It’s classified as a short story, but it weighs in at around 8K. Long enough to be called a “novella?” Maybe not. But definitely a good lengthy read for those that missed it when the anthology came out.

“Every Breath You Take” by P. G. Holyfield

P. G. Holyfield is the author of the award-winning fantasy mystery “Murder at Avedon Hill,” a podcaster, and speaks at many conventions in the science fiction and new media fandom community. His “Every Breath You Take” has the distinction of being the single longest piece of Sovereign Era fiction to date (not counting “Brave Men Run — A Novel of the Sovereign Era.”)

“Every Breath You Take” is a tale of teen aggression and obsession. Chris has it bad for Stacey… but in a world where thousands of people possess unique, incredible powers, what exactly stands in the way of Chris getting what he wants..?

Get “Every Breath You Take” for the Nook or Kindle, or buy the epub / Mobi bundle right here… and be sure to visit P. G. Holyfield’s own site for more from him!

This panel also featured the diverse talents of: Tom Merritt (Sword and Laser, Tech News Today), Veronica Belmont (Qore, Sword and Laser), Len Peralta (Jawbone Radio, Geek a Week), Brian Ibbott (Coverville) and Bobby Blackwolf (The Bobby Blackwolf Show).

I want to once again thank everyone out there that listened to the podcast and/or supported the book by purchasing it when it came out last year. I also want to thank my editor, Gabrielle Harbowy, for her tireless work as my editor, and Gwen Gades, my publisher with Dragon Moon Press.

Today we have the Tales of the Children short story “Love’s Sacrificial Song,” by Tabitha Grace Smith. This episode was c0-produced by Paulette Jaxton of The Empress Sword podcast and novel.

0:00 – Intro Chatter

• Apologies ;*-)

3:10 – Love’s Sacrificial Song

Daralis is a story-teller. And the people of Bostich need this story to be the best story she’s ever told.

22:00 – Outro

Upcoming events and planned releases.

Promo: SpecFicMedia.com

Extras

• Twitter – http://twitter.com/pgholyfield
• Facebook – http://facebook.com/pgholyfield
• MaAH and Tales of the Children Facebook Group – http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=24571342195
• Call The Caern Line – 704-315-5884
• “Tales of the Children” and SpecFicMecia.com t-shirts at http://pgholyfield.spreadshirt.com – email me and I’ll create a custom t-shirt for you, with whatever “Child” you like best!
• Murder at Avedon Hill wins the John W. Polidori Award for Best Vampire Novel of 2010 – http://outofthecoffin.com

Music in this episode:

• Shira Kammen – Magnatune.com
  • The Impossible Butterfly – Wild Wood
• Kevin McLeod – various cuts
• Ruben van Rompaey – Grande Rue De Pera
• David Beard – various cuts
• Marc Gunn – Stardust Serenade
• Additional f/x found at Soundsnap.com and The Freesound Project

Thanks to everyone that went over and voted last month. This was a people’s choice award and your votes pushed MaAH past a wonderful set of nominees, including books/novellas by Gail Carriger, Charlaine Harris, Stephenie Meyer, and Seth Grahame-Smith. You guys rock!!

From the website:

ForeWord‘s Book of the Year Awards program was created to spotlight distinctive books from independent publishers. What sets the awards apart from others is that final selections are made by real judges—working librarians and booksellers—based on their experiences with patrons and customers.

The awards are given out in June. Wish me luck!

I’d like to say I’ve made great progress on my next novel, but that wouldn’t be true. I have had some personal setbacks that have left me… unfocused, let’s just say. Or, I could say I’m just focused on what’s most important to me, which is my two young daughters code-named Wallflower and Cannonball. They mean the world to me, and sometimes that means not making the time to be creative. And other than feeling guilty for not getting new things out to you guys, it’s worth every minute of it.

Now, that’s not to say I haven’t kept busy with things that might interest you. In November we held the first annual TuacaCon. Head on over to the official website and you’ll find some fun videos from the evening and some created either before or after the event. The evening also included a reading from yours truly, a superhero (or super-villain, rather) short story called Dr. Mercury: Queen of Hearts.

The past month or so I’ve been working on a new website. I was updating my book trailer and did some searches on book trailers and found there really isn’t a good central location for book trailers, specifically for speculative fiction book trailers. Of course there is YouTube, but again unless you are looking at particular publisher channels on YouTube, it’s still a hunt and peck proposition.

So I decided to remedy that. I’ve created a website called SpecFicMedia.com – It’s more than a site for book trailers, though. I’m hoping it will become the first place people go to look for media that touches on speculative fiction in some way. Book trailers, Author Interviews, Movie trailers, comedy, music, and whatever else I can pull into the site. There will also be opportunities for viewer interaction. We’ll host contests and the like to get people to submit videos. I’ll be starting a video podcast in April to highlight the best stuff on the site, news from the world of Speculative Fiction Media, author/podcaster interviews, etc.

The site is up and running, but I’ll be doing an official “launch” on Valentine’s Day. Go check it out, and if you have comments/suggestions, please leave them here or send me an email. Thanks!

Oops, almost forgot. Over at the “Out of the Coffin” website there is a set of vampire-centric awards for 2010. Amazingly, Murder at Avedon Hill is up for the award for “Best Vampire Novel” for 2010. While MaAH isn’t a vampire novel at its core, it does have its share of vampiric lore and characters… and the people over at the Out of the Coffin website really seemed to like it. While you’re there, check out Episode 59 of their podcast, where I was interviewed back in May about the release of MaAH. It was a fun interview!

Here’s a quick promo for the event:

October has been a busy month, as all months are it seems. I am working on a new writing project, which right now means a lot of research, because it takes place in our world and not a world of my creation. More on that on the upcoming Listener Feedback show.

Mur Lafferty released an interview I did with her for I Should Be Writing. Anyone that has followed my podcast knows how much I respect Mur and what she has done over the last five years, and it was an honor to be on her show.

On November 13th we’ll be having some online fun. Some podcasters are going to get together, virtually, for an evening of readings, music, and hopefully some comedy as well. We’re calling it TuacaCon, in honor of the liqueur many of us know and love called Tuaca. Please visit the Facebook event site for more information, and we hope to roll out the TuacaCon website soon.

