Literary Abominations » antithesis http://jdsawyer.net The Worlds of J. Daniel Sawyer Sat, 11 Feb 2012 08:20:44 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Released: Free Will http://jdsawyer.net/2011/10/28/released-free-will/ http://jdsawyer.net/2011/10/28/released-free-will/#comments Fri, 28 Oct 2011 05:44:38 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=2033 The time has finally come. The revolution is about to begin. It is my distinct pleasure to announce, at long last, that Free Will, the sequel to Predestination, is now available for all electronic platforms.

The Lunar Revolution is faltering, events are spinning out of control, and Bill Shelley is inches away from achieving victory. Meanwhile, far away in the south, the footsteps of a little girl running for her life bring with them a secret that could start the war before anyone is ready.

As the Persian fleet moves and the American military mobilizes, the fate of Douglas Reeves’s conspiracy rests in the unlikely hands of a fugitive trapped between planets on a ship with his sworn enemy.

And his name is Joss Kyle.

From the surface of Mars to the forests of Vermont, the players are at the table, their antes are in, and the next round of cards is about to hit the felt. The winners will determine the face of the solar system…if they can survive the game.

Read the first four chapters here.

Or, buy it now for Kindle, Nook, and all other readers.

]]> http://jdsawyer.net/2011/10/28/released-free-will/feed/ 1 Predestination in Paperback http://jdsawyer.net/2011/07/24/predestination-in-paperback/ http://jdsawyer.net/2011/07/24/predestination-in-paperback/#comments Sun, 24 Jul 2011 23:10:19 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=1931

Grab a pack of cards. Strap your pressure suit on. It’s time to head to the poker game that started it all, and the book that View From Valhalla called “lovingly detailed, well-written thinking man’s science fiction at its best.*”

Joss Kyle is a one-time National Security Advisor who barely escaped Washington D.C. with his skin intact. For three years he’s lived by his wits and the fall of the cards in the criminal underworld of South America, but jumping planet for Space Station Sidon means walking into an ambush more dangerous than any he’s yet faced:
A man named Alex Hart wants to play cards with him.

Their meeting will fling Joss into a game playing for highest stakes in town: control of the entire solar system. Chased by a revolutionary leader, agents of a corrupt senator, and an underworld boss known only as The Green Lady, he quickly discovers that in the looking-glass world above the gravity well, survival, like poker, is just another sport. And in this contest, it isn’t whether you win or lose, it’s how you rig the game.

Now available in paperback from AWP Science Fiction, Predestination is the story Nathan Lowell calls “A sweeping tale of politics, corruption, intrigue, betrayal, and murder…a fast-paced ride through a world that’s too plausible to be ignored**” and that Brand Gamblin calls “…a lush, powerful story of hunter and pray, betrayal and rebellion, and poker.***.” Available for the first time ever in paper, this handsome new edition rings in at 341 pages contains the full text of the ebook edition, plus new line art and a sample of the sequel, Free Will.

Now, it’s true that you can buy the novel at Amazon now, and you’ll be able to find it in bookstores this fall, but for you loyal folk that read my blog, it’s available for a special rate. Until Worldcon, buy your copy by clicking here and using the coupon code XX2QR2Z8, and you’ll receive $2.00 off the $14.99 cover price.

Finally, for those of you who run vending booths at conventions (or who work in bookstores) and would like to carry Predestination (or any of my other books), shoot me an email from the Contact Form and I will send you the AWP Books wholesale pricing schedule.

I’ll be back soon with news about Free Will and Down From Ten, but until then remember…
It isn’t whether you win or lose, it’s how you rig the game.

*Odin1eye, View From Valhalla
**Nathan Lowell, Author of The Golden Age of the Silver Clipper
***Brand Gamblin, author of Tumbler and The Hidden Institute

]]> http://jdsawyer.net/2011/07/24/predestination-in-paperback/feed/ 0 Blogging Free Will–Ebook Giveaway http://jdsawyer.net/2011/07/12/blogging-free-will-ebook-giveaway/ http://jdsawyer.net/2011/07/12/blogging-free-will-ebook-giveaway/#comments Wed, 13 Jul 2011 00:16:24 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=1909 So, Free Will is in prep for release right now, with the typos and other nit-picky details being worked over, layout being done, etc. It’s a big step forward in the Antithesis Progression, and there are a lot of you out there who have been waiting patiently for the series to continue.

Some of you will get a sneak peak. You see, this is a big book. It ate up more pages, and more time, than I expected by an order of magnitude, and I’m eager to see it find a good home on the shelves and in the e-readers of all of you, including those of you who have drifted away in the meantime, intending to come back when the series continued.

To let people know Antithesis is back, we’re going to need publicity. Publicity means you! Some of you out there enjoy blogging, posting opinion pieces and reviews, etc., and you are the ones I need. Starting today, the first hundred of you that email me (either the normal way through the feedback at jdsawyer.net address, or through the web form you can find here) with the subject line “Free Will Ebook” will receive a free, pre-copyedits ebook version of Free Will (and a corrected version once the proofs are done).

In return for receiving this advance review copy, you promise to blog the book when you’ve finished reading it and, once the book is released to the general public in the next week or two, to post a copy or extract of your blog review in two of the following: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Goodreads, Kobo, Sony ebook store, Kobo, iBookstore. Those of you who feel enthusiastic enough about the book to post the review in all those places will be entered into a drawing. The four prizes in that drawing will be:

  • A copy of the signed-and-numbered collector’s edition of the Predestination poster
  • A signed paperback copy of Predestination
  • A signed paperback copy of Down From Ten
  • A Clarke Lantham Mysteries 2-pack: Paperbacks of And Then She Was Gone and A Ghostly Christmas Present

    • Spread the word!
    Also, watch this space. There will be more announcements in the coming days about casting calls, a new Death Threats contest, and other goodies.

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2011/07/12/blogging-free-will-ebook-giveaway/feed/ 6     Incoming Transmission: Free Will http://jdsawyer.net/2011/07/01/incoming-transmission-free-will/ http://jdsawyer.net/2011/07/01/incoming-transmission-free-will/#comments Fri, 01 Jul 2011 08:30:55 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=1863
    Download Subscribe

    The definitive update, in audio for all you grabbing this with podcatchers. Lots of news :-)

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2011/07/01/incoming-transmission-free-will/feed/ 10     Revelation 16:17 (Free Will update) http://jdsawyer.net/2011/05/22/revelation-1617-free-will-update/ http://jdsawyer.net/2011/05/22/revelation-1617-free-will-update/#comments Mon, 23 May 2011 02:43:49 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=1576 And the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, saying “It is done.”

    All the original writing for Free Will is now done. I have a few days of continuity tweaking ahead of me, and then some cutting, but it really is now all over but the shouting.

    New equipment for the studio arrives this week, and I’ll be resuming production on everything in two weeks after I give things a proper shakedown and take a day or two off.

    What does this mean for you?

    Predestination and Free Will paperbacks (and Free Will ebook) in June. New episodes of Sculpting God in June. New episodes of Free Will starting in July, and continuing through to the end of the book.

    It’s been a marathon–two years of work plotting and researching, and four solid months of aggregated writing time over those two years.. Final count: 212k words. Manuscript page count: 848. (Don’t worry, that will shrink as I shake out the continuity).

    Time to crack the champagne!

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2011/05/22/revelation-1617-free-will-update/feed/ 14     Released: The Man In The Rain http://jdsawyer.net/2011/04/11/released-the-man-in-the-rain/ http://jdsawyer.net/2011/04/11/released-the-man-in-the-rain/#comments Mon, 11 Apr 2011 22:04:31 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=1513 If you’re missing Joss Kyle, your wait is nearly over. And to whet your appetite for more, I’m pleased to present you with the ebook of the first Antithesis adventure, The Man In The Rain.

    Mondu, once an AI designer at the top of the Nigerian IT industry, needed to escape from a life that was eating him alive. He found refuge as a shopkeeper in the depths of the Amazon, at a unique resort. It’s a preserve for all forms of Amazon life–reptiles, mammals, and human and material culture. No modern technology allowed.

    In a world of dictators and perpetual surveillance, it is one place where a man can disappear–and Mondu isn’t the only one who knows it. When the tourist traffic is driven out by torrential rains, only the businessmen and the scientists remain–until the day when a man walks into Mondu’s shop. He wants to disappear–and the Yakuza are hot on his tail.

    The story is now available at Amazon and Smashwords, and is coming soon to other retailers.

    Those of you familiar with The Antithesis Progression will recognize the characters and the universe, but this story stands alone. Consider it an appetizer for the main event coming later this month. But until then, I invite you to join me for an excursion into the heart of the Amazon for a tale as close and dangerous as the jungle itself…

    The Man In The Rain
    An Antithesis Adventure
    by J. Daniel Sawyer

    “Dune kaffe, tall, no crème.”
    “Si, senor.” The small, leathery barista dressed like Juan Valdez nodded his head and pulled the coffee from the antique tapped carafe on the bar. The rain flowed down like a waterfall, thick enough to obscure the other side of the narrow dirt and gravel road. The tourist bureau said it always rained like this during January. “Kaffe.”
    “How much?”
    “Dies.”
    “No, no. Quatro.”
    “Siete.”
    “Cinco.”
    “Si, senor. Cinco.”
    “Gracias.” Mondu laid down a five-credit chit. The money was pretty much the only modern thing allowed in public here. He wrapped his fingers around the base of his coffee cup and flipped his oilskin up over his head, his boots squishing in the mud as he ran across the road to his shop.
    The water against the palm frond thatch chattered like cloud of courting locusts. Per local regulations, the building was constructed of traditional reed materials, with only the barest of Fullerine and steel reinforcement to protect against earthquakes and looting. The nature preserve in the Brazilian basin didn’t just preserve nature in a more or less arrested state, it preserved material and human culture too. The twenty-second century’s answer to the Amish lived here—men and women and various intermittents who wished to experience life as it once was in the wilds of the Amazon, along with a handful who wanted to disappear for a little while.
    Coffee on the counter, oilskin on the hook, Mondu hopped over the low gate and stepped up to the register. A customer – short, Asian, and heavily scarred – sat on the wicker chair in the small lobby. Seeing Mondu return from his coffee break, the man stood, meticulously folded his newspaper, and strode over to him like a man who’d forgotten to take his rejuvs for a few years. Knotty joints—a man with arthritis eating his bones like a…what did they call those fish? Prianahs—piranhas—something like that. Poor cunter. Somebody should’ve given him the facts of life while he could have taken advantage for cheap. Nanobot joint lubrication was painless—leg transplants weren’t.

