A microfiction podcast about being lost at sea at the end of the world

About

February has always wanted to lose themselves in the ocean. Now they have, but it isn't exactly what they had in mind...Having ostensibly missed the end of the world somehow, February is the captain and sole crew member of a longline vessel called the Zenith, drifting around the Pacific Ocean in search for... something. But the stars are gone, the oceans make no sense, their compass has forgotten where north is, and no one is coming to help.Then they meet a marine biologist atop a sinking lighthouse, and everything they thought they knew about the world (which wasn't much to begin with) changes in an instant.A tale of oceans, haunting, exploration and queerness.

The Team

All At Sea is written and produced by the Making up Leeway team

Noah (they/them) is the writer of All At Sea and the voice of February. They're currently in the process of completing their MA in English Literature, which focuses on the importance of the found family trope in queer, POC-led narratives. When they're not drowning in books or literary analysis, you can find them staring blearily at a blank Word Doc, or drowning in all the different audio dramas they still need to listen to.

Scotchy (any pronouns) is a producer of All At Sea and the voice of Sturgeon. They found their passion for podcasting through working on The Hermit Archives as an editor and minor character, and can't wait to bring more sounds and noises right to your eardrums. When he isn't splicing voice lines for enrichment, or surviving the horrors of academia, Scotchy can be found making music, crocheting, or fishing around for a new hobby to try out.

Louis Wolf (he/they) is a producer of All At Sea, he is a disabled artist/actor based in Colorado. Doing theatre in high school helped to reveal his passion for storytelling, specifically with acting and directing. This has fed in well to a love of dnd. When not playing ttrpgs with friends, Louis can be found playing video games, yelling about superheroes, or watching bird documentaries with their cat. Louis is the assistant producer of Soul Operator, you can hear them as Alex in episode eight of The Grotto and Athena in the upcoming audio drama Forged Bonds. He is creator of upcoming talking head podcast Media Microscope.

Rowan Odom (they/them) Rowan is a non-binary creator whose passion lies in creating stories in a post-Covid world, specifically those filled with queerness, love, and horror. They also make time for D&D and random crafts in their spare time!
They are one of the Strangers of Twin Strangers Productions and the creator of the studio’s first AD, Syntax. They are also the main editor in the upcoming Rites of Descendancy and can be heard as a voice in The Moon Crown as Aria, and Syntax as Elora.

Rusty Cornmagnate (he/they) 20 y/o artist and graphic designer, author of visuals for All At Sea

El Carters (they/them) is our transcriber & beta-reader/listener.
Creative writing graduate from Poland who fell in love with the audio drama format in 2022. Since then they have been getting involved in some projects (like this one) & writing their own show - Nightpocalypse. When not writing, El likes to indulge in some sewing, soundscaping, DnD, media consumption, and various arts and crafts.

Contact:

Yell into a conch shell and your voice will be carried to us.

Nothing here yet! But if you look on the horizon... you might see something approaching...

Transcripts

All At SeaTrailer #1Written by Noah Bell
Sound Design by Rowan Odom
Music by Butterscotch Bread
Transcript by El Carters[FADE IN][Continued sounds of: sea waves crashing, ship creaking and echoing]
[Button clicks]
[Radio static]
[Continued electric buzzing]FEBRUARY:
Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, this is the Zenith. Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, this is the Zenith,this is the Zenith, I-
My-My position is-[panicked noise, sob]My- I don’t know where my position is, I don’t-
I don’t know! I don’t know where I am. T-The nav systems are out of whack, I can’t- I can't read them-
Shit![Click]
[Radio static]
[Button click]
[Continued electric buzzing again]FEBRUARY:[calmer] Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, this is the Zenith. This is the Zenith. Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, this is the Zenith. I am unsure of my position, navigation systems down. My vessel is… my- my vessel is somehow still afloat, but I-I don’t know how much longer that will be, I-I- I have…[panicked breath, a sob]I am the only one aboard.[pause]Please. Anyone? Can you hear me?[pause]Please! Anyone, can you hear me? Anyone?[FADE OUT/FADE IN]
[♪ MUSIC: Floodwater]ANNOUNCER:All At Sea is a microfiction podcast about being lost at sea at the end of the world.
This is a tale of hauntings, oceans, exploration and queerness.
Noah Bell is our writer and the voice of February.
Original music for the show was composed by ButterScotch Bread.
Rowan Odom is our sound designer.
Louis Wolf is our producer.
El Carters is our transcriber.
And show art was designed by Rusty.[pause]All At Sea. Coming to you Fall 2024.
Thank you for your support and we’ll see you… very soon.[Music ends/Sea waves crashing]
[FADE OUT]
[END]

