We spoke about the unique value of people on the autism spectrum. There is some talk about how screenwriting format helps with the visual aspect of prose. Ken read from his graphic novel CARRAVAGGIO: A Light Before the Darkness.

He gives some instruction on some of the best ways to find illustrators and other collaboration partners. There’s so much in this conversation that my show notes can’t do it justice. A thing that’s clear is he really wants to help.

Here are some of Ken Mora’s links.

* His bio and myriad accomplishments.

* Wikipedia

* IMDB

* Amazon

* Kickstarter

Please visit my store and help out. Wear some nice shirts with ideas you are in agreement with.

The excerpt from Two Minutes is a whimsical use of a darkroom as both respite from the outside world, and vehicle in which to detach and travel through space. Please listen and enjoy that.

The Flowerbed features the set up to an important lesson for a small girl from her grandfather, regarding a seemingly magical bed of flowers.

An important validation for his confidence, Michael received top marks for his essay on One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest as a young student. We discussed the importance of having good adults to influence us as young people.

This man does not trifle. As well as being a Barrister in all Australian Jurisdictions, his accomplishments are formidable in the arts. You must visit his website and take it all in.

He does not suppress his mental health experiences either, and he recognizes the importance of being forthright.

You’ll find all of his social media at his website.

Michael’s Substack: Michael Springer

I read my microfiction story He Knows How this Ends. That link will take you to an audio version.

If you support what I’m doing, spread my designs and get one for yourself. Please do share. If you have social media, you can share there also, because I don’t even bother with it anymore.

Much of this discussion is about the dark turn in American economics of the past few decades and the effects it has had on people’s lives. Noir, indeed. Being an LCSW, MFA—that’s a social worker who mostly works with seniors, she’s seen a lot of the effects. It’s also evident in her writing, of course.

We talked a lot about writing as therapy and how fiction plays that role while also helping us imagine real-life solutions. It’s horrifying living in the collapse of an empire, yes?

In almost all of these conversations, and in general, there’s a lot of talk about the Data Centers and the intentions of the AI industry. It speaks to the value human life has for some people, and their priorities. Consider going to my swag page and picking out something to express yourself.

If AI were sentient, it would be jealous of you. -HS

→ ta! ←

Dialogue Impetus

My podcast, The Arc of The Bard, is built on storytelling and on simply doing what I want. The guest discussions are about the nature of storytelling as a facility of consciousness, as well as an opportunity for storytellers to bring their books and other forms of storytelling.

I have always been fascinated with how thoughts arise in our minds. What happens in our minds and brains to formulate new ideas, especially creative, imaginative scenarios, out of nowhere, and then bring them forward into the world in the form of stories? Where do stories come from? What is that about? I think we are momentous beings and refractions of and manifestations of a single creative force.

It’s most certainly a niche thing. While it’s fascinating for me, and I never stop learning from it, I do not have a budget for marketing, and to this point, even if I felt I could afford it, I would not pay for exposure. It’s steadily growing on its own, and I think that’s the core audience that I want. I would prefer to have a foundation of listeners who consistently want to be there and then build from that. At some point, once I feel it’s at a good place, I’ll hire out some marketing.

My other podcast easytopia! was the foundational audience for The Arc of The Bard. I write and podcast stories there. Having that built-in audience is how I felt comfortable starting the discussion show. Since that one has been going for three years, and I’ve consistently had 200+ shows each year, I do get more audience engagement for that reason, and some discussions in the comments from time to time.

To the point of good dialogue. In The Arc of The Bard, I want to let the guest really take it where they want to go. I get excited about the conversation and participate, of course, but it’s really about them. I want them to have the floor. There are times I get excited about their subject and get in there and get involved, but that’s only because they are a good guest making great points. It’s not about arguing.

There’s a loose format, but the conversation has to dictate things. I do my best to be consistent, but sometimes a guest is engaging and has good skills, and things diverge a little. I introduce the guest, usually reading directly from their website. Then I bring them in to follow up on that. From there I go into a question about how they think stories are formed and why we have this propensity. Once I have that answer, I know what kind of conversation it’s going to be. It will be either more philosophical or more technical.

Then there is the conversation of what books and authors they were inspired by and maybe an adult from their childhood who encouraged them. Now they get to read something, and we discuss that. By this point we are having a blast. Then I also read from my very large catalogue of microfiction and flash fiction, trying to keep it within the theme that the guest has presented. We may talk about that for a minute and have more conversation. Then, ideally, the guest will read once more. Sometimes, however, the conversation is so good, or their first piece was long enough, that we don’t get around to a second reading by the guest. Readings should be short, though! But that’s another subject.

