Fiction Frequency

Check out how cool @sparkriel made the official cover art based on my sketch! The power of a graphic designer.

Happy Monday! S2 E23, Utility and Sentiment, is out now! You can find it haunting your local podcatcher, or you could try interrogating an enemy’s old associates for a chat with this week's ghost, voiced by the incomparable Tal Minear.

It's hard to capture the exact alchemy that happened this weekend, because no one part of the day was some keystone perfect moment. For me personally, it was incredible to even just be in the same room as so many of my closest collaborators and people who have made art that has deeply moved me; but then, there were also a good number of audiodrama fans who showed up and kept things from getting too "let's all talk shop." The vibes, so to speak, were immaculate, with people all coming together to appreciate each others' expertise and artistry - and that is NOT a given!

I think the thing I was most struck by, consistently through the whole day, was the spirit of generosity and community from setup at 7:30 a.m. (when more volunteers showed up than Tal planned for) to 8:00 p.m. (when the venue coordinator seemed genuinely shocked by how helpful everyone wanted to be putting the space back together). I had constructive, inspiring conversations with titans of the field and new artists under 20. I learned about how people brought their own loves to their work: linguists, teachers, musical gear distributors, used bookstore owners, ex-marketing firm full-time writers, experts in Greek history, civil rights history, marine biology. And not once - genuinely, seriously, taking account of the whole 12+ hour day - did I feel a single shred of selfishness, competitiveness, or jealousy in any room or conversation I was in. Acknowlement of our egos? Sure! But never indulgence in shit-talking, never a single person saying "that show is so overrated" or "that actor didn't earn that part" or "[whatever] should have been successful instead" and that is *remarkable*

In the closing presentation on how to keep making art in our dark, dark days, Lauren Shippen was asked "what gives you hope?" She thought for a brief moment, and said what I'd been thinking all day: this. This gives me hope. This community that refuses to be cruel to the naive, refuses to be lazy about inclusion, refuses to look away from the pain of the world and yet writes, sings, acts, designs, creates, creates, creates. Dear listener, I did tear up. I did feel that lump in my throat. To be in a room of 200 people who love so fiercely the creative act was nothing short of a spiritual experience for me.

New Episode: A Solution

What a situation we find ourselves in, as a community.

Listen here: https://www.welcometonightvale.com/

TUMBLR I LOVE YOU!!! our most streamed month ever is in September 2024, when season two started. but since posting about cassette tapes from august here, we’re currently 30 streams away from surpassing that record this month! crazy to think, in a month where it’s been almost 2 years without releasing anything, we’ve gotten that high, and it’s all thanks to our new friends on tumblr!

We have a wonderful cast and crew, including @thevoicefromthestars , @billielhindle , @fagrajeda , and so many more. Please help us reach our goal tonight!

About us:

Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/c/beforeiforgetagainpod https://www.patreon.com/c/beforeiforgetagainpod

Ko-Fi:

I am SO glad the public is rediscovering the joys of listening to audio plays, and damn well hope we can get some more variety. currently BBC Radio is doing amazing things with audio dramas (but the availability on their website is...not great. some shows pop up on archive.org before getting taken down for copyright, so pirate it when possible).

I would be remiss to not mention that this also means that the queer rep is better in audiodrama than any other medium. As someone who is ace, I can name a couple ace characters in all other media, I could name 10 canonically ace audiodrama characters off the top of my head.

If anyone is reading this and looking for some suggestions, check out my website or send me an ask. I listen to every genre except horror and have 100+ recs, searchable and filterable.

Here’s the haul!!! Close-ups under the cut, ask me about any of this stuff, I’d love to gush.

Our season 3 Kickstarter is live! Fawx & Stallion is a comedy-mystery podcast about the best detective team in London! Not that one. The other one. Across the street, and slightly to the left, at 224B Baker Street. We've successfully solved two mysteries, and we'll need your help to get a crack at a third! Scripts are written, pre-production has begun, and all we need is the funding to make this show's engine start in earnest!

Season one of the show was primarily self-financed, and season two's 10 episodes were crowdfunded and produced for $8000. For season 3, we are telling a story unlike any you've heard, with 12 full-cast episodes. Thank you to our Patreon members who have helped finance our pre-production and our wonderful team of five guest writers! For this season, we are asking for $10,000 to bring this sprawling, absurd, ambitious story to life.

We invite you to check out our crowdfunding page, which is live now, for more info on the season, our budget breakdown, and our fantastic set of rewards (early access! annotated Holmes stories! stickers! for the first time, the opportunity to name a character or provide walla for the show!)

In the interest of highlighting our rewards, take a look at our first set of 4 stickers, because we have an offer for you: help us get $3000 in pledges in the first 72 hours, and we'll add a FIFTH pride-themed sticker to all $30 and up tiers!

More info about the season under the cut!

🌅 I feel like Small Forgiveness was a perfect little cap to the masterpiece that is @wgc-productions’s Small Victories. Forgive Me! is great at this sort of self-reflection, by design—like it truly is the perfect crossover show, although it does give up its own story development for the sake of other shows. (Very christian of it.) Small Victories is such a perfect capsule of a story that it truly feels like no stone is left unturned, so what a treat to give an extra little tidbit about something I was curious about: how Marisol thinks about religion. And what a relief for her to be thinking about it on her terms, in her right mind. This feels like the kind of freedom she has needed all along, and what a privilege to get to see it.

