The Functional Nerds Podcast

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Peter Orullian, author of SONGS OF THE DEAD. About SONGS OF THE DEAD: When Jack Solomon, a struggling musician who works in London's West End, is killed, he awakens to a new reality in which light and music are used to create magic and where living eras of the past sprawl beneath modern London, layer upon layer, all the way back to recorded history. Jack also soon discovers that many of those who reside in the stratums of London's past have grown angry with the present world, and that their anger is being channeled by a powerful society of light-and-music-based magic wielders who can cross the realms between life and death, between the present and the past. A past where the dead are sowing revolution against the living, and all of history is at stake. About Peter Orullian: Peter Orullian is an American fantasy author, composer, and performer. As a musician, he has toured internationally—fronting various rock and metal bands—written and released multiple albums, and recently founded his own symphonic rock group, Symphony North, which focuses on building trans-media properties to combine music and narrative. The first of these, entitled The Bell Ringer, was recently released as a full concept album, and will embark on a US tour in holiday of 2026. The novelization of The Bell Ringer will release in tandem with the tour. As an author, Orullian has also novelized chart-topping concept albums for Grammy Award–winning metal giant Dream Theater. In 2012, he was shortlisted for the David Gemmell Morningstar Award. He has written numerous short stories as well as several other novels, including The Vault of Heaven, all of which use music as a driving force for worldbuilding and magical systems. Since 2018, he has been collaborating with Brandon Sanderson on developing and writing The Strata Wars series. This week's picks: Peter #1: Sevendust: One (Album) Peter #2: Summer of Night by Dan Simmons Peter #3: Symphony North albums Tracy: Daredevil Season 1 (2015 – Netflix/Disney+) Patrick: Black Clover (Crunchyroll) Links: Peter Orullian on Instagram Tracy Townsend on BluSky Patrick Hester on Instagram The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2026 Patrick Hester The post Episode 706-With Peter Orullian appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome J.P. Lacrampe, author of Valet. About Valet: Cy wants nothing more than to be useful, raise his utility score, and receive the next update for his operating system. But that's easier said than done when he’s tasked with helping his owner's thirty-five-year-old son “get out of his funk.” Grayson is nothing like his go-getter, CEO sister Charlotte. He didn't inherit the family robotics company when their dad passed last year, he doesn't have a master's degree, and he just can't seem to figure out the San Francisco dating scene. He'd rather eat synthesized mozzarella sticks and make pottery at his studio, Kilning Time. When Grayson learns of Charlotte's plan to sell the company to a tech conglomerate, he panics. It's not just the family business at stake, it's all the technology—like Cy—their dad invented over the years. So he does what anyone would do: he steals the flash drive with his father's most important work stored on it and plans a corporate takeover. If only he knew what that meant. To make matters worse, a fellow VALET deserts his owner and asks Cy to help him hightail it out of town, Grayson's first real date—and her dog—keeping showing up at inopportune times, and the behemoth tech company wants this deal closed yesterday. Grayson, Cy, and their trusty golden retriever, Sasha III, must go on the lam until they figure out exactly what to do, and whom to trust. About J.P. Lacrampe: J.P. Lacrampe received his MFA in creative writing from Saint Mary's College. His short fiction has been published by Glimmer Train, McSweeney’s, Instant City, and in Howl: A Collection of the Best Contemporary Dog Wit. He is a professor at Santa Clara University & SJSU, where he teaches courses in composition, fiction, and screenwriting. This week's picks: J.P. #1: Disney’s Aladdin (1992) J.P. #2: Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak J.P. #2: Deer seen swimming in San Francisco Bay far from shore Tracy: Corn on the cob Patrick #1: Witch Hat Atelier (Crunchyroll) Patrick #2: The Home Depot Hot Dog Cart Links: J.P. Lacrampe on Instagram Tracy Townsend on BluSky Patrick Hester on Instagram The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2026 Patrick Hester The post Episode 705-With J.P. Lacrampe appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Seanan McGuire, author of STRIXHAVEN: OMENS OF CHAOS. About STRIXHAVEN: OMENS OF CHAOS: Eula Blue was supposed to be a mage. That was before the war came—before the fight for the Multiverse devastated Eula's home, and with it her hopes for a magical education. But the destruction of the war also brought something new: the ability to travel to other planes. And when Eula receives an invitation to study magic at a distant school called Strixhaven, she leaps to take it. To make it through their first semester, they'll have to fight for their place in this new world—or else they'll be dead before their final exams. About Seanan McGuire: Seanan McGuire lives and works in Washington State, where she shares her somewhat idiosyncratic home with her collection of books, creepy dolls, and enormous blue cats. When not writing–which is fairly rare–she enjoys travel, and can regularly be found any place where there are cornfields, haunted houses, or frogs. A Campbell, Hugo, and Nebula Award-winning author, Seanan's first book (Rosemary and Rue, the beginning of the October Daye series) was released in 2009, with more than twenty books across various series following since. Seanan doesn't sleep much. This week's picks: Seanan: How to Survive Camping: The Man With No Shadow by Bonnie Quinn Tracy: Aye, Dark Overlord! (Game) Patrick: 3D Printed Life Tracker/HP Counter Links: Seanan McGuire on BluSky Tracy Townsend on BluSky Patrick Hester on Instagram The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2026 Patrick Hester The post Episode 704-With Seanan McGuire appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Naomi Kritzer, author of Obstetrix. About Obstetrix: Doctor Liz has just been acquitted for performing the last abortion in North Dakota when she’s kidnapped. They’re not just any kidnappers, but a fundamentalist cult, deep in the rural west, without respect for law or decency, and in desperate need of an OB/GYN. Guarded, isolated, without access to the outside world, Liz nevertheless is treated with respect as the