The Thirteenth Hour Podcast

The Thirteenth Hour workout deck that I discussed last week consists of 52 exercise cards + 4 wild cards; it's designed to be a pocket-sized deck of cards that can randomize and kickstart your exercise routine with the premise that if you want to work out, it's doesn't necessarily take long, it doesn't necessarily take any equipment, nor does it require money. The beta tester digital pre-release version is available to all on Patreon. I got some card stock today to start making copies for folks that might be interested in testing them out- if that sounds like you, just let me know. Check out the deck there, and thanks for listening! Closely related is a class I'll be teaching at Whistlekick's Free Training Day Mid-Atlantic on hot to rain in small spaces, as the very premise of these cards was born out of not really having a dedicated training space at home and what spaces I could use were irregular and generally small. So we'll be discuss what can reasonably be done in a 3.5-4' x 6-8' space. If you are in the Eastern PA - NJ - DE - MD area or just want to take part in a great event where you will learn a lot with some great people interested in learning, not rank or one upping one another or standing around feeling important (or whatever other negative stereotype martial artists have), check it out! https://wordpress.com/post/13thhr.wordpress.com/14599

The Thirteenth Hour workout deck that I have mentioned a few times on the show over the summer is done: 56 cards = 52 exercise cards + 4 wild cards + instructions have been completed; I've made a public Patreon post where you can download them. I'd like to make a few sample sets or have a few professionally printed so people can test them out, but for right now, the beta tester digital pre-release version is available to all on Patreon. Check out it there, and thanks for listening! https://wordpress.com/post/13thhr.wordpress.com/14592

Originally aired on June 24, 2024.This week's podcast episode follows up on what I started last week - I did end up playing "There's a Wild Heart Beating" at a local restaurant that holds a monthly open mike for singer-songwriters to practice and work on new and old material. Really nice that that exists. It was nice to play live again as well as listen to what other people were working on. Then, I work a backing vocal track for "No Hero," which is a song for the next Thirteenth Hour soundtrack LP that I have gotten stuck on numerous times so far - any forward progress at this point is a plus in my book!Thanks for listening!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞Check out the growing line of Thirteenth Hour toys and other products on the Thirteenth Hour Studio Etsy store (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio). There are a number of custom figures from retro films being sold for charity that available there as well. For example, the hunter action figure from A Shadow in the Moonlight is now done and available on Etsy!There is also a growing collection of Thirteenth Hour stickers on The Thirteenth Hour Studio store on Redbubble!Check out this collaboration with past show guest Jeff Finley on handpan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iK8lTEQoc_gFollow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.Check it out!As always, thanks for listening!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Like what you see or hear? Consider supporting the show over at Thirteenth Hour Arts on Patreon or adding to my virtual tip jar over at Ko-fi. Join the Thirteenth Hour Arts Group over on Facebook, a growing community of creative people.Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!

Originally aired on April 8, 2024.This week, I'm experimenting with artificial intelligence for music. There's this one track that's been holding up the final stages of the latest Thirteenth Hour soundtrack LP - it's written, the backing track was made ages ago ... but it's meant to be sung by a woman (Aurora, the female protagonist in The Thirteenth Hour). Of course, the obvious thing would be just to find a woman to sing it, but I have a very specific idea in mind for what I wanted Aurora's voice to sound like. I was thinking about saying the hell with all that in the interest of just getting it done, but then all this AI business started popping up in the last year or so. I got to thinking - is there technology that could turn my vocals into female ones? As it turns out, yes, there is. Kind of. It may be more trouble than it's worth. But I'm discussed two software programs (Voice.ai and ACE Studio) that allow you to create AI vocals that I used to try to turn my voice into that of a woman's. I had the most success in trying to sing super high first (I basically sounded like Mickey Mouse) and then using the programs to turn that into something sounding more feminine. This is the very definition of a work in progress, as I'm still in the learning/experimenting phases, but I thought it would be interesting to document here, as I'm sure the landscape surrounding this topic will change dramatically in the future.If you haven't gotten the chance to check out last week's episode with fantasy author and podcaster Melinda Kucsera, it's a good one! Here's a highlight that Melinda featured on her show:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8KMR0DV22gYou can find more about her books on her website or on her podcasts. You can find our first conversation on Youtube, which is episode 100 of her podcast, Fantasy, Lore, and More (discussing Empty Hands). https://melindakucsera.com/2024/01/28/fantasy-lore-more-empty-hands/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJpv-rLwfRM&t=206shttps://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/melinda-kucsera/episodes/Fantasy--Lore---More-Empty-Hands-e2f1cvq/a-aat8dd0Thanks for listening!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Like what you see or hear? Consider supporting the show over at Thirteenth Hour Arts on Patreon or adding to my virtual tip jar over at Ko-fi. Join the Thirteenth Hour Arts Group over on Facebook, a growing community of creative people.Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2024/04/08/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-452-experimenting-with-ai-vocals-to-see-if-i-can-turn-my-male-voice-female/

Originally aired on June 5, 2023.This week, I'm working on the coverart for the upcoming next Thirteenth Hour soundtrack LP, Once Upon a Dream. The AI art images I used as inspiration back in episode 406 were helpful in confirming the kind of look I was going for as well as the color scheme - mostly an 80s palate of hot pink, blues, purples, and the obligatory rainbow trail.At the time, I'd done a quick sketch using the ideas I had: See the pictures at: https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2023/06/05/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-408-making-the-once-upon-a-dream-cover/I used the pixelart creation software Pix2d and Photoshop to make the cover. One of the first things I did was make a pixelart cliff, castle, and sunset.Then I added Aurora to the pixelart Logan I made back in college:Together, with some tweaks in Photoshop and a pixelart Palace of the Winds, here's what I have so far:I'll keep working on the rest of the coverart while letting this one marinate for awhile. One step closer to the next LP release! Thanks for listening!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞Check out the growing line of Thirteenth Hour toys and other products on the Thirteenth Hour Studio Etsy store (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio). There are a number of custom figures from retro films being sold for charity that available there as well. Check out this collaboration with past show guest Jeff Finley on handpan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iK8lTEQoc_gFollow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.Check it out!As always, thanks for listening!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Like what you see or hear? Consider supporting the show over at Thirteenth Hour Arts on Patreon or adding to my virtual tip jar over at Ko-fi. Join the Thirteenth Hour Arts Group over on Facebook, a growing community of creative people.Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!

Originally aired on May 22,2023.This week, I'm working on the coverart for the upcoming next Thirteenth Hour soundtrack LP, Once Upon a Dream. I've had ideas percolating for a number of years about what I wanted it to look like but as an experiment, I decided to see if one of the many AI art generators (in this case, a very cool, free app called Diffusitron) could provide additional inspiration. I'm fairly new to using these programs, and I would never call myself an early adopter of such things generally. However, they are really cool! As mentioned in the episode, I take a more optimistic view of these programs that some do. Yes, there are issues in terms of potential changing or loss of work, copyright and compensation issues, and so forth, but I suspect it will just give artists new tools to work with, kind of like how electronic music production programs gave musicians additional means to create music that would have been much more time consuming and expensive to produce in years past. In any event, if the future really is now, I wanted to see if it could provide some inspiration and perhaps amplify the current ideas I had for the cover. Here are the keywords I fed into the program initially:See the pretty pictures at: https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2023/05/22/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-406-using-ai-art-as-inspiration-for-the-once-upon-a-dream-lp-cover/When I added the keyword, pixelated, I got ones that looked a bit more 8 bit.When I took out TRON style grid and synthwave and added The Neverending Story, Labyrinth, Rocketeer, Back to the Future, Flight of the Navigator, The Last Starfighter, here's what I got:This last one is perhaps my favorite, as it looks like the cover of an 8-bit NES game. I did a quite sketch using the ideas I already had and some of these new ones below which I will make in a pixel art creation program and in Photoshop over the next few weeks ......Thanks for listening!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Like what you see or hear? Consider supporting the show over at Thirteenth Hour Arts on Patreon or adding to my virtual tip jar over at Ko-fi. Join the Thirteenth Hour Arts Group over on Facebook, a growing community of creative people.Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!

Originally aired on May 8, 2023.This week, I'm working on the coverart for the track that I was working on in episode 402. The track itself is now done, and you can actually listen to it at the end of this episode or on Bandcamp. However, the picture to go with the track was not. I wanted it to be pixelart and decided to give a nod to some of the 80s and 90s films that influenced the story and themes in The Thirteenth Hour - films like Flight of the Navigator, The Last Starfighter, Back to the Future, The Rocketeer, and The Neverending Story. I used the silver ship, Max, from Flight of the Navigator, the Delorean from Back to the Future, the Gunstar from The Last Starfighter, Atreyu riding Falkor from The Neverending Story, and Cliff Secord from The Rocketeer - all fliers - flanking the pixelart Logan that I made decades ago. In true form, Logan is flying through the air leaving a rainbow exhaust trail (where the track gets its name).Speaking of Flight of the Navigator, the slow intro that I used for this track was meant to be a direct ode also to the most excellent soundtrack of that film done by Alan Silvestri (who also did the Back to the Future soundtrack). You can actually find the whole soundtrack on Youtube:https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLq6QtwrGW1_9HF_LyRS1DNvCl8slXcYNOListen to the track in full here! https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/track/riding-a-rainbow∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Like what you see or hear? Consider supporting the show over at Thirteenth Hour Arts on Patreon or adding to my virtual tip jar over at Ko-fi. Join the Thirteenth Hour Arts Group over on Facebook, a growing community of creative people.Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2023/05/08/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-404-musical-interlude-finishing-riding-a-rainbow-part-2/

Originally aired on April 24, 2023.This week, I'm starting work on another music track that I've been meaning to make for a long time. There's this section of The Thirteenth Hour where the main character, Logan, who is shipwrecked and bereft of anything to help him on his mission, encounters a magical flying hoverboard he calls Lightning that he can communicate with that can play also play music as it flies. More at: https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2023/04/24/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-402-musical-interlude-making-riding-a-rainbow-part-1/∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Like what you see or hear? Consider supporting the show over at Thirteenth Hour Arts on Patreon or adding to my virtual tip jar over at Ko-fi. Join the Thirteenth Hour Arts Group over on Facebook, a growing community of creative people.Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!

