Hi Nay News

Hi folks,

A very merry December from everyone at Rusty Towers!

News just in - voting for the Audio Verse Awards has now opened! Awards like this go a long way to supporting shows, so do be sure to check out the ballot and cast a vote for your favourite audio dramas, which could include The Magnus Protocol and RQ Network shows, Soul Operator, The Grotto, The Silt Verses, Remnants. You can vote here, until 21st December.

Thank you to the Rusty Nobles and Kickstarter backers who joined us last week for the first Protocol fancast last week – Lowri, Ryan and Billie listened to episodes one and three and shared insights into recording and answered questions from the chat. Nobles, if you weren’t able to attend, you can watch the recording now in this post here. Otherwise, the VOD will be shared publicly at a later date. The next fancast is Wednesday 11th December at 6pm GMT – we can’t wait to see you there!

This week, on the Magnus feed, we’re sharing the third Rusty Fears 6 winning story. This story is inspired by the prompt ‘frozen’ and is called ‘Still Camp’. It is written by Nicole Lark and read by Victoria Cheng, who you may recognise as Ruth in The Pit Below Paradise. As always, it will be shared in early access on Tuesday at 4pm GMT and publicly on the feed on Thursday at 4pm GMT.

Don’t forget, once the size winning stories have been released, we’ll be sharing a poll for listeners to vote for their favourite. The overall winner will have the opportunity to write a case for The Magnus Protocol.

Finally, in some news from the RQ Network, Hi Nay has launched a mini fundraising campaign! Creator, Motzie Dapul, has taken the time to introduce the show to you all, and to talk a bit more about the fundraiser.

Hey everyone, it’s Motzie, the creator, director, editor, producer of the Hi Nay Podcast.  

Hi Nay, literally translated to “Hi Mom”, is a supernatural horror audio drama about Filipina immigrant Mari Datuin, whose babaylan family background accidentally gets her involved in stopping dangerous supernatural events in Toronto — alongside two supernatural detectives, her 6’2 strong-armed lesbian neighbor, and a celebrity conman guru with real magic powers. Season 1 of Hi Nay follows their mission to stop the Elders, a group of early 1900s rich immortal occultists, from terrorizing innocent people with cursed objects called Foci — especially their mysterious leader, The Benefactor, who is so powerful that nobody is able to remember his face or name. 

If you like a horror podcast that’s both “too scary to listen to at night” and people’s “comfort podcast”, that’s horrific and romantic, thought-provoking and hilarious, and has people making murder boards and spreadsheets about their theories for future revelations–Hi Nay is the podcast for you.  

We were originally inspired by The Magnus Archives, and reflect this in our analog sound, with the podcast told through phone calls, voicemails, and tape recordings, among others. However, we’ve got an utterly unique cultural identity in our Filipina new immigrant protagonist and her experiences with Filipino folklore horrors, our BIPOC majority main cast, and the way our stories deal with real life human horrors like fascism, poverty, and the apathy of the rich. The horrors are not quite what they seem in Hi Nay; for example, in our cave episode–the cave isn’t the scary part. We love our classic horror, but want to go deeper, deconstructing what frightens us far beyond what’s expected in the story.  

Hi Nay has also been described as “ultimately a love story”, and it fits the way we frame queer love and unflinching humanity in the face of the unimaginable horrors of the world.  

I voice the sweet (and deeply traumatized; she’s Filipino after all) 5 foot nothing protagonist, Mari Datuin, in over 60 episodes of Hi Nay–as well as the Cold Ghost [Clarence Thompson], George Langford, Reznikoff (some lines), The Tiktik, The Hanging Ghost, Kay & Gerard (Katay), The Waheela / Mother Wolf, The Survivor (Hudyat), Other Mari, Elaine O’Donnell, J [The Journalist], Lori of Hyde, Clara (Michael’s sister)... and various. 

Hi Nay is currently running a mini-fundraiser from December 1 to January 31 to raise $4000 USD to finish and release the rest of Act 3. Currently, there are 12 main story episodes left. We’ve so far released 28 Act 3 episodes, not including bonus hiatus episodes. We also have a $5000 USD stretch goal to release a bonus holiday episode about a dangerous, terrifying, and powerful immortal old man, and the ordinary, warmhearted trans barista who made him feel again.  

I want nothing more than to make Hi Nay the best story it can be, but given that both job markets I’ve made a successful career out of have been in shambles for the last year, I’m unable to continue without adequate funding. This Fundraiser is a way for us to continue Hi Nay and keep sharing this story with our fantastic and engaged audience. 

We have a lot of fantastic digital rewards in our fundraiser, and at every $1000 we’ll release a bonus episode to our feed for listeners to enjoy. If you want to get some unique art in our Thank You card, the 20+ page Hi Nay Journal to see my writing and drawing process for the story, your very own Baybayin (ancient Filipino script) nametag, or get your name or dedication read at the beginning of episodes, support Hi Nay! 

Our Fundraiser is running from now until January 31.

You can support the fundraiser over on Hi Nay’s Kofi Shop: https://ko-fi.com/hinaypod/shop. Hi Nay is available wherever you listen to podcasts or on the Rusty Quill website!

Have a good week all!

The Rusty Quill team