Links:

Since this episode was recorded, Double Share by Nathan Lowell has been published by Ridan Publishing.

Michael Sullivan’s Rise of Empire is now on Audible.

Robin mentioned Jim C. Hines. Thought you might want to check his site out. His latest book is THE SNOW QUEEN’S SHADOW, the fourth of his fantasy adventures that retell the old fairy tales with a Charlie’s Angels twist.

Oh yeah, and there’s that Hugh Howey guy everyone is comparing to 50 Shades of Grey for turning self-publishing into movie deals. Well, he now has a movie option deal with 20th Century Fox for his Wool Omnibus, which is going to be published by Random House UK.

Next week’s podcast is with UK Fantasy author, Mike Shevdon, in time for his May 29th release of Strangeness and Charm: Courts of the Feyre #3.

You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, but the complete list of back episodes is on my Podcast Page. Music is brought to you by Daddy Scrabble’s “Lorda Mercy” from www.freemusicarchive.org. You are also free to share this promo taken from a two minute quote from Michael’s interview on AudioTim 16.

Here’s Mike’s blurb for The Telling:

A prophet never loses his calling… only his way.

Despite his love for words, when ZEPH WALKER sees his body lying on the gurney in the county morgue, he is speechless. Disfigured by his stepmother as a teenager, the hideous scar across Zeph’s face has forced him into a life of seclusion. Cloistered in a ramshackle bookstore on the outskirts of town, Zeph is blessed with an uncanny ability to sound souls—to intuit peoples’ deepest sins and secrets. He calls it the Telling, but has abandoned the gift to his unbelief and despair. Until two detectives escort him to the county morgue, where he learns that the bizarre look-alike of himself has been found murdered.

On the northern fringes of Death Valley, the city of Endurance is home to llama ranches, abandoned mines, roadside attractions… and the mythical ninth gate of hell. Now, forced to investigate his own murder, Zeph discovers something more insidious behind the urban legends and small-town eccentricities. Seems the early miners unearthed a megalith—a sacred site where spiritual and physical forces converge, where space and time defy logic, and where an ancient subterranean presence broods. They call it the Rift, and FERGUS COYNE has learned to command its secrets.

Ever bitter over the suicide of his mother and channeling his rage into metaphysical rituals, Coyne has honed his ability to summon fetch from the Rift—soul eaters bent on assimilating their earthly counterparts. But the demented prophet has no idea of the power he wields… or the evil that awaits.

While the authorities attempt to explain the doppelganger and a growing citywide paranoia, Zeph’s investigation leads to the man who murdered him. LITTLE WEAVER, a rogue researcher and arcane historian, has plumbed the mysterious Rift and secretly protected Zeph from the hideous fetch. But apparently, the scar on Zeph’s face is nothing like the wound on his soul. For not only has he abandoned his prophetic gift and renounced heaven, his own silence has spawned the evil. And once he is found, the hellish gateway can never be closed.

Can Zeph Walker overcome his own despair in time to seal the ninth gate of hell? Or has Fergus Coyne’s dark magic summoned something bigger than both of them?

His words unlocked something deadly… and now his silence is killing them

Order The Telling at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Christianbook.com, and other outlets.

So, when the episode started out with Beckett hanging from a ledge, I was in the least hooked to find out what would happen. It might have been a little predictable, but there was still the suspense of how she would be saved. I was on the side of believing there was no chance a thriving show like this could kill Beckett.

Yeah, it pulled the 3 days earlier gag, but quality story telling kept us on the edge of our seats to find out how she got there. You know you’ve got a good show when you know what is probably going to happen and yet you watch anyway. We all knew the big deal at the end of the season had to both touch on the larger arc of Beckett’s mom’s killer, and Beckett’s relationship with Castle.

They wasted no time getting into that, and produced enough new information that Beckett had to pursue the case again. I was impressed with the scene between Beckett and Castle when he reveals that he’s kept a lead secret in order to keep her safe. Both of their motivations were clear and justifiable: Castle made the choice to protect her by keeping the secret; Beckett was mad because he prevented her from potentially solving the case through that lead. Castle then said he was done with her, because he already showed us that he didn’t want to risk his own emotions watching her get herself killed. I love how the show made us agree with both people, and then feel the angst of knowing that they both can’t be pleased. Maybe I’m wrong. Did you think one of them was being stupid? Both?