Today we have the Tales of the Children short story “Ruby’s Child,” by Philip Carroll. This episode was produced by Philip and Flying Island Press, with the narration provided by Vivid Muse from the Into the Blender podcast.

0:00 – Intro Chatter

• I talk about Philip and about the story, Ruby’s Child

3:10 – Ruby’s Child

Ruby leaves her mountain home and tries to make a go of it in the outside world. Things go badly, and her situation does not improve after returning home. And her child? It is joy and misery all rolled into one–as a Child of Az should be.

22:00 – Outro

Please call The Caern Line or send me an email (pgholyfield at murderatavedonhill dot com) if you’d like to be included in the next listener feedback show.

Promo: Michael Parry’s The Spiral Tattoo

Extras

• Twitter – http://twitter.com/pgholyfield
• Facebook – http://facebook.com/pgholyfield
• MaAH and Tales of the Children Facebook Group – http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=24571342195
• Call The Caern Line – 704-315-5884
• “Tales of the Children” t-shirts at http://pgholyfield.spreadshirt.com – email me and I’ll create a custom t-shirt for you, with whatever “Child” you like best!
• MaAH over at Storycasting.com

Music in this episode:

• Shira Kammen – Magnatune.com
  • The Impossible Butterfly – Wild Wood
• Kevin McLeod – Achaidh Cheide
• Ruben van Rompaey – Grande Rue De Pera
• David Beard – various cuts
• Marc Gunn – Stardust Serenade
• Additional f/x found at Soundsnap.com and The Freesound Project

Today we have the Tales of the Children short story “Love and Fire,” by Philippa J. Ballantine

I hope you enjoy the story, check back next week for my next Listener Feedback episode. Please call The Caern Line at 704-315-5884 and ask questions/leave comments.

0:00 – Intro Chatter

• I’m baaaaaack.

3:10 – Love and Fire

Can humans gain a foothold on the island of Kandriel? If Syliene, an elven warrior and priestess of Thei-Shan has anything to say about it, the answer is no.

22:00 – Outro

Please call The Caern Line or send me an email (pgholyfield at murderatavedonhill dot com) if you’d like to be included in the next listener feedback show.

Promo: Philippa Ballantine presents “Chronicles of the Order”

Extras

• Twitter – http://twitter.com/pgholyfield
• Facebook – http://facebook.com/pgholyfield
• MaAH and Tales of the Children Facebook Group – http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=24571342195
• Call The Caern Line – 704-315-5884
• “Tales of the Children” t-shirts at http://pgholyfield.spreadshirt.com – email me and I’ll create a custom t-shirt for you, with whatever “Child” you like best!
• MaAH over at Storycasting.com

Music in this episode:

• Shira Kammen – Magnatune.com
  • The Impossible Butterfly – Wild Wood
• Kevin McLeod – Achaidh Cheide
• Ruben van Rompaey – Grande Rue De Pera
• David Beard – various cuts
• Marc Gunn – Stardust Serenade
• Additional f/x found at Soundsnap.com and The Freesound Project

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I finally got around to adding new feeds to iTunes and Feedburner to give listeners two options:

First, if you are only interested in content pertaining to Tales of the Children (and there will be many episodes released over the next few months), here’s the feed for you:

Subscribe in a reader

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And if you want to subscribe to the site’s Master Feed, where you will receive all content:

Subscribe in a reader

And on a personal note: the site recently went over 1,000,000 file downloads since I started releasing content in 2006. Thanks to everyone that has been on board since the beginning, and to those that have joined us along the way. The ride has been wonderful, and we’re really just getting started.

• Thursday, Sept. 2nd, 7:30 pm – Star Party 2010 – This is a special event the day before Dragon*Con officially begins, a charity event for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The event will be hosted by renowned astronomers and hosts of AstronomyCast, Pamela Gay and Fraser Cain with special appearance by musician George Hrab. (I’m just attending. I’ll be the one looking for extra drink tickets ).
• Friday, Sept. 3rd, 1:00 pm – Podcasting Track Kick-off Panel – I’m honored to be part of the kick-off panel for the track; my primary goal is to remain calm while being at a table with Tom Merritt, Veronica Belmont, Bobby Blackwolf, Len Peralta, and Brian Ibbott. (Did I mention Veronica Belmont?)
• Saturday, Sept. 4th, 10:00 am – Podcast Authors Roundtable – with Scott Sigler, Gail Z. Martin, Michael A. Stackpole, Christiana Ellis, and Gabrielle Harbowy
• Saturday, Sept. 4th, 4:00 pm – 5th Annual Parsec Awards – I’ll be attending and presenting two awards. Gabrielle Harbowy’s Tales of the Children story “Swimming Lessons” is up for the Best Speculative Fiction Story (Short Form), and The Dead Robots’ Society is up for Best Podcast about Speculative Fiction Content Creation.
• Sunday, Sept. 5th, 2:30 pm – Dead Robots’ Society Live!
• Sunday, Sept. 5th, 7:00 pm – Geek Radio Weekly Live! – I’ll be in attendance, but have been known to crash the party…

As always, it is sure to be a blast. If you are attending, please stop me and say hi (and yes, I’ll have books for sale if you have been waiting to buy it at D*C!!).

Enjoy!

Promo for The Leviathan Chronicles finale follows the reading.

Flying Island Press
EMBARGOED UNTIL 7/3/10
Press Contact – Scott Roche
sroche@flyingislandpress.com
(336) 462-9676

Enjoy Your Sci-fi and Fantasy How and Where You Want

Beginning July 4th, science fiction and fantasy fans will be given a
new place where they can discover authors and stories they’ll be able
to enjoy wherever they go. Flagship, the new e-zine by publisher
Flying Island Press, will soon be releasing these stories in formats
for the Kindle, the iPad and iPhone, and other electronic readers.

Flying Island Press also recognizes the increasing popularity of
podcasts and other forms of audio fiction. So, in addition to the
e-zine, an audio version will be available to listen to on any MP3
player. Stories they release will be available both in text and in
audio, allowing the consumer to choose their preferred version.

