The Questors From Effpiem, Episode 2 (Part 2): The House of the Sophia Pulchra
As it turns out, the second half of Episode 2 was released the very next week after the first episode had been released, in Jack Mangan’s Deadpan #107.
As they used to say on Star Trek: “And now, the conclusion.”
About This Episode
Awakened in the middle of the night by a strange, powerful surge of curiosity, John Boze is drawn by magic to read three pages of a mysterious, glowing book in the library. This proves to have a mysterious effect on him, and when his companions set out on their journey again, they’re wondering what its ultimate outcome will be.
Voice Cast:
- Justa J0e as Himself
- Paul Maki as John Boze
- Jack Hosley as WNDRWolf
- Ryah Deines as Ryah
- Ed from Texas as Himself
Music:
- The Secret Passage: “The Messenger,” The Groove Mine
- The Library: “Mindmixing,” Blazej Lindner
- The Book: “Cats Sleeping on Clouds,” Maneki Neko
- Ending Theme: “Journey’s End,” Guardian Mind Mix
All music in this episode is available at the Podsafe Music Network.
Sound Effects:
- Match being struck: “LightingMatch2,” contributed by HerbertBoland
- Knocking on door: Provided by Justa J0e (Thanks!)
The first of these two sounds was provided by the Freesound Project and is licensed under a Creative Commons Sampling Plus 1.0 License.
Add comment October 3, 2008
The Questors From Effpiem, Episode 2 (Part 1): The House of the Sophia Pulchra
At last, “The Questors from Effpiem” continues! Two moves in the same month and a new occupation kept this episode from debuting in August, but the Deadpan Ambassador will not be deterred from finishing what she started!
This episode runs so long (17:36) that it had to be split up over two episodes of the Deadpan Podcast. The first part is in Jack Mangan’s Deadpan #106: Three Stories. Look for the conclusion of Episode 2 in an upcoming episode of the Deadpan. Jack cut it at the perfect moment, too. The upshot of his editing is that I just cliffhangered my listeners for the first time, and I didn’t even do it intentionally! Cool! Thank you, Jack!
About This Episode
Having left their original campsite behind, the questing party stops for the night at the home of Andrea and Hugh, a pair of mated demons known as the Sophia Pulchra. Over dinner, the guests learn that the two demons and their apprentices act as caretakers and catalogers of beauty and wisdom. During the night, John Boze hears a faint, pulsating humming coming from somewhere in the house, and is seized by a sudden, mysterious surge of curiosity…
Voice Cast:
- Ed from Texas as Himself
- Ryah Deines as Ryah
- Justa J0e as Himself
- Paul Maki as John Boze
- Jack Hosley as WNDRWolf
Music:
- Opening Theme: “Journey’s End,” Guardian Mind Mix
- The Dining Room: “Falling Pieces,” For Enemies Of Reason
- The Art Collection: “The Love Temple,” Matt Mango
- The Humming Sound: “The Messenger,” The Groove Mine
All of these songs except “The Love Temple” are available at the Podsafe Music Network.
Sound Effects:
- Footsteps: “HighHeelsWendyQuick.mp3,” contributed by acclivity
- Ravens’ wings: “wing_flaps_layered,” contributed by martian
These sounds were provided by the Freesound Project and are licensed under a Creative Commons Sampling Plus 1.0 License.
Ideas:
- The reference to the rabbit of Caerbannog and the appearance of the blue bird leg were suggested by Ryah and Paul Maki, respectively, via email. (Thanks!)
Add comment September 25, 2008
The Questors From Effpiem, Episode 1: The Dead Pan
To celebrate the 100th episode of Jack Mangan’s Deadpan Podcast, a group of its longtime listeners and contributors recorded a fan-created episode. I was asked to contribute some audio fiction, and I did.
“The Questors From Effpiem” is a serialized fantasy story starring members of the community over at the Deadpan Podcast. Deadpan Episode 100 showcases the strength of our community as well as celebrating our host, and the members and spirit of the podcast and its community inspired this story. I am very excited to announce that the first of my story’s six episodes was released today as part of the Deadpan Podcast’s celebratory 100th episode. I’m flattered that it’s at the end of the episode. Subsequent episodes of the story will be released in future episodes of the podcast.
About This Episode
Seven citizens of the land of Effpiem have set out on a quest to recover lost knowledge. After dinner goes horribly wrong, they encounter a friendly psychopomp who tells them they must complete an additional task, but also provides them with a shortcut to their destination.
