A free book? There’s no such thing as a free book! What’s the catch?

No catch. It’s free. But, Mur asks that if you like it you purchase it from Amazon.com on August 25. She’s making a run on Amazon and really needs us all to pitch in and help her get noticed. She, like so many others, has a book contract now. But podcasting novels are still a new medium for delivery and we need to show the publishing industry that this makes a difference. 

Martha and I have read the PDF version multiple time. We help Mur by making the PDFs and doing layout and formatting. We also did a little editing. All of this was to help Mur make the best product possible. We bought the first version of Playing for Keeps when it was self-published on Lulu.com. And now we’re joining her for her run on Amazon and we’ll be buying multiple copies of Playing for Keeps as published by Swarm Press.

Mur has delivered countless hours of enjoyment and encouragement to the pod-o-sphere. She has also inspired and rallied people including me. It is not an exaggeration to say that if Mur wasn’t here I wouldn’t be either. I wonder how many other people to whom you listen, read, and watch are here because they were inspired by Mur Lafferty. I’m guessing the number is larger than you think.

So be ready to place your order from Amazon.com for Playing for Keeps on Monday August 25. Be there! Aloha.

• Beverage roundup
• Black Adder
• Quantum Leap
• Don’t mess with the librarians
• PROMO: Christiana’s Shallow Thoughts
• PROMO: I Should Be Writing
• Cataloging duels of librarians
• Fear the weeding policy
• Kitties!
• I AM Survivor Dad!
• “The dark goddess must dine on tears!”
• PROMO: Metamor City
• PROMO: Reality Break
• Tee Morris in a barrel
• Double Trouble (links galore)
• Free PDFs have over 50,000 downloads!
• Why haven’t they been Boing Boing‘d?
• Don’t whine Tee
• If you want me to post your PDFs you have to ask me
• If you’re going to buy, please do so on 8/8/08 on Amazon.com
• Getting voice parts for future podcasts of Digital Magic and Pitcher’s Pendant
• Tee and Pip talk about the plots of their upcoming books
• Pip and Tee trapped in the same body
• Erotica a la Carte
• Tee will be organizing live events at Balticon 43
• MUSIC: Girls, Skirts, Boots, Bikes by The Buck Brothers

We discuss writing, podcasting, producing audio books, and Ronnie’s newly released novel Spite.

*Opening: Tim Robbins Keynote Address Clip
*There’s some sort of election going on, right?
*Headlines!
-Democracy Now
-Mic Check Radio
-AZ Central
-New York Times
*Promo: On The Podcast
*There’s some sort of election going on, right?
*Why should Clinton quit? Well, she shouldn’t.
*Here’s a question for ya.. and yes, it is about gender.
*The big damn gun interview- finally!
*All right, more of a chat, really…
*Paul Fischer visits the spiderhole
*ADD Cast
*Balticon Cast
*Wildlife Photos
*What I’ve Been Listening To:
-Democracy Now on paid military analysts
-CBC Ideas on Excuses
-Metamor City
-Chasing The Bard
-Voicemail(s) from Andy
-enjoy my new outtro- well, it’s the same, but now it has bed music!
-keep listening… you might hear something else!

email: tsdiva@gmail.com
voicemail: 206-337-1026
forum: http://truthseekerscast.ning.com

We have a pile of stuff we just put on eBay. Please help us out by taking a look, maybe we have something you need, and you know it’s coming from someone you can trust.

The items for sale are:

• Apple iMac 20″ G5 1.8 GHz
• Apple iBook 14″ G4 1.42 GHz
• Apple Powerbook15″ G4 1.5 GHz
• Apple 1GB DDR2 SDRAM
• Apple 2x 1GB DDR2 SDRAM
• Apple 2x 512 MB DDR2 SDRAM
• Radio Systems TI-101 Telphone Audio Interface – great for podcast interview or a conferencing setup

Thanks for your interest. Email us through eBay if you have questions.

Interview with Joe Mieczkowski

Story segment from Joe Mieczkowski

Story Segment from Jayanth “Jay” Paraki, his movie, his bio

Commentary from Tracy Hickman

PROMO: I Should Be Writing

PROMO: Killer Breakfast

PROMO: Playing for Keeps

MUSIC: Write About Me, by Jeff Coffey

To some the number 99 represents the many names of God. But as a black
snowfall blankets the Failed Cities on Christmas Eve, the arrival of 99
mysterious steel chambers is the catalyst that sets a series of far from
blessed events in motion. From bullets and bata sticks to a life-and-death
hostage situation to high-speed battles up switchback mountain roads, eight
people become links in a deadly chain that will either tether innocent lives
to safety or strangle any hope for their future. And as each part of the
story unfolds, we learn that above all things, Christmas in the Failed
Cities is a feverishly struck balance between the constant threat of
violence and the briefest, most bittersweet moments of joy.

