Doc Coleman's Blog, page 28

The Wayback Machine: Every Photo Tells…: Episode 32 – Welcome to Paradox

My second submission to the Every Photo Tells… podcast went live on October 24th, 2010. This story was an interesting challenge. The prompt photo featured a shot of a spooky face graffiti-ed onto a wall, with a man lying on the sidewalk next to the wall and box sitting at his feet. The picture was oddly engaging, but left me confused as to how to proceed. The objects in the image were discordant with each other. They didn't fit. And that became my hook. They didn't fit. A man out of place. And that soon became a man out of time. I've always been fond of time travel stories, so I wrote one of my own. Welcome to Paradox, the story of a man convicted of a crime he had yet to commit, and how his sentence nearly destroyed the fabric of the universe. Sometimes, the only person you can depend on is yourself…

I hope you enjoy listening to this story. I am proud to say that it was nominated for a Parsec Award in the Best Speculative Fiction Story (Short Form) category. Competition in this category was fierce and I did not make it into the finals. Maybe next year…

Later this fall I plan to put this story up on Smashwords for those folks who prefer text. Or who just like doing all the voices themselves. I've been tied up of late trying to untangle some other projects, but as soon as that is taken care of, the next thing on my list is getting this story ready for release.

If you like this story, please go to the Every Photo Tells… site and sample some of the other stories. Or better yet, go to Podiobooks.com and subscribe to the Volume 1 collection of stories from the podcast.

The Wayback Machine: Galley Table Episode Nine – Gotchas

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.

This episode also features an interview with Chris Lester of Metamor City, talking about how Metamor City evolved, and how he got into podcasting. Aside from the interview with Chris, we talk about "Gotchas" those little things that appear in fiction that just get under your skin one way or another. And of course, there is Issue Three of Flagship Magazine. If you missed it the first time around, have a listen. Or give it another listen, it is still a fun podcast!

I'm going to try to keep the Wayback Machine ticking over regularly and get the Master Feed caught up. I won't pound the feed with content, but hopefully I can make it worth mentioning.

Stay tuned!

Guest post at http://www.ChocolateScotch.com

Today my guest post at ChocolateScotch.com went live. This is part of the Creativity series, where different creatives from around the net have been asked to present their ideas on Art, Creativity, and Inspiration. This has been a really interesting and varied series. My article is post number 54, so there are a LOT of folks chiming in on this. You can find my essay over on the Chocolate Scotch site, and while you're there, take some time out and read some of the other articles!

It is a really excellent series, and I'm proud to be a part of it.

Ghost Ship

I have got to tell you about this great book I just finished reading. Which also means telling you about a lot of other books by the same authors. The book is Ghost Ship by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, and it is the third book in one series and the 8th book in another series, and… it's kind of complicated.

Ghost Ship is the sequel to Fledgling, and Saltation, and it continues the story of Theo Waitley, young Jump Pilot, Starship Courier, as she finds herself with a rather tangled problem. Theo has been given a key to one of the most sought after space ships in the galaxy. Sought after mostly because it was lost right after it came online. This ship is now stalking her, with one purpose on it's electronic mind: to bring her aboard… and have her take her rightful place as Captain. Of course, there are problems with that. Her sometime boyfriend Liaden Scout Win Ton yo'Vala found the ship and sent her the Captain's key. He has the Co-Pilot's key, but he was captured by the Department of the Interior and tortured in an attempt to get him to turn over the ship and the Captain's key. Win Ton escaped, but he has been poisoned, and the only technology than can save him is on the ship.

In over her head, Theo follows some old advice from her father and goes to Liad and puts her problem before the Delm of Clan Korval, the head of one of the most powerful Clan on the entire world! Doing this, she discovers a few things: Korval is battling the same Department of the Interior, The Clan just got kicked off of the planet for using the planetary defense grid to take out the Department's Headquarters, and the Delm Korval? He just happens to be her half-brother Val Con yos'Phelium.

Confused?

Don't be. The confusion is in my summing up, not in the writing. And in the fact that Ghost Ship joins the Theo Waitley series with the Agent of Change series also by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. That series starts with Agent of Change and up until this month concluded with the 7th book, I Dare. Those books follow Clan Korval's stuggles with the Department of the Interior in their attempt to covertly take over the planet Liad and wipe out the unwanted Terran influence. The Department sees Korval as an unbalancing influence and seeks to remove them. Bad move.

Honestly, all of these books are great, even the other Agent of Change books that I haven't listed and a few more Liaden Universe novels that are outside the two series. Sharon Lee and Steve Miller do a great job of creating characters and the cultures that shaped them, and setting a stage to a world that is both familiar and unique at the same time. These really are books that you can't put down. You'll read them in record time because you have to know what happens next, and they leave you still wanting more. I have to say that these books are the best of Space Opera as a genre. I finished Ghost Ship in a weekend, then handed it to my wife who consumed its 300+ pages in a day.

I shan't spoil the book for you, but encourage you to pick up the Theo Waitley trilogy for yourself. Until the next book. For the authors, I bow in the mode of Grateful Audience to Master Artisan.

Another year over

Some people fear birthdays. They hide them. They deny them.

Not me.

For me, a birthday is a victory celebration! Another year to stride upon this Earth, win battles, and fight off death for another day.  In the end to plunge my banner into the heart of another year and cry to the heavens that this year will not defeat me! I have taken on all that it had to dish out and I remain standing! Victorious!

But not everyone sees it like that.

There have been a lot of changes over the past year.

