Podcast appearances and mentions of John Scalzi

Rob, Michael, and Pax sit around talking about Ballerina, You Rang: An Addams Family Podcast, more Final Reckoning, Star Trek: Open a Channel - A Woman's Trek by Nana Visitor, Pride and Prejudice, Redshirts by John Scalzi, and whatever else comes up.

Quaranteam – Book 1: Part 17 Andy has his interview for primetime. Based on a post by CorruptingPower, in 25 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels.   It turned out that a dozen women all getting ready for television appearances was, in fact, a major operation. The master bathroom was large enough that four of the girls could use the mirror at the same time, but beyond that, they had to party up with "prep buddies," each making sure they were getting themselves ready as well as their prep buddy. Andy was, of course, ready long before anyone else was, even with Emily, Sarah, Ash and Niko sharing him in the shower. He left the four of them in there, although they emerged not long after, each running a hair dryer while they applied their make up and got into their outfits. He was glad to escape the bathroom as early as he did. The girls were in go mode now, and the last thing he wanted to do was get in anyone's way, so he took the time to prep the house. The house had a large empty room that seemed like it was meant to be used as a ballroom. They'd used it as their poker room on and off, but it was also just a nice place where lots of people could stand around and talk. It also had French windows opening into the garden, so the lighting of the room was excellent. Andy figured it would be the best place for the group interviews to take place. Katie and Nicolette helped him get enough chairs for everyone into the room, while Jenny was prepping a large lunch for all of them, a massive batch of jambalaya, so they would have a bit of leftovers in case the 60 Minutes crew arrived hungry. They were scheduled to arrive at one in the afternoon, and had asked them not to make plans into the evening, so clearly the interviews would take as long as they took. Nicolette had been doing cleaning a bit at a time for the last two weeks, so the only thing that really needed to get a major touch up was Andy's writing room, which the 60 Minutes people had asked to use for their one on one interviews, something he'd agreed to, although he was going to lock his laptop away before they arrived. He didn't imagine they'd want to steal his writing, but he was notoriously paranoid when it came to that sort of thing. The cats seemed extremely confused by all the hustle and bustle, but also seemed content to just rub up against the leg of whoever was closest, and follow people around when it seemed like they were going from one place to another. Andy also took time to check in with both Tala and Jade, making sure they doing okay and still on board with talking to 60 Minutes, something he was glad he did. Tala, as expected, was starting to feel the mental itch from having been primed the day before but not yet imprinted, though she was handling it far better than Sheridan had, even if she wasn't as far along with it. She said she'd never felt quite so sexually frustrated before, but that it was a great feeling to have, and that she enjoyed her body acting with wills and wants of its own. Jade had news for him as well. "I want you to imprint me as soon as you're done imprinting Tala, Andy," the bubbly blonde said to him. "And I want you to record it. Not for 60 Minutes, though, but for my father. He has tried to control me my entire life, and I'm just friggin' sick of it, so I want him to see that his dang control is broken, and that I'm giving that control to another man, a better man. So you can use my phone to make the video of it, and I don't care what it shows and what it doesn't, as long as he sees my face when I'm taking that orgasm, when I'm starting that imprinting process, so he knows that he can't push me around any more." She'd been talking with a sort of intensity that he'd never seen from her before, and he let her finish. When she stopped talking, it was almost as thought it dawned on her how forcefully she'd been lecturing him on what to do. "That's, that's okay, right?" "You're sure about this, Jade?" he said, taking her hand in his own. "I'm sure he's done some rough things over the years, but he's still your father, and you want to be careful not to do anything you'll come to regret." "The only thing I regret is being that asshole's daughter," she said, wrath in her voice. "I know it's a lot to ask, especially since I'll be sucking you off, which means that it'll be hard not to get your cock at least a little in the shot, but it's important to me, okay? I'm, I'm reclaiming a part of myself that bastard's taken from me. So you asked me earlier what I wanted, and that's what I want. And I want him to see it while I'm imprinting, so there's no way he can talk to me about it." He nodded. "Alright then. You can change your mind at any time between now and then, but if you don't, then that's what we'll do, just for your father, just at your request. Although, you probably also want to record a message for him to go along with it before hand, so he's not just randomly getting that video without any context." She bristled in mirth, nodding quickly. "Good point. I'll record that on my phone after lunch." "Or during the time they're doing one on one interviews with anyone else. I know they're planning on doing smaller interviews, one with Emily and Sarah and one with just me, but I don't know who else they're going to want to talk to." "If they want to talk to me, they can, and if the 49ers organization has a problem with it, well, the heck with them, I don't have to continue being a cheerleader for them anymore." "Give it some thought. You've still got time." By lunchtime, everyone was ready except for the staff, who'd gone to get themselves ready once lunch had been served. Nobody was sure if the 60 Minutes crew would want to talk to them, but Andy felt it best to make sure that anyone who was willing to have a conversation with Katie Couric was in a state where they could. Nicolette had said she didn't care one way or another, and while Katie wasn't thrilled about the idea of being interviewed, she agreed that if Katie Couric wanted to talk to the two of them, she and Jenny would make themselves available for it. Over the course of lunch, it was clear the girls were doing everything they could to keep Andy's mind off the interview, as the family got to know both Tala and Jade better, while Whitney was still in Nicolette's chambers, in the middle of the imprinting process, and Fiona and Moira were in the early stages of it in the master bedroom. Tala had decided that her first project, once she got her workshop set up in the poolhouse, was going to be to make Andy a puzzle desk of his very own, and once that idea had been voiced, all the girls had thoughts and ideas on things to incorporate, with Sarah filling in suggestions based on his books, and Aisling filling in suggestions based on his life. Niko thought it should also incorporate all the girls' names, so that he might have a better time remembering everyone, which made everybody laugh, simply because the family had indeed grown so large. They were just finishing cleaning up after lunch when the doorbell rang, and Andy's heart felt like it stopped just a little. Ash poked him with a smile. "It's just the media, babes," she teased. "You'll do fine. Go say hi." He headed up from the dining room and down to the front door, where Nicolette was standing in the doorway, greeting the visitors. Standing in the doorway was Katie Couric, one of the best known journalists in America, with a couple of crew members behind her. "Hey, Ms. Couric," he said to her as he approached. "Welcome to my home." He held out his hand and she seemed thankful for the normalcy of shaking hands. "Please, Mr. Rook, call me Katie," she said, "and thank you for inviting us for the interview. I know the President's office had something to do with it, but you could have said no if you didn't want to. Having a couple of famous faces like Miss Stevens and Miss Washington selling the new normal will help the general population of the nation make more sense out of this tragic new normal." "Well, I'll call you Katie if you'll call me Andy," he said. "How's your tour of New Eden been so far? Niko mentioned you did a short interview with her at the base, although you mostly just talked with Dr. Varma and my boy Phil." "You're friends with Mr. Marcos?" she said. "Is that how you got in here?" "Well, there's a story behind that. I can tell you now, but I suspect you'd rather get it down on camera. It's not all that long a story, nor is it really that interesting. I suspect Phil's story was a lot more engaging than mine will be." "Did you get your writing room all set up for our interview?" "I did," he said, "and we also set up our ballroom with chairs, so you can talk to all of us together first. I know Em and Sarah are willing to talk to you either in their little studio, or you can use my writing study instead. It's up to you." "I'll have my team take a look at both locations while we're getting set up in the ballroom. Is everyone in the house willing to take part in the interviews?" "Two of my partners have chosen not to take part, simply because they aren't sure how their employers would react to it, but everyone else in the house is willing to chat," he said, as he felt a hand sliding onto his shoulder. He turned around to see Lauren standing behind him. "Actually, Andy, Sheridan and I have decided we're going to do it anyway, and if the Niners or the people at Cirque have a problem with it, fuck'em, we'll sue their asses into the ground," the tall blonde Aussie told him. "If this is gonna be the new normal, pretendin' like it's not is just as bad as sayin' it ain't, so we'll be there." "You're sure, Lauren?" he asked her, smoothing his hand over her hip, knowing it usually soothed her nervous when she was wound up. She placed her hand over his and gave it a soft squeeze, smiling at him. "Yeh, 'sides I dunno how much of management's gone at this point already. You gambled with us, so