The Chronic Rift

In listening to the Rozansky interview, it sounds to me like he wants to own the rights to your creation with his platform scheme. He's a small publisher and it's always a risk for him to take on any new property as he, more than a large publisher, can't afford to lose money. On the other hand, he knows that ongoing properties are hot and people want the continuing story of anything they read or watch, not being content with just being told a good story. With this platform scheme, it sounds like he holds the rights and if you're not an adept editor yourself in submitting it, then you don't dictate where your story goes next. Doesn't sound very firm to me.

Based on number of downloads, here is how the 12 Days of Riftmas played out during the holiday season:

1. Day Twelve
2. Day One
3. Day Two
4. Day Four
5. Day Three - In Review
6. Day Ten - David Rozansky Spotlight
7. Day Eleven
8. Day Eight
9. Day Six, Seven, and Nine
12. Day Five

Thanks so much to all of you who took the time to listen to all the episodes and comment.  Despite some of the setbacks, I consider this a success and will definitely make it a yearly event.

All,

I know I'm late posting this, but I wanted to say, thanks to all for the 12 Days of Riftmas.  From this listener's perspective it was clearly an unqualified success.  And again, as a listener and a fan, I hope this can become an annual occurrence.  I also hope that, having the experience of doing it will make the next one easier and more enjoyable for cast and crew.  John, a true "huzzah" to you for managing to keep all those balls in the air during what already such a busy time of year.

I meant to mention this before, but in case I haven't:  a big thanks to all the "significant others" who share their loved ones with all us listeners on a regular basis!

So, all, enjoy your break until the next episode!  And again, thanks for a truly enjoyable holiday experience.

Bill

Heard a lot of stuff I liked in that assortment.  An adventurous and enjoyable mix.  Thank you, sirs!  It may be too much of a request, but just in case David has one handy, I'd be very glad to see a playlist of the tracks he selected so I can find them on Jamendo (the podsafe music website he mentioned pulling them from).  I understand if he'd rather not bother!

You will have to download the episode again.  Sorry about the inconvenience.  It was my fault.  Somehow I managed to loop the intro through the episode.

At least the copy I downloaded on iTunes does.  At the 3:04 mark a second copy of the episode starts playing on top of the copy that's already playing, making things very confusing!

Hi, Hawk.  I just finished listening to your episode while I was on the bus this morning, and it was a hoot and a half.  I must admit that I've never actually read A Fire Upon the Deep, but I've just reserved a copy so I will rectify that situation very soon.  I still think that my favorite Doctor (Jon Pertwee) could take out your favorite Doctor with a couple of well-placed judo chops, but I certainly identify with the odd feeling of leaving our favorite Doctor from childhood behind.  Tom Baker still comes in second on my all-time favorites list, though. 

And while I have often tried to stay far away from professional wrestling, fate has occasionally forced it upon me.  When I was a young teenager taking classes at my local kung-fu school, professional wrestling was often a topic of conversation among the guys, so I couldn't escape the discussion of Sargeant Slaughter, et al.  And once when I was around 18 or so, I was dragged into service to take my younger brother (an enormous wrestling fan) to see a WWF event at Madison Square Garden.  I expected to be bored and traumatized, but I decided to turn a negative into a positive and bring a notepad and a pen, so I could write an exciting expose of the professional wrestling world.  While I never submitted my article to the Village Voice as I'd planned, it was still an exciting exercise in writing nonfiction for me.  Oh, and the title of my piece, "Professional Wrestling and the Tinkerbell Revival System," referred to my comparison of how the way that a "losing" wrestler could be revived by the crowd's applause was a lot like the way that Tinkerbell was revived by the applause of the crowd in the theatrical version of Peter Pan.  So while wrestling will never hold as dear a place in my heart as it does in yours, I can certainly understand and appreciate its storytelling and theatrical elements.

And jeez, it's not like I don't have guilty pleasures of my own ...

Coming in I thought it might be rambling as it was one guy talking by himself about a very large subject and I've heard some bad examples of that on iTunes, but this was fun, loved the aborted tour.  (Never heard that "yadda yadda yadda" variation "gobby gobby gobby" before!)  It felt like an audio letter from a friend.

Hope Hawk got the quantum singularity fixed...  I haven't had any flash forwards yet.

