Visiting the colony of New Rhineland, the Arbiters are lured into the centuries old German ghost story of the White Lady, a harbinger of death and spirit of vengeance. Metcalfe is confronted by the most haunting spectre of all — that of his sister, Lydia.

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Listen to the free podcast: Part One | Part Two | Part Three

This episode has also been novelized and is available in multiple formats, including iBooks, Nook and Kindle. Details here.

I wrote two episodes together for Farpoint 2002 — this one, and “Playing Politics.” I wrote this one first, and then realized that I needed a script with a meaty male guest star role for the same con, since George Takei would be performing with us, alongside Robin Curtis. I didn’t see George quite fitting the role of “The White Lady.” (Oh, my!) So we performed both that weekend. This one is based on a ghost story about the White Lady who haunted the Old Palace in Berlin, which used to scare the crap out of me as a kid. Drawing on my studies of European myth and folklore, I turned it into a more hopeful story than the original, and touched on some of my own notions of how a benevolent vision of the afterlife should look.

CAST:

Announcer – Paul Balze
Carson – Scott Farquhar
Cernaq – Renfield
Metcalfe – Steven H. Wilson
Kaya – Beatrice Kondo
Aer’La – June Swords
Faulkner – Cindy Shockey
Lydia – Cindy Woods
Lady – Renee Wilson

Directed by Steven H. Wilson
Editing: Steven H. Wilson
Music: Scott D. Farquhar

A day in the life of the Arbiter crew is viewed through the alien eyes of Cernaq as he writes a letter to his mentor, Professor Mors.  Kaya must decide whether her future lies on Arbiter.  Cernaq and Aer’La share an… educational experience.  Metcalfe tries to explainEaster to the Arbiters.

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Listen to the free podcast: Part One | Part Two | Part Three

This episode has also been novelized and is available in multiple formats, including iBooks, Nook and Kindle. Details here.

By episode three, it became sort of obligatory that we perform a new Arbiters show at every con we attended. Shore Leave in 2001 was our next venue, and I had always liked those simple “Day in the Life” episodes of shows. One of my inspirations was the M*A*S*H script, “Dear Dad” and its sequels. One character’s impressions of the others can always be fun, in particular when the character is as off-beat as Cernaq. As throwaway as the idea seemed, we all seemed to just love doing this one, especially since it involved an ab-libbed ending and a very juicy audio spit-take. And, of course, Cernaq and Aer’La’s romance was born in this episode.

CAST:

Announcer – Paul Balze
Atal – Dave Keefer
Carson – Scott Farquhar
Cernaq – Renfield
Metcalfe – Steven H. Wilson
Kaya – Beatrice Kondo
Aer’La – June Swords
Faulkner – Cindy Shockey
Mors – John Weber
Pallas – Renee Wilson
Psychiatrist – Cindy Woods
Mass – Paul Balze
Bimbo – Betsy Childs

Directed by Steven H. Wilson
Editing: Steven H. Wilson
Music: Scott D. Farquhar

While investigating rumors of an espionage operation on a primitive world, Cernaq must kill a man to save Metcalfe’s life. When his telepathic mind absorbs the killer’s personality, however, Cernaq becomes a danger to everyone around him. To save him, his friends must undergo a risky procedure, linking their minds to his.

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Listen to the free podcast: Part One | Part Two | Part Three

This episode has also been novelized and is available in multiple formats, including iBooks, Nook and Kindle. Details here.

Here was the first show to carry the Arbiter Chronicles title (at least in live performance), and for which Scott Farquhar, as composer, really got to show off his skills at creating, musically, the other-worldly atmosphere inside Cernaq’s brain. It’s one of our most popular episodes, and it won the Mark Time Silver Award in 2004. It was actually the first episode we studio recorded, because I thought it was the strongest. We had a blast putting it together, especially the hour or so spent with everyone doing the big “villain rant” at the end in different voices. It was performed live at Balticon in 2001.

CAST:

Announcer – Paul Balze
Atal – Dave Keefer
Carson – Scott Farquhar
Cernaq – Renfield
Metcalfe – Steven H. Wilson
Kaya – Beatrice Kondo
Aer’La – June Swords
Faulkner – Cindy Shockey
Lydia – Cindy Woods
Webley – Andrew Bergstrom
Rhodey – Paul Balze
Danvard – Paul Balze
Mors – John Weber
Teacher – Andrew Bergstrom
Pallas – Renee Wilson
Demej – Cindy Woods

Directed by Steven H. Wilson & Scott D. Farquhar
Editing: Scott D. Farquhar
Music: Scott D. Farquhar

A Century ago, the expedition aboard the Faraday disappeared mysteriously, amidst rumors of a mutiny. Today, Arbiter has found the Faraday’s survivors on a forgotten planet, but these are children of the mutineers. They’re guarding a secret they’ll give anything — or take anything — to protect; and they’ve set their sights on Arbiter.

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Listen to the free podcast: Part One | Part Two | Part Three

This episode has also been novelized and is available in multiple formats, including iBooks, Nook and Kindle. Details here.

This script was written in September, 2000 — about 45 pages of it on a single day the weekend before it was performed! It only got written because there was a hole in the schedule for the main stage at Farpoint 2000. The year before, my friend John Vengrouskie had organized a live radio play in which I’d performed; and Bill Pullman had performed the following Christmas in an adaptation of It’s a Wonderful Life at the Kennedy Center, which was aired on network television. Pullman’s pages flying as he dropped his script inspired me to try live radio! So I took the characters from my (already drafted) novel Taken Liberty and worked them into the outline for a rejected novel, and I had a sixty-minute radio script. There was no series title. We just performed it. The audience liked it, and applauded when Paul Balze asked them, “Do ya want us to do more of these?”

Thus was born The Arbiter Chronicles as a radio series. In my experience, there never was so fortuitous a hole in a convention schedule.

CAST:

Announcer – Paul Balze
Aide – Steven H. Wilson
Fournier – Paul Balze
Atal – Dave Keefer
Carson – Scott Farquhar
Kaya – Beatrice Kondo
Cernaq – Renfield
Metcalfe – Steven H. Wilson
Trace – Renee Wilson
L’lanck – Paul Balze
Andrews – Andrew Bergstrom
Dawson – Bill Weithers
Aer’La – June Swords
Captain Trat – Scott Farquhar
Faulkner – Cindy Shockey
Technician – Cindy Woods

Directed by Steven H. Wilson
Music – Scott D. Farquhar