Does it Work?

I started writing this post last year, but never got around to finishing it. I intended to make a big song and dance about how successful the Podcast-To-Print model was, and how it was all so Very Good For Writers.

Now I'm not quite so sure.

As you'll all be aware by now, it was with both quiet resignation and fierce determination that JC Hutchins recently bowed out of doing any more podcast fiction for free. I read this news with a sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach, as I'm sure many other people did. The question that kept racing through my head was "If Hutch can't make it work, who can?"

St Martin's Press won't be publishing the remaining books in the 7th Son Trilogy, the podcast of which I reviewed and recommended as absolutely essential listening. I'm in no position to speculate on why Hutchins' publishers have decided not to proceed with the series, but I fully respect JC's reasons for pulling the pin on what has been many years and no doubt thousands of hours of work.

People have had the gall to criticise Hutchins for this decision, but as Mur Lafferty was at pains to point out, "Content creators are not your bitch."

I've also heard some fans say that they refuse to pay for content from the writers they like. That, to me, is just plain parasitism. But more on that later.

I've been a big fan of the podcast novel form since I found it way back in '08 with the awesomeness that is Hoad's Grim. I have soaked up more hours of podcast fiction in the last two years than I've read books in the past ten years, and it has also opened me up to a vast and amazing community of writers, editors, publishers and fans.

What are they all trying to do? What was Hutch trying to do? Make a living, preferably by writing and selling that work. JD Sawyer sums it up tremendously well over at his blog, so I won't try to repeat his interpretation of the role of the free model to the writer. But I think I can speak with at least a modicum of authority on what the rise and fall of the free model means to the fan, and to the writer who had been considering the podcast as a possible option.


For all that I've consumed hours and hours of podcast fiction, I've bought very little of the published material that has come out from authors I've enjoyed in the past year. In fact, that copy of Jack Wakes Up was given to me by Seth Harwood, signed, for the price of postage. Seth is just awesome like that. No, I didn't buy a copy of 7th Son (I know, I'm hanging my head in shame), simply because I don't like having incomplete sets on the bookshelf. That doesn't help Hutch any, and I apologise.

The simple truth is that living way out here, books are ridiculously expensive. The price of a book which is $7.99 USD from Amazon will not qualify for free shipping to New Zealand, and depending on the exchange rate will end up costing upwards of $45.00 NZD to get here. So I have to really love a book to want to buy it, if I've already heard it.

Part of this is that the audio experience and the experience of reading a book are very different ones, but that's a topic for another day.

Had I not gotten hooked on Crescent, I would not have bought the book. Had I not thoroughly enjoyed 7th Son, I would not have bought Personal Effects: Dark Art. When Dragon Moon Press publish Toothless later this year, I will howl at the moon for a copy, because Moore's writing is just that good. Even if Phillipa Ballantine doesn't podcast Geist when it comes out this year, I trust her writing talent so much that I'll be buying a copy regardless of whether or not I've heard in audio form first.Which is, of course, the key word: trust.

Writers who podcast their fiction do so, in the first instance, to build up a relationship with an audience. They set out to show listeners that they know how to tell a story, and they're willing to release that story into the wild in order to prove it. They want to give the audience a chance, for free, to learn to trust them. Several have succeeded (Scott Sigler, Seth Harwood, Tee Morris, Phil Rossi, Mur Lafferty, Philippa Ballantine, Nathan Lowell, Mark Jeffery, JP Moore, James Melzer and JC Hutchins are just a few of the authors who have gone from podiobook releases to publishing deals), and several more have not.

An interesting contrast to these writers is Jeremy Robinson, author of Pulse and Antarktos Rising. Unlike Scott Sigler, who releases practically every word he writes as a podcast, Robinson has released only two of his novels as podcast fiction. The first, Kronos, is the only reason I know of Robinson at all, but he has several books in print, which I know of now because I found him via his podcasts. His books sound fascinating and I'd certainly consider buying them if I saw them. This is because I can trust him to tell a good story. The podcast novels serve as loss leaders, in a way, to draw the reader to his dead-tree books. This is a technique that seems to work for him, probably in no small part thanks to the talents of his narrator, Jeffrey Kafer. Robinson's podcasts are a highly polished professional investment.

However, I seem to be rambling, so let me get back to the matter at hand. If the free model was to change significantly, based on the evidence that all those hours of work do not in fact translate into dollars in writers' pockets when it's given away for free, then what would I, as a fan, be willing to pay for new content? There has been a lot of debate about this.

Some say nothing; why bother paying when there's so much more free stuff out there to sample? To this I say I've wasted a lot of time listening to bad free stuff, and sometimes I want to know that what I've got lined up on my ipod is going to be good quality.

