BRYAN THOMAS SCHMIDT, Author - Interview

Tonight, we’re joined by author, editor, and #sffwrtcht (that’s Science Fiction/Fantasy Writers Chat) moderator on Twitter Bryan Thomas Schmidt. This is the first of two interviews with Bryan. He’ll be back in October as part of the “blog tour” promoting THE WORKER PRINCE.

Bryan Thomas Schmidt

Born and raised in Central Kansas, Bryan Thomas Schmidt received a Bachelor of Arts in Communications-Radio-TV-Film in 1992 from California State University at Fullerton. He then spent five years working in the television and film industry on such shows as Biography, The Real West, Civil War Journal, and Brute Force: The History of Weapons At War as well as the Emmy award winning Discovery Channel documentary Titanic: The Legend Lives On.

Bryan released his first CD of original music, “Stand,” on his own label in 1998 and spent the next two years touring in support of that album.

Desiring to be more informed about theology and other topics which might help infuse his music with more depth, Bryan enrolled in seminary for the Fall of 1999. He graduated in 2002 with a Master of Arts in Theological Studies from Covenant Theological Seminary in Saint Louis, Missouri.

During his time in seminary, Bryan continued to write songs, stories and articles, releasing his second CD, “Glorious: Worship,” in 2003. He also founded Anchored Music Ministries, Inc. , a 501(-c) 3 non-profit organization devoted to providing leadership development training in worship arts around the world. Since the year 2000, they have worked in 6 countries on 4 continents, including Ghana, Brazil and Mexico.

Bryan’s first devotionals were published in Secret Place magazine in 2009. His first devotions for Upper Room magazine appeared in 2010. His first published science fiction story, “Mars Base Alpha,” was published at www.sffstories.com in January 2010. His first science fiction novel, The Worker Prince, is forthcoming in October 2011. The first novel in an epic fantasy, Sandman, is currently undergoing revisions, while Bryan works on a novella and sequels to The Worker Prince.

Bryan currently resides in El Paso, Texas, with a cat, Doce, and two dogs, Louie and Amélie. His third CD, “Love Like No Other,” was released in May 2009.

The North Star Serial, Part One

ANTHONY: Hi Bryan! Thanks for agreeing to ramble with us for a little while.

BRIAN : My pleasure. Thanks for inviting me.

A: Your first book, THE NORTH STAR SERIAL PART ONE, is a compilation of the short stories you’ve written for Digital Dragon magazine. Tell us a little about the history of that project and how it moved from web to print.

B: It was suggested that my space opera style might be a good fit for Digital Dragon, which is family friendly, and hearing they were open to submissions, I decided to try and write them something. I had never written anything that short but Jay Lake advised me one of the best ways to improve your writing was to set word limits and try to meet them so I thought this was a good opportunity to put that into practice. I want a form that would be familiar to audiences, so I chose a star ship and her crew. However, wanting to avoid cliches and my own tendencies being a Star Trek fan, I made the Captain a woman, named her after my friend Mike Resnick, and decided to have her be just joining the crew so as to create a setting ripe with conflict. I also decided her crew would be international and that that would play into the story if possible. The first story was really a one off thing, but the editors liked it so much they asked me to write more. That’s how it became a serial.

A: What do you think the challenges are in writing serialized fiction of such short lengths? What did you do to deal with those challenges/restrictions?

B: Well, for one thing, I didn’t get into as much description and detail as I might in most of the NSS stories. Some were exceptions but since this was space opera, I focused instead on action and pacing, created with short descriptive bursts mixed with tense dialogue. Telling a story this short you really don’t have time to create a lot of twists and turns or subplots. You pretty much have to say this is what it is and here’s the core events and stick to that. But I challenged myself by still trying to add character development to grow and develop and even introduce characters over the series. That’s why you’ll find that in the first 13, all but two of the main crew get their subplot-like moments where they shine and we learn about their past, who they are and why they are there. In addition, I did a lot of trimming after getting the basic story down to keep it tight and fit to word length. The editors weren’t overly strict so some were slightly longer, some slightly shorter. The other challenge in writing a serial was figuring out how to make the pieces contain enough backstory but not too much that new readers could pick up what’s going on without feeling like they had to go back and reread everything that came before. You hope the story’s good enough they’d want to do that, but I wanted them to connect immediately. It helped that the first story I wrote ended up becoming episode 11, I think. I later went back and revised it though to add new stuff to tie it in closer with the other stories, including a couple crew members.

A: How much of the North Star universe do you have mapped out, and how do you work those details into the short pieces you’re writing?

B: None of it. I made it up as I went. So now, as I prepare to go back and write 12 more stories to finish the cycle, I have to reread all that and remember what I did. It was really an off the cuff thing, not at all how I’d do a novel, but I had never done a serial story before, and my typical method is let the story unfold as it comes, so that’s how the worldbuilding for this world came about.

A: What’s in store for the crew of The North Star?

B: We’re going to get to know the crew members we haven’t met yet and more about the others. Someone important will be killed and that will motivate the others as they continue the fight to its conclusion. The new crew member replacement will also have a hard time being accepted. Kryk will take over the Koreleans and bring a new ruthlessness to their tactics as well.

A: Your next book is THE WORKER PRINCE. Tell us what it’s about, and when we can expect to see it available for purchase.

