The story was produced, directed, and scored by Jim Bultas. Other voices in the story are: Justin Warner, Barbara Schulte, Jim Bultas, Misty Myrick, Eric Schulte, and Glen Perkins.

The crew at Redline Theatre did a great job with this story. It moves quick, and the voices are excellent. I also really liked the score by Jim Bultas. Redline Theatre is worth checking out. I’m certain that Variant Frequencies fans will enjoy it.

Good Man in the Badlands – Redline Theatre

All good things must come to an end. On May 30, 2010 we will be doing a live show at Balticon 44. That will be the final episode of Variant Frequencies. We hope that any of you who will be at Balticon 44 will come join us for this farewell performance. It is an opportunity to celebrate and say goodbye, instead of simply fading away.

We can’t thank the Farpoint Media family enough. It has been an honor and a privilege to be associated with this wonderful group of people. We will keep the site going as long as FPM is willing to let us. That will keep all of the stories available. It will also leave open the possibility of one day returning if I get the bug again.

Then we have the amazing writers: A.R. Yngve, Adrian Grey Marsden, Bryn Sparks, Carmelo Rafala, Christa Faust, D.K. Thompson, Darren Reid, David Tallerman, Dennis Egan, D.J. Burnham, James P. Hogan, Jason McDowell, Jonathan C. Gillespie, Johathan McGoran, Michael Natale, Ray Banks, Scott Sigler, Seth Harwood, Matthew Warner, Jack Mangan, D. M. Moehrle, Michael A. Stackpole, Ray Banks, Jack Westlake, and of course the two authors for which this podcast was originally started, Anne Stringer and Matt Wallace.

Variant Frequencies could not have existed without the incredible voice talents of: Stacey Griffith-Livingston, Tom “DevoSpice” Rockwell, Ian Jones, Anne Stringer, Maia “KnitWhitch” Whitaker, Anton Buntic, Heidi Jones, Jan Dalton, Evo Terra, Neil Stringer, Adrian Grey Marsden, A.R. Yngve, Jeff Frank, Scott Sigler, Ali Groves, Rich Sigfrit, Dani Cutler, Nan Worthington, Tee Morris, Mur Lafferty, Michael R. Mennenga, Chuck Tomasi, Leann Mabry, J. Marcus Xavior, John Cmar, Jack Hosley, Tony McCartney, Matthew Wayne Selznick, Will Hoffacker, Phil Rossi, Jack Ward, Lonnie Ezell, Ciaran O’Carroll, Nobilis, Paul S. Jenkins, Lorrie Mennenga, TD-0013, P.G. Holyfield, Seth Harwood, Thomas “cmdln” Gideon, Marck Pearlstone, Matthew Warner, Heather Welliver, Kreg Steppe, Matt Wallace, J.C. Hutchins, Chris Lester, Marilyn Taylor, Michael A. Stackpole, Sean “Dogg” Robertson, Benjamin Grundy, Christopher Mott, and Alasdair Stuart.

We also had some beautiful artwork by: Deena Warner, Paul Drummond, and Vincent Chong.

A major part of Variant Frequencies has been the music. We have been honored to feature music by: Abney Park, Cagey House, Evan Tate, Greg Seaman, Mue Sephei, Neil Stringer, and the Traverse Symphony Orchestra.

Finally, we want to thank you, the listeners. Without you, Variant Frequencies would have had no reason to be. It has been truly an honor to have you listen to our stories. We can only hope that we entertained you, and distorted your reality…

for just a little while.

Hutch is once again creating new ways to promote his fantastic writing. You can get an EP recorded by one of the characters. John Smith’s “Anyman” EP can be found here:

http://jchutchins.net/site/2009/10/12/anyman-ep-track-1-unscrew-you/

There is so much more to explore on his site:

• A brand-new podcast recording of the “print edition” of the novel (with new scenes, twists, and character tweaks)
• A prequel audio short story anthology called 7th Son: 7 Days
• Serialization of the novel in PDF at my site, and the text at BoingBoing.net
• Free songs written and performed by John Smith, the musician character in the book
• And more

I think Hutch is one of the best new writers out there. You are doing yourself a huge disservice if you have not read or listened to his work. There is no excuse. It is available in just about any form that you want, and maybe even soon, on film.

Here is the promo for 7th Son: Descent.

http://media.libsyn.com/media/jchutchins/7thSonDescent_Promo_01.mp3

In December, we are going to blast your ears twice a week with The Failed Cities: Hath a Darkness by Matt Wallace! The action starts on December 1 and ends on Christmas Day.

