Michael and Evo: Wingin’ It!

Don’t let that title fool you. I am really thrilled with this news!

The Winner and Finalists for the 2005 IPPY for Best Science Fiction and Fantasy are:

Here it is…

Winner: Singularity by Bill DeSmedt (per Aspera)
Finalists: Binary Tales by John and Lawrence Buentello (iUniverse)
Billibub Baddings and the Case of the Singing Sword by Tee Morris (Dragon Moon Press)

I was in good company when short-listed, so this is a real honor. I really wish I wasn’t working tomorrow, or I’d be celebrating tonight. Thank God Balticon 39 is this weekend! PARTY IN TEE’S ROOM!

So guys…how about you get Bill back on and the two of us can have a “Winner’s Circle” show?

Now this is a hoot…

Imperial Choppers

If you have never seen the show “American Chopper” on The Discovery Channel, it’s a reality-based show where you’ve got some severely badass bikers who now have their own custom shop, and you see their trials and tribulations in making “the ultimate ride.”

Here, this shop is located in Mos Vegas and this motley crew of gearheads get a call from Darth Vadar to build him a custom ride…

This is fan humor on the level of Troops. Enjoy!

According to the newswire at The Futon Critic, SciFi Channel has acquired the syndication rights to Firefly and will begin airing the show as the lead-in to their SciFi Friday original programming, begining July 22, 7pm Eastern. (3rd paragraph down)

Whoo-hoo!

(hat tip to Mur Lafferty for the heads up)

Hey, everyone…

Thought I’d spread some good news concerning my book, Billibub Baddings and The Case of the Singing Sword. My dwarf detective has been short-listed for the 2005 IPPY (The Ninth Annual Independent Publisher Book Award).

The 2005 Semi-Finalists for the Best Fantasy/Science Fiction are…

Within the Shadow of Stone by Sheri L. McGathy (Double Dragon Press)
Singularity by Bill DeSmedt (per Aspera)
Runt the Brave by Daniel Schwabauer (Clear Water Press)
Empress of Clouds by Diana Hignutt (Behler Publications)
Soulware by Paul Black (Novel Instincts)
The Magister’s Mask by Deby Fredericks (Dragon Moon Press)
Binary Tales by John and Lawrence Buentello (iUniverse)
Billibub Baddings and the Case of the Singing Sword by Tee Morris (Dragon Moon Press)

The fact I’m in the running with Singularity tells me I’m in really good company. So I’m holding my breath and waiting. I’ll keep everyone posted.

Attention RSS/Podcast subscribers! You people are giving me a headache. Seriously. I thought it was that I hadn’t eaten, but I’ve eaten food now and I still have the headache. So it must be you.

Monday, I did exactly what you asked: I created individual feeds for each show. Purists don’t have to suffer through our on-air drinking any longer. We’re here to make you happy, and we sure as hell aren’t gonna quit drinking any time soon.

By now, I would have assumed that many of you would have switched over to the individual Cover to Cover or Wingin’ It! feeds. And in fact, I have seen a steady increase in the number of subscribers to those new feeds.

But what I haven’t seen is an equal exodus away from the original feed. Nay, it’s actually increased it’s subscriber base? How can this be? I can only assume that new folks are subscribing at a greater rate than current subscribers are refining their options. If so, welcome all you new subscribers. (But of course you won’t hear this… mental note: podcast about this.) The “mondo feed” contains all three of our shows. If you like them all, great. But if you’re picky like some people, you can always subscribe to each show individually.

Regardless, I expect all of you who whined like 3 year old girls with their panties in wad that we break up our show feeds to get off your lazy butts and click the appropriate buttons on your podcatcher of choice (I like iPodderX, and version 3 will knock your socks off) to switch over to the feeds you choose. And be quick about it!

Pre-published short story authors, listen up! Escape Pod, a weekly SF/F audio ‘zine is online and has an open call for submissions. Here’s an interesting note: authors get paid. Gee, what a concept.

So what’s an audio ‘zine? Escape Pod is combining the short story magazine concept with podcasting. Each week, Escape Pod will bring listeners (free to listen) a new short story read by their staff. This is good news for writers who panic at the very thought of reading their words out loud. The horror!

Escape Pod pays their contributing authors a competitive rate. They prefer stories which have a prior publication history. It’s not necessary that your story fit this guideline, but they are giving preferential treatment to (i.e. reading first) stories which were solid enough to get printed elsewhere previously.

Read the submission guidelines for more details on what they are looking for, how they pay and all you need to know about sending your work in. I’m all kinds of excited about how Steve is using podcasting to bring short stories to a listening audience. If you’ve got 30 minutes a week you’d like to have filled with quality SF/F short stories in your ear, I highly recommend you subscribe to Escape Pod.

I’m headed to Vegas this weekend to relax and take in some of the sights with some friends. I know it’s kinda late notice and all, but if you’re in Vegas and want to buy me a beer, email me.

Christ, do I sound pathetic or what? Must be the residual effect from my bleeding eyeballs after re-editing this damned chapter. All y’all better buy this book when it comes out.

That must have been a misprint. Nope. I guess not.

I was so inspired by Cover to Cover #165, that I re-watched Episode I&II. I whipped up a cute little banner as a homage, hope you get a giggle out of it. The pic is attached or you can use the link below.

Well thank you, Scifi Ranter Girl. Though you should know that our intention is to never inspire anyone. Incite someone, maybe. But inspire? Hey, we’ll take what we can get.

What’s on this week: Where’s Evo?

* Last week, Michael was gone, but now “Where’s Evo?” Mike makes a call to Evo, has some fun, and calls it a day.
* Stormtrooper TD0013 In case you missed some, we are re-running “A Differn’t Point of View.” (They are even better the second time around.)
* Mur Lafferty (Geek Fu Action Grip) tells us about the wonders of board games in this first of four-part essay.

Back next week with a regular show!

 

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