meta – Deep Dream State

Official Radix poster for Deep Dream State GE43: a glowing orange ring in a dark red organic surface, a hand reaching through its center, and RADIX across the image.

Radix | Vale Four | S4E16 | GE43

By Neural Nets and Pretty Patterns | August 16, 2026

The pattern’s what matters.

Deep Dream State is all coming together, or it’s all falling apart. It’s hard to tell which.

Grassroots is the final Cycle of Vale Four. In a few episodes, the season will be resolved.

Each Cycle is about a different advertising phenomenon, made “thinkykinky.” The show looks at a different fictionalized technology of control and asks the same question: “Why would anyone want this?”

We’re finishing out the season with astroturfing. Astroturfing’s the practice of making planned support look natural and organic. It’s been around for decades, but it’s really accelerated in an era of algorithmic mass manufacture of opinion.

Radix imagines some different takes on the show itself. Behind-the-scenes audio segments give listeners a whole different take on what the show means. Sections of the episode are designed to sound like they’re off-mic bloopers or candid fragments.

They aren’t. The possibilities outlined here are still within the fictional frame. The producer is not in a torrid dynamic with star VA Dizzy Dollie. Dizzy Dollie also ALWAYS gets her lines in on time. The script was not written by an enemies-to-lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers writing team. The Deep Dream State show might have a serious meta kink, but we know it’s always important to stay rooted.

Radix brings Naia Anderson into the final movement of Vale Four, where advertising technology, behavioral conditioning, and manufactured agreement increasingly blur together. Tessa Fine and June Lowell move through shifting layers of performance while the familiar clicker makes control itself difficult to locate. Meg Aerin observes the pattern from another layer, connecting repetition to the behavioral machinery that has shaped the season. The Grassroots Cycle turns astroturfing into desire horror, asking whether apparently organic choices remain meaningful when the pattern has already been engineered.

State Of The Dream

Thank you to all the listeners. We surpassed 50k downloads this week, which is huge for an independent audio drama. We’re delighted!
Deep Dream State is not safe for work. This is by design. The documentation and websites are all SFW. That’s also by design; we believe in freedom of expression but only under conditions of informed consent. No blindsiding.
This episode in particular should be approached via informed disclosure. We move into the Neural / Dizzy dynamic at the three-minute mark, with the door open. The door’s certainly open for the Kees / Bliss scene as well. Just remember that the doors are still opening onto a stage.
Deep Dream State refuses niches. This episode has strong elements of comedy, thriller, and desire horror. We like to think that the movement across genres achieves unique effects that lane following never could. Say what you will, but there is a LOT here.
Deep Dream State is extremely full cast. We’ve cast over 50 people at this point. We’re proud of our status as an artistic outlet and resume builder for so many VAs. If that potentially interests you, please use the audition form or email deepdreamstates@gmail.com.
I am the showrunner, writer, sound designer, editor, publicist, and director. I play the character Z as an actor. I play myself in this episode, but as a fictional character. My creative stage name is Neural Nets And Pretty Patterns (ISNI 0000 0005 2877 6254). I am one person, not a collective or duo. I took the name on tumblr before gen ai was much of a thing; it’s just a pun.

Cast & Crew

Written, produced, directed, sound designed, and edited by Neural Nets And Pretty Patterns.

Dizzy Dollie as Naia | Neural Nets And Pretty Patterns as Z | Bliss Blank as June Lowell | Ring of Kees as Tessa Fine | Bun Li as Meg Aerin

EPISODE LINKS

Radix is the sixteenth episode of Season 4 of Deep Dream State, a desire horror and monster romance audio drama by Neural Nets And Pretty Patterns. It is part of Season 4: Vale Four, Grassroots Cycle. S4E16 / GE43.

SHOW LINKS

EXPLORE THE NEURALVERSE

Human Made Art

The poster image for this arc is from Sunrise Forever on Pixabay, under the Pixabay license. Layer art overlays are used to vary each iteration of the image. Deep Dream State uses human art at every stage of the creative supply chain.

Consent Declaration

Deep Dream State is a desire horror audio drama written and produced by Neural Nets And Pretty Patterns. It explores psychological fiction at the boundaries of control, identity, and complicity. The elements depicted are fictional and intentional. All performances are works of fiction and take place within a consensual creative context. ISNI 0000 0005 2877 6254.

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