Archive for August, 2008
August 30th, 2008 by jdsawyer
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Okay, I know, it’s late again. I’m really trying to get ahead on these and they keep kicking my ass, as real life bears down on top of me. Hopefully, next week will actually be on time.
This week, we find out what happens to Joss after he escapes the Hartmans, learn about oranges in the sky, and meet a couple new characters as the camera pulls back and we get to see more and more of the universe our characters inhabit. Turn down the lights, lean back, and enjoy!
This week, the incomparable Seth Harwood, author of the excellent Jack Palms crime novel series, the spinoff Young Junius, the short story series A Long Way From Disney, and the host of CrimeWav, brings us The Story So Far as only he can.
Cast this week (in order of appearance):
Robin Hathaway as Marian Shelley
Stephanie Sawyer as Cassy Orinthal
Michael Lemonjello as Hakim and The Second Drunk
Kitty Nic’Iaian as The woman in the bar
George Chlentzos as Doug Reeves
August 25th, 2008 by jdsawyer
I have to say, up front, that I’m not a big fan of superheroes. Occasionally, a stand-out will come along, like the new Batman Movies or the first X-men film, that will stop me in my tracks and make me cheer, but generally speaking, the whole notion just doesn’t appeal to me all that much. I’m a practical guy – I like my magic to be magic, and my techno-wizardry to have a hard science foundation, and super-heroes always strike me as trying to have it both ways: occasionally tipping a had to the notion of science while pretending that things like “radiation” or “viruses” or “mutations” can explain everything. That, and the writing on most superhero stories is pretty spare and juvenile.
Playing For Keeps is different. Mighty Mur has delivered The writing is smart, the characters are well drawn and have surprising depth, and she sneaks in the thought-provoking concepts in sophisticated, subtle ways, teasing the moral, ethical, philosophical, and emotional implications of her universe out one thread at a time. It’s the kind of book that is a good, fun read the first time through, and then you find yourself turning it over again in your mind a week or two later, until you decide to go back and read it again to find out what it was that you missed. Something hooked your subconscious, and you don’t know what. Playing on three levels: the superhero story, but delightfully satirized, the human story of social rejects getting revenge, and the philosophical level where the reader is invited to ponder what simple concepts that we encounter ever day – such as ownership and respect – really mean when you dig down into them, Playing for Keeps delivers depth and challenge wrapped up in pink spandex. Funny as hell, witty like Wilde, and filled with cliffhangers from start to finish, this is one book you shouldn’t allow yourself to miss.
Mur’s making her run on Amazon today – - not tomorrow, as I mistakenly said in the latest Antithesis episode — so if you can order today, do so. If you can’t, do order as soon as you’re able. This is one talent that the world deserves to discover, and pushing her out into the limelight with her first novel here is a big step towards that discovery.
August 24th, 2008 by jdsawyer
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Tonight, after a bit of a delay, we wrap up Part 1 of Predestination. What happens at the poker game between Joss and Ali? Will Jim and Ali take him down, or will he manage to escape with his skin? More importantly, who really is the better poker player? And what role, if any, will Cassy Orinthal play? Strap in – this is an action packed episode that’ll leave you itching for more.
This week, the erudite Zachary Moore, scientist and host of Evolution 101 and Apolgia brings us The Story So Far.
Cast this week (in order of appearance):
Brian Levy as Jim
Erin Ballibanian as Ali
Kitty Nic’Iaian as Spaceport Announcer and Computer Voice
August 19th, 2008 by jdsawyer
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Well, now that the series is well underway, it’s time for a new promo. Any of you listening, please put this on your feed. Siva will fail to destroy you if you do 
This promo features Joss Kyle, and is the first of a series of character-based promos I have planned. Enjoy!
August 18th, 2008 by jdsawyer
—edit—
Lisa Paul, in the comments, delivered a round bitch-slap to me for missing the obvious possibility that the following faux-pas could be an attempt to emulate the Brooklynite coloquialism “S/he was robbed” and convey their accent. She could be right. However…I like my take on it better . Can anyone confirm whether the author of the MSNBC story is from Brookly?
—original story follows—
Nastia Liukin had a bad day yesterday at the Olympics. Not only did she lose the gold due to a scoring decision, she’s the occasion for MSNBC, one of the more prestigious news sites on the internet, deciding to dump English in favor of LOLCAT-speak.
You heard it here first, guys. According to this page, Nastia Luikin “wuz” robbed. And she wuzn’t just robbed once, she “wuz robbed” twice. Once in paragraph two’s lead sentence, which says “It seems that she wuz robbed,” [sic] and once in paragraph three, which restates the imperative as a teasing question: “Wuz Luikin robbed?”
 LOLspeak hits MSNBC |
It’s one thing when a blogger does it – people who are on the net all day sometimes reflexively revert to IM shorthand or lolcat-ese. Dumb, but excusable.
It’s quite another when a professional news organization (one of the biggest in the world), includes this kind of juvenile idiocy in their news reporting. I guess that an eighth grade reading level isn’t low enough anymore for some press corporations – they’re changing their writing standards to “Eighth grade Instant-Messaging level.” |
Now, by the time you read this, somebody over in the editorial department of MSNBC might have gotten a fucking dictionary out or, you know, USED A SPELLCHECKER on their page and caught the review. If not, let’s not tell them, ok? Let’s just spread this meme *everywhere.* Let’s embarrass the hell out of them. Let’s get everyone so hopping mad about it that maybe, just maybe, people will look to see if a journalist, an editor, or a copy editor can spell before they’re hired. Maybe we’ll even get lucky and schools will start requiring (and encouraging) that students demonstrate basic traffic-sign level literacy before promoting them up the academic ladder to be with their friends.
