Signals, Worlds, Leonard, and More! Oh My!
Newsletter #008
Hello my pretty little agents of chaos!
Yes, I’m back again, with even more tidings of new audio things I made that you can feed into your brain to go on amazing journeys into lands of mystery and possibility. What can I say? After a slightly famine-y 2022 and 2023, the end of 2024 has turned into an unusually productive period, at least in terms of things actually coming out.
As always, if you don’t want to have to go look for the latest news about my work, if you want the chaos to have your number and your address, so that it can hide in the shadows of your home and then pounce at you when you least expect it, then hit the orange button here and subscribe to the newsletter!
Let’s get to it!
THE SIGNAL
What’s this? Another Audible show? That’s right, ducklings, there’s another show that I got to write for out on Audible today, all eight episodes of it ready for your binging pleasure whenever your ears are ready for it.
It’s called The Signal, and it’s a science fiction mystery thriller - think Contact if it was blended with The X-Files, shadow-y conspiracies and all. It’s fast, it’s fun, it’ll make you stop and think about thorny decisions the characters have to make, all the good stuff. Plus, just check out it’s beautiful cover art:
The show was created by the absolutely brilliant Eric Buchman, and directed and edited by the peerless Mark Henry Phillips, who has worked on everything from Passenger List to Marvel's Wastelanders: Doom. I got to contribute a bit of writing to it, along with my long-time partner Sarah Shachat, but enough of all of this, let’s stop burying the lede!
GUYS, the lead actor in this show is Paget Brewster. Paget goddamn Brewster. The Paget Brewster. Paget “I played Sadie Doyle, Frankie Dart, Della Duck, Paige Sinclair, and about a million other roles that Gabriel loves” Brewster. I wrote down some words and then Paget Brewster spoke them into a microphone! What is life even?! I’m not over this, and I invite you to listen to the show and join me over here in the lands of freaking out!
For the fuller round-up of what the show’s about, here’s the official write-up:
When the evidence points to two realities, which will you believe?
Two astronomers have detected a strange, pulsing signal from deep space. Within hours, the US government goes into lockdown, restricting airspace and scrubbing scientific data. Was the signal an intercepted communication revealing alarming plans for an enemy’s military strike? Or has humanity at long last found proof of extraterrestrial life?
Caught between two mind-blowing possibilities, Dr. Veronica Chapel leaves her job as a high school science teacher to search for answers with her old friend Malcolm Feldman, a determined journalist, and Ada Park, a brilliant astronomer. Oh, and it also happens to be Dr. Chapel's one chance to redeem her destroyed scientific reputation, no pressure...
As the group digs deeper, they uncover layers of mystery that challenge their grasp of the universe and their place in it. With time running out and the world hanging in the balance, they must navigate a tangled web of corporate secrets, government interference, and ethical dilemmas on a high-stakes journey to uncover a truth that will upend our understanding of the cosmos—and ourselves.
The show also stars Nate Corddry (who I’ve had a massive talent crush on since Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, so that’s a double geek out moment!) and Chelsea Yakura-Kurtz (charming as all hell and with incredible timing, get ready to fall in love with her voice). The whole thing is out now on Audible, so check it out and fall down the rabbit-hole of The Signal.
WORLD GONE WRONG
All right, we’ve known this was coming for a little while, and it’s finally here!
The brilliant Eleanor Hyde and Jeffrey Nils Gardner, makers of Unwell and a metric ton of other great audio you either love or need to go check out right now, invited to write an arc for their new show, World Gone Wrong. If you haven’t heard it yet, it’s a fiction show that’s structure like a chat show, following the conversations that two former roommates have in a world that seems to be descending into every kind of apocalypse imaginable.
Jeffrey and Eleanor didn’t just invite me to write an episode of their show - they invited me on to write a full set of six episodes. A full arc, if you will. A little story set for you all. And folks, I cannot tell you how much fun I had with these scripts. The world that they’ve created with this podcast is one that brims with excitement, possibility, warmth, and the imminent possibility of death and destruction around every corner. For a writer like me? No better canvas.
The first episode of my arc - “Who - or What - is Leonard?” - came out this week. In it, the entire United States is blasted with text messages from emergency services warning the population to beware Leonard… without really explaining who or what Leonard is. In a way, it’s a spiritual sequel to The Empty Man Cometh from Wolf 359, right down to being released right after the 10-year anniversary of that episode, exploring similar themes of paranoia and utter indignity at shoddy communication from the people who are supposedly in charge of help to keep us safe. As I said in my previous newsletter, sometimes you gotta play the hits!
And the actors on this show - my god the actors on this show - they’re so tremendous. Hilary Williams and Michael Turrentine got set an obstacle course with my scripts, but they sashay through it with so much grace and panache that you’d think it’s a walk through the park! Just look at them in this little video preview of the episode:
So if you haven’t already, check out World Gone Wrong. I have five more episodes coming out there, every two weeks. Coming up we have Christmas chills, New Year’s celebrations, and something really, really big. It’s gonna be fun!
DRACULA DRACULA DRACULA
The Count and Mina are off this week, but they’ll be back next Wednesday with our third episode, Experimental Purposes. But it’s still a big week for Dracula: The Danse Macabre - we have officially charted! As of today, we are 68 on the Apple Podcast fiction charts!
It can feel like a small thing - making a run-and-gun show with a small team, but this is one of the things that I love about the world of podcasts. Little things made by small teams can lead to big reactions. I’m so happy to get to make this show with amazing collaborators, and really touched (and relieved) that it’s finding an audience.
If you’re listening to Dracula, do please rate and review the show. It helps so much, even if the reviews are very quick, so if you want to do everyone on this small cast and crew a holiday season favor, please consider reviewing the show wherever you like to read podcast reviews. Well, if you like the show at least. If you’re like, “Wow, Urbina really whiffed with this one,” maybe just send the traditional anonymous email letting me know everything I’m doing wrong and how I’ve let you down and leave it at that, deal? Deal.
QUICK HITS:
What Have I Been Listening To? Spotify Wrapped is officially out, and my top artist of the year is Florence + the Machine. Which makes sense - Florence is never too far from my music players, and the resplendent new symphonic version of Lungs that she put out has burnt a hole through my brain, it’s so good.
Also, as I posted on Bluesky, here’s your gentle remind that most music artists get pretty much nothing from Spotify. So as much fun as Wrapped is (I love it, it’s completely banal but I love it) let it also be a reminder to support your favorite artists in more direct ways. Whoever your top artists on Wrapped were, maybe spend some time checking out their Bandcamp or their merch stores this week!
Okay, that’s it this week. Check out The Signal, check out World Gone Wrong, and get ready for Dracula 3 next week! See you back here in a bit!
Happy December!
Gabriel Urbina
12.05.2024
Well, I'm definitely binging The Signal, and I LOOOOVED your first World Gone Wrong episode!
aw hell yeah, i’m on a road trip and just finished Gasolina, i’ll have to pick up The Signal for the return trip 😄