• Dora Holly – Kimi Alexandre
• Jason Block – Jason Block
• Amora - Ivy Reisner
• Bruno – Chad Henderson
• Shelly – Paulette Jaxton
• Julie - Pamela Templin
• Kim - Comic Book Goddess

Promo: Collapse at Hidden Verse 332

Music provided by the Podsafe Music Network.

• Easter Egg #1 - by JC Hutchins of 7th Son and OBSIDIAN
• Easter Egg #2 - by Christiana Ellis of Space Casey and Shallow Thoughts
• Easter Egg #3 - by Scott Sigler of Nocturnal and Infected
• Easter Egg #4 - by Evo Terra of Podiobooks.com
• Easter Egg #5 - by Christopher Lester of The Metamor City Podcast

Next up- original content by podcaster and comedy rap artist, Tom Rockwell!

Well, the NEXT first kid I have, I mean.

But I’d be really grateful.

Music, of course, by Beatnik Turtle.

You should be.

Starting today, August 1, content will be rolling out on the feed at an astonishing rate, delivering podcasts to you as we build up to the big launch of the print version on August 25.

Sure, we all know how the print media are affected by superheroes. It’s exhaustively shown in several popular stories. But how would radio be different if there were superheroes in the world? I’ve been wondering that for a while, so I brought it up to several talented friends in the podcast world, and they’ve taken up the challenge.

Subscribe to Stories of the Third Wave and get original radio shows from:

• Casey Shultz from SciFi Surplus
• Matthew Wayne Selznick from Brave Men Run
• Christopher Lester from The Metamor City Podcast
• Christiana Ellis from Space Casey
• and more!

You will get popular podcasts dedicated to the trials that Seventh City citizens face, like:

• Manic Mondays
• Geek Survival Guide

AND you will get original stories, canon tales of Seventh City from podcast literary masters:

• JC Hutchins, award winning author of 7th Son
• Matt Wallace, award winning author of Failed Cities Monologues and Variant Frequencies

Closer to book launch, the feed will feature the Ultra Mega Mega PDF of Playing For Keeps, including an original, exclusive Playing For Keeps story by myself, intended to bridge the first and second books in the Keepsie universe. (“Second book? Did she say ’second?’” - well, as long as the first sells well, yes. That is up to you.)

Not to mention the video contest… (you are helping out with the video, right?)

And on the day OF the book launch this feed will feature video updates of me, top podcasters, and the reports of what you guys are doing to help out the Amazon ranking.

It all starts today, folks, so be sure to resubscribe if you aren’t still there!

Well, see, I want to see you dance.

In November, when I launched Playing For Keeps, Beatnik Turtle also released the song Playing For Keeps as a theme song. It’s a fantastic song and I was thrilled to have it associated with my book. And now that the book is coming out (AUGUST 25), I thought, “How many other books have a kick ass custom theme song? I should use this for something…”

So I talked to Randy and Jason, my friends with Beatnik Turtle, and I asked them if they would be OK if the fans made a video for their awesome song to promote the book. And they said they were behind me (I love those guys). So we thought it would be cool to coax the fans to make videos, and we could offer them incentives. SWARM books. Beatnik Turtle CDs.

A Flip camera.

But I want people to be able to do this in the time we have, and we don’t have a lot of time! So here’s the deal:

1. You are going to email me saying you want to help with the video. (And you are a talented and wonderful person, thank you!)
2. I am going to email you back and give you 20-30 seconds of the song “Playing For Keeps.”
3. You are going to record. Record a 20-30 second skit or record yourself dancing to the song, or lip syncing. Make it awesome. Make it from your video camera, or your digital camera, or your webcam. I don’t care. Just record it. By August 15.
4. Send it to mightymur AT gmail.com. By August 15.
5. From here I will gather up all the entries and Beatnik Turtle and I will choose the best. We’ll cut together the video and release it as my book promo. (Book promotion. Remember? I need everyone’s help on this!)
6. But wait, there’s more! Every person who gets a clip in the final video will win a prize; prizes include Swarm books and Beatnik Turtle CDs! But the BEST ONE will win a Flip camera!

Then you will all sleep a little better knowing you’ve helped me promote the book, and you’ll be a STAR.

Oh, and about seeing me dance? If I can get 40 entries to this contest, the final video will also feature me, the geek who doesn’t dance, dancing.

If you wanna see it, you gotta show me yours, first. (And 39 of your friends.)

Help me make the book promo to end all book promos. Blog this. Tweet this. Let’s make it happen.

And thank you! (And thanks JC and Tee!)

