Untrue Stories

29/10/2022

This is the kind of audience feedback I live for.

[Image description: screenshot of a tweet from Wireland Ranch with a link to the Untrue Stories Halloween special, reading: "Robin nailed HP Lovecraft's bitch ass."]

29/10/2022

NEW EPISODE! It's our Halloween special—a crossover with bitter karella's Hugo-nominated twitter microfiction The Midnight Pals. George Orwell and H. G. Wells, on a quest to resurrect a Morlock for reasons that are unlikely to become clear at the moment, visit 1920s Rhode Island where they trespass in the house of a certain squid-obsessed horror writer, narrowly escape being axe-murdered, and then stumble into a weird metaphysical forest inhabited by dead horror writers. Will their campfire stories be enough to impress HP "whiny wimp with terrible opinions" Lovecraft, Mary "sweary goth chick" Shelley and Edgar Allan "adult in the room (relatively speaking)" Poe.

Listen at https://untrue-stories.simplecast.com/episodes/midnight-pals-halloween-crossover, or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Goodpods, or your podcatcher of choice. Share and Enjoy!

Untrue Stories is a comedy science fiction serial about the time travel adventures of H. G. Wells, George Orwell, and other classic science-fiction writers. We recently finished our first season of six episodes, which is also available as a single omnibus episode for easy bingeing. The Midnight Pals is a twitter account which reimagines living and dead horror writers as members of a campfire storytelling club in the style of cult teen anthology "Are You Afraid of the Dark?" They can be found on twitter at , and have just started crowdfunding for their third book.

Halloween special featuring bitter karella's Hugo-nominated microfiction The Midnight Pals

28/10/2022

Our Halloween crossover special with Hugo-nominated microfiction The Midnight Pals drops TOMORROW, Saturday 29 October! Here's a teaser, in which George Orwell and H. G. Wells' campfire stories fail to impress H. P. Lovecraft and Mary Shelley. Find all our episodes at https://untrue-stories.simplecast.com, or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Goodpods, or your favourite podcast site or app. (Contains swearing, because Mary Shelley.) Share and Enjoy!

18/10/2022

Announce! UNTRUE STORIES HALLOWEEN CROSSOVER WITH MIDNIGHT PALS! Trailer below!

Untrue Stories' first Halloween special, releasing Saturday 29 October, will be a crossover with bitter karella's Hugo-nominated microfiction The Midnight Pals.

H. G. Wells and George Orwell will sit around the campfire with Edgar Allan Poe, Mary Shelley and H. P. Lovecraft in a new, seasonally spooky, and entirely fabricated time travel escapade.

The Midnight Pals (twitter.com/midnight_pals) is a twitter microfiction account that posts dialogues between horror writers living and dead, imagined as members of a storytelling group that meets around a campfire in the style of teen horror anthology Are You Afraid of the Dark. It's made by the awesome and funny bitter karella, and part of me still can't believe she let me do this. This has been one of the most fun episodes to make so far, and I can't wait for you to hear it.

Listen to the trailer here: https://untrue-stories.simplecast.com/episodes/midnight-pals-halloween-crossover-trailer

Preview of our Halloween crossover special with Hugo-nominated microfiction The Midnight Pals

12/09/2022

Thanks to R**t Arora for a kind and thoughtful review. "If you’ve ever wanted to be in a room full of your favorite dead writers, then this podcast is for you."

https://rireviews.wordpress.com/2022/09/12/untrue-stories-podcast-review/

Summary: Authors try using time travel to fix the world’s problems, and accidentally make them worse.

07/09/2022

SEASON 1 OMNIBUS!
You can now download the entirety of Untrue Stories' first season as a single 102-minute "movie", with short music cues between episodes and a single set of credits at the end, for easy bingeing. Say goodbye to fumbling-about-skipping-theme-music misery! This includes all six main season 1 episodes, plus the three bonus mini-episodes, two of which have been edited into the continuity and the third is included as a post-credits scene. It also makes many improvements to audio that I haven't dared update the main episodes with (but will try at some point.)

George Orwell has rented a getaway cottage on a remote Scottish island to finish work on his groundbreaking novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. Unfortunately, he finds he's been double-booked with the last person he'd choose to take a holiday with—his annoying literary nemesis, H. G. Wells! An argument about the destiny of humanity and the right way to make a cup of tea escalates into an aeon-spanning adventure of time travel and political machination, as Orwell conspires with other classic dystopian science fiction authors to shape the world into the dark futures of their own books using Wells' time-travel technology.

