What is Jarnsaxa Rising?

Jarnsaxa Rising is an audio drama or audio fiction podcast. This revenge tragedy combines Norse Mythology with the climate crisis. If you’re interested in Norse tales outside of the Marvel canon, based on The Poetic Edda, where Asgardians and Jotuns use humans as pawns to attack each other, this is your listening experience.

How Do I Listen to Jarnsaxa Rising?

Fair question. Our friends at The Podcast Host have a resource to walk you through How to Listen to A Podcast Easily On Any Device, For Free. If you have an Alexa-enabled device, here’s how to listen to a podcast using Alexa.

Illustration by Matt Lichtenwalner.

Is Jarnsaxa Rising a New Podcast?

Nope. Jarnsaxa Rising has been around for a while now. But, every time Marvel releases a Thor movie or a Loki television show, interest in the podcast re-emerges.

Interest in Jarnsaxa also rematerializes when Neil Gaiman makes new stories about old gods and immortal creatures. He’s very good at getting people excited about endless beings.

Loads more details, including reviews and content warnings, are available in the Jarnsaxa Rising Press Kit.

Who is Jarnsaxa?

She’s your best friend, your worst nightmare, one of the nine mothers of Heimdallr, the mother of Modi and Magni, the last surviving full-blooded Jotun, the Queen of Blades, the goddess of iron, the love of Thor’s life, and a menace to society. I love her.

More details here: Who Is Jarnsaxa?

Why or How Should I Listen to the Jarnsaxa Rising Podcast?

If you enjoy American Gods, Sandman, the Thor Movies, the Loki series, Good Omens, and/or the Norse Myths, this is your kind of show. If you enjoy Dykes to Watch Out For, Ocean’s 8, and/or The Net, this podcast will also be your kind of adventure, though not as obviously.

This podcast pairs well with knitting, long car rides, tasty beverages and snacks, and either headphones or a stereo listening environment. It’s not intended for children. There is occasional panning in the first episode that may make some audiences dizzy, so grab a comfy seat. You can listen to Jarnsaxa Rising wherever you get fine podcasts.

Behind The Scenes of Jarnsaxa Rising, Season II Jarnsaxa Rising

Winter Solstice is here! The earth keeps turning! At least, we hope so. Again, it's that time of year, when those of us in the Northern Hemisphere are trapped in what feels like never-ending darkness. From all of us at 6630 Productions, we have a Yule gift for you. You've been good to us. You deserve it. Here's almost half an hour of Jarnsaxa Rising's behind the scenes moments, bits of our creative process, moments that had to be cut for time (what else was in Mr. Wallace's trophy case?) , and moments of giddy hilarity. Vince said that he hopes that this is as much silly fun as the blooper reel at the end of a Burt Reynolds movie. Let us know what you think. We hope to hear from you. Whatever holidays you celebrate, enjoy, and may your new year be bright!  For more information about the cast and crew, visit https://jarnsaxarising.com/about/creative-team/ Join our community! https://www.patreon.com/6630Productions Twitter: @JarnsaxaRising https://www.facebook.com/JarnsaxaRising/
  1. Behind The Scenes of Jarnsaxa Rising, Season II
  2. Charged and Grounded Season II Episode VIII
  3. The Flow Of Current Season II Episode VII
  4. Conductivity Season 2 Episode VI
  5. Is This Really You? Season II Episode V
  6. Is It A Trap? Season II, Episode IV
  7. Take My Hand Season II Episode III
  8. We Who Contain Multitudes Season II Episode 1
  9. Only The Best And Brightest (S II, Ep II)
  10. Jarnsaxa Rising Season 2 Trailer

Affiliate Link Statement

This post contains affiliate links because I love Bookshop.org. If you purchase anything via one of the above links, not only will you help independent, local bookstores, but also, I might earn a couple of bits and bobs at no additional cost to you.

PodCon2 Contest!

The PodCon2 Hangover Contest is here!

We have returned from PodCon2 in Seattle! It was an enlightening experience. Highlights included:

  • Meeting other podcasters and some of our Patreon supporters
  • Spending time in the Alba Salix community and conversation pit (I always enjoyed listening to that show, and they’re such good people)
  • Multitude Productions‘ generosity of knowledge, with strategies, tips, inside information and understanding of how pre-production, press and sponsorship work
  • The Audio Fiction* panels, with great insights from creators about how sound and story harmonize. I’m still thinking about what Mischa Stanton said about sound texture, and the hinges in the cabinet doors in The Far Meridian.

