Ch 15. - The Multiverse Blues - Me and the Devil Blues
Jules and the crew of Hope's Tour confront the Deltan spy. Can they find an escape from Delta Earth before the Arch Authority can capture them?
Sep 17, 2020•14 min
Alien Beer
Independent author E. Chris Garrison reads her Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories.
https://sillyhatbooks.com
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Episodes
Ep. 16 - Fell Down
I wrote "Fell Down" for The Iron Writer Challenge in September 2013. The terms of the challenge were to write a 500 word flash story using these four elements: A murderous unicorn; The Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle; A fantasy football draft must be a part of the main scene of the story; The story must be written from the POV of someone with a mental illness or developmental delay. This was a special Iron Writer Challenge. It was the very first Iron Writer Grudge Match. I was challenged by Tony Jae...
Sep 10, 2020•6 min
Ch 14. - The Multiverse Blues - Little Queen of Spades
Last time on The Multiverse Blues. Jules helped Coral escape the Arch Authority facility, only to have the strange Tristellian slip away into the Arch gate without them. Now, Jules has caught up with Hope's Tour, mid-concert, to be reunited with their newfound family of friends. Or will they? The other Jules is still out there, so how will Jules convince Hope and her crew that they're really who they say they are?
Sep 03, 2020•18 min
Ep. 15 - Drag Show
This was my first story sale, back in the fall of 2011. I was, and am, grateful to D.L. Russell for taking a chance on me and my story for his ezine, "Strange, Weird, and Wonderful" and for including it in the anthology he later published from those stories. Reading it now, I feel differently about it than when I wrote it under a different name; I still like it, but with more complicated feelings. CW: Loss of agency, jealousy
Aug 27, 2020•21 min
Ch 13. - The Multiverse Blues - Sweet Home Chicago
On the run! When Jules is asked for help by a prisoner of the Delta Arch Authority, they can't say no, and the two set out against the odds to make an escape. Can Jules help the prisoner escape, without becoming a prisoner themself? Last time on The Multiverse Blues: Jules set out to follow their doppelganger's directions, using preprogrammed Specs. Along the way, they run into Delta Earth's version of their fiancée, Samantha, and get a glimpse into their double's life in this 'verse. After some...
Aug 20, 2020•21 min
Ep 14 - Sweets and Strangers
First, some announcements. I've been teasing for a few weeks about giving you a look at what the alien diva Hope looks like. Well, wait no longer, I have posted my artist friend Kirsten Jacobus's beautiful rendition of her on The Multiverse Blues page on my website! Just visit https://sillyhatbooks.com/tmb and click on the picture to expand it. You can see Kirsten's other work on Deviantart at http://lunaseas.deviantart.com/ Ten years in the making, Mean Spirit, the last book in my Tipsy Fairy T...
Aug 13, 2020•7 min
Ch 12. - The Multiverse Blues - Dead Shrimp Blues
Exploring a new place on your own can give you a feeling of independence and excitement. However, when that new place is an alternate dimension, and you run into people who are almost—but not quite—the same people you know back home, things can get a little dicey. In this episode of The Multiverse Blues, Jules gets to find out what impersonating themself in another life feels like. They also make a startling discovery. Have you ever wondered what Hope, the alien singer in The Multiverse Blues lo...
Aug 06, 2020•18 min
Interview With Mariah Powell of Hobbies Include:Writing
This week, we'll be doing something a little different. I was invited to do a mutual interview with my fellow fiction podcaster, Mariah Powell, who is the host of Hobbies Include: Writing. It turned out our projects have a lot in common, so we decided to sit down and have a chat about what we've been up to, and why. Rest assured, dear listeners, The Multiverse Blues will return next week, with a new episode, but for now, I hope you enjoy this peek behind the scenes of the Alien Beer Podcast and ...
Jul 30, 2020•1 hr 3 min
Ep. 13 - Seelie Goose
I wrote this story in the summer of 2014 as a submission for, and was published in, the Seventh Star Press anthology, A Chimerical World: Tales of the Seelie Court. It is a tie-in to my Tipsy Fairy Tales series, between Blue Spirit and Restless Spirit. It takes place during the time when Skye was borrowed by R.J. Sullivan for his novel, Virtual Blue. I figured since Minnie didn't make an appearance in that book, I wanted to write about her solo adventures in Bloomington, Indiana. On her own, Min...
