From the Podosphere: January ‘08

This month, From the Podosphere offers something other than the usual short story roundup: two audio dramas and one novella.

Podcast audio dramas, particularly genre work—which seems to be the majority of it—are like the bastard offspring of 50s and 60s radio serials, such as The Shadow and Sexton Blake, and audio space operas that were once popular. The ones mentioned below certainly adopt some of the same tropes and arch style of those old shows but with more modern soap drama thrown in.

Red Monday is an original dramatic podcast by J. Marcus Xavier. It kicks off with a nuclear explosion in Los Angeles. The first episode sees Gabe on his way home from college, and we discover quickly that his new stepfather, Saul, is not his favourite person. But we also find out that stepdad isn’t the loser Gabe supposes him to be and has secrets—a phone call at the start of the episode between Saul and an unknown other raises questions about conspiracy theories and dirty deeds.

It’s difficult to judge a series on the basis of a single episode, but my initial feeling is that the dialogue was unconvincing here and there and, in one case, (“That must be Saul back with the bratwurst,”) unintentionally funny. Also, I wasn’t convinced that seeing a nuclear explosion would elicit as mild a response as, “Damn…that looks like a mushroom cloud,” or that the electricity going off would immediately prompt someone to say, “Must be the EMP.” Whether the average citizen would know an electromagnetic pulse if it bit them on the backside is doubtful, far less likely that they would know to refer to it by its abbreviation, “EMP.” On the other hand, Gabe and his college cronies probably play Halo 3 on their Xboxes all day long, where EMP mines are positively de rigueur. The family’s attempted escape at the end promises more exciting fare in later episodes.

With high production values, good sound effects, and a decent cast, this is as close to being a big budget radio drama as I’ve heard in podcast format so far, with the notable exception of Shadow Falls. I would definitely listen to more to see how it plays out as a weak first episode isn’t necessarily representative of the quality of subsequent ones. Red Monday could be a grower, although I’m not sure whether the subscription model will work. $4.99 for the first, five-episode miniseries is affordable enough, but there’s little evidence that the pay-to-listen model works for podcasting at this point.

When a second young girl goes missing and two mysterious strangers arrive in the town of Shadow Falls, some locals believe that the 150-year cycle of violence that has plagued their town has started anew. Ghosts, strange religious cults, a Red Indian burial ground below the town library (complete with a rather peculiar librarian)—this podcast drama has it all. A dead girl narrates and comments upon the action along the way (not unlike the dead narrator in Desperate Housewives). This is a terrific, well-produced and acted ensemble piece full of memorable characters and nightmarish events. In a town like Shadow Falls, no one and nothing is who or what they seem. Characters like Captain Van Star, Chloe Varras, Jakob, and Galen are as memorable, in their way, as the cast of Twin Peaks or American Gothic. Being a radio-style drama, it feels a bit overheated at times in a sort of pulp fiction way, but it’s none the worse for that. I found myself looking forward to each episode and listened with pleasure to the entire first season. There is a second season out now as well as podcasts with extra material such as documentaries about the creators and cast interviews. Highly recommended.

For top of the range podcast fiction, you could do worse than Neil Gaiman’s free, award-winning novella, “A Study In Emerald.” Yes, it’s a Sherlock Holmes pastiche, but larded with a bit of H.P. Lovecraft. In this alternative Victorian England in which the queen is a Cthulhu-type monster (only vaguely described), you cannot expect the usual magnifying-glass-wielding fare. But we do get nefarious villains, Holmesian detection, and a bizarre storyline that takes us to the world of Victorian theatre and prostitution with a scary, elusive villain. Entertaining, witty, and beautifully read in Gaiman’s usual ironically amused tone. Great stuff.