Balticon 43 Flyer
The Balticon 43 flyer is now available. Download it! Share it! Get ready for Balticon 43 now!
BC42.75 - Urban Tapestry - Filk Guests of Honor
Urban Tapestry are a Toronto-based filk/folk trio consisting of Allison Durno, Jodi Krangle and Debbie Ridpath Ohi. They’ve performed all over the world and won several Pegasus awards. Discounting all that, they’re really a trio of talented, intelligent, and fun women. This is one of the best interviews I’ve ever done, and certainly the most fun.
We talked music, friendship, and sci-fi. And best of all, they sang me a song. Urban Tapestry’s music can be found at one of my favorite music sites, CD Baby. You can go to CD Baby now and preview music from their albums Sushi and High Tea, and Myths and Urban Legends.
- How they met
- Their favorite song subjects
- A Cappella and Instruments
- My only harp joke
- SONG: I am Your Friend, live by Urban Tapestry in A Cappella
- PROMO: Contents Under Pressure, an Arbiter Chronicles event presented by Prometheus Radio Theater
- The origin of the name Urban Tapestry
- Out of print, Creative Commons, and Previews
- Baltimore is for Blue Crabs
- The conventions they normally attend
- Play it with Moxie
- SONG: Sweet Dream (are made of this) by George Hrab
Urban Tapestry’s My Space page
George Hrab’s music is available through his website and through CD Baby
BC42.74 - John Jude Palencar
This week we present an interview with Balticon 42 Art Guest of Honor, John Jude Palencar. Mr. Palencar is a world famous artist and illustrator who has been winning awards for his distinctive style of art for over two decades. He is known mostly for his book covers, which have appeared on hundreds of books in over thirty countries. He has done cover art for renowned authors such as HP Lovecraft, Ursula LeGuin, Marrion Zimmer Bradley, Octavia Butler, and many many more.
Most recently his cover paintings for Eragon and Eldest, by Christopher Paolini, has appeared on the New York Times children’s best seller list for the past year. John’s work made such an impact on the author that he named Eragon’s birthplace “Palencar Valleyâ€.
Mr. Palencar also enjoys an on-going artist-in-residence program in Country Kerry, Ireland. His paintings were included in a special exhibit entitled, “Images of Irelandâ€, held at the National Museum in Dublin.
- Getting started in art is tough
- There isn’t enough horror
- Horror started it all
- John avoids narrative covers
- Keep it simple. Keep it symbolic
- The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious
- Color palates
- PROMO: Arbiter Chronicles
- On-going artist-in-residence in County Kerry, Ireland
- Ireland and art
- Pub life in Ireland
- Advice for cover artists
- Traditional art and digital music
- SONG: The Vampire Club, by Voltaire
Balticon 42.73 - Guest of Honor Connie Willis
This week we bring you an interview with that most prolific and award winning author, Connie Willis. Ms. Willis was the Balticon 42 guest of honor and we had a great time talking to her about the craft of writing and her personal journey as an author.
Books by Connie Willis available at Amazon.com.
- H.L. Menken
- She came to sci-fi by reading Robert A. Heinlein’s “Juveniles”
- Ms. Willis loves Christmas
- Phones and Cell Phones
- Why Sci-Fi and not Historical Fiction?
- Time travel gives us the modern viewpoint
- PROMO: Arise charity request from Chris Lester of Metamor City
- PROMO: Mean Mommies Club
- Humor: Written vs. Spoken
- Writing, criticism, and advice for new and upcoming writers
- Finishing up All Clear. She’s been working on it for 6 years and it may be 3 or 4 volumes. It’s about the civilian aspects of World War II England.
- OUTRO: How can you help your favorite authors
- SONG: Dance, Soterios Johnson, Dance by Jonathan Coulton
Free Book: Playing For Keeps full PDF with bonus story- PARASITE AWAKENS
Mur Lafferty has released her novel Playing for Keeps for free as a PDF.
A free book? There’s no such thing as a free book! What’s the catch?
No catch. It’s free. But, Mur asks that if you like it you purchase it from Amazon.com on August 25. She’s making a run on Amazon and really needs us all to pitch in and help her get noticed. She, like so many others, has a book contract now. But podcasting novels are still a new medium for delivery and we need to show the publishing industry that this makes a difference.
Martha and I have read the PDF version multiple time. We help Mur by making the PDFs and doing layout and formatting. We also did a little editing. All of this was to help Mur make the best product possible. We bought the first version of Playing for Keeps when it was self-published on Lulu.com. And now we’re joining her for her run on Amazon and we’ll be buying multiple copies of Playing for Keeps as published by Swarm Press.
Mur has delivered countless hours of enjoyment and encouragement to the pod-o-sphere. She has also inspired and rallied people including me. It is not an exaggeration to say that if Mur wasn’t here I wouldn’t be either. I wonder how many other people to whom you listen, read, and watch are here because they were inspired by Mur Lafferty. I’m guessing the number is larger than you think.
So be ready to place your order from Amazon.com for Playing for Keeps on Monday August 25. Be there! Aloha.
Balticon 43 Guest of Honor Announced
The Balticon 43 Con-Chair, Misha Field, is proud to announce that British author Charles Stross has been confirmed as GOH for the 2009 Balticon. Charles Stross’s writing has earned him the title of Hugo award winner, 2006 and 2007 Locus Award winner, 2007 Prometheus Award winner, and 2008 winner of the Edward E. Smith Memorial Award also known as the Skylark.
