So a couple of things about “Safe as Houses,” which you can find over at Gallery of Curiosities in a variety of audio formats for your listening pleasure:
- I have a writing bucket list, and one of the things on it is to have a story on a podcast. And now I do! Sarah Heiner reads it, and does an excellent job–she hits the tone I had in my head exactly.[1]
- The first draft of this was exactly 300 words long, without my even trying (yes, Facebook friends, this is that story). I, of course, immediately destroyed that via revision, but whatever–it happened, it was cool, the end.
- There are no Teachouts in this story, but you can find a reference to this house in “The Drowned Man,”[2] if you go looking hard enough. (The house is in San Xavier–not that you can tell–but this story takes place much closer to the present day than the girls’ stories do.)
- “The Automat’s Automaton” by Angela Enos is the other story on the podcast, and it’s also really cool.
1 [back] No, I have totally not listened to the podcast like more than five or six times since it went up, what?
2 [back]I would, quite frankly, be delighted if someone found the reference to this one in “Drowned Man” and told me about it. Just saying. Like, I might write a Teachout drabble or a random poem for someone.