    “Helgretes, amigo,” Spanish never set well in his mouth, and he didn’t dare try Portugese. English was bad enough—the mishmash creole he’d learned in the bowels of the Nigerian IT world was his first language, and he liked it that way. Efficient, short phrases stolen from English, Afrikaans, Mandarin, and half a dozen programming languages cobbled together to express thought elegantly, simply, and directly. Still, he had to make himself understood as best he could—as long as he worked the counter. “What service can we give for you, sir?”
    The man set his Panama hat down on the glass-top display case—real glass, too, not the cheaper and stronger Fullerine composite—and tapped his finger over a gaudy native bracelet. The term “native” was used loosely—the Yanomami and Awa maintained show settlements as tourist attractions, but aside from their sentimental and commercial devotion to family history, they had long since melted into the South American Confederation’s pot.
    “Que é o preço?” A voice like cracked sheepskin. Mondu could understand the question perfectly well—programming AIs for hierarchical metabase bots required a dozen different languages. Speaking it…well, that was quite another matter.
    “Sid sid, fifteen on’a ticket.”
    “You speak English?”
    “Sid sid, I do.”
    “Good. I need this here.”
    “Having a ticket?” Mondu hadn’t seen the man in before, but the boss might have dealt with him. The item he wanted wasn’t one Mondu had logged in, so it was possible the customer was trying to reclaim a pawned item.
    “What is a ticket?”
    “Returning customer…”
    “No. I have not been here before. How much?”
    “Twenty five, less gots you something to hock.”
    The customer rifled through his pockets and pulled out a ring, setting it on the table. “Here.”
    “Gold.” Mondu placed the ring under the scannerscope, sampling its purity and checking to make sure it didn’t have a tracking mark that he’d have to remove. “Good good. Straight swap plus ticket. Good for you?”
    “That will suffice.”
    Mondu printed the claim number, carefully and by hand, on the ticket alongside its trade value. The man would have three days to reclaim the property before it went on general sale. He listed the price value of the swapped bracelet as the redemption value, and handed it to the customer.
    The man took it without meeting his gaze, and shuffled out as if every step pained him.
    Aside from his gait, he didn’t look that old—but then, neither did Mondu. Cheap rejuv kept looks from meaning much—had done since as long ago as Mondu could remember. People looked the age they wanted to, and that’s all there was to it.
    The rain still came. It felt safe. The thing he’d missed most about life back home after he left was the rain. His city, Calabar, grew up right out of the middle of the rainforest in southern Nigeria where, when the air wasn’t thick enough to chew, it rained. The rain always felt right. Here, even though between the canopy and the clouds he rarely saw the sun, the rain felt close. It felt like all the parts of home that he actually missed—and there weren’t many of those.
    The thatch did leak a bit, here and there. The boss kept a bunch of cotton towels under the counter to keep the glass clean. Mondu wiped the glass down, and then settled on a stool at the end of the counter, leaning up against the reed wall. He couldn’t really tell where his sweat ended and the humidity and rain began, but he didn’t really care. His coffee, still warm enough to drink, stank of too much cinnamon and over roasting, but the bitter smoothness slid down his gullet like chicha.
    From his perch he had a view, through the door and the rain, of the cafe patio. The array of umbrella-hooded small tables were usually abandoned—at least since the rains started—but not this week.

    The man arrived in a Fedora hat and trench coat to keep off the rain—far too warm for this weather. For the third day in a row, he drank his coffee with his hat set on the table as if reverence required his head remain uncovered in the presence of the ramshackle canteen knocked up out of corrugated metal and banana leaves. Rain or shine—mostly rain—he showed up precisely at 1200 and left precisely at 1250, as if he were billing by a psychiatrist’s watch. A tourist might have stayed two days waiting for his guide to arrive for his trek through the jungle. A professional’s schedule would have varied depending on the needs of the day. This man was more precise, and three days was too many.
    Mondu studied him for a while, wondering if he would stand and come into the shop. For days now the stranger’s eyes had scanned the environs as if he were waiting for someone. All that time, the one place Mondu hadn’t caught him looking was at the old hockshop. If he was here for one of the boss’s special services and wanted the boss to do it personally, he’d be waiting a while till the boss got back from his jaunt to Sao Paulo to see his mistress.
    The afternoon stretched on—no further foot traffic came in through the door. A couple of calls rang in on the antique phone—actually rang, like a bell—freelance guides checking in for loitering clients, tourists calling in advance asking if they had steel machetes, and the like.
    He wished he had a computer. He hadn’t been on the net in almost six months—for all he knew the universe had been and gone in that time. He wanted a new wetware cube and a terminal to hook up to it just as it was decanted. Use the delicate chemical signals to coax the fiber lines into place, stimulate it right to lay down the language strata, etch the programming onto the protoneurons, and come out the other end with a custom AI well suited for the ordered task. He missed the communion with the emerging mind, the challenge and precision of the work—the artistry.
    Night came on with a slackening of the rain. Mondu closed up the shop and made his way through the file room where he took his dinner of tapir, Brazil nuts, banana chips, and mango before climbing into his hammock. It wasn’t much, but it came free with the job. Besides, if he was going to live for a six month rotation in a nature preserve he might as well get all he could out of the experience.
    It didn’t hurt that it was a more comfortable way to sleep than any bed he’d ever used.
    Morning found him snoring lightly with a cockroach on his head. Sometime during the night he’d shifted his arms, flopping them outside the deep valley created in the cloth by his body, and holding open what was otherwise effectively a cocoon for keeping out the bugs. When he cracked his eyes open against the light, he saw the sectioned abdomen of the creature squatting comfortably over his left pupil. Nothing in the world looked bigger than an Amazonian cockroach, but when you woke up enough mornings with them sitting on you, or crawling over your coffee maker, they lost their effect. They really weren’t much more than small, creepy-looking six-legged birds. He flicked it off his forehead and rolled out of bed, landing squarely on his feet.
    The rain wasn’t falling, but the humidity hadn’t taken much notice. It’s suffocating moisture meant the night had offered no relief from the heat, so he stripped down to skin and soaped yesterday’s grime off his body, then dusted himself head to toe with antifungal talc before slithering back into a pair of camo BDUs and a three-sizes-too-big white silk button-up. He grabbed a papaya out of the tree that grew out his back window and chewed it over while he opened the shop and planned his day.
    Not that there was much to plan. No tour groups were due through for another four days, and the casino wouldn’t be open until they were in town, which meant there probably wouldn’t be anyone coming through the shop who needed to go into hock to cover their debts. It was even less likely that people would be through for souvenirs or deals selected out of the display cases of previously pawned items.
    If business was slow again today, he might tempt fate and slide out early with a blowgun and a machete for a walk through the jungle. He still had a few hunting tags for the season—perhaps he’d bag a tapir and make a bonfire for a spit-roast. The village folk might like the odd excuse to gather during the long stretches of rain. He didn’t know for sure—they weren’t a sociable set. But, even if only a few showed up it would help – he was running low on books to read during the evenings.
    Mondu found a mount plate in the boss’s office, and used it to display the gold ring from the day before. Front and center in the display case, he should be able to move it when the next pack of tourists came through—it might make a good wedding ring, and there were always one or two couples looking to stage memorable nuptials in front of a banyan tree or down by the river.
    As the day dragged on, Mondu perched himself up on his stool against the wall and digested a trade paper he’d printed up in Rio—no PPDs allowed for residents in the preserve, so all his reading material was dead tree. There was no lack of trees to print them on, not in the Amazon. Nor, he thought as he nipped back to the old-fashioned outhouse privy, for toilet paper. No saddles and suction here, no built-in bidets, just a handful of paper to get enough of the crap off to keep his ass from staining his shorts. It wasn’t really sanitary—but then, what in the 20th century had been?
    As he was marking his place in the book and pulling up his drawers, he heard a loud rapping on the counter.
    “Hola?”
    “Si Senor. Une momento, por favor.” Mondu grabbed his book and meandered out from between the hallway of inventory shelves and around the corner to the front of the store.
    There, at the display case-cum-counter, stood the man in the rain. His white Fedora rested loosely in his hand on the counter, and his half-bald head glistening with water beads under the hot, old-style incandescents.
    “You speak English?” An American. In the six months he’d been here he hadn’t seen a lot of Americans.
    “Sid sid. I speak English okay.”
    “Good. This ring here, how much?”
    “Twenty.”
    The man nodded, then he chewed his bottom lip thoughtfully. “And this here?”
    “The machete, or the stylus?”
    “The machete. I have some hunting I may need to do.”
    “Do you have a license? We supply them.”
    “I do. Freedom of movement is important to me.”