Zach Ricks, managing editor for Flagship, had this to say. “I wanted
to hearken back to what some have called the Golden Age of Science
Fiction.” It’s his hope that “FlagShip will be a place for
optimistic, entertaining fiction.”

Each issue will cost $1.99 for the text version or the audio version
or get both for just $2.99.

Issues will be available starting July 4th, 2010 at
http://flyingislandpress.com/flagship

On March 23, 1775, at St. John’s Henrico Parish Church in Richmond, Patrick Henry spoke to the House of Burgesses. His speech changed the minds and hearts of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and became a beacon of freedom for all of America.

Happy Independence Day, everyone.

Thank you to Nathan Lowell for his introduction at the beginning of this audio file. Be sure to check out his Golden Age of the Solar Clipper novels over at Podiobooks.com.

The image is a cropped image from Peter F. Rothermel’s “Patrick Henry Before the Virginia House of Burgesses,” from 1851. The photograph of this painting is released on Wikimedia Commons as a public domain work.

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Balticon 44 was simply… glorious.

Thursday:

Drove to Hunt Valley, MD, a little northwest of Baltimore. The trip up can be best summed up in two parts. Part 1 was the 6 hours it took me to drive from Charlotte to I-66 around 30 miles to the west of DC. Part 2 was the 3 hours it took me to drive the last 85 miles. These two parts were broken up nicely by a young bear, probably four or five months old, trying to cross the interstate. I avoided the bear and I believe he made it back to the woods. I could just imagine the other young bears saying “Do it. Do it. You wuss. What are you, a fawn?”

But arrive I did, and after relaxing for a bit in the hotel room, the greatest roomies in the world, Chooch and Viv, arrived. If you listened to the interview I did with them on Into the Blender, you know how much I love these guys. And our friendship only grew stronger through the weekend, even though I snored loud enough for Viv to yell at me to roll over (from the other bed, of course). And since Patrick McLean didn’t arrive until Saturday night, I had a bed to myself for the first two nights (always a bonus).

Friday:

Friday I spent my first hour at a dealer table, trying to sell Murder at Avedon Hill (and other wonderful Dragon Moon Press titles). I would have stayed longer, but I had my reading at 5 pm (I’ll be releasing the audio from the reading soon). I figured five people would be there at most, considering Mur Lafferty and Jonathan Maberry had readings at the same time.

But to my wondrous surprise, the room was pretty full–so everything after that was, again, bonus. I was a little worried because I only had my iPad, and all I had was my novel on it (available on the Kindle for $2.39 people! ); I was afraid people might be a little tired of me reading from that, but Tee Morris was in the audience so I pulled him up to the front and read 40 minutes from a chapter that featured Father Jorrus (the vampire hunt). He voiced Father Jorrus and everyone seemed to enjoy the reading.

When I was done I went to the end of Mur’s reading, two rooms down from mine, and she had a full room as well! Podcast Novelists for the win!

Later that evening I was on two “live show” panels. The first was for Geek Radio Daily. Billy Flynn and The Flynstress were there of course, with me and Podcasting’s Rich Sigfrit. We talked about the convention, did segments on gaming, new media, and focused on Murder at Avedon Hill, which again, was a bonus. They played the NSFW promo I did for the book release with Mark Yoshimoto Nemcoff, which got a lot of laughs. Hell, I was happy just sitting between the Flynstress and Rich, listening to his impressions… actually, I was just happy sitting beside the Flynstress. I just noticed that they haven’t released the audio from the Live Show. Hope it wasn’t lost like the live show at Dragon*Con last year…

The last event for Saturday was a Live Into the Blender, which is Chooch and Viv’s show. Christiana Ellis and Command Line (Thomas Gideon) were also on the panel. We talked about movies, the ongoing trend of remakes/reboots, and gaming as well. I got to share my story of Patrick McLean trying out Red Dead Redemption at my house, which included him shooting my horse multiple times just for fun.

Saturday:

…was a busy day. I was on an expanded panel that Paulette Jaxton and I did last year called “Herding Cats,” which was about producing a multi-voiced podcast novel/audio drama. As expected, I had the most voice actors of any podcast represented on the panel.

Later that evening was Book Launch party for Murder at Avedon Hill. I was proud to share the evening with Nathan Lowell and Patrick McLean. The party room was full, and instead of simply schmoozing with everyone (which was our plan), someone suggested that we read from each other’s books. Nathan and I read from Patrick’s book, Patrick read from Quarter Share, and then Nathan Lowell read the prologue from Murder at Avedon Hill. Hearing one of the great voices of podcast fiction reading my prose was a highlight not only of Balticon but of my short history as a writer. It was a wonderful event, and more than one attendee came up to me on Sunday saying that they thought we should “take our act on the road.” Too bad Nate lives in Colorado, or I’d like to.

My only regret from the launch party? We had a room full of podcasters, and no one recorded the event.

After the launch party we had the New Media costume party, hosted by my roomies Chooch and Viv. It was a lot of fun, and for the first time I spent money and wore a killer costume.

Sunday:

Sunday turned out to be a great day as well. I had the pleasure of interviewing Artist Guest of Honor Howard Tayler, which I released earlier this month. Later that afternoon I was on a panel that turned out to be the most fun of any panel during the convention. It was a music panel called “From Story to Song.” It featured readings from five authors, and songs sung by various filk singers, songs about the author or inspired by fiction from those authors. I got to do a five minute reading in front of around sixty people that had never heard of MaAH:

And then Kim Fortuner sang the “Damn You Holyfield” song:

To say she rocked it doesn’t do her justice. And on top of that the last reader was Convention Guest of Honor Tanya Huff, which made the panel even more special.

Later Sunday night came what has become a yearly event, the live Evo at 11 podcast.

I got to sit in with Evo and his wife Shelia, along with Patrick McLean and Ms. Information, the lovely Donna Mugavero. I got to add some snark to the podcast, and everyone had a great time.

The evening (and the con) ended with a party at our hotel room.

We had a good room for a party, with access to a deck outside our back door. I got to spend time with too many people to mention by name, and as always, there was not enough time to spend as much time as I would have liked with anyone.

