New Moon ♒️
Tales From the Otherwood is my podcast, I launched it at the end of 2022 and have aimed for each monthly episode to come out on or as close to the 2nd of the month as possible.
It’s a storytelling podcast that explores the folk tales and folklore of the East Midlands (Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire and Rutland, Northamptonshire, Derbyshire) with the occasional “Guest Slot” episode of a tale being from either another county of the United Kingdom or from another country.
I realise that focussing on a region of six counties makes it pretty niche within an already niche subject; but as I have lived in Nottingham and the East Midlands for the past 17 years, it makes sense to do so. Especially as my original idea for the podcast was just going to focus on Nottingham. It wasn’t until I was doing a talk on magpie folklore and used the story of The Wizard of Lincoln to illustrate this, that I realised: why limit myself to one area? The East Midlands as a whole has a wealth of lore and stories which have been recorded, and it should be preserved and shared.
Plus, no one else has done it. There are other podcasts that concentrate on folk tales from all around the UK, there are others that tell Celtic folk tales and myths (I’ll set the record straight right now: I have nothing against the Celtic stories and may even cover some in future episodes) but no one specialises in the East Midlands.
I don’t have guests or interviews, at least not at this stage, it’s just me (under my stage name of “Dylan Knight”) talking to the microphone, talking to you. I tell a story then I discuss the folkloric themes and elements that come up from or are associated with the tale being told.
My format is simple: I’ll introduce the story and where it is from; there’s the story itself and then what I call ‘The Chat’. That section is where I talk about the finer details of the themes that come from the story. It might be history, it might be what the particular folkloric subject is or what that tradition is all about, it might even be a combination of all of those things. It depends on the story of the episode. For example, in the episode The Woodman and the Hatchet I discuss the water fairy in the story and comparing the ancient belief of rivers being the embodiment of water goddesses from the pre-Roman past.
I will say though, the amount of time for research, scripting, recording and editing an episode is anywhere between 5-6 hours (maybe more!) and I’ll be honest: as much as I enjoyed my Anglo-Saxon Year series of blogs, I was creating a LOT of work for myself. In fact, I had to REALLY push myself to finishing that series. In between researching and writing my blog, researching the Anglo-Saxon runes (another blog post for another day!) and researching, writing and producing my episodes, I was in danger of burning myself out. I won’t be blogging as much anymore as the podcast has become my primary creative outlet.
This doesn’t mean I’m quitting ‘A Wise Fool’, it just means that this blog will no longer be monthly and will become ad hoc on when posts come out.
I’ll still be here on WordPress reading the blogs I follow, I just won’t be posting as often anymore.
Even if you don’t live in or aren’t from the East Midlands, you might find a story that you really connect with or, even better, may possibly recognise (you think you know Robin Hood?….. check out Robin Hood and the Monk).
Tales From the Otherwood is available on pretty much all available podcast platforms and you can even listen to the episodes straight from my website too:
https://talesfromtheotherwood.buzzsprout.com/
You can contact me to discuss anything about the episodes, or if you’d like to share a story you would like to hear, maybe even share a traditional custom from where you are from…. For the roots of the Otherwood grow far and wide, especially beyond the United Kingdom.
Email: talesfromtheotherwood@gmail.com
Instagram: @tales_from_the_otherwood
For artwork, you can contact Kraig at Adaptive: https://adaptivemedia.weebly.com/
Brightest Blessings to you all and Be Well!
Locksley (“Dylan Knight”).
A Wise Fool 
Ooooo… fun! I’m intrigued.
You’re a great storyteller- can’t wait to hear what you have to say. ;c)
Thank you very much, dear Moppet! I hope you enjoy them and feel free to tell me what you think. 😁
I didn’t realize you had a podcast! Time to check that out…
Oh yes, I’ve been a busy bat (see what I did there? 😉).
Please do have a listen and feel free to let me know what you think, if you like what I do I’d be honoured to tell a folk story and discuss some folklore from Canada! So if there’s a local tale you know of or something that you’d love for me to share, let me know. Plus I’ll do you a plug for your books for free! 😁 🦇 🩸
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Thank you–that’s such a generous offer! There’s so much folklore to choose from, we’d better narrow it down–what’s your preference: Indigenous, French, or English? Or do you want to focus on a specific region? I hope you don’t regret making this suggestion 😀
Regret? Never! I’m a firm believer in treating these stories and articles of folklore with respect, I also believe that in telling them, we keep them alive.
Indigenous or French would be perfect (I can always do an English one another time) as long as I can find links to them. If you’d prefer to talk about this using the email address provided in the post, go right ahead. 😁
I’ll come up with something and email you soon 🙂
Awesome, I look forward to it. 🙂