Author Archives: Steven Howell Wilson

The Arbiter Chronicles 05: Playing Politics

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The Arbiters become military governors of a conquered planet.

Buy a downloadable mp3 at BooksAMillion.

Listen to the free podcast: Part One | Part Two | Part Three

As mentioned in the White Lady writeup, I wrote two episodes together for Farpoint 2002. This one was specifically written to be a showpiece for our first ever celebrity guests, George Takei and Robin Curtis. I wanted to give George a meaty villain role, and I wanted to give Robin something that showed off what a funny lady she really is. One of the limitations, for me, of classic space opera is that the officers generally just do a couple of jobs over and over: Go to planet, find people in trouble, help them, get shirt ripped, get, um, affection and physical gratification, go home. Lather, rinse, repeat. Or they fight space battles, which I generally find boring. But military officers often find themselves taking on all sorts of challenges, and that includes, occasionally, governing a population in a state that’s been ravaged by war. My protagonist, Metcalfe, is so anti-government that I wanted to put him way outside his comfort zone and have him be forced to be the government for a while. I also wanted to get Captain Atal off the ship for a change, and let him interact a bit with his old friend Mors. Sadly, that original live performance could not be recorded under the terms of George’s contract. The studio version you can hear today does not feature George or Robin, but our usual wonderful cast.

CAST:

Announcer – Paul Balze
Metcalfe – Steven H. Wilson
Carson – Scott Farquhar
Cernaq – Renfield
Kaya – Beatrice Kondo
Aer’La – June Swords
Faulkner – Cindy Shockey
Pallas – Renee Wilson
Mors – John Weber
Thalia Kinson – Cindy Woods
Vireq – Paul Balze
Sponaugle – Marty Gear
Aide – Ian Bonds

Directed by Steven H. Wilson
Editing: Steven H. Wilson
Music: Scott D. Farquhar

 

 

 

The Arbiter Chronicles 04: The White Lady

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Visiting the colony of New Rhineland, the Arbiters are lured into the centuries old German ghost story of the White Lady, a harbinger of death and spirit of vengeance. Metcalfe is confronted by the most haunting spectre of all — that of his sister, Lydia.

Buy a downloadable mp3 from BooksAMillion.

Listen to the free podcast: Part One | Part Two | Part Three

This episode has also been novelized and is available in multiple formats, including iBooks, Nook and Kindle. Details here.

I wrote two episodes together for Farpoint 2002 — this one, and “Playing Politics.” I wrote this one first, and then realized that I needed a script with a meaty male guest star role for the same con, since George Takei would be performing with us, alongside Robin Curtis. I didn’t see George quite fitting the role of “The White Lady.” (Oh, my!) So we performed both that weekend. This one is based on a ghost story about the White Lady who haunted the Old Palace in Berlin, which used to scare the crap out of me as a kid. Drawing on my studies of European myth and folklore, I turned it into a more hopeful story than the original, and touched on some of my own notions of how a benevolent vision of the afterlife should look.

CAST:

Announcer – Paul Balze
Carson – Scott Farquhar
Cernaq – Renfield
Metcalfe – Steven H. Wilson
Kaya – Beatrice Kondo
Aer’La – June Swords
Faulkner – Cindy Shockey
Lydia – Cindy Woods
Lady – Renee Wilson

Directed by Steven H. Wilson
Editing: Steven H. Wilson
Music: Scott D. Farquhar

The Arbiter Chronicles 03: Man of Letters

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{B730C0B3-302F-4BD3-B106-80B76A4E9AE9}Img100A day in the life of the Arbiter crew is viewed through the alien eyes of Cernaq as he writes a letter to his mentor, Professor Mors.  Kaya must decide whether her future lies on Arbiter.  Cernaq and Aer’La share an… educational experience.  Metcalfe tries to explainEaster to the Arbiters.

Buy a downloadable mp3 at BooksAMillion.

Listen to the free podcast: Part One | Part Two | Part Three

This episode has also been novelized and is available in multiple formats, including iBooks, Nook and Kindle. Details here.

By episode three, it became sort of obligatory that we perform a new Arbiters show at every con we attended. Shore Leave in 2001 was our next venue, and I had always liked those simple “Day in the Life” episodes of shows. One of my inspirations was the M*A*S*H script, “Dear Dad” and its sequels. One character’s impressions of the others can always be fun, in particular when the character is as off-beat as Cernaq. As throwaway as the idea seemed, we all seemed to just love doing this one, especially since it involved an ab-libbed ending and a very juicy audio spit-take. And, of course, Cernaq and Aer’La’s romance was born in this episode.

