Literary Wonder & Adventure Show

Robert Zoltan and Edgar the Raven welcome Ryan Harvey, author of Turn Over the Moon, to discuss the mysterious origins of science fantasy. Plus, Edgar decides to run his own fundraising campaign!

Join Robert and Edgar the Raven as they welcome Brian Murphy, author of Flame and Crimson: A History of Sword and Sorcery to the Dream Tower, for a long in depth discussion of Sword and Sorcery literature, the idea of genre, mythology and the imagination, and the importance of the frontier of unexplored vistas of both the mind and nature. Also, Robert agonizes over what genre his Rogues of Merth series might be while Edgar endures.

Italian Renaissance sword fighting expert and author Guy Windsor takes over the Dream Tower all the way from England with the help of that mutinous little bird Edgar the Raven, and this time, Robert Zoltan is on the hot seat! They converse about Robert's influences for his Rogues of Merth series ( https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KJZ7JKC ), the founders of modern sword and sorcery fantasy adventure, the creative process, and much more! Click here to listen: http://www.dreamtowermedia.com/podcast Join the newsletter: https://dreamtowermedia.com/contact/ SHOW NOTES: Rogues of Merth, The Adventures of Dareon and Blue, Guy Windsor, Edgar the Raven, Founders of Modern Fantasy, influences on story creation, archetypes in story, city mouse, country mouse, city boy, country boy, double acts in fiction or comedy, Fritz Leiber, Nehwon, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, Robert E. Howard, Conan, Jack Vance, The Dying Earth, Michael Moorcock, Elric, The Eternal Champion Cycle, C.L. Moore, Catherine Moore, Jirel of Joiry, Northwest Smith, difference between imitation and inspiration, the deep sources of inspiration, the conceptual mind versus the instinctual, why Blue is blue, Native American archetype, The Blue Lamp, Voyage to the End of Time, One Night in Merth, Sails on Scarlet Sands, Citadel of the Seven Doors, inspiration for stories from actual life, theater, bubble stories and episodes, Shakespeare, The Globe Theater, The Twilight Theater, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, sailing, ship adventures, Alan Villiers, Sons of Sindbad, arab dhow, Northern Africa, Freya Stark, The Southern Gates of Arabia, Flaubert in Egypt, late 19th and early 20th Century travel memoirs, alternate universes, alternate dimensions, alternate selves, physics, surreal dreamlike settings, heroes seeking the meaning of life, interludes, experimental novel, poetry, Francois Villon, poetry, The Recollections and Admonitions of Dareon Vin, writing in non-chronological order, A Night in the Library, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, Scyell, audiobook dramas, audio dramas, audio the next big thing in storytelling, audio is actually the oldest way of storytelling, medieval armored combat, graphic design, illustrations in books, Kiplying Just So Stories, games, gaming, game figures, Fiore dei Liberi, The Flower of Battle, fencing, game printing on demand, The Characteristics of Games, Frazetta chess set, ancient Persian figures, deserts are great places to get lost in, Red Rock Canyon, feeling in the solar plexus, spiritual experiences, Satori experiences, The Farmer’s Daughter, young woman, white wolf, dreams, You Can’t Push the River Faster Than It’s Meant to Go, waiting for the story, mysterious unconscious creative process, channeling from the subconscious or the collective unconscious Rogues of Merth Book 2, grace, being in the present moment, an act of violence against your story and yourself, doing the work, The Diamond Stars, write what you would want to read by your favorite authors, write stories because you want to read them, Paul Andersen, The Lord of the Rings, love of the land, love of nature, Fellowship of the Ring, write what you know and love, maps, Plemora, California, Northern Africa, the Mediterranean, Persia, Stronger Than Blood, amber, It Never Rains in California, synchronicity, coincidence of events, sense of wonder in the world, sense of mystery, the truly mysterious, the numinous, not being afraid to let the wondrous mystery of life in, Joseph Campbell, art that is transparent to transcendence, writing something that has value and meaning as a doorway to joy or mystery or bliss, childhood.

Join Robert Zoltan and Edgar the Raven as they welcome award-winning author and editor, Steven Savile, for a conversation on discovering Leiber’s previously unpublished work, the writing process, Joseph Campbell, mythology, the perils of world-building, genre jumping, and much more. Plus, Edgar reveals a senses-shattering secret!!   Click here to listen: http://www.dreamtowermedia.com/podcast Become a member of the crew at: https://www.patreon.com/LiteraryWonderAndAdventure

One night in Merth, that largest, most diverse, most decadent of westerly cities on the continent of Plemora, a desperate young poet swordsman and an ingenuous young tribal warrior are drawn together by magic, machinations, and mysterious forces that converge upon a single pearl of extraordinary size and luster. The origin story of how Dareon and Blue first met, and the first story in Rogues of Merth: The Adventures of Dareon and Blue, Book 1, available now on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/dp/0998030309). Written, composed, and produced by Robert Zoltan. Starring Danita Lillian, Whitton Frank, Kori Wilson, and Robert Zoltan.