Voice Cast:
- Jack Hosley as WNDRWolf
- Jeremy from Seattle as Himself
- Justa J0e as Himself
- Ed from Texas as Himself
- Rhettro as Jack Mangan, the Death of Pans (we surprised the real Jack Mangan with this episode, so I couldn’t ask him to record lines for it)
- Ryah Deines as Ryah
- Paul Maki as John Boze
Music:
- Opening and Ending Theme: “Journey’s End,” Guardian Mind Mix
- Battle Music: “New Wave of Terror,” Alter Der Rune
- Travel to the Underworld: “Spirit Man,” Matt Mango
The first two of those songs are available at the Podsafe Music Network. (The other one has been played on the Deadpan Podcast many times before.)
Sound Effects:
- Forest Background Sounds: “evening in the forest,” uploaded by user reinsamba
- Campfire Sounds: “Fire Burning v2,” uploaded by user pcaeldries
Both of these sounds were found at the Freesound Project and are licensed under a Creative Commons Sampling Plus 1.0 License.
Images and Ideas:
- The notion of Jack Mangan as the Death of Pans is not mine. It originates from Cheyenne Wright’s drawing of Jack.
- Justa J0e contributed the joke about Metallica.
2 comments July 31, 2008
Writing Progress Report: Bridging the Spheres: 67K and Counting
Back on May 1, I decided it was time to stop procrastinating and start working toward finishing my novel from last year’s NaNoWriMo, Bridging the Spheres. I made a commitment to work on it a little (defined as “write at least 100 words, or do some editing and rewriting”) every day for the next 100 days. I was inspired to commit to this by the Novel in 100 Days website, but I haven’t been following the instructions there. On day 39, when I realized I had added 10,000 words to my novel’s total word count, I felt pretty good about myself.
And then…
(click here to see this picture on Flickr and access more sizes)
Yesterday, I spent the whole day goofing around and doing such fun things as making a mix CD. Then some friends took me out to Disney’s California Adventure for the evening. I never did get around to writing yesterday, but I was having so much fun that I didn’t feel too bad about it.
Today, I have a choice. I can either make today day 41 and keep counting, or start over from 1. As you can see from the above screenshot of the spreadsheet I’ve been using to track my progress, I had initially decided to keep counting from 41. Now that I write this though, I think I may want to start over, so that I can actually follow the instructions on the Novel in 100 Days website.
I think I’ll compromise. I’ll keep counting from 41, but start over with the instructions on the website, actually following a few of them per day until I get caught up. After all, the important thing isn’t what method I use to keep track of my progress. The important thing is that I make it a habit to keep writing every day. I really admire Mur Lafferty’s courage and commitment to come up with a new idea every day for 365 days (this project, called The News from Poughkeepsie, can be found at her blog), and I would like to be doing something every day too, in solidarity and because having someone else in the same boat as me motivates me. (That’s what I like so much about Office of Letters and Light events, as I’ve said before.)
The other thing motivating me to finish this novel is that word is starting to spread about it. Not only did I mention it on the World Fantasy 2008 Podcast, but it’s mentioned in my bio on the cast bio page for MOREVI: Remastered. I think that getting the word out that the novel is in progress is like making a promise that it will be finished someday, and I am determined not to break that promise.
Add comment June 11, 2008
My last day
Good day today. We had a little goodbye party, I got rid of my old suitcase, and I spent another night with InterVarsity at UofL. I don’t want to go into details now, because I need to get to bed. Maybe later. (Or maybe not. Yeah, I know I keep promising to go back and finish old blog entries and never follow through. I’m sorry.)
On one of my first few days at KRM, somebody asked me how many days I was going to be there, and I answered, “56?” This was based on the assumption that I was going to be there for eight seven-day weeks. It actually turns out to be more accurate than I thought. Today is actually the 52nd day I’ve been in Louisville (counting April 9th, the day I landed here, as the first). If I were leaving on June 5 as originally planned, that would be day #58. Even so, I only actually worked in the office for 36 of those 52 days; I didn’t work on the 9th, and all the remaining days were weekend days, plus one national holiday.
Add comment May 30, 2008
A day of celebrations
I did several good things on my second-to-last day at KRM. I helped sort and bag sheets in the morning (a job I really like, I’ve realized), and then Lee and Rodolfo took me out to lunch at a nice restaurant on the next block, to thank me for all my work. I had a smoked salmon sandwich and tomato artichoke soup, which were delicious. Rodolfo gave me a lapel pin in the shape of one of the Nazca line drawings in South America (the one of a spider).