Places to Listen

All At SeaEpisode #1
“CAPTAIN’S LOG: 1”Written by Noah Bell
Sound Design by Rowan Odom
Music by Butterscotch Bread
Transcript by El Carters[FADE IN]
[Sounds of waves]
[♪ MUSIC: All At Sea Theme]ANNOUNCER:
Making Up Leeway presents - All At Sea
Captain’s Log - First Entry[FADE OUT][Recorder clicks][Muted, continued sounds of: sea waves, ship creaking]FEBRUARY:
Captain’s log. Ah uh. Cap- Captain’s log- C-captain’s log? Captain’s log.
Um…
Yeah, okay, just like that. Yeah, ok.
Captain’s Log. Today’s date: the 21st of Who The Fuck Knows, in the year of our lilly-livered, obtuse overlord, number… one million and ninety-three![laugh turning into a long tired sigh]Uhhhh…
Keep to protocol, Feb. Keeping a record is important, Feb. This will be important later, Feb. Feb, why are you asleep in the crow’s nest, Feb? All of this will be incredibly important for when you get stuck in the open sea for no good reason when all your navigation systems are fried and even your compass is spinning around fast enough to give you vertigo, Feb!
Oh, and you’re also going to have to solo command a ship through a storm, Feb! Hyuh…[pause]Yea- well…
I could do with a warning next time.
Maybe…?[short pause]Not that anyone could have warned me…
I mean, I guess Ika-
Mh, well…
Would you look at that. Waffling.[quick breath in]Though I suppose I can allow myself the waffle-wiggle room, since this, um- memorandum, log, notation – whatever – it… well it is the first time I think I’ve spoken in… well, I- I don’t know how long? Which is kind of the point, because like I said, they never warned me about this kind of nonsense.
Nobody ever thinks to cover what to do when all your equipment takes a long walk off a short gangplank. Weh- Except my little trusty field recorder.[short pause]And I would laugh in Sam’s face if I could, which I can’t.
And laughing maniacally into my captain’s log seems pretty pathetic, so… I’ll make the executive decision not to… not do that.[short pause][inhale, sigh]Well! Let me do this nice and proper, why don’t I? Protocol, folk!
Captainnnnnnn’sssss….
Psh- Eh, yeah. Who am I kidding.
As for the date, I really, truly have no idea what it is. The cloud cover has blocked out not only the stars but has blotted out the sun as well. Which means if I don’t die of scurvy, the vitamin D deficiency will no doubt addle my mind.
My dad used to say that he could tell when I hadn’t seen the sun, because my depression would worsen. Which, you know… Thanks dad, fork found in kitchen![short laugh]Anyway – yeah. The cloud cover and the screwy stuff with the equipment has made it so I really don’t know how long I’ve been drifting. I don’t know how to describe this in a way that makes sense, really.[short pause]There is nothing for me to look at. Nothing that I can use to orient myself. Sky’s blocked out, we’ve covered that, but as far as landmasses go? Nothing. No-thing!
Clouds and water, that’s it.
No morning mist over the sea - though I suppose the no-sun thing has its part in that particular lack of phenomena.
My food stores seem fine? But I’ve been rationing pretty scrupulously because starvation is not something that I look forward to.
So I can’t rely on my eating habits.
Not that I was any good at keeping an eating schedule before this happened, but you know. In the here and now, it’s not helping me figure out any regulated day-night cycle.
The waters have been calm, for a change, which did prompt me to try the radio again.[shuffles forward, grabs radio][A button click][Radio static, distorted whine][A button clicks, the radio is shut off]FEBRUARY:
Ymm, yeah, no.
Since my recorder works fine, I don’t think it’s the moisture that got to the tech, which, if that were the case, what a colossal oversight from the people who installed these tin cans.
It did remind me of this one Tintin comic I read way back. I can’t remember the name - it happened in multiple books I’m sure – where the one ship uses a morse code… machine? They used it when Tintin, Snowy and… some professor guy escaped or fall overboard some ship that was transporting them in coffins.
Don’t quote me on that-
Anyway, the communications they used – I… think it’s called radiotelegraphy? Radio telegraphy? Radio- Radiotelegraphy, yeah. But don’t quote me on that either.
[short sigh]
It made me wonder-
If I still had that installed in this uncommunicative junk heap, would I have been able to call out for someone? Or- or would it, too, have broken down?[long pause]Maybe if I try the-[Button click][Radio static again that is quickly cut off]FEBRUARY:
[deep sigh][exhausted] End log.[Recorder click off][FADE IN]
[♪ MUSIC: All At Sea Theme repeated]ANNOUNCER:
This episode of All At Sea is written and performed by Noah Bell as the voice of February.
Original music for the show is composed by Butterscotch Bread.
Rowan Odom is our sound designer.
Louis Wolf is our producer.
El Carters is our transcriber.
And show art is designed by Rusty.
If you rate and review us on your favorite podcatcher you get one invisible seashell.
Please find us on Tumblr and Twitter at All At Sea Pod.
Thank you for listening.
YIPPIE 🙂[FADE OUT]
[END]

