In the Hands of an Angry God

We had a really hard windstorm the other afternoon.  The wind blew hard enough to knock over (full) garbage cans and the basketball backboard in the yard.

But the real destruction occurred at my nephews' elementary school, where no fewer than seven full-sized trees blew over, completely unearthing the bases.

Three trees lay in a tidy row right by the road, causing a lot of passersby to slow and gawk, or to get out and take photos.

The fallen trees stayed there for days, and sit there still.  I took the nine year old with me to take some pictures and video, but alas, whenever he shot anything, it was with the dreaded Vertical Video Syndrome, so only my footage is usable.

Not quite the way I would have expected to go.

Most amusingly, though (to me, not to everyone else, of course) was that one tree fell directly on the children's playground area, almost as if it had aimed for it.

Playtime's over, boys.

I Narrate "The Boatman" by Eric Dean

A couple of weeks back, I got tasked to perform a pair of short stories by Eric Dean, "The Black Meat" and "The Factotum's Magnum Opus and the Devil in the Details."

Now, he's posted another tale, "The Boatman," wherein a man dies and meets the Ferryman who normally ushers the dead across the river Styx . . . but in this case, converses at length with the dead man.

Eric pretty much let me do whatever I wanted with the production, though I was rather clueless when it came to pronouncing anything Greek.

Even so, go on over to YouTube, and give it a listen.

Rish Outcast 56: The Big Release

Sometimes, you need to let off steam.  Some people do it by going to batting cages or shooting ranges, some people do it by video games or alcohol or loud music or hate crimes.  Me . . . I break things.  That's sort of what this episode is about.  Sort of.

Okay, here's a warning.  This is one of those episodes where I go maybe a bit deeper into myself than I usually do, in what's colloquially known as an overshare.

It's the first show I'm going to mark with a TMI alert.  And sadly, it won't be the last.



If you absolutely have to download this episode, well, you probably oughtta right-click HERE.

Rish Outcast 55: Into the Furnace - Post-Mortem

So, earlier this year I published my first novel, and did two episodes about it (one about the print version and one about the audiobook).  This is the third (and final) episode dealing with "Into the Furnace," which you can buy RIGHT HERE.  If you've any intention of reading the book, please do so before listening to this "Outcast."

This is the show where I talk about the story's origin, the process, its central conceit, and my struggles with whether to reveal that central conceit and perhaps sell a few copies, or keep it a secret and honor the author's artistic intent . . . for the four people who read it anyway.

Again, there will be spoilers, though not about the ending to the book, just the ending of THE SIXTH SENSE and THE VILLAGE.

Again, I'd like you to buy the book (at this LINK), or better, the audiobook (right about HERE).  If you've read it, this episode works better.



Oh, I just remembered, I was gonna call this "It Has A F**king _____ In It!"  Well, too late now.

Feel free to download the episode by Right-Clicking this LINK.

I Perform "Into the Woods, With Zombunny" On Far-Fetched Fables

A long while ago, I recorded a performance of a rather farcical lil fairytale called "Into the Woods, With Zombunny" by Camille Griep, for the Far-Fetched Fables podcast. And it looks like it got released last week, without me noting it.

Do you remember the "Fractured Fairy Tales" they had on the old Bullwinkle show? Well, I believe Ms. Griep's story would fit in there quite nicely. I don't imagine I could ever write one myself, but they are quite fun to perform.

You can find it at this link, and I'm fairly sure you'll enjoy it.