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Posts Tagged ‘7th-son’

7th Son Concluded

December 12, 2007 – 3:11 pm

I finished up listening to 7th Son this morning on my way to work, and it was a little like what I imagine it must feel like to come down off a high. Three novels’ worth of hard-hitting, gut-wrenching action ends with a bittersweet goodbye to our heroes and a feeling of loss that says, Oh, great. What am I supposed to listen to now_?_ I just wanted to keep on listening, to stay with these characters that I’ve come to love so well. J.C. has certainly done a fabulous job of weaving his tale of science fiction, horror, and intrigue, and I hope that he is successful in getting the trilogy into print. I know I’ll have a copy of the set on my bookshelf as soon as he does.

And the man is just sick in the way he doesn’t let up on you. Even in the final chapter, he doesn’t let you find complete resolution. It’s close, but not close enough. And the epilogue, of course, just leaves the lid off of that can of worms ever so slightly. Leaving your foot in the door for a possible follow-up are we, J.C.? Hm? Man, that would be a joyride of undoubtedly epic proportions.

If you haven’t checked out 7th Son, then you’re missing out. Go click on the link above and start downloading and listening. Or grab J.C.’s iTunes feed from his website and pull it directly into your iPod. It’s good stuff – just like shooting up on heroin. (I’m guessing…)

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7th Son

November 27, 2007 – 9:08 am

7th Son I’m really enjoying getting caught up on J.C. Hutchins’ 7th Son podcast novel trilogy. I’m about a third of the way through listening to his second book now and really loving every minute of the show.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with 7th Son, the trilogy follows the story of seven clones as they attempt to track and capture their predecessor. John Smith Alpha, the original, is a nefarious villain with devious plans. It’s up to the John Smith Betas to stop Alpha before he can wreak havoc across the globe.

J.C. has written a powerful trilogy of books and has graciously recorded them for consumption by the masses. One of the things that I love about J.C.’s writing is that literally no one is safe. I don’t generally like predictable fiction, so it’s always a pleasure to come across an author who isn’t afraid to mix things up and take chances that keep the reader guessing about what’s going to happen next. J.C. does this consistently with 7th Son. It’s speculative fiction at its finest, and I’m looking forward to seeing where things go from here. I still have a ways to go before I’m completely caught up, but I’m looking forward to the ride.

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Podiobooks

November 21, 2007 – 10:16 am

My commute to and from work every day runs somewhere between 25 and 45 minutes one way, depending on traffic, weather, and trains. The thing I’m loving about that now is that I’m able to listen to audiobooks while I drive. I now have this marvelous 160GB iPod Classic (in black), and I have several podiobooks loaded onto it. Currently, I’m working my way through J.C. Hutchins’ fantastic trilogy 7th Son. I’ve actually been downloading it almost from the very start but haven’t been able to listen to it until now. I don’t listen to podiobooks while I’m working on the computer – too many distractions – and my previous 2GB iPod wasn’t big enough to hold my music plus an audiobook. So I waited. I knew I’d eventually get a larger iPod that could store everything, and my Transpod allows me to plug in and play while driving. It’s really quite nice.

I’ve downloaded a couple of Scott Sigler’s books, Singularity by Bill Shmedt, and a couple of others. I’ll work my way through them in random order, and I’ve got plenty of books to keep me occupied on my daily commute for several weeks to come.

What podiobooks are on your iPod?

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Current Podcasts

September 21, 2007 – 11:19 am

Ok, it’s official – I’m a podcast junkie.

I’ve always enjoyed talk radio – but only when I’m driving somewhere. Talk radio keeps my mind engaged in something, which is especially useful for when I’m feeling tired because it helps me stay awake. I also just simply enjoy hearing other people’s opinions about topics I care about, getting different perspectives on various issues.

Books on tape are fun, as well – or, in this case, books on iPod. For that matter, recorded readings of speculative fiction are appealing. For instance, I’ve added Cory Doctorow’s (semi-?)weekly podcast to my listings, though he’s not currently reading his own work. I’ve also had Imagination-X on my iPod (and that’s one I still have figured out the broadcast schedule on yet).

I love these podcasts, and I really enjoy listening to them as I drive to and from work. Probably the best thing about it is the fact that I can get ‘talk radio’ anytime I want it, and it will always be on topics and subjects that I actually care about. I don’t have room for all them on my iPod currently. In fact, I keep having to delete old podcasts I’ve already listened to in order to make room for current ones. But since I’m planning on grabbing the 160GB iPod Classic soon, I’m getting things queued up, especially a couple of podcast novels, in preparation for that.

Here’s my current podcast list, all of which can be located right from iTunes:

Cory Doctorow
Imagination-X
7th Son
WordPress Podcast
Bungie Podcast

Spider on the Web (Spider Robinson)
I have Cory Doctorow, WordPress, and Bungie on my iPod right now. The rest will be added later when I actually have room for them.

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Sci-fi Podcasts

December 19, 2006 – 2:46 pm

I put an 8GB iPod Nano on my Christmas list this year. I don’t really expect to get it – it is, after all, a fairly expensive item.

Initially, I had rebelled against anything iPod. I tend to reject fad movements, and iPods were one of those things that spread throughout American culture like wildfire. They were new, they were hip, and I didn’t want one. Besides, I couldn’t be sure how reliable they’d be. Technology developers tend to have this bad habit about releasing new toys without first making sure they are glitch-free.

Lately, though, I’ve decided I’d like to get one. For one thing, I’d love to have a way to keep all of my music with me all the time. My professional job requires me to sit at a desk for 8 hours a day, and throughout most of that time, I keep music playing to help me focus.

I’ve also discovered a desire to follow a couple of interesting podcasts. Now, podcasting is another of those fads that I’ve been reluctant to get into, partially because most of them seem to be pointless and partially because a lot of them are rather poorly done.¹

The podcasts in question can be found in the link in my sidebar. All three are speculative fiction. Voices of Tomorrow is the podcast for the 365 Tomorrows flash fiction site. The owners of that site have been reading staff stories and publishing them through their service for anyone interested in listening. The other two podcasts, 7th Son and Mortal Ghost, are novels being published via podcast. I’ve been using a little program called Doppler to download these podcasts, even though I haven’t listened to a single episode from any of them as yet. I find that listening to them at work interferes with my ability to get anything done, and I don’t sit still long enough at home to listen to them on my computer there.

That just leaves the time that I spend on the road traveling to and from the office, the feed store, etc.² Slap the iPod into a car kit, plug it into my stereo, and voila! Instant books on tape, so to speak. Seems like a good idea to me, and it lets me work through some more great fiction and keep my mind occupied throughout the course of my drive. Seems like a winner of an idea to me.

Go check these podcasts out, especially if you’re a speculative fiction nut like I am. They’ve all gotten pretty good reviews, so I think they’re worth checking out.

Though the overall quality is improving as more and more people get into podcasting, thus increasing the levels of competition.[back]
And let’s face it, I don’t really listen to the radio that much, anyway.[back]

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