Whispers in the Wood ( A Metamor City Podcast )

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If there were league tables for New Media / Podcast authors then Chris Lester would be in the Premier Division.

Whispers in the Wood is a four episode story arc that kicks off season two of Metamor City.  To be honest I thought that Chris would struggle to maintain the standard of writing, and production that earned him and his team a PARSEC award last year. Well he hasn’t struggled, he has taken Metamor up another level. I can see Metamor beating the Leviathon Chronicles to this years PARSEC as well. (It would be nice if we could have a tie!)

Before I go on to much this is the Metamor City Website, here you will find some of the best audio drama entertainment around. Its award winning that says it all. ( http://www.metamorcity.com/ ).  Pinching from his website this is the authors description of the Metamor City Podcast.

The Metamor City Podcast is a sci-fi/fantasy audio fiction series that is distributed for free through this website. It will feature a mixture of short stories and full-length novels, all taking place in one large world with an overarching story arc. Combining the narration of audiobooks with the music, sound effects and full vocal cast of a serial radio drama, The Metamor City Podcast provides an immersive audio experience of a world like no other.

I am not going to argue with Chris Lester, but will say that his world and writing is so well crafted that it moves out of the fantasy genre into full sci fi (for me) . To me it ranks up there with Terry Pratchett’s world in terms of reality and fullness. When you listen to a podcast you actually feel you are there and involved, so well is the world crafted and the characters developed.

The Metamor world is a world where Magic and technology exist together. In this world you will find vampires, telepaths, wizards, fey and all sorts of other “humanities” and “non humanities” . In Metamor City they all exist, work and live together. The Metamor City society is not classless, and it has a dark but not overbearing undertone to it.

The Whispers in the Wood story arc  involves a telepath working with one of the cities enforcement agencies, investigating a series of murders that seem to be connected to a musician and an enchanted violin. Although it does involve a character from a very early episode of Metamor City you loose nothing by jumping on board here. Abbey Preston’s history is not relevant to this particular story. If downloaded through iTunes it comes with an explicit tag. This shouldn’t put you off, it seems to me that Americans rate an awful lot of stuff explicit, when you will see or hear worse on most soaps, or even TV advertising these days.

If you already enjoy the Metamor City world then I am preaching to the converted, if you are new to this then my suggestion is that listen to all of Whispers in the Wood, then download episodes 001 to 041. By the time you come out of episode 41, the Metamor City team will probably have another couple of episodes up for our entertainment.

Dave A

Superhuman Fiction – Part two of two

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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

Basil Sands – Faithful Warrior

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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

Basil Sands – In The Shadows

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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

Karl’s last Flight ~ Basil Sands

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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

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

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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

Echoes, Nathan P Butler

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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.

Football and Podiobooks

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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