Archive for the 'Podcasts' Category
June 20th, 2011 by jdsawyer
Rick is a scurrilous, irascible scoundrel, 
with a heart of gold—not because he’s warm and fuzzy underneath, but because his heart is totally devoted to money. His favorite goldmine is his shop, where he vends virtual reality and manufactured novels. He keeps his customers happy, and he always knows the right party to hit to find a pliable college girl with more cocaine than sense. Life is good. But life has a way of doing unexpected things, and the world has a way of changing around the most adaptable people.
Step into Rick’s parlor. Don’t mind the bell on the door or the old fashioned cash register. Buy a manufactured novel, fresh from the computer—a first edition. Sit in the easy chair or lay out on the sofa. Strap on a helmet and a skinsuit and take a swim on Europa. He can be trusted. Really. It says so on the door. In ten foot high letters, right above the shop front, he tells you exactly what they do:
“We Create Worlds”
And they do it on the cheap.
You can find the story at Amazon and Smashwords.
—Story Sample Below the Cut—
Continue reading ‘Released: We Create Worlds’
June 16th, 2011 by jdsawyer
Have you ever seen that well-dressed 
man at the airport, or the station, who stands patiently by as if he has all the time in the world? Have you wondered who he was waiting for, and how long he’d stay? Have you ever been that man, stuck in the hours between delay and disappointment, with no way to know if the person you’re waiting for will show? Let fancy take you to the mountains of Northern Italy at the dawn of the 22nd century for the story of a woman and a train–and of a walking stick and the man who owns it, as he waits for Train Time.
You can find the story at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords. Below, you can find a sample.
Enjoy!
—Story Sample Below The Cut—
Continue reading ‘Released: Train Time’
May 26th, 2011 by jdsawyer
Today is the day I was hoping to post the announcement for the ebook of Down From Ten. Unfortunately, I got right to the edge and realized I still had some rights clearances to do for song lyrics that are quoted in the book, so it’ll be another few days.
However, it IS coming in the next week or less!
May 22nd, 2011 by jdsawyer
And the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, saying “It is done.”
All the original writing for Free Will is now done. I have a few days of continuity tweaking ahead of me, and then some cutting, but it really is now all over but the shouting.
New equipment for the studio arrives this week, and I’ll be resuming production on everything in two weeks after I give things a proper shakedown and take a day or two off.
What does this mean for you?
Predestination and Free Will paperbacks (and Free Will ebook) in June. New episodes of Sculpting God in June. New episodes of Free Will starting in July, and continuing through to the end of the book.
It’s been a marathon–two years of work plotting and researching, and four solid months of aggregated writing time over those two years.. Final count: 212k words. Manuscript page count: 848. (Don’t worry, that will shrink as I shake out the continuity).
Time to crack the champagne!
May 17th, 2011 by jdsawyer
As I get to the very end of writing Free Will, it’s time to wrench open the Antithesis taps again.
My friend Danny Schade has now soundtracked two and a half books for me over the last couple years. For Predestination, he composed upwards of nine hours of music, and it made such an impression that people started immediately clamoring for versions they could listen to without the story talking over it.
A year ago, Schadey came out to ArtisticWhispers where he and I brought in veteran producer Mary Mason, and the three of us proceeded to rework the music into an album. In that first glorious weekend, we culled those original nine hours down to nineteen emblematic tracks with a running time target of between fifty minutes and an hour. Then, over the year since, in stolen moments, Schadey composed and recorded new material and arrangements at his home base in Colorado, while we here in California re-mixed, produced, sweetened, polished, and sometimes re-orchestrated the original material, blending the old with the new to bring Schadey’s audio vision snapping to the fore. The result is one we now proudly present to you, for the first time anywhere: A one hour instrumental genre-spanning rock opera. Predestination: The Soundtrack.
Available now as a DRM-free MP3 download.
Also, don’t forget that the novel which started it all is now available as an ebook, with all new scenes and other material to deepen the world and set you up for Free Will, which is coming in June. Get it now for Kindle, Nook, and for all other readers on Smashwords. And, of course, if you like the artwork, you can get a signed and numbered limited edition poster print for your private gallery.
And remember…
…It isn’t whether you win or lose. It’s how you rig the game.
May 3rd, 2011 by jdsawyer
Download Subscribe
Mondu, once an AI designer 
at the top of the Nigerian IT industry, needed to escape from a life that was eating him alive. He found refuge as a shopkeeper in the depths of the Amazon, at a unique resort. It’s a preserve for all forms of Amazon life–reptiles, mammals, and human and material culture. No modern technology allowed.
It’s the kind of place where some people come here to disappear.
And others come to hunt them.
Also available as an ebook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords.
April 25th, 2011 by jdsawyer
Download Subscribe
You’ve heard the story of 
Adam and Eve? Don’t be so sure. The Bible doesn’t tell the whole story, but if you look closely you see where something has been removed. First, God creates “man” male and female, and then, a few verses later, he creates woman again, this time from Adam’s rib. Where did the first woman go?
If you’ve ever read the Babylonian Talmud, you know. She was kicked out of the Garden of Eden for not being properly deferential, and she went on to become quite notorious in her own right. A sexual predator, a dark goddess, a spurned woman, and the first feminist, this is her story in her own words.
Lilith.
Also available as an ebook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords.
April 21st, 2011 by jdsawyer
Download Subscribe
When last we left Rick, he was having a pleasant–if confusing–day. But will it last?
Find out, in the conclusion to We Create Worlds.
