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Without actually intending to, I have set about learning some new skills and areas of interest this summer. I didn’t make a New Year’s resolution to learn new things in 2019; it probably wouldn’t have happened if I had. Nevertheless, I am proving again to myself that there are always new things to learn. In no particular order, here’s what I’m getting to know this year: Soccer I followed the FIFA Women’s World Cup pretty closely. Although I obviously favored our world champion U.S. Women’s National Team, I watched a few matches between other countries as well. I’ve watched soccer on and off over the years. My college had a pretty decent soccer program when I was an undergrad, and I went to one or two matches. My middle son played for a few years when he was middle school aged. I usually watch at least some of the men’s World Cup, even last year when the U.S.A. didn’t qualify. However, it has been the unparalleled success of the American women that has kept me watching (I can ride a bandwagon just as well as the next guy.) I wanted a Carli Lloyd t-shirt after the 2015 World Cup; I laughed out loud when she scored a goal from midfield in the final against Japan. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find one in any of the sports memorabilia stores around here. Regardless, when this year’s tournament rolled around, I was primed. And a funny thing happened: For the first time, I started to understand the game. I didn’t get it when my son played, and I watched a lot of matches in a lot of cold weather. But now I’ve begun to appreciate the passing, the attacks, the tackles, the set-ups for corner kicks, the trick moves, all of it. I yell at the TV when I see an inexcusable no-call on an obvious foul. I understand stoppage time (though I still don’t get the no-time-outs thing; it has to be tradition.) I think I might even be close to getting the offside rule. It’s a bit like opening my eyes to a whole new, previously ignored world. If I were 30 years younger, I would try to find an amateur league to play in. My high school was too small to have a soccer team, so I didn’t have the opportunity to play in my teens. Too bad; I’ve never been overly sure on my feet, but with practice I might have been a decent player, if only on defense. Anyway, since the World Cup ended on July 7 (the day after my oldest son and his lovely wife got married, the subject of another post,) I’ve been watching NWSL soccer matches on Yahoo! and ESPN. The closest team to me is Sky Blue FC, located in northern New Jersey and in dead last in the standings, so I’ve adopted them as my team. It hurts not at all that Carli Lloyd plays for them. Slide Guitar I love the sound of slide guitar, and it’s long been one of my round tuits to become proficient at it. For those who may not know, you play slide guitar by placing a tube of some kind (metal, glass, whatever) on one finger of the hand that’s on the fret board. That finger slides up and down the strings, producing a sound that is wicked or sad, depending on what you’re going for. Every year during Holy Week when I hear the old spiritual Were You There, I imagine how good it would sound on slide guitar. One of these days … Anyway, this summer I’ve become more serious. Type the search term “how to play slide guitar” into the You Tube search field and you’ll get no shortage of tutorials. I’ve experimented with open G tuning (tuning the guitar strings so that they make a G major chord if you don’t press any of them down.) One of my best college friends and I have played the Jethro Tull song Locomotive Breath together as long as we’ve known each other. I’ve got the rhythm guitar part with a slide down. My goal is to take be able to play a lead guitar solo on slide that won’t make people cringe. This is called growth, my friends. GarageBand When I was 13, I learned that musicians record their parts individually rather than necessarily all of them playing the song at the same time. My mind was blown. Ever since then, I’ve had a fascination with multi-track recording. GarageBand is audio production software that comes installed on every Apple Macintosh computer. I’ve used it in the past; I produced every episode of my late, not lamented podcast The Geek Side of Life using it. This year, though, I’ve made an effort to learn how to create music with it. Last winter I recorded a version of Gordon Lightfoot’s song The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald in which I played rhythm and lead guitars, sang, and played two software instruments. The results were so-so, but it was a ton of fun. It was a time rabbit hole. I spent an entire Saturday on a five-minute song and could have spent more time than that. A couple of months ago I created theme music for the videos I do for my day job. I built it entirely out of GarageBand loops. No actual musical instruments were harmed during the production of the piece. A rock masterpiece it is not, but I had so much fun doing it. It was a Saturday night. I don’t know what time I started, but next thing I knew it was one in the morning and I didn’t feel tired. Time becomes irrelevant when I focus on creating something. You can listen to the results by playing the track below. That said, I’m sure I know about five percent of GarageBand’s features and capabilities. I’ve subscribed to a series of You Tube videos that give tutorials. I expect that learning how to create with that program will be very rewarding for me. I will never be a master musician (I don’t have the desire to put in the time required,) but I can create songs that a few people might like, I’ll have a really good time, and I’ll learn some audio production skills. Not a bad way to spend my time. Learning This is my version of self-improvement for the summer of 2019. Will it make me a better person? I don’t know; probably not. It might make me a more interesting person, at least to some people. At any rate, I want to keep learning. I want to learn more about the physical sciences and foreign languages and folk stories that can inspire my fiction and computer coding. For however many days or years I have left, I want to keep learning. It’s what makes life interesting. The post Things I’m Learning in 2019 appeared first on If My Thought-Dreams Could Be Seen.

