Lightning has struck Sudapod towers once again and, as every week, something horrifying

slouches towards your ears, waiting to be heard. One follows his horror to the core,

proceed only if you wish to be disturbed, as well as entertained.

Sudapod Episode 863 for April 28, 2023. For our Twilight Zone showcase of strange stories,

we have two short pieces, Coincidence and the Dream, both written by AJ Allen,

and read for you by Matt Dovey and Phil Lunt respectively, hosted by your co-editor, Sean Garrett,

and Audio Production by Chelsea Davis. These stories first appeared in the London magazine,

April and June of 1927 respectively. Leslie Harrison Lambert, known in public as AJ Allen,

was an English stage magician, intelligence officer, short story writer, and radio broadcaster.

At the beginning of World War II, he worked in Naval Intelligence of Bletchley Park. Lambert contacted

a member of the BBC to suggest he might tell one of his own short stories on the radio.

This offer was accepted, and so as AJ Allen, he broadcasted my Adventure in Jeremy's Street

on January 31, 1924. Following his immediate success, he quickly became one of the most

popular broadcasting personalities of the time. He went to considerable trouble over writing

each story, taking a couple of months, and only broadcasting about five times a year.

For the stories, he carefully constructed an apparently extemporary conversational style,

making his stories seem like anecdotes concerning strange events that had happened to him.

The endings were whimsical and unexpected.

Matt Dovey, the narrator of our first story, is very tall, very British, and probably drinking

a cup of tea right now. He lives in quite market town in rural England with his wife and three

children. As of 2022, he's the host of podcasts, and his own short fiction is out and forthcoming

all over the place. You can keep up with it at matdovey.com or find him timeboisting on Twitter as

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