BWW member Alex Oleksiuk, pen name A.M. Arktos, describes the journey of writing and producing his upcoming podcast series, The Space God Memoirs.

Alex Oleksiuk

As I near the final stages of launching my first audio fiction podcast,  I can see that my years spent in the Chicago improv scene, acting classes, and a number of voice-over lessons have paid off.  I chose the audio format as it seems the best medium to bring my characters and world into existence.

The podcast story is set in a science-fantasy universe of soul powered technology, galactic warfare and sentient starships. Space God is a tale filled with action and adventure, a touch of humor, and a dash of spirituality.  It is a continuing story told by Keph, a young adventurer from a backward planet, who finds himself pulled into a conflict of cosmic proportions.  The original idea for the series came to me in a dream, though it features an amalgamation of ideas inspired from role-playing games, ancient astronaut theory, and all the weird media I’ve consumed over the years.

By the time I finished the first draft I was writing with audio in mind.  Like many people I enjoy listening to fiction, and in recent years I’ve gotten more into audio books than paper ones. I knew it would be a daunting task.

The early stages of preparing Space God were similar to writing a novel.  Writing drafts, editing them, re-arranging the chapters, removing characters, adding characters, putting together swathes of lore that was mostly for my own reference, etc.  I went through multiple revisions of what became the first season of Space God, assisted by constant commentary from my faithful BWW writers group.  I spent many moons during the pandemic poring over my documents and refining my work, delving deep into the Space God universe and channeling Keph into this reality. Continue reading →