It’s Storytime with Wil Wheaton Episode 3 – The God of Minor Troubles by Megan Chee

Posted on By Wil

It’s Wednesday, which means I get out of my comfort zone and promote the hell out of my podcast!

This week’s story is The God of Minor Troubles, by Megan Chee, originally published in Strange Horizons.

For my introduction, I wrote:

From a mortal’s perspective, a god is a god is a god. Omnipotence isn’t really on a spectrum; it’s pretty binary.

The gods don’t see it that way. From the moment humans dreamed them into existence, they’ve fought among themselves to determine which mortals they will hear, what responsibilities they each will have, and how those responsibilities will be divided amongst the firmament. While mortals merely hope their prayers will be heard, it turns out that some of the gods answering them aren’t particularly thrilled with their assignment.

I am about to introduce you to one of those gods, who does not yet know that it’s actually pretty major to be the god of minor troubles.

Remember:

  • When someone asks you if you’re a god, you say YES.
  • When someone prays to you for help with their troubles, they don’t particularly care if you think they are minor or not. Just answer the damn prayer.
  • These stairs go up.

I’m so grateful to Megan Chee, and all of the authors who said yes when I asked them if I could narrate their work, because they are helping me celebrate, promote, and support the Arts with this project. When authors are as excited to hear me, as I am to speak their words, I feel like I’m doing something right. When audiences share that same excitement with me, I know that it so worth it to do this work and take this risk.

Before I get to the links and stuff, I want to speak directly to you. I don’t know who you are, but you’re reading this, you’re listening to the podcast, you’re allowing me the privilege to do this thing that matters to me more than just a job ever would. I’m only able to do this with your support and I need you to know how grateful I am for that. I hope I’m sharing authors, ideas, and narratives with you that you wouldn’t have found on your own, and that you’re inspired to share that with your friends and family, and even go looking for more from them.

Okay, I’m going to go back to talking to everyone, now.

If you aren’t already a subscriber, here are some convenient links:

I also have a Patreon with an ad-free feed and some nifty extras that didn’t fit into the primary show, if you want to support me that way.

Thanks for listening, thanks for subscribing, thanks to everyone who has rated and reviewed us. I appreciate it.

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Comments (21)

  1. I hope it’s ok to pose questions for future podcast episodes, and I apologize if you’ve already touched on this on the podcast or other media.

    I was born in 1987; my dad in 1947. He watched the original Star Trek in college, and so I literally grew up watching TNG and other sci-fi. Do you feel that working on TNG was the start of your personal journey to recognizing your unhealthy family dynamics and wanting / building better for yourself? My family dynamic is similarly f*cked and I truly credit my own strong sense of self, communication skills, and respectful and healthy relationships to what I saw modeled on TNG and other sci-fi shows.

    Follow-up question; how do you think your journey would be different by starting on another show instead of TNG?

    1. Star Trek gave me two things I would not have otherwise had: a role that still matters to audiences nearly 40 years after I first played him, and the closest thing I have to a real family who love me unconditionally.

      It’s so unlikely I would have been cast on anything else, but if I had been on a different series, everything that has ended up mattering in my life would be different.

  2. Love the series. I get to listen as soon as they drop, which is usually when I’m driving to see patients in the middle of the night. Keep them coming.

  4. Love all your choices so far! Thank you for doing this pod – you are knocking it out of the park!

  6. Wil – this comment isn’t about this podcast (I will be listening) it is a thank you for your honest, forthright, vulnerable and fun interview with Mayim and Jonathon. I don’t know if there is a more aware, intentional human on the planet. You are this blend of vulnerable and powerful at the same time. You are definitely the loving and kind father to yourself that you certainly didn’t have. Watching you get triggered and then recover and reflect so quickly was a testament to the hard freaking work of healing that you have done. Sometimes the work of healing from trauma feels like it will never end – it’s a whack-a-mole kind of thing. Fortunately, healing along with developing the skills of emotional regulation keep us from perpetuating the harm done to us. Cycle-breakers don’t have an easy path, but most of us wouldn’t live any other way. Thank you again, for sharing your journey.

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  8. I enjoyed this one too. So far, all the stories have been great! Keep going! 🙂

  9. While listening to this on my drive into work this morning, it gave me an idea for a new story, though not sure yet if it’ll be a novel or a short story. Either way, I enjoyed listening, thank you for narrating and for introducing me to yet another fantastic story! Your podcast has already become a highlight of every week for me 😀

  12. Your podcast has already become a weekly thing in our home. My spouse and I look forward to listening while we make dinner together. 🙂

  13. Have you considered doing the Hugo short story nominees? It’d be good publicity in both directions, and they are, by definition, short stories (theoretically). It would probably be most fair if you produced them all and dropped them all at once, but whatevs.

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  16. I’ve listened to them all. I didn’t get read to much as a kid. Granted, this was partly my fault. I learned to read early and wanted to read to myself after that. But I think I failed to learn a vital skill – processing auditory information. Listening to stories helps me to practice that skill. And it is a skill, because I’ve gotten better at it.

  17. I don’t really know the right words to use to thank you for creating this podcast. It’s a thing I didn’t know I needed until it existed. Thank you for creating this, and for being unapologetically yourself in public. You inspire me.

  18. I’ve been a life-long reader, albeit up until now only the “old-school’ format of physical books, read to myself. This is my first foray into getting read-to as an adult and I am very much enjoying these selections. Thank you so much for creating this wonderful content and for being a superb and lovely human being. 🙂

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