Spirits, Ghosts and (Helen) Gould

Hi folks,

Wishing you the very best for the coming week from everyone at Rusty Towers!

Firstly, we’ve recently updated our Patreon Content Explorer, so it is now up to date through to the end of April. For our newer subscribers (hello!), this is a dedicated page on our website designed to make it a bit more straightforward to find specific Patreon bonuses and browse older releases. There’s also direct links, in listening order, to all our ad-free podcast episodes, so if you’re planning on doing a full re-listen of The Magnus Archives before the release of The Magnus Protocol, this is the easiest way to track down the right episodes.

Last week, we mentioned that, as well as Harlan Guthrie’s Deviser, we have a few other shows joining the RQ Network in May!

Today, we’re so excited to welcome Spirit Box Radio, an award-winning supernatural mystery podcast produced by Hanging Sloth Studios to the RQ Network. As always, we asked the creator of Spirit Box Radio, Eira Major, to introduce themself and their show in an interview that’s exclusive to our Patreon subscribers.

Tell us who you are and a bit about Spirit Box Radio?

I’m Eira Major, and I make audio dramas! I grew up in North Wales but now live in Manchester; it’s a great city but I miss hills and sheep, but if you told me that when I was a kid I’d say it wasn’t possible! I’ve written stories all my life, and Spirit Box Radiois one of the audio dramas I’ve made for my indie production house, Hanging Sloth Studios. It’s a spooky supernatural mystery which follows Sam Enfield, who is unexpectedly tasked with hosting a show about all things magic and arcane despite having very little knowledge and experience. Hosting the show comes with many strange and unusual tasks and soon, as well as liaising with ghosts and fielding complicated questions about the other side from his faithful listeners, Sam finds themself at the centre of a conspiracy which threatens the fabric of reality itself. It’s a story told from the heart with themes of love and grief intertwined with a magical mystery.

What got you into podcasting?

When I worked a regular day job, I passed the time listening to hours of Welcome to Night Vale and many non-fiction shows. It was a great way to pass the time and fill the silence when my hands were busy but my brain was not. When the COVID lockdowns in 2020 started, my house-mate Alex (now a voice actor in Spirit Box Radio!) recommended me several fiction shows to listen to. They were The White Vault, Limetown and The Magnus Archives. What I loved was the freedom of form and the opportunities to write complicated characters you’re less likely to see in mainstream media. As someone who had been trying to publish a novel traditionally for several years, a space where I could tell the stories I wanted to tell without having to compromise on things like representation and scope was really appealing.

In May of 2020, I got the idea that maybe a story I’d written years before could work as an audio drama. Clockwork Bird started airing in June, and by September I’d well and truly caught the bug and started working on the story that would become Spirit Box Radio.

What are you most proud about Spirit Box Radio?

I had absolutely no experience in making audio drama or podcasts at all before I started Clockwork Bird, and I knew that when I started Spirit Box Radio I wanted to focus more on sound design. I never thought I’d be able to get where I am today, so it’s really strange to think about! It was a really sharp learning curve but by the end of SBR’s Season One I was editing episodes with more than 10 characters, in complicated, moving environments and adding in plenty of groovy effects. It’s been a really difficult thing to get to grips with and I still struggle with some aspects of it to this day, but of everything in the show it’s the sound design I feel most proud of my progress in.

You can listen to Spirit Box Radio wherever you find podcasts, or on the Rusty Quill website. If you enjoy the show, please consider leaving a review or rating, as this is the easiest way to support a podcast you enjoy!

Finally, this week’s Friday Patreon bonus is the final episode of season 3 of Enthusigasm. In this episode, Helen Gould is joined by James Makepeace, voice of Dr Elizabeth in Trice Forgotten, Jeffery Nils Gardener, former mastering editor here at RQ, and Naomi Bartoo, the voice of Anh in Trice Forgotten and they’re discussing ghosts! From paranormal encounters to ghostly TV shows and movies, as always this episode is full of stories, anecdotes and info dumps!

Have a good week all!

The Rusty Quill team