In January we will continue the Christmas theme with a fantastic story by New York Times Best Selling Author, Michael A. Stackpole.

We are just getting rolling folks. It is going to be a great season!

We also want to thank Michael A. Stackpole. Mr. Stackpole is New York Times Best Selling Author who provided the incredible voice for this story. From the moment I first read this story, I heard Michael A. Stackpole’s voice in my head. I’m so glad he agreed to read it for us.

Thank you to the 2009 Parsec Awards Steering Committee for all of their hard work on the awards.

Finally, thank you for listening to Variant Frequencies. There is more good stuff to come, we promise.

Here is a list of our episodes that qualify for Best Speculative Fiction Story (Short Form).

Saint Darwin’s Spirituals
Grounders
The Destruction of Sennacherib
Queue
All The Time
Under The Bridge Downtown
Best In Class
Creature of God
Gill Bando
Prisoners
Under The Bed

For Best Speculative Fiction Story (novella)
The End of Flesh

Finally, you certainly could nominate us for Best Speculative Fiction Magazine or Anthology Podcast.

We hope that you have enjoyed Variant Frequencies enough to nominate us again for the Parsec Awards. It has been an honor to be part of it for the past three years. So, if you think we deserve it, please go to http://parsecawards.com/submission and tell them what you think about us.

Thank you from everyone at Variant Frequencies.

__

UPDATE: Variant Frequencies has been nominated by a few people now. Thank you to those that have nominated us. If you want to nominate a specific story, then go to this page: http://www.parsecawards.com/node/618. Then add a comment that tells them the exact story that you want to nominate.

I had a great time. Thank you Susie!

The book is edited by Dayton Ward, best known for his Star Trek novels. He also wrote one of the stories.

Anne and Jason wrote a story called “Flashback.” You all know how good Anne’s writing is. Jason is a terrific writer, and has real war experience from his tour in Iraq. They came up with a piece about a former soldier who goes on the run for murder, and winds up in a mercenary team on a far distant colony planet. They were happy with how it turned out, and apparently so was Mr. Ward.

Anne has written many of our stories here on Variant Frequencies, and Jason wrote the Parsec Award nominated “Sacrifice.”

Here is the full list of authors and their stories in the book:

Derek Tyler Attico, “Blowback”

Robin Wayne Bailey, “Shin-Gi-Tai”

Kirsten Beyer, “Widow’s Weeds”

David Boop, “The Thing With Private Leon’s Face”

John Coffren, “Across the Endless Sea”

Jeff D. Jacques, “Rush”

Jean Johnson, “It’s Not a Game”

Alan L. Lickiss, “Granny’s Grunts”

Julie McGalliard, “98 Hill”

Nayad A. Monroe, “An Assessment of the Incident At Camp Righteous”

Scott Pearson, “Finders Keepers”

Irene Radford, “Price of Command”

Selina Rosen, “Unchained”

Bradley H. Sinor and Susan P. Sinor, “Who Stand and Wait”

Anne Stringer and Jason McDowell, “Flashback”

James Swallow, “Target Market”

Geoffrey Thorne, “Truth Metric”

Dayton Ward, “A Fresh Perspective”

“I Killed Awesome Man” is written and produced by Finn Colgan. It is the story a mild-mannered comic book shop clerk who accidentally kills his favorite superhero…  then must assume his identity to save the world.

It is a fun story in the style of an old-time pulp serial. Check it out, it is a lot of fun.

Visit www.ikilledawesomeman.com for more information.

FRONT ROW SEATS by Scott William Carter

Daniel lingered in his cramped office at the University of Minnesota long after the other professors in the Math department called it a day. He was still there when all the lights under all the doors winked out and the parking lot outside his window was a bleak, snow-draped emptiness. He was at his desk when old Cal Thomas from Geography shuffled past, taking his incessant coughing with him. He stayed until the equations on shifted lattices turned to squirrelly nonsense, lines and squiggles on ruled pages, until finally he felt the thing creep into his thoughts, that black starfish wrapping its prickly limbs around whatever memories he chose to dwell upon, making his ears ring and his eyes water.

Here is what they had to say on their site, and a link to their show:

While Chuck and I were in Last Vegas for the New Media Expo 2008, we knew that we had to make a special stop while we were there..The Star Trek Experience.

