Our second conversation with the great Lovecraft  scholar S.T. Joshi, diving deep into Lovecraft’s staggeringly prolific letter writing and influence on generations of creators. This is a real treat for fans of weird fiction. 

S.T. Joshi is an American writer, musician, critic and award-winning scholar whose work has covered much weird and fantastic fiction, especially H. P. Lovecraft, Ambrose Bierce, Lord Dunsany, and associated writers. Incredibly prolific with over 350 books published, he has also expanded into areas such as atheism, weird poetry, race relations and political discussion. 

Check out S.T. Joshi’s homepage, biography of Lovecraft, and Black Wings of Cthulhu anthology.

Subscribe: 

Spotify | Google Podcasts | Apple | Captivate (direct)

Outline:

Here are the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.

(00:00) Intro

(01:05) H.P. Lovecraft’s letters, David E. Schultz

(03:45) Fritz Leiber

(06:32) The first circle of influence

(07:20) August Derleth

(15:33) The Rise, Fall and Rise of the Cthulhu Mythos

(16:24) Frank Belknap Long

(18:22) Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, Robert Block, Henry Cutner - Cross fertilization

(24:12) The Cthulhu mythos

(29:17) 60s-70s, the reawakening

(39:50) Charting the mythos

(51:41) Black Wings: Lovecraft mythos anthologies

(54:34) Ramsey Campbell, Colin Wilson 

(1:02:04) Lovecraft in modern times

(1:06:54) Finishing up

Support & connect:

Find us at www.project-tempest.net/podcast, and get the acclaimed Project Tempest novella 1862 free for a limited time.

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play or directly on Captivate. If you enjoy the Project Tempest podcast please consider rating it 5 stars, this really helps us out. Thanks!

Comments to hello@manonfire.org

Producer for this episode is Kearin Armstrong, production assistant is Prea Millar.

Evangelia Artemis-Gomez is a New York-based visual artist, writer and co-host of the What's Gonna Happen podcast. In this episode we talk about mental & spiritual health, shaping imaginary worlds, choosing to be fuelled by passion, wrestling with family legacies, and much more.

Follow Evangelia on instagram @evangelullu and check out the What’s Gonna Happen podcast. 

Subscribe: 

Spotify | Google Podcasts | Apple | Captivate (direct)

Outline:

Here are the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.

(00:00) Intro

(00:37) Opening context and trees

(01:56) Family lines and legacies

(06:06) Seasons and mindsets

(13:42) Connections with ourselves and others

(32:28) Imaginary worlds / paracosms

(42:44) Making good and bad art

(58:25) Choosing to be fueled by passion

(1:06:44) Finishing up and socials

Support & connect:

Find us at www.project-tempest.net/podcast, and get the acclaimed Project Tempest novella 1862 free for a limited time.

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play or directly on Captivate. If you enjoy the Project Tempest podcast please consider rating it 5 stars, this really helps us out. Thanks!

Comments to hello@manonfire.org

Producer for this episode is Kearin Armstrong, production assistant is Prea Millar.

Nick Jones is a transmedia storyteller and senior narrative designer for Sharkmob Games, and author of the book “The Player and the Pentacle: Folkloric Motifs for Narrative Design”. In this episode we dig into a real-world example of using the AI tool ChatGPT to help narrative design for videogames. 

View or download Nick’s ChatGPT example here.

Follow Nick on twitter, visit his LinkedIn, and get your copy of The Player and The Pentacle. 

Subscribe: 

Spotify | Google Podcasts | Apple | Captivate (direct)

Outline:

Here are the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.

(00:00) Intro

(00:49) Moving across the world

(16:14) AI Tools & Narrative Design

(22:06) Nick’s ChatGPT Experiment

(38:16) Possible futures - AI & late stage capitalism

(47:09) Finishing up

Support & connect:

Find us at www.project-tempest.net/podcast, and get the acclaimed Project Tempest novella 1862 free for a limited time.

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play or directly on Captivate. If you enjoy the Project Tempest podcast please consider rating it 5 stars, this really helps us out. Thanks!

Comments to hello@manonfire.org

Producer for this episode is Kearin Armstrong, production assistant is Prea Millar.

Two leading entertainment dealmakers and intellectual property experts talk about Artificial Intelligence and its urgent real-world impact on creators and copyrights. You're making things with AI tools, but who owns it? This fascinating conversation goes everywhere from case law and Hollywood risk management to monkey selfies and Steamboat Willie the horror movie. A must-listen for any creator or dealmaker grappling with the torrent of issues and opportunities that AI presents.

Scott Sholder & Simon Pulman are both entertainment attorneys based in New York. Scott focuses primarily on intellectual property and litigation, while Simon focuses primarily on dealmaking and business issues. 

Follow Scott at https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottsholder/

Follow Simon at www.linkedin.com/in/simonpulman/

Subscribe: 

Spotify | Google Podcasts | Apple | Captivate (direct)

Outline:

Here are the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.

(00:00) Introduction

(06:27) Making things with AI tools - who owns it? 

(15:48) The monkey selfie and the copyright case

(28:34) A massive shift in content creation - can the law keep up?

(37:45) Public domain characters + AI, Steamboat Willie the horror movie, smart risk management

(49:50) Training AI models on other people’s creative work - privacy / policy / copyright implications

(1:04:16) The big picture - how fast can government move, vs tech?

(1:22:10) AI Kurt Cobain & finishing up

Support & connect:

Find us at www.project-tempest.net/podcast, and get the acclaimed Project Tempest novella 1862 free for a limited time.

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play or directly on Captivate. If you enjoy the Project Tempest podcast please consider rating it 5 stars, this really helps us out. Thanks!

Comments to hello@manonfire.org

Producer for this episode is Kearin Armstrong, production assistant is Prea Millar.

At its heart, Project Tempest is about using stories to navigate a world going mad. 2022 brought a lot of that!

This special episode is a look back at what we made in 2022, what felt important, and what’s coming next in 2023. You can also read the full blog post at Project Tempest and watch a video version on youtube.

Subscribe: 

Spotify | Google Podcasts | Apple | Captivate (direct)

Support & connect:

Find us at www.project-tempest.net/podcast, and get the acclaimed Project Tempest novella 1862 free for a limited time.

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play or directly on Captivate. If you enjoy the Project Tempest podcast please consider rating it 5 stars, this really helps us out. Thanks!

Comments to hello@manonfire.org

Producer for this episode is Kearin Armstrong, production assistant is Prea Millar.

Dr Tara Lomax is a cinema and screen media scholar with a PhD in contemporary Hollywood entertainment, particularly blockbuster franchising. Tara has published on multiplatform story development, world-building, seriality, and visual effects industries and has a particular interest in Disney’s development of Marvel & Star Wars. She also works as a story consultant and has a relatively new connection to pro wrestling. 

Follow Tara’s work at Assembled Illusions and on LinkedIn. 

Subscribe: 

Spotify | Google Podcasts | Apple | Captivate (direct)

Outline:

Here are the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.

(00:00) - Introduction 

(00:42) - Growth of franchise 

(02:02) - Blockbuster Franchising: Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, The Matrix etc. Auxiliary content and canon 

(06:48) - Building franchise coherence: Marvel, League of Legends and Arcane. 

(15:14) - James Bond: Defined by a franchised genre

(20:02) - Mission Impossible: Clash of systems. Stardom vs Narrative. Cultivating stars through the franchise

(27:01) - Building a franchise: Advice to young creators

(30:51) - The Distant Mountains, Larry Niven. Creating your world

(37:53) - Trans-Tasman Examples: Miss Fisher franchise, Cleverman. Yellowstone 

(41:41) - Underworld Wrestling, Pantamagic. Advancement in the gaming industry

(46:47) - Having a plan, authenticity

(49:22) - Finishing up 

Support & connect:

Find us at www.project-tempest.net/podcast, and get the acclaimed Project Tempest novella 1862 free for a limited time.

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play or directly on Captivate. If you enjoy the Project Tempest podcast please consider rating it 5 stars, this really helps us out. Thanks!

Comments to hello@manonfire.org

Producer for this episode is Kearin Armstrong, production assistant is Prea Millar.

Content warning: this episode contains discussion of emotional struggles, mental health, and neurodiversity. These are in an empathetic and supportive context, but as always, please stay safe and look after yourself. 

Jeff Gomez, CEO of Starlight Runner Entertainment, is a leading expert in narrative, story worlds, and transmedia development. Jeff was a creator on the original story world of Magic: The Gathering, and since then has helped develop and expand universes like Pirates of the Caribbean, Avatar, Transformers, Spider-Man, Halo, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles so that they play out across multiple media platforms in concert. Most recently he has served as a creative producer on the worldwide revival of Ultraman.

Follow Jeff’s work at starlightrunner.com, @jeffgomez and www.linkedin.com/in/jeffgomez/

Subscribe: 

Spotify | Google Podcasts | Apple | Captivate (direct)

Outline:

Here are the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.

(00:00) - Introduction 

(01:02) - Formative experiences: Dungeons & Dragons and finding community

(10:25) - Teenage years 

(17:31) - Magic the Gathering. Reality vs characters. Communal storytelling: Gateways Magazine

(22:02) - Licensing and building a universe. Hero’s journey vs collective journey.  

(37:58) - Systemic narratives and repetition. Star Wars, Marvel 

(42:22) - Personal journey and discovery. Artistic expression 

(49:22) - Neurodiversity. Tessellation - a world of imagination 

(52:17) - Collective journey through madness. Liminal spaces. Mental health.  Necessity of storytelling. Folk horror in Aotearoa 

(01:02:41) - Deep in the Nikau cave. Assertion of will

(01:14:06) - Advice to younger creators

(01:19:18) - Finishing up 

Support & connect:

Find us at www.project-tempest.net/podcast, and get the acclaimed Project Tempest novella 1862 free for a limited time.

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play or directly on Captivate. If you enjoy the Project Tempest podcast please consider rating it 5 stars, this really helps us out. Thanks!

Comments to

Ed McRae is a Kiwi writer of dark fiction and narrative designer for video games, including the hit online RPG Path of Exile. Ed’s books Narrative Design for Writers and Narrative Design for Indies are essential reading for anyone interested in modern storymaking. 

Follow Ed’s writing at www.edmcrae.com

Subscribe: 

Spotify | Google Podcasts | Apple | Captivate (direct)

Outline:

Here are the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.

(00:00) - Introduction

(00:31) - Grimstone: Writer’s block and creative constraints

(14:58) - Content creation: Quantity versus quality

(24:48) - Creative careers with financial stability

(28:36) - Challenge versus relaxation in gaming. 

(33:20) - Ambition and world building over time. (Tron, Neuromancer, Otherlands)

(36:58) - Metaverse and NFTs. 

(51:54) - Cyberspace advancements

(54:14) - Traditional versus indie publishin

(59:22) - Future obstacles and opportunities: Traditional storytelling and marketing in Web3 

(1:01:26) - Finishing up 

Support & connect:

Find us at www.project-tempest.net/podcast, and get the acclaimed Project Tempest novella 1862 free for a limited time.

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play or directly on Captivate. If you enjoy the Project Tempest podcast please consider rating it 5 stars, this really helps us out. Thanks!

Comments to hello@manonfire.org

Producer for this episode is Kearin Armstrong, production assistant is Prea Millar.