Short Story Wednesday: The Vedika Ray File

“The Vedika Ray File” by Vern Hume is a speculative mystery story published on the Makeshift Stories podcast on February 1, 2026. (Audio)

I chose this story for how it deals with exposition, but those of you interested in self-publication I want to talk about that first. Vern has made a public place to share his stories through his website and podcast and has been consistently publishing since 2008. He’s done interviews to promote his stories, he’s been nominated for podcasting awards, and he’s currently working on a print collection. All good things. What I love about the “Vedika” episode in particular is what he achieves with the control that comes with self-publishing. He is able to squeeze every ounce of possibility from the audio medium: he turns his real-life podcast into the main character’s podcast and uses multiple narrators and vocal filters to make it sound like a podcaster/amateur detective put it together. It’s so immersive that if you played it outside the context of Makeshift, you might wonder if it were a true-crime story. I don’t think it would have had the same effect in print.

In terms of exposition, the narrator’s roles as the podcaster and main character also make the inclusion of backstory seamless. Backstory is tricky; you need to be able to create a question in the reader’s mind that requires you to share backstory, then only give as much as is necessary to avoid slowing the pace. In “Vedika,” the narrator is talking directly to the audience as a podcaster, so anytime he comes up against a piece of information the reader needs to make sense of the situation, he can include it as information he gathered specifically to share. And because he’s the amateur sleuth, the information also serves to advance the plot. This format makes the back and forth between action and backstory into a conversation between narrator and reader, which is exactly what it should feel like. Give it a listen!

Each Wednesday, I review my favourite published story I’ve read during the past week. If you’d like to join me by reviewing a short story on your blog each Wednesday, email me the link to your post, and I’ll share it below. I learned of Short Story Wednesday from Patricia Abbot’s blog.