Podcasts about best new writer

Welcome to Paranormal Spectrum, where we illuminate the enigmatic corners of the supernatural world. I'm your host, Barnaby Jones, and today we have a very special guest joining us:Seanan McGuire was born in Martinez, California, and raised in a wide variety of locations, most of which boasted some sort of dangerous native wildlife. Despite her almost magnetic attraction to anything venomous, she somehow managed to survive long enough to acquire a typewriter, a reasonable grasp of the English language, and the desire to combine the two. The fact that she wasn't killed for using her typewriter at three o'clock in the morning is probably more impressive than her lack of death by spider-bite.Often described as a vortex of the surreal, many of Seanan's anecdotes end with things like "and then we got the anti-venom" or "but it's okay, because it turned out the water wasn't that deep." She has yet to be defeated in a game of "Who here was bitten by the strangest thing?," and can be amused for hours by almost anything. "Almost anything" includes swamps, long walks, long walks in swamps, things that live in swamps, horror movies, strange noises, musical theater, reality TV, comic books, finding pennies on the street, and venomous reptiles. Seanan may be the only person on the planet who admits to using Kenneth Muir's Horror Films of the 1980s as a checklist.Seanan is the author of the October Daye urban fantasies, the InCryptid urban fantasies, and several other works both stand-alone and in trilogies or duologies. In case that wasn't enough, she also writes under the pseudonym "Mira Grant." For details on her work as Mira, check out MiraGrant.com.In her spare time, Seanan records CDs of her original filk music (see the Albums page for details). She is also a cartoonist, and draws an irregularly posted autobiographical web comic, "With Friends Like These...", as well as generating a truly ridiculous number of art cards. Surprisingly enough, she finds time to take multi-hour walks, blog regularly, watch a sickening amount of television, maintain her website, and go to pretty much any movie with the words "blood," "night," "terror," or "attack" in the title. Most people believe she doesn't sleep.Seanan lives in an idiosyncratically designed labyrinth in the Pacific Northwest, which she shares with her cats, Alice and Thomas, a vast collection of creepy dolls and horror movies, and sufficient books to qualify her as a fire hazard. She has strongly-held and oft-expressed beliefs about the origins of the Black Death, the X-Men, and the need for chainsaws in daily life.Years of writing blurbs for convention program books have fixed Seanan in the habit of writing all her bios in the third person, so as to sound marginally less dorky. Stress is on the "marginally." It probably doesn't help that she has so many hobbies.Seanan was the winner of the 2010 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and her novel Feed (as Mira Grant) was named as one of Publishers Weekly's Best Books of 2010. In 2013 she became the first person ever to appear five times on the same Hugo Ballot.WEBSITEhttps://seananmcguire.com/Click that play button, and let's unravel the mysteries of the UNTOLD! Remember to like, share, and subscribe to our channel to stay updated on all the latest discoveries and adventures. See you there!Join Barnaby Jones on the Paranormal Spectrum every Thursday on the Untold Radio Network Live at 12pm Central – 10am Pacific and 1pm Eastern. Come and Join the live discussion next week. Please subscribe.We have twelve different Professional Podcasts on all the things you like. New favorite shows drop each day only on the UNTOLD RADIO NETWORK.To find out more about Barnaby Jones and his team, (Cryptids, Anomalies, and the Paranormal Society) visit their website www.WisconsinCAPS.comMake sure you share and Subscribe to the CAPS YouTube Channel as wellhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs7ifB9Ur7x2C3VqTzVmjNQ

Chuck Wendig sits down with me to talk about his fatherhood journey. He shares the life lessons his son has taught him. We talk about the values he looks to instill into his kids. After that we talk about his latest book, Monster Movie. He shares the inspiration for this book and what he hopes people will take away from the book. In addition, we talk about his Star Wars books and his creative process. Lastly, we finish the interview with the Fatherhood Quick Five.  About Chuck Wendig Chuck Wendig is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Star Wars: Aftermath, as well as the Miriam Black thrillers, the Atlanta Burns books, Zer0es/Invasive, Wanderers, and Book of Accidents. He's also worked in a variety of other formats, including comics, games, film, and television. A finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and the cowriter of the Emmy-nominated digital narrative Collapsus, he is also known for his books about writing. Make sure you follow Chuck on Instagram at @chuck_wendig. In addition check out his website at terribleminds.com. Pick up his book, Monster Movie and all his work wherever you purchase books. About Monster Movie  Ethan Pitowski is afraid of everything. Luckily, his best friends don't mind, and when their entire class gets invited to watch a long-buried horror movie at the most popular boy in school's house, Ethan's friends encourage him to join in the fun. But when the “scariest movie ever made” reveals itself to be not just a movie about a monster, but a movie that is a monster, only a terrified Ethan escapes its clutches. Now he must find a way to stop the monster and save his friends (and also, um, get their heads back). About The Art of Fatherhood Podcast  The Art of Fatherhood Podcast follows the journey of fatherhood. Your host, Art Eddy talks with fantastic dads from all around the world where they share their thoughts on fatherhood. You get a unique perspective on fatherhood from guests like Bob Odenkirk, Hank Azaria, Joe Montana, Kevin Smith, Danny Trejo, Jerry Rice, Jeff Foxworthy, Patrick Warburton, Jeff Kinney, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Kyle Busch, Dennis Quaid, Dwight Freeney and many more.

Sebastien de Castell had just finished a degree in Archaeology when he started work on his first dig. Four hours later he realized how much he actually hated archaeology and left to pursue a very focused career as a musician, ombudsman, interaction designer, fight choreographer, teacher, project manager, actor, and product strategist. In one way or another, each of these fields plays a role in his writing. He sternly resists the accusation of being a Renaissance Man in the hopes that more people will label him that way. Sebastien's acclaimed swashbuckling fantasy series, The Greatcoats. was shortlisted for both the 2014 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Fantasy. the Gemmell Morningstar Award for Best Debut, the Prix Imaginales for Best Foreign Work, and the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. His YA fantasy series, Spellslinger, was nominated for the Carnegie Medal and is published in more than a dozen languages. Sebastien lives in Vancouver, Canada with his lovely wife and two belligerent cats. You can reach him at www.decastell.com

Science fiction superstar John Scalzi has gained a large and loyal following through what Kirkus Reviews calls his “insufferably good, trademark brand of fun yet think-y sci-fi adventure.” His debut, Old Man's War (2005), won Scalzi speculative fiction's Astounding (formerly John W. Campbell) Award for Best New Writer and launched the New York Times bestselling […] The post Club Book Episode 165 Tommy Orange first appeared on Club Book.

Science fiction superstar John Scalzi has gained a large and loyal following through what Kirkus Reviews calls his “insufferably good, trademark brand of fun yet think-y sci-fi adventure.” His debut, Old Man's War (2005), won Scalzi speculative fiction's Astounding (formerly John W. Campbell) Award for Best New Writer and launched the New York Times bestselling […] The post Club Book Episode 166 John Scalzi first appeared on Club Book.

“I would appreciate some answers.” Written by Sarah Gailey (Fisher of Bones, River of Teeth), Mary Robinette Kowal (Campbell Award for Best New Writer, Hugo award winner, Whitehall, The Glamourist Histories), and Madeline Ashby (Orphan Black: The Next Chapter, The Machine Dynasty novels). Embodied is a Realm production. Listen away. For more shows like this, visit Realm.fm, and sign up for our newsletter while you're there! Listen to this episode ad-free by joining Realm+ on Apple Podcasts, or Realm Unlimited. Subscribers also get early access and exclusive bonus content! https://www.realm.fm/w/unlimited Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Want to chat about your favorite Realm shows? Join our Discord. Visit our merch store: realm.fm/merch Find and support our sponsors at: www.realm.fm/w/partners Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A lot of work and thought can go into worldbuilding, but sometimes, you just have to go with what feels right. In this episode, guest Seanan McGuire joins us to explore how writers can make the most of their worldbuilding flow and lean into their personal resonance. How can writers develop worldbuilding instinct? Why does worldbuilding come easily to some writers but require more conscious effort for others? When should you trust it to its core, and when might you need to temper it with a bit of a double-check? [Transcript TK] Our Guest: Seanan McGuire was born in Martinez, California, and raised in a wide variety of locations, most of which boasted some sort of dangerous native wildlife. Despite her almost magnetic attraction to anything venomous, she somehow managed to survive long enough to acquire a typewriter, a reasonable grasp of the English language, and the desire to combine the two. The fact that she wasn't killed for using her typewriter at three o'clock in the morning is probably more impressive than her lack of death by spider-bite. Often described as a vortex of the surreal, many of Seanan's anecdotes end with things like "and then we got the anti-venom" or "but it's okay, because it turned out the water wasn't that deep." She has yet to be defeated in a game of "Who here was bitten by the strangest thing?," and can be amused for hours by almost anything. "Almost anything" includes swamps, long walks, long walks in swamps, things that live in swamps, horror movies, strange noises, musical theater, reality TV, comic books, finding pennies on the street, and venomous reptiles. Seanan may be the only person on the planet who admits to using Kenneth Muir's Horror Films of the 1980s as a checklist. Seanan is the author of the October Daye urban fantasies, the InCryptid urban fantasies, and several other works both stand-alone and in trilogies or duologies. In case that wasn't enough, she also writes under the pseudonym "Mira Grant." For details on her work as Mira, check out MiraGrant.com. In her spare time, Seanan records CDs of her original filk music (see the Albums page for details). She is also a cartoonist, and draws an irregularly posted autobiographical web comic, "With Friends Like These...", as well as generating a truly ridiculous number of art cards. Surprisingly enough, she finds time to take multi-hour walks, blog regularly, watch a sickening amount of television, maintain her website, and go to pretty much any movie with the words "blood," "night," "terror," or "attack" in the title. Most people believe she doesn't sleep. Seanan lives in an idiosyncratically designed labyrinth in the Pacific Northwest, which she shares with her cats, Alice and Thomas, a vast collection of creepy dolls and horror movies, and sufficient books to qualify her as a fire hazard. She has strongly-held and oft-expressed beliefs about the origins of the Black Death, the X-Men, and the need for chainsaws in daily life. Years of writing blurbs for convention program books have fixed Seanan in the habit of writing all her bios in the third person, so as to sound marginally less dorky. Stress is on the "marginally." It probably doesn't help that she has so many hobbies. Seanan was the winner of the 2010 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and her novel Feed (as Mira Grant) was named as one of Publishers Weekly's Best Books of 2010. In 2013 she became the first person ever to appear five times on the same Hugo Ballot.

Are We Picking A Fight With An 11 Ton Alien? - Robert Buettner's best-selling debut novel, “Orphanage,” 2004 Quill Award nominee for Best SF/Fantasy/Horror novel, was called the Post-9/11 generation's “Starship Troopers” and has been adapted for film. He was a 2005 Quill nominee for Best New Writer, and “Balance Point” is his eighth novel. Buettner ( http://robertbuettner.com/ ) is a former U.S. Army intelligence officer and a National Science Foundation Fellow in Paleontology. He was attorney of record in roughly 3,000 cases and has practiced in U.S. federal courts, administrative tribunals, and in 13 states and five foreign countries.

Tom and Miriam discuss what might have happened if, at the age of 17, he'd come out to his parents when an opportunity unexpectedly presented itself at a school picnic, instead of waiting until the age of 23 to tell them his truth. Along the way they talk about full moon parties in Thailand, the impact of hiding your identity at a formative age and how often others can see you more clearly than you see yourself.Tom Rob Smith's bestselling novels in the Child 44 trilogy were international publishing sensations. Among its many honours, Child 44 won the International Thriller Writer Award for Best First Novel, the Galaxy Book Award for Best New Writer, and was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award and the inaugural Desmond Elliot Prize, and is now a major motion picture. Tom's new novel, Cold People, about a colony of global apocalypse survivors trying to reinvent civilisation under the most extreme conditions imaginable, is to my mind an intimate and hopeful look at how people can and do come together against all odds. Crucially, it's out now and available in your local bookshop.Make sure to subscribe to hear the rest of Season 4 – in each episode, Miriam Robinson interviews a guest about another path their life might have taken. Together, step by step, they write the stories of their unlived lives. Produced by Neil Mason Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Mary Robinette Kowal. We'll be talking about challenging your default assumption about the world and her latest book The Spare Man. Mary Robinette Kowal is the four-time Hugo, Locus, and Nebula Award-winning author of The Glamourist Histories series, Ghost Talkers, the Lady Astronaut Universe, and The Spare Man. She is a cast member of the award-winning podcast Writing Excuses and has received the Astounding Award for Best New Writer. Her stories appear in Asimov's, Uncanny, and Year's Best anthologies. Mary Robinette is a professional puppeteer, and she also performs as a voice actor (SAG/AFTRA), recording fiction for authors including Seanan McGuire, Cory Doctorow, and John Scalzi. She lives in Nashville with her husband Rob and over a dozen manual typewriters. You can find her on her website or follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Goodreads.   In this episode Mary Robinette Kowal and I discuss: How she wrote a mash-up of old Hollywood glamour and a futuristic space setting. Why it was important to use fluid pronouns in this novel and what she learned writing it.  What she has learned over the course of writing ten books and how to reset. Plus, her #1 tip for writers. For more info and show notes: diymfa.com/443

This week, we discuss The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2022 anthology with guest editor Rebecca Roanhorse, series editor John Joseph Adams, and bestselling author Veronica Roth. With a diverse selection of stories chosen by series editor John Joseph Adams and guest editor Rebecca Roanhorse, The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2022 explores the ever-expanding and changing world of contemporary science fiction and fantasy. This conversation originally took place November 13, 2022 at the American Writers Museum and was recorded live. AWM PODCAST NETWORK HOME About the speakers: REBECCA ROANHORSE is a New York Times bestselling and Nebula, Hugo, and Locus Award-winning speculative fiction writer and the recipient of the 2018 Astounding (Campbell) Award for Best New Writer. Rebecca has published multiple award-winning short stories and five novels, including two in The Sixth World Series, Star Wars: Resistance Reborn, Race to the Sun for the Rick Riordan imprint, and her latest novel, the epic fantasy Black Sun. She has also written for Marvel Comics and for television, and had projects optioned by Amazon Studios, Netflix, and Paramount TV. Find her Fiction & Non-Fiction HERE. JOHN JOSEPH ADAMS is the series editor of Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy and is the editor of more than thirty anthologies, such as Wastelands and The Living Dead. He is also editor (and publisher) of the Hugo Award-winning magazine Lightspeed, and for five years he was the editor of the John Joseph Adams Books novel imprint for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Lately, he's been working as an editor on TTRPG projects for Kobold Press and Monte Cook Games and as a contributing game designer on books such as Tome of Heroes. Learn more at johnjosephadams.com. VERONICA ROTH is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels Poster Girl and Chosen Ones, the short story collection The End and Other Beginnings, the Divergent series, and the Carve the Mark duology. She was also the guest editor of The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021. She lives in Chicago, Illinois. Learn more at veronicarothbooks.com

We throw the word "aesthetic" around a lot on this podcast -- but we've never really slowed down to talk about what it means. How do we define the aesthetic of a work? Is that different from the aesthetic of a world? How do subgenres and plot structures intertwine with those ideas? Guest Mary Robinette Kowal joins us to explore the crafting of aesthetics in worldbuilding and storymaking! We discuss pacing, word choice, set dressing, the theatre of the mind, the "breath" of the written word, and so much more. We also examine how aesthetic can be a shorthand to help your reader with an on-ramp into your story -- but how you may also need to teach your reader where your particular world deviates from what aesthetic may lead them to assume. Transcript for Episode 88 (in-progress -- email us if you're interested in joining the scribal team!) Our Guest: Nebula and Hugo Award-winning author, Mary Robinette Kowal is a novelist and professional puppeteer. In 2008 she won the Astounding Award for Best New Writer and her debut novel Shades of Milk and Honey (Tor 2010) was nominated for the 2010 Nebula Award for Best Novel. In 2019, the first book in the Lady Astronaut series The Calculating Stars (Tor 2018), won the Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards, becoming one of only eighteen novels to do so. Her stories have appeared in Strange Horizons, Asimov's, and several Year's Best anthologies, as well as in her collection Scenting the Dark and Other Stories from Subterranean Press. Her short story collection Word Puppets was published in 2015, and includes both of her Hugo Award-winning stories in addition to fifteen others, running the full range of speculative fiction. In 2016, her World War I fantasy novel Ghost Talkers was published by Tor books, followed in 2018 by her alternate history Lady Astronaut series. From 2019-2021, Kowal was the President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. In 2011, after several appearances as a guest star on the podcast Writing Excuses, Kowal became a permanent member of the cast. In 2013, the seventh season of the podcast won the Hugo Award for Best Related Work. Her involvement in the podcast also contributed to the creation of the Shadows Beneath anthology, in which Kowal and her three co-hosts contributed short stories alongside materials charting the unique creative process of each author. Kowal is also an award-winning puppeteer. In high school, she took up puppetry as a hobby, but as Kowal says, she “never thought of it as something you could get paid for.” Instead, she went to East Carolina University to pursue an art degree, minoring in theater and speech. While performing as Audrey II in a performance of Little Shop of Horrors, she learned that a professional puppeteer had come to the show. It was a turning point. Kowal went on to intern at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, GA. With over twenty years of experience, she has performed for LazyTown (CBS), the Center for Puppetry Arts, Jim Henson Pictures, Sesame Street, and founded Other Hand Productions. Her designs have garnered two UNIMA-USA Citations of Excellence, the highest award an American puppeteer can achieve. Her career in puppetry consumed much of Kowal's creative energy for over ten years. Although she wrote in high school and college, it wasn't until her brother moved his family to China that she began writing again. Like Lewis Carroll and J.M. Barrie, she started creating children's fantasy as a way to stay connected to her young niece and nephew. Reminded of how much she enjoyed writing, she began submitting short stories and made her first sale in 2005, and her first professional sale to Strange Horizons in 2006. When she isn't writing or puppeteering, Kowal brings her speech and theater background to her work as a voice actor. She is a member of SAG/AFTRA. She has recorded audio books and short stories for authors such as Seanan McGuire, Cory Doctorow and John Scalzi. She likes to describe voice acting as “puppetry, without the pain.” Mary Robinette lives in Nashville with her husband Rob and over a dozen manual typewriters. Sometimes she even writes on them.