CAST:

Announcer – Paul Balze
Atal – Dave Keefer
Carson – Scott Farquhar
Cernaq – Renfield
Metcalfe – Steven H. Wilson
Kaya – Beatrice Kondo
Aer’La – June Swords
Faulkner – Cindy Shockey
Mors – John Weber
Pallas – Renee Wilson
Psychiatrist – Cindy Woods
Mass – Paul Balze
Bimbo – Betsy Childs

Directed by Steven H. Wilson
Editing: Steven H. Wilson
Music: Scott D. Farquhar

The Arbiter Chronicles 02: A Man Walks into a Bar

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While investigating rumors of an espionage operation on a primitive world, Cernaq must kill a man to save Metcalfe’s life. When his telepathic mind absorbs the killer’s personality, however, Cernaq becomes a danger to everyone around him. To save him, his friends must undergo a risky procedure, linking their minds to his.

Buy a downloadable mp3 from BooksAMillion

Listen to the free podcast: Part One | Part Two | Part Three

 

This episode has also been novelized and is available in multiple formats, including iBooks, Nook and Kindle. Details here.

Here was the first show to carry the Arbiter Chronicles title (at least in live performance), and for which Scott Farquhar, as composer, really got to show off his skills at creating, musically, the other-worldly atmosphere inside Cernaq’s brain. It’s one of our most popular episodes, and it won the Mark Time Silver Award in 2004. It was actually the first episode we studio recorded, because I thought it was the strongest. We had a blast putting it together, especially the hour or so spent with everyone doing the big “villain rant” at the end in different voices. It was performed live at Balticon in 2001.

CAST:

Announcer – Paul Balze
Atal – Dave Keefer
Carson – Scott Farquhar
Cernaq – Renfield
Metcalfe – Steven H. Wilson
Kaya – Beatrice Kondo
Aer’La – June Swords
Faulkner – Cindy Shockey
Lydia – Cindy Woods
Webley – Andrew Bergstrom
Rhodey – Paul Balze
Danvard – Paul Balze
Mors – John Weber
Teacher – Andrew Bergstrom
Pallas – Renee Wilson
Demej – Cindy Woods

Directed by Steven H. Wilson & Scott D. Farquhar
Editing: Scott D. Farquhar
Music: Scott D. Farquhar

The Arbiter Chronicles 01: Mutiny Springs Eternal

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A Century ago, the expedition aboard the Faraday disappeared mysteriously, amidst rumors of a mutiny. Today, Arbiter has found the Faraday’s survivors on a forgotten planet, but these are children of the mutineers. They’re guarding a secret they’ll give anything — or take anything — to protect; and they’ve set their sights on Arbiter.

Buy a downloadable MP3 from BooksAMillion

Listen to the free podcast: Part One | Part Two | Part Three

 

This episode has also been novelized and is available in multiple formats, including iBooks, Nook and Kindle. Details here.

This script was written in September, 2000 — about 45 pages of it on a single day the weekend before it was performed! It only got written because there was a hole in the schedule for the main stage at Farpoint 2000. The year before, my friend John Vengrouskie had organized a live radio play in which I’d performed; and Bill Pullman had performed the following Christmas in an adaptation of It’s a Wonderful Life at the Kennedy Center, which was aired on network television. Pullman’s pages flying as he dropped his script inspired me to try live radio! So I took the characters from my (already drafted) novel Taken Liberty and worked them into the outline for a rejected novel, and I had a sixty-minute radio script. There was no series title. We just performed it. The audience liked it, and applauded when Paul Balze asked them, “Do ya want us to do more of these?”

Thus was born The Arbiter Chronicles as a radio series. In my experience, there never was so fortuitous a hole in a convention schedule.

CAST:

Announcer – Paul Balze
Aide – Steven H. Wilson
Fournier – Paul Balze
Atal – Dave Keefer
Carson – Scott Farquhar
Kaya – Beatrice Kondo
Cernaq – Renfield
Metcalfe – Steven H. Wilson
Trace – Renee Wilson
L’lanck – Paul Balze
Andrews – Andrew Bergstrom
Dawson – Bill Weithers
Aer’La – June Swords
Captain Trat – Scott Farquhar
Faulkner – Cindy Shockey
Technician – Cindy Woods

Directed by Steven H. Wilson
Music – Scott D. Farquhar

 

Unfriendly Persuasion: : A Tale from the Arbiter Chronicles

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ISBN: 978-0977385133
$20.00 (Book) $2.99 (eBook)

“Everything Is Going To Be All Right…” That’s what Lieutenant Terry Metcalfe keeps telling his friends and co-workers. A hero to the public, just months ago he successfully prevented the veritable destruction of human civilization at the hands of terrorists from the warlike Qraitian Empire. But Metcalfe has changed, grown unhappy with his role as an officer in the Confederate Navy. Distancing himself from his friends, he’s decided to join a religious sect which believes it’s literally found God living beneath the surface of the far-off planet Eleusis. And to be sure, there’s something there: an alien intelligence which reaches out to the young Lieutenant and offers him the power to protect everything he loves. But is Metcalfe finding the spiritual fulfilment he’s sought so long, or is he falling under the spell of a malevolent new enemy?

