fiction – A Podcast Club

Marvels

By corbett on Friday, December 11, 2020

Marvels | 👍🏻👍🏽👍🏾👍🏿 Another fantastic tale about the struggles of superheroism, but this time from the perspective of non-super heroes! Megafans will enjoy references honoring print comics that bring together characters not typically seen working with (or against) each other in blockbuster movies. This investigative story is told in between multiple time lines requiring the listener’s attention to detail. Which brings us to our only critique: The trigger for alerting the audience to a time jump was inconspicuous. Most of our confusion during debriefs would have been resolved with a clearer understanding of the timeline (production could take a note from #homecomingpodcast ). Overall, the mystery the story presents, the earnest voice acting, and the layered sound design was as rock solid as the Thing! We say “Flame On” to this series. #podcast #MarvelsPodcast @Marvel @Stitcher @annasophiarobb @stitcherpodcasts @methodmanofficial

About the show | Based on a graphic novel Marvels takes place during the Vietnam War in the aftermath of the Fantastic Four’s battle with Galactus, high above New York City, for the fate of the world. One intrepid photographer, an ambitious college student, and a cynical journalist embark on an investigation to confirm or debunk one of the most super-powered conspiracy theories of all time.

.✒️Review by: @pirate_ali_vega 📷Photo by: @odhuie photo

fiction thriller

Hunted

By corbett on Wednesday, November 25, 2020

Hunted | 👍🏻👍🏽👍🏾👍🏿 Play it safe and don’t listen to this one while driving. The podcast features incredible visual storytelling with exceptional acting and superior sound design (which led some of us to miss our exit on the freeway). Parker Posey’s stubborn drive paired with her delicate southern accent carries you through this tense manhunt. Each of us found ourselves getting lost in a beautifully woven auditory escape: pun intended. The story puts the listener in the detective seat, guessing the convicts’ next move, all while trying to piece together the motives of this motley crew. The group felt the podcast would have benefited from an additional episode to flush out Deputy Marshall Barnes backstory. We found ourselves questioning her motives based on the few breadcrumbs we were given. What’s our final verdict? We recommend this dramatic and captivating listen and are hoping for a season 2! #podcast @endeavoraudio @wolfentertainment @itsparkerposey

About the show | When four convicts escape from a maximum security prison, Deputy Marshal Emily Barnes is called in to pursue the criminals in one of the most treacherous and violent manhunts in United States history. Directed by Shawn Christensen (#BLACKOUTPODCAST) and produced by Jenny Radelet Mast (@Marvel #WolverinePodcast).

✒️Review by: @itsacherrylife @ohcando @pirate_ali_vega 📷Photo by: @itsacherrylife

fiction thriller

Carrier

By corbett on Wednesday, January 29, 2020

👍🏻👍🏽👍🏾👍🏿 QCode has put the rubber to the road and taken sound quality to the next level. The comprehensive sound design made us jump in our car wondering “was that a truck horn or the podcast?” This fictional story follows Raylene as she hauls a mysterious truckload – which had us theorizing in every debrief. We made a lot of creative guesses but none as inventive as the cunning writers. The episodes build to an intense experience that had us on the edge of our seats. Most of the characters were well developed, however we felt the motivation for some of Raylen’s decisions could have been better set-up. The sleuths in the group would have appreciated a few more clues leading up to the ending, but overall this is a very entertaining show and worth a listen. @aqcodemedia @cynthiaerivo #podcast #apodcastclub

About the show | What happens when a truck driver picks up a loaded trailer, but has no idea what’s really inside? Raylene (Cynthia Erivo) journeys down a dark and lonely highway in this original scripted thriller. With immersive audio techniques that create a dimensional listening experience, the audience is strongly advised to use caution, wear headphones if possible, and listen… carefully.

