#haven’t actually listened to much of ars PARADOXICA

[badpodcastcrossovers]

Some Podcasts as Welcome to Night Vale Quotes

Because I can. These are just the ones I could find quotes for, or that I'm subscribed to, so I may post an updated version later.

The Magnus Archives: There’s no cause for concern. We’re way past that now. If you’re not feeling mild terror then you haven’t been paying attention

The Penumbra Podcast (Junoverse): It is the good and the bad. It is the sound of the world. A world that will kill you, but also a world that will allow you to live

Wolf 359: I come to you live from under my desk, where I dragged my microphone and am currently hiding in the fetal position.

Archive 81: *static* *rising tones* *abrupt end of episode*

Eos 10: The Night Vale Medical Board announced today that they can’t help you. Not if you’re gonna keep screaming like that! They also asked that you clean up a bit before you come in. They don’t want to get sick!

Death by Dying: Death is only the end if you assume the story is about you

Stellar Firma: We have nothing to fear except ourselves. We are unholy, awful people. Fear ourselves with silence. Look down, look down, and forget what you've done.

Brimstone Valley Mall: There’s a special place in Hell. It’s really hip. Very exclusive.

Ars PARADOXICA: Time is weird. So is space. I hope ours match again someday

The Amelia Project: if you see something, say nothing and drink (cocoa) to forget

Startripper!!: Space tip: bring a sweater

The Orbiting Human Circus (of the air): I'm a single issue voter. If the candidate is not a baby polar bear, I straight up cannot vote for them.

[ofhiddenthings]

ok heres all the fiction podcasts ive listened to! roughly in order of how much i liked them. if anyone has any recs for things other than these to listen to please tell me i need more

the silt verses - oh my godd favorite podcast. i love its trans voice actors. i think it and eskew recently got added to the same network as tma but i listened to them before they were so i’m still cool. too good to spoil. page my beloved

i am in eskew - basically only putting silt verses higher because it’s not finished yet and eskew is. also the audio quality of silt verses is better. amazing fucked up city. the horror parts in this are better than anything ive seen anywhere else. henry if u see this idk if u listen to podcasts rn but this feels up your alley for sure

the strange case of starship iris - im soft for these characters.. theyre the best and i love them.. this is exactly my shit. im trying to find information on whether another season is coming but idk :(

limetown - if anything is a classic of the medium it’s this. it’s just really good. kinda hits the weird city button too... i basically made this list going backwards because it’s so much easier to talk about things you dislike about something than things you do

the penumbra podcast junoverse - setting took some buy-in but it’s great. love the characters, esp in s3. love juno as a narrator. i think the weakest element is the plots of the actual mysteries. mick and jet r my fav characters. tbh i think nureyev is the least interesting of the bunch. also it was bad and unnecessary when they killed a cat in that one episode. i don’t understand how i can love the writing in this and hate it in second citadel when it’s the same people writing lol

passenger list - omg i love it. the mystery is so good. gets kind of out there in the second season but for good reason. basically the only one where the setting is completely real

ars paradoxica - i haven’t actually finished this one because i wanted to save the rest for when i could pay better attention for them and now they’ve been sitting in my downloads for literal years but i LOVED the first two seasons. single best time-travel story out there.

within the wires - very good first two seasons. others are a bit hit or miss, i liked season 5 well enough, but tbh the world that they all tie into isn’t all that interesting to me, the seasons connect to this greater history but not enough to each other? first podcast that i listened to that did the whole diegetic audio thing, and it does that part very well. it doesn’t justify the fact that every interesting plot beat is being recorded, it’s content with just showing a slice of its world.

wolf 359 - listened to this before i learned how to manage my poor attention so i think i missed a good portion of it. loved the characters, especially the villains. plot felt disjointed. good voice acting. i was going to relisten to it but then they announced “hey we’re going back and adding ads into every episode” and i was kinda like.. maybe not worth it then lol

unwell - i love how it all comes together. it’s little and cute and spooky. starts off real slow but maybe that’s a good thing cuz all the characters feel so human

welcome to night vale - feels unfair to rank this one. first fiction podcast i listened to and i think it had some very good arcs but basically everything since maybe desert bluffs has been boring to me except the khoshekh episodes that just got posted lol

the bright sessions - not as good as people say but i really liked it. the am archives is bad though. something about the way people solve problems in this kind of show

archive 81 - could have ended after the first season and i would have been happy. whole thing has some cool concepts but i was kinda uninterested in the overarching plots after that point. the horror part was pretty underwhelming tbh, but i gotta love Weird Ass Cities. i adore weird ass cities. this one just wasn’t weird enough i guess

the edge of sleep - this one is FUCKING SCARY. something about sleep freaks me out. also turns out markiplier is a good voice actor??

spines - i love how this starts out but it turns into something that i didn’t expect at all and wasn’t all that interested in but i really like the ending :)

it makes a sound - i swear this used to be a night vale presents thing but i cant find it on that website. i barely remember this but i remember thinking it was really nice and quaint and it had at least one song that i rly liked. i should probably put this lower but idc

magnus archives - this thing is too fucking long. it hit all my buttons honestly- episodic horror with enough interconnectedness to keep me interested- but tbh it disappointed. the way the world works is kind of boring. the finale was underwhelming and it felt like there was a lot of leadup for not all that much payoff. no relationship had literally any chemistry. i do not understand how this became like a tumblr ship haven. in fact the character i loved most was the avatar of the lonely (forgot which one he was, was it elias?) i remember i was listening to his big monologue history about like, him wandering around cities in the middle of the night, as i was literally wandering around the city in the middle of the night. discounting the actual plot, though, some of the individual tapes are very good. made me realize oh i actually do love horror

the deca tapes - wasn’t really sure where to put this one. it’s very short. i thought the concept was pretty unoriginal tbh and the way it just spoon feeds the background “these tapes got released!” plot to us is kind of boring. but i really liked the main mystery box plot and its execution, and the ending was pretty great.

the white vault - the pacing gets better in the later seasons i think but there really is just not enough information to go around. great premise, kinda drags, love many of the voice actors

this sounds serious - the casino season was pretty boring but i loved the first two as the commentary on the genre of, like, true crime investigation docuseries (?) that they are clearly meant to be. also it’s funny

brimstone valley mall - idk this seemed perfectly my kind of thing in theory but i just didn’t really seem to like it. some of the characters are great and some aren’t. i remember this is another one i listened to while wandering around new york at night. i think i could probably pull off a mall goth aesthetic

the penumbra podcast second citadel - uninteresting plot. uninteresting setting. writing feels, i don’t know, camp. tackling of social issues.. look i don’t really care. didn’t add anything for me- knowing that like “this society is homophobic like ours! but, like, not as much really,” like, come on. i think trying to tell a story influenced by real systems of oppression loses a lot when you fictionalize the setting like that. i don’t know i’m no expert. that said though it has some good character moments- i like damien a lot. tbh i really only listened to this to hear more of noah simes’ voice

zero hours - idk. the future stuff wasn’t all that interesting. some good stories though. loved the prohibition one

alice isn’t dead - loved the premise. felt like it lost something when alice was introduced as a speaking character. i feel like if i relistened to it now i would probably be able to like it more. this whole list suffers from recency bias

orbiting human circus - idk. didn’t get me

the last movie - putting this above the rest of its ilk because its scope is so limited. has some of the same problems as tanis, black tapes, etc. but i actually did like this one

bubble - just kinda not good

carrier - unmemorable

the left right game - i zoned out through most of this

tanis, rabbits, the black tapes - ughhhhhhh

[transarchivist]

Do you have any podcast recommendations? I've listened to tma, wolf359, the penumbra podcast, and like...half of night vale. You seem like you'd know some good ones!

!!!

I Am In Eskew is an absolute all-time favorite of mine! It’s very firmly horror, but not tragedy. Think… WTNV but 1. on a personal scale, 2. actually terrifying, and 3. not benign. It follows David Ward, inhabitant of the city Eskew, as he chronicles some of the terrifying stuff that happens to him. Eventually, we hear from Riyo Dulae, a private investigator who’s been pulled into Eskew’s orbit. It uses place-as-horror in an astonishing way! It’s a finished product with 30 episodes and the ending is honestly amazing. I’ve listened to it several times. It’s very good. Listen to it. Please.

This got long, so the rest of the recommendations are under the cut, and in no particular order! (Eskew is absolutely my top recommendation lol) Particularly sad endings and ongoing series are specified.

Janus Descending is a finished and relatively short sci-fi horror series. It follows two xenoarcheologists (archeologists for aliens) as they inspect the site of an abandoned alien civilization. It’s told in inverse chronological order, alternating between Chel and Peter’s perspectives. Chel’s is chronological, while Peter’s is backwards. It’s an amazing format and keeps you suspended in the mystery up until the very end! It is a tragedy, though, and has a sad ending.

ars PARADOXICA is an audio drama about time-travel and the Cold War. The synopsis is this: scientist Sally Grissom accidentally creates time travel, is transported back to the Cold War, and is entwined with a clandestine branch of the US government. It’s 3 seasons long- and I will say that if you’re not good with differentiating voices I recommend either listening to it without stopping for a long period and/or reading along to transcripts. The plot is intricate but engaging and the large cast of characters each has their own unique personality. Plus: canon ace main character (as in she says she’s asexual! in canon!), a Jewish lesbian semi-main character, a mlm (bi?) man of color side-character, and several other characters of color.

Mabel is an ongoing horror podcast with elements of fae/fairy lore and the place-as-horror theme. It’s not as outright horror as TMA, Eskew, or Janus Descending, it’s much more atmospheric? It’s several seasons in, with the next season currently in production. It follows Anna Limon, who is an in-home caretaker, trying to contact Mabel Martin, the granddaughter of the woman Anna is caring for. It has lots of wlw, lots of moral ambiguity, beautiful prose, and lots and lots of fae. 

Zero Hours is a 7 episode long anthology series by the creators of Wolf 359. Each episode deals with “the end of the world - or at least something that feels like the end of the world.” There’s 99-year intervals between episode and it starts in the past and ends in the far future. It’s honestly stunning and was well worth listening to in it’s entirety when it dropped (and subsequently staying up past midnight). 

The Bright Sessions is… kinda urban fantasy? The official synopsis is that TBS is a “science fiction podcast that follows a group of therapy patients. But these are not your typical patients - each has a unique supernatural ability. The show documents their struggles and discoveries as well as the motivations of their mysterious therapist, Dr. Bright.” (I tried explaining but was having a tricky time) The characters are amazingly written and unique. (And no, it doesn’t fall into the “evil therapist” idea, in case you were worried) One of the main characters is gay (and it isn’t a throwaway line). It has good and realistic representation of mental illnesses: a main character as a panic/anxiety disorder, another has PTSD, another has depression, and so on. The main show is finished but there’s a spin off that’s being made. Specifically happy ending!

Alice Isn’t Dead is a horror podcast by the creators of Night Vale. It follows Keisha, a trucker, who is looking for her wife, Alice. Keisha encounters many strange things as she drives back and forth across America, including murderous almost-human monsters, places that are stuck out of time, and a nation spanning conspiracy. It encompasses the whole… atmosphere of middle-of-nowhere America perfectly. It’s a complete story with a novel form (haven’t had the pleasure of reading it, though). Main character is wlw, and Alice is not dead.

Limetown is a horror podcast. It follows reporter Lia Haddock as she investigates the mystery of Limetown- a town in Tennessee where over 300 people disappeared overnight, never to be heard from again. It’s finished…? I think the podcast is finished but a book and a Facebook miniseries are in development? Anyways. Sad ending. I loved the first season a lot, the second season is good too though!

The Adventure Zone isn’t an audio drama, instead it’s an actual-play show of Dungeons and Dragons (and D&D like systems). The McElroy brothers and their dad host it, and are frankly absolutely hilarious. TAZ: Balance is the first season and starts as a classic d&d game but turns into an amazing and heart wrenching story with beautiful prose and music. And also 69 jokes. TAZ:B is honestly one of the most emotionally impacting stories I’ve ever heard. It has an amazingly happy and hopeful ending. Includes: casual lgbt rep and a late game but major character is a trans woman! I’ve heard good things about the recently finished season TAZ: Amnesty, although I haven’t finished it. There’s a new season, TAZ: Graduation, that started recently, and I’ve enjoyed the handful of episodes I’ve listened to! Currently ongoing, but tragic endings aren’t something that’s expected.

