serial Every story has an alternate reality.

A white Cadillac stands like a sentinel in the New Mexico desert. Inside it lies a book about an astronaut’s first mission to Mars. How that book becomes a bestseller is bewildering; how it transforms those who read it is a mystery yet to be unravelled.

Mercury’s Wake Before Chaos is the original novella that inspired the series — a high-concept indie audio drama that blends sharp sci-fi, psychological mystery, and reality-bending speculative fiction. Set in a landscape reshaped by loss and sudden change, the narrative follows ordinary people discovering extraordinary internal power, rebuilding their lives and themselves through defiant acts of courage that ripple outward in unexpected ways. This is indie storytelling at its boldest: raw, character-driven, and unapologetically strange.

Blending atmospheric sound design with an intimate, slow-burn mystery, this series explores a world where found family is a means of survival, and kindness is a radical, aggressive force against chaos.

Perfect for fans of Wolf 359, The Far Meridian, Starship Iris, and Midnight Burger. In this universe, hope isn’t naïve — it’s steel.

Themes:

• Hope — Gothic grit & resilience

• Defiant connection & found family

• High-concept mystery with psychological depth

• Atmospheric, reality-bending sci-fi

• Rebuilding after global disruption

• Intense, character-first storytelling

If you love razor-sharp speculative fiction, atmospheric weirdness, and stories where ordinary people refuse to break, you’ll find your home in Mercury’s Wake. This podcast captures the raw, foundational groundwork recorded during the isolation of Lockdown, when the world tilted and never quite slid back. Parallel universe? Decide for yourself.

For the definitive, fully updated exploration of these themes, look out for the upcoming book, THE SNAKE EATS ITS TAIL, releasing soon.

]]> Before Chaos Mercury's Wake – Before Chaos (the novella before the tilt) 2025 We Are Vocal Stephanie Vlahos false Stephanie Vlahos weareglobalshow@gmail.com en https://stephanievlahos.com/audio-drama/ Eight strangers cross paths in Las Vegas. It begins with a Cadillac, a mysterious book, and a road trip to Mars. The journey begins.


]]> Trust me Trust me 00:29:24 abe7f540-6b0d-4ad9-be6b-5fcea1851e91 Stephanie Vlahos 1 1 full false https://stephanievlahos.com/podcast/audio-drama#1 Tue, 09 Dec 2025 00:01:00 +0000 Luck-junky Bozzy O’Reilly races to Vegas chasing fortune. But when he meets Imani Cosmos in a pop-up Keno room that may be an interdimensional rift, his luck takes a dangerous turn. Every journey has a left turn.

]]> That’s mine That’s mine 00:26:42 f32a1988-fc21-49b1-9873-38a00ab9a8d5 Stephanie Vlahos 2 1 full false https://stephanievlahos.com/podcast/audio-drama#2 Wed, 10 Dec 2025 00:02:00 +0000 Behind the bar at Caesars, Bozzy encounters Joe—a man with eyes as black as locusts, writing a screenplay about a horrific Vegas event. Is Joe a prophet, or something far darker? The storm is coming.

]]> What Drama What Drama 00:22:52 6b40fda3-ae36-47db-a130-6e0fc4420c42 Stephanie Vlahos 3 1 full false https://stephanievlahos.com/podcast/audio-drama#3 Thu, 11 Dec 2025 00:03:00 +0000 Music industry maverick Rhea Quackenheimer arrives for a “Weirdo Cool” event. But as reality fractures, she must ask: is she alive, or already dead? Vegas is for opportunists—but opportunity has a price.

]]> Vegas for opportunists Vegas for opportunists 00:23:15 4c7fe14d-e20f-4233-8104-42a645fbe2b3 Stephanie Vlahos 4 1 full false https://stephanievlahos.com/podcast/audio-drama#4 Fri, 12 Dec 2025 00:04:00 +0000 Bozzy delivers room service to a Mafioso’s suite. What should be routine becomes a karmic dance between fate and chance. Is this the end—or just the beginning? The long weekend accelerates toward chaos.

]]> Room Service Room Service 00:26:23 e7a43394-f04e-4c91-8a1d-c2d8f3a66694 Stephanie Vlahos 5 1 full false https://stephanievlahos.com/podcast/audio-drama#5 Sat, 13 Dec 2025 00:05:00 +0000 “I am a motorcyclist in a hailstorm, recklessly speeding by the grace of a slipstream.” — John K. Mercury

John K. Mercury — the first astronaut chosen for humanity’s journey to Mars — vanished before the mission could be completed. No signal. No wreckage. No answers.

Decades later, his mission journal is rediscovered in the New Mexico desert. A printed book that should not exist. A text that appears older than the mission itself. And yet, inside its pages, John K.’s voice feels impossibly alive.

What begins as a mystery becomes something far more compelling.

The journal describes not just the silence of deep space, but the wonder he found there.

Not just isolation, but connection.

Not just fear, but a fierce, unexpected hope for the future of humanity.

As scientists, archivists, sceptics, and believers examine the rediscovered text, each voice finds something different in its pages — a warning, a prophecy, a confession, or a promise. And slowly, a picture emerges of a man who may not have been alone after all.

A derelict rover buried in Martian dust.

A manuscript encoded into telemetry.

A four‑day stretch of writing where reality seems to bend toward possibility.

Premonitions. Quantum echoes. Unexplained signals.

And through it all, a message that feels like it was written for us.

This multicast audio drama weaves together John K.’s rediscovered journal with the voices of those who study it, argue over it, and are changed by it.

A mystery, yes — but also a reminder:

Even at the edge of the unknown, hope survives.

]]> Am I Alone Am I Alone 00:37:50 a0fa97a1-b7d1-447e-be3d-845087f99b80 6 1 full false https://stephanievlahos.com/audio-drama/ Fri, 26 Dec 2025 17:12:11 +0000