THE FAILED CITIES: HATH A DARKNESS by Matt Wallace is a freely distributed
.PDF produced and illustrated by Rick Stringer, and available exclusively
from Variant Frequencies. We’d like to encourage all our listeners to
download, print, enjoy, and pass along this unique piece of the Failed
Cities universe as a thank you for your continued support and enthusiastic
participation in our podcast.

And don’t forget to revisit THE FAILED CITIES MONOLOGUES, collected in its
entirety on Podiobooks.com

Happy Holidays from the entire crew of Variant Frequencies!

When night falls, the monster under the bed comes out to eat your toes. But what could possibly cause that monster to want to change jobs? Who is the real monster under the bed?

Watch it on Lulu.tv!

In this episode of TDAH, we report from the World Science Fiction Convention in Yokohama, Japan. If you’re a Godzilla fan, you can’t afford to miss this one. Great Godzilla questions will be answered, such as what kind of women he like, his favorite recreation, why he really stomps Tokyo, and who is true love is.

Watch it here!

TDAH is up for The Best Video Blog of 2007. Please vote to help our friends at TDAH continue their rise to fame and fortune.

We are twisted and incapable of being serious about it. We’ll be bringing on people who are drunk and attempting to write anything. This pandemonium will take place over a Skype call, through the magic of the Interweb.

Contact Paul at <a href=”mailto:addcast@gmail.com”>addcast@gmail.com</a> to sign up for the event. Put “NaDruWriNi” (National Drunk Writing Night) in the subject line.

NaDruWriNi

Junkies – it’s time for a new novel. Not a short story, not a “novella,” but a full-blown, balls-out, tits-swingin’ novel that will have you crying like a little punk every Sunday when the episode finishes. NOCTURNAL is that novel.

And on top of that, I’m running a contest where YOUR NAME can be the name of a victim in NOCTURNAL. All you need to do is go to the brand-new scottsigler.com and register a full profile. Go there, then look on the left-hand side. See where you’d log in? Create a profile. FILL IN ALL THE FIELDS to win! If you don’t want to fill them in, no worries, but only complete profiles are eligible to get ‘dat ass killed and be immortalized in the pages of NOCTURNAL when it’s printed in 2010.

This is Awesome! Thanks Amanda for choosing our photo!

-Paul & Martha

FarPoint Media/Podango Partnership

We, at FarPoint Media (www.farpointmedia.net), a leader in creating, producing and distributing quality audio entertainment, are happy to announce that Podango (www.podango.com) has become our partner with a multi-station deal that will allow this new media broadcast platform to host all of our FarPoint Media podcasts and future vidcasts.

Podango is a new media broadcast platform that will enable FarPoint Media and our advertisers to better reach our target audience for all of our podcasts, vidcasts and their accompanying Website’s.

“Podango offers us a complete and reliable hosting solution with full WordPress integration, robust ad insertion capabilities and a variety of easy-to-use management tools,” stated Michael R. Mennenga, founder and CEO of FarPoint Media. “[The Podango platform] lets us concentrate on creating and delivering the best audio content for our growing legion of online fans.”

Lee Gibbons, CEO of Podango, said, “FarPoint Media is leading the industry in creating and producing highly popular, award-winning and diverse new media content. We’re thrilled to welcome the family of FarPoint Media audio shows to Podango and look forward to collaborating in reaching even wider audiences.”

“The ease and reliability with which this format will afford us will lessen the burden faced with less than adequate service,” said Samuel K. Sloan, FarPoint Media Executive News Director. “I am looking forward to working closely with Podango and its rich platform.”

FarPoint Media is happy to be able to be working with Podango to continue bringing you all the best in entertainment, news and information the Internet can provide.

About Podango
Podango is a new media broadcast platform that enables podcasters and advertisers to build audiences and connect with hard-to-reach, niche market segments. Running such hit shows as The Apple Phone Show, Podango hosts over 1,000 video and audio programs—including a third of the top twenty-five shows—on a wide variety of interests and topics.

The company’s innovative Web broadcast platform features diverse shows distributed through a sophisticated set of syndication tools. Broadcasters producing their own channels of episodic video and audio content also share advertising revenue. In today’s increasingly fragmented marketplace, Podango provides advertisers with the highly targeted audiences and robust content opportunities critical to the success of business and consumer brands.

About FarPoint Media
With 73 shows currently on the air or in development , FarPoint Media is a leading producer and distributor of quality radio and podcast entertainment, with its eye to the future of vidcasting. The company offers a variety of content with channels designed for diverse programming choices.

We have sci-fi media and genre-related literature shows featuring news and interviews with actors, producers and writers creating your favorite TV programs and books, and we have discussion shows fans can immerse themselves in.

FarPoint Media has quality audio dramas to fire your imagination, specialized sports news and information shows that take you beyond the box scores, comedy and variety programming that will have you laughing out loud, and shows with experienced advice that can help improve your tech skills, sharpen your writing skills or make you more environmentally conscious and knowledgeable.