All At Sea
Episode #2
“CAPTAIN’S LOG: 2nd Entry”Written by Noah Bell
Sound Design by Rowan Odom
Music by Butterscotch Bread
Transcript by El Carters[FADE IN]
[Sounds of waves]
[♪ MUSIC: All At Sea Theme]ANNOUNCER:
Making Up Leeway presents - All At Sea
Captain’s Log - Second Entry[FADE OUT]
[Recorder clicks]
[Muted, continued sounds of: sea waves, ship creaking]FEBRUARY:Becalmed.
I've been thinking a lot about that word - becalmed. The state of being unable to move because of a lack of wind.
Well, I can't speak for anyone else but if I was stuck in an unmoving ship at sea I certainly wouldn't be calm.[awkward pause]It’s a real knee-slapper, that one.[pause][tired] Why am I like this?[Recorder clicks off]
[Recorder clicks on again]FEBRUARY:
[imitating a news anchor voice]
Captain's log. Today is the 111th of “Shit, I’m Still Alive?” In the approximate year 2049. In today’s report, the waters seem sufficiently watery. They haven’t watered any less water since the last time I checked if the waters watered correctly, which was approximately one minute ago when I stared over the side of the boat wondering how long it would take me to sink to the bottom of the ocean if I put exactly one can of beans in my raincoat.[stops imitating a news anchor]Of course I probably wouldn’t sink. Just do a lot of tragic bobbing around, buoyed nonconsensually by the salt water. Beans, believe it or not, aren’t that great at weighing you down a whole lot. Which, you know, isn’t great, if your goal is to sink to the bottom of the ocean, but of course it depends, like so many things do, on the facts.
Come to think of it-
[scoff]-I actually would probably be sinking down to the bottom of the ocean. I’m nowhere near tropical waters, so the cold water ought to sort of… fight against the bacteria that causes the gas which causes the bloating which brings you up to the surface, et cetera, et cetera…
So instead, ha-ha, of being buffeted by the waves, you get to hit the sand like the new hot commodity in town![short pause]But then again, what if it’s a really anticlimactic depth? You know, you sink down and instead of dropping down into a trench you just… Hit the sand.
The most embarrassing corpse to ever sink in the Pacific Ocean – which famously has many trenches – and you’ve already passed out, because… you know, you were bludgeoned over the head before walking the plank or whatever? It’s not like you were only weighed down by a can of Schrodinger’s expired beans. But it’s not even out of the range of sunlight so you’re just drifting around in the sand!
After a few weeks your skin starts becoming more of a suit than attached to your body in any super adhesive way, and sharks come and sniff at you and decide you’re wholly and totally unappealing, so they bugger off to find something more delicious to eat. The crabs come to crawl all over you, and the lice start snacking on you.
But you know what? Maybe they are also uninterested in your fleshy bits. Until some poor scuba diver shows up and becomes horrifically traumatized by your being there.[long pause]Gods!
Maybe it’s a good thing I’m not becalmed.
Nope, not becalmed.
Just directionless.
Yep.
Just… directionless.
That’s… all.[short pause]End log.[Recorded click off]
[FADE IN]
[♪ MUSIC: All At Sea Theme repeated]ANNOUNCER:
This episode of All At Sea is written and performed by Noah Bell as the voice of February.
Original music for the show is composed by Butterscotch Bread.
Rowan Odom is our sound designer.
Louis Wolf is our producer.
El Carters is our transcriber.
And show art is designed by Rusty.
Rate and review us on your favorite podcatcher for one can of Schrodinger’s expired beans.
Find us on Twitter and Tumblr at All At Sea Pod.
And thank you for listening. 🙂[FADE OUT]
[END]