PFK Wallpaper: 800, 1024, 1152 and 1280

In preparation for the print release of Playing For Keeps, I have removed the PDF versions from the website. Now calm down- wait a second, don’t get upset. I have a present for you. I would not leave you out to dry. I am removing the PDFs to make way for the Ultra Mega Mega (dare I say… Super?) PDF to drop on August 22, the Friday before the book release on August 25. This one document will contain all of the awesome art created by my first wave volunteers, as well as the full novel and… maybe something special that you can’t find anywhere else.

Not to discount the awesome work my volunteers have done, I’ve created a gallery of all of the comic book covers (and the old cover of the book) right here.

Be patient, and you will be rewarded.

Game on!

Now, Playing For Keeps is a small press book, published by Swarm Press. This means that unless you order it from your book store, you’re not going to see it on shelves. So you can either order it from your local book store OR you can be a part of Mur’s rush of the Amazon charts: if everyone goes to purchase Playing For Keeps on August 25, we can push the book up the charts and get some major attention for it!

Please consider supporting me on this, and pay attention to this site - we’re gearing up for some fun content to be released soon!

And check out the awesome cover!

I am thrilled to announce that I have signed a contract to release Playing For Keeps with Swarm Press! Swarm is an imprint of Permuted, the small horror press, and is launching this summer with three superhero titles, PFK being one. (For podcast fans, Matthew Wayne Selznick’s Brave Men Run is another title coming out from Swarm.)

The book will be out late August, just in time for DragonCon. Everyone who has watched the lifespan of this title will know how thrilled I am about this- especially since I had pretty much decided the title was done.

Details: You can still get the PDFs and the audio files from the website and feed, but the POD version of the book has been retired (for obvious reasons.) But if you were an early supporter of my work and purchased PFK in the POD form, and you continue to support with a purchase of the Swarm title, my publisher and I have something cool for you. Stay tuned. We’ll be building the marketing machine back up this summer, things should get interesting.

Thank you to all my listeners, everyone who believed in this book. You made this happen.

Action in Seventh City may be over, but there are still files coming in to the site!

Firstly, my colleague in RPG writing, Rick Jones, wrote up some Open Gaming License stats for the characters in Keepsie. These stats are based on the characters at the beginning of the book. Share and Enjoy!

Also, we have a new art! First, a twitter icon from Doug Rapson, and then another picture of someone in PFK shirts! Cover artist Natalie Metzger looks smashing in her Doodad shirt!

Thank you for coming along with me.

Cheers.

Recap by Brad P. from NJ 

Promo: JC Hutchins presents Ultra Creatives (incidentally, I’m the latest interview!)

And The Librarian from Rachel Ross:

And Photos:

Writer and friend Dave Thompson:

And ARGH- but a change in computers and a missing email has me posting this awesome photo but not remembering who sent it! So PLEASE resend your name so I can give you credit!

Thanks everyone - keep the awesome coming!

Episode recap by Barry Koleman.

Promo: Nawashi

Shot glasses are available for pre-order!

Episode recap by Shannon Farrell, Third Wave hero.

Promo: Morevi Remastered

Information about the John W. Campbell Award as well as the Hugo and Campbell ballot.

Buy Voices for the Cure to benefit the American Diabetes Association; get short stories from Cory Doctorow, Mike Resnick and an edited version of “Barry Koleman, Hero.”

Join Robert J. Sawyer, Mike Resnick, Cory Doctorow, and others as a cop-for-hire solves a murder aboard a space station…a Chicano science fiction writer takes mind-blowing (literally!) ride through the Singularity…a third-rate superhero with useless powers finds a place to belong…an antique collector learns that one alien’s junk is mankind’s treasure…a geologist discovers that pretending to be a god isn’t all it’s cracked up to be…a journalist learns how to fend off zombies using Linux and a dead badger…

All this and more await you in…

Voices for the Cure:
A Speculative Fiction Anthology to Benefit the American Diabetes Association

Edited by James Palmer. A White Rocket book.

ISBN: 978-0-6151-8727-3

Stories of the Third Wave is a companion piece to Mur Lafferty’s Playing for Keeps, and is a terrific excuse for a bunch of other people to play in her world. The show contains no book spoilers.

Want to contribute to Stories of the Third Wave? See our Submission Guidelines!

Episode recap by Feedback from Who Wants To Be A Superhero? season 1.

Promo: Down The Road

Have you purchased your print version of Playing For Keeps? And call the Third Wave Hotline at 919 794 8498! And FOUR pint glasses are left! We are OUT of pint glasses!

Stories of the Third Wave is a companion piece to Mur Lafferty’s Playing for Keeps, and is a terrific excuse for a bunch of other people to play in her world. The show contains no book spoilers.