    Mondu’s face broke into a broad smile. The man was looking for one of the boss’s special services—a passport, probably, but it could be national ID, or a false account, or any number of other things. It was a chance to do something fun. “We have many tools available.”

    The customer nodded. They understood each other. “My needs are specific—as you can see from my suit, cleanliness is important to me.”
    “Will you need privileges?”
    “No. Just cleanliness.”
    “Understand. Take this,” Mondu handed over a pencil and a paper form. Based on the boxes he checked, the man didn’t just want a passport, he wanted an identity. He checked the whole sheaf—biometrics included.
    “This should do me fine.”
    “Price is…”
    “Not a problem.” He produced a deck of cards from his pocket and set it on the table. With his left hand he cut them, then dealt the first card to Mondu, face up. “Put this through your assay—it should settle the bill.”
    A playing card? Mondu slid the card off the tabletop and threaded it into the assay scanner he’d used the day before to determine the molecular structure of the ring.
    “Set it to x-band.”
    Mondu complied. Under the low level X-ray bombardment, the card showed platinum in the ink. A lot of platinum. The boss set the store’s exchange rate at twelve hundred credits per ounce. Mondu looked back up at his customer. “You have how much?”
    “Two decks.” Mondu nodded and did some quick mental calculations. It would more than cover the fee.
    “Two decks for a full ID jacket.”
    “How long?”
    “Three hours.”
    “Done.”
    “Stand in front of the register, please.” Mondu flipped open the camera port concealed in the cash register. “Eyes straight forward.” The customer complied, and Mondu snapped the photo.
    The customer donned his hat and tipped the brim to Mondu. “I’ll see you this evening.” Without another word, he turned and walked out.

    Read the rest! Purchase this story for Kindle at Amazon, and for all other readers and in all other formats at Smashwords.

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2011/04/11/released-the-man-in-the-rain/feed/ 0     The Great Cull (Free Will Update) http://jdsawyer.net/2011/04/04/the-great-cull-free-will-update/ http://jdsawyer.net/2011/04/04/the-great-cull-free-will-update/#comments Mon, 04 Apr 2011 09:30:23 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=1485 When I started writing The Antithesis Progression, I had a nice, tidy three-book series in mind. Then I wrote it, and discovered that what I thought was book 1 was actually 2 books cleverly hiding inside my head under a single title.

    Well, no problem there. Turns out there was an excellent break point where book 1 could end naturally–and on a very nice cliffhanger–so I could move on to the new book 2 (which was originally the planned second half of book 1). I’d just sit down and write book 2 as soon as the time afforded.

    Yeah.

    If you’ve been following my progress with this book, you already know how that bright idea turned out. I’ve gotten four other books written in the meantime, and I’m quick on the way to finishing a further two, and still Free Will mocks me with its recalcitrance. And it’s not because I haven’t kicked ass on writing it either: Predestination rang in at 122,000 words after some serious cutting post-podcast and only had to cope with four major storylines. That’s a healthy sized book–it’s fantasy-novel length. Free Will is…well…bigger.


    Much bigger. Two and a half reams of paper big. It isn’t done yet, and it’s north of 160,000 words with fifteen storylines (eight of them major). That’s too long, even though the second half of the book is wall-to-wall action and the first half moves along as a very fast clip. Too long as it is, and I’ve still got a lot further to go–easily another 50,000 words if I play the story to the original end point.

    After printing the whole thing out today and separating out the storylines I had a read-through of each, and I discovered something:

    I’ve done it again. My original planned Book 1 of Antithesis isn’t just two books. It’s three. Well, two and a half. And I’ve already written sixty pages of book three by accident.

    What does this mean for you who’s been waiting eagerly?

    Well, it means I’ll actually finish Free Will this century. Probably this month. And I’m close enough to the end to head back into production on the audio this week, which I’m doing. It also means that Free Will will be a reasonable length–it might even sneak in under the equivalent of 650 pages when all is done. It means you’ll get a book that ends on a sequence of scenes that is the biggest, brashest you’ve seen yet…

    And it means that the first two acts of book 3 are going to be incredibly explosive.

    This series keeps surprising me with how much story is wrapped up in it. I can’t wait to share that surprise with you.

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2011/04/04/the-great-cull-free-will-update/feed/ 7     Publishing Priorities: You Decide http://jdsawyer.net/2011/03/31/publishing-priorities-you-decide/ http://jdsawyer.net/2011/03/31/publishing-priorities-you-decide/#comments Thu, 31 Mar 2011 23:05:34 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=1469 The good folks at AWP Books and I have a decision to make: What order do we publish things in? In the process of discussions, it occurred to us that you all might have an opinion, so here’s your chance to vote:

    [poll id="2"]

    You may vote for two of the three options (this is to let you voice your desire for hardbacks, as well as priority). Let us know what you want!

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2011/03/31/publishing-priorities-you-decide/feed/ 1     Free Will, ep 05 http://jdsawyer.net/2010/10/20/free-will-ep-05/ http://jdsawyer.net/2010/10/20/free-will-ep-05/#comments Wed, 20 Oct 2010 08:21:04 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=1227
    Download Subscribe

    And now, Episode 5 of Free Will and Other Compulsions. Story So Far by Jack Hosley, host of Wander Radio.

    Cast this week (in order of appearance):
    Steven H. Wilson as Percy Scott
    Nobilis Reed as The Nurse
    Nathan Lowell as Senator William Shelley
    Kitty Nic’Iaian as White House Intern
    Benjamin Roberts as Shane the Aide

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2010/10/20/free-will-ep-05/feed/ 6     Predestination Posters update http://jdsawyer.net/2010/05/23/predestination-posters-update/ http://jdsawyer.net/2010/05/23/predestination-posters-update/#comments Sun, 23 May 2010 04:01:27 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=915 Hellooooo everyone. The posters are due to arrive at lovely ArtisticWhispers Studios on or about June 15, at which point we will start signing and numbering and sending them out. At that time, they will be available for immediate purchase here and at other fun places around the web.

    Those of you who pre-ordered, thank you very much for your patience at this, our first foray into ransom publishing. You don’t have much longer to wait.

    Very excited!

    Coming Soon: My Balticon Schedule

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2010/05/23/predestination-posters-update/feed/ 0     Free Will, ep 02 http://jdsawyer.net/2009/11/29/free-will-ep-02/ http://jdsawyer.net/2009/11/29/free-will-ep-02/#comments Sun, 29 Nov 2009 08:29:22 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=788
    Download Subscribe

    And now, Episode 2 of Free Will and Other Compulsions. Story So Far by J.R. Murdock – find his books at Podiobooks.

    Cast this week (in order of appearance):
    Andrea Fender as The Moon Girl
    Michael Lemonjello as Search Party Leader
    Mark Smith as The Third Search Party Member
    Miss Kalendar as Ali Hartman
    Derek Moore as Jim Hartman
    Stephanie Sawyer as Cassy Orinthal
    George Chlentzos as Douglas Reeves
    Kim The Comic Book Goddess as Val

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2009/11/29/free-will-ep-02/feed/ 0     Free Will, ep 01 http://jdsawyer.net/2009/11/12/free-will-ep-01/ http://jdsawyer.net/2009/11/12/free-will-ep-01/#comments Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:33:53 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=747 Download Subscribe

    And now, Episode 1 of Free Will and Other Compulsions.

    Cast this week (in order of appearance):
    Stephanie Sawyer as Cassy Orinthal
    Kim The Comic Book Goddess as Val
    Mark Smith as Nineveh Docking Control

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2009/11/12/free-will-ep-01/feed/ 0     Predestination and Down From Ten reviewed http://jdsawyer.net/2009/09/03/predestination-and-down-from-ten-reviewed/ http://jdsawyer.net/2009/09/03/predestination-and-down-from-ten-reviewed/#comments Thu, 03 Sep 2009 05:23:03 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/2009/09/03/predestination-and-down-from-ten-reviewed/ Brian Clay has posted a very kind review of Predestination and of Down From Ten, as well as of Philippa Ballantine’s Weather Child and Scott Sigler’s new hardcover release The Rookie (which is, by the by, probably his best work and it’s a gorgeous hardcover).

    Anyway, Brian has this to say about the words of your humble narrator:

    “The current novel Down from Ten which has been describe as The Shinning meets “Clue” is a great story and the cast is doing an outstanding job. Warning – it is an in-flight podcast so when you catch up with the episodes you will be dealing with “cliffhangers”!

    Though it is his other podcast novel I really wanted to mention, The Antithesis Progression: Predestination and Other Games of Chance, first the title is just plain awesome, I am aware that for the sake of “selling” the novel the title will be tweaked to be more approachable, which is only sensible; however, the Lit geek in me states firmly that the title is perfect and should be left alone. Okay, that said the title isn’t the only awesome thing here. The story is fantastic, driven by a cast of characters with powerful agendas that makes this space – spy – political – thriller come to life unlike any other podcast novel I have listened to. Take the time to check it out.

    Something to keep in mind both novels are definitely for adults, not kid or office safe content.”

    Thank you Brian, for the review. Those of you who don’t read Brian’s blog, it’s worth a gander. Check it out.

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2009/09/03/predestination-and-down-from-ten-reviewed/feed/ 0     Predestination Poster Pre-Orders http://jdsawyer.net/2009/07/27/predestination-poster-pre-orders/ http://jdsawyer.net/2009/07/27/predestination-poster-pre-orders/#comments Mon, 27 Jul 2009 06:37:24 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=560 Predestination PosterWe are now taking pre-orders for the Predestination (Book 1 of The Antithesis Progression) book poster at right. All pre-orders will be signed and numbered by the author. Whenever we have 20 orders – the minimum we need to pay for a small print run – we will send the order to the printers and ship your poster to you.

