The Murverse Mothership

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Matt and Mur had a virtual book launch for Savage Legion last week. Gotta adapt in a pandemic, y’all.

• Matt and Mur come to you from Matt’s online launch party for his debut epic novel, SAVAGE LEGION, recorded on Crowdcast in front of a live chat audience on July 20th, 2020!
• Matt and Mur are drinking, or at least Matt is (Mur forgot her booze). Ditch Diggers merch is briefly discussed.
• The difference between a Citroën and citronella.
• Doing a live video Crowdcast in front of a crowd is very different from recording an audio podcast.
• Matt actually talks about SAVAGE LEGION (Mur’s copy of which must have gotten lost in the mail) a little bit, including the production of the book itself, and his reaction to receiving his copies of it.
• Matt and Mur tell old convention stories, including drunken flights and playing Funny Friends (and Mur’s daughter, Fiona, makes one of several special appearances).
• Matt fields questions from chat and talks about writing such a long (for him) novel, and the time it took on spec versus the time it takes when you’re under contract with a publisher deadline.
• Mur and Matt discuss the process of Ditch Diggers, recording podcasts in general, and the key to the longevity of the show (spoiler: it’s not preparation).
• Matt wants to create an 80’s-themed podcast.
• Star Wars dubbed in German, and a severe and aggressive German Han Solo.
• Mur discusses her recent binge/love of gay romcoms, her desire to write one, and everyone discusses straight authors writing gay characters.
• Mur’s daughter comes out as professionally gay.
• Matt answers more questions about SAVAGE LEGION, including drinking while writing, and discussing his epic fantasy influences, good and bad.
• Night falls and it is time to end the party, but not before shilling SAVAGE LEGION one final time.

Mentioned in this episode…

• Red, White & Royal Blue: A Novel
• When Harry Met Harry

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:07:52 — 42.1MB)

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EDIT- the file is there now. I am a professional, dammit.

• Matt and Mur come to you live in this penultimate installment of Ditch Diggers before the landmark 100th Episode from the Padded Room Full of Teddy Bears in DD Manor!
• How is Matt? A seemingly simple question that feeds into the larger and much more complicated issues of the episode, recorded June 30th, which will deal with the harassers and abusers called out in June, particularly in the SFF publishing community.
• Before that! Actual writing talk! Mur is restructuring a novel (for which she thanks Scrivener in a totally un-sponsored plug), and Matt has been writing a video game, because that’s his first full-time job, but he can’t talk about it, because you can never talk about the video game you’re writing.
• Mur and Matt are going to talk about what’s been going on, but have made the choice not to use names in this episode, and they explain why.
• Matt talks about how to respond (more specifically how he responded) when you have a professional relationship with someone who is called out for abusing or otherwise harming others.
• The difference in perception between the privileged (e.g. cis able-bodied white dudes) and marginalized or at-risk folks dealing with powerful, abusive people in the industries and communities in which they exist.
• The idea of not being aware you have power over others in your industry/community is discussed.
• Making decisions based on your own safety, and deciding how your personal principles will factor into your decisions, re: dealing with the knowledge of working with abusive people.
• Structures and organizations within SFF publishing where abusive people can be reported (and a brief aside about that wizard school author and Stephen King).
• Matt and Mur thank their listeners for helping them reach episode 100, coming soon, and Matt STILL has a book coming out (SAVAGE LEGION— Be a dear and order, won’t you?) that he pitches poorly to the same listeners, because that’s where he is right now.
• A final note on how alcohol/being drunk does not excuse your behavior. Ever.
• Sites mentioned:
  • Writer Beware
  • Jason Sanford’s Genre Grapevine post on recent abuse allegations in SFF publishing community

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 51:19 — 35.2MB)

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[Note- this is the correct file. I had an episode numbering problem. Check episode 95 if this is a repeat for you.]

Mur and Matt come to you live from Ditch Diggers Island Pear Farm on Animal Crossing.

• The fruit-based economy of Animal Crossing is discussed, with a focus on the disdain for pears and Matt’s belief that AC pear hatred is coded fatphobia.
• Props are given to Escape Pod, the first and longest-running fiction podcast celebrating its 15th anniversary, and Matt predictably rants about how podcast fiction is “invented” every year, erasing the originators of it.
• Mur has discovered South Korean baseball, and is very excited about it.
• Cooking and curries, or how “curry” isn’t actually a thing.
• An anonymous publishing source emails Matt and Mur to address a previous episode about the lack of book publisher’s leaning into ebook and other digital marketing in the time of COVID.
• How, despite general book sales staying steady or even rising right now, the sales of kids books are falling alarmingly.
• Yoga mat/block scarcity is real, as is puzzle scarcity.
• Matt and Mur discuss the issue of whether or not authors should ask a prospective agent’s clients about that agent before querying them, and the fallout/varied opinions that flooded Twitter after an agent threatened to blacklist authors for doing so.
• Q&A! Alternative options for selling books, freelance writers to follow on Twitter for smart freelance writing talk, and more.
• Mentioned in this episode:
  • Print Run Podcast
  • Wonder Stories
  • Bookshop

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:01:05 — 42.3MB)

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[EDIT- Link finally included in the post! Sorry about that!]