Jul 23, 2020•38 min
Ch 11. - The Multiverse Blues - Honeymoon Blues
Sometimes, you just need time to yourself, even when you're in the best of company. In this episode of The Multiverse Blues, Jules takes a break from the crew of Hope's Tour, venturing out to explore Delta Earth alone. Unexpected company has a way of turning up at the strangest of times. Which is why Jules finds themself visiting with someone from their past, and someone very familiar indeed. Will the call of even more adventure be too much for Jules? Listen to this episode to find out!
Jul 16, 2020•13 min
Ep. 12 - Stranger Danger
The Iron Writer Challenge, 2015 Summer Solstice Preliminary Round had some really weird elements. A time clock; ice cream; a parachute; told from POV of an alien on the planet Nibiru, as the Nibiru enters our solar system. Nibiru technology is not greater or worse than Earth's. I'll say, it was difficult to think of ways to connect the elements, and still make a story that didn't sound completely random. I hope you enjoy what I came up with.
Jul 09, 2020•6 min
Ch 10 - The Multiverse Blues - Love in Vain
Last time on The Multiverse Blues: Hope's Tour travelled through the Arch linking Gamma Earth to Delta Earth. The crew debated what to do about the recent targeted attacks, and discussed Jules' mysterious female double from Achse. Now, as they pass into glitzy Delta Earth, the crew looks forward to staying in a luxury hotel, and a risky scheduled show before making their move to shake pursuit. -- I am excited to announce that by the time you hear this, the Alien Beer Podcast will have been downl...
Jul 02, 2020•20 min
Special Episode - The Gate
For those of you expecting this week to be an episode of The Multiverse Blues, well, thank you for noticing. I have gotten behind on writing the serial, so this week, I'm giving you a special behind the scenes look at something that's never before been published, and only read by one or two others before. It is a bit of the attempt I made at writing a sequel to Reality Check, my science fiction novel that my Trans-Continental books and The Multiverse Blues spun off of. If you haven't read Realit...
Jun 25, 2020•7 min
Ep. 11 - Shelby
The energy for writing can come from many places. Sometimes it's for the sheer joy of it. Sometimes it's the adrenaline rush of an external, or self-imposed deadline approaching, other times it's the siren call of the Muse, demanding that a particular story be written. This one was none of those. I was angry at the world, and I used my writing as outlet for it. I fueled my creativity with fury, and it turned out to also be good therapy at the same time. I wrote it in early 2014, but it didn't fi...
Jun 18, 2020•17 min
Ch 9 - The Multiverse Blues - Hellhound On My Trail
Following the attacks in Delta Earth, Hope's Tour beat a hasty retreat through the New Louie Arch, moving on towards Delta Earth. In this episode, the crew looks to Hope for leadership in the face of deadly danger. Before I begin this particular episode, I want to thank my listeners for following my stories. I would love to hear from you on Twitter or Facebook, especially if you have comments or questions about the road so far. I'd love to know who your favorite characters are, who you might be ...
Jun 11, 2020•15 min
Ep. 10 - Nightmare In Frills
For Halloween 2014, I joined a bunch of writer friends in a sort of blog-based celebration of the holiday in an event called the Coffin Hop. I asked for story elements from those friends, and this is what they came up with: Axel Howerton: peanut butter; Lori Michelle: a dead bush; Katie John: Doll’s pram; Julianne Snow: styrofoam plates. My absolute idol in the flash fiction format is the late Fredric Brown, and his collection of tiny stories, Nightmares and Geezenstacks, served as inspiration f...
Jun 04, 2020•5 min
Ch 8. The Multiverse Blues - From Four Till Late
The show must go on! After the attack, the crew of Hope's Tour gives the people of New Louie on Gamma Earth what they came for -- a most unusual rock and blues concert!
May 28, 2020•16 min
Ep. 9 - Spectral Delivery
"Spectral Delivery" started life in early 2013 as a sample story to serve as introduction to my Road Ghosts Trilogy. Its chronological place in the series is somewhere between the second book, Sinking Down, and the third one, Me and the Devil, but it's meant to stand alone, and contains no real spoilers. The story is included as a part of The Road Ghosts Omnibus and is read wonderfully in the audiobook by Sean Duregger. I'm not including his reading here on the podcast. If you'd prefer his profe...
May 21, 2020•38 min
Ch 7. The Multiverse Blues - Phonograph Blues
When alien rock star Hope fails to show up for her own concert, Jules must spring into action to find out what's behind her disappearance; they make a startling discovery.
