Podcast Spotlight: Cast of Wonders
Cast of Wonders is a young adult speculative fiction podcast published by Wolfsbane Publishing. They host a variety of stories, horror, fantasy, science fiction, dark or humorous, a variety of lengths (the longer ones tend to be serialized). They also posted a young adult novel “Phoenix Watching” by Chris Lewis Carter about a summer camp for mythical creatures. They put together an excellent show, well produced and with a lot of great stories.
HISTORY
Cast of Wonders is the second podcast produced by Wolfsbane Publishing, owned by Barry J. Northern. Cast Macabre was the first, a horror podcast, which lasted just under 50 episodes before it faded around late 2011
Cast of Wonders launched its first episode in July 2011, “A Suitable Pet” by Abigail Hilton. The show was hosted by Graeme Dunlop and edited by Barry J. Northern himself. The staff has changed around in the years since, and Marguerite Kenner is now both the host and the editor.
BEST EPISODES
- “I Kill Monsters” by Nathaniel Lee
- “The Cardinals of Ever June” by Sylvia Anna Hivén
- “Shimmer” by Amanda Davis
- “Daphne’s Daughter” by Jennifer Tiemann
- “Nuclear Family” by Alex Shvartsman
- “Alienation” by Katherine Sparrow
- “Tell Them of the Sky” by A.T. Greenblatt
- “The Girl with the Piccolo” by Charity Tahmaseb
- “The Filigreed Cage” by Krystal Claxton
- “Same-Day Delivery” by Desmond Warzel
- “The Eye of Reason” by S.R. Algernon
- “The Monster and Mrs. Blake” by Alethea Kontis
- “A House in the Forest” by Shawn Bailey
- “To Be True” by Jess Hyslop
- “Downsizing Pluto” by Shane Halbach
MY OWN WORK
Two of my own stories have been produced for the cast. “The Quest Unusual” was my first appearance there about a farmer’s encounter with a dragon dressed as a knight. “This Is Your Problem, Right Here” appeared very recently, a contemporary fantasy story which starts as a plumber is telling a businesswoman that the problem with the plumbing is the trolls.
COMING UP
Next month I’ll cover the Journey Into… podcast, which is hosted, edited, and produced by Marshal Latham, which mixes re-casts of radio fiction (and occasional nonfiction) shows from across the history of radio shows, as well as some reprints and occasional original fiction.
