WAS1 Productions

Here’s a couple of audio stories of note I heard recently. As luck would have it, they’re both written by the same author, Will McIntosh.

First on Drabblecast, the podcast of strange fiction is Fantasy Jumper. It’s both disturbing and poignant. Set in a World’s Fair in the not-to-distant future, that playground of the Id shows us at our most petty and banal, but also so vulnerable.

And then from Escape Pod, the science-fiction podcast is Bridesicle, a story about speed dating in the cryogenic age, which is both chilling and ultimately quite moving. The implications on the technology in that world and their impact on society make for some intriguing ideas too.

The Drabblecast, the podcast of strange stories, has a fun story deconstructing the comic genre. Dr. Diablo Goes Through the Motions turns notions of super villians on its head.

Host Norm Sherman also provides odd and interesting commentary and musical theater on the news story of an art installation, Victimless Leather, a miniature coat made from living rat stem cells. Now that’s entertainment!

Originally Written 03/18/10

I’ve listened to a couple of Pseudopod audio horror stories this week which I thought were wonderfully told and affecting, and great listens.

The Getalong Gang by Barrie Darke is a fantastic portrait of someone slowly going insane, viewed from the inside. It’s horror, but of the psychological sort, and it kept me on edge waiting for the innevitable to happen. It was deftly written and avoided the expected endings, which made it even more affective.

Jim Bihyeh’s The Dreaming Way is a wonderful piece of dark fantasy and Navajo mysticism. The ending was a little easy to guess, but still chilling, especially the way it draws out your empathy and horror at what unfolds. It’s a prequel to Love Like Thunder and there’s a third story, Reservation Monsters which also includes the trickster character. All three tales have some powerful character drama as well.

Originally Written 03/04/10

I’m catching up on PodCastle stories and they’ve run two recent tales which have had fun with twists on standard tropes and archetypes of fantasy stories. As it turns out they’re both entertaining tales by the same author, Tim Pratt.

Restless in my Hand examines the possible reasons for the delays in a hero’s journey and Another End of the Empire follows a dark lord’s exploits to try and escape a dire prophecy. Fun stuff. If you enjoy fantasy and good audio fiction, they’re worth checking out. Fun stuff. If you enjoy fantasy and good audio fiction, they’re worth checking out.

Originally Written 05/12/08

The folks behind EscapePod and Pseudopod have finally opened their new fantasy-themed audio-fiction podcast, Podcastle. I’ve been listening to the first several episodes, and like their other podcasts, the stories and production values are both very good.

They started off with one of Peter S. Beagle’s (of “The Last Unicorn”) early works, Come Lady Death. Another story is a retelling of a classic Grimm’s fairytale, Goosegirl, which gets into the psychological schisms caused by a spell forcing a switched identities.

There were also two stories, back to back, which have heroines going up against social conventions and norms, Fear of Dragons and Run of the Fiery Horse. The stories get a little political, and the first one is a bit heavy handed, while the second is more balanced. Both of them had neat takes on Easter and Western tales of dragons (or serpents) and I loved the mythology of them, especially the Fiery Horse one.