Last weekend, as well as co-running the awesome redcloak team with Marguerite, I was on a panel at Fantasycon. ‘Sounds Like A Good Story’, designed by Richard Webb, did a great job of letting us talk about the attractions of audio fiction of all sorts and it was a really fun hour.
It was also a pretty information-heavy one. So, below is a list of links. The first set are what the guests on the panel do when they’re not on panels. The second are all the shows that were discussed. The third is good stuff we didn’t get to. Click on any of the names, or logos, to jump to the appropriate page.
Emma Newman
Author, podcaster and tea aficionado extraordinaire. You can find Emma at the following places:
Her partner in polite British, cake-riddled mayhem is Pete Newman. Pete wasn’t on the panel but his stuff is absolutely worthy of your time. Find him at:
And here’s a review of his book, The Vagrant.
Chris Barnes
Staggeringly talented audiobook narrator and producer, a longtime friend and the replacement me on the much-missed Frequency of Fear podcast. Chris is one of the best kept secrets in audio fiction. Time to change that.
ACX Profile (ACX is a site that acts as a talent pool for audio narrators. Definitely worth looking at if you’re interested in the field)
James Goss
James Goss thinks that hiding behind a vast range of excellent tie-in work will mean he can go unnoticed. But we know different, don’t we?
And here’s the GoodReads page for his gloriously nasty horror novel, Haterz.
Me
Hello! I do all sorts of stuff but in terms of this panel, here’s the relevant bits:
Escape Pod-The weekly science fiction show Escape Artists, my company, runs.
Pseudopod-This is our weekly horror show that I also host.
Podcastle-This is our weekly fantasy show.
Mothership Zeta-This is our quarterly magazine, launching soon.
Cast of Wonders-This is the YA short fiction podcast we’re bringing aboard next year.
Now, the other stuff that came up:
I Should Be Writing-A show that is directly responsible for me being here today. Mur Lafferty is a genius and it’s an honor to call her a close friend. If you’re a writer, and especially if you’re doing NaNoWriMo you need this.
Ditch Diggers-Mur’s new show, along with other close friend and newly minted Tor author Matt Wallace. This is a show less about process and more about perseverance. Mur and Matt have been in the trenches doing this for years, they know how to treat writing as a job and they want to help you. Listen to them in all their perceptive, profane glory.
Writing Excuses-One of the longest running, and best, shows about the struggles every write faces.
Darker Projects-A collection of original and fan shows. They gave me one of my first jobs, as Casey, the techie who explains the plot in Tales of the Museum.
Big Finish-The frankly astonishing Big Finish juggernaut has been a vital part of Doctor Who for years now. They produce full cast audio dramas and they’re increasingly in lockstep with the TV show. Start, basically, anywhere but if you’re looking for a good example of what they do, Torchwood: Fall to Earth by one James Goss is a perfect example of how to do a lot with a little.
Planet Money-NPR’s economics show is actually a show about people. And history. And food. And organ donation. And odd history. Pick any episode, listen. You’ll learn something new and weird and interesting.
Freakonomics-By the authors of the wildly popular Freakonomics books, this is a podcast that folds history, economics and daily life around one another and hands them all back to you, gift-wrapped and newly accessible. Brilliant stuff.
Serial-An immensely popular true crime podcast that looked at an apparently closed case and the questions surrounding it. It’s undeniably incredibly compelling stuff. It’s also, for me at least, morally very questionable.
The Black Tape Podcast-One of the first shows to mimic the Serial model but do so, to my mind, far more successfully by sticking to fiction.In researching a case, reporter Alex Regan stumbles across Doctor Richard Strand. Strand is a legendary skeptic and has an office filled with old white VHS tape cases he uses to store details of closed cases.
He has some black tapes too and that’s where the trouble starts…
A 12 episode first season just finished and it’s vastly compelling, scary stuff. The ending may frustrate you, it did me, but think of it more as a season cliffhanger than a finale and it works.
Tanis-A really clever ‘sidequel’ to Black Tapes that sees Alex’s producer Nic run with a story of his own. This is three episodes in and has so far included the secret history of science fiction, Charles Fort, numbers stations and Pump Up The Volume. I am…95? percent certain the producers are not wandering around my head at night pulling this stuff together. But not much more…
Limetown-One of the most compelling shows being produced right now. Ten years after the mysterious disappearance of almost the entire staff of the Limetown research facility, reporter Lia Haddock begins to uncover the truth. Brilliantly constructed, frequently chilling and getting a deserved reputation for killer episode closing stings.
Finally, these didn’t come up on the day but are well worth it:
House to Astonish-One of the best comics review and discussion podcasts out there. They’re also part of a colossal, multi-show crossover so if you wanted to find a comics podcast you like, now’s the perfect time to jump aboard.
Digital Drift-Staggeringly in depth, perceptive work on pop culture from yet more best kept secrets, Alex and Sharon Shaw. Amazingly perceptive, enthusiastic work. See also their excellent audio drama work.
Faculty of Horror-The best horror discussion podcast on the planet to my mind. Staggeringly in depth, always fun, always enthusiastic. Their episodes on Battle Royale and Pontypool are especially good.
Oh and, of course, here’s the shipping forecast.
Thanks once again to the hugely fun, brilliant panel and audience. And do get in touch if you’ve got recommendations, I’m always looking for new and fun stuff to listen to.