Flag of the Inca Empire

This is the flag of the Inca Empire. It comes from a world where the Inca were able to defeat Pizarro and his troops, and resisted Spanish conquest. The naturally mountainous terrain of the Andes helped give the Inca a considerable boost in self-defense against other European powers. The Inca played the various European powers off of each other to preserve their independence. The Inca initially considered a policy of isolationism, but this would prove untenable. Though, initially, the Inca limited their interactions with the Europeans as much as possible. 

As time went on, the Inca began to study and replicate European technology and ideas. The first major change being the introduction of gunpowder weaponry, and the establishment of permeant standing army. The Inca also established a formal written language; with its alphabet largely based on the Latin Alphabet, but with some unique flourishes. The Inca had been ravaged by smallpox, and other Europeans diseases, though not quite to the extent they were in our world. Naturally, the Inca sought out the vaccine for smallpox as soon as it became available in the 18th Century.

The 19th Century saw the next major wave of reforms. The Incan government reformed into a parliamentary democracy, with limits set on the Sapa Inca’s powers. The first stages of industrialization also began at this time. The Inca adopted Western styles of clothing, but mixed in their own designs and color choices. Indeed, to this day, the Incan clothing is known for its unique mix of Western and Indigenous designs. However, more traditional style clothing can be found at important events, such as major religious festivals, or the crowning of a new Sapa Inca.

Today, the Inca Empire is a prosperous modern nation. Cusco, the nation capital, is a true global city. It is home to several universities, museums and art galleries, restaurants, and temples that are the envy of the world. The Quechua people are the largest ethnic group within the empire. However, the empire is home to many other ethnic groups including, among others, Aymara, Mapuche, Wayuu, Het, Polynesians, and even Amazonian tribes. The Inca Empire also receives many immigrants from around the world.

Incan citizens enjoy a very generous social safety net. Government-funded healthcare is provided to all citizens, though private insurance also exists. The Department of Employment provides jobs to all citizens who find themselves unemployed. In the event that a citizen cannot fulfill any available jobs, they are instead given a welfare payment until new jobs become available. The Department of Culture helps provide funding for the arts. Some citizens, of course, cannot attend performances of the arts due to their financial circumstances. In this case, they can apply for free vouchers from the Department of Culture. This all means that most Inca citizens have fairly high taxes, but most consider the trade-off worth it.

The flag includes a stylized depiction of the sun god Inti. The Inca still largely follow their traditional religion; though secularism is on the rise. The blue symbolizes how the same blue sky stretches over all parts of the empire. In the corners of the flag are four chakana; a common geometric shape found in art across various Andes Civilizations. They are in the four corners of the flag in reference to the Inca Empire’s official name, Tawantinsuyu, which means Land of the Four Corners.

The Alt-Hist File: Prototype World of Tomorrow: The Infinite Journey

I’ve been on a roll reviewing the latest seasons of several audio dramas. We find ourselves once again at Prototype World of Tomorrow, a show I utterly adore. Not much more to add, so let get on to the main event. We’ve taking a look at season three of Prototype World of Tomorrow: The Infinite Journey. 

Just to recap, Prototype World of Tomorrow is set in a world where Walt Disney’s dream to build an Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow became a reality. Everyone in Progress City is gearing up for the Eleusinian Tournament. It is a competitive video game tournament, and Tim E. Less is determined to win with a little help from his friends. This year, the players will be dematerialized, and reassembled within the game itself. It might seem like fun and games, but lurks around every corner within the digital world. Tim’s fellow private investigator, Eve R. Moore, wants him to help her investigate the companies behind the Eleusinian Tournament from within. Hold on tight, Tim and the gang are about to take a journey beyond their wildest imagination.

I think by know that it should be obvious that I absolutely adore Prototype World of Tomorrow. It started off strong with season one, and continued the momentum with season two. So, how does season three do? Quite well indeed. As usual, there are numerous references to Disney Park attractions. Specifically, there are numerous references to all three incarnations of Journey into Imagination. Contestants exit the game through a rainbow tunnel, as a nod to how Journey into Imagination featured a rainbow tunnel. Fun fact, the Journey into Imagination tunnel also appears in one of Michael Jackson’s music videos. At one point, Tim and company meet a computer program that takes the form of a purple dragon. Obviously, this is meant to be Figment, and I shall refer to him as such from here on out. Figment mentions that he used to have a friend, but hasn’t seen said friend in a while. This is a reference to Dreamfinder, and how he was absent from both the Journey into Your Imagination and Journey into Imagination with Figment incarnations of the ride. Speaking of which, Ron Schneider, who played Dreamfinder, once again returns as one of the computer voices.