I am not very Zorro-savvy, and came to the story with low expectations based on vague cultural memories of buffoon soldier villains easily and endlessly humiliated by a gentleman bandit who enjoys tearing up the clothes of men and women alike and leaving Z-shaped scars on various body parts in scenes with unspoken S&M undertones.  I was surprised to find instead a villain sympathetically portrayed (though not to the point that we root for his success), who unexpectedly came to his villainous role and cynical outlook via a path of idealistic altruism and chaste romantic love.  The transition from the villain relishing the sounds of the bully receiving his lashing to relishing the beauty of his lady love was inspired, as was the scene where he identifies Zorro through his grin, mustache, and manner of speaking of the poor.  A very welcome listen, capped by the delicious absurdity of the reverently arranged chicken cluck music Jon chose to close out the show.  Thanks, folks!

Well, Pinkhamster, some of us definitely got a real-life Chronic Drift.

All right, Mr. Snow Miser, you've won this round.  Next time I've got to shovel 20 inches of snow, though, I'm hunting you down....

Everyone, (well everyone on the east coast of the US from Virginia on up), you can retire "Let it Snow" from your play list.... (which, to render this point semi-on-topic, is another not-really-a-Christmas-song you hear on many a Christmas play list.)

Fortunately I have "The 12 Days of Riftmas" to get me through the storm... :)

To respond to Orenthal's comment about my feelings about White Collar, I want to emphasize that what I said was that the surprise ending of the fall finale was something that "ruined everything I liked about the show." Without getting into spoilers, suffice it to say that the thing that appealed to me the most about the show was that particular character, and most of what I liked about that character turns out to be a complete lie if that revelation holds up, thus ruining my favorite part of the show.

It doesn't necessarily ruin the show as such, and in fact could make for some interesting stories going forward. But they drove a stake through the thing I liked best about it, sadly.

Also, per USA's new ads, the show's coming back on Tuesday 19 January, so at least we don't have to wait all that long...

Thanks for this Christmas gift!  Must have been an interesting job for you, John.

Two side-notes:

a) after listening to this radio play, I listened to another iTunes podcast from the show "Risk," and in their latest episode a comedian coincidentally told the story of getting a job in a TV ad campaign for AFLAC featuring a detective named Justin Case who would talk to people on the street.  He said that the ad campaign was passed over in favor of the AFLAC duck.

b) here in Oregon when HD radio was introduced our local public radio station used one of its alternate bands for a radio service for the blind that included radio drama.  I was a fan, even though I'm blessed with sight.  Unfortunately they were phased out rather quickly, I guess budget cuts.

It is way, way past my bedtime, but I did want to say that this last review episode of 2009 was one of the best.  Lots of very interesting discussions.  Just wanted to mention that, John, I share your fondness for "A Muppet Family Christmas".  In particular, the ending (the scene in the kitchen) always brings a lump to my throat, especially considering what would happen just a few years later.

And one other point....I can remember having very mixed feelings about "Rudolf" as a child, mainly because of how they portrayed Santa as a real jerk.

It just felt really odd, as a child, to see old St. Nick portrayed like that.

Thanks for telling our audience about that worthy (and geek-friendly!) charity.

And I'm glad to see that the idea of hot guys reading the phone book with their shirts off is still alive and well :)

Here is the list.  You can find links to everything in the Amazon store at the bottom of the page.

The Curious Garden by Peter Brown
The Plot Chickens by Mary Jane and Herm Auch
Jeremy Draws a Monster by Peter McCarty
Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed by Mo Willems
Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos by R.L. LaFevers
Theodosia and the Staff of Osiris "      "      "
I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to Be Your Class President by Josh Lieb
Tyranny by Lesley Fairfield
Into the Wild Nerd Yonder by Julie Halpern
Goth Girl Rising by Barry Lyga
Stitches: A Memoir by David Small
Coraline DVD
Up DVD
Beatles Rock Band

The podcast description of my Riftmas episode [ETA: the description I see on my iPod as I'm listening to the episode] says that I'm going to be giving holiday gift ideas for young adults and teens, which are technically the same age group.  What it should say is "children and teens," because I not only worked within my comfort zone of books for teens, but I also spent time in my library's children's room looking for good picture books for younger children and chapter books for older children.  And some titles I recommended cross over between children and teens, and teens and adults.  Plus I even recommended things that weren't books at all!  So if you need some last-minute gift recommendations for kids of any age, or even for yourself, make sure you check out this episode.