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Cover to Cover #342A: End of 2008 Roundup

Summer Brooks — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 17:30:14 +0000

Show Notes: End of 2008 Roundup

Listener Review: Web Genii brings us a review of On Her Majesty’s Occult Service by Charles Stross. It’s a Science Fiction Book Club collection of several other stories: The Atrocity Archives, The Jennifer Morgue and a couple other shorter works, including afterwords by Charles.

Submitting Listener comments: If you have any suggestions or comments, please let us know! “Cover to Cover” has it’s own call-in line, 206-350-READ! That’s 206-350-7323, or just email Michael with a comment you’ve recorded yourself!

Discussion: Mike, Summer and Mike talk more about e-books and electronic offerings from the publishers, including Random House’s new free downloads, and the Penguin Reader app available from the Apps Store for the iPod/iPhone.

Technology and publishing are slowly coming closer together, finally, and there are still some missteps here and there… but will it be enough to help the publishing industry save themselves?

Listener Review: Tim Low brings us a review of the movie City of Ember and compares it to the book, which Darcy reviewed earlier this year.

Listener Review: Web Genii brings us a review of As Far As My Feet Will Carry Me: The Extraordinary True Story of One Man’s Escape from a Siberian Labor Camp and His 3-Year Trek to Freedom by Josef Bauer, a nonfiction book originally written in 1957, but recently republished by Skyhorse Publishing.

Second Life Info: FarPoint Media’s Second Life space is now the penthouse suite of Third Life Books, the place for SL versions of Michael A. Stackpole’s writings, and many other goodies, including a Wednesday night writing workshop. You can find the castle at http://slurl.com/secondlife/beraudes/203/151/49. Come see the castle roof pool!

FarPoint Forums: Head on over to the FarPoint Forums and join in the discussions on Dragon Page topics, and for most of your favorite FPM shows!

Promo: Slice of SciFi

Cover to Cover #341: Chatting about Publishing

Summer Brooks — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 17:00:40 +0000

Show Notes: Chatting about Publishing

Listener Review: Justin brings us a review of The Phoenix Unchained by Merecedes Lackey and James Mallory.

Submitting Listener comments: If you have any suggestions or comments, please let us know! “Cover to Cover” has it’s own call-in line, 206-350-READ! That’s 206-350-7323 — and you can also email Michael with a comment or a book review that you’ve recorded yourself!

Discussion: Publishing meltdown? Mike and Mike delve into the major and massive changes hitting the publishing industry right now: Random House imprints going away; some big publishing houses cutting staff and either no longer hiring new staffers or making major benefits changes for new hires; and more.

They speculate how well some of the houses may adapt to electronic or other alternate options, and how well some of them may or may not change at all. What’s the deal behind charging the same amount for an ebook as they do for a hardcover print book?

The Library: Mike, Summer and Mike go through the last Library entries for 2008: A Fortress in Shadow by Glen Cook; The Love We Share Without Knowing by Christopher Barzak; The Flaxen Femme Fatale by John Zakour; Futures from Nature edited by Henry Gee; Dragonstrike by E. E. Knight; Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi; The Engine’s Child by Holly Phillips; Daemon by Daniel Suarez; The United States of Atlantis by Harry Turtledove.

FarPoint Forums: Head on over to the FarPoint Forums and join in the discussions on Dragon Page topics, and for most of your favorite FPM shows!

Cover to Cover #340A: J. F. Lewis

Summer Brooks — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 23:30:33 +0000

Show Notes: J. F. Lewis

Discussion: Mike and Mike chat about shifts in the publishing industry: changing to ebooks, the dwindling paranormal romance titles, and more.

Interview: This week, Mike, Lorrie and Mike chat with author J. F. Lewis about his “Void City” series, and how the popularity of the first book, Staked, was the catalyst for his getting kicked out of their church.

Jeremy recounts how his writing a vampire novel containing a strip club and evangelical werewolves raised concerned with his church’s elders, and how that discussion led to calls for his excommunication (and possible stoning?)

He also lists the church’s requirements to get back in their good graces — refusing future monies from the book, renouncing the book publically, refusing to continue promoting the book or sign future copies, and refuse the publisher permission to publish the second book, and more — and what he’s had to change in his writing life to accomodate some of their demands for his family.

