Podcasting empire

I’ve been podcast for over seven years now and the landscape has changed dramatically in that time. When we started not many people really knew what podcasting was and the number of podcasts and people listening was a fraction of what is today.

Coming up on eight years on from when we first started in July 2007, my co-host and I have done all sorts with the podcast and it has led to all sorts of opportunities, personally and professionally. I’ve attended comic book conventions and spoken on panels about podcasting, their place in the new media landscape and taken part in discussions about whether or not it’s a form of journalism. I also co-ran the podcasting track at the Nine Worlds Geekfest convention last year and will be involved again this year.

Professionally I’ve used the editing and sound skills I learned from a hobby in two of my jobs. One was to introduce podcasting to a large global company who wanted to keep their employees up to date in a way that was mobile. So I trained a couple of other people on good technique, introduced them to the software and how it works, and off they went. I’ve also used the same skills for video editing and my voice has been used on several demonstration videos which I put together.

On a personal level, podcasting has allowed me to speak with some amazing creative people, writers and artist from several mediums, plus independent filmmakers. This was sometimes on the Book Club where we spoke to authors, and sometimes on Comic Book Outsiders.

We’ve now reached the point where after so many years we’ve settled into a rhythm and are still enjoying what we do. With that in mind I thought it might be worth giving a little bit of information about the podcasts I’m involved with, as part of our mini podcasting empire!

Comic Book Outsiders – Once a month I co-host this comics and geek related podcast with Scott. This was the original podcast we started in 2007 and we are still going. We talk about things in the news, comics books, TV, films and games, we discuss meaty topics, we have guests on to talk about their work and we highlight hidden gems that don’t get as much attention as they should.

Bags of Action – Once a month I co-host this podcast with Pete Rogers. If you love action movies then this is the podcast for you. We talk about the ridiculous stories and the wonderful chaos common to this type of movie. From gun fights that go on forever to fist fights that defy gravity and common sense. Every month we discuss and dissect an action movie and always have a good time recording it. Sometimes we go off the rails a bit and dig into some of the trivia, or we just wander off into other areas if the film is poor.

Crash Landing – Once a month Scott sits down with a special guest. Fortunately they have been rescued from a dying earth. Unfortunately the rocket ship they are on is going to crash land. They have to decide which popular media they want to save, books, films or comics, or a combination of all three. What could they not live without on their brave new world? As well as talking about why they love their choices we find out more about our special guests each month.

The website for the CBO network has more information on all of the podcasts, plus ways you can get involved and even support the podcasts. It’s all on iTunes as well so give one or more of the podcasts a try and let me know what you think.

Trying Something New – A Writers’ Room

Writing is normally a very solitary thing. You sit alone and create something while staring at a screen. You can go out and write in public (if you can write in a busy and noisy environment) but it doesn’t change that it’s still just you alone in your head.

As a writer of fantasy novels, I spend a lot of time writing alone and I’ve always envied the writers’ room style I’d often heard about that’s common to TV. A group of people get together in a room for hours and hours, they brainstorm ideas, then break it all down into story arcs, episodes and even character arcs. It’s a group mind meld where the power of many brains outweighs the creative output of one.

It’s good, but it’s not quite right

In recent years I’ve been co-writing comics with a friend of mine, Pete Rogers, and we have both enjoyed the process of writing together. I should say that obviously further down the line of making a comic book it does involve other people (and it’s the same with novels) but at that initial story-burst stage, where you are throwing stuff out there, it’s normally just you.

Every day I drive 2-3 hours to and from work, and as a result I consume a lot of podcasts. Several of those I listen to feature creative people in comics, TV and film talking about their projects, but also their process and how they got started in their industry. Once again I heard several examples about the joy of a writers’ room and the unusual dynamic it creates. That itch was still there and I wanted to find a way to scratch it. But I don’t work in television and have no experience in that business, and no-one was going to invite me onto their staff just because I asked.

A Writers’ Room

So the next logical thing was to try a writers’ room approach to creating a comic book. It’s not completely new and unheard of in the industry, but it is uncommon. At the most recent Thought Bubble convention I pitched the core underlying series to a couple of writers. They were intrigued by the initial idea and where we could go with it, and they said they were interested. Then they looked at me slightly askance and perhaps with some bafflement when I said I wanted to approach it with a writers’ room style.