Originally April 17, 2023.This week, I'm finishing the battle theme I started in episode 399. When that episode was done, I tweaked the theme a bit more but it just didn't feel finished. However, I couldn't put my finger on what it needed. I experimented with a few ideas, some in my mind, some digitally or on the keyboard ... but it never quite worked. Shortly before I recorded this episode, the muse finally came. I was inspired by imagery around the Armorer character in the Star Wars show, The Mandalorian. The Armorer is a mysterious helmeted character who serves as the spiritual mentor and historian of her tribe and is not only the leader but also the tribe blacksmith, making their weapons and armor. The are a number of scenes that show her at the forge, working with molten metal, pounding into shape with her tongs and hammer, and sometimes even using those same tools offensively with great skill. I think this is from the first season of the show (as an aside, if you have not seen the series but are a fan of the Rocketeer, this show is probably about as close as we'll get to a modern day show of helmeted heroes flying around on rocketpacks, of which there are many most excellent scenes):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f95vJDnpQroIn any event, since the track was partly inspired by the rhythm of the 1984 Terminator theme by Brad Feidel, which has metal on metal machine noises, I thought that what the track needed was not addition melody; it needed percussion - specifically the sound of metal hammering on metal. I experimented with a number of sounds until I decided to use a tuning fork hitting a metal weight. I added that part with some reverb and echo effects to the latter part of the track. To be uploaded to Bandcamp once I've listened to a few more times to see if there needs to be any last minute tweaking.Edit: it's available at https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/track/frontal-assault-the-thirteenth-hour-battle-theme∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Like what you see or hear? Consider supporting the show over at Thirteenth Hour Arts on Patreon or adding to my virtual tip jar over at Ko-fi. Join the Thirteenth Hour Arts Group over on Facebook, a growing community of creative people.Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2023/04/17/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-401-musical-interlude-finishing-battle-theme-part-2/

Originally aired on April 10, 2023.https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2023/04/10/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-400-episode-400-retrospective-and-celebration/This week is the 400th episode of this podcast! It's a special one, and perhaps the biggest one yet, as we hear from guests over the show's nine year run. The range of topics covered pretty much touch on many of the things this podcast he also touched upon over the years. Over the course of this mammoth (almost 3 hour!) episode, you will hear from the following past guests: Joshua Robertson - fantasy author Antonio Sacchetti - video game developer Tammy Infusino - musician and vocalist on the 2019 Rocketeer cartoon soundtrack Esther Gonzalez-Murray - production coordination on the 2019 Rocketeer cartoon Dan Salgarolo - writer's assistant on the 2019 Rocketeer cartoon Shawn and Colin from the podcast, I Used to Like This One EzDean Fassassi - Tibetan medicine practitioner and author Raphael Xavier - bboy and Princeton University dance professor Andrew Adams - drummer, martial artist, and podcaster representing the martial arts company, Whistlekick Joseph Esch - model maker and vintage toy collector Adam Crohn - podcaster, 80s enthusiast, custom action figure and toy designer Brian Fies - author and comic book illustrator Jeff Finley - musician and film producer behind the Brentumentary Chad Derdowski - author and illustrator Jeremy Blum - writer, TTRPG DM, and most importantly, my brotherOne last bonus before you head out. Brian Fies (see above) did this most excellent Rocketeer illustration for an upcoming charity auction to the group Zoom session to share, and he gave permission to share with everyone here. A lucky buyer is going to luck out! Go get 'em, kid!Thanks for listening!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack! Like what you see or hear? Consider supporting the show over at Thirteenth Hour Arts on Patreon or adding to my virtual tip jar over at Ko-fi. Join the Thirteenth Hour Arts Group over on Facebook, a growing community of creative people. Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music. Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack. Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape. Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.com Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!

Originally aired on April 3, 2023.This week, I'm starting the process of creating a battle theme for the next Thirteenth Hour soundtrack LP. It will also serve as one of the pieces of music playing when there is a fight during the Thirteenth Hour mini DnD campaigns over on Patreon. During this episode, I experiment with a number of voicings as well as melodic parts added to an underlying driving bass/drum backing part. I was influenced by the 1984 Terminator theme done by Brad Feidel which has a similar mix of a melody laid on top of a distinct, metal on metal percussion track.Will post the updated tracks once I finish recording them. Next week, episode 400!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Like what you see or hear? Consider supporting the show over at Thirteenth Hour Arts on Patreon or adding to my virtual tip jar over at Ko-fi. Join the Thirteenth Hour Arts Group over on Facebook, a growing community of creative people.Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2023/04/03/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-399-musical-interlude-creating-battle-theme/

Originally aired on March 27, 2023.This week, I'm starting to make a few last tracks for the next Thirteenth Hour soundtrack LP - just when I think it's done, I realize there are things I wanted to stick in there but forgot to. They're all quite short but since realizing that I can incorporate music in the the mini DnD Thirteenth Hour campaigns over on Patreon, these tracks will also serve another function as well - becoming the real time soundtrack to the gameplay. This track is for one of the main characters from the book, Aurora, and it combines two pieces of music that involve her that I have actually already written. If possible, I have been trying to time musical themes together into a more cohesive whole rather than making distinct tracks that do not seem to relate to each other musically. I hope that will tie the different albums together but also make it a more cohesive listening experience. This track ties in a piece of music I made back in 2017 (episodes 120 and 122) with another piece I actually wrote many years ago that I have since reworked a bit and intended for a future album also in the key of G. This week, they are joined together instrumentally as Aurora's theme!Will post the updated tracks once I finish recording them.Edit: it's now out at https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/track/auroras-theme∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Like what you see or hear? Consider supporting the show over at Thirteenth Hour Arts on Patreon or adding to my virtual tip jar over at Ko-fi. Join the Thirteenth Hour Arts Group over on Facebook, a growing community of creative people.Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2023/03/27/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-398-musical-interlude-creating-auroras-theme/

Originally aired on November 7, 2022.This past week, I worked on finishing a track started back in Episode 364 accompanying a short segment from The Thirteenth Hour where Logan meets his crewmates again in a dream. When I finished the episode, I put it aside since it didn't quite feel done, but I couldn't put my finger on what it needed. I tossed around a number of ideas for a time, but it was not until recently that I hit on the right sound - the additional of a choral backing track and modifying the bell-like lead with a wah-wah sound to make it sound more ethereal. I do think this is the last track for the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack! Now, I have to put it all together, make sure it has the finishing touches, and make the packaging. I think the Thirteenth Hour action figures (basically done!) and the magnet dolls will be accompanying this album.Thanks for listening!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Like what you see or hear? Consider supporting the show over at Thirteenth Hour Arts on Patreon or adding to my virtual tip jar over at Ko-fi. Join the Thirteenth Hour Arts Group over on Facebook, a growing community of creative people.Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!

Originally aired on August 15, 2022.This week, we’re doing two things - adding to a track we started in episode 364 and reading another segment from Dragon Fall by Lee J. Hindle. The track I'll be adding to is for the next Thirteenth Hour soundtrack album. It's an additional layer to complement what we did before. I also came up with a variation of it for another part of the book that uses the same central theme; just a different voicing. We will also be starting Chapter 2 of the 1984 novel, Dragon Fall. It's pure 80s overload!More coming in subsequent weeks!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞This summer, if you're looking for an adult of child mask, check out Thirteenth Hour mask combo package on Etsy. This fall, it became really hard to find good quality masks for our kids as they were going back to school. There are still long wait times for some of the companies we like best, so I thought, why not try to find an alternative? I eventually settled on the triple layer masks available for printing on by the company Flashbay. They were one of the few companies I found that were transparent about their third party safety data (Junior: https://static.flashbay.com/images/certificates/Junior_REACH.pdf?v=1617870020, Adult: https://static.flashbay.com/images/certificates/Sky_Performance.pdf?v=1603078812) which is nice. I was impressed by how well these masks performed on the filtration tests, even after repeat washings. Also, I really liked how both the ears and nose piece could be adjusted for a good fit.The Thirteenth Hour mask combo also comes with Thirteenth Hour hand sanitizer! (But of course.)There are now Thirteenth Hour toys! If you'd like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there. If the past few months have got you needing a break, you may want to chill out to this 80s synth throwback track for a upcoming LP with the accompanying music video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQTPuv-cJQg&t=22sEmpty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp. Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.Check it out![spotify id="spotify:user:jsblum:playlist:0UEHg7euO45dtmZTbH1akD" width="300" height="380" /]As always, thanks for listening!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Like what you see or hear? Consider supporting the show over at Thirteenth Hour Arts on Patreon or adding to my virtual tip jar over at Ko-fi. Join the Thirteenth Hour Arts Group over on Facebook, a growing community of creative people.Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!

