Have you read the Fox? What are you waiting for? It is a great story.

Here is a little Video about it that I think might help convince you if you have not already read it.

Changes to Great Hites

Well it was bound to happen eventually. Great Hites is going to under go a few changes. I don't know if these changes are going to be the new thing with GH or if they are only temporary, but these changes are necessitated by my current schedule.

So here is what is going to happen.

* During the month of October you are only going to get one prompt (more on that to follow.) It is due on October 31.


* During the month of November and In to December if necessary I will play these stories so that you will have a whole month of guilt free listening while you work on your NANOWRIMO project. (Like I will be doing)

* At the Beginning of December I will give you another prompt that you might be able to guess at if you think really hard, and you will have until December 31st to finish it.

* During the month of January I will play the stories written in December, so that while you are winding down from the Holidays again you will have a guilt free month of "The Hite of podcast fiction."

So you are worried that from now until November you will have nothing to listen from Great Hites. that is where you would be wrong. I have asked a couple of the regulars to contribute some bonus material. And I will be putting out a 100 word bonus prompts now and again.

With all of these changes there are going to be a couple of changes to the rules so there they are and hopefully they are things that you can live with:

1. Maximum story length is going to be increased to a whopping 10,000 words. I figure if most of the writers were already writing 2000-3000 word stories in a week that they could use the breathing room for a month long project.

2. The rating on these stories will still need to be PG. I am not going to change that. Sorry to all of you that thought that I might but nope.

3. All the other rules stand. I need a story, a recording in MP3 format if you can, and I needs to be in by midnight on the date of the deadline. But you know me on deadlines, ask if you need more time, I am pretty flexible.

4. Please include your Name and "October story" or "December Story" as the case may be, in the subject so I can find it easily I have a busy in box.

PROMPT PROMPT PROMPT, I hear the crowds shouting.

But before I get to that, let me give you two things, 1, #changestoGH 2, #bonusprompts These are the two twitter tags I will be using to discuss the changes and of course the bonus prompts. So if you want to follow the conversations about those things, well you know what to do.

So the prompt:

"Creation, create your own creation story." This can be a birth story, the creation of the universe, life from lifelessness (thank you Star Trek II), an Adam and Eve type story, whatever you like. Used your imaginations this is a wide open prompt so please have fun with it. If you have questions about this please feel free to contact me.

Speaking of contacting me here is how

Jeffrey.hite at Gmail dot com

or you could follow me on Twitter I am JeffreyHite or @jeffreyhite

or you could skype me I am JeffreyHite

or you could leave a comment on the site. Not to worry, if it is a personal question I won't post it but rather just respond to you.


I think that just about covers everything. Except promotion: please please please tell everyone you know about this new prompt and lets see if we can get lots and lots of great stories. Do you remember Week 63? I want that but more, bigger, better and with more gusto.

Thanks
-Jeff

Authors and Contests

This week Great Hites had it's first double digit week. 12 stories about werewolves and vampires. This weeks seems to have brought a lot of great authors to join in the fun. Among those was Val Griswold-Ford (a published author) she is offering a signed copy of her story from this week. Here is her blog for more details. http://vg-ford.livejournal.com/512878.html

Thank you to all of the great Authors this week and don't forget to go out an promote your story this week. This was a great week and it is all thanks to you.

Great Hites 63 All files

Download File 1


Download file 2


Download File 3


Download File 4

Hite's lofty Ideas (almost daily writing prompt) Number V

Today's writing prompt:

"if you collected baby drool and sold it as a cure for ageing."

This weeks 100 word story promo

The 100 word stories weekly challenge is where I post a topic and then you write and record a story based on that topic.

Sounds simple, doesn't it?

Topics are selected by the winner of the previous weekly challenge. This week, the winner was Jeffrey.

And the topic is The games we play.

You have until midnight on Friday July 24 to get the following in my hot little hands:

* The text of your story so I can post it on the site. Just post the text of the story in the body of your email message. Do not put it in Word, Word Perfect, Sun Office, or any other document format. Just copy-paste the text into the body of the message. This will save me the hassle of firing off another program to read it and it will reduce the chances that gmail will flag your message as Spam.

* If you have a blog, podcast, or other site that people can go to so they can learn more about your handiwork, the URL would be appreciated.

* What you would like the topic of Weekly Challenge #171 to be. Failure to send in a topic with your selection will mean that if you win, whoever is in second place will be considered for the topic, and so on.

* A recording of your story in .mp3 format. Please use your name as the filename if you can, okay? Makes it easier to produce the show quickly.

If you do not feel like recording a story for the podcast, well, go ahead and send the story in anyway. I'll include it in the show notes, but it won't be eligible for choosing the topic or winning the magnets.

Send the stories to isfullofcrap (at) gmail.com and then add a comment here saying you've sent it in.

Once all the stories are in, I'll assemble them into a single podcast collection for your enjoyment.

Good luck, and feel free to e-mail me with any questions you have.

Hear y'all in a week, and as always, keep it brief.
Download

Great Hites Promos

GreatHites Promos.

Here are all three Great Hites Promos, all of them are available for you to play in your own podcast.

Download Great Hites Promo By: Danny Machal

Download Great Hites Promo By Mick Bordet and Norval Joe

Download Great Hites Promo

One Giant Leap for Man Kind...

So the Apollo 11 mission was 40 years ago now. Here is a really cool link to the Nasa Site commemorating it, you can see the transcripts to the mission and for a first that I know oh hear the transcripts as well.

To me this is just too cool!

Enjoy

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/jul/HQ_M09-131_Apollo_voice_tapes.html

One small step for man

I am not going to say anything I think this video speaks for itself. Thanks

Hite's lofty Ideas (almost daily writing prompt) Number IV

Today's writing prompt:

"Why shoot for the moon when you can see the stars."

