Dan Dan The Art Man

I share some flash fiction, updates on how my debut novel is now in the hands of beta readers and that I get to appear on The Roundtable Podcast to talk about a story idea with the awesome hosts Dave Robison and Brion Humphrey and one of my favorite authors Dan Wells! 

http://roundtablepodcast.com

Also I've started a couple new podcasts, see links below.

http://penfightsgamepad.blogspot.com/

http://sparkituppodcast.blogspot.com/

Donald Conrad of www.did-not-finish.com and Dan Absalonson of www.DanDanTheArtMan.com talk about video games, writing, being husbands with awesome wifes and fathers of many young children, what life is like as dads and lots of other stuff. In this first episode they talk about they met, their interests, and their art. Donald blogs about finishing his enormous back log of video games and creates graphic novels. Dan writes and podcasts short stories and has his first full length novel coming out soon.

Links to things mentioned in the show:

Donald's website & twitter handle:

http://did-not-finish.com/

http://twitter.com/ConManEd

Dan's website & twitter handle:

http://www.dandantheartman.com/

http://twitter.com/DanDanTheArtMan/

Alien (Movie)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_(film)

Russian Unicorn Bad Lip Reading Video:

http://youtu.be/YjaZNYSt7o0

Clang Kickstarter with Neal Stephenson:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/260688528/clang

Round Table Podcast

http://www.roundtablepodcast.com/

Writing Excuses Podcast

http://www.writingexcuses.com/

Music used in the podcast by Kevin Macleod:

http://incompetech.com/

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I don't watch much TV. From Lost successfully masquerading as a smart show to the cancellation of Firefly, there are too many examples of how the medium has been circling the drain for me to bother engaging with it anymore. At this point, its main purpose is product placement for advertisers.Well, LOST didn't have much product placement, but Sawyer should have done some L'Oreal ads. That man had sexy hair.

The physical TV set is still important to me, but it takes six whistled notes to get me back to a time when I cared about the programming: the opening notes of Chris Carter's The X-Files. (After Mulder left, it became Magic Crap X-Files, but I like to focus on when it was really good.)Only a handful of TV shows moved me in any direction other than “towards the remote,” but The X-Files is forever infused into who I am. And one episode made me doubt whether I wanted to stay in my skin.

"Home" No matter how hard I try, I will never forget this episode. I sat with a blanket tucked under my nose while my eyes bulged from my face. A loud voice in the back of my head was not-so-gently telling me to turn off the TV, but I remained frozen in terror no matter how hard I tried to force myself to move.The pure horror contained in just the first few moments of this episode is enough to embarrass any Hollywood production. I will never forget its visceral impact, and now that I am a father I find it even more terrifying, twisted, and revolting.A newborn is found in a shallow grave, and the method of its discovery dares your body to not convulse in shivers. As the viewer, you know it was buried alive — you were there when it was born.

The true nature of the forces at work remains hidden for most of the episode. As Mulder and Scully investigated the run-down farmhouse near the infant’s remains, a knot started forming in my stomach. Something was so wrong! Then, they showed an eye.

Not two eyes, just one. One very evil eye watching my favorite paranormal detectives from under the floor of the house. The agents’ intrusion does not sit well with the building’s occupants, and it leads to a second gut-wrenching twist in this oh-so-dark episode: the farmhouse residents get their old car running, put on some golden oldies, and drive into town to viciously murder the sheriff.

You don't directly see the violence —just the terrified wife hiding under the bed, watching as her husband is beat to death with a baseball bat. The horror she experienced was shared with me.

Then, off camera, you also hear her brutal death.

I remember looking at my clock and wishing for the hour to be up. The madness had to stop.

The new deaths drove Mulder and Scully to action, and they headed to the farmhouse to find the people responsible for all three murders. They did just that, and the episode that couldn't possibly deal any more horror was quietly laughing at me.

The messed up part of this episode wasn't everything that I had just witnessed. It was what came next.

