Saint Nickanuck of the Tundra

Dastardly work and events of this week have prevented me from finishing my Origins recap as of yet, although that will be up in the very near future, and be a wondrous thing to behold. Until then, feast on io9’s coverage of Origins, namely over some cool things that I didn’t have the chance to check out personally:

• Martian Chess - Yet another Looney Labs game that incorporates those darn Treehouse pieces. Like many of their games, it sounds simple, but appears to have some interesting tactical depth underlying it.

• Terrorwerks - I have heard about this before from the Gamer: The Podcasting folks. Run for the second year in a row, it is essentially an hour-long LARP of the space marines v. alien horrors variety, where players portray said marines. The production values are intense, the reviews are great, and as such, I may need to make time for this next year.

• Astrosmash - A massive tabletop tactical space battle game with deliciously detailed miniatures, based on a expanded version of Silent Death. It sounds completely over-the-top and a hell of a lot of fun.

• Car Wars: Rogue Arena - Vehicular combat. A 12-foot by 8-foot miniature city block. Wrecks and carnage. Yes.

For those of you in the US, have a fun and safe July 4th!

Laura and I will be headed out to Origins shortly. Or, for Natalie’s benefit, and as I’ve been intoning recently on Twitter:

“Going to Origins today! Squee! Squee! Squee! Squee! *duck* *WHOOSH* Missed me! Bahahaha! *zip*”

To say that I am vastly looking forward to Origins is a bit of an understatement. It is focused on “table top” gaming of all flavors, which is a favorite hobby of mine. Somehow, despite the fact that it has been held annually an hour and a half from my hometown since 1996, I have never gone, and this is a much belated opportunity to correct said serious transgression. And perhaps most importantly, this will be the first convention this year in which I won’t be “working” at all. While I love participating and speaking at cons in various capacities, there is something to be said for just kicking back and relaxing for a few days with friends, old and new, and focusing on having fun. What? This is something called a “vacation,” you say? Interesting concept…

Updates shall appear shortly after my return. Tardy convention recaps, as well as some podcast, movie, and novel commentary, have been lingering on the sidelines, and are clamoring to be unleashed. In the meantime, if you are anywhere near Columbus, OH, over the next few days, you owe it to yourself to stop by Origins, and see what it’s about.

Yeah, I’ve got a couple of con recaps pending, but I figure I’ll work backwards from a con that hasn’t quite, uh, happened yet - namely, Dragon*Con.

The Parsec Awards, now in their third year, are presented to honor the best in podcast-delivered speculative fiction. From the official website:

Dedicated to rewarding excellence in various aspects of Speculative Fiction Podcasting, the Parsec Award is available for Sci-fi & Fantasy Original Content, podiobooks and a variety of other categories dealing with the new frontiers of Portable Media.

The 3nd annual Parsec Awards will be held at the Dragon*Con convention held August 29 through September 1, 2008.

Mur Lafferty, Michael R. Mennenga & Tracy Hickman founded The Parsec Awards in 2006 to celebrate Speculative Fiction Podcasting, under the banner of Farpoint Media.

Podcast shows are nominated by fans, and finalists are chosen by a yearly steering committee. Those finalists are then voted on by an independent panel of judges from outside of podcasting. Awards are given in several categories ranging from content to audio quality.

Nominations are currently open to the public until June 15, so if you have a particular speculative fiction podcast that you would like to suggest, swing by the site and give them a nod. The official site has information on all aspects of nominations, the awards process and the people behind it, as well as the results from both the 2006 and 2007 awards. Video from the 2007 awards (in which, for the morbidly curious, I may be seen as a presenter for the Best Gaming Podcast) is here.

And finally, if you prefer to hear more about the Parsecs in audio format, check out the straight-up promo by 2008 steering committee head Doug Kress, or the hilarious promo done by J.C. Hutchins and Scott Sigler.

