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Fiendlings! Please don't forget to add and attack Jason Warden of Shadow Cast Audio.

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"Closet Treats" episode 05.

Written and performed by Paul Elard Cooley featuring original music written and performed by Andrew Richardson.
You can find Mr. Richardson's podcasts and music at: http://www.fabkebab.com
This presentation is copyright 2010 by Paul Elard Cooley.
Visit shadowpublications.com for more free stories as well as my rant casts.
Contact me at:

• Email: stories@shadowpublications.com
• twitter: http://twitter.com/paul_e_cooley
• facebook: http://facebook.com/paul.e.cooley

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.

That's right, my fiendlings.  Shadowcast Audio asked if I would narrate a story by Jeremy C. Shipp.  I was honored by the offer and did my best.  Here are the results.  Thanks to Jason at Shadowcast for the opportunity!  I really enjoyed it.

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There has been a lot of noise lately about whether or not giving away content for free is a bad idea.  A certain podiofiction author of the most successful podfic series in history, has decided to throw in the towel on the podcasting for free model.  He's decided that he's not getting enough back for how much he's putting in.  I can completely understand why he feels this way.  It's his decision and I support him in that.

I've seen the articles by supposed "news" organizations taking knocks at twitter, facebook, and podcasts.  I've heard the constant ranting and raving about what a bunch of lunatic fringe nutcases we are.  Old media hates us because we are contributing greatly to its destruction.

Online communities are often lambasted for being filled with a bunch of do-nothing posers that are incapable of becoming organized in any meaningful way.  I'm proud to say we can all cheerfully tell these people to go fuck themselves.

Since the tragedy that happened in January to Tee Morris and his daughter, the podcast community, both writers and listeners, have banded together to contribute money to help out he and his daughter.  The Boom Effect, as the effort came to be known, has been very successful.  Nearly $30k has been raised in a month and a half.

The Boom Effect auction occurred on Saturday, February 27th, and many artists and fans donated items and services for others to purchase.  This led to a lot of really cool stuff being put up for the future of a little girl.  I contributed to the chip-in account back in January, but I wanted to be part of the auction too.  I have been out of work for the last 6 months, so I don't have a whole lot of cash to throw around.  What I do have, though, is some crazed, loyal fans.  My Fiendlings.

I went to Lulu.com, and printed 4, only 4, copies of my novella "Tattoo."  The result was 4 beautiful Trade Paperbacks.  Seriously, they are f'ing gorgeous.  I auctioned one of them off to the BoomEffect.  Before the auction even started, the first proxy bid, made by one of my awesome fiendlings, was $125.00.  By the time the auction started, the damned book was going for $225.00.   It closed at $240.00.  Two-hundred and forty dollars, folks.  That's freakin' awesome.

For a guy who doesn't have a single book in a store, has never had his fiction published in any magazine or periodical, and is only a somewhat known hack, this was too fucking cool.  Just too cool.

It's mostly cool for Sonic Boom, because it raised far, far more money than I could ever have afforded to give to her and the cause.  I spent some money to create the books, and quite a bit of time, but the payoff in cash was incredible.  Other items that went big were out of print books, original manuscripts, artworks, production services, you name it.  The entire community was there with their wallets and hearts open.  It was successful.

After my item was auctioned, I had to leave the house and the banter to go celebrate my Dad's birthday.  As my wife drove the car to my Dad's house, I sat in the seat, closed my eyes, and smiled.  I gave something of myself and someone wanted it.  And because of that, a little girl will hopefully get that much closer to a great education later on in life.  So all the hours that I've put in podcasting, writing, editing, screaming, for free, paid off in one day.

It made me realize that not only do I enjoy what I do even if it doesn't bring in much money, there are people out there in our community who really appreciate what I do, and the time I take to do it.  I am proud to call these people my friends and my fans.  I am also proud to be part of a community that bands together when one of its own needs our help.  No matter what my future might be as a writer or podcaster, I will no doubt look back on this experience and remember that, for a moment, I helped make a difference I could see.

Thank you, community, for reminding me what this is all about.  Thank you for showing the rest of the internet what we can do.  And thank you for helping someone in need.