Commentary: Bill Hollweg, March 5, 1967 – April 1st, 2017

SFFaudio Commentary

Bill Hollweg

Jack Ward of the Sonic Society podcast has just informed me of some terrible news (read Jack’s tribute here). Humanity’s friend, Bill Hollweg, of Miles, Texas and BrokenSea Audio Productions, is dead.

I do not know the details of his death, I heard he’d taken his own life, but I do know that whatever he died of it must really have been that his heart was far too big.

To say that Bill was a generous man is to be uncharitable with words. Bill was a champion of that which is best in life, with a voice like a gravel pit and a pen like a sage.

I had far too few meetings with him, and he was a better friend to me than I deserved. I suspect I am not alone in this.

I first found Bill’s work on the web, about a decade ago, and as happens, we soon became, as he put it “amigos.”

His enthusiasm was contagious.

I last heard from in December in a brief comment consisting mostly of an oath to Crom that I “rock” – but the truth is it was Bill who rocked, and I swear it by Crom.

Bill well knew that there was no use in calling on the gods, for they care little for men. They merely laugh and send down dooms, if they even hear. But though Crom is grim and loveless, he gave one boon to Bill, at birth Crom breathed power to strive and create into Bill’s soul.

I, as just one of his chroniclers, do not have the complete picture, but I do know that to live life as Bill did is a goal worthy of any man.

As lovers of the works of Robert E. Howard and Edgar Rice Burroughs how could Bill and I not have become the fastest of friends?

But Bill could surprise me. In one of our last exchanges he told me that he was thinking he needed to “re-read Moby Dick for the zillionth time!” I had, at the time read it only twice.

But truly this is not a tragedy. In fact, it all makes a grim kind of sense. Bill had been a sailor, and like Steve Costigan a fighter. A true veteran, and then a steely warrior, laughing in the face of rent-seeking vampires of cultural suppression. And now, like John Carter, though his body is here, his spirit has left the Earth for more adventurous climes. Call him Ishmael.

Posted by Jesse Willis

2010 Mark Time and Ogle Award winners and honorable mentions

SFFaudio News

The Mark Time AwardThe 14th annual Mark Time Awards and Ogle Awards, presented at Convergence 2011, June 30th, in Bloomington, MN, are from “a wider range of countries than ever before.” Both awards are juried. The Mark Time Award is for distinguished achievement in Science Fiction audio theater production. The Ogle Award is presented for Fantasy and Horror audio theater production. The awards presentation will take place at Convergence 2011, June 30th, 2011 in Bloomington, MN. Six of the eight producers are scheduled to be in attendance as well as three of the five judges.

Mark Time Award:

GOLD
The Truth: Moon Graffiti
Written & Produced by Jonathan Mitchell
New York, NY

SILVER
The Cleansed, Pilot Episode
FinalRune Productions
Written & Produced by Fred Greenhalgh
Alfred, ME

HONORABLE MENTIONS
1918
Aural Stage
Written by Richard Lovejoy
Producers, Matthew Boudreau, Samantha Mason
Buffalo, NY

Brad Lansky And The Anti-Starc
Protophonic
Written by J.D. Venne
Producer, Dieter Zimmermann
Cape Town, South Africa

Ogle Award:

GOLD
Whoever Wishes
Tekdiff
Written & Produced by Cayenne Chris Conroy
Minneapolis, MN

SILVER
We’re Alive, Chapter 17, “There Might Be Others”
Zombiepodcast
Written by Kc Wayland
Producers, Kc Wayland, Shane Salk
Orange, CA

HONORABLE MENTIONS
Soul Survivor
Sonic Society
Written & Produced by Jack. J. Ward
Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada

The Witch Hunter Chronicles
Audio-epics
Written and Produced by Domien de Groot
Deurne, Belgium

Posted by Jesse Willis

Firefly: Old Wounds concludes!

SFFaudio Online Audio

Podcast - Firefly: Old WoundsEpisode six of this slick fan-fic audio drama miniseries is up and ready for download! This completes the entire 6 episode miniseries based on Joss Whedon’s Firefly television show.

You can download all 6 episodes directly:

Episode 1 “Nothin’s The Best Thing” |MP3|
Episode 2 “All Alone In The Black” |MP3|
Episode 3 “The Hub” |MP3|
Episode 4 “Religiosity” |MP3|
Episode 5 “Faith” |MP3|
Episode 6 “The Mail Job” |MP3|

or subscribe to the podcast feed:

http://serenityfirefly.com/firefly_old_wounds_rss.php