Hite's lofty Ideas (almost daily writing prompt) Number III

Here is today's writing prompt:

You find yourself in need of a spare tire, but you can't figure out where on your car it is stored.

G8 pledges to boost food supplies

Another stupid agreement by our world powers...

I would like to know how they are going to pull this off.

I want to just throw up my hands and scream.

we have so much food that, we have obesity problems and even more disgusting, there is food that rots in place!

We don't need more food production (ok maybe a little more) but what we really need is better food distribution.


Alright I am done. (at least for the moment.)

World powers accept warming limit

Just a note:

This headline bothers me. I am sure if I read the article I would feel differently, but I am not sure of that. I mean what does it mean? I see images of President Obama in a Star Fleet Uniform saying "it must stop hear, no farther!" and then some little girl saying you broke your little ships.

Does it mean that once the earth reaches some magical temp they will start working on controlling it. Ok everyone when Tampa Bay gets to 105 and St Petersburg, Russia is 85 and Northern California hit 102, then everyone open your fridge for one hour every day, that should cool things down.

Good luck with that one guys. As Steven Hawking has said, the longer we stay on our planet the more likely it is that something will come a long and wipe out the human race. This may seem unrelated but think about it. We have some pretty stupid greedy people in charge of our planet right now. They could be the thing that comes long and wipes us out. The hard part is you can't really run from stupid.

I am not saying we, should ruin out planet and leave, we just need to forward thinkers, to really be in control. and people to not make stupid statements like that one. I am beginning to sound a little like Dr Horrible here so I will end this now.

Hite's lofty Ideas (almost daily writing prompt) Number II

Here is today's writing prompt:

"It is all in the wrist."

Writing prompts

Like many other people I am going to try to post writing prompts, as frequently as I can. If these help you use them. No creative commons, these are just free for use.

Mary watched the last drop of coffee slide out of her cup and on to the floor

Enjoy

The German English Joke

If you have never seen this before , here is the joke that I talked about during the Great Hites 59 podcast. I have always thought it was funny. Thanks

Achtung!

Alles touristen und non-technishen looken peepers! Das machine is nicht
fur der fingerpoken und mittengrabben. Is easy schnappen der springen-
werk, blowenfusen und popencorken mit spitzen sparken. Das machine is
diggen by experten only. Is nicht fur gerwerken by das dummkopfen. Das
rubbernecken sightseeren keepen das cottenpiken hands in das pockets.
Relaxen und watchen das blinkenlights

Great Hites 59 Pulled

Well if you have listened to GH 59 you know why, but for those of you that have not, well I goofed it up big time. The levels are all wrong and there are a couple of goofs where there are sounds over laid where they should not be over laid. I will be fixing this as soon as I get home. Sorry folks. I will Try to do better.

Call for Promos

A few weeks ago, I made a call for a new promo for GreatHites and The Greatest Hites Anthology Volume I. I asked, begged and implored you to come up with ways that GreatHites had inspired, cajoled, shamed, or tortured you into writing.

We had to call out the Secret Council of three and the Dark load Hite has had to make his will known to all, but in the end we have gotten some very good material. Please keep it coming. Thank to all of you who had helped. I will be posting the promos shortly, on GreatHites and I will be sending them out to other podcasts soon. If you have a podcast and would like to help promote GreatHites or the new anthology, please let me know and I will make sure you get one of these new Promos.

In the mean time the Secret council of three (you will know them by their black cloaks) will be among you. Dragging you in front of your microphones to get your own ideas on promoting the new anthology.

I Goofed

This morning I posted Great Hites 59. I was so proud of myself for getting it out early. Everything was going fine until I got a tweet saying "Why didn't my story make it into the podcast." I was horrified that I had forgotten someone, but that is what I had done. Very luckily Few people had down loaded the podcast yet, and I was able to correct the mistake.

Just let this be a warning to you podcaster, check to make sure you have all your segments in order before you post your newest cast.

Sorry again to Danny Machal. And thank you for being gracious enough to forgive this podcasters errors.

Podcasting for water

If you have a desire to help Please do.

Feel free to pass the promo to others.

Water Promo



Podcasting for water

Great Hites spurs other writing

Once long ago a boy had a dream. That dream was to inspire people to write great stories. Long ago this boy was me and really the people I hoped to inspire were mostly me.

When I started Greathites I hoped that I would inspire some people to come join me in writing, if not great stories, then at least write interesting ones. I think I have been able to do that. Recently it has come to my attention that GreatHites has helped people go a step further and I could not be happier. a couple of people have found GreatHites and sites like it the 100 word story contest to be low risk places to jump start their writing. Or a place to test ideas for their much larger stories.

I cannot explain how happy this makes me. I also don't think that I deserve any of the credit. I hope that you, all of you, who read and listen to the stories every week, and those of you who write stories every week, know that you deserve the credit. It is you and that have made GreatHites what it is, a great place to write a story that is both challenging and accepting. So I ask all of you to tell people you know about the great things that are happening here, and of course keep writing.

I have once before credited Mur Laferty (Ms. Laferty to her friends) and ISBW for jump starting my writing, and it would not be fair to not do so again. But I hope I (really not me but GreatHites and all of you) can return the favor by helping others who feel that crazy siren song calling them to write, to go the next step and put it out there for other people to read. Because writing for the sake of writing is all well and good, but even if you don't intend to make it your career, you should at least share your creations with others.

There have been some changes recently including the addition of a steering committee guest hosts and anthology that I hope will not change atmosphere, instead improve it making this more of a community effort. And I hope that our community will grow to the point that will will have to make some hard decisions about how we present all the stories we get each week, and that I am forced move the stories onto a remote web server, but for now I am happy.

Thank all of you for helping a little boys dream come true and making it so much more.

Now get out there and write!

Three day weekend

I won't say anything other than it is more than just a three day weekend.

reposting

Just a quick question. Should I go back to reposting the GreatHites Stories here. Was doing that for a while, but it seemed like overkill. What are your thoughts. Thanks

It is Official

It is official, we have our first winner.