Originally aired on August 1, 2022.This week, I'm making one last track for the next Thirteenth Hour soundtrack album. Just when I think it's done, I think of another track I want to make. I think that's because I really do think of all these tracks as accompaniments to various sections in the books. The nice thing about that is once you find a central theme (e.g. elements of The Thirteenth Hour theme is one), you can repeat and vary it throughout depending on the needs of the scene. This one goes along with a short segment from The Thirteenth Hour where Logan meets his crewmates again in a dream. You can read that section on the original show notes at https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2022/08/01/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-364-musical-interlude-creating-im-here-youre-not/The track we're making today is basically a slow reworking of The Thirteenth Hour theme, similar to what I did with Empty Hands and the meditative theme that became the music video of pixelated Logan flying through the clouds. This track is most similar to the latter but won't have the angelic accents that that track ended up with. I'd like to give it a more somber tone to fit with the nature of the passage above so will be thinking about which sounds would best pair with the base layer I made this week. I was thinking of something haunting, kind of like the sounds of a Theremin, but am not sure I can make that with my midi keyboard. But I may be able to find something close. We shall see! Stay tuned!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Like what you see or hear? Consider supporting the show over at Thirteenth Hour Arts on Patreon or adding to my virtual tip jar over at Ko-fi. Join the Thirteenth Hour Arts Group over on Facebook, a growing community of creative people.Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!

Originally aired on March 28, 2022.This week, I'm working on the last piece in the upcoming second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack. The track, called "Homecoming" is an incidental piece of music I made back in the summer but wasn't sure how to finish. But today, I'm wrapping it up by adding two additional layers - a short melody for the "verses" using a xylophone sound (to invoke the feeling of nostalgia/childhood) as well as a choral vocal overlay. The draft plays at the end of the episode. A few pictures from part of the book that inspired this piece:Next week, we're going to do another Q and A episode! If you have questions or things you'd like to share, feel free to email me them at [email protected].∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞This spring, if you're looking for an adult of child mask, check out Thirteenth Hour mask combo package on Etsy. This fall, it became really hard to find good quality masks for our kids as they were going back to school. There are still long wait times for some of the companies we like best, so I thought, why not try to find an alternative? I eventually settled on the triple layer masks available for printing on by the company Flashbay. They were one of the few companies I found that were transparent about their third party safety data (Junior: https://static.flashbay.com/images/certificates/Junior_REACH.pdf?v=1617870020, Adult: https://static.flashbay.com/images/certificates/Sky_Performance.pdf?v=1603078812) which is nice. I was impressed by how well these masks performed on the filtration tests, even after repeat washings. Also, I really liked how both the ears and nose piece could be adjusted for a good fit.The Thirteenth Hour mask combo also comes with Thirteenth Hour hand sanitizer! (But of course.)There are now Thirteenth Hour toys! If you'd like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there. If the past few months have got you needing a break, you may want to chill out to this 80s synth throwback track for a upcoming LP with the accompanying music video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQTPuv-cJQg&t=22sEmpty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp. Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.Check it out![spotify id="spotify:user:jsblum:playlist:0UEHg7euO45dtmZTbH1akD" width="300" height="380" /]As always, thanks for listening!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Like what you see or hear? Consider supporting the show over at Thirteenth Hour Arts on Patreon or adding to my virtual tip jar over at Ko-fi. Join the Thirteenth Hour Arts Group over on Facebook, a growing community of creative people.Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!

Originally aired on March 7, 2022.This week, I'm working on two music pieces - one of the last tracks from the upcoming second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack. The song, called "No Hero (The Future is Here)" is basically the equivalent of the soundtrack's ending track (like a song that would play over the ending credits). Some previews:https://www.instagram.com/reel/CakaktDhREt/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_linkhttps://www.instagram.com/reel/CanVCs6BWnG/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_linkI'm working on the backing synth track today. The version on the podcast was an early warmup. At the time of this writing, many, many frustrating recording attempts (and hours) later, I do have a version of the backing track that is 95% done. Speaking of ending tracks, I've also been playing around with the ending song from the US release of Legend, which we'll be talking about in the coming week. The song playing as the movie ends is "Loved by the Sun" by Tangerine Dream and sung by Jon Anderson from the band Yes. I'm just messing around with on the guitar with my kids in the version on the podcast, but here is a much better orchestral version of the song done by kids with the O'Keefe Music Foundation, a nonprofit that provides free music instruction to children. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kE9I8eGgJfoLook for more on Legend next week and the release of Once Upon a Dream later this year!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Like what you see or hear? Consider supporting the show over at Thirteenth Hour Arts on Patreon or adding to my virtual tip jar over at Ko-fi. Join the Thirteenth Hour Arts Group over on Facebook, a growing community of creative people.Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2024/06/24/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-463-update-on-theres-a-wild-heart-beating-acoustic-live-more-work-on-no-hero/

Originally aired on July 19, 2021.Awhile back, I ordered some lenticular 3D cards from the French company, Pops, which did the lenticular wiggle cards for the resin figurines I made. They now have smaller form 3D cards that will serve as contest rewards. What's the contest, you ask? It's a review contest. If you can help the show get more Apple Podcasts reviews and are the 5th or 10th listener to write in, I'll send you one of the cards!I also start working on a slow instrumental synth track for next The Thirteenth Hour soundtrack LP. Thanks for listening!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞There are now Thirteenth Hour toys! If you'd like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there. If the past few months have got you needing a break, you may want to chill out to this 80s synth throwback track for a upcoming LP with the accompanying music video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQTPuv-cJQg&t=22sEmpty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp. Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.Check it out![spotify id="spotify:user:jsblum:playlist:0UEHg7euO45dtmZTbH1akD" width="300" height="380" /]As always, thanks for listening!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Like what you see or hear? Consider supporting the show over at Thirteenth Hour Arts on Patreon or adding to my virtual tip jar over at Ko-fi. Join the Thirteenth Hour Arts Group over on Facebook, a growing community of creative people.Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2021/07/19/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-310-apple-review-contest-and-thirteenth-hour-homecoming-instrumental-track/

Originally aired on May 10, 2021.https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2021/05/10/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-300-special-anniversary-podcast-edition-and-like-a-hood-ornament-27-watching-the-rocketeer-cartoon-episode-8-with-my-daughter/Welcome to episode 300! This show has been going in some fashion since 2014 and continuously since early 2015 so in commemoration, I've gathered together a few clips from past episodes and time when I've been guests of fellow podcasters discussing some aspects of The Thirteenth Hour. We start off with a short clip from my first podcast in this format (since the first 15 had been just reading aloud from an earlier draft of The Thirteenth Hour pre-publication to try to catch errors). We recently had Paul and Ric from the Classic Gamers Guild on the show to talk about the making of their pixelart adventure game, though in Jan of 2020, I was actually a guest on their show to discuss The Rocketeer (of course). I have included a little segment that talks about the age of the show at that time and what it is about. You can listen to their full episode here: https://www.cggpodcast.com/e/water-cooler-4/Some years before, when I was living in New England, I was interviewed on his radio show, The Author's Hour, fellow author Wayne Barber hosted me on his show. There's an excerpt here about what The Thirteenth Hour is about and what so many of the things touched upon in this show have been about over the years. Just one episode before, my brother, Jeremy, had just been on (my first guest!) to talk about the homebrew games we attempted to make in the 90s (which we circled back to in episode 298 with Ric and Paul). The full episode (#30) is below, but Jeremy comes on the show briefly today to talk about what he's been up to. Find more of his writing over at https://pixelgrotto.tumblr.com/.Our next guest for today, Adam from @mom_gave_them_away, who has been on the show a number of times before (see below for one of those times) comes on to share what he has been doing and what he is passionate about. One of the great things about the show (and the reason I've kept doing it these past 6 years) is that through it, I've met so many talented, creative people I probably wouldn't have encountered otherwise.At the same time we recorded the show linked above (#220), we also recorded one for Adam's show. I've included a clip in this episode (about Spacecamp and other 80s movies), and you can listen to the full episode on Spotify above or on his Patreon.To do the next episode of The Rocketeer cartoon (#8), this week, my daughter joins for the whole segment. It was a happy little coincidence that in the first clip on this show (from episode #16), she was an infant, and here, she's almost 7. It was a great thing to be able to do with her.∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack! Like what you see or hear? Consider supporting the show over at Thirteenth Hour Arts on Patreon or adding to my virtual tip jar over at Ko-fi. Join the Thirteenth Hour Arts Group over on Facebook, a growing community of creative people. Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music. Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack. Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape. Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.com Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!

