The Havok Story Podcast is an every-other-week audio narration of selected flash fiction from the Havok story collection, released on all major podcast outlets via Anchor.fm.
“Slippers” by Abigail Falanga
This story is from Season Two: Stories That Sing, and it was inspired by a song from the 1970’s. See if you can guess the song as you listen!
If you’re a Havok member, you can also read the original story here: Slippers.
Meet Our Narrator, Magnus Carlssen
Half a lifetime of getting lost in fantastical worlds and several careers in the creative arts have only scratched the surface of preparing Magnus for the magnificent and Herculean responsibility of bringing Havok authors’ stories to life in audio form. After a mid-life crisis that, in his own words, “sharpened my focus to the point of a laser in a prism factory,” he returned to his Scandinavian roots of storytelling. He is fluent in exactly one language and lives near an imaginary lake with his wife, two daughters, and invisible lap cat. // magnuscarlssen.wordpress.com
Loved the episode! Great job Abigail and Magnus!
I am curious. Does this Magnus Carlssen have any relation to the Norwegian Chess Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen?
The league of Carlssen & Carlsen goes back a great many years – in fact, as far back as the beginning of the long line of Grandmasters to which the present Mr. Carlsen belongs. As it happens, my great-great-great-great-grandfather was a woodworker who lived in the south of Sweden, not far from the Norwegian border. During the slow winter months he would carve chessmen from kindling wood, and sell them in the local pub. He was a casual player, but more enthusiastic about making beautiful chess sets than actually playing the game (I seem to have inherited his love of birch!).
As you may have guessed, the paths of Carlssen and Carlsen crossed over a chessboard one evening, without either of them knowing that they shared a surname. The story goes – more of a legend, at this point, haha – that Carlsen was indeed the better player, but lost the first game. He bet my great-x4-grandfather best of three, with the chessboard at stake.
I still have that chessboard today. :)
…just kidding. I’ve long family roots in Sweden, yes, but no relation whatsoever to any Grandmaster that I’m aware of (that’s just a boring way to say it).
I do enjoy the odd chess match tho!
LOL, “more of a legend,” indeed! Love this, Magnus!
When are you going to submit a flash fiction story to Havok? You obviously have a knack for it! ;-)