The Thirteenth Hour Podcast

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This week's episode is a little about the family of Aurora, the main protagonist of The Thirteenth Hour sequel - Dare. In many ways, the whole book is about family, but Aurora, who grew up in an orphanage on a different continent, never really knew her family and had no recollection of where she was originally from. But she gets to know all about it this book, though not by choice. In The Thirteenth Hour, there are hints that Aurora comes from a family of powerful magic users, but I left that plot thread intentionally hanging to explore one day in a future sequel.

When Aurora is kidnapped, she is brought to a technologically advanced city (Aulurwen City, the capital) that looks something like this. The black castle is where Aurora is brought and study magic and fulfill her family destiny.

Aurora's parents are from neighboring countries. They are both from Guardian families - these are the magic users of their world who channel, guard, and provide the magic their world runs on.

Aurora's father when he was about three. Marshall is Aurora's grandfather and also comes from a Guardian family, as does his wife, though he leaves that life when she gets sick.

Aurora's maternal family - her grandparents are sort of the opposite of her paternal family in look and personality. They are outwardly cold, rigid, very thin, and very image and duty focused. They believe their work as Guardians and maintaining a proper family blood line are most important. Demetria is Aurora's teenage cousin and wants the position that Aurora is brought back for. She views Aurora as a barbarian and is not shy about expressing her views.

The castle where Aurora finds herself essentially captive has a color palate of whites, greys, and blacks - smooth, cold, minimalist, with sharp lines - a direct contrast to the natural environment of Aurora's home. This is a sketch of the room where she is to stay (actually her mother's room as a child). She is a bit overwhelmed by it, though later comes to appreciate some of the modern conveniences this world has. Aurora's arc literally and figuratively has to do with figuring out what parts of this world and her heritage she wants to keep and which parts she does not want, similar to what all of grapple with as adults.

More next week!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes, CDs, and special editions of the album there as well.)

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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.

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I have finally come up with a title for The Thirteenth Hour sequel - Dare. In many ways, that's what the book is about.

There are a number of characters that accompany Logan on his journey to find Aurora after she is spirited away:

-Tinder: an full blooded eleven youth from a well- off family who has chosen to distance himself from the family business (and a a life of privilege) by making his living as a nomadic minstrel. Well educated and an experienced competitive fencer ...

-Haylee: a middle aged researcher and professor of linguistics at the National Wild Land University who comes from humble beginnings (her father was a shepherd) and has worked hard to distance herself from poverty. The trade off is she has had little time for developing other interests, friendships, and romantic partnerships ...

Kayla: a mute half elf woman who, like Tinder, has lived a nomadic life, but unlike him, not by choice. A naturally gentle person, she also has an understated, fierce independence stemming from being able to trust few others besides herself. ...

The Wayfarer: a giant, nonmute half elf who is somewhat of a rebel without a cause. His main life’s mission was to help his people regain their (in his words) rightful land (the Dark Forest) that was taken by King Darian IV. Due to a series of events that was apparently not supposed to happen, he was killed in a battle with the Imperial Army and is resurrected when the Dreamweaver, the Overseer of the Land of Dreams, realizes the error ...

Logan: the protagonist of The Thirteenth is now about ten years older. He is living a hardy but pleasant, self sustaining existence on the Isle of Misfits with his wife, Aurora, and the half elf refugee community on the other side of the island. That changes when mysterious strangers arrive from Aurora’s supposed homeland summoning her back for fulfill her family destiny. When he wakes up one day and Aurora is missing, he fears the worst and decides to go looking for her, though he knows the chances of success are slim and it will take him far from his beloved island community ...

Full descriptions at: https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2026/08/03/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-573-thirteenth-hour-sequel-update-22-title-reveal-and-logans-party/

More 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 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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

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This week, wanted to talk about Logan and Aurora's house for The Thirteenth Hour sequel. I recently finished a painting of an illustration I started a few months ago. I'm talking about the outside as well as the inside, especially all the personal touches they put in to add some element of convenience to their little sanctuary - a stone hearth, a shower area, a root cellar, and their tatami-like sleeping area. This is a picture did a few years ago:

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2026/07/27/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-572-thirteenth-hour-sequel-update-21-logan-and-auroras-house-illustrations/

And here is the outside in the picture that I just finished. My son thought it looked like a Hobbit house - I guess it does, since it's partially in the ground (I imagined that Logan and Aurora would have carved out a part of a hill), but probably not quite as cozy or finished since Logan and Aurora would have had to do this all by hand with only a few borrowed or bought things (like their window, the lock on the their door, and so forth).

I really think I should try to make a blueprint of the floor plan, so to speak, to see how it would all be laid out, and maybe a model of the house, maybe out of clay, since it would be fun to see it in 3 dimensions.

More next week!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes, CDs, and special editions of the album there as well.)

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

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This week, I am doing some more show and tell of the illustrations for The Thirteenth Hour sequel I have done so far:See the pictures here:

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2026/07/20/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-571-thirteenth-hour-sequel-update-20-illustrations-2/

Logan and Aurora flying on Lightning off their island to the mainland for a weekend.

The new female Imperial Rangers - King Darian IV's former personal guard.

A squirrely messenger character called Nerril from the part of the world Aurora is from - sent to bring Aurora back to the land of her birth. He bungles the job and gets put to sleep by a group of half elves on patrol.

Aurora playing her lute outside under the light of the moon and an aurora, contemplating new information about her past.

Logan is sick in bed, and Aurora is surprised one night by a soldier in a dark uniform who completes what Nerril is unable to do.

More next week!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes, CDs, and special editions of the album there as well.)

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

This week, I am doing a little show and tell of the illustrations for The Thirteenth Hour sequel I have done so far:

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2026/07/13/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-570-thirteenth-hour-sequel-update-19-illustrations/

The Wayfarer's last stand.

Alfred asleep in his apartment with a hand-drawn/written copy of "The Thirteenth Hour" he wrote as a kid after witnessing the events of the first book.

Logan and Aurora in dream form in Alfred's kitchen.

The Wayfarer flying a rocketpack.

The rocketpack - a homage to Dave Stevens and the Rocketeer.

The half elf village elders.

The network of rope bridges and interconnecting dwellings making up the treetop part of the half elven village.

Logan and Aurora walking through the ground part of the half elven village.

The Wayfarer tests Logan, who defends himself.

More next week!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes, CDs, and special editions of the album there as well.)

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

This week, I am talking about the morning exercise routines that I have done for years; Logan's "morning exercises" referred to in The Thirteenth Hour sequel (and I think even in the first book a bit) are similar. But in the sequel, Aurora starts her own version of these exercises that are more tailored to her own needs. She has less interest in martial arts but does find that due to the pressures and lack of physical activity she encounters in the part of the world that she finds herself in, her version of her morning routine is focused on agility, suppleness, and meditation. Even though she has watched Logan do his own version for years (and he has even participated sometimes), she ends up discovering her own version as a way of grasping at bits of her old life and regaining some sense of control in an uncontrollable situation. And because her life with Logan on her Isle was very physical, where much of the day was spent on tending to basic needs, she is unused to a more "modern" life where things like food, clean water, temperature control, and so forth are provided for, meaning that her body is not worked in the same way and she feels less able to confront all the mental challenges she has to shoulder. So in her case, it's really about balance.

More next week!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes, CDs, and special editions of the album there as well.)

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2026/07/06/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-569-thirteenth-hour-sequel-update-18-logan-and-auroras-morning-exercises/

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This week, I'm continuing work on the ending theme I started in episode 564 and now have some lyrics to go with some of the skeleton chords I came up with before. I have a better sense, also, what I want to song to be about - with themes touching on coming to terms with the concessions of age, understanding yourself and where you come from better, and being brave / taking chances. There is a little poem I recall from a calligraphy book I had as a kid. It remains the only poem I have ever really committed to memory, and even today, ~35 years later, I can still recite it from memory:

Believe in yourself and in your dream

Though impossible things may seem.

Some way, somehow, you'll get through

To the goal you have in view.

Mountains fall and seas divide

Before the one, who, in his stride

Take the hard road, day by day

Sweeping obstacles away.

Believe in yourself and in your plan.

Say not I can not but I can.

The prizes of life we fail to win

Because we doubt the power within.

There was not an author given, and I have not been able to find one, despite looking a number of times, but I'm sure one is out there, somewhere. That little poem got me through some tough times. So those are the sentiments I wanted this song to have.

More next week!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes, CDs, and special editions of the album there as well.)

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

This week, I wanted to touch on a piece that ties The Rocketeer (the film version just turned 35 this weekend) with The Thirteenth Hour sequel. In some previous episodes (125, 126, and 127), my brother created a little interlude with the Wayfarer, a character that I've talked about a bunch recently that features heavily in the sequel. He gets a magical rocketpack in that standalone campaign and so I talk about it during this episode. Some preliminary sketches:

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2026/06/22/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-567-and-like-a-hood-ornament-95-thirteenth-hour-sequel-update-16-the-wayfarers-rocketpack/

More next week!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes, CDs, and special editions of the album there as well.)

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

This week, I'm working on an idea for a main theme for one of the main characters of The Thirteenth Hour sequel, the Wayfarer. Part of this episode was recorded outside (sorry for the environmental sounds) and the rest in front of a keyboard where I was hammering out a skeleton framework for the theme.

I think I settled on an illustration style I like for this book - ballpoint pen with watercolors. Here's a picture of the Wayfarer from the first part of the story:

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2026/06/15/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-566-thirteenth-hour-sequel-update-15-musical-interlude-starting-the-wayfarers-theme/

More next week!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes, CDs, and special editions of the album there as well.)

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

This week, I wanted to go over some main details of the plot of The Thirteenth Hour sequel, which is really four stories in one - Aurora's tale, Logan's tale, Alfred (from the first book's tale), and the plot that weaves them all together. It might be too big for one book. But so far, I'm just writing! 96K words so far and probably only half done. I know I'll have a lot of editing to do!

More next week!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes, CDs, and special editions of the album there as well.)

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

This week, I'm working on an idea for a new ending(?) song for The Thirteenth Hour sequel. I don't have the lyrics yet and only a vague idea of what it will be about (acceptance? integration? family trauma? I don't know yet exactly ... I have heard this kind of story is called a "second coming of age" tale since it's more about the shift into middle adulthood), but I have the chords for the verse and chorus and some riffs that I started playing around with this episode.

The parts of the song so far are:

-Intro riff in F Bb Dm C

-Verse in F Bb Dm C

-Chorus riff in F Dm Bb C

-Outro arpeggio riff with a descending L hand chord progression in F Dm Bb C

I thought it would be nice if this song were a duet (perhaps between Logan and Aurora, so a male and female part), or maybe just sung from Aurora's voice. I have just sung the ones intended to be sung by her before (since most could go either way), but since this book is really her story, there are some that really can only be sung by a female. So that will be a project for the next soundtrack.

More next week!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes, CDs, and special editions of the album there as well.)

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2026/06/01/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-564-thirteenth-hour-sequel-update-13-musical-interlude-making-an-ending-theme-in-f/

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This week, I'm reading from a random section from The Thirteenth Hour sequel draft. Last week, I talked about the Wayfarer, so this week happens to be a section where Logan and Aurora first meet him. I've mentioned a bit about the half elf freedom fighter, the Wayfarer, before, but this section gives a bit more characterization, as we get to know him more and more as the story progresses.

More next week!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes, CDs, and special editions of the album there as well.)

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2026/05/25/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-563-thirteenth-hour-sequel-update-12-the-wayfarer-meets-logan-and-aurora/

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This week, I'm reading from a random section from The Thirteenth Hour sequel draft. Last week, I talked about Aurora, so this week happens to be a section where Logan and Aurora reconnect with the new Imperial Rangers (formerly King Darian IV's all female guard) and invite them back to the island where they live for a visit.

I scrolled to this section randomly but recall it was fun to write; I enjoyed being able to flesh out some of the side characters whose storylines interweave with the bigger plot. I've mentioned a bit about the half elf freedom fighter, the Wayfarer, before, as well as some of the characteristics of the new Imperial Rangers in previous episodes.

The Rangers only visit for a short time, but you get the sense that this offers Aurora a rare chance at female companionship she doesn't normally get (and frankly, never really got before at previous points in her life). But she fits in well with them, and perhaps in another life, could have been one of them. I got the sense that Logan could have been fine living alone as a hermit in the woods with only occasional contact with other people, but I didn't get that sense entirely for Aurora. She struck me as the sort of person who could do it and probably would not mind most of the time, but as someone who never quite fit in most places and knew nothing about who she was and where she came from, finding "her own tribe" would have been a nice thing for her. So that's exactly what she does in the story. Of course, she ends up finding out it's not everything it's cracked up to be, but you can't have that realization unless you know for real.

More next week!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes, CDs, and special editions of the album there as well.)

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2026/05/18/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-562-thirteenth-hour-sequel-update-11-reading-a-random-excerpt/

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This week, I thought I'd discuss a bit about Aurora's backstory and some of the themes I wanted to touch on in the sequel to The Thirteenth Hour. Not all of the research/backstory always makes its way super explicitly in the actual text, but I usually create a history for the characters in order to help create things consistent.

For Aurora, we already learned she grew up at an orphanage and knew nothing about the family of her origin. For this book, I have been filling in parts of her past we got only hints about before. I imagined that she was almost always the oldest kid in the orphanage and thus probably the tallest and biggest as well as someone who others would naturally tend to gravitate towards for comfort and support. I imagine she also entered puberty a bit on the earlier side (maybe 11), which is not always the kindest to girls that age. That often comes with some changes - menses, body changes, societal expectations, sometimes unwanted attention from men, etc. Aurora didn't exactly have a mother figure in her life, but the Headmistress of the orphanage and its staff (most of whom were probably women) kind of filled that role, and I imagine that since she was there so long, they would have viewed her as kind of a surrogate daughter and might have tried to shield her a bit from some of those things. That said, everyone has to grow up sometime, and I imagine she would have figured out these things on her own eventually.

By the time we meet her again in this book, though, she's older (almost 30) and more secure in who she is. She's happy for the most part. Perhaps a little lonely and wondering if she and Logan will ever be able to have children, but all things considered, settled. This story does unbalance that a bit, but the changes are less external and more mental. In some ways, she serves as a voice of reason when it comes to some of the irrational/unhealth attitudes and views we tolerate but may still find unreasonable when it comes to family attitudes, societal expectations about gender and body shape, societal roles, and so forth. But as she encounters these things anew when she finally meets her own family, it causes her to question who she is and what parts (if any) of this part of her life that she wants to integrate into her old life.

I have thought that for illustrations this time, instead of going the digital route, I'll use hand drawn watercolors and so will make some pictures this summer that will depict some of these things. I don't know if they will all make their way into the text but perhaps some for future short stories or maybe just to understand my characters better.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes, CDs, and special editions of the album there as well.)

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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.

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2026/05/11/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-561-thirteenth-hour-sequel-update-10-auroras-story-1/

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This week, I'm playing around with a variation of the archery technique I was working on last week (holding arrows in my bow hand) but also combining it with another technique, holding a few in my drawing hand also. They each have their pros and cons, but I think Logan and Aurora might have played around with both, and probably others.

At the suggestion of former show guest Billy Campbell, I have been reading the fantasy book, A Wizard of Earthsea. This is actually my third time trying to get into it - once as a child, once in my 20s, and then again, twenty+ years after that. Third time's the charm, I suppose. I found it quite difficult to understand before, but I think the combination of an initially unlikeable protagonist and the dreamy, myth-like writing style were initial barriers that have grown on me this round. The tale is a great example of how sometimes, you can and should break the rule of "show, not tell," because it is very much the sort of thing you might be told around a fire on a dark winter's night.

One interesting fact is that the author of the book, Ursula Le Guin, had parents who were anthtopologists - Theodora and Alfred Krober. Alfred Krober was one of the anthropologists who worked with Ishi, the last of the Yahi people in California after they were killed in massacres in the late 1880s. In 1911, Ishi was "found" (i.e. emerged from hiding, half staved) and brought to San Francisco. He became part of an anthropology museum, working a job and demonstrating traditional Native American skills for museum attendees and forming what sounded like a genuine friendship with the anthropologists, who also recorded his reactions to 20th century life. He would later also befriend a University of CA physician, Saxton Pope, around archery, and their collaboration would basically form the basis for a re-mergence of traditional bowhunting in the United States. Unfortunately, Ishi died in 1916 of pulmonary TB. Alfred Krober was away on sabbatical at the time, and for whatever reason, Ishi's body underwent an autopsy, and his brain was removed. Alfred was very upset by all of this when he returned and found the subject quite difficult to talk about for years. Decades later, his wife wrote the book, Ishi in Two Worlds, that became very popular.

The fact that Ursula Le Guin undoubtedly grew up hearing her parents talk about Ishi makes me wonder if her writing style for this book, reminiscent of a myth, was influenced by her parents' work, and if her protagonist for the book, Ged, portrayed as having reddish - brown skin, was not in some way influenced by Ishi. Of note, Ged was given that name by his master teacher, just as Ishi was given that name since no one knew his real name. I think the custom in his tribe was for someone else to introduce a person to another by name, and since there was no one else of his tribe left, the Yahi word for man ("ishi") was used instead. In Le Guin's Eathsea books, magic stems from knowing an object's true name. It's a sign of acknowledgement and respect that commands power and summons the natural forces of the Earth. Part of me wonders if this was again an ode of Ishi, who died without anyone in the living world know his true name. I don't know, but I do wonder at the connection.

Pictures: https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2026/05/04/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-560-thirteenth-hour-sequel-update-9-working-a-fast-shooting-archery-technique-ishi-a-wizard-of-earthsea/

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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.

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This week, I'm playing around with something I saw in a Franco-Belgian comic book from the late 70s/80s calledThorgal, written by Jean Van Hamme and illustrated by Grzegorz Rosiński, about the child of a race of people from elsewhere in the universe who crash land on Earth. The child (Thorgal) is raised by Vikings and grows up to be a very skilled archer.

I just discovered this comic on a trip to visit my brother across the pond. We ended up taking the Chunnel from London to Paris, and there is this one section of the city where there are a whole bunch of comic book stores. We went into one that had mainly French comics. It was absolutely amazing in terms of art, though I only know a few words of French so could not really read anything. But I found a few volumes in English, and a Thorgal comic was one of them. I was attracted to the title of this volume (The Archers), and even though it was sealed (as is often the case with most comic book shops), decided I'd buy it on impulse.

It was basically something I would have totally done as a kid - bought a book because the cover looked cool and opened it up to find I couldn't understand what I'd just bought since I'd purchased the 4th volume out of 9 or something and had missed all the backstory. But I will say, though that was technically the case, I have heard that these volumes are more stand alone-ish that typical American comics. I didn't have much trouble figuring out what was going on. I was also pleasantly surprised to find that Thorgal, his wife, and their son end up living on a remote island, just like Logan and Aurora do at the end of The Thirteenth Hour. My impression was that they did it for similar reasons, too - to be left alone in peace from the chaos of an ever intruding world.

In the volume, there were a few scenes depicting characters shooting very quickly using a way of reloading arrows off the hand holding the bow, a technique I'd seen and tried before but never successfully. I tend to favor holding extra arrows in the hand drawing the string, but I thought I'd give this one another try. It looks like the illustrator knew a thing or two about this technique himself, and I love that he took the time to depict this little detail, probably knowing a lot of people would probably miss it. So in this episode, I play around with a few different techniques inspired by these panels. Though I'm drawing the bow with my thumb and not the pads of my fingers like the characters in the comic, I found that what is drawn does actually work, more or less. This is the hand position I found most successful, with the arrows under my middle finger:

Anyhow, it's something I figured Logan and Aurora might find themselves using in the sequel, so I figured I owed it to myself to figure it out so I could write and draw about it. More coming soon!

Pictures: https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2026/04/27/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-559-thirteenth-hour-sequel-update-8-trying-a-fast-shooting-archery-technique-inspired-by-thorgal/

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes, CDs, and special editions of the album there as well.)

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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.

View Details

This week, I'm reading from a draft of The Thirteenth Hour sequel that gets at the life that Logan and Aurora have created for themselves. This section is told from Aurora's perceptive:

Satisfied that I had the gear I needed, I said goodbye to Logan and walked away from our house towards the ocean. Whereas Logan preferred hunting in the forest, I liked hunting in the grassy plain overlooking the tall cliff leading down to the ocean below. There was a stream, fed by melting snow from the purple mountains, that flowed through the grassy fields, off the cliff and down to the ocean far below. I loved walking along it, gazing out at the horizon into the cool blue waters. I’ll admit, it wasn’t always the prospect of catching dinner that motivated me to hunt there. It was partly the view and partly the occasional glimpse of the island’s wild horses that would rumble across the plain, kicking up a small cloud of dirt as they galloped through the grasslands.

If you think anything like me, you might be wondering if we ever succeeded in riding the horses. The answer’s yes, though as with so many things, our ability to do so came from knowledge passed to us from the half elves. After that first encounter with Starlyn, he had returned, as promised, the next morning, just as Logan and I had been cleaning up the remains of breakfast (which was, not surprisingly, more oatmeal). One minute, we were scrubbing the pot (for a layer of the cereal always inevitably ended up charred to the bottom of the pot), and the next, Starlyn was standing in front of us. He performed the same bow followed by the flute greeting as yesterday then motioned for us to follow him.

More: https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2026/04/20/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-558-thirteenth-hour-sequel-update-7-worldbuilding-the-isle-of-misfits/

More coming soon!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes, CDs, and special editions of the album there as well.)

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

This week, after some time away (visiting my brother and his wife), I had a couple of reflections. Not only are our kids getting older and can do things like pull their own bags and navigate subway systems and sit through restaurant meals but they're also old enough to more fully appreciate differences in culture, language, and society much more so than when they were younger. It's cool to see! I mention that since in The Thirteenth Hour sequel books that I've been working on, one of the main characters from the first book, Aurora, ends up going to a different part of the world where she can't speak or read the native tongue. Though there is a common tongue that allows people to communicate, not everyone speaks it, and that presents barriers to Aurora when she first gets to these lands, and eventually for Logan and his party when they arrive in search of her. So though the things I touch on in this episode are not huge parts of the book, they lay the foundation and background for the worlds I've been trying to create in the story.

More coming soon!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes, CDs, and special editions of the album there as well.)

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2026/04/13/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-557-thirteenth-hour-sequel-update-6-worldbuilding-culture-language-and-societies-in-the-thirteenth-hour-sequel-and-travel-reflections/

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This week, we are continuing the talk started last time when game developer and musician, Paul Korman, came on the show; this week, my brother Jeremy joins us for further discussion on Paul, his game The Phantom Fellows, oneshorteye's mini documentary, "The Ghost Game That Isn't About Death" about Paul and the game, as well as game development in general. The last time I talked to Paul, I was not actively making the Rocketeer game I've been working on, so we have a whole discussion (therapy session?) about solo game development and the frustration that sometimes comes with it.

More on The Phantom Fellows

Oneshorteye's Youtube channel

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2026/03/30/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-555-welcome-back-paul-korman-to-discuss-game-development-and-the-ghost-game-that-isnt-about-death/

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes, CDs, and special editions of the album there as well.)

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

This week, I recorded outside, the first nice spring day so far, I wanted to take advantage of the weather so do some shooting outdoors. Unlike the static, more deliberate archery style | learned when I was younger, I have been experimenting with more dynamic ways of moving while shooting - different draw techniques (thumb draw, Slavic release) as well as shooting while walking and after rolling. For the past 15 yrs or so, I have been playing around with purely instinctive ways of shooting (no sights) - just aiming through intention alone, which fits many of the martial arts l’ve done over the years. I’ve used these experiences as background for writing the sequel to The Thirteenth Hour. Here's a segment from the draft narrated by Aurora, reflecting on the past few years as she and Logan learned by trial and error how to catch their food after having grown up not really having to depend on things like hunting and fishing for protein.

Excerpt at https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2026/03/23/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-554-thirteenth-hour-sequel-update-5-worldbuilding-the-food-2-archery-and-hunting/

More coming soon!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form!

It is out on most major streaming services such as ⁠Bandcamp⁠, ⁠Spotify⁠, and ⁠YouTube Music⁠. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes, CDs, and special editions of the album there as well.)

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: ⁠www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM⁠

-->Forward: ⁠www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc⁠

-->Nightsky Stargazing: ⁠www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo⁠

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: ⁠https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk⁠

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 ⁠writejoshuablum@gmail.com⁠ for more details!

View Details

This week, on the show, I thought I'd explore a little more about how the Thirteenth Hour sequel is going, especially in one small area. Logan and Aurora, the main characters from the original Thirteenth Hour are last seen on a small island off the coast of the mainland. (I talked a little about the island in episode 522.) They learn to be pretty self sufficient there, but I also imagined that they exchanged ideas, customs, clothes, food, and other parts of life with some other groups of people nearby - the half elf community located on the other side of the island and the town of Ravenvale, which has a number of shops, a market where they occasional sell food they have harvested and things they've made as well as pick up supplies, and an inn where they sometimes splurge for a weekend getaway.

I have often thought that in their youth, growing up in the Aquarian orphanage, they would have eaten a lot of soup, since that is cheap and can be easily made. But I also imagined that in the forested region they lived in, which was intended to be temperate in nature, would have been too cold for crops like rice but okay for grains grown on some of the farms nearby. The main export of Aquaria would have been lumber, paper, fur pelts, and crops like wheat and other grains which were often sold raw or manufactured into dry goods like noodles.

I imagined locals would have found all sorts of ways to consume said noodles, so recently, when I was cooking dinner, I wondered if stir fried noodles (lao mien / chow mien - a staple at most American Chinese restaurants) could have also been something they ate. I don't see why not. Stir frying over an open fire or a large fire in the hearth would totally be possible, and it's basically what every Chinese restaurant does. Frankly, it'd be a lot safer and less messy outside or in a space with good ventilation, like in a fireplace, as it tends to produce a fair amount of smoke sometimes and oil get over everything. That said, once you have your ingredients cut up, it takes mere minutes to sear everything before you have a meal. Things do need to be cut up in little pieces so it's possible to cook them quickly but again, totally doable. The only part that would be challenging would be obtaining the noodles as well as some oil so doesn't all stick to the pan. These things I figured Logan and Aurora could trade for in Ravenvale. I also imagined them strolling through the market, sampling some of the street foods there, watching them be prepared right there in the open, and then taking those techniques with them back home to their island to test out.

Pictures: https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2026/03/16/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-553-thirteenth-hour-sequel-update-4-worldbuilding-the-food/

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes, CDs, and special editions of the album there as well.)

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

View Details

In today's episode, I'm making two little riffs that I think will be background music for the pixelart Rocketeer game I've been working on. One is a little somber piece to accompany the "RIP" scene when Cliff kicks the bucket. I've made a serious one here, but I thought I might vary what is written on the gravestone to reflect what you did, if I can figure out how to do that. Like, for example, if you blew yourself up with a grenade, the gravestone might read, "Cliff Secord, 1911 - 1936, chowderhead."

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2026/03/09/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-552-and-like-a-hood-ornament-94-updates-on-the-rocketeer-vs-the-third-reich-video-game-7/

The second riff is probably the verse to some kind of ending song, while the credits play. I was undecided on whether to do any music with words in it, but this one came to me one day (while driving, naturally), and I thought it might fit. If not, then for a future Thirteenth Hour soundtrack. But since the game is really about Cliff going to rescue Peevy, I thought it could be a song about friendship, mentorship, or maybe the love fathers have for their sons (since Peevy is a kind of father figure to Cliff).

More to come next week!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form and on CD!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes and special editions of the album there as well.) The CDs are out now!

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

This week, on the show, my brother and I are discussing a RPG system he created based on the world of The Thirteenth Hour. This is a work in progress based on a number of RPGs set in that world that we have already done but also with an eye toward creating your own world. In other words, it's meant to be light on rules and structure, heavy on customizability and individuality. So although you could create games based on the fantasy world in the Thirteenth Hour books, you could also use the engine to create games for your own books and worlds. Jeremy and I do the first of likely several of these over the next year as we do play testing with some new Thirteenth Hour RPGs. I have set up a page I will be adding to on itch.io that has the draft of the document we're discussing and will be the site of future updates.

Check out Jeremy's work over at Pixel Grotto, CBR.com, and Classic Batman Panels on IG. If you are of the DnD persuasion, his articles on DnD Beyond may be right up your alley, and you can view his entire portfolio here. You can also check out his latest book, where he is a co-author: Pathfinder Adventure Path: No Breath to Cry, the ecology and exploration TTRPG with Three Sail Studios, Mappa Mundi, and their most recent game, Gallows Corner: A Peasants' Revolt RPG. Thanks, Jeremy, for coming on the show!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes, CDs, and special editions of the album there as well.)

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2026/03/02/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-551-welcome-my-brother-jeremy-as-we-talk-the-infinite-games-system-a-thirteenth-hour-ttrpg-system/

View Details

In today's episode, I'm wrapping up the music that I started in episode 536, what I'm calling the "outdoor" Rocketeer theme for the parts of the Rocketeer vs the Third Reich pixelart game I've been making that takes place outdoors. Since those are sections where Cliff will have his rocketpack and can fly, I wanted to give the music a kind of WW1 flying ace kind of feel. Most of the track was done from last fall, but I ended up adding a few other instruments to round it out.

Pictures: https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2026/02/23/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-550-and-like-a-hood-ornament-93-updates-on-the-rocketeer-vs-the-third-reich-video-game-6/

I also reflect on the nature of making music in this day and age as opposed to before, touching on what previous generations of homebrew music producers had to work with. I've been reading out the early days of hiphop (before it was really called that), and it's fascinating to think what those guys came up with - e.g. DJ Kool Herc (the father of hip hop) made extended breakbeat compilations of his own for the neighborhood parties in the Bronx in the summer of 1973. It's easy to lose sight of how good we have it with the tools we have (many of which are not only widely available but free), which make it all the more impressive to think what previous generations did with the tools they had.

More to come next week!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form and on CD!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes and special editions of the album there as well.) The CDs are out now!

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

In today's episode, I'm wrapping up the music for the indoors castle sections of the Rocketeer vs the Third Reich pixelart game I've been making. Last week, I based the melody on the Jenny Theme from the Rocketeer soundtrack by James Horner and made a short segment (about 30 sec long), trying to make it sound both regal and ominous. I think the theme in the film plays when Jenny is captured by Neville Sinclair, who is both Hollywood royalty and a secret Nazi spy, so that seems appropriate. I think in that segment, she is taken to his Frank Llyod Wright style house after being drugged and wakes on his bed (I think after real life events mirroring such events have hit a little too close to home in recent years, Hollywood probably would not go there today, but this was 1991). Nonetheless, I wanted to give the theme an ominous theme to play up the tension in the castle so besides the melody itself, also added some ambient castle noises to try to give you an idea you are in a large stone building.

More to come next week!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form and on CD!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes and special editions of the album there as well.) The CDs are out now!

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2026/02/16/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-549-and-like-a-hood-ornament-92-updates-on-the-rocketeer-vs-the-third-reich-video-game-5/

View Details

In today's episode, I'm discussing some updates I've made in this past week on the pixelart Rocketeer game that I started a number of years ago. I took a break from the programming part to do some work on the art and music for the game. The game starts with a short intro cut scene told in 1-2 pictures + text, like old NES games, so I made a intro montage picture showing Cliff's life after the events of the movie, implying he's still a pilot, the rocketpack was rebuilt, and his friends - Jenny and Peevy - are still his main motivators.

Here is a short video showing some footage from last week discussed in last episode. I successfully got the throwing physics to work, so now Cliff can toss grenades he finds. He can also blow himself up that way, though, so you have to be careful. I was thinking that if you do that, maybe the death scene will be Peevy calling Cliff a chowderhead or something.

See the picture at https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2026/02/09/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-548-and-like-a-hood-ornament-91-updates-on-the-rocketeer-vs-the-third-reich-video-game-4/

I also started working on the music for these intro levels. Since they are inside a castle, I wanted there to be a different theme than the outdoor flying levels, like Super Mario Brothers. I'm using a variation of the Jenny Theme from the Rocketeer soundtrack by James Horner for these levels so started working out the notes, the drums, and the tempo. It's very rough at this point, but my hope it I can make a loopable bit that can play over and over during these levels.

More to come next week!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form and on CD!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes and special editions of the album there as well.) The CDs are out now!

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

In today's episode, I'm discussing some progress I've made on the Rocketeer game that I started a number of years ago. This week, I've been working on starting and ending screens, higher contrast backgrounds, as well as more on powerups, including the ability to throw the grenades you pick up - that took a lot of fiddling!

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2026/02/02/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-547-and-like-a-hood-ornament-90-updates-on-the-rocketeer-vs-the-third-reich-video-game-3/

More to come next week!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form and on CD!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes and special editions of the album there as well.) The CDs are out now!

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

In today's episode, I'm discussing some progress I've made on the Rocketeer game that I started a number of years ago. This week, I've been working on the background, powerups, being able to search enemies, and tutorial elements needed to orient players to the game. More details can be found in this youtube video: https://youtu.be/LSaEPHvzkJ8

More to come next week!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form and on CD!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes and special editions of the album there as well.) The CDs are out now!

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

In today's episode, I'm discussing some progress I've made on the Rocketeer game that I started a number of years ago. I was learning to use the program before by making a one level demo game which ended up being the precursor to the story and card game of The Rocketeer vs the Third Reich. But I'd always meant to get back to the actual video game. In the past two weeks, I had to reacquaint myself to the program, Gdevelop5, and pickup where I left off a few years ago. I discuss some of the design challenges and decisions I've been working through recently. More details can be found in this youtube video: https://youtu.be/0wvP29BKk-k

One thing I did in preparation was play replay the NES version of The Rocketeer - a very frustrating game made much better by using emulation, save states, cheat codes, and the developer's code, which gives you essentially infinite weapons and health as well as ready access to rocketfuel, which I always found in very short supply in the game.

Playing the game on God mode (which made it tolerable) essentially drive home two points - 1.) sometimes difficulty does not make a great game in that it may simply discourage play rather than motivate it, and 2.) you shouldn't overly limit something's best feature (in this case, flying - that should have been easier and more prominent in the game). The cut scenes, however, were very well done, some of which you can see below: https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2026/01/19/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-545-and-like-a-hood-ornament-88-updates-on-the-rocketeer-vs-the-third-reich-video-game-1/

More to come next week!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form and on CD!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes and special editions of the album there as well.) The CDs are out now!

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

[caption id="attachment_15202" align="aligncenter" width="473"] Screenshot[/caption]

View Details

This week's episode was recorded prior to the holidays with two gentlemen who have both been on he show multiple times, Joseph Esch (with a few guest appearances from family members) and Adam Crohn. There was no particular agenda other than catching up with each other and talking about Joe's first experience being a vendor at a toy convention. We ended up commiserating on having tables at similar such conventions and fairs, the pitfalls of generative AI and digital living, especially with children, and the quiet revolution against such things happening in some parts of the country / with some families.

In 2026, I'm planning to do more like this, previously something I saved for centennial episodes. On a smaller scale, though, I think they are nice ways of building and maintaining a sense of community, with is something we need now more than ever.

If you enjoyed this outing, you can find Adam, Joe, and I all together on podcasts about The Lost Boys (parts 1 and 2) as well as on Rambo: First Blood (Parts 1 and 2 ) as well as their epic collaboration on Steakuums:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3X1SL5qKqAE

Wishing you the best in the new year!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form and on CD!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes and special editions of the album there as well.) The CDs are out now!

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2026/01/12/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-544-creative-corner-1-with-adam-and-joe/

View Details

In today's episode, I wanted to talk about a few techniques I have been experimenting with to make custom action figures. I have, up until now, been using epoxy clay, which you can mold and sculpt until it hardens after about an hour, then sand or file it down until it is the way you want it. It works great, but it creates a hybrid dried clay - plastic figure that while durable to an extent, is still somewhat brittle. I have been looking for a way to create an all-plastic figure for the sake of durability (without injection molding).