I haven’t finished/caught up with these, but I’ve enjoyed them: Sayer (sci-fi. think menacing capitalist Night Vale in space, heard s3/s4 are really good), The Bridge (horror, alternate modern day. follows a watchpost on a bridge that crosses the Atlantic), The Orbiting Human Circus (from the people at WTNV. surreal fiction. hard to explain). I feel like there’s more but I can’t remember any atm. 

I’m also gonna point you towards @theradioghost‘s blog and her podcast recs tag. Her taste is amazing and I haven’t disliked a single show I’ve tried. (Also, check out her show, Midnight Radio! It’s the next thing on my to-listen list.)

[kravitzz]

Podcast Recs 2019

Hey there! I’ve updated my list of podcast recommendations for 2019. This includes anything from my top favorites to stuff I haven’t gotten around to listening to yet! For a more up to date version of this list, please go here. 

 * = Favorite! ! = Caught Up # = In progress + = Need to listen

Fiction: *! Wolf 359: Starts off as a goofy space station slice-of-life comedy and spirals into something way, way deeper. Great characters, fantastic plot, and a really great concept overall. *# The Penumbra Podcast: A couple different plots, but primarily a futuristic space noir story. Really cheesy but in the best way, also super LGBT and fantastic and it just makes me so happy. # Beef and Dairy Network Podcast: Just a completely normal podcast about the inner workings of the beef and dairy industry. Nothing weird here, not at all. # Hello From The Magic Tavern: A podcast transmitted from the magical land of Foon! Really chill and funny improvised stuff # King Falls AM: A fun paranormal radio show sort of deal. I’m not far in enough to describe it better. # EOS 10: Doctors in space! It’s gay and funny and suspenseful, I adore the hell out of the writing.  # The Bright Sessions: Superhero therapy! Incredible character building, really cool show. # Within the Wires: I’m only an ep in and uh. I have no fucking clue what’s happening but it’s cool as shit so far.  # Everything Is Alive: A podcast where a guy interviews inanimate objects! It’s interesting and fun. *# Welcome to Nightvale: A classic! A radio show in a desert town that’s much odder than it seems.  # Done Disappeared: A parody of true-crime investigation podcasts. Dumb and funny.

+ Jim Robbie and the Wanderers + Dopple Avenue Hurt + The Thrilling Adventure Hour + Wooden Overcoats + Ars Paradoxica + The Far Meridian + The Strange Case of Starship Iris + Girl In Space + Inkwyrm + Immunities + Mission to Zixx +Kaleidotrope +Midnight Radio

Horror: *# The Magnus Archives: Jonathan Sims, head archivist of a paranormal research institute in London, reads the statements of people who have experienced horrifying things. Things go south very quickly for him and his assistants. HEAVY trigger warning, since it includes lots of the typical horror things such as gore, bugs, cannibalism, etc, but if you can handle it, I highly recommend this show. The writing and characters are so good. *! SCP Archives: Performed readings of different SCP stories. If you like SCP, this show is really good! # Alice Isn’t Dead: A fantastic spooky adventure with a gal trucking across the U.S. to find her missing wife! Made by the Nightvale folks, and it’s really intriguing and well produced. # The NoSleep Podcast: Different horror stories from r/nosleep, acted and read aloud. Varies in quality, but is generally pretty good! Gets better in the later seasons. # Limetown: A well-known faux-journalism horror story. The first season is very good, I haven’t listened to the second yet. # Mabel: It’s been a while since I listened to this one, so I don’t remember much other than it being very, very spooky. # The Black Tapes: The ending isn’t good, but the rest was great. They’re apparently continuing, so hopefully the ending will be fixed.

+ The Blood Crow Stories + The Alexandria Archive + TANIS + Rabbits D&D/Actual Play: *! The Adventure Zone: Look. You know this one. An actual-play podcast that starts off slow and picks up really quickly. 80% comedy, 20% plot, and 100% amazing. Balance is the first campaign and is D&D and a mix of fantasy and sci-fi. *# Critical Role: I’ve been riding with this show for years now, but I haven’t actually listened to the podcast format of it! The show itself is fantastic though, so I’m still recommending it. Follow the in-progress D&D adventure of a bunch of great voice actors. Sorta the flip of TAZ, in that it’s like 80% plot and 20% comedy. Also 100% crying. Their first campaign is complete, and they’re currently partially through their second. # Godsfall: A pretty rules-heavy DND podcast. Really really well produced. # Friends At The Table: Not really far in enough to make much judgement! + Heroes and Halfwits + Tabletop Champions + Join the Party + Dames & Dragons + Bombarded + The Mortal Path + Dnduet + The Venture Maidens + The Broad Swords + Six Feats Under

Nonfiction: # Wonderful!: Happy and pure, Griffin and Rachel Mcelroy talk about things that make them happy. I enjoy listening to random episodes when I need a pick-me-up. # Oh No, Ross and Carrie!: Ross and Carrie go around and investigate different fringe science, paranormal, and spiritual things. They’re super fun to listen to! + The Worst Bestsellers + Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men + Mysterious Universe + Bunker Buddies + Imaginary Worlds + Conversations With People Who Hate Me + Dead Pilots Society + Harry Potter and the Sacred Text + Storybreak + Shmanners + Positiviteeny! + Still Buffering + The Supermega Podcast Comedy: *# My Brother, My Brother, and Me: Really good goofs and advice from the Mcelroy brothers. It’s so good. # Sawbones: Medical history with Sydnee and Justin Mcelroy! Sydnee is an actual doctor, so it’s a wonderful combo of dumb humor and really good information. # My Dad Wrote A Porno: Title kind of says it all. Very, very funny. + What Should We Draw? + Revisionist History + Hardcore History + More Perfect + Making a Podcast with Myself True Crime/Supernatural: *# My Favorite Murder: True crime and murder stories, as told by some very cool and funny ladies. They’re like my goth comedian moms. # Heaven’s Gate: A podcast about the cult Heaven’s Gate. Only 10 episodes, really interesting and well produced. # Lore: I listened to this forever ago and loved it! Really good paranormal and spooky stories. # And That’s Why We Drink: Em and Christine talk about the paranormal and true crime while getting drunk and chatting about their lives! They have a great dynamic and it’s just a fun comfy show to listen to. + Judge John Hodgman +Spirits + Blurry Photos + Expanded Perspectives + Wine and Crime + Cabinet of Curiosities Journalism:

*# 99% Invisible: Beautifully written and edited journalism about design and life. I love the hell out of this podcast. *# Reply All: Journalism and weird stories about technology and the different ways it affects us. I highly recommend listening to episode #102 and #103, Long Distance, if you want an incredibly interesting story about spam callers and trying to hunt them down. # Ear Hustle: Stories about the life of prisoners, made by a prisoner! Really interesting journalism. # Setting the Record Queer: A queer interview show. Pretty new but really fun! # Twenty Thousand Hertz: A podcast about sound design and things relating to it. Very well produced and interesting. + Family Ghosts + Ologies

[peccolias]

Do you have any podcasts youd recommend? I've been listening to TMA and am caught up, otherwise the only other ones i listen to are mcelroy podcasts. Do you happen to have any podcasts you like and would just rec. In general?

(Updated 8/25/20)

HECK YEAH I do! For you and anyone else who’s looking for something new, keeping in mind I lean towards the horror genre, but here’s a mixed bag:

Podcasts I have finished/caught up on/can fully rec:

Welcome to Night Vale (first podcast I ever listened to, and the only one I listened to for a long time. Mixed radio show/narrative fiction style with a real cozy comforting sort of spooky atmosphere and there are so many E M O T I O N S. Probably THE most well-known, if you haven’t listened yet, definitely give it a try)

The Magnus Archives (you already said this one, but it’s very good horror and everyone should give it a chance. It’s pretty much the flipside of WTNV, with plenty of mystery, intrigue and creeping dread. Don’t let the first 20 or so eps fool you; it isn’t an anthology and the plot spirals deeper and deeper and it gets pretty depressing sometimes actually)

Unwell, a Midwestern Gothic Mystery (You want an explicitly mixed black female wlw lead who gets a Latina gf?? Explicit they/them NB rep?? Spooky queerness?? A haunted small town boarding house with ghosts and weird doors?? And a celery festival?? This one's for you. Oh there's also a cult. So far it's a great balance of uneasy creepiness and good slice of life with a full cast of colorful characters, and the town's name slaps. Mt. Absalom?? Hello?? Has serious moments that will hurt you, too)

Limetown (COMPLETE. short thriller/mystery type, interesting story about an entire small community that goes missing, has a TV series now I think?)

Wolf 359 (COMPLETE. AMAZING radio drama one of my good friends who always recs good things rec’d to me and now I rec to YOU. you won’t regret listening if you like great stories and upbeat sci fi comedies that go horribly, horribly wrong. IN SPACE.)

I Am In Eskew (COMPLETE. Really good casual yet seriously fucked up foray into Lovecraftian psychological horror centering around a living city called Eskew and its horrible and equally despondent occupants and occurrences. Follows two voiced characters whose paths eventually converge. It's sort of depressing and hurt my heart sometimes for the sheer hopelessness, but it's worth the journey.)

Podcasts I like but have not caught up on:

Old Gods of Appalachia (old country american horror anthology)

King Falls AM (cozy little small town late night radio show with a colorful cast of characters and plenty of spooks)

Wrong Station (vintage radio show style horror anthology based on old TV and radio shows of the same flavor. but modern.)

The Lost Cat Podcast (Lighthearted horror (yeah it exists) and existentialism revolving around the narrator and his lost cat and many glasses of wine. There are many cats. I mean a lot. If you don't want depressing scary horror but still want to step into a world of kooky spooky Eldritch supernatural stuff and relevant musical interludes per episode, this is the way to go. I'm not very far along but it's a fun time.)

The Bridge (interesting setting and story premise. It’s a whole system of bridges across the Atlantic. come on. oh, but make sure you find the right one. it isn’t the talk show about politics and news)

Rusty Quill Gaming (had a hankering for familiar voices during the TMA hiatus and since this has some TMA voice actors in it I gave it a try. First rpg podcast I’ve listened to, but I fell in love with their campaign and characters)

Podcasts I have NOT listened to but they look good/I’ve heard things/they’re by the same creators of series I enjoy:

Dreamboy (Night Vale Presents)

Alice Isn’t Dead (Night Vale Presents)

Within the Wires (Night Vale Presents)

Stellar Firma (Rusty Quill) 

Zero Hours (Wolf 359 creator/cast)

ars Paradoxica (friend who rec’d Wolf 359 to me mentioned this one so I trust it)

Death By Dying

The White Vault 

The Bright Sessions

The Black Tapes

Blackwood

Archive 81

Sayer

Wooden Overcoats

The Penumbra Podcast (I hear EXCELLENT things about this one)

The Adventure Zone and other McElroy podcasts (more of a note to self. I really need to start listening to them boys)

–

That’s about it, that’s my current lineup for listening and as many as I know. Y’all feel free to reblog with more recs or more info on the ones I haven’t listened to. 

Hope you find something you enjoy, anon!

[yearofthediamond-dogs]

hey! i've noticed you listen to podcast quite a lot, you have any recommendations?

Hey there treasured mutual ;) I’ll list my top 10 here! DM me if you’re after any themes or stories that haven’t been mentioned, bc my preference does tend to fall heavily on the more unusual and surreal.

- SAYER: a cynical but dutiful self-aware AI speaks to you through an implant in your head, guiding you through daily life as a tier-1 employee of Ærolith Dynamics. Over time, he starts to give you strange instructions. The narration here is unsettling as hell and I love it.

