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God Under Siege

a Skadi's Symphony production

Also available on: itch.io

From Skadi’s Symphony, the creators of Ms. Shipton’s Travelling Tea Shop, Tales of the Cog, and Kane and Feels comes a brand new audio adventure that’s a bit like Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Waiting for Godot chopped up in a blender and shaped into existential comedy meatballs with impeccable sound design. Told in six episodes (and five absurdist interludes), God Under Siege takes us beyond the edge of the known universe for our fourth Local Files Club release.

“God! Lord! Alpha and Omega! And any other handles, titles, or otherwise you may go by. I have you surrounded! Metaphysically speaking. You cannot escape. You cannot pass through me. Come out with your hands and any other upper torso appendages up, assuming you have an upper torso, assuming that man was made in your image, et cetera, et cetera. You get the drill.”

“God… you there? Hello?”

Spacefaring waster Daxx Neutrino has been putting God under siege with just the company of his trusty computer for… well, come to think of it, we don’t know exactly how long. Daxx has travelled through the nine Catholic hells, the six regular hells, four purgatories, and at least seven heavens. Getting to this little shack on a small asteroid, a million of any conceivable unit of measurement from any understandable form of entity? Easy, comparatively. Getting God to actually come out and talk to him now that he’s there? Well, that’s proven slightly more difficult. Are we even sure God is in there? Or is Daxx the only living boy in this part of the universe?

Unbeknownst to Daxx, he’s not alone. Two agents, Mike and Ruth, are keeping watch in an invisible spaceship not far from him. Ostensibly there to protect God, they spend most of their time taking copious notes on Daxx’s habits. They watch what he eats. They watch him sleep. They can even see his dreams. Most of the time, they wonder: Who is the mysterious Zoltan who seems to haunt Daxx’s adventure?

Then one day, their ship’s invisibility shield goes down, and the twain that shall never meet are all of a sudden very aware of each other’s presence.

Billed as a “Flash Gordan adventure where nothing happens” by writer and director Oliver Morris, God Under Siege interrogates religion through high concept comedic sci-fi in the tradition of Douglas Adams. “It also owes a debt to Samuel Beckett’s play Waiting for Godot—two hours where nothing happens and you get to the end and you’re weeping.”

In the spirit of those classic radio dramas, God Under Siege is presented with five interludes full of in-universe advertisements for brands like BeebooBlacks, Stoners for Better Snacks, and Putting the Green Powder in Things Inc.—each of them crafted by guest sound designers like Tin Can Audio’s Amber Devereux, Greater Boston’s Jeff Van Dreason, and Local Files Club’s own Justin Hellstrom.

God Under Siege also comes with a commentary episode with cast members and the creators, the first issue of the God Under Siege comic book adaptation by Jack Fitzpatrick, and a soundtrack of cues from the score. It is available for £8 on Bandcamp or $11 on itch.io.

Pre-order bonus! Purchase God Under Siege before or on October 2nd to receive alternative cover art drawn by Jack Fitzpatrick depicting Daxx and the mysterious Zoltan!

Tracklist

Disc 1 - God Under Siege

  1. Episode One: Flinching
  2. RIGHT
  3. Episode Two: Karmometer
  4. BACK
  5. Episode Three: Chrysalis
  6. AFTER
  7. Episode Four: Refried Beans
  8. THESE
  9. Episode Five: Zoltan
  10. MESSAGES
  11. Episode Six: Butterflies
  12. Bonus: Sequestered Spooks
  13. God Under the Table (Commentary Track)

Disc 2 - Soundtrack

  1. Daxx
  2. Mike and Ruth
  3. At Least 7 Heavens
  4. GOD… UNDER SIEGE
  5. Compooper
  6. Chrysalis Dreams
  7. We’ve Been Made!
  8. Tacos
  9. Refied Beans
  10. The Lonesome Life of Daxx Neutrino
  11. Coriander Plants
  12. Daxx’s Prayer
  13. Zoltan
  14. Rapture
  15. Dub Under Siege
  16. The End is Only the Beginning
  17. Butterfly Dreams

Bonus Materials

  1. God Under Siege, volume one issue one—comic book adaptation by Jack Fitzpatrick
  2. Full transcript

Credits

God Under Siege is a production of Skadi’s Symphony

starring

Jon Lily as Daxx Neutrino
Jude Hodgson Hann and Vicky Custerson as Mike and Ruth
Shanice Venture as the Ship’s A.I.
Felix Mathur as Zoltan
Oliver Morris as the Hacking Wizard
Conrad Miszuk as Beeboo Blacks Spokesperson
Bee Lidstone as Taco Tuesday Spokesperson
and
James Oliva as God

Additional voices were provided by members of the cast.

God Under Siege was written and directed by Oliver Morris
with sound design by Jude Hodgson Hann.

God Under Siege also features sound design by

Max Kreisky for BeebooBlacks
Martin Zaltz Austwick for Stoners for Better Snacks
Maddy Searle for Gex Flakes
Justin Hellstrom for the GPIT Furniture Sale
Amber Devereux for GI Trees and Mulchum Funerary Services
Jeff Van Dreason for BetterStop
Bee Lidstone for Taco Tuesday
Lou Sutcliffe for the Super Bass Fishing Tourney
Oliver Morris for Church!
and
Jude Hodgson Hann for Sobriety

“Chrysalis Dreams” and “Butterfly Dreams” were composed by Jon Lily and Jude Hodgson Hann.

Additional music by Jon Lily, Jude Hodgson Hann, and Oliver Morris.

Cover art by Griets Ariandy.

Special thanks to

Greta Clarkson, our resident tea witch
Jack Fitzpatrick, for putting the green powder in things
Evie Ravencroft, for buying the neon sign
Adam Cecil, who requested a song
and
Conrad, who demanded more from God

God Under Siege is LFC-004.

About Skadi's Symphony

Skadi’s Symphony have been making world class independent audio dramas for the past eight years. Like the genre authors at the birth of the radio medium, the three-person core team have worked with collaborators to use speculative fiction to explore the human experience. Through horror, fantasy, urban magic, and other such imaginative soundscapes, they've made stories and characters that have resonated with podcast listeners all around the world. To date they have a combined 150,000 listeners across the globe, and are the two-time winners of the biannual Silver Sounds Sonic Dash with their pieces “Scapegoat” and “Tea. Am I.” They previously produced Ms. Shipton’s Travelling Tea Shop for Local Files Club, and you can find their other audiodramas, Kane and Feels and Tales of the Cog, wherever you get your podcasts.