Podioracket Presents-Visionaries

Brian Holtz and I have brought together a 16 story collection of short stories from some of the best Podiobooks.com authors.  Some stories are strange, others are scary or humorous. Search through the mix of audio short stories to find something you like in Podioracket Presents- Visionaries.

 Five stories are available now!

The first story in the anthology, one of several prequel tales for J.C. Hutchins‘ thriller novel 7th Son: Descent, stars Kilroy2.0, a deranged Washington DC-based computer hacker. Incensed by recent federal scrutiny, Kilroy2.0 declares to his followers that today is a day of … ruination.

Listen to Brian Holtz’s award-winning, never before aired in audio, short story Jeremy’s Potential. This slipstream short story brings us Jeremy, who learns that his life is much bigger than he’d ever imagined. He finds himself spiraling from one reality to the next, searching for his daughter. To stop the nightmare he’ll need determination, quick reflexes and…a teddy bear. If you enjoy it, try one of Brian’s other Podiobooks.com novels.

Writer Patrick McLean won a “Best Fiction (Non-speculative)” Parsec Award  for this humorous piece, Death of a Dishwasher! Find more of Patrick’s work on Podiobooks.com, including How to Succeed in Evil.

Paul E. Cooley, the author of Tattoo, brings his horror short, Canvas, in which an artist discusses his philosophy of painting with a captive audience.

Seth Harwood’s thriller Junius, is the precursor to his novel Young Junius, which was just picked up for publication. Junius Ponds came up on tough streets outside Boston way back in the day. In the middle of drugs, gang violence, and the toughest set of tower-projects you ever knew, he seeks to avenge his brother. Learn more in the novel based on this short story, Young Junius.

Coming next week . . . . Ron Vitale!

Check out Podioracket Presents- Visionaries.

Meanwhile, I’ll continue writing.

For this project, I’ve brought in new team member. Brian Holtz, the author of several Podiobooks.com novels. Under Podioracket.com’s familiar brand, we will coordinate and promote Podiobooks.com author’s short stories in one place. The series will be called Podioracket Presents. And the first volume is Visionaries.

Our intention is to give listeners another way to find authors they love.

Since we are trying to make this as simple and easy as possible, initially we are gathering together short stories that authors have already created and used elsewhere. If the first season of Podioracket Presents is successful we will be open to new stories in subsequent volumes.

Details for Podiobooks.com authors are available in the guide at Podioracket.com.

I’ll let you know once we have finalized the list of contributors and set an air date.

Fractured Horizon inspired artwork by Devlin Donnelly

Devlin Donnelly, the talented graphic artist who created the original cover for Fractured Horizon and laid the foundation for the Podioracket.com logos, has created a new piece of artwork. Though he claims it’s just a quick, fun piece, I think something this lovely must have taken time.

Original Cover Art by Devlin Donnelly

Congratulations to those who were cast. Your work is just beginning!

The Cast

Rhayne Archer as Samantha
Monte Bratten as Howard
Tanja Milojevic as Elena
Chris Adler as Cob
Edison Pongklub as Delta
Alex White as Julius
Tim Rowe as Mengus
Miranda Gauvin as the Benz Mechanical Voice
Stephanie Frizzell as Voice 1
David Frizzell III as Voice 2
Dave Frizzell as Voice 3
Tanja Milojevic as Voice 4
and
Edison Pongklub as the Narrator

Check out my previous post on ‘The Killer with the Eyes of Ice’ for more information and a blurb describing the audio drama.

P.G. Holyfield will also be creating a clean, edited audio version of the story in the next month or so. I’ll see if I can add that to my feed as well.

Thank you to anyone who attended the reading.

The story is set in the world of Murder at Avedon Hill (available in print in 2010). The Tales of the Children anthology provides looks at the Children of Az. These gods are born into the world as men, unaware of their own origins and with their powers dormant until someone or something awakens them.

Here’s a quick look at the opening to Feverfew:

Feverfew Flowers

In a land of magic where gods are born to men the concerns of both must mingle.

The five curved peaks of Darsun’s Claws, beyond the mountains of Anarin, marked the boundary of man’s reach. Though an adventurous few sometimes risked the steaming vents and climbed among the rainbow hued pools to trade across the mountains, no one called it home. When the winter storms blew from Drakesmont, the tallest of all the Claws, strange-smelling mists hid beasts that stalked man’s tenuous claims.

The fury of one such blizzard echoed the storm that raged in Rondac Whitestaff’s heart. He leaned into the whipping winds. His feet crunched through layers of blowing snow. His breath puffed out in icy crystals that the wind greedily snatched away. On his back lay his son Alastair. The boy’s whining and crying had stopped and he had become so quiet that not even shivers disturbed him any longer. Rondac, the mighty warrior, was afraid to look back.

He rubbed a shoulder against his fleece collar to scrape away the ice that sagged over his brow. The frown of concentration remained as he studied the crystals of snow that blasted the land into uniform whiteness. “I’m losing them,” he whispered, and the wind raised a gleeful howl. He took a shuddering breath and collapsed onto his knees. His gaze hunted like a trapped thing, pacing between the white walls of the gorge and back as he tried to find a clue that would guide him. He had never failed. This was his place, where no one else belonged but he somehow thrived. He had brought his family to show them the mysteries; Alyssa had begged to see the colored smokes and bubbling hot springs.

