experiment31e

[experiment31e]

We won Best Fantasy Podcast at the Hollywood Series! (They split the Sci-Fi/Fantasy category between two winners, one for Sci-Fi and one for Fantasy, and we won!)

This is a huge honor! Thank you, Hollywood Series, and congratulations to all the other winners!

This is the first award Experiment 31E has won, and it’s the perfect note to end the year on. FYI, season two is getting ever closer to being released. I know it's been a long time, but the episodes are finally written, and now it's just a matter of cleaning up the scripts and recording them. Huzzah!

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40 years ago today, on August 10, 1984, a scientific team led by anthropologist Owen Beattie arrived on Beechey Island in the Canadian Arctic. They intended to exhume and autopsy the three members of the Franklin Expedition buried there. They spent that first day setting up temporary living quarters and exploring the area. In a little over a week, they would come face to face with the preserved remains of John Torrington…

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The creation of Experiment 31E owes a lot to my obsession with John Torrington. While the plot of the podcast clearly was inspired by Frankenstein, there are many other aspects that would not be there if Torrington hadn't taken up permanent residence in my brain three decades ago. I have researched him and the Franklin Expedition extensively for the past several years, and that led to Experiment 31E taking place in Manchester during the 1840s, albeit an alternate version of the 1840s. This research is also why there are numerous references to polar exploration, particularly James Clark Ross's Antarctic expedition. It's why Captain Francis Crozier makes a brief appearance--he was second in command of the Franklin Expedition, and captain of HMS Terror, the ship Torrington served aboard. And then of course there is The Boy, aka John, a short and wiry stoker from Manchester with blue eyes, brown hair, and a persistent cough...

Without Torrington, it would be a very different podcast indeed.

I am currently writing the scripts for season two, which will pay homage in a way to the events that sparked my fascination with this random Victorian sailor. The writing is going much slower than I would like due to some financial/mental health issues I'm dealing with, but I am making progress on it. You can follow that progress through my monthly newsletter. (It's easier to do newsletter updates instead of individually updating half a dozen different social media accounts.) Also, if you have some money you're not using, it would be a huge help right now if you donated to my Ko-fi. I know it feels like everyone is asking for money these days, and many of them are in much more desperate situations than I am, but if you like this podcast and want to help season two get made at a slightly less glacial pace, please consider donating. Thank you!

40 years ago today, on August 10, 1984, a scientific team led by anthropologist Owen Beattie arrived on Beechey Island in the Canadian Arctic. They intended to exhume and autopsy the three members of the Franklin Expedition buried there. They spent that first day setting up temporary living quarters and exploring the area. In a little over a week, they would come face to face with the preserved remains of John Torrington…

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If you enjoy the polar exploration references in Experiment 31E, then you'll probably enjoy this podcast. I haven't had a chance to listen to the teaser episode yet, but I've been following DJ's research for years, and they're a brilliant writer, so I'm looking forward to it. Check it out!

(Side note, I've recently been rereading DJ's blog posts about the Hartnell family because a certain mad scientist is going to be visiting the Hartnells' hometown in season two...)

No Common Voyage - Teaser Episode!

What's the Franklin Expedition? Who's the person telling me about it? What's happening? Is that a cat in the background? These questions answered in more in this amuse-bouche before the series begins!

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ok fine maybe i DID come back wrong. what are you going to do about it. kill me? put me back in the ground? after all this effort? all this pain and suffering only to find out bringing me back wasn't worth it after all? you worked so hard. are you going to waste all of that just because im not what you wanted? just because i belong only to myself? are you going to let me pick out my own coffin

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The NZ Web Fest is over, and while we didn't win any awards, we do have the debatable honor of having been one of the most popular podcasts at the festival! That is exciting enough for me!

I just want to say, congratulations to all the award winners!!! And if I can get season two finished sometime soon (it's, um, well, I'm definitely working on it...), I look forward to participating in more web fests next year!

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Congratulations to our cast and creators on their TWO wins at NZ Web Fest—for Best Performance and Best Concept! We are truly honored and promise to not let this ruin the whole bitter underdog vibe we’ve had going on.

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Experiment 31E is currently (so far) the most popular fiction podcast at the NZ Web Fest!!! Huzzah!!!

I know, I know, this could change at any time, and it doesn't really mean anything, blah, blah, but you see, I didn't think anyone would actually listen to us at either of the web fests we're participating in. I had hoped people would, obviously, that was the point of submitting to the fests in the first place, but we are a very small, independent podcast (it's just me, really, with my sister composing the music) with very small download numbers. We are not a big, fancy production, and I had never made a podcast before when I started out. I hesitated at first about submitting to any web festivals because I didn't think we would make it in. I eventually submitted to a few of them (I wasn't really aware how many were out there at first--there's an Audio Fiction World Cup??), but we were not selected by the first one I submitted to, which was a huge disappointment. We did later make it into both Baltimore and NZ, but--maybe it was the anxiety or the depression or the lack of downloads or a combination of all three--I figured we would just be ignored. But we're not being ignored! People are listening to us! I don't know how many (does "most popular" mean 3 whole people listened, lol? I don't know the actual numbers/metrics), but it's something!

