The Top 11 Catholic Geek Radio shows

Since the radio show is back on the air, it's probably time to once again look at the best of the program.

This is not going to be a voter show, or my personal favorites. This is based solely on the episodes you, my listeners, tuned in to hear.

Why top 11? Because I like to go one step beyond.

11) Fred Hembach on Alternate History (11/01/2015)
I'm fairly surprised that this made it into the top anything. Not because that Fred is a bad guest, but because he didn't show up -- meaning I was the only one talking for most of the time, aside from one call-in guest.

10) God, Robot, the panel (5/15/2016)
Not surprising that this one makes the top ten, this had everybody: the Marchettas, Josh Young, John C. Wright and L. Jagi Lamplighter, Steve Rzasa, and even Vox Day.

9) Honor at Stake and Sad Puppies Bite Back (1/31/2016)
This one is ... strange. Most of this was just me doing readings from my various projects at the time. It was only 40 minutes long. Who knew?

8) Animal Farm with Cats (2/28/2016)
Kia Heavey discussed her book Domino. It helps that she brings her own audience.

7) Live with Jeffro Johnson, (1/22/2017)
Is anyone surprised? Author of Appendix N, then the author of the Castalia House blog. I'm not surprised at all.

6) Catholic Geek Radio with Lamplighter and Wright, (2/26/2017)
John and Jagi came on and hosted the show themselves. Awesome, isn't it? Again, not surprising. John and Jagi are in THREE of the top 6 shows of all time. How's that for an audience grabber?

5) Synods and Starships, (11/08/2015)
My show, guest-hosted by Matthew Bowman, the Novel Ninja, who brought in some heavy Catholic hitters.

4) With John C. Wright and L. Jagi Lamplighter, (7/12/2015)
The first appearance on the show, they came on to discuss the Superversive literary movement, and some of their projects. I had no idea what I was in for.

3) Chasing Freedom, (1/24/2016)
Marina Fontaine came on to discuss her Dragon Award nominated novel, Chasing Freedom.

#2) John C Wright's Iron Chamber of Memory, (5/01/2016)
I don't need to explain this part, obviously.

#1) Sad Puppies 4, the Embiggening, from 1/10/2016

Starring Tom Knighton, this was during the final Puppies campaign, but almost a year and a half before we knew it was going to be the final campaign. Knighton lays out a history of the Hugos, the Puppies, and everything in between. 

Now that we're back, let's see if we can make 2018 interesting

#PulpRev, Astounding Frontiers, Trumptopia, and other updates

There is so much stuff going on these days, it's kind of hard to keep up. 

Heck, the past two weeks have included the launch of A Pius Man, as well as the launch of SuperversiveSF's Astounding Frontiers #1: Give us 10 minutes and we will give you a world, which is Superversive's answer to the Pulp Revolution.

You can hear several of the authors in issue #1, as well as the founders of the Pulp Revolution discuss both the Magazine and the revolution itself on yesterday's podcast. (Yesterday's post).

Anyway, Astounding Frontiers #1 features a whole bunch of interesting people. 

Including.

• John C Wright 
• Patrick S. Baker
• Lou Antonelli 
• Erin Lale 
• Sarah Salviander 
• Ben Wheeler 
• Nick Cole 
• Jason Anspach.

Yeah, these guys are awesome.

And then there's me.

Astounding Frontiers is a new pulp magazine from the minds at Superversive Press that will transport you to far off worlds of adventure! 

In our inaugural issue we have stories and serials from Dragon Award winners and nominees and many other great authors. 

We have stories from Dragon Award Nominee Declan Finn, Patrick S. Baker, Lou Antonelli, Erin Lale and astrophysicist Sarah Salviander. 

We have the first instalments of three serials. Nowither, the follow up to John C. Wrights Dragon award winning Somewhither, Galactic Outlaws, from Dragon Award winner Nick Cole and Jason Anaspach and a rollicking adventure from Ben Wheeler called In the Seraglio of the Sheik of Mars .

Please join us in travelling to Astounding Frontiers!

Click here, and take a look at Astounding Frontiers #1

Speaking of short stories and anthologies, remember the Trumptopia short story collection? It was an idea where they would be a collection of short stories about how amazingly awesome Trump is -- genres of SF, fantasy, etc. The same company had already done a "Trumpocalypse" collection, so the call for open submissions pitched this as the opposite end of the spectrum.

.... And then the cover had Trump looking in a cabinet, at his collection of heads in jars.

Yay.

There was a very, very quick writer revolt. And by quick it started on ... Wednesday. By the time I had heard about it on Thursday night, it was well under way. There was a conversation about changing the cover, and it looked like there would be a second cover. I thought the whole thing would blow over by Monday.

By Saturday, it was already

1. Cancelled by the publisher (he must have loved that cover)
2. Got another publisher and a new title
3. Had a new cover already drafted by ... wait for it ... Dawn Witzke.

Well, that escalated quickly.

By the way, there were problems with the short story that came with the mailing list. Click here to sign up, and it should be available. The short this month connects to A Pius Man: A Holy Thriller. It's called The Pirate King.

The leader of a band of Somali Pirates calls himself the Amir of The Sea. But when he decides to take on the world's largest cruise ship, he may have bitten off more than he can chew.

Will this be the "Amir's" greatest victory? Or will it be checkmate for the Pirate King?

And once you've done that, you might want to check out the novel, A Pius Man-- though if you already have read it, I ask you post a review. Even if you weren't thrilled with it ... okay, if you hated it utterly, feel free to lie a little on Amazon. Heh. Yes, I'm kidding. A review is a review.

Illegitimi non carborundum, y'all.

FREE SHORT: The Pirate King

The mailing list has a new, free short.

Now, if you've been hanging around here long enough, you may remember this one.

And if you don't know it, well, enjoy. It's been slightly retooled to fit better with the rest of The Pius Trilogy. And now that A Pius Man is back, I figured this should come back too.  This one has never before been for sale -- I even missed it when putting together Pius Tales.

This is ONLY available with membership to my mailing list.

Enjoy.

A Pius Man is up for Pre-order. You can order now.

The Dragon Awards are open and ready for nominations, and I have a list of suggestions you might want to take a look at. If you already  have a good idea of what you want, just click here to go and vote for them. The instructions are right there.

Or: sign up for my mailing list in order to get free stuff.

The Love at First Bite series. 

    

Hollywood Screw Ups

When Hollywood adapts a novel to a film, the average is to bet on the adaptation SUCKING. Lord of the Rings is an outlier, and Harry Potter was mostly faithful because they didn't want to get torn apart by a legion of angry ten year olds.

But mostly, you're better off just running. The Relic, Shooter (the film), The Bourne Identity (the films were so two dimensional) and the list goes on.

Now what fresh hell has been unleashed on us?

I give you.... Disney.

There's Cars 3 .... because everyone loved one and two so much (hint: It's the only Pixar film I can't find anyone to say a nice word about)

Because they're bringing back the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.

Really? The abomination of the second and third films weren't enough for you? And no, you couldn't drag me to see any of the films after that. You would literally have to pay me to review that drek. I mean literally. If I can get an offer, I'll start a kickstarter. I'll do a review.  And, apparently, Orlando Bloom's career sucks so badly right now, he's been dragged back into this film. Either that, or the franchise has been going downhill so badly that they had to back up the dump truck filled with money to pay his salary.

Next, they're doing a live action Mulan....

Yes. Because every review of Beauty and the Beast I've seen from people I trust has been less than positive -- or, at best, showed me that, yes, this was a totally unnecessary remake. They even made it with A LEAD ACTRESS WHO CAN'T SING. So now we're going to have yet another unnecessary remake.

Yay.

And then we're going to have a sequel .... to Mary Poppins. Yes, you heard, Mary, flipping, Poppins. The genius title? Mary Poppins Returns.  Really? It took fifty years to think up this title?

And who do you get to replace Julie Andrews?

The film stars Emily Blunt as Mary Poppins,

Yeah. This is Emily Blunt

I suspect that her choice was based on the type of drugs the casting guy was on.

And the plot? Oh, you're going to love this one. Remember Mary Poppins right? A distant father hires a nanny to deal with his troublesome kids. Hilarity ensues.

This one?

Set 25 years after the original film, and taking inspiration from later books in the Mary Poppins series, the film will see Mary Poppins revisiting the Banks family after they suffer a family tragedy.

The film opens Christmas Day 2018.

Family tragedy! A surefire Christmas film.

"Oh, but it's based off of later books!"

If you'll turn your attention to this corner, you will see a brief synopsis of each book in the series. You will note that there is nothing that even remotely resembles a tragedy.

So, shut up, Disney.


Finally, worst of all, they are making (read: they will screw up) A Wrinkle in Time. 

A Wrinkle ... in Time.

A WRINKLE IN TIME!? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

SCREW YOU DISNEY! MAY YOUR PARKS BE SWALLOWED UP AND FALL INTO THE NINTH LEVEL OF HELL.

Why do I say that? Because the author, Madeleine L'Engle basically wrote a YA novel that is essentially Christian...

Remember the last time they did one of those? Oh yeah, Narnia.

This is going to suck.

Seriously. Go to Hell, Disney. Straight to Hell.

Here, have some books that are more cinematic than most Hollywood films lately.

