A novel podcast of a podcast novel

I spend many beautiful, sunny afternoons here on California’s central coast sitting in my backyard with a good cigar and my MP3 player. Most often, I’m re-educating myself with lectures downloaded from Mises.org. But for the past week, I’ve been listening to Scott Sigler’s compelling podcast novel EarthCore, which Tom Novak recommended. From March through August, Sigler read/performed his book’s 50-plus chapters in weekly 45-minute installments. More than 5,000 people subscribed to EarthCore for free during that time, receiving automatic audio downloads each week. But now you can download Sigler's entire performance like I did, all 24 installments, and it’s still absolutely free. I’m halfway through the novel, and it’s a terrific ride.

EarthCore is akin to Edgar Rice Burroughs channeled through Clive Cussler. It tells the story of Connell Kirkland and his mining crew, pushing three miles beneath a desolate mountain in Utah to unearth the world’s largest platinum deposit. But something evil has been waiting under that mountain for thousands of years. The story is filled with so many sudden twists, ancient conspiracies, and truly vile bad guys and badder girls that I regret having to remove my headphones each day (usually after at least two hours of listening).

The book has an interesting history. It was first published in 2001 by AOL/TimeWarner’s iPublish imprint as an eBook and was scheduled for a nationwide paperback release in June 2002. Then the post-9/11 recession hit and AOL/TimeWarner killed the paperback. Eventually, Sigler regained the rights and launched his podcast presentation. The podcast was so successful that the novel has now finally been published in print form.

But don’t miss the remarkable free podcast performance of EarthCore by Scott Sigler. As Tom Novak says, “If you miss old time radio or just yearn for quality, adult-themed storytelling of a caliber you’d expect from Orson Welles or Rod Serling, then EarthCore is what you’ve been waiting for.” Hear, hear!