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It's Podcast Aro Week! Pick a (canon) aromantic character from a sci-fi fiction podcast:
Nova NoStar (InCo)
Vic Corvino-Trafford (Experiment 31E)
Harriet Brooke (Trial & Error)
Dr. Melissa Wang (Tides)
Dr. Robert Aphelion (InkWyrm)
Nessa Cheong (Moonbase Theta, Out)
Chance & Shadow (WOE.BEGONE)
Dr. Marion Straker (DOWN)
Don't know anyone here? Pick one and go listen!
Am I missing your favourite? Are they from a sci-fi? Let me know!
Vic Corvino Trafford from Experiment 31E is aromantic asexual!
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!
It's ace week! Pick a canon aroace podcast character:
Hampton Fawx (Fawx & Stallion)
Harriet Brooke (Trial and Error)
Rosalind Ursula (Arden)
Ran Fishercliff (Eeler's Choice)
Vic Corvino Trafford (Experiment 31E)
Rudyard Funn (Wooden Overcoats)
Nia (Lost Terminal)
Grace Chen (VALENCE)
Georgie (The Secret of St Kilda)
Chance & Shadow (WOE.BEGONE)
Did I miss your favourite? Let me know! They might've even featured in another poll
Don't know any of these? Pick a show and go listen!
Want to know more about Ace Week Fiction Podcast Festivities? Click here.
starting another abandoned/hiatus/dead podcast with only one season convincing myself
it's ok I won't get attached
Ohh, may I have a podcast, please?
Experiment 31E
Experiment 31E is a Frankenstein-inspired, speculative fiction podcast set during an alternate version of the Victorian era that follows the recorded notes of a scientist who is performing a dangerous experiment. As she seeks to perfect her formula and find a suitable specimen for testing, unexpected threats rear their heads while her own motives lurk in the dark.
I can't finish a whole audiodrama because I keep podcast hopping.
But when I started Midnight Burger I thought 'this is literally my ideal show' an ensemble action adventure scifi. Definitely won't get derailed from This.
Then they played an ad for Fawx & Stallion ensemble action adventure detective show where the mc's are constantly overlooked detective because Holmes and Watson solve everything...
Do y'all like stories about a girlboss mad scientist who has autism and social anxiety and likes committing acts of hubris?
Do y'all like creepy atmospheric podcasts that sound old-timey and from an alternate timeline?
Do y’all like Frankenstein but wish it had a lot more LGBTQ+ characters and a cat?
Have we got a podcast for you!
Experiment 31E is a new(ish) podcast. Season one wrapped in April, and all twelve episodes are available to binge now.
What’s it about?
Experiment 31E is a Frankenstein-inspired, speculative fiction podcast set during an alternate version of the Victorian era that follows the recorded notes of a scientist who is performing a dangerous experiment. As she seeks to perfect her formula and find a suitable specimen for testing, unexpected threats rear their heads while her own motives lurk in the dark.
Now, you might be wondering a few things:
First—how alternate is this version of the Victorian era? Well, some things are the same, some things are different. This story takes place in an alternate timeline, and the differences in the timeline will become more prominent as the story progresses.
Second—is this sci-fi? Fantasy? Horror? It’s a bit of all of them, actually. We use the broad genre label “speculative fiction” because this story features elements from science fiction, fantasy, horror, alternate history, and a smidge of steampunk. There are strange inventions but also alchemy and magic. It is not scary or gory, but it has a sinister air to it. It explores issues of identity, ethics, and mortality, not shying away from the darker aspects of humanity. There are moments of levity, but this is a story where the main character is experimenting on corpses, so it’s not exactly a tale for children.
Third—so…is this just a retelling of Frankenstein? Nope! The bones of this story owe a lot to Mary Shelley’s novel in that it features a scientist trying to reanimate dead matter (there’s also a…let’s say secondary meaning to “Frankenstein-inspired” that you will discover later in season one). But this isn’t just Frankenstein in the Victorian era with a female protagonist. While there will be some similarities (and allusions), this is not the same story.
Who are the characters?
This is a story with a single narrator, a bit like the early days of Welcome to Night Vale. However, there are several secondary characters vital to the plot.
Victoria “Vic” Corvino Trafford, aka The Scientist: The morally gray protagonist and narrator, Vic is an American who inherited a manor belonging to her late father’s family in England. She has been living there for two years at the start of the story. She’s autistic, asexual, gender nonconforming, and most importantly, a James Clark Ross fangirl. She enjoys tinkering in her laboratory, avoiding people, and trying to resurrect the dead. Vic believes in science, not magic, but is willing to give anything a try for her experiment. She is also quite handy with a knife.
John, aka The Boy: John is a stoker from Manchester who used to work in the cotton mills but now works as Vic’s assistant. He’s the Igor to her Frankenstein, the Smithers to her Mr. Burns. He’s assisted her for the two years she has been in England, but she still calls him The Boy. He’s a bit of a yes-man, but there’s more to him than first meets the eye.
Solomon and Rahul: Partners in business and in life, Solomon and Rahul are a perfect balance to each other. Sol can get a bit too hyper-focused, while Rahul is a tad chaotic, but together they equal 1 Functional Person. They run a jewelry store in Manchester—which is actually a front for their alchemy shop in the back room. They are some of the few people Vic trusts enough to tell about her experiment.
Herman: Herman is The Worstᵀᴹ. He’s a resurrectionist, aka a body-snatcher. He digs up fresh corpses and sells them to Vic for her experiments. Vic hates him, but he’s a necessary evil for her purposes.
Vic’s Mother: Vic’s mother is dead, but her influence on her daughter’s life still resonates. Vic’s mother was a scientist herself, and she used to tell Vic fantastical stories about impossible things that inspired Vic’s inventions.
Lydia: The overseer of Vic’s estate back in America. She was once friends with Vic’s mother before working for the household. She’s highly reliable and knows all the family secrets.
Lady Carmichael: An old friend of Vic’s father. She writes letters to Vic and invites her to a ball. Vic would rather eat coal than attend.
Stove: A cat.
Who made this?
Experiment 31E is an independent podcast written, performed, and edited by Lauren Triola. This is her first time making a podcast, so admittedly there was a learning curve when it comes to voice acting and sound editing, but she’s been writing stories for as long as she can remember. Lauren is autistic and asexual, just like the protagonist, and she has a complicated relationship with gender that inspired Vic being gender nonconforming. Lauren is also a bit of a history nerd—people obsessed with the Franklin Expedition might be familiar with her series of blog posts about John Torrington. Most of the music featured in the podcast was written by Lauren’s sister, Shannon, while a few of the simpler themes were written by Lauren. Lauren also runs all the social media sites and is writing this post (hi!).
Who is this for?
Excellent question!
Obviously, fans of Frankenstein will probably enjoy this story, as will people who enjoy retellings or remixes of Frankenstein, like Mackenzi Lee’s This Monstrous Thing. If you love the character Jack from Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series then you will most likely love Vic as well, since she is very similar to Jack—as in I-did-not-realize-how-similar-until-it-was-too-late-Seanan-please-don’t-sue similar (basically they’re both a combination of queer/neurodivergent with mad scientist, so if that’s your very specific trope, you’ll love it).
If you participate in Tumblr’s annual book club of Dracula Daily, or listen to the podcast @re-dracula, then you’ll probably enjoy Experiment 31E too. It’s got a classical literature horror feel to it, with an eerie atmospheric sound.
Fans of AMC’s The Terror may enjoy the mix of speculative fiction and history. There are plenty of historical Easter eggs in this podcast—including some references to polar exploration and the Franklin Expedition. While this story takes place a couple years before the expedition, the writer of this podcast is quite obsessed with Franklin and Co., so expect mentions of some crew members to pop up here and there.
If you enjoy Mike Flanagan’s horror-with-feelings style of writing, like Midnight Mass or Haunting of Hill House, then you might enjoy this too. Experiment 31E isn’t straight up horror like the shows in the Flanaverse, but it’s got some philosophical musings on life and death that wouldn’t be out of place in Flanagan’s work.
All in all, this is a story for anyone who likes creepy things. It’s for anyone who likes protagonists who aren’t completely good or evil but fall somewhere in between. It’s for anyone who has ever felt different or been told that there is something wrong with them. Most importantly, it’s for anyone who wants to hear a mad scientist cackle as they defy the laws of nature and bring something unholy back from the dead.
So give it a listen!
Thanks for reading this far! We hope you give Experiment 31E a try! Check out our trailer for season one below:
