Lamp Post Motel
Podiobooks.com presents our latest title, from author Joe Gold:
Are UFOs graduate students from the future, researching their past? Students from the University of the Rings are doing field research in sexual anthropology—at the Lamp Post Motel.
Elmo Skinner prefers logical circuits to unpredictable people. He owns the motel and watches his customers on hidden cameras—until the time travelers drop Elmo’s mind into the people he’s watching.
March 22nd, 2007 at 6:48 pm
I love this genre (time travel) and this story is definitely holding my interest. The sound quality is less than satisfactory. Volume one was so bad I could hardly understand because different parts of the story were playing over other parts.
Please keep up the good writing effort.
March 25th, 2007 at 6:29 pm
Can you post another chapter or two? I listened to all 15 chapters in about two days. I can’t wait for the rest of it.
March 29th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
Glad the listening is engaging in the first 15 chapters. The book The Lamp Post Motel is written and published, and I’m deviating from it to accommodate the audio format and to restore the good parts.
And I’ve just posted another seven chapters (16-21), the beginning of the mind-hopping during sex, so many of these passages are quite explicit–so much so that my publisher (a bit of a bluenose) cut them out of the book, and here, in MY podcast, I get to put it back in. But I promise you, this ain’t for kids. For adults, this is the sexual anthropology I promised.
As for overlapping sound, I’ve not been aware of it; please let me know which chapters and where and I’ll clean it up immediately.
Please spread the word about this book if you like it. It’s not in stores, but is available at spdbooks.org and on Amazon.
March 29th, 2007 at 1:56 pm
If there’s a file that has sound problems, please notify me immediately at joe@goldscribe.com and I’ll fix it ASAP.
April 4th, 2007 at 6:55 pm
Joe,
Great voice acting! Where did you learn so many accents? I burned up chapters 1-15 on a long drive this week. One of the more entertaining stories lately. You’re a natural for audio book narration. I really like the way you incorporate the little day to day things of life without missing a beat in the story.
As for the double voices in Chapter 1, I thought it was intentional as a hint of time travel exploits to come.
Great work and I look forward to the next chapters.
April 24th, 2007 at 8:55 am
For the overlapping sound, download the first chapter. About 3 places. Waiting for more chapters, all 49 please?
Byron Int
April 25th, 2007 at 12:14 am
Yeah Joe!
Great writing, but your audio problems are interfering with my ability to get into the story.
I had to turn it off in the middle of chapter one. The biggest distractions are the places where the narrative overlaps and/or repeats itself in the stereo channels. I listen to a lot of podcasts nowadays and your poor overall sound quality (buzzing, distortion, etc) makes me suspect you have either: a poor quality mike, bad software/levels settings, over-compressed files or all of the above. Check out (General Steve) Eley’s podholes.com for a lot of information on this and other podcast insider stuff.
Keep up the good writing!
- HornCologne
May 20th, 2007 at 7:00 pm
New material, plus some fixes to those annoying audio glitches, so the new Chapter 1 is clean. I appreciate the support. If you like the book, tell your friend; if you don’t, tell your enemies. Well past halfway now, looking to com plete the book relatively soon.
joe
June 13th, 2007 at 9:22 am
I am enjoying this book immensely.
I did find a lot of problems with about half the chapters I downloaded from Podiobooks with the sound skipping. It got to the point I couldn’t follow the story. When I went direct to the author’s website and downloaded them from there, they played back fine.
July 7th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
I have thoroughly enjoyed everything posted so far.
July 11th, 2007 at 12:55 pm
hi.
I have a problem with chapter 24. podiobooks.com says it’s something like 17.4 MB, but when I download it, I only get 11.9 MB. as a result, the end is cut off
July 11th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
PS. when I listen to chapter 24 on the website, it cuts off at the same position, so the file itself must be FUBAR…
August 1st, 2007 at 11:35 pm
HELLO! anyone here?
August 3rd, 2007 at 8:39 pm
Yes, Chap 24 was cut off shortly before the ending. I’ve uploaded a replacement 24 and added chaps 31-34, with more to come (total 49 chapters) in the next few weeks. I thank all for their patience, and for the warm comments as well as well-deserved criticism.
August 15th, 2007 at 6:32 pm
I really enjoy your book. It’s really well written and engaging. Your reading is very good. It sounds like you’re having a great time. Thanks. When can we expect the next chapters?
August 16th, 2007 at 11:00 am
Hi Joe. Just wanted to let you know how much I am enjoying this podcast. Just started listening to it from the beginning again. Want to refresh everything in my mind. Can’t wait for the next episode.
August 29th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
hey joe,
sorry to bother you again, but it looks like those new episodes haven’t appeared in the feed yet. and yes, episode 24 still has the same problem
it’s been almost 4 weeks. does that mean something is seriously FUBAR at podiobooks.com?
September 2nd, 2007 at 10:41 pm
Don’t blame Podiobooks in my delay on new chapters. That’s my own doing, but focused now on wrapping up the book. I’m still having fun with the voices, and expect to take you to the end of the book before September is out (posted 9/2/07). Thanks for your warm comments, and for pointing out the flaws so I could repair them.
The end is near.
joe
September 4th, 2007 at 5:20 pm
Chapter 34, as posted, is a double repeat of the second half of Chapter 33. I suppose it could be intentional; this is a narrative device that goes all the way back to _Gilgamesh_. Still, it seems out of character with the rest of the story so far.
October 21st, 2007 at 2:37 pm
HI, Joe, Your life must be quite interesting just now!
I have enjoyed the book and your reading of it, not noticed the problems others have pointed out, so you must have got them fixed.
The sexual anthropology could have been totally gratuitous, but isn’t, way to go, Joe! I didn’t expect to like the two guys from the future, but they’re not so bad for young men involved in sexual research. I am looking forward (I think) to finding out what’s normal in the future! They have some very odd ideas about what’s normal in the time of the story.
Thanks for all these great characters.
October 22nd, 2007 at 1:08 pm
I just checked, the problem with chapter 34 is still there. gail, didn’t you notice that?
so when is that gonna be fixed?
October 23rd, 2007 at 7:01 am
I’m really enjoying this story, I was so excited this morning when I saw new chapters posted – I got caught up last week and I wanted more
I keep thinking Elmo is kind of creepy, but I still can’t help but like him.
October 25th, 2007 at 7:39 pm
Interesting book, the ideas seem totally wacky. People from the future coming to study human sex in the past, mind transference, hard core feminism, creepy peeping toms, but somehow it all fits together into an entertaining little story.
I think Loretta has to be my favorite though. She’s the only one of the bunch that actually has it together, lol.
October 25th, 2007 at 7:39 pm
Oh I’ve gotta say I love the pot smoking cult too!!!
December 5th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
the problem that bob p. reported 3 months (yes, THREE MONTHS!) ago is still there. will that ever be fixed?
December 6th, 2007 at 9:53 pm
A freshly edited version of Chapter 34 is being uploaded right now. Joe assures me that this resolves the issue. You’ll likely need to download the new file from the book’s page. Should be about 10MB in size. If it’s 19MB, you’re still getting the bad one.
E.
December 13th, 2007 at 11:55 am
chapter 34 is still a repeat of the second half of chapter 33. i can’t believe that’s the way it’s meant to be. is it?
but yeah, it’s just under 10 MB, and it doesn’t repeat, like it did before.
April 27th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
since nobody cares about the chapter 34 problem, i’ve decided to unsubscribe from this book and forget about it.
May 17th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
I really enjoyed this story. It was a mix of social conscience and sexual exploration. The plot was layered well and the characters were interesting. Some of the scenes towards the end were a bit over the top but all in all it was an entertaining tale. There may have been a few audio bugs in the early episodes but all was resolved by the halfway point.
May 28th, 2008 at 4:22 am
Great story, really enjoyed it. Only minor gripe is that the chapters are very short and there are lots and lots of them. I recommend this one.
June 10th, 2008 at 7:07 am
Its quite a good story and aside from a few audio glitches, it ‘largely’ delivers. The reading really is first rate (apart from a couple of chapters where the oratory is plagued by some very bad singing indeed), but for the most part, I was immensely impressed with the delivery. I would call the story ‘engaging’, even though I did struggle through a few chapters where the plot seemed to be going nowhere, and much of the content seemed irrelevant and laboured. I think it could be tightened up a bit, but I suppose that it’s easy for me to sit here and say this when in all probability the author has already worked long and hard over it. This one gets a thumbs up from me.
June 18th, 2008 at 11:09 am
i just checked, and the chapter 34 problem STILL hasn’t been taken care of. i’m OUT. for good, this time.
March 17th, 2009 at 10:13 am
Great story. Anthropology, science fiction, well-developed characters, a strong plot… what more can you ask for?
However, as a lesbian I’d like to point out that the man-hating, gay-for-politics “lez” is a relic of the past even now in 2009. As the main part of this book is set in the sort of near future, the radical feminist ideologies of the lesbians in this book are dated, especially since they all unrealistically hold the exact same beliefs.
July 14th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
I just finished chapter eleven. Does the hackneyed, stereotypical, chiched, insulting, one-dimensional, SEXIST, angry lesbian I just met have a ton of plot from here on out? ‘Cause if so, I’m done with this story right now.
She has a concussion (prob) bad enough to barely be able to maintain consciousness and can’t remember the majority of the syllables needed to say the word ‘hospital’. But she does have the presence of mind to freak out at the mention of going to a hospital because they let MEN be doctors there? Proceeds to pass out from SHEER TERROR just after this exchange when she realizes the car she’s in is being driven by a MALE?
OH MY GOD I’M WITHIN 4 FEET OF A MALE! OH MY GOD I WOULD BE AT HIS MERCY IF ONLY HE KNEW WHAT MERCY WAS! Give me an effing break.
July 14th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
Ten minutes later and I just finished chapter twelve. Wow, just wow. The sexist lesbian’s three friends turn out to be cookie-cutter clones of her ideology. What a surprise.
Joe, we’ve GOT to get you some gay friends. They actually are real people underneath all the baggage you throw on their shoulders.
October 10th, 2009 at 12:26 am
Regarding Halcyon’s comments: In no way do I try to paint my character Thea as “typically” gay–whatever that might mean. This character is someone with a pretty serious pathology because she IS deeply angry and substantially damaged from it. It’s important to the story, and I have a substantial number of gay friends here in San Francisco, thank you.
By the way, The Lamp Post Motel is now available on Amazon as a downloadable e-book for a mere $5. Such a deal.