- The Lost Cat: a strange, surreal, beautiful set of stories about a man looking for his cat. This one is hard to describe but it’s so charming. It’s like alice in wonderland but through the eyes of an antisocial british dude who just wants to drink wine and Rest.

- Archive 81: through different seasons, people attempt to navigate/understand/exploit a parallel universe of songs, stories and intent, a place that mirrors our world. either that or we’re a mirror of it. It’s part investigative journalism, part ritual, part dream-sequence. Incredibly detailed and gorgeous sound design is found here. At least a few of the characters are sentient buildings. There’s lots of cronenberg-esque body horror. I think it’s my favourite of all time tbh.

- Mysterious Universe: a non-fiction podcast where two australian dudes discuss and interview researchers on the topics of consciousness, government conspiracy, aliens, alternate history, alternate dimensions, cryptids, paranormal experiences, life after death, etc. I’ve been listening to them since 2014 and can’t recommend them enough.

- The Bunker: Humanities best and only remaining radio broadcast! This one doesn’t have much of an actual narrative, but uses a fun apocalyptic background to play interviews and songs from the old world. Later on, other wastelanders get interviewed too. It’s poignant and chaotic as hell.

- Marscorp: Also by the creators of the bunker, a woman wakes up from cyro-sleep and is immediately promoted to the head of a disastrously failed terraforming mission on mars. It’s just. It’s so fucking funny dude.

- Ars Paradoxica: A nuclear physicist accidentally time-travels back to the Philadelphia Experiment and is kept as a prisoner in a top-secret town called Tulsa, home to America’s best scientists trying to find a way to win WW2. This one is heavy on espionage and heists, with fantastic acting.

- Hadron Gospel Hour: Incredibly chaotic improv show about a scientist trying to find the billions of fragments that were once his wife, now scattered throughout the multiverse. In his tow are a kidnapped podcaster, a guy stuck in a wall with the other half of his body being worshiped on a distant planet of crystal humanoids, and an AI. It’s very similar to the hitchikers guide to the galaxy.

- The Magnus Archives: This one is very popular on tumblr and you’ve probably seen a lot about it. Please listen. It’s about a man who reads the paranormal experiences of others, and I can’t say much more.

- Within the Wires: beautifully narrated pleas to and about the lovers of people in an alternate history where nuclear families don’t exist. Season one is in the form of guided meditations, season two is narration for an art exhibition. I’ve always come back to this one just for how lovely the writing is. 

- I know i said 10 but I Am In Eskew (man is in a very strange city, describing it is difficult) is really worth it too. And The Bright Sessions (people with paranormal abilities get therapy for once)

podcasts are my main fixation and i could talk about them for hours. hope this helps! :D

[radio-star-still-alive]

Full fandom list

Hello! I just made myself this podcast blog, and I thought to list every fandom you might find content for here.

Wolf 359 one of my all time favourites, as you can tell by Lovelace as my icon

The Penumbra Podcast well known around Tumblr and not without reason.

King Falls AM actual definition of problematic fave. I just like the characters!

The Bright Sessions I really like it, but I haven’t listened to the AM Archives, so interacting with fandom is a bit tricky

The Adventure Zone (Balance and Graduation) A bit different than the rest, but so fun!

The Vanishing Act A new podcast, but I really like it (and they post great memes)

Me and AU Fandom! Tumblr! Falling in love with an internet friend! Werewolves! Really, what else could you ask for?

Zero Hours such a good collection of stories

This Planet Needs a Name I love the characters in this so much!

ars PARADOXICA One of the first fiction podcasts I listened to, but unfortunately the fandom seems to be pretty dead by now.

Time:Bombs I cannot believe they created this in just a week, it’s so fun!

[junipersdragon]

Thoughts After Finnishing The Bright Seasions

Just be warned, there are some spoilers about the podcast, so if you haven’t listened to the whole thing, I suggest not reading this post.

Dr Bright: God, do I love this woman! I wish I had her as my therapist! She is so kind and practical to her pacients. I’ve actually began using one of the breathing exercises that was mentioned in on of the episodes, and it works really well for my anxiety. Joan Bright, best therapist 10000000/10

Sam: Boy, can I relate to Sam. Having clinical anxiety and depression is really tough and I struggled a lot with panic attacks this past year. I can’t imagine how it would be like to loose your parents in such a tragic way, but having someone to love and help you heal, even if you’re taking a break from each other, Of very good. Having a suport system is always good. Also the fact that the crossover Ars Paradoxica with The Bright Sessions is cannon blows my fucking mind.

Caleb: I love this boy. I love him. I would do anything for this boy. He is so kind and loving and sweet and, let’s be real here, that’s hard to do when you’re openly gay and in high school, empath or not. When he and Adam finally got together, I was gushing so much with feelings I nearly dunked the rag I was cleaning with into the toilet. Also, taking a flask with herbal tea in it to a party is now one of my main stratigies when I go to college

Adam: once again, I love this boy and would do anything for him. He is so sweet and very relatable. Having depression is very difficult, especially when your partner can’t quite understand your feelings. However, Caleb always makes an attempt to understand and talk with him. I’m so glad that Adam was a much bigger part of this podcast than I expected, because I truly love him and he and Caleb are such a good couple together. I cry every time at “You keep me green.”

Chloe: ACE PRIDE ACE PRICE ACE PRIDE!!!! God, I love how diverse the cast is with their sexualities in this show!!! Chloe is confirmed to have multiple past boyfriends and girlfriends, all while being ace and not having any intrests in having sex with them! It’s so good to see this kind of representation and I wish there was more of it in mainstream media. Chloe has such a big and beautiful and loving heart and I love her so much as a character! I could probably listen to an entire podcast just about her and Frank’s art adventures.

Frank: A smaller role in this podcast, but an important role nonetheless. Without Frank, many things would be left unanswered and the fact that whe know normal people can be inhanced and become atypical is a very interesting topic that I really hope comes up in The AM Archives. He and Chloe’s relationship is so pure and I just think that they are the best best friends ever.

Damien: oh, this man. I have a love/hate relationship with this man. His character is so solid, his morals are grey, leaning into black, but towards the end of the podcast he gets a redemption I never saw coming, to the point where I can truly say that I would love to listen to a podcast about Damien tracking and coping without his ability. He’s a very good antagonist and though he isn’t the main one, is my absolute favorite.

Mark: I love Mark. I love everything about his character, to his enthusiasm about the 21st century, to his relationship with Joan and Sam, to his voicemail. God, I love his voicemail. This man is pure comedy and hurt and I love him so dearly. I hope that his art helps him begin to cope and I hope that he and Sam get back together as some point in The AM Archives, because I love them so much together.

Wadsworth: Ah Yes, the Queen bitch. I hate this woman’s guts for everything that she has done because she is unapologetically evil and confident. She is such a good antagonist and I hope to never hear her appear in The AM Archives, but let’s be real, she probably will at some point. I hate this woman, but god, did her actress do a good job portraying an outstanding villain.

Green: Owen is a morally grey character and, for a really long time throughout the podcast, I hated his guts. I groaned right along with the characters whenever he called. But towards the end of the podcast, I fell in love with this goofy and morally grey guy. I’m so happy that he’s the director of the AM now, because I know he, Sam, and Bright will do amazing things.

Rose: We didn’t get to know Rose very much, but boy am I glad that she is there. Without her, we never would’ve gotten such an amazing 50th episode! The music in that episode was amazing and gorgeous and if I had money, I would be listening to those songs until my ears bleed. I love the blend of specialities we have in this show, with Chloe being ace, Mark being Bi, Damien being Pan (I think? Though it’s never really confirmed what his sexuality is), and Rose being lesbian. I hope we get more of her in The AM Archives.

*Bonus Episode Characters*

Myra: Yes, The mom character. Myra is a very interesting character, What with her past of abuse and her astrial projection. She loves her daughter very much and I know that she is a good mother and a good person.

Melanie: This character is a prime example of what it is like to be apart of the LGBTQ+ community in a dangerous country such as Iran and Seria. She falls in love with a girl from her dig team and I gushed at the clouds parting to reveal the stars. I wish for a day where everyone in the LGBT+ community can be safe and love who they love.

Austin: I would die for this child. I love this child and if anything were to happen to him, I would kill everyone in this room and then myself.* I know how it feels to feel like you’re invisible. I lost a lot of friends this year, so walking around, it felt like I wasn’t even there. But I love Austin so much. He is such a sweet boy with a big heart and has great taste in music. I would love to hear an episode with Dr. Bright rocking out to P!ATD.

Lou: *see Austin* Lou is such a sweet girl and I am so glad that her episode was made. Loosing a friend is hard, especially when you know you can never see them again. I lost a friend this year, not to cancer but due to school drama, and it hurt quite a lot. But I am glad she is using her ability to do something to help the eart and I’m glad she is slowly moving on.

Victor: I’m not quite sure of what I think about Victor. He’s an interesting character with a morally grey past, but I can’t help but smile at the fact that he and his sister are finally reconnecting after so long. Family is very important I’m my culture, though as I learned, family isn’t nessicarily the one you’re born into, but the people you love the most in the world.

Arthur: I can’t not head Zach Valenti’s voice and think of Eiffel from Wolf 359. So I will forever headcannon that they are the same person.

Rory: *see Austin* when I think of Rory, I think of this cute yet badass teen rocking a leather jacket and red streaks in her hair. Her ability is distructive, but I’m so glad that she’s learning to control it properly.

Niko: *see Austin* Non-binary pride, bitches! As someone who’s best friend is trans, I absolutely adore this character! They’re voice and their humor and everything just makes me grin ear to ear. I want more Niko in my life and would gladly listen to anything to do with them.

Vanessa: Chloe’s Mom has got it going on, guys! Man, I love the chemistry that her and Joan have. They are just such good friends and I laughed so much during this episode. I also cried when the death of Chloe’s sister was finally explained. I would gladly listen to a podcast where it’s just Joan and Vanessa shorting the shit together. They are my brOTP and I live for it.

[keeps-me-green]

Podcasts!

Just a little (not really) list showing all of the podcasts that I listen to as of March 2018. Take it as a recommendation list if you want to.

The Bright Sessions

I love this podcast. Kind of a sci-fi storyline with therapy. Makes me very emotional. Such a bunch of diverse characters, and all of them have likeable qualities. (Yes, all of them, but I would still slap at least two of them) Caleb’s my personal favourite. A lot of canon LGBTQ+ characters too! This is definitely my favourite podcast. (I also found out that it’s ending as I’m writing this and while my heart is shattered, I’m very excited to see what comes next! A spin off and a book for Caleb?? yes??? )

Wolf 359

The series has ended, sadly, as of December 2017. Quite an adventure. Can be very rough on the heartstrings. It started off as quite a lighthearted, comedy-centred storyline in space, but took a huge turn very quickly. I’m still kinda shaken from the ending. But I adore this podcast. Each character has their redeeming characteristics, and their worst moments.(is it safe to say I have a soft spot for Kepler)  

Wooden Overcoats

A hilarious podcast, set in the village (almost a town!) of Piffling Vale. It’s a great podcast for when you just need a good laugh, though the humour can be quite dark. You follow the misadventures of estranged twins running a funeral home, when they are greeted with a handsome new neighbour, with a funeral home of his own. Need I say more? (I also love Antigone.)

Welcome to NightVale

My gateway drug Podcast. The podcast everyone knows, and for good reason too. Listening to Cecil’s superfluous voice is like coming home after a long day. Carlos and Cecil’s love is also very cute.  Speaking of which, I’ve been listening to this show for a really long time, and it’s exposure of LGBTQ+ characters was such a pleasant surprise. 

The Penumbra Podcast

First it’s a hotel, now it’s a train. (I don’t remember when this happened) Anyway, it’s a collection of mini stories, and it has one currently running story, following the adventures of Juno Steel, private eye. I can’t really describe Juno without spoiling the story. I highly recommend listening to it. It can get quite intense and emotional. The other stories are also really great. 

The Lost Cat Podcast

I’ve only gotten into this podcast fairly recently, and I’m happy I did. It’s basically about a guy who’s missing his cat and he ends up in such odd situations. It’s accompanied with really catchy music. (That musical episode was so much fun) I would like a tall glass of wine too.

