Tag: Fiction (Page 1 of 4)

Three strikes and I’m out

Fear review

Production company – Realm

Rating –

fear logos

A bit of a different post this week. Something of an epic undertaking that hopefully will work. I don’t think I’ve ever reviewed three podcasts at once, there is however a reason for this. I listened to Roanoke Falls when it was first released, and never got round to reviewing it. Rather than following on with something similar, Series two was called Black Friday and departed from the original style altogether. Series three, called Beatrix Greene, was another curveball. My thoughts on all series were similar, so I figured I’d tear all three plasters off at once. So buckle up, this may be a long ride.

So what are they about?

Series one, entitled Roanoke Falls, is a fictional retelling of the events at the eponymous American settlement in the 17th century. In real life, nobody knows what happened there other than the entire population “disappeared”. I put that last bit in inverted commas because obviously back then there was a huge delay in communication and travel. Needless to say, time has turned these events into a rich source for folk horror and conspiracy. 

The story takes place in the second Roanoke settlement, the villagers are desperately clinging to their faith in the face of disappearances, allegations of witchcraft and murder. It follows the downfall of Agnes, the wife of village priest Thomas. She finds a diary of one of the women from the original settlement of Roanoke, an outcast during a plague, who apparently placed a curse on the village. These events seem to eerily mirror what is happening to the villagers in the new settlement. Sightings of a tall man with a skull face are causing tensions within the community. Agnes faces accusations of being a witch, even from her own husband. The body count rises, and the truth is exposed.

Series two, entitled Black Friday is a “comedy” horror podcast. I got to about 2 minutes in and realised I was not going to like this series at all. In the interest of fairness though, I gritted my teeth and ploughed on.

This follows an eccentric group of shop staff, who are stuck in work during Thanksgiving. A group of demons get summoned by a ritual for a job promotion gone wrong, the hapless employees struggle to fend off the gruesome demonic foes.

Series three, follows fraud medium Beatrix Greene. She takes a challenge to investigate a notoriously haunted house. As is the trope for stories such as these, she soon realises that she has bitten off way more than she can chew, and the party of brave investigators is in grave danger indeed (pun slightly intended).

This story has so many references I can’t count them all. Way more than season two, and more subtly done as well. There were points where I wondered if I’d heard it before. It’s like ghost story bingo, but not in a bad way.

STEEEERRRRIKE ONE!

roanoke falls logo

Roanoke Falls is a good attempt at folk horror, particularly films like The Witch, but it never quite hits the mark. I’m not sure exactly what it is. Possibly the strange way that the story is told. It’s not wholly a drama production, and not a narration either. It’s somewhere in between. For me it doesn’t work.

The acting isn’t great by any means, despite their best efforts. The blacksmith in particular seems to be incapable of portraying anything approaching real emotion.

The story itself is not so bad, it’s a nice concept, despite the weird way it’s told. As the story winds up, there is a nice “circularity” that seems to tie things up, only to veer off in a remarkable twist that reminds me instantly of the film “The Boy”.

By god do they like their adverts. Each 20 minute episode has 4 advert breaks, including one right before the end credits. I knew there was something that really irked me about this series, but it wasn’t until I re-listened before writing this that I remembered.

STEEEERRRRIKE TWO!

black friday logo

Black Friday casts a wide net. Taking diverse inspiration from modern slasher films, particularly Hellraiser, and comedy series like The Office, this is like a pick ‘n’ mix of references, with too many winks to camera at how they jammed all the horror references in.

Again, the acting isn’t great, although I suspect that in this case it isn’t supposed to be. It has more chewed scenery than Crufts, and the characters follow every cliche so beloved of modern horror. There’s the stoner slacker, the over eager yet overlooked management wannabe and the sarcastic cynical knowitall who only puts up with everyone else because she ultimately has nowhere else to work.

Calling this series a “comedy horror” is something of a con. It is neither funny nor horrific. Apparently the writer was inspired to write this story after working one too many thanksgiving shifts at a store. Whereas some people can pull this off (Kevin Smith, for example), this is just a grab bag of tired clichés and predictable characters.

Definitely my least favourite of the three.

