Aural Delights #85 features Jeremiah Tolbert’s “The Culture Archivist”, narrated by yours truly.  It’s a strange and thought-provoking far future piece that probes uncomfortably deep into themes of identity. Link here.

After a psychologically grueling week of auditions, I’ve landed the role of Judge Turpin… well, sort of.  I was probably the leading candidate for the role when a rather amazing talent from New York arrived to audition.  Jimy (Foreman, our director) liked my acting and the newcomer’s singing too much to pass on either, and so decided to split the role between the two of us. The other guy is likely to see the majority of our five scheduled performances, but that’s all right– as the weakest vocalist among the principals, I feel fortunate to have landed a major role at all.

The first day of rehearsals was at once humbling and exciting.  The intricate harmonies of the opening number proved a challenge to most everybody, especially myself and the rest of the untrained singers.  On the plus side, as a relative rookie to the Broadway production, I learned that the show is much funnier than I ever suspected… and that I might have one more song than I realized.

Until tonight I’d never heard any reference to Turpin’s “Johanna” (a.k.a. “Mea Culpa”).  Should the musical director decide to keep the number– and this is by no means a certainty– I will have a chance to perform one of the most skin-crawlingly creepy numbers in the history of musical theater.  Seriously: as it’s written, a partially-disrobed Turpin actually climaxes with the song.  Also, a whip is involved.

Yesterday was Day One and today Day Two of auditions for “Sweeney Todd” at the Bellevue Society for the Arts. Though the competition is fierce and impressive, I think I at least have a look  at the lead– if not, perhaps a secondary character, and certainly a chorus role. Regardless of my personal outcome, let it be said right now: there will be some stunning talent on display in this show. Tickets go on sale July 10th.

A recent re-syndication, followed by an appearance on the fledgling Sofanauts podcast, have served as my introduction to Jeremiah Tolbert, who has invited me to read a story for Escape Pod. I’ll be taking a run at a clever tale by Samantha Henderson, and it should hit the EP feed some time this summer.

Speaking of podcasts and Mr. Tolbert, keep an ear on Starship Sofa for my reading of his far-future story “The Culture Archivist“. If I understand correctly, the story should air next week.

Tony Smith  (from Starship Sofa) has a new roundtable podcast called The Sofanauts. The third episode is live, and I’m on the panel, alongside Campbell-nominated author Gord Sellar and Escape Pod managing editor Jeremiah Tolbert. (No, I’m really not worthy, thanks for asking.) Discussion topics for the episode include the Nebula and Locus awards, games as literature, the predicted Singularity, and the Heinlein/Spider Robinson novel Variable Star.

It’s a lively discussion; Tolbert in particular has a knack for answering counterintuitively and then backing his position convincingly.

Norm Sherman kindly invited me to participate in “Drabblecast 110: Trifecta VII“, wherein I narrate Ralph Gamelli’s “Sheltered”.  My piece appears alongside rather heady company, sandwiched as it is between stories narrated by Norm (the voice of Drabblecast) and Frank Key (of the hilarious Hooting Yard, one of the few podcasts simultaneously as strange and clever as Drabblecast).

This blog has been littered with posts about narration gigs, and little else, for the past several months. Since I’m clearly locked on the topic of podcast fiction these days, I thought I’d take a moment to steer you towards the shining stars of the craft– shows in general, and episodes in particular, that I think are worth your time:

Drabblecast declares itself a purveyor of “strange stories by strange authors for strange listeners”… and yes, that’s about right. Seriously, some of their stuff is way out there, to the point that this show’s probably not for everybody. But the production is top-notch, the “Drabbles” (stories of exactly 100 words) and “Bardles” (songs written and produced for financial supporters) entertaining, and the stories range from thought-provoking to brilliant. Recent episodes of note: “Boiled Black Broth and Cornets” by Frank Key (very strange but compelling), “The Last Dog” by Mike Resnick (quite touching), and David D. Levine’s  “Babel Probe” (brilliant all-around episode that should win buckets of awards).

Escape Pod was, as has been previously noted, among my first experiences with podcast fiction. Steve Ely has created an honest-to-goodness paying market for authors; his is among the first and best in the field. Recent episodes of note: Merrie Haskell’s “Reparations” (time travel to post-nuke Japan) and Sara Genge’s “Family Values” (sex and politics with wildly non-human aliens).

