Sword & Laser Episode 1 is Live

The episode is live, I am indeed in the submitted videos, and now my stomach can stop churning so much. It’s a fantastic show, loving the video version. Tom and Veronica interview Scott Sigler, Phil Plait sends in a video question for Scott, then after the interview segment, they kick off the new fantasy book for the club, Lev Grossman’s The Magicians.

It turns out they did have an audio version of the interview with Robert J. Sawyer, so I feel a little silly having asked that, but it is true he has a new book out, so if they can get him on the show that’d be awesome.

And finally, it’s true, Veronica does have the same shirt. She scooped me on the final episode of Game On!

Sword & Laser Episode 1 Launches Today

By the time most of you read this, Sword & Laser will have released the first episode of their new video show at Felicia Day’s Geek and Sundry channel on YouTube. Sources say it’s at 10am, and since that source is show host Tom Merritt and he’s on Pacific Time, I’m guessing that’s 10am PST, or 1pm here in the East where I am.

Anyone interested in science fiction and/or fantasy should definitely check it out. Tom hosts with Veronica Belmont, and the two have worked on the show together for about the last 4 years as an audio podcast, which will still exist alongside this new video show.

This release is a big one for me, not just as a fan of the show, but because I’m actually a part of it. A very small part, but a part nonetheless. They asked the fan base for video feedback and questions, so I spent some time and created a tiny 10-second video to submit, and they accepted it, so that’s awesome. From what I’ve heard online, I get to share this episode with guest Scott Sigler, an awesome writer whose novel Infected was equal parts disturbing and fascinating. Also on the show in some capacity is a science hero of mine, Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer. I won’t know what capacity that is until I see it myself tomorrow.

I’ve been sort of struggling with the videoification of the web for a couple of years now, and that 10 second video submission was my first major step in dealing with it. I get pretty serious anxiety when trying to record video of myself. I’ve done Google hangouts before, but it always stresses me out pretty bad, at least until I’m actually in the hangout and participating. Then it sort of eases off and I just go with it. I’m hoping that by doing this sort of small video thing now and then I can work my way up to doing video reviews for the GeekBeat crew out at Livid Lobster, where I blog. And who knows, maybe I’ll be on a podcast for real one day.

Small steps.

The Price of Demand Edit Saga Continues

I’ve finished working up a final outline for the edit of The Price of Demand. The work I’ve done so far with the dialogue has really helped point me in the direction the story needs to go. A lot of elements I had in there originally are going on the scrap heap, even more than I’d suspected. That’s okay though. They didn’t need to be there in the first place. The new revision of the story should be much tighter and should make far more sense, with motivations that make more sense.

I’m a little sad to make some of the changes. Electrite becomes little more than a footnote in this new version, it’s not really playing a part in motivating anyone besides Altman and Kaylene, who need to keep it a secret. I suppose that’s okay though. It plays important roles later, as regular readers know, and it doesn’t really make sense that it should be central to EVERYTHING that ever happens.

Editing The Price of Demand

Okay then, I’ve resumed reworking The Price of Demand, including the first setup of a new resolution to the story that will make Mitchell less of a Generic Black-Hat Badguy. It’s interesting working on it as pure dialogue, though I expect it to get a little confusing figuring out what exposition goes where when I have to reintegrate it into the text.

A Different Kind of Interview II

So I went, I did the interview. Seems like a really awesome company with great people, several of whom I know from previous experience. Fingers crossed. It looks like an outfit I’d love to be part of!

No time constraints tonight, so back to the writing. Tonight The Price of Demand edit is calling my attention, so I’m going to put some effort into that and get back to Charlie’s time travel adventure in the future.