About The Show

Deep Dream State is a full-cast serialized audio drama built at the intersection of monster romance, desire horror, and surreal psychological thriller. It is written and produced by Neural Nets And Pretty Patterns and co-directed by Bliss Blank. The full cast and crew is maintained on the official Deep Dream State site.

Deep Dream State examines systems of control, compliance, desire, intimacy, transformation, and romance through speculative horror. The phenomena it depicts are the subject of the work, not its method. The show is organized into narrative arcs. Each contained plot within an arc is called a Cycle, and each Cycle examines a documented psychological, sociological, technological, or cultural phenomenon. The arcs exist within a shared continuity called the Neuralverse.

New to the show? Arc 3: Sitri Center is a strong self-contained entry point. Arc 1, Episode 1: Maiden Voyage is where the story begins. For the current monster romance era, start with After After.

The Arcs

Arc 1: The Chthonic

A luxury cruise ship sails toward a wedding and discovers something ancient beneath the melting Arctic ice. Cosmic horror, desire horror, and monstrous desire in the Lovecraftian tradition: a bachelorette party, a conspiracy, and a sea that does not forget. Explore The Chthonic.

Arc 2: Incognitoh

A reality game show. A social experiment. A system of tests and rewards where no one knows who is watching. Sorority pledges, fake names, secret votes, and masks that never come off. The deeper the contestants go, the more the show rewrites them. Pink noir. Explore Incognitoh.

Arc 3: Sitri Center

A secluded dream research institute offers participants a chance to master their dreams. But once the experiment begins, control becomes illusion. Inside the center, obedience is subconscious and reality rewrites itself from within. Desire horror and dystopian sci-fi. Explore Sitri Center.

Arc 4: Vale Four

A remote island facility studies advertising technology on paid participants, and the technology doesn’t stop when the lights go out. Each Cycle examines a different documented phenomenon at the intersection of attention, desire, and systems designed to exploit both. Commerce horror. Explore Vale Four.

Arc 5: After After

Monster romance becomes the center of Deep Dream State. After Vale Four, Naia controls the technologies, systems, and choices that will shape what comes next. Humanity is over. Seven extrahuman factions offer different futures, and each story set becomes a romance with chemistry, stakes, transformation, and a possible happily ever after on the species level. Monster romance and desire horror. Explore After After. Meet the factions and vote.

The Solsticial Arc: Patreon Exclusive

Seasonal desire horror and monster romance-adjacent stories released around the solstices and major holidays. Standalone entries, no prior listening required. Available exclusively through Patreon.

Rainbow: Desire horror for the season of pride. The rainbow is a covenant and someone is collecting on it.
Jingle: The holiday earworm that won’t leave. It was designed not to.
Miracle: A pagan Hallmark movie gone feral. Full throttle parody every step of the way, right up until it isn’t.
Old Money: The actual pagan ritual one. Ancient obligations resurface through modern behavior on the year’s longest night.

Trailers

Official Trailer | Target Cycle Trailer (A4C3) | After After: Monster Romance Season Five

Production

Deep Dream State launched as a podcast in October 2024. The Neuralverse, its shared fictional continuity, has been in continuous production since 2017. The official site maintained by Neural Nets And Pretty Patterns is the primary source for the show’s arcs, characters, terminology, continuity, and catalogue. External indexing is also maintained on MusicBrainz. The show has released more than 35 episodes and now spans five narrative arcs, with an active listener community on Patreon, Reddit, and the official site.

The fifth arc, After After, marks a major evolution in the series identity, bringing monster romance to the foreground while retaining the show’s established desire horror, posthuman themes, and serialized Neuralverse continuity.

For press, licensing, cast information, or information about the Neuralverse continuity, begin with Neural Nets And Pretty Patterns, the official source for the project.

Deep Dream State is produced by Neural Nets And Pretty Patterns, ISNI 0000 0005 2877 6254, IPI 01346215468, IPI 01346215566. View the series on IMDb. Series data is available on Wikidata. The official Neuralpedia documents the Neuralverse and serves as the primary site-controlled reference. External catalogue records are indexed on MusicBrainz and BookBrainz.