Hiddennode

Yeah.. there’s a new MMO coming out today and it’s also my wedding anniversary weekend.  FYI, I’m busy for the next few days…

Hiddennode will be updated on Monday though, so check back then.

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Oh I have a busy weekend coming up. There’s going to be family, friends, and social gatherings to attend to that all fall between Saturday and Sunday. Creative projects are coming to a head. Plus I get to spend more time connecting to my community. Busy but it’s going to be fun.

First, we’re gathering for early Christmas setup and not doing gifts this year in our normal fashion. Instead, we’re having a baking party. From the email my wife sent to the attendees, I’ve been listed as an official tester, a role I intend to shine in. It will be good fun seeing my sister-in-law and some of her children and their children and significant others. Besides… Raven is going out of her way to make my favorite peanut butter cookies.

Second, myself, Dakota, and Andrew will be recording episode one of Trans-Dimensional Cafe. We’ve already recorded two other “non-public” episodes to get into the swing. Some hiccups with recording the last two episodes, but we’re staying on track with getting episode one created. I’ll be posting whenever a new one comes up, until folks get tired of it.

What is Trans-Dimensional Cafe? Well, to sum it up in a sentence: It’s a casual conversation about gaming, writing, TV, movies, and other entertaining and constructive projects. Why the name? I don’t know, but it sounds cool. Are we going to make some sort of theme around it? Maybe, but not so much at first. Being entertaining on our own merit is more important in the long run.

The final spark of the weekend is on Sunday, when I have my book club meeting. It’s our second meeting, so I’m excited to see how it goes. I’m still working on reading Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult, but for a genre I don’t normally read I’m really enjoying the book. I’ll give a review after this Sunday I think. Again, I’m looking forward to meeting my neighbors more at these meetings. The last batch of three really were fun to chat with. Between the four of us, we’ve had a pretty diverse set of backgrounds and experiences. I have a feeling I’m going to gain a lot from them in the coming months.

My weekend is pretty full from these events. That said I still have a few smaller things I need to take care of. I’ve got some Second Life work to manage, I need to find a new theme for this blog, I need to craft an entry for the jsamueldiehl.com site, and a few more minor details I’ll take care of in the second half of the week.

So, this post’s question: Continuing the holiday theme, what are your plans for getting ready for the end of the month? Are you buying or have you bought already? Did you plan out a nice trip for family or friends? Are you treating celebrating Christmas the American holiday or are you celebrating Christmas the spiritual holiday? Always happy to hear from you.

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A week later and I’m ready to start spreading some more love to the stories I’ve enjoyed: This week featuring two more of the founding fathers of podcast novels, Tee Morris and JC Hutchins.

Tee Morris

http://teemorris.com/

Stories I’ve Enjoyed:

Billibub Baddings and the Case of the Singing Sword

The Case of the Pitcher’s Pendant: A Billibub Baddings Mystery

Tee’s not only one of the founding fathers, he’s the ground breaker when he comes top podcasted novel length fiction. Tee’s fiction has a sense of playfulness mixed with fun stories. I’ve also listened to a number of his podcast projects such as his work on The Survival Guide to Writing Fantasy and the work he does helping other podcasters get their groove on. Besides what I’ve read and listened to, he also has the novel Morevi: The Chronicles of Rafe and Askana and the sequel Legacy of Morevi. Sorry to say I haven’t listened to or read these books yet, but given that the Billibub Baddings book are so awesomely win, I’m betting the Morevi series are just as strong. Personally though I’m looking forward to the next Billi story. I’ve loved the first two so far and I really want to know what happens next.

Get Tee’s books if you like a great action story mixed with loveable smartasses guiding you through the adventures. Ah the joy of a fantasy universe dwarf running around 1920’s Chicago.

JC Hutchins

http://jchutchins.net/

Stories I’ve Enjoyed:

The 7^th Son Trilogy

Personal Effects: Dark Art

JC Hutchins is a powerhouse in podcast advertising. My exposure to him came from the barrage of suggests from almost every podcast I listened to in 2007 when I really started to listen to podcasts. I jumped aboard the 7^th son ride and didn’t let go for 3 days as I mainstreamed the series. I’ve looking forward to the published versions coming out later this year. Recently, the novel Personal Effects: Dark Arts came out and forced itself into the mold for a new way to give a story. Augmented realty games and other projects have been out before, but PE:DA wraps this idea into the book and spreads it online.

If you enjoy thrillers that not only keep you guessing but also have familiar feeling characters, go with JC Hutchins’s books.

Okay, that’s it for this week. Both of these authors have really cemented in my love of what podcast authors can bring. They each appear to be on the verge of releasing even more great stories and books in the future. Check them out, buy their books, and spread the love.

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I’ve learned a few things over the past few years that I’ve been writing such as the desire of creating, the impulse to write, and what helps spark the two of them. One of the greatest fuels for this spark has been reading. It seems, to my own style, that the more I read the more I write. In the last two years I have become exposed to a new crop of writers that I’ve come to enjoy to help spark my writing fuel. These authors vary in genre and style but all are wonderful reads.

Since I’ve added a number of them to the Amazon merry-go-round, I’m only going to list 2 today. In the coming month, I’ll take the time to do a post about the rest on the wheel.

So this month we look at the writers Scott Sigler and Mur Lafferty.



Mur Lafferty

http://murverse.com/

Stories I’ve enjoyed:

Heaven: Seasons 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5

Playing For Keeps

Various Escape Pod Pieces

Various Micro Projects

I think Mur was the first podcaster I listened to after listening to my first podcasts on NPR. I heard about Pseduopod and from there heard about more of her stuff and more podcasts. I’d eventually find her audio series, Heaven, on Podiobooks and just love them as the first novel or novella (depending if you consider the first two seasons two separate novellas or a single novel) I listened to in podcast format. It’s been an interesting series as it’s slowly grown organically. I look forward to when they are put into the trilogy of books (if they get combined season 1+2, season 3+4, and season 5 as a standalone). Season 5 is actually going on now as of the time of this post so it’s a really good time to jump into the series. The first four seasons go pretty quickly so don’t be intimidated by the number of seasons. Mur’s published novel, Playing for Keeps, is also a great read. There’s been a number of super hero fiction stories later coming into the published world and Playing For Keeps is a good example of the genre. The audio book, like all of Mur works, is available for download.

I recommend Mur’s works if you like a bit of urban fantasy mixed with comedy. There always seems to be a smile behind the character’s faces in Mur’s stories even when the action is rolling.



Scott Sigler

http://www.scottsigler.com/

Stories I’ve enjoyed:

Ancestor

Infected

Contagious

The Rookie

I really enjoy Scott’s works. His science is great, his characters are quirky, and his stories are spooky. I first heard about him from various podcasts from far point media and took the plunge with listening to Ancestor. I seriously loved the listen. I didn’t grab a copy of it at the time of the listen, but it did inspire me to continue listening. The Rookie was the next book I listened to by Scott. Never thought I’d like a book about football, but the way it was presented (and not just because it was a sci fi story) actually made it really interested. Still not into the sport, but now I understand it and the fascination more. I would next try to listen to Infected but as the hard cover was coming out; I bought that instead and read the rest of the story. Just my preference. I like Scott’s readings but I always prefer to read my novel length fiction. When Contagious hit this year, I grabbed it on both Hard Cover and kindle version. Those two books are a wonderful series (if you couldn’t tell, one is the sequel to the other). Again great story, great read, and great characters.

If you like horror with a bit of realty mixed in with Sci-Fi, I recommend Scott Sigler’s works. Listen to his podcasts, buy his books, and get hooked.



There you have it; two great authors from the podcasting world that are just getting better and better as time passes. In the coming weeks, I’ll be looking at a few other podcast authors I’ve enjoyed and maybe along the way I’ll take the time to expose myself to some more.

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As I posted yesterday, I’m going to start posting about my interests. To kick things off, I’m going to redux the first time I posted about last time… sort of.

My first review article on the old version of the blog was about a show called 12v Theater by Jack Jaffee. I had originally planned on trying to get with Jack, do an interview thing with him, and post it. Didn’t happen. Not Jack’s fault. The man was quick to reply and very open to a meeting. I’m the guy who dropped the ball. Sorry about that one Jack. Still kind of feeling like a douche for it.

So to make up for it, my first topic is going to be able Jack’s new show: Media Frenzy (formerly the Jack and Theresa Show). Basic overview is your hosts, Jack and his wife Theresa, talk about various shows on air today. The genres vary and they go back and forth between Network and Cable shows. If it’s something on these days on a popular network, odds are they will talk about it, if just a little bit if they don’t care for it, or put an entire show out about a single series (I’m looking at episode 12 starring Dubshack as an example). Now I’ll be the first to admit it, I really don’t watch most of what they talk about. A few things, but not all of them. I pretty much listen because the hosts are cool and entertaining. They understand they have an adult audience listening to them and treat their show as such. So far, there are about a dozen shows as of April 24^th and it looks like they are going to keep going.  I do recommend listening to Media Frenzy if you want the perspective of folks like you and I reviewing the shows they like. You’re not going to hear buzz words or fawning over a show for no reason and the criticism they give isn’t hollow.

Okay that’s it… wait there’s more? Oh hell, right, 12vtheater. Erm… well… let me see here.

Well, there’s a problem with me reviewing 12vtheater. See, after the whole losing the job thing last year, I hadn’t listened to many podcasts for awhile. While I’ve recently managed to get caught up with a lot of them, well fiction podcasts have taken a back seat to more current events podcasts. That said, I’m going to make a more concentrated effort to catch up on this shows and other fiction shows soon. So no, I’m not going to post a new 12v Theater “Down the Road” post at this time. The series deserves more respect than to be reviewed by someone who has only listened to half of it.

Okay, so there’s the first review. Let’s see if I can keep them coming.

jdiehl

PS Since I wrote this Sunday night, I have actually mainlined my way through Down the Road. Waiting on that final episode, but yeah, I’m ready to review later this week.

