The Magnus Archives was a podcast
Apr. 28th, 2021 08:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
myrdschaemOr so the meme goes. I haven't really been much into the fic there, not because I don't like it (Stuff like Beholding the GDPR or anything that treats this horror setting like an office comedy is GOLDEN), I just haven't been and outside what I see recced probably won't be that much. Instead I decided to fill the void with other horror podcasts:
It starts with a classic set-up: A limited amount of people are trapped in an arctic research station and discover something, in this case a village that was long ago abandoned. Following which character was which outside the narrator was a bit hard sometimes. Before each entry the author is named, but the narrative throws listeners in at the deep end with a full cast. At first I mostly thought of characters as their role on the expedition and could get mixed up within them.
Thankfully, this is mitigated because the writing team clearly crowdsourced non-english speakers for translations while making this podcast. Several people are not native English speakers and their notes start off in whatever language they are written in and switch to English after a few seconds. The characters are also voiced by native speakers that fit the characters I believe. The only one I can "really" vouch for is the german character Dr. Karina Schuhmacher-Weiß but all german I heard was correctly used and translated. I suspect that the same goes for the other languages used - the first season also featured Spanish, Russian and Icelandic.
So thanks to this the voice recognition problem is not as big. I should also note that it's best not to get attached to any character. Any. It's not a total player kill, but nearly in those stories. The story takes some time to set-up and get going, but once it does, things happen fast. Tension is excellent, if a bit more action focused at times, but never entirely confusing thanks to good sound effect use and characters narrating their experiences after.
At this point, four seasons with about ten episodes each have been published, plus some extra material on patreon in the same universe that I haven't listened to, and the story will come to a close after season five. There is an overarching storyline throughout and I am interested in the resolution of the mystery! I don't mind the characters, but it's not really a big attachment thanks to the mentioned death toll. Overall I would recommend this.
Second podcast is a finished storyline with about 13 1/2 episodes. It borrows from another classic horror movie - Alien. The setting is space with only two characters, send to investigate ruins on a surveyed planet. They only have a limited amount of time - 52 hours - and find caves with crystal statues of what may have been the alien population. One of the statues, a small one, they take with them on the ship for study.
What complicates this story is the achronological way it is told. Episodes each hold one entry, but the entries are out of order. In fact, the first two episodes are the first and the last entry. Using this style is risky, but I think it pays off very well! Getting the ending sets up anticipation of what the fuck happened and each new entry fills in the timeline. Also used are unreliable narrators, so the reveal of what actually happened is still a surprise. Some things can be figured out, which is neat. It also gives the series a relisten value after finishing it.
Both actors did great acting, though there is some hetero I wasn't as engrossed in as I think I was supposed to be. But it takes backseat to the horror. The sound effect work for setting the scenes and environment is good, but what bugged me a bit was the static used to separate recordings as it was a bit loud. Not a podcast to listen to while going to sleep, it's simply to loud. Aside from that I enjoyed my trip to the stars!
Lastly, the short story "Bride, Knife, Flaming Horse" by M.L.Krishnan. I found this work on twitter, where it was promoted because you can read it for free right now! It's fantasy/maybe magic realism one could argue, about a software engineer getting her marriage arranged by her parents. They make an online profile for her and at first, answers are slow. Then she gets two offers: one from a ghoul who is also a knife and one from a guardian deity who is also a burning mare. The catch is that she likes them both, but her parents urge her to decide. Don't worry, the ending is happy!
The story is clearly rooted in Indian sensibilities and setting - both the mundane ones like arranged marriage for the daughter and the technology job as well as the supernatural one of the ghoul (and connected to that, there is a long tradition of corpse marriage stories in South Asia) and the deity. It's own voices, from what I saw from the author blurb and short interview. It's also queer, because while the ghoul is male, the deity/flaming horse is female. None of the characteristics are remarked upon as odd by either the parents or the protagonist, only that they are a fitting match for her, which is why I may even say this is magical realism. Finally, acknowledgement of poly-relationships as a healthy option, yay!
