Drabbletober

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction.

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is episode 24, season 3, for Saturday

the twenty-fourth of October 2026, and I'm Elizabeth Guilt.

Your one-hundred word story for the day is: Former Wine Critics Are The Worst

by Elizabeth Guilt

"The carotid? Overrated. The radial is much more delicate on the palate..."

"Radial? Oh no. Too thin, packs no punch. The femoral's coppery overtones..."

"There are still people...

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction.

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is episode 23, season 3, for Friday

the twenty-third of October 2026, and I'm Elizabeth Guilt.

Your one-hundred word story for the day is: Wolfkin

by Elizabeth Guilt

Before she sets out, Emma looks again at the photo. He's frozen at sixteen: long straggly hair, uneven beard. She's grown up, overtaken him. Now she's not fighting for attention from her beloved older brother, she can see...

The ball sailed across the street, straight through Mrs. Winterbourne's window. The sound of falling glass lasted forever.

"Sam!"

"Shhh."

Sam screwed his face up, hands clapped over his ears.

"Sam! We're so dead."

He grinned. "We're fine."

"We're not!" I pointed at the... unbroken window. "What?"

Sam shrugged.

"Parallel words, innit? I just moved us one world over." He hooked the ball from under a car.

"But..." I looked around. "What about the other us? Where've they gone?"

"...

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction.

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is episode 21, season 3, for Wednesday the twenty-first of October 2026, and I'm Elizabeth Guilt.

Your one-hundred word story for the day is:

Coming Back

by Elizabeth Guilt

My dad was always a joker. So even though he was dying, I didn't believe him. 

The green notebook was full of his slanted writing.

"My name was David Baker," it began. "I j...

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction.

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is episode 20, season 3, for Tuesday the twentieth of October 2026, and I'm Elizabeth Guilt.

Your one-hundred word story for the day is:

Fluorogirl

by Elizabeth Guilt

The crowd roars as she tumbles over their heads and lands lightly on the stage. They scream her name, showering her with violets. She bows low, feels a hot pain in her back, and wakes in the cramped...

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction.

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is episode 19, season 3, for Monday the nineteenth of October 2026, and I'm Elizabeth Guilt.

Your one-hundred word story for the day is:

Arcanophagy

by Elizabeth Guilt

The first sign was my grandfather eating his Bible. We noticed torn pages on Sunday, and by Tuesday it was gone, leather binding and all. Grandfather blinked his pale eyes, and said "but I was hungry". Mother gave...

Wikipedia article about the Clown Statue urban legend: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_babysitter_and_the_man_upstairs#The_Clown_Doll/Statue_version/legend

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction.

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is episode 18, season 3, for Sunday the eighteenth of October 2026, and I'm Elizabeth Guilt.

Your one-hundred word story for the day is:

Clown Statues

by Elizabeth Guilt

...so she texts the kid's parents...

Wikipedia article about the Angels of Mons: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angels_of_Mons

--

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction.

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is episode 17, season 3, for Saturday the seventeenth of October 2026, and I'm Elizabeth Guilt.

Your one-hundred word story for the day is:

Angels. Again.

by Elizabeth Guilt

"You ok?"

"Not really. Weird conversation with my uncle."

"Yeah?"

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction.

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is episode 16, season 3, for Friday the sixteenth of October 2026, and I'm Elizabeth Guilt.

Your one-hundred word story for the day is:

Some People Will Never Be Satisfied

by Elizabeth Guilt

Death swung his scythe. The man looked angry. Not angry with Death, more like he was always angry with everything.

"Who're you?"

The empty eye sockets swirled gently.

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction.

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is episode 15, season 3, for Thursday the fifteenth of October 2026, and I'm Elizabeth Guilt.

Your one-hundred word story for the day is:

Scope

by Elizabeth Guilt

"This feels off."

"That's just a hunch. This is the distillation of fourteen thousand hours of eyewitness testimony, done by state-of-the-art tools..."

"AI tools."

"Accredited tools, using gold-standard cognitive interview techniques."

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction.