My personal productivity has taken a nose dive in the past week. The novel currently hasn’t been started yet (since I scrapped those 10,000 words), mostly because the time I normal would be writing has actually been taken up by the day job. This means I need to stop depending on the free time at work and start making time at home. Not going to be easy but it will be done.

As I’ve said, the Novel is at a standstill. I still have plans for completion by the end of summer for the first draft, so each day I delay means I’m just making it harder on myself. I’m still excited about the direction the story is aimed at so that’s not the issue. It’s just a matter of realizing I need to sacrifice free time for writing time if I’m ever going to become something more than a wanna-be writer. I’m not a novelist yet. Not until I actually finish a novel.
In other but related news, I’ve found some new Crack. Inside of the game City of Heroes, there exists the ability to customize the base of your super group. In terms of most MMO’s, think of super groups as the guild or clan. As your members fight as representatives of your SG, they will earn prestige that can be used to purchase useful items like storage racks and teleporters, to less useful but prettier items like technical looking toys or magical artifacts. In the game, various players have discovered you can “stack” certain items to allow an SG to build up an area in a normally impossible way. This has lead to a portion of SG’s into the habit of creating extravagant structures and designs. Within my Super Group, I am this designer. Namely because I’m the only active leader, but anyway… I’ve come to really enjoy making custom looking areas and chambers in rooms for the base. The only major problem is that I may be making too many items and such as I’m really starting to eat into the prestige. Most likely I will actually curtail this development until the base is at a more complete level. Besides… I need to start inviting more members to gather more prestige.

Looks like this is going to be a brief one. Odd that I both don’t feel like writing fiction or blogging. Gotta get myself out of this artificial funk and start writing again full time.

jdiehl

So after a month of feeling sick, I’ve finally reached a point of feeling okay. My teeth are reasonably well (mind you, the tooth still hurts where I had my surgery but not as much as it did prior to the removal), I don’t feel as achy as I had for the past two-three weeks, and I dare say I’m okay with the weather. April is starting to look good health-wise.

In writing news… Okay, I’ve changed some things. A number of things actually. I had reached over 10,000 words on the Novel but I’ve come to a conclusion: I’ve scrapped those chapters, found what I loved from it, and got rid of what was boring me to tears. A few characters are either toast or now secondary characters at best, and our protagonist has changed, but she’s just so darn cool I’m very happy with the change. Still the same world, a bit though it’s more developed. Maybe this will be my pattern with writing a novel. I get several chapters in, realize where I’m going, what I like, scrap what I have and get rolling from the beginning with a deeper understanding of everything I have and where I want to go. It’s not a bad idea so long as I don’t get much further than 10,000 words. Anything more and I’m now really wasting time.

Oh yeah, the goal of the end of summer is still in effect. Meaning I have about 21 weeks to write 90-120,000 words. That’s still between 5-7,500 words a week, which so far is easily doable. So here’s the plan: Write around 5-7,500 a week for the next 21 weeks. Complete the Novel by August 31st, 2009. Take September off from writing that novel (and start developing the next novel). Start editing the first novel once October rolls around and be finished with the first full edit of the novel by 2010. Once that happens, I’ll be trying to shop around with the novel, both for an editor/publisher and an Agent. Meanwhile, I’ll be getting to work on the next novel.

One key note is that I’m not going to work on two novels at once. It’s a bad idea for me, as I’ll tend to favor one over the other that will eventually lead to one of the novels being abandoned. I can plan out other novels, but I don’t want to start another novel until I’m done at least writing the first one. I’m not sure if I can write one while editing another one. I haven’t tried yet so I guess I’ll find out at the end of this year. I’m excited though, to think I’m actually going to finish a novel. I’ve crafted so many interesting worlds, to actually have a story in one would be a dream come true.

Other news… City of Heroes Issue 14 came out today and I’m already eager to play it tonight. Only 7 more hours to go! Gah!

jdiehl

PS. Stackpole is right. Align Full/Justify is soooo much nicer on the eyes, even on this blog.

Cross posted from dipsg.

Well, we’ve had this website for over a month now. In that time we’ve had a few new folks show up and sign up, but sadly, there isn’t a great deal of development within the site itself. This is disappointing but not entirely unexpected. Sadly, the $20.00 a month going into keeping this forum alive isn’t looking to be as worth the price. Frankly, with my pay cut and other finical needs, I could use that $20.00 for other important matters. With that in mind, www.dipsg.com  running IBP is going goodbye.

This is not the end of the website or the forums though. My primary website has the ability to host a forum for free and we will be able to handle our needs. I don’t like losing the great tools from Invision Power Boards but frankly as I’ve said, it’s not worth it with the activity.

That said and done, here’s what’s going to happen. The IBP board is going poof. I will be setting up a new board under the hiddennode web server that will still be accessible via www.dipsg.com. This should happen this weekend. Please take the time to setup your account on the other server. I’ll be setting up the board soon. The Layout will be different, by the way. The site will no longer be focused specifically on the dynamic ip super group. Instead, I’m going to focus the site on being a general gaming community site. There will be a section for CoH and the SG specifically.

If you have any questions, please contact me on ventrilo or send me an email at admin(at)hiddennode.com.

Thanks,

jdiehl