STEEEERRRRIKE THREE!

beatrix greene logo

More tropes on the way in this series. The plucky tomboyish Beatrix Greene has made something of a name for herself as a fraudulent medium. It does an ok job of setting the scene, but it’s more “Houdini and Doyle” than “Carnacki”. They even slipped a “Do you see?” in there, but I’m not sure if that was intentional or not.

This, like season one, has a strange way of narrating the story that I’m not too keen on. Like Roanoke Falls, it is 50% narrated, 50% acted. The problem is, is that the narration switches from Beatrix narrating, to sceptic James Walker (her nemesis at the beginning of the story). This gets rather confusing, especially where there is some overlap in the plot. I wonder whether this is done for any reason other than trying to be deliberately clever.

This is one moustache twiddle away from silliness. It does it’s best to cling on to the coat-tails of Shirley Jackson and William Hope-Hodgson, and to be honest, this was my favourite season so far. I say favourite, what I mean is that I didn’t lose interest before the halfway mark and feel like I was slogging through it just to write a review. The story is the most derivative of the three, even more so than the first season. 

Maybe it’s the 1920s setting I like, but despite this, it’s still not enough to rescue the low rating here.

Final thoughts

Maybe I’m getting old and grumpy (I know I’m getting old and grumpy), but I can honestly say that every few episodes, I was wondering whether this was worth it. Should I stick with this podcast just for the sake of writing what I knew deep down would be a rather scathing review. As season two got underway this feeling got stronger. I’d already started writing this though, and I was rather pleased at the thought of a triple header. Also, I tend to review podcasts I like, so I felt I needed to take one for the team so to speak and suffer through.

Mitch Hedberg had a joke that went “The other day, I walked into Target and missed. I think the entrance to Target should have people splattered all around.”

Unfortunately the entrance to “the good podcast list” has Realm podcasts splattered all around.

As I finish this rather long winded stream of consciousness, they are currently three episodes into season four. Honestly, I can’t bring myself to start it.

You can get the Fear series here if you really want to:

https://www.realm.fm/

Or wherever you get your podcasts 

O Trawlerman. O Judge

The Silt Verses review

Production company – Rusty Quill

Rating –

The Silt Verses logo

I usually have some idea of what I’m getting myself into when I subscribe to a podcast. It’ll be recommended by a friend, or I’ll hear an interview on another podcast. I went into this one completely blind. The name sounded interesting, but I honestly don’t remember hearing anything about it at all. This made for a rather interesting experience, and I’ll tell you all about it here.

So what’s it about?

The Silt Verses is a rather “folk horrory” series. At first it seems to be set in an indeterminate country in an indeterminate timeline. At a guess, it’s America at some point in an alternate present or future. I’m only guessing that because of the voice actors, and the fact that they have modern tech like mobile phones. These are details that are almost irrelevant though. The point of the story is the sheer weirdness of the events. There are strange religions, odd people and sinister antagonists. Did I mention strange religions? There are LOTS of strange religions.

The story follows pilgrim Carpenter and her young partner Faulkner. They follow the faith of The Trawlerman, a river god of water and silt. Carpenter’s grandmother was highly regarded in the faith, and Carpenter has that same ego so beloved of people who trace a lineage back to something important. 

As their voyage continues they meet many allies and enemies. There are strange symbols carved everywhere, and horrific creatures lurking in places both magical and mundane.

The pagan ways of the populace are pitched against followers of The Saint Electric and similar deities, truly modern gods for the technological age. Everywhere they go they meet people who follow different gods, and there are gods of everything.

Is it any good?

On the whole, yes. There are a few niggles here and there that stop it being a true “five brainer”. My main problem is that whilst the acting is top notch on the whole, there are a few cast members who let the rest down. There are also parts of the story where it is obvious the cast were recording at different times, and on different equipment. You can hear the cuts in the audio and this really distracts, particularly on headphones.

As the first series progresses, I found myself enjoying the exposition episodes more than the main thread. Don’t get me wrong, the main story is great, but there’s only so much bickering I can take. I get it, the young one thinks the old one is out of touch and the old one thinks the young one is an idiot. That’s life. The backstories though are so brilliantly written, particularly Paige’s corporate history. That is like an episode of Black Mirror.