Originally aired on March 1, 2021This week's show piggybacks off last week's episode and the Patreon exclusive episode that came out last week. We're making the slow, meditative Thirteenth Hour theme that was playing in the background of last week's episode and then creating a visual for it in Adobe Premiere. I always thought that cloudscape scenes were peaceful and naturally meditative, so I'm using that a stock footage first person cloudscape as a background as well as some pixelart animations of Logan that I created years ago. Here's the end result:https://youtu.be/Pd_qfZCc4D0Speaking of music, the song "Many Miles" debuted this past week. It ended up taking 6 years, but I'm glad with how it ended up turning out! https://www.instagram.com/reel/CLXNZk_Bz2T/?igshid=enga3ubaar16As always, thanks for listening!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Like what you see or hear? Consider supporting the show over at Thirteenth Hour Arts on Patreon or adding to my virtual tip jar over at Ko-fi. Join the Thirteenth Hour Arts Group over on Facebook, a growing community of creative people.Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2021/03/01/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-290-making-a-slow-meditative-thirteenth-hour-theme-track-and-accompanying-cloudscape-video/

Originally aired February 22, 2021.This week's episode comes at a time of increasing national and global anxiety about the future, and as inhabitants on this rock orbiting a star on the edge of the Milky Way, we're subject to the milieu of the environment, and unfortunately, there's a lot of angst in the soup. And as anyone who's ever had a muscle cramp can attest, the way around a cramp is not with more tension, it's relaxing into it - leaning in to the pain. In this episode, I talk about the concept of the "receiving body" (ukemi in Japanese, though usually translated as "breakfall"). If we meet the impact of a blow or a fall head on, we play a game of structural strength with the opposing force. When you play that game with the ground, you always lose (unless you are Chuck Norris, of course). Just as a good training partner (uke, a.k.a. "receiver") is able to flow with an attacker and ride off (or simulate) the impact of an attack so his partner can learn how the body moves and responds, doing a good ukemi means never making a dead landing. It means rolling with the force of the fall as best you can. The ability to relax the body in such situations is counter-intuitive, since the natural instinct is to brace for impact, but remember, the ground always wins in a game of strength. Ukemi is not limited to the physical, though. We are always receiving bodies of the slings and arrows that life throws at us. There, too, the ability to relax is counter-intuitive. Thankfully, as with breakfalls, the ability to relax into potential pain can be taught and practiced. We all have the ability within ourselves. In this episode, I talk about one of the simplest (though I didn't say easiest), most natural (again, natural does not mean intuitive) things we all know how to do - breathing. It does take a bit of practice to do it in a way that slows things down to a more manageable pace, but the good news is that once you know how to do it, you can practice deep, slow breathing almost anywhere, anytime, and it doesn't have to be during a time of official "meditation" (I did it the other day in a dentist's chair). If the music playing during the breathing segment sounds familiar, it's because it's similar to the intro podcast music. It's a slow reworking of The Thirteenth Hour theme. For Patreon supporters, watch for an exclusive podcast episode on it sometimes this week as well as a longer stretch to accompany the breathing exercise. I'll make an accompanying video soon as well.Speaking of music, the song "Many Miles" debuts tomorrow. It ended up taking 6 years, but I'm glad with how it ended up turning out! As always, thanks for listening!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Like what you see or hear? Consider supporting the show over at Thirteenth Hour Arts on Patreon or adding to my virtual tip jar over at Ko-fi. Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2021/02/22/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-289-knowing-yourself-relaxing-into-existential-angst-and-deep-breathing-with-thirteenth-hour-reading/

Originally aired on October 5, 2020.This week, there was so much "housekeeping" business to take care of, I made it a whole episode. Here's the lineup:-I am just about done the title track, "Once Upon a Dream," for the next Thirteenth Hour soundtrack LP. I finally figured out what was missing from the backing part. More synth (there's a surprise). Then it all fit together. It's odd, in a way, since the beat is fast (120 bpm), but the vocals are actually quite slow, much slower than I anticipated. So there's an alternating ascending / descending note progression that can be heard in the background (that's the new part) that helps to bridge the gap between the tempo of the beat and the speed of the vocals. This version can be heard at the end of the episode.-Speaking of synth, check out the weekly podcast, SR Weekly. Steven, the host, who goes by the alias Synth Redneck, used to host his show on youtube but has since moved it over to an audio only format that is available on major podcasting platforms. If you check out the 9/16/20 episode, you'll hear The Thirteenth Hour synth orchestra theme as one of the selections in that week's set. If you're a synth musician yourself, you can submit your music for consideration to be included in a future episode or just check out the lineup with each episode to discover some great new music.-By the way, proceeds from the next Thirteenth Hour LP, Once Upon a Dream, will also be donated to the organization Corazon de Vida (see last week's episode). If you are also interested in helping to support their mission, learn more at https://www.corazondevida.org/get-involved. Join me and others at the virtual event that Corazon de Vida is throwing on 10/29/20 at 7 PM PST by clicking on the picture below or here.-Speaking of guests, next week's we'll be hearing from author and illustrator Brian Fies, of works such as What Ever Happened to the World of Tomorrow? for another installment of the Like a Hood Ornament Rocketeer segment. I hope also to have finished the short story, "The Last Rocketeer" in time for that episode, since they are tied together serendipitously, as we'll discuss in the episode.-Speaking of other creative folks, check out frequent podcast guest Adam of ACToyDesign on Patreon for an exclusive podcast all about toys, including a lot of retro 80s content.-This year, Halloween falls on a Saturday, always a treat when you're a kid (at least it was that way when I was a kid and you could spend all day out collecting bags a bags of candy - one year, I collected two whole pillowcases). Stay tuned! I'll try to come up with something special for the end of the month!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Like what you see or hear? Consider supporting the show over at Thirteenth Hour Arts on Patreon or adding to my virtual tip jar over at Ko-fi. Join the Thirteenth Hour Arts Group over on Facebook, a growing community of creative people.Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2020/10/05/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-269-october-updates-and-most-recent-draft-of-once-upon-a-dream/

Originally aired on September 21, 2020.This week, I'm wrapping up "Once Upon a Dream" and discussing more on the idea of creating a creative arts collective. Last week, I created a private Facebook group called Thirteenth Hour Arts - For Creators, Not Haters. Many thanks to all who joined!This week, I'm launching a Patreon of the same name and idea - a place to share in the creative process, though more specific to things related to the creation of The Thirteenth Hour books, music, podcast, pictures, figures, and the like, as well all the other things that have influenced those properties. Hopefully, people will be able to share what they do as well so we can all build off each others' creative energy.You can go to the Pateron by clicking the picture below or going here:∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Like what you see or hear? Consider supporting the show over at my virtual tip jar over at Ko-fi. Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2020/09/21/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-267-wrapping-up-once-upon-a-dream-and-creative-community-3-start-of-thirteenth-hour-arts-patreon/

Originally aired on September 20, 2014.This week, I'm adding vocals to "Once Upon a Dream" and discussing more on the idea of creating a creative arts collective. To start, I ended up creating a private Facebook group called Thirteenth Hour Arts - For Creators, Not Haters.Here's the premise I've copied from my inaugural post there:Welcome to The Thirteenth Hour Arts Collective - a place to create, not hate!There are so many ways to be creative in the world. Although I publicly create books, music, and toys for The Thirteenth Hour stories, those are informed by a number of other things, like 80s films, new wave music, martial arts, dance, and so forth.I'm sure you have or had many things in your own life that are kind of the same. Please share them here - you may inspire someone else (or yourself) to make time and space for creative pursuits!When Logan's hoverboard flies in The Thirteenth Hour, it emits a cloud of rainbow colored smoke. There were rainbows all over the place in the 80s (Rainbow Brite, Skittles, Reading Rainbow, etc), and if not exactly rainbows, plenty of kids' shows used the idea of different colors coming together to represent strength or unity through diversity and/or teamwork (Voltron, Captain Planet, etc). Rainbows encourage us to look off into the distance, towards that ephemeral spot where the rainbow ends. To me, they have always represented hope and possibility for the future, so I'm using them as a symbol for this group to represent creativity, especially the diversity of creative pursuits and people that practice them in hopes that it can be something we all share in and benefit from. ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Like what you see or hear? Consider supporting the show over at my virtual tip jar over at Ko-fi. Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!

Originally aired on September 7, 2020.This week, I'm continuing to record the backing tracks for "Once Upon a Dream" - the solo, the chorus, and so forth. Next will be the vocals, the outro riffs, and maybe a few electric guitar accents here and there.Speaking of which, I thought it might be a nice thing to add some of the magnet dolls I talked about recently as part of the special edition of the Once Upon a Dream LP. Here are the magnet dolls, by the way, of Logan and Aurora plus all their stuff:In the latter part of the podcast, I talk about the idea of trying to create some kind of online community to showcase the creative process. I touch on that in many of these podcasts, and I've been thinking about trying to help people showcase the creative things they do in their own lives. In may ways, that's one of the messages of The Thirteenth Hour - creating the world you want to inhabit. You may have noticed that on my Instagram posts, I have little emoticons before the post, kind of like these: 👾🎤📖🎸🍓🎨🕹🏹🙋🏽‍♀️🤸🏼‍♂️🌈🎭🎬I've organized the different kinds of art types by sense, more or less, to showcase themSight🎨 - visual art (e.g. paintings, illustrations, sketches, sculptures ...)🕹- digital worlds🎬 - films📖 - stories Sound🎤 - audio entertainment (e.g. podcasts, audiobooks ...)🎸 - music Taste / Smell🍓- food, gardens Touch⚒- tools made of metal, wood, plastic, ceramic ...🪑- furniture🏕- places to live📟 - electronics💍 - jewelry🧣- clothing🧸- toys Movement🏹 - safety, confidence, inner peace (e.g. through martial arts disciplines)🤸🏼‍♂️- movement, health (e.g. dance, gymnastics ...) Mind🙋🏽‍♀️- knowledge (e.g. through teaching)🎭 - characters (e.g. acting)👾 - memory👨‍👩‍👦‍👦 - community🌈 - hope and possibility, freedom of expressionEspecially in 2020, when there is so much turmoil in the world, we could all use a little positivity to bring out the better parts of humanity - our desire to explore and create - rather than human drama and politics.I've been thinking about creating a Facebook group for this for awhile or perhaps a Patreon community to do this. What do you think?∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Like what you see or hear? Consider supporting the show over at my virtual tip jar over at Ko-fi. Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!