We discovered how hard hit our finances were with my wife losing her unemployment benefits, and managed to come back from the edge of disaster and balance accounts out again. There is still some debt to pay off, but at least now we're not losing ground hand over fist.

I got my weight down under 300 pounds. It meant a lot to me to pass the century mark, although it is still odd to have strangers come up and tell me that I've lost weight.

I started my own podcast, and became a regular on Galley Table. I have found that I really enjoy podcasting. Although I still can't believe I suckered myself into doing a weekly release schedule.  D'oh!

Somehow I got nominated for a Parsec Award… three times!

I sold my first article. Not a story, but an essay. Still, my first sale of written words. And that really made me take a close look at my writing and what I planned for it. I don't have a lot of completed works. I really need to get the stories I have out there and get them earning. And I need to do more writing and develop a catalog of work. Something to make my Goodreads profile look a little more filled out, at least.

I started voice acting, and kind of dove into it in a big way, racking up six different parts so far. And I've got at least two different offers of more parts.

My day job office relocated, bringing another set of changes.

I attended my first convention as a panelist. While it was great fun, it was different saying, "Hi, I'm the most obscure person on today's panel." But I would not have traded it. I would have bargained away the throat ailment that I picked up at Balticon, but not the rest of the con…

And there was surgery, removing a blood clot from my arm. I got through that.

Now a new year looms ahead. Forty-Five. It is already preparing a new set of challenges. But I shall meet them. And I have goals of my own. I will see about getting paid for voicework. Selling more stories, and aiming towards my first professional sale. NaNoWriMo. Completing my first book. Maybe even that Parsec Award!

There are many obstacles ahead, but I intend to press on.

TO VICTORY!

New page for DocColeman.com!

To try to make things a little easier for folks to find my various projects, I've set up a new splash page for DocColeman.com. This new page links to each of the major projects that I have going, providing a simple launch point for anyone looking into my work. Please take a look at the page and let me know what you think of it.

Right now, it is just a basic page, but I may end up moving some things over to that site, such as some of the galleries and the Lee of the Scale blog from scaleslea.net. It will depend on what happens with the host for that site.

Phoenix Rising: A Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences Novel

Phoenix Rising: A Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences Novel is the first novel from Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris writing together. They take us back to the age of Queen Victoria, and give us a view of a secret organization in Her Majesty's government. This clandestine organization, the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences, deals with the strange, the bizarre, and those things best not talked about in polite society. Agents of the Ministry travel the world investigating these strange and unusual events, and returning dangerous artifacts to Mother England where they can be safely stored away from dangerous hands.

This tale follows Eliza D. Braun, an agent of the Ministry originally from New Zealand. Exiled from her homeland under mysterious circumstances, Eliza is one of the most effective agents of the Ministry. And one of the least covert. After her latest mission led to the destruction of a stronghold of the secret society known as the House of Usher, and the mountain that housed the stronghold, Eliza is put on suspension, and re-assigned from the field to serve the ministry in the Archives, the repository of all these dangerous artifacts and boring agent reports.

Another thing deposited in the Archives is one Wellington Thornhill Books, Esquire, the Ministry's appointed Archivist, and the object of Eliza's last mission. Kidnapped by the House of Usher, and returned by the unconventional Miss Braun, Mr. Books was looking forward to returning to the peace and quiet of his Archives, but instead finds himself with an unconventional assistant. An assistant who insists upon reopening unsolved cases of the Ministry and investigating them. Starting with the case of what happened to her old partner…

This begins a roller coaster ride of intrigue, secret societies, and steam-driven science gone mad. With a touch of hedonism thrown in in case you got bored. Everyone has their secrets and surprises, and this book is full of twists, turns, and reveals. This is an excellent book. If you're at all insterested in steampunk, I'm sure you'll enjoy Phoenix Rising: A Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences Novel.

 

Set Sail for Treasure Island!

For those who have waited and wondered and hoped, the fateful day has arrived at last! Flying Island Press' Pirates 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.

It is my great privilege to have leant my talents to voicing the tale of Treasure Island as the Narrator, an adult Jim Hawkins. Joining me in this first episode are Jeff Hite, as Billy Bones, Michell Plested as the young Jim Hawkins, and Dan Absalonson as Dr. Livesey. We all hope that you shall enjoy our telling of the tale. Should you be so moved to an expression of gratitude, you should be relieved to note that 60% of any donations to the production will be passed on to the actors, with the smaller portion of donations going to support future productions from Pirates Cove.

We also hope that you will spread word of this production so that others may share in it and find it pleasing to their ears as well.

My Balticon Schedule

This is based on the draft schedule, so it may be subject to change, but as of today, here is where I will be this coming Balticon weekend:

Friday, May 27th:

The Singularity and Eschaton, 5 PM, Salon B

Steampunk Update, 9 PM, Salon B

Saturday, May 28th

Brewing Your own Beer at Home, 1 PM, Derby

The Galley Table Live!, 3 PM, Derby

Sunday, May 29th

How to read for Pleasure, 1 PM, Salon B

Metamor City Live, 5 PM, Chesapeake

Podcasting for Non-Technical People, 8 PM, Derby

Dirty Mad Libs, 10PM, Derby

Monday, May 30th

The Shrinking Man Project Live!, 1 PM, Derby

I hope to see you there!

New link to Swimming Cat Studios

It occurred to me that since this is the one stop shop for all things involving Doc Coleman on the net, that perhaps a more easily guessed domain name might be in order. So now if you enter www.doccoleman.com, you'll be re-directed here to Swimming Cat Studios. Since Swimming Cat Studios is the name I'm currently operating under, I'm going to keep it as the primary domain for now. Both will get you right here.