I don't know anything about rural Pennsylvania but after watching this, I knew I didn't want to visit there. The Peacocks are the family who own the farmhouse. Under the bed in the main room of the house, they find a woman with her arms cut off at the elbows and her legs cut off at the knees. Outside three males that look like deformed monsters are busy rounding up pigs as Mulder and Scully look around. As Scully looks over family photos hanging in dusty frames, you are presented with a fact. The father of two of the males outside is also their brother.

The Peacocks have been keeping it in the family for generations. This amplified the horror of everything. EVERYTHING! To make it worse, not only was the mother okay with all of this, but I had no clue if she was the sister to the three outside. My mind swirled with the implications of the reveal.

TV shows are generally careful about their depiction of gun violence. Not this episode. Two of the Peacocks end up in a physical fight with Mulder. It is a scene that had me inches from my TV screen. It wasn't lots of camera angles and flashy close ups. It was just Scully from behind as she tried to line up a shot. In the background, Mulder fought for his life. I am sure I knew that the main character of the show wouldn't die in the second episode of the new season, but there I was trying to process everything that was happening, watching Mulder get choked to death.

The gun shot was profound. There was no dramatic death moment for the Peacock boy. Just a pop, and he fell over. The survivor broke his attack on Mulder to chase Scully. This resulted in a death by his own design. They had the house booby trapped. A spiked hammer found it's way into his spine. It was unrelenting and refused to let me look away.The horror was done. All the loose ends could be tied up. Right? I needed them to be tied up. The Mother and youngest Peacock were gone. In a bid to finish in a way that could never be forgotten, they showed the Peacock's car sitting on the side of a dirt road. Mother Peacock is giving a voice over about starting the family over again, moving to a new home, going back to how it was. Then, the trunk opens. Youngest Peacock climbs out adjusting his pants. They drive off into the night.

It's over, but, it didn't matter. I had already seen it, and I couldn't undo that.

For all the things that made me want to turn off the TV and hide under my bed forever, I do realize that it is one of the best pieces of American television ever produced. It is the first time I ever felt that base-line kind of fear. Shows like "The River" tried to envoke it with sudden sounds and spooky found footage but failed to even touch a little bit of what made "Home" scary.

I spent years seeking out the thrill that the episode provided. I found it in a game called Dead Space and more recently Amnesia: The Dark Decent. After years of thinking, I can pinpoint what makes that X-Files episode amazing. It wasn't trying to be scary, horrible, or grotesque. It was made like any other X-Files episode. It's the human element that made it what it was. The way it slowly presented progressively twisted facts. It's use of camera placement to conceal the truth of what was being dealt with. Showing a living newborn being buried.

I now realize that this was not just a TV memory, but this was something that effected me on a deeper level. For all that "Home" visited on me, I do go back and watch it from time to time. Without fail I am taken back to that dark room in the basement of my parents' house, sitting in the flicker of my ancient TV as "Home" is experienced for the first time again.

Bio:

Donald Conrad is an artist, writer, and blogger who writes about video games, family, and many other things. He is a devoted husband and loving father of four. You can find his hilarious and well written posts over at his website www.did-not-finish.com. We live in the same town and rumor has it we may be staring up a podcast together, so he just might be my cohost as we talk video games, writing, books, movies, TV, and more. Stay tuned to both of our sites to find out when our first episode drops. Until then, Donald posts regularly on his site and his posts are great.

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Brought to you by http://www.dandantheartman.com/

I know not everyone is a fan of audio fiction like I am, so I thought I would start offering some of my stories as free PDFs in my podcast feed. They can also be found in most online retailers, but I thought this would be one nice way to offer more content on my feed, so here you go. This is a short story where a husband sees an armed robber enter the store where his pregnant wife went to pick up something. Find out what he does about it.

If you would like to hear this story in audio format complete with sound effects go here:

http://www.dandantheartman.com/2012/05/short-stories-of-dandantheartman-10-day.html

My Info:

Website:

http://www.dandantheartman.com/

Twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/DanDanTheArtMan

A podcast short story where a husband sees an armed robber enter the store where his pregnant wife went to pick up something. Find out what he does about it. Thanks to Jeff Hite for the bumper!

