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Writing is a thankless job more or less, and I'm sorry to say that, if an unknown author wants a cheering section, by and large he or she has to be the first voice. It's not ego, but in this case at least, it provides some indication whether or not the site is updated and maintains a chronology of the successes and failures of my publishing efforts. Like ideal news, th is will be unbiased. You see, I don't really care whether or not I'm published. I don't expect to be. I try because, if I don't, my life's work goes down without a fight. If you've ever seen that movie Dead Calm, I'm kind of like that guy in the boat running the pumps even when the water was rising over his head. I've got nothing to lose. One thing I will say about my writing and my effort. I can't tell you that my stories are good or bad because I'm too close to them. They are, however, right. They are as I saw them and the more I do this the more close to the vision I get them. If I'm the only one who reads my work, it would still be worth it for me. About the only value judgement I will make is that I also read science fiction, and I've read many things in print that are awful, and by that I mean so bad that I can't imagine how they got published. My work is no worse than half the stuff out there. The only reason why my work has not been published that I can see is that the editors are generally not reading it.

November 3009 Continued Work on The Project Exceeds Estimates

The Project sounded like a simple idea two years ago when it first appeared as an update to a short story I wrote in college. It is a simple story, mostly about a man who is trying to enter a room he was told not to. At first glance, it was thought that this story, then called "The Eye" would not really work visually, so it seemed a poor choice for our latest film project. Once we all agreed on that I immediately started working on a script, which I knew we would all agree would be horrible. Well, a week later the group was sold on the idea and we began casting the characters and planning locations. The beauty of it was that it was still a simple idea. A man walks through the corridors of a soul-less corporation in an attempt to gain access to The Chamber. Along the way he remembers certain key events which we also had to shoot. Still simple. Designing an alien creature was a bit of a challenge, however. It would only appear on the screen for a few seconds but it took about six months to make that happen. All the rest was special effects. Easy, right? We are currently designing video to have taken place within the mind of the character. Nothing seen in this sequence is real, and the basic framework is visual effects that are completely fabricated on the computer. The problem was that each frame of that animation took four hours to generate. Some took longer than that. So far it has taken most of the summer and all of the last two months to begin the process of creating this final sequence. A feat that was originally supposed to take only a few days. Welcome to the world of film making! As much as I would love to be done with this, I can not be until it is done. For this reason, other projects have been delayed. Thank you all for your patience, those of you who are waiting for the reading of Web of Life.

September, 2009 Jim Wins Contest Drawing

The summer was a busy one, but I keep my promises. The drawing for the original manuscript for Homesick was carried out on September 22 and the final Bonus chapter of Homsick was uploaded at that time. Jim, who works in security won the drawing, which was done during the actual recording! Along with this manuscript, Jim received a paper copy of Markerstone and one of the first commercially produced DVD copies of Ultimate Case. I hope these items are worth a great deal of money some day!

July 6, 2009 Live interview on Podioracket.com

A few minutes ago I had a rare opportunity to share a few words with some fellow writers! Podioracket.com has proven to be a great resource and a great opportunity to meet some great people Rhonda Carpenter was a delightful host and lead a great discussion.

July 6, 2009 Homesick is complete! Listen to it on Podiobooks.com

Some of my listeners have been visitors on this site for some time, so I'm preaching to the choir here, but this was clearly a landmark for me. It took quite a while to read and edit Homesick, but I feel that the final product speaks for itself. The final chapter of Homesick also includes a brief preview of Web of Life, the next story in line.

July 1, 2009 Shooting complete on The Project

This weekend principle photography was officially finished as the famous "alien" scene was completed. We will be posting production images shortly.

March 11, 2009 Marker Stone goes live on Podiobooks.com

I'm pretty sure you all know this already becaus I can't honestly think of any other reference to my website in existence but its mention in my pages on podiobooks. In any case, welcome and thank you for listening. I hope you find it an enjoying experience.

March 3, 2009 Ian Sampson Joseph is born!

For most of my life I resisted the idea of having children. Can you believe the major reason was that they might somehow interfere with my writing? Well, in the 44 years of my life and the 15 years I've been intently focused on writing, writing has given nothing back to me other than the satisfaction of doing it. I may very well die unpublished and unremembered as a writer, film maker, and photographer, but were it not for my wife and Ian, I would not be remembered at all. Thank you, God for my son.

March 9, 2009 Homesick Podcast is Officially Commisioned

Now that Marker Stone is live on podiobooks.com I have to take advantage of the momentum. I have six novels that have never seen the light of day outside my immediate family and friends. Podcasting is the printing press of this generation and I am delighted to share my words with all who will listen.

March 10 2009 Code Red Extraction completed

Just when I think I'm done with writing another piece of inspiration comes out of the blue. Code Red Extraction deals with the health care system in America and the amazing potential of the current administration for change. This is guaranteed to be offensive, but I don't think it'll be boring.

March 6, 2009 Editing Progress on The Project

Jerry and I reached the end of principle editing stage one over the weekend. We have the basic action edited from end to end. the next step will be fine-tuning on edits, shading, and audio sweetening.