On Podiobooks

Check out this book standard article about podiobooks!

I'm one of those 19 authors mentioned -- all set to be a part of the next wave. Spherical Tomi will be there when this thing really takes off.

Evo and the 5 pioneer podiobook authors really need to be commended and congratulated.

My iTunes Top 25 for 8/29

1. Vanity Fair Mr. Bungle 36
2. New Solid Jack Mangan 27
3. Wine Jack Mangan 25
4. Is There Love In Space? Joe Satriani 24
5. Organ Donor DJ Shadow 23
6. Dad and Dog Fredo Viola 22
7. temple of earth and sea jack mangan 22
8. Saddam A Go-Go GWAR 21
9. Black Circle Jack Mangan 20
10. Did My Time KoRn 19
11. fear regret and hope Jack Mangan 18
12. THE SWARM AT THE GATES 17
13. Slaughter of the Soul At the Gates 17
14. Waltz #2 (XO) Elliott Smith 17
15. Jack Mangan - Tears of Liquid Mercury Jack Mangan 17
16. Spirit Man Mango 17
17. Nuthin But a G Thang Dr. Dre 16
18. Eric B and Rakim - Microphone Fiend Eric B & Rakim 16
19. Hallowed Be Thy Name Iron Maiden 16
20. Mountain Song Joe Satriani 16
21. Head Out To The Highway Judas Priest 16
22. Asteroid Speed Highway Matt Mango 16
23. Red Right Hand Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds 16
24. Fight the Power Public Enemy 16
25. U Can't Hold No Groove Victor Wooten 16

-----
Notes
-----

A
"New Solid" (#2), "temple of earth and sea" (#7), "Black Circle" (#9), and "fear regret and hope" (#11), along with another tune called "Earth Pigs Times Fate" (not on this list) are the results of a recent obsession of mine. I took bits from all kinds of songs in my library and fastened them together into entirely new compositions. There were a few self-imposed rules to my creative process:
1. The new songs could not resemble their parent tunes in any close way.
2. I couldn't record anything new for the tunes.
3. I had to build each beat from scratch, one note at a time.
4. I had to exclusively use Audacity.
I'm proud of the 5 resultant songs, but -- I don't know how I can release them without violating any copyright laws. Don't want to get sued over a little hobby. I've actually given up on this Frankenstein-composing for a little while, because as rewarding and fun as it was to make those 5 tunes, it was a big distraction from podiobook recording and writing, which need to be my two primary (creative) focuses.
B
"Wine"(#3) and "Tears of Liquid Mercury"(#15) are instrumental solo guitar compositions of mine -- they're not available anywhere, but I DO have rights to them. Same for "Spirit Man"(#16) and "Asteroid Speed Highway"(#22), both of which I did with my old band. "Asteroid" happens to be the opening theme music for Duel of the Fates.
C
I'm not that narcissistic; I just like the songs.
D
The song, "I Am A Viking", by Yngwie Malmsteen, was also tied for 17th place with 16 plays, but got screwed out of the Top 25 because the guy's name starts with a "Y".

Hey Dragon Page Listeners!

I did some time on-air with the Dragon Page crew this weekend... It was a lot of fun. They're a great bunch of people, and they've really created something pretty unique and special with their line of shows. Gotta give 'em mad props. The Science Fiction community really needs the Dragon Page.

So you'll hear me acting silly with them for the whole "Wingin' It!" episode this week, as well "Feeding the Dragon" on their "Dragon Page: Cover to Cover" show.

I'll post here when the shows are released.

Tomi Talk on the Web

Spherical Tomi shows up in a Dragon Page site post:
http://www.dragonpage.com/archives/spherical_tomi_released.html

and On Adrienne Jones journal:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/ajjones/69346.html

Many thanks to Adrienne Jones for the unsolicited pimping of the e-book, and to Evo and the DP gang for posting the stuff I sent them.

Early Feedback

Hooray!! So far, the early feedback on Tomi has all been positive. Lots of offers for reviews, so I'm eagerly anxiously awaiting them....

Spherical Tomi Released at Fictionwise!

The day has finally come!

Spherical Tomi is now available at www.Fictionwise.com

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/eBook33162.htm

Get Spherical!!