A couple of weeks after TB we got together online for a group Skype call. As I came up with the idea, I would act as the showrunner, as it were, so although we all had equal ownership and it became our idea, there still needed to be someone guiding the conversation. I was nervous but shouldn’t have been. I was careful in who I had approached because as well as being creative they were people I knew I could work with. My writing partners on this project are Pete Rogers and Cy Dethan.

Setting goals

On the first call we laid out the initial rules of the story and its framework. We established some goals for the short term and scheduled to meet up a month later and carry on from there. In that first call, which was less than two hours long, we accomplished more than Pete and I had done as a partnership in months. When I came off the call I was buzzing with excitement and energy and keen to get to work on the series. From speaking to the others I know that it also energised them.

Since then we’ve had a number of calls and each time we’ve moved the story on quite a bit in a short space of time. We’ve created a story arc, broken down the themes and then more recently we all came in with several ideas and pitched them to each other. We all said which we preferred and now we have several strong ideas to turn into first draft scripts.

As a group we’ve accomplished so much already and it’s proven to be an incredibly rewarding experience. We’ve all forced each other to be better, but also we’ve helped each other improve on our initial ideas and tease out details. I can’t wait to see where we go with this first mini series but I hope it’s just the start of something much bigger.

Defenders of the Earth

Defenders of the EarthIn the late 1980s, when I was a wee lad (ok, not that little but a bit younger than I am now) there was an awesome cartoon called Defenders of the Earth. It featured a number of very brightly dressed heroes that went out on exciting adventures together to battle the forces of evil, usually led by Ming the Merciless. I was previously aware of Flash Gordon, from the old black and white TV shows and then later from the seminal 1980 film starring Sam Jones, Timothy Dalton and of course the fabulous BRIAN BLESSED! You have to type his name like that in caps, because he is never ever quiet, in any interview. Then there was the Phantom, the Ghost Who Walks, who I knew from the comics created by Lee Falk. Added to that was Mandrake and Lothar, who I didn’t know plus a whole bunch of their kids, and unfortunately a weird fuzzy little alien thing, allegedly for comedy effect.

Anyway, the cartoon itself was pretty awesome, as it mashed all of these characters together on screen. Long before we had The Avengers battling aliens in New York City on the big screen we had the Defenders of the Earth. We had Flash blasting stuff out of the sky with his spaceship. We had Mandrake doing all sorts of clever and cunning things with his magic and generally outwitting the enemy. We had the mysterious and slightly brooding Phantom who was a physical and yet philosophical hero and Lothar, the muscle of the team who could build anything. He kind of reminded me of Panthro from Thundercats. The others would really be lost without him as he was the backbone of the team. Together they destroyed countless armies of ice warriors, saved villages from the evil Ming and a wide array of nasty allies and fought the good fight.

Normally the children in these shows are really annoying. They flap around and don’t do much, but in Defenders they were actually pretty involved, and reasonably competent. The most interesting character among them was Jedda Walker, the Phantom’s daughter. For those not familiar the Phantom is a legacy character, a seemingly eternal and ageless presence, but in fact the mantle is passed on from one generation to the next. In one episode of Defenders, the Phantom goes missing and is believed dead, and so Jedda becomes the Phantom. It might sound trivial but that kind of thing didn’t really happen a lot back then, especially not passing the mantle of a superhero from a man to a woman. I haven’t watched the episode since, and couldn’t tell you any details about it, but I still remember it today which indicates how unique it was at the time. Today we’ve currently got a female Thor at Marvel comics, but this was about 25 years ago and things were very different.

The whole series came out on DVD a couple of years ago and while some of the special effects and stories might not be great by today’s standards, it’s still a fun show to watch and one you can sit down with your kids to watch and not worry about. Partly in honour of the show, and partly because I like creating things and love Lego, I’ve submitted a project to Lego Ideas which you can find out about here. Those Lego Idea that receive enough votes are submitted to Lego for consideration and those they think have legs get made into proper sets. Previously submitted Lego Ideas that have made it into the shops include Back To The Future, Ecto 1 and Ghostbusters, Lego Birds, Research Institute with scientists and an awesome Exo Suit space thing. More info on the successful projects is available here.

