The Metamor City Podcast

Production Crew:

Producer: Chris Lester
Assistant Producers: Bill Bowman, Bryan Watson
Art & Graphic Design: Arthur Wright
Cover Artist: Jeff Himmelman
WordPress Theme Created By: Gurdit
Writers: Chris Lester, Bryan Watson, Nobilis

Cast in order of appearance:

Chris Lester

(Host, Narrator, Assorted Voices)

Chris is a self-proclaimed “mad scientist in training.” He has been telling stories for about as long as he can remember, and credits a writing contest in elementary school for introducing him to his muse. Trained as a biologist at the University of California-Santa Cruz, he received his master’s degree in 2004 and promptly went out to try to start a career in the middle of the worst job market the American scientific community had seen in half a century. He is now working in corporate America while looking for new opportunities to use his powers for good. When he isn’t writing, he enjoys role-playing games, playing piano and guitar, sketching and digital painting, and playing with two Shiloh Shepherds, Neo and Zoji.

You can find out more about Chris at his personal web space, www.chrislester.org. This picture of Chris was taken by the lovely and extremely talented JR Blackwell, and is used by permission.

Leann Mabry
(Morgan Drauling, guest narrator)

The world is not ready for Leann Mabry. Her Parsec Award-winning show, Tag in the Seam, has become a fantastic example of the creativity inherent of the podcasting community and has now led to offers of her life-long dream: voiceover work. In addition to her role in The Metamor City Podcast, Leann’s vocal talents can be heard in the following podcasts:

Pseudopod, Episode #20, “What You Wish For”
Billibub Baddings and the Case of the Singing Sword, by Tee Morris
Murder at Avedon Hill, by P.G. Holyfield
Crescent, by Phil Rossi
Variant Frequencies, several episodes

In 2007 Leann was awarded the Parsec Award for Tag in the Seam and the Joe Murphy Memorial Award for her contributions to the podcasting community, most notably her efforts in founding the Joe Murphy Memorial Fund. A resident of the Deep South for most of her life, Leann now lives in Phoenix, Arizona.

Beq Vyper
(Callie Linder)

A veteran D&D player from the 1st Edition years, Beq Vyper is a woman of a dozen Internet aliases and a half-dozen gaming addictions, and she can probably kick your ass at any of them. She is also an amateur writer who has crafted what is probably the single most detailed Babylon 5 story arc that anyone has ever devised without actually being paid to do so. She works in Metro Detroit as a landscaping designer.

Bill Bowman
(Trajan, Victor hin’Kavos)

Another veteran D&D player, “Bilbo” never knew that he wanted to be a voice actor until Chris asked him to try out for The Metamor City Podcast. By day he works as a tech support specialist, solving problems with “computers and the people who use them.” He lives in Metro Detroit with his wife, his newly-requisitioned son, and two deranged canines.

Heather Nowak
(Abbey Preston)

Heather met Chris in 1996 when they were both working as lowly laboratory assistants at Macomb Community College. By sheer coincidence she began attending youth group at Chris’s church that same year, where she was instrumental in showing Chris that spending time with friends really could be more interesting than sitting at home watching Babylon 5 reruns. Over the years she has worked as a Certified Massage Therapist, an emergency medical technician, and a midwife’s assistant, and is now taking classes to become an accountant. She lives in Metro Detroit with her husband and their two daughters.

Paulette Vallad
(Mother Annabelle, Assorted Voices)

Paulette Vallad always wanted to be a voice in a cartoon, so when Chris presented the call for character actors for Metamor City, she jumped at the chance. She lives in Metro Detroit, Michigan, where she serves as a corporate wage slave for the monstrous automotive industry. You’ll find her at any Detroit intersection, sitting in traffic, singing at the top of her lungs along with the radio.

Cunning Minx
(Jenna Hartmann)

Minx is the creator and host of Polyamory Weekly, a podcast that explores the topic of responsible non-monogamy and deals with “really lascivious things, like communication and honesty in relationships.” She has also read several stories for Escape Pod, the weekly science fiction podcast magazine, where her sultry voice has fast become the stuff of legends. She lives in Chicago.