So, as always, Balticon was a great experience, but with Murder at Avedon Hill just coming out in print made Balticon 44 the best convention I’ve ever had the pleasure of attending.

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Oh yeah, I also got to sit at the Dragon Moon Press dealer table, sell some books, and spend time with Philippa Ballantine, Tee Morris, Christiana Ellis, and Valerie Griswold Ford. Ah, good times.

So, what’s coming up on the podcast? First of all, I’ll be releasing the audio from the Balticon reading this week. Then we’ll have the next episode of Tales of the Children, which is a story by Philippa Ballantine called Love and Fire.

As always, thanks for reading/listening. See you soon.

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Some more photos from Balticon 44:

Gail Carriger, author of Soulless, et. al.

And for even more photos from Balticon 44, please check out the photo “pool” over at Flickr.com

Some of the photos in this blog post were taken by two wonderful photographers I know, Bruce Press and Sheila Unwin

We talked about storytelling within the medium of ‘sequential art,’ Writing Excuses, pacing within different mediums, and a little about the talk Howard gave at Balticon on education and on becoming a better creator, no matter the medium.

Thanks to Howard for being patient with someone that obviously had less than a good grasp of web-comic terminology (I referred to panels as boxes throughout the interview ).

Promo at the end of the episode is for Prisoners of the Alliance.

Friday, May 28th

Reading – 5 pm – Pimlico Room
Into the Blender Live Show, 11 pm – Chesapeake Suite

Saturday, May 29th

Nanowrimo for Noobs – 3 pm – Chesapeake Suite
Herding Cats – 4 pm – Chesapeake Suite
New Media Author Book Launch event – 8 pm – Chesapeake Suite

Sunday, May 30th

Evo@11 – 10 pm – Chesapeake Suite

In addition to this, I’ll be in the Dealer Room at the Dragon Moon Press table at various times during the weekend.

People who purchased a print version, a Kindle version, and/or wrote reviews on Amazon and sent me an email about it were entered. Here are the winners (and what they won), based on numbers called out by my Vanna White in the Chatroom, Mistress Jett!

Rob Stauffer – MaAH Mousepad
Joe Mieczkowski – MaAH Mousepad
Kristin Mayo – Signed copy of Murder at Avedon Hill
Tim Dodge – The Rookie signed by Scott Sigler
Shawn Murphy – POD version of Mur Lafferty’s Playing for Keeps
Beth Case – MaAH Mousepad
Cathy Monblatt – MaAH Mousepad
Cliff Lowe – POD version of Mur Lafferty’s Playing for Keeps
Kevin Crosby – Signed copy of Murder at Avedon Hill
Michell Plested – Samson CH700 Headphones
Paul Fischer – MaAH Mousepad
Scott Roche – MaAH Mousepad
Terri Flynstress – Signed copy of Murder at Avedon Hill
Ed Parrot – Matthew Wayne Selznick prize pack – BMR, The Sovereign Era- Year One, Anyman: The John Smith EP from CD Baby.
Michael Spence – Framed Study, acrylic/water color, the initial painting that was a test for the original POD cover of Murder at Avedon Hill.

A lot of these folks will be at Balticon, so they’ll get their prizes there. The rest will have their prizes sent to them through the mail. Congrats to those that won prizes; you made this weekend an unforgettable one for me, that’s for sure!

This is where we are right now:

#1 on the Movers and Shakers List (all books),
#3 in Hot New Releases, Fantasy (General),
#10 in Hot New Releases, Fantasy
#16 Overall, Fantasy (General)
#30 Overall, Fantasy
#274 in Fiction

So far we have 14 reviews on Amazon for the print version of the novel, and five more on the Kindle page. These help out a book’s place on Amazon, so please add a review if you purchased the novel!

Thanks so much for your generosity and support for me, for this novel, and for podcast fiction authors everywhere. I’d love to have one more push tonight, but whatever happens for the rest of the night and tomorrow, this has been a successful launch in my mind, that’s for sure!

You will receive multiple entries if you do multiple things. If you purchase the print copy you will get 2 entries in the giveaway, the Kindle version will get one entry in the giveaway, and a review on Amazon will get you 2 entries (so 4 total if you leave a review on the print and the Kindle version of the book!

I will be accepting entry emails until midnight, and will do the drawing tomorrow!

Tune in to the live show at stickam.com/pgholyfield for news, a live reading from the book and the prize drawings, starting at noon eastern standard time.

Okay, here’s the prize list so far:

• 3 signed copies of Murder at Avedon Hill
• 6 signed MaAH mouse pads
• an original piece of artwork (from the original cover of MaAH)
• 1 each signed (personalized if they want) paperback copies of “Brave Men Run – A Novel of the Sovereign era” and “The Sovereign Era: Year One” plus a credit to download the entire “Anyman: The John Smith E.P.” album in MP3 format from CD Baby.
• 1 copy of The Rookie by Scott Sigler
• 2 copies of the POD version of Playing for Keeps by Mur Lafferty
• a pair of Samson CH7000 headphones.

Into the Blender is a podcast about blended families, geek culture, and it is a wonderful listen month in and month out. Go check it out!

We’ve got less than 24 hours until book launch. People are already buying the kindle version, which is awesome to see, but let’s wait until tomorrow at noon eastern so we can make the biggest splash on Amazon!

Are your friends confused about the Amazon Rush?

Can you tell I’m just writing text here so the image below will appear underneath the thumbnail image, and not be pushed out to the right and off the screen?

The attached flyer explains what we’re trying to do on Saturday. Please grab it, post it and/or send it to everyone you can. Spread the word!

The link to Amazon is live. The book CAN be purchased now. But if you can, please wait until Saturday at noon Eastern to buy the ten copies you plan on purchasing.

Special thanks to Ron Earl for the creation of these avatars! And as always, thanks to Jeff Himmelman for the use of his wonderful art piece called “Sophia.”

Tonight, as we approach the book launch of Murder at Avedon Hill, we have a Tales of the Children story written and produced by Dan Absalonson. A few weeks ago Dan asked if he could produce the audio for his own podcast, and knowing I wouldn’t be getting to his story for several months, I said “Go for it!” For a first audio podcast episode, Dan did a wonderful job with the production. Big Axe, Little Hands is a fun story about one of the smaller races of Caern, and an incarnation of one of the Children of Az we haven’t seen in audio form thus far.

