The Old Man Bar Is the Opening Scene Of The Upcoming Novel By Dylan O'Toole, And Is Narrated By Russil

Ladies and gentlemen: as promised, a second chapter reading from David Blanton's online novel, Casual Baby, as narrated by Russil Tamsen.  7 mins. Original text here. 

Behind a hatshop in the Big Easy, there will be a salacious encounter between the protagonist and one hip milliner/burlesque dancer who's curious and ready for some hot tongue action. But the novelist character has been feeling quite wobbly about reality.

[On a personal note: Ah, Louisiana. I managed to get rooked within 24 hrs of arriving in New Orleans the first time I visited.  Also, I'll confess to watching a couple of episodes of True Blood.]

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!

Quirky little flash fiction by Niven aka monkeyerror, as narrated by Russil Tamsen. 5 mins. Original text here.

It's about a bored chick whose day at home is interrupted by a perp on the run, breaking and entering. She nearly fractures his arm using furniture in self defense, but as the two get to know each other he turns out to be as harmless as wet noodles.

Whoa, dude, I think that guy was Spiccoli's brother.

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!

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 Recruit is entertaining radio theater of a flash fiction by Lucy Younghusband, featuring lots of fun British voices by Russil Tamsen. 9 mins. Original text here.

I got to pull out me whole Monty Python toolbox for this one!  The Recruit is poignant. Add in your own mental sound fx and it's 1939 England.  A hapless British husband eager to please his fertile wife is desperate for a job. He finally lands one with an odd German doctor - whose already sketchy sounding experiments turn out to be a ghastly deception. Highly embarrassing and exposing. :)

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 and The Sparrow, a touching short story by Sarah Dame (known around these Tumblr parts as flightedd), as narrated by Russil Tamsen. Original text here.

Welcome to a warm, timeless fable about a debilitated old-timer. He's rejected by his grown children and burdened with regrets, but he is finally able to let it all go in peace. In this case, it's mostly thanks to a helpful little avian friend who is willing to fly just far enough to bring back news about cherished places and lost friendships. These updates put the old man's mind to rest - for the last time.

A simple story, so I felt drawn to using the kind of fireside narration voice one might associate with children's books and bedtime stories. If this doesn't bring a little tear to your eye, you might want to check you pulse to see if you are still alive...

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!

The Future of Poop, comic monologue penned by Peter Bradley, performed by Russil Tamsen. Original here. 6 mins.

This was just too fucking funny for me to pass up! The conceit is simple: earthlings in the future invent time travel technology... and use it as a waste disposal chute. We in the past, specifically our bodies, are the hapless recipients of future waste. (It's probably going to happen, too, right?) There's only one way to solve this problem.

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 riotous short story by Cate Doherty, given the radio theater narration by Russil Tamsen. 8 mins. Original text here.

A couple of biddies of a certain age are chatting or maybe knitting over afternoon tea, sharing the latest gossip. Marian has to relay to her friend Maggie the whopper of a story told to her by a crazy neighbor. About being kidnapped by angry fairies of the field! (And every word true, don't ya know.)

Erin go bragh, and let's have a wee bit o' fun toying with an Irish accent, shall we? Well now. A real challenge for a narrator, this one! And great fun.

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!

Cry It Out Baby, a short story by Ariadne Paige aka mslabyrinth, narration by Russil Tamsen. What a touching piece of magical realism this is. Or you might call it a parable. So beautifully written - not a comma out of place, nor an unnecessary word! Original text here.

A dumped lass slowly repairs her emotional self one step at a time, but her decision to skip the grieving stage has some paranormal consequences. Is she losing her mind - as well as her hands? It’s only through the kindly intercession of a nearby babushka in the girl’s greatest moment of need that the healing tears are finally triggered.

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!

Waves of Loyalty:  the final novel in a trilogy from the prolific pen of Susie Harrison.  The book is available on Amazon, and the complete audiobook (including this chapter) will be released on Audible.  Excerpt narrated by Russil Tamsen, 13 mins. In this chapter, a thirty something army field tech, Jesse, briefly relates his life journey so far. From learning to swim to fishing in the stream behind his house with his high school best pal but archrival for girls’ attentions - especially for the heart of Sandi. Jesse doesn’t get the girl but his flame never goes out either. He marries another gal who soon dies young of cancer. He goes into a tailspin, and is only pulled out by a tech job that flies him to warzones around the world with Black Water consulting...

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 fiction that deserves a great reader? Run it by me!