University of the Surreal

Afterword: Greetings, next steps, and a brief reflective practice from the University of the Surreal's author and narrator. Learn more and join the conversation: ⁠⁠https://www.universityofthesurreal.com⁠ Written and narrated by Melanie Ho ( https://www.melanieho.com ) Background Music: Wild Soul by Reveille University of the Surreal is a serialized fiction podcast best listened to in order. Th...

Cassie reports to the Circle of Elders, who discuss what's coming next; back at the University, the impossible has found a new way in. Learn more and join the conversation: ⁠⁠https://www.universityofthesurreal.com⁠ Written and narrated by Melanie Ho ( https://www.melanieho.com ) Background Music: Wild Soul by Reveille University of the Surreal is a serialized fiction podcast best listened to i...

Three more doppelgangers arrive with their explanations for the Goldfish Bowl — and Cassie tries a different approach entirely, one that gets somewhere none of the arguments could. Learn more and join the conversation: ⁠⁠https://www.universityofthesurreal.com⁠ Written and narrated by Melanie Ho ( https://www.melanieho.com ) Background Music: Wild Soul by Reveille University of the Surreal is a ser...

Three versions of Alan arrive to explain, with great conviction, why a trash can is exactly where it should be — and none of their reasoning quite holds up. Learn more and join the conversation: ⁠⁠https://www.universityofthesurreal.com⁠ Written and narrated by Melanie Ho ( https://www.melanieho.com ) Background Music: Wild Soul by Reveille University of the Surreal is a serialized fiction podcast...

The elevator stops on a floor that doesn't exist, Alan steps into an office that is almost but not quite his own, and Cassie is already there, waiting for a mysterious meeting to begin. Learn more and join the conversation: ⁠⁠https://www.universityofthesurreal.com⁠ Written and narrated by Melanie Ho ( https://www.melanieho.com ) Background Music: Wild Soul by Reveille University of the Surreal...

A literature professor turned president, Alan has spent his career believing the world is a text to be interpreted; standing before the Goldfish Bowl at night, he's no longer sure he knows how. Learn more and join the conversation: ⁠⁠https://www.universityofthesurreal.com⁠ Written and narrated by Melanie Ho ( https://www.melanieho.com ) Background Music: Wild Soul by Reveille University of the...

An invisible wall stops Alan from crossing the street — and the words he overhears from a stranger on a bench land hard enough to stop the world around him. Learn more and join the conversation: ⁠⁠https://www.universityofthesurreal.com⁠ Written and narrated by Melanie Ho ( https://www.melanieho.com ) Background Music: Wild Soul by Reveille University of the Surreal is a serialized fiction podcast...

The consultants arrive with their pitch — Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt — and Alan sees through the spin while being unable to resist its spell. Learn more and join the conversation: ⁠⁠https://www.universityofthesurreal.com⁠ Written and narrated by Melanie Ho ( https://www.melanieho.com ) Background Music: Wild Soul by Reveille University of the Surreal is a serialized fiction podcast best listened to...

A last-minute dinner is already an unwelcome addition to Alan's calendar; the server who seems to appear everywhere on campus at once makes it considerably stranger. Learn more and join the conversation: ⁠⁠https://www.universityofthesurreal.com⁠ Written and narrated by Melanie Ho ( https://www.melanieho.com ) Background Music: Wild Soul by Reveille University of the Surreal is a serialized fic...

Meet Alan, university president: he's so exhausted that he doesn't even blink when Googly Eyes sprout from his blueberry scone. For more, including sources of inspiration for this story: ⁠https://www.universityofthesurreal.com Written and narrated by Melanie Ho ( https://www.melanieho.com ) Background Music: Wild Soul by Reveille University of the Surreal is a serialized fiction podcast be...

TRAILER A gigantic Goldfish Bowl, three stories high, has appeared overnight on the university quad. No one knows where it came from. No one knows what it means. But the campus bureaucracy gets to work. The Faculty  Senate forms a committee to determine how many subcommittees the situation requires.  Consultants pitch a new software system to track Goldfish Bowl activities.  There was, of course,...