This segue’s nice into my next point. The game for this years tournament is partially powered by the players’ own imaginations. Oh, there are servers, very powerful ones, but part of the computing power is offset by utilizing the players’ own minds. For example, when Tim and his teammates look at a berry, it looks different to all of them, because everyone has their own mental image of how a berry should look. Though as mentioned, the servers do play some role. For example, all of the trees share the exact same four designs. Honestly, using the contestants’ own minds to generate the game was actually kind of brilliant. I haven’t really seen anything quite like that in fiction about virtual reality. I especially liked some aspects of the game being subjective based on the players’ own imaginations. Let it never be said that Ben Lancaster is lacking in creativity and imagination. Also, the part where the announcer says “right now there’s not a whole lot going on in your imaginations” was a nod to Journey Into Your Imagination, when Eric Idle says the same thing.

Oh, and one more reference. In the first episode, Tim is excited that his friends got handwiches. Handwitches were a short lived Disney food item. They were billed as the sandwiches of the future by then Disney CEO Michael Eisner. Handwiches were bread cones which held a variety of both sweet and savory fillings. Unfortunately, pretty much only Michael Eisner thought they were a good idea. Even the people working the handwich stands were skeptical of them, and handwiches died a swift death. Still, handwiches developed a minor cult following. In fact, they became a minor meme after Defunctland made a video about them. It also occurs to me that Bonnie, the waitress at Tim’s favorite greasy spoon, might possibly be a reference to Bonnie Appetite from Kitchen Kabaret.

Now, lets talk about the new characters. Tim’s team is down a player, so they take on Pauline, who works at the same company as Tim’s girlfriend Annie. At first, Tim doesn’t want Pauline on the team, and it was at this point I worried that this season was going to become one of those preachy “gamers are sexists” stories. Thankfully, that turned out not to be the case. Tim just wants to have a chance to play alongside his buddies, and proudly admits to having lost to numerous all-female teams in the past. Pauline has a true passion for retrogames, but Tim and his team initially dismiss her because of this. And yet, not too long after this, they mention that past Eleusinian Tournaments have incorporated elements of retrogames. So, one would think that they wouldn’t be so quick to brush her off. Initially, Pauline comes across as introverted, shy, and slightly dorky. In fact, at first I wondered if perhaps she might have autism. You don’t often see women with autism depicted in fiction. However, once everyone gets into the game, she becomes far more confident and in her element.

I also really liked Tim’s friend Morris. He’s a huge paleontology nerd, and is very excited that this year’s game has a dinosaur theme. He can name all of the dinosaurs, and other prehistoric animals, and rattles of a list of facts about each of them. He must be really good at the game right? Yeah, no. He get’s killed in the tutorial of the game, but he emerges from the game with little more than a bruised ego. Yeah, that would be me in that scenario. I also have a deep love of prehistoric animals, and with my luck, I’d probably get killed in the tutorial as well.

There is an obvious comparison to TRON with this season taking place in the digital world. However, while the programs interact with humans, their appearance isn’t as anthropomorphized as programs are in TRON. It is explain that the processing power of the severs is far faster than that of a human mind. I looked it up, and that does check out. As such, a human mind can’t be plugged directly into the computer mainframe. Thus, programs are rendered as series of geometric shapes.

Well, mostly. We do meet a program who looks suspiciously similar to Eve’s supposedly dead fiancé. We don’t get confirmation as to whether or not it really was him. That having been said, many strange things have been shown to happen in Progress. Personally, if I was the gambling sort, I’d put money on it actually being him. I’ll be genuinely surprised if it turns out it wasn’t actually him. But I guess we’ll have to wait and see what future seasons have in store for us.

The virtual world setting does provide some humorous moments as well. At one point, Eve hacks into the game, and enters via the microphone she gave Tim. However, because Tim swallowed the mic, Tim winds-up vomiting Eve into the game. This is one of those time that it is good that Prototype World of Tomorrow has no visual component. That scene would probably be pretty terrifying in a visual medium. There were points were it seemed that something would go wrong, and the characters might get mutated or glitched somehow. My personal speculations was that somehow everyone would switch bodies. It would be interesting to see the actors portray each other’s characters. But it would seem that I was wrong.

I liked the part where Tim and company muse on the fact that the game contains temple ruins. Does this mean that humans and dinosaurs coexist in the game? Or did the dinosaurs develop their own religion? My take? Probably a nod to how early video games often featured ruins that often seemed to have no function beyond being ruins. There’s also a scene at a digital circus where Pauline eats some peanuts, and notes that she’s a allergic to peanuts in the real world. She finds them to be okay. 

Series creator Benjamin Lancaster has a deep love for the original EPCOT theme park. That loves really shines through in this season, even more so than usual. 

And so there you have it. The Infinite Journey, season three of Prototype World of Tomorrow, keeps up the momentum of its predecessors. Prototype World of Tomorrow has bowled a turkey; three-for-three for great seasons of alternate history science fiction goodness. I can’t wait to see what surprise season four will have for us. From the looks of it, some exciting stuff is on the way.