By the way, I love the part where Castle says he loves her, and she’s like “Really, you’re going to bring that up now?” Excellent! That was true to each character’s motivation and thought process. Beckett didn’t buckle under those words; she fought back, remembering her anger that he just revealed he lied to her.

I also love Beckett’s tenacity to not back down, saying if they want a war, she’ll bring it to them. Awesome example of a strong, female protagonist. Part of you is mad that Castle doesn’t believe in her, but the other part, at least from a man’s perspective, thinks it is better to be safe than sorry when it comes to risking her life. And the villain the show has created, which is able to nearly assassinate Beckett and then slip away scot-free, is so sneaky that when Beckett pursues their lead, she can’t afford to bring back-up for fear that a mole would alert the villain of her coming. Sometimes the enemy you can’t see is more frightening than the one you can. Great creation of an antagonist that is seemingly more powerful than the heroes.

The last thing I want to say is how impressed I was with how they forced Beckett to decide between her opposing desires of finding her killer and being with Castle. Her revelation on the brink of falling off the ledge that Castle was all that mattered was a great way of making her character change as difficult as possible. When you have characters change too easily, the change seems less interesting and believable. As a nod to her strong, stubborn character, Beckett had to fall off a building to realize what really mattered.

Now, going forward into the next season, the audience has had their thirst quenched with the payoff of Castle and Beckett finally getting together, but yet still want to know what happens next. Often times, when you have an unrequited love story, the consummation of that love leaves little else for the audience to care about.

So, what do you think the next season is going to shape up? Beckett has resigned, but at the very end we learn her killer is coming after her. The deal is off…

I’m sorry we weren’t able to have Scott Roche on for this slot, but we hope to sometime soon. In the meantime, check out his podcast Action Pack Podcast, a three stories in one hour show that has zombies, steampunk-western action and alien adventures, from authors Michell Plested, J.R. Murdock and Scott Roche respectively.

Links:

Adventures in SciFi Publishing website (iTunes page)
Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences website (where Shaun’s story will be published)
Moses Siregar III’s website (buy his book The Black God’s War for $.99)
Brent Bowen’s website (tease him about his 2 days in March to get him back in the saddle)

AISFP podcast interview with D.T. Conklin and Lane Diamond

Promo: D.T. Conklin’s Fantasy Epic, Eulogy

You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, but the complete list of back episodes is on my Podcast Page. Music is brought to you by Daddy Scrabble’s “Lorda Mercy” from www.freemusicarchive.org

Thing is, I’m not and haven’t ever really been into comics. I loved my Saturday cartoons of X-Men and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but I wasn’t a collector of comics. I’ve read most of the Walking Dead hardbacks, and really like those, but that’s all I know. I thought about getting started with the new 52 thing that Marvel and DC are doing to reboot the series, but I’m not really a superhero fan. Apparently though, I was the only one.

There were some cute quotes while I was browsing for a comic to try, both from young boys. One came in and asked the owner for a recommendation. The owner asked, “Do you like superheros?” The twelve year old gave an adamant, “Yeah!” Owner: “Spider Man, Super Man…” Boy: “Oh, YEAH! I like all that!” he said, his eyes wide as he followed the owner to the shelves. I loved seeing the boy’s excitement for written entertainment, however few words there would be in this media. His love for story and fiction is all that matters, and it inspired me that that is what I want to do: provide stories that make people excited to read.

Another cute kid came in and with his second step into the shop called out to the owner, “What’s the best comic you’ve EVER sold?” All the adults in the shop laughed at the kid’s enthusiasm and unabashed desire to be wowed. All artists should find inspiration in the hope that our product will fulfill such interest.

Free Comic Book Day is a great way for people like us (including myself with these two boys) to experience something new, and support local shops. Even though I don’t have anything for sale on my site, I consider myself a local business owner–timothycward.com a small name amidst millions of other websites, not to mention authors and podcasters–so I came into that shop with a desire to help support them. I’m a big Amazon consumer–almost predominantly so–so shopping without the advantage of comparing prices was a little unnerving.

