(Oh, and incidentally: I believe that may in fact be the 3rd person. Just thought I’d mention it…)

Cheers!
-Jeff

For the podcast, do you already have a feed set up so I can catch it as soon as it is ready?

Will this be released all at once, or one podcast a day d’you think?

Thanks! Congrats! Keep it up!
Joe

I look forward to more of your amazing skill with the words and their ordering.

Darren

Mine, currently, is your “The Toughest Trees” article.

Also, and I’m guessing here, “impacts.” *shudder*

I actually own a das keyboard- Excellent looking thing, scares the bejesus out of anyone I invite over. Only problem is that the body and cord are actually pretty flimsy construction. I would actually recommend one of the Model M reconstructions over it- They have bodies you can drive a tank over and cords you could garrote a cow with.

Still, I’ll probably continue hammering onto my Das Keyboard until I finally shake its puny cord from its fragile body.

Cheers!
-Jeff

Hence your moniker of “raconteur” above?

I kid…’cause I love.

Been a fan since the original podcast days. Many thanks for many a laugh!

My Microsoft ergonomic is from 1994 and I love it. My son doesn’t because the split keyboard forces you to use both hands and the ink has worn off the important keys.

This keyboard has served faithfully for at least a decade and a half, all the way back to Prodigy, DOS, and 56K. It has given excellent service, but I have dreaded the eventual day when I will finally have to retire it.

Which is why this post fills me with relief: Now I know there is still a keyboard manufacturer that recognizes that we’d already gotten keyboard design right in the 80s. Thanks for sharing.

Sometimes I wish my Mac had one of these. Despite this inner urge to crank out words I am not able to write very much these days. I sometimes suspect it’s in part fault of modern keyboards. Then again, it might just be me…

Expensiveness, expensiveness etc all have the same problem. it’s not that you CAN’T do it. It’s that it’s almost always better to write use, expense and expanse.

I would also say, that if you want to truly exaggerate the extent (extensiveness?) of an expanse you are better off writing ‘expansivenesslessiosity’ than ‘expansiveness’

As far as your definition of utilize goes, I haven’t encountered that. But it is derived in English from the French verb utiliser. On general principles I avoid the fancy words that come from French.

May I rant about ‘utilize’? ‘Use’ is a perfectly good word. ‘Utilize’ means ‘use for purpose for which it wasn’t designed.’ I’ve seen ‘utilize’ utilized too often lately.

Sorry.

And then there’s lost time, but I think that involves aliens or obsession-inducing television series.

‘Me time’ – time that you often refrain from mentioning.

‘Quality Time’ – time that is utterly unproductive on purpose

‘Desperate Times’ – all time that is not quality time. Desperate times often follow go time.

Mario Time

0.5) Miller time

0.8) Time, gentlemen. Time!

After about 4 days of reading his posts, I got depressed. It was a litany of ’standing in line for a burger’, ‘driving home from work’, ’surfing the internet’. It wasn’t anything different than what I was doing. It was a reminder of how each day was slipping away, and I was spending it reading about him. There was *no* story being told, so I turned it off.

On the other end of the spectrum, I’m now at the same point with the news. Between talk radio and news web sites, I can read or hear the same scandal 3-4 times in the same day. And in the end, the news doesn’t change anything I do. I don’t go out and march, or call officials, or campaign. It’s a story, but it doesn’t *affect* me. It really doesn’t mean anything.

There was an awful speed metal band in the 90’s called Bad Religion, and one song was about the 24 hour news cycle. I always think of the line “it’s episodic currency that everybody needs.” I always think of that when I hear about a scandal, or a trial, or a disaster that doesn’t affect me or my loved ones. It’s Jerry Springer writ large.

(said the guy in the blog comments)

Thanks for sharing you hard work and wonderful talents!

BESTEST
David

http://feeds.feedburner.com/PatrickEMclean

BESTEST
David

Any plans for a new podcast? Please – pretty please with anchovies – - -

David
Karmiel, ISRAEL

“What’s in this coffee?” Y’know, it looks like he’s thinking “Damn, the word I want just sunk to the bottom of this cup.”

Do you mean to tell us you write stuff?

Sheesh, the ting’s ya learn online.

Great post. Good food for thought.

Congratulations, you’ve expanded from Evil Efficiency Consultant to Productivity Recommendations. Someone alert Merlin Mann and the rest of MacBreak Weekly.

