Nick Bryan Dot Com

Pre-NaNoWriMo WriteBlog #4 PlanStraVaGanZa

Tomorrow, NaNoWriMo starts and as I've said before, I'll be working on the final third of my current novel in progress. This will probably not be fifty thousand words, although once I add on four Hobson & Choi chapters for the month and maybe improvise a short story about a man taking his dog for a walk, I might make it over the top.

But, regardless, that isn't the point. I'm pleased with the opening 66.6% of this novel (even if it still has no title), so it would be a shame to bolt a load of slapdash verbal diarrhoea onto the end and quadruple my editing time.

So, with that in mind, I spent four hours (or three full plays of the new Arcade Fire album) in my regular writing-cafe this afternoon trying to produce a decent plan to keep myself on track.

Hobson & Choi #38 - "Disturbed Duo"

Hobson & Choi #38 - Disturbed Duo

Hobson & Choi #38 up now! The detectives do some shellshocked contemplation of #37! Dark times both ahead and behind!

Yes, it's a quiet chapter of Hobson & Choi this week, but y'know, it's The Big Spooky Day, why not turn things slightly grim?

Today is the last day of October as you probably already know (Happy Halloween!) so if you haven't caught up for a few weeks and want to blast through a few chapters to help us in the monthly charts, go for it. We love you.

Now, I'm off to a cafe to plan the entire of my NaNo. No biggie.

TV blog: How I Met Your Mother on The Digital Fix!

The final season of How I Met Your Mother, inspected critically for The Digital Fix.

Happy Halloween, everyone! The not-at-all-spooky Halloween special of Hobson & Choi should be up later! In other terrifying news, I am no longer represented by an eyeball on my Twitter account. Bloody hell.

New TV blog: Homeland!

Latest Homeland review on The Digital Fix! Includes bonus sheep re-enactment of the series!

Seriously, that sheep parody is brilliant.

New TV blog: Agents of SHIELD

Latest Agents of SHIELD review on The Digital Fix. Okayish episode, basically.

Another week, another Agents of SHIELD review. Hopefully TV will pick up soon, because I'm genuinely getting a tad jaded with some of this. Oh the plus side, new Hobson & Choi Podcast up yesterday as ever so that's a ray of sunshine.

Hobson & Choi Podcast #9 - Family Time

The team go deep-background on themselves, as lives away from the office finally intrude. Meanwhile, the author finds he enjoys pretending to be an angry teenage girl more than he'd expected. Deep insight this week.

Links mentioned: check out Alastair JR Ball's serial The First 500 at alastairjrball.blogspot.com.

You can play the episode in the player below, download the MP3 here or subscribe on iTunes to have it thrown at you every week. Or if you hate iTunes on principle, you can point your RSS reader at our Libsyn page to get every episode.

Hobson & Choi Podcast #9 - Family Time by Nick Bryan on Mixcloud

New TV blog: Atlantis!

An unusual (possibly first time ever) development in my TV reviews in the Atlantis review on Dork Adore this week. Check it out.

And in cheerier news, Hobson & Choi Podcast #9 soon!

Book Review: Between Two Thorns by Emma Newman

Review of The Split Worlds: Between Two Thorns by Emma Newman on Many A True Nerd. Good fairy-fun.

The weekend starts here, everyone! (By which I mean: Walking Dead review tomorrow, Atlantis the next day!)

Hobson & Choi #37 - "Supermarket Sweep"

Hobson & Choi #37 - "Supermarket Sweep"

Hobson takes Choi on the shopping trip from hell in this week's all-action chapter! Sorry, UK readers, but Dale Winton does not appear.

And it's more or less the last update in October (the next one will be on the 31st), so do vote for a few chapters to help big us up in the Jukepop monthly top 30. The guys would really appreciate it, they're having a tough time.

The podcast continues too, latest episode here, including links to subscribe on iTunes and such.

Danke. Have a lovely lovely day.

WriteBlog #3 - The Short Pitch And Me

As promised in the last one of these, I've been doing a few small projects in the buffer between finishing Part Two of my current novel last week and starting Part Three for NaNoWriMo. The main one I've found is submitting a few ideas for short comic stories, using the themes and guidelines here.

