About The Show
Heartglass is a weird fiction story about what it means to mean something.
Deep in the interior desert of an alternate American country called "Columbia" sits the city of Robeson perched on the edge of a unique desert.
Nightly heat lightning storms produce a brilliant green lightning that draws tourists and drives industry around the mesmerizing green glass it creates.
When the lightning deviates from its predictable path and rips through Robeson, a wake of destruction, lost meaning and weird happenings lay littered in its wake.
What is Heartglass?
Heartglass is a foray into meta-narrative wrapped in a package of nostalgic storytelling reminiscent of old westerns and fantasy stories. Think The Dark Tower meets Neverending Story.
The first season of Heartglass is 10 episodes long, releasing bi-weekly. Episode length varies between 30-70 minutes, with 6+ hours of narrative in total.
It features a cast of veteran actors who have forged their career in television, video games and audio fiction. The composition and sound design are done by Josh Burgess (Man in Jumpsuit) who also wrote and directed the story and performances.
Our Cast
- Starring
- Aud Andrews — Venan Kamen
- Ashleigh Morghan — Maya Graves
- Adam Pilver — Mark LaBeau
- Shannon Hobby — Piper Stewart
- Rae Lundberg — Allan Coleman
- Henry Korba-Babcock — James Gently
- Jamie-Lyn Markos — Mother Seraphina
Also Starring
- Terrance Addison — Logos
- Rae Witte — Melanippe
- Jacob Brown — Chet Chesterson
- Michael Mishnick — Creature Noises
Who is Heartglass made for?
Heartglass is a story about meaning, purpose, and the stories we tell about ourselves. It invents a new mythology, and builds a narrative around a system of religion that posits that your story is your soul.
Themes include transformation, friction between understanding yourself versus how others understand you, and inexorable, inescapable systems of exploitation.
Heartglass is not suitable for children due to language, intensity, and themes of death and religious horror.
If you have enjoyed the fiction of George Saunders or Jonathan Lethem, or the strange fiction of stories like Everything, Everywhere, All at Once, or the intense interpersonal conflict of films like The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly — Heartglass is made for you.
How often do new episodes air?
Heartglass airs every other week, debuting Monday mornings starting June 23rd, 2025.
The first season will feature a number of smaller interstitial episodes appearing sometimes between feature-length episodes. These smaller episodes will explore the world of Heartglass, and are directed by the members of the Free Patreon.
About the Creator
Josh Burgess is from Bay City, Michigan by way of Chicago. He lives with his wife and three children there, and has been a storyteller his whole life. First published at 12 years old, he had won numerous awards for writing throughout his teenage years and early twenties before ending up in a software development job.
Heartglass is Josh's third narrative podcast (What's in The Rift, The Dope Show), and fifth podcast offering overall.
In addition to these creative endeavors, Josh is a Director of Engineering at NBC Universal where he oversees their corporate technology department. Views expressed in the podcast and on this site are Josh's own and in no way reflect his employer.