Wesley Chu is a Martial Arts practitioner, Actor, stuntman, and #1 New York Times bestselling author. What is a fight? A fight is a conversation with fists. It is the last resort to diplomacy. So every fight in a novel has to have purpose that is either to convince the other side that you're correct or you're trying to get past the obstacle to get to a blunt point… Wesley Chu - Episode 746 Wesley Chu is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twelve published novels, including Time Salvager, The Rise of Io, and The Walking Dead: Typhoon. He won the Astounding Award for Best New Writer. His debut, The Lives of Tao, won the Young Adult Library Services Association Alex Award. Wesley Chu is an accomplished martial artist and a former member of the Screen Actors Guild. He has acted in film and television, worked as a model and stuntman, and summited Kilimanjaro. In this episode, Wesley Chu shares his journey to the martial arts and how far he went to achieve his dream to become an author. Listen to learn more!

Travis interviews science fiction author John Scalzi about The Kaiju Preservation Society, a standalone novel from Tor Books. It's a fast-paced, fun adventure full of giant monsters and a great way to escape from the world for a while. This episode is spoiler free! John and Travis discuss the difficulty of writing during lockdown, the historical context for kaiju films, and the value of books as entertainment. Want your message featured on the podcast? Find out more here. About John Scalzi: JOHN SCALZI is one of the most popular SF authors of his generation. His debut Old Man's War won him the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. His New York Times bestsellers include The Last Colony, Fuzzy Nation, and Redshirts (which won the 2013 Hugo Award for Best Novel), and 2020's The Last Emperox. Material from his blog, Whatever, has also earned him two other Hugo Awards. The Kaiju Preservation Society is his latest standalone novel from Tor Books. He lives in Ohio with his wife and daughter. Things Mentioned: Travel by Bullet by John Scalzi - Audiobook The Actual Star by Monica Byrne Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki Goliath by Tochi Onyebuchi Find Us Online: Blog Discord Twitter Instagram Support Us: Become a Patron Buy Us a Coffee Music: Intro: "The Legend of Iya" courtesy of https://philter.no Outro: "A Quest Unfolds" courtesy of https://philter.no This episode of The Fantasy Inn podcast was recorded in the unceded territory of the S'atsoyaha (Yuchi) and ᏣᎳᎫᏪᏘᏱ Tsalaguwetiyi (Eastern Cherokee Band) peoples. Some of the links included in these show notes are affiliate links and support the podcast at no additional cost to you. If it's an option for you, we encourage you to support your local bookstores! The blog post accompanying this episode can be found at https://thefantasyinn.com, along with fantasy book reviews, author interviews, and more fantasy content.

Are We Picking A Fight With An 11 Ton Alien? - Robert Buettner's best-selling debut novel, “Orphanage,” 2004 Quill Award nominee for Best SF/Fantasy/Horror novel, was called the Post-9/11 generation's “Starship Troopers” and has been adapted for film. He was a 2005 Quill nominee for Best New Writer, and “Balance Point” is his eighth novel. Buettner ( http://robertbuettner.com/ ) is a former U.S. Army intelligence officer and a National Science Foundation Fellow in Paleontology. He was attorney of record in roughly 3,000 cases and has practiced in U.S. federal courts, administrative tribunals, and in 13 states and five foreign countries.

Are We Picking A Fight With An 11 Ton Alien? - Robert Buettner's best-selling debut novel, “Orphanage,” 2004 Quill Award nominee for Best SF/Fantasy/Horror novel, was called the Post-9/11 generation's “Starship Troopers” and has been adapted for film. He was a 2005 Quill nominee for Best New Writer, and “Balance Point” is his eighth novel. Buettner ( http://robertbuettner.com/ ) is a former U.S. Army intelligence officer and a National Science Foundation Fellow in Paleontology. He was attorney of record in roughly 3,000 cases and has practiced in U.S. federal courts, administrative tribunals, and in 13 states and five foreign countries.

Are We Picking A Fight With An 11 Ton Alien? - Robert Buettner's best-selling debut novel, “Orphanage,” 2004 Quill Award nominee for Best SF/Fantasy/Horror novel, was called the Post-9/11 generation's “Starship Troopers” and has been adapted for film. He was a 2005 Quill nominee for Best New Writer, and “Balance Point” is his eighth novel. Buettner ( http://robertbuettner.com/ ) is a former U.S. Army intelligence officer and a National Science Foundation Fellow in Paleontology. He was attorney of record in roughly 3,000 cases and has practiced in U.S. federal courts, administrative tribunals, and in 13 states and five foreign countries.

Meet Jack Perez! Jack is an Independent Film Writer/Director. He's a member of both the DGA & the WGA and has over a dozen feature films under his belt including the indie genre hit Some Guy Who Kills People, La Cucaracha, which won best feature at the Austin Film Festival, and The Big Empty which won Best New Writer at the AFI Film Fest. Jack also teaches and is the head of the directing track at Academy of Art in San Francisco. Jack and I have known each other for over 20 years and it was super fun to catch up with him and share where I'm at with Alone Girl. Our conversation spanned things like not getting caught up in festival placement, how important it is to go into the principal photography phase of your film as prepared as you can as a director, and of course, that age-old question - is a blank page a scary dark hole of nothingness or an exciting open sea of adventure and possibility? Find out more about Jack on his website at: https://www.jackperezdirector.com Connect with Jack on Instagram at: https://instagram.com/whospuss

One could call The Kaiju Preservation Society (Tor Books, 2022) a pandemic novel because a) John Scalzi wrote it during the pandemic and b) the pandemic serendipitously leads the main character, Jamie, to a new job that sets the action in motion. But the book is not about the pandemic. It's about Kaiju, Godzilla-like monsters who live in an alternate Earth. This alternate Earth is rich in radioactive elements, and the Kaiju produce energy from their own internal biological reactors. This makes them a danger when, say, they end their lives with in nuclear explosion that thins the walls between Earths, but it also makes them an object of fascination for unscrupulous humans seeking new sources of cheap energy. “So much of the way plant life and animal life on Earth works is through sunlight, which is just another type of radiation,” Scalzi says. “Plants photosynthesize, animals eat plants, other animals eat the animals that eat the plants and so on and so forth. But sooner or later it all comes back to sunlight. The only places where you don't have that happen are in very specific places where, for example, there are sulfurous heat sources at the bottom of the ocean. And then things have evolved to take advantage of the energy source there. Well, in this alternate Earth, things like uranium and thorium in the crust are another possible energy source. It makes sense to me that life would evolve to take advantage either wholly or in part of that additional energy source. And then, of course, I just built out from there.” Scalzi has contributed in myriad ways to the art of science fiction through many novels, his past leadership as president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and the platform he provides other writers on The Big Idea, a feature that appears regularly on his website. His writing has earned numerous awards, including what was once upon a time known as the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, the Hugo Award for Best Novel, Hugos for Fan Writer and Best Related Book, and the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. Rob Wolf is the host of New Books in Science Fiction and the author of The Alternate Universe and The Escape. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

One could call The Kaiju Preservation Society (Tor Books, 2022) a pandemic novel because a) John Scalzi wrote it during the pandemic and b) the pandemic serendipitously leads the main character, Jamie, to a new job that sets the action in motion. But the book is not about the pandemic. It's about Kaiju, Godzilla-like monsters who live in an alternate Earth. This alternate Earth is rich in radioactive elements, and the Kaiju produce energy from their own internal biological reactors. This makes them a danger when, say, they end their lives with in nuclear explosion that thins the walls between Earths, but it also makes them an object of fascination for unscrupulous humans seeking new sources of cheap energy. “So much of the way plant life and animal life on Earth works is through sunlight, which is just another type of radiation,” Scalzi says. “Plants photosynthesize, animals eat plants, other animals eat the animals that eat the plants and so on and so forth. But sooner or later it all comes back to sunlight. The only places where you don't have that happen are in very specific places where, for example, there are sulfurous heat sources at the bottom of the ocean. And then things have evolved to take advantage of the energy source there. Well, in this alternate Earth, things like uranium and thorium in the crust are another possible energy source. It makes sense to me that life would evolve to take advantage either wholly or in part of that additional energy source. And then, of course, I just built out from there.” Scalzi has contributed in myriad ways to the art of science fiction through many novels, his past leadership as president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and the platform he provides other writers on The Big Idea, a feature that appears regularly on his website. His writing has earned numerous awards, including what was once upon a time known as the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, the Hugo Award for Best Novel, Hugos for Fan Writer and Best Related Book, and the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. Rob Wolf is the host of New Books in Science Fiction and the author of The Alternate Universe and The Escape. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/science-fiction

One could call The Kaiju Preservation Society (Tor Books, 2022) a pandemic novel because a) John Scalzi wrote it during the pandemic and b) the pandemic serendipitously leads the main character, Jamie, to a new job that sets the action in motion. But the book is not about the pandemic. It's about Kaiju, Godzilla-like monsters who live in an alternate Earth. This alternate Earth is rich in radioactive elements, and the Kaiju produce energy from their own internal biological reactors. This makes them a danger when, say, they end their lives with in nuclear explosion that thins the walls between Earths, but it also makes them an object of fascination for unscrupulous humans seeking new sources of cheap energy. “So much of the way plant life and animal life on Earth works is through sunlight, which is just another type of radiation,” Scalzi says. “Plants photosynthesize, animals eat plants, other animals eat the animals that eat the plants and so on and so forth. But sooner or later it all comes back to sunlight. The only places where you don't have that happen are in very specific places where, for example, there are sulfurous heat sources at the bottom of the ocean. And then things have evolved to take advantage of the energy source there. Well, in this alternate Earth, things like uranium and thorium in the crust are another possible energy source. It makes sense to me that life would evolve to take advantage either wholly or in part of that additional energy source. And then, of course, I just built out from there.” Scalzi has contributed in myriad ways to the art of science fiction through many novels, his past leadership as president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and the platform he provides other writers on The Big Idea, a feature that appears regularly on his website. His writing has earned numerous awards, including what was once upon a time known as the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, the Hugo Award for Best Novel, Hugos for Fan Writer and Best Related Book, and the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. Rob Wolf is the host of New Books in Science Fiction and the author of The Alternate Universe and The Escape. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature

The books of the moment for today's episode are The Poppy War Trilogy by R. F. Kuang. Just a forewarning for those of you listening, this is NOT a spoiler-free zone. We will be discussing this trilogy in all of its glory, which of course includes revealing the ending. R. F. Kuang is a Chinese-American fantasy writer. Her first novel, The Poppy War, was released in 2018, followed by the sequels The Dragon Republic in 2019 and The Burning God in 2020. Kuang has won the Compton Crook Award, the Crawford Award, and the 2020 Astounding Award for Best New Writer, along with being a finalist for the Nebula, Locus, World Fantasy, The Kitschies, and British Fantasy awards for her first novel. If you enjoyed this episode, I encourage you to leave a review on whichever platform you are listening on, if applicable. If you have any further questions regarding topics discussed throughout the episode feel free to join our Hardcover Hoes Discord Server via the link in the show notes, or send us an email at hardcoverhoespod@gmail.com. Feel free to recommend books to cover in future episodes as well! Discord Server: https://discord.gg/zpvW4FyuPF TikTok, IG, Twitter: @HardcoverHoes Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/993967071461813/ --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

We're BACK! AGAIN! And we swear we're gonna post more episodes this year than we did last year! Alyssa (writer of fiction, comics, and games. Winner of the Nebula Award, the World Fantasy Award, and the Locus Award, finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and her fiction has been shortlisted for the Hugo, Bram Stoker, and Shirley Jackson Awards. Comics credits include Marvel, DC, Star Wars, and Adventure Time, and she's also written for Overwatch, and Story and Franchise Development at Blizzard Entertainment) and Lauren (Senior Writer at Insomniac Games where she is currently working on Spider-Man 2, and was previously Lead Writer on Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart. Before Insomniac she was a writer at Telltale Game where she worked on The Walking Dead: The Final Season and Batman The Enemy Within) joined us to talk about how a theater studies degree is useful in games, shipping characters, writing hours, how hot Emperor Nefarious is, interacting with actors, writing characters and situations you hate, what draws them to horror storytelling, sexy monsters, what they need to nail down first in a story, what makes a good villain, worldbuilding, types of stories they don't often see in games that they'd love to write, and a whole lot more!Our Guests on the InternetAlyssa's Twitter, and you should check out Doctor Aphra and Iron Fist!Lauren's Twitter, and you should check out Spider-Man 2 when it comes out!Stuff We Talked AboutJohn Carpenter liked Ratchet & Clank: Rift ApartParagonAlyssa's first tweet about Emperor NefariousUnpackingFears to FathomDevotionThe Walking Dead: The Final SeasonThe BoysStarboundDishonored: Death of the OutsiderDisco ElysiumDragon Age: InquisitionWhat You Left Behind by Alyssa Wong (the Overwatch short story about Baptiste) Our theme music was done by Isabella Ness, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

Authors Seanan McGuire, Mira Grant, A. Deborah Baker, and I discuss how they're all Seanan McGuire and how she transitions between genres and intended age groups. We discuss her years as a standup comedian and how she transitioned to an award-winning author, her love of dice and My Little Ponies, her creative process, how she plans a series and keeps continuity, our mutual love of Stephen King's IT (the book, not the movie), why JURASSIC WORLD made her feel unwelcome to her favorite franchise, the critical importance of representation, knowing which stories are yours to tell, filking, and so much more. Oh, and she takes me on a tour of her haunted library, so don't miss that. Seanan McGuire was born in Martinez, California, and raised in a wide variety of locations, most of which boasted some sort of dangerous native wildlife. Despite her almost magnetic attraction to anything venomous, she somehow managed to survive long enough to acquire a typewriter, a reasonable grasp of the English language, and the desire to combine the two. The fact that she wasn't killed for using her typewriter at three o'clock in the morning is probably more impressive than her lack of death by spider-bite. Often described as a vortex of the surreal, many of Seanan's anecdotes end with things like "and then we got the anti-venom" or "but it's okay, because it turned out the water wasn't that deep." She has yet to be defeated in a game of "Who here was bitten by the strangest thing?," and can be amused for hours by almost anything. "Almost anything" includes swamps, long walks, long walks in swamps, things that live in swamps, horror movies, strange noises, musical theater, reality TV, comic books, finding pennies on the street, and venomous reptiles. Seanan may be the only person on the planet who admits to using Kenneth Muir's Horror Films of the 1980s as a checklist. Seanan is the author of the October Daye urban fantasies, the InCryptid urban fantasies, and several other works both stand-alone and in trilogies or duologies. In case that wasn't enough, she also writes under the pseudonym "Mira Grant." For details on her work as Mira, check out MiraGrant.com. In her spare time, Seanan records CDs of her original filk music (see the Albums page for details). She is also a cartoonist, and draws an irregularly posted autobiographical web comic, "With Friends Like These...", as well as generating a truly ridiculous number of art cards. Surprisingly enough, she finds time to take multi-hour walks, blog regularly, watch a sickening amount of television, maintain her website, and go to pretty much any movie with the words "blood," "night," "terror," or "attack" in the title. Most people believe she doesn't sleep. Seanan lives in an idiosyncratically designed labyrinth in the Pacific Northwest, which she shares with her cats, Alice and Thomas, a vast collection of creepy dolls and horror movies, and sufficient books to qualify her as a fire hazard. She has strongly-held and oft-expressed beliefs about the origins of the Black Death, the X-Men, and the need for chainsaws in daily life. Years of writing blurbs for convention program books have fixed Seanan in the habit of writing all her bios in the third person, so as to sound marginally less dorky. Stress is on the "marginally." It probably doesn't help that she has so many hobbies. Seanan was the winner of the 2010 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and her novel Feed (as Mira Grant) was named as one of Publishers Weekly's Best Books of 2010. In 2013 she became the first person ever to appear five times on the same Hugo Ballot.

