Specter Podcast Episode One: “A Friendly Game”

Episode One – September 5th, 2011

Please click the above link; the podcast will stream through your browser (we hope…we tested it, but we still hope).

The following is a message by Specter Podcast’s host & narrator Dirk Walker.

I’ve always been a little intimidated by the lit crowd.

I think it has something to do with that formidable “MFA” attached to most professional writers’ names that does it for me. The fact that these people have devoted a very large portion of their lives to mastering the art of telling stories through printed word really astounds me, but I also hold a deep respect for such devotion.

My roots are in radio broadcasting. I’ve been in radio in one form or another since I was 16. I’ve written things here and there (never published) and have read voraciously all my life, so I felt like I just might have a shot at making a podcast for this shiny new magazine.

It was through Brett Elizabeth Jenkins that I first heard about Specter Literary Magazine. She had re-tweeted something about Specter looking for someone to make a podcast for the magazine. A demo or two was sent, tweets and emails exchanged and soon enough I was named Podcast Director.

But enough about me; let’s talk about episode one.

The first episode of the Specter Lit Podcast features Rion Scott’s fiction piece entitled “A Friendly Game”. If you’ve read Issue Zero, you’re already familiar with this story. Reading it for the first time, I was taken aback by the abrupt ending; or more specifically the main character’s reaction to the events that led up to that climactic ending. It was then I knew reading this story aloud would be no cake walk. My fear was that I wouldn’t be able to successfully channel the strong undercurrent of emotion and the tension of competition between Casey and Kwayku that ran through the piece as I read it aloud. I guess you, the listener, will be the judge of that.

I probably won’t get much done today, save for constantly checking my phone and computer for tweets regarding episode one.

Before I sign off, I want to thank a few people who have helped me on the way to this release. First, thanks to Brett, whose seredipitous re-tweet got me into all this. Secondly, I’d like to thank Ron “Aalgar” Watt who has been an immense help to me in navigating the sometimes confusing waters of publishing to iTunes. Aalgar co-hosts two podcasts: The Sarcastic Voyage Podcast and the Post Atomic Horror podcast. I highly suggest you check the two out. Finally, I’d like to thank Mensah and Athena, founders of Specter, for giving a radio guy from Middle-Of-Nowhere, USA a shot at hanging with the lit crowd.

Mensah and I have some pretty exciting ideas for the future of this podcast and I can’t wait to let you experience them, but for now, enjoy the story.

Dirk Walker

Podcast Director

Specter Magazine