The Audio File: Residents of Proserpina Park: Season 4

It seems like it was only yesterday that I listened to that first episode of Residents of Proserpina Park. And now, here we are. The fourth season is complete, and the fifth season is on the way. Where does the time go? Well, enough rambling, on to the main event. We’re taking a look at season four of Residents of Proserpina Park. 

Last season, Mirai took a trip to Japan in search of answer about her brother Juni. She discovered a hidden village inhabited by yokai. She also discovered Kukunochi Park, which is basically the Japanese version of Proserpina Park. Now, Mirai is going to explore Kukunochi Park in earnest. She’s got her trusty tanuki friend Daichi by her side. Perhaps she’ll even be able to call upon Fox Ears the kitsune…if Fox Ears is in the mood. It’s a new park, a new season, and a whole lot of surprises to be found.

We had an episode last season which featured Mirai in the main role. It showed that she was more than capable of carrying the show purely on her own. I had been hoping we might see more of that come season four. As it turns out, I got my wish and then some. The entire season follows Mirai and the Japanese creatures. Alina and the gang only make a brief appearance in the stinger scene at the end of the season.

Naturally, we get to encounter a lot of cool Japanese creatures. We get an episode dedicated to the Kasa Obake. They’re basically the poster boys for yokai. They’re those umbrellas with one eye, one leg, and really long tongues. From that same episode, we get to learn about the Bakezori. They’re yokai that originate as old abandoned shoes. Yeah, there’s an entire class of yokai called Tsukumogami. They’re objects that come to life after being sufficiently, usually over 100 years, old.

I also really enjoyed the episode about the Ninmenju. It is a tree that grows fruit with human faces. Seems like standard yokai stuff, but here’s the kicker, the story isn’t indigenous to Japan. There is a nearly identical story in Islamic Folklore called the Waq Waq Tree. The story made its way to China via the Silk Road, and from there, it found its way to Japan. Japan has historically gone through several periods of isolation. In many ways, Japan is kind of on the edge of the world. Yet the Ninmenju show that Japan wasn’t quite as disconnected as it tried to be. It really is a small world after all. I love discovering connections like that.

It was also obvious we were going to get an episode about the Gashadokuro. They are giant skeleton yokai that usually appear following a great loss of life. I mean, the Gahadokuro is right there on the season cover art. The art this time is very crisp and well defined. Previous seasons’ cover art was more abstract and mysterious. We’ve learned enough of the secrets of the parks to be familiar with them. The mists are parting, you might say.

Of course, there’s more than just Japanese creatures lurking in Kukunochi Park. This makes sense. Proserpina Park is home to creatures from across the globe. It also tracks that Japanese creatures would dominate in Kukunochi Park. It is their home turf after all. Japanese people aren’t the most religious people in the world, and primarily follow Shinto rituals out of culture, rather than sincere belief. That said, many Japanese people are incredibly superstitious. So, there’s probably enough people around who believe in yokai to give them a bit of a boost.

Interestingly, Japan isn’t the only nation that can be described as superstition, but not exactly religious. People in Iceland have been known to build roadside shrines to elves. Road construction has sometimes been re-routed if it ran through land where elves are believed to live. In fact, the way Icelandic elves are described is quite similar to how Japanese kami are often described. That is, spirits within nature itself.

And speaking of Norse Mythology, the talking squirrel Ratatoskr makes an appearance in this season. The original myths never say how big he is. He does run up and down the world tree Yggdrasil. So, some people have taken to depicting him as a giant squirrel. This is what Residents of Proserpina Park goes with.

And who is it that voices this majestic squirrel? Why, me, of course! Yes, I have made my return to the voice acting side of Residents of Proserpina Park. It was fun getting to play a new character. I enjoyed that Ratatoskr was a very different sort of character than Slenderman was. I tried to imitate Michael Chiklis’ performance as The Thing in the 2005 Fantastic Four movie. The result was a bit more along the lines of “Hey, I’m walkin’ here!” but I think it turned out pretty well. I also have to give major props to Angela for editing those scenes. I didn’t actually record those scenes with Vida Shi and Zerreth, who plays Daichi. I really, really wanted to, but my work schedule conflicted with recording. Though, I later learned I could have asked for the day off to record with everyone. Ah, well, I guess there’s always next time.

Anyway, the scenes are edited so well I had to remind myself that I recorded separately. Admittedly, there was one benefit to recording on my own. There’s a scene in the last episode where Mirai chases in the favor Ratatoskr owes her, and she calls out for him. It was really cute and adorable, and I kept thinking “There’s no way I could pretended to be grumpy if I’d recorded this scene with Vida.”

Okay, so enough about me. There’s something even more important to discuss. After many seasons, he has finally arrived. The man, the myth, the legend appears at long last. Everyone give it up for Junichi! It is rather amusing how well Mirai and her brothers map onto the Freudian trio of Id, Ego, and Superego. We’ve got impulsive, energetic Mirai as the Id, nervous and cautious Junpei as the Superego, and calm collected Junichi as the Ego to balance them out. 

First of all, I must give praise to Spencer Hiroshi Field. He made Junichi sound like someone who’d be a really cool guy to hang out with. Junichi initially comes across as easy going, but he hasn’t fully recovered his memories, and we slowly discover he has some insecurities about that. It will be interesting to see how things go after he’s reunited with Sam, Jessica, Dog, and Junpei.

Now, this next part actually is a slight criticism of this season. I actually want to begin with a compliment. We got some new music this season. It combines traditional Japanese instruments with a kind of 1940s-1950s jazz rhythm. You hear it play over the credits, and in a few scenes within the episode proper. I liked it, one of the best bit of music Residents of Proserpina Park has yet produced. That being said, it didn’t escape my notice that some of the musical cues are getting a bit repetitive. I noticed that the same handful of music being used over and over again. 

Granted, this might have been a result of this season being a bit shorter. I also need to be fair here. Residents of Proserpina Park produces all of its music in-house. I have no background in music, and I don’t have the first clue about producing it. I’m always amazed by whatever music Residents of Proserpina Park comes up with.

By contrast, when I need music for The Books of Thoth, I usually see what Epidemic Sounds and Kevin MacLeod have on tap. Plus, it the Indiegogo campaign had raised more money, we probably would have gotten more music. Why, yes, that was me hinting that you should all donate the next time Residents of Proserpina Park has a crowdfunding campaign.

So, this isn’t really a criticism per se, but something I wanted to comment on. The first episode has Mirai and Daichi encounter a Kapre. It is a creature from Filipino Folklore who looks like a giant man with dark skin. We learn that the legend of the Kapre got popularized when Spain started using the Philippines as a stop for its slave trade. Mirai remarks that she learned none of this in school.

Now, as a history major, I’d like to give my two cents. So, in large part, the way we teach history in grade school is meant to be a survey course. Give you the foundations that you can build upon, if you so choose, in college. Now, granted, the way we teach history is rather flawed. I mean, we really should split it up into multiple parts like in college. You just can’t condense 10,000 years of history into a single year of class. Inevitably, things get skipped, and the emphasis tends to be put on the Western world. So, class basically becomes “World/American History’s Greatest Hits.” Personally, I think that’s a big disservice to students. There’s a great value to learning about non-Western cultures and civilizations. Plus, you know, it is interesting to learn about other parts of the world.

The United States has been around for less than 300 years, but even splitting up American History class would allow teachers to go deeper with the subjects. I guess what I’m trying to say is, never attribute to malice that which can be explained by incompetence. And no slight to Mirai, but just because schools teach about something, doesn’t mean students will actually be paying attention in class.

There’s also a scene where we get to meet Sezaru, the fourth wise monkey. You might be familiar with the Three Wise Monkey. Perhaps you know that they are Mizaru, Kikazaru, and Iwazaru. They famously teach us to see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil. Ah, but then there is the fourth monkey Sezaru, who teaches us to do no evil. Mirai comments on how redundant that sounds. To which Sezaru replies “Oh, and the Ten Commandments weren’t obvious enough?”

So, a couple thoughts about that. First off, why would a creature from Japanese Folklore care about the Ten Commandments? Second, there are actually 613 commandments. What are often called the Ten Commandments are merely the first ten on the list. Among other things they say: don’t wear clothing of mixed fiber, don’t plant different crops in the same field, you must stone disobedient children to death, and men must not speak to women who are on their periods. Oh, and lest we forget the most infamous of them all: man shall not lie with man. And that’s not even getting into the first ten. For example, is killing always wrong, or is there an exception for self-defense? Should we honor our parents even when they are abusive? In fact, what does honoring even mean? Granted, Jewish people have been wrestling with these questions for centuries. The Talmud is all about the various interpretations of the Torah.

Getting back on track, looks like we’ll be picking back up with Alina and company in season five. And it looks like we’ll be taking a trip to the Otherworld of Irish Mythology. I look forward to the adventures to be had in the coming year.

So, there you have it. Season four of Residents of Proserpina Park is shorter, but still just as sweet, and just as packed with mythological fun. Having the action set in Japan makes for a fun change of pace. Mirai and company are more than capable of carrying the season all on their own. So, if you haven’t already, be sure to listen to this season of Residents of Proserpina Park.

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

The Books of Thoth: My First Foray into Audio Drama Production

I’m back with another update post, and this one is an especially big update. You see, I’ve finally done it. I have officially launched my audio drama anthology podcast The Books of Thoth.

We’re kicking things off with “Paleontology Conference.” million years in the future. Humans are extinct and squids rule the Earth. They only know us from the fossils we leave behind. What will the squids make of us?

As you might guess, The Future is Wild was a big inspiration for this episode. I blame that show for igniting my love of terrestrial cephalopods. The part where the narrator speculates about the Squibbons developing their own civilization always sparked my imagination. The All Todays segment of the book All Yesterdays was another big inspiration. I love the way it pokes fun at how our notions of prehistoric animals sometimes turn out to be very wrong. You do get some references to how our views on prehistoric animals have changed. The part where the professor mentions chordates used to be viewed as slow and lumbering, but then were viewed as active and dynamic? That was almost word-for-word how our views of dinosaurs changed over the years. And there’s a few more in-jokes if you’re paying attention for them.

A bit about where the title for the podcast came from. Thoth is the god of wisdom, writing, and magic in Egyptian Mythology. He possessed an ultimate book of spells known as the Book of Thoth. Among other things, it had spells that could enable you to speak the language of animals, restore the dead to life, and peer through the layers of reality and gaze upon the gods themselves. Thoth acted as scribe of the gods, and he’s probably written quite a few scrolls in his time. And those scrolls are bound to have some pretty good stories within them.