No, I haven’t forgotten about a RavenCon recap. There were several requests for me to make my presentation on “The New Red Deaths” available, which I intend to do once I get the citations in order, and the recap shall wait for that to be completed.

That noted, Balticon 42 starts in just a few short days! The new media track has grown once again this year, to be even more of a lumbering Elder God-spawn of a beast, which is definitely a good thing. Also in the “good things” category, the science track has also expanded to include two new members - Laura and myself! Clearly, you now have no arguable reason not to stop by the Marriott Hunt Valley Inn if you are in the Baltimore area this weekend.

Laura will be rocking out with a couple of space related talks, among other things. As to my own schedule:

• Meet the Scientists Social (Friday, 10pm, Salon A) - Really, there’s got to be a better title for this informal gathering. That said, there’s a damn fine mix of science-y types, from a paleontologist to a local mechanic who mods vehicles (including the Toyota Prius) to run completely on battery power, so the combination of characters and conversation is sure to entertain. And there’s always the Sexy Women In Sci-Fi panel (including Laura, for her “obviously” expert opinion - 11pm, Garden), or the 80’s Party/New Media Meet and Greet (11pm, Chesapeake Suite) to escape to, if things are slow…

• Live! Takeover! Audio Drama (Saturday, 1pm, Belmont) - This is the live debut of the first two episodes of Mur Lafferty’s new audio drama. What is it about, you ask? Check out a familiarly-voiced promo (guess who the other voice is there for bonus XP) and the freshly-launched website for details. I have the pleasure of voicing Phil, the boss. He cares. Really.

• Infectious Diseases (Sunday, 4pm, Salon A) - I need your help with this one, people. See that title? It’s a bit… vague. So here’s a question, for anyone interested and willing to answer - what should I talk about? Horrible emerging infectious diseases? A follow-up to my Red Deaths exploration? Or, should I just take the plunge and go with all things SYPHILIS? Let me know!

• Live! Mr. Adventure (Sunday, 8pm, Chesapeake Suite) - It’s the next episode after the live RavenCon recording! The dastardly villain I’m voicing, Michael Aztec, is setting his evil master plan into motion. What will our heroes do?!?

• Video Podcasting 102: What’s Out There (Sunday, 10pm, Chesapeake Suite) - I’m on this panel because I am a selective consumer of video podcasts. Or maybe, because I’m a clown and there to entertain. Yup. I’m betting on the latter.

It’s going to be a brilliant time - join us if you can! And, let me know - what infectious thing should I talk about?

Realizing that this will only interest me, and possible amuse someone else, I’ll post the long-neglected Balticon 41 recap “in my own words”: It happened, and was good. There was great fun, some chaos, but overall a wonderful time! w00t, and all that.

And if you really want to hear it in my own words, I’ll direct you to episode 41.48 of the Balticon Podcast, where Laura and I were interviewed on the final day of the convention about many things, both astral and infectious. It’s still quite the good listen, and just may whet your appetite for Balticon 42.

It’s been quite a busy month, even by my own standards. Clearly, I’ve not been totally successful in keeping with my theme for the year. I have some more cogent ruminations on that coming down the pike in a few days.

In a brief bit of site news, I have resurrected the Gustatory Libation Front from a period of neglect (although it has suffered from the same update-paucity of late). While I’ve enjoyed putting my beery ponderings up on Saint Nickanuck, it has become evident to me that said commentary appeals to a slightly different audience, so having its own forum is worthwhile. I’ll be putting some culinary and beverage observations from my recent travel to New Orleans and Chicago there shortly.

But, first - this weekend is RavenCon at the Crowne Plaza West in Richmond, VA! The convention is in its third year, and I’m pleased to say that this will be the third year that Laura and I will be participating as guests on the science track. Past experience has shown this con to be well-run and an absolute blast, so if you aren’t already planning on attending and happen to be within striking distance, I encourage you to stop by and check it out.