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is episode 14, season 3, for Wednesday the fourteenth of October 2026, and I'm Elizabeth Guilt.

Your one-hundred word story for the day is:

When You're Not Looking

by Elizabeth Guilt

Katie sits in the kitchen. Mum will be home in a minute.

The phone rings. She screws up her face, hoping it will stop.

It doesn't.

Maybe it's Mum...

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction.

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is episode 13, season 3, for Tuesday the thirteenth of October 2026, and I'm Elizabeth Guilt.

Your one-hundred word story for the day is:

Domesticity

by Elizabeth Guilt

Honey, could you get oat milk? And some avocados? And maybe... 

Why is there a severed head in the fridge? 

Haha, yes, I know it wouldn't fit if the body was still attached. Buy wh...

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction.

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is episode 12, season 3, for Monday the twelfth of October 2026, and I'm Elizabeth Guilt.

Your one-hundred word story for the day is:

Opportunity

by Elizabeth Guilt

The lady stood, arms on the balustrade, facing out to sea. Garrick couldn't believe his luck.

He strolled, elaborately nonchalant, and dipped into her bag. Quick fingers identified comb, diary, purse...

She moved like a viper...

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction.

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is episode 11, season 3, for Sunday the eleventh of October 2026, and I'm Elizabeth Guilt.

Your one-hundred word story for the day is:

Funny, That

by Elizabeth Guilt

Ben said he wanted to be a fireman. George said he'd be a nurse.

"Don't be stupid, boys aren't nurses!"

"They are!"

Mrs Hayman intervened. "Boys make great nurses. What about you, Hattie?"

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction.

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is episode 10, season 3, for Saturday the tenth of October 2026, and I'm Elizabeth Guilt.

Your one-hundred word story for the day is:

The Voices

by Elizabeth Guilt

You're used to us now, aren't you? Us, the voices in your ears; telling you stories, making you laugh.

Not always nice stories - but you'd rather listen to us tell you about a serial killer than overhear...

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction.

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is episode 9, season 3, for Friday the ninth of October 2026, and I'm Elizabeth Guilt.

Your one-hundred word story for the day is:

Milda Sings Destruction

by Elizabeth Guilt

Milda picks up the bone flute, and plays to the trees. The wind sings with her, high and shrill, and a nearby vixen screams. 

Her father snatches the flute. "No, Milda!"

H...

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction.

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is episode 8, season 3, for Thursday the eighth of October 2026, and I'm Elizabeth Guilt.

Your one-hundred word story for the day is:

Does The Body Rule The Mind?

by Elizabeth Guilt

They couldn't get ethical approval, it was a spare-time project. I volunteered as the subject - it was my girlfriend's research, after all.

It took weeks. 

"Wouldn't take so l...

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction.

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is episode 7, season 3, for Wednesday the seventh of October 2026, and I'm Elizabeth Guilt.

Your one-hundred word story for the day is:

Unknown death god(?)

by Elizabeth Guilt

It started as a joke. 

The history teacher herded us onto a bus to visit a local archaeological dig. Bits of clay pots, unreadable inscriptions on grave markers, corroded twists of metal. The usual. 

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction.

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is episode 6, season 3, for Tuesday the sixth of October 2026, and I'm Elizabeth Guilt.

Your one-hundred word story for the day is:

Between the Lines

by Elizabeth Guilt

Today, I sent you a voicemail. 

It said...

Did you know there's a five thousand kilometre fence across Queensland, just to keep dingoes away from the sheep? It also blocks e...

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction.

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is episode 5, season 3, for Monday the fifth of October 2026, and I'm Elizabeth Guilt.

Your one-hundred word story for the day is:

You've Really Blown It This Time

by Elizabeth Guilt

They're trying to reach something behind the sofa. Their back is turned, their attention elsewhere.

Only for a moment. A moment's enough.

I snatch the thing from their...

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction.

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is episode 4, season 3, for Sunday the fourth of October 2026, and I'm Elizabeth Guilt.

Your one-hundred word story for the day is:

The Plumbers' Merchant at the Intersection of Everywhere

by Elizabeth Guilt

Three Ganymede joints? Certainly, love, is that half-inch or twelve mil? Right you are. Do you want parallel-threaded or tapered? Clockwise or counter?

