Conversations with the creators of the best in science fiction and fantasy. If you love SF literature, are an author or aspire to become one, you'll enjoy this podcast.
Middle-school teachers talking about ideas and challenges in real-world classroom environments. Discussions on education, ideas for both parents and teachers, interviews with top young adult literature authors.
Show Notes: Time to Catch Up on the Voicemail Backlog!
Voicemail: Yes, it’s been a long time since the last voicemail show, so now’s the time to play catch up! A lot of catch up…
Listener Review: Tim Low brings us a review of And Their Memory Was A Bitter Tree by Robert E. Howard
Submitting Listener comments: If you have any suggestions, comments, or book reviews of your own, please let us know! “Cover to Cover” has it’s own call-in line, 206-350-READ! That’s 206-350-7323, or just email Michael with a comment you’ve recorded yourself!
The Library: Duplicate Effort by Kristine Kathryn Rusch; Dragon’s Luck by Robert Asprin; WWW: Wake by Robert J. Sawyer; A Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin; Keeper of Light and Dust by Natasha Mostert; Terribly Twisted Tales edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Jean Rabe.
FarPoint Forums: Head on over to the FarPoint Forums and join in the discussions on Dragon Page topics, and for most of your favorite FPM shows!
Second Life Info: FarPoint Media’s Second Life space is now the penthouse suite of Third Life Books, the place for SL versions of Michael A. Stackpole’s writings, and many other goodies, including a Wednesday night writing workshop. You can find the castle at http://slurl.com/secondlife/beraudes/203/151/49. Come see the castle roof pool!
Promo: The Mirrored Heavens by David J. Williams
Hola Michael and Michael and Summer.
Just listened to the interview you had with JC Hutchins regarding his new book. His idea to add supplemental material to his book to allow it to become more interactive is a good one I think. As a teacher in the classroom I’ve seen this popping up in a few books. The students really seem to like it. Some of it is really well done. The latest book I’ve read is called Skeleton Creek. It’s the story of a boy and his friend who stumble on a dark secret that no one in their town wants them to reveal. In the end, they wind up having a very dangerous encounter with a ghost. Throughout the story, readers are prompted to go to a web site where they can watch video clips that add new info/clues to the puzzle. The production values are pretty good too.
Question is, how far will this go? On the one hand I can see an almost unlimited potential here. On the other hand, I can also see this sort of things driving the production costs of books higher. How high is too high? Will the current state of the economy hold this new trend back at all?
Thanks for listening. I’d love to hear/read your thoughts.
Rich
Quick question
I’m not entirely sure you guys answered my question, but okay. It was still interesting what you guys were saying about parodies.
But I was asking if that was something you’d consider a compliment, like if someone went up to Stackpole and said “Hey, I loved the X-Wing books. I usually think Star Wars novels are stupid but yours…”