Steven H. Wilson’s original science fiction audio series, The Arbiter Chronicles, has captured the imaginations of audiences for over a decade. Winner of the Mark Time Silver Award and the Parsec Award for Best Speculative Fiction Audio Drama, it’s character-driven space opera in the tradition of Heinlein’s The Rolling Stones and Joss Whedon’s Firefly. Drenched in adventure, humor and sexuality, Unfriendly Persuasion joins its predecessor, Taken Liberty, in bringing new depth to the popular audio drama series.

Buy it!   Amazon   Barnes & Noble   Kindle   Nook   Other eBook formats via Smashwords

Peace Lord of the Red Planet

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ISBN: 978-0977385126
$20.00 (Book) $4.99 (eBook)

His Death was only the Beginning… Shepherd Autrey is a Quaker, a physician, and a man deeply disturbed by the madness around him as the War Between the States bears down on his America in 1863. Dared by a friend to take an active role, Shep volunteers to provide humanitarian aid to the victims of Sherman’s scorched earth campaign in the Shenandoah Valley. There he runs foul of a Confederate recruiting drive and finds himself hanged by the neck from a tree. Awakening in a strange land which can’t possibly be earth, Shep is plunged into battle and saves the life of an alien warrior prince. Hailed by bloodthirsty killers as the bravest man alive, Shep combats his conscience, his flagging faith, and an ever-growing number of people who want him dead.

Buy it!   Amazon   Barnes & Noble   Kindle   Nook   Other eBook formats via Smashwords

Taken Liberty – A Tale from the Arbiter Chronicles

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ISBN: 978-0977385102
$17.95 (Book) $4.99 (eBook)

AER’LA ONLY WANTED TO BE FREE The Confederated Worlds are unparalleled as a society of free people, yet, somehow, slavery still manages to exist. Aer’La, a non-human, was bred to serve as a pleasure slave. Years ago, she escaped her masters and masqueraded as a human, joining the Confederate Navy, where she worked her way up to ship’s Bos’n under the heroic Captain Jan Atal. Now, Aer’La’s secret has been discovered by Atal’s superiors, the media, and the world at large. Branded a sociopath, she learns that even a free society isn’t willing to grant freedom – or justice – to all.

Review from Library Journal:

Though the Confederated Worlds have outlawed slavery, the traders of the Varthian system have perpetrated the institution under the guise of controlling the feral near-humans sharing their world, while in reality condemning them to lives of sexual servitude. When Bos’n Aer’La is exposed as a feral and a fugitive from her homeworld, the Varthians want her back, and the authorities of the Confederated Worlds decide to cooperate rather than cause an interplanetary incident. Neither Varthians nor the Confederation, however, reckons on the efforts of Aer’La’s commander, the legendary Capt. Jan Atal, and his crew, who face seemingly impossible odds to protect the freedom of a shipmate. The author of the Arbiter Chronicles, an award-winning audio drama, vividly brings to life a cast of compelling characters while telling a story that measures the cost of freedom. The far-future military setting should appeal to fans of David Weber’s “Honor Harrington” series as well as the military sf of David Drake. Recommended for most sf collections.

Buy it!   Amazon   Barnes & Noble   Kindle   Nook   Kobo   Other eBook formats via Smashwords

The Arbiter Chronicles 09: The Eternal Warrior

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Now assigned to the prestigious CNV Titan, the Arbiters encounter an immortal haunted by ghosts, who leads them to a bizarre, savage encounter on an alien world.

Listen to the free podcast: Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five | Part Six

Way back in February, 2003, I premiered this, my first tribute to Edgar Rice Burroughs and his various immortal warrior characters like John Carter and Tarzan. Jack Carrington was a guy who’d been around for centuries–couldn’t even remember his own origins. He was haunted by the spirit of the woman he loved, and stalked by his equally immortal enemy. The plan was to score a trifecta with this live performance. Carrington would be voiced by Eric Pierpoint, his lady love by Pierpoint’s onscreen wife from Alien Nation, Michelle Scarabelli, and Alarthrask, the big bad, by Gary Graham. Well, as happens with live shows at SF cons, not everybody made it in time for the performance. Michelle had paying work, but Eric and Gary were on hand and had a ball doing this show (as you can hear from their chuckling in the background!)

This was the first of my second series Arbiter episodes, set aboard the Titan instead of the Arbiter, and introducing a new regular, Deputy Captain Phyn Darby.

