The Thirteenth Hour Podcast

Originally published January 18, 2016

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2016/01/18/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-23-what-is-fairytale-fantasy/

In this episode, I attempt to explain what fairytale fantasy as a genre is.  My take on it, anyway.

At some point, I'll have to delve more into this, but based on what other people have told me after they read The Thirteenth Hour and its spin-offs is that there are a few titles in the same genre (fairytale fantasy) that I should check out, as they're similar in style.  All are very established, classic titles, so comparisons to such giants make me uncomfortable, but based on what I know, I think the tone and overall feel is similar (I use the term 'title' since in many cases there's a movie and a book, and it becomes hard to separate the two):

-The Neverending Story by Michael Ende (read the book, watched the movie) - I've spoken about this one a lot and can say it directly influenced the writing of The Thirteenth Hour - though probably moreso the movie than the book.

-The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle (recently listened to the audiobook read by the author; still need to watch the cartoon)

-The Princess Bride by William Goldman (saw the movie in college for the first time; in the process of going through the book, which starts quite differently from the movie and seems a bit more cynical than the movie so far)

-The Discworld series by Terry Pratchett (on the list to read)

-Stardust by Neil Gaiman (about halfway through the book; never read anything by him before aside from maybe a few Sandman comics as a kid which I don't remember well and probably didn't understand)

With the possible exception of the Discworld books, which I haven't read and can't really speak to, all fit into the genre of fairy tales aimed primarily at adults.

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On an entirely different note, thank you to everyone who helped support The Thirteenth Hour in it's recent 3rd edition re-launch, and thanks to everyone who helped to support the Thunderclap, which was success - so many thanks for helping me spam the hell out of social media!! :)

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More about ⁠⁠The Thirteenth Hour⁠⁠⁠

An impossible quest to the ends of the world. An unlikely hero. And ... a little magic.

If an optimist sees opportunity even in disaster, then Logan, the sole surviving member of an ill-fated military expedition to the ends of the world, is most definitely an optimist. You’d have to be to continue on without supplies, ship, or crew. But to someone who’s daydreamed of seeing the world since childhood, perhaps disaster actually hides freedom. And, besides, who ever said adventures were supposed to be easy?

Of course, every hero on a “desperate quest against incredible odds” can use a little help. Enter Aurora, Logan’s best friend from childhood, whose fate collides serendipitously with his, a magic collapsible hover board, three bumbling wizards, and the elemental forces from the lands of wind, water, fire, earth, and dreams.

These characters and many more collide in an illustrated fairy tale fantasy inspired by enough 1980s fantasy, scifi, and teen movies that an original retro 80s synthesizer soundtrack, ⁠⁠Long Ago Not So Far Away⁠⁠, was created to accompany the novel.

Enter a whimsical world of what reviewers called “creative, fast paced adventure” best “described as a fairy tale for anyone who grew up on old school fantasy movies in the 80s.”

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Originally published January 11, 2016

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2016/01/11/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-22-80s-music-alphaville-when-in-rome-van-halen/

This week, I experimented with playing music in the background while recording this episode in music that influenced the writing of The Thirteenth Hour.  The sound quality leaves something to be desired, but I only played a few short clips anyway.  I may experiment with ways to make the sound quality better in the future but clearly opted for the low-tech option today :)

So ... here's youtube links to the full songs discussed so you can hear (and see) them in all their 80s big hair glory:

-(Alphaville) Forever Young (courtesy of Atlantic Records at the time)

-(When in Rome) The Promise (courtesy of EMI Records).  This is the song I pictured as Logan flew on Lightning.

-(Van Halen) When it's Love (courtesy of Warner Bros at the time).  This is song I had in mind for these scenes in the book:

The theme song to The Thirteenth Hour, heard in the intro and outro of the podcast and influenced by these kinds of 80s songs, is found on the audio page, as is "I'll Fly Away".

More details on these and other musical influences come from this original post:

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2015/04/24/influences-behind-the-thirteenth-hour-part-4-music/

As always, thanks for listening!

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More about ⁠⁠The Thirteenth Hour⁠⁠⁠

An impossible quest to the ends of the world. An unlikely hero. And ... a little magic.