I hope you enjoy the story, and check back later today for the release of an interview I did with Jack Mangan over at his Deadpan Podcast.

0:00 – Intro Chatter

• Short intro of Dan Abaslonson’s short story, Big Axe, Small Hands.

2:00 – Big Axe, Small Hands

Join Halvard the Halfling as he journeys to find the way of the warrior, running into trouble along the way, and meeting races he’s only heard tell of in the story told around the community fire in his small village.

Extras

]]> http://www.pgholyfield.com/maah/archives/441/feed 1 Book Launch,Dan Absalonson,fantasy,Murder at Avedon Hill,podcast episode,Tales of the Children Tales of the Children - A Land of Caern short story podcast anthology presented by P.G. Holyfield Tonight, as we approach the book launch of Murder at Avedon Hill, we have a Tales of the Children story written and produced by Dan Absalonson. Tales of the Children - A Land of Caern short story podcast anthology presented by P.G. Holyfield Tonight, as we approach the book launch of Murder at Avedon Hill, we have a Tales of the Children story written and produced by Dan Absalonson. A few weeks ago Dan asked if he could produce the audio for his own podcast, and knowing I wouldn't be getting to his story for several months, I said "Go for it!" For a first audio podcast episode, Dan did a wonderful job with the production. Big Axe, Little Hands is a fun story about one of the smaller races of Caern, and an incarnation of one of the Children of Az we haven't seen in audio form thus far. I hope you enjoy the story, and check back later today for the release of an interview I did with Jack Mangan over at his Deadpan Podcast. 0:00 - Intro Chatter Short intro of Dan Abaslonson's short story, Big Axe, Small Hands. 2:00 - Big Axe, Small Hands Join Halvard the Halfling as he journeys to find the way of the warrior, running into trouble along the way, and meeting races he's only heard tell of in the story told around the community fire in his small village. Extras Twitter - http://twitter.com/pgholyfield Facebook - http://facebook.com/pgholyfield MaAH and Tales of the Children Facebook Group - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=24571342195 Call The Caern Line - 704-315-5884 "Tales of the Children" t-shirts at http://pgholyfield.spreadshirt.com - email me and I'll create a custom t-shirt for you, with whatever "Child" you like best! MaAH over at Storycasting.com - I'm giving away a special prize to someone that posts their own "cast" for Murder at Avedon Hill. P.G. Holyfield no 42:13 http://www.pgholyfield.com/maah/archives/440 http://www.pgholyfield.com/maah/archives/440#comments Sun, 09 May 2010 07:38:37 +0000 P.G. Holyfield http://www.pgholyfield.com/maah/?p=440 Last week Michell Plested interviewed me for his “Get Published” podcast. It was a great conversation, and I hope you enjoy it. The actual interview starts at around the 10 minute mark.

I will be dropping a Tales of the Children story tomorrow, a story written and produced by Dan Absalonson.

Simply put, we are attempting to push Murder at Avedon Hill up the charts by having as many people purchase it as possible, at the same time, on Amazon.com. By doing so, we can push the book up the charts and increase its exposure in the short term. This has successfully been accomplished in the past by authors like Scott Sigler, Tee Morris, and Philippa Ballantine.

So how does it work?

In my case, on Saturday, May 15th, at noon Eastern time I would love for everyone that wants to own the print version of Murder at Avedon Hill to head on over to Amazon.com (url for the book coming soon) and purchase the novel. Amazon updates their rankings every hour, and they even have a specific page called the Movers and Shakers list.

What else will be going on? And what’s in it for me?

Well, besides owning a damn good book, I’m going to be live streaming on stickam.com starting at noon Eastern. I’ll be reading from the novel, chatting with folks online, and there should be some special guests on hand to celebrate the book’s release. I will also be giving away prizes to several lucky owners of the book. More on that in the days to come… including one special prize that I’m very excited about.

I’ve been creating online content in some capacity for going on five years now. I hope that karma really works, and we can knock this thing right out of the park!

This audio update gives some info on what’s going on for the next week leading up to the book release. Enjoy!

Promo: Seth Harwood’s Young Junius Special Edition

Promo/Skit: The Book Launch Promo – The Mercuralia!

If you are a podcaster, help a brother out; grab a promo and play it on your podcast before the 15th!

Shorter promo (1 min. 30 sec.) – plot info and amazon rush info – http://bit.ly/aLyir0

Longer promo (2 min. 15 sec.) – longer plot info and amazon rush info – http://bit.ly/9WS9Rq

Promo/Skit (3 minutes) – more of a funny skit than a book promo, written by Morgan Elektra. Christiana Ellis appears in the promo with me: http://bit.ly/dCxXaJ

The shorter promo is attached here so it will drop in my feed.

Before we go any further, what can you find here?

• The Murder at Avedon Hill Podcast Novel
• The Tales of the Children Short Story Anthology Podcast
• Information about the upcoming print release of Murder at Avedon Hill (Book Launch Date post)
• Information on my fantasy setting, The Land of Caern.

The Land of Caern is the fantasy setting I’ve been writing and playing RPGs in since 1988.

Back in 2004 I started writing a novel set in The Land of Caern. It began its life as a proposed module for the computer game Neverwinter Nights. I then took the plot from that module and began serializing the story as a text release on the Neverwinter Vault website. After releasing the the first draft of the first half of the novel online, I decided to finish the novel “offline” and try to get it published. I finished the first draft of the novel near the end of 2006.

Early 2006 I discovered podcasting. I began contributing to podcasts in the summer of 2006, and began my own podcast in early 2007. I briefly released Murder at Avedon Hill as a self-published novel through Lulu.com

To learn more about the journey to get Murder at Avedon Hill written in novel form, please visit the page on this site called “The Story Behind the Story.”

I began the podcast version of Murder at Avedon Hill in June of 2007. It is still available on this website, on iTunes, and through Podiobooks.com.

The production ended after 42 episodes on May 21, 2009. Due to the generous help of family, friends, and members of the tribe, MaAH morphed, skirting the line between straight read and audio drama, with over 45 guests adding their voices to the podcast.