only doctor on the compound, but she is very aware of what happened to the last obstetrician they kidnapped. She must escape, and bring help to the girls trapped at the compound, if it’s the last thing she does. About Naomi Kritzer: NAOMI KRITZER has been re-reading favorite books since childhood, and probably still has passages from A Wrinkle in Time memorized. She writes for both adults and teens, including Catfishing on CatNet and Chaos on CatNet from Tor Teen and Liberty’s Daughter from Fairwood Press. Her writing has won the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, the Edgar Award, the Locus Award, and the Minnesota Book Award. Naomi lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, with her family and three cats. The number of cats is subject to change without notice. This week's picks: Naomi #1: Schmigadoon! (AppleTV) Naomi #2: A Dubious Clamor by Marissa Lingen Naomi #3: The Mirror Realm Cycle Series by Ariel Kaplan Tracy: Invincible (comics) Patrick: The Apothecary Diaries (Crunchyroll) Links: Naomi Kritzer on BluSky Tracy Townsend on BluSky Patrick Hester on Instagram The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2026 Patrick Hester The post Episode 703-With Naomi Kritzer appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Amal El-Mohtar, author of Seasons of Glass and Iron. About Seasons of Glass and Iron: Full of glimpses into gleaming worlds and fairy tales with teeth, Seasons of Glass and Iron: Stories is a collection of acclaimed and awarded work from Amal El-Mohtar. With confidence and style, El-Mohtar guides us through exquisitely told and sharply observed tales about life as it is, was, and could be. Like miscellany from other worlds, these stories are told in letters, diary entries, reference materials, folktales, and lyrical prose. Full of Nebula, Locus, World Fantasy, and Hugo Award-winning and nominated stories, Seasons of Glass and Iron: Stories includes “Seasons of Glass and Iron,” “The Green Book,” “Madeleine,” “The Lonely Sea in the Sky,” “And Their Lips Rang with the Sun,” “The Truth About Owls,” “A Hollow Play,” “Anabasis,” “To Follow the Waves,” “John Hollowback and the Witch,” “Florilegia, or, Some Lies About Flowers,” “Pockets,” and more. About Amal El-Mohtar: Amal El-Mohtar is an award-winning writer of fiction, poetry, and criticism. Her stories and poems have appeared in magazines including Tor.com, Fireside Fiction, Lightspeed, Uncanny, Strange Horizons, Apex, Stone Telling, and Mythic Delirium; anthologies including The Djinn Falls in Love and Other Stories (2017), The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales (2016), Kaleidoscope: Diverse YA Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories (2014), and The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities (2011); and in her own collection, The Honey Month (2010). She is co-author, with Max Gladstone, of the multiple award-winning This is How You Lose the Time War. Her articles and reviews have appeared in the New York Times, NPR Books and on Tor.com. She has been the New York Times’s science fiction and fantasy columnist since February 2018, and she is represented by DongWon Song of HMLA. This week's picks: Amal #1: Clues by Sam – Puzzles Amal #2: Heated Rivalry (HBO) Amal #3: Goin for a Walk Amal #4: Time of Iron book series by Sarah Rees Brennan Tracy: A Short History of Stupid by Bernard Keane & Helen Razer Patrick: Marty, Life Is Short (Netflix) Links: Amal El-Mohtar’s Newsletter Tracy Townsend on BluSky Patrick Hester on Instagram The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2026 Patrick Hester The post Episode 702-With Amal El-Mohtar appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Anton Hur, translator of If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light by Kim Cho-yeop. About If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light by Kim Cho-yeop: An elderly woman stranded in a defunct space station recounts her life story to a visitor as she waits for a vessel that may never arrive. A man comes across a company called Emotional Solids that sells emotions as material products—love as a piece of chocolate, sadness as a smooth stone, anger as a glass paperweight—and tries to understand why people would want to purchase any negative emotions. When an enigmatic artist reveals long-forgotten messages from beyond through her wildly original paintings portraying a planet from a time long before humanity formed, a team of researchers investigate if this planet truly existed and if so, how did this artist know of it? After a pregnant woman's estranged mother dies suddenly, her avatar disappears from the library of lost souls where the digital minds of the deceased are stored—and the woman is forced, for the first time, to endeavor to understand her mother. In a future utopian society where gene selection has been made uniform and all those with imperfections are cast aside, one woman seeks the truth about the history of her isolated world. And when a young woman undertakes a never-before-accomplished journey through a wormhole, she must reckon with the legacy of her aunt, who vanished mysteriously days before she was meant to begin the same pilgrimage. About Anton Hur: A translator and author working in Seoul. Born in Stockholm, Sweden, and raised in British Hong Kong, Ethiopia, and Thailand, but mostly in Korea. Author of Toward Eternity (HarperVia) and No One Told Me Not To (Across Books). Repped by Safae El-Ouahabi at RCW. This week's picks: Anton: The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw Tracy: Milk Oolong Full-Leaf Tea Patrick: Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End (Netflix) Links: Anton Hur on Instagram Tracy Townsend on BluSky Patrick Hester on Instagram The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2026 Patrick Hester The post Episode 701-With Anton Hur appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Jeremy Szal, author of WOLFSKIN. About WOLFSKIN: Vakov Fukasawa is a Reaper. An elite soldier injected with a dangerous drug called stormtech: the DNA of a genocidal alien race, the Shenoi. It makes him stronger, faster, more aggressive. At a price. A price that, if the House of Suns cult and the dangerous Shenoi alien race behind it, isn’t stopped, all of humanity will have to pay… About Jeremy Szal: Jeremy Szal was born in 1995 and was raised by wild dingoes, which should explain a lot. He writes dark science fiction of a character-driven, morally grey nature. His main series is The Common Trilogy, which includes STORMBLOOD, BLINDSPACE and WOLFSKIN, about a drug harvested from alien DNA that makes users permanently addicted to aggression and adrenaline. The books are