13 Nights of Halloween 1: Introduction to Spookiness

Oh no, Big and Rish are back with their daily tribute to All Hallow's Eve!

Unfortunately, the forces (of darkness?  of light?) conspired against them and this episode--already recorded under the wire--was lost, forcing them to re-record it, and edit it on the day it was due to come out.

Hopefully, the rest of the episodes will be less stressful.




Right click HERE to download the episode, select Save Link As, and save the file to your hard drive.

Rish's voice on Drabblecast

Apparently, on a clear day, you can see all the way to conspiracy. At least, that's what Desmond Warzel would have you believe.

Years ago, I heard this story on Escapepod, and this week, it's appearing in full-cast form on the Drabblecast. It's done as a radio show, using fans' call-ins as almost all of the parts.  Thanks to (the great) Norm Sherman, I am one of the callers.

It's been a little while since I got to be on the Drabblecast, and though I've given up my dream of ever having one of my stories run there, it's very cool to be back, even in a very small part.  I need to stop producing my own show, and start listening to Drabblecast again.

Seriously, kids.  This production (and the story itself) is AWESOME.  I make you this personal guarantee: you will be thoroughly entertained, or I will personally refund your purchase price.  Put that in your iPod

Here's your link: http://www.drabblecast.org/2014/10/05/drabblecast-340-clear-day-can-see-way-conspiracy/

Big n Rish on the "Journey Into..." podcast and a Kickstarter to Boot

Many, many moons ago, Marshal Latham got us to record our voices for a forthcoming "Journey Into..." episode. It was for a Ken Scholes story with the terse title "Of Metal Men and Scarlet Threads and Dancing with the Sunrise."

Now, it's finally available, and looking over the cast list, which includes Josh Roseman, Julie Hoverson, Johnny Feisty*, Bryan Lincoln, Nathaniel Lee, Marshal Dillon Latham, and Wilson Fowlie.

The story tells of the great city of Windwir, which has been destroyed, and the Androfrancine order wiped out. The only survivor seems to be a lone mechanical man.  Big voices a villain and Rish voices one of the title characters.

Here be the link to listen to the story.

Marshal has even published the outtakes from the story already too. He puts all his outtakes on a separate podcast he calls "Strew Along the Path". I suppose that means these are the things that got lost along the way on the "Journey Into..." or something. Anyway, check the outtakes out HERE.

Marshal has been very passionate about the work of Ken Scholes, and has just started a Kickstarter project to get Ken to write a story for the Edgar Allan Poe month. His goal is very reachable, and it amused me to read the incentives one could get by supporting the fundraiser (though I don't know that his vow to "bathe your bare, hairy feet in my tears" was the wisest pledge).

Check out the kickstarter here, and donate to the effort.

*The other night, Announcer Man didn't want to read his credit, claiming, "That's not a real name."

That Gets My Goat 147: Perfectly Cromulent Live Blog-Writin'

Not long ago now, Big got the idea to write a story "live" on his blog. Rish did the same. Then, they did it again. Now, they discuss it, Big's ambitions, Rish's bete noir, and writing stories that, ahem, suck balls.



Right click HERE to download the episode, select Save Link As, and save the file to your hard drive.

That Gets My Goat 146: Let's Take Our Kids to the Convention

(aka "Khal Drogo On A Rickshaw Bicycle . . . Your Argument Is Invalid")

So, a month or so back, Big and Rish went to a convention, taking kids along.  Things did not go exactly as planned.

Right click HERE to download the episode, select Save Link As, and save the file to your hard drive, or left click to play the episode.

Rish's story "Birth of a Sidekick" available on Amazon and Audible

Buy it!!

A few years ago, I started reading books in the Western genre, and I thought it would be fun to create a cowboy hero who would go from town to town to right wrongs, bed bad guys, and shoot maidens fair.  I came up with the barest idea for the character, and suddenly thought, "What if he had a kid sidekick, like Batman, Captain America, Green Arrow, Aquaman, the Human Torch, and (once) Indiana Jones?  They could have a series of adventures together, wherein the little boy becomes a man!"  I absolutely LOVE the idea of the child sidekick, and will make no apologies for it.

The story I wrote, "Birth of a Sidekick," was the result.  It's not really the first story in a series (though Big suggested I could write more), and it's not a true Western.  But it's something I wrote that was a bit different from everything else I had written, and I decided to put it out in both text version and audio.

I sat down and recorded the whole thing . . . and then left it there.  It sat for months, gathering virtual dust, and went nowhere, just like everything else I create.

But no, I mustn't think like that.  I must put out my stuff, give people at least the CHANCE to read it (or listen to it, if they prefer).  And so, here it is.

I was lucky enough to get some pretty impressive cover art by David Krummenacher (above), and if I could somehow employ him to do art for every one of my stories, I'd put out . . . well, probably one or two.

Link is here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MQMX05C at Amazon and http://www.smashwords.com/upload/details/468527 at Smashwords.

And here's the link to the audio version on Audible: http://www.audible.com/pd/Teens/Birth-of-a-Sidekick-Audiobook/B00NAC94MU/ref=a_search_c4_1_13_srTtl?qid=1410209624&sr=1-13  I performed it myself, and I'd appreciate it if somebody out there buys it.

Rish

Rish's voice on Pseudopod

I noticed today that the next Netflix disc coming to me is Showtime's 2007 adaptation of James Triptree Junior's "The Screwfly Solution." It occurred to me that Pseudopod was going to present that as an episode (and that I had a small part in it) sometime. I went over there, and discovered it's already available.

Presented as their 400th episode, "Screwfly" is a timelessly disturbing story about a plague that spreads across the world, causing men to despise females of the species . . . and murder them. As you can guess, it's not a tale for the Hallmark Channel crowd.

They chose to do it in fullcast (for some reason), and I have a very minor role in the thing, but sometimes, that's good enough. 

Check it out at: http://pseudopod.org/2014/08/22/pseudopod-400-the-screwfly-solution/  If you dare.

Rish