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To celebrate the 50th episode of Dispatches with Jonny Eberle, Jonny reflects on the power of oral storytelling, from stories shared by our ancestors around the fire to today's proliferation of podcasts.
Jonny Eberle is a writer, podcaster, filmmaker, and photographer. He lives in Tacoma, WA, with his family, a dog, and three adorable typewriters. His fiction has appeared in Creative Colloquy, Grit City Magazine, All Worlds Wayfarer, Culturate Magazine, Borderline Tales, and elsewhere. He'll be reading his latest piece of short fiction at the Hopeful Horizons: Climate Storytelling Showcase on November 22, 2025, in Tacoma, WA.
Dispatches with Jonny Eberle is a production of Obscure Studios with music via Pixabay. Find more shows at www.obscurestudios.net.
Help us make the third season of our sci-fi audio drama, The Adventures of Captain Radio, by making a pledge at https://ko-fi.com/obscurestudios. Thanks for listening!
Transcript: https://jweberle.com/2025/11/19/the-most-human-thing/
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Just in time for Halloween, Jonny shares his ghost story "A Light Always Burns" which won second prize in the 2024 Typewriter Chicago Short Story Contest.
Jonny Eberle is a writer, podcaster, filmmaker, and photographer. He lives in Tacoma, WA, with his family, a dog, and three adorable typewriters. His fiction has appeared in Creative Colloquy, Grit City Magazine, All Worlds Wayfarer, Culturate Magazine, Borderline Tales, and elsewhere.
Dispatches with Jonny Eberle is a production of Obscure Studios with music by Back_Drop and SoulProdMusic via Pixabay.
Listen to Spooky Tales wherever you find podcasts. Find more shows at www.obscurestudios.net.
Help us make the third season of our sci-fi audio drama, The Adventures of Captain Radio, by making a pledge at https://ko-fi.com/obscurestudios. Thanks for listening!
Transcript: https://jweberle.com/2025/10/15/what-do-your-characters-want/
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Conflict is the engine that drives stories forward. Without it, you're pretty much guaranteed that your story will go nowhere. So how does this aspect of story get overlooked? In this episode, we'll dive into the whole story—from A to Z—in search of that missing element.
Jonny Eberle is a writer, podcaster, filmmaker, and photographer. He lives in Tacoma, WA, with his family, a dog, and three adorable typewriters. His fiction has appeared in Creative Colloquy, Grit City Magazine, All Worlds Wayfarer, Culturate Magazine, Borderline Tales, and elsewhere.
Dispatches with Jonny Eberle is a production of Obscure Studios with music by Grand_Project via Pixabay and "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls. No copyright infrigement is intended. Find more shows at www.obscurestudios.net.
Help us make the third season of our sci-fi audio drama, The Adventures of Captain Radio, by making a pledge at https://ko-fi.com/obscurestudios. Thanks for listening!
Transcript: https://jweberle.com/2025/10/15/what-do-your-characters-want/
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In writing and cooking, there is a chance that you'll serve up a dish that makes someone turn up their nose. But when you get it right, there's no better feeling.
Jonny Eberle is a writer, podcaster, filmmaker, and photographer. He lives in Tacoma, WA, with his family, a dog, and three adorable typewriters. His fiction has appeared in Creative Colloquy, Grit City Magazine, All Worlds Wayfarer, Culturate Magazine, Borderline Tales, and elsewhere.
Dispatches with Jonny Eberle is a production of Obscure Studios with music by Dream Protocol via Pixabay. Find more shows at www.obscurestudios.net. Help us make the third season of our sci-fi audio drama by making a pledge at https://ko-fi.com/obscurestudios. Thanks for listening!
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Transcript: https://jweberle.com/2025/09/17/recipe-for-rejection/
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In today's episode, how do we preserve the beauty and joy of human communication with AI large language models on the rise?
Jonny Eberle is a writer, podcaster, filmmaker, and photographer. He lives in Tacoma, WA, with his family, a dog, and three adorable typewriters. His fiction has appeared in Creative Colloquy, Grit City Magazine, All Worlds Wayfarer, Culturate Magazine, Borderline Tales, and elsewhere.
Dispatches with Jonny Eberle is a production of Obscure Studios with music by Andrewkn and lofi_hour via Pixabay. Find more shows at www.obscurestudios.net. Help us make the third season of our sci-fi audio drama by making a pledge at https://ko-fi.com/obscurestudios. Thanks for listening!