Show Notes, Episode 35, Mur Lafferty & Science Fiction Co-hosts: Cheryl McNeil Fisher and Kathy King Why would an author lock up her Switch gaming station? What is fanfiction? Where do we access free original sci fi podcast magazines? And which publications purchase short stories from authors? Mur Lafferty, our first guest author of Science Fiction and Fantasy, answers these questions, and offers keen insight into these worlds and genres. We learn about free science fiction and other original works available in podcast format by our guest, and through EscapeArtists.net. She also clues us into the backstory of her Star Wars books, short stories, novels, serials, and podcasts! An award-winning author, writer and podcaster, you will enjoy learning about her work, writing tricks, and perspective! So, (in the style of EscapePod introductions…) put on you magical glasses, it's interview time!” About Mur Lafferty Mur is an accomplished author, editor and podcaster. She earned a degree in English from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her MFA from the University of Maine's Stonecoast Popular Fiction Program. She currently lives in Durham, NC. She is an innovator and dynamic creative energy in science fiction, fantasy, nonfiction and encouraging geeks and writers to embrace their identities and potential. Her published works and awards are numerous. As of 2021, here is a brief summary of works: seven novels, six novellas, two anthologies, several short fiction works, serial works and co-editor of the science fiction magazine, EscapePod. She has even leveraged her passion for science fiction and writing skills into writing a RPG, a role playing game. In addition, we can't begin to sort out how many podcasts she has contributed to and/or launched. She has been hosting “I Should Be Writing” for many years. In 2015, Mur Lafferty was inducted into the Podcast Academy Hall of Fame. She has been awarded The Astounding Award for Best New Writer (previously known as the John W. Campbell Award). And very notably, her novel “Six Wakes” was nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick Awards. Resources for this Episode Mur Lafferty's website: https://murverse.com/ EscapeArtists https://escapeartists.net/ -EscapePod https://escapepod.org/ -PseudoPod https://pseudopod.org/ -PodCastle https://podcastle.org/ -Cast of Wonders. https://www.castofwonders.org/ Fanfiction site - Archive of Our Own - https://archiveofourown.org Writing Opportunities Writing prompts, contests, Open Mic events, and more from Writing Works Wonders! All details available at our Contact Us Porta Contact Information: Website www.WritingWorksWonders.com Podcast email WritingworksPodcast@gmail.com Phone or text 347-467-0221 (Not a toll-free number) Writing prompts, Zoom links, contest and special events! Sign-up for our Email List Support this podcast through our Tip Jar or Patreon. Please Follow Us- We want to be social ;) Facebook @WritingWorksWonders Twitter @WritingWksPod Cheryl McNeil Fisher - Author, Keynote Speaker, Educator and Coach. Seminars and Workshops Adults and Children. https://www.cherylmcneilfisher.com/ Submit your work for publication on our site. Guest blogging, poetry, short stories at: https://www.livinginspiredfullyeveryday.com/ Dr. Kathleen P. King- Author, Author Coach, Speaker & Professor (Ret.). http://www.transformationed.com/ Interested in technology and adult learning? Check out Dr. King's newest book from Wiley: http://bit.ly/King2017 We are proud to be hosted by ACB Community, streamed live on ACB MEDIA Channel 5, and rebroadcasted on 986TheMix.com Internet radio station! Find more resources and episodes for this podcast at https://writingworkswonders.com/ Support Writing Works Wonders: Advancing Beyond Barriers by contributing to their Tip Jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/writing-works-wonders Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code writing for 40% off for 4 months, and support Writing Works Wonders: Advancing Beyond Barriers.

As Halloween draws close and the veil between the realms grows thin, we wonder... how, exactly, do you build a world that, by design, touches other worlds? Seanan McGuire joins us to discuss portal realms, alternate realities, multiverses, and designing the liminal, the permeable, the spaces in-between. Transcript for Episode 62 (thank you, beloved scribes!) Our Guest: Seanan is the author of the October Daye urban fantasies, the InCryptid urban fantasies, and several other works both stand-alone and in trilogies or duologies. In case that wasn't enough, she also writes under the pseudonym "Mira Grant." For details on her work as Mira, check out MiraGrant.com. Seanan lives in an idiosyncratically designed labyrinth in the Pacific Northwest, which she shares with her cats, Alice and Thomas, a vast collection of creepy dolls and horror movies, and sufficient books to qualify her as a fire hazard. She has strongly-held and oft-expressed beliefs about the origins of the Black Death, the X-Men, and the need for chainsaws in daily life. Seanan was the winner of the 2010 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and her novel Feed (as Mira Grant) was named as one of Publishers Weekly's Best Books of 2010. In 2013 she became the first person ever to appear five times on the same Hugo Ballot.

Clementine Ford is a writer, broadcaster and feminist community builder living in Naarm/Melbourne. She is the bestselling author of the feminist manifestos Fight Like A Girl and Boys Will Be Boys, which have also been published to great acclaim in the UK and the US. In 2017, she won the Matt Richell Award for Best New Writer of the Year at the ABIAs. With the release of 'How We Love', Sarah sat down with Clementine to discuss subverting expectations, the world of grief and love, the healing power of water, memory and more. *Producer's Note: Due to our team being in social isolation, the sound quality is more variable. Books mentioned in this podcast: Clementine Ford - 'How We Love': https://bit.ly/3yYz4FC Hosts: Sarah McDuling Guest: Clementine Ford Producer: Nick Wasiliev

The son of a physicist and electrical engineer, at 15, he began working as a computer programmer for Sandia National Laboratories. In 2016 Andy Weir received the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer for his story the Martian.

Have you ever read a sci-fi or fantasy book and wondered, what kind of a mind thinks up these new worlds? Find out and get a peek inside of one at our Lit Chat with Chuck Wendig! Chuck Wendig is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Star Wars: Aftermath, as well as the Miriam Black thrillers, the Atlanta Burns books, Zer0es/Invasive, Wanderers, and the upcoming The Book of Accidents (July 2021). He's also worked in a variety of other formats, including comics, games, film, and television. A finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and the cowriter of the Emmy-nominated digital narrative Collapsus, he is also known for his books about writing. He lives in Pennsyltucky with his family. --- Sign Up for Library U to hear about the latest Lit Chats and catch them live! — https://jaxpubliclibrary.org/library-u-enrollment  Chuck WendigWebsite: http://terribleminds.com/ Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/ChuckWendig Jacksonville Public LibraryWebsite: https://jaxpubliclibrary.org/  Twitter: https://twitter.com/jaxlibrary  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JaxLibrary  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaxlibrary/  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/jaxpubliclibraryfl  Contact Us: jplpromotions (at) coj.net

We are so pleased to bring you bestselling author Chuck Wendig, as he talks his latest book "The Book of Accidents." Chuck Wendig is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Star Wars: Aftermath, as well as the Miriam Black thrillers, the Atlanta Burns books, Zer0es/Invasive, Wanderers, and the upcoming Book of Accidents (July 2021). He's also worked in a variety of other formats, including comics, games, film, and television. A finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and the cowriter of the Emmy-nominated digital narrative Collapsus, he is also known for his books about writing. Inside "The Book of Accidents": A family returns to their hometown—and to the dark past that haunts them still—in this masterpiece of literary horror by the New York Times bestselling author of Wanderers “The dread, the scope, the pacing, the turns—I haven't felt all this so intensely since The Shining.”—Stephen Graham Jones, New York Times bestselling author of The Only Good Indians Long ago, Nathan lived in a house in the country with his abusive father—and has never told his family what happened there. Long ago, Maddie was a little girl making dolls in her bedroom when she saw something she shouldn't have—and is trying to remember that lost trauma by making haunting sculptures. Long ago, something sinister, something hungry, walked in the tunnels and the mountains and the coal mines of their hometown in rural Pennsylvania. Now, Nate and Maddie Graves are married, and they have moved back to their hometown with their son, Oliver. And now what happened long ago is happening again . . . and it is happening to Oliver. He meets a strange boy who becomes his best friend, a boy with secrets of his own and a taste for dark magic. This dark magic puts them at the heart of a battle of good versus evil and a fight for the soul of the family—and perhaps for all of the world. But the Graves family has a secret weapon in this battle: their love for one another.

Mary Robinette Kowal is the author of The Glamourist Histories series, Ghost Talkers, and the Lady Astronaut series. She's the President of SFWA, part of the award-winning podcast Writing Excuses and has received the Astounding Award for Best New Writer, four Hugo awards, the Nebula and Locus awards. Her stories appear in Asimov's, Uncanny, and several Year's Best anthologies. Mary Robinette, a professional puppeteer, also performs as a voice actor (SAG/AFTRA), recording fiction for authors including Seanan McGuire, Cory Doctorow, and John Scalzi. She lives in Nashville with her husband Rob and over a dozen manual typewriters.Visit maryrobinettekowal.com//Draft2Digital is where you start your Indie Author Career// Looking for your path to self-publishing success? Draft2Digital is the leading ebook publisher and distributor. We'll convert your manuscript, distribute it online, and support you the whole way, and we won't charge you a dime. We take a cut of royalties on each sale you make through us, so we only make money when you make money! • Get started: https://Draft2Digital.com Get insider info on indie author success from our blog. • Visit: https://Draft2Digital.com/blog Tune in to our monthly livestreams and ask us anything! • D2D Live: https://D2DLive.com Promote your books with our Universal Book Links! • Books2Read: https://books2read.com//Get ahead of the Self-Publishing game with our Amazing Partners// Findaway Voices || Find a narrator, produce your audiobook, and distribute it to retailers worldwide, including Audible.com and Apple Books. • http://findawayvoices.com/d2dReedsy || Assemble your team of publishing professionals! Find editors, cover designers, marketing experts, ghostwriters and more. • https://reedsy.comBookBrush || Build graphics and video that help you market and promote your books. • https://bookbrush.com/d2d-mockups///Join the D2D Community Online// Facebook || https://facebook.com/draft2digitalTwitter || https://twitter.com/draft2digital

Whether he's releasing a new book or a new blog post, bestseller Chuck Wendig pushes himself to “just do it.” By drafting each story using a different, unorthodox outlining process or resisting the urge to drop a current project to pursue a new one, he seeks to deviate away from what is most comfortable in favor of producing his best work. Chuck has been in the industry for over two decades and is well known for his blog "Terribleminds" and for massively popular releases like Wanderers. His latest publication, The Book of Accidents, is available now. From Amazon.com: Chuck Wendig is the New York Times bestselling author of Star Wars: Aftermath, as well as the Miriam Black thrillers, the Atlanta Burns books, and the Heartland YA series, alongside other works across comics, games, film, and more. A finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and the cowriter of the Emmy-nominated digital narrative Collapsus, he is also known for his popular blog, terribleminds.com, and his books about writing. He lives in Pennsylvania with his family. Whether you're traditionally published or indie, writing a good book is only the first step in becoming a successful author. The days of just turning a manuscript into your editor and walking away are gone. If you want to succeed in today's publishing world, you need to understand every aspect of the business - editing, formatting, marketing, contracts. It all starts with a good book, then the real work begins. Join international bestselling author J.D. Barker and indie powerhouses, J. Thorn and Zach Bohannon, as they gain unique insight and valuable advice from the most prolific and accomplished authors in the business. In this episode, you'll discover: Why Chuck killed Paul Tremblay How to generate framing aspects The importance of finishing what you start Why self publishing is a lot of work The power struggle between publishers and Amazon Links: J. D. Barker - http://jdbarker.com/ J. Thorn - https://theauthorlife.com/ Zach Bohannon - https://zachbohannon.com/ LAST DAY FOR TICKETS IS AUGUST 15! The Career Author Summit 2021 - https://thecareerauthor.com/summit2021/ Chuck Wendig - https://terribleminds.com/ramble/ The Book of Accidents - https://mybook.to/BookOfAccidents Story Rubric - http://storyrubric.com Nonfic Rubric - http://nonficrubric.com Proudly sponsored by Kobo Writing Life - https://kobowritinglife.com/ Music by Nicorus - https://cctrax.com/nicorus/dust-to-dust-ep Voice Over by Rick Ganley - http://www.nhpr.com and recorded at Mill Pond Studio - http://www.millpondstudio.com Contact - https://writersinkpodcast.com/contact/ *Full disclosure: Some of the links are affiliate links. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/writersink/support

The Ada Palmer Interview Ada Palmer wrote the introductions to the latest edition of "Shadow & Claw" from Tor, "The Path of the New Sun" as well as to the upcoming "Sword & Citadel." And now she talks to us. Yay! She is a professor of History at the University of Chicago and a scholar of the Renaissance. Her novel "Too Like the Lightning" was a Hugo Award nominee in 2017, and that year she won the John W Campbell award for Best New Writer.  Links: * Ada's Website and Terra Ignota series  * Writing the Distant Future of Global Politics by Ada Palmer  * Ada and Jo Walton's podcast  Things we talked about: * Jacques the Fatalist and his Master by Denis Diderot * Phoenix manga series by Osamu Tezuka * Cesare Beccaria, 18th century Italian criminologist * Neon Genesis Evangelion anime  - This episode is sponsored by Glorious Introductions. - You can become a patron and hear additional episodes at https://www.patreon.com/rereadingwolfe - You can also get episodes on your podcast app or on our Youtube channel. If you have problems accessing the podcast on your favorite platform, let us know. - Questions, comments, corrections, additions, alternate theories? Connect with us on on Facebook ...or on Twitter @rereadingwolfe ...or on Instagram: rereadingwolfepodcast ...or on Reddit: rereadingwolfepodcast  Intro from "The Alligator", Annihilation soundtrack by Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow Sponsor ad background music from "My Name Is" by Eminem Outro from "Mr. Unreliable" by The Inmates Logo art by SonOfWitz Outros and alternate outros are cued on the Rereading Wolfe Podcast Spotify playlist IF the songs are available on Spotify.

