INFO/PRESS

What is Untrue Stories?

Untrue Stories is a surreal, metafictional science-fiction comedy-drama audio serial indie podcast about classic speculative fiction authors going on time travel adventures.

There is currently (September 2022) one complete season of six 15-minute (ish) episodes plus three bonus mini-episodes. You can listen to them all at https://untrue-stories.simplecast.com/episodes, or to the whole season as a single omnibus episode.

About the creator

Untrue Stories is produced, written and edited by Robin Johnson. Robin has a background in playwriting, and has produced several 'literary satire' plays on the Edinburgh Fringe and elsewhere, including Broken Holmes, a Sherlock Holmes parody (2009 and 2013) (★★★★ BroadwayBaby, Fest, FringeReview; official sell out show 2013); Stitched Up, a dissection of Frankenstein (2010) (★★★★ Fest); and In a Handbag, Darkly, a sequel to Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest (2012) (★★★★★ Broadway Baby, ★★★★ Scotsman, FringeGuru; official sell out show). He also creates interactive fiction games, for which he has won the international Interactive Fiction Competition (IFComp) with Detectiveland (2016) and the Spring Thing with The Xylophoniad (2016), and been nominated for twelve XYZZY Awards.

Untrue Stories is his first venture into audio drama, and was initially conceived as a seasonal anthology of similar literary deconstructions. The first three episodes were recorded with friends in 2020 during the first Covid lockdown, and released on Soundcloud as The Adventures of George Orwell and H. G. Wells. In June 2022 the show was revived and set up as a podcast serial hosted on Simplecast. The early episodes were 'remastered' (or at least de-noviced) and new episodes produced. At some point during this time, Robin decided—or the characters told him—that the storyline was too much fun to conclude after a single season, and the show was completely rebranded as a longform serial, with new pulp-style collage artwork and a widened focus on classic science fiction in general.

In Season 1, writing for each episode didn't start until production finished on the previous one, as Douglas Adams reportedly did for the original Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio series. Robin finds this keeps him committed to the story and allows him to pick up on little things (or big things) that the cast bring to the show. It also helps him avoid getting spoilered—that's not entirely a joke.

About the cast

Untrue Stories is voice-acted by Robin and some of his friends. We do this for fun. The cast have a wide range of levels of experience—some are professional actors, some have audio or radio experience but have not voice-acted on audio dramas before, and some are total newcomers.

Where to listen

Episodes

As of September 2022, Untrue Stories has completed its first season of six full episodes of (around) 15 minutes in length, plus three bonus mini-episodes (2 to 7 minutes) and two trailers (one 1 minute and one 2 minutes.) The whole season is also available as a single omnibus episode for easy bingeing.

We plan a second season for release in early 2023.

Transcripts

Transcripts are available for every episode including mini-episodes and trailers. From our episode list on simplecast, click through to an individual episode's page, then into the '"TRANSCRIPT" tag (or append /transcript to the URL of the episode page.) They're also directly linked from the show notes of each episode.

Social media

You can find Untrue Stories on Twitter (@untrue_stories), Instagram (untrue.stories), Facebook (untruestoriespodcast) and soundcloud (untrue-stories).

Donations

While Untrue Stories is a for-fun project with a budget of almost zero, Robin pays a little out of pocket for the hosting. We accept donations at ko-fi.com/untruestories.

Cover art

The Untrue Stories cover art can be downloaded in PNG and JPG format at various resolutions (up to 3000x3000px) from this Google drive folder.

Taglines/descriptions

Tagline: George Orwell and H. G. Wells are back in their funniest adventure yet!

Short description: Surreal sci-fi comedy-drama serial podcast. George Orwell, H. G. Wells and other classic speculative fiction authors go on adventures through time and worlds.

Long description: A surreal sci-fi comedy-drama serial podcast. George Orwell has booked a remote getaway cottage to complete work on his groundbreaking speculative fiction novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, only to find he's been double-booked with the last person he'd choose to take a holiday with—his literary nemesis, H. G. Wells! An argument about the destiny of humanity and the proper way to make tea escalates into an aeon-spanning adventure, as Orwell conspires with other classic dystopian authors, including Aldous Huxley, Ray Bradbury and Margaret Atwood, to use Wells' time-travel technology to shape the world into the dark future of their own predictions.

Coverage, reviews, and quotes

Review in Sole Twin Talk episode 7, 7 August 2022 (starts at 23:21): "Very well written and so funny. I enjoyed the banter between the two main characters."

Review by Reet Arora, 12 September 2022: "If you’ve ever wanted to be in a room full of your favorite dead writers, then this podcast is for you."

Fiction Podcast Weekly #170, 9 September 2022 mentioning our season 1 finale and omnibus.

"As a big fan of classic Sci-Fi writers, the premise of HG Wells and George Orwell traveling through time together tickles my brain in all the right places. Part Time After Time, part Bing Crosby/Bob Hope old school road trip."—Jessica Berson, creator of Echoes(in)Between (twitter)

"Untrue Stories is one of the best-written fiction podcasts I've ever heard. It scratches the Hitchhiker's Guide itch way better than the actual Hitchhiker's reboot"—Nick Douglas, creator of Roommate From Hell (twitter)

Contact

You can contact Robin by email at robindouglasjohnson@gmail.com.