He laughed harshly, thinking of his beautiful wife. The storm had caught him, that was the mistake that started it all, and they had been searching for shelter when the beast stole her away. He was Rondac, the man whose will carved a trading trail through these mountains. He led strangers safely through the mysteries of Darsun’s Claw. How can I fail my own wife?

. . .

Join P.G. Holyfield for the rest of the Tale. Wed, Dec 30th at 6:30pm Pacific at http://www.stickam.com/pgholyfield

Fractured Horizon- Is there more?

I have recently received some wonderful comments on my novel, Fractured Horizon. They mean a lot to me and I thank you for your comments, ratings, and questions.

A listener, Steve, made some great observations about the novel. He also asked me a very timely question:

“I always leave a story that I enjoy wanting more, whether in print, audio or film. And that is the way it should be. Then, as so often happens, ‘more’ is when you finally get it ‘less’. So I hesitate to ask … is there any more of Katherine Downs?”

I did not want to make any premature announcements. However, I know that I have been saying I’d have a text version available at the end of this year and planned to have an audio version of the sequel available at the start of 2010. The text version is delayed. In the course of searching for an editor, the partial of Fractured Horizon came before an editor who loved it. The full text is now being considered for publication by a small publishing house.

Naturally I am excited, but it would be premature to celebrate. I do have 40,000 words of the sequel but I have put it aside to work on another book. If Fractured Horizon is chosen to be published it will go through their editing process. It is also quite long, so I know there would be cuts. I think it best to hold off on the sequel until I know what changes are involved.

(and Steve, your other observations were great. I’ll address them in their own post in the near future)

Tales of the Children

My short story “Feverfew” was accepted by P.G. Holyfield, author of Murder at Avedon Hill, for his Tales of the Children anthology. He plans to do a live vidcast of himself reading the tortured fantasy tale on the evening of Wednesday, December 30th. Following the live reading, after editing, the story will be available  on his RSS feed. I’ll see if I can get a copy for us on this web site. At the very least I’ll post a link.

P.G. is fun, and at the live reading you have the opportunity to interact and ask questions. If you’re expecting my no-nonsense approach to podcasting, such as my Fh episodes or the 20-minute Podioracket.com interviews, then consider this fair warning. P.G. Holyfield moves at a much easier pace.

I’ll get you more details as P.G. makes them available.

The Killer with Eyes of Ice

Necropolis Studio Productions closed auditions for my sci-fi/horror audio drama “The Killer with Eyes of Ice” on December 13th and we’re eagerly waiting for cast announcements. I know that Alex White, talented author of The Gearheart, tried out for a role. If you haven’t listened to his work, you should.

Once the cast is announced they will begin recording. I do not know dates, but am hopeful we can hear the full production, with cast and special effects, some time in February. And if it lives up to my expectations it is going to be award-winning GOOD!

The Rest- Podioracket & Podcrafters

Podioracket.com remains on hiatus, though we’ve scheduled interviews and blogs during this time so you’ll hardly know that Rhonda R Carpenter and I are gone.

Podcasting in Second Life is about to get a boost from the new group Podcrafters. I expect that I’ll be announcing opportunities in the coming year. I believe that several members are having open office hours for anyone who wants to drop by, but I’m sticking sincerely to this hiatus so that I can get more writing done! No new projects for me until 2010.

I’m particularly excited to hear this story because it is new ground for me. Besides a wonderful story (I try to be modest, really I do), I’m counting on the excellent cast and skilled special effects editing that I’ve heard in previous works by Necropolis Studio Productions. I wouldn’t be able to produce this on my own.

Necropolis Studio Productions produces Call Me Jack and The Age of Zombies, a 2009 Parsec Finalist.

The Killer with Eyes of Ice is a sci-fi/horror piece that will be about 40 minutes long (probably). They have not yet announced auditions or an estimated air date but I’ll keep you informed.

BLURB:

Julius Benz, the universe’s greatest humanitarian, builds a dome on the poisonous planet of Regulus to house the undying shells left behind by mankind’s newest disease. When this savior makes an unscheduled stop at the dome, a reporter follows and secretly records the stunning consequences of illicit research– and his own murder. Driven by the video, Samantha seeks justice for her brother and hope for herself. Because she is already infected. Will she succeed before madness takes over?

Thanks to Emerian Rich of HorrorAddicts.net for hosting the competition. You can go to Horror Addicts to find my short story.

Listen to my story Graveyard Shift (and Re-shift) as well as the three other stories contributed by Rhonda Carpenter, Arlene Radasky, and Michele Roger. All the stories are at HorrorAddicts.net

Vote for the story or stories that you liked best by emailing the host, Emerian Rich at emzbox@sbcglobal.net.  Write ‘WWW’ in the subject line. Include 1) The name, number, or author of the story you want to vote for 2) Your name or handle 3) Your mailing address (Only used if you should win).

This will be a tight race. Your vote is very important, and one lucky voter will win the prize box. It contains autographed books, audio cds, t-shirts, key chains, and other book-themed paraphernalia.