As an avowed Star Wars geek...
...You know - perhaps I shouldn't have started this post with that sentence because, already, I can imagine a good bulk of you groaning and switching off. But stick with me here because this is a good one - I swear.
Anyway...
I have met and interacted with a lot a like minded Star Wars geeks over the years and many of these interactions have been wonderful with a lot of mutual geeking out, talking all things Skywalker, Vader, the Galaxy far, far away and much playing with Kenner/Hasbro figurines...
Still with me?
One of the most significant of these interactions however, was one of those unique experiences that is tinged with a little tragedy. In 1999, which was of course the year Episode One was released into cinemas, I was nursing here in Adelaide and I came across a young cancer patient who was possibly the biggest Star Wars fan I had come across - apart from myself. His name was David and over the course of about 6 weeks in April/May of that year, I spent a lot of hours looking after David.
The writing was on the wall for David.
He was terribly ill, terminally ill as it were and everyone knew that his days were numbered. His room at the hospital was decked out with Star Wars paraphernalia, posters, toys, books. Someone had brought in a TV and video set up so that he could watch the films back to back (this was of course the Original Trilogy on VHS at that time). For a short time, while David was there in the hospital, you could step into his room and disappear into a kind of localized galaxy not so far away.
And of course me, being a well known Star Wars geek amongst my colleagues, found myself (well...I made sure I found myself) allocated to his care most of the time. Which suited us just fine. Most shifts were me and him swapping stories, sharing collectibles and like I said before...just geeking out.
A well understood but not often discussed reality between us was the likelihood that David would not survive to see Episode One and, given his parlous condition in the lead-up to the film's release, it was highly unlikely that we could ever get him into a position where we could get him to the cinema - not that we didn't investigate the possibility mind you.
I could continue the story in words here and now but I'd like to share with you, a short piece of audio that I recorded for the Star Wars internet radio show The Force Cast. I recounted the story during a period where the Kyle Newman directed movie "Fanboys" was going through a pretty rough patch in it's development - precisely because it's own story dealt with a very similar case of someone facing death in the lead-up to the release of Episode One.
It's not a long piece of audio but even now, it says much about all that is good about Star Wars and it's fan base.
Enjoy...
DOWNLOAD .MP3
DFA.
Well the first interview seemed to go very well.
Ths morning (here in Australia) I spent 45 minutes on-air with Marie Ryan of Melbourne's Inner FM 96.5 and we discussed the novel, my journey from the germination of the idea to publication and we even touched on some of the musical influences which have inspired the novel. In short - I couldn't have asked for a better opportunity. Marie was very easy to talk to, she had obviously done considerable research in preparation for the interview and she made me feel at ease. I was more nervous than I gave myself credit for going in but it wasn't too long before I relaxed into the flow of the interview.
I remember saying umm and ahh a lot though (*slaps forehead with a flattened palm for effect*).
But most of all todays spot with Marie gave me that all important experience I so dearly wanted and I made notes about the interview as I went - what I need to cut back on, what I need to add to and at what point do I run the risk of waffling.
I am hoping (really hoping) that Marie will be able to put the interview onto a CD for me so that I can make it available here at the site and for any future promotional "stuff" I put together. She attempted to email me the file but of course it's sounds as though it was way too big for an attachment.
Over the weekend I completed two more interviews via email - one for a magazine called Writing Edge Magazine and another for a really great blog called Random Acts of Writing. Those two have been really fun to do - the questions have been well put together and entertaining. I have also been given the truly great opportunity of contributing an article as a guest blogger for The Creative Penn which is run by a very dynamic and enthusiastic lady named Joanna Penn. Joanna is very active in the world of self publishing and digital publishing and her site attracts a lot of traffic so I consider this to be a pretty significant feather in my cap.
And I have received word just this evening from a friend of mine in the U.S. that a popular Star Wars podcast The ForceCast gave my novel a great little promotional on their live show which was recorded earlier today. The ForceCast is one of the most popular Star Wars related shows on the web, it attracts a huge global audience and counts "Fanboys" director Kyle Newman, Star Wars Clone Wars (the cartoon series) director Dave Filoni and Robot Chicken creator Seth Green among their fan number. The podcast for this episode won't be available til the weekend but you can bet I'll be lining up to get a hold of it eagerly come Saturday morning.
It seems like the momentum is definitely building now and I am feeling good about it. I hope that momentum translates into more sales of the book but what am I more interested in right now is getting more reviews for the book. That probably means more to me than sales.
My publisher iReadiWrite Publishing got a significant nod today too for which I was very pleased. The Preditors and Editors Poll sought votes across a number of categories including for best eBook Publisher. iReadiWrite placed 5th overall in a field of over 60 publishing houses. For Michelle Halket - the Creative Director of iReadiWrite Publishing - this has got to be a pretty proud moment and I of course offer up my congratulations to her.
So yeah, it's been a big week so far...fingers crossed that it becomes bigger...
DFA.
