BONUS: J.C.’s family-filled Dragon*Con shout-out
September 4, 2008
Howdy, faithful Beta Clones! Sorry for the delay in posting new OBSIDIAN content, but as many of you know, I spent the past weekend at Dragon*Con … and as you’ll soon see, I obviously needed a few days to recover from the sleep deprivation. 
While I was in Atlanta, I did shoot a very brief video that delights me to no end. You get to meet a member of my family in this handheld minute-thirty masterpiece! You also get to see what I’m like in person, when in the company of my wonderful sister, Melissa. Enjoy … and expect OBSIDIAN to resume next week!
–J.C.
Why 7th Son fans rock my effing socks
August 26, 2008
Words cannot describe how awesome 7th Son listener Helljack is. From a recent blog post:
“I’ve mentioned J.C. Hutchins a couple of times in the past. His three-fucking-book atomic bomb of a tale 7th Son is something that vaults the line well past genius. If you have never tuned into single retinal-dilating, heart-stammering, brain-crushing chapter…then you, my friend, must either have an inner ear condition that inhibits your enjoyment of audio bliss or a serious desire to live your life to only half its enjoyment capabilities. Heh…yeah, it’s that good…”
I bet Stephen King himself doesn’t get such killer write-ups from readers. Helljack, you and every other 7th Son fan out there rock my little world.
–J.C.
Cool feedback from a REAL blackout…
June 19, 2008
The kindest comment an artist can receive is when he’s told that the value of his work transcends the media in which his art is being shared. That’s a fancy way of saying, “It’s really frickin’ cool when people think about your stuff long after they listen to it.”
Take this email I received today from Lorin in Pheonixville, Pennsylvania:
After listening to your “Voices from the Darkness” podcast at work, it really freaked me out when the lights suddenly went out in my apartment later that day. … The storm that followed was a mighty one — the wind was blowing, and my husband and I quickly jumped up in search of our flashlights.
After we resettled into seats at our kitchen table, I looked my husband and said I felt like I had steeped into “Voices from the Darkness.” He asked what I was talking about, and together we listened to the podcast as police sirens were heard in the distance and someone was cursing up a storm outside. It was really creepy! Too real for us! What a great way to listen to the podcast.
After listening, we sat in the darkness in the quiet, and I wondered what it would be like to live like that for several weeks, or even years! Blackouts never used to make me think about what it might like to be in one for longer than a day or so, until I started listening to the stories told throughout your podcasts. … Here’s hoping that we do not have a nationwide blackout anytime soon, because you are right — when the lights go out, chaos does reign!
For a guy like me, emails don’t get much better than that. According to Lorin, she’s in good hands when the lights go out: her husband is a former Eagle Scout, and is prepared for nearly any problem. Dig the photo: hubby whipped up a head-mounted flashlight solution later that evening so they could play Scrabble. How cool!
Thanks for the awesome email, Lorin … and thanks for reminding me that the best feedback an entertainer can receive is when he’s told that his work is being appreciated long after it’s been experienced.
–J.C.
John Alpha campaign takes to the blogosphere!
June 19, 2008
Yes! It appears that the bona-fide’s presidential campaign transcends mere bumper stickers. Behold, an excerpt from Robert Romero’s blog, in which he proclaims his loyalty to John Alpha in the upcoming U.S. election:
John Alpha: A fitting name for a new beginning that is desperately needed in our country. John Alpha is a visionary with a grand outlook for our country. He feels that he can truly bring the United States to a place of respectability and honor. He is a man of many skills, traits, and dare I say, personalities. His personality is so powerful that it seems like he is more than one person at the same time.
Rock on! Read the full text of Robert’s blog post here. And if YOU want to evangelize Alpha’s cause, either visit JohnAlphaForPresident.com to get your free bumper sticker, or just as cool, post a message of loyalty yourself on your blog, Twitter stream, Facebook or Myspace profiles! Be sure to email me your proclamation; I’ll be sure to spread the word.
Thanks, Robert, for casting your vote for Alpha. “A” is for America!
–J.C.
So long, Stan.
June 16, 2008
Stan Winston died yesterday, after a seven-year battle with cancer. He was 62.
There are few folks in the entertainment business who I truly, madly, deep-geek over. Stan Winston is one of them. He was the genius who brought Aliens and Terminators out of James Cameron’s mind and into the real world, on movie soundstages. He resurrected long-extinct full-size Tyrannosaurus Rexes for Spielberg’s “Jurassic Park” films. His Predator did more than kick Schwarzenegger’s ass — it scared me out of my mind. I still weep when I watch “Edward Scissorhands” … and while much of that can be credited to Johnny Depp’s performance (and Danny Elfman’s swirling score), that performance was informed by the Scissorhands costume, which Winston helped create.
Stan Winston was a collaborator — he made that clear in nearly every interview I’ve watched — and he wasn’t a one-man band: hundreds of brilliant creature creators and puppeteers worked at (or for) his Stan Winston Studio. I had the good fortune to interview one such employee back when Spielberg’s “A.I.” was in theaters. We spoke at length about the robotic teddy bear Winston’s team designed for that film, and we chatted briefly about Stan himself. In the end, this fellow told me Winston’s mission was to make the creatures look, act and feel as real as possible. Part of that hailed from performance and puppetry; the rest came from the design of the creatures, at which Stan Winston excelled.
Even long after preposterous computer-generated fakery stole the spotlight from practical creations such as Winston’s, he continued to be a player in the business. Most say the best in the business, and I’d be hard-pressed to disagree.
