23 / JUL / 2025
A Return to Radio
For anyone who's kept up with the site for a while, you might remember a Walk Thru the Net where I linked to the online radio station WMBU. This was while I was in university and had my own show on the college radio station, so the idea of an online radio was one that I really liked and thought was worth following. It was a lot of fun, really; just the concept of running something free of censorship or FCC regulations was enough for me to tune in, and of course the webhost's taste in music was enough to keep me there.
Now, for those of you who have followed the link I gave in that blog post, you'll probably notice that WMBU has gone offline... but worry not! It has returned as asahidenpa! And on top of that, well... you'll have the luxury of listening to a show run by little ol' me~
The show I run is called "Blowing Dust," and is really just a variety of whatever songs I have saved, put together in an hour-long mix that conveys a different emotion or follows a certain genre. For example, the set I'll run on Monday the 28th will be called "Cautious Optimism," featuring Drum n Bass songs that convey just that: cautious optimism. I think the tracks which best express the feeling are "Way Back" by Pola & Bryson and "I Will" by DRS. The lineup gets a little crazy towards the end, but that's mostly the effect of me trying to cram in as many songs as I can to fill up the hour... Really, it'll be the first half that adheres closest to the theme, but that's the way things go I suppose.
With all that said, please be sure to tune in to asahidenpa on Mondays @833 .beats for the show!
And now it's time to mention progress on The Valkyrie Program once again...
Since I published the most recent chapter, I've taken something of a break on the story for a bit. Truth be told, I've been depressed for the past couple of weeks and wanted to give myself some time to re-center before working on the next two chapters. But other than that, I've also been trying to figure out how the "Elite Valkyries" operate.
Anyone who's familiar with the Valkyries of folklore will know that they're all women... yet Dana, Kevin, and Malik are all men. This was the biggest criticism that someone told me when I first told him the story -- I mean, a really big criticism that he would not let go of for some reason -- and while it was probably just him being neurotic, it was still an important element of folkloric valkyries that would linger in plenty of readers' minds. My answer at the time was that it was Samael taking inspiration from Earth; that he looked at the valkyries of Norse mythology and decided to base his program off of them. But that wasn't good enough for him, so I decided to think on it a bit more.
Now, after some thought, I think I've finally found out how to integrate the traditional concept of valkyries into the story without compromising half of its cast. The simple answer is: Elite Valkyries. All women who, for some reason, are extra sensitive to Samael's blessing. After spending enough time as valkyries, their skills and abilities are enhanced to become much higher than their male and newcomer counterparts, and they're able to brave more intense conflicts and situations. I think the main reason this works is because it makes for a natural segue into the second arc, which I'll choose not to spoil here but will note that it's where the story's underlying conflict comes to a simmer.
As for "Hanon Dansab Sayphe," that chapter was mostly written back in February. While I was initally just going to buff it out before posting it to the site, the developments at the end of "Psychopomp" made me feel the need to ease Dana into the events of the current chapter. So, I'll be bookending its main events and filling in a few gaps between it and "B'Sayphe N'Muthon."
After that... Yeah, I really don't know what the story will look like up until Second Surface. There might be intermittent chapters between each surface, similar to the prelude and epilogue, but I think it's too soon to tell. However it turns out, though, I hope we all have fun and enjoy it.
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