FINDING BIGFOOT: Untold Stories: Behind the Squatch

Animal Planet - Original Air Date: 3/31/2013

Once again, Keith Hoffman -- FB's Executive Producer -- rounds up the cast for interviews and gives us a behind-the-scenes look at Finding Bigfoot.  Asked about the most valuable asset each of them brings to the team, Matt says "experience," Ranae says "counterbalance" (skepticism), Bobo says "man of the people," Cliff says "data analysis."  They travel to a town hall meeting, so Keith can see the process first-hand.  They then show how they block out a witness interview in the woods for an episode.  Then they move to showing how they film night investigations -- IR cameras, etc.  They then visit Bobo at his home "bachelor pad" in Humboldt County, CA.  They then go crabbing, which was Bobo's previous job (before becoming a TV bigfoot hunter).  Keith may be the worst crabber ever.  (City kids!)  A nice change-of-pace, this is a good show and features a lot of information about how they make the series.

FINDING BIGFOOT:

Animal Planet - Original Air Date: 3/24/2013

The team travels to southern Illinois to check out ongoing local reports of bigfoots in the Land of Lincoln.  They hook up with Stan Courtney, a bigfoot audio specialist -- whom Cliff describes as a leader in his field (and a model scientist).  Listening to the recordings, the group hears a lot of coyotes, and Ranae doesn't hear anything that she doesn't think are local animals: coyotes, dogs, cows.  Stan believes that some of the sounds are bigfoots trying to imitate other animasl; Ranae and Bobo are skeptical.  (It seems like little evidence for a microphone running 24/7.)  The show then settles into its normal format: night investigation, camp out (Ranae), town hall meeting, witness interviews, and final night investigation.

Ranae ends up camping out in the woods near a (haunted) cemetery near where witnesses thought a tree had been snapped by a bigfoot.  In the morning, she looks at the snapped tree, and concludes that the break looks natural.  She then uses a glider to scout the countryside to try and find the best bigfoot habitat in the area.  To lure the bigfoots out in the team's second night investigation, Cliff plays electric guitar.  (Really?  Is this science?  They're doing more of this stuff lately, and I have to ask: Would this work for luring out gorillas?)  They hear knocks, which to some of the team always means sasquatch are near by.  But to me, it means another show with no finding of bigfoot.

FINDING BIGFOOT: Virgin Sasquatch

Animal Planet - Original Air Date: 3/17/2013

The team goes to small-town Oregon to look into a recent casting of over 100 bigfoot footprints.  Cliff was one of the investigators casting these prints near Cottage Grove, where sightings date back to the '70s.  The prints were discovered by dog walkers on the muddy shoreline of a drained reservoir, 122 tracks total.  Ranae wants to make sure they weren't hoaxed, perhaps placed deliberately for hikers to find.  Though she trusts Cliff's work, she thinks the find is awfully convenient.  Matt is frustrated by her skepticism.  Night investigation, town hall, camp out (Bobo), interviews, and final night investigation follow -- like clockwork.  Bobo's solo investigation is enhanced by his dog "Monkey," a veteran squatch hunter.

Later, they go into what they hope is "virgin squatch" territory -- that is, a place where bigfoots won't have heard hunters trying to lure them in before.  I'm amazed by the cast's ability to talk bout "virgin bigfoots" with a straight face, though at one point it looks as though Cliff may crack up.  In the final investigation, Cliff sets up in the top of a tree to gain a better vantage point.  (Sadly, much of the forest has been clearcut.)  But, aside from the usual dubious "wood knocks," the investigation turns up little.  Really, they might have been better off just studying Cliff's plaster casts.

FINDING BIGFOOT: Bigfoot Loves a Barbecue

Animal Planet - Original Air Date: 3/10/2013

The crew goes to Connecticut to check out a bigfoot film made by a mother while watching her children.  A recreation with Bobo doesn't convince Ranae that it's not a bear, though she agrees it's not a person.  (A stabilized version of this video would really help, FB editors!)  Night investigation, camp out (Cliff), town hall, more witnesses, and final night investigation follow (as usual).  While camping, Cliff runs into a bear -- and we hear it roar, though the camera can't catch it as it retreats into the woods.  (Validating Ranae's supposition?)  After talking to some dodgy witnesses (some of whom the team doesn't believe), they decide to hold a cookout in the woods to try to lure in sasquatch.  But nothing shows; skunked again!