Mick Bordet Of the Some other Scotland Podcast, won in the voting GreatHites 52. His story "To The Clouds" will be the first story featured In the new Podiobook.


BTW We (meaning the serect council and I) are now taking suggestions for the name of the anthology. I could always go with something like Greatest Hites Volume 1 but I am hoping for something more original, but am feeling a little unoriginal at the moment. Please send me your suggested names.

Great Hites Anthology Reasons and Rules

What follows are the rules for the Great Hites Anthology, and the reasoning behind it.

Here is the basic story for this. After the last year GreatHites has gone from being a lonely one man show to what it is you see today. For that I am very, very grateful. But, it is not enough for me. The stories that show up every week in my mailbox beg me to give them more. (Really you should hear them whining.)

In all honesty, they deserve more. You as their writers deserve more. So I have been banging my head against the wall for the past few months for ways that I as a podcaster could give you more. The biggest hurdle to this is that I have no budget for Greathites. That is why the downloads are slow, that is why I don't have a better microphone, that is why I don't have my own domain name.

This is not, however, a pity party for Jeff. I still want to give you guys more. This was the first and best viable option that I have come up with.

The second biggest huddle is Creative Commons License, specifically, the noncommercial part. So I can't make any money on your stories. Really I don't want to, I want you to. So I think this is a happy medium. I want you to know that I will not be making any money on your stories, all the donations, every cent will be divided up accordingly and given back to you, the writers as it should be. I don't think that you will find that kind of a deal anywhere else in the publishing industry. But this is as it should be, these are your stories any money made from them should go back to you.

Just a note on expectations. Mur Laferty said about a year ago on ISBW, that her monthly notations on all her projects basically add to up to beer money. I just don't want you to think you are going to get rich here.


Here is what I am trying to accomplish with this:

1. To get you (the really great writers) a wider audience.

We (GratHites) are getting there slowly but I want these great stories to be shared by lots of people. Podiobooks has that audience.

2. To be able to give something back to you.

Podiobooks does give the reader the ability to donate. I could put a donate button on the GreatHites site, and I still may. There are two major problems with that, first of all, it would probably just be the authors who donated and then that would be you paying you, and that seems wrong. Second, again with the bigger audience thing.


So here are the rules:

1. If you win in the voting your story will be re-published, uncut and unedited in an anthology to appear on podiobooks.
A, In the case of a tie the GreatHties steering committee, Known as the Secret council of three, will determine the winner or winners.

2. You will get a % of the donations that come from podiobooks based on the number of stories in the collection, and the number of stories you have in that collection. The donations will not distributed until the book is complete and then on a monthly basis after that.

3. You have the right to withhold permission to republish the story, after all it is your story so if you would prefer that we don't publish it please let me know.
A. In the case that you decide to withhold permission the runner up will take your place.

4. Once the winner has been announced you have two weeks to resubmit the story with any edits or re-recording that you would like to do. If you are going to need longer than that please let us know ahead of time.


Please feel free to e-mail, tweet, or leave a comment if you have any questions or concerns. I will do my best to address them.

-Jeff

Nina Kimberly Available in PDF

Great Hites is proud to be one of the few, the proud, the cool ones that is going to be offering Nina Kimberly The Merciless the PDF.

We unfortunately don't have Nina Kimberly the Flame Thrower. We understand from her Marketing Department, that they have pulled that from the shelves for legal reasons. We think that it is odd that she would do this, since she has a habit of lopping peoples heads off. With all that aside;

Enjoy the PDF and even better go to amazon and buy a copy. Then you can have Nina Kimberly the Merciless in your hot little hands.

another Video from CatholicVote.org

I really like CatholicVote.org. They have had some really good stuff there lately.

Nina Kimberly tries again to take over the internet!

Here we go again with Nina Kimberly trying to take things over. We have to stand against her so that he cannot win. If we all buy the book we can figure out her tactics and this will be an easy fight. Buy The book Nina Kimberly The Merciless by Christiana Ellis on May 15th, so that we know how to defeat her.

Great Hites Promo in Weatherchild

Yesterday I asked a number of people to play the Special Birthday Promo for GreatHites in their podcast, this morning I woke up to it already being a part of one of my current favorite stories, Weather Child.

Thank you all who agreed to play it including, but not limited to: Scott Roche, Justin Lowmaster, and especially Philippa Ballantine.

If you would like to play the promo the link for it is below, drop me a line when you play it and I will make sure everyone knows about your great podcast as well.

Thanks everyone.

Download Weather Child Promo


Download GreatHites Birthday Promo

Great Hites Prompt # 49

Download


This weeks prompt is:

"Chipped and broken coffee cups."


All Stories for this prompt are due by Midnight Tuesday April 7th. Email the text of the story and a recording if you would like me to include it in the podcast to jeffrey dot hite at gmail dot com.

good luck. And don't forget to come out to the site and vote for your Favorite stories this week.

Prompt suggestions

I am now opening up the floor for Writing prompt suggestions.

Here is the way this works. Normally I pick a topic over the weekend and post it on Monday or Tuesday. I have been leaning pretty heavily on other people asking friends for topics things like that for the last few weeks, so I thought I would open it up.

If you would like to submit a topic here is what you need to do.

1. Send me the topic, e-mail, twitter, leave a comment, voice mail whatever way you want.

2. The topic HAS TO BE PG rated

3. Once I get the topic I will let you know if I will use it. By the way, this is your opportunity if you have trouble writing a story in a week, if I accept your topic you will have until I use it to get a story written. You will have the advantage. The chance to get a really good story written and polished and everything.


Topics can be as long or as short as you you like. (if you want to see ones I have used in the past look at posts labeled with "Creative Writing Prompts")

We the people

Pay Attention America:

I don't know who this guy is but watch and listen. I don't agree with everything he says, epically in some of his other videos but he does call for many things that make sense.

