RUR-2008-07-06 #36 The Rev Up Review Summer Edition

Hi, this is Paul. Today is Sunday, 6th of July, 2008, and you're listening to The RevUp

Review. Still here after all this time, about six months, I think, since the last one.

Well, The RevUp Review comes out when it comes out, it seems. This time there's some more

DragonCon stuff, interviews, and the final instalment of my DragonCon audio blog. And

there will also be the final part of my short story, Conspicuous Waste. I thought it might

be a good idea to get all the DragonCon 2007 stuff out before DragonCon 2008. If you're

if the Balticon podcast can put out interviews almost a year old, I don't see why I shouldn't.

And, as promised, for anyone who has that good a memory, we'll have a review of The

Sarah Jane Adventures, which is particularly appropriate because yesterday I watched the

finale of Series 4 of Doctor Who. No spoilers on that, but I will say this. It's become

fashionable in TV drama to kill off one or more of your main characters.

For at least one character in Doctor Who, we have something that could be described

as much worse. Something else for those of excellent memory. In the last RUR, I played

a mystery sound and invited guesses as to what it was. I received this voicemail.

Alright, so given the clue, I'm going to take a guess that that is a hovercraft. But

from the sound alone, I really can't tell whether or not it's full of eels.

Recognise that voice? That's nobilities.

Nobilis. You're quite right, Nobilis. It's the hovercraft that goes from South Sea across

the Solent to Ride, Isle of Wight. But as for eels, I couldn't tell. There were plenty

of people taking the ten-minute trip, but I don't know how many might have been slippery

customers. In case there are any listeners who are not familiar with Nobilis's work,

here's a promo.

The Office of Homeland Purity has become aware of a new threat to national morality.

We are warning all citizens to stay away from the internet site, nobilis.libsyn.com.

Whatever you do, do not subscribe to the feed to receive a weekly download of erotic audio

fiction. Listening to the Nobilis Erotica podcast is suspected to cause amusement, arousal,

excitement, even lust. All citizens should rest assured that remaining firm and holding

on to our values will result in a satisfactory conclusion to this whole sordid affair.

Repeat, do not visit the Nobilis Erotica website or subscribe to the feed at nobilis.libsyn.com.

Thank you.

I'm sure you get the idea. More from Nobilis later on.

Now it's time for the review.

The Sarah Jane Adventures are the latest Doctor Who spin-off series, starring Elizabeth Sladen

as Sarah Jane Smith, who Doctor Who fans will know was one of the Doctor's companions. Many

of Doctor Who's companions have gone on to great things, like marrying a famous atheist

evolutionary biologist, or...

hooking up with a maverick detective in the Channel Islands. Sarah Jane Smith is all grown

up now, and a year or so ago appeared in one of the new Doctor Who episodes. Now she has

her own TV series, the pilot for which was an hour-long Christmas special titled Invasion

of the Bane, written by Russell T Davies and Gareth Roberts. This is the origin story of

Luke, the artificially created savant, who becomes

one of the two child companions to Sarah Jane. The other is Maria, who with her father has

just moved in opposite Sarah Jane's house, though Maria's mother is still around and

serves to supply a helping of sceptical ridicule.

There's a fair amount of reminiscence on the part of Sarah Jane, which reminds us of her

backstory and the whole set-up is done smoothly to create believable characters with their

own real histories. The actual plot is what you

might expect from a Doctor Who spin-off, in this case a race of alien monsters wanting

to take over the Earth by way of zombification. Not original as Doctor Who plots go, but enhanced

by a degree of relish on the part of the main villain, Mrs Wormwood, excellently hammed

up by Samantha Bond. Whereas the monsters and the villains have a hard time being entirely

convincing, the normals, in this case Maria and her dad, seem completely natural. It's

a promising start, with Maria's family likely to form the background of normality in counterpoint

to whatever wonders are to come.

It was a while before the rest of the series came on screen. When I caught it, each story

was shown in two parts, with a half-hour episode on BBC One followed immediately by the next

on CBBC. The first story sees the return of some alien monsters from the new Doctor Who,

as can be gleaned from the title, Revenge of the Slythene, written by Gareth Williams.

The first story sees the return of some alien monsters from the new Doctor Who, as can be gleaned from the title, Revenge of the Slythene, written by Gareth Williams.

The second story sees the return of some alien monsters from the new Doctor Who, as can be gleaned from the title, Revenge of the Slythene, written by Gareth Williams.

For Maria and Luke, it's the first day at a new school, a school with a new technology

block. But there are some strange things about the place. An odd smell, rotten food in the

canteen, and some decidedly peculiar and gassy teachers. It turns out that the Slythene,

those green alien monsters who got their comeuppance in a previous Doctor Who story, are out for

the whole world's electricity supply to fail,

with the added insurance of cooling the sun.

During this episode, our heroes get a new team member

in the shape of Clyde, a cocky pupil also new at the school.

Although the aliens are aiming to destroy the Earth,

they play it mostly for laughs.

