I have read some very good books just this year alone. Tee Morris’ Morevi, Anne Bishop’s Tangled Webs, some Nora Roberts and Stephen King. Hands down, I think I just finished reading one of the best books I’ve read in years. Years.  I would normally save this post to post in the morning, but the word must get out about Infected!

I jumped on the bandwagon. I’ve been shamelessly using the blog as an advertisement for Scott Sigler’s Infected and I hadn’t even read the book yet. I did it on the sole fact that this… podcast novelist… is being published by Crown Books. He has broken into big publishing and its time to teach them that publishing podcasters is a good thing.

I devoured Infected in five hours, not counting interruptions. It’s creepy and I was scratching my arms by the time chapter three came to a close. I will never, ever, EVER have a pair of chicken scissors in my house again.

Part of me wants to give you snipits from the pdf (avaliable until 31 March) that was released into the wild and part of me is sitting here, “It’s on bookshelves on April 1st, go out and buy the bloody thing!” And I can say that because I’ll be doing so. Yes, I read the pdf, every word of it like a dripping iv of scifi horror buried in my skin and I’m still looking forward to having my hardback with it’s sinister cover signed by the Future Dark Overlord when I see him in Houston on April 11th.

Gushing and praise, that seems to be all I write anymore, but the stuff I’ve been reading has been worth it and this piece… I can see why Crown took the risk because I think this will be FLYING off the bookshelves. Here’s the synopsis, you can decide for yourself:

Across America, a mysterious disease is turning ordinary people into raving, paranoid murderers who inflict brutal horrors on strangers, themselves, and even their own families.

Working under the government’s shroud of secrecy, CIA operative Dew Phillips crisscrosses the country trying in vain to capture a live victim. With only decomposing corpses for clues, CDC Epidemiologist Margaret Montoya races to analyze the science behind this deadly contagion. She discovers that these killers all have one thing in common — they’ve been contaminated by a bio-engineered parasite, shaped with a complexity far beyond the limits of known science.

Meanwhile Perry Dawsey — a hulking former football star now resigned to life as a cubicle-bound desk jockey — awakes one morning to find several mysterious welts growing on his body. Soon Perry finds himself acting and thinking strangely, hearing voices—he is infected.

The fate of the human race may well depend on the bloody war Perry must now wage with his own body, because the parasites want something from him, something that goes beyond mere murder.

At times this infection is almost as cute as it is scary, (Here’s hoping Sigler doesn’t smite me for that one.) and I confess that I found myself giggling in places that I probably shouldn’t have. For all that saying that might sound bad, there are bits of dark humor that tickle the funny bone and it lends a kind of sadistic charm to the book!

Sigler has made if very easy to see through the eyes of not only the novels human characters but through the infection as well. I couldn’t stop turning the pages and the writing simply leapt out at me. Fans of Stephen King, Clive Barker and Dean Koontz should not let this novel pass by them. It is simply fascinating and let me in an oddly euphoric state when I finished reading it.

I’m looking forward to the next installment and now that I’ve read it, I think I’ll be following the podcast, just to hear the chilling voice of the Future Dark Overlord bring this tale further to life.

Rating:

There is no way someone can convince me that Twitter is not time well wasted. I spend a lot of time on Twitter, it’s a fantastic social media and networking tool.

What is Twitter? Take all those cute little instant messenger programs you use, MSN, YIM, AIM, combine your friends lists and limit yourself to 140 Characters. Throw that in a blender with something called a Follow feature, which lets you follow nearly anyone you want to. Hit the highest setting, add in some really cool people and you have Twitter.

Who are some of those really cool people? Let us begin with Wil Wheaton. He doesn’t follow many people in return, but he comes up with some funny stuff in 140 characters. A bunch of the podcasters I listen to are there too – Tee Morris, Mur Lafferty, Scott Sigler, JC Hutchins, Nathan Lowell and more. You can even follow the presidential candidates.

Twitter, while being great for getting your social fix and avoiding social bunnies (Yes, I play too much Sims 2), is a wonderful networking tool. I can honestly say that since I’ve started using Twitter this blog has gone up in readers and subscribers, which tickles me pink. It’s also a primary motivator for keeping the blog going because I get to chatter with these people, hear what they say about their work or their days and help encourage them on hard days.

The Tribe, as the podcasters call themselves and their followers, are inclined to toss out sneak peeks of their work or simply keep their fans at the edges of their seats by discussing how good someone’s submission to their anthology is. That would be JC by the way; he’s been tormenting the 7th Son fans by tweeting how good the submissions for Obsidian are. Just load it in an IV already and hand me the needle.

Sure, this may all sound like a huge time sink, and it certainly can be, but as I mentioned before I simply can’t think of it that way. Why; because JC Hutchins found a job at Myxer.com to be PAID to be on Twitter and to podcast and be the social media god that he is. Talk about landing a job doing what you love!

