Escape Artists

PodCastle => Episode Comments => Topic started by: Heradel on December 31, 2009, 02:37:45 PM

Title: PC Metacast #3
Post by: Heradel on December 31, 2009, 02:37:45 PM
PodCastle Metacast #3
(http://podcastle.org/2009/12/31/podcastle-metacast-3/)

On the eve of the New Year, Rachel Swirsky and Dave Thompson talk about the Changing of the Guard and what’s in the works at PodCastle. An excerpt is included with the post. The full text of the metacast will be available at the forums. Feel free to extend your well wishes to any of the editors there.

Rachel's Script:
"Hello, this is Rachel Swirsky, and soon, I will not be the editor of PodCastle. I've had a lot of fun with Escape Artists over the past three years. I came in a year before PodCastle launched. Immediately, I started scouring magazines and anthologies for stories I loved, not to mention jumping gleefully into the slush pile.

I always knew that I wouldn't be with PodCastle forever. Last summer, I decided that, as much fun as PodCastle was, I really needed more time to write. I've been very fortunate to enjoy some success with my writing career, from publishing two novellettes at Tor.com to signing a contract for an upcoming collection through Aqueduct Press, Through the Drowsy Dark.

So I went to Anna Schwind and Dave Thompson, who I had cleverly invited to the cast with this eventuality in mind, and asked if they'd be interested in taking over as editors. Happily they agreed, and they've been training with me for the last couple months.

The transition should be pretty smooth. I officially depart on January first, but I've been transferring duties over to Anna and Dave for the past couple months. And by the way, they're great at editing.

We've even been sharing editorial duties, tossing likely stories into a folder where we can all see and comment on them. There won't be a hard line where my influence disappears and theirs takes over. The next few months of stories flow from my choices, to choices we made together, and eventually move over to their aesthetic. In the meantime, the content will be like an estuary composed of our influences, part-Dave, part-Anna, part-Rachel.

I'm not leaving completely. I'll still be doing the occasional introduction, and if I encounter excellent stories in my reading, I'll send them on to Anna and Dave with my recommendation. We're already planning for me to pick PodCastle's second anniversary story in April, and I might come back for a guest spot. Who knows?

Ann, by the way, is staying. You might ask why she's not going to be the editor, but the answer's simple. She doesn't want the reins! Besides she's got her own projects. Keep your ears open for more on that.

Of course it'll be hard to leave PodCastle. A few months ago, I mentioned to Ben that it was like handing off my baby. But I'm confident; Anna and Dave have proven they'll be excellent adoptive parents. Of... a castle? OK, that didn't work. They'll be excellent...tewards. That sounds better.

If you want to keep up with me, my livejournal is rachel_swirsky and my website is rachelswirsky.com and my email is rachel.swirsky@gmail.com. You may have noticed that I'm extremely creative with user names.

Thanks everyone for listening. I hope you've enjoyed the cast so far, and I hope you continue to enjoy it as it continues! Stay tuned for Dave as he talks about the transition from his perspective and gives some insight into what will happen next."

 

Dave:"Hi, this is Dave Thompson. One half of your new Podcastle editorial team. You all have heard me here a little bit already. I've been helping out with co-host duties and recording outros. But that's not how I first came to PodCastle. I started as a story rater. You know, the person who reads the story and decides G, PG, R, X? Yeah, that was me. I was PodCastle's own version of the MPAA, except with less controversy. Mostly.  Then Rachel Swirsky gave me this shiny, emerald, magic ring, and asked me to be one of the Guardians of PodCastle while she explores the far corners of the  world, maybe even alternate worlds, searching for new adventures. I'm the genial half. The good cop. The other half of the team is Anna Schwind, who for the most part, you probably won't actually hear, because she likes to play it invisible. All the better to rip out your hearts with, my dears. And yes, she got a shiny ring, too. Only for some reason, her's is yellow. But even though you wont' be hearing her a lot, Anna's got her fingers  in every single aspect of this podcast, and I promise you, we're all the better for it. For the past year, she's been working as Escape Pod's slush reader. I know I'm a little biased, but after working with Anna for a while now, I think we make a pretty strong team.