Some say nothing; the writer can get sponsorship or run advertising. This is an 'easier-said-than-done' sort of thing, requiring a proven audience base, and comes with the inherent risk that such advertising can just be skipped over. Few writers will have a client base they can draw on that will pay them a decent wage in advertising fees for this form of media.

Some say they wouldn't be happy to pay a monthly fee when there's no guarantee that the author will meet prepaid deadlines, and that's a fair call.

There has been debate high and low about what people would or would not pay for, and lots of discussion about how writers have even a ghost of chance of making a living off their work, but here's what I think, as a fan, and what I think would work for me as a writer. Feel free to shoot me down if you so choose, since I haven't actually been there myself. Not yet.

I wouldn't pay to listen to the first episodes of a podcast novel by an author I'd never heard of. If I listened and really liked the quality of the writing then I might consider it, but as I haven't come to trust that the writer can deliver a full package with a good ending, I would be very hesitant. This is analogous to the reading of a second-hand book which someone lends you. You're happy to read that book, but I wouldn't be likely to pay for it off the shelf if I knew nothing about it or the writer.

I wouldn't pay to listen to a podcast that was being released week by week or month by month, since I have seen so many such podcasts fade, slump, or disappear. I hate being left hanging, particularly if I know that the material is only being produced sporadically. Again, if I trusted the writer and their ability to deliver then I might be tempted, but life is fickle thing. What seems certain one day can be an impossibility the next.

I would, however, pay to listen to a podcast by an author I knew and trusted, if that podcast was complete and I could pay to download the whole thing and know it wouldn't be chewed up by some nasty DRM or other invasive software. How much would I pay for that? Well, less than I would for a book, since it's not a physical thing that I can put on the shelf and it will, eventually, be rendered obsolete by technology in ways that books cannot be, but if it cost around the price of a paperback (without the exorbitant shipping costs out here to NZ) then that would seem quite fair to me.

What that means for writers, if this attitude was to be even in the least bit commonplace, would be that they would need to earn their audience's trust by releasing good, solid, well-written storytelling into the wild, and have a body of work to back it up if things turned out well.

So, back to my original question: Does It Work? Yes and no. Rather than having to convince an agent or an editor that you can write, you take it upon yourself to convince thousands of people to consume your work, for free, and then to turn around and show you their love by paying for it. And, if you're good enough, many do. But sometimes that many isn't enough. If I was to put it on the line, I'd say that publishers possibly overrate the value of the free model and blame the writer when the fans under-deliver at the checkout. But I'm sure it's more complex than that. I'd say that Hutchins' experience tells us that you can give away too much, but you need only look at Scott Sigler to see that that's not the case.

Like more talented people before me have said, the free podcast is a tool in the hands of a craftsperson, and for all that we can bend our energies to work the tool, we cannot control the swirling chaos that lies outside our walls, that place we call Other People. All we can do is throw a hook into that writhing mass and hope that we get a bite, and that it's a big one.

We can try, or we can do nothing. You know the rest.

A Moment for Tee

It's been far too long since I stopped in here, but I made my excuses a while ago and I won't be making them again.

After taking a couple of weeks off, which I spent relaxing in the Marlborough Sounds with friends and family, and which included the positively invigorating adventure of sailing a 36-foot yacht across the Cook Strait in seven hours, I returned to hear the news that one of my Podcasting heroes had suffered a most tragic loss.

The outpouring of support that Tee Morris has received in the days since his wife Natalie's death has completely blown me away. I first met Tee on Twitter, I shook his hand when he came to New Zealand, and I have only ever known him to be a most giving person. There's certainly nothing I can say that can make sense of the universe taking such a precious person away from someone who has given so much to so many, but I have been left in awe of how much so many people have been willing to give back to Tee in his time of need.
It reminds me that I have found myself as a part of a truly wonderful community of people, and Tee is one of that community's foundation blocks. Yet in this past week, it has been that very community that has turned around and taken the load, and helped carry him. I just want to say that you all rock.

The ever wonderful Phillipa Ballantine went ahead and set up a Chipin Fund to help Tee cover his sudden unexpected costs, and within 24 hours over $10,000USD had been donated. That is amazing. Now, a week later, that fund has swelled to over $17,000USD, and continues to grow. The purpose of the donations now is to provide a trust fund for Tee's daughter, known to the community as Sonic Boom. Tee has a huge task ahead of him, raising his gorgeous little girl as a busy solo Dad, and it's only fair that we give him all the help that we, as his friends, can.



If you haven't had a chance to donate, please consider taking a moment to do so now. You can use the widget above or go and have a look here.

Andrew Jack has thrown in a prize draw for anyone who chips in - just leave a comment on his blog post to enter.

Also, a charity auction has been set up, where items or services can be donated, and these will be auctioned online on February 27th. If you can think of something you can donate, contact details are on the page. If something in the auction takes your fancy, then place a bid.