FINDING BIGFOOT: Bigfoot and the Redhead

Animal Planet - Original Air Date: 3/3/2013

The team heads to Pennsylvania to check out a film made by teenage go-karters.  The show follows the usual format: interview witnesses, night investigation, camp out (Bobo), town hall, more witnesses, and final night investigation.  The footage, from 2012, shows a shadowy figure striding through the forest with a gait similar to the Patterson film.  It reminds Ranae of similar footage from Indiana, which she believes to be a hoax.  In a re-creation, Bobo looks bigger than the supposed bigfoot; hoax seems likely to all the team -- and they suspect one of the teens talking to them of being the guy in the "suit."  They then go to a remote island area (near where the famous Jacobs trail cam "juvenile bigfoot" photos were taken) for their night investigation.  They see eye-shine, and Bobo is convinced enough that he and Cliff heard a bigfoot, that Bobo stays behind to camp out and investigate.  (Though he only finds other howling 'Squatchers.)

The rest meet a kid who has very compelling bigfoot testimony, and spend a lot of time talking to him.  Even Ranae is impressed, though she wonders if his imagination as gotten hthe better of him.  In their final investigation, the crew decides to play whale songs in an attempt to lure in curious bigfoots.  Despite hearing the usual sounds and false starts in the dark, they come away with no firm evidence.

Bundle of Holding Interview - STEPHEN D. SULLIVAN

About the Bundle
A "bag of holding" is a magical purse or sack that contains more on the inside than it would appear to from its size.  (Yes, SF fans, it's like a TARDIS.)  A "Bundle of Holding" then is a collection of books that contains more than it would appear to -- or more, perhaps, than you would expect to find for what you've paid.

All the Bundle of Holding authors have a roleplaying game
background. Tell us about your gaming work.
In 1980, I joined the staff of TSR to work on Dungeons & Dragons, becoming an editor on what is now called the Moldvay/Cook version of the game.  I was at TSR for the better part of 4 years, working in the editorial and art departments. After that, I helped found Pacesetter, Ltd. -- the creators of CHILL -- and was the Art Director (and a designer) there for the life of the company.  After that, I did a lot of freelance game-related work, including maps for the Dragonlance books and Middle Earth RPG, and a long-running comic series in Dragon magazine, The Twilight Empire: Robinson's War (which is now available in a print collection).

How, if at all, does your game background influence your
approach to fiction? How does it help or hinder narrative writing?
My work in gaming gave me a lot of experience "world building" and developing backgrounds and characters for stories.  Even today, I do story bibles for my major work.  The Blue Kingdoms bible, where the Tournament of Death is set, runs over 40,000 words.  The role-playing I've done, both playing and running, has helped sharpen my ear for character dialogue and motivations.  All that has been useful, though films and books have had at least as much influence on my work.

Do you have other books related to your Bundle of Holding book?
Tournament of Death, my contribution to the bundle, is the first in a series of books.  The second one, Tournament of Death 2, is already available -- and I used a Kickstarter last year to help fund its writing.  Chances are that I'll be writing Tournament of Death 3 during next year's Winter Olympics.  Keep an eye peeled for announcements.

Which other writers in the Bundle would you recommend
to your readers?
I've known Matt Forbeck since he was a kid, playtesting for Pacesetter, and he's a fine writer.  I'm really looking forward to reading his Bundle book.  And I've loved Paranoia since it's creation, so Allen Varney's book is high on my to-read list, too.

What are your current projects?
I just finished publishing the print editions of Tournament of Death 1 & 2, and I'm gearing up for my next projects.  2013 is going to be my Year of Horror, in which I will (finally) release my Frost Harrow series of modern, Gothic-horror novels.  I also have a zombie project or two on deck.  Chances are, I might squeeze in a short or two as well -- maybe something steampunk and something with Crimson.