May 14, 2020•13 min
Ep. 8 - Killer Cure
"Killer Cure" was my very first Iron Writer story. I wrote it for the third-ever Challenge, in March 2013, using these four elements: A failed superhero, a piano, a boat propeller and a Chechem/Chaka tree. My story won against two other Iron Writer participants, though their stories were quite good. It was such fun to write, it makes me wonder why I don't do more superhero stories.
May 07, 2020•5 min
Ch 6. The Multiverse Blues - 32-20 Blues
Jules and the crew of Hope's Tour find themselves beset by xenophobic protesters as they set up for a show at the New Louie Coliseum in the Gamma Earth 'verse. Before I begin, I'd like to talk about the masks the Gamma Earth people wear. I didn't write them into the story because of the masks we're wearing because of the pandemic; Not many people were wearing them at the time I started that part. Funny enough, I saw an article today that some men are refusing to wear floral patterned homemade ma...
Apr 30, 2020•17 min
Ep. 6 - Moonlight Blossom
For the Iron Writer Challenge in January 2015, I took on the following elements: Botticelli, a tiger lily, long hair, and steampunk goggles. The latter two elements demanded that I write a story involving my heroine Ida Stillwell, from my Trans-Continental steampunk books. It turned out to be an origin story that I decided was canon.
Apr 23, 2020•5 min
Bonus 4 - Speakeasy
For this bonus episode, I have a special guest reading. My wife Amy Garrison wrote a fun bit of microfiction that I thought might make a topical bonus for the podcast. I envy her reading voice.
Apr 20, 2020•4 min
Ch 5. The Multiverse Blues - I Believe I'll Dust My Broom.mp3
This episode finds Jules and the others in Hope's crew scrambling after an unexpected turn of events with Smiley and his men, and then on to New Louie for their concert in the Gamma 'verse. When I started The Multiverse Blues serial, I made sure I had at least a couple of episodes written and recorded before they aired, giving me a cushion of time to work on the next episodes so I wouldn't fall behind. Given the current situation of pandemic lockdown, you'd think I'd have even more time to get a...
Apr 16, 2020•17 min
Ep. 5 - The Spark
This was a story that originated in late 2014 as a self-challenge: to write a short story set in one of the universes featured in my novel Reality Check. It kicked off the beginnings of a sequel to that book, which sadly became too tangled to finish. Never fear, I have a better idea for how the sequel should go, and you get to enjoy this as the original stand-alone project it was intended to be. This is also the universe in which The Multiverse Blues takes place.
Apr 09, 2020•6 min
Ch 4. The Multiverse Blues - Last Fair Deal Gone Down
The Multiverse Blues is a science fiction serial spanning many alternate realities.In this episode, the crew of Hope's Tour introduces Jules to the retro 'verse of Gamma Earth and its hazards.
Apr 02, 2020•18 min
Ep. 7 - Personal Space
When I wrote this story in 2014, I couldn't have pictured our current pandemic lockdown. I decided to post this episode earlier than it appears in my Alien Beer and Other Stories anthology because of its timely topic -- social isolation. In Trog's case, the cause is supernatural, rather than viral. -- Inspiration is a funny thing. It can come to you anywhere, anytime. The idea for "A Bone to Pick" came as I drove into work, and I was forced to call my own phone to leave a voicemail so I'd rememb...
Mar 26, 2020•22 min
Ch 3. The Multiverse Blues - Stones in My Passway
Previously on The Multiverse Blues: Jules starts their job as part of the crew of Hope's Tour. They meet the other members of the interdimensional rock star's crew; stage manager Harlan, general manager Marcy Davenport, drummer Dribbler, bass and backup singer Babs, and enchanting alien singing sensation Hope herself. Just about to pass through the Arch to Gamma Earth, Jules and the crew are stopped for inspection by Beta Earth's dreaded TSA. Jules does not have an interdimensional passport.
Mar 19, 2020•17 min
Ep. 4 - A Tale of Two Laundries
This sequel to "Moby Me" was written nearly four years afterwards, in 2017. What can I say, I have fun with the "mad scientist" trope.
Mar 12, 2020•4 min
Bonus 3 - Trans-Continental - Girl in the Gears Chapter One
The concept for Trans-Continental came to me in a dream. In that dream, a trans woman protagonist and her Artful Dodger-like companion flew their airship from place to place, having adventures together in the steampunk world I wrote about in Reality Check. I was so excited about this idea, I got up from bed at 2:30 in the morning and scribbled what I could remember down on my grocery list. When I found the notes in the morning, I dropped the writing project I had going already and started what w...
Mar 09, 2020•16 min
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