Freddie! Fetch the lady three counterclock imperial taper Gannys, sharpish.

Here, that'll be...

What...

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction.

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is episode 3, season 3, for Saturday the third of October 2026, and I'm Elizabeth Guilt.

Your one-hundred word story for the day is:

Hedge Witch

by Elizabeth Guilt

She was a vile old bag, a pile of cardigans wrapped around a core of hatred. We heard her muttering in her tiny garden, forever fiddling with herbs and plaiting shapes out of larch twigs and rags.

We should have arrested her. The stories from the war...

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction.

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is episode 2, season 3, for Friday the second of October 2026, and I'm Elizabeth Guilt.

Your one-hundred word story for the day is:

You Aren't There

by Elizabeth Guilt

George fiddles with his dinner, and thinks about the Great War. How soldiers came home on leave, over a century ago, and found their families drunk on stories of glory and bravery. No-one wanted to hear that the fighting was muddy and brutal, horrific and terrifying.

...

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction.

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober Season 3. This is episode 1, for Thursday the first of October 2026, and I'm Elizabeth Guilt.

Your one-hundred word story for the day is:

Refuge

by Elizabeth Guilt

I never liked the snow globe, it always seemed creepy. Tiny figures, trapped in their glass shell.

Some days there were just a few kids playing in the snow. Sometimes a dozen. I tried not to count them.

The snow globe had stood on Nan's mantelpiece...

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction.

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is an occasional bonus episode, for the first of September, 2026, and I'm Elizabeth Guilt.

Your one-hundred word story for the day is: Distraction Tactics

---

"Sculpins? My study. Now!"

Master Board swept past, his gown trailing a wake of angry sparks. Sculpins scuttled in behind him.

Words escaped past the slammed door.

"Disgraceful behaviour... Trusted... Expensive... Phoenix wings indeed..."

When the Master stormed out again, we were all bent...

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction.

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is an occasional bonus episode, for the first of August, 2026, and I'm Elizabeth Guilt.

Your one-hundred word story for the day is: Missing Persons

---

A woman? Down there? You leave her be. Someone dies in the water, there's plenty of creatures there to strip away flesh so the bones tumble to the bottom.

A body drifting? arms trailing, hair swirling? that's bad news. You think the things with teeth weren't hungry today?

...

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction.

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is an occasional bonus episode, for the first of July, 2026, and I'm Elizabeth Guilt.

Your one-hundred word story for the day is: The Rules Are There For A Reason

---

There was a tearing noise and there I was again. Slap-bang in the middle of some little scrote's chalk circle.

It's always teenagers. They find an old book, think it'd be funny...

No-one expects it to work. They're so surprised; they muff the...

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction.

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is an occasional bonus episode, for the first of June, 2026. I'm Elizabeth Guilt.

Your one-hundred word story for the day is: Generational

---

She looked at me, disappointed.

"Don't you want to?"

"Of course I do! But... I need permission."

"From who? You're an adult!"

"The Paterfamilias."

"Ha, the Paterf... wait, you're serious? You still have one?"

My great-great-grandfather wanted his dynasty to last forever...

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction.

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is an occasional bonus episode, for the first of May, 2026. I'm Elizabeth Guilt.

Your one-hundred word story for the day is: Anything From The Canteen Sheet?

---

He lunges when it slides under the door. The first week, still used to shops and restaurant menus, he sneered at the crooked page. He mocked his cellmate's eager interest - and got punched for it.

Now, he's the same. Any break in the grinding tedium is welcome...

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction.

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is an occasional bonus episode, for the first of April, 2026. I'm Elizabeth Guilt.

Your one-hundred word story for the day is: Everywhere

---

There was a bang and, too late, a screech of brakes.

"Shit! A deer, we hit a deer."

"What?"

"A deer! You saw that, right?"

Dave was five or six whiskeys down, his voice rising, panicking.

I'd seen blond hair, plastered by rain against...

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction.

