The Gray Area -- "Dearer than Earsight"

"THE WORLD NEEDS DREAMS. THEY SAY THAT DAYDREAMERS ARE SOME OF THE SMARTEST PEOPLE AROUND!" Hello there from The Gray Area! We hope that you are staying calm and positive, trying out exciting new recipes, staying in touch with friends, and perfecting your new harmonica moves! We've just released Episode 8 of The Gray Area, an audio drama told in interconnected stories that you can listen to for free. It's called "Dearer than Earsight" -- an unusual tale that's a French romantic film along the lines of Eric Rohmer trapped within a strange demon story. Ed Champion, the journalist investigating the Virginia Gaskell disappearance, meets an enigmatic British woman on the subway who may contain the answers to his own fragmented identity, particularly a strange shadow version of himself named Johnny. There are wisecracking demons, sinister library guards, ranting subway preachers, considerations of the Solari board and the trolley problem, wacky Tinder opponents, and a great deal more! This is the second of nineteen episodes that we're releasing from now until the end of the year. We're releasing a fresh new story every other Tuesday! While all of these stories can be enjoyed independently, there are many connections to Season 1. ("Dearer than Earsight," in particular, includes narrative links to the Season 1 Prologue, "Compassion Fatigue," and "Fuel to the Fire.") This is a program that rewards careful listening. And by the end of the second season, you will see how all of these many story strands are related to each other! But you can also experience these sonic tales as enjoyable yarns. We believe that, during these rough times, new stories help everyone to stay sane and strong. And we are determined to continue to bring you new audio tales on a regular basis in these unprecedented circumstances! You can examine our episode release schedule here. We also recently inintiated an experiment. For Season 2, we introduced a Season 2 pass that -- for one flat fee of $20 -- gives you instant access to all episodes ahead of release (as we finish them), as well as the scripts, and a special behind-the-scenes podcast called Inside the Gray Area featuring commentary and interviews with the actors. The first batch of five episodes (along with the supplemental material) is now available. We'll be releasing a second batch of eight Season 2 Pass episodes around June, followed by a third and final six episode batch sometime in August. But don't worry! Your season pass will be good for the entire duration of these three release phases. All nineteen episodes will still be released on the free feed from now through December 15, 2020. A Season 2 pass not only gives you a lot of extra goodies (similar to a DVD commentary). But it will also help to support independent audio drama. We have a four season story plan in place. We pay all our actors. And we want to make sure that we can keep on producing this wildly unique and highly ambitious audio drama. If you are a member of the media interested in advance review copies or anything else, please feel free to drop us a line. If you'd like to connect with us, you can follow us on Twitter, sift through numerous behind-the-scenes videos on our Instagram account, and even watch some of our zany offerings on TikTok, which we've just recently joined. We can also be found on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Libsyn, Stitcher, and we have an RSS feed! So until next time, wherever you are in the universe, be good to yourself and kind to others. Thank you for listening! Edward Champion