While the wonderfully weird podcast Welcome to Night Vale is already in our ears, on the page, on our Tumblrs, and in (inter)national theaters, creators Jeffrey Cranor and Joseph Fink are expanding their reach in a new way: by launching their own podcast platform. Night Vale Presents will introduce a number of new podcast series in the vein of WTNV, starting with Fink’s new project, the road trip mystery podcast Alice Isn’t Dead.
According to the New York Times, Fink was inspired by WTNV‘s popular tours around the country:
I’ve spent a lot of time on the road. Looking out a window, you have less context, and you have to make up your own story. I started writing around that: seeing the world from a driver’s seat.
That story centers on a truck driver searching all over the United States for her missing wife. And, it coming from the mind of Fink, of course she’ll cross through towns that are lost in time, encounter creatures that aren’t quite human, and discover a conspiracy regarding what actually happened to Alice. It’s a pretty brilliant idea, setting a podcast on the road; it puts the listeners, especially those who drive regularly, more in the mindset of the truck driver. Jasika Nicole, who plays Mayor Dana on WTNV, will star as the truck driver; Disparition will, of course, provide music for both series. Alice Isn’t Dead will air 10 biweekly episodes starting March 8.
Night Vale Presents will also introduce other independent podcasts—likely those that play with story and structure the way WTNV does—later this year. In addition, Cranor is working on a new fiction series, and the two are writing a sequel to their novel, Welcome to Night Vale.