I edited it down to 5-6K, I believe. It was definitely the longest story in the web-a-thon (Matt read seven stories I believe during his live show). I was very happy with the response I received from people about the story.

Flash forward to Friday, April 10th. The text that follows if from Matt’s website:

I’m very pleased to announce the release of “The Sovereign Era: Year One,” an anthology of seven tales written by authors who are pretty well known in certain circles — folks like J. C. Hutchins, Mur Lafferty, P. G. Holyfield, Nathan Lowell, Matt Wallace, J. R. Blackwell and Jared Axelrod!

This collection has its origin in the all-day web-a-thon I produced on the occasion of the Swarm Press release of “Brave Men Run — A Novel of the Sovereign Era.” On that day, I read each of these stories live on streaming video… but they’ve never been seen in print until now.

As of right now, the collection is available on this site in a bundle of eight DRM-free e-book formats and from Amazon.com for the Kindle. Soon enough, it will also be available in paperback in every online bookstore you’d care to patronize. To be honest, if you like e-books, I encourage you to purchase it in that format, since the authors involved stand to earn more of a percentage from each e-book sale.

In “Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights,” we’re seeing a little of what happened in the months before the Sovereign Era began. The Sovereign Era’s beginnings are depicted in “Brave Men Run — A Novel of the Sovereign Era.” I hope you’ll purchase “The Sovereign Era: Year One” and take in seven different glimpses into how things went in the months that followed. On behalf of the authors and cover artist Jeffrey Himmelman, I thank you very much!

For those of you that haven’t read Brave Men Run, it feels like a teen movie mixed with a superhero novel… The Breakfast Club and X-Men all rolled into one. Please go check out the anthology, and listen to or read Brave Men Run.

As for The Sovereign Era: Year One – electronic versions are already available for the book, and the print version should be out in a few days!

Thank you to J.C., and to Philippa Ballantine for spearheading the effort around this.

Tee, thoughts and prayers go out on your behalf in this time of need. You are loved.

The President of the United States is dead. He was murdered in the morning sunlight by a four year-old boy.

With those first two sentences, J.C. Hutchins announced his arrival to the world of podcast fiction. And on October 27, 2009, 7th Son: Descent hits bookstore shelves and on Amazon.com.

Go here to read more about 7th Son: Descent.

This is the one I’ve been waiting for… I love Scott Sigler’s books, and J.C.’s first book with Jordan Weisman, Personal Effects: Dark Art was a lot of fun, but 7th Son redefined storytelling for me, and on a weekly basis it made me want to be a better writer.

And finally, if it wasn’t for J.C. I don’t think I would have podcast Murder at Avedon Hill. So learn about 7th Son if you haven’t given it a try. And if you enjoyed his podcast and want something to read while I’m editing Murder at Avedon Hill, BUY THIS BOOK.

And actually, if you haven’t listened to 7th Son: Descent, J.C. has started releasing the new version of the 7th Son: Descent podcast (based on the print version of the novel).

Music – David Beard – Jack’s Anger

00:00 – Announcement

Dragon Moon Press will be publishing Murder at Avedon Hill. No set date at this time, but we’re looking at late ’09.

03:30 – Spread the Word!

Press Releases can be found on the Media Kit Page.  Please send to your local paper or media outlet… any entity that might be interested in the story of an unpublished author using ‘new media’ to land a publishing deal. Send me an email and let me know what you’ve done… we’re going to take this to the next level. Thanks, people!!

Last thing (not mentioned in the audio announcement). If you have a website or blog, please add a quick post about the publishing deal and link to the Press Page at http://pgholyfield.com/the-book/press – It will definitely help!

Music – “Sunset Serenade” – From Marc Gunn’s new CD, Heart’s Ease.

• Bumper: Jay Lynn
  
• Intro Chatter
  • Thanks for all the positive feedback about Ep. 32!
  • Call the Caern Line – 704-315-5884
  • Two new promos coming soon – with help from Michael Spence
  • Guest Voices – J.C. Hutchins!

4:00 – The Story So Far

The Story So Far for this episode: read by Michael Spence

Arames and Arrin follow Talik Bore and find themselves in deep trouble in the caves outside of Avedon Hill.

5:15 – Chapter Thirty-three:Ursala’s Lament

Our heroes battle Rondellus Marx; Arames shares a legend of Ursala with Arrin.

22:10 – Promo, Caern-Line calls, and Bloopers

• Metamediocrity – an audio comic podcast
• Caern Line Calls from Shara, Scott Roche,
• The Tee Morris Audio Roast
• Adam Teece, Nick Robinson, Quonundrum, Andy Cross, sinspired
• Outro
• Bloopers

Music in this podcast:

• Shira Kammen – Magnatune.com
  • The Impossible Butterfly – Wild Wood
  • Pasa Viene – Wild Wood
  • Shetland Set – Wild Wood
  • Lullaby Set – Wild Wood
• Kevin McLeod – Unrelenting, Asian Drums, Anxiety, Interloper
• David Beard – various bed music, including “Chase” and “Imminent Danger”
• Stellamara – Magnatune.com
  • Oj Jabuko
• Additional f/x found at Soundsnap.com and The Freesound Project

http://jchutchins.net

We discussed podcasting, his recording set up, awesome news from the Hutchins command HQ, and I even got to speak to several of the clones.

Apologies in advance about the audio quality. Skype had major sound quality issues during the interview (pops and drops).

Episode 1 of the Murder at Avedon Hill podcast will be released Friday, June 8 — sweet.

• Intro
• Interview
• Promo – Jack Palms II – This is Life
• Promo – Give Us a Minute
• Promo – Nina Kimberly the Merciless
• Outro

Music in this week’s podcast:

• Shira Kammen – Magnatune.com
  • Shetland Set – Wild Wood

Special Guest: J.C. Hutchins (for the hundreth time, thanks J.C. for reading Scott’s part in this story).

Yeah, I’m taking the easy way out this week. Next time (T-Minus 1) will be new fiction. Promise.

Apologies for the sound quality. I was going to redo my lines with the new equipment, but after the time I lost with Audition over the last two days, I was left with using the older version of the story.

Show Notes:

• Intro
• 2:30 – Promo for Scott Sigler’s The Rookie
• 4:00 – Death, Taxes, and Scott Sigler
• 28:30 – Final comments

Music in this week’s podcast:

• Heaven’s a Lie – Lacuna Coil
• Shira Kammen – Magnatune.com
  • Rafe’s Waltz – Castle of the Holly King
  • Shetland Set – Wild Wood
• Additional background music – Kevin McLeod – Incompetech.com