    Click on the paypal link to pre-order your poster!

    (In the event that we do not receive the minimum order quantity by January 1st, 2010, we will refund your paypal order.)

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2009/07/27/predestination-poster-pre-orders/feed/ 0     Parsec Finalist! http://jdsawyer.net/2009/07/24/parsec-finalist/ http://jdsawyer.net/2009/07/24/parsec-finalist/#comments Fri, 24 Jul 2009 09:47:54 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=551 Well, ladies and germs, it’s official:

    Predestination is a parsec finalist. Officially we’re up for “Best New Speculative Fiction Podcaster/Team,” and, while it’s only *one* of the nominations I was hoping for, if i had to pick only one this would probably be it. Why’s that? Well, this one has the advantage of being a shared award. I don’t know how many physical awards they give out, but if they give out multiples one is definitely going to Danny Schade, whose music made the world complete.

    Thank you — all of you — for a hell of a first year doing this. Next year is, I hope, going to be even more exciting — I’ve gots me some plans!

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2009/07/24/parsec-finalist/feed/ 1     Free Will: Sneak Preview http://jdsawyer.net/2009/07/20/free-will-sneak-preview/ http://jdsawyer.net/2009/07/20/free-will-sneak-preview/#comments Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:16:58 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=549
    Download Subscribe

    Hello everyone —

    Due to circumstances beyond my control, Down From Ten is not going to be posting until next week, when we should have two episodes up. In lieu of that, I’m bringing you the much-anticipated preview for Book 2 of the Antithesis Progression: Free Will and other Compulsions

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2009/07/20/free-will-sneak-preview/feed/ 0     …In Less than Twelve Parsecs! http://jdsawyer.net/2009/06/18/in-less-than-twelve-parsecs/ http://jdsawyer.net/2009/06/18/in-less-than-twelve-parsecs/#comments Thu, 18 Jun 2009 06:24:43 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=512 Six Parsecs, to be exact. I’ve been officially nominated for the Parsec awards in six categories – three for The Antithesis Progression and three for Sculpting God.

    For Predestination, I’ve been nominated for:
    Best Speculative Fiction Story (Novel Form)
    Best Audio Drama (Long Form including Independents)
    Best New Speculative Fiction Podcaster/Team

    And for Sculpting God, I’ve been nominated for:
    Best Speculative Fiction Story (Short Form)
    Best Audio Drama (Short Form including Independents)
    Best Speculative Fiction Magazine or Anthology Podcast

    There’s obviously a lot of genre bending that I’m doing between fiction/drama, so that may work against me. Who knows? The only down side of this is that I have to send in samples, which is one more thing on my overlong to-do list. Even so…

    Being nominated for the Parsecs f*cking rocks! Thanks guys, you are all fabulous!
    -Dan

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2009/06/18/in-less-than-twelve-parsecs/feed/ 0     Predestination: Exit Interview with Tee Morris http://jdsawyer.net/2009/05/15/predestination-exit-interview-with-tee-morris/ http://jdsawyer.net/2009/05/15/predestination-exit-interview-with-tee-morris/#comments Fri, 15 May 2009 08:25:10 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/2009/05/15/predestination-exit-interview-with-tee-morris/ Download Subscribe

    What kind of insanity have I wrought? What does it take to do something like this?

    What’s next on my plate? What does Tee Morris’s pubic hair have to do with podcasting?

    Give it a listen and find out as Tee Morris roasts and interviews me on this special one-hour retrospective on Predestination and look forward to Free Will and Down From Ten.

    Thank you all for listening all these long months.

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2009/05/15/predestination-exit-interview-with-tee-morris/feed/ 3     Predestination, Episode 27 (Finale) http://jdsawyer.net/2009/05/01/predestination-episode-27-finale/ http://jdsawyer.net/2009/05/01/predestination-episode-27-finale/#comments Fri, 01 May 2009 15:13:52 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=467 Download Subscribe

    Here we are, everyone. The final episode. The guy that got me into this whole thing, Scott Sigler brings us the final Story So Far. Be sure to stay tuned for the end matter — there is new music and a surprise at the end!

    Thank you all for listening — it’s been an honor and a pleasure to torture entertain you.

    Cast this week (in order of appearance):
    Steven H. Wilson as Voleish and Percy Scott
    Stephanie Sawyer as Cassy Orinthal
    George Chlentzos as Douglas Reeves
    Brian Levy as Jim Hartman
    Erin Balabanian as Alyssa Hartman

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2009/05/01/predestination-episode-27-finale/feed/ 0     Predestination, Episode 26 http://jdsawyer.net/2009/04/30/predestination-episode-26/ http://jdsawyer.net/2009/04/30/predestination-episode-26/#comments Thu, 30 Apr 2009 19:57:08 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=465 Download Subscribe

    The Climactic episode of Predestination clocking in at 37mins. This is easily the most acoustically complex episode of the series, with more kick-ss original music by Danny Schade. P.G. Holyfield joins the cast, too!

    But that’s not what you’re interested in. You want to know what happens, and I can’t even ask you provocative questions because it might give something away. So, without further ado, the climax of Predestination.

    Story So Far this week by Miss Kalendar of Brass Needles.

    Cast this week (in order of appearance):
    Stephanie Sawyer as Cassy Orinthal
    George Chlentzos as Douglas Reeves
    Erin Balabanian as Alyssa Hartman
    Brian Levy as Jim Hartman
    Kitty NicIaian as Fugitive and The Spaceport Announcer
    P.G. Holyfield as Docking Controller

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2009/04/30/predestination-episode-26/feed/ 0     Predestination, Episode 25 http://jdsawyer.net/2009/04/21/predestination-episode-25/ http://jdsawyer.net/2009/04/21/predestination-episode-25/#comments Tue, 21 Apr 2009 08:25:53 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=445 Download Subscribe

    Luna is rioting – Jade and Voleish are navigating their own ways through it. Meanwhile, Nineveh sleeps uneasily – in the calm before the storm, what small movements will change the course of the storm? The second transhumanist in our cast of characters is revealed – if you pay attention.

    J.C. Hutchins, author of Personal Effects: Dark Art, brings us The Story So Far.

    Cast this week (in order of appearance):
    Stephanie Sawyer as Cassy Orinthal
    Lorien Wheeler as Jade Orin
    Steven H. Wilson as Voleish
    Kitty NicIaian as The Computer
    Christiana Ellis as The Protester
    Justin McComber as The Shopkeeper
    Michael Lemonjello as Xylar
    Jonathan Sawyer as Furgeson

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2009/04/21/predestination-episode-25/feed/ 1     Predestination, Episode 24 http://jdsawyer.net/2009/04/12/predestination-episode-24/ http://jdsawyer.net/2009/04/12/predestination-episode-24/#comments Mon, 13 Apr 2009 01:47:24 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=443 Download Subscribe

    Joss may be able to hold his own against Doug Reeves, but will he be able to stand up under Doug, Ali, Jim, and Cassy all cross-examining him? And what does Cassy need to finally make up her mind about where she stands? This episode features more new music by Danny Schade, another cliffhanger and an unexpected appearance by a character we haven’t seen in a while. Enjoy!

    Mur Lafferty , author and host of some of my favorite podcasts ever brings us The Story So Far.

    Cast this week (in order of appearance):
    George Chlentzoz as Douglas Reeves
    Erin Ballibanian as Ali
    Stephanie Sawyer as Cassy Orinthal
    Brian Levy as Jim
    Shannon Holden as The Air Traffic Controller

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2009/04/12/predestination-episode-24/feed/ 1     Predestination, Episode 23 http://jdsawyer.net/2009/04/02/predestination-episode-23/ http://jdsawyer.net/2009/04/02/predestination-episode-23/#comments Fri, 03 Apr 2009 00:26:36 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=431 Download Subscribe

    And the countdown continues. After this one there are only four left. This week, some BIG reveals about a couple of our characters. Joss, Cassy, Doug, Ali, and Jim pick up right where we left them at Phalanx, at the moment of Joss’s betrayal – but theirs is not the only story with fireworks. Back on Luna, Percy attends to some unfinished business. This episode features more new music by Danny Schade, another cliffhanger and an unexpected appearance by a character we haven’t seen in a while. Enjoy!

    Steve Riekiberg , host of Geek Cred brings us The Story So Far.

    Cast this week (in order of appearance):
    George Chlentzoz as Douglas Reeves
    Erin Ballibanian as Ali
    Stephanie Sawyer as Cassy Orinthal
    Steven H. Wilson as Percy Scott
    Kitty Nic’Iaian as The Spaceport Announcer

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2009/04/02/predestination-episode-23/feed/ 1     Predestination, Episode 22 http://jdsawyer.net/2009/03/26/predestination-episode-22/ http://jdsawyer.net/2009/03/26/predestination-episode-22/#comments Thu, 26 Mar 2009 07:54:34 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=427 Download Subscribe

    Here we go. This episode kicks off with Ali and Jim arriving on Nineveh, and ends on yet another cliffhanger. All the main characters are now in one place — will all hell break loose? Find out. This episode features new music by Danny Schade, as well as his cameo and probably the cruelest cliffhanger to date. Enjoy!

    Michael Lemonjello, our very own Xylar (and just about everyone else I need on short notice), brings us the Story So Far.