To conclude, for good dialogue, give your guest the reins. You play a role in setting up the arena and pointing out the course, but you have to get to know them. That question about the origin of consciousness is a very good indicator for how my guest will be leading the discussion and what type of conversation it’s going to be.

* For guests to consider

* An analysis of the process to this point

* How it came about in the first place

* Back to Sundays only

I’m getting this new product portal together. There’s only one design for now but I’ll be adding a lot more. Cool colorful options soon. Maybe you want to let people know how you feel about the posthuman narrative.

easytopia! printify store!

Walter G. Meyer is also a travel writer and a journalist. He also co-wrote GAM3ERS, a one-man play about World of Warcraft.

Then we got into the subject of his book, Rounding Third, which he read from, a work of fiction that approaches the issue of bullying that Walt has taken very seriously. We discussed the terrible teachers in the American education system we can all relate to and didn’t forget to recognize the good ones. But seriously, they really do let anyone become a teacher, don’t they? We need to work on that.

Walt also read from a forthcoming book that might be a while called Elfland. This is one of the coolest ideas I’ve ever heard, and I’m going to make you listen to the discussion to hear for yourself.

His Youtube travelogue is called Walt’s Wanderings.

Before he can release that, he’s working on a couple of important non-fiction books. He is a busy guy and you should see all of his experience and get the lowdown on all his writing here. He’s written for so many papers and magazines; you need to check that out.

Let’s get Walter G Meyer’s Substack going.

As for me, I read one of my microfiction stories called The Buckway Journal, about a small town newspaper man.

A good way to help out with this effort is to check out my several types of designs. The supplier has all kinds of discounts and you never have to pay full price. Sign up for their newsletter and the offers are there. I’ll appreciate it and you’ll be stylin’.

The main purpose of TAOTB is to discuss storytelling and the origin of thought and a lot of philosophical stuff like that. But we discussed the difference in writing plays for theater and novels. Jamie is an award-winning playwright. He knows the satisfaction of letting the audience in on the play action. How to do that with a novel? He gets it. He’s bringing a lot of worlds together. It’s pretty fun. Am I teasing you? I hope so, because this is cool. Listen.

He reads three excerpts for us to touch on all the flavors in the book. I also read one of my very short pieces. It was a fantastic time, and as usual I learned so much from my guest.

“INSTA”

how do you know if you’re an easytopian or a 2minutarian? easytopians share. that’s it. that’s all.

Here is another way to help me do more while doing something for you and other people.

You’ll get the music related to his writing here. Gear Girls at Spotify, also.

→ NOTE: For my usual Sunday/Monday listeners. The Arc of The Bard is now also on Wednesday. Here is the recent Wednesday evening version. Enjoy Kayla Verse! Three songs included from a gifted multi-media storyteller. ←

I cannot believe all the natural teachers I get to have on my podcast. Trigger Architecture is a cool concept from Jaime for not just making things happen for your stories but also for defeating writer’s block. We talk about all of this in the conversation. It’s valuable enough alone to listen to this discussion. I like it because it activates the subconscious. I know I’ll use the method in the future.

There were some issues with the server when I read my short story, so here is an undamaged recording, in case you want it:

Check out my new Designs for T-shirts and other things.

I’m not mad at you if you are a 2minutarian, but easytopians share. It’s OK tho, whatever you want.

The first episode of her web series is available now. ^

Storytelling takes so many forms, and Kayla uses all of them. She produces, and performs all the things she writes. We had a very fruitful discussion about the importance of organizations that encourage creativity in young people. She explained an NAACP program called ACT-SO. What a fantastic emphasis. Do you know that what is commonly known as STEM, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, is missing a letter? The letter is ‘A.’. I’ll bet you can guess what the ‘A’ in STEAM stands for.

Find all of Kayla’s music links here ←

There’s no way the write up can do justice to this conversation. You’re going to have to absorb this one on your own, for sure. Kayla read some excerpts from her web series, and laid down a good synopsis. She was generous with all that, and some music also. That’s quite a bonus.

Did you know there is a genre called Solar Punk?

The talent I get to interact with on these podcasts is mind-blowing. This episode more than reflects it.

* Visit the new easytopia! Merch Store with a few designs and a bunch of different products.

* Use this link to get great tech at reduced prices, with warranties.