Eos 10

Doctors in space. I had no clue what to expect coming into this podcast. I think I just saw it on someone else’s recommendation list and gave it a shot. I don’t regret it in the slightest. (Though I could’ve done with a warning for episode 4) The characters are all interesting, and I’m planning to listen to the series again while waiting for it to come back.

Alba Salix, Royal Physician

A Physician, forced to deal with the whole kingdom and their petty medical issues, a disgraced monk and an over eager fairy as her assistants. This one’s the latest podcast that I’ve listened to and I fell in love very quickly. I’m really looking forward to the next season! Sometimes I just wish I could give Alba a day off without worrying about what happens to the house of healing.

The Bridge

This podcast is quite unique, in my opinion. I mean, Bob was quite the surprise. I really enjoy the horror aspect of the story and the overall mystery captivates me enough to stay. It takes place on the Transcontinental Bridge. May or may not have monsters.

The Strange Case of Starship Iris

This one’s very interesting. It only has 5 episodes so far, but it is very captivating. It’s basically a sci-fi mystery, sometimes comedy that takes place after a huge war. It’s quite the bunch of characters as well, majority -if not all- part of the LGBTQ+ community.

The Orbiting Human Circus (Of the Air)

A gorgeous podcast, from the folks in Nightvale Presents. I fell in love with this story fairly easily. It’s about a circus atop the Eiffel Tower, and you follow the story of Julian the janitor, who longs for the stage. Sometimes he does get on the stage but only misfortune ensues. It’s just so whimsical, sad and happy at the same time. Leticia‘s my personal favourite and ironically, the only person who might actually speak french, but I would still hurt anyone who would harm Julian.

Alice isn’t Dead

Deliciously terrifying. Also from NightVale Presents, It’s basically about a truck driving lady looking for her dead wife, and is met with things that can come out of nightmares. It’s very very emotional. One minute its very romantic and the next it’s terrifying.

Limetown

If you’re into government conspiracies and all that jazz, this podcast is for you. Though, it is very intense and can get quite scary. You follow APR journalist, Lia Haddock as she investigates the case of Limetown, where the whole town disappeared overnight. 

Bonus!

Wireless Theatre

I’ve only listened to one of their stories, the Drayton Trench series, and I enjoyed it immensely. Perhaps it’s because it was a series written by the same guy who created Wooden Overcoats. 

There are podcasts that I’ve listened to but have not really followed through for various reasons. While they may not have worked out for me, I’ll list a few of them down and you should give them a try anyway. Support!

- Within the Wires

- It Makes A Sound

-Return Home

-Inkwyrm

- Ars Paradoxica (I’m actually currently listening to this but things got in the way and I haven’t picked it up again)

- Our Fair City

[allisoinreynolds]

do u have any podcast recs or just some faves? i wanna get into them too x

yeah! ok so mind you i haven’t been listening for too long so i can’t make this list as long as i wish i could, but the ones i’ve listened to are (also these are mainly fiction and true crime because that’s what i listen to):

* favourite

limetown: an entire town disappears, and ten years later a reporter tries to find out what happened to the people there. (i actually really liked s1. s2 was... different? i liked it though, but this was the first podcast i listened to, so i may be biased, but i have a special place for this one in my heart) [fiction]

alice isn’t dead*: follows a trucker as she searches for her wife who is not, as she had thought, dead (this one has a few elements of horror, i think, but it’s really good) [fiction]

the strange case of starship iris*: follows violet liu after she is the only survivor in her ship (this might be my favourite out of all of them, it’s really good, okay, if there is one i recommend it’s this one. i’m having a hard time explaining it, but think: space and conspiracies. i really loved this one. i can’t put into words how much i recommend this one.) [fiction]

rabbits: when carly’s best friend goes missing, her search leads her to a mysterious, secret game known only as rabbits (i wanna clarify that i didn’t love this one. i thought the idea of it was amazing, but the execution was... eh. still, maybe you’ll be luckier than me, i did think the idea was pretty good) [fiction]

welcome to night vale: there’s a town. there’s weird stuff going on in said town. (this is the one everyone will mention if we’re talking podcasts. i actually only heard a couple of episode, but everyone says it’s pretty good, so i want to get to it eventually) [fiction]

lesser gods: in a future where humans are unable to reproduce, someone seems to start targeting the five youngest people in the planet (it’s not my favourite, but i do like it more than others in this list.) [fiction]

the amelia project*: a company where they fake their client’s death - as long as they can tell a story and they find them interesting (this one i actually really liked. s2 will be out in a month or so i think. ‘favourite’ might be a little strong, but i liked this one) [fiction]

the black tapes: i’ve only listened to four chapters before getting scared, but it deals with paranormal stuff and has someone who doesn’t believe in them and one who is trying to figure out the truth. i really couldn’t say if it’s good or not, though, because honestly? me and paranormal don’t really get along, i get scared way too easily. [fiction]

serial: this is probably the most popular one when it comes to true crime, and i can see why. it basically follows one story in each season during s1 and 2, and s3 deals with more of the every day type of work (s3 is kinda horrifying tbh). but yeah, it’s good if you want to listen to this kind of stuff. 

up and vanished: another true crime one where they follow one disappearence each season. s1 was kinda shocking for some stuff that happened, but i think i might have liked s2 more, i don’t know.

the adventure zone: this is just a father and some brothers playing dnd and i’ve only listened to the first arc they did, but it was fun. it’s pretty popular so you might have heard of it, but, yeah. it was fun.

culpable: another true crime one following one case and trying to find out what happened. this one just came out so there’s only two episodes out.

fair warning: i’m not super into true crime stuff, despite listening to it. i like it in a ‘what happened to them’ and you want to see the person who did it face the consequences, but i’m not super into it. i liked serial more, but up and vanished did do a lot more of putting the focus on the victim, which i did like. but i might not be the best to rec true crime specifically.

other podcasts i haven’t listened so i really don’t know what they are about to but i have saved for later: 1994, accused, archive 81, ars paradoxica, attention hellmart shoppers!, casefile true crime, the dark tome, eos 10, girl in space, king falls am, kakos industries, love and luck, my favourite murder, s-town, sayer, someone knows something, station to station, stellar firma, the bright sessions, the deep vault, the far meridian, the magnus archives, the orbiting human circus, the penumbra podcast, to live and die in la, victoriocity, violet beach, within the wires, wolf 359

[the-slut-verses]

Some sci-fi podcast recommendations

As an aspiring scientist and just general nerdy person, I love the sci-fi genre dearly. But tbqh, I find myself loving the genre itself and its concepts rather than the actual stories and media. I find that a good deal of sci-fi stories are written exclusively for, about, and from the perspectives of Cis Het White Men™, which I as a queer Filipino cannot relate to at all. I find it Bothersome that so many stories set in the future erase people like me. And I think that so many of these stories are so emotionally dull and lifeless as they tend to focus on the world and concepts at the detriment of fleshing out characters.

However, I think that mostly applies to mainstream sci-fi, because a lot of sci-fi podcasts are really diverse and inclusive. And I find that podcasts are often a written with a lot more character and emotional depth. I saw someone describe podcasts as being like fanfic cuz of how they are mostly character driven instead of plot driven. 

Anyways, here’s my list of sci-fi podcast recommendations with descriptions and my personal thoughts. In no particular order, but I put the smaller ones first cuz i think they deserve more love.The ones with * are the ones with good queer rep (so far, it’ll be updated as needed).

Tides Podcast: It follows biologist Dr. Winifred Eurus, a member of the first manned expedition to Fons, an Earth-like moon wracked by extreme tidal waves due to its orbit around a nearby gas giant. When surveying ocean life her submarine is destroyed, leaving her alone to walk to higher ground before the wave comes back. Along the way, she makes notes about what she finds in the intertidal zone, and gradually realizes that some of the life there is more than what it seems. There’s only one episode out at the time of writing and I’m already deeply in love with this show. The main character is a huge lovable nerd. And in the space of one episode they’ve managed to create a creative, immersive and beautifully detailed alien world. If you’re really into biology like me, I think you’ll love this show.

Girl in Space: Abandoned on a dying ship in the farthest reaches of known space, a young scientist fights for survival (and patience with the on-board A.I.). Who is she? No one knows. But a lot of dangerous entities really want to find out.   This show hooked me from the get-go cuz its atmosphere and setting are grippingly ominous and mysterious. It had me begging for more. The creepy vibes are balanced really well with the titular girl in space because she’s really likable and her ramblings can be really insightful and enlightening, but also really hilarious and relatable. 

Empty*: The crew of an intergalactic colonization vessel wake up from cryosleep with no memories, finding themselves the only sentient life in the universe. Like Girl in Space, it has a masterfully done ominous atmosphere and world building that leaves you begging for more. But it has a wholly different tone because it feels grittier and serious. If you like creepy and slightly unsettling space podcasts, like Wolf 359, you should check this out. I can best describe this as space gothic, the same way Alice Isn’t Dead is American gothic. This podcast also uses a lot of hard sci-fi concepts in its worldbuilding, moreso that any podcasts I’ve listened to before.

The Earth Collective: Joseph Crane attempts to record and document the life and culture of the titular Earth Collective: the dying remnants of humanity living on rolling cities on the planet of Oasus, fleeing the malevolent entity known as the Dark This is one of my fave sci-fi podcasts ever. I’ve already gone on so much in this list about atmosphere and world building, but podcasts are just really good at that, and this one especially. The world building in this one is immersive and it feels so real, especially since I love learning about history and culture. Think of this show as Titan A.E but Soft™.  It starts slow but it builds up the conflict and tension which fit really well with the atmosphere.

The Falcon Banner*: Two hundred years after the fall of the Terran Empire, humans find themselves the subject race of the alien Amsus Hegemony. Darien Taine, a police inspector for the Terran police kills an Amsus inquisitor in self-defense, a crime punishable by death. He escapes Earth, and finds himself embroiled in a resistance movement and a centuries old plot that shattered the empire. An audio theater dramatization of the novel by Christopher Patrick Lydon. This show is what would happen if someone looked at the original Star Wars trilogy and said, “Hmmm that was good but could be gayer.” This is a high production, high action, epic sci-fi space opera. This show captured my heart with a fascinating universe, well written characters, and a bombastic soundtrack and atmosphere. This is perhaps the most epic Gays in Space™ podcast I’ve listened to. But I feel like I should warn y’all, the series just ends with no conclusion, and it’s been a decade since. But the story continues on in a book series (the podcast adapts the first book).

The Strange Case of Starship Iris*:  In 2189, Earth narrowly won a war against extraterrestrials. Two years later, in a distant patch of space, a mysterious explosion kills nearly the entire crew of the science vessel Starship Iris. The only survivor is Violet Liu, an intrepid, sarcastic, terrified biologist. But as Violet struggles to readjust to life after the Iris, questions abound. Was that explosion really an accident? If not, just what is going on? And why does every answer seem to get more bizarre and more dangerous? If Violet and her newfound allies want to untangle the truth, they’ll need courage, brilliance, and luck - and honestly, a couple of drinks. This show shines in having a really well written and lovable set of diverse characters that play off each other really well. Add on top of that some  fresh world building concepts and ideas that I haven’t seen done anywhere else. All in all they create an engaging and immersive story. 

Inkwyrm*:  Inkwyrm Magazine is an intergalactic fashion publication, bringing readers the newest looks from all over the universe. At the head of it all is Annie Inkwyrm, and directly behind her is Mella Sonder, AI caretaker and Annie’s PA. Along for the ride is an overzealous PR director, a perpetually unimpressed physician, and an AI that really needs to learn some ethics. One part sit-com, one part space opera. This show is my comfort podcast. It’s hilarious, cheesy in a good way, and gay which is what I need during such stressful times like now. The characters are likable and play off each other well. It’s mostly a comedy, but it does have it’s serious moments which are well done and hit close to home for me.