The last few weeks, I have been playing around with a kind of thermoplastic called Instamorph that softens into a moldable putty when heated to 150 degrees F. While it does cure very fast, it can be heated back up again with a heat gun or a soldering iron and sculpted, just like epoxy clay. As far as I can tell, it's safe to do this and does not release noxious gasses in the process. It anneals directly to the plastic of the figure and, when cool, forms a solid piece, a bit like lamination. It can also be dyed in the soft phase to potentially replace or minimize the need for painting.

Speaking of which, I also experimented with applying paint while the plastic is hot, something called plastic annealing, which I think will be especially helpful with joints and other areas of frequent paint rub.

There's more on this, plus some visuals, on this video I made.

I also talk about some goals for 2026, some of which I talked about last week. The major areas I want to focus on are:

-Music - continuing to learn how to use DAWs to make music electronically

-Writing - working on The Thirteenth Hour sequel on a consistent basis

-Toymaking - continuing to use techniques like this to find new ways of making different kinds of figures more easily and with a wider range of base figures with less prep work needed

-Podcasting - adding creators' corner chats and livestreaming of things adjacent to the podcast, like editing writing or making models

Wishing you the best in the new year!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form and on CD!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes and special editions of the album there as well.) The CDs are out now!

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

In today's episode, I wanted to continue what I was working on last week, trying to get resin to adhere to a base plastic figure to create an easier way to make custom action figure duplicates. I will be experimenting with a number of methods to create snap on/ snap off molds to see what works best, but today, I'm using a kind of thermoplastic called Instamorph. You heat the pellets in water, they become soft and squishy, allowing you to press something into it to make a mold, like I am doing here:

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2025/12/29/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-542-and-like-a-hood-ornament-87-trying-a-new-technique-by-creating-a-new-rocketeer-figure-part-2-and-2025-reflection/

When it cures, Instamorph turns white. It is also very hard. That can be a plus and a minus. I did find that it was really hard to get the mold out since it didn't want to bend. I really hard to yank on the limbs. The torso, however, worked really well:

The mold was supposed to apply on the Rocketeer's jacket bib with the buttons and a few other details, like the straps for the rocket pack on the sides and shoulders. The torsos of these figures might be a different kind of plastic since it has different melting properties than the limbs (which I suspect are PVC), but the resin actually adhered just fine. Getting the resin to release from the mold was difficult, but I wonder if I use some oil or some other kind of mold release, it might a different story. I have some other mold putties to try in the coming weeks, so if this method ultimately does not work, perhaps other will. I am also wondering if this kind of plastic can be used in place of epoxy clay. It dries hard but could be shaped with heat ... something to think about.

This project will continue into 2026, but 2025 has been a pretty good year. I'll talk about this more next week, in the first episode of the new year, but some of the things that happened this year were:

-great guests and new friends

-the release of Once Upon a Dream on tape, CD, and digital streaming after many years

-a fair bit of progress on The Thirteenth Hour sequel (about 70 pages)

-episode 500 last March

-started to learn how to use a DAW as another way to make music

-Wrapping up the reading of The Rocketeer movie novelization (started 10/14/24, ended 7/7/25)

Looking forward to seeing what we can do in 2026! See you in the new year!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form and on CD!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes and special editions of the album there as well.) The CDs are out now!

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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.
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

View Details

In today's episode, I wanted to try something that, frankly, may not work. I wanted to try using a basic figure as the "skeleton" and casting details onto the body instead of sculpting them out of epoxy clay or some other substance. This would allow you do get a figure off the shelf and essentially "plug" it into the molds for the limbs are such and emerge with a "newly clothed" figure. I don't know if it will work since I'm not sure how well the resin will adhere to the skeleton. That said, I figured it's worth a try and am making the prototype today from an Iron Man figure and helmet, chest, and pack of the figure I was working on last time. Next time, I'll see how I can make new molds or adapt the ones I already have.

Picture of the prototype so far: https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2025/12/22/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-541-and-like-a-hood-ornament-86-trying-a-new-technique-by-creating-a-new-rocketeer-figure-part-1/

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form and on CD!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes and special editions of the album there as well.) The CDs are out now!

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

In today's episode, I'm continuing what I started in episode 536 and 538 - where I wanted to turn a Rocketeer figurine that I found on eBay in to an articulated action figure. In this episode, I got into finishing up the first casting and adding joints to that one and subsequent duplicates. In the end, I accomplished my goal of seeing if I could turn a static Japanese gashapon Rocketeer figurine that I didn't want to destroy into an articulated resin action figure, giving me new ideas on different ways to make customs.

Pictures: https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2025/12/15/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-540-and-like-a-hood-ornament-85-wrapping-up-the-rocketeer-resin-casting-project-finishing-the-figures/

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form and on CD!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes and special editions of the album there as well.) The CDs are out now!

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

In today's episode, I'm actually joined by my co-host and guest, Brian Funk of The Music Production Podcast.

We decided to dual release this conversation, essentially serving as guests on each other's show. We had a really great conversation about not just the ins and outs of aspects of making music but the underlying creative processes that go into formulating ideas, making them real in the world, and some of the traps and hangups that we creative types sometimes find ourselves in. The way one artist works will be different from how another does since we are all individuals, and as we allude to a number of times on the show, the timing of when you work and what is going on in your life may also influence things. These are all things each musician has to figure out, so I'd highly recommend checking out Brian's show since each guest has their own take. The more you hear from, the more likely you, too, will figure it out and/or add to what you already know. Plus, since we are often isolated doing our own things, it's nice to find and be a part of a music making community.

We also touch on Brian's own music, which you can find via the links below. I enjoyed listening to his last album and was glad to be able to ask him more about how he made it. That's all in the show!

You can learn more about Brian, his music, his show, and his music production community below:

-Website - https://brianfunk.com

-Music Production Podcast - https://brianfunk.com/podcast

-Music Production Club - https://brianfunk.com/mpc

-5-Minute Music Producer book - https://brianfunk.com/book

-Brian Funk's YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@BrianFunkMusicThanks, Brian, for being joining me to discuss music, and thanks for listening!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form and on CD!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes and special editions of the album there as well.) The CDs are out now!

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

-Website - https://brianfunk.com -Music Production Podcast - https://brianfunk.com/podcast -Music Production Club - https://brianfunk.com/mpc -5-Minute Music Producer book - https://brianfunk.com/book -Brian Funk's YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@BrianFunkMusic

View Details

In today's episode, I'm continuing what I started in episode 536 - where I wanted to turn a Rocketeer figurine that I found on eBay in to an articulated action figure. But in the episode, the silicone I had gotten turned out to be bad, so I had to get some more in order to make a mold. In the past two weeks, I bought a new kind of silicone (Smooth On Mold Star 30) as well as a new kind of resin to try (Smooth Cast 57D). I was successful in making molds of the parts of the figurine. It wasn't the most efficient use of silicone, I will say, since I probably could have found containers that were a bit smaller and wasted less, but if I don't use these molds in the future, I'll chop them up and use them as filler when making future molds. Here are the two pieces:

This is the lower body mold.

This mess is the upper body mold; you may be able to see both sides of the figurine in relief on ether side.

This is what it looks like when you are taking the casting out. You can see here (my first attempt) that one arm didn't quite fill. That happens sometimes if you don't quite have the air vents in the right places.

Pictures at https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2025/12/01/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-538-and-like-a-hood-ornament-84-continuing-a-rocketeer-resin-casting-project-making-the-prototype/⁠

I was also curious to see if the resin I was using could be heated up with a heat gun to further bend the pieces. Yes, the resin did get soft, but it ended up just breaking. I did use a woodcarving tool to cut the limbs up further (never a bad idea to wear some eye protection and a N95 or equivalent mask when dealing with hot plastic) and then used epoxy resin (what I normally use to add details on custom figures) to meld the limbs back together in a new position.

Here, I have the parts of the figure with newly formed arms and legs next to the original:

I just need to clean up the dried epoxy resin, probably with a Dremel, and then figure out how to make joint pegs for the limbs and neck. Then, I'll make one last mold of all the parts - 4 limbs, torso, head, and rocketpack so I can make resin copies of all the pieces. That's what's to come in the next few weeks.

If you haven't heard them yet, check out the conversations with Andy Last of the Beyond Synth podcast and Richie Billing, author of Together We Rise.

Check out my interview on the Planet Texas Podcast, where we touch on toymaking - find it on Youtube. Thanks, Javier, for having me on!

I was also on Let's Talk Media with Vedant Akhauri for another fun conversation. Check out the episode on Spotify. Thanks, Vedant, for having me on!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form and on CD!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes and special editions of the album there as well.) The CDs are out now!

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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.

View Details

In today's episode, I'm speaking with podcaster Andy Last, host of the Beyond Synth podcast. Andy is one of the few people I have talked with that has been doing this longer than I am - he has been doing his show, discussing synthwave music and the artists that make it, since 2013.

We had a great, lengthy conversation about podcasting, the ups and downs of collaboration, the joys of compulsions of solo creative work, and a lot on the nature/pros/cons of generative AI (which, like it or not, is being built into many of the tools that we use on a regular basis). This was one of the longer conversations I have recorded but I decided to not break it up into multiple parts since the overall themes of the conversation were consistent all the way through. If you into electronic music, especially synthwave/retrowave/retro 80s/whatever you call it, definitely check out Andy's show. There is obviously a ton of great music but also years of interviews from music producers behind the music that is super educational if you are into making music yourself. Check it out on:

-Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/7Lu2RkM4aZr7AnJ2HHPyBV?si=04c77944ec184d41)

-Apple Podcast (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/beyond-synth/id979062058)

-Patreon (https://patreon.com/beyondsynth)

Thanks, Andy, for being a guest on the show, and thanks for listening!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form and on CD!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes and special editions of the album there as well.) The CDs are out now!

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

In today's episode, I was planning to start a new action figure project - attempting to turn a Rocketeer figurine that I found on eBay in to an articulated action figure. A number of years ago, my brother encouraged me to use the social media platform Blue Sky as an alternative to Twitter/X. I did make a profile and processed to do nothing with it other than do what I often do when I find a new platform - I start looking for Rocketeer stuff. One of the first things I posted was the discovery of a Rocketeer theme gashapon set that was available in Japan. Gashapon are little toys or souvenirs you can buy in plastic capsules from vending machines. These sorts of things were all over the place in the 80s, though what you got there was of generally pretty low quality. Still, the idea of a little toy in a capsule stuck with me long enough to inspire me to want to make little resin figurines of Logan and Aurora from The Thirteenth Hour. Their diminutive size was no surprise! There is also something alluring about the fact toys like this comes from a machine and that you don't exactly know what you will get. The more common US equivalent - the blind bag / box concept - is essentially the same thing with more expense and less flair (no machine involved).

I was able to find a set of all the Rocketeer gashapon via a retailer in Hong Kong, I believe, which was cheaper. My favorite piece of the set was a GI Joe sized figurine of Cliff about to take off to chase the zeppelin:

Go to https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2025/11/17/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-536-and-like-a-hood-ornament-83-starting-a-new-rocketeer-resin-casting-project-and-making-a-new-rocketeer-theme/ for pictures.

I remember thinking at the time - wouldn't this make a good articulated figure? And the idea never really went away. So I've decided to try first to make a duplicate of the figure that I can cut up and modify. The figure does split in half, so in these pictures, I have planned some vents in places I thought might not fill.

And that was going to be this week's episode ... but the silicone I had bought for the project turned out to be bad (one bottle leaked and the other was solid).

So I pivoted midway back to music and decided to make a Rocketeer marching tune for the Rocketeer 8bit style game I have been making. I tapped out the tune initially on the keyboard and then made the track itself on Bandlab. You can hear the track towards the end of the episode. It's not quite done, but it's pretty much what I was looking for to accompany the flying / running parts of the game.

I have been fortunate to have been on a few podcasts lately - both about the process of becoming an author, starting a podcast, making toys, making music, etc.

This clip from the Planet Texas Podcast on toymaking is pretty much what we were talking about above. You can listen/watch the whole conversation over on Youtube. Thanks, Javier, for having me on!

I was also on Let's Talk Media with Vedant Akhauri for another fun conversation. Check out the episode on Spotify. Thanks, Vedant, for having me on!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form and on CD!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes and special editions of the album there as well.) The CDs are out now!

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

View Details

In today's episode, I'm speaking with fantasy author and podcaster Richie Billing about his novel, Together We Rise.

We had a great conversation about writing, the creative process, fantasy worlds, and even the use of generative AI in music. Together We Rise is a multilayered story of a revolution that takes place in a fantasy world - maybe the equivalent of something that might have occurred in the 1700s in Europe - there are some factories and all the issues that go with those, but science and other aspects of technology are still in a more medieval age. The story is told from multiple different characters, each with a small role to play in how the revolution takes place, and sometimes the characters overlap, allowing you to see them from fresh eyes, since each chapter is essentially a different point of view. Together We Rise wastes no time getting you in the thick of the action!

Richie also used the AI tool Udio to create a theme for each character which you can listen to at the start of each chapter while reading that sets the tone for the pages ahead. You can find all the tracks here on Soundcloud and Youtube.

If you are a writer yourself, please check out Richie's podcast, The Fantasy Writer's Toolshed, which has a wealth of information to help you get started, stay inspired, and fine tune your craft!

Learn more about Richie's work on:

-Patreon

-Facebook

-Instagram

-Buy Together We Rise on Amazon and other booksellers.

Thanks, Richie, for being a guest on the show, and thanks for listening!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form and on CD!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes and special editions of the album there as well.) The CDs are out now!

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2025/11/10/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-535-welcome-richie-billing-author-of-together-we-rise-to-the-show/

View Details

In today's episode, I'm continuing what I started last week, working out "The Unicorn Theme" by Tangerine Dream from the Legend soundtrack.

I worked out some of the basic notes last week, and this week I'm adding more as well as the left hand chords. Though not recorded in the podcast, while I was wrapping up the mixing of what I'd done, I remembered one of the other verses I'd forgotten. I did most of this in Bandlab, the DAW I've been working to learn this past fall. This ended up a great project to showcase the strength of a tool like this since I didn't need to rehearse the piece over and over until I could play it mistake-free like before. I could play and record little segments, one at a time, and essentially save my progress as I was going along. I may add to it in the coming weeks as I work out other parts of the theme, but I am pretty happy with what I managed to cobble together so far!

This theme was definitely one of the influences behind the sound I was trying to create when making The Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, so it's actually long overdue that I finally try to figure out how to play it. I'm actually not sure why I didn't try before!

Thanks for listening!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form and on CD!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes and special editions of the album there as well.) The CDs are out now!

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2025/11/03/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-534-musical-interlude-trying-to-figure-out-music-from-legend-1985-part-2/

View Details

In today's episode, I'm playing around with some music from one of my favorite soundtracks, Legend, using the score done by Tangerine Dream. There's a piece in there I have always liked, called "The Unicorn Theme" and the same melody and chords get used in the ending song for the theatrical release in a ballad with vocals done by Jon Anderson called "Loved by the Sun" with the Tangerine Dream synths in the background. When I first heard it, I thought it was an odd mix, with neither of them really fitting together, and I was always vaguely irritated they didn't just make "The Unicorn Theme" longer (the track on the score doesn't use all the bars heard in the film), but as I have gotten older, I have comes to really like "Loved by the Sun." It is not an easy song to sing nor play (at least for me), as it requires a pretty big range. I'm trying it today on the piano with just chords, which I found harder than the guitar, which I find easier to play for certain things (this being one of them). That said, I think it'd sound great on the piano blended in with the notes from "The Unicorn Theme" since that is essentially what they did in the film, if I recall. I'm going to play around with over the net week or so and see what I come up with.

Thanks for listening!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form and on CD!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes and special editions of the album there as well.) The CDs are out now!

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

In today's episode, my brother and I are wrapping up the role playing adventure we started last week based on a setting in his role playing game, Mappa Mundi. This week picks up after the main character, Axel, has fallen into a deep crevice in the ice. Will he emerge? What will he find in the icy depths below? There were supernatural creatures (below) above the rift - what about within it? Who knows what Axel will find in the depths below?!

Thanks for listening! Watch for the compilation of these two parts on youtube coming soon. By the way, the track, "The Ice Giant," that I recently wrapped up is available on my Bandcamp page here.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form and on CD!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes and special editions of the album there as well.) The CDs are out now!

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

In today's episode, I'm starting the first of a two part adventure with my brother, the one I was making music tracks for the past few weeks. This is for a role playing adventure we recorded a few weeks ago based on a setting in his role playing game, Mappa Mundi. The music track I made will play in the background few times this episode to signal the coming and discussion of a supernatural being we are referring to the Ice Giant. There is a lot more about the giant and the world created for it in the game - see https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2025/10/13/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-531-mappa-mundi-playthrough-into-the-rift-part-1/

I'm currently working on an animation for this guy ...

Thanks for listening! Part 2 coming next week!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form and on CD!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes and special editions of the album there as well.) The CDs are out now!

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

In today's episode, I'm pretty much wrapping up the track I started last week for an episode that my brother and I recorded a few weeks ago based on a setting in his role playing game, Mappa Mundi. I'm using the same DAW (digital audio workspace) I started learning how to use last month, the free web-based program Bandlab.

Part of the reason for the past month and a half of making tracks this way was to warm up to the idea of making music entirely digitally (since that is what most people in the niche I probably most closely align with musically - synthwave - use). I must confess as a nonjoiner, I tend to ignore, be oblivious to, and occasionally even take perverse pleasure in being the contrarian. So I was using a more analog approach until now, mostly because it just worked. But now I can see the benefits. Yes, there are downsides (it's basically all done in front of a computer), but I think it's a worthwhile investment to learn this program and then progress to some of the more commonly used DAWs that most music producers use. They are just tools, after all, and at the end of the day, any tool is just that.

What I still don't know if using a DAW actually saved me any time. I actually don't think so. That might because of the ongoing learning curve. But it might also be due to the capability of fiddling more with things on a more microscopic level, whereas the analog world involved more guesswork and the necessity of being okay with imperfection, even with the finished product (as anyone who has heard the pops and hisses of records and cassettes can attest to). With things going digital, I can see the capacity to fiddle endlessly and never fully finish anything. So we will have to see.

This episode also made a little mention of Jane Goodall, one of my heroes, who passed away recently. I brought it up since the premise of the track is that you're a naturalist/explorer observing a supernatural phenomenon in the world of the game (cue pixelated depiction below), but though she gave a lot to the world due to her work and her passing marks the end of an era in some ways, I actually don't she'd want people to be sad and pessimistic at her passing. She championed for people to have hope (since 2022 she did a podcast she called her Hopecast, after all). She championed for local change. She championed for us to remember that one does not need to go to the ends of the Earth to find adventure or do good - good starts right in front of you with your own life, your own family, your own community - a great thing, I think, to keep in mind in uncertain times.

Thanks for listening!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form and on CD!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes and special editions of the album there as well.) The CDs are out now!

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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.

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2025/10/06/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-530-musical-interlude-finishing-ice-giant-part-2-2/

View Details

In today's episode, I'm working on a new track for an episode that my brother and I recorded a few weeks ago based on a setting in his role playing game, Mappa Mundi. I'm using the same DAW I started learning how to use last month, the free web-based program Bandlab, which I have found is great for quickly storing ideas for later. When I was working on "The Hunt" last month, I had the idea for an arpeggiated pattern than might fit once scene where your character reacts with a mix of awe and respect at an ice giant (see the pixelart depiction below) that lumbers by on the snowy tundra, leading a train of transfixed animals. But I didn't have a chance to work on it fully until now. So this week, I'd able to get into the weeds with it.

Speaking of which, here is the completed version of "The Hunt" that I submitted to the contest.

Thanks for listening!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form and on CD!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes and special editions of the album there as well.) The CDs are out now!

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2025/09/29/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-529-musical-interlude-working-on-ice-giant/

View Details

In today's episode, I'm building on what I have been discussing the past three weeks as I continue to make a dark synth track to accompany one of the many hunting scenes in The Thirteenth Hour prequel, A Shadow in the Moonlight, about a cursed hunter who has to spend eternity hunting an enchanted deer.

I've wanted to learn to use a desktop based DAW to make and edit music so am using this track as a way to do that. I've settled on the free web-based program Bandlab which also have a companion mobile app. While it doesn't do everything, it does far more than I expected it to do. I have tried to resist the temptation to fall back on my analog ways and cheat the purpose of this exercise :)

At this point, the track is 90% done. Just some fine tuning left to do with the final mix.

Thanks for listening!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form and on CD!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes and special editions of the album there as well.) The CDs are out now!

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2025/09/22/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-528-musical-interlude-working-on-a-dark-synth-track-for-a-shadow-in-the-moonlight-part-4/

View Details

In today's episode, I'm building on what I started discussing last week as I continue to make a dark synth track to accompany one of the many hunting scenes in The Thirteenth Hour prequel, A Shadow in the Moonlight, about a cursed hunter who has to spend eternity hunting an enchanted deer.

I've wanted to learn to use a desktop based DAW to make and edit music so am using this track as a way to do that. I've settled on the free web-based program Bandlab, which is supposedly the easiest one to start using, though I will say that I have found none of the ones I have tried intuitive or especially user friendly. That said, connecting a keyboard to the computer has helped a great deal, and I expect that the initially hassle will have longer term payoffs in terms of flexibility and range of tools at my fingertips when making new tracks than I would have doing it all analog. So, I'm trying to not throw my hands up in frustration and go back to what I know since the whole point was to learn how to use a DAW in order to make this track. This is the main melody behind the track.

One of the soundtracks that served as an influence was William Goldstein's score for the Chuck Norris film Forced Vengeance. There is an Eastern flair to it (the film takes place in Hong Kong) that is perfect for one of these schlocky 80s martial arts films along with an ominous tone and plenty of tastefully done 80s synth. You can actually listen to the entire thing on William Goldstein's YT channel.

Thanks for listening!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form and on CD!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes and special editions of the album there as well.) The CDs are out now!

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2025/09/15/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-527-musical-interlude-working-on-a-dark-synth-track-for-a-shadow-in-the-moonlight-part-3/

View Details

In today's episode, I'm building on what I started discussing last week as I continue to make a dark synth track to accompany one of the many hunting scenes in The Thirteenth Hour prequel, A Shadow in the Moonlight, about a cursed hunter who has to spend eternity hunting an enchanted deer.

I've wanted to learn to use a desktop based DAW to make and edit music so am using this track as a way to do that. I've settled on the free web-based program Bandlab, which is supposedly the easiest one to start using, though I will say that I have found none of the ones I have tried intuitive or especially user friendly. That said, connecting a keyboard to the computer has helped a great deal, and I expect that the initially hassle will have longer term payoffs in terms of flexibility and range of tools at my fingertips when making new tracks than I would have doing it all analog. So, I'm trying to not throw my hands up in frustration and go back to what I know since the whole point was to learn how to use a DAW in order to make this track.

In addition, I have been experimenting with another digital tool called Nauk Nauk to make short videos of the toys I've made. The app is basically generative AI specific to action figures and making them move. I'm not super for or against this kind of technology, and while I touch on some of the operational pros and cons of using this kind of tech (at least from what I can see), this is one I can get behind. Who doesn't want to see their toys come to life? Especially ones you've made! Case in point - this one of Beverly Switzler is my favorite so far: https://www.tiktok.com/@13thhr/video/7547184629434813710?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7547583918360708621

Thanks for listening!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form and on CD!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes and special editions of the album there as well.) The CDs are out now!

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

In today's episode, I'm working on the very beginnings of a dark synth track to accompany one of the many hunting scenes in The Thirteenth Hour prequel, A Shadow in the Moonlight, about a cursed hunter who has to spend eternity hunting an enchanted deer. While I've had ideas for the soundtrack to this story for years and even filmed a number of segments for some future video every time I'd see a good full moon, I have never gotten around to putting anything down until now, mostly since I could not think of an appropriate theme to knit it all together - until now. (This is probably an outdated idea in the era of library music often used for TV and movies, but I still subscribe to the idea that a soundtrack is best if there is a central hummable melody that has elements that show up from time to time in the other parts of the soundtrack.)

Speaking of which, my inspiration for this track comes from one of my favorite soundtracks, Trevor Jones' Last of the Mohicans. The opening scene where Hawkeye, the Daniel Day Lewis character, is chasing a deer through the forest. While it's a simple scene in essence, the interplay between the film and the sweeping score is pure movie magic and, in my opinion, an excellent example of how music totally makes the scene.

Thanks for listening!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form and on CD!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes and special editions of the album there as well.) The CDs are out now!

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2025/09/01/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-525-musical-interlude-working-on-a-dark-synth-track-for-a-shadow-in-the-moonlight/

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Today's episode is about the unit Logan from the Thirteenth Hour is a part of, the Imperial Rangers, who coincidentally, mostly meet their end in the novel. They are replaced, however, at the end of the novel by King Darian IV's all female guard, as they are comparably trained. Readers of The Thirteenth Hour actually get to meet two named Esmerelda and Skye (shown in the picture below from The Thirteenth Hour).

Other Rangers - Stella, Camilla, Lilia, Jenny, Maggie, and Kathyrn appear in the sequel and have their own personalities and preferences that I'm currently shaping. I'd love one day to do a stand alone adventure with the new Rangers.

I've been thinking of doing another reading and picked a few possible novels to choose from. If you have any preference, comment below!

Thanks for listening!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form, on CD, and on tape!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes and special editions of the album there as well.) The CDs and tapes are out now!

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

Today's episode is a follow up on last week's episode on the geography of Logan and Aurora's island; today I wanted to share some of the resources I used that helped both inspire and inform how I wrote about the house they constructed for themselves.

While I had a number of ideas of how they might make their house (i.e. partially underground) from fiction (books like My Side of the Mountain, The Sign of the Beaver, The Hobbit, and On Walden Pond had provided inspiration), the first time I stumbled upon someone actually doing something like this was Dan Price, who wrote a little book appropriately called My Tiny House. I think he'd written an article in a magazine I used to sometimes write for called The Backwoodsman describing how he created an 80 sq ft circular home underground. Fascinated, I bought the hand drawn book, read it, and filed it away as evidence that a human actually could probably make something like I'd envisioned in my mind. If you go to this page, you can find a link to a ~30 min documentary made about Dan Price and his tiny house. As you can see in the film, he actually made numerous structures that all blend in his surroundings allowing him a bit more space and from the looks of it, a pretty good quality of life.

I next stumbled on a Sami structure called a goahti, which is kind of like a teepee found in parts of Scandanavia. It has a wooden skeleton that is then covered with fabric or earth/grass. I thought they were perfect examples of a real life Logan and Aurora house since I'd imagined at least part of their home (the roof especially) being covered in grass/plants so it blended in with their forested surroundings.

Probably around 12-13 years ago, I found a book on tiny houses in a bookstore called Tiny Homes: Simple Shelter. I'd never heard of this architectural movement before but was delighted to find that it had a lot of the ideas that I described above. Here are a few examples of structures that looked like the sorts of things two people could reasonably do with hand tools and a lot of persistence (and good weather):

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2025/08/18/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-523-thirteenth-hour-sequel-writing-update-2-research-on-logan-and-auroras-house/

In the same book, there are some pictures of tree houses that are similar to the structures I imagined the half elves described last week might live in.

This next book, called Tree Houses, has more pictures of similar structures.

All in all, these resources have been very helpful in figuring out how I wanted to write about little day to day aspects of Logan and Aurora's living situation. Though not the central portion of the story, it is a beloved place that they made with their own hands and thus occupies a special place in their hearts. There would be no story if that were not threatened, so of course they have to leave this place that they have come to feel safe and comfortable in. If it had been just any old home, the stakes would not be so high. But because it it special to them, it's all the more difficult. But that is part of the tale!

Thanks for listening!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form, on CD, and on tape!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes and special editions of the album there as well.) The CDs and tapes are out now!

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

View Details

Today's episode is on geography of the island that Logan and Aurora from The Thirteenth Hour make their eventual home on. While they initially think it's uninhabited, it turns out to be the home of half elves who take refuge there. Logan and Aurora eventually become ingrained in their community, learning their way of life, and because they are more mobile, take to trading and selling things on the mainland, things they and the half elves can't so easily make.

I made a top down map of the island which you can see below:

⁠https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2025/08/11/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-522-thirteenth-hour-sequel-writing-update-geography-of-logan-and-auroras-island/⁠Thanks for listening!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form and on CD!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes and special editions of the album there as well.) The CDs are out now!

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

In today's episode, I wanted to make a rendition of the James Horner Rocketeer theme in time for what would have been Dave Steven's 70th birthday (7/29). At this the time of this podcast release, that is a few days in the past, so we are going back in time a bit.

I can't imagine trying to improve upon the score as it is, so I decided I'd alter it a bit to fit the mood or state of mind I envisioned when I pictured this whole project - Cliff soaring towards the horizon on a cloudless, moonlight night, totally at peace with his surroundings (as odd as that might seem to an outsider). I imagined that if one could erase the G-forces, the woosh of the wind, and the chill of the night air, things might feel almost slow, balletic, a real Peter Pan moment. So that's why I made this version more meditative in nature and called it "...the closest I'll ever get to heaven, Mr. Hughes."

The fully mixed track plays in full at the end of the episode. Besides the youtube video above, I have also put it up for streaming / download on my bandcamp page. This track is meant to be free and is done as a homage to a great comic book artist and a great composer, both of which are sadly no longer with us. Any donations made there will be given in full to the Hairy Cell Leukemia Foundation (HCL is the type of cancer Dave Stevens died from and the HCL Foundation is where Dave Stevens' family sends their donations.) More at www.hairycellleukemia.org and 13thhr.wordpress.com/charitable-giving/

Happy birthday in heaven, Dave. Would you have guessed your creation is still flying high after all these years? Thank you for what you gave us.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form and on CD!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes and special editions of the album there as well.) The CDs are out now!

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details.

View Details

In today's episode, I'm playing a song from the early 90s adventure game, King's Quest 6 - the instrumental version of "Girl in the Tower," which played at the end of the game if you had the CD-ROM version of the game, a feat that was pretty cool at the time. Although the song, composed by Mark Siebert, fit in perfectly with the top 40 adult contemporary hits of the early 90s and the themes of later JRPGs like those found in the Final Fantasy games, for me, it always stood out since it had all the parts I loved in 80s ballads - a catchy, hummable melody, an electric guitar instrumental break, and a piano instrumental. I've always loved the contrast between all those parts. Plus, it was the only CD we had for quite awhile. I'd be lying if I didn't admit that a fair amount of the sound that makes its way into The Thirteenth Hour soundtracks comes from songs like this.

Girl in the Tower (CD version)

Girl in the tower instrumental

Cassima's Theme

And that's why I wanted to dedicate today's episode and the rendition on piano that I attempted to Roberta Vaughn, who passed away recently, suddenly and way too young. She was instrumental in forming the Classic Gamer's Guild in Facebook, a welcoming, positive group dedicated to celebrating classic games, especially adventure games of the 80s and 90s. Truth be told, when I was playing with the idea of trying to figure this song out, I initially wasn't sure if I should. What if she hated the game? I wasn't sure and thought about asking folks who knew her better. But I figured, given the kind of person I understood her to be, even if she wasn't the biggest fan of the game or the song, she'd appreciate the inherent 90s cheese of the lyrics and the nostalgia of it all and get a kick out of it. At least I hope so. May there be the hint books be infinite and the copy protection miniscule wherever you are, Roberta. Thank you for all you did. This one is for you.

Thanks for listening!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form and on CD!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes and special editions of the album there as well.) The CDs are out now!

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

Today's episode is an update on the work I've been doing on writing the sequel to The Thirteenth Hour. In reality, I have been working on the sequel's story for decades in small ways and started actually writing it a number of years ago but then took a hiatus to work on other things. In the past 3 weeks, I've made a point to get back to it, so far writing about 8K words in little bursts, often in between other things. Not a ton but, it's been fun to revisit this world again!

There are a few DnD adventures my brother and I did added to the backstory:

-The Wayfarer's Escape - episodes 125, 126, and 127

-The Wayfarer's Dungeon Crawl - episodes 418 and 419

My brother put together a Youtube playlist with the other DnD adventures we recorded that also have some backstory that I have wanted to reference in things I have written since the publishing of The Thirteenth Hour. Empty Hands had some, and the sequel will have more.

Thanks for listening!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form and on CD!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes and special editions of the album there as well.) The CDs are out now!

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

This week, on the show, my brother and I are watching Men at Work, from 1990, a funny, lighthearted, somewhat absurdist ensemble film. You can watch film for free if you have access to Tubi.

Check out Jeremy's work over at Pixel Grotto, CBR.com, and Classic Batman Panels on IG. If you are of the DnD persuasion, his articles on DnD Beyond may be right up your alley, and you can view his entire portfolio here. You can also check out his latest book, where he is a co-author: Pathfinder Adventure Path: No Breath to Cry as well as the ecology and exploration TTRPG with Three Sail Studios, Mappa Mundi, which is now out. Thanks, Jeremy, for coming on the show!

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Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes, CDs, and special editions of the album there as well.)

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

This week, I'm reading Chapter 23, the final chapter of the Peter David penned movie novelization of the 1991 Rocketeer film. Ironically, this episode will come out right after the United States' birthday (7/4/1776), at a time when there is a lot of turmoil in the country. It's not the first time, nor will it be the last, I suspect.

I won't get into the wasteland of politics, but since this episode is on the Rocketeer, I thought it would be an interesting time to reflect on how the character fits some American ideals. Speaking of which - ideals ... the country was founded on the idea that all men are created equal and all deserve some basic rights.

Was this true in 1776? Let's be frank (it's an American ideal). No. Not even close.

It might have been true if you were a free white man but was probably not anywhere close to being true if you were a woman, child, slave, indentured servant, or a race other Caucasian. It took a long time for other groups to finally catch up. US women finally achieved the right to vote in national elections in 1920 (19th amendment to the US Constitution). Though slavery was officially abolished after the US Civil War in 1865, black men were were not granted the right to vote in federal elections until 1870 (the 15th amendment to the US Constitution), and it was not until the 1950s and 60s and beyond that segregation practices were ended (Jim Crow laws ended on a national level in 1964, but in many cases, still exist in other, less overt forms depending on the location). It was not until 1967 that interracial marriage was allowed on a federal level (see the 1967 US Supreme Court case of Loving v. Virginia). Although the United States was founded by immigrants, the Chinese exclusion act, passed in 1882, was the first significant law that restricted the flow of immigrants into the US, targeting Chinese laborers. While there were amendments to the law in 1943, there were still quotas and other restrictions to abide by. It was not until 2012 (!) that the Chinese exclusion act was official condemned by Congress. Although Native Americans were the first people on this land, they were not granted access to US citizenship until 1924 (Indian Citizenship Act), and it was not until 1965 that they were granted the federal right to vote (Voting Rights Act of 1965), though US Native Americans still are often unable to vote for various reasons to this day. Same sex marriage was not legally allowed on federal level until 2015 (see the US Supreme Court decision of Obergefell v. Hodges). These are just a few examples of inequality in the face of a federal Constitution claiming basic rights for all. I write all this not to condemn all the ways in which we as a country fail to live up to our ideals but rather to show that as any society, especially one made up by immigrants from all over the world, is going to have its problems and will require a lot of work and constant maintenance to work in any somewhat functional way. The US is basically a nearly 250 year old hotel with guests constantly coming and going, clogging the sinks and toilets, running down the hot water, making messes, and yelling in the hallway. Even in low season times, there is still plenty of maintenance to do since things break. Nothing lasts forever.

How does all this relate to the Rocketeer? Read more at https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2025/07/07/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-517-and-like-a-hood-ornament-81-reading-the-conclusion-of-the-rocketeer-movie-novelization-chapter-23/

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Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form on services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music.

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

View Details

This week, on the show, my brother and I are watching Manhunter, from 1986, a prequel of sorts to The Silence of the Lambs films. Not having seen any of those films or read any of the books they were based on before, I went in with no expectations, but I will say, this is quite an entertaining, very stylish 80s movie. The synth soundtrack alone is worth a listen if you can find it (see this link). You can find the film online on various sites to view for free (for example, here).

