The Southern Extension was a seven episode podcast I produced in early 2023 that focused on stories behind my books: Dweller On The Boundary, Terminal Wake and Uncivil X.
The podcast has been archived and is no longer available on the web.
Episodes:
Episode One - Eight Years
In the premiere episode of The Southern Extension, Eight Years, I tell the story of what became of the person that the character Oliver was based. It is the true story.
The story begins on New Year's Eve 2009 in New York. A feeling comes over me and I renew my final search for Oliver that began decades before. It is a search that concludes in 2018 as I was writing my first novel, Dweller On The Boundary.
Episode Two - Straight From The Heart
This episode is about what character in my books is my favorite and why. I discuss the real person that inspired the character, how they were in person and where we fit on the social spectrum of the mid 1980s.
The
character may or may not have been my favorite person growing up, but I
loved basing a character on them. This person was very similar to me.
I also discuss one of the themes behind my novels and me that may not be so obvious.
It is impossible to capture an entire life story no matter how much we might try. In my books I condensed many stories from my life into more compact and cohesive narratives. Life is not always cohesive and it does not always speak to a larger theme.
In this episode of The Southern Extension, Faith, I tell an important true story from 1983 that I edited out of Dweller On The Boundary. It is a story about faith, dreams, hope and loss.
This story is from 1984 and is the true story of how I met the character named Rowe and the events that precipitated Blackout Log from Dweller On The Boundary. Possibly without any one of these events happening then I might never have met three boys in the woods.
In
this episode that begins at my elementary school I put this fateful
meeting into context as to what was happening in my eleven year old life
and lay the foundation for Blackout Log. It is a complex story and not as simple as what I wrote. This is the full story and spans episodes four and five.
This story is from 1984 and is the true story of how I met the character named Rowe and the events that precipitated Blackout Log from Dweller On The Boundary. Possibly without any one of these events happening then I might never have met three boys in the woods.
In the sixth episode of The Southern Extension, This Is Not A Game, I discuss the unexpected pressure, questions and other reactions that came after Dweller On The Boundary. I thought I was prepared for them, but I was mistaken. My life became a game to some readers and I never imagined that perspective.
It meant that some stories, Two Raindrops, could never be published because of the questions that would follow and the potential that an identity would be revealed. The censored postcard above is part of that story and it leaves a gaping hole in the overall story that I wanted to write. I had shared the postcard before, censored then too, before on social media. I had wanted to share that story, but after the fallout from my first novel, I cannot.
I wanted people to know what I wanted to tell them, but some wanted to take too much from me behind the scenes. This is why I am not likely to write about the second half of the 1990s too.
Episode Seven, The Gift
This is the final episode of The Southern Extension. I have decided to conclude the series early. There were three additional episodes planned and already produced, but I have decided to close the door.
This is an audio journey through the musical library of my family in the seventies and eighties presented as an underground mixtape combined with stories. If you are familiar with the Desert Island Discs series, then you will find that this is similar, but also different.
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