Slashdot Mirror
Fictionalized Storylines Absent from Podcasts?
goldenglove asks: "With the recent boom of Podcasts online, there seems to be a glaring hole when you try to search for free podcasts that have fictionalized stories, and semi-concrete plotlines. The podcast videocast scene seems to be saturated with content that is about news or about personal life, centralizing around information rather than entertainment. Why is this? The only exceptions I've found are the recently released Marcus Hates His Job free TV show sponsored by Sprite, and the Finnish distributed movie: StarWreck -- although entertaining, a very thin selection. Does Slashdot have any recommendations of uninhibited, undiscovered content in this field?"
You might like this: http://www.scottsigler.net/earthcore/ I did, even though it's not the sort of book I'd normally choose to read.
http://www.craphound.com/podcast.php Cory Doctorow is an award-winning science fiction author who reads his stories in podcasts. Audio only, though.
samrolken
Check out radiolovers.com. There have a very large select of old time radio shows. (GIGABYTES of it). Not just fiction, but variety shows as well.. its very interesting (at least to me it is) to hear what was popular in the 40's. Interesting snapshot of society. Just think what peeople 60 years from now will think about us from our entertainment... Fear Factor, Survivor, etc.
I've started using DTV on my Mac. It's basically Internet TV done mostly right, where anyone can create a "channel". I've found many good videocasts, some of them fiction. My favorite is Bush's Speech Writer. Turns out it's a commercial production by Comedy Central, but who cares? I don't know about audiocasts though. I'd suspect NPR would have some.
Software sucks. Open Source sucks less.
For podcast books there's Podiobooks which has a number of books on offer, both new and public domain.
For comedy sketch and short story, there's Firesign Theatre where you can browse the comedy albums (they've been making them for 40 years) and from each album download sample tracks. They also have a podcast.
For podcast short story and essay, there's The Seanachai. Patrick Mclean comes from advertising, I think, so he has some good writing chops. He has a series called "How to Succeed in Evil without really Trying." It's very funny.
And, pants down, the best monologist in the business is Joe Frank. A free membership on his site allows you to stream a number of full-length shows.
There's also Transom.org where hopeful producers submit stuff for NPR-type program directors to peruse. Much of it is downloadable, and it includes fiction.
Lastly, I shamelessy plug myself. Of course, if I could actually shamelessly plug myself and record it on podcast, I would have a lot more listeners. Pferdzwackur's Tin Man is exactly what the original post was asking for. Original serial fiction, with bells and whistles attached.