That’s a wrap

Quick general update. This month has been flying by. It’s been super busy in the day job, and I’ve been stacked up at night with various things. Probably the most exciting news is that the proof of Battlemage is done! I spotted a few things, had a few more fed back to me from the publisher and I’ve sent back my comments on them. So that’s it. I’m done. That’s a wrap!

There are some tweaks to be made to the cover, but that’s not up to me and I’ve already sent in my comments. So now book 1 is completely finished for me (there’s still the whole printing and binding thing, but it’s probably not a good idea for me to do that!) and the next time I see it, Battlemage the book will be a thing. A physical artefact that I can hold in my hand. The final sum total of years of work by many people. It’s very scary and also the prospect of seeing the book is one of the most exciting things in my life. It is literally a dream come true.

So now I’m trying to get my head back into book 2, then send that off and I will hopefully have a gap of a few months to sink back into book 3 and make some good progress.

Other stuff, episode 169 of the Comic Book Outsiders podcast is out now which I co-host. We talk about some of the latest geek news, and then in terms of comics we revisit The Fuse, Letter 44 and Southern Bastards. Also episode 18 of Bags of Action is out, part 3 of our trilogy to Arnie and we discuss Predator, a classic film of the late eighties.

The newest comic book project I’ve been working on, and actually the one I can say the least about, is proving to be the most exciting and it is racing ahead. It’s proving to be both incredibly challenging and also very rewarding because of it’s unusual nature and the approach. Hopefully I can share some more details about this soon.

So, in the meantime, it’s back to work on the second draft of book 2, enjoying the current mid-season break of TV shows as I have less to distract me. In April it all kicks off with Eastercon, Dyprosium, Avengers 2: Age of Ultron, and a bucket load of new Marvel Lego to go with it. Lots of awesome stuff to look forward to.

January update

So far this year has been super busy and after only two weeks at work, plus all of the writing stuff on an evening, I’m ready for a break!

I’ve updated the Events page for the conventions I will be attending. I’m definitely at Dyprosium and 9 Worlds, Fantasycon is 80% a yes, and I’ll probably be doing a couple of others, but am not sure which ones yet. As the year progresses and more details of the exact release date of Battlemage become available I will post updates here and elsewhere online of what I am doing and where I’ll be for that.

Writing wise, so far I’m editing the proof of book 1, Battlemage. This is my last chance to look over it, my last chance to spot any tiny errors, any little niggly bits and so far I’ve not found very much. Thankfully it’s not just up to me and other people are looking at it as well, which is probably a good thing as I’ve read the book so many times I’m probably just reading what I think is there on the page.

So the proof should be done shortly and will go back to Orbit, then I’m jumping back onto my second draft of book 2, which I can’t name yet, but hopefully can reveal reasonably soon. I’m maybe two thirds of the way through it, and in this edit I realised a lot more what the book was actually about. That insight helped me not only focus the story but also what I wanted from the characters and it helped me clarify or slightly alter their decisions.

Once that goes off….at some point, I’ll then jump back onto book 3, and I have to get a first draft of that done before the end of the year. I knew 2015 was going to be pretty epically busy by comparison to other years, but I’m not sure I’m really prepared for it yet. My posting on here may suffer as the year progresses, who knows.

Other writing stuff. Comic book projects. One has been sent off for submission and we will find out in a few months if it is going to be taken any further. Another is starting to move slightly, which is great news and exhilarating. It’s wonderful to see any artwork, but when it’s based on something you have written it’s a remarkable feeling. The third comic project, an experiment of sorts, is going well so far too. I’m being vague about this one on purpose, as it’s unusual in structure and approach, but so far I’ve been encouraged by the progress made.

That’s kind of it for now. Over the holidays I caught up on a bunch of TV shows that had been stacking up on the box. I read a few comics on my stack and even played a bit of Starcraft 2, which is lots of fun. I’ve seen lots of other lovely games, and even a few MMORPGs I’ve thought about playing, but the guilt of paying and not playing would eat at me, and then if I did try to get my money’s worth I’d feel guilty for not spending more time writing. So it’s easier to just admire them from afar and play games where I only pay once.

