The Thirteenth Hour Podcast

The episode originally aired on July 18, 2016. This week, we are reading a narrative form of the old English fairytale, "Childe Roland" as he quests after the Elf King in the Dark Tower from this illustrated book: Click on the picture above to be taken to an Amazon link (book now out of print, unfortunately). Pictures for this episode can be found on the original show notes page: https:/...

Originally aired on July 11, 2016. https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2016/07/11/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-48-guest-conversation-with-justin-part-2/ Last week (ep. #47), my friend Justin joined the show for a discussion on gymnastics, martial arts, and breakdancing .  He returns this week for more fitness talk. Here's some of what we discuss this week: -Fad diets such as Whole 30, the Cookie Diet...

Originally aired on July 4, 2016. https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2016/07/04/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-47-guest-conversation-with-justin-part-1/ Get ready for a massive interview spaced out over the next two weeks!  One of my best friends from college joins me for a walk down memory lane as we reminiscence about the years we spent training in gymnastics, breakdancing, and martial arts.  If you have...

Originally aired on June 27, 2016. On this week's episode, I recorded a story I read to my daughter, Prince Nautilus , written by Laura Krauss Melmed and illustrated by Henri Sorensen .  We recently found it for sale in a small bookstore while traveling and decided to explore this modern fairy tale, which takes elements of classic tales and puts a few modern spins on them.  You can't see t...

Originally aired on June 20, 2016. https://13thhr.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.php?post_type=post&jetpack-copy=5728 Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) riding a hoverboard in Back to the Future 2 .  Clicking on the picture links back to its source page, which is about how Lexus is supposedly designing a real life hoverboard that we can only hope is a piece of valid journalism.  Anything less would...

Originally aired on June 13, 2016. Today's podcast is all about Zen. Zen, a philosophy that carries much ado and marketing buzz, really can be summed up in one simple idea - being present right where you are  now .  It's obviously easier said than done, but certain activities naturally lend themselves to discovering this state of no-mind easier than others, martial arts being one such aven...

Originally released on June 6, 2016. In this week's episode, fantasy author Missy Sheldrake joins the show, so fairy tale fans, authors, and illustrators sit back, relax, and enjoy the one hour plus show!  Missy is unique in that she's one of the few authors out there who also creates her own covers (see them below) and illustrates her novels. You'll find out more in the podcast, but e...

Originally aired on May 30, 2016. Today's episode is about a song that I originally started started writing as a part of a chapter in The Thirteenth Hour.   Finally got around to finishing it.  It's a bit of a folk song.  Here's the passage that talks about it: Then she looked up at me, through reddened eyes, and I struggled to say, “I thought I would never see you again ... I'm so...

Originally released on May 23, 2016. Today's episode is all about gadgets people carry in their pockets (or in bags), though it mostly focuses on pocketknives.  Those of who who've watched Angus Macgyver at work know he can do pretty much anything with a Swiss Army knife and a paperclip, so these things are handy to have. Two of the covers of the Great Brain books written by John D. Fitzge...

Originally released on Mqay 16, 2016. Last week's episode on the influence of gymnastics on the writing of The Thirteenth Hour leads to today's episode which focuses more on martial arts.  Although I've alluded to other martial activities on this blog and in the podcast before (like archery and knife throwing ), I figured it was time to devote more time to martial arts itself.  My expe...

Originally released on May 9, 2016. Today's episode is all about flipping!  Although it's pretty common to see acrobatics on TV and in video games today, at the time The Thirteenth Hour was written (1998), the whole extreme martial arts tricking community was still in its infancy, and it hadn't really permeated popular culture to quite the same degree yet.  There were a few exceptions...

Originally released on May 2, 2016. Today's episode is all about throwing knives and other pointy things, like screwdrivers.  It refers to a few past posts: - https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2015/02/15/logans-everyday-carry-edc-from-the-thirteenth-hour/ -A section of The The Thirteenth Hour where the main character, Logan, finds a pocketknife and contemplates fleetingly whether it would make a go...

Originally released on April 25, 2016 Before we get to the podcast today, a note on Prince's passing.  It took me three tries of recording the intro to not sound totally down in the dumps, so I apologize in advance if I sound more sedate. * I refer to interviews Prince did in the podcast - they were rare, but you can find some on youtube.  This is part of a thoughtful interview where he talks...

