Monday, April 14, 2008

A Podcast and a Pub


I received a very nice, and I thought very accurate, review of “Swords of Talera” in a podcast from Dial P for Pulp. The mastermind behind “Dial P” is David Drage, who lives in Aberdeen, Scotland with his wife and son. David is a Pulp fan and advocate with a particular interest in Robert E. Howard. We made contact on one of the online Robert E. Howard fan groups. David really seems to know the genre well, and respect it, and he acknowledged both the traditional qualities of “Swords” and the strengths of how those qualities were portrayed. If you’re interested, the podcast is on “Show # 5,” but if you want the direct link it’s here. It will take a little while to load, or at least it did on my computer. The “Swords” review is about a quarter of the way along the podcast. But there looks like a lot of interesting stuff on the site.

In other news, Strange Worlds of Lunacy has just been released, which contains my story, “Mirthgar.” This is a big collection, with over 50 humorous stories. I haven’t even gotten my contributor copy yet so I haven’t read any of the other stories, although I know a number of the authors. It looks like a good collection. The cover is above. I posted a piece from my story before, but here’s another taste. Remember that a “pale,” which is basically a horrible, lingering fog, has fallen upon the fabled land of Mirthgar.

“Ill omens abounded. A question mark was found crop-circled into a farmer’s lotus field in Mirthdale, while in Mirthhedge an albino Irish setter was born to a pair of bluetick coon hounds. In the very halls of the Queen’s palace, the infamous ghost of King Hornrey the First was seen to slip on an ectoplasmic banana peel and do the splits with an expression of considerable pain. The habitual hilarity had already fled from the people of Mirthgar, and now hope joined hilarity in exile.”

And, BTW, I recieved the following award from Anna-Lys. I really appreciate it since it's something I hope to do in my blog. Thank you!

32 comments:

Lana Gramlich said...

Congrats on the podcast, the publishing & the award. :)

Travis Cody said...

That little passage made me laugh out loud.

Shauna Roberts said...

Congratulations on the publication and the award!

Bernita said...

"A question mark was found crop-circled into a farmer’s lotus field"

A sentence that fills me with strange delight, never mind the hoots in the rest of the passage.

X. Dell said...

Strange Worlds of Lunacy sounds like something I definitely want to read. I imagine it to be somewhat (as in Phil K.) 'Dickensian.'

the walking man said...

IMHO the award is the best of todays lot, though it is all well deserved, that one is true for many of us Charles.

Peace

mark

Charles Gramlich said...

Lana, thankee sweetness.

Travis, I'm glad to hear it.

Shauna, thanks much.

Bernita, glad you liked it

X.dell, parts if it certainly are.

Mark, thanks, man.

SzélsőFa said...

Congratulations to your new award. It does fit you!

Lisa said...

Congratulations on all the well deserved praise. I, too always learn a lot when I come here so I'd award it to you again if I could :)

writtenwyrdd said...

Yay for good things regarding your writing! My copy of SoT is in the mail, according to Amazon. Don't know when I'll get to it, seeing as I have about a dozen half-read books languishing (and that's just the fiction).

Greg said...

congrats on the good review! that passage made me laugh quite a few times. i'll have to add that book to my list of to-reads.

Ello - Ellen Oh said...

Congratulations Charles! I second the award as I too learn alot from you!

Cate Gardner said...

I look forward to reading your story in the Strange Worlds of Lunacy antho.

Cate :)

Britta Coleman said...

Ectoplasmic banana peel? Excellent! Many congrats.

Monique said...

Congrats. The anthology I contributed to and where MD was born is out now too.

I did laugh out loud though.

Travis Erwin said...

Nice award and the good reviews just keep piling in.

Josephine Damian said...

Charles: Luv the cover and that award is so cool. Much congrats!

So many writers are getting the word out using these podcasts - alas I am on dial-up and can't listen to any of them. Crap.

Can you please tell me what a "mage" is? I see that word a lot but still don't know what it is.

Charles Gramlich said...

Szelsofa,thanks.

Lisa, I appreciate the kind words.

Writtenwyrd, thanks for ordering it. I know what you mean about the "waiting list" for books to read. I've got a long one as well.

Greg, glad you got a laugh. I haven't written a lot of funny stuff but I liked how this one came out.

Ello, thanks. I hope you're over that pesky food poisoning.

Catherine, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for visiting.

Britta, I kind of liked that image myself :)

Monique, did you list that anthology on your blog? What's the title?

Travis Erwin, I appreciated your good words for sure.

Josephine, thanks. I appreciate that. A "mage" is another word for wizard. I suppose it has a root tied in with Magician but I'm not absolutely sure of that.

Heff said...

Congratumahlations-n-shit!

ZZZZZZZ said...

Wow, congrats on it all! I wish I had something published, but until then I just keep on keepin' on. haha

JR's Thumbprints said...

Kudos to you. It's always good to stay productive.

Charles Gramlich said...

Heff, thankee.

Sheila, glad to see you around again. I hope all is OK.

JR, thanks. Much appreciated.

Danette Haworth said...

Way up too late, but I'll be back to catch up!

Steve Malley said...

Podcast, pub and plaudit, all in one day. Good on ya!

Charles Gramlich said...

Danette, I was up too late last night myself. Tired today.

Steve Malley, Sometimes the stars aline.

Tyhitia Green said...

Congratulations on your award and the podcast.

I love that passage, by the way. :*)

SQT said...

Congrats on all the well deserved attention.

WH said...

Congrats on the award and the Mirthgar story!!!

ZZZZZZZ said...

Yes the last published post I had was on the 13th but even though i've been really busy with school and work once in a while i'll go on my blog and save a draft with a title and a few sentences describing what it was i was feeling and wanted to talk about and then i finish it later. i actually had a few minutes yesterday to get online, add pictures and publish four of them, and i have six more in waiting but unfortunately i have to get ready for work right now. :o( I just wanted to get online and let you know that it's not your computer! haha

Charles Gramlich said...

Demon hunter, thanks. I appreciate that.

SQT, Billy, thankee.

Sheila, ah, that explains it. Glad you have been OK.

Mimi Lenox said...

What great honors and accomplishments. Congratulations!

Charles Gramlich said...

Thanks, Mimi