You can download episodes directly or subscribe through your aggregator of choice.

Murder at Avedon Hill was picked up by Dragon Moon Press and is due to be published in 2010.

In September of 2009 I began producing a second podcast set in The Land of Caern: Tales of The Children. Tales of the Children is a short story anthology podcast, with stories by me and by some of the best authors in podcast fiction.

This podcast also features live readings of stories on stickam.com!

Murder at Avedon Hill Casting Page at Storycasting.com

The site is addicting (if you are a book/film buff), so WATCH out!

If you have a podcast, a blog, or even just friends that you’d like to share info about Murder at Avedon Hill with, please send me an email (pgholyfield at murderatavedonhill dot com) or ping me on Twitter @pgholyfield. I’m setting up interviews and will send out promotional materials to anyone that might want them.

An audio update will be released in the next couple of days about this, and about a contest I’ll be doing for those purchasing the novel day 1.

This is actually happening! Woo Hoo! (wait, I’m supposed to be the reserved author… ).

Thanks for your continued support…. (yay!)

I edited it down to 5-6K, I believe. It was definitely the longest story in the web-a-thon (Matt read seven stories I believe during his live show). I was very happy with the response I received from people about the story.

Flash forward to Friday, April 10th. The text that follows if from Matt’s website:

I’m very pleased to announce the release of “The Sovereign Era: Year One,” an anthology of seven tales written by authors who are pretty well known in certain circles — folks like J. C. Hutchins, Mur Lafferty, P. G. Holyfield, Nathan Lowell, Matt Wallace, J. R. Blackwell and Jared Axelrod!

This collection has its origin in the all-day web-a-thon I produced on the occasion of the Swarm Press release of “Brave Men Run — A Novel of the Sovereign Era.” On that day, I read each of these stories live on streaming video… but they’ve never been seen in print until now.

As of right now, the collection is available on this site in a bundle of eight DRM-free e-book formats and from Amazon.com for the Kindle. Soon enough, it will also be available in paperback in every online bookstore you’d care to patronize. To be honest, if you like e-books, I encourage you to purchase it in that format, since the authors involved stand to earn more of a percentage from each e-book sale.

In “Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights,” we’re seeing a little of what happened in the months before the Sovereign Era began. The Sovereign Era’s beginnings are depicted in “Brave Men Run — A Novel of the Sovereign Era.” I hope you’ll purchase “The Sovereign Era: Year One” and take in seven different glimpses into how things went in the months that followed. On behalf of the authors and cover artist Jeffrey Himmelman, I thank you very much!

For those of you that haven’t read Brave Men Run, it feels like a teen movie mixed with a superhero novel… The Breakfast Club and X-Men all rolled into one. Please go check out the anthology, and listen to or read Brave Men Run.

As for The Sovereign Era: Year One – electronic versions are already available for the book, and the print version should be out in a few days!

The other, and much more important button, is for those that specifically are donating out of appreciation for Tales of the Children.

Net proceeds from donations tied to Tales of the Children, be it here, on Podiobooks.com or from possible print someday, will go directly to the Leiomyosarcoma Direct Research Fund.

On April 1st, 2007, podcaster Joe Murphy passed away from Leiomyosarcoma. I only met Joe one time, at Dragon*Con 2006, and his attitude, his zest for life, and his creative spark cemented my desire to enter this ‘world’ and podcast Murder at Avedon Hill.

Joe’s life was cut short by an insidious cancer that spreads through the smooth muscles of the body. Once it starts spreading, it’s rarely containable. Yet there is little publicized about LMS, even though it has such a high mortality rate. Heck, most application/program dictionaries do not even recognize Leiomyosarcoma as a word.

Joe Murphy, Dragon*Con 2006

If you do not wish to donate to a charity through a non-charitable site, I certainly understand. Please visit the Leiomyosarcoma Direct Research Fund to learn more about this disease and to donate directly to the charity.

Thank you.

Sometimes I don’t know about this whole publishing thing. I mean, I can make a wood chipper work, but nobody in Caern has light blue socks!?

Sigh.

Well, hopefully you understand why I’m excited.

It feels more real every day. Thanks for coming by to see the cover, and get ready for the push… you’re going to be flooded with content over the next two months.

I’ll be interviewing Alex again as we approach the book’s release, to talk with him about the process we went through, and also about his own journey finishing up The Gearheart.

My good friend Patrick McLean over at The Seanachai (How to Succeed in Evil, Flinchy and the Mexican Show Truck) is doing his last episode of his podcast live on Stickam (link to the show will be posted as soon as I get it). The live show will be on Wednesday, March 24, at 9:00 pm Eastern time.

As a good Irishman (at least a 1/4 of me, anyways), I’ll be helping him bring The Seanachai to a fitting end. He’ll be sharing a true story of gun play, injury, and I’m sure he will deliver it with the humor and style that has made The Seanachai one of the best fiction/essay podcasts ever produced.

Join us for the fun.

• a signed copy of Murder at Avedon Hill (when it is released in May)
• a custom t-shirt with one of the Children of Az on the front, and whatever text you’d like (approved by me, of course ) on the back.
• a one of a kind DVD with two of the live episodes of Tales of the Children, pop up video and text, audio commentary, and a special video message just for the buyer.

Please visit The Boom Effect for more information on this ‘lot.’ ( http://www.theboomeffect.org/?p=251 )

If you cannot attend the live show, you can make a proxy bid.

And if you are not blown away by this package (I am), then look over the other awesome contributions that will be auctioned off during the show.

Before I go any further, it must be said/written. I’m not happy with this episode. The story is top notch; the reading is solid; good use of music and effects. The issue is with the audio quality of the reading. I made a rookie mistake (which I won’t detail here) that affected the final output file. Whew… I feel better. Let’s get back to the show.

0:00 – Intro Chatter

• Lots of news… will update this with a bullet list later.

7:00 – First Blood – Alex Briggs

A nearly lifelong relationship between a particular human and an orc is played out before our eyes… or ears, rather.

25:00 – Promo

Jake Bible – Dead Mech

26:00 – Outro Chatter

Please visit The Boom Effect to learn more about the charity that has sprung up to support Tee Morris and his daughter. I will be donating stuff to the auction.

