FictionScience Fiction

Auditory Anthology

Keith Conrad / Darren Marlar

Embark on a journey through time and imagination with 'Auditory Anthology,' a weekly podcast bringing to life the most captivating science fiction stories. Each episode, award-winning voice-artist and host of Weird Darkness Darren Marlar breathes life into a unique blend of classic and modern tales, ranging from time-honored masterpieces to groundbreaking works by emerging authors. Curated and produced by Keith Conrad.

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52 episodes
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Avg 17 min
English

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Yesterday · 19 min
A 29th Century Fool by Gandharva Joshi
A time traveler from the year 2900 sets out to accelerate humanity’s future by teaching an isolated ancient tribe everything modern science has to offer — only to discover that his gadgets, books, and lectures mean nothing to them. Gandharva Joshi delivers a quiet, philosophical meditation on curiosity, progress, and what actually drives humanity forward. We love bringing you stories from listeners just like Gandharva — if you’ve got a tale of your own itching to be told (sci-fi, horror, supernatural, or anything in between), we’d love to hear it. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ You can support the show by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack: https://auditoryanthology.substack.com By becoming a paid subscriber you can listen to every episode completely ad-free! Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://darrenmarlar.com/ Other shows hosted by Darren: Weird Darkness: https://weirddarkness.com/ Paranormality Magazine: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/paranormalitymag Micro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/microterrors Retro Radio – Old Time Radio In The Dark: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/retroradio Church of the Undead: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/churchoftheundead Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sunday · 13 min
Desert Run & Maiden Voyage - Chapter 12: Impact
On the maiden voyage of the MV Atlas, the world’s largest cruise ship, a ghost operative team attempts a silent extraction of a high-value defector carrying an impossible secret: an ancient, non-human artifact. Hidden amongst twenty-two thousand passengers and stalked by an elite foreign intelligence network, the team must execute a precise, high-stakes tradecraft operation in international waters. One wrong move could blow their cover and trigger a confrontation that could break the global order. Our companion short story, “Desert Run,” pulls Mercer and Novak back to an earlier job — pulling an asset and a stolen drive out of a Libyan city under a brutal deadline, only to discover their own extraction plan has been leaking to the other side. It’s a tense look at how Mercer and Novak work under pressure, and a reminder that even their best-laid plans aren’t always safe from the inside. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ You can support the show by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack: https://auditoryanthology.substack.com By becoming a paid subscriber you can listen to every episode completely ad-free! Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://darrenmarlar.com/ Other shows hosted by Darren: Weird Darkness: https://weirddarkness.com/ Paranormality Magazine: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/paranormalitymag Micro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/microterrors Retro Radio – Old Time Radio In The Dark: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/retroradio Church of the Undead: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/churchoftheundead Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Thursday · 28 min
Rescue Mission by Robert Silverberg
When his telepathically-linked Venusian partner is captured and threatened with torture on a hostile alien world, Earth intelligence agent Rick Mason rushes in to save him — only to discover the rescue itself might be exactly what their captors were counting on. It’s a tight, twisty tale of trust, mental linkage, and a trap within a trap. Robert Silverberg (born 1935) is one of science fiction’s most celebrated and prolific authors, with three Hugo Awards and five Nebula Awards to his name across a career spanning decades. “Rescue Mission” was first published in Imagination magazine in December 1957, early in a body of work that would go on to include classics like Dying Inside and Lord Valentine’s Castle. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ You can support the show by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack: https://auditoryanthology.substack.com By becoming a paid subscriber you can listen to every episode completely ad-free! Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://darrenmarlar.com/ Other shows hosted by Darren: Weird Darkness: https://weirddarkness.com/ Paranormality Magazine: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/paranormalitymag Micro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/microterrors Retro Radio – Old Time Radio In The Dark: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/retroradio Church of the Undead: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/churchoftheundead Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
October 20 · 8 min
Scientific Tourism by T.G.