Limetown: Ten years ago, over three hundred men, women and children disappeared from a small town in Tennessee, never to be heard from again. American Public Radio reporter Lia Haddock asks the question once more, “What happened to the people of Limetown?” This was one of my first podcasts and it set my bar really damn high. The gripping story drags you in with interesting characters, mysteries and concepts. The pacing is really well done and you wouldn’t even notice how many episodes had gone by. This was a really beautifully done mystery and thriller

The Message*:The weekly reports and interviews from Nicky Tomalin, covering the decoding of a message from outer space received 70 years ago. Over the course of 8 episodes we get an inside ear on how a top team of cryptologists attempt to decipher, decode, and understand the alien message. This was also one of my first ever podcasts. Like Limetown, it has a heart stopping story that will drag you all over place. It set the bar really high too. You’ll be constantly gripped by the ever increasing stakes and tension that conclude on a high note.

Life After*: The 10 episode series follows Ross, a low level employee at the FBI, who spends his days conversing online with his wife Charlie – who died eight months ago. But the technology behind this digital resurrection leads Ross down a dangerous path that threatens his job, his own life, and maybe even the world. This was done by the same people as The Message and it’s just as emotionally intense and immersive as a thriller. But the subject matter is more relatable and hits closer to home, both in that they’re personal issues that a lot of people have to deal with, and it deals with technology that may soon be a thing in daily life. The show has a lot of interesting ideas regarding technology, morality, and personhood, which makes it hit harder for me. (note, it’s on the same feed as The Message)

Eos 10*: The lives two mal-adjusted doctors and their staff on the Alliance space station, EOS 10. Other characters include a hypochondriac deposed prince, an aggressively enthusiastic nurse, and a galactically hated terrorist whom is not what you’d expect. This was also one of my first podcasts. It’s also one of my comfort podcasts. I imagine it as what would happen if Star Trek was a sitcom about doctors. Despite being a sitcom, the wacky sounding characters have a lot of surprising emotional depth and deal with serious issues that makes them really lovable and relatable. They play off each other wonderfully, which makes the comedy and the plot in general hit harder. It has a lot of same vibes as Inkwyrm.

Ars Paradoxica*: When an experiment in a time much like our own goes horribly awry, Dr. Sally Grissom finds herself stranded in the past and entrenched in the activities of a clandestine branch of the US government. Grissom and her team quickly learn that there’s no safety net when toying with the fundamental logic of the universe. This really one of the most intense podcasts I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to. The characters are all massively compelling disasters that will make you feel so many things. It has so many twists and wonderfully tragic time travel ideas and concepts. I’m not kidding when I say that this is the best show regarding time travel I’ve ever seen. As someone with a love of history and science, I love how hard they play up those elements. Physics ain’t my forte so I’m not sure but this feels like a very hard sci-fi. 

Wolf 359: Set on board the U.S.S. Hephaestus space station, the dysfunctional crew deals with daily life-or-death emergencies, while searching for signs of alien life and discovering there might be more to their mission than they thought. Tune into your home away from home… seven and a half light years away from Earth… This is one of the most popular ones so I put it last, but no podcast rec list would be complete without Wolf 359. This isn’t just a show, it’s an experience, it’s a life changer. It’s one of the best pieces of art that you’ll ever see.While I do admit it take a bit before it finds its legs, but it gets indescribably good when it does. The characters are all wonderful disasters with a lot of emotional depth and development to them. The story is paced really well, it knows when to get intense and suspenseful. But it also knows when to put in breather episodes and to make the intense parts easier to process with well written comedy. And the plot is unpredictable and plays with a lot of tropes and cliches. But you won’t feel lost because it knows to set the atmosphere and foreshadow. This show is Chekhov’s machine gun.

The Bright Sessions*: follows a group of therapy patients. But these are not your typical patients - each has a unique supernatural ability. The show documents their struggles and discoveries as well as the motivations of their mysterious therapist, Dr. Bright. I’ve listened to a lot of podcasts in my life and I gotta say, this is the best one I’ve listened to so far. It’s very well written and well acted. This podcast will make you feel so much for the lovable characters and their struggles as they learn how to people while handling their powers. This show also isn’t just a show, it’s a masterpiece in storytelling that will change your life. Like Wolf 359, it hits hard in the feels department because of how much you’ll care for the multifaceted characters; but this one hits differently because the problems they encounter are one’s you’ll probably have to face yourself.

[astriiformes]

the dear dungeons podcast sounds cool! do you have any other podcast recommendations? doesn't have to be dnd, obvs

oh man i don’t listen to that many and i’m particularly behind on most of the ones that i do

obviously i listen to taz and mbmbam which are both very good (although i have fallen off the taz horse since the balance arc ended and need to get back on it because amnesty sounds like it has a gravity falls feel to it and that is ideal, and i listen to mbmbam very erratically and with no particular order so i haven’t gotten through too much of it)

the dragon talk podcast that wotc puts out talking about d&d with some of the folks who actually work on it and other guests seems pretty cool but i have only just started looking into their archive. fun d&d stuff though and it has sort of endeared me to some of the official staff which is a great feeling since i’m at a point where i’m sort of terrified to trust the content creators for things i like now

one of my professors at nyu got me started on radiolab which talks about a ton of different things. i like the sciency episodes the best. i only on-and-off agree with the presenters on some of the things they talk about so it can be a shot in the dark about whether an episode will be enjoyable or frustrating but the good stuff is very very good

i also had a genetics & evolution class in montana where we were supposed to listen to the official nature podcast every week which had some content i was all about (evolution! dinosaur discoveries!) and some that did not interest me at all (mostly medical advancements. i am not a biomed guy). i haven’t listened to it really since being in that class but it was kind of fun and i feel somewhat like i should pick it back up again

the only other podcasts i really listen to are fictional things that i am horribly behind on. tanis is pretty good and has some neat characters and combines a lot of wild stuff like lovecraft and the voynich manuscript and other weird things i’m probably forgetting. i’m way behind but what i’ve listen to was like… supernatural fiction bordering on horror but not too much for me too take, which is impressive because i’m a wimp. there’s also ars paradoxica which is an AMAZING sci-fi/cold war drama that deals with intricate time travel and is the only work of fiction i’ve ever been a fan of that has a canon ace protagonist (as in, actually says the words “i’m asexual” out loud) plus a couple other queer characters. i am also behind on it and know that it’s ending soon but it’s also really really good

that’s pretty much my list? i want to listen to more podcasts and be better at keeping up with the ones i already follow but i also live in auditory processing hell and as a result am a really inconsistent listener

[lainahastoomuchsparetime]

So that’s what I’m gonna do.

Let’s get the Night Vale presents stuff out of the way because I think those are the most well-known things, and, while good podcasts, probably the least interesting for a rec list.

  Welcome to Night Vale is probably the podcast that got a ton of people, including myself, into podcasts in the first place. If you don’t know, WTNV is a fictional radio show about a little desert town and the strange things that happen it. It’s super queer, quirky, and has some really good creepy moments. Librarians scare me because of this show.

I don’t really keep caught-up on this, but I do listen to a bunch at once every so often and catch up. With 154 episodes, a couple bonus episodes, and a bunch of live-shows, you’ve got a lot of backlog to keep you busy. Start at the beginning, though.

Alice Isn’t Dead is a horror podcast about a woman who sees her supposedly dead wife on a news broadcast and sets off to try and find her. And it only gets weirder from there. This series has an episode that has creeped me out more than anything else I’ve probably ever listened to. There are three seasons with ten episodes each, plus some bonus episodes. The series has been completed.

Within the Wires is a dystopian science fiction series about a strange alternate reality world. Season One is told through a series of relaxation tapes. Season Two is a set of art museum tour tapes. Season Three is a collected group of audio notations from a man to his secretary.

I’m a pretty big fan of this one, honestly. I don’t love the second season, but it’s still very solid and the third is super interesting. This is a very strange world, and I really like it.

Each season tells a separate story, but they do all take place in the same world. Very queer, as expected from Night Vale Presents, honestly, with a neat bonus being season 3 being narrated by a trans narrator. Ten episodes each season, and season four started September 2019.

Let’s talk about some of my other favourite things!

The Black Tapes was one of the first non-Night Vale podcasts I listened to and it’s still one of my favourites. Funny story, I thought this was going to be a non-fiction podcast. I mixed it up in my head with… Lore! It was totally Lore. Oh, I forgot I listened to a bit of that. So, in my head, this become a non-fiction podcast about urban lengends the way Lore is non-fiction about scary stories/historical events/whatever Lore’s deal is, I didn’t actually listen to that much of it.

And, boy, was I confused after the first episode. Or two. Eventually I realized this is a fiction horror podcast about journalist Alex Reagan’s research into Dr. Richard Strand’s work debunking paranormal activity – specifically the cases he has not been able to debunk. (Strand is basically a fictional version of James Randi, who’s an interesting dude.)

It begins as kind of a Monster of the Week story, but eventually expands from that into bigger arcs in a very natural way. It’s one that manages to balance telling the story without losing sight of where they started out. The third season is a little underwhelming, which sucks as it’s currently also the last season, but I suspect they might be working on things behind the scenes. There’s rumours about NBC working on a TV series, and also rumours about a fourth season. I would support that. It’s one of my favourites.

There’s also a series that takes place in the same universe called TANIS, and I think RABBITS is in the same universe too, but I wasn’t really super into either of those. This, however, is a big favourite.

The Bright Sessions is a science fiction podcast about therapy for people with psychic powers, or as the podcasts says, the strange and unusual. I am also strange and unusual, so I liked this. This is a very positive podcast. It does go a whole lot into a strange world and has some really exciting plotpoints, but a lot of it is just about healing and growth. It made my heart do things a bunch. Not a scary one.

Relevant to my book people, there is a YA book featuring two of the characters coming out (whenever) and I have an eARC of it so you might be seeing a review of that soon. Hopefully.

This also has a ton of queer rep, including an explictly ace character. It also has a musical episode. Yes, that’s as cool as it sounds. There are 64 episodes, plus a bunch of bonus episodes. There’s also a spin-off series but it’s behind a paywall so I haven’t checked it out. This is a satisfying complete series without it.

ars PARADOXICA is a science fiction podcast about Sally Grissom, a physicist who accidentally invents time travel and sends herself back to 1943. And then it gets really weird. If you really like science fiction, this is the one I’d recommend the most. It’s very important to listen to this one in order, as it’s very plot heavy.

This is also way more queer than you’d expect a podcast set in the 40s to be. Sally is explictly asexual and heavily aro-coded, and there are several other major queer characters. Honestly this just has decent representation in general, and most of it is handled in a very sensitive way. A lot of things like racism or antisemitism aren’t just brushed aside as being “Well, it’s the 40s”.

Partway through this, there is a plot involving gun violence. The creators talk about their decision whether to include it or not, and they begin to give content warnings before each episode when needed. I really appreciated that.

This series is complete at thirty-six episodes, with a couple bonus episodes. There’s also a crossover episode between this and the Bright Sessions.

Now, if you’ve never listened to a podcast before and you’re a little intimidated by the idea of getting into something really long and involved, I’d recommend this next podcast.

The Message is basically a mini-series. It’s a science-fiction podcast that, and no one is going to get this reference, kind of reminded me of the movie Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invasion. My brain makes weird leaps sometimes. We all kind of just need to run with it.

Produced by GE, it tells the story of a college student making a podcast following the team tasked with decoding a message sent to earth by aliens seventy years ago. There are only 8 episodes, and most of them are only about 10 minutes, so this is a very good beginner podcast.

Not a super queer podcast, but there is a nonbinary character among the main cast.

I also listened to GE’s second podcast, Life-After, but I wasn’t as big a fan of that. The two are not related storywise.

The Far Meridian is another one I think is pretty approachable for beginners. The episodes tend to be under twenty minutes. And this one is more of a fantasy podcast than science-fiction like a lot of the others have been. I would almost say this has a bit of a magical realism theme, and the writer has talked about being influenced by that genre.

The main character of this, Peri, is an agrophobe who wakes up one morning to find her lighthouse has begun traveling the world. Over the course of the show, you begin to realize how weird the world she’s exploring actually is. The second season especially does some things I personally found super creepy, and I loved it.