As I have said in past reviews, the term “Lovecraftian” gets bandied about a lot nowadays, and is a badge usually hung on anything that is a bit weird. I think this podcast truly is Lovecraftian though. The whole thing has a dreamlike quality that is simply delightful, due in part to the ambiguity of the setting. The only thing we have to go on as far as dating is that it takes place “after the last great religious war”. I also loved the episode about the god of hunger. That was a nice, ambiguous concept that offered a nice (albeit no less gruesome) contrast to the more physical horrors encountered in the story.

Final thoughts

When I first started this review many months ago, it was a three brain show. At that point it was nothing more than a title and a rating. I recently revisited it to refresh my memory as to why I gave such a low rating and decided it was worth five brains. Taking everything into consideration though, it is a solid four.

If you like Neil Gaiman, H.P. Lovecraft, or Charlie Brooker, then you will love this show.

You can get The Silt Verses here:

https://www.thesiltverses.com/

Or wherever you get your podcasts

Campfire tales of terror

The Historical Natives review

Rating –

The Historical Natives logo

I first heard of this show whilst listening to a podcast about the awful stories of residential schools of Canada. Whereas that show was about the more corporeal type of awful monster, this show is very much folklore based. After sitting patiently in my “unplayed” list of podcasts, I decided it was time to do The Historical Natives revie

Now the more hawk-eyed among you may think that the low score you see above is an indicator of a bad podcast (as it usually is). Please read on though, and let me explain my decision.

So what’s it about?

The Historical Natives is a folklore podcast in the vein of Uncanny Japan. Each bitesize episode covers a different creature from first nation folklore. These run from the well known (Sasquatch and the Wendigo), to the equally terrifying, though less well known Walking Sam or the Stick Indians. These creatures are not exclusive to single tribes either, but are known by many names and descriptions across the entire continent. A prime example here would be the sasquatch.

The hosts are MacKenzie Taylor and Josef Stafford, two self confessed, albeit recently converted horror fanatics who grew up in a small village in the wilds of BC. The strange thing was, it wasn’t even a “true” horror film that sparked this journey off, but Wayans brothers spoof Scary Movie. I’m not gatekeeper enough to care how people get into horror though, it’s the destination not the journey that’s important.

The second half of each episode gets a story written by Josef on the aforementioned creature. It is also is a language lesson of sorts where the hosts teach you a new word from the relevant dialect of the tribe featured in the episode.

Is it any good?

It could be very good, easily as good as Uncanny Japan, but it is ultimately let down by the hosts’ inexperience. Mackenzie and Josef started this show using a grant from a business initiative for First Nations people. This is a great idea, because sometimes (as it is here) there are people capable of producing great content who wouldn’t normally get a chance.

Having a microphone and a means to upload audio is only half the story though. The room they record in is not really suitable for the job. Some heavy blankets hung around the place would probably help no end. Unfortunately it sounds like they are sitting in a kitchen, recording the podcast to a mobile phone.

Also you can really tell the whole thing is written down first. There is nothing inherently wrong with this, but the times where they try to make it sound like a conversation, particularly in episode 1, gives the impression of a school exam where you have to write dialogue for a presentation. I would guess that English might not be their first language or that their reading skills just aren’t brilliant. There are times when they stumble over words as they read them.

I’m really trying hard not to be patronising or presumptuous here. I have great patience listening to people speak, and I’m happy to ignore these hurdles to get to the story underneath any linguistic problems or equipment issues.

Final thoughts

You really should give this one a go. Try your best to ignore the shortcomings and you’ll find a really interesting series. Ultimately I feel I may have started this show too late. The website is no longer live and there is no real social media presence any more. This is a great shame because with some work this could be a brilliant show. Their culture is so rich with stories that it’s our loss if they don’t continue.

So “migwetch” Kenzie and Josef. I hope you get the time in future for more episodes.

Usually at this point I give you a link to the website where you can find the episodes. Unfortunately though, because the website is down, you’ll just have to search your podcatcher for episodes.

Fae Dougie, Lee & John the dug

A Scottish Podcast review

Rating –

A Scottish Podcast logo

This has been a long time coming. Despite winning one of my coveted (purely imaginary) podcast geek trophies in December, I have never got around to writing a review. While other, newer podcasts jumped to the front of the queue, this one has always been waiting, like me waiting to be picked for school teams in PE. Today is that day though, A Scottish Podcast gets reviewed!