If you’re in to the social media thing then you have to check out Twitter. Don’t want to have a browser window open all day I suggest Twhirl for Windows/Mac users, though the Tribe members with Macs all seem to use Twitterrific. This is simply a fun way to see what your friends and maybe some of your favorite podcasters, actors and politicians are up to.

Entertainment Weekly has served it up nicely with a slideshow of dastardly villains. They seem to have covered the villainy of movies well in these articles, but who’s missing?

Personally speaking they’ve forgotten two of Tim Curry’s best roles, Pennywise and Darkness.

Joker is seemingly absent as well. But it’s a decent list.

Part 1
Part 2

I almost hate to say this, but I’d like a peek at Scott Sigler’s top 50 villians. I’m almost certain JC Hutchins in it someplace.

And yes, I promise, we will have posts that don’t mention those two… After April 1st.

I’ll get a real article up tomorrow as I’ve dedicated the day to working on a project that is definitely time well wasted. But is it wasted time if it’s a project?

So I’m throwing this in your direction, an interesting piece from Popular Mechanics regarding the 10 Most Prophetic SciFi Films. It’s about as spooky as it intriguing to see what these films “predicted.” For example, The Running Man and The Truman Show for highlighting the voyeuristic need of the general populace.

That I can’t disagree with that considering I’m acting like a junkie for the return of Hell’s Kitchen on April 1st. Hmm… Scott Sigler’s novel Infected and Gordon Ramsay’s show Hell’s Kitchen on the same day. Anyone else suddenly terrified?  Do we ever want these two to meet?

Is there a movie on the list you disagree with? One you think should be there? Let us know.

Hey peepz. So, J.C. Hutchins and Scott Sigler are now two of my favorite- No.. my two favorite authors currently in existence. *thinks on that* Yeah, pretty much. Well.. I hate them both. They are both evil in the extreme for pumping their literary drugs out into the world. Causing so much addiction.. so much junkieness. Evil evil.

Anyway. Here’s a link, not to get you hooked or anything. No, I do not bend to the will of these men. I am not an evangelist for their work. HECK no. I am merely sharing this link, in which JC interviews Sigler- the two heaviest hitters (imho) in the podcast novel universe, so that you can be better fortified against the evil that are Podcast novels such as Infected and the 7th son trilogy.

But don’t let curiosity get the better of you! These links are merely cautionary. They are to demonstrate how.. how easy it is to enjoy- I mean suffer- free, quality audio entertainment. Let me quantify this, my friends. Free, as in, you don’t pay a skinny penny for ANY of these stories. They are free. You go, you listen, you.. *deep, sorrowful sigh* you become addicted. ADDICTED!! I know what you are thinking.. Why? Why would anyone .. GIVE their stories- their brain drugs away for free?! Well. it’s an insidious plot. See, if you listen to these books on Podiobooks, and if you enjoy them, you might be convinced to .. to donate your money to the author. And that’s the real tragedy, see, ’cause at LEAST seventy five percent of every dollar you throw at these.. these.. authors.. it goes directly TO them. into their pockets.

People! Friends! These writers- these PODcasters.. these brain drug dealers.. have day jobs. OH YES! They act like you and me. They pose like normal citizens and .. quote, unquote- go to work.. earn their keep. but then they go home, and scurry into their home studios, or their walk in closets, and they spend their free time recording. Recording their addictive, intellectually stimulating evil. How many hours- days- years do they spend, so-called “entertaining” us?! The world may never know.

Are you beginning to see? The threat these men pose to our self-imposed, comfortable life stupor? And, this is just the TIP of the iceberg! If you were to visit JC Hutchins or Scott Sigler you’d see that their quest for world domination is much more comprehensive- much more diabolical than you could ever imagine. With podcasts like Nocturnal, and Bloodcast, UltraCreatives, they threaten to ensnare the minds of.. millions.. and tear us away from Fox News and Deal or No Deal.

And on JC’s UltraCreatives they even team up to do it! As you will hear when you listen to the following interview, these men are the epitome of evil. Fight them, friends! Keep the world stupid and drooling!

Listen, resist and do not comply. Do Not Comply! DO NOT COMPLY!!!

So, I’m listening to this dude’s novel via podcast, and it’s pretty dang creepy so far. It hits the presses on April First, and this ain’t no April Fools gag.

A quick once over of the plot so far: Spore-like seeds from outer space be infecting people and turnin’ um all crazy and schtuff. Dude, seriously, it’s creepy so far.

Now, y’all have heard / read me yammering on and on about writing and trying to get published and stuff, and lately, I’ve been on this audio / podcasting kick, Well if you wanna hear a real, friggin pro, check this Scott Sigler dude out. He’s the real frickin’ deal, and he’s sending a message out to the publishing world that amounts to:

“Empower your authors, Indulge the fans, Maximize your sales.”