Anna and I were asked to come aboard Podcastle earlier this year as deckhands, and I have to tell you, working with Rachel and Ann Leckie has been a dream come true for us. We're both love Escape Artists in general - Anna fell in love with Escape Pod waaaaaaaaaaaay back when it was the only podcast in the family, and she heard Greg van Eekhout's killer piece of flash "Airedale". My first EP was Pete Butler's Squonk the Dragon. We both subbed stories to the Flash Fiction contest (and Anna's piece - The Way Before - got picked up, by the way) and like all of you out there listening, we're both huge geeks, I mean fans of these podcasts.  Coming to work in a floating castle after hours, walking down these impressive moonlit halls, well it's one of the coolest experiences we've ever had.

We've got some killer stuff planned for you in the future: Our first review is coming soon! I won't tell you what it is, but I will tell you that it's by our very own forum moderator Bill Peters, better known as Heradel. We also purchased our first full-length original story, “Smokestacks Like the Arms of God,” from writer and philosopher Ben Burgis. Also, Rachel had the brilliant idea to make February an Ann Leckie month. No, unfortunately, that does not mean you'll get to hear four new Ann Leckie stories, but it does mean Ann, as guest editor, hand-selected all the stories for the month of February - from classics to contemporaries. In a word, it's gonna be awesome.

We're going to miss Rachel. Rachel built this podcast from the sky up. And for me personally, she's been like my Obi-Wan Kenobi the past couple months - as both a writer and an editor. There's a special thread going up on the forum for everyone to share their appreciation of Rachel, and you can also contact her via the email address she gave, or her livejournal.  I encourage you to do so. Thankfully, she's not slipping into some alternate dimension permanently, she'll still be close enough to share stories with us, and we're excited to hear about her new adventures. As for Anna and I? We're not going to be sitting back in an underground hatch punching a button every 108 minutes. Nope. We're thinking about raising ourselves an avanc, harnessing the monster, and seeing what this PodCastle has in her.

It's gonna be a wild ride, and we hope you'll continue on with us for the next chapter of this adventure.

If you have any questions about all this, please, feel free to stop by our discussion forum and let us know. We'd love to hear from you. 

Thanks for listening. We'll keep the drawbridge down for you."
Title: Re: PC Metacast #3
Post by: Unblinking on December 31, 2009, 03:14:05 PM
Rachel, I'm sorry to see you go, but at least you're leaving with the knowledge that you got PC off to a really great start.  I can definitely understand why you'd want more time to write.  I'm sure your editorial duties have demanded a huge amount of your time--I'm always surprised at how much time the running of my little interview site costs me!

DKT, Anarkey, congrats!  I'll be looking forward to seeing your story selections!  I know you'll both do a bang-up job and PC will continue to be the great podcast it is today.  :) 
[subliminal]BUY MY STORIES![/subliminal]
Title: Re: PC Metacast #3
Post by: Swamp on December 31, 2009, 04:46:54 PM
Rachel, I am excited for you and your new adventures!  However, I am sorry to see you leave Podcastle.  You've done great work and have built up a fine podcast.  And I can't think of anyone better to leave it in care of.

Dave and Anna, I highly respect both of you.  Congratulations on your "new" status as editors of the podcast.  I look forward to great things!

Ann, I'm glad you are still part of things at Podcastle.  I do hope, though, to see more of your stories appearing on the feed.  Do it just for me, please.

On the downside, now I have to change the blasted Org Chart again.  If I would have known what a hassle that thing would become, I would have built it differently.
Title: Re: PC Metacast #3
Post by: mbrennan on December 31, 2009, 07:25:50 PM
I'll definitely miss Rachel; I've enjoyed working with her, both as a writer and a story-reader, and she's pretty much the person who turned me into a regular podcast listener (Podcastle was the first one I subscribed to, right when it launched).  But I totally understand needing more time than other things.  Good luck to Anna and Dave!

