Philippa Ballantine » Erotica a la Carte

Video killed the radio star….

admin — Fri, 08 May 2009 08:11:47 +0000

… well actually radio is still alive and well and living on the internet. And now Erotica a la Carte is being carried by the fabulous Radio Dentata. This is radio with teeth. Every second Thursday I’ll be sharing an evening with the likes of Helen Madden’s Heat Flash.

Once the back catalogue of EalC has been broadcast (which should be in July) Radio Dentata will be getting the stories a day before everyone else. So if you’re Jonsing for the fresh stuff it’ll be there for you. Frankie has some great shows and the whole station is worth checking out.

And don’t forget myself, as well as the Ubernemesis himself Tee Morris will be at Conscription, the National Science Fiction Convention. Check out the programme and come along and say hi. It’s going to be a good show- even if we are letting pirates in this year.

Living on the Edge

admin — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 11:16:02 +0000

It’s been one of those months- everything seems to be hanging on a knife edge, and it is not my preferred method of living I can tell you.

Digital Magic (best novel- adult) and the podcast version of Chasing the Bard (best fan production) are up for Sir Julius Vogel Awards this year. This NZ version of the Hugos, just keeps getting bigger and better, so it really is an honour to be nominated.
My wonderful agent Laurie is pitching Geist. This is the novel I am most proud of, with a main character I love and very much want to continue writing. It’s wide open to being a fun, exciting series. It’s on the desks of people I only ever dreamed of getting my stuff in front of. I am trying not to think about it or I might just chew my own fingernails off.
The first of my guest chefs at Erotica a la Carte has landed. Susan Z’s A Heart of Hammered Brass is just wonderful. But the only problem is, listening to it *I* want to get back to writing for this series. I am thinking about pulling the whole thing together into a collection for podiobooks. I may also put my stories (or with permission the other chef’s stories) into some sort of e or print versions. For a project that I started just as a bit of fun, something to get me over my inability to write ‘saucy’ scenes, EalC has really developed a life of its own. The numbers are starting to match Chasing the Bard!
Books and Braun is coming on a pace. It should be done by the end of April. I am very much enjoying writing Eliza D Braun, secret agent from the Colonies (Yes, New Zealand)
I am in the tentative acceptance stage of getting an technical editing job. This would mean I can make up some of the money I sacrificed by doing one day a week less at my corporate librarian job, but will make use of the skills I developed there.

Someone who knows about living on the edge is friend and fellow podcaster JC Hutchins. He has two books coming out this year and the first one Personal Effect: Dark Art is an combination of novel and ARG. Looks spooky and well worth checking out. The video is pretty kick-ass too.

I’m going to build a room that echoes

admin — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 23:51:38 +0000

When I started out working on Erotica a la Carte and thinking how I would manage it I knew there was one issue. Weather Child.

A lot of podcasters make the mistake of working too damn hard- or piling their plates too high. So after doing Chasing the Bard I knew approximately how much work is involved in producing a podiobook on time. It’s hard. And even though Weather Child is a smaller production (mostly due to the lack of lots of kiwi accents) I knew it was going to take a lot of effort.

And yet I am loving doing EalC- so I came up with the idea of having guest chefs in the kitchen. Susan Z of Steampunk Spectacular, J D Sawyer of Antithesis and my main collaborator, Tee Morris, have all offered their talents to me.

This three month break away from EalC means I can concentrate on Weather Child, but also means that other people will have a shot at the fun I’ve been having.

Susan has already got the results from her post, but go to Erotica a la Carte and vote on Dan’s. I love so many parts of this community, and am very excited to be sharing EalC with some of the brightest, best people in it.

Give a little bit of heart and soul

admin — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 21:31:35 +0000

The wonderful Nobilis from Nobilis Erotica has finished the final episode of the Pieces Podcast. Eight writers an one crazy experiment. As Nobilis said, the result was far from perfect. Writers are usually solo creators for a reason! Plot, characterisation, style; all are very personal, and are best handled by one, or at the most two writers. So no, Pieces is not perfect, but as I tweeted ‘an image seen through a broken lense may not be perfect but it can still be beautiful.’