B: The Worker Prince is my debut novel and book one of the Saga Of Davi Rhii, a story I dreamed up in my teens. I wanted to do the Moses story in the vein of Star Wars, essentially, with the big space opera, battles, interpersonal conflict, etc. all plaid out on a galactic stage. I dreamed up a planet with two suns and one group enslaving the other. I knew the hero’s father would be called Sol and the bad guy was his uncle, named Xalivar. I knew there would be some sort of Exodus but I also knew I wanted to vary from the biblical story as well, because I’m not trying to sell religion here. Ironically, when I finally sat down to write it 25 years later, the cultural context had made conflict about religion an important part of daily life in the U.S. and all of a sudden Christians found themselves being looked at with new scrutiny, often biased and assumptive in ways which I thought lent themselves to make the story’s milieu interesting and dynamic so I incorporated all that.

The book debuts at Conclave in Detroit in early October, street date Tuesday October 4, 2011. I should have preorders up on my website in mid-August though. It will be available in all ebook formats as well as trade paperback.

A: You’ve posted bits of THE WORKER PRINCE on your website. Speaking for myself, I’m intrigued by what I’ve read. From a marketing standpoint, do you think it’s been effective in building interest in the book?

B: Well, thanks, I am glad you’re intrigued. I have not gotten a lot of feedback so it’s been hard to assess the impact except that each of the excerpts got over 100 hits in less time than the previous excerpt and they continue to get hits every week. The first excerpt took a few months to reach 100. The second took a month. The third took less than two weeks. And they have all surpassed 100 now. I think that shows people like what they see and are coming back for more. And I think it also shows word of mouth. So I believe it’s been quite effective. I’ll be releasing a new excerpt this coming week introducing Xalivar finally. We’ve just seen the hero Davi, his father Sol, and a few others in previous excerpts. We’ll introduce Xalivar, then Davi’s love interest Tela as well in future excerpts. Hopefully people will enjoy those as well.

A: You also run the weekly #sffwrtcht (Science Fiction / Fantasy Writers Chat) thread on Twitter. How did that get started?

B: I was sitting around bemoaning the fact that I’ve had employment issues and, thus, money issues, and missed out on workshops and cons with authors I respect and admire. But then I noticed many of those people were on Twitter, and I was like ‘how can people like me get the chance to learn from these talented people if we can’t get to cons?’ And the idea of a 1 hour craft-focused interview thing came up and it went from there. I started with friends I knew like Sam Sykes, Blake Charlton and Mike Resnick. John Joseph Adams was dating a friend of mine (they’re now engaged) so I also asked him. Everyone I asked said yes and it just took off. It took a couple times to get the format and build up regulars but now it consistently gets a lot of hits and we get ARCS from publishers, people contact us to be on, etc. It’s a real blessing how accepted and successful it’s been and I really love doing it.

A: Dare I ask who has been your favorite guest on #sffwrtcht so far?

B: That’s probably not wise to answer. I have enjoyed all the guests for different reasons. But in particular, I will say, the chats with Lou Anders, Blake Charlton, Mike Resnick, Paul Kemp and Kevin J. Anderson were highlights for me because they are so easy to talk to and we just really relaxed and had a lot of fun.

A: Who are the upcoming guests?

B: Well the list is on the website. We’ve recently had Maurice Broaddus, Jennifer Brozek, Ken Scholes, Peter Orullian, Tim Akers, Howard Andrew Jones and John Pitts. Upcoming are Patty Jansen (8/17), Dayton Ward (8/24), Kat Richardson (8/31), Greg Van Eehouk (9/7), Daniel Polansky (0/14), Moses Siregar (9/21), Shaun Farrell of the AISFP Podcast (9/28) and Are Marmell (10/5). I’ve also discussed with Beth Meacham of TOR, who said she’d love to do it and some others like her whom I need to get scheduled.

A: And finally on that subject, where can people who missed previous chats go to read the threads?

B: Transcripts can be found via the #sffwrtcht website at: http://bryanthomasschmidt.net/sffwrtcht/ or you can read them in my column at www.graspingforthewind.com. Links to those cleaned up interviews are on the Column tab on the #sffwrtcht website.

A: Now for my usual last question: What is your favorite book, and what would you say to recommend it to someone who hasn’t read it yet?

B: It’s hard to pick one but “Lord Valentine’s Castle” is one I’ll mention. It’s Robert Silverberg’s 80s come back novel. My sister bought it for me and I’d never heard of it or Silverberg. I was like “What is this? This wasn’t on my gift list.” She said: “Just read it. The bookstore raved about it. I think you’ll like it.” That book blew me away. Silverberg’s world building continues to be a model for me. Other than Tolkein, I’d never seen world building like that. He got into horticulture, geography, etc. and really created every aspect of his world in depth. And he used it in the story. It was really influential on me. It carried me away. The book also has a theme that comes out in my own work a lot of characters finding out who they are and where they belong in the world through quests. “The Worker Prince” has that as a theme and so does my epic fantasy “Sandman” which even borrows the amnesia element from “LVC.” I have read all the Majipoor books and stories I can get ahold of, and was impressed with them all, but “LVC” is a true masterpiece, not to be missed.

A: Thanks again, Bryan, for sitting down to chat with us! I’m looking forward to our second interview, when THE WORKER PRINCE hits the stands in October.

* * * * * *

Don’t forget, you can find Bryan and #sffwrtcht on Facebook, Twitter, and Bryan’s own website.

