Writing Worlds: Conversations About World Building

Alternative Stories
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Join award-winning audio drama makers Chris Gregory and Emily Inkpen for fortnightly conversations about world building with some of the best writers around, and find out how their worlds come to life.

  1. 11/19/2025

    Season One Review with Emily Inkpen and Chris Gregory

    Thank you for joining us for this review of season one of Writing Worlds with hosts Emily Inkpen and Chris Gregory. To hear our bonus content please join us on Patreon here ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/AltStories⁠⁠ You can purchase a copy of Emily Inkpen's book "The Dex Legacy: Season Two Scripts and Commentary" by searching for Emily Inkpen in your local Amazon store. Writing Worlds is created and presented by Emily Inkpen and Chris Gregory of the audio production company Alternative Stories. Find out more about Emily and her work by visiting her website here ⁠https://www.emilyinkpen.com/⁠ Listen to The Dex Legacy and Wasteland, Emily’s award-winning audio drama series here ⁠https://www.emilyinkpen.com/thedexlegacy-home/⁠ And follow Emily on Instagram ⁠https://www.instagram.com/emilyinkpen/⁠ And Bluesky ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/emilyinkpen.bsky.social⁠ Find out more about Chris Gregory and Alternative Stories here ⁠https://linktr.ee/AlternativeStories⁠ Follow them on Instagram here ⁠https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/⁠ And Bluesky here ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/storiesalt.bsky.social⁠ If you would like to get in touch with the show to recommend a guest for a future episode or to book a Writing Worlds live show for your convention or literary event please contact us via ⁠office@alternativestories.com⁠  Writing Worlds is free to listen to but not free to make.  If you would like to support the show you can join our Patreon to get ad-free and early release episodes of this and all our other shows.  We will also be releasing a series of Writing Worlds mini and bonus episodes featuring many of the guests you have heard in this series and our hosts Emily and Chris exclusively for our Patreon backers.     Click the link below to find out more. ⁠https://www.patreon.com/AltStories⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    1h 8m

  2. 10/15/2025

    Chris Beckett: Climate Crises

    Thank you for listening to the Writing Worlds Podcast with Emily Inkpen and Chris Gregory.  In this episode we feature Arthur C. Clarke Award winning novelist, Chris Beckett. The author of 9 critically acclaimed novels and a number of short stories which have featured in publications such as Interzone and Asimov's Science Fiction, Chris has also written an audio drama adaptation of his novel "Two Tribes" which was produced by Chris Gregory of Alternative Stories Find out more about Chris and his work by visiting his website here https://www.chris-beckett.com/ Listen to Chris's audio drama adaptation of 'Two Tribes' here https://www.patreon.com/posts/two-tribes-133816023 You'll be able to hear more from this conversation with Chris Beckett by joining our Patreon at the Gold Tier or above where we have exclusive bonus content from many of our Writing Worlds episodes coming up for our patrons. Click the link to find out more. ⁠https://www.patreon.com/AltStories⁠ You can purchase a copy of Emily Inkpen's book "The Dex Legacy: Season Two Scripts and Commentary" by searching for Emily Inkpen in your local Amazon store Writing Worlds is created and presented by Emily Inkpen and Chris Gregory of the audio production company Alternative Stories  Find out more about Emily and her work by visiting her website here ⁠https://www.emilyinkpen.com/⁠ Listen to The Dex Legacy and Wasteland, Emily’s award-winning audio drama series here ⁠https://www.emilyinkpen.com/thedexlegacy-home/⁠ And follow Emily on Instagram ⁠https://www.instagram.com/emilyinkpen/⁠ And Bluesky ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/emilyinkpen.bsky.social⁠ Find out more about Chris Gregory and Alternative Stories here ⁠https://linktr.ee/AlternativeStories⁠ Follow them on Instagram here ⁠https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/⁠ And Bluesky here ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/storiesalt.bsky.social⁠ If you would like to get in touch with the show to recommend a guest for a future episode or to book a Writing Worlds live show for your convention or literary event please contact us via ⁠office@alternativestories.com⁠  Writing Worlds is free to listen to but not free to make.  If you would like to support the show you can join our Patreon to get ad-free and early release episodes of this and all our other shows.  We will also be releasing a series of Writing Worlds mini and bonus episodes featuring many of the guests you have heard in this series and our hosts Emily and Chris exclusively for our Patreon backers.     Click the link below to find out more. ⁠https://www.patreon.com/AltStories⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    1h 3m