Author, producer, writer, showrunner, former editor-in-chief, entrepreneur and Star Trek expert, Mark A. Altman joins us to talk about his new unauthorized complete history of Star Wars. Order his book: https://amzn.to/2UcFCkX1982 Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/georgegaspar/1982-greatest-geek-year-everwww.ATGcast.comPatreon.com/ATGcasttwitter.com/ATGcastinstagram.com/ATGcastfacebook.com/ATGcastTikTok.com/ATGcastFrom IMDB: MARK A. ALTMAN is a television and motion picture writer/producer/director who is the showrunner/executive producer of the new sci-fi adventure series, Pandora, airing on the CW and distributed by Sony Pictures Television. He was previously the Co-Executive Producer of TNT's hit series, The Librarians. Other TV credits include TNT's Agent X, ABC's Castle and USA's Necessary Roughness.In addition, Altman (along with writing partner Steve Kriozere) have sold numerous pilots including to USA Networks and, most recently, developed pilots for Beacon Pictures and Sony Pictures Television. Altman has also produced the $30 million film adaptation of the bestselling video game, DOA: Dead Or Alive (Dimension Films). His first film was the much beloved and award winning, Free Enterprise, starring William Shatner and Eric McCormack, which he wrote and produced and for which he won the WGA Award for Best New Writer at the AFI Los Angeles Film Festival prior to its theatrical release. He is also a producer of the House of the Dead series, based on the videogame from Sega, released by Lionsgate. In addition, he produced James Gunn's superhero satire, The Specials, starring Thomas Haden Church and Rob Lowe.His bestselling two-volume book, The Fifty-Year Mission: The Complete Uncensored, Unauthorized History of Star Trek, was released by St. Martin's Press in Summer 2016 in hardcover to unanimous critical acclaim including raves in The Wall Street Journal, Booklist and Publishers Weekly. His subsequent oral history of Battlestar Galactica, So Say We All, was released in 2018 by Tor Books and a follow-up on the James Bond film series will be released in 2020.Altman is a former entertainment journalist. Altman has contributed to such newspapers and magazines as The Boston Globe, Written By, L'Cinefage, Film Threat, The Guardian, The Boston Edge, Cult TV, and many others, including Cinenfantastique for which he launched their independent film division, CFQ Films, which produced numerous successful genre features.Altman has spoken at numerous industry events and conventions, including ShowBiz Expo as well as the Variety/Final Draft Screenwriters Panel at the Cannes Film Festival. He was a juror at the prestigious Sitges Film Festival in Barcelona, Spain. He has been a frequent guest and panelist at Comic-Con held annually in San Diego, CA and a two-time juror for the Comic-Con Film Festival. In addition to being a graduate of the WGA Showrunners Training Program, he is a member of the Television Academy.

Sebastien is a serial entrepreneur. When I asked Sebastien about a fun fact about him. He told me that he is taking VR classes, which I think that is very cool. Therefore, Sebastien has achieved alot in his career choices. Sebastien feels that writing is important because it gives him the satisfaction that he accomplished another stepping stone in his life. ALL ABOUT SEBASTIEN: Sebastien de Castell had just finished a degree in Archaeology when he started work on his first dig. Four hours later he realized how much he actually hated archaeology and left to pursue a very focused career as a musician, ombudsman, interaction designer, fight choreographer, teacher, project manager, actor, and product strategist. His only defence against the charge of unbridled dilettantism is that he genuinely likes doing these things and that, in one way or another, each of these fields plays a role in his writing. He sternly resists the accusation of being a Renaissance Man in the hopes that more people will label him that way. Sebastien's acclaimed swashbuckling fantasy series, The Greatcoats, was shortlisted for both the 2014 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Fantasy. The Gemmell Morningstar Award for Best Debut, the Prix Imaginales for Best Foreign Work, and the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. His YA fantasy series, Spellslinger, was nominated for the Carnegie Medal and is published in more than a dozen languages. Sebastien lives in Vancouver, Canada with his lovely wife and two belligerent cats. ALL ABOUT THE NOVEL: WAY OF THE ARGOSI - THE ALCHEMIST meets THE THREE MUSKETEERS- with card tricks. A brilliant origin story of adventure, wit and philosophy to enrapture devotees as well as newcomers to the SPELLSLINGER series. Perfect for fans of The Dark Tower, Firefly, Terry Pratchett, Ben Aaronovitch and Jim Butcher. Published by Hot Key Books, this YA Fantasy is available in in all formats on Amazon in the U.K. Way Of The Argosi ISBN: 978-1471405525 Amazon U.K: Way of the Argosi (Spellslinger): Amazon.co.uk: de Castell, Sebastien: Books A merciless band of mages murdered her parents, massacred her tribe and branded her with mystical sigils that left her a reviled outcast. They should have killed her instead. Stealing, swindling, and gambling with her own life just to survive, Ferius will risk anything to avenge herself on the zealous young mage who haunts her every waking hour. But then she meets the incomparable Durral Brown, a wandering philosopher gifted in the arts of violence who instead overcomes his opponents with shrewdness and compassion. Does this charismatic and infuriating man hold the key to defeating her enemies, or will he lead her down a path that will destroy her very soul? Through this outstanding tale of swashbuckling action, magical intrigue and dazzling wit, follow Ferius along the Way of the Argosi and enter a world of magic and mystery unlike any other. Sebastien also written SHAWDOWBLACK, CHARMCASTER, SOULBINDER, QUEENSLAYER & CROWNBREAKER. You can reach Sebastien at www.decastell.com or Sebastien is available for interviews, media appearances, speaking engagements, and/or book review requests - please contact mickey.creativeedge@gmail.com

Mark A. Altman is a television and motion picture writer/producer/director who is currently the Showrunner/Executive Producer of the CW series, Pandora which is distributed by Sony Pictures Television worldwide and streams exclusively on Amazon Prime in the United States. Previously he served as Co-Executive Producer of The Librarians (TNT), Agent X (TNT), Castle (ABC), Necessary Roughness (USA) among others. In addition, Altman has sold numerous pilots and produced the $30 million film adaptation of the bestselling video game, DOA: Dead Or Alive, which was released by Dimension Films. His first motion picture was the award winning, Free Enterprise, starring William Shatner and Eric McCormack, which he wrote and produced and for which he won the WGA Award for Best New Writer at the AFI Los Angeles Film Festival prior to its theatrical release. In this episode, we talk about: • The terrific story about convincing William Shatner to be in his film and why he never recommends writing a film for an actor • How he got Eric McCormick to do his film just after he shot the Will & Grace pilot which hadn’t been picked up yet • Transitioning to the writers room of the TV show Castle and overlapping a year with our other Mentor, David Grae • What does it mean to write for a budget and why that’s every line producer’s dream • Having to choose between the final season of The Librarians and holding off on the possibility of doing his own show • The conception of his show Pandora on CW and creating an incredible sizzle reel and bible to pitch it • Making the choice to stop filming due to COVID • Advice to actors from a Showrunner Book Recommendations for Actors: Mike Nichols: A Life by Mark Harris 2 Books he Wrote: The 50 Year Mission: The Complete Uncensored History of Star Trek Secrets of the Force: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Wars IMDB Wikipedia Linkedin Twitter Instagram Host: Instagram: @MentorsontheMic @MichelleSimoneMiller Twitter: @MentorsontheMic @MichelleSimoneM Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/mentorsonthemic Website: www.michellesimonemiller.com Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/24mmichelle

Sebastien de Castell's acclaimed swashbuckling fantasy series, The Greatcoats. was shortlisted for both the 2014 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Fantasy. the Gemmell Morningstar Award for Best Debut, the Prix Imaginales for Best Foreign Work, and the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. His YA fantasy series, Spellslinger, was nominated for the Carnegie Medal and is published in more than a dozen languages. Sebastien lives in Vancouver, Canada with his lovely wife and two belligerent cats. You can reach him at www.decastell.com And for more about our host Lisa Kessler visit http://Lisa-Kessler.com Book Lights - shining a light on good books!

Short Stories by Nalo Hopkinson Nalo Hopkinson is a Jamaican-born Candian speculative fiction author of the unreal. Hopkinson is the 2021 Damon Knight Grandmaster awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), and the 1999 Astounding Award for Best New Writer (formerly the Campbell award). The Glass Bottle Trick Link to the … Continue reading Ep064 Nalo Hopkinson →

Book Talk@ 19:15 Tip our Wonderful Narrator! Adrian McKinty’s Sean Duffy Detective series book 1 “The Cold Cold Ground” “How the Scots Invented the Modern World” by Arthur Herman Mary Robinette Kowal “The Lady Astronaut of Mars” (winner of the 2014 Hugo Award for Best Novelette!) and Her “Jane Austen in a world of magic” series, book 1: Jennifer is right - how DID I miss her. This is her Bio off of Amazon: Mary Robinette Kowal is the author of the Lady Astronaut duology and historical fantasy novels: The Glamourist Histories series and Ghost Talkers. She’s a member of the award-winning podcast Writing Excuses and has received the Campbell Award for Best New Writer, three Hugo awards, the RT Reviews award for Best Fantasy Novel, and has been a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards. Stories have appeared in Strange Horizons, Asimov’s, several Year’s Best anthologies and her collections Word Puppets and Scenting the Dark and Other Stories.As a professional puppeteer and voice actor (SAG/AFTRA), Mary has performed for LazyTown (CBS), the Center for Puppetry Arts, Jim Henson Pictures, and founded Other Hand Productions. Her designs have garnered two UNIMA-USA Citations of Excellence, the highest award an American puppeteer can achieve. She records fiction for authors such as Kage Baker, Cory Doctorow and John Scalzi.Mary lives in Chicago with her husband Rob and over a dozen manual typewriters. Visit

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing someone I have the honor of considering both a colleague and friend, Chuck Wendig. Chuck is the New York Times bestselling author of Wanderers, Star Wars: Aftermath, the Miriam Black thrillers, and the Atlanta Burns books, as well as Zer0es and Invasive, alongside other works across comics, games, film, and more. He was a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and an alum of the Sundance Screenwriters Lab, and he served as the co-writer of the Emmy-nominated digital narrative Collapsus. He is also known for his popular blog, terribleminds, and he’s one of the few people I follow on Twitter and actually read what they post. He has also written books about writing such as Damn Fine Story, and today we’ll be talking about his latest book, a collection of inspirational nuggets titled: You Can Do Anything, Magic Skeleton!   In this episode Chuck and I discuss: The inspiration behind his latest book, which began as a series of tweets. How good writing subverts readers’ expectations in some way. Why you shouldn’t take any one piece of writing advice too seriously.   Plus, his #1 tip for writers. For more info and show notes: diymfa.com/352

Episode 83 is an interview with the author Adharanand Finn. Adharanand Finn is the author of Running with the Kenyans (2012) and The Way of the Runner (2015). The first of these was the Sunday Times Sports Book of the Year, won Best New Writer at the British Sports Book Awards and was shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book Award. He is a journalist at the Guardian and also writes regularly for the Financial Times, the Independent, Runner's World, Men's Health and many others. A description of the book says; Marathons are no longer enough. Pain is to be relished, not avoided. Hallucinations are normal. Ultra running defies conventional logic. Yet this most brutal and challenging sport is now one of the fastest-growing in the world. Why is this? Is it an antidote to modern life, or a symptom of a modern illness? Adharanand Finn travelled to the heart of the sport to find out - and to see if he could become an ultra runner himself. His journey took him from the deserts of Oman to the snow-capped peaks of the Rockies, and on to his ultimate goal, the 105-mile Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc. The Rise of the Ultra Runners is the electrifying, inspirational account of what he learned along the way. Through encounters with the sport's many colourful characters and his experiences of its soaring highs and crushing lows, Finn offers an unforgettable insight into what can be found at the boundaries of human endeavour. Are injuries or ongoing niggles causing running to be painful ruining your enjoyment of your sport and hobby? Get on top of these now so that you can enjoy running again and get back to preparing for the upcoming race season!! Come in and see the specialists at Health and High Performance where they utilise the latest in technology, and experience, to help you get back to your running best. A personal experience of mine that I will share with you. I injured my back many years ago mountain biking and every now and then I get pain in the area. I went to see Luke in a lot of pain and walked out pain free. It was honestly amazing!! So, head to www.healthhp.com.au/run to book an appointment and ensure you can run strong and free! You can also find them on instagram: HealthHighPerformance Thank you so much for supporting the podcast! Rating, reviewing and subscribing helps the podcast to grow and more runners like yourself find it. If you enjoy this episode, please do go on over and rate and review. I am aiming for 100 reviews by Easter next year! Will you help me achieve my goal? I am loving being able to run freely now and know that there are races ahead. If you want to get the most out of your training, email me isobel@peakendurancecoaching.com.au to organise an individualised training plan. Enjoy the interview with Adharanand! I loved reading his book and I highly recommend. As ultra-runners you will find it really resonates. Find his book here. His website is here.

Molly interview writer Mary Robinette Kowal, about her books The Relentless Moon, Word Puppets, Ghost Talkers, The Fated Sky, and more! You can find Mary's author page on Amazon at this link: https://amzn.to/3qhg1Ty Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mary.r.kowal Twitter: @MaryRobinette Patreon:  https://www.patreon.com/maryrobinette   Pinterest:  https://www.pinterest.com/maryrobinette/    YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/c/MaryRobinetteKowal    Website:  http://maryrobinettekowal.com/    Mary Robinette Kowal is the author of the Lady Astronaut duology and historical fantasy novels: The Glamourist Histories series and Ghost Talkers. She’s a member of the award-winning podcast Writing Excuses and has received the Astounding Award for Best New Writer, four Hugo awards, the RT Reviews award for Best Fantasy Novel, the Nebula, and Locus awards. Stories have appeared in Strange Horizons, Asimov’s, several Year’s Best anthologies, and her collections Word Puppets and Scenting the Dark and Other Stories. Her novel Calculating Stars is one of only eighteen novels to win the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards in a single year. As a professional puppeteer and voice actor (SAG/AFTRA), Mary Robinette has performed for LazyTown (CBS), the Center for Puppetry Arts, Jim Henson Pictures, and founded Other Hand Productions. Her designs have garnered two UNIMA-USA Citations of Excellence, the highest award an American puppeteer can achieve. She records fiction for authors such as Seanan McGuire, Cory Doctorow, and John Scalzi. Mary Robinette lives in Nashville with her husband Rob and over a dozen manual typewriters.

