The Imaginary Bomb #3 - Chapters 7-9

Chapter 7. Off to Barnard's Star. In which our heroes set their sights on the planet BS-2, reminisce on Bob's past with Linda and speculate as to why Linda has abandoned a good job working for ImagCorp and taken to a life of thieving and killing.
Chapter 8. Linda. Docking at the Holo-LuYa Resort on BS-2, Bob and Pete drop Baxter off at the ImagCoaster, the hotel's imaginary roller coaster, and go to the cabin where they suspect Linda and her crew are quartered.
Chapter 9. Sirius Business. Their suspicions having proven correct, Bob and Pete finally find out what all the fuss is about, and then the conversation is rudely interrupted.

How can 20 minutes go by so quickly? When is Bluhm going to retrieve his once-smooth radio delivery? Will we really be back with Chapters 10-12 before next Monday? Only one way to find out, but first you have to download and catch up to Chapters 7-9! Have fun!

Good news and bad news

First, Chapters 7-9 might be a little delayed this week, and it's my fault. When I first wrote The Imaginary Bomb back in 1989, my views on certain subjects were a little different, and the story you're hearing now has been revised in a few ways - especially to clarify who's ultimately responsible for the mayhem that occurs here and there.

When he started working on this week's chapters, Warren found a few places where I should have made some of those revisions, so he placed them back in my hands to make those clarifications. Well, now he has a family thing out of town Sunday, and he might not be able to get Episode 3/Chapters 7-9 done by the end of the day Monday. But it'll get done!

Which leads us to the good news - it seems to us that waiting a whole week between episodes is a tad long, so we're going to step up production. Chapters 7-9 may not be ready by the end of the Memorial Day weekend, but Chapters 10-12 very likely will be ready before Monday, June 5, and Chapters 13-15 will definitely be out before Monday, June 12, etc. Our nine-week adventure is going to be quicker than the original plan, and we hope that meets with your approval!

The Imaginary Bomb Chapters 4-6

Chapter 4. Oh, by the way. While we have a moment, here is a brief primer on the history and essential elements of imaginary physics. You'll finally understand the oldtime movie serial rocketship pictures!

Chapter 5. A small misunderstanding. Bob and Pete arrive on Proximi Centauri 3 and stop at Snooky's Tavern for a brew. Instead they have an encounter that will change their lives.

Chapter 6. Decisions, decisions, decisions. Does Baxter Hetznecker come along for the ride? That is the question. Say yes, OK? Please?

The Making of The Imaginary Bomb

Even by podcast standards, The Imaginary Bomb is not intended to be a slick, perfect production. It's a homemade project and, as such, I leave my share of stutters and clicks in there, although I'm trying to make them fewer and farther between. When episode 2 is posted later today, for example, you'll notice I don't own a filter that screens out popping P's. I'll try to be more careful starting with episode 3.

Part of the reason why the show sounds the way it does is that I don't own a fancy Garage Band system or even a computer that's less than five years old. And I use the type of equipment that I used for 22 years before I left the radio business 10 years ago: Analog stuff!

The main workhorses are a Pioneer RT-707 reel-to-reel tape deck that I bought new in 1977; a Radio Shack SSM-60 stereo sound mixer; and, for the voice processing, a Marantz PMD 740 mixing board and Yamaha EMP100 multi-effect processor that I got off eBay a couple of years ago. Now, folks who know what all those numbers mean know they're pretty cool toys, but this being my first podcast I'm just taking baby steps with this stuff so far.

Once it's all recorded, it's a simple matter to dub the whole shebang onto a CD and convert it to .mp3 on the Dell. In fact, there's probably a simpler way to do all of this, but I'm comfortable doing it this way, so what the hey.

The McGuffin

The plot revolves around this thing. When I wrote the novel, it looked like a floppy, 5-inch-square piece of plastic. No doubt when they make the movie the technology will have evolved to something else. And when the events of the novel come true, it'll be a whole 'nother thing. But this is approximately what it looks like today.

-- B.W.

The Imaginary Bomb Chapters 1-3

The Imaginary Bomb begins NOW!

I can't really explain the feeling when I heard Warren Bluhm's voice pronounce those words. This story has been sitting in a file in my basement for 18 years, enjoyed by the small handful who read it but not marketed especially well by me. Through the miracles of the Internet and podcasting and a little bit of encouragement from friends, it's finally out in the sunlight. I'm overwhelmed. But enough maudlin stuff. This first edition of the podcast features:

Chapter 1. An unfortunate incident. Cargo spaceship owner Bob Whelan and his co-pilot, Pete Wong, are doing their civic duty after their ship is commandeered for purposes of planetary security to transport an envelope containing ... something ... to Proximi Centauri 3. After an unfortunate, deadly incident, the envelope finds itself in the hands of ... someone else.
Chapter 2. Additional unexpected visitors. As Bob and Pete await a rescue from - oddly enough - a squad from Special Forces, they speculate as to the identity of the "someone else" who intercepted their ship. But nah, it can't be her.
Chapter 3. Intensely awkward moments. The commander of the Special Forces unit and Bob Whelan don't exactly become fast friends. And, of course, it's all because of her.

Tell us what you think, do the voting thing at Podcast Pickle and Podcast Alley, and help us get the word out about imaginary physics. Oh, and if you don't understand the reference to Scott Sigler in Warren's introduction, check this out. Chapters 4-6 should be up by Monday morning, May 22, at the latest. Thanks for checking us out!!!

-- B.W. Richardson

Life is what happens ...

... while you're busy making other plans.

Oh, the cute little teasers we had planned for this week.

* We were going to post a picture of a flash drive with a label marked "ig 5.0.1" and let you try to figure out what the heck that is.

* We were going to write little introductory essays explaining who B.W. Richardson and Warren Bluhm are.

* We were going to construct a third "trailer" to get you really psyched for Monday's debut episode of the podcast.

* In short, we were going to have daily updates designed to get you thinking and talking to your friends about this new podcast novel that everybody in their right mind oughtta be downloading.

Then the next thing we knew, it was Friday night. Where'd all that time go!?!?!?!

Keep checking back, though, just in case - especially Monday. If nothing else, we will definitely drop Chapters 1-3 of the iBomb into your hands on schedule. That's a Lord-willing-and-the-crick-don't-rise promise!

Imaginary Bomb Trailer #2

Another little teaser for the big show coming up May 15. Watch this space over the coming week for more info about "The Imaginary Bomb," B.W. Richardson, Warren Bluhm, imaginary physics in general, and maybe even Baxter Hetznecker.