✒️Review by: @pirate_ali_vega 📷Photo by: @odhuie photo and @pirate_ali_vega

fiction mystery

Blackout

By corbett on Tuesday, September 24, 2019

👍🏻👍🏽👍🏾👍🏿 In a society dependent on the conveniences of electronic devices to map our way, stay in touch or… like a breakfast photo on Instagram, could we survive a nationwide crisis that knocks out the electrical grid and all communication? This fictional podcast is centered on a family trying to do just that. Imagine being trapped in a small town, no power, no cell service, right before the New England winter hits and the only people you can trust are your family. Starring Rami Malek (Mr. Robot, Bohemian Rhapsody) and a whole host of talented actors – this podcast did not disappoint. With plenty of clues along the way, we all had ideas about what or who caused the Blackout! Thankfully, because it’s scripted, there was a resolution that satisfied our outlandish theories. We commented several times on the amazing depth and quality of the sound design, it’s no wonder it’s sponsored by @Sonos.
So charge up your phone, start stockpiling batteries and get ready to hear some New England accents. We caahn’t wait fah ya to become ah listenah!

About: A small-town New Hampshire radio DJ fights to protect his family and community after the power grid goes down nationwide. All of the gadgets society is dependent on are suddenly accessible. Upending modern civilization, the town subsequently descends into an upheaval as people begin to realize they are not prepared to deal with the long-term repercussions of this cataclysmic attack on the power grid.

From: Endeaver Audio Genre: Fiction Starring: Rami Malek (Mr. Robot, Bohemian Rhapsody)

fiction thriller

The Walk

By corbett on Wednesday, August 14, 2019

👍🏻👍🏽👍🏾👍🏿 This 31 episode podcast took our group almost 2 months to finish! Despite the length, The Walk kept us on our toes, with each of us keeping up with the listening and debriefing of each episode. From the beginning, all four of us had our thumbs up! The format was new for us, with the story being told as if we (the listener) are the main character “Walker” and an integral part of the story. At first this caused confusion in the group; at some point all four of us went back to relisten to Ep. 1 once we found our rhythm with the unique storytelling. Being a part of the story was captivating! It must have been quite the script writing challenge being that “Walker” never actually speaks, and is only spoken to with all “our” actions being described by the other characters in the story. This entertaining listen really inspired our inner detectives, allowing us to find ways to weave our theories into the listening experience. Perhaps the most intriguing thing to know about The Walk is that it was funded by the UK’s Department of Health as a way to get people outside walking for the duration of each 23 minute episode.
Insta links: #fictionalpodcast

About: The story has been adapted from UK-based Six to Start and author Naomi Alderman’s popular fitness app by the same name. The story begins in Inverness station, Scotland. Through a case of mistaken identity, “Walker” is given a vital package that could save the world. It must be couriered to Edinburgh, but all of the roads are closed to cars and the trains aren’t working due to an explosion. To survive, the listener must walk with other escapees from the city, not knowing if they can trust those around them in a rapidly disintegrating situation.

From:Megaphone (formerly Panoply Media)
Genre: Fiction
Starring: A thriller in which you, the listener, are the hero.

fiction thriller

The Deep Vault

By corbett on Wednesday, July 24, 2019

👍🏻👍🏼👎🏽👎🏾 After much deliberation between the two Sci-Fi fans in this group vs the two non-Sci-Fi fans it was decided that, although the plot was creative, the script lacked imagination. We discussed how repetitive word (and curse word) choice in the script became tiresome and how there were missed opportunities for technical word-play to describe ideas such as the monstrous creatures or the vault itself! Not to mention the incongruous first, second and third act that had us asking “did three different people write this in a game of pass-the-story?”. For these reasons we are split 50-50 in recommending this podcast. The two Sci-Fi fans recommend it for its decent sound design and intriguing mystery. The two non-Sci-Fi fans will point out the huge plot inconsistencies and bad dialogue in the script.
#podcast #thedeepvault #fictionalpodcast

About: Robotic servants, tooth-filled monsters, and terrible computers collide within the claustrophobic, steel-reinforced walls of The Deep Vault, a modern day homage to the golden age of sci-fi radio drama. The Deep Vault is a serialized, seven-episode audio drama set in in the almost-post-apocalyptic United States. The story follows a group of longtime friends as they journey from the uninhabitable surface world into a mysterious underground bunker in search of safety, shelter, and answers to their past.

From:Dead Signals
Genre: Science Fiction
Starring: From the creators of Archive 81

fiction murder mystery mystery

Deadly Manners

By corbett on Monday, June 24, 2019

👎🏻👎🏼👎🏽👎🏾 We were warned by the reviews and listened anyway. Overall consensus is that this podcast was extra cheesy and sadly a waist of a lot of talent. It was painful to listen to at times. We do not recommend this podcast, you’ve been warned. #podcast @deadlymanners

About: Deadly Manners is a 10 episode, dark comedy murder-mystery series set in the winter of 1954. It follows the events during the night of the affluent Billings family annual dinner party with their distinguished, eccentric guests. However, all is not fun and games as shortly after the party starts, a snowstorm begins to rage outside, trapping all the partygoers inside their host’s mansion. When a murderer starts killing off those in attendance, the guests must figure out who is responsible, or at least how to stay alive — lest they be next.

From: Created by Ali Garfinkel and Alex Aldea Lisbyn Website
Genre: Murder mystery
Starring: Kristen Bell, Denis O’Hare, RuPaul & Narrated by LeVar Burton

fiction thriller

Sandra

By corbett on Friday, June 14, 2019

👍🏻👍🏼👍🏽👍🏾 This story is a good play on the new trend of smart devices. We liked the idea of integrating humans with A.I. technology. It was an entertaining audio fiction that was well produced. It doesn’t keep you on the edge of your seat, but it was a fun listen for most of us. #podcast #sandrapodcast @gimletmedia

About: A world where artificial intelligence isn’t so artificial. Helen thought her new job would help her forget her dreary hometown, but working behind the curtain on everyone’s favorite A.I. isn’t quite the escape she expected.

From:Gimlet Media
Genre: Science Fiction
Starring: Kristen Wiig, Ethan Hawke & Alia Shawkat (from Arrested Development)

fiction musical

36 Questions

By corbett on Tuesday, June 4, 2019

👍🏻👍🏼👍🏽👍🏾 Only 3 episodes!?! We need more! We loved the music, story, sound production, acting, the list could go on and on. If this team were to make a season 2 we’d be all in.
#podcast #36questionsmusical #musicals #jonathangroff #jessieshelton #36questionspodcast

About: In this three-part podcast musical a couple attempts to bring their marriage back from the brink of divorce using 36 revealing questions designed to make strangers fall in love.

From:Two up Productions
Genre: Musical Rom-Com
Starring: Jonathan Groff (from Frozen) and Jessie Shelton

fiction thriller

Homecoming

By corbett on Friday, May 31, 2019

👍🏻👍🏼👍🏽👍🏾 Amazing listening! This was great for a group listen because it was really fun to speculate what was going to happen next. This fiction podcast sets the bar for what is possible in audio storytelling in the way of production quality, transition creativeness, acting, direction, and story. We also later watched the Netflix show, which was equally unique and fun to discuss. We suggest listening to all the fun behind the scenes. #podcast @gimletmedia #homecomingpodcast

About: Homecoming centers on a caseworker at an experimental facility, her ambitious supervisor, and a soldier eager to rejoin civilian life — presented in an enigmatic collage of telephone calls, therapy sessions, and overheard conversations. The result is an innovative, immersive audio experience — a mystery unfolding across the twelve episodes of Seasons One and Two.

From:Gimlet Media
Genre: Psychological Thriller / Science Fiction
Starring: Catherine Keener, Oscar Isaac, and David Schwimmer