If an optimist sees opportunity even in disaster, then Logan, the sole surviving member of an ill-fated military expedition to the ends of the world, is most definitely an optimist. You’d have to be to continue on without supplies, ship, or crew. But to someone who’s daydreamed of seeing the world since childhood, perhaps disaster actually hides freedom. And, besides, who ever said adventures were supposed to be easy?

Of course, every hero on a “desperate quest against incredible odds” can use a little help. Enter Aurora, Logan’s best friend from childhood, whose fate collides serendipitously with his, a magic collapsible hover board, three bumbling wizards, and the elemental forces from the lands of wind, water, fire, earth, and dreams.

These characters and many more collide in an illustrated fairy tale fantasy inspired by enough 1980s fantasy, scifi, and teen movies that an original retro 80s synthesizer soundtrack, ⁠⁠Long Ago Not So Far Away⁠⁠, was created to accompany the novel.

Enter a whimsical world of what reviewers called “creative, fast paced adventure” best “described as a fairy tale for anyone who grew up on old school fantasy movies in the 80s.”

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Originally published January 4, 2016

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2016/01/04/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-21-special-edition/

Today is another special edition of this podcast, discussing the upcoming launch of the 3rd edition of The Thirteenth Hour (special editions are longer - this one is 30 minutes - and less frequent; the other special edition is the episode on A Shadow in the Moonlight for subscribers of the mailing list - see link below for free access).

The following links are referenced in the episode.  i.e.:

-Talking about how the book came to be in print (unofficially) as early as 1998:

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2015/07/01/the-evolution-of-the-thirteenth-hour-in-print/

-Illustration updates to this newest edition: 

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2015/10/11/the-evolution-of-a-thirteenth-hour-illustration/

Like the above link, here are a similar progression of images showing the creation of an image (this time of King Darian) from sketch to computer edited image:

-The saga of cover creation:

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2015/09/27/work-in-progress-new-thirteenth-hour-drawing/

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2015/11/21/whats-in-a-cover/

-And what you can do to personally support the launch:

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2015/11/21/help-support-the-thirteenth-hour/

-Other ways to get a sample of the book and see if the writing style is to your taste:

->download a sample on amazon

->download a free copy of the prequel, A Shadow in the Moonlight, on Smashwords or Amazon

->download a free copy of the standalone short story, "Falling Leaves Don't Weep" (may contain vague, obtuse spoilers) on Smashwords

->email me for a sample chapter @ [email protected]

->email me @ [email protected] if you'd like to review the book - you get a gift copy for free.

->download the first 15 episodes of this podcast on itunes (granted, an earlier draft of the book, but it's all there, start to finish).

So, lots of ways!  Best wishes for the new year!

As always, thanks for listening!

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More about ⁠⁠The Thirteenth Hour⁠⁠⁠

An impossible quest to the ends of the world. An unlikely hero. And ... a little magic.

If an optimist sees opportunity even in disaster, then Logan, the sole surviving member of an ill-fated military expedition to the ends of the world, is most definitely an optimist. You’d have to be to continue on without supplies, ship, or crew. But to someone who’s daydreamed of seeing the world since childhood, perhaps disaster actually hides freedom. And, besides, who ever said adventures were supposed to be easy?

Of course, every hero on a “desperate quest against incredible odds” can use a little help. Enter Aurora, Logan’s best friend from childhood, whose fate collides serendipitously with his, a magic collapsible hover board, three bumbling wizards, and the elemental forces from the lands of wind, water, fire, earth, and dreams.

These characters and many more collide in an illustrated fairy tale fantasy inspired by enough 1980s fantasy, scifi, and teen movies that an original retro 80s synthesizer soundtrack, ⁠⁠Long Ago Not So Far Away⁠⁠, was created to accompany the novel.

Enter a whimsical world of what reviewers called “creative, fast paced adventure” best “described as a fairy tale for anyone who grew up on old school fantasy movies in the 80s.”

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Originally published December 28, 2015

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2015/12/28/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-20/

I’m deviating from the previous episodes today to talk about a few books generally classified as “children’s” literature, though in reality, they can probably be enjoyed as adults as well.  While not directly related to The Thirteenth Hour, they were books I enjoyed as a child, which influenced my love of reading, and later, or writing and creating stories.

