Our podcast, Bizart, is back. We discuss odd things, art things and anything else.
And we are back! I (Madeleine Swann) chat with fellow weirdo arty type Stephen Waring about odd stuff, art stuff and anything else.
Timeline:
0.23 – Twin Peaks Season 3
3.00 – The Brighton Fringe Festival
22.55 – Religious cults and social media hang ups
Hello my little bar stools!
Afraid I can’t write too much because I am suffering some serious lady time issues. I’ve shared fiction podcasts and writing advice podcasts, now allow me to share some true story, factual and informative podcasts that stray on the creepy, weird and dark side.
Here is the latest episode of the podcast that focuses on weird episodes of history, The Dancing Plague. Mass Hysteria is a particular fascination of mine, and podcast creator Nathaniel Lloyd seeks to question “Can we trust history as we have received it?”
2. Criminal
This is a fantastic and informative true crime podcast, focusing on different and often unusual stories each episode. In Eight Years we discover being a Harry Potter fan isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
3. Monster Talk
Presented by Skeptic Magazine, this podcast presents the cultural and scientific story of cryptozoology.
4. Sawbones
Hilarious husband and wife team (she’s a doctor) take a humorous look at medical mishaps and odd cures of the past. In this episode they explore the man who couldn’t stop eating, including a cat, a puppy, a snake, an eel, offal and poultices:
Three friends discuss crime and mystery theories, often with a focus on the weird. Being a writery type I chose the temporary disappearance of Agatha Christie, but there’s a lot to choose from:
Genuinely informative and in-depth horror podcast for film buffs and nerds, this goes beyond the usual horror fan chit chat and discusses film making and horror as an art. This episode is about beautiful black and white flicks Night of the Hunter and The Innocents:
Hosted by writer/performer/general weirdos Dr Bramwell and David Mounfield, each episode features different speakers offering “a portal into the fringes of culture; its mavericks and pranksters, adventurers and occultists, artists, comics, eroticists and even the odd chef,” all before a live studio audience. Of course I picked the Sherlock Holmes episode.
Bonjour! I hope you’re well, it’s been so long since we last spoke. A whole several hours. Dry your eyes because yet another podcast with a weird fiction story of mine was released last night. They’re like buses!
They kindly said of it: “Madeleine Swann’s disturbing, difficult, beautiful story reaches towards the complexities of the human condition, whether they have conditions or not.”
Follow this link to listen and to see my story in it’s written form. Enjoy!
Ooh, look at me! More of my words have found a nice little home. Three of my stories appear on the latest episode of The Wicked Library, the longer one read by author Jessica McHugh. Wow!
I don’t know what I’m doing! Sometimes I think I do but, more often than not, the further into this writing game I get the more I realise I know far less than I thought. However help is at hand in the form of people who know a bit more than I do making words into microphones. Take their hand (don’t kiss it, it’s probably sticky) and follow them down a dark corridor. Or a well-lit one, whichever seems nicer.
Billing itself as the podcast for writers, readers and fans, Gregory A. Wilson and Bradley P. Beaulieu have been referred to as ‘the best interviewers currently podcasting about genre fiction.’ They’re also joined by Michael R. Underwood and all have a good background in writing weird. As well as in depth interviews they review books and discuss writing techniques and publishing.
Bizzong The Bizarre And Weird Fiction Podcast
If you like silly and daft you’ll feel at home here, but there’s a lot of information too. Frank Edler interviews a different weird writer each episode to discuss their work, life, and zombie Elvis.
The Horror Show With Brian Keene
Brian Keene seems like a nice man. He and his friends discuss horror fiction as a genre, the various news and points of interest facing horror authors and, well, pretty much anything else. It’s like having a nice cup of tea – except when they talk about something unpleasant, then it’s like having an unpleasant but interesting cup of tea.
This is also an informative podcast! Authors discuss their personal work, outlining stories, getting published, getting self-published and everything it entails – pretty much anything a horror writer needs to know.
Winner of the ‘This Is Horror’ award 2015, guests are interviewed about their books and writing techniques followed by ‘news from the weird.’ This is any information weird writers may find interesting such as anthologies looking for submissions.
Soothing and amusing, they chat with a guest on subjects ranging from beta readers, selling yourself, emotional arcs and mankinis with heels. 
Zach Bohannon and J. Thorn ‘discuss all things horror’ including an interview with the director of The Invitation, horror news and interesting TV. Bless their cottons.
Ta dah! Fill your ears with facts and interesting titbits and may it help you on your journey. Don’t forget to pack a lunch!
Come one, come all, and sniff my word hands. OK, stop doing that, it’s weird and I don’t know how I feel about you now.
A horror/weird fiction flash of mine is on the Random Transmissions podcast at the 35.11 mark. They’re looking for submissions so why not send yours? My story is called No Stranger.
