Episode 4 is a long one, approximately one hour and forty-five minutes of solid interview with the multi-talented Jared Axelrod! Steampunk, comics, podcasting and more – strap in for a fun and geeky ride, dear listener. 🙂

Jared Axelrod links:
Web site – http://jaredaxelrod.com
Fables of the Flying City – http://www.fablesoftheflyingcity.com/
Books:
Tales from the Uncanny Valley
The Sovereign Era: Year One
Podthology: The Pod Complex
Twitter – http://twitter.com/planetx

J. R. Blackwell (Jared’s lovely and talented wife) links:
Web sites:
http://jrblackwell.wordpress.com/
http://jrblackwell.tumblr.com/
http://blackwell.livejournal.com/
Photos – http://www.flickr.com/photos/jrblackwell/
Book – Her Side with Mur Lafferty
Twitter – http://twitter.com/jrblackwell

I can be found and contacted at:

Web Site: http://gowmainframe.blogspot.com/

Twitter: @mainframe (or @gowmainframe for tweets just about the podcast)

Email: gowmainframe at gmail dot com

Voice Mail: 206-350-0528
Songs used are “Space Ride” & “Around”, from the album “Around” by Oursvince at http://www.oursvince.com

The podcast is distributed via Libsyn.com & Feedburner

Thanks for listening!

 

 Geek Out! With Mainframe - Episode 4, Interview with Jared Axelrod: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

For those who weren’t able to attend, this is essentially what it looked like.

Photo by JR Blackwell

Photo by JR Blackwell

Photo by Scott Roche

There’s a few more on my Flickr and in the Balticon 44 pool.

Thanks to JR, Russell Collins and Jennifer Rodgers for helping me set, clean up and serving all that tea and pastry. I couldn’t have done it without you.

Hello! I’m Jared Axelrod, and  welcome to FABLES OF THE FLYING CITY, a swashbuckling, airship-studded adventure of a podcast about a fantastical metropolis in the sky, and the young woman who changes everything! If you’re familiar with my previous podcasts THE VOICE OF FREE PLANET X and ALIENS YOU WILL MEET, you know you can expect thrills, chills, eccentric characters and unconventional action, all tied together with a sense of humor and unique view of the world.

At it’s heart, FABLES is about an argument: How much do people deserve to know? On the one hand, an informed populace should be  something to strive for in any community. On the other, sometimes its better not to see how the sausage is made.

It’s easy to take the tact that everyone should know everything.  The ideal is a beautiful one, where decisions are made on a basis of knowledge. Perhaps, if we knew more about each other, we would be less likely to go to war. If we can understand each others’ point of view, if we knew what was really going on, wouldn’t our lives be that much better? A perfect world would be one where we were all on the same page.

The flip side of this, of  course, is that ignorance is bliss. There are somethings that perhaps we are better off not knowing. Information can lead to understanding, but history has shown that it more often, it leads to panic. While there may be information everyone should know, are there things that people need to know? Perhaps its better they live without it, and go about their lives not being concerned.  After all, you do want to enjoy that hot dog, don’t you?

Connected with this, is the question of how much you owe your community. If keeping them in dark protects them, isn’t that the right thing to do? What if the truth won’t set your neighbors free, but destroy their lives? What if just by living in a certain place, existing in a certain way, you were taking part in the worst crime you could possible imagine?

When knowledge is a weapon, what is the “best” way to wield it? As a shotgun? Or a stiletto?

We’ll find out when FABLES OF THE FLYING CITY launches Saturday, May 29th at 2pm at Balticon!