The Books of Thoth has been a long time coming. I’m both nervous and excited. I admit that maybe there were a few things I could have tweaked. But after a certain point, perfect becomes the enemy of good. And so, I decided to release my audio drama into the wild for all to enjoy.

A big thank you to everyone who made this episode possible. Thank you to Marnie Warner, Amy Young, Faye Holliday, Juan Cruz III, Tiffany Perdue, and Melissa Bowens for providing the voices. As well as my thanks to Geno Samuel for providing the opening narration. And to Nadine Trollip, aka Stardust-Phantom, for providing the series cover art.

The Books of Thoth is hosted on RedCricle, and you can find it on all major podcast platforms. Including, but not limited to, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeart, Podcast Addict, Amazon Music, Player.FM, Audible, TuneIn, RadioPublic, Apollo Podcasts, and Goodpods. And yes, I do have transcripts available.

It hopefully won’t be too long before I have more episodes for your listening pleasure. But in the meantime, I do hope that you enjoy the inaugural episode of The Books of Thoth.

The Audio File: Long Night in Egypt

I’ve finished most of my outstanding obligations for reviews, at least for the moment. Well, that’s going to not be the case for too long, but I do have a brief respite. As such, I am able to talk about one particular audio drama. Now, I admit I was prepared to be disappointed, but this one surprised me in the best way possible. It utilized Egyptian Mythology while remaining incredibly faithful to the original myths. So, what is this audio drama? Why, we’re taking a look at Long Night in Egypt. 

Long Night in Egypt follows four college students named Mo, Kayla, Jorden, and Pia. They are on vacation in Egypt to visit Mo’s aunt and uncle; a pair of renowned Egyptologists. It’s sure to be a trip filled with relaxation, visits to archeological sites, and maybe even a bit of partying. Then, Mo’s cousin Samira comes up with the idea to visit the Pyramid of Unas at night. Mo’s aunt and uncle are very firm that the Pyramid of Unas must never be entered at night. However, the students sneak into the pyramid anyway. They will soon discover that the myths and legends of Ancient Egypt might just be true after all. They will have to navigate their way thought the Egyptian underworld, and face numerous challenges, if they wish to survive their long in Egypt.

I had known about Long Night in Egypt for a while. It had the word Egypt in the title, and a pyramid on the title card. What can I say? I was sold. However, other obligations kept me from listening. Then, I got a chance to listen, and I was blown away by what I heard.

I’m a lover of mythology, but I have trouble deciding which particular mythology is my favorite. I’m reminded of what Neil Gaiman wrote in the introduction to his novel Norse Mythology. He said that picking a favorite mythology is a bit like picking a favorite cuisine. Variety is the spice of life, and your favorite often depends on what mood you’re in at the moment. However, there’s always those dishes and stories that you always come back to. Given the title of the book, it should come as no surprise that Norse Mythology is that for Neil Gaiman. But what about me? 

I always find myself returning to the gods and stories of Egyptian Mythology. I love the weird and wonderful animal-headed gods. I love reading about all of the spells and incantations Egyptian magicians created. I love the way that real Ancient Egyptian historical figures sometimes factor into the stories. I love Egyptian Mythology. The stories of Egyptian Mythology took me on magical adventures away from my mundane world.

We have had several audio dramas adapt or reinterpret Greek Mythology, but not really any takes on Egyptian Mythology. In fact, Long Night in Egypt is, thus far, the only audio drama I’ve encountered that utilizes Egyptian Mythology in a major way. Now, this was certainly an exciting discovery, but I had my apprehensions. I’ve had to endure far too many movies and television shows that played way too fast and loose with real mythology. Hey, I’m just saying. If the source material you’re incorporating is a hindrance to the story you want to tell, then perhaps you should write a different story. That, or find a mythology more agreeable to the story you want to make.

Sorry, I got a little distracted there. Getting back on track, I was cautiously optimistic, but I was fully prepared to be disappointed. I was combing through every episode with a fine-toothed comb. I was prepared to pounce at the slightest slip-up. I was particularly worried that Anubis and/or Set would be portrayed as Ancient Egyptian Satan. However, much to my pleasant surprise, I couldn’t find a single mythological misappropriation. In fact, I even learned a few things as a result of listening to Long Night in Egypt.

So, let’s talk about all the great mythological stuff in this podcast. The main inspirations for this audio drama are The Pyramid Texts and The Egyptian Book of the Dead. The Pyramid Texts is one of the oldest surviving religious texts in the world. It is inscribed into the walls of the pyramids and burial chambers of Saqqara. And yes, that includes the Pyramid of Unas. The texts are a series of spells, incantations, hymns, and utterances that help the pharaoh to navigate the afterlife and ascend to godhood. The Egyptian Book of the Dead is much the same, but with different spells and writings. Also, the Book of the Dead was written on papyrus, not carved into stone. 

The Pyramid Texts were completed in the Old Kingdom era, while The Book of the Dead wasn’t completed until the New Kingdom era. The characters do discover inscriptions from The Book on the Dead on the walls of the Pyramid of Unas. However, they do acknowledge this discrepancy, and wave it off as The Book of the Dead being older than previously believed. The Book of the Dead does drawn heavily upon The Pyramid Texts, so, this isn’t all that implausible.

We frequently hear characters, both mortal and divine, quoting passages from both The Pyramid Texts and The Book of the Dead. Oh, and that part where Unas consumes some of the gods to increase his power? Believe it or not, that is directly from The Pyramid Texts. That particular section is even called The Cannibal Hymn. See, this is why I’m such a big advocate for being accurate to the mythological sources. Oftentimes, the actual sources are way wilder than anything a modern writer might come up with.

We also get a few fun facts about modern Egypt sprinkled in. For example, Mo has a book that was written by Ahmed Kamal. He was the first Egyptologist to actually be from Egypt. There’s also a scene where the characters are at a club, and it is offhandedly mentioned that the drinking age in Egypt is twenty-one. I looked it up, and it is indeed twenty-one, just like in America. Also, you can apparently buy alcohol in Egypt.

Long Night in Egypt is a horror audio drama, and I like the approach it took to that. Unas isn’t portrayed as some monster who is bent on world domination. The main characters were warned not to go into the Pyramid of Unas at night, and they paid the price. Granted, they probably wouldn’t have believed the real reason they were to stay away. Still, their troubles are self-inflicted because they ran foul of ancient traditions, and disrespected the pyramid. Even without the undead pharaoh and the magic, it probably wasn’t the smartest idea to go into a pyramid at night. It is bound to be dark, and you can get easily hurt if you don’t know what you’re doing.

The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there. I was particularly thinking about that during the scene in the Halls of Judgement. Ancient Egypt was a foreign culture with a foreign value system. You might consider yourself a good person by modern standards, but how well would you stack up to Ancient Egyptian standards? Though, thankfully, an important part of the Weighing of the Heart is remembering the correct incantations from The Book of the Dead. Of course, even the things the Ancient Egyptians viewed as a great reward/honor for the afterlife could be potentially unpleasant by modern standards. What do I mean by that? Oh, that would be spoilers, but let’s just say you’ll see.

On a related note, I loved how the horror comes from the characters finding themself in a story straight out of mythology. I’m a big fan of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, as well the wider Riordanverse. Yes, that includes The Kane Chronicles. Naturally, I love mythology, and I do tend to fantasize about going on urban fantasy mythology adventures. On the other hand, perhaps I should be careful about what I wish for. Such things might be fun to read about, but it might not be so fun to actually live though. Especially if you don’t have magical powers.

But hey, maybe I’d get some moments of awe between my terror. Terrifying or not, it would be kind of cool to discover that Egyptian Mythology is real. That’s why Kayla was my favorite character. She constantly geeks out over archeology and mythology. This does cause some friction with Mo during the journey through the underworld. However, all the other characters would have been seriously screwed without Kayla’s encyclopedic knowledge of The Book of the Dead. Granted, Mo is certainly no slouch either, but he does need occasional prompting and reminders. I really loved the part where Kayla geeks out over all the obscure gods in the Hall of Judgement.

And speaking of the characters, we need to talk about the voice acting. I find it endlessly amusing that Mo is voiced by Amr Kotb, but Mo’s cousin Amr is voiced by Amro Mahmoud. I was excited when I heard that Roshan Singh would be voicing Jordan. He is the creator of the audio drama Temujin, and we’ve interacted a bit on Twitter. He didn’t really have a lot to do. Jordan is kind of…I believe himbo is the term the kids say these days. Still, he did the most with what he had to work with. Alice Pollack does an amazing job capturing Kayla’s endearingly nerdy personality. Asil Moussa is clearly having a lot of fun playing Samira. 

Karim Kronfli has a brief cameo as a BBC newscaster. Always great hearing him, and amusingly, this isn’t the only Ancient Egyptian themed project he’s part of. He was also part of the voice cast for the video game Total War: Pharaoh. The music and sound effects are also really great. This is a show that’s being distributed by Realm Media. So, of course it’s going to be a cinematic audio drama. And I wouldn’t have Long Night in Egypt any other way.

Hmm, do I have critiques? Well, the image on the title card is not the Pyramid of Unas. It is the Great Pyramid of Giza, but I get why the production team did that. The Pyramid of Unas isn’t very photogenic. In fact, it kind of looks like a giant dirt mound. The Pyramids of Giza scream Ancient Egypt a lot better, and get the point across. And hey, it is a very nice looking title card regardless.

Switching gears, I’m not sure how I feel about the way Anubis was voiced. I know the voice actress. She’s the announcer from We Fix Space Junk. It would have been nice if there was an easily accessible cast list for Long Night in Egypt. Anyway, I know she tried to give Anubis an otherworldly voice, but it came across as a bit too feminine. Not what I would have gone for if I’d been casting. I got used to it, but it was a bit of a sour note in an otherwise great voice cast. The other gods had excellent voice casting

Those are really the only critiques I can think of. Long Night in Egypt was an absolutely fantastic podcast. I won’t give away the ending, but suffice it to say, there’s no way we’re getting a season two out of this. I’d be genuinely surprised if we do. On the other hand, there are a lot of other mythologies out there. There’s plenty of other myths that could be given the Long Night in Egypt treatment. Hint, hint, Violet Hour and Realm.

