en Passant not letting life just pass on by

NASA astronomers have set up a monitoring station to scan the night sky for unknown or unexpected meteor showers--and they're finding more than they bargained for.

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By Floris M. Kleijne.
Read by Stephen Eley.
First appeared in Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, August 2005.

When Flight Control assigned us utility privileges, I don’t think they expected me to brew espresso in the centrifugal head. But the weight of the espresso machine was well within the parameters they’d set, as was my use of a couple of ounces of fresh water and a fraction of the ship’s power supply each day, so there was nothing, really, they could say or do about it. Privileges are privileges, and if the purpose was to give both of us something to keep us happy, it worked for me. My morning espresso ritual kept me sane. I looked forward to it every day.

Richard, however, wasn’t quite as tolerant as Flight Control.

Rated R. Contains violence, strong language, and disturbed individuals. Who use strong language and violence.

Click here to download NOCTURNAL Episode #35

IN THIS EPISODE:
Bryan and Pookie race toward Pier 45 to take care of business and avenge Robin Hudson. Chief Amy Zou has to find a way to get the Jeremiah O'Brien out into the bay -- how far will she go? Rex's hold on the Nocturnals grows even stronger.

BONUS CONTENT (a.k.a., "Scott's Jibber Jabber")
• Winner announced in the "Design the Crypt" contest
• Winner announced in the "Design the Exterminators' Patch" contest
• FDO™ BFA (that's a BigFrickin' Announcement): Addictive Comics!
• The new promo for CONTAGIOUS
• A promo for Jeremy Robinson's new novel KRONOS

SHOW SPONSOR:
Episode #35 is sponsored by Eastbay.com. Shop for your athletic gear, get low prices, and then use the code "Sigler15" to take an additional 15 percent off your entire order!

We're heading into the final show-down in NOCTURNAL, and most of it takes place on board the SS Jeremiah O'Brien, a retired WWII Liberty Ship that resideson Pier 45 in San Francisco. Your FDO™ is once again venturing into uncharted territory -- since this is an accessible "set," I'm going to show you what the set looks like before-hand so you can mentally follow the action (click the "read more" tag below to see the rest of this post). 

read more

A surge of new-cycle sunspots in October may signal the beginning of the end of the ongoing solar minimum.

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If you’re visiting JCHutchins.net today thanks to Christine Champagne’s excellent OMMA article about Campfire’s viral marketing campaign for the HBO series True Blood, welcome! OMMA is a fantastic publication, and I was thrilled to be interviewed by Christine. Further, I was honored to be a recipient of one of Campfire’s “Red Seal” letters back in May — the proverbial “rabbit hole” for the Alternate Reality Game component of the company’s campaign.

I was chosen as a recipient of a Red Seal letter for a few reasons, the first being the letter’s mysterious “dead language” riddle, and the commonality it shared with the puzzles I create for my own fiction. I’m best known for a trilogy of thriller novels called 7th Son, which I released in an unusual way in 2006 and ‘07.

After receiving numerous rejections from literary agents, I chose to distribute my novels as free serialized audiobooks, which I personally recorded and released. Thanks to some savvy zero-budget marketing, online community building and fan evangelism (I’m a case study in bootstrap online media and marketing, I tell ya), the series has been enjoyed by nearly 50,000 people worldwide, and will be published by St. Martin’s Press next year. 7th Son features several arcane puzzles, much like the one seen in the Red Seal letters.

The Advance Guard, one company behind the blogger outreach element of the True Blood campaign, was familiar with my work, knew my fanbase would delight at the Red Seal cryptic riddle, and sent me a letter, banking I’d blog about it. Which I did.

What The Advance Guard’s C.C. Chapman (and other employees) didn’t know at the time was that I was working on an ambitious supernatural thriller ARG-meets-novel project called Personal Effect: Dark Art (also due out next year from St. Martin’s Press), which will use similar cross-media storytelling techniques to propel readers into an intriguing, beyond-the-book narrative. Thanks to my knowlege of the ARG space, I know a “rabbit hole” when I see one, and promptly spread the word. ARGs are a breed of meme, after all … and memes must be shared, if they are to survive and thrive.

