This is it, people! The battle at the gates of heaven is about to begin!

The final episode of The Dante Experience, the award-winning series produced by Mind’s Ear Audio Productions is up for your listening pleasure. You can listen to the episode here:

If you are interested in owning your own copy of this creation of Hell, please visit amazon.com (here) or contact Mind’s Ear Audio Productions via their Web site (here). Next week, I begin to share the scripts to the second part of The Dante 3– Time Out Of Mind.

Introducing Time Out Of Mind

I gave myself one month.

I knew in my heart I was wasting my time.  The Dante Experience had been out for six months and I knew the obstacles in front of radio drama, first hand (the many, many, many obstacles). I also was well aware that Joel Pierson and Mind’s Ear were beginning work on another series; so to get them just back on board was a long shot. This series was never going to be produced; it would not be heard.

See, I had already mapped out the second and third parts of The Dante 3 back when I wrote The Dante Experience, I just never got around to writing them; and after hearing the characters come alive they had begun to take over my creativity. I needed to get this out of my system or my current work would suffer, so I gave myself one month.

Just one month. Just one month to be silly, wasting my time in a universe that gave me the giggles.

So in one month, with a pile of yellow notepads, and an old Mac computer, I wrote the second part of The Dante Experience, Time Out Of Mind.

In many ways, I love this comedy piece. It continues the tale of The Dante Experience, but also expands the story in many surprising ways. It is not a sequel for the sake of a sequel, but a second part of a larger story.

When I finished the scripts, I sent them out to Mind’s Ear and I got the answer I was expecting. Joel was working on their series The Children’s Zoo, and sadly, most of the cast had moved on (not too surprising, since many were college-aged), meaning there would be recasting if it was even done. I wasn’t too sad, because I was expecting this. And the thing is, as a writer, you need to create for yourself first, not for the possibility of success. And Time Out Of Mind entertained me, and I am happy with the results no matter if this is the only way they will ever be seen… or heard… or whatever.

So what does that leave? Ah, yes, the big question… And so what now?

Well, I would always be interested in finishing the scripts for the third part, The Honeymoon. Maybe if my novels find some success I can convince a company like Graphic Audio or a production company that works with BBC2 to create the entire series together (all three parts) from the beginning? (I would love to rewrite bits of Dante, because it has been a while.) Or maybe there are other avenues for the story to survive? Like animation, for example? Whatever the case, all of these are dreams, little hopes.

Like I said in one of my earlier entries, a writer needs to learn to bounce to survive as a writer, and I have bounced. And I can always bounce back if I need to. I’m like a little bunny.

Next week, I will start sharing the scripts from Time Out Of Mind, as is. I hope you like them.

Thanks for coming to Hell with me.