If you’ve listened to short fiction podcasts, you know the name Eugie Foster. Eugie Foster Podcastle, EscapePod, Pseudopod and The Drabblecast have aired more than 20 of her stories.  She’s lent her voice as a reader of other authors’ work on those shows as well. Her work has appeared in magazines and e-zines such as Helix, Realms of Fantasy, Interzone, and Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show. One of my personal favorites is Daughter of Bótù which appeared in both Realms of Fantasy and Podcastle (I’ve embedded the mp3 of the podcast in this post; give it a listen). She has amassed an impressive list of awards, including a 2009 Nebula Award. Without question, she is a very gifted writer who spins mesmerizing tales. She also has impressed me as very warm and professional. I’ve had the opportunity to see her on a number of panel discussions at Dragon*Con over the years, and her remarks are always thoughtful and informative. On a personal note, I spoke with her for a few minutes after a panel discussion at Dragon*Con 2012, and she couldn’t have been more gracious. We commiserated about the demise of Realms of Fantasy, and I think she may have even accepted a Purgatory bookmark from me. She also may be the only person I’ve ever heard of who had a pet skunk. As the owner of dogs who have mixed it up with the black and white critters from time to time, this is hard for me to wrap my head around, but each to their own. Anyway, her Web site says the skunk is de-scented, which I didn’t even know was possible. Three weeks ago, Eugie Foster learned that she has cancer. Last week, her doctors confirmed it as lymphoma, which means that her treatment will consist of chemotherapy, not surgery. As you can tell from the photo, she is a young woman who should be looking forward to her next publication, not the first round of chemo. Words can’t describe just how unfair and awful this is. According to her blog, she has health insurance (you Obamacare opponents who keep trying to convince young people not to buy it should knock it off, now), but it may not cover all the costs of treatment. She and her husband need a little hand up. People like you and me, who are blessed with good health and who have listened to her stories on free podcasts over the years, need to step up. In a blog post a couple of weeks ago, she said that the best way for people to help her is to buy her story collections, encourage others to do so, and leave reviews on Amazon. So, I’m asking you tonight to do just that. Go to her Web site, take a look at the long list of stories and collections, plunk down a couple of bucks, then sit back and let her transport you to other times and places. I promise you that you’ll be entertained, and you will be helping someone at the moment she most needs it. What has happened to Eugie Foster could happen to any of us. She has a brilliant imagination and a gift with words, but her body has betrayed her. Please consider supporting her now with your dollars, your prayers (if you’re so inclined), or your good wishes. And let’s fervently hope that very soon she will be able to happily report that she is cancer-free. Leave a Comment

00:00:00 – It’s Dragon*Con week! … I have an unreleased episode ready to go 00:03:34 – Promo: Nutty Bites 00:04:05 – A chat with Lauren “Scribe” Harris about her new novella EXORCISING AARON NGUYEN 00:36:12 – Promo: The Way of the Buffalo 00:36:42 – Say hi to me at Dragon*Con! Download a copy of EXORCISING AARON NGUYEN Amazon Smashwords Goodreads Find Lauren online: Twitter Facebook Google +  Leave a Comment

Last week, I had the pleasure of spending a few minutes chatting with John Anealio and Patrick Hester of The Functional Nerds podcast. It was a lot of fun, and they were very gracious hosts. John has been a guest on The Geek Side of Life, and I’d like to have Patrick on the show sometime soon. Hope you enjoy! Leave a Comment The post Guest Appearance on ‘The Functional Nerds’ appeared first on If My Thought-Dreams Could Be Seen.

