Be mighty, and keep your axes sharp!
Waking the Lumberjack is the first one-shot audiodrama I’ve done with multiple voice actors for Not About Lumberjacks. Anchoring the story is Tim Czarnecki, starring as the Narrator.
I sat down with Tim and chatted about what it was like narrating this story…
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In honor of another year of Not About Lumberjacks, it’s a wrasslin’ story I swear has nothing to do with lumberjacks!
The funeral service of “Big Papa” Howe, the Ontario Lumberjack, does not go as planned. It’s up to his two sons, Big Mike and Little Mike, to put an old rivalry to rest.
Content Advisory: Swearing. Cartoonish violence (professional wrestling). Death of a parent and a funeral.
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Credits:
Music: Ergo Phizmiz and Power and Beauty.
Story: Christopher Gronlund
Starring: Tim Czarnecki as the Narrator.
Michael Howie as Big Mike Howe.
Christopher Gronlund as Little Mike Howe…doing a really bad Canadian accent.
Rocky Westbrook as The Wrestling Fan.
Cynthia Griffith as Mama Howe.
Shawn Kupfer as Dicky Coffee Guy and Father Kupfer.
Rick Coste as Big Rick Coaster.
Additional wrestlers and grunting provided by various talent listed above.
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“Dear God” is not the first story I wrote featuring gods; in fact, it’s not the first story I’ve written for Not About Lumberjacks featuring gods.
Gods are strange things to me. I’m a life-long atheist, but I love the storytelling opportunities gods of all kinds offer.
Also, I might just talk about how the Marvel Thor movies influenced this episode…and how they didn’t. (In many ways, an old Dungeons and Dragons rule book should probably get the most credit for the story.)
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Also, I mention a friend named Laura Lange in this episode.
It just-so-happens that the day I release this episode of Behind the Cut…that Laura released an episode of her show, The Peaceful Life Podcast, in which she and I talk about being bullied as children. We talk about a Not About Lumberjacks favorite story, “Purvis” — as well as Dungeons and Dragons and many other things.
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A panhandler is given a magical postage stamp.
Content Advisory: Swearing. Scam artists. Mention of parental death. Homelessness. Misogyny.
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Credits:
Music: Ergo Phizmiz and Chad Crouch
Story and Narration: Christopher Gronlund
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If one desires, they can have a story end in so many different ways.
Some stories just have a feel from the start for a certain kind of ending, but others are shaped by a writer’s environment — sometimes even being affected by other stories written around the time a particular story is done.
That’s what I talk about with “A Race to the End.”
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The 100-year-old son of the oldest man to ever live plots to kill a 123-year-old man about to break his father’s record.
Content Advisory: Swearing and cartoonish violence. Stress of aging and mortality. A son trying to live up to his father’s expectations.
Credits:
Music: Ergo Phizmiz and Chad Crouch
Story and Narration: Christopher Gronlund
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The last episode was a bit of a departure, with seven bits of micro-fiction. The most fascinating thing was hearing which stories people loved most (“Vlad Stovepipe” won).
So…for this episode of Behind the Cut, a bit about each of the stories…
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A bit of a departure this holiday season: seven stories instead of one!
(Think of it as micro-fiction stocking stuffers.)
Content Advisory: “Be a Man”: Child abuse, mention of a dead dog (by gunshot), alcohol abuse, and murder. “Fucking Asshole”: Uhm…swearing! “The Intersection”: Anger, violence (shooting), and family loss of a child (shooting). “Vlad Stovepipe”: Cartoon violence. “Hardcore”: Swearing and violence. “Another Christmas Eve”: Divorce, violence (family fistfight), swearing, depression, loneliness.
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Credits:
Story and narration: Christopher Gronlund
Music: Ergo Phizmiz and Chad Crouch (aka Poddington Bear)
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All but three little things are true in “Bobo.” Find out what those things are, why I quit clowning, and…how I measure success today.
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A kid’s party clown comes to grips with what he’s become.
Content Advisory: Swearing. Mention of alcohol use. Bullying. Mention of attending a strip club. Childhood trauma brought on by a clown.
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Credits:
Music: Ergo Phizmiz and Chad Crouch
Story and Narration: Christopher Gronlund
The “Fuck You, Clown!” Drive-By Duo: Zane and Tim Czarnecki. (Because nothing says father and son moment better than swearing at a clown…)
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