I like the idea of mandatory service. The idea that Children need to understand they are entitled to nothing they have not worked for. And I think that if enough people were willing to do the tea bag (tea party) thing... Well you get the point.

Car Seat Ramblings

This was originally posted on my wifes site, but since this is very important I wanted to repost it here. If you have kids you should read this.

This is really a rant about using car seats but if you have questions about if your kid should still be in a car seat, or how to put them in. Check out one of these great sites. So don't just take our word for it.

http://www.car-safety.org
http://www.carseat.org This one I believe has a forum staffed by certified car seat technicians who will answer questions
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/aftermarket.aspx
http://www.carsafety4kids.com/aftermarket.html
http://www.safekids.org
http://www.car-seat.org


As I see children when we are out and about or see pictures of kids here and there, I have to stop and ask a simple question. Why on earth do so many parents not use car seats properly? I will admit that around here we are a bit strict about car seat use. Until a child is 4 feet 10 inches, they will remain in a booster seat no matter what the law says. Until they can be trusted to sit still in their seat without constant squirming and goofing off, they will stay in a 5 point harness. Until they are 30 lbs, they will remain rear facing. What this means is that only our oldest is out of car seats/boosters. The almost 10 year-old is still in a booster seat because he is too short for seat belts to provide adequate protection. The 7 year-old is still in a 5 point harness because he likes to try to move around in his seat and if he were to move out of the seat belt path, he would put himself and everyone else in the car in danger. The almost 3 year-old and the 1 year-old are still rear facing because they are under 30 lbs. This way if we are in a collision, the impact will be taken by their car seat, rather than by their bodies. Small children simply do not have the strength in their bones yet to withstand the impact of most collisions without injury. Keeping them rear facing longer provides them with added protection and if you can do one small thing to keep your child safer, why not do it? Yes, this means we will have 3 children rear facing in a few weeks. Yes, this means we will have 7 children to check and double check car seats and seat belts on. Yes, this means extra time when we get in and out of the van. Yes, it means every few weeks we need to go around and make sure no one has knocked a car seat loose and every day it means checking that chest clips are actually at arm pit level and the straps are nice and tight.

I will admit that I don't expect every one to take things as seriously as we do. I understand that we are a bit over the top as far as most people are concerned. But my big question is why not take the time to make sure the straps are at least tightened properly? Your child should not be able to lean forward and pick up things they dropped or lean over the edge of the seat. They should not be allowed total freedom of movement in their car seat. If they can do those things and you are in an accident or your car flips, your child can slip out of the restraint. They will then not only likely be injured, but could also become a projectile and injure other people. You should not be able to get more than a finger or possibly 2 between your child and the straps of their seat. And you should NEVER put a child in a car seat in bulky clothing. This includes heavy winter jackets and such. And any child under 4 ft 10 inches should not ride in the front seat of a car with air bags unless you can turn them off. I know emergencies arise and sometimes you don't have a choice. But many times you do. It is worth your child's safety to take two cars or postpone a shopping trip. Ideally no one under 12 should be in the front of a car unless the car is not equipped with air bags or the air bags can be turned off.

Please folks do some more research. Read the manuals that come with your car seats. Read the manuals that come with your car. It's not about the law because many states have incredibly pathetic car seat laws. It is about safety. It's not about how things used to be done and the number of kids who survived before all of these inventions. Those who did not survive are not here to tell us about it. Putting your child in your car is one of the most dangerous things you will do with them on a regular basis. Take the time to make it as safe as possible.

Great Hites Prompt # 46

Download

This weeks prompt comes from my Laurence Simon:

"Cloud storage"


All Stories for this prompt are due by Midnight Tuesday March 24 th. Email the text of the story and a recording if you would like me to include it in the podcast to jeffrey dot hite at gmail dot com.

good luck. And don't forget to come out to the site and vote for your Favorite stories this week.

Don't forget to go out to iTunes or podcast pickle or both and leave a review. It is a great way to let people know about great hites and what you think of it.

Great Hites 44

Download


Hear Promos From:
Weather Child
Personal Effects Dark Arts

I talk about:
Wagwire
and Jeff's Random Thoughts

Pope and New Media

I find news like this very encouraging. If the Pope, or more likely his counsel can take time to look at new media as a way of communicating, and then turn around and use that as a way to communicating the message of the Church, this is an amazing thing.

If you have the time go out a read this article and see what they have in mind.

http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0901066.htm

Great Hites Prompt # 45

Download

This weeks prompt comes from my companies quarterly update meeting, and is:

"We are now in the Magic Quadrant."

If you were following me on twitter you got this one a bit early, since when I heard it I could not resist.


All Stories for this prompt are due by Midnight Tuesday March 17 th. Email the text of the story and a recording if you would like me to include it in the podcast to jeffrey dot hite at gmail dot com.

good luck. And don't forget to come out to the site and vote for your Favorite stories this week.

Don't forget to go out to iTunes or podcast pickle or both and leave a review. It is a great way to let people know about great hites and what you think of it.

Just a quick review of the rules:



1. All stories submitted must be based on the weekly topic and in before Tuesday at midnight. (your local midnight is fine)
E-mail of the text of the story (pasted into the e-mail) to me at jeffrey dot hite at gmail dot com along with a recording if you want it added to the podcast.

2. Stories must have a maximum rating of PG. If you want examples of my strongest violence or most suggestive language read or listen toRun For your Life, Adam And Eve. or Going Down with the Ship And yes, I get the final say. Hey it's my site I make the rules.

3. Stories submitted should be between 100 to 3000 words, any shorter will get lost in the fray, any longer and it will drown out the other works, and as I said in rule number 2: Hey it's my site I make the rules.

