For Ronan

This year has not started how it was meant to. My dear friend, collaborator and colleague has found himself with the prospect of raising his child without her mother.

I know Tee wanted to keep this a private matter, but word hit twitter within hours and now the genie cannot get back in the bottle.

So here it is. The sharp end of life. The bit no one expects or wants.

I know that the wheels grind slowly on this and Tee and his young child are looking at significant bills after the death of his wife Natalie. So I have started this ChipIn account. Money will be going to Tee Morris’ paypal to first of all pay off these bills which loom and then into an account for his little girl.

I have gone on and on about community again and again. Tee has given selflessly to my podcasts and many, many others. He is the originator of podcast audio fiction. The first. A founder of Podiobooks.com and a writer of many books on social media.

Tee doesn’t know I am doing this, but cast on distant shores this is the least I can do. I hope you can spare a few dollars for someone who has bought joy to so many. If you are enjoying his turn as Ronan then please consider donating. Every little bit helps.

Triple Threat is on it’s way

The TRIPLE THREAT is almost upon us! My DIGITAL MAGIC, J. Daniel Sawyer’s FREE WILL AND OTHER COMPULSIONS, and Chris Lester’s METAMOR CITY SEASON 2 are about to be unleashed upon the world. Here’s the timeline for what happens when:

Wednesday, 11/11/09:

11:11 PM New Zealand Time (2:11 AM Pacific): DIGITAL MAGIC begins.
11:11 AM Pacific Time: METAMOR CITY Season 2 begins.
6:30 PM Pacific Time: PG Holyfield does a live reading of Pip’s story “Love and Fire” at http://www.stickam.com/pgholyfield. Q&A with PG and Pip will follow.
11:11 PM Pacific Time: FREE WILL begins.

Thursday, 11/12/09:

6 PM Pacific Time: Dan Sawyer & Pip Ballantine begin the LIVE Triple Threat Launchcast event at www.talkshoe.com.
8 PM Pacific Time (est.): Chris Lester joins the Launchcast.

The Launchcast will include…
* Live call-ins from fans
* Trivia contests
* Prize giveaways
* Sneak peeks at the upcoming podcast seasons

Friday, 11/13/09:

7 PM Pacific Time: Chris Lester, Dan Sawyer, Kitty Nic’Iaian and Gail Carriger record the first feedback show of the new season of METAMOR CITY! Send in your responses to the new episodes and we’ll include them in the show.

It’s going to be mad fun for the next few days- hope you can join us!

Triple Threat

The Triple Threat of Podcasting is coming to a show near you.

In the vein of last year’s succesful Double Trouble, Chris Lester of Metamor City, J D Sawyer of Predestination and Philippa Ballantine of Chasing the Bard, are teaming up to launch the second books of their series on the podosphere- all at once!

This unique event will launch on November 11th, and there will be a round of interviews on all your favourite podcast shows, taking this mad event out to the wider world. The first of these vollies begin with the Dead Robots interview found here.

There will be promos and contests to follow in the wake of this assault on your podcatcher. Will Dan Sawyer run mad from doing two full audio productions at once? Can Chris Lester contain his vampires, mages and succubi a second time? And will Philippa Ballantine manage to hunt down more New Zealand accents for Digital Magic?

Listen and find out. Spread the word if you can.

Coming 11th November 2009

The sequel novel to the award winning Chasing the Bard- coming in podcast form. Featuring an international voice cast and sfx and music, this cyberpunk fairytale is the continuing story of the Fey in the future.

Penherem is a quaint, sleepy English village where people go to escape the 21st Century. Hiding from the world of laptop computers, the Internet, and wireless communication, is Ella. A writer, now barren of ideas and drive, she resigns herself to a quiet life of solitude. Everything alters with the arrival of a shapeshifting thief. Suddenly, everyone begins to change–from the local librarian to the lady of the manor–revealing their true natures and dangerous secrets. Something in this sleepy English village is awakening… something that might be better left alone.