editor, and author of 21 ebooks. Please visit my ebookstore at QuirkEbooks.com and follow audiobooknarrator. Know a piece of Tumblr fiction that deserves a great reader? Run it by me!

10. The Thief and the Poet, part 2.

Short story written by Jen Mountebank, narrated by Russil Tamsen. Original text here.

Here's the conclusion to the saga of a strange trio who find themselves in the same prison cell: one 'uninhibited' nutjob of a thief, a distressed poet who likes to pontificate, and a stammering Manhattan Jew of a narrator. They will wrestle with the inability of writers to keep an audience's interest without in some way plagiarizing. Part 2 is 7 mins. 

This short story was pretty intellectually funny, and dark too. A warning for all youse authors like me who find youse selves straddling both high brow and low brow worlds! 

Part One here.

All rights reserved. Russil Tamsen: narrator, comic improv actor, book editor, and author of 21 ebooks. Please visit my ebookstore at QuirkEbooks.com and follow audiobooknarrator. Know a piece of Tumblr fiction that deserves a great reader? Run it by me!

Your Cheatin' Heart, a dark flash fiction by Nick Desjardins aka a-new-american-classic, as narrated by Russil Tamsen. Only 4 mins. Perfect for all you Quentin Tarantino fans! Original text here. On a slow night, some morbid humor unfolds in a southern pool hall: the bartender's hot mess of a lesbian roommate stumbles in and casually spills some shocking news...

All rights reserved. Russil Tamsen: narrator, comic improv actor, book editor, and author of 21 ebooks. Please visit my ebookstore at QuirkEbooks.com and follow audiobooknarrator. Know a piece of Tumblr fiction that deserves a great reader? Run it by me!

The rough and tumble erotic story of disturbia by Molly Cupcakes, They'd Fucked Five Times So Far. Russil Tamsen's second audio version of the piece. 3 mins. Written text here.

It's fascinating how different acting choices by a speaker can create vastly different results. This was the first time I'd ventured two very different versions of a story, and it was enlightening. Feedback from one listener of the first version got me imagining how this flash fiction story would sound delivered in a normal narrator's voice. Using a resonant, understated approach, one that let the language do all the legwork: a very different choice from overstated version one.

To me it sounds really good this way. It might possibly be the better choice!

All rights reserved. Russil Tamsen: narrator, comic improv actor, book editor, and author of 21 ebooks. Please visit my ebookstore at QuirkEbooks.com and follow audiobooknarrator. Know a piece of Tumblr fiction that deserves a great reader? Run it by me!

Autumn Wing, a monologue by Blank's Page, performed by Russil Tamsen. 5 mins. Written version here.

A wistful piece from the windowless halls of an insane asylum, with its routines of meds and scheduling... and one redemptive walk per day past a mystery lady in the courtyard.

All rights reserved. Russil Tamsen: narrator, comic improv actor, book editor, and author of 21 ebooks. Please visit my ebookstore at QuirkEbooks.com and follow audiobooknarrator. Know a piece of Tumblr fiction that deserves a great reader? Run it by me!

A charming flash fiction from certainwaters; all the various voices performed by Russil Tamsen. Original text here.

It sounds like a medieval Persian fairy tale with a bit of Doctor Who stirred in (minus the time travel). The gal at the center of it all is like Merida from Pixar's Brave, except she escapes not into the forest but into a bizarre solitary sickness... 

All rights reserved. Russil Tamsen: narrator, comic improv actor, book editor, and author of 21 ebooks. Please visit my ebookstore at QuirkEbooks.com and follow audiobooknarrator. Know a piece of Tumblr fiction that deserves a great reader? Run it by me!