let us have a turn at the plow fer a change." He leaned up and kissed her softly. "Well, I've known you long enough, hon, to know if your mind's made up, there's no point in trying to talk you out of it." Andy glanced back at Katie Couric, shrugging. "Guess you get your pick of the litter then." Behind her, the crew had started ferrying in lights, tripods and camera equipment. While Andy had thought he'd only seen two additional people at first, it turned out Katie Couric traveled with a crew of nine, and there had been a second and third S U V behind the van that he hadn't seen. It felt a little like his house was being invaded, but he did his best to not get in anyone's way, as Nicolette started to lead a producer away, to show her where both Andy's writing room and the actresses' little studio were located. "C'mon, I'll take you down to the ballroom, and we can get settled there," he said, starting to lead Katie and her two companions down the hallway. One of them, Geraldine Amato, was the unit's head producer, and the other, Poppy Delgato, was the lead camera woman. "Was your crew mostly women before the plague hit?" "Mostly," she said, "although I've got a couple of men in here as well, and thankfully, they've been given the treatment via their wives. My husband has been getting it through myself as well, for about a month now." "I'm a little surprised they let your whole crew into New Eden," he said, as they headed down the stairs to the lower level. "They've been fairly paranoid about letting people in, I've been told, so I imagine you had to quarantine for a little bit after you got here." "We did," she said, stopping to look at one of the promotional posters on the wall, this one in particular for "The Trouble With Werebears." She glanced over at him with that winning smile she loved flashing on the news regularly. "In fact, Geraldine here's now sharing my husband with me, because she didn't have anyone before hand, and needed someone she could count on to be around while doing her job." She reached up and tapped at the words 'New York Times Bestselling Author' on the poster. "It says here you're a bestselling author, but I have to admit that before preparing for this interview, I'd never heard of you." He shrugged with a little smile. "There's leagues of difference between a Bestselling Fiction author and a Bestselling Genre Fiction author, I'm afraid. When you're talking non genre, you're talking hundreds of thousands of copies, but for genre, well, drop a zero off there, so if you're not into urban fantasy, I won't take it as a slight. Jim Butcher, who's probably the most popular of us working in the field, only sold a couple hundred thousand copies for his most recent Dresden Files book, and that series has a huge following, far bigger than my little corner. Hell, I think the reason a publisher finally took a gamble on me was that I was playing in a similar wheelhouse and they were hoping to piggyback off his success." "E. F. Winston is a genre writer, but her books have sold in the hundreds of millions," Katie countered. "So clearly there are breakout stars." "Ah, but those are young adult books, and the teen fiction genre has a handful of crossover success that never seemed to roll over into other things in our genres," he sighed. "The Dagger Academy books were definitely science fiction, but you didn't see a spike in sales for people like John Scalzi or William Gibson when those books took off, did you? The same for those Harry Potter books. Sold by the truckload, and yet, did many of those kids go and read works from Roger Zelazny, Fred Saberhagen, Emma Bull, Terry Pratchett, Steven Brust, Simon R. Green or any of the other massively prolific fantasy masterminds we've had working for decades? No, we're not all that different than any other form of entertainment,  everyone's just hoping that they get one big bite from the apple at some point during their career." "But I heard they're making a movie based on your books?" "Well, when two high profile actresses are willing to sign onto a project, that goes a long way into pushing it out of Movie Hell," he laughed. "The option had been signed years before that, but once Sarah and Emily expressed interest in playing supporting roles, well, that got the whole thing into turnaround quite quickly. It's like the screenwriter William Goldman always said, 'Nobody in Hollywood knows anything.'" Andy shrugged a little bit as they entered the ballroom. "Besides, I figured you'd want to get all this out during the on camera interview." "Oh, we'll go over it again then, but it doesn't hurt to do a little pre camera screening, just so I know what kinds of things you're likely to say, so I can facilitate the conversation in moving in the right directions," she said. "You've been interviewed several times before. Hasn't anyone ever done that?" "Nope," he said, moving to sit in one of the chairs in the front row. "But then again, I've never been interviewed for television before." They'd originally set up the 17 chairs as one chair facing two rows of eight, but Geraldine started moving the two rows of eight into four staggered rows of four. "We'll bring in some risers, so we can get everyone into one big shot," Geraldine told Katie. Poppy nodded. "We'll need to set up four cameras in here," she said, as she started to help Geraldine block out the room. "One for the group shot, one for Katie, one for Andy and one to rove to whoever's answering questions in the group setting. We can use fixed cameras for the first three, and I'll manage the fourth. We'll have them all rolling all the time and you can just pick and choose what you want in the editing room." "How do you want to order them, Katie?" Geraldine asked her. "Well, Andy here in the front corner, then Niko, the woman we interviewed yesterday next to him. That'll be our link between the segments. Then Sarah and Emily next to her, because star power up front. Beyond that, we can figure it out." "I'd like to insist Aisling, my first partner, be up front with me," he said, just as Ash was walking into the room, along with Emily. "The balance might be a little weird," Poppy frowned. "No no," Geraldine, "we can make that work. We'll just do five in front and three in the top row, so we frame Andy in the center, with Niko and Aisling on one side, Emily and Sarah on the other." "Good," Katie said, "that reinforces the whole 'large family' front and forward as our first visual cue, so that the viewer has to confront it right away. Does that work for you?" she said, asking Andy his opinion for the first time. "That'll work," he replied. "You can even put the three staff at the back, since they're willing to be here for this, but aren't likely to volunteer much in the way of answers." "Jenny and Katie, er, Kate might not, Master," Nicolette said, entering the room with the rest of Katie Couric's crew in tow, "but I'm certainly planning on speaking my mind given a chance, because I don't want people to be given the wrong idea." "What's the wrong idea?" Katie asked, tilting her head just a little bit. "That we're here involuntarily, or that this isn't what we wanted, or, hell, even that Master Rook here wouldn't let us change if we wanted," the French maid teased. "You know if I had a nickel for every time he's sort of reminded me I don't have to call him Master, and I've had to remind him that I like calling him Master, well, I could enjoy a nice two week stay in the Bahamas, once it's opened up again. In fact, little secret, every time he reminds me of it lately, I've just gone out of my way to say it even more, so I can watch him blush." "I think you like watching him blush," Ash said, moving to close in around Andy. "Katie Couric," Andy said, "this is my first partner, Ash Blake, and I'm sure you've probably already met Emily Stevens." Katie made it a point to shake Ash's hand first. "A pleasure, Miss Blake." She then turned to Emily, taking the tiny blonde's hand and shaking it as well. "I've actually interviewed you before, Miss Stevens, although I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't remember. You seemed quite busy on that press junket, and I know they were just wheeling journalists in and out for you." "I keep a diary of anyone who's interviewing me, Ms. Couric," Em said, a wry grin on her face, "so I assure you, I remember the interview quite well. Any surprises we should be wary of?" "Oh, I've always got a few things planned to lighten up an interview," the journalist said, somewhat evasively. "It's not like I'm interviewing Vladimir Putin or anything. You're not going to have me murdered for a question you don't like." "Well," the Brit said, "I still wouldn't anger Sarah too much. She's, excitable, and prone to fits of exaggeration." "I'm fairly certain she's never poisoned anyone to win a role, Em," Andy said to her. Emily clicked her tongue in amusement. "Let's not be too hasty with that judgment, Andy. Anyway, shall I round everyone up and we can get started?" "Yes, I think my team will be ready to start in about twenty minutes, so if you can get everyone together, that would be excellent." By the time all the girls were in the ballroom, risers had been placed under the seats, the lights and sound were set up, a boom microphone used to cover the majority of the girls, although clip on mics were used for Katie and Andy. They also had a handheld microphone that the girls could pass around if anyone wanted to give a detailed answer. They were structured as had been discussed, with Niko and Aisling to Andy's left in the front row, and Emily and Sarah to his right. Behind them, Lauren, Taylor, Sheridan and Piper sat. The third row had Asha, Hannah, Tala and Jade. In the back row sat the staff, Kate (his Katie), Jenny and Nicolette. All of the fiancees were up front, and everyone else was sat in order of arrival, with the exception of the staff, who were at the back, at their own request. It felt right that Ash was on one side of him and Emily was on the other, as if the two of them wanted to be close in case he needed support. It wasn't until Andy saw it framed up in the monitor as they were showing Katie that it dawned on him just how big his household was growing, and even