Dear Editor

Dear Editor: You know, for a “science” fiction editor, you sure let a lot of things slide by. I think by now every one knows that you can’t break the speed of light barrier, and thus time travel is impossible. Or was that warp drive? WHATEVER. It’s all impossible!

IMPOSSIBLE, we say - http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=1394

Quality Warning: Mysterious white noise in the background towards the end.  Mysterious!

Content:

• Time Travel:
  • Hyperion
  • Star Trek — lol let’s circle the sun? http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=1307
  • Poul Anderson — time travelers strive to preserve the “original” timeline — time travel is for action/adventure and for the meeting of different cultures
  • OSC’s PastWatch — a complicated version of “if you could go back in time and kill Hitler…”
  • Timeline by Michael Crichton
  • Rip Van Winkle — what? I fell asleep!
  • Thomas Covenant — serves to complicate plot and add danger

• Cheating Time: (Remember that cheating distance is arguably the same as cheating the time it would have taken to travel that distance)
  • Frederick Pohl’s The World at the End of Time — cryogenics + relativistic travel
  • OSC’s Worthing Saga — “Somec” allows people to sleep away the years, and the society based on it.
  • Neuromancer
  • Futurama
  • Hyperion: Yes, it’s cheating if you can step through a door and end up on another planet
  • Search the Sky by Frederick Pohl (referred as “something Michelle read”)
  • www.qwantz.com - Dinosaur comics, specifically: http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=1554 PS. The guy who does this comic is really nice.  He helped me find this specific one!

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [ 16:48m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (1)

Another great review by Jonathan.  Can we still call him a “guest” reviewer?

Music by Pasqualino Ubaldini http://www.dogmazic.net/Pasqualino_ubaldini http://www.myspace.com/pasqualinoubaldini

Personal Effects: Dark Art http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312383827/ and 7th Son: Descent http://jchutchins.net/site/order/ by J.C. Hutchins

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [ 6:07m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (4)

Dear Editor: I loved “The Battle of the Star Fish” so much, I think it could totally make an awesome movie.  The epic battle scene at the end would be SO EPIC.

Topic: Today we discuss books that have been made into movies, both the good and the bad.  Of course, we only cover movies that we’ve actually seen.

Content Warning: Dude, we cursed! Also used the phrase “black people.” Heh heh heh

Baby Warning: You can totally hear cute baby noises in this episode. :O

Content:

• Changing stories to fit movies
• Resident Evil games + movies
• LOTR and Tom Bombadil
• Narnia, especially Prince Caspian
• Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events and Jim Carrey
• Coraline by Neil Gaiman, additional character
• Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin - miniseries was epic fail
• The Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind - again with the random hat
• The Dark is Rising, by Susan Cooper - super epic fail

OMG we forgot to mention Blade Runner!  The movie sucked.  The book rocked.  Theeeeeeeeeeere you go.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [ 16:45m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (6)

Thanks again to Jonathan for a wonderful review!

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (2)

A second promo for Dear Editor, complete with its own “dear editor”!

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [ 0:44m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (5)

Today Michelle shares with you her favorite sources for podcast fiction.

Podcast Novels:

Goblin Market - Story about a girl who gets kidnapped into the world of fae and the sister who risks every thing to save her.  - http://jenniferhudock.com/goblin-market/

FETIDUS - (The Foundation for the Ethical Treatment of the Innocently Damned, Undead, and Supernatural) - gritty, post apocalyptic mystery complete with zombies and vampires - http://www.fetidus.org/

The Gearheart - very fun, pulp fiction-y steam punk about a mysterious construct that begins preying on magi - http://www.thegearheart.com/

The Dreamer’s Thread - about a woman who finds out that she creates dreams, and gets sucked into a dream world to help them fight the nightmare realm - http://www.thedreamersthreadnovel.com/

Nina Kimberly the Merciless - fantasy, comedy, about a warrior princess trying to ditch her ditsy suitor. - ninakimberly.com

Murder at Avedon Hill - fantasy mystery about a murder in a small town that controls an important pass into the mountains - http://pgholyfield.com/maah

Short story podcasts:

EscapePod - escapepod.org

PodCastle - podcastle.org

Clonepod - clonepod.org

Also mentioned: Podiobooks.com

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [ 9:16m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (5)

Yes, we are releasing another metacast!  OHNOES

Content:

• Mica has a baby, who is squirmy and makes noise often.
• Vicki is in college, and just recovered from a bad cold.
• Our sister is staying in Nevada for the next six months!  Wish her well!
• Mica has read the latest Mistborne book, and Vicki is stuck with textbooks again.
• Recording is difficult, but we’ll try - thanks for your patience!

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (7)

Intro:

Dear Editor: Do you prefer men or women?  I mean, you know, in all of your vast experience rejecting manuscripts.

Content:

• Are men better writers than women, or vice versa?
  • There is no answer because it all comes down to reader preference
  • There has been a historical dominance of literature by men
  • Personal experience may be random. Maybe you just happen to read all the bad male (or female) authors.
• OK, but is there a difference between male and female authored text?
  • Short answer: YES.
  • Long answer: Yes, especially in INFORMAL writing, readers can guess gender with an 80-90% accuracy.
  • Published literature is much more difficult to distinguish, with readers having a maximum of 60% accuracy.
  • However, there are statistical difference between men and women in published works, including:
    • Fiction vs. Nonfiction
    • Descriptive Words
    • Pronouns
    • Choice of Genre

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (13)

Dear Editor: Your form-letter rejection will haunt meh foreverz :’(

Content:

Fantasy and Scifi treat the afterlife differently

• Fantasy gets away with a lot more
• Scifi must try to explain most paranormal activities
• If the afterlife is present, it often is based on a real-world mythology
• People don’t like fantasy in their scifi and vice versa

Examples

• Sword of Truth, which includes communication with the dead and quick travel
• Hyperion series, which features the “Love” dimension

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (14)

Part 2!

Alienating the Reader vs Boring the Reader

• Use of context is also important
• Nonfiction targeted at specific demographics, does not need to worry so much

Quotes from Thomas Covenant:

• “Her percipience found no evidence of him at all.”
• “The enervation in his bones suddenly swamped him.”
• “A crepitation like the discharge of slow lightning made the air squirm.”

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (16)