published by Gollancz/Orion across nine territories. He carves out a living in Sydney, Australia with his family. He loves watching weird movies, collecting boutique gins, exploring cities, cold weather, and dark humour. Find him at various social media websites at @JeremySzal. This week's picks: Jeremy: NO OTHER CHOICE (Movie) Tracy: Batman: The Adventures Continue (Comics) Patrick: Tidyboss Straightening Clips Set of 4 for 1 24×36 Battle Game Mat Links: Jeremy Szal on Instagram Tracy Townsend on BluSky Patrick Hester on Instagram The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2026 Patrick Hester The post Episode 700-With Jeremy Szal appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Molly Tanzer, author of And Side by Side They Wander. About And Side by Side They Wander: For three hundred years, humanity's greatest works of art have been on loan at the Greenwood Museum. It was finally time for them to come home…but the alien curators were disinclined to return them. Force was out of the question. Earth's government was clear: They were not going to press the issue. So, all we had was guile and hubris to fuel our little intergalactic art heist. My old friend Tarquin was our leader, but not the captain. That was Tchik-tchik, though whether Tchik-tchik was our insectoid pilot's name or species is still unclear to me. Misora, with her extremely illegal biotech mods, was our muscle. Jack was there to hack the security systems of the biggest museum in the galaxy. He was a sensynth, a sentient synthetic being, and the most powerful machine intelligence on Earth uncorrupted by alien technology. My name is Fennel Tycho. I'd like to tell you I was there because of my expertise in Art History. Truth is, I was there because without me, Jack would not have agreed to go. He was notorious for being difficult to work with—but it was a mistake to think I could make things any easier. About Molly Tanzer: Molly Tanzer is the author of five novels, two collections, and many works of short fiction. Her work has been nominated for the Locus Award, the British Fantasy Award, the Wonderland Book Award, and her official revival of the sword and sorcery heroine Jirel of Joiry has been nominated for the Robert E. Howard Society's Costigan Award. Her novel Creatures of Charm and Hunger won the Colorado Book Award in 2021, and her work adapting manga for English-speaking audiences has been nominated for the American Manga Awards. This May, her novella And Side by Side They Wander will be published by Tordotcom. She lives close to Boulder, CO with her many houseplants. This week's picks: Molly: Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End (Netflix) Tracy: Forest Shuffle (Card Game) Patrick: Hidden Wonders: Chessex Mystery Dice Sets Links: Molly Tanzer on BluSky Tracy Townsend on BluSky Patrick Hester on Instagram The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2026 Patrick Hester The post Episode 699-With Molly Tanzer appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Tao Wong, author of The First Step. About The First Step: It is said that a journey of a thousand li begins with a single step… Long Wu Ying never expected to become a real cultivator, never dreamed of having the chance to train and develop wondrous martial arts skills and magic of his own. As a farmer's son in a rural village, his days were spent studying, planting rice, and spending time with his friends. Fate, however, has different plans for him. Conscripted into the army and taken from everything he knows, Wu Ying's chance observation of an incoming ambush prevents a bloody rout—and brings him to the attention of the powerful Verdant Green Waters sect, an elite school of cultivation. Invited to join the sect as a novice, Wu Ying is thrown into a world he is utterly unprepared for, one filled with demonic beasts, haughty nobles, and, most of all, the very real possibility of reaching immortality—if he's brave enough to seize it. About Tao Wong: Tao Wong is the author of the A Thousand Li progression fantasy series and the System Apocalypse LitRPG series, among others. When he's not writing and working, he's practicing martial arts, reading, and dreaming up new worlds. He lives in Toronto, Canada. This week's picks: Tao: The Longest Day in Chang’an (Chinese TV Show) Tracy: Takenoko (Board Game) Patrick: Paul McCartney: Man on the Run (Documentary) Links: Tao Wong on Instagram Tracy Townsend on BluSky Patrick Hester on Instagram The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2026 Patrick Hester The post Episode 698-With Tao Wong appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome John Chu, author of The Subtle Art of Folding Space. About The Subtle Art of Folding Space: Ellie's universe?and this one?is falling apart. Her ailing mother is in a coma; her sister, Chris, accuses her of being insufficiently Chinese between assassination attempts; and a shadowy cabal of engineers is trying to hijack the skunkworks, the machinery that keeps the physics of each universe working the way it's supposed to. Daniel, Ellie’s cousin, has found an illicit device in the skunkworks?one that keeps Ellie’s comatose mother alive while also creating destabilizing bugs in the physics of this universe. It’s not a good day. If she can confront her mother's legacy and overcome her family's generational trauma, she just might find a way to preserve the skunkworks and reconcile with her sister…but digging into her family's past is thornier than it seems, and the secrets she uncovers will force Ellie to choose between her family and the universe itself. About John Chu: John Chu is a microprocessor architect by day, a writer, translator, and podcast narrator by night. His fiction has appeared or is forthcoming at Boston Review, Uncanny, Asimov’s Science Fiction, Clarkesworld, and Tor.com among other venues. His translations have been published or is forthcoming at Clarkesworld, The Big Book of SF and other venues. He has been a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and Ignyte Awards, won the Best Short Story Hugo for “The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere.” and won the Best Novelette Nebula for “If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You.” His novel, The Subtle Art of Folding Space will be published by Tor in April, 2026. This week's picks: John: Harmattan Season by Tochi Onyebuchi Tracy: Japanese Curry Blocks Patrick: The 13th Warrior Links: John Chu’s Newsletter Tracy Townsend on BluSky Patrick Hester on Instagram The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2026 Patrick Hester The post Episode 697-With John Chu appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Michael