still, he knew there were already three more in the house not in this shot. He was always aware of how big his family was, but seeing everyone together in one single framing shot, it really drove the size of it home, and it felt huge. "Okay, Andy, let's start with how you telling us a little bit about yourself and how you got here." For the next few minutes, Andy gave the shortest possible version of his bio, how he'd moved to California a decade and a half ago, his writing for the Silicon Valley companies, as well as his novels, which transitioned nicely into him talking about how he got his vaunted level 5 status, regaling 60 Minutes with the story of how the guy who'd come to test them, Dave, had been a big fan and given he and his then roommate Eric level 5 status as a return gift for Andy having given him an advanced copy of his next novel. "I hope I'm not getting Dave in any trouble by telling that story," he finished. "No no, each member of the initial Bay Area team was given five level 5 statuses to give away as they saw fit," Katie Couric told him. "Most of them just gave them to friends or family, but Dr. David Straussman hadn't used any of his until he met you, and there were no rules on who he could or couldn't give them to, so that's fine." "Straussman," Andy repeated. "Huh. You know, I didn't even know his last name until right now. I hope he's doing okay." "He's doing quite well," Niko said. "I see him every so often wandering around the base." "So Andy," Katie said, bringing them back on task, "how did you fill out the form you were given with the testing process?" "Well," Andy said, "Dave stressed to us when he gave us the link that we should be honest, and to answer the questions knowing we wouldn't be judged for our responses. I don't actually remember a lot of it, because it was a very long questionnaire, like, ridiculously thorough. But I suppose what you're getting at is what key things do I remember answering." "Yes, that's what I'm asking." "There were definitely questions about my sexual preferences, like, a lot of those, but there were also basic demographic questions about what range of people I felt comfortable dating, was I into women, men or both, and how did I feel about polyamory." "Did that surprise you?" she asked him. "Sure, but not as much as I expect it probably shocked people back in the Midwest. It's not what I would call common place around here, but you see it mentioned often enough in people's online dating profiles that most people have at least some awareness of it here in the Bay." "And how did you answer the polyamory question?" "I actually put 'no preference,' but you have to remember, to some extent when this started, we thought this was all some temporary thing, and we certainly didn't know that the casualties to men in America were going to be as high as they were," Andy said, sighing a little bit, Ash taking his hand, squeezing it reassuringly. "Do you remember what ages you put that you would be comfortable with?" "The low end was set to 18, and I didn't adjust it, and I set the high end to 35. I suspected no one younger than their mid twenties would be interested in me, so the low end didn't really matter." "You can start to see how his mind works," Hannah teased, "and how he just misses things sometimes." That let the girls have a soft laugh, releasing a little bit of the tension. "Were there any things that you said were absolute deal breakers?" Katie asked. "Just two," Andy admitted. "Must not be allergic to cats, and must not smoke, although we ended up with someone who vapes." "And who is that?" "That'd be me," Sheridan said, "but I'm working on quitting, so, it's a stopgap on the way to that. And it's been much easier stepping down from that than it was stepping to that from smoking." "Who showed up first?" "Aisling showed up I think it was actually the very next day," Andy said. "I was a little surprised how quickly everything moved. Usually anything the government's managing is a total clusterfuck, but I think since we were basically right by the site where the treatment was developed, they were rushing it out in order to keep as many people safe as they could." "Aisling, let me ask you Aisling, was Andy the sort of man you dreamed about ending up with when you entered into the process?" "At first, my head was a little clouded, because the process when it started wasn't as refined as it is now, so when I met Andy, my mind was a little fogged up with lust, but he ticked all the boxes of what I wanted out of a man. He didn't look exactly like I expected him to, but yeah, within a couple of days, I knew I loved him pretty hard. Still do." "Would he have been the kind of person you would've gravitated to in a bar?" Katie asked her. "I would've thought he was cute, but I was horrible at dating, and only had a couple'a boyfriends before him, so I'm a bad judge of character for that sort of question." "How many of you would've approached Andy in a bar?" Katie asked the group of them. Andy chuckled, rolling his eyes. "Be honest." Sarah put her hand up immediately, and Tala raised her hand as well, as the rest of the group giggled a little bit. "As progressive as we all like to think we are, Katie," Niko said, "women still generally don't approach men in bars, so maybe that's more on us than saying anything about our tastes." "Sarah, I saw you put your hand up," Katie asked. "You're an Oscar nominated actress who's know worldwide. What about Andy would've made you approach him?" Over the next couple of minutes, Sarah and Emily related the story of how they'd attended one of Andy's Q&As at ComicCon in costume, so that nobody would recognize them, and talked about how she'd had a crush on him because of his writing for a long time, which Katie laughed about, and Andy was certain would make for good television. "So how many of you would say you're in love with Andy now?" she asked the group after Sarah finished her story. About half of women raised their hands, although several of the others looked like they were considering raising their hands. The front row all raised their hands, as expected, but Lauren and Piper also raised their hands, which surprised Andy a little. "So those of you who wouldn't say you're in love with him, how would you describe your relationship with him?" "Deep respect and affection, but not at the love stage, not yet anyway," Sheridan said. Most of the other girls seemed to nod and agree with that. "Why do you say 'not yet,' Sheridan?" "You have to keep in mind, Katie, a lot of us have only known Andy a few weeks right now," she said, leaning forward just a little bit. "We had to make probably the biggest choice of our lives, and we had to do it basically on a hunch. Our choices were to defer treatment and go on being afraid we were going to die, or take the treatment and get paired up with a man for the indefinite future. That's a hell of a gamble to ask of anyone." "Who's unhappy with the decision they made, raise your hand," Katie said, only to get no hands raised in response. "Everyone's happy being paired with Andy, maybe for the rest of your lives?" "Look, Ms. Couric," Hannah said. "You're going to find every one of us girls has a different story, a unique story, and each one of us came to where we are now on an entirely different path, m'kay? But we'll all tell you the same thing,  Andy's treated us with an immense amount of respect and affection, and he's made sure that nobody's doing anything they aren't comfortable with. Shit, he's even done stuff he's been a little uncomfortable with because it's made us feel more comfortable, and how many women can say that about their partner? So while a bunch of us aren't in love with him, yet, we all admire and respect how much he's gone out of his way to make sure we feel like we're part of a goddamn family, a good goddamn family." "Do you want to continue to grow the family, Andy?" "If you ask him," Em said, jumping in before he could respond, "he wanted to stop growing it a while ago." All the girls laughed at that. "But at this point, I think we're all doing what we can to stick together, and a lot of us girls wanted to protect our friends, to keep them safe, so we took turns presenting them all to Andy, trying to convince him to bring them into our home and into our family." "Everyone had someone they wanted to pitch?" Katie said, smiling at Andy. "That must have been overwhelming." "Not everyone wanted to pitch someone, but almost everyone," he said with a laugh. "And it was a lot of names and faces that were presented all at once. I said upfront, though, that I wasn't going to bring everyone on, and that there was only so much of me to go around. In the end, I think we mostly made it work to everyone's satisfaction." "So how many more people are coming?" "Well, we have three people who are in the imprinting process right now, and two more people arriving tomorrow, and if I have any say in the matter, that will absolutely, positively, definitively be the limit of women I can handle in my life," he chuckled. "And how much say do you actually have in that matter, Andy?" "Very little!" Emily joked, and all the girls laughed, as did Katie. "It would take a super compelling case for us to add, like, anyone else to the family past that," Sarah said, "but I think it's totally for the best that we never say never. Sometimes exceptions have to be made." "Like I told you yesterday, Katie," Niko said, "I think if Andy had total control of the matter, he would've probably put a hard limit in after myself, Ash and Lauren were in his life. He told me multiple times early on that he barely felt like he deserved one amazing woman, and at that point, he already had three, so it's been a growth process." "But this is the new normal now," Katie said. "Or at least it's going to be. Families with one man and several women, because so many men in the US have died. Raise your hand if you know a man who's lost their life to the plague here in the US." All the women raised their hands, and of course Andy had his raised as well. "How does that feel?" "I think we're all suffering from some degree of post traumatic stress disorder," Piper said. "The losses, they're too big for any of us to process, so we're sort of clinging to one another, holding on to the only family that we know for certain that we can protect." "Piper, you were actually supposed to have competed in the Olympics by now. How does that feel, knowing that when it starts up again next year, the US basically doesn't have almost any of their male athletes to compete?" "At this point, it's impossible for it to even make sense in my head any more, Katie," she sighed. "Most of the people I trained with have died over the last several months. A lot of my trainers died. I've lost colleagues, friends and family members. I don't even know where to start mourning, because there's so damn many people to mourn. I consider myself lucky that my sister's husband took everything seriously, and completely refused to leave the house this year since the word of the plague got out." "It's something we've talked about in here a bunch," Andy said. "And we sort of keep coming back to that famous Stalin quote. 