Science Fiction

Short Stories

2008-08-19T23:41:08Z

I read a short story quite some time ago about two men in an underground military site who would each have to push a button (or turn a key, or something) in order to activate some sort of retalitory airstrike. They debate whether or not to do this. That's all I remember, other than that I thought it was incredible. Anybody know the title and/or author?

Another short story had to do with a man who goes to eat in a Chinese reastaurant and opens his fortune cookie, which reads "You are dead." Anyone know this one

I am teaching a science fiction class in my high school and plan to do a short story unit. I'd be interested to know what great short stories you all could recommend. I plan to include Clarke's "The Nine Million Names of God" and Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron," and I have some others, but I do not by any means know all the best ones that are out there. But I know YOU do. So, whaddayasay...what are some of the best science fiction short stories you have read?

Star Wars: Blue Harvest Episode X!

2008-08-08T17:02:49Z

PENDANT PRODUCTIONS PROUDLY PRESENTS:

Original art by Rebecca Hicks for Pendant Productions

Episode X - "Lifedebt"

Supplies are running out thanks to an unexpected guest, and the enemy is closing in! The hunt for Deak and Terra is on, but who will find them first?

"Star Wars: Blue Harvest" is a serialized, full-cast audio adventure with one new episode every month. Available for free download in .mp3 format, or as a Podcast!

Also available -- a commentary track with the director/writer!

Now available exclusively at PendantAudio.com via the following links:

iTunes link:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=270527851

Podcast feed:
http://www.pendantaudio.com/SWBH-podcast.xml

Download:
http://www.pendantaudio.com/starwars.php

Featuring the voice talents of:

Jason Hackett as the Narrator
Bill Young as Deak Starkiller
Kristen Bays as Terra Kel
Stephen Holmes as Ozzel
Bill Young as Darth Vader
Seth Adam Sher as Piett
Ara Pelodi as Frush
and Michael King as Thrawn

Written by Neal Bailey
Directed by Bill Young
Cover art by Rebecca Hicks
Produced by Pendant Productions
Executive Producer Jeffrey Bridges

http://www.pendantaudio.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pendant
http://www.lunasea-studios.com

Thanks for listening!

THE KINGERY, episode 2x04!

2008-08-01T15:46:12Z

PENDANT PRODUCTIONS PROUDLY PRESENTS:

Original art by Nick Hadley for
Pendant Productions

THE KINGERY, episode 2x04 - "Sheep Amidst the Wolfsy"

Tythia makes a connection with Sheppard and Fix continues to push Tommy. Hooks loses it and Asa finds himself with one less friend.

"The Kingery" is a serialized, full-cast, ongoing sci-fi crime drama. Available for free download in .mp3 format, or as a Podcast!

iTunes link:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=250780534

Podcast feed:
http://www.pendantaudio.com/kingery-podcast.xml

Download link:
http://www.pendantaudio.com/kingery.php

Featuring the voice talents of:

Kathryn Pryde as Tythia
Micheal McCaskill as Adam Sheppard
Mark Zaricor as Fix
Pete Milan as Tommy Arkell
April Sadowski as Belly
Craig Cooksey as Jake
Perry Whittle as Hooks
And Carl Glassmeyer as Asa

Written by Neal Bailey
Story by Jeffrey Bridges, with Neal Bailey, Susan Bridges,
Theresa J. McGarry, Pete Milan and Seth Adam Sher

Original music composed by David Alexander McDonald
Directed by James Tyler
Cover art by Nick Hadley
Produced by Pendant Productions
Executive Producer Jeffrey Bridges

http://www.pendantaudio.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pendant

Thanks for listening!

Seminar: an original anthology show, episode seventeen!

2008-07-25T19:20:58Z

PENDANT PRODUCTIONS PROUDLY PRESENTS:

Episode Seventeen - "Suspension of Disbelief"

Forces of nature are not to be trifled with, be they planets or... typewriters.

Featuring "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Runaway".

"Seminar" is a full-cast, ongoing anthology show with no restrictions on genre. Available for free download in .mp3 format, or as a Podcast! Now available exclusively at PendantAudio.com via the following links:

Also available -- a commentary track with the director and assistant director!

iTunes link:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=217204916

Podcast feed:
http://www.pendantaudio.com/seminar-podcast.xml

Download link:
http://www.pendantaudio.com/seminar.php

Featuring the voice talents of:

Mike Winters as The Instructor
Susan Bridges as student 2
Seth Adam Sher as student 3
Kathryn Pryde as student 4
Pete Milan as student 5
Chris Brittain as student 6
Tom Stitzer as student 7
James Tyler as student 8

In The Empire Strikes Back:

Jovian Lab as Owen
And Corvil Howells as the dad

Written by Seth Adam Sher

In Runaway:

Tiffany Braford as Nav
Jon Howard as Scans
M. Sieiro Garcia as Com
Jovian Lab as Lemmy
Michael King as Quince
Abner Senires as Jacks
David Ault as Rythe
Amanda Fitzwater as Yancy
And Kim Gianopoulos as Xou

Written by Seth Adam Sher

Written and directed by Kathryn Pryde
Assistant Director Marrcus Beattie
Original music composed by David Alexander McDonald
Produced by Pendant Productions
Executive Producer Jeffrey Bridges

http://www.pendantaudio.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pendant

Thanks for listening!

Review: The Iron Dream, by Norman Spinrad and Tracking, by David R. Palmer

2008-07-22T22:47:33Z

Childhoods (Should) End
The Iron Dream Is Alive and Well
by Geoffrey Dow

There's little in this world quite so insulting as the realization one has been played for a fool. Whether in affairs of the heart or of the mind, discovering one has been suckered creates anger and embarrassment, resentment and shame.