Adharanand Finn is the author of three critically acclaimed books, Running with the Kenyans, The Way of the Runner, and The Rise of the Ultra Runners.Adharanand’s first title was named Sunday Times Sports Book of the Year, he won Best New Writer at the British Sports Book awards and he has twice been shortlisted for the biggest prize in sports writing: the William Hill Sports Book of the Year. He writes regular feature articles for the Guardian, the Financial Times, the Telegraph, Runner’s World magazine and many other publications. He has run 10 ultra marathons, and has a best marathon time of 2 hours 50 mins. He lives in south-west England with his wife and three children.Rise of the UltarunnersWay of the RunnerRunning with the KenyansAdharand’s Podcast

“What I’m always trying to do is make sure Indigenous people show up in narratives of the future.” - Rebecca Roanhorse Rebecca Roanhorse is the New York Times bestselling author of Trail of Lightning, Storm of Locusts, Star Wars: Resistance Reborn, and Race to the Sun. She has won the Nebula, Hugo, and Locus Awards for her fiction, and was the recipient of the 2018 Astounding (formerly Campbell) Award for Best New Writer. Her latest book, Black Sun, is out now. She lives in New Mexico with her family. Connect with Rebecca on her website, Twitter, or Instagram. Rebecca's book recommendations:  anything that's won a Hugo Award, especially A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir   Shop all our authors' books and book recommendations on our Bookshop.org page! -- Check out our Read. Resist. Vote. series featuring progressive woman candidates. We donate 5% of all our sales to a different feminist organization each month. Our November charity is Native Women's Wilderness. Get $5 off your Feminist Book Club Box with the code PODCAST at feministbookclub.com/shop. Our November book of the month is BRAIDING SWEETGRASS by Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer.   --   Website: http://www.feministbookclub.com Instagram: @feministbookclubbox Twitter: @fmnstbookclub Facebook: /feministbookclubbox Pinterest: feministbookclub Goodreads: Renee // Feminist Book Club Box and Podcast Email newsletter: http://bit.ly/FBCemailupdates Bookshop.org shop: Feminist Book Club Bookshop -- This podcast is produced on the native land of the Dakota and Ojibwe peoples.   Logo and web design by Shatterboxx  Editing support from Phalin Oliver Original music by @iam.onyxrose

This week, Leyla and I read the upcoming military fantasy novel by RF Kuang, "The Burning God!" We give a spoiler-free review of our thoughts on the end of our favorite trilogies, discuss Kuang's speech at the 2020 Hugo Awards, and cry over our poor, sweet children. Many thanks to Pamela Jaffee and the team at Harper Collins for making this happen!Link to RF Kuang's Astounding Award for Best New Writer speech: https://twitter.com/kuangrf/status/1289404961143439361?s=20Our theme song is "Obsolete" by Keshco, from the album "Filmmaker's Reference Kit Volume 2." Find more of their music at: https://keshco.bandcamp.com/Follow us @MortifiedPod on twitter (http://twitter.com/MortifiedPod). Sign Up for our monthly Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/g7jjj5Aaron: Twitter: @aaronsxl (http://twitter.com/aaronsxl)My Brother, My Brother's Friend and Me: @MbMbfandMe (http://twitter.com/MbMbfandMe)Leyla: Twitter/Tumblr/Instagram: @leylses (http://twitter.com/leylses, http://leylses.tumblr.com)Astral Heart: @_astralheart (http://twitter.com/_astralheart), http://astralheartcomic.com

Are We Picking A Fight With An 11 Ton Alien? - Robert Buettner's best-selling debut novel, “Orphanage,” 2004 Quill Award nominee for Best SF/Fantasy/Horror novel, was called the Post-9/11 generation's “Starship Troopers” and has been adapted for film. He was a 2005 Quill nominee for Best New Writer, and “Balance Point” is his eighth novel. Buettner ( http://robertbuettner.com/ ) is a former U.S. Army intelligence officer and a National Science Foundation Fellow in Paleontology. He was attorney of record in roughly 3,000 cases and has practiced in U.S. federal courts, administrative tribunals, and in 13 states and five foreign countries.

Brooke Davis is the author of Lost & Found, a runaway bestseller published in over 20 countries in multiple languages. Brooke has won the Bobbie Cullen Memorial Award for Women Writers, the postgraduate Queensland Writing Prize, the Matt Richell Award for Best New Writer, iBooks book of the year and the ABIA Fiction Book of the Year for Lost & Found. She also cooks the meanest heart attack muffins this side of the equator. In this episode we talk about the best literary fiction books getting around, including her recommendations on classics, something new, and something that people would be delighted to discover. For full show notes, including a rundown of Brooke's recommendations for the Best Literary Fiction Books, head here. To shop the books mentioned in this podcast in a way that supports Genre Wars and independent bookstores at the same time head here.

Today, the conclusion of our interview with Sarah Kuhn, author of the Star Wars: Doctor Aphra audiobook exclusive. As a refresher, these are the questions I'd had prepped for her: 1. You’ve written novels from a character’s first-person perspective before. Knowing that Doctor Aphra would be specifically produced as an audio drama, did that affect the way you approached Aphra’s narration of the story (and if so, how)? 2. It’s often said that Star Wars stories succeed in part because they doesn’t just reference themselves; they draw inspiration from other genres and sources. What non-Star-Wars sources inspired you for this story? 3. What are some of the perks, and some of the challenges, of writing for an unreliable narrator like Aphra? 4. In your previous works, you invented everything from scratch, but here you were adapting and building on an existing story. How did that change your writing process, or the way you create your characters? 5. It seems like Aphra is breaking the fourth wall in her narration, until we get deeper into the audio drama. What inspired you to take the angle of Aphra recording herself telling this story? 6. In the comics from which this is adapted, readers only get one brief hint at the previous romantic relationship between Aphra and Sana Starros. But your story makes it clear that the relationship was deeply formative for both of them. And as a result, it feels like their story is crucial to the overall story being told, when that wasn’t necessarily the case in the source material. Discuss! :-) 7. Although Aphra is the star of the show, Triple Zero has proven himself to be a scene stealer. What are some of the joys and perils of writing for Triple Zero? 8. Were there any characters who surprised you, as you wrote for them and developed them? If so, who and how? 9. Would you talk to us a bit about your reactions to hearing Emily Woo Zeller’s performance as Aphra? And here's her bio... Sarah Kuhn is the author of the popular Heroine Complex novels—a series starring Asian American superheroines. The first two books were 2016 and 2017 RT Reviewers’ Choice Award nominees for Best Urban Fantasy. Additionally, the first book is a Locus bestseller and one of the Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog’s Best Books of 2016. Other projects include the Japan-set YA romantic comedy I Love You So Mochi and a Batgirl/Cassandra Cain graphic novel for DC Comics. Additionally, Sarah was a finalist for the Astounding Award for Best New Writer and the CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment) New Writers Award. She has also written assorted short fiction, non-fiction, and comics about geeks, aliens, romance, and Barbie. Yes, that Barbie. You can visit her online at heroinecomplex.com or on Twitter: @sarahkuhn. So, then, today: the exciting conclusion to the conversation. Punch it! ***I'm listener supported! Join the community at http://Patreon.com/sw7x7 to get access to bonus episodes and other insider rewards.*** 

I'm thrilled to welcome Sarah Kuhn to the podcast today for the first of a two-part interview! Here's Sarah's bio... Sarah Kuhn is the author of the popular Heroine Complex novels—a series starring Asian American superheroines. The first two books were 2016 and 2017 RT Reviewers’ Choice Award nominees for Best Urban Fantasy. Additionally, the first book is a Locus bestseller and one of the Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog’s Best Books of 2016. Other projects include the Japan-set YA romantic comedy I Love You So Mochi and a Batgirl/Cassandra Cain graphic novel for DC Comics. Additionally, Sarah was a finalist for the Astounding Award for Best New Writer and the CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment) New Writers Award. She has also written assorted short fiction, non-fiction, and comics about geeks, aliens, romance, and Barbie. Yes, that Barbie. You can visit her online at heroinecomplex.com or on Twitter: @sarahkuhn. And these are the questions I had prepped for her: 1. You’ve written novels from a character’s first-person perspective before. Knowing that Doctor Aphra would be specifically produced as an audio drama, did that affect the way you approached Aphra’s narration of the story (and if so, how)? 2. It’s often said that Star Wars stories succeed in part because they doesn’t just reference themselves; they draw inspiration from other genres and sources. What non-Star-Wars sources inspired you for this story? 3. What are some of the perks, and some of the challenges, of writing for an unreliable narrator like Aphra? 4. In your previous works, you invented everything from scratch, but here you were adapting and building on an existing story. How did that change your writing process, or the way you create your characters? 5. It seems like Aphra is breaking the fourth wall in her narration, until we get deeper into the audio drama. What inspired you to take the angle of Aphra recording herself telling this story? 6. In the comics from which this is adapted, readers only get one brief hint at the previous romantic relationship between Aphra and Sana Starros. But your story makes it clear that the relationship was deeply formative for both of them. And as a result, it feels like their story is crucial to the overall story being told, when that wasn’t necessarily the case in the source material. Discuss! :-) 7. Although Aphra is the star of the show, Triple Zero has proven himself to be a scene stealer. What are some of the joys and perils of writing for Triple Zero? 8. Were there any characters who surprised you, as you wrote for them and developed them? If so, who and how? 9. Would you talk to us a bit about your reactions to hearing Emily Woo Zeller’s performance as Aphra? The conversation didn't go in that order, but we did wind up talking about all of this and more... Punch it! ***I'm listener supported! Join the community at http://Patreon.com/sw7x7 to get access to bonus episodes and other insider rewards.*** 

Ewan Morrison is one of Scotland’s leading contemporary writers. His seventh novel, NINA X, won the 2019 Saltire Scottish Book of the Year. He has written articles for the Guardian as well as all the other leading UK newspapers as well as for online publications and magazines. His TEDx talk ‘Why We Would Be Happier Without Utopia’ was recorded in 2016. Links to some of his articles and his TEDx talk are included below. He can be found on Twitter @MrEwanMorrisonAwards & accolades:Winner - Saltire Society Scottish Fiction Book of the Year 2019Longlist - Not the Booker Prize (Guardian) 2019Winner - Scottish Book of the Year - Novel Prize 2013Winner - Glenfiddich Scottish Writer of the year 2012/13Winner - Not the Booker Prize (Guardian) 2012Finalist - Saltire Society Book of the Year 2012Finalist -Creative Scotland Writer of the Year Award 2012Finalist -The Prince Maurice Award for Love Stories 2007Finalist - Arena Magazine Man of the Year Literature Prize 2006Number 22 in the top 50 Scottish books of the Last 50 years. The List. 2013Finalist - BAFTA Scotland x 2 Best New Director and Best New Writer. 2002Finalist - The Michael Powell Award for Best British Feature Film 2015Winner - Royal Television Society Best Regional Drama 2002Winner - Special Mention at the Pescara Film Festival 2001Winner - The Audience Prize. Festivale de Sainte Livrade 2001Winner - Special Mention. Napoli Film Festival 1998 Ewan’s website: https://www.ewanmorrison.com/2019 article in Psychology Today ‘The Road to Hell is Paved With Good Intentions’: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/word-less/201904/the-road-hell-is-paved-good-intentions?collection=11428302018 article from Areo Magazine ‘Why Utopian Communities Fail’ https://areomagazine.com/2018/03/08/why-utopian-communities-fail/Link to Amazon.co.uk for the book NINA X: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nina-X-Ewan-Morrison/dp/0708899013 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

One of contemporary sci-fi/fantasy's most popular writers, Seanan McGuire won the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards for the Wayward Children series of books. Also the author of, among other books, the October Day series and the InCryptid series, she writes science fiction/horror under the pen name Mira Grant and has published several works of nonfiction. She is currently writing the Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider comic series for Marvel. Her other honors include the 2011 Shirley Jackson Award and the 2010 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. In Middlegame, McGuire introduces a polyglot, his numbers-obsessed twin, and an alchemist who pushes them toward godhood. Imaginary Numbers is the ninth book in the sprawling InCryptid urban fantasy series. *Production note: the interlocutor's audio is a bit muddled throughout but Seanan's audio sounds fine. (recorded 5/14/2020)

Michael Hutchinson – also known as Dr Hutch - is a British and Irish former professional cyclist turned writer who has represented Great Britain, Ireland and Northern Ireland at events including the Commonwealth Games. Hutchinson began cycling at the University of Cambridge, where he studied Law at Fitzwilliam College.  As part of the university cycling team he won the National Team 25 Championships. Michael’s speciality was the individual time trial, but he has also won races on the track. Michael has won British titles at every distance from 10 to 100 miles, and is a two-time winner of the 12-hour national championships. He has also won the British 4,000m track individual pursuit title. In total Michael won a record 56 Cycling Time Trial Titles and has been the national record holder for time trials over 100 miles, 50 miles, 30 miles, 25 miles and 10 miles. His first book, The Hour: Sporting Immortality the Hard Way was awarded Best New Writer of the British Sports Book Awards (2007). Since then Michael has released a further two books - Faster - the Obsession, Science and Luck behind the world's fastest cyclists and most recently Re:Cyclists - 200 Years on Two Wheels - A history of cyclists and cycling.

This week we’re joined by Jeannette Ng, who is kind enough to walk us through the multitude of Mulan stories that span centuries. We discuss cross-dressing in Chinese literature, the political influences of the story, and Mulan’s importance in the Chinese diaspora. Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of cannibalism, war, nationalism, death, suicide, child death, patriarchy, misogyny, social discord/political movements, and sickness/illness.   Guest Jeannette Ng is originally from Hong Kong but now lives in Durham, UK. Her MA in Medieval and Renaissance Studies fed into an interest in medieval and missionary theology, which in turn spawned her love for writing gothic fantasy with a theological twist. She used to sell costumes out of her garage. She runs live roleplay games, performs hair wizardry and sometimes has opinions on the internet, including in Foreign Policy. She has won the Astounding for Best New Writer in 2019 and the Sydney J Bounds Award (Best Newcomer) in the British Fantasy Awards 2018. You can find out more about her work by visiting her website or following her on Twitter.   Housekeeping - Recommendation: This week, Julia recommends Descendant of the Crane by Joan He! Buy a copy and see our new lists of previous recommendations, guest books, and more at spiritspodcast.com/books - Multitude: Join the MultiCrew at multicrew.club, and check out Next Stop in your podcast player or nextstopshow.com!   Sponsors - GC2B is a trans-owned company providing accessible, comfortable, and safe options for gender-affirming chest binding. Use code SPIRITS at checkout for 10% off! - ThirdLove is on a mission to find a perfect bra for everyone. Get 15% off your first order at thirdlove.com/spirits. - EveryPlate is a meal kit with great value. For 6 free meals across your first 3 weeks and free shipping on your first delivery, go to Everyplate.com and enter SPIRITS6.   Find Us Online If you like Spirits, help us grow by spreading the word! Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Goodreads. You can support us on Patreon to unlock bonus Your Urban Legends episodes, director’s commentaries, custom recipe cards, and so much more. We also have lists of our book recommendations and previous guests’ books at spiritspodcast.com/books. Transcripts are available at spiritspodcast.com/episodes. To buy merch, hear us on other podcasts, contact us, find our mailing address, or download our press kit, head on over to SpiritsPodcast.com.   About Us Spirits was created by Julia Schifini, Amanda McLoughlin and Eric Schneider. We are founding members of Multitude, an independent podcast collective and production studio. Our music is "Danger Storm" by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0.

Science fiction and fantasy often feature characters who seek absolute control (over a kingdom, country, world, galaxy or universe), but few break down the secret to power as elegantly as Seanan McGuire in Middlegame (Tor.com, 2019), where her sibling protagonists subdue the forces of nature through the union of two fundamental arts: language and mathematics. McGuire sees elements of a “modern Frankenstein” in her novel about a brother and sister created by a ruthless alchemist. Instead of a hideous monster, her alchemist produces two brilliant siblings, whose rhyming names (Roger, a genius at languages, and Dodger, a math prodigy) belie their potential to control time and space. Life is easier for Roger, whose facility with words opens doors. Dodger, on the other hand, has had a harder time socializing; as a result, she is less trusting and keeps to herself. “Dodger is a math prodigy and a smart girl. And those are two things that tend to get you kicked in the teeth by the world over and over again,” McGuire says. Raised in separate homes, the siblings are at first unaware of each other. Middlegame is as much a story about their on-again off-again relationship as it is about the discovery of their power to manipulate time and their own alchemical origins. “It took me 10 years to write because I had to get good enough to write it first. The flow charts for Middlegame were kind of a nightmare in and of themselves,” McGuire says. Like Roger, McGuire (who also writes under the name Mira Grant) was a prodigy in English. She is also an all star among writers. The author of 36 books, she’s received numerous awards, including the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2010 and Nebula and Hugo awards in 2016 for best novella. She's twice won Hugo's for best fancast and in 2013 received a record five Hugo nominations. She says her prolific output is partly a result of a conscious choice. “If you’re somebody that wants to have more of a social life than I do or wants to have more of a family life than I do, you need to make different choices,” she says. “At this point I am functionally … an Olympic athlete. It's just that my sport is novel writing, so I'm in training every single day to be able to start and finish the next book in a timely fashion.” Rob Wolf is the host of New Books in Science Fiction and the author of The Alternate Universe and The Escape.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Science fiction and fantasy often feature characters who seek absolute control (over a kingdom, country, world, galaxy or universe), but few break down the secret to power as elegantly as Seanan McGuire in Middlegame (Tor.com, 2019), where her sibling protagonists subdue the forces of nature through the union of two fundamental arts: language and mathematics. McGuire sees elements of a “modern Frankenstein” in her novel about a brother and sister created by a ruthless alchemist. Instead of a hideous monster, her alchemist produces two brilliant siblings, whose rhyming names (Roger, a genius at languages, and Dodger, a math prodigy) belie their potential to control time and space. Life is easier for Roger, whose facility with words opens doors. Dodger, on the other hand, has had a harder time socializing; as a result, she is less trusting and keeps to herself. “Dodger is a math prodigy and a smart girl. And those are two things that tend to get you kicked in the teeth by the world over and over again,” McGuire says. Raised in separate homes, the siblings are at first unaware of each other. Middlegame is as much a story about their on-again off-again relationship as it is about the discovery of their power to manipulate time and their own alchemical origins. “It took me 10 years to write because I had to get good enough to write it first. The flow charts for Middlegame were kind of a nightmare in and of themselves,” McGuire says. Like Roger, McGuire (who also writes under the name Mira Grant) was a prodigy in English. She is also an all star among writers. The author of 36 books, she’s received numerous awards, including the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2010 and Nebula and Hugo awards in 2016 for best novella. She's twice won Hugo's for best fancast and in 2013 received a record five Hugo nominations. She says her prolific output is partly a result of a conscious choice. “If you’re somebody that wants to have more of a social life than I do or wants to have more of a family life than I do, you need to make different choices,” she says. “At this point I am functionally … an Olympic athlete. It's just that my sport is novel writing, so I'm in training every single day to be able to start and finish the next book in a timely fashion.” Rob Wolf is the host of New Books in Science Fiction and the author of The Alternate Universe and The Escape.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Science fiction and fantasy often feature characters who seek absolute control (over a kingdom, country, world, galaxy or universe), but few break down the secret to power as elegantly as Seanan McGuire in Middlegame (Tor.com, 2019), where her sibling protagonists subdue the forces of nature through the union of two fundamental arts: language and mathematics. McGuire sees elements of a “modern Frankenstein” in her novel about a brother and sister created by a ruthless alchemist. Instead of a hideous monster, her alchemist produces two brilliant siblings, whose rhyming names (Roger, a genius at languages, and Dodger, a math prodigy) belie their potential to control time and space. Life is easier for Roger, whose facility with words opens doors. Dodger, on the other hand, has had a harder time socializing; as a result, she is less trusting and keeps to herself. “Dodger is a math prodigy and a smart girl. And those are two things that tend to get you kicked in the teeth by the world over and over again,” McGuire says. Raised in separate homes, the siblings are at first unaware of each other. Middlegame is as much a story about their on-again off-again relationship as it is about the discovery of their power to manipulate time and their own alchemical origins. “It took me 10 years to write because I had to get good enough to write it first. The flow charts for Middlegame were kind of a nightmare in and of themselves,” McGuire says. Like Roger, McGuire (who also writes under the name Mira Grant) was a prodigy in English. She is also an all star among writers. The author of 36 books, she’s received numerous awards, including the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2010 and Nebula and Hugo awards in 2016 for best novella. She's twice won Hugo's for best fancast and in 2013 received a record five Hugo nominations. She says her prolific output is partly a result of a conscious choice. “If you’re somebody that wants to have more of a social life than I do or wants to have more of a family life than I do, you need to make different choices,” she says. “At this point I am functionally … an Olympic athlete. It's just that my sport is novel writing, so I'm in training every single day to be able to start and finish the next book in a timely fashion.” Rob Wolf is the host of New Books in Science Fiction and the author of The Alternate Universe and The Escape.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mur Lafferty joined me to discuss her experiences as an editor, author, and narrator of audiobooks and audio fiction. Our discussions include Podcastle and Escape Artists, her self-narration of Six Wakes, and writing for the Star War Wars Universe. *Mur Lafferty is a co-editor of Escape Pod, a finalist for the 2018 Best Semiprozine Hugo Award. As an author, she is a winner of the Astounding Award for Best New Writer; and a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick Awards for her novel Six Wakes which she self-narrated. She is also a hall of fame podcaster including the Hugo award winning Best Fancast: Ditch Diggers* Merverse  PodCastle - The Science Fiction Podcast Solo: A Star Wars Story [Audible] / [OverDrive] Six Wakes [Audible] / [Libro.fm] / [OverDrive] I Should be Writing [Amazon] / [Indiebound] Minecraft: The Lost Journals [Audible] / [Libro.fm] / [OverDrive]   Other Referenced Works: Harry Potter: A History of Magic [Audible] / [Libro.fm] / [OverDrive] STET The Dispatcher

The Lit Service Crew chats with Susan R. Matthews about seeking out in person experiences that inform the sensory detail, blocking, and the plausibility of your planned plot. Extra points that in person experience gives you the heebie jeebies. Special welcome to our guest Susan R. Matthews, whose debut novel An Exchange of Hostages was nominated for the 1997 Philip K. Dick Award and for the 1998 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer; She’s since written eight other books in this dystopian space opera series, plus many other books. If you'd like a first chapter critique from us, want to check out our writing group finder, or join our community, #litnation, check out our website: litservicepodcast.wixsite.com/litnation

DON'T: Don't do it, people. Don't be a dick! Unless your name is Richard or a Philip K. something or other. You probably can't help that one. DO: Make GBBO references WHENEVER POSSIBLE. Seriously, though, what's the 4-1-1 on gatekeeping? Is all gatekeeping inherently bad? How can it manifest in different situations? What is the tortured relationship between gatekeeping and the LGBTQIA+ community? AND HAVE YOU LISTENED TO JEANNETTE NG'S Joseph W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer* ACCEPTANCE SPEECH YET? Between us recording this episode and this episode going live, the World Science Fiction Society did a cool thing and renamed the award the Astounding Award for Best New Writer. Because yes, it's absolutely true, Joseph W. Campbell WAS A F%$KING FASCIST. Like our content? Our website is www.imaginaries.net, and you can drop us a line at imaginarypod@gmail.com or find us on Twitter at @imaginary_pod. You can listen to our episodes on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and SoundCloud, as well as find all of our back episodes on YouTube once they have shuffled off these other earthly coils. If you would like to help support our work, you can give us a rating or review on whatever platform you use to listen to your podcasts, and if you would like to offset the costs associated with our podcast, you can support us financially at www.ko-fi.com/imaginaries.

Join Lisa Tuttle for a Javanese dinner as we discuss the amusing series of mishaps which prevented her from learning she'd won the 1974 John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best New Writer as early as she should have, the first thing Harlan Ellison ever said to her, how the all-male table of contents for a major horror anthology inspired her to edit her classic female horror anthology Skin of the Soul, the way emigrating from the U.S. to the UK affected her writing, why an editor said of one of her submitted novels, "I love this book, but I could no more publish it than I could jump out the window and fly," how she and George R. R. Martin were able to collaborate early in their careers without killing each other, what she'd do if she were just starting out now as a writer, the reasons contemporary acknowledgements sections of novels should be shortened — and so much more.

It's time to go over the latest book and publishing news in Asian American literature for our Books & Boba mid-month check-in for September 2019. We also recap the results of the 2019 Hugo Awards including the big splash that Jeannette Ng made in her acceptance speech for the Best New Writer award.For additional thoughts and discussion, visit the Books & Boba Goodreads forums on Goodreads.Follow our hosts:Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)Follow us:FacebookTwitterGoodreads GroupThe Books & Boba September 2019 pick is Everything Here is Beautiful by Mira T. LeeThis podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective

Sooner or Later Everything Falls into the Sea is one of the most anticipated SF&F collections of recent years. Sarah Pinsker has shot like a star across the firmament with stories multiply nominated for awards as well as Sturgeon and Nebula award wins. The baker's dozen stories gathered here (including a new, previously unpublished story) turn readers into travelers to the past, the future, and explorers of the weirder points of the present. The journey is the thing as Pinsker weaves music, memory, technology, history, mystery, love, loss, and even multiple selves on generation ships and cruise ships, on highways and high seas, in murder houses and treehouses. They feature runaways, fiddle-playing astronauts, and retired time travelers; they are weird, wired, hopeful, haunting, and deeply human. They are often described as beautiful but Pinsker also knows that the heart wants what the heart wants and that is not always right, or easy. Pinsker is in conversation with Rebecca Roanhorse, a Nebula and Hugo Award-winning speculative fiction writer and the recipient of the 2018 Campbell Award for Best New Writer. 

Mary Robinette is a puppeteer, audiobook narrator, science fiction author, and she is no stranger to winning awards. One of her short stories won a Hugo award, she won the Campbell award for Best New Writer, and one of her novels was nominated for a Nebula – all of which are a big deal in the science fiction and fantasy genre. But her list of accomplishments goes on, with Mary Robinette also winning two UNIMA awards for her work in puppetry. I was delighted to get the opportunity to talk to Mary Robinette about her work; particularly as she has found success in what appear to be two very different worlds – although she disagrees, and you'll hear why. Some of the topics we cover include: - the importance of ‘doodling' and how she uses it to get out of feeling ‘stuck' - managing depression as a creative, and still getting work done - the importance of valuing your own taste And a wonderful writing challenge to encourage you to ‘cross pollinate.' This was an intriguing, and surprisingly frank, conversation that covered a wide range of topics and offers an insight into two fascinating, creative worlds.

Adharanand Finn is the British author of Running with the Kenyans, Way of the Runner, and his new book Rise of the Ultra Runners: A Journey to the Edge of Human Endurance. Running with the Kenyans was the Sunday Times Sports Book of the Year, won Best New Writer at the British Sports Book Awards, and was shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book Award. Adharanand is also an editor at the Guardian and a freelance journalist. He is also a former junior cross-country runner and now competes for Torbay AC in Devon, where he and his family usually live. For the first two of his books, Adharanand transported himself to Kenya and Japan to immerse himself and his family within the wider culture that he was documenting. For Rise of the Ultra Runner, Adharanand transformed himself from a traditional marathon runner into an ultra distance athlete, ultimately competing in the UTMB in France. We speak to Adharanand from his home in Totnes, Devon about his journey towards UTMB, the many things that he learnt along the way and just what makes elite athletes like Zach Miller tick. Adharanand has a wealth of knowledge about Kenyan athletes and his discussion on just why top flite Kenyan athletes have been reluctant to compete at ultra distance trail events is fascinating. Enjoy!

E. Lily Yu has crafted some of the most beautiful and thought-provoking science fiction and fantasy stories that've been published in recent years. Her work as appeared in McSweeney's, Clarkesworld, Terraform and many other publications. In 2019, her short fiction is slated to run in Asimov's, Lightspeed and elsewhere. She won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2012, and has been nominated for many other awards, including Hugo and Nebula awards. A resident of the greater Seattle area, she's also a poet and narrative designer. For more about E. Lily Yu and her work visit http://elilyyu.com.  

