It might not be what the creators would rather I say, here, but it bears saying:
It's not about the stories. (Go ahead and skip to the last bit, if you like; I get preachy sometimes, I know:)
The stories are fine; they're cleverly or thoughtfully conceived, maybe occasionally inspired, and they are consistently well-written, and well-selected. However, it's not about the stories. In this current timeframe, thereis no shortage of excellent fiction zipping and zanging around the internet to sing of its creators' hopes and dreams of a 70s-style 'famous author' lifestyle (...ain't gonna happen. sorry. I wanted it, too. Those days are over, like the 'no-cell-phones in sci fi' days, or the 'thank goodness for Soviet Russia' fish-in-a-barrel spy novel days - time marches on!). I mean, I am the first person to really criticize a thing to death, and even I have to admit that the fiction available in podcast form is top notch. Even the smallest podcasts of that certain special genre have a massive pile of submissions to be picky over, and the editors are able to avoid scraping any barrels for their content. Plenty of hopefuls out there with plenty of talent and lots of clever or meaningful or sentimentally satisfying things to write about. Our world does not lack pathos, and there is not a shortage of unaccredited, highly articulate, and at least occasionally motivated speakers to milk it.
(resume here:)
It's the production quality that earns those five-star ratings, my friends. It's the polished presentation - it speaks of true love. It's that care and attention lavished on mood, sensitive sound design, and *consistently* excellent engineering (something even the flagship fiction podcasts coughEscapeArtistscoughcough seem to have a lot of trouble with) ~ and, yes, it's the dulcet and disturbingly serene tones of Mr Rick Springer.
It wasn't until this recent update that I realized how much I've been missing this team's contribution to the podscape of fiction. Miss you, folks.
