The other stories 

Hi folks, 

After our busy and exciting week last week, things are beginning to get back to normal here at Rusty Towers. 

Firstly, we have been blown away by your enthusiasm for Magnus Live: The Hilltop. Tickets for the first date at Clapham Grand on October 30th 2025 sold out immediately and we were able to work with our agents to add an additional date for November 6th 2025 with limited tickets still available at https://www.aegpresents.co.uk/event/magnus-live/. We can’t wait to share this show with you! 

This week on the Magnus feed we're sharing the first winning story from our horror writing competition, Rusty Fears 6. 'Hollow' is written by Sam Lazure, inspired by the prompt “birds”, and is performed by Sarah Lambie. It will be shared in early access on Tuesday at 4pm GMT and publicly on the feed on Thursday at 4pm GMT.  

Once all six short horror stories have been released, there will be a public poll for listeners to vote for their favourite. The overall winner will get the opportunity to write a case that will be featured in The Magnus Protocol, so be sure to listen to every story and keep an eye out for the voting form in a few weeks’ time. 

Thank you for your incredible support for The Magnus Protocol Mysteries board game! With 18 days remaining the campaign has already raised an incredible nearly $230,000 from over 2000 backers. Find out more and back to secure your own copy of the game here: https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/indie-boards-and-cards/magnus-protocol-mysteries  

Finally, in news from the RQ Network, today we’re very pleased to be welcoming The Other Stories, as well as a number of other brilliant shows from the same team at Hawk and Cleaver including, After the Gloaming, Horror Hangout, Miscreation, Tales of What. The Other Stories is a weekly horror and sci-fi anthology, blending genres and exploring the full range horror has to offer. 

[Image description artwork for The Other Stories podcast. In Image Text reads The Other Stories. A Green Skull wearing black over ear headphones branded Hawk and Cleaver. Red octopus like tentacles cover the skull and cables are plugged in to the skull.]

As always, exclusively for our Patreon members, we spoke to the team at Hawk and Cleaver to find out a bit more about them and their show! As they have produced a number of different shows, we’ll be sharing these insights across a few weeks on Patreon, each highlighting a different show. You can find more details, and listen to them on our website at:  
 
The Other Stories - https://rustyquill.com/show/the-other-stories/  

Tales of What - https://rustyquill.com/show/tales-of-what/  

Miscreation - https://rustyquill.com/show/miscreation/  

Horror Hangout - https://rustyquill.com/show/horror-hangout/  

After the Gloaming - https://rustyquill.com/show/after-the-gloaming/  

Or find a full list of Hawk and Cleaver shows at: https://theotherstories.net/   

The Other Stories 

Co-founder, Producer: Luke Kondor 

Tell us who you are and a bit about The Other Stories? 

My name is Luke Kondor and I am the voice and one of the showrunners of THE OTHER STORIES - a weekly weird fiction podcast bringing you the best horror, sci-fi, thriller, and wtf stories this side of the apocalypse!  

Way back in 2016, four baby writers huddled around a Skype call and kicked around some ideas for stories they wanted to write and the ways in which they could tell them.  

One of the kicked-loose ideas was that of a podcast.  

It was to be a melting pot of ideas, a kaleidoscope of spooks and surprises, a giant stick with which to prod the collective unconscious right where it least expected it.  

They wrangled in some narrators, edited the audio, added some music, and let the show loose upon the world. 

CUT TO:  

8 years later and the little podcast is now a fully formed beast, working over 30 amazing collaborators from all across the world, with over 500 episodes of original fiction, over 12 million downloads, and a few awards to its name.  

None of would have been possible without the ongoing support of our listeners…and of course, the help of a cosmic hell-bird / managing editor called Kez (he smokes rollups and hates adverbs). 

If you’d like to tumble into the deep well of our back catalogue, we put together a page here for newcomers: https://theotherstories.net/start 

What got you into podcasting? 

Over a decade a go, I used to listen to This American Life and The Adam & Joe show religiously. Those two shows made me laugh, cry, and every emotion in-between.  

Back then, I was making short films and posting them online, and I loved doing that, but it took me a long time to put out each and every short film. 1-2 years in some cases. At the time I don’t believe fiction podcasts were a thing… at least not in the form they are now, but I always thought it would be a great medium for it.  

A perfect place to tell any and all stories and to do so frequently.  

And after 8+ years of putting out new stories every single Monday morning… I think I might’ve been on to something.  

What are you most proud about The Other Stories? 

 Most of our stories are single stories that can be listened to on a single bus ride, or loading the laundry, or grabbing the shopping, etc, but we’ve also put out more ambitious serialised projects.  

We have a weird western series that I can only describe as The Lone Ranger meets Hellboy. It’s called Swift Bear & Laxon, and it is brutal, funny, and incredibly strange. I’d recommend anyone to try that for an off-the-wall horror action romp. LISTEN HERE. 

Personally, though, I’ve always had a soft spot for our production of my story TOAST. It’s a short tale about a robot toaster trying to find someone to serve toast to, in a post-apocalyptic city. You can listen to that episode here: LISTEN HERE. 

You can listen to The Other Stories now, wherever you find podcasts or on the Rusty Quill website! If you enjoy the show please consider leaving a rating or review on your podcast player of choice, as this is the best way to support a new show! 

Have a good week all! 

The Rusty Quill team