Music "Summon The Rawk" by Kevin MacLeod:

http://incompetech.com/

Jeff Hite:

http://jeffhite.wordpress.com/

Promo at the end of the Podcast was for Flying Island Press at:

http://www.flyingislandpress.com/

My Info:

Website:

http://www.dandantheartman.com/

Twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/DanDanTheArtMan

Sound Effects Used from http://www.freesound.org/:

Central Locking.wav

http://www.freesound.org/people/digifishmusic/sounds/35108/

power_door_click_02.wav

http://www.freesound.org/people/joedeshon/sounds/117043/

Gun-Pistol(one shot).wav

http://www.freesound.org/people/Shades/sounds/37236/

Smag's Glass.wav

http://www.freesound.org/people/Matthewsmaglik/sounds/89979/

AE0090 Volvo 740 GLE handbrake turn 01.flac

http://www.freesound.org/people/audible-edge/sounds/76804/

Earth Wind Fire Water pack 1 » Earth1.aif

http://www.freesound.org/people/pushtobreak/sounds/16793/

DangerousBedroom » slideropen.wav

http://www.freesound.org/people/NoiseCollector/sounds/57023/

Foley » CrackingDryWood.wav

http://www.freesound.org/people/HerbertBoland/sounds/33206/

Bone Crunching sounds » Bone Cracking.wav

http://www.freesound.org/people/DalomarGrimm/sounds/7721/

human » male-fight08.ogg

http://www.freesound.org/people/Erdie/sounds/44268/

Body Hitting Mat.aif

http://www.freesound.org/people/MAJ061785/sounds/85532/

guns » Dropping a gun.wav

http://www.freesound.org/people/Leady/sounds/12734/

elevator_motor.wav

http://www.freesound.org/people/pempi/sounds/33873/

ding.wav

http://www.freesound.org/people/Corsica_S/sounds/91926/

BABIES and KIDS mono and stereo » 00235 baby newborn first voice.wav

Currently /5 Stars.12345(72)

http://www.freesound.org/people/Robinhood76/sounds/58178/

Public Spaces » IKEA_Cafeteria.wav

http://www.freesound.org/people/digifishmusic/sounds/46068/

slurping.wav

http://www.freesound.org/people/fille1000/sounds/67230/

CARS individual sounds » 01019 car door 3.wav

http://www.freesound.org/people/Robinhood76/sounds/71695/

Enjoy and thanks for stopping by!

TV Memories # 14

by Sally Preston

It's all about the theme song! Well... mostly! Maybe this is part of what sparked my interest in becoming a musician... ok, it could have also had something to do with my parents building pipe organs or my mom being a concert organist. But for me, the thing that could make or break a show was the theme song!

We rarely had access to cable as kids so it was mostly public stations. My favorite shows were well connected to whether or not the theme song was good. What little kid didn't get a bolt of excitement when they heard the opening riff to "Sesame Street!", Also, almost any child of the 80's can surely recognize this melody "Believe it or not I'm walking on air! I never thought I could feel so free!" admit it, you heard the melody and now it's stuck in your head!

Also, while I never really watched Dallas, one of my favorite childhood memories was that when the theme song came on, I with my head full of curly ringlets would dance to it with my mom. Then when the dance was done, usually in a fit of giggles I would march off and go to sleep.

As I grew, I found that my TV memories were less wrapped up in the theme song, but more punctuated by what stage I was at in my life, for example "Saved by the Bell" decent theme song, but more known for giving me a glimpse of what I would hope high school would be like when I got there.

In college it was "Friends." The whole dorm would gather together and see if they could get the claps right in the song... for those of you wondering there are four, not five.

However as an adult my TV memories that stick out do so because it's connected to a powerful memory or emotion, and now that I think of it each TV memory connects to music in some way...

Paul Simon singing "The Sound of Silence" at Ground Zero. Too profound to fully explain.

