Cassettes

by Matthew M. Bartlett

In November of 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Matthew M. Barteltt joined the Great Resignation and immediately began work on a five-year project suggested and inspired by Jonathan Dennison of Cadabra the WXXT Program Guide, a yearly fiction chapbook subscription service. The stories in this volume are from the first year of chapbooks. Come join us, once again, in the signal-slain city of Leeds, Massachusetts.

Paul Cooperford, owner and proprietor of Fuzzbuzz Records and Tapes, offers for sale, among the usual audio recordings in a variety of genres, a collection of amateurly produced cassettes featuring found recordings and field recordings whose contents range from the bizarre to the truly horrific. One of Cooperford's favored clients has diabolical ties to a certain radio station out of Leeds, Massachusetts. You're listening to WXXT - the reels with the squeals and the rotten deals, the tapes of the japes of the Pioneer Valley.

211 pages, Paperback

Published April 14, 2025

About the author

Matthew M. Bartlett was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1970. He writes dark and strange fiction at his home in Western Massachusetts, where he lives with his wife Katie and an unknown number of cats.

Reviews

[Tom Coombe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Something of a mixed bag, which is to be expected, given the nature of the book. Still, some of the stories (thinking mainly of "The Telehealth Call" and "You Ess Bee") are among Bartlett's strongest work.