But there's also a measure of pathos,

as their plight is compared with that of the human race.

Lots of explosions and plenty of running

complement the alien monsters and impressive technology,

all the ingredients for a fun ride.

In Eye of the Gordon, by Phil Ford,

we have a combination of a scary creature, a gorgon,

with another group of scary characters, nuns.

Plenty of comic moments too,

as Sarah Jane Ersat's family begins to settle into some familiarity.

But any description of this episode would not be complete

without mention of Phyllida Law's stunning performance,

as the Alzheimer's-afflicted resident of a nursing home,

who, at the start of the story, is in possession of the eponymous eye.

While intermittently also in possession of her senses,

she passes this talisman to young Luke for safekeeping.

Lots of running through corridors ensues,

along with the threat of an alien race wanting to take over the Earth.

In case you're keeping score,

so far that's two votes for taking over against one for mere destruction.

Warriors of Kudlak, by Philip Gladwin,

sees children abducted by aliens,

but not just any children,

only those who excel at Combat 3000,

described as a laser-tech arcade game.

This is another multi-layered episode,

though with less emphasis on family tribulations than so far in the series.

There's a brief, amusing sequence on a hilltop

with what appears to be a precipitation machine,

much like that featured in Kate Bush's cloud-busting video

with Donald Sutherland.

It's a neat bit of steampunk,

but fairly superfluous to the story.

And we get references to Star Trek,

along with the concluding Star Trek-like moral.

This time the aliens are not intent on destroying the Earth,

or even taking it over,

only abducting its most warlike children.

But there's plenty of running up and down corridors.

Next we have a time travel story by Gareth Roberts.

Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?

This involves Sarah Jane's past on Earth,

particularly an incident with a school friend,

played in her grown-up form by Jane Asher.

It could be pretty disturbing.

What if you woke up one day to discover a friend or relative was missing,

yet everybody else told you that the missing person had never existed,

and would you please stop all this nonsense?

Naturally, aliens are involved,

including a scarily apocalyptic chap in a dark hooded cape

who has a face that's all sharp-toothed,

mouth, and nothing else.

He wants to destroy the Earth, of course,

except he'll do it by preventing efforts to deflect a meteor

that's on a collision course with it.

This episode is about moral choices and alternative timelines,

with not a corridor in sight,

though there is a foggy place called Limbo.

It's traditional in Doctor Who and its spin-offs

that the immediate danger, the scene-setting catastrophe,

Earth-shattering dilemma, or any other of a whole set of science-fictional threats,

or any other of a whole set of science-fictional threats,

is identified within the first two or three minutes,

right before the title sequence.

In The Lost Boy, the final story of the series,

written by Phil Ford,

and which you'd expect to contain some revelation

that will put the entire series into some new perspective,

the only problem is that Alan, Maria's father,

now that he's discovered the truth about their new neighbour,

and the concomitant danger it implies,

has announced that they will have to move house.

It's pretty limp,

but probably also deliberate,

as the true danger isn't far behind,

the hard-to-stomach danger,

that Mr. Smith, Sarah Jane's awesome computer,

is not, after all, acting in her best interests.

The resolution of this story is clunky and unsettling,

and raises serious questions about trust.

But we do get to see the Slitheen again,

once they're out of their zip-up humanoid disguises,

which is fun.

On the whole, I enjoyed this first,

of what I hope will be an ongoing series.

It's aimed at children,

and broadcast on children's TV.

And though there were moments that I felt

could have been better thought out,

I found the general level of storytelling to be excellent.

And many of the issues explored

are those that children are facing today.

Now that the fourth series of Doctor Who has finished,

I expect the Sarah Jane adventures

will be given another repeat.

We might even get a second series.

As mentioned earlier,

I have one remaining installment,

of my DragonCon audio blog to play.

Here it is.

Right.

It's Monday night.

DragonCon is over.

The last day.

How was the last day?

Well, it was a late-ish start for me.

I wasn't actually in time to get into the beginning

of the panel.

I didn't have much to say about the future of podcasting.

But I slipped in just after the start, apparently.

It didn't start quite on time,

so I don't think I missed much.

But Steve Ely was on the panel,

and afterwards, I did manage to get 10 minutes of his time

for a quick interview about his work.

So, that's that.

So, that was before the main panel of the day,

as far as I was concerned,

which was the one about copyright.

And I got my question answered

about Creative Commons

and bed music licensing

and that kind of thing.

I'm trying to think what happened next.

There was...

Oh, yes.

I remember. I went over to the Dragon Moon Press booth in the exhibit hall, which he had suggested was where I would find him, and indeed he was there, with Philippa Ballantyne as well, and I managed to get him to come out and give me a few minutes of his time for an interview.

And then he suggested that I interview Pip as well, and so he went off back to the stand, and Pip came out, and we had an unscheduled interview, which was very good.

And that's brought my total up to ten interviews, actually, which is way more than I expected. I'm very pleased to have managed to get that many.

