Where things are tonight.

I just uploaded a rough preview of the new Neil McInnes short novel, "A Simple Prop".  This intends to be an action/adventure story set prior the rise of the undead, back when McInnes was a Flight Lieutenant on the business end of an RAF officer's shit-stick.  +Ayoub Khote reads the novel and, just as with "The Diary of Jill Woodbine" there are music cues by +Kevin MacLeod and expert engineering by Michael L Stokes.  If you're subscribed the HGW on iTunes, you'll automatically receive new episodes.   It's nice to hear Ayoub back as McInnes.  I know a lot of listeners will agree with me. 

If you had to pause at the whole "prior to the rise of the undead" you probably listen to HG World as a zombie horror show and are, therefore, concerned this one might not be for you.  True, this is not a zombie tale.  It's more of a James Bond/Dirk Gently sort of adventure.  That's not to say there won't be weirdness and there will be plenty of smartarses, sardonic dialogue, gunplay, sex, drinking, brawling and pop culture references that make McInnes fun to listen to.  While Major Grant is still in the future, McInnes has his own cast of characters to play with this time around.  

As you might have noticed at the end of the most recent Jill Woodbine Chapter (11b) I outed my first major character.  There are others in the story, but it hasn't been important to call attention to that aspect of their character.  With Jill, it seemed important to make a personal connection with someone.  Red Molly is definitely a femme fatale character and this story is intended to be a turn on the noir detective dramas.  It was nice to hear a favorable comparison between Jill and Buffy Summers.  I hope I'm representing the character's sexuality fairly.  Jill hasn't really explored that aspect of herself, so I hope this journey is as interesting to you as it was for me to research and write.  Jill is a fun character to write.  I'm looking at two friends of mine who are about that age to draw from in terms of how they speak and act.  Of course, +Veronica Giguere gives her this whole extra life that makes her fun to listen to in the mix. 

As I wrote earlier, I had a chance to listen to Googies #5.  In it, +Jim Patton reads this monologue (I'm big on those, aren't I?) about his childhood in the city and witnessing a tragedy that says with him even through the end of the world.  Like Veronica, Jim has this preternatural way of not only reading my words, but reading the beats, the cadence of the character's delivery and delivers something amazing.  I'm looking forward to hearing the final mix in the next few weeks.

So while we won't have an episode this month, I hope the glut of Jill Woodbine and McInnes goodness is sufficient to hold you over.  I've hear the rough cut of JW Chapter 12 and if you're a good lot, Jill might have it ready for you all in a week or two.