Best Simon Sweetman Podcasts (2026)

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Poetry Reading: “Happy” First Birthday to ‘The Richard Poems” 22:32

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2M ago22:32

22:32

This time last year we launched my second book of poetry, The Richard Poems. The launch was at the clothing and barber store, That Was Then This Is Now, not only a magical place to get a great haircut or some snazzy threads, but also to launch a book: Emily Writes delivered an amazing speech: And I had a ramble too of course: There’s even a playlis…

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Cockleshells 2:29

3M ago2:29

2:29

Sounds Good! is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Most people think the “Mary, Mary, quite contrary” thing is just a rhyme — a cute little bounce off the name. And maybe there’s that thing in there too where it’s giving a quick character assessment of the child, th…

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Poetry Reading: “The Death of Music Journalism” Turns Five 14:04

3M ago14:04

14:04

It’s been five years since we launched my first book of poetry, The Death of Music Journalism. I did a little audio podcast at the time sharing some of the story behind the writing of the poems, the making of the book, and reading some of the work. I thought for its fifth birthday, I’d share a reading of five poems that I don’t think I’ve ever read…

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Short Story Live Reading: Bumper Boats 3:22

5M ago3:22

3:22

Here’s a reading of a short story (which might also be a poem, depending on how you hear it) called Bumper Boats. You can read below an earlier version of this — there are some slight changes in the reading vs. this text version linked here: Anyway, I’m enjoying exploring this — it’s meant to be a single sentence, which obviously presents challengi…

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Podcast: Thinner — We All Float Down Here 25:49

5M ago25:49

25:49

We are back with the 11th episode of We All Float Down Here — A Stephen King podcast. Our third of 2025 is our first “Richard Bachman” episode. King famously wrote a bunch of books as Richard Bachman, later publishing them under his own name as “The Bachman Books”, including the standalone volume of ‘Thinner’. So we’re talking about that in the pub…

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Short Story Read Live: Say The Thing (July) 8:03

6M ago8:03

8:03

Here is a podcast recording of my short story ‘Reverie Gone Astray’, from the third ‘Say The Thing’ spoken word evening, recorded, July 23, 2025. You can listen to it here on Substack, or wherever you get podcasts — Amazon, Spotify, Apple, etc. Sounds Good! is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becomi…

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Podcast: The Talisman — We All Float Down Here 33:15

6M ago33:15

33:15

We are back with the eleventh episode of We All Float Down Here — A Stephen King podcast. Our third of 2025 is King’s first collaboration, The Talisman, written with fellow horror scribe, Peter Straub. There would be a sequel close to 20 years on, and King is working alone on a second sequel right now (R.I.P. Peter Straub). The podcast goes out on …

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It Was Better When Things Were Not So Bad 4:46

6M ago4:46

4:46

You can read the text below — and/or click on the arrow above to listen to the podcast of the story (also available on Sweetman Podcast on Spotify, Amazon, Apple and wherever you get your podcasts) Michaela remembers when things were different. She is thinking this while winding the spool of tape from her cassette back into itself with a trusty pen…

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Poetry Reading: Open Mic - Poetry in Motion, Wednesday, July 2, 2025 3:14

6M ago3:14

3:14

Here’s three brand new poems from me at the regular Poetry in Motion open mic at the Fringe Bar in Wellington. My first time reading there in a couple of months. I debuted three new poems which you can click on below for text versions if you’d like to read them first, or after, or read along with the recording: .They are called The Centre-Right is …

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Audio or Video Story: Click 4:30

7M ago4:30

4:30

Just mucking around with stories — so these are two different readings of the same story. The audio and video are separate recordings, so you can listen to the audio above on its own, or with reading the story below. Or you can watch the video. Or any combo… Click: They’d met at a café. First impressions were awful. But by coffee number three, thin…

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New Music: New Coat 2:55

8M ago2:55

2:55

I haven’t made a bit of music for a while. Some would say I never have — including after hearing any of the pieces. Fair enough. With that in mind, here’s my most recent. A wee piece I call New Coat. I guess I tried to address the question no one was asking — what would happen if Moby and Robert Miles collaborated after they’d both been hit in the …

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A video short story: Boil The Combs 6:04