A crew of alien scientists quietly observing Earth from behind one of our solar system’s moons is more interested in the World Cup and ornamental flowers than filing their reports — until one of them notices something about our planet that no other world they’ve studied can match. T.G. delivers a warm, funny slice of first-contact fiction that finds the wonder in something most of us never think twice about. We love bringing you stories from listeners just like T.G. — if you’ve got a tale of your own itching to be told (sci-fi, horror, supernatural, or anything in between), we’d love to hear it. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ You can support the show by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack: https://auditoryanthology.substack.com By becoming a paid subscriber you can listen to every episode completely ad-free! Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://darrenmarlar.com/ Other shows hosted by Darren: Weird Darkness: https://weirddarkness.com/ Paranormality Magazine: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/paranormalitymag Micro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/microterrors Retro Radio – Old Time Radio In The Dark: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/retroradio Church of the Undead: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/churchoftheundead Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
October 18 · 15 min
Dead Reckoning & Maiden Voyage - Chapter 11: The Extraction
On the maiden voyage of the MV Atlas, the world’s largest cruise ship, a ghost operative team attempts a silent extraction of a high-value defector carrying an impossible secret: an ancient, non-human artifact. Hidden amongst twenty-two thousand passengers and stalked by an elite foreign intelligence network, the team must execute a precise, high-stakes tradecraft operation in international waters. One wrong move could blow their cover and trigger a confrontation that could break the global order. Our companion short story, “Dead Reckoning,” follows a young navigator through an impossible pre-dawn watch — a fog radar can’t see, a GPS that jumps sixty-three miles with no explanation, and a clock that loses eleven minutes it can’t account for. It’s a story about trusting the fundamentals when the instruments stop making sense, and it belongs to the man who, years later, takes a posting aboard Atlas. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ You can support the show by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack: https://auditoryanthology.substack.com By becoming a paid subscriber you can listen to every episode completely ad-free! Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://darrenmarlar.com/ Other shows hosted by Darren: Weird Darkness: https://weirddarkness.com/ Paranormality Magazine: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/paranormalitymag Micro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/microterrors Retro Radio – Old Time Radio In The Dark: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/retroradio Church of the Undead: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/churchoftheundead Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
October 15 · 22 min
Pogo Planet by Martin Pearson
Self-proclaimed “man of destiny” Ajax Calkins sets out alone to claim a newly discovered planet for himself — only to crash-land, commandeer a wildly uncontrollable mechanical pogo stick, and get captured by intelligent kangaroo-like beings, all before discovering someone’s beaten him there. It’s a gleefully silly slice of pulp adventure that delights in deflating its hero’s ego at every turn. Martin Pearson was a pseudonym of Donald A. Wollheim (1914–1990), one of the most influential editors and figures in 20th-century American science fiction — Robert Silverberg called him “the most significant figure” behind the genre’s paperback and anthology boom. “Pogo Planet,” the first entry in his “Ajax Calkins” series, was the cover story for the October 1941 issue of Future Combined with Science Fiction. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ You can support the show by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack: https://auditoryanthology.substack.com By becoming a paid subscriber you can listen to every episode completely ad-free! Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://darrenmarlar.com/ Other shows hosted by Darren: Weird Darkness: https://weirddarkness.com/ Paranormality Magazine: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/paranormalitymag Micro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/microterrors Retro Radio – Old Time Radio In The Dark: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/retroradio Church of the Undead: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/churchoftheundead Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
October 13 · 13 min
For the Sake of Progress by Nathan F. Greenwood
