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 …

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…

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…

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 …

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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 …

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…

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…

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…

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A bit of ambient chillBy Simon Sweetman

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Tuatara by Simon SweetmanBy Simon Sweetman

Synth instrumentalBy Simon Sweetman

Humour Me, Badalamenti by Simon SweetmanBy Simon Sweetman

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My Mum by Simon SweetmanBy Simon Sweetman

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Scream Sequence by Simon SweetmanBy Simon Sweetman

Everybody Wants To Fool The World by Simon SweetmanBy Simon Sweetman

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Hi and welcome back to the podcast. I’ve had a huge break. This has been for a bunch of reasons – but really it was because of the pandemic. Lockdowns killed my flow, I didn’t want to just do phone and Skype chats. And then, ever since hitting ‘stop’ it’s been very hard to press ‘play’ again. Or in fact to hit ‘Record’. But here I am again, with th…

An in-depth conversation with repeat-guest, Megan Dunn. This time around we're talking about her memoir-in-essays, "Things I Learned At Art School". She was previously a guest, back in 2018 when her first book, "Tinderbox" was released. We talked parenting and pandemic and writing about art, writing about writing. We talked mermaids and the TV show…

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Residual by Simon SweetmanBy Simon Sweetman

Rearviewmirror by Simon SweetmanBy Simon Sweetman

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The Day Harrison Died by Simon SweetmanBy Simon Sweetman

Torch Song For My Father by Simon SweetmanBy Simon Sweetman

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Your Mate by Simon SweetmanBy Simon Sweetman

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