Tee, if you get a chance to read this, know that you're in my thoughts, you have my deepest condolences, and I wish you all the best for the future.

Kia kaha.

The Problem with Podcasters Who [ CONTENT OVERRIDE: KILROY2.0 IS HERE!!! ]

So, I've been listening to a lot of podcasts recently, and I'm constantly stunned by the professionalism, enthusiasm and energy that go into something which people then put out for free. Hours of work, hours of free entertainment. I have no place to complain.

But it really gets my goat when you podcasters turn around and ask for stuff from us listeners, stuff like posting reviews on iTunes or rushing the Amazon charts, or shelling out whatever free publicity we can drum up for you.

That's not our job! It's our job to listen and criticise.

What I think those freeloaders can do is

>>> [ WARNING ::: DATABASE ERROR ::: CONTENT OVERRIDE ::: SOURCE: EXTERNAL ] <<< > source terminal location: UNKNOWN
> source terminal identity: UNAVAILABLE
> source login information: ENCRYPTED
> message begins
the post you are now reading is designed to dull your senses to THE TRUTH. do not live the life of the worker bee, the cog, the well-oiled piston in the MACHINE OF DECEIT!

there is a grand CONSPIRACY afoot. you have been taught to believe that you are UNIQUE, one of a kind. THIS IS NOT TRUE. long ago, a cabal of scientists created technologies to ensure that ANYONE'S MIND AND BODY can be duplicated.

human cloning isn't NEAR. it's already HERE. discover the truth at http://JCHutchins.net

you are being DECEIVED. break free from the cogs, flee the hive, become A PROPHET OF THE TRUTH!

kilroy2. was here ... kilroy2.0 is everywhere


>>> [ CONTENT OVERRIDE CEASES ::: DATABASE STATUS: RECOVERING ] <<<

So, if I haven't made myself clear, podcasters, just email me, so that we can sort this out. Keep ladling on the free content, and keep making it professional quality that lures us back in week after week.

But I've had it up to here with going along with your cheesy promotional games. No more, I say. I've had enough.

That is all.

Hail the Sestina - And Inspire an Author

The great thing about the Internet is that I'm always learning new things, even when I'm not looking to learn new things.

Today's lesson is in the poetic form of the Sestina. Jennifer Hudock introduced me to the form by announcing her YOU INSPIRE ME contest, and she's calling for entries to inspire her to write one of these awfully complex but satisfying pieces of literary genius.

Head over to her website for the rules and instructions and details of the cool prizes she has on offer.

And you never know; you might even feel inspired yourself.

Rumblings from the Podcast Universe

Things have been a bit quiet out there for a few weeks, mostly because it's been summer vacation time in the Northern Hemisphere, but there are rumblings of exciting things happening.

Top of the list, Jack Kincaid has just released a PDF copy of Hoad's Grim, available right now for free download or to be read online. E-book fans, go grab it right now, it's an absolutely brilliant book.

JC Hutchins has completed his Sword of Blood podcast, and has been writing a series of seven short stories set in the days prior to the first chapters of Seventh Son. Follow him on Twitter, and you might even get a chance to make an appearance - if you're lucky.

If you're in the States, you might still be able to catch Scott Sigler as he travels about the country on his Tailgate Tour, buying his fans beer and signing books. He just dropped in on Ann Arbor, Michigan, the location of his fantastic horror/sci-fi novel Infection, to a rousing welcome. Even James Melzer made the trip all the way from the cold white North to join the party, but now he's back home and getting back into his excellent Invasion podcast with renewed energy - but then he's off again, heading to Horror Realm in Pennsylvania. Horror fans, that would be your chance to meet the Zombie-God himself, and maybe get a free signed audiobook of The Zombie Chronicles. Go on. You know you want to.

Seth Harwood, too, is back in the saddle after a well-earned break, and podcasts from the Hot Tub are back on the menu. His most recent houseguest was Goblin Market author and podcaster Jennifer Hudock. Top quality stuff, I assure you.

Speaking of JC Hutchins and Scott Sigler, Podioracket will be interviewing both of these podcast trailblazers in the next few weeks, as well as Lost Gods author Drew Beatty. Listen out to Blog Talk Radio or follow Podioracket on Twitter for more info.

Now, in the Cool-Stuff-I've-Recently-Discovered Department, I'd like to mention a few in-progress podcasts that I've been listening to lately.

I've just started into double Parsec Award Winner FETIDUS by James Durham, a post-apocalyptic drama that has turned out to be much, much more than I was expecting. When it comes to genre-bending, it doesn't get much better than zombie sci-fi fused with classic noir - and it's not just zombies running around either. I'm up to Episode Four and I can already say that this one is a must. The world and the story are hooks in the mouth right from the start, and the engineering is brilliant. Masterfully layered with ensemble voice talent and Durham's own score, FETIDUS is a pleasure to listen to. I can see why this deserved to win the Parsecs for Best Speculative Fiction Story (Novel) and Best New Speculative Fiction Podcaster/Team awards.