Get Spherical! (on Monday... this date is official, I'm pretty sure)

So all signs indicate that Spherical Tomi will finally officially release at Fictionwise on Monday, 8/22!!!

This is great news to those of you who've already e-mailed me for a free copy, because when you tell your friends about it, they can just go there and buy it!

Or... I guess they can just get you to e-mail it to them... or e-mail me and ask for a copy...

ST will only be $4.95 at Fictionwise.

Get Spherical

The Final Duel of the Fates standings

The tournament is over - and here are the final DotF standings. As you can see, Spider-Man is the winner! Congratulations Stan Lee.

Thanks to everyone for listening, and for the great feedback. It's reassuring to know that people out there like the deadpan. There will probably be a second tournament... eventually...

If you can't live without my strange sense of humor until then, then pick up Amityville House of Pancakes, containing my story, "Dirk Moonfire & the Nefarious Space Women", along with 3 really good ones. (End of cheesy plug.
Begin new cheesy plug)
OR -
there will be a "Duel of the Fates: Battle Royale" panel at this year's CopperCon -- held in Phoenix Sept. 9-11. Everyone is definitely welcome to drop by and participate in DotF live!

Not exactly a chick flick

OK, I detest diary-style blogging, but this is kinda funny:

We have Netflix you know, which is awesome, except for the occasional scratched disc. I came home the other night and my wife was grumbling about the 2 movies that had arrived. I look and see that we have the original Predator (with Ahnuld) and a documentary about J.R.R. Tolkien. So the next day at work, I checked to see if maybe something more "chick-flick-y", more suited to her taste, was next in the queue.

Not exactly.

The next movie is "Sword of Doom", a subtitled Japanese samurai movie. Possibly the ultimate anti-chick-flick movie, short of... well anyway... "SoD" had already shipped - we're in for samurai fun this weekend.

Well "Sword of Doom" has Toshiro Mifune in it, and she said she liked "Yojimbo" and "Sanjuro"...

Incidentally, whether you're into that genre or not - - you have to check out "The Twilight Samurai". Excellent film. Whoa, font change.

After Duel of the Fates and the Tomi offer

Wow, the feedback has been great! And there has been a good response to my offer of Spherical Tomi for free - - just send me an e-mail at duelofthefates @ gmail . com and I'll send you a free copy. It is a limited time offer, but no it's not too late yet for you; go ahead and drop me a line. I'll send you a copy.
The time-honored frat-party mantra doesn't quite apply here, ("What's the best kind of beer? Free beer!!")... because a free book ISN'T the best kind of book. A lousy book sucks, whether it's free or $26.95. So, I hope everyone enjoys "Spherical Tomi". I worked hard to make sure it doesn't suck...
If you do hate it though - then just repeat to yourself, "What's the best kind of book?..."

Thanks thanks thanks everyone for the positive comments!

Duel of the Fates Finals

Don't cry - but the end has come! The Dragon Page Wingin' It! episode with the DotF finals is released.

Spider-Man and Godzilla have faced off and a winner has been determined. No spoilers here, but I will say that it went to a sudden death tie-breaker.

I also happened to be in the studio with the guys for the whole 56 minute Wingin' It! episode. I didn't say a lot, but added the occasional comment. Er, I mean, I was brilliant...

Well, thanks to everyone for following the tournament! The Finals are now, well, Final.

The end.............................?

Get Spherical!

So what is “Spherical Tomi” about anyway? Glad you asked. . .

Can one woman escape her past?

Not if she is one of the greatest combat programmers in history.

Caught between two powerful warlords in the far future, and trapped by the memory of the man she couldn't save, Tomi must face the ghosts from her own past, and hide from a world that counts her among its most heinous criminals. Add to this challenge her rapidly deteriorating cloned body, falling apart just in time to meet a new invasion from an old friend, but not quite time enough to replace, and you have the makings of an all around bad day...
“Spherical Tomi” is an action-packed tale of revenge and redemption, touching upon identity, Artificial Intelligence, and the nature of reality.

“Star Wars is over. Star Trek is dead. In Spherical Tomi, Jack Mangan has opened up a new frontier.”

– Ernest Hogan, author of Smoking Mirror Blues.

It's also about 46000 words long.

