Live at a Comic Convention Near You...?

Hi. Hope you had a good holiday. We adopted a Wii. Surprisingly, I haven't abandoned writing to perfect my fencing technique against Sonic or Mario.

In fact, over the holidays, I finished "No Good Deed" (formerly "Penance"), which completes Season Two of Times. Now, I've embarked on another script after a discussion that Steve Wilson and I had during a recent recording session. (Planet of Dark Shadows. Star Trek meets Dark Shadows. Pure, delightful farce. Look for it on libsyn; it should be posted in the next few weeks.)

Anyway, between takes, Steve brought the possibility of mounting live Times performances at comic-book conventions. He's staged live performances of The Arbiter Chronicles at s-f cons in the past, but never really entertained the notion of doing live Times shows whenever I brought it up. (I'm not surprised. It's a huge undertaking for a small troupe.) Nevertheless, since I have always wanted to get comic fans to check us out, I was still receptive to the idea.

Which brings me to what I'm working on now: our "roadshow," a script with a cast and effects that can be easily transported from village to village. I thought about adapting an existing script, but then worked up a long-dormant idea that I could actually set at a comic con and provide opportunities for willing creators to get in on the fun in guest roles.

And that's where I am right now. I'm not divulging the nature of the show, but I think Steve, the Prometheus crew and any audience that sees it will enjoy it.

I hope you'll be among them. I'll let you know how it goes.

-- L.

A Holiday Breather

Hi.

Last night, I finished polishing what will be the next-to-last Times episode of Season 2, "No Good Deed" (formerly "Penance"). I like how it's shaping up, but it needs more work, and I think a little time away from the page will help.

Besides, stepping back from it now will allow me to actually enjoy some of the holiday. Hope your life is allowing you to do the same, and that you're looking forward to the next Season 2 story in the New Year (Prometheus willing).

Have a great holiday!

-- L

Season Two Begins!

Hi.

Just a quick note to officially announce the launch of SuperHuman Times' second season with the posting of the opener, "Close Encounters," on libsyn.

I may have mentioned it before, but this one's about a romance novelist who finds the man of her dreams. But, like her fictional heroines, she eventually discovers he has a deep, dark secret -- and discovers that she has an even bigger one.

Once you click on the above link and listen to it, let us know what you think of the episode, either via the libsyn comment blocks, or here.

And even if you don't comment, if you just dropped in to listen: thanks!

-- L.

Of Ads and Doctors

Hi.

At this writing, the SuperHuman Times ad that's been running on Comic World News has been clicked 97 times. Now that may not sound like a great response to you after a month online, but it's just three clicks shy of my target of 100. I'm fighting the temptation to go to the site and click for the sake of driving it home, but I won't. I'm sure most of the early clickers were Prometheus folks anyway, so it's already contaminated. But they all can't be in that 97, so I'm hoping new people found us and liked us. (Are you one of them? Let me know, please!)

In the meantime, I've been writing scripts, and I realized something that the Times Universe has in common with the real world: both have a helluva lot of doctors. Not that I have anything against doctors. They're vital to our society and they're excellent vessels for exposition. But I've written seven stories (so far) and five of them (so far) have doctors somewhere!

I reviewed the stories I've written so far (past and upcoming) to confirm this and, by God, look at this:

- "True North": pivotal scene takes place in a bombed hospital (dead doctors count);
- "Servant Problem": the guy who comes to claim Knuckles' body is a doctor;
- "Close Encounters": one of the main characters "was" a psychiatrist (you'll get it when you hear it);
- "Dashing": there's an ER (the doctors are alive in this one);
- "Penance": the main character's a medical researcher.

I think that's all the doctors I have for now. I promise to try and do better. Maybe I can have someone blow up a big law firm for a little variety.

-- L.

UPDATE, 11/10: Overnight, the ad hit 100. If you're here now as a result of seeing the ad, thanks. Now, go listen to the show!

Away from the Keyboard

Just a quick break from the "business" of writing Times stories to share a couple of photos and stories from recent travels.