British Swordsman and Author Guy Windsor calls in from across the pond to discuss the most famous weapon in the history of mankind while Robert and Edgar spar with words and blades! Click here to listen: http://www.dreamtowermedia.com/podcast Become a member of the crew at: https://www.patreon.com/LiteraryWonderAndAdventure Why boxing is potentially safer without gloves, the earliest weapons, mesmerized by bees on a flower, why long sword fights in fiction are boring, iron versus steel, why swords are the most famous historical weapon, the transcendent word, stupid laws, classic fantasy literature as a spiritual doorway, why the 13th Warrior is both wonderful and rubbish, people who don’t deserve to be represented in art because they’ve ballsed up the whole point of being alive, let people love what they want to love, poetry, the lost art of responsibility, dueling, why the 21st Century is the lease violent era, why Harry Potter is both wonderful and rubbish, snobbery is just a form of fear, fencing swords are too thin, if you are reading a book you need to get a life according to football commentator, reality is not something that can be apprehended by concepts, a bad chair is a bad chair, the sound of silence, the horribly beautiful hand guards of rapiers, Leiber, Conan, Dashiell Hammett, things that work beautifully in competitions don’t work well when people are trying to murder you, going beyond concepts and words, from Excalibur to lightsabers, one-eyed toothless sword masters, the symbol of a warrior, a weapon is just a tool, the beauty of two-sentence fight scenes.

A full audio dramatization of the mysterious sword and sorcery adventure, Delta of the Damned by Robert Zoltan. Part of his Rogues of Merth series, Delta of the Damned features the reluctant adventurers, the poet swordsman Dareon Vin, and his Indari warrior companion whom he has nicknamed Blue (his real tribal name is a secret known only to his tribe). The dramatization is produced by Dream Tower Media, with music by Robert Zoltan, promotional illustrations by Zoltan, and the voice talent of Robert Zoltan and Kori Wilson. Go to Dream Tower Media to purchase your own copy of Delta of the Damned and sign up for the newsletter to receive news about more upcoming exciting productions. Delta of the Damned will appear in the first novel length volume of stories, Rogues of Merth: The Adventures of Dareon and Blue, Book 1, premiering in August of 2018.

Author Ryan Harvey returns to the Dream Tower for a discussion of the romantic poet and teller of fantastic tales, Clark Ashton Smith. Robert Zoltan does a reading of Smith's poem, Averoigne, and Edgar the Raven finds out that Robert is a big fat liar! All on this sumptuous feast of an episode of Literary Wonder & Adventure Show!   Clark Ashton Smith, Robert Zoltan, Edgar the Raven, Ryan Harvey, Weird Tales, Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, The Decadents, West Coast Romantic Poets, George Sterling, poetry, short stories, fantasy, macabre, Poe, Baudelaire, Moreau, Raymond Chandler, Averoigne, The Empire of the Necromancers, The Dark Eidolon, The Seven Geases, The Tale of Satampra Zeiros, The Testament of Athammaus, Genus Loci, The Return of the Sorcerer, de Sade, An Acolyte of Black Spires, Ahn-Tarqa, Gold Rush, Auburn, California, The Flowers of Evil, The Star Treader, vocabulary, archaic, ancient, mystery, Malakoff Diggings, Swinburne, Communal Settlements, Utopian Movement, artists, The Studio, Barry Windsor Smith, Mike Kaluta, Jeffrey Catherine Jones, Arabian Nights, Dunsany, Beckford, Vothek, the beauty of horror, plot versus story, Lawrence Durrell, William Faulkner, 2001, Barry Lyndon, Kubrick, Fellini, Michael Chabon, genre, Fritz Leiber, M. R. James, Updike, old radio shows, animation, narration, Wonder Stories.

Literary Wonder & Adventure Show, Episode 8: Spaceships, Aliens, and AI, Oh My!: A Conversation with Author Becky Chambers! Robert and author Becky Chambers (The Wayfarer Series) hold a provocative discussion on the controversial topics of space travel, alien sex, and robot love! Meanwhile, Robert and Edgar the Raven finally make it out of deep space and return to Los Angeles to find a strange package awaiting them. As if that’s not enough, Edgar gets down and funky to the catchy song, Rocketship, by Seduction Revolution. All on this episode of Literary Wonder & Adventure! Click here to listen: http://www.dreamtowermedia.com/podcast Become a member of the crew at: https://www.patreon.com/LiteraryWonderAndAdventure

In this Halloween Special, Robert and Edgar perform "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe, and also get some very interesting trick or treaters at the Dream Tower door. Click here to listen: http://www.dreamtowermedia.com/podcast Become a member of the crew at: https://www.patreon.com/LiteraryWonderAndAdventure