#Bell Summers/Gwen Hartley

[delaneytalks-tostatues]

What if I cosplay Bell Summers? What then?

And then what if I make my super amazing and hot girlfriend who I am tragically long distance with finally listen to SSttL and cosplay Gwen Hartley?? What then???

[boombox-fuckboy]

hey there! might I ask for a podcast rec pls?

Second Star To The Left

Sci-Fi

Audio logs of Gwen Hartley, a scout sent to explore and establish early infastructure on a new world, and her communications with Bell Summers, the minder in charge of keeping her alive. Also featuring the excellent bedtime stories she tells to her (non-sentient but regardless adored) robot companion Boots. I like it.

[re-dracula]

Tune in for some behind the scenes info as Hannah Wright talks about producing, directing, editing, and more. This interview contains spoilers for the second half of the novel!

Topics include:

Sending so many emails

The "as bisexual as possible" tone indicator

Deciding content warnings

What the directing process was like

Being a fan of your collaborators

Forgetting Hugh Jackman

The casting process

Running the Re: Dracula Tumblr

Transcript here.

Dialogue editing by Tal Minear. The transcript was done by Rook Mogavero.

Audio Dramas Mentioned:

Inn Between: a fantasy-adventure between adventures, wherein five heroes encounter monsters, magic, fighting, and friendship in the conveniently located Goblin’s Head Inn. There will be laughs. There will be bickering. There will be character development. It's made by our very own Hannah Wright!

CARAVAN: a weird-west audio drama about going through hell with the people you love. It features our very own Giancarlo Herrera!

Super Suits: In a world full of superpowers, where superheroes and supervillains take to the courts as often as they take to the rooftops, Harper Hallo is the newest associate at the biggest law firm in Megalopolis!

Second Star to the Left: Scout-explorer Gwen Hartley has five years to explore and prepare her planet for settlement. With no aid but her robots and the anxious voice of her long-distance scout-minder Bell Summers in her ear, she's hoping to be ready for anything.

[skyfullofpods]

197 is @secondstartotheleftpodcast!

Gwen Hartley is a scout, one of many who has trained to be sent to uninhabited planets in order to explore and prepare them for settlement - and to do that alone for years. After she arrives on her new home, it turns out that she’s not completely alone, as her scout-minder Bell Summers has been trying to contact her.

A completed series of ten episodes.

[bekabloodhound]

A few for your consideration:

Moonbase Theta, Out: it's 2098 and the last Moonbase is being shut down, while megacorps, enclaves and conglomerates make the world worse.

Camlann: Set in post-apocalyptic Wales, and inspired by folklore and Arthurian legends, three lovable idiots and their dog try to survive.

Where the Stars Fell: Dr. Edison Tucker and Lucille Kensington, author, become roommates in the strangest town in America. Even more strangely, Ed is the Antichrist and Lucy her guardian angel and they have to find a way to work together to save the world...only neither of them know that yet.

Apollyon: In the early 22nd century, the Apollyon virus wiped out 75% of the population. Now Dr. Theo Ramsey, a research scientist, may have just discovered a vaccine, and the stakes are even higher than she realizes.

Desperado: Three people from around the world, chosen by their respective death gods, try to survive and protect their heritage from modern-day crusaders.

Second Star to the Left: Not really an end of the world story, but a beginning of the world one. Scout-explorer Gwen Hartley has 5 years to prepare her new planet for its first settlers. Her only connection to humanity is via her regular check-ins with her scout-minder, Bell Summers.

gimmme them audio drama recs!!!!

i've just finished wolf 359 and i need sm to fill the void- i also really enjoyed Magnus archives + protocol and malevolent. I like charectar driven podcasts with an end of the world-y plot. I prefer audiodramas with some dialogue aswell

[goonlalagoon]

A smile in your heart (no better place to start) || Second Star to the Left

Read on Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/33459862

(Spoilers through to end of ep 10 ahead)

It’s been weeks - months - and Bell’s thought about what they could say, when they’re finally on the ground and face to face with Gwen for the first time. Thank you, that’s a strong contender; they know themselves well enough to know they’re more likely to go with how did you do it? Maybe this time they’ll actually be able to say I love you, though Gwen seems adept at picking it up even when they can’t put the words to it. In their head, they planned for it to be - not dramatic, because they’re supposed to be a fugitive and they don’t want to draw attention, but meaningful. The kind of memory that’s something to think back on with misty eyes and fond words.