Hello my little flower seed packets surreptitiously passed to Poirot as a clue to be deciphered later. Here in the future there are so many ways to experience fiction that words leak from our every orifices. One of the ways I’ve been mainlining fiction is via podcasts, and thanks to all those who alerted me to these particular gems.
What works so well about the fictional casts is the blending of fact and fiction, echoing Orson Welles’ fifties radio version of War of the Worlds where the first section was presented as a genuine news reel. Also taken from the past is the serial format, reflecting the stories Dickens and many others wrote for newspapers.
I’m going to assume you know of Welcome to Night Vale and Thrilling Adventure Hour (especially their ‘Beyond Belief’ segment). If you’re after podcasts to send your own fiction to have a look at the mini list below:
Escape Pod (science fiction
Pseudopod (horror)
Drabblecast (weirdest of the weird)
Wicked Library (more horror).
OK let’s go!
These stories, despite being set in the modern day, have a distinctly fifties feel. Performed live at The Slipper Room in New York it’s in turns funny, strange and…mysterious. Of course, being a variety show (each episode has one or two songs as well as a few stories), some are better than others but you can feel the fun they’re having and there’s some great ones.
I really enjoyed this Childhood Fears themed episode:
Inspired by places of mystery or legend like Atlantis and Xanadu, this series is a fictional search for Tanis. Is it a place? Is it a thing? Is it a tiny lemon-shaped vacuum cleaner? The main story is punctuated by true mysteries and literary/weird fiction references from Haruki Murakami to House of Leaves, which makes me as geekily happy as this bird with a paper towel.
Episode 1:
This serial on the unsolved cases of Paranormal investigator Dr Strand comes from the same production company as Tanis. Again the stories are inspired by ‘true’ mysteries such as the audio from Hell and the exorcism of Anneliese Michel (here under a fictional name).
The individual cases aren’t always brought to a satisfying conclusion – so far, anyway, I’ve only listened to a few – but they are intriguing and definitely enjoyable. Also Strand reminds me of a moodier and darker Richard Wiseman, a magician and debunker whose book promotion I went to in Edinburgh. He was very jolly, it was fun.
I couldn’t share episode 1 here, sorry!
This seven part (so far) series actually made me very nervous as I listened through headphones late at night. It’s premise is eerie enough; ten years ago residents of Limetown disappeared without trace and journalist Lia Haddock is determined to find out what happened. The story builds in spookiness and intrigue until…well, I won’t tell you anymore.
Episode 1:
This reminds me of the Twilight Zone episode To Serve Man: Aliens land and announce they’re bringing earthlings back to their planet to live peacefully. Scientists attempt to decipher a book of theirs throughout, not succeeding until it’s too late. I have a sneaking suspicion that the possibly extra-terrestrial message the code-breakers are attempting to crack in this podcast isn’t going to be anything good.
Episode 1:
This is the only nonfiction entry and it’s completely addictive. Sarah Koenig, a journalist and radio personality, is attempting to get to the bottom of a case which doesn’t add up on closer inspection. Or does it? That’s what she’s trying to figure out.
Adnan Syed is in prison for the 1999 murder of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee in Baltimore. It seemed at the time to be a cut and dried example of a jealous ex boyfriend, but none of their school mates believe it and some of the timelines are iffy to say the least. Also there are possible fantasists, streakers, and much more. Seriously, give this one a listen, I had to force myself to switch it off and go to sleep.
Years from now I will be discovered, nothing but thick cobwebs stretched over bones, a pair of headphones stuck to my yellowing skull, the only sound the weak strains of one of these podcasts or Audible (which is also good, Gillian Anderson and Neil Gaiman have already read me spooky stories).
That’s how anyone would want to go, isn’t it? Join us…
Good day! There are many horror podcasts out there including NoSleep, Drabblecast, Pseudopod and the Monster Club (Old Time Radio site), but I have a special place in my heart for Chilling Tales For Dark Nights as it opened my weirdly little mouse ears to the joys of audio internet horror. I can pretend I’m tuning into the radio in the time of vintage, ready to be thrilled and chilled.
The stories aren’t always to my taste – we all have our own unique tastes don’t we, my little bottles of sauce – but there are enough I liked to share with you my favourites.
This is a translation from a Japanese story and I think it has all the right levels of spooky weirdness. It may get a little ‘explainy’ at the end but, for me, that’s part of the charm of some of these internet stories:
This one is very creepy with a nice twist at the end:
Some of the best stories have an image that stays with you. I think this is one of those:
Here’s a classic Twilight Zone-esque ‘be careful what you wish for’ story:
This one has a nice gothic feel to it:
The little voice in this is quite cute. I like the story too:
I like abandoned town stories. Here is one of those:
It’s coming up to Christmas and, for me, that always means spooky stories. OK, everything to me means spooky stories. Anyway, here’s a list I found of some particularly good ones. Enjoy!
Look at all these places offering free audio tales of terror! Go on, look at them. I said look at theeeeeemmm…oh, now look what you made me do, I spilled my tea. Now run along and listen to things.
Madeleine Swann 