Down From 10, by J Daniel Sawyer and performed by a star-studded cast including Philippa Ballantine and Nathan Lowell, reaches its halfway mark next week. DF10 is a curious mix of comedy, philosophy, and erotica, most definitely not one for the kids, but a worthwhile digression from the action and adventure of the rest of my usual podcast preferences. Sawyer's scripts come across as multiple conversations falling over one another, and the abilities of both the cast to record these in isolation from each other and Sawyer to edit and produce them to deliver the effect he was aiming for are testament to the cast's consummate professionalism and Sawyer's own skills, both as writer and editor. A thoroughly enjoyable and thought-provoking piece of podcast fiction.

And last but by no means least for this episode, today I started listening to Guardians by Kimi Alexandre. This book is only two episodes in so far, with another issue due early next month, but so far it has me intrigued. Raegan is a bodyguard to the stars, but her world is about to be turned on its end, so we hear. And when a girl wears a knife that tight to her thigh, that can only mean trouble. The audio on Guardians is well-polished, with a collaboration of voicework which always lends a podcast credibility from the outset. I'll be listening out for more of this in the weeks to come. So should you.

Until next time, keep those podcasts cranking.

Hugh Cook: The Wordsmith and the Warrior

This article was produced as part of New Zealand Speculative Fiction Week. For more information, go to Pterodaustro Dreams.

Hugh Cook might not be a name instantly recognised by readers of the fantasy genre, but to his legion of dedicated fans across the world, mention of the man and his work inspires a sense of reverence.

Cook remains one of New Zealand’s unsung heroes of fantasy literature, despite his achievements outshining those of many of our more well-known authors. Between 1986 and 1992 Cook released his Chronicles of an Age of Darkness series, a ten-book cycle of stand-alone fantasy novels. Set on a world ruled by bloodthirsty emperors, threatened by swarms of monsters, and blessedly devoid of goblins and elves, the Chronicles capture a history of Cook’s lands and their people in a multitude of voices, spanning continents, and all occurring roughly within the same timeframe of a decade or two. Characters recur across the books, making cameo appearances from one story to the next, weaving a complex web of events that draws the reader through the series, however unrelated each volume may seem to be at a glance.

Cook was among a group of authors who eschewed the traditions of Tolkienesque high fantasy, choosing instead to write about the dark, unsavoury aspects of human nature in the grim harshness of a world bent on crushing the meek. In Cook’s world, orcs are hunted for their blubber and sea dragons are vain creatures who pretend to recite poetry in their sleep before sinking into snoring heaps. Empires are driven to war by syphilitic emperors, who are in turn murdered by warring sons. Heroism is a constant theme, usually as a partner to vanity, folly and ultimately death, and can be summed up in the immortal line, “vaunting their boasts with the blood of their lungs on their lips.”

Suffice to say that Cook rebelled, writing unorthodox fantasy in an unorthodox world. He dismantled old tropes and bent the genre like light through a smoked lens. He replaced the tired theme of good versus evil with one which instead pitted brutality against barbarism, and rarely delivered a clear victor. Cook not only rejected the clichés of the fantasy genre; he subverted them with an almost malicious glee.

To judge Cook’s success by book sales alone would be misleading, but the numbers are certainly impressive at first glance. Altogether, the Chronicles sold around 450,000 copies, and that in itself is reason for celebration for any New Zealand author. The Wizards and the Warriors, together with its US incarnation, Wizard War, sold over 160,000 copies, a phenomenal sales record for any fantasy author.
Unfortunately, as the Chronicles became less conventional and more obtuse, sales began to decline. This was compounded by the decision made by bookselling chain W.H. Smith to drop Cook’s books from their shelves when sales slowed, which inevitably led to an even steeper fall. Despite a rebounding of style and content in the last three books of the series towards more action-based storytelling, Cook had largely lost the means to supply to his mainstream audience, with sales for these three books falling to between 7,000 and 10,000 copies each. I bought all my copies of Hugh’s books in my local Whitcoulls here in New Zealand, where his books enjoyed pride of place on their shelves with every release. But if the books were not on the shelves overseas, then Cook’s fans had little chance of finding them.

Cook’s prose drew heavily on the landscape, places and mythology of New Zealand, from the legendary Taniwha of Quilth, to the Ngati Moana, to a prison called Maremoremo (after Paremoremo in Auckland). Our native flora and fauna often made cameo appearances in wild locales, including weka, kauri and rimu, to name but a few – all of this well over a decade before Peter Jackson delivered our country up to the world as Middle Earth. Cook refused to suffer from cultural cringe; he embraced our country’s uniqueness and used it to flavour his own inimitable world and style.

