A Small, Good Thing

About A Small, Good Thing

"A Small, Good Thing" is a podcast about short fiction. In every episode, I get to discuss the short story form with writers, academics, publishers, and anyone who shares a passion for short stories.

Publisher

A Small, Good Thing

Category

arts

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

29 Apr 2025

Latest episode

15 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

29 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   15 Oct 2026

   The Welsh Short Story (with Rhiannon Marks)

   Wales has an ancient tradition of storytelling. Listen to Rhiannon Marks discuss the Welsh short story, from the oldest tales of the British Isles to Wales’s contemporary short story writers. Rhiannon Marks is Senior Lecturer at the School of Welsh at the University of Cardiff where she specialises in 20th-21st century Welsh literature, creative literary criticism and literary theory. Works cited Mihangel Morgan Te Gyda’r Frenhines (Gomer, 1994) Menna Elfyn Parch (Bloodaxe Books, 2025) Rhiannon Marks, Y dychymyg ôl-fodern: agweddau ar ffuglen fer Mihangel Morgan. (Caerdydd: University of Wales Press, 2020) The Mabinogion, trans. by Sioned Davies (Oxford University Press, 2008) Manon Steffan Ros (ed.), Dadeni (Sebra 2026) Alun Richards (ed), The Penguin Book of Welsh Short Stories (Penguin, 1976) Kate Roberts, The World of Kate Roberts: Selected Stories, 1925-1981, trans. by Joseph P. Clancy (Temple University Press, 1991) Kate Roberts, ‘The Quilt’, in The World of Kate Roberts: Selected Stories, 1925-1981, pp. 76-80 Rhiannon Marks, Crefft y Stori Fer Heddiw [The Art of the Short Story Today]. Caerdydd: Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol (2019) Rachel Trezise, Fresh Apples (Parthian Books, 2006) Thomas Morris, We Don’t Know What We’re Doing (Faber and Faber, 2015) Caryl Lewis, Bitter Honey (Penguin, 2025) Fflur Dafydd, House of Water (Hodder & Stoughton, 2025) Nici Beech (ed), A New Welsh Tapestry: Six Short Stories by Contemporary Welsh Women Writers (Sampark Publications, 2026) Tu Chwith Magazine < https://archives.library.wales/index.php/tu-chwith > Y Stamp Magazine – see < https://www.ystamp.cymru > Meic Stephens, A White Afternoon: New Welsh Short Fiction (Parthian Books, 1999) Kristi Bohata et al. (eds), Queer Square Mile: Queer short stories from Wales (Parthian Books, 2022) Podcast intro and outro credits: Shield, Leroy, Taylor Holmes, and Robert W Service. The shooting of Dan McGrew. 1923. Audio. Retrieved from the Library of Congress.

2. 

   24 Sept 2026

   A Career in Short Story Writing (with Elizabeth Baines)

   In this episode I get to chat with Elizabeth Baines about her career as a writer, from the first short story she ever published to her upcoming projects, passing through the times when she worked as a writer of radio plays and the co-editor of the short story magazine Metropolitan. Works cited: Elizabeth Baines, Five Different Stories about One Thing (Confingo, 2026). Elizabeth Baines, The Mountain and Other Stories, a speculative novella and stories (GoldSF, Forthcoming). Lucy Caldwell, Intimacies (Faber and Faber, 2021). Podcast intro and outro credits: Shield, Leroy, Taylor Holmes, and Robert W Service. The shooting of Dan McGrew. 1923. Audio. Retrieved from the Library of Congress.

3. 

   3 Sept 2026

   Writing Short Fiction in the Digital Age (with Vicky Grut)

   Vicky Grut is a short story writer and an essayist. In this episode, Vicky discusses what it means to be a short story writer in the heyday of the digital revolution, and at a time of hyper-connectivity. Listen as she reflects on how much of the contemporary world can be integrated into fiction without risking obsolescence in just a few years. Works cited: Vicky Grut, 'My Own True Name', in Best British Short Stories 2026, ed. by Nicholas Royle (Salt, 2026). Vicky Grut, Live Show, Drink Included: Collected Stories (Holland Park Press, 2018). Vicky Grut, 'The Eid Dinner', Manchester Review, no. 29 (2026). Annie Ernaux, The Years (Fitzcarraldo Editions, 2022). Isle McElory, ‘Writing Social Media Into Fiction’. Catapult (26 April, 2022), https://magazine.catapult.co/dont-write-alone/stories/writing-social-media-into-fiction-craft-essay-isle-mcelroy (https://magazine.catapult.co/dont-write-alone/stories/writing-social-media-into-fiction-craft-essay-isle-mcelroy) David Foster Wallace, ‘E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction’, in A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again (Little, Brown, 1997), pp. 21-82. Liadan Ní Chuinn, Everyone Still Here (The Stinging Fly, 2025). Organisations mentioned: European Network for Short Fiction Research (ENSFR), https://ensfr.univ-angers.fr/ (https://ensfr.univ-angers.fr/) CityLit, https://www.citylit.ac.uk/ (https://www.citylit.ac.uk/) Podcast intro and outro credits: Shield, Leroy, Taylor Holmes, and Robert W Service. The shooting of Dan McGrew. 1923. Audio. Retrieved from the Library of Congress.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

5 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 16 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

32

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

0

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Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.