Needless to say, Vince and Lindsay ate and drank their way across Seattle, and had a wonderful time getting vertigo at The Space Needle.

fullsizeoutput_1dd8If you attended PodCon2, you know that stickers are the coin of the realm. If you met Vince and or Lindsay, you know that they were so mentally consumed with the #federalshutdown and the #TSAworkersplight that they FORGOT TO BRING THEIR STICKERS. But, they can be yours, because we’re having a…

PODCON HANGOVER CONTEST! 

Participation in the contest is easy. Here’s all you have to do.

Send an email to jarnsaxa@jarnsaxarising.com with answers to the following questions.

  1. What kind of food did Eric offer Jarnsaxa in Season 1?
  2. What kind of fruit did Hel offer Eric in Season 2?
  3. What color shirt was Alexander Danner (of Greater Boston and What’s The Frequency) wearing at PodCon2 on Sunday?
  4. What color blouse was Elena Fernandez-Collins wearing at PodCon2 on Saturday?
  5. Who (specifically) helped Jasper get to Yggdrasil in Season 2?

The first 30 people to email us answers to these questions will get one of each sticker above (except not the Stickermule one, I just put that in there because, hey, they sent it, I might as well promote them, right?), mailed to them, via USPS.

ONE person who can answer all of the the above questions correctly will win the Jarnsaxa Rising t-shirt of their choice from TeePublic. And yes, we are adding new designs! In the event of a tie, we will figure something out.

CONTEST DEADLINE:  Thursday, January 31, 2019, 12pm, midnight, Eastern, US (Philly time).

By participating in this contest, you give permission for us to mail the stickers to the address you provide, and to send you email in the future about Jarnsaxa Rising, and news about 6630 Productions’ future projects.

GO, GET ‘EM, TIGER. And thank you to everyone at PodCon2!

 

*You say fiction, I say drama: potayto, potahto, tomayto, tomahto, let’s call the whole thing off.

 

Let us tell you a story.

Need a Winter’s Tale?  All ten episodes of Season 1 of Jarnsaxa Rising are available for your listening pleasure. Join her on her journey. Follow these links to listen, or look for Jarnsaxa Rising in the podcatcher of your choice.

Listen and subscribe to Jarnsaxa Rising at iTunes! 

Listen and subscribe to Jarnsaxa Rising at Libsyn!

Listen and subscribe to Jarnsaxa at PocketCasts! 

If you enjoy our story, please leave a review. We’re working on Season 2 now, and want to make sure that you and other folks can find us. Thanks!

Frank Olsen Norway.jpg
The Aurora Borealis by Frank Olsen, Norway

 

 

 

Vote For Jarnsaxa!

jarnsaxa-blue
Illustration by Matt Lichtenwalner.

As you well know by now, Jarnsaxa Rising (your favorite science fiction fantasy revenge tragedy of 2015)  is nominated in several categories for The AudioVerse Awards.  This annual awards show celebrates and recognizes the best in free, independent audio drama around the world.  The AudioVerse Awards presents a podcast showcase of episodes from all the nominated podcasts, and Jarnsaxa Rising is one of them.

This process involves voting, from intelligent listeners like you. The organizers of the awards have created an elegant yet accessible FAQ page, intended to field questions about voting.

There are so many nominated podcasts that voting starts with a semifinalist round. We have some very experienced company with huge audiences, such as The Black Tapes and We’re Alive, which regularly chart in the Top 20 (if not the Top 10) on iTunes. We are a small (but mighty) fish in a very deep and densely populated pond.

You may ask, “Why don’t you just tell me what to click on, and I’ll click it?” I don’t think you want me to do that, Dave. The way the ballot is set, you can’t let a category go by without voting.

Therefore, in the spirit of getting more people to listen to free, independent audio drama, I invite you to listen to the AudioVerse Showcase, and decide for yourself which nominees should make it to the semifinals.

Jarnsaxa Rising is nominated in several categories. You can vote for one to five nominees in each category. Our nominations are:

Best Original Music Composition In A Short Form Production (Vince Friel, for Jarnsaxa Rising, SoloMom, and Rising)

Best Audio Engineering of an Original, Ongoing, Short Form Production (Vince Friel)

Best Writing for an Original, Short Form, Ongoing Production (Lindsay Harris-Friel)

Best Original, Short Form, Small Cast, Ongoing Production

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for an Original, Short Form, Ongoing Production (Katherine Kupiecki as Agent Bachman and MaryLynn Mennicke as Jarnsaxa)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for an Original, Short Form, Ongoing Production (Ethan Bjelland as Loki and John Zeiler as Dr. Eric Aspinall)