Long Night in Egypt was an amazing audio drama from start to finish. It really shows the great things that can be accomplished when you make the effort to be accurate to mythology. This is the Egyptian Mythology audio drama I was hoping we might have someday, and it did not disappoint in the slightest. Do yourself a favor and listen to it today. Especially if you love Egyptian Mythology or all things Ancient Egypt.

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 3

By now it should be clear how much I utterly adore Residents of Proserpina Park. An urban fantasy audio drama where you get to learn about mythical creatures from around the world? Hey, this is my happy place. We’ve already had two amazing seasons, and now it is onto the third. Oh, but three really is the magic number. This is a very special season indeed. Without further ado, let’s get into it. We’re taking a look at season three of Residents of Proserpina Park.

When we last left our heroes, they had just come to a shocking revelation: the park is named Proserpina Park! Oh, and Sam is back. That’s also pretty important. Ah, but Sam isn’t alone. He’s joined by an old friend named Jessica. She has a freewheeling devil-may-care personality, and a very cavalier when it comes to the creatures of the park. Jessica is back to settle some old business. Business that Dog, the gang’s loyal alien in canine disguise, has some connection to. It has something to do with a particularly mysterious creature. 

Alina and her friends are going to have to venture into the depths of the park to find answers. They must be sure to keep their wits sharp. For, in this season, we shall meet the tricksters who call the park home. Meanwhile, Mirai is having her own adventures in Japan. She has found her way to a village populated by yoaki. She’s certainly out of place as a mere human, but she’ll make some unlikely allies during her time in the village. Everyone buckle up, because this season of Residents of Proserpina Park is sure to be a wild ride.

This season of Residents of Proserpina Park was a bit of a new experience for me. I was one of the backers for the season three Indiegogo campaign. So, I got to listen to all the episodes before they were released to the general public. It was an interesting experience to binge the episodes, but still very much enjoyable. Though, I did kind of miss getting to hear the theme music at the beginning and end of each episode. Not that this was a dealbreaker or anything like that, mind you. There was one other way that this season was different for me personally, but we’ll get to that in a bit.

Season one was intro to World Mythology and Folklore. Season two was all about creatures of the night and other monsters. Season three is all about the tricksters, but it also stands out from its predecessors in another way. Most of the creatures featured in season three tend to be of the chattier variety. This is very much by design. Angela Yih has said that there’s only so many times you can recycle the roar and snarl sound-effects before they get old. I certainly agree with that, and it isn’t like chatty creatures are unprecedented. The first two seasons gave us the kappa, the aswang, and of course JD, among others. Personally, I think it is great that Residents of Proserpina Park is keeping things fresh. Each episode of season three also includes an after credits bonus scene. So, you want to make sure to stick around until the very end of each episode. This season is also slightly longer. We got twelve episodes this season, rather than the usual ten.

Okay, so, who is this Jessica person? I speculated, in my review of season two, that Jessica might be something not quite human. But no, it would seem that I was wrong. Jessica is merely a garden variety human. She did manage to capture a genie, and I don’t mean the kind that are blue and sound like Robin Williams. The original jinn from Arabian Folklore were really more like gods in terms of power. There is one minor discrepancy, however. Dog mentions that some people blame mental health problems on jinn. Except, jinn verifiably exist in the Residents of Proserpina Park universe. So, how does that work out? I suppose you could justify it by saying that they can cause mental health issues, but natural causes are far more likely to be the case. This was kind of on my mind, as it does tie-in with something we’ll discuss in the spoilers section. Oh, and you know how Sam can see the creatures, but can’t hear them? Jessica is the exact opposite. She can hear the creatures, but can’t see them. We’ll get more into that later.

Anyway, getting back on track, Jessica provides a foil to Alina. In doing so, Jessica highlights a major theme of this season. In the immortal words of John Lennon, you get by with a little help from your friends. That is very much true with Alina. Drew and Jun frequently act as the voices of reason, and help reign Alina in, and dial back her impulses. I would imagine that it isn't a coincidence that we learn more about Drew and Jun’s backstories this season. Jessica is, essentially, how Alina would have turned out if she didn’t have her friends, or if she had alienated them. Jessica tends to rush in first, and ask questions later, if at all. She tends to focus on whether she can do something, rather than if she should do it. Jessica is determined to become the most powerful being in the park. It doesn’t matter how many creatures she has to hurt to achieve this.

Alina and Jessica also contrast with how they treat Sam. They both wronged Sam and abused his trust. Alina brought her friends to the park, when Sam explicitly told her not to, and Jessica…well get into that in the spoilers section. However, they tried to make amends in very different ways. Alina does her best to sincerely apologize and make amends. It definitely helps that Drew and Jun are there to keep her calm and focused. Jessica, by contrast, has a single-minded focus on correcting her mistake. She’s been avoiding Sam and Dog, and in the process, further alienated them. I suppose another theme of this season is about the importance of communicating, and talking things out when you have a problem. One gets the impression that Jessica, Dog, and Sam could have saved themselves a lot of grief if they had just been more open about their problems, instead of avoiding each other.

As previously noted, we get to learn a bit more about Drew and Jun’s backstories. We learn that Drew tried college, decided it wasn’t for them, dropped out, and doesn’t have any concrete plans in life. They’re just going wherever the winds of fate take them. They’re content to take things one day at a time. They’re aware this puts them in contrast to Alina and Jun, who are both very ambitious. Drew is well aware that they will probably part ways with Alina and Jun one day. However, they don’t despair. It isn’t how much time they have with Alina and Jun, but how they spend it that matters. Even if they must part ways eventually, Drew will always have Alina and Jun’s backs.

This is quite a thoughtful and introspective moment from what tends to be a fairly lighthearted audio drama. It rings very true to my own experiences. I’ve had many friends come and go over the years. It is always sad when that happens, but each person we meet changes us, and leaves a bit of themselves with you. So, it’s like they’re still with you even when they’re gone. For however long it lasted, they were your friend, and nothing will change that.

On a lighter note, we learn more about Jun’s interest in space. He wants to be an astronaut, but he also likes to theorize about alien lifeforms. He likes to theorize about how the aliens might evolve and adapt to different environments. Well, that was certainly unexpected. It appears that Jun is a speculative evolution enthusiast. I’m also involved in that community. We theorize about all that paths evolution might take. We imagine worlds where evolution went different in the past, we imagine how it might go in the future, and we do indeed imagine how it might play out on alien worlds. If you’d like an introduction to speculative evolution, may I recommend the r/SpeculativeEvolution subreddit and the Curious Archive channel on YouTube?

I was pleasantly surprised that we got an entire episode devoted to Mirai’s adventures in Japan. I had been hoping we might get something like this at some point. She has found herself in a village inhabited entirely by yokai. She has Fox Ears the kitsune to help her out, but she also gains another ally named Daichi. He is a character that Angela Yih designed a while ago, but only implemented into the story this season. I knew, from the audition forms, Daichi felt ashamed of his body. That could only mean one thing: a tanuki. I did wonder if perhaps he’d be one of the more obscure yoaki, but he was represented by the raccoon emoji. The auditions didn’t outright say what creature the role were. Angela wanted it to be a surprise for the listeners. So, a raccoon emoji clearly mean tanuki, which are also known as raccoon dogs.

Tanuki are usually depicted as jolly mischievous tricksters in Japanese Folklore. They’re shapeshifters, much like kitsune, and the two are often depicted as rivals. I should also note that tanuki are a real animal. They’re also called raccoon dogs; though, they are neither a raccoon or a dog. Also, as far as we know, they do not shapeshift or talk. Now, why would Daichi be ashamed of his appearance? Hmm, how do I put this delicately? Guess I better just say it. Tanuki are famous for having massive testicles, and being able to make them bigger. There’s even a popular children’s song in Japan all about tanuki testicles. There’s a scene where Daichi uses his ball sack to form a massive wall to temporarily hide Mirai from the other yokai. I guess you could say that scene got real balls-to-walls insane. Hey, don’t give me that look, the joke practically writes itself.

In all seriousness, I did enjoy Daichi as a character. I liked the way he contrasted with Fox Ears. Daichi tends to be friendlier and speaks to Mirai as an equal, whereas Fox Ears tends to be more aloof, haughty, and cryptic. That isn’t to say Fox Ears doesn’t throw Mirai a rope now and again, but she certainly likes to toy with Mirai.

Naturally, we get to meet all sorts of amazing new creatures from across World Mythology and Folklore. I had been hoping we might meet Anansi, the trickster spider god of the Akan people, at some point. Lo and behold, this season more than delivered on that. Vincent C. Davis gave such an absolutely wonderful performance. He sounded almost exactly how I always envisioned Anansi sounding. It was pitch-perfect casting. And let’s not forget the writing in that episode. It carried as great sense of suspense and mystery.

In other creatures, I loved getting to meet the wemategunis. It is a creature from the folklore of the Lenape people. I always appreciate getting to learn more about Native American cultures. One of the most famous stories about the wemategunis is how it helped a young gambler. The gambler had lost his eyes to the Chief of Gambling, who is a spirit that lives on the Moon. The wemategunis agreed to help after the young gambler promised to give up gambling for good. Given some things we’ll touch on in the spoilers section, I get the feeling that including the wemategunis in this season wasn’t coincidence. I also liked that part of that episode where Alina had to stay behind, and gave her recorder to Sam and Terry. So, we get to experience that part of the episode from Alina’s perspective, or lack thereof.

Okay, let’s see, what am I forgetting? Oh, right, I’m in this season too! I got to voice Slenderman. Yes, the monster from all of those creepypastas. He was included as an example of modern-day folklore. This was the first major voice acting role that wasn’t a bit part. I’m very excited that I actually got to be part of Residents of Proserpina Park. I had a lot of fun voicing Slenderman. Angela said she envisioned Slenderman sounding like God from Puppet History of the Universe. So, I tried to mimic that style. By all accounts, I did pretty well. I love the distorted sound-effects that Angela included for the parts where Slenderman really shows his true colors. And hey, who knows, maybe you’ll get to hear me again when season four rolls around.

Thankfully, we didn’t have any “who’s on first” issues because of my name. I briefly got confused when the recording schedule said Sam, but then I remembered we were doing it by character name, not real name. Though, amusingly, my day job is working as an edutainer at the Shreveport Aquarium. I educate the public about all sorts of marine creatures, but I also make sure the guests behave, and the touch tank animals stay safe. Even more funnily, one of my managers is named Jessica. Don’t worry, she and I are on good terms with each other. Most of my co-workers have listened to the episode I was in, and all give it high marks. Now I just need to get them to listen to all the other episodes of the show.