I asked one of the owners what he’d recommend for a zombie fan that has already read The Walking Dead. He said that is pretty much it as far as zombie comics, but did point me to Dan Abnett’s “New Deadwardians” (check out this interview with Dan about this new series). That looked cool, but I was more interested in another series the owner showed me called Crossed. They didn’t have any first issues of this multiple-series franchise, but they did have a Crossed 3D hardback. At $15, I could hear my wife asking me “Why?” and reminding me about the signed books I just bought (By the way, Hugh Howey is giving away one, Wool Omnibus, as part of AudioTim 33). But, I didn’t want to leave without supporting the shop, and this post-apocalyptic horror comic, that the owner said was akin to 28 Days Later, looked awesome, though quite crude and gruesome.

So, I bought the Crossed 3D hardback, but more so as a means of charity to a local shop than that I thought a 20 page comic book was worth $15. I am sure that a lot of work went into those twenty pages, and was really impressed with the images and how 3D brought them out, but for time-per-dollar, I don’t imagine this is something I’ll engage in often. My preference is novels, and if I have a hard time purchasing a $15 ebook, (one that will entertain me for fifteen or so hours since I read so slowly), then purchasing a $15 comic is much harder to justify. Sure, I don’t have to buy the more expensive 3D versions, but still, many of these comics were $4. With ebook prices driving down our idea of worth for fiction, I have a hard time paying that much for a single comic, one which will take much less time to consume than a novel.

I enjoyed my experience, and thought the comic I bought was good, but I really don’t see spending that kind of money when I enjoy books just fine for much less money. I just looked up Crossed Vol 1 Hardcover and with shipping it would cost nearly $40. Sure, there’s 240 pages of full color, but man that’s steep. Maybe not for you, but I guess I’ll stick with my books. It’s kind of sad, because I want the comic book industry to do well, and Crossed is a great looking comic with nasty antagonists. I hope there are enough fans out there to support them. Maybe I’ll ask for Vol 1 for my birthday or something.

What do you think? Have you found a way to make comic book purchasing part of your budget? If so, how?

About our guests:

Robin Sullivan is the President of Ridan Publishing. As you’ll hear in this episode, she has created a top-notch, author-friendly publishing model at Ridan, and is one of my favorite people to talk publishing with. This is her fourth interview on my show, and I’m amazed at how each one keeps getting better. Her husband, Michael J. Sullivan, is the author of the best-selling Fantasy series Riyria Revelations. The first book, Theft of Swords is one of my favorite books.

Hugh… well, having him on the show with Robin combines two of my favorite people I’ve met podcasting. He is a terrific writer, and one of the few that I’ll read everything they write. He has a fascinating life experience sailing in two hurricanes, which played a part in the next book of his I plan to read, The Hurricane. Hugh is a tremendous, humble guy, who has generously offered two giveaways for my show. AudioTim 32 was a t-shirt giveaway (deadline May 21st to enter), and for this episode, he is giving away a signed copy of Wool Omnibus.

You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, but the complete list of back episodes is on my Podcast Page. Music is brought to you by Daddy Scrabble’s “Lorda Mercy” from www.freemusicarchive.org

How to Enter Signed Wool Omnibus Giveaway

* Stephanie H. from the UK won the Omnibus. Congrats, Stephanie, and thanks to all who participated! Thanks as well to Hugh for his generosity in offering a signed version! Way cool!

You can tweet a link to this podcast along with my twitter handle @timothycward (for tracking purposes)

You can go to my Facebook Author Page and share the post I made (as opposed to making your own post because I can’t track those easily)

Or, if you don’t use Facebook or Twitter, you can email me at tim [at] timothycward [dot] com, use Signed Wool as subject line. You’ll receive one entry (please don’t email me a hundred times ), whereas the Twitter and Facebook options can be done more often and earns an entry each time you do.

Normally, I use Rafflecopter, but they’re having problems right now, so we’re going manual-style.

Deadline: All entries before 00:00 PST on 5/9. I will choose the winner at random, and announce it in this post on 5/9 as well as via the way they entered (facebook, twitter, email). If I don’t hear back within 48 hours, though, I’ll move on to another entrant.

Worldwide option (Hugh has graciously offered to mail this book outside the US and Canada.)

