podcasters, Big Book Energy

Big Book Energy does PodFest 2020

March 19, 2020March 19, 2020 Big Book EnergyLeave a comment

If you are interested in learning more about PodFest, you can still visit this year’s website.

The podcasters in their unnatural environment, surrounded by *strangers*

At the beginning of the month, Big Book Energy shlepped it down to Orlando to attend PodFest 2020, a podcasting conference extravaganza. How did BBE score such an opportunity? Well, it certainly wasn’t out of the depth of our pockets – we are broke as hell! Luckily for us, our podcasting host, Buzzsprout, is awesome and sprang for tickets for us and many, many other amateur podcasters so that everyone could get benefit from this event.

PodFest is relatively new as far as media conferences go, but has the distinction of being one of the few to focus almost entirely on the realm of podcasting. Like any other conference, there are talks and panels and meetups, and even an expo where vendors ply their goods and services. (For a list of cool vendors that we found interesting, see below) In fact, there was such a plethora of choice over the three days of the conference, Paige and Jennifer had to make some tough choices about what sessions to attend. What kinds of sessions you might ask? Topics ranged from using Adobe Audition and sound editing, to using your blog for marketing and increasing discoverability of your online content through improved SEO.

It was frustrating that once we arrived for the conference there were several pay walls that stood in our way of getting the most out of the experience. While Buzzsprout covered our initial tickets, there were numerous private events or even entire series of panels that required purchasing extra tickets. Again, given the depth of pockets mentioned above, those were not happening. Additionally, academic conferences we have attended before provide video or audio recordings of all sessions to attendees after the fact. PodFest offered access to recordings as well, but you had to pay dearly for the privilege, which felt distinctly….scam-my. At least most presenters got around this somewhat by offering their powerpoints and contact information for free.

Despite these small limitations, PodFest was an incredibly valuable experience. We learned that, overall, we are on the right track in our process and production. We also learned what relatively small changes we can make to improve on our quality – mainly upgrading on our equipment, meaning we can buy some pretty things, like this beautiful soundboard designed specifically for podcasting. Perhaps even more important than the previous two, we learned to limit ourselves. When producing content for an audience, the pressure to create is immense. We don’t have an audience of thousands or millions, but even so, it was easy to get sucked into feeling the need to produce even while we were traveling three weeks in a row. Having that realization and taking a step back while we got to have this amazing experience was definitely one of the most important things we did that weekend.

If you are also a small podcaster, perhaps just starting out and you’re not sure what you’re doing, welcome to the club! None of us feel like we know what we are doing! But if you want to learn more, PodFest 2021 may very well be for you. Fingers crossed BBE will be able to get back there as well.

Until next time!

Some cool companies we learned about at PodFest 2020:

Rode has some truly awesome audio equipment, including that soundboard we loved so much and mentioned above.
Podcast Music. This one is still in beta, but honestly it is just such a good idea. A subscription service, Podcast Music gives you access to thousands of songs or special effects that have all been properly licensed for podcasts. What’s more, if you are working with a musician, you can get them set up and licensed on the site as well. If you really want, you can also purchase outright licenses to any of their offerings! A one-time purchase and you are covered to use the music as you see fit.
Podcaster’s Toolbox. Also a newly launched service, Podcaster’s Toolbox provides a space that can keep track of alllllll the aspects of podcasting, from planning to producing to promoting. Seeing as how all our planning docs are in separate spaces right now, this is one BBE will also be looking into for ourselves.

If you are interested in learning more about the podcast, visit our About page, or give the trailer below a listen. You can also check out our social media and Patreon using the buttons below. Cheers!

Show Notes – Episode 1.8

March 3, 2020 Big Book EnergyLeave a comment

Basically, Things Fall Apart: Critiquing Jay Lake’s Green

Quick Links from the Episode:

Here are links to Lake’s entry on Wikipedia, as well as the Tor memorial Jennifer mentioned in this week’s episode.
Here’s an article from The Oregonian that details Lake’s struggles with cancer and his uniquely positive response. This is also where we learn that Green was inspired by his daughter, though the ebook version also includes a dedication to his daughter (see below).
Lake’s blog about his cancer experience seems to have since been archived, but his author blog is still up here.

Our first Book We Hate pick of March, the premise of author Jay Lake’s book, Green, seemed promising when Paige picked it up years ago. The cover was intriguing as well, liberally painted with the titular color. The basic plot is interesting enough: a girl is sold into slavery and transported far from her homeland to train and serve as a courtesan of sorts in the Pomegranate Court. Despite being taken from a young age, the girl does not lose her rebellious spirit, and eventually makes her own path, bringing down those are responsible for her suffering. Unfortunately for Paige, the last two-thirds of the book did not live up to the hype.