Originally aired on August 31, 2020.This week, I'm working up and wrapping up few concurrent projects - starting the recording of the backing track for "Once Upon a Dream" discussed last on episode 261 and finishing up a little "kitbashed" minifigure of Aurora from The Thirteenth Hour discussed a bit last episode. The magnet dolls discussed last episode are in the editing process, so I'll be printing those out soon!One of Aurora's costumes is this one from a picture in the book:I've been working on a custom miniature of Aurora in this outfit made from a few different Wonder Woman mini figures.I ended up using parts from all three different verions of these little Wonder Women to make the figure, plus some Apoxie Sculpt clay and paint. These are the pics from last week. Here's what the finished figure looks like:These pictures are viewable at: https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2020/08/31/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-264-starting-the-recording-process-for-once-upon-a-dream-and-custom-minifigure-making/∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Like what you see or hear? Consider supporting the show over at my virtual tip jar over at Ko-fi. Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!

Originally aired on August 10, 2020.This week, I'm working on the title track from the next Thirteenth Hour soundtrack LP, Once Upon a Dream. I have the keyboard riffs and the lyrics mostly done and am now trying to figure out how they go together. I've recorded a bare bones version here with just the vocals and the piano chords, which is how many of these songs start. In the coming week's, I'll be refining the skeleton of the song as I figure out how the different riffs work into the song, where the backing beat will come in, how the solo will sound, etc.In the Like a Hood Ornament segment, I'm talking a bit about how my kids and I have been working on a costume paper mache rocketpack for my daughter for Halloween (she'd like to be Kit Secord from the cartoon, who you can see at the bottom of these images below).Viewable at: https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2020/08/10/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-261-musical-interlude-the-making-of-once-upon-a-dream-and-like-a-hood-ornament-16-the-last-rocketeer-and-kit-secord-rocketpack-updates/We still have to figure out how to attach straps, and I'm wondering if it might be fun to figure out how to light up the engines and/or attach the little banks of purple LEDs on the bottom that this version of the pack has. Maybe we'll make an electrical switch wired to the gloves, like in the movie.Also, the next segment of the fanfic short story, "The Last Rocketeer," describing a team-up between Centauri from The Last Starfighter and a 71 year-old Cliff Secord who has long since given up being the Rocketeer (but secretly wants one last flight) is up.You can read the first chapter on Wattpad here: https://www.wattpad.com/919346978-the-last-rocketeer-1-in-which-cliff-finds-aHere's part 2: https://www.wattpad.com/926948946-the-last-rocketeer-2-nighttime-visitorsAnd here's the section I was reading from in episode 260: https://www.wattpad.com/930869004-the-last-rocketeer-3-into-the-depths-of-hellThe first part of Chapter 4 is here: https://www.wattpad.com/934519790-the-last-rocketeer-4-in-which-the-proverbialMore coming next week!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Like what you see or hear? Consider supporting the show over at my virtual tip jar over at Ko-fi. Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!

Originally aired on July 13, 2020.On this week's show, I'm continuing the recording process to a song I started a number of months ago, "The Last Dance," last discussed on episodes 223, 224, 225, and 256. We're discussing the recording of the vocals as well as additional synth tracks, like a simple instrumental solo. Speaking of which, I added a voiceover to a track that I recently finished, "The Land of Dreams" (see below for the video or here for the audio track) to make the animations match up with the part of the The Thirteenth Hour the track accompanies. ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ There are now Thirteenth Hour toys! If you'd like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there. If the past few months have got you needing a break, you may want to chill out to this 80s synth throwback track for a upcoming LP with the accompanying music video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQTPuv-cJQg&t=22sEmpty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp. Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.Check it out![spotify id="spotify:user:jsblum:playlist:0UEHg7euO45dtmZTbH1akD" width="300" height="380" /]As always, thanks for listening!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Like what you see or hear? Consider supporting the show over at my virtual tip jar over at Ko-fi. Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!https://www.instagram.com/tv/CCh6wtpFHFG/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2020/07/13/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-257-musical-interlude-recording-vocals-and-layered-synths-for-the-last-dance/

Originally aired on July 6, 2020.On this week's show, I'm starting the formal recording process to a song I started a number of months ago, "The Last Dance," last discussed on episodes 223, 224, and 225. I got stuck for awhile since the original way I'd conceptualized the song was much slower. It took awhile for it to evolve in my mind and to work out how to play certain parts and sing some sections within my vocal range more comfortably. The song starts out without no accompanying beat, and although I knew I wanted to fold one in later in the song, the original tempo felt too slow, and I wasn't sure how to make it work. I eventually stumbled on the right speed (120 beats/min), which in may ways felt right, as it fit the 80s new wave songs that I've always liked. (E.g. "If You Leave" by OMD from the Pretty in Pink soundtrack is also 120 bpm.) The original, stripped down, slower version I had originally envisioned may still work but probably not with my vocals or this arrangement. This speed probably also fits better with the other songs on the upcoming album this one will be on. In the next few weeks, watch for the final iteration of this song once I record the vocals and a few other layers for the chorus and outro. Once that's done, I think it'd be fun to add a pixelart visual for it since there are no pictures of this part of The Thirteenth Hour, and it'd be a fun illustration, with lots of fantastical creatures (faeries, elves, griffins, unicorns, a backflipping chimp, and many other dancing animals) besides our protagonists, Logan and Aurora, awkwardly trying to navigate the beginnings of young love, with all its stops and starts, trials and tribulations, and bittersweet awkward moments familiar to anyone who's been there and/or watched a teen movie. ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ There are now Thirteenth Hour toys! If you'd like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there. If the past few months have got you needing a break, you may want to chill out to this 80s synth throwback track for a upcoming LP with the accompanying music video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQTPuv-cJQg&t=22sEmpty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp. Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.Check it out![spotify id="spotify:user:jsblum:playlist:0UEHg7euO45dtmZTbH1akD" width="300" height="380" /]As always, thanks for listening!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Like what you see or hear? Consider supporting the show over at my virtual tip jar over at Ko-fi. Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2020/07/06/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-256/

Originally aired on December 2, 2019.This week, I continue work on a ballad written from the perspective of Aurora from The Thirteenth Hour from a passage in the book where our young protagonists are starting to realize that there might be more to their relationship than just friendship. I've been fiddling with adding a beat to the song and was listening to two examples - one by Debbie Gibson ("Lost in Your Eyes") which adds a beat after a piano intro riff and another by Alphaville ("Forever Young") which actually has no backing beat at all in the original version until about 1 and a quarter minutes into the song.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ms3mJFkSeg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1TcDHrkQYgOriginal show notes: https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2019/12/02/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-225-musical-interlude-the-making-of-the-last-dance-part-3/∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ There are now Thirteenth Hour toys! If you'd like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there. If you haven't checked out "Arcade Days," the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I finished last winter, click on the link below to do so!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6MD6UCYeQ4You can find more pictures and preview clips of "Arcade Days" on IG as well as this podcast's FB page.Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp. Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.Check it out![spotify id="spotify:user:jsblum:playlist:0UEHg7euO45dtmZTbH1akD" width="300" height="380" /]As always, thanks for listening!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Like what you see or hear? Consider supporting the show over at my virtual tip jar over at Ko-fi. Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!

Originally aired on November 25, 2019.This week, I continue work on a ballad written from the perspective of Aurora from The Thirteenth Hour from a passage in the book where our young protagonists are starting to realize that there might be more to their relationship than just friendship. Last week I had a rough draft of the lyrics. This week, I'm singing the second draft and playing the chords on the keyboard.While I was practicing the intro riff, I kept wanting to play the theme from the 1991 movie, The Rocketeer, scored by James Horner. It's not surprising since it's one of my favorite soundtracks and one of my most favorite movies of all time, though I've never tried figuring out the intro theme, which is played partly on the piano if I'm not mistaken.I'm playing it in the key of C, just like "The Last Dance," which is probably why the two kept getting mixed up in my head, even though they don't sound much alike.https://www.instagram.com/p/B5PBnTMlstV/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_linkSpeaking of the Rocketeer, if you can find a copy of the Nov 2019 magazine, Fine Scale Modeler, you can find a picture of this most excellent painted Rocketeer figurine!See pictures for this episode at: https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2019/11/25/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-224-musical-interlude-the-making-of-the-last-dance-part-2-rocketeer-theme/∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ There are now Thirteenth Hour toys! If you'd like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there. If you haven't checked out "Arcade Days," the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I finished last winter, click on the link below to do so!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6MD6UCYeQ4You can find more pictures and preview clips of "Arcade Days" on IG as well as this podcast's FB page.Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp. Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.Check it out![spotify id="spotify:user:jsblum:playlist:0UEHg7euO45dtmZTbH1akD" width="300" height="380" /]As always, thanks for listening!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Like what you see or hear? Consider supporting the show over at my virtual tip jar over at Ko-fi. Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!

Originally aired on November 18, 2019.This week, I start work on a new ballad written from the perspective of Aurora from The Thirteenth Hour from this passage in the book where our young protagonists are starting to realize that there might be more to their relationship than just friendship. You can see the passage referred to on the original page of show notes here: https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2019/11/18/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-223-musical-interlude-the-making-of-the-last-dance-part-1/∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Like what you see or hear? Consider supporting the show over at my virtual tip jar over at Ko-fi. Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!

Originally aired on October 7, 2019.This week, I'm reading from a short excerpt from The Thirteenth Hour sent to a draft of a music track I just wrote to score this particular passage. It was done on the iOS app, Auxy, and was meant to be an ambient, introspective instrumental piece. Because skipping stones feature in the excerpt a few times, I tried to find synthesizer effects that sounded like splashes of water.For the text, please see the original post at https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2019/10/07/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-217-musical-interlude/∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!