BIRTHDAYS - Anthony R Cardno

announcing it weeks before hand. It’s my birthday month, let’s go out to dinner to celebrate! My birthday is twelve days away, let’s go to movie to celebrate! My birthday is tomorrow, what are you getting me?

Some people hate their birthdays so much you feel the urge to start avoiding them once you realize the event is coming. Happy Birthday? A pox on Happy Birthday! Bah, Humbug! Just let me take the day off and don’t talk to me.

Most years, I fall somewhere in the middle. I’ll mention it a day or two ahead of time, happily accept emails and cards and Facebook wall messages and Twitter messages and the odd gift, but I don’t typically go overboard with excitement or with denial.

Of course, there are years at one extreme or the other.

2005 was a bad year. Not because I was turning thirty-nine, but because my mother had passed away due to lung cancer in February and I’d spent the summer not feeling up to my usual self and wondering what was wrong with me – we discovered a few weeks later that I had cancer myself. 2007 wasn’t so hot either, learning of the unexpected passing of my father just two days before I turned forty-one (and learning of it while I was on the road for work and still having to teach for the day).

2006, on the other hand … a great one! My first trip to California, spent with my good friends Karen and Eric and Michelle: experiencing Disneyland and Universal Studios and the Warner Brothers Studio Tour for the first time, dinner at Medieval Times, the LaBrea Tar Pits. Great way to celebrate turning forty.

This year? Turning forty-five turned out pretty well. I’ve picked up the habit (since the year Dad passed away) of taking my birthday week off. In years like this one, where I’m feeling pretty content with life and getting a year older, I’ll usually start talking about my “birthday week plans” around August 1st. I’m sure people were a little sick of the tweets and comments by the time the 15th actually rolled around. But I had some good plans, and they pretty much all panned out: seeing Daniel Radcliffe and John Larroquette in HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING; visiting The Mysterious Bookshop in NYC and meeting legendary editor Otto Penzler; vanilla egg cream at the Film Forum; visits to two other independent bookshops in NYC (all of the preceding with Dave and Roxy); dinner out with cousins; GLEE in 3-D with Margaret and Kat; a birthday cake made by niece Morgyn and eaten with Scott and nephew Jared; finally resolving a long-standing alleged traffic violation issue in court ON my birthday; phone calls with my sister and niece Renee and nephew Vinny from their new apartment; and of course all those birthday Tweets, Emails and Facebook wall messages. I’m sure I could have squeezed some more in there, but I enjoyed all of it and enjoyed all of those who shared any part of it with me.

This “getting old” thing isn’t so bad. At least, not this year! And what a year it is starting out to be: my first SF short story being published in the SPACE BATTLES anthology; interviews with some of my favorite authors (Jay Lake, Bryan Thomas Schmidt, Neil Ostroff, Joseph Pittman) and performers (The Dalliance, Sister Gin, Burnham); and now that the alleged traffic violation is taken care of, perhaps I’ll have a car on the road soon and will actually be able to visit my sister’s new apartment and see my other NY, NJ, CT, MA and VT friends. It’s been a bit odd seeing more of the friends and family in the midwest and west coast than I have of the friends and family who live only an hour or two away!

I’m looking forward more than I can say to this year of being forty-five. Share the journey with me, won’t you?

TIS THE SEASON 2011 - POEM

Okay, I admit, this is killing me just a little bit. I’ve been writing, printing, addressing, stamping, and mailing physical copies of my annual holiday poem since 1996. This year, the poems did not go out in the mail because of my insane travel schedule. In the next week, I will be sending it to the older relatives I have who don’t have email and who don’t regularly visit the internet. For everyone else, here it is:

‘TIS THE SEASON 2011

Well here’s another fine hotel room:
Another tv and king-sized bed,
Another six a.m. wake-up call,
Another bright white shower stall,
Another place to lay my head.

In my apartment there’s no tree decorated,
No twinkling lights strung outside,
No shiny ornaments have been hung,
Not a carol is being sung,
Santa and angels in boxes abide.

But it doesn’t matter if I’m home for the holidays
Because “home is where the heart is” it’s said
And my heart is always with my family and friends,
Not the places where I lay my head.

So I don’t need Christmas Eve snow,
I don’t need characters on the mantle
Or candles in the window or angels on the tree.
I don’t even need to be under the mistletoe.
In my heart, you’re always here with me.

Friends and family, May light of the season bring you joy, health, happiness, peace and prosperity.

MERRY CHRISTMAS,
HAPPY HANNUKAH,
BLESSED SOLSTICE,
And a WONDERFUL NEW YEAR.

MATT LANDE, Singer - Interview

Tonight’s guest is singer/songwriter/ghosthunter Matt Lande from the band Heaven Is Where.

Matt Lande

“Heaven Is Where” has caused quite the stir since bursting onto the Los Angeles music scene in early 2009. Whether performing an epic, full production band show or a dramatically touching acoustic concert, this band is quickly growing their roots around the globe, gaining recognition and praise from industry, media and fans alike. With a texture of paint splattered musical influences all the way from Annie Lennox and Savage Garden to The Killers, Skillet, HIM, Muse and 30 Seconds To Mars, Heaven Is Where’s audience is quite diverse. Blending the trials of life into his songwriting, front man Matt Lande bleeds for the song and never takes for granted the impact a single line or musical movement can have on a person’s emotions. Partnering intimate, personal lyrics and passionate melodies along with guitar and keyboard driven music causes an interaction between happiness and sadness, love and hate, gain and loss…heaven and hell. The meaning behind the name of the band is simple. It’s about finding your own heaven…taking hold of the moments in life that evoke happiness and living in them. We want to get to heaven when its all said and done but what’s this life worth without finding your heaven on earth? (from Matt’s website)

ANTHONY: Hi, Matt! Thanks for taking the time to answer some questions. You’re in the process of putting together an acoustic solo album. So what does that mean for the future of the band?