Anyway, this is just a long, rambling way to say that I am so, so grateful for someone other than my mom listening to us. (Not that I don't love my mom, too, but y'know...) So to everyone who has given us a listen--at NZ or Baltimore or at any other time--THANK YOU!!!

Also, shout-out to Fawx & Stallion @224bbaker! Y'all are awesome (and might just overtake us soon lol)!

Just an FYI, the NZ Web Fest runs through November 13, and the Baltimore Next Media Web Fest ends tomorrow, November 10. Check 'em out while they last!

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"Date: November 7, 1843…”

Link to full episode

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"Experiment 31E, attempt number nine.

Date: November 7, 1843.

It—it—

[soft laughter]

It worked.

Success.

Everything…everything I’ve been working towards, it…

[soft laughter turns maniacal]

I was right…all along…

It almost didn’t…there were complications but…

It worked!"

It's November 7, the day Episode 12, "Attempt Number Nine," takes place. Listen again to the finale of season one to experience the events in real time with our Scientist!

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"Date: November 6, 1843..."

Link to full episode

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"Experiment 31E, supplemental notes.

Date: November 6, 1843.

Today…I feel as if I am reaching the culmination of all my hard work. But…I am beginning to worry about the costs..."

It's November 6, the day Episode 11, "The Perfect Specimen," takes place. Listen again to experience the events in real time with our Scientist!

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"Date: November 4, 1843…”

Link to full episode

[experiment31e]

"Experiment 31E, secondary attempt.

Date: November 4, 1843.

I hesitated over how to designate this set of notes. When I began Phase E of Experiment 31, I had decided this phase would be devoted to human experimentation, and anything less would not count as part of the primary sequence of attempts, hence the designation secondary for animal attempts. However, today’s attempt feels as if it deserves to be called something more than secondary…"

It's November 4, the day Episode 10, "Secondary Attempt," takes place. Listen again to experience the events in real time with our Scientist!

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Experiment 31E has been nominated for an award at the Baltimore Next Media Web Fest! We've been nominated for Best Sci-fi / Horror / Fantasy / Thriller / Mystery Podcast, which is actually a huge category (it looks like most of the podcasts selected to attend were nominated for this), but thankfully it will be split up into multiple awards.

So that means we've been nominated for two awards—one for each web fest we’ve been selected for. Huzzah!

This is an amazing honor, especially looking at all the other awesome podcasts we’ve been nominated alongside. We’re up for the same award as @re-dracula?? How??? I don’t expect to win (lol, no, not with this competition), but it is kinda funny—Experiment 31E is inspired by Frankenstein, and Re: Dracula is a chronological version of Dracula, which means that the BNM Web Fest has set up a showdown of Frankenstein versus Dracula. It’s monster against monster this weekend in Baltimore!

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"I have never felt…attracted to either sex. I know my mother was attracted to both, and my father, while shy and focused on his work, found women beautiful and enchanting. But I have never felt…a pull towards another in that way. I can acknowledge a handsome face, a shapely figure, but…I’ve never wanted…never wanted to marry…to so much as kiss or touch… I was raised on stories of the power of love and how it burns within, but never have I ever felt such a thing before. I know I am different. I have always known. My mind does not function the same as others—too easily over-stimulated by sensory input, resistant to disruptions of my routine—but it has also granted me an insight into things I know others don’t have. But this…this lack of attraction…I thought at first I simply had better things to do than chase the boys in town—or indulge any boys who wished to chase me—but eventually I realized…even if I had nothing better to do, I would still never give chase. And I have wondered…is this beneficial…or am I broken? My mother said… But I don’t feel broken… I don’t feel…wrong… I feel different. That is all. I do not wish myself to change. I like the way I am. But the world does not seem to appreciate my difference. And I am forced to hide it, to paste on a smile—a different kind of mask…"

Today is the last day of Asexual Awareness Week, aka Ace Week. Lauren Triola, the creator of Experiment 31E (and the writer of this post, hi!), is asexual and proudly wrote the narrator, Vic Trafford, as asexual as well (Vic is also aromantic while Lauren is still undecided on that part). So if you're looking for an audio drama with an aroace protagonist--especially one with questionable motives in a spooky story perfect for Halloween--check out our first season, which is available to binge at all major podcast sites!

[experiment31e]

"Date: October 28, 1843..."

Link to full episode