And then the final panel of the day, in fact of the entire podcasting track, was the sign-off, which was really a little bit of feedback for Derek and Swoopy,

just so that people could let them know how they reckoned that things had gone, and any tips for next year.

And after that, it was really...

As far as I was concerned, it was just a bit of wandering around, taking a few last looks at the various...

Well, at the three hotels, actually, just to see what it was like.

Things were being packed up.

There was a fair bit of activity, but the places looked very different from the way they'd looked over the last few days.

And then I met up with a group of people, and we all went off to...

To an Indian restaurant, which was pretty much halfway between the con and here, my hotel, so it was highly convenient for me, and we had a nice meal, plenty of discussion about Dragon Con, some of the amazing things we'd seen, and some serious stuff, as well, about adolescent responsibility, actually, which was...

Yeah.

Threatened to get a bit heavy.

But it was fine.

And then people had to leave.

They had flights to catch, packing to do.

We said our farewells, and I came back to the hotel.

I was...

I thought, well, I'll just sit down and watch a bit of telly.

I must admit, I just fell asleep.

But it's time to turn in now, ready for tomorrow morning.

Which is when I leave.

Okay.

I'm on the plane, travelling back from Atlanta to Gatwick.

And I've just watched Fantastic Four, The Rise of the Silver Surfer.

Now, I was quite impressed.

By the choice offered by British Airways for their in-flight entertainment,

containing at least three genre movies.

Fantastic Four, The Rise of the Silver Surfer,

Spider-Man 3,

and Next.

I've read and heard some fairly poor reviews of Next,

although it is based on Philip K. Dick,

a comic book story.

Spider-Man 3, I would...

I really don't want to watch on an airplane.

I think it probably deserves rather better attention.

But I thought, having attended DragonCon,

and noted that an awful lot of the costumes

and people were extremely impressive,

but to me, totally unrecognisable,

I thought I had better watch Fantastic Four,

The Rise of the Silver Surfer.

Now, I understand that this is actually a sequel.

Despite that, it is pretty predictable.

And, frankly, utter tosh.

Uh, pseudoscience.

Technobabble, and really, I have to say,

was utter rubbish.

I know that the version I saw was not the version shown in cinemas,

and probably not the version available on DVD,

but nonetheless, pretty awful,

and not something I would recommend.

The time now, London time,

is approximately...

Hang on, I've got to turn my light on for this.

Oh, yes.

The time is 2.36 in the morning.

The lights are out,

and it's time for a bit of a ziz.

So, well...

Time to get a bit of shut-eye.

I would just mention that I did have a very pleasant morning

after checking out of the hotel.

Going round the Centennial Olympic Park,

followed by a guided tour of the CNN Centre,

which was very interesting.

But now it's time for a bit of a snooze.

Well, maybe I was being unfair

to Fantastic Four,

The Rise of the Silver Surfer.

Watching a film on a plane

isn't the best environment to see it,

but frankly I have no desire to give it a second chance.

I mentioned interviews with Steve Ely,

T. Morris and Philippa Ballantyne.

They'll be on the next RUR,

because this time we have someone else.

Scott Sigler is a name that anyone

who has even the slightest interest in podcast novels

will recognise.

He was one of the very first

to podcast,

an entire novel,

Earthcore,

for free,

and has since gone on to release

three more,

Ancestor,

Infection

and The Rookie.

Scott, thanks for taking time out

in your busy DragonCon schedule

to talk with me.

Always a pleasure.

So, how has DragonCon been for you

in relation to your podcast novels?

Well, it's been nice.

A lot of people who have listened to the novels

have come.

It's been a chance for a lot of people

to just come say,

hey, we had a couple of parties

where we were able to get a lot of fans in

to enjoy themselves.

So that's been wonderful.

Connecting with the audience has been great.

We didn't ship enough books

to the Dragon Moon Press booth,

but we did have,

we sold out of on the second day.

So that's been going very well.

Oddly enough,

as much marketing and promotions I do,

I brought absolutely no marketing

and promotional materials to this thing.

So even at the level I'm moving up to,

I've missed massive opportunities.

We always have to be thinking of that.

So DragonCon's been extremely good.

I could have done a lot better job there.

Well, I'm surprised to hear you say

that you didn't bring any marketing material

because you are probably

the most proactive promoter that I know.

I did a ton of marketing for Ancestors

on April 1st launch.

And then since then,

there's been some things,

wheels have been in motion

and been trying to work things out

with Crown Publishing,

all the great things they want to do

for the three book deal I have with them.

Been trying to work things out

with Dragon Moon Press

and try and get them a couple other titles

into their stable

and try and make everybody happy.

So there's just been a massive amount

of work that's gone in.

And I was shocked when I got here.

I didn't even cross my mind.

I show up at DragonCon

and I realized that I brought nothing

to promote myself.

It was a surprise to me as well.

Oh, right.

Can you tell us a little bit

about your deal with Crown Publishing?

Sure.

It's a three book deal with Crown Publishing.