Speaking of exciting stuff, I’d like to take a moment to talk about one of the projects Brian Ballance, the voice of Tim, is up to. He has recently started a podcast called The Interesting Podcast. As the title says, he interviews people he thinks are interesting. For example, he interviewed, Callie Wills, the voice of Eve. I would encourage everyone to go checkout Brain’s podcast.

Well, I think that should do it from me for now. I will see you guys next time. 

The Audio File: The Program: Part 3

Well, here we are at Part 3 of my review of The Program. Just a recap, for those of you joining us for the first time. The Program is an anthology show of sorts, but the stories all take place in the same world. It takes place at some unspecified point in the future. The Singularity has come to pass. The world has been completely transformed by an app known as The Program. It has combined money, government, and religion into a single entity. Each episode follows one or more ordinary people making their way through the extraordinary world of the future. You can find Part 1 over here, and Part 2 over here. 

I was first made aware of The Program when I was contacted by series creator Ivan Mirko S over on Reddit. I frequently post and comment in r/audiodrama. Whenever anyone ask for recommendations, I chime in with ever larger lists of various audio dramas I enjoy. Ivan noticed that I'm quite the connoisseur audio fiction, and recommended his own show. He also asked if I might give it a review. I did, and kept reviewing it, and had to split the review into multiple parts to make reading easier. And here were are at part 3.

For our first episode of this segment, we have Counterprograming. It is a series of reimaginings of popular works of fiction, in this case The Iliad, The Lion King, and The Bible. The Program changed them to better reflect the values of its new society. Though, the originals weren’t lost or destroyed, merely fell out of popularity. The resulting edits are rather humorous.

Well, that was unexpected. We start off with an interesting reimagining of the story of Helen and Paris, and then the other two segments turn into an episode of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. I can easily imagine the dialogue from the Bible segment appearing in The Life of Brian. The Lion King segment reminded me of the part of Holy Grail where the peasants on the commune debate the merits of different forms of government, and point out that soggy tarts handing out swords in no way to found a proper government.

I liked the more serious tone of the Iliad segment. In fact, it reminded me very much of Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller; a novel I greatly enjoyed. Though I found Circe, the follow-up to Song of Achilles, was a major step down in terms of quality. Don’t believe the hype with Circe. Well, on the one hand it is a bit sad that the original Iliad and Lion King have fallen out of fashion. But I suppose stories are always being imagined and reinterpreted. Lion King itself is, in large part, a reimagining of Hamlet. Song of Achilles hews closer to its source material, but it is also a reimagining. I like to think there would be at least a few people who would still enjoy the originals.

Also, how does intellectual property work? Was it abolished by The Program, and all of fiction is now a fanfiction free for all. Or does it still exist, but it a much less restrictive form?

Let it never be said that The Program lacks a sense of humor.

Next up we have Homepage not found. It follows a very disgruntled man who is attending a meeting of a Neighborhood and Home Owners Association. He is concerned about the lack of affordable housing available in the neighborhood. He also feels that the Home Owners Association is drowning out the voices of anyone who opposes their clique. He feels that working individuals, unmarried individuals, and pretty much anyone who isn’t wealth or well-off, is being ignored. How will be make the NIMBYs listen to him?

Brief note, NIMBY stands for Not In My Backyard. Now, The Program has never exactly been subtle about its views. However, I would argue that it succeeded because it wrapped these messages in creative thought experiments and excellent storytelling. This reminds me of the afterword to Kindred by Octavia E. Butler. The point of the afterword is that it is important for books to have good writing as storytelling, not just good messages. Kindred is an excellent example of this. It is about a black woman from 1976 Los Angles who, for unknown reasons, travels back in time to 19th Century Maryland. Specifically, to a plantation where her ancestors are kept as slaves. Obviously, there’s a lot of emphasis on the horrors of chattel slavery, but it never feels preachy or moralistic. Kindred is an excellent novel, I recommend it if you haven’t read it already.

Now, I bring this up because I feel that this episode ran a bit foul of that adage. I mean, it was about a subtle as a baseball bat to the face. I want to emphasize that I don’t think this episode was bad per se. It was far better than the first few episodes of The Program from way back when. However, it does feel like it was taken out of the oven before it had a chance to properly bake. I’m sensing some potential autobiographical elements with this one. There was a lot here that felt like insider baseball at times. There was some stuff I was able to parse out. I’m familiar with the sorts of nonsensical regulations that home owner associations impose upon neighborhoods. I also appreciated the satirization of…well, let’s call them Latte Liberals. Those suburban progressives who mouth along to left-wing causes, and make a lot of noise, but when the chips are down don’t put their money where their mouths are. Bourgeoisie Bohemians is another terms that I suppose would work here. However, I did feel there was a lot of stuff that sailed over my head, and maybe I’d understand it better if I was Canadian.