Read Sara Parker's article, You Sound Like ChatGPT: https://www.theverge.com/openai/686748/chatgpt-linguistic-impact-common-word-usage
Transcript: https://jweberle.com/2025/09/03/the-artificial-voice-preserving-the-beauty-of-language-in-the-age-of-ai/
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In today's episode, a physical book purist steps into the wide world of e-books, embracing a technology that's finally come of age, and the mental health benefits of reclaiming time from social media and doomscrolling.
Jonny Eberle is a writer, podcaster, filmmaker, and photographer. He lives in Tacoma, WA, with his family, a dog, and three adorable typewriters. His fiction has appeared in Creative Colloquy, Grit City Magazine, All Worlds Wayfarer, Culturate Magazine, Borderline Tales, and elsewhere.
Dispatches with Jonny Eberle is a production of Obscure Studios with music by Amaksi via Pixabay. Find more shows at www.obscurestudios.net. Help us make the third season of our sci-fi audio drama by making a pledge at https://ko-fi.com/obscurestudios. Thanks for listening!
Transcript: https://jweberle.com/2025/08/20/embracing-the-ereader/
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In today's episode, voice actor William C. McDonald narrates Jonny's newest short story, "If Your Subconscious Thoughts Were Leaked by Cognivast, You Could Be Entitled to Payment From a Class Action Lawsuit," a cautionary tale about big tech and data privacy. Plus, a bonus trailer for "The Adventures of Captain Radio." You can support our third season by making a pledge at https://ko-fi.com/obscurestudios.
Jonny Eberle is a writer, podcaster, filmmaker, and photographer. He lives in Tacoma, WA with his family, a dog, and three adorable typewriters. His fiction has appeared in Creative Colloquy, Grit City Magazine, All Worlds Wayfarer, Culturate Magazine, Borderline Tales, and elsewhere.
Dispatches with Jonny Eberle is a production of Obscure Studios with music by Ueful Pix, Back_Drop, and Tunetank via Pixabay. Find more shows at www.obscurestudios.net. Thanks for listening!
Transcript: https://jweberle.com/2025/07/01/one-thought-and-its-done/
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In 1940, with 88% of Americans opposed to getting involved in WWII, Charlie Chaplin embarked on his most ambitious, most controversial film. The result was The Great Dictator, a movie that wears its antifascist politics on its sleeve. In today's episode, we dive into the 4-minute speech that nudged the course of history.
Jonny Eberle is a writer, podcaster, filmmaker, and photographer. He lives in Tacoma, WA with his family, a dog, and three adorable typewriters. His fiction has appeared in Creative Colloquy, Grit City Magazine, All Worlds Wayfarer, Culturate Magazine, Borderline Tales, and elsewhere.
Dispatches with Jonny Eberle is a production of Obscure Studios with music by The Mountain via Pixabay. Find more shows at www.obscurestudios.net. Thanks for listening!
Transcript and more information about the film that I couldn't squeeze into the episode: https://jweberle.com/2025/04/23/the-barber-and-the-tyrant/
If you'd like to learn more, check out Danny Boyd's brilliant video essay on the filmmaking choices that make The Great Dictator resonate 85 years later: https://youtu.be/7HSIWfPTSMM?si=DmJklaHpykgVcZqF
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In today's episode, I share my latest short story, "Night Watch, 1916," which was published this spring in Culterate Magazine Issue 3. It is read by award-winning voice actor Erika Sanderson.
Jonny Eberle is a writer, podcaster, filmmaker, and photographer. He lives in Tacoma, WA with his family, a dog, and three adorable typewriters. His fiction has appeared in Creative Colloquy, Grit City Magazine, All Worlds Wayfarer, and elsewhere. You can learn more about Erika at erikasanderson.com.
Dispatches with Jonny Eberle is a production of Obscure Studios with music by SoulProdMusic and Clavier via Pixabay. Find more shows at www.obscurestudios.net. Thanks for listening!
Transcript: https://jweberle.com/2025/04/10/new-short-story-night-watch-1916/
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Welcome to Season 5 of Dispatches! In this episode, we discuss Juneteenth, the legacy of slavery in America, and my effort to diversify the books I read.
Jonny Eberle is a writer, podcaster, filmmaker, and photographer. He lives in Tacoma, WA with his family, a dog, and three adorable typewriters. His fiction has appeared in Creative Colloquy, Grit City Magazine, All Worlds Wayfarer, and elsewhere.