    Cast this week (in order of appearance):
    Danny Schade as The Pilot
    Kitty Nic’Iaian as The Spaceport Announcer
    Brian Levy as Jim
    Erin Ballibanian as Ali
    Stephanie Sawyer as Cassy Orinthal
    George Chlentzoz as Douglas Reeves

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2009/03/26/predestination-episode-22/feed/ 0     Episode 21 fix http://jdsawyer.net/2009/03/19/episode-21-fix/ http://jdsawyer.net/2009/03/19/episode-21-fix/#comments Thu, 19 Mar 2009 16:54:03 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=417 Download Subscribe
    Fix for the problems some of you had with accidentally grabbing ep 12.
    Marian Shelley emerges from her convalescence to discover whether or not she can actually face the world after what she’s lived through. On Luna, Brittany runs into an unusual character, while on Nineveh Joss gets a not-quite-unexpected visitor.

    Larry Bushey, Host of the Going Linux Podcast, brings us the Story So Far.

    Cast this week (in order of appearance):
    Robin Hathaway as Marian Shelley
    Tee Morris as Brandon
    Kimi Alexander as Ashan
    Amy Gahran as Ined
    Stephanie Sawyer as Cassy Orinthal
    Philippa Ballantine as Brittany Hydra
    Steven H. Wilson as Percy Scott
    Chris Lester as Greg Singh
    Shannon Holden as Ophelia
    Michael Lemonjello as Xylar

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2009/03/19/episode-21-fix/feed/ 0     Predestination, Episode 21 http://jdsawyer.net/2009/03/18/predestination-episode-21/ http://jdsawyer.net/2009/03/18/predestination-episode-21/#comments Wed, 18 Mar 2009 14:09:30 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=414 Download Subscribe

    Marian Shelley emerges from her convalesence to discover whether or not she can actually face the world after what she’s lived through. On Luna, Brittany runs into an unusual character, while on Nineveh Joss gets a not-quite-unexpected visitor.

    Larry Bushey, Host of the Going Linux Podcast, brings us the Story So Far.

    Cast this week (in order of appearance):
    Robin Hathaway as Marian Shelley
    Tee Morris as Brandon
    Kimi Alexander as Ashan
    Amy Gahran as Ined
    Stephanie Sawyer as Cassy Orinthal
    Philippa Ballantine as Brittany Hydra
    Steven H. Wilson as Percy Scott
    Chris Lester as Greg Singh
    Shannon Holden as Ophelia
    Michael Lemonjello as Xylar

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2009/03/18/predestination-episode-21/feed/ 1     Dealing In, Episode Six pt 2 http://jdsawyer.net/2009/03/12/dealing-in-episode-six-pt-2/ http://jdsawyer.net/2009/03/12/dealing-in-episode-six-pt-2/#comments Thu, 12 Mar 2009 19:56:02 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=410
    Download Subscribe

    Hey everyone, the final half of episode six of is here. Chris, Kitty and I plow through the rest of the piled-up mountain of feedback for the story through Episode Seventeen. This one’s an hour and fifteen minutes long. My cohorts and I deal with more worldbuilding questions, the issue of Fan Fiction, how terrorism and tyranny are related, and, and we take on the most spoliery listener question so far. Enjoy!

    Topics Mentioned:
    Caleb Carr’s The Alienist and his nonfiction book The Lessons of Terror book on Terrorism
    Down From Ten
    The Metamor City Podcast
    J. Michael Straczynski
    Digital Magic by Philippa Ballantine
    09.09.09
    The unsustainable nature of totalitarianism.
    Sculpting God’s “Lilith”

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2009/03/12/dealing-in-episode-six-pt-2/feed/ 0     Predestination, Episode 20 http://jdsawyer.net/2009/03/09/predestination-episode-20/ http://jdsawyer.net/2009/03/09/predestination-episode-20/#comments Mon, 09 Mar 2009 20:28:53 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=398 Download Subscribe

    Between planets, stuck on a ship with Doug Reeves, can Cassy hold it together long enough to make it to Nineveh?

    Christiana Ellis, author of Nina Kimberly the Merciless, brings us the Story So Far.

    Cast this week (in order of appearance):

    Stephanie Sawyer as Cassy Orinthal

    George Chlentzos as Douglas Reeves

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2009/03/09/predestination-episode-20/feed/ 1     Predestination, Episode 19 http://jdsawyer.net/2009/03/02/predestination-episode-19/ http://jdsawyer.net/2009/03/02/predestination-episode-19/#comments Mon, 02 Mar 2009 10:37:25 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=393 Download Subscribe

    Brittany is back, doing her best to hold things together in the wake of a national emergency during Cassy’s absence. Meanwhile, Doug sorts through his options while Joss secures some insurance for himself.

    Brittany is back, doing her best to hold things together in the wake of a national emergency during Cassy’s absence. Meanwhile, Doug sorts through his options while Joss secures some insurance for himself.

    P.C. Haring, author of Cybrosis, brings us the Story So Far.

    Cast this week (in order of appearance):

    Michael Lemonjello as Alphonse and Xylar

    Lynx Crowe as Trent Alcock

    Elizabeth Rossi as Charis Chandlay

    Philippa Ballantine as Brittany Hydra

    Kitty Nic’Iaian as The Computer

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2009/03/02/predestination-episode-19/feed/ 0     Dealing In, Episode Six pt 1 http://jdsawyer.net/2009/02/25/dealing-in-episode-six-pt-1/ http://jdsawyer.net/2009/02/25/dealing-in-episode-six-pt-1/#comments Thu, 26 Feb 2009 01:45:37 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=391
    Download Subscribe

    Heya Everyone, episode six of dealing in is here. Due to my long absence a LOT of feedback had piled up. This one’s an hour long, and it’s part one of two or three. My cohorts and I deal with an epic email from a former drunk emailer, now sober, we talk Marxist social theory, and we take on some very probing listener questions and some of the most creative death threats yet. Enjoy!

    Topics Mentioned:
    Trucker Rich
    Cybrosis
    Into The Blender podcast
    The Polyschizmatic Reprobates Hour
    The Metamor City Podcast
    J. Michael Straczynski
    Digital Magic by Philippa Ballantine
    09.09.09
    Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan
    Gail Carriger’s new novel Soulless
    Death By Cliché by Bob Defendi

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2009/02/25/dealing-in-episode-six-pt-1/feed/ 0     Predestination, Episode 18 http://jdsawyer.net/2009/02/21/predestination-episode-18/ http://jdsawyer.net/2009/02/21/predestination-episode-18/#comments Sat, 21 Feb 2009 09:35:22 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=388 Download Subscribe

    While Jim and Ali chase down their job on Mars, their employer, Mr. Douglas Reeves, lays his plans for the future of the Lunar resistance.

    Philippa Ballantine, author of Weather Child, brings us the Story So Far. This week’s in-show promo is for her new book.

    If you’re in the San Francisco Area, join myself, Chris Lester, Seth Harwood, and Scott Sigler at the House of Shields for drinks and discussion at 5pm on Sat the 21st. You can find more info and directions here.

    Cast this week (in order of appearance):

    Erin Balabanian as Alysaa Hartman

    Brian Levy as Jim Hartman

    George Chlentzos as Douglas Reeves

    Lorien Wheeler as Jade Orin

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2009/02/21/predestination-episode-18/feed/ 0     Predestination, Episode 17 http://jdsawyer.net/2009/02/10/predestination-episode-17/ http://jdsawyer.net/2009/02/10/predestination-episode-17/#comments Tue, 10 Feb 2009 20:09:53 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=385 Download Subscribe

    Percy Scott has some loose ends to tie up, which Joss Kyle has some plans to lay. Neither of them is aware of Bill Shelley’s plans, or how they’re about to make a splash in a big way. Then again, neither does his one-time friend and mentor, Douglas Reeves..

    Christiana Ellis join our cast tonight as a pinch hitter. Kitty Nic’iaian, the co-producer of Antithesis also known as Hera Flea of The Polyschizmatic Reprobates Hour, brings us the Story So Far.

    This week’s in-show promo is for Scott Sigler and Seth Harwood’s Author Boot Camp. Use the code “Scott1″ when registering to get over $100 off the registration price.

    Cast this week (in order of appearance):

    Steven H. Wilson as Percy Scott

    Chris Lester as Greg Singh

    George Chlentzos as Douglas Reeves

    Lynx Crowe as Trent Alcock

    Christianna Ellis as Charis Chandlay

    Kitty Nic’Iaian as the Junior Senator from Massachusetts

    Nathan Lowell as Senator Wilhelm Shelley

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2009/02/10/predestination-episode-17/feed/ 0     Predestination, Episode 16 http://jdsawyer.net/2009/02/06/predestination-episode-16/ http://jdsawyer.net/2009/02/06/predestination-episode-16/#comments Fri, 06 Feb 2009 23:49:45 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=383 Download Subscribe

    With Cassy and Joss now suspicious of one another, and the Hartmans at each other’s throats on Mars, the powderkeg is primed. Tonight, the first spark falls.

    Kim the Comic Book Goddess and Heather Welliver join our cast tonight, while Dalya Massachi of of Writing for Community Success brings us the Story So Far.

    This week’s in-show promo is for The Leviathan Chronicles.

    Cast this week (in order of appearance):

    Stephanie Sawyer as Cassy Orinthal

    Kim The Comic Book Goddess as Val

    Brian Levy as Jim

    Erin Balabanian as Ali

    Heather Welliver as Shayna Takahashi

    Lorien Wheeler as Jade

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2009/02/06/predestination-episode-16/feed/ 0     Dealing In, Episode 4 pt 2 of 3 http://jdsawyer.net/2009/01/15/dealing-in-episode-4-pt-2-of-3/ http://jdsawyer.net/2009/01/15/dealing-in-episode-4-pt-2-of-3/#comments Thu, 15 Jan 2009 20:36:33 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/2009/01/15/dealing-in-episode-4-pt-2-of-3/
    Download Subscribe

    Part two of the Sex Roundtable is here. This time, Chris Lester is hosting it on his feed over at Metamor City and we’re running it concurrently here. Consequently, this one’s got his opening credits on it instead of mine. This episode picks up the discussion pretty much where we left off, give or take a bathroom break, and concentrates a little more on sex in Metamor City, but there’s still plenty of sauciness and chatter about Predestination to keep all of you who aren’t listening to both shows interested.