4. Protecting your hard work. I know some sites don't do this, but I will do my best to protect your work. My entire site is protected by creative commons, I think it is worth your time to license your work, head out to the creative commons site get a license and paste the html code at the end of your story in the e-mail and when it gets posted I will include that. This is the one rule that is not hard and fast I think if you have worked hard on something you should protect it, but it is your call.

Great Hites Delay

Alright Folks, Last ween was one of my worst weeks as far as work goes in a very long time. I worked late every day, and I had a major exam over the weekend, plus I had a to work over the weekend. All this means that I didn't get The podcast out. I am very bummed because I have not missed a week in a long time.

This week is looking better. So that is a good thing.

Here is what I am going to do for last week. I am going to put all the stories for this week and last week in one Podcast this week. It will be a longer one, but I think that is the best way to get back on track.

So If you wrote a story for the fall of the wall, or if you are writing a story for the belly button lint they will be up probably on Wednesday night or Thursday morning of this week. I will do my best to keep this from happening again.

Thanks for sticking with me folks.

-Jeff

New Shirt

Me and my New Will Wheaton Woot T - shirt. Thanks to my Work Mate that stayed up late to get it on Shirt Woot.

Random Thoughts

I have a new podcast called Jeff's Random Thoughts. It is a daily attempt to be funny in one of two sentences. I hope that they are funny. I don't know if they are or not. Well they are funny to me. Most of them are geek humor, so I hope they will be enjoyable. if you have a few moments and would like to take a listen the URL is http://jeffsrandomthoughts.blogspot.com

Great Hites 42

This week we had stories from six people:
Daniel Machal
Ashley Redden
Guy David
Norval Joe
Justin Lowmaster
Jeff Hite

Hear the Promo For Scott Roche's ArchAngel

See the poll above.




Download

Tear Down this wall

I had a disturbing discussion with someone on twitter this morning. They were talking about kids not understanding the losses of personal freedoms, about the pains of a totalitarian state. It reminded me, as most discussions of this subject do, of the now famous 1987 Ronald Regan Speech from the Berlin Wall. This Speech means things to me for many reasons, but mostly because I lived in Germany when it happened. I live there years later when the wall came down, and I visited East Germany and East Berlin while they were still East and West. Returns to these things scare me. Ignorance of these things scares me even more. Here is the link to the Speech that still brings me to tears, and the Youtube Video. Say what you about about Regan but he had the right idea here.

http://www.reaganfoundation.org/reagan/speeches/wall.asp

Great Hites 41

This week we have four Stories, One from
Ashley Redden
Peter S.
Norval Joe
And Jeff Hite

Last week we had a three way tie, between Justin Lowmaster Lawrence Simon and Norval Joe

Great Hites 41
	Theres no Place like Home By: Ashley Redden
	Don't Take my Sun for Granted By: Peter S.
	The Daily Eclipse By: Norval Joe
	Night Fall By: Jeff Hite
pollcode.com free polls

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Great Hites Prompt # 42

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This weeks Prompt comes from Justin (the Space Turtle) Lowmaster and is:

"in the largest bookstore in the city. "

All Stories for this prompt are due by Midnight Tuesday February 24th. Email the text of the story and a recording if you would like me to include it in the podcast to jeffrey dot hite at gmail dot com.

good luck. And don't forget to come out to the site and vote for your Favorite stories this week.

Whisper

I have received some constructive criticism and I would like any other feedback that you might have. Thank you Indiana Jim for your honest appraisal.

Someone (Jim) asked me why I whisper everything.

I told them that I am naturally shy, but if you also think that I tend to whisper please let me know. I will work hard to improve.

Also if you have any other feedback on quality of the podcast please let me know.

And, yes I will try to project my voice more.


By the way in case you think that I am not being serious here, I really do like to get feedback about quality, the stories, my treatment of the stories and anything or everything else.

If you think by chance that the podcast stinks tell me so. If you think you have been treated unfairly because I put your story last, tell me so. In all seriousness I take all feedback and welcome it with open arms. Please feel free to leave a comment, drop me an e-mail or even leave voice feed back by recording your thoughts and send them in an e-mail and I will play them on the next show so long as they are clean.

Thank you again for sticking with me and my whispering.

By the way if you are not listening to Indiana Jim, What exactly are you waiting for. :) After all he did play the Great Hites Promo the other day.

Facebook TOS

If you were thinking of joining Facebook to show off your work, you need to very carefully read the Terms of Service agreement. They have basically said that anything you post is theirs to do with as they will. I was thinking of joining Facebook as a way to connect to more people but I think now I will be thinking no about that.

I do not know if you have a copyright or Creative commons license if this might protect you, but honestly I would not push my luck with that one.

here is a link to Facebook's TOS read it carefully.

Always Protect your hard work. Make sure before you sign up anywhere you read their agreement for intellectual property. Always take the time to license your work, and if at all possible make your voice heard about this issue. I am thinking maybe, just hypothetically here, clicking the contact us link on their page and letting them know what you think. Tweet about it, Blog about it, tell all your friends about it.

Great Hites # 40

This week we have stories By Justin Lowmaster, Lawrence Simon and Norval Joe

Great Hites # 40
	Inside Joke By Norval Joe
	Tuesday Morning By: Lawrence Simon
	Margo By: Justin Lowmaster
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Last week Norval Joe won the voting. Congratulations!

Wrath

This weeks entry into the 100 word story contest.




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Mad Scientists get a bad wrap for many things. Bringing down bridges, thwarting the hopes of some goodie-two-shoes want-a-be hero. But mostly we get blamed when anything goes wrong. Well I for one am not getting blamed this time. I am not going down for this one. Some fool over at the palace decided it would be a good idea not to let any of the slaves go, and now there are frog and gnats and locust everywhere. Talk about cruelty to animals, what are those things supposed to eat. I tell you it's like someone brought down the wrath of God.

-Jeff Hite

Great Hites 39 Delayed

My personal life is spiraling out of control. My day job is becoming a day and night job, so this weeks Great Hites is going to be delayed. I am sorry, I really am. I will try to get it done this weekend.