Check out Jeremy's work over at Pixel Grotto, CBR.com, and Classic Batman Panels on IG. If you are of the DnD persuasion, his articles on DnD Beyond may be right up your alley, and you can view his entire portfolio here. You can also check out his latest book, where he is a co-author: Pathfinder Adventure Path: No Breath to Cry as well as the ecology and exploration TTRPG with Three Sail Studios, Mappa Mundi, which is now out. Thanks, Jeremy, for coming on the show!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes, CDs, and special editions of the album there as well.)

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

This week, I'm reading Chapter 22 of the Peter David penned movie novelization of the 1991 Rocketeer film. This part of the film picks up on top of the zeppelin, with a daring autogyro rescue by Peevy and Howard Hughes.

A few other things:

1.) Once Upon a Dream is out! Listen on most major streaming platforms, though if you have no preference, I suggest Bandcamp, which has a bonus track. This is the music project I've been working on the past seven years or so, trying to translate the world of The Thirteenth Hour into this second soundtrack to accompany the novel. Since I made the album over the course of years, I wasn't sure how it would turn out as a whole initially, but in the many hours I spent mixing it, I found it actually does live up to its title. Ethereal, dreamlike, and meditative were words that early listeners used in describing the tracks, and though this wasn't quite my initial intention, I hope listening to this album provides a measure of peace for you.

2.) Modern Dads of Martial Arts, published by Whistlekick, is now out as well. This is a collection of thirteen essays written by martial artist dads. I have an essay in it. I loved reading the whole thing (read it in pre-production). I honestly think aspects of martial arts can help make us better versions of ourselves, and in the case of us guys, better husbands, fathers, and human beings.

3.) Much of this week has been occupied by wrapping up these Spacecamp figures, being made for a fundraiser for the US Space and Rocket Foundation to make it easier for kids to afford camp tuition.

Thanks for listening!

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Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes, CDs, and special editions of the album there as well.)

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

This week, my brother and I are watching the 1991 animated movie, Wizardry, a Japanese rendition of the computer RPG series from a decade before. Sometimes the term OVA (original video animation) is used for these often standalone films that were produced for direct VHS/laserdisc/VCD/DVD release. Sometimes, I think there were earlier series that came prior, and the OVAs had higher budgets and could summarize an entire series in a 1-2 hour movie. This was a fun conversation about these early animes, which I'd gotten only a bit of exposure to as a kid, playing early role playing games, and more. Interestingly enough, the Wizardry franchise (originally created by Cornell University students Andrew C. Greenberg and Robert Woodhead) has lived on in Japan, where it is still popular. Oddly enough, the Ultima series, which is still popular in the US, never became quite as big, though there are some teasers that suggest it could have been in a parallel universe.

This is a fun, compact film that follows the plot of the first game, from what I understand (having not played the game myself). But if you have, when you watch the film (you can watch the whole movie for free on youtube here), you will see a number of odes to the original game (and the person who did the work annotating the video has footnotes explaining the references).

You can find the coffee table books Jeremy referenced in the episode about games history, including the computer role playing game book at Bitmap Books. A digital copy of The CRPG Book edited by Felipe Pepe is available here.

Lastly, if you happen to get this in time, until /16, you can take advantage of the Father's Day sale on my Bandcamp page:

25% off anything at joshuablum.bandcamp.com
Use the code whoisurdaddy&whatdoeshedo at checkout!

Check out Jeremy's work over at Pixel Grotto, CBR.com, and Classic Batman Panels on IG. If you are of the DnD persuasion, his articles on DnD Beyond may be right up your alley, and you can view his entire portfolio here. You can also check out his latest book, where he is a co-author: Pathfinder Adventure Path: No Breath to Cry as well as the ecology and exploration TTRPG with Three Sail Studios, Mappa Mundi, which is now out. Thanks, Jeremy, for coming on the show!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Once Upon a Dream, the second Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, is now out in digital form!

It is out on most major streaming services such as Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube Music. (If you have no preference, I recommend Bandcamp since there is a bonus track there and you will eventually be able to find tapes, CDs, and special editions of the album there as well.)

-Check out the pixelart music videos that are out so far from the album:

-->Logan's Sunrise Workout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SM1RgsLiM

-->Forward: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9VgILr1TDc

-->Nightsky Stargazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0p3jKRTBo

-->Aurora's Rainy Day Mix: https://youtu.be/zwqPmypBysk

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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.
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

This week, I'm reading the second part of the twenty first chapter of the Peter David penned movie novelization of the 1991 Rocketeer film. This part of the film picks up on the gondola of the zepplin, and you can watch the segment in the film (at least partly) here. One thing I always wondered as a kid was that if you shot a flare at something, would it actually ricochet like it does in the movie. If you search on Youtube, you can find a number of video of people doing exactly this, so yes, it probably would, and like in the movie, it may, in fact, do more damage to the shooter than the the target.

Three upcoming events this week!

1.) The release party for Once Upon a Dream is tonight! 6/9/25 at 5 PM EST. Join me a free, exclusive listening party to celebrate the upcoming release of Once Upon a Dream, the retro 80s synthpop/new wave album I've been working on for the past seven years or so. We'll be listening to the album (runtime is a little over an hour) and talking about how it was made. Looking forward to sharing it with you! RSVP here!

2.) Modern Dads of Martial Arts, published by Whistlekick, is coming out on 6/10/25. This is a collection of thirteen essays written by martial artist dads. Just in time for Father's Day. I have an essay in it. I loved reading the whole thing (read it in pre-production). I honestly think aspects of martial arts can help make us better versions of ourselves, and in the case of us guys, better husbands, fathers, and human beings.

3.) Once Upon a Dream releases on 6/13/25! It will be out digitally first, but CDs and tapes are on their way.

Thanks for listening!

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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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

This week, I'm reading the first part of the twenty first chapter of the Peter David penned movie novelization of the 1991 Rocketeer film. Before we get to the reading, there are a few noteworthy announcements:

-I finished a set of breaking training cards to help add an element of randomization to solo dance practices. Those are available on itch.io and are free to print out. I will make a physical version of the cards and an instructional video in the coming weeks but to anyone that might find them useful, they are available now. I ended up using animations that were originally made for a breaking game I tried to make about 20 years ago.

-Speaking of animation, I made a pixelart animation for the song "Forward" to go with the release of Once Upon a Dream (6/13/25). That video is available here.

This week's reading of the Rocketeer chapter accompanies the section of the film where things come to a climax over the skies of the Griffith Observatory. You can watch the exciting shootout here.

Pictures from the show notes are all available at https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2025/06/02/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-512-and-like-a-hood-ornament-78-reading-the-rocketeer-movie-novelization-chapter-21-part-1/

Thanks for listening!

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Don't forget that the original hunter action figure from A Shadow in the Moonlight is available on Etsy!

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_g

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!

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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!

As always, thanks for listening!

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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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com

View Details

This week, I'm reading the twentieth chapter of the Peter David penned movie novelization of the 1991 Rocketeer film. There's a whole bunch of prereading announcements that occur prior to this (about 22 min in; it's not a long chapter). This chapter takes place in Griffith Observatory, which is a real life location you can visit should you ever find yourself in Los Angeles. I was there a number of years ago, at night, and it did look pretty much the same as it had in the film about ten years prior. This section has some cool dialogue between Eddie Valentine and Neville Sinclair as well as a great shot of the Rocketeer flying in and landing in a very controlled way. For a guy who nearly killed himself trying to land it just a short time before (a day or two at most), Cliff sure got the hang of it! Thanks for listening!

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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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2025/05/26/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-511-and-like-a-hood-ornament-77-reading-the-rocketeer-movie-novelization-chapter-20/

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This week, I had the honor of speaking to Scott Holcomb, who was Hideo Takamini in the 1986 film, Spacecamp, one of my favorite films, and one I watched over and over as a kid (not seen it? I was not able to find it streaming anywhere, but you can find it on Youtube, e.g. here). I stumbled on Scott's contact info when I was making the first wave of Spacecamp Lego minifigures as a fundraiser for Spacecamp scholarships. I have since decided to make a second wave (since I gave away and sold all the others I made and wanted to keep at least one!) but this time, added Hideo Takamini as a bonus figure. More of this project in the next week or so. That said, I was really stoked to talk to Scott.

Aside from geeking out about Spacecamp as a movie, there's something more serious I always really wanted to ask someone about. Problem was, I never could quite put my finger on how to articulate it as a kid. But it had to do with something that always kind of bothered me about the film, even in childhood (and I say that as megafan who made my parents borrow the VHS tape from the local grocery store again and again for months until my father finally found me my own copy). There was this scenario in the beginning of the film where one of the characters, Kevin Donaldson (Tate Donovan) switches ID badges with Hideo Takamini (Scott Holcomb) in order to be on the same team as another camper, Kathryn Fairly (Lea Thompson). It happens in the blink of an eye, but even as a kid, it made me wonder. Why did the writers stick in a ruse like that? Why not just have Kathryn and Kevin be on the same team to begin with? I guess the point was to set up romantic tension right from the beginning, this being a teen movie and all, but did they really need to do it at someone else's expense? Why pick on the Asian guy with glasses? Did we (I say this as an Asian guy who wore very similar aviator glasses to Hideo Takamini's as a kid) really need further reminders we weren't one of the cool kids? This always kind of bothered me, though it took me until adulthood to finally be able to formulate my thoughts on it articulately, and we dig into it in the episode.

... more at https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2025/05/19/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-510-welcome-scott-holcomb-from-spacecamp-1986/

... All that said, it was great to be able to talk to Scott about all this. We managed to squeeze the conversation in his work day (Scott is a science teacher), and I'm glad we did! Thanks, Scott, for coming on the show and helping young people discover more about themselves and their world through science. We need it more today than ever!

If you are a Spacecamp alum, Scott wanted me to make sure to let folks know about the yearly summer reunion in Huntsville (this year, 7/11-7/12). I am planning to have my Spacecamp Lego figures done before then, where they will be donated for a silent auction to help raise money for camp scholarships.

You can learn more about the US Space and Rocket Foundation here. You can make donations to support the camp and its work under the "give" tab on that page.

Thanks for listening!

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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.
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

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This past two weeks, I have had the honor of speaking to Sahbunim Jamie Webster, who played himself (and the character of Great Wolf) in the mid 90s martial arts show, WMAC Masters. Sahbunim (abbreviated here as SBN) is the Korean term for master instructor at a martial arts school, and the Webster Martial Arts academies have been serving the Northern Alabama region since 1973, when SBN Jamie's father, opened the first martial arts school in the area. We had a great conversation about many topics - martial arts history, WMAC Masters, breaking, toy collecting and more, and it was long enough that for the sake of editing, I broke it into two episodes. You can find part one here.

A lot of today's episode is about collecting. WMAC Masters, similar to a lot of other children's programs of the era, was created with the idea of selling toys. The company producing the show, Saban, had the toys made through its manufacturing partner, Bandai, and while you can still find the figures around today, since the show only went 2 seasons (26 episodes), there were probably more figures that would have been made had the show been around longer. I never had any as a kid, since I was a teenager when the show aired and didn't really play with action figures by that time, but I did pick up a Great Wolf figure on ebay for this interview.

Jamie also sent me a number of pictures from his own extensive collections, which he describes in the episode.

See them here: https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2025/05/12/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-509-welcome-sahbunim-jamie-webster-great-wolf-from-wmac-masters-part-2/

Jamie has an extensive collection of WMAC Masters memorabilia as well, and it just feels right that a star of the show would have one of the largest, if not the largest collections of show stuff ever. If you visit the links below, you can see him talking about his costume (which he still has) and more.

A few related books:

If you are interested in the show, to my knowledge there was never a "making of" book created when it came out, but author Kristopher Landis wrote an extensive behind the scenes book called Quest for the Dragon Star you can find here. Highly recommended! SBN Jamie has quotes featured in a number of the segments.

I recently also wrote a segment for a book being published by whistlekick's books division. I wrote about watching WMAC Masters as a teenager, seeing SBN Jamie doing windmills, and how that spurred me on a years long quest to be able to do the same. The show was such an inspiring thing to have as a kid since it was positive and full or actual martial artists I read about in magazine who were more or less playing themselves and saying and doing things good martial arts instructors would do (at least in season one). Anyhow, that segment is part of a book called Modern Dads of Martial Arts, Vol 1, and is coming out 6/10/25. There actually was a mom edition (Happy Mother's Day all you moms out there) that released last year called Modern Moms of Martial Arts, Vol 1. Check them out!

If you have not see WMAC Masters, you can find all the episodes uploaded to Youtube here. They were never released on DVD, to my knowledge, so these are, I believe episodes that a kind soul likely taped off the TV and then digitized and eventually uploaded.

You can learn more about SBN Jamie and his schools here:

-The Webster Martial Arts Academy of Decatur

-The Webster Martial Arts Academy of Madison

-Instagram

-Tiktok

-Youtube

Thanks for being on the show, SBN Jamie, and thanks for listening!

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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.
Listen to Long Ago Not So Far Away, the Thirteenth Hour soundtrack at: https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/ or Spotify.
Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.com

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This week, I had the honor of speaking to Sahbunim Jamie Webster, who played himself (and the character of Great Wolf) in the mid 90s martial arts show, WMAC Masters. Sahbunim (abbreviated here as SBN) is the Korean term for master instructor at a martial arts school, and the Webster Martial Arts academies have been serving the Northern Alabama region since 1973, when SBN Jamie's father, opened the first martial arts school in the area. We had a great conversation about many topics - martial arts history, WMAC Masters, breaking, toy collecting and more, and it was long enough that for the sake of editing, I broke it into two episodes.

I was in high school by the time WMAC Masters aired and had been doing martial arts for just a few years. Though I was a little beyond watching cartoons on weekend mornings by then, I do remember getting up to try to watch episodes of WMAC Masters, since they were one of the few sources of martial arts I could find on network television (unless there was the Chuck Norris or Van Damme movie or the odd kung fu film playing on this random Spanish language channel that had them sometimes). SBN Jamie was a Native American character on the show called Great Wolf, who, besides being a pretty swell martial artist and acrobat, was also a breakdancer. He did windmills on the show a number of times. I talked about how seeing him on the show was one of the reasons I wanted to learn how to do the move on a previous episode, so when I stumbled across his school contact info, I had to reach out to thank him. We get to talk all about mills and other acrobatics on this episode!

If you have not see WMAC Masters, you can find all the episodes uploaded to Youtube here. They were never released on DVD, to my knowledge, so these are, I believe episodes that a kind soul likely taped off the TV and then digitized and eventually uploaded.

You can learn more about SBN Jamie and his schools here:

-The Webster Martial Arts Academy of Decatur

-The Webster Martial Arts Academy of Madison

-Instagram

-Tiktok

-Youtube

Stay tuned for part 2 next week!

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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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

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This week, I'm reading the nineteenth chapter of the Peter David penned movie novelization of the 1991 Rocketeer film. This chapter takes place in the study of Howard Hughes, the inventor of the Cirrus X-3 rocketpack in the world of the film (in Dave Steven's original story, it was his unnamed analogue of Doc Savage). In this scene, you can see what's in Cliff's pockets, a Dave Stevens cameo as an ill-fated German rocketeer, an animated film featuring German rocket troopers, and references to the Spruce Goose (the Hughes H-4, a gargantuan - 218 ft long with a 319 ft wingspan - wooden flying boat meant to ferry men and equipment across the Atlantic during WW2). Interestingly enough, the book has Cliff hang glide from Howard Hughes' study all the way to the Chaplin airfield (which was actually filmed in Santa Maria, CA, some 150+ miles northwest)! Presumably, the airfield in the movie was not actually in Santa Maria. That said, there is a museum there, the Santa Maria Museum of Flight, that has a number of remaining props used in the film, as it was the real life hangar used in the film (check out this clip for some very thorough detective work of filming locations).

Although it aired on Disney Channel around the time the movie was released, Rocketeer: Excitement in the Air (both a featurette on the film as well as a documentary on manned flight hosted by Billy Campbell) has some shots of the real life Spruce Goose as well as some shots of its maiden (and only) flight as well as some info on Howard Hughes. It's well worth a watch!

Thanks for listening!

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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.
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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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2025/04/28/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-507-and-like-a-hood-ornament-76-reading-the-rocketeer-movie-novelization-chapter-19/

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This week, my brother and I are watching the 1981 movie, Spiderman: The Dragon's Challenge, a composite of two 1979 episodes of The Amazing Spider-Man where Peter Parker ends up in pre-handover Hong Kong protecting an influential Chinese diplomat. As far as we could tell, the live action Spider-Man show did not have that much to do with the comics and take a more realistic view of what a man in a spidersuit, albeit one with special powers, could realistically accomplish. The series is not available on Disney+, unlike many of the other Marvel properties, but you can watch the two year run (1977-1979) on Youtube for free. The last two episodes ("The Chinese Web") of the series (there are 13 total) form this movie, which oddly enough was only released internationally.

Check out Jeremy's work over at Pixel Grotto, CBR.com, and Classic Batman Panels on IG. If you are of the DnD persuasion, his articles on DnD Beyond may be right up your alley, and you can view his entire portfolio here. You can also check out his latest book, where he is a co-author: Pathfinder Adventure Path: No Breath to Cry as well as an upcoming exploration TTRPG with Three Sail Studios, Mappa Mundi. Thanks, Jeremy, for coming on the show!

Don't forget that the original hunter action figure from A Shadow in the Moonlight is available on Etsy!

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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_g

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!

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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!

As always, thanks for listening!

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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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

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This week, I'm reading the eighteenth chapter of the Peter David penned movie novelization of the 1991 Rocketeer film. This short chapter takes place in the Bulldog Diner and features a scene where Cliff falls down a ladder from the attic after he is startled by Patsy, the daughter of the proprietress, Millie, and in the censored version we'd taped off the Disney channel when I was a kid, they actually dubbed over the work "heck," so instead of "you scared the living ... heck out of me!" it became "you scared the living daylights out of me!" It's funny, when I think of that scene, it's still the censored version I hear in my head :)

In other news, I have been getting Once Upon a Dream reading for production (6/13/25 is the release). In the process, I made a "study mix" from some of the instrumental tracks. If you click here, you can listen to it on Youtube.

Thanks for listening!

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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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2025/04/21/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-505-and-like-a-hood-ornament-75-reading-the-rocketeer-movie-novelization-chapter-18/

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This week, I'm reading the seventeenth chapter of the Peter David penned movie novelization of the 1991 Rocketeer film. This chapter takes place in Neville Sinclair's home, where he's kidnapped her, though she ends up figuring out how to get the upper hand, at least temporarily. I don't remember if I usually fast forwarded through this part as a kid, but I think I usually wanted to since I always through Neville was such a creep (and this scene certainly hits different in 2025), but I have to admire Jenny's resourcefulness. There was very limited merchandise put out for the Rocketeer, but I don't believe Jenny got any, which is a shame. I have always thought that she should have her own action figure as well, and perhaps I will make one. I have some possible figures I could use.

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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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

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This week, I'm reading the sixteenth chapter of the Peter David penned movie novelization of the 1991 Rocketeer film. This chapter takes place in The South Seas Club, like last chapter, and is great fun. Cliff wreaks absolute chaos on mob boss Eddie Valentine's club (crime doesn't pay, kids!). The full clip is here. The novelization adds a few interesting tidbits that I suspect were artistic license, like the first person that Cliff runs into when he is on the waiter's cart being Margaret Dumont (who was in many Marx Brothers films as the straight woman to their gags). Here she is with Groucho in a clip from A Night at the Opera in a somewhat similar location, this also being a fancy restaurant.

Thanks for listening!

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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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2025/03/31/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-503-and-like-a-hood-ornament-73-reading-the-rocketeer-movie-novelization-chapter-16/

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This week, I'm reading the fifteenth chapter of the Peter David penned movie novelization of the 1991 Rocketeer film. This chapter takes place in The South Seas Club, and has one of my favorite parts of the movie this part where Cliff stands by the table with Neville and Jenny awkwardly and tries to poof up these flowers - which go right back to the way they were before. I don't know why that part always used to crack me up, but it still does :) The full clip is here.

Thanks for listening!

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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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2025/03/24/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-502-and-like-a-hood-ornament-72-reading-the-rocketeer-movie-novelization-chapter-15/

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This week, my brother and I are watching the 1992 movie, Army of Darkness. Both of us remember the movie poster from comic book ads from the time. (It's still not clear to me what the X shaped belt Ash is wearing if for ... I don't think he wears something like that in the actual film).

It was my first time seeing in a few decades and Jeremy's first ever. We watched the director's cut (which you can view online), but after a few minutes, I realized that this version was somewhat different from the theatrical release I'd initially seen. The latter has a campier ending that is quite different (though I actually like it better). There are a number of different versions of this film, as discussed here.

In the episode, we touch upon the 1970s Conan in NYC comics (see one of the covers here).

Check out Jeremy's work over at Pixel Grotto, CBR.com, and Classic Batman Panels on IG. If you are of the DnD persuasion, his articles on DnD Beyond may be right up your alley, and you can view his entire portfolio here. You can also check out his latest book, where he is a co-author: Pathfinder Adventure Path: No Breath to Cry as well as an upcoming exploration TTRPG with Three Sail Studios, Mappa Mundi. Thanks, Jeremy, for coming on the show!

As always, thanks for listening!

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2025/03/17/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-501-welcome-my-brother-jeremy-as-we-talk-about-army-of-darkness-1992/

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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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

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This week on the show, we are celebrating the 500 episode mark with a story! I alluded to some of this in the past few weeks and was inspired by the scene in the 1988 film,Big, where both the young and adult Josh play a CGA text parser style game with a wizard and a cavern.

You will be hearing from the following guests in this episode that I am happy to call friends:

Shawn Wells and Colin Stewart, hosts of the podcast, I Used to Like This One, who recently hit a milestone of themselves, discussing rewatching Back to the Future, a few months ago on their episode 200.
Paul Korman - one of the hosts of the Classic Gamers Guild podcast as well as the game designer of the adventure game, The Phantom Fellows.
Andrew Adams - drummer, martial artist, and podcaster of the martial arts lifestyle company, Whistlekick (they recently hit a major milestone of their own, episode 1000).
Gad Krooder - a fellow martial artist I also know from Whistlekick who has his own Chinese Youtube channel - go and learn some Chinese!
Ryan Armstrong - BIblical scholar, professor, and bboy (Dynamic Rockers) - check out his Youtube channel for a combination of the 80s, the Old Testament, and Hebrew. Check out his book, The Book of Job in Wonderland if you are wondering how Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland relate to the book of Job in the Bible.
Doug Bernon - one of my long standing trusted mentors who is also an adventurer and bread maker.
Jeremy Blum - writer, TTRPG DM and developer, and most importantly, my brother, who is in the process of launching an ecology and exploration rpg, Mappa Mundi.
EzDean Fassassi - bboy and Tibetan medicine practitioner and author
Raphael Xavier - bboy and Princeton University dance professor who recently released an indie film, Swerve, based on his experiences with Philly BMX culture.
Adam Crohn - podcaster, 80s enthusiast, custom action figure and toy designer

Thanks for listening!

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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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2025/03/10/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-500-celebration-in-the-cavern-of-the-ice-wizard/

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This week on the show, I wanted to talk through the creation of a character who will not only show up in episode 500 next week but also some subsequent Thirteenth Hour stories. I wanted to explore some of the references, motivations, and conflicts behind the character, who I am calling Faltron, the cloud dragon, kind of a mix between Falkor from the film, The Neverending Story and Voltron from the cartoon, Voltron: Defender of the Universe (you will hear some music from the theme in the show). I came up with the idea years ago and toyed around with the idea of an amorphous being that could transfer in to a more solid shape if cold but have a more gaseous, cloud-like structure in warmer temperatures. While I'm still toying with how he will fit in to future stories, fleshing him out for the DnD session in episode 500 helped quite a bit.

As a little preview, here is a little sketch that will show up next week (see it at https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2025/03/03/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-499-creating-a-new-thirteenth-hour-creature-who-is-the-cloud-dragon/)

Thanks for listening!

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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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for mo

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This week, my brother, Jeremy Lesniak from Whistlekick, and I are brainstroming how to turn The Thirteenth Hour workout cards I've discussed here before into an actual analog martial arts game that could also be a training tool for practicing martial artists.

The cards were are talking about prior to cutting them out:

Some pictures of the "Easy Exercise Plan" I made for my parents as a teenager that my brother refers to in the episode that was a kind of spiritual precursor to the deck above.

Check out Jeremy's work over at Pixel Grotto, CBR.com, and Classic Batman Panels on IG. If you are of the DnD persuasion, his articles on DnD Beyond may be right up your alley, and you can view his entire portfolio here. You can also check out his latest book, where he is a co-author: Pathfinder Adventure Path: No Breath to Cry as well as an upcoming exploration TTRPG with Three Sail Studios, Mappa Mundi. Thanks, Jeremy, for coming on the show!

Check out Jeremy Lesniak from Whistlekick, who was last on the show on episode 376 to discuss his martial arts-themed novel, Faith. You can find our previous joint episodes where we were discussing some classic martial arts movies here: The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, Ong Bak, First Strike, Wheels on Meals, Dragons Forever, and Showdown in Little Tokyo. Thanks, Jeremy for coming on the show!

By the way, if you haven't checked out last week's guest appearance with Billy Campbell reading the next chapter of the Peter David 1991 Rocketeer movie novelization, he did an awesome job! Check it out:

As always, thanks for listening!

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Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
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This week, it's not me reading the next chapter of the Peter David penned movie novelization of the 1991 Rocketeer film. That's because we have a special guest - Billy Campbell, who played the Cliff Secord / the Rocketeer in the 1991 film - is taking point to read Chapter 14! Billy was last on the show in 2022 (follow this link for a preview of an exclusive podcast recorded for people who had supported fundraising efforts for the Hairy Cell Leukemia Foundation in memory of Rocketeer creator, Dave Stevens).

This chapter takes place in one my favorite parts of the original comic and the film, the Bulldog Cafe. If you like ambient, mood-setting background noise / "study music," you will love this this Bulldog Cafe-inspired video as if you were sitting in a booth of the Cafe.

Episode 500 is coming in a few weeks! If you were a past guest on the show, check your messages this week for more details on the recording session on 3/2/25.

Thanks, Billy, for your excellent reading, and thank you for listening!

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This week on the show, I'm brainstorming ideas for episode 500, coming in a few weeks. I was thinking about doing a group DnD-lite style adventure so anyone who joins can essentially join in on a role playing journey (virtual/theater of the mind style) with the goal of emphasizing cooperative gameplay with a minimum of time spent attending to inventory (maybe you'd have one item), character class, combat, and stats (none). I'd have to design the game in such a way to make it very stripped down, but I think the goals of moving through a labyrinth, traversing caverns, avoiding hidden dangers, and getting to the end point all together (I figured you might play as Imperial Rangers in the world ofThe Thirteenth Hour, who are not in the habit of leaving brothers in arms behind) would be enough to keep folks engaged.

I was actually inspired by the scene in the 1988 film,Big, where both the young and adult Josh play a CGA text parser style game with a wizard and a cavern.

"You are standing in the cavern of the evil wizard. All around you are the carcasses of slain ice dwarfs," says the dialogue of the game. We never really get to see more, but I think as a homage to the film, it actually would be a great setting for an adventure! Why not make the game a dungeon crawl, essentially, through the icy cavern of the evil wizard? We shall see!

Thanks for listening!

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Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.com
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Interested in reading and reviewingThe Thirteenth Hourfor a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2025/02/10/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-496-episode-500-preparations/

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This week, I'm reading the thirteenth chapter of the Peter David penned movie novelization of the 1991 Rocketeer film. This chapter takes place in the legit front for Eddie Valentine's business - The South Seas Club.

In preparation for episode 500, coming in a few weeks, I've been toying with some ideas. Let me know if you have thoughts!

Ideas for Episode 500:

-group draw in (everyone draws or paints something) - could be talking at the same time

-DnD one shot set in the Thirteenth Hour - would need a setting where people come and go, like a tavern or a river barge where people get on and then exit at their stop, or a gym, where people can do some pushups (see last one) then leave if they wish

-Group hangout, akin to ep 400 (no particular topic)

-Livestreaming playing the Rocketeer NES game (probably pretty short, as I'm terrible at this game)

-Mini concert of the upcoming Once Upon a Dream album (this might be better as a future episode)

-500 pushups, one for each episode, donated for a cause, like the Hairy Cell Leukemia Foundation or St Jude or Hero Initiative.

-A combination might work - like group draw-in with occasional breaks a people do some pushups in between draws until we get to 500. We might have to do this live so people can pledge donations at the same time.

-? Open to ideas!As always, thanks for listening!

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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.
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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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

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This week, I'm reading the twelfth chapter of the Peter David penned movie novelization of the 1991 Rocketeer film. This chapter has a scene that for some reason always cracked my brother and I up as kids - the big bad guy, Lothar, picks up Cliff and shaves him through the ceiling headfirst a few times. It's so cartoonish - like something out of a Looney Tunes cartoon - that I still can't help it, though adult me (who tends to smack his head on lots of things always kind of winces). This shootout occurs just moments after. Preview of coming events - in a few months (March, really), we'll be up to episode 500. I have been thinking of a few ideas on how to make this a special episode, such as a group draw-in (where everyone hangs out and draws or makes something) or some kind of rolling DnD one shot in the world of The Thirteenth Hour where people can come and go ... what do you think I should do for episode 500? Let me know!

Thanks for listening!

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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 writejoshuablum@gmail.co

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This week, Paul Korman, who was last on the show in 2021 (episode 298), rejoins the show to discuss The Phantom Fellows, the pixelart adventure game he recently completed. This was a really fun episode to record (even though we needed to do it twice - more on that in the intro), and it was a fun one to prepare for, since it involved playing the game Paul had discussed back in episode 298. It is really something - not only was it a very enjoyable experience - but he did the programming, art, music, and writing, all while single parenting it, and doing regular episodes of The Classic Gamers Guild Podcast (a Facebook group devoted to classic video games that has a regular podcast - more below). This is a great episode to check out if you are involved in any creative pursuits.

One of the best things about the game is the writing Paul lent to it, showcasing his unique brand of humor. I played the game on a portable PC, so to speak, called the Steam Deck, and took some photos during game play of some of the screens I got a kick out of.

If you'd like to learn more about The Phantom Fellows and play it yourself, check out the following:

The Phantom Fellows Instagram

The Phantom Fellows Twitter

Website

The Phantom Fellows on Steam

The Phantom Fellows on GOG

If you'd like to learn more about The Classic Gamers Guild, check out the following:

CGG website (with all the episodes) - also available on most major podcasting platforms

CGG Instagram

Support the CGGuild and The Phantom Fellows by joining the CGG Patreon.

Paul does the intro and outro music to the CGG podcast, by the way. Listen to more of Paul's music on Bandcamp. You can also find the soundtrack (which Paul did, by the way) to The Phantom Fellows there also.

Thanks for listening!

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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.
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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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

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This week, my brother and I chatting in a rare, in-person meeting and, using my homebrew Rocketeer game demo as an example, talk about what makes video games enjoyable. When I started making this game a few years ago, my initial goal was not actually to make much of a game. It was it learn how to use the game making software I am using (GDevelop5). But once I got past the animations, story, and sprites, I kind of ran out of steam. This is what used to happen when I tried to make games back in college as well. I, to be honest, have never had a great track record with actually playing games - I only have found a few that I have enjoyed - so I have always been a bit puzzled about what makes games actually ... well, fun! Since I have been experimenting with a number of other ways to make games lately (e.g. text based, role playing, card based, etc), the same question comes up at lot. I'd actually like to finish the Rocketeer game I started and make it more than just a demo level showcasing some of the abilities the character has and how he can more about in the world of the game. That's the subject of this episode.Check out Jeremy's work over at Pixel Grotto, CBR.com, and Classic Batman Panels on IG. If you are of the DnD persuasion, his articles on DnD Beyond may be right up your alley, and you can view his entire portfolio here. You can also check out his latest book, where he is a co-author: Pathfinder Adventure Path: No Breath to Cry as well as an upcoming exploration TTRPG with Three Sail Studios, Mappa Mundi. Thanks, Jeremy, for coming on the show!

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.
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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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

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Happy 2025! This week, my brother and I are watching the 1990 movie, Darkman.

This is our first time watching it, though we'd both heard of it, having grown up seeing ads in Nintendo Power for the video game. Just like Dick Tracy, which we did a number of episodes back and also had not seen, it has a certain pulpy, tongue in cheek vibe. In fact, it reminds me a little of the first Robocop.

Check out Jeremy's work over at Pixel Grotto, CBR.com, and Classic Batman Panels on IG. If you are of the DnD persuasion, his articles on DnD Beyond may be right up your alley, and you can view his entire portfolio here. You can also check out his latest book, where he is a co-author: Pathfinder Adventure Path: No Breath to Cry as well as an upcoming exploration TTRPG with Three Sail Studios, Mappa Mundi. Thanks, Jeremy, for coming on the show!

Speaking of dark men (haha), don't forget that the original hunter action figure from A Shadow in the Moonlight is available on Etsy!

As always, thanks for listening!

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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.
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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
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This week, I’m reading the eleventh chapter of the Peter David penned movie novelization of the 1991 Rocketeer film. This chapter is when the Rocketeer flies off after his debut flight and tries to get the hang of the Cirrus X-3 without killing himself. We also get a sense of all the different players that want it.

Thanks for listening!

As always, thanks for listening!

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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.
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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.
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Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

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This week, I'm reading the tenth chapter of the Peter David penned movie novelization of the 1991 Rocketeer film. This chapter is when the Rocketeer makes his debut! This is one of the few part of the comic the plays out on the big screen, as Cliff in the comic also goes airborne for the first time to save Malcolm, a former WW1 flier who hangs out at the airfield. Click on the picture of Cliff taking off to watch the scene in the film. The James Horner score really completes the scene.

As always, thanks for listening!

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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.
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Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.
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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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2024/12/23/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-488-and-like-a-hood-ornament-66-reading-the-rocketeer-movie-novelization-chapter-9/

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This week, I'm reading the ninth chapter of the Peter David penned movie novelization of the 1991 Rocketeer film. This chapter introduces us to the Laughing Bandit, the role the villain Neville Sinclair is playing probably inspired by Errol Flynn swashbucklers from the era. There were also some cameos in the novelization (not in the film) with famous actors and films being made at the time Clark Gable (Gone with the Wind), George Reeves (Gone with the Wind, later famous for Superman), Mae West, and Margaret Hamilton (The Wizard of Oz).

There was a part of this scene that always confused me as a kid, since Neville Sinclair ends up stabbing one of his co-stars, Charlie. I could have sworn as a kid that there was a whole side plot involving Charlie having discovered Neville's German spy moonlighting activities and Neville wanting to get him out of the way But, to my knowledge, there never was a scene like that, and we actually don't even know about that side of Neville in the movie yet (we do in the novel, though).

I think that scene was just meant to show how self-centered and manipulative Neville could be as well as a plot device for a wedge to be driven between Cliff and Jenny, giving Neville a chance to move on Jenny. But, the novel gives additional details that highlight his motives. Turns out other people had similar questions about this scene - see here.

Thanks for listening!

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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.
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Have this podcast conveniently delivered to you each week on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Player FM, Tunein, and Googleplay Music.
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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
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This week, I'm reading the eighth chapter of the Peter David penned movie novelization of the 1991 Rocketeer film. This chapter introduces us to the Bulldog Cafe and tells us why Jenny's phone number is written on the wall next to the pay phone. I always wondered about that and figured it was either a reference to the Tommy Tutone single from the 80s ("867-5309 / Jenny") or maybe the guys at the airfield had put her number up there to get a rise out of Cliff ("for a good time, call Jenny!").

The chapter also introduces the Rocketeer's iconic helmet for the first time.

Thanks for listening!

