FAQ

Q: I understand TANIS is real, is that why you have to change some names and bleep others?

A: Yes. We’re not willing to compromise people’s safety for any reason.

Q: How do I listen to TANIS?

A: That’s easy, just click on listen (look up)!

Q: How can I support TANIS?

A: That’s easy too, just click on support in the top right corner!

Q: Who makes TANIS?

A: All seasons of TANIS have been produced by Terry Miles for the Public Radio Alliance.

Q: When did you start working on TANIS?

A: 2004. Terry was obsessed with making a feature film version of TANIS. We had a team together and were getting ready to shoot in 2009, but other film stuff took over for a while. 

Q: Have you read House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski?

A: We are aware of House of Leaves, but have yet to finish, not because it isn’t great, only because there was a lot going on when we picked it up. Something that was a huge influence on our lives, however, was The Dungeon Masters(sic) Guide. Check out EP107 to see what we mean (it might have something to do with the following from that 1979 book: Baba Yaga lives in a mobile hut which travels via a pair of massive chicken legs jutting from its bottom. The hut is far larger on the inside than its exterior size would indicate, due to the fact that it has been built around a tesseract).

Q: Have you read Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, or seen Stalker by Andrei Tarkovsky?

A: Yes and yes. Roadside Picnic is one of the greatest science fiction books of all time, and Stalker one of the best, if not the best science fiction movie ever. 

Q: Have you read The Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer?

A: Not yet. It sounds amazing, and we can’t wait to read it. All of us on "team Tanis" agreed to wait until after we finished Season Two before we dug into these books. We have them sitting on our shelves, waiting. 

Q: What are Dr. Strand's thoughts on TANIS?

A: Up to this point, Dr. Stand has been unwilling to discuss what he lovingly refers to as "Nic's nonsense project."

TANIS is a true story, and there is so much to dig into and explore surrounding this ancient myth, but, if you're looking to explore similar themes and tones in the world of fiction, here are some suggested explorations:

Check out anything set in the gloomy emerald darkness of THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST for the following:

  • Creepy dark woods.

  • Far too many serial killers.

  • A thicker, stranger, different kind of air...

Check out Andrei Tarkovsky's film STALKER for the following:

  • A strange and potentially alien ecology known as "The Zone" in the middle of the forest.

  • A unique blend of beautiful lush wilderness with cold industrial decay.

  • "Nameless" characters like "The Writer, The Professor, and The Stalker."

Check out ROADSIDE PICNIC by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky for the following:

  • A strange and potentially alien ecology known as "The Zone" in the middle of the forest.

  • Doubles of people coming back...changed from "The Visitation Zone."

Check out ADVANCED DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS by Gary Gygax for the following: 

  • Baba Yaga's Hut, a structure bigger on the inside than the outside.

  • The most fun you can (legally) have with weird-shaped dice.

  • Deep, dark, endless caves and caverns featuring "Cavelight Moss (luminescent moss along the walls of caverns and caves, providing light for adventurers)"

  • Anything your own adventuring mind can dream up!

Check out the fiction of HARUKI MURAKAMI for the following:

  • Some of the most beautiful, moving writing in the history of the written word.

  • Explorations of the connection between our consciousness and unconscious mind, and perhaps, the existence of a world in between the two.

  • Tales of real people experiencing "other" places, places that are perhaps only visible out of the metaphorical "corner of our eyes."

  • Suggested starting points: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, A Wild Sheep Chase, and Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World.

Check out THE HUM for the following:

  • The Hum is a phenomenon, or collection of phenomena, involving widespread reports of a persistent and invasive low-frequency humming, rumbling, or droning noise not audible to all people. Hums have been widely reported by national media in the UK and the United States. The Hum is sometimes prefixed with the name of a locality where the problem has been particularly publicized: e.g., the "Bristol Hum" or the "Taos Hum". It is unclear whether it is a single phenomenon (sounds kind of similar to Nic's experience of "THE BLUR" in TANIS). 

Check out TWIN PEAKS for the following:

  • Strange goings on in the Pacific Northwest.

  • A weird place in the woods called The Black Lodge.

Check out LOST for the following:

  • A potentially insidious organization known as The Dharma Initiative"

  • A mysterious island that may or may not be part of our world.

  • A strange cabin in the woods.