• Matt and Mur come to you live with a do-over of an episode that was recorded once before already however due to COVID-19 and/or sabotage by alien robot spies it was deleted (that’s their story, anyway).
• Garfield Minus Garfield and murder playgrounds as a metaphor for modern society is briefly discussed.

• Mur and Matt update the audience and each other on their life-and-working-in-quarantine status.
• Mur descends into a tangent on feeling pressure to innovate and create new, lockdown-focused content in quarantine and the inability to do so.
• The Ditch Diggers are recreating what they did last week that you didn’t hear, which is answering your lockdown-related freelancing questions!
• Economic relief options and programs for freelancers are discussed and (at least tenuously) explained, including PPP and applying for unemployment.
• Whether the recent layoffs, cutbacks, and furloughs announced by Macmillan and other book publishers are the result of concern or panic.
• The question is asked, is now the time to write that pandemic novel you’ve got burning inside you? Which feeds back into the age-old topic/question of “writing to the market.” (Also: beans, cool and otherwise)
• Mur’s books are as important as sex porn (which is a callback to earlier in the episode, because the Ditch Diggers like callbacks).
• Matt and Mur encourage those with the disposable income to do so to support debut authors in this time of news and circumstances crushing book debuts. Some ideas:
  • Docile by KM Szpara
  • The Seep by Chana Porter
  • The Illness Lesson by Clare Beams
  • The Return by Rachel Harrison
  • The Unsuitable by Molly Pohlig
  • The Down Days by Ilze Hugo
  • Savage Legion by Matt Wallace
    (Do you know of more? Let us know!)
• The traditional end of episode shilling occurs, including where to find Matt and Mur online in the time of COVID and Matt’s debut epic fantasy novel dropping in July (*cough*Savage Legion*cough*).

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 52:28 — 35.8MB)

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• Matt and Mur come to you live from the social distancing movie theater within Ditch Diggers HQ where all the seats are six feet apart and cannons shoot popcorn directly into your mouth for a hands-free experience.
• The Dalai Lama’s hot takes and inappropriate quarantine pop-ins are briefly discussed.
• Mur and Matt talk about how they (and their work habits) are holding up in quarantine, and how it is okay to both not be able to produce creatively right now and feel bad about it.
• How media producers from MasterClass to Netflix are adjusting their business models and marketing during the pandemic—and why does publishing seem absent from all of it?
• What are publishers doing to address books being released now, and what aren’t they doing?
• The old argument about the effectiveness of book marketing, especially the marketing of genre books, or the lack thereof, is discussed.
• Matt goes on a very long and very angry rant about publisher vs. author responsibility when it comes to raising awareness for and marketing books, particularly and specifically in the time of COVID.
• On the heels of Matt’s ravings, Mur says smart, productive things about authors dealing with book releases in quarantine when the weight to market their book falls on their shoulders.
• Mur goes on an entirely relevant tangent about remembering you have to ask for things in life and in your career, and it’s always worth making that ask.
• Dealing with despair, and remembering writers are needed and important and valuable.
• The question of are we going to see more authors self-publishing due to the pandemic and widespread shutdowns and quarantines.
• Twitter Q&A! Topics include whether non-writing activities such as Twitch streaming/podcasting/et all actually help sell books, and the issue of writing pandemic novels in the time of an actual pandemic.
• The obligatory end of episode shilling (preorder Matt’s debut epic fantasy novel SAVAGE LEGION, available worldwide July 21st).

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 58:25 — 38.6MB)

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• Mur and Matt come to you live from the Shelter-in-Place Shelter That’s Right Next To The Quarantine Room In Our Manor (there’s a sign that says this above the door) in the plague times!
• Mur has been amusing herself with Animal Crossing, and Matt explains what he thinks Animal Crossing is solely based on the screen shots he’s seen people post on Twitter.
• Mur was planning to fly to New Zealand for WorldCon this year, and now she is no longer doing that, nor is WorldCon happening in New Zealand as it is going virtual this year!
• Matt encourages everyone having to cancel non-refundable travel to complain to the airlines until they at least give you a credit.
• The Ditch Diggers discuss how the pandemic lockdown has revealed a lot about the arbitrary unwillingness of institutions, businesses, and people in general to make workplaces and events more accessible to those with accessibility issues.
• Virtual/online models for conventions should be integrated into the culture after the lockdown ends.
• What we do lose with conventions not consisting of congregating in person in a specific place with other people.
• How virtual conventions might replicate the physical con-going experience from “barcon” to other random meet-ups.
• The benefits of online cons, such as more easily archiving and making available convention content digitally after the event, and making the con more accessible to a wider range of people and guests.
• The challenges of virtual cons, such as timezone differences and international attendees possibly having to wake up at 3:00 a.m. to attend their panels.
• The possibility of virtual cons opening up the field for ancillary online events that occur around the same time, and Matt and Mur talk about hosting a live Ditch Diggers and possibly an online freelance business seminar.
• Send us more of your Ditch Diggers business of writing/writing as a business questions! We want to hear from you!
• Mur talks about the Patreon, and both how the Ditch Diggers fully understand people having to walk back their pledges and how the Ditch Diggers Discord has been opened up to more folks!
• Matt still has a book coming out, and it just got a starred review in Library Journal! Please preorder SAVAGE LEGION, hopefully from your local bookstore, coming July 21st!
• Matt and Mur end the episode with obscure references to The Office, like pros.

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