Laura will be doing a number of panels relating to space science, including the latest on her work at NASA and the International Space University. As to my own schedule, it is as follows:

• Thirteen Dooms (Friday, 11pm, Potomac) - A multidisciplinary science panel addressing the various ways in which all life on earth might be eradicated. Bwa-ha-ha!
• Live Recording of Mr. Adventure (Saturday, 11am, James) - I’m uncertain as to what role I’ll be playing, but I understand it may be evil and nefarious. Bwa-ha-ha-ha!
• The New Reds Deaths (Saturday, 2pm, Potomac) - In which I will consider many horrific and interesting diseases, from Poe’s Red Death to the latest modern day terrors. Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!

What? You sense a disturbing theme? No… I think not. But, that means you’ll just have to come out and see for yourself.

BWA-HA-H- uh… sorry.

I had the pleasure of attending the Farpoint Convention for the first time this past week. Though personal circumstances permitted me to only attend part of the con, what I was present for was an excellent time.

Farpoint bills itself as a “science-fiction media convention,” meaning that it’s focus is on genre television and film in terms of its main guests and panels. Normally, this is not the type of con I’m greatly interested in going to, as it represents a side of fandom that I’m less involved in. However, Farpoint has been expanding its new media track of late, and several friends who are podcasters and authors attended and were involved therein. It also has the advantage of being a smaller gathering, compared with the absolute zoo that is Dragon*Con, or tamer chaos of Balticon. As a result, the panels were cozy and relaxed, and the after-hours socialization was brilliant. If I were to attempt to list all the wonderful people I got to hang with, I will invariably leave someone off, so to everyone I reconnected with or met for the first time - it was awesome to see you all!

I was able to make three of the panels, all of which were highly entertaining:

• New Media Author Readings - This was the last panel of the track for Saturday afternoon, and featured readings and discussion from four exceptional new media authors. These included the original founder of Farpoint, and current architect of the new media track, Steven Wilson (of Prometheus Radio Theater), who read from his novel Taken Liberty; Tee Morris (of Imagine That! Studios, and numerous podcasts, novel series, and projects) orating from Billibub Baddings and the Case of the Singing Sword; and J. R. Blackwell (of the 365 Tomorrows flash fiction project) and Jared Axelrod (of the Voice of Free Planet X and Aliens You Will Meet podcasts), both of whom spoke from stories-in-progress. The panel was an entertaining hour of storytelling, and a great way for me to start the con.

• Sci Pie - This was the showcase panel of the track on Sunday morning, and an interesting idea. Devised by Paul Fischer and Martha Holloway (of the ADD Cast and the Balticon Podcast) along with Tee Morris, Sci Pie was conceived to be a segment conducted regularly at conventions, where guests at the con are interviewed and pie is eaten. The intent is to record these live and release them as a video podcast series. Despite some communications issues and guest illness, the hour came off rather well, with actress Erin Gray (most remembered for her roles on Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and Silver Spoons), podcaster Marc Bailey (of Grailwolf’s Geek Life), and author Terry Lee Rioux (author of the Deforest Kelley biography From Sawdust to Stardust). Tee did an stellar job of assembling the accompanying visuals, including the incorporation of an excellent introduction to video podcasting by Earl Newton (of Stranger Things). The dessert involved was a wonderful pumpkin cheesecake and a delicious gluten-free pecan pie, provided by “Mrs. Command Line.”

• What’s On Your Mind? Blogging, Audio Blogging, and Podcasts - Some excellent discussion was engendered on this, the last new media track panel for the con. Participants included Thomas Gideon (of Command Line), Paul Fischer, Steve Kramer and Lisa Mendel of The Secret Frequency, and Michele and Brian of the Galactica Quorum. Afterwards, J.R. and Jared spontaneously orchestrated the following image:

L to R: Paul Fischer, Martha Holloway, J.R. Blackwell (standing), Heather Bailey, Thomas Gideon, Steve Wilson, Tee Morris, Jared Axelrod, Laura Burns, myself, Marc Bailey