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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.
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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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2024/12/09/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-487-and-like-a-hood-ornament-65-reading-the-rocketeer-movie-novelization-chapter-8/

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This week, I'm reading the seventh chapter of the Peter David penned movie novelization of the 1991 Rocketeer film. This chapter introduces Jenny Blake, Cliff's girlfriend (called Betty in Dave Stevens' original comic as an ode to pin up icon Bettie Paige). That part, in the film, went to Jennifer Connelly, who you may also remember from 1986's Labyrinth. When I was a teen, I had VHS copies of Labyrinth, Howard the Duck, Some Kind of Wonderful, Sixteen Candles, and The Rocketeer taped off the TV (often the edited for TV versions and/or missing certain scenes) and those films were often on rotation on weekend mornings for me. This section also introduces the character of Lothar, a character Dave Stevens based off character actor Rondo Hatton.

As always, thanks for listening!

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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.
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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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/?p=14675

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This week, I'm reading the sixth chapter of the Peter David penned movie novelization of the 1991 Rocketeer film. This chapter introduces Eddie Valentine, the gangster doing the heavy lifting for Hollywood spy Neville Sinclair. We get some backstory about Eddie that was not in the film as well as an early preview of Neville secret room where he sends encoded messages to his Nazi colleagues who want the rocketpack for themselves. This is also the scene where Cliff and Peevy strap the rocketpack to a statue of Charles Lindbergh for testing and discover it may be a bit more unpredictable than they anticipated ... though Cliff is undeterred, much to Peevy's chagrin.

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2024/11/25/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-485-and-like-a-hood-ornament-63-reading-the-rocketeer-movie-novelization-chapter-6/

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This week, my brother and I are watching the 1990 movie, Dick Tracy.

This is our first time watching it, though we'd both heard of it, having grown up watching the cartoon and remembering the spring/summer of 1990, when there's was lots of Dick Tracy stuff about.

Check out Jeremy's work over at Pixel Grotto, CBR.com, and Classic Batman Panels on IG. If you are of the DnD persuasion, his articles on DnD Beyond may be right up your alley, and you can view his entire portfolio here. You can also check out his latest book, where he is a co-author: Pathfinder Adventure Path: No Breath to Cry as well as an upcoming exploration TTRPG with Three Sail Studios, Mappa Mundi. Thanks, Jeremy, for coming on the show!

As always, thanks for listening!

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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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2024/11/18/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-484-welcome-my-brother-jeremy-as-we-talk-about-dick-tracy-1990/

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This week, I'm reading the fifth chapter of the Peter David penned movie novelization of the 1991 Rocketeer film. This chapter introduces Otis Bigelow, the owner of the Bigelow Air Circus, the statue of Charles Lindburgh outside the airfield, the Curtiss Standard biplane christened Miss Mabel (named after the real life barnstormer Mabel Cody), and, of course, the Cirrus X-3 rocketpack.

Thanks for listening!

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2024/11/11/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-483-and-like-a-hood-ornament-62-reading-the-rocketeer-movie-novelization-chapter-5/

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This week, I'm reading the fourth chapter of the Peter David penned movie novelization of the 1991 Rocketeer film. This chapter basically picks up in the spot in the film where Cliff has had to crash land the Gee-Bee and is dealing with the Feds. We also meet a version of Howard Hughes, who in the film, is the man behind the Cirrus X-3 rocketpack. It's never stated in the Dave Stevens comic (since he didn't have the rights) but he was intending that the inventor of the pack be Doc Savage. Dave Stevens, who consulted on the film, also did the graphic below - the one Hughes tosses in the fireplace after he's learned that the Cirrus has (supposedly) been destroyed in an effort to keep it from falling into the wrong hands.https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2024/11/04/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-482-and-like-a-hood-ornament-61-reading-the-rocketeer-movie-novelization-chapter-4/

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In honor of Cliff Secord's birthday, 10/26, I'm reading the third chapter of the Peter David penned movie novelization of the 1991 Rocketeer film. (What I really love about the bio Dave Stevens penned for Cliff is that it gives both backstory and motivation for his character as well as why, in 1938, he is flying the Gee-Bee Z, a plane from the early 30s, for the first time in 1938. You can tell that Dave had put quite a bit of thought into the character and the history of the era.) This chapter basically picks up in the spot in the film where Cliff, already in the air, gets show down by a gangster being chased by the police and the FBI. Although we never really get to see Cliff fly the Gee-Bee racer in an actual race, the fact that he is able to land the plane after the engine gets shot out and without landing gear suggests he has more than enough skill as a pilot - not surprising since he later becomes the Rocketeer.

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2024/10/28/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-481-and-like-a-hood-ornament-60-reading-the-rocketeer-movie-novelization-chapter-3/

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In honor of Rocketeer Day (unofficially a thing ... in the 1991 film, the date October 15th, 1938 is shown), I'm reading the second chapter of the Peter David penned movie novelization of the 1991 Rocketeer film. This chapter basically picks up in the spot where the film begins, where on a fall morning at Chaplin Airfield, Cliff, Peevy, and the other fliers and mechanics who work there gather to witness and partake the Gee-Bee's first flight. It's cool seeing little details, like how Cliff played a prank on the owner of the Bigelow air circus by taking out the screws of his chair so it collapsed when the rotund businessman sat in it - all to get back at him for unfair treatment of Malcolm, who Cliff would later save again later in the film. (Of note, the Gee-Bee Z reproduction that was used in the film is now - as of 2003 - on display in the Santa Monica Museum of Flight.)

Of note, I had previously hosted all my podcast episodes on the Internet Archive, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving various bits of pop culture that otherwise would disappear into the ether. They recently got hacked and are working on getting back online, but if you believe in free access to information, in the meantime, please help support them - https://archive.org/

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2024/10/28/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-481-and-like-a-hood-ornament-60-reading-the-rocketeer-movie-novelization-chapter-3/

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I've been meaning to read the Peter David penned movie novelization of the 1991 Rocketeer film for some time, so I figured I'd start doing that this week. It will take about a half a year if we read one chapter a week, but since they are not very long, some weeks, we might do two. It's interesting reading just this first chapter so far, as there are a number of other details or plot changes that weren't in the movie. Lookin forward to seeing what other ones I can find!

Thanks for listening!

https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2024/10/14/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-479-and-like-a-hood-ornament-58-reading-the-rocketeer-movie-novelization-chapter-1/

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The past few months, I've been happy to host an adult open gym at a local gymnastics school. Adult bodies are different from those of kids, and kids programming is mostly what gymnastics facilities tend to cater to. Gymnastics for adults often ends up looking and being different than it does for kids. We are older, our bodies don’t move in the same ways as they used to, and we may feel rusty or uncoordinated. But if the desire is there, it’s like anything else - the first step is the hardest. So needless to say, I've been very proud of the folks who have shown up to train!

I started gymnastics as a sophomore in high school, mostly because a friend asked me to sign a petition to help save the boys' gymnastics team from being cut. I signed and eventually decided I'd make good on the signature when the petition worked. I ended up doing it the next three years and have been doing it every since (though not all the events).

One thing that always puzzled me, though, is why there were so few opportunities for folks, especially men, outside of a high school or college, to practice. And while I have been fortunate to have been able to find places over the years that have allowed adults some windows to practice, those gyms have generally been few and far between. (The situation has not improved ... my high school's gymnastics team was eventually cut, and even at a college level, gymnastics, especially men's gymnastics can be tough to find - see this article about Ohio State).

My high school gymnastics coach used to say that a lot of gymnastics is mental. I think he said that partly to motivate us to do our homework, but at this point, I understand another meaning … because you are doing things that are unnatural and deliberately putting your body at risk, you are constantly battling your own fear and sense of self preservation … which you feel more as an adult with more developed frontal lobes.

So I think for anyone who falls a lot or has the potential of falling or getting thrown - martial artists, wrestlers, football players, rugby players, breakers, stuntpeople, acrobatic skiers and skaters, the list goes on and on, some time spent in a gym to not only learn how to fall and develop airsense but also combat your own fears by deliberately doing things that disorient and scare you in a controlled and safe way are critical. Obviously, I'm biased having done this since I was a teenager, but I will say that despite the intervening years and changes brought on by aging, my views have changed little. Although as humans, we naturally want to move 180 degrees away from things that frighten us, we don't grow unless we push ourselves outside out comfort zone. You can obviously take that to the extreme, but if done at a pace you can control and in a manner that allows you do get better at skills in a stepwise fashion, there is a real sense of ownership over your body that you start to attain, which leads to confidence.

And that's why I wanted to include a bit of it in The Thirteenth Hour when Logan and his fellow Imperial Rangers are going through their initial training. At the time, I had only in a few settings experienced the melding of martial arts and acrobatics. I had not done things like capoeira or kung fu yet, and of the styles I had done (tae kwon do, tang soo do, a bit of hapkido), the main crossover happened around learning breakfalls and rolls, and that was about it. The style of "martial arts tricking" had yet to reach its heyday - that would happen in the late 90s and 2000s ... read more at ⁠https://wordpress.com/post/13thhr.wordpress.com/14616⁠

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I'm doing this episode as a future note to myself about some projects that I've been toying around for awhile that I'd like to delve into in the next few months:

-An illustrated children's book that I'm temporarily calling "The Imperial Ranger's son" - a story written from the perspective of a child in the Capital City of Tartec (the kingdom where a lot of The Thirteenth Hour takes place), who is in school with other kids his age whose parents don't necessarily work for the Empire of King Darian. Logan in The Thirteenth Hour grapples internally with the idea of being a representative of a government whose actions he doesn't always agree with, but he is an adult. What happens for children when no adults are around is complex, especially as children try to come to terms with opposing views of the world and how their parents fit in. We learn views (and prejudices) from those around us, so what would happen when a child who has a parent working for the Empire is mocked at school for such a lineage or told his father is not going to live very long as an Imperial Ranger? What happens to him and his mother when his father leaves for months and the others in the class whose sensibilities lie elsewhere respond with a mixture of pity and derision? Isn't it not dissimilar to the current black and white state of affairs to separates the current political climate in the US? I think it's something that could be written simply, with underlying themes of love and parental responsibility with deeper undertones that comment on tribalism and fear of what we don't understand/agree with that could be appreciated by adults or older children.

In episode 448, I spoke about a idea concerning a Thirteenth Hour card game that would fill in a part of the book, near the end, that I never got to write about.

In episode 446, I spoke about a Tomb Raider card game that might take what I learned making the Rocketeer card game and apply it to another fan project, also using sprites I designed before.

Speaking of the Rocketeer, while I was making the Rocketeer Twine game as the backstory for the card game, I got the idea for a Twine text based game featuring Aurora from The Thirteenth Hour, since there's a part near the beginning of the book where she is working at a inn. I thought it might be interesting to have a sort of "inn simulator" with some kind of overarching storyline (?a mystery - e.g. perhaps a crime is committed in one of the rooms and Imperial soldiers are sent in to investigate. Aurora mentions at one point in The Thirteenth Hour that she doesn't have an especially high opinion of Imperial soldiers and hopes Logan won't turn out like them, so perhaps this is how that came to be) that occurs as she is trying to navigate the ins and outs of helping customers, serving food and drinks, and mucking out the stables.

Thanks for listening!

https://wordpress.com/post/13thhr.wordpress.com/14610

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #477: Ideas on Some Future Thirteenth Hour Projects and More – A Children’s Book, Card Games, a Twine Text Game

https://archive.org/download/podcast-477/Podcast%20477.mp3

I’m doing this episode as a future note to myself about some projects that I’ve been toying around for awhile that I’d like to delve into in the next few months:

-An illustrated children’s book that I’m temporarily calling “The Imperial Ranger’s son” – a story written from the perspective of a child in the Capital City of Tartec (the kingdom where a lot of The Thirteenth Hour takes place), who is in school with other kids his age whose parents don’t necessarily work for the Empire of King Darian. Logan in The Thirteenth Hour grapples internally with the idea of being a representative of a government whose actions he doesn’t always agree with, but he is an adult. What happens for children when no adults are around is complex, especially as children try to come to terms with opposing views of the world and how their parents fit in. We learn views (and prejudices) from those around us, so what would happen when a child who has a parent working for the Empire is mocked at school for such a lineage or told his father is not going to live very long as an Imperial Ranger? What happens to him and his mother when his father leaves for months and the others in the class whose sensibilities lie elsewhere respond with a mixture of pity and derision? Isn’t it not dissimilar to the current black and white state of affairs to separates the current political climate in the US? I think it’s something that could be written simply, with underlying themes of love and parental responsibility with deeper undertones that comment on tribalism and fear of what we don’t understand/agree with that could be appreciated by adults or older children.

In episode 448, I spoke about a idea concerning a Thirteenth Hour card game that would fill in a part of the book, near the end, that I never got to write about.

In episode 446, I spoke about a Tomb Raider card game that might take what I learned making the Rocketeer card game and apply it to another fan project, also using sprites I designed before.

Speaking of the Rocketeer, while I was making the Rocketeer Twine game as the backstory for the card game, I got the idea for a Twine text based game featuring Aurora from The Thirteenth Hour, since there’s a part near the beginning of the book where she is working at a inn. I thought it might be interesting to have a sort of “inn simulator” with some kind of overarching storyline (?a mystery – e.g. perhaps a crime is committed in one of the rooms and Imperial soldiers are sent in to investigate. Aurora mentions at one point in The Thirteenth Hour that she doesn’t have an especially high opinion of Imperial soldiers and hopes Logan won’t turn out like them, so perhaps this is how that came to be) that occurs as she is trying to navigate the ins and outs of helping customers, serving food and drinks, and mucking out the stables.

Thanks for listening!

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Don’t forget that the original hunter action figure from A Shadow in the Moonlight is available on Etsy!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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:

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!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

ynth 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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #476: Reflections on Free Training Day Mid-Atlantic and Plans for The Thirteenth Hour Workout Deck

https://archive.org/download/podcast-476/Podcast%20476.mp3

As mentioned last week, I attended a great event this past week put on by Whistlekick, Free Training Day Mid-Atlantic – took some great classes, taught a class, met some great people, caught up with ones I met last year – all great stuff. If you are open minded and want to learn, head over to Whistlekick’s free training day event page to learn about upcoming trainings (two in the next few months off the top of my head). If you are interested in writing for Martial Journal, Whistlekick’s online martial arts magazine, check out their site – I’ve done so a number of times and have always found MJ fun to write for as well as read.

The Thirteenth Hour workout deck that I discussed the last few weeks is, I think, an early version of either a more modular draft of something to come or the early whispering of some kind of martial arts game/ training tool; I’m not sure which yet. Either way, the beta tester digital pre-release version of these cards is available to all free on Patreon. The box design thus far:

Check out the deck there, and thanks for listening!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Don’t forget that the original hunter action figure from A Shadow in the Moonlight is available on Etsy!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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:

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!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

ynth 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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #475: More on The Thirteenth Hour Workout Deck and Free Training Day Mid-Atlantic Preview

https://archive.org/download/podcast-475/Podcast%20475.mp3

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!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Don’t forget that the original hunter action figure from A Shadow in the Moonlight is available on Etsy!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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:

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!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

ynth 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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #474: Updates on The Thirteenth Hour Workout Deck

https://archive.org/download/podcast-474/Podcast%20474.mp3

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!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Don’t forget that the original hunter action figure from A Shadow in the Moonlight is available on Etsy!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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:

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!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

ynth 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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #473: Welcome back Jeremy and Chad Derdowski to Discuss Chad’s New Tome, The Thrillmarillion!

https://archive.org/download/podcast-473/Podcast%20473.mp3

This week, my brother, author/illustrator Chad Derdowski (previously on episodes 107, 108, and 119), and I are discussing Chad’s new volume, The Thrillmarillion, which depicts, in written and visual form, the history of the world of the Scissorwulf, first seen in Fortune Favors the Bold, Volume 1: Saga of the Scissorwulf! (Check out the rad new cover!) A smattering of the full page illustrations below:

This truly epic work harkens back (at least in my mind) to the titans of 70s comic books depicted in this volume I had as a kid.

Though I had no idea who most of the characters were, I always enjoyed flipping through it and got the same kind of vibe reading The Thrillmarillion! Check it out!

Check out Jeremy‘s work over at Pixel Grotto, CBR.com, and Classic Batman Panels on IG. If you are of the DnD persuasion, his articles on DnD Beyond may be right up your alley, and you can view his entire portfolio here. You can also check out his latest book, where he is a co-author: Pathfinder Adventure Path: No Breath to Cry, and his upcoming ecology / exploration ttrpg, Mappa Mundi.

Don’t forget that the original hunter action figure from A Shadow in the Moonlight is available on Etsy!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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:

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!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

ynth 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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #472: Reflections from an Aging Bboy

https://archive.org/download/podcast-472/Podcast%20472.mp3

This week, I went for a walk with my dog (sorry in advance for the audio, which may have some cars and summer insects buzzing in the background) and was reflecting on a question I often get asked when I say that I still enjoy doing things like gymnastics and breaking. These are things generally thought of as activities for young people, and I’m not going to debate that they are easier in many ways when you are younger. But the implicit meaning – “why are you doing something that is not consistent with your age?” is very similar to one that gets posed to children as they transition to adults – give up those childish aspects of youth and act your age; act like an adult. In the words of the father from The Neverending Story, “You’re old enough to get your head down out of the clouds and start keeping both feet on the ground.” However, for this one, I will say that well-meaning peers aside, aging also essentially asks the same question. So this week, I’m pondering some of the things that keep me doing things like breaking even though the evidence (effects of aging on the body’s strength, flexibility, and agility; propensity for injuries; longer healing time; less risk tolerance, etc), seems to point the other way.

I’ve never had an answer for either other people or my own body on days when it does not want to cooperate as to why I still continue other than I love it. It’s very simple in that way. My life with gymnastics and bboying is better with than without. And I don’t think I can say it much better than two people who are still doing their chosen activities well beyond the typical age:

1.) Oksana Chusovitina, a 49 year old 8x Olympic gymnast currently planning to train for the 2028 games who said “I don’t force myself to train. I still do it with joy, so I always say, ‘Why should I give up what makes me happy? … I want to show that if a female gymnast wants to train, if she likes it, why should she retire if she is 30 years old?” Why, indeed?

2.) Bboy Storm, one of the original bboys from back in the 80s and 90s (West Germany was one of the countries that picked up the breaking bug after it lost steam in mainstream US and went underground), says basically the same thing about breaking into your 50s.

Thanks for listening!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Don’t forget that the original hunter action figure from A Shadow in the Moonlight is available on Etsy!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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:

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!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

ynth 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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #471: Updates on Logan’s Exercise Cards and Ideas for “Unset” Breaking Cards

https://archive.org/download/podcast-471/Podcast%20471.mp3

This week, I’m giving an update on project I’ve been working on for much of this summer – a set of cards featuring illustrations of Logan from The Thirteenth Hour doing various exercises. The cards are almost done; I’m wrapping up the design aspects now. They have four subdivisions, color coded according to the main colors of Logan’s uniform: white (warmups), yellow (resistance), grey (martial), and blue (cool down). Here are what some of them look like so far:

I’m also discussing some ideas on a similar set of cards for breaking to help dancers work on their transitions from one move to another. Though this wasn’t a term used when I was first introduced to bboying, these days many folks use the term “set” to refer to the collection of moves they do when they are dancing. Though it can be helpful to drill a certain series of moves in succession, I’ve always associated “sets” with prearranged sequences that you try to recreate again and again (probably from my martial arts training, though even there, the original point of practicing a prearranged sequence is that it’s just shorthand, so to speak, for practicing a core idea).

In something improvisational like breaking, where the movements vary depending on the music or what other people are doing (think: call and response), sets sometimes fit … but the ability to string together movements in an infinite number of ways is probably more applicable. Hence, these randomly drawn cards, each of which will have a different category of breaking technique on it, focuses on what happens in between techniques, especially in unconventional ways only possible when left to chance. That’s why I’ve been called them “unset” cards I will be using animation stills I originally made for a breakdancing game I tried to make in college, e.g.:

Stay tuned. Thanks for listening!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Don’t forget that the original hunter action figure from A Shadow in the Moonlight is available on Etsy!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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:

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!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

ynth 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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #470: Reflections on Olympic Breaking (Paris, 2024), Sixteen Candles 40 Years Later, and Travelling

https://archive.org/download/podcast-470/Podcast%20470.mp3

This week, I’m discussing a variety of somewhat interrelated topics. One, breaking debuted this Olympics in Paris. It’s been disheartening to hear all the negative comments from folks – mostly out of ignorance, it seems, though some of the more vocal comments came from people in our own community who don’t want to see breaking on the Olympics. I get it – athletic disciplines that end up in the Games ultimately change as they become games, and breaking, which, despite the cheesy fad notions and movie appearances that made it popular in the 80s, is no game. It’s hard to separate breaking from its roots in urban poverty as a kind of stylized combat designed as an alternative to physical violence to settle differences and move up the social hierarchy and still keep the soul of what it is. Because when you add that darker side based in grit to the lightness of music and dance, you get the completeness of human existence. It becomes something both real and beautiful. But when you try to sanitize it by keeping the pretty bits minus the darker roots, it loses its meaning and just becomes doing moves to music. So I get some of the more vocal members of our community opposing breaking being in the Olympics.

That said, the only ones who can authentically say they have that as their history are in their 50s and 60s now. That history (i.e. the one born out the fires and rubble of the 1970s Bronx), is not my story. It isn’t even the story that a lot of folks of that generation have who just started breaking since some of their friends were doing it, or they saw it on TV. And it may not apply to folks in other countries or other parts of the US that are different in terms of demographics and socioeconomic status. The beautiful thing about the spirit of hip hop, though, which involves unity, is that it doesn’t really matter that much. We can all find a place at the table.

And, oddly enough, it was because of all those cheesy 80s guest spots and film appearances that the dance spread to other countries after it pretty much died in the US in the mid 80s. It’s also not like the Olympics is the first big breaking competition. In fact, there are plenty of bigger and better runs ones (e.g. Battle of the Year, Red Bull BC One, among others), so it’s not like something of this caliber is really new to anyone. But it’s kind of like when you as the unpopular kid finally get invited to the cool kids’ party after years of saying publicly you thought parties like that were stupid. Now, you’re conflicted. Do you go and enjoy yourself (or try to … as there’s a part of you that still is self conscious and thinks you don’t deserve it)? Do you say the hell with it all, stay true to yourself, and not be a hypocrite? Do you celebrate that fact that you’ve finally made it and no longer need to sit at the rejects’ table at lunch? As far as I can tell, this is the position the breaking community finds itself in. There won’t be breaking in the Olympics probably until 2032 at the earliest. Now that the community has had a taste of Paris, I’m really curious to see how things shake out over the next few years. It won’t change what I do (been doing this since 1998 when it definitely was not popular), but regardless, I’m proud of us and the work it took to get here. I think we can both work to pay respect to our history and not lose our soul in the meantime, though it will require folks to put aside their differences and embrace actual unity. I hope it leads to good opportunities for our community. After all, it’s hard to go back to the farm once you’ve seen Paris.

One reason for these cool kid analogies is that I recently rewatched the 1984 film Sixteen Candles specifically since I’d heard the bboy crew, The New York City Breakers, made an appearance. I’ve seen the film many times but couldn’t remember the scene. I caught it this time in a scene where students in headbands and red tracksuits are seen walking through the halls as the Molly Ringwald character and her friend pass by. I was hoping that despite having seen it so many times, I’d somehow missed a bit of a cypher outside prior to school starting or at the school dance. But as far as I can tell, it was just the blink and you miss it hallway scene.

I also had some other surprising thoughts in the film I discuss on the podcast. This article by Molly Ringwald sums it up pretty nicely and more articulately than I could.

I’d actually rewatched the film on a plane, where it was one of the ones you could watch from their library. I’m travelling as I upload and write this, in fact. I go through it more on the podcast and make some comparisons to parts of The Thirteenth Hour, but the essence of it is that things rarely, if ever, go according to plan. All the plans in the world don’t mean much if you get so attached to them that you can’t abandon them when the time is right, though that shouldn’t be an excuse to not make them at all. Travelling is a perfect way to play with all this in a hopefully low stakes manner. Ideally, you can apply that to other parts of your life.

Thanks for listening!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Don’t forget that the original hunter action figure from A Shadow in the Moonlight is available on Etsy!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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:

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!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

ynth 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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #469: Wrapping Up Two Paintings from The Thirteenth Hour Universe

https://archive.org/download/podcast-469/Podcast%20469.mp3

This week, I’m wrapping up two paintings – one for a future Thirteenth Hour book showing the inside of Logan and Aurora house. An earlier version is on Instagram here.

Next, I’m wrapping up a painting of Axel, the main character of the last two episodes (467, 468) I did with my brother as we play tested the game he helped develop with Three Sail Studios, Mappa Mundi.

I will probably add a few more details on the trees and leaves, but this is 90% done.

You can actually learn more and download the prerelease guide by clicking on the picture of the cover above.

Thanks for listening!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Don’t forget that the original hunter action figure from A Shadow in the Moonlight is available on Etsy!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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:

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!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

ynth 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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #468: My Brother, Jeremy, and I Play His Role Playing Game, Mappa Mundi Part 2

https://archive.org/download/podcast-468/Podcast%20468.mp3

This week, my brother and I are playing an early build of the ecology and exploration role playing game he helped develop with Three Sail Studios, Mappa Mundi.

The idea is you (and your team, if you are playing with others) are explorers and naturalists progressing through the wilderness, traversing obstacles and making notes and observations about the wildlife, including a number of fantastic beasts, while solving the mystery or central plot for the adventure. In this case, a possible monster in the woods and several people who have mysteriously gone missing. Jeremy, who was the gamemaster, adjusted the setting a bit to make it part of the Thirteenth Hour universe. While the story takes place in a world of its own (for this adventure, a kingdom called Barbecia), we decided for this adventure, to make it take place in a far reaching territory in the realm of Tartec, the country where The Thirteenth Hour starts in. We continue the adventure started in episode 467.

Check out the game yourself by downloading the prerelease guide below as well as the art below done by Joel Kilpatrick (which gives you a few clues / spoilers as to the events of the episode).

Check out Jeremy‘s work over at Pixel Grotto, CBR.com, and Classic Batman Panels on IG. If you are of the DnD persuasion, his articles on DnD Beyond may be right up your alley, and you can view his entire portfolio here. You can also check out his latest book, where he is a co-author: Pathfinder Adventure Path: No Breath to Cry. Thanks, Jeremy, for coming on the show!

Don’t forget that the original hunter action figure from A Shadow in the Moonlight is available on Etsy!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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:

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!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

ynth 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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #467: My Brother, Jeremy, and I Play His Role Playing Game, Mappa Mundi Part 1

https://archive.org/download/podcast-467/Podcast%20467.mp3

This week, my brother and I are playing an early build of the ecology and exploration role playing game he helped develop with Three Sail Studios, Mappa Mundi.

The idea is you (and your team, if you are playing with others) are explorers and naturalists progressing through the wilderness, traversing obstacles and making notes and observations about the wildlife, including a number of fantastic beasts, while solving the mystery or central plot for the adventure. In this case, a possible monster in the woods and several people who have mysteriously gone missing. Jeremy, who was the gamemaster, adjusted the setting a bit to make it part of the Thirteenth Hour universe. While the story takes place in a world of its own (for this adventure, a kingdom called Barbecia), we decided for this adventure, to make it take place in a far reaching territory in the realm of Tartec, the country where The Thirteenth Hour starts in. You can actually check the game out yourself by downloading the prerelease guide below:

Part 2 coming next week!

Check out Jeremy‘s work over at Pixel Grotto, CBR.com, and Classic Batman Panels on IG. If you are of the DnD persuasion, his articles on DnD Beyond may be right up your alley, and you can view his entire portfolio here. You can also check out his latest book, where he is a co-author: Pathfinder Adventure Path: No Breath to Cry. Thanks, Jeremy, for coming on the show!

Don’t forget that the original hunter action figure from A Shadow in the Moonlight is available on Etsy!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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:

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!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

ynth 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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #466: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as we talk about The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1997)

https://archive.org/download/podcast-466/Podcast%20466.mp3

This week, my brother and I are watching the 1986 TV movie, The Murders in the Rue Morgue.

You can read the original Edgar Allen Poe short story here (it’s public domain) as well as a comic adaptation here.

Jeremy paid homage to the premise of this story during one of the original Thirteenth Hour DnD campaigns he developed (“The Case of the Almost Assassination”) where an ape again wreaked havoc on a town (the Capital City of Tartec), and a detective had to figure out the culprit. He video recorded all the episodes, which you can actually watch here.

Check out Jeremy‘s work over at Pixel Grotto, CBR.com, and Classic Batman Panels on IG. If you are of the DnD persuasion, his articles on DnD Beyond may be right up your alley, and you can view his entire portfolio here. You can also check out his latest book, where he is a co-author: Pathfinder Adventure Path: No Breath to Cry as well as an upcoming exploration TTRPG with Three Sail Studios, Mappa Mundi. Thanks, Jeremy, for coming on the show!

Don’t forget that the original hunter action figure from A Shadow in the Moonlight is available on Etsy!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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:

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!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

ynth 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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #465: Preview of a Thirteenth Hour Sequel – Aurora Hunting

https://archive.org/download/podcast-465/Podcast%20465.mp3

This week’s podcast episode covers two things – I tried to make a Thirteenth Hour water game (one of those briefly entertaining / frustrating games where you have a little tank of water with a button you push to try to get little rings onto the pegs embedded in the walls of the tank. I thought I could open it up and replace the rings with infinity signs, but it didn’t work. After several attempts and several broken water games, I just decided to change the backing design. Here’s how they came out:

They’re still not terribly interesting to play, but maybe that was never the point …?

The rest of the episode, I read from a draft of the Thirteenth Hour sequel, narrated by Aurora, who is hunting. The passage also describes some aspects of the home she and Logan built. I recently did an Istagram livestream where I painted Aurora from that scene:

  View this post on Instagram      A post shared by Joshua Blum  Author & Artist (@the13thhr)

Here is the final picture:

Lastly, I was recently on fantasy author Melinda Kuscera‘s show again, this time to discuss toymaking. In, while we were recording, I got the idea for this episode. Click below to listen/watch the episode on Youtube. Thanks for having me back on your show, Melinda!

You can find more about what Melinda does and listen to the other episodes of her show below:

-Apple podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/epic-fantasy-adventures-books-lore-more/id1670011250

-Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4xUNSzQmb5ngW6HXi4HOzr?si=c1df61dbc11c4afd

-Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/melindakucsera

-Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@melindakucsera_fantasy

-Twitter / X: https://twitter.com/melindakucsera/

-IG: https://www.instagram.com/MelindaKucsera28/

-Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/mkucsera28

Thanks for listening!

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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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

Travelling inevitably can be stressful (hopefully in a good way), but one that also brings to mind a concept described by Joseph Campbell, the hero’s journey (or heroine’s journey) – involving a usually reluctant protagonist who is called or forced into action and has to grow from their current (usually unassuming state) to become the hero that is needed. After a series of trials, they, if successful, achieve their goal and return back home changed by the experience. A lot of the films that inspired The Thirteenth Hour had this general structure – The Rocketeer, The Last Starfighter (reluctant heroes), The Neverending Story (unassuming hero – a child – goes on a desperate quest), Labyrinth (teenage girl goes on a quest to save her brother) – so it’s no wonder Logan’s journey in the story follows a similar structure.

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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #463: Update on “There’s a Wild Heart Beating” (acoustic) Live + More Work on “No Hero”

https://archive.org/download/podcast-463/Podcast%20463.mp3

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!

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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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

Travelling inevitably can be stressful (hopefully in a good way), but one that also brings to mind a concept described by Joseph Campbell, the hero’s journey (or heroine’s journey) – involving a usually reluctant protagonist who is called or forced into action and has to grow from their current (usually unassuming state) to become the hero that is needed. After a series of trials, they, if successful, achieve their goal and return back home changed by the experience. A lot of the films that inspired The Thirteenth Hour had this general structure – The Rocketeer, The Last Starfighter (reluctant heroes), The Neverending Story (unassuming hero – a child – goes on a desperate quest), Labyrinth (teenage girl goes on a quest to save her brother) – so it’s no wonder Logan’s journey in the story follows a similar structure.

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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #462: Revisiting “There’s a Wild Heart Beating” (acoustic) in Guitar + Piano

https://archive.org/download/podcast-462/Podcast%20462.mp3

This week’s podcast episode is a throwback to a song I did in 2017 – “There’s a Wild Heart Beating” that is to accompany a future Thirteenth Hour sequel soundtrack. I wanted to revisit it in acoustic format to see which would be easier to play live with one instrument, so for this episode, I try it out on the guitar and the piano. There is already an acoustic version out, though no acoustic piano version. The original was a pretty complex song that had multiple synth, vocal, and electric guitar tracks, but it’s really something that can’t be played unplugged by one person, hence the need to strip it down to something more of the singer-songwriter variety.

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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

Travelling inevitably can be stressful (hopefully in a good way), but one that also brings to mind a concept described by Joseph Campbell, the hero’s journey (or heroine’s journey) – involving a usually reluctant protagonist who is called or forced into action and has to grow from their current (usually unassuming state) to become the hero that is needed. After a series of trials, they, if successful, achieve their goal and return back home changed by the experience. A lot of the films that inspired The Thirteenth Hour had this general structure – The Rocketeer, The Last Starfighter (reluctant heroes), The Neverending Story (unassuming hero – a child – goes on a desperate quest), Labyrinth (teenage girl goes on a quest to save her brother) – so it’s no wonder Logan’s journey in the story follows a similar structure.

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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #461: The Hero’s Journey and Travelling

https://archive.org/download/podcast-461/Podcast%20461.mp3

This week’s podcast episode was inspired by some recent travels and a few articles cited in the podcast that gave some helpful ideas on how to deal with the potential hardships that inevitably will occur when you are traveling: 1.) breathe!, 2.) be open to change, 3.) be helpful, 4.) be thankful, 5.) be open to wonder, and 6.) to paraphrase a often used Chinese expression – eating bitter helps you taste sweet.

Though travelling inevitably can be stressful (hopefully in a good way), but it’s one that also brings to mind a concept described by Joseph Campbell, the hero’s (or heroine’s) journey – involving a usually reluctant protagonist who is called or forced into action and has to grow from their current (usually unassuming state) to become the hero that is needed. After a series of trials, they, if successful, achieve their goal and return back home changed by the experience. A lot of the films that inspired The Thirteenth Hour had this general structure – The Rocketeer, The Last Starfighter (reluctant heroes), The Neverending Story (unassuming hero – a child – goes on a desperate quest), Labyrinth (teenage girl goes on a quest to save her brother) – so it’s no wonder Logan’s journey in the story follows a similar structure.

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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

Travelling inevitably can be stressful (hopefully in a good way), but one that also brings to mind a concept described by Joseph Campbell, the hero’s journey (or heroine’s journey) – involving a usually reluctant protagonist who is called or forced into action and has to grow from their current (usually unassuming state) to become the hero that is needed. After a series of trials, they, if successful, achieve their goal and return back home changed by the experience. A lot of the films that inspired The Thirteenth Hour had this general structure – The Rocketeer, The Last Starfighter (reluctant heroes), The Neverending Story (unassuming hero – a child – goes on a desperate quest), Labyrinth (teenage girl goes on a quest to save her brother) – so it’s no wonder Logan’s journey in the story follows a similar structure.

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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #460: Finding a Home at Princeton University Through Sympoh, the 25 Year Old Breaking Crew We Started

https://archive.org/download/podcast-460/Podcast%20460.mp3

This week’s podcast episode is a bit of a trip down memory lane as I recently went back to my undergrad university, Princeton, where three friends and I started breaking in 1998 – Justin Liang (who was on episodes 47, 48, and 255), Sherwood Forlee, and Tim Ferriss. I don’t think any of us at the time would have imagined that the club we started, later christened as Sympoh in 1999, would still be around 25 years later, but it is, and each time I see what the current members are doing, it always kind of blows me away. I figured I would put some of that early history down while I still remember it.

One weird thing about trying to learning to break in the mid to late 90s is that aside from a few underground pockets that had been stoking the embers since the 70s, it was a pretty dead art by then for most of mainstream America. So if you wanted to learn, you basically had to dig up old movies from the 80s, like Breakin’ or Beatstreet. (Speaking of the latter, the battle at the Roxy from that movie is still great decades later).

Aside from that, there was very little info out there unless you managed to find a crew. The only legit info I had been able to find prior to finding these guys in college existed on the nascent internet – the website of a Swiss breaking crew – the Spartanic Rockers – called “Cardboard Only.” Although that site no longer exists, there is still a website for the crew, which you can view here. Other than that, my only real visual models came from memories of breakers dancing in the subway of NYC as well as a few scattered clips from TV – notably karateka Jamie Webster‘s character, Grey Wolf on the mid 90s martial arts show, WMAC Masters, doing windmills:

And then in the 1996 Olympics, Russian gymnast Alexey Nemov did flare and mill combos during his floor routine. Here he is during demonstration, I think after the games had finished:

Other than that, if you could find VHS tapes of footage from jams or battles, that was the Holy Grail, but those tapes were hard to get and sometimes very poor in quality, having been dubbed multiple times. We also didn’t have easy access to televisions or VCRs in college so if we wanted to watch one of them, we had to use one of the public TVs around campus, which weren’t always accessible, as the rooms were often locked or someone would have already reserved the room, and many of the TVs did not have VCRs. (I have managed to find some of this footage online, e.g., this one. They were basically home videos, so the camera work and overall flow of these videos often left a lot to be desired. Still, it was the best we had until technology progressed to the point where it was possible to digitize analog video so clips could be isolated, which meant you could slow things down to see what was going on.)

So we mostly had to teach ourselves, meaning progress could be slow at times. I’m slow learner at baseline without much natural talent for any of this, so windmills, the move shown above, took me about two years of pretty regular work to learn to do. Still, I will always remember those practices fondly. They combined martial arts and gymnastics into breaking, and although we were all working independently on different things, we were all working together to achieve similar goals. When you are around people like that all the time, you can’t help but get better.

So I’ve always been happy to see that that spirit continues to be a lifeblood of Sympoh in the years since we graduated. So I wish to thank all the current and past members for their efforts in keeping the club alive and open for all who want to learn. They con’t to inspire me to continue to practice, even though at my current age of 44 (kind of old for a bboy), things are more difficult and harder to maintain. At this point, I just to keep up

 View this post on Instagram A post shared by Joshua Blum  Author & Artist (@the13thhr)

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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #459 and Like a Hood Ornament #57: Using Twine to Make “The Rocketeer vs. The Third Reich” into a Text Adventure Game

https://archive.org/download/podcast-459/Podcast%20459.mp3

This week, I’m discussing the use of the program, Twine, to turn the Choose Your Own Adventure Rocketeer story I recently finished into a text based adventure game. It’s basically a html based platform, so the end result is a .html file that you can play on a computer or mobile device. You can even do things like add music, pictures, text entry blocks, and use variables, all of which I did to make it a bit more game-like. Here’s the skeleton of what it looks like:

The title screen:

A few screencaps of the story: with choices:

You can now play the game in beta! Check it out here!

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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #458: Welcome Author, Painter, and Archeologist Alexandra Chan to the Show to Discuss “In the Garden Behind the Moon”

https://archive.org/download/podcast-458/Podcast%20458.mp3

This week’s episode welcomes archeologist, painter, martial artist, mother, wife, and author (among other things) Alexka Chan on her upcoming memoir called In the Garden Behind the Moon. We actually recorded it back in the winter but decided to not release it until now to time this interview with the launch of her book, coming out 5/28/24. Though there was a preview of the book (in the form of dragon paintings in episode 444 for lunar new year), here it is in full. In addition, there is an afterparty, so to speak, over at Patreon. There was some additional audio that we recorded after the episode ended that is being released there, so if you liked this episode, go check out the part 2. Even if you are not a Patreon member, I have made the post public, so it’s available to all.

We had a great conversation about so many topics, not the least of which are some of the subjects found within her book. Though billed as a memoir, there is also a healthy dose of introspective personal narrative/exploration, self help, philosophy, and more interspersed in between family photographs, prints of Chinese silk paintings done by the author, as well as musings on the power of myth and legend in the modern era. Click on the cover of the book below to pre-order (if seeing this prior to 5/28/24).

It’s a tale about her coming to grips with the loss of her parents, especially her father, a larger than life figure, and how myth and story helped not only smooth the grieving process but also created a renewed sense of wonder in life itself. In the episode, we talk about something my wife and I call “the middle aged doldrums” – that period of time when you as an adult are grinding – career, kids, health, etc – and it’s easy to lose sight of both yourself and a sense of possibility, hope, and wonder in the world around you as you struggle to make it through the day amid all the other demands on your time and attention. If you have seen The Breakfast Club, you may recall the quote Ally Sheedy’s character delivers:

Sprinkled through the book are traditional Chinese paintings, something she started doing later in life and continued to help rekindle her sense of equanimity as her father was nearing the end of his days. Here are some of the ones she sent over to share for Chinese new year:

You can find many more such paintings on Alexka’s online painting shop, Rising Phoenix Arts:

You can find about her paintings and books on social media:

Goodreads

Instagram

Facebook

Tiktok

Thanks for coming on the show, Alexka, and thanks, all, for listening!

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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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #457: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as we talk about Kull the Conqueror (1997)

https://archive.org/download/podcast-457/Podcast%20457.mp3

This week, my brother and I are watching the 1997 film, Kull the Conqueror, very loosely based on the original stories of Kull and Conan by Robert E Howard. The film is partly based on aspects of the Kull short story – “By This Axe I Rule!” (i.e. the part of the film where Kull takes his battleaxe and smashes the stone tablets of the kingdom rules) and the Conan story “The Hour of the Dragon.”

King Kull, whose stories were used for the first Conan movie and numerous comic books, actually comes back as a ghost in a Robert E. Howard short story “Kings of the Night” to assist another Howard hero, Bran Mak Morn.

Bottom line, read the Kull stories for a different take on the character than the one portrayed in the film. Click on the picture above painted by Lou Feck for more info.

Check out Jeremy‘s work over at Pixel Grotto, CBR.com, and Classic Batman Panels on IG. If you are of the DnD persuasion, his articles on DnD Beyond may be right up your alley, and you can view his entire portfolio here. You can also check out his latest book, where he is a co-author: Pathfinder Adventure Path: No Breath to Cry. Thanks, Jeremy, for coming on the show!

And, as an aside, the hunter action figure from A Shadow in the Moonlight is available on Etsy!

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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:

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!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

ynth 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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #456: Making a Thirteenth Hour Exercise Card Deck Part 2

https://archive.org/download/podcast-456/Podcast%20456.mp3

This week’s podcast episode follows up on episode 450, which talked about making a Thirteenth Hour exercise card deck. In the intervening weeks, I’ve been working on the animations for the cards and now have about 92 frames. Each card, which will have a different basic exercise, has a few frames of pixelart animation to go along with it to serve as a visual reference for what to do.

While I didn’t really intend for them to be strung together, here they are so far!

Thanks for listening!

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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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #455: Enlarging Resin Hoverboards

https://archive.org/download/podcast-455/Podcast%20455.mp3

This week, I’m using a technique I learned from the Crafsman Youtube on the use of mineral spirits to enlarge silicone molds, which essentially allows you to enlarge resin pieces you have to sizes that are about 30 % bigger. The mold, when bathed in mineral spirits, becomes puffed up and allows to you cast a larger piece from the swollen mold. If you are happy with the size, you can make it permanent by making a mold of the new piece.

I did this for a small clay sculpt of Logan from The Thirteenth Hour’s hoverboard, Lightning. I wanted to create a handful of larger ones for future action figures.

This is the bigger hoverboard I got from the mineral spirits inflated mold. You can see I’ve started demarcating a section that will be sanded away to make room for a piece of sheet metal so the figures’ magnetic feet can stick to it.

The gray hoverboard above is the original clay sculpt. Use of the mineral spirts technique increased the size of the hoverboard by about a third.

Though I could just cast a bunch of copies using the inflated mold, the mineral spirits will evaporate in a few days, shrinking the mold back to its original dimensions. The process started after a day or so, which is why the original mold looks misshapen above. So, it’s usually a good idea then to make a new mold from the new sized piece.

Two part silicone ready to mix for the new mold.

The silicone has just been poured into the mold.

Underneath, you can see what it looks like. The excess silicone will be trimmed.

Once cleaned up, the new mold can be used to make copies.

Here’s the near-final product prior to sanding, priming, and painting.

Thanks for listening!

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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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #454: Working on a Thirteenth Hour Piano Medley Part 2

https://archive.org/download/podcast-454/Podcast%20454.mp3

Today’s episode follows up on episode 447, which took six Thirteenth Hour soundtrack pieces and worked them together into a flowing piano medley. With more practice, it’s gotten easier to have them flow from one to the next. Here are the six songs:

“Love, Grey Dresses, and Other Things”:

https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/track/love-grey-dresses-and-other-things

“I’ll Fly Away”:

https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/track/ill-fly-away-2

“Aurora’s Theme”:

https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/track/auroras-theme

“Dragons’ Eyes”:

https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/track/dragons-eyes-instrumental

“The Thirteenth Hour Theme”:

https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/track/the-thirteenth-hour-theme-synth-orchestra

“Empty Hands”:

https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/track/empty-hands

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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #450: Remembering The Easy Exercise Plan and making a Thirteenth Hour Exercise Card Deck

https://archive.org/download/podcast-453/Podcast%20453.mp3

Lately, I have been making animations for the Logan prison cell workout I talked in episode 450:

While making them, I thought back to the first time I tried to do something similar, when making animations for the first game I tried to make, a Tomb Raider prequel of sort featuring a young adult Lara Croft going on her first big adventure, looking for her kidnapped mentor and a unicorn. I spent hours on the running animation alone, figuring it was the most important part, though what I didn’t realize at the time was 1.) more frames does not make for a smoother experience, as it just increases the chance of the the frames will get stuck or not load, and 2.) hand drawn animations scanned into a computer will never be as precise as something entirely digital. But at the time, I had no idea, so hand drew the frames and used tracing paper to transfer it from frame to frame:

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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #452: Experimenting with AI Vocals to See IF I Can Turn My Male Voice Female

https://archive.org/download/podcast-452/Podcast%20452.mp3

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:

You 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/

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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #451: Welcome, Fantasy Author Melinda Kucsera to the Show

https://archive.org/download/podcast-451/Podcast%20451.mp3

This week, prolific fantasy author and podcaster Melinda Kucsera joins the show. We first talked not long ago when I came on her show, and I wanted to have her back on mine to continue the conversation. We had a chance in this conversation to really get into the world her character inhabit (and have since her childhood). We also had the chance to discuss a number of things about the creation of stories, book publishing, and a number of other things you might find interesting about the creative process, especially if you are a writer yourself.

Her first novel, Curse Breaker Enchanted, which came out in 2016, introduces the world all her stories take place in and a number of the main characters. You can actually read it free on Amazon (at least in the US), and it’s almost 500 pages! Click on the link or picture above to check it out.

You can find her other books on her website or wherever you buy books.

The cool thing is, if you like the characters, they come back in many of her other books, as well as on her podcasts (the early ones have sections from her books, and there are also guest appearances by the book characters as they are able, through some wizardry a Muggle like me probably can’t comprehend, leave their world and enter ours.

Apple podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/epic-fantasy-adventures-books-lore-more/id1670011250

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4xUNSzQmb5ngW6HXi4HOzr?si=c1df61dbc11c4afd

You can find her on a number of social media platforms:

-Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/melindakucsera

-Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@melindakucsera_fantasy

-Twitter / X: https://twitter.com/melindakucsera/

-IG: https://www.instagram.com/MelindaKucsera28/

-Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/mkucsera28

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/

Thanks for coming on the show, Melinda, and 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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #450: Remembering The Easy Exercise Plan and making a Thirteenth Hour Exercise Card Deck

https://archive.org/download/podcast-450/Podcast%20450.mp3

In one section of The Thirteenth Hour, the main protagonist, Logan, ends up in a desert dungeon, where he languishes in a dehydrated and depressed state for some time until he decides he has something to live for, at which points he starts rehabilitating himself by trying to regain his strength bit by bit. It’s the montage scene of many an old action movie – the wounded hero picks himself up, gets pumped, learns to shoot with his uninjured hand, sharpens his sword, prays, meditates, etc and then proceeds to kick major ass. I envisioned that in the space of a dungeon cell, Logan, like those heroes of old, really would not much room after having hit rock bottom, but he’d do what he could. I was writing from experience there, since I’d done some version of a mini exercise plan that could be done in a very small space for years. In fact, I still do to this day.

So it was with quite some amusement and good humor that I recently found a little volume I’d written for my parents as a gift in 1993. It was a collection of exercises I’d used myself, probably influenced by the ones we did in my martial arts classes as well as a little volume I had in my room, one of the Royal Canadian Air Force exercise plans, which had progressively difficult, short calisthenics routines designed to be done without any equipment in about 11-12 min per day (I actually found a scan of a volume very much like the one I had as a teen – you can find it here – a lot of the advice and perspectives are as valid now as they were when first designed, decades ago in the 1960s, and the final line, “wishing is not enough” is so good I have nothing else to add).

My own, more humble, handwritten “Easy Exercise Plan” ended up back in my hands again the last time I went to see my folks, after which I apparently put it aside to look at later. But it ended up getting left in a pile that sat collecting dust, and I didn’t have a chance to go through it until just yesterday. And, lo and behold, there were a lot of the same exercises I still to each day! I guess some things just don’t need to change very much if they work.

In this episode, I envision what would happen if I combined these exercises with a card deck – one exercise per card, 52 total, 13 per segment: 1.) loosening up, 2.) body weight strength, 3.) martial arts, and 4.) cool down stretches and meditation. I figured you could draw a few random cards from each section (coded by four different colors), and string them together, giving you a multitude of short, bite sized workouts that can be done without any equipment and in very little time. I think my eight grade self would find this pretty handy.

Turns outs this approach to exercise even has a trendy new name – “exercise snacking” … who would have guessed? Is it the same a formal, longer workout? Nope. But something is better than nothing, to my way of thinking, and if doing something more frequently since it takes less time means that you then are more active, on the whole than you used to be, then win, win, right?

If you’re interested in beta testing this game with me (I just need to make the artwork), email me!

Thanks for listening!

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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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #449: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, and Adam Crohn as Talk About The Ice Pirates (1984)

https://archive.org/download/podcast-449/Podcast%20449.mp3

I’m joined this week by my brother, Jeremy, and Adam Crohn, both of whom have been frequent guests here, to discuss the 1984 film, The Ice Pirates.

If you haven’t seen it, it’s kind of a combination between old school serials, Star Wars, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, and Space Balls. Check out the episode on Flash Gordon (where Adam also makes a guest appearance) for a film with a similar feel.

Thanks, Adam for coming on the show. Check out his illustrations over at ACDrawstuff as well as his main page at ACToyDesign. Check out his Patreon on https://www.patreon.com/adamcrohn/posts

Check out Jeremy‘s work over at Pixel Grotto, CBR.com, and Classic Batman Panels on IG. If you are of the DnD persuasion, his articles on DnD Beyond may be right up your alley, and you can view his entire portfolio here. You can also check out his latest book, where he is a co-author: Pathfinder Adventure Path: No Breath to Cry. Thanks, Jeremy, for coming on the show!

And, as an aside, the hunter action figure from A Shadow in the Moonlight is available on Etsy!

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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:

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!

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ynth 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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #448: Thoughts on a New Thirteenth Hour Story and Card Game

https://archive.org/download/podcast-448/Podcast%20448.mp3

In the end of The Thirteenth Hour, there was a sentence that hinted that there were significantly more adventures that could be been described but for the sake of brevity, they weren’t. I always thought I might come back one day to fill in that section with a short interlude, and I also thought it would be a fun one for a stand alone DnD adventure, short story, and/or a card game. The premise of the story is that Logan and Aurora would like to be married in a place called the Fairy Chateau, but it’s very popular (and expensive), so they have to do some convincing to be able to essentially waltz in there and pull off an impromptu ceremony with zero notice. The fairy staff there might be convinced if they can solve a vexing problem of a fairy king gone rogue and a haunted, misty, maze-like forest surrounding the chateau.

I think these were the only pictures I drew of that part of the story, so I’d need to create some new art, but luckily, that would actually be pretty straightforward – a wild wood, a dragon, fairy warriors – these images are evocative enough that they almost draw themselves! (At least in my head.)

Thanks for listening!

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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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #447: Working on a Thirteenth Hour Medley

https://archive.org/download/podcast-447/Podcast%20447.mp3

Today’s episode attempts to take six Thirteenth Hour soundtrack pieces and work them together into the same piano medley where they flow from one to another, at least somewhat seamlessly. Not all the tracks are in the same key, however, so I am still working out the best way to manage the key change. I managed to (kind of) do it but it will take quite a more practice if I want it to sound smooth. Here are the six songs and the (key) they are in:

“Love, Grey Dresses, and Other Things” (C):

https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/track/love-grey-dresses-and-other-things

“I’ll Fly Away” (G):

https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/track/ill-fly-away-2

“Aurora’s Theme” (G)

https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/track/auroras-theme

“Dragons’ Eyes” (A)

https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/track/dragons-eyes-instrumental

“The Thirteenth Hour Theme” (C)

https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/track/the-thirteenth-hour-theme-synth-orchestra

“Empty Hands” (C)

https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/track/empty-hands

I did them in this order, though I’m not sure that’s best. I will play around with it over the next few weeks and see how it sounds.Thanks for listening!

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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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #446: Thoughts on Game Design and Ideas on a Homebrew Tomb Raider Card Game

https://archive.org/download/podcast-446/Podcast%20446.mp3

In a much earlier post, I wrote a bit about an unfinished pixelart Tomb Raider game I’d started. I recently wondered if it would be possible to finish that story (which involved Lara questing after the captured imperial regalia of Japan) but not as a video game. Given my recent experience making a Rocketeer card game, I wondered if I could do something similar but aim for upping the complexity a bit using some of the ideas I’d thought of from the Rocketeer vs. the Third Reich game that didn’t quite make it in there. At the very least, I would be able to finally use some of the sprites I made for the game as the art for the cards:

– though the Lara animations have come in handy in all the other times I’ve needed something similar, it would nice to finally use them for somewhat of their intended purpose.

– I figured that Lara could get a cloak at some point that would make her less visible, making her less able to be seen by enemies. In the Rocketeer card game, Cliff had a rocket pack he could use to avoid combat and get to places, so what if Lara had some sort of detectability statistic that determined how much noise or visibility she possessed?

– I also wondered if Lara could acquire various weapons as she went through the the journey, just like the video games that inspired it. She would start with pistols, but if she found ones with more abilities, like fully automatic fire, she could use those instead. I could also give each weapon some stats for its use to determine how its handling would affect the likely of it actually hitting what Lara was shooting at, to account for things like recoil. On each card, I could include the instructions of how to roll to account for these differences. For the sake of simplicity, I might assume that all weapons use the same ammunition so there’s one ammo stat to keep track of.

– Lara could start out with her use basic acrobatic abilities, but she could level those abilities up over the game to do additional things, like going from a backflip to a backflip with more height, covering more distance, or adding in a half twist to land in the opposite direction.

– I also wanted Lara to have an unarmed attack that could more silent and not use any ammunition. She might be able to level that up as well to increase its power or cover more distance, e.g. with a jump.

Say tuned! Maybe this game and its accompanying story will finally get finished after all these years!

Thanks for listening!

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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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #445 – Making Earrings with Shrinky Dinks and Like a Hood Ornament #56: Disney Heroes and More

https://archive.org/download/podcast-445/Podcast%20445.mp3

This past week, I made a pair of shrinky dink earrings for my wife for Valentine’s Day. My kids wanted to make earrings using necklace beads, Perler beads, and resin baubles, so while they made the designs, I did the fiddly part of attaching the bits to the metal earring loops (you can buy earring making kits online for not much money). I’ve made shrinky dinks before using #6 plastic, so I wanted to see if I could make the dangly bits (I’m sure there’s a name for that) as a shrink dink and then attach it to the earring loops. I decided to use the infinity sign from the inside jacket of The Thirteenth Hour as the design since I knew it would scale down well, and it means “forever” :).

Here’s my first attempt …

This one turned out to be too dark. The colors will dark as they shrink.

These turned out okay, but they were a little bigger than I had intended (and were darker – holding them up to the light, you can see the different colors, but otherwise, they look black).

So I decided to try a few more times. Here is the #6 plastic again with the design scratched in.

The colors may look very light when you put them on, and that’s fine. They will darken!

I used Sharpie markers. They worked well.

In the oven – 350 degrees F x 8-10 min. The parchment paper is there to keep the shrinky dinks from folding over on themselves and gluing the halves of themselves together. More about this in Episode 380.

They’ve shrunk down now by about half their original size.

Here they are!

For the Rocketeer part of this episode, I thought I’d share what the GI Joe articulation style figures of the Rocketeer look like now.

I just need to figure out how to put the accessories inside.

Lastly, I recently found a free mobile game that has the Rocketeer inside – Disney Heroes. It’s one of the few games out there with the Rocketeer as a playable character – in this case, an arena style rpg battle game with other Disney characters. I have included a few pictures and videos below in case you wanted to give it a try. Though the game itself is +/- in my opinion, I really like the animations they did! I hope they get used for other things in the future.

@13thhr Found a game with the #Rocketeer – Disney Heroes.

♬ Cinema-style music like in the wilderness of Africa – Ai stock music.

They also included some mini quests in the game that are specific to the movie, which I thought was a nice touch.

Thanks for listening!

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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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #444: Ringing in the Year of the Dragon

https://archive.org/download/podcast-444/Podcast%20444.mp3

This week’s episode is all about dragons. 2024 is here per the lunar calendar, and it’s the year of the dragon. Interestingly enough, dragons have different mythologies depending on where you live on Earth – in the West, they are often depicted as fierce, aggressive, fire breathing creatures, the evidence of which you can see in many stories that are derived from western European tales. But in the East, dragons are often viewed as wise, gentle, and cultured creatures. So you will often see dragons in those traditions paired with tigers in a kind of yin/yang duality with the tiger being the aggressive one.

You can find examples of that symbolism in Eastern martial arts as well as in Asian media – e.g. the 80s manga/anime Crying Freeman uses the tiger/dragon motif continually in its two main characters (Yo and Emu, later in the series renamed with the Chinese surnames Long (龍) and Hu (虎) – “Dragon” and “Tiger,” respectively. You can see them below (as for what happened to their clothes, well, suffice to say, the characters in this show are capable of superhuman feats due to an unlikely combination of hypnosis + acupuncture + kung fu + nudity (not always in a good way … it’s kind of hard to explain, nor can I say I entirely understand it, but there you go, a prime cut of teenage hormones on steroids).

A little more child friendly – if you’ve ever seen the animated Rankin/Bass movie from 1982, The Flight of Dragons, it actually has both types of dragons (plus a bunch of others) in a fantasy yarn that seems like the sort of thing folks who enjoyed reading Tolkien in college in the 60s got nostalgic for and wanted to create for their kids. And, I thank thee. We taped it off the TV when I was a kid, so I wanted it continuously.

A lot of these ideas ended up congealing together when I added dragons into my own books. I’m reading from a section of The Thirteenth Hour as well during this episode. In the world of the books, dragons aren’t inherently good or bad, they just are, like another animal, though they do brush up against humans and defend their territory as other animals would. While not a central part of the books, they do come up quite a few times, affecting the lives of Logan and Aurora, the protagonists. Dragons are responsible for the deaths of Logan’s parents, a memory that haunts his childhood nightmares. Aurora later takes on a dragon herself, an act of bravado she later comes to regret, as it leaves her with a wound whose scar she carries for the rest of her life.

And at the point of the story that I read, both characters, who grew up together and went their separate ways, have reunited and sing a ballad they knew as children called, ironically, enough, “Dragons’ Eyes.”

Before we wrap up, I wanted to leave you with a preview of an episode coming out in a few months. I recently had a chance to talk with Alexka Chan, archeologist, painter, and author or an upcoming memoir called In the Garden Behind the Moon.

It’s a tale about her coming to grips with the loss of her parents, especially her father, a larger than life figure, and how myth and story helped not only smooth the grieving process but also created a renewed sense of wonder in life itself. Sprinkled through the book are traditional Chinese paintings, something she started doing later in life and continued to help rekindle her sense of equanimity as her father was nearing the end of his days. The paintings are really wonderful, and I asked if she wanted to share any dragons for the new year. She sent over a few to share:

We’ll hear more from Alexka in May, when her book releases, but until then, you can find about her paintings and books on Alexka’s website, Rising Phoenix Arts as well as on social media:

Instagram

Facebook

Tiktok

Thanks for listening!

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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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #443: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as we talk about Mortal Kombat (1995)

https://archive.org/download/podcast-443/Podcast%20443.mp3

This week, my brother and I are watching the 1995 film, Mortal Kombat, based on the video games from the early 90s. I somehow missed this one when I was a kid, despite the fact I started martial arts training around then and was hungry for anything in that realm. However, if you were alive at the time, it was pretty hard to have missed the games and the theme song written done by the Immortals:

The movie really could be distilled down to a series of fights linked together by some kind of confusing story of a tournament that has been going on for ages between this world and some of other one, but really, I doubt anyone watched it for the plot. If you can’t find the film, you can go on youtube and type in “Mortal Kombat 1995 fights” and find just about all of them. Here’s one of the ones we talked about on the episode:

As an aside, the main character’s brother in the film is played by none other than Stephen Ho, a frequent guest on Conan. Again, if you go on youtube, you can find years of these clips. They are all hilarious:

Speaking of cast members, a number of the actors on this film, famous martial artists in their own right, were also in WMAC Masters, a weekend morning show for kids that sort of replicated Mortal Kombat but for a younger audience. You can watch them online now at:

Check out Jeremy‘s work over at Pixel Grotto, CBR.com, and Classic Batman Panels on IG. If you are of the DnD persuasion, his articles on DnD Beyond may be right up your alley, and you can view his entire portfolio here. You can also check out his latest book, where he is a co-author: Pathfinder Adventure Path: No Breath to Cry. Thanks, Jeremy, for coming on the show!

And, as an aside, the hunter action figure from A Shadow in the Moonlight is available on Etsy!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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:

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!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

ynth 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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #442 and Like a Hood Ornament #55: Reading an Excerpt from “The Rocketeer vs. the Third Reich”

https://archive.org/download/podcast-442/Podcast%20442.mp3

This week, I’m reading an excerpt from a Rocketeer choose your own adventure style short story I wrote that I’ve mentioned here before. It’s done, and I’ve been looking for beta readers to give it a once over to make sure all the moving parts of the story (since there were multiple story lines). You can find the story here on the platform Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/360143474-the-rocketeer-vs-the-third-reich-where-you-determine-the-ending

We will be reading from the first few segments of the story in this podcast.

In other news, I was recently guest on the show of fellow author and podcaster, Melinda Kucsera, Fantasy, Lore, and More discussing Empty Hands. You can listen / watch here: https://melindakucsera.com/2024/01/28/fantasy-lore-more-empty-hands/

Speaking of podcasts, you can listen to podcasts like Melinda’s or this one on the platform Fountain and support the show. You also get paid in Bitcoin to listen. Here’s the link to listen to The Thirteenth Hour podcast on Fountain.

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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #441 and Like a Hood Ornament #54: A Preview of The Rocketeer vs. the Third Reich Card Game

https://archive.org/download/podcast-441/Podcast%20441.mp3

This week, I’m talking about a Rocketeer card game that is a supplement to the Rocketeer choose your own adventure story that I recently finished, itself the backstory to the game I’ve been working on in GDevelop5. This is my first attempt to make a card game, and it was quite a bit of fun. While the full thing will be released with the story after some more play testing, I wanted to talk about it here a bit first. The story follows the basic premise of the story, where the Rocketeer must traverse a German castle in WW2 to rescue his friend, Peevy, who has been captured by the Third Reich (who wants to make their own rocket troopers). I used the pixelart that I designed for the game as the card art as well as an analog version of some of the game play mechanics that I had not yet worked out, like how to handle health, fuel, and ammunition.

The game is played as the Rocketeer advances one card at a time closer to Peevy, uncovering cards that might contain scalable parts of the castle, enemy soldiers, and powerups.

Some of the cards are parts if the castle wall, and you have the option of climbing or flying to the next vantage point:

How the game starts:

In this case, the next enemy is a German rocket trooper, and you have 3/4 of a tank left, which you can keep track of on paper or by turning the care to match the amount depicted on each side of the card.

The game ends when you have progressed, card by card, to Peevy.

Here are the rules as they stand now:

-Needed: Two 6-sided dice. A piece of paper and pencil to jot down your inventory may also help.
-Start with the Rocketeer and Peevy cards.
-Shuffle the rest of the deck and randomly draw at least 8 cards and place them face down in a line. More cards = a longer game.
-Put the Rocketeer card at the start and Peevy at the other end.
-The rest of the deck will be your draw pile.
-The object of the game is to make it to Peevy. To do so, you as the Rocketeer will climb or fly over the castle to where Peevy is being kept captive while either avoiding or defeating enemy soldiers.
-You start the game with 12 HEALTH (100%), 4 FUEL (100%), & 10 rounds of AMMUNITION.
-Start playing by uncovering the first card in the line.
-If that card is a wall piece, it means you can either climb or fly to it. Roll to see if you can climb. If you roll < 7, you can’t climb. However, you can fly there if you have enough fuel. If you don’t, take your chances by drawing another card and placing it over the first one.
-Each flight or succesful climb advances you one card closer to Peevy.
-Your rocketpack holds enough fuel for 4 turns (unless you use up all your fuel at once, thus advancing 4 spaces).
-While you may encounter extra fuel when you uncover a card, it is best to use your fuel supply wisely. To keep track of how much fuel you have, you can turn the Rocketeer card so that the fuel tank indicating your amount faces Peevy.
-If you encounter an enemy, you can avoid a confrontation by flying away (assuming you have enough fuel), or you can choose to fight.
-Combat is turn based. First, determine enemy health via a dice roll. When your attacks have exceeded half the enemy’s health, you have defeated the enemy. (E.g. if enemy HEALTH = 8, once your attacks exceed 4 damage, you have defeated the enemy and can advance one card up.) Next, roll for both the Rocketeer (and the enemy. The high roller gets to attack first.
-The Rocketeer can use either hand to hand techniques (punches or kicks) or his pistol (which requires AMMUNITION). You can do one unarmed technique or fire one bullet per turn. Unarmed techniques are not as powerful, but are necessary if you have no bullets or wish to conserve them> . Your attacks are considered hits if you roll a 7 or above. Rolling a 6 or below is considered a miss, meaning it’s now the enemy’s turn. If you decide midway through the battle that discretion is the better part of valor, you use your next turn to fly away if you have enough fuel.
-Each time you are hit, subtract the amount of damage (eg -4) from your health. If you get to zero, the game is over unless you a health pack to heal yourself.
-Speaking of which, some cards are power ups, giving you additional bullets or health. There are also a few that add to your luck. Should you encounter any of these cards on your journey, keep them and then advance to the next card. Use them as you see fit.
-When you reach Peevy, you have won the game.

For younger children:
-If you wish to play with younger children, there are a few options to make the game simpler. Although it is designed for one person to play solo, a parent can also function as the game master to help with keep track of stats and rolls.
-If parents wish to remove most of the combat aspects of the game, remove the ammunition cards from the deck prior to playing. Combat now becomes essentially symbolic and the only statistics to keep track of are fuel and health. When the player encounters an enemy, instead of rolling to see who goes first, the high roller is the winner of the confrontation. If the Rocketeer loses (i.e. gets a low roll), then subtract the number of the roll from the Rocketeer’s total health. At zero, the game is over. The player can still choose to avoid combat entirely by flying away.

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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #440: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as talk about Priest (2011)

https://archive.org/download/podcast-440/Podcast%20440.mp3

This week, my brother and I are watching the 2011 film, Priest – Jeremy had seen the film previously on an airplane (great plane movie, by the way), and it was my first time viewing it. Very fun little movie that is a good, stylish follow up to our last outing (Robin Hood 2018). Here’s the trailer (which basically encapsulates the film in 2 minutes):

Check out Jeremy‘s work over at Pixel Grotto, CBR.com, and Classic Batman Panels on IG. If you are of the DnD persuasion, his articles on DnD Beyond may be right up your alley, and you can view his entire portfolio here. You can also check out his latest book, where he is a co-author: Pathfinder Adventure Path: No Breath to Cry. Thanks, Jeremy, for coming on the show!

And, as an aside, the hunter action figure (also a cloaked figure, like the Priests in this film) from A Shadow in the Moonlight is available on Etsy!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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:

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!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

ynth 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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #439: Making Figures from Fodder

https://archive.org/download/podcast-439/Podcast%20439.mp3

This week’s episode is all about making something out of what some might see as nothing. Whenever you make resin toys, there are always some left overs or parts that don’t quite fill correctly. Air bubbles get in the way, parts don’t fill completely, or pieces break. But – that does not mean they’re useless. I generally put these pieces aside with the idea that someday, I’ll be able to fix them. This episode a number of such projects.

Take these resin Aurora minis, for example. They all had issues in casting, mostly due to the wrong resin being used, resulting in highly detailed areas, like the face, not fully forming. So I recast that area but putting some resin in the mold and plopping the figure on top. I will later paint these so you shouldn’t be able to tell.

This Rocketeer mini actually does not move, though the pieces he came from were cast with the intention that they would. So I fixed what I could and glued it all together. With a bit more finishing to remove the rough spots and maybe another coat of paint, it should make a fine ornament.

I never thought I’d get more casts out of the Beverly Switzler mold. But I was able to eck out a few more. They require a lot of finishing but I was surprised at how well the mold still held up despite it being pretty broken. This piece needs a bit more finishing, but I suspect after a coat of paint, it should also make a nice ornament.

These Logan and Aurora minis were all experiments in using various kinds of resin that didn’t work very well. I decided to paint them all in full color. The Logans are done. The Auroras just need a bit more work. They may make nice ornaments as well.

Speaking of Logan, this piece was modified from a 3D printed mini from Hero Forge. I sculpted on hair, a hood/scarf, the tunic, and the pants.

These figures were cobbled together from broken pieces from the making of the 5 POA Thirteenth Hour resin figures. I decided to thread a dowel in between the limbs to connect them together. There is a video showing this on Patreon which is open to everyone:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/companion-video-96079997

More detail on what the inside looks like. Not as complex as what I had done before but the outward effect is similar.

In the final finishing, I just need to cover up these joint pegs.

These should also make nice ornaments after some more finishing.

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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #438: Welcome to 2024! Goals, Incremental Changes, Fairytales of New York, and More.

https://archive.org/download/podcast-438/Podcast%20438.mp3

This week’s episode, the first of 2024, released on New Year’s Day, is to not only ring in the New Year but also to talk about goals and the process of making and attaining them. Are you a New Year’s resolution person? As mentioned in the podcast, I do enjoy the process but don’t wait until New Year’s to do it. However, I really like the fact that for at least a few weeks out of the year, society is collectively involved in some kind of positive betterment of themselves and their world. I know some people are more cynical about it, but hey, something is better than nothing.

I think that is why the song, “Fairytale of New York” is my favorite Christmas song. It’s not exactly a happy song … but then the winter holidays are not always happy times for everyone. But it ends on a more hopeful note, with hopes and dreams for a better year to come. I love that message. It’s one of the core parts of The Thirteenth Hour, and it’s probably why I like the films that inspired it, like The Neverending Story, The Last Starfighter, and The Rocketeer, because they’re basically self contained fairy tales with a fundamental belief that tomorrow can be better than today. I wish the same for you this year!