Capital-R-Romantic, as Gwen termed it so long ago, that first grudging conversation.

What they actually say is,

“Wow, you really do have a great jawline.”

It’s…admittedly not the worst thing they’ve ever said to someone they have a crush on, but that isn’t exactly the metric Bell wanted to measure this by. They’re standing just feet away from each other, drinking each other in. The silence starts to shade awkward before Gwen swallows, shrugs, gives a shaky smile. Bell remembers a letter, one of the first, remembers reading the clouds are all blurry and the twisting mix of regret and guilty relief, because they didn’t want Gwen to be upset but they couldn’t help but cling onto the fact that she was, that someone was upset on their behalf.

“Well, I never got to see your school graduating photos, so I had no expectations of your jawline, Bell, but hey! It’s a pretty good one too, so congratulations!”

Gods, they’ve missed that laugh.

Someone interrupts them then, of course, because the settler ship has just landed and scout Hartley is very much in demand by everyone, not just Bell. There’s a whole crew of people looking to start a new life, and all of them need their scout to tell them what to do, where to go, what to watch out for. They wave a forlorn goodbye, find a place to sit and idly look around, trying to match this new settlement (very new, scout Summers could probably gauge to the day when these buildings were set up by the wear and tear, even after all this time) to every overheard exploit they’d listened in on over the years.

Gwen had moved the settlement into the trees, combined the natural firebreak with dug trenches to add a layer of defence. There’s a clear track that Bell would bet leads straight to water by the quickest route, an escape path to the coast. They think that perhaps the two of them should put their heads together, figure out emergency bundles for evacuation protocols. Food and water, a spare repair kit for any prosthetics…by the time they find Gwen again, hours of running around helping the settlers - the other settlers - move in, Gigo has a whole list stored. Ideas and checks and suggestions that Bell got halfway through recording before realising that maybe Gwen already thought of all of this and they no longer needed to jot everything down to cram into their four hour window of contact.

They live on the same planet, now. There’s no limit on contact, except that the first several months after settlement are absolute chaos for the scout, and from what Bell recalled hadn’t seemed likely to slow down even before the apocalypse threw everything out the metaphorical window.

Maybe with two of them with scout training it’ll be less…just less. Gwen might be able to get if not the mandated six hours of sleep at least enough to average out more at four or five. They weren’t going to comment on it, but it was easy to tell she hadn’t been getting her full rest anyway - probably hadn’t for months, dark circles under her eyes like permanent bruises.

They’re standing awkward feet away from each other again, and Bell knows there’s going to have to be a conversation about that soon, because it hadn’t really occurred to them before that they know a lot of things about Gwen, years and years of stories and rambling conversations, but there’s things you don’t learn without being in person. Personal space, definitions and comfort thereof, the body language and facial expressions to interpret to know what’s welcomed and what isn’t.

“Hey, so, uh…I know there’s a protocol that I’m supposed to follow when my settlers arrive, and all, but there’s something else I want to do instead.” Bell huffs a laugh, steals a shy glance to see Gwen’s answering smirk.

“Another sworn class tradition to fulfil?”

“Nope! We never talked that far ahead except as jokes. We knew the stats, y’know? But - you told me, the first day, that I should watch the sunrise, that that was something I shouldn’t miss, my first morning. And I don’t…we don’t have that, but I’ve had a long time to find my own wonderfully inspiring views of nature here and I wanted - Bell, you haven’t been on a planet for years and you were with me through everything, but you’ve never seen any of it in real life and I want to show you all of it, and I know where to start.”

