Departures
6 episodes
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https://www.catchrelease.net/s/departures
Database link:
https://www.catchrelease.net/s/departures
RSS Feed:
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Creator: Ben Wakeman
Solo Thriller and Psychological Serial Audio Book
Synopsis:
DEPARTURES is a serial novel with new episodes dropping each week. Paid subscribers to Catch & Release get early access to new episodes before everyone else.
Wilder Thorne has lived with a supernatural ability to know the exact date when every person he touches will die. It’s only the date and he’s never been wrong. He’s never been able to prevent a single death in 45 years despite his best efforts. Is it possible to use his power to ease the suffering of others and transform his curse into a blessing? Juniper, the love of his life believed so, but she’s been gone almost thirty years and he’s close to giving up.
www.catchrelease.net
Language: English
Format: Audio Book
Continuity: Serial
Writing: Scripted
Voices: Solo
Narrator: Third Person
Genres: Thriller and Psychological, Occult and Supernatural
Soundscape: Voices only
Completion status: Finished
Not tagged: [Maturity] [Creator demographics] [Character demographics] [Country of origin] [Transcript] [Content warnings]
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Episodes:
A Live Chat About Departures and the Necessity of Fiction in a World on 🔥
Sun, 09 Mar 2025 15:16:51 GMT
I really enjoyed my chat with Mr. Troy Ford yesterday. He’s such an amazing writer and a leader in the fiction community on Substack. In this conversation, we cover a range of topics, but Troy, as a generous and engaged reader of my work, asks some insightful questions about Departures.
LIVE EVENT: I’m Doing a Live Reading of Departures Grand Finale on Saturday, March 15th
As a way to celebrate the closing chapter of Departures and to express my gratitude to all of you who have been on this ride with me since July last year, I will host a live Zoom event to perform the narration of Chapter 40.
I will send out a special invite to subscribers this Saturday morning, March 15th with a link to join the Zoom call. The event will start at 5:00 PM Eastern Daylight Savings time in the U.S. After the reading, I’ll take questions and would love to chat with you all. I hope you’ll be able to attend.
Become a subscriber to attend the live event. Annual paid subscribers in the U.S. get a signed copy of “The Memory of My Shadow” for absolutely FREE!
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.catchrelease.net/subscribe
Departures: Ask Me Anything Live!
Thu, 06 Mar 2025 13:10:00 GMT
I was honored to have Julie Gabrielli and Kimberly Warner, two Substack writers I truly admire, sit down and chat with me about my novel Departures which is just two episodes away from concluding its serial run here on Catch & Release.
If you missed the chance to join our live video chat, you can watch the entire thing here. It was the most fun you could possibly have talking about death and suffering plus my bathroom recording studio makes a cameo appearance!
If you’ve not started reading Departures, what are you waiting for?! Jump in and start binge listening/reading today and join me next Saturday, March 15th for a live reading of the concluding chapter.
Become a paid subscriber and get access to my two previous novels and the full archive of my work. Annual subscribers in the U.S. get a signed paperback edition of my novel, “The Memory of My Shadow” FREE!
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.catchrelease.net/subscribe
Tue, 30 Jul 2024 11:11:00 GMT
In this episode, it's 1988 and Wild is admitted to a mental health institution where he meets Juniper for the first time.
“Departures” is a supernatural thriller and love story published as a serial novel with new episodes dropping every Tuesday morning at www.catchrelease.net. Anyone can read or listen for free. Paid subscribers gain early access to new episodes and exclusive content.
Enjoying Departures? Help Spread the Word! For independent authors like me who don’t have the support of a big publisher and marketing team, your enthusiastic support for my work means EVERYTHING. You can help others discover this novel by giving it a 5-star rating and sharing episodes like this one with anyone you know who loves to read.
I know how much competes for your time and attention so I’m so grateful you’ve honored me by sharing a portion of it each week. Thank you. ❤️
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.catchrelease.net/subscribe
Tue, 23 Jul 2024 11:14:50 GMT
In this episode, Wild tries desperately to convince the young barista he's brought back to his apartment that today is his last day on earth.
