In this very special and extremely scary episode, your host presents the world premiere of his play Goodbye Xanadu, performed by the amazing comedy-and-theatre group-slash-team DIET OF WORMS (Rory Connolly, Philippa Dunne, Niall Gaffney, Shane Langan and Amy Stephenson). On a space station orbiting Mars in the distant future, everything has gone very wrong...

In the fourth edition of the Sodcast, your host returns to the present day, ruminates on maps, speaks of underground literature, recalls his time as a guru, touches on group psychology, considers the challenges of leadership, lands conspicuously, forgets something enormous, shares the latest Space gossip, floats an idea, cedes his platform to some peculiar gentlemen, reads the news the way it ought to be read, discusses an interesting job and looks forward to the very near future.

This time around, your host looks back on the next quarter-century, fixes band names, goes to great lengths for the music he loves, chronicles the life and times of an ancient figure, has trouble with a sidekick, gets angry in a happy place, becomes a hotelier, engages in a power struggle, expresses a large opinion and chances upon a thought-provoking artifact.

Your host finds food, remembers a strange occurrence, celebrates summer, thinks deeply, honours a sporting giant, falls out with a clone, reviews a terrorist, plans ahead, tries a science experiment, has a theory, gets some sad news, interviews a pariah, discovers something terrible, calls his agent and gets himself into a right old situation.

In Episode One, your host has a bizarre encounter, rustles some newspapers, gets a sponsor, offers some much-needed opinions, delves into the world of words, stumbles on some historical underhandedness, mishandles the radio dial with spectacular consequences, compares books to TV and tells a story that's sure to send the punters home with a glow in their hearts and a fire in their brains.

The ASTONISHINGSODCAST is the world's first ever podcast on Earth by the writer and fool James Thomas, a.k.a. Astonishing Sod. If you're looking for something to laugh at, then point your head at this podcast until chuckles fall out of your mouth tube. Huzzah!