Bell thinks about muttering about protocol, for the form of it, for the joke that can be dragged out of it, familiar banter, but they decide not to. It’s no longer their job to care about protocol, and anyway the only reason they cared about the protocol was to keep their scouts safe. Gwen is standing right in front of them, leaning gently against Boots with a casually familiar stance - if they pointed it out, Bell knows she wouldn’t even have thought about it. This is just what Gwen does, when she’s standing about with nothing to do with her hands; rests an elbow companionably atop Boots, one foot hooked around a standing leg and balanced on the toe of her boot.

Gwen is standing right there, safe and alive and happy, so protocol can sort itself, thanks.

(Bell realises they have their own hands in their pockets, their own casual stance, and wonders if Gwen is noticing that too, drinking in all of the unconcious habits that it would never occur to either of them to verbalise. All the little tics and quirks that don’t translate over a FTL comms.)

It’s not a long walk, and it’s more silent than Bell would have guessed, but it’s comfortable. Novel, really, to not have to narrate things aloud because they can just look and see what Gwen is doing, can point at a bird with a dorsal fin and pause to watch it flutter around rather than try to describe it.

They can’t stop stealing glances sideways, catching Gwen more often than not doing the same, both of them collapsing into giggles about it each time. It’s just so surreal, to be walking side by side, after all this time. It feels like a dream, like one of the stories Gwen tells Boots at night - once upon a time, there were two explorers, setting out through the trees…

The light dances on the waves, well below their cliff edge destination. At some point Gwen must have rolled a fallen log over to act as a bench, because it’s too well placed to be natural and there’s a fire-pit dug and lined with careful stones. Close enough to be cosy, but far away from the treeline itself to be safe. The light is dancing on the waves and the grass is drifting in the breeze, a periwinkle blue that Bell is used to seeing in photos if they thought of it at all. Something that had seemed so wonderful and new, when scout Hartley made her first observations, but had drifted into commonplace. A detail that wasn’t worth mentioning any more.

“One day, I’m going to make a boat and go explore that.” Gwen waves grandly at the horizon; she’s leaning her head on Bell’s shoulder, and Bell has decided that they will happily never move again. The two of them can just stay there, forever, Gwen’s head on their shoulder and the soft whisper of waves below. “Once my settlers are…settled, and can be left without supervision for more than a few hours at a time.”

“Already missing the solitude? Mourning all that lovely peace and quiet?”

“What solitude? I had a very efficient scout minder in my ear, I’ll have you know! I didn’t have time to get used to the peace and quiet before beep, time for another check in. Hartley, have you followed the itinary, Hartley, did you maintain a reasonable sleep schedule, Hartley, have you eaten a balanced meal at your officially directed time selected for nutritional optimisation…”

“I’m honestly surprised that you went for reminding me of my remote presence first rather than protesting that Boots was with you the whole time. And I would also like to ask, in the spirit of enquiry, have you done any of those things without my input?” Gwen shakes with barely suppressed laughter and doesn’t bother answering; Bell tries not to join in, because Gwen’s head is still on their shoulder and they’re still determined not to dislodge it until they really have to. “And…hey, I also told you to go watch the sunrise, and you found this instead. I - when did you find this? You never mentioned a little ocean watching viewpoint.”

“I - uh, set it up a few months ago. I didn’t know if it had worked, or if it had all gone wrong, or - and I spent so long pacing around here and wondering what you’d think of the view…”

“Aw, and you say I’m a romantic.”

“With a capital R, yes, you so are. I’m your favourite person, you said so, it was very romantic.”

“That was possibly the least romantic declaration of love that has ever been given. I congratulated you on your jawline, Gwen, I write poetry in my spare time and that was the best I could come up with. I should have just stopped talking - writing, I don’t even have the excuse of not being able to edit it out, the first bit was fine but I kept rambling.”

“It was romantic and I loved it and I have saved all of your letters in three separate back ups to make sure I don’t lose any of them.”

Bell laughs, curls an arm around Gwen’s shoulders as easy as breathing, and lets themselves relax for what feels like the first time in months. A flock of birds takes off from the trees, darting past them over the cliff edge, setting out over the waves. The sun glints off their feathers, the raised fin, a riot of colour catching the light as they watch, leaning against each other, shoulder to shoulder. Gwen is beaming out at it all, and Bell can feel their cheeks creasing to match.