For now I’m locked in the writing cave, writing and editing, but I’ll be let out in April for my first convention. Very excited about meeting Jim Butcher at his first UK convention as I’m an enormous Dresden Files fan and will have to do my utmost not to geek out and totally fanboy on him.

World’s Strongest Man 2014 – The Final

This year’s final was always going to be a battle and it turned out to be, right up to the last second in the last event. With three times World’s Strongest Man, Zydrunas Savickas, hoping to reclaim his title from last year’s winner, Brian Shaw, who also wanted to win his third WSM. Then there was Hafþór Björnsson who is an incredibly powerful and young competitor who came third last year. He performed very well in his heat and seemed faster and stronger than ever before, so he was always going to be nipping at the heels of the two champions. That’s not even counting the rest of the competitors who all beat other people to earn their place in the final.

The first event was a loading event, but not like we’d seen in the heats, as the athletes had to load three giant tyres onto a platform. The weight itself was probably not that much of a problem for them, but the tyre itself was cumbersome, and they were running on sand to make it even worse. England’s Laurence Shahlaei was making good time, but then his first tyre slipped and fell off the platform, which cost him important seconds to set it right. Others learned from his mistake and were careful to stack the tyres and position them on the platform. In the end it was Thor who came in first with Big Z and Brian Shaw right behind him.

The second event, the overhead medley, was never going to be a favourite for some men, and as expected some didn’t manage to lift both the dumbbell and the axle overhead. It was England’s Eddie Hall and Laurence Shahlaei going head to head who looked as if they would be the first two to complete the challenge, but surprisingly Hall stumbled on the second lift of the axle and Shahlaei took the lead. However, then the biggest men came onto the mat and going head to head, the two giant Americans, Brian Shaw and Mike Burke, completed the medley in record time, with barely any time between them. However it was then Thor and Big Z’s turn and they both beat the time set by the Americans, with Big Z just pipping the Icelandic by two seconds.

The keg toss. This is another standard of strongmen competitions, but they made it even harder this year by raising the bar even more. The weight is the same but with the higher bar it meant the fastest man had to give it a little extra each time to clear it. Brian Shaw said he practised at home with a higher wall and so far his time from the previous year was the fastest by three seconds. He blew the competition out of the water by clearing all eight barrels in 16.59 seconds, a new record. Surprisingly Big Z fluffed this one, and a couple of his barrels did not clear the bar on the first attempt, but it was more about his angle than lack of strength. That cost him precious seconds and he came in 4th. Shaw looked set to win until Thor’s attempt which was less than half a second faster. Shaw looked stunned and the Icelandic was ecstatic.

The truck pull. In the heats they’ve been pulling a twelve tonne truck. For the final they doubled the weight! Two identical trucks, linked together. Most athletes couldn’t manage to move it very far, and it was down to England’s Terry Hollands to show them how it was done, moving both trucks in a remarkable time of 43 seconds. In the end he was just beaten by Brian Shaw and Thor, earning Big Z a 4th place spot in this event.

Then came the squat, the massive axle bar with huge weights and they have to squat until the metal clangs. No shortcuts, no half measures, no strange apparatus, just pure muscle. This was a favourite event for Eddie Hall and he set the bar with a massive 14 reps which earned him second place in this event. Brian Shaw seemed to be struggling but still did 10 reps, Thor had to stop at 7, but this was also a favourite event for the big man, Big Z. He went to 15 reps and probably could have done more if required.

Coming into the final event, the Atlas Stones, the pack had started to separate. Big Z, Thor and Brian Shaw were enough points ahead of everyone else that those three were on the podium, the question was, in what order. Thor has the title of King of the Stones, as he remains almost unbeaten on them, so Shaw knew he had to move incredibly fast to hold onto his title. Big Z is so impossibly strong though and has done this so many times, as long as he didn’t make any mistakes he might regain his title.

The final result. Brian Shaw put in a great performance and a good time of 24 seconds, which Big Z beat by one second and Thor beat by four seconds. So even though Thor won this event the points meant that Big Z regained his title, making him a four time champion and the World’s Strongest Man for 2014. Thor came in second and Brian Shaw third on the podium.