Discussion: Mike and Mike follow up the interview with Jeremy with a discussion about the merging of faith with gaming, fantasy, and science fiction, and how people have used speculative fiction and alternate worlds to explore their faith more deeply or from a different perspective. This leads to a talk about the tendency of some groups of people to turn to isolation in order to protect themselves from the dangers of mind viruses (ie, any ideas counter to the accepted worldview that may make one feel superior to others who think differently), and to how writing fiction is a safe way to explore the various fringes.

FarPoint Forums: Head on over to the FarPoint Forums and join in the discussions on Dragon Page topics, and for most of your favorite FPM shows!

Link: J. F. Lewis Official Site
Promo: Dragon Page With Class

Cover to Cover #339B: Listener Questions

Summer Brooks — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 01:30:57 +0000

Show Notes: Listener Questions

Discussion: Mike, Lorrie and Mike actually fully respond to Anna’s question from Show #339A about whether or not Internet tools like Facebook and Twitter can actually help a writer’s writing style. Sort of.

Listener Review: Natalie from Northeast gives us a review of The Host by Stephenie Meyer.

Feedback: Mike, Lorrie and Mike respond to a question about advances for new writers, which leads to a long discussion on the costs of books and why there’s no difference in price between hardcover books and their ebook versions.

Listener Review: Justin Lemaster gives us a review of the podiobook of 65 Below by Basil Sands.

Feedback: Tim asks if there are fantasy books out there that contain echoes of the current state of affairs of the world, since he’s seeing that trend in the YA books that Darcy’s reading now; Tim relates Jenny’s impromptu turn as a Second Life tour guide for Third Life Books; Tim also comments on “Burned”, in response to Lorrie’s commentary on it; ADD Todd sends in his commentary on the “Legend of the Seeker” TV series in comparison to the Sword of Truth books.

FarPoint Forums: Head on over to the FarPoint Forums and join in the discussions on Dragon Page topics, and for most of your favorite FPM shows!

Cover to Cover #339A: Jane Lindskold

Summer Brooks — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 23:30:48 +0000

Show Notes: Jane Lindskold

Discussion: Mike, Lorrie and Mike chat about shifts in the publishing industry: changing to ebooks, the dwindling paranormal romance titles, and more.

Interview: This week, Mike and Summer talk with Jane Lindskold about her newest book, Thirteen Orphans: Breaking the Wall, a tale about the new generation of avatars, descendants of the ones exiled from the Chinese Zodiac, and their journey to discover their powers in time to save themselves from the effects of a war their ancestors thought they’d left behind…

Jane also shares with us her writing choices, especially her adamant avoidance of web surfing and most of the pitfalls associated with the online time sinks.

Discussion: Mike, Lorrie and Mike respond to Anna’s voicemail comment on using dialogue tags and descriptors in writing, and the effects of email and Twitter on that particular writing ability.

FarPoint Forums: Head on over to the FarPoint Forums and join in the discussions on Dragon Page topics, and for most of your favorite FPM shows!

Promo: Second Shift Podcast
Promo: Dragon Page With Class

Cover to Cover #338: New Show Format

Summer Brooks — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 17:30:04 +0000

Show Notes: Welcome to the new show format!

The “A” show and the “B” show are different, but the same… let us know what you think!

The Library: The secret is out: we don’t really have a chance to read all of the books before we talk about them on The Library. This week’s books: The Devil’s Due by Jenna Black; Queen of Dragon by Shana Abe (mmpb reprint); The Knights of Cornerstone by James P. Blaylock; Princeps Fury by Jim Butcher; The Lord Protector’s Daughter by L. E. Modesitt, Jr; Ender in Exile by Orson Scott Card.

Listener Review: Tim Low gives us a review of the Batman: Murders at Wayne Manor graphic novel and interactive game.

Discussion: Ben in Tampa comments on something Irene Gallo said in C2C #333A, and wants to know what our thougts are on the philosophy of building something that you yourself would want to read/watch/experience, and that other people will come to it. The key is that the passion that you have for the project will be apparent to everyone else who shares that passion, and they will enjoy it as much as you do.

FarPoint Forums: Head on over to the FarPoint Forums and join in the discussions on Dragon Page topics, and for most of your favorite FPM shows!