In this case, they're not looking for complete scripts, just short pitches describing your story. Now, some of you might be thinking this: "Great! Less work for you!" And although there was an element of that, it's been harder than I expected too.

New TV blogging: Homeland on The Digital Fix

Review of the latest Homeland episode on The Digital Fix. Sad sad sad sad Brody.

Yeah, that show's a bit of a downer right now. In fact, most of the shows I currently watch are a bit pessimistic. Hm.

New TV blog: Agents of SHIELD!

Review of SHIELD review on The Digital Fix! Steady improvement and eye horror!

Happy Monday, everyone. I'm off to write some Hobson & Choi.

Hobson & Choi Podcast #8 - Evening Plans

The detectives go their separate ways, and the cliffhanger noise gets its most warranted outing yet! Meanwhile, at the back end, the author discusses transition and comics. Especially comics. Lots of those.

You can play the episode in the player below, download the MP3 here or subscribe on iTunes to have it thrown at you every week. Or if you hate iTunes on principle, you can point your RSS reader at our Libsyn page to get every episode.

Hobson & Choi Podcast #8 - Evening Plans by Nick Bryan on Mixcloud

New TV review: Atlantis on Dork Adore

Latest Atlantis review on Dork Adore! Babies, farting and wee!

Yup, highbrow times in Atlantis right now.

New TV blog: The Walking Dead!

Review of The Walking Dead season 4 premiere! Includes unusual character happiness!

Hope you're all having a good weekend as ever. I meant to post this earlier but have been napping.

Hobson & Choi #36 - "Hit The Shops"

Hobson & Choi #36 - Hit The Shops

Hobson & Choi #36 up now on Jukepop, and this week they're going to the supermarket. And Hobson eats a sandwich. It's more exciting than it sounds.

Enjoying this Case Two stuff a lot, I must say. Hopefully you guys are too - feedback welcome, if you want to review us on Web Fiction Guide or just on the Jukepop serial, all both helps me improve the story and spreads the word.

The podcast continues as well, if you like that sort of thing. The latest episode includes a live broadcast from the cafe where I do most of the actual H&C writing.

That'll be all. More next week, as our heroes go on a raid. Yes, a real one.

New TV blog: Orphan Black!

Midway review of Orphan Black season 1 on The Digital Fix! Clones everywhere

And Hobson & Choi's next chapter soon to follow, just as soon as I've put my laundry in, had a coffee and generally warmed up...

WriteBlog #2 - Two thirds and working in the vacuum

Today, the oft-hinted Satan novel hit exactly two thirds done, and even though I'm well aware it needs a lot of editing, this makes me immensely happy, because it's the least troubled novel I've ever worked on. No huge gaps, no stumbles, nothing I'm convinced is shit. I live in hope that this is something I can either sell to agents/publishers or persuade myself is worth the effort of self-publishing.

New TV blog: Homeland on The Digital Fix

Review of the latest UK Homeland on Digital Fix, including some consideration of why exactly it's called "Uh... Oh... Ah...".

Meanwhile, I'm getting to work on Hobson & Choi today. Good times. Hope you're all well.

New TV blog: Agents of SHIELD

Review of the third Agents of SHIELD episode on The Digital Fix! Jetset time!

And, for fans of listening to stuff, new Hobson & Choi Podcast up now, including live broadcast from the cafe where I do my writing!

Hobson & Choi Podcast #7 - Interviews

Our title is Interviews, and that's exactly what happens this week, as Hobson and Choi interrogate the remaining Social Awesome employees. Whodunnit? Place your bets now! And if you already know, don't spoil it for everyone else! Meanwhile, in the author's notes, we go on the road (or down the road, at least) with a not-live outside broadcast!

You can play the episode in the player below, download the MP3 here or subscribe on iTunes to have it thrown at you every week. Or if you hate iTunes on principle, you can point your RSS reader at our Libsyn page to get every episode.

Hope you're all having a good weekend, folks. And if you've enjoyed this podcast, rate/review it on iTunes to help us spread out across the planet!

Hobson & Choi Podcast #7 - Interviews by Nick Bryan on Mixcloud

New TV review: Atlantis!

Third episode of Atlantis on Dork Adore! Is it better? Will it ever be better?

