The Once And Future Nerd

Cool New Addition to the Community

26 June, 2016 Christian Madera 1 Comment

Hey everyone!

We wanted to bring your attention to an interesting new SciFi audiodrama podcast called You Are Here (full disclosure: this blog post is a perk of supporting us on Patreon. A close friend of You Are Here decided to support TOAFN’s Patreon, and one of the perks of their support is a shout-out of their project. So here it is. If you’d like your project to be discussed on our blog and broadcast to our audience…consider supporting us on Patreon!)

The interesting feature of You Are Here is that it is a “choose your own adventure podcast”. Did you ever read choose-your-own adventure books as a kid? You read a few pages, and then your character comes upon a bear in a cave! To fight the bear with a stick, go to page 45. To run away screaming in fear, go to page 70. Of course, when I was a kid, it seemed like I always accidentally led my character to a gruesome, horrible fate…so horrible…

Anyway, lets not go there. Back to the point! You Are Here is a brand new podcast (so far only 2 episodes and a prologue released) that is undertaking the tremendous effort to bring that concept to audiodrama! The show will play out like any other audiodrama…you subscribe on iTunes or wherever you prefer, listen to each episode as it comes out. Every few episodes, the plot reaches a cliffhanger where the character could chose between a number of courses of action. And then fans vote! Via twitter or facebook, the fans make their opinion heard, and then the majority vote determines what happens in the next episode!

Personally, we’ve never seen another audiodrama try this approach before. This may be the first / only one to ever attempt this. As a listener, this gives you a unique opportunity to jump on the bandwagon early and direct the course of the plot.

So, if you are looking for a new audiodrama podcast to get into during the TOAFN hiatus, consider You Are Here.

Website: www.YouAreHerePodcast.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/YouAreHerePodcast
Twitter: www.twitter.com/YouAreHerePod
Patreon (where donating gets you extra votes and other perks): www.patreon.com/YouAreHerePodcast

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A Shiny New Map

17 June, 2016 Christian Madera

Cool little tidbit to share with you all.

Fantasy Cartographer and author in her own right D.N. Frost has created a high quality map of Iorden. we’ve worked closely with her over the past few months to ensure that this is the most accurate, Official map of Iorden there is.

(Click for full resolution)

D.N. wrote a bit about her process here, with more to follow in that series. (You can also follow that link if you’d like to commission a map of your own.)

She’s also written two books of her own, as part of her Tales of the Known World series. Her novels explore themes of humanity, such as destiny and free will, the rise and fall of civilizations, good and evil, and the individual’s journey to find purpose in the world. They also probe many social constructs like inequality, tradition, propaganda, religion, fame, corruption, loyalty, and prejudice. So, right up our alley.

If you’re interested in checking out her work, she’s been nice enough to offer TOAFN fans a discount code on the first book in her series. Coupon code after the break.

Continue reading on A Shiny New Map »

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An Update for our Fans!

22 February, 2016 Christian Madera

Hey guys!

A lot of you have been writing in to say how much you miss the show and wondering when it’s coming back – and it’s really great to hear from you and to know we’re missed! The short answer is: Book 2 is coming – just not yet. We took a break after Book 1, and now we’re getting back into it. That said, making The Once And Future Nerd to the level of quality you’ve come to expect requires a big metaphorical machine with lots of moving parts, so we can’t responsibly commit to any kind of release date at this point, but we can promise that the show is moving forward!

What can you do to contribute to Season 2? We have some ideas:

Keep sending us positive messages – that really encourages us!
Draw some fan art and put it on Tumblr (we’re looking at you, artsy people!)
Tweet about us and the awesome fuck-yeah-once-and-future-nerd.tumblr.com (also – a huge thanks to whoever made that!)
Get redditing! Participate on the subreddit, discuss your theories about season 2, tell your friends, and get them to start listening and discussing too.
And last but not least, if you haven’t yet, please consider buying some merchandise or pledging on Patreon. The truth is, so far we still lose money in creating each episode – and our brilliant actors are still by and large compensated in pizza. Any money we receive from Patreon will go towards offsetting the production costs of the show, and if we ever were to break even on production, it would go towards compensating our cast and crew. And if you are not in a position to contribute, don’t worry, we pledge that our podcast will always be free to listen. But if you are in a position where you could comfortably contribute, each dollar pledged (or piece of merchandise purchased) will help to grease those big machine gears and smooth the process towards creating Book 2. And as a reminder, no matter what you pledge on Patreon you won’t be charged for it until we put out an episode.

So do we have anything for you in the meantime? Well, many of you have been nice enough to tell us how much you liked the song that Arlene and Gwen sing to each other, and you asked whether we could make it available as a standalone release. Consider yourselves heard – we went into the studio with an improved arrangement and real instruments. We’ll need a little time for pickups and mixing, but as soon as that’s ready, the song will be available for sale, and a making-of featurette will be available for free on our feed!

Also want to call out a few great iTunes reviews we’ve had since the last episode. Deepschwag says “Kind of Vincent Price meets Buffy.” High praise indeed. User Thousand Things says “I emerge, after a weekend that started with thinking “hey, this looks like an interesting podcast…” and ending with having binge-listened to the entire series. Considering forcing my husband to sit and listen to the whole thing again while I enjoy it a second time through. In other words, AMAZING. YES. LOVE. Listen to this podcast!” And Jesse W Jackson says “Found this through a search and I’m very pleased. A nice story with a just the right amount of naughtiness. I like the characters and the story is easy to follow. My only suggestion, more titles based on Bruce Springsteen songs!” Noted, Jesse, and thanks. Glad someone caught that. So those are all greatly appreciated.

That’s all we’ve got for now. Thanks for your love and support and patience, and keep subscribed to this feed for all future updates.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:30 — 3.5MB)

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