Originally aired on September 9, 2019.This week, I'm finishing a track I started several years ago. When a sibling of one of my friends got engaged, I said I'd make a music track for them to commemorate the occasion. And then ... well, fast forward a few years. Still not done! All excuses aside, today is the day. I'm keeping my promise and finishing it. It's made with Auxy, like the track I finished last week. The draft (90-95% done) plays at the end of the episode. More at https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2019/09/09/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-213-musical-interlude-i-try-to-finish-a-chiptune-track-i-started-years-ago/Edit: the final version is here: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/track/our-place-in-the-worldIn the meantime, this page formerly had what I affectionately dubbed a "starving artist" section on little side hustles you could do (mostly on the internet, often with a phone) to make a few bucks here and there, often in gift cards. Well, now you can listen to this show (as well as other podcasts) and get paid to do so! Check out https://www.podcoin.com/ to listen to the show and start earning points that you can redeem for gift cards (Amazon, Target, Starbucks, etc) or donations to a number of charities. Use the code "Thirteen" when you sign up to get 300 extra points. The Thirteen Hour Podcast is now on BONUS this week, so you can earn more than normal (1.5x).Speaking of music, if you haven't checked out "Arcade Days," the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I have been working on the past year, click on the link below to do so!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6MD6UCYeQ4You can find more pictures and preview clips of "Arcade Days" on IG as well as this podcast's FB page.Between Two Worlds, the synth EP follow up to Long Ago Not So Far Away is now out for streaming on Bandcamp. The bonus track, called "Flight of the Cloudrider" has a 80s movie mashup music video (see if you can identify all the movies!) which is available on youtube. This app was largely created with the iphone app Auxy.Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.Check it out![spotify id="spotify:user:jsblum:playlist:0UEHg7euO45dtmZTbH1akD" width="300" height="380" /]As always, thanks for listening!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!

Originally aired on September 2, 2019.This week, I'm adding to the track I started back in Episode 208. I think it will eventually be used as accompaniment for flying sequence music videos or a video game with a flying pixelart Logan:https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2019/09/02/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-212-musical-interlude-chiptune-flying-track-2/For now, though, I've made a little pixelart still that I edited in Photoshop that will be the cover art for the track:A game is a long term project. For now, I'll probably just be making the musical tracks. In the episode, I also have a few updates on two other musical pieces I've been working on.Edit: a near final copy of the track is released here: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/track/a-dream-and-a-wishIn the meantime, this page formerly had what I affectionately dubbed a "starving artist" section on little side hustles you could do (mostly on the internet, often with a phone) to make a few bucks here and there, often in gift cards. Well, now you can listen to this show (as well as other podcasts) and get paid to do so! Check out https://www.podcoin.com/ to listen to the show and start earning points that you can redeem for gift cards (Amazon, Target, Starbucks, etc) or donations to a number of charities. Use the code "Thirteen" when you sign up to get 300 extra points. The Thirteen Hour Podcast is now on BONUS this week, so you can earn more than normal (1.5x).Speaking of music, if you haven't checked out "Arcade Days," the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I have been working on the past year, click on the link below to do so!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6MD6UCYeQ4You can find more pictures and preview clips of "Arcade Days" on IG as well as this podcast's FB page.Between Two Worlds, the synth EP follow up to Long Ago Not So Far Away is now out for streaming on Bandcamp. The bonus track, called "Flight of the Cloudrider" has a 80s movie mashup music video (see if you can identify all the movies!) which is available on youtube. This app was largely created with the iphone app Auxy.Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.Check it out!As always, thanks for listening!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!

Originally aired on August 26, 2019.This week, I'm using the iOS app Auxy to work on a variation of the synth track I started back in Episode 208. I think it will eventually be used as accompaniment for flying sequence music videos or a video game with a flying pixelart Logan:More at https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2019/08/26/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-211-musical-interlude-chiptune-flying-track-1/That, however, is a long term project. For now, I'll probably just be making the musical tracks. In the meantime, this page formerly had what I affectionately dubbed a "starving artist" section on little side hustles you could do (mostly on the internet, often with a phone) to make a few bucks here and there, often in gift cards. Well, now you can listen to this show (as well as other podcasts) and get paid to do so! Check out https://www.podcoin.com/ to listen to the show and start earning points that you can redeem for gift cards (Amazon, Target, Starbucks, etc) or donations to a number of charities. Use the code "Thirteen" when you sign up to get 300 extra points. The Thirteen Hour Podcast is now on BONUS this week, so you can earn more than normal (1.5x).[gallery ids="10506,10505" type="rectangular"]Speaking of music, if you haven't checked out "Arcade Days," the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I have been working on the past year, click on the link below to do so!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6MD6UCYeQ4You can find more pictures and preview clips of "Arcade Days" on IG as well as this podcast's FB page.Between Two Worlds, the synth EP follow up to Long Ago Not So Far Away is now out for streaming on Bandcamp. The bonus track, called "Flight of the Cloudrider" has a 80s movie mashup music video (see if you can identify all the movies!) which is available on youtube. This app was largely created with the iphone app Auxy.Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.Check it out![spotify id="spotify:user:jsblum:playlist:0UEHg7euO45dtmZTbH1akD" width="300" height="380" /]As always, thanks for listening!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!

Originally aired on August 5, 2019.This week, we’re discussing Empty Hands behind the scenes, specifically the influence of Dungeons and Dragons and the character creation process. Just like the D and D alignments, the eight Rangers in Empty Hands have their own specific alignment that informs which sidearm they are assigned. (If the idea of D and D morality alignments are as mysterious to you as they were to me before my brother explained them to me, check out the graphic I found on the internet below). The rest of the episode focuses on two new synth tracks. I add a second track to finish up "A Place of our Own" (see episodes 202 - 204 and the pixelart animation below).https://www.instagram.com/p/B0P9qs9FECp/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_linkhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk3XSV6H6w0I also start a new track that IG musician @nikeboyocta approached me about inspired by Van Halen's "Dreams" (video above). Look for more on IG and in coming weeks!-----------------In the meantime, this page formerly had what I affectionately dubbed a "starving artist" section on little side hustles you could do (mostly on the internet, often with a phone) to make a few bucks here and there, often in gift cards. Well, now you can listen to this show (as well as other podcasts) and get paid to do so! Check out https://www.podcoin.com/ to listen to the show and start earning points that you can redeem for gift cards (Amazon, Target, Starbucks, etc) or donations to a number of charities. Use the code "Thirteen" when you sign up to get 300 extra points. The Thirteen Hour Podcast is now on BONUS this week, so you can earn more than normal (1.5x). [gallery ids="10506,10505" type="rectangular"]Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.Check it out![spotify id="spotify:user:jsblum:playlist:0UEHg7euO45dtmZTbH1akD" width="300" height="380" /]As always, thanks for listening!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!

Originally aired on July 8, 2019.This week, I finished "A Place of Our Own" and experiment with distilling it down to a few key notes to make a theme for Aurora, one of the main protagonists for The Thirteenth Hour books.Edit: "A Place of Our Own" is here https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/track/a-place-of-our-ownIn other news, Empty Hands has an official launch date - 7/13/19! I'll probably be doing a little pixel art music video to go along with the launch of the album as well.In the meantime, this page formerly had what I affectionately dubbed a "starving artist" section on little side hustles you could do (mostly on the internet, often with a phone) to make a few bucks here and there, often in gift cards. Well, now you can listen to this show (as well as other podcasts) and get paid to do so! Check out https://www.podcoin.com/ to listen to the show and start earning points that you can redeem for gift cards (Amazon, Target, Starbucks, etc) or donations to a number of charities. Use the code "Thirteen" when you sign up to get 300 extra points. The Thirteen Hour Podcast is now on BONUS this week, so you can earn more than normal (1.5x).Speaking of music, if you haven't checked out "Arcade Days," the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I have been working on the past year, click on the link below to do so!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6MD6UCYeQ4You can find more pictures and preview clips of "Arcade Days" on IG as well as this podcast's FB page.Between Two Worlds, the synth EP follow up to Long Ago Not So Far Away is now out for streaming on Bandcamp. The bonus track, called "Flight of the Cloudrider" has a 80s movie mashup music video (see if you can identify all the movies!) which is available on youtube. This app was largely created with the iphone app Auxy.Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.Check it out!As always, thanks for listening!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2019/07/08/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-204-musical-interlude-a-place-of-our-own-part-3/

Originally aired July 1, 2019.This week, I'm working on the musical piece I started last week, "A Place of Our Own." I'm just playing through it, working out the kinks, mistakes and all. Typically, it takes many, many takes and a fair amount of practice to get a piece to a point where I can record it without mistakes (or, at least, minimal ones that I can adjust to or work around). So this week's episode is a mostly unedited window into a little of that process. Stay tuned over the next few weeks for additional progress.In other news, Empty Hands has an official launch date - 7/13/19! I'll probably be doing a little pixel art music video to go along with the launch of the album as well.In the meantime, this page formerly had what I affectionately dubbed a "starving artist" section on little side hustles you could do (mostly on the internet, often with a phone) to make a few bucks here and there, often in gift cards. Well, now you can listen to this show (as well as other podcasts) and get paid to do so! Check out https://www.podcoin.com/ to listen to the show and start earning points that you can redeem for gift cards (Amazon, Target, Starbucks, etc) or donations to a number of charities. Use the code "Thirteen" when you sign up to get 300 extra points. The Thirteen Hour Podcast is now on BONUS this week, so you can earn more than normal (1.5x).Speaking of music, if you haven't checked out "Arcade Days," the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I have been working on the past year, click on the link below to do so!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6MD6UCYeQ4You can find more pictures and preview clips of "Arcade Days" on IG as well as this podcast's FB page.Between Two Worlds, the synth EP follow up to Long Ago Not So Far Away is now out for streaming on Bandcamp. The bonus track, called "Flight of the Cloudrider" has a 80s movie mashup music video (see if you can identify all the movies!) which is available on youtube. This app was largely created with the iphone app Auxy.Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.Check it out!As always, thanks for listening!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2019/07/01/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-203-musical-interlude-a-place-of-our-own-part-2/