Other shows which are nominated that I personally would recommend include:

Wooden Overcoats, a comedy about competing funeral directors on the tiny island of Piffling

Hadron Gospel Hour, a comedy about a doomed scientist and a plucky IT guy traveling the multi-verse

A Scottish Podcast, a drama about a radio DJ and a struggling musician trying to make a podcast about the catacombs beneath a city, and the monster that lives there (It’s meta as meta can be)

The Bright Sessions, a drama about psychotherapy sessions held by Dr. Bright with young clients with extraordinary abilities

Small Town Horror, a horror story about a guy coping with a series of child abductions in his home town, and his own past escape from the abductor

Pulp-Pourri Theatre, adaptations of classic pulp fiction tales that shock and delight.

My taste might be very different from yours, but if you pick through the list of nominees, there has to be something you’ll like. The Showcase podcast is a vast sampler platter of probably any kind of entertainment you can imagine, ranging from G rated to R rated, comedy to horror, contemporary through fantasy to surrealist.

Audio Drama pairs well with commuting, knitting, cooking, cleaning, yard work, laundry, exercise, quiet time with your loved ones, and quiet time alone. Relax and enjoy a good story, without screen-time brain atrophy! (See: Psychology Today, Feb 27, 2014, “Grey Matters: Too Much Screen Time Damages The Brain,” Dr. Victoria L. Dunkley, M.D.)

Please help Jarnsaxa Rising make it to the semi-finals. 

Enjoy! Listen! Vote!

Any questions?

Thank you for your time and consideration in this vital matter.

Sincerely yours,

Lindsay Harris-Friel, Writer and Co-Producer

Epic News!

Illustration by Matt Lichtenwalner.
Illustration by Matt Lichtenwalner. Click to view larger image.

Jarnsaxa Rising is nominated for The AudioVerse Awards! This award celebrates the best in independent audio drama podcasting, and provides a signal boost to introduce new listeners to the world of audio drama podcasts. AudioVerse produces a podcast which showcases work from all the nominees.  You can listen and subscribe here: 2016 Showcase.

The list includes some very talented artists. We’re excited to be in such good company. Jarnsaxa Rising is nominated in all categories.

Vincent Friel is nominated for the award for Music, for SoloMom and Jarnsaxa’s Theme.

Lindsay Harris-Friel is nominated for Writing.

Katherine Kupiecki is nominated for the Actress award, for her portrayal of Agent Sumner Bachman.

MaryLynn Mennicke is nominated for the Actress award, for her portrayal of Jarnsaxa.

Ethan Bjelland is nominated for the Actor award, for his portrayal of Loki.

John T. Zeiler is nominated for the Actor award, for his portrayal of Dr. Eric Aspinall.

Jarnsaxa Rising is nominated for the award for Best Ongoing, Short Form, Small Cast, Original, Dramatic production.

To celebrate the nominations, Matt Lichtenwalner, a strong supporter of Jarnsaxa Rising, made the beautiful piece of art that accompanies this post. You can see more of Matt’s art at Dragonbones.net.

14425433_10157460339785481_195091194376038543_o-2Voting will happen soon, and the awards ceremony should coincide with World Audio Drama Day, on October 30th, 2016. Click the link on the left to follow this website, and we will send you an update as soon as voting is open.

Congratulations to all the nominees!

All episodes of Season 1 of Jarnsaxa Rising are available for your listening pleasure. Listen now on iTunesPocketCasts, or whatever your preferred purveyor of pod entertainment may be. 

Audio Drama Sunday!

Ills bu Arthur Rackham, 1910

All episodes of Season 1 of Jarnsaxa Rising are available for your Audio Drama Sunday listening pleasure. Listen now on iTunesPocketCasts, or whatever your preferred purveyor of pod entertainment may be.

How many people work 9-5, Monday through Friday jobs? How many people see Sunday as the day of last-ditch effort, to get a few things accomplished for themselves, maybe stir their imagination a bit, before returning to the weekly grind?

Audio Drama lets you do both. Pop in your earbuds, or crank up the G-Boom, and you can have as much action, adventure, romance, comedy and joy as you can with hours of Netflix or Hulu, but without the sitting on your butt that can cause sciatica.

Thrym King of JotunheimThrym, King of Jotumheim, says that audio drama pairs well with knitting. Whatever you’re up to today, make it dramatic.

 

Episode 9: Sowing Chaos

Burning_ship
Photo by Phil Carroll.