R. Underwood, author of Menagerie of Mayhem: Volume 1. About Menagerie of Mayhem: Volume 1: Menagerie of Mayhem: Volume 1 introduces 35 new adversaries for the Daggerheart fantasy tabletop roleplaying game, including multi-phase foes like the Blood Mage and adversary groups such as the ferocious Umbral Hunting Pack and the nihilistic Congregation of the End. This is part one of a multi-part series of short adversary books. If this volume does well enough, there will be more, with the intent to have them all eventually collected in one larger book with a print edition. About Michael R. Underwood: Michael R. Underwood is an author, podcaster, and publishing professional. His series include the Ree Reyes Geekomancy books, the Stabby Award finalist Genrenauts series, and Born to the Blade. He's been a bookseller, sales representative, and the North American Sales & Marketing Manager for Angry Robot Books. His writing has been a finalist for the r/Fantasy Stabby Award for Best Serialized Fiction and he was a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Fancast with the Skiffy & Fanty Show. He was a finalist for Best Game Master (Video Actual Play) at the New Jersey WebFest for Valloward. He was an additional designer for Darrington Press' Daggerheart core rulebook, lead designer of the Marauders of Windfall adventure, additional designer on the Quickstart Adventure, and co-writer of the Daggerheart Homebrew Kit. He was also a game design consultant and additional writer for Candela Obscura and self-published his sci-fi comedy rpg The Only Logical Solution is Hijinx. Mike lives in Baltimore with his wife and an ever-growing library. He also loves geeking out with games and making pizzas from scratch. This week's picks: Mike: Pistolheart Vol 1 by Carlos Cisco Tracy: Skull (Game) Patrick: Young Sherlock (Prime) Links: Michael R. Underwood on BluSky Tracy Townsend on BluSky Patrick Hester on Instagram The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2026 Patrick Hester The post Episode 696-With Michael R. Underwood appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Damien Ober, author of Voidverse. About Voidverse: When the Sinker was a child, all she knew was violence. To survive, she fled into the Void—a seemingly infinite nothingness where people live on “rocks,” individual lands spread out in all directions, floating in the vast empty space. Some rocks are giant magnets, others burn with eternal flame, and some are influenced by seemingly magical anomalies with such great powers that evil forces would stop at nothing to possess them. And while most are afraid of traveling through the Void, the Sinker is not. With a sword on her back, she speeds through the darkness, running from a past that is quickly gaining on her. Emery only knows the comfort of Fairviel, but when her son falls ill and the Sinker arrives on her doorstep, she ventures into the Void in search of a cure. When she returns, Fairviel is destroyed. With no home, Emery begins to sink, chasing a recurring dream that feels bigger than a dream, that feels like the key to everything. But they are not alone in the Void. Mercenaries rise and fall around them, princes and kings guard their kingdoms, and a great machine fuels its ascent by consuming all in its path. With the Void destabilizing, Emery and the Sinker find themselves at a turning point in history, a moment when everything could collapse or realign, and the only thing that may save them exists at the bottom of it all. Or so legend says… About Damien Ober: Damien Ober is a novelist and screenwriter. He was a writer for the Netflix series The OA and has written scripts and developed TV shows for Paramount+, AMC, Netflix, and Warner Brothers. His work has appeared in The Rumpus, NOON, B O D Y Literature, The Baltimore City Paper, VLAK, and port.man.teau. He was a co-winner of the Sherwood Anderson Award, was nominated for a 2012 Pushcart Prize, and his screenplay Randle Is Benign was selected for the 2013 Black List. This week's picks: Damien: Star Trek: Ascendancy (Board Game) Tracy: Sea Salt & Paper (Game) Patrick: The Game Master’s Book of Instant Towns and Cities by Jeff Ashworth (Author), Tim Baker (Author), Matheus Graef (Illustrator), Luke Eidenschink (Illustrator) & more Links: Damien Ober on Instagram Tracy Townsend on BluSky Patrick Hester on Instagram The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2026 Patrick Hester The post Episode 695-With Damien Ober appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Aubrey Sitterson, author of Free Planet Volume 1. About Free Planet Volume 1: In the wake of a grueling war of independence, a team of revolutionary heroes is tasked with defending their home and its uniquely potent energy source from multiple intergalactic superpowers intent on domination. But though they are each deeply committed to the dream of a free planet, they all have completely different ideas about what complete freedom actually entails. Faced with separatist movements, counterrevolutionaries, political deadlock, famine, equipment shortages, a looming trade war, violent attacks and wildly divergent ideas of how to handle each, can true freedom endure? Informed by real-world research and extensive design work, Aubrey Sitterson (The Comic Book Story of Professional Wrestling, No One Left to Fight) and Jed Dougherty (Savage Hearts, Worlds' Finest) have created a comic that functions as both literature and art object, a rumination on freedom, the sacrifices it demands, the discipline it requires and the authority that must arise in its absence. About Aubrey Sitterson: Aubrey Sitterson is a Los Angeles based writer, best known for the science-fantasy action comic No One Left to Fight, co-created with Fico Ossio; The Comic Book Story of Professional Wrestling graphic novel, co-created with Chris Moreno; and the successfully crowdfunded BEEF BROS, co-created with Tyrell Cannon, and Stoned Master, again with Chris Moreno. He has written for all of the industry’s top publishers, including Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse, IDW, BOOM!, Oni, Dynamite and Viz. This week's picks: Aubrey: The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia by Peter Hopkirk Tracy: Origin Story (Game) Patrick: Falling Skies (Netflix) Links: Aubrey Sitterson on Instagram Tracy Townsend on BluSky Patrick Hester on Instagram The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2026 Patrick Hester The post Episode 694-With Aubrey Sitterson appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Laura K. Maurer, author of THE RENEGADE AND THE LODESTAR. About THE RENEGADE AND THE LODESTAR: Persephone is living a nightmare. Waking up on a cold, hard ground with air that smells like rot, the young goddess fills with horror as she remembers her sudden and unexpected demise. And now trapped in the realm of the dead, she clings to the dwindling hope of escape. Hades won't be stopped. Vowing to find his beloved and bring her back to the surface, he and his brother search fruitlessly for the opening unseen by the living… until they find an unlikely path. And as he descends into the Underworld, he finds himself face to face with a ferocious three-headed, six-eyed beast. Learning she was betrayed and sent down below as part of a perverse plot, Persephone scrambles to test her powers as she thwarts the monster planning to make her his queen. While Hades battles seas of shades, inky dangers, and an endless labyrinth to reach the woman he can’t live without. Can Persephone and Hades survive harpies, enemies and a dark world to be reunited? About Laura K. Maurer: Laura has degrees in English and Comparative Religion from the University of Iowa. Born and raised in Springfield, Illinois, Laura is a Pilates teacher and jewelry designer who has sold literature-related jewelry in libraries and theaters throughout Southern California. She currently lives in Scottsdale, Arizona with her husband and son where she teaches Pilates and writes at her local library. This week's picks: Laura: Death By Lightning (Netflix) Tracy: A Place for All My Books (Board game) Patrick: Pathbinder Battles Miniatures (Paizo) Links: Laura K. Maurer on Instagram Tracy Townsend on BluSky Patrick Hester on Instagram The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2026 Patrick Hester The post Episode 693-With Laura K. Maurer appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Seamus Sullivan, author of Daedalus Is Dead. About Daedalus Is Dead: Daedalus of Crete is many things: The greatest architect in the world. The constructor of the Labyrinth that imprisoned the Minotaur. And the grieving father of Icarus, who plunged into the sea as father and son flew from the grasp of the tyrannical King Minos. Now, Daedalus seeks to reunite with Icarus in the Underworld, even as he revisits his own memories of Crete, hoping to understand what went so terribly wrong at the end of his son’s life. Daedalus will confront any terror to see Icarus again?whether it’s the cruel punishments of Tartarus, the cunning Queen Persephone, or the insatiable ghost of the Minotaur. But the truth, stalking Daedalus in the labyrinth of his own heart, might be too monstrous for him to bear. About Seamus Sullivan: Seamus Sullivan's fiction has appeared in Terraform and his book reviews have appeared in Strange Horizons. He lives in Jersey City with his family. Deadalus is Dead is his first novel. This week's picks: Seamus: “The Best God Damn Band in Wyoming” – No-No Boy Tracy: Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (Netflix) Patrick: The Search for Planet X: Renegade Game Studio & Foxtrot Games (Board Game) Links: Tracy Townsend on BluSky Patrick Hester on Instagram The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2026 Patrick Hester The post Episode 692-With Seamus Sullivan appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Katie Cook, author of NOTHING SPECIAL. About NOTHING SPECIAL: In the grand scheme of the worlds at large, Callie thinks she's nothing special. Sure, she's friends with the ghost of a radish and her dad owns a magical antique shop–but she's spent her life in the human world. Her dad won't let her join him on his collection trips in the magical realm “for her own protection”, so she's only caught glimpses of that world through the gates of the town where her father's store is. On her seventeenth birthday, Callie goes home with her friend Declan to find her home in disarray and her dad missing. Signs of a struggle point to the portal to the magical realm and when there are signs, you follow them. Now it's up to Callie, Declan, and Radish to band together and bring him home. As they face creatures good and bad, and all sorts of adventure, Callie and Declan may just find out that they are both special in their own ways after all. About Katie Cook: Katie Cook is the creator of the Nothing Special webcomic on Webtoon and the oldie-but-goodie webcomic Gronk: A Monster's Story (which was one of the first webcomics archived by the library of congress!). She spent several years as one of the primary writers on IDW's My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic comics to the point that they made her a pony on the show (really). Then there's all those books she has illustrated and written for a tiny franchise called “Star Wars”. Maybe it'll take off one day. Time will tell. She has also written and drawn comics for Marvel, Disney Publishing, Boom! and many other publishers. This week's picks: Katie: 31 Days of Drawing Things You Don’t Normally Draw: Quiznos Spongemonkeys Tracy: That’s Not a Hat (Game) Patrick: Stranger Things 5 (Netflix) Links: Katie Cook on Instagram Tracy Townsend on BluSky Patrick Hester on Instagram The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2026 Patrick Hester The post Episode 691-With Katie Cook appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy look back on 2025 and towards 2026 in a rare and very special Just Us episode. We chat about our favorite episodes from 2025, our favorite authors and more! If you like what we do, and enjoyed this very special Just Us episode, consider joining The Functional Nerds Patreon Page! We put out a Patron’s Only Just Us episode very month. Thanks for listening! Links: Tracy Townsend on BluSky Patrick Hester on Instagram The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2026 Patrick Hester The post Episode 690-Just Us and the New Year appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Emily Mitchell to talk about her new short story collection The Church of Divine Electricity. About The Church of Divine Electricity: Delightfully blending literary fiction with speculative genres, the stories in The Church of Divine Electricity somehow manage to feel as though they could take place today. In Emily Mitchell's created worlds, as in our own, technology bewitches, especially with its ability to heighten both connections and isolation. Whether being held by a giant and comforting machine, allowing micro-drones to record one's every moment for a year to win prize money, or choosing self-mutilation in exchange for a bionic hand, these characters navigate technological and social change. The familiar can turn unrecognizable and disorienting—sometimes in a flash, sometimes gradually. Lyrical, haunting, and often funny, these stories ask us to consider what—and who—gets left out of a seemingly utopian future of