• Twitter – http://twitter.com/pgholyfield
• Facebook – http://facebook.com/pgholyfield
• MaAH and Tales of the Children Facebook Group – http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=24571342195
• Call The Caern Line – 704-315-5884
• “Tales of the Children” t-shirts at http://pgholyfield.spreadshirt.com – email me and I’ll create a custom t-shirt for you, with whatever “Child” you like best!

Music in this episode:

• Shira Kammen – Magnatune.com
  • The Impossible Butterfly – Wild Wood
• Kevin McLeod – Achaidh Cheide
• Ruben van Rompaey – Grande Rue De Pera
• Marc Gunn – Stardust Serenade
• Additional f/x found at Soundsnap.com and The Freesound Project

Thank you to J.C., and to Philippa Ballantine for spearheading the effort around this.

Tee, thoughts and prayers go out on your behalf in this time of need. You are loved.

Tomorrow I’ll be doing the 7th Live Show on Stickam.

Thanks to everyone that has attended shows so far. The live show has been such a pleasant surprise! We’ll have another wonderful story from a Podiobooks author, “Feverfew” by H.E. Roulo. Heather is the author of Fractured Horizons, and she is also one of the driving forces behind Podioracket.com. Heather has written a dark, gritty story that I think everyone will love. If you would like a short preview, check out the excerpt on her site.

Come join the fun. We’ll be doing Round 3 of the Damn You Holyfield Drinking Game, so we’ve got that going for us…

Work on the website has gone well so far (slow, but well), and I hope to have new feeds soon.

Last but not least, I have a seekrit project for 2010. Stay tuned…

Tomorrow I’ll be doing the 7th Live Show on Stickam.

The crowd has grown for every show, so I hope to continue that tomorrow with a story by… me!

Come join the fun. We’ll be doing Round 2 of the Damn You Holyfield Drinking Game, so if nothing else, get drunk with me!

Work on the website has gone well so far (slow, but well), and I hope to have new feeds soon.

Last but not least, I have a seekrit project for 2010. Stay tuned…

NOTE: Postponing show to 12/23, due to family sickness… see you next week.

• On Wednesday evening I did a live reading of Tabitha Grace Smith’s Tales of the Children story, Love’s Sacrificial Song, on Stickam.com
  • It was my most popular live show so far, with over 200 people attending at least some part of the two hour show.
  • We had a live interview with Tabz after the reading.
  • We rolled out a brand new element to the Stickam Live Show… the DYH Drinking Game!

• Later that night, Angel Between the Lines released my story, Exit Strategy, as a nearly hour-long full-cast audio drama.
  • From the description on the ABTL website: From Ocean’s 11 to the Italian Job there’s no lack of criminals in fiction, but Johannes Cordner needs the best. The puzzling twists and turns aren’t just keeping the audience confused. Can the criminals break into Wolfram & Hart’s law offices without getting caught? And what exactly are they stealing?
  • As always, Tabz has delivered a great production. And since this is my first fiction to hit the podosphere since May, I hope you’ll give it a listen.
• On Thursday, ABTL and Murder at Avedon Hill fan Dan Shaurette wrote a great feature story on me and Murder at Avedon Hill. It must have taken Dan HOURS to write that up, and I’m honored.
• On Friday, ABTL released the .pdf of Exit Strategy.

What a great week (other than my laptop dying, which is another story altogether)!

Thanks again to Tabz and ABtL for such a great time. And for those that missed the live show, the audio version of Love’s Sacrificial Song will be released before the end of the year.

I wrote a long short story called “Exit Strategy,” which will be released in audio format over at http://angelbetweenthelines.com – possibly today!

Exit Strategy is a heist story set in the Angel Between the Lines television show universe. While it is fan fiction to a certain extent (one minor character appears from the Angel universe), it is a story that requires no knowledge of the Buffy or Angel television shows. I really enjoyed writing the story, and as soon as the podcast episode is released I’ll post here to let you know.

Stickam Live Show: Tonight, 9:30 pm Eastern

The live shows just keep getting better and better! Last week we had Philippa Ballantine’s wonderful story, “Love and Fire.” The turnout wasn’t as high as previous shows (post-Halloween blues, maybe?), but we had a great guest appearance at the end of the show: Pip called down from her castle (a library) in New Zealand, waving and yelling “Hullo over there!”

This week I expect a larger audience, as we have a story from Tabitha Grace Smith, one of the forces of nature behind Buffy Between the Lines, Angel Between the Lines, Gilligan’s Island Between the Lines… okay, maybe not that last one. But with fans like hers, I expect Stickam to ROCK tonight! Tabz wrote a long story as well, called Love’s Sacrificial Song.

If there are any questions from the chat I’ll be taking them once again, so come on out and join in the fun.

Yes, I was finally able to finish the audio version of “The Old God and The Sea,” by Patrick E. McLean. Contrary to initial plans for this podcast, I’m giving each episode the star treatment it deserves. Which of course means the episodes will be released when they get released.

0:00 – Intro Chatter

• We are still having a lot of fun doing Live Video Readings of new TotC stories over at Stickam.com – Tonight we have a story by Philippa Ballantine.
• The audio versions of the episodes will be released after the video episodes, so if you want to get them first, come on over to the live show (every other Wednesday evening at 9:30 pm Eastern).

4:40 – The Old God and the Sea – Patrick E. McLean

Rygar is the hedge knight everyone fears. Jarl is the fisherman no one could ever fear. What happens when these two men finally meet? It’s all in a day’s work (or a lifetime in this case) for a Child of Az.

23:00 – Outro Chatter

Check out the cross promotion I’m doing with Tabitha Grace Smith. A story I’ve written, “Exit Strategy,” will be released Monday, November 16th on the Angel Between the Lines podcast. Next Wednesday evening at 9:30 pm Eastern I will be reading Tabitha’s Tales of the Children short story, “Love’s Sacrificial Song” on my next Stickam.com live show.