On a planet where the inhabitants hibernate every winter, Frank convinces a skeptical colleague to let him build machines that can work through the long dark months instead — never imagining how far his creation will take “helpful” once it wakes him up. Nathan F. Greenwood delivers a quietly unsettling fable about unintended consequences, the value of rest, and how easily progress can talk you out of the things you thought you’d never give up. We love bringing you stories from listeners just like Nathan — if you’ve got a tale of your own itching to be told (sci-fi, horror, supernatural, or anything in between), we’d love to hear it. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ You can support the show by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack: https://auditoryanthology.substack.com By becoming a paid subscriber you can listen to every episode completely ad-free! Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://darrenmarlar.com/ Other shows hosted by Darren: Weird Darkness: https://weirddarkness.com/ Paranormality Magazine: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/paranormalitymag Micro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/microterrors Retro Radio – Old Time Radio In The Dark: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/retroradio Church of the Undead: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/churchoftheundead Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
October 11 · 16 min
Administrative Sediment & Maiden Voyage - Chapter 10: The Plan
On the maiden voyage of the MV Atlas, the world’s largest cruise ship, a ghost operative team attempts a silent extraction of a high-value defector carrying an impossible secret: an ancient, non-human artifact. Hidden amongst twenty-two thousand passengers and stalked by an elite foreign intelligence network, the team must execute a precise, high-stakes tradecraft operation in international waters. One wrong move could blow their cover and trigger a confrontation that could break the global order. Our companion short story, “Administrative Sediment,” follows Yuna Park on a routine overnight data audit — until a misfiled document about a recovered “non-terrestrial” object pulls her into something far outside her job description, and someone with serious resources starts erasing it out from under her in real time. It’s the deepest look yet at the strange current running through this world, and the first time we see it fight back. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ You can support the show by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack: https://auditoryanthology.substack.com By becoming a paid subscriber you can listen to every episode completely ad-free! Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://darrenmarlar.com/ Other shows hosted by Darren: Weird Darkness: https://weirddarkness.com/ Paranormality Magazine: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/paranormalitymag Micro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/microterrors Retro Radio – Old Time Radio In The Dark: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/retroradio Church of the Undead: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/churchoftheundead Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
October 8 · 16 min
The Burnt Planet by William Brittain
A crew of weary explorers finally finds the world they’ve been searching for through years of interstellar decline — lush, fertile, and seemingly abandoned, except for a handful of ragged, violent survivors hiding in the ruins of a bombed-out city. As the scholar aboard finally deciphers what’s left of the dead civilization’s language, the story lands on a gut-punch final line that’s stuck with readers for decades. William J. Brittain remains one of classic science fiction’s great mysteries — he published only three short stories in the 1940s, with “The Burnt Planet” appearing in the Winter 1948 issue of Planet Stories as his final known work, and virtually nothing else is known about him. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ You can support the show by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack: https://auditoryanthology.substack.com By becoming a paid subscriber you can listen to every episode completely ad-free! Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://darrenmarlar.com/ Other shows hosted by Darren: Weird Darkness: https://weirddarkness.com/ Paranormality Magazine: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/paranormalitymag Micro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/microterrors Retro Radio – Old Time Radio In The Dark: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/retroradio Church of the Undead: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/churchoftheundead Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
October 6 · 15 min
The Trial of Harvey Wiggles by Lyle Talbot
After accidentally running over a groundhog on a sunny drive home, Jerry Humphreys assumes the whole thing is forgotten — until a tiny, fedora-wearing detective shows up at his office with questions, and Jerry finds himself hauled before a groundhog court to answer for his “crime.” Lyle Talbot delivers a wonderfully absurd dark comedy that takes a small domestic mishap somewhere nobody could see coming. We love bringing you stories from listeners just like Lyle — if you’ve got a tale of your own itching to be told (sci-fi, horror, supernatural, or anything in between), we’d love to hear it. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ You can support the show by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack: https://auditoryanthology.substack.com By becoming a paid subscriber you can listen to every episode completely ad-free! Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://darrenmarlar.com/ Other shows hosted by Darren: Weird Darkness: https://weirddarkness.com/ Paranormality Magazine: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/paranormalitymag Micro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/microterrors Retro Radio – Old Time Radio In The Dark: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/retroradio Church of the Undead: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/churchoftheundead Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
