You’ve made it to American Abyss. We’re the Editorial Team, and we’ll be guiding you through the Palmyra Exclusion Zone one step at a time. The Government is trying to keep the truth about Palmyra under wraps, but we have people inside and outside the city working day and night to expose the truth.
Here’s what we know:
There are over 100,000 people still trapped within the city
After the mysterious phenomenon “The Flash” Palmyra was quarantined on March 31.
Fighting between the Liberty Lions of several branches of the Federal Government (including the ATF, DHS, and FBI) is ongoing, and has no end in sight.
The Government has issued a communications blackout around the city, and is restricting humanitarian access to the war zone.
Kurdizov Industries has stepped up to provide medical care for citizens stuck within the city, which has led to an outcry of opposition. Many think that the administration is using this is tragedy to further privatization Federal services like FEMA.
Some (unconfirmed) reports claim that there is a mysterious illness spreading through the city. The government has categorically denied this, claiming that the quarantine is a safeguard against contaminants released by the ”Flash.”
We are still trying to verify much of this information, but communication within the city is sparse and travels slowly. We will release more comprehensive news as we have it. If you’d like to stay informed about the situation within the Palmyra Exclusion Zone, please sign up below.
Supporting this Project
If you like what we do here, you might want to help support us. There's two ways you can do this:
Free Members
Sign up as a free member for our newsletter on our website. As we release newly recovered audio, images, and documents, you'll be the first to know.
Subscribe to our podcast, "American Abyss," on YouTube! Our podcast feed will launch later this year, after our Kickstarter concludes.
Paid Membership
If you're interested in financially supporting the show, consider supporting our Kickstarter, which launches on August 21! There you can get early and ad-free access to our podcast, bonus content, limited edition physical rewards, and our first zine!
I'm very excited to announce that I'll be hosting a weekly listening party for Shelterwood's first season over at @podcast-bookclub, starting next week on Wednesday, July 8th at 8 p.m. EST and repeating weekly until just about Halloween :) If you're not already in the PBC discord, you really ought to check it out - it's an exceptionally well managed and positive community for all lovers of audio fiction. Come on down, neighbors!
Celebrating and creating audio fiction together, the bookclub strives to build a welcoming community space with audio drama at the heart of
there are places in the world today that are experiencing 40°C for the first time in recorded history. of course there's no way to know whether chucking billionaires into volcanos will appease the sun god but i feel we're doing the scientific method a disservice if we don't at least try
Episode Four of Our Wars Have Ended has arrived! As ever, really hope you enjoy it, and thank you so much for listening.
As Caul Serrikane is dragged forcibly through the Cyshanic justice system and out the other side, she encounters at least one possible ally - that is, if she can bring herself to trust anyone.
Hey everyone; lotta stuff happening in the ongoing now. Want a small break and hear something gay? Try Curse of the Weeping Damsel. It’s the first season of Jesse’s Lockbox Anthology. Give it a try!
Hello hello!!! We are looking for a few roles for our latest episode of Year of Horror, Empty Nest. These are unpaid roles
Genre: Horror
Synopsis: Rory is a bereft mother grieving the loss of her daughter, haunted by an impossible hound. We follow as Rory loses her composure chasing this creature, desperately seeking absolution.
Content Warnings:
Sex,
Gore,
Death of a child,
Parental grief,
Suicidal ideation (brief mention),
Gun violence,
Toxic relationship,
Death of an animal.
Submission Deadline - 30th of April 2026
To audition email [email protected] with an audio file containing your audition. the subject heading ‘Audition for [Role] by [Name you want to be credited as]’ (Eg. ‘Audition for Rory by Jane Doe’). The audio file should be named the same way. Please also include your discord handle, if you have one.
Auditions should be recorded using the setup you will use for the actual recordings and should include no effects or processing. You may include up to two takes of each line or monologue though one is perfectly fine.
If you have any questions email us at [email protected] .
Link to all the roles and audition lines. Read Highlighted lines.
