Episode 4 of J. Marcus Xavier’s Silent Universe will beam-out this Sunday. I expect you already know that this show is “Interactive,” having a “choose your own adventure” element. And that fans can participate directly in the story development process, working with the production team by offering critiques and suggestions in the online forums (and via a new companion podcast). But did you know anything about the man behind the show? I thought not! Here’s a bit…
I spotted J. Marcus Xavier, in a flickr photo! That’s him seated beside Sheila Unwin from Dragon Page: With Class at the Portable Media Expo. Did you know Xavier is a Christian? Did you know he recently contributed a segment to an interesting Meme Therapy‘s posting called Science Fiction’s Ethical Dilemmas Pt. 1. …
“With the Silent Universe, I try to strike (an admittedly uncomfortable) middle-ground, in that humans in this future sometimes throw around racial epithets . . . things that people might joke about when they are with friends or family (of their own racial group) but would never say in public. Largely, people in the Silent Universe will not get offended if such comments are voiced; this sometimes throws listeners off, because there’s ‘supposed’ to be another character who chimes in and says ‘‘Hey!’ or ‘Watch your mouth’ or ‘You’re such a jack-ass’ and it never happens. This is not meant to offend, but just to reflect a different kind of sensibility toward racial issues that exists in a future where people still struggle. If it causes a little controversy, but that controversy leads to discussion, then I can live with it.”
Intrigued? Get an advanced preview of Episode #4 via this MP3. Or skip that and just subscribe to the FREE version of the podcast:
http://www.silentuniverse.com/silentuniverse.xml