'A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths are a statistic.' It's so many dead men that the mind can't even make sense of it. It's like 9/11, but if each of the Twin Towers was holding exclusively almost every man each of us knew and loved. My own brother died a few weeks back, and he was one of the kindest and most careful souls I know, but he ran out to help someone get their storm shutters up before a particular bad thunderstorm rolled through, and a few weeks later, he was just gone, almost overnight. It happened so fast, I didn't even hear about it until after he was already gone." "It's actually unproven that's a real Stalin quote," Tala said. "I read an article that said it was attributed to a French humorist." "Sure, but even if Stalin didn't say it," Andy said, "it's still pretty relevant here. It doesn't really matter who said it, it's the sentiment that's important. We're talking about a matter of scale, and the human mind's capacity to comprehend that scale. At the end of the day, that's a hell of a lot for anyone to handle. So we're all just doing our best." "Normally," Emily said, "when a friend or loved one dies, there is typically a funeral or a wake, a gathering of all that person's surviving circle coming together, to celebrate their passing and remember them, but we have been denied that, and it has made all their passings that much harder to process, somehow transformed them all into seeming less real, because our normal emotional milestones haven't happened along the way. We are adrift in our emotional morass." "That's true," Katie said. "We, as Americans, haven't had to confront all the deaths simply because we aren't allowed to go out and do so, and that somehow makes it feel less concrete." "It hits you every day," Jade said, "little by little. Lauren described it to me a few weeks ago as a slow motion car crash that we're all stuck in, and nobody can get out of." "So, Jade, I understand you're one of the newest arrivals here," Katie said. "Have you gone through the imprinting process yet?" "Not yet," she said. "Tala and I arrived yesterday, but we wanted to wait a little bit, to spend some time with Andy and his family, to makes sure that we would be happy getting melted into their pot. I'm happy to say we're both going to do it, but it's the kind of commitment you gotta be certain of, you know?" "Have you seen what the imprinting process is like?" "Um, yes?" she said, trying not to blush a little. "When we arrived yesterday, we had a third person with us, another woman who was joining the staff and faculty of the house, but not the family itself, a young woman named Whitney." "So, Andy, explain to me the difference between family and staff, and how you decide that." He immediately put his hands up, almost like he was at gunpoint. "First and foremost, I do not decide that," he laughed, and all the girls laughed with him. "When the military came and relocated us from our little condo and brought us here to New Eden, the house also came with three members of staff attached with it, all of whom I was told had been selected to mesh with me, and whose boxes I would tick as well." "That was the three of you in the back, Nicolette, Jenny and Kate, yes?" Katie asked. "We had all been told a bit about Andy before he arrived," Nicolette said, "and his answers to the questionnaire implied that he would eventually be willing to play into our tastes." "Eventually?" Katie asked. "Well, sure," Nicolette giggled. "I know the first few times I called him Master, it rattled his cage a little bit, but he eventually realized I liked saying it, and nobody was making me do it. One of the things that we girls all figured out early on was that just because Andy was okay with something didn't mean he had any real experience with it, so we would need to hand hold him a bit through it. So while Andy said he was okay with bondage and discipline stuff in his questionnaire, he didn't have any real practical experience in it. So we've found ways to teach him about that kind of thing without it ever feeling like we were lecturing to him. He sort of set that expectation up front when he told us communication was everything, and he couldn't have been more right." "And Kate? I hear that you and Jenny had a different experience," Katie asked. "Damn, uh? Andy?" Kate (his Katie) asked. "How real you want us to get here?" "We're not hiding anything," he chuckled, "so fire away." "So, uh, Katie," Kate coughed. "I'm actually a lesbian. Not a bisexual who mostly identifies as a lesbian, I mean straight up, hardcore, one hundred percent, unrepentant fully committed lesbian. And Jenny here is my wife, but she's bisexual." "Hi!" Jenny cheerily said with a wave. "When we signed up for this, we, ah, we were planning on hiding that from Andy, and I was simply going to fake it, and go along with the ruse, so that we could stay together, and we could still get the treatment, which, as you already know, takes both a female and a male component to work," she sighed. "So I, er, we lied, and claimed we were both bisexual. Since we were married, wherever we went, we were going to go together, and we figured we could just keep up that lie as long as we needed and make it work." "And what happened?" Katie asked. "Day two, I folded, before we'd even been imprinted," Jenny said with a shrug. "When we met him, Andy wasn't at all what any of us were expecting him to be, but I mean that in a really good way. It didn't feel right lying to him. We'd had a few days together before he showed up, the three of us, us two and Nicolette. We'd talked about it, and Nicolette volunteered to go first, so that if it didn't go well, my Katie and I could request to be moved elsewhere, since we were a little more particular than she was about how we got paired up." "What do you mean, you folded?" "I started talking to Andy, and, and it all just came tumbling out, how we were a little unsure, how my Katie wasn't really into men, and, I just felt like I had to tell him everything before we were committed to anything." "How did you react to that, Andy?" "I could tell they were afraid that I was going to be angry," Andy said, his tone as breezy and relaxed as he could keep it, "but I wasn't. Why would I be? I simply wanted to talk with them about how they wanted to handle it, because at that point, I knew a bit more about the physiological affects of the treatment than they did, so I wanted to prepare them for it, if they wanted to move forward." "Do you still consider yourself a lesbian, Kate?" Katie asked her. "Absolutely. I don't feel any sexual attraction to Andy what so ever," she said. "Now, with that said, I can also admit that I have received biochemically induced orgasms from him regularly as part of the treatment process, and I don't think that affects my sexual identity in any way. But Andy and I haven't ever had direct sex. He's offered, but he's also never pressured. I might take him up on it some day, to see if the chemical and neurological changes the treatment have made to me might compensate for my lack of sexual attraction to him, but then again, I may not. That's my decision, well, our decision, to make," she said, taking Jenny's hand in hers. "And nobody's going to tell me who and what I am. I get to decide that, and fuck anyone who says otherwise." "So if you haven't had direct sex with him, how are you getting what you need from him to keep your treatment managed? Go ahead and be as direct as you want, and we can bleep parts of it out if we need to, but I think they're just going to air it as we send it." "Well, to be frank about it, I don't ever actually fuck Andy, but that doesn't mean I don't swallow his semen. I do that around once a week, either directly from him, or second hand from my wife. I consider sucking his cock just to be another task around the house that needs doing now and again. No offense, Andy." He laughed, waving a hand in his air. "None taken, but you already know that." "And that's enough?" Katie asked. "Just swallowing semen, either directly or second hand?" Kate nodded. "It's fine. I haven't had any adverse side effects, and it's easy enough right before he's about to pop for him to point it elsewhere, or for Jenny and I to split it after he does pop. I'm never going to have an encounter with Andy without Jenny present, and she's always my focus, not him, because she's my wife, and he's just, my boss." "And everyone in the house is okay with that?" "This is the world we live in now," Lauren said. "Lotsa fellas used to get all hung up onna things that they did and didn't like, but who's got time for that anymore? Life's too short to hold onta old grudges, so if we can, we're all gonna take it on the chin and just keep movin' on together." "Now Lauren, I understand you're also a lesbian." "Nah Katie," the tall blonde Aussie corrected. "I'm definitely bisexual, but I just lean a lot more towards the ladies than I do the fellas. I very much enjoy my sexual encounters with Andy, but I'm not one of his primary partners, despite showing up so early. I'm in love with him, like he is with me, but he's not my Big Love, if you folla. I've got me own primary partner here, in Taylor. We'd split before New Eden, and when she came back, I