Radio San Lazaro is created by two transfems that have witnessed and experienced the heavy disparity of wealth and social privilege in the United States. In part because of that, 100% of the proceeds made through our Patreon will be used to assist other trans folk and those being persecuted by ICE.
Get more from Radio San Lazaro on Patreon. A Semi-Anthology Fiction Podcast. Support Radio San Lazaro and get exclusive access to their work
We plan to do this with complete transparency surrounding the movement of funds. Every month, we will publicly post our earnings from the Patreon, as well as where we have donated the funds to show that they have gone entirely to the causes we promised.
Some of the initial places we will be donating to are the Trans Continental Pipeline, a service for helping relocate transfolk from more hostile states to Colorado; and the Colorado Rapid Response Network, which actively helps protect communities from ICE, because ALL ICE activity is unjust.
Not all our funds will be going toward Colorado-specific organizations, and we will continue to search out additional recipients, but these first few are ones that are literally close to home for the show's producers. We personally know people who have been helped by TCP, as well as some of those volunteering with the organization. We also know people whose families have been targeted by ICE and who have been helped by the CRRN.
I love my country – by which I mean not the government but rather the land, and the people in it. We want to do just a little to help these communities to keep themselves safe and empowered. We hope you will join us if you can.
how do you find so many smaller audio dramas? i seem to always find out about them through you
OMG this makes me so happy to hear !!! i am glad to be able to spread the good word of smaller shows :DD there is so much good stuff out there in the wide wide world of audio drama…..
as to how i actually find them, it's a bit of a mix (+me just generally being way too online) but the main things that i can actually concretely describe/recommend would be these:
endorsements from creators i already love:
either following them on social media & seeing what they share, or paying attention to cross-promotion like feed/trailer swaps etc - lots of audio drama creators are also big audio drama fans, & are just as enthusiastic about other people's shows as their own :]
(kind of adjacent to this, another way to explore shows is by looking at who's involved in what you already love - e.g. if you really enjoyed a particular VA's performance it can be worth just looking them up individually to see if they have a website or something similar that lists what else they've been in!! same for sound designers/writers/editors/etc)
@audiofictioncouk 's weekly roundups:
lists of recently premiered shows that have been added to the absolutely invaluable audiofiction.co.uk database, posted each week on the cambridge geek patreon (+also viewable on the website forum)
this is def where i find most of the smallest of them ! whenever i see a new list get posted i try & carve out a moment within the next day or so to sit down & go through it, adding any that even slightly interest me to my podcatcher & adding at least an episode or 2 from each to a playlist i have set up for precisely this purpose <3 then between whatever else i'm listening to, i can go through that list & try something that will be entirely new (+ fairly easy to stay caught up with since theyre still so new hehe) - i don't always stick with them, but i'm glad to have tried them nonetheless !
if you have Discord, the Podcast Book Club (website here) (server invite link here) is also a great place to talk to people about audio drama & find eagerly offered recommendations(sometimes from the show's very own creators themselves!!) & has pretty regular social listen-alongs as well:))
otherwise um.??? i dont know.. i check the audio drama tag here every now & then…but sometimes a show literally just falls into my lap and i dont remember how it got there. but it becomes cemented in my mind forever<3
the main thing i think is being open-minded !! if anything about a show's description is interesting it's worth giving at least one episode a proper try even if it's not what you would normally listen to, you might be surprised :] and if you didn't like it, you are simply honing your palette & being a discerning and well-read(well-listened???) podcast fan <33
6:30 MST - How to Make Art When the World is Burning - Lauren Shippen
The State of Audio Fiction
Where is the world of audio fiction today? From networks to funding to our current favorites to trends in content, your three TAFCON founders sit down to reflect on audio fiction today – and how we got to where we are now. Let's kick off our first TAFCON by talking all about this medium we're joined here to celebrate and learn more about!