MATT: The future of the band is actually unknown right now. I’m not sure if I will record another album as “Heaven Is Where” or not. I had put the band together after recording “Stories From Yesterday” to play live since it was a full production album. We’ve all kinda gone our separate ways at this point. We’ll see how the acoustic record goes and if I tour off of it. After that though, I’ve also started writing for another full production and it’s got some exciting, artistic, edgy tunes that I can’t wait to get recorded.

ANTHONY: How does the music on the solo album differ from the band’s music? Are there stylistic or thematic differences? Production differences?

MATT: The solo acoustic album will be more raw and of course scaled down. The style is still similar because I actually did the writing, arrangement, and co-produced the band album.

ANTHONY: What is your song-writing process like? How do you take a song from concept to completion? And how does that process differ when you’re working on music for Heaven Is Where rather than solo?

MATT: It all starts in the same place. I sit on my acoustic guitar and hash out musical ideas that are running through my head. It magically comes together to form some form of coherent arrangement somehow.  I write what comes to me and then sort it out later as to if it will be full production or stay as an acoustic song. Some work well as both and some get tossed out or forgotten.

ANTHONY: You’re fundraising/crowdsourcing for the new album. What’s the goal and where can people help out? Is there anything they can do to help other than financial?

MATT: Always by word of mouth…Telling family and friends in person and online through social networks. There isn’t really a set goal. It takes a lot of money to record, distribute, market and tour off of a record so I just continue to have different campaigns for people to get involved in if they’d like. The best way to keep up is by my personal twitter at www.twitter.com/mattlande or www.mattlande.com

ANTHONY: I have to ask at least one question about your ghost-hunting activities. Tell me a bit about how you got into it and what you do. (I’ve had a few interesting experiences myself, so I am not a skeptic!)

MATT: It’s something that has interested me since I was a child. I experienced a few things then and decided to get into exploring the paranormal in depth a few years ago. Conducting an investigation basically consists of hearing the claims on a location, researching the history, going in there with equipment such as EMF detectors, digital recorders, various cameras and whatever interesting gear I can get my hands on. It’s a thrill sometimes. Ya never know what your gonna get.

ANTHONY: And my usual last question: What is your favorite book, and what would you say to someone who has not read it to convince them that they should?

MATT: I’m not a big reader but I’ll tell you that right now I’m halfway through a great novel called “DarkStar” by Carol J. Hansen. It incorporates love, magic, fantasy, mystery, suspense, life and death, good and evil. Definitely pick it up on Amazon. You’ll be happy you did.

Thanks again Anthony.

ANTHONY: You’re welcome, Matt. Let’s do this again when the solo album comes out!

You can follow Matt on Twitter as MattLande, find him on Facebook, and of course check out his own website.

You can help Matt fundraise for his solo project by going to his IndieGoGo page. Any amount will help!

And here’s “Walking With Ghosts” by Heaven Is Where:

WRITERS, ADVICE PLEASE! - Anthony R Cardno

Yesterday during my Daye Jobbe, I tossed in my usual off-handed mention that I met my cousin who works for the Coast Guard when she came to a book-signing I did two years ago. Occasionally, students will pick up on that and ask me during a break or after class what the book-signing was all about, and I get a chance to advertise my book THE FIRFLAKE without feeling like it’s a conflict of interest (advertising my book while doing my Daye Jobbe). No one mentioned it yesterday (which is what usually happens, honestly), so I assumed no one had picked up on it, or if they had they were not interested in hearing more. Today towards the end of lunch, I was back in the meeting room checking email and one of the participants said, “I enjoyed reading your short stories last night.” My immediate answer was, “oh, thanks!” And then I looked at her and said, “Wait. Short stories? Which ones? Where did you find them?” I know I’ve posted one or two here on LJ over the years, but I’m pretty sure I locked those posts. She said, “there were three of them on a website. One of them was about a bank robber.” I’m pretty sure the issue of Willard & Maple magazine that includes my story “Invisible Me” is not available online. “I found them just by googling your name.”

So of course, I immediately googled myself. Sure enough, there’s a link … to the “test run” of the website page my friend EJ Flynn was designing for me. I had given her an author bio and three of my stories (“Invisible Me,” “Navarre,” and “That Happy Kid,” the latter of which has been revised since I sent it to her) to see what the site might look like in final form. I had thought that test page was locked off for only she and I to see, and the project sort of fell through the cracks as she went on to other work and has spent less time designing websites (especially for free as she was doing for me). A month or so ago, my buddy Darrell and I got the actual www.anthonycardno.com finally up and running, with the intention that I’d probably eventually add a Story tab to the site once things were tweaked to where we want them.