(Cross-posted from my journal and to _bookish analogsf, bookcafe, sciencefiction and sf_book_reviews.

Quite by coincidence, I finally read Norman Spinrad's 35 year-old satire of SF's fascistic power-fantasies, The Iron Dream, finishing it the same day that I finished the latest serial in Analog, David R. Palmer's novel, Tracking.

And the latter, a three-part serial I had been quite enjoying along the way, left me feeling wach one of emotions mentioned above.

* * *

Almost certainly excepting a few short stories, until this week I knew Norman Spinrad only by reputation, as one of those important novelists who I had somehow neglected to read over the years; and as one of the only reasons to pick up the occasional issue of Asimov's Science Fiction, for his occasional and usually very thought-provoking essays on trends and patterns within the fields of SF and Fantasy.

One of the novels I was most curious about (admittedly for prurient reasons which soon will be self-evident) was The Iron Dream, a science fiction novel ostensibly written by none other than Adolph Hitler, and one also apparently taken as deep and wounding insult by many among SF's legions of stalwart Fans.

Always happy to rubber-neck at a literary bun-fest, I was pleased indeed when a tattered copy recently came into hands.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Lord Tubby of Fleet
Before the fall.

One sometimes thinks — as when a comedian has done a particularly devastating lampoon of an idiot president, or a satirist has effectively pricked the bubble of self-righteous pomposity hitherto surrounding a self-important former press-baron — that the world not only will change because of the absolute Truth of the performance or writing, but that is it already is of changing, because who could possibly ever again take seriously the emperor after a child has pointed out his clothes are not real?

And what man or woman would dare show his or her face in public again after such a humiliation, let alone attempt to re-take his or her place among the great? Surely not after having had one's soul revealed as the twisted, or banal, or merely rapacious monster that it is?

Alas, experience shows all too well that hubris knows no humiliation and so each generation is in need of its own Swift, every sub-culture its contemporary Spinrad.

In a nutshell, The Iron dream is a commentary on — and a condemnation of — those Fans whose definition of "good" science fiction seemed (to Spinrad, then) and seems (to me, now) to have been set, as an immovable prejudice by about the age of 12. (Note: Spinrad was a vocal proponent of SF's New Wave, one of those movements determined to "modernize" its chosen field - in this case, arguably achieving at least some success in pushing traditional literary values, such as the importance of character development and a more sophisticated understanding politics and sciences other than physics. The Iron Dream must be understood at least in part as a polemical volley in a broader sub-cultural war.)

Set in an parallel universe, one in which World War Two never occurred, because Adolph Hitler emigrated to the United States following the First World War, where he instead became a leading Science Fiction writer of his age.

The Iron Dream is presented as a scholarly edition of one of his most popular and enduring novels.

The plot, such as it is, concerns one Feric Jaggar, the preternaturally perfect Aryan hero if ever there was one.

Finally, there emerged from the cabin of the steamer a figure of startling and unexpected nobility: a tall, power-fully built true human in the prime of manhood. His hair was yellow, his skin was fair, his eyes were blue and brilliant. His musculature, skeletal structure, and carriage were letter-perfect, and his trim blue tunic was clean and in good repair.

Feric Jaggar looked every inch the genotypically pure human that he in fact was. It was all that made such prolonged close confinement with the dregs of Borgravia bearable; the quasi-men could not help but recognize his genetic purity. The sight of Feric put mutants and mongrels in their place, and for the most part they kept to it.

There is little subtle about the book's surface humour — in the afterword, written in mock-scholarly fashion by one "Homer Whipple", much is made of the rampant homo-erotic undertones and the pathological blood-lust coursing through the narrative (though, ironically, he scoffs at the idea that "Hitler's" rabble-rousing lunatic of a hero could ever in real life take power.)

Of course, such a man could gain power only in the extravagant fancies of a pathological science-fiction novel. For Feric Jaggar is essentially a monster: a narcissistic psychopath with paranoid obsessions. His total self-assurance and certainty is based on a total lack of introspective self-knowledge. In a sense, such a human being would be all surface and no interior. He would be able to manipulate the surface of social reality by projecting his own pathologies upon it, but he would never be able to share in the inner communion of interpersonal relation- ships.

Such a creature could give a nation the iron leadership and sense of certainty to face a mortal crisis, but at what cost? Led by the likes of a Feric Jaggar, we might gain the world at the cost of our souls.

No, although the spectre of world Communist domination may cause the simpleminded to wish for a leader modelled on the hero of Lord of the Swastika, in an absolute sense we are fortunate that a monster like Feric Jaggar will forever remain confined to the pages of science fantasy, the fever dream of a neurotic science-fiction writer named Adolf Hitler.

I won't go beyond that in detailing the plot, as it is simply a litany of impossible (and unbelievably brutal and bloody — veritable slasher porn) victories as Feric's genius leads the racially pure human beings on a successful attempt to entirely exterminate the monstrous mutants and Communist stand-ins from the face of the earth. A power fantasy of how Hitler no doubt had wished his Reich had begun, with at least a thousand years ahead of it.

Not a gut-buster by any stretch, it evinced occasional chuckles of recognition and sometimes of surprise. An enjoyable, but only slightly stinging, lampoon of the sort of adolescent power-fantasies still today so prevalent in popular culture — 300, Batman, Torchwood, the list is practically endless.

And yes, I recognized myself as being at least sometimes among the book's targets, as one who has known more than his fair share of power-fantasies over the years. Despite my middling literary pedigree I confess I also kept reading super-hero comics into my 20s and sometimes indulged in Star Wars-like shoot-em-ups well-into my 30s. I'm not one to deny the primal pleasure that many, perhaps most of us, can get at seeing Imperial Storm Troopers wiped out by the hundreds, as earlier generations lapped up westerns featuring "Red Indians" dropping from their saddles like so many Cylon ships exploding in the vacuum of space.