Throughout my life my TV memories go hand and hand with the music that accompanies them, the two work together in tandem to great effect. Whether it's to excite and spark imagination as the opening theme song to "Deep Space 9" or to bring out the silly "Phineas and Ferb" props to my kids for exposing me to that! My favorite is when TV and music work together to remind me of just how blessed I am. Listen to the guest appearance of the Canadian Tenors on Oprah singing "Hallelujah" I defy you to not see the beauty in life at that moment. So, as a favor to yourself... when you turn on the TV, keep your eyes open, but also keep your ears open and remember... It's all about the theme song.

Bio:Sally Preston is a wife, music teacher and mother of three. She currently resides in Des Moines, Iowa where she enjoys soaking up the rich cultural events Des Moines has to offer. She also is an avid scrapbooker and most of all enjoys spending time with her family.

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Brought to you by http://www.dandantheartman.com/

TV Memories # 13by Laith Preston

When Dan approached me to do another guest post for him, this time on the topic of my TV memories, my first thought was that this would be an easy one to pull together. However, just like the previous post, more and more memories arose as I thought about it. Some of my earliest TV Memories revolve around, surprise, surprise, a children’s show - Mr Roger’s Neighborhood. I can recall the wonder as the trolley dinged along its track, taking us to the Neighborhood of Make-Believe.

I grew up in Kansas City in the 80s and 90s, so most of my memories were of watching TV on cable, rather than over the air broadcasts. However, there was one show I was somewhat addicted to that bucked this trend, The Secret City Adventures, a PBS kids art program. I can recall many times spending a number of minutes fiddling with the rabbit ears on an old television with dials on the front, trying to pull in the PBS station from Topeka, KS, 70 miles to the west. My deep interest in technology (and radio in particular) is partially due to trying to figure out exactly why I couldn’t get the show I wanted to see.

I have many fond memories of sitting down on Thursday nights after dinner with my parents for a family TV double header, first off was This Old House, I loved that show, it never was the same after Vila left.

After we finished watching the wonders of home restoration came Mystery!. I remember it well, the incredible opening sequence of Edward Gorey cartoons overlayed with the iconic theme music... I can hear it now. This solid, early introduction to logic and critical thinking had a strong influence on where I’ve ended up in life.

That I was a regular viewer of Saturday Morning Cartoons really goes without mention, but I do have a fond place in my heart for The Land of the Lost. I was fortunate in those days before massive syndication to catch the re-release of this and other genre classics: Star Trek, Lost in Space, Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers...

As time marched on television changed, over the years I was able to enjoy such works in syndication as Mission Impossible, and The Man from U.N.C.L.E., as well as less serious shows like Get Smart.

One thing I do know is that well before import animation reached the prominence it has today, I enjoyed the imports we had Robotech, Speed Racer, Tanzor Z, even if they were horrible adaptations to fit the US market and rules of the time. My interests weren’t limited to Japanese imports alone, Danger Mouse (UK), The Littles (FR/CA), Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea (FR) and The Mysterious Cities of Gold (FR/JP) all of these were important to me at one time or another.

TV has changed over the years, many great shows have come and gone. I am thankful that in our modern, fast paced, interconnected world; more and more venues like Netflix are getting the rights to these older shows, and I can introduce my daughters to some of the programing that helped make me into the inquisitive and creative person I am today.

Bio:Laith Preston is a voracious reader, aspiring writer and jack of many trades. When he is not at his day job as a web application developer, he can be found wasting way too much time on various pastimes in Des Moines, Iowa, with his wife, three kids and the cat. You can find his aimless meanderings at his blog, http://laith.wordpress.com/

Download the .mp3Brought to you by http://www.dandantheartman.com/

This week I share how I wasn't able to get the next guest blog post out due to just getting back from vacation.

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Brought to you by: http://www.dandantheartman.com/

TV Memories # 12

by Dan Absalonson

This week is by me again and it's audio only. Sorry there is no blog post to go along with it if you prefer reading, but the audio will be a nice change this week as it's not scripted. Just me talking off the cuff about one of my favorite TV memories. I talk about a summer long ago when I sat as a little boy around a small TV with my parents and neighbors watching the Olympics. I also bring you up to speed on how my novel is coming along. The second draft is almost done! Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend.

