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.

Yup. Still Here. Still Writing.

(Originally posted on January 20, 2007)

Howdy.

A friend of mine recently told me on good authority that people were actually reading this blog, and that it might be wise/nice to update it once in a while, even if nothing special was happening with the series.

Well, I did promise a "behind-the-scenes" perspective on the show, even if it is just my own. So, in that vein, here's what I've been up to since the last post:

"Risk Management" - The second story of the series, a three-parter, goes into the studio this month. We're hoping to post it in March.

"Dashing" - I'm in the middle of writing this one, another three-parter. Part One's done, and the wife likes it, so that's a good sign. I have to start Part Two after having taken a few weeks off for holiday recuperation and home improvements. With luck, this will hit during the summer months. Since it's a riff on Bond movies, that would be appropriate.

I'm also putting the finishing touches on the outline of what I think will be the fourth and final story of Season 1, "Servant Problem." I want this two-parter to be a lot of fun for whoever ends up acting in it, because I want it to have the feel of a 1930s screwball comedy. With superhumans.

And on top of that, I came up with two stories for what I hope will be future seasons. Both are love stories of different kinds. I don't know which one I'll attempt first, but when an idea hits, I always try to flesh it out immediately, so I can come back to it later with a lot of the initial details already worked out. But it's usually rolling through my head while I'm working on other stories.

It's just that I started this whole thing with ideas for about 15 stories. Now I have more than 20, I think.

When you figure that the Prometheus gang is also working on The Arbiter Chronicles and its series of folk tales, and we're going to try and post the Times episodes on a quarterly schedule, that translates into requiring about five years to tell all the stories I want to tell (Steve and the gang willing).

Two of my all-time favorite shows -- The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Twilight Zone -- each ran for five years. If we could attain that goal, we'd be in good company.

But first, I have to write the episodes. And plug the hell out of them. (I'm trying to find good comic-book venues for online ads, ideal conventions for program book ad/flier placement, etc. Any suggestions?) And in between all of this, I'll update you as to what's going on. I hope to have much to report.

Thanks for reading, and listening. Back to work.

-- LW