But even when much younger than I am now, and though I might occasionally argue that this or that particular exemplar of the form had some "redeeming qualities", most of the time i realized I was watching (or reading) the intellectual equivalent of cheap rye and flat Diet Coke drunk in some damp alley at best — a sordid, stunted sort of pleasure.

The Iron Dream is a frontal assault upon the sort of 40 year-old mind that has not grown beyond that pleasure — at least so far as to admit it is a guilty pleasure. 35-plus years down the line, it's not a significant novel — except probably historically — and I wouldn't even be talking about it here were it not for the fact that I cracked the October 2008 issue of Analog, in which it struck me I was reading the third part of a serialized novel, that was in most ways precisely what Spinrad published as satirical pastiche more than 35 years ago.

Detail of illustration by William Warren
(Source: Analog SF.)

David R. Palmer's serial, Tracking reads eerily like precisely the sort of novel Spinrad demolished so long ago.

Not only do both take place after (presumably) a nuclear war has nearly wiped out life on earth, both contain Absolute Villains and Absolute Heroes, and a remarkable emphasis on bloody carnage as a suitable solution to all of life's problems.

Post-apocalyptic setting? Check.
Utterly Evil Villains? Check.
Clear distinction between super-humans (good) vs. "sub-humans"? Check.
Completely unbelievable good-guy/bad guy body-count ratio? Check again, except that in The Iron Dream, the Good Guys do actually incur some casualties.
Utterly impossible James Bondian hero to save the day single-handed or close to it? Check again.

Oh, there are some differences. For one thing, Tracking's hero is in fact a heroine — an 11 year old girl named Candy Smith Foster, homo post hominem. Or, as she likes to refer to herself, "Plucky Girl Adventurer". And indeed, albeit female, she is the stereotypical adventure story hero: brave, (mostly) courteous, intelligent and resourceful. And also a highly-trained killer, able to take down, not just one, or three but easily a dozen armed men twice her size in mere seconds. (There are SFnal explanations for her superior abilities (remember homo post hominem?), but nevermind. She is a Superman, the best of a new race of supermen, and that's all we really need to know.

And as the primary narrator, the Plucky Girl Adventurer is in fact a charming character, balanced between the cusp of womanhood yet still clinging to the tendrils of her childhood roots. She is wise enough to amuse the reader with her ironic wit and to draw the reader in to empathize during her moments of doubt and even weakness. Palmer tells a fun story, an old-fashioned, rollicking adventure with a voice that sounds modern, not dated, and the reader can happily suspend disbelief and enjoy the ride.

Unless said reader stops a moment and actually considers the content of what he or she is reading.

The story begins when Candy gets word that her father — long presumed dead — is in fact alive. Alive, but imprisoned by the very villains who (in a prequel I do not recall reading) were responsible for the near-death of both human races, the old and the new, and who are determined to finish the job. Candy quickly arranges to steel an airplane and high-tails it up the western coast of north America, across the Bering Straight and then flies over much of Siberia before landing just outside enemy headquarters.

She soon infiltrates the enemy camp and learns that not only is her father a captive; and not only do the Bad Guys hold prisoner 20 or so children of the homo hominen (who are not only tortured but sexually abused), but they have also managed to re-arm some old Soviet ICBMs and are only a couple of days away from launching a pre-emptive strike against her own people.

Bad guys really don't get much worse than that, do they?

And so the reader is expected to lie back, guilt-free, while indulging in the fantasy that he or she is Candy, an unlikely but utterly righteous avenger for all that is Good and Right in the world.

The carnage that follows is pornographic in the pleasure with which Palmer recounts the shootings, beheadings, the broken noses shoved-into-braincases, shattered limbs and stabbings. By the end of the action, Candy has (probably — there is no doubt a further sequel in the works) rescued Daddy, definitely rescued the captured "homo superior" children and has personally killed several dozen soldiers in close combat and by stealth and many more through the free-hand use of a small cannon.

Further, before taking off in her over-loaded plane, she has ensured that her Daddy's sabotaging of the the nuclear warheads will go undiscovered, so that they go Boom! right there on the ground in Siberia, taking out any surviving Bad Guys along with everything within a 50 mile radius (as well as any incidental humans, of course; oh well).

And so it seems we've come more than full-circle, really. From A.E. van Vogt's seminal superman story, Slan, to the ludicrously simplistic libertarianism of the likes of Rand and Heinlein, to Spinrad's satire and, finally, to right back where Spinrad started, with a pro-eugenics fantasy disguised as "innocent fun and adventure".

It may be the case — and I suspect that it probably is the case — that Palmer was only composing an homage to the stories he had enjoyed as an adolescent himself, something light and frothy, to be enjoyed with a cold beer or lemonade on a hot summer's day; the literary equivalant of Star Wars or Indiana Jones (about both of which — much as I enjoyed them, I could say many of the same things I am saying now), but it behooves any artist to consider the subtext of what they say.

It also may be that Palmer meant it to be taken as moral support for the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, or that he simply thought the times were right for such a work to be commercially successful. In either of which case, I can only acknowledge that our values differ widely.

Whatever the case — avarice, innocence or patriotic fervour — it is my belief that the world needs to get beyond such simplistic dualisms if we are to survive much longer — and I can't, in good conscience, let such a vile message, published in my favourite SF magazine, go unremarked.

That Palmer chose to employ an 11 year-old girl as Tracking's instrument of righteous destruction and slaughter only makes the moral perversity behind this kind of thing, all the more startling upon reflection. Sure, it's fun to imagine being a kid who could trade quips with James Bond, but the gender-reversal doesn't make this a "progressive" novel in any important sense of the term. The moral — if it has one — remains the same: that The Other must be destroyed, lest it destroy Us.

When all the fun and games are done, and the piles of Enemy corpses have been cleansed with nuclear fire, we are left with a "happy ending" that would not have been at all out of place in one of the novels by Spinrad's "Adolph Hitler": The solution to all the world's problems is to exterminate 99% of the human race and to then hunt and put to the sword those survivors who don't like the New Order.

I know, I know, I know; it's just a story, nobody takes this kind of thing seriously.

And there's truth to that, I know there is. Tracking is just a story and, taken as such, it is a reasonably enjoyable one. But after the fact, I felt kind of dirty, kind of used, kind of played, as if the charming voice of the killer super-child had hypnotized me into taking poison, as if Iry had just come from a community theatre production of Henry V only to discover the proceeds were going to support the Aryan Nation.

Leaving aside the moral and ethical concerns, I am weary.

I am tired of stories in which politics is defined as Good vs. Evil, rather than the complex interplay of conflicting needs, desires and opinions it (to over-simplify myself) is in reality.

I am tired of mass murder dressed up, not as a regrettable necessity, but as a desired goal.

I am tired of the assinine conceit that "might equals right".

I am tired of artists who are too lazy to think beyond a cliche and write something interesting about the human condition.

I am tired of fascism and genocide brought to me in the guise of light entertainment. (Merciful heavens! Even Doctor Who — a children's television show! — at least addresses questions of morality when killing is necessary.)

It's time we left adolescent power-fantasies where they belong — with adolescents themselves, as something they must struggle to out-grown — rather than feeding and coddling those all-too-real impulses in ourselves.

Edited to confirm my belief there will be a notation saying this entry was edited. Nevermind, you don't need to know the reasons.

Once Upon a Time in Vegas, chapter 12!

2008-07-19T05:11:19Z

PENDANT PRODUCTIONS PROUDLY PRESENTS:

Original art by Julie Lindsey for Pendant Productions.

Once Upon a Time in Vegas, chapter 12 - "The Woodsman and the Wolf"

Chloe is unsettled by what she finds in Ginger's closet, much to Teri's amusement. Tessa arrives at her hideaway, but Jeff's not far behind, and what he's after may not be what she expects.

"Once Upon a Time in Vegas" is a full-cast, fantasy maxi-series serial drama. Available for free download in .mp3 format, or as a Podcast!

Also available -- a commentary track with the director and co-writers!

iTunes link:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=262309363

Podcast feed:
http://www.pendantaudio.com/vegas-podcast.xml

Download link:
http://www.pendantaudio.com/vegas.php

Featuring the voice talents of:

Rene Christine Jones as Tessa
David Ault as Jeff
Lexy Rawle as Chloe
Susan Bridges as Teri
Jeffrey Bridges as Danny
Marleigh Norton as Abby
Kristen Bays as Mea
And Paul Masterson as Carlos

Written by Alicia Laine Matheson and Rene Christine Jones
Original music composed by Kevin McLeod
Directed by Alicia Laine Matheson
Cover art by Julie Lindsey
Produced by Pendant Productions
Executive Producer Jeffrey Bridges

http://www.pendantaudio.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pendant
http://www.easily-distracted.net

Thanks for listening!

Sci-fi books for sale!

2008-07-12T15:27:58Z

I hope it's ok to post this here! My partner and I are moving house and as such need to sell some of our books. A lot of them are science fiction; all are new or nearly new/in excellent condition, and at very reasonable prices! We're based in the UK but willing to ship anywhere in the world. If anyone's interested, please go to http://shop.ebay.co.uk/merchant/ngshake for a look at what's on offer. Thanks!

IQ145 - disappointing web series

2008-07-11T19:10:52Z

[crossposted]

I just watched the first several episodes of IQ145 (www.iq-145.com), an sf series developed exclusively for the web. There's a certain amount of hype about it, and lots of hoo-haa at their website to support community, offer downloads, YouTube clips, etc etc - but really.

This storytelling is worse than mediocre, and I'm not going to spend time watching any more of it.

Hm, we're working in a visual medium. Let's see how much darkly lit, erratic jump-cut faux "atmospheric" glimpses of things and hinting-at-story snippets we can sandwich in behind protagonists' pseudo-philosophical teenage genius angst voiceover exploring Questions of Existence, but never really Telling a STORY. If I wanted that much narrative digression I'd be reading a book not watching something that supposedly is going to tell a story through the action (as well as dialog) depicted. And one presumes there'd be something like a plot hook, plot points, heightening tension - but no. It is incoherent disorganized failed storytelling portrayed with mediocre camera work, all with top production values.

Insane. "Let's all jump on the webisode bandwagon, Battlestar Galactica had such success with it...."

BSG it ain't. Don't waste your web time on it.

Star Wars: Blue Harvest Episode IX!

2008-07-11T17:24:20Z

PENDANT PRODUCTIONS PROUDLY PRESENTS:

Original art by Rebecca Hicks for Pendant Productions

Episode IX - "Master"

Terra confronts Anakin as the purge continues! Obi-Wan arrives on the scene, but so does another new, yet familiar, face... one that spells doom for the Republic!

"Star Wars: Blue Harvest" is a serialized, full-cast audio adventure with one new episode every month. Available for free download in .mp3 format, or as a Podcast!

Also available -- a commentary track with the director/writer!

Now available exclusively at PendantAudio.com via the following links:

iTunes link:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=270527851

Podcast feed:
http://www.pendantaudio.com/SWBH-podcast.xml

Download:
http://www.pendantaudio.com/starwars.php

Featuring the voice talents of:

Bill Young as Deak Starkiller, Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader
Kristen Bays as Terra Kel
Mark Henshaw as Obi-Wan Kenobi
Susan Bridges as So-San Antilles
Scott Vinnacombe as Palpatine
Jason Hackett as the narrator
Kim Gianopoulos as Jocasta Nu
Frank Harbuck III as Donda
And Rich Holmes as Yoda

Written and directed by Neal Bailey
Cover art by Rebecca Hicks
Produced by Pendant Productions
Executive Producer Jeffrey Bridges

http://www.pendantaudio.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pendant
http://www.lunasea-studios.com

Thanks for listening!

All Tomorrow's Neuromancers (Intro Sequence)

2008-07-11T07:20:33Z

All Tomorrow's Neuromancers (Intro Sequence)

The intro bit for a possible future web series I'm working on.

project site

my site

Star Trek: Defiant episode 26!

2008-07-09T17:44:52Z

PENDANT PRODUCTIONS PROUDLY PRESENTS:

Original art by Xaq Bazit for Pendant Productions

Episode 26 - "One Hundred and Seven Days"

Otek gets a surprise and Doctor Laine makes an unsettling discovery. Formal peace talks begin, and Emeras gets good news to temper the bad.

"Star Trek: Defiant" is a serialized, full-cast audio adventure with one new episode every month. Available for free download in .mp3 format, or as a Podcast!

Also featuring a commentary track with the writer and director!

Now available exclusively at PendantAudio.com via the following links:

iTunes link:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=152719094

Podcast feed:
http://www.pendantaudio.com/defiant_podcast.xml

Download:
http://www.pendantaudio.com/defiant.php

Featuring the voice talents of:

Judah Friese as himself
Kathryn Pryde as Magas Brel
Adam Lebin as himself
Theresa J. McGarry as Ry Emeras
Tom Backus as himself
Susan Bridges as Laine Rael
Jeffrey Bridges as himself
Chris Brittain as Kit Barton
David Ault as Holubiak
Ryan Pickens as Tumaini Calum
Brendan Elli as Suran
Daniel Sensenbach as Jeffrey Hawk
Steve Tardio as Auran Ganix
Laura Lindle as Annabelle Cayman
Maria Vu as Keahi Darcy
Mark Zaricor as Robert Sprite
Kristen Bays as B'Gruja
Ara Pelodi as Renuka Bahvratti
Bruce Busby as Gabriel Stonelake
Marleigh Norton as Sareah Chen
Pete Milan as Gul Otek
Bruce Busby as Pemger
Chip Joel as Negresk
David Alexander McDonald as Yileroe Jald
Ben Page as Guraz
Curt Arndt as Toclol
Mike Perschon as Ry Arlnan
Anthony Piselli as Vrakyr
Lexy Rawle as Ishe
Jeffrey Bridges as Hakaad
Scott Vinnacombe as Georges
Bill Young as Dae'Entar
William Raymer as the servant
And M. Sieiro Garcia as the computer

Written by Theresa J. McGarry
Directed by Chris Brittain
Assistant Director Andrew Eckhart
Cover art by Xaq Bazit
Produced by Pendant Productions
Executive Producer Jeffrey Bridges

http://www.pendantaudio.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pendant
http://xaqbazit.deviantart.com

Thanks for listening!

STAR WARS GRINDHOUSE

2008-07-06T06:42:21Z

Go check my entries on the STAR WARS FAN FILM CONTEST and leave some love.
It is a double feature kiddies!!
VOTING PAGE: http://www.atom.com/spotlights/starwars/challenge/

See Ponda Baba go alone against the Empire in this extravaganza action packed short. Featuring Bossk, Boba Fett, Darth Vader, C3PO and more awesome characters! All caught up in a crazy violent adventure titled RAW DEAL SEE IT HERE: http://www.atom.com/funny_videos/sw_grindhouse_raw_deal/

As a yummie dessert see DON'T GO IN THE ENDOR WOODS were you can see Ewoks are not at all cuddly teddy bears. Where hot sexy ladies get tortured, degraded, murdered and eaten alive by this furry forest dwellers. DON'T GO IN THE ENDOR WOODS will shock you and remind you NOT GO IN THE ENDOR WOODS. SEE IT HERE: http://www.atom.com/funny_videos/sw_grindhouse_endor_woods/

Both shorts only at www.atomfilms.com
So go, sit back and enjoy the show.

Michael Ramova

Dixie Stenberg and Brassy Battalion episode 24!

2008-07-04T16:04:19Z

PENDANT PRODUCTIONS PROUDLY PRESENTS:

Original artwork by Kristen Bays for Pendant Productions

Episode 24 - "The Lamentable Eventuality"

It's Brassy Battalion vs. SCAR, Robot vs. robot and more of Dixie vs. Geist in all-out war, the results of which may be something none of them expected! Or it could be what everyone expected! Just listen already and find out!

"Umket Industries Presents: The Dixie Stenberg and Brassy Battalion Adventure Theater" is a serialized, full-cast audio adventure with one new episode every month. Available for free download in .mp3 format, or as a Podcast!

Also featuring an audio commentary track with the director and writer!

iTunes link:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=163997482

Podcast feed:
http://www.pendantaudio.com/dixie-podcast.xml

Download link:
http://www.pendantaudio.com/dixie.php

Featuring the voice talents of:

Rene Christine Jones as Dixie Stenberg
Mark Zaricor as Frank McGuff
Steve Anderson as Reginald Billingsley
Jeremiah McCoy as Archibald Withersby
Pete Milan as Freudenberg
Scott Vinnacombe as Cornelius Robert Sims Pearson
Anthony Piselli as Joey Scalzetti
Chris Brittain as Thomas Galen
Perry Whittle as Benedikt Adarchenko
Alicia Laine Matheson as Lily LaRue
Kathryn Pryde as Geist
Justin Daube as Volker
Ara Pelodi as Ursula Unger
David Alexander McDonald as Walther Falkenstein
Mike Winters as Radulf Pelzer
Philip Weber as SCAR Trooper 1
David Ault as SCAR Trooper 2
Alicia Marie Barton as Esmerelda
Julie Goldstein as the Robot
Amanda Fitzwater as Nebulon
Kristen Bays as the Umket Triplets
Jerry Crawford as The Dean
Jeffrey Bridges as the Commercial Announcer
And Seth Adam Sher as your host

Written by by Jeffrey Bridges
Directed by Seth Adam Sher
Cover art by Kristen Bays
Produced by Pendant Productions

http://www.pendantaudio.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pendant

Thanks for listening!

Fandom-Survey (Star Wars)

2008-06-28T12:35:24Z

First of all, let me apologize if this kind of post is not allowed in this community. Feel free to delete it, if necessary.

A friend of mine and I have to hold a presentation on fan-culture and fan-participation in the Star Wars fandom for one of our university courses and have developed a survey (don't worry, it's not too long). I'm sorry if I'm spamming your f-list with this, but we'd be thrilled if you were to send us your answers.
Thanks in advance

1) Do you consider yourself a part of fandom(s)? If yes, which?

2) What is your definition of the term "fandom"?

3) What was your first reaction to fandom?

4) In which way do you participate in fandom? (multiple answers possible)

a) Fanart/ Photomanipulation/ Icons
b) Fanvideos
c) Running a Fansite/ Archive
d) Reading/ Receiving (passive approach)
e) Not at all
f) discussion/ reconstruction/ academic approaches
g) live action role play
h) conventions/ events
i) Fanfiction (writing)
j) other (please elaborate)

5) Is there a part of fandom that you consider to be more important than the others? Why?

6) What is your opinion on fan-activity in general?

7) On which sources do you base your fan activity?

a) Movies (Old Trilogy)
b) Movies (New Trilogy)
c) Movies (all)
d) Comics
e) Computer Games (if so, then which?)
f) Novels/ Novelizations
g) Fanfiction
h) other (please specify)

8) How do you define "canon"? Did Han shoot first? (Yes/No)

9) How many hours a week do you spend with fandom-related activities?

10) How much money do you spend on your fan-activity and fandom related actions? (approximately)

p.s. of course you don't have to answer all the questions, if you are uncomfortable with some of them. But every answer you do send us helps, so please send them to us.

Please send your answers to fan_survey at yahoo dot de

THE KINGERY, episode 2x03!

2008-06-27T16:23:56Z

PENDANT PRODUCTIONS PROUDLY PRESENTS:

Original art by Nick Hadley for
Pendant Productions

THE KINGERY, episode 2x03 - "The Evidence of Things Not Seen"

Madeleine makes things extra difficult for Tommy and Julie seeks alternative employment opportunities. Regina maintains a vigil and Devi tries to work out some of her issues.

"The Kingery" is a serialized, full-cast, ongoing sci-fi crime drama. Available for free download in .mp3 format, or as a Podcast!

Also available -- a commentary track with the director, assistant director and writer!

iTunes link:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=250780534

Podcast feed:
http://www.pendantaudio.com/kingery-podcast.xml

Download link:
http://www.pendantaudio.com/kingery.php

Featuring the voice talents of:

John Howard as the cop
Jovian Lab as the casino patron
Bruce Busby as Raoul
Ray Kuykendall as Lee
Jane Parrish as Regina
Marleigh Norton as the freighter pilot
Alicia Laine Matheson as Madeleine Gray
Kim Gianopoulos as Ingar
Heather Frizzell as Julie
Michael King as Shimizu
Pete Milan as Tommy Arkell
Micheal McCaskill as Adam Sheppard
Gwendolyn Jensen-Woodard as the nurse
Carl Glassmeyer as Asa
Lexy Rawle as Devi
And Kathryn Pryde as Tythia

Written by Theresa J. McGarry
Story by Jeffrey Bridges, with Neal Bailey, Susan Bridges,
Theresa J. McGarry, Pete Milan and Seth Adam Sher

Original music composed by David Alexander McDonald
Directed by James Tyler
Assistant Director Perry Whittle
Cover art by Nick Hadley
Produced by Pendant Productions
Executive Producer Jeffrey Bridges

http://www.pendantaudio.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pendant

Thanks for listening!

Fate Machine?

2008-06-26T09:21:29Z

I recently read this excellent little piece of fanfiction (the fact that it's fanfiction is rather irrelevant to the plot, in this case) about a "fate machine", whereby the population must be reduced and this is done by a machine where two people go in and the better person is chosen to live (the other dies).

I can't help feeling this isn't a new idea, that the concept (or something similar) has been published before, but I don't know where. It reminds me of Logan's Run a bit, but it's not quite the same thing. Have any of you heard of this anywhere before?

In any case, it's a good piece of writing, and an excellent premise. Very sci-fi.

Seminar: an original anthology show, episode sixteen!

2008-06-20T16:04:07Z

PENDANT PRODUCTIONS PROUDLY PRESENTS:

Original art by Loran Skinkis for Pendant Productions

Episode Sixteen - "Late Night Double Feature Audio Show"

It's madcap madness and mayhem as the surreal Detective Mac reaches its surprising conclusion!

Featuring "Detective Mac" parts 4 and 5.

iTunes link:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=217204916

Podcast feed:
http://www.pendantaudio.com/seminar-podcast.xml

Download link:
http://www.pendantaudio.com/seminar.php

Featuring the voice talents of:

Mike Winters as The Instructor

In Detective Mac:

Philip Weber as Detective Mac and himself
Susan Bridges as Sandy Valentine and herself
Mike Winters as Clyde
David Alexander McDonald as George
Tim Chesnut as Joey Falcone
Bruce Busby as Bobby
Bill Young as Jerry Slinger
Jeffrey Bridges as himself
and Kristen Bays as Eddie

Written by Mike Winters

Written and directed by Kathryn Pryde
Original music composed by David Alexander McDonald
Cover art by Loran Skinkis
Produced by Pendant Productions
Executive Producer Jeffrey Bridges

http://www.pendantaudio.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pendant
http://loranskinkis.blogspot.com

Thanks for listening!

