Flying Island Press

The Wayback Machine has been down for a while, but it is time for me to fire it back up and mention some of my appearances that either pre-dated this blog, or didn’t get put onto the Master Feed because I was too busy to add them when it all happened. This one is from before I stood up Swimming Cat Studios. We’re going back to November 12th, 2010, when I made my third appearance on the Galley Table Podcast. [click to continue…]

{ 0 comments }

For those who have waited and wondered and hoped, the fateful day has arrived at last! Flying Island PressPirates Cove has set forth on a new literary journey, Treasure Island. Those ready to set sail on this journey can begin with the first chapter, to be found here. Those who wish to follow the entire tale had best set their course for the Podcast Feed.

[click to continue…]

{ 0 comments }

Even though I’ve been an avid reader for most of my life, I’ve never paid much attention to book-finding tools. I have tried using Amazon’s recommendation tool, but it always seemed like it would recommend one or two things I might actually like, and five or six things that they were currently pushing. My tastes ares pretty eclectic, so “what’s popular” usually doesn’t appeal to me. I’m either not interested, or I’ve already discovered it before it became popular. So, despite the fact that many (if not most) of the folks that I interact with online are using Goodreads.com, I was never really interested in it. I’ve done pretty good finding my own reading materiel.

I’m not sure what changed last week. Maybe it was seeing the occasional status update on Twitter that mentioned Goodreads, or someone mentioning putting reviews there. Something happened, and as a result I went over to Goodreads and created an account. As I mentioned before, a lot of the folks that I follow on Twitter and Facebook were already on the site, so I began accumulating numbers of friends in chunks. I also began the effort of listing and rating the many, many, many books that I have read over the years. So far I’ve barely scratched the surface.

In the process of setting up my presence on Goodreads, I stumbled on one of my friends who had rated an issue of Flagship magazine from Flying Island Press, and noticed that each of the writers who contributed to the issue was listed as an author.

I’ve been published in an issue of Flagship.

I went digging and pulled up Flagship issue 4, the issue with my article in it. Sure enough, in the list of authors was the name Doc Coleman.

I clicked it.

Naturally, it linked to an empty profile. All that was there was a name and a link to the Flagship issue. And another link that said, “Is this you?”

I clicked it.

I typed up a little note telling the Goodreads folks that I was new to the site and I had just discovered that an author profile already existed for an article that I wrote and asked them for access to that profile.

Last Monday I got a notification that I was now a Goodreads Author.

It is kind of interesting, considering that I have never really pursued the idea of being a writer, the way this made me feel. I guess it is the sense of achieving a milestone along the way. Having that byline on Goodreads makes me feel proud, as if I’ve arrived. Not that my reputation is made by any stretch of the imagination. There are a lot of steps necessary to become successful at writing, however you may personally describe success. Arriving at the party is an early step, but an important one. Arriving at the party is no guarantee that someone will dance with you, but if you don’t show up you definitely won’t have a dance partner.

In the big scale of things, it isn’t much. Especially not compared to how much so many others have achieved. Or all the hard work that they’ve put in building their writing careers. Compared to them, this is a drop in the bucket. A nothing.

But it is my nothing. And it makes me happy.

And now I need to get back to writing. I need to rack up some more bylines on that listing. A body of work will not create itself.

Hope you enjoyed this small moment.

{ 0 comments }

My return to the Galley Table! This marks my beginnings as the Galley Table Stowaway. I knew when Galley Table was to be recorded, so I went onto Skype a few minutes early and hoped that they would include me on the call. And that is pretty much what happened. Scott Roche placed the call and included me in with everyone else.

Back in those days, I pretty much considered myself as an “extra” guest on the podcast. I stayed quiet at the beginning, letting the regularly scheduled guest have their say first before chiming in with my two cents.

This show wandered a bit from topic to topic. Among the topics covered were the perceived legitimacy of electronic publishing, and how to bridge from a short story to a longer novel. The last is interesting because I think that is something that I hope to do in the coming year.

[powerpress]

More to come from The Wayback Machine. And a lot more Galley Table, at that.

{ 0 comments }

My debut on the new Galley Table podcast. Scott Roche was looking for a guest to discuss how technology was affecting reading and the future of Storytelling. Pretty much right up my alley. So we jumped on Skype and recorded this episode.

[powerpress]

This was the beginning. But not the end.

Look for more posts from the Wayback Machine in the coming days.

{ 0 comments }

Giddy!  I am giddy! Want to know why? I’ll tell you why. This time last year, I was just a tech blogger with aspirations to be a podcaster.

This year, I’m a Parsec Award Nominated writer.

Let’s say that again. Now, I have my own podcast, I’m a regular on the Galley Table Podcast, I’m a contributing writer to Flying Island Press’ Flagship Magazine and the Every Photo Tells… podcast, and I am a Parsec Award Nominated writer!

Hee!

If you’ve not heard of the Parsec Awards, the Parsec is an award for excellence in Podcasting that is given out every year at Dragon*Con in Atlanta. The Parsecs are given out to shows that are deemed to embody the best of Speculative Fiction for each year. Speculative Fiction embodies Fantasy, Horror, and Sci-Fi elements in storytelling.

Mur LaffertyMichael R. MennengaTracy Hickman founded The Parsec Awards in 2006 to celebrate Speculative Fiction Podcasting, under the banner of Farpoint Media.

Podcast shows are nominated by fans, and finalists are chosen by a yearly steering committee. Those finalists are then voted on by an independent panel of judges from outside of podcasting. Awards are given in several categories ranging from content to audio quality.

So, the easiest part of the process is getting nominated. But it is still an honor because someone out there liked my work enough to nominate it. Or three someones. Because I didn’t just get nominated for one story. I got nominated for all three stories I did for the Every Photo Tells… podcast. If you’d like to check them out, those stories are Episode 24 – The Gift, Episode 32 – Welcome to Paradox, and Episode 51 – The Price of Surrender. Nominations end June 1st. At that point, we’ll have to wait and see if any of my stories move on to the Finalist stage.

If you’d like to see who else was nominated, you can check it out here.

Fingers crossed!

Doc

{ 4 comments }

Have you subscribed to Flying Island Press’ Pirates Cove latest audio production, Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. No? Well why not? all you have to do is go to your favorite RSS catcher and enter the URL http://feeds.feedburner.com/MidSummerNightsDream. They’ve just released Act 2 Scene 1, and this is where it gets interesting, as mortal intrigues get mixed up with the power struggles of the fairy kingdom. Can Titania unravel the plottings of Oberon? Will Lysander and Hermia’s love win out? Will Demetrius steal Hermia away, or will Helena turn his false love for her to true? And how is Puck mixed up in all this? And what of the players and their play?

You need to go to Pirates Cove and subscribe! This is an excellent audio production. Don’t trust me. Go listen for yourself.

{ 2 comments }

Do you like Shakespeare? Do you like Audio Drama? Are you looking for a little of both? Then this is your lucky day! The Pirates over at Flying Island Press’ Pirates Cove have started a new audio production, and this time they’re doing their own version of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. And part of what makes this version special is that I am a member of the cast!

So fire up your favorite podcatcher and go to Pirates Cove and subscribe! Act 1 Scene 1 has just been released, so this is the ideal time to get in at the beginning of the story. And when Act 2 is delivered, you’ll be able to listen to my performance as Oberon, King of the Fae. Along the way, you’ll be able to listen to plenty of excellent voice actors in this production.

I hope you’ll subscribe and enjoy the show.

{ 2 comments }