Thoughts on the Horizon

So, at the urgings of Mitchell, I'm investigating the possibility of putting together "Have Ray Gun! Will Travel! Please Pay Me!" as a series of full cast audio shorts. 10 minutes long. Full script. More people than just me talking.

For those who haven't been following, HRG!WT!PPM! is now availible in podcast form. The first two episodes are crap: my microphone is a gaming headset, and the gain is...off. Episode 9 is much the same. 3, 4, and 5 thus far are all done with what I consider to be a "proper job".

Another idea is that I'm toying around with is a video cast where I rip into science fiction and fantasy novels. I got started thinking about it when I was reading a particularly bizarre trilogy of David Gemmel novels, and continued viewings of stuff from That Guy With the Glasses.com has inspired me to look into doing something as well. To make my contribution to the world of ragging on shit.

I was considering calling it "Beware the Leopard", after one of my favourite Douglas Adams quotes...but it turns out there's a band, based out of Ontario, by the same name. So perhaps not. Which annoys me...because I was just going to cut that line from the old BBC television show, and have a video of me descending down dark, flickering stairs. My building has dark, flickering stairs. Oh well. I'll need a new name.

I figure I'd use this to review things like...well, lemme just show you what I've got on the chopping block:
-David Gemmel's "Jon Shannow" novels (...to weird for words, I can't really describe it in text and do its insanity justice)
-The Heralds of Valdemar
-Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter
-Vicki Peterson's "Signs of the Zodiac" (which I've tried, and failed, to read the first novel of at least twice)
-John C. Wright's "Orphan" novels (not bad, but just bizarre)

Note that some of these novels aren't bad, per se. I don't hate them. I take a certain guilty pleasure in my continued trips into Valdemar, and in reading about Jon Shannow blowing some ridiculous fantasy badass off their war horse like its no big deal. Heck, I even take a certain pleasure out of the non-orgy scenes in Anita Blake novels, and sing the praises for the first few books in the series.

But some books are just weird. And I need to rant on them a little.

Anyway, that's the thoughts I have coming up on Chasing the Muse (...maybe I should just call my v-cast that!).

Excelsior!