The Podcast That Dares Not Speak Its Name 16: Trick

Two Halloweens back, I wrote a little story in honor of the day.  Well, here I am "honoring" the day again.

"Trick" is a tiny tale about what I consider to be the greatest day of the year . . . but for an area dad, not so much.

Oh, and yes, I STARTED on an October Scary Story for 2016, but I have not yet completed it.  If I do, I've got something to not podcast next Halloween!

You've been to County before, you know the drill: to download the file, Right-Click HERE.

I Perform Abigail Hilton's "Taking Tricks" On Audible

"Taking Tricks" is a lengthy short story set in the Panimindorah world of Abigail Hilton, serving as a prequel to her novel "The Scarlet Albatross," which I co-narrated.

She told me that she writes a short story set in her universe every month, and lets her Patreon supporters vote on which character it will be about.*  In this case, it was Silas Ackleby, my favorite character in "Albatross," and the first time he met Percy, his rival, if not enemy, in the novel.  I got to voice those two characters much younger than in the audiobook, as well as a number of new characters.

Even though I would've done it for free, Abbie generously paid me for the audio version (which at least motivated me to get it done in record time), so it's only fair that I encourage you to go to Audible and buy a copy (at this link), so she can recoup that loss.  Or support her on Patreon; she'll probably let you listen to it that way.

Check it out when you can.

*The idea of doing this for my own fans delights me, though I have no idea how I would pull this off myself.

Breaking news?

I was walking around with my niece yesterday, when I saw a teenage girl wearing a t-shirt that said, "BREAKING NEWS: I DON'T CARE."

It was so staggeringly nasty that I stared in awe.  I then got out my phone to make a note of it, and my niece asked, "What are you doing?"

"Writing that down. I've gotta have a character wearing that shirt in the next story I write." I thought it would be perfect for an aloof, bitter, hate-filled character, and the story started writing itself in my head.

Until, that is, my niece said, "Don't do that. Every single girl at my school wears that same t-shirt."

Rish Outcast 54: "Old Man River"

Okay, here's that story I've been meaning to get to.  At this rate, there will be a lot of story episodes down the road, but even more non-story ones.

"Old Man River" is the tale of a lonely gas station attendant, and a visit from an elderly man with a story to tell.*



As always, if you wanna download the episode, just Right-Click HERE.

*Boy, that description could be for any one of my stories, couldn't it?

Rish Outcast 53: Travels With Father

I meant to have a story this week, but I switched it with the next week's show. You understand.

Well, this episode is a tiny bit out of date now, but here you go.  I was driving along, and I thought I'd say a thing or two about my dad, who lost all his chickens, and who gave me a bit of fatherly advice concerning a new car.

"My father only gave me one piece of advice.  He said, 'Son, don't ever get married.  Go to sea.'"

Sting

If you'd like to download the episode, for some reason, Right-Click HERE.

I Narrate Two Eric Dean Stories on YouTube

Not too long ago, I got a request to narrate a couple of short stories by Eric Dean, a writer and podcaster who saw my name and number on the wall of a truck stop men's room and decided to take me up on it.*

So, you can hear his story about the delicious new craze known as "The Black Meat," and the "The Factotum's Magnum Opus and the Devil in the Details," about a school groundskeeper tasked with burying more than a dozen dead students.  Both are unusual, short, and decidedly twisted stories that aren't EXACTLY Horror, but aren't quite specifically anything else.  Both are available on YouTube, or on Eric's own website, Eric Writes.

And did you know that "factotum" was a word?  I didn't.

"Black Meat" can be found here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSFw08NznoQ

"Factotum" can be heard here: http://youtu.be/cdfTC4MCaVI

Enjoy?


*Somebody want to create an image of a dirty wall with "For a good narration, write chalupaforyou@gmail.com" on it?  That would amuse me.

P.S.  Somebody (Rob Broughton) did.

Rish Outcast 52: I Can Try That!

A while back, I attended another writers conference, and was partly-inspired and/partly-intimidated by being around people who write for a living.  The next day, I recorded this episode.  Not sure what I did in the months since then.

Hey, just between you and me . . . you can try that too.



Take a listen, or Right-Click HERE to download the episode to your de-vice.

I Perform "Night Games" on Pseudopod

So, not at all long ago, Shawn Garrett asked if I could get a story recorded and edited in time for this week's episode of Pseudopod: The Horror Podcast.  I always say yes to those guys, and the story I ended up doing was called "Night Games" by Aeryn Rudel, who has the distinction of having an impossible name to both spell and say.

It's the story of a baseball pitcher who ends up playing against a batter who's more than a match for him . . . a vampire batter.

Yeah, sorry.

The story is all kinds of good, and I had to pretend to know more than nothing about baseball, which is a bit of a stretch for me.  Rudel, however, said I was a perfect fit for his story, what with my name being Rish and all.

At least that's what I think he meant.

Check it out HERE.

Preview of Coming Distraction

Exciting news, for me anyway.  I got a work-in-progress from my friend regarding the cover art to my next book.

Er, novella.

Oh, according to Google, I'm still 3,946 words short of a novella.

So, cover art to my next story, I guess.

Doesn't sound as catchy as "book," does it?

Oh, according to Writer's Digest, a novella is between 20,000 and 50,000 words.  So, I think I'm safe.

Alright, this is the cover so far to my next no . . . ugh, I don't like "novella."

Book.  My next book.

A short book.

Rish Outcast 51: Bob A. Duke

On a roadtrip, I got lost and decided to podcast while trying to get back to where I was going.  So I decided to talk about the horror film THE BABADOOK.  Enjoy?

If you feel up to downloading the episode directly, just Right-Click HERE.

Rish Outcast 50: Sequel of a Sidekick

Say kids, you remember "Birth of a Sidekick," the Western adventure I once shared with y'all?  Well, I wrote a sequel to it!  And what's more impressive . . . I actually published it.  What's more, Dave Krummenacher provided this (once again) excellent cover art:

"A Sidekick's Journey" is the second tale in what somebody somewhere is calling The Sidekick Chronicles, and is considerably longer than the first story, which I wrote in 2005.  This one takes place a few weeks after the first story, and continues to chronicle young Benny Parks in Trueno, Arizona, where he was left after the death of his mentor.  Though there are challenges in his life, it looks as though Ben may get a second chance.

It was a pleasure to get a chance to visit Ben again, and flesh out his world a bit.  If it's a pleasure to read as well, we may check in on him again before ten more years go by.  I'll try to come up with something.

This episode of the Outcast talks about the book, and is relatively spoiler-free.  You can, of course, go o'er to Amazon and purchase "A Sidekick's Journey, right HERE.

Or, if you really wanna be my friend, treat your ears to the audiobook performance, over on Audible.com at THIS LINK.



Don't forget, to download this episode directly, simply Right-Click HERE.