The rest of your conclusion is spot on, and it works both ways. I grew up surrounded by well-educated people who spoke “standard English”. You can imagine how well I fit in at some summer jobs.

In that short time, perhaps 20 minutes, I feel you comunicated enough material to eliminate 453 hours I wasted in school not learning “good” english.

I’m 62. I taught myself over the years to be a better writer using three tools, a thesaurus, the delete key, and my brain. But, it was hard work and I did not have a clue as why it worked. Now I do. Thanks!

Whit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZS8HqOGTbA

Bullshit adjectives indeed.

just finished listening to your back catalogue on The Seanachai, about to start the Evil podcast. Keep up the good work!

One of my cousins in Finland has a farm north of the arctic circle. That’s where the ground is frozen year round. My dad took a picture of him in 1972, in his long johns. I mean, with a week of summer, why would you have summer clothes? And WTF do you grow when the ground is frozen year round? I mean, and make a living? Hay. For reindeer.

In January 1995, i went to the Philadelphia Zoo. Relatives had come over, and that’s what we decided to do. It was minus 4 with a wicked wind. We ran from building to building. The penguins were ecstatic. The ducks were swimming. It’s the only time i saw the Siberian tigers happy. But the reindeer herd went inside. I have a theory. Reindeer aren’t so tough that they can take the absurd cold of the arctic. They must be incredibly smart.

Check the link above.

Thanks Pat.

This post was mentioned on Twitter by PatrickEMcLean: ‘The Pomodoro Technique” and how I’m using it with my writing. It’s awesome. Might be the #NaNoWriMo help you need. http://bit.ly/1s9kSo…

I’m checking out the technique. I have a much better chance of getting hubby to take the kids away for 25 minutes than I did of convincing him I could write a book in thirty days. Thanks for the great tip.

But I powered through it. Now to see if I can read the link…

I time housework and exercise by podcast. The different lengths break up the routine without breaking the system.

Good luck!

Nice Blog dude,

D

Oh, and I’ve listened to enough of your podcast episodes to be able to hear your inflection in the text!

I was just going to skim the post, but at some point I went back to the beginning and had to read every word. Fascinating history of a tree I’ve never given a single thought to, so thanks for sharing.

You truly do have a way with words, my dear.

A satisfying episode. Thank you for not playing That Song again.
Truly, it was a relief.

You’ve finished two projects this week. What will you do now? Enjoy the holidays? (Is How To Succeed in Evil really over?)

TTTC

Nicely researched and done… Mr. Edward Windsor… Thanks again for the story.

Speaking of, how soon can we expect more Vampire in My Face? Or even, dare I ask, more Evil?

I am in favor of most anything you do. As always your stories are wonderful. But I track you via MP3. It was only because it had been so long that I came to the site and found the video. While it was interesting to see you, the video did not really add much. Please put out an MP3 of anything you do.

—–Paul—–

Good to hear from you! I can’t wait to read the book. Times are a little tight, but I know that any investment in the Seanachai is always a good one. Keep up the good work. I think both your Evil and non-Evil work are great. I enjoy supporting it all the way.

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I have to echo the words of others in saying that I am in love with this story, and with the powerful way it’s ended. If it doesn’t get published I will be extremely disappointed in every person who had it pass through their fingers.

I’ve also got to say that I support the addition of a donation button to the site, or maybe a store? Anything to give you a little revenue in return for the wonderful journey through Edwin’s development. As an aspiring writer you are one of my greatest role models, and I look forward to anything else from you in the future.

Extermination of superheroes is making the world rational by removing the destabilizing element. I.E. An identification of a specific problem and a direct solution

Taking over the world is making it rational by ensuring he is in a position to determine everything, and then making rational choices for irrational people. I.E. more of a general solution to the irrationality of man, and then a direct solution: Making the choices for them.

It just is a problem of the scope/approach that Edwin has for the future.

The problem is the difrence

The apparently irrational part of Edwin’s behavior here, IMO, would be bothering to go down and *talk* to Excelsior and convince him of the whole thing, instead of just pouring in the concrete and giving Excelsior no option.

If you allow the possibility that Edwin *is* still being rational, then it follows that the little chat was necessary in order to effect some purpose. Under that assumption, I think you’d be forced to the inescapable conclusion that Edwin expects Excelsior to get out again at some point, probably during Edwin’s lifetime. Otherwise, why tell him anything? The only possible rational reason to have the chat is so that Excelsior will spend the next N months wallowing in regret, rather than just anger. The only rational reason to want that is because it allows him to later be manipulated in more useful ways, if and when he gets out. Edwin’s been manipulating Excelsior for a while, sometimes quite successfully, especially on the golf course. He might still have a use for him. Potentially.