    Look for part 3 soon!

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2009/01/15/dealing-in-episode-4-pt-2-of-3/feed/ 0     Dealing In, Episode 5 http://jdsawyer.net/2009/01/14/dealing-in-episode-5/ http://jdsawyer.net/2009/01/14/dealing-in-episode-5/#comments Wed, 14 Jan 2009 05:22:40 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=375 Download Subscribe

    We take a break from the constant sex talk to go over the latest feedback and…oh, yeah…talk about sex a bit. And geekiness. And all other manner of insanity. Stay tuned at the end where we announce the winner of the iTunes review contest.

    Enjoy!

    P.S. My illness has settled into my chest, so still no recording. Damn you, Lester!!!

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2009/01/14/dealing-in-episode-5/feed/ 0     The Year that Almost Wouldn’t Die http://jdsawyer.net/2008/12/31/the-year-that-almost-wouldnt-die/ http://jdsawyer.net/2008/12/31/the-year-that-almost-wouldnt-die/#comments Wed, 31 Dec 2008 13:48:12 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=373 Some highlights and lowlights of 2008

    This year, particularly the second half, has seen a lot of people turn very pessimistic about, well, everything. Yeah, the economy’s slowing down. Yeah, people like me are scrambling just to make ends meet – when money goes slow everywhere, it hits the arts hard. And yeah, some things just sucked. But you know what? Today’s “awful” is a hell of a lot better than “great” was when my grandparents were growing up. Despite environmental problems, terrorists, crooked investment bankers, and crookeder politicians (yes, in all parties), I’m living in a time when “five-percent unemployment” is really bad. When I was a kid in the early 80s, that would have been music to everyone’s ears. Ditto for crime, poverty, war casualty, plague death, and violence figures almost everywhere on Earth (though some of us are a lot luckier than others, through no merit of our own).

    So, yeah, 2008 might have been a scary year. But as I look back at the global “Big Picture” there aren’t a lot of things that are truly scary in the long run – not like there were twenty, fifty, or eighty years ago – not to mention longer ago than that.

    On a personal level, it’s been a mixed year, but as I was drawing up this list I can’t help but be staggered by how far the scales tip towards the wonderful. Click on the link to read my self-indulgent recap.

    The Bad or Bittersweet

    In May of 2001 I started preproduction on a film I’ve spent the intervening years working on. Hunting Kestral, a science fiction action film set in the universe of Antithesis, was officially retired from the active projects list. Of all the things I’ve done in my life, this project has to be the most important so far. I met people I still work with to this day, I learned the meat of the different trades I now call my career, and the process irrevocably altered the story and universe of Antithesis. Perhaps most importantly, I spent some of the most rewarding months of my life to that point in the company of actors who taught me far more about life than I ever thought I’d learn at the age of 24. Unfortunately, I had to admit that on this one I bit off way more than I can reasonably hope to finish chewing in the foreseeable future, so the dream of doing a professional level live-action independent film is something I have to set aside for now. I’m planning on a post-show article on it sometime in January.

    My first website, Blenderwars, which had for years been a vibrant hobbyist community, finally died. It was a long time coming, but last May I finally gave in to the inevitable and pulled the plug. We were online from 1999 to 2008, hitting our peak of half a million page views per month in 2002. Some of the folks I met through there have gone on to work with me on various film projects, and have proved to be excellent people all the way down the line.

    A lot of death touched my life this year, both first and second degree. I’d say I could have done without it, but the truth is that I’ve lived an unusually long time without someone close to me dying – I was expecting it sooner or later. Needless to say, I’d have preferred “later.”

    My nonfiction publishing momentum slowed down in the second half of the year as a result of my podcasting endeavors.

    The Unfinished
    Filmed and have nearly finished (finally) a short film called “Lights Out” for Project Obsidian. Early 2009 will see its completion. Better late than never.

    Began writing The Auto Motive, a steampunk young-adult urban fantasy novel. It’s got a ways to go, but it’s rocking.

    Sculpting God: Bedtime Stories For Adults is half done – the final half will see the light of day in mid-2009.

    The Good
    Saw eight friends and acquaintances get book deals.

    Made my first fiction sale: My steampunk story “Cold Duty” went simultaneously to Steampod and ClonePod and did very well among fans of both podcasts.

    Finished and garnered publisher interest in book one of the Antithesis series. Plotted, outlined, and roughed out the remainder of the series.

    Podcasted the first 15 episodes of the 27 episode audio version of Antithesis, Book 1: Predestination and Other Games of Chance with full cast, full production sound, and an original score.

    Did my first professional publicity events.

    Wrote a 6 hour miniseries for Canadian TV. The deal fell through, so the script is now in the process of novelization. The resulting novel, Down From Ten, is now 25% done.

    Finished Season 2 of The Polyschizmatic Reprobates Hour. Recorded Season 3, and it is now half edited.

    Garnered my first cover story in a magazine.

    Interviewed (either for podcast or for publication) Michael ShermerM, Cory Doctorow, Elizabeth Pisani, Tee Morris, Richard Carrier, Philippa Ballantine, J.C. Hutchins, Seth Harwood, and Mur Lafferty.

    Apologia, a show I participate in, got picked up for radio distribution.

    Got to hang out at the Googleplex.

    Technically this and the next item both belong in “unfinished,” but they’re here because they are undeniably good. First, I had great fun doing some very satisfying photo shoots with both new models and old, and made serious progress on bringing the long term Sophi and Logos projects together.

    Hit BayCon and SteamCon with my friends, and got to moderate a few panels along the way.

    Discovered Twitter.

    So many other memorable moments of wonderfulness I can’t even begin to enumerate them.

    Final word count for the year, including novels, short stories, screenplays, articles, and non-trivial blog posts: ~350,000

    Parting Thoughts for 2008

    From my very limited perspective on the world, I wouldn’t trade this year for any other. 2008 saw a lot of reconnection with old friends, strengthening of connections with new friends, and meeting more fascinating and decent people than I dare to count – some of them well on the way to becoming close friends. It’s been an emotionally intense year, much moreso than I expected. This time last year I said that 2007 was my best year so far, but I think 2008 surpassed it handsomely, despite the heartbreaks and hardships which I’m sure none of you want to read about here.

    For all of you who’ve touched my life this year – friends, fans, colleagues, and fellow travelers – from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

    The chapter ends, and always on a cliffhanger. There is only one question:
    “What happens next?”

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2008/12/31/the-year-that-almost-wouldnt-die/feed/ 2     Predestination, Episode 15 http://jdsawyer.net/2008/12/31/predestination-episode-15/ http://jdsawyer.net/2008/12/31/predestination-episode-15/#comments Wed, 31 Dec 2008 11:43:44 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=369 Download Subscribe

    Tonight we see what happens to Cassy when she follow Doug Reeves into the church, and then we go Nineveh where Joss hosts the first annual Phalanx Poker Tournament, with contestants and spectators from throughout the colonies. What could possibly go wrong?

    Kitty Nic’Iaian, co-producer of Predestination and the voice of Reprobates’ News announcer Hera-Flea daughter of Hera-Tick, brings us the Story So Far this week.

    This week’s in-show promo is for The Seventh Son Trilogy, by J.C. Hutchins.

    Cast this week (in order of appearance):

    Stephanie Sawyer as Cassy Orinthal

    Steven H. Wilson as Percy Scott

    Michael Spence as the deputy

    The Prof as the gambler

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2008/12/31/predestination-episode-15/feed/ 0     Predestination, Episode 14 http://jdsawyer.net/2008/12/12/predestination-episode-14/ http://jdsawyer.net/2008/12/12/predestination-episode-14/#comments Fri, 12 Dec 2008 10:46:25 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=344 Download Subscribe

    What makes the Lunar colony work? The docks, that’s what. And tonight, that’s where we’re going, following Cassy on her investigation of the enigma that is Scott Walters and trying to piece together the clues to what’s really going on inside her own organization.

    It’s a long one this week again – 45 minutes – with new characters and new aspects of the world that will, hopefully, hold your attention at least through the end of the episode.

    Heather Welliver, host of Grailwolf’s Geek Lifer and vocalist for the Pieces podcast, brings us the Story So Far this week.

    This week’s in-show promo is for I Should Be Writing, THE go-to podcast for beginning authors hosted by the erudite, funny, and straight-talking Mur Lafferty. If you entertain any literary ambitions, her podcast is the place to start.

    Cast this week (in order of appearance):

    Steven H. Wilson as William Ellison

    Chris Lester as Rison

    Jonathan Sawyer as Furgeson and The Comuter Tech

    Kitty Nic’Iaian as The Spaceport Announcer

    Geroge Chlentzos as Doug Reeves

    Stephanie Sawyer as Cassy Orinthal

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2008/12/12/predestination-episode-14/feed/ 0     Predestination, Episode 13 http://jdsawyer.net/2008/11/24/predestination-episode-13/ http://jdsawyer.net/2008/11/24/predestination-episode-13/#comments Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:42:32 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=330 Download Subscribe

    This week, we follow Jim to the commune of the Children of Light, while Ali makes a decision about the future of the business.