Audio Fiction You Can Play With
In a kaleidoscopic journey through his twelve years in audio fiction, Gabriel Urbina (Wolf 359, The Harbingers, Audible’s Gasolina and Hit Singles, and more) guides us through his evolving perception of what makes satisfying audio fiction and what proves so endlessly fascinating about this medium. Using examples from his own work as well as work that has inspired him, Gabriel tries to nail down what is at the core of a great audio fiction moment.
Nuance and Niche in Voice Acting
Voice acting is one of the most important aspects of any audio drama – but it’s also one of the least discussed in terms of art, craft, and community! Learn from this panel of seasoned audio drama voice actors about what they do what they do. How does voice acting differ across medium, genre, and style? How do voice actors make the choices they make, and how does that add to the art of script in front of them? What is the role of voice actors in the audio drama community? How do we lobby to give them all an EGOT right now? Let's dig into the why and the how of voice acting.
Marketing Smarketing
Across all different art forms, marketing is seen as a dreaded chore. In podcasting, though, it can be a lot more like making friends and hanging out than buying a billboard. In this panel, we'll talk about what effective marketing for a podcast looks like in 2026 at every level of production: from indie all the way to big budget IP work. Great marketing can happen on a budget of $0 and hardly any time, as long as you have strong fundamentals and the know-how we're excited to share here.
Where Actual Play and Scripted Fiction Meet
What can actual play learn from audio fiction, what can audio fiction learn from actual play, and what's actually the difference between these two? These two forms of podcasting overlap, but there's much more knowledge to be shared between them than there could be – and sharing more could help us all from writing to sound design to marketing. Learn about the connections between a good actual play GM and a good audio fiction director, how players and voice actors can learn immediately applicable skills from each other, and how a little bit of random chance can help any script.
Adapting Audio Drama
A good story can exist in multiple forms, across all kinds of media – but how do you actually translate something from the page to audio, or audio to screen? Learn from folks who have done exactly this to find out what changes they had to make and how they made them. It’s time to kill your darlings that only work in their original form, but meet some beautiful new audio darlings along the way.
Solo-Producing an Audio Drama
Don’t have the budget, connections, or energy to cast an entire audio drama? You literally don’t have to. Solo produced audio dramas made by one person from start to finish are a fundamental backbone of audio dramas throughout podcasting history. But how do you manage all of that alone? From editing yourself to setting deadlines to keeping yourself sane, this panel will help you launch a podcast with the only resource you’ll always have at the ready: yourself.
Community in Audio Fiction
Community in audio fiction gets a lot of talk, but who are we really talking about, and how do we find our people? In this panel, we break down who the “audio fiction community” is, as well as how to find a community for your show. Community can mean a lot more than listeners or fans. It can mean the people who keep you afloat when things get tough, a trusted group to bounce around ideas – or the always-necessary salt circle so you don’t post your way to professional hell.
Crowdfunding Crash Course
Crowdfunding is hard! It’s overwhelming! Not sure where to begin? We got you. Brad Colbroock and Tal Minear tell you everything they know about the state of audio drama crowdfunding. You’ll learn how to make a good crowdfunding campaign (which includes what you should never ever do), different ways to promote it, and how to avoid burnout while funding. We’re fitting as much as we can into this crash course!
How to Make Art When the World is Burning
So things outside are . . . kinda bad! As artists, how do we keep creating when we have less time, less energy, less money, and maybe less hope? Learn from Atypical Artist’s Lauren Shippen (The Bright Sessions, Two Thousand and Late, Breaker Whiskey, and more) about how to channel your rage into writing. Maybe it means writing about the future you want to live in. Maybe it means taking time to actually rest. Maybe it means writing about a demon possessing you to cause mayhem because capitalism really, really sucks.
With the Kickstarter for The Lion and the Adder fully funded (though there's still time to support us!) we're now looking to fill out the rest of our cast for our supernatural 1920s detective story ✨🔮
We've got a bunch of roles available for all ages and genders and a mix of recurring and single-season roles on offer. Follow this link for the full casting call, which includes links all audition sides 🔗
Please note, we encourage auditions from actors with marginalised identities. Don’t self-reject - we want to hear from you! 💕
This is a PAID opportunity! 💸 Hence the aforementioned Kickstarter 😅 We're offering a minimum rate of £30 per hour of simultaneous recording and £2 per line of asynchronous recording.