Probably not. Hobson & Choi podcast publication to begin as soon as I've finished editing this other TV review for tomorrow!

New comics review: Lazarus volume 1!

Review of Lazarus volume 1 on Many A True Nerd. Seriously, it's a very good comic, and if you ever take my recommendations seriously, go for this one.

After a raft of kinda middling TV in the last week or two, good to be able to recommend something without reservations.

Hobson & Choi #35 - "New Territory"

Hobson & Choi #35 - "New Territory"

Hobson & Choi #35 up now on Jukepop! New office, new case, new newness in "New Territory"!

So that's fun. Elsewhere in H&C land, as you may know from mentions elsewhere, we hit #13 in the monthly Jukepop top 30, another best-ever, which I'm quite pleased with.

Oh, and the Hobson & Choi Podcast released its sixth episode. I'm quite pleased with the upcoming seventh podcast, which will feature a wee twist on the usual outro section.

That'll be all for now. If you want to help us take over the world (or even just the internet), feel free to review us on Web Fiction Guide or review the podcast on iTunes, it's all handy.

My editing is out of order! (WriteBlog #1)

As avid Twitter followers will already know, I've been entering a difficult phase of editing recently. My current novel in progress (the Satan one I mentioned earlier) is coming along well, but thanks to both my own instinctive genius and some insightful feedback from my writing group, I have a lot of changes to make already.

I am currently roughly 57% through the book - I worked that out with a calculator - and already I know I need to rewrite four chapters from close to the beginning and probably massively rejig even the most recent ones I've done.

New TV review: Homeland!

Review of the Homeland season 3 premiere on The Digital Fix! Is Brody still going?

And you may be excited to hear Hobson & Choi made #13 in the Jukepop ratings September, which is another all-time record. Go team. Now time to begin voting for September.

New TV blogging: Agents of SHIELD

Review of the second Agents of SHIELD episode on The Digital Fix! Planes, guest appearances, etc.

And the sixth Hobson & Choi Podcast went up yesterday. Features NaNoWriMo talk, comic recommendations, etc. As ever, all the TV reviews are clustered around the weekend.

Hobson & Choi Podcast #6 - Social Awesome

This week, Hobson & Choi investigate the sinister Social Awesome and meet a bunch of new potential suspects. Meanwhile, I wait for a chart placement, muse about NaNoWriMo and recommend a comic. It's a tightly packed eight minutes in podcast #6.

You can play the episode in the player below, download the MP3 here or subscribe on iTunes to have it thrown at you every week. Or if you hate iTunes on principle, you can point your RSS reader at our Libsyn page to get every episode.

Hope you're all having a good weekend, folks. And if you've enjoyed this podcast, why not mention it to your friends?

Hobson & Choi Podcast #6 - Social Awesome by Nick Bryan on Mixcloud

New TV review: Atlantis!

Second week of Atlantis reviewed on Dork Adore! Can Medusa stir up some excitement?

Hobson & Choi Podcast coming later! Still no news on where we are in the Jukepop top 30, but definitely higher than 16th!

Hobson & Choi #34 - "Moving Day"

Hobson & Choi #34 - "Moving Day"

Hobson & Choi #34 is up now! The start of Case Two, and after last time's triumphs, Choi thuds back down to earth in "Moving Day".

I'm pretty pleased with this episode too, hopefully you'll all enjoy it. Exciting to be moving on to a whole new case and pushing the subplots forward a bit.

And thanks to everyone who helped vote for us in September's chart - not sure where we've ended up yet, hopefully the very top, obviously.

Last but not least, the Hobson & Choi Podcast is now up to #5. Worth a look if you want to hear me do some silly voices.

Sci-fi audio sitcom review: A Brief History of Time Travel

My review of the fun sci-fi audio sitcom A Brief History of Time Travel on Many A True Nerd. Like Red Dwarf or Hitchhiker's Guide? Give this a go.

Something a little different from the review department there, but still firmly recommended. Now, time to start prepping Hobson & Choi for launch...

New TV review: Breaking Bad conclusion!

Finale of Breaking Bad reviewed on The Digital Fix! Did it live up to all those hopes and dreams? Spoilers? Yes.

Well, definitely time for autumn TV to get going now.