McCoy's Geeky Emporium of Thought

For those of you who feel science lacks poetry I offer this lovely video in the same vein as the Carl Sagan one offered up previously. A marvelous notion.

So podcasting.

It is kind of cool thing.  Some folks among my friends have embraced it.  They have made it part of their daily routine.   They might listen to NPR or maybe a fan podcast about a favorite show.  The truth is there are is a lot of content out there being made for the podcast format.   I have my own podcast which sadly I have not been attentive to, but I still plan on continuing it.   There are of course the various audio dramas all over the place, something which I have also participated in and been pleased with.   Yep, a lot of exciting things being done in the podcasting world.

Why do I bring this up?

I am glad you asked. Trust me, you were going ask.

See one of the more exciting things to come out of podcasting is the change it is making in how people get fiction.  It is bringing a new publishing model to light which has really changed the game quite a bit.  They call it a podiobook.  Cute term really.   It is giving away your novel one chapter at a time in audio format.   The idea is if you let people try out the book for free they will become a fan.  They will tell their friends about it and those people become fans.  You start to develop a community of people excited about your work even before it hits print.   Then when you do have a book in physical reality, your fans will buy it.  That is the idea anyway.

I know, I know.   It is crazy talk.

Even more wacky is it works.   Some people have leveraged their podiobook fan base into an actual publishing deal.  Scott Sigler, Mur Lafferty,  Seth Harwood and a growing list of authors have managed to get “published author” attached at the front of their names, in no small part due to their having released popular podiobooks.  Pretty cool huh.

And then there is Hutch.

J.C. Hutchins is first off a cool guy.   He is a nice guy who is kind of funny.  He is charming and upbeat.

Oh and also he can write a pretty mean tale.

See J.C. Hutchins was one of the early pioneers in this field.  He produced a podiobook when there was maybe 4 people running around doing that instead of the hundred or so doing it now.    He started out with this mammoth book called 7th son.   See he wrote this huge long techno thriller and eventually realized it needed to be broken up into a trilogy.  He decided to produce a podcast himself of the book and see if anyone liked it.  Of course, some did.   They went on to tell other people and those people told other people and slowly it grew into a mammoth success.  That was starting February of 2006.

He got people excited about the book.   He managed to get celebrities to do little bits for the podcast where they told you what had come before that episode.  We are talking people like Nathan Fillion, Ron Glass, Richard Hatch, George Romero, Robert J. Sawyer, and Joph Loeb.  People would wait for each episode wanting to see what came next.  I know this cause I was one of them.   He still gets in the neighborhood of 100,000 downloads every month.

It is a thing.

Flash forward to now.

Based on the success of the 7th Son Trilogy podcast and his throng of already existing fans Hutch got a literary agent.   This led to him writing a book called Personal Effects: Dark Art, which got more than a little praise not only for its good story but for its “transmedia” experience.   The book came with a collection of artifacts you could use to unlock other portions of the story.   Pretty cool.

It also lead to him getting a book deal for the Seventh Son trilogy.   This really popular podiobook thriller from podcasting will soon be in print.    Whats it about?   Well lets see.  It is a techno thriller about cloning, fake memories, implantable personalities, nuclear terrorism, political assassination, secret governmental programs and the oil industry.   No really, it has all of that.

Seventh Son: Descent, the first book in the series is going up for sell October 27th.

Whats that you say?   Your not sure if you want pay for this book and a 3 year old podcast may not be something you want to go download.

Wow, you are a tough sell!

Alright lets try this.   First the book is being serialized on boinggboing.net.  You know Boing Boing is one of the more popular blogs on the net, right?   Also on his website J.C. is putting up pdfs of the novel in a serialized format.   Easy bite sized pieces for you to try iut out and see if you will like it. But wait….there is more.   He also rerecording the podiobook of the novel as well.   He has more experience doing audio these days and figured why not do a redone version for easier listening.   Isn’t that pretty cool?

I mean just by going to his site you can check out 7th Son descent for free before you buy it.   Whats not to like here?  So go there and check it out.   When the book comes out at the October, go buy it.  It is a good story and you wont regret it.

and in closing…….
I comply.

I came across this little bit from a friend. I think it caught me off guard how good it actually is. Carl Sagan was always the bard of science. He was a capable scientist but there were perhaps more accomplished men and women in that. He did figure out what Venus’s surface was like before we sent anything there to find out and few other planetary science things along the way worthy of note. What he did do very well and deserves a good deal of praise is he made science appealing and interesting to the public. He became strong voice saying no science is not only important and you need to fund it, but it is exciting and can ignite the spirit as clearly as any human endeavor. His presentation was often poetic so it is fitting someone might find some music in that. Enjoy.