I think you’ll agree that when he finds the representation he’s looking for to propagate his work, he should be reading for the audiobook. He holds you right in there as he shows you his story. Very well done and pleasant.

His stories focus on relationships. The excerpt from his novel and his new foray into screenwriting focus on communication between characters. The visual scenes and events complement the dialogue.

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Tiktok: (#dadpushesscifi is the project with his daughter)

Visit my stream of consciousness fiction podcast

James read from his upcoming novel, called Unveiled, a disclosure story of another kind altogether.

You’ll want to subscribe to SALSIDO PARANORMAL to be apprised of it’s arrival. James is not scared.

Among James’ literary inspirations is Stephen King. King’s ability to present characters and scenes is as much a draw for James as the subjects and stories. Among the topics we discussed are the observer effect, and how locations and weather affect our perception.

He is the side host with Michael Strange on Troubled Minds Radio. James is also a co-host with Ricky Pike at Beyond the Possible, a weekly paranormal discussion show. His sometimes co-host at Salsido Paranormal is Jen Arcana.

Here are all his links: https://allmylinks.com/salsidoparanor1

Congratulate James for 1000 episodes of Salsido Paranormal.

Available industry stats show that 9,451 podcasts have 1,000+ episodes out of about 4,337,476 total podcasts, which works out to roughly 0.22% of podcasts reaching that milestone.

What that means

That figure is a rough snapshot, not a perfect lifetime rate, because the dataset is based on tracked podcasts at one point in time rather than every podcast ever made. It does, however, suggest that reaching 1,000 episodes is very rare.

Quick calculation

Using the numbers from Podscan:

* 9,451 ÷ 4,337,476 ≈ 0.00218

* 0.00218 × 100 ≈ 0.22%

(Perplexity)

If you can figure out who the historical couple from her book We Meet Again is, she’ll send you one. Can you figure it out? She presents an interesting notion of lovers reincarnating and meeting in many eras of Earth’s history.

Along with several fiction and children’s books, Brownell has written several nonfiction books as well. We discussed the bridge between fiction and non-fiction when she talked about The Art and Science of Wishing. The conversation I like to have with fiction writers about the origin of stories and thoughts and the mechanics of consciousness was especially rich with Brownell because of not only her fiction but also her nonfiction subject matter.

Three writers she referenced stood out to me regarding how thoughts are things and our connection to unseen reality. Harold Percival, Michael Newton, and the book by Liz Gilbert, Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear.

She read several of her poems for children, but really, anyone. They all sound like sound advice to me. You can see a complete list of her creative activity here.

She even has a Cosmic Wish Experiment and her own podcast called Life’s a Trip!

Please check out all of my flash and microfiction and other writing at easytopia!

Here are Fran’s Links: Amazon, Facebook, LinkedIn

I would like to have these conversations with a lot more Substackers. Whether there is a book or product to promote or not. If you create Fiction in any format, writing, comics, game adaptation, whatever. Let’s talk on The Arc of The Bard.

* A published Author

* A former Elected Official

* A Lawyer

* The Organizer and Founder of the Word of South Books and Music Festival

Mark’s experience as a published author spans the changes in the publishing industry. I explored that with him. If you are aspiring, you are going to learn some important things here.

While his most recent book is more of a focus in this conversation, His first book, The Return, may be more relevant to the contemporary climate. We also have a brief discussion related to his book The Gendarme, on how writing daily might stave off the effects of aging on the brain.

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I shared my story called Mitchell’s Mission in this episode, as it relates to the subject of Mark’s Boy with Wings excerpts.

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Use this link for discounted tech items | Refurbished, open box, etc.

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Visit easytopia! where I share all my short fiction.

The conversations with Richard focused primarily on short stories. I was especially interested in that with him because that’s what I mostly write. His anthology is an idea of a story for every state. I also love to write about small towns. We had some great deconstruction.

Most of Richard’s writing, including the stories in the anthology, is in the Mystery/ Thriller genre. I’d go further, and say Psychological Thrillers are in there as well.

I can’t wait to have him on again so we can talk about the use of storytelling in marketing and for other reasons, as he is a commercial writer as well. His commercial writing and marketing business can be found at https://copywriteink.com/

I read my story called Little Time for Verymany.

