Check out my domain sometime….

I will definitely be making an announcement over here the day CC launches to get people to go subscribe. I won’t actually be dropping the Cowry Catchers episodes here, though, because I don’t want to mix adult and young adult content on the same feed.

You can subscribe to Cowry Catchers right now if you want! http://www.cowrycatchers.com It’s not searchable in iTunes yet (because I haven’t submitted it), but you can still use iTunes as a feedcatcher. Just hit the orange “Subscribe to Posts” button at the top right, and there’s a “Subscribe with iTunes” option.

In the meantime, I plan to continue doing occasional short stories over here on the Prophet feed involving that set of characters. I’ll probably keep doing that as long as I’m having fun and can make time for it.

The video trailer for CC – Yeah, it’s mostly just a curiosity, because trailers for books really haven’t caught on. The audio promos, on the other hand, certainly will be used, and I spent a lot more work on them. I’ve got three lengths posted now. Check ‘em out: http://cowrycatchers.com/?page_id=16

Looking forward to the book and future post.

However, for Cowry Catchers, I really do think it will be more immersive with voice actors. The protagonist is an adult male, and its a story about sailors, so there are a lot of guys. There are some erotic scenes from a male point of view, and I think my voice would throw people out of the story. I really like the way Chris Lester and J.D. Sawyer have done their audio, and that’s the effect I’m aiming for.

Other stuff: One of the most common complaints I had about Prophet was that people had a hard time remembering who was who. Cowry Catchers doesn’t have quite as many characters, but I still think voice actors will prevent listeners from becoming confused. Also, there are real advantages to involving other podcasters in a project. Those people have their own audiences. The fact that a podcaster thought enough of my story to volunteer large amounts of time to help out is an endorsement and does bring listeners.

Anyway, I know that some people will still wish I’d done it solo. I’d be curious to hear what you think after you listen to Book 1 of CC.

Also thanks for the podcast reqs, I subscribed to a few of them and am really enjoying Quarter Share, though its listed in reverse order so its a bit annoying having to choose each episode. The Onion was another good find.

Poems – very occasionally, mostly sonnets. The ones that are even half good are tucked away in a back corner of my website where people don’t usually go (this is by design). They’re not about fantasy or science-fiction, though.

No wonder you were having way to much fun here… Speaking of which do you have a poem lying about? I have a spot in the next show.

These dialogues with Hughes aren’t exactly scripted.

especially with those hour long shows.

(Suitable Pet update – waiting on one more voice and putting together has begun.)

It is amazing how much time music and sound affects add to the overall production. This is basically how I’m doing Cowry Catchers, too, except that it has separate voice actors. It’s a lot more work than a solo reader without effects, but it’s also a lot more fun.

This story is great. The story pulled me in right away and I found myself hanging on each word.

Until then, my Thinkpad has served me well.

And thank you for reminding me to fix the email. I changed web hosts a couple of days ago and forgot that it would mess up the associated email address. *goes off to fix it*

Anyway, Podiobooks has another comment.

About the mic – I’ll send you an email.

The blooper reel had me laughing.

Thanks for the sunshine!

Just speaking hypothetically, if I were to buy equipment in order to be a voice actor, what might I get? The promised (Skype) headset has not appeared, and could be lost.

Thanks for the great story.

Anyway, thank you so much for sharing this with the world! I know you put a ton of work into it, and I appreciate all your effort.

Thank you,

Laura

Oh, Daren’s backstory was only ever in my notes. The longer version of Prophet was mostly just a lot more rambling. The pacing was a little more organic, but it wasn’t a better book.

I did get tired of censoring. When I wrong Cowry Catchers, I said, “This is not for kids” and I went completely off leash. If you want to hear a more uninhibited Panamindorah story, stick around for that one.

For characters… Hmm. I can tell you that mostly they are _not_ direct derivatives of anyone I know. I often Myers-Briggs type them once I know them well enough to do that. This helps me keep them behaving consistently. My world has an over-abundance of “N’s” because I am one.

it would be very interesting to hear about your inspirations for your characters and how you developed them.

Yes, Daren, like many criminally insane ego-maniacs, is more unpleasant than interesting. Rquar, on the other hand, shares some of his cousin’s personality, but minus the insanity, which makes him more interesting.

On a side note: the girl that Daren is in bed with before he goes chasing off after the Raiders (Ermina) was intended to be a total invention of his schizophrenia. She’s not real. She’s a sort of mental reproduction of his sister, who was murdered by his father when they were both children. His adult mind reinvents her as a lover. None of this made it into the edited novel, because it just wasn’t relevant. It wasn’t suitable for a young adult audience, and I wasn’t interested in making Prophet into a truly adult novel. That bit of back-story would certainly have made Daren more three-dimensional, though.

I may decide to make Ermina into a real person and use her in a future book, or I may have Rquar or someone else mention some of Daren’s issues in a later novel. I don’t know. We’ll see.

Anyway, thanks for dropping by.

the volume is perfect, I understood everything, even while driving where I usually have problems with background music.
Balthasar?

Alex

Thanks for taking the time to do this story! And like Ms. Schwab said, Have a wonderful day

Finding a place to hang the mic where I could record without too much reverb was another problem. I finally settled on hanging it from the dinning room light and putting a chair on the table as a reading stand. I also hung quilts on the walls. This seems to be the best arrangement in my available space.

Also, I love the mic! I have never seen one like it and it is hanging by wire! A feat worthy of MacGyver!

Again, thanks for the time you have given us all.

Warm soggy food up with a hair dryer. Well it worked well enough in my college days…

Prophet is about to become available as an iPhone App. Eep!

My impression is that people are divided on what they prefer. I’m thinking that for my next project, I’ll probably used SSF in my own feed with the expectation that those listeners will be tuning in week-to-week. When I’m finished, I’ll post the book(s) to podiobooks.com without SSF with the expectation that those people will be listening straight through. Then it’s available both ways.

Again, I appreciate your feedback.

Just as an FYI to listeners, the story lines have reached their maximum distribution at this point, and they are starting to come back together. Characters will be re-united and a bunch of questions answered in fairly short order.