Hi All,

I was at my local comic shop when I learned that the King of Comics, Jack Kirby, would be a guest on a local radio station. I had to listen in! It took a while to find the station on the radio dial – yes, I’m that old – but eventually I got it running and listened to his wisdom on art and working in comics.

I would soon be a regular listener to this program every Friday evening. It focused on Science Fiction and related topics. It was Mike Hodel’s Hour 25. “The Hour That Stretches.”

This show would introduce me to many great science fiction authors.

However, it was not long after I started listening, that the show’s creator Mike Hodel passed away and a new host was needed. I was quickly introduced to author and curmudgeon Harlen Ellison.

Because of listening to him each week, I was soon searching out his writing. I’ll be truthful, I haven’t read as much of his fiction as I have Ray Bradbury, but I absolutely devoured his essays of all sorts, most of all about Hollywood and his experiences inside the beast.

After Harlan left the show, I was introduced to two new hosts that had a closer relationship to what I was interested in. J. Michael Straczynski and Larry DiTillio. They were two writers that came out of television, and even more importantly out of television animation. JMS wrote for shows like the Real Ghostbusters, He-Man, and other cartoons. It would be while hosting Hour 25 that he began to pitch his science fiction tv series Babylon 5.

Joe also wrote script writing articles for the Writer’s Digest Magazine, which he later passed on to DiTillio. Larry is credited as creator of She-Ra Princess of Power. Years later, Larry would become a more important part of my life; as the woman I eventually married would house sat for him when she first moved to Los Angeles. We greatly miss him.

As I said, I was introduced to many great science fiction authors as guests on Hour 25. Some of which I consider friends now. While Joe and Larry were hosting, I learned of author Tim Powers. He mentioned on the show that he was an adjunct professor at a local college. Hearing that I became thrilled, and little scared. You see, that was the college I was attending. I was also on the school’s newspaper. I knew what I’d must do next and it terrified me. I had to build up the courage to reach out to Mr. Powers and ask if I could interview him for the paper. I was actually shocked when he said yes.

That same fear from childhood still haunted me, so doing something like this was a major effort. I succeed and got the interview and the article appeared in the next issue. Those years, on the school paper, were some of best. I’ll tell you more about that soon.

Thanks again. Please remember to like and Subscribe to the podcast.

Bye All.