“Departures” is a supernatural thriller and love story published as a serial novel with new episodes dropping every Tuesday morning at www.catchrelease.net. Anyone can read or listen for free. Paid subscribers gain early access to new episodes and exclusive content.
Enjoying Departures? Help Spread the Word! For independent authors like me who don’t have the support of a big publisher and marketing team, your enthusiastic support for my work means EVERYTHING. You can help others discover this novel by giving it a 5-star rating and sharing episodes like this one with anyone you know who loves to read.
I know how much competes for your time and attention so I’m so grateful you’ve honored me by sharing a portion of it each week. Thank you. ❤️
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.catchrelease.net/subscribe
Tue, 23 Jul 2024 11:11:00 GMT
In this episode, Wilder Thorne, a recluse who lives above the historic Century Theater, ventures out for the first time in months and has a life or death encounter with a stranger.
“Departures” is a supernatural thriller and love story published as a serial novel with new episodes dropping every Tuesday morning at www.catchrelease.net. Anyone can read or listen for free. Paid subscribers gain early access to new episodes and exclusive content.
Enjoying Departures? Help Spread the Word! For independent authors like me who don’t have the support of a big publisher and marketing team, your enthusiastic support for my work means EVERYTHING. You can help others discover this novel by giving it a 5-star rating and sharing episodes like this one with anyone you know who loves to read.
I know how much competes for your time and attention so I’m so grateful you’ve honored me by sharing a portion of it each week. Thank you. ❤️
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.catchrelease.net/subscribe
Departures Date is Set, Don't Be Late
Sun, 30 Jun 2024 11:11:00 GMT
Subscribe today so you don’t miss out on the new novel! Become a paid subscriber and get access to my two other novels and the entire archive of my work.
Hi Folks, I’m happy to feel back among the living here as I close out a week of being sick with COVID. This was actually my first bout with it. I was starting to believe that maybe I had some freakish immunity, but I think it just took a few years to grind me down. COVID was biding its time, waiting until I was completely stressed out while simultaneously enjoying a highly productive period of creative flow which I wrote about last week.
Today’s post will be brief but important. I’m officially announcing the release date for the new serial novel I’ve been working on for the past month. “Departures” is a story that’s been percolating in me for more than eight years and I’m so excited I’ve found the right place and time to tell it. The first fifteen chapters are written and I have good momentum and a vision for where we’ll end up but there’s still plenty of mystery which is the thing that keeps me engaged.
The first episode for “Departures” drops on Tuesday, July 23, 2024!
While trying to write this week with COVID brain was like eating soup with a slotted spoon, I was able to exercise some other creative muscles by creating the video trailer for the novel which you can watch above. The video gives you a little teaser of what the book is about and a fun visual of the library in Wilder Thorne’s apartment above the historic old theater in midtown Atlanta. I had a lot of fun creating all the artwork and animations for the video. I took full advantage of COVID voice to channel Sam Elliott too. You’re welcome ;-)
The music you hear in the background is the product of a new collaboration with FogChaser that I’m super excited about. His music is so beautiful and soulful and he brings such rich and vivid sounds to the guitar-based score I created. This is the beginning of what will be the musical soundtrack for the audio narration of the novel. Check out Fogchaser’s most recent post to enjoy even more of his music.
I hope you’re as excited for “Departures” as I am. I think the story is going to be a satisfying ride with something for everyone. At its heart “Departures” is a love story and I think we all need a few more of those in these dark times.
How You Can Help
If you hadn’t guessed by now, I’m pretty much a one-person promotion machine for the enterprise that is Catch & Release. If you’re excited about this book, it would be a HUGE help if you were to tell a few thousand of your closest friends about it in the real world, and also on Substack, and anywhere else online you do the socials. Thanks so much for all your support. I couldn’t do it without you.
I lovingly sweated over every pixel, note, and word in this video trailer in hopes that you might share it far and wide. Thanks in advance.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.catchrelease.net/subscribe