Listen at the link below or on
- Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/complete-season-1-omnibus-the-adventures-of/id1631739039?i=1000578588487
- Spotify https://open.spotify.com/episode/4MdyASg9FzN2xEI5RZttlZ?si=ysRZb5GXSMu2Eu8Tt0Av7w
- Goodpods https://goodpods.com/episodes/23441524
- or all the usual podcast sites/apps
Share and Enjoy!

https://untrue-stories.simplecast.com/episodes/season-1-omnibus

A supercut of all season 1 episodes, for convenient bingeing.

03/09/2022

NEW EPISODE! THE SEASON FINALE!
In "The Wonderful Visit", Orwell, Wells and pals arrive back on Jura in 1948, and the mayhem comes to a crescendo as some unexpected guests arrive.

Listen at the link below or at
Apple https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/6-the-wonderful-visit/id1631739039?i=1000578260372
Google https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9OT1drTWFIXw/episode/ODI2MWM1MTYtMTMxNi00ZjQxLTg4N2EtMmZiMTljMWZjNmQw
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/episode/2Gqm3Gz97865lxFtoKYUm7
Podchaser https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/untrue-stories-4785579/episodes/6-the-wonderful-visit-148992957
Goodpods https://goodpods.com/episodes/23417005
or your usual podcast getting service. If you're not caught up, you can stream the whole season from all the same places.

https://untrue-stories.simplecast.com/episodes/the-wonderful-visit

Orwell, Wells and their pals gather in 1948 for the astonishing season finale. Wells arrives back on the Isle of Jura with an uninvited guest, where things come to a head as even more time travelling science fiction writers arrive to interfere. CAST Robin Johnson as George Orwell Patrick Spragg as H...

01/09/2022

29/08/2022

George Orwell explains to H. G. Wells why his cup of tea sucks, from episode 1 of Untrue Stories

25/08/2022

Hey hey, we're featured on Goodpods!

22/08/2022

NEW MINI-EPISODE!
As a pre-season-finale bonus episode, we bring you THE TELESCREEN PROGRAMME: NEWSPEAK PHRASEBOOK, an exclusive cross-reality broadcast from Orwell's world of 1984! Brush up on Newspeak, the official constructed language of Oceania, maked hardworkwise by top headsciencers to plusficient your speakfulness while decriming your think! LISTENING IS MANDATORY!

Listen at the web link below, or on
🍎 Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-telescreen-programme-newspeak-phrasebook/id1631739039?i=1000576764298
🎚 Google Podcasts https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9OT1drTWFIXw/episode/MGFmNzNkNjYtZDBhMi00YzcxLTgwMmYtOWYxMWQxN2U3OTE
🟢 Spotify https://open.spotify.com/episode/5oNgzodIEtgGG5ObG5bWIO?si=a742c7a5475c4bbb&nd=1
🎙 Goodpods https://goodpods.app.link/PuqWJ3zrHsb
🟣Podchaser https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/untrue-stories-4785579/episodes/the-telescreen-programme-newsp-147816295
or your favourite podcast site/app

https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/untrue-stories-4785579/episodes/the-telescreen-programme-newsp-147816295

The Telescreen Programme: Newspeak Phrasebook from Untrue Stories on Podchaser, aired Sunday, 21st August 2022. Brush up your Newspeak with a selection of typical scenes from Oceanian everyday life, with Oldspeak translation.As a bonus mini-episode, we bring you a telescreen programme from the worl....

07/08/2022

Aaay, we got a review from Sole Twin Talk! It's at 23:20 (after inclusion of our one-minute trailer).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wavtu5_tMAw or the usual podcast platforms.

"Very well written and so funny... I suspect this is the kind of show that you need to listen to at least three episodes to get the full effect." You heard the lady!

(She also accidentally says Orson Welles instead of HG Wells, so I might have to write a mini-episode with Orson now...)

Today marks the 1 year anniversary of Sole Twin Audios! I discuss what STA is up to now, pay tribute to Pat Carroll, interview James C. Taylor (Creator of "M...