  3. 10/01/2025

    Adrian M Gibson: Fungi

    Thank you for listening to the Writing Worlds Podcast with Emily Inkpen and Chris Gregory.  In this episode we feature author illustrator and podcaster Adrian M Gibson. Adrian's novel "Mushroom Blues' explores a world in the wake of a devastating war in which the fungal inhabitants of the island nation of Hoppon and its capital city of Neo Kinoko are in dire straits, wracked by food shortages, poverty, and an influx of war refugees. Find out more about Adrian and his work + order a copy of "Mushroom Blues" by visiting his website here https://adrianmgibson.com/ You can follow Adrian on Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/adrianmgibson/ Watch Adrian and colleagues on the FanFi Addict YouTube channel here https://www.youtube.com/c/FanFiAddict In this episode we discuss a number of books about fungi and mycelium including "Entangled Life' by Merlin Sheldrake, "Mycelium Running" by Paul Stamets and "Food of the Gods" by Terence McKenna. You should be able to buy copies of all of them by searching for a local supplier. You'll be able to hear more from this conversation with Adrian M Gibson by joining our Patreon at the Gold Tier or above. We have exclusive bonus content from many of our Writing Worlds episodes coming up for our patrons. Click the link to find out more. ⁠https://www.patreon.com/AltStories⁠ You can purchase a copy of Emily Inkpen's book "The Dex Legacy: Season Two Scripts and Commentary" by searching for Emily Inkpen in your local Amazon store. Writing Worlds is created and presented by Emily Inkpen and Chris Gregory of the audio production company Alternative Stories  Find out more about Emily and her work by visiting her website here ⁠https://www.emilyinkpen.com/⁠ Listen to The Dex Legacy and Wasteland, Emily’s award-winning audio drama series here ⁠https://www.emilyinkpen.com/thedexlegacy-home/⁠ And follow Emily on Instagram ⁠https://www.instagram.com/emilyinkpen/⁠ And Bluesky ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/emilyinkpen.bsky.social⁠ Find out more about Chris Gregory and Alternative Stories here ⁠https://linktr.ee/AlternativeStories⁠ Follow them on Instagram here ⁠https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/⁠ And Bluesky here ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/storiesalt.bsky.social⁠ If you would like to get in touch with the show to recommend a guest for a future episode or to book a Writing Worlds live show for your convention or literary event please contact us via ⁠office@alternativestories.com⁠  Writing Worlds is free to listen to but not free to make.  If you would like to support the show you can join our Patreon to get ad-free and early release episodes of this and all our other shows.  We will also be releasing a series of Writing Worlds mini and bonus episodes featuring many of the guests you have heard in this series and our hosts Emily and Chris exclusively for our Patreon backers.     Click the link below to find out more. ⁠https://www.patreon.com/AltStories⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    1h 1m

  4. 09/17/2025

    Tim Hardie and RJ Bayley: Voicing Vikings

    Thank you for listening to the Writing Worlds Podcast with Emily Inkpen and Chris Gregory.  In this episode we feature author Tim Hardie and voice actor and audio book reader RJ Bayley.  Tim and RJ talk about the creation of the audio book version of Tim’s novel Hall of Bones and we discuss the reasons why an author might consider producing an audio book and the economics and practicalities of doing so.  RJ provides insight into the ways in which a voice actor can help to bring worlds to life through voices and intonation. We’ll be sharing more from this conversation including an insight into running a kickstarter to fund an audio book project on our Patreon. Join to have all episodes of Writing Worlds delivered two days early and ad-free.  We have exclusive bonus content from most of our Writing Worlds episodes coming up for our patrons. Click the link to find out more. ⁠https://www.patreon.com/AltStories⁠ To find out more about Tim Hardie and his work and to order copies of his books  please visit his website here  https://www.timhardieauthor.co.uk/ To find out more about RJ Bayley and his work and to book him for your audio book project please visit his website here  https://rjbayley.com/ Tim Hardie has partnered with Audiobook Empire to make his audiobooks available at a discounted price. AE Audio Outlet don’t take a cut, so the authors they feature get the full list price when you buy through them. You can think of this as buying direct from the author, whilst AE Audio Outlet handles the hassle of managing the storefront.  You can check out their growing list of titles online at https://shop.audiobookempire.com/ Writing Worlds is created and presented by Emily Inkpen and Chris Gregory of the audio production company Alternative Stories  Find out more about Emily and her work by visiting her website here ⁠https://www.emilyinkpen.com/⁠ Listen to The Dex Legacy and Wasteland, Emily’s award-winning audio drama series here ⁠https://www.emilyinkpen.com/thedexlegacy-home/⁠ And follow Emily on Instagram ⁠https://www.instagram.com/emilyinkpen/⁠ And Bluesky ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/emilyinkpen.bsky.social⁠ Find out more about Chris Gregory and Alternative Stories here ⁠https://linktr.ee/AlternativeStories⁠ Follow them on Instagram here ⁠https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/⁠ And Bluesky here ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/storiesalt.bsky.social⁠ If you would like to get in touch with the show to recommend a guest for a future episode or to book a Writing Worlds live show for your convention or literary event please contact us via ⁠office@alternativestories.com⁠  Writing Worlds is free to listen to but not free to make.  If you would like to support the show you can join our Patreon to get ad-free and early release episodes of this and all our other shows.  We will also be releasing a series of Writing Worlds mini and bonus episodes featuring many of the guests you have heard in this series and our hosts Emily and Chris exclusively for our Patreon backers.     Click the link below to find out more. ⁠https://www.patreon.com/AltStories⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    1h 7m

