Join The Underground!
Have something to say? Be a contributor for the Spirit Blade Underground! We want reviews, rants, news or geekery of any kind! And you're more than welcome to throw in a plug for whatever website, cause, or product you want to draw attention to!
Written submissions will be considered for inclusion on The Spirit Blade Underground blog and/or The Spirit Blade Underground Podcast (where they will be read by Paeter Frandsen and credited to you). Submissions in audio format will be considered for inclusion in The Spirit Blade Underground Podcast. You may also submit the same content in both written and audio formats if you'd like!
All submissions should be e-mailed to Paeter Frandsen. See below for submission procedure and more details.
General Submission Procedure
Your submission will be reviewed by Paeter Frandsen and you will be contacted if your submission is accepted. Your content will then be posted on the blog and/or included on the podcast in the first available and appropriate slot.
By submitting your content for consideration, you give Paeter Frandsen and Spirit Blade Productions a non-exclusive, unlimited license to make use of your submission for either profit or non-profit purposes of any kind.
Please clearly indicate in your submission how you wish to be credited. Wherever your submitted content is used, you will also be credited by whatever name you provide to identify yourself, whether full legal name or a "screen name" of your choice.
Written Submissions
To increase your written submission's chance of acceptance, please make use of proper spelling and grammar and avoid potentially offensive language. We reserve the right to edit your submission for spelling/grammar, increased clarity, or for potentially offensive content, but your submission may be rejected if doing so will require more time than we'd like to invest to make editorial corrections/changes.
We're happy to help promote something you are doing or are interested in! You are invited to include a URL that we can place a link to at the bottom of your written submission. We reserve the right to reject a submitted URL if we think the content it links to is potentially offensive to our audience or incompatible with the teaching of the Bible.
Audio File Submissions
You are invited to include a verbal promotional "plug" for anything you wish at the end of your audio submission! We reserve the right to reject or remove an included plug if we think the content it promotes will be potentially offensive to our audience or incompatible with the teaching of the Bible.
Audio submissions are preferred in mp3 format, with a run time no longer than 10 minutes. If your file size will be larger than 5MB, we request that you use a file transfer service such as yousendit or sendspace to send your review.
Copyright Law
Please be aware that we make every effort to comply with copyright law. Although a legal argument can be made for the "fair use" of some copyrighted audio material for review purposes, we most often prefer to "play it safe" and avoid the use of copyrighted audio material for which we have not obtained permission to use from the copyright holders.
If you have obtained permission to use copyrighted audio material, please include documentation indicating this, as well as any notice that must be posted or spoken as a condition for your use of the material.
If you choose to include copyrighted audio material in your submitted content for which you have not been given permission to use, we may request for it to be removed and your content to be resubmitted without it.
Below is a list of our current segments for which you can submit content for consideration.
Reviews (and "Retro Reviews")
We want reviews for almost any form of "geek entertainment". Books, Comics, Movies, Animation, Video Games, Board/Card Games, Paper and Pencil RPGs, etc. Almost anything with an imaginative fictional theme.
We also welcome reviews for things that have already been around for awhile or even for a VERY long time. We classify these as "Retro Reviews" and simply use a special notice or intro to identify them. Simply submit your review as described below and we'll determine whether or not to classify it as a current or "retro" review during the consideration process.
Because many other Christian review sites already focus attention on potentially offensive content in entertainment media, we do not require that your review cover such elements. However it's always appreciated when a simple note regarding the official content rating of the art form (if appropriate) is included at the end of the review. MPAA ratings for movies, along with brief descrptions for the reason the rating was given, can be found for most any film on The Internet Movie Database. Video game ratings, along with brief content descriptions, can usually be found on the outside back of the box.
Although you can focus on whatever elements you'd like for your review, our reviews typically focus on the overall quality, and the philosophical themes present. You may choose to make these your focus as well if you wish, but are not required to do so. (However, in the case of written reviews, we do require both a Quality and Relevance score to be included, as described below, even if these elements are not the focus of the rest of your review.)
Written reviews should be at least 250 words. A written review must also include both a Quality and Relevance score at the end of the review. For an explanation of this scoring system, see our scoring system page.
Audio reviews need not include Quality and Relevance scores and will not be penalized in consideration for not having them, but they are always appreciated and provide greater consistency for our listeners when they are included with a review.
Christian Geek Radar
This segment highlights a website featuring geek entertainment content that has been created by a Christian. The content need not be "Christian" in nature.
Simply provide a summary of the content/activity on the website and whatever positive things you have to say about it. (Written submissions should be at least 100 words.)
The highlighted website can be your own! Don't be shy in telling us what you're up to! If we think it would be of interest to our audience we'd love to help promote what you're doing!
In Search Of Truth
This segment takes a look at a passage from the Bible, or discusses a topic with supporting quotes from the Bible. When possible or appropriate, we also aim for this segment to have at least one point of application specifically for fans of geek entertainment.
Although you need not have any formal biblical training to submit content for this segment, submissions for this segment undergo a greater amount of scrutiny before being accepted. Submissions containing controversial doctrine, theology or other topics are less likely to be accepted.
Geek Entertainment News/Opinions
In this segment we're looking for any industry news relevant to geek entertainment. Books, Comics, Movies, Animation, Video Games, Board/Card Games, Paper and Pencil RPGs, etc. Almost anything with an imaginative fictional theme. Please cite your sources, especially when quoting. You're also encouraged to include your thoughts and reactions to the news you are sharing!
Inside My Brain
This segment is about, as you may have guessed, whatever is on your mind that is relevant to geek entertainment or life as a Christian geek. It can be a rant, a rave, or simply pondering a topic. There is no minimum word requirement for a written submission.
New Segments
We're also looking for ideas for NEW segments to add, either regularly or as a one time event. So if you have an idea, we'd LOVE to hear about it and/or get your submission for it!
Thanks for being a part of The Spirit Blade Underground! We look forward to hearing from you!