The first time I heard of this podcast was an interview with the creator Matthew McLean on The Good Friends Of Jackson Elias. His self-deprecating style and sense of humour immediately impressed me. With Scott Dorward waxing lyrical about it, It struck me as something I needed to listen to forthwith, so I did.

So what’s it about?

Some might say that ex radio DJ Lee Power is unemployable. That isn’t strictly true. Lots of people have employed him, it’s keeping a job that is the problem. After his most recent sacking, Lee decides to start a paranormal podcast. After the genesis of “The Terror Files”, he decides he needs a hand to run things. He teams up with reluctant friend Dougie (Dougie would probably despute the term “friend”), a musician recently returned from London.

Soon we are introduced to a wide range of insane locals, gangsters, and all manner of Lovecraftian horrors that lurk in the forgotten catacombs and windswept remote islands of Scotland.

The storylines themselves range from impromptu urbex under the streets of Edinburgh, to derelict military facilities to… well, I’m not saying any more than that. You’ll just have to listen.

Is it any good?

This is one of the funniest podcasts I’ve ever listened to. As I type this I am listening to all the series for the fourth time. Honestly, it’s still just as funny as the first. This goes to show the talent of Matthew McLean as a writer, as well as the brilliant voice talent for bringing the characters to irreverent life.

Talking of voice talent, series one features the legendary (in my book anyway) David Ault as Councillor Byers. His deadpan delivery suits the corrupt politician perfectly. An honourable mention also needs to be given to Jim Balfour as retired footballer and crude Francis Begbie-alike George. I think he probably has more of the classic lines than any character. Even though I know what he’s going to say, I’ll still laugh out loud as he says them.

The series really comes out swinging. Lee’s first story recounting his meeting with a werewolf to media students setting the gloriously crude style of the rest of the podcast. The first epsidoe also ingtroduces the weird meta style of McLeans writing. Lee frequently references real podcasts such as The Black Tapes, and later on Lee and Dougie reveal that they know they are only characters in someone elses podcast. Again, thats just another great detail that makes me love this show.

The later series release schedule has been “relaxed” to say the least, sometimes only a handful of episodes in a year. While the storylines may go on hiatus, there will be a few random posts of poems McLean has written. These are also very good, the one for his brother was outstanding, and really heartbreaking. These offer a great contrast to the silliness of the main story and show that he is far from a one trick pony.

Final thoughts

Most people think that anything to do with horror, and particularly the work of H.P. Lovecraft has to be serious, stuffy and usually not very scary. However, I think it lends itself more to humour. Maybe that’s just me, but podcasts like this, Wormwood, The Lovecraft Tapes, or Ain’t Slayed Nobody are much more entertaining (and yes, those last two are roleplaying podcasts, but they play how I like to, so they get a mention).

As I think I’ve made clear already, I love this podcast. The only caveat I would give any prospective listener is that the language is VERY coarse. If you have a disposition that gets upset at swear words and euphemisms of an incredibly inventive nature, then “Turn the tape off now, this is not a pop album” (as Ice T once said). I happen to think that swearing is very funny, but that’s just me…

You can get A Scottish Podcast here:

https://scottishpodcast.com/

Or wherever you get your podcasts 

Fisher King

Splinter Cell – Firewall review

Production company – BBC

Rating –

As I had mentioned in my review of The System, I’ve been a fan of the Splinter Cell franchise for years. So much so, that the mere sight of three green lights conjures the high pitched whistle sound that actually became a trademark of Ubisoft. Therefore, an audio drama was a definite instant subscription for me. But despite my love of the games, any games in fact, I tend to avoid the associated works of fiction. I’ve never even read any of the Star Wars stuff. And I LOVE Star Wars.

So am I now a convert to the world of canon expanding fanfic, or has this proved my fears that I shouldn’t stray from “proper” works? Well read on and I’ll tell you. 

So what’s it about?

The Splinter Cell games, and therefore this story, is set in the present day. It follows Sam Fisher, an operative for shady  government agency Fourth Echelon. He’s like a cross between James Bond and Rambo. His life involves getting dropped behind enemy lines to carry out covert missions that the public side of the US government won’t want to admit to.

This story follows him as he tries to thwart the machinations of billionaire tech wunderkind Brody Teague. This is a job that would be much easier were it not for the recent recruitment of Fisher’s daughter Sarah to Fourth Echelon, unbeknownst to Sam.