A big thank you to Angela Yih for giving me this opportunity. Also, thank you to Ben Pollizi and Ashley Dawson. You were both really nice during recording. Sorry I sounded like I was five seconds away from having a panic attack. I was worried I’d screw up, and my baseline tends to be anxious. But I did have a lot of fun, and I’d happily do it again.

Okay, now for the part where we get into the spoilers. Get off the ride now if you don’t want any of that.

Last chance, you sure you want to keep going?

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

In my previous reviews, I came up with several theories about why Sam can’t hear the creatures of the park. Many of my ideas were very exotic and imaginative. However, the actual answer turned out to be a tad simpler. In fact, it was practically staring me in the face. Turns out, Sam and Jessica were cursed after the ran afoul of the Aos Si, also known as the fae, or the Fair Folk. I guess I let my imagination get carried away, and imagined things that were fun to think about, rather than what was likely. I can be a bit slow on the uptake at times. For example, I knew that Angela Yih cited Scooby-Doo as one of the inspirations for Residents of Proserpina Park. It took til now for me to connect the dots that the podcast follows a group of meddling young adults, and a talking dog, solving mysteries. Also, the lion dogs are named Dio and Gi. I though maybe it was a JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure reference, but upon further inspection, it was a pun on D-O-G.

Anyway, the Aos Si aren’t the kind of fairies who have tea parties in the garden. These are the original, darker and wilder, fairies from Celtic Mythology. In Ireland, the Tuatha Dé Danann were the pre-Christian gods, but got reimagined as mere spirits following Christianization. Albeit, very powerful ones. Think, the forces of nature given physical form. It isn’t that Aos Si don’t have any morality, but their morality is utterly incomprehensible to humans. So, they’re kind of like creatures H.P. Lovecraft might have dreamed up.

So, Sam was cursed to not hear the creatures, and Jessica can’t see them. See no evil, hear no evil, where’s speak no evil? To explain that, we have to delve into another revelation: Sam is gay. He was worried that Alina had a crush on him, but turns out she’s asexual and/or aromatic. Well, Drew says that Alina is the type to look, but not touch. We also have to assume that Alina probably has ADHD, given how impulsive and easily distracted she tends to be. Ah, but there was a special someone in Sam’s life. Jun’s name is short for Junpei. I bring this up because he has a twin brother named Junichi, who used to be Sam’s boyfriend. Unfortunately, Junichi was cursed to not speak of the creatures. This manifested as him losing his memories, and turning sickly. This is why Sam has such a strong air of melancholy about him.

But what did Jessica, Sam, and Junichi do that brought this curse upon them? It involved a new creature. A creature even newer than Slenderman, but who could it be? I was spinning my wheels trying to figure it out, but it was a fool’s errand. I would have never guessed the answer, because the creature is one that Jessica, Sam, and Junichi created themselves. From what little we see, it appears to be some sort of shapeshifter, and very powerful. This seems to confirm the theory I had that the creatures pop into existence ex-nihilo because people believe in them hard enough. It reminds me a bit of the concept of the tulpa from Tibetan Buddhism.

I really liked the scene where Alina pleads with Sam that he doesn’t have to go it alone anymore. It tied in nicely with this season’s theme about the importance of friendship. It also demonstrated their development as characters. Alina doesn’t just view Sam as another mystery to solve, or a ticket to an adventure. She now genuinely values him as a friend. Similarly, Sam takes steps towards moving beyond his past. He isn’t completely healed, and there’s still trials ahead, but being about to trust Alina and her friends is a major step forward for him.

Yeah, the whole power of friendship trope might be a bit cliché, and some would say overdone. But you know what? This season of Residents of Proserpina Park pulled it off really well. Ultimately, tropes are tools, and can be done well if handled by a skilled writer. Fortunately, Angela Yih was more than up to the task.

No theorizing from me this time around. I have absolutely no clue where plot is heading, but I can’t wait to find out. This season of Residents of Proserpina Park was something really special. And, you know, not just because I was in it. Several members of the cast received character development, we got to meet the tricksters of the park, we got some serious revelations. We also learned about the importance of friendship, but in a way that felt organic, and was never heavy-handed. There are bright days ahead for Residents of Proserpina Park, and I can’t wait to visit again.

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

The Alt-Hist File: Brave New Frontiersman

I’ve encountered a lot of very friendly and helpful people within the audio drama community. This has only increased since I have begun work on my own audio drama. So, with that in mind, I thought I’d give back to an audio drama that offered its help to me. And by give back, I mean write a review. We’re taking a look at Brave New Frontiersman. 

Brave New Frontiersman is set in an alternate version of 18th Century Colonial America. This version of North America is a land filled with magic and mythical creatures. You have creatures from the Old World, such as banshees and trolls, but also creatures from the New World, such as Sasquatch and Raven Mockers. Our hero is simply known as The Frontiersman. He travels across the frontier to aid those in need of help. He is joined by his old fur trapping companion Coyote. Along the way, they pick up a noble named Jame Byron, who has an aptitude for magic. Our three heroes will travel the frontier and encounter many strange creatures and strange magics.

I had known about Brave New Frontiersman for a while. Recently, however, I was contacted by the Brave New Frontiersman Twitter account. They had seen my casting call for my upcoming audio dram The Books of Thoth, and wanted to know if I needed people sent my way. I already cast the roles for the first three episodes, but I’ll certainly keep them in mind for future episodes. I also figured it would be nice if I gave them a review.

Now, normally I prefer an audio drama to have at least one complete season before I write a review. However, given that there tends to be a bit of a gap between episodes of Brave New Frontiersman, I am waving my usual requirement.

I’ve always found America to be a place with a look of potential to be a fantasy setting. I like to think that American folklore and history are just as rich and varied as the lore of any fantasy world. That our landscapes could rival any fantasy geography. I’m always happy to find more American-inspired fantasy. So, big point in Brave New Frontiersmen’s favor. Being set in the 18th Century, and dealing with the frontier, I was immediately reminded of the Leatherstocking Tales by James Fenimore Cooper. The most famous book in the series being The Last of the Mohicans.

The frontier has always had a special place in the mythology of America. I’m reminded of when Thomas Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark on their famous expedition. He asked them to bring back a wooly mammoth, as many people believed that mammoths still roamed the lands of the Louisiana Purchase. Well, obviously, they didn’t have much luck finding a live mammoth. However, they did find a fossilized mammoth tusk. Hmm, I wonder if there are mammoths in Brave New Frontiersman. None have appeared so far, but they could always pop-up later.

Point being, frontier has often been mythologized as a land of adventure and discovery. A land completely unknown, well, except for the numerous Indigenous tribes that were already living there. The point I’m trying to make is that Brave New Frontiersman taps into that mythologized notion of the frontier as “here be dragons” territory.

As previously mentioned, Brave New Frontiersman is alternate history. Obviously, there’s the magic and mythical creatures bit, but there’s other aspects as well. One episode begins with the characters reading a newspaper. From this, we learn that the Aztec Empire still fell to Spanish Conquest. However, it did so in the 18th Century, rather than the 16th Century, and rather recently in terms of when the story takes place. The Inca Empire remains independent, at least for the moment. Also, the mythical king Prester John is apparently real, and his kingdom has recently been discovered. 

We also learn that the Seven Years War, known to Americans as the French and Indian War, lasted twenty years in the world of Brave New Frontiersman. I guess it will be called the Twenty Years War instead. I do wonder what effect that will have on the American Revolution. We’re already getting hints of friction between the colonists and the British. It is mentioned that nobles have an affinity for magic, but what does that mean? Do nobles have a greater aptitude for magic? Or can anyone learn magic with enough time and practice, and nobles are just more likely to have better training? It is repeatedly mentioned that lead cancels out the effects of magic, so an anti-monarchist rebellion could still work.

Another interesting point is the depiction of religion. So far, we’ve only seen Catholic priests. Now, the first time was in a town populated by Irish settlers, so that was understandable. As for the second time, it made me wonder whether the Protestant Reformation still happened in the world of Brave New Frontiersman. Granted, settlements of English Catholics weren’t unheard of. Maryland was founded so that English Catholics would have somewhere to freely practice their religion. There is, eventually, mention of Martin Luther being viewed as a heretic by the Catholic Church. So, clearly there was a Reformation in this world. What the exact details were, however, remain to be seen. 

Now, let’s talk a bit about the voice acting. The first couple episodes were a bit rough at times. It was clear that the Brave New Frontiersman team hadn’t quite found their footing yet, and were still trying to figure out how the characters should sound. However, as the series progresses, the casts gets more of a handle on their characters, and the performances get stronger. I see more improvement with each new episode. I’ve also noticed that sometimes the sound levels will be a tad uneven. Again, this is improving, but it is important to make sure all the dialogue is equalized. That way, it helps create the illusion that everyone is together in the same place. Also, this is a minor point, the characters pronounce New Orleans as New Or-Leans. I’m from Louisiana, as many of you know, and we pronounce it as New Or-Lens. I realize this doesn’t make a lot of sense to people who aren’t from Louisiana. However, pronouncing it as Or-Leans is a goo way to mark yourself as someone who isn’t from Louisiana.

Let’s shift gears and talk about the bestiary. One episode had our heroes facing off against a dullahan, a type of headless horseman from Irish Folklore. It makes for a clever reference to “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving. In fact, one of the twists in the episodes has its roots in the twist of “Sleepy Hollow.” Very nice use of literary allusions. Another episode see the heroes deal with a Raven Mocker. It is a creature from Cherokee Mythology. They’re shapeshifting spirits who target the dead and dying, and eat their victims’ hearts to extend their own lives. They can only be seen by an experienced medicine man, and usually his presence will be enough to keep them at bay. I always enjoy when I get to learn about a new mythical creature.

There are only seven episodes of Brave New Frontiersman out so far. That means there’s still a lot of places for the story to go. Obviously, I’m very interested in the alternate history aspects of the setting. I’m also hoping that we’ll get to meet some Native Americans at some point. Native Americans aren’t very common in pop culture, which is a real shame. I did raise my eyebrow a bit when it was mentioned that all Indigenous spirits are vulnerable to tobacco. That felt like it was playing into the unfortunate trope where all Native American cultures are lumped together into a single category. Though, thankfully, the Raven Mocker was specifically identified as a creature from Cherokee Mythology. So, I have hope that Brave New Frontiersman will be able to handle Native Americans with tact.

