This week, while I wrap up the final episodes of "Baked Off!", I'm excited to share another delicious audio drama from the award winning writer, Stephanie Elie. Alpha8 is a sci-fi adventure fiction that imagines what might happen when a desperate alien swaps places with a regular working mother and has to deal with three stroppy teenagers, while dad is kept incommunicado at his terribly important job.

The production of "Alpha 8" is a meticulously crafted audio experience that blends rich storytelling with sophisticated sound design to transport listeners into its vivid sci-fi universe. The series is produced using high-quality audio equipment to capture the nuanced performances of a diverse and talented cast, ensuring every emotional beat and suspenseful moment is conveyed with clarity and impact.

Awards and nominations

2024 Awards

• Hollywood Series Awards - Best Sci-fi Podcast

• Signal Award Gold - Best Fiction Podcast

• T.O. WebFest - Best Writing in a Podcast

• Zepston Int’l Film & Music Festival - Best Fiction Podcast

• Urban Mediamakers Film Festival - Best Podcast

• Ecovision Festival - Best Fiction Podcasy

• LA WebFest Winner 2024 - Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy Podcast

• Miami WebFest Winner 2024 - Best Sound Mix

2024 Nominations

• New Jersey Web Festival - Best Sci-Fi & Best Supporting Actor

• New Zealand Web Fest - Best Cast & Best Sound Design

• Sydney Web Fest - Best Sound Design & Best Sci-Fi Podcast

• Baltimore Next Media Web Fest - Best Sci-Fi / Fantasy

• HollyShorts Film Festival - Best Podcast

• Essence Film Festival - Best Podcast

2024 Selections

• • Official Selection - Melbourne WebFest

    For more information, visit https://alpha8audio.com

Please Support Am I Old Yet. You can either leave a one off tip of $1 or £1 (or more) or take out a monthly subscription.

• Please leave a comment or review at https://amIoldyet.com/reviews
• The theme music is from "In The Labyrinth" composed and performed by John T LaBarbera, available on Spotify
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This week, as a bonus, we introduce you to a brand new podcast. I’ve been working on it for around 18 months now, it’s an 8 episode limited series, fully scripted and fully cast audio fiction called “Baked Off! Live, laugh, loaves”. Written and produced by me, with a cast of 10 fabulous voice actors, and new music by John T La Barbera. It has its own feed, and its own website, and it is totally independently available in your podcasting apps. From next week, you’ll need to seek it out either at bakedoffpodcast.com, or in your podcasting app. And normal “Am I Old Yet?” service will resume here next week!  In the meantime, here is Episode 1 “Loaves Actually”.In which we meet Duncan, a young IT consultant in Edinburgh, Scotland, Julianna, an ex-dancer,  wife and mother in Liverpool, England, and Margot, retired Michelin starred chef in Brisbane, Australia. The cast is:

Christopher McDougal, Wendy Lap, Tayo Aluko, Erika Sanderson, Frankii Phoenix, Andrea Richardson, Roy R Carruthers and Flloyd Kennedy.

Music composed and arranged by John T La Barbera.

Sound design and editing by Flloyd Kennedy.

Please Support the Show. You can either leave a one off tip of $1 or £1 (or more) or take out a monthly subscription.

Transcript is available on the episode website https://amIoldyet.com/introducing_baked_off

• Please leave a comment or review at https://amIoldyet.com/reviews
• The theme music is from "In The Labyrinth" composed and performed by John T LaBarbera, available on Spotify
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• • Thanks for listening. Stay safe

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Helen finds herself on the receiving end of some rather disturbing news, and some sad, but not unexpected news. This episodes includes discussions of missing persons, and grief. 

And now for a quote from the makers of my favourite sci fi podcast, Midnight Burger - "it’s free to listen to a podcast, but it’s not free to make", so if you’d care to make a donation towards our production expenses, head over to buymeacoffee.com/amIoldyet, where you can donate anything from a pound or a dollar up. Or you can subscribe on a regular basis, and receive my infrequent newsletters and also join up with other AIOY listeners over on Discord.

• Please leave a comment or review at https://amIoldyet.com/reviews
• The theme music is from "In The Labyrinth" composed and performed by John T La Barbera, available on Spotify
• Find and support our sponsors at: fableandfolly.com/partners
• Thanks for listening. Stay safe

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Episode 6 finds Helen at her favourite cafe, chatting with Ilse about playing card games on her iPad. But before we go there, I thought you might like to know why we call ourselves Thunder’s Mouth Theatre. Back in the day, I played Queen Eleanor in a production of Shakespeare’s play “The Life and Death of King John”. It was produced by John Warner’s production company in Brisbane, and performed at the then abandoned Boggo Road Jail. Our lovely mate Allana Noyes played Constance, Eleanor’s daughter-in-law, and Constance has the most wonderful line that Shakespeare ever wrote: “Oh, that my tongue were in the Thunder’s mouth / then with a passion would I shake the world!” That is how I feel about live theatre, so that is what I named my own company. And now, I use it to do a teeny tiny bit of shaking of the world, in my own small way, with the help of some very good mates. In this episode, John Warner introduces the character of William Askew, OAM.

