In celebration of 85 years in print, Weird Tales magazine has complied a list of the 85 weirdest storytellers from the past 85 years.  The list includes some of my favorite writers like Ray Bradbury, Roald Dahl, Kurt Vonnegut, and Joyce Carol Oates. The list includes other weirdos such as cartoonist/writer Edward Gorey, filmmaker Tim Burton, and artist Andy Warhol.  Like any list, it’s easy to get riled up about who is and is not included.  However, I think Weird Tales has done a pretty good job.

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Matthew Wayne Selznick is a podcasting pioneer. His “Brave Men Run” thriller was the first novel released simultaneously in paperback, free audio podcast and five — yes, five — e-book formats. All DRM-free.

And on July 13, a brand-new paperback edition of “Brave Men Run” — which is about the “Sovereign Era,” when people with super physical and psychic powers suddenly appear — will be released by Swarm Press.

Selznick will celebrate with a day-long streaming video “web-a-thon” — with hourly updates and special book-related content — to help propel the book to the top of the Amazon.com charts.

We always like to see podcast authors do well in print (see Scott Sigler), so we’ll be tuning in and plunking down to buy the paperback.

Check Matt’s site for more info.

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Editor’s note: From time to time, we’ll run original flash fiction (very short stories, 100-1,000 words long) in text — not audio — format. Eric Sandler’s “The Monster” gets us started.

‘The Monster’

Written by Eric Sandler.

The boy lay in his bed, staring at the ceiling. He pushed back the covers, breathing hard. Beneath the bed, the monster lurked, hiding. Waiting for him to close his eyes. The boy could hear it, slithering about, even over the noise Mommy and Daddy made.

They were yelling. The boy had heard it every night, for days now. He didn’t understand what the yelling was about. Daddy was always angry with Mommy, and Mommy was angry with Daddy. But the monster didn’t care. The monster wanted to eat the boy. To gobble him up. The boy had barely slept the past two weeks because of the monster.

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Written and spoken by Andrew Culver, music by Josh Charney.

A world-weary barkeep has a warning for the drifter in the second chapter of this spoken word/music collaboration. Chapter 2 of 5.

New chapters will be released each Wednesday.

 

 Standard Podcast [5:06m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1581)

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Film has the Oscar, music has the Grammy and speculative fiction podcasting has The Parsec Award.

And it just so happens that Parsec nominations are now open.

So, um, if you like us — if you really like us — it wouldn’t hurt to click on over to their site and nominate Well Told Tales for the Best Speculative Fiction Magazine or Anthology Podcast award and/or the Best Speculative Fiction Story (Short Form) (mention your particular favorite story in the comments.)

It’s not like we’re clearing space in front of our big picture window for a major award or anything. It would be an honor just to be nominated.

Enjoy this profanity-laced promo from podcast novel big-shots Scott Sigler and J.C. Hutchins:
Play promo (warning: explicit)

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If you’re going for a roadtrip — heck, a plane, train or automobile trip — this Memorial Day (U.S.) weekend, you should probably fill your MP3 player or burn some audio CDs with pulpy fiction.

You’ve no-doubt got all the Well Told Tales audio stories stockpiled already (right?  right?)  And there are some other swell short story podcasts like the Drabblecast, Variant Frequencies, Escape Pod and Pseudopod.

But if you’ve got an extra long drive/flight/train ride to the beach/grandma’s house/wherever, you may want something longer — a full-fledged audiobook.

Fortunately, Seth over at the Free Listens blog has some suggestions for you, including selections for fans of blockbuster action, light comedy, variety and for travelers with kids.

If none of them suit your fancy, head over to Podiobooks.com and choose something else.

Happy motoring!

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Written and spoken by Andrew Culver, music by Josh Charney.

In this spoken word/music collaboration, a train-jumping drifter gets dumped in an ominous desert town. Chapter 1 of 5.

New chapters will be released each Wednesday.

 

 Standard Podcast [4:36m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1845)

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The reviews of the 2008 Hugo Award short-fiction nominees on the SFSignal site provide a nice overview of the competing novellas, novelettes and short stories. And there are lots of links so you can read ‘em for yourself.

(As you probably know, the Hugo Awards honor the best science fiction or fantasy works of the year.)

Or if you prefer listening to reading, head on over to Escape Pod for audio podcast editions of four of the five nominated short stories.

Escape Pod has traditionally podcast the Hugo short story nominees, so you can also dig through their archives for past honorees. Nice!

Happy reading/listening.

Link >

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Catch an interview with podcast novel pioneer — and now hot-selling print author — Scott Sigler on the SciFiDimensions podcast.

If you haven’t heard Sigler’s work before, head over to his site ScottSigler.com and sample his audio podcast.  My fave is his “Infected” podcast novel, which has since found a print publisher and become a bestseller.

Some good news for fans of Sigler’s podcasts: Even with the print success of “Infected,” he will keep distributing his fiction for free via his podcast … which only makes sense, since “Infected” was a big hit as an audio podcast before publisher Crown scooped him up.

Link >

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If you like your hardboiled fiction with an in-your-face, profanity-studded style, you should check out the ThugLit site run by editor (and writer) Todd “Big Daddy Thug” Robinson.

Issue # 25, which leads the site now, kicks off with “Faith-Based Initiative,” a story about a wronged priest and some Salvadorans looking for payback in scenic Asbury Park, N.J. (the blighted former tourist attraction, now famous for Bruce Springsteen, the Stone Pony music club and its crumbling ocean-front boardwalk.)

And the intensity ramps up from there with stories featuring assorted low-lifes, cons and, well, thugs, all told with an over-the-top style and unhealthy helpings of sex and violence.

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