Welcome to Night Vale is a twice-monthly podcast produced by Commonplace Books and written by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor. It is released on the 1st and 15th every month on iTunes and Soundcloud for free.

http://commonplacebooks.com/welcome-to-night-vale/

Hello dear readers. Do you feel alone? Afraid? Wondering what that bright light coming out of your wall at night leads to? Being followed by dark shadows that you can only see in the corners of your eyes? Then you should be listening to “Welcome to Night Vale.”

“Welcome to Night Vale” is a twice-monthly podcast produced and released by Commonplace Books. The story revolves around Cecil Baldwin, an eccentric radio-show host who hosts the Night Vale Public Radio show that gives community events, news, and the weather. Common news around the town are things like updates on the hooded figures in the abandoned dog park, the angels that live with Old Woman Josie, mysterious lights above the Arby’s, glow clouds that join the PTA, and Cecil’s crush on the magnificent Carlos the Scientist, who came to Night Vale to study the town’s scientific impossibilities.

If you couldn’t tell already, Night Vale isn’t your normal Southwestern town, but Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor, the brilliant writers behind the show, do an exceptional job of making you believe that it just might be. Cecil’s updates sound as though everything that happens in the town, from raining dead cats and dogs to a small civilization living under the bowling alley, are everyday occurrences. It makes you want to lay back in bed at night and pretend as though you are listening to a radio show, while the streets of Night Vale sit quietly outside your window. It’s rather brilliant.

My first experience with Night Vale was after a ton of my friends began listening to the podcast and told me that it was something I just had to give a try. After many summer nights of me catching up on the podcast, I have become completely enthralled. The only real complaint I’ve ever seen from listeners is that the show doesn’t seem to have one singular story line, but that isn’t exactly the case. As the podcast is set up to be like a radio show, it’s supposed to be like a normal town with normal town updates, but obviously in our case with Night Vale, it’s all completely skewed. And you notice in every episode that things from past episodes trickle over, and there’s always a setup for some future event or story that makes you want to wait and listen to the new episode when it finally gets released.

So if you want something new to spice up your listening life, definitely look into “Welcome to Night Vale.”The episodes come out on the 1st and 15th every month and are released for free on iTunes and Soundcloud. You can also follow Night Vale on twitter @nightvaleradio and on Facebook at Night Vale Radio. Goodnight dear readers, goodnight.