It's all hardcover.

The first book was called Infected

that I podcast a year ago.

It's going to be out on April 1st.

Crown is proven to be,

not only supportive of my fiction,

but also really embracing

the audience that I've developed.

They're very smart business people

and basically their attitude is

if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

So they changed their publishing date

from September to April

to match what we did with Ancestor.

They are, it's called crashing a book.

They're doing everything they can

to get it ready by that time

because they want to take advantage

of everything that we've already accomplished.

So I just, so far I love working with them.

My editor is Julian Pavia

and he, you know,

the other,

area that I'm lucky in

is right out of the gate

is getting an editor

that really gets the content,

understands what I'm going for,

understands how I'm trying to entertain people

and has been able to

give some real solid pushback on the story.

So I always thought

that would be a combative experience

fighting with the publisher

and it's just been,

every step of the way with Crown

has been amazing.

So we're going to put out that book on April 1st

and then we're hoping to the next two Aprils

put out other, two other books.

And then if they're happy with the sales

to keep the relationship going.

Are they okay with you,

um, continuing to, um,

to podcast your novels?

They are okay with it.

It's a little nerve wracking for them.

They have bought the audio rights for the books too.

But the one thing

that my agent Bird Level

took forward into the negotiation was,

you know, I'm, I'm a very flexible guy.

I understand that they're the ones

with all the resources and distribution

and that I have to cater to them

for most of this relationship.

But I will not budge on podcasting, period.

I will continue to podcast my books for free

as I want to, when I want to,

including the books I'll be doing for you.

And if you don't like that,

then let's just not do business together.

They're totally fine with it.

They want me to coordinate

with their marketing department.

So I'm sure there are still

some minor discussions coming up

about when I can put it out,

when I can't,

but the indecision is mine

and they'll support whatever I go.

So, I mean, that alone shows you

how far ahead of the game crown

is understanding how the market's changing.

All right.

Well, it's great news.

Yeah.

Speaking as a Podia book author myself,

I would just like to say,

thank you so much for your efforts.

Thank you.

On our behalf,

and especially your,

your April 1st promotion,

you really showed big publishing

that this stuff works.

And I think the next,

that April 1st for Ancestor

hitting number seven on Amazon was big.

All the podcast authors got behind me in that

because everybody understood

that here's a,

here's a head-to-head benchmark

against the print industry

that we can go out and show them,

look, it works.

Scott did it on this date.

He whooped all your books

except for six of them.

You know, this works.

The next step is New York Times bestseller list.

And that's what we're going to do

on April 1st, 2008.

And I think at that point,

now the story that every podcast author

can tell going in is

Sigler claims this much audience.

I claim this percentage of his audience.

But as you can see,

it works.

The model works.

Somebody make me an offer.

Let's start doing business

and get some books out in print.

So I think it'll be great for everybody.

Yeah, we can see it happening.

Thanks to you.

It's, it's wild.

You know, a lot of us

are in the right place

at the right time.

Technology's changing.

Cost of information transfer is dropping.

Cost of equipment to listen to these things.

Is dropping.

Cost of produces dropping.

More people are coming in

and we are really approaching

a kind of entertainment singularity

where everything's going to change

and it's all up to the audience now.

And to me,

that's the most exciting part of all of this.

The most exciting part

is there's not some guy

in an office building

deciding what's going to be popular

and what's not.

It's going to be the millions

of actual fans.

And we're going to see

the stories that we want to hear

being successful

and the stories that are crap

and shouldn't have put out

in the first place

not being successful.

That's the big phase change

that's coming.

And it's all because of podcasting

and RSS and XML.

Yeah.

Well, you've just

come off the panel

podcasting your writing.

You're on to another panel now, are you?

Correct.

I'm off to the second life panel.

Oh, right.

Yeah.

Scott Sigler,

thank you very much.

Thank you, sir.

Appreciate you and appreciate your show.

Thank you so much.

Thanks again to Scott

for giving me that interview

during his hectic Dragon Con schedule.

Follow the link on the RUR website

to find out where you can get hold

of the latest

Scott Sigler blockbuster.

We'll have another interview

a little later on.

So, what have I been up to

since the last RUR?

Quite a lot.

I was privileged to be asked

to narrate the inaugural story

for Podcastle,

the new fantasy short fiction podcast,

another thoroughbred

from the Escape Artist stable.

There'll be a link

to Peter S. Beagle's

Come Lady Death

on the RUR website.

The less said about

tenuous tales,

the better for the moment.

I've some serious

catching up to do there.

Something else I'm involved with,

and I believe my participation

in this is fairly imminent.

The Pieces Podcast

is an experiment

in cooperative podcast fiction.

Eight authors take turns

writing chapters of this tale

set in a world

fractured by divine neglect.

Hear the words and voices

of Nobilis,

Christiana Ellis,

Chris Lester,

Grey Dancer,

Paul S. Jenkins,

Brandon Crows and John Tanzer,

and Philippa Ballantyne

in this dark novel of...