Originally aired on June 24, 2019.Ideas for songs sometimes come at the most random times and places. I think the idea for this little instrumental track came when I was cooking dinner or putting my kids to bed. I remember humming a voice recording to myself since I didn't have time to work on it at the time and didn't want to forget it (my phone is full of similar such recordings; I used to use a tape recorder but this is one area where modern tech has made life a lot easier). I'm tentatively calling it "A Place of Our Own." It will go to the next Thirteenth Hour book where the main protagonists, Logan and Aurora, will be building a house for themselves on an island - a kind of sanctuary for themselves away from the turmoil of the world (at least temporarily). The essence of it will probably also form a theme for Aurora (like in Peter and the Wolf, how each character has a musical theme). Stay tuned over the next few weeks for additional progress.In the meantime, this page formerly had what I affectionately dubbed a "starving artist" section on little side hustles you could do (mostly on the internet, often with a phone) to make a few bucks here and there, often in gift cards. Well, now you can listen to this show (as well as other podcasts) and get paid to do so! Check out https://www.podcoin.com/ to listen to the show and start earning points that you can redeem for gift cards (Amazon, Target, Starbucks, etc) or donations to a number of charities. Use the code "Thirteen" when you sign up to get 300 extra points. The Thirteen Hour Podcast is now on BONUS this week, so you can earn more than normal (1.5x).Speaking of music, if you haven't checked out "Arcade Days," the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I have been working on the past year, click on the link below to do so!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6MD6UCYeQ4You can find more pictures and preview clips of "Arcade Days" on IG as well as this podcast's FB page.Between Two Worlds, the synth EP follow up to Long Ago Not So Far Away is now out for streaming on Bandcamp. The bonus track, called "Flight of the Cloudrider" has a 80s movie mashup music video (see if you can identify all the movies!) which is available on youtube. This app was largely created with the iphone app Auxy.Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.Check it out!As always, thanks for listening!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!

Originally aired on June 17, 2019.This week, I add the guitar, synth, and vocals to "And Now, We Are One," the last track on the last Empty Hands track, which is an ode to the ending themes of 80s action movies as well as the intros (and sometimes closings) of 80s Saturday morning / after school cartoon shows. I don't really possess the Sammy Hagar / Freddy Mercury / Stan Bush type pipes to do the vocals the way I envisioned them, so I just recorded myself several times singing the same vocals so it sounds like a chorus of men singing, which a lot of old cartoons (esp 70s and 80s anime) tends to do in their intros anyway. Aside from a few electric guitar bits and the solo, the track is basically done. That plus final Empty Hands edits mean that it should be out in a few weeks (hopefully)! The pixelart coverart for the song is below - 8 bit figures (I used the guys from the NES game Kung Fu as a sort of template), Tron grid, and pastel colors in all their 80s glory:In the meantime, this page formerly had what I affectionately dubbed a "starving artist" section on little side hustles you could do (mostly on the internet, often with a phone) to make a few bucks here and there, often in gift cards. Well, now you can listen to this show (as well as other podcasts) and get paid to do so! Check out https://www.podcoin.com/ to listen to the show and start earning points that you can redeem for gift cards (Amazon, Target, Starbucks, etc) or donations to a number of charities. Use the code "Thirteen" when you sign up to get 300 extra points. The Thirteen Hour Podcast is now on BONUS this week, so you can earn more than normal (1.5x). [gallery ids="10506,10505" type="rectangular"]Speaking of music, if you haven't checked out "Arcade Days," the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I have been working on the past year, click on the link below to do so!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6MD6UCYeQ4You can find more pictures and preview clips of "Arcade Days" on IG as well as this podcast's FB page.Between Two Worlds, the synth EP follow up to Long Ago Not So Far Away is now out for streaming on Bandcamp. The bonus track, called "Flight of the Cloudrider" has a 80s movie mashup music video (see if you can identify all the movies!) which is available on youtube. This app was largely created with the iphone app Auxy.Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.Check it out!As always, thanks for listening!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2019/06/17/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-201-musical-interlude-and-now-we-are-one-part-3/

Originally aired on June 3, 2019.This week, I continue working on the last track on the last Empty Hands track, which is an ode to the ending themes of 80s action movies as well as the intros (and sometimes closings) of 80s Saturday morning / after school cartoon shows.Next week, stay tuned for episode 200!In the meantime, this page formerly had what I affectionately dubbed a "starving artist" section on little side hustles you could do (mostly on the internet, often with a phone) to make a few bucks here and there, often in gift cards. Well, now you can listen to this show (as well as other podcasts) and get paid to do so! Check out https://www.podcoin.com/ to listen to the show and start earning points that you can redeem for gift cards (Amazon, Target, Starbucks, etc) or donations to a number of charities. Use the code "Thirteen" when you sign up to get 300 extra points. The Thirteen Hour Podcast is now on BONUS this week, so you can earn more than normal (1.5x).[gallery ids="10506,10505" type="rectangular"]Speaking of music, if you haven't checked out "Arcade Days," the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I have been working on the past year, click on the link below to do so!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6MD6UCYeQ4You can find more pictures and preview clips of "Arcade Days" on IG as well as this podcast's FB page.Between Two Worlds, the synth EP follow up to Long Ago Not So Far Away is now out for streaming on Bandcamp. The bonus track, called "Flight of the Cloudrider" has a 80s movie mashup music video (see if you can identify all the movies!) which is available on youtube. This app was largely created with the iphone app Auxy.Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.Check it out!As always, thanks for listening!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2019/06/03/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-199-musical-interlude-and-now-we-are-one-part-2-and-many-miles-update/

Originally released May 27, 2019.This week, instead of focusing on "Many Miles," which I'm still working on, I thought I'd do a little intro to the last Empty Hands track, which is an ode to the ending themes of 80s action movies as well as the intros (and sometimes closings) of 80s Saturday morning / after school cartoon shows. In other words, its cheesy as hell, but in the right spirit, hopefully it will be fun. The lyrics hark back to the elemental philosophy discussed in the book (earth, wind, water, fire, and void), itself taking inspiration from Japanese esoteric Buddhism.NEW! This page formerly had what I affectionately dubbed a "starving artist" section on little side hustles you could do (mostly on the internet, often with a phone) to make a few bucks here and there, often in gift cards. Well, now you can listen to this show (as well as other podcasts) and get paid to do so! Check out https://www.podcoin.com/ to listen to the show and start earning points that you can redeem for gift cards (Amazon, Target, Starbucks, etc) or donations to a number of charities.If you haven't checked out "Arcade Days," the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I have been working on the past year, click on the link below to do so!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6MD6UCYeQ4You can find more pictures and preview clips of "Arcade Days" on IG as well as this podcast's FB page.Between Two Worlds, the synth EP follow up to Long Ago Not So Far Away is now out for streaming on Bandcamp. The bonus track, called "Flight of the Cloudrider" has a 80s movie mashup music video (see if you can identify all the movies!) which is available on youtube. This app was largely created with the iphone app Auxy.Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.Check it out!As always, thanks for listening!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2019/05/27/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-198-musical-interlude-starting-on-and-now-we-are-one/

Originally aired May 20, 2019.This week, I'm adding a synthesized accented track to the vocals and backing track of "Many Miles." Inching closer towards completion!I'm also basically done the instrumental melody of "Dragons' Eyes" as a short (~2 min) fill for Empty Hands, which has a little scene referencing the song. There's only one more track to be done for the soundtrack to be done.Speaking of which, for those of you on the mailing list, check your inboxes for a message asking for volunteers to help with the finishing touches of the upcoming martial arts fantasy novella, Empty Hands. Your suggestions and critiques are most welcome, and not only will you get a free copy of the book and soundtrack, your name will be in the acknowledgements section of the book. If you're not on the mailing list but are interested in joining and/or helping out, here's a link or just email me directly, and I'll be in touch with further instructions. Thank you!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞Speaking of music, if you haven't checked out "Arcade Days," the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I have been working on the past year, click on the link below to do so!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6MD6UCYeQ4You can find more pictures and preview clips of "Arcade Days" on IG as well as this podcast's FB page.Between Two Worlds, the synth EP follow up to Long Ago Not So Far Away is now out for streaming on Bandcamp. The bonus track, called "Flight of the Cloudrider" has a 80s movie mashup music video (see if you can identify all the movies!) which is available on youtube. This app was largely created with the iphone app Auxy.Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.Check it out![spotify id="spotify:user:jsblum:playlist:0UEHg7euO45dtmZTbH1akD" width="300" height="380" /]As always, thanks for listening!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2019/05/20/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-197-musical-interlude-reworking-many-miles-part-8-dragons-eyes-instrumental-part-3/

Originally aired May 13, 2019.This week, I've finally come to the point of having a rough initial draft of "Many Miles" that I started a long time ago. It will play at the end of the episode. While still a work in progress, it's definitely farther along than last week. It's been a tedious process indeed to get it to this point.I've also included the second part of working on a long lost instrumental melody that would later become the folk ballad "Dragons' Eyes" in The Thirteenth Hour. This is a tune that I would mess around with as a kid and in college, where there were pianos all over. I never had a name for it but wrote the first few verses of the song in the novel to its melody. I figured reworking to make a short fill for Empty Hands, which has a little scene referencing the song, would be a nice way to come full circle. This week, I'm doing it to a slow (~70 bpm) beat.Speaking of which, for those of you on the mailing list, check your inboxes for a message asking for volunteers to help with the finishing touches of the upcoming martial arts fantasy novella, Empty Hands. Your suggestions and critiques are most welcome, and not only will you get a free copy of the book and soundtrack, your name will be in the acknowledgements section of the book. If you're not on the mailing list but are interested in joining and/or helping out, here's a link or just email me directly, and I'll be in touch with further instructions. Thank you!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞Speaking of music, if you haven't checked out "Arcade Days," the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I have been working on the past year, click on the link below to do so!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6MD6UCYeQ4You can find more pictures and preview clips of "Arcade Days" on IG as well as this podcast's FB page.Between Two Worlds, the synth EP follow up to Long Ago Not So Far Away is now out for streaming on Bandcamp. The bonus track, called "Flight of the Cloudrider" has a 80s movie mashup music video (see if you can identify all the movies!) which is available on youtube. This app was largely created with the iphone app Auxy.Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.Check it out![spotify id="spotify:user:jsblum:playlist:0UEHg7euO45dtmZTbH1akD" width="300" height="380" /]As always, thanks for listening!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!