They, and the other Fourth Echelon agents are in a desperate race against time to prevent a new weapon from getting into the wrong hands. As the story progresses, Sam and Sarah gain a new found respect for each other, and Sarah’s true talents as a Fourth Echelon agent start to shine.

Is it any good?

Honestly, this isn’t a podcast that will keep you gripped through its entire runtime, even if you’re a fan of Splinter Cell. I appreciate that calling fanfic of computer games cliché is punching down somewhat, but I was rather disappointed.

For the most part, the acting is good. The brilliant Will Poulter voices Brody Teague, and does a phenonemal James Woods impression (whether intentional or not). There is one Russian antagonist though, who’s accent seems to be more well traveled than a fourth echelon agent. It tends to slip from Russian to Spanish, to Italian and back in that space of a few paragraphs of dialogue.

The dialogue in general also seems to veer towards cliché, particularly as the tension cranks up, with the antagonists going all “I don’t expect you to talk Mr Bond, I expect you to die”. This can be fun now and again, but it does start to grate later on

Sound design is very good. It is a BBC production after all, and does its best to keep the tension high. This helps a lot during some of the more dubious moments of acting. It does occasionally intrude on the actual acting a bit too much. This is understandable due to some of the bleaker locations featured, but a few

The character of Sam Fisher is well realized as well. Voiced by the improbably named Adonis Anthony, he is perfect as the war weary curmudgeon that we all know and love. To be honest, if they hadn’t got him well cast, it wouldn’t be much of a splinter cell story would it?

Final thoughts

Don’t get me wrong, this is a long way from the worst podcast I’ve ever had to endure. Overall it isn’t too bad. I think I may be being overly critical because I feel a bit let down. After mistakenly subscribing to a previous series thinking it was this one, I was already bristling slightly. By the time this story had concluded, It had not exceeded expectations at all.

I would recommend this to my son, I think he’d love it. If he had the patience to sit through a podcast.

You can listen to Splinter Cell: Firewall here

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001fn5r

Or wherever you get your podcasts.

It’s in the system…

The System review

Production company – BBC

Rating –

I feel somewhat tricked into this series. I was looking through the “recommended” list and saw a Tom Clancy Splinter Cell series so I subscribed. Not that I’m a massive Tom Clancy fan. In fact my only knowledge of his work is the Splinter Cell computer games. I figured maybe I should get to know the stories as well.

In the first episode they are talking about people with animal names. “Ah yes”, I  recall. “Something ocelot wasn’t it?” About 30 seconds later I remember that “something ocelot” was “revolver ocelot”, who was from Metal Gear Solid, not Splinter Cell. Old age doesn’t come alone I tell you.

So what’s it about?

The System is a rather gripping drama series focussing on the disappearance of Jake, a disillusioned young man with no prospects, stuck in a dead end job. His half sister Maya is thrown into a dark and violent world after a mysterious phone call from Jake telling her to recover a box from his flat. Following a near miss with some shady looking individuals who also seem to want the box, Maya is determined to uncover the truth.

From there, the story is told in a series of flashbacks that follow Jake’s initiation into “The System”, and the true motivation behind it. Is it just a seemingly innocent (but very intense) self improvement club, or something else? What is the meaning of the spooky list that ends in “Judgment Day”? And just who the hell is Beau Leech?

Is it any good?

It’s very good, yes. The series is well written, and the acting is very good. You may wonder then, why I rated it rather low. Essentially, the main plot thread is not as clever as I suspect the writers thought it was. In fact from quite early on you can see how this is going to play out. Having said that, whilst I did guess the general direction it was taking, the final piece of exposition that triggered the creation of The System was truly heart rending. 

The fact I guessed the twist is the only reason for the low score though. I highly recommend you give it a listen, if you don’t spot the clues, you’ll wonder why I didn’t give it a 5 brain rating. 

I desperately want to expand on the plot to compare it to other podcasts I’ve heard, but that will give the game away somewhat, so I will bite my tongue. As such this review will probably be a bit shorter than usual. When I get round to reviewing those podcasts though, I’ll be linking back to this one, so you’ll eventually see what I mean.

