I don't know if anyone still follows me here, since I pretty much stopped posting last June, but just in case ...
- I want you to know about my new fiction podcast, It's Storytime with Wil Wheaton. Here's what I wrote on my blog:
Hi friends! I am so excited to announce It’s Storytime with Wil Wheaton, my new podcast. My first episode drops on March 26th.
This idea emerged from my creative self the same way that Tabletop did. It spung, fully-formed, into my face when my friend who has been writing since we were in high school told me that he had finally been published.
I was so excited for him, and I loved his story so much, I thought it would be cool to narrate it for him, one friend to another, in celebration of something that’s been such a long time coming. As I pulled my mic out of the closet, and opened up Audacity to do one of my signature DIY, lo-fi thingies, a voice in my head said, “Hey, man. I think this could be the basis of a podcast. Hear me out: you’re a respected and acclaimed narrator. What if you looked for new works from great authors who haven’t yet found their audience, and narrated them? What if you used the privilege you have earned to help boost other people’s creative voices and careers?”
This was a good idea, I thought. But I didn’t know that anyone else would agree, so I attempted to tackle it entirely on my own.
Two miserable, frustrating months later, I concluded that I am not cut out to be a slush reader, or a content editor, and if I was going to move this from idea to thing, I needed help. So I asked some friends who had relevant experience, and built an all-star creative and technical team to do all the things I couldn’t, which allowed me to focus on narrating the stories, which is the part of this I know how to do.
I’m going to yadda yadda over the next year, which was marked by starts and stops, enormous technical challenges, and lots of very good work that kept me going through all of it, and jump ahead to last summer, at the Burbank airport departure terminal A.
I was there with LeVar Burton, waiting to board our flight to a convention.
LeVar had just finished his podcast, which I loved and listened to regularly. When I went looking for a similar podcast to replace it, I couldn’t find one that checked all the boxes that his did … and that’s when I realized I was making the podcast I wanted to hear, profoundly inspired by him and all of his work. I absolutely wasn’t going to move forward without his blessing; he’s family and I’m not going to step on his toes.
So I told him all about it, and asked him if he was cool with it.
To my utter delight, he was as excited about it as I am, and he encouraged me the way a loving parent or family member encourages their kid to follow their dream. Even if this podcast doesn’t find its audience, and only lasts one season, that moment will stay with me for the rest of my life.
I’ve been doing lots of press, and I’ll share those links when they are released. For now, I’d love for you to see the video I made of myself recording the trailer that dropped today:
Here’s everything you need to know, copied from my official podcast page:
You may recognize Wil Wheaton’s name from his acting work in television shows like The Big Bang Theory, Leverage, and Star Trek: The Next Generation, or 1985’s timeless classic, Stand By Me. You may recognize his voice from one of the many audio books he’s narrated, including number one New York Times bestseller, Ready Player One, John Scalzi’s award-winning Collapsing Empire Trilogy, or even his own bestselling memoir, Still Just A Geek.
Now, Wil brings you It’s Storytime, with Wil Wheaton, a weekly audiobook podcast, featuring stories that Wil loves, pulled from the pages of Uncanny, Lightspeed, On Spec, and others. You’re going to meet authors you don’t yet know you love, including some who are being narrated for the very first time. Listeners will travel through time, meet some gods, watch people fall in and out of love, and more, brought to life by Wil’s remarkable narrative voice.
It’s Story Time With Wil Wheaton is available wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes drop every Wednesday, beginning March 26.
Subscribe now at
I hope you’re as excited about this as I am, and I hope you’ll help me let other people who would enjoy this, know that it exists. The easy part was narrating all these stories and writing all the stuff that went with it; the hard part is helping it reach its audience.
I followed up today with a little more:
Saturday night, Anne and I went to a screening of a friend’s new movie, called Locked (it’s fantastic; a tight, clever, surprising thriller that's about late stage capitalism if you squint). While we were waiting to go in, we ran into one of our neighbors, and we were having the talk you have with neighbors who you’re friendly with, who you like, but who you don’t really know all that well. They’re kind people, though, and I always enjoy chatting with them.
