I’ve been a big fan of the 7th Son podcast novel trilogy since I first started listening last year. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the story, allow me to quote the synopsis from the 7th Son web site:

The President of the United States is dead. He was murdered in the morning sunlight by a four-year-old boy…

So begins 7th Son, the chart-topping, genre-bending audiobook thriller trilogy by J.C. Hutchins. Called “the best thriller you’ve never read,” the series is renowned for its plot twists, everyman characters and cliffhangers. The series has nearly 40,000 listeners worldwide, and was featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post and on the cover of Blogger & Podcaster magazine.

These serialized audiobooks are absolutely free. No gimmicks. No sign-ups. No hassles.

7th Son chronicles the story of seven strangers who are assembled after the assassination of the U.S. president. They quickly discover they all appear to be the same man … with identical childhood memories.

Unwitting participants in a human cloning experiment, these “John Michael Smiths” have been gathered to catch the man who murdered the president. Their target? The man they were cloned from; the original John Michael Smith, code-named John Alpha.

Soon our heroes — John, Jack, Michael, Kilroy2.0 and the others — realize the president’s murder was merely a prologue to Alpha’s plans. The outcome will unearth a conspiracy larger than they could have ever imagined….

It’s a very engaging story full of great action sequences and excellent character development (and if you decide to listen, prepare to be cliffhangered).

The trilogy wrapped up early this year, but author J.C. Hutchins wanted to revisit the 7th Son universe with a new project titled 7th Son: OBSIDIAN. The new series is set in a very specific point in the 7th Son timeline; the point at which there is a nationwide blackout (and the ensuing chaos) in the United States. OBSIDIAN consists of two types of episodes: short stories by prominent new media authors set in the 7th Son universe and audio/video clips sent in by fans in which they portray their reactions as if they are experiencing the blackout firsthand. This latter series is called “Voices from the Darkness”.

Of course, as hams we think of one of our main functions as emergency communicators in times of need. In a scenario like this, it only seems natural that hams would be one of the few lines of communications in a completely dark country. Mark Smith, KR6ZY, is also a fan of 7th Son and created an extremely well executed and chilling “Voices from the Darkness” episode which gives a glimpse into the recordings of a ham during the blackout. Even if you don’t know anything about the storyline, it’s well worth listening to this episode. It beats anything that Jericho ever did with ham radio.

This kind of crossover stuff is really neat, and demonstrates the power of the “new media”. The reaction to this episode was extremely positive, and it probably got a lot of folks thinking about ham radio in a new light. Kudos to J.C. Hutchins and Mark Smith for some excellent, high-quality entertainment for the Internet age.