Parsectual Healing

He needs a friend.

It's Parsec nomination season, which means I once again get to juvenilely substitute that term for the word "sex" in the title of a pop song and feel almost clever about it. (Probably not my finest hour, but at least I make my own fun.)

Founded in 2006 by Mur Lafferty, Michael R. Mennenga and Tracy Hickman, the Parsec Awards celebrate the unholy marriage of speculative fiction and podcasting. Each year the ceremony itself is conducted at Dragon*Con with winners picked by an independent panel of judges from a number of finalists chosen by a specialized steering committee. The nominations, however, come straight from the fans themselves.

With categories ranging from the very literary ("Best Speculative Fiction Story") to the technical ("Best Podcast about Speculative Fiction Content Creation") to the distinctly community-centered ("Best Speculative Fiction Fan or News Podcast"), the Parsecs cover all the bases with regard to sci-fi, horror and fantasy fiction in podcast form. And this time around they're doing even more with the introduction of the "Best Youth Driven Speculative Fiction Podcast" category.

Last year my own Radio Free Hipster came home with the trophy for "Best Speculative Fiction Music Podcast," and it was a pretty huge moment for me. So that being said, please take a few minutes to nominate the 'casts that you think deserve a little attention. Am I gonna ask you to toss my name in the hat again? Sure. I mean, if you feel like it. Of course, if you're short on inspiration I could also recommend a few suitable candidates for both Magazine or Anthology and Fact Behind the Fiction Podcast.

I'm just sayin'.

Sexy Skeksis

I'm on a bit of a mini-vacation with the fam for the first part of this week, so don't expect a lot of content around the ol' blog. (Though I will endeavor to keep the Twitter feed hopping in the interim.) Still, since it didn't seem right leaving you all high and/or dry, I figured I'd point you toward an interesting development from our neighbors to the north to keep you proper entertained.

It's a video teaser from Saskatchewan-based art initiative Secret Cloud promoting the forthcoming release by its own The Garthim-Master and German producer DJ Extend. Clocking in at just over 3 minutes, it highlights a half-dozen songs focused on Star Wars, Heroes and, of course, The Dark Crystal, and promises additional enticing amenities like guest spots from Kitty Pryde and SJ the Wordburglar. I'm very much looking forward to exploring the finished product, but in the meantime I've secured an exclusive cut which I'll be sharing with you in the next podcast.

You know how I do.

Oh, be aware that within the following clip there are some exposed breasteses, so, y'know, NSFW and all that. Enjoy, and I'll holler at y'all later this week.