Thanks for listening, and best wishes in 2024.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #437: Welcome Back Adam Crohn for the Christmas 2023 Episode on Jingle All The Way (1996)!

https://archive.org/download/podcast-437/Podcast%20437.mp3

In this week’s episode, my buddy and friend of the show, Adam Crohn returns back to the show for the Christmas episode as we talk about the 1996 movie, with Sinbad and Arnold Schwarzeneggar. It was my first time watching it, and it was a hoot. In the spirit of the season and the film, I asked Adam if he could send in any old photos he had from his childhood Christmases:

If you look closely, you’ll see some 80s gems in the pics! Bonus points if you can spot the LJN Dungeons and Dragons figures.

He also sent along some Turboman photos and his list of Xmas movies in case you needed any suggestions. And for those Rocketeer fans out there, if you look at Turboman’s rocketpack, the central fan on the pack looks very much like the Cirrus X-3 design from the 1991 Rocketeer movie.

We also talk some about malls we grew up with. I was able to find a few pictures of the mall in northern NJ that I remember going to – it had a KB Toys (my favorite part) but also this really cool indoor waterfall/staircarse/artificial cliff, just like something out of a Frank Lloyd Wright structure. I was only able to find one picture below (from here) since I think it was torn down during a renovation, but structures like this, plus a number of other little “island” with indoor trees made you feel like you were walking through an indoor forest, especially at night.

Thanks, Adam for coming on the show. Check out his illustrations over at ACDrawstuff as well as his main page at ACToythanks.

Thanks for listening, and happy holidays!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #436: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as talk about Robin Hood (2018)

https://archive.org/download/podcast-436/Podcast%20436.mp3

This week, my brother and I are watching the 2018 rendition of Robin Hood, which is like a modern take on the Robin Hood legend. The biggest reason I wanted to see it was the fact that archer Lars Anderson was a consultant on the film and taught the actors to shoot in his own manner using some variations on historical methods that could have (possibly) been used at the time. Check out the clip below of their training:

And if you are on the Patreon, check it out for an accompanying video where I discuss some of the shooting styles discussed in the episode demonstrated in real time.

Check out Jeremy‘s work over at Pixel Grotto, CBR.com, and Classic Batman Panels on IG. If you are of the DnD persuasion, his articles on DnD Beyond may be right up your alley, and you can view his entire portfolio here. Thanks, Jeremy, for coming on the show!

And, as an aside, the hunter action figure (also an archer) from A Shadow in the Moonlight is available on Etsy!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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:

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!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

ynth 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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #435: Another Randomly Picked Thirteenth Hour Reading

https://archive.org/download/podcast-435/Podcast%20435.mp3

This week’s episode is a randomly selected section of The Thirteenth Hour. Eyes closed, I flipped through the book and landed on this section of Chapter 23. This section of the book has a few 80s movie references (Back to the Future, The Last Starfighter) and was probably influenced by the tone of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Let’s go!

Deep within the reaches of the universe, beyond all known reality, in the Land of Dreams, one could hear voices chattering noisily in this usually tranquil dimension.

“Dreamweaver, I have discovered a disturbance in the cosmos.”

“Yes, what is it?” inquired the Dreamweaver to his assistant.

“A man was about to lose his life, and it wasn’t destined to be yet.”

“Hmm. This is really getting to be a regular thing these days. Completely unacceptable.”

“I’m sorry, Dreamweaver. We are working full time to repair these disturbances.”

“No, no, I know you are. It’s just that … well, it looks damned sloppy on our part.”

“I understand, sir. We think the problems started 5,293.6 years ago when there was some … well, confusion about the use of XP–601.4 forms instead of XP–601.5.”

“Really! Are you serious? I don’t even know what the hell those things are!”

“But Dreamweaver, the XP–601.4 is a pre–birth application. Very different from XP–601.5, which is … well, pre–death.”

“What? That doesn’t make any sense. Who designed this portion of the Dreamscape, anyway?”

“Well, you did, sir.”

“What! I seriously don’t believe I would have been so asinine to come up with such an error–prone, red–tape, cockamamie, banana–republic–government–type–of–system as …”

The manual was placed in front of him.

“Hmmm. Yes, well, I see I did. But I think this portion was ghost-written. Anyway, 5,293.6 years ago is no time at all; this issue has been going on much longer than that. This can’t be the only reason for this issue.”

“Of course, Dreamweaver. We are continuing to investigate.”

“Good man. So, what are we going to do about this poor chap? What did you say this man’s name was?”

“The one who was here before – the one I believe you called Logan.”

“Great Scott! The one who discovered one of the secrets to eternal life? I knew he’d be in trouble sooner or later. I knew it! He had a knack for tempting the fates. I should have known his future wouldn’t go smoothly. Oh, this is a damned embarrassment. What the hell happened?”

“He was dying … got himself a mortal wound. I say, these humans and their love business. Makes one so … impulsive. Dove in front of that magic bolt aimed at the female; that wasn’t supposed to happen, either. This is all so irregular.”

“Yes, quite.”

“I didn’t know what to do, so right before he was to die, I transformed his body into a dream and whisked him away from the Earth. I brought him here.”

“All right, good work!”

“Thank you, sir. Just doing my job. Oh … and sir, there was this … small creature with him. The mole wasn’t supposed to perish, either, but it was to be killed in the blast.”

The Dreamweaver winced.

“But, as with Logan, I transformed the mole into a dream and brought it here.”

“Very good. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

The Dreamweaver sensed Logan’s presence. He turned to face the transparent form. There was a tiny shimmer next to Logan’s presence.

“Oh, Logan, this wasn’t supposed to happen at all. Now, I can see you fine, but please tell me, can you hear me?”

There was a ripple through the molecular fabric of the transparent form that no one but the Dreamweaver could see.

“All right then. Very good.”

The Dreamweaver, using a series of squeaks and grunts, articulated something that the mole in dream form must have understood, because it also shimmered.

“Now, Logan, you are now a dream. And so is your little pet. I must say, Logan, your track record with small woodland creatures as pets is not what I’d call the best. But, I must say, this time, it wasn’t your fault. Because, believe me, this was not supposed to happen! According to what we have foreseen, you are destined to have a long and prosperous life! Err, that’s what it says in your records, anyway. Of course, destinies can change somewhat, but not this much! This is all highly irregular! Some kind of cosmic screw–up, I’m afraid. It does happen from time to time, no need to worry, but as to why … well, we still haven’t figured it out. There are, err, bugs in the system that crop up from time to time. Might be a problem with the XP–601 form set. Most inconvenient. Does that make any sense? Oh, bother, of course it doesn’t. I don’t even understand it. Can you forgive me?”

There was another ripple in the transparent form. The Dreamweaver then translated to the tiny shimmering form next to Logan, then continued.

“Right, well, see, the strange thing is that you weren’t supposed to die when you fought Klax. You were destined to kill him, and that part of your destiny you did fulfill, but he was never supposed to kill you! In fact, you weren’t supposed to get injured at all! But luckily, one of my assistants caught the error and brought you here in time. So technically, you’re not dead, Logan. You’re still alive. We just had to transform you into a dream to get you here. That process healed whatever wounds you might have had. Next, we must return you to Earth where you can finish your life there. I’m terribly sorry about all this. I don’t know what to say; it’s all so highly irregular! It wasn’t supposed to be this way at all! You forgive me?” he asked again.

Another ripple.

“Sir, about the one called Aurora …” started another of the invisible assistants.

“Good Creator, there isn’t something wrong with her destiny now, is there? I’m starting to feel like the village idiot here. This is all damned embarrassing.”

“No, no, sir. It’s just that we cast a healing spell over her. She’s asleep now. This way, she’ll awake tomorrow morning, healed of her wounds, when Logan returns.”

“Thank the Creator. Very good.”

“Oh, and sir? Never mind about the XP–601 forms. I mean, that’s still a problem, but not the one in question now. I’m happy to say that the others and I have located the error in Logan’s destiny! It apparently got mixed up with that of a life form from the sixth dimension. Just a case of crossed wires, you could say. There was a leak in the molecular fabric between the sixth dimension and his. Pretty simple problem, actually, although routine maintenance would have caught the problem long ago, and that would have prevented all of this. We’re working right now to patch the molecular fabric between Logan’s dimension and the sixth.”

“Excellent!” Turning to the transparent form once again, the Dreamweaver continued to speak.

“I don’t know what I would do without good help. So, you see, Logan? Apparently, thanks to the diligence of my crew here, there’s nothing to worry about. Tomorrow you’ll go back to Earth in your human form. By then, the tear between the dimensions should be fixed. You must stay a dream until then, since nothing can happen to you in this form. Your destiny is officially on hold until you return to Earth in your human form. But in the meantime, feel free to look around and eat at one of our fine restaurants. Oh, and I’ll tell you what! At the stroke of the thirteenth hour, why don’t you go down to Earth with the other dreams? Since Aurora is asleep, why don’t you go into her mind? Just to let her know that you’re okay. Take your little friend here. Would you like that?”

The transparent form rippled.

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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #434: Welcome back Adam Crohn to Talk Music!

https://archive.org/download/podcast-434/Podcast%20434.mp3

In this week’s episode, my buddy and friend of the show, Adam Crohn returns back to the show to talk about something we have never really gotten a chance to fully delve into – his music. Adam is mostly known as a toy designer, podcaster, and visual artist, but music is his first love. He has a solo LP out on Soundcloud that is very well done, which we can a chance to more fully delve into. I’m really impressed he did all the instrumentals and vocals himself, then mixed it all. I know how much work that is! Give it a listen here:

Meridian76 – Too Cold to Snow

Check out the stickers on a photo of Adam’s acoustic he sent. Recognize any?

Thanks, Adam for coming on the show. Check out his illustrations over at ACDrawstuff as well as his main page at ACToythanks.

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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #433: Working on Custom Lego Minifigures from Spacecamp (1986)

https://archive.org/download/podcast-433/Podcast%20433.mp3

In this week’s episode, I thought I’d give a sneak peak of a project I’ve been working on behind the scenes for the past few months – Lego minifigures of the six main characters from the 1986 film, Spacecamp, one of my favorite films as a child. I’ve made three sets so far for this first run, and like its predecessors, definitely required the use of magnifying glasses for the tiny details. Here, though, I was able to do the whole process of designing the flight suit (the detailed part) in Photoshop. The hardest part was trying to more or less match the color of the blue plastic (azure, per Lego) to the shade of blue coming out of the printer.

The color of blue I found to make the legs, arms, and torso of the minifigures. The actual color is less bright than shown on screen, meaning it look a lot of trial and error to find a shade that more of less matched …

… since the part that needed more intricate customization, the torsos with details of the flight suits, needed to be designed separately, then printed out.

Today, I was working on the cases. As with other similar projects I’ve done like this, the figures get housed in little foam beds that fit inside a plastic carrying / display case.

And like similar projects, this one will be sold to raise funds for the US Space and Rocket Foundation so kids can more easily attend Spacecamp (the cost has gone up quite a bit in the 30 years since I was there). More coming soon as this project get wrapped up!

Until then, thanks for listening!

Update: the figures are now all done are up for sale on Etsy.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #432: Working on Some Thirteenth Hour Pixelart

https://archive.org/download/podcast-432/Podcast%20432.mp3

In this week’s episode, I muse on the genre of the The Thirteenth Hour and my experiences on the app TikTok over the years. As for the latter, I have heard that TikTok is a good place to connect authors and readers, hence perhaps a good place to build a community around your work. However, I have not really used it for that so have decided to give it a go in a more focused way. One thing I have noticed is there are lots of little subcommunities on the app, generally requiring you to narrow down your focus of what you write and who your demographic is.

The latter is no longer a mystery (people who grew up and / or nostalgic for the 80s), but I have always struggled with genre. A part of me has often secretly resented needing to categorize things in this way (“Why does it matter?” or “Why are people so rigid?” or “Why can’t they just let themselves be told a story?” etc … I have mostly gotten over these meaningless rhetorical questions and have toned down the resentment).

The fact of the matter is, I have never really known how to categorize the book, nor have I been very successful in finding other books that are similar enough to it in tone to say (confidently), “if you like this, you’ll like The Thirteenth Hour.” Not for lack of trying … it’s just the comparisons were never really on the mark. So I gave up that approach.

However, in deciding to give TikTok another go, I have to do that at least a little bit. Though I can say it’s in the fantasy genre, perhaps more specifically, high fantasy or coming of age fantasy, it always was a coming of age fantasy meant for people no longer coming of age who could never could get into fantasy. After all, that’s why I wrote the book – it’s something I wanted to read but never found. So I think I should finally describe it as such. I have no idea if there are readers out there who want to like fantasy books but have never been successful in actually getting into them, but there comes a time in life when you can’t pretend to be something you are not any longer. Or perhaps put more accurately, you’re fine with being who you really are. You stop trying to cater. You stop caring. You are what you are, and you let the ones who like you find you and stop caring about the ones who don’t. Such is true of the life of a book as well.

To that end, I decided to do something different in this repeat foray into TikTok. I’m going to let Logan (as an old man) tell his story in little random bits. It’s similar to what most people do on the platform (look into the forward facing camera and talk) but different enough that it’s interesting to me at least (since I will be making the videos) with a chance to showcase some music and bits of the story. Since some of my stories feature pixelart, I decided to make old man Logan sitting by the fire in pixels. The animations are not done yet, but here is what I have so far:

I’ll post more when they are done. Until then, 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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #431 and Like a Hood Ornament #53: Working on a German Rocket Trooper Action Figure Pt 2

https://archive.org/download/podcast-431/Podcast%20431.mp3

This week, I’m continuing what I started last week, adding to the German rocket trooper action figure. I’m working on the head and a bit on the rocket pack today – both small sculpting projects. I’m add a small amount of Aves Apoxie Sculpt to the heads of the figures I have to make a visor/mask combo as shown in the black and white cartoon of the film. I have some black German WW2 helmets from the site Marauders Gun Runners that fortunately fits perfectly.

I also started work on sculpting the rocketpack.

It doesn’t look like much yet, since I just wanted to get the basic shape down, so the next step is filing and Dremeling away to get the streamlined shape as shown in the film, then making a mold to cast it out of resin.

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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #430 and Like a Hood Ornament #52: Starting Work on a German Rocket Trooper Action Figure

https://archive.org/download/podcast-430/Podcast%20430.mp3

As I’ve talked about here before, I’ve been working on a GI Joe Style action figure wave of the Rocketeer. It’s been great fun coming up with ways to accessorize the figure with a removable helmet, pack, pistol, and so forth. In the episode, I discuss another idea to add more action (to the action figure) – by adding a removable zip line harness so it can look like it’s flying.

I cut out and bent a number 1 (PET) plastic container to make a little harness that fit under the rocketpack, which is held in place a bit with friction but almost exclusively with a magnet attached to the rear torso screw.

So, with all that, I thought that the Rocketeer needs to have a German counterpart! In the 1991 film, there is a little black and white animated sequence (supposedly smuggled out of Germany at great personal cost). The German Rocket trooper is also a flying enemy in the Rocketeer pixelart game I’ve been working on as well as the Choose Your Own Adventure style story that forms the backstory. Some concept designs I was able to find and some stills from the movie:

The German rocket trooper in pixelart form for the game.

Here, I am soaking the arms of the future German rocket trooper in hot water to soften them for disassembly.

Then, I am soaking the disassembled pieces in alcohol to remove any residues that may get in the way of painting later.

This is what one of the joints looks like. The little movable peg is what gets sanded down so it can be painted without rubbing off its paint on the other parts of the arm. That is the tedious part. Shoulders are especially hard since they are a ball joint.

Thankfully, the legs don’t require any work! They can basically be used as is.

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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

Use of mental visualization and small, daily habits to rehab a pulled hamstring in a little over a month.

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #421 and Like a Hood Ornament #50: Working on a Cover Of The Rocketeer vs. The Third Reich Part 1

https://archive.org/download/podcast-421/Podcast%20421.mp3

This week on the show, I am working on the cover to the Rocketeer Choose Your Own Adventure story, which will also be the coverart for the pixelart game with the same story line and the card art from the GI Joe style action figures I just finished.

@13thhr New wave of #Rocketeer #customactionfigures are done! There is a choose your own adventure style story that goes with them – 1st draft done!

♬ The Rocketeer – HeimburgerMusic

I took a number of pictures of a figure of the Rocketeer to see what pose might be the most dynamic one to use for the cover. Which one do you like best?

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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

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Discussing making 3D versions of pixelart animation sprites with Perler beads.

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Part 2/2 of a homebrew ttrpg dungeon crawl set in the world of The Thirteenth Hour featuring the Wayfarer, a half elf from a future sequel.

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Part 1/2 of a homebrew ttrpg dungeon crawl set in the world of The Thirteenth Hour featuring the Wayfarer, a half elf from a future sequel.

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Reflections on Labyrinth, The Princess Bride, writing, and the hero's journey,

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Discussing making 3D versions of pixelart animation sprites with Perler beads.

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Action figures, DnD, robot news + reflections on the Super Mario Bros movie.

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Using a combination of moldmaking and resin casting to custom fit action figures accessories.

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My brother and I watch the 1987 B-grade fantasy film, Deathstalker 2.

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Thoughts on mentorship and a tribute to a great on screen mentor, Alan Arkin (Peevy from The Rocketeer).

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Updates on making articulated action figures and GI Joe figure nostalgia.

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Making the cardart for the upcoming figure of the Hunter from The Thirteenth Hour prequel, A Shadow in the Moonlight.

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My brother and I watch the 1984 B-grade fantasy pot boiler, The Warrior and the Sorceress. Man, oh man!

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Creating the coverart for the next Thirteenth Hour soundtrack LP.

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #407: Reflections of the St. Jude’s Pushup Challenge and Thirteenth Hour Reading

https://archive.org/download/podcast-407/Podcast%20407.mp3

Today’s episode is about a push-up challenge I have been doing this month. At the start of May, I committed to doing 3000 push-ups for St. Jude’s Hospital, which offers free treatment for children and young adults for conditions once considered terminal / hopeless (hence, St. Jude – apparently patron saint of hopeless causes)! Even though that is no longer the case for most of these conditions, for some people without health insurance coverage or the means to access treatment, they might as well be, which is why organizations like St. Jude’s are so helpful. They do, however, depend on grants and donations to stay afloat, so if you are some inclined, please consider contributing to the cause here! https://www.facebook.com/donate/1287747998791772/?fundraiser_source=external_url

I’m also matching all purchases made of the handmade resin 3.75” Rocketeer action figures on my Etsy store (all of which normally goes to the Hairy Cell Leukemia Foundation in memory of Rocketeer creator Dave Stevens) with a matching donation to St. Jude’s. Each figure comes with its own protective case and access to an exclusive interview with Billy Campbell, the Rocketeer from the 1991 film. https://etsy.me/3ZXRPq

So, two ways to support a good cause!

As for push-ups … well, to me, they have always been the sort of exercise that pretty much anyone with arms could do. They don’t require any equipment, they take very little time, and are a pretty good overall upper body / core exercise that uses a lot of large muscle groups at once. I’ve been doing them for years in various capacities so included a few references to them when writing The Thirteenth Hour, e.g.:

“Now everybody drop for pushups! Fifty! Count’em, loud!”

When my arms began to tremble at thirty, the beefy officer immediately noticed and threw me a menacing glance. At forty five, just as my arms were about to give out, I heard the officer mutter something about “these damned kids” while he grabbed the back of my collar and rammed my chest down into the mud.

“Down!”

With another yank, he yelled, “Up! I don’t hear you counting, dammit!”

As I struggled to spit out mud, he bellowed, “Forty–six!”

“Down!” Another faceplant into the mud.

“Up! I can’t hear you!”

“Guuggh. Forty–seven?”

And all the way to fifty. Even though he was helping me, those last three were the hardest three pushups of my entire life. As I lay there, trying to catch my breath without swallowing undue amounts of mud, I looked up to see a man next to me. He towered so far over me that I couldn’t quite see his head completely. I felt even smaller than I had when I’d left Aurora in the orphanage.

He said, “Nice way to start off. Thanks for embarrassing us. Nobody, I mean nobody, embarrasses me. Or shames where I come from,” he said, hacking on the ground and kicking dirt into my face. He was an Aquarian, and that was the Aquarian way of saying you wanted to fight. Classy, huh?

I didn’t have a whole lot of fight in me after those pushups. Never mind that it wasn’t all that fair to begin with, him being so much bigger. It was all I could do but roll over and pant up at the sky…

Thanks for listening!

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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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #406: Using AI Art as Inspiration for the Once Upon a Dream LP Cover

https://archive.org/download/podcast-406/Podcast%20406.mp3

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:

synthwave, TRON style grid, 80s, ballad, purple mountains, sandy beach with tan and green rocky cliffs, sunset sky with pink, purple, and blue clouds, rainbow, unicorns, dragons, fairies, medieval castle, love songAnd here is what was generated:When I added the kyword, 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.

Also, this month, I committed to doing 3000 push-ups for St. Jude’s Hospital, which offers free treatment for children and young adults for conditions once considered terminal / hopeless (hence, St. Jude – apparently patron saint of hopeless causes)! Please consider contributing to the cause here! https://www.facebook.com/donate/1287747998791772/?fundraiser_source=external_url

I’m also matching all purchases made of the handmade resin 3.75” Rocketeer action figures on my Etsy store (all of which normally goes to the Hairy Cell Leukemia Foundation in memory of Rocketeer creator Dave Stevens) with a matching donation to St. Jude’s. Each figure comes with its own protective case and access to an exclusive interview with Billy Campbell, the Rocketeer from the 1991 film. https://etsy.me/3ZXRPq

So, two ways to support a good cause!

Thanks for listening!

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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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #405: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as We Talk About Hard Target (1993)

https://archive.org/download/podcast-405/Podcast%20405.mp3

This week, my brother and I are watching Hard Tagret, a 1993 martial arts action thriller directed by John Woo (his first US film) with an ensemble cast of folks like Jean Claude Van Damme, Yancy Butler, Arnold Vosloo, Lance Henriksen, Wilfred Brimley, and Kasi Lemmons. It is John Woo’s next film after 1992’s Hard Boiled, which we covered in episode 397 and while still part of the “heroic bloodshed” genre of films (like its predecessor and the 1986 Brandon Lee film, Legacy of Rage, that I discussed in episode 287), because it’s also a JCVD film and one made in the US, it is phenotypically an animal of a different expression while still retaining many of the things Woo is know for – slow motion, motorcycles, doves, and stylish gunplay. You can see many of those things in effect in the trailer:

One thing that is a bit unique about this film is that slow-mo is already a staple of JCVD movies! Check out this jump spin kick compilation showcasing one of JCVD’s trademark kicks that capitalize on his flexibility and previous ballet training. You can argue that such techniques have zero place in combat, expose all the important targets, are too slow, take too much energy, take too much practice to be effective, etc – and you would be right … but in terms of inspiring countless people to want to do something similar and thus start training in martial arts, I can’t think of much better examples

If you were alive in the 80s and 90s, you may remember Jean Claude Van Damme’s uncle in the film, played by Wilford Brimley, who you may remember from his Quaker oatmeal commercials:

Check out Jeremy‘s work over at Pixel Grotto, CBR.com, and Classic Batman Panels on IG. If you are of the DnD persuasion, his articles on DnD Beyond may be right up your alley, and you can view his entire portfolio here. Thanks, Jeremy, for coming on the show!

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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:

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!

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ynth 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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #404: Musical Interlude – Finishing “Riding a Rainbow” Part 2

https://archive.org/download/podcast-404/Podcast%20404.mp3

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:

Listen to the track in full here! https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/track/riding-a-rainbow

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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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #403 and Like a Hood Ornament #49: Welcome Capes on the Couch – What if Cliff Secord Went to Therapy?

https://archive.org/download/podcast-403/Podcast%20403.mp3

This week, I am happy to welcome hosts of the Capes on the Couch podcast to the show for the Like a Hood Ornament segment where we discuss the Rocketeer.

Anthony and Doc Issues do a show where, each episode, they look at a different comic book character and what might happen if that character decided to get mental health treatment. Doc Issues, a psychiatrist in his day job, offers treatment advice in-universe after hearing the story. Doc’s nickname is aptly picked since comic book heroes and villains often do have a lot of issues, and one might wonder if they go some of those issues sorted out, there probably wouldn’t be much story.

In any event, Doc’s next patient is Dave Stevens‘ Cliff Secord, who may or may not be accompanied by his girlfriend, Betty. Will Doc get a twofer? Find out this week as the comic book version of the Rocketeer makes a stab at being less hotheaded!

We also touch on the Dave Stevens documentary Dave Stevens: Drawn to Perfection which gives some great insights into not only the creative process and the life of an amazing artists but some of the things we touched on about Cliff’s background and how it shaped his personality.

Check out Capes on the Couch on your favorite podcasting platform as well as on Twitter, Instagram, as well as Patreon for more! Thanks for coming on the show, guys!

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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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #402: Musical Interlude – Making “Riding a Rainbow” Part 1

https://archive.org/download/podcast-402/Podcast%20402.mp3

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.

Just at that second, I tried to scream as Lightning shot upward suddenly, but my voice was still somewhat hoarse. All that came out was some kind of croaking sound. Then she hung a hard right, shot into a loop with a couple of twists thrown in, and straightened out high above the clouds. My stomach, however, took a little longer.

“Guh … give me a minute to recover,” I panted.

“Okay. It’s pretty much a straight trip from here, so we’ll take it easy so you can get used to doing turns and things like that. Of course, you can always count on me to fly, but I thought you’d like to give it a shot yourself.”

By shifting my weight left and right, I was able to make turns. By leaning forwards or backwards, I could either climb or dive. I even tried a tentative loop with all the grace of a one–legged stork.

“Hey, not bad!” flashed the message board. “See, it’s not so hard!”

“I guess …” I said.

“Logan, I know what you need! A little attitude! How about some music? ‘Cause there isn’t much to see up here. Just clouds, and when you’ve seen one, you’ve pretty much seen them all. And there’s nothing like music to boost your confidence!”

“Music?” I asked, a little surprised.

“Yes. One of my unsung talents.”

“Hey, Lightning, that was a joke! Well, kind of, anyway. I think that’s called a pun.”

“Really? Well, see, things are looking up already!”

I heard a sound suddenly. Or sounds, rather, but they were like nothing I had ever heard before. The music sounded slow, at first, then it picked up pace, until the speed of the music matched the speed of our flying. It was strangely futuristic, but at the same time, it seemed like I had always known the melody.

There were words sung, too, but in a language that I neither understood nor wanted to understand; somehow, the mystery of the words added to the mystique of the music. In a way, this is in vain, as my description here will do no justice to the melody, because there are some things that are perhaps impossible to describe in words and are better left unspoken.

I felt, at that moment, an incredible rush of energy and indescribable exhilaration. I felt ready to take on the world – or, at least, a dragon or two. All my fears of flying vanished like the mist of the rainbow behind us. The feeling of gliding through the air with the wind rushing through my hair, sleeves and pant legs flapping back and forth, and the music rushing up to meet my ears was indescribable. But it is perhaps best compared to that day, long ago, when, as I stood at the top of the hill near the castle, looking out at the landscape around – I let the wind take my hand and lead me to dance.

The music I envisioned at the time was When in Rome’s “The Promise:”

So I’ve always intended to make an upbeat, fast paced synthpop song for this segment of the book. I decided to make this one with a steady beat at 120 bpm with the chords of The Thirteenth Hour theme in the key of C – more of less the same chords used in “The Promise” and “Forever Young” by Alphaville (another one of my favorites from that era and still, now). I’m still working out the lead, but you can listen to what I came up with so far on this episode. Hopefully, when it’s done, it will make good background music for the DnD Patreon episodes we’ve been doing, perhaps for a battle or a chase or another time upbeat music is required.

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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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #401: Musical Interlude – Finishing “Battle Theme” Part 2

https://archive.org/download/podcast-401/Podcast%20401.mp3

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):

In 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.

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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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #400: Episode 400 Retrospective and Celebration!

https://archive.org/download/podcast-400/Podcast%20400.mp3

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
- Ep 32 – first appearance
- Ep 87 – return
- Mead and Mutton Pie
- How to Write a Book in 30 Days
- Check out DungeonBrew on Youtube for TTRPG resources
Antonio Sacchetti – video game developer
- Ep 123 – first appearance
- Ep 251 – a conversation with Jeremy Blum and Massimiliano ‘Haematinon’ Nigro part 1
- Ep 252 – a conversation with Jeremy Blum and Massimiliano ‘Haematinon’ Nigropart 2
- Check out the game, Nirvana Pilot Yume, on Steam
Tammy Infusino – musician and vocalist on the 2019 Rocketeer cartoon soundtrack
- Ep 302 – first appearance
- Listen to Tammy’s music on Spotify
- Book recommendation – The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron
Esther Gonzalez-Murray – production coordination on the 2019 Rocketeer cartoon
- Ep 294 – on The Rocketeer cartoon episode 3
- Ep 311 – on The Rocketeer cartoon episode 15
Dan Salgarolo – writer’s assistant on the 2019 Rocketeer cartoon
- Ep 295 – on The Rocketeer cartoon episode 4
Shawn and Colin from the podcast, I Used to Like This One
- Ep 275 – discussing Short Circuit 2
- Instagram
- Support the show on Patreon
EzDean Fassassi – Tibetan medicine practitioner and author
- Ep 214 – first appearance
- Website
Raphael Xavier – bboy and Princeton University dance professor
- Ep 255 – first appearance
- Agency website
- Benefit Performance (1/30/20, about 33 min into the clip)
- Ignite Philly talk on breaking
- Breaking at 40
Andrew Adams – drummer, martial artist, and podcaster representing the martial arts company, Whistlekick
- If you are at all involved in martial arts, check out the morning weekday show, First Cup, for regular inspiration!
Joseph Esch – model maker and vintage toy collector
- Ep 272 – The Halloween episode + The Lost Boys 1
- Ep 273 – The Halloween episode + The Lost Boys 2
- Ep 340 – First Blood and Survival Knives with Adam Crohn 1
- Ep 341 – First Blood and Survival Knives with Adam Crohn 1
- Ep 351 – Masters of the Universe with Adam Crohn
- Ep 360 – Flash Gordon with Adam Crohn and Obi
Adam Crohn – podcaster, 80s enthusiast, custom action figure and toy designer
- Youtube channel
- Patreon
- I Have Spoken – a Star Wars podcast
- Death by Podcast – a retro + horror films podcast
- Blog
- Ep 144 – first appearance pt 1
- Ep 145 – first appearance pt 2
- Ep 159 – Conan the Barbarian
- Ep 160 – Terminator (1984)
- Ep 161 – Commando
- Ep 162 – Predator
- Ep 220 – An in-person conversation with Adam in Chicago
- Ep 235 – Talking Toys pt 1
- Ep 236 – Terminator 2, 3, 6
- Ep 237 – Terminator 4 & 5
- Ep 239 – Talking Toys pt 2
- Ep 240 – Talking Toys pt 3
- Ep 253 – Pretty in Pink
- Ep 254 – Weird Science
- Ep 272 – The Halloween episode + The Lost Boys 1
- Ep 273 – The Halloween episode + The Lost Boys 2
- Ep 300 – Update
- Ep 340 – First Blood and Survival Knives with Joe Esch 1
- Ep 341 – First Blood and Survival Knives with Joe Esch 1
- Ep 351 – Masters of the Universe with Joe Esch
- Ep 360 – Flash Gordon with Joe Esch and Obi
Brian Fies – author and comic book illustrator
- Check out his graphic novels
- Ep 270 – first appearance
Jeff Finley – musician and film producer behind the Brentumentary
- Etsy store
- Amazon author page
- Spotify (as Starbound Renegade)
Chad Derdowski – author and illustrator
- Ep 107 – first appearance pt 1
- Ep 108 – first appearance pt 2
- Ep 119 with Jeremy Blum on Fire and Ice
- Books
Jeremy Blum – writer, TTRPG DM, and most importantly, my brother
- Work on CBR.com and DnD Beyond
- Website
- Ep 30 – first appearance (and my first guest ever – 3/7/16!)
- Ep 74 – 80s movies pt 1
- Ep 75 – 80s movies pt 2
- Ep 119 with Chad Derdowski on Fire and Ice
- Ep 123 – with Antonio Sacchetti on Nirvana Pilot Yume
- Ep 124 – The Robocop show with Brent Simon
- Ep 125 – The Wayfarer’s Escape pt 1 (my first introduction to DnD)
- Ep 126 – The Wayfarer’s Escape pt 2 (my first introduction to DnD)
- Ep 127 – The Wayfarer’s Escape pt 3 (my first introduction to DnD)
- Ep 179 – childhood video games pt 1
- Ep 180 – childhood video games pt 2
- Ep 200 – The Blade Runner show
- Ep 248 – DnD and Rocketeer character alignments
- Ep 251 – Dev9k returns to the show part 1
- Ep 252 – Dev9k returns to the show part 2
- Ep 298 – a conversation with Paul Korman and Ric Highbury on The Phantom Fellows PC game (in development)
- Ep 300 – update
- Ep 328 – Red Sonja
- Ep 337 – The Black Cauldron
- Ep 344 – Legend pt 1
- Ep 345 – Legend pt 2
- Ep 348 – Highlander pt 1
- Ep 349 – Highlander pt 2
- Ep 353 – Mazes and Monsters
- Ep 358 – The Heroic Trio
- Ep 362 – Lionheart
- Ep 375 – Ladyhawke
- Ep 376 – Young Sherlock Holmes
- Ep 385 – Gremlins
- Ep 391 – Ofelas (Pathfinder)
- Ep 397 – Hard Boiled

One 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!

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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:

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!
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 writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

The Artist's Way: 25th Anniversary Edition

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #399: Musical Interlude – Creating “Battle Theme”

https://archive.org/download/podcast-399/Podcast%20399.mp3

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!

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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:

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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #398: Musical Interlude – Creating “Aurora’s Theme”

https://archive.org/download/podcast-398/Podcast%20398.mp3

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.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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:

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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #397: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as We Talk About Hard Boiled (1992)

https://archive.org/download/podcast-397_202303/Podcast%20397.mp3

This week, my brother and I are watching Hard Boiled (辣手神探), a 1992 Hong Kong action thriller directed by John Woo with Chow Yun-fat, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, and Anthony Wong. It is one of the most famous examples of the “heroic bloodshed” genre of films (the 1986 Brandon Lee film, Legacy of Rage, that I discussed in episode 287, is an earlier example). Like the Hong Kong kung fu film industry, these films had similar themes but were generally set in modern times and involved less unarmed martial arts and more gunplay, often with a lot of slow motion diving, rolling, and shooting akimbo (one gun in each hand). Hard Boiled is one of the best examples, and you can actually watch the whole film online in the original Cantonese with English subtitles:

Check out Jeremy‘s work over at Pixel Grotto, CBR.com, and Classic Batman Panels on IG. You can support his work on Ko-fi and get access to in-depth, exclusive Batman content here. If you are of the DnD persuasion, his articles on DnD Beyond may be right up your alley. Thanks, Jeremy, for coming on the show!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

This winter, 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:

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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #396: A Shadow in the Moonlight Interlude – Different Archery Styles

https://archive.org/download/podcast-396/Podcast%20396.mp3

This week, I’m following up on the last few weeks’ episodes centered on the hunter from The Thirteenth Hour prequel, A Shadow in the Moonlight (read it free in the US!).

But this week, instead of figures (which we will come back to in an episode or two), we are going to talk about archery. At the time when I published this little novel, I was in the process of rediscovering archery. I had been working on instinctive shooting (no sights) for some time as well as learning to make my own bows out of PVC pipe. (You can actually find a post from 2016 – episode 33! – about some of the bows I was making around this time of rediscovery of traditional Western archery.)

