Tempus Fugit

Time Flies, or so they say.

It was written on a pocket watch I was given when I left one company and long term colleagues and friends. The watch packed up after a year or so, the friends and colleagues have been lost to time, so far I am still ticking….

Photo by Niklas Rhöse on Unsplash

Here we are, already into the second half of 2024 and yet Dr Oliver Miller has been somewhat noticeable in his absence.

Time runs away and not through any lack of intention but rather a lack of thought I have not been putting pen to paper, or rather fingers to keyboard to continue the story and to finish the Berkely Square episodes.

As of today, towards the end of September, the final part of the fourth Dr Oliver Miller story is completed and ready to be recorded. A recording which I intend to complete over the next few days.

Steve Miller is now conspicuous in his absence from the website.

The Steve Miller episodes were meant to fill a creative gap but in a simplistic way. There would be no script writing, the ideas would be recorded straight to microphone and published with as little editing as possible. The character was meant to be somewhat inept and more ‘real’.  This was a fun exercise to do, but the more episodes I recorded and the more of the Dr Oliver Miller episodes I recorded the more that I realised that I was rather taken with Dr Miller, but not so taken with the character of Steve Miller.

In fact, I learned to dislike Steve Miller, and I found the episodes somewhat lacking and so Steve has had the creative boot. Not wishing to record more episodes I also decided that the already published episodes had little place in the grand scheme of things and were destined for the delete button. Sorry Steve! Maybe you will return someday in a more scripted form.

So, it is goodbye Steve and welcome back to Dr Oliver Miller. Part 4 written and the fourth story completed soon to be uploaded and then time to stare at another blank page for the fifth story.

The 23 to 24 Rollover. Past and Present.

2023 saw the decision to take part of the concept of our current D&D (with Cthulhu twists) game and to create a separate written and recorded story following the experiences of two members of the Oliver family. A project to entertain myself and to allow me to further play around in the time twisted story that I had devised for the D&D game.

I had not intended to write scripts or to create an ‘audio drama’ with layers of effects. Of course this plan was inevitable in it’s failure, and with the birth of Dr Oliver Miller who deserved more consideration in terms of the story and writing than I had intended with the original conception of Steve Miller- fail it did. The failure to stick to the original plan also further increased with the inclusion of a short fully produced audio segment in the last episode of The Casebook of Dr Oliver Miller in 2023. Something that in truth I could not resist, even knowing the ‘time sink’ that starting down this kind of path can produce.

The Christmas period itself saw some basic tweaks to my recording area (Studio would be too far a grandiose term), including a lot more acoustic reflection panels to help in creating the echo free ‘dead space’ required for acceptable recordings and a new microphone arm and headphone hangers- not entirely necessary but just to tidy things up and make life easier and tidier.

We, (the D&D group), ended the year on the 31st of December playing a session time jumping into the world of Dr Oliver Miller, and specifically into the investigation of Case 4, Berkeley Square. This was meant to be a one off session as a year end change. As often happens with plans this didn’t work out and there will be at least one if not two more sessions to resolve the plot. If the group enjoy the time period and like their characters then there may be more forays into the 19th Century world of Dr Oliver Miller.

As any DM, GM, Law Keeper, Light Keeper- whatever the title you provide to yourself as the creator of a game world and acting as story provider to a group of players knows- however you think a session will progress is definitely not how it will progress, and in truth that is the fun of it.

While running the session I realised that my group had landed upon characters and courses of action that I, if writing it as a story, would not have come up with. I realised that there was some merit in bringing the game characters into the podcast, not entirely as devised or played by the players, but more in spirit, my interpretation as such.

The first podcast of 2024 is the continuation of Case 4 and sees a return to Berkeley Square with four characters developed as a result of the last game of 2023, so names checks are due to; Jayne, Anna, John and Andy for the inspiration. Also to Mark, for taking on the roll of Dr Miller. There is definitely a part 4 to the story, which will as a necessity include the player inspired characters to wrap up this case.

I am not monitoring the number of plays of episodes so I have no idea at this point in time if anyone has any interest in either the Steve Miller or the Dr Miller episodes. I intend to keep things this way, as, as previously noted this is simply a creative outlet for me, and it is a bonus if anyone else thinks the story is worth the listen. I will at some point make a list of podcasts both drama and real play that I regularly listen to and in some ways take inspiration from.

At present there is no set schedule for the release of episodes, which goes against the sage advice of all who give pointers on how to build a podcast and following, and of course they are correct. Then again I am not really one for following advice, and in knowing the ‘rules’, you can then choose to comply with or ignore them. For me the script writing, recording and editing have to be carried out when I have the time in-between work and home life (and also the impulse to do so), however I would imagine that there will be at least fortnightly if not weekly episodes, but I am not assigning any pressure to have to produce on a schedule.

For the writing and podcast to continue and maybe even flourish it has to be and remain a fun exercise for me, one with an added bonus if it is enjoyed by others.

So, for now, I will wish anyone reading this, or listening to the podcast a very Happy New Year, and having just published Episode 17 pt3, I shall start to think about writing the script for the next episode.

If you do have any comments or thoughts on the podcast or story, then please email me on thetimestapeschronicles@gmail.com

The Who, What, Why and When.

The Time Tapes Chronicles was born from a spark that yearned for a simple creative outlet.