Promo: Dragon Page With Class

Cover to Cover #337A: T. A. Pratt

Summer Brooks — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 19:02:36 +0000

Show Notes: T. A. Pratt

Many thanks to all of the listeners who have been donating. Your support is truly appreciated.

Interview: This week, Mike and Mike talk with Tim Pratt about the newest book in his Marla Mason series, Dead Reign.

Tim talks changing gears and in writing his fiction, and changing names as a way to help market the Marla Mason books (to appeal to female readers more). Marla even has her own website, and you can keep tabs on her via Twitter!

Discussion: Stackpole tells us about a new deal coming from Random House about their new rates for electronic books, and then tells us what’s wrong with the way they’re trying to go about building up their electronic book (PDF) inventory. Since Amazon and other electronic distributors can pay more per book than Random House is offering, what the motivation here?

Check out the new Dragon Page “C” show, streamed live into Second Life, on Fridays at 4pm Pacific Time… you never know who might show up!

FarPoint Forums: Head on over to the FarPoint Forums and join in the discussions on Dragon Page topics, and for most of your favorite FPM shows!

Link: Tim Pratt
Link: Marla Mason: Sorceress. Crime Boss. Badass.
Promo: Dragon Page With Class
Promo: Second Shift Podcast

Cover to Cover #336A: Lawrence Watt-Evans

Summer Brooks — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:00:45 +0000

Show Notes: Lawrence Watt-Evans

Brian Richardson from What the Cast? joins Mike and Mike today, and he’s preparing Mitt Zombie’s concession speech for the 2008 presidential campaign.

They also discuss the passing of Michael Crichton, and his contributions to both television and fiction, and the curious happenstance of why certain novels with science fiction elements are not marketed as science fiction, and not listed in the science fiction sections of bookstores. This leads to a discussion about why many people believe they have to be highly educated in order to read and enjoy science fiction stories.

Why does the perception that the “average” person has a disdain for the “intellectual” (a societal extension of the high school brain-vs-jock conflict) plague society still? Why are some stories not considered science fiction when their topics are obviously so? This leads to a quick argument about why CSI isn’t considered scifi, so try to contain your comments!

Interview: This week, Mike, Summer and Mike talk with Lawrence Watt-Evans about The Turtle Moves!: Discworld’s Story Unauthorized, an “unauthorized” compendium of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, from BenBella Books.

The Turtle Moves! is an extensive reader’s guide for the Discworld universe, containing a bibliography of novels and short stories and detailed synopses of them, essays about the use of magic and physics in Discworld, commentary on the characters, creatures and humor in the series, and more. Lawrence tells us about how this project came about, his fascination with the Discworld series, and the extensive research that went into putting this compendium together.

Discussion: Another round of changes to “Cover to Cover” is coming up… more diversity of segments, and a teeny bit more structure in those segments, and a call for more listener provided content.

Check out the new Dragon Page “C” show, streamed live into Second Life, on Fridays at 4pm Pacific Time… you never know who might show up!

FarPoint Forums: Head on over to the FarPoint Forums and join in the discussions on Dragon Page topics, and for most of your favorite FPM shows!

Link: Lawrence Watt-Evans: The Misenchanted Page
Promo: Dragon Page With Class
Promo: Second Shift Podcast

Cover to Cover #335B: Art Reflecting Life

Summer Brooks — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 02:00:36 +0000

Show Notes: Art Reflecting Life

Discussion: Mike and Mike talk about the potential impact of the 2008 US Presidential Elections on the non-fiction and fiction landscape of the next few years, based on some of the literature shifts in decades past. Without going into personal political opinions, let’s speculate on how or if these results influence speculative fiction trends.

Are you participating in NaNoWriMo? Tell us how you’re doing!

Listener Review: Tim Low brings us a review of the coffee table compendium The Prince Valiant Page by Gary Gianni.

The Library: It’s been a while! Fast Forward 2 edited by Lou Anders; Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show by Edmund R. Schubert and Orson Scott Card. The last one leads to a long chat about alternative publishing venues, and different ways to get more stories out to the readers at the same time more money comes back to the hands of the authors.

FarPoint Forums: Head on over to the FarPoint Forums and join in the discussions on Dragon Page topics, and for most of your favorite FPM shows!

