odd event

I have been feeling like shit the last two days......

sick , feverish, flu maybe....

I could not get out to get my copy of Contagious but Borderlands called to tell me they had my signed copy there for me and with one short phone call to them to confirm I would be in to pick it up as soon as I was well enough .....and not by then end of the call I was feeling better and by ten minutes later I felt pretty much tip top...

so I know its a logical fallacy to infer this but I like the Idea that Scott Sigler's work can make you feel better even by proxy....

and I really like the idea that I feel better knowing that I have Contagious waiting to infect me soon...

thanks Scott....

and thanks tot the employees at Borderlands

Get your copy here and help the future dark overlord get on the NYT bestsellers list...

If you are in the SF bay area you Scott has two tour dates -----health willing I will be at the SF date on Jan 10th at Borderlands.....

Just finished listening to Nocturnal # 40 Damn what a cool year it has been being a Scott Sigler fan,.......

Here is the trailer for his second novel to be put out by a big publisher....

Check out the first two chapters of the podcast here for #1 and here for #2




You can get the podcast for Infected too on his feed along with all the other FDO greatness.....

Here's the deal....

Ok

You will have to forgive my tome I have been listening to Seth Harwood's first Jack Palms book and well some of the crime fiction lingo is probably in my head but you know sometimes you have to just roll with it.

There are all these great cats out there that for the last three years and counting have been giving us the fruits of their imagination for free and hell I have loved all the stuff that they have been dealing into my ears. I have only been into this podcast thing for a year but have to say that its the best thing that has happened to me in a long time, my girlfriend not withstanding. I have to credit these people with the fact that I found out about NaNoWriMo, participated and finished a all be it bad novel and that I have the drive to try my had at some short fiction this month. 

Now its time that I try to give back to them somehow....and having few funds to spare I have to just try this way - spread the word one possible reader at a time. If you have a commute to work or school give your mp3 space to one of them and hell you will find something you like out there - 

Since I am listening to some Harwood I put a link to the opening of his first audiobook and hell its free so give him a listen....give him 4 episodes if you like shows like the Wire or movies like Snatch and Get Shorty. He is worth the time - hell I'm hooked and what do you have to loose all the his are free unless you find yourself wanting to step up and hook a brother up this next year. He's got a major publishing deal for himself.

Oh an if the show The Wire is your thing do check out Young Junius - it fills that need if you are missing the show...scroll to the bottom of the page to get a taste.....

Keeping me sane.....

This will be my first real post talking about the podcasts that are as the topic states keep me sane in addition to a short story about how I got interested in this whole podcasting thing in the first place. 

In the spring of 2007 I had yet to listen to this thing called a podcast in anything other then a passing curiosity. Working at the time at Privateer Press I gave the Warmachine/Hordes podcast - Fell Calls - and found that I enjoyed it but was not really called to listen more then just in passing.  Then one of my fellow employees mentioned that he was listening to a short science fiction story podcast called Escapepod and that it was a great way to pass the time in the repetive job he did in the company. 

I was curious but for some reason did not look into it just yet. Ogre then told me about there were some really good gaming podcasts that were out there too - I think he mentioned the Sons of Kryoss but I dont really recall. It had been years since I had gamed in anyway other then miniature wargames and had the urge to get back in somehow. 

I don't recall how I got from what he mentioned to Voice of the Revolution it may haver been that I had found IPR since I had just found the game Burning Wheel; but this one fine show really got the ball rolling. My girlfriend was house sitting at the time and the voices  that came over the Ipod and the computer speakers became my temporary companions. They joined me on the bus they kept me company when the amount of conversation was curtailed at work, they joined me for coffee in the morning and well entertained me a lot too. The list the follows are the game related casts that lead me into new media in the order that I recall hearing about them and adding them to my podcatcher.....

2D6 Feet in a Random Direction

Sons of Kryoss (first heard about but it took me a while to listen.)

Have Games will Travel

Fear the Boot

Ogre definitely clued me into:

Theory from the Closet

Masterplan

Dragons Landing.....

Durham 3

Now these were all well and good - it made me feel connected to the RPG game world and got me enthused about gaming again. I stared to listen to Escapepod too and really took a liking to it and its sister cast Pseudopod (I have been a horror fan since the 80's and my enjoyment of HP Lovecraft.... )

 

but ...... durring the winter slump I ran out of new things to listen to and through searching for Michael Moorcock info on google I found an interview on ...Adventures in Sci Fi publishing...and that is where the addiction really kicked in.....because I began to listen through Shaun's catalogue of great interviews I heard the one with Scott Sigler (hello FDO) and JC Hutchins ('hutchinsssss' copyright sigler) and if you are unfamiliar with then and you like suspence and great storytelling you must check them out. Needless to say I was hooked...yes i am a dirty junkie (co sigler) and a beta clone like so many others out here I suspect. 

Listening to the chitter chat that they had before the episode or after along with their interviews (thanks Hutch) found more great content from people like Mur Lafferty, Jered Axelrod, Seth Harwood, Matt Wallace, Phil Rossi, Christiana Ellis to name just a few and it spreads in ripples from there - the more you listen to the more great content I find......I could keep naming them here but I will just direct you to the right column for the ear candy and encourage you to give a try to them......

Into

This is my third attempt to set up a blog to promote the podcasts, writers, and blogs that I find worth my time and would like to have more people stumble upon or give a try. I have gotten sidetracked in the past and written personal messages and rants and hope to avoid this problem this time around. On the you will see a list of the casts that I find keep me sane when the hum drum of my life begins to get to me and I encourage anyone interested in fiction of multiple stripes to give a listen to; I will try to give some quick idea of the genre content of each...

Well hope you will find content here that appeals and helps mediate the insanity of this existence a little.....