Log in

goodpods headphones icon

To access all our features

Open the Goodpods app
Close icon
headphones
Breaker Whiskey

Breaker Whiskey

Atypical Artists

BREAKER WHISKEY is an ongoing, daily microfiction podcast exploring one woman’s journey to find additional survivors in an America made empty by an unknown event in the late 1960s. In 1968, two women find themselves in rural Pennsylvania during what turns out to be some kind of apocalyptic event. By the time they discover that everyone else is gone, it’s too late to figure out what happened. Despite not liking each other at all, the women work together to survive, until six years later one of them sets out on her own, driving around the country to find other survivors. This is her, calling out to anyone who might listen. BREAKER WHISKEY is made by Lauren Shippen and recorded on a 1976 Midland CB Radio. It releases daily, Monday through Friday. If you would like the entire week's episodes as one single download, released on Monday, you can support the show at patreon.com/breakerwhiskey or by becoming an Atypical Plus supporter at atypicalartists.co/support. Please visit breakerwhiskey.com for more information or to send a message to Whiskey.
profile image
profile image

4 Listeners

bookmark
Share icon

All episodes

Best episodes

Seasons

Top 10 Breaker Whiskey Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Breaker Whiskey episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Breaker Whiskey for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Breaker Whiskey episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Breaker Whiskey - 001 - One

001 - One

Breaker Whiskey

play

07/24/23 • 3 min

Please visit breakerwhiskey.com for more information or to send a message to Whiskey's radio. Breaker Whiskey is an Atypical Artists production created by Lauren Shippen. If you'd like to support the show, please visit patreon.com/breakerwhiskey.

----------

[TRANSCRIPT]

Breaker, breaker, Channel 19, is anyone reading? [click, static] This is...uh- sh--

[click, static]

Whiskey...Alpha Romeo- this is Whiskey Alpha Romeo, calling out.

[click, static]

Once again, that’s Whiskey Alpha Romeo, currently along I-80.

[click, static] Breaker, breaker. [click, static]

You know, I just realized how bad those initials are, but that’s the rule right? W for east of the Mississippi, which–isn’t that a bit backward? Shouldn’t it be W for West? Anyway, W for east of the Mississippi plus the initials of your name– but I mean, still, WAR is a bit...Whiskey, I guess is okay. Though that’d be the part of the call sign that everybody in this area has, so...not really specific.

Then again, it doesn’t seem like anyone is here – no other W-call signs to mix me up with. So if you are listening somehow, Whiskey is...fine.

I don’t have a number? I don’t technically have any kind of license either, but who would be giving them out, right? I mean, in that case, I guess trying to stick to any kind of convention is sort of pointless at this juncture, so I could’ve picked any old name...

But, I mean, we all have to hold on to whatever bit of structure we can to stay sane, right?

And I don’t know, I have the pamphlet for this thing and it feels like I should follow it to the letter.

You know, this thing has been sitting in our garage for five years and this is the first time we’ve sent a signal out? I mean, we’re remote, yeah, but that doesn’t mean we couldn’t’ve–

[click, static]

Sorry, not we. The first time I’ve sent a signal out, though Lord knows she never did either. And never will, I mean, I doubt she’ll even notice this is gone, I doubt she’ll miss it, I doubt she’ll miss–

[click, static]

Anyway, here I am, clogging up the airwaves. I think that’s bad etiquette. But if no one is listening, there’s no one to offend.

[click, static]

Yeah. Well, like I said. Whiskey Alpha Romeo along I-80–I’ll stay on this frequency for the rest of the day. Um...signing off.

profile image
profile image

3 Listeners

bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Breaker Whiskey - 004 - Four

004 - Four

Breaker Whiskey

play

07/27/23 • 4 min

Please visit breakerwhiskey.com for more information or to send a message to Whiskey's radio. Breaker Whiskey is an Atypical Artists production created by Lauren Shippen. If you'd like to support the show, please visit patreon.com/breakerwhiskey.

--------

[TRANSCRIPT]

[click, static]

Alright, different channel today. Different channel and different state. I have made my way into West Virginia. And good lord, is it beautiful. I’m definitely avoiding all the flat just the way I wanted, but I am a little worried now that the mountains are going to make these signals even less likely to reach anyone.