So, the question is: should I leave these stories posted / open to being found on her site? Two of the three are unpublished in any kind of print form, and one of those is fairly substantially revised while the other I’m considering revising. I’ve heard that many editors (of print and online mags) will not look at stories once they’ve been on a website of any kind (be it a personal site or a blog like Livejournal or Blogspot). If that’s true, can it hurt to leave these three on the web since they’ve been out here for over a year without my knowledge that they were visible to the general public? Should I move them to my website, leave them in both places, or take them all down? I’m genuinely unsure of the best route to take.

Thoughts are appreciated.

RELAY FOR LIFE - Anthony R Cardno

I’m taking a break from the weekly Wednesday interviews to talk about something that’s important to me. Everyone has their Cause — the charity or event they put above all others. I have four that I support actively — the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (because of my young cousin Frank John LaPinta and his father); Multiple Sclerosis (because of several friends fighting it); and the Muscular Dystrophy Association (because Jerry Lewis is a hero of mine, and Tom Bergeron, Nancy O’Dell, Alison Sweeney and Billy Gilman are favorite folks of mine carrying on that good work). But My Cause is cancer research, and specifically the American Cancer Society.

A few weeks back I talked about losing yet another friend to cancer and mentioned my annual ACS Relay For Life event.

That event was this past weekend, June 4-5, at Mahopac High School in Mahopac, NY. Mahopac is my hometown. I was born in Astoria, but moved full-time to Mahopac the summer before second grade. For better or worse, that town (and the smaller community of Lake Secor where we lived) shaped who I am now. After my mother lost her fight with lung cancer in February 0f 2005 and I was diagnosed with my own colon cancer in September of that year, I started taking a more active role in the Relay For Life team my cousins Crissy and Jimmy Hajkowski (both cancer survivors themselves) had been running for a couple of years. Since 2006, our team has grown (exponentially, it seems). Even with all of my crazy work travel I have only missed one Relay, and it bothered me so much I vowed never to miss another.

This year, for the first time in a while, the weather held out. We had warm but not hot temperatures during the day under a slightly cloudy sky — perfect for lapping the MHS track. I did the Opening Survivor Lap, and then the Caregiver Recognition Lap, the Survivor Recognition Lap, and the Remembrance Lap in the later afternoon. All of those were emotional for me and for those around me. In between, I manned our booth selling copies of my book and donating the proceeds to Relay.

As sun set, the temperatures cooled a bit. A slight wind kicked up for a little while. The bleachers were packed for the Luminaria ceremony. The track lined with candle-lit bags in memory of those lost and in honor of those surviving and still fighting. The wind caused a few bags to ignite and it was sad to see them put out by the firemen on hand (but we all understood the safety factor). After the Luminaria ceremony, laps resumed — but much quieter, more reflective laps than earlier in the day.

My Mother's Luminaria

Over night, the temps dropped more and a few hardy souls (myself included) kept the laps going. At 4am, I was exhausted and so was my 13 year old nephew Vincent. We headed home. But between midnight and 4am I put a lot of time on that track, thinking of everyone I know who has suffered through this horrible disease.

I walked in memory of my mother and father, Rosemary and Raymond Cardno; of my maternal grandparents Vicky and Anthony Bukowski; of my cousins Matthew Cardno, Ginger Cardno, Eileen Callaghan and Lester Bishop Jr; of my aunts Terry Cornelia and Connie Callaghan; of Uncles Charlie Cornue, Frank LaPinta Sr and Ed Frey Sr.; of my dear friends M. Denise Barnoski, Karen Irene Jenkins, and Kristina Meyer; of my old neighbors Rita Paterno, Frank Cunningham, Alma and Rick Yarrobino and Meg Pennebaker; of George and Marion Hajkowski, Lou Miliambro, Charlie Commito, Patty Odegar, Bob Hagan, Seanie Nieves, Charlie Bondatti, Justin Salandra, Barbara Dorman, Bernie Castronovo, Henning Suerig, Prof. Randy Pausch, Jean Marie “Jorie” Scott, Juanita “Benny” Dyer, Gerald Edgerton, Frances Ng, Franklin and Janice Heiny, Debbie and Carol Stephens, Grace Uppstrom, Albert Ragozzine, Pamela Stuart Blakely, Heide Koch, Donald Cole, Wander Witter, Kathy Peterson, Patricia Sisco, Richard “Pop” Schlerf, John Schartner, M. Mulligan, Henry Cermak, Denis Fedorov, and Joe Connors. So many lost just to my family and the families of my friends.

I walked in honor of, and spiritually alongside, my Uncles Charlie Bukowski and Lester Bishop Sr.; Aunt Gloria Schneider; cousins Chris Tanner and Crissy and Jimmy Hajkowski; friends Ellen Przymylski, Christine Doyle, Denny Doyle, Liam Ollive, Christina Hagan, Jennifer Griffin, Janice Arnold, Teri Breen, Sheldon Pincus, Robin Deal, Kathleen Rankine, Jim McCleave, Jay Lake, Dean Sizemore, Chris Saunders, Lee Bloom, Carol Essig, Carol Little, Jeff Wentworth, Barbara Kocourek, Debbie Williamson, B. Burkhardt, Ursula Vucci and my mentor for so many years Nancy Bruno. And of course the hundred or so other survivors that were at Relay with me, most of whom I don’t know by name.

