A Mission for the Master

"

Hi there!

First off: You may have received this email more than once, and I'm truly sorry for that. I'm desperately trying to get the hang of this email newsletter thing. If you do not want to receive announcements from me in the future, there is an "unsubscribe" link at the end of this email.

Okay, now that that's out of the way: If you're reading this, then it means we have exchanged emails or connected in one form or another in the past few years. I want to thank you for your support and interest in what I do. I'm also inviting you to help me with my next audiofiction project, "7th Son: OBSIDIAN."

It's been a thrill ride since I debuted the "7th Son" audiobook podcast in 2006. Since then, my work has been covered in The New York Times, The Washington Post and Blogger & Podcaster Magazine. 7th Son now has nearly 40,000 listeners worldwide, and -- thanks to your support and evangelism -- will be published by St. Martin's Press next year. I'm currently writing the debut novel in a new supernatural thriller series, also to be released by St. Martin's in 2009.

If you know me, you know I'm always gunning for bigger and better projects. This brings me back to OBSIDIAN, which will be released in late May. OBSIDIAN is a short story anthology that chronicles a fictitious two-week nationwide blackout in the United States. I've recruited the very best podcast novelists to contribute stories, including bestselling sci-fi authors Michael A. Stackpole and Scott Sigler. Here's a link to my announcement: http://tinyurl.com/2a78xs

OBSIDIAN has already received attention from BoingBoing ( http://tinyurl.com/yscve9 ) and Gawker Media sci-fi blog io9.com ( http://tinyurl.com/3pdg6y ), thanks to a groundbreaking "audience participation" element I've added to the OBSIDIAN experience. I'm opening the anthology to anyone who wants to participate. This open invitation is a first-ever in podcast fiction, and something unheard of in traditional media.

I'm inviting YOU to "play along" and record video and audio as if they you are a victim of the chaotic OBSIDIAN blackout. The conceit: The blackout is real, and happening now. This content will appear in the OBSIDIAN podcast, in May. I'm already receiving audio and video content from my audience:

"Reports from the field" audio:
http://jchutchins.net/audio/BBCreport.mp3 (a fictitious BBC report)
http://jchutchins.net/audio/norwegiannews.mp3 (a fictitious Norwegian news report)

"Calls from victims" audio:
http://jchutchins.net/audio/shopkeeper.mp3
http://jchutchins.net/audio/theycame.WAV
http://jchutchins.net/audio/somebodyhelpme.WAV

The home-brewed videos I've received -- more than 30 so far -- are also filmed as if the blackout is real. Poignant and frightening, these videos will be released into the wild in May, to showcase their work and promote the release of OBSIDIAN. Here's a "sneak peek" of a few:

http://youtube.com/red5standingby

I've posted a call to action at my site, for anyone who wants to participate in this "podcasting first": http://tinyurl.com/4kgnna

How can you help? Create an OBSIDIAN contribution, of course! Visit that link above, and read how you can tell a tale in the "7th Son" universe. Alternately, you can mention this open invitation in your podcast, blog or Facebook -- or pass along this email to your creative and adventurous friends. I'm looking for killer content from everyone. In your evangelism, be sure to mention this link -- http://tinyurl.com/4kgnna -- so your audience can learn more.

Guys, I'm inviting you to play "make believe" and contribute to a first-ever experiment in sci-fi fiction and podcasting. Are you in? I'd be honored if you created a contribution for OBSIDIAN: http://tinyurl.com/4kgnna .

Thanks so much for your endless support, and I'm looking forward to seeing what you cook up for 7th Son: OBSIDIAN!

Best wishes,

--J.C. Hutchins
author of the podcast novel trilogy 7th Son

~ coming in print from St. Martin's Press in 2009
~ most popular podiobook series in history
~ featuring cameos from sci-fi/horror icons Nathan Fillion, George Romero, Kevin J. Anderson, and others
~ http://www.JCHutchins.net"

So I sort of promised him I'll do something. Anybody want to get together and think of something. I am sure we can get hold of a camera and stuff....