I’m keeping my eye out for a better antenna, something I could boost the signal with. I don’t know much about this thing–radios aren’t my specialty–but I’ve always been good at tinkering with things and I pick stuff up quick. It’s why I got into the line of work I did. You need to be able to improvise, figure things out fast, and you’ve gotta be good with your hands.

I like discovering the way things work. In that sense, I bet you’d think this whole situation these past years has been my paradise. How do you improvise when the power’s out and the water stops being clean and you can’t get emergency services for shit because there might not be any kind of services at all anymore? I mean, sounds like a fun fair to me.

The reality got old fast. But I think I was able to build a pretty decent existence. It’s why I think I can do it again. I take comfort in the knowledge that if this car breaks down, I can fix it, and if it really breaks down, I can get another one going. There’s certainly enough of them scattered around.

Though not as many as I thought there’d be. I also expected the stores to be a lot more picked over. The gas stations, yeah, are mostly empty, but I think my odds of getting a stronger antenna are actually pretty good. I dropped into a hardware store late yesterday to get a tire gauge and air pump and the place felt...if not fully stocked, partly. And it’s not like I’m in the middle of absolutely nowhere, I’m still on a major highway. So why isn’t everything completely picked over?

[click, static]

I have seen a couple of lights on here or there, which I can’t make any sense of. One of them was a roadside burger joint–their neon ‘open’ sign was glowing like it was new. So I went in and...well, I didn’t expect to see anyone, I didn’t want to get my hopes up, but I thought maybe...maybe there’d be a phone that still worked or a water heater or a working gas line.

It was the strangest thing. The neon sign was on. And the jukebox. And one of the lights over the counter. But nothing else. The phone was dead, none of the light switches seemed to do anything.

I did try playing a tune on the jukebox but...I don’t have any quarters. Why would I? I haven’t used money for anything in years.

But anyway, it all got me thinking...if I could find a working radio tower, could I boost this signal? As it stands, I’ve just got to keep driving round and round and round until I get lucky enough to come into range with another CB. But if parts of the grid are still working, then maybe—

[click, static]

Maybe it doesn’t matter. Maybe it wouldn’t make a difference because maybe there is no one to find. And I’ll just keep tuning into a new frequency every single day and talking to the air.

[click, static]

But I think it’s...helping. Even if I’m not talking to anybody.

[click, static]

Maybe because I’m not talking to anybody. If no one can hear me, there’s no consequence to anything I say. And talking to yourself isn’t embarrassing or sad if no one knows it’s happening. Right?

So, who knows, maybe I’ll keep going on this no matter what happens. I’ve got nothing to lose.

Signing off.

[click, static]

[beep]

profile image
profile image

3 Listeners

bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Breaker Whiskey - 002 - Two

002 - Two

Breaker Whiskey

play

07/25/23 • 2 min

Please visit breakerwhiskey.com for more information or to send a message to Whiskey's radio. Breaker Whiskey is an Atypical Artists production created by Lauren Shippen. If you'd like to support the show, please visit patreon.com/breakerwhiskey.

-----------------

[TRANSCRIPT]

[click, static]

Breaker, breaker, WAR1974 on the line currently eating some jerky on the side of I-76.

[click, static]

It occurred to me that I won’t actually be East of the Mississippi much longer. I’ve officially crossed over into Ohio and have no plans on stopping so– I don’t know, do people change their handles when they move around? No way, right? That’d be useless. Then again, the FCC also probably doesn’t give out the current year as a call sign number, but I wanted to feel more official. And, you know, “War 1974” rhymes so...

[click, static]

I don’t know what I’m doing, clearly! This is the longest I've been alone in six years and I may already be losing it.

But I don’t know, it can’t be worse than having only one person for company for that time, right? I have to think that if other people are out there, they’ve been in a similar bind. You guys get it.

[click, static]

I’m gonna try a new channel tomorrow I think. Because I really am just...speaking into the void here. Hello? Anyone out there?

[click, static]

I don’t know what I expected. I think I expected someone. Or something. I knew the electricity was out pretty much everywhere, I mean, we barely scraped together a working generator. And even then, we couldn’t run it all the time. I haven’t taken a hot shower in...

