Radio Waves
I'm featured on a podcast!
Hey! How was your time shifted last week?
The change to and from daylight savings to dark night debts catches most of the western world off-guard. It’s especially awkward when counting clocks across the Atlantic.
At some point in the last decade and a half, the US decided to offset their own time change, leading to this period where Europe calculates the hours slightly differently for a short two week window.
So, when it came time to schedule a meeting with a stranger in an already lesser known time zone, I made sure to double and triple check that everything was right.
Of course, all that worry turned out to be for naught, and I joined for an episode of Podcast Pasta with little to no issue.
Podcast Pasta
In my ongoing pursuit of stability, searches on LinkedIn sometimes bring me to unusual opportunities. Among those peculiar pages was an odd offer asking for guests to join a relatively unknown podcast.
Of course I applied!
After a few emails with the host, I still wasn’t convinced it wasn’t some elaborate scam. But I hadn’t given out any real information and I was down for a new adventure.
Either I had a new story to tell or I would be featured on the show!
All that to say that on the day of recording I wasn’t 100% sure what was going to happen.
Thankfully, there were no issues and I still have all my organs. We ran through some quick introductions and then began a long conversation in that popular podcast fashion.
He had looked up my old blog and found some projects I myself had largely forgotten. That led to rabbit holes around the ideas of modern entertainment in general rather than an hour of me constantly plugging myself and my books.
Hopefully, there’s something fun in there for you:
If you would rather me stay more focused on my own writing and influences and all that includes, please let me know and I’ll keep that in mind the next time I have the chance to speak on a podcast.
Unexpected Opinions
Other than the change in hours between continents, I was also met with a welcome surprise when my dad messaged me about reading Revification.
Now, that’s a novel I didn’t expect many people to get into, but those who do read through it tend to tell me it was well worth the time.
My dad even came back to share his thoughts over the course of multiple days!
And don’t worry, “And then I woke up again” and “Are you listening to me?” are references to the book. As the protagonist falls through an unstable dreamscape, I use mantras to ground the story.
In fact, that’s a core aspect woven throughout all the twists and turns. Anchor points to add some familiarity in the otherwise dangerously off-putting series of events.
More to the point of my dad’s comments, it’s not the words in and of themselves, but rather his enthusiasm that really caught my attention.
Revification made him want to ask questions and share thoughts.
That’s the most I can ever hope for when someone reads my writing. Beyond a smile on my face, it also prompted me to think a bit about what I expected others to feel after tumbling through my wormhole of a story.
This goes without saying, but I’ll be spoiling the plot. So, skip to the next section if you don’t want that!
In very broad terms, I expect people to have one of three conclusions when they reach the end of Revification:
Kabosha controls Shahin and figures out a way to recreate a believable reality.
Shahin gains control of space and time and rewrites history to his own idea of perfection.
The words on the page are exactly as it is.
I don’t think there is a single “correct” way to read it, but I would be interested to hear your justification for any conclusion.
Shared Thoughts
While it was fun to take a detour through podcasts and dreams, for the moment I’m still mostly focused on finishing Rhean.
I’ve made it through my first rough draft and am now editing down the messy collection of typos and jumbled plots. I suspect that will be done sooner rather than later and I will then need fresher eyes to look over what I wrote.
Indeed, I may be asking for your help in one of the weeks to come!
Until next time.
Cheers,
JMB