Final thoughts

This podcast series seems to have a diverse range of stories, the latest one being based on Splinter Cell. Each series is short enough to be binge worthy (fewer than 10 half hour episodes), and if the other stories. Rest assured I’ll be reviewing them all in due course. I may even skip to the Splinter Cell one next!

You can get The System here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000wdh0

Or wherever you get your podcasts.

And the winner is!

Trophy pic

December 2nd marked the 1st anniversary of me launching this blog. In a rather preemptive strike on the traditional end of year lists that will invariably clog up all your timelines in a few weeks, I thought I’d get in with my rather unofficial awards celebrating the best (in my opinion) podcasts you can get. So, ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce the first annual podcastgeek awards ceremony!

Some shows I will have reviewed, and I’ll be adding links to the reviews where available. Others will be reviewed as soon as I get round to it. Each category will have a shortlist of five entries in no special order apart from how they spring to mind. At the end of each shortlist we will have the winners. I hope you have the patience to read all the way through. It shouldn’t take too long!

Now, there may well be some glaring omissions, especially if you’ve been following this blog for a while, but seeing as this will be an annual event, there is always next year, and I promise no series will win more than once.

The drinks are flowing here at the podcastgeek enormodome and the guests are waiting with bated breath to see who takes the gongs home. So without further ado, I’ll roll out the red carpet as the spotlights rake the night sky, put on my best bib and tucker and heap praise on a multitude of shows. DRUMROLL PLEASE!

Best fiction podcast

This was a tough one, because the entire shortlist is excellent, ultimately though, the result will come as no surprise to anyone who’s read my reviews.

The winner is THE MAGNUS ARCHIVES!

Magnus Archives Logo

Best true crime podcast

  • Hunting Warhead
  • The Lazarus Heist
  • Death In Ice Valley
  • Deep Cover
  • The World’s Greatest Con

Another tough one. Another 5 incredible shows, but there’s only one winner tonight. This podcast won just for the fact that there is some resolution to the crimes, and the fact that there are no real trigger warnings.

The winner is THE WORLD’S GREATEST CON!

World's Greatest Con logo

Best gaming/geek culture podcast

I had originally intended to spend a month or so only reviewing this rather niche area of the podcastverse, but I didn’t want to lose either of my regular subscribers, so I decided against it. Anyway, these are five very worthy podcasts, but for the sheer range of subject matter there can be only one (as the highlander would say).

The winner is HYPNOGORIA.

Hypnogoria Logo

Best science podcast

Originally I avoided science podcasts, thinking they would be stuffy and boring (despite having an interest in science). How wrong I was. The podcasts here are all very accessible and very entertaining.

The winner is BIG PICTURE SCIENCE.

Big Picture Science logo

Best comedy podcast

Over the years, I have listened to plenty of “comedy” podcasts that are as funny as standing on a plug. The shortlist here though are all very, very funny indeed. That said, in much the same way the The Magnus Archives was a rather predictable win, so is this. This one is a very sweary win “fae Dougie, Lee and John the dug”.

The winner is A SCOTTISH PODCAST.

A Scottish Podcast logo

Best paranormal/folklore podcast

I could have happily had four of Danny Robins’ podcasts and one other to make up the numbers, but that wouldn’t be fair, especially with so many interesting paranormal and folklore podcasts out there. The winner of this category really takes top spot, like hypnogoria, for the sheer breadth of subject matter. This really is a great series.

The winner is BONE AND SICKLE.

Bone And Sickle logo

Best factual podcast

Possibly the hardest category to judge, due to the catch-all nature of the title. Again, the shortlist entries are all worthy of your time, and I recommend you check them all out. The contrarian in me has decided though that it has to be heroic.

The winner is HOW TO BURN A MILLION QUID.

How To Burn A MIllion Quid logo

Phew, that’s a lot of podcasts isn’t it? And I’ve obviously done a load of listening. That is only a small selection of the podcasts that I’ve pumped into my brain over the last few years. If the best idea is to “write about what you know”, you can see why I started writing about podcasts can’t you?

“Ha! Mr podcastgeek” I hear you scoff. “Why don’t you get a life?”

In response I will click my fingers and out of the shadows a group of no-necked toughs in suits will have these hecklers ejected from the venue.