8M ago6:04

6:04

I always knew when my grandfather had come home too boozed, or sometimes it was even on a night when he’d just drift in his chair. The whiskey had done a number on him again. There’d be some noise and then my grandmother would shout out, “Boil the combs!” Grandad was a good sort otherwise. He made me a go-kart out of old boxes, but when the other k…

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Podcast: The Eyes of the Dragon — We All Float Down Here 30:55

8M ago30:55

30:55

We are back with the tenth episode of We All Float Down Here — A Stephen King podcast. Our second of 2025 is the King’s first YA title, The Eyes of The Dragon, and since there’s no film version, as yet (and unlikely to ever be), and because it’s related — age-wise, we also dip into his graphic novelette, The Cycle of the Werewolf, and its ropey fil…

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New Music: Dark Winds 3:49

8M ago3:49

3:49

I haven’t made a bit of music for a while. Some would say I never have — including after hearing any of the pieces. Fair enough. With that in mind, here’s my most recent. A wee piece I call Dark Winds. Might use it for some spoken word at some point, but for now, here it is. Sounds Good! is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and s…

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Audio + Typed Story: The Day Harrison Died 3:10

9M ago3:10

3:10

When George Harrison died, I helped move a friend from her flat in Elizabeth St to her new place then in Tasman St. From Mt Vic to Mt Cook sounds like the title to a down-scaling book but this was just how it was back in 2001. We scrubbed the walls to get the smoke stains off from where the pictures had been and all the while the radio was playing …

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Poetry Reading: Open Mic - The Office, Newtown, Sunday, March 23, 2025 2:52

10M ago2:52

2:52

It was my first time reading at The Office in Newtown, a regular get-together for some, but a new venue for it. I read two new poems — including one so new I wrote it the morning of the day I read it. The other is a couple of weeks old, both were new to being read aloud. They have a musical guest and a guest-poet but the first half of the programme…

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Poetry Reading: Open Mic - Poetry in Motion, Thursday, March 13, 2025 4:23

10M ago4:23

4:23

Here’s three brand new poems from me at the regular Poetry in Motion open mic at the Fringe Bar in Wellington. Where all of last year and even into early this year I have been rehearsing and showcasing material from The Richard Poems, this was my first time in years reading brand new material. So the three poems captured here are being read for the…

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Video: Some Brand New Poetry Readings Direct To Camera 2:33

11M ago2:33

2:33

I’ve mentioned my little book, The Richard Poems a bunch here. Launched in November last year. I’ve shared a few (audio) readings along the way to publication — and then a couple that have come out since the release: But there at the top you have a video poem, I’m reading Summerslam, 1988 — a piece from early in the book. A scene-setter I guess. I …

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Final Sneak-Peek Rehearsal Clips from “DICK: Reading ‘Richard’ Live 3:44

11M ago3:44

3:44

The final rehearsal for our show “DICK” is in the can — here’s a couple of sneak-peek clips; we were in the main room at Photospace Gallery today, where we’ll be delivering the show this Friday, Feb 21, 7.30pm. A reminder to buy your tickets online from The Fringe website — it’s $10 and that money goes to Women’s Refuge. There are no door sales on …

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Poetry Reading: NZ Society of Authors Open Mic (Feb 12, 2025) 4:39

11M ago4:39

4:39

I popped along to the New Zealand Society of Authors — Wellington’s first event of 2025, an open mic at Undercurrent bookshop. There were all sorts of readings from all sorts of readings, including from novels and short stories and memoir and children’s books, and poetry. For my five-minute set, I read four poems from my latest collection, The Rich…

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Podcast: Pet Sematary — We All Float Down Here 40:05

11M ago40:05

40:05

We are back with the ninth episode of We All Float Down Here — A Stephen King podcast. Our first of 2025 is the classic Pet Sematary, and the slightly less classic film adaptations (plural). Will they ever get this book right on screen? We think not. The podcast goes out on YouTube first and foremost — so we’d love you to like and subscribe over th…

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More Sneak-Peek Rehearsal Clips from “DICK: Reading ‘Richard’ Live 1:13

11M ago1:13

1:13

Another rehearsal, so a few more teaser clips of the show developing… On Friday, February 21, I’ll be performing poems from my latest book as part of a Fringe Festival show: The show is taking place at Photospace Gallery in Courtenay Place, Wellington, at 7.30pm. I’m being backed by musicians John Kingston and James Gilberd of the duo Filtersphere.…