Dispatches with Jonny Eberle is a production of Obscure Studios with music by folk_acoustic_music and Sonican via Pixabay. Find more shows at www.obscurestudios.net. Thanks for listening!
Transcript: https://jweberle.com/2022/06/19/decolonizing-my-bookshelf/
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In this episode, a look inside my chaotic but surprisingly effective writing process as a send-off to Season 4 of Dispatches. I'll be back this summer with new episodes about writing, travel, and the creative process. In the meantime, please rate, review, and share with a friend!
Jonny Eberle is a writer, podcaster, filmmaker, and photographer. He lives in Tacoma, WA with his family, a dog, and three adorable typewriters. His fiction has appeared in Creative Colloquy, Grit City Magazine, All Worlds Wayfarer, and elsewhere.
Dispatches with Jonny Eberle is a production of Obscure Studios with music by Chillmore and Koi via Pixabay. Find more shows at www.obscurestudios.net. Thanks for listening!
Transcript: https://jweberle.com/2025/03/19/late-nights-and-stolen-moments-inside-my-writing-process/
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In this episode, I reflect on the dark political moment in the United States and the responsibility writers and artists have to stand up to authoritarianism. And we'll talk about what kinds of stories can inspire change at this moment in history.
CW: U.S. politics
Jonny Eberle is a writer, podcaster, filmmaker, and photographer. He lives in Tacoma, WA with his family, a dog, and three adorable typewriters. His fiction has appeared in Creative Colloquy, Grit City Magazine, All Worlds Wayfarer, and elsewhere. You can find more of his writing and subscribe to his monthly email newsletter at jweberle.com. I'll also be reading at Creative Colloquy's 11th Anniversary Open Mic on Monday, March 10, at 6:30 p.m. at the New Frontier Lounge in Tacoma. I hope to see you there!
Dispatches with Jonny Eberle is a production of Obscure Studios with music by SoulProdMusic from via Pixabay. Find more shows at www.obscurestudios.net. Thanks for listening!
Transcript: http://jweberle.com/2025/03/05/resistance-writers/
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In this episode, I talk about why J.K. Rowling and George Lucas were wrong to continually revise and reinvent their fictional worlds. These two stories are cautionary tales not only about criticism and knowing when to quit, but also about the nature of stories themselves. If you love a piece of art, you have to let it go.
Jonny Eberle is a writer, podcaster, filmmaker, and photographer. He lives in Tacoma, WA with his family, a dog, and three adorable typewriters. His fiction has appeared in Creative Colloquy, Grit City Magazine, All Worlds Wayfarer, and elsewhere. You can find more of his writing and subscribe to his monthly email newsletter at jweberle.com.
Dispatches with Jonny Eberle is a production of Obscure Studios with music by GregorQuendel from via Pixabay. Find more shows at www.obscurestudios.net. Thanks for listening!
Transcript: http://jweberle.com/2025/01/15/stories-belong-to-everyone-why-j-k-rowling-and-george-lucas-are-wrong/
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In this episode, a little writing advice for the New Year about writing first lines. The first line gets a lot of attention, from "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" to "It was a bright, cold day in April and the clocks were striking thirteen." But we must remember that the real writing happens in rewrites—so you have to bite the bullet and start writing. Along the way, I give some minor spoilers for the movie "Throw Momma From the Train" starring Billy Crystal and Danny DeVito.
Jonny Eberle is a writer, podcaster, filmmaker, and photographer. He lives in Tacoma, WA with his family, a dog, and three adorable typewriters. His fiction has appeared in Creative Colloquy, Grit City Magazine, and All Worlds Wayfarer. You can find more of his writing and subscribe to his monthly email newsletter at jweberle.com.
Dispatches with Jonny Eberle is a production of Obscure Studios with music from via Pixabay. Find more shows at www.obscurestudios.net. Thanks for listening!
Transcript: http://jweberle.com/2012/08/01/staring-down-a-blank-page/
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My film and audio production company, Obscure Studios, is 20 years old this month. To celebrate, I sat down with my friend and co-conspirator William C. McDonald to discuss our early filmmaking efforts, the agony of burning DVDs, our pivot to podcasts, and where we’re headed next. We’re also releasing a bonus video episode, which includes my extended conversation with Will and archival footage from the Obscure Studios vault.
Jonny Eberle is a writer, podcaster, filmmaker, and photographer. He lives in Tacoma, WA with his family, a dog, and three adorable typewriters. His fiction has appeared in Creative Colloquy, Grit City Magazine, and All Worlds Wayfarer. You can find more of his writing and subscribe to his monthly email newsletter at jweberle.com. Learn more about Obscure Studios at obscurestudios.net.