This podcast is essential listening if you are a writer, illustrator, musician, artist, or any other creative content producer who is trying to reach an audience. It’s from the Jennisodes podcast, which I discovered a couple of weeks ago. It’s quickly become one of my favorites, added to my already too-long list of podcast subscriptions. In this episode, she interviews public relations professional Joshua Logan Seideman. Some of you may know that public relations is one of the many hats I wear at my day job, so I was especially interested in this one. The conversation surrounds the topic of marketing a game (Jennisodes is a podcast devoted to role playing games, after all,) but his points are valuable to anyone who is trying to get their work noticed. I listened to it once yesterday while walking my dog and driving to work (not at the same time,) and I plan to listen to it again when I can scribble down some notes. Whether or not you have an interest in RPG’s, I highly recommend Jenn’s podcast simply because every week she gets fascinating guests to interview. This week’s episode features the two attorneys who do the Law Of The Geek podcast. Again, the talk was about the legal aspects of game design and marketing, but they made some very interesting points about contracts with illustrators and other outside content creators. As someone who is contemplating self-publishing, I had not given this any thought, which is especially bad since I spend much of my time on the day job reading contracts. Even if you decide not to bother with a formal contract, you should be aware of the implications of that decision, so I strongly recommend you give that show a listen. So much to listen to, so little time… Leave a Comment

Okay, I know I said I’d stop the Christmas posts awhile back, and the holiday season is over, but last week’s episode of The Drabblecast was just too funny not to share. I played the intro and the drabble for my sons last night. As a rule, they don’t quite get my affinity for podcast fiction, but even they laughed when they heard this. So, if you’ve returned to your cynical self post-holidays, I’m reasonably sure you’ll enjoy this. And if you’re not already a Drabblecast subscriber and supporter, check out some other episodes and listen to what you’ve been missing. Leave a Comment  

Regular readers of this blog are well aware of my propensity to gush about the music of a capella Celtic group Pandora Celtica. Now, just in time for Christmas Eve, they are offering a free download of a song from their CD On Thin Ice. The song is Santa Clause Got Eaten by the Kraken, and it’s one of my favorites on the CD. As you might guess from the title, it’s a bit tongue-in-cheek. Give it a listen and have a good holiday laugh. If you like this song, please share it with your friends and anyone else you can think of who would like it. I’d love to see them get more widespread exposure. Enjoy! “Frosty’s slowly melting watching episodes of ‘Lost’…” Leave a Comment

Last Christmas, I posted Mur Lafferty’s story Merry Christmas From the Heartbreakers in my feed because I love the story and wanted you all to have the chance to enjoy it, too. This year, I want to share another terrific holiday story, one that ran a year ago on Podcastle. It’s The Christmas Mummy by the husband and wife team of Heather Shaw and Tim Pratt. This is a funny but heartwarming story that the whole family can enjoy. It features an average American family with average American kids, average American ninjas, an average American mummy, an average American eccentric uncle, and said uncle’s arch-nemesis. Here’s the beginning of the story, as posted on Podcastle’s site last Christmas: Trish led Nate from the room, into the hall — their parents’ door was closed — and onto the stairs. She could hear someone moving down there. Trish crept down the carpeted steps. The only light in the living room came from the bright Christmas tree. Even the yule log in the fireplace had burned down. Two men, dressed in black pajamas with their faces covered, were tying a big red ribbon around a crate that was bigger than the couch. “Ninjas?” Trish whispered to her brother. “Christmas ninjas,” Nate said. One of the ninjas pulled up his mask a little and ate one of the cookies they’d left for Santa. He drank the milk, too, leaving a white mustache on his ninja mask when he pulled it back down over his mouth. I hope you like this as much as I did. Leave a Comment

Are you sick of me blogging about Christmas yet? I promise I’ll stop in about a week. Until then, I’m happy to unveil a little project I’ve been involved with. Douglas Welch of the Podcast Community on Facebook organized a group reading of an abridged version of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. I have a part toward the end of the story. Here’s the description from Douglas’s Web site: The Podcast Community on Facebook has come together this season to record an audio version of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. This reading is based on an edited version of the story created by Dickens himself for his own live readings. Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Listen to Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol Our cast includes: Douglas E. Welch – Career Opportunities Podcast Michael Falkner – The Weekly Podioplex (part of the Chronic Rift Network) Bryan Lincoln – Fullcast Podcast Paul Ellis – It Was A Dark & Stormy Night James Bennett – All Things Geek Heidi Jenkins – Castlecast Paula Berinstein – The Writing Show Jason James – thenutgallery.com podcast Michael Lawshe – Eclipse-1 Media Peter Lythgoe – The Zzipp & Co. Podcast Browncoat – thenutgallery.com podcast Megan Enloe – Podcast Community Rish Outfield – The Dunesteef Audio Fiction Magazine Hatton Humphrey – East Coast Conservative Podcast Rosanne Welch – WelchWrite.com Lauren “Scribe” Harris – Pendragon Variety Podcast Lauren “Skrybbi” Nicholson – Pendragon Variety Podcast Raven Wei – Pendragon Variety Podcast Tim Dodge –Podiobooks ACTS OF DESPERATION and PURGATORY R.E. Chambliss – Podiobook Dreaming of Deliverance Produced by Douglas E. Welch and WelchWrite.com Interstitial Music and Sound Effects provided by Michael Lawshe of Eclipse-1 Media Join the Podcast Community on Facebook Enjoy! Leave a Comment