So you know how there all sorts of things your going to eventually do?  You know, the great American novel your going to write, that screenplay, or that Adonis(or Aphrodite) like physique your going to cut out out for yourself?  There are so many things that stand in your way.

Work is just too busy.

I have been too sick.

I have been traveling.

Family has gotten in the way.

We all have them.  That little shield that stands between us and the things we give lip service that we want to do.   They are often all quite true.   That does not make them any less excuses though.  Sometimes they are not even convincing to ourselves, but we throw them up none the less.   How many times have you dodged on writing that story you have to play a game or watch some TV?

Ultimately there is nothing wrong with the things that get in the way….to a point.  Life happens.   You do get sick.  Family does get in the way.   These things happen.  The difference though between someone who succeeds at the things they want to do and those people who just talk about it is that when life happens they pick up and start again.  They don’t just fall down and point to all the things that made you fall.  You deal with it and then you get back to the work of making your dreams happen.

This is a lesson I occasionally forget.  I have been thinking about this fact this past week. I have fallen down for a while now on a few fronts.  I have decided to try and get back to those things I have said I wanted.   I have decided that instead of adding more things to eat up time I should maybe refocus on the import projects I have let rest to long or decide those projects are not that important.  Writing and podcasting are indeed important to me.  If that means I don’t join a couple of games which I am sure i would enjoy but would take more of the time I have left after work and sleep, well then I will not take those games up.   If that means I plan on spending most of my sunday writing then that is what I will do.  Time to stop avoiding things and get back to work.

Maybe I will remember to keep it up this time.

So I recently got a present from a friend.  They had extra copies of Lord of the Rings online and Age of Conan.   I have decided to take advantage of these gifts and give these MMO’s a try.  It is always to a good idea to see what all the other guys are doing after all and I can both of these out for free for quite some time.

I have played MMO’s since Everquest and single player RPG’s back to Bard’s Tale and Wizardry.  I will confess I rarely find them compelling for long.   Computer RPG’s lack the level of interaction of a table top.   I can’t go off and do somethign unexpected.  The rules ape tabletop D&D most of the time but with out the flexibility of a game master.  Also typing into a chat window is not quite the same as role playing. There is something of theater to actual role play that you cant get in a role playing game.

All of that said, if I keep playing them is for two reasons.  One reason is I like the folks I am playing with.   If I had to play WoW without having someone like Brandes to run around with I would eventually turn it off and walk away,  but when I am running around with him or other people it is loads of fun so I keep playing. The other thing that will keep me playing is a good story.  If i like the story as it unfolds I will keep playing to see what comes next.  Even if the mechanics are not awesome if the story is I keep going cause I want to see how it turns out.

Back to the two games I just got.

I have started out with Lord of the Rings online.  I will play it for a while and try Age of Conan later.  I installed it yesterday which took a while with the updates.   I have heard quite a few good things about the game.  It does not have the following that WoW does obviously and no one does.  WoW is it’s own thing separate from the rest of the MMO industry.  Judged against the rest of the industry LoTRO(the standard abreviation) does pretty well. I balk at trying yet another fantasy MMO but really there are not a lot of other options out there and I work on one of those other options.

I played for about 6 hours and I have to say I enjoyed it.  LoTRO has the standard fare in this sort of thing.   The combat system is not really all that revolutionary.  The abilities are activated by number push or clicking on an icon.  It is the usual thing there.   You have classes, levels, and races.  You gain special abilities as you go.  All familiar ground and once I got used to the control scheme’s minor differences I was pretty easily messing about.  One thing I did find was the game does a really good job of conveying story too you early on.  The introductory story line gives a strong feel of being involved and when town is burning and you have to go defeat the bad guy it was effective at making you feel a part of things and that you were a hero.

I should add I made a Hobbit Warden named Alstromo(mainly cause my first few name ideas had been taken) and I like the spear and shield style a lot.  Once you get out of the intro, you get sent to the Shire and you get to run around doing familiar mission structures.  I was pleased that they did go out of their way to make sure kill missions were not the most common mission out there.   Nothing would have felt less like your a Hobbit than having the first several missions be go kill 10 of blah.

