Metamor's noble intrigue and queer romance, chapter by chapter.
Chris Lester hosts serialized fiction from the world of Metamor City, and episodes open with plain, itemized content warnings before the chapter begins. Serials such as 'Honor Reclaimed' mix magic, noble-house politics and queer romance, led by a heroine who tells a crowded room that she will not take a husband.
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The Metamor City Podcast is a home for serialized fiction set in Metamor City and the wider Empire of Metamor. Chris Lester hosts. Recent episodes carry the TRATWD label, short for The Raven and the Writing Desk, which the host introduces as a podcast about the writings of Chris Lester and Liminal Corvid Press. The shape of an episode holds steady. A cold open thanks Patreon supporters, states an aim of keeping the podcast safe and inclusive, and spells out that episode's content warnings. Then come the episode number, a greeting and the chapter itself, and the host also promises news about life and writing later in the show. When a serial is already under way, the host can offer a spoiler-flagged recap and send newcomers back to the start. For 'Honor Tested', credited on air to L.C. Williams, that means Episode 336. The fiction favors romance and aristocratic politics, with magic running underneath. 'Honor Reclaimed' reaches a Chapter 19 marked END, and its chapter titles include 'The Challenge', 'Forgiveness', 'Caterpillars and Butterflies' and 'Respectfully Yours'. Its heroine, Honor, faces a murmuring room and says she cannot and will not take a husband, steadied by Noble Yasmin's reminder that honesty without shame leaves nothing to use against her. She takes up succession reform. When a drowling's mind magic and a betrayal leave Lord Bellevue badly shaken, she judges that he needs time alone, and Wizard Erebor promises fresh wards so he can sleep. Gender is built into the world's grammar. One scene marks the difference between the feminine she and the androgyne they, and Alex, who is referred to as they, is told there is more than one way to be a hero. The story ends with Honor holding Natasha and Alex close. An afterword then steps outside the plot to sketch the Empire of Metamor's Progressive Era, a time of sweeping social change after two Great Wars that never reached Metamor's own soil. The warnings deserve a careful read. Across these episodes they cover strong language, explicit sex between women including dominance and submission, internalized shame around kink, and characters who voice patriarchal, sexist, classist or homophobic views, with a note that those views are not the author's. The host's own advice to newcomers is the right one here: start a serial at its first chapter. Episodes sign off with 'keep it on the bright side' and a reminder that the work is shared under a Creative Commons license that permits sharing but not selling or altering it.
Made for: Suits a listener who wants fantasy fiction told over many chapters, built on queer romance, noble-house politics and magic, and who values detailed content warnings before mature material.
What sets it apart: Instead of standalone stories, it serializes long works chapter by chapter in one shared world. Each episode starts with itemized content warnings, and the close of 'Honor Reclaimed' adds an afterword on the Empire of Metamor's history.
Author Chris Lester brings you serialized fiction in a futuristic fantasy world. Enter a gritty urban landscape of mages and vampires, faeries and telepaths, where street-level spies steal arcane artifacts from power-hungry sorcerers and holy warriors stalk demons through the shadowy depths of thousand-foot-high towers. This feed contains two related podcast series. The Metamor City Podcast (2007-2011) features a full voice cast, sound effects and music, while The Raven and the Writing Desk (2015-present) is a more streamlined solo podcast with stories in the same universe. New episodes of The Raven and the Writing Desk are released weekly. The Metamor City Podcast won the 2008 Podcast Peer…
Honor refuses a husband under a mind spell; your own family dinner may suddenly feel manageable.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Honor Reclaimed closes tenderly, then lets Metamor's imperfect progress cast a longer shadow.
Honor Reclaimed ends by making the dream of a better world feel less like a slogan than a promise kept between people. Honor, Natasha, and Alex share a hushed final exchange about what comes next, with Alex still dreaming until that world can be built and Honor finding her dream…
Honor faces family fallout from scandal in rooms where affection and exhaustion speak louder than ceremony.
Honor Reclaimed, Chapter 18 stays close to the private aftershock of Honor's mother's scandal, letting pressure register in gestures more than declarations.
Honor hears her mother's past in a tender, complicated conversation about love, punishment, and freedom.
Honor Reclaimed, Chapter 17 turns a family scandal into a quiet act of listening. Honor sits with Sylvia and Vasquez as Sylvia looks back on her marriage, her desires, her connection to Marisol, and the punishment that came to feel, in its own complicated way, like freedom.
A tense return to Metamor gives Honor and Natasha space to face betrayal, guilt, and safety together.
Honor Reclaimed, Chapter 16 stays close to the fallout from betrayal as Honor and Natasha prepare to leave the drowling lodge and return to Metamor.
Honor faces a hostile room, a public refusal, and a spell trying to push her toward submission.
Honor Reclaimed, Chapter 15, turns a formal gathering into a test of Honor's self-knowledge, and then lets the danger tighten in public. Her refusal to take a husband, or marry someone she cannot love, draws murmurs and half-whispered insults from the room.
Speculative stories, read with quiet precision.
A fan-made audiobook of Wildbow's superhero serial Ward.
Story-heavy actual play with sharp supernatural turns.
Local radio at reality's breaking point.
Chris Lester presents Chapter 52 of his urban fantasy novel 'Making the Cut,' continuing the story of Brian and Fiona's quest for revenge against their former mentor.
Author Chris Lester reads Chapter 5 of 'Honor Reclaimed' by L.C.
Author Chris Lester reads Chapter 3 of a fantasy story about a lady's companion and a magical necklace, with content warnings for mature themes.
Author Chris Lester reads Chapter 4 of 'Honor Tested' by L.C.
The Metamor City Podcast episode 368 closes Honor Reclaimed with the fallout from the drowling chateau, where Majestrix Kaya sends the case to the High Court of Metamore and Duke Thomas quiets the Council.
Chapter 18 of Honor Reclaimed centers on Honor reading Sylvia’s letters, including one where Sylvia thanks Harold for not contesting the divorce and says she has found freedom.
Chris Lester's The Raven and the Writing Desk episode 366 centers on chapter 17 of Honor Reclaimed, where Honor meets her mother Sylvia on the airship Mariposa and learns why Sylvia had been living as "Billy." The breakfast scene with Captain Marisol Vasquez, Sylvia, Honor, and Natasha turns into a detailed account of Sylvia's marriage, her relationship with Marisol, and the Council of Peers letter that marked her excoriation and divorce.
The Metamor City Podcast episode “TRATWD 365 – Honor Reclaimed, Ch 16: Forgiveness” follows Natasha and Honor after the Drowling arrest, with constables, Duke Thomas, and Wizard Ereba securing the lodge and the Mariposa.
Chris Lester’s The Metamor City Podcast episode 364, “TRATWD 364 – Honor Reclaimed, Ch 15: The Challenge,” centers on Honor confronting Cousin Tyrell after his public remarks at House Drowling’s dinner.
Honor Reclaimed, Chapter 14, follows Honor and Delphinia as they return to Drowling Chalet with Araba's counterspell plan.
In Chapter 12 of L.