Bryce Beattie's Blog, page 12

Podcast: Interview with Daniel Swenson

A couple of weeks ago, Daniel made the journey all the way out to beautiful StoryHack Studios for an in person chat. Not that Skype is bad or anything, but it is always much more fun to do these in person. Daniel’s the founder of the Hugo-finalist podcast Dungeon Crawlers Radio. Today, his debut novel is officially released, so it’s time for him to sit on the other side of the metaphorical interview table. Except in this case it was an actual table.



Random show notes:

[0:30] Daniel embraces his hair color and laments the loss of gingers in comic-based media
[1:50] The Golden Eagles & hockey
[3:20] 10 redheads under one roof.
Bonus Fact: Daniel has a one-eyed dog that is terrible at playing catch.
[5:30] The Shadow Above the Flames
[8:15] Daniel’s writing process
[11:45] Getting published
[12:45] Definitely not a spoiler
Bonus Fact: Daniel has chickens.
[13:40] Dungeon Crawlers: A History
[17:48] The most exciting guest.
[20:15] Games & Helping out the little guy
[22:22] Daniel has two closets full of games. I only have one, so this made me feel a little inadequate…
[23:22] Running rpgs for teenagers
[24:45] RPG recommendations – Firefly RPG, D&D, Savage Worlds
[28:48] Board Game Suggestions – Shadows of Brimstone, Betrayal at House on the Hill
[31:23] What’s next for Daniel? How to find him online.

More about Daniel:

Daniel’s Facebook Author Page
Daniel on Twitter
Dungeon Crawlers Radio
The Shadow Above the Flames

Campaign ending soon.

We’re down to the last little bit for the StoryHack campaign on Kickstarter. We’ve hit and gone a little over the goal! Issue #1 is getting made. Thank you to everybody who has helped this happen. The pledges, the retweets, the posts, all of it. I’m blown away by all of the support. Any extra funds from pledges now will go toward making issue #2.

The Campaign

Also, I’ll be opening up submissions for Issue 1 on June 12. Submissions will be open for about 3 weeks. So get your pulp stories ready.

Jon Del Arroz interviewed me!

I just did an interview over at Jon Del Arroz’s blog. Go check it out.

Storyhack: A New Short Fiction Magazine Inspired By The #PulpRevolution

My Fyrecon Schedule

I’ll be teaching a couple of classes and moderating a panel at Fyrecon on June 9-11. I may also be doing an author spotlight (signing thing) at some point.

Friday, June 10

10:30 AM – Podcasting 101. All the basics you’ll need to know if you want to podcast. I’ll cover mics and other hardware, software, hosting, and getting your podcast listed in iTunes/etc. All in 50 minutes.

Saturday, June 11

11:30 AM – Author Websites 101. You’ll learn the basics of how to design and build a good author website. You’ll also learn what a good author website actually is.
3:30 AM – Writers and Artists Collaboration. I’m moderating this panel, also with me will be Caryn Larrinaga, who has been on the podcast before.

My Favorite Pulps: Lester Del Rey

I love the pulps. Seriously.

Have I talked about Lester Del Rey on here before? Yes, but it’s been a long time. So I have to do it again. He was an author and editor (Del Rey books still carries his name) and he wrote a bunch of great stories. I think I first bumped into him while cruising Gutenberg (maybe manybooks or feedbooks?) for free scifi. This was probably back in my prenook, prekindle days (2005-8?) when I had an eBookWise, which was my first ereader. It was super comfortable to use. Seriously, that thing may have been a bit heavy, but it was backlit long before eink devices figured out how to install a light bulb, its battery lasted like 4-5 times as long as the PDAs of the era, and it was easy to grip and change pages with one hand. The only downside was that it was a pain to get books loaded onto it. I digress.

Anyway, I didn’t have a ton of extra cash so I was always scouring the net for freebies. This was about the time I discovered A Princess of Mars and Solomon Kane, too. I read all the time and my pulp addiction was really taking off. So I happened upon three Del Rey works: Police Your Planet, Badge of Infamy, and Victory.

Let me start with Victory. I don’t remember much of the story itself, but I remember it being all space battle-y and fun. I also remember from this one the very idea of flying spaceships without a computer. I hadn’t really considered that before, being raised around computers my whole life. That thought really sparked my imagination.

Badge of Infamy really appealed to my libertarian streak. A doctor helps save the life of his best friend outside of a medical lobby-approved environment (it was an emergency). For this great crime, he is stripped of his doctor credentials and made into a societal outcast. His also-doctor wife basically disowns him but doesn’t divorce (So that they can reconnect later, spoiler). Despondent and oppressed, he sneaks his way onto a mars-bound spaceship to start a new life. On the red planet, he becomes involved in a revolution. Also, and this is a HUUUUGEEE spoiler, so don’t read the italics if you think it will ruin your enjoyment. He totally discovers that smoking martian space-weed is the cure for space lung cancer! How pulp is that?