In the words of Forest Gump, "That is all I have to say about that."

No, I am not like some podcasters who would Rick Roll you at this point. I am just going to say I will keep going but will need to delay this week.

-Jeff

Great Hites Prompt number 40

This weeks Prompt is:

"It is only Tuesday. "

All Stories for this prompt are due by Midnight Tuesday February 10th. Email the text of the story and a recording if you would like me to include it in the podcast to jeffrey dot hite at gmail dot com.

good luck. And don't forget to come out to the site and vote for your Favorite stories this week.




Download GH_Prompt_40

Great Hites Prompt number 40

This weeks Prompt is:

"It is only Tuesday. "

All Stories for this prompt are due by Midnight Tuesday February 10th. Email the text of the story and a recording if you would like me to include it in the podcast to jeffrey dot hite at gmail dot com.

good luck. And don't forget to come out to the site and vote for your Favorite stories this week.




Download GH_Prompt_40

Turning on the Sarcasm light!

I think I need to find some way to make my sarcasm light project out via the internet. As you might have guessed I have angered some people by making sarcastic remarks and having people take me seriously.

For those of who know me, you know that sarcasm is my M.O. In fact, earlier this year when my wife and I renewed our vows, more on that later, The priest got to the part about love is not sarcastic, or nagging. My lovely wife and I smiled lovingly at each other, and then in the ride home we burst out laughing, and agreed that cutting out those two things would cut down on 50% of our conversations.

Seriously folks, if I am angry or frustrated with something you are saying, you will know it. I promise, more than likely by my lack of response. If I don't know you well, and I don't like something you are saying, I will more than likely just ignore you.

Now before you think that my wife and I are rude or truly nagging each other, I have included this typical conversation:

"have you seen my green socks?"
"Did you look in the laundry room?" <---- sarcastic tone here.
"Really the laundry room?" <---- sarcastic tone here.
"Yes, I know it might be a surprise that laundry might be there." <---- sarcastic tone here.
"You know the other place laundry could be would be the bed room." <--- nagging tone here.
"You know you are welcome to arrange that with the laundry fairy." <--- nagging tone here too.
"We have one of those? Is that in the budget? because I didn't see a line item for that."
"When was the last time you looked at the budget."
"good point, thanks honey, found them."

This is a big joke in our house due to the number of children we have and the amount of laundry they can generate. So as much as it sound like we are being rude, we are both laughing here.

P.S. we are good friends with the Priest have a feeling he made sure to use that line to see if he could make us both crack up.

Great Hites 38

This week we here stories from:
Krista Heiser
Norval Joe
Guy David
And you get the text only of my story due to the length of the recording.




Download GH38

Also this week I had a special guest while I was recording my one year old who was not feeling so well. He snores through must of the recording but that should not be a reflection on the story quality.

I talk about my blog post / podcast on Talking Hites on ways to improve and promote this podcast.

Lastly I played two promos for The Geek Survival Guide and Star Wars Codename Starkeeper.

Great Hites # 38
	A Spectacular View By: Krista Heiser
	December in Modesto By: Norval Joe
	This Machine Is Broken By: Guy David
	Cold By: Jeffrey Hite
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The Big Questions

In this episode I talk about The Adventures of Indiana Jim and the Geek Survival Guide both are worth your time.




So I am going to ask the big questions, and hope and pray that I get some answers.

Yes, I know the answer is 42

Yes, I know that is not god behind the great barrier. That guy just needs a starship, and a life. And that James T. Kirk will only die when he is alone, or close to it. Don't eat too many mashmellons. That you need your pain.

Oh and

Yes, I know that Firefly will probably never come back.

Yes, I know that my freeze ray takes some time to warm up so I should hide under a cover, looking like a statue while it warms up.

Okay, okay, okay! Enough already. So my questions are not that big. But I do think that they are important.

So here we go:

1. I think that we have here at GreatHites some incredibly talented authors. And I am not talking about myself, instead talking about such people as Anima, Guy, Norval, Laurence, Justin, Peter, Robert, Joseph, and our newest member Krista, I know you have not read her story yet, because I have not posted it yet, but I have and it is Fantastic.
Because these people write such wonderful stuff, I really want more people to read it so, I am asking you, what you think the best way to promote GreatHites would be? These people need to be recognized, and I want them to be so your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

2. Feed Back... How do I get some? I mean other than begging and pleading, becuase I won't do that... Okay, yes I will Please, please, please, please leave your feed back about the stories. I don't have a feed back line, but feel free to record your feed back and e-mail it to. leave a comment on this site or the greathites site. Send me a text e-mail. I know as one of the authors, the authors would love some feedback. Besides I am getting lonely out there in cyberspace.

3. What can I do to make GreatHites better? I am open to any and or all suggestions. More Music, less music, more talking, less talking more promos, less well you get the point. If you want something added or taken away let me know. I know one of the areas of contention has been having Alex read the stories that I don't get recordings for. I am open to other suggestions. For example if you would like to do readings for me that would be really cool. I would do them but you have no idea how long it takes me to get though my own stuff. I stutter and stammer so much it usually take me nearly three times as long as the story to get the recording and then editing is a nightmare so...

4 Should I shift from a weekly podcast, to maybe a monthly thing?

The long and short of this is that I want GreatHites to be one of the best short story podcasts out there. I think you folks who write for this Podcast deserve nothing less. Please help me to do that.

So leave a comment, send me an e-mail text or audio comment, just please let me know what you are thinking, and I will do my best to make this a better show.

Download TH #5

Great Hites Prompt number 39

This weeks Prompt is:




"The flames lept higher that they would have thought possible. "

All Stories for this prompt are due by Midnight Tuesday February 3rd. Email the text of the story and a recording if you would like me to include it in the podcast to jeffrey dot hite at gmail dot com.

good luck. And don't forget to come out to the site and vote for your Favorite stories this week.