Get Spherical!

Recorded with the Dragon Page guys today

Hey, I was the in-studio guest for today's recording of Dragon Page Wingin' It!, doing the Duel of the Fates finale and also promoting the Spherical Tomi release. Joe, Mike, and Evo are all great guys (Summer wasn't around today - but I met her at LepreCon. She's cool too). It was a lot of fun - I just hope I didn't say anything stupid. I guess I'll find out for certain on Tuesday, when the show is released.

Speaking of ST - - We're taxiing on the runway now for the official release at Fictionwise! More news and updates will be filling these posts over the next weeks. As soon as information becomes available - I'll post it here.
Stay tuned.

Get Spherical!

It's Friday, this must be the updated Duel of the Fates Tournament Tree

So there's only one round remaining. . . The Final matchup between Spider-Man and Godzilla, winner takes all (well, winner takes nothing, really).

The Final tournament episode will be released on next week's Wingin' It! - with me making a live in-studio appearance to do the post-duel wrap-up.

Burning Chrome

My review of "Burning Chrome", William Gibson's masterful collection of short stories, is posted at SFReader.com.

Don your mirrorshades and Netrun over to it. (though I guess it will be a bit hard to read with sunglasses on)

Spherical Tomi out on Monday, August 8th

Spherical Tomi
Originally uploaded by jackmangan.

Check out Spherical Tomi's cover! Isn't it a thing of beauty?

And yes, the title of this post is accurate. "Spherical Tomi" releases Monday on Fictionwise! Rest assured, there will be many more announcements coming.

Bruce Campbell Review

Jeez, I go away for a few days and I miss everything. The NJ Devils lose their future when Scott Niedermayer signs with Anaheim (where I happened to be on vacation. Oh the irony!). . .

But anyway - I only just noticed that my review for Bruce Campbell's book, "Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way" was posted at SFReader.com on August 2nd. Go check it out.
I guess I was too mesmerized by that glowing review of AHOP.

Last Chance to contribute!

I started the recording last night and will finish up tonight - so after tonight, your contributions will still be welcome, but will be too late to be heard during the podcast.

duelofthefates@gmail.com

Still need your feedback for the Duel of the Fates Finals!!

No offense to those who have already submitted thoughts on Spider-Man and Godzilla for the Duel of the Fates Finals - but I need more feedback!
Send your thoughts, comments, jokes, feelings, or personal fuzzy childhood memories of Spider-Man and/or Godzilla to: duelofthefates@gmail.com. If it's good stuff, I'll read it during the DotF Finals and send you a personalized copy of my new e-book, "Spherical Tomi", in the best format for your needs.

A great review of AHOP posted at SFReader.com

Yes, Pete Allen, Adrienne Jones, and I are all established and active reviewers for SFReader, but that doesn't exempt us from receiving bad reviews. That said, check out the great review Amitvyille House of Pancakes received at SFReader.com!

". . . brilliantly executed, with solid writing, outstanding imagery, good conflict and humorously framed epiphany. But it's the straight-faced way in which Mangan mangles the classic Flash Gordon-style space epic that had me literally laughing out loud. From Dirk's solution to freeing the Space Women from their Mind Control devices to the improbable Octopus Men, this story will have you in pieces. No pun intended."

Thanks much to reviewer S. Fazekas for the kind words!

Back from Disneyland!

Hey, I spent the last week Down & Out in the Magic Kingdom. I'm back now - had a great time. Lots of great rides and fun of course, but the absolute best part of the trip was the look of sheer joy on my daughter's face during the It's a Small World ride.

I'd been planning to do Star Tours on the last night, but skipped it so she could ride It's a Small World again.

Duel of the Fates contact info

Tomorrow's Duel of the Fates will not only change your life and trigger mankind's Great Redemptive S1ngularity, it will also ask for your feedback for a DotF Finals category. The e-mail address given is:

duelofthefates at gmail dot com - in standard e-mail format. You can figure out the translation.

Feel free to send any Duel of the Fates-related stuff to that address. And don't be shy with the funny ideas! It's not that I'm out of material, I just want to get you involved too.

It's going to be a quiet week for this blog - but - lots of big announcements coming very soon!
Tune in next week, same blog time, same blog channel.