The Bathtub Mermaid

TBM-2512.24 – Dog Days of Advent: Midnight

https://www.bathtubmermaid.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/TBM-2512-24-DDOA-Midnight.mp3 Description: 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 prompt is Midnight.  Excerpt Jean—called Grandma Love by strangers more often than family—felt that familiar tilt in the air. The almost-midnight tilt. Midnight wasn’t a time so much as a mood, a soft doorway between one thing and the next. She’d always been good with doorways. Episode Cast: Melissa A. Bartell Links and References Transcript: Midnight Dog Days of Advent Credits: The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using Audacity. Bathtub Mermaid blog header art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media Sound Effects and Music are from Freesound and UppBeat Music Used: O Holy Night Contact: BlueSky: @melysse.bsky.social Facebook: MissMelysse Instagram: @Melysse Mastodon: @Melysse Email: missmelysse@gmail.com Or, leave a comment on this page.

TBM-2512.23 – Dog Days of Advent: Sled

https://www.bathtubmermaid.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/TBM-2512-23-DDOA-Sled.mp3 Description: 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 prompt is Sled.  Excerpt She set the sled down.  Ran her glove over the wooden slats.  Felt her heartbeat double-tap behind her ribs. Then she climbed on. The world tipped. Not dangerously.  Not wrong.  Just… sideways enough. Episode Cast: Melissa A. Bartell Links and References Transcript: Sled Dog Days of Advent Credits: The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using Audacity. Bathtub Mermaid blog header art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media Sound Effects and Music are from Freesound and UppBeat Music Used: Winter Contact: BlueSky: @melysse.bsky.social Facebook: MissMelysse Instagram: @Melysse Mastodon: @Melysse Email: missmelysse@gmail.com Or, leave a comment on this page.

TBM-2512.23 – Dog Days of Advent: Gift and Train

https://www.bathtubmermaid.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/TBM-2512-23-DDOA-Gift-Train-.mp3 Description: 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 Gift and Train.  Excerpt: It was finished. Actually finished. She and Trisha had built it with their own four hands, two questionable YouTube tutorials, and one bottle of wine. Episode Cast: Melissa A. Bartell Links and References Transcript: Gift Transcript: Train Dog Days of Advent Credits: The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using Audacity. Bathtub Mermaid blog header art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media Sound Effects and Music are from Freesound and UppBeat Music Used: 1) The Magic of Christmas 2) On the Snow Contact: BlueSky: @melysse.bsky.social Facebook: MissMelysse Instagram: @Melysse Mastodon: @Melysse Email: missmelysse@gmail.com Or, leave a comment on this page.

TBM-2512.22 – Dog Days of Advent: Ritual, Thread, and Magic

https://www.bathtubmermaid.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/TBM-2512-22-DDOA-Ritual-Threads-Magic.mp3 Description: 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 Ritual, Thread, and Magic.  Excerpt: 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. . Episode Cast: Melissa A. Bartell Links and References Transcript: Ritual Transcript: Thread Transcript: Magic Dog Days of Advent Credits: The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using Audacity. Bathtub Mermaid blog header art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media Sound Effects and Music are from Freesound and UppBeat Music Used: 1) A Moment, A Miracle 2) Ding Dong – Jazzily 3) Silent Night Contact: BlueSky: @melysse.bsky.social Facebook: MissMelysse Instagram: @Melysse Mastodon: @Melysse Email: missmelysse@gmail.com Or, leave a comment on this page.

TBM-2512.17 – Dog Days of Advent: Candle

https://www.bathtubmermaid.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/TBM-2512-17-DDOA-Candle.mp3 Description: 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 prompt is  Candle. Excerpt: No one there was particularly observant. A few weren’t Jewish at all. But Hanukkah had a way of widening the doorway. Light was light, after all, and the station nights were long. Episode Cast: Melissa A. Bartell Links and References Transcript: Candle Dog Days of Advent Credits: The Bathtub Mermaid: Tales from the Tub is written and produced by Melissa A. Bartell, and is recorded and produced using Audacity. Bathtub Mermaid blog header art was created by Rebecca Moran of Moran Media Sound Effects and Music are from Freesound and UppBeat Music Used : “MAOZ TZUR” by “Noel Malekar” Video Link: https://youtu.be/53ptIa-5BrQ Channel Link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJkKx-mTqoqjZPno7MbFKhA Channel Link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJkKx-mTqoqjZPno7MbFKhA Follow on : Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/cinematicnoel Soundcloud – https://soundcloud.com/cinematicnoel Contact: BlueSky: @melysse.bsky.social Facebook: MissMelysse Instagram: @Melysse Mastodon: @Melysse Email: missmelysse@gmail.com Or, leave a comment on this page.