As we were talking, I noticed someone over my neighbor’s shoulder was looking at me. I have seen this look innumerable times in my life from someone who knows my work, and is just confirming in their mental reference library that the guy in the Sisters of Mercy T-shirt is the same guy they saw on their TV.
I could have given him the “yep, it’s me” nod that I have watched my famous friends do for years, but that just felt weirdly uncomfortable in the moment so I didn’t let him know that I knew that he was in the process of knowing. I put my focus and attention on my neighbor and listened to him.
That’s when this guy closed the distance between us in a couple of strides, looked me square in the face and said, “WIL WHEATON! I CAN’T WAIT FOR YOUR PODCAST!” Then he disappeared into the crowd.
I just about fell over. As long as I can remember, people have been stopping me to tell me something about Stand By Me, or Star Trek, or Big Bang Theory. That’s awesome. I’m grateful that audiences enjoy and remember the work I have done for other people. It’s genuinely wonderful to know that. But this is the first time — ever — someone has come up to me out of a crowd and expressed excitement about a little project I created entirely on my own, paid for out of my pocket, and made precisely the way I wanted to make it, with the help of some extremely talented people. This didn’t even happen with Tabletop until we were deep into the second season.
It’s Storytime with Wil Wheaton is going to start hitting podcast apps in about 15 hours. It’s bracing that it’s actually here. I started working on this almost two years ago. More than once along the way, I ran into an obstacle that threatened to end it before it even began. More than once, the part of me that keeps Carrie’s Mom alive in my head yelled at me, “THEY’RE ALL GONNA LAUGH AT YOU!”* More than once, the fear of what may go wrong threatened to overwhelm and drown the excitement for what could go right.
But something inside of me kept telling me that this was a good idea. This was something that absolutely had an audience, if only I could find it.
This guy outside the AMC in Burbank (no, not that one, the other one) — a young guy, too! He couldn’t have been 30! — gave me this gift he didn’t even know he was giving me. His enthusiasm hit me like a super stimpack, and I let myself feel it.
That’s a huge thing for me, y’all. Growing up in a house where I was a target for the bully I had instead of a father taught me to keep everything that mattered to me as close to my heart and as far away from him and his mocking cruelty as possible. If I ever expressed joy or pride about something I did, he took it away from me and replaced it with humiliation. My brother frequently joined in on the fun while our mother sat quietly and let it happen. It wasn’t great.
Well … fuck that guy (disdainful). Fuck all of them, actually (celebratory). I’m so proud of myself and so excited for this thing I worked so hard to create. Of course I’m terrified! Of course I’m so nervous I can’t really eat! But that’s because I know I made something I feel good about, and I just really hope enough people respond to it to allow me to do more. I’m not worried that they’re all gonna laugh at me (and, for the record, Wil, that’s never happened so maybe you can stop doing that to yourself); I’m hopeful that they all find out about this thing I think they’re gonna love.
I know that a lot of you reading this have been with me for 25 years or so (holy shit can you believe that? Let’s take a moment to feel old, and to celebrate our defiant survival**!) with a front row seat to all the ups and downs, all the times things seemed bleak and all the times I got to celebrate something wonderful.
I had and have the courage and the drive to make this because I know that. I know that you all are there, because you’ve always been there, just beyond the glare of the footlights. I can’t always see you, but I can feel the energy out there in the darkness. I hear your laughter and applause. I can feel when something I make, because I thought it would be fun, turns out to be something you enjoyed or even loved.
I really believe that It’s Storytime with Wil Wheaton is one of those things, and by this time tomorrow, we will find out if I’m right, and I will get to make more seasons.
I will absolutely need your help to make that happen. If you listen and you enjoy it, please rate and review, like and subscribe, and above all: tell your friends!
Thanks, everyone, for all the support you've shared with me for a quarter of a century (oh my god i am so old) and for making it possible for me to take a shot at finally having my dream job.
*If you get this reference, you should schedule your colonoscopy.
**If your survival has not been defiant, please substitute your appropriate experience. Mine has been all kinds of defiant.
Okay that's all. Thanks for listening. I hope you're doing well. Take care of yourselves, and take care of each other.