Mur Lafferty
(Trisha)

The Grande Dame of Podcasting, Mur is the creator and host of Geek Fu Action Grip and I Should Be Writing, the co-author of Tricks of the Podcasting Masters, and the author of the Parsec Award-nominated Heaven series of podcast novels, as well as the forthcoming podcast novel Playing For Keeps. She is also a long-time freelance writer for the RPG industry and a regular columnist for Knights of the Dinner Table and Grumble Magazine. She lives in Durham, North Carolina with her husband, her dog, and a daughter whom she often refers to as the Pink Tornado. And yes, she does know kung fu. (This picture of Mur was also taken by JR Blackwell, and is used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 2.0 license.)

Bryan Watson
(Artax, Brian Sommers)

An amateur writer and marmiton extraordinaire, Bryan grew up about three miles away from Chris but never met him until the fall of 2004, when a mutual friend brought him to a Bible study at Chris’s house. They quickly became friends when they discovered a shared love for science fiction, C.S. Lewis, and snarky commentary. Bryan lives in Metro Detroit.

Dani Cutler
(Sasha King)

Dani Cutler is the host of the political podcast Truth Seekers, a contributor to the Pickle News team and SFF Audio, a podiobook reviewer for Podiobooker, and the overnight announcer with kwss 106.7 out of Phoenix, AZ. She also does voice acting and editing work for Dream Realm Enterprises. In her spare time, Dani is a mother of two (four, if you count husband and dog), plays the viola occasionally, and chats online WAY too much.

Christiana Ellis
(Fiona hin’Conaill)

Christiana is the author and host of the Parsec Award-nominated podcast novel Nina Kimberly the Merciless, a book that has been described by Tee Morris as “The Princess Bride if Monty Python wrote it.” Her vocal talents have been featured in P.G. Holyfield’s Murder at Avedon Hill and Tee Morris’s Billibub Baddings and the Case of the Singing Sword, and she is also the co-host of Talking About Stuff and SciFi Smackdown. She lives in North Carolina, where she spends her days working as a mild-mannered engineering consultant.

Donte Taylor
(Trace Umbara)

A veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, Donte served in Camp Pendleton, California and Quantico, Virginia. He was discharged in 1993 and has since pursued a career in music and acting. He is currently working alongside Chris at a title insurance company. He lives in Metro Detroit with his girlfriend and their three children.

`
Nobilis
(Del Matthews)

Nobilis is the creator and host of Nobilis Erotica, a podcast that airs erotic science fiction written by himself and others. He takes care of a disabled spouse, two children, and two cats, and is completely unsurprised to find that a background in defense research and software engineering is of no use in starting a career in writing. Extasy Books has published much of his work in e-book format, including the highly-rated novels Our Robot and Centaur.

P.G. Holyfield
(Kevin Darby)

P.G. is a writer, podcaster and former religious studies major. His first novel, Murder at Avedon Hill, is currently being released as a podcast, and features vocal contributions from many prominent members of the podcasting community. He has also appeared in Tee Morris’s podcast novel Billibub Baddings and the Case of the Singing Sword, where he played the part of Franklin Rothchild. He lives in Charlotte, North Carolina with his wife and family.

MA in PA
(Rebecca Brower)

MA is the host of Better Late Than Never, a podcast where she chats about genre fiction (both old and new) and shares the trials and adventures of her life as a geeky single mom. Her vocal work has also appeared on Pseudopod and Murder at Avedon Hill. As her nom de guerre implies, MA lives in Pennsylvania.

Heather Welliver
(Kathryn Kitaen, Stacy Sharabi)

Heather is a singer, a frequent guest host on the A.D.D. Cast, and the wife of Grailwolf, the host of Grailwolf’s Geek Life. She got involved with Metamor City because of an interview with MA in PA, who managed to convert her to the cause while she was supposed to be getting interviewed. Heather lives in the Washington D.C. area with her hubby and is always looking for new opportunities to use her prodigious vocal talents.

ׂ

Steve Eley
(Nathan Levy)

Steve Eley is the founder of Escape Artists, Inc., which provides podcasting education to the public and performs consulting and software development for the podcast industry. He is the editor and publisher of the ground-breaking podcast magazine Escape Pod, and the co-creator and publisher of Escape Artists’ other flagship titles, Pseudopod and Podcastle. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife Anna and son Alex.

Cat (Sci Fi Ranter Girl)
(Denise)

Cat, also known Sci Fi Ranter Girl, is the co-host of the Lipstick Aliens podcast, in which she and fellow geek-girl Lynne dish out their analysis and commentary on TV, movies and other forms of entertainment. She lives in Houston, Texas.

Tee Morris
(Evan Selindi)

Tee Morris is the author of several novels, including the historical-fantasy epic Morevi: The Chronicles of Rafe and Askana (which he co-wrote with Lisa Lee), the sequel Legacy of Morevi, and the fantasy/noir detective novel Billibub Baddings and the Case of the Singing Sword. He has also co-written several reference books on writing and podcasting, including Podcasting For Dummies, Expert Podcasting Practices For Dummies, and The Fantasy Writer’s Companion. Tee is one of the pioneers of podcast fiction: MOREVI was one of the first novels ever to be distributed in podcast form, and Tee has continued to advance the craft with The Billibub Baddings Podcast and MOREVI Remastered. He lives in Virginia and continues to freelance as a graphic artist, web designer, and video editor. (Photo by JR Blackwell.)

Philippa Ballantine
(Eva Selindi)

The best-known Kiwi in podcasting, Pip Ballantine is the creator and host of the Parsec Award-nominated Whispers At The Edge, where she talks about living at the bottom of the world and passes on what she’s found out about writing. So far she has had two books published: Weaver’s Web, which she has turned into a podiobook, and the award-nominated Chasing the Bard, the sequel of which will be out in the near future. Currently she is working on a series of fantasy novels set in New Zealand, as well as a dark and turbulent fantasy trilogy. You can find out more about Pip at her official website, The Pen and Sword.

Indiana Jim
(Crew Chief)

Jim Perry, aka Indiana Jim, is a writer, musician, blogger, husband, father, and podcaster. After being a regular voicemail contributor to Slice of SciFi, Dragon Page: Cover to Cover and other Farpoint Media shows for quite some time, Jim launched his own podcast, Things Are Looking Up, in which he gives an optimist’s perspective on the news, geek-related media topics, and anything else that’s close to his heart. In 2007 he released his first venture into audio fiction, an original (and farcical) short story called Thesis A Fantasy. Jim lives in Indiana (shudder gasp) with his wife and three children.

Jessica Sharrow
(Josephine Matthews)
After spending over a year listening to podcasts of all kinds, Jessica failed to find one that covered her one true passion — NASCAR – so in 2007, with a friend, The Cup Car Update was launched. She has also read a Story so Far for Scott Sigler’s Nocturnal. Jessica is a Colorado Native, a wife, and mother to 2 active children.

Martha Puskas
(Miriam Bakhtavar)

The mother of Beq Vyper, Martha enjoys playing handbells, singing in the choir, directing and acting in various dramatic productions, and running the Vacation Bible School (VBS) for her church. In spite of her various creative skills and a list of social activities that would exhaust many younger people, she still claims to have gone through life without having done anything particularly interesting or noteworthy. She lives in Metro Detroit.

J. C. Hutchins
(William Westerson)

“Hutch”, as he is known to his fans, is the author of the smash hit podcast novel 7th Son. After a successful career as a journalist, during which time he wrote for such diverse publications as The Palm Beach Post, the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Lexington Herald-Leader (Ky.), and Wizard: The Comics Magazine, Hutch left the newspaper business in 2002 to focus on writing his novel, which eventually became the 7th Son podcast trilogy. Hutch lives in South Florida, where he is hard at work on his next novel.

Sara Lloyd
(Danni Sharabi, Caitlyn)

Sara discovered The Metamor City Podcast through her friend and co-worker, Bryan Watson. While she had never done any acting before, she was intrigued by the world and its stories and eager to try her hand at voicing a character. A former band geek, she credits her musical training with giving her the confidence (and lung power) necessary for voice acting. A native of Texas, she now resides in Metro Detroit, Michigan.