I’m also hoping we learn a bit more about the backstories of the Frontiersman and Coyote. At the moment, we don’t know too much. Going by the cover art, the Frontiersman does look vaguely similar to Natty Bumppo, the protagonist of the Leatherstocking Tales. So, I wonder if he might have a similar backstory. The way Coyote talks kind of reminds me of Tonto from The Lone Ranger. Though, I don’t think Coyote is suppose to be Native American. On the other hand, the Coyote is a trickster spirit common to many Native American tribes. So, I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

The keyword with Brave New Frontiersman is potential. There is a lot of potential in the characters and the setting. We’ve got seven episodes so far, and I feel a clear sense of improvement and progress as the episodes go on. I feel confident that Brave New Frontiersman will be able to keep up the momentum, and spread its wings even further in the future. And I certainly can’t wait to see where the adventure takes us next.

So, there you have it. Brave New Frontiersman is an audio drama set upon the frontier of an 18th Century America filled with magic and mythical creatures. Only seven episodes out so far, but it improves with every episode, and has a lot of potential.

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

The Audio File: Chain of Being

As is often the case, there are times when I’m aware of an audio drama for a while. However, sometimes it takes me a bit to get around to them. It helps when I get a nudge in that direction. But it almost always proves to be worth the wait. So, without further ado, let’s get into the audio drama we’ll be reviewing today. We’re taking a look at Chain of Being. 

Chain of Being is set far into the future. Humanity has spread to the stars, encountered numerous alien races, and made major advances in science and technology. And yet this world of tomorrow is very much connected to the mythical past. Magic exists alongside science and technology, leviathans and angels attack unsuspecting spaceships, and gods constantly meddle in the affairs of humanity and the other sentient races. The series follows Adam Delta 5. He is the biblical Adam, the very first human ever created. Adam has been wandering the universe for thousands of years, and has grown a bit distant from the rest of humanity. Lately, however, Adam is taking more interest in humanity. A strange force is mutating beings across the universe, and twisting them into strange and unnatural forms. A force that may have a connection to Adam’s past.

I had been aware of Chain of Being for a while. I had been giving some thought to checking it out. Then I got followed by Chain of Being on Twitter. That certainly bumped Chain of Being up in my listening schedule. I have had many audio dramas follow me on Twitter, and I have speculated that they might be fishing for a review. I am always happy to review any audio drama that asks me. However, if you really want to make sure your show gets reviewed, the best way is to ask me directly. My Twitter DMs are open, if you don’t want to ask me in public. You can also message me on Reddit. You can also message this blog’s fan page on Facebook, or you can message my personal Facebook account. Point is, there’s a lot of ways to get in touch with me.

Chain of Being is a member of the Faustian Nonsense podcast network. They are a network of several quality fiction podcasts, such as The Lavender Tavern. One episode of Chain of Being features Kieran Walsh, who plays Gino Whelan on fellow Faustian Nonsense show The Green Horizon.

The first few episodes of Chain of Being are a bit shorter, and are primarily there to ease the viewer into the setting. The show truly starts around episodes six and seven, Epistasis parts 1 and 2. That’s the point where Adam officially appears. I do understand why series creator Cai Gwilym Pritchard started with these prequel episodes. The setting of Chain of Being is a very unusual one. I can best describe Chain of Being as what would happen if China Miéville decided to make an audio drama. The key word here is weird, as in Weird Fiction. Think things along the lines of the stories from The Drabblecast. I would also classify Chain of Being as mythpunk. We’ve got an advanced futuristic setting, but we also have mythological gods and magic existing side-by-side with science and technology. 

You do get some hints of familiarity here and there. There’s certainly plenty of biblical allusions, and nods to various mythologies. However, they’re often presented in an unusual context. For example, our protagonist is the biblical Adam, but he’s an immortal, and he has glass horns and completely black eyes. I thought the horns might have been an obscure mythological reference. However, Cai Gwilym Pritchard says that they’re meant to be a reference to the Mark of Cain.

The politics of the various human and alien races are reasonably easy to follow along with. There’s an alliance of planets that is trying to create unity among the various races of the galaxy. However, they frequently do this by forcibly relocating people to frontier planets, even if it means breaking up families, in hopes of speeding-up integration. And there’s this group of human supremacists who are all descended from colonists from Mars, Venus, and various other parts of our Solar System. Earth is considered semi-mythical, and nobody really knows what became of it. Obviously, the human supremacists are pretty fascist. 

All easy enough to follow, but I also feel I don’t have the complete picture of Chain of Being’s universe. But this is very much by design. Cai Gwilym Pritchard has stated that they deliberately withheld certain bits of worldbuilding. They reason that works set on Earth don’t go into detail about Earth’s entire history. As such, the Chain of Being universe would be no different in that regard.

As previously mentioned, there are numerous references to mythology and religion from Earth. For example, we first encounter Adam aboard an ark ship that is carrying some of the last surviving specimens of birds from East Africa. This is clearly a nod to the story of Noah and the Ark. Interesting that the birds were from East Africa, as that is where humans first evolved. I’m tempted to think that was deliberate. One of the prequel episodes features a character named Tubal Cain. He’s a minor character mentioned in the Book of Genesis, and is claimed to be the world’s first blacksmith.

Angels are described as being Lovecraftian monstrosities that look like a collection of wings and eyes. There are many different types of angels, and the description matches that Seraphim. They worship God directly by surrounding the Throne of Heaven and constantly chanting “Holy! Holy! Holy!” Maybe we’ll get some Cherubs in season two of Chain of Being. Pop culture depicts them as winged babies, but the Bible describes them as having four faces; a man’s face, a lion’s face, an ox’s face, and an eagle’s face. Those are also the symbols of the four gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, in that order. It is said that a Cherub guards the entrance to the Garden of Eden. In other types of angels, there’s also the Ophanim. They look like several interlocking wheels made out of eyes.

Adam at one point mentions the different gods that created the different sentient races of the galaxy. Interestingly, it wasn’t Yahweh or Elohim who created humanity. Rather, it was a goddess named Epicurosa. She doesn’t appear to have an analog in any actual mythology, and appears to have been made-up for Chain of Being. Cai Gwilym Pritchard has said they feel a bit embarrassed that most of the aliens are humanoid. However, I think Chain of Being has a pretty brilliant explanation for that. Humans were created in the image of the gods, so it would make sense that other sentient races would be humanoid. It is mentioned that humans aren’t the only race that Epicurosa created. We later learn that Eden is located in another dimension, and is basically the test lab of the gods. The garden is but one small section of it.

There’s a couple religious orders dedicated to the Greco-Roman gods Nemesis and Cupid respectively. So, that means the Greek gods are out there somewhere. I guess that works. The Old Testament doesn’t necessarily deny the possibility that other gods exist; just that you shouldn’t worship them. Though, it does make me wonder how many other gods from Earth are running around. The sign of the entity that is mutating everyone kind of sounded similar to the Elder Sign from the Lovecraft Mythos. I’m not sure if that was a coincidence or not. Or here’s a thought, what if it was meant to be the Chain of Being itself?

So, what exactly is this Chain of Being thing? The Chain of Being is a philosophical concept. It was codified during the Middle Ages by thinkers such as Thomas Aquinas, but it has its roots in the teachings of Aristotle and Plato. The Chain of Being organizes all things in the universe into orders of importance and complexity. God is at the top and minerals are at the bottom. There were also subdivisions within the different sections of the chain. For example, monarchs reigned at the top of human society, and men ranked above women. The Chain of Being was used, among other things, to justify the divine right of kings, and to deny women opportunities to advance in society. Yeah, not a particularly nice system. One of the ways Western society managed to advance was by rejecting the rigid hierarchy of the Chain of Being.

Now, let’s talk about the voice acting. Cai Gwilym Pritchard provides the voice of Adam. Adam speaks with a notable echo. It often sounds like multiple voices speaking at once. This gives Adam an eternal and otherworldly quality. As the series progresses, however, this echo becomes increasingly subdued. Perhaps that symbolizes how Adam is regaining his connection with humanity once again. I should also note that Cai Gwilym Pritchard created Chain of Being at the tender age of seventeen. They wanted to see more science fantasy stories, and decided to be the change they wanted to see in the world. Quite the accomplishment that was indeed. All of the other actors also give excellent performances.

The only real point of criticism I have is the transcripts. They aren’t easy to find on Faustian Nonsense’s website, and it will always display the transcript for the first episode, no matter which episode you click. You find them by selecting an episode, and then clicking the three little dots. Now, Chain of Being does have full transcripts on its Tumblr account, but I wouldn’t have known this if I hadn’t come across it by chance. Transepts are important so that listeners with disabilities can enjoy audio dramas. They’re also quite helpful for people who write reviews as well.

Season one of Chain go Being has certainly been intriguing. Personally, I’m hoping we find out what happened to Eve. Adam doesn’t give much info, as it is still a touchy subject for him, but something significant happened with Eve. Did she grow old and die, while he remained immortal? Or is she immortal, but they had a falling out somewhere along the way? Also, the human supremacists are apparently going to be the main antagonists of season two. It will be interesting to see how that plays out.

But whatever the future holds, I do know that season one of Chain of Being was really great. It combines science fiction, mythology, and magic in a far future where gods still meddle in the affairs of humanity, and the other sentient races. A very unusual setting, to be sure, but also a very creative one. Give it a listen today.

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

The Audio File: Uncanny Robot

Artificial intelligence has made major advances over the last few years. We’ve seen the rise of predictive text algorithms and even AIs that can generate artwork. But these leaps in technology have many people asking some serious questions. But perhaps the most pressing question of them all is this: can you use an AI to write the script for an audio drama? The audio drama we’re reviewing today aims to answer that question. We’re taking a look at Uncanny Robot. 

Uncanny Robot is an anthology audio drama created by Theresa Matsuura and Rich Pav. The start by taking a story prompt, and feeding them into different predictive text AIs. They then allow the AI to keep going, occasionally stepping in when it gets stuck in a rut, or if they otherwise don’t like the direction things are going. Then, Theresa and Rich record and narrate the insuring story. What laughs, insanity, and even touching moments, can an AI come up with? Uncanny Robot is here to find out.

This was another audio drama where I was requested to review by the creators. I was contacted over Reddit asking if I’d give Uncanny Robot a review. This was right around the time Arielle Nissenblatt (rhymes with this-and-that) did that Twitter tread introducing my fellow podcast critics and I to everyone on Twitter. I said yes, and here we are now.