Important Message

2008-06-15T02:48:55Z

My name is Michael Nelson, and I am part of the Executive Committee for FenCon (with an N), a Dallas-based, non-profit, literary science fiction convention.

Our organization - the Dallas Future Society, which holds FenCon (www.fencon.org) - is in no way, shape or form associated with FeDConUSA.

We first heard about that organization last year, and were somewhat taken aback that they had chosen a name so close to ours, seeing as we had been in existence for over four years at that time.

We are working on a press release which we plan to send to as many SF related information sources as possible to explain that this similarity in names should not reflect on our organization or convention.

FenCon prides itself on being a successful, non-profit, fan-run convention, which is operated in a professional manner. We always strive to show the highest respect to both our guests and members.

If you feel the need and have opportunity to spread this information to other SF professionals or fans, we would greatly appreciate the effort. As you know, a convention such as ours relies heavily on word of mouth, and any negative implications can be unintentionally damaging.

Thank you for your attention.

Michael Nelson

Once Upon a Time in Vegas Chapter 11!

2008-06-13T17:12:03Z

PENDANT PRODUCTIONS PROUDLY PRESENTS:

Original art by Julie Lindsey for Pendant Productions.

Once Upon a Time in Vegas, chapter 11 - "Runaway"

Teri explores every inch of Danny's abs, and isn't about to be deterred by burning bacon or a hysterical Chloe. Tessa's on the run, and she discovers that there are some things you just can't run away from.

"Once Upon a Time in Vegas" is a full-cast, fantasy maxi-series serial drama. Available for free download in .mp3 format, or as a Podcast!

Also available -- a commentary track with the director and co-writers!

iTunes link:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=262309363

Podcast feed:
http://www.pendantaudio.com/vegas-podcast.xml

Download link:
http://www.pendantaudio.com/vegas.php

Featuring the voice talents of:

Susan Bridges as Teri
Jeffrey Bridges as Danny
Lexy Rawle as Chloe
Rene Christine Jones as Tessa
Gwendolyn Jensen-Woodard as the check-in attendant
Melissa Hearne as flight attendant 1
Perry Whittle as the passenger
and Dean Gui as flight attendant 2

http://www.pendantaudio.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pendant
http://www.easily-distracted.net

Thanks for listening!

sciencefiction @ 2008-06-06T23:43:00

2008-06-07T03:43:23Z

PENDANT PRODUCTIONS PROUDLY PRESENTS:

Original art by Rebecca Hicks for Pendant Productions

Episode VIII - "Purge"

Anakin is on the hunt and the Jedi will feel his wrath, while Palpatine revels in his success. Deak finds a chance to stop Anakin's rampage, but will he take it?

"Star Wars: Blue Harvest" is a serialized, full-cast audio adventure with one new episode every month. Available for free download in .mp3 format, or as a Podcast!

Also available -- a commentary track with the director/writer and assistant director!

Now available exclusively at PendantAudio.com via the following links:

iTunes link:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=270527851

Podcast feed:
http://www.pendantaudio.com/SWBH-podcast.xml

Download:
http://www.pendantaudio.com/starwars.php

Featuring the voice talents of:

Bill Young as Deak Starkiller and Anakin Skywalker
Kristen Bays as Terra Kel
Scott Vinnacombe as Palpatine
Jason Hackett as the narrator
Susan Bridges as So-San Antilles
R. D. Richter as the stormtroopers
Frank Harbuck III as Donda
Joshua Sample as Gonfay
And Megan Pressley as the Jedi victim

Written and directed by Neal Bailey
Assistant director Bill Young
Cover art by Rebecca Hicks
Produced by Pendant Productions
Executive Producer Jeffrey Bridges

http://www.pendantaudio.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pendant
http://www.lunasea-studios.com

Thanks for listening!

Star Trek: Defiant episode 25!

2008-06-04T16:14:44Z

PENDANT PRODUCTIONS PROUDLY PRESENTS:

Original art by Xaq Bazit for Pendant Productions

Episode 25 - "The Far and Wondrous Distance, part 3"

The Bajoran Prophets appear, but their message is less than clear. The Mothe Astra speak, the Firefly finds its target and Ry Emeras returns home.

"Star Trek: Defiant" is a serialized, full-cast audio adventure with one new episode every month. Available for free download in .mp3 format, or as a Podcast!

Now available exclusively at PendantAudio.com via the following links:

iTunes link:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=152719094

Podcast feed:
http://www.pendantaudio.com/defiant_podcast.xml

Download:
http://www.pendantaudio.com/defiant.php

Featuring the voice talents of:

David Ault as Holubiak
Tom Backus as himself
Susan Bridges as Laine Rael
Jeffrey Bridges as himself
Chris Brittain as Kit Barton
Judah Friese as himself
Theresa J. McGarry as Ry Emeras
Adam Lebin as himself
Kathryn Pryde as Magas Brel
Brendan Elli as Suran
Laura Lindle as Annabelle Cayman
Steve Tardio as Auran Ganix
Ryan Pickens as Tumaini Calum
Maria Vu as Keahi Darcy
Mark Zaricor as Robert Sprite
Kristen Bays as B'Gruja
Bruce Busby as Gabriel Stonelake
Marleigh Norton as Sareah Chen
Chris Gumprich as Connelly Red Wolf Natseway
Mike Perschon as Ry Arlnan
Scott Vinnacombe as Georges
Kim Gianopoulos as Tru'un
David Alexander McDonald as Yileroe Jald
Pete Milan as Gul Otek
Bill Young as Dae'Entar
Michael Liebmann as Sem
And Brian Oldham as the Mothe Astra

Written by Theresa J. McGarry
Directed by Chris Brittain
Assistant Director Andrew Eckhart
Cover art by Xaq Bazit
Produced by Pendant Productions
Executive Producer Jeffrey Bridges

http://www.pendantaudio.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pendant
http://xaqbazit.deviantart.com

Thanks for listening!

Dixie Stenberg and Brassy Battalion episode 23!

2008-06-03T15:08:55Z

PENDANT PRODUCTIONS PROUDLY PRESENTS:

Original artwork by Kristen Bays for Pendant Productions

Episode 23 - "The Elixir Incident"

It's Dixie vs. Geist, round two, and this time Dixie's evened the playing field! But for how long? Billingsley chooses a partner and Brassy Battalion arrives on the scene!

iTunes link:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=163997482

Podcast feed:
http://www.pendantaudio.com/dixie-podcast.xml

Download link:
http://www.pendantaudio.com/dixie.php

Featuring the voice talents of:

Rene Christine Jones as Dixie Stenberg
Mark Zaricor as Frank McGuff
Steve Anderson as Reginald Billingsley
Jeremiah McCoy as Archibald Withersby
Pete Milan as Freudenberg
Scott Vinnacombe as Cornelius Robert Sims Pearson
Anthony Piselli as Joey Scalzetti
Chris Brittain as Thomas Galen
Perry Whittle as Benedikt Adarchenko
Alicia Laine Matheson as Lily LaRue
Kathryn Pryde as Geist
Justin Daube as Volker
Ara Pelodi as Ursula Unger
David Alexander McDonald as Walther Falkenstein
Mike Winters as Radulf Pelzer
M. Sieiro Garcia as Neve
Philip Weber as SCAR Trooper 1
David Ault as SCAR Trooper 2
Julie Goldstein as the Robot
Amanda Fitzwater as Nebulon
Kristen Bays as the Umket Triplets
Jerry Crawford as The Dean
Jeffrey Bridges as the Commercial Announcer
And Seth Adam Sher as your host

Written by by Jeffrey Bridges
Directed by Seth Adam Sher
Cover art by Kristen Bays
Produced by Pendant Productions

http://www.pendantaudio.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pendant

Thanks for listening!

THE KINGERY, episode 2x02!

2008-05-30T16:46:05Z

PENDANT PRODUCTIONS PROUDLY PRESENTS:

Original art by Nick
Hadley for

Pendant Productions

THE KINGERY, episode 2x02 - "Self-made Men"

Felix flexes his muscle and Julie decides she needs time away. Hooks'
problems mount and Regina and Roberts both have some difficult questions to
ask of themselves.

"The Kingery" is a serialized, full-cast, ongoing sci-fi crime drama.
Available for free download in .mp3 format, or as a Podcast!

Also available -- a commentary track with the director, assistant director
and writer!

iTunes link:

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=250780534

Podcast feed:

http://www.pendantaudio.com/kingery-podcast.xml

Download link:

http://www.pendantaudio.com/kingery.php

Featuring the voice talents of:

Colin Kelly as Marle

Megan Pressley as Jen

Mark Zaricor as Fix

Andrew Eckhart as Roberts

Kim Gianopoulos as the woman

Jane Parrish as Regina

Alicia Laine Matheson as Madeleine Gray

Carl Glassmeyer as Asa

Heather Frizzell as Julie

Perry Whittle as Hooks

Lexy Rawle as Devi

Pete Milan as Tommy Arkell

And Seth Adam Sher as the bartender

Written by Susan Bridges

Story by Jeffrey Bridges, with Neal Bailey, Susan Bridges,

Theresa J. McGarry, Pete Milan and Seth Adam Sher

Original music composed by David Alexander McDonald

Directed by James Tyler

Assistant Director Perry Whittle

Cover art by Nick Hadley

Produced by Pendant Productions

Executive Producer Jeffrey Bridges

http://www.pendantaudio.com

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pendant

Thanks for listening!

Review of SLy Mongoose

2008-05-30T15:38:56Z

Since it's up already at TCM Reviews, for your Friday reading pleasure here's my thoughts on Tobias Buckell's new book Sly Mongoose, out August 19. The short version - it was every bit as good as I hoped.

Sly Mongoose is set in the same universe as Buckell’s previous books, but it’s a number of years later and features a different lead character, so it should be a good start point. Chapter One, available for download on the author’s website, starts out with our lead character, Pepper, re-entering a planet’s atmosphere strapped to the back of an improvised heat shield. The action just gets better from there.

Pepper, a mercenary, is entering the planet Chilo from orbit. Much like our Venus, the surface of Chilo is completely uninhabitable due to crushing pressures and temperatures. However, at an altitude of 100,000 feet, the temperatures and pressures are Earth-normal, and breathable oxygen is buoyant. So the inhabitants live in floating cloud cities, and travel to and fro via airships. (Talk about a sensawunda!)

The novel is an action-packed battle involving several distinct groups of humans, alien species both neutral and actively unfriendly, and zombies used as biological weapons. Buckell has a superb grasp of pacing and the writing of action sequences. He uses his Caribbean background to render dialects sharply, and has a good grasp of characters. But this is not just a space shoot-it-up. Buckell, thanks to his strong world-building, gets in some pointed political and social commentary.

Sly Mongoose is a great book, written by one of the hot new writers on the science fiction scene. I highly recommend it.

On Memorial Day

2008-05-24T18:47:27Z

It is to note that there are many ways to serve. With the deepest respect and appreciation on this Memorial Day weekend...