The second podcast will air next Wednesday, and will be an Indie Publishing panel discussion with Hugh and Robin Sullivan, Publisher at Ridan Publishing who helped manage Michael J. Sullivan’s Riyria Revelations series. Their unique experiences going from self-published to literary stardom makes this upcoming podcast one you shouldn’t miss. I like this episode too, because Hugh has some great insight into the story of Wool, the characters behind the story (without spoilers) and why so many people loved reading it. I elaborate more on why I loved Hugh’s book on my book review. Because Hugh is such a generous guy, he is also giving away a signed copy of Wool Omnibus, but details for that will be part of the second interview, so stop by next Wednesday to enter to win that.

T-Shirt Giveaway

Now, on to the details about Hugh’s t-shirt giveaway. As you can see, Hugh has some Wool t-shirts up at his CafePress store. There are some great options, and as Hugh said, he’s priced them as low as he can. But, I thought it would be cool to have a contest to create another Wool t-shirt.

Rules:
Comment on this post with your t-shirt idea.
– If for some reason you don’t want your idea to be made public, just say so and I won’t make it viewable, but I’ll still be able to see it and enter it in to the contest.

There has to be some way for Hugh to put this shirt together. Give us a clear idea as to what you imagine, but if we can’t replicate it well enough, then I’ll choose one that we can.
– For example, an entry like “A missile shoots into the top of the silo and explodes, blowing up the whole silo and everyone in it.” Unless you draw that for us, that is going to be more work than we might have time for.
– A better example would be something like: “Be Prepared shirt, but different slogan under ‘Silo.’ Instead put, “I can read.” — that would assume same lettering and framework style, so we’d be able to make that one easily.

While you can chose any color shirt, the lettering and design has to be in black for cost reasons.

Hugh has entrusted me to decide which t-shirt idea will win (… no I won’t be entering ) If you have any questions, use the contact page up at the top and send me an email.

Deadline: May 21st
Because of the second stipulation, I am going to give you almost four weeks to come up with your idea. This should give you adequate time to design your idea if it is more complicated than directing Hugh to use lettering and styles already in place, but maybe a different slogan or something. I am posting a podcast of Mike Shevdon on the 23rd, the day of his Strangeness and Charm: Courts of the Feyre #3 book launch, so the order that week will be: cutoff for submissions midnight CST Monday the 21st, then announcement of winner on Tuesday the 22nd. That way Mike can have the whole day for his post.

Thanks to those who sent in questions on Twitter, you did a great job adding to the show!

Jack Danger Canty ‏ @jackdanger: @timothycward Also: I want to hear about Hugh’s take on grief, grieving and what it takes to kill a beloved character. /cc @hughhowey

Andy Sherwood ‏ @xinmyname: @timothycward For Hugh: Have you optioned WOOL as a movie yet? Will Joss Whedon direct?
– Sorry Andy, I forgot about this one. We talk about his movie option a little in the next podcast (next Wednesday)

Scott Roche ‏ @spiritualtramp: @timothycward @hughhowey Is each one of “Wool”s episodes a complete story arc on its own?

Roundtable Podcast ‏ @WritersPodcast: @timothycward @hughhowey Was Wool ALWAYS going to be a series? If not, when did you realize it would be?

You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, but the complete list of back episodes is on my Podcast Page. Music is brought to you by Daddy Scrabble’s “Lorda Mercy” from www.freemusicarchive.org

Hugh’s unbiased narration keeps the reader on their toes because either side could reasonably succeed. Hugh adeptly portrayed each character’s struggle to survive in a way that made me root for them, put myself in their shoes, and experience their emotions as they fought to survive. Even his antagonist is sympathetic. No spoilers here, but Hugh makes a strong case for this character’s motivation. Hugh does a great job of raising the stakes, interlacing conflict, and surprising the reader at every turn. Hugh’s writing is as rare a gem as his characters, and is diverse enough to appeal to anyone who wants to know what it feels like to hope in the midst of overwhelming doubt.

I first became a fan of Hugh through his novelette, The Plagiarist, which is an excellent Science Fiction story about worlds within worlds, and what it would feel like to enjoy the artificial world more–a concept many gamers are well acquainted with. You can read my Goodreads review here.