For 10 years The Star Trek Experience located at the Las Vegas Hilton has been captivating trekkers/trekkies with an immersive world that literally drops you from one reality into another walking down corridors and right onto the bridge of the enterprise. Well the time has come for it to move along, but before that happened Chuck and I had the opportunity to take the ‘Behind the Scenes’ tour and take you along with us.

If you are a Star Trek fan, then it is well worth checking out.

Part One:
http://www.chuckchat.com/technorama/?p=835

Part Two:
http://www.chuckchat.com/technorama/?p=842

Here is the scoop from both of their sites!

Stories of the Third Wave #16 – Pallas and Stan

I have been excited about this one for a while. Many months ago, Matt Wallace approached me to write the history of Seventh City’s most famous hero and villain, and the birth of the Academy. We talked at length about what I had in my story bible, and Matt created this fabulous epic out of it. It’s long, but so worth it. Matt, author of The Next Fix, is a fine author and a good friend. (and we share a birthday, so he’s got to be good people)

But he is my nemesis and someday I will destroy him. Just not today.

OBSIDIAN: Episode 20

August 25, 2008

The black … is back.

Today marks the debut of the second half of 7th Son: OBSIDIAN, and it’s a frickin’ doozy thanks to this week’s powerhouse author. (If you’re dying to know why OBSIDIAN was on hiatus, listen to the intro of the most recent UltraCreatives interview with author/podcaster Mur Lafferty.)

Meet Matt Wallace. He’s as tall as a tree and as dangerous as Killdozer — because Everyone Knows a Machine Cannot Kill. Except the Machine. Ferociously talented, Matt is a Parsec Award-winning author — whose short story Delve is nominated for a 2008 Parsec for short story — and is best known in the podcasting community for The Failed Cities Monologues and countless contributions to the exceptional short story podcast, Variant Frequencies.

Matt is also a screenwriter, and is currently working on several short- and long-form fiction projects. His short story anthology The Next Fix, published by APEX Publications, is currently available for purchase. Try Amazon.com. It will make your head explode.

This week, Matt Wallace brings us Receiver. In addition to being a perfect representation of his gritty, kick-you-in-the-balls, tear-out-your-jugular prose, Receiver is also the first full-length short story that Matt Wallace has read in podcasting. The audio was produced by Rick Stringer, creator of the Variant Frequencies podcast. Learn more about Matt’s work at Matt-Wallace.net, and find Variant Frequencies at VariantFrequencies.com.

Anne and I had a wonderful time talking with Stephen Kilbride, the host of the excellent Tea and Chat podcast. So, you want to know more about how we started Variant Frequencies? Here is your chance. If you liked it, please let Steve know.

Also, if you haven’t heard it yet, Steve recently interviewed Matt Wallace.

Matt Wallace and Mur Lafferty are guests on Adventures in SciFi Publishing. Shaun Farrell does a great job interviewing both of them. If you are a Matt Wallace or Mur Lafferty fan, then you will want to check out this podcast.

Even if you have heard other interviews with Matt and Mur, you will learn new things about both of them.

Hypericon is returning to Nashville, Tennessee June 27-29, 2008. Hypericon is a speculative fiction convention celebrating science fiction, horror, fantasy, literature, arts, and media. Variant Frequencies will be represented by both Matt Wallace and Anne Stringer. They both are participating in panels. If you are going to be near Nashville that weekend, stop in and meet Matt and Anne. They both would love to talk to some of our listeners.

Here is the description from their site:

Responding to a faint distress call brings Deck to a frozen wasteland of a planet. With bone-chilling temperatures and blinding blizzards, surely nothing could have survived in such an environment… Or could it? Isoloated from the Far Reach One, far from help, far from hope, Deck will find the answer to this and more questions during… Two Days on the Tundra of Terror!

As always, this is another great production by our friends at Decoder Ring Theatre. The Deck Gibson stories are a great example of Matt Wallace’s diversity. They are very different from the type of work you have heard by Matt here on Variant Frequencies. The series is old style pulp science fiction tales.

Alright, Matt Wallace fans. Just in case you have been living under a rock, Act Two of Latchkeepers is now on Stranger Things. I just watched it. You have to see it. Earl Newton and his crew have put together as good of a production as anything you will see on TV. Oh, that’s right, soon you will be able to see Stranger Things on TV. This thing totally ROCKS!

If you haven’t seen Act One of Latchkeepers, then you need to go here NOW!