Please Support the Show. You can either leave a one off tip of $1 or £1 (or more) or take out a monthly subscription.

Transcript is available shortly after release on the episode website https://amIoldyet.com/s11e6

• Please leave a comment or review at https://amIoldyet.com/reviews
• The theme music is from "In The Labyrinth" composed and performed by John T LaBarbera, available on Spotify
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Helen attended the 'gathering' Susie invited her to, where she met up with the mother of Kiara, the charismatic climate change evangelist. They've taken Susie off to the nearest cafe to enjoy something to drink and a heart to heart. With special guest voice actor Lushika Preetrajh as Preshanni and Mrs Patel.

Now, you may have noticed that these episodes are arriving at roughly fortnightly intervals these days. That’s because I’m also busy editing the new podcast, Baked Off! Which is a much bigger production than Am I Old Yet? I’ve been trying to raise some funds to pay for a dialogue editor to help me with it, but we still have some way to go. If you’d like to help out, there are a range of perks to be enjoyed, from early access to the episodes to mugs, stickers and aprons, and even a brand new cookbook. The website is crowdfundr.com/bakedoffthepodcast. I’m halfway through editing Episode 4, with only another 4 to go. And it will happen a whole lot faster if I don’t have to do it all myself!

Thanks to those of you who have joined the Patreon community. The latest newsletter is on its way to you already. Also thanks to Fable and Folly and the F&F community, who are so lovely and supportive, as well as being just the best audio fiction producers out there. Thanks for listening. Stay safe. 

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Thunder’s Mouth Theatre presents: yet another mini adventure in the life of our aged heroine Helen. Her granddaughter Susie phones up to apologise for standing her up last week, and after a chat with daughter Janey, Helen decides to attend a ‘gathering’ headed up by Susie’s latest bestie, to see what the fuss is all about.

You heard Flloyd Kennedy as Susie, Helen, Janey, Kiara and the stranger in the crowd (Mary O'Leary), as well as J.R. Snyder, Lushika Preethrajh and Brady Flanagan as Voices in the crowd. Do check out Brady's own podcasts "Rogue Life" and "Your Horror Show". And you will hear both JR and Lushika in many other excellent fiction podcasts!

The theme music is from "In the Labyrinth" composed and performed by John T La Barbera, and available on Spotify.

Please Support the Show either by telling your friends and colleagues about it. Or you can either leave a one off tip of $1 or £1 (or more) or take out a monthly subscription that gives you access to other benefits at patreon.com/amIoldyet.

The full transcript will be available at the website amIoldyet.com.

As well, you can leave a comment or review at https://amIoldyet.com/reviews

And please, find and support our sponsors at: fableandfolly.com/partners

 Thanks for listening. Stay safe

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Helen is waiting patiently at her favourite Cheese Shop Cafe for her granddaughter Susie and daughter Janey to join her for lunch. Until they are half an hour late, and then—not so patiently. Meanwhile, there's a young American guy, who seems to think he's Sam Spade. Or is it Philip Marlowe?

Cast: AJ Fidalgo as Special Agent Sam Marlow; Tayo Aluko as Detective Inspector Frank Ensign (there is no 'T'); Frances Broudie Oldridge as SWAT Team Leader Officer Linda Carter; Shea Smith as Dieter Putton; Flloyd Kennedy as Helen, Janey, Ilse and Rina Gineheart; Theme music composed and performed by John T La Barbera.

Please Support the Show. You can either leave a one off tip of $1 or £1 (or more) or take out a monthly subscription.

Transcript is available on the episode website https://amIoldyet.com/s11e3

• Please leave a comment or review at https://amIoldyet.com/reviews
• Find and support our sponsors at: fableandfolly.com/partners
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Helen is at home, listening to her favourite folk music programme on the radio when there is a rude interruption downstairs. She and her neighbour Jennifer decide to take action.

As usual, this episode deals with everyday challenges rather than world affairs. Although of course, world affairs have their effect.

The performers are Christopher McDougall and Flloyd Kennedy.

Editing and sound design by Flloyd Kennedy.