Of course, Excelsior might not get out during the next book. But even if he does not, it will remain a possibility for later, *especially* if Gus is still around and looking for the body.

Good stuff. Really, good show. THIS is the end we were all expecting from Edwin.

Just one thing, it’s minor, but I thought it should be mentioned and since no one else here has…

The mission Edwin takes up him self, of _extermination_ seems perfectly inline with his character and the story so far. It ties very nicely with “Edwin walking the hall” where in he debates exactly the same dichotomy. It really fits.

Sadly the same cannot be said of his sudden ambition to “take over the world.” This is why the old ending rang false for us diehard fans.

Getting to the point, the problem has become an inherent contradiction, with the chapters 68-70 making it seem like he was moving forward towards world domination, while the “true ending” or epilogue makes him move towards the extermination of “harmful” super”heroes”.

The two just don’t work together.

It’s a minor problem, but I just wanted to put it out there.

“But he instead just wanted revenge, and used his big brain justify it to himself.”
That’s true, I think. Excelsior hurt Edwins business, so eliminating him makes sense. Getting Excelsior to choose to be entombed, that’s torture. That’s revenge.
Or… a ploy to prevent Excelsior from trying to escape and/or something to hold Excelsior back (for a while) if he does ever get out.

I think it will either mellow him out or make him insane. If he comes back insane and starts wreaking havoc, maybe Edwin would finally realize he’s not perfect

Of course this is just speculation, but the way I read Gus’s miraculous recovery suggested to me that Excelsior isn’t dead, just entombed.
And hey, a decade under concrete will probably mellow him out a bit :p

Anyone else read it that way?

The horror.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUiIzGAJrPM&feature=related

Loved Gus saying, I’d kill for a Cigarette.

Nice leaving the little portion of the clean up crew hearing the voice. But forgetting about it considering that they may just have another dead person that needed to be shipped to the morgue.

Till the next Novel,

Keep up the excellent work

Hearns

I do wish every chapter could be this long :p

Tell me when it reaches print. I’ll be buying a copy ASAP.

Many thanks for your delightful production!

Gotta wonder though: can Excelsior survive having his lungs filled with concrete? In this episode, he’s survived having a building fall on him, two weeks without food or water, a whole lot of fine dust inhalation. A lung full of concrete probably won’t be pleasant, but will it kill him, or just render him totally immobile (and conscious) under a monument of himself? And how would he act after a month or two in that condition?

Anyway, great, great story. I loved having the longer format too. Looking forward to more!

Great story, though I’m still looking forward to the sequel.

Also, I once more cast my vote for Edna, rather than Agnes. It’s much more British.

If I may proffer my unsolicited opinion; Edna works better than Agnes. (At least for me.) Agnes (for me) will always be the frazzled, bespectacled, flustered scribe of Mame Dennis in Auntie Mame (Rosalind Russell’s version).

Edna…now that’s a name with gravitas.

I cannot tell you how much I’ve loved this series. People throughout my neighborhood must be convinced that I’m quite mad as I giggle gleefully down the street while Edwin and I share the muggy miles after walking my son to school in the morning.

I confess, I love Edwin. I adore you for creating him and sharing him. I’m so glad that there is more after the original episodes. Thanks so much for allowing us to enjoy your creative process as it happens. Also, thanks for turning me on to Jonathan’s Re: Your Brain song…I was tickled that it was available for purchase.

And hey…got any of those comic books left?

Cheers and thanks!

Not more awesome than getting well-written, well-produced stories served up for free!

You do great work, and I eagerly await any future installments!

Anyway enough of my crime “dealings” great novel, and cant wait for the next one.

Its a nice thing to have, until we start to feel entitled anyway.

Thank you Patrick!

As far as how Edwin gets down off the mountain, you could close that up just by slightly altering the phone conversation with Agnes, so that she directly engages Barry right after arranging transportation, rather than before. Or she plans to do that and says so, and Edwin doesn’t get to warn her off because of Excelsior’s interference. Or some other minor edit. It should be an easy thing to clear up.

Anyway, what I really wanted to say is, I enjoyed the story. I don’t usually go in for superhero-genre stories or comic book stuff, but this one was interesting. Edwin’s character and attitude really make the whole thing work.