technological advancements. Finely observed, thoughtful, and vivid, Mitchell's stories get under your skin. It's not that the best-laid plans could lead us astray—it's that they may already have. About Emily Mitchell: Emily Mitchell grew up in London, England and moved to the United States as a teenager. She is the author of a novel, The Last Summer of the World (W. W. Norton, 2007), which was a finalist for the NYPL Young Lions Award, and two collections of short fiction, Viral (W. W. Norton, 2015) and The Church of Divine Electricity, winner of the 2023 Elixir Press Fiction Prize, forthcoming from University of Wisconsin Press in fall 2025. Her stories have appeared in Harpers', The Sun, The Southern Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, Prairie Schooner, The Missouri Review, American Short Fiction and elsewhere. Her nonfiction has appeared in the New York Times, the New Statesman (UK), Guernica and the Washington Independent Review of Books. She is the recipient of fellowships from Yaddo, the Ucross Foundation, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, and Can Serrat International Artists Residency. She serves as fiction editor for New England Review and teaches at the University of Maryland. She lives just outside Washington DC with her husband, the writer and editor J. M. Tyree. This week's picks: Emily #1: Tainaron by Leena Krohn Emily #2: Death by Lightning (Netflix) Tracy: Ranch Oyster Crackers (just subtract the dill for Tracy’s version) Patrick #1: Everspace 2 (Steam) Patrick #2: The Glass Cannon Podcast Campaign 3: Shadowdark Links: Emily Mitchell on Instagram Tracy Townsend on BluSky Patrick Hester on Instagram The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2025 Patrick Hester The post Episode 689-With Emily Mitchell appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Jordan Marshall, who backed the Uncanny Magazine Year 12: Fly Forever, Space Unicorns Kickstarter at the THIRD NERD level! Jordan is working with a group of game developers on a new TTRPG: WE BEGIN AT MIDNIGHT! This week's picks: Jordan: London Fog Tracy: G-shaft candy Patrick: Southern Comfort Eggnog Links: Jordan Marshall on Instagram Tracy Townsend on BluSky Patrick Hester on Instagram The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2025 Patrick Hester The post Episode 688-With Jordan Marshall appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Marie Lu, author of RED CITY. About RED CITY: Alchemy is the hidden art of transformation. An exclusive power wielded by crime syndicates that market it to the world's elites in the form of sand, a drug that enhances those who take it into a more perfect version of themselves: more beautiful, more charismatic, simply more. Among the gleaming skyscrapers and rolling foothills of Angel City, alchemy is controlled by two rival syndicates. For years, Grand Central and Lumines have been balanced on a razor's edge between polite negotiation and outright violence. But when two childhood friends step into that delicate equation, the city—and the paths of their lives—will be irrevocably transformed. The daughter of a poor single mother, Sam would do anything to claw her way into the ranks of Grand Central in search of a better life. Plucked away from his family as a boy to become a Lumines apprentice, Ari is one of the syndicates' brightest rising stars. Once, they might have loved each other. But as the two alchemists face off across opposite sides of an ever-escalating conflict, ambition becomes power, loyalty becomes lies, and no transformation may be perfect enough for them both to survive the coming war. About Marie Lu: Marie Lu is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than 15 novels, including Legend, The Young Elites, Warcross, Skyhunter, and Stars And Smoke. Her adult debut, Red City, releases on Oct. 14, 2025. She graduated from the University of Southern California and jumped into the video game industry, working for Disney Interactive Studios as an artist. Now a full-time writer, she spends her spare time reading, drawing, playing games, and getting stuck in traffic. She lives in Los Angeles with her family. This week's picks: Marie Lu #1: Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree Marie Lu #2: Milk Frother Tracy: A Man on the Inside S2 (Netflix) Patrick: A Charlie Brown Christmas Album by the Vince Guaraldi Trio Links: Marie Lu on Instagram Tracy Townsend on BluSky Patrick Hester on Instagram The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2025 Patrick Hester The post Episode 687-With Marie Lu appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Daniel H. Wilson, author of Hole in the Sky. About Hole in the Sky: On the Great Plains of Oklahoma, in the heart of the Cherokee Nation, a strange atmospheric disturbance is noticed by Jim Hardgray, a down-on-his-luck single father trying to reconnect with his teenage daughter, Tawny. At NASA's headquarters in Houston, Texas, astrophysicist Dr. Mikayla Johnson observes an interaction with the Voyager 1 spacecraft on the far side of the solar system, and she concludes that something enormous and unidentified is heading directly for Earth. And in an undisclosed bunker somewhere in the United States, an American threat forecaster known only as the Man Downstairs intercepts a cryptic communication and sends a message directly to the president and highest-ranking military brass: “First contact imminent.” Daniel H. Wilson's Hole in the Sky is a riveting thriller in the most creative tradition of extraterrestrial fiction. Drawing on Wilson's unique background as both a threat forecaster for the United States Air Force and a Cherokee Nation citizen, this propulsive novel asks probing questions about nonhuman intelligence, the Western mindset, and humans' understanding of reality. About Daniel H. Wilson: Daniel H. Wilson is a Cherokee citizen and the multiple New York Times bestselling author of techno-thrillers such as Robopocalypse, The Clockwork Dynasty, and The Andromeda Evolution (an authorized sequel to the Crichton classic). He earned a PhD in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University, as well as Masters degrees in Machine Learning and Robotics. His next novel, Hole in the Sky, is a story of Native First Contact, releasing October 7th, 2025. Wilson lives in Portland, Oregon. This week's picks: Daniel: Die Hard: The Musical Tracy: Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It by Cory Doctorow Patrick: Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Steam) Links: Daniel H. Wilson on Facebook Tracy Townsend on BluSky Patrick Hester on Instagram The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2025 Patrick Hester The post