Alec Nevala-Lee’s Astounding is the first comprehensive biography of John W. Campbell, who, as a writer and magazine editor, wielded enormous influence over the field of science fiction in the mid-20th century. “His interests, his obsessions, and his prejudices shaped what science fiction was going to be,” Nevala-Lee says. Many people are familiar with Campbell’s name because it’s on the award given out every year by the World Science Fiction Society—the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. (This year, the award went to Rebecca Roanhorse, who was on the podcast in September; other winners who’ve been on the show include Ada Palmer, Andy Weir, and Mur Lafferty.) From 1937 through the 1960s, Campbell used the magazine Astounding Science Fiction (now named Analog) to popularize science fiction and its potential to predict the future. But he also used the magazine to promote pseudosciences (like psionics and dianetics), and his legacy is tarnished by views that were “clearly racist.” “He was quite content to keep publishing stories by writers who looked like him... And the characters were almost all white,” Nevala-Lee says. “Campbell thought that maybe black writers weren’t interested in writing science fiction or they weren’t good at it. It never seems to have occurred to him that they might be more interested in writing for his magazine if they saw characters who looked like them.” Astounding is a powerful contribution to the history of science fiction, offering fascinating stories about the careers and personal lives of Campbell and his stable of talented and influential writers. But its immediate effect may be to spark a conversation about whether the best way to honor today’s emerging talent is with an award bearing the name of a man whose legacy is so problematic. A similar conversation occurred earlier this year over the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award; the debate ended when the American Library Association decided to change the name of the award. “That debate has not yet extended to the John W. Campbell Award. I think it's a legitimate discussion because Campbell’s opinions on race, in my opinion, are far more offensive than anything Wilder expressed," Nevala-Lee says. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alec Nevala-Lee’s Astounding (Dey Street Books, 2018) is the first comprehensive biography of John W. Campbell, who, as a writer and magazine editor, wielded enormous influence over the field of science fiction in the mid-20th century. “His interests, his obsessions, and his prejudices shaped what science fiction was going to be,” Nevala-Lee says. Many people are familiar with Campbell’s name because it’s on the award given out every year by the World Science Fiction Society—the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. (This year, the award went to Rebecca Roanhorse, who was on the podcast in September; other winners who’ve been on the show include Ada Palmer, Andy Weir, and Mur Lafferty.) From 1937 through the 1960s, Campbell used the magazine Astounding Science Fiction (now named Analog) to popularize science fiction and its potential to predict the future. But he also used the magazine to promote pseudosciences (like psionics and dianetics), and his legacy is tarnished by views that were “clearly racist.” “He was quite content to keep publishing stories by writers who looked like him… And the characters were almost all white,” Nevala-Lee says. “Campbell thought that maybe black writers weren’t interested in writing science fiction or they weren’t good at it. It never seems to have occurred to him that they might be more interested in writing for his magazine if they saw characters who looked like them.” Astounding is a powerful contribution to the history of science fiction, offering fascinating stories about the careers and personal lives of Campbell and his stable of talented and influential writers. But its immediate effect may be to spark a conversation about whether the best way to honor today’s emerging talent is with an award bearing the name of a man whose legacy is so problematic. A similar conversation occurred earlier this year over the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award; the debate ended when the American Library Association decided to change the name of the award. “That debate has not yet extended to the John W. Campbell Award. I think it’s a legitimate discussion because Campbell’s opinions on race, in my opinion, are far more offensive than anything Wilder expressed,” Nevala-Lee says. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alec Nevala-Lee’s Astounding is the first comprehensive biography of John W. Campbell, who, as a writer and magazine editor, wielded enormous influence over the field of science fiction in the mid-20th century. “His interests, his obsessions, and his prejudices shaped what science fiction was going to be,” Nevala-Lee says. Many people are familiar with Campbell’s name because it’s on the award given out every year by the World Science Fiction Society—the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. (This year, the award went to Rebecca Roanhorse, who was on the podcast in September; other winners who’ve been on the show include Ada Palmer, Andy Weir, and Mur Lafferty.) From 1937 through the 1960s, Campbell used the magazine Astounding Science Fiction (now named Analog) to popularize science fiction and its potential to predict the future. But he also used the magazine to promote pseudosciences (like psionics and dianetics), and his legacy is tarnished by views that were “clearly racist.” “He was quite content to keep publishing stories by writers who looked like him... And the characters were almost all white,” Nevala-Lee says. “Campbell thought that maybe black writers weren’t interested in writing science fiction or they weren’t good at it. It never seems to have occurred to him that they might be more interested in writing for his magazine if they saw characters who looked like them.” Astounding is a powerful contribution to the history of science fiction, offering fascinating stories about the careers and personal lives of Campbell and his stable of talented and influential writers. But its immediate effect may be to spark a conversation about whether the best way to honor today’s emerging talent is with an award bearing the name of a man whose legacy is so problematic. A similar conversation occurred earlier this year over the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award; the debate ended when the American Library Association decided to change the name of the award. “That debate has not yet extended to the John W. Campbell Award. I think it's a legitimate discussion because Campbell’s opinions on race, in my opinion, are far more offensive than anything Wilder expressed," Nevala-Lee says. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alec Nevala-Lee’s Astounding is the first comprehensive biography of John W. Campbell, who, as a writer and magazine editor, wielded enormous influence over the field of science fiction in the mid-20th century. “His interests, his obsessions, and his prejudices shaped what science fiction was going to be,” Nevala-Lee says. Many people are familiar with Campbell’s name because it’s on the award given out every year by the World Science Fiction Society—the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. (This year, the award went to Rebecca Roanhorse, who was on the podcast in September; other winners who’ve been on the show include Ada Palmer, Andy Weir, and Mur Lafferty.) From 1937 through the 1960s, Campbell used the magazine Astounding Science Fiction (now named Analog) to popularize science fiction and its potential to predict the future. But he also used the magazine to promote pseudosciences (like psionics and dianetics), and his legacy is tarnished by views that were “clearly racist.” “He was quite content to keep publishing stories by writers who looked like him... And the characters were almost all white,” Nevala-Lee says. “Campbell thought that maybe black writers weren’t interested in writing science fiction or they weren’t good at it. It never seems to have occurred to him that they might be more interested in writing for his magazine if they saw characters who looked like them.” Astounding is a powerful contribution to the history of science fiction, offering fascinating stories about the careers and personal lives of Campbell and his stable of talented and influential writers. But its immediate effect may be to spark a conversation about whether the best way to honor today’s emerging talent is with an award bearing the name of a man whose legacy is so problematic. A similar conversation occurred earlier this year over the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award; the debate ended when the American Library Association decided to change the name of the award. “That debate has not yet extended to the John W. Campbell Award. I think it's a legitimate discussion because Campbell’s opinions on race, in my opinion, are far more offensive than anything Wilder expressed," Nevala-Lee says. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alec Nevala-Lee’s Astounding is the first comprehensive biography of John W. Campbell, who, as a writer and magazine editor, wielded enormous influence over the field of science fiction in the mid-20th century. “His interests, his obsessions, and his prejudices shaped what science fiction was going to be,” Nevala-Lee says. Many people are familiar with Campbell’s name because it’s on the award given out every year by the World Science Fiction Society—the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. (This year, the award went to Rebecca Roanhorse, who was on the podcast in September; other winners who’ve been on the show include Ada Palmer, Andy Weir, and Mur Lafferty.) From 1937 through the 1960s, Campbell used the magazine Astounding Science Fiction (now named Analog) to popularize science fiction and its potential to predict the future. But he also used the magazine to promote pseudosciences (like psionics and dianetics), and his legacy is tarnished by views that were “clearly racist.” “He was quite content to keep publishing stories by writers who looked like him... And the characters were almost all white,” Nevala-Lee says. “Campbell thought that maybe black writers weren’t interested in writing science fiction or they weren’t good at it. It never seems to have occurred to him that they might be more interested in writing for his magazine if they saw characters who looked like them.” Astounding is a powerful contribution to the history of science fiction, offering fascinating stories about the careers and personal lives of Campbell and his stable of talented and influential writers. But its immediate effect may be to spark a conversation about whether the best way to honor today’s emerging talent is with an award bearing the name of a man whose legacy is so problematic. A similar conversation occurred earlier this year over the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award; the debate ended when the American Library Association decided to change the name of the award. “That debate has not yet extended to the John W. Campbell Award. I think it's a legitimate discussion because Campbell’s opinions on race, in my opinion, are far more offensive than anything Wilder expressed," Nevala-Lee says. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Trail of Lightning (Saga Press, 2018), the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Rebecca Roanhorse draws on Navajo culture and history to tell a gripping future-fable about gods and monsters. The book launches The Sixth World, a planned four-part series set in the near future. The series title refers to the Navajo origin story, which says that our current world—the fifth—emerged after floods destroyed the previous ones. In Trail of Lightning, the six world is wrought from similar devastation, a combination of earthquakes and rising seas. The Navajo Nation survives thanks to a protective wall and a shot of magic, which transforms the barrier into four culturally resonant materials: turquoise, abalone, jet and white shell. The wall seals the nation off from not only the apocalypse but from white Euro-centric colonialism. Roanhorse considers her work a form of indigenous futurism that tells “a sovereign story, a story that exists on its own, on native land in native thought with native characters’ stories and processes that don’t have to acknowledge the larger, white western world. This is not a story that even has any white folks in it. This is a Navajo-centric story, and that’s on purpose.” In creating a magic system, Roanhorse decided not to draw on Navajo spirituality. “There’s already a mess in New Age thinking about Native American spirituality as magic and yet somehow other spiritualities are not,” she says. Still, she wanted to make the magic “distinctly Navajo” so she turned to the concept of clans, which imbue her characters with unique powers. For instance, the clan powers of the book’s protagonist, Maggie Hoskie, make her ideally suited to be a monster hunter. She is Honágháahnii, which means Walks-Around, giving her lightning speed. And she is K’aahanáanii, which means Living Arrow, making her, as Maggie herself puts it, “really good at killing people.” Maggie’s powers emerge spontaneously in response to a devastating incident from her childhood. “The clan powers answer your need,” Roanhorse says. “In Maggie’s case, her jumping off traumatic event was the murder of her grandmother, so what she needed then were those two powers … But often the coping skills that we learn in dealing with trauma—especially childhood trauma—may serve us in the moment but don’t necessarily serve us as we grow. And overcoming those and the baggage that comes with it is part of Maggie’s journey.” The novel is a gripping action-adventure that all readers can appreciate but that holds particular resonance for Native Americans. Some readers have told Roanhorse that “they’ve never seen some of the things I talk about on the rez in a book… I had one reader say she cried the whole way through because she’s never gotten to see that.” A Yale graduate and lawyer specializing in federal Indian law, Roanhorse didn’t get serious about writing until 2013. But she’s quickly made a name for herself. A couple days before we recorded her interview in August, she was honored at the 76th WorldCon with the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and a Hugo Award for Best Short Story for “Welcome to your Authentic Indian Experience™.” (The story also earned the Nebula Award for Best Short Story in May and is read by Lavar Burton on his podcast.) Rob Wolf is the host of New Books in Science Fiction and the author of Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Trail of Lightning (Saga Press, 2018), the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Rebecca Roanhorse draws on Navajo culture and history to tell a gripping future-fable about gods and monsters. The book launches The Sixth World, a planned four-part series set in the near future. The series title refers to the Navajo origin story, which says that our current world—the fifth—emerged after floods destroyed the previous ones. In Trail of Lightning, the six world is wrought from similar devastation, a combination of earthquakes and rising seas. The Navajo Nation survives thanks to a protective wall and a shot of magic, which transforms the barrier into four culturally resonant materials: turquoise, abalone, jet and white shell. The wall seals the nation off from not only the apocalypse but from white Euro-centric colonialism. Roanhorse considers her work a form of indigenous futurism that tells “a sovereign story, a story that exists on its own, on native land in native thought with native characters’ stories and processes that don’t have to acknowledge the larger, white western world. This is not a story that even has any white folks in it. This is a Navajo-centric story, and that’s on purpose.” In creating a magic system, Roanhorse decided not to draw on Navajo spirituality. “There’s already a mess in New Age thinking about Native American spirituality as magic and yet somehow other spiritualities are not,” she says. Still, she wanted to make the magic “distinctly Navajo” so she turned to the concept of clans, which imbue her characters with unique powers. For instance, the clan powers of the book’s protagonist, Maggie Hoskie, make her ideally suited to be a monster hunter. She is Honágháahnii, which means Walks-Around, giving her lightning speed. And she is K’aahanáanii, which means Living Arrow, making her, as Maggie herself puts it, “really good at killing people.” Maggie’s powers emerge spontaneously in response to a devastating incident from her childhood. “The clan powers answer your need,” Roanhorse says. “In Maggie’s case, her jumping off traumatic event was the murder of her grandmother, so what she needed then were those two powers … But often the coping skills that we learn in dealing with trauma—especially childhood trauma—may serve us in the moment but don’t necessarily serve us as we grow. And overcoming those and the baggage that comes with it is part of Maggie’s journey.” The novel is a gripping action-adventure that all readers can appreciate but that holds particular resonance for Native Americans. Some readers have told Roanhorse that “they’ve never seen some of the things I talk about on the rez in a book… I had one reader say she cried the whole way through because she’s never gotten to see that.” A Yale graduate and lawyer specializing in federal Indian law, Roanhorse didn’t get serious about writing until 2013. But she’s quickly made a name for herself. A couple days before we recorded her interview in August, she was honored at the 76th WorldCon with the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and a Hugo Award for Best Short Story for “Welcome to your Authentic Indian Experience™.” (The story also earned the Nebula Award for Best Short Story in May and is read by Lavar Burton on his podcast.) Rob Wolf is the host of New Books in Science Fiction and the author of Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Trail of Lightning (Saga Press, 2018), the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Rebecca Roanhorse draws on Navajo culture and history to tell a gripping future-fable about gods and monsters. The book launches The Sixth World, a planned four-part series set in the near future. The series title refers to the Navajo origin story, which says that our current world—the fifth—emerged after floods destroyed the previous ones. In Trail of Lightning, the six world is wrought from similar devastation, a combination of earthquakes and rising seas. The Navajo Nation survives thanks to a protective wall and a shot of magic, which transforms the barrier into four culturally resonant materials: turquoise, abalone, jet and white shell. The wall seals the nation off from not only the apocalypse but from white Euro-centric colonialism. Roanhorse considers her work a form of indigenous futurism that tells “a sovereign story, a story that exists on its own, on native land in native thought with native characters’ stories and processes that don’t have to acknowledge the larger, white western world. This is not a story that even has any white folks in it. This is a Navajo-centric story, and that’s on purpose.” In creating a magic system, Roanhorse decided not to draw on Navajo spirituality. “There’s already a mess in New Age thinking about Native American spirituality as magic and yet somehow other spiritualities are not,” she says. Still, she wanted to make the magic “distinctly Navajo” so she turned to the concept of clans, which imbue her characters with unique powers. For instance, the clan powers of the book’s protagonist, Maggie Hoskie, make her ideally suited to be a monster hunter. She is Honágháahnii, which means Walks-Around, giving her lightning speed. And she is K’aahanáanii, which means Living Arrow, making her, as Maggie herself puts it, “really good at killing people.” Maggie’s powers emerge spontaneously in response to a devastating incident from her childhood. “The clan powers answer your need,” Roanhorse says. “In Maggie’s case, her jumping off traumatic event was the murder of her grandmother, so what she needed then were those two powers … But often the coping skills that we learn in dealing with trauma—especially childhood trauma—may serve us in the moment but don’t necessarily serve us as we grow. And overcoming those and the baggage that comes with it is part of Maggie’s journey.” The novel is a gripping action-adventure that all readers can appreciate but that holds particular resonance for Native Americans. Some readers have told Roanhorse that “they’ve never seen some of the things I talk about on the rez in a book… I had one reader say she cried the whole way through because she’s never gotten to see that.” A Yale graduate and lawyer specializing in federal Indian law, Roanhorse didn’t get serious about writing until 2013. But she’s quickly made a name for herself. A couple days before we recorded her interview in August, she was honored at the 76th WorldCon with the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and a Hugo Award for Best Short Story for “Welcome to your Authentic Indian Experience™.” (The story also earned the Nebula Award for Best Short Story in May and is read by Lavar Burton on his podcast.) Rob Wolf is the host of New Books in Science Fiction and the author of Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Humans might one day escape Earth, but escaping our biases may prove much harder. That’s one of the lessons from Rivers Solomon’s An Unkindness of Ghosts (Akashic Books, 2017) set on the HSS Matilda, a massive generation starship where the nightmare of slavery persists hundreds of years after humans have fled their dying planet. At the center of Solomon’s masterful debut is Aster, a young woman trying to figure out why her mother apparently killed herself shortly after giving birth to her 25 years ago. An Unkindness of Ghosts is a powerful story about oppression, racism, gender non-conformity, and the role of trauma in society and peoples’ lives. The book earned a spot on many best-of-the-year lists, including the Guardian‘s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of 2017. It also made the shortlist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, 2018 Locus Award for First Novel, and the Lambda Literary Award for best science fiction, fantasy or horror novel. The Matilda is as complex as a planet with social castes and languages that have evolved so much over time that people who live on different floors don’t always understand each other. “Matilda first came to me when I was reading about the last slave ship to come to the Americas,” Solomon says in her New Books interview. The Matilda’s black and brown citizens live in cramped squalor and endure constant violence at the hands of armed soldiers and the white, wealthy upper-deckers. But Aster refuses to be defined by threats and social controls. A brilliant scientist, she’s learned how to make medicines from plants that she grows herself. Despite having trouble reading social queues, she’s a fearless defender of her dignity and doing what’s right. “How do you have hope when it’s not just you and your individual life, but it’s all your friends and family and it’s your parents and your grandparents and their parents and back and so forth and it really does seem like you’re trapped?” Solomon asks. “I was the kind of child who every night, I watched the news and used to cry. I was very, very sensitive. Even as young as 10, I didn’t understand how people just went on in it. And so I think it’s no surprise that … that’s kind of an essential question of the novel.” Her next book project—which she was embargoed from mentioning during the interview but which she subsequently tweeted about —is inspired by Clipping’s song The Deep “about descendants of enslaved Africans living in the ocean’s deep.” Rob Wolf is the host of New Books in Science Fiction and the author of The Alternate Universe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Humans might one day escape Earth, but escaping our biases may prove much harder. That’s one of the lessons from Rivers Solomon’s An Unkindness of Ghosts (Akashic Books, 2017) set on the HSS Matilda, a massive generation starship where the nightmare of slavery persists hundreds of years after humans have fled their dying planet. At the center of Solomon’s masterful debut is Aster, a young woman trying to figure out why her mother apparently killed herself shortly after giving birth to her 25 years ago. An Unkindness of Ghosts is a powerful story about oppression, racism, gender non-conformity, and the role of trauma in society and peoples’ lives. The book earned a spot on many best-of-the-year lists, including the Guardian‘s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of 2017. It also made the shortlist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, 2018 Locus Award for First Novel, and the Lambda Literary Award for best science fiction, fantasy or horror novel. The Matilda is as complex as a planet with social castes and languages that have evolved so much over time that people who live on different floors don’t always understand each other. “Matilda first came to me when I was reading about the last slave ship to come to the Americas,” Solomon says in her New Books interview. The Matilda’s black and brown citizens live in cramped squalor and endure constant violence at the hands of armed soldiers and the white, wealthy upper-deckers. But Aster refuses to be defined by threats and social controls. A brilliant scientist, she’s learned how to make medicines from plants that she grows herself. Despite having trouble reading social queues, she’s a fearless defender of her dignity and doing what’s right. “How do you have hope when it’s not just you and your individual life, but it’s all your friends and family and it’s your parents and your grandparents and their parents and back and so forth and it really does seem like you’re trapped?” Solomon asks. “I was the kind of child who every night, I watched the news and used to cry. I was very, very sensitive. Even as young as 10, I didn’t understand how people just went on in it. And so I think it’s no surprise that … that’s kind of an essential question of the novel.” Her next book project—which she was embargoed from mentioning during the interview but which she subsequently tweeted about —is inspired by Clipping’s song The Deep “about descendants of enslaved Africans living in the ocean’s deep.” Rob Wolf is the host of New Books in Science Fiction and the author of The Alternate Universe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Humans might one day escape Earth, but escaping our biases may prove much harder. That’s one of the lessons from Rivers Solomon’s An Unkindness of Ghosts (Akashic Books, 2017) set on the HSS Matilda, a massive generation starship where the nightmare of slavery persists hundreds of years after humans have fled their dying planet. At the center of Solomon’s masterful debut is Aster, a young woman trying to figure out why her mother apparently killed herself shortly after giving birth to her 25 years ago. An Unkindness of Ghosts is a powerful story about oppression, racism, gender non-conformity, and the role of trauma in society and peoples’ lives. The book earned a spot on many best-of-the-year lists, including the Guardian‘s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of 2017. It also made the shortlist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, 2018 Locus Award for First Novel, and the Lambda Literary Award for best science fiction, fantasy or horror novel. The Matilda is as complex as a planet with social castes and languages that have evolved so much over time that people who live on different floors don’t always understand each other. “Matilda first came to me when I was reading about the last slave ship to come to the Americas,” Solomon says in her New Books interview. The Matilda’s black and brown citizens live in cramped squalor and endure constant violence at the hands of armed soldiers and the white, wealthy upper-deckers. But Aster refuses to be defined by threats and social controls. A brilliant scientist, she’s learned how to make medicines from plants that she grows herself. Despite having trouble reading social queues, she’s a fearless defender of her dignity and doing what’s right. “How do you have hope when it’s not just you and your individual life, but it’s all your friends and family and it’s your parents and your grandparents and their parents and back and so forth and it really does seem like you’re trapped?” Solomon asks. “I was the kind of child who every night, I watched the news and used to cry. I was very, very sensitive. Even as young as 10, I didn’t understand how people just went on in it. And so I think it’s no surprise that … that’s kind of an essential question of the novel.” Her next book project—which she was embargoed from mentioning during the interview but which she subsequently tweeted about —is inspired by Clipping’s song The Deep “about descendants of enslaved Africans living in the ocean’s deep.” Rob Wolf is the host of New Books in Science Fiction and the author of The Alternate Universe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We are pumped to be joined by best-selling author Seanan McGuire on the podcast this week for a long overdue discussion on fanfiction! Seanan’s urban fantasies include October Daye, Incryptid, and the Wayward Children series, she received the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and in 2013 she became the first person ever to appear five times on the same Hugo ballot. We unpack a brilliant tweet thread Seanan wrote exploring the shame and stigma surrounding female fanfic writers opposed to men who pen transformative works, embracing the training the fanfic community can provide for female professional authors, and writing well-rounded female characters in sci-fi that challenge “The Default” hero trope. Seanan even shares with her some of her favorite fanfics to binge-read!