My new project

Yeah, yeah I am bad.
I know I shouldn't take on more projects. But hey

The plan:
Bunny is writing a story, I did some beta reading of this. I like the story. It is my kind of story. So I knew there was a story out there that was possible to record. Yes there are some of my own, and they will be used as practice. But honestly, I do not think my writing is worth podcasting, nor that I would have enough material for a long podcast. And it would be fun to work with someone else. So the plan is, Bunny writes and records, and I edit. I know editing might be the biggest part of this project, but since it was my idea.... So far we are thinking a biweekly basis.
The Inspiration:
I got this idea while listening to some of my personal favorite podcasts. Here are they:
Tee Morris' Morevi
Tee Morris' Billi
Dragon's landing
The software:
I have been looking into some software
Audacity
HotRecorder

I am still alive

Yeah, I am still alive. Things are going well in my life. I am writing this while I am waiting for the coffee to brew. Yes, I brought freshly ground coffee before I left and even if that is almost two weeks ago it is still way better than most of what you get in stores. When my parents come I think I'll ask them to bring loads of coffee. It seems a bit redundant to get coffee from the old world when I am over here, but back home I know where to get the coffee I like and they also burn the beans the way Norwegians like them.
This last week and a half I have been having a lot of girlfriend time, a lot of friend time in general actually, and it is very nice. I had been thinking about visiting Thomas this weekend but there seems like there was no easy way of getting up to him. Friend time have been very nice, we've been watching b-movie biology, a movie and a discussion every night this week. Yesterday we say GATTCA, I still like that movie a lot, even if it is full of odd little things that don't really fit. We've been watching Dr.Who, having knitting circles and so on and so forth. Really nice.
In the podcast alley, I been listening to Morevi Remastered by Tee Morris. I actually really like it. It is so far quite interesting. I have also listened quite a lot to Dragon's Landing. But I have catching up to do with Escape Pod for one.
In the big news area, I am changing major. I have decided that rather be a computer science major, engineering minor than the other way around. This means that I'll have a somewhat easier time with fullfilling the requirements and I can focus on what I want to do rather than what I have to do. I can take more classes that focus on robotics and AI than I could other wise.
I also have joined the fencing team, as an epee fencer. I still have a lot to learn before I am any good. But I am sure I'll get there. But that means loads of practice. Also there is Hapkido. I took Sibs (I should really call her Miss Duffey now) class and it was a lot of fun even if I do blue belt flops instead of proper rolling falls. She is planning on starting a club, so I'll do that too. Loads of exercise. Which is good for me I guess.

Anyway Coffee is done and I should get back to coloring the comic

T-shirt galore

So... Fall break, yesterday was real nice, after some problems with finding Claire's sister, her bus was full so she had to wait for the next. I chilled on the lawn, reading Bunny's story, fairly good. Bunny will get my comments next time we are both online. Talking about writing, I have been considering NaNoWriMo. Really don't know. Don't know if I'll have time, don't know if I'll have an idea, but I wanna do it sometime.
So I have been ordering a bunch of t-shirts, three from Geek Label and four from Threadless. The Geeklabel ones arrived on friday. And I was very positivly surprised, the fabric felt real nice. The shirts I got was the Beta Clone Number and the 'I comply' from 7th Son, and one saying "GM, fear me". I wore the 'I comply' shirt to SSFFS and I found someone else interested in podcasting, really cool. On friday evening we tried out the Window, a system Kayleigh found online. Seems interesting enough, but I'll wait with my comments until we are done with testing it. I am also reading up in d20Modern, I really like some of their take on d20. Yesterday at Deadlands, I went just to chill in the Out of Game room, I had this long discussion with a couple of guys on modern games. Quite interesting, got a bunch of games recommended. I also wanna run Project Chupa (which no longer is called project chupa, but will always be project chupa to me) possibly in the Vegas after Midnight setting. Sounds cool. I need to get back into listening to podcasts, I am way behind on 7th Son, and I need to listen to the Passenger from Scott Sigler.
I

Blown Away...