This almost felt like a parody at time. Like, it was what The Program would be like it you sold it to a major network, or put someone in charge who didn’t fully understand what makes the show work. It also kind of feels like what would happen if The Program emphasized getting out episodes as quickly as possible instead of taking time to ensue quality.

This was a nice rough draft, but as an actual episode I feel it leave something to be desired. Once more I must mention that it is important to have good stories, not just good messages. Oh, and there is a quiz that accompanies this episode. It deals with questions related to Home Owners Associations. I played the quiz. I thought the trick would be that they were all real, but it seems I was wrong. Give the quiz a try and see how you do.

Our next episode is Jakob's notebook: Antivirus solutions for home and business. This is another of Jakob’s many stories. It tells of Earth being visited by aliens known as the Baci. The Baci warn humanity about a horrible galactic plague that is about to befall Earth. Human doctors believe that the plague can be contained with face masks, social distancing, and vaccination. The Baci, however, insist that the plague can only be stopped by brain implants.

I’m not sure how I feel about this one. It had its funny moments. I liked the part where the Baci get kicked out of China because they acknowledge Taiwan as a nation. Or the part where they says that humans smell of elder berries. I also get that this story was meant to be a satire of the pandemic, and how it has been handled. But I just couldn’t quite get into this one.

The parts where the Baci tell humanity to not wear masks and not to use vaccines just felt awkward. I get that it was meant to be ironic, but with all anti-vaxx and anti-mask propaganda floating around, it just felt kind of uncomfortable. It was like the episode was simultaneously pro-vaxx and anti-vaxx. Like it was saying to listen to experts, but that the experts don’t know what they’re talking about. Maybe it was just a victim of bad timing.

I will say that this episode did a way better job satirizing then pandemic than Don’t Look Up did. It didn’t stretch the joke out way too long, and it wasn’t smug and conceited. Not a very high bar to jump over, but I appreciated it.

I also enjoyed the voice acting. I kept thinking why the Baci sounded familiar. At first, I thought they sounded like Minions, but then I realized that they sounded like the Mexican Squash from VeggieTales, who’s name escapes me. Well, they sound like the Mexican Squash with a vocal filter, but still. That made the American politician come across as even funnier, since he sounded like the old pickle dude, I think his name is Mr. Nezzer. This was probably unintentional, as I seriously doubt the dudes who made VeggieTales would want to act for The Program. It probably goes against their religion.

Also, the Baci got the island of Great Britain as their homeland? Does that mean that Scotland and Wales were considered accomplices in all the colonialism that England did? Also, does Northern Ireland exist as a rump state of the United Kingdom? If so, wow, apparently the United Nations looked back at The Troubles and were like “There was a lot of carnage and bloodshed, but I think we can do better here. Let’s see how many more bombs were can goad them into setting off. Place your bets now!” Well, on the plus side, at least they didn’t give them Israel and Palestine. Or did the displaced British flee to the Isle of Mann an the Channel Isles. A European Taiwan, if you will.

Anyway, this episode wasn’t for me, but maybe other people will enjoy it.

Our next episode is called Overclocking. It is set in a world much like our own. However, the people of this world have known that they are within a computer simulation since ancient times. Human took comfort in known that the Admin watched over them. Unfortunately, by the 14th Century CE, scientist discovered that the simulation is running out of computing power. The mere act of existing takes away computing power from the simulation. Worse, the Admin has mysterious stop responding to communication requests. The world is literally coming apart at the seams, and horrific glitches spring up everywhere. It is amidst this backdrop that our two protagonists are embarking on a great journey. You could, perhaps, even call it a pilgrimage. They have enlisted the help of a ferryman to bring them on a journey to the terminal. Once there, they hope they will finally be able to speak to the Admin. Danger lurks round ever corner. Our heroes must maintain their faith in the Admin if they are to find salvation for their dying world.

At ninety-three minutes in length, this is the longest episode of The Program yet. However, don’t let the length of this episode intimidate you. Like the intro said, after the first ten minutes, this episode flies right by. The first ten minutes are what we need to set-up the world of the episode. IMS said that he wanted to create a movie-length audio drama episode, and he certainly succeeded.

I see that this episode is meant as a reinterpretation of The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan. You’ve got two protagonists set off on a great journey from a land that is doomed to be destroyed. They hope to find salvation, and meet their “God” once they reach their destination. They must literally traverse the Valley of the Shadow of Death. One of them is carrying a heavy load, much as the character Christian did. It also didn’t escape my notice that the current year is said to be 1678 CE, the same year that The Pilgrim’s Progress was first published. The Ferryman can even been seen as a combination of the characters Atheist and Hopeful. He doesn’t believe in the Admin, despite overwhelming evidence, but he finds meaning in the struggles he undertakes. It was very interesting how this episode took a classic work of Christian literature, removed pretty much all the Christian elements, and yet still managed to remain true to the core and themes of the work. That is some quality writing, and another argument in favor of a strong Public Domain. A strong Public Domain allows us to reimagine, reinterpret, and re-examine works to classic literature in new and innovative ways.

