Author Topic: CoW Ep. 197 & 198: The Authorized Biography  (Read 3364 times)

danooli

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on: February 20, 2016, 12:36:33 AM
Episode 197: The Authorized Biography by Michael G. Ryan
Episode 198: The Authorized Biography by Michael G. Ryan

• Narrated by Brian Rollins
• Audio production by Rikki La Coste
A Cast of Wonders original!

We present The Authorized Biography by Michael G. Ryan. Michael considers himself a late bloomer as a published author–but not as a writer. He’s been writing for over 40 years, but is only now taking all those short stories and novels out of the digital bottom drawer and submitting them for consideration.

He’s planning a Kickstarter in early 2016 for his novel None of This Has Happened Yet, a fictional biography told in short stories presented in reverse order. He’s been an editor in the gaming industry for twenty years, working now as the director of publications for Privateer Press.

The story is narrated by Brian Rollins. Brian is a voice actor living in the Denver, Colorado area with his wife, two kids and a Great Dane. He has narrated for a variety of podcasts as well as several audiobooks, including the Glen & Tyler series. When he’s not in the soundbooth, he works as a web developer and can occasionally be coaxed out into public and onto the stage (usually with Dr. Pepper or chocolate). You can find Brian online and on Twitter.

In the beginning, Tim Toonby was bewildered to find his biography. Bewildered and ultimately alarmed.
It appeared Saturday morning on his front porch in an unadorned metal box, the fireproof kind meant for legal documents. No key. Tim Toonby had just stepped outside to leave the full diaper pail liner for the service, and in the age of letter bombs, he hesitated when he saw the box on the steps. He looked around as if the deliverer would still be nearby, waiting for the detonation, but the neighborhood was typically quiet—prefabricated homes with lawns of sod, flower boxes along porch railings, stone lions at the end of driveways as affectations of the neighbors’ aspirations. Toonby had them, too. It was a street for dreamers, not killers.


Click here to listen to Part One of this story
Click here to listen to Part Two of this story
Click here to read the text of the story

Tags: alternate realities, Brian Rolling, Cast of Wonders, decisions, dogs, family, Fantasy, growing up, love, Michael G. Ryan, Modern Fantasy, Rikki La Coste, writing, Young Adult fiction
« Last Edit: February 22, 2016, 12:46:19 AM by danooli »



Fenrix

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Reply #1 on: March 10, 2016, 03:16:06 AM
Bravo! I love that it ended just early enough so we don't know whether Judas accept the thirty pieces of silver.

All cat stories start with this statement: “My mother, who was the first cat, told me this...”


TrishEM

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Reply #2 on: March 10, 2016, 08:14:08 AM
Oh, I took it that his finally asking "How much?" meant he'd decided to risk it.



Devoted135

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Reply #3 on: March 11, 2016, 08:40:07 PM
I enjoyed this story immensely! Isn't just like human nature to try so hard not to cross the line (reading the biographies all the way to the end), but still justifying putting various toes over the line (I'll just read up to the present...)? I found this so believable. Wonderful pair of episodes!



Fenrix

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Reply #4 on: March 14, 2016, 08:28:35 PM
Oh, I took it that his finally asking "How much?" meant he'd decided to risk it.

As a cynic, I did as well, but I think there's a perfectly valid optimistic reading as well. But the ending beat of resisting temptation (again) is a lot less impactful from a storytelling standpoint. This ending pushes the question to the listener "what would you choose?" and pushes the thought experiment and avoids being nearly so didactic in the process.

I also like the take on faith in this story. It felt honest.

The more I think about this story, the more I like it.

All cat stories start with this statement: “My mother, who was the first cat, told me this...”


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Reply #5 on: March 18, 2016, 05:26:32 PM
Ooh, I really liked this one.  Clever idea, really neat speculative element, and I could really feel as he read each edition of the book how it really impacted him to read what would happen to his loved ones.  I wish it hadn't ended with the How much? at the end because that implied a darker ending than I really wanted to see after the journey to get there.