Kick back to the strains of Earth’s last Top 40 as the final human DJ sends a shout out over “The Last Frequency.” Step into the hard-boiled beauty of “The Losting Corridor,” where that which once escaped a man is met again. Sink into the visceral embrace of fear when a claustrophobic metal shop teacher finds himself trapped in an MRI machine surrounded by ancient evil in “Killing Jars,” or take your ancient evil with a comedic chaser as a hitwoman is hired to rid her old Catholic high school of a janitor who is up to some “Old Tricks.”

Take a hit off twelve short stories and one novella from two-time Parsec Award-winning author Matt Wallace. Get ready for The Next Fix.
***
Apex Book Company
http://www.apexbookcompany.com
(for pre-orders. It will be on Amazon once it’s out)

TheNextFix.net
http://www.thenextfix.net

The Next Fix
Copyright 2008 Matt Wallace
http://matt-wallace.net/

Variant Frequencies
Copyright 2008 Rick Stringer and Matt Wallace
http://www.variantfrequencies.com

The are a couple of reviews on Amazon. Check out this clip from one:

The absolute winner, however, is The End of Flesh, by Matt Wallace, a dark, dystopic science fiction story that just might rock your world. This revelatory novella could and should be expanded into a full novel. Drool and The End of All Flesh are worth the price alone, but all the stories should provide an enjoyable read. –Monstor Librarian

Tattered Souls is selling for $16.95. It is well worth the price.

How is this for a great lineup?

Table of Contents

1. Editorial
2. What is Sci Phi? By Jason Rennie
3. Irwin Goes to Hell By Jason Pomerantz
4. The Oracle in the Red Limousine by Geoffrey Maloney
5. Requiem for a Harlequin: Two Perspectives on Time, and a Celebration of Kairos, in Three Stories by Harlan Ellison by Michael Spence
6. You Pretty Thing by Lee Battersby (This is the story read by Rick Stringer)
   Requiem for a Silent Planet by Stephen Dedman
7. The Big Questions Part 1 by Stephan Vladimir Bugaj and Ben Goertzel
8. A First Look at Lookism by Ryan Nichols
9. The Losting Corridor by Matt Wallace
10. Epilogue by Paul S. Jenkins

Recently, Anne and Rick had the pleasure of being interviewed by Wander Wolf for his podcast Wander Radio. We were honored to talk with him.

This is a rare opportunity to hear Anne talk about her craft, and you can hear some of the background of Variant Frequencies.

Check it out!

http://wanderradio.com/?p=73

My print copy of Playing for Keeps by Mur Lafferty arrived today. What a great thing to come home from work to.

For that one person out there who doesn’t know, Playing for Keeps is Mur’s latest novel. She is currently in the process of podcasting it.

Here is the description from LULU.com:
Playing for Keeps tells the story of Keepsie Branson, a bar owner in the shining metropolis of Seventh City: birthplace of super powers. Keepsie and her friends live among egotistical heroes and manipulative villains, and manage to fall directly in the middle as people with powers, but who just aren’t strong enough to make a difference. Or that’s what they’ve been told. As the city begins to melt down, it’s hard to tell who are the good guys and who are the bad.

Mur has done a fantastic job with this book. I’m really enjoying the podcast. Now that I have the book, it is going to be hard not to skip ahead of the podcast.

http://matt-wallace.net/
***
Promos
The Failed Cities Monologues
http://www.podiobooks.com/title/the-failed-cities-monologues/

Variant Frequencies
Copyright 2007 Rick Stringer and Matt Wallace
http://www.variantfrequencies.com

Two prolific independent horror authors discuss writing scary stories… how is the genre different from others? How do you frighten with the written word? Also — we’ll be giving away a prize package featuring works by the guests and host Matthew Wayne Selznick.

Matt Wallace
Mark Leslie

Collaroy, NSW, Australia, October 1st, 2007 — Independent Australian production companies Thinktank Digital and Precision Pictures have announced a joint feature film project they hope to begin shooting in early 2008. The film, entitled DEVILS KITCHEN, will be a period horror/thriller based on the legendary journey of early 19th century Irish convict Alexander Pearce.

Pearce fled the notoriously hellish penal colony on Sarah Island in 1822 with seven other convicts. Recaptured alone over 100 days later, he told a story that has become the subject of books, documentaries, the stage, and made Pearce a controversial figure in Australian history and popular culture referenced in songs by such bands as Weddings Parties Anything and The Drones. Attempting to cross the hostile Tasmanian wilderness, the titular Devil’s Kitchen, Pearce and his cohorts were faced with nearly impassable terrain, harsh weather, and the threat of starvation. One by one, the escaped convicts killed and cannibalized each other until only Pearce remained.