Promo: Dragon Page With Class
Promo: How To Grow Your Geek

Cover to Cover #335A: Feedback Blowout!

Summer Brooks — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 21:00:38 +0000

Show Notes: Feedback Blowout!

Voicemail: Tim Low relays some suggestions for YA books that aren’t “dumbed down”, and Darcy recommends The Secret Life of Bees, the Ember series, and a new series by R. A. Salvatore; Shane in Sydney lets us know that Aussie chain Angus & Robertson now has a POD machine located in the stores, for people to get reasonably priced copies of out-of-print novels; Mari from Michigan sends her thanks for C2C leading her to investigate e-books, which has led to a research paper topic for her; Trampas adds to the discussion about “dumbed down” YA books with a comment on the later removal of sex scenes; Trampas reflects on “getting unplugged”, and suggests that writing itself is his way of unplugging.

More Voicemail: Sandy from MD tells us what books and movies inspire her 14-yr-old; Tim Low enjoys hanging out in Second Life and likes to surprise everyone by not knowing what his wife and daughter are going to dress his avatar up in; Trampas asks if the guys can talk more about writing in different subgenres; Jason recommends avoiding Baby Einstein and seeking out “Dora the Explorer” for younger kids, and “Avatar: The Last Airbender” for older kids and adults; Tim Low has a suggestion for all the new writers listening to C2C: do a lot of research before you start writing for kids, because many of the issues are still the same; Anna lets Mike Stackpole know how to let Amazon know that they’ve got incorrect data on the books he’s has written, so Delicious Library will be correct; Jason from AK also loves Delicious Library and tells us how to connect it to Address Book to track loaned items; Gary in Atlanta gives us LibraryThing.com as a free option for those who can’t use Delicious Library; Trampas gives us 2 books that fall into the “fail” category of technical execution; Halley enjoyed the Joe Abercrombie interview, and comments on the special “Paperback Dreams” on PBS, and the loss of all the locally owned bookstores in his area of Philadelphia.

Discussion: Check out the new Dragon Page “C” show, streamed live into Second Life, on Fridays at 4pm Pacific Time… you never know who might show up!

FarPoint Forums: Head on over to the FarPoint Forums and join in the discussions on Dragon Page topics, and for most of your favorite FPM shows!

Promo: Dragon Page With Class

Cover to Cover #334B: Feedback from Everyone

Summer Brooks — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 03:30:24 +0000

Show Notes: Feedback from Everyone

Voicemail: Trampas comments on the changes and expansions with Dungeons & Dragons and Forgotten Realms, changing the landscape in order to start anew in several places, and enacting time jumps in other places; James listens to us while walking the streets of exotic foreign cities, and wants to know if we’ve ever considered talking with Samuel R. Delany and Gene Wolfe; Mark from KY is happy that Dragons of the Hourglass Mage will be coming out after all, in 2009; Tim Low extolls Book Exchange as a place to get rid of used books (there’s also Book Mooch); Justin from Dead Robots Society asks Stackpole for tips about efficiently eliminating dialogue tags; Tim Low is impressed with the avatar choices available for him in Second Life; Doc from Des Moines reports on a reorganized Borders floor layout.

Are you participating in NaNoWriMo? Tell us how you’re doing!

Discussion: Mike, Lorrie and Mike chat about Burned by Ellen Hopkins — about the impact of the book, and how she’d want to talk to a kid about after they’ve read this. The style is unique and Lorrie loved the unique way of telling the story (in a journal-like fashion), but the continual parade of bad things happening to the main character, Pattyn, and the bleak and vaguely veiled implications of the ending disturbed her, of how it might affect a teen who’d read the book without having an outlet to talk with someone about.

The discussion turns to the different levels of coping skills, in both adolescents, teens and adults, and possible ways to handle things when you observe warning signs of destructive or self-destructive behaviors.

FarPoint Forums: Head on over to the FarPoint Forums and join in the discussions on Dragon Page topics, and for most of your favorite FPM shows!

Promo: Dragon Page With Class

Cover to Cover #334A: Charlie Huston

Summer Brooks — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 02:30:13 +0000

Show Notes: Charlie Huston

Voicemail: Scooter Ross lets Mike and Mike know that the B.C. comic strip isn’t being reprinted, but have new strips being drawn by his grandson, which leads to a long conversation about books, profits, and publishing’s bottom lines.

