I’m back with an audio fiction milestones for October, and with Halloween, folks were especially busy! This post includes some new podcasts that were launched during October, shows returning for new seasons, season finales, and for this month, Halloween specials! As always, this list isn’t a comprehensive one of everything, but I’ve tried to include all the relevant shows I listened to last month.
Debuts
The Luchador: 1,000 Fights of El Fuego Fuerte
I have to admit, The Luchador is set in a world that I was previously unfamiliar with, that of Mexican wrestling. El Fuego Fuerte is the Lucha Libre champion of Mexican city, but as we soon discover, he has much more to contend with than just his opponents in the ring. It’s an interesting insight into Mexican culture and society, as well as indigenous folklore and beliefs, through one luchador’s battle to keep his city safe.
To Chart a Well-Trod Course
We do love a snarky AI! I also really enjoy stories that examine relationships between AIs and humans in different imagined futures; and as To Chart a Well-Trod Course progresses, we start to learn why the relationship between Dr. Winstead and LAVINI is as complicated and fraught as it is. So far, the story has looked at the control humans have – or want to have – over their creations, when the AIs are sentient and capable of making their own decisions; and the catastrophic consequences this control and lack of autonomy can have.
City of Ghosts
The City of Ghosts is New York, and this story is set in 1999. In this supernatural neo-noir we meet El, a private investigator of sorts, who collects and sells information on the city’s corrupt elite. She’s contacted with a much more unusual case, when she’s asked to investigate a murder. El has a history of mental illness, and throughout the show’s first episode we hear voices that she tries her best to ignore – ghostly voices that ask her for help.
Verdant Heart
Verdant Heart is a queer sci-fi retelling of the Ballad of Tam Lin. In this futuristic version of the story, the Carterhaugh is on a forest planet, previously unexplored by humans. We meet a mother and daughter, both part of a research team, as they’re introduced to the planet of FC39 and settle into their new lives on the research station. There are some beautiful bonding moments, as the Faulkners and the two researchers already on the planet – Dr Waterman and Shay Belmonte – get to know each other and share a meal, but we soon discover that all is not well on this new world.
The Land Whale Murders
The Land Whale Murders is an alternate history comedy, set in New York City at the turn of the 19th century. We meet a group of scientists known as the Four Elementals, and get to know them through some very dramatic and self-indulgent introductions. There’s also a distracted narrator, a Blow Hole Gang, and some very important birds. The end of the episode brings a shocking turn of events, as murder strikes, with an unconventional weapon.
Modem Prometheus
Modem Prometheus is introduced as an anthology of modern folktales, and is produced by the creator of Lost Terminal. An episode is due to be released on each full moon, and this month brought #HuntingParty. The story takes a very well-known element of Western folktales, and presents it in a more unexpected way. There’s a conflict between the old and the new, with humans’ destruction in order to preserve what they think is the ‘right’ way to live. The story also explores themes of belonging, of being perceived as ‘other’, and what the cost of belonging in society can be.
Pilots
Ritual Six
Ritual Six is a new horror podcast from Cole Burkhardt, the creator of Null/Void, and the first episode was released to coincide with the launch of the show’s crowdfunding campaign. This pilot episode is a very intriguing start to the story, which gives us an introduction to the isolated community Petrichor is a part of, and ends with the shocking event which will shape the rest of the story.
Darkstead
Darkstead is a fantasy crime procedural, set in a very unusual town. It’s a small, very isolated town nobody can find, where humans and magical creatures and monsters live side by side in an uneasy coexistence. A woman goes missing, and it’s up to an unlikely pairing of a 200 year old vampire and his new human partner to investigate the disappearance. Darkstead is currently crowdfunding for its first season.
New Seasons
ROGUE RUNNERS
It’s the second season of actual play ROGUE RUNNERS, and hell has literally frozen over. It’s a continuation of the first season, based on the video game Hades; but right from the season opener’s beginning, there’s a very different feel to the story. However, some things never change, as the games and challenges the three player characters have to face are just as fun and creative as ever!
Lost Terminal
With Lost Terminal’s return at the beginning of the month, October brought the first four episodes of the show’s sixth season, and Seth has had a lot to talk about. Unlike the previous season, it’s not so much the physical journey itself that’s eventful this time round, but so far it’s been shaped more by the people – AI and human – that Seth has met. There have been plenty of surprises so far, as Seth continues to reach out to talk to other faraway voices; and we’re left wondering how much his experiences on Earth – and one in particular – will impact these new friendships. There’s also Antarctica, antagonistic as always, and threatening to disrupt the equilibrium between Seth and the humans on board their ship.
Within the Wires
I loved the concept of this new season of Within the Wires even before I’d listened to the first episode. A ghost story set in Ireland? I am sold. As always, the recordings exist within a particular framework, and in this season we’re back to what should be – should being the key word with this show – a professional environment. A live-in nurse is making recordings of her treatment of an elderly patient, and it doesn’t take long to get some very promising hints of new information about this dystopian society. This is another season which deals with a person who is on the edge or outside of society, clinging to outlawed ways of living in some form, and I’m very interested to see what we’ll learn about this world through this set of recordings.