    It’s a long one this week – 40 minutes – I hope it makes up for my protracted absence due to post-convention illness. Watch my blog in the coming weeks for posts about my time at Steamcon a.k.a. Steam Powered, and other fun things coming up here very soon. I’m back in the swing of things, and intend to keep swinging. Thank you all so much for your supportive emails – they’ve been much appreciated.

    Feedback show this week – a thanksgiving present for you.

    Michael Spence, author and anthology editor, brings us the Story So Far this week.

    This week’s in-show promo is for Erotica A La Carte, Phillipa Ballantine’s current foray into the racy and disturbing. Excellent stuff she’s producing over there – definitely worth a listen.

    Cast this week (in order of appearance):

    Brian Levy as Jim Hartman

    Steven H. Wilson as William Ellison

    Renee Wilson as Marjorie

    Erin Ballibanian as Alyssa Hartman

    ]]> http://jdsawyer.net/2008/11/24/predestination-episode-13/feed/ 0 The illness has been beaten! http://jdsawyer.net/2008/11/17/the-illness-has-been-beaten/ http://jdsawyer.net/2008/11/17/the-illness-has-been-beaten/#comments Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:07:05 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=311 Well, I’m back. Voice functioning, body seems to be healthy again finally.

    Here’s what this means for you all, my loyal readers:

    I’m going to fix and drop Episode 13 of Antithesis tomorrow, probably late, assuming the congestion clears.

    I’ll start blogging again, with reports from SteamCon and some other interesting updates, later this week.

    The feedback episode will record Wed and drop on Thurs or Fri, after which I’ll slide back into my regular production schedule.

    I have a backlog of other blog posts to write, particularly more from the Steampunk Education series and the Entitlement Mentality series. Those I’ll be hammering out between commissioned articles (which I now have a backlog of).

    Soon, very soon, a calender will be available for purchase featuring my fine art photography. There will be two versions available – one worksafe and one definitely not.

    So, if the Creeks don’t rise, I’m now back in circulation. Thank you all for your well wishes.

    -Dan

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2008/11/17/the-illness-has-been-beaten/feed/ 0     Predestination, Episode 12 http://jdsawyer.net/2008/10/30/predestination-episode-12/ http://jdsawyer.net/2008/10/30/predestination-episode-12/#comments Thu, 30 Oct 2008 19:28:04 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=303
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    This week, we delve deeper into the mystery of Senator Shelley’s relationship with the resistance movement and then skip across the solar system to Mars, where we find the Hartmans…or what’s left of them.

    I’m going to be at Steamcon, sitting on two panels and waxing eloquent about Victorian Sci&Tech and Multimedia Production.

    Nobilis from Nobilis Erotica, one of the giants of fiction podcasting, brings us the Story So Far this week.

    This week’s in-show promo is for Geek Pantheon, a podcast for comic book, science fiction, and fantasy junkies with a twisted sense of humor.

    Cast this week (in order of appearance):

    Stephanie Sawyer as Cassy Orinthal

    Nathan Lowell as Senator Bill Shelley

    Brian Levy as Jim Hartman

    Erin Ballibanian as Alyssa Hartman

    Kitty Nic’Iaian as The Newscaster and The Computer

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2008/10/30/predestination-episode-12/feed/ 0     Predestination, Episode 11 http://jdsawyer.net/2008/10/21/predestination-episode-11/ http://jdsawyer.net/2008/10/21/predestination-episode-11/#comments Tue, 21 Oct 2008 11:35:00 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=275
    Download Subscribe
    This week, we learn what is going on between Cassy Orinthal and diva dancer Brittany Hydra. We also finally learn what Doug Reeves is up to, and what it might mean for the other characters.

    I’m going to be at Steamcon, sitting on two panels and waxing eloquent about Victorian Sci&Tech and Multimedia Production.

    Kimi from TaleChasing, author and podcaster, brings us the Story So Far this week.

    Cast this week (in order of appearance):

    Stephanie Sawyer as Cassy Orinthal

    Phillipa Ballantine as Brittany Hydra

    George Chlentzos as Douglas Reeves

    Lorien Wheeler as Jade Orin

    Nathan Lowell as Senator Bill Shelley

    Michael Lemonjello as The Barkeep

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2008/10/21/predestination-episode-11/feed/ 0     Predestination, Episode 10 http://jdsawyer.net/2008/10/11/predestination-episode-10/ http://jdsawyer.net/2008/10/11/predestination-episode-10/#comments Sun, 12 Oct 2008 02:15:18 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=250
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    This week, we meet the Lunar dancer Brittany Hydra, and we finally get to see what’s underneath Cassy Orinthal’s skin.

    I’m going to be at Steamcon, sitting on two panels and waxing eloquent about Victorian Sci&Tech and Multimedia Production.

    Phillipa Ballantine, author of the sumptuous Chasing The Bard brings us the Story So Far this week, as well as joining the cast as the indomitable dancer Brittany Hydra.

    Cast this week (in order of appearance):

    Stephanie Sawyer as Cassy Orinthal

    Phillipa Ballantine as Brittany Hydra

    Promo: The Arbiter Chronicles: Contents Under Pressure

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2008/10/11/predestination-episode-10/feed/ 0     Of Pub Crawls, Publishers, Short Films, and Short Cons http://jdsawyer.net/2008/10/07/of-pub-crawls-publishers-short-films-and-short-cons/ http://jdsawyer.net/2008/10/07/of-pub-crawls-publishers-short-films-and-short-cons/#comments Tue, 07 Oct 2008 20:15:12 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=243 This weekend kept me busy – posting the latest Antithesis episode, hitting the pub with Chris Lester and Seth Harwood, and hitting Silicon in San Jose.

    To start with, on Saturday night, I joined Chris Lester and Seth Harwood at a delightful pub in Berkeley, CA called Jupiter. Between my fans, Seth’s fans, and Chris’ fans, we had about a dozen fans show up and the conversations went long, long, long into the night. Servicable food, great drinks, and even better banter – arguing about philosophy, talking future projects, discussing the finer points of history, religion, ethics, mythology, brains, and just about everything else.

    After about 11 the bar got way too loud to hear people shouting across the table, so we adjourned across the street to a lovely gelato joint for more gabbing, loitering, and generally diserputable behavior. It was a great time, I met some fabulous people, got some new listeners, and then wound up sneaking into someone’s hot tub to skinny dip at the…oh, right. Sorry – that’s a different story.

    Sunday morning came around like a smashing mirror. I’m rather gifted in the sense that I don’t need alcohol to give me a hangover, I get one naturally from the sun. That fusion reactor and I have a rather unsteady relationship, so if it suddenly goes out, you’ll know who finally sunk a Q-ball into the center pocket. Anyhow, I dragged my lazy keester out of bed and stumbled along to Silicon to attend a panel about self-promotion for new authors hosted by an editor who currently has Antithesis on his desk.

    After the panel, he pulled me aside and told me that I could expect to hear back from him on the book soon (hooray!), but that irrespective of whether he wanted it I needed to do two things: 1) change the series title, and 2) rewrite the synopsis.

    Regarding the title, it seems that “Antithesis” is a word that sends people looking for their dictionary much more often than it makes people think of forces in conflict, rebellions, and contradictions. It also is, for some reason, a good title for an RPG (a fact I found out on my own as I handed out cards for the podcast over the last week – - everyone thought it was a new RPG rather than a novel or a podcast, but not for a thriller. I suspected that the title was a bit cumbersome and would need a change, but I’m stumped as to what to change it to. Current candidates are “The Gods of our Children” and “And We Surveyed…” — if you have an opinion or a suggestion please leave a comment below.

    As far as the synopsis, the particular issue is that it sounds too generic. This is my problem with synopses in general – they’re not ad copy, they’re supposed to be a sweeping description of the plot progression. Unfortunately, in a spy novel or any political story, there’s pretty much a formula that you’re tweaking: bad politicians, good politicians, crime lords, spies, someone who’s being framed/chased, someone who knows too much — let’s be honest, it’s all been done before, and done over, for a hundred and fifty years now (or longer, if you start with Hamlet). Like mysteries, what sets a thriller apart is not the trappings of the plot, it’s the richness of the setting, the depth of the characters, the style of execution.

    So, knowing this, I got a couple friends who HAVE sold novels before (and thus, presumably, have a handle on how to write a good synopsis) and who read – and enjoyed – Predestination. The result was this very run-of-the-mill synopsis that technically fulfills all the requirements of a synopsis, and yet manages to make Predestination sound like every spy novel, political thriller, and science fiction novel ever written. Obviously, the way we all approached it is wrong. So, my second question for all of you reading, particularly if you’ve sold a novel or worked as an agent or editor: What do you *really* want out of a synopsis, particularly for a charater-driven story? It seems to me that a blow-by-blow plot synopsis (like I delivered) is not well suited to give a feel for the work.

    Anyhow, that’s the weekend – a whole lot of great, a little bit of frustration, and some new challenges to chase down. This week, I’m rendering out the final FX shots for my short film Lights Out, which is destined for J.C. Hutchins’ Obsidian project, and hoping I can make the deadline. It’s all in the hands of the CPU gods now!

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2008/10/07/of-pub-crawls-publishers-short-films-and-short-cons/feed/ 1     Predestination, Episode 9 http://jdsawyer.net/2008/10/04/predestination-episode-9/ http://jdsawyer.net/2008/10/04/predestination-episode-9/#comments Sun, 05 Oct 2008 00:39:48 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=239 Download Subscribe

    This week, Jim discovers an unexpected welcome on Mars, while Joss comes into a piece of information he’s been searching for that could change everything — if, that is, he can trust the courier.