[click, static]

If anyone is out there, would you mind tuning in just to tell me if there’s a working gas station in this state? I’m...acquiring gas just fine at the moment but I’d rather not have my first encounter with the world in half a decade be getting busted for siphoning-

[click, static]

Probably shouldn’t talk about that kind of stuff on a public frequency, huh?

[click, static]

If folks are nervous making themselves known to a stranger, I get it. Trust me, I get it. But I’m safe. I’m a good person, I just...would love to know what the hell has been going on. I’ve got plenty of food and I like to think I’m a pretty good conversationalist so. Just. Please.

[click, static]

Alright. Second verse, same as the first–I’ll be on this frequency all day. Signing off.

profile image
profile image

3 Listeners

bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Breaker Whiskey - Episode 0 - Start Here

Episode 0 - Start Here

Breaker Whiskey

play

07/17/23 • 1 min

Support the Show

Support Atypical Artists

Send a Message

Transcripts

Email the show at [email protected]

--

Hi there. I'm Lauren Shippen, creator of Breaker, Whiskey. If you're new to this feed, let me give you a brief overview of the journey we're on.

Breaker Whiskey is a micro fiction alternate history that explores an empty 1970s America.

In 1968, two women find themselves in rural Pennsylvania during what turns out to be some kind of apocalyptic event. By the time they discover that everyone else is gone, it’s too late to figure out what happened. Despite not liking each other at all, the women work together to survive, until six years later one of them sets out on her own, driving around the country to find other survivors. This is her story.

Breaker Whiskey takes place in post-apocalyptic America and involves themes of loneliness, existential dread, hopelessness, and other heavy topics. There is strong language, drinking, and mild peril. If you have a concern about a specific trigger warning, please email us at [email protected] and ask!

I've been making audio drama for a long time and when I started it was very, very DIY. While I've so enjoyed making shows with large casts and large teams, there are times when I miss the spontaneity of doing things myself. Breaker Whiskey is an ongoing, living, breathing show. I don't have the entire thing planned out, I don't necessarily always know where the story is going. It is a road trip without a map, a way for me to explore single narrator storytelling and build a story as I go, following whichever plot points or character points I fid most interesting.

And this is a journey I'm not going on entirely by myself. As Whiskey goes on her journey, she'll start to receive mysterious morse code messages from a stranger. If you would like to send a morse code message of your own, you can send Whiskey a message or a question at atypicalartists.co/breakerwhiskey.

The show is released every day, Monday through Friday and each individual episode is under 5 minutes. Start with Episode 001. If you are a supporter of Atypical Artists, you'll receive each week's episodes as a single episode, on Mondays, instead of smaller missives each day. If you'd like to become a supporter, please visit atypicalartists.co/supportor patreon.com/breakerwhiskey

All the links are in the description of this episode.

This is Lauren, signing off.

profile image
profile image

3 Listeners

bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Breaker Whiskey - 003 - Three

003 - Three

Breaker Whiskey

play

07/26/23 • 2 min

Please visit breakerwhiskey.com for more information or to send a message to Whiskey's radio. Breaker Whiskey is an Atypical Artists production created by Lauren Shippen. If you'd like to support the show, please visit patreon.com/breakerwhiskey.

--------

[TRANSCRIPT]

[click, static] Breaker, breaker, this is Whiskey driving West on a beautiful day.

Still in Ohio. The Buckeye State. I’m thinking of heading South actually–the last time I was in the Midwest was...god, probably sixty? Sixty-one. I just remember a lot of flat. I haven’t hit that yet, but knowing it’s coming...yeah, anyway, I’ve been thinking about heading south. Cutting back over into...(rustling of paper), 77? And going down to West Virginia. I blew right past Akron without seeing a single sign of life, so I’m thinking maybe the big cities are out.

[click, static]

Jesus, not that Akron, Ohio is a big city. Maybe I should’ve gone up to Cleveland, I don’t know. I guess I’m still a little skittish of anywhere that might have–

[click, static]

(sighing) Anyway, West Virginia seems like a place worth checking out. Harry mentioned this doomsday cult she’d heard about down there–granted, that was back in ‘66 or something that she heard those rumors but...what else do I have to go on, huh?