Dispatches with Jonny Eberle is a production of Obscure Studios with music from Pixabay. Thanks for listening!
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It shouldn't come as a surprise that a kid who grew up in the American Southwest during the worst drought in that region in over 1,000 years would grow up to write a lot about fire. Wildfires were on my mind when I wrote the short story "Pyrocene." The title was coined by Prof. Stephen Pyne to refer to an age of fire, fueled by climate change, that is reshaping the Earth. Today's story is narrated by the actor William C. McDonald.
Jonny Eberle is a writer, podcaster, filmmaker, and photographer. He lives in Tacoma, WA with his family, a dog, and three adorable typewriters. His fiction has appeared in Creative Colloquy, Grit City Magazine, and All Worlds Wayfarer. You can find more of his writing and subscribe to his monthly email newsletter at jweberle.com.
Dispatches with Jonny Eberle is a production of Obscure Studios. Music by Dream Protocol via Pixabay. Find more shows at www.obscurestudios.net. Thanks for listening!
Learn more about William McDonald: https://williamcmcdonald.wixsite.com/williammcdonald
Transcript: https://jweberle.com/2024/11/27/pyrocene/
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What's in a name? Names are a powerful tool in a writer's toolbox—they can tell us a lot about a character and the world you're creating. In today's episode, we talk about literary names and where to find them.
Jonny Eberle is a writer, podcaster, filmmaker, and photographer. He lives in Tacoma, WA with his family, a dog, and three adorable typewriters. His fiction has appeared in Creative Colloquy, Grit City Magazine, and All Worlds Wayfarer. You can find more of his writing and subscribe to his monthly email newsletter at jweberle.com.
Dispatches with Jonny Eberle is a production of Obscure Studios. Music by Wandering Arc and FASSounds via Pixabay. Find more shows at www.obscurestudios.net. Thanks for listening!
Transcript: https://jweberle.com/2024/11/13/confessions-of-a-name-obsessed-writer/
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This is probably the most obvious writing advice, but it's the pep talk I needed to hear 10 years ago. If you're an artist of any kind, you can and should create what makes you happy. You have my permission to take risks and ignore the mainstream. You do you.
Jonny Eberle is a writer, podcaster, filmmaker, and photographer. He lives in Tacoma, WA with his family, a dog, and three adorable typewriters. His fiction has appeared in Creative Colloquy, Grit City Magazine, and All Worlds Wayfarer. You can find more of his writing and subscribe to his monthly email newsletter at jweberle.com.
Dispatches with Jonny Eberle is a production of Obscure Studios. Music by JuliusH via Pixabay. Find more shows at www.obscurestudios.net. Thanks for listening!
Transcript: https://jweberle.com/2024/10/23/write-what-you-want/
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I have this weird compulsion whenever I'm in a bookstore to find the spot on the shelf where my future books will live. I know it's silly, but it motivates me. And it led me to a brush with a bestselling, critically-acclaimed author., who offered me a note of encouragement to keep going.
Jonny Eberle is a writer, podcaster, filmmaker, and photographer. He lives in Tacoma, WA with his family, a dog, and three adorable typewriters. His fiction has appeared in Creative Colloquy, Grit City Magazine, and All Worlds Wayfarer. You can find more of his writing and subscribe to his monthly email newsletter at jweberle.com.
Dispatches with Jonny Eberle is a production of Obscure Studios. Music by Sonican via Pixabay. Find more shows at www.obscurestudios.net. Thanks for listening!
Transcript: https://jweberle.com/2012/08/19/saving-my-spot-on-the-shelf/
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To kick off Season 4 of Dispatches, I share a short story that Creative Colloquy recently published in their ninth anthology. It's a story told in the form of online reviews about a strange place that's getting even stranger. I hope you enjoy it.
Jonny Eberle is a writer, podcaster, filmmaker, and photographer. He lives in Tacoma, WA with his family, a dog, and three adorable typewriters. His fiction has appeared in Creative Colloquy, Grit City Magazine, and All Worlds Wayfarer. You can find more of his writing and subscribe to his monthly email newsletter at jweberle.com.
Dispatches with Jonny Eberle is a production of Obscure Studios. Music by Michael-XStudio and Majlew via Pixabay. Find more shows at www.obscurestudios.net. Thanks for listening!
Read the story here: https://www.creativecolloquy.com/published-stories/reviews-sanctuary-creek-honey
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