  5. 09/03/2025

    Arkady Martine: Language

    Thank you for listening to the Writing Worlds Podcast with Emily Inkpen and Chris Gregory.  In this episode we feature multi-award-winning novelist, poet and academic Arkady Martine. You can find out more about Arkady by visiting her website https://www.arkadymartine.net/ Follow Arkady on Bluesky here https://bsky.app/profile/byzantienne.bsky.social And on Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/byzantienne Writing Worlds is created and presented by Emily Inkpen and Chris Gregory of the audio production company Alternative Stories  Find out more about Emily and her work by visiting her website here ⁠https://www.emilyinkpen.com/⁠ Listen to The Dex Legacy and Wasteland, Emily’s award-winning audio drama series here ⁠https://www.emilyinkpen.com/thedexlegacy-home/⁠ And follow Emily on Instagram ⁠https://www.instagram.com/emilyinkpen/⁠ And Bluesky ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/emilyinkpen.bsky.social⁠ Find out more about Chris Gregory and Alternative Stories here ⁠https://linktr.ee/AlternativeStories⁠ Follow them on Instagram here ⁠https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/⁠ And Bluesky here ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/storiesalt.bsky.social⁠ If you would like to get in touch with the show to recommend a guest for a future episode or to book a Writing Worlds live show for your convention or literary event please contact us via ⁠office@alternativestories.com⁠  Writing Worlds is free to listen to but not free to make.  If you would like to support the show you can join our Patreon to get ad-free and early release episodes of this and all our other shows.  We will also be releasing a series of Writing Worlds mini and bonus episodes featuring many of the guests you have heard in this series and our hosts Emily and Chris exclusively for our Patreon backers.     Click the link below to find out more. ⁠https://www.patreon.com/AltStories⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    1h 1m

  6. 08/20/2025

    Joanne Harris : Smells and Sound

    Thank you for listening to the Writing Worlds Podcast with Emily Inkpen and Chris Gregory.  Join our Patreon here https://www.patreon.com/AltStories In this episode we feature multi-award-winning novelist Joanne Harris. We would like to offer our thanks and appreciation to Joanne for taking the time to record this episode with us. You can find out more about Joanne by visiting her website https://www.joanne-harris.co.uk/ Follow Joanne on Bluesky here https://bsky.app/profile/joannechocolat.bsky.social And on Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/joannechocolat You can read a full transcript of this episode here https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eswme-QRDSWy_sk-JVLNqqmXGONIi39J/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=115587715767862763681&rtpof=true&sd=true In this episode we mention the book An Actor Prepares by Constantin Stanislavski. Find out more here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Actor_Prepares We also mention the Penguin Book of English Folk Song in which you can find out more about the Child Ballads https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/179200/the-new-penguin-book-of-english-folk-songs-by-bishop-steve-roud-and-julia/9780141194622 Writing Worlds is created and presented by Emily Inkpen and Chris Gregory of the audio production company Alternative Stories  Find out more about Emily and her work by visiting her website here ⁠https://www.emilyinkpen.com/⁠ Listen to The Dex Legacy and Wasteland, Emily’s award-winning audio drama series here ⁠https://www.emilyinkpen.com/thedexlegacy-home/⁠ And follow Emily on Instagram ⁠https://www.instagram.com/emilyinkpen/⁠ And Bluesky ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/emilyinkpen.bsky.social⁠ Find out more about Chris Gregory and Alternative Stories here ⁠https://linktr.ee/AlternativeStories⁠ Follow them on Instagram here ⁠https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/⁠ And Bluesky here ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/storiesalt.bsky.social⁠ If you would like to get in touch with the show to recommend a guest for a future episode or to book a Writing Worlds live show for your convention or literary event please contact us via ⁠office@alternativestories.com⁠  Writing Worlds is free to listen to but not free to make.  If you would like to support the show you can join our Patreon to get ad-free and early release episodes of this and all our other shows.  We will also be releasing a series of Writing Worlds mini and bonus episodes featuring many of the guests you have heard in this series and our hosts Emily and Chris exclusively for our Patreon backers.     Click the link below to find out more. ⁠https://www.patreon.com/AltStories⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    1h 2m

