I remember when LOST jumped the shark. It was the episode dedicated to the mystery of Jack’s tattoo. It was an inane episode, one that existed entirely to buy time for the writers, while simultaneously keeping a popular character on screen for the majority of an episode. The episode could have been good – after all, LOST is all about those weird coincidences and strange meanings of every day occurrences. By this point in LOST’s evolution though, we had enough mysteries. We wanted answers. We got a tattoo.

With Season 4, LOST jumped back.

The leading horror writers organization's web site contains members-only information as well as tips for aspiring writers. The association presents the annual Bram Stoker award for best horror fiction.

It's all Balticon, all the time as I recap my trip to the science fiction convention, talk about the panels I attended, catch up with some old friends (and find some new ones) and talk about the new audio and video podcasts -- such as Mur Lafferty and Jason Adams' new podcast ZombInc and the supernatural fiction video podcast Stranger Horizons -- that I discovered at the convention.

It's like a scene out of a horror movie: an unsuspecting woman pumps gas into her car, only to be summoned inside by a gas attendant who informs her that -- horrors! -- a knife wielding lunatic is lurking in the backseat.

In truth, it is a scene from a horror movie -- the horror movie Urban Legend in fact -- and it far from being a horrifying new trend, this old tale's been with us for decades.

I'm back in the real world, having left Balticon in my rear view mirror far sooner than I would have wished. Here are somme random thoughts I jotted down about the con, which easily ranks up there with GenCon in terms of overall coolness. Expect much geeking out about it in the next Radio Active.

3 p.m.: How the internet helps small presses publish books / Derby / Scott Edelman(M), Mike Walsh, Elaine Corvidae, M.T. Reiten

Scott Edelman: Is it helpful? It's actually damaged one aspect of small press magazine publishing because it's replaced the zine niche.

Mike Walsh: A book that was refused by the big sale chains; SCIFI did nice review, but it was BoingBoing that really drove a sales spike. Also, while not being in a big chain used to be a horrible thing, Amazon now offsets that.

Elaine Corvidae: Growing up in small town, if a book wasn't on a shelf, you really couldn't get it (or not know about it). The benefit of the internet is that sites get exposure. Points that she's publishing her books for free on her site, which fuels sales of print edition.

M.T. Reiten: Internet helps with reach, but challenging aspect is marketing.

Scott Edelman: Seeing authors give away review copies of book or magazine to see if it leads to a buzz.

Scott Edelman: Locus is our New York Times. Everyone wants a review there. Joe Hadleman's always going to get a review there; how do you get one as a small press.

Should you distribute your first book online?

"Why Writing Can’t Be Taught And How To Teach It": Jim Kelly(M), Mur Lafferty, David Moldawer, Lee C. Hillman

What can't you teach?

David Moldawer: A writer's "voice" isn't something that can be taught, it can only be built up like a callous.

Lee C. Hillman: Can't teach how to listen, how to hear, to tell the difference between a sentence that flows and a sentence that doesn't.

Jim Kelly: Reads for MFA program, Clarion Workshop program. Looks at what's sound, what can be helped. What can't be taught: the restless need to write, well done social interactions between characters, the knack jumping into other people's skulls. Ability to learn; some people are just there to meet faculty/writers and aren't willing to learn new things.

What can you teach?

David Moldawer: How to write a book -- how to get into the trenches and write the book. Then how to re-write a book, to cut out chapters, re-write chapters. e.g. cut a scene by removing the first and last page; most times it'll be better.

Mur: Teaching how to edit; how to be cold and analytical. Teach what to cut. Learn the rules -- e.g. show don't tell. Going through as editing, you can realize mistakes and go back and edit.

10 p.m.: Crowd Sourcing / Belmont /Mur Lafferty(M), JC Hutchins, Chris Lester

Turning Fans into Minions!

JC Hutchins, 7th Son Trilogy, got two book deals from St. Martins Press for 2009 releaase. Chris Lester, Metamorph City. Mur of ... Murverse (Playing for Keeps, Geek Fu, Heaven, etc).

They can't do it all, so they need help. JC Hutchins -- there's more social tools now; started in 2006, only really MySpace for promoting self. There were podcast directories, and asked listeners to promote the site.

Chris used crowd sourcing before he launched site. Asked people to be voices, worked networking angle of podcasting community, talked to friends for voice actors, tried to pull in as many people as possible, which helps distinguish the group.

JC Hutchins returns to crowd-sourcing for 7S Oblivion by soliciting fan creations, including audio, video and written work.

Chris set up a mailing list of people who want to volunteer, he then sends e-mail to list asking for specific things he needs (e.g. secretary). Chadwick Paddington says he wants forums, so he went out and bought TheCurse.org, setting up fan site for Metamorph City.

Mur created Tales of the Third Wave as an outcropping of Playing for Keeps. Kris Johnson was first to contributed.

2 p.m.: Video Podcasting 101 / Belmont / Working with the basics: Earl Newton(M), Brand Gambin, Tee Morris, Chris Condayan, Jason Adams, Jon Stallard

Video Podcasting 101 featured Earl Newton (Video Podcasting for Dummies) as the moderator (strangerthings.tv), Chris Condayan, (MicroWorld.org), Brand Gambin (CallsForCthulhu.com, Tee Morris (teemorris.com/), Jason Adams (Jason Adams, Jon Stallard (geekradiodaily.com).

Tee Morris & Earl Newton -- when you need the videos, get into video podcasting. But it's harder -- you have to worry about makeup, visuals, lighting. Something else is to consider is enhanced podcast with still images, links, etc. Good thing, but some people still demand standard radio. So if you do enhanced you're going to need to manage two feeds: enhanced and standard.

1 p.m. Live! Takeover! (Audio Drama) / Belmont / Mur Lafferty(M), Jason Adams, JR Blackwell, Christiana Ellis, JC Hutchins, John Cmar, Laura Burns

Mur Lafferty and Jason Adams began The Take Over as a video project at LuLu, but then they lost their jobs and the project went into limbo. Now it's back as an audio drama, and the first two episodes debuted at Balticon42.

The live show began with a rousing singing of Re: Your Brains led by J.R. Blackwell, then launched into the meat of the first episode, in which ZombInc -- a company in which upper level management are all zombies -- is taking over a web development company. It'll be a full-blown, 10-episode audio drama available in June. Check it out at http://zombinc.net/ or MurVerse. The live version should should be online at some point.