06/08/2022

NEW EPISODE!
In season 1 episode 5, "Man Becomes a Different Animal", H. G. Wells has narrowly escaped Orwell's dystopian world of "1984"—only for his malfunctioning time-bicycle to crash in the distant and even more bizarre future that he will eventually chronicle in "The Time Machine". Civilisation has fallen and humanity as we know it is extinct, replaced by pale blue super-evolved subterranean cannibals. How can he hope to find a bike repair shop around here?

https://untrue-stories.simplecast.com/episodes/man-becomes-a-different-animal

or all good podcast sites/apps, including but not limited to
🍎Apple/iTunes https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/5-man-becomes-a-different-animal/id1631739039?i=1000575221030
🟢Spotify https://open.spotify.com/episode/7wWAm691kkKXua90exkFxa?si=5b80caad368c4a6e
🟡 Goodpods https://goodpods.app.link/Nxjtp9p7gsb
⚪️ Podchaser https://podchaser.com/podcasts/untrue-stories-4785579/episodes/5-man-becomes-a-different-anim-146593073

There's a new one-minute trailer (as well as an old two-minute one) that you can find from any of those links, if you want a quick taster.

UNTRUE STORIES is a surreal metafictional science fiction serial following classic SF authors on astonishing, thrilling and entirely untrue adventures through time and worlds. It began when George Orwell accidentally booked a getaway cottage with his literary nemesis H. G. Wells, where they had an argument about tea and things sort of escalated from there. It was originally going to be an anthology series, but the characters decided it isn't.

Share and Enjoy!

31/07/2022

NEW MINI-EPISODE!

"Exile to Hell" is a 7-minute mini-episode, in which Big Brother makes a visit to the Inner Hebrides Joycamp to pay his personal respects to a special prisoner.

The mini-episode takes place somewhere between the events of episode 4, "How a Nation is Exploited". If you're new to Untrue Stories, you could probably enjoy it on its own as a taster, although it does contain spoilers for the foregoing episodes.

https://untrue-stories.simplecast.com/episodes/mini-episode-exile-to-hell
or find it on your favourite podcast site/app.

If you like it, we're new and could really do with recommendations and ratings on Apple Podcasts, Podchaser, Goodpods, or your favourite site/app. Share and Enjoy!

Big Brother makes an unofficial visit to Inner Hebrides joycamp to talk with a special prisoner.

21/07/2022

George Orwell is sick to heck of internet weirdos confusing him with evil alternate-universe George Orwell

20/07/2022

H. G. Wells shows George Orwell his invention, from episode 1. Orwell has rented a Scottish island getaway cottage to complete work on his novel. Unfortunately, he's been double-booked with the very last speculative fiction author he'd choose to go on holiday with. That mayhem isn't gonna know what ensued it!

Find "Untrue Stories" from our pinned post, or on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you find podcasts. If you enjoy it, please leave us a rating — we're new and need 'em. Share and Enjoy!

19/07/2022

NEW BONUS MINI-EPISODE!
George Orwell falls off his bicycle into an alternate universe, where he meets the version of George Orwell that terrible reddit weirdos keep confusing him with.
https://untrue-stories.simplecast.com/episodes/mini-episode-evil-george-orwell

or listen on
🍎 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mini-episode-evil-george-orwell/id1631739039?i=1000570472313
🟢 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3xofmNWhMkrDpyWfx1CwxY?si=8Jp2VhKgQlSaz_lPIjqBlg
🎚️ Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9OT1drTWFIXw/episode/YzVjNWMxNDMtMDc4OC00ZTI5LWE3NjMtZjcxM2Q4YmM2MGZm

(If you enjoy this one, please consider dropping us a rating, 'cause we're getting downvoted by terrible reddit weirdos already)

George Orwell meets the version of George Orwell that internet weirdos often seem to confuse him with.

17/07/2022

"Part Time After Time, part Bing Crosby/Bob Hope old school road trip"—Jessica Berson of Echoes (In) Between (which itself sounds pretty awesome, going by the trailer).

Damnit, now I have to write a road trip movie duet song

Find us wherever you find podcasts!

16/07/2022

Artwork for Episode 5, coming soon to a podcast site near you! IT'S GOT MORLOCKS AND THE ROBOT IN IT! OMG does Sonny have a whole body now? And is Julia older? And WHAT POSSIBLE EXPLANATION is there for the fact that the MORLOCK is clearly BRANDISHING A KNIFE AND FORK? Does he intend to EAT ONE OF OUR HEROES, CAUSING A MUCH LOVED CHARACTER TO SUFFER A POIGNANT AND HORRIBLE DEATH? What a bastard! And oh dear, does H. G.'s bicycle look badly in need of repairs? All or less will be revealed in "Man Becomes a Different Animal", the fifth astonishing, hilarious and entirely fabricated episode of UNTRUE STORIES' first season, "The Adventures of George Orwell and H. G. Wells", COMING SOON TO A PODCAST PLATFORM NEAR YOU. Not caught up on episodes 1-4 yet? No time like now!