was right pissed off, but we've worked it out, and now she and I are back to being a couple again." "Does that put you on the outs with Andy?" "Nah," she laughed, "it just means the master bed doesn't need triple reinforcement. I love Andy and all he's done for me, for alla us, but I ain't interested in being one of his wives. I wanna marry Taylor at some point, but that doesn't mean I don' wanna stay part of this family. That works for us, so, y'know, fair play." "How many people do sleep in bed with you on any given night, Andy?" "There's always at least five of us in the bed," he answered. "Myself, Ash, Niko, Emily and Sarah. But sometimes more people want to cram in, and we never say no." "What's the most the bed's ever held for a night?" "Oh, uh, everyone who isn't staff, I think, but last week, so before some people had arrived," he said, trying to remember, "so, what, 11?" "Yes, that was the maximum. On the day when we found out Andy's brother died," Emily said, "we all crawled into bed with him and just wrapped our arms around him, as we all shared a good cry, then fell asleep holding one another, but that's extremely uncommon." "Five or six would definitely be the average," Ash said. "So the four of you would say you're closer to Andy than the rest of the women in the house?" "Well, we're all his fiancees, so we'd better be, Katie!" Sarah laughed. "He asked Ash first, and then Niko asked him before he could even get the words out to her, so once he freakin' told us, me and Em, we both demanded he propose to us as well immediately, because we come as a package deal." "What do you mean by that, Sarah?" "Okay, well, here's the thing. Emily and I have been a couple for almost two years now, but we're both, well, we're both totally into dudes and chicks. So while we super love each other, we also knew we were going to need a regular cock in the equation. When we found out that the writer of my favorite freaking book series of all time was in play, we decided we had to freaking have him." Andy was a little amazed Sarah could do so much to self censor, but realized she'd probably been doing it for interviews forever. "So you put in a request for the two of you to be paired up with Andy, and the government made that happen?" There was a long pause, as everyone was trying to decide what to say and how to say it, but eventually Emily broke the silence. "Something like that, yes," she lied. "We'll put a pin in that and come back to it later," Katie said, and Andy's guard was immediately up. He'd been wondering what sort of problems this interview was going to throw up, and now he felt like he knew what one of them was. "Have you had to send anyone back, Andy? Had any partners show up that you didn't think would be compatible?" "Just one," he admitted. "My ex girlfriend was sent to me, because she hadn't disclosed that we'd been together about a decade ago. She was eager to rekindle the relationship, but I was not. It ended on terms that made me unwilling to revisit it again, so we helped her make other arrangements. We hadn't been compatible back then, and I didn't feel comfortable gambling that she'd grown enough that I would've been compatible with her now." "You didn't send her back to the government?" "New Eden isn't that large of a community, so sometimes we just see if we can make things work among ourselves first, and we found a solution that everyone seemed happy with, including my ex. In fact, the people that my partners here pitched to me that I didn't think would be good matches for our family, we worked to pair them up with other people here in New Eden instead, so they were still local and safe. It's a small town, so we have to look out for one another. Problems here are rare and generally manageable." "Not always, though, we've heard," Katie said. "I take it you've heard about the fatality that New Eden had last week?" Everyone nodded. "It was horrible, hearing about someone dying from something so easily preventable," Hannah said. "Like, they totes warned us about that ish before we left the base, so why the hell would someone chance it?" "They did warn you?" "Very thoroughly," Emily insisted, horror in her voice. "They told us multiple times, again and again and again, that if we took in semen from any man other than the one we were paired up with, it would be toxic, if not fatal. They even showed us a recording of a woman who'd already been imprinted getting semen from a man she wasn't paired up with on her skin, and the large, violent rash that immediately broke out. I am told they show that footage to everyone, to drive the point home. Seeing that sort of instantaneous reaction should've been enough to discourage anyone from testing those boundaries." "They're talking on base about showing some of the autopsy photos from the fatality to the people who are getting the treatment now," Niko said, "to make sure everyone understands how serious it is not to dally outside your family." "Have any of you ever been tempted?" "I think we all value our lives too much for that," Sarah joked. "And love Andy far too much for that," Ash said. "Definitely," Emily agreed. "Why would anyone task such a pointless risk?" "Did any of you know the woman who died, or the man she partook from that killed her?" Katie asked them. "I met her briefly," Andy said, "but I wouldn't say I knew her. And none of us ever even met the man accused of doing it to her." "Major Peters told us yesterday he's currently imprisoned at the base, pending local law enforcement being able to take custody of him. They're going to charge him with murder, they were telling us." "They should," Sarah said. "They told everyone when they brought them here to New Eden what would happen if people engaged in any form of sexual activity with anyone they're not paired with, and they fucking did it anyway!" "The problem," Andy sighed, "is that the man, whoever he is, already has multiple women paired up with him, which means that whatever they do to him is going to affect those women as well, even if it's just that they have to come to a prison for their weekly intake. Those women are already tied to him. I'm sure they're looking into some way to remove the binding and reimprint a woman onto a new person, but there's only so many problems they can solve at once." "Does it bother any of you that your health is tied to Andy's?" Katie asked the group. "Bother is the wrong word," Sheridan said, annoyance in her tone of voice. "Concern is the right word. We're very protective of Andy, because he knows our lives are all fully dependent on his for the time being, and that if he dies, we all probably die with him. So, sure, we're concerned, but I think all of us feel comfortable in knowing that Andy's got our best interests at heart, and is keeping that all in mind." "One of the two people arriving tomorrow is going to be his bodyguard," Jenny said. "A friend of mine from college, who's going to guard his life with her own." "Who's the other?" "A director friend of mine," Emily said, "whom I thought would be an excellent addition to the house. She was one of the AD's on some of the latter Dagger Academy movies." Katie Couric clapped her hands together. "Okay, why don't we take a break, then do some of the one on ones, and then we can circle back and do another group interview to close out the day. Our team can leave you one of our cameras here tonight, so you can get that video of someone being imprinted, and we'll come by and pick it up tomorrow before we leave town. We appreciate you trusting us with that, as I know it can't have been an easy decision to make, but I think that footage will go a long way to convincing people this treatment is in their best interest. As for today, we'll go ahead and finish getting set up in Andy's office, and when you're ready Andy, we can sit down and do our one on one and drill down on some things I've got further questions on." "Sure," he said, as all the girls were standing up and stretching. "Let me go grab a quick drink, and I'll meet you in my office in about ten minutes, okay?" "Sounds good." Katie and her crew were escorted by Nicolette down to Andy's office, while the girls stood up and started chatting among themselves, while Emily and Ash closed it around Andy. "That went about as well as can be expected," Emily said to them. "I feel like we've got some kind of curveball coming," Ash said, taking Andy's hand in her left and Emily's hand in her right. "After you're done, Andy, we'll talk a bit again. I'm sure you'll get surprises before any of us do." He took his time, grabbed a bottle of Vanilla Coke, drank it then headed down to his office, which today felt a little like going into a lion's den. With all the girls in the ballroom, the large group session had allowed the attention to bounce around a great deal, and he felt like he could catch his breath, but here, it was just going to be the two of them, and he didn't have anyone to run interference for him from time to time. Andy headed into his office and saw that even his cats weren't in there, likely having been moved by the production crew, as Andy moved to sit down in his writing chair, Katie Couric sitting across from him. "Are you ready?" she said to him. "Yep," he answered. "Let's do it." After the mics were checked, the cameras were tested and the lights were adjusting, Andy's one on one began with a softball question. "So how'd you fall into writing urban fantasy, Andy?" "The best advice I ever got was 'if the stories you want to read don't exist in the world, it's your job to put them there,' so I've stuck with that," he said. "I knew what kind of stories I wanted to read, and nobody was really writing those, a sort of fantasy western/samurai hybrid. I mean, you had Butcher's Dresden books, but those were more of fantasy noir hybrids, and I wanted to get into the sort of stories that people like Akira Kurosawa and Sergio Leone used to tell, where you could kill off characters, where actions had consequences and where you never really knew when the next gunfight was coming, because it felt like they could happen at any time. Joe Abercrombie does it in high fantasy, but I wanted something that was happening in our time, in our world.&am