This episode originally aired on April 18, 2016. https://13thhr.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.php?post_type=post&jetpack-copy=4855 Get ready for a mammoth episode - this is 70+ minutes of audio footage featuring author George Sirois!  We covered a ton of material, including tons of 80s trivia, like: - 80s Hits Stripped  - acoustic versions of 80s songs covered by the artists themselves (link...

This episode originally aired on April 11, 2016. https://13thhr.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.php?post_type=post&jetpack-copy=4769 Angela, the creator of the Brain to Books cyber blog tour , took time out of her busy schedule to talk for an hour.  We covered a vast amount of info: Back to the Future Delorean shirts , why having a flux capacitor is a good life decision, the Moon Patrol soundt...

This episode originally aired on April 4, 2016. https://13thhr.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.php?post_type=post&jetpack-copy=4571 Discussion of how not shoot a bow by modeling Hollywood, book covers, and other art https://archive.org/download/13thHrEps16On/13th%20hr%2034.mp3 The Hunger Games movies and books have created a resurgence in archery as a sport.  A lot of times, beginners will wra...

This originally aired on March 28, 2016. https://13thhr.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.php?post_type=post&jetpack-copy=4063 This episode focuses on archery, which I've featured a few times on this blog (see links below) and on Instagram , since it features in The Thirteenth Hour , though it will play a bigger role in the yet-unnamed sequel. https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2015/02/07/on-the-s...

This episode originally aired on March 21, 2016. https://13thhr.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.php?post_type=post&jetpack-copy=3878 Today, I've very pleased to welcome dark fantasy author Joshua Robertson to the show.  It was a fun conversation and a chance to talk about all kinds of things related to fantasy, writing, and the like. Turns out that we had very similar journeys in writing -...

This episode originally aired on March 14, 2016. https://13thhr.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.php?post_type=post&jetpack-copy=3776 -Today's episode is a recording of an interview I did with WNRI radio host Wayne Barber about a month ago on his show, The Author's Hour .  He was kind enough to read The Thirteenth Hour before the interview, and it's always fun to hear other folks' points of vie...

This episode originally aired on March 7, 2016. https://13thhr.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.php?post_type=post&jetpack-copy=3349 There is bonus material available here: https://13thhr.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.php?post_type=post&jetpack-copy=3398 Today, I have my first live guest!  My brother, Jeremy, who writes about video games on his blog, Pixel Grotto , joins me for a conversa...

This episode originally aired on Feb 29, 2016. https://13thhr.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.php?post_type=post&jetpack-copy=3263 -I get asked this question occasionally and am still refining my answer, which is generally, "adult, though teens over 16 may enjoy it as well."  The only ones who generally seem interested in the answer are parents or grandparents not interested in the b...

This episode originally aired on Feb 22, 2016. https://13thhr.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.php?post_type=post&jetpack-copy=3149 Man, this was a super long episode.  I guess I got carried away talking about the 80s teen movies :)  Anyway, these were all influences, one way or another, for The Thirteenth Hour and the themes running through the book (i.e. figuring yourself out while straddling...

This episode originally aired on Feb 15, 2016 https://13thhr.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.php?post_type=post&jetpack-copy=3115 This is an episode that breaks a little from my so-called tradition of talking about escapist entertainment and discusses things that may actually have, well ... practical use to you if you're an aspiring writer or artist. This past week, fantasy author Kelly St...

This episode originally aired on Feb 7, 2016 https://13thhr.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.php?post_type=post&jetpack-copy=2895 -News: Upcoming radio show appearance on 2/16: Email the host, Wayne , with questions or comments for a chance to win a copy of The Thirteenth Hour . - http://waynebarbersauthorshour.blogspot.com/2016/01/brand-new-radio-show-authors-hour.html – Event Details  (Live a...

This episode originally aired Feb 1, 2016 https://13thhr.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.php?post_type=post&jetpack-copy=2779 This morning I randomly woke up to theme music of one of my favorite movies of all time,  The Last Starfighter, p laying in my head.  Probably not a surprise, since it was an inspiration for The Thirteenth Hour and always had a kickass theme song to boot.  Here's a...