As most of you know I am a reader, reviewer, and writer (and interviewer of writers). As traditional publishing has crumbled with the rise of “print on demand” and ebook, many large traditional publishing companies have floundered and failed. Some of them have tried to stay afloat by screwing over the very people who have made them rich in the first place, their authors. One of the worst offenders in this regard is Dorchester Publishing. Since they fell in to bankruptcy they have screwed over their author and former authors in a number of ways. Brian Keene has called for a boycott of Dorchester, and I am with him. (You can get a lot more information on the whole Dorchester situation at Brian blog.) I will no longer buy or review any books published by Dorchester Publishing, and I encourage you to do the same.

It saddens me that it has come to this. In the past I was a fan of Dorchester’s line of horror books because they produced quality paperbacks, and they published many authors I know and love: Brian Keene, Mary SanGiovanni, Edward Lee, Gary Braunbeck, Bryan Smith, J.F. Gonzalez, Craig Spector, among many others.

Help me and many other’s fight the good fight. Please boycott of Dorchester Publishing.

Again you can get more information at http://www.briankeene.com

Well, it feels strange to be making this announcement on Valentine’s Day. (Not that I care about Valentine’s Day as it is a made up holiday designed by card makers and florists and jewelry stores to get women to guilt men into spending money on things like flowers and card and jewelry, most of which has no lasting value. Don’t get me wrong, I am not wholly unromantic, but I am very much a utilitarian so things like card and flowers and jewelry have never made a lot of sense to me. Not to mention that if you are going to be romantic you should do it regularly not just on one arbitrary day each year. Come on people. Wake up to the brainwashing.) But now is as good a day as any, so here it is: I am retiring from world podcasting. That’s right Snark Infested Waters and the Digital Drive In Grind House are done as well as all my other shows that have come and gone over the years.

Shocked, I doubt it. I’ve talked about doing this before. I may not have used the “R” word, but I have gone on hiatus a couple of times and changed shows and other stuff like that. You can look at those times like Brett Farve’s retirement from the NFL. (Just one more season. Really, this one is the last.) This time I am done. I have five interviews left to do: Darby Patterson, Sidney Williams, Jake Bible, Thom Carnell, and Gareth Preston. (If I have ask you about doing an interview and you do not appear in the above list and you still want to do it let me know. And as a caveat, I hold open the door to do interviews with a few key people if the opportunity presents itself. That list includes: Jeremy Robert Johnson, Joe Hill, Jeremy C Shipp, and a few others.) Most of these will be done and will come up between now and the end of March.

As to the why, as things always come down to the “whys”, mostly I am leaving podcasting behind to really focus on writing. My current goals in life revolve around writing. Don’t get me wrong. I love interview people. It is fun. (In fact, if one of you media moguls out there would like to make me an offer to make interviewing people on my day job, I am more than willing to listen.) But between the pressures on my day job, trying to get The Adventures of The Snarky Avenger webcomic relaunched, and seriously consider going back to school to finish/get my Bachelor’s degree. (I am looking at two writing programs: one online at Full Sail University, Create Writing for Entertainment, and the other at Metropolitan State University, Creative Writing. I am leaning toward the one at Full Sail personally.I am hoping I can get some tuition assistance from my day job, but I am not holding my breath as they are more focused on my getting a technical degree of some kind. I figure I’m 42, almost 43, years old. I am not going back to school to get a degree that I will view as nothing more than a piece of paper. If I’m going to put the effort in, I’m going to get a degree that means something to me. And I am not a big fan of school. Not that I need a degree to write, but the degree no matter what is it is opens some other day job doors.)

I am also fighting some serious burn out right now. I have too much going on. My day job is crazy right now. And I just need a break. So I am dropping out of podcasting and not taking on any now projects for a while. I figure I will be catching up and relaxing for a couple months before I really get going on anything.

I will still be reviewing books and audio books, but I will not be taking on any new ones for review until I get through my current back log. (If you have send me a book or audio book to review, I will get to it. I am just a bit behind and I am working on catching up. If you have asked me about reviewing your book, and have not heard back from me ping me again.) I will still do some voice work for people as well, but I will not be seeking out any new roles for a while. (I do have an upcoming role in a Gypsy Audio production, and, if it every gets produced, a role in a Time Tunnel audio drama.) But for the next few months I am going to take a break and catch up on some stuff and have some fun.

Well, there you have it folks Taylor Kent AKA The Snarky Avenger AKA The Fandom Snark is hanging up his microphone in favor of a pen and paper (okay, a laptop). I had a great time entertaining, enlightening, inspiring, and helping you all to get to know many great authors, audio drama producers, musicians, and others. (The archives of all my shows will stay online indefinitely so go listen cause there is some damn cool stuff in there.) Now it’s time to move on to the next big thing. Hopefully, when my stories are ready, they will as entertain, enlighten, and inspire you.

Thank you for your support in all my previous ventures and my new ones.