Scott Sigler - One of the Founding Fathers of the Podcast Novel!

There’s an interesting article in last month’s edition of Time magazine about podcast novels. Starting with Scott Sigler in 2005ish, some authors are creating free downloadable audio versions of their books. The strategy has paid off big time for some authors, leading to some very lucrative publishing deals. Is it the wave of the future? Here’s an interesting bit about Sigler in the Time’s article:

Scott Sigler of San Francisco also missed out on getting his first novel published, with a deal collapsing in late 2001. But like Hutchins, he built a big Internet fan base on novel podcasting, which led to a 2007 deal with The Crown Publishing Company (a division of Random House), one believed to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Sigler reached a milestone this month by cracking the New York Times Hardcover Fiction bestseller list with Contagious, a first for an author emerging from the podcast genre. The print run for Contagious is 80,000 copies and it has made the bestseller list despite Sigler’s getting his reluctant publisher to allow him to put out PDF files and podcasts of chapters of the book for free on his website. So far, he has podcast eight chapters.

You can read the rest of the article here: Podcasting Your Novel: Publishing’s Next Wave?

So, what do you think? Is the podcast novel the wave of the future, or a passing fad?

Kia ora

I finished Part 1 of ” Superhuman Fiction” talking about Mur Lafferty. Another author who has been around for a while but is not as prolific as Mur is Matthew Wayne Selznick. This is lifted straight from his website.

Brave Men Run

As I said previously there are many authors podcasting their works but there are only a few that I have also purchased the book. Matthew Wayne Selznick’s Brave Men Run is one of those.

This is a novel based in the Sovereign era. In this novel the appearance of people with these powers is sudden and very public, the power behind the powers wants all people with powers to be granted status as citizens of a “Sovereign Nation” .

This is the story of Nate Charters, living with his Mum (Dad is dead), an outcast at school and his only friends are those labelled freaks and geeks. Not only outcast but bullied because he is different. The story is about the adventures, ups and downs as Nate adjusts to the fact his history isn’t what he thought and he might just be “special”. This is coming of age from a superhero perspective.

From a writing perspective its well written, suitable for all ages, nicely paced and the characters are real.

Matthew Wayne Selznick is important as he was/ is a trail blazer this is lifted straight from his website

A New Media Landmark

“Brave Men Run” was the first novel with an initial simultaneous publication in paperback, five formats of e-book free of digital rights management restrictions, and free podcast audiobook (podiobook) editions. People on five continents have read or listened to it, and people in developing nations are free to create commercial derivative works based on the book thanks the the Creative Commons Developing Nations license.

Jeffrey DeRego’s – Union Dues

Every now and then in either the “clonepod” or the “escape pod” podcasts a Union Dues story drops, rather than wait they are put onto the iPod instantly ( at present that would mean leaping over 1300 other podcasts ). No matter what I am listening to gets put on hold while I listen, Union Dues stories are some of the only stories I listen to again.

I heard my first Union Dues story about 12 months ago, the delivery podcast was “escape pod”  this was so good that I had to go back and find all previous Union Dues stories. I think I got them all.

I think the title gives it away, superheros are unionised with a truckload of rules and regs that they have to live with. If as a child you exhibit powers then the Union comes and by law takes you away from your family.

Since Christmas escape pod has published a Union Dues origin story, about 30 minutes long. If you like superhuman fiction and listen to this and are not hooked then………

If I had a wish list of things I would like to happen this year ( apart from world peace of course, it would be )

• Tickets to the worldwide premier of Watchmen
• Another novel in the Playing For Keeps world by Mur Lafferty
• More regular Union Dues stories and something published in hardcopy. I will buy it!

Dave A

Kia ora

From his website (  http://www.basilsands.com/drupal/     )

Pastor Michael Farris was a well loved man. Loving husband and father, Shepherd of his church, Courageous minister to the inner city gangs of Columbus Ohio. He helped people change their lives for the better.

But when his peaceful life is suddenly shattered by a senseless drive by shooting, a side of Pastor Farris that almost no one knew comes to the surface…a violent shadow of a life that he had been able to keep secret all these years. As he seeks to right the crimes committed against him he is unexpectedly confronted by a ghost from his past, and Mike Farris suddenly finds himself in a race against the clock to stop an insane terrorist from killing thousands, even millions, in one fell swoop

OK you might ask, what is this fascination with Basil Sands.  I tend to do this with books and music. If I find and artist/author that I like, I go all out to catch up with their output!

This is another stunning novel acquired through Podiobooks.  This is the story of a ” marine ” who is also a minister. From his perspective he is looking forward to a life of harvesting souls and fighting the ” evil on the streets of his community”.

If you have read the short story collection “In the Shadows” you will recognise Pastor Michael Farris.  If you have read “65 Below” you will recognize one of the main characters from that book.

