Slumberland is an audio ... drama (comedy? adventure? slice of life?) podcast by Tom Mansell. It follows the misadventures of freelance sound man Thomas Edward M. as he attempts to make recordings for an oral history project on the small island community of Slumberland in the great lakes region. What started out as a simple assignment goes really weird the moment he steps on to the island. Talking sea shells, mysterious locals, freak weather events, and much more soon throw the entire project's time table into disarray. Will Thomas ever get more than a few recordings done in a day? Why is Slumberland a nexus for weird crap? Is everyone in these episodes just a bit too calm in the face of the inexplicable?
Slumberland is a story where a man who records all of his conversations and narrates his circumstances because he's the protagonist of a podcast meets a series of quirky islanders who give him the runaround (accidentally or deliberately) despite his best efforts to just record oral history accounts. Multiple competing plot threads are weaving themselves around him and he's fully aware of how bizarre his situation is but he's determined to ignore the madness in the name of professionalism or stubbornness. People may go missing at an alarming rate, there may be a significant ghost problem on the beach, half of the island's residents may be cursed or have minor superpowers or both but there are still recordings to be made come hell or high water. (Both of these things seem plausible given the setting)
Slumberland is a contemporary fantasy pretending to be magical realism or a magical realism tale disguised as contemporary fantasy. I really can't tell. Everybody is so blasé about the paranormal stuff. So, many stupid puns. I'm most of the way through it and ninety episodes in it feels like it's just gotten through the first act ... maybe ... I guess. If you want to listen to a genre-defying tale of intrigue, sentient fungal colonies, and calm narration then Slumberland can be found here.
IRON NODER XIV: THE RETURN OF THE IRON NODER