Where can readers learn more?
The best place to keep up with me is at my website -- www.stephendsullivan.com.  There, you can sign up for my free newsletter, too.  You can write me directly at fanmail@stephendsullivan.com.  I also have pages on Twitter -- https://twitter.com/sdsullivan -- and Facebook -- http://www.facebook.com/sdsbooks  -- which are great day-to-day ways to follow what I'm up to.  Hope to see you there!

Enjoy the Bundle!

Bundle of Holding Interview -- JENNA MORAN

About the Bundle
A "bag of holding" is a magical purse or sack that contains more on the inside than it would appear to from its size.  (Yes, SF fans, it's like a TARDIS.)  A "Bundle of Holding" then is a collection of books that contains more than it would appear to -- or more, perhaps, than you would expect to find for what you've paid.

1. Tell us about your gaming work.

Hi!

I started out as an 8-year-old kid sketching bizarre and unfortunate
D&D modules on a gigantic roll of graph paper. I was certain that no
sooner would TSR see these works than I would receive the full and
incompletely-conceptualized riches of a major game designer. Sadly
they were unable to publish this early work, as I did not know the
actual process, at age 8, for actually submitting work for
consideration.

They never even sent a scout to my elementary school!

Fast forward to 1999.

By then I'd fallen in with a reclusive cabal of game designers bent on
. . . I'm not quite sure. Possibly some sort of world domination?
There someone explained to me that it is not enough to simply write
ever-more-complete RPG stuff, wave it in the vague direction of
friends, and then move on to something else; one must also show it to
people with the power to publish stuff!

(This, incidentally, turns out to be wrong.

The actual secret is to always be writing RPG stuff, and to _know_
people who publish stuff. At that point they will pick up enthusiasm
about your project by osmosis. If you try to pitch your product to
them directly you will probably fail because they are too busy
publishing RPGs to read stuff.

But I digress!)

I put together my first real RPG, Nobilis, published it through Plaid
Rabbit and later a much-revised and expanded version through Hogshead.
It did pretty well, which helped me get freelance work for White Wolf,
SJG, and later Eos Press.

People are still fond of Nobilis, which pleases me; I've just recently
come out with a third edition through Eos, complete with a very shiny
ePub edition. I also did some well-regarded work on Exalted (and some
controversial work, and some work that nobody noticed, and then there
are the parts I keep getting blamed for that happened before I'd even
seen the game . . . .) and the core rules and setting material for the
Eos game, "Weapons of the Gods."

(Minus a little bit of the setting that came from the Tony Wong comic
of the same name.)

I've spent most of the past two years putting together my next RPG,
"Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine" and its first two
supplements. (And in fact have just finished that and am going into
editing and art/layout planning now!)

2. How, if at all, does your game background influence your approach to fiction? How does it help or hinder narrative writing?

Hm!

I think experience with gaming writing makes it harder to write
extremely long sections — I start feeling uncomfortable the more words
I go without a new header. A 10k word chapter doesn't feel right as a
single block of text!

Other than that, there isn't really a directional influence.

3. Do you have other books related to your Bundle of Holding book?

Not at present!

My bundled book is part of a larger transmedia project that also
includes the RPG that I'm currently working on. But it was also the
first release in that project, and the second isn't out yet.

4. Which other writers in the Bundle would you recommend to your readers?

It may just be because I'm a sucker for supers stuff, but I'm really
looking forward to a free moment to read Playing for Keeps. ^_^

5. What are your current projects?

I've lately started serializing the pre-editor versions of my books
over on books.hitherby.com, with awesome illustrations by Tony
Damiani.

That's kind of current!

Also there's the RPG stuff I mentioned in question 1. How I am wishing
that I could turn back the clock and move that answer down to here!
But the moving finger writes and having writ moves on. That's my
inerrant philosophy at work!

6. Where can readers learn more?

I'm pretty active on gplus!

Best wishes,

Jenna