DILBERT Meets POLTERGEIST

Tomorrow (Sunday, May 20) at 2:00 on the Society of the Inner Ear at KZME Radio 107.1 FM, you can catch another one of my audio theater pieces.  It's entitled CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? and was written as part of A MURDER OF CROWS, the award-winning Willamette Radio Workshop's first compilation of original pieces.  The MURDER OF CROWS project later morphed into the Writers On-the-air Workshop.  When Writers On-the-air drew out-of-state participants, our web-guru created an online forum that eventually evolved into THIS BLOG!  A selection of pieces from MURDER OF CROWS, including CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? and SWEETHEARTS, an early piece by Hugo Award-winner and Nebula nominee  Mary Robinette Kowal, went on to win WRW's first Ogle Award. 

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? was my personal take on horror in the age of cell-phones and the demons that possess them.  The concept has cropped up elsewhere since then, because it's a pretty irresistible step in the world of 21st century horror what-ifs.  Still, the piece has a special place in my heart, a sort of DILBERT-meets-POLTERGEIST.  

The companion piece tomorrow is called STATE EXECUTIONER.  From the old LIGHTS OUT series, it's set in the days of King George III and tells the tale of a man who becomes obsessed with his profession as the state executioner.

Enjoy!

Today On the Society of the Inner Ear

Tune in today at 2:00 to the Society of the Inner Ear at KZME Radio 107.1 FM to catch some awesome audio theater, including an original piece by yours truly called THE ST. JAMES SISTERS, inspired by the classic song The St. James Infirmary Blues, with a dark whiff of the Grimm's story The Twelve Dancing Princesses.  THE ST JAMES SISTERS was written for the award-winning Willamette Radio Workshop.  Other featured pieces include THE YELLOW WALLPAPER by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, starring Agnes Moorehead, and TURNSTILES, a short award-winning piece by Portland writer Carole Oberholtzer.  I thought it would be airing on Mother's Day, but it's airing early.  Enjoy!

Escape from the Abyss, and More

Well, I guess the end of the nasty cold has allowed me to rise out of the abyss and get back to writing.  So all you folks who cheered me on and reminded me that the abyss would pass, you were right.  Even my latest rejection letter didn't manage to suck me back in.  I guess the bottom line is that I want to write stories and the writing itself will always call me back eventually, whether the external validation is there or not.

On a mildly related note, one of my audio theater pieces, THE ST. JAMES SISTERS will be airing on Mother's Day via The Society of the Inner Ear on KZME 107.1FM as part of an homage to women in audio theater.  I wrote the piece for Willamette Radio Workshop as part of a collection of pieces inspired by the blues classic, St. James Infirmary Blues.  Mine is set in the Civil War and based not only on the song but on the Grimms fairy tale of the Seven Dancing Princesses, with a darker underlying theme around the impact of war and the issue of survivor's guilt.

The other featured pieces are Agnes Moorehead performing Charlotte Perkins Gilman's THE YELLOW WALLPAPER, and TURNSTILES by Carole Oberholtzer.


Thus endeth the self-promotion.