  7. 08/06/2025

    Kaitlin Felix And Joshua Gillingham: Nordic Inspiration

    Thank you for listening to the Writing Worlds Podcast with Emily Inkpen and Chris Gregory.  Join the Alternative Stories Patreon for exclusive, early release and ad-free Writing Worlds content. ⁠https://www.patreon.com/AltStories⁠ In this episode we feature authors Kaitlin Felix and Joshua Gillingham for a conversation about Norse-inspired writing and world-building. You can find out more about Kaitlin by visiting her website https://katifelix.com/ Follow Kaitlin on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/kfelix_writes/ And Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/kaitlinfelix.bsky.social Find out more about Joshua by visiting his website https://www.joshuagillingham.ca/ Follow Josh on Bluesky here https://bsky.app/profile/joshuagillingham.bsky.social   You can listen to Kaitlin Felix's audio drama "The Seeing Trees" which was recently featured on our new Spec Fic Radio Theatre Podcast here https://pod.link/1812026298/episode/bd55616f99f641d35ad86ee2ac82dbfb   You can hear Joshua Gillingham on our Alternative Stories and Fake Realities Podcast here https://pod.link/1470495562/episode/950476f020f8fd834a778ca6936f471f Writing Worlds is created and presented by Emily Inkpen and Chris Gregory of the audio production company Alternative Stories  Find out more about Emily and her work by visiting her website here ⁠https://www.emilyinkpen.com/⁠ Listen to The Dex Legacy and Wasteland, Emily’s award-winning audio drama series here ⁠https://www.emilyinkpen.com/thedexlegacy-home/⁠ And follow Emily on Instagram ⁠https://www.instagram.com/emilyinkpen/⁠ And Bluesky ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/emilyinkpen.bsky.social⁠ Find out more about Chris Gregory and Alternative Stories here ⁠https://linktr.ee/AlternativeStories⁠ Follow them on Instagram here ⁠https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/⁠ And Bluesky here ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/storiesalt.bsky.social⁠ If you would like to get in touch with the show to recommend a guest for a future episode or to book a Writing Worlds live show for your convention or literary event please contact us via ⁠office@alternativestories.com⁠  Writing Worlds is free to listen to but not free to make.  If you would like to support the show you can join our Patreon to get ad-free and early release episodes of this and all our other shows.  We will also be releasing a series of Writing Worlds mini and bonus episodes featuring many of the guests you have heard in this series and our hosts Emily and Chris exclusively for our Patreon backers.     Click the link below to find out more. ⁠https://www.patreon.com/AltStories⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    1 hr

  8. 07/23/2025

    Ben Aaronovitch: Urban Fantasy

    Thank you for listening to the Writing Worlds Podcast with Emily Inkpen and Chris Gregory.  Join the Alternative Stories Patreon for exclusive, early release and ad-free Writing Worlds content. https://www.patreon.com/AltStories   In this episode we feature the author of the urban fantasy Rivers of London series Ben Aaronovitch You can find out more about Ben and his world by visiting his website here https://www.benaaronovitch.com/ Follow Ben on Bluesky here https://bsky.app/profile/benaaronovitch.bsky.social    Writing Worlds is created and presented by Emily Inkpen and Chris Gregory of the audio production company Alternative Stories    Find out more about Emily and her work by visiting her website here https://www.emilyinkpen.com/ Listen to The Dex Legacy and Wasteland, Emily’s award-winning audio drama series here https://www.emilyinkpen.com/thedexlegacy-home/ And follow Emily on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/emilyinkpen/ And Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/emilyinkpen.bsky.social   Find out more about Chris Gregory and Alternative Stories here https://linktr.ee/AlternativeStories Follow them on Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/stories.alt/ And Bluesky here https://bsky.app/profile/storiesalt.bsky.social   If you would like to get in touch with the show to recommend a guest for a future episode or to book a Writing Worlds live show for your convention or literary event please contact us via office@alternativestories.com    Writing Worlds is free to listen to but not free to make.  If you would like to support the show you can join our Patreon to get ad-free and early release episodes of this and all our other shows.  We will also be releasing a series of Writing Worlds mini and bonus episodes featuring many of the guests you have heard in this series and our hosts Emily and Chris exclusively for our Patreon backers.     Click the link below to find out more. https://www.patreon.com/AltStories Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    1h 1m
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Join award-winning audio drama makers Chris Gregory and Emily Inkpen for fortnightly conversations about world building with some of the best writers around, and find out how their worlds come to life.

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