Episode 686-With Daniel H. Wilson appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Sara Raasch, author of The Entanglement of Rival Wizards. About The Entanglement of Rival Wizards: Sebastian Walsh: Evocation Department. Human. The first of his family to pick college over the military. Elethior Tourael: Conjuration Department. Half-elf. Pretentious asshole. The latest legacy Tourael at Lesiara U. Both: Mageus Research Grant finalists. Sebastian refuses to let anyone snatch this away, least of all a snob riding on old money. But what's worse than a nemesis stealing your grant? You could both get it. Under the condition you work together. Sebastian is in hell. Thio's broody. Takes up their shared lab space with his projects . . . and biceps. Brings treats for Sebastian's familiar . . . . . . and is nothing like Sebastian thought. When Sebastian's past with the Touraels forces him to choose his research or Thio, the decision should be simple. But while working with his rival is volatile . . . falling for his rival might blow up Sebastian's future. About Sara Raasch: Sara Raasch has known she was destined for bookish things since the age of five, when her friends had a lemonade stand and she tagged along to sell her hand-drawn picture books too. Not much has changed since then — her friends still cock concerned eyebrows when she attempts to draw things and her enthusiasm for the written word still drives her to extreme measures. She is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of multiple books for teens, including the historical romantasy duology WITCH AND HUNTER, cowritten with Beth Revis; as well as romances for adults, such as THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE KISSMAS, GO LUCK YOURSELF, and THE ENTANGLEMENT OF RIVAL WIZARDS. This week's picks: Sara: A Normal Week At Home with the Fam Tracy: Othello (game) Patrick: Critical Role’s The Mighty Nein (Prime) Links: Sara Raasch on Instagram Tracy Townsend on BluSky Patrick Hester on Instagram The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2025 Patrick Hester The post Episode 685-With Sara Raasch appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome back Beth Cato, author of A House Between Sea and Sky. About A House Between Sea and Sky: Grieving Hollywood writer Fayette Wynne arrives in Carmel-by-the-Sea in 1926 to finish her latest project in peace. All alone, save for the preternatural sourdough starter her family has […] The post Episode 684-With Beth Cato appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Lyndsay Ely, author of The Lost Reliquary. About The Lost Reliquary: The Devoted Lands was once home to many gods. Now, after centuries of brutal wars, only Tempestra-Innara, the Enduring Flame, remains. As a divine warrior, Lys is outwardly loyal to her goddess. If she dreams […] The post Episode 683-With Lyndsay Ely appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Auston Habershaw, author of Faceless Galaxy. About Faceless Galaxy: Throughout the gutters and sanitation systems of the civilized galaxy, amorphous, nameless blobs called Torrhoids digest other species' trash to clean air and water. The Great Races don' t consider Torrhoids intelligent. But when one Torrhoid receives […] The post Episode 682-With Auston Habershaw appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Mark Waddell, author of Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World. About Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World: Colin is a low-level employee at Dark Enterprises, a Hell-like multinational corporation solving the world's most difficult problems in deeply questionable ways. After years of toiling away […] The post Episode 681-With Mark Waddell appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Louis Sachar, author of The Magician of Tiger Castle. About The Magician of Tiger Castle: Long ago and far away (and somewhere south of France) lies the kingdom of Esquaveta. There, Princess Tullia is in nearly as much peril as her struggling kingdom. Esquaveta desperately needs […] The post Episode 680-With Louis Sachar appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome John Wiswell, author of Wearing the Lion. About Wearing the Lion: Sometimes a goddess's worst enemy is her biggest fan. Heracles, hero of Greece, dedicates all his feats to the goddess Hera. If only he knew that his very face is an insult to her…as he […] The post Episode 679-With John Wiswell appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Jakub Szamalek, author of Inner Space. About Inner Space: When an ammonia leak threatens the astronauts on the International Space Station, NASA directs Lucy Poplasky, one of the ISS's first female commanders, to investigate the cause. Russia has just invaded Ukraine and tensions are running high—could […] The post Episode 678-With Jakub Szamalek appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Daphne Fama, author of House of Monstrous Women. About House of Monstrous Women: In this game, there's one rule: survive. Orphaned after her father's political campaign ended in tragedy, Josephine is alone taking care of the family home while her older brother is off in Manila, […] The post Episode 677-With Daphne Fama appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Jenna “Dingo” Woldenga and Avery Howett, part of the team behind the Fool's Gold: Death by Karaoke Graphic Novel. About Fool's Gold: Death by Karaoke Graphic Novel: Have you ever sung karaoke so badly that you unleashed the apocalypse? Well, that's an average day for the […] The post Episode 676-With Jenna “Dingo” Woldenga and Avery Howett from Fool's Gold appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Delilah S. Dawson, author of Dungeons & Dragons: Ravenloft: Heir of Strahd. About Dungeons & Dragons: Ravenloft: Heir of Strahd: Five strangers armed with steel and magic awaken in a mist-shrouded land, with no memory of how they arrived: Rotrog, a prideful orcish wizard; Chivarion, a […] The post Episode 675-With Delilah S. Dawson appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Sam Kelly, author of Human History on Drugs. About Human History on Drugs: Did you know that Alexander the Great was a sloppy drunk and William Shakespeare was a stoner? Or how about the fact that Steve Jobs believed taking LSD helped him create the Apple […] The post Episode 674-With Sam Kelly appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Margaret Stohl, Jeanine Schaefer, and Judith Stephens to talk about their new book, Super Visible: The Story of the Women of Marvel Comics. About Super Visible: The Story of the Women of Marvel Comics: Inspired by the hit podcast The Women of Marvel and cowritten by […] The