The notion of a world coming apart at the seams, and that simply existing causes the destruction of the world, brings to mind entropy. Eventually, our universe will run out of energy, but that will be billions, if not trillions, of years in the future. In fact, for most of its existence, our universe will be a fairly dark and inactive place. So, whenever you feel down and out, take joy that you live in a time when the universe is full of stars and planet, and teeming with light and life. This episode almost feels like a way to bring the concept of entropy to a more human scale. And in doing so, make entropy, and an idea, more relatable for us humans. I was very much reminded of the short story “Exhalation” by Ted Chiang, which approaches entropy in a similar manner.

I won’t give away the ending, but I will say that it wouldn’t have been too out of place in the original Pilgrim’s Progress. Though, the idea of people within a computer trying to reach a terminal, in hopes of contacting their creators, also bring to mind TRON. Oh course, that’s rather interesting, as many have noted that TRON works surprisingly well as a Christian allegory. This was the first movie-length episode of The Program, and it did not disappoint. It is just as creative, engaging, and philosophic as a typical episode of The Program. The added length was more than necessary to do this episode’s story proper justice. You can always count on The Program to be innovative and try new things. 

Next up, we have a standard-length episode titled Disreet optimization. It takes the form of a father and mother recording a message for their daughter, who has recently run away. The father talks about his life before The Program. He helped develop an application called Serendipity, which eventually became part of The Program itself. Serendipity helped to provide options to people. Among other things, it would present them with the optimum responses when talking with people, or in other social situations. Serendipity proved a great success, but the father grew worried. He feared that people were relying on Serendipity too much, and it was eroding their free will. He turned against Serendipity, and indeed, against The Program itself. This lead him to make some very drastic choices, with very severe consequences.

The first thing that came to mind when I listened to this episode were a couple short stories by Ken Liu. Specifically, “The Perfect Match” and “The Algorithms for Love.” They also deal with themes of free will and the way that algorithms shape our lives.

I’m also reminded of the debate surrounding sociobiology and evolutionary psychology. Most people are okay with using evolution to explain how physical features came to be. However, quite a few people balk at the idea that our behaviors and psychology could be explained by evolution. There are various reasons for this. Some people are simply proponents of the tabula rasa view. Others fear that such thinking could be used to justify eugenics, or be used as an argument against fighting racial and gender disparities in various jobs. E.O. Wilson, the founder of sociobiology, frequently got accused of being a fascist by various campus activist groups. In reality, he was anything but one.

However, I think there’s another reason at play here. Humans tend to hold ourselves as being above mere animals. Evolution is fine for explaining animal behavior, but we’re special. At least, that’s what we like to tell ourselves. It’s like how geocentrism used to be so widespread. Sure, not a totally unreasonable assumption if you don’t know better. However, it certainly provided a nice ego boost to think we were literally the center of the universe. And then came Copernicus and Galileo. Of course, Aristarchus predates them both, but I digress.

Personally, I split the difference. I think, to an extent, human behavior is based on nurture and upbringing. But it wouldn’t surprise me if some things come pre-programmed. Or at least, we come predisposed towards certain personality traits and behaviors. Hey, humans are animals too. Why should we be any more special than the countless other species on this planet?

I liked the part about how humans tend to anthropomorphize everything. It’s like how, in cartoons with talking animals, the predators are always presented as evil. Despite the fact that many predators are obligate carnivores, and don’t have any other way to gain nourishment. Also, many herbivores can be pretty violent in real life. Hippos kill more people every year than lions and crocodiles combined.

I also see shades of the debate about genetically modifying children. What if you engineer a child to be the perfect athlete, but they decide that they’d rather play chess or join the debate team? What if they don’t like the hair and eye color you picked out for them? And what about kids with conditions such as autism or ADHD? Should they be forced to fit an arbitrary definition of normal? Or would the world be missing out on the unique insights and modes of thought that someone with these conditions might possess?

Though one minor quibble I had. In the past, The Program has been shown to have borderline god-like powers, up to and including time travel. So, reinstating the protagonist’s daughter to the system seems comparatively easy. Unless it was part of one of The Program’s many schemes. Perhaps, as a way of getting the protagonist to see the metaphorical light?

In any event, this was one more great and thought-provoking episode from The Program.