The writing in this is good - some turns of phrase are sublime even! And as a story it sparks JOY, so from all three media here I would pick this as my favourite. Read it while it's free, it's only around 5k in length.
It starts with a classic set-up: A limited amount of people are trapped in an arctic research station and discover something, in this case a village that was long ago abandoned. Following which character was which outside the narrator was a bit hard sometimes. Before each entry the author is named, but the narrative throws listeners in at the deep end with a full cast. At first I mostly thought of characters as their role on the expedition and could get mixed up within them.
Thankfully, this is mitigated because the writing team clearly crowdsourced non-english speakers for translations while making this podcast. Several people are not native English speakers and their notes start off in whatever language they are written in and switch to English after a few seconds. The characters are also voiced by native speakers that fit the characters I believe. The only one I can "really" vouch for is the german character Dr. Karina Schuhmacher-Weiß but all german I heard was correctly used and translated. I suspect that the same goes for the other languages used - the first season also featured Spanish, Russian and Icelandic.
So thanks to this the voice recognition problem is not as big. I should also note that it's best not to get attached to any character. Any. It's not a total player kill, but nearly in those stories. The story takes some time to set-up and get going, but once it does, things happen fast. Tension is excellent, if a bit more action focused at times, but never entirely confusing thanks to good sound effect use and characters narrating their experiences after.
At this point, four seasons with about ten episodes each have been published, plus some extra material on patreon in the same universe that I haven't listened to, and the story will come to a close after season five. There is an overarching storyline throughout and I am interested in the resolution of the mystery! I don't mind the characters, but it's not really a big attachment thanks to the mentioned death toll. Overall I would recommend this.
Second podcast is a finished storyline with about 13 1/2 episodes. It borrows from another classic horror movie - Alien. The setting is space with only two characters, send to investigate ruins on a surveyed planet. They only have a limited amount of time - 52 hours - and find caves with crystal statues of what may have been the alien population. One of the statues, a small one, they take with them on the ship for study.
What complicates this story is the achronological way it is told. Episodes each hold one entry, but the entries are out of order. In fact, the first two episodes are the first and the last entry. Using this style is risky, but I think it pays off very well! Getting the ending sets up anticipation of what the fuck happened and each new entry fills in the timeline. Also used are unreliable narrators, so the reveal of what actually happened is still a surprise. Some things can be figured out, which is neat. It also gives the series a relisten value after finishing it.
Both actors did great acting, though there is some hetero I wasn't as engrossed in as I think I was supposed to be. But it takes backseat to the horror. The sound effect work for setting the scenes and environment is good, but what bugged me a bit was the static used to separate recordings as it was a bit loud. Not a podcast to listen to while going to sleep, it's simply to loud. Aside from that I enjoyed my trip to the stars!
Lastly, the short story "Bride, Knife, Flaming Horse" by M.L.Krishnan. I found this work on twitter, where it was promoted because you can read it for free right now! It's fantasy/maybe magic realism one could argue, about a software engineer getting her marriage arranged by her parents. They make an online profile for her and at first, answers are slow. Then she gets two offers: one from a ghoul who is also a knife and one from a guardian deity who is also a burning mare. The catch is that she likes them both, but her parents urge her to decide. Don't worry, the ending is happy!
The story is clearly rooted in Indian sensibilities and setting - both the mundane ones like arranged marriage for the daughter and the technology job as well as the supernatural one of the ghoul (and connected to that, there is a long tradition of corpse marriage stories in South Asia) and the deity. It's own voices, from what I saw from the author blurb and short interview. It's also queer, because while the ghoul is male, the deity/flaming horse is female. None of the characteristics are remarked upon as odd by either the parents or the protagonist, only that they are a fitting match for her, which is why I may even say this is magical realism. Finally, acknowledgement of poly-relationships as a healthy option, yay!
The writing in this is good - some turns of phrase are sublime even! And as a story it sparks JOY, so from all three media here I would pick this as my favourite. Read it while it's free, it's only around 5k in length.
