Need a summer scare? Try 'Nosleep Podcast'

Even with the sun (sometimes) shining, the flowers blooming and all the other telltale signs of spring and summer, there's still something this season doesn't offer: a good scare.

As I've written about so many times before, I count "horror geek" among my many geek monikers. But for those of us who love to be scared, what do we have to fill our lives during the 11 months that aren't October?

We can buy or rent terrifying films, we can read our favorite creepy stories, or we can download podcasts like "The Nosleep Podcast," which is what I do.

"Nosleep" is a weekly show that consists of several narrated horror stories culled from the Reddit forum "Nosleep," a subreddit full of original content written by Reddit users. (These people have issues, which is why their stories are so good.)

The man behind the podcast

I had the opportunity to speak with David Cummings, the man behind "The Nosleep Podcast," about his award-winning show (it grabbed the 2014 Parsec Award for Best Speculative Fiction Magazine or Anthology Podcast).

His show is very polished, featuring stories told with often-full casts and always with sound effects and score. David told me via Skype (he produces "Nosleep" from Canada) that his background as a software developer and musician helped build a skill set that lends itself so perfectly to the podcast.

But probably the most important contribution David makes is his deep, radio-ready voice that brings the stories to life.

The origin story

"When the idea came about to take some of these original horror stories that people posted on Reddit's 'Nosleep' forum, I thought, 'This sounds really cool. I'll throw my hat in the ring to be a narrator,'" he said.

It all started about five years ago when a group of Redditors decided it'd be a good idea to bring the stories to life via podcast. David's enthusiasm for the project surpassed the rest of those involved, though. So while the idea for the show may not have been his, it was David who breathed life into it and made it into what it is today.

Of course, in addition to David, there are many others involved in the show. And it's produced commercial-free, so there aren't any interruptions to take you out of the world of horror.

I love to set up my canvas and paint while listening to this podcast. I especially love doing it at night. There's something about creating art in an empty studio after dark while hearing the incredibly well-produced horror fiction of "Nosleep" that drives my creativity. (Mostly, though, it just helps keep me focused because I start getting too scared to look away from the painting.)

Commercial-free scares

In order to keep the program ad free, David decided to offer additional content for a cost of $19.99 per season, which averages out to about 40 cents per hour of content. With all the painting I do, I've caught up on four years worth of "Nosleep," so I recently purchased the pass for season five.

Now I've got even more catching up to do.

But, as David said, giving an audience a great product for free and then asking them to pay for it later doesn't always work well.

"I wanted to make sure the authors and the narrators both got some sort of compensation for what they're contributing to the show," he said. "The goal was that I would be able to take part of that revenue and it would cover my costs and maybe allow me to do it full time."

With the popularity of the show (it's grown five times larger in the last two years), David had hoped it would have taken a few months to get to the point where he could work on "Nosleep" full time and be completely autonomous.

But, "podcasts are viewed as free media," he said, and it actually took closer to a year until David was able to devote all his work time to the show.

And for those of us who are satisfied with an hour or so of stories each week, it remains free. But of all the podcasts I listen to, this is the only one that doesn't interrupt one or more times to bring me a bunch of commercials.

So, hey. I think that's worth my 40 cents an hour for all the extra stuff I didn't get to hear with my free subscription.

"Almost 95 percent of our audience is just listening to the free show," David said. "I have to keep encouraging people to share the podcast and spread the word."

Telling the stories

The stories really are worth the price. One of note that managed to conjure up a nightmare for me was author Stan Studdens' "The Mummer Man," which is on episode four of season five. (Go listen to it!)

For David, though, one story he narrated really sticks out. It comes from the first season, and it's called "The Thing in the Fields."

"That was a story that I kind of went from being just somebody who's reading words from a page to almost performing it a little bit, getting closer to voice acting instead of just voiceover," he said. "I started to realize this is more than just someone reading words; this is a person who's going to convey something and make it more authentic and more emotional. I think it was a real turning point for me and the way the podcast gets produced."

So with the help of that small percentile that pays for the extra content, David puts all his energy into the show — it is, after all, his full-time job.

"We're sort of like audio community theater," David said. "You have a group of people who have a passion for their role in this — whether they're writers or narrators — and they're trying to do their very best at what they're bringing to the show. It's in the same way that you can go and see a production at your local community theater, where you're seeing people who during the day are bankers and teachers and what have you, but who have an immense amount of talent. They create something that's very entertaining and very affordable."

For the record, your average community theater tickets range between $15-30. So, you're actually getting a better deal with "Nosleep."

You can find links to download the free version of the show as well as subscribe to the season passes at TheNosleepPodcast.com.

Follow Matthew on Instagram and Twitter, @MatthewJGeek; like him at Facebook.com/MatthewJacobsonGeek; and email him MJacobson@TheSpectrum.com.

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