So why did I take part I hear my dear readers asking? I wanted to stretch myself as a writer- which seems to be a constant theme with me. I love a challenge. I think by trying something new, something scary that you learn a lot more than simply staying in your comfort zone. And Pieces.. and Erotica a la Carte are WAY outside my comfort zone.

So what did I learn? I learnt about my style which is something I have always found it hard to pin down. Held up against other people’s style I got to see it in contrast. It is no better, and no worse than anyone else’s… but it is mine.

So go check out the podcast, and let me know what you think.

Also I posted the second Erotica a la carte story- which, though still banned from the itunes directory (insert favourite swear word here) seems to be catching on. And as the indominatable Tee Morris said to me ‘this experiment of yours is turning out to be quite interesting’. I hope you think so Morris, I want you to write an episode while I am doing Weather Child. It is fun… but I am getting itchy feet.

Geist is done, out in the world like a young person, making its way as best it can, and now I need to start something new. One year turnaround for a novel is pretty good for me, but I can’t just sit there relaxing. So I am turning my attention to new projects. I am going to take my 10,000 word novelette and expand it into a novel. It will be a little saucy, but no more than Kushiel’s Dart for example… which I hear has done quite well. The title for this new novel is tentatively Magic and Gaslight. I already have my 10K, so if I get back on the 1,000 words a day minimum I should be set.

Wish me luck!

Banned in the USA… briefly

admin — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 19:17:58 +0000

I was, however briefly, in fine company. The banned books brigade with Judy Blume, John Steinbeck, JK Rowling and many, many others.

Here’s how it went. I posted my first episode of Erotica a la Carte. Itunes accepted it, and boy was I surprised when it popped up into the top 100 of literature in their directory. It was not unrelated I think, that the very same day I got an email from itunes abuse, telling me they had pulled EalC from the directory.

Now there was no explanation or seemingly any method of argument. Not expecting much, but I was kinda outraged. I had used explicit tag, and it had the word ‘erotica’ in it. In addition there were plenty of other erotic podcasts still on their directory.

So I was all upset and angry, until that power of positivity Mr Tee Morris said ‘hey you can spin that’. Hence if you trot over to http://www.eroticaalacarte.com/?p=17 you will find two promos- neither made for me. The wonderful JD Sawyer and Mr uber-nemesis himself… which are funny and sexy.

So there I was all settled into being banned… and what do you know… the next day EalC was back! No email, no explanation- just back. Now I know several other erotica writers have been kicked off the directory. The only difference we can work out, is I complained and challenged what they had said. I can’t be sure that this made a difference, but I recommend that if this happens to anyone else, you do so. It can’t hurt.

This along with the whole explosion of comments on Escape Pod about my ‘thick’ accent, has made for an exciting week at casa Ballantine.

Thank goodness it is a long weekend. I have a final Pieces Episode to write, another EalC story to produce and most interesting of all, two short synopsis of sequels for Geist to prepare. Yes, Geist is ready for my agent to pitch and she wants broad outlines of sequels for it, just in case. I have plenty of broad ideas for 2 but will have to think a little harder on 3. Now Geist is not specifically designed to be a trilogy, and the first novel is self contained, but there are plenty of threads left over for at least two more books. So since I got sick this long weekend, I will have plenty of time to think about it.

So enough blogging… time to get writing.

Dirty and sweet…

admin — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 08:26:04 +0000

Two podcasts in less than 24 hours! Yes I am both proud and exhausted. The first episode of Erotica a la carte is online (don’t forget to keep voting so I can keep writing) as well as a new episode of Whispers at the Edge. I am slowly pulling all my webpages and podcasts to Dreamhost and there will be some changes, the most important one right now, is that the feed for Whispers at the Edge has moved.

I am nearly done with some additional scenes in Geist and then… well then I will have to see if that Tee Morris character is ready to do some writing with me.