Jay Lake was an acclaimed author before passing away from cancer in 2014. Lake’s father was a U.S. foreign service officer, so he grew up in a variety of exotic locales, including Taiwan and Nigeria, before finishing high school and attending college in the United States. Lake is only the second science fiction and fantasy author that BBE has reviewed and had a promising start to his writing career, winning the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in Science Fiction in 2004. Ultimately Lake published more than 300 stories and nine novels. Unfortunately, he was first diagnosed with cancer in 2008, and after a protracted battle with the disease passed away only a year after publishing the final book in the trilogy that Green began.

As Paige points out at the beginning of the episode, Green gets off to a decent start, but rapidly deteriorates after the first third or so of the book. The early writing style is intriguing with image-driven, almost lyrical prose that can be difficult to keep straight, but is pleasing to read nonetheless. The story is told supposedly from the perspective of the character, Green, as a child, but with intercessions into the childhood memories by a much older Green. This odd mix of part-present, part-past makes for an extremely unbelievable child narrator, with an awareness unlikely to be found in a three year old.

Lake credits his daughter as the inspiration for the story in this dedication.

The plot quickly loses its way as Green loses hers. Following her revenge upon the Duke of Copper Downs who was ultimately responsible for the child trafficking Green had been sucked into, she finds that her home is no longer open to her. While taken in by an order of assassin-priestesses of the Lily Goddess, Green remains directionless and the plot itself seems to be random events strung together. More disturbing, however, are the numerous questionable sex scenes that adolescent Green is involved in, including with older authority figures – what we would recognize today as pedophilia and statutory rape.

Green could have been the start to an empowering female saga. The characters in the story are mostly women. In fact, they are predominantly strong women who stand up for their beliefs or for others. However, because of Lake’s dubious choice of age for his protagonist, Green’s exploration of her sexuality into more mature areas such as BDSM and inter-species sex seems inappropriate and is uncomfortable to read. Any arguments about a different age/time/world crumble in the face of Green’s willing participation in her own exploitation by those with power over her.

As if these more challenging themes were not enough, the story really falls apart towards the end of the book. Points that are evidently critical to the story are explained poorly or not at all, the prime example being religion suddenly becoming the center of the plot though it was barely touched on in the majority of the novel. All this to say, Jennifer gave Green two stars out of five – for the merit of the first part of the story – and would not recommend it to any bookish peeps.

Tune in next Monday for Episode 1.9. If you’re enjoying the podcast so far, please leave us a review and follow us on social media. Be sure to check out our Patreon for bonus BBE content as well, including bonus episodes (all links below). Until next time!

March Sneak Peek

March 2, 2020March 2, 2020 Big Book EnergyLeave a comment

We are into month three of Big Book Energy! Many thanks to our listeners for supporting us so generously so far. Scroll below to see our March Sneak Peek and preview what books we will be covering this month:

Green, by Jay Lake is our first Book We Hate pick of the month. Green is the story of how one girl, sold into slavery, overcomes her circumstances to overthrow the government responsible for her exploitation and serve the new goddess she has found. Sounds uplifting, but Lake’s work leaves much to be desired.

Out Thrift Store Finds have a theme of their own this month: Chicken Soup for the Soul. Jennifer’s pick is for the Woman’s Soul, whatever that may mean to the editor’s of this compilation.

Forced to read In the Lake of the Woods in high school, Jennifer has hated it ever since. Tim O’Brien won the James Fenimore Cooper Prize for his work, a nightmarish journey into the mind of Vietnam War veteran John Wade as he struggles to piece together what has happened to his wife, Kathy.

Though the Goodwill offered perhaps the entire range of Chicken Soup books, Paige chose for the Soul at Work for this month. Perhaps the uplifting stories of “Courage, Compassion & Creativity” will inspire us at our workplace. Or perhaps we’ll get some good laughs out of it, idk you’ll have to tune in to find out.

Our bonus episode for the month of March is the next in the LOTR series, The Two Towers. For this episode we will be incorporating more of Tolkien’s life and how it may have impacted his work. A teaser of this episode will be available to everyone on all our platforms, but to listen in full, head on over to Patreon and become a supporter of the podcast!

And that’s a wrap for our March Sneak Peek. Follow the links below to find us on social media or to support the podcast on Patreon. Keep being awesome, bookish peeps!