Late in September, we journeyed to the Promised Land -- Wildwood, NJ -- to take our human son, Greg, on some rides and say goodbye to Tucker, our canine son. He (Tucker) loved chasing roller coasters on the beach, so we took some of his fur (in lieu of his ashes; I couldn't bear to open his urn and "rob the grave") with us to the beach and let the winds take him. We were all a little misty, but like all funerals, it was a necessary ritual.

Anyway, when we were done, Cindy caught a shot of me making like Lawrence of Arabia on the beach. (Wildwood has one of the largest beaches anywhere; it truly can be like crossing the Sun's Anvil to get from boardwalk to ocean. The photo doesn't do it justice. We'll get a better one next time.)




As for the other shot -- well, Greg's never seen Lawrence, so he didn't really get into the spirit, but we have so few photos together, this was something of an event.






Speaking of events, this brings me to my second recent diversion from writing: On Wednesday, Cindy & I spent the day in New York, shopping at Toys R Us and M&Ms World, getting The World's Most Expensive Turkey Sandwich for lunch at the Roxy Deli (yum!), and -- the reason for the whole trip -- seeing the afternoon matinee of Curtains with David Hyde Pierce. Given my passion for Frasier -- and the fact that the show also stars Edward "Gil Chesterton" Hibbert -- seeing this was an imperative. Having missed an earlier opportunity to see the show due to a last-minute dental emergency, I was thrilled and relieved to finally see the thing. If you like old-fashioned, breezy musicals (it's the last score by Kander & Ebb and features a great book by Peter Stone and Rupert Holmes) with a great ensemble, you MUST see this show.

We didn't have time to get autographs at the stage door before catching our train, but Cindy did oblige me with this photo to prove I'd really made it to the play. I consider the excursion nothing less than a monumental achievement, given the way The Machine likes to throw wrenches into my plans -- or, as it did last spring, into my teeth -- from time to time.



We now return to our regularly scheduled writing and plugging.
-- L.

So... Y'see Our Ad?

Hi.

This weekend, I booked the first-ever SuperHuman Times web ad. (Designed it, too.)

It's running now and will be up for a month on the leaderboard of the Comic World News forum.

I picked CWN for a number of reasons: price, ad size, a very helpful webmaster... but most importantly, the forum is the home of the Bruisers board -- Kurt Busiek's Astro City forum. And if you know anything about Times, you know how influential that comic was in its creation.

So if you're here because you saw the ad -- and hopefully, checked out the podcasts -- let me know, OK?

Thanks.

-- L.

PROMETHEUS TAKES A PARSEC AWARD!!!

I'm proud to announce that Prometheus Radio Theatre -- the people who bring "The Arbiter Chronicles" and "SuperHuman Times" and other audio treats to podcasting life -- won a Parsec Award for Best Audio Drama (Long Form) at this past weekend's Dragon Con in Atlanta!

Needless to say, I am proud of my talented friends.

To hear some samples of our work that were submitted to the judges for consideration, check out the Prometheus MySpace page, and leave your congratulations for our visionary leader, Steve Wilson (who is no doubt right now clearing off a well-earned space on his mantel beside Prometheus' Mark Time Silver Medal from 2003).

-- L.

Well, SOMEONE'S Listening to Us!

Hi.

For the first time in months, I checked out the official timeskeeper@superhumantimes.com emailbox that's hosted at Go Daddy. It's the official contact address for the show, but I rarely go there because, except for spam, there's usually nothing worth reading. (I know, I know, you all listen to the show, but you don't get around to emailing me about it, that's okay, I understand.)

Seems that, on July 13, someone proved me wrong, because this was waiting for me tonight:

"I just wanted to drop a quick line to let y'all know that I have been greatly enjoying SuperHuman Times. Actually, I've been putting them on CD for a coworker of mine who is less computer savvy, and he too has been enjoying what he's heard so far. Thanks for the shows, and I hope to see more in the future!"
-Misha [I'll withhold the last name for privacy purposes]

Needless to say, our first official "fan mail" has me looking forward to our new fall season even more. Hopefully, once I place my long worked-on ad on some comics sites, we'll get some more feedback like this.

Just wanted to share the thrill with you all. Carry on.

-- L.

Where in the World is SuperHuman Times?

Hi.

