Free content - particularly in the audio fiction space - suddenly seems a lot less of a perpetual free lunch than it did six months ago, and it’s got a lot of folks freaking out in my corner of the Internet. Providers are dropping like flies this year! Matthew Wayne Selznick and J.C. Hutchins have both very publicly withdrawn from the podcast fiction space, and for the best reason there is: Money.

[Correction: MWS chimed in in the comments to correct my misapprehension of his current attitude toward podcasting, which is considerably more complex than the paragraph above makes it seem. My apologies for inadvertently misrepresenting him.]

The two of them are generation one podiobookers who appeared in the space hot on the heels of the three founders, and seeing them throw in the towel has a lot of other creators wondering: “Are we all just being idiots giving stuff away for free?” And it’s got a lot of fans wondering “What’s going to happen now? Are all my favorite writers going to give up?”

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And now, Episode 4 of Free Will and Other Compulsions. Story So Far by Steve Riekiberg, host of Geek Cred.

Cast this week (in order of appearance):
Nathan Lowell as Senator William Shelley
Miss Kalendar as Ali Hartman
Kitty Nic’Iaian as Fugitive and The Answering Service
Andrea Fender as The Moon Girl
Michael Lemonjello as The Fish Man
Mark Smith as The Jet Pack Man

This post is my first in a dialogue with Scott Roche about whether or not science and religion are truly competing for the same intellectual and spiritual space in the world. Read Scott’s opening post here.

Twitter is a mischievous little meme. On that innocent network yesterday, I noticed fellow podcast novelist, and fabulous debate opponent Scott Roche say of science and religion: “the two are examining different things.”

Naturally, being unable to keep my mouth shut on religion, sex, or politics (this is, by the by, why I never stay long on the east coast - I have to leave quickly before I’m shot for violating public decency laws), I retorted immediately saying: “Science and religion can not meaningfully be said to be examining different things.” Hello, fundamental conflict (and, consequently, hellooooo blog content)!

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Stopping in quickly during a break in my hectic production and writing schedules to drop a handful of links that have recently blown me away in one way or another.

First, the coolest biomedical news this year: Synthetic arteries have arrived.

Second, some really cool news on dog evolution from two fronts. There’s an article discussing the stray dogs in Moscow, and what selection pressures have done to them over the last 100 years. Then there’s the new BBC documentary on how dogs shaped human development, and vice versa - and answers the question “Are dogs smarter than Chimpanzees?” Check out the video here .

Finally, the single most mind-blowing introduction to Chaos Theory I’ve seen or read. Goes into the history, the development, and the implications of the most radically disturbing area of mathematics ever to come around. See it here and prepare to be astounded.

Enjoy! And stay tuned in the next few days for new episodes!

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And now, Episode 17, in which Kevin and Jeremiah explore the uses for Vasaline, and Gerd has a secret.
Story So far by J.R. Murcodk of V&A Shipping.

Enjoy!

Happy Christmas, everyone!

Sometime in November, new cast member Andrea Fender (playing the as yet unnamed “moon girl”) contacted Dan after her first recording session and said something along the lines of “That was fun! Let’s do some more!”

Since Dan didn’t have any more of Free Will written at the time, it was decided that a holiday themed poetry reading, to be posted on Christmas eve, like a Christmas present, would be just fantastic.

Which is just what they did.

Directed by: Andrea Fender

Performed by:
Andrea Fender
Dan Sawyer

Works performed:
The Ballad of Blasphemous Bill - Robert Service
The Cremation of Sam McGee - Robert Service
A Visit from St. Nicholas - Clement Clarke Moore

Music used:
Jingle Bells
Carol of Bells
Away in a Manger

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And now, Episode 16, in which Katy teaches a class, Amos has a fan club, and Gerd gets a sore throat.
Story So far by Mur Lafferty of more things than I can ever hope to name.

Enjoy!

Of the complicated pile of…legacy…that we have to untangle from the cultural madness we Americans indulged in during the Naughties (that’s the ‘00 decade, where pretty much every public figure engaged with politics, public policy, economics, social action, environmentalism, culture wars, and foreign policy acted impulsively, childishly, and shamefully), perhaps none is more irritating than the new jargon that’s grown up to obfuscate the different kinds of political violence in the world. When it comes to political violence, the destruction of the language we’ve all ostensibly agreed on is quite shocking.
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