NEWS - New trailer for ALIEN: EARTH - Mia Goth joins SW: STARFIGHTER OGTW - Becker: Deadwood - Diaz: WHEN THE MOON HITS YOUR EYE by John Scalzi finished, THOR: THE SAGA OF GORR THE GOD BUTCHER by Aaron/Ribic/Guice, NOT TILL WE ARE LOST (Bobiverse #5) by Dennis E. Taylor, PREDATOR: KILLER OF KILLERS MAIN TOPIC: The team is back after taking a two-week break post-ANDOR, but they are here to cover STAR WARS: TALES OF THE UNDERWORLD and the first half of the Apple TV+ show MURDERBOT. Michael and Joe share their thoughts, but what do you think? Let the team know! Welcome to the Kybercast! #StarWars #StarWarsTalesoftheUnderworld #TalesoftheUnderworld #WhenTheMoonHitsYourEye #AlienEarth #StarWarsStarfighter #MiaGoth #ThorTheSageofGorrTheGodButcher #Deadwood #NotTillWeAreLost #PredatorKillerofKillers

Today's episode is sponsored by Dreamhost. The first step in owning and controlling your own work is building a website, and Dreamhost is there to make that simple, painless, and inexpensive. Go to www.Dreamhost.com/ComicLab for details.The life of a comic artist is often a solitary one. Brad and Dave discuss ways of maintaining social connections for mental health and creativity. Later, they discuss the dangers of setting an artificially low Kickstarter goal.ON TODAY'S SHOWThe lone life of a comic artistUPDATE: Susan MacTaggart's affirmationshttp://www.Dreamhost.com/comiclab for special offers on web hosting for listenersAn artist is reminded of the importance of artSetting an artificially low Kickstarter goalSUMMARYIn this episode of ComicLab, hosts Brad Guigar and Dave Kellett explore the themes of socialization and loneliness in the life of cartoonists. They share humorous anecdotes from a recent trip to San Diego Comic Con, discuss the challenges of working alone, and emphasize the importance of maintaining social connections for mental health and creativity. The conversation also touches on practical tips for finding community, engaging with other cartoonists, and the value of stepping outside one's comfort zone to meet new people. In this episode, the hosts explore the importance of socialization for cartoonists and the healing power of art. They discuss how creative spaces can foster social interaction and the necessity of getting out of the studio.The conversation shifts to the emotional impact of art, particularly in times of personal grief, highlighting how art can provide escapism and comfort. The hosts reflect on their own experiences with art as a source of healing and the responsibility of artists to connect with their audience. In this episode, Brad Guigar and Dave Kellett discuss the significance of the arts in education and the joy of discovering new authors like John Scalzi.The show ends with discussing practical strategies for running successful Kickstarter campaigns. They emphasize the importance of understanding costs, setting realistic goals, and the potential risks of lowering funding targets. The hosts also explore the concept of urgency in crowdfunding and how to engage backers effectively, including leveraging early releases and creating special offers for supporters.TAKEAWAYSCartoonists often face loneliness in their profession.Finding a balance between solitude and socialization is crucial.Social interactions can enhance creativity and humor.Engaging with other cartoonists can provide support and inspiration.Joining groups like the National Cartoonist Society can foster connections.Participating in local meetups can improve mental health.Volunteering can introduce you to diverse perspectives.Maintaining friendships is essential for personal growth.Stepping out of your comfort zone can lead to new opportunities. Cartoonists can benefit from socializing in creative spaces.Art serves as a vital escape during tough times.Engaging with the community can enhance creativity.Walking a dog can lead to unexpected social interactions.Art can be a source of emotional healing.Creativity can be a daily practice, like brewing coffee.Comics can have a profound impact on readers' lives.Doom scrolling can be countered with engaging literature.Art can help maintain mental health and balance.Every artist contributes to the larger narrative of humanity. The arts are often undervalued in education.Discovering new authors can enhance escapism.Kickstarter strategies can significantly impact success.Setting realistic funding goals is crucial.Understanding costs is essential for Kickstarter campaigns.Lowering goals can be risky and detrimental.Project We Love may not significantly boost funding.Engaging backers early can create a sense of urgency.Special offers can incentivize early support.Learning from failed campaigns is part of the process.  You get great rewards when you join the ComicLab Community on Patreon$2 — Early access to episodes$5 — Submit a question for possible use on the show AND get the exclusive ProTips podcast. Plus $2-tier rewards.If you'd like a one-on-one consultation about your comic, book it now!Brad Guigar is the creator of Evil Inc and the author of The Webcomics Handbook. Dave Kellett is the creator of Sheldon and Drive.

