“A figurehead of Philadelphia’s young blogging scene, there aren’t many people involved in web communities in this city who don’t know (Eric) Smith. But Smith … is involved in enough cool projects that intersect with technology, the web and Philadelphia that it’d be something of a sin to not share them,” says Technically Philly in an interview with Smith, who earned his master’s degree in English with a literature concentration at Arcadia.

Smith, co-founder of popular geek blog Geekadelphia, explained, “When I moved to Philadelphia, I was surrounded by this awesome scene of geeks and wanted to be a part of it. But alas, I was writing about cheesesteaks and museums all the time. Thus, Geekadelphia was born, as an outlet for what I really cared about, a city I had come to love, and the passions that kept me happy.” Now he’s “the newly minted chief of social marketing for indie Old City-based Quirk Books (known for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies), and this fall he’s self-publishing his long-developed novel Textual Healing, which he’s also in the midst of releasing as a podcast.

“Why give it away for free?” asks Technically Philly.

“For two reasons,” responds Smith. “One, as a little marketing stunt, to drive attention to the actual print release of the book. And two, well, because it’s fun. I’ve been roping in good friends, having them record different characters, all over wings and beer. We have ourselves a good time.”

Smith explains, “Textual Healing is a quirky romantic comedy about a once famous writer named Andrew Connor, who owns a used bookshop. He sort of lives in this world in his head, where he thinks he’s still this big shot. Unfortunately, reality shatters that. Over the course of a week, a number of mishaps make him realize he isn’t such a big deal anymore. As a result, he ends up in a support group called Textual Healing, a group of writers who aren’t writing anymore. Here he meets an array of characters with bizarre problems.” Read more.

Photo via ericsmithrocks.com