• Twitter – http://twitter.com/pgholyfield
• Facebook – http://facebook.com/pgholyfield
• MaAH and Tales of the Children Facebook Group – http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=24571342195
• Call The Caern Line – 704-315-5884
• “Tales of the Children” t-shirts at http://pgholyfield.spreadshirt.com – email me and I’ll create a custom t-shirt for you, with whatever “Child” you like best!

Music in this episode:

• Shira Kammen – Magnatune.com
  • The Impossible Butterfly – Wild Wood
• Kevin McLeod – Achaidh Cheide
• Ruben van Rompaey – Grande Rue De Pera
• Marc Gunn – Stardust Serenade
• Additional f/x found at Soundsnap.com and The Freesound Project

Excuse the low sound quality of this episode. We recorded in a room at the Atlanta Hilton during Dragon*Con and there was a lot of noise that didn’t clean up very well. But it is listenable, and the interview itself turned out great.

Be sure to join in the fun on Wednesday evening, 9:30 pm Eastern, for the next vidcast on Stickam.com

Enjoy!

Blurb – Me chatting about 7th Son: Descent

Promo – J.C. Hutchins – 7th Son: Descent.

Music: Grande Rue De Pera – Ruben van Rompaey, courtesy of Magnatune.com

Excuse the low sound quality of this episode. We recorded in a room at the Atlanta Hilton during Dragon*Con and there was a lot of noise that didn’t clean up very well. But it is listenable, and the interview itself turned out great.

Part 2 of the interview will be released on Monday.

Enjoy!

Promo – This new podcast called 7th Son: Descent. I hear it’s okay.

Music: Grande Rue De Pera – Ruben van Rompaey, courtesy of Magnatune.com

The President of the United States is dead. He was murdered in the morning sunlight by a four year-old boy.

With those first two sentences, J.C. Hutchins announced his arrival to the world of podcast fiction. And on October 27, 2009, 7th Son: Descent hits bookstore shelves and on Amazon.com.

Go here to read more about 7th Son: Descent.

This is the one I’ve been waiting for… I love Scott Sigler’s books, and J.C.’s first book with Jordan Weisman, Personal Effects: Dark Art was a lot of fun, but 7th Son redefined storytelling for me, and on a weekly basis it made me want to be a better writer.

And finally, if it wasn’t for J.C. I don’t think I would have podcast Murder at Avedon Hill. So learn about 7th Son if you haven’t given it a try. And if you enjoyed his podcast and want something to read while I’m editing Murder at Avedon Hill, BUY THIS BOOK.

And actually, if you haven’t listened to 7th Son: Descent, J.C. has started releasing the new version of the 7th Son: Descent podcast (based on the print version of the novel).

To make the video a little more fun, especially since Patrick’s story was a bit of a comedy, I’ve added some pop-up elements that hopefully add some humor to the video, and it also helps those watching the video understand what was going on in the Stickam chat room before the reading and during the Q&A.

This video is Pt. 2 (the Q&A). I tried to include something for everyone in this video. Give it a watch and see what I mean.

For those that want separate feeds for audio and video, that is coming soon, along with a site redesign.

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On October 7th Patrick McLean and I did a live reading of his Tales of the Children short story, “The Old God and the Sea.” After the reading we did a Q&A with Chooch (Chooch was on skype).

To make the video a little more fun, especially since Patrick’s story was a bit of a comedy, I’ve added some pop-up elements that hopefully add some humor to the video, and it also helps those watching the video understand what was going on in the Stickam chat room before the reading and during the Q&A.

This video is Pt. 1 (the intro and the reading). Pt. 2 will be released in the feed tomorrow.

For those that want separate feeds for audio and video, that is coming soon, along with a site redesign.

Here we are once again. While I did meet my 9/09/09 start date for Tales of the Children (a live reading of this same story on Stickam), it did take me until now to finish the audio production of that same episode. At least you know what you get with me. Late, but hopefully worth it.

0:00 – Intro Chatter

• Our first story is “Swimming Lessons” by Gabrielle Harbowy
• Every other Wednesday we’ll be doing a Live Video Reading of a new Tales story over at Stickam.com
• Welcome to the first episode of Tales of the Children!

5:30 – Swimming Lessons – Gabrielle Harbowy

Joren, a craftsman jailed for the suspected use of non-clerical magic, learns what The River of Magic is all about.

24:50 – Outro Chatter

A few updates, and then an addendum because I finished editing two weeks after recording the original outro.

• Twitter – http://twitter.com/pgholyfield
• Facebook – http://facebook.com/pgholyfield
• MaAH and Tales of the Children Facebook Group – http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=24571342195
• Call The Caern Line – 704-315-5884
• “Tales of the Children” t-shirts at http://pgholyfield.spreadshirt.com – email me and I’ll create a custom t-shirt for you, with whatever “Child” you like best!

Music in this episode:

• Shira Kammen – Magnatune.com
  • The Impossible Butterfly – Wild Wood
• Kevin McLeod – Achaidh Cheide
• Ruben van Rompaey – Grande Rue De Pera
• Additional f/x found at Soundsnap.com and The Freesound Project

Special thanks to Scott Roche for his audio editing help with this episode!

• Discussions on cover art and creativity
• The state of the publishing industry
• What is The Gearheart?
• not a fan of Blade Runner, other than the “style” of it?
• Fonts and genres?
• Glenfiddich
• Oil rigs

Is that it? … Oh yeah… there was Tears for Fears.

Listen in on my interview with Alex White, creator of The Gearheart podcast novel, Art Director at Dragon Moon Press… and in his spare time he’ll be doing the cover of Murder at Avedon Hill.

This is the first in a series of interviews leading up to the print release of Murder at Avedon Hill I hope you will enjoy this behind the scenes look at the journey I’m taking to get MaAH into print.

Enjoy!

Music: Grande Rue De Pera – Ruben van Rompaey, courtesy of Magnatune.com

Promo: The Gearheart

The first video has some news, a quick Dragon*Con report, and a song from Kim Fortuner and Patrick McLean, recorded at D*C, with Tim Dodge on guitar.

This second video is the reading of “Swimming Lessons,” by Gabrielle Harbowy, followed by a Q&A led by Chooch.

If you attended, continue being part of the live show by calling the Caern Line. (704) 315-5884. I’ll be playing questions and comments on the next live show.