It isn’t a sunrise, but this - this is something close enough, a snapshot of a new world, a new horizon that they get to learn, the first day of a new life.

[hatnhousejacket]

somft post series domesticity my beloved 💕

[artblahrg]

“ … for now, Bell, I’m warm and safe. That’s something.”

[image ID: digital drawing of Gwen and Bell from Second Star To The Left, sitting with their backs to each other. The image has a yellow/orange hue that transitions into a soft purple/blue from left to right.

Gwen is on the left leaning back casually, she has a prosthetic right leg glowing a soft green. She has her mouth open as though speaking. Beside her is a spherical-shaped robot with flappy ears that is showing the letters “z Z z” on its screen.

Bell on the right is sitting in front of a computer with both hands over their glowing keyboard. They are wearing round glasses, a long-sleeved shirt, and overalls with both straps buttoned over one shoulder. Beside them is a robot with a rectangular head, showing an image of pixelated happy eyes as it looks up at them. end ID]

[chocochipbiscuit]

Judging from poll results:

More of you need to listen to this podcast. It's amazing, COMPLETE (so you can binge!), heartwarming, heartbreaking, and wraps you up in a hug by the end.

Nutshell summary: Scout-explorer Gwen Hartley has five years to explore and prepare her planet for settlement. With no aid but her robots and the anxious voice of her long-distance scout-minder Bell Summers in her ear, she's hoping to be ready for anything.

It's about connections and distance and (eventually) biting back against their shitty corporate overlords! Also I really love the little bedtime stories at the end of each episode!

[violetren]

Post series Bell and Gwen (whether on purpose or not) abso-fucking-lutely laid the groundwork for what'd be one of the first new settlement worlds to try and lobby for independence from the conglomerate or whatever that sent them to settle it.

I'm not saying it necessarily happens in their lifetimes, but like their planet cedes itself and everyone is like "eh whatever, their funeral" only to be like "wait, this isn't what was meant to happen" after they open trade with Drift and Mikail's planet and end up a thriving little Planetary Republic.

[delaneytalks-tostatues]

do you have any thoughts on podcast characters and scene queen songs you'd like to share? :)

OH BOY DO I this will not be as put together as the Chappell and Pasithea one because I haven't sat down and written this out before:

Sophie Green would absolutely LOVE Milf, she'd think it's the funniest shit and also "wrote my duck into a song made the genre change // big shotgun cock 'cause you know I've got range" is SUCH a her lyric

She would also be a big fan of Pink Panther and Pink Hotel i think. And Pink Whitney.

Jane would not actually be a SQ girlie realistically I don't think, but Pink Push-up Bra, Pink Barbie Bandaid, and The Rapture (but it's Pink) are Jane songs

Moving on from Pasithea, Captain Isabel Lovelace, the woman that she is 🥰🥰🥰🥰 Pink Whitney, Pink Barbie Bandaid, The Rapture (but it's Pink), Pink Rover, Pink Push-up Bra, Pink Paper--actually you know what Lovelace is just the entire discography tbh, it's the absolutely Unbridled (and justified) Rage--

Hera would probably not want to admit it but she enjoys when Lovelace plays Scene Queen. (I think as she starts to understand music as an emotional outlet she consumes as much of it as she possibly can but that's another conversation.

Moving on from Wolf, Gwen Hartley and Bell Summers I think get a kick out of Barbie and Ken. It's a fun little duet for them!

[quinoariver]

forever making each other tea and telling stories in space

image description: an inked traditional drawing of Bell and Gwen holding hands and mugs of tea. They're bith wearing glasses and overalls with tool belts on them. Bell has a messy bob haircut and is smiling slightly. Gwen has wavy cheek length hair and seems to be talking. ID end.

[adrie-75014]

*rolls up sleeves* ya girl loves sapphic podcasts! Adding on, though most of my suggestions below lean more sci-fi than supernatural. There’s a good overlap with supernatural and horror, and I’m a wimp so I haven’t listened to as many in that category! Where The Stars Fell: Dr. Edison Tucker is having a very weird life. Not being able to die tends to color things that way. Lucille Kensington is the literary scene’s biggest enigma. That’s just the way she likes it. When the pair find themselves sharing a cabin in the strangest town in America— Jerusalem, OR— they’re prepared for a housemate situation from hell. What they’re not expecting is tidings of a stranger sort... If you like WTSF, I *highly* recommend subscribing to their Patreon (if you are able) for some really lovely queer af written prose bonus stories of these two.