Originally aired on May 6, 2019.This week, I'm continuing to work on the vocal part of a track called "Many Miles" that I started a long time ago ... I'm a little farther along than last week, but it's still slow going. Here's the first part. There's still some parts in the middle that don't quite sound right with the timing, so I'll keep working ...However, I'm starting to experiment with a long lost instrumental melody that would later become the folk ballad "Dragons' Eyes" in The Thirteenth Hour. This is a tune that I would mess around with as a kid and in college, where there were pianos all over. I never had a name for it but wrote the first few verses of the song in the novel to its melody. I figured reworking to make a short fill for Empty Hands, which has a little scene referencing the song, would be a nice way to come full circle.Speaking of which, for those of you on the mailing list, check your inboxes for a message asking for volunteers to help with the finishing touches of the upcoming martial arts fantasy novella, Empty Hands. Your suggestions and critiques are most welcome, and not only will you get a free copy of the book and soundtrack, your name will be in the acknowledgements section of the book. If you're not on the mailing list but are interested in joining and/or helping out, here's a link or just email me directly, and I'll be in touch with further instructions. Thank you!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞Speaking of music, if you haven't checked out "Arcade Days," the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I have been working on the past year, click on the link below to do so!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6MD6UCYeQ4You can find more pictures and preview clips of "Arcade Days" on IG as well as this podcast's FB page.Between Two Worlds, the synth EP follow up to Long Ago Not So Far Away is now out for streaming on Bandcamp. The bonus track, called "Flight of the Cloudrider" has a 80s movie mashup music video (see if you can identify all the movies!) which is available on youtube. This app was largely created with the iphone app Auxy.Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.Check it out![spotify id="spotify:user:jsblum:playlist:0UEHg7euO45dtmZTbH1akD" width="300" height="380" /]As always, thanks for listening!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2019/05/06/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-195-musical-interlude-reworking-many-miles-part-6-starting-dragons-eyes-instrumental/

Originally aired on March 18, 2019.This week, I'm finally finishing the last music track to accompany The Thirteenth Hour novella, Empty Hands, an introspective instrumental piece called "Memories of a Better Time." I thought last week would be it, but after having listened to the outcome, thought there was still something missing, so this week, we're adding a short whistled intro.The novella the song will be embedded in is basically done in terms of its initial skeleton, though I'm putting the final edits on the first draft and working on the illustrations. This past week, I worked on more of the latter as well as the little blurb that accompanies the book when it's listed online - arguably (for me) the hardest part to write since it's typically what people use to decide if they want to invest the time to read something or not. The second draft, by the way, is typically where I send portions out to other people for critique, so if you'd like to be a part of that, I'll be sending out an email to the advance readers group on the mailing list (link below) soon. Much appreciated!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞Speaking of music, if you haven't checked out "Arcade Days," the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I have been working on the past year, click on the link below to do so!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6MD6UCYeQ4You can find more pictures and preview clips of "Arcade Days" on IG as well as this podcast's FB page.Between Two Worlds, the synth EP follow up to Long Ago Not So Far Away is now out for streaming on Bandcamp. The bonus track, called "Flight of the Cloudrider" has a 80s movie mashup music video (see if you can identify all the movies!) which is available on youtube. This app was largely created with the iphone app Auxy.Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.Check it out![spotify id="spotify:user:jsblum:playlist:0UEHg7euO45dtmZTbH1akD" width="300" height="380" /]As always, thanks for listening!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2019/03/18/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-188-musical-interlude-making-memories-of-a-better-time-part-4/

Originally aired on March 11, 2019.This week, I'm finishing the last music track to accompany The Thirteenth Hour novella, Empty Hands, an introspective instrumental piece called "Memories of a Better Time." It fits in with a piece of the novella where the main character, Logan, is thinking back to his childhood friend, Aurora. It also has some similarities to the track "Empty Hands," also for the novella, which we did in episode 175 and the same descending note progression that we used there as well as in the song "There's a Wild Heart Beating." Today, we are adding the flute section.The novella the song will be embedded in is basically done in terms of its initial skeleton, though I'm putting the final edits on the first draft. The second draft is typically where I send portions out to other people for critique, so if you'd like to be a part of that, I'll be sending out an email to the advance readers group on the mailing list (link below) soon. Much appreciated!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞Speaking of music, if you haven't checked out "Arcade Days," the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I have been working on the past year, click on the link below to do so!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6MD6UCYeQ4You can find more pictures and preview clips of "Arcade Days" on IG as well as this podcast's FB page.Between Two Worlds, the synth EP follow up to Long Ago Not So Far Away is now out for streaming on Bandcamp. The bonus track, called "Flight of the Cloudrider" has a 80s movie mashup music video (see if you can identify all the movies!) which is available on youtube. This app was largely created with the iphone app Auxy.Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.Check it out![spotify id="spotify:user:jsblum:playlist:0UEHg7euO45dtmZTbH1akD" width="300" height="380" /]As always, thanks for listening!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2019/03/11/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-187-musical-interlude-making-memories-of-a-better-time-part-3/

Originally aired March 4, 2019.This week, I'm working on the last music track to accompany The Thirteenth Hour novella, Empty Hands, an introspective instrumental piece called "Memories of a Better Time," which harkens to the love theme we made back in episode #120. It fits in with a piece of the novella where the main character, Logan, is thinking back to his childhood friend, Aurora. It also has some similarities to the track "Empty Hands," also for the novella, which we did in episode 175 and the same descending note progression that we used there as well as in the song "There's a Wild Heart Beating." Today, we are making the backing track and attempting to add the flute section.The novella the song will be embedded in is basically done in terms of its initial skeleton, though I'm putting the final edits on the first draft. The second draft is typically where I send portions out to other people for critique, so if you'd like to be a part of that, I'll be sending out an email to the advance readers group on the mailing list (link below) soon. Much appreciated!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞Speaking of music, if you haven't checked out "Arcade Days," the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I have been working on the past year, click on the link below to do so!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6MD6UCYeQ4You can find more pictures and preview clips of "Arcade Days" on IG as well as this podcast's FB page.Between Two Worlds, the synth EP follow up to Long Ago Not So Far Away is now out for streaming on Bandcamp. The bonus track, called "Flight of the Cloudrider" has a 80s movie mashup music video (see if you can identify all the movies!) which is available on youtube. This app was largely created with the iphone app Auxy.Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.Check it out![spotify id="spotify:user:jsblum:playlist:0UEHg7euO45dtmZTbH1akD" width="300" height="380" /]As always, thanks for listening!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2019/03/04/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-186-musical-interlude-making-memories-of-a-better-time-part-2/

Originally aired on February 25, 2019.This week, I'm working on the last music track to accompany The Thirteenth Hour novella, Empty Hands, an introspective instrumental piece called "Memories of a Better Time," which harkens to the love theme we made back in episode #120. It fits in with a piece of the novella where the main character, Logan, is thinking back to his childhood friend, Aurora. He isn't terribly happy at this point in his life, as he is a reluctant soldier at best, though his time in the military gives him a window into a life that, as an orphan from a sleepy hunting and farming town without any resources or land of his own would have access to. This coming of age angst and ambivalence is what I was hoping to capture in the theme.The novella the song will be embedded in is basically done in terms of its initial skeleton, though I'm putting the final edits on the first draft. The second draft is typically where I send portions out to other people for critique, so if you'd like to be a part of that, I'll be sending out an email to the advance readers group on the mailing list (link below) soon. Much appreciated!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞Speaking of music, if you haven't checked out "Arcade Days," the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I have been working on the past year, click on the link below to do so!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6MD6UCYeQ4You can find more pictures and preview clips of "Arcade Days" on IG as well as this podcast's FB page.Between Two Worlds, the synth EP follow up to Long Ago Not So Far Away is now out for streaming on Bandcamp. The bonus track, called "Flight of the Cloudrider" has a 80s movie mashup music video (see if you can identify all the movies!) which is available on youtube. This app was largely created with the iphone app Auxy.Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.Check it out![spotify id="spotify:user:jsblum:playlist:0UEHg7euO45dtmZTbH1akD" width="300" height="380" /]As always, thanks for listening!∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Signup for the mailing list for a free special edition podcast, a demo copy of The Thirteenth Hour, and access to retro 80s soundtrack!Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack online at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify. Join the mailing list for a digital free copy. You can also get it on CD or tape.Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.comBook trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXYInterested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at [email protected] for more details!