It deals with a lot of trauma and anxiety, especially in the second season, but it’s handled so well. They end every episode with “May you always find your way”, and I find that really fitting and also comforting. It’s not a fake Instagram type of positivity. It feels hopeful.

Peri is a Latina woman and I believe most of the cast are people of colour. Peri is also queer, but generally does not want labels put on her yet. She’s okay not knowing. This, also, happens in a scene where another character defines her own bisexuality as being attracted to “cool girls and people who don’t really subscribe to that whole gender thing” which is great.

Overall, I’m a big fan of this one and I can’t wait for the third season in January 2020. Oh, hey, pro-tip: The Google Play feed for this doesn’t have the full second season for some reason, so you have to switch to iTunes or Spotify for the rest of it if you listen to your podcasts there.

Now this one I just finished listening to!

The Bridge is a science fiction podcast set in an alternate-world 2016 where a giant bridge (shocker) has been built across the Atlantic Ocean, taking place within one of the watchtowers on said giant bridge, which has been mostly abandoned and left to rot by the mainland.

Okay don’t make fun of me, but I’m kind of a new introductee to the idea of Lovecraftian lore/mythology? For some reason I kind of missed that whole thing until pretty recently. I only got semi-familiar with it because a Let’s Player I watch played a Cthulhu game, and then a youtube channel that talks about book adaptations I also watch did an episode about one of Lovecraft’s books.

So I’m gonna say this is kind of based on Lovecraftian stuff, but I don’t know enough to say if it’s inspired by it, or actually based on a specific work, but it has that kind of feel. The world in this is really interesting, with things like haunted houses and possessed puppets. They also do a great job with world-building of the way things were back in the heyday of the bridge.

One of the main characters, Bertie, is canonically queer, and talks about his fiance who passed away, and others have been confirmed queer by word of God, but I can’t find said word of God, so I don’t know who they mean and therefore can’t really talk about that. There’s been basically no focus on romance, though, so it not coming up hasn’t felt unnatural.

This has 14 episodes and a bunch of mini-episodes, and while there hasn’t been an update since October 2018, their twitter leads me to be it will be soon. I really like the world of this one, and can’t wait for there to be more.

Parts of it actually reminded me of:

Girl in Space, which is a science fiction podcast about a girl (duh) in space (duh) with only an artificial intelligence system, various birds, and a goat to keep her company… until she sees something on the horizon.

This is still a baby podcast, with only one season (the last episode of which I still need to listen to) but it’s interesting. There’s some things they’re hinting at that I am super excited about seeing explored in season two, and the worldbuilding is really fun. The sun is probably alive, y’all. And I mean, like, it might be sentient.

I have a couple of minor gripes with a similar thing to the Bridge, where characters have only been said to be queer outside of the actual show, but if the words “Cheese is delicious science” appeal to you, check this one out.

And speaking of mixed feelings:

The Box! The Box is a horror podcast about a college drop-out that finds a strange box (again, shocker) in the bookstore she works in, her discovery that it’s full of strange journals, and her search to uncover the truth about them.

There’s a lot I actually like in this. When I started listening to it, I was really missing the Black Tapes and they have the same sort of feeling at the beginning. I like this kind of podcast where a narrator tells you a story every episode, and then the world builds on top of that. It’s not everyone’s thing, but I’m into it. It’s a good premise, and for quite some time into the show, I enjoyed it.

And then it gets weird. And obviously it starts weird, most of these podcasts get weird at one point, but it starts to be strange in a way that I wasn’t enjoying. I started to find it more silly than scary.

There’s also a romance that I found dull as doorknobs, and there’s a thing that I would like to complain about, but I can’t confirm it exactly, and there are not transcripts so I can’t check something without re-listening to the whole podcast. As there are forty episodes and bonus episodes, I’m not about to just jump into that. So I’ll just complain about a lack of transcripts instead.

The Box also has times where the sound design is just terrible. There’s one episode where, in-world, it’s being recorded on a broken recorder, parts of it from another room. And, yes, it makes sense in-world. But to actually listen to it, I had it on full blast as high as I could and I still could barely hear it and missed a lot of the episode. And, again, no transcripts to read with it. And my hearing is okay. If you have any kind of auditory processing issues, that episode basically just says “screw you”.

However, I do like how they work social topics into the stories. At times it can be a bit clumsy, but I give them kudos for trying, at least. There’s an episode that includes real-life audio from something related to a real death of a black person by police brutality. I believe it’s in the episode Strange Fruit but I don’t remember and again, no transcripts. I find this especially frustrating when it comes to potentially triggering material.

This one’s currently on hiatus and I’ll probably check it out whenever it returns (it’s a show prone to long hiatus), but I wouldn’t recommend it unhesitantly. It does a lot of things I like, but I definitely have mixed feelings overall.

Palimpsest is another horror podcast. It tells a new, standalone story each season, with all their stories relating to memory and things that haunt us. I liked both, but especially the second season.

Season one is about loss and memory and forgiveness, and what it means to be haunted by something. It’s largely about the relationship between the MC and her sister and the romance is very minimal, but there’s some (what I call) incidental queerness. It’s not in a way like a Night Vale Presents thing is, or the Bright Sessions, or something like that, but it’s nice not to have it ignored.

GIANT trigger warning for gun violence and child death. Also, there’s thing on-going theme about the creepy sound of a wooden swing in the backyard and, as I was listening to this when I went for walks, I realized I walk past three different wooden swings.

Season two is set in the late 19th or early 20th century or so, and is based in Irish fae mythology which is totally up my alley. This is also the series where the idea of immigrants and people being raised by immigrants having accents confused someone so much I almost didn’t listen to it based on their review. I’m not salty about that, obviously.

Season two is also really freaking queer. Overall this isn’t a really scary horror podcast – it’s more eerie and a little sad. And eerie and a little sad is my favourite mood for ghost stories. My only real complaint is this also doesn’t have transcripts available.

Spines is a pretty recent listen for me, one I really enjoyed. This is kind of like a mash up of all the things I liked about The Box and Darkest Night and Archive 81 without any of the things I didn’t like in any of those. It’s definitely horror, with some body horror elements, and some… is tasteful gore a thing? Body horror and gore elements are used very tastefully and sparingly, and to great effect.

It’s the story of Wren, who wakes up in an attic covered in blood, with no memory at all, and some weird cult ritual surrounding her. She runs, and starts the podcast in an attempt to find her friends, who she’s sure were in the attic with her, and her other half, Zachary, the only name she can remember.

It’s weird but good weird. Solid world-building and really good character building. There’s a particular message that I appreciated that being someone’s “soulmate” didn’t mean you didn’t have a choice in whether or not you wanted to be romantically or sexually involved with them. It’s subtle but again well-handled.

Also, Wren is queer and this is really trans inclusive. There are several times where the show goes against the usual cisnormative thing most media would say in a similar situation, which honestly makes sense as it’s written by a trans writer. There’s also a very significant canonically intersex and nonbinary character, voiced by the writer of the show.

This is a creepy, weird little podcast that made my heart very happy. It’s complete at three seasons of eight episodes each and honestly quite underrated. Big recommend.

Finally, let’s talk about my favourite podcast.

I recently learned that the term “weird fiction” exists as a genre label. Mabel is very much weird fiction. In Mabel, Anna Limon begins a new job as a home health caretaker to an elderly woman named Sally. The house is… strange, and Sally is strange, and Anna probably shouldn’t look too deeply at any of that, but of course she does.

It is a horror podcast with deep folklore/mythology roots, possibly also somewhat Celtic/fae based, but it’s such a blend of things that I can’t draw any hard lines of things I specifically recognize besides one or two things, and that makes it so unique.

Listen to Mabel in the fall. Listen to Mabel when it might rain, when it’s a little windy, when the leaves are crunchy under your feet. When the air smells just a little like decay. Or, you know, whenever, because it’s great, but it is an amazing fall podcast. It’s also super queer, fyi.

Mabel has forty seasons currently, with I think five seasons? There is also a five-part bonus series. It’s really cool. If you don’t listen to anything else I recommend, listen to this.

I also listened to Limetown but I feel like everyone’s heard of that one, and I’m currently listening to Ghosts in the Burbs which so far is kind of interesting, but I’m only like two episodes in.

Alright! Have you listened to any of these? What did you think? What podcasts would you recommend for me? Did you enjoy this post at all? Comment and let me know!

Peace and cookies, Laina

I kinda just wanna talk about podcasts So that's what I'm gonna do. Let's get the Night Vale presents stuff out of the way because I think those are the most well-known things, and, while good podcasts, probably the least interesting for a rec list.

[estherroberts]

and nothing ever does begin like nothing ever ends

chapter six: downpour 

fandom: ars paradoxica, his dark materials

words: 1871

rating: T

characters: june barlowe, quentin barlowe, helen partridge, orignal characters

read on ao3

series masterpost

September 13, 1945

june rolls out of bed, and walks to the window, leaving helen sleeping beside her. she doesn’t have time to let an ounce of guilt set in before a shape begins to hurtle itself toward her from the outskirts of town.

as it approaches, she realizes it’s her aunt’s daemon, and quickly opens the windows to let him silently soar through.

“joukavainen? what are you doing here?”

he settles himself on the window sill and sticks out his leg, revealing a letter attached. “i hate being her mailman.”

“sure.” she pulls the letter off and scans the contents carefully, holding it up to the moonlight as she does.

my dearest june,

it is never a good day when one must be the bearer of bad news. however, it is with a heavy heart that i must ask you to cease all contact with your amorous connections. this, of course, includes both your mortal husband and the mortal woman you betray him with. i have prophetic word that the closer these impermanent creatures come to your heart, the more danger they are in. you, perhaps, are in danger as well. i urge you, cut these ties! leave the city! protect yourself and those you care for!

with all my love,

aunt iitukka

“what the fuck?” june hisses at jouka, making sasona crawl over from his position on the end of the bed.

jouka pretends to clean his feathers and june has to refrain from raising her voice.

“what is it?” sas asks, and june passes him the letter. he reads it quickly, and lunges for joukvainen, who jumps out the window.

“sasona, don’t—“ june whispers, but her alligator is already wiggling himself out and after the nimble robin.

she sits back down on the bed and looks over at helen longingly. she doesn’t want to leave her. she doesn’t want to leave quentin either, (which of course, is why she hasn’t yet left one of them for the other) june can feel the hint of tears starting to appear, and so shoves her fists into her eyes to prevent them from falling.

it isn’t long before sasona returns.

“so? what did you find out?”

he shakes his head. “i can’t tell you.”

“why?”

“it’s for your safety. i can’t tell you. i don’t want to risk it.”

june knows her daemon is as stubborn as she is, so she doesn’t push it. but she can’t help feeling a little betrayed. they spent some years apart after their ordeal and after they left the clan. it was good for their own self-exploration, obviously, but it had driven the tiniest of wedges between them. and june is hyper-aware of that now. “fine.”

she sighs and lays back on the pillow, just as helen begins to wake up. “junebug?” she mumbles, “were you talking to someone?”

the bug in question whispers, “no, my love, only sasona.”

“mmm, okay. c’mere.”

September 15, 1945

“do you think you can keep a secret from helen?” sasona whispers as he carefully climbs up closer to anteros, curled up at the end of the bed where helen sleeps.

“where’s june!?” he hisses back, eyes wide and tail puffy.

“that’s the first part of the secret! we’re witches. no one in town knows."

anteros cautiously lowers his guard and bats the alligator gently with his paw. “you’re not a bird.”

sasona sighs deeply. “it’s not relevant.”

“if you say so." he lifts his shoulders in a mimic of a shrug. "so, what’s the other part of the secret, mr. magic?”

“you can’t tell helen.”

“i know what a secret is, you dumb reptile.”

“this is serious!”

“okay, okay.” anteros rubs his cheek along sasona’s snout. “i’m listening.”