Jason Adams
(Jared Tamlin)

Jason is the creator and host of the Random Signal podcast, which dishes out interesting and eclectic podsafe music from around the world. He is also the co-host (with Mur Lafferty) of the Geek Fu Morning Show and the former co-host (also with Mur Lafferty) of lulu.tv’s vidcast This Day In Alternate History. When he’s not roaming the time/space continuum with Mur, Jason can be found in North Carolina with his wife and daughter.

Chris Miller
(Egan Hunter)

Chris Miller is a senior software engineer for Mahalo, a Co-founder and lead developer for Podiobooks.com, and a Parsec-award nominated podcaster. He lives in Cleveland, Ohio with his very tolerant wife, two daughters, one son, one frog, one cat, one rabbit, and one internet connection.

Kevin Batchelder
(Hotel Night Manager)

Kevin first became interested in sci-fi by watching the original Star Trek series in reruns during the early 70’s. Along with Firefly the other popular sci-fi and fantasy topics he enjoys are Farscape, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, The Matrix and The X-Files. He is a regular contributor to Firefly Talk and The Signal and co-hosts The ScapeCast, a Farscape-oriented show. Kevin has worked as a computer network support engineer for many years. He lives near Boston, Massachusetts with his lovely wife and two daughters.

TD-0013
(Malcolm ard’Valos)

TD-0013 is the writer and host of the podcast A Different Point of View, which is a look at the Star Wars universe through the eyes of an Imperial Stormtrooper. He can be heard on various other podcasts, lending his voice to many projects such as Billibub Baddings and the Case of the Singing Sword, Three Edged Sword, Variant Frequencies, and 7TH SON: OBSIDIAN. He is a former professional stuntman and has been seen on television in various programs, the most recent being the 2007 Rose Parade. TD-0013 lives in a bunker in an undisclosed location with his faithful droid, QT 3.14159.

Kimi Alexandre
(Seralina Greyhaven)

A former webcam girl and current tarot reader, Kimi is the host of Tale Chasing, a podcast for writers and readers of urban fantasy. She also runs the blog Kimiko Dreams and produces the podcasts Power in Practice and Sex & Power Play, which give advice to both sides of the BDSM lifestyle. She is working toward earning her black belt and will soon be launching Guardians, her first urban fantasy podcast novel.

Mindy Marlatt
(Fiona’s Mother)

As a youngster, Mindy fell in love with science fiction, fantasy and horror, spending countless hours watching the many memorable films that played at her family’s cinema. Sharing her father’s love of film, and seeing that the job of Princess Leia had already been filled, Mindy studied the art of Special Effects Make up and graduated from the prestigious Joe Blasco School where she studied under some of Hollywood’s most notable make up professionals. Since 2000, Mindy has been working in the film and television industry as a professional special effects make-up artist. She is a regular contributor to Firefly Talk.

James Watson
(Levinson)

Jim Watson retired from Chrysler Corporation and has spent the last several years trying to catch up on his list of things to do. He enjoys furniture making and tinkering with old cars, He recently rebuilt a ‘63 Willys and is currently working on a ‘46 DeSoto. A lifelong Sci-Fi fan, he recalls reading some of the “Grand Masters” when they were still alive and writing. He and Nancy, his wife of 35 years, split their time between Florida and Michigan. He is Bryan Watson’s father and admits to being older than sand, but not older than dirt.

Joseph Russell
(Jon Tunstall)

Joey is a young man struggling his way through college while still trying to be a kid. As he himself has pointed out, that doesn’t always work too well, because being an immature grown-up is inherently contradictory. He discovered Metamor City through his connections to Bryan Watson, who used to work on youth staff at Joey’s church. Besides kicking and screaming his way though community college, Joey loves extreme sports, playing guitar, reading, writing, watching movies of all kinds, and causing general mischief.

Sub Pages:

• Metamor City T-Shirts