Overall it was a blisteringly good final, the competition for those top three spots has never been closer or fought so hard. Next year is going to be even more interesting, as Thor is so close to winning, and is still so young he could come back even stronger. But equally Big Z will be trying to earn a 5th title, something that few men have ever achieved. The bump to third place for Shaw will no doubt motivate him to train even harder and come back stronger next year.

Looking beyond the top three from 2014, Mike Burke continues to impress and is fast becoming a favourite of mine, as he came in 4th this year, improving his position on last year by one spot. Eddie Hall was stronger and he earned his first spot in a WSM final, so that was a step up for him. His plan was to be in the top 5 in the next couple of years and it’s achievable. I believe this was Terry Hollands’s last WSM, but he retires on a respectable 5th place and the 9th time he has been in a final.

A great final, a great year for strongman and I am looking forward to the competitions and regional events in Europe and the UK.

World’s Strongest Man 2014 – Heat 5

The final heat and last year’s World’s Strongest Man Brian Shaw was always going to be the leader. It was no surprise then that he won the top spot, but he played a very careful game, doing just enough to win but he didn’t push himself too hard. In that Californian heat he knew it would sap his strength and with the final just around the corner, he needed to keep back as much energy as possible.

On Fingal’s Fingers he was watching Martin Wildauer, from Austria, to see how much he did and if he should attempt the final weight or not. Wildauer didn’t manage it so Shaw just left it alone. Equally by the time we got to the final event, the Atlas Stones, Shaw had enough of a lead that he didn’t even compete, and just watched from the sidelines, so he went through with a small points margin, but it was a very carefully calculated strategy that he hoped would help him in the final.

There was another Englishman in this heat, Graham Hicks, who did pretty well against some of the veterans of the sport like Shaw, even keeping up with the big man on the overhead log press for a while. Wildauer made a couple of really bad mistakes in some of the early events and it looked as if he was going to end up far down the rankings. However, when we got to the squat lift he did something remarkable. No athlete, in any heat in this year’s WSM, has managed to lift all seven. Most who made it to six just had a little attempt and then stopped. Others just did six reps as quickly as possible and walked away like Shaw, confident that no one could do it. Wildauer beat every other athlete in the entire competition as he lifted seven, held it there for a couple of seconds looking pleased and then lowered it. This served in in very good standing and helped bump him up the ranks in the heat. Ultimately he did enough and performed much better after that to earn himself a spot in the final.

World’s Strongest Man 2014 – Heat 4

Big Z, Zydrunas Savickas, from Lithuania is one of the strongest men in the history of the competition. He holds more world records and has broken more, usually his own, for strength than anyone else. He’s won WSM three times, losing in 2013 to the athletic Brian Shaw from the United States. In this heat everyone, the other competitors and the commentators, were under no illusions that he would go through in one of the two top spots and earn his place in the final.

The real fight was for that second spot and a chance to be in the top ten. England has two men in the race, the man with arguably the strongest back in the world, Mark Felix, who is also the oldest man in the competition. However, I should point out he’s only 47, so he’s not that old, but if I look even half as good at his age, I’d be a happy man. The other Englishman in this heat is Laurence Shahlaei, who last year had to pull out due to injury which was a big disappointment. But he’s back, he’s much leaner having lost two stone, but he looked incredibly determined and had a lot to prove to himself. Well he did not disappoint. He’s been injury free for a while and he actually beat Big Z in a couple of events.

There were a couple of events that were favourites for Loz, including the Superyoke. In competitions over the last few years he’s won 9 out of 10 of the events, so going into he was confident. Nick Best, the second eldest in the whole competition at 45, put in a blistering time, but nearly passed out as he forgot to breathe. However, Loz smashed his time, and in direct competition against Big Z, left the champion far behind. Again in the deadlift, no one could manage all seven, the weight was just ridiculously heavy, and Loz had the benefit of going last. So he knew he had to lift six as fast as possible and he put in a brilliant performance which paid off. He was 0.02 of a second faster than Big Z giving Loz a second win.

Big Z remained consistently excellent though, and although some of the other competitors put in good performances, he was always just ahead on points and went on to win the heat. After a slow start Felix picked up the pace, bested some of the younger athletes and came in third, but it looks as if he just missed out on one of the wildcard positions to go through to the final. This year twelve are competing, the top two in five heats and then the two highest on points after that. Sadly this meant we wouldn’t see Felix for the rest of the competition but he remains an impressive figure.

Loz earned his second place, but he was careful in the last event, the Atlas Stones, and like Big Z he did just enough to get through and left some energy in the tank for the final. After winning one event Big Z said he was running at 80-90% and was saving his energy for the final. Tactics definitely plays a key part in the competition and now the others are learning not to push themselves too hard until it really matters.

With one more heat to go, which includes former WSM champion Brian Shaw, I think his spot is guaranteed and it will come down to who is going to take that second spot. The final is nearly here and I think it’s going to be a great year.

World’s Strongest Man 2014 – Heat 3

This heat was really interesting as although there were some familiar favourites, it was also quite a tough group with some new and unknown faces. England’s Eddie Hall had a lot to prove to himself after a couple of fumbles last year, however since then in UK events he has shown that he’s getting better and better. He’s bigger, stronger and he’s also seems to be faster on his feet, which is critical in WSM as many events involve some athleticism as well as static tests of strength.

Hall proved that he has some of the strongest shoulders in the business during the overhead log press. Others struggled to lift it over their heads, bracing with their legs, while he just rolled it up his chest in one smooth move and then up. Incredibly strong and a great performance that served him very well.

The American Jerry Pritchett started out very poorly, coming last in the first loading event, and to begin with it looked as if he was going to stay at the bottom of the ranks. However, over the next five events he showed that it was just a minor slip, as he excelled, beating the competition and in the end he won the heat, earning himself a spot in the WSM final. He gave it his all and a few times the commentators called him the dark horse of the heat. In this case it was a well-earned nickname, as he definitely fought hard to earn his place. I think he is definitely one to watch in the final as he started out slow but quickly build up speed.

This heat was definitely a battle throughout and with each event I went in having no inkling of who would come out on top. Nevertheless Eddie Hall and Pritchett were both consistent in their attack and they gradually started to pull ahead of the rest of the group. Both men did very well and it will be interesting to see if Hall’s increased strength and speed will earn him a spot in the top five. I think for a while the competition will continue to be dominated by Big Z, but people like Hall are young and incredibly hungry. Last year Shaw knocked the big Lithuanian off his top spot so the battle for the podium this year is going to be very hard. One or two of the old hands could be upset and find themselves having to work much harder than normal with people like Hall and others chasing at their heels.

World’s Strongest Man 2014 – Heat 2

In this heat the competitors were dominated by one man, Hafthor Bjornsson. The huge Icelandic is still a young contender compared to some, and yet it seems as if he has been around for ages. He’s been on the podium twice in the last two years coming in third, and this year he said he is even stronger. He’s young, hungry and very determined so I predict he will be on the podium again this year.

In this heat he blew the competition out of the water in some events and was knocked into second place in others after some amazing performances by J F Caron, the French Canadian, and the deceptively strong Dave Ostlund, the American. Ostlund has been off our screen for a couple of years due to injury, but the absence has not left a big gap between him and the competition. He had impressive performances in a few of the events, which meant there was a real battle for second place and a spot in the final. In the end it went to Caron, but there are two wildcards now in the final, for those who came in third, so hopefully Ostlund will be there as he certainly deserves to be.

I love watching this competition every year, and I know they are lifting enormous weights, and yet some part of me forgets. In both heats I’ve been reminded of how dangerous the competition is. In heat 1 Frankie Scheun of South Africa had to withdraw due to injury, and in this heat the mighty American Robert Oberst, had to drop out due to tearing something in his leg. Superhuman is a word bandied about a lot, but these guys make fantasy a reality.

After Bjornsson put in a great performance in the Squat lift, JF Caron did it even faster, winning the event. Also in Fingal’s Fingers, the Icelandic was doing very well but he couldn’t relax as Ostlund was right there, only a few seconds behind him. The competition really is getting tougher every year which means the final is going to be even more explosive and hopefully unpredictable.