HAPPY HALLOWEEN (Patreon)

Hi folks,

It has been another packed week here at Rusty Towers! First up, looking forward to this week’s Magnus, we are at the penultimate episode of this season and Sam is ready to close a part of the story. Episode 59 – Let Go will be out for early access tomorrow.

Without giving any more spoilers, we did just also want to highlight that this week’s episode is so eventful, Alex left the following in the script notes:

We also had a jam-packed week last week! On Tuesday we were over the moon when The Library of Jurgen Leitner finally was released and we were delighted to see so many people already enjoying the novel on the first day. Thank you to everyone that preordered a copy of the book and anyone since that’s been able to buy a copy in their local book store.  

To further celebrate the book launch we ran a live stream on Friday night. If you’ve not had a chance to see it, you can find a video version on YouTube or Twitch. Thank you to all the people that were able to join us live where we had a couple of other exciting announcements.
Youtube - From the Library of Jurgen Leitner - Launch Party
Twitch - https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2915008941

The first special announcement is in addition to the Library of Jurgen Leitner, there will be a 2nd Magnus themed Novel that will be coming out in 2027, called Work Your Fingers to the Bone which is being written by the talented author Christopher Ruz.
Work Your Fingers to the Bone is available now for preorder – you can find more information at.
www.rustyquill.com/fingers

The second announcement was a confirmation that the new Magnus Archives Roleplaying Game Official Actual Play will be coming to the Magnus podcast feed on 14th January 2027, and the release of a first teaser on YouTube:
(147) The Magnus Archives Roleplaying Game | Official Actual Play Teaser - YouTube

The show features, GM and narration by Ross Bryant and a series cast including, Alexander J. Newall, Lowri Ann Davies, Paula Deming, and cuppycup and is being produced by Push the Roll for Rusty Quill.

In news from the RQ Network over the weekend for Halloween we had the first episode published of the brand-new show The Vampyre Tale a new show from Alex Telander the talented creator behind both Ostium Podcast and Circe.

Finally, we are pleased to welcome The Road of Shadows to the RQ Network!  The Road of Shadows is a mystery and suspense Audio Drama created by Mark R. Healy and the team at Beyond the Dark Productions. Set in 1984 Daniel Knox is on the run. He’s spent his entire life evading mysterious creatures that are disguised as everyday people - the ones he calls ‘Shadows’. Preying on humans in secret, the Shadows are an enigma even to Daniel. But he knows one thing for sure - the Shadows’ true nature can’t be seen by anyone but him.

To find out more about the show we spoke to the creator Mark R. Healy

1. Tell us who you are and a bit about The Road of Shadows,

Hi, I’m Mark R. Healy from Brisbane, Australia, and I’m the creator and sole operator of Beyond the Dark Productions.  I write, audio engineer and produce all of my own shows.  I’ve had a love affair with audio fiction for close to twenty years and have produced many shows over that time.  I particularly enjoy science fiction, horror and mystery, and love to keep listeners guessing – so you can expect to find plenty of twists and turns in my stories.

The Road of Shadows is set in a small mountain community in the 1980s, and is about a man who attempts to evade vicious monsters that are disguised as humans and whose true nature can't be seen by anyone else.

2. What got you into podcasting?

I have been writing short stories and novels for over thirty years.  I also enjoy playing guitar in my spare time (the quintessential bedroom guitarist!) and eventually decided to try mashing those two pastimes together by writing my own music and combining it with my original short stories.  I commissioned voice actors to play the roles and the result was an album that combined instrumental music with audio drama elements.  Anyone who has heard Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds will know what I’m talking about!

I enjoyed the process so much that I made another ten albums or so over the following five years.  Towards the end of that process I realised I was gravitating more to the storytelling aspect and decided to cut down on the musical elements, whilst simultaneously expanding the scope of the stories.  The obvious medium for this kind of production was podcasting – and that’s how I ended up here!

3. Without spoilers, what are you most proud about The Road of Shadows?

The Road of Shadows is a story that I have wanted to tell for many, many years.  I came up with the concept a long time ago but never quite got around to putting it all together until recently.  I’m proud of the standard I have maintained across all five seasons of the show so far – the storytelling, atmosphere, intrigue and production values have stayed at a high level of execution, which is not always an easy thing to do with a mystery podcast, where often that central mystery tends to run out of steam or lose its sense of intrigue.  In my opinion (and the opinion of many listeners!) the intrigue has only deepened as more of the lore has been revealed.

And of course I’m proud of my amazing voice actors, who have given their all to this production from day one!  Their performances have really added something extra to the show from the outset.

Here is our full schedule for this week:

Tuesday 3rd November

The Magnus Protocol 59 – Let Go (Patreon, Supporting Cast & Kickstarter Backers) (4pm GMT)

Thursday 5th November

The Magnus Protocol 59 – Let Go (Public) (4pm GMT)

Have a good week all!

The Rusty Quill team