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is an occasional bonus episode, for the first of March, 2026, and I'm Elizabeth Guilt.

Your one-hundred word story for the day is: Not Again

---

Mason wakes up, a familiar pounding in his head. Not again. They'd only had six weeks this time. He looks wearily over the furnishings. 1800s. Probably Britain. He creeps through the house, finds clothes that mean he won't stand out, takes a couple of things to pawn, and heads out to look...

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction.

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is an occasional bonus episode, for the first of February, 2026. I'm Elizabeth Guilt.

Your one-hundred word story for the day is: Someone Needs Looking After

---

"Evelyn! Come in!"

Nan waves her visitor down the corridor, and keeps up her half of the conversation.

"I know! Awful out there... Yeah... That's February for you..."

Nan's delusions are getting worse. But no-one actually comes round now, and these imaginary visits keep her...

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction.

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is an occasional bonus episode, for the first of January, 2026 and I'm Elizabeth Guilt.

Your one-hundred word story for the day is: January You

---

Join the gym. Run every morning. Go vegan. Two yoga classes. Read fifty new novels this year. Drink less. Do dry January! Learn Spanish. Get up early. Journal. Marie Kondo the spare bedroom, the kitchen, the whole house. Maybe try paleo?

Maybe not paleo. Is vegan paleo even possible? Is...

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction.

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is an occasional bonus episode, for the thirtieth of December, 2025, and I'm Elizabeth Guilt.

Your one-hundred word story for the day is: Don't Wake Christmas

---

Christmas lies glutted with turkey and mince pies, asleep behind the sofa. A child shrieks with glee, still delighted with a new toy, and Christmas stirs, muttering half-words of whiskey and late-night cocoa.

A parent begins to gather up the discarded ribbons and wrapping paper, smoothing them out with...

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction.

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is an occasional bonus episode, for the first of December, 2025. I'm Elizabeth Guilt.

Your one-hundred word story for the day is: Last Resort

---

Hayley knows it's there. She's known for years, ever since that stupid night when they drank too much vodka, lit loads of candles and slurred Latin incantations. She felt it crawl into her.

Anthony insisted the salt circle would keep them safe - perhaps it did. They woke up, after all.<...

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction.

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is episode 31, season 2, for Friday the thirty-first of October 2025. I'm Elizabeth Guilt.

Your one-hundred word story for the day is:

The Singing of Drowned Sailors

by Elizabeth Guilt

---

Me dad always told the stories. Strange calms in dark storms, and the hush that fell during the wildest winds. 

"You keep yer head down, lad, a...

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction.

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is episode 30, season 2, for Thursday the thirtieth of October 2025. I'm Elizabeth Guilt.

Your one-hundred word story for the day is:

Peace and Love. Mostly.

by Elizabeth Guilt

---

Ancient? Haha, no, not at all! Built in the 60s. Yes, it is pretty convincing. Oh, just a vanity project - a local man  got really into ley lines a...

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction.

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is episode 29, season 2, for Wednesday the twenty-ninth of October 2025. I'm Elizabeth Guilt.

Your one-hundred word story for the day is:

It Was Meant To Be a Joke

by Elizabeth Guilt

---

Typical slow Thursday, and a short man slunk up to the counter. 

"I'm here about the poster."

Great. Steven's latest hobby is designing ornate prank - o...

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction.

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is episode 28, season 2, for Tuesday the twenty-eighth of October 2025. I'm Elizabeth Guilt.

Your one-hundred word story for the day is:

We'll Have None Of That Here

by Elizabeth Guilt

---

I opened the vacpack of mineral oil, and thumbed a smear across the floor.

"Lady."

Conversation stopped. My new teammates burst out laughing. 

This is Drabbletober, the podcast of tiny fiction.

Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is episode 27, season 2, for Monday the twenty-seventh of October 2025. I'm Elizabeth Guilt.

Your one-hundred word story for the day is:

All Medical Staff Should Be Briefed In Local Legends

by Elizabeth Guilt

---

Helen had her coat on when the junior tapped on her door.

"Doctor? Sorry. The little girl... Her broken legs... They're..."