The folks behind the campaign’s blogger outreach also knew about the remarkable relationship I have with my audience. While I’m no A-list blogger, I am an A-list “podcast novelist” — and I have an engaged and enthusiastic fan base with whom I share more than just my fiction. I sometimes evangelize stuff I think is really cool, and reckon some of my listeners, who have similar interests as me, check out the “killer content” I talk about. In the case of my Red Seal blog/video post, this was especially true. At present, it has 130 user comments, the most a single post at my site has ever received.

I have a lot of admiration for Campfire and the other companies that contributed to the Red Seal ARG and campaign. Not only was the ARG particularly intriguing, the marketers shrewdly selected new media entertainers (and audiences) with whom the Red Seal letter would resonate. To them, audience size wasn’t as important as content compatibility and engagement; a lesson more online marketers could stand to learn.

Now, if you’ve made it this far in the post, I know a few things about you: You’re a patient reader, you’ve enjoyed this little story, and you’re obviously interested in online media and marketing — and are perhaps doubly so, regarding the red-hot combo of fiction and promotion.

That said, I’d be a fool not to suggest that if you’re questing to get into this innovative breed of storytelling — either for profit or promotion — I’m an ideal resource to contact. Not only do I have the ability to tell a mean tale and create thriving online communities, but I have experience crafting narratives using ARG/transmedia elements.

Am I a shameless opportunist for shilling my skills to you, a stranger? Perhaps. But OMMA brought you here — and I’m using online media and marketing to advertise my wares. We already have something in common. Hey, work with me here.

Regardless, I do earnestly appreciate your interest in my work, and my story. While you’re here, free to learn more about what I do in the podcasting space, or send me an email. I’d love to hear from you.

Take care … and may you find great joy heading down the next rabbit hole.

–J.C.

By H.G. Wells.
Read by Alasdair Stuart (of Pseudopod).

“I must tell you, then, that I am an old man, a very old man.” He paused momentarily. “And it happens that I have money that I must presently be leaving, and never a child have I to leave it to.” I thought of the confidence trick, and resolved I would be on the alert for the vestiges of my five hundred pounds. He proceeded to enlarge on his loneliness, and the trouble he had to find a proper disposition of his money. “I have weighed this plan and that plan, charities, institutions, and scholarships, and libraries, and I have come to this conclusion at last,”–he fixed his eyes on my face,–”that I will find some young fellow, ambitious, pure-minded, and poor, healthy in body and healthy in mind, and, in short, make him my heir, give him all that I have.” He repeated, “Give him all that I have. So that he will suddenly be lifted out of all the trouble and struggle in which his sympathies have been educated, to freedom and influence.”

I tried to seem disinterested. With a transparent hypocrisy I said, “And you want my help, my professional services maybe, to find that person.”

He smiled, and looked at me over his cigarette, and I laughed at his quiet exposure of my modest pretence.

Rated PG. Kids, don’t do drugs. Also, some profanity in the outro.

Side by side, the Terrific Twosome of Toronto have faced danger and dastadly daring-do of every shape and size. But when the walls that hold back The Red Panda's greatest foes come tumbling down, can even that Fearless Fighting Female the Flying Squirrel save her partner from the... Trial By Terror? Length: 31min, Size 10.5mb

Junkies, you all voted, you all connived, and come January here are the cities that best bastardized democracy to bring doom upon the hapless populations therein. I will destroy you all. No dates announced yet, just cities. Once the schedule is announced, I will post it here at www.scottsigler.com.

Scott at a "bookstore" in Seattle: This was a "reading" during the INFECTED book tour. No, officer, I'm fine -- you see, I was just at a bookstore with like-minded educated individuals ...Crown agreed to pay for five cities (including San Fran, where I live, how they scammed me on that one I will never know ...). I felt the voter turnout was so strong, I'm footing the bill for an additional five cities. So the FDO™ will be living on food stamps and Ramens for awhile, so frickin' what? It's worth it to spread my Stank to so many deserving Junkies.