Elixir: Queer urban fantasy, magic - by Realm, styled somewhere between audio drama and audiobook. A prohibition-inspired fantasy podcast about an upper class woman forced to descend into the magical speakeasies of the underbelly of the city to find her missing sister.

The Pasithea Powder: On a faraway world, Captain Sophie Green is recovering from a war that ripped her planet apart and left her personal relationships for dead. Among the many atrocities committed on both sides was the invention of Pasithea Powder, a drug with memory altering properties. Thankfully, the drug has been eradicated and only a handful of scientists—now political prisoners—know how to recreate it. When Sophie sees one of those scientists walking free, she has no choice but to turn to an estranged friend for help. 

Null/Void: science fiction audio drama about a young woman, Piper Lee, whose life is saved by a mysterious voice named Adelaide. Piper soon uncovers a malicious plot by a monopoly of a tech company and must work with her friends and an unusual ally to help foil their deadly plot.

The 12:37: After she accidentally ends up on a time-travelling train, scientist Nora must find a way to return home.

Second Star to the Left: - futuristic, sci-fi - Scout-explorer Gwen Hartley has five years to explore and prepare her planet for settlement. With no aid but her robots and the anxious voice of her long-distance (non-binary) scout-minder Bell Summers in her ear, she's hoping to be ready for anything. Truly a beautiful story and podcast -  incredibly written, acted, and built out. A sweet story of connection, community even though isolation, and love in all its forms. STRANGE CASE OF THE STARSHIP IRIS! - okay this is again much more sci-fi/space opera but...i love it a lot. In 2189, Earth narrowly won a war against extraterrestrials. The Strange Case of Starship Iris is about what comes after. It's a story of outer space, survival, espionage, resistance, identity, friendship, found family, romance, and secrets. Fall in love with the rebellious crew of this spaceship on this queer ass space future podcast with a slow burn romance and an alien pilot who says “nope” to the gender binary. At times cheesy, always heartfelt and hopeful.

---

If you have interest in VERY VERY NSFW sexual content, Episodes 2 and 7 of Monstica are not romantic, but they are f/f supernatural pairings, and by the same creator you can also find several other sapphic one-off stories. 

WHERE ARE THE SAPPHIC SUPERNATURAL PODCASTS??

We got @believerpod

We got large casts with sapphic ladies (Hi Nay, Night Post, Care and Feeding of Werewolves)

But I want more sapphic main pairings!

[skyfullofpods]

S is for @secondstartotheleftpodcast!

Gwen Hartley has trained to be a scout, one of many sent to uninhabited planets to explore and prepare them for settlement - alone for years. But after she arrives on the planet, it turns out that she’s not completely alone, as her scout-minder Bell Summers has been trying to contact her. 

A completed 10-part series.

[secondstartotheleftpodcast]

FULL SEASON TRAILER: Second Star to the Left

A queer sci-fi podcast about loneliness, wonder, and connection in space.

Written by E. Jade Lomax (ink-splotch/dirgewithoutmusic) and Aysha Farah / Directed and Edited by Rachel Kellum

Starring Ishani Kanetkar and Jorin Baas

Our ten episode show premieres February 20th!

Listen to our FULL trailer here:

Listen on Spotify

Listen on Castos

Trailer transcript below cut:

BELL

Sighs. Gwendolyn Hartley, Scout-Explorer class of ‘66. My name is Bell Summers, and I’ve been assigned to work as your minder for your five year mission. They assigned me three months ago, which is when I first tried and failed to contact you.

GWEN

That’s not my fault, okay-- we were trained with the computer system, you know. I didn’t know I was blocking out a real live person every time I denied the computer speech access.

BELL

You’re a real scout now. Things don’t go like they do in training.

     <Ping>

GWEN

So are you going to, like, listen to everything I do, Summers?