The following links all go to Goodreads.  I also used the cover illustrations for the versions of the books as I remembered them, though there are updated covers now that make these ones look dated in comparison.  It just goes to show that these things are cyclical, and what’s popular and fashionable in one era may not be twenty years from now.

The Chronicles of Narnia

The cover for the fourth book in the Chronicles of Narnia series, The Silver Chair, which is different from the photorealistic covers fashionable in today’s books but still striking in my opinion.

A Wrinkle in Time

My Teacher is An Alien

The Girl with the Silver Eyes

Happy holidays and best wishes for the new year!

As always, thanks for listening!

More about ⁠The Thirteenth Hour⁠⁠

An impossible quest to the ends of the world. An unlikely hero. And ... a little magic.

If an optimist sees opportunity even in disaster, then Logan, the sole surviving member of an ill-fated military expedition to the ends of the world, is most definitely an optimist. You’d have to be to continue on without supplies, ship, or crew. But to someone who’s daydreamed of seeing the world since childhood, perhaps disaster actually hides freedom. And, besides, who ever said adventures were supposed to be easy?

Of course, every hero on a “desperate quest against incredible odds” can use a little help. Enter Aurora, Logan’s best friend from childhood, whose fate collides serendipitously with his, a magic collapsible hover board, three bumbling wizards, and the elemental forces from the lands of wind, water, fire, earth, and dreams.

These characters and many more collide in an illustrated fairy tale fantasy inspired by enough 1980s fantasy, scifi, and teen movies that an original retro 80s synthesizer soundtrack, ⁠Long Ago Not So Far Away⁠, was created to accompany the novel.

Enter a whimsical world of what reviewers called “creative, fast paced adventure” best “described as a fairy tale for anyone who grew up on old school fantasy movies in the 80s.”

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Originally published December 21, 2015

This episode refers to video games (Ultima V, Ironsword) discussed in this post:

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2015/01/21/influences-behind-the-thirteenth-hour-part-3-video-games/

Check out this cover art for Ultima V!

Unfortunately, the inside of the game looked like this:

But there's a remake/mod for Dungeon's Seige: http://www.u5lazarus.com/

Gauntlet, also featured on this episode, at least the 1985 PC version, has an entry on wikipedia.

Gameplay and picture above courtesy of old-games.com.  I've included links on old-games.com for the games below:

Incidentally, my brother wrote about Quest for Glory in his blog, as well as many of the games of that era, here.  (His experience playing games was much different from mine - more positive).  He also followed that post up with discussion of fan-made remakes of QFG, Quest for Infamy and Heroine's Quest: The Herald of Ragnarok.

We have recently been playing the game Magicka, which has a similar sense of humor to some of the above games, as well as The Thirteenth Hour.

As always, thanks for listening!

An impossible quest to the ends of the world. An unlikely hero. And ... a little magic.

If an optimist sees opportunity even in disaster, then Logan, the sole surviving member of an ill-fated military expedition to the ends of the world, is most definitely an optimist. You’d have to be to continue on without supplies, ship, or crew. But to someone who’s daydreamed of seeing the world since childhood, perhaps disaster actually hides freedom. And, besides, who ever said adventures were supposed to be easy?

Of course, every hero on a “desperate quest against incredible odds” can use a little help. Enter Aurora, Logan’s best friend from childhood, whose fate collides serendipitously with his, a magic collapsible hover board, three bumbling wizards, and the elemental forces from the lands of wind, water, fire, earth, and dreams.

These characters and many more collide in an illustrated fairy tale fantasy inspired by enough 1980s fantasy, scifi, and teen movies that an original retro 80s synthesizer soundtrack, Long Ago Not So Far Away, was created to accompany the novel.

Enter a whimsical world of what reviewers called “creative, fast paced adventure” best “described as a fairy tale for anyone who grew up on old school fantasy movies in the 80s.”

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Originally published December 14, 2015

This post refers to the comic books (Bone, Archie) referred to in this post:

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2015/01/09/influences-behind-the-thirteenth-hour-part-1-books/

The old (more comicky) and new (more ?anime-ish) covers to the novelette prequel to The Thirteenth Hour, A Shadow in the Moonlight are as discussed in this episode are here for comparison:

[gallery ids="474,742" type="rectangular"]

Dave Stevens, the creator of the comic book hero, The Rocketeer, is discussed here, especially his art style and the storytelling influence on the creation of The Thirteenth Hour.