And they're cheaper than a movie ticket.

The Love at First Bite series. 

    

CLFA Book of the year a #SadPuppies variant?

I've made mention of the CLFA on my show often enough so that I can say it's no secret. But I'm a part of the organization. So, fun is had by all.

And then there's this.

So, yes, once again I am locked in mortal combat with the mighty Butcher and Correia. I will probably also get my head handed to me.

You might also know a few names on the list: Heimbach, July, and Bova have all appeared on my radio show.  And I've reviewed books by both of the latter.

So, this is going to be amusing.

And ... no ... I didn't answer the title question. It was total clickbait. Sorry about that. But it was honestly the best I could come up with.

TONIGHT, on The Catholic Geek: Pirates and Alternate history

The Catholic Geek: Pirates and Alternate history 11/15 by We Built That Network | Culture Podcasts


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Tonight, at 7 PM, EST, I will be talking with Fred Hembach on alternate history, including his latest book, The Devil's Dictum, where the United States of America was founded by pirates.

Frederick Gero Heimbach's fiction has appeared at Every Day Fiction and Liberty Island. He was editor of the podcast Protecting Project Pulp throughout its run. He can be found on the internet as Fredösphere and in the real world as a resident of Ann Arbor, Michigan, along with his family. The Devil's Dictum is his first novel.

Music to Write to: Pirates (Taylor Davis)

I heard Peter Hollens do this one, and he didn't really do enough of the main theme for my taste.  This is a good version of it without just going to the HHHAAANNNSSS Zimmer version.

Lucky for her, Lindsey Stirling never did this one.

Month in Review: September, 2011

Ah, another month shot to Hell.

So, where are we?  Ah, yes, it's been a very strange little month.  Since I've cut back on the daily ... and weekly ... output, it's been interesting.  I don't even though I've gotten around to posting a music blog in a while.

So start with, we opened the month with a new concept from August: Characters answering Surveys.  In this case, I used Scott Murphy.

Then I looked into how terror can also be a form of communication: sometimes, the most intimidating characters are the ones you least expect. And, sometimes, they're just in your face.

Then there was how to torture characters: with some JMS, and some Jim Butcher.  Muwhahahahaha!!!!!

Yes, I've been having too much fun around here.

Can you tell?

Speaking of which, there was also my Impossible Odds blog, focusing on million to one odds.

Anyway, there was also another Self Defense review.  In this case, I covered how I spent my 9-11; mostly it was learning how to save a life.... no, I'm not joking.  How to save someone from chokes, and guns, and knives.  I also covered the latest in bulletproof clothing, and how to spot a concealed weapon, and such ...

Oh, and I also looked back on September 11, 2001.

Also: DC Comics rebooted their universe, and I'm not that happy about it. Though I'm told I'm dead wrong.

I did a review of The Expendables..... The Pain! The Pain!

And, there was Talk like a Pirate Day, where I got to be lazy ... in other words, I had nothing for that day, and I was saved by the realization it was September 19th.

And, finally, we had the return of Karina Fabian, discussing her new book Mind Over Mind. She gave us Ten Reasons to Love Science Fiction, an interview, and my review of the novel.

Anyway, I thought this was a good, fun little month.

And I've already started on the blogs for October.

Enjoy, all.

Talk like a pirate day ... Or, how to be a lazy blogger

Today is talk like a pirate day!  Which means what, exactly?

Which means that it's a great excuse for me to be completely lazy, and post pirate stuff.

And use a lot of R's.

How cheat?  Well, you all remember the APM story of The Pirate King, right?  Well, if you don't, you might want to check out how I would deal with pirates of the Caribbean .... okay, Somali pirates, but what the heck.  It's one of the complete stories of A Pius Man, constantly updated for your amusement.

We also have flashbacks to the Wiki Pirates, Harry Potter and the Pirate Queen, and, of course, explaining what the heck Talk like a Pirate Day actually is.

Like I said, lazy blogging 101.

Enjoy, all.

Music Blog: Firefly, Tom Smith, and WIki Pirates.

I've been told that I have waaaaayyyy too many blog posts per day, so I'm cutting back on them.  I'll see how the new posting schedule turns out.

Now, the first song is from Tom Smith, and dedicated to anyone who has ever had to fight with schmucks online.

If you've never seen the TV show Firefly, you might be a little lost. Otherwise, it's just very, very nerdy.

Music blog: Tom Smith Does Harry Potter, Mass Effect 2

Apparently, JK Rowling made the birthday for one of her characters the same day as "Talk like a pirate day."

Guess which one it is.

And, as you've probably noticed, I have a great respect for Video Games lately, especially with voice acting, and particularly music. 

So, Mass Effect 2 makes it on today.