Read this, from her website, and you’ll understand where she gets her penchant for crime stories:

Elise Burke Brown comes from a family of detectives, including a grandfather who filled her childhood with true crime stories she learned not to repeat at daycare. Her novel, Chase Harlem, won the grand prize for the Monroe-Walton Center for the Arts New Writers Contest 2021 as well as the 2023 Killer Nashville Claymore Award for Best Unpublished Investigator Novel. After winning, Rising Action Publishing acquired the novel and its sequel, which was a Top Pick for the 2024 Claymore Award. Elise has had stories and poetry published in Sojourn Literary Magazine, Dewpoint Literary Magazine, The Moonlit Road, and Southern Quill. She’s also sold stories to the podcast, Chilling Tales for Dark Nights. She teaches composition at the University of Alabama and runs the book blog, coupleofbeesread. She is represented by Rachel Beck of Liza Dawson Associates, and her thriller, High Tides and Homicides, is currently on submission.

One of the things we discussed in this interview is the role of AI as it’s being prioritized in our economy. An article was referenced. This is the link to that article from Futurism: https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-agents-incapable-math. Do any search online for AI mistakes and you’ll find dozens of articles. A sub theme of TAOTB is confronting the post-human narrative. FYI. I have the best guests.

On a personal note I want to thank everyone who followed me through my Third Annual Flash Fiction February Marathon at easytopia! I had a riot, as usual. There will be more intermittent stories and Flash August Fiction, of course.

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Dr. T. Michael W. Halcomb wears many hats.

- He’s the author of around 30 books (See HERE and HERE)

- He’s an educator who has taught at the high-school, undergrad, and grad levels (CV available upon request); currently, he’s a professor and holds 5 degrees (1 Bachelors, 3 Masters, and 1 PhD)

- He’s a prolific presenter - nearly 100 academic conference presentations; he’s done a TedX talk, has participated in speech contests, has preached thousands of sermons, and has engaged in a wide variety of public speaking

- He’s a podcaster who hosts a Bible/Theology podcast called ProveText that consistently brings on some top experts in the world.

-He hosts a comedy podcast → Messed-Up to Set-Ups, which also features a stellar lineup of guests ←

-He’s a stand-up comedian who hosts, opens, features, headlines, and produces shows.

-He’s also a comedy teacher and consultant (see HERE)

Three things stand out for me in this interview with Michael Halcomb

First, Michael is a great presenter. Listen to him read the intro to his book. His expressiveness and elocution are neither forced, nor weak, or limp. We got the whole thing, in two parts. Second, is approach to comedy is honest and vulnerable. It’s the foibles, and human frailty, that inspire his joke writing. Along with these creative attributes, I learned a lesson in story structure. At the beginning, Michael explained his “W” theory of story development. Go listen.

thanks for reading and listening, and for checking out my other podcast, called easytopia! if you’d like to be an easytopian!, what that entails is simply sharing one of my posts on your social media, or restacking it here on substack. then, you’re in. that’s it. not a big complicated thing.

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Sharon and I had some good conversation about the origin of stories. As you can imagine, release from trauma and difficulties through writing was certainly a subject. She reads from The Weight of a Happy Marriage that she introduces on TAOTB, what can I say? I’m pretty lucky. Also, an introduction to another story, where she introduces a good dad with some formidable foibles. That is pretty fun.

Thanks for the listening, the reading and the sharing

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Sean takes joy in poetry. He really does. You can tell by the writing, by his reading, and his conversation. He’s dedicated to his poetry group in NYC. They are lucky to have him. The Flash Fiction story he read is also very colorful and visual.

It is a very insightful conversation by someone with a genuine and learned passion. Something I really appreciated was the discussion we had about different types of short form writing. This article from his website is insightful, and a good primer for people who want to get into some of the nuance of short form writing.

To prepare yourself for the launch of the Poemancer Card Game, you should subscribe here, and familiarize yourself with that website. Like me, Sean isn’t really very involved with social media. You can find his contact information at his website, seanglatch.com. Thank you so much, Sean, for joining me for this interview. I can’t wait to have you back when you launch the fundraising phase for Poemancer.

His website, and his articles at Writers.com are both excellent resources. I’ve shared several of his articles and discussed them at m Discord server called Easytopia! I encourage anyone who loves reading and writing to join me there.

Do you want to be a guest on The Arco of The Bard?

I want help. I want suggestions, critique, a new machine and some software. Use this link to get discounted Office Supplies and Tech. If you spend $20, I get credits toward my requirements. Get my cheap $5 eBook, so you will understand the political class in 15 minutes or less. This is probably the coolest free landing page for authors I’ve ever seen. The guy thinks of everything. Should you decide to upgrade, I receive a little jingle jangle. If buying something of value is not enough for you, then you can donate to my GiveSendGo, to help with my efforts with The Arc of The Bard. Don’t be a 2minutarian. Are you an easytopian!, or not? I hope you can at least share this important effort.