(Er, not in that "good luck; you'll need it" kind of way.  More a "best wishes" sort of thing.)
Title: Re: PC Metacast #3
Post by: Alasdair5000 on December 31, 2009, 08:24:21 PM
Rachel's done spectacular work on PC and she's now officially one of my favorite writers.  I'm delighted Ann's sticking around and I cannot think of better people to take over the wheel than Dave and Anna.  Congratulations:)
Title: Re: PC Metacast #3
Post by: Divya on January 01, 2010, 12:25:07 PM
It is always interesting when there is a change of this type. Looking forward to see how the story selections change :) Podcastle has been the first podcast that I subscribed to, and I have enjoyed most of the stories so far.

And wishing you all the best in whatever you plan to do, which ever dimension you plan to go to Racheal :)
Title: Re: PC Metacast #3
Post by: Talia on January 02, 2010, 05:06:11 AM
Thanks for all your hard work Rachel and good luck with your further endeavors!
Title: Re: PC Metacast #3
Post by: eytanz on January 02, 2010, 10:33:34 AM
Whoa, I leave for a few internet-less days over New Year and see what happens!

Thank you, Rachel, for all your amazing work and leadership with Podcastle. It is my favorite story podcast, and I think your pride in it is more than justified.

And welcome to Dave and Anna - I know you both quite well from the forums, so I don't have any doubt that Podcastle is in capable hands.

Looking forward to many more years of great stories!
Title: Re: PC Metacast #3
Post by: gelee on January 03, 2010, 02:30:53 AM
There's really nothing quite like a start-up.  Getting any sort of new operation up and running is a monumental task, and Rachel has done an outstanding job.  PC has joined it's sibling 'casts as the examples for the rest of the podcasting world on how to do this whole 'new media' thing right. 
Good work, Rachel.  I hope we'll still get plenty of oppurtunities to hear your wonderfull writing on all three shows.
I have no doubt that Rachel has made sure that Dave and Anna are ready to take the wheel, and I'm sure they'll do a great job.
Title: Re: PC Metacast #3
Post by: Zorag on January 03, 2010, 05:46:43 PM
Best of luck to everyone with their new endeavors.

Also, am I the only one that was reminded of B5 episode titles?  Preludes and Epilogues, very B5ish.
Title: Re: PC Metacast #3
Post by: Heradel on January 03, 2010, 10:00:58 PM
Best of luck to everyone with their new endeavors.

Also, am I the only one that was reminded of B5 episode titles?  Preludes and Epilogues, very B5ish.

It was slightly adapted from the Sandman graphic novel Preludes and Nocturnes.
Title: Re: PC Metacast #3
Post by: stePH on January 04, 2010, 04:03:04 AM
Best of luck to everyone with their new endeavors.

Also, am I the only one that was reminded of B5 episode titles?  Preludes and Epilogues, very B5ish.

It was slightly adapted from the Sandman graphic novel Preludes and Nocturnes.

I suspect that Z's thinking of "Signs and Portents", the title for the entire first season of Babylon 5.
Title: Re: PC Metacast #3
Post by: cdugger on January 05, 2010, 01:44:25 AM
All good things must come to an end, and opportunity knocks.

It's been a good run, and it'll continue to be good. Just different.

Thanks for all the hard work, Rachel.

Welcome to the lead, Dave and Anna!
Title: Re: PC Metacast #3
Post by: Heradel on January 05, 2010, 03:43:08 AM
Best of luck to everyone with their new endeavors.

Also, am I the only one that was reminded of B5 episode titles?  Preludes and Epilogues, very B5ish.

It was slightly adapted from the Sandman graphic novel Preludes and Nocturnes.

I suspect that Z's thinking of "Signs and Portents", the title for the entire first season of Babylon 5.

It should also be noted that the Prologues and Epilogues title I used for the announcements space in the forum appears nowhere else, and was purely my creation because it felt like it needed something when I was putting it in that box.

And it also appears that I somehow lost, or forgot to post my reply the metacast I wrote on Saturday. D'oh.

Rachel has been wonderful to work with in the limited capacity that I have here as moderator. She's written a really great first chapter for Podcastle, and I know that Dave and Anna (Or Anna and Dave, depending on who's talking) will do a great job on the second chapter.