William J. Meyer

William J. Meyer

What do I like to write about? Psychological trauma, spiritual crisis, misplaced guilt, religious terror, environmental madness. And cosmic chaos! Sometimes robots.

My audio fiction has been chosen as a Platinum Selection of the HEAR Now Festival, a Showcase Selection of the PodTales Festival, Co-Winner of the Audio Verse Awards Writing of a New Spoken Word Production, and awarded Best...
What do I like to write about? Psychological trauma, spiritual crisis, misplaced guilt, religious terror, environmental madness. And cosmic chaos! Sometimes robots.

My audio fiction has been chosen as a Platinum Selection of the HEAR Now Festival, a Showcase Selection of the PodTales Festival, Co-Winner of the Audio Verse Awards Writing of a New Spoken Word Production, and awarded Best Speculative Fiction Story (Long Form) from the Parsec Awards.

My screenplays have placed in the Austin Film Festival and the ScreenCraft TV Pilot Screenwriting Competition.

I am currently writing and producing the anthology fiction podcast Strange/Love —stories of sci-fi, fantasy, and the macabre.

I'm from Wisconsin but now live in Los Angeles. I miss the snow but not the cold.

Plays

  • In the Presence of Things Unseen by William J. Meyer
    Cast: 
    7–10
    ·
    Genre: drama, horror + 4 more
    ·
    Keyword: bigotry, indoctrination + 6 more
    Genre: drama, horror, period, political, science fiction, tragedy
    Keyword: bigotry, indoctrination, demagogue, technology, science fiction, atomic gothic, period, war
    Sometime after the war, a new recruit for a secretive Clinic is dismayed to prematurely be thrust into the line of duty. As she is forced to communicate with an ancient, extra-dimensional intelligence, the experience triggers confrontational memories of her recently deceased brother, underscores the Clinic’s promise of power, and challenges her eroding ethics.

    A full-length play set in a fictitious nation during the 1950s.
  • The Mutant Clock (15-Minute Play) by William J. Meyer
    Cast: 
    3–4
    ·
    Genre: drama, fantasy + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: parasocial, robot + 8 more
    Genre: drama, fantasy, science fiction, zoom
    Keyword: parasocial, robot, android, relationship, dating, love, emotions, Couple, technology, mutants
    Karter wishes to terminate Companion Association with the robot named Auden.
  • The Sound of Many Oceans by William J. Meyer
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: drama, horror + 3 more
    ·
    Keyword: trauma, conspiracy + 6 more
    Genre: drama, horror, mystery/thriller, science fiction, tragedy
    Keyword: trauma, conspiracy, science, manipulation, gaslighting, sound, invention, deception
    Alex believes a micro-circuitry device has been attached to his body to reshape his brain and prevent him from hearing the sound of oceans. His friend and confidant Jules agrees to search his body. A story of trauma.

    A thirty-page play.
  • The Sound of Many Oceans (Monologue) by William J. Meyer
    Cast: 
    1
    ·
    Genre: drama, horror + 3 more
    ·
    Keyword: monologue, trauma + 7 more
    Genre: drama, horror, mystery/thriller, science fiction, tragedy
    Keyword: monologue, trauma, conspiracy, science, manipulation, gaslighting, sound, invention, deception
    In this monologue from "The Sound of Many Oceans," Alex excitedly explains how we are all living vibrations.
  • Waiting to Die in a Tent, A Few Thoughts on Valhalla by William J. Meyer
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: drama, fable/folktale + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: Vikings, valkyrie + 6 more
    Genre: drama, fable/folktale, fantasy, period
    Keyword: Vikings, valkyrie, warriors, wounded warrior, absent father, Fathers and Daughters, death, Norse mythology
    The old viking warrior Einarr and his young friend Mikel battle to protect their distant city of Reidun. When Einarr is mortally wounded, Mikel sets out to locate Einarr’s estranged daughter Kára for a final father-daughter reunion. But before they can return, a mysterious figure finds Einarr alone-- and about to breathe his last.
  • A Wish For My Forever (Monologue) by William J. Meyer
    Cast: 
    1
    ·
    Genre: fantasy, science fiction + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: moon, lunar + 7 more
    Genre: fantasy, science fiction, tragedy
    Keyword: moon, lunar, anniversary, romance, love, lonely hearts, monologue, outer space, loneliness
    A lonely being reflects on waiting four and a half billion years to be reunited with its absent lover.
  • The Birthing Pit by William J. Meyer
    Cast: 
    4–20
    ·
    Genre: drama, horror + 3 more
    ·
    Keyword: Sex, religion + 8 more
    Genre: drama, horror, mystery/thriller, period, tragedy
    Keyword: Sex, religion, Terror, colonialism, war, gothic, romance, repression, Sea shanty, American Revolution
    John and Castella flee a mysterious pestilence at the end of the American Revolutionary War, sailing home to Rhode Island from the Caribbean. But when the farmer Atabei kills their ship’s captain during what might be a supernatural storm, tragedy stalks all three.
  • The Birthing Pit (Monologues) by William J. Meyer
    Cast: 
    1–3
    ·
    Genre: drama, horror + 3 more
    ·
    Keyword: monologue, Sex + 8 more
    Genre: drama, horror, mystery/thriller, period, tragedy
    Keyword: monologue, Sex, religion, Terror, colonialism, war, gothic, romance, repression, American Revolution
    Monologues from the full-length play The Birthing Pit.

    John and Castella flee a mysterious pestilence at the end of the American Revolutionary War, sailing home to Rhode Island from the Caribbean. But when the farmer Atabei kills their ship’s captain during what might be a supernatural storm, tragedy stalks all three.

    The pdf contains two monologues each for three separate...
    Monologues from the full-length play The Birthing Pit.

    John and Castella flee a mysterious pestilence at the end of the American Revolutionary War, sailing home to Rhode Island from the Caribbean. But when the farmer Atabei kills their ship’s captain during what might be a supernatural storm, tragedy stalks all three.

    The pdf contains two monologues each for three separate characters:
    Castella, a novelist from Rhode Island.
    John, a doctor from Rhode Island.
    Atabei, a farmer from Puerto Rico.
  • The Maimed King by William J. Meyer
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: adventure, fable/folktale + 3 more
    ·
    Keyword: King Arthur, Holy Grail + 7 more
    Genre: adventure, fable/folktale, faith-based, fantasy, period
    Keyword: King Arthur, Holy Grail, Jesus, England, Arthurian legend, friendship, close friendship, deep friendship, Crisis of Faith
    Joseph and Evelake arrive on the shores of England, planning to secret the Holy Grail inland to the town of Glastonbury. The brigand tracking them is the least of Evelake’s perils as he begins to doubt the foundation of his new Christian faith.
  • What Memories Crowned with Summer Sea by William J. Meyer
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: drama, experimental + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: alcoholism, discussions of suicide + 5 more
    Genre: drama, experimental, science fiction
    Keyword: alcoholism, discussions of suicide, family, funeral, memories, Childhood, high school
    Following the death of their parents, siblings Cindy and Harry wrestle both with their tumultuous family history and their father’s weird invention which allows them to enter their own memories and revisit lost loved ones. But they soon discover, like any addiction, talking to the dead has its price.

    NOTE: This play contains themes of alcoholism, death, and suicide.