Broadcast Unfriendly, but Very Poe: The Fall of the House of Usher

What with it being Halloween today, we’re thinking about all things spooky, so we wanted to to share some of the things we’ve been watching and listening to this season in the Tulgey Wood.

Given how many stories by the O.G. (original ghoulish) writer Edgar Allan Poe we’ve done for our series Through a Glass, Darkly, we decided to check out the new mini-series The Fall of the House of Usher on Netflix.

Hold onto your cask of Amontillado, it was a lot.

It’s definitely not a version you’ll hear us do… or really anything on broadcast radio, but knowing that many of you enjoy some of the horror audio fiction that is similarly not safe on the radio, we share this. And the mini-series, which weaves together a whole host of Poe’s writings into a topical story of a perfectly horrid family that has parallels to the Sacklers and their painkiller empire. Of course, in Poe’s gothic hands, this family has many skeletons in their closet and bricked up behind walls. It’s just TV-MA with all the trimmings.

Really, we can’t understate how “TV-MA” the series is. They almost certainly had a sizeable special effects makeup team and all of them are doubtless exhausted from their extensive labors. Some of the characters’ dialogue isn’t so much sprinkled with profanity as soaking in it. And language isn’t the only vulgar thing. Still, fans of Mark Hamill taking another turn as a villain will be rewarded.

Now, if you’re not up for something grotesque, or if you simply want to refresh your knowledge of Poe, you can check out our dramatic readings of “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Black Cat,” “The Raven,” and “The Masque of the Red Death.” Frankly, many of these are disturbing and grotesque just in their original 19th century form… and animal lovers may want to steer clear of “The Black Cat,” but at least you will be responsible for the visuals as opposed to what will likely be a soon-to-be award-winning production team.

Stay spooky, dear listeners!

Rogue Tyger: Wrapping Up Story Threads with “The End Run”

We did a whole host of bonus segments for our Patrons this past summer that originally played on WERA between episodes of Rogue Tyger.

This is technically the bonus segment that would have played during the 2023 re-broadcast of Rogue Tyger, going between part 4 and part 5 of “The End Run.” The only thing is: those episodes were long enough so we didn’t need a bonus segment… but then we thought about it and decided we needed to “complete the set” as it were.

In the segment, writer/director Bjorn Munson talks about how “The End Run” was structured to give what is hopefully a satisfying conclusion of the plot through the first two seasons as well as giving a few ticklers for seasons to come.

Listen to it now by backing us on Patreon!

Rogue Tyger: Hraggedor, the Odd System Out in the Core Systems

We’ve been posting bonus segments for our Patrons all summer long that originally played on WERA between episodes of Rogue Tyger.

This is the bonus segment from our 2019 broadcast of Rogue Tyger, which played between part 2 and part 3 of “The End Run.”

In the segment, writer/director Bjorn Munson talks about how the third core system to be settled by humanity, Hraggedor, was not the most hospitable. There’s also a brief mention of wrapping up story threads.

Listen to it now by backing us on Patreon!

Rogue Tyger: The Poet Borellio (Patreon Bonus Audio)

We’ve been posting bonus segments for our Patrons all summer long that originally played on WERA between episodes of Rogue Tyger.

This one comes from our 2019 broadcast of Rogue Tyger, which played  between Part 5 of “Cat and Mouse” and Part 1 of “The End Run.” 

In the segment, writer/director Bjorn Munson talks about the origins of the poet Borellio whom Aidan quotes in the last part of “Cat and Mouse” leading to a rare non-cliffhanger ending.

You’ll eventually hear what bits of ancient Earth culture did make “the crossing” as Imperial citizens refer to those ancient times, but part of the world building was establishing artists and writers and poets whose whole life was in that corner of the galaxy.

Listen to it now by backing us on Patreon!

Rogue Tyger: Houses, Seals, and Real History (Patreon Bonus Audio)

We’ve been posting bonus segments for our Patrons this summer that originally played on WERA between episodes of Rogue Tyger… and there’s a few more to go.

This segment is from our 2019 broadcast of Rogue Tyger, which played between Part 4 and Part 5 of “Cat and Mouse.”

In this segment, writer/director Bjorn Munson goes into some classic sci-fi influences on the names of the places and things in the Tygerverse, as well as some real history.

Listen to it now by backing us on Patreon!

Rogue Tyger: What was lost and what was found in “Cat and Mouse”

We’ve been posting bonus segments for our Patrons all summer long that originally played on WERA between episodes of Rogue Tyger.

This segment is from our 2023 re-broadcast of Rogue Tyger, which played  between Part 3 and Part 4 of “Cat and Mouse.”

In it, writer/director Bjorn Munson goes more into the writing process for the story in “Cat and Mouse,” not only what was cut, but what was added from outline to recording script.

Listen to it now by backing us on Patreon!

Rogue Tyger: Dueling Cartel Captains (Patreon Bonus Audio)

We’ve been posting bonus segments for our Patrons all summer long that originally played on WERA between episodes of Rogue Tyger.

This segment is from our 2019 broadcast of Rogue Tyger, which played  between Part 3 and Part 4 of “Cat and Mouse.”

In this segment, Bjorn Munson talks about big structural change to this serial: it was originally going to have a lot more characters and subplots.

Listen to it now by backing us on Patreon!

Rogue Tyger: Gravity Well Generators

We’ve been posting bonus segments for our Patrons all summer long that originally played on WERA between episodes of Rogue Tyger.

This segment is from our 2019 broadcast of Rogue Tyger, which played  between Part 2 and Part 3 of “Cat and Mouse.”

In this segment, Bjorn Munson talks about how Jochi Bortay came to use “gravity well generators” as the way to trap the Tyger in the Vistulon Nebula.

Listen to it now by backing us on Patreon!

Rogue Tyger: Of Burlywogs and Border Wars (Patreon Bonus Audio)

We’ve been posting bonus segments for our Patrons all summer long that originally played on WERA between episodes of Rogue Tyger.

This segment is from our 2023 re-broadcast of Rogue Tyger, which played between episodes 21 and 22 aka part 1 and part 2 of “Cat and Mouse.”

In it, writer/director Bjorn Munson talks more about the origins of the Tygerverse and how that led to the Vendawundjan Burlywogs mentioned at the end of “Lost and Found” as well as explaining more of how the Border Wars were an important revision to the existing scripts all thanks to the casting process.

Listen to it now by backing us on Patreon!

Rogue Tyger: The Origin of The Border Wars (Patreon Bonus Audio)

We’ve been posting bonus segments for our Patrons all summer long that originally played on WERA between episodes of Rogue Tyger.

This segment is from our 2019 broadcast of Rogue Tyger, which played  between part 1 and part 2 of “Cat and Mouse”

In this segment, Bjorn Munson talks about how “the Border Wars” were originally not part of the history of the Imperium at all, but due to a casting decision, a whole slew of world building fell into place.

Listen to it now by backing us on Patreon!