A few days before Relay, I came across a song on Youtube. Matt Johnson is a young performer out of the Dallas-Fort Worth area. He was a contestant on Disney’s Next Big Thing last year, and lately he’s taken to performing with just a guitar in front of a camera to share music with his fans. One of his new songs, “Not A Moment,” struck me as a fitting homage to those we’ve lost, and a reminder that Cancer (or Diabetes, or MS, or Cystic Fibrosis, or heart disease, or any of the Muscular Dystrophies) can hit anyone at any time. So we should take every chance to remember those we love, and to tell them we love them, until cures are found. Hopefully, I can get Matt’s video to embed. If not, please follow the link and listen to this wonderful song … and take a moment to remember the loved ones who are no longer here in person but are always with us in spirit and memory.

NYC COMIC-CON 2010 - Anthony R Cardno

I usually only attend one day of NYC Comic-Con. Nothing against the Con itself, but I think I left my “go crazy in a hotel for three days” mojo behind in the early 90s, and if not then I’ve definitely lost that thrill since taking my current job where I’m in hotels a good third of the year.  I also usually go to the Con on Sunday, because as my friend Pat O’Connor constantly reminds me — that’s the day you get the best deals in the dealer room because they don’t want to take the stock home with them.

This year I had tickets with friends to see Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch in A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC on Sunday (an overall great show, and those two ladies were at top form). So I went to Con on Saturday. Since I really wasn’t looking to buy many comics, I wasn’t worried about getting “the best deals.” It really was all about meeting writers and artists this time around. (Although, for the record, I did finally acquire the four-issue TARZAN/JOHN CARTER: WARLORDS OF MARS mini-series Dark Horse put out a few years ago.)

I got to meet and talk to actor James Marsters and author Jim Butcher briefly, and they both signed my copy of CHANGES, the latest Harry Dresden book. Butcher’s Dresden series is perhaps my favorite of all time, and Marsters does a masterful job as Harry in the audiobooks. Now if I can track down actor Paul Blackthorne and get him to sign the same edition, it’d be a Dresden hat trick!

I also got to meet and get a picture with Joyce DeWitt, Richard Kline, and Priscilla Barnes of THREE’S COMPANY. Ask me for the whole story some time if we meet in person — it’s a funny story but needs vocal inflection and facial expressions to really work.

Other than the Butcher autograph, my main reason for going to Con was to meet up with three writer-artists.

First stop was my old acquaintance Tim Fish, creator of the graphic novels CAVALCADE OF BOYS, STRUGGLERS and the new TRUST/TRUTH. Tim is a wildly talented artist and very friendly and funny man who deserves a much wider audience than he has, and I always look forward to seeing him at Con.

Second stop was new acquaintance Gordon McAlpin, creator of the very funny workplace/relationship/entertainment comedy webcomic MULTIPLEX, the first portion of which has recently been collected into book form. It was great to finally meet Gordon and chat geekily with him in person. He is as personable in real life as he seems in print.

Last stop was Tom Siddell, the creator of the young adult fantasy webcomic GUNNERKRIGG COURT, to which I do a dis-service by saying most people call it “a female Harry Potter.” It is definitely so much more than just that. There are two print volumes of the webcomic now in print. Tom was also friendly, but by the time I got to him there was a large line and I was starting to feel the effects of 7 hours with only a diet coke and a buttered roll in terms of food intake. I’m sure I struck him as rather mono-syllabic.

I always have a great time, but this year it was great to go in with an agenda and fulfill it rather than get distracted. I look forward to seeing all three of these great writer-artists and hopefully others, at Comic-Con 2011.

HARMONIC CONVERGENCE - Anthony R Cardno

I discovered as I was getting ready to go to dinner that there is a Half-Price Books on the other side of my hotel. Hadn’t noticed it because Sunday night I ate in the hotel restaurant, and last night I went across to the Mall where the Cheesecake Factory is and purposefully avoided going into the Borders in the Mall (my excuse was that I was carrying my hardcover IT with me, and didn’t want to deal with explaining to the bookstore staff that it was mine and that I didn’t rip the dustcover of the book off in order to steal it. Plus, I was bloated from dinner and just wanted to come back to the hotel.).

It’s no secret that I have a love affair with the HPB chain. We don’t have them in NJ or NY so the closest to my home are the three locations in Pittsburgh. I tend to end up in HPB stores when I’m in Pittsburgh and Dallas, and one of these days I will get to the locations in Cincinnati and Chicago. And hopefully we’ll keep using this hotel in Seattle and I’ll return to this store as well.

You can guess what I did tonight. Yeah. I skipped going out to dinner in order to wander HPB for an hour. Hey, I had more than half of my dinner from last night in the fridge, and that was essentially a full meal in itself.

I got a pretty decent haul for about $35.

Ever since I started getting interested in the Wold-Newton concept again, thanks to winscotteckert mostly, I’ve been attempting to fill in some old series. August Derleth and Basil Copper’s SOLAR PONS books. Various Edgar Rice Burroughs series, esp. the MARS and VENUS books. Philip Jose Farmer’s various Wold-Newton-connected works. And Sax Rohmer’s FU MANCHU series.

This HPB had 7 Rohmer books: PRESIDENT FU MANCHU, THE ISLAND OF FU MANCHU, THE BRIDE OF FU MANCHU, EMPEROR FU MANCHU, THE DRUMS OF FU MANCHU, THE HAND OF FU MANCHU and THE SHADOW OF FU MANCHU. Picked them all up for about #3 each. also got Farmer’s FLIGHT TO OPAR, LB Greenwood’s SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE CASE OFSABIN HALL, John Gardner’s THE REVENGE OF MORIARTY, and a Gardner F. Fox pulp SF book, THE HUNTER OUT OF TIME.