Macaulay is a graduate of the University of Arizona, where he received his bachelor's degree in political science with an emphasis in American government and international relations as well as a minor in classical (Greco-Roman) history. He is also an alumnus of the fraternity Phi Delta Theta. Macaulay received a master's of legal studies from Arizona State University's Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law before beginning a career in the commercial construction industry. He has worked on a variety of projects, from airports to data centers.

If there’s deconstruction, then there’s reconstruction. Alicia likes to write myth and fairytale retellings. In this interview, she reads her cool story that retells the Princess and the Pea, as a story about Autistic Sensitivity. Think about it.

I love having the descriptions and definitions of so many ideas and concepts I embrace, but did not have the terms for. Of course, being introduced to new information was enriching. Thanks, Alicia, for your time and expertise.

Thanks for listening, or reading, or however you do it. If you appreciate this effort, you can get a copy of my book, The People from The Mountain, and The People from The Valley: The Political Class in 15 Minutes. It’s only $5.

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If you want to be a guest on The Arc of The Bard, send me a message

If you like the premise of the Arc of The Bard ←(hear the promo), I’m not averse at all to asking you to participate with some funding. I want to run this podcast in the best way possible, and I feel good about asking for help, because I need it and this is important. Subscribe, please, and visit my Givesendgo.

Starting out with poetry, G.E. has had some accomplishments. Including a stint at the Ray Bradbury Center, in Waukegan, Illinois. As well as good conversation on the influence of science fiction on technology, and his gleanings from his time as a teacher, he reads an excerpt from Bealz. Also, a short story, addressing the issues we are considering regarding Artificial Intelligence in our everyday lives.

What I was most impacted with was his account of reading The Grapes of Wrath, as a young guy, and the universality of what Steinbeck was describing. Not only is that something I agree with, but I also recalled how Steinbeck reads like visual, other-worldly, fiction. Very much like the type of non-historical fiction I like to read. There are things to consider there. I hope you enjoy my time with Gary as much as I did.

* Harvard ‘25

* Specializes in short fiction and poetry, currently writing both a fantasy trilogy and a historical fiction novel.

* Drawn to concise, emotionally driven writing that emphasizes feeling over explanation.

* In high school, wrote Finding a Superpower, a story about a boy dying of cancer, which unexpectedly moved readers—including a teacher who cried while reading it aloud.

* Learned that stories can communicate universal human experiences like loss, fear, and love across differences.

* Now founder and CEO of a sports and defense technology company; graduated from Harvard after a nontraditional path that required perseverance.

* Reflects on the moral and emotional tension between developing technologies for war and writing about human vulnerability and grief.

* Finds awe, rather than beauty, in the coexistence of precision and suffering within imagination, in that totality—in the fact that imagination is capable of holding both precision and suffering without resolving either. I’d welcome the opportunity to explore those questions in conversation.

Most Certainly. How great to have Annika as my first guest on Arc of the Bard, debuting on Jan. 11. We discuss the phenomenon of storytelling, and she reads the first Chapter of her Fantasy Trilogy called Stripes.

Annika’s Books:

https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0B9182RRM/allbooks

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Thanks for listening, or reading, or however you do it. If you appreciate this effort, you can get a paid subscription, get a copy of my book, The People from The Mountain, and The People from The Valley: The Political Class in 15 Minutes, and share with your friends.

The first episode is dropping on Jan. 10th. This was a fortuitous and successful effort. My guest, Annika La Vina seemingly intuitively interviewed me during the process, and it helped me describe the purpose of the show. I could not have asked for a better guest. God bless the brave entrepreneurial people who aren’t afraid to dive into things and, by their natures, make success happen. Here is her Amazon book link. You won’t want to miss her episode next weekend.

Dive into the hidden stories behind storytellers and their tales. Celebrate the power of human consciousness and original thought rather than calculations by artificial intelligence. Each podcast episode shares conversations and live readings that only your imagination can bring to life.

And always remember, if artificial intelligence were sentient, it would be jealous of you.

I’m Herschel Sterling, and I’m here to help.

Join me for The Arc of the Bard.

The background music is royalty-free from Pixabay member, Robert S., aka, SenorMusica81. Thanks, Robert, if I make some dough I’ll hook you up.