It’s been a while, but I’m back with a new episode of the podcast, this time featuring a special interview with the wonderful Abigail Hilton, author and producer of The Guild of the Cowry Catchers podcast. Abbie and I had such a good conversation that it ran over an hour without me realizing it. Not only is she a gifted storyteller, but she has put more thought and work into the writing business model than most writers I know. She is also one of the first (if not the first) to produce an illustrated podcast, putting hundreds of dollars of her own money into fine artwork that brings her characters to life. I hope you enjoy this discussion as much as I did. Of course, I recorded the interview and the intro and outro before I listened to episode #4 of Book 3 of Cowry Catchers, in which several male slaves are brought up short and Silveo is left speechless. Having listened to that, I’m both a great admirer of her writing and a little bit afraid of her. (Just kidding, Abbie.) Abbie Hilton’s contact information: The Prophet of Panamindorah (young adult series) The Guild of the Cowry Catchers Web site Facebook Twitter Promo: SpecFicMedia.com Leave a Comment

I’ve decided that I have a new Christmas tradition. Well, not new, exactly…it dates back to 2006. That is when Escape Pod #85 hit the Internet with Mur Lafferty’s delightful story Merry Christmas From the Heartbreakers. Mur writes a Christmas story every year for Escape Pod, but this one stands as my favorite, and I make a point of re-listening to it every December. This will be one of the rare times when I actually listen to a podcast episode from my feed. If you haven’t heard this story before, you’re in for a treat. If you have, then you know what I’m talking about, so listen to it again. Raise a glass with Gingermuffin and enjoy the story. Happy holidays! Leave a Comment

Happy Halloween, everyone! To celebrate, here’s a little spookesode, courtesy of one of my favorite characters and one of America’s greatest writers, Edgar Allan Poe. One good turn deserves another: I had so much fun writing a fictional version of him for Purgatory, that it seems only fitting that I present his classic poem, The Raven. I love some of the phrases he turns in this poem — “grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt”, for example. It really is a musical work. Mr. Poe was much more than the comic figure I made him out to be in my novel. He was the original American mystery and horror writer.I leave you with one word: Nevermore. Enjoy! Promos Guild of the Cowry Catchers by Abigail Hilton Geist by Philippa Ballantine Photo of The Raven by Ian Burt Leave a Comment

He’s ba-a-a-a-ck…and he wants to scare you. Badly. Yes folks, Scott Sigler, AKA the FDO, AKA General Siglerisimo, AKA Pope Siglericus XXX, hits bookstores again on June 22 with the hard cover release of ANCESTOR. Some of you may have listened to the podcast version of ANCESTOR or bought the paperback version published by Dragon Moon Press in 2007. I’m not one of them, and I’ve purposely avoided even glancing at the PDF of the DMP version so as to avoid spoilers, though I understand that Scott has rewritten the book. For a hint of what you’ll find between the book covers, give a listen to the trailer and/or watch the video, then get to your favorite bookstore or online bookseller tomorrow and pick up a copy. In addition to being a greatly disturbed individual who has assured all his listeners on multiple occasions that he plans to kill them, Scott has given away some terrific fiction over the last several years. This is our chance to say thanks and give him a little support. I have a gift card that I’ve been reserving for just this occasion. And remember, if it doesn’t sell, he may do for your hometown what he did to Detroit at the end of CONTAGIOUS. No pressure.

INTRO — What I’ve been doing and why I’m not like Scott Sigler…Purgatory has been nominated for a Parsec Award!…I’m going to Balticon PROMO — Merciless Storytellers INTERVIEW with P.G. Holyfield, author of Murder At Avedon Hill PROMO — Murder At Avedon Hill Book Launch

Summary This week’s story is a good old-fashioned murder mystery. Detective Mike Olshefski tries to solve the mystery of why the victim put on a special outfit for his murder.  And yes, I know I twice got the title of my own story wrong. Promos Glitter Girl Vertigo Media Network Photo Smoking Gun by Mart http://www.flickr.com/photos/martyn/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 This was recorded before the tragic event of January 5. Please consider donating to the fund mentioned in my January 7 blog post.