Well, to be honest,

I don't know yet.

But with talent like this,

it is not to be missed.

Find us at

pieces.libsyn.com

Yes, it's that man Nobilis again.

He gets everywhere.

Other stuff,

that happened since the last RUR

was the publication of

Expert Podcasting Practices for Dummies

by T. Morris,

Evo Terra and Ryan Williams.

This is intended for podcasters

moving up from the first book,

Podcasting for Dummies,

and it covers things like

promoting your business,

video podcasting,

monetising and such like.

When I looked at this book on Amazon,

I found the page had a

Search Inside feature,

which included the index.

And in it,

there was a reference

to the RevUp review.

When I purchased a copy,

I found I was mentioned

as someone who used

the Podsafe Music Network,

something I haven't done

for some time.

Better put that right.

We live,

and we learn

to fall down

and get up

and wait our turn.

When we look back,

things never look so bad

except the things,

the things we wish we'd had.

Wish we'd had.

Sometimes we fight just to stay afloat

Weighed down like a leaky, a leaky broken boat

Struggling to keep above the waterline

The simile is playing on my mind

Ha ha, ha ha

Hey, ha ha

Ha ha

Hey, ha ha

Ha ha

Hey

It's just another day

Sometimes the voice of simple truth

Is like an angry man

Screaming, screaming on a phone booth

No one wants to hear what he's got to say

Ha ha

It's easier to walk away

Walk away

Cutting corners just to beat the, beat the daily grind

All the while leaving pieces, pieces behind

Running single file in our own fucked up race

Slowly disappearing without a trace

Ha ha, ha ha

Hey, ha ha

Ha ha

Hey, ha ha

Ha ha

Hey

It's just another day

, it's just another day

Weighed down like a leaky, a leaky broken boat

Struggling to keep above the waterline

And take a bow

Just smile

And take a bow

Ha ha, ha ha

Hey, ha ha, ha ha

Hey, it's just another

Just smile

To beat the daily grind

Just smile

To beat the daily grind

That was Sarah Aubrey with Ha Ha Hey,

available at the Podsafe Music Network.

Find more from Sarah Aubrey at www.sarahaubrey.com

More stuff I've been doing.

I've taken over John Dodd's monthly column

From the Podosphere at The Fix Online.

If you're interested in short fiction,

you should check out this site,

which is part of TTA Press,

publishers of Interzone, Black Static,

and Cronos.

Prime Wave, amongst others.

One of the others used to be The Fix,

which is now entirely web-based,

under the managing editorship

of UG Foster.

It reviews short fiction

of all genres, and includes

audio and podcasting, as well as

printed magazines, collections, and anthologies.

Now, here's another interview from

DragonCon. There's a fair bit of

background noise on this one,

as it was recorded in a circulation area

a couple of levels up from the entrance

of the hotel.

I'm honoured, and a little awed,

to be sitting down with the legendary

geek goddess, the one and only

Parsec Award-winning

Mer Lafferty.

So, how are you doing, Mer?

Well, I'm a little cowed

by that intro, but

I'm doing fine, Paul. Thank you.

It's really, really an honour to be on here.

I've enjoyed your show for a long time.

Thank you very much.

I was wondering if we could

perhaps talk about,

your

ongoing series of

podcast novels.

Sure.

And I was also wondering if perhaps

this preoccupation with

life after death

was maybe

a little creepy?

That is so awesome!

That's the best question anybody has asked me about heaven yet.

Is it creepy?

Well, I just

it was Christmas time

there are woods behind my house

and during the summer

they have leaves

and I cannot see the subdivision

that's, you know, 100, 200

500 feet away.

I'm very bad with special relations.

But during Christmas time

I looked through

the dead wood

and I saw this glorious light show

and it was so beautiful.

And I knew that if I walked through the woods

and ended up, I would see

a suburban house

house with Christmas lights.

And that's just what started me.

You know, you see something beautiful from a distance

and then you get closer

and then you realize it's just totally mundane.

It's like everything else just with prettier wrapping.

And that's how the idea of heaven came to me.

And it's not

it's not a preoccupation with death.

It's not a preoccupation with the end of the world

or

religion or anything.

It's just, what if you died

and heaven wasn't all that?

Whatever your heaven is.

Being raised in America

in a not terribly religious family

generic secular

Christian is the way

I went.

Also, racing the mountains of North Carolina

meant that, you know,

not a lot of influence

with any other religion.

So,

the idea to end the world

you know, I wrote this as an experiment.

It was not planned out.

There was no art planned.

It was just episode by episode.

And then from episode four in heaven

when all the Greek gods went against each other

because of the various antics of Cain and Daniel,

I thought, well, what if

their various issues did bring about the end of the world

and thought, well, not a lot of people have covered

the actual end of the world.

Because at the end of the world, everyone dies.

So, I just took it to the outside.

I took it to the afterlife.

So, is it creepy?

I don't know.

I don't feel creepy writing it.

I don't feel like I've got this goth-like preoccupation.

I can't say it.

Preoccupation with death

is just what came to mind.

I've been on shows that want to focus on the religion of it

or my beliefs

and it's just a story I wanted to write.

I don't know what I believe, honestly.

Could you say something about the actual process of writing it?

Because you're not doing it as sort of conventional novel, are you?

As a, you know, writing the complete thing and then releasing it.

Right, right.

I don't know.

I don't know if it's more like a...

I sort of thought of it like a TV or radio drama

in that I'm writing it episode by episode

and I've got a rough idea.

As it went on, I had a more rough idea of what the plan would be.

By the time I started Earth, I knew what the end would be.

I knew what the end of Earth would be when I started it.

When I started Hell, I did not know what the end would be.

And now, as the plot is forming in my mind,

I know what the end of book four will be and book five.

Or seasons, whatever.

But it's more of a process of just...

Right now, it's knowing what I want to say

and just making sure I have a day or two to put it down

because the episodes aren't that long.

And at first, I felt bad about that

because I know that T. Morris and J.C. Hutchins,

they're putting out chapters that are 35, 45 minutes long

and my chapters are 15.

But I realize I'm pretty much putting out a novella in 12 parts

and I don't have to adhere to their format.

I have to adhere to what I want to write

and I write it until I'm done with that part

and then I release it.

So I'm just trying to stay true to what I do.

The biggest thing that I've really learned in this whole process,

which shocked the hell out of me,

was foreshadowing.

I've finally learned how to foreshadow.

I'm putting down seeds in episode four

that won't sprout until 12

and it's a lot of fun.

And sometimes I just put down seeds

and I don't know what they're going to grow,

but as long as I remember that they're there,

I'll carry on the Metaformer.

I'll let whatever the seeds sprout later on.

But I just have to remember that they're there.

But it's more foreshadowing than I've ever done before

and it's a lot of fun

because I realize that, like,

I just want to tell people, like,

it's there.

What's going to happen?

It's right there.

Don't you see it?

It's right there in that check.

You don't see it?

Okay.

So does that help?

Well, yes, yes.

It does make me think that perhaps

because of the way you're writing it,

you might be storing up problems for yourself

or you could have been storing up problems for yourself

because if you're writing it on the fly,

you can't go and put the foreshadowing in afterwards.

I know.

That's the hard part.

I just end up putting in, like,

a cool idea here, a cool idea there

and hope that something comes of it later.

And I can create problems for myself.

I feel like I didn't take a lot of time

to write the final three chapters of Earth,

but when I was reading,

when I was recording Part 10,

I realized that I'd put something down in Part 10

that I didn't follow up on

and I needed to.

And that gave me this huge idea for the next book.

So I am going to follow up on it,

but not until the next book.

Right.

And that's okay with me.

I'm cool with that.

But it's really just a matter of keeping track.

I'm not sure if I can do it or not,

but I will try very hard to.

Right, right.

How does the writing

of this series compare with

your writing process for

your completed novel?

It's completely different.

Completely different.

The self-imposed deadlines

of trying to put out

one episode at least,

trying for weekly,

sometimes succeeding, sometimes failing,

but still knowing that I have a deadline,

knowing that I have an audience waiting,

gets it done faster.

Whether it's better or not, it doesn't matter.

It has to be done.

And so I definitely have gotten

a lot more written consistently in the past

year or so since starting Heaven

than it took me to write Plank the Keys.

And can I brag?

I think it's a pretty clean first draft.

I did do some editing.

I decided to edit Heaven and Hell together

to make one novel to send to publishers.

And I had to edit and I had to, as I said,

in the comic book industry, retcon a little bit.

Some decisions I made later in the plot

needed to impact some earlier chapters.

But honestly, it was a pretty clean draft, I thought.

And I definitely can't say that about my first novel.

I've been through several rewrites for that.

And we'll see how that's taken, you know,

this fall when I podcast it.

Well, I think there are a lot of people

looking forward to that.

Yeah, me too.

It's scaring the hell out of me.

It's going to be interesting.

Yes, yes it is, yes.

But yeah, it was a completely different situation,

a completely different way of writing.

I think the music over here

is going to get the better of us.

So perhaps you could just tell people

where they can find the Heaven series.

OK, well, Heaven can be found at heavennovel.com

or you can go to patiobooks.com

and search for Heaven, Hell or Earth or Lafferty.

L-A-F-F-E-R-T-Y.

Or merlafferty.com.

I had lots of crap on the way.

Anything else you'd like to add?

I'm honored to be on the Rev Up Review.

I've been a fan since the beginning

and intimidated, very intimidated by you.

Very.

I find that really surprising.

No, once you started doing your reviews of stories

and I thought, oh crap, what if he finds my podcast?

What if he reviews it?

Oh crap, what's he going to say?

Oh man.

And then I found out your feelings about time travel

and then I got the time travel story published by Escape.

Oh crap, Paul's going to hate me.

I did a time travel story.

Oh no.

So.

But it's a pleasure to be on.

I love your podcast.

Thank you very much for that.

And you're not intimidating.

Merlafferty has not only completed podcasting her first novel,

Playing for Keeps,

she has secured a publishing deal

and it will be out on August 25th.

That's the day you should go to Amazon and order it.

And the ever-expanding Heaven series is available at

podiobooks.com

Thanks Mer for a great interview.

And now we come to the final instalment of Conspicuous Waste

where Arthur Ashton has had his refuse collection suspended

and his drains cut off.

Undaunted, Ashton has made his own arrangements,

transporting his rubbish to the local tip

and building an earth closet in his back garden.

On Monday he arrived at work content with his lot.

So they'd cut off his drains and refused to remove his refuse.

But he'd manage.

By his own efforts he'd deal with his own waste products.

He'd taken the contents of his wheelie bin to the tip in the back of his car.

It had taken two trips,

mainly because he hadn't found enough bin liners and bags to put it all in.

At lunchtime, as Ashton sat at his desk eating his sandwiches,

Pam came into the office carrying a slip of paper.

Some blokes just handed this in for you, she said,

placing it on top of his lunch box.

Hmm?

Ashton, his mouth full of cheese and chutney, nodded his thanks.

He looked at the paper.

Air quality regulations, it said.

Then his name.

And the make and registration number of his car.

Exhaust envelope retrofit.

One.

What's this all about? said Ashton.

Pam was just leaving the office.

She stopped at the door.

They'd been outside all morning, she said.

I thought you knew.

Ashton licked his fingers, wiped them on his handkerchief

and went across the hallway to the kitchen.

Peering out of the window into the car park,

he saw a white van reversing away from his car.

He could not see any markings on it as it drove away.

His car, however, appeared different.

A notice of some kind had been stuck on the windscreen,

wrapped in polythene.

And there was something odd about the roof,

though he couldn't see it properly from this angle.

He went down to look.

Ashton's car, an ancient Vauxhall, seemed to have been modified.

A tube attached to the exhaust pipe snaked up the rear of the car

next to the boot lid,

and the rear window,

ending in a curious device fixed to the roof.

Everything had been firmly fixed to the bodywork,

although Ashton couldn't make out how.

The metal didn't seem to be punctured.

It must have been some kind of strong adhesive.

He had the document Pam had given him in his hand.

He unfolded it.

It was signed and dated in ballpoint,

and at the bottom his eye was caught by a section in bold type.

Congratulations.

On the general principle that motorists should be responsible

for their own waste products,

your vehicle has been fitted with the Keepit exhaust retainer.

We hope that you are completely satisfied with your installation,

but in the event of problems, please ring the number below.

Unfortunately, the document had been printed with poor alignment,

and only the top third of the telephone number digits

were visible on the bottom edge of the page.

Ashton's lunch hour was nearly over.

He returned to the office.

When it was time to go home,

Ashton didn't look closely at what had been done to his car.

In the twilight he got straight in and drove off.

Not wishing to be seen examining his new installation.

The car appeared to drive OK,

but as he got closer to home,

he noticed a steady increase in wind noise.

When he stepped out into his own drive,

he could see that the Keepit envelope had expanded.

His car now sported a kind of balloon on its roof,

presumably full of the exhaust gases from the engine.

Anyway, the car still ran OK,

so what was the problem?

The car was still running.

The following morning, on his way to work,

he noticed several people staring at his car

when he stopped to buy petrol.

By now, the Keepit envelope had expanded to cover the entire roof,

looking like an enormous hairnet trying to control an extravagant bouffant hairstyle.

It bobbed about in the wind.

A party of schoolchildren pointed and giggled in the back of a people carrier.

Ashton did his best to ignore them.

No one mentioned his car at work,

though they could surely see the strange inhabitant of the car park.

Even Pam, who dealt with the installers, seemed to ignore it.

It was as if they were all in on some elaborate practical joke.

Ashton decided to ride it out.

When he got home that evening,

he found that his house had been encapsulated.

Though it was dark and raining,

he could see as soon as he stepped out of his car

that his two-storey sedan,

semi-detached home,

looked very different from its neighbours.

It had been shrink-wrapped.

To get his key in the front door,

he had to undo some kind of plastic zip that seemed to seal it off.

Before he closed the door behind him,

he resealed the plastic.

It seemed the right thing to do.

There was a package on the doormat,

some documents in a plastic envelope.

Ashton picked them up, already half knowing what he'd find.

Sure enough, there was a letter and a thicker document.

The letter had his name and address printed at the top.

And further down the page, Ashton found the expected paragraph.

On the general principle that people should be responsible for their own waste products,

your property has been fitted with the very latest in environmental containment,

the AirSeal Householder.

Congratulations on being one of the very first homeowners in your district

to receive the benefits of this unique appliance.

The Householder is good for one month's unattended use,

after which its contents must be emptied.

Please read the enclosed user's manual

for complete instructions on the AirSeal Householder.

Please note that emptying of the Householder

is not included in this standard installation

and you should make your own arrangements.

Hmm, said Ashton.

He drummed his fingers on the worktop and read the letter again.

Then he took up the user's manual,

made his tea and settled down for a good long read.

On Wednesday morning, before driving to work,

Ashton examined his house from outside.

It had indeed been completely wrapped in a kind of polythene bag.

Whereas the previous evening it had appeared, in the dark and the rain,

to have been shrink-wrapped,

now, in the sunny light of a new day,

it seemed to be more loosely contained.

The plastic flapped and rustled in the breeze.

The sound resembled the noise of his car's keep-it retainer

as he drove along.

The wrapping stopped at the communal drainpipe

running down the centre of the two properties

so that her house was left untouched

while his was entirely shrouded in its new encapsulation.

Amongst the little movements of the plastic

a larger motion caught his eye.

It was a curtain at his neighbour's window.

He saw the old woman looking out at him,

but as he turned towards her

the parted curtains closed.

She must have watched them all the previous day

as they laboured to encase his property.

She must have wondered what on earth was going on.

As did Ashton.

He didn't mention his house at work.

He had enough trouble keeping quiet about his car.

The balloon on its roof now billowed and swayed

with every motion of the vehicle and every breath of wind.

It carried its increasing volume of exhaust gases

like a cartoon speech bubble

as if the car was trying to shout out loud

to let others know what had happened to it.

Ashton saw no other cars similarly fitted.

There was no reply.

In the evening

Ashton found yet another package on his doormat.

Inside the fat jiffy bag that bore scuff marks

where it had been forced through his letterbox

was a garment

made of the same material as the air seal householder.

Indeed, it had come from the same place.

It was a kind of plastic Mac

but with additional accessories.

According to the illustrated leaflet that Ashton now perused,

it would enclose his body completely

with leggings that went over his feet

and a close-fitting, transparent balaclava-like helmet.

It was evidently designed to isolate the wearer

from the external environment

like those special suits Ashton had seen

on a TV programme about making microchips.

Like the keypit,

this suit would collect exhaust gases

and retain them in its attached plastic envelope.

Ashton studied the leaflet

and after dinner he tried the suit on.

In the mirror he looked like one of those people

who clean up after a leakage at a nuclear power station.

Now there's a case of irresponsibility, he thought,

allowing waste products to permeate the countryside

with no regard to the consequences.

Though it looked ridiculous and was far from comfortable,

Ashton decided he would definitely try to use his new suit.

People should be responsible for their own waste products.

The leaflet said he needn't wear it inside the house,

which was already protected,

only outside in the open air.

In the morning, when Ashton put on the suit again,

he noticed that its envelope had increased in size

from when he had first unpacked it.

It must have been his breathing

when he tried it on the night before.

He let the gases escape into the house.

After all, the house was sealed.

Outside he stood next to the open door of his car,

briefcase in hand,

a shimmering figure in the sunlight.

He wasn't sure if he'd fit in the driver's seat

while wearing the helmet.

Also, he thought,

the envelope would increase in size during the day

and then he wouldn't be able to get in the car

at all.

He decided to take the bus.

As he closed and locked the car,

he noticed his neighbour looking at him

from an upstairs window.

He turned and stiffly raised his head towards her.

The curtains closed as Mrs Ransicle

stepped back into the shadow.

A few heads turned to look at Ashton

as he walked up the road towards the bus stop.

The suit rustled as he moved,

and he concentrated on not dropping his briefcase.

The plastic gloves didn't provide much grip

and he was afraid the handle might slip from his grasp.

He rounded the corner to the bus stop

where two people already waited.

A white van, parked just short of the bus stop,

drove off as Ashton joined the queue.

He read the sign on the side.

Environmental Holdings, PLC.

A fat woman was at the head of the queue,

unwrapping a chocolate bar.

Probably her breakfast, thought Ashton.

She let the wrapping drop to the ground.

Ashton, horrified,

opened his mouth to protest,

but felt the plastic of the helmet on his face,

around his lips.

The man in front of him lit a cigarette.

The match fell from his fingers,

the glowing end bouncing once on the paving slabs.

Ashton began to speak.

His voice was strange.

Though he thought he was making sense,

it was plain these people could not understand him.

He tried again.

He protested, harangued, shouted and cajoled.

They looked at him, then at each other.

They sighed and shrugged and shook their heads.

With the faintest of smiles on their faces,

they turned away.

I've seen.

They don't speak

The final part of Conspicuous Waste

was written and read by Paul S. Jenkins.

Music was Diamond in Disguise by Chance's End

from the album The Outside.

More from Chance's End can be found at podsafeaudio.com

or follow the links on the RUR website.

The RevUp Review is a Willowsoft Communications production,

words and stuff for the third millennium,

and is released under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Sharealike 3.0 licence.

Send feedback by email to rur at revupreview.co.uk,

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Thanks for listening, and I will speak to you... soonish.

Transcription by CastingWords