post Episode 673-With Margaret, Stohl Jeanine Schaefer and Judith Stephens appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Paul Bradley Carr, author of THE CONFESSIONS. About THE CONFESSIONS: LLIAM is the world's most powerful supercomputer, built to make the toughest decisions for its users. Where to work, who to marry, and even who should live or die. But when LLIAM suddenly goes offline with […] The post Episode 672-With Paul Bradley Carr appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Joan Slonczewski, author of Minds in Transit. About Minds in Transit: In the hundred-level city of Iridis, human lords recycle diamonds and emeralds down to the Underworld while sentient machines pilot lightcraft and perform surgeries. Microbial minds expand the brains of scientists and artists. The artist […] The post Episode 671-With Joan Slonczewski appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Morgan Ryan, author of A RESISTANCE OF WITCHES. About A RESISTANCE OF WITCHES: Stubborn, plain-spoken and from an unimpressive family, Lydia Polk never expected to be accepted into the Royal Academy of Witches. Now, with Hitler's army rampaging across Europe, the witches of Britain have joined […] The post Episode 670-With Morgan Ryan appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Michael Damian Thomas, to talk about Uncanny Magazine Year 12: Fly Forever, Space Unicorns!. About Uncanny Magazine Year 12: Fly Forever, Space Unicorns!: Editor-in-Chief/Publisher Michael Damian Thomas and Team Uncanny Magazine have run successful Kickstarters for the seven-time Hugo Award-winning, 2024 World Fantasy Award-winning, and 2024 […] The post Episode 669-With Uncanny Magazine's Michael Damian Thomas appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Matthew Kressel, author of SPACE TRUCKER JESS. About SPACE TRUCKER JESS: Jessian Urania Darger is a kick-ass take-no-shit foul-mouthed too-smart-for-her-own-good sixteen-year-old girl with a chip on her shoulder. She and her daddy have been grifting their way across the verse for years. But when her daddy […] The post Episode 668-With Matthew Kressel appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Antony Johnston, author of Can You Solve the Murder? About Can You Solve the Murder?: One murder. Six suspects. One truth for YOU to uncover. YOU are the lead detective and it's your job to investigate the most mysterious crime of your career. There's been a […] The post Episode 667-With Antony Johnston appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Auston Habershaw, author of If Wishes Were Retail. About If Wishes Were Retail: Alex Delmore needs a miracle. She wants out of her dead-end suburban town, but her parents are broke and NYU seems like a distant dream. Good thing there's a genie in town?and he's […] The post Episode 666-With Auston Habershaw appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome back Randee Dawn, author of The Only Song Worth Singing. About The Only Song Worth Singing: Childhood friends Patrick, Ciaran, and Malachi would've been happy to play music for coins on the streets of Dublin, but when their sound – a blend of traditional tunes and […] The post Episode 665-With Randee Dawn appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Mark Stevens, author of No Lie Lasts Forever. About No Lie Lasts Forever: When a reporter dies in a shockingly familiar way, the media rushes to announce the return of the PDQ Killer. The city of Denver reels, but no one more than Harry Kugel. After […] The post Episode 664-With Mark Stevens appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Victoria Helen Stone, author of Bald-Faced Liar. About Bald-Faced Liar: Traveling nurse Elizabeth May has a promising new home in Santa Cruz. And another new identity. It's a pattern of reinvention for a woman escaping her traumatic childhood?and hiding from the decades of notoriety and destruction […] The post Episode 663-With Victoria Helen Stone appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome S.A. Barnes, author of Cold Eternity. About Cold Eternity: Halley is on the run from an interplanetary political scandal that has put a huge target on her back. She heads for what seems like the perfect place to lay low: a gigantic space barge storing the […] The post Episode 662-With S.A. Barnes appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Maura Jortner, author of Keepers of the Marsh. About Keepers of the Marsh: Twelve-year-old Lana isn't looking for trouble when she ventures into the swampy marsh behind her family's home in Galveston Bay. She's just sweaty and bored and lonely, sick of sitting around doing nothing. […] The post Episode 661-With Maura Jortner appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Chuck Wendig, author of The Staircase in the Woods. About The Staircase in the Woods: Five high school friends are bonded by an oath to protect one another no matter what. Then, on a camping trip in the middle of the forest, they find something extraordinary: […] The post Episode 660-With Chuck Wendig appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Mary Robinette Kowal, author of The Martian Contingency. About The Martian Contingency: Years after a meteorite strike obliterated Washington, D.C.?triggering an extinction-level global warming event?Earth's survivors have started an international effort to establish homes on space stations and the Moon. The next step – Mars. Elma […] The post Episode 659-With Mary Robinette Kowal appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Brandon Crilly, author of Serpentine Scenarios: Five New Adventures for B.O.A.. About Serpentine Scenarios: Five New Adventures for B.O.A.: The Bureau of Agents (B.O.A.) follows a simple mandate: Priority One: Remain unseen. Or, at minimum, don't get caught. Priority Two: Accomplish the mission. Priority Three: Promote […] The post Episode 658-With Brandon Crilly appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Jim C. Hines, author of Kitemaster. About Kitemaster: Nial Sarnin is twenty-one years old, far too young to have lost her beloved husband Jika. One year after Jika's death, Nial is preparing to fly a kite sewn from the shirt Jika wore at their wedding, to […] The post Episode 657-With Jim C. Hines appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome James J. Butcher, author of Cold Iron Task. About Cold Iron Task: Grimshaw Griswald Grimsby may have one case under his belt, but he's still a novice Auditor in Boston's Department of Unorthodox Affairs. And he's already made mistakes. Desperate to repair his fraying friendships, he […] The post Episode 656-With James J. Butcher appeared first on The Functional Nerds.