In defense of the thing that lets us make the thing. — It appears to be somewhat of a theme on this blog where I, an independent creator of fiction and nonfiction podcasts, see a handful of hot takes related to money and paying artists in my industry, heave a heavy sigh, and reach for my laptop. The solution is probably just…

The Layoffs, Lapses, and Lessons of Rusty Quill — A Research, Opinion, and Advocacy Piece by Newton Schottelkotte, with editing by Tal Minear and Wil Williams Disclaimer: Newt Schottelkotte is currently the Marketing Director for Fable & Folly Network. Neither Wil Williams nor Tal Minear are affiliated with Fable & Folly. Press play below to listen to this article. This is a love story. I grew up listening to fiction podcasts. I make fiction podcasts…

In response (or rather, agreement) to the Globe’s 2022 production of “I, Joan”. — I, like most marginalized people on this Earth, have an incredibly strained relationship with Catholicism, but it made some points when it found a way to secretly teach third graders in Religion class what trans people are. We all somewhat knew it, even if we didn’t know it. Like a…

Rising tides, the indie question, and how a punk band holds the key. — If you don’t know the song and dance yet, let me walk you through. Every couple of months, in between articles proclaiming that this new million dollar show from Amazon or QCODE just invented the fiction podcast, a media outlet will give a brief list of the top podcasts you…

Money money money… does it have to be a dirty word? — Sometimes (let’s be honest here, often) when I can’t sleep, I go on Wikipedia and gleefully fall down the rabbit hole of increasingly niche and fascinating articles. It’s why I’m such a dab hand at trivia nights; mine is a knowledge base composed of useless factoids and weird stories only…

Come into my podcast wine cellar, Dr. Jones. — Please note: This essay chooses to interpret the character in question as a transgender man. Said interpretation is not show-canon, and is unlikely to be, but one that I found fascinating as a trans person myself. You can enjoy the show yourself here. Augie Eckhart is like if you took…

An unitemized list of stuff that made my ears happy. — In case you haven’t noticed, I love a good numbered list. Chalk it up to the autism, or the addiction to fancy notebooks, or the Pepe-Silvia style whiteboard wall in my bedroom that houses everything from new podcast ideas to my grocery list, but I like being organized. That being…

An odyssey of the truly distressed fellows that live in my ears and brain. — As mentioned in previous writings, I have a type when it comes to podcast characters. I like my audio men how I like my Taylor Swift songs: emotionally complicated and begging to be submitted for psychiatric evaluation. …

How Old Gods of Appalachia helped me come home. — CW: This article contains mentions of transphobia, and the use of reclaimed homophobic slurs. At the beginning of the summer, I took a trip with my father to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. …