Our next offering is Planned obsolescence. The episode follows a cynical middle-aged First Nations man named Paul as he interacts with an AI named CODI. Paul is acting as CODI’s teacher. Paul will teach the AI about his life’s story, his Indigenous heritage, and what it means to be human. But why is Paul being tasked with teaching CODI all of these things?

Well, this was a pleasant surprise. I wasn’t expecting an episode of The Program centered around a First Nations person. I also loved the way that indigenous culture was woven into the plot of the episode. I even learned some new things, such as the concept of the Dish with One Spoon. It was philosophy the Iroquois used to share land with their neighbors. Each tribe only hunted for what it needed, and made sure to preserve resources for others. There was also emphasis on preserving the land for future generations. I’m always eager to find examples of science fiction that engage with Indigenous cultures. So, this episode was a real treat.

I liked that CODI had to be aged, albeit in an accelerated way, over time. I read a really interesting novella by Ted Chiang called “The Life Cycle of Software Objects.” The central premise of the novella is that true artificial intelligence has to be slowly nurtured over time. I suppose it makes sense. Human minds take at least twenty-five years to fully develop and mature. So, perhaps we shouldn’t expect true AI to emerge like Athena sprouting from the head of Zeus fully formed.

I enjoyed getting to hear the flute music. I feel like I’ve heard it before, and that is apparently because it is royalty-free music. Most likely from Kevin MacLeod, if I had to guess. 

Having Paul’s father be a victim of the residential school systems was a nice touch. The horrors of the residential schools have been getting more attention in recent years, but still deserves to be talked about more. Also, I can confirm that long haul truckers do indeed listen to lots of audiobooks and audio dramas. I’ve met a couple on r/audiodrama. I also remember D.J. MacHale, the author of The Pendragon Adventure series, giving an interview where he said that he discovered that long haul trackers were some of his most devoted fans. The truckers loved listening to the audiobooks, despite definitely not being Pendragon’s target demographic.

I saw CODI’s teenage days coming a mile away, but it was still funny. I also liked how Paul cured CODI’s ice cream obsession by indulging him until he was sick of it. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle would be proud. Though, I do wonder if CODI would get thirsty from eating all of that digital ice cream. I also liked the part where CODI incorrectly guessed that sports are the modern day religion. I mean, from a certain point of view, he’s not wrong. Sports culture does have strong elements of ritual and superstition. In a way, sports are a form of simulated warfare and ritual violence.

And as for the big reveal towards the end…wow. That went in a very different direction than I was expecting. A true emotional gut-punch. 

A really excellent surprise to see an episode of The Program that combines science fiction with Indigenous culture. 

And so that is all of the episode of The Program out so far. It never ceases to blow me away with the consistent quality, and how it keeps getting better. The Program is a tale of ordinary people making their way through the extraordinary world of The Singularity. Check it out today. You'll be glad you did.

Well I think that should do it from me for now. I will see you guys next time. 

The Audio File: Residents of Proserpina Park: Season 2

I was really impressed by season one of Residents of Proserpina Park. I took a gamble on it all the way back when it only had one episode, and it payed off big time. So, season one was fantastic, but what about season two? Oh, it more than managed to keep up the momentum. In fact, that’s what we’ll be talking about today. We’re taking a look at season two of Residents of Proserpina Park. 

When we last left our heroes, Sam had received an unexpected visit from his cousin demigod cousin Terry. Sam also wasn’t too thrilled that Alina brought other visitors to Proserpina Park without his permission. Alina has returned to the park, but Sam is nowhere to be seen. Alina and her friends will venture further into the park, but danger lurks around every corner. This time, the creatures are going to be much deadlier. Alina and company are going to need all the help they can find. Meanwhile, Mirai, the narrator of the framing segments, has traveled to Japan in search of answers of her own. Along the way, she’ll meet a mysterious bus passenger with fox ears, who may have some of the answers she searching for.

Season one of Residents of Proserpina Park was absolutely fantastic, and I was eagerly awaiting for what surprises season two would have. Season one had a somewhat episodic feel to it. That’s not to say there was no continuity, but most episodes tended to involve Alina meeting Sam and learning about some new creature. Granted, the later episodes of season one do have a stronger sense of continuity. Alina did start to explore the park on her own, often with friends in tow. However, season two becomes full-on serialized. One episode directly leads into the next. I suppose that does make sense. We’ve gotten to know the characters and the park enough by now. So, no need to hold the listeners’ hand and ease them into the setting anymore.

I really loved the new way that the stories of the creatures are recounted. Whenever a character, usually Dog, explains what the creatures are, there will be noises, music, or a bit of dialog from people or creatures within the story. Often, this will have a somewhat comical undertone to it. It was a nice additional little touch. I always appreciate it when audio drama creators add these extra little flourishes. We also have more creatures directly appear on-screen, for lack of a better way of putting it.

