A lovely way to start Saturday: an email from Tony C. Smith, editor (and captain) of the StarShipSofa, one of the finest SF podcasts around, quoting an email he’d received from a fan that singled yours truly out for praise. I’d narrated a story for one of the ‘Sofa’s Aural Delights episodes, and if you’ll forgive me blowing my own trumpet, here’s an excerpt from the feedback:
There have been far too many exceptional pieces to start naming some of my favorites, because invariably i’ll leave out some of the greats. That said, i do have to give a major shout out to Adam Roberts for the story “Remorse” in episode 30, and to your friend, Kenny Park, for that stunning (and terrifying) narration. I’ve become hooked on audio fiction in the last couple of years, but that has to be the first piece i’ve listened to almost a dozen times…the story is wonderfully horrifying but this is a perfect example of what an excellent narration can do for story enhancement. It was a bar-setting job of narration, and Mr. park deserves an award. And some distance-wow was that creepy! But again, excellent!
Here’s a link to the episode. (And thanks to Mark Hancock for the kind words.)
I became a fan of StarShipSofa years ago, back when it was just Tony and his pal Ciaran chatting about a different SF author every week. It was an informative and frequently hilarious show, friendly, low-key and informal. At the time I had an inkling to do a series of videos interviewing podcasters and YouTubers, as well as their listeners, to highlight the far reach these hobbiests had achieved (and to meet some people I had grown to admire). So I contacted Tony and asked him if I could come and film them doing a show and interview them.
He couldn’t have been nicer about it. I drove down to Newcastle where Tony put me up for the night (as he always did for Ciaran the night before recording a show, which they did every Wednesday before work). In the morning I filmed them doing their thing, which was a hoot, but didn’t have time, in the end, for the interview, meaning I’d have to go back. Before that could happen, though, another situation developed. It turned out that Tony had been talking to none other than the legend that is Michael Moorcock about doing an interview for the ‘Sofa over Skype. Having seen my sensational filming skills first hand, though, he’d evolved the idea into something more substantial. The next time I heard from him it was to propose a trip to Paris, where Moorcock would be for a few weeks, to film an interview in his flat there. How could I refuse?
So we duly flew ourselves over to France, met the great man, had the world’s worst curry and came home. Here’s the result:
Moorcock had donated his excellent story London Bone to the podcast, which began a series of occasional fiction readings between the regular author profiles. These became increasingly popular, and eventually Tony scooped all the Nebula Short Fiction nominees prior to the voting, got Boing-Boinged and StarShipSofa was on the map. Eventually, real life took Ciaran to London and Tony had to make a decision about what to do with the podcast. He opted to continue it, but rather than replace Ciaran (impossible) he mutated the show into a full-blown SF audio magazine, with each episode featuring editorials, fact articles, fiction and even poetry. It even spawned sister podcasts, the StarShip Sanitorium and the Sofanauts.
Right now, Tony is an internet superstar and the StarShipSofa is rightly lauded as one of the greatest SF podcasts around. I haven’t narrated a story for him in a while (I took my usual sweet time to get them recorded and sent to him, not ideal for the production line), but I still love the podcast. Go check it out.