Time and life have a way of sneaking up on you. At least that’s how I feel lately. I’ve been learning some of the subtle points of the “Art of Bending with the Wind” over the last year and a half, and I’ve discovered I’m not nearly as limber as I thought I was. This has caused profound personal reflection which I hope to put to good use in many areas of my life.
And as it all applies to FETIDUS, I owe you a long overdue update.
First, I want to make sure you know that FETIDUS is alive and well, and I have been dying to release the remaining episodes. Yes, it has been coming along agonizingly slowly, but it is coming along. There is so much more to come, it’s insane, and I chip away at it one bit at a time. Yes, there have been an unusual number of unpredictable challenges, surprises and bumps along the way, but the good news is that I’m in the process of recording all 12 remaining episodes and FETIDUS will wrap up in the coming months. Finally.
At this point, I think it’s best to roll with the punches and revise/tweak some of my plans that I mentioned in The Unmortem Report #5. I hope you will understand and I gratefully, humbly ask for your patience. I am currently focusing on getting the whole package complete — I’ve decided to spend all my FETIDUS-related energy exclusively on wrapping up all the episodes at once, in an extended marathon of production. In the end, it will help speed up the release of the remaining episodes, and make for a much more consistent, sequential experience when all the episodes are ready.
So, I am planning to *re-launch* FETIDUS in the streamlined, Mk-II format that I indicated in The Unmortem Report #5, with all episodes complete! I will announce the re-launch date soon, as the details of the remaining recording sessions are finalized. Then, I’ll be able to release FETIDUS, starting fresh from the beginning, on a consistent, weekly basis, right through to the climactic ending.
When I started this huge project, I embarrassingly underestimated the level of work involved. It’s taking quite a while, but I can deal with a huge script, tons of audio production and an all-original music score written just for this story. That was very challenging and would have been fine, except I had no idea that my little family would experience so many surprises on the journey. From a bad car accident to numerous serious health issues to some other big life changes, there have been many times I’ve honestly been overwhelmed and tempted to just give up.
But I knew I couldn’t give up, and despite being EPICally behind schedule, waist-deep in the river of life, I knew I just could not cave in and call it quits. At times, I’ll confess that these delightful life surprises (which I’ve accepted as “normal life” for the time being) have been frustrating to navigate, and have required some tough personal adjustments. If I knew what I know now, I’d most certainly do things differently. 
I feel like I’ve really disappointed many of you who have been so supportive of this project right from the beginning, and there hasn’t been a day that’s passed that I’ve not thought about you. I’ve attempted to post updates many times, but held back because I felt you’d get bored rather quickly of what I felt was the same thing. At times I’ve invited you into my personal life, and I am so grateful for your support and even real-world friendships. But I haven’t wanted to overload you with that type of thing — after all, this is supposed to be a channel to share an exciting story of mystery, mayhem and escapism.
To those who have patiently waited for more episodes of the story, I apologize, and sincerely hope you’ll join me in the re-launch of FETIDUS and follow Art Blanchard on his journey all the way to the thrilling, twisted, edge-of-your-seat end.
I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again: I’ve been blown away by you all, by your support and even simply by the number of people that have downloaded FETIDUS episodes. Many, many thousands of people. Just amazing. I deeply appreciate you and thank you from the bottom of my post-apocalyptic heart! And I want to ask once more for your patience as I wrap up with this grand adventure. I’m producing episodes 9-20 all at once, right now, and it will be worth it. After all, FETIDUS is about making the world a better place, isn’t it? Well, you’ll see.
Yours in post-apocalyptic (and present-day) mayhem,
James Durham
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
So looking forward to the re-launch, but definitely take the time you need. You and your work deserve it!
Thank you so much for all the awesome work you do. Fetidus is an amazing story, an I can’t wait for new episodes.
Do watcha gotta do. We’ll be here when you’re done.
I’m sorry that you have had such a rough time lately, but people should remember, you are doing this for free. Although there is the expectation that you follow a schedule, anyone who doesn’t understand that life gets in the way is just wrong.