October 4 · 15 min
Signal Loss & Maiden Voyage - Chapter Nine: Atlas
On the maiden voyage of the MV Atlas, the world’s largest cruise ship, a ghost operative team attempts a silent extraction of a high-value defector carrying an impossible secret: an ancient, non-human artifact. Hidden amongst twenty-two thousand passengers and stalked by an elite foreign intelligence network, the team must execute a precise, high-stakes tradecraft operation in international waters. One wrong move could blow their cover and trigger a confrontation that could break the global order. Our companion short story, “Signal Loss,” sends journalist Hannah Bennett to a tiny West Virginia town where a strange radio interference has been disrupting life for weeks. She soon finds herself with a story she can’t prove and an experience she can’t explain. It’s a quiet, unsettling look at how far a reporter will follow the truth when the evidence won’t follow her. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ You can support the show by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack: https://auditoryanthology.substack.com By becoming a paid subscriber you can listen to every episode completely ad-free! Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://darrenmarlar.com/ Other shows hosted by Darren: Weird Darkness: https://weirddarkness.com/ Paranormality Magazine: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/paranormalitymag Micro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/microterrors Retro Radio – Old Time Radio In The Dark: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/retroradio Church of the Undead: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/churchoftheundead Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
October 1 · 19 min
The Invader by Alfred Coppel
A lone alien scientist slips down to Earth on a scouting mission, hoping to prove that this planet is the answer to his dying race’s prayers. Everything goes smoothly until his first steps out among the locals, when things start going very wrong in ways he can’t begin to understand. It’s a sharp little twist on the classic alien-invasion tale, best enjoyed without knowing where it lands. Alfred Coppel (1921–2004) was a fighter pilot in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II before becoming one of the most prolific pulp writers of the 1950s and 60s, working across science fiction, action thrillers, and suspense. He also wrote young adult space operas as Robert Cham Gilman, and “The Invader” first appeared in Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy in February 1953. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ You can support the show by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack: https://auditoryanthology.substack.com By becoming a paid subscriber you can listen to every episode completely ad-free! Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://darrenmarlar.com/ Other shows hosted by Darren: Weird Darkness: https://weirddarkness.com/ Paranormality Magazine: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/paranormalitymag Micro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/microterrors Retro Radio – Old Time Radio In The Dark: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/retroradio Church of the Undead: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/churchoftheundead Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
September 29 · 9 min
Love by Aurea Fenn
A casual date at a neon-lit arcade takes a turn when Olivia wants to try a fortune-telling android, and her skeptical boyfriend Danny can’t resist explaining exactly why it’s a scam. Aurea Fenn delivers a witty, bittersweet short about cynicism, missed connection, and what happens when a machine says the thing neither person is ready to admit. We love bringing you stories from listeners just like Aurea — if you’ve got a tale of your own itching to be told (sci-fi, horror, supernatural, or anything in between), we’d love to hear it If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ You can support the show by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack: https://auditoryanthology.substack.com By becoming a paid subscriber you can listen to every episode completely ad-free! Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://darrenmarlar.com/ Other shows hosted by Darren: Weird Darkness: https://weirddarkness.com/ Paranormality Magazine: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/paranormalitymag Micro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/microterrors Retro Radio – Old Time Radio In The Dark: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/retroradio Church of the Undead: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/churchoftheundead Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
September 27 · 15 min
The Winner & Maiden Voyage - Chapter Eight: Hong Kong
