It’s my sincere pleasure to announce the launch of Geek Gab’s second spinoff series: On the Books.
Geek Gab listeners have been asking us to do episodes that are more focused on particular areas of interest. Instead of narrowing the scope of our flagship podcast, we’ve decided to do gaiden shows based on each host’s specific expertise.
Dorrinal’s tabletop RPG special was the first Geek Gab gaiden to branch off from the main show, and it was a rousing success by all accounts. For those listeners who’ve been clamoring to hear more about writing, you’ll be pleased to know that I’ve followed Dorrinal’s lead and produced a show of my own.
Remember back when Writing Excuses used to be good? When each of the three original hosts got enough time to develop an idea, and they dished out writing tips aimed at entertaining readers instead of appeasing editorial assistants with gender studies degrees?
Since forking converged institutions is all the rage with the kids these days, I figured the time was right to streamline and refocus a podcast format whose original purpose was to streamline and refocus other writing podcasts.
On the Books will bring you expert writing advice, discussion, and interviews without all the fluff and scope creep. Instead of setting a hard and fast fifteen minute time limit that risks arbitrarily curtailing informative discussion, my goal is to set up a flexible format with a base running time of ten minutes for a solo episode, plus five additional minutes per guest (in which case I get five minutes and give the bulk of the show to the guests).
The Google Hangouts format comes with a built-in advantage that Writing Excuses only managed when they recorded in front of an audience: the ability to take listener questions. As with Geek Gab, audience participation is highly encouraged.
Now that you know the setup, please enjoy On the Books episode 1. At just over twenty minutes, it’s technically a double-length show, which is perfectly reasonable for a series premier. Expect the show to settle into the planned format as I gain more experience managing my time and fielding questions from the chat.
On our inaugural episode, I discuss why common wisdom says the original Star Wars works as a story. Then I explain why it really works.
Bonus! A member of the live audience suggests an alternate idea for Darth Vader’s true identity that would have fixed everything wrong with the original trilogy while taking it in a startlingly different direction.