13/07/2022

Dystopian authors meet in the pub, from episode 4
Listen to the full episode here: https://untrue-stories.simplecast.com/episodes/how-a-nation-is-exploited or on all normal podcast thingies

13/07/2022

Added a couple of new accounts to our growing social media maintenance list:

- instagram https://www.instagram.com/untrue.stories/ - artwork, production photos if there ever are any, and whatever little fun graphical things I think of

- soundcloud https://www.soundcloud.com/untrue-stories - "bonus tracks" (so far, the theme tune and Oceania 'Tis For Thee) and easily-shareable audio snippets

If you haven't listened yet, UNTRUE STORIES (see https://untrue-stories.simplecast.com, or find us in the usual places you find podcasts) is a literary-satire anthology. Basically the sort of stuff I used to do as Fringe shows, but for your ears. The first season is about an argument about tea between notorious literary rivals George Orwell and H. G. Wells that turned into an astonishing, thrilling and entirely untrue story of time travel and global dystopia.

Share and Enjoy!

A comedy-drama literary satire anthology serial, affectionately parodying different authors and literature each season. Season 1: The Adventures of George Orwell and H. G. Wells

11/07/2022

11/07/2022

Today I
- digitally remastered some of the not-great-quality dialogue in episode 2. This was sort of the audio equivalent of "computer, enhance this grainy security cam footage and tell me if that man has dandruff" but I think it's a little better now.
- re-recorded all of Orwell's lines in episode 1 with my shiny new mic. The shouty bits are a lot less buzzy now.
- added transcripts to all episodes! Yay accessibility.

09/07/2022

NEW EPISODE!

The fourth epsiode of our Season 1 untrue story "The Adventures of George Orwell and H. G. Wells" is HOW A NATION IS EXPLOITED, available now at the link below or on your favourite podcast service (if it's Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Deezer, Pocketcast or PlayerFM.)

Having appeared to our heroes in a time travelling iron lung, Big Brother himself relates how he led a crack squad of twentieth-century dystopia authors to world domination – and what went wrong.

Featuring Robin Douglas as George Orwell, Patrick Spragg as H. G. Wells, Tara Court as Julia, Liselle Nic Giollabháin as Thought Deputy Police Chief Rutherford and Eve Nicholls as the security guard, PLUS SPECIAL GUEST DYSTOPIANS Alexander Paul Walsh as Yevgeny Zamyatin, Simon Beck as Aldous Huxley, David Court as Ray Bradbury and Alex Noussias as Margaret Atwood.

Links to previous episodes, RSS feed etc, can be found on the simplecast site via the link below. We're new and could really do with follows, shares and ratings. Just sayin'.

Share and Enjoy!
https://untrue-stories.simplecast.com/episodes/how-a-nation-is-exploited

Big Brother tells our heroes how he led an elite squad of dystopian authors to world domination... and how it went wrong.

08/07/2022

Working on some new artwork that's less likely to get me sued by literal Muppets

08/07/2022

George Orwell and H. G. Wells argue about tea, from Episode 1.

08/07/2022

The first season of Untrue Stories is THE ADVENTURES OF GEORGE ORWELL AND H. G. WELLS – the fascinating, extraordinary and entirely untrue story of how the notorious rivalry between two of speculative fiction's greatest authors became a time-travelling shenanigan factory.

You can listen to the two-minute trailer below. Two minutes! THAT'S LESS TIME THAN IT TAKES TO BREW A NICE CUP OF TEA. You can pour your tea, listen to the trailer AND spend a further one to three minutes mulling over whether to risk a whole episode.

Share and Enjoy!

https://untrue-stories.simplecast.com/episodes/season-1-trailer

Trailer for Untrue Stories season 1, "The Adventures of George Orwell and H. G. Wells"

08/07/2022

HOW TO LISTEN
💻 on the web: https://untrue-stories.simplecast.com
🍎 Apple Podcasts/iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/untrue-stories/id1631739039
🟢 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1C6gBab1F1ELgH5cg24GRN?si=6985fccd36e04dbf&nd=1
🎚 Google Podcasts: https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9OT1drTWFIXw%3D%3D

You can also follow us on
🐦 twitter https://twitter.com/untrue_stories
📸 instagram https://instagram.com/untrue-stories
☁️ soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/untrue-stories

If you're enjoying Untrue Stories, you can help us out by
- telling your pals
- leaving us a rating or review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes, Podchaser, Goodpods, or your favourite podcast site/app
- donating (Untrue Stories is made by me and my pals for fun, but this will help cover our hosting costs) at ko-fi.com/untrue-stories

‎Fiction · 2022