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Podcast: Christine — We All Float Down Here 30:38

12M ago30:38

30:38

We are back with the eighth episode of We All Float Down Here — A Stephen King podcast. A bit delayed here sorry, we actually put this up first on YouTube in late 2024, but then, you know, summer holidays, etc… And we are talking Christine — from 1983, the classic movie version from the same year too (John Carpenter). It’s a big book too, so as alw…

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Podcast: Cujo — We All Float Down Here 58:39

1y ago58:39

58:39

We are back with the seventhepisode of We All Float Down Here — A Stephen King podcast. And we are talking Cujo — from 1981, the classic movie version, and the sequel story Rattlesnakes, from the brand new story collection, You Like It Darker. But, as always, it’s the book that matters most. And for this conversation we were joined by our first gue…

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Featured Poet Spot at Fringe Bar, Thurs, 7/11/24 31:20

1y ago31:20

31:20

I was the guest poet at the November edition of Poetry in Motion. They have an open mic each month, and then a Feature Poet. This month it was me. I’d last done it in 2021 after the late 2020 release of The Death of Music Journalism. This time I had The Richard Poems to plug, but also read a few new and old poems. I also introduced Tarns Hood, duri…

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Podcast: Firestarter — We All Float Down Here 41:01

1y ago41:01

41:01

We are back with the sixth episode of We All Float Down Here — A Stephen King podcast. And we are talking Firestarter — the first book of the 1980s, the classic Drew Barrymore-starring film version, its ludicrous non-canon ‘sequel’, and a pretty bad recent remake. But it’s the book that matters most. (And the film soundtracks by Tangerine Dream and…

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Podcast: Dead Zone — We All Float Down Here 29:09

1y ago29:09

29:09

We are back with the fifth episode of We All Float Down Here — A Stephen King podcast. And we are talking Dead Zone — the 1979 political thriller/existential horror, and its 1983 David Cronenberg-helmed Sci-Fi film adaptation — but we are not discussing the TV series. We did not go there! The podcast goes out on YouTube first and foremost — so we’d…

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Audio + Typed Short Story: Luckily, Not Good Enough 1:51

1+ y ago1:51

1:51

I’ve got this (silly) idea for my next book — by which I mean the one after the one that is about to be released. I’d like to catalogue various low-key failures in my life via a set of autobiographical short stories. Vignettes, really. I have some audio recordings of some of these too, so I’m occasionally sharing them here with both options — you c…

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Poetry Reading: 'Richard' - 4th Time Around 7:01

1+ y ago7:01

7:01

Hey there, here’s a new set of recordings — more from the files of ‘The Richard Poems’. You’ll remember I have shareda few previous times reading, as I try to get to grips with these new poems, and work on the idea of creating an actual show, also the book is on its way soon. But if you missed the other recordings I’ll add them down here below: And…

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Podcast: The Stand — We All Float Down Here 45:55

1+ y ago45:55

45:55

We are back with the fourth episode of We All Float Down Here — A Stephen King podcast. And we are talking The Stand— the 1978 epic novel, and its 1994 and 2020 miniseries’ — but we are discussing the 1990 Complete and Uncut version of the novel, since that’s the one in circulation these days. (And the one we read). The podcast goes out on YouTube …

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Audio + Typed Short Story: Not Much Of A Bookstore Job 6:33

1+ y ago6:33

6:33

One year, when I gave up on university before it gave up on me, I made a last ditch effort to climb the hill and instead of going to class I studied the wall at Student Job Search, saw a piece of paper with a listing for a bookstore job. I’d always wanted one of those. So I took up the slip and registered. I aced the interview. And that was me. The…

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Podcast: The Shining — We All Float Down Here 50:45

1+ y ago50:45

50:45

Alright, it’s time for the third episode of We All Float Down Here — A Stephen King podcast. We are talking The Shining — the 1977 novel, and the 1980 Stanley Kubrick film adaptation. (Heck, we even talk a bit about the 1997 TV movie/mini-series). The podcast goes out on YouTube first and foremost — so we’d love you to like and subscribe over there…

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Poetry Reading: National Poetry Day (Fri, Aug 23, 2024), Undercurrent Bookstore, Wellington 7:12