We have had some great shows mentioned this year, and despite missing out on a win, I really need to give an honourable mention to The Good Friends Of Jackson Elias. When I posted my review of that podcast, it had so many shares and comments, it is BY FAR the most popular post I’ve written. So thank you to all the Call Of Cthulhu and Chaosium fans who took the time to help grow my blog. It is greatly appreciated.

Compact and bijou Mostyn

Tiny Terrors review

Production company – Rusty Quill

Rating –

tiny terrors logo

Almost a year go now, my very first review was of The Magnus Archives. This is still possibly my all time favourite podcast. At the time, I bemoaned the fact that it had spawned a multitude of imitators of varying quality. I stand by that opinion (mainly because it’s still true). But, you may ask, what does that have to do with this? Are these terrors of which you speak tiny by name and nature, or are they genuinely the stuff of nightmares? Well, read on and I’ll tell you.

So what’s it about?

The Tiny Terrors exchange is an swap shop for scary stories rather similar in tone to the Creepypasta website. Its origins hark back to the pre-internet days when writers would swap short stories by post. This was a sort of secret club. You could only join by being recommended by a writer already in the club, and every so often you would receive a story through the post to enjoy and review. In the digital age, and with the dawn of search engines, this secrecy was lost somewhat, although the exclusivity, and therefore quality was retained.

In each episode of the podcast, the employees of the exchange read a story and record it on tape. Running parallel to these recordings of weird fiction are stirrings of more sinister machinations just out of sight of the main plot, and soon the reality of the characters starts getting very strange indeed.

Is it any good?

I really like this one. It’s my favourite Magnus-alike series, and the side plot is reminiscent of The Storage Papers. Although, comparing it to either of these podcasts directly is a bit of a cop out, it’s more than capable of standing up on its own two feet.

Cole Weavers (I can spell his name, even if the Rusty Quill website can’t!) has done a stirling job with the writing. The characters are very likable and thanks to the voice cast, very believable. Regarding the acting, for the most part, it is great, and I love to hear familiar voices in there too. The individual stories are also very well written indeed. There are some incredibly strange nuggets of weird fiction to enjoy, so much so that I would rate this a five even if it was a straight anthology horror series.

Final thoughts

As I said, there are many, many podcasts out there now with a very similar premise. Tiny Terrors however, wears its Magnus Archives badge with pride. Not only is it by Rusty Quill, and as I said, there are a few familiar voices, even Jonathan Sims makes an appearance doing a very good Garth Marenghi impression, intentional or not.

I’ll be honest, despite me praising Rusty Quill to everyone, not all their podcasts appeal to me. In fact I’ve heard trailers to some that I have deliberately avoided. I guess this is only to be expected. Despite having a high success rate entertaining this podcast addict, I suppose 100% is too much to expect. You really should check this one out as soon as you can.

You can get Tiny Terrors here:

https://rustyquill.com/show/tiny-terrors/

Or wherever you get your podcasts 

Where have you been all my life?

Curious Matter Anthology

Rating –

curious matter anthology logo

As any collector will tell you, the joy of collecting is the accumulation of your chosen items rather than getting any use from them. This is certainly true of my podcast list, which despite growing almost exponentially, never seems to get any shorter.

One of the casualties of this accumulation is the aforementioned podcast series. I have only just got around to listening to this one, and it has given me a sore leg from kicking myself for not getting into earlier. Hopefully my introductory ramblings have whet your appetites somewhat, so without further ado, here is my Curious Matter Anthology review.

So what’s it about?

Curious Matter Anthology really does what it says on the tin. Each episode (or in some cases series of episodes), is a dramatisation of a classic weird fiction or sci-fi story. Adapted by Jonathan Pezza and with a cast of talented voice actors, each story really comes to life in a way rarely experienced in podcastland.

The first two stories in the series followed the travails of Mr. Robert Blake, in stories by Robert Bloch and H.P. Lovecraft, then it was a deep dive into an epic tale by Phillip K Dick. With the remainder of episodes featuring stories by Kurt Vonnegut, Henry Kuttner and Andre Norton.

The adaptations (particularly the Lovecraftian ones) sit nicely between the readings by the HPLHS, and the recent BBC releases of The Lovecraft Investigations. In the introduction to the first episode, Mr. Pezza says that was enamored by the BBC radio play of Star Wars. This really comes across in episode 1, with the orchestral background music very reminiscent of the John Williams Star Wars score.