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Brought to you by: http://www.dandantheartman.com/

My novel is a little like this Easter bunny. It's almost done, but there are still a few really good bites left to take care of. I spent a lot of time revising the outline before going back through it. Now I have cut several chapters, moved others around, deleted scenes, written new ones, and planned out a new ending. Even though I'm almost through with revising the first draft, only a few chapters left, and the climax of the novel will remain the same, I will have a couple more chapters to write once that is all done. It's been this way for a couple weeks now. I have many excuses, but more of it should be done. Our kids have been sick, all three of them. We've been to doctors appointments and the ER more times than I have fingers just in the last couple months. That said, I have had stretches of time here in there. The problem is, I'm just too dang tired to write when I get those chances. So lately I have had a new plan. For the first time in years, I'm trying to actively get at least eight hours of sleep. Before I was trying to get things done right before bed, but now when I find the time I'm too tired to be productive. This year is flying past me and I was really hoping to start podcasting and publishing this novel as an e-book soon. Last weekend I bought a brand-new microphone, and it sounds amazing. I have totally revamped my website so that it looks awesome in hopes that putting out a full novel for the first time will bring me new fans. I'm doing all the things to get ready to release this novel except finishing it. It is time to do that, time to buckle down and get the second draft polished up and ready to give to beta readers. Then I can take their feedback on how the story is working, and get it ready to podcast and publish. I cannot wait for that day and I hope it is very soon. Once that's done I have a novella that I wrote during nanowrimo. It is called Dying Wish. It's a fantasy about a kid who's dad dies after a sword fight, saving his kid from being kidnapped. On his deathbed he makes the kid promise to take his ashes back to his homeland. The city, the market that has always been their home is deemed too dangerous by the father so he wants him to go back to their homeland and be with his grandparents and cousins working on the farm. Lots of crazy stuff happens to him along the way, it's going to be a fun adventure. I don't think that one will take nearly as much reworking of the story to be ready to be published. I'm hoping that's the case with all my stories moving forward, but we'll just have to see about that. I am also currently writing a young adult adventure/mystery novella. So far it's going well, and I think it will also be ready for some editing once I finish writing the story. If I can get a rough draft out that doesn't need a bunch of big story edits from now on I will be a very happy man. I like the process of outlining and brainstorming a story, and I hope that it will be a tool that I continue to get better at using to give me books that have a complete story once I'm done writing the first draft. A story that doesn't need to be revised a whole bunch. I need to get these books out, because I have three ideas and outlines for other novels that I'm really excited about. Here's the first line of the next novel I'm going to write:

I learned the truth about zombies when I shot off one of their scalps with my shotgun and saw gears tumble out. It's not polite to shoot your neighbor, but when they shamble in with that dead look in their eyes you have been warned about on the news - you're kind of out of options.

Yeah that's right not another zombie story. Government conspiracy, robots parading as zombies, it will be fun. The other two are also outlined, but only in a very basic rough way. One is about a kid who's dad buys an old school building and turns it into apartments, and it turns out that they are hunted, or are they? The other is about a guy who discovers when he touches certain people, he gets visions of the last horrible thing they did. Some of these men have other people locked away back at home. He becomes a reluctant hero in this coming of age tale I will probably write in like a year :) With our three very young kids, and my wife racing off to work as soon as I get home, I don't have much time to write. Let me rephrase that, I do have time to write first draft material on my commute, but I'm finding that revising a first draft takes a long time. I don't have much time for sitting down with a word processor during my week. I hope that I can successfully start to get up earlier and take lunch breaks at work to do just that. The trouble is that I'm already getting up super early so that I can get home on time for my wife to go to work, and neither my sweetie pie or I are good at going to bed at a decent hour. Maybe I can get better at it, getting some writing done would be more than worth it.__________________

UPDATE!

Last night I spent a couple hours revising and now I only have 3 chapters of original manuscript left to revise! Then I will write a couple new chapters to wrap the book up all nice and it will be ready for Beta Readers to read through it and give me feedback! I've written 4 books now, but this will be the first time I've completed a second draft on one. I'm really excited!

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