Some years after that, I got interested in the drawing style used in many parts of Asia – using the thumb and a protective ring or piece of leather over it (see picture) – since I was researching it for a Thirteenth Hour sequel and I also genuinely wanted to learn it. It is my preferred way of shooting now, and I discuss these things on this week’s show while shooting a few arrows.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Joshua Blum Author & Artist (@the13thhr)

Thanks for listening!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

This winter, 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:

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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #395: Making the Hunter From A Shadow in the Moonlight in 3.75″ Form Part 1!

https://archive.org/download/podcast-395/Podcast%20395.mp3

This week, I’m taking a motorcross figure I got from Aliexpress to make the unnamed hunter from The Thirteenth Hour prequel, A Shadow in the Moonlight (read it free in the US!).

Last week, we talked about making the same character but in miniature form, so this week, I figured he deserved to have a larger version as well. It’s actually a very simple design but I’ve always meant to do something more with it since there are only a few illustrations I ended up doing and something about the hood, cape, and lack of any distinguishing facial features has always been evocative.

These motocross figures came with the other ones I discussed last week. I couldn’t tell from the pictures, but they were quite differently constructed and much more difficult to disassemble. Luckily, the huge tolerances on the loose joints will make painting it easier, since I can’t get it apart to make sure the joint parts do not scrape on each other. I figured the overall wiggle factor of the figure (high) would work for a character that spends a lot of time gliding through the moonlight sky.

The face sculpts on these guys are hilarious!

Painted black …

The hood as been sculpted on …

At the time of this writing, I have sculpted the hood. I initially thought of sculpting of the face but instead just turned the head around so the back of the head is now the front. I think the only facial features I will paint on are eyes. After pairing it black with an airbrush, I moved the main joints around to see which areas the paint wore away from, then tried to Dremel those areas Dow. I think that is the best I will be able to do since the rest of the figure is held together with rivets I can’t easily remove.

Thanks for listening!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

This winter, 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:

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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #394: More Experimenting with Making Articulated Figures and Making the Hunter From A Shadow in the Moonlight

https://archive.org/download/podcast-394/Podcast%20394.mp3

This week, I wanted to continue seeing if the Aliexpress motocross action figure I found would work well as an articulated figure for both the Rocketeer and Logan from The Thirteenth Hour. I’ve been quite impressed by this humble, unbranded, inexpensive figure marketed (depending on the seller) as a motorcycle rider, soldier, or “worker.” I decided to keep the figure as intact as possible and just add epoxy clay to parts I wanted to modify since I tend to find sculpting easier than finagling with joints and sourcing parts, as the joints are much better than anything I could create from scratch. As mentioned, this figure I found really is quite versatile, and for Cliff, all that was needed was to add the chest bib, jodhpurs, and sleeve cuffs. Here he is after some sanding:

For Logan, I think all that will needed will be the front and back halves of his tunic, the scarf/hood neck piece, the belt as part of the pelvis, and perhaps a bit of volume to his (rather parachute-like) pants. I would like to make an Aurora as well, but sourcing female figures is more difficult. I may actually modify this male one to have a female torso (the strategy the 80s GI Joe 3.75″ toys used) since then I could keep the joints intact. The main challenge with Aurora will probably actually be her skirt if her legs are really mobile – I probably won’t be able to get away with the sculpted one I did for legs that could only move forwards and backwards – perhaps cloth?

In the meantime, I decided it was high time that the hunter from The Thirteenth Hour prequel, A Shadow in the Moonlight (read it free in the US!), needed his own figure. This one was made from two modified Hero Construx figures with the addition of some clay, black paint, a cape, bow, and quiver.

Lastly, I finished up the mini Rocketeer made in episode 389 (the sculpt along). Here he is solo and with a clear translucent buddy.

Thanks for listening!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

This winter, 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:

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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #393: Is There a Way to Work Smarter Rather Than Harder to Make Custom Articulated Action Figures?

https://archive.org/download/podcast-393/Podcast%20393.mp3

This week, I’m sharing a bit of a possible shortcut to making articulated custom action figures. I recently discovered a source of inexpensive GI Joe style figures (minus the pesky O-ring) that can be disassembled easily. I found these motorcross guys on the website/app Aliexpress. Bought one on a whim wondering if I could modify it. Turns out, it was quite easy!

Here’s the motorcross rider with a different set of legs I took from a figure from The Corps line. I wanted to see if they could be made to fit. With some modification, yes. Within seconds, I took out three screws and motorcross guy was in pieces!

Said modifcation referenced above is widening the joint space on the new leg to fit the bigger joint pegs on motorcross guy.

The neat thing about this style of legs (that GI Joe and its competitors used and now replicated with motorcross guy and his pals) is that a single screw holds it all together.

Next stop – adding clay to modify this body into a Rocketeer.

I’m curious to try this method to make a new wave of more articulated Rocketeer and Thirteenth Hour figures!

Thanks for listening!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

This winter, 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:

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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #392: Sculpting a Logan Figurine and Like a Hood Ornament #48: Rocketeer Minifigure Painting and Making a Game Piece 3

https://archive.org/download/podcast-392/Podcast%20392.mp3

This week, I’m continuing projects from the last few episodes, painting the Rocketeer minifigure made during the sculpt-along episode as well as Rocketeer game piece.

Pictures of these figures after the first coat of paint. Once the paint fully dries, it will be time for another coat or two as well as the details, like the jacket buttons and helmet lenses. I also still have to paint the flames and smoke on the game piece figure.

I recently ordered a large figurine from the company Hero Forge, making it about as close to Logan from The Thirteenth Hour as I could. I was planning to sculpt a little onto the parts that I couldn’t make exactly the same and then cast the head for a custom Logan Hero Construx figures.

Here is the figure before …

And after. Once the clay is dry, still a fair amount of detail work needed …

Thanks for listening!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

This winter, 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:

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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #391: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as We Talk About Ofelas (Pathfinder, 1987)

https://archive.org/download/podcast-391/Podcast%20391.mp3

This week, my brother and I are watching the 1987 Norwegian film, Ofelas (English title = Pathfinder) which we watched as kids. It is quite hard to find now, as it is not streaming anywhere and to my knowledge, is out of print, at least in the US. Of course, you can go flying the Jolly Roger route, but if you like looking for physical media, you are in for a hunt, at least in the US. You may be able to find an old VHS copy (we originally watched it on VHS; our local library had it) on eBay at very high prices, but unless you have a multiregion DVD player, it’s pretty hard to get on DVD as well. Just before recording the intro, however, I looked again and found a region 0 DVD (playable anywhere) version of the film in Europe and snagged it. When I went to see if there others out there to post here, there were now no more listings! So that means these versions are out there, just hard to find.

Here are some clips, however.

This is the only film I have seen that features the Sami language (the people indigenous to parts of Scandinavia). I got interested in their culture some years back when researching dwellings for Logan and Aurora for The Thirteenth Hour sequels. I originally wanted to given them a house made out of the side of a hill but thought that would be highly unrealistic for two people with hand tools and zero heavy machinery. So I started looking at how indeigenous people created their habitations, and for a snowy envionment (as I expected Logan and Aurora’s island to be, far down in the southern hemispshere of their realm), I figured that if something worked for the Sami, who dealt with snow and ice for much of the year, it would work for my protagonists, too.

The Sami traditionally lived in, among other dwellings, circular yurts called goathi (in Northern Sami) which were wooden framed huts covered with sticks and other natural available materials, like earth. They’re basically like tepees used by Plains Native Americans. Because of the conical design, snow would slide off, and it would be (I would think) a bit easier to pile material on top in a more seamless way due to the absence of sharp angles. Also, if the earth started to meld with the dirt, and vegetation started to grow from it, you’d have basically what I originally was thinking about – a dwelling in an above ground hole (maybe like a Hobbit hole). You can see many examples (covered with skins and snow) in the film. While I imagine you’d get cold in the winter quickly if the heating source went out, the small quarters probably would warm up quickly. There’s even a clip of some of the villagers in the film sitting in a goati converted to make a sauna.

In this clip from the sparse and quite brutal into of the film, you can see steam coming out of the snow covered dwelling where the main character’s family lives.

In this scene, the main character, Aigin, gets some wisdom dropped on him from the local shaman/mystic/bear killer/village pathfinder, Raste, who serves as a kind of mentor to the hero. You can see some details in how the inside of the structure was constructed and probably insulated (with skins).

Check out Jeremy‘s work over at Pixel Grotto, CBR.com, and Classic Batman Panels on IG. You can support his work on Ko-fi and get access to in-depth, exclusive Batman content here. If you are of the DnD persuasion, his articles on DnD Beyond may be right up your alley. Thanks, Jeremy, for coming on the show!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

This winter, 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:

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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #389 and Like a H90 and Like a Hood Ornament #47: Rocketeer Minifigure Resin Casting Updates and Making a Game Piece 2ood Ornament #46: Rocketeer Minifigure Sculpt-along

https://archive.org/download/podcast-390/Podcast%20390.mp3

This week, I’m continuing a project started back in episode 384, making a little game piece of the Rocketeer. My progress on that project was forestalled due to a batch of bad resin, and it took awhile to get a new batch. I ended up switching to a different line within the Smooth On catalog called Mold Star 16 (since I could find it), and it ended up working out great. To celebrate, I made little cup molds of all the pieces of the Rocketeer mini figure parts I made last time (arms, legs, torso, head) as well as finally making a mold of the Rocketeer board game piece I prepared for molding in episode 384.

I had fairly low expectations of how the game piece would turn out, but once I broke in the mold, it actually worked quite well despite the complexity and intricacy of the game piece.

I used one of the copies of the game piece to extract copies of the rocetpack and the helmet to modify the Hero Clix figure to the left (which I sanded down a bit to prepare it for the clay additions below – adding to the arms, making the chest bib with the buttons, and the jodhpurs). It will then need to be sanded down once cured to smooth it all out.

I attached the head using a pin to hold it in place (in addition to some superglue). I also angled the hed so it is looking a bit right, toward the upraised hand. It just felt more dynamic a pose. I just need to flesh out the smoke in back with some additional clay, sand things down, and then prime it for painting.

The first resin Rocketeer minifigure duplicate made from the figure we created last week. So far, I made four of them.

Thanks for listening!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

This winter, 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:

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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #389 and Like a Hood Ornament #46: Rocketeer Minifigure Sculpt-along

https://archive.org/download/podcast-389/Podcast%20389.mp3

This week, we are trying something slightly new. I’m sculpting a custom Rocketeer minifigure from a base Flash figure (the DC superhero) with Aves epoxy clay in real time, and am doing my best to describe the process just through audio so you can do it at the same time if you so wish. If you want to follow along, here are the base materials:

Tools are pretty minimal, but it may help to have an X-acto knife, some tools or pieces of thin wood to shape the clay, some Vaseline to smooth over the clay, and a Dremel for cutting down parts of the figure (if you wish – I shaved down parts of the shoulder to make the figure less top heavy) and sanding the final product. Because of the size of the figure, it may also help to have a pair of reading glasses or a magnifying glass, though that is not required. Good lighting, though, is very helpful (a camping headlamp can really help).

We are going to be sculpting jodhpurs, adding the front bib of the Rocketeer’s jacket, adding cuffs to the sleeves, and making the helmet. The first four parts are basically adding pieces of clay and a bit of definition.

The next part is a bit more complex – adding clay to the head and then a piece of carboard to provide structure for the helmet’s fin. Adding clay to the outside of the cardboard piece will be stronger when it all dries than just trying to make the fin out of clay alone.

Here is the final result. After it all dries, I will do some final sanding to touch up a few spots. I will also be reworking the shoulder joints a bit so they fit better. I may also consider making molds of all the parts to be able to make resin casts of the pieces so make some duplicates.

I am using the same rocketpack I used for the Lego minifigures since the scale is about the same, though you could make your own (for the movie version – two torso sized bullet-shaped cylinders connected by a central rectangle). Next step after all this will be priming and painting.

If you made one of these along with this episode, send me a picture or tag me on social media! Would love to see wat you created.

Thanks for listening!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

This winter, 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:

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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #388: Mega Contrux Custom DnD Thirteenth Hour Figures

https://archive.org/download/podcast-388/Podcast%20388.mp3

This week, I’m discussing a discovery I made awhile back when considering how to showcase figures in The Thirteenth Hour DnD style campaigns we have been doing over on the Patreon via Discord. (I typically have a second camera set up to show an overhead view of the figures – so far, just during battles – this is an ongoing work in progress.) I thought it would be fun to include some miniatures but wasn’t sure how to find ones that would fit. Plus, I wanted them to be able to hold things in their hands and be somewhat customizable. Enter Mega Contrux minifigures.

Mega Bloks are a long time competitor of Lego that originally started as large scale bricks for young children, though just like Lego, they now have a number of highly complex, licensed properties more appropriate for the fingers and brains of older kids (and adults). Mega also has much more detailed, articulated, and realistically proportioned minifigures, and those are the ones I used for making The Thirteenth Hour minifigures. I started with a figure from their Assassin’s Creed line (I’m not sure who this guy is, but his costume has a number of similarities to the Imperial Ranger uniform – a tunic with large shoulders, grey pants, a hood, and a midsection piece that can be modified to make the triangular belt they wear).

Just like Lego minifigures, the Mega ones break apart for easy customization.

This skirt can be flipped around to make belts when painted.

From left to right – Aron, Blake, Lance, and Wander the wizard.

Wander was made very quickly with the same base figure with a tunic and wizard’s hat made of the same material. Added a bit of epoxy clay for hair and a beard. As you can see, there is a Lego baseplate in the background which I have used for positioning the figures during the game. One of the advantages of using these kinds of figures is that they have holes in their feet, making them easy to position. Mega figures also can use the full range of Lego hand held accessories (of which there are many), which makes it nice to customize them.

Want to learn more? Check Thirteenth Hour Arts out on Patreon!

Thanks for listening!

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This winter, 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:

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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #386: Packaging for Upcoming Toy Projects!

https://archive.org/download/podcast-387/Podcast%20387.mp3

This week, I’m discussing packing for some of the upcoming toy projects I have been working on – 3.75″ Rocketeer action figures, the similarly sized Thirteenth Hour figures, and the Thirteenth Hour magnet dolls (the later two are basically part if the same project – the upcoming Once Upon a Dream LP launch. Each of these creative projects require some way to contain their respective parts, necessitating some kind of box with decorative coverart. While I can’t say it’s my favorite part of the whole process, I do think the packaging is of similar importance to the piece of art itself – the package is for protection, foremost, and makes it easier to ship, but it is also an accessory in its own right. It adds to the overall experience of the toy since it may add context, additional information or other pieces to collect, and a place to house the figure when it’s not being used.

Here are some visuals to go along with the audio.

Thanks for listening!

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This winter, 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:

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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #386: The Marginal Utility of Time, Reflections on 2022, and Future Goals

https://archive.org/download/podcast-386/Podcast%20386.mp3

Happy new year, and welcome to 2023! This first episode of the new year is all about time. Though time exists independent of all of us and will go on and on regardless of whether we exist in it or not, it is a finite resource for us living creatures. I think of an expression (which I might be paraphrasing) that my mother, who studied economics in college sometimes used (one I thought was humorous due to the extravagance of the words) – “diminishing returns of marginal utilities.” If I’m getting this correct, the “marginal utility” part describes the satisfaction that one experiences by consuming one unit of something. While economists are usually referring to “utility” in terms of as a product, I think the concept applies to some nonpurchasable items as well, including time. In some cases, the more time you have, the less you value it; yet when you have less, it becomes more and more precious. Gaining even a bit more would yield a net positive marginal utility. But none of us, regardless of our station in life, can get more of it. We all have however much time we are given, and none of us know how much.

There is a quote from the novel “The Sheltering Sky” by Paul Bowles that is inscribed on Brandon Lee’s tombstone (it came up in one of his last, if not the last interview he did prior to his death) that is particularly poignant and gets at this idea:

“Because we do not know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. And yet everything happens only a certain number of times, and a very small number really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, an afternoon that is so deeply a part of your being that you cannot conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four, or five times more? Perhaps not even that. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps twenty. And yet it all seems limitless.”

Rocketeer creator Dave Stevens echoed similar sentiments when it came to his own work in ways I think many artists will be able to relate to. In the podcast, I include a segment from one of Dave’s journals read by Billy Campbell from the documentary Dave Stevens: Drawn to Perfection.

When I was initially writing The Thirteenth Hour as a teenager, I think I was trying to put these idea into words in my own way. I suppose I had a different view of time since I was younger, but looking at it decades later, I think that is one of the underlying messages of the book – taking life by the reins and making the most of it, that the world can what you make of it if you believe in your dreams and don’t sit passively by, letting time pass you by.

Interestingly, the Buddhists have a slightly different take on this since they believe in do-overs. Life, from a Buddhist perspective, is about suffering, and escaping this cycle of birth and rebirth is to finally find peace (a.k.a. nirvana). But for those of us still in the world, there are some interesting insights in this drawing below of the samsara (wheel of life). There is a segment of the wheel below (the one with the animals in it) that is called, not surprisingly, the animal realm. The Buddhist view of non-human animals is that they are not as evolved, not as intelligent (human-centric, I know) and so creatures born into this part of the samsara earned their lot in life though past negative karmic action. I don’t know if I agree with that, but I think you can also use aspects of this as an analogy for parts of human existence. When we are in the animal realm, we are focused on survival – just getting through the day. But when we get a breather and have better resources, we can enter into the higher realms where we have increasing ability to reflect on our situation and focus on more than day to day needs. Times like the new year sometimes give us cause to stop, pause, and reflect on where we want to go. So in this episode, I not only reflect on some of the positives of the past year and some goals for the one to come.

Thanks for listening!

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This winter, 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:

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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #385: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as We Talk About Gremlins (1984)

https://archive.org/download/podcast-385/Podcast%20385.mp3

This week, my brother and I are watching the 1985 film, Gremlins, as this year’s Christmas episode. It also will be the last episode of 2022 and a fun one to close out on. Oddly enough, this was our first time seeing the film, and we both got a kick out of the fact that the whole movie was essentially based around a furry creature obtained in one of the New York Chinatowns referred to as “mogwai.” I’m guessing this was supposed to be Cantonese, not a dialect I know, as it has quite a number of different sounds than Mandarin, which is more widely spoken. The characters are usually the same from one dialect to another, but there may be slight variations to try to get a closer sound to the original spoken language. After doing a little more digging, I found two possibilities for the characters – 魔鬼 (mo2 gui3 in Mandarin) or 魔怪 (mo2 guai4 in Mandarin), depending on who I talked to or where I looked – both general phrases that just generally mean “monster” or “demon.” It was interesting that Gizmo, as he would later be called, seemed to be referred to as “mogwai” as his given name also, kind of like referring to your pet dog as “dog.”

At any rate, neither here nor there; quite an enjoyable film in our opinion! A few notable scenes:

The kitchen scene where Mrs. Peltzer (Lorraine’s mom in Back to the Future!) goes medieval on a bunch of gremlins invading he kitchen.

There is a brief shot of a gremlin in pink legwarmers doing a backspin about 2.5 min into this clip where the delinquent gremlins are wreaking havoc on a local bar.

For a slightly different take on Gremlins, check out the episode from about 2 years ago on I Used to Like This One.

Check out Jeremy‘s work over at Pixel Grotto, CBR.com, and Classic Batman Panels on IG. You can support his work on Ko-fi and get access to in-depth, exclusive Batman content here. If you are of the DnD persuasion, his articles on DnD Beyond may be right up your alley. Thanks, Jeremy, for coming on the show!

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This fall, 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:

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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast Episode #384 and Like a Hood Ornament #45: Making a Rocketeer Game Piece 1

https://archive.org/download/podcast-384/Podcast%20384.mp3

This week, I’m starting the process of casting part of the game piece that came with the Rocketeer board game to make a helmet and rocketpack to modify a Heroclix figure into a Cliff Secord! We will pick this up in the new year (once I get some new silicone).

In this episode, we’ll be taking the Rocketeer game piece, adding some vents (toothpicks) to the protruding parts of the figure when it’s upside down, since the pour spout will be the base of the figure. I’ll be using the helmet and pack to hopefully add to the Technocrat figure

These toothpicks will form the vents once the mold is made to carry the air out and hopefully help the areas that protrude fill.

Turns out there wasn’t enough silicone to fill even this K-cup container, so we will shelve this project until next year. But, I was able to case the upper body, which should be enough for my original intention.

And here are some cast torsos next to the original Hero Clix game piece. To be continued!

Lastly, last week, I was talking about a film called Max Q with Billy Campbell who plays a very Cliff Secord type of character. If you liked the Rocketeer, you’ll probably like this film as well. I really enjoyed it. Sadly, it’s very hard to find, though a kind soul uploaded it to Youtube. Check it out! The entire playlist of all eight parts is here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQt_32e40QXFA5414DrH8SiyMtyax_VmP

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This winter, 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:

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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast Episode #383 and Like a Hood Ornament #45: Troll, Dave Stevens – Drawn to Perfection, Max Q, Airbrushing Rocketeer Figures, and Cleaning up a Resin Minifigure with Hot Water

https://archive.org/download/podcast-383/Podcast%20383.mp3

This week, I thought I’d start by sharing a few things I have seen recently. They all relate to the Rocketeer / previous show guest Billy Campbell in some way, though that was mainly coincidental. If you get the chance to check out a Norwegian film Billy has a small role in, Troll (it’s on Netflix), I think you’ll definitely enjoy it if you like monster movies in the vein of Godzilla. Interestingly, Billy plays a paleontologist whose last name is “Secord” … coincidence? Hmmm …

In addition, a documentary about Dave Stevens also was just released. If you have any interest in Dave, the Rocketeer, or comic book writers and artists in general, it was really well done. They do a nice job at capturing the inherent loneliness that sometimes besets almost anyone who engage in a creative disciple (most of whic, in my opinion comes from the fact the artist alone know what is inside and there are always translational errors in making that vision something real in the world bound by time, skill, and other finite resources.

Interestingly, I happened to see this comic magazine from 1983 on eBay the other day. It was an impulse buy mainly because it had an interview with Dave Stevens in it. Thought I would include it here since it just came in the mail and is very much in line with what was discussed in the documentary.

Lastly, while I was looking for Dave Stevens stuff, I randomly found a film called Max Q that also has Billy Campbell in it. He again plays a flier ut this time a shuttle commander. So far, it has reminded me a bit of Spacecamp, one of my favorite films as a kid, and I’m quite enjoying this look at the space shuttle (which NASA no longer uses) as well as the score of the film. Not sure where you can watch it, but a kind soul uploaded it on Youtube, which is where I found it to begin with.

Welcome to a special edition of The Thirteenth Hour Podcast with guest Billy Campbell (a.k.a. the Rocketeer)! This was initially done as a thank you for supporters of a series of charity auctions of custom Lego Rocketeers done to benefit the nonprofit Hero Initiative. You may also be watching this if you are a listener of The Thirteenth Hour podcast and unlocked this interview by answering a few trivia questions related to our guest. Or, you are watching this at some future date, probably for a slightly different but related charity project. However you got here, thanks for joining, and thank you to Billy Cambell for a fun, wide-ranging conversation about the Rocketeer, comic books, drawing, Dave Stevens, and more.

Next, I thought we’d wrap up with some more hands on stuff. I’ve been experimenting with using an airbrush to lay down at least the first few coats on the Rocketeer action figures

@13thhr I’ve started painting the #resin #customactionfigures of the #Rocketeer and working on the cases. First time using an #airbrush for this kind of thing #resintoyartist #davestevens

♬ Rocketeer To The Rescue: End Credits from The Rocketeer – Dan Redfeld

Lastly, I record a section where I am using hot water to warm a resin figurine I made of Logan from The Thirteenth Hour to make the cleanup of flashing and other bits that would need to be sanded or filed away a bit easier. I’m not sure if you can do this with all resin but at least the clear stuff it works for.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Joshua Blum (@the13thhr.ost)

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This winter, 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:

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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #382: Making Rocketeer and Thirteenth Hour Xmas Decorations

https://archive.org/download/podcast-382/Podcast%20382.mp3

This week, I’m working on Christmas decorations! Gingerbread cookies and ornaments! Here are some of the cookies I made with my kids and then decorated:

The Rocketeer and Logan rocketing through the air (so to speak).

Since I’ve been doing resin work for a number of years, I have a bunch of mini figures lying around, so I took two and made ornaments – one metallic blue Logan and a painted Rocketeer figure:

I also took one of the last Rocketeer figures I made (made with clear epoxy resin with blue mica powder mixed in) with silver highlights and made an ornament out of him, too. This one felt a bit like the tin soldier from the Hans Christina Anderson story. He came out of the mold in a way that all his parts were mismatched by a few mm, meaning they needed to be filed and Dremmelled even, and even then, did not quite fit together right. He is, as a result, somewhat skinnier and slighter in build than his brothers. HIs limbs did not quite fit in their joints very sturdily, either, but after enough reshaping, I got them in. I don’t think the joints are that sturdy, though, just because the resin I used was not terribly durable to begin with and due to all the reshaping that had to be done. However, I painted him up with silver highlights and decided that he just needed a new, different job befitting a Rocketeer – hovering in place as guardian of the tree. I’m glad I salvaged him from the trash heap or the Kingdom of Misfit Toys and think he looks great.Thanks for listening!

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This fall, 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:

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!

As always, thanks for listening!

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Website: https://13thhr.wordpress.com
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Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

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Using a hot knife to cut some foam to make a case for action figures that will fit inside a VHS tape cover.

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Making a homemade shrinky dinks out of reused materials (made of #6 polystyrene).

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Making a VHS cover in which to package The Thirteenth Hour action figures

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Billy Campbell (The Rocketeer) joins the show!

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #378: Revising “I’m Here, You’re Not” (for The Thirteenth Hour Soundtrack) and Updates on Toys and Future Episodes https://archive.org/download/podcast-378/Podcast%20378.mp3 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…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #378: Revising “I’m Here, You’re Not” (for The Thirteenth Hour Soundtrack) and Updates on Toys and Future Episodes

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #377: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as We Talk About Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) https://archive.org/download/podcast-377/Podcast%20377.mp3 This week, my brother and I are watching the 1985 film, Young Sherlock Holmes, which we had both seen as kids but not recently. This is probably both our favorite of the ones we have watched for…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #377: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as We Talk About Young Sherlock Holmes (1985)

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #376: Jeremy Lesniak from Whistlekick on Faith: Book One of the Katana Chronicles and Martial Arts DnD https://archive.org/download/podcast-376/Podcast%20376.mp3 This week, Jeremy Lesniak from Whistlekick joins the show as a guest to discuss his martial arts-themed novel, Faith. It’s been awhile since we last worked together, but if you’ve been a listener of…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #376: Jeremy Lesniak from Whistlekick on Faith: Book One of the Katana Chronicles and Martial Arts DnD

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #375: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as We Talk About Ladyhawke (1985) https://archive.org/download/podcast-375/Podcast%20375.mp3 This week, my brother and I are watching the 1985 fantasy film, Ladyhawke, which we had both seen as kids but not since. I got the impression when rewatching it this time is that what they wanted to do is…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #375: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as We Talk About Ladyhawke (1985)

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #374: Finishing Dragon Fall, Part 9 https://archive.org/download/podcast-374/Podcast%20374.mp3 This week, we are finishing Dragon Fall (1984) by Lee J Hindle. This was a fun one. I have a few of similar vintage that I may read on the show. Stay tuned =) Did you check out the podcast exclusive bonus episode preview…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #374: Finishing Dragon Fall, Part 9

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #373: Tweaking the Thirteenth Hour DnD Combat System 1 (The Warlock of Firetop Mountain) and Dragon Fall Reading Part 8 https://archive.org/download/podcast-373/Podcast%20373.mp3 This past week, we did our first Patreon Thirteenth Hour DnD session using a homebrew role playing system made from hybrid Dungeons and Dragons / Quest RPG rules. I thought…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #373: Tweaking the Thirteenth Hour DnD Combat System 1 (The Warlock of Firetop Mountain) and Dragon Fall Reading Part 8

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast Exclusive Preview: A Conversation with Catherine Mary Stewart about Night of the Comet https://archive.org/download/podcast-cms-preview/Podcast%20CMS%20preview.mp3 This past summer, I recorded an interview with actress Catherine Mary Stewart (Night of the Comet, Weekend at Bernie’s, The Last Starfighter), who supported a little Lego project I did kind of on a whim – making…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast Exclusive Preview: A Conversation with Catherine Mary Stewart about Night of the Comet

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #372: Making more Rocketeer Figure Castings, Dragon Fall Reading Part 7, and More https://archive.org/download/podcast-372/Podcast%20372.mp3 This week, I’ve been casting Rocketeers using the mold I made recently. Working on the third copy now. Surprisingly, I’ve been pretty happy with the mold, especially since the resin I am using to cast the limbs…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #372: Making more Rocketeer Figure Castings, Dragon Fall Reading Part 7, and More

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #371: Making a Rocketeer Figure Mold, Thirteenth Hour Figure Updates, Dragon Fall Reading Part 6, and More https://archive.org/download/podcast-371/Podcast%20371.mp3 This week, I’ve been finishing up the Thirteenth Hour action figures. I’ve gotten almost all of them put together and am now putting on the finishing touches. I ended up revising the color…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #371: Making a Rocketeer Figure Mold, Thirteenth Hour Figure Updates, Dragon Fall Reading Part 6, and More

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #370: A Look Back at 80s Choose Your Own Adventure/Endless Quest Style Books, DnD, and Dragon Fall Reading Part 5 https://archive.org/download/podcast-370/Podcast%20370.mp3 This week, I’m taking a little trip down memory lane, talking about some of the Choose Your Own Adventure style books I recall liking as a kid. One of the…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #370: A Look Back at 80s Choose Your Own Adventure/Endless Quest Style Books, DnD, and Dragon Fall Reading Part 5

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #369: Rocketeer Custom Action Figure Updates and Dragon Fall Reading Part 4 https://archive.org/download/podcast-369/Podcast%20369.mp3 This week, I finished a prototype of a 3.75″ Rocketeer figures made from adding clay to an Iron Man action figure I found in Walgreens. A few pictures: This picture shows the almost completed prototype on the left…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #369: Rocketeer Custom Action Figure Updates and Dragon Fall Reading Part 4

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #368: Rocketeer Custom Action Figure Updates and Dragon Fall Reading Part 3 https://archive.org/download/podcast-368/Podcast%20368.mp3 This week, I give some updates on the making 3.75 inch Rocketeer figures from the 3.75″ Iron Man toy as reading the next part of Dragon Fall (1984) by Lee J Hindle. A few pictures of the process…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #368: Rocketeer Custom Action Figure Updates and Dragon Fall Reading Part 3

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #367: Custom Action Figure Updates, Final Faction, and Rocketeer Video Game Updates https://archive.org/download/podcast-367/Podcast%20367.mp3 This week, I talk a bit about a few concurrent projects such as making 3.75 inch Rocketeer figures from a 3.75″ Iron Man toy as well as the Rocketeer video game I’ve been working on. The Rocketeer…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #367: Custom Action Figure Updates, Final Faction, and Rocketeer Video Game Updates

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #366: Adding a Synth Layer to “I’m Here, You’re Not” and Reading from Dragon Fall, by Lee J. Hindle, Part 2 (1984) https://archive.org/download/podcast-366/Podcast%20366.mp3 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…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #366: Adding a Synth Layer to “I’m Here, You’re Not” and Reading from Dragon Fall, by Lee J. Hindle, Part 2 (1984)

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #365: Reading from Dragon Fall, by Lee J. Hindle, Part 1 (1984) https://archive.org/download/podcast-365/Podcast%20365.mp3 This week, we’re starting to read from a short fantasy novel from 1984, Dragon Fall. When I was reading some reviews of it, people mentioned they liked it, though there were plenty of 80s references that might get…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #365: Reading from Dragon Fall, by Lee J. Hindle, Part 1 (1984)

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #34: Musical Interlude – Creating “I’m Here, You’re Not” https://archive.org/download/podcast-364/Podcast%20364.mp3 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…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #364: Musical Interlude – Creating “I’m Here, You’re Not”

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #363: Starting to Make Video Games Again! https://archive.org/download/podcast-363/Podcast%20363.mp3 This week, I talk a bit about two upcoming projects – starting to make video games again after a few decades of not doing it! Though I’ve used a number of the animations and sprites I made in various things, most recently the…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #363: Starting to Make Video Games Again!

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #362: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as We Talk About Lionheart (1987) https://archive.org/download/podcast-362/Podcast%20362.mp3 This week, my brother and I are watching the 1987 fantasy film, Lionheart starring Eric Stoltz and Gabriel Bryne. Not one I’d seen as a kid but I have a feeling that if I had seen it, I would…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #362: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as We Talk About Lionheart (1987)

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #361: Making a Retrowave Music Video, Night of the Comet, Toys, and Being a Kid Again https://archive.org/download/podcast-361/Podcast%20361.mp3 This week, I finished the music video I started recently using the two synth – handpan tracks Jeff Finely and I worked on together. I finally figured out enough of Adobe Premiere to accomplish…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #361: Making a Retrowave Music Video, Night of the Comet, Toys, and Being a Kid Again

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #360: Flash Gordon (1980) with Obi, Joe, and Adam https://archive.org/download/podcast-360/Podcast%20360.mp3 Today, I’m joined by my friends Joseph Esch, Adam Crohn, and Obi as we talk about the 1980 film, Flash Gordon. This film was a blast, and it was a hoot to record as well. The show goes off the rails within…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #360: Flash Gordon (1980) with Obi, Joe, and Adam

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #359: Musical Interlude – Adding to a C#m Chord Progression on Synth with Jeff Finley https://archive.org/download/podcast-359/Podcast%20359.mp3 This week, I’d adding to the second repeating chord progression in C#m that I did with with past show guest Jeff Finley on the handpan. We started this track in episode 354. This track ended…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #359: Musical Interlude – Adding to a C#m Chord Progression on Synth with Jeff Finley

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #358: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as We Talk About The Heroic Trio (東方三俠, 1993) https://archive.org/download/podcast-358/Podcast%20358.mp3 This week, my brother and I are watching The Heroic Trio (東方三俠 – literally – “Eastern three heroes”), a 1993 film we first saw on cable TV as kids, around the time of the British /…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #358: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as We Talk About The Heroic Trio (東方三俠, 1993)

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #357: Making Minifigure Packaging and Finishing Night of the Comet Minifigures https://archive.org/download/podcast-357/Podcast%20357.mp3 This week, I wanted to share the final product of the Night of the Comet minifigures! They’re done! I figured out how to make the lettering on Sam’s cheerleader uniform and do the packaging so the two figures can…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #357: Making Minifigure Packaging and Finishing Night of the Comet Minifigures

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #356: Making Night of the Comet Minifigures! https://archive.org/download/podcast-356/Podcast%20356.mp3 This week, I wanted to share a little bit of a recent project. After finishing the Lego Rocketeer and resin Beverly Switzler figurines, I thought it be fun to do figurines of Reggie and Sam from the 1984 cult classic, Night of the…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #356: Making Night of the Comet Minifigures!

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #355 and Like a Hood Ornament #43: Welcome Obi from Obi’s Toybox As We Talk All About the Rocketeer! https://archive.org/download/podcast-355/Podcast%20355.mp3 This week, I’m joined by special guest Obi of Obi’s Toybox as we talk all about one of our mutual favorite topics – the Rocketeer! We were introduced by our mutual…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #355 and Like a Hood Ornament #43: Welcome Obi from Obi’s Toybox As We Talk All About the Rocketeer!