So, a few things to discuss before we go forward. The first couple episodes were almost entirely AI driven, with minimal input from the humans. The primary AI used is Novel AI. Theresa and Rich originally wanted Uncanny Robot to be something that listeners could unwind and relax to. The AI insanity of the stories would be like an ASMR video, but in podcast form. However, they soon decided that this would prove too limiting for what they wanted Uncanny Robot to be. So, they started taking a more hands-on approach to the stories. I’m not sure what the exact percentage of human contributions to the later stories are, but defiantly much more than in the first two episodes. Each episode also includes an accompanying commentary episode. The first two episodes include the commentary along with the stories.

The use of AI also extends to other aspects of Uncanny Robot. All of the images and art work that accompany the episodes are all AI generated. Even the music is AI generated. Apparently, there’s some AI that can generate music scores, but it is very tricky to get something worthwhile out of it. Rich is quite adept at this, but it is certainly no small task.

I must also give a shout out to another podcast that Theresa and Rich work on. Uncanny Japan explores all that is weird from old Japan. Strange superstitions, folktales, cultural oddities, and interesting language quirks, and whatever else Theresa digs-up while researching for her novels and short stories. It is hosted by Theresa, who also does the research, while Rich handles the audio engineering and soundscaping. It isn’t an audio drama, or audio fiction per se, but I still greatly enjoy it. I would encourage everyone to give Uncanny Japan a listen. Well, after you listen to Uncanny Robot, of course. I should probably also mention that Theresa is a Bram Stoker Award nominated author. She has published short story collections such as The Carp-Faced Boy and Other Tales and A Robe of Feathers and Other Stories.

Okay, now that we’ve discussed all of that, let’s get into the episodes. Our first episode is a cheery little starter. You see, the theme of this episode is death. Oh, don’t worry, it is more lighthearted than it might sound. In our first story, titled “Memories of Death” a ghost recounts his childhood experiences with death. His parents died when he was only twelve, and his sister and cousin died not long after that. He began to contemplate his inevitable demise, and how death comes for us all sooner or later. Then, he took a faithful trip to his grandma’s house. He hears about murder on the radio, and in songs, and on television. The protagonist became obsessed with thinking about murder, and talking to everyone about murder, and he began to fear that he might be a murderer.

Some people wonder if it might only be a matter of time before AI get into the story writing business. Some people fear this might lead to human writers getting edged out of the market. Personally, I’m not losing any sleep over the matter. If these episodes are anything to go off of, AI has a long, long way to go before it can seriously challenge human writers. Still, AI are capable of producing some unintentionally hilarious results. I’ve certainly played around with enough predictive text algorithms. My favorite is InferKit. I learned about it, back when it was called Talk to Transformer, from the YouTube channel GrayStillPlays. He did a video where he made it write articles about Florida Man. I once made it attempt to recreate Percy Jackson’s Wikipedia article. I posted the result on the r/camphalfblood subreddit, if you are curious. I also had it try to recreate stories from Thomas the Tank Engine, and I’m still kicking myself for not saving the results.

I thought that “Memories of Death” was an excellent start for Uncanny Robot. We start off with a scene that is evocative of Spoon River Anthology. Then we get to the visit with Grandma, and the story goes completely off the rails. Of course, going off the rails is when the real fun starts. Let’s see, our protagonist is obsessed with murder, consumes large amounts of media centered around murder, constantly talks about murder, and fears that he might be a murderer? Well, I think that the answer is pretty obvious. The protagonist became a member of the true crime fandom. Though, it seems he got a little too into it, if he feared that he might be a murderer. Wait, he started worrying that he was a murderer when he was twelve, which was the age his parents, sister, and cousin died at…uh oh! That’s not good! There are some errors, continuity and otherwise, but that just adds to the charm and hilarity. For example, a man jumping off of a building is described as a murder. Uh, Mr. Robot, ever heard of suicide? Also, the protagonist hears about this on the radio, but then the story says that he and Grandma saw it on television.

“Memories of Death” is a great first offering from Uncanny Robot.

The second story is called “ You Remind Me of Someone.” Jake has recently become a vampire. It is cold and raining in the cemetery, and he is all alone. Then he sees his sister Rachel. She invites him into a nearby chapel. They talk about life and afterlife. Rachel reminds Jake of someone, but he can’t quite think who.

We all know that AI is capable of creating some great comedy stories. However, can I create something a bit more serious? It would seem that the answer is a tentative yes. Now, this story wasn’t anything groundbreaking or revolutionary. Still, for a story that was primarily written by an AI, it’s not half bad. Sure, there were a few goofs, as is to be expected from an AI-generated story. For example, Jake says that his sister Rachel reminds him of his sister Rachel. Not long after this we learn that Rachel is dead. It was almost like the story was trying to have this be a twist, but it didn’t quite know how to properly pull it off. Still, it could have been a lot worse, so I’m still impressed with how this story turned out. “You Remind Me of Someone” is a great second part for Uncanny Robot’s first episode.

Our second episode features the biographies of famous musicians, as written by AIs. The first story is titled “Elvis Lives.” As the title says, it takes place in a world where Elvis did not die in 1977 at the age of forty-two. We get to learn all sorts of fun facts about Elvis. For example, apparently, his birth name was Ralston Oliver Jones. He was named after his mother’s favorite singer, Billie Holiday. Speaking of his mother, she worked as a dancer at a strip club. Elvis changed his name to Elvis Aaron Presley when he was eight. His family moved to California when he was a teenager, and he attended UCLA. Elvis had a total of twenty-six marriages, and was divorced several times. In 1969, he got a sex change and became known as Pricilla Presley. This probably caused some confusion, as Elvis’ first wife was also named Pricilla.

I could go on, but this doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of the sheer insanity of this story. The rules of reality really are out to lunch with this one. I loved absolutely every minute of this hilarious insanity. Oh, but we aren’t done yet. You see, our protagonist gets to meet Elvis in the present day. Elvis is a philanthropist who likes to help Black people. In fact, he plans to sell all White people into slavery to help Black people. He also wants to turn the protagonist into a Black genius. I guess Elvis is a reverse Clayton Bigsby; a White Black Supremacist, if you will. And he threatens to whip the protagonist if they don’t agree to become a Black genius. Kind of sending mixed signals there, Elvis. Also, I’m pretty sure that gender reassignment surgery is the correct term for what the story called a sex change. And come to think of it, the AI deadnamed Elvis, or should I say Pricilla, quite a bit. Of course, things would get a bit confusing if, among other things, the AI talked about how Pricilla Presley was the ex-wife of Pricilla Presley.

“Elvis Lives” is my absolute favorite story from Uncanny Robot. With “Memories of Death” in a respectable second place. Absolutely hilarious from start to finish. I loved every minute of it.

The second story in the episode is “Whatever Happened to Mr. Mojo Risin?” It follows an interview with the musician Jim Morrison. I’m less familiar with him than I am with Elvis. This story also had the misfortune of having to follow “Elvis Lives.” It was pretty much impossibly to top the insanity of its predecessor. So, I couldn’t really get into “Whatever Happened to Mr. Mojo Risin?” AI stories as always a mixed bag, and this on just didn’t click with me.

While we’re on the subject, the third episode is titled “Valentines Day with the Revenant Squad.” It is a love story set in a dystopian future. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t get into it. It wasn’t really bad, but just kind of meh. As such, we shall move right along.

Our fourth port of call is titled “Asteroid Arnie and the Mushiblooms.” The protagonist of this story gets to go on an adventure with the great space hero Asteroid Arnie. They must travel to an alternate version of Earth to save the Mushiblooms. Mushiblooms are cute little fuzzballs, and Asteroid Arnie is their only hope. So, grab your nucleic phaser, and hold on tight.

I was intrigued when I heard that this story would involve alternate universes. As many of you will know, alternate history is a big source of bread and butter for this blog. So, I was eager to see what the AI would come up with. Well, it’s turned out the AI wasn’t all that interested in alternate history. It seems that it wanted to write an episode of Rick and Morty instead. Still, we did get some fun alternate history tidbits. For example, the protagonist isn’t from our universe. They come from a world where Earth was destroyed in 1876 as a result of the American Civil War. We must presume that space travel, and space colonization, was invented much sooner than in our universe. 

I should also note that this episode marks the point that Theresa and Rich started taking a more hands-on approach to the stories. I can definitely see that. The story was noticeably more cohesive than its predecessors. It still managed to still feel like it was written by an AI, which, of course, it was. This episode certainly had its moments, but I felt that everything didn’t quite come together as well as it could have.

The fifth episode is “Peppers and the Screaming Yoof: A True Crime Parody.” It begins in April of 1969. Four meddling kids, and their dog, are on their way back from Woodstock. They soon find themselves on a mysterious farm called the Screaming Yoof. As meddling kids are wont to do, they decide to snoop around and investigate the mystery.

This episode was released on April Fools’ Day. As such, I spent most of the episode trying to figure out what the trick was going to be. I thought that maybe it would turn out to have been written completely by the humans, with no AI input. This was before I listened to the companion episode, and learned about the change in how episodes are made. So, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop the whole time. I suppose the effect was a bit like Horse eBooks. It was this Twitter account that, as the name suggests, spammed quotes from various Russian ebooks about horses. Everyone assumed that it was an automated bot account. The quotes, non sequiturs that they were, almost worked as dada poetry. It was kind of amusing to think that a bot account had inadvertently created art. Well, as it turns out, it was not a bot account, there was a human running the Horse eBooks account the entire time.

Anyway, if you’ve ever wondered what Scooby-Doo would be like if it had swearing, overt drug references, and if Scooby was the antichrist, well, here you go. The Scooby analog is mentioned to have been raised by a cult called The Devil Dogs, but this doesn’t have much bearing on the plot. There’s one point where the characters encounter a turntable from the 1980s, which apparently happened before 1969. Theresa and Rich have said they intended this story to be a parody of true crime podcasts. I do get some hints of that, but Scooby-Doo is definitely the dominant flavor here. I admit that true crime podcasts aren’t really my area of expertise.

This one wasn’t bad, but maybe I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn’t been looking for signs of trickery.

The sixth episode is “Asteroid Annie and the Mushiblooms.” This episode is an alternate universe version of the previous episode “Asteroid Arnie and the Mushiblooms.” Once again, we have a protagonist going on an adventure with a space hero; in this case, Asteroid Annie. However, there are some differences this time round. Chief among them is that the Mushiblooms are evil, and Asteroid Annie is the only person who can stop their diabolical plot.