The most literal answer to the title question is "still on hiatus." Steve Wilson and the Prometheus crew are taking their collective, well-earned rest after launching this series AND continuing The Arbiter Chronicles AND spinning a few more audio folk tales. Don't worry, they'll be back -- and as far as I know, they'll be bringing the Times back with them.

Which leads me to the second answer to the title question, and what may be the dumbest entry I ever make in this blog, but if anyone ever starts listening to the things – and reading these things – I’d like to have it here.

The other day, I realized that I never specify in my scripts where, exactly, the SuperHuman Times stories take place. I deliberately wanted to give it a sense of its own world, its own reality. But as I kept writing, the stories evoked memories of various real cities where I thought they might “fit.”

So, for the benefit of anyone else who cares about such things, here’s where the episodes so far, and a few that are upcoming, are set, at least in my head. NOTE: If you’re inclined to conjure up your own locales in your head as you listen to each story, please do. That’s why audio theatre is called “theatre of the mind,” after all.

The stories thus far:

“True North” - Baltimore. (I gave the pilot the home field advantage. In fact, my parents are buried in the same cemetery as Curtis’ parents.)

“Risk Management” – Chicago. (Although the museum in which much of the story is set is based on a presentation area in the Sackler Gallery at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC. Had the pleasure of watching one of my comic industry colleagues deliver a great lecture there in 2006 and fell in love with the location. I can still see the pedestal with the spellbook standing in the middle of the hall...)

“Servant Problem” – Long Island (the tony neighborhoods).

In upcoming stories, we’ll continue our travels (and again, these are places where they're set in my head, not necessarily mentioned in the scripts):

“Dashing” – Hollywood. This will be bloody obvious.

“Close Encounters” – Boston.

“The Hot Property” – New York to Atlanta.

Plus, at least one major character to emerge from this twisted micro-universe will be from the Jersey Shore. (Everyone who knows me had to see that coming at some point.) And another will come from Kansas. She hasn’t told me what she’ll be doing yet, but it’s just a matter of time.

But I have it on good authority we’ll be producing these and other stories for some time to come, and I hope you’ll join us for them. If you haven’t yet, please do by clicking here. If you have: thanks for listening, and for stopping by.

-- L.

Times Marches On...

Hi. Thought I'd take a breather to update you on the latest goings-on here at the keyboard.

First off, "Dashing" -- the much-talked-up (by me) three-part Times story -- is done and on the launchpad, waiting for Steve Wilson and the Prometheus cabal to find time to do it. But it's summer. We're all on various stages of vacation. But if anyone reading this is a writer of any kind, you know that just doesn't happen with our ilk. You can't switch off your imagination. at least, I can't.

Which is why I've just cranked out the first draft revision of the next Times, a one-shot tentatively titled "Man of My Dreams." It's a fun little story about a romance novelist who thinks she's found the perfect man, until two problems rock her world: he's not who he appears to be... and neither is she. If you dig the old Alfred Hitchcock Presents series, I hope you'll check this out whenever it goes up. It's got a "twist" at the end that even I didn't see coming until I wrote the script.

And working on that got me so revved up that I almost instantly started writing the next script, another one-shot tentatively titled "Penance." It's in the early stages, but here's my pitch: a desperate researcher seeking a way to test a new cancer drug on a human subject discovers that a patient dying in his hospital is a former supervillainess known for conducting sadistic genetic experiments. In exchange for not revealing her identity to authorities who have been seeking her for years, the researcher coerces her into being his guinea pig and consulting on his work -- but she makes him promise to help her die if the drug fails to restore her health. Needless to say, the stakes turn out to be much, much higher -- but I haven't even outlined this one yet, so there's also a chance they'll just shake hands and go their separate ways, the end.

If that happens, I'll jump in front of a bus, 'cause living will be pointless. Wish me luck.

-- L.

P.S.: While you're waiting for these new Times, be sure to visit Prometheus' libsyn page and check out their latest three-parter from their flagship show, The Arbiter Chronicles. It's called "Divergence," and has one of the most original and entertaining premises I've ever encountered. Plus, The Mrs. edited all of it and has a featured role, so I love it.

That is, I love it; you should, too!