The deadline is midnight UK time on June 7th. You must be over 18 to audition.
If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch here, via the website, or fire us an email!
If you would like to listen to... *checks notes* 18 BRAND NEW audio drama pilots, you're in luck!
The 2026 PodJam, hosted by us (hi!) has officially just wrapped up yesterday with our final closing ceremony, and all of the newly-created pilots are publicly available on the PodJam feed now 🎙️
These shows were created in one month during our collaborative event, with this being a first jump into the podcast-making world for many of our participants, so be sure to go show the creators and their projects some love! Liveblogging extra encouraged in the PBC Discord :), or under the #2026 podjam tag here on Tumblr
Hey! All you people who wanted more audiodrama by people of colour! And featuring people of colour!
Now don't get me wrong, I love the works of our favourite audiodrama white boys like Jonny and Alex, Harlan and so on. But we (Gem and I) felt like we wanted to do something a little bit different.
By which I mean: I came them with a faintly unhinged idea based on something I read in an obscure folklore book regarding the vampire fatwa of Mehmed Ebussuud Efendi, and they ran with it, enthusiastically:
"QUESTION: In Rumelia, in a village nearby Salonica, a member of the Christian community has died, a few days after his burial he came at the doors of his relatives and of others and proposed them to pay visit to certain persons, the day after these Christians died as well, a few days later he called another person who died afterwards, in sum, many Christians died, some Muslims living in the same village who saw Christians dying in such a way, were frightened and wanted to flee; is it in conformity with the sharia?
RESPONSE: It is not. The duty of the Muslims, who spent the night sleepless because of what occurred at the Christian village, is to resort to public authorities in order to solve the problem.
QUESTION: His Eminence is begged to explain the solution of the problem aforementioned, and to indicate how to proceed.
RESPONSE: The tongue and the mind are powerless to define the causes and the qualification of such events, and nothing further may be said in addition to what has been said by the authorities who led the investigation. The solution of the problem is as follows: The day the event takes place, a stake, well stripped, has to be driven into the body until the hearth; the problem is therefore expected to be eliminated. If not, and if redness appears on the face of the corps, the head has to be severed and placed next to the feet. Some sources inform us that this method is efficient. If the corps, after having been reburied, is found in the same situation, slaughter it and place it at the same position. If, after the application of all these methods, the problem remains unsolved, take the corps out and burn it with fire. At the time of our well-guided predecessors, the practice of burning with fire was many times reiterated.”
Imagine, I thought to myself, being the poor messenger who had to deliver this fatwa from the Ottoman scholar to this benighted Thessalonican-adjacent village? It was an interesting idea so I brought it to Gem as a possible story for an anthology show. Gem convened a council of Kurd, Turk, and Serbian and the story began to take shape, and then took further shapes into an entire monster-of-the-week series set in a time period which turned out to be a rich vein of cryptids and folklore I had not previously appreciated. Some of these beings you may recognise - the Vila and the Djinn, others like Cingol are so obscure only one of us had heard of him. Our vampires are not quite the vampires you may remember, although they do come from the same source. Where Mina and Jonathan Harker looked to the Host and the Bible for their protection, Süleyman looks to the Qu'ran and the Hadith for his.
And obviously we had to make it gay. That should be a given.
I am infinitely grateful to Gem and their polycule our Turkish collaborators for all the words, phrases, songs, cultural references and everything else they have explained to my exceedingly white British self. I am grateful to the other friends we press-ganged into it for lending their voices, to Lee and Law of Names for enthusiastically agreeing to let us join the network and to everyone who cheered us on.
I hope you enjoy poor Süleyman's journey of self-discovery through the haunted backwoods of the Ottoman Empire.
turnnoffyourmind
theartofmadeline
gummygunk
gracieabrams