1+ y ago7:12

7:12

Last night, as part of Phantom Billstickers National Poetry Day, I was honoured to be both the MC and one of the poets reading at an event held at Wellington’s divine secondhand bookstore and venue, Undercurrent. It was a wonderful line-up of poets, a dream to be part of this cast — and to get to introduce them all. I recorded my set, where I read …

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Audio: Torch Song For My Father 2:24

1+ y ago2:24

2:24

I’ll have shared this story already — at least for paying subscribers — but here’s an audio-rendition (for all). I’m reading the story, and I’ve created the musical backing there, in my primitive way (under my Second Storey Teller alias). Anyway, it came up recently that I carried the Commonwealth Torch as part of the build up to the 1990 games. My…

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Video Poems: Three 'Richard' Poems featuring musical references 4:54

1+ y ago4:54

4:54

Three ‘Richard’ Poems here in a recording at home. I read them earlier tonight at the Fringe Bar. And it went well — I think. Apart from me botching the audio recording. There were some gasps — at the use of the word ‘faggot’ and some of the anger and energy of these poems. And I wish I had that recorded. Instead I have this recording. And you have…

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Podcast: Salem’s Lot — We All Float Down Here 37:12

1+ y ago37:12

37:12

Hey there, here we are with the second episode of We All Float Down Here — A Stephen King podcast. We talk about the book Salem’s Lot and the 1979 and 2004 film versions. There’s also a third film adaptation on the way… The podcast goes out on YouTube first and foremost — so we’d love you to like and subscribe over there. But also adding it here so…

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Podcast: Carrie — We All Float Down Here 38:20

1+ y ago38:20

38:20

Hello and welcome to the We All Float Down Here podcast. Today we talk in detail about Stephen King’s debut, Carrie, what we love, what we don’t love as much, and same applies to all the movies. The podcast goes out on YouTube first and foremost — so we’d love you to like and subscribe over there. But also adding it here so you can find it on Subst…

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Video Poem: The Billy Joel Madrigals 3:03

1+ y ago3:03

3:03

This is a first go at recording a video of a new poem. The text can be read or shared here: Sounds Good! is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Thank you for reading Sounds Good! . This post is public so feel free to share it. Get full access to Sounds Good! at simon…

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Poetry Reading: Richard 3rd LIVE — aka even more ‘Richard Poems’, third time lucky 6:01

1+ y ago6:01

6:01

Hey there, here’s a new set of recordings — more from the files of ‘The Richard Poems’. You’ll remember I have shared two previous times reading, as I try to get to grips with these new poems, and work on the idea of creating an actual show: And, if you’re playing at home, I like to give you the option to read along — so below are the poems feature…

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Sweetman Podcast # 276: Jon Ronson 32:09

1+ y ago32:09

32:09

I’m a huge fan of Jon Ronson. I’ve been following his work for around 25 years now, and when I wrote a short piece here recently plugging his upcoming Wellington gig, I could never have believed I might get to actually talk with him. First of all, I couldn’t believe my luck that he was coming to NZ. I was trying to work out how to afford a trip to …

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Sweetman Podcast # 275: Henry Rollins 45:59

1+ y ago45:59

45:59

An in-depth phone conversation with Henry Rollins. We promo his then-upcoming (2023) NZ tour but also talk about his move to Nashville, after 40 years of living in LA. We talk about his childhood, his recent return to travel, the Covid Lockdowns, his acting, his writing, his radio show. The works. Henry weighs in on America and politics, and previe…

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Poetry Reading: 3 More ‘Richard Poems’ — LIVE 5:54

1+ y ago5:54

5:54

You’ll remember that last month I went down to the Fringe Bar and read some new poems: I’ve decided I’ll try get along and read some more of the new “Richard” poems. I’m trying to learn to sit in the moment with these poems, to let them hang. I’m bantering away between them because there’s tension, then release, and hopefully some relief. There’s n…

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Poetry Reading: 3 ‘Richard Poems’ — LIVE 4:00

2y ago4:00

4:00

I took myself down to Poetry in Motion’s regular monthly open-mic night. There’s always a feature poet, but a few slots for open-mic readings in the first half of the evening. Here is a warts-n-all live recording of three new poems from me, with a little context around the poems — and my return to open-mic reading after a lengthy absence. Finding m…