Ok, so opening song of the day, mainly because I don't know what the theme of the rant will be this time. But first I want to direct attention to a movie I watched today that blew my mind away. Missing Pages. It you don't go an at least give the trailer a try you are seriously missing out on something. The whole movie will only take half an hour of you life at most. Today at work I was bored and I remembered that I had this movie on my ipod and decided to give it a try, so this is a movie that managed to blow my mind on a ipod screen. I am looking forward to when I sit down and watch it on my computer. The first thing that hit me was the amazingly cool 'filming' style. And then it was the beauty of the pictures. And then it was the creepyness of the Core guys (just look at this picture), and then it was the twist and the sudden end. Before I watched the movie I had hear an interview with Jerome Oliver, the writer and director of the movie, so the story made kind of sense to me.
And since I am up to date with the 7th Son podcast, I started listening to 'Billibub Baddings and the case of the singing sword' by Tee Morris. The story is set in 1929 Chicago and it is a fantasy detective novel, and I love it. I finished it today, and I am for sure buying a copy of the written version, if not for myself then for the SSFFS libary. But I see myself reading this book to my sister's spawn when the little monster grows up, sans chapter 13 or with an heavily edited version of it, but more on the spawn later. And then today when I finished Billi, I started The Rookie by Scott Sigler, now I have started Earthcore by the same guy and I have the first 8 or so chapters of Infected on my ipod, but somehow it was The Rookie I fell for, which is odd because it is about a pro-football player. Yes, American Football, which I know so much about....I think the only sport I know less about is polo. But yes, it is a SciFi story about an football player, yep I was kinda "Eeeeeekeeey?" but when Sigler said 'give me four chapters to hook you' I decided to try, and he had me hooked by the first chapter. So when I get back, I am going to need someone to explain football to me, anyone up to the challange?

In the sewing department things are going great. Mom is helping with the collar on the coat. And I have started on the linnen dress, and by some cool coincidence I bought too much fabric so, I might be making a skirt as well. The fabric for the dress is cut, edges sealed (I actually don't know the word for this, but it is something you do to keep the fabric from fraying), and the darts are done, and a tiny bit of the main construction is done. I am also going to need to put in a zipper here, a zipper that I haven't bought, but since I am going to the city to renew my passport tomorrow I should be able to get hold of it. I should also see if I can get some nice summer high heels since my old ones broke. And buy hair dye, I am going back to dark purple.

Milk-less coffee

"cigarettes and chocolate milk
these are just a couple of my cravings
everything it seems i like's a little bit stronger
a little bit thicker
a little bit harmful for me

if i should buy jellybeans
have to eat them all in just one sitting
everything it seems i like's a little bit sweeter
a little bit fatter
a little bit harmful for me

and then there's those other things
which for several reasons we won't mention
everything about them is a little bit stranger
a little bit harder
a little bit deadly

it isn't very smart
tends to make one part so broken-hearted"
-Cigarettes and Chocolate milk by Rufus Wainwright

Me and my brother is home alone. Well I guess it stops being called home alone once you have lived away from home for a few years. But yeah, our parents are away, they are at the racing tracks, one of the really big races are today and tomorrow, it used to be called the 'night-trot' since it would be at night, followed by a major party, but they don't do that anymore, now it is 'just' one of the biggest races in Norway. Kind of funny, I have raced most of the biggest races in Norway, one of them being one of the biggest in Europe and horses come from all over the world to compete that day. If I hadn't gone to Flekke, I would have had a professional racing lisence by now. Some of the kids I used to race with are big in the grown ups game these days.
I have started over again on listening to 7th Son by JC Hutchings, I really do recomend this podio book, it has crazy scientists, cloning, precidential murders, military talk, hackers and conspiracy theories. It is really good.