Announcer – Paul Balze
Atal – David Keefer
Kaya – Beatrice Kondo
Darby – John Weber
Carson – Scott Farquhar
Cernaq – Renfield
Metcalfe – Steven H. Wilson
Pallas – Renee Wilson
Aer’La – June Swords
Faulkner – Cindy Shockey
Jack – Eric Pierpoint
Dantalia – Lynda King
Al – Gary Graham

Directed by Steven H. Wilson
Editing: Steven H. Wilson
Music: Scott D. Farquhar

 

 

 

She-Hulk Volume Four #2

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(Or She-Hulk, Vol. 1, #99)

“Cause and Effect”

“99, I’ve waitin’ so long.  Oh 99, where’d we go wrong? Oh 99…”

Sorry.  Pardon the fragment of lyrics from Toto.  (“Who?” ask half the readers.  “Dorothy’s dog, right?”)  It’s just that I wanted to call attention to the fact that, 25 years after the first She-Hulk #1, we’ve finally reached issue #99.  That’s an average of less than four issues per year! Okay, so it says issue #2 on the cover.  Next issue it will say #100, promises our worthy assistant editor.

We continue the recent She-Hulk tradition of beautiful covers, and this one even has something to do with the story inside!  (Someone at Marvel musta missed that!)  And, although She-Hulk is very likely wondering, “whose comic is this, anyway?” as Hawkeye literally upstages her in the picture, it’s nice to see Hawkeye on a cover pretty much anytime.  Certainly, Greg Horn does justice to both our heroes.

We ended last issue with Jen and Pug entering his apartment at the end of the day, debating Jen’s professed intention to flout the rules of time travel and save the life of her dear friend Clint Barton, AKA the man called Hawkeye.

Detour #1:  Unless it’s just me being very dense (always possible), last issue left us with the clear impression that Pug’s unrequited love for Jen throughout Volume three had become, well, requited during the hiatus between volumes.  This belief is perpetuated as the argument over Jen’s “save Hawkeye” campaign continues between Jen and her boyfriend from opposite sides of the bathroom door.  It is Pug’s apartment, after all… and he did start the argument.  But he’s not the one finishing it.  I won’t say more.  Surprising (and disappointing) twist.  We’re clearly building toward something here, and building nicely.

Now, back on track with Jen’s time travel court case, for which the jury, selected from the recent past, includes Clint Barton.  Jen plans to let him know that he’s about to die.  She tries sign language during her cross-examination of a witness.  This is a nice reminder that Hawk should know sign language, being partially deaf and all.  Sadly, he’s also dense, like me, and doesn’t pick up on Jen’s message.  So, later, like Marty McFly, Jen writes Clint a letter, which she plans to hand to him at some point during the trial.

I think the most enjoyable part of this story, for me, is Jen’s refreshing disregard for the rules when Clint’s life is on the line.  This is atypical in modern comics, where death is slightly more inevitable on any given day than breakfast.  This, we are constantly reminded, is part of being alive, and should be viewed with detachment yada yada yada blah blah blah…

I’m glad that our Heroine doesn’t agree.  I hope other readers are also tired of hearing that death should be put in perspective.  Death should be told to take a flying leap.  Death is the enemy.  And comic writers need to stop giving aid and comfort to it!  (End of rant.  Swallowing my blood pressure meds, my prozac… okay… and we’re back.)

For those curious just where in the timestream this Hawkeye hails from, it’s confirmed that this is Hawk less than one year before his death.  So, if Jen happens to be successful in saving him, he won’t have missed much.  Hell, the only thing he’s likely to have forgotten would be Chuck Austen’s run on the Avengers, and that’s a good thing.  He and Hank and Jan can all be friends again.
The story arc is clearly not over with this issue, and I’ll not throw out any more spoilers.  Jen’s court case is resolved, though, with a very nice twist, and some nice slamming of petty lawyers (as opposed to good ones like Jen) in the personification of the prosecuting attorney at the end.

We’re building up to issue 100, where the Time Variance Authority has promised to erase Jen from history.  (Not sure how that could be in any way construed to be within safe guidelines for protecting the course of history, but these are bureaucrats, so…)  This is a result of her attempt to divulge knowledge of his imminent demise to Hawkeye.  I won’t say whether she succeeded in passing the info or saving Hawkeye, mostly ’cause we don’t really know yet.  Time — and issue #100 — will most likely tell.

The big centennial issue promises 40 pages of new material, plus reprints of issues #1 of both Volumes 1 and 2.  Pretty cool, even if you already own the reprinted issues.  Reprints keep comics history alive!

Until then, keep your gamma changer plugged in!

She-Hulk Vol. 4, # 2
“Cause and Effect”
Writer: Dan Slott
Penciller: Juan Bobillo
Inker: Marcello Sosa
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
Colorist: Dave Kemp
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Ass’t Editors: Schmidt, Lazer & Sitterson
Editor in Chief: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley
Cover: Greg Horn