Please Support the Show. You can either leave a one off tip of $1 or £1 (or more) or take out a monthly subscription.

Transcript is available on the episode website https://amIoldyet.com/s11e2

• Please leave a comment or review at https://amIoldyet.com/reviews
• The theme music is from "In The Labyrinth" composed and performed by John T LaBarbera, available on Spotify
• Find and support our sponsors at: fableandfolly.com/partners

• • Thanks for listening. Stay safe

SFX:

PHONERINGING.FLAC BY ACCLIVITY -- HTTPS://FREESOUND.ORG/S/24928/ -- LICENSE: ATTRIBUTION NONCOMMERCIAL 4.0

PHONE HANGUP.WAV BY THUNDERQUADS -- HTTPS://FREESOUND.ORG/S/467200/ -- LICENSE: CREATIVE COMMONS

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Thunder's Mouth Theatre Presents... Am I Old Yet, Welcome back. Here's an extended episode to get us started on Season 11. Helen has been out shopping, and would like nothing better than to put her feet up and relax with a nice hot coffee. Friends and family, however, are in need of her very specific help and advice. You know how it is... Enjoy

The cast was as follows

Helen, Janey, Susan were played by Flloyd Kennedy

Popsy the kitten miaowing, and Apate the Trickster Goddess were played by Frances Broudie Oldridge

Popsy the kitten purring was Chloe the Cat.

Zeus was played by Ira Seidenstein.

The theme music is from "In The Labyrinth" composed and performed by John T LaBarbera, available on Spotify.

Written, produced and sound design by Flloyd Kennedy.

Please Support the Show. You can either leave a one off tip of $1 or £1 (or more) or take out a monthly subscription.

Transcript is available on the episode website https://amIoldyet.com/s11e1

And, if you're enjoying Helen's antics along with those of her friends and family, please tell your friends about it, and also it would be wonderful if you would leave a comment or review at https://amIoldyet.com/reviews

Find and support our sponsors at: fableandfolly.com/partners

     •         •    Thanks for listening. Stay safe

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"Am I Old Yet?" is enjoying a hiatus as you've probably noticed. But while Season 11 is being slowly cooked up in the background, we are also working on a brand new podcast. It's called "Baked Off! - Live Laugh Loaves" and the aim is to release it early in 2025. Here's the trailer - you may recognise most of the voices, but the characters are all new!

We are also running a crowdfunding campaign to help pay the voice actors, musician, sound designer etc, and we'd be enormously grateful for your support. https://crowdfundr.com/bakedoffthepodcast. There are also some perks and rewards, including early access to episodes, a cook book, stickers mugs and aprons - and more!

The cast are, in order of appearance:

In Scotland—

Christopher McDougall - Duncan

Wendy Lap - Heather

In England—

Tayo Aluko - Ade

Frankie Phoenix - Sammy

Erika Sanderson - Julianna

In Australia

Flloyd Kennedy - Margot

On the Zoom call

Andrea Richardson - Caroline

Music - Composed, arranged and performed by John T La Barbera

Direction and Sound Design - Flloyd Kennedy

Please Support the Show. 

Transcript is available on the episode website https://bakedoffpodcast.com/

• Please find and support our sponsors at: fableandfolly.com/partners
• Thanks for listening. Stay safe

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This is the final episode in Season 10. Helen has returned home from her jaunt with Hera to reports that Mr Parks & Gardens is snooping around homeless ex-solder Mike's spot near the bus stop, possibly interfering with the plants in which Demeter has provided some salad and fruit plants at Helen's request in Episode 3 of Season 10. Well! We can't have that, can we? So, it's Helen and granddaughter Susie to the rescue!

Cast:

Christopher McDougall - Charlie

Wendy Lap - Annie

Sarah Golding - Betty

Edward Donnelly - James

Wayne Stuart-Cole - Mr Parks & Gardens

Roy R Carruthers - Mike

Flloyd Kennedy - Helen, Susie, Jackie

Music:

In the Labyrinth, composed and performed by John T La Barbera

SFX: Freesound.org

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Please Support the Show. You can either leave a one off tip of $1 or £1 (or more) or take out a monthly subscription.

Transcript is available on the episode website https://amIoldyet.com/s

• AIR New Voices Amplify Spotify Playlist featuring a ‘Best of’ collection from the 16 podcast fellows, of which this is one!
• Please leave a comment or review at https://amIoldyet.com/reviews
• The theme music is from "In The Labyrinth" composed and performed by John T LaBarbera, available on Spotify
• Find and support our sponsors at: fableandfolly.com/partners
• Thanks for listening. Stay safe

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