Is it any good?

It’s outstanding. It has deceptively high production values and (for the most part) the voice acting is top notch. It is a very immersive experience, and each adaptation is very well written. The sound effects are also very well produced and really add to the immersion. This is nice for a change. Some series add superfluous noises that can either distract the listener, or worse add a kind of aural “matte line” that shows the joins between the sound effects and the recorded actors.

This is a relatively short series of stories (so far). I appreciate that they started this show right around the time that COVID ground the world to a halt, but hopefully there will be many more episodes in the pipeline.

I should also say that on the whole, I havent really been a fan of podcasts by Realm. I’m glad that this one is an exception. I’m also glad I didn’t dismiss it out of hand either!

Final thoughts

I’m sorry that it’s taken so long to get to this series. For the most part I’m really enjoying it. I’ll be honest, Phillip K Dick isn’t really my cup of tea. I can appreciate his influence though, and thanks to the high quality of both the writing and recording, it’s not too much of a slog to get through.

It will be interesting to see which stories get the Curious Matter treatment next. Personally, I’d like more Lovecraftian ones, but I trust the CMA gang to produce brilliant audio drama whatever they choose.

You can get Curious Matter Anthology here:

https://curiousmatterpodcast.com/

Or wherever you get your podcasts.

Are you sitting comfortably?

Shadows At The Door review

Rating –

Shadows At The Door logo

As I’m sure you’re all aware by now, I’m a massive fan of David Ault. He’s a great voice talent who has the uncanny knack of cropping up in a diverse range of podcasts, but whose appearance is always a guarantee of quality. His deadpan delivery is instantly recognisable, and I’m not ashamed that whenever he crops up in a show, there’s a little part of me that goes “yes”. Apart from raising the standard of other people’s work (there is one podcast that springs to mind that got a whole extra “brain” in my ratings just because he was in it), he also has this series. Now that I’ve finished with the fawning, read on and I promise I’ll try to keep the hyperbole to a minimum.

So what’s it about?

Shadows At The Door is an anthology podcast of ghost stories and creepy fiction by David Ault and Mark Nixon. In fact, the first episode is a very Jamesian, and deliciously chilling ghost story written by Mark Nixon himself. This isn’t the only episode penned my Mr. Nixon, but it was a brilliant way to start proceedings.

Whilst I have already given Mr. Ault a good deal of wordcount already, I don’t want to leave Mark Nixon out. He has quite a body of work as a writer for the (now legendary) NoSleep podcast, and even appeared as M.R. James on The Writers Mythos. This is a podcast I must admit I hadn’t heard of before, but I’ve duly subscribed and will be checking out asap.

After the actual reading, Mark and David go back over the story and discuss the themes and influences. This places it in a rather similar vein to A Podcast To The Curious (although that particular show doesn’t feature a full reading of James’ stories). It’s also slightly more light-hearted than the more scholarly Podcast To The Curious. This is a chance to lighten the mood here, as the darkness of the stories gives way to wordplay and humour.

Talking of humour, most of the recent (albeit sparse) episodes have been “drunk stories” told at Halloween and Christmas etc. Hearing David Ault trying to tell a story after drinking an inordinate number of shots is surprisingly funny, and way more entertaining than the similar TV shows. I suspect his is because David and Mark are genuinely wittier than the panel show fodder who usually lend their names to such light entertainment dross.

Is it any good?

I like this show a lot. Recently it does seem to have gone rather quiet over there though, which is a shame. Although I’m sure that this podcast is far from the main source of income for these two, so I’ll just await each new episode like a child hoping to get a full size snickers in his trick or treat bucket.

The stories, while very much genre specific are varied enough to be engaging, and even though some of these are tales you will no doubt have heard many times, you really can’t beat a good storyteller to breathe new life into a well known yarn.

Final thoughts

If you’re a fan of classic ghost stories, or indeed modern stories written in a classic style then this is for you. David Ault is second to none as a voice actor, and Mark Nixon is a very talented writer. They make a great team, and apart from the lack of output by these two, there isn’t anything I can fault here.

You really need to check this podcast out as soon as you can.

You can get Shadows At The Door here:

https://shadowsatthedoor.com/

Or wherever you get your podcasts 

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