Melissa Bartell : The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub

<p><a href="https://www.bathtubmermaid.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/DDOA-18-20.jpg"><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-2825" src="https://www.bathtubmermaid.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/DDOA-18-20.jpg" alt="DDOA-18-19-20" width="459" height="600" srcset="https://www.bathtubmermaid.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/DDOA-18-20.jpg 459w, https://www.bathtubmermaid.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/DDOA-18-20-230x300.jpg 230w" sizes="(max-width: 459px) 100vw, 459px" /></a></p> <audio class="wp-audio-shortcode" id="audio-2824-1" preload="none" style="width: 100%;" controls="controls"><source type="audio/mpeg" src="https://www.bathtubmermaid.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/TBM-2512-22-DDOA-Ritual-Threads-Magic.mp3?_=1" /><a href="https://www.bathtubmermaid.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/TBM-2512-22-DDOA-Ritual-Threads-Magic.mp3">https://www.bathtubmermaid.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/TBM-2512-22-DDOA-Ritual-Threads-Magic.mp3</a></audio> <h3>Description:</h3> <p>Welcome to the Dog Days of Advent. I made a list of prompts, and wrote a bite-sized story for each one. They don’t live in the same universe, but they’re all a little off-kilter from what you might expect from holiday fare. And if you pay attention, you’ll notice that the last line of each story becomes the first line of the next. Today’s prompts are <em>Ritual, Thread, </em>and <em>Magic. </em></p> <h3>Excerpt:</h3> <blockquote><p>Across the Coalition of Aligned Worlds, she could imagine this same carol rising in a hundred places at once: sung in English, Centauran Creole, SolCommon, Vulhari, SynthCant. Sung in domed colonies, hydroponic farm chapels, mining outpost rec halls, starship sanctuaries. Sung by people who had never stepped on Earth, yet carried its stories like inherited starlight.</p> <p>.</p></blockquote> <h3 data-start="698" data-end="809"><strong>Episode Cast:</strong></h3> <p><a href="https://encaffeinated.ca/">Melissa A. Bartell</a></p> <h3>Links and References</h3> <ul> <li>Transcript: <a href="https://www.missmeliss.com/2025/12/fictionadvent-018-ritual/">Ritual</a></li> <li>Transcript: <a href="https://www.missmeliss.com/2025/12/fictionadvent-019-thread/">Thread</a></li> <li>Transcript: <a href="https://www.missmeliss.com/2025/12/fictionadvent-020-magic/">Magic</a></li> <li><a href="https://dogdaysofpodcasting.com/">Dog Days of Advent</a></li> </ul> <h3>Credits:</h3> <ul> <li><em>The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub</em> is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using Audacity.</li> <li>Bathtub Mermaid blog header art was created by Rebecca Moran of <a href="http://remoran.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Moran Media</a></li> <li>Sound Effects and Music are from <a href="https://freesound.org/">Freesound</a> and <a href="https://uppbeat.io/">UppBeat</a></li> <li>Music Used:<br /> 1) <a href="https://uppbeat.io/t/sky-toes/a-moment-a-miracle">A Moment, A Miracle</a><br /> 2) <a href="https://uppbeat.io/t/jonny-boyle/ding-dong-jazzily">Ding Dong – Jazzily</a><br /> 3) <a href="https://track.pstmrk.it/3s/uppbeat.io%2Ft%2Fsimon-folwar%2Fsilent-night/vZub/UDnCAQ/AQ/21c550cb-0cff-4d12-952d-0b617c4013f8/4/lFBUltWu1B">Silent Night</a></li> </ul> <h3>Contact:</h3> <ul> <li>BlueSky: <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/melysse.bsky.social">@melysse.bsky.social</a></li> <li>Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/missmelysse">MissMelysse</a></li> <li>Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/melysse/">@Melysse</a></li> <li>Mastodon: <a href="https://tenforward.social/@Melysse">@Melysse</a></li> <li>Email: <a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a></li> <li>Or, leave a comment on this page.</li> </ul> <p> </p>