Anaea Lay Angry spluttering, Good Stuff, Podcast, Uncategorized

Strange Horizons Resistance Special Issue

All week this week, Strange Horizons has been releasing a ton of content for the Resistance special issue.  This includes six fiction stories which, I think, is the highest density of published fiction the magazine has ever undertaken.  The issue is gorgeous and important and we podcast every word of that fiction.  Today is a double-header picked out with today very much in mind.  Need to feel better?  Just knowing we were going to put these stories up has been a warm cuddly blanket of angry glee for me.  I hope it does the same for you, too.

Here’s the whole issue.  I hope it helps.

Anaea Lay Podcast, Random Notes

The Editor is Retired, Long Live the Editor

the_olympic_cauldron_in_vancouverYou know Ciro, right?  The deep, rumbly voice that periodically graces the Strange Horizons poetry podcast, and filled in for me when I was moving?  The one who gets more fan mail than I do?  That Ciro? I’ve got good news.  You get more of him!

The December poetry podcast was my last as host, and Ciro has taken over for me.  This is awesome!  I had literally not changed a thing about how the final product worked since I hit a rhythm, and there was, frankly, room for improvement.  It just wasn’t going to happen with me.  Ciro, on the other hand, has already mixed up the format to make it more user-friendly (and producer-hard. Simple things on the listener end are super finicky on the back end) and I’m pretty sure it’s going to all be ass-kicking glory from here on.

I’m glad the poetry podcast is in the hands of somebody who has the time to treat it well, and I’m extremely glad that somebody is Ciro, because he’s great.  Give him a listen.

Even if you think you’re not into poetry, do it.  It’s short, so it’s a low-cost gamble that you’ll find something you like.  If you’re into flash fiction you should especially be looking at speculative poetry – the two forms have a lot going on that can inform each other.

I am still the Fiction Podcast Editor at Strange Horizons.  As of now I have no intention of ever not being the Podcast Editor at Strange Horizons.  That doesn’t actually mean I’ll never move on, just that right now I can’t foresee when/why that would be.  After three years, that’s a pretty cozy position to be in with a job.

Anaea Lay Good Stuff, Podcast, Random Notes, Writing

UFO and the Overcast, Parsecs

I’ve been bad about doing updates on things.  I’d feel bad about it, but I’m too busy doing all the things that have been keeping me from updating to indulge in human emotion, so I’ll just pile a bunch of it here.

First, I have overcome my hatred of joy, happiness, and comedy and snagged a place in Alex Shvartsman’s fourth Unidentified Funny Objects anthology.  This year’s iteration had a dark humor theme and in the forward he says what I actually did was right a horror story, but I think it’s actually a very sweet tale about dating a cannibal.  I’ll say something somewhere about this again when the anthology comes out so you can snag yourself a copy.

Also, should you feel you don’t get enough of my dulcet tones at the Strange Horizons podcast, you can listen to me slaughter so Russian like a James Bond villain over at the Overcast.  I narrated Anatoly Bellilovsky’s Of Mat and Math for them. This process included a continuation of the trend where my voice disappears right when I have a podcast obligation.  I think possibly the Podcast Editor position at Strange Horizons is cursed and if you try to do anything else your throat swells up and starts to grow things. Or I’m only foolish enough to volunteer for extra work when I’m on the verge of becoming ill.  I think the curse is more likely.

Finally, the Strange Horizons podcast was nominated for a Parsec award this year.  That was so awesome that I quietly freaked out about it for months rather than saying anything.  Woops.  The initial nominations come from fans, so I basically already won.  I mean, seriously now, I have no idea who the judges are and so I don’t really care what they think of my podcast.  But Strange Horizons fans like it enough to tell people to give us an award!  That pretty much means I’m the best thing ever, you can’t touch this, victory laps for everybody.  Or, you know, that I’m going to chew off all my finger nails between now and when the winners are announced at Dragon*Con in September.  ONE OF THESE THINGS IS TRUE.  Maybe two.

I’m going to be at WorldCon, too, and I’m all over the programming there, but I’ll post my schedule tomorrow so you can bask in…pixels.

Anaea Lay Good Stuff, Podcast

Strange Horizons Podcast Contest: You Can Win

Today I announced a new contest on the Strange Horizons podcast.  The gist is this: I want more people commenting on and interacting with the podcast.  I’m offering bribes to make it happen.  There are two ways to win:

1) Comment on the story or podcast, starting with today’s, and going until July 9.  I’ll randomly choose one commenter from that time.  It’s raffle-style, so every (quality, as judged by me) comment gets you an entry.

2) Tell people about the contest.  The person judged by me to have most effectively spread the word about the contest will also win.

What do you win?  I’m so glad you asked!  You’ll get a free copy of audio book for The End is Nigh.  This is the first part of John Joseph Adams and Hugh Howey’s Apocalypse Triptych.  This is an awesome prize, and you yearn for it.  You yearn for it so much, you’re going to go start commenting right now.

Anaea Lay Podcast

Podcast: December Poetry

The podcast with December’s poetry went up last Friday, a little early to give people time to grab it before the holidays.  And, that marks our last podcast for the year.  It’s been awesome, guys.  This is possibly my best insane idea ever.

That said, I’m probably not going to keep posting about the podcast every Monday next year.  Nobody’s clicking through, and the whole point was to drive traffic over there, and share funny behind-the-scenes anecdotes.  I don’t have weekly funny behind-the-scenes anecedotes, as it turns out.  So henceforward, I shall switch to linking the podcast when there’s something unusual about it, or when I do have an amusing anecdote.

But, in the mean time, check out the end of year awesome.

Anaea Lay Podcast

Podcast: Significant Figures

I have been craving waffles for a week.  This is what happens when you record the podcast early because you’re going out of town, then are too busy to make yourself waffles, because you’re going out of town.  This is the podcast to blame.  It’s tasty!  I mean, nommmy…wait, I meant…I think I meant that I’m hungry and I blame Rachael.

Anaea Lay Podcast

Podcast: Why Don’t You Ask the Doomsday Machine

This week‘s podcast let me vicariously live out one of my dearest fantasies, i.e. killing every living thing in the universe.  Several times.  It’s a little bit the best thing ever, and since I was doing the recording last week, I think we all know what I was thankful for.

Other things that make me thankful?  Auditions for podcast readers.

Don’t kid yourself. You know you want to hear me being a Doomsday machine.  Right now.

Anaea Lay Podcast

Podcast: November Poetry

Can haz poems!  You’ve got double doses of both Julia and me, so you know you’re in for a treat.  Go listen.

And while you’re listening, think about how awesome it’s going to be when one of those poems is a fresh voice you don’t normally hear.  Super awesome, right?  That’s why you should direct all the nice voices you know to our audition guidelines.

Anaea Lay Podcast, Random Notes

Podcast Reader Auditions

Ever wanted to try your hand at voice acting, podcasting, or reading poetry out loud for an audience?  Now’s your chance!  The guidelines for auditioning as a reader for the Strange Horizons poetry podcast are now up, and I’m eager to start collecting samples.  Tell anybody you know who might be interested.  Tell anybody you know who might know somebody who might be interested.  Get me potential readers, my lovelies, because I”ll be needing about one a month for the foreseeable future.  Tell everybody.