It was previously established that creatures can appear outside the park. However, this season brings the first appearance of a creature somewhere other than the park. Well, the first not counting Dog. One episode takes place in Alina’s apartment, and an aitvaras appears. It is a household spirit from Lithuanian Folklore that takes the form of a flaming rooster, but can also turn into a dragon. It brings fortunes good and bad, and will provide all sorts of goodies to you, which it steals from everyone else. Why did the aitvaras appear in Alina’s apartment? Perhaps, she’s become more attune to the mythological due to her time in the park. Thus, such creatures are naturally drawn to her now. Or, maybe there’s something else going on here, but let’s put a pin in that for now.

We also get a closer look at some of the less than friendly residents of the park. In season one, most of the creatures tended to be things that were cool, but fairly harmless, or at least, not directly malicious or deadly. Come season two, and we get to see the many creatures of the night who call the park their own. Though, there’s plenty of danger lurking in the day as well. I knew that we were going to encounter aswang because I saw that on the list of roles that were open for audition. Aswang is sometimes used as a catch-all term for any mythical creature from the Philippines. However, it also refers to a specific type of monster, a sort of Filipino vampire/ghoul. I was very excited that this was coming, because I had recently gotten into Filipino Mythology and Folklore . And before you ask, yes, I’ve watched Trese on Netflix, and I loved it. Can’t wait for season two. Go watch if you haven’t already. It is a really great animated urban fantasy series with lots of Filipino Mythology and Folklore.

Anyway, back to Residents of Proserpina Park. So, back when season two was in production, series creator Angela Yih asked me if I had any suggestions for creatures to feature. I made a big list of suggestions, as is on-brand for me. One of my suggestions was the manananggal, which is also from Filipino Mythology. They’re another vampire-like creature, but take the form of women who detach their upper bodies from their lower bodies, and fly around with bat-wings. Angela did mention that many of my suggestions were slated to appear, and that it was freaky how in-synch we were with each other. Apparently, that included the manananggal. I suppose it makes since, given that the Aswang were already featured.

With regards to the manananggal, Residents of Proserpina Park actually got me to think and reconsider how I approach the legend. One of my biggest dreams is to have my own serialized audio drama, which I’m tentatively calling The Calliope Brigade. It will be set in a fantasy version of America called Usonia. It will feature a colorful cast of character, many of whom are mythical creatures, who are part of a traveling carnival. I had planned on featuring manananggals as a potential one-off antagonists. But then I listened to the episodes of Resident of Proserpina Park that deals with manananggals. Alina and the gang note that the manananggal legend has some decidedly sexist undertones. The way to defeat the manananggal is to rub salt on her lower body. Yeah, the manananggal‘s lower body is literally her downfall. Oh, and they like to feed on unborn children, and this is supposedly why miscarriages happen. Most of these elements were in the original manananggal stories. However, they really got emphasized once Spain colonized the Philippines, and pushed conservative Christian values onto the Filipinos.

I knew all of this, but maybe I didn’t about it as much as I should have. So, I reconsidered my plans, and I’m going to do a more nuanced take on the manananggals when I make The Calliope Brigade. Though, I’m just going to warn all of you, that’s a ways off at this point. I’ve still got a lot of ground work to lay, and a lot of audio drama production ropes to learn. Still, my thanks to Residents of Proserpina Park for helping me refine my own work.

Now, obviously Alina and the gang need protection, if they’re going to survive the park without Sam. At one point, they consider looking for the Egyptian lion goddess Sekhmet. I suggested the gods of Egypt, because I love how many of them have animal heads. So, I can’t say with complete certainty, but I feel fairly confident that one was potentially my contribution. Of course, I could be totally wrong.

Okay, so who is this Terry person? Well, they’re Sam’s cousin, and a demigod. Specifically, a child of Hades. They’re very arrogant and haughty, but that’s par for course with demigods. And admittedly, they did have a point that Alina went behinds Sam’s back, and violated his trust. It is made clear very early on that there is a damn good reason Sam was so strict about the rules. Many residents of the park are quite dangerous even if you know what you’re doing. Alina and her friends survive more often than not by luck more than anything. There are consequences for Alina’s cavalier attitude towards safety. Also, in the part where the ahuizotl grabs Alina’s hair, did it take just a piece or the whole thing? Hmm, probably the former. None of the other characters, or Alina herself, remark on Alina being bald, or anything like that.

Let’s switch gears and talk about Mirai. I probably should have mentioned this before, but her brother Junpei is one of Alina’s friends. It’s through him that she has the recordings of Alina’s adventures. Mirai encounters a kitsune, who she names Fox Ears, while ridding a bus in Japan. Kitsune are Japanese fox spirits, and close cousins to the Chinese huli jing and the Korean gumiho. One of the biggest differences is that, while huli jing and gumiho are almost always female, kitsune can be female or male. I bring this up because I auditioned to play Fox Ears. I saw the call for auditions, and I felt I needed to start putting myself out there more, so I tried out.