I think I like this episode a bit more than “Asteroid Arnie.” It just felt like the plot was better constructed this time round. There was a part where Annie said that it is important to remember three things: shake the jar, open the jar, and be kind to the babies. I assumed that this was simply AI-generated gibberish. However, it turns out that Theresa was the one who wrote that particular line. In fairness, it does have plot reverence. There’s a jar of seeds that is important to defeating the Mushiblooms. The part about being kind to the babies is because, apparently, the Mushiblooms will be reborn from the seeds, and there is a chance that they will be good. Okay, I’m just going to be real here, I got none of that from the story. I wouldn’t have known that if I hadn’t listened to the companion episode. Still, overall I found “Asteroid Annie” to be a bit of a step-up over “Asteroid Arnie.”

Our final episode is “Singer Boy and the Trip to the Moon.” Our protagonist is a clown who works for a circus. They’ve been feeling a bit blue lately, and they just need to get away from it all. So, they team up with another member of the circus named Singer Boy. Together, the two depart in a hot air balloon. The Moon is their destination, and they intend to leave their troubles millions of miles away.

This story had a number of surprisingly introspective, and dare I say, even touching moments. There’s a strong sense of melancholy throughout the story, but also a sense of hope and cautious optimism. It’s like the story is saying that, yeah, bad things happen, but they can be overcome. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. A surprisingly competent effort at a serious story for something written by an AI. Granted, this is all a bit undercut when you consider that Theresa was guiding the path the story took. Still, even with that in mind, this story wasn’t half bad. Sometimes, I wish I could get away from all of my troubles, if only for a bit. Maybe not in a hot air balloon bound for the Moon, but something along those lines, perhaps.

I’m reminded a bit of Today is Spaceship Day by Austin McConnell. It is also a story that was created via a predictive text algorithm. Austin creator turned it into an animated YouTube video using Plotagon, back before Plotagon implemented a subscription model. In fact, he even randomized the way the characters were generated. Very humorous, as you might expect, but also surprisingly touching at times. Definitely give it a watch, if you haven’t already.

And with that, we have covered all of the episodes currently available from Uncanny Robot. It was a bit of a mixed bag, and it certainly had its ups and downs. As is to be expected for something involving AI and predictive text algorithms. Still, it managed to produce some genuine laughs, and some surprisingly competent attempts at more serious material. So, overall, I’m pretty satisfied with my listening experience with Uncanny Robot. I’d recommend everyone else give it a listen. AI probably won’t be the future of audio drama, but it can make some surprisingly entraining stories, when given the right nudges.

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

The Audio File: The Chronicles of Wild Hollow

This year has brought many new opportunities for me as an audio drama critic. I’m connecting more with other podcast critics, and that is bringing about new opportunities. This has also meant that more audio drama creators have been asking me to review their shows as of late. Speaking of which, that brings us to the audio drama we’ll be reviewing today. We’re taking a look at The Chronicles of Wild Hollow. 

In a far off place, an endless forest grows; sprawling, barren, impenetrable. But beyond the tree line…creatures roam free. A land where adventure lurks around every corner. A land where legends are made. A land called Wild Hollow. Wild Hollow is home to a veritable menagerie of talking animals. The series chronicles the adventures of the various denizens of Wild Hollow.

I’d been vaguely aware of The Chronicles of Wild Hollow for a while. I think I might have seen it over on the r/audiodrama subreddit, or possibly on Twitter at various points. However, it didn’t really get on my radar until recently. Not long ago, I become part of a podcast critics group that meets on Slack. We share our reviews, discuss various podcast related things, and just enjoy each other’s company. We also trying to help each other out and raise our collective profile. One persistent myth is that there are no podcast critics. The fact that your reading this proves that isn’t true at all. So, to combat that, Arielle Nissenblatt (rhymes with this-and-that) did a Twitter tread introducing all of us to everyone on Twitter. Naturally, I was included, and got several audio dramas asking me to review them. The Chronicles of Wild Hollow, produced by Shouting is Funny, was one such show, and here we are now.

As previously stated, The Chronicles of Wild Hollow features talking animals that do human things. It is a bit like Redwall or Zootopia, but in the style of Discworld. Wild Hollow is a deliberately anachronistic land. 18th Century pirates, Wild West gunslingers, and gangsters from somewhere between 1920 and 1950 all exists side-by-side. Basically, if it could potentially make for a good story, it can be found in Wild Hollow. The stories are meant to be adventure tales, but with a humorous bent. In terms of demographic, The Chronicles of Wild Hollow is an all ages affair; fun that the whole family can enjoy. There’s usually about two or three songs per episode. They usually help move the plot along, or reveal something about the characters. The website for The Chronicles of Wild Hollow includes an interactive map of Wild Hollow itself.

The Chronicles of Wild Hollow doesn’t really have many episodes available so far. As of this writing, it has six episodes, which are divided into two trilogies, plus one Christmas episode. The first trilogy follows a mouse named Fandango Boursin, and he is also the protagonist of the Christmas Special. Shouting is Funny recommended that I start with the Grey Trilogy; named after its title character Artemis Grey. In hindsight, I should have listened to that advise. 

I need to briefly talk about what the Boursin Trilogy did wrong. That way, it will be easier to appreciate what the Grey Trilogy did right. The first strike was the voice acting. Fandango is a mouse who sounds a bit like Clint Eastwood…if he gargled cigarettes and razor blades. It got very irritating very quickly. The rest of the voice cast were generally decent, but not really anything to write home about. Though, I will say that I enjoyed the songs at the Lillypad Lounge. The tone was incredibly disjointed to the point of being schizophrenic. The episodes would be dead serious one minute, only to be downright parodic the next minute. The jokes always fell flat, were too self-referential, and I wasn’t a fan of the repeated fourth wall breaking. I also just didn’t find Fandango to be as interesting or as compelling of a character as I found Artemis to be. So, yeah, don’t make the mistake I did. I suggest skipping the Boursin Trilogy. 

The Christmas Special is slightly better. Being a thirty minute standalone episode certainly made things more bearable. And I will concede that a few jokes managed to get a chuckle out of me. However, it still suffers from many of the same problems that the Boursin Trilogy does. So, I’d recommend skipping it as well. Start with the Grey Trilogy instead. 

Now that we’ve got that out of the way. Let’s talk about the Grey Trilogy. Artemis Grey is a fox who works as a smuggler. She’s very quick witted a resourceful, as a fox must be. Artemis has recently attempted to stowaway aboard a pirate ship. Unfortunately, the pirates found out, but Artemis convinced them not to kill her. The pirates are in search of a Whale Song. It is an artifact created by Primus, the first whale. The Whale Song can grant great knowledge to those who know how to use it. Artemis forms an uneasy alliance with the pirates, and soon they’re off to find the Whale Song, and the secrets it contains.

I should begin by mentioning that you can listen to the Grey trilogy with having listened to the Boursin Trilogy. It appears that The Chronicles of Wild Hollow is aiming to be an anthology of stories set in the same world. The Grey Trilogy was a marked improvement over the Boursin Trilogy in every conceivable way. There was a proper balance between humor and seriousness. The voice acting was significantly stronger this time around. There wasn’t a single bad performance among the cast. You could tell the cast were more experienced this time around. I also appreciated that the fourth wall stayed firmly in place.

I also found Artemis to be a far mor interesting and compelling character than Fandango. I like foxes, so that helps. At first, Artemis seems like a typical, if still highly entertaining, roguish thief character. However, she’s shown to have a honorable streak, and she has good reason for wanting to find the Whale Song. Artemis was separated from her mother when she was just a kit. What she really wants, more than anything else, is to find her mom, and to have a family again. I liked that Artemis’ mom is named Freya, and thus, they’re both named after mythological goddesses. Poor Artemis has been on her own since she was about seven or so. Certain animals experience prejudice and discrimination from other animals in Wild Hollow. I would assume that includes foxes. Artemis probably turned to a life of crime because nobody was willing to help her, or take her in.

The legend of Primus added some much needed worldbuilding to Wild Hollow. Legend says that Primus was the first whale ever. He came into being when the world was first created. Primus swam the world singing his song of truth to all who would listen. But people grew greedy and kept demanding new knowledge from him. One of his teeth got knocked out by a rock, but Primus imbued it was his song. It is said whoever finds the tooth will also find the truth they seek. I liked how the legend gave a sense of lore and history to Wild Hollow. It makes it feel more like a real place, rather than just “our world, but with talking animals.”

I also greatly enjoyed the new friends Artemis makes along the way. Osric is an otter who dreams of becoming King of the Pirates someday. He’s an interesting take on an otter character. Usually, otters are portrayed as mischievous and playful. Osric, by contrast, is a fairly serious no-nonsense character. He doesn’t like Artemis initially, but comes to see her as a friend. Osric is joined by a penguin named Salami. Yes, that’s really her name. She’s dumb as a brick, but a good person at heart, and very happy-go-lucky. Salami doesn’t have a single mean bone in her body. Over the course of the trilogy, Osric and Salami become like family to Artemis.

I must also give praise to the sheer imagination that went into all of the settings for the Grey Trilogy. So, we start of having an adventure with pirates. Our first port of call is an island inhabited by dodo birds who wear togas and all have very Roman-sounding names. Then, our heroes ride inside of a whale to get to a city located within the fossilized remains of Primus. Then, Artemis has to travel to a forest who’s tree produce pollen that makes people act stupid. It all sounds absolutely insane, but it works. The bits in the city within the remains of Primus was my favorite bit. The Grey Trilogy felt weirdly nostalgic at times. It feels like a story, or a cartoon, I would have encountered as a kid. But don’t worry, adults can easily enjoy it as well.

Transcipts were originally only available for the Boursin Trilogy. However, Shouting is Funny has since corrected this. I want to take a moment to take them for that. I will reiterate what I said in my reviews of Seen and Not Heard and Main Street Mythology. Transcripts are very important for providing accessibility; especially to listeners with hearing difficulties. They are also very handy for people who write reviews. 

My only real quibble, and this is more minor, is that Fandango appears at the end of the Grey Trilogy. This means he’ll be coming along for Artemis’ next adventure. However, I’m cautiously optimistic that Shouting is Funny will take what they learned from the Grey Trilogy, and apply it to this next adventure.