The idea was formed from a theme that I had devised for a currently running D&D game but with a Call of Cthulhu twist, where time itself was an unknown quantity.

The character of Steve Miller was born with the intent of being a vehicle to present snippets of time but rewritten. The so called Mandela effect was in the back, or maybe the fore of my mind, as was the intent to muddy the waters- is it a delusion or does time change for most but not for all.

Initially I didn’t want to spend hours script writing, recording and editing, and as such this is how the Steve Miller episodes have progressed. They are all recorded unscripted in a single take, and they take the form of an ordinary person, not a polished podcaster, recording their thoughts.

Dr Oliver Miller was meant to be a single episodic character. However I very quickly realised that I rather liked Dr Oliver Miller and that he deserved more attention. So was born the investigative coroner. Incidentally the time line also changed, reality mirroring the fiction.

Update 2024- You may notice a distinct lack of Steve Miller. Looking back I have decided that Dr Oliver Miller is where the story is at, and as such Steve Miller has been resigned to the annals of history no longer appearing on the website.

Dr Oliver Miller gave me a different outlet, and for these episodes I decided that script writing was necessary. All of the Dr Miller episodes are scripted and based very loosely on actual events or reported events from the 19th Century (there is also an underlying nod to the Cthulhu mythos). I say very loosely as I research sensations of the day- notorious murderers, alleged hauntings and paranormal events and then form much more sensational stories around them.

The ‘cases’ have fallen into a two or three episode format, around 7,000 – 10,000 words a story. This from a little research falls between a short story and a Novella, what would once have been called a Novelette- although these tended to be Romantic fiction. However I think of them as short stories. Each case is it’s own separate story, but all interlinked and forming a much larger picture, and also documenting the life of Dr Oliver Miller.

The Dr Miller episodes are still recorded in a single take with the least editing possible.

I have been down the road of excessive scripting and recording and hours upon hours editing. It sucks the enjoyment out of creativity and sucks the hours out of your life as well!

So, who am I?

I have been; a musician, a fine artist, a graphic designer, studio manager & prodction manager in publishing (for many years), an IT manager & specialist in publishing, wildlife rescuer (running our own rescue for over a decade), a ranger- and I still work in parks.

I am also a DM or GM (whichever you prefer)- DnD 5e being the current choice for mechanics along with Cthulhu additions. I craft for the games and I was right there at the beginning of podcasting. It was around 2004 / 2005 and I was producing three regular podcasts; history, natural history and an acoustic music podcast- way back when there were no podcast hosting platforms. I gave up podcasting many years ago but the editing knowledge and the equipment was still there- and now it is being used again.

I did make a short foray back into podcasting some short years ago, recording our then current DnD game, but- well I have mentioned hours upon hours of editing, and so ended that podcast.

Oh, and I guess finally, like everyone I am a story teller. Everyone is, even if they don’t realise it.

Get home and tell someone about your day, relate a story or two of events at a social gathering? Well, that is storytelling. We (our species), has engage in this pastime since before language, using images- drawings, paintings. Some of us just take it a little further.

Some of course take it much further, being a writer or an author. I have neither piles of unfinished tales or an agent or publisher, or indeed a garage half full of unsold copies of my latest book- so I am definitely a Storyteller. Also, colons and semi-colons scare the life out me, which do you use and when?! One of life’s unsolved mysteries.

So why a podcast?

Well, partially the above- but mainly in that I have had a long love affair with audio, and especially radio drama productions and in the most recent years with the many excellent actual play and drama podcasts.

It all started with the BBC and the Lord of the Rings radio production back in 1981. I didn’t have a TV in my bedroom but I did have a radio which I had wired up to a cheap pair of car speakers to ‘improve’ the sound.

The 26 half hour episodes of the Lord of the Rings captivated my imagination, and that was it for me- I was sold. I can immerse myself in audio more than I can in TV or film. The skill of the Foley artist in creating the sound stage from a wind racked mountain top to a ship in deep space enthrals me. There’s enough information to set the scene, but unlike visual mediums, plenty left to the imagination to allow the listener to fill in the rest and make it partially their own world. The skill of the voice actor in creating the feeling of many different situations when in actually stood in a studio, sound booth or these days- the spare room or bedroom.

Today the world of audio drama isn’t just the domain of the professional and the range of content and ready availability has opened up new worlds. Between free or low cost hosting and distributing platforms, people kindly making sound effects and music for free use in exchange for a credit, free sound editing software and finally affordable entry level equipment that can produce excellent recordings- anyone can flex their creative muscles if they want to.

I hope that you get even a little enjoyment out of The Time Tapes Chronicles, if you don’t then there is plenty out there to chose from (one of the good things about this online age), and I hope that you find something else. Maybe, you will think, if he can do that, then I can do so much better. Great, go forth and create- I mean that nicely, as encouragement.

If you do listen, then please drop me a line at thetimetapeschronicles@gmail.com and let me know what you think, or just say hi.

P.S. There is no Patreon or the like for this podcast (not that there is anything wrong about supporting creators), however; I have the equipment, I work full time, I choose to spend some of my free time on this, and it’s my creative outlet even if no one listens. If you do want to give anything, then may I suggest a donation to a charity of your choosing- job done.

Thank you for dropping by, and well done for getting at least to the end of this!

Charlie 2023