The Amelia Project
After the turmoil and upheaval of the show’s third season, there’s a more relaxed start to this season opener of The Amelia Project, until we get the answer to the cliffhanger we were left on at the end of the previous season. The usual roles are reversed, with the Amelia team starting a new life in a new city, starting their escape underground – literally. There’s also a very intriguing epilogue, with a scene back from when Alvina started working for The Amelia Project, which raises a lot of questions about the organisation, and the Interviewer.
Elaine’s Cooking For The Soul
It’s the second season of Elaine’s Cooking For The Soul, and Elaine has had to go underground – both figuratively and literally. It’s a very different setting to the show’s first season, when she was living alone in her dental clinic; as she’s now part of an underground neighbourhood. The actual cooking part of the show remains the same, and Elaine now has neighbours who can appear on the podcast with their recipes. This leads to some very interesting lore about Elaine, who’s usually pretty cagey about her past.
Georgie Romero is Done For
The second season of Georgie Romero is Done For continues with Georgie’s investigation into her death. With the help of a couple of true crime podcasters (I mean, who better, right?), Georgie is brought back to the place where she died. It’s an emotional episode, as the now zombie Georgie has no memory of her life as a human, and has to face up to some upsetting facts. However, this moment of reflection doesn’t last, as Georgie and her friends must combat a threat.
The White Vault
It’s the fifth and final season of The White Vault, which promises to take us back to where the story began in season one – in Svalbard. The seasons have changed, but inclement weather remains a problem, complicating the team’s travel arrangements. There’s also a familiar figure from the show’s summer short, Delivery, and I’m very intrigued at this person’s involvement with the return to Svalbard, and the discoveries that were originally made.
Witchever Path
Interactive horror anthology Witchever Path is back for its fourth season, and there’s something lurking outside during the night. Whichever Path features stories that focus on marginalised folks, and in this first episode, not only do we have the horror of the unknown, but there’s the very real horror of transphobia and racism – with our narrator constantly alternating between the two. Interestingly, this story is told in the second person, which I thought was very effective at conveying the fear felt by this family.
Godfrey Audio Guide
After the previous season’s finale, it’s not surprising that this new season of the Godfrey Audio Guide starts with the listener leaving the museum gardens, and in quite a hurry! The sinister undertones are still very much intruding into the listener’s visit, and one of the exhibits in this episode gives us a little more insight to the shadows that are lurking around the museum, and how long they’ve been there for.
Gather the Suspects
The end of the month brought a special Halloween miniseries of Gather the Suspects, which has more than just a touch of the Scooby Doo about it! Kara, Geraint, Jack and Veronika are off on a well-deserved holiday to the seaside, and it’s easy to forget for a while that all this is going on during the apocalypse. They get sidetracked when they approach Porthcawl and the promise of the fair (I mean, completely valid), and that’s when our gang’s plans for a nice weekend away get turned upside down…
MonkeyTales
MonkeyTales presents a story of a relationship that introduces one half of a couple to a brand new world – literally. On Halloween, Karo takes Yvonne to a parallel world, that of October, the world she’s from. This is where monsters live, but as a conversation with a werewolf shows, these creatures are anything but scary – but that doesn’t mean that they’re all well-intentioned. The universe of October incorporates many creatures from mythology and folklore, as well as more than a few pop culture references; but the importance is on Karo and Yvonne, and how their relationship is portrayed through a world which is completely unfamiliar to to Yvonne.
Red Valley
It’s a very different start to this second season of Red Valley, as it opens with a series of frantic recordings, building up the tension until the theme music kicks in. It leaves us with a very unsettled feeling, and the glimpse of normality we return to doesn’t last. These are the secrets that Red Valley was hiding, but the end of the episode brings a big surprise!
Believer
Paranormal mystery Believer is back after its hiatus, with an episode specially timed for Halloween. Lara has got entangled with the town’s cult, but as the voicemails that we hear throughout the episode suggests, there’s much more going on in the town that Lara should be worried about. The episode ends on a huge revelation, and I’m really excited to find out what happens next.
Season Finales
The Waystation
Sci-fi horror The Waystation concluded its first season, but the investigation into the shocking events on Concord is far from over. The season finale brought a very unexpected revelation, and there’s a brilliant twist as the episode comes to a close. It sets up an intriguing second season, and leads us to re-evaluate all the recordings we heard.
Weaver
I loved the season finale of Weaver, and how the entire season had been a gradual build-up to the discoveries made in that episode. The season was a gradual unfolding and understanding of the secrets hiding in the house that Evelyn and Goose now called home – but there are still questions that remain unanswered. I’m very much looking forward to the next season, and to what happens to Lorna now.