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #354: Musical Interlude – Making a C#m Descending Chord Progression on Synth 2 https://archive.org/download/podcast-354/Podcast%20354.mp3 This week, I’m making another repeating chord progression in C#m for a little collaboration with past show guest Jeff Finley, who recently told me about an instrument called a handpan, which is kind of like a steel…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #354: Musical Interlude – Making a C#m Descending Chord Progression on Synth 2

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #353: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as We Talk About Mazes and Monsters (1982) https://archive.org/download/podcast-353/Podcast%20353.mp3 This week, Jeremy and I are tackling the 1982 TV movie, Mazes and Monsters! This was a movie (based on a novel by Rona Jaffe) released in the midst of the popularity of Dungeons and Dragons as…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #353: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as We Talk About Mazes and Monsters (1982)

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #352: Musical Interlude – Making a C#m Descending Chord Progression on Synth https://archive.org/download/podcast-352/Podcast%20352.mp3 This week, I’m making a repeating chord progression in C#m for a little collaboration with past show guest Jeff Finley, who recently told me about an instrument called a handpan, which is kind of like a steel drum…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #352: Musical Interlude – Making a C#m Descending Chord Progression on Synth

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #351: Masters of the Universe (1987) with Joe and Adam https://archive.org/download/podcast-351/Podcast%20351.mp3 Today, I’m joined by my friends Joseph Esch and Adam Crohn to talk about the 1987 film, Masters of the Universe, which despite being a fan of the toys and the cartoon as a kid, I missed seeing at the…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #351: Masters of the Universe (1987) with Joe and Adam

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #350: Musical Interlude – Making a 30 Sec Synthesizer Countdown Track https://archive.org/download/podcast-350/Podcast%20350.mp3 This week, I thought I’d make a little piece of music as an unsolicited surprise for my friend Jeremy over at Whistlekick, who also does a little morning show called First Cup where he and other martial artists often…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #350: Musical Interlude – Making a 30 Sec Synthesizer Countdown Track

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #349: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as We Talk About The Highlander (1986) Part 2 https://archive.org/download/podcast-349/Podcast%20349.mp3 This week, my brother, Jeremy, rejoins the show to talk about the 80s movie, Highlander. You can listen to the first part of this episode here and, if you have not seen the film, you can…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #349: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as We Talk About Highlander (1986) Part 2

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #348: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as We Talk About The Highlander (1986) Part 1 https://archive.org/download/podcast-348/Podcast%20348.mp3 This week, my brother, Jeremy, rejoins the show to talk about the 80s movie, Highlander. This was a film I watched in high school I believe for a history class report on 1980s movies, and…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #348: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as We Talk About Highlander (1986) Part 1

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #347: March/April 2022 Question and Answer Session https://archive.org/download/podcast-347/Podcast%20347.mp3 This week, we have out last question and answer session! My brother, Jeremy, who will be on soon to discuss the film Highlander, returns this month with these questions: 1) Do you have any preference between the fantasy and sci-fi genres, and…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #347: March/April 2022 Question and Answer Session

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #346: Musical Interlude – Finishing “Homecoming” – a Slow, Introspective Synth Track https://archive.org/download/podcast-346/Podcast%20346.mp3 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…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #346: Musical Interlude – Finishing “Homecoming” – a Slow, Introspective Synth Track

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #345: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as We Talk About Legend (1985/1986) Part 2 https://archive.org/download/podcast-345/Podcast%20345.mp3 This week, my brother, Jeremy, rejoins the show to talk about the 80s movie, Legend in the second of a two part series (part one is here). As mentioned, depending on which part of the world you…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #345: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as We Talk About Legend (1985/1986) Part 2

Legend - Director's Cut by Universal Studios by Ridley Scott

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #344: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as We Talk About Legend (1985/1986) Part 1 https://archive.org/download/podcast-344/Podcast%20344.mp3 This week, my brother, Jeremy, rejoins the show to talk about the 80s movie, Legend. Depending on which part of the world you were in , it had different release dates (1985 in Europe, 1986 in the…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #344: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as We Talk About Legend (1985/1986) Part 1

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #343: Musical Interlude – Making a Backing Track for “No Hero” and Playing “Loved by the Sun” from Legend https://archive.org/download/podcast-343/Podcast%20343.mp3 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…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #343: Musical Interlude – Making a Backing Track for “No Hero” and Playing “Loved by the Sun” from Legend

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #42: February 2022 Question and Answer Session https://archive.org/download/podcast-342/Podcast%20342.mp3 This week, I’ve got a few quick updates and will be digging into the second set of questions that came in. I really appreciate all the thoughtful questions! Before we begin, I have finally finished the Lego Rocketeer including their boxes. Now just…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #342: February 2022 Question and Answer Session

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #341: First Blood and Rambo Survival Knives with Joe and Adam Part 2 https://archive.org/download/podcast-341/Podcast%20341.mp3 Welcome to the 2nd part of the First Blood / Rambo miniseries. But before I forget, as mentioned in the show intro, check out Adam’s tutorial on grey scale painting: And! A new podcast I recently found…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #341: First Blood and Rambo Survival Knives with Joe and Adam Part 2

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #340: First Blood and Rambo Survival Knives with Joe and Adam Part 1 https://archive.org/download/podcast-340/Podcast%20340.mp3 Today, I’m joined by my friends Joseph Esch and Adam Crohn to talk about the first Rambo movie, First Blood (1982) and some 80s survival knife back-of-the-magazine ad goodness. This ad comes from a 1985 issue of…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #340: First Blood and Rambo Survival Knives with Joe and Adam Part 1

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #339: The 5 Elements, The Water Tiger, and a Reading from Empty Hands https://archive.org/download/podcast-339/Podcast%20339.mp3 Since it recently became the year of the water tiger (per the Chinese version of the lunar calendar), I thought for this week’s show, it might be interesting to look at some of the philosophical underpinnings behind…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #339: The 5 Elements, The Water Tiger, and a Reading from Empty Hands

Empty Hands: A Thirteenth Hour Interlude: A Retro Martial Arts Fantasy (The Thirteenth Hour)

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #338: January 2022 Question and Answer Session https://archive.org/download/podcast-338/Podcast%20338.mp3 This week, I’ve got a few quick updates and will be digging into the questions y’all sent. I really appreciate all the thoughtful questions! These first five comes from frequent show guest Adam from @mom_gave_them_away: 1.) What’s your favorite 80s toy line of all…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #338: January 2022 Question and Answer Session

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #337: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as We Talk About The Black Cauldron (1985) https://archive.org/download/podcast-337/Podcast%20337.mp3 This week, my brother, Jeremy, rejoins the show to talk about the 1985 Disney film, The Black Cauldron. The film is loosely based on the first two books in the Chronicles of Prydain series by Lloyd Alexander,…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #337: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as We Talk About The Black Cauldron (1985)

The Black Cauldron (The Chronicles of Prydain, 2)

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #336 and Like a Hood Ornament #42: Toymaking Updates, Dave Stevens Fundraising Update, Rocketeer Cards, and Working on the Backing Tracking of a New Song https://archive.org/download/podcast-336/Podcast%20336.mp3 In the first part of this show, I share a bit about a new song I’ve been working on for the upcoming Thirteenth Hour soundtrack…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #336 and Like a Hood Ornament #42: Toymaking Updates, Dave Stevens Fundraising Update, Rocketeer Cards, and Working on the Backing Tracking of a New Song

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #335: Upcoming Plans and Updates on Current Projects https://archive.org/download/podcast-335/Podcast%20335.mp3 In this episode, a few updates: 1.) the last episode of the month for the next few months will have a Q and A segment. Submit your questions via email or on social media (or if on Patreon, via messaging me there…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #335: Upcoming Plans and Updates on Current Projects

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #334: 2021 Year in Review and A Look at 2022 https://archive.org/download/podcast-334/Podcast%20334.mp3 Welcome to 2022! In this episode, I’m reflecting back on the last year and planning for next. 2021 was a good year for the show (despite being a difficult year globally). I’m going to focus more this year on planning…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #334: 2021 Year in Review and A Look at 2022

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #333: Let’s End 2021 by Wrapping up the Howard the Duck Movie Novelization (Part 19) and Talking Toy Updates https://archive.org/download/podcast-333/Podcast%20333.mp3 This is the last show of 2021! We’re finishing up the year with a few toymaking updates and finishing the reading of the Howard the Duck novelization. If you celebrate Christmas,…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #333: Let’s End 2021 by Wrapping up the Howard the Duck Movie Novelization (Part 19) and Talking Toy Updates

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #332 and Like a Hood Ornament #41: Toymaking Updates, the Christmas Rocketeer Episode (20), Rocketeer Unboxings, and Reading the Howard the Duck Movie Novelization Part 18 https://archive.org/download/podcast-332/Podcast%20332.mp3 This week, we’re getting ready for the holidays by opening some presents my brother sent, watching the Rocketeer Christmas episode, discussing a few toymaking…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #332 and Like a Hood Ornament #41: Toymaking Updates, the Christmas Rocketeer Episode (20), Rocketeer Unboxings, and Reading the Howard the Duck Movie Novelization Part 18

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #331: Toymaking Updates, Shoutouts, and Reading the Howard the Duck Movie Novelization Part 17 https://archive.org/download/podcast-331/Podcast%20331.mp3 This week, we’re discussing a few toymaking updates, reading the next section of the Howard the Duck novelization, and thanking some people! Last week, my daughter and I tried our hand at making a resin bookmark…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #331: Toymaking Updates, Shoutouts, and Reading the Howard the Duck Movie Novelization Part 17

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #330: Toymaking Updates, Resin Bookmarks, and Reading the Howard the Duck Movie Novelization Part 16 https://archive.org/download/podcast-330/Podcast%20330.mp3 This week, we’re discussing a few toymaking updates, reading the next section of the Howard the Duck novelization, and talking about a new resin side project. My daughter recently got interested in making resin bookmarks…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #330: Toymaking Updates, Resin Bookmarks, and Reading the Howard the Duck Movie Novelization Part 16

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #329: Toymaking Updates, Aurora Inspiration -“Saving the Best for Last” by Daniel Horne, and Reading the Howard the Duck Movie Novelization Part 15 https://archive.org/download/podcast-329/Podcast%20329.mp3 This week, we’re discussing a few toymaking updates, discussing one of the inspirations for one of Aurora’s outfits from The Thirteenth Hour, and reading the next section…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #329: Toymaking Updates, Aurora Inspiration -“Saving the Best for Last” by Daniel Horne, and Reading the Howard the Duck Movie Novelization Part 15

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #328: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as We Talk About DnD and Red Sonja (1985) https://archive.org/download/podcast-328/Podcast%20328.mp3 This week, my brother, Jeremy, rejoins the show to talk about movie we watched a fair amount as a kid, 1985’s Red Sonja. Neither of us had seen it in decades and we honestly weren’t expecting…Read more The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #328: Welcome My Brother, Jeremy, as We Talk About DnD and Red Sonja (1985)

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #327: Toymaking Updates and Reading The Howard the Duck Movie Novelization Part 14

https://archive.org/download/podcast-327/Podcast%20327.mp3

This week, we’re discussing a few toymaking updates and reading the next section of the Howard the Duck novelization. Some toymaking stuff first:

I recently finished the resin hoverboard for the mini Logan I made awhile back. Lightning, Logan’s magical hoverboard, has this shiny aqua console in front that I wanted to make out of resin but wasn’t sure how to do. I eventually got a passable result with Alumilite resin with blue mica powder mixed in. After a fair amount of fiddling and polishing, then painting, repainting, etc Lightning came out all right. I’d like to do something similar for the 5 POA Kenner style figures I’m making, since that’s Logan main accessory. I’m not yet sure if it will be similar or different, but this was a good trial run. You can sort of see it below next to one of said Kenner style figures, which itself is made from parts that didn’t really work for the other figures I had. The resin in some of these limbs came out too squishy to really be used, but can’t let it go to waste, now, can we? I’m still going to put this one together and paint it.

Below, you can see how Aurora’s torso comes out of the mold. As you can see, there’s a fair amount of clean up needed.

Some of the figures made so far, prior to priming and painting. I’ve made two others since and am working on a third.

Some shrunk down rocket packs done with bits of resin left over casting the limbs to the figures (more to come shortly). This technique uses mineral spirits added to the mold mixture. The mineral spirits slowly evaporates away, shrinking the mold. You can see here how much these Rocketeer packs shrunk down compared to the original one made for a Reaction Rocketeer figure.

Since there’s always leftovers, I often pour them into other small molds, too. The hoverboard above is actually the one of the left, minus the paintjob, front console, and the peg for the figure to stand on. The synthesizer on the right is the same one I used to make one for Logan to play on – the first custom action figure I did – and used to make crayons and recycled plastic keyboards:

I added QR codes on the back of these miniatures for songs from The Thirteenth Hour soundtrack and figured they could be kind of like 3D business cards.

For example, I thought they’d be fund additions to a Thirteenth Hour mask combo package I recently put 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)

We are also reading the next section of the Howard the Duck from the movie novelization.

Next week, my brother, Jeremy, joins the show as we talk about the 1985 film, Red Sonja. Stay tuned!

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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:

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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #326: Toymaking Updates, Watching The Crow Part 2, and Reading The Howard the Duck Movie Novelization Part 13

https://archive.org/download/podcast-326/Podcast%20326.mp3

This week, we’re discussing new toymaking updates, reading the next section of the Howard the Duck novelization, and watching and discussing the second part of the 1994 film, The Crow.

Toymaking stuff first: I have a handful of Logan and Aurora 5 POA Kenner-style action figures that are ready for priming, painting, and final touches:

We are are reading the next section of the Howard the Duck from the movie novelization.

Then, we are wrapping up talking about The Crow:

As mentioned in the episode, the score by Graeme Revell provides a haunting backdrop to the film that sets the tone perfectly. You can find both the regular and deluxe editions on Youtube:

Although I believe there was a Crow skin you could download for the game Max Payne (which was very Crow-like in many ways), there were not video games made of the first film. There was one made of the sequel, though. Check out the hilarious AVGN review.

If you want to stay within the world of the first film, checking out the TV series, which is different from the film in some ways, is not a bad way to do it. The first episode is basically a retelling of the film with some adaptations to make the series continue.

Thanks for listening!

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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:

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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #325: Toymaking Updates, Watching The Crow Part 1, and Reading The Howard the Duck Movie Novelization Part 12

https://archive.org/download/podcast-325/Podcast%20325.mp3

Welcome to the second part of the Halloween editions of The Thirteenth Hour podcast! This week, we’re discussing a few toymaking updates, reading the next section of the Howard the Duck novelization, and watching and discussing the first part of the 1994 film, The Crow.

Toymaking stuff first: I have some working prototypes of the Logan and Aurora 5 POA action figures:

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Joshua Blum Author & Artist (@the13thhr)

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Joshua Blum Author & Artist (@the13thhr)

Another slightly related thing and a preview of coming attractions (hopefully helpful for this winter) is there will be some Thirteenth Hour masks for kids and adults coming soon:

We are are reading the next section of the Howard the Duck from the movie novelization.

Then, we are wrapping up Halloween by starting a two part segment on The Crow:

There is some great free running that happens on the rooftops in this film, as evidenced by this scene.

This is one of my favorite solos of all time and such a great example of how you can use music to convey heartfelt emotions without resorting to verbal exposition. This solo was inspiration for one of the tracks on a upcoming Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, entitled “Mourn of the Midnight Phoenix.”

The score done by Graeme Revell is great. One of my favorite tracks on the score is this one.

To be continued next week!

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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:

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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #34 and Like a Hood Ornament #40: Toymaking Updates, Watching the Rocketeer Cartoon Episode 19, and Reading The Howard the Duck Movie Novelization Part 11

https://archive.org/download/podcast-324/Podcast%20324.mp3

Welcome to the first part of the Halloween editions of The Thirteenth Hour podcast! This week, we’re discussing a few toymaking updates, reading the next section of the Howard the Duck novelization, and watching the Halloween episodes from The Rocketeer cartoon.

Toymaking stuff first: with the spare resin that comes from making other things, I’ve been saving a bit for these little helmets to become (once finished) to Rocketeer helmets for the Lego Rocketeer minifigures to be donated to charity auctions:

There’s always resin left over after a project, so I generally pour it off into another easy to use mold, like this one. Some of those projects:

The Beverly minifgures – still got to clean up the flashing along the seam lines and touch up a bunch of other parts (basically consisting of lots of filing, sanding, etc. edges and other parts, perhaps also strengthening the guitar necks). Then they will be ready for painting (at least the non glow in the dark ones).

Lastly, it’s rough, but I finally have a prototype cast Logan made from flexible Smooth-On Smooth Cast 45 D resin for the limbs and head and Smooth-On Smooth Cast 300 resin for the torso. I might try to make one that is all made of 45 D since I might be able to make it translucent, which would be fun. Now, it’s just a matter of fine tuning the casting process to make sure the limbs can reliably fit inside the torso – which they did on the initial non-cast prototype but somewhere along the lines, something got lost in translation after casting and tolerances that were tight are no longer.

We’re also watching the next episode of the Rocketeer cartoon (number 19) … the Halloween episode! Some screenshots:

You can see Kit’s dressed up like a WW1 pilot for Halloween, making her look just like Cliff in the beginning of the film or in various pages of the comic by Dave Stevens.

We are are reading the next section of the Howard the Duck from the movie novelization.

The author added another humorous aside calling back to our episodes on The Wizard of Loneliness, where “Lord, love a duck” was a frequent utterance.

Happy Halloween!

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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:

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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #323 and Like a Hood Ornament #39: Toymaking Updates, Watching the Rocketeer Cartoon Episode 18, and Reading The Howard the Duck Movie Novelization Part 10

https://archive.org/download/podcast-323/Podcast%20323.mp3

This past week, I have been waiting for some new resin to arrive for the Logan and Aurora Kenner style figures. In the meantime, I have been working on these Lego Rocketeer minifigures to be donated to charity auctions. Here’s what I’ve got so far:

The packs and helmets are being resin cast. As I mentioned in the episode, I think I will use magnets to attach the rocketpacks, at least the ones not intended for kids. (Rare earth magnets and small children are a bad combo).

We’re also watching the next episode of the Rocketeer cartoon (number 18) … Some screenshots:

… and readung the next section of the Howard the Duck from the movie novelization.

The author added this especially humorous segment:

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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:

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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #322 and Like a Hood Ornament #38: Toymaking Updates, Watching the Rocketeer Cartoon Episode 17, and Reading The Howard the Duck Movie Novelization Part 9

https://archive.org/download/podcast-322/Podcast%20322.mp3

This past week, I made a mold for the Logan and Aurora Kenner style figures. There will need to be another one, since the torso halves are being made with different resin.

Make molds can be messy business …

These guys are about to be slimed …

Like this: https://www.tiktok.com/@13thhr/video/7016844956908244230

@13thhr Oh snap! The Thirteenth Hour #actionfigures are happening! Pouring the first mold … @Smooth-On, Inc. #customactionfigures #thethirteenthhour ♬ Searching for Forever (Instrumental) – Joshua Blum

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Joshua Blum Author & Artist (@the13thhr)

We’re also reading the next episode of the Rocketeer cartoon (number 17) …

And starting the next chapter of Howard the Duck from the movie novelization!

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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:

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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #321: Welcome Actress Catherine Mary Stewart As We Discuss Samurai Cowboy and More

https://archive.org/download/podcast-321/Podcast%20321.mp3

This week, we are welcoming actress Catherine Mary Stewart to the show!

You may know her from classic films such as Night of the Comet, The Last Starfighter, and Weekend at Bernie’s. Although those are some of my favorite films of all time (and we do touch on aspects of some of those movies in this episode – I mean, how could you not?), I thought it’d be fun to highlight an underrated gem that is hard to find but still very worth your time – 1994’s Samurai Cowboy. Here’s the premise …

The film starts in Japan with Japanese subtitles. We see legions of modern samurai (salarymen and women) commuting in jam-packed Tokyo subways …

Our hero, Yutaka Sato (singer Hiromi Go) and his best friend, Goro (J. Max Kirishima), work and party hard, though the stressful life of a modern business samurai is not what Yukata desires. He longs to be a cowboy in the Wild West. I thought Hiromi Go did a great job in a role that was part serious, part comedic. He also gets to showcase his vocals by singing karaoke at least once as well as “Home on the Range.”

After tragedy makes it hard to stay in Japan, Yutaka decides to emigrate to the US and buys a Montana ranch sight unseen, hoping it will be the Ponderosa of his dreams. Reality, however, is a bit harsher, just like the pile of cow caca that he is about to step in here.

It also doesn’t take long for the small-mindedness of the locals to make itself known (this was filmed at a time of a fair amount of fear/resentment at Japan in the West). Yutaka does start to find non-bigoted allies, though. He teams up with an semi-retired cowboy, Gabe (Robert Conrad of The Wild, Wild West TV show) and an American Indian artist, Jack Eagle Eye (Byron Chief-Moon), he sticks up for soon after getting to town.

It’s hard to capture breathtaking vistas like this on film and have it translate to the feeling of being there, but I thought they did a really nice job on the cinematography. Maybe someone can chime in and correct me, but this landscape looks a lot like Glacier National Park to me. The peak they refer to as the Indian Chief looking a lot like Grinnell Glacier.

One of the non-bigoted locals that Yutaka befriends is a local veterinarian, Dr. Jessie Collins (our guest, Catherine Mary Stewart), who has the enviable job of riding around the country to get to the animals she rounds on. Here she is dispatching a cow who isn’t doing so great while Yutaka slips on the snow since he doesn’t have boots fit for the weather.

What kind of Western would it be without six guns? When Yutaka gets himself some clothes more appropriate for ranching, he spies a gaudy revolver in a case at the front of the store and can’t resist (though actually hitting anything is a different matter).

The beginnings of a romance start to blossom between our samurai cowboy and Jessie. I have to hand it to the filmmakers – it was pretty unusual at the time for Asian males to ever get to be the romantic lead in a Western-made film. The only person I can think of is Brandon Lee, who I talked about on here before. I’m sure there were others, but I’m struggling to come up with ones made in the West at the time that were not martial arts themed films. Of course, Yutaka, being Japanese, naturally has to know martial arts (which, to be fair, he uses to good effect at various points in the film), but stereotypes aside, in some ways it makes sense – he calls his ranch “The Dojo Ranch” since he views it as a place of focus and betterment and given the title, you kind of expect that the guy would be able take care of himself as any modern Samurai should, right?

Yutaka also recruits a black hip hop artist (Bradley Rapier) who gets stranded in town, offering him a job to help out on the Dojo Ranch, thus completing the team.

Together, Yutaka and company take on a corrupt local land developer, Colt Wingate (Matt McCoy) who wants Yutaka’s ranch for his own scorched earth plans. Yutaka ain’t selling, though …

Despite Wingate’s attempt to make life difficult for Yutaka, he and his compatriots decide the best way to go forward is to actually do what Yutaka set out to be – a cowboy … meaning that he and his ranchers need to herd the Dojo Ranch cattle old school-style to a town some distance away to be sold, ensuring Yutaka will have enough money to not default on his ranch loan. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Western if there weren’t a dramatic showdown at the end. The way they handled it, though, I thought was nice.

And it wouldn’t be a Western without a few sunset vistas like this. Breathtaking!

Unfortunately, although I’d highly recommend finding this movie to watch yourself, it’s not the easiest thing to do, even if you go the bootleg path. Thankfully, eBay is your friend in this arena.

If you are unable to find a copy of the film or don’t have a VHS player to play it on, you can still get a sense of what the movie is like with the clips we discussed in the podcast. As mentioned, you can actually watch them as well. Please excuse the video quality, however, since the video is coming courtesy of the Zoom call I recorded, so it won’t be quite as smooth as it were playing in real time. However, you’ll at least have some visuals for the commentary in case you want to watch along with the podcast.

I interspersed the Samurai Cowboy movie clips with a little 6 question quiz we had fun playing that touches on some bits from The Thirteenth Hour and classics like The Last Starfighter and Night of the Comet that Catherine was in. There are a few questions where it helps to have visuals, which you can find them in the compilation below:

If you’re a Patreon member, you’ll find some “extended scenes,” so to speak, in the latest Patreon podcast episode (#10).

Thanks to Catherine Mary Stewart for joining the show! Learn more about her on:

–IMDB (how I found Samurai Cowboy!)

–Instagram

–Twitter

–Facebook

–Cameo

Lastly, since it’s now the month of October, I think I should get on that sequel to The Last Rocketeer I wrote last year mashing up The Last Starfighter and The Rocketeer (two of my favorite things!). The story ends in a very Halloween specific way, so now that Halloween is approaching, I figure that if Cliff Secord from The Rocketeer and Centauri from The Last Starfighter are good, then adding someone who may or may not be Dracula must be better. Is there a way Alex and Maggie from The Last Starfighter can make a cameo, too? Hmm … looking forward to writing it!

Thanks for tuning in!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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:

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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #320: Toymaking Updates and Reading The Howard the Duck Movie Novelization Part 8

https://archive.org/download/podcast-320/Podcast%20320.mp3

This past week, I have finally got around to making the mold for the Beverly Switzler minifigure. I made a two part mold that attempted to protect what I figured would be a delicate area of the figure (the neck of the guitar) but the realized after the facts that certain other delicate parts, like the guitar strap, would probably get caught in the mold and not make it out successfully. So that part I may have to add later. Here are some steps involved:

Add a clay backing to make one half…

Then preparing for the second layer, including adding a bunch of air vents …

A quick video showing the pouring of the mold:

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Joshua Blum  Author & Artist (@the13thhr)

And now, speaking of which, back to the duck! The zaniness continues in this eighth reading of the movie novelization Ellis Weiner, based on the screenplay by Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz. This is the infamous section of the story where Howard and Beverly almost hook up … or do they? It’s handled here in the novel much less awkwardly than in the film, I must say!

Lastly, all proceeds to The Thirteenth Hour Studio on Etsy over Sept will be donated to the Red Cross (RedCross.org) for Hurricane Ida Relief. Check the link below to support those affected, still in the midst of the pandemic, with 80s retro art (music-books-toys). Your purchases help those in need get back on their feet!

https://etsy.me/34VP4tf

Stay tuned for more!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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:

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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #319: Toymaking Updates and Reading The Howard the Duck Movie Novelization Part 7

https://archive.org/download/podcast-319/Podcast%20319.mp3

This past week, I’ve made some toy progress: 1.) on my Alumilite resin experiment – just finished this translucent metallic blue Rocketeer (Pledge Floor Polish really helps to bring back the sheen after sanding), as well as 2.) with the 5 POA Kenner-style Logan and Aurora from The Thirteenth Hour. Logan is basically ready to go. Aurora needs a few more details but is about 80% complete. Once these guys are done, it will be time for making the molds and casting the pieces. The exciting part will be assembling the pieces to see how they all fit together.

Also, I want to thank all of you who took the time to write in and leave reviews on Apple Podcasts. The process of doing so should be easier than it actually is, especially for all the non-Apple users. Don’t worry if you tried but it didn’t work. Just posting it on social media and tagging me works great, too, and frankly, is probably a hell of lot easier. Game developer Antonio Scacchetti, who left one of the reviews, was on the show twice before (see episode 123 and the 2 parter: 252 & 252). Check out Dev9k for more info on their projects!

And now, speaking of which, back to the duck! The zaniness continues in this sixth reading of the movie novelization Ellis Weiner, based on the screenplay by Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz. This is the section of the story where Howard rage quits, gets in a bar fight, and reunites with Beverly.

This week’s bit of 80s trivia comes in the form of inventor and entrepreneur Sir Clive Sinclair, who sadly passed away recently. He was instrumental in developing the pocket calucator and personal computer for the masses. He also happened to shar a last name with a certain actor in the 1991 film of The Rocketeer, so I used that as a way to throw in a bit of 80s trivia in the short story, “The Last Rocketeer,” which you can read here. It always seemed to me that Cliff Secord would have liked video games if they’d been invented in his day, so I figured why shouldn’t he get to enjoy them in his golden years? 1983, to be exact.

Lastly, all proceeds to The Thirteenth Hour Studio on Etsy over Sept will be donated to the Red Cross (RedCross.org) for Hurricane Ida Relief. Check the link below to support those affected, still in the midst of the pandemic, with 80s retro art (music-books-toys). Your purchases help those in need get back on their feet!

https://etsy.me/34VP4tf

Stay tuned for more!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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:

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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #316: Reading The Howard the Duck Movie Novelization Part 4

https://archive.org/download/podcast-318/Podcast%20318.mp3

This past week, I’ve been experimenting with a new clear resin made by the company Alumilite, testing it out with some of my old molds just to get the hang out it. It takes a lot longer to cure and is a bit more fiddly / messy than the others I’ve used, but each resin has its own personality, so to speak, and I like the option of being able to make clear or translucent figures, which is what this one can do. Here’s an example of a Rocketeer one I started:

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Joshua Blum  Author & Artist (@the13thhr)

At this point, I have a prototype of the 5 POA Kenner-style Logan from The Thirteenth Hour (I was running low on primer here and just had a bit or blue and silver paint/primer left, leaving him looking like the Tinman from The Wizard of Oz, though that will mostly get sanded down in the finishing process). There is also the start to one for Aurora (made so far from a She-Ra torso and legs – picked because it was one of the few figures like this that came with a skirt – and an Erica (from Red Dawn) head (since she has the great 80s big hair).

Logan here post sculpting, pre priming …

Post priming, pre sanding …

Aurora is kitbashed from two Reaction figures, as mentioned above. I thought they did a really nice job on the head sculpt. Usually these figures look kind of generic, but this one actually looks like the actress (Lea Thompson, who, ironically was Beverly in Howard the Duck). Since Aurora’s personality and hair was modeled in part on Beverly from Howard the Duck, it was a nice coincidence that I could find a head sculpt that worked for this figure. More to come in the coming weeks …

And now, speaking of which, back to the duck! The zaniness continues in this sixth reading of the movie novelization Ellis Weiner, based on the screenplay by Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz. This is the section of the story where Howard storms out of the museum, strikes out on his own, and tries to get a job.

Totally random, but check out this Kool-Aid ad / pamphlet from probably the late 80s or early 90s. My mother in law saved it, and it made its way to our house. I thought, “I must share these gems with the world.” And here it is … enjoy! And if anyone has tried a blue Kool Aid – Jello smoothie, I would love to know what you thought.

Lastly, all proceeds to The Thirteenth Hour Studio on Etsy over Sept will be donated to the Red Cross (RedCross.org) for Hurricane Ida Relief. Check the link below to support those affected, still in the midst of the pandemic, with 80s retro art (music-books-toys). Your purchases help those in need get back on their feet!

https://etsy.me/34VP4tf

Stay tuned for more!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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:

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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #317 and Like a Hood Ornament 37: Reading The Howard the Duck Movie Novelization Part 5, Rocketeer News, and Toymaking Updates

https://archive.org/download/podcast-317/Podcast%20317.mp3

Some interesting news this week. The Rocketeer is supposedly getting a sequel! Now, I am not holding my breath, since there have been sequel rumors for years, and so far, they have all died on the vine. But it is exciting, nonetheless. Even if nothing comes of it, if it generates some interest in Dave Steven’s original comics and the 1991 film for a new generation, I view that as a win.

One thing that does seem more tangible, since it is slated for a release next month, is a beautiful Rockeeter board game. Now, I gotta be honest, board games have never really been my thing. Half the time, when I read the instructions, I go, “What? I don’t understand what the hell you are supposed to do. Who wrote these things?” Also, maybe once my kids are older and we can all play them together, it will be a different story, but most of the ones more complicated that Candy Landy require a level of concentration pretty much making them a no-go for the little ones. But … that is not to say that will always be the case! Plus, game or no game, I would buy this one for the little miniature Rocketeer figurines alone (which I was thinking of trying to make a few months ago – this saves me the trouble)! I will be looking forward to this one this fall for sure.

Speaking of The Rocketeer, I am using a Reaction Rocketeer figure as the base of the body for a 5 POA Kenner-style figure of Logan from The Thirteenth Hour. The head will be modified from a figure of the Charlie Sheen character from Red Dawn. Just need to do a few more touch ups and then make it all go together smoothly. More to come shortly.

Here are a few pictures of the Beverly minifigure I have been working on for the past few months: Just about done, I think. Just a few touch ups here and there.

And now, speaking of which, back to the duck!

This is the section in the story where Howard meets Phil (a young Tim Robbins). There are some really funny asides the author, Ellis Weiner, added for this segment:

Lastly, all proceeds to The Thirteenth Hour Studio on Etsy over Sept will be donated to the Red Cross (RedCross.org) for Hurricane Ida Relief. Check the link below to support those affected, still in the midst of the pandemic, with 80s retro art (music-books-toys).

https://etsy.me/34VP4tf

Stay tuned for more!
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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:

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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #316: Reading The Howard the Duck Movie Novelization Part 4

https://archive.org/download/podcast-316/Podcast%20316.mp3

This week, we’re again taking a short break from the 30th anniversary of The Rocketeer by celebrating the 35th anniversary of my another of my favorite films, Howard the Duck. The zaniness continues in the movie novelization of Howard the Duck by Ellis Weiner, based on the screenplay by Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, though with a number of humorous and satirical additions that were unique to the novelization. Some of those are also found in the three part comic adaptation that came out about the same time as the film and novel. A few screenshots:

As mentioned in previous weeks, there is a Howard the Duck documentary, Howard the Doc, currently being created with interviews from some of the original writers / cast / crew. I do believe it is the only one that has ever been attempted for this first of all Marvel movies.

It is in the final stages of production. Their team needs some love / support / bucks to help complete the project, and you can support them on Indiegogo. Some crowdfunding platforms don’t result in any funding going to the creators if the final goal is not met, but in this case, the filmmakers will get it every penny that you contribute even if the final target is not met. If you have love for the 1986 film, comic, the original cast/crew, or 80s movies in general, please consider taking a look at the campaign, sharing on your social media, or contributing. Hopefully, then we can all see the final product!

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/howard-the-doc-documentary-finishing-funds

Some screenshots of the production with Ed Gale (who was inside Howard), Jeffrey Jones (a.k.a. the principal who get booted in the face in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off), and Lea Thompson.

The minifigure that I am making of Beverly, along with a portrait of Howard, is now a perk if you contribute at the $125 level. Check out the fundraiser above; I believe it is ending on 8/30, so spread the word!

Stay tuned for more!
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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:

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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

View Details

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #315: Reading The Howard the Duck Movie Novelization Part 3

https://archive.org/download/podcast-315/Podcast%20315.mp3

This week, we’re again taking a short break from the 30th anniversary of The Rocketeer by celebrating the 35th anniversary of my another of my favorite films, Howard the Duck. The zaniness continues in the movie novelization of Howard the Duck by Ellis Weiner, based on the screenplay by Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, though with a number of humorous and satirical additions that were unique to the novelization. So far, I’m liking the novel version of Howard more than the movie version (some screenshots below from the film of this segment).

In this part of the chapter, we learn a little more about Beverly Switzler, the frontswoman of Cherry Bomb, an all female band essentially created for the film. Howard, sleeping in a garbage can, meets Beverly, who has just played a disappointing gig and gets accosted by some overly intrusive “fans.” He fakes some “quack fu” and scares the things away, though as in the film, Bev hardly sits passively at the sidelines.

I found some drawings I believe done by Joe Tompkins, the costume designer for the film. There’s a collection of sketches he did that you can see from the film for Beverly and Howard (click below for more info):

Speaking of the film, there is a Howard the Duck documentary, Howard the Doc, currently being created with interviews from some of the original writers / cast / crew. I do believe it is the only one that has ever been attempted for this first of all Marvel movies.

It is in the final stages of production. Their team needs some love / support / bucks to help complete the project, and you can support them on Indiegogo. Some crowdfunding platforms don’t result in any funding going to the creators if the final goal is not met, but in this case, the filmmakers will get it every penny that you contribute even if the final target is not met. If you have love for the 1986 film, comic, the original cast/crew, or 80s movies in general, please consider taking a look at the campaign, sharing on your social media, or contributing. Hopefully, then we can all see the final product!

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/howard-the-doc-documentary-finishing-funds

Some screenshots of the production with Ed Gale (who was inside Howard), Jeffrey Jones (a.k.a. the principal who get booted in the face in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off), and Lea Thompson.

Stay tuned for more!
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

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:

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!

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.com
Book trailer: http://bit.ly/1VhJhXY
Interested in reading and reviewing The Thirteenth Hour for a free book? Just email me at writejoshuablum@gmail.com for more details!

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast: Recent Episodes

Joshua Blum