All the best, looking forward to seeing this complete!
I love the idea of a relaunch so we can capture and brainwa. . .I mean indoctrina. . .no that’s not it either, how about initiate new listeners into the world of FETIDUS. I can’t wait for the relaunch and the subsequent new content.
Great to hear the news…looking forward to the relaunch…
Masterpieces take time, and (as if it isn’t already) this story will be one.
Reading this post gave me a chill of excitement, James, keep the faith and we’ll all bask in the glory of the re-launch!
HI, I really love the story take your time… will be waiting …
I just finished The Unmortem Report #5 on iTunes. And I’m glad to see that the project isn’t dead, or undead as the case may be. I went looking for more episodes and found this website. Looking very very forward to the relaunch.
~your fan Eppie Black
This is an amazing production. Hats, wig and a thin slice of scalp off to you sir for a masterful job. If it wasn’t such a damn good story then no-one would care about delay between episodes. Remember that fact if anyone gives you a hard time : it’s actually a twisted kind of compliment. We’re all salivating in anticipation of the next morsel of FETIDUS and if some of us start foaming at the mouth in frustrated rage – well – we must be damned hungry. Would it help if I loomed over your shoulder and growled softly while you work?
Just heard your intro for the Closet Treats episode you did for Paul Elard Cooley.
If that was any indication of the quality of your forthcoming chapters, it’ll be well worth the wait.
Your tenacity is inspiring, your work as creepy as all get out.
Awesome.
life is what happens while we’re busy making other plans
John Lennon had it right. Believe me, I know all about life throwing curve balls at you, but you have to keep on and sometimes you have to make decisions to get rid of some of the things in your life that cause excess drama. I was in an accident some years ago that left me partially paralyzed and it turned my life (and my wife and 3 kids lives) completely upside down. You have to believe things will get better, or you end up digging a deeper hole for yourself.
Enough of my chatter, I hope things get better soon.. I look forward to the podcast continuing.
Very impressed with the quality of your podcast, at least the episodes that you’ve released thus far. Your original music is top shelf and quite frankly, you had already been achieving a very high level of production value. Haven’t had a chance to listen to the Unmortem reports (will be listening to those tonight, in fact) but the actual episodes 1-8 are amazing and VERY professionally done. All of us realize that you, and all the other fantastic authors/artists, are putting this amazing quality content out for free and this makes it so we, the listeners SHOULD be patient and curb our criticism, though this certainly is not always the case.
But even despite the low, low price and curbing our complaints, that does not make it any easier to reduce our anticipation and appetite for more. So please forgive us if we’re a wee bit impatient.
For what its worth, I’ve listened to a LOT of podcast novels (several hundreds), and other podcasts as well, and the quality of production of your podcast novel so far is already in the top 1-2% of all podcast novels available. In fact, I’d have to say that the production quality is superior to MOST commercially available audiobooks, such as those available on iTunes or Audible. Add to that the fact that the story itself is as good as any commercially available audiobook, podcast novel or commercially published novel, as well as that it is all original music, and frankly, I’m truly amazed.
Your talent is obvious with regard to a lot of things (music, recording techniques, voice talent). But as listeners (readers) the most important thing is the story, and I hope folks are not distracted by how good the rest of this product is (such as the music, voice work, and recording quality) to the point that they overlook the MAIN thing, and that is the writing. Mr. Durham, you are obviously a very talented man, and as such you have put out a product of amazing quality. It would be a good buy at any price but given that it is available for free it is just unreal. But I definitely wanted to make sure to let you know the most important aspect, the writing, is every bit as good as the rest of it, and every bit as good as the writing in 95% of the novels currently on the bestseller lists…..Seriously.
Bottom line, you should not be giving this away.
Almost forgot to add….
As I mentioned in my previous comment, I have listened to many podcast novels and commercial audiobook novels (and of course I’ve read many print novels as well, but that is not pertinent here at that moment). My best estimate is that over the years I’ve listened to many hundreds of audiobook novels, possibly approaching 1000.