VAST Horizon
After three seasons, VAST Horizon wrapped up its story with its season finale at the end of October. It’s been a wild journey since we first met Nolira in season one, and I never would’ve guessed from that beginning that the story would unfold as it did. I was also initially surprised by the direction this final episode took, but it provides a very satisfying conclusion to the story; as well as a stark contrast to how it first began in the isolation of space.
Kane and Feels
The vibes of Kane and Feels are very appropriate for Halloween, which is when the show wrapped up its Day Trippers season. This season has been set in the seaside town of Twomy St. Dunstans, and there’s a lot to unravel with this very strange town, going way back into its history. Obviously, it wouldn’t be Kane and Feels without things getting very weird along the way.
Halloween Specials
Someone Dies in This Elevator: Ride of a Lifetime
Someone Dies in This Elevator’s Halloween episode brings a change to the usual format, with this episode told in the second person. An investigation of an abandoned theme park fits the time of year perfectly, and the death in the elevator comes from a more unexpected source. I really loved how the episode explored the park’s lost past, and the longing for a time that will never return.
The Amelia Project: Faith
A Halloween special which falls into the show’s chronological timeline, with Amelia and Alvina working to re-establish The Amelia Project in Paris. It’s when the lights go out that things really start to get creepy, as their first client arrives in their new office. It may be a return to the show’s original format of interviewing a client who wants to disappear, but the circumstances here are very different, and the vibe is definitely fitting for a Halloween episode. I loved the call-backs to an episode in season one, and what was that epilogue??
Starfall: Halloween Special
There’s a jump forward in time from Starfall’s main timeline, as we arrive in autumn, on the holiday of Saintosanct. Leona is introduced to traditions that are new for her, and with the Carouvel Traveling Acting Troupe being a theatre troupe, folks love dressing up and putting on special shows and events for the holiday. Of course, with Leona being unfamiliar with traditions that aren’t from her home in the capital, it’s also a great way of introducing the audience to more aspects of this world’s different cultures, as well as the troupe’s way of life.
Me and AU: Selkirk Episode 1, “Welcome to Selkirk”
This bonus episode was the result of a Patreon goal; the first episode of Selkirk, the fictional in-universe TV show that the story of Me and AU revolved around. It was a lot of fun getting to hear the show that Kate and Ella loved so much, to pick up on the details they focused on, and to have a much bigger picture of the story. And was that a hint of more future content in the credits??
Signed, Venus: The Halloween One
Signed, Venus’ The Halloween One features an interesting insight to The Writer’s life and travels – naturally, at Halloween. The episode also introduces us to Sayre, which we have yet to see through Hayden and Kameron’s eyes, and the town loves this particular holiday. The people of Sayre go all out for Halloween, and The Writer is invited to a murder mystery party, which claims to be the biggest in the town. There’s some beautiful imagery of the town’s elaborate nightlife, and the wonderful costumes The Writer sees.
Arden: The Arden 2021 Spectacular Space-tacular!!
Arden’s Halloween non-canon episode includes three short stories from guest writers Beth Crane (We Fix Space Junk), Sarah Shachat (Wolf 359, Zero Hours, Unseen), and Leslie Gideon (The Path Down). Thanks to the Wayface Industries ‘What If’ button, Arden is transported to outer space, and it’s no surprise that the show has a lot of fun investigating mysteries in its new settings. After all, who better to investigate a crime than podcasters??
We Know None: Halloween Special
We Know None’s Halloween story comes from North Wales, as Gwen and Frankie make the trek to investigate the legend of the Angelystor. It’s well-known in Wales, and I really enjoyed how the show incorporated a legend from another part of the country, and how it was very appropriately themed for Halloween. I also loved the insight the episode gave us into Gwen and Frankie’s relationship, before Frankie’s disappearance; and how it reflects on her actions in season one.
Less is Morgue: The Less is Morgue Halloween Special
With a ghost and a ghoul hosting the show, it’s no surprise that Less is Morgue released a Halloween episode. It’s Evelyn’s first Halloween in 16 years, and in a big change to her usual ghostly state, she’s having the best time with her mostly corporeal body, eating ALL the candy… Until things inevitably go wrong. Riley and Evelyn have to work together to save their lives (or, life and afterlife, I should say), and the fun Halloween Evelyn had imagined quickly… evaporates.
Glasgow Ghost Stories: Live Show for London Podcast Festival
The episode Glasgow Ghost Stories released for Halloween was originally performed at London Podcast Festival in September. In a very matter-of-fact way, Libby explains that she can see ghosts, and she has some interesting thoughts about their existence in our modern world. Her introduction to this episode’s story looks at the eternal existence of ghosts, how everything around them changes, while they stay the same forever; which led me to think about how I can also relate to that feeling. At the change of the seasons, she goes back to a hot summer day, and an encounter she had with one particular ghost.
A Sky Full of Pods 