I now have all of Gardner’s three Moriarty books, and two of Greenwood’s three Holmes books. I’m still missing 6 of Rohmer’s original FU books and every Fu Manchu book written by other folks.

So, a Half-Price Books store by my hotel when I don’t have a rental car, and my little “to buy” notebook in my luggage, and the store had stock I was looking for … definitely a harmonic convergence of some kind!

JORDAN BEAN, It Gets Better - Music Video

Sometimes, it’s not the internationally famous voices pleading for tolerance and an end to bullying that get to you. Sometimes, it’s the local kid with a digital camera and a Youtube account and creative mind who affects you more.

This is a lip-synched music video created by Jordan Bean, an every-day, normal teen who video-blogs. I think he did a great job. Check it out.

CASEY STRATTON, Singer - Interview

Well, after a three week hiatus, we are back with a new batch of interviews! We kick off tonight with singer-songwriter Casey Stratton.

Casey Stratton

Casey Stratton graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy in 1994. He moved to LA and released several albums both with a small indie press and with Rondor Publishing. After moving to New York City and becoming the subject of a bidding war between RCA and Sony Classical, Casey scored a major label deal and went back to LA to record “Standing At The Edge” with legendary producer Patrick Leonard (who has also worked with Madonna, Rihanna, and Paul McCartney among others). Casey left Sony shortly thereafter, but has continued releasing music on his own Sleeping Pill Music label. His latest release is The Vigil, available for download on his website.

ANTHONY: Hi, Casey! Thanks for “sitting down” for this little chat. Let’s start out talking about your new project. Tell us what the album is about and how it came to be, if you will.

CASEY: The latest record is called The Vigil. It is an orchestral production with all the songs arranged for vocal, piano, strings, oboe and percussion. It is technically a follow up to Messages Sending, which I wrote and recorded in 2009. It deals with terminal illness. My cat of 16 years, Henry, was diagnosed with chronic renal failure in April. I knew our days were numbered. We were extremely close. I was distraught and feeling very caught up in the whirlwind of hospice mode and anticipatory grief. Writing this work gave me an outlet for those feelings, how it feels to know you are going to lose someone you love. I tried to give a voice to everything from hope to despair to resignation. I truly hope it will help others.

A: THE VIGIL is an intensely personal work, as is so much of what you’ve released over the years. Have you ever written a set of music and then felt “no, this is too personal to release right now” and held it back?

C: I can’t think of anytime I have done that. I am fairly comfortable being exposed emotionally in my work. I have always loved intensely personal music. So when I started writing songs, even at 11 years old, I knew what my “calling” was. I will say I have had moments where I write a lyric and change it before I even get to the recording process because it is too personal, but once it’s recorded I generally release it even if it might make me feel a bit uncomfortable. There is a great sense of weight lifting to put my emotions into the music.

A: As your friend, I knew exactly who you were singing about on THE VIGIL, and yet I couldn’t help project my personal experiences onto the songs. Do you intentionally set out to make your music personal and universal at the same time, or do you write the personal and just hope other people can connect?

C: I absolutely make sure to keep things as universal as I can while writing. I have moments where lyrics are personal to my situation alone, but even with those you never know who might take it a different way. I do not release music with the intention for people to think about me, I want them to think about themselves. I feel that is the most important thing that music can do; help people process their own experiences. Or even just to remind them of someone, something.

A: Would you describe THE VIGIL as a classic “concept album,” with (for lack of a better term) a storyline for listeners to follow? In the past it seems like you’ve shied away from clear storylines even when your albums did have a defining concept to them.

C: I do think it’s a concept album, but there really isn’t a clearly defined linear narrative. The songs are not chronological to me. I chose to order them in the best way I felt they belonged musically. Still, of course, in the end there is death so it does wrap itself up. The narrative is almost like a ‘Choose your own adventure” book. You can make it whatever you need to. The thing about grief is that you jump around all the time, so I didn’t think a clear linear narrative was necessary. But it does certainly cover the bases of what the days and months are like when you are in the holding pattern of a terminal illness.

A: You’ve had your brush with major studio label production, but the majority of your career has been as an independent artist. Talk to me about the pros and cons of being a self-supporting independent artist.

C: Well of course the pros are that I have complete control over what I write, record and release. From the track sequencing to the artwork to the promotion, it is all up to me. I can be as artistic as I want to be. In the major label world, I was constantly being told to dumb it down. That “less is more.” To cater to the lowest common denominator. I didn’t care for that. I also just felt that there was far too much micro-managing when I was signed. It is not my cup of tea to have 14 people arguing for 6 weeks over whether or not I have to wear glasses in every photo and concert I ever do for the rest of time. That actually happened. Too much talk about clothes, weight, not being attractive enough, what I said in interviews, what I didn’t say in interviews. Too many cooks. Too many corporate bottom lines. I dreamed of it my whole life, but in the end it wasn’t for me.

A: With Youtube and such sites, younger singers and musicians are getting “discovered,” some going directly to major label contracts and some growing large fan bases with the goal of getting a major label contract. What advice can you give to those young singer-songwriters?

