Rish's Story "Miss Fortune" in the Masters of the Macabre Contest

This is five years in a row I've entered the Masters of the Macabre contest over at HorrorAddicts.net.  I find it hard to believe I've been doing it that long (and that I've lost every one), but the second you win, the contest is closed to you, and this may be my year.

This time, they wanted us to write an audio drama for the 2015 contest, and to have at least two different voices participating.  I called mine "Miss Fortune," and it turned out to be easier to write than anything in recent memory.  I still spent a long time on the audio editing, including sound effects, homemade foley, music, and both Renee Chambliss' AND my niece's voices.

We were all given a tarot card from the Major Arcana that had to be worked into the story, and we were all given a monster the story would feature/be about.  I got a double-whammy in that I know nothing about the Tarot (including "The Hermit," which was the card I got) and just as much about "The Rawhead," which was my monster.

In British folklore, The Rawhead was a kind of bogeyman, who would snatch up disobedient children if they, say, forgot to curtsy to the upper class, or made eye contact with an unmarried member of the opposite sex without a proper chaperon, or ended a sentence with a preposition.  In America (particularly the Deep South), the Raw Head and Bloody Bones, as they call it, is a legendary monster made up of pig remains that stalks the night, or perhaps vegetarian restaurants.

Here be yon link:
https://horroraddicts.wordpress.com/2015/06/26/wicked-women-writers-challenge-masters-of-macabre-contest-vote-now/

You can go to their website and listen to the entries, and if you like mine best, feel free to vote for it.  If not, there's always next year.

Rish Outfield, Bator of the Macabre

TGMG 158: Community - A Bird's-eye View

When the weather got warm, Big and Rish went on a hike. With no agenda, Big wanted to talk about "Community." This is pretty much live, only editing out the racial slurs.

Oh, sorry about the mix-up in episode order. This was supposed to drop first, but somebody made an executive decision.



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

Rish Performs "Time To Say Goodnight" on the Drabblecast

Rish here.  You know the Drabblecast, right?  Strange stories for strange listeners, like yourself?  It's been either a pleasure or an honor to lend my voice to their episodes for more than five years now, and this week, I'm in the driver's seat, narrating "Time To Say Goodnight" by Caroline Yoachim.

It wouldn't be Drabblecast if the story wasn't odd, but this one, about a little girl who learns about death from her (sentient?) mechanical pets, is odder than my usual.  Despite the outlandish premise, the story is told 100% straight, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was intended to produce a tear or two.

I don't know why I was chosen to narrate it, since the two main characters (and the author) are all female, but I felt honored Norm Sherman chose me to do a story on my own, and I got to do a number of voices, including talking toys.  Feel free to check it out at THIS LINK.

Check out this ridiculously high-quality episode art, while you're at it:

TGMG 159: Podcasting - The (Ugly) Truth

This is something of a meta-cast about our shows and ourselves. Man, I really wanted this episode to come out before now. But that damned Avengers movie . . . sigh.

Okay, this is what they used to call "a very special episode" of Blossom. We're gonna talk, Big and me, about how things really are, when it comes to our writing, and when it comes to our podcasts (together and apart). An intimate conversation, as though no one else was listening. This shit may get real.



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

Rish Performs "Caul" on Far-Fetched Fables

Gary Dowell over at Far-Fetched Fables has had me do a couple of stories recently, and one of them, "Caul" by Vajra Chandrasekera, is now up for your wistening peasure.

This is a nice, though strange, little story about a young man who was born with a caul (which he keeps in a jar in his closet), who has never been in the ocean.  The biggest challenge for me was how to say the author's name.

However, I do have to admit that I don't understand the story, especially its ending.  If you care to check it out HERE, and you "get it," please let me know.

Rish "Caul-less" Outfield

TGMG 157: That Gets My Age of Ultron

Oh, that movie came out. Sure you heard about it.

Big and Rish rushed out to see it, then they rushed to podcast about it. Spoilers abound, as well as gushing and nit-picking. See you on the other side.



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

Rish Performs "Kill Game" by Dean Wesley Smith Available at Audible.com

So, last year, I produced an audiobook for Dean Wesley Smith's "Dead Money." which was a Thriller/Mystery set in the high stakes world of Las Vegas poker tournaments.  In addition to its main characters, it presented a second group of characters that were all retired detectives who got together to play poker and work on various cold cases . . . the Cold Poker Gang.

Well, before I'd even finished "Dead Money," I got a message from D.W.S.'s agent asking if I was interested in producing the audio version of the first of the Cold Poker Gang books, "Kill Game."  Of course I said yes.

The members of the Cold Poker Gang are all, save one, men.  And this story deals with the one female member recruiting the others to investigate the long-past mysterious death of her estranged husband.  They start uncovering rocks and discovering clues, and the more they find, the stranger it all becomes.

Here's the LINK.

This was a short book.  So short, it makes me think I could write one someday (soon?).  It would be nice if these would sell a bunch of copies, but even if they don't, I spoke to Dean recently, and there are at least three books in the series already written.  So, you never know.

Rish