Spirited Discourse

Part 2 of our discussion with Trevor Quachri, editor of ANALOG SCIENCE FICTION & FACT, about Avengers: Endgame and the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  Before taking the reigns of ANALOG SCIENCE FICTION AND FACT as editor in 2012, Trevor Quachri started off as an editorial assistant in 1999 and worked his way up the ladder at ANALOG and ASIMOV’S SCIENCE FICTION, under Stanley Schmidt, Sheila Williams, and Gardner Dozois, respectively. On top of that, he’s also been a Broadway stagehand, collected data for museums, and executive produced a science fiction pilot for a basic cable channel. He lives in New Jersey with his fiancee, daughter, and way, way too many comic books.

Trevor Quachri, editor of ANALOG SCIENCE FICTION & FACT, joins Rajan and Devin to discuss Avengers: Endgame and the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  Before taking the reigns of ANALOG SCIENCE FICTION AND FACT as editor in 2012, Trevor Quachri started off as an editorial assistant in 1999 and worked his way up the ladder at ANALOG and ASIMOV’S SCIENCE FICTION, under Stanley Schmidt, Sheila Williams, and Gardner Dozois, respectively. On top of that, he’s also been a Broadway stagehand, collected data for museums, and executive produced a science fiction pilot for a basic cable channel. He lives in New Jersey with his fiancee, daughter, and way, way too many comic books.

Tor.com blogger and writer, Theresa Delucci, joins Rajan and Devin to talk about Game of Thrones, Red Dead Redemption 2, The Haunting of Hill House, and more.  Theresa DeLucci is a regular contributor for Tor.com, and has also gotten excited about pop culture for BoingBoing, Den of Geek, and Wired’s Geeks Guide to the Galaxy. A Clarion West alum, her most recent short story “Cavity” is forthcoming from Strange Horizons. Send her a raven via Twitter @tdelucci

Speculative Fiction author, Matthew Kressel, joins Rajan and Devin to discuss writing, Blade Runner, television and more.  Matthew Kressel is a multiple Nebula Award-nominated writer and World Fantasy Award-nominated editor. His short story "The Last Novelist" is a 2017 Nebula Award finalist, his story “The Meeker and the All-Seeing Eye” was a 2014 Nebula Award nominee for Best Short Story. And his story “The Sounds of Old Earth” was a 2013 Nebula Award nominee for Best Short Story. The story also made the 2013 Locus Recommended Reading List. His short stories have appeared in Lightspeed, Nightmare, Clarkesworld, io9.com, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Interzone, Electric Velocipede, Apex Magazine, and the anthologies Cyber World, Naked City, After, The People of the Book, The Mammoth Book of Steampunk, and elsewhere. His first novel, King of Shards, was hailed as “Majestic, resonant, reality-twisting madness,” from NPR Books. Kressel is currently writing a near-future Young Adult thriller. Kressel co-hosts the Fantastic Fiction reading series at the famous KGB Bar alongside veteran speculative-fiction editor Ellen Datlow. The monthly series highlights luminaries and up-and-comers in speculative fiction.

Rajan and Devin sit down with author, David Mack, and talk about his new novel, The Midnight Front, over some very nice rye.  David Mack is the award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of more than thirty novels of science fiction, fantasy, and adventure, including the Star Trek Destiny and Cold Equations trilogies. His writing credits span several media, including television (for episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), film, short fiction, and comic books. He resides in New York City.

Rajan and Devin sit down with esteemed editor, Ellen Datlow, to talk about editing, movies, horror, and doll heads.  Ellen Datlow has been editing science fiction, fantasy, and horror short fiction for over thirty-five years as fiction editor of OMNI Magazine and editor of Event Horizon and SCIFICTION. She currently acquires short fiction for Tor.com. In addition, she has edited more than a hundred science fiction, fantasy, and horror anthologies, including the annual The Best Horror of the Year, Lovecraft’s Monsters, Fearful Symmetries, The Doll Collection,, The Monstrous, Nightmares: A New Decade of Modern Horror, Black Feathers,  Haunted Nights (with Lisa Morton), and Mad Hatters and March Hares (stories inspired by Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There). Forthcoming are The Devil and the Deep: Horror Stories of the Sea, Echoes: The Saga Anthology of Ghost Stories, and The Best of the Best (covering the first Ten volumes of the Best Horror of the Year series). She’s won multiple World Fantasy Awards, Locus Awards, Hugo Awards, Stoker Awards, International Horror Guild Awards, Shirley Jackson Awards, and the 2012 Il Posto Nero Black Spot Award for Excellence as Best Foreign Editor. Datlow was named recipient of the 2007 Karl Edward Wagner Award, given at the British Fantasy Convention for “outstanding contribution to the genre,” was honored with the Life Achievement Award by the Horror Writers Association, in acknowledgment of superior achievement over an entire career, and honored with the World Fantasy Life Achievement Award at the 2014 World Fantasy Convention. She lives in New York and co-hosts the monthly Fantastic Fiction Reading Series at KGB Bar. More information can be found at www.datlow.com, on Facebook, and on twitter as @EllenDatlow.

In Episode 004 Devin and Rajan continue to discuss the latest Star Wars film, The Last Jedi,  with Rachel Parker and Joey Ammons.  Rachel Parker is a co-founder of GeekGirlBrunch (@geekgirlbrunch) an international meet-up group for geeky women. She is a member of the NYC-based ASOIAF fan group @FireandLunch and you can hear her talk about Thrones on the @FireandLunch #Piecast. Her current passion-project is Read This F*cking Book (@rtfbpodcast) -  trading genre book recs with co-host and guests in the never-ending quest for her next favorite book. You can find her mostly talking about Star Wars @DarthRachel.  Joey Ammons is a concept artist at Macy's Parade Studio. His Instagram is @powerkid.exe.

A discussion about Star Wars: The Last Jedi with Rachel Parker and Joey Ammons.

The second part of our talk with Grady Hendrix covering Asian cinema, American epics and war films.