I work from home and I do a lot of traveling. I usually do not listen to music either in the car while traveling or on the iPod or boombox while working. Instead I am almost always listening to an audiobook novel or short story collection. In fact I’m actually listening to one right now as I’m typing this! On average I probably go through roughly 4 or 5 audiobooks per week, depending on the length of the book and the amount of time I have available to listen from week to week. Honestly, I don’t remember the last book I actually READ in print. I do know it was more than 5 years ago.
Now, I don’t say all this to toot my own horn. I’m not even sure why anyone would want to brag about the fact that they are (nearly constantly) unplugged from reality and instead plugged into a fictitious world where zombies, vampires and other and varied forms of the undead not only exist, but are being protected by the government from those who might wish them harm. No, rather than to brag, I say all this as a preface to my following comment:
Your first 8 episodes of “FETIDUS: The Damned Heir” are as well produced as ANY of the other audiobooks to which I’ve EVER listened. There might be a FEW, perhaps 5-10 at MOST from those to which I’ve ever listened, that are of quality that is as good as yours with regard to production quality. But rest assured there is not a SINGLE one that is any better.
As far as the writing, the quality of your writing is better than about 98% of the commercially published authors, audio or print, that are out there today. The production quality of commercially available audiobooks from iTunes or Audible? Yours is only distinguishable from them in that yours is better than most of them and as good as any.
Your quality of writing is as good or better than ANY of the other novelists currently publishing via podcast. And I do mean ANY, including such notables as Scott Sigler, J.C. Hutchins, Mike Bennett, Matthew Wayne Selznick, and on and on and on (my apologies to any of the wonderful authors I did not name…there are just too many). Only a few of the currently available podcast novels, or any podcast for that matter, can match your production quality.
And one last thing you’ve got going for you, and this is not so much a skill as it is a gift from whomever decides about such things. You have one of the best voices for this and other sorts of voice work that I’ve ever heard. Very clear, very pleasant to the ear. I would imagine that you’re very good at voicing different characters as well (though its not done on the FETIDUS project because you wisely made the choice to use different voice actors to voice the different characters). I’d be very surprised if your ability to voice various characters does not match your other abilities.
So I guess thats it. I and most of the other fans of FETIDUS will wait patiently for the rest of the story. In the meantime we’ll recruit as many folks as we can and make it as big as possible.
(One small aside. In listening to the story so far I believe it would translate very well to a screenplay/script and into motion picture format. If the rest of the story does not take/make any big turns/changes as compared to the first 8 episodes, then I believe you could be very successful shopping this to the motion picture industry. Just saying… )
I’m so happy to hear that FETIDUS has not been abandoned!
I love this story!
Mr. Durham, let me begin by saying how awesome I think it is that YOUR name sounds like it could fit right in with the personae within FETIDUS, which I have been describing to friends and co-workers as Future-Noir Audio-drama. I have recently been exploring the podcast world and, fortuitously I think, ran across FETIDUS. My first impression of the voice acting and the music was that the character and tone of the production was in a way hyperbole or a bit overstated, but as I listened, it didn’t take me long into the first chapter that something in my mind snapped and I “got it” I think. The story and the characters became rich and heady suddenly, and I was vaulted into the world you have created. The voice acting is superb, and I’m so glad that I pick up on all the nuances- the timing especially kicks ass. Keep rocking!
I have to tell you, that many, many times I found myself grinning ear to ear, especially the adrenaline soaked 8th installment!
WOW!
Thanks man,
Cedric Price
Thank you all for your awesome comments! I am very inspired by all of you as I prepare for a marathon recording session for FETIDUS starting this weekend. I know the cast is psyched up about knocking out some great performances! Prebble (the voice of Leigh Donner) is starting off the marathon on Friday, and we’re going to have a great time recording everything for her part all the way through to the finale. Thank you again, and I hope you’ll enjoy the remaining episodes as much as we’re going to have making them!
Best, James