The three jewels in the FarPoint Media crown are the “Dragonpage Cover to Cover” (C2C), “Wingin’It-3D” (WI-3D) and “Slice of SciFi” (SoSF) programs.

C2C is the show that started it all. Each program hosts an award-winning author of fantasy, fiction and science fiction, covering the latest offerings from the writer being interviewed and the novel under discussion.

WI-3D is just want the name implies, an irreverent time where friends, celebrities and personalities get together in the studio in a no-holds-bar romp where the discussion can end up on just about anything.

SoSF is an hour-long show of news, entertainment and guest interviews centering on the world of science fiction, horror, fantasy and other genre-related topics. Very structured, SoSF works off of a tightly written script and has featured interview with actors such as Samuel K. Jackson and Amanda Tapping, producers/writers and directors like Peter Mohan, N. John Smith and Martin Wood. Also featured are young up-and-coming filmmakers like Mark Lund and Shane Felux, as well as, award winning authors like Peter S. Beagle, Tanya Huff and Jim Butcher. SoSF has made the unique crossover from a stand-alone podcast to where it can now also be heard on XM-Satellite Radio.

FarPoint Media is podcast entertainment at its best. No matter what your interests are, we have a show that will be sure to entertain and inform you. See what the fastest-growing network has to offer you. It is a world of wonder that awaits you. For more information visit: www.farpointmedia.net.

Best Novella: “A Billion Eves”
by Robert Reed
(Asimov’s October/November 2006)

Best Novelette: “The Djinn’s Wife”
by Ian McDonald (Asimov’s July 2006)

Best Short Story:
“Impossible Dreams” by Tim Pratt
(Asimov’s, July 2006)

Best Related Book:
James Tiptree, Jr.:
The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon
by Julie Phillips (St. Martin’s Press)

Best Dramatic Presentation,
Long Form: Pan’s Labyrinth

Best Dramatic Presentation,
Short Form: Doctor Who
“Girl in the Fireplace”

Best Editor, Long Form
Patrick Nielsen Hayden

Best Editor, Short Form:
Gordon Van Gelder

Best Semiprozine
Locus edited by Charles N. Brown, Kirsten Gong-Wong, and Liza Groen Trombi

Best Fan Writer
Dave Langford

Best Professional Artist
Donato Giancola

Best Fanzine
Science-Fiction Five-Yearly
edited by Lee Hoffman, Geri Sullivan, and Randy Byers

Best Fan Artist
Frank Wu

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer of 2005 or 2006
Naomi Novik

First pass through Tokyo. No sign of Godzilla. He must be sleeping. I hope he shows up for the interview or I’m going to be really pissed. I didn’t come all this way not to get 5 minutes with the big man himself.

Got to the Intercontinental Grand Yokohama this afternoon. Wicked cool place. Massive. I think the restaurants are all 5 star gourmet or something. $100/person for a meal. We went a la cart to save a little money. I don’t mind paying for a good meal, but I couldn’t enjoy it as tired as I am.

Mur Lafferty’s ears are burning.

Had dinner in the Italian place. They were very accommodating to the fact that I can barely digest anything anymore. Great roast pork and veggies. Martha had a pizza. Great food, but very expensive. Thankfully snacks and drinks aren’t that outrageous.

Got Martha settled in the Newsletter staff room with Matsushita-san. Met some of the staff. Sean, who we met last year, is here and he’s translating again. He’s a life saver. I actually managed to translate some japanese into english for someone contributing to the news letters. But then there was nothing else to do, so I abandoned Martha and Matsushita-san in favor of a chat with Nobilis and sleep.

Need to hunt up some public domain footage and audio of Godzilla and the signing of the documents that ended WWII. Need background material for my interview with Big-G.

The Beast is being held captive by Japanese Customs. They want money. Hopefully I can get a translator to help me in the morning. I really need The Beast back on my shoulder.

We had an awesome time with Mark Forman and his family. We owe him a lot.

Made up two quick videos in our spacious hotel suite.

Video 1 (6 MB)- My entry in the coolest 7th Son T-Shirt location ever

Video 2 (29 MB)- Our upgraded suite at the China Trust

More on Taichung, Forman, and stuff later this week as I have face time with the Mac to create. Until then, I’m counting the days until The Beast and I are reunited.

I forgot to mention in the video. This hotel room comes with it’s own fish!

[Editors Note - iTunes is pulling video 1, so I'm putting it in the feed so I can track it. I wanted to make it optional. ]

Seriously, it only comes from one place. Give it up.

[File Removed... Event Over]

Michelle Malone’s concert at Jammin Java is tomorrow night, Wed 7/11!

Michelle has been submitted for the Grammy Awards and she is hoping that some of the DC area Grammy folks will be out to see the show. She needs you there to help pack the house.

Get stoked and come join us for the concert!

SONG: Traveling And Unraveling

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MobilitySite/~3/123078598/

Sorry.

Phil Rossi is spending thousands of hours a day working on it.

We’ll have something for you to listen to soon!