BELL

Yes, but I’m only on your direct line four hours every other day. The rest of your time is yours.

GWEN

The rest of my time is the settlement office’s. But I get what you mean.

     <Ping>

BELL

--you’re going to exhaust yourself, and fall down a crevice, and--

GWEN

I bet you’re great at parties.

BELL

I bet you stand on tables.

     <Ping>

GWEN

It’s just a routine malfunction? From what you were saying, it seemed like they were really freaked.

BELL

Wouldn’t you be if you dropped out of hyperspeed?

Their sensors went haywire for a few seconds with some sort of broadband radio burst, and now he says it’s like they’re being dragged backwards-- even though there’s nothing out there. But Nguyen’s always been fanciful when he’s frazzled. He’s got a good first mate, they’ll calm him down.

GWEN

What if it’s not a malfunction? What if it's not the ship? Did he send you a recording of the radio burst?

BELL

It’s Nguyen, he sent me everything. (IRRITATED) Except the engine readings

     <Ping>

GWEN

Listen, Captain Fakir--

FAKIR

Oh, Captain. I like that. I think I like you Gwen Hartley.

GWEN

Fantastic.

FAKIR (THREATENING)

It’s a good thing when management likes you.

     <Ping>

BELL

Just… checking Mikail’s line again. I wish they gave us more feeds on you guys. I don’t understand how I’m expected to do this work with nothing but a comm line.

GWEN

Live data streams are expensive.

BELL

Expense is not a valid prioritization when making decisions about individuals’ lives and safety.

GWEN

We signed a contract. We signed on for this.

BELL

I am aware.

     <Ping>

BELL

At some point you need to wonder how much your life is worth.

     <Ping>

GWEN

Scouts sign up knowing the risks.

     <Ping>

BELL

We were the ugly truth.

     <Ping>

FAKIR

How many wrenches does one scout-minder need?

     <Ping>

BELL

Gwen I don’t want to regret any of this, please.

Maybe you would have made different decisions-- or I would have. I can learn from this, I can hate some of the things that are happening--

But I’m glad to have known Mikail, and Priyanka... and you.

     <Music starts up>

     <Music continues under words>

GWEN

The sky, Peter... I wish you could see it. It's blue, but the shading's not quite right. I can't think what to call it other than 'blue,' but it's so easy to see I'm nowhere near home.

It's funny. I lived a year in space, and I'll probably never fly again.

But I've got lots to do.

BOOTS

Whirr, beep

GWEN

Hey Boots, yeah, what you think? Gonna be a good day?

BOOTS

BEEP-boop

     <Music continues>

Second Star to the Left. Launching February 20th 2021

     <Music continues>

[ink-splotch]

A sci-fi audio drama from Aysha Farah (Friendsim, Hiveswap Act 2, Pesterquest, The Sky Left Us/Ratworm Games) & E. Jade Lomax (ink-splotch/dirgewithoutmusic, Stay?, sortinghatchats)

Directed & edited by Rachel Kellum @geniusface

Starring Ishani Kanetkar (@thevoicefromthestars , The Godshead Incidental, Starship Iris, Valence) and Jorin Baas (Etceteraverse, Hi I'm Case, @casejackal )

Scout-explorer Gwendolyn Hartley (Kanetkar) is on a five-year mission to map, study, and prepare a planet for settlement. It’s a hard job and lonely one, but she’s been chasing this dream all her life. Gwen’s only connections back to humanity are the letters she sends home and the anxious voice of her assigned scout-minder in her ear.

Bell Summers (Baas) is on a five-year mission to monitor, support, and advise three scout-explorers as they prepare undeveloped planets in quadrant 530-D for settlement. Listening from their rented berth on a local space station, Bell is always a step away from the action. The untamed vistas, biological marvels, and dangers of the planets are just sounds on their short-range FTL communicator.

Missing the things she’s lost or left behind, Gwen is determined to love and protect her new home. Cautious and stubborn, Bell is determined to get all their scouts through this alive. They didn’t intend to fall for a place-- or a face-- that they’ve never seen.

Coming February 20th to a podcast app near you!