Seventh Son “The President of the United States is dead. He was murdered in the morning sunlight by a four-year-old boy…” J.C. Hutchins’ podcast novel trilogy has drawn tens of thousands of listeners over the past few years, and deservedly so: this techno-thriller can really grab and hold your attention. I picked up on it late and gobbled up the first two books over the span of a few months; I became quite distraught when I eventually caught up and had to wait a week between new episodes.

Starship Sofa is where I got my narration start. Tony Smith’s show has evolved into an ambitious audio magazine– very much like a podcast version of F&SF or Asmiov’s. In addition to flash and short fiction, Tony’s contributors provide fact articles, on topics from the history of speculative ficion to science and publishing news. Recent episodes of note: In addition to recent broadcasts of every Nebula-nominated short story, Ted Chiang’s award-winning “Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate” is one of the freshest takes on time travel I’ve heard in years.
American listeners: plow through a couple of episodes before you declare Tony’s accent incomprehensible.

Honorable mentions that didn’t make the above list, largely because of my personal tastes:

Scott Siegler was another pioneer in original podcast fiction and has a rabid fanbase.

Escape Pod’s sisters Pseudopod (horror) and Podcastle (fantasy) are excellent in their respective genres.

A pleasant surprise: Escape Pod has resyndicated my reading of “Exhalation” that originally aired on Starship Sofa.

Escape Pod, for the uninitiated, is the biggest market for short audio SF, and the second-largest market for short SF regardless of media. As Escape Pod was among the first podcasts I ever heard, it was vaguely surreal to see my name pop up in their RSS feed.

Starshipsofa.com has posted all seven 2009 Nebula nominees(!) in podcast form, for your listening pleasure:
http://www.starshipsofa.com/20090402/the-complete-nebula-best-short-storynominees-2008/

My contribution was Ruth Nestvold’s “Mars: A Traveller’s Guide”:
http://www.starshipsofa.com/20090402/aural-delights-no-73-nebula-nominee-ruth-nestvold/

I haven’t listened to the rest yet, but I’ve read some of the stories, and am familiar with the exceptional talents of the other narrators; expect good things here.

–Ray

I have a few words for the Ohio Department of Health. More accurately, I have a few words for those who set the ODH agenda.

To the activists who helped enact Ohio’s public smoking ban: congratulations on transferring money from smoke-free establishments into the bank accounts of smoke-filled establishments. By assigning enforcement responsibility to underfunded, understaffed local health departments with limited legal authority, you virtually guaranteed that violators wouldn’t see serious fines for months or even years… which is exactly what has happened. In the meantime, smokers have taken their business (and their friends) to establishments that violate the law, brazenly or furtively. Meanwhile, smoke-free, law-abiding businesses are saddled with the expense of creating or expanding outdoor seating to entice smoking patrons– a tough sell in Ohio, which is uncomfortably cold, hot, or moist roughly nine months of the year.

To the officials responsible for mandating all restaurants upgrade to 100% commercial-grade equipment by early 2009: thanks for changing your minds at the last minute. Of course your heart was in the right place all along; you felt commercial grade equipment was generally more reliable (a reasonable assertion), but realized the expense of upgrades could prove crippling to businesses already decimated by both the smoking ban and a global economic downturn (also reasonable).

But… were you seriously the only people in the state who didn’t recognize these trends a long, long time ago? Didn’t anybody notice the stock market nose-diving? Didn’t anybody hear what bar and club owners were saying about the smoking ban?

Once again, the only businesses harmed here were those that obeyed your mandate and promptly upgraded to commercial equipment, at potentially great expense, at a time when cash and credit are scarce. Those who ignored you still have their money, as well as their residential-grade microwaves and freezers (which are probably working just fine).

It’s been said that unenforced laws breed contempt for law in general. It’s true, in this case for very Darwinian reasons: when law-abiding proprieters are driven out of business, who’s left?

My first full-length narration is up over at starshipsofa.com. It’s part of the Sofa’s 2009 British Science Fiction Association award nominee series: “Exhalation”, by none other than (multiple Hugo and Nebula winner) Ted Chiang.

Many thanks to Mr. Chiang for allowing his work to be podcast, and to Tony Smith at starshipsofa.com for selecting me as narrator of this phenomenal story.