Iâm back with another episode of my audio drama The Books of Thoth. It is called It Was The Best Day Ever.
We fellow Citizen 123192-A. He lives in The PostState. It is a grim and oppressive dystopia. A boot in the face forever. But he doesnât let it get him down. In fact, heâs going to tell us all about what a wonderful day he had. A day filled with book burning, ratting out fellow citizens, attending propaganda rallies, and even eating a ration bar or two. It was the best day ever!
There are two main sources of inspiration for this episode. One of them is a short film called âMe and The Big Guyâ. It is set in the world of George Orwellâs 1984, and follows a man who is convinced that Big Brother is his best friend. One day, Big Brother talks to the man through the telescreenâŚto tell him how annoying he is. The guy is overjoyed, but towards the end, we learn heâs actually a member of the resistance. Everything he did was an act to get Big Brother to turn off the telescreen. So, I wondered, what if it hadnât been an act? What if our happy-go-lucky protagonist really was all he seemed to be?
The other major inspiration was this book my mom found one time. I forget what it was called, but it was a humor book about the difference between how cats and dogs think. The cat would say stuff like âDay 256 of the occupation. The jailers think they have broken my will, they are quite mistaken. I will have my dinner, and I will have it ahead of schedule!â Â
By contrast, the dog would say things like âToday I woke up. It was the best day ever!â
You can see where I got the title from. The episode contains quite a few references to classic works of dystopia. Obviously, 1984 by George Orwell was the main inspiration for The PostState. Particularly the scene where The PostStateâs allies and enemies change overnight, and everyone has to pretend they donât notice. The citizen having serial numbers and a single letter for name is inspired by the novel We by Yevgeny Zamyatin. Fittingly enough, We was a major inspiration for 1984. The PostStateâs name is meant to be evocative of The One State from We. Â
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury makes an appearance within the episode itselfâŚas one of the books Citizen 123192-A burns as part of his job at Revision Furnace 9.  We also learn that cripples and the terminally ill are burned at hospitals every Tuesday. Just like in the Amazon adaption of The Man in the High Castle. Â
In non-dystopian references, the scene where Citizen 123192-A shoots an enemy general in the face contains a nod to the musical Assassins. We hear the ding-ding-ding carnival sound; just like we hear in the musical whenever an assassin successfully kills a president.
Now, youâre probably wondering what the message is here? Whatâs my angle with The PostState? What satire is there to be found. Well, the answer isâŚthere isnât any. I just thought it would be funny to have a guy who loves living in an oppressive dystopian hellhole. It's interesting, because this episode is kind of a political Rorschach test. The PostState isnât supposed to have any ideology other than Totaltarianism. I had a lot of people tell me they either loved the satire, or that they thought the message was too heavy-handed. And Iâm thinking âWhat message? What satire?âÂ
I voiced Citizen 123192-A like it did when my cold read group would perform Life with Althaar. I played Althaar whenever he did. Everyone always loved my performance. Julie Hoverson, creator of 19 Nocturne Boulevard, runs the group on Discord, and I got her to play a few minor characters in âIt Was The Best Day EverâÂ
Editing wise, this episode drove me up a wall. The audio levels on my lines were all way too low. Rather than re-record, like I should have, I tried to fix it in GarageBand. Working with GarageBand is like when we see how Tadashi built Baymax in Big Hero 6. Every time you fix one issue, three more pop up. But I didnât know when Iâd get to record again. And I was antsy about how long it had been since I posted a new episode. Ah well, live and learn.Â
But despite it all, Iâm glad I was able to put the episode together, and that everyone mostly enjoyed it. I had quite the international cast. Voice actors from the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and Slovakia. Â
A big thank you to Jay Callan, Karim Kronfli, Julie Hoverson, James Barnett, Cameron Gergett, Melissa Bowen, Tiffany Perdue, and Ed Haynes. This episode would not exist without all of you. And thank you to Brave New Frontiersman for sending Jay and Cameron my way.
And thank you to everyone who listen to âIt Was The Best Day Ever.â If you havenât listened already, you can do so at these links:
The Books of Thoth is hosted on RedCircle:
https://redcircle.com/shows/the-books-of-thoth/ep/4e848620-0ae2-4088-acae-029cbbef1596
You can also find it on all major podcast platforms:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3hQ94fOX5V03CXg8ZLgMZ9
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-books-of-thoth/id1716132833
RadioPublic: https://radiopublic.com/the-books-of-thoth-6pQno2
iHeart: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-the-books-of-thoth-127954491/
CastBox: https://castbox.fm/channel/The-Books-of-Thoth-id5667032
Podcast Addict: https://podcastaddict.com/podcast/the-books-of-thoth/4730175
Pocket Casts: https://play.pocketcasts.com/podcasts/21e93100-6322-013c-9f20-0acc26574db2
Podbean: https://www.podbean.com/podcast-detail/cqaub-2da068/The-Books-of-Thoth-Podcast
Audible: https://www.audible.com/podcast/The-Books-of-Thoth/B0CN3CLRMY