I leveled up through level 11 in 6 hours and I generally didn’t notice the time passing.  I just kept taking missions and wandering around the Shire.  There is somethign of a brief thrill at seeing sites from the books.  The old willow is there as well as the site of Bilbo’s Birthday party.  The Hobbit holes look as they should and the atmosphere of the Shire is very much what you would expect from the books.   There are some breaks though.  As you get further out from Hobbiton you begin to wonder why they never mentioned in the books all the giant spiders, goblins, and really angry bears being inside the Shire but they had to make some allowances for people to have something to do beyond deliver and use object missions.

There were not a lot of people on my server.  There were enough for me to see people running by me from time to time but at no time did I see crowds.   This was a novel experience and honestly it may be a sign they have maybe a few too many servers but still not terrible.  I understand the game is sort of chaptered.  You moved from one section of the story to another and get to see things advance in the over arching story as you do.  That is what I understand but I have not seen that as of yet.   I look forward to seeing how that plays out.

Overall I enjoyed my first foray into Lord of the Rings online.   I liked it better than WoW in a lot of ways actually.  It is far better at conveying your part of a story than WoW is and the overall art direction and look of the game is more appealing to me.  The option of doing player housing also is a point above WoW.  I am however unlikely to convince my WoW buddies to switch over so it does lack one of the big draws of hanging out with my friends.  I have not seen the higher end content yet  so i can’t say what it is like.   I liked it enough to keep going though.   I have 30 days to decide if it is a game I want to keep playing. If not I can always cancel it before it bills me.

I know I may have some friends who have played LoTRO as well so I am open to suggestions as to things to do in the game and stuff to try.   Tell me your experiences.

It is hard to list every single thing I am interested in goign to see at Dragoncon but here are some of the major things I saw. Yes i realize they overlap in places. This is more of a list of things I am interested in rather than what I will definitely be at. The Fallen Earth party I will definitely be at as well as the Colonial Fleet party, Parsec Awards and the FE panel as well. The rest is negotiable. I would like to get a table top game in at least once as well but we will see. I am primarily interested in seeing friends and having some fun. Drop me a line if your going to be there or you know something I should check out.

Fri Sep 4			dragoncon – Atlanta
		11:30am – 12:30pm	Fallen Earth Panel – Athens Room – Sheraton
		1pm – 2pm	Steampunk Overview and On-Line Retro Futurism (Hyatt Piedmont Room) – Hyatt Piedmont Room-Dragoncon
		1pm – 2pm	Podcasting Track Kick Off! – Hilton 204 – Dragoncon
		2:30pm – 3:30pm	The Life And Times Of Podcast Novels – Hilton 204 – Dragoncon
		4pm – 5pm	Botnets (EFF track) – Hilton Room 201 – Dragoncon
		5:30pm – 6:30pm	What’s Wrong With Gravity: The Pioneer Anomaly – 203 (formerly Henry) (Hilton) – Dragoncon
		5:30pm – 6:30pm	Books and Ideas Podcast – Live! – Hilton 204 – Dragoncon
		5:30pm – 6:30pm	Personal Privacy 101 (EFF track) – Hilton Room 201 – Dragoncon
		7pm – 8pm	Knights Templar (EFF track) – Hilton Room 201 – Dragoncon
		8:30pm – 9:30pm	The Sword and Laser – LIVE! – Hilton 204 – Dragoncon
		11:30pm – 1:30am	A Concert with Abney Park (Marriott – Atrium Ballroom) – Marriott – Atrium Ballroom
Sat Sep 5			dragoncon – Atlanta
		11:30pm – 1:30am	A Concert with Abney Park (Marriott – Atrium Ballroom) – Marriott – Atrium Ballroom
		10am – 11am	Myths In the Movies: How NOT to do Space Exploration – Regency V (Hyatt) – Dragoncon
		10am – 11am	Intellectual Property Basics: Protecting YOUR Stuff – Hilton Room 201 – Dragoncon
		11:30am – 12:30pm	“Almost High Noon” – An Exploration of the Weird West (Hyatt Piedmont Room) – Hyatt Piedmont Room – Dragoncon
		1pm – 2pm	Kryptos and Other Unsolved Codes – Hilton Room 201 – Dragoncon Kryptos and Other Unsolved Codes Sat, September 5, 1pm – 2pm Where: Hilton Room 201 – Dragoncon (map) Creator: jeremiah.mccoy@gmail.com for Dragoncon [Delete] edit event details» copy to my calendar
		1pm – 2pm	The Deadliest Warrior: Dragon*Con Edition. Pirate vs. Ninja? (Hyatt Piedmont Room) – Hyatt Piedmont Room- Dragoncon
		2:30pm – 3:30pm	Podcasting Tips for Working Writers – Hilton 204 – Dragoncon
		4pm – 5pm	Felicia Day – Imagining “The Guild”. – Capitol Ballroom – Sheraton (Dragoncon)
		5:30pm – 6:30pm	Alternate History Classics (Hyatt Piedmont Room) – Hyatt Piedmont Room – Dragoncon
		7pm – 9:30pm	The 2009 Parsec Awards – Regency V Ballroom – Hyatt (Dragoncon)
		10pm – 2am	Colonial Fleet Party – Sheraton Grand Ballroom
Sun Sep 6			dragoncon – Atlanta
		10pm – 2am	Colonial Fleet Party – Sheraton Grand Ballroom
		11:30am – 12:30pm	Podcasting for Games and Gamers – Hilton 204 – Dragoncon
		12:30pm – 1:30pm	Sharp-Dressed Men: A Gentleman’s Guide to Retro-Futuristic Fashion (Hyatt Piedmont Room) – Hyatt Piedmont Room -Dragoncon
		2:30pm – 3:30pm	Self Publishing (EFF) – Hilton Room 201 – Dragoncon
		4pm – 5pm	Cybersecurity Act of 2009 – Hilton Room 201 – Dragoncon
		4pm – 5pm	NASA’s Almost MMO – Capitol Ballroom (Sheraton) – Dragoncon
		4pm – 5pm	I Should Be Writing with Mur Lafferty – Hilton 204 Dragoncon
		5:30pm – 6:30pm	Digital Millennium Copyright Act: Safe Harbor or Rocky Shoals? – Hilton Room 201 – Dragoncon
		7pm – 8pm	Steampunk Costuming with Outland Armour (Hyatt Piedmont Room) – Hyatt Piedmont Room – Dragoncon
		9pm – 12am	Fallen Earth Party
Showing events until 9/6/2009. Look for more