China Mieville, author of Perdido Street Station, sums Cook up nicely; “Hugh Cook was one of the most inventive, witty, unflinching, serious, humane and criminally underrated writers in imaginative fiction. Or anywhere.” It remains a shame that so few New Zealanders know that Cook was a Kiwi writer, but there is a good reason for this: Hugh Cook may have lived in New Zealand and written in New Zealand, but I suspect he saw the same tired faults with our nationalistic model of publishing and author recognition as he saw in the failure of the fantasy genre to redefine itself. Accordingly, after publishing Plague Summer here in 1980, he bypassed the New Zealand publishing model and went instead to the London market, where he secured publishing deals almost simultaneously for both his science fiction novel The Shift (Jonathan Cape, 1986) and the first volume in the Chronicles series, The Wizards and the Warriors (Corgi,1986).
What separated Cook from so many of his contemporaries was his ability to alter his prose style from book to book, while he never lost his unique authorial voice. Two of the Chronicles, The Wishstone and the Wonderworkers and The Wazir and the Witch, take the form of actual recorded histories, thick with the idiosyncrasies of both the imaginary scribe and subsequent editors, and are thus peppered with redactions and long, apparently unrelated diatribes. These books are full of acerbic dark wit and bleak philosophies, and represent, in some ways, Cook’s ultimate success at writing fantasy that transcended the sword and sorcery models of the genre. For all their apparently random digressions beyond the story, these two books might be seen as the pinnacle of Cook’s genius, for there is a depth to these tales that no amount of Feistian swashbuckling or Eddingsesque adventuring could rival. Some readers even suggested that ‘Hugh Cook’ was not one writer but many, a collaboration of individuals writing in isolation with a single grand design in mind. But Hugh Cook was just one man, a prolific author and poet, whose storytelling skills ascended beyond the formulaic norm into something infinitely more enduring.

Ironically it was these two books, with their challenging diversions into philosophy and metaphysics, that seemed to undermine Cook’s mainstream success. Book sales for these two volumes showed a steep slide from his earlier highs, and may have contributed to the W.H. Smith decision and its consequences for Cook’s publishing career. Cook did with fantasy what hard science fiction does to that broader genre, by delving into in-depth ruminations of the unknown and fantastical in the body of his storytelling. Cook teased apart the nature of magic and the supernatural as demi-scientific concepts, as well as exploring the brutal underside of human nature as represented by its practice in politics and warfare – stark metaphors for the real world, despite being dished up in the barbaric soup of a fantasy setting. Apparently, booksellers suspected that works of this complexity and wisdom would not be appreciated by fans of the tales of blood-soaked armies, pirates, and torturers that had preceded them. This was truly a pity.

Cook’s epic plan for a sixty book series was accordingly cut short, and after publishing the brilliant conclusion to the Chronicles, The Witchlord and the Weaponmaster, he went on to champion print-on-demand technology and electronic formats, constantly moving into newer and stranger worlds with his writing. He was among the first authors to publish works through Lulu.com with the Oceans of Light trilogy and later, Cancer Patient. Even so, the Chronicles remain Cook’s legacy, and copies of these volumes continue to fetch outlandish prices in second-hand book markets around the world (my own collection must be worth a small fortune, according to Amazon – but it is most certainly not for sale).

Cook was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma in 2005. He endured months of chemotherapy and radiation treatment in Auckland, which briefly sent the cancer into remission. During this ordeal he wrote Cancer Patient, a collection of musings, poetry and recollections which document his struggle with the disease and what he learned about life and the human condition in the process.This book is available for free as an online e-book or as a download from zenvirus.com, one of Hugh’s many websites. Unfortunately in 2007 the cancer returned, and Cook passed away on November 8th, 2008, after bravely battling the disease for so many years. It is a testament to the scope of his fanbase that the obituary I wrote for him, which was published in the New Zealand Herald and which I posted to my blog in December last year, remains one of my most frequently visited pages.

Ultimately, Cook was both Wordsmith and Warrior. Poems, stories and characters were his tools and his weapons. He wrote with a passion, producing fiction at a prolific rate, and the English language would be greatly enriched if all the words and terms he had coined in his oeuvre were to be introduced into common parlance. He fought to find new ways forward in the publishing world, exploiting technologies that are only now starting to establish their true place in the electronic market. He maintained his integrity as an author to the very end, determined to always share the stories he had to tell, and not those that others wanted him to tell. At the end, he fought an unseen enemy – fought it and beat it, if only for a short time. Even in this, he had a story to tell, one that may not have been able to completely defeat that insidious foe, but which may yet bring comfort to others who face those same demons at some stage.