I’m a little surprised that you see it this way as the author, and as someone who clearly likes the character. Nonetheless, there’s some truth to it.

Not that Topper doesn’t contribute to the story; he does, quite significantly in fact, by providing (both by contrast and by interaction) a light that better shows off important aspects of Edwin’s character. But it is nonetheless true that Topper himself, as a character, is not inherently very interesting in his own right. In a story without Edwin, Topper would just be a bog-standard annoying hedonistic jerk, and a static and largely flat character at that. It’s what he brings out in Edwin that makes the character worthwhile.

But reducing Topper’s role in the story wouldn’t help. Fundamentally, what Topper’s character provides is necessary to the story. The reader very much needs to see those things in Edwin that Topper brings out. I suppose in theory it might be possible to construct a character who would show off Edwin’s character in this way and yet also be a better character in his own right than Topper, but I do not know what kind of character that would be, and I sense that this novel is too close to completion to be completely replacing such a major character at this stage.

What you CAN do, I suspect, is take this lesson and apply it to the sequel. I assume you’re at least considering the possibility of writing a second novel, wherein Edwin takes his first serious stab at being a more efficient villain than the supervillains and gaining de facto control of a substantial portion of the world. (The original series suggests that you have at least some interest in this line of thought, even if you do consider it less important than the motivational themes explored in the first book.) When or if you do, you could put serious thought into creating another, better “foil” character for Edwin. (This doesn’t even have to mean writing Topper out; Edwin still needs a lawyer, and any serious super villain is going to have multiple henchpersons.)

But this is a nitpicky criticism. The novel’s first chapter with Edwin (chapter 2, IIRC) fundamentally does work.

With respect to Edwin as a “cold/calculating” character versus a man motivated by revenge, I remember from a psychology class that a person who is devoid of emotion would be unable to form motivation, and therefore unable to act on any desires. This, I think, makes Edwin much more complex, because he is highly motivated by some unknown force, perhaps something from his childhood or something else. The selective details about his father only pique these curiosities, which benefits the story and the character immensely.

The characters are not only plausible, but the description of their thoughts made it seem like their every action was the only thing they could do. Additionally, the prose itself was beautiful. The description of Edwin’s shower and shave routine could have been poetry. The only qualm I have is that some parts of the story just seemed a little too silly for such complex characters. Iphagenia (sp?) Reilly’s pleasure mansion? A golf match to resolve a legal dispute? I felt these elements made the story a bit more silly (although I love your descriptions of golf).

I am a longtime fan of your podcasts, and, all in all, I would label this a triumph. Keep writing and podcasting!

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Possess a nice daytime my little balloon lovers

I was having a panic attack staring at the “Story Complete” download from Podiobooks.

Good luck with that

I love this story. My commute will never be the same…

I realize that a novel doesn’t have to end the way I thought it was leading in order to have a good ending. However, considering that the novel opened with Excelsior and tracked his character just as much as Edwin’s, and the way the two were playing off each other, I really expected them to team up in the end.

I remain unconvinced by Edwin’s resolution to be an archvillain. What it says to me is that Edwin is not nearly as emotionless, cold, calculating, or rational as Topper seems to think, and as we were repeatedly told by the third-person-omniscient narrator throughout the book. At the end of the day, all it takes is killing Aunt May to push the protagonist over the line. And I feel that that happened very suddenly in HtSiE.

But there were a lot of things I really enjoyed about the story as a whole. I thought it was a great expansion on some of the ideas from the initial podcasts (the Cromoglodon as part of a PR war was a stroke of brilliance!). And it was certainly a much better approach to this fascinating character than Edwin 2.0. Thanks for keeping me entertained!

Or maybe he adopts a dog. Who knows. Loving your work man.

The BBC series “The Great Race”, which is one of those later reacreations of the race, follows a Norwegian and British team battling it out on Greenland (as it’s not longer possible to bring dogs to the Antarctic). Now, what is the Norwegians doing the evening before the race starts? They check up on their equipment to make sure everything works and nothing it left to chance. The Brits? They go to the local bar! I almost laughed my ass off, in such a comical way the series managed to tell the simple difference in mentality between two nations, in reality the same as it was one hundred years ago:

The efficient, simple, and ultimately slightly boring Norwegians/Scandinavians, against the arrogant, dreamy Britons with their slightly perverse approach to heroism still intact.

I hope he comes back in HtSiE 2, or at least has a satisfying end in the remaining chapters.