Scott Sigler is The Man of Podcasting. We can thank Scott because it was he who really got it all started, podcasting novels. His first was “Earthcore,” which is as memorable as when it first came out in 2005. He has been prolific ever since. Today we introduce “Ancestor,” podcast first in 2010. Here’s Scott’s introduction: Every five minutes, a transplant candidate dies while waiting for a heart, a liver, or a kidney. Imagine a technology that could provide those life saving organs for a nominal fee…..and imagine what a company would do to monopolize that technology. On a remote island in the Canadian Arctic, P.J. Colding leads a team of scientists who have discovered this holy grail of medicine. By reverse engineering the genomes of thousands of mammals, Colding’s team has dialed back the…
An Interview with V.E. Ulett, Author of the “Captain Blackwell” Novels
An Interview with V. E. Ulett, Author of the Captain Blackwell Novels JBR: How did you become interested in writing about the days of wooden sailing ships? VEU: My interest in writing springs from a love of books and reading. Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres. I loved C.S. Forester’s Hornblower series, and even more Patrick O’Brian’s wonderful books. I have a certain fascination with the British Royal Navy of (Admiral Horatio Lord) Nelson’s day, but I don’t read only in that era. Arturo Perez-Reverte’s Captain Alatriste novels are another favorite of mine. JBR: Those tales take place in Spain and elsewhere in the 1600s. In those times, sailors often considered a woman on board a jinx. You’ve broken through that with Mercedes, a woman who can hold her own with the men. It’s…
Podcast: “Captain Blackwell’s Prize” by V.E. Ulett, Episode 3
What happens when a woman comes aboard an English fighting ship in the midst of the Napoleonic wars? Well, a lot. And a lot of it will surprise you as you listen to the third episode of “Captain Blackwell’s Prize.” By this point, I trust you are as mesmerized by the characters and the story as I am, just have to find out what happens next. If so, you have several choices. You can buy the book, paperback or e-format, on Amazon. You can get an Audible to listen to. Or you can go to Podiobooks and download either individual episodes or the entire book, for free. But please do remember, a novel – regardless of its format – is the author’s labor of love, so please consider donating the paltry sum of $4.99 to Ms. Ulett for…
Podcast: “Captain Blackwell’s Prize” by V.E. Ulett, Episode 2
Thanks, Fictional Cafe coffeeheads, for your words of appreciation for “Captain Blackwell’s Prize” this past week. We even got a shout-out from the founder of Podiobooks, who is currently in Bangkok! So without further adieu, here is Episode 2; next week, Episode 3, and the week after our interview with the author. If you just can’t wait to continue, please visit Podiobooks to download the entire novel [and please be sure to show your enjoyment by tipping Ms. Ulett]. Please click on the arrow below to listen to Episode 2 of “Captain Blackwell’s Prize.”
Podcast: “Captain Blackwell’s Prize” by V.E. Ulett
With the beautiful, haunting notes of Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Suite No. 1 for Unaccompanied Cello”, author V. E. Ulett introduces the podcast of her novel, Captain Blackwell’s Prize. Set around the turn of the 18th century, it’s the story of an English wooden fighting ship during a period when England, France and Spain were often at war with each other. The author has done a magisterial job of capturing the nuances of speech and sailor slang, as well as the sights and smells and drama and danger from days over 200 years ago. The title is a double entendre: in those times, the word “prize” was used to describe the booty captured during warfare. In Ulett’s story, it refers to a shipment of gold captured from a Spanish ship, but also the capture of a beautiful Spanish lady….
Podcast: “The Leviathan Chronicles” Episode 3, by Christof Laputka
This is the third and last excerpt episode of “The Leviathan Chronicles.” If you like what you’ve heard so far [and we’ve been getting rave reviews from other listeners already!], we encourage you to go to Podiobooks and download the entire podcast. The story [so far] is a total of 26 episodes. It’s an easy download to iTunes, with one caveat: the episodes may download for play in reverse order. This is a shortcoming of iTunes – we’re still trying to find the workaround for this. If you do, please let us know so we can share it with other listeners! A final word: The author, Christof Laputka, clearly spent an immense amount of his own money producing “The Leviathan Chronicles.” Please, please tip him. You’ll be hard pressed getting more enjoyment from your five bucks. And…
Podcast: “The Leviathan Chronicles” Episode 2, by Christof Laputka
As promised, here is episode 2 a three-part excerpt from “The Leviathan Chronicles,” a full blown media extravaganza of a podcast. You really won’t believe your ears. We’re posting the first three episodes this week, Monday through Wednesday. If you find yourself hooked, as we did, you’ll want to go to Podiobooks.com to get the rest of the episodes. Here’s an overview from the podcaast website: “The Leviathan Chronicles is a revolutionary science fiction audio drama podcast featuring the voices of over 60 actors, professional sound effects and an original music soundtrack. Think of it as a blockbuster movie for your ears! There are 25 episodes in Season 1, and 13 episodes in Season 2 as well as several Special Edition Episodes – all available for FREE. You can download each episode here on the website or on iTunes….
Podcast: “The Leviathan Chronicles” Episode 1, by Christof Laputka
As promised, today we begin a three-part excerpt from “The Leviathan Chronicles,” a full blown media extravaganza of a podcast. You really won’t believe your ears. We’ll put up the first three episodes this week, Monday through Wednesday. If you find yourself hooked, as we did, you’ll want to go to Podiobooks.com to get the rest of the episodes. Here’s an overview from the podcast website: “The Leviathan Chronicles is a revolutionary science fiction audio drama podcast featuring the voices of over 60 actors, professional sound effects and an original music soundtrack. Think of it as a blockbuster movie for your ears! There are 25 episodes in Season 1, and 13 episodes in Season 2 as well as several Special Edition Episodes – all available for FREE. You can download each episode here on the website or on…
The New World of Podcasting
As we conclude the podcasts of my two novels, Wild Blue Yonder and its sequel, Madrone, we enter into a brave new world: a podcast with extraordinary production values. By that I mean what we call in the business “FX” or special effects. A multi-faceted soundtrack to accompany voices, possessing all the sounds you’d expect to accompany a movie but in a sound-only broadcast: in other words, a podcast. What you’re about to hear, beginning next Monday, February 15, is “The Leviathan Chronicles,” a podcast with the most sophisticated soundtrack I’ve yet to hear in all my days and years of listening to podcasts. Nothing even comes close. I would love to share with you all kinds of details about the many people in the cast, the sound engineering, the energy of the script itself, but the creator,…
Why Podcasting Matters
Here at the Fictional Café, you will only find fiction podcasts. These are original productions, whereas a lot of podcasts you listen to are likely to be rebroadcasts of radio shows, or portions thereof. And they are primarily nonfiction, for example almost anything you hear from NPR [no disparagement intended]. Creating a podcast is a collaborative process. Someone with a good voice must be enlisted or hired to read the novel. He or she is going to read the novel at least three times while making the recording. We’re very fortunate to have Leonard Mailloux reading my two novels, he of the mellifluous voice who understands how to read the nuances in. Next, there must be an engineer to take the raw digital recording and polish it up like a shining apple. This means taking out…