Patreon support now standing at 410 – last week 416 Help us get to 500 Patreon Supporters. Main Fiction: "Two-Year Man" by Kelly Robson This story was originally published in Asimov's Science Fiction, August 2015Kelly RobsonKelly Robson’s short fiction has appeared in Clarkesworld, Tor.com, Asimov’s, and multiple anthologies including many year’s bests. In 2017, she was a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. Her novella “Waters of Versailles” won the 2016 Aurora Award and has been a finalist for the Nebula, World Fantasy, Sturgeon, and Sunburst awards. Her book Gods, Monsters and the Lucky Peach is out now.Kelly grew up in the foothills of the Canadian Rocky Mountains and competed in rodeos as a teenager. From 2008 to 2012, she was the wine columnist for Chatelaine, Canada’s largest women’s magazine. After many years in Vancouver, she and her wife, fellow SF writer A.M. Dellamonica, now live in Toronto.Narrated by: Christopher HerronChris Herron is a writer/narrator hailing from the wilds of Colorado. Until 2015, Chris didn't even own an audiobook, let alone narrate them. Then he went blind. Much to his delight, it turned out to be temporary. But during this time audiobooks helped him muddle through, and upon re-entering the land of the seeing he put away his pen and took up the microphone. Now he hosts the youtube channel (and forthcoming podcast) Tall Tale TV where he narrates sci-fi and fantasy short stories to help aspiring authors spotlight their work. Chris can be found at TallTaleTV.com. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Support this show and keep the archives intact.This episode come from the archives of 28th August 2014 with a grand tale by Lisa Tuttle. This story was picked by a ex editor of the show and a good friend Adam Pracht. It was a running joke with Adam that I could never say his surname correctly. One of many that I have butchered over the years.“The Dream Detective” by Lisa TuttleLisa Tuttle is an American-born science fiction, fantasy, and horror author. She has published more than a dozen novels, seven short story collections, and several non-fiction titles. She has also edited several anthologies and reviewed books for various publications. She has been living in the United Kingdom since 1981.Tuttle won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 1974, the 1989 BSFA Award for Short Fiction for “In Translation” and the 2007 International Horror Guild Award for“Closet Dream Narrator: Trendane SparksTren is a professional voice actor based in the San Francisco Bay Area.His work can be found from video games like “Beyond Skyrim” and “Witanlore: Dreamtime”, to web-based radioplays like “Kaze: Winds of Change.” See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Rob Wolf interviews Mur Lafferty about Six Wakes (Orbit, 2017), her novel about murdered clones that received nods for this year’s Philip K. Dick and Nebula awards—and, after the interview was recorded, the Hugo Award as well. Lafferty is no stranger to awards, having won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2013. She has been podcasting since 2004, using the medium to serialize her fiction and host the shows I Should Be Writing and Ditch Diggers, the latter of which was also nominated this year for a Hugo in the Fancast category. Lafferty talks about cloning laws, the risks of reading an unfinished novel in public, the lessons she learned from Agatha Christie, and the thrill of having her work nominated for science fiction’s most prestigious prizes. Rob Wolf is the author of The Alternate Universe. He worked for a decade as a journalist, writing on a wide range of topics from science to justice reform. He serves as director of communications at a think tank in New York City. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rob Wolf interviews Mur Lafferty about Six Wakes (Orbit, 2017), her novel about murdered clones that received nods for this year’s Philip K. Dick and Nebula awards—and, after the interview was recorded, the Hugo Award as well. Lafferty is no stranger to awards, having won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2013. She has been podcasting since 2004, using the medium to serialize her fiction and host the shows I Should Be Writing and Ditch Diggers, the latter of which was also nominated this year for a Hugo in the Fancast category. Lafferty talks about cloning laws, the risks of reading an unfinished novel in public, the lessons she learned from Agatha Christie, and the thrill of having her work nominated for science fiction’s most prestigious prizes. Rob Wolf is the author of The Alternate Universe. He worked for a decade as a journalist, writing on a wide range of topics from science to justice reform. He serves as director of communications at a think tank in New York City. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rob Wolf interviews Mur Lafferty about Six Wakes (Orbit, 2017), her novel about murdered clones that received nods for this year’s Philip K. Dick and Nebula awards—and, after the interview was recorded, the Hugo Award as well. Lafferty is no stranger to awards, having won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2013. She has been podcasting since 2004, using the medium to serialize her fiction and host the shows I Should Be Writing and Ditch Diggers, the latter of which was also nominated this year for a Hugo in the Fancast category. Lafferty talks about cloning laws, the risks of reading an unfinished novel in public, the lessons she learned from Agatha Christie, and the thrill of having her work nominated for science fiction’s most prestigious prizes. Rob Wolf is the author of The Alternate Universe. He worked for a decade as a journalist, writing on a wide range of topics from science to justice reform. He serves as director of communications at a think tank in New York City. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The following audio was recorded live at the KGB Bar on March 21st, 2018, with guests Kelly Robson & Chandler Klang Smith.   Kelly Robson Kelly Robson is the author of Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach. Last year, she was a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. Her novella […]

We're featuring one of the country’s most prominent science fiction writers, Ted Chiang, the winner of four Locus awards, four Nebula awards, four Hugo Awards, and the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. Junot Díaz wrote, “Ted Chiang is so exhilarating, so original, so stylish, he just leaves you speechless.” Chiang’s short story collection, Stories of Your Life and Others, includes the Nebula Award-winning story “Story of Your Life,” of which the 2016 Academy Award-nominated film Arrival was based. After he reads, he has a discussion with Whiting Award winner Alice Sola Kim, whose work has appeared in Tin House, McSweeney’s Literary Quarterly, Buzzfeed Books, and The Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy. They discuss how each reprint of Stories of Your Life and Others affects Chiang, how his relationship with literary genre has evolved, and how expectations of race play into his fiction.

Andrew Taylor Weir is an American novelist best known for his first published novel, The Martian. His book was later adapted into a film of the same name and directed by Ridley Scott. He received the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2016. Andy starts with an introduction and his background then onto how Andy started out with being an author and first attempts to break into the scene. Andy talks about his previous works, then about finding success with his hit novel, The Martian. They discuss the science behind the book, after which Andy talks about the pressure behind all the writing and fame. Later on we learn a little more about Andy’s work and plans after having finished his new book, Artemis. This episode was a short one, but it was damned good! We wish we could have had Andy on the show for longer (what an amazing bloke!), so you guys will have to settle for all the goodness we’ve got for you in this one. Enjoy! This podcast is supported by Audible. Audible is home to the widest selection of digital audiobooks, including best-sellers, new releases, exclusives and much more. Listen anytime, anywhere on your tablet, mobile or desktop with our free app. Audible is offering listeners of AdventureFit Radio a free audiobook download with a free 30-day trial to give you the opportunity to check out their service. To download your free audiobook today go to audibletrial.com/advfradio. This podcast is proudly supported by AdventureFit Travel. AdventureFit Travel is an adventure travel company for the fitness community. Head over to www.adventurefittravel.com to check out all our trips, all our blogs from our blogging team, special offers and more. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

James Montague is author of The Billionaires Club, a book about the one per cent; the super-rich, the billionaire class who now control football. Guest Biography James Montague is a journalist and author who writes for the New York Times, CNN, GQ and World Soccer. His first book When Friday Comes: Football in the War Zone won him Best New Writer at the 2009 British Sports Book of the Year Awards and has recently been updated and reissued. He was described in Sports Illustrated as 'The Indiana Jones of soccer writing.' He appears regularly on CNN as well as writing and producing regular radio shows for the BBC World Service's award winning World Football show. He grew up in Essex and has spent the past eight years reporting from the Middle East and beyond. Thirty One Nil: On the Road With Football’s Outsiders, a World Cup Odyssey (Bloomsbury) was released in May 2014, and a month later in the US. Thirty One Nil covers his journey to all six continents charting the qualification campaign for the World Cup finals in Brazil, through the eyes of the minnows and underdogs unlikely to make it there. Thirty One Nil won Best Football Book at the 2015 British Sports Book of the Year Awards. The Billionaires Club: The Unstoppable Rise of Football’s Super-Rich (Bloomsbury) was released in August 2017, and in the US in October. The Billionaires Club tells the story of how the super rich have invested their wealth and political capital into football. It is a part history of club ownership, part in-depth investigation into the money and influence that connects the super-rich around the globe, and part travel book that crosses national boundaries in an attempt to reveal the real force behind modern-day football. Show notes: http://www.inspiredmoney.fm/014 In this episode, you will learn: How the ownership of soccer clubs is changing. The power of money and politics. Insight into the world's billionaires from the US, Europe, Middle East and China. Links James Montague Website Twitter Bloomsbury Publishing Books When Friday Comes: Football, War and Revolution in the Middle East Thirty-One Nil: On the Road With Football's Outsiders: A World Cup Odyssey The Billionaires Club: The Unstoppable Rise of Football’s Super-rich Owners Also Mentioned Film: Next Goal Wins www.fieldofschemes.com Thanks for Listening! To share your thoughts: Leave a note in the comment section below. Share this show on Twitter or Facebook. To help out the show: Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help, and I read each one. Subscribe on iTunes. Special thanks to Jim Kimo West for the music.

Roger Bolton asks if interviews with President Trump supporters require more care - or even censorship. And listeners give their reaction to the announcement of a new Today programme editor. Earlier this week, the Today programme interviewed Frank Gaffney. Introduced as a former government official, Gaffney was invited to discuss his support for Donald Trump's ban on immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries. But some listeners thought his so-called controversial political stance and alleged conspiracy theories should have been made clearer, while others believed his alleged anti-Muslim views should have prevented him from appearing at all. Roger invites two Feedback listeners to discuss their views. The task of dealing with such issues in the future has fallen into new hands - London Evening Standard editor Sarah Sands has been announced as the new editor of the Today programme. Listeners give their initial thoughts on the appointment - with some raising eyebrows over her lack of broadcast experience. At this week's BBC Audio Drama Awards, James Fritz took home trophies for Best New Writer and Best Drama Script - the first time a writer has won both awards in the same year. His award winning drama was Comment is Free, which tackles the spiral of abuse on social media. James discusses how recent political events, including the tragic murder of Jo Cox, took the drama out of his imagination and aligned it with real fears. The Welsh Assembly believes more should be done to reflect Welsh life in broadcasting. One station charged with doing just that is BBC Radio Cymru - which recently celebrated its 40th birthday. Reporter Llinos Jones goes behind the scenes to hear how the stations is meeting its audience's needs. Producer: Katherine Godfrey Presenter: Roger Bolton A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Flash Fiction: “Descanso Dream” by Jay Lake & Ruth Nestvold ("Tales of the Rose Knights" #12, originally published at Daily Science Fiction.) Descanso is the smallest of the Rose Knights, and perhaps the strangest. He is a dream made flesh, a pale man with skin the white of the ocean's dead, riding a horse of fog and silk. His banners trail behind him like a wind from the Orient. His smile gleams of starlight and the gentle thoughts of a loving woman.   Jay Lake lived in Portland, Oregon until his death in 2014, shortly before his 50th birthday. His books include Kalimpura from Tor and Love in the Time of Metal and Flesh from Prime. His short fiction appeared regularly in literary and genre markets worldwide. Jay was a winner of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and a multiple nominee for the Hugo and World Fantasy Awards. In 2015, he posthumously received the Locus Award for his collection Last Plane to Heaven. Learn more about him and his work at jlake.com. Ruth Nestvold has published... See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

There are many ways to serial fiction and Mur Lafferty knows about them all. From serializing her novellas and the book Playing For Keeps to participating in the Serial Box Bookburners serial fiction. The conversation goes from topic to topic, touching on her Star Wars novella as well as her upcoming book, Six Wakes. The Mad Writers really enjoyed talking to Mur and we hope you will enjoy listening to it. Mur Lafferty is a podcaster, writer, editor, winner of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and all around reneissance creative. She can be found online at Murverse.com and on whichever social media she's on (such as Twitter) as mightymur. Please Note! There are some audio issues with this episode that we could not get rid of and cannot figure out where they came from. We appreciate your patience.Recommended reading Mur's recommendation: The Obelisk Gate (The Broken Earth) by N.K. Jemisin Tim's recommendation: The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman Jay's recommendation: Viscera by Gabriel Squailia Nina's recommendation: Cloudbound (Bone Universe) by Fran Wilde

"Mighty" Mur Lafferty - author of "The Shambling Guide to New York City", "Ghost Train to New Orleans", and so much more ("Six Wakes") - has earned her street cred. Through her "I Should Be Writing" podcast, listeners have shared every step of her journey from "aspiring" to "published", including getting her MFA through Stone Coast and being awarded the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. Her voice - both physical and literary - is known for its honesty, candor, and humor.

Main Fiction: "Cosmobotica" by Tony Pi and Costi Gurgu Originally published in The Mammoth Book of Dieselpunk Tony Pi is a Chinese-Canadian writer in Toronto with a Ph.D. in Linguistics. He is the winner of the 2015 Aurora Award for Best English Poem/Song, a multiple past finalist in the category of Best English Short Fiction, and the 2009 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. His work appears in many anthologies and magazines, including Clarkesworld Magazine, Fantasy Magazine, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and The Time Traveller's Almanac. Costi Gurgu was born in Constanta, the 2600-year-old Greek city on the Black Sea shore, and lives in Toronto with his wife, on the Ontario Lake shore. Large bodies of water help Costi glimpse into other realms. That and some Dacian magic. His fiction has appeared in Canada, the United States, England, Denmark, Hungary and Romania. He has sold three books and over fifty stories for which he has won twenty-four awards. His latest sales include the anthologies “Ages of... See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

"Flash Fiction: “Eden Rose” by Jay Lake & Ruth Nestvold ("Tales of the Rose Knights" #7, originally published in Daily Science Fiction.) When the Rose Knight Graham Thomas first fell in love with Eden Rose, he knew the two of them would not have an easy time of it. He was a Yellow Rose of the old guard in the service of the Sun, while she was a White Rose, a servant of the Moon, her colors white and the faintest pink blush. The Sun and the Moon had long been at war, but in the way of youth, Eden and Graham knew that their individual fates would be strong enough to overcome history. Jay Lake lived in Portland, Oregon until his death in 2014, shortly before his 50th birthday. His books include Kalimpura from Tor and Love in the Time of Metal and Flesh from Prime. His short fiction appeared regularly in literary and genre markets worldwide. Jay was a winner of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and a multiple nominee for the Hugo and World Fantasy Awards. In 2015, he posthumously received the... See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.