    Don’t forget about the meet&greet on October 4th! If you’re in the SF Bay Area, come to Jupiter’s in Berkeley, on Shattuck near University, for a meet and greet with myself, Chris Lester, and Seth Harwood. It’s going to be a fun evening, and I’ll have some freebies for those who attend. Find all the details at the Eventful posting, here.

    J.C. Hutchins, author of the adrenaline-packed 7th Son trilogy, brings us the Story So Far this week.

    Cast this week (in order of appearance):

    Steven H. Wilson as Percy Scott

    Brian Levy as Jim Hartman

    Renee Wilson as Marjorie

    Michael Lemonjello as The Barkeep

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2008/10/04/predestination-episode-9/feed/ 0     Predestination, Episode 8 http://jdsawyer.net/2008/09/30/predestination_episode_8/ http://jdsawyer.net/2008/09/30/predestination_episode_8/#comments Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:14:43 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=234 Download Subscribe

    The last of the late episodes for a while, I trust. Here we find the aftermath of the mugging in the restroom, and we finally catch up with Ali and Jim.

    Robin Hathaway again steals the show, but Nathan Lowell gives her a good run for her money. The host of Astral Audio, Alan Sale, also joins us in *two* very colorful parts.

    Don’t forget about the meet&greet on October 4th! If you’re in the SF Bay Area, come to Jupiter’s in Berkeley, on Shattuck near University, for a meet and greet with myself, Chris Lester, and Seth Harwood. It’s going to be a fun evening, and I’ll have some freebies for those who attend. Find all the details at the Eventful posting, here.

    This week, Rhonda Carpenter, a buddy of mine from the podiobooks Ning community and the author of The Mark of the Druid, a historical fantasy that premiered yesterday on Podiobooks, brings us the Story So Far.

    Cast this week (in order of appearance):

    Steven H. Wilson as Percy Scott

    Allan Sale as Scott Walters and One Eyed Jack

    Robin Hathaway as Marian Shelley

    Erin Ballibanian as Ali Hartman

    Shannon Holden as Elizabeth Shelley

    Nathan Lowell as Senator Bill Shelley

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2008/09/30/predestination_episode_8/feed/ 1     Predestination, Episode 7.5 (feedback) http://jdsawyer.net/2008/09/24/predestination-episode-75-feedback/ http://jdsawyer.net/2008/09/24/predestination-episode-75-feedback/#comments Wed, 24 Sep 2008 06:56:48 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=230
    Download Subscribe
    Here we go, ladies and germs, the first feedback episode. You guys are awesome – even as I was prepping this to post more feedback rolled in, so I’ve got some for the next one already. Please keep it coming!

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2008/09/24/predestination-episode-75-feedback/feed/ 0     Predestination, Episode 7 http://jdsawyer.net/2008/09/16/predestination-episode-7/ http://jdsawyer.net/2008/09/16/predestination-episode-7/#comments Tue, 16 Sep 2008 09:39:41 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=227 Download Subscribe

    Late again. The extra recording time to get ahead is taking its toll, but I’m getting some more help behind the mic here, so all is not lost.

    This week’s episode is very violent and upsetting – no kidding. If you’re a Sigler fan, you’ll feel right at home. Whatever you do, don’t listen to this one with the kids in the room.

    Kudos once again to Robin Hathaway and Steven H. Wilson for their breathtaking performances this week.

    Don’t forget about the meet&greet on October 4th! If you’re in the SF Bay Area, come to Jupiter’s in Berkeley, on Shattuck near University, for a meet and greet with myself, Chris Lester, and Seth Harwood. It’s going to be a fun evening, and I’ll have some freebies for those who attend.

    This week, we find out what Percy’s assignment was, and how he manages to carry it out without Marian being any the wiser, and then we follow the beginnings of the ripples from his assignment as they touch Washington and Luna City.

    This week, our composer Danny Schade – also of the Reason-Driven Podcast and Apologia brings us the Story So Far.

    Cast this week (in order of appearance):

    Robin Hathaway as Marian Shelley

    Steven H. Wilson as Percy Scott

    Nathan Lowell as Senator Bill Shelley

    Kitty Nic’Iaian as The Computer Voice

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2008/09/16/predestination-episode-7/feed/ 0     Predestination, Episode 6 http://jdsawyer.net/2008/09/09/predestination-episode-6/ http://jdsawyer.net/2008/09/09/predestination-episode-6/#comments Tue, 09 Sep 2008 07:20:56 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=216 Download Subscribe

    Are you doing anything on October 4th? If not, and you’re in the SF Bay Area, come to Jupiter’s in Berkeley, on Shattuck near University, for a meet and greet with myself, Chris Lester, and Seth Harwood. It’s going to be a fun evening, and I’ll have some freebies for those who attend.

    As for this terribly late episode? Better Nate than Lever, I always say. Stay tuned for the show banter at the end of the show for other news about the series.

    This week, we join back up with Percy and Marian, and with Joss, and we find out more about who Cassy is, and what her life is like when she’s not capturing and seducing defectors. Not to be missed!

    This week, the estimable Nathan Lowell, author of the excellent Golden Age of the Solar Clipper science fiction series available on Podiobooks.com joins the cast as the inscrutable Senator Bill Shelley.

    Chris Lester, the author of the Metamor City series, brings us the Story So Far this week. I haven’t – and won’t – ask someone to do the Story So Far if I don’t like their work, but Chris is one of those whose work isn’t just good, it’s fantastic. A really potent blend of dark fantasy, noir detective, science fiction, and deep character drama, he’s a thorough thinker with a keen eye for human nature, and his stories hold a very effective mirror up to the audience. I’ve yet to hear one of his stories that doesn’t seduce from minute one, and transform by story’s end. His stuff isn’t for the timid, but it is very striking.
    Cast this week (in order of appearance):

    Robin Hathaway as Marian Shelley

    Steven H. Wilson as Percy Scott

    Nathan Lowell as Senator Bill Shelley

    Stephanie Sawyer as Cassy Orinthal

    Lorien Wheeler as Jade Orin

    Kitty Nic’Iaian as The Spaceport Announcer

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2008/09/09/predestination-episode-6/feed/ 0     Predestination, Episode 5 http://jdsawyer.net/2008/08/30/predestination-episode-5-2/ http://jdsawyer.net/2008/08/30/predestination-episode-5-2/#comments Sun, 31 Aug 2008 01:04:51 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=208 Download Subscribe

    Okay, I know, it’s late again. I’m really trying to get ahead on these and they keep kicking my ass, as real life bears down on top of me. Hopefully, next week will actually be on time.

    This week, we find out what happens to Joss after he escapes the Hartmans, learn about oranges in the sky, and meet a couple new characters as the camera pulls back and we get to see more and more of the universe our characters inhabit. Turn down the lights, lean back, and enjoy!

    This week, the incomparable Seth Harwood, author of the excellent Jack Palms crime novel series, the spinoff Young Junius, the short story series A Long Way From Disney, and the host of CrimeWav, brings us The Story So Far as only he can.

    Cast this week (in order of appearance):
    Robin Hathaway as Marian Shelley

    Stephanie Sawyer as Cassy Orinthal

    Michael Lemonjello as Hakim and The Second Drunk

    Kitty Nic’Iaian as The woman in the bar

    George Chlentzos as Doug Reeves

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2008/08/30/predestination-episode-5-2/feed/ 0     Predestination, Episode 4 http://jdsawyer.net/2008/08/24/predestination-episode-4/ http://jdsawyer.net/2008/08/24/predestination-episode-4/#comments Sun, 24 Aug 2008 11:13:31 +0000 jdsawyer http://jdsawyer.net/?p=198 Download Subscribe

    Tonight, after a bit of a delay, we wrap up Part 1 of Predestination. What happens at the poker game between Joss and Ali? Will Jim and Ali take him down, or will he manage to escape with his skin? More importantly, who really is the better poker player? And what role, if any, will Cassy Orinthal play? Strap in – this is an action packed episode that’ll leave you itching for more.

    This week, the erudite Zachary Moore, scientist and host of Evolution 101 and Apolgia brings us The Story So Far.

    Cast this week (in order of appearance):

    Brian Levy as Jim

    Erin Ballibanian as Ali

    Kitty Nic’Iaian as Spaceport Announcer and Computer Voice

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2008/08/24/predestination-episode-4/feed/ 0     Predestination, Episode 5 http://jdsawyer.net/2008/08/15/predestination-episode-5/ http://jdsawyer.net/2008/08/15/predestination-episode-5/#comments Fri, 15 Aug 2008 06:14:20 +0000 jdsawyer http://antithesis.jdsawyer.net/?p=42 Download Subscribe

    Okay, I know, it’s late again. I’m really trying to get ahead on these and they keep kicking my ass, as real life bears down on top of me. Hopefully, next week will actually be on time.

    This week, we find out what happens to Joss after he escapes the Hartmans, learn about oranges in the sky, and meet a couple new characters as the camera pulls back and we get to see more and more of the universe our characters inhabit. Turn down the lights, lean back, and enjoy!

    This week, the incomparable Seth Harwood, author of the excellent Jack Palms crime novel series, the spinoff Young Junius, the short story series A Long Way From Disney, and the host of CrimeWav, brings us The Story So Far as only he can.

    Cast this week (in order of appearance):

    Robin Hathaway as Marian Shelley

    Stephanie Sawyer as Cassy Orinthal

    Michael Lemonjello as Hakim and The Second Drunk

    Kitty Nic’Iaian as The woman in the bar

    George Chlentzos as Doug Reeves

    ]]>     http://jdsawyer.net/2008/08/15/predestination-episode-5/feed/ 0