Police Your Planet is probably the most pulpy of these three and would make an awesome movie. Just forget the rather tame covers that have besmirched the various paperback editions you find online. Our stalwart hero had had a number of manly jobs (newspaper man, prize fighter, I think a cop…) on Earth but he gets kicked off (probably for doing the right thing) with a yellow ticket, which means he can never return. On Mars he’s forced into a life of gambling, then a life of law enforcement, then political thuggery, and finally revolution. (Del Rey apparently didn’t like authoritarians or corruption) All the while there’s a woman who in turn tries to kill him , marries him (Plot Device!), and finally falls in love with him. The plot does not slow down for even one second. Honestly, Hollywood, why reboot more boring franchises when you could throw awesomness like this at the silver screen?

PS. Lester Del Rey also wrote a story called “Let ’em Breathe Space” which is possibly the best-named story of all time.

If you haven’t yet, check out the StoryHack Action & Adventure kickstarter. We’re about 3/4 of the way to the goal – within striking distance. There’s about 2 weeks left in the campaign, so please help out by passing the link along.

Podcast: Interview with Carl Hackman

Another author interview! This time I had a chance to meet Carl Hackman, who before becoming a published author had a number of adventure careers.

Some interview notes:

[0:13] – Off continent? Out of the country anyway. I’m a doofus
[0:33] – 3 things about Carl
[1:14] – Carl laments not tuning up a guitar to make this a musical interview
[1:40] – Carl fled the rat race all the way to the Dominican Republic, where he now resides
[2:33] – How Carl got into animal rescue
[3:45] – Choosing the Dominican Republic
[4:25] – Carl has jumped out of more helicopters than you
[5:30] – Carl’s writing process
[6:50] – The neighborhood dog choir
[7:30] – Gerald
[9:41] – What Carl’s working on now
[10:05] – Carl’s literary favorites
[11:30] – When Carl started writing
Aside: I love how Carl pronounces “Jaguar”
[12:40] – What Carl is reading now
[13:20] – The story of getting published
[14:30] – Immortal Works is awesome
[16:00] – Juggling ideas
[17:00] – Scrivener
[17:45] – What should I have asked?
[18:20] – Helicopters
[19:00] – Wrapping up

If you want to learn more about Carl:

http://www.carlhackman.com/
Carl’s Youtube Channel
Gerald – Carl’s book on Amazon
Carl on twitter
Carl’s Facebook
Carl’s Instagram

The Biggest Bummer of Issue 0

StoryHack Action & Adventure is now over halfway pledged to the goal, and we have about three weeks left in the campaign. I am just so grateful to everybody who has pledged, retweeted and posted about this project. I think we’re on track to hitting that goal.

Also, the first couple of reviews are in for Issue 0 on Amazon. As with every published work these days, reviews can mean the difference between utter obscurity and wild success, so thanks to everyone who has taken the time to review!

I’ve also had some good feedback from other authors and long time pulp fans. For that, I am also grateful.

The one thing that really bummed me out out about issue zero was the lack of interior art. I actually ordered some, but the artist returned a bunch of unusable images. Too dark, weird composition of hand drawn and photo, and just not of the quality I want to put out. So, I figured I’d let it go without and let the stories stand on their own. I really want to put art in front of the stories for issue 1, and if the pledging trends continue, I’ll have the money to do it. This time I’ll spread the art out to several artists and I’ll vet them a little better before commissioning.

So good progress has been made, but we’ve still got a ways to go. If you’d like to help spread the word, just tweet or post this link:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1738328302/storyhack-action-and-adventure-issue-1

Cheers!

StoryHack, Issue 1 is live on Kickstarter!

All right, everything is finally ready. The campaign for StoryHack Action & Adventure, Issue 1 is now live. Check it out and let me know what you think. I’m kind of a one man show in this thing, so I never know if the jokes are going to land, etc.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1738328302/storyhack-action-and-adventure-issue-1

If you haven’t seen the announcement floating around, Issue 0 is out and the ebook is ready for downloading. There’s a link on the KickStarter page. I think it turned out great and I’m pumped about the quality of stories I was able to include.

If you want to help keep the pulp goodness flowing, please share that KickStarter link on any Facebook page or group you’re a member of where it makes sense to do so. Or tweet something. You know, help me get the word out. I will be forever grateful.

Here we go!

I’m uploading Issue 0 to the various online retailers today. It’ll take a day or two for everything to be made live. I’m setting the price of the ebook to free, where I can, for at least the duration of the kickstarter campaign, which should go live tomorrow. I know amazon won’t let me set the price to zero, but it should price match down eventually. Also, I’ll have a separate page here on the site for downloading the ebook version. Any questions?

Story Hack, Issue Zero Cover

Here’s the cover:

Hopefully, all the names are now right.

Here’s what to expect now: This week I’ll polish up the last few edits, lay it out, and start uploading to the various sites. The short crowdfunding video is filmed and edited and I think I have the content written for the campaign page.

I’m hoping to make the issue and the crowdfunding campaign live by the middle of next week. Once that happens, I’m asking for all the help I can get in getting the word out. I’d love to stop by your blog or have other pulp-minded souls stop by here. Just comment here or shoot me an email “bryce” at this site if you’re interested. Retweets and Facebook posts are also always appreciated.