I was trying for Mark Hamill’s take on The Joker from Batman: The Animated Series. Unfortunately, I kind of missed the mark. It was also hard to find the privacy to record my lines. Still, I sent what I felt was my best take, and at least I could say I tried. I got a bunch of thumbs up on Casting Call Club. Don’t know if that’s good or not, but I thought “well, maybe I actually have a shot.” There were a lot of auditions for Fox Ears, and ultimately the role went to Maddie Shallan. I remember listening to one audition, I think it might have been her’s, and I thought, “well, I can’t beat that. I’m DOA.” I thought she did an excellent job as Fox Ears; far better than I probably would have been. I look forward to seeing more of her performance as Fox Ears in coming seasons.

I also considered auditioning for the bully character who briefly appears in one episode, but I could never get any take I was satisfied with. Instead, G3, who normally plays Sam, voiced the bully. May I just say, G3 has some serious range. I didn’t even realize it was him until the credits said so. Oh well, maybe next time. And I concede that having both an actor named Sam and a character named Sam could lead to a who’s on first scenario.

Okay, now we’ve got to talk about some of the stuff that occurs at the very end of the season. As such, there will be spoilers. So, turn back now if you don’t want that.

Last chance, you sure you want to continue?

If everyone who wants out is gone, let’s get into it.

So, Terry tasks our heroes with helping them find a vetala. They’re from Hindu Mythology, and are kind of like ghouls, but they are quite knowledgeable about humans. They especially like to tell riddles that drive humans insane. So, what does the vetala ask our heroes? Why, to name the park of course. Well, that’s a no brainer, or so I thought. See, I’d never considered that the characters never refer to that park by its full name. They always just call it the park. I guess my brain subconsciously filled in the name Proserpina because of the show’s name. Throughout the seasons, our characters have been trying to find out more about who Sam is. One of the things they discover is that a woman name Jessica constantly pops up when they look into Sam. Well, she finally appears in the last episode of the season, and she’s clearly not human. There’s something mythical about her, but I’m not sure what. My temptation is to say demigod, but that might not be correct.

But speaking of speculation, let’s do a bit more. Last time, I speculated about why Sam can’t hear certain residents of the park, such as JD. Now, we’ve seen Terry doesn’t like that Alina has been getting close. What if that wasn’t just demigod arrogance? What if Terry feels responsible for Sam? But why would that be? Well, here’s where it gets speculative. What if Sam is undead? That is, he somehow died, and was revived as something not quite human. So, maybe he can’t fully perceive the park due to being outside the natural order now. Granted, he’s shown no hints of being undead. Maybe he’s an artificial creature, like a golem or a shabti, and is working in the park in hopes of becoming a real boy some day. Under this theory, Sam can’t hear the creatures because he has no soul inside of him at the moment. Again, pure speculation on my part.

Or what if I’ve got it backwards. I’ve been focusing on Sam, but it just now occurred to me that we don’t really know too much about Alina. We know about the lives of most of that other characters, but we don’t know much about Alina outside of her adventures in Proserpina Park. What if there’s a reason for that. What if Alina is some sort of mythical creature, or even a demigod or goddess, but has lost her memories? But she’s starting to awaken her true mythical nature as a result of spending time in the park. Hence, the aitvaras appearing in her apartment. That would explain why Sam was okay with Alina being in the park, but not Drew and Jun. And maybe that’s why Alina was so blasé about Cerberus when she first saw him. Perhaps, subconsciously, she recognized him as something familiar. But again, this is totally speculative on my part.

Also, it appears there are indeed other parks. There’s a Kukunochi Park in Japan, but it seems that will be a story for next season. I looked it up, and apparently Kukunochi is the kami of trees in Japanese Mythology. Though, it will probably be a bit before we get season three. 

Angela Yih is taking a much deserved rest. She’s going to need to recharge her batteries, because she’s recently become production coordinator at Realm Media. Very exciting indeed. Congratulation to you, Angela! Realm is home to a wide variety of audio dramas and podcast created by some of the top writers within the world of speculative fiction. I recently listened to Bullet Catcher, because I wanted to be supportive of Angela and the company she now works for. Think I’ll try Ninth Step Murders or maybe Marigold Breach next.

I want to wish Angela all the best in her new endeavors. I’d also like to say, if it wasn’t obvious by now, season two of Residents of Proserpina Park is absolutely fantastic. It both met and exceeded the standards set by season one. Whenever it comes out, I have full confidence that season three will be absolutely fantastic. Go and listen to season two of Residents of Proserpina Park if you have not done so already.

Well, I think that should do it from me for now. I will see you guys next time.