Show Notes – Episode 1.6

February 18, 2020February 18, 2020 Big Book EnergyLeave a comment

Another Trip Down Enlightenment Lane: BBE on Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist

We are back to Books We Hate this week, the subject? Paulo Coelho’s classic hit, The Alchemist. What soulless ghoul hates this book that has inspired so many people, sold millions of copies, and been translated into dozens of languages?? Well, if you’ve been keeping track of our episodes, you know that Jennifer is that ghoul. Yes, it was Jennifer’s turn to pick a book she hated for Paige to read, and it is Jennifer that hated The Alchemist so much that she put it down after getting through maybe forty pages. Keep in mind, this was back when it was a point of pride for Jennifer to struggle through to the bitter end no matter how terrible she thought the book was. Jennifer hated it so much that apparently her brain tried to wipe out the traumatic experience entirely because she can’t even remember when it was that she attempted this read. Something about the dreamy, symbol-laden parable really irritated a very pragmatic past Jennifer, but it remains to be seen if Paige will agree.

Coelho is best known for The Alchemist, first published in Portuguese in 1988. According to his Wikipedia page (which he potentially contributes to himself?), Coelho had a rather checkered past before he began his writing career. Though his parents were dead set on him entering the priesthood – possibly an inspiration for his character, Santiago – Coelho dreamed from an early age of being a writer. This eventually would happen, but not until after a nomadic and apparently drug-fueled lifestyle through South American, North Africa, Europe, and beyond. Undoubtedly his experiences traveling provided some inspiration for the journey parable found in The Alchemist. Though he had enjoyed a successful career as a songwriter after returning to Brazil in the 1970s, he did not feel fulfilled because he had never abandoned his dream of writing – his Personal Legend, if you will. So he began to write books, the first being Hell Archives. He would not find success with his first, second, or even third book, but in 1988 he felt inspired to write his classic in only two weeks, quite a feat for any author. Since then, he has been prolific, though none of his other works have been received with the same critical acclaim.

In this episode, Paige takes the reader through the adventures of the shepherd, Santiago, a boy once destined for the priesthood, and now set on finding fantastical wealth. After first being inspired by the wise man, Melchizedek, to begin this journey to find the fulfillment sadly lacking in the ushering of sheep from one place to another, Santiago journeys through north Africa on his way to the pyramids. Along the way he is helped or hindered by various characters, but ultimately learns more about himself, and how he relates to the larger world. As most journeys away from home, this is an eye-opener for Santiago. What was particularly irritating for Paige, other than the basics of the message, was that much of the terminology found in The Alchemist was an echo of what she already slogged through reading The Celestine Prophecy. Really, the similarities are eerie, as we discuss in the episode. Like most parables, The Alchemist is also…basic. The story is not complicated, in fact, it is so simple that Paige and Jennifer were looking for symbols that are not actually there other than the simple archetypes that the characters represent.

Coelho was surprised by the success of his book, and honestly so are we. Kind of. While this new age-y, woo-woo, follow-your-dreams message has become worn out and tired, it still sells. The thriving MLM market is enough evidence of that. Our social media feeds are often drowning in individual appeals to join the family, be part of an amazing community, find fulfillment and financial freedom. Of course this is all achieved through purchasing mostly non-FDA approved products that promise to revolutionize X, Y, and Z – but never mind that. The message is the same as so many others we have heard before: be true to yourself, listen to your intuition, get back to Nature, pursue your Personal Legend. See, it fits right in.

Looking at reviews of The Alchemist, it appears to be a polarizing read. You either really loved it and it changed your life, or you found its message to be simplistic, cheesy, superficial, or sometimes even offensive on a personal level. Does this speak to each individual’s own level of cynicism that we often reject positive messages like those listed above? Or is it because we recognize that sometimes intuition fails, sometimes dreams die, sometimes the wind fails to speak, and the universe fails to provide? Paige gave this book a solid three stars. Much as we have rolled our eyes at Coelho’s work, it is hard to completely trash a book that pushes such a positive message, naive or no. It’s popularity, similar to that of The Celestine Prophecy, speaks to its efficacy. Who knows, maybe you should give it a try?

To pursue your Personal Legend, listen to the links below:

If you want more info on Melchizedek the Biblical character, check this page out.
If you want, you can check out Coelho’s personal website, but…there have been many things that were less of a mess, tbh.
Course Hero has a wonderful YouTube series on The Alchemist that includes, summary and analysis of themes.
Coelho himself published a short article on his website about ten life lessons that can be drawn from his work. Definitely give this a read to learn about messages included in the text beyond just ‘pursuing your dreams’, which is what they have been boiled down to in this post. Truly, they are great mantras to incorporate into your life when possible.
As discussed on this week’s episode, Coelho also possibly edits his own Wikipedia page, which makes it both more and less accurate?

Tune in next Monday for Episode 1.7. If you’re enjoying the podcast so far, please consider leaving us a review and follow us on social media if that is your thing (links above). Be sure to check out our Patreon for extra BBE content as well, including bonus episodes. Until next time!