"It's story time...and I promise you it's true"

Lately I have been into others' creativity as much as my own. As some of you know I have been gaming a lot, which is a sort of collective creativity. But more than that, I have been drinking in others'. Bunny's story, fanfiction, deviantart, webcomics and last but not least escapepod and pseudopod. Those two are podcasts that every week presents you with a story, escape pod is SF&F and pseudopod is horror. Some of these stories are really really good. Some of the horror stories makes me want to curl up in a corner and hide, which is exactly what a horror story should do. I was recently pimping pseudopod to Derek, and I figured I could do some pimping to other people as well.
Here is some of my favorite stories:
Goon Job (Pseudo Pod) - I think this could be an amazing Shadowrun adventure
What you wish for (Pseudo Pod)
We are all very lively (Pseudo Pod)
Some things don't wash off (Pseudo Pod) - A must hear, just plain amazing.
I have some catching up to do on escape pod, but I'll give you a list there later


In slightly more my creativity lane, brother agreed to model for a shadowrun shoot and we'll do it tonight. I have some ideas, and I'll run then by him and figure out what he wants as well. I think we'll include Tita as well, yes my brother and I named the gun for fun, and because it is a Tikka rifle, it is named Tita. We also have some other props where that I don't have access to at Smith, like a safty vest. It is not kevlar, but it looks it. So I am thinking a military/security style thing. And I think our basement should be a cool place to do it.

Creative

"Looking beyond the embers of bridges glowing behind us
To a glimpse of how green it was on the other side
Steps taken forwards but sleepwalking back again
Dragged by the force of some inner tide

At a higher altitude with flag unfuried
We reached the dizzy heights of that dreamed of world

Eneumbered forever by desire and ambition
Theres a hunger still unsatisfied
Our weary eyes still stray to the horizon
Though down this road we've been so many time"
-High Hopes by Pink Floyd (though I prefer the Nightwish version.)

Work was fun today, had an amazing 10 people (only 8 paying though), two of them French actually. Which means the museum made 240 NOK (42 USD), which is about half of what they pay to keep me there today. Talk about throwing away money. Not that I complain. I love my job. Today I read through a short story Bunny wanted my opinion on, it is only a first draft and I am looking forward to see what she does with it. I also listened to Dragon's Landing, I quite like their new segment 'pimp my campaign'. It is really good for coming up with ideas for games. Also they talked about getting inspiration from songs (Episode 82, if you are wondering). Personally I think one great band for roleplaying ideas is Nightwish. I have once heard their music described as epic, and I agree. Songs like the Wayfarer, Over the Hills and far Away, and the Riddler, have all inspired D&D campaigns for me. But thanks to Buns and her story, which I am pretty sure originated in a rpg session, I have gotten some inspiration to do some writing myself. Probably game related, I have some ideas that could be fun, based on my Hong Kong Shadowrun game. For those of you who knows the characters, what I am thinking is Neculai's capture and training. But I might also do some Ning and Wu (NPC no-one has met yet). Both of which means I'll get some training in writing action. Which can only be good, right?
In Shadowrun related stuff, I have an idea for a series of photos. The grand idea: Shadowrun. A dark and gritty world in 2070, where magic have come back and elvs, dwarfs, orks and trolls walk among us. The Wikipedia article (see above link) have a pretty good overview. For this I am going to need models, I am going to need character ideas, I am going to need costume ideas. I have some of the two last. I don't want to take pictures of runners only, but also Johnsons, deals being made, maybe action shots, whatever comes to mind really. Wanna help out? Drop me a line, either a comment, on my facebook, or email me. I'll be forever grateful for help, and when I am grateful there is chocolate. Other than that I can promise a free print for models, if I ever decide to have the stuff printed, that is a general rule I have for model work.

Random update on life

I am sitting in the Campus Center Cafe, listening to Dragons Landing. DL is a good podcast about roleplaying. I get tons of ideas when I listen to them, not to mention that their webpage have a ton of links for anything you might need. I have given up homework for the day, after all I am going to be in class from 7PM to 10PM, it is snowing tonight so we are going to stuck in the room and not the roof.
I have been bad about writing, but when I am done with this post I am going to go write. I also found consceptart.org which I am considering joining, I want to do more art, I just need to find time and insipration. I plan to start with getting my drawing skills back up, and then when I get home work with watercolours, I love working with watercolour, but it is a hard media to master, so that is one thing to work on this summer.
In gaming news I have cancelled the larp I was going to run this summer, I was feeling that I would not have enough time to deliver a good enough games. During springbreak I plan to start working on the pirate larp, along with all the other stuff going on.