Man, if she could see me right now, she’d laugh and tell me ‘told you so’. Not even a week into this and I’m already going looking for a weird survivalist cult. Bet she’d love to have me go slinking back with my tail between my legs, giving up on any hope that there’s something worth looking for in this godforsaken country.

But she’s not gonna get the satisfaction. I’m not going back, not for anything. It was safe, sure, but at what cost? Human beings aren’t meant to live in a cage, even ones of their own making. I mean it’s just—

[click, static]

Well, even a bunch of nuclear war freakouts would be better than being alone.

I’ve been alone for so long now.

[click, static]

Harry would take issue with that, I think. Try to logic me into some kind of admission that because I wasn’t actually alone, I couldn’t claim being lonely. And maybe I wouldn’t’ve been if every conversation with her wasn’t exactly like that, where she would–

[click, static]

(deep breath) I’m not gonna talk about her. I’m not even gonna think about her. I’ve spent the past six years doing nothing but

[click, static]

If I’m gonna head south I should probably figure out where the hell I can get on I-77. I’m working off a Rand McNally from 1963, but it’s not like they’ve done any public works since ‘68 so I’m counting on it being somewhat reliable. But if you hear this and have a hot tip on the best route to take...

This is Whiskey, signing off.

profile image
profile image

3 Listeners

bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Breaker Whiskey - 052 - Fifty-Two

052 - Fifty-Two

Breaker Whiskey

play

10/03/23 • 5 min

Please visit breakerwhiskey.com for more information or to send a message to Whiskey's radio. Breaker Whiskey is an Atypical Artists production created by Lauren Shippen. If you'd like to support the show, please visit patreon.com/breakerwhiskey. As a patron, you will also receive each week's episodes as one longer episode every Monday.

------

[TRANSCRIPT]

[click, static]

Breaker, breaker, this is Whiskey, finally leaving Kansas. Up next: Colorado.

[click, static]

I did not see that dog again. I knew it was a long shot, but I still felt disappointed. How stupid is that?

I could have driven around more maybe—spent more time driving through all the little towns that surround the highway where I saw him. But to be honest, I really want to get the hell out of Kansas. The tornado, it—

[click, static]

It was terrifying. I didn’t—it was one of, I think, the scariest things I’ve ever experienced, I think. I never would have guessed that—that a tornado was actually that terrifying. I don’t know why. I don’t know why I would’ve thought different.

I used to love storms as a kid—actually, you know, as an adult too. There’s nothing quite like cozying up with a good record and a little project during a thunderstorm.

[click, static]

This is a little embarrassing, maybe, but I used to—I used to, um, build miniatures. Like, furniture and other things for dollhouses.

[click, static]

I know, I know. But it can’t be car engines and spackle all the time. It was good to work on smaller things. More delicate things. Usually there’d be a toaster or a lamp or a typewriter for me to tinker with, but when there wasn’t...

I always wanted a dollhouse as a kid. I wanted one so badly, but we could never afford it. Not a real one. My dad and I tried to build one out of an old milk crate once, but neither of us had the eye for it. At least not then.

It was actually, um, another fence of ours—Sylvia—who got me into it. She owned this weird little curio shop in Soho and would usually be able to find a buyer for any antiquities or, um, what’re they called—objet

d’arts—that we might come across. Stuff that wasn’t your typical six figure painting or what have you.

And her shop was legitimate and it was full of so much interesting stuff. I may have not ever been an art person, but I love...stuff. You know? The ephemera of peoples’ lives, the clocks, the letter openers, the desks and the paperweights. Some of it is beautiful, of course, but I was always more interested in the function. Or the marriage between function and form, as Harry would say. She tried to convince me that I did appreciate art after all and I would tell her that I appreciated beautiful things that had a purpose and that that was different. And she would say ‘being beautiful is a purpose’ and I would roll my eyes and she would snap at me and we’d just go—

[click, static]

Anyway, before I met Harry, I was in Sylvia’s shop and somehow we got on the topic of her repair work and how, as much as she loved doing it, she was getting too old for it—her eyes too weak, her hands were too shaky from her arthritis. And I needed a little extra cash, so I started helping her out with it. She taught me pretty much everything I needed to know—fixing the lining inside a piece of vintage luggage is not the same as rewiring a toaster—but I don’t know, found I liked most of the work.