Producer Robin Newell will also direct from a script co-written with multi-award winning author Matt Wallace. Newell, who’s been developing the project over a number of years, has directed and produced documentary programs in over 30 countries and received accolades that include the United Nations Documentary Film Award and the ATOM for Unique and Outstanding Production.

“This is a great story of survival – of the depth a man will go to survive,” Newell says of his dream project. “It is also a horror film. More shocking when you realise that this is a true story. The images we will re-create are real. These men really did embark on a perilous journey through some of the worlds most impenetrable terrain. They really did kill and eat each other along the way and Alexander Pearce really did come out the other side to tell his story. He was the first white man to travel from one side of Tasmania to the other. It is one of the greatest stories of survival, ever.”

Pearce’s tale is also the inspiration for new film DYING BREED starring SAW franchise co-creator Leigh Whannell. While DYING BREED, scheduled to be released next year, is said to be a contemporary take on the material, Newell and crew hope to tell a more factually based story.

DEVILS KITCHEN will be shot on-location in Tasmania with an estimated budget of $3 million AUD.

http://www.variantfrequencies.com/FeralPhotos/

We are so honored that these two showed up at Dragon*Con in costumes from our story.

Slava and Julie as Ferus and Fera.

Also, take a look at Matt’s LiveJournal or MySpace pages.

He was given permission to share this amazing mock-up Precision Pictures had done to promote Delve – the feature film project they’re developing based on his short story of the same name. This is one of the ways they’re enticing the big studios to get behind the production.

It was created by master visual effects artist Ian Brown, the man responsible for those sweeping shots of turn-of-the-century Paris at the beginning of Moulin Rouge! and one of the many talented Aussie effects people who brought the Lord of the Rings trilogy to life.

Feel free to plaster this thing any and everywhere you can. The word is “buzz” and every little bit helps.

Way to go Matt!

Here is the description from their site:
When Far Reach Control intercepts a distress call from members of a mysterious race, there is little time to spare. Only the pilot of the Far Reach 1, the only member of Earth’s feared Quasar Corps ever to fly under an alien flag, is close enough to assist. Can Commander Deck Gibson leave the past behind and protect the galaxy of wonder into which he has been thrust?

Go check it out.

“It ain’t Rogue Pictures,” Matt says, referring to fellow Podiobooks author Scott Sigler, whose novel Infested was recently optioned by the Universal Studios subsidiary, “but I’m definitely excited. Mostly because it excuses me from getting that job at Kinko’s for another couple of months, at least.”

Matt is currently scripting an as-of-yet unnamed project for another Australian production team. He expects to begin working on the adaptations within the next few months.

Precision Pictures is the brainchild of Australian producer Simon Smithers, who, in 2006, began developing a feature film project based on Matt’s Detective Jon “Busboy” Pacson character. That project is progressing steadily.

When reached for comment, Smithers had this to say: “I have read many books and the screenplays that evolve from them, often with disappointing results. Matt, on the other hand, has the unique talent to take a script that one step beyond where his story left off. It’s a little disturbing, but luckily for me it takes an Aussie to recognize true American talent. I am truly looking forward to seeing ‘The Failed Cities Monologues‘ and ‘Delve‘ rendered to the big screen.”

The Failed Cities Monologues are set in a dystopian version of New York City and combine elements of cyberpunk, noir, and gothic horror. It is notable for its multi-perspective storytelling technique, which shifts between the point of view of eight different protagonists. Delve is set on a small space station in the distant future and concerns a small group of people working to reconstitute the human race after it has been decimated by a bizarre plague.

Both The Failed Cities Monologues and Delve originally appeared on the award-winning Variant Frequencies podcast.

They’re in excellent company. Also in the photo are such luminaries as Michael A. Stackpole, NYT bestselling author, who won for his podcast about writing, The Secrets; Patrick McLean, for his podcast The Seanachai, who won two Parsecs; Stephen Euin Cobb, who won for his podcast, The Future and You; Kevin Bachelder, who won for The Scapecast. How cool is that?

A full list can be seen at www.parsecawards.com.

Categories include:
• Best Speculative Fiction Story, Short Form (Pick your favorite Variant Frequencies short!)
• Best Speculative Fiction Story, Long Form (May we suggest The Failed Cities Monologues?)
• Best Audio Production (We think Variant Frequencies sounds pretty good!)

So go to http://www.parsecawards.com/
Register there so you can nominate your favorite podcast. (Variant Frequencies!)