News & Views - November 26, 2006

[dude]

Hi Gang

Hope all folks Stateside had a great Thanksgiving Day holiday. At least the results of the November elections give Americans something to truly be thankful for... for the first time in six years!

We had lots of new stuff for you to read during this past holiday week and more this coming one. We welcome Captain Rick to the fold as a new author at AwesomeDude. Let's get right to the rundown.

Sky's The Limit by Captain Rick ? Chapters 1 and 2 of a new story from this talented newcomer to AwesomeDude. This has all the signs of being a romantic favorite... check it out.

The Sacred Band of Thebes by TR is another neat story told in rhyme and is based on Plutarch and other ancient sources. "It is the only time in history that homosexual soldiers have been deliberately assembled, let alone paired and allowed to fight alongside their lovers." Introducing new technology with an ancient tale we offer this story in audio form as well... read by TR. Just click the button and enjoy!

A Fondness for Pickles by TR is an elegant short story that is so, so believable. Like all stories TR writes... this one is unique. It is told almost entirely in dialogue.

Laika by EleCivil ? Chapter 12 is here! The long awaited chapter has arrived and features some real delving into the personalities of the characters... you can't help lovin' EC's characters!

The Scrolls of Icaria by Jamie ? Interlude the Fifth ? Gold - Like clockwork here is the fourth of the Interludes plus a peek at an intricately drawn map of the Icarian World done by none other than our own Nevius. The .jpg representation here doesn't do justice to it. At some time in the future I think it should be made available to download in PDF or some other form for print out and framing. We'll be starting an Archive section soon ?featuring lots of extras for for TSOI fans, but we'll leave it to Jamie tell you about what is to come in the Forums.

The Garden by Nevius ? Chapter 30 and Epilogue ? Well all good things have to come to an end and this outstanding story is doing just this. I want to thank Nevius for posting it here and hope he will have another story for us in the near future.

And Dream My Dreams Of You by Jay B - Chapter 5 - This is penultimate chapter of this story with the final chapter to come next weekend. If you haven't started on this story yet, now would be a good time to start... it gets great reviews in the AD Forums... and I'd like to add mine as well.

Mystery and Mayhem at St. Marks by Joel ? Chapters 6 and 7 have been posted. The main character faces an audition of his abilities as an organist as he sets his sites on Cambridge.

Saga of the Elizabethton Tarheels by Sequoyah ? Chapter Four has been posted... Unlike previous Sequoyah tales which featured the mountains and small times of North Carolina ? this one is set on the Carolina coast.

I mentioned it earlier but we are adding audio playback ability embedded into selected story pages here at AwesomeDude so you can hear poems and stories read by the actual poets and authors. The inaugural one is in The Sacred Band of Thebes by TR... just go to the page and click the button and listen to the playback. In the next week we'll be updating stories and poems we have audio for most are by TR. We'll be coordinating with Gabe on this so those of you who'd like to read your poems for us... please contact our poetry editor.

A few changes at AwesomeDude Radio. For the time being... we're dropping the hourly newscasts which take up way too much of my time (time=$) for the relatively few listeners we are currently supporting. Building radio listenership is like building readership and it took us nearly three years to build up to the nearly 40-thousand unique readers we get every month at AwesomeDude.com. TR will continue to do Entertainment Update features and they will be interspersed throughout the week as well as the weekend.. but won't be at the top of every hour. Our basic raison d'?‧tre for AwesomeDude Radio is to provide you music to listen and write to and of to support our community at AwesomeDude.com while having some fun. Thanks to all who have provided their favorite tracks for inclusion in our playlists!

If you have broadcasting or speech/drama experience or just a desire to help out... contact me at dude@awesomedude.com or TR at story-editor@awesomedue.com. We pay broadcasters at the same rate we pay our authors... which means we all do it for the fun and satisfaction it brings.

Some new stuff at our AwesomeDude Family of Sites:

Codey's World ? www.codeysworld.com

Lifebonded ~ Chapter 4 by Lukas 'n Taylor Ashke

Check out CW's spiffy new logo too!

Down the Rabbit Hole ? a.k.a. www.tragicrabbit.org

Short stories Where No Shadow Falls, A Fondness for Pickles & The Sacred Band of Thebes and poems

Sequoya's Place ? www.sequoyahsplace.com ? Latest chapters of Saga of the Elizabethton Tarheels have been posted.

That's about it for this week. Have a great week of reading!

[TalonRider]

Nevius did a great job on the map. When another version becomes available, you'll see just how good a job he did. Thanks Nevius.

I like the idea of the archive. If you've never taken the time to check out the website Jamie originally started TSOI, you can check out the Orbs posted at The Talon House, with Permission from Jamie.

Jan