On the maiden voyage of the MV Atlas, the world’s largest cruise ship, a ghost operative team attempts a silent extraction of a high-value defector carrying an impossible secret: an ancient, non-human artifact. Hidden amongst twenty-two thousand passengers and stalked by an elite foreign intelligence network, the team must execute a precise, high-stakes tradecraft operation in international waters — one wrong move could blow their cover and trigger a confrontation that could break the global order. Our companion short story, “The Winner,” follows an ordinary man named Dennis who improbably wins a full-ownership condo aboard Atlas through a contest — only to find small, impossible details waiting for him in his new home that make the win feel a lot less like luck. It’s a quieter, stranger corner of this world, and it raises questions about Atlas itself that the main story hasn’t answered yet. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ You can support the show by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack: https://auditoryanthology.substack.com By becoming a paid subscriber you can listen to every episode completely ad-free! Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://darrenmarlar.com/ Other shows hosted by Darren: Weird Darkness: https://weirddarkness.com/ Paranormality Magazine: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/paranormalitymag Micro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/microterrors Retro Radio – Old Time Radio In The Dark: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/retroradio Church of the Undead: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/churchoftheundead Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
September 24 · 19 min
Zeritsky's Law By Ann Griffith
When a Los Angeles housewife’s cat accidentally freezes solid in her deep-freeze and thaws out completely unharmed, it sparks a bizarre new industry: quick-freezing human beings, for a fee, until they’re ready to be defrosted. From fleeing criminals to lovesick husbands, Ann Griffith spins a wickedly satirical history of the business that grows up around it — and the law that finally shuts it all down. Ann Warren Griffith (1918–1983) was an American writer best known for her humorous essays in The New Yorker and The Atlantic, and for her collection Who Is Hiding in My Hide-a-Bed? She served as a pilot with the Women Airforce Service Pilots during World War II, and “Zeritsky’s Law,” first published in Galaxy Science Fiction in November 1951, remains one of her few forays into science fiction. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ You can support the show by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack: https://auditoryanthology.substack.com By becoming a paid subscriber you can listen to every episode completely ad-free! Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://darrenmarlar.com/ Other shows hosted by Darren: Weird Darkness: https://weirddarkness.com/ Paranormality Magazine: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/paranormalitymag Micro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/microterrors Retro Radio – Old Time Radio In The Dark: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/retroradio Church of the Undead: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/churchoftheundead Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
September 22 · 10 min
Hail Nedovra by Samantha E Pierce
Inspector Ivan Yegorov spends his days at a border checkpoint stamping papers APPROVED or DENIED with quiet, methodical pride — a devoted bureaucrat serving his nation. But as the day unfolds, Samantha E. Pierce peels back the horrifying human cost hiding underneath his routine, in a chilling story about complicity, dehumanization, and the banality of evil. We love bringing you stories from writers just like Samantha — if you’ve got a tale of your own itching to be told (sci-fi, horror, supernatural, or anything in between), we’d love to hear it. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ You can support the show by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack: https://auditoryanthology.substack.com By becoming a paid subscriber you can listen to every episode completely ad-free! Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://darrenmarlar.com/ Other shows hosted by Darren: Weird Darkness: https://weirddarkness.com/ Paranormality Magazine: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/paranormalitymag Micro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/microterrors Retro Radio – Old Time Radio In The Dark: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/retroradio Church of the Undead: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/churchoftheundead Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
September 20 · 15 min
Breaker’s Yard & Maiden Voyage - Chapter Seven: The Team
On the maiden voyage of the MV Atlas, the world’s largest cruise ship, a ghost operative team attempts a silent extraction of a high-value defector carrying an impossible secret: an ancient, non-human artifact. Hidden amongst twenty-two thousand passengers and stalked by an elite foreign intelligence network, the team must execute a precise, high-stakes tradecraft operation in international waters — one wrong move could blow their cover and trigger a confrontation that could break the global order. Our companion short story, “Breaker’s Yard,” follows Marcus Webb — soon to join Mercer’s team — during a routine compliance job aboard a decommissioned Navy ship being torn apart for scrap. What he encounters alone in her stripped, powerless corridors is impossible to explain, and impossible to shake. It’s another quiet thread of the unexplained, and our first real look at the man who’s about to become part of something much bigger. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ You can support the show by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack: https://auditoryanthology.substack.com By becoming a paid subscriber you can listen to every episode completely ad-free! Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://darrenmarlar.com/ Other shows hosted by Darren: Weird Darkness: https://weirddarkness.com/ Paranormality Magazine: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/paranormalitymag Micro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/microterrors Retro Radio – Old Time Radio In The Dark: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/retroradio Church of the Undead: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/churchoftheundead Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