“june is cursed. i found out… about two nights ago. i knew something was up because the other clans wouldn’t interact with me, and i started picking up information, but i couldn’t confirm anything till aunt ittukka’s daemon showed up at your window the other night. joukka…. he really didn’t want me to know. didn’t want me to place that burden on june. so i haven’t told her, and you can’t tell helen, because she tells june everything.”

“what’s the curse, sas?”

“she’s gonna lose everyone she loves.”

“oh.”

“i don’t know if you can… convince helen to break it off somehow. june already knows a little bit and i can tell she doesn’t want to let you go. i’d rather that loss be on your terms. i have a really, really bad feeling about this, and i know you and helen or quentin and cressida are—“

anteros is looking at him like he’s not sure he wants to know where the end of the sentence is going.

“doomed would be putting it nicely,” sas finishes, hoping he doesn’t sound like too much of an ass.

“we’re not leaving you.”

sas shakes his head as much as he can without disrupting the bed. “you’re not getting it.”

“it doesn’t matter if i tell helen or if i don’t tell helen,” anteros tells him with complete sincerity. “i know she would say the same thing. we’re already risking so much to be with you, just like you are with us. we love you.”

“i don’t want to put you in danger,” sasona whispers, and he knows he would be crying if that was something daemons could do.

“i know.”

 September 16, 1945

helen, anteros, june, sasona, ben, and cressida sit in the living room, and no one has spoken for the past twenty minutes. jouka told sasona and sasona told anteros and anteros told helen and helen told june and june told ben and now they’re all trying to figure out what to do next.

ben only had to fake half of his stunned reaction— he knew about the curse already, because future-june had told him. but finding out about her affair with helen had been, he admitted, a bit of a shocker. apparently, he didn’t know everything about his wife. the thing was though, that it didn’t bother him that much. he had just as many secrets from june, and it wasn’t like she loved him any less. her curse knew that just as much as he did.

“sas?” june whispers, her voice coming out hoarse. “did you ever…”

she shoots a look at helen, at ben, asking with her eyes if they can finish the sentence she can’t seem to.

“did jouka tell you how, exactly, june got stuck with this bullshit?”

ben marvels at what helen can do with her voice. he’s heard her sing, but now she stacks layers of hurt and anger and confusion into her inquiry, making the rest of them feel exactly where she’s coming from.

“no,” sasona answers softly, “no.”

“do you think we should say something?” cressida (he’s gotten used to calling her that now, but he misses the way sorana sounded in his head) whispers to him from her spot on his lap.

“we can’t,” he whispers back. “june said she didn’t know fuckall about it before it happened.”

“they’re so scared, though.” she heaves a tiny hippo sigh and he pulls her closer to his chest.

“so am i.”

they sit in silence again, until anteros asks, “can it kill? will it kill us or quentin and cressida or both?”

“i told you.” sasona is tired, and hurting, when he repeats, “i told you everything i know.”

ben knows this much: he dies. june leaves town, helen leaves her husband. june and ben find each other again, fall in love again, get married again, and ben eventually leaves. and he comes back to this time and dies again. he doesn’t know if june ever finds helen in the future, and for helen’s sake, he hopes she doesn’t.

“shit’s fucked.” ben says to the others, and helen and june both shoot him a look. helen’s is amused, and june’s is nearly grateful. “i don’t know if we can do anything to stop it, but it seems like the only way to find answers is june’s aunt.”

“thanks, quentin. i guess i’ll just telephone my witch aunt who lives in fucking lapland flying around on a cloud-pine and ask her if she wants to tell me why my two favorite people’s lives are in danger. even though she’s the one who wrote me a letter telling me to break up with both of you in the first place!”

he knows she doesn’t mean to take out her anger on him, but he doesn’t expect an apology either.

August 30, 1949

quentin isn’t dead. june’s looking at him, he’s standing right there in the gas station, looking at her, and there’s cressida, smiling her lovely hippo smile, and he’s not dead. yambe-akka, what she wouldn’t give to jump into his arms and kiss him till he passes out. but he doesn’t recognize her, he’s younger…. oh. of course he is. he’s a time traveller.

you can’t trick a curse. aunt ittukka had told her as much as they flew together to carlsbad. turns out june isn’t actually her niece after all. she’s her daughter. ittukka had tried to protect her from her own fuckup as best she could, shielded the truth about june’s parentage from her like she’d shielded the curse. she’d said, “i thought my child wouldn’t lose everyone she loved if she didn’t know she was my child. but i couldn’t help loving you like a daughter,” so it found june anyway.

which is why june isn’t tricking it this time, she’s running from it.

“hey!” she calls out to him.

he smiles, evidently struck by her beauty.

she rolls her eyes. “hey buddy, do me a favor? never work for the government. even if you get a really good job offer and they tell you it’ll do great things for the alliance. don’t do it. oh, and don’t go to the hispana novan border if you can help it.”

“what? why?”

“trust me, i’m a witch.”

“wait, please, I have to know more? at least tell me your name.” he takes a few steps forward, pleading.

june doesn’t say another word to the man she married (in another life, another time) as she gets into her car and drives. she goes for for miles and miles and miles, unthinking and unfeeling and she makes it across the new french border before she bursts into tears.

she pulls over to the side of the road and sasona clambers into her lap, stretched out between the two front seats.

“we could have been with him again,” june whispers to her daemon. “we could have—“

“we would have sent him to his death.”

there’s no way around it. they absolutely would have. she can only pray that now, quentin is safe from her. he’ll go about his life and stay out of the time business and never fall in love with a cursed woman.

thank yambe-akka helen got out okay. june still lost her, of course. but it’s a different kind of loss. an ache she feels deep in her soul, rather than the stab wound she’s been bleeding from since quentin died.

she has an easy job now: never fall in love again.

[myriad--starlings]

I see you post about podcasts sometime and I've been wanting to listen to some podcasts lately, have any recommendations? :)

do i have recommendations you BET I DO

okay so. fiction podcasts:

Wolf 359; silly space station adventures take a turn for serious plot. there is sadness and beauty, and just. ahhhh. this is the first story I’ve gotten invested in deeply enough to write fanfiction for in years, so. it’s GOOD. definitely ranks up there with some of my favorite books

Sneak Attack; an actual play Dungeons and Dragons podcast which…yeah okay that’s a bit niche. XD but basically, it’s five friends playing a role-playing game together and weaving a beautiful story in the Game Master’s original world. It starts out a bit odd, and it takes some time to get past the quirky, kinda rough first few episodes but oh, my friend, my pal, my buddy…it made me sob. repeatedly. the STORY the CHARACTERS…I’m tearing up just thinking about it. if you like a story that will be fun and lovely for a while, before getting down to business and making you cry a bit….yeah. this one’s for you. it also has 100 episodes as of Friday, and by the time you catch up, will probably have many more.

both of those are clean, by the way. Sneak Attack is a little meh in the beginning, but it’s so worth it for the story pay-off that’s been going on recently. 

ars PARADOXICA; scientist from our time accidentally invents time travel. the catch is, you can only travel backwards in time. things get increasingly weird and mind-bending. there is incorrect verb usage. lots of suspense. there is also swearing. not a clean podcast.

King Falls AM; okay look, I’ve never listened to it, but my friend and pal @rememberozzie loves it to death and I think I’ll love it too, once I get the chance to listen to it. join the fandom and help her keep it alive, it’s a one-woman operation rn. 

non-fiction podcasts:

Hello Internet; two friends talking for about 2 hours per episode. they’re both YouTubers. I honestly don’t really know how I found it but I love it. It’s very calm and nice and just…casual. Two friends. Talking. There’s a little bit of language? maybe? but v minimal, nothing big. I listen to it while I fall asleep a lot and it’s v soothing.

Millennial; a podcast by a girl who loves radio, who is also a millennial, just kinda. talking about different things about adulting and stuff. even though the host is a bit older than me, I like it because I relate to her - she loves radio, and she really wanted to start a podcast. then she did. (I have not.) our similarities end there, but idk. I just think it’s interesting. and it kinda gives me courage to pursue my dreams of podcasting. uhhh p sure this one is clean. (i don’t always notice and remember language? but it shouldn’t have any.)

99% Invisible; this podcast introduced me to the world of podcasts. it got me hooked. it talks about design in the world, but the design of all SORTS of things - doors, food, mail, flags….I love this podcast so much. it satisfies the need in me to know obscure facts about the things no one notices or cares about in this world. also, the main host has a really nice voice. definitely clean.

and…that’s about it? I have a lot of podcasts on my TBL, but as I haven’t listened to them yet, I don’t want to recommend them. 

oh, and I will say: don’t get into Welcome to Night Vale, if you haven’t already. it’s a decent podcast, but not the greatest. listen to Sneak Attack or Wolf 359 instead. better use of your time. 

[hextual]

Podcast Recs

The following recs/summaries may contain light-to-moderate spoilers, though I try to keep things vague and rot13 the more specific stuff! Here is an abbreviated spoiler-free rec list, for the sensitive among you.

Night Vale Presents

The three non-WTNV shows have all finished their first seasons (and Alice Isn't Dead just started its second). They're relatively short and contain complete story arcs. 

WTNV: The ur-podcast, the light horror fiction narrative that kicked off the trend. Y'all know it or you don't. If you've somehow never heard it and don't want to start from the pilot, I recommend trying Episode 13; it's a stand-alone episode in a slightly different format than the rest, but it gives a good sense of WTNV's general aesthetic. Also it's just really really good.

Alice Isn't Dead: A surrealist horror roadtrip about a trucker searching for her wife Alice, who isn't dead. She's got nothing to lose and a lot of dangerous road to cover.

Orbiting Human Circus: Bizarre and magical and a little bit heartbreaking, like all good circuses should be. Julian is the janitor of a heavily fictionalized Eiffel Tower, and he desperately wants to be part of the Orbiting Human Circus show that he cleans up after every night.

Within the Wires: Dystopian sci-fi 1980s AU, told through a series of 'relaxation' cassettes. More grounded in reality than the others, though that's not saying much. The medium is also foregrounded much more in the narrative.

Hiatus

Wolf 359: SUPER dark, though you wouldn't know it from the first dozen episodes. However, the inflicting-trauma to coping-with-trauma ratio is low enough that I listened to the whole thing and will almost definitely listen to Season 4 when it's released starting this June. Also, no queerness whatsoever (making it unique on this list).  

Eos 10: Spaceship sitcom. Less artistically ambitious than most of the others on this list, which is not necessarily a point against it. 

Airing

The Strange Case of Starship Iris: Newer sci-fi podcast that I absolutely love; it ticks all my very specific boxes (including medium-as-message) and is also just really well constructed and executed. I adore every single one of the main characters. There are only 4 episodes but I'm so hyped about it. 

The Bright Sessions: Audio files from a therapist to teens and young adults with superpowers. Everything I ever wanted X-Men to be: light on the fight scenes/explosions, heavy on exploring what it means to have superhuman powers and how that might affect your life/relationships.

The Penumbra Podcast: Cyberpunk noir pastiche that sometimes gets a little too broad for me but is generally good fun of the Thrilling Tales! variety.

Ars Paradoxica: Time travel in one of its more complex interpretations. Paradox is a major plot element. Kind of sci-fi historical fiction?

Now for the more detailed writeups, including overviews of queerness and genre. As I said before, potential spoilers are rot13′d...but Here There Be Dragons etc.

Night Vale Presents

All of these are incredibly solid shows with an otherworldly feel to them that I love, despite being otherwise quite different.

All main characters are queer; WTNV has queer side characters (including nonbinary characters), but afaik the only other explicitly queer characters in AID/ORC/WTW are love interests of the MCs. That's pretty understandable, though, given that the casts of the three non-WTNV shows are exponentially smaller, and they've aired significantly fewer episodes.

I want to mention something in a totally value-neutral way: none of the shows feature homophobia or directly discuss queerness (lowkey exception for one episode of WTNV). I actually enjoy that, personally; it's usually very restful to spend time in worlds where queerness is normalized and unremarkable. Occasionally, however, I do want a slightly more direct approach, so I wanted to make a note in case you're in that kind of mood. 