Hugh has a prequel series out now, First Shift – Legacy (Part 6 of the Silo Series), but he recommends reading Wool Omnibus first. You can buy each of the five stories in Wool Omnibus separately, but trust me when I say you’ll save money by just getting them all in one. Try out the sample if you are a real skeptic, but that should be more than enough to convince you to take the plunge into the Silo Series. I believe all of his books are available in paperback, and he even offers to sell signed copies on his website.

(Wednesday, May 2, I’ll post a podcast panel interview with Hugh and Robin Sullivan discussing their journeys in independent publishing (AudioTim 33), and as part of that, Hugh will give away a signed copy of Wool Omnibus in the original artwork edition–sure to be a collectible.)

Stay tuned for this Wednesday, April 25, when I release my podcast interview with Hugh discussing Wool and a bit of his other stories, including his experimental zombie book, I, Zombie (AudioTim 32). He just posted a video of his live reading of I, Zombie.  There will be a t-shirt giveaway associated with this podcast, so don’t miss out!

One piece of advice that they each emphasized was the importance of quality over quantity.

It really made an impression on me. As I fantasized about being in their position, being able to quit my day job by selling a story that would sell tens of thousands of copies a month, a new level of patience formed in my brain. Suddenly, the tasks my editor gave me to break down each scene, (goals, conflict, and resolution; each character’s wants; how the technology is working/how they perceive it to be working), no longer became a burden on my time, but an opportunity for me to turn my work into six figure quality. I’m not writing for the money, but I am trying to produce the quality of stories that will earn that kind of money. As you’ll hear Robin say, these bestsellers aren’t there by accident; they have a strength in quality that impacts enough people, that they are bought and produce fans en masse. That’s what I want.

As you’ll hear Hugh say, writing is a hobby of solitude. The fan base he’s discovered is what makes this a dream come true for him. Not once did he mention things he’s bought, but time and time again, he mentioned how joyful he is to have such dedicated and cool fans.

Michael and Hugh both have such large, and dedicated fan bases because they took the time to put out quality work. That’s what I aspire for. Even though I have a deadline (July) to turn this fourth draft in, I’m still taking the time–and seeing the importance of doing so–to make sure each and every scene shines.

It’s important that we recognize what it took for the writers whom we look up to to get where they are. Hugh had eight or nine products out on the market before Wool became his major bestseller. Michael didn’t hit it big until his third novel was out. The advice there is not to rush to get to piece nine, or novel three, but to make everything you put out the best quality work you can, then have each piece build your audience through word of mouth.

Wool T-Shirt Giveaway
As a form of preparation for the giveaway I’m going to announce with the first episode of my podcasts with Hugh (4/25), there are a number of Wool t-shirts over at Cafe Press. Hugh is going to give away a shirt, but my idea is to have people think of new designs for a Wool t-shirt, and then the best design not only gets made, but that person gets one. So, in the meantime, prime your artistic minds towards what kind of shirt you’d like to see.

And now it’s back to polishing up more scenes.

Michael is also one of the nominees for the Independent Book Bloggers Award, which you can vote on (HERE). In my research for my interview with Michael, I read through a handful of posts on his blog, and must say that he has some excellent writing advice on there. Michael is also a very humble guy, and when you combine that humility with the quality of his stories, you can’t help but root for the guy’s success. If he wins this award, the IBBA will send him to New York for the ceremony, something he sounds pretty excited for. I’d rather his wife, Robin, lock him in his room to write more books, but I suppose he needs to get out sometimes .

In the interview, Michael summarizes some of these blog posts, and elaborates on them per my questions:
Applied Description
Dealing with Failure
Sculpting Language
Combining the Real and the Unreal
Voice
and finally, A Reason to Read

My last reason for thinking of posting this interview is because in my switch from hosting my podcasts on Posterous to this website, the itunes store doesn’t have episodes 23 and earlier. I don’t mind if you don’t listen to the earliest ones, but this one is a definite keeper. You can read more about my discovery of Theft of Swords on my Saturday Spotlight post, including a link to the free, short story prequel, The Viscount and the Witch, which I guess I just gave you.

You can subscribe to my podcast on iTunes (HERE). You are also free to share this promo taken from a two minute quote from Michael’s interview. Music is brought to you by Nalle, “New Roots” from freemusicarchive.org