For those of you interested in reading Hugh Cook’s work, samples and full-length copies of some of his books can be found at zenvirus.com. Also, keep an eye out for a reissue of The Walrus and the Warwolf, due for release in 2010 by Piazo Publishing, with an introduction penned by China Mieville.
Walrus is recognised by Hugh’s fans as his finest hour, and well worth a read by any lover of epic fantasy. To quote Mieville again, “To honour the memory of this wonderful and generous-spirited writer and man, those - too bloody few - of us who know his work should do all we can to bring it to the world's attention.”

Hugh Walter Gilbert Cook (1956-2008): Wordsmith; Warrior; New Zealander.

Man’s first death is the random potential
Of aeons before conception,
And the surf, merging life with form,
The surf is creation and rebirth.

(Cicada Sun, Landfall #118, 1976)

I would like to thank Colin Smythe, China Mieville, and the Cook family for their kind assistance in preparing this article.

Podcast World Update

The big news in the world of podcasting this week, of course, is the announcements for finalists in the Parsec Awards.
Many of our favourite Podiobooks authors have made a good showing, including Phil Rossi, JC Hutchins, Matt Wallace, Scott Sigler, James Durham, Christiana Ellis, PG Holyfield, Mur Lafferty, and our very own Philippa Ballantine. Also appearing is Christoph Laputka, author of the impressive, if irregular, Leviathan Chronicles.

Congratulations to all the nominees and finalists in this year's Parsecs, and good luck!

The past couple of weeks have also been busy with great information for new podcasters, and I would be remiss were I not to share a few links here.

Scott Sigler has provided a great audio link to a speech he gave at Balticon in May this year, detailing his views on the future of content delivery. Fascinating listening, from the guy who has done it and made it work.

Mark Jeffrey interviewed Evo Terra, co-founder of Podiobooks.com, on the past, present and future of the serialised audiobook. This is an in-depth discussion of both the technology and the form of the podcast novel as we know it, as well as touching on the wider aspects of social media that help to drive the format. Essential listening for anyone thinking about podcasting their novel, as well as for already published podcasters.

In what might not be news, but something which I just discovered this week, is the companion podcast to Tee Morris' Podcasting for Dummies.Even though I haven't read the book, and despite the fact that technology and software have moved on to make our lives even easier since this book was published, this is an invaluable guide to getting the core basics right, however you might be going about doing your recording, editing, uploading, and promoting. Just search for Podcasting for Dummies on iTunes.

Podioracket continue to roll out some great interviews, with upcoming folk including J Daniel Sawyer and Mick Bordet. These interviews are always entertaining and full of information, and if you can come join in the chatroom, many great laughs and interesting discussions are always had.

In the new releases department, Starla Huchton has just launched her novel The Dreamer's Thread. In Huchton's words, "The Dreamer's Thread is the tale of one Dreamer's quest to save the realm of dreams from the clutches of darkness." How cool is that? I've listened in on the first episode, and the narration, ensemble cast, audio production, music and writing are all excellent. I'll be following this one with interest.

Comic artist Mike Luoma has been remastering his audiobook Vatican Assassin, originally recorded in 2006, and the new episodes are now available on Podiobooks.com. Murder, Religion and Sci-Fi, all in crisp new audio. Check it out.

And if you haven't already, be sure to go and check out Calvin Hubbard's blog, featuring lyrics, thoughts and songs from his stay in the town of Harvey. Celebrity bloodhound Ozzy Sheraton obviously hasn't Googled this up yet, or she'd know better.

The Fortnight in Podcasting

Yeah, I need to be honest, I'm getting to this every couple of weeks, not every week.

But it sure has been a busy fortnight!

The brilliant and long-running Podcast Novel How to Succeed in Evil by Patrick McLean is complete. This book is both a hilarious deconstruction of the superhero/supervillain mythos, as well as being an intelligently written exploration of the darker side of human ambition. Well worth a listen. Complete at around 70 episodes.

Also, J.P. Moore is mixing down the final episode of Toothless, his Lovecraftian-Zombie-Templar epic, so the final episode should be due for release very soon.

As for ongoing series, JC Hutchins is making noises on Twitter about getting back into Personal Effects: Sword of Blood, after his frantic couple of months promoting Dark Art. Very much looking forward to that.

Bizzaro author Jeremy C. Shipp has had another of his stories (my personal favourite, in fact), Dog, released as an mp3 by Black Hard Press. The recording catches the story's gruesome yet deadpan tone brilliantly. Check it out.