April 15th, 2011 by jdsawyer
Download Subscribe
This is the story of Rick. He’s a scurrilous, irascible scoundrel, with a heart of gold. Not in the sense of being warm and fuzzy and good underneath, but in the sense of having a heart totally devoted to gold. His favorite goldmine is his shop, an entertainment venue where he vends virtual reality and manufactured novels to his latter-day escapist customers. He runs a tidy shop, he keeps his customers happy, and he always knows the right party to hit to find a pliable college girl with more cocaine than sense. Life is good. But life has a way of doing unexpected things, and the world has a way of changing around the most adaptable people.
So, please step into Rick’s parlor. Don’t mind the bell on the door or the old fashioned cash register. Buy a manufactured novel, fresh from the computer, a first edition. Sit in the easy chair or lay out on the sofa. Strap on a helmet and a skinsuit and take a swim on Europa. He can be trusted, really. It says so on the door. He’s completely upfront with his advertising. In ten foot high letters, right above the shop front, he tells you what they do in his place:
“We Create Worlds.”
And he does it on the cheap.
April 11th, 2011 by jdsawyer
If you’re missing Joss Kyle, your wait is nearly over. And to whet your appetite for more, I’m pleased to present you with the ebook of the first Antithesis adventure, The Man In The Rain.
Mondu, once an AI designer at the top of the Nigerian IT industry, needed to escape from a life that was eating him alive. He found refuge as a shopkeeper in the depths of the Amazon, at a unique resort. It’s a preserve for all forms of Amazon life–reptiles, mammals, and human and material culture. No modern technology allowed.
In a world of dictators and perpetual surveillance, it is one place where a man can disappear–and Mondu isn’t the only one who knows it. When the tourist traffic is driven out by torrential rains, only the businessmen and the scientists remain–until the day when a man walks into Mondu’s shop. He wants to disappear–and the Yakuza are hot on his tail.
The story is now available at Amazon and Smashwords, and is coming soon to other retailers.
Those of you familiar with The Antithesis Progression will recognize the characters and the universe, but this story stands alone. Consider it an appetizer for the main event coming later this month. But until then, I invite you to join me for an excursion into the heart of the Amazon for a tale as close and dangerous as the jungle itself…
Continue reading ‘Released: The Man In The Rain’
April 7th, 2011 by jdsawyer
Time for a new short story–this one is called 
Angels Unawares. It first appeared as part of the Sculpting God series, which is currently re-podcasting from this blog. It later appeared as part of The Podthology, last year’s anthology of the best of podcast short fiction (along with Cold Duty, available at right, and The Man In The Rain, which which will release in a few days).
Now, to brighten your e-book reader, I give you one of my favorite bed-time stories, complete with a new afterword that tells the story behind the story.
In 1898, a woman’s body was discovered broken and battered at the bottom of a tall sea bluff in Southern Scotland. and the small town she lived in began locking the doors at night. Only one man saw what happened, but he carried the secret of her death to his death bed. Wounded in the trenches on the Western Front, he gives his last confession…
Get it now, DRM free, from Amazon or Smashwords.
—Story Sample Below the Cut—
Continue reading ‘Released: Angels Unawares’
April 5th, 2011 by jdsawyer
Download Subscribe
What if somewhere in the universe there was a room, and in that room was a creature, surrounded by screens and dials and controls? In his room, he sees all, knows all, manages all. He directs the thoughts and actions of every being in the cosmos. Would such a creature be God? And what would it be like to be that being, spending your days and nights watching the screens, and managing the affairs of all beings from a control room?
April 4th, 2011 by jdsawyer
So, I’ve never been quite happy with the cover art for DF10. What I saw in my head never quite came through on the screen, and I wound up with a collection of images that, while possibly intriguing, felt…confusing. It was too dark in the wrong places, you couldn’t tell what the elements were, and all in all it just didn’t quite work.
With the paper version of DF10 coming out late in May, AWP Books decided that it needed to redo the cover art from scratch. Yesterday they sent me the prelims. A few minor tweaks may happen (mostly centered around font choice), but on the whole, I think I like it–so I wanted to share it with all of you:
Continue reading ‘Down From Ten cover art’
April 4th, 2011 by jdsawyer
When I started writing The Antithesis Progression, I had a nice, tidy three-book series in mind. Then I wrote it, and discovered that what I thought was book 1 was actually 2 books cleverly hiding inside my head under a single title.
Well, no problem there. Turns out there was an excellent break point where book 1 could end naturally–and on a very nice cliffhanger–so I could move on to the new book 2 (which was originally the planned second half of book 1). I’d just sit down and write book 2 as soon as the time afforded.
Yeah.
If you’ve been following my progress with this book, you already know how that bright idea turned out. I’ve gotten four other books written in the meantime, and I’m quick on the way to finishing a further two, and still Free Will mocks me with its recalcitrance. And it’s not because I haven’t kicked ass on writing it either: Predestination rang in at 122,000 words after some serious cutting post-podcast and only had to cope with four major storylines. That’s a healthy sized book–it’s fantasy-novel length. Free Will is…well…bigger.
Continue reading ‘The Great Cull (Free Will Update)’
March 31st, 2011 by jdsawyer
The good folks at AWP Books and I have a decision to make: What order do we publish things in? In the process of discussions, it occurred to us that you all might have an opinion, so here’s your chance to vote:
[poll id="2"]
You may vote for two of the three options (this is to let you voice your desire for hardbacks, as well as priority). Let us know what you want!