Agent Bachman confronts Mrs. Wallace over the stagnation in their relationship, and pushes her to make a bold choice, with disastrous consequences. Thor confronts Jarnsaxa, making her a peculiar and dangerous offer.

Mrs. Wallace: Molly Pach Johnson

Agent Bachman: Katherine Kupiecki

Dr. Aspinall: John Zeiler

Fenja_och_Menja_vid_kvarnen_Grotte_(xylograph)
Carl Lansson, 1886.

Jarnsaxa: MaryLynn Mennicke

Thor: Derek Meyer

Credits: Leslie Vincent

Special thanks to Keith, the bartender at The Sheraton Minneapolis Midtown, for his performance as The Sound Guy.

Written by Lindsay Harris Friel

Directed by Carin Bratlie Wethern

Sound design, engineering and music by Vincent Friel

Dramaturgy by Kit Gordon

This episode of Jarnsaxa Rising was sponsored by The Anonymous Ninjas of Generosity

Subscribe, review and rate us on iTunes! We want to hear from you.

For more information, visit JarnsaxaRising.com.

Listen using iTunesPocketCasts, or Libsyn!

Episode 8: The Giants’ Pyre and The Superconductor

Vårnatt og seljekall, Nikolai Astrup, 1919.
Vårnatt og seljekall, Nikolai Astrup, 1919.

Jarnsaxa and Dr. Aspinall prepare the funeral pyre after the massacre. His desire to analyze this new world pushes against her desire to burn all Nine. Can they understand each other, and the power of science and sorcery, before Loki and Bachman return? And how does this relate to the ferry boat fire?

Jarnsaxa: MaryLynn Mennicke

Dr. Aspinall: John T. Zeiler

Agent Bachman: Katherine Kupiecki

Loki: Ethan Bjelland

Credits: Leslie Vincent

Written by Lindsay Harris Friel

Directed by Carin Bratlie Wethern

Sound design, engineering and music by Vincent Friel

Dramaturgy by Kit Gordon

This episode of Jarnsaxa Rising was sponsored by Jane and David Broude.

Subscribe, review and rate us on iTunes! We want to hear from you.

Listen using iTunesPocketCasts, or Libsyn!

Episode 7: How To Take Revenge

Sif and Loki. The Children of Odin, The Book of Northern Myths, by Wolly Pogany, 1917.
Sif and Loki. The Children of Odin, The Book of Northern Myths, by Wolly Pogany, 1917.

Loki takes Agent Bachman to Asgard, to avenge Jarnsaxa and Jotunheim. During the wedding feast of Thor and Sif, Loki seduces the bride. Bachman must teach Loki a lesson, and The Aesir must mete justice upon the remaining descendants of Jotunheim.

Jarnsaxa: MaryLynn Mennicke

Loki: Ethan Bjelland

Agent Bachman: Katherine Kupiecki

Dr. Aspinall: John T. Zeiler

Sif: Amy Pirkl

Balder: Shannon Troy Jones

Thor: Derek Meyer

Written by Lindsay Harris Friel

Directed by Carin Bratlie Wethern

Sound design, engineering and music by Vincent Friel

Dramaturgy by Kit Gordon

This episode of Jarnsaxa Rising was sponsored by Jane and David Broude.

Listen using iTunesPocketCasts, or Libsyn!

Episode 6: A Wedding In Jotunheim

Arthur Rackham, 1910
Arthur Rackham, 1910

Jarnsaxa takes Agent Bachman and Dr. Aspinall to her homeland, at the time when she knew only love and pride. But the burgeoning war between Asgard and Jotunheim threatens chaos. A bargain is struck, but treachery makes ancient grudges erupt.

Dr. Aspinall: John T. Zeiler

Agent Bachman: Katherine Kupiecki

Jarnsaxa: MaryLynn Mennicke

Loki: Ethan Bjelland

Vala: Delta Giordano

Balder: Shannon Troy Jones

Thor: Derek Meyer

Thrym: Himself

Featuring The Jotunheim Chorus

Written by Lindsay Harris Friel

Directed by Carin Bratlie Wethern

Sound design, engineering and music by Vincent Friel

Dramaturgy by Kit Gordon

This episode of Jarnsaxa Rising was sponsored by Sam Landman.

Subscribe, review and rate us on iTunes! We want to hear from you.

For more information, visit JarnsaxaRising.com.

Listen using iTunesPocketCasts, or Libsyn!

Photo by Béla Stéhli
Photo by Béla Stéhli

W.G. Collingswood, 1910
W.G. Collingswood, 1910