Don't forget to go out to iTunes or podcast pickle or both and leave a review. It is a great way to let people know about great hites and what you think of it.

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Catholic Vote

I was going to apologize for two Faith based posts in a week, but I'm not going to. This is part of my life that that is what is this blog is about. If I upset some people, then I will deal with it.

Enjoy.




If for some reason you can't see the video here, please feel free to visit the originating site. http://www.catholicvote.com/

Another Free story From Neil Gaiman

If you could not already tell I am fan of Neil Gaiman. Thanks to Mur Lafferty for pointing this one out to me.


The Day the Saucers Came

New Media Message From the Pope

Being a Catholic myself, and a sinner, but still someone who attempts to follow the faith as closely as possible, this message hit home for me. Without being too cliche, New Media is the way of the future. Not that it is the case with my site, but the idea that one person can speak (write, perform) and thousands for people that are geographically separated can nearly instantly share the experience is incredible.

I found one paragraph particularly important, and one of many reasons I strive to keep my sites PG rated:

Those who are active in the production and dissemination of new media content, therefore, should strive to respect the dignity and worth of the human person. If the new technologies are to serve the good of individuals and of society, all users will avoid the sharing of words and images that are degrading of human beings, that promote hatred and intolerance, that debase the goodness and intimacy of human sexuality or that exploit the weak and vulnerable.


I think that The Holy Father says it better so I will stop talking now and just give you the like to his talk. Holy Father Pope Benedictus XVI talks about new media

I would love to hear your thoughts about this.

Jeff

Great Hites 37

Great Hites 37
	COUNTING THE DAYS By: Anima Zabaleta
	The Prison By: Norval Joe
	Prometheus By: Jeff Hite
pollcode.com free polls

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Feeds, Numbers and other things.

Hello everyone,

I have moved both of my feeds from Feedburner to Google. There is not supposed to be a difference, but if you have any trouble getting the new items, you might need to resubscribe. I really hope not but...

While I am on the subject of subscribers. On Monday, I think, I talked about how Great Hites had finally broken the 30 Subscribers mark and been there for a while. The day after that it dropped back down below that. I was a little disappointed but I guess that is what I get for talking about it. Then again it might have been that there was something that feedburner was not reporting correctly that now Googlefeeds is or vice versa.

Today is National Pie day. I think national days like this are great opportunities to spend time with your kids. (Assuming you have kids, or loved ones if you don't) So if you are not prepared for this day I have decided to help you out. Besides who does not love a slice of yummy pie.

Here is your grocery list
* One tin Pie pan

* one frozen crust (pillsbury sells them in sets of two perfect for if you want a top crust)

* One can of pie filling of your choice.

Yup that is really it. A pie can be that easy!

go home:

* Preheat your oven (according to the directions on the filling can)
* put the crust into the pie pan (be gentle they do rip)
* Let your kids put the filling in the crust.
* (if you are going to have a top crust) put the top crust on.
* (Again only if you are using a top crust) let your kids crimp the crusts shut with a fork
* Cut small slits in the top crust
* Pop it in the oven with a cookie sheet under it to catch drips.

* Pull it out and let it cool while you eat dinner.
* Slice and enjoy

That it it really. Slice and enjoy!

Murder at Avedon Hill

I have talked about this book before. We are still waiting for it P.G. Holyfield to finish the adventure on podiobooks, but I still even knowing I would have to wait for the ending I would start it all over again. It is a wonderful book so far, and worth your time to listen to it. You can get it at free at Podiobooks.com



Well he as done a very nice Video Promo for it. Here it is:

The Prompt

I had a question about a week ago how the prompt could be used. The question was basically, do you have to use the prompt verbadium, or even use it in your story.

Here is the way I look at the prompt. If the prompt tickles your fancy use it. If you can quote the prompt great. If it is just an idea that stirs something in you and it has something to do in some way with the prompt, then use it that way. basically I don't care how you use it. If it is a one word prompt obviously fitting it into your story should be pretty easy. But like the prompt from this previous week that was quite long, I don't expect you to use it word for word, in fact, unless you are a much better writer than I am I can't see how you could do that. (BTW I think most of the people that write for Great Hites are better writers than I am.)

Long and short of this, the prompt is there as a way to, for lack of a better word, prompt you into writing something. It is an idea, a grain of sand that you might turn into a pearl.

To everyone who has submitted thank you. For all of you listening thank you.

- Jeff

GreatHites Prompt # 38

This weeks Prompt is:

"The Cold was Shocking"

All Stories for this prompt are due by Midnight Tuesday January 27th. Email the text of the story and a recording if you would like me to include it in the podcast to jeffrey dot hite at gmail dot com.

good luck. And don't forget to come out to the site and vote for your Favorite stories this week.

Don't forget to go out to iTunes or podcast pickle or both and leave a review. It is a great way to let people know about great hites and what you think of it.

Download

30 listeners

I want to announce that it has been over a week that Great Hites has had over 30 Subscribers. I think it is safe to say that it will stay there unless I start upsetting people. That may seem like a really low number compared to say, Escapepod, but it is something new for me.

To all the wonderful people out there listening and reading. Thank you! Now go out an tell your friends.

-Jeff

P.S. The last time I heard Steve Eley talk about his stats he was some where in the neighborhood of 20,000 downloads a week. Makes my 30 seem like nothing, but as I said, 30 is more than I had before.

100 word stories tidal wave

Hello all. Last week I decided that I wanted to stir things up a bit. I was not sure how or where I would do it until I started thinking about the 100 word story contest.

The week before Laurence Simon, the sites editor and Publisher, only got 6 stories for his weekly contest. That is 4 or ten less than normal. This was in my humble opinion a big hit for his site. Unlike my site, where I get 2-4 stories a week, he almost always gets 10 stories a week.