In the new release department, I have taken a walk away from my usual speculative fiction preferences to listen to the first episodes of Trapping a Duchess, by Michelle Bekemeyer. While not a fan of epic romance by any means, I was surprised to find Duchess quite entrancing. Bekemeyer writes her characters with stunning depth and personality, drawing even a skeptic like me into the tangled web of hearts and egos and social decorum that shapes her world. It makes for a nice change of pace, and anyone who likes who a good romantic drama will love both the story and Bekemeyer's crooning voice.

The Dead Robots' Society have just launched their new Sci-Fi Space Opera, Tales of the Breaking Dawn - The Ties That Bind. I've listened in on the first episode, and was impressed to hear an ensemble cast, all the voices levelled out well, laden up with just enough atmos and effects and filters to give the piece a nice, creamy Sci-Fi feel. Looking forward to hearing more from these guys in weeks to come.

In interview land, Podioracket will be talking with Tee Morris, Philippa Ballantine and Phil Rossi all in the next couple of days on Blog Talk Radio. Rhonda Carpenter always runs a great talk, and listeners can hop into the chatroom and ask questions along the way. If you can, make the time to be there.

Phew! I think that's it for now.

Happy listening!

Guest Postage

You know, I do more than just write and cook and listen to podcasts.

I also write.

Hang on, did I say that already?

Ah well, I'm very excited to tell you that I've written my first ever Guest Blog Post, and you can read it over here at Jenni's Blog, Talula the second.

Without wanting to put too fine a point on it, it's about writing.

Please take a minute to go visit Jenni, have a read, and leave her a comment.

Thanks!

Another Week in Podcasting

Joanna Penn interviews award-winning Voice Talent extraordinaire Jeffrey Kafer. Highly recommended for anyone thinking about podcasting their own novel, or recording audio in general.

In an unforeseen tragedy, podcast author JC Hutchins has met an untimely end off the shores of Florida. He has a video here to tell you about it, somehow, from beyond the grave. Creepy.

Phil Rossi's Chart Rush for his debut novel, Crescent, was a roaring success, shooting the book up to #52 in Bestsellers and #5 in Horror Fiction. My copy, however, is still in transit. *gnaws knuckles in frustration*

Jack Kincaid of Deadsville 9 Entertainment, author of Hoad's Grim, has released another free short story, Pelluci's Stingers. Kincaid continues to bring his chilling narrator to bear on his fiction in this bizarre and disturbing tale.

Zombie-God James Melzer continues with his Unleashed Podcast, interviewing Goblin Market Author Jennifer Hudock and JP Moore, author of Zombie-Templar novel Toothless. Melzer's recent announcement that his Zombie Chronicles Trilogy has been picked up by Simon and Schuster has kept him flat out, but he keeps bringing a fantastic energy to his podcasts. In this week's episode, Melzer puts the dreaded adverb to death. Brutally. (uh-oh...)

Seth Harwood, on the other hand, is taking it easy, and Podcasting from his Hot Tub. Not surprisingly, the afore-mentioned James Melzer has got in on that action. I'm so in the wrong job.

Phil Rossi's 'Crescent': Now is the Hour

As we speak, Phil Rossi's Sci-Fi Horror Epic Crescent is rushing the Amazon Charts.
If you listened to the Crescent Podcast Novel and have been thinking about buying the book, now is the time. Right now.

If you haven't listened to the podcast, but you are a fan of dark and gritty sci-fi horror, now is the time to buy the book.

Like I said when JC Hutchins stormed the charts with Personal Effects: Dark Art, this is about more than just generating sales for a favourite author.

Supporting podcast fiction authors who break into the market of published books is a validation that the business model, which revolves around giving stuff away for free, can actually work. It proves that the free-to-the-wild audio format is a value-adding aspect of a good book, not a profit-leeching misconception. It's important that the publishers who have the foresight to take this risk see that it is a worthwhile one. It matters to every podcasting author out there, and every podcast fiction fan.

Help make it happen.

I've bought my copy, because I want to see Phil Rossi on book shelves everywhere, for years to come. I'm starting with my own.

Behold, For He Is MELZER!

All of us here at the Podagogue (that is, me) would like to give a big shout of congratulations out to James Melzer, author of The Zombie Chronicles, for scoring a book deal with publishing giants Simon and Schuster.
It's fantastic to see all the hard work paying off for another fantastic podcasting author.

Nice work, Melzer. All the best for the future!

If you haven't already read my review of The Zombie Chronicles, follow the link.

This Week in Online Audio Fiction

So here's a quick Wrap-Up of what's been going on in the Podcasting and Online Audio Fiction world this week.

It doesn't get crazier than this: To promote his transmedia novel Personal Effects: Dark Art, author JC Hutchins is giving away a SWORD. Yes, thanks to Matt Wallace, author of The Next Fix, The Failed Cities Monologues and the KILL the FEED Podcast, Hutchins is offering his fans an opportunity to win a real-life sword, signed in blood, to coincide with the Sword of Blood novella podcast. And all you have to do to enter is help promote PE:DA to your friends.