I spent a while in the computer lab, but there was no one there by the time I got there (about 15 minutes after my official start time, because I’d been out at lunch). In the afternoon, I collected a few more e-mail addresses for local churches, and sent out a mass e-mail inviting people to the next Lunch and Learn. Finally – this was the best part – I completed the next seven 90- and 180-day progress reports that needed to be completed in the Cuban-Haitian office. I’m glad I could help with that.
I had leftover pasta and some green beans for dinner tonight, then went to my last young adult Eucharist, and hangout time at O’Shea’s. Since the group was saying goodbye to both me and another member, Cortney, our priest and group leader bought us all drinks, which was very nice of her. I had a really good time out there, and I now have still more nice friends.
Add comment May 29, 2008
Last day of choir rehearsal
Quick blog post, because I’m up too late again and should really go to bed. Today was another good day. I went on another errand with a client to an office, and helped put together another folder full of forms in the Cuban-Haitian office. In the evening, I had a good time at my last St. Matthew’s choir rehearsal. A number of people expressed how much they’d appreciated having me there.
Add comment May 28, 2008
A very busy Tuesday, or, Savvy Pirate’s Dinner 3.0!
Lee is back from her vacation! We wanted to catch up on work matters today, but we were only partially successful, because there was so much other exciting stuff to do. First, Dalay invited me to come with her to the L&N building. That’s the state office building where they handle such social services as food stamps. Dalay had set up an appointment for several of her clients, and invited me so that I could see it and experience another part of the process, and so that I could go into the office with one of the clients to hand in his paperwork. My services as an interpreter were not strictly necessary, since the client already speaks English well. The building itself was entirely devoid of decoration or cheer, and reminded me very strongly of my ward office in Japan.
Since the client I was helping finished his appointment first, he and I took the bus back to the office. Then I had lunch, and then I served my hour in the computer lab. In the afternoon, Lee and I ended up going to the warehouse. I had never been to the warehouse before, and I was glad to finally get a mental image of it. We were there to let some repairmen in to fix one of the doors, which are like the one at my parents’ house, only much bigger. I brought a notepad and pen, hoping to finally get a truly accurate inventory of all the donated furniture we have, but this proved to be futile. You can walk in there, but nothing is completely organized by type. There are little pockets of mattresses, chairs, etc. all over the room. I didn’t try to count anything. Instead, Lee and I looked through the room, found all the sheets and blankets we could (we’re running low at our houseware-donation-sorting center in our office basement), loaded them into the car, and put them in the basement when we got back to the office. We were at the warehouse for about an hour, and boy, was it hot, and humid. I was very tired when we were done unloading.
I spent the last hour of the day wrapping up the daily scheduling duties. We have to have one of our guys work on Friday again this week, unfortunately, because there’s an apartment that needs to be set up, but it can’t be done on Wednesday because they’re cleaning and painting it that day. (It’s easier to schedule the setup for Friday than to cancel all the plans I already made for Thursday.)
When I got home, I rested a bit, then went out to the Mid-City Mall to see if the thrift store was open. It wasn’t; it’s only open from 10-5. Too bad. I went to the grocery store instead, to get breakfast for Saturday and the ingredients for…
Yes, that’s right. It’s the Savvy Pirate’s Dinner, Version 3.0! Arrrrr! 
Those of you who were reading my blog in its previous incarnation, last year, may remember that while I was in Japan, I got the crazy idea to make a pirate-themed dinner. I liked it so much that I did it twice. The previous two versions are detailed at the top of this page (June 2), and about halfway down this page (July 16).
I decided to make this dinner tonight for the following reasons: I like making it when I get the chance to cook for myself, tonight’s the last night I’ll have much leisure to cook for myself, and I wanted to celebrate my going home and the almost-one-year anniversary of the first version of this dinner.
Version notes for this version:
-I love that we have plates with sailboats on them in this house. It adds to the theme.
-The rum Coca-Cola remains, but no mango juice this time. You just don’t come across it as often in the U.S.
-The fruit salad is back to the original, lime-free recipe, and much better off that way.
-Since we didn’t have any crackers in the house and I didn’t want to buy any just before leaving, I decided to use bread instead. That thing in the upper right corner of the plate is the result of putting a slice of Kraft American cheese on a heel of bread and toasting the whole thing in a toaster oven. The cheese failed to melt as I had hoped, and it wasn’t very good.
-Bacon this time, instead of those other pork strips from Japan. I actually liked it better with the pork strips, especially when I cooked them with garlic and onions.
-For the rice dish, I used a packet of Zatarain’s red beans and rice. This actually turned out to be the best part of the meal. I liked it a lot better than the white rice with peas.
Add comment May 27, 2008
