Happy Sci-Friday!
I love these opportunities to celebrate science fiction and read about everyone’s favourites. I’ve been exposed to so much more good stuff through reading Sci-Fri posts on Substack!
I’d like to take a moment to shine a light on as many of these Sci-Fri writers as I can, you should check these folks out if you haven’t already:
This Sci-Friday, I’d like to focus on the audio drama. not everyone’s cup of joe, for sure, but I’ve listened to a few that really stand out as great stories, told in an interesting way. I’m not going to go into too much detail on these because it’s probably better if you just go listen to them.
The Cipher
A young woman solves a seemingly impossible puzzle and is suddenly plunged into a world of mystery, scientific discovery and international intrigue.
If you’ve ever seen the movie War Games, with Matthew Broderick… Is it Matthew Broderick? I could check, but I’m not going to— It’s that kind of vibe, but with a few extra elements and a tumultuous narrative that I think makes it a really great listen. It also has a tremendous cast that deliver stellar performances.
Forest 404
This one kinda blew me away. Not only is it a well-constructed narrative with excellent performances and a great soundtrack, but it’s also a very thoughtful and thought-provoking dive into a barely recognizable world in a silent war with itself.
It has a lot to say about our relationship with technology and with nature, and how those conflicting concepts relate to the human experience.
There is also an accompanying short talk with each episode that explains more about the research that inspired the story, as well as a soundscape to treat your ears. Honestly, this was a five-star show.
Petrov’s World
I’d like to share with you all a short sci-fi audio drama that my friend Hugh Dunlop and I put together a little over 2 years ago.
Music and sound design are large facets of my creative outlet, so when Hugh came to me with the beginnings of a script telling the story of a spaceman trapped on a strange planet, my mind was ablaze with ideas on how we could collaborate on an audio drama.
One thing I really liked about Hugh’s story is that the main character, Thomas Petrov is categorically not a hero. He’s not the captain of a ship, nor even a particularly competent officer. He’s a drive technician (2nd), an underling of the engineering bay, thrown into a circumstance he has no control over and has to make it work or perish on an unknown world.
Over the next few months, we deliberated on the best way to go about telling the story and eventually decided on audio logs. I was so excited to get stuck into designing the soundscapes for each of the scenarios that Petrov finds himself in, as well as creating a soundtrack that enhanced the experience without taking over.
The result is one of the projects I’m most proud of, and I hope that if you listen to it (the whole thing is around 1 hour 40 minutes), you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it.
Episode 1 - Visum Nova
You can find all episodes of Petrov’s World on Spotify, Amazon Music and Apple Podcasts
Oh, and Merry Christmas you filthy animals!
Thank you for this great list!
Loving this Petrov audio! Imagine crash landing on a planet and thinking 8 O2 candles is plenty :D This guy is cut from the same cloth as Mark Watney!