Pastor Michael’s world forever changed when Drug dealers attack his house. Revenge becomes a motivating factor and as Mike hunts out those that committed a crime against his church we are treated to flashbacks of his service life.

Basil uses that literary trick of having two time-lines moving towards one point in time at the conclusion of the book.

This is a military/action thriller that is easy to listen to, has enough plot turns and twists to ensure that you stay focused as you listen.

I cant wait for his next book.

Dave A

Kia ora

I have talked about Basil Sands Podcast Novels before, this is a collection of his short stories.

From his website

A collection of Short Stories full of action, adventure, and a little sci-fi mixed in the bunch. If you want short bursts of explosive action, these twenty minute episodes will get your heart racing and your muscles tense. Be prepared for a wild ride. You might wanna wear your seat belt.

Also from his website

From the wilds of America’s Last Frontier come the heart pounding novels of Alaska’s premier new writer.

Basil Sands has been called the next Tom Clancy, Jack Higgins, Michael Crichton, Frederick Forsyth, and Ken Follett all rolled into one.

This collection hits the mark perfectly (for me). Most of the stories are between 18 and 30 mins, which is as I like it. They are enough different as to make each of them interesting. Some of the stories relate to characters or events, in his previous books. They are well narrated without being over-produce. The stories are hard and have an violent/thriller edge to them, romances they are not.

If you haven’t read / listened to any of Basil Sands stories then I suggest that you give this collection a try.

His books can be downloaded through podiobooks    http://www.podiobooks.com/index.php

Podiobooks is a great place to pick up some damm good listening.

Dave A

Kia ora

This is the second Podio-book from Basil Sands that I have listened to, the previous book was 65 below. Apparently this book was written first and 65 below followed. So I have read them in the wrong order, luckily the stories are not related in any way.

Basil Sands website http://www.basilsands.com/page0.php describes his fiction as extreme fiction. Its not, its not gruesome, its not explicit. It is adventurous and alot happens very quickly, but there is very little to upset the stomach or the mind. Thinking is not required to enjoy this book. That doesn’t mean that as an audio experience it isn’t worth it, it is.

The plot is simple and uncomplicated. Karl is the pilot of a space tourism flight. He takes a famous, wrestler actor up for the experience (could this be The Rock? I suspect not but you get the picture of the type) . It all goes wrong and as a result the space plane crashes behind enemy lines and in the process starts WW III, most of the story is the behind the lines stuff, action orientated, with of course a love interest thrown in. I might be doing Basil a disservice but it has a very American republican feel to it.

Having ” done ” two of his podcast books I have enjoyed them enough to download another two, which one day I will get around to listening too.

      Faithful Warrior isn’t finished yet so I haven’t started listening . In the Shadows will just have to wait till I am in the mood for another short story experience.          

Town Without a Soul and Other Stories – Written and Narrated by Andrew Culver, Music by Josh Cherney

Kia ora

From Podiobooks.com. A podiobook with 6 very short episodes, each episode about 12 minutes long.
Andrew and Josh are working on the integration of music into audio. Its not new for Audio type books to have a musical score to support or as background, but these guys seem to have taken the music narrative blending to a new level.

The stories are almost lyrics to the music.

In the six episodes there are 4 stories.
Episode one starts off with “Night of the Witches” this is so short it might actually be a drabble,
so the danger is that any comment on it will be longer than the piece.
The main piece in the podiobook is the story Town Without a Soul. This is the story of a drifter
being evicted off a train and being forced to stay in a town. It has a very noir feel to it. With the
inculcation of the music the story as narrated felt very much like a Frank Zappa album ( It has
a  Joe’s Garage feel to it )
Leaving Saturnis a Noir Sci-Fi piece involving murder and sex with aliens.
Eye to Eye is a four chapter piece over two episodes with the central theme of revenge, the music on this one has the feel of the old time music theatre.

I really enjoyed the experience and can see a real future with this type of performance in this media.

Dave A

Kia ora

Yesterday I started and finished the Podcast novel Echoes by Nathan P Butler.StarWars fandom will be aware of who Nathan Butler is as he appears to be active in the star wars fan space. I think this is his first Podcast Novel. The plot is basically a detective story,

• girl found dead in a bath
• girl is the girlfriend of a US senator
• absolutely no clues at the murder scene
• a ” deep throat ” character
• homeland security are involved
• prime suspect is dead!

Its a bit of a stretch to call it a novel its more of a novella. It was hard to warm to the characters as the character development was not detailed enough. As a podcast novel one frustration was that each individual podcast was too short. 20 episodes some only 5 – 8 minutes long. My personal preference is 25 to 35 minute episodes. At times it felt I was listening to more intro and outro than story.

On the positive side, I did enjoy the story and the twist at about two thirds through was enough to re energise my interest, and its a twist that was well executed, was not telegraphed and turned this detective story into something completely different.

As part of the closedown the author states that there will be more books in the series and that really interested me. Taking note of the fact this was podcast in 2006 I was disappointed to see that the promised book wasn’t produced and that there was no website to keep up to date with news. Perhaps the dark force has captured Nathan.

Kia ora

On the football front very mixed.

New Zealand U17 Womens – Last night we watched on the TV the NZ U17 Women’s team playing and beating Columbia 3 – 1. Number 2 son was actually at the game, terrible weather. It was a game well worth watching, all players put everything into it, no arguing with refs and no dramatic actions when someone received a tap on the ankle.

Wellington Phoenix- This mornings news was all about Shane Smeltz signing next year for the new Gold Coast team, so the Phoenix have lost their number one striker. I’ll fall back on the old creed of no-one is bigger than the club so hopefully some good will come of it.

Liverpool- This morning was also a group game in the Champions League, Athletic Madrid were visiting Anfield and damm near beat us. A 94th minute penalty by Gerrard ensured we finished 1- 1. For the last two games we have clearly been on top but haven’t killed the game off or scored. Its bloody frustrating, especially from 13,000 away.

Phil Rossi – Notes from the Vault

Phil Rossi is a writer that shares some of the same space as Stephen King and Scott Sigler, its sci-fi/ horror type stuff with a touch of the Lovecrafts thrown in. Notes from the Vault is a collection of short stories and to me show the growth of Phil as an author. The first 7 or so stories in the collection are “Crescent Viginettes” short stories that are based around Crescent Station. Although good stories I made the mistake of listening to the Crescent podiobook first. This is a damm good book. I enjoyed it so much I subscribed to “Notes From The Vault”. I found the first few Crescent stories poor compared to the book, perhaps that is because Crescent is so good. The none Crescent stories are very good with all the twists and horrific turns you expect from a writer in this genre. Interestingly the last story in Notes (so far) was a Crescent story and that was very good. The production values since the original first stories have improved 200%. This makes a difference.

Some Phil Rossi links are

• http://www.philrossi.net/
• http://www.crescentstation.net/

Basil Sands – “65 Below”

I am not sure how I found this author, I suspect it was a promo on the end of a podcast I was listening to. 65 Below is a action thriller based in Alaska, its set in a post 9-11 world and every second American character appears to be  ex Marine or special forces. The reading starts off slow and unconvincing, but by episode three its either going well or I got used to the style of delivery. I hope no international terrorists read this as there is enough in here to give people ideas regarding how to kill off large population areas without damaging property of infrastructure. In fact its so simple and obvious I am not sure why it has never been done. The bad guys are interesting as well. Basil has given the Americans a new enemy. An action thriller well worth the time, a good one for conspiracy theorists as well.

On his website http://www.basilsands.com/ Basil describes his writing as “extreme fiction” from my perspective its not as extreme as Sigler, but has extreme plots that are well thought through and crafted.

Dave A

Normally I’m not much for making a big hoopla about myself. But I just received a sound file from Scott Sigler saying happy birthday to me and I was very much in glee. For those of you who do now know Sigler, he is one of the first authors to put one of his novels in podcast form. His first podcast novel was Earthcore. Since then he’s gone on to produce many more sci-fi horror related novels and got a book deal with Crown Publishing. His first book with Crown, Infected, will be launching later this year.

Now before I get hate mail from other “junkies” out on the internets (Sigler’s moniker for his fanbase), let me remind you guys that he mentioned something about this in a previous episode. He stated that he was trying to allocate all his fanbase’s information into a database so that he can do little special things for them (such as wish them Happy Birthdays, invite them to pub crawls, book launches, etc). I’m sure you’ll all be getting your birthday wishes from him soon enough. All you have to do is sign up to his website and you’ll be added to his database.

Anyway, Happy Birthday to me, check out Scott Sigler’s website and I’ll see you guys later.

If you like superheroes–and even if you’re not all that impressed by them, like me–there’s a darned good chance you’ll like Mur Lafferty’s podcast novel, Playing for Keeps.

(Did I just say “darned”? I can promise that no one in my own novels has ever said “darned”.)

I was going to put the audio promo up here, but wordpress says that I can’t do that unless I pay them something, so umm.. love you Mur, but here’s the link instead:
Playing for Keeps Promo

And then you can just click the play button and hear what it’s about.

Or, you can read what it’s about, right here:

Playing for Keeps is a free novel delivered via podcast in audio and PDF form. It tells the story of Keepsie Branson, a bar owner in the shining metropolis of Seventh City: birthplace of super powers. Keepsie and her friends live among egotistical heroes and manipulative villains, and manage to fall directly in the middle as people with powers, but who just aren’t strong enough to make a difference. Or that’s what they’ve been told. As the city begins to melt down, it’s hard to tell who are the good guys and who are the bad.

And then you can go listen to the first episode right now!

And you thought your Saturday night would be boring.
More Iced Out, coming Monday.