Podcasts
As my FemslashEx Dear Author letter may show, I've been getting into some podcasts recently-ish. Here are some of my favourites:
Limetown
Possibly my favourite podcast series, this is from the viewpoint of Lia Haddock, an investigative reporter looking into the mystery of Limetown, whose over three hundred inhabitants disappeared without a trace over ten years ago. It starts off as a retrospective, but takes another turn when one of the missing inhabitants contacts her...
This is really well done, with excellent production values and a contained story that takes place over six episodes. Episodes 1 and 6, in particular, are standout. (Especially if you listen to episode 1 again after episode 6.)
Ars Paradoxica
Another well written drama, following the story of Dr Sally Grissom a twenty-first century scientist who accidentally time travels to the Eldridge, 1943 during a top secret military experiment. This series isn't anywhere close to being concluded as it follows Sally's tale over the course of years both as she tries to find out exactly what happened and the ripples that knowledge of time-travel in this period causes.
In general, the main focus of the story is the character drama, often laced with time-travel twists. Sometimes the characters stumble and fall, but always in ways that feel true to them, even as you hope they'll do better this time. One warning is that some of the voices are hard to distinguish, at least in the beginning, and there isn't a cast list, so sometimes you might not be quite sure who a given character is.
Wolf 359
Doug Eiffel is a slacker and a comms officer - in pretty much that order - aboard the Hephaestus, a station orbiting the red dwarf Wolf 359. The series very much starts as a comedy, as Doug bounces off the other occupants of the station - his uptight, do-everything-by-the-rulebook superior, Commander Minkowski, scientist with more than occasional mad tendencies, Hilbert and the passive-aggressive station AI, Hera. It slowly morphs into something else as plot (and occasionally additional crew) accumulates, but still occasionally bounces back to its zany roots.
Although not nearly as focussed an experience as either of the first two podcasts, the energy and chemistry the actors bring to the roles makes it a very enjoyable experience. It's especially worth catching the video of the live show they did - a lot of the cast manage to look impressively like you'd imagine, and the changes in posture and body language between Eiffel and Hilbert - the same voice actor plays both - are kind of amazing.
The above three are my current favourites. Below are some others that I like.
The Bright Sessions
The focus of this podcast is a psychiatrist who specialises in people with super powers and some of her patients. Also some obligatory plot as things from the past start to affect the present.
Alice isn't Dead
A woman takes a job as a trucker and travels across America in search of supposedly deceased wife. Because, as the title tells you, Alice isn't dead. On the way, she encounters weirdness and horror and maybe occasionally some answers.
This is a well done performance by an actress I recognise, but for some reason it didn't grab me quite as much as my favourite three. I think at the end of the day, I get on better with podcasts that have multiple voice actors.
Within the Wires
This starts off as a series of creepy and weird self-help tapes at an unnamed Institute, and slowly plot starts to infect the tapes, telling a story. Again very well done, but likewise suffering from the problem of only one voice actor.
Given my particular biases, I feel I should also mention that Ars Paradoxica, Alice isn't Dead and Within the Wires all have canonical queer female content, and The Bright Sessions has queer male content.
Limetown
Possibly my favourite podcast series, this is from the viewpoint of Lia Haddock, an investigative reporter looking into the mystery of Limetown, whose over three hundred inhabitants disappeared without a trace over ten years ago. It starts off as a retrospective, but takes another turn when one of the missing inhabitants contacts her...
This is really well done, with excellent production values and a contained story that takes place over six episodes. Episodes 1 and 6, in particular, are standout. (Especially if you listen to episode 1 again after episode 6.)
Ars Paradoxica
Another well written drama, following the story of Dr Sally Grissom a twenty-first century scientist who accidentally time travels to the Eldridge, 1943 during a top secret military experiment. This series isn't anywhere close to being concluded as it follows Sally's tale over the course of years both as she tries to find out exactly what happened and the ripples that knowledge of time-travel in this period causes.
In general, the main focus of the story is the character drama, often laced with time-travel twists. Sometimes the characters stumble and fall, but always in ways that feel true to them, even as you hope they'll do better this time. One warning is that some of the voices are hard to distinguish, at least in the beginning, and there isn't a cast list, so sometimes you might not be quite sure who a given character is.
Wolf 359
Doug Eiffel is a slacker and a comms officer - in pretty much that order - aboard the Hephaestus, a station orbiting the red dwarf Wolf 359. The series very much starts as a comedy, as Doug bounces off the other occupants of the station - his uptight, do-everything-by-the-rulebook superior, Commander Minkowski, scientist with more than occasional mad tendencies, Hilbert and the passive-aggressive station AI, Hera. It slowly morphs into something else as plot (and occasionally additional crew) accumulates, but still occasionally bounces back to its zany roots.
Although not nearly as focussed an experience as either of the first two podcasts, the energy and chemistry the actors bring to the roles makes it a very enjoyable experience. It's especially worth catching the video of the live show they did - a lot of the cast manage to look impressively like you'd imagine, and the changes in posture and body language between Eiffel and Hilbert - the same voice actor plays both - are kind of amazing.
The above three are my current favourites. Below are some others that I like.
The Bright Sessions
The focus of this podcast is a psychiatrist who specialises in people with super powers and some of her patients. Also some obligatory plot as things from the past start to affect the present.
Alice isn't Dead
A woman takes a job as a trucker and travels across America in search of supposedly deceased wife. Because, as the title tells you, Alice isn't dead. On the way, she encounters weirdness and horror and maybe occasionally some answers.
This is a well done performance by an actress I recognise, but for some reason it didn't grab me quite as much as my favourite three. I think at the end of the day, I get on better with podcasts that have multiple voice actors.
Within the Wires
This starts off as a series of creepy and weird self-help tapes at an unnamed Institute, and slowly plot starts to infect the tapes, telling a story. Again very well done, but likewise suffering from the problem of only one voice actor.
Given my particular biases, I feel I should also mention that Ars Paradoxica, Alice isn't Dead and Within the Wires all have canonical queer female content, and The Bright Sessions has queer male content.