The third site I want to talk to you about this week is Digital Drift. Run by Alex and Sharon Shaw it’s a site that combines original podcast fiction with genre fiction discussion, a regular live event and a vast amount of enthusiasm.
One of the things that defines my approach to pop culture is a piece of advice I was given by a mentor years ago; Getting something finished is amazingly difficult. Anyone who manages that deserves at least a modicum of respect for working so hard. It’s why I cringe at a lot of genre fiction journalism because it tends to start from a basis of ‘Impress me’ or ‘This is automatically bad and I’ll snark at it’ or, in some cases ‘I wrote 300 words and found ten gifs. Pay me.’ It’s a huge field and there’s a huge amount of really terrible writing in it. So, when you find a team that approaches everything with that same basic respect and then, if warranted, fires the Mockery Cannon? You tend to stick with them.
Digital Drift’s enthusiasm is tempered both by that willingness to mock and by a deep, abiding love for what they talk about it. They’re never blind to their subject’s failures but they’re always open to its successes too and the result is an in depth, positive, inspiring collection of shows that encompasses everything I love about pop culture and teaches me new perspectives every time I listen.
Here’s their Fury Road episode.
Here’s them talking about Pacific Rim with me as a guest.
Go listen and if you can, throw them some money, they’re great.