Interview: This week, Mike, Summer and Mike talk with Charlie Huston about Every Last Drop, the newest novel in his series about the vampire PI Joe Pitt, and the horror noir world he’s created where vampires are born from contracting the Vyrus.

Charlie tells us how Joe has ended up “in exile” in the Bronx and is trying to work his way back into enough good graces so he can go back to Manhattan without being killed; and how Joe starts getting closer to some of the most closely guarded secrets of the clans, all leading up to some explosive revelations in the planned 5th and final book in the series.

Discussion: Check out the new Dragon Page “C” show, streamed live into Second Life, on Fridays at 4pm Pacific Time… you never know who might show up!

FarPoint Forums: Head on over to the FarPoint Forums and join in the discussions on Dragon Page topics, and for most of your favorite FPM shows!

Link: The Official Charlie Huston website
Promo: Dragon Page With Class
Promo: And Here’s to You by Brian Webber

Cover to Cover #333A: Tor.com

Summer Brooks — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 01:30:30 +0000

Show Notes: Tor.com

Discussion: Mike and Mike field a request for opinion about Stephanie Meyer’s statement that she’s not going to publish her next novel in the Twilight series, Midnight Sun, because it’s already been leaked onto the Internet, and is considering giving up writing altogether because of this situation.

She has decided to make the draft that’s being illegally distributed freely available to everyone from her website, but she’s also decided not to complete the novel any time soon (Read the posting from Aug 28, 2008 for more details).

Interview: This week, Mike and Mike talk with Pablo Defendini and Irene Gallo, two of the producers behind the new Tor.com Scifi Community about how the new project came to be, and how this site is far more than just a marketing tool for Tor Books… it truly is a cross-publisher community of authors and artists, featuring original written and audio fiction, editor and author blogs, and much, much more.

Discussion: Check out the new Dragon Page “C” show, streamed live into Second Life, on Fridays at 4pm Pacific Time… you never know who might show up!

FarPoint Forums: Head on over to the FarPoint Forums and join in the discussions on Dragon Page topics, and for most of your favorite FPM shows!

Promo: Computer King
Promo: Dragon Page With Class

Cover to Cover #332A: Edward M. Lerner

Summer Brooks — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 13:30:26 +0000

Show Notes: Edward M. Lerner

Discussion: Mike and Mike chat it up while streaming the show into Second Life, covering some updates on Mike S’ ebook sales, including the increasing numbers to iPhone and iPod Touch users, plus the evolution of book reading gadgets (see the Plastic Logic website).

Interview: This week, Mike and Summer talk with Edward M. Lerner about Juggler of Worlds, the next book about the Puppeteers. He tells about how the story has progressed from Fleet of Worlds, and the more mysteries about what’s happening to the humans and the Kzinti.

Edward also has a new book in his own universe, Fool’s Experiments, which will be out in November. This story is a near-future tale about the impact of the quest to create artificial life and it’s evolution into artificial intelligence, and how accidents happen despite the best intentions and careful precautions.

FarPoint Forums: Head on over to the FarPoint Forums and join in the discussions on Dragon Page topics, and for most of your favorite FPM shows!

Link: Plastic Logic
Promo: The Legion of Lethargic Super Geeks
Promo: Variant Frequencies

Cover to Cover #331B: The Growth of the Artist

Summer Brooks — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 22:00:20 +0000

Show Notes: The Growth of the Artist

Mike M has rediscovered his lost stories, and is planning to jump back into them full bore, and is newly passionate about the importance of doing regular system backups. This leads into a conversation about how an artist or a writer will grow and change over the course of just doing their work. How hard is it to resurrect an old project, one written earlier in your artistic process?

Also, both Mikes are embarking on a plan to get Summer into Second Life for “office hours” of some sort. But what in the world would she talk about?

Don’t forget, NaNoWriMo is coming up very soon!

Listener review: Tim Low gives us a review of Hooked: A Thriller About Love and Other Addictions by Matt Richtel, a thriller that’s a first novel for Matt Richtel, and has sufficiently impressed Tim.

FarPoint Forums: Head on over to the FarPoint Forums and join in the discussions on Dragon Page topics, and for most of your favorite FPM shows!

Promo: Dragon Page With Class