I paraphrase.. but.. that’s what it boils down to.

So, Here are some links to this dude’s stuff.

Infected is the audio book. It’s being posted weekly, episode by episode. The production quality is fan tastic, it’s well read, and it’s got me by the guts. I am impatient for the rest of it.

Scott Sigler’s website. He’s got more books, more podcasts, a video to watch, lotsa stuff. I’m serious when I advise you to check his work out (if you’re into hard scifi, and scary, flippin’ stories)

Ooh ooh, and let me pause on that JUST a moment… Hard Scifi.. This doesn’t mean it’s a bunch of hetero (icky tuh) boink scenes.. though there are those. Dudes, this man knows his schiznet, and he writes it. Ancestor was a freakin’ genetics 1301 course, and so far Infected is a lesson in creepy microbiology / horrible infectious agent-ology. There is a scientific notion- a hypothesis- a theory- something deep and steeped in real world science, and it is the foundation of these stories. While this dude may throw in the occasional yucky kiss, the science of his writing gives the story plausibility that teleporters and warp drives just can’t touch.

BUT. I think I’ve rambled long enough. The point of this WHOLE post is this:

Scott Sigler’s publisher, Crown, is allowing US, the audience, to download free PDF copies of the book for a limited time. The book is due out on April First, and you can pre-order it on amazon. You’ll want it to preorder your copy after checking out the PDF.

And finally, the URL you’ve been waiting for:

http://www.randomhouse.com/crown/infected/downloads/infected_novel.pdf

Check it out. Check it out now! The PDF is free. Listen to the podcast chapters, Download the PFD, buy the book. The story so far is fan-effing-tastic and creepy as hellballs. Buy your copy on Amazon.Com before April 1.. Or, pop down to Book People and buy or special order your copy there. I’m serious. Check it out. Even I’m getting my copy and heading down to Houston with Jenn and Corie to get the dude’s name scrawled inside it. Oh, and don’t think you’re just gonna be borrowing my autographed copy. Speeeit. Seriously! Get your own infection.

I follow Philippa Ballantine on Twitter and had the wonderful opportunity to hear the first episode of her Chasing the Bard podcast via a sneak peek. The production is fantastic, featuring not only herself but including the likes of PG Holyfield and Tee Morris.

Pip is simply fun to listen to, with her Kiwi accent, and her voice works beautifully for the realm of the Fae. Just the one episode I got to preview was fantastic and while I can’t share the link love to that I can get the promo to you and direct you to the Chasing the Bard blog.

If you’re looking for something different, are in need of a rich, dark fantasy, then this might be what you need.

Chasing the Bard goes live on 31 March in New Zealand and I’m anxious to hear it.

In Seth Harwood’s sophomore novel Jack Palms 2: This is Life we catch back up with Jack as he’s returning from his road trip with the Czech and finds that things have progressed as normal in his new life. A cop has broken into house, his bed has been burned and he’s being shot at, all in the first episode of This is Life.

Seth has taken the foundation of Jack Palms from Jack Wakes Up and built something excellent on it. Jack is a much more interesting character in this novel as he begins to see just how much his work with the Czechs has changed his life. Now he’s being thrown into the whirlwind of events that brings down cops in its wake looks to have a power source deeper than the SFPD. Still nothing can say it better than the blurb:

In This Is Life, Jack Palms finds himself caught in a working relationship with none other than the San Francisco police. When one of their own gets killed and corruption invades the Hall of Justice, Sgt. Mills Hopkins hires Jack to poke around. Is Jack ready for his own brand of police work? Is San Francisco?

Follow Jack Palms as he tries to figure out if the life of a Private Eye fits him, hunts a cop-killer, and tries to solve a series of murders that leads him into the heart of San Francisco’s sex trade.

I can promise you, and I had this from Seth as well, that Jack’s beautiful Mustang Fastback does not face total destruction. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t any cars being shot up, people killed, and clues followed to track down criminal and motive. This is Life is a step up from the original Jack Wakes up with more fast paced action and an even broader look at San Francisco though the has-been actor’s eyes.

Harwood has tightened up his writing style and not only admits to research mistakes but corrects them. A value I think any good author needs to have. His characters are much more engaging, even if you hate one or two of them from the moment you hear them. Character definition and growth has become heightened and I actually found myself feeling sorry for some of the characters.

The closest I usually come to enjoying crime fiction is Thomas Harris and Michael Connelly. This is Life, however, has earned Seth Harwood a permanent place on my bookshelf and in my MP3 player. If you’re a fan of crime fiction, and maybe even if you’re not, you should give Jack Wakes Up and This is Life a spin, I think you’d find them enjoyable.

Rating:

Time Well Wasted will return on 25 March with a review of Seth Harwood’s

Jack Palms 2: This is Life.