C: Be careful! Unfortunately the immediate access to millions in the internet age is a double-edged sword. It gives people chances they would never have had before. But it also over-saturates the market. There is just SO much out there, it’s hard to be noticed. Yet some people are, and many are not ready. I would tell them to keep the people they trust, REALLY trust, close to them. Don’t be fooled by big promises and empty compliments so much that you shut out the people who really care about you and don’t just see dollar signs. Sadly, you just never know who may be betraying you. It happens to all of us.

A: We know that touring is difficult in the current economic climate; most of the independent artists I know are playing close to home and no longer traveling cross-country to play small venues in big cities. Podcasts seem to help fill that hole in your ability to play live for your fans. Where can people find your podcasts, and how often do you put out a new one?

C: My podcasts are available at www.caseystratton.com under the Podcasts tab. You can even watch them live. I also record them so they are available for viewing after the fact as well. I do them on Thursdays at 6:30 Eastern US time. I do not do them every week, but when I do it is always at that time.

A: Is creating a new podcast still fun for you, or has it become another marketing tool?

C: I understand that I am doing them because it is necessary, but I also enjoy them or I wouldn’t do it. I like when people send me questions. And I love being able to do a little informal Q&A with the people who join live after the recorded portion ends. It’s very fun to talk to everyone. They use the chat window on UStream, and I answer on the video feed.

A: I can’t imagine talking to you about music without talking about your musical influences. In your bio online you mention that people think you sound like certain artists, as well. So, let’s play “word association:”

A: Tori Amos. 
C: Dali

A: Sarah McLachlan.
C: O’Keefe

A: Peter Gabriel.
C: Rhythm

A: Loreena McKennitt.
C: Ethereal

A: Lady Gaga.
C: Image

A: Patrick Leonard.
C: Kindred spirit

A: Rosanne Cash.
C: Wit

A: Indigo Girls
C: Folk

A: Wilson Phillips
C: Beautiful friends

A: On a completely different topic: are you already on to writing your next project, or are you taking a little bit of a break?

C: I am taking a break from writing for a while. It is odd for me not to be way ahead of myself all the time, as I was for many, many years. I am enjoying the feeling of not knowing what is next. I am playing a show of all Tori Amos songs in August here in Michigan, so I am very busy with that. When that is over I will take some time off. When my cat Henry died, I was very much destroyed, but I have had a lot of work to do since then. I am looking forward to just taking a week or so to go inward with no obligations. I am lucky to be self-employed in that regard.

A: I’d really like to talk about your creative process. I know as a writer I hate the old standard “where do you get your ideas from,” so we’ll avoid that line. But I’m curious: lyrics before melody? vice-versa?

C: I write the music before the lyrics 99% of the time. Every once in a while one or two lines will pop into my head and I’ll write to them, but hardly ever. In fact, most of the time I produce an entire track before I write one word. I feel that, to me, the music tells its own story. So I listen to it and try to decide what it wants to be about lyrically.

A: How do you go about putting an album together, in terms of song sequence. The anthology editors I know talk about “strong anchor stories” for the lead-off and final spots. Do you think of it in that way, or is there a more organic process?

C: No I do think of it exactly that way. I like to know what is opening and closing a record early in the process if it happens that I write those songs early enough to do so. It sets a tone and gives me space to maneuver in and out of, knowing where it began and where it is all headed. I also tend to know which songs feel like they need to go in the first half and which in the second. This, of course, comes from the vinyl and cassette age of Side A and Side B, but I still do it. In the end, I have to narrow down which songs will actually make the final cut and then assemble them. I tend to be sequencing as I go, putting songs where I think they will end up and then, as the projects gets to be completed I can move them around if something feels off. It’s very organic and I rarely get stressed out about it.

A: Some projects of yours feel very scaled down, others have full orchestral arrangements. What makes the decision to fully orchestrate or not?

C: I do with my gut about almost everything. It has been the secret to my success as a writer, I think. I don’t get caught up questioning everything. Whatever comes, I take it. I have a very spiritual approach to writing. I take it very seriously and make sure I have all the tools I need (a large knowledge of music theory, especially) to compose, but I never worry too much about it. If it is there, I grab onto what is coming in. If not, I walk away and try again another day without judging myself or worrying. I think writers can create traps for themselves. Some are very good at working within a structure of time or daily goals or what have you. But for some, I have seen it create a situation where what they write disappoints them or they write nothing, and then they are upset with themselves and wouldn’t you know it here comes a month of writer’s block! I find this to be universal in all of the arts. I am very careful to just let it go if it’s not a great day and trust it will come around again. But in respect to production, the song kind of knows what it wants. Or I can just be in a certain mood. Sometimes I’ll say “I want the next project to sound like _____” Sometimes that works out, and other times I end up a million miles from wherever I thought I was going. You just never know until you begin. Instincts, for me, are key. And following them is part of the challenge…and the fun.

A: And now for my usual final question: What is your favorite book, and what would you say to recommend it to someone who hasn’t read it yet?

C: My favorite book is The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing. Something about her work really resonates with me. Perhaps it is that she has just as much fervor for exploring our inner thoughts and feelings as I do. I don’t know. It is a hard book to describe, since there are stories within the stories. It is mostly a story told through a female writer, as she traverses life in 60s London. Through complex relationships with both lovers, children and friends, she weaves a tale of self-discovery that everyone can relate to in some way.

A: Thanks again, Casey!

You can find Casey on Facebook, his website, Twitter, Youtube, and just about every other social forum out there where music is discussed. Check him out, and tell him Anthony sent you!