And then one day she asked me to repair this gorgeous dollhouse. And it was so frustrating and fun and opened this whole world to me of making tiny little things—tiny chairs and tiny settees and tiny little lamps that really lit up and...

[for the rest of the transcript, visit breakerwhiskey.tumblr.com]

profile image
profile image

2 Listeners

bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Breaker Whiskey - 042 - Forty-Two

042 - Forty-Two

Breaker Whiskey

play

09/19/23 • 2 min

Please visit breakerwhiskey.com for more information or to send a message to Whiskey's radio. Breaker Whiskey is an Atypical Artists production created by Lauren Shippen. If you'd like to support the show, please visit patreon.com/breakerwhiskey. As a patron, you will also receive each week's episodes as one longer episode every Monday.

------

[TRANSCRIPT]

[click, static]

Hey, Birdie. I haven’t heard from you in a few days. Not that you need to talk to me every single day, but I’m still waiting for you to explain the whole “betrayed your job” thing.

[click, static]

I hope I didn’t scare you off by putting certain topics off limits. But I promise, we’ve got other things to talk about. Uh, like, um...

[click, static]

Okay, how about this—I’ll tell you about how Pete and I met, how about that. I told you how Harry and I met and this is, um...well, this is actually a nice story, strangely

Um, Pete had been working in the art and antiquity racket for a while—I don’t know how he got into it, but he was good at it. Really understood museums and security systems and always seemed to have a line on which rich art collectors would be out of town when and—

[click, static]

Well, anyway, he’d been doing it for a long time. But every now and then, the gap between jobs would stretch a little too long for comfort. For as much as there were feast times, there were plenty of famine times too. So he’d have to dip down into less...prestigious jobs.

That’s how I first heard about him—I’d had my eye on a couple of Park Avenue apartments with these great big jewelry collections, and Pete beats me to one of them. And let me tell you, I was not happy.

I was in a famine period myself—one that had lasted for a while. So when I got wind that he’d scooped me, I was mad mad. And, of course, there’s nothing I can do—I’m twenty two and broke and trying to make my way in the world, but then I realized, Pete may have gotten there first, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t take something from Pete. You know what they say, there’s no honor among—

[click, static]

Maybe I shouldn’t be telling you this story. I don’t want to put another topic off-limits, and I’ve already told you plenty that’s incriminating, but these are still public airwaves that anyone could be tuning in and I don’t know if I should still be paranoid—

[click, static]

I’ll come up with something else. Another fun story, okay? And you just get back to me when you can.

[click, static]

profile image
profile image

2 Listeners

bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Breaker Whiskey - 025 - Twenty-Five

025 - Twenty-Five

Breaker Whiskey

play

08/25/23 • 2 min

Please visit breakerwhiskey.com for more information or to send a message to Whiskey's radio. Breaker Whiskey is an Atypical Artists production created by Lauren Shippen. If you'd like to support the show, please visit patreon.com/breakerwhiskey.

------

[TRANSCRIPT]

[click, static]

I haven’t heard from you in a few days, which I’m hoping just means you’re trying to think of what to say and not that I scared you away by sharing every single thought that pops into my head.

I think I got used to talking to no one in particular fast. Sure, I knew that everything I said on here could be heard—that was the whole point after all— but after only a few days of realizing how unlikely that was, it became very easy to slide into using the CB as my own personal sounding board. Or head shrinker or...I don’t know, if I believed in God, maybe this is how I would talk to Him.

[click, static]

I know what you might be thinking—after everything, I still don’t think there’s some kind of higher power running the show? Well, sure, maybe God really did decide to pull another Noah and wipe out humanity, sparing a few, but if that was His plan, leaving me and Harry as the last standing pair doesn’t show the best forward thinking. Which, for someone who’s supposed to be omniscient, would be a little embarrassing.

So, no, the world emptying out or everyone dying or the entire population deciding to play history’s most elaborate prank does not make me suddenly believe in the fairytale of God. If He wanted me to believe in me, he could come down here and tell me Himself.