NEWS - IRON HEART trailer - SUPERMAN Trailer - Jessica Jones is back! - PEACEMAKER trailer OGTW - Becker: STAR WARS: TALES OF THE UNDERWORLD - Diaz: WHEN THE MOON HITS YOUR EYE by John Scalzi, ROGUE ONE MAIN TOPIC: Despite being interrupted by thunderstorms and a tornado warning, Joe and Michael were able to take on the final three episodes of ANDOR, but was it everything that they expected? Listen and find out! And what's more, the team is curious about what you thought. Let the team know! Welcome to the Kybercast! #ANDOR #StarWars #IronHeart #Superman #JessicaJones #Peacemaker #StarWarsTalesoftheUnderworld TalesoftheUnderworld #WhenTheMoonHitsYourEye #RogueOne

As always, no spoilers until the end when we do our plot explainer and discussion.Join the Hugonauts book club on discord!Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer videoSimilar books we recommend: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas AdamsThe Murderbot Diaries by Martha WellsMonk and Robot series by Becky Chambers

No matter what we do, our kids are watching. For good or for ill, we are influencing them all the time. This week, Ryan and Crofton talk about how their parenting is going and the impressions they are leaving. But before that, Crofton recaps this year's WRESTLEMANIA and Ryan reads the latest John Scalzi book that may be a bit cheezy. All of this, a Blue Prince and more. Come listen!

NEWS - New FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS trailer - Final THUNDERBOLTS* trailer - New 28 YEARS LATER trailer - Mikey Madison turns down role in Shawn Levy SW film (w/Ryan Gosling) OGTW: - Becker: THE LAST OF US, BLACK MIRROR - Diaz: WHEN THE MOON HITS YOUR EYE by John Scalzi, ST:VOY s04, THE PITT on MAX MAIN TOPIC: After nine episodes we're here, the first season finale of DAREDEVIL: BORN AGAIN. Did they stick the landing? Michael and Joe give their takes on this first season and this finale, but what did you think? Was this show what you wanted it to be? Let the team know what you think! Welcome to the Kybercast! #DaredevilBornAgain #FantasticFourFirstSteps #Thunderbolts #28YearsLater #StarWars #TheLastofUs #BlackMirror #WhenTheMoonHitsYourEye #StarTrekVoyager #STVOY

NEWS - MURDERBOT Trailer - PREDATOR: KILLER OF KILLERS trailer (Dan Trachtenberg directed) - MAGIC THE GATHERING movie - MINECRAFT movie good? - New season of BLACK MIRROR OGTW: - Becker LOTR - Diaz: WHEN THE MOON HITS YOUR EYE by John Scalzi, LOOKING BACK anime (Amazon Prime) MAIN TOPIC: This week Joe and Michael take on penultimate episode of DAREDEVIL: BORN AGAIN and discuss that bold ending. How is this season going to wrap up? Let the team know what you think! Welcome to the Kybercast! #DaredevilBornAgain #Murderbot #PredatorKillerOfKillers #MagicTheGathering #Minecraft #BlackMirror #LOTR #WhenTheMoonHitsYourEye #StarTrekVoyager #STVOY

Hello listeners! We are back with a new series - a series where all of us are going on a journey of imagining something totally out of the world! Hop on board our rocket and get ready!Music credits - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUz1pZ_LujU, https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=A-dQSHXY4i0Don't forget to tune in next week for a new episode in this new series :)

Interview with John Scalzi about his latest book “When The Moon Hits Your Eye” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on PodQuest, we discuss our final 2000s themed book club, with Christopher Nolan's 2006 film The Prestige. After that we dive into the Switch 2 focused Nintendo Direct from April 2, 2025 and later on Walnut talks about Sonic 3. We also hear a bit about Chris' latest read The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi and besides Sonic 3, Walnut watched Daredevil Born Again, What If..., and Mid-Century Modern. Our next book club we're switching themes to decades, the first one being the 1980s. Our next pick for it is the classic 1985 film, The Breakfast Club. Timestamps 00:00:00 - Intro 00:02:10 - Agenda 00:03:10 - Book Club Discussion - The Prestige 00:18:18 - Next book club . . . 00:22:24 - Switch 2 Nintendo Direct 01:18:47 - The Kaiju Preservation Society 01:25:06 - Quick note about Switch storage 01:28:08 - Walnut watched a lot! - Daredevil Born Again, What If. . ., Mid-Century Modern, and Sonic the Hedgehog 3. 01:46:07 - Outro Support One-Quest https://www.Patreon.com/OneQuest Follow Us Email - Social@one-quest.com Twitter - @One_Quest Instagram - @One_Quest Facebook - OneQuestOnline Follow Chris on Twitter - @Just_Cobb Follow Richie on Twitter - @B_Walnuts Follow Drootin on Twitter - @IamDroot Check out Richie's streaming and videos! Twitch b_walnuts YouTube BWalnuts TikTok b_walnuts Intro and Outro music Mega Man 2 'Project X2 - Title Screen' OC ReMix courtesy of Project X over at OCRemix

This week on PodQuest, we discuss our final 2000s themed book club, with Christopher Nolan's 2006 film The Prestige. After that we dive into the Switch 2 focused Nintendo Direct from April 2, 2025 and later on Walnut talks about Sonic 3. We also hear a bit about Chris' latest read The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi and besides Sonic 3, Walnut watched Daredevil Born Again, What If..., and Mid-Century Modern.

little red book, BefuddledPanda, Cesky, and guest panelist Lammy come together to discuss (FULL SPOILERS) the upcoming new release from John Scalzi, When the Moon Hits Your Eye. With a premise of the moon turning into cheese, you know this will be a fun chat. The book released March 25, 2025.Disclaimer: Green Team received an ARC for review courtesy of NetGalley and Tor. All opinions are our own.Music: Galactic Damages by Jingle PunksDiscord: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://discord.gg/FNcpuuABlueSky: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bsky.app/profile/greenteampod.bsky.social⁠⁠⁠⁠Threads:⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.threads.net/@greenteampod⁠⁠⁠⁠ Reddit: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.reddit.com/r/thelegendarium/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

You may recognize Wil Wheaton's name from his acting work in television shows like The Big Bang Theory, Leverage, and Star Trek: The Next Generation, or 1985's timeless classic, Stand By Me. You may recognize his voice from one of the many audio books he's narrated, including number one New York Times bestseller, Ready Player One, John Scalzi's award-winning Collapsing Empire Trilogy, or even his own bestselling memoir, Still Just A Geek. Beginning on March 26th, Wil brings you It's Storytime with Wil Wheaton, a weekly audiobook podcast, featuring stories that Wil loves, pulled from the pages of Uncanny, Lightspeed, On Spec, and others. You're going to meet authors you don't yet know you love, including some who are being narrated for the very first time. Listeners will travel through time, meet some gods, watch people fall in and out of love, and more, brought to life by Wil's remarkable narrative voice. Link: https://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/itsstorytime RSS Feed: https://feeds.megaphone.fm/itsstorytime

Join hosts J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, and Jena Brown as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including stories about Oracle, TikTok, the Slush Pile, and LibGen. Then, stick around for a chat with John Scalzi!John Michael Scalzi II is an American science fiction author and former president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. He is best known for his Old Man's War series, three novels of which have been nominated for the Hugo Award, and for his blog Whatever, where he has written on a number of topics since 1998.