Welcome to Night Vale The first and only podcast I listened to for about a year. Honestly, do I even need to say anything about WTNV?  I do want to mention that I think it's gotten a little bogged down in continuity over the last year. AFAIK it wasn't conceived as a long-running narrative arc, and a lot of its early charm came from the total lack of context. After Year 2, I feel like it did start spending a little too much time explaining things and filling out backstory for elements that, frankly, didn't need them. YMMV ofc, and I still listen to/enjoy every new episode, but I'm not madly in love with Year 3 the way I was with Year 1-2. Queerness: Queer af! The main character gets a full same-sex romance arc; V'q pnyy vg 'unccl-raqvat' ohg vg'f fgvyy batbvat nf n ybivat naq urnygul eryngvbafuvc, juvpu vf rira orggre. Multiple side characters are queer, including a few nonbinary characters who use they/them pronouns.  Genre: tucking into a short stack at 2am in a diner in the American Southwest, slowly realizing that the woman behind the counter called you by name even though you've never been here before, and also you can't quite remember how you got here in the first place. Alice Isn't Dead Beautiful, creepy, and acted by the brilliant Jasika Nicole. I'd place this more firmly in the horror genre than the others, so if you're sensitive to that kind of thing, take note; there's some suspense and a little bit of violence. That said, I am usually MASSIVELY sensitive and can't even watch trailers for horror movies (I have made my peace with never ever seeing Get Out), and I was perfectly fine with it. Queerness: The main character is a woman married to Alice, who isn't dead. It's like the opposite of the Bury Your Gays trope. Genre: driving along a nameless interstate late at night, the world around you narrowed to the section of road thrown into sharp relief by your headlights, and the occasional glint of animal eyes. The Orbiting Human Circus of the Air ORC is the most fanciful of the Night Vale family. The other shows seem like they take place in realities just a shade off from ours, but ORC completely throws any pretense of realism out the window. There's no real sense of a world outside the Circus, and why should there be? The Orbiting Human Circus of the Air has an infinitude of fantastical delights: singing saws, a bird that can mimic (almost) a full orchestra, tap-dancing mice. There's no trick or sleight of hand involved, not even a dusty tome of magic spells. ORC simply presents a world in which these wonders exist in hidden corners. The story is sometimes melancholy, and there are regular hints of a deep sadness underneath the surface, but the main character is defined by his determination and...well, 'optimism' would be too strong a word, but he has an unyielding sense of hope. He doesn't actually think things will turn out well for him (and he's so often right about that), but he clings to the hope that this time, maybe it might. Queerness: Gur znva punenpgre nyyhqrf gb na rk-oblsevraq bapr. This is one of the lighter touches of queerness in the Night Vale family. Genre: peering through a dusty velvet curtain just offstage, while brightly-costumed creatures dance to a tune you haven't heard since you were a child. Within the Wires While all Night Vale Presents shows have some kind of narrative conceit framing the audio medium (community radio station, trucker radio transmissions, broadcast wish fulfillment), those tend to be vehicles for the story and stylistic flourishes, rather than core elements of the story itself. WtW is presented as audio cassettes on full-body relaxation, and the cassettes themselves become key actors. This is not a story that could be told in any other medium, which personally I freaking love. This is also a more sci-fi show than the others, despite being set in AU 1980s, and more blatantly dystopic. The world-building's a little more evident, which is neither a good thing nor a bad thing; I think it's a side effect of being more sci-fi than fantasy. Everything feels like it has an explanation, even if the explanation is not provided, and it all fits together smoothly. Also: the narrator has a mild kiwi accent, which I find incredibly soothing. Queerness: Yep. Gur znva punenpgre unf n pbzcyvpngrq ohg qrpvqrqyl abg cyngbavp (s/s) eryngvbafuvc jvgu gur jbzna gur gncrf ner vagraqrq sbe.  Genre: lying quietly in a sensory isolation tank until you inexplicably start crying for the first time in years.

On hiatus

Wolf 359 So, there are a couple voice actors in Wolf 359 that don't do a whole lot for me, performance-wise. I don't want to get more specific because YMMV and I'm also just a really picky audio consumer, but there you have it. Mostly it's not an issue, though. This is also one of the darker shows I listen to, although it starts out with more of a zany sitcom vibe. There's a fair amount of murder, murder attempts, and general people-being-horrible-in-ways-they-believe-to-be-justified. It's not something I think I could sit through again, but it is a captivating story told well. There's a lot of focus on the emotional arcs and characters dealing with trauma, which I am All About in sci-fi. 

Queerness: zero. Zip. Zilch. It doesn't feature any romance arcs at all, though, so...I found it tolerable. Honestly, if it hadn't come so highly recommended, I probably would not have given it a shot. Genre: placing your hand on a rusty, unmarked door that wasn't in the ship schematics, and knowing you must step through—you must step through. Eos 10 After my first pass at this write-up, I realized that I was being really negative—far more negative than this show deserves. So I want to be clear: I listened to and enjoyed every extant episode of Eos 10, and I'm looking forward to Season 3, whenever it's released. It's a pleasantly entertaining space sitcom and I've gotten attached to the characters; the writing's solid and the voice acting is generally pretty great. It's just not quite tailored to my specific tastes. Ok, back to what I originally wrote: This podcast feels a lot more mainstream/conventional in its tropes than the others. Unlike most of the podcasts I listen to, the medium is invisible to the characters: it's not pitched as a radio show or a voice recorder or a series of motivational tapes. To me, this adds another layer of remove between the audience and the story. It's fine, it's just very straightforward in its presentation, with no medium-specific conceit or anything. It’s not really outsider art in any sense, and could legitimately be a TV show if it had the budget. That's a pretty good description of the show as a whole, honestly. It makes no pretense at being high-concept, it just does what it does. Queerness: This one...is not very queer. One of the side characters is gay but it doesn't really come up a lot. There's also a gay minor character that gets mentioned but never appears, and it's kind of a running gag that the gay character has a thing for the main character, who insists he's straight. It's a gross trope and I kind of winced at it, but it's usually framed by other characters as "are you sure you're not interested, because [gay character] is way out of your league and you're really not going to do better," which mitigates it somewhat for me? Also, gurer ner uvagf gung gur znva punenpgre zvtug npghnyyl or vagrerfgrq va gur tnl punenpgre, but only time will tell whether it's queerbaiting or not. Look, it's not an ideal situation. If it’s a dealbreaker, I totally understand, especially since there's no clear answer to the "is this queerbaiting" question and due to some unfortunate creator health issues, we might not get one for a while. Genre: ducking out of the way as a harried-looking man in a lab coat and stethoscope pelts down the hallway, yelling "GET ME FIVE UNITS OF ALIEN SEX POLLEN, STAT!"

Airing

The Strange Case of Starship Iris

I love this show a disproportionate amount, given that only four episodes have aired. This is a newer podcast, and one I stumbled on completely by accident! I wasn't expecting much, but it was sci-fi and the main character's last name was Liu, so I decided to give it a shot. And then it turned out to be not only awesome but also totally queer! I think I actually said "HAH! YES!" out loud when the queerness was canonized within the first few minutes. (This is why I live alone.) Plus, this is a small thing from a throwaway line, but...the main character weighs roughly the same amount as I do. Do you know how often that happens with Asian characters? Never, is how often. For possibly the first time in my life, I feel like I can legitimately headcanon a main character who looks exactly like me. I'm definitely going to do some incredibly self-indulgent fanart at some point. Unprecedented overidentifying with the main character aside: honestly, it's like this podcast was tailor-made for me. MAJOR SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 1 (and kind of 2): Vafrpher ovbybtvfg wbvaf ent-gnt perj bs fzhttyref jvgu n sbhaq-snzvyl ivor naq nyvra phygheny pynfurf, nyy senzrq va n fvavfgre zrgnaneengvir gung hfrf gur zrqvhz nf n cybg qrivpr, CYHF cbgragvny ebznapr orgjrra na Rnfg Nfvna jbzna naq n Fbhgu Nfvna jbzna? Um, sign me the fuck up.  The only downside is that this has definitely raised my expectations for new podcasts by an unreasonable amount. Every new podcast I've tried since Starship Iris has been vaguely disappointing. My podcast standards are way too high now, and it's all Starship Iris's fault.

Queerness: YES. The main character is a queer woman, there's a nonbinary alien species and the alien crew member uses they/them pronouns, and there's a trans guy. Also, this is wild speculation, but V guvax/oryvrir/ubcr gung bar bs gur bgure srznyr perj zrzoref vf orvat frg hc nf n ebznagvp vagrerfg sbe gur znva punenpgre. There's some explicit discussion of gender identity in a non-traumatic way which tbh is like water in the freaking desert.

Genre: ??? it's too new and I love it too much to assign it a genre. 

The Bright Sessions

As I said in the spoiler-free summary: this is everything I wanted X-Men to be. Hell, it's everything I ever want superhero stories to be, and it's why I've been drawn to superhero stories since I was a teenager. The Bright Sessions deals with the complex consequences of, e.g., having empathy powers as a teenager while learning how to manage your own emotions and maturity. The main character is Dr. Bright, a therapist specializing in people with superpowers, which naturally provides the perfect angle for those people to get really navel-gazey about their lives. There is an actual overarching plot with a shadowy government agency, of course, but that's definitely not what I'm here for and luckily that’s clearly just a vehicle for the feelings.

Queerness: One of the main characters has a m/m romance arc; another main character is asexual; a side character (who may soon be considered a main character?) is bisexual. Because the conceit is therapy sessions, Dr. Bright does inquire delicately about how her patients may or may not be coping with emerging/existing queer identities, but none of them find it traumatic.

Genre: telekinetically fiddling with a desk puzzle limned in afternoon sun, as the doctor asks: "And how does that make you feel?"

The Penumbra Podcast

I'd had the Penumbra Podcast on my radar/subscriptions list for a while, but I'd never quite finished the first episode...until the remastered/rewritten first story was released. The difference is astronomical. The creators talk about audio quality etc. in their reasoning for recreating the first story, but for me, the main distinction is the skill in storytelling and the confidence to create noir without relying on questionable tropes to signal "hard-boiled!!!" I sometimes think the writing and characterizations are a little broad, but that may be down to genre. Penumbra doesn't really go for 'subtle' or 'realistic.' An important format note: there's a main character with episodic adventures, but in between the two-part adventures, there are one-shots in various genres. I actually skipped most of the one-shots because I'm not great with horror or kid stories.

Queerness: The main character of the main story is queer (jvgu na qryvtugshyyl rzbgvbanyyl pbafgvcngrq z/z ebznapr nep gung'f abg va n terng cynpr evtug abj), as are numerous side characters. It's a noir pastiche, though, so the main character is pretty self-sabotaging in all areas of his life; a 'happy ending' doesn't seem incredibly likely. One of the stand-alone stories is a queer Western, which I found delightful. It's also one of the few stand-alone stories that has a bonus follow-up episode.

Genre: taking a long, slow drag on a cigarette as the rain blurs the neon lights and filth of the alien city below.

Ars Paradoxica

Ars Paradoxica shares a producer with The Bright Sessions, which is why I tried it! Like all decent time travel stories, Ars Paradoxica is meticulously planned with a lot of moving parts. The worldbuilding is intense and requires actually paying attention, which can be challenging for me since I typically listen to podcasts while multitasking.  Frankly, it moves a little slow for me...which is odd to say about a show that regularly has timeskips of months or years and literally involves time travel. I guess I feel that way because there's a lot of attention paid to the action and plot, but less to the emotional character arcs. And obviously my narrative preferences run a certain way, so I'm only really paying attention to the character stuff. Which, to be fair, certainly exists and is carried through well—it's just not in my preferred proportions. Plus, the cast is quite sprawling compared to most other podcasts, and the tone is almost Crapsack World but not quite. 

Queerness: The main character is explicitly asexual and briefly explains it, and there are a handful of queer side characters. It's semi-historical, and there's some discussion of managing visibility etc. 

Genre: staring into the dusty gears of a massive clock running backwards as the minute hand slowly approaches a blinking red light.