[click, static]

Speaking of direct communication—how’s that for a segue—you really don’t need to put so much thought into your messages, if that’s what you’re doing. I’m clearly not thinking of being particularly delicate or interesting—though I hope I’m at least interesting. If it’s a morse code issue...you know, trying to keep things short and sweet...then just let me know where you are. And then we can do away with the radio waves completely.

So. Birdie. Where are you? Can we meet somewhere? You pick the time and place and I’ll be there, long as its on this continent.

[click, static]

Whiskey out.

[click, static]

[beeps]

profile image
profile image

2 Listeners

bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Breaker Whiskey - 060 - Sixty

060 - Sixty

Breaker Whiskey

play

10/13/23 • 1 min

[TRANSCRIPT]

[static]

(morse code, tuning radio, radio snippets, sonic chaos)

(a voice tries to break through)

[static]

profile image
profile image

2 Listeners

bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Breaker Whiskey - 067 - Sixty-Seven

067 - Sixty-Seven

Breaker Whiskey

play

10/24/23 • 5 min

[TRANSCRIPT]

[click, static]

Hey Birdie. Officially on I-25 and on my way out of Wyoming. I doubt the whole state is a dead zone, but...I don’t know, I guess I’m getting a little superstitious.

I’m sorry I was MIA for so long. I thought...I don’t know, I thought it would be good for me, to get out of the car and sleep under the stars, spend some time in nature. And it was nice, it was, but I still—

[click, static]

Well, I miss you, I guess. You know, even though I was still hiking back to the car most every day to broadcast. Not that you heard any of it, it seems, um, I don’t know, I still, I missed—

[click, static]

Talking to yourself when you don’t have a PTT to your face and you’re looking over a beautiful placid lake is not quite the same as talking to yourself when there’s the possibility that someone might talk back.

It got me wondering what Harry is—

[click, static]

You know, it’s funny. I haven’t thought about Harry in...god, I mean, how long was I out camping? In that long. And how refreshing that was.

I do wonder how she’s getting along. Not that I ultimately care all that much for her happiness, but I don’t want her to die or anything, mainly because she is the one other person who I can confirm is alive and present on this godforsaken planet.

[click, static]

I don’t want you to think badly of me Birdie—I’m not...I’m not heartless. I’m not callous. I—

[click, long static]

I’m a liar.

I did think about her when I was out in the woods. I don’t know why I’m lying about it like you’re somehow going to judge me for thinking about her. Why would you? Better question—why wouldn’t I think about her? She’s been the only person I’ve had contact with the last six years and she’s...

[click, static]

Well, whether I like it or not, she’s been a staple in my life. You know, made important simply by being the last one standing.

So it isn’t that I wasn’t thinking of her—or that I didn’t think of her. I haven’t been talking about her much lately, but that doesn’t mean—

[click, static]

I’m not sure how to describe it. There were moments out there, in the wilderness, where it was so...peaceful that I...

I didn’t forget about her. I forgot about...everything. I forgot about Harry, I forgot about the world being empty, I forgot about what we did six years ago, I forgot about me. Or—I don’t know if forget is even the right way to describe it. How can you forget something that never was?

That’s what it felt like. Like nothing that existed in my life, including my life, ever existed at all. That I was just some kind of energy, existing in the great outdoors, with no past, no history. Something that leaves no mark on the world. Just...part of it. Seamlessly, effortlessly part of it. The moments were brief, but they were beautiful. The sweet oblivion of never having been real.

[click, static]

profile image
profile image

2 Listeners

bookmark
plus icon
share episode

Show more best episodes

Toggle view more icon

FAQ

How many episodes does Breaker Whiskey have?

Breaker Whiskey currently has 270 episodes available.

What topics does Breaker Whiskey cover?

The podcast is about Fiction, Podcasts and Science Fiction.

What is the most popular episode on Breaker Whiskey?

The episode title '002 - Two' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on Breaker Whiskey?

The average episode length on Breaker Whiskey is 3 minutes.

How often are episodes of Breaker Whiskey released?

Episodes of Breaker Whiskey are typically released every day.

When was the first episode of Breaker Whiskey?

The first episode of Breaker Whiskey was released on Jul 17, 2023.

Show more FAQ

Toggle view more icon

Comments