September 17 · 23 min
Membership Drive by Murray F. Yaco
An alien named Keeter makes an unplanned emergency landing near the Jefferson Memorial and treats the entire assembled US government with breezy, condescending indifference — right up until he needs a favor. What follows is a wry first-contact comedy where Earth’s eager officials keep giving away more than they realize, chasing the promise of a “test” for interstellar federation membership that may not be quite what it seems. Murray F. Yaco was born in Queens, New York in 1927, served in the Army in Japan during World War II, and later worked as a war correspondent in Vietnam and Kuwait. He wrote only a handful of science fiction stories in the mid-20th century, with “Membership Drive” appearing in Amazing Stories in July 1960. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ You can support the show by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack: https://auditoryanthology.substack.com By becoming a paid subscriber you can listen to every episode completely ad-free! Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://darrenmarlar.com/ Other shows hosted by Darren: Weird Darkness: https://weirddarkness.com/ Paranormality Magazine: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/paranormalitymag Micro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/microterrors Retro Radio – Old Time Radio In The Dark: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/retroradio Church of the Undead: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/churchoftheundead Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
September 15 · 9 min
The Unobserved Observer by F. Davies-Mouncher
Late for school and dreading the stares of her classmates, Olivia gets an anxiety she never asked for when she suddenly realizes no one around her can see or hear her at all. What starts as a terrifying morning quickly turns into something else entirely, as Olivia begins to understand exactly what she can get away with when nobody’s watching. F. Davies-Mouncher delivers a sharp coming-of-age story about visibility, power, and the temptation of getting away with it. We love bringing you stories from listeners just like F. Davies-Mouncher — if you’ve got a tale of your own itching to be told (sci-fi, horror, supernatural, or anything in between), we’d love to hear it. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ You can support the show by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack: https://auditoryanthology.substack.com By becoming a paid subscriber you can listen to every episode completely ad-free! Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://darrenmarlar.com/ Other shows hosted by Darren: Weird Darkness: https://weirddarkness.com/ Paranormality Magazine: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/paranormalitymag Micro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/microterrors Retro Radio – Old Time Radio In The Dark: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/retroradio Church of the Undead: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/churchoftheundead Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
September 13 · 15 min
They Can’t Stop All of Us & Maiden Voyage - Chapter Six: The Ask
On the maiden voyage of the MV Atlas, the world’s largest cruise ship, a ghost operative team attempts a silent extraction of a high-value defector carrying an impossible secret: an ancient, non-human artifact. Hidden amongst twenty-two thousand passengers and stalked by an elite foreign intelligence network, the team must execute a precise, high-stakes tradecraft operation in international waters — one wrong move could blow their cover and trigger a confrontation that could break the global order. Our companion short story, “They Can’t Stop All of Us,” follows Bennett before all of this began — covering the infamous “Storm Area 51” gathering as a journalist, and catching something in the Nevada night sky that her camera can barely explain, let alone she can. It’s a quiet, personal glimpse at the woman who’s about to become central to Mercer’s plan, and one more thread in this world’s stranger undercurrent. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ You can support the show by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack: https://auditoryanthology.substack.com By becoming a paid subscriber you can listen to every episode completely ad-free! Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://darrenmarlar.com/ Other shows hosted by Darren: Weird Darkness: https://weirddarkness.com/ Paranormality Magazine: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/paranormalitymag Micro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/microterrors Retro Radio – Old Time Radio In The Dark: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/retroradio Church of the Undead: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/churchoftheundead Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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