Want to contribute to Stories of the Third Wave? See our Submission Guidelines!

At Mid Ohio Con I heard that Nash Entertainment was only contracted to do two seasons of the TV show “Who Wants to be a Superhero?”. We’ve had people in our superhero community confirm this by calling Nash.

This isn’t to say that a Season Three won’t be made, but we’re thinking of trying to convince Sci-Fi. Thus, I’m starting a grass-roots attempt to get the Sci-Fi Channel to make a third season. I’m calling it “Save Superheroes.”

Basically, like the “Save Jericho” and “Save Dresden” campaigns, we’ll be sending Bonnie Hammer pictures of us in our superhero costumes and drawings of other superheroes.

“Shockwave”

Bonnie Hammer David Howe (apparently Hammer recently left the position)
Executive VP of SCI FI
SCI FI Channel
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10112
Mark Stern

Executive VP Original Programming
NBC Universal/Sci-Fi Channel
100 Universal City Plaza, Bld. 1440, 14th Fl.
Universal City, CA 91608

Phone: 212-413-5000
Fax: 212-413-6509
POW! Entertainment
9440 Santa Monica Blvd.
Suit 620
Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Nash Entertainment
1438 N. Gower Street
Building 35, Room 150
Hollywood, CA 90028

Telephone: +1 (323) 993-7384
Facsimile: +1 (323) 993-7385

From S.R. Gallatin

Episode recap by Shockwave from Skiffytown League of Heroes.

Promo: Metamor City: Making the Cut

Have you purchased your print version of Playing For Keeps? And call the Third Wave Hotline at 919 794 8498!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(PRLog.Org) – Jan 14, 2008 – As one of the most popular audiobooks on the Internet, Mur Lafferty’s “Playing For Keeps,” comes to a close, superheroes are flocking to lend their voices to the final episode.

“Playing For Keeps” is Lafferty’s celebrated superhero novel. It tells the story of people with minor superpower who fall directly in the middle of a battle between bullying superheroes and manipulative, charming villains.

It has been released via audio and PDF audio download weekly to over 13,000 listeners worldwide since November. While available for free in digital formats, it was also recently released in hard and softcover print version.

The novel has had coverage in the world’s most popular blog, BoingBoing.net. Locus and Campbell award-winning author Cory Doctorow had a sneak peek at the novel, blogging, “I was really impressed with it and I’m so excited to see that she’s releasing it! Can’t wait to (re)read it.”

Doctorow also loaned his voice to cameo for an episode recap.

“Playing For Keeps” has five episodes left, and will feature stars of the SciFi Channel show, “Who Wants to be a Superhero?” as cameo voices in the audiobook. They will read episode recaps, filling the audience in on the previous chapters’ action.

“Superhero” season 2 finalist Hygena appeared as the episode recap reader on episode 10, and future episodes will feature Feedback and The Defuser, winners of “Superhero” seasons 1 and 2, respectively.

“I have been building a community of superhero fans during the release of this book,” author Mur Lafferty said. “What bigger superhero fans can I find than the contestants from the show ‘Who Wants to be a Superhero?’ I’m thrilled that these fantastic superheroes will be appearing in my audiobook.”

“Playing For Keeps” can be found for free at www.playingforkeepsnovel.com and at www.podiobooks.com, or for purchase at www. playingforkeepsnovel.com.

# # #

About the author:
Mur Lafferty is a writer and podcast producer living in Durham, NC. She is the author of the award-nominated “Heaven” novellas, one of the most popular audiobook serials in podcasting. She has been published in Hub magazine and Escape Pod, and is an open and new media enthusiast.

MurVerse
Durham, NC
919 210 7630
mur.lafferty@gmail.com

<— check it out!

Thanks to everyone who has sent me photos or art, if you have anything you’d like to send, don’t hesitate!

by Courtney S.

Episode recap by Hygena from Who Wants To Be A Superhero 2?.
Join Team Hygena in the National Walk for Epilepsy.

Promo: Dark Age: A Fantasy Pod-Novel

Have you purchased your print version of Playing For Keeps?

Featured Music:

• My Secret Origin by Ookla the Mok

Stories of the Third Wave is a companion piece to Mur Lafferty’s Playing for Keeps, and is a terrific excuse for a bunch of other people to play in her world. The show contains no book spoilers.

Want to contribute to Stories of the Third Wave? See our Submission Guidelines!

Episode recap by Cory Doctorow.

Promo: The Secret Lair.

Don’t forget you can now buy Playing For Keeps in print!

Thanks Matt!

read more | digg story

Thanks to everyone for their support. I’m so pleased that you’re enjoying the book so much.