As always, thanks for listening!

⁠More about The Thirteenth Hour⁠

An impossible quest to the ends of the world. An unlikely hero. And ... a little magic.

If an optimist sees opportunity even in disaster, then Logan, the sole surviving member of an ill-fated military expedition to the ends of the world, is most definitely an optimist. You’d have to be to continue on without supplies, ship, or crew. But to someone who’s daydreamed of seeing the world since childhood, perhaps disaster actually hides freedom. And, besides, who ever said adventures were supposed to be easy?

Of course, every hero on a “desperate quest against incredible odds” can use a little help. Enter Aurora, Logan’s best friend from childhood, whose fate collides serendipitously with his, a magic collapsible hover board, three bumbling wizards, and the elemental forces from the lands of wind, water, fire, earth, and dreams.

These characters and many more collide in an illustrated fairy tale fantasy inspired by enough 1980s fantasy, scifi, and teen movies that an original retro 80s synthesizer soundtrack, Long Ago Not So Far Away, was created to accompany the novel.

Enter a whimsical world of what reviewers called “creative, fast paced adventure” best “described as a fairy tale for anyone who grew up on old school fantasy movies in the 80s.”

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Originally published December 7, 2015

This episode talks about literary influences to The Thirteenth Hour, partly based on a post which can be found here:

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2015/01/09/influences-behind-the-thirteenth-hour-part-1-books/

I also refer to the TSR Endless Quest series of gamebooks, similar to the Choose Your Own Adventure books of the time.

Image courtesy of Elfsteaks and Halfling Bacon

Here is a link on Goodreads to the historical gothic romance adventure books written by Madeline Brent, pseudonym for author and comic book written Peter O'Donnell.  He was creating great independent female characters before it was as trendy to do so as it is now.

“When You don't know what to do, just do whatever comes next and go from there.”
― Madeleine Brent, Moonraker's Bride

Although not mentioned in the podcast, another book that I remember enjoying in grade school that is somewhat similar to books like The Neverending Story (but written for a somewhat younger audience) is The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster.

Episode 18 will talk more about comic books and illustrations.

Thanks for listening!

More about The Thirteenth Hour⁠

An impossible quest to the ends of the world. An unlikely hero. And ... a little magic.

If an optimist sees opportunity even in disaster, then Logan, the sole surviving member of an ill-fated military expedition to the ends of the world, is most definitely an optimist. You’d have to be to continue on without supplies, ship, or crew. But to someone who’s daydreamed of seeing the world since childhood, perhaps disaster actually hides freedom. And, besides, who ever said adventures were supposed to be easy?

Of course, every hero on a “desperate quest against incredible odds” can use a little help. Enter Aurora, Logan’s best friend from childhood, whose fate collides serendipitously with his, a magic collapsible hover board, three bumbling wizards, and the elemental forces from the lands of wind, water, fire, earth, and dreams.

These characters and many more collide in an illustrated fairy tale fantasy inspired by enough 1980s fantasy, scifi, and teen movies that an original retro 80s synthesizer soundtrack, Long Ago Not So Far Away, was created to accompany the novel.

Enter a whimsical world of what reviewers called “creative, fast paced adventure” best “described as a fairy tale for anyone who grew up on old school fantasy movies in the 80s.”

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Originally published December 3, 2015

After about a year, I've decided to resume the podcast that I originally set up to read an earlier draft of The Thirteenth Hour.  In regular 15-20 minute episodes, I'm going to be talking about the creation of the book as well as some topics that are also featured on this blog that relate, in some way, to the book (archery, martial arts, backflips, etc).  Sometimes the episodes will refer back to previous posts, as they do in this first one.  I'll include relevant links in these posts when that happens.  Here are the posts referred to in this episode - technically episode #16, though really the first one of this format.

How the book began

How I envisioned it as a futuristic book with flexible screens

How the main characters were created

I think it will be a nice venue for other things as well, like playing ot performing music and songs written for the book and its cousins.

