Chris Howard's Writing & Art

Interview with Richard Morgan at The Agony Column

The Agony Column interviews the author of Thirteen, the Takeshi Kovacs novels. (In MP3 and Real).

Full URL: http://trashotron.com/agony/news/2007/07-30-07.htm#MorganRichard

Focus on audio books with Ben Bova and Orson Scott Card

Free Ben Bova and Orson Scott Card interview at Audible.com

Acclaimed science-fiction authors Orson Scott Card and Ben Bova, along with their shared audiobook producer and occasional narrator Stefan Rudnicki, discuss audiobooks and their works in a joint interview. The authors touch on their thoughts on audiobooks vs. print editions, the effect of technology on literature, religion, science, and many other fascinating topics sure to intrigue both Card and Bova fans, as well as all audiobook enthusiasts.

Nanowhere podcast

I just completed the reading and recording of chapter 1 of Nanowhere.  Here's the podcast and mp3 info:

Nanowhere, Chapter 1, Joe and Al

Get the MP3 directly: ChrisHowardNanowherChapt1_64.mp3 (8MB)

eBay on my logBay

I have finally started playing with the eBay widget on Typepad after seeing the ads every time I log in to post.  The ads say something like, Bling for your Blog, which turned me off the first few times I read it.  I mean...bling?  That's so 2004!  Step into today Typepad marketing group.  I get where you're going with the alliteration, but bling just sounds so out of date.  C'mon, today, we're saying things like, I got my shinies bangin'

All right, okay, break it up.

I'm still goofing with the widget as you might be able to tell (See the lower part of the right column).  These auctions are not my own as the widget title proclaims, but are the beautiful work of my friend, Jeff Hayes.

http://www.jeffhayes.com

Podcast update

I just posted the audio version of "A Corner Not Dipped In Styx."  It's a 27 meg MP3, which is a little long.  I'll see what I can do for more compression.

Summary: Seriously wounded on a far away planet, Lieutenant Boort plans his escape from behind enemy lines, enlisting the aid of the indigenous fauna and quoting Aristotle when he's in the mood.

Listen to the MP3 (27MB) here.
Get the podcast feed here.
Read it at Ultraverse here.

Podcast numbers update

It really does seem to work.  Podcasting can drive traffic to your site.  Between chapters one, two and three of The Wreath and the short, Always Becoming, I've received almost four hundred visitors--downloading the mp3's--in the last week. 

Looking at user-agent (something that identifies the visiting piece of software), ninety-six of the accesses have come from the iTunes player.

Chapter 3 added to the podcast

I just posted the audio version of The Wreath chapter 3.  Update your podcast or download the mp3 directly from Lykeion Books.

http://www.lykeionbooks.com/thewreath/

New gear!

What a difference better recording equipment makes.  I think so anyway.  Here's a sample of Chloe and I recording the first page of The Wreath chapter 3.  I still have to work on the balance in volume and tone, and I think it will work better if both of us are recording at the same time.  Right now, Chloe goes first, says her lines, then I record and paste in her lines over mine--and it's obvious that we're doing this when you listen. 

Listen:  First page of The Wreath Chapter 3 (mp3, 850kb)

Here's my new setup:

Marshall MXL 990 Condenser Microphone with Shockmount   ($49)
Behringer UB802 Eurorack UB802 Mixer  ($49)
Miscellaneous cables and mic stand  (~$30)

I bought all of this at Amazon.com.  It's extraordinary what you can do without ever leaving your home nowadays.  Although I drive into the Boston area every weekday, I'm this close to being a hermit!

Some numbers coming in...

I have four mp3's in my podcast so far.  Yeah, I know, not much.  I'm hoping to do one or two more this weekend.  (It's supposed to snow tomorrow, so it sounds like a good day to settle in front of a microphone--my new microphone, a Marshall MXL-990, which looks like something Edward R. Murrow would have used).

Here's what I have so far:

DiminisherOfPeace2.mp3
TheWreath_Chapter1_64.mp3
TheWreath_Chapter2_64.mp3
AlwaysBecoming.mp3 

I'm hosting the last three over at the Lykeion Books site where I get web server logs and statistics.  Here are some interesting numbers: 

I put up two mp3's, chapters one and two of The Wreath, on February first, and in that time (10 days) there have been 73 downloads of chapter 1 and 61 downloads of chapter 2.  I posted a cast of  "Always Becoming" yesterday and there have already been 18 downloads!

I've also been loading the description and summary fields in the feed with URLs and site information in the hopes that some of these listeners will come back here.  So far, with Diminisher, I can't say that much of the traffic came to the0phrastus, but it looks like a lot of it went to www.theharrow.com to check out the readable version of the story.  It's still the third most accessed story at The Harrow.  I'd prefer it if they came through here on their way to the story, but, hey, any traffic to something with your name on it is a good thing, right?

Podcast update

I recorded "Always Becoming" last night.  Took me about two hours to read, edit and upload it.  When I have time, I'll submit it to all the podcast services.

I'm serving this one from the Lykeion Books site on which I have full logging and Web Trends, so I can track how many people downloaded the mp3.

It'll also be interesting to see if I can match Diminisher of Peace's numbers, and get some traffic to the readable version of the story.

Listen: http://www.lykeionbooks.com/audio/AlwaysBecoming.mp3