And I certainly hope I get to go on more adventures with The Chronicles of Wild Hollow soon. They don’t have much now, but I’ll happily review whatever new episodes come out. I did something similar with my review of Poe Theatre on the Air. The next plan is to do a series of shorter one-off episodes. That sounds like it could be fun, and a great way to add more characters to the cast. 

The first of these mini-episodes is called “The Ballad of Little Mollusk.” Little Mollusk was a minor character from the Grey Trilogy. They tried to stop Caine the Horney Toad from starting a coup, but got thrown into the sea. As Little Mollusk drift upon the waves, they think about their early life. Little Mollusk used to be part of a family of famous singers. They entered a singing contest to bring honor and glory to her family. But fate had other plans for Little Mollusk. 

It would seem that my faith in Shouting is Funny was not misplaced. We start in familiar territory with a character from the Grey Trilogy. Wasn’t expecting Little Mollusk to be the focus character, but I’m not about to argue with the results. I thought that it was utterly brilliant to have the singing contest be Simon Cowell, who is a cow. It worked a lot better than the Christmas special having Macaulay Culkin inexplicably exist in the world of Wild Hollow exactly as he does in our world. I guess the theme of this mini-episode is that, as one door closes, another door opens. Your life won’t always go as planned, but sometimes that means you find new opportunities. I certainly didn’t think I’d be reviewing audio dramas on a highly successful blog. And yet, here we are.

I only have one minor nitpick. At one point, the narrator refers to Little Mollusk as a cephalopod. However, the way that Little Mollusk is described indicates that they are a sea snail. Snails are gastropods, not cephalopods. However, gastropods, cephalopods, and bivalves are all mollusks. Like I said, minor nitpick, not really that big of a deal.

“The Ballad of Little Mollusk” is an excellent start to the mini-episodes.

Our next mini-episode is a Halloween special. It is called “The House with the Glass Eyes.” It follows two raccoons who are very happy, and very much in love. They are pretty much the picture of a happy loving couple. They have won a stay at the creepy old mansion at the edge of town. The butler is an equally creepy crow, the walls are hung with mysterious portraits, and their are many strange sounds the happen in the middle of the night. Still, it does have a certain rustic charm. And really, what’s the worst that could happen?

Well, this was certainly unexpected. I knew that this was going to be a Halloween special, but I didn't expect The Chronicles of Wild Hollow to go full-on horror. True, there are some humorous moments. For example, our protagonists are incredibly naive and ignore the numerous red flags all around them. This is obviously a rib at how horror movie protagonists tend not to be very bright. Still, this mini-episode does a surprisingly good job of building atmosphere and suspense.

The main villains are a cult. Cults certainly do seem to pop-up a bit more in British Horror, compared to American Horror. Britain is a lot older than America, so an ancient cult makes more sense in Britain. By contrast, a monster and/or alien randomly appearing, and remaining largely hidden, works a bit better in America. As the saying goes, 100 years is a long time to an American, but 100 miles is a long distance to a European.

Anyway, the cult worships the concept of love, and likes to…taxidermy loving couples that they come across. Oh, and that crow butler? He doesn’t believe in the cult’s teachings, but he loves to eat all of the internal organs that the cult has leftover. I mean, wow, that’s pretty brutal for a show that’s usually pretty lighthearted, and somewhat silly. And to think the last mini-episode was about a singing contest. I suppose it makes sense that the crow turned out to be evil. After all, a group of crows in called a murder.

Personally, I’m all in favor of The Chronicles of Wild Hollow trying their hand at something darker. They clearly like to experiment with different genres and styles, and it is clear that the writers are pretty competent at writing horror. In fact, my one real complaint was that I wish the episode had been longer. I realize that this was a mini-episode, but I see potential here for a full-sized episode or two. I won’t tell you how it ends, but I just loved how dark things got.

“The House with the Glass Eyes” is an excellent Halloween Special. I certainly hope we’ll see more horror stories from The Chronicles of Wild Hollow.

The Chronicles of Wild Hollow makes a second crack at a Christmas episode for our third mini-episode. It is titled “Salami Saves Christmas.” We return to the pirate crew that we met in the Grey Trilogy. Christmas time is here, but the pirates aren’t in a very festive mood. They’re still mourning the death of Pirate King Lesley. The pirates need a little Christmas right this very minute, and Salami is determined to bring it to them. She’s got the plan for perfect Christmas. What could possibly go wrong?

This marks second time that The Chronicles of Wild Hollow has attempted a Christmas Special. It also lightyears better. I’m quite fond of the pirates from the Grey Trilogy. I’m also pleased to see Salami getting to take center stage for the episode. It really is family and friends, not presents, that make Christmas a special time. I’ve come to appreciate that more as I’ve gotten older. This episode shows The Chronicles of Wild Hollow at its best. Heartwarming and sentimental, but with a few jokes and laughs as well. Much better than being a straight-up farce, like the last Christmas Special.

We also learn that roasted swampworm is considered a delicacy in Wild Hollow. This raises an interesting point I hadn’t considered until now. What do the carnivores of Wild Hollow eat? Mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians are all sentient in Wild Hollow. Certain invertebrates, such as mollusks, are as well. Maybe they eat fish and insects? Though, Salami’s name being what it is raises…interesting implications.

We also have Harvey Badger taking over as narrator. Angus Maxwell, who formerly played the narrator, decided to leave Shouting is Funny. Also, despite his name, Harvey Badger is a human…I think. I mean, never seen any photos, but I’m pretty certain that Harvey is a human.

Well, anyway, this mini-episode was really sweet, and is another example of The Chronicles of Wild Hollow at its best. And that means we’re three for three. The Chronicles of Wild Hollow bowls a turkey for excellent mini-episodes.  

Our next mini-morsel is “Bing and Crosby Make a Cake.” We return to the Stupid Woods where we meet a beaver and a praying mantis named Bing and Crosby. They host their own cooking shows where they make quite tasty meals. Except, not really. In reality, they’re both under the effects of the Idiot Pollen. The two have remained blissfully unaware of this, but Bing has begun hearing strange voices. Almost like memories of another life.

One of my guilty pleasure television shows is Worst Cooks in America on Food Network. As the name suggests, it is a cooking competition show where some of the worst home cooks in America compete, and hope to improve their cooking skills, for a cash prize. Over the years, it seems as though the contestants have gotten progressively stupider. However, even the dumbest contestants on Worst Cooks look like rocket surgeons compared to Bing and Crosby. But we see darkness amidst the silliness. It’s a pretty horrible scenario to think of. You have family and friends, an entire life, waiting for you outside the forest. But, thanks to the pollen, you can only kind of remember it. What must it be like for Bing’s loved ones, I wonder? Are they looking for him, or have they given up all hope? This short almost feels like an allegory of Alzheimer’s or Dementia.

Wild Hollow has once again decided to dabble in darker material. And once again, they have given us a quality short. 

The next mini-episode is “Hollow Herald Archive - Entry no.402.” We begin with a framing device. The archivist for the Hollow Herald Archive, the top newspaper in Wild Hollow. The archivist is listening to a recording from an investigative reporter who disappeared under mysterious circumstances. The reporter was covering stories about unusual homes. His search led him to the city of Primus. But what started as a simple trip will uncover corruption and lies within the leadership of Primus.

I was a little hesitant when I first started listening to this mini-episode. The episode title and framing device seemed to be inspired by The Magnus Archives. I realize that a lot of people love The Magnus Archives, but I could never get into it. Out of Place was more along the lines of what I was hoping for from The Magnus Archives. Though, it probably helps that Out of Place has a strong emphasis on alternate history. 

However, turns out that it was just coincidence. The writers wanted to try their hand at found recording horror with this one. Unfortunately, as perviously noted, I’ve never really been able to get into that genre. Though, I will say I liked the bits where the archivist fast-forwards because he doesn’t want to hear the singing and exposition.

So, we get another look at the city of Primus. Specifically, we get to see the seedier and more corrupt side. All well and good, but personally, I didn’t feel there was any more territory to cover with Primus. Uh, metaphorically speaking, that is. I felt the story of Primus had already been pretty well covered in the Gray Trilogy. Don’t get me wrong, this was not a bad mini-episode by any stretch of the imagination. That said, I sense we can do a bit better here. Not really anything to write home about with this one.

I know The Chronicles of Wild Hollow can do better, because it has been for all of the other mini-episode up until this point. So, I’m still confident in what the future holds for these mini-episodes.

Our final mini-episode, at least for this season, is “The Stork and the King.” We begin with a framing device. Young Artemis Grey is being read a bedtime story by her mother Freya. Mrs. Grey weaves a tale of the founding and early days of Wild Hollow. She speaks of a people who voyaged from a distant land in hopes of finding a new home. These people were led by a king, and he befriended a stork who could perform fantastic miracles when called upon. However, the king grew greedy, and began to rely on the stork’s miracles more and more. The once benevolent monarch had allowed a great darkness to grow within him. His people began to question his rule, and ask if they should once again seek new homes.

Ah, it would seem that my trust was not misplaced. We get another in-universe legend that expands upon the worldbuilding of Wild Hollow. This time, we get an origin story for the people of Wild Hollow. I’m all for more in-universe legends. We see a lot of typical fairytale tropes with this one. We have the mysterious stranger who performs fantastic feats, and a greedy king who abuses those miracles. I had wondered about what the government of Wild Hollow was like. There doesn’t really appear to be much in the way of government in Wild Hollow. Or maybe it just never factors into the plot? Either way, it seems that the peoples of Wild Hollow decided that monarchies are overrated. On an unrelated note, the interactions between Artemis and Freya were really cute, and very sweet. 

And so this is the last of the mini-episodes, at least for now. It has been a great ride. We got to explore all sorts of different sides of Wild Hollow. The writers got to play with many different genres, and it was awesome. I do hope they expand upon some of the ideas. Maybe try their hand at horror again, or maybe do a series set in the early days of Wild Hollow. But whatever the future holds for The Chronicles of Wild Hollow, I can’t wait to find out. The writers clearly have a lot of ideas for more great stories. I’m confident that they’ll give us something amazing before long.

So, there you have it. The Chronicles of Wild Hollow got off to a rocky start, but it redeemed itself with the Grey Trilogy, and stuck the landing. Then it took a victory lap with the mini-episodes. It is a fun all-age affair set in a world of talking animals. There’s laughs, adventure, and even a bit of music to be had along the way. I cannot recommend the Grey Trilogy enough, and I can’t wait to see what other adventures the future holds. 

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