Second Free Book - Pitcher’s Pendant
Due to a problem with iTunes I have to put the link to Tee Morris’s book in a separate post. Please see the previous post for all the relevant info.
Free Books from Dragon Moon Press - Digital Magic
Authors Tee Morris and Philippa Ballantine have released their latest novels as free PDFs.
Tee Morris is the author of the novels Morevi: The Chronicles of Raif and Askana and The Case of the Singing Sword: A Billibub Baddings Mystery. He is also the co-author of the non-fiction works Podcasting for Dummies and Expert Podcasting Practices for Dummies. He has podcasts for the above mention fiction as well as a companion podcast for the Dummies books.
Philippa Ballantine is the author of the novels Weaver’s Web and Chasing the Bard. These novels are also available as podcasts. Her free PDF novel is Digital Magic, the follow up to Chasing the Bard.
Tee’s free PDF novel is The Case of the Pitcher’s Pendant: A Billibub Baddings Mystery. If you couldn’t tell by the title this is the second in his Billi Baddings series.
Both authors say that these books can be read and enjoyed without having read the earlier novels. We hope you enjoy them too.
Please join Tee and Philippa as they make their run on the Amazon.com charts on Aug 8, 2008. If you enjoy Pitcher’s Pendant and Digital Magic, please support the authors by buying their books from Amazon.com on 8/8/08. They need your help to show the publishing world that podcast listeners matter. This is your chance to show the world what we can do.
Balticon Podcast 41.72 - Memories of Balticon 42
Paul and Martha reminisce about the coolest moments of Balticon 42. They are joined by special guest, Tee Morris. And have lots of call-ins from the new voicemail line, 1-206-666-2843.
- Paul needs to build a new intro and outro for B42 audio
- Interviewing and having breakfast with Connie Willis
- Memories from Jared Axelrod
- Connie Willis and James Patrick Kelly reacting to George Hrab’s Brains Body Both
- Recording author readings
- Memories from Nobilis
- Hanging out with Helen E. H. Madden
- Engineering for Soccergirl
- Memories from SVAllie
- Having a beer with Peter S. Beagle
- PROMO: Murder at Avadon Hill, by P.G. Holyfield
- Memories from Bill DeSmedt
- Dr. Jack’s Soapbox Seminars
- Paul got crabs from Earl Newton
- Stranger Things: The Singularity
- Heather Welliver’s concert (backed up by members of Stokely Rose)
- Memories from Heather Welliver
- Paul makes the fun
- Memories from Marc Grailwolf Bailey
- I wish you stuff
- My totally fanboy man crush on George Hrab
- Memories from Tee Morris
- Sucking Mur Lafferty’s finger
- Tee getting thrown out of Mur’s live show by Matt Wallace
- Kracken’s Quest - The hunt for Tee’s jersey
- We have spawned another sci-fi con podcast!
- Memories from Icepick
- Paul wishes he had time to talk to David Moldawer
- Memories from Chooch and Viv
- Martha is now Lady Lightning!
- Thank you to all the volunteers who helped with recordings: Cmdln, Bruce, Jim Van Verth, Tee Morris
- We have been nominated for two Parsec Awards for the Balticon Podcast and Serve It Cold
- Send us more feedback
- Next time, Guest of Honor Connie Willis
Soccergirl Live From Balticon
Somehow this email from Jun 6 got lost. Sorry for the delayed notification, but Soccergirl has posted the audio from her live show at Balticon. I had the pleasure of engineering it for her and really enjoyed the opportunity.
Listen here.
Balticon Podcast 42.71 - Matthew Wayne Selznick
This episode is awesome. We talked with Matthew Wayne Selznick (WMS) at Balticon 41, back in May 2007, and we talk to him again in July 2008 to update the interview and discuss his Sovereign Summer Sunday, July 13, 2008. In fact, it’s an all MWS Balticon Podcast episode with a promo and music by Matt as well.
Matt’s book, Brave Men Run, will be released by Swarm Press on Sunday July 13, 2008.
Check Matt’s blog for more info on his Sovereign Summer Sunday event!
Updates: Matt wants me to let you know some things we didn’t cover in the updates. He no longer offers web hosting and all his podcasts have been collapsed into one called Sonitotum. It is the companion podcast to his blog, Scribtotum.
Call in Your Memories of Balticon 42
We just renewed our voicemail line with K7.net and got a new number. This number is good for all the Dancing Cat Studios feedback. But right now, we want your feedback from Balticon 42.
What did you like?
What did you hate?
Who did you meet?
What totally blew you away?
Who did you fall in love with?
How has your life been changed?
Call 1-206-666-2843 now and let us know.
Balticon 41.70 - Guests of Honor Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
It’s been a long time coming but we’re finally presenting our interview with Balticon 41 Guests of Honor Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. They’re latest collaboration is Inferno. Mark J. Gross, author of The Sci-Fi Scene column in Autograph Collector, shares the interviewing duties.
- PROMO: Stranger Things
- PROMO: Pieces Podcast
- MUSIC: To Earth for the Music by Bottomland
Call our voicemail line at 1-206-666-2843.
Walter Jon Williams, his latest book and free Nebula winning story
I just found this through Boing Boing. Walter Jon Williams talks about his latest novel, Implied Spaces. At the end of the article is a link to an excerpt from Implied Spaces and a link to a free copy of his Nebula award winning story, The Green Leopard Plague.
I found this through Boing Boing.
