William Desmond Taylor was a big deal. A director in the pre-talkie era of Hollywood, Taylor was a giant in the film industry. He worked with the likes of the greats of that time: Mabel Normand, Mary Pickford, Jack Pickford, Wallace Reed, and Douglas MacLean. 

In February of 1922, the houseman found William Desmond Taylor murdered. He had been shot to death, and the resulting furor over his passing went well beyond the tabloids of the era. In context, the murder of William Desmond Taylor was yet another bargaining chip for the growing moral majority of the time period to argue against films as a valid form of creative expression directed at the youth of America.

See, Hollywood -- Tinseltown, as it was widely known -- was not the innocent place one might imagine. There were plenty of scandals, even back in the Roaring Twenties. Not only did you have the death of William Desmond Taylor, but there was also the Fatty Arbuckle rape trial to contend with. Stars were going to secret rehabs to dry out of their cocaine addictions. People were ODing and ending up cast aside. 

It was a wild time. And William Desmond Taylor's murder was at the center of it all. To make matters worse, the crime was never officially solved, so this podcast episode is all to do with the unsolved murder of William Desmond Taylor.

However, there's a twist to this story that I would rather not spoil for the casual listener. It's the thing that makes this particular Hollywood murder something of an anomaly, and it's almost fit to be put on screen. The William Desmond Taylor book from which I've drawn most of my research is, of course, William J. Mann's 'Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine, and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood.' It is a fantastically-researched book, on par, in my opinion, with Erik Larson's 'Devil in the White City.'

You wouldn't believe how many people would like to start a podcast but absolutely don't know how. Of those people, the ones who actually get to the point of hitting 'Publish' have no idea how they got there.

Me, for example. I started podcasting in 2010 after discovering The Nerdist Podcast, the Giant Bombcast, and the Gamers with Jobs Podcast. I was in grad school at the time, and I suddenly decided I wanted to do it.

I had no idea what I was doing, so I made A LOT of mistakes. Lots and lots and lots of mistakes. 

I think that's why I'm qualified to talk about how to launch a successful podcast. Listen to this podcast episode, and you will be guaranteed to avoid the major pitfalls people fall into when trying to start their own show.

If you want to start a successful, rewarding, and ultimately enjoyable podcast, give this episode a listen. We have five kick-ass tips for the beginner podcaster -- or those looking to refine your podcasting process.

I'm joined this week by Jeremy, the host of one of my very favorite shows, Lopez Radio. He's a great guy, and he actually was the person to give me a swift kick in the ass about getting the right equipment for podcasting.

For this episode, I leaned heavily on the work of John Lee Dumas, who is the host of the DAILY Entrepreneur on Fire Podcast, as well as the author of several books on the subject, including Podcast Launch: How to Create, Grow, & Monetize Your Podcast. Visit him online at @JohnLeeDumas on Twitter.

A brief introduction to what is to come from the Principled Uncertainty Podcast in the looming months.

The yearly re-imagining of the marathon episode.

This week, Tyler managed to score an interview with Stuart Thaman, writer of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror fiction, for a discussion about marketing and advertising self-published or small publisher books.

Stuart is the author of The Goblin Wars Part One: Siege of Talonrend, The Goblin Wars Part Two: Death of a King, For We Are Many, and Vatican Massacre. He's also a constant presence at book and / or sci-fi fantasy conventions, and he's written several helpful guides on how to market books, which can be found on his website, stuartthamanbooks.com. You can also track Stuart down on his Amazon Author Dashboard.

Stuart was kind and generous with his time, and he provided plenty of insight into the publishing process, marketing how-tos for beginning authors, and how to approach the convention scene. He's a wonderfully talented guy, so be sure to check him out online.

Theme: "Ten" by DJ Sun

You can find my books on Amazon, as well. Here are the links to the first two works in the Rolson McKane tetralogy:

Here are the other links to find both the podcast(s) and my own thoughts and ramblings:

The Principled Uncertainty Podcast

Twitter: @PUPodcast

Tyler and Tommy get together to chat about the newest Ghostbusters trailer. Recriminating Twitter blasts have labeled the film as being chock full of stereotypes, and so the PUPodcast crew discuss whether or not the charges are based in reality or not.

Theme: "Ten" by DJ Sun.

The fact that a Kurt Cobain murder conspiracy still exists 22 years after the singer's death / suicide / murder is kind of confounding and kind of amazing.

It's an interesting hypothesis, backed up mostly with circumstantial evidence about one detective's interactions with an aloof and largely drugged-out Courtney Love.

Tyler discusses the issue in-depth, offering supporting evidence and counterevidence to combat the documentary's main thesis.

Either way, "Soaked in Bleach" is a really quite interesting and well-produced documentary about Kurt Cobain, and that is something we can stand to see plenty of in our lifetimes.

This one gets weird. Tyler, all by himself, discusses his impressions of the "so wonderful you can't be hyperbolic about it" The Staircase, which details the trial of novelist Michael Peterson. It's a 10-part series available for streaming on 

This ain't your normal murder trial. It has so many interesting twists and turns -- all of them bizarre -- that you won't be able to quite believe everything about it.

But it's all true.

In 2001, Michael Peterson was accused of murdering his then-wife, Katherine Peterson, by pushing her down the staircase of their home. What begins as a pretty standard murder trial then becomes something else entirely.

Sundance.tv

In addition, we have a new theme song! The tune 'Monday Drive (Presto Remix)' can be found on DJ Sun's Bandcamp page.

Just Tyler this week. He drinks club soda and discusses some of the finer points of self-publishing, though not in a listicle sort of way. If you want to hear about his personal issues in self-publishing, you can.

Tyler discusses Createspace, KDP, Amazon Kindle Self-Publishing, KDP Kindle Countdown Deals, and pre-orders and how they may be affected by your decision to self-publish.

He also discusses the game Oxenfree, now available on Steam for PC. The PS4 version will be released somewhat soon.

Theme: Dropping Out of School (Brad Sucks)

Tyler and Tommy (@thisisastub) discuss their top video games of the year. What starts off as a discussion of Mortal Kombat X and Evolve turns into a wide-ranging talk about mobile games...and a whole lot of Super Mario Maker.

Other games discussed: