Viaticum on Fierce Firelight

Most folks here are no doubt familiar with Dave Greggs' Grand Commodore blog, which I've gushed about a few times, and by way of that, his venture into Podcasting, Fierce Firelight.  Dave did a reading of a story I wrote called Viaticum for his podcast, and I'm chuffed.  He nailed it.

I stumbled into Dave's stuff by way of Patrick Stuart's blog.  I saw he had a blog of his own and decided to check it out.  What I found there made me realize that Dave has an imagination that is nothing short of stunning, and a talent for expressing that imagination in several modes of writing. The setting he was describing seemed at once to be incredibly original and detailed (and fuckin' awesome, let's not forget that) and at the same time to have enough room in it for someone to invent their own additions.  That's pretty rare - it's usually one or the other - and Viaticum arose in a kind of dialog between Dave's work and my own, initially based on a city state I rolled up using a generator he made.  He also edited an early draft and saved me from a couple of massive missteps as well as giving me many suggestions on phrasing and flow.  I implemented nearly all of his suggestions, or some variation thereof.  I think it's probably one of the better things I've written and its creation and quality is owed in no small part to his help.

In addition to a rich imagination, Dave has a pretty good voice as it turns out.  I'm not expert enough to tell what range it is for sure, but my guess would be baritone, and most of the time it's pretty goddamned smooth.  Buttery even!  But he can embody anything from harsh desperation to quiet menace, and it's a pleasure to hear him read.  He's also done a few interviews and poetry readings.  It's all quite good.

I have links to Fierce Firelight up just under my blogroll, but I'll post another link here just for good measure.

Have a listen when you get some time!