On this episode of Currently Reading, Meredith and Roxanna are discussing: Bookish Moments: the perfect reading experience and hearing others talk about books Current Reads: all the great, interesting, and/or terrible stuff we've been reading lately Deep Dive: how we find those hidden gem books The Fountain: we visit our perfect fountain to make wishes about our reading lives Show notes are time-stamped below for your convenience. Read the transcript of the episode (this link only works on the main site) .  .  .  .  1:43 - Our Bookish Moments Of The Week 3:24 - The Talking Scared Podcast 3:44 - Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito 3:57 - Talking Scared Podcast episode 226 5:38 - Our Current Reads 5:52 - The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon (Roxanna) 15:06 - Agatha of Little Neon by Claire Luchette (Meredith) 20:02 - Hotline by Dimitri Nasrallah 20:29 - Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery 22:29 - Ruin Road by Lamar Giles (Roxanna) 25:49 - The Getaway by Lamar Giles 26:32 - When The Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi (Meredith) 26:37 - Starter Villain by John Scalzi 26:44 - The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi 32:45 - The Baddest B*tch in the Room by Sophia Chang (Roxanna) 36:47 - The Unseen World by Liz Moore (Meredith) 37:45 - God of the Woods by Liz Moore 44:38 - Finding Hidden Gems 44:56 - The Unseen World by Liz Moore 46:56 - Get Booked Podcast 47:07 - Currently Reading website 47:27 - From the Front Porch podcast 48:08 - Canada Reads 48:12 - Australian Fiction Prize 48:14 - Nebula Awards 48:15 - Hugo Awards 48:34 - Baillie Gifford prize for non-fiction 50:03 - Ruin Road by Lamar Giles 52:40 - KJ Charles on Goodreads 55:26 - The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley 57:31 - Meet Us At The Fountain 57:40 - I wish there was a site that categorized books by places around the world. (Roxanna) 58:08 - Tripfiction.com 58:18 - Around the World in 80 books group on Goodreads 58:32 - Strong Sense of Place podcast 58:49 - Shepherd.com 59:40 - If you haven't yet, read God of the Woods by Liz Moore. (Meredith) 59:43 - God of the Woods by Liz Moore Support Us: Become a Bookish Friend | Grab Some Merch Shop Bookshop dot org | Shop Amazon Bookish Friends Receive: The Indie Press List with a curated list of five books hand sold by the indie of the month. March's IPL comes to you from our tried and true partner, An Unlikely Story in Plainville, MA. Love and Chili Peppers with Kaytee and Rebekah - romance lovers get their due with this special episode focused entirely on the best selling genre fiction in the business.  All Things Murderful with Meredith and Elizabeth - special content for the scary-lovers, brought to you with the behind-the-scenes insights of an independent bookseller From the Editor's Desk with Kaytee and Bunmi Ishola - a quarterly peek behind the curtain at the publishing industry The Bookish Friends Facebook Group - where you can build community with bookish friends from around the globe as well as our hosts Connect With Us: The Show: Instagram | Website | Email | Threads The Hosts and Regulars: Meredith | Kaytee | Mary | Roxanna Production and Editing: Megan Phouthavong Evans Affiliate Disclosure: All affiliate links go to Bookshop unless otherwise noted. Shopping here helps keep the lights on and benefits indie bookstores. Thanks for your support!

little red book, BefuddledPanda, Cesky, and guest panelist Lammy come together to discuss (spoiler free) the upcoming new release from John Scalzi, When the Moon Hits Your Eye. With a premise of the moon turning into cheese, you know this will be a fun chat. The book releases March 25, 2025.Disclaimer: Green Team received an ARC for review courtesy of NetGalley and Tor. All opinions are our own.Music: Galactic Damages by Jingle PunksDiscord: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://discord.gg/FNcpuuABlueSky: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bsky.app/profile/greenteampod.bsky.social⁠⁠⁠⁠Threads:⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.threads.net/@greenteampod⁠⁠⁠⁠ Reddit: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.reddit.com/r/thelegendarium/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Join co-hosts Adrian M. Gibson and Greta Kelly as they delve into a writing masterclass on Bringing the Funny to Sci-Fi with bestselling, award-winning author John Scalzi. During the episode, John sets up the punchline for sci-fi comedy, including what humor means to us, humor as a skill that you develop, Douglas Adams and the progression of humor in sci-fi, the marketability of humorous sci-fi, why sci-fi and comedy combine so well, deciding how to infuse humor into a story, balancing humor with drama, action, etc., character voice and comedic delivery, worldbuilding with humor in mind, the subjectivity of humor and more.NOTE: This is part two of a two-part chat with John. Click ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to check out part one.OUR SPONSOR:Transference by Ian Patterson is a near-future, sci-fi dystopia that dissects the medical/pharmaceutical industries, economic inequality, and what it means to be human in a city where diseases can be transferred.Transference is available now in eBook and paperback. Purchase it ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.SHOUTOUT TO THE 'SFF ADDICT' PATRONS:Thank you Ian Patterson, David Hopkins, Luke F. Shepherd, Christopher R. DuBois, Tai, Luke A. Winch and GavinGuile for supporting us on Patreon at $10+.SUPPORT THE SHOW:- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (for exclusive bonus episodes, author readings, book giveaways and more)- Rate and review SFF Addicts on your platform of choice, and share us with your friendsEMAIL US WITH YOUR QUESTIONS & COMMENTS:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠sffaddictspod@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ABOUT OUR GUEST:John Scalzi is the bestselling, award-winning author of the Old Man's War series, The Interdependency series and more. His latest release is When the Moon Hits Your Eye, which you can purchase ⁠here⁠.Find John on ⁠Bluesky⁠, ⁠Amazon⁠ and ⁠his personal website⁠.ABOUT OUR HOSTS:Adrian M. Gibson is a podcaster, writer and illustrator. His novel Mushroom Blues is available on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Amazon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ in all formats.Find Adrian on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Amazon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠his personal website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.Greta Kelly is the author of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Queen of Days⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, The Frozen Crown and The Seventh Queen.Find Greta on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Amazon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠her personal website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.M.J. Kuhn is the author of⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Among Thieves⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and⁠ Thick as Thieves⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.Find M.J. on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠her personal website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.FOLLOW SFF ADDICTS:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Linktree⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠MUSIC:Intro: "⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Into The Grid⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠" by MellauSFXOutro: “⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Galactic Synthwave⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠” by DivionAD ATTRIBUTION:- Music: "⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Corporate Advertising Music⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠" by SigmaMusicArt / "⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Synthetic Deception⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠" by GioeleFazzeri- Video:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Svavar Halldorsson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ /⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Gorodenkoff⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ /⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠artlab⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ /⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jacob Wackerhausen⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ /⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ FHP Animation Studio⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ /⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ SweetBunFactory⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ / ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠shivkantsharma07⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ / ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠iLexx⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ /⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ circotasu⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ /⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Astragal⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ /⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Alasabyss

Join co-hosts Adrian M. Gibson and Greta Kelly as they chat with bestselling, award-winning author John Scalzi about his new novel When the Moon Hits