I have changed the podcast cover image to reflect the book's new look.

More on The Thirteenth Hour

"An impossible quest to the ends of the world. An unlikely hero. And ... a little magic.

If an optimist sees opportunity even in disaster, then Logan, the sole surviving member of an ill-fated military expedition to the ends of the world, is most definitely an optimist. You’d have to be to continue on without supplies, ship, or crew. But to someone who’s daydreamed of seeing the world since childhood, perhaps disaster actually hides freedom. And, besides, who ever said adventures were supposed to be easy?

Of course, every hero on a “desperate quest against incredible odds” can use a little help. Enter Aurora, Logan’s best friend from childhood, whose fate collides serendipitously with his, a magic collapsible hover board, three bumbling wizards, and the elemental forces from the lands of wind, water, fire, earth, and dreams.

These characters and many more collide in an illustrated fairy tale fantasy inspired by enough 1980s fantasy, scifi, and teen movies that an original retro 80s synthesizer soundtrack, Long Ago Not So Far Away, was created to accompany the novel.

Enter a whimsical world of what reviewers called “creative, fast paced adventure” best “described as a fairy tale for anyone who grew up on old school fantasy movies in the 80s.”

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Originally released Jan 6, 2015

This marks the fifteenth Thirteenth Hour podcast episode, where I read an early draft of The Thirteenth Hour during the fine-tuning stages, shortly prior to publication of the first edition. There are 15 episodes in total, each about an hour in length. This is the rest of chapter 26 plus the Epilogue from the novel. After this point, the podcast will shift from reading the novel to discussing topics that have influenced it.

⁠The Thirteenth Hour⁠

An impossible quest to the ends of the world. An unlikely hero. And ... a little magic.

If an optimist sees opportunity even in disaster, then Logan, the sole surviving member of an ill-fated military expedition to the ends of the world, is most definitely an optimist. You’d have to be to continue on without supplies, ship, or crew. But to someone who’s daydreamed of seeing the world since childhood, perhaps disaster actually hides freedom. And, besides, who ever said adventures were supposed to be easy?

Of course, every hero on a “desperate quest against incredible odds” can use a little help. Enter Aurora, Logan’s best friend from childhood, whose fate collides serendipitously with his, a magic collapsible hover board, three bumbling wizards, and the elemental forces from the lands of wind, water, fire, earth, and dreams.

These characters and many more collide in an illustrated fairy tale fantasy inspired by enough 1980s fantasy, scifi, and teen movies that an original retro 80s synthesizer soundtrack, Long Ago Not So Far Away, was created to accompany the novel.

Enter a whimsical world of what reviewers called “creative, fast paced adventure” best “described as a fairy tale for anyone who grew up on old school fantasy movies in the 80s.”

Originally released Jan 6, 2015

This marks the fourteenth Thirteenth Hour podcast episode, where I read an early draft of The Thirteenth Hour during the fine-tuning stages, shortly prior to publication of the first edition. There are 15 episodes in total, each about an hour in length. This is chapters 25-26 from the novel.

⁠The Thirteenth Hour⁠

An impossible quest to the ends of the world. An unlikely hero. And ... a little magic.

If an optimist sees opportunity even in disaster, then Logan, the sole surviving member of an ill-fated military expedition to the ends of the world, is most definitely an optimist. You’d have to be to continue on without supplies, ship, or crew. But to someone who’s daydreamed of seeing the world since childhood, perhaps disaster actually hides freedom. And, besides, who ever said adventures were supposed to be easy?

Of course, every hero on a “desperate quest against incredible odds” can use a little help. Enter Aurora, Logan’s best friend from childhood, whose fate collides serendipitously with his, a magic collapsible hover board, three bumbling wizards, and the elemental forces from the lands of wind, water, fire, earth, and dreams.

These characters and many more collide in an illustrated fairy tale fantasy inspired by enough 1980s fantasy, scifi, and teen movies that an original retro 80s synthesizer soundtrack, Long Ago Not So Far Away, was created to accompany the novel.

Enter a whimsical world of what reviewers called “creative, fast paced adventure” best “described as a fairy tale for anyone who grew up on old school fantasy movies in the 80s.”