- The Audio Drama Gazette
- Posts
- February 2024
February 2024
It's the inaugural issue!
Anne & Tal
February 05, 2024
Welcome to the first issue of the ✨ Audio Drama Gazette! ✨
In case you’ve stumbled upon this without knowing: It’s a quarterly newsletter with coverage, commentary, and critiques of audio drama and the podcasting industry, geared towards both listeners and creators.
We’re so excited to share our love of audio drama with you. Tell your friends to subscribe! Consider placing an advertisement so we can pay our writers! And above all, thanks for reading.
In this issue...
✍️ Podcast Review: Hemophobia ✍️
An anthology horror podcast by C.S.W.
[usually we would put the cover image for the podcast being reviewed here, but the cover art for Hemophobia heavily features a human head covered in blood… so we figured it’s probably not the best thing to greet you with!]
I’m new to horror. The reasons why aren’t all that interesting, but when I joined a horror network to be a horror director for a horror podcast, I figured I’d better hit the books. I’ve learned a lot, and one of the first things I learned is that horror is very personal. Maybe that’s why the scariest podcast I’ve ever heard is Hemophobia.
Hemophobia’s first season, “Camp Havenside,” is about a group of teens at a church camp. Is it a slasher? Well, kind of. Is it about a demon possession? It’s not...not about that. Is there a serial killer in the woods? What self-respecting camp wouldn’t have one? But that’s not what scares me about Hemophobia. I grew up evangelical, and so are these kids, so the mundane little horrors they face—of discovering the unspeakable force of sexuality, of realizing that there are only a few very specific little boxes you’re supposed to grow into, of trying to treat anxiety and depression with Scripture—lend context. Something is horribly wrong at Camp Havenside, and you can’t even talk about it with the adults who claim to be your family. There’s a lot you can’t talk about, and if you try, no one will listen. After all, if you’re following God properly, what could possibly be wrong?
Hemophobia is a beautifully sound-designed, richly written, utterly horrifying podcast. Do be sure to check the content warnings as you go, and enjoy hearing what really scares me.
Does this sound like your jam?
🎙️ Industry Feature 🎙️
What’s up with the Audio Verse Awards? Who is it for, exactly? Tal Minear shares their musings about audio fiction’s biggest popular vote awards here.
Here’s a snippet:
“The AVA’s quest for perfection is a quest to please everyone. To be the best popular vote awards, but not be a popularity contest. To be a way to discover new shows, but also to award old shows. To be sustainable, but accessible. It’s for indie audio fiction, but also not quite, because the AVAs welcome all. It’s for scripted shows and improv shows (but not if you’re behind a paywall), storytelling podcasts (but not this year because there were too few last time), fan works (but not if you’re infringing on IP), ever-growing groups with complicated exceptions to cast the widest possible net.”
 | Ever wanted to witness a 31-year-old nonbinary war-hating weirdo who loves unsettling media descend into madness while reading all 54 Animorphs books for the first time? Luck for you, Wil Williams has created just that podcast with Nevermorphed. You are welcome for podcast art that isn't them slowly turning into a creature. Join Wil in this New Year's resolution along with a cadre of Animorph-loving podcaster guests. Full episodes begin releasing March 1st! Nevermorphed is a Hug House production. |
📢 You can include your ad here for $25/issue! Contact us on our website. 📢
🔍 New Releases 🔍
Audio dramas fresh to the scene that we can’t wait to listen to!
 | Josie’s Lonely Hearts Club from the Good Story Guild is a semi-improvised audio drama set in the studio of New Mexico’s 3rd-best romantic advice call-in show. On-air, listeners eavesdrop as Josie squares off against top improvisers and her engineer Frank. Each episode’s off-air vignettes chart her journey from melancholy Joanne Holtzinger to nationally syndicated sensation Josie Heller. What results is an often hilarious and surprisingly human show exploring the risks we idiots take every time we fall in or out of love. This show is perfect for fans of Superhuman Public Radio or Supernatural Sexuality with Dr. Seabrooke. Episode 1 released January 17th! |
 | Wanderer’s Journal is a fantasy fiction podcast about Marigold and Pluto, two people from different backgrounds, and their unlikely friendship formed through a magical journal that links them. Each of them finds a journal, learns that their voice is recorded into it, and can be both read and played back to the other. Unbeknownst to them, they become a part of an ancient mystery, and see the world from new angles. Tal is the voice of Marigold! This show is sweet, wholesome, and unabashedly queer. It’s perfect for fans of Inn Between, Sidequesting, or Stories from Ylelmore. Episode 1 is releasing April 23rd! |
🗣️ Shout-Out 🗣️
We love boombox-fuckboy!
Are you on Tumblr? If you are, you should be following boombox-fuckboy. (And if you aren't, you should go make an account and follow boombox-fuckboy!) This account has been tirelessly promoting, sharing, and recommending indie audio fiction shows. They're the beacon of the Tumblr audio drama community, a title we don't assign lightly! The posting? Constant. The energy? Fantastic. Our appreciation? Endless. Boombox is also doing amazing work compiling aspec rep in fiction podcasting. Check out their list!
🗃️ From the Editors’ Desk 🗃️
What Anne and Tal have been enjoying, in brief.
This piece by Felix Trench on what to wear when you’re acting in a fiction podcast is a joy to read.
Seen and Not Heard, an audio drama on hearing loss and deaf gain, is funding their second season! Tal will be doing the sound design. This podcast is so important - click the link to learn why, and consider supporting the show.
In the most recent issue of Podcast Marketing Magic, Wil Williams wrote about what you need to be doing to up your marketing game in a post-Twitter (sorry… X……..) world. Read up and take it to heart!
Midst is returning on February 14th with its third and final season. If you haven’t yet explored this bizarre, space-western world, now is the perfect time to jump in! Midst utilizes a unique storytelling style, distinctive audio, and lightly animated visual accompaniments to help ground you in this highly original setting.
Bobby’s Snacks continues to be an incredible newsletter reviewing audio dramas and more, by Bob Raymonda.
Did you enjoy this issue of the Audio Drama Gazette? Share it with your friends and be sure to tell them to subscribe so they don’t miss the next issue!
And if you’d like to receive this newsletter more frequently… let us know! I (Anne) am trying to convince Tal to go monthly instead of quarterly, so your support can help make that happen. 😉
Thanks again for reading!
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