And why? Because Winston’s monsters (and sentient robots and dinosaurs and aliens) were real, real, tangible things that actors (and audiences) could see. We could sense these things actually occupied space, and had weight and depth. I’ll take a man in a rubber suit over a mess of animated pixels any day, because I can appreciate the craft, the sensibility, the reality inside the fantasy I’m witnessing. That’s something Stan Winston probably knew in his heart of hearts. Even in the great creative con that is storytelling and moviemaking, nothing beats the real.
It was this ultra-commitment to detail and a zealous drive for reality that always impressed me most about Winston’s work. Stan Winston convinced me that metal skeletons were terrifying, that hand-puppet-powered chestbursters were the ultimate in terror, and that, were I ever pitted against a velociraptor, I would lose. Badly.
Stan Winston made me believe — and that means he did his job. He was goddamned good at his job.
I wish you were still with us, Stan. I wish you could still wow us with new work for another decade, or two decades. But I’ve got a shelf of DVDs that will remind me of what you gave us — what you gave me — while you were here. It was all an illusion, as all filmmaking is, but you were one of the best illusionists in the world.
–J.C.
Tags: StanWinston
John Alpha supporter spotted in Kentucky — and it’s kin!
June 11, 2008
Jeepers, all right, I get it! I need to make a gallery for JOHN ALPHA ‘08 bumper sticker photos!
Behold, another John Alpha supporter — this one is an “Alpha Female,” and a very special one at that. This sticker is on my sister’s car! She lives in my home state of Kentucky — a hilly, lush, wonderful place that I miss somethin’ fierce.
Recently, Alpha Sis (as we’ll call her) upgraded her Internet connection to broadband, and — after more than two years of hearing about 7th Son (but not hearing the actual podcast) — has become a 7S geek of the highest order. This is unbelievably awesome for me, as Alpha Sis, in a great many ways, was the inspiration for the book’s character binary_fairy. She’s one of the most intelligent and driven people I know.
And so, here’s the third photo from the field of a JOHN ALPHA ‘08 public supporter! Rock on, sis! And if you want a free bumper sticker to show your Alpha affinity, visit the bona-fide’s campaign website!
(And I should probably start cooking up that photo gallery already…)
–J.C.
Yet another ALPHA ‘08 sticker spotted!
June 10, 2008
Methinks I should create a gallery in the “Fan-Created Content” section for these photos, should I receive a few more. Behold: more support for John Alpha’s villainous presidential campaign…
This image was provided by David van Sunder, from the terrific “Millionaire Or Bust” podcast. David slapped this bad boy onto his 12″ G4 Powerbook (a thing of beauty … I always wanted one of those), and now proudly finds himself among the psyjacked ranks of the Alpha Males (and Females)!
The sticker, of course, was free — thanks to John Alpha’s wicked campaign website. Do you want to show your support for the bona-fide? Bebop over there today, toss a self-addressed stamped envelope into the mail, and days later, you’ll receive your free JOHN ALPHA ‘08 bumper sticker!
This election, make a nuclear impact with your vote! A Is For America! Vote Alpha!
–J.C.
JOHN ALPHA ‘08 sticker spotted in the wild!
June 8, 2008
As mentioned in a recent 7th Son: OBSIDIAN episode, the villainous John Alpha is apparently alive and well, and is a player in this year’s U.S. presidential election! The bona-fide already has a campaign website, and is offering FREE promotional bumper stickers to faithful followers.
One such sticker was spotted in the wild today: Alpha acolyte DanTheFan (from of the killer Fanboy Hell and Otaku Generation podcasts) sent me this photo of his Macbook. Behold, the Alpha Male loyalty! (And try to ignore that reference to Ssssssigler in the upper right-hand corner of the image). Many thanks to DanTheFan for this contribution.
So how can you get your own free JOHN ALPHA ‘08 bumper sticker? Easy, friends — visit JohnAlphaForPresident.com!
VIDEO: The Beta Clone Army
April 17, 2008
7th Son fans are amazing people. They’re supportive, evangelistic, dedicated and creative. It’s that those last two words — dedicated and creative — that I marvel at the most. The 100+ pieces of 7th Son-inspired artwork, music and photos I’ve received during the past two years amazes and humbles me. And now … this.
U.K.-based 7th Son fan Richard Read spent hours compiling photos from my Beta Clone Army page, and assembling them at Animoto.com to create this brilliant music video starring YOU, the proud folk who’ve purchased 7S shirts at Geeklabel.com and sent me photos. Set to Book Two’s anthem (Celldweller’s “Switchback”), this is an amazing showcase of Richard’s creativity and the Animoto service. This video effin’ rocks.
Richard is a photographer and artist. Find his Flickr page here.
Check out the awesome video below, and share it with your friends. My only regret is that I have a few Beta Clone Army photos yet to post on the site, and they’re not seen here. Those faithful fans will be showcased in their own blog post in the days ahead.
Richard, thanks so much for the awesome contribution to the 7th Son Experience. This video is jaw-droppingly cool!
–J.C.
VIDEO: Unboxing Keith Burtis’ Gift
April 4, 2008
Welcome to the first-ever 7th Son Vidcast! In this 5-minute video, J.C. documents the “unboxing” of an incredible work of art created by 7th Son listener Keith Burtis. Keith hand-crafted an unbelievably cool, stylized rendition of “The Womb” cloning chamber, described in the J.C.’s novels.
The piece is made from Osage orange, Australian Burl and blood-red Paddauk woods. Forgive J.C. for getting a bit emotional in the video … but the time, effort and artistry that Keith invested in this stunning project is remarkable. A big thank-you to Keith for creating this amazing work of art, and sending it to J.C.
Find out more about Keith Burtis’ work at MagicWoodWorks.com.
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