August 15th, 2008 by jdsawyer
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Here we go, boys and girls, with episode 3! Will Joss give into his conscience, or will he save his hide and get off the station as soon as possible? What’s really going on with Jim and Ali? And what else is going on in the world that might change the equation? This is where you find out.
This week, the multitalented Steven H. Wilson, author, director, and star of The Arbiter Chronicles, joins us this week for a painfully brief one-line performance introducing one of our major characters. He’ll be back, and back, and back over the coming weeks in a number of different roles. If you haven’t found his series yet, check it out – and also check out his book Taken Liberty, available on Amazon and in a tamer version on podiobooks.com. He writes like the love child of D.C. Fontanna and Robert A. Heinlein; his stories are light and entertaining with a well-hidden but very sharp, serrated philosophical edge.
Cast this week (in order of appearance):
Steven H. Wilson
Erin Ballibanian as Ali
Brian Levy as Jim
Stephanie J. Sawyer as Cassy
Kitty Nic’Iaian as Airport announcer
August 15th, 2008 by jdsawyer
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Okay, I know, it’s late again. I’m really trying to get ahead on these and they keep kicking my ass, as real life bears down on top of me. Hopefully, next week will actually be on time.
This week, we find out what happens to Joss after he escapes the Hartmans, learn about oranges in the sky, and meet a couple new characters as the camera pulls back and we get to see more and more of the universe our characters inhabit. Turn down the lights, lean back, and enjoy!
This week, the incomparable Seth Harwood, author of the excellent Jack Palms crime novel series, the spinoff Young Junius, the short story series A Long Way From Disney, and the host of CrimeWav, brings us The Story So Far as only he can.
Cast this week (in order of appearance):
Robin Hathaway as Marian Shelley
Stephanie Sawyer as Cassy Orinthal
Michael Lemonjello as Hakim and The Second Drunk
Kitty Nic’Iaian as The woman in the bar
George Chlentzos as Doug Reeves
August 9th, 2008 by jdsawyer
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The second episode of the Antithesis series is now live, and the adventures of Joss Kyle, Alyssa Hartman, Jim Hartman, and Alex Hart continue. They’re joined this week by two new characters, each of whom seem to dislike their job and have definite ideas about how the world should work.
Uber-Nemesis Tee Morris is with us this week, bringing us The Story So Far. If you didn’t do so already, check out his book The Case of the Pitcher’s Pendant at Amazon.com and buy or listen to his previous books at Amazon and Podiobooks. This is the guy that invented the podcast audiobook – without him, the rest of us wouldn’t be here.
Finally, what would the episode be without our capable cast?
Cast this week (in order of appearance):
Erin Ballibanian as Ali
Brian Levy as Jim
August 8th, 2008 by jdsawyer
You heard them on Reprobates Hour – now buy the books written by Krazy Kiwi Phillipa Ballentine and Irrascible Rabble-Rouser Tee Morris. Today’s the day they make their Amazon run.
Buy
Digital Magic
and
The Case of the Pitcher’s Pendant
August 5th, 2008 by jdsawyer
That’s right, boys and girls, the Reprobates Hour is BACK! Click here to get it.
To kick off season 3, I’ve got Double Trouble for you – Tee Morris and Phillipa Ballentine join me to talk international travel, sexual politics, nude beaches, scotch, cigars, podcasting, and…what was the other thing? Oh, yeah! Writing! Their new books: Billibub Baddings and the Case of the Pitcher’s Pendant, and Digital Magic, respectively.
Find out what happens when you mix midori, beer, vodka, and tea with three very disreputable reprobates indeed!
Hera Flea returns with the most off-the-wall Reprobates News ever!
Click here to listen to Tee Morris’s first Billibub Baddings book, “The Case of the Singing Sword.â€
Click here to listen to Philipa Ballantine’s “Chasing the Bardâ€
Click here to listen to Dan the Demented’s new novel “Antithesisâ€
August 3rd, 2008 by jdsawyer
You’ve stumbled upon the blog for the Antithesis series – currently the host of the podcast of the first book in that series, Predestination and Other Games of Chance. Right now things are a bit spartan – please don’t mind the look. We’re putting the finishing touches on the web design and artwork, but didn’t want to make you wait for the podcast just because I’m an obsessive-compulsive visual arts nut.
Feel free to comment here, and do check back from time to time over the next two weeks as we get the rest of the content in place and put up the pretty pictures.
Welcome one and all!
-Dan Sawyer
August 2nd, 2008 by jdsawyer
Content Warning: Contains adult language and graphic violence
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To kick off the Antithesis series, I’m bringing you a story that’s just at the edge of what Sculpting God normally deals with. Still a bedtime story for adults, this one tells the story of Mondu, a pawnbroker on a nature preserve in the Amazon rainforest, and a customer who walks into his store and turns his life upside down. When you’re looking for excitement, or an escape from boredom, be careful what you wish for. You might get The Man In The Rain.
August 2nd, 2008 by jdsawyer
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The first episode of the Antithesis series is finally live, complete with a feed. After two days of wrestling, it’s done. And now, you may all enjoy! Please send feedback, and tune in next week. This is going to post every Thursday. You can read more about Predestination and Other Games of Chance here, and more about the Antithesis series here.
Bonus Content coming to the feed soon..
Antithesis series and have waited patiently. So now, I give you the debut of Predestination and Other Games of Chance, along with a promo to put on your own feeds. Please distribute widely…
August 2nd, 2008 by jdsawyer
Well, I’ve been trying for three days now to release episode one of the Antithesis series, and the demons of the internet are conspiring against me. Podpress, wordpress, and the whole stats engine thing is seriously kicking my ass. Anyone who’s good with this stuff, please email me.
Until then, here with a whimper instead of a bang, is Episode 1.
Enjoy!
