A Polished Tale [All The Best 24h race]

A Polished Tale [All The Best 24h race]

From Art, in all the wrong places by M. Cristina Marras

December 19, 2025 · 9 min · Episode 64

About this episode

A woman's new home feels haunted by unseen presences, exploring themes of perception and imagination.

A woman's perfect new home begins to feel inhabited by presences she can't quite see. In the corner of her eye, they move. When she turns, they vanish. A psychological tale of perception, paranoia, and the fine line between reality and imagination. This piece is partly autobiographical, and partly an homage to Giorgio Manganelli 's masterpiece Centuria - 100 Romanzi Fiume ( Centuria: One Hundred Ouroboric Novels ), a book consisting of one hundred very short absurd, enigmatic, and dreamlike stories that I read at a very young age and that had a huge impact on my artistic practice. I created A Polished Tale as part of All The Best Radio 's 24h Race , an exciting annual event, a creative challenge that gives producers 24 hours to conceptualise, record, and produce short stories on a specific theme, this year it was 'mirrored'. If you have never taken part in a radio race, I encourage you to: it is so much fun, and, at least with All The Best, it is completely free to participate. Enjoy the ride! Reply on Bluesky

People in this episode

Host: M. Cristina Marras

Topics covered

  • psychological tale
  • perception
  • paranoia
  • reality vs imagination
  • autobiographical
  • creative challenge

Keywords

  • psychological
  • perception
  • paranoia
  • reality
  • imagination
  • Giorgio Manganelli
  • creative challenge

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Centuria - 100 Romanzi Fiume

More episodes of Art, in all the wrong places

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Art, in all the wrong places podcast page.