beneath the static issue #2
Happy Halloween!!
I don’t know about you, but Halloween is my favorite holiday. I know, I know - a lot of people think it’s overrated, and it’s definitely fallen off in recent years with Trunk or Treating (in my opinion); but there’s something magical about this time of year that I love. Pumpkins, ghosts, vampires, werewolves - all of which you’ll find featured in some way or another in most of my works. I love the supernatural (and coincidentally Supernatural. It’s my comfort show), and so a lot of my work is influenced by ghost stories, folk lore, sci-fi, you name it. So, if you celebrate Halloween year-round, or have a love for all things ghastly and ghoulish, then you’re in the right place!
So, to those of you that celebrate, and those that don’t: Happy Halloween!
Now, not to bury the lead here, because we DO have a new episode of Smackie’s premiering tonight at 7PM - but, I wanted to share sneak peak at something else I’ve been cooking up in my cauldron. If you’ve done some exploring on my site, you’ve undoubtedly come across the page for Smiles from Bright Town. It’s a fun little project inspired by the likes of Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared, Mr. Crocket, Amanda the Adventurer, and My Friendly Neighborhood. Pretty much anything that turns the children’s programming trope on its head.
I have no clue how to make this any smaller. I’m sorry lol.
Before we get started, I cannot stress this enough: this project is NOT for children.
It’s fun and whimsical on the surface, but it is very much a horror podcast and I’d rather not be responsible for keeping your kids up at night because you turned on Smiles from Bright Town to entertain and educate them, and Sunny & the gang scared them half to death. I may be a little too ambitious with this project, considering I’m a solo creator: writing, producing, voicing, editing, distributing, sacrificing, embalming - you get the picture. BUT, my plan is for this to be an ongoing production along the lines of Welcome to Night Vale (which, if you haven’t listened, you should. It’s my favorite podcast). I’m still worldbuilding, and there’s a quite a bit to go before I actually release this on streaming platforms. But, I sat down and hammered out Episode 1 a couple weeks ago, and finally got around to piecing it together, and I’m super happy with how it turned out. So, if you’re here, then that means you get to give Episode 1 a listen before anyone else! Just think of it as a fun little Halloween treat from me to you!
As of right now, it’s untitled. Just Episode 1. I’ve got about 20 Episodes in some form on conceptualization sketched out, and in a perfect world, I’d put all of these together ahead of the release date and have them batched so that I’m ahead of the game. However, we’ll see how things progress, and if I can hold out that long before I’m too excited to start putting this out there for everyone to enjoy.
Anyways, without further ado - here’s Episode 1 of Smiles from Bright Town!
A little update before you go
Just a quick update on Smackie’s Smile Shack. I’m currently in the process of editing Shift 8 - Customer Complaint. I’m about 3/4 of the way through with it, and then it’s into Premiere to bake in some visuals for YouTube and scheduling it. I’ve got Episodes 9 through 11 completely recorded, and they’re next on the chopping block. I’ve made some revisions to Episode 12 (the final episode), and still need to step into the booth to lay down lines for it. I originally planned to knock it out when I recorded 9 through 11, but uh. I may have blown my voice out doing those episodes, so that never happened lol. Then sickness ran through the house, and we were passing cooties back and forth, and NOW, I’m finally at a point that my voice feels fine enough to jump back into recording.
Did I mention I might be procrastinating just a bit because I’m sad to be recording the final episode of Smackie’s?
I’m also struggling on deciding on what to work on after Smackie’s is wrapped. September is what I’m aiming for as far as yearly release dates for the projects I’m working on, so I’ve got some time to figure it out, and put it all together. If I can work in some time with the voice actor for The Hanson Tapes, that’s for sure the next release to look forward to. Otherwise, I’ve got some writing and recording to do to get the next project off the ground. Hmmm, maybe a poll at a later date? We’ll see.
Either way, that’s it for this issue of Beneath the Static!
Enjoy your Halloween Night, whether that’s taking your kids out trick or treating, or settling down inside and handing out candy and watching scary movies. Wherever this night takes you, I hope it’s your most horrifying Halloween yet!
Just a peak behind the curtains on my editing process. OH, and I just noticed - the main character technically doesn’t have a name. I just refer to him as “Present Me” when writing and editing. But his name is never spoken within Smackie’s. Just a fun little easter egg, I guess.
