J.C. Hutchins is going to take over the world. Meteoric doesn’t begin to describe what’s about to happen. Holy crap. I’m so proud to be one of the first beta clones, one of the first agents of J.C.’s Ministry of Propaganda.

Personal Effects: Dark Art is coming out on June 9th. You can pre-order here. Watch the video below to see why.

I’m in awe. And I get to see J.C. in a week. Huzzah!

but I’m going to claim it as the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the TRUTH!

MaAH has been sitting on Page 2 of the iTunes Literature Featured Chart for around a year now. Today I open up iTunes and I see this:

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Long story short: Caroline (the voice of Lane Niccols) is married to a wonderful artist, Jeff Himmelman. Jeff is the same artist that produced the awesome art used by Chris Lester over at the Metamor City podcast. I went to look at Jeff’s art site and came upon the image seen above… and about hurt myself trying to get Outlook open so I could email Caroline and Jeff to see if I could post the image on this site.

So here is Lane Niccols, recently revealed as– wait, I can’t spoil that for new listeners. I’ll shut up now.

In today’s extra content release we have three maps. First is a stylized map of the region around Avedon Hill. Next is a map of the Avedon Hill Inn. Last we have a map of Sarah Tremaine’s shop, a location featured in ep. 27, which should be released tomorrow.

The stylized map was created by my friend Ilwan a couple of years ago. He and his extensive mapping skills can be found at Mapventures.com. The other two maps were created once again by snikle, one of the founders of Four Ugly Monsters, a site dedicated to virtual table gaming.

The maps do not follow the novel to the letter (for example, there are booths in the inn’s common room in the novel), but they provide a great visual for those interested in the feel of the world and the town. Enjoy!!

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I added a new section to the site – “Bitstrips.” It’ll hold the comics I’ve done over at the Bitstrips.com site. One of the strips I did was a finalist in the first annual “Bistrips Best Of” Awards (under Tech). It didn’t win, but it was nice to be recognized! If you would like to subscribe to a separate RSS feed for my bitstrips.com stuff, click here.

Murder at Avedon Hill has been recognized by my podcast peers and is a finalist in two categories (Best Podcast Novel and Best Production) at the 5th Podcast Peer Awards (Fall ‘08). I am so honored to be in the same group with J.C. Hutchins, Scott Sigler, Tee Morris, Mur Lafferty, Phil Rossi (Production)… and my nemesis, Chris Lester. Thanks to everyone that voted for me during the nomination round. While I knew about the Best Podcast Novel category, I had no idea that I was in the running for Best Production. Wow!

EDIT: More on the PPAs, from Podiobooks.

Wow, what an event! Matthew Wayne Selznick ran his show like a champ, and even though my 7,000 word story almost killed him, he survived and kicked major butt!

Right now, Brave Men Run is at #65 overall on Amazon.com, and while we were listening it rose to #3 in Action and Adventure! Holy crap!!

The stories by the podcast authors were all wonderful. For those that missed it, there is a rumor that these stories will make an appearance in some form… soon.

And then, as a surprise, Matthew read the first chapter of his next novel, Pilgrimage.

I was very proud of the event, how my story was received, and how gracious Matthew is as human being. Thanks to everyone that attended, and that showed support for independent fiction!

Now, go buy Brave Men Run and let’s take BMR to #1!

A map of Avedon Hill – Ever wonder where some of the businesses and homes are in Avedon Hill?

Here is a .pdf of a map of the town. It was created by snikle, one of the founders of Four Ugly Monsters, a site dedicated to virtual gaming tables such as Fantasy Grounds, Battlegrounds: RPG Edition, and MapTool.

The map was created for an RPG supplement that I was working on with snikle and devinnight (the artist that created the icons of the Children seen in the novel and on this site). I stepped away from Four Ugly Monsters (I was a founder as well) to concentrate on writing (and on the podcast). These are two great guys, and some of the extra content you’ll see over the next few weeks will be all thanks to their hard work.

A couple of areas previously mentioned and/or visited in the novel but not marked on the map: the Circle is the group of yellow buildings in the center of town; the Estates are the yellow buildings on the right side of the map.

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On episode 22 I mentioned that I’m running a contest. The details are below, but there is one major change: the contest will run until the end of June, not the end of May.

What do you do?

Between now and June 30, submit a review at iTunes and/or leave a comment on The Caern Line (the voice line at 704-315-5884). If you do one or the other, you get one entry into the contest. If you do both, you get two entries.

Anyone that has previously left a review on iTunes or left me a voice mail is grandfathered into the contest.

But in either case (grandfathered or new), you only be officially entered if you send me an email with the subject line MaAH Contest #1, with your name and email address, plus a description of what you did (name on the review or date you left a voice mail). That way I can contact you if you win.

What do you get?

On July 1st, 2008 I will take all the entries and draw a winner (on video). That person will win a t-shirt of their choice from the official MaAH Spreadshirt store. Also, if I get more than 20 reviews on iTunes before the end of June, I will give away schwag to multiple entrants (prizes T.B.A.).

I’m late with this, but better late then never. On Sunday Joe Murphy passed away after only a four month battle against Leiomyosarcoma Carcinoma (LMS). For the very few that might be listening to this that do not know who I’m talking about: Joe Murphy was one of the hosts of Kick Ass Mystic Ninjas and appeared on many Farpoint Media shows, including Cover to Cover and Michael and Evo’s Wingin’ It.

I wasn’t close to Joe Murphy, but I had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with Joe at Dragon*Con:

I first spotted Joe attending one of the podcast sessions at Dragon Con and I sat down near him and introduced myself when the session was over. I had written him an email about their podcast discussion of Dune, and and he remembered my email and we chatted for fifteen minutes about the Kick Ass Mystic Ninjas, how they came up with their topics, etc. The next session started and I moved up to the front of the room to listen in.

And then later that night at a party Joe came up to me and began our conversation anew. It was just how Joe Murphy was. If you were a listener, you were part of his extended family, immediately, no questions asked.

The audio included in this post is from Leann Mabry, speaking about the website that has been started in Joe’s honor. Please visit the site and learn more about Joe and the insidious disease known as LMS.

http://joemurphymemorialfund.org

Thank you.

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I’ve had my first blowup in Adobe Audition… hooray!!! Argh. I had the episode edited and ready to go, but a crash now prevents me from accessing the session file.

The file edits are done. I just have to rebuild the session. I hope to post T-Minus 2 tonight.

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On a side note, here’s an article from the N.Y. Times about podcasting fiction and the success stories that are already being written. (You might have to register **for free** in order to see the article). Scott Sigler, J.C. Hutchins, Tee Morris, Evo Terra, Mark Jeffries, and others are featured/mentioned in the article.