Washington DC was the #1 vote-getter. I'm expecting a turnout of at least 80 people at that one, so y'all better bring a friend. Yep, Texas got two stops, because Texan Junkies are just that hardcore. Some Texans drove four hours one way to see me last year, so this is the least I could do to return the love.

Bottom line? Get your ass out to see me. If you don't, even if you hide in a Denny's (the only approved Siglerism Bomb Shelter), I will still find you and kill you.

Click here to download NOCTURNAL Episode #34

IN THIS EPISODE:
Bonehead is in some deep trouble as Bryan and Pookie take him back to the Jessup's house. Savior is rescued, but in bad shape, and so is Robin's dog Emma. Black Mister Burns and Mister Biz-Nass are on their way as well. Meanwhile, Frank Lanza had better get to the S.S. Jeremiah O' Brien, because Chief Amy Zou is waiting, she's got a nine, and that chick ain't playin' ...

PODCASTS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
• Astral Audio Experience
• Soccergirl (the Soccergirl podcast, RIP)

Horror novelist Phil Rossi recently cooked up a terrific tale for Halloween, and asked J.C. to share it with 7th Son fans here in the podcast feed. A huge fan of Phil’s work, J.C. was honored by the offer, and is thrilled to present Stranded, a spooky tale that’ll make you chilled to the marrow.

“Chilling” doesn’t describe just the mood — it describes the tale itself. In Stranded, a blizzard shuts down an isolated stretch of Route 15 … and the people left there learn discover that there is more to fear than freezing to death …

Like what you hear? Learn more about Phil at his website, or subscribe to Rossi’s Notes from the Vault.

Researchers have discovered 'magnetic portals' forming high above Earth that can briefly connect our planet to the Sun. Not only are the portals common, one space physicist contends they form twice as often as anyone had previously imagined.

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Click here to listen to THE CRYPT #5

Maiden voyage djynx, subdecadence maps. Acquire, eliminate: deny thy truself.

This episode was written by Phil Rossi and Scott Sigler. Rossi is a podcast novelist and author of CRESCENT, a scifi/horror tale set in the blackest depths of space.  You can learn more about his punk ass and silky locks at PhilRossi.com.

As I bebop ’round the ‘net looking for freelance writing/editing gigs, I encounter some awfully, ah, unique creative opportunities. This is the best I’ve seen yet. (Click image for larger version.)

The dude definitely has a vision … and I kinda admire the hell out of him for that.

–J.C.

The planets are gathering for spooky sunset sky show on Oct. 31st. Read today's story to find out where to look.

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By Tobias S. Buckell.
Read by Stephen Eley.
First appeared in Seeds of Change, ed. John Joseph Adams

Audible.com Metatropolis Promotion!
Download the first story from Metatropolis free at: http://audible.com/metapod

The man opened the pack all the way to reveal a small arsenal of guns, grenades, explosives, and — oddly — knives. Very large knives. He looked up at Stanuel. “I am the attack. I’ve been asked to shut Pan down.”

“But you’re not a programmer…”

“I can do all things through explosives, who destroy for me.” The man began moving the contents of the pack inside the pockets and straps of the trenchcoat, clipped more to his belt and thigh, as well as to holsters under each arm, and then added pieces to his ankles.

He was now a walking arsenal.

But only half the pack had been emptied. The mysterious mercenary tossed it at Stanuel. “Besides, you’re going to help.”

Rated PG. Contains violence and political revolution.

Click here to download INFECTED Chapter 88 (the final chapter)

Junkies, this is it. Those of you listening in to INFECTED get your final fix, just ten weeks from the Dec. 30 launch of CONTAGIOUS.  This closes the book on this story, which is wild because so many of you listened to the original INFECTION podcast, and so many more of you bought the hardcover. Parting is such sweet sorrow, but on Dec. 7, 2008, we begin the podcast of CONTAGIOUS -- so get ready, Junkie, because I'm bringin' in.

Click here to download Siglerism Update for Oct. 23, 2008

Junkies, heading to the airport to (finally) fly back home to San Francisco. So here's a quick update to fill you in on the family situation and upcoming stories.