🕳️ If you’re not listening to the new season of Alice Isn’t Dead, what a treat you have in store! This show captures everything I liked about the first seasons, especially the creeping road trip loneliness, and ESPECIALLY in this last episode. The church that Keisha hides in is just background to the real thing going on in the episode (hi, is that future!Keisha or some kind of other inherently trustable person perhaps? Maybe future!Alice?), but it struck such a chord with me. Pleeeease listen.

🎸 HELLO IT’S TIME FOR MORE GHOST BANDS! Everyone Leaves Alive is a rock musical with diegetic music that absolutely rules. I love that Haunted Rock Band is becoming an audio drama subgenre (see also Highgate Wood and Phantom Pulse), and this one is especially funny and fun in a way only Jessica Best can pull off. It’s also great that a main conceit of the show is “finally, a way to use my folklore degree.” I cannot wait for more.

💐 Desert Skies always hits so good. I feel like the central thesis to @desertskiespodcast is “people are generally good and trustworthy, and if they’re not it’s because something horrible happened to them—they deserve not anger and vengeance, but pity and help.” And what a powerful thing, what a huge ask, to remind us that actually being kind is quite difficult sometimes, and we are obligated to do it anyway. This episode reminds us why the characters are doing what they’re doing, not just from a plot perspective but from a heroic one. What a comfort, to know that even though there’s a lot of work to do, you’re not doing it alone. (Also, the joke about one guy doing all the voices had me rolling.)

🐀 What an absolutely delightful episode of World Gone Wrong. One with the rarely seen endangered species of Answers! It’s episodes like this that really show how they’re trying to wrap up the last season, tying up loose ends, removing the In The Same Room Obstacle that is the Bermuda River. Like Jamie said, I’m going to miss this.

🚗 This episode of Mayfair Watcher’s Society made me WEEEEEP oh man! Kayla Temshiv has long since proven their writer chops on Something’s Amiss at Juniper’s House, and this perfect little encapsulation of an impossible situation, alongside the new-girlfriends-fear of asking a hard question in a desperate situation, just hits perfectly. What a good episode.

That one is YA suburban fantasy /also/ about fairies.

Trans Masc Representation in Audio Fiction

Spirit Box Radio by @hangingslothcentral - so Eira who writes, sound designs, composes and performs all the Hanging Sloth shows is a trans guy, but also SBR's protag is explicitly a trans guy. The other shows: Not Quite Dead and Remnants don't explicitly have trans male protags but are entirely voiced by Eira. Clockwork Bird is fun for gender reasons in the same way Frankenstein is. Go listen!

@eelerschoice ! Is both written by a trans person, Dr Lou Sutcliffe, and one of its leads is our beloved B Narr, who you may know from The Silt Verses. Also it's a creepy ocean horror story. What's not to love!

@theholmwoodfoundation is both co-written by a trans man, Fio Trethewey, AND has a major character who is a trans man - namely Van Helsing's grandson, which is delightful to me. Also Mina Harker is possessing a trans woman and they're both being lovely about it, so bonus points.

@nightshiftpodcast has a lead who is a queer man played by a trans man, and the story is an urban fantasy about his enemies to lovers romance with a guy who is essentially the PR man for urban fantasy Meta. It's so much and I love it so much god bless.

Love and Luck by Passer Vulpes productions is a love story between two men, one of whom is played by a trans man and wheelchair user. It's a very sweet magical realist / light urban fantasy about the queer community in Melbourne, Australia. Extra points because the two leads are played by irl husbands Lee Davis-Thalbourne and Erin Kyan, which is charming to me.

Kind of a deep cut but The Blood Crow Stories Season 2 is a wild west horror story that stars a trans man and it makes me really happy listening to a wild west 1800s setting where a badass outlaw lady gives a guy rags for his monthly bleed without making a big deal of it.

Moonbase Theta Out by @monkeymanproductions has a morally grey (french!) trans guy antagonist from S2 onwards and it's like, A Whole Thing. Also in general a buttload of excellent queer rep including the show's leads from S1, a person who figures out they're non binary, and their husband.

@iriscasefiles stars Brian Jeeter, one of the core cast of a motley crew of space rebels and outlaws, he's a xenolinguistics specialist married to a non-binary alien called Krejjh, it's delightful, he's delightful, they're currently releasing their third and final season!

@dosafteryou is a fucked up and toxic love story between a trans guy and essentially a god? It is tasty and terrifying and very fun, bonus points for being written by a trans guy too, about out to David Orion.

@folxlorepod is a smorgasbord anthology of queer horror stories, including episodes with trans masc protagonists. It's generally full of queer and trans joy and also wrath, and is made by a queer and trans team. You should check it out!

There are more but I am currently at a train station so can't do proper research. I think Evelyn Glass in @pasitheapowder is trans? And the very definition of haunting the narrative. Also I'm sure The Pilgrimage Saga by @starstrider-productions must have a trans dude protag but I cannot remember (it definitely has one of my favourite trans women in all of fiction.) I'm also sure @innbetween has trans guy protags but I cannot remember which series. I suspect The Gospel of Haven has a trans guy protag too but needs more research.

One thing that makes me sad is I can't think of shows with trans guys of colour as protags. I'm sure they exist, hopefully folk can recommend some.

Happy listening!

@hinaypod ; transmasc character with special episodes and cool story! hi nay is also queer BIPOC story in general. it's horror but it's wholesome horror, if it makes sense.

@surceasepod is mostly transmasc cast and crew with many transmasc characters! it is anthology-to-plot horror, deals a lot with mental illnesses as it takes place in mental institute.

@asbestos4president is a comedy of transmascs (afaik? please confirm if true. they're trans-something) and I have deemed it the best comedy out there (sorry to other comedies)