Finally, I met two people for the first time who deserve particular mention. The first was Marc Okrand, who I was introduced to by Marc Bailey (clearly, there’s some sort of “Marc” club thing going on) as the con was winding down on Saturday. Okrand is the inventor of the Klingon language and the author of the Klingon Dictionary, among many other accomplishments. While my Star Trek geekery of days gone by has long since waned, the sheer academic coolness of his contribution to Trek lore is such that this was a definite “squee” moment. The second person was Brand Gamblin of the Calls for Cthulhu video podcast series. Calls for Cthulhu is hilarious fun, and it was great to meet the main architect of the show and find him to be a nigh-scary fit into our podcastery collective. Brand currently plans to do a live episode at Balticon… attendance on my part will be quite mandatory.

The Amazing Pulp Adventures Starring Mister Adventure is an excellent audio series available free via podcast. Expertly penned by Davey Beauchamp and skilfully produced by Podcasting’s Rich Sigfrit, the show is simultaneously a comedic parody of, and a homage to, the pulp adventure radio dramas of decades ago. Set against the backdrop of World War II, it follows the exploits of Mr. Adventure and his heroic allies as they fight to defend Sapphire City from the schemes of nefarious arch-villains, such as Dr. Zhou and the Master of Zombies. I had the pleasure of contributing to two episodes just released over the past couple of weeks:

• Tour of the Future Stop 2: Balticon was recorded in front of a live audience at Balticon 41 in May of 2007, and just made it out into the feed this week. (Hey, cut him some slack… Rich is quite the busy guy!) This is second of a four part story arc, each of which were recorded at one of four summer 2007 conventions; the first stop was at RavenCon, and entitled the Master of Zombies Strikes Back. In Stop 2, Mr. Adventure and his companions continue their fight against the Master of Zombies, with rather “explosive” results. I had a blast (heh) portraying the evil Zombie Master himself.
• The 2007 Christmas All Star Spectacular was released into the feed a couple of weeks back. It is the follow-up to last year’s Christmas Spectacular. This year, Mr. Adventure and friends contend with the machinations of the thieving Abominable Snowman, in order to save Christmas once again. Continuing my willing typecasting as a super-villain, I lent my voice to the Abominable Snowman.

Check out the above episodes, as well as the previous excellent releases, at the official Pulp Adventures website! Be sure to explore Rich’s numerous other awesome projects at Outcast Multimedia.

We are currently on the road to Dragon*Con, in Durham, NC for the night, with Tee, Thomas and Andrea, and Parsec awards trophies assimilated on the way. It is good to finally relax for a bit, especially after a day of mad packing, and tucking in work-related things for my absence, including the evidence-based medicine course.

As always, there is much more to say, but given the past few weeks, I just can’t bring myself to pass up the opportunity to get a solid night of sleep… especially as there will be little in the next few days. There is much fun, and much reconnecting with tribemates, to be had!

Tomorrow: hooking up with Mur, Jason, and crew from Lulu, and proceeding onward to Atlanta. More to follow…

Laura is back on US soil! Granted, in San Francisco, but it makes me happy nonetheless. She’ll be visiting with some of her NASA peeps at Ames over the next few days, before heading back here, and us proceeding on to Dragon*Con.

I’m sure she’ll have some experiences and images to share, now that she’s back from behind the Great Firewall and done with intensive coursework, so keep an eye on her feeds over the coming days and weeks.

We leave for Dragon*Con in a few short days, and I am quite stoked. It will be wonderful to reconnect with tribemates, both old and new, as well as to decompress a bit from the New Job, and properly (and belatedly) celebrate that employment transition.

Speaking of the New Job, it continues to be excellent. That said, between making daily on-the-fly changes to the evidence-based medicine course, as well as covering for other people to ensure adequate coverage for Dragon*Con, I haven’t made time to pass on some fun and interesting stuff in this forum.

This will be remedied shortly…