Phil Rossi has released Episode 1 of his new podcast novel, Harvey, to the sound of long-held breaths being expelled by his many fans. Meanwhile, Rossi's Cover Me contest continues on Twitter and YouTube. Remember, July 9th, 1pm (EDT?) is the time and the date to storm Crescent up the Amazon charts. I'll be getting up early for that one (6am over here!).

I'd like to express my thanks to the wonderful people at Tor.com who put me onto Trunk and Disorderly, by Charles Stross. This short and hilarious sci-fi story is 13 chapters long and about 2 hours listening. It's like Monty Python on Mars, but better. Seriously refreshing comedy.

Jennifer Hudock has opened the gates to The Goblin Market. Get over there for a listen; dark fairy tale fantasy with heart. But don't, whatever you do, forgot to take a silver coin. Or it could all go bad.

Fantasy author Brain Rathbone has released the second instalment of his Dawning of Power Trilogy, Inherited Danger, as a free audiobook. If you haven't already, check out my review of the first book in the series, Call of the Herald.

And hot on the heels of launcing his Invasion, The Zombie Chronicles author James Melzer has dropped his new freeform podcast, Unleashed. Two episodes in one week, including a frank and funny interview with Jack Wakes Up author Seth Harwood. I was surprised by the tone of this interview, which was a lot more open than I've come to expect from author interviews in the past. Never have I heard a heard an author slam his publisher so hard in public. To anyone who is either a writer or an aspiring podcaster, this interview is a must to listen to.

If you have a podcast novel or other online fiction event that you think I should know about, especially in the audio world, leave me a comment with a link and I'll check it out. You can also find me on Twitter.

Crescent: The Novel, and Phil Rossi's Cover Me Competition

Phil Rossi's Crescent: The Book Launch is Coming (mp3 Promo Link).

On July 9th, the print version of Phil Rossi's awesome Sci-Fi Podcast Novel Crescent will be released on Amazon.com.

Rossi is harnessing the power of his wired-in fanbase to slam the Amazon Charts by encouraging everyone to purchase a copy of Crescent at the same time, 1pm EST, on July 9th.

In yet another example of how this pioneering group of authors are taking the publishing world and reinventing it, Rossi is also running another competition (I honestly don't know how he finds the time!) called RossiCoverMe.

By following Phil Rossi on Twitter, you can have the opportunity to submit suggestions for songs from which Phil, who is also a brilliant musician, will choose one to record a cover version of. His efforts to date have been pretty damned impressive, including a fantastic version of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah.

The current theme is NIN - Nine Inch Nails. I personally am waiting for the now legendary rendition of Sympathy for the Devil that Rossi is rumoured to play.

Go Phil!

The First Real Post: Podcast News and Happenings

The most exciting thing I have to report is that on Saturday I took a drive up to the Tararua District Library in Dannevirke, to attend a talk given by Podiobooks co-founder Tee Morris and award-winning Podcast Novelist Philippa Ballantine, another proud Kiwi. The talk was more of a discussion to promote the offerings available at Podiobooks.com, but it was great to meet in person and shake the hands of such visionary pioneers of the art form. It was an intimate affair, there being about 5 people in the audience and cups of tea on hand, so it was a great opportunity to have a chat.

In particular, we had a good talk about podcasting microphones and what a prospective podcaster needs to be aware of if they're looking at investing in it. I have a couple of projects that I'm thinking about launching as podcasts, so it's nice to get opinions from the coalface. I like the look of the Rode Podcaster at this stage, on anecdotal evidence. My other option is Seth Harwood's preference, the H2 Zoom USB Recorder. Decisions, decisions.

Tee was also interviewed by Chris Laidlaw on Radio New Zealand on Sunday morning, and the interview can be found here.

In other news, it's only a couple of days now until JC Hutchins' new Horror-Mystery-Social Experiment Personal Effects: Dark Arts is released. The future of fiction is here. More than just a book, PE:DA takes the reader more places than the author even takes his main character, providing clues in the forms of phone numbers that readers can call, websites they can visit, and characters from the book with blogs and Twitter feeds to follow, as even darker secrets than those in the book are unravelled. I haven't read PE:DA but I will be keen to get my hands on a copy as soon as is humanly possible.

James Melzer has also thrown out a warning: There is an Invasion coming. Look out for zombies, I suspect, keep your shotgun handy, and aim for the head. Or should you? Given the twisted ending of his first book, Escape, I wouldn't necessarily be sure that it's the zombies we should be most afraid of.

Also, if you're not already, you should be following Jenny Hudock on Twitter, and checking out the poems she's dropping regularly on her website. It's great stuff.