Reader Question Wednesday #3!

Happy Reader Question Wednesday! We had four questions this week... all from the same person... but that's okay. That's nearly 35% of our readership. (Okay, not really. But I'm really bad at math and prone to hyperbole.)

Anyhow - thanks for the questions! I've set my Pandora radio to a "music to blog to" station, so let's get right down to it. Answers will come in the order the questions were received:


1) What DOES Jason want for his upcoming birthday, now that you mention it?

Jason is a little busy right now, as he is getting married in a little over two weeks - and has been extremely busy pulling together all of the last minute details. However, I made a few not-so-subtle threats that I would make up a birthday list for him that included expanding his Precious Moments collection - aka, horrifying figurines of sad-eyed children. And no one wants that.

(Did you know that there's actually a Precious Moments chapel? And it's in Missouri... where Jason happens to be from. Connection? You decide.)

Unfortunately for me, my threats worked. Here's his actual birthday list:

"Jason's greatest desire, of course, is for world peace and understanding, so if you can hook that up, that would be great. As an alternative, funny t-shirts from www.thinkgeek.com are always welcome."


2) What's the timeframe on the podcast? When can I expect to hear an episode, in other words? I'm droolin' here!

Well, wipe yourself off. That's unseemly. And may I remind you that patience is a virtue?

I would love to say that you would be able to download an episode by Labor Day... but I've always been one for unrealistic dreams. (Ergo, I'm writing scripts for an audio drama podcast.) But if we manage to pick up the pace again after Jason and his lovely bride are married and sufficiently recovered from their wedding... I would hazard a guess that we will have the first episode sometime this winter. Watch the blog for a casting call sometime in the near future if you'd like to audition to be a part of it!

3) So what sort of music would Alex listen to? How about Viper? What's on their most-frequently-played list?

I've been racking my brain all day to come up with something to answer this question, and I'm embarrassed to say that I haven't been able to pin Alex down. I'm hoping Jason has some ideas - and that he might post them.

Viper, though... assuming you could even find his apartment, and then crack his encrypted files to get to his music collection - would probably have the following playlist:

• When he's hacking a government agency or financial institution, I think he plays electronica á la VNV Nation or something that makes him feel powerful.
• I think he has a special playlist for "the ladies" that includes Barry White, among others. He hasn't played anything off this list in at least two years.
  
• But I really think what he loves to listen to when no one else is around... maybe not even Alex... is anything off of Dr. Demento's playlist. If you go back far enough in the archives, there's even a song called "If You're a Viper" ... coincidence?
  

(Actually, yes. Totally a coincidence... but cool, no?)

4) What's Alex's sign anyway?

I'm thinking Taurus. Alex is a little slow to act at the outset of our story ... but once he sets his mind to his task, he displays an inordinate amount of perserverance.


Thanks for the questions! As always, feel free to ask us questions or make comments at any time.

Call me Viper. It's my hacker name.

Everyone should have That One Friend.

That One Friend is the guy you call when you’re lost in the middle of Amarillo and need someone to look up directions to your hotel. She’s the friend who calls you on your shit when you can’t see past your own nose to the obvious solution that’s right in front of you.

Maybe, just maybe, he’s the friend you turn to when the world is ending.

In our story, That One Friend is named Paul. You can call him Viper. Viper Apex.

If Alex is the hero of our story (and ultimately, he is), then Viper is his sidekick. He’d describe himself as Obi Wan Kenobi, but let’s be honest – he’s probably more like Jar Jar Binks.

(Just kidding. Nobody in this story is like Jar Jar.)

Viper, it must be noted, can be a complete idiot. He’s a computer geek, a science fiction geek, a roleplaying geek. He’s usually the smartest person in the room, if only because he’s often the only person in the room. He claims that he’s not allowed to leave the state due to some “outstanding legal issues that led to his unfortunate incarceration some time ago.” In truth, he’s still on probation for hacking the university mainframe in an effort to change a girl’s GPA. He not only got caught, the girl never even knew his name.

So, yeah. He’s that guy. But he’s a solid friend, and he always has been. When Alex needs help, he knows that Viper is the one person he can turn to without hesitation. They’ve been friends for almost 20 years, and honestly I don’t know how they originally met. River and I were talking about this relationship a while ago, and it occurred to me that if they’ve been friends since they were 10…well, you don’t really need a reason for being friends at that age. That’s one of the best parts about being that age.

He fills an interesting role in our universe. It's been said that everyone is the hero in his (or her) own story, but I'm not so sure that this is true for Viper. He's one of those rare people who is content to be a supporting character. He's like the character actor who always plays That One Guy - you might not remember the actor's name, but you'll remember that you liked him in that one movie that you can't reliably remember the name of.

The thing is, Viper may be bad with women. He may be a complete dork. He may speak in codes that only he understands. But in his way, he's incredibly competent. That "Call and ask for directions in the middle of Amarillo" thing? That's the tip of the iceberg. If you want to know where something is, you call Viper. If you want a 2 minute summary of the best way to lose someone tailing you, you call Viper. If you need to borrow his truck on no notice because it's time to hit the road and find someone to sucker into taking over the job that you were born to do, Viper will give you his keys without a second thought. His ideas might be brilliant or they might get you into more trouble than you were in to begin with, but he'll always be able to tell you which episode of McGuyver he stole the idea from.

From a storytelling standpoint, Viper is a great character for one simple reason. We like Viper, a lot. River and I are both a bit more like him than we should probably admit, and that makes him pretty easy to write, and our readthroughs with him are great fun. We're also very protective of him - as we would be in real life, come to think of it - and I suspect that choosing someone to voice Viper will be a challenge. I suspect this will be the only character for whom we would not accept bribes in exchange for serious consideration for the role. It's good to know that we have some standards, anyway.