There has been some doom and gloom associates among many of my friends concerning Disney buying Marvel Entertainment. To help with these feelings of uncertainty I thought I would post a few suggestions as to get films we could see out of this.

Pocahontas 3: The Mutant Prince. Pocahontas meets a young mutant, Wolverine and they are off on a musical adventure.

Beauty and the Beast returns. A modern day fairy tale between a yound socialite and her job as a lab assistant to Henry McCoy. Complete with dancing Sentinels

Magneto’s New Groove, can one of the most powerful mutants on Earth manage after he is turned into a llama? Watch as he and Cyclops have wacky adventures together bounding through the Savage Lands.

The Shield in the Stone: A wacky Merlin teaches a young boy some valuable lessons than gives him the Super Soldier Serum.

Finding Namor: The lost Prince of Atlantis has a whisical journey to find love. The avenging son gets lost and his family must find him.

also rans
Nick Fury and his Howling Seven Dwarves.
The Toad Prince
The Doom King

edit: few more suggestions from my pal Shieldhaven

Alternate form of the Sword and the Stone: The Once and Future King Of Latveria

the Little Mermaid 3, Namor lures Ariel back to the deeps…

The Hulk of Notre Dame

and from Caudelac
The Starfox and the Hound
Master Pandaemonium’s Fantasia
Song of the South, Narrated by Remy leBeau
Dr. Strange’s Apprentice

Hope that helps.

So i went to the Clockwork Ball last night with some partners in crime. The Clockwork Ball is a triangle area steampunk gathering. It was held last night at a club in Chapel Hill and much fun was had by all. I blame Rabbit for convincing me and thank her for the loan of gear to look appropriate. I am of course a fan of the steampunk aesthetic. I saw some folks who were fun to talk if ever so briefly. There are certainly some people I have met in the area who I kind of wish I knew better but a crowded, hot and loud club is not the best place to have a functional conversation. I met some new people as well who seemed very cool. I will hopefully catch up with them again at Dragoncon.

I briefly mat the darling Davenport sisters, Emmett & Klaude. I found out there was local radio show with steampunk focus that hey host called the Clockwork Cabaret. The music selection is remarkably eclectic and fun. Everything from Pirates of Penzance to Kate Bush to Dr Steel. Here is a little ditty I discovered while listening to one of the shows. It is now on my podcast rotation.

I did another appearance on the Tome Show podcast.  We were reviewing the new 4e Eberron Setting books. I seem to be making this a habit.

Listen here.