This was my chance, my moment to stir up some trouble. And with a subject like tidal wave, how could I resist. So I wrote ten stories with different names and sent some of them out to people to read, even got my wife to read on under and assumed name. then I sent all the stories in, saying that I had gotten friends of mine to write them. I left the text of my story out, since my story gave the secret away.

I did however carry the joke a little too far for some people. I Didn't tell my readers what I was doing, and even in one case, replied saying I would ask the author if the recording was ok. in my defense, sitting in my office all alone I do tent to talk to myself, but to those of you who did the readings thank you and sorry if I offended you by not letting you know what was going on.

If you would like to hear the original podcast you can find it the 100 word story contest I won't repost his file because I don't have an explicit tag and he does, but feel free to got listen to the whole thing unravel. Besides there are some other very talented authors who publish on his site so it is worth your time to go listen.

However if you would like to just listen to the stories I told here they are. Thank you to all of you that helped with this this week. You time and talent as very much appreciated.



Whale Meat By Martin Joyce

"What is that?"
"what?"
"Up in the sky."
"Oh my goodness it looks like a whale."
"A whale? in the air?"
"Yeah, these young people and their improbability drives."
"Improbability huh? Well what are we going to do about that whale?"
"Hmm, not much we can do. It is going to fall in that lake over there."
"But don't whales live i the ocean?"
"Don't worry."
"Why not?"
"It won't survive the fall, worry about the tidal wave."




The Union By: David Tomes

"Ok guys we need to get organized here."
"What are we trying to accomplish here?"
"You forgotten already? Look we need to all rush forward at the same time."
"But why?"
"Come on we talked about this, we are trying to take over the world."
"How we going to do that, we are just krill?"
"That's why we have to get organized."
"What are we going to do?"
"We are all going to swim toward Washington DC at the same time and create a tidal wave an wipe'em out."
"Ok lets go."
They never saw the whale that swallowed them whole.


Last Message By: Ben Clarke

"This will be the final message from our civilization. It is important that someone know we where here and what we accomplished in our time. Our lives have been spent building thie beautiful world, that our children will never be able to enjoy, after the disaster that is about to befall us. Our scientists saw the disaster coming only a short while ago and told us all to prepare for it. Our world's about to wiped out. Oh the humanity, tidal wave!"
"Ow that water is hot," Tom said pulling his big toe back out of the tub.


Blow me to Bermuda By Misty Fritz

Mortally wounded, and heart sick from the betrayal, King Arthur made is way to the sacred lake. There he'd return the sword from whence it came, and hopefully gain access to Avalon that he might sleep until he was called for again. Nothing disturbed the lake's surface as he neared. Looking down the goddess saw all of this and more. She watched his life, and failings and knew the price that it has exacted on her. If she did this her vision would be obscured for some time.
"Merlin, what's that?"
"Surf's up your highness, tidal wave!"

Garth's Bad Idea By: Fred Hickman

The tidal wave of human bodies rushed forward and there was nothing they could do.
When the sparks began to fly from the stage everyone gasped in anticipation of a pyrotechnic light show. When the fire works lept from the stage to the gutiar, to the gutairist arm everyone realized it was no show. The screams flowed before the bodies but only because the bodies were heavier. All of the bodies moved as one, rising and falling with the pitch of the wailing guitar.
"See Garth, look at this mess. I told you we shouldn't do the flaming shirt trick."


Tidal wave of Paperwork - By: Robert Metsker

"We are a document Imaging company right?"
"Yes, Jack, we are why do you ask?"
"Well it just seems rather odd to me that we'd sell this wonderful software that takes digital images of paperwork and turns them into data to be stored a way on some server but we would have a room like this."
"What do you mean?"
"What do I mean? Have you looked around you? I mean look at this. I can't reach the top of this stack."
"Don't touch that."
"What? Why?"
"Because it'd be bad."
"Whatever." he said leaning against the stack.
"Tidal Wave!"


IT Tidal Wave BY Alan Marker

Laurence and Alan worked feverishly to stem the tide of cases that were coming in. Three techs had called in sick leaving only skeleton crew. They joked between calls about The Day That Sysadmins Ruled the World, but It had been a murderous day, and they worked like mad men, but the calls kept coming in.
"Geeze you would think that this was harder than it really is."
"Right, I think every wacko whoever used their CD-ROM as a cup holder is calling today."
"Maybe we should just plug the plug."
"Won't help, as they say you can't stop stupid."



Brush The Dog By: Carolyn Westburg

"I told you to brush the dog."
"I did."
"Come on, there is no way this all came from today."
"I Brushed him, that is my story and I'm sticking to it."
"That is so typical, a guy that lies and then won't admit to it. I mean here we are with indisputable evidence, and you won't even admit that you are wrong."
"I wouldn't call it indisputable. A few dog hairs laying around."
"You call this a few?"
"Ok more than a few."


The Comet by Arthur Kline

When the giant comet hit the Earth, it caused tidal waves that wiped out coastal cities all around the pacific rim. But, that was only the beginning of the devastation that it caused. The water and air around the site were vaporized and broken into it's component elements, causing massive explosions, which cascaded to more and more. Resulting in the largest nuclear explosions ever on the face of the planet. Half of what was left of the atmosphere was blown off in to space. Even the dinosaurs could not survive such colossal devastation. I wonder if we, with our wonderful technology will be able to.

Too Many Stories By Jeff Hite

Tom Tossed the gauntlet last week with the stats. Laurence took the gloves off when he laughed at Tom's stats only having 6 stories. It was a sad day to be sure, when the 100 word stories didn't even cover my commute time. Ashley was the impetus for the tidal wave to new authors with his tpoic. Since I don't know any other authors I wrote 10 stories this week. Got a number of people to record for me, and just tossed all to Tom's stats in the toilet. Giggle giggle snort. I think I cheated on this one. Thanks everyone!

"We are floating in a tidal wave of dog hair and you call it a few."

Download Talking Hites # 4