Dispatches From Kint cover art

Dispatches From Kint

Dispatches From Kint

By: Mark Valenti
Listen for free

About this listen

 This is Dispatches from Kint - transmissions from a world that came after. A place rebuilding itself from fragments of meaning, memory, and misplaced logic. Each episode, one quiet voice reports on life in a world where everything has changed, but everyone insists it makes sense. Welcome to Kint. Conditions remain inconclusive.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mark Valenti
Episodes
  • Episode 4: The Saddest Song in the World

    Episode 4: The Saddest Song in the World
    Nov 6 2025
    In this deeply moving dispatch, the correspondent recounts the accidental creation of “The Fifth Season,” a melody so beautiful it unravels the composure of an entire nation. A young cellist named Arel Dume discovers it while practicing alone; four notes that seem to come not from music, but from memory itself. The song causes uncontrollable weeping, not out of despair, but recognition. People remember every small loss, every kindness, every goodbye they had forgotten to mourn.

    As word spreads, debate erupts across Kint: should such a song be performed? The Ministry fears its emotional efficiency, its power to reveal too much, too quickly. But in the end, the Council decides that to silence it would be a sadness greater still.
    On the night of the concert, the audience listens in shared vulnerability. No applause follows, only silence, heavy with connection. The song becomes part of Kint’s emotional landscape, performed each year beneath a hesitant sky. Citizens cry not from pain, but from the rare beauty of being fully human.



    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
    Show More Show Less
    8 mins
  • Episode 7: The Books of Vonnegut

    Episode 7: The Books of Vonnegut
    Nov 4 2025
    Episode Synopsis: “The Books of Vonnegut”Dispatches from Kint
    In this reflective and gently rebellious episode, the Ministry of Kint announces the discovery of a long-lost relic: an entire preserved collection of books by the ancient author Kurt Vonnegut. The find sparks both reverence and alarm. Officials warn that reading the texts may cause “unmanageable empathy” and “prolonged laughter of uncertain purpose.” The books are sealed away, too beautiful and too dangerous to be read.


    But whispers spread. Citizens form quiet reading circles in basements, lighting ceremonial cigarettes and passing around fragments of photocopied pages. One guard who glimpsed a single line is said to have spent the next day smiling at everyone with unbearable kindness.


    As the Ministry debates whether Vonnegut was a prophet or a heretic, Kint’s people rediscover something dangerous: hope wrapped in humor. The episode unfolds as a love letter to absurdity, mercy, and the fragile human urge to keep laughing even when it hurts.From Kint, where laughter is both forbidden and holy, this dispatch reminds us that kindness remains the last great act of rebellion.


    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
    Show More Show Less
    5 mins
  • Episode 6: The Circles of Affection

    Episode 6: The Circles of Affection
    Nov 4 2025
    Episode Synopsis: “The Circles of Affection”Dispatches from Kint


    In the meticulously organized world of Kint, even friendship is a matter of administration. The Bureau of Affinity catalogs every human connection into concentric rings: Friend, Pal, Buddy, Acquaintance, Chum, Mate, Comrade, Crony, Cohort, Companion, and Confidante. Each is assigned a precise level of warmth and responsibility. Citizens are required to submit an annual Affection Census, updating the government on any upgrades or demotions in emotional status.
    The episode follows the logic and tenderness of this bureaucratic intimacy: friendships valued in “Affection Units,” national celebrations where citizens literally rotate their social circles, and designated strangers who wander the city reminding others, “I don’t know you yet.”
    But amid the absurd precision, a quiet truth emerges. Beneath all the labels and charts, every citizen still longs to be known. In Kint, even love is an act of record-keeping, and every shared glance, handshake, or smile is logged as proof of mutual survival.


    A tender satire on connection and loneliness, this dispatch reminds listeners that sometimes the smallest acknowledgment, fellow citizen, is enough to make existence feel less solitary.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
    Show More Show Less
    5 mins
No reviews yet
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.