Episode 12 - Spherical Tomi: A Novel of Despair

Spherical Tomy by Jack Mangan

Copyright 2005, Creative Guide Publishing

Read by Jack Mangan and Debra Mangan

Original music by Jack Mangan

Welcome to the very last episode of the Spherical Tomy patio book.

I'll try not to get too long-winded,

but like the Bikinokawa, I have quite a bit that I need to say.

I've had some readers tell me that they were satisfied with Tomy's ending,

that they enjoyed the unknown of what was still to come,

but don't worry, there is a sequel, and it will be here before you know it.

Well, I read the acknowledgments straight from the book at the end of episode 11.

I'll now read a whole new list of acknowledgments,

specifically for the patio book.

First, I must say thanks to my lovely wife Debbie

for her wonderful readings of all of ST's female voices.

Thank you very much for all the time and effort you put in,

and for putting up with the cranky writer-slash-director.

He can be a bit of a...

an artiste, you know.

He did a fantastic job with all of the voices,

and this patio book would have been a much lesser thing without him.

Next, my homeboy Evo Terra.

He gets a thanks here for all he's done to help me and Tomy to reach all of you.

Not to mention that through his friendship,

I've been able to promote my other stuff.

I owe so much to the Dragon Page.

Don't let that abrasive demeanor fool you.

Evo's really a good guy.

T. Morris.

Another really good guy.

He forged the path and set an incredibly high standard with Moravie,

and then co-founded this patio book's thing with Evo.

For me personally, he sat down and had a beer with me at the 2005 Coppercon convention,

and offered indispensable words of wisdom and advice about the art of patio recording.

Don't blame him, though, for ST's shortcomings.

Thanks to Chris Miller, the hardest-working man in show business.

He's always shown enthusiasm,

and eagerness to fix problems and get the episodes out there as quickly as possible.

I also do need to thank Mike Menengay,

Summer Brooks,

and Joe Murphy.

Where would I be without the Dragon Page?

Same goes for everyone at Creative Guy Publishing.

Where would I be without Creative Guy Publishing?

And, of course, thanks to you, the subscribers.

I really feel privileged to have connected with all of you in this way.

We all love you.

We all even had Spherical Tomy as the number one patio book for a good long run.

We managed to hold out for a few weeks over Scott Sigler's juggernaut, EarthCore,

which did eventually unseat ST for the top spot.

And I helped Scott to do it, incidentally, because I subscribe also to that excellent book.

At the time of this recording, we're still number two, thanks to all of you.

So to you, my listeners, subscribers, and friends, I say thanks.

All of your feedback has been wonderful,

and of great use to me, both the criticisms and the praise.

So I put out this offer for listeners to send me their names to be read here,

in the very final meta episode.

You heard me mention this during parts 10 and 11.

Here's the first version of that list.

I want to personally thank

Nathan Berg,

Jeff Mortensen, my lifelong friend,

Paul Herring,

Yap Pelt,

Bob Tolman,

J.R. Murdoch,

Ivo Terra,

Philbo Baggins of the Shire,

and I didn't even know they were hooked up for Brock Band,

and William the Black of Cerberus.

He's a bit of a narcissist, you know.

It's a short list for now, but I expect it will grow with time.

I'll continue to revise that list and add names,

so you're welcome to contact me and have your name and even a brief personal statement or comment included.

You'll hear it when we release the next revision.

Send an email to

duelofthefates at gmail.com

if you wish to be counted, along with your fellow Spherical Heads.

The reason I do this is to foster and strengthen the sense of community between us all.

The brother-slash-sisterhood that tends to sprout naturally, anyway, in SF circles.

Next on the agenda, here are a few items of ST trivia.

The following quote adorned the top page of Spherical Tomy's first draft as I was writing it.

It reads,

Every composer knows the anguish and despair occasioned by forgetting ideas which one has not time to write down.

That's from French composer Hector Berlioz.

I find the 1066 Norman Conquest of England a fascinating historical event.

William the Conqueror, a.k.a. William of Normandy, a.k.a. William the Bastard,

was the basis for President William Sterling's moniker, William the Black.

And incidentally, I gave him the name William Sterling in honor of two of my absolute favorites,

William Gibson and Bruce Sterling.

You know, in retrospect, I recognize this as kind of a cheesy move, but what can you do?

I think the name does sound good on its own.

I hope that the Spherical Tomy story stands on its own and does not appear derivative of anyone else's work.

But there are a few influences that I must acknowledge.

The works of Gibson and Sterling, of course.

Dan Simmons' Hyperion Quartet.

And A.J. Yoshikawa's Epics.

Oshii and Taiko.

You know, I grew up in the 70s and 80s, so I have to count the burned-in Star Wars and original Star Trek SF sensibilities.

Even if at times I was trying to speak out in open defiance of them.

As author Ernest Hogan observed in his blurb for Toman, which read,

Star Wars is over, Star Trek is dead, and Spherical Tomy, Jack Mangan, has opened up a new frontier.

Again, thank you very much for that, Ernest.

All of the climactic action takes place at Lyndon's airlock, HB-10.

Named HB for my son Hayden Benedict's initials.

The Bikinikawa mentions the Sophie Sloop freighter, captained by Jack Aubrey.

That's a fairly blatant nod to Patrick O'Brien's famous series of nautical novels.

You know, it's a bonus that my daughter is named Sophie, too.

And so there you have it.

I'll leave you now with some embarrassing but funny outtakes.

From the latter half of the Spherical Tomy recording sessions.

Enjoy, at my expense.

What the hell is that noise?

It's my nose.

Oh, gross.

Sounds like a furnace. Would you please?

I know the Bikinikawa exists, Tomitsu.

I've abv...

This thing seeks not only to transcend the limitations imposed on it by its creators,

but also to find ways to bypass the universal laws of physics,

and to speak in a nasally voice.

However long she'd been out of Michi,

she'd been left to remain flea-floating in a fleeping flooding.

But who jacked me out of the Timidzu-Itai, then?

A cough did.

Guards wearing the uniforms of the elite server and president,

the presidential guard,

jumped out through the...

You got her back!

Don't put that on outtakes.

Her body's in bad shape.

Bad shape, though.

Bad shape, bad shape.

I'm an excellent driver.

Don't make fun of my voices.

This is Mr. Ryoji.

It's not a movie phone.

Her body...

Michi began to...

She initially...

She recognized a 54.0.

4.0?

Enough.

Finally, he conceded to her wishes and counter-redirected the 6.2 force...

4.2?

Michi laughed mirthlessly.

Was that mirthless?

No.

What's with the hissing?

Hiss.

The door is hiss.

Hiss, hiss, hiss, hiss, hiss, hiss, hiss.

My door hissed and then her door hissed and then it hissed shut and then it hissed.

Hiss, hiss, hiss, hiss, hiss, hiss.

I'm on supposed to do a scathing critical review then.

I am. I'm going to start a blog.

She recalled the time that Nez had taken her for a test flight in the launch e-tie.

But this was an entirely different thing.

I was wondering what you were going to do when you got the different thing.

You were just like on the edge of a cliff.

Fuck.

This is entirely different.

Fuck.

I apologize, Sensei.

She whispered.

She screamed.

Whatever.

Same thing.

No one can hear you.

They're going to have to turn off their headsets.

Well, then don't say she whispered.

Snap.

I apologize, Sensei.

Tamitsu awoke with a start, feeling alarmingly refreshed.

There wouldn't have been enough time to get her all the way across the laser wave from Cerberus to YG-2-7.

Oh, come on.

Tamitsu stopped eating and looked the e-tie.

You can't even fucking do it.

Why do you have to put so many words that sound alike together like a freaking lunatic?

That's for the outtakes.

Serving as a conscience.

Conversing.

And a cock and a cunnibal.

And a lucin...

Curencing...

Conversing.

Okay, enough of that.

I'm recording this on February 25th, 2006.

As you're listening to this, the entire first season of my Duel of the Fates series is available as a audiobook.

The second season is finished up on the Dragon Page Wingin' It,

and if those episodes are not already available in the DOTF audiobook, then they will be soon.

I'm putting together an exciting project to get my Dirk Moonfire and the Nefarious...

Spacewomen novella recorded for Patio Books release.

If you want to read the original story,

then check it out on the Amityville House of Pancakes Volume 1 Anthology

from Creative Guide Publishing.

If you like the cyberpunk aspects of Tomy,

then check out my story,

The Unsolvable Death Trap,

in Interzone Magazine 202.

Or, read my short story,

The Last Cyberpunk,

at www.neometropolis.com.

I want to thank you again for listening all the way through Spherical Tomy with me.

Check in at my blog at jackmangin.blogspot.com.

One day, before the end of 2006, I'll post there to tell everyone the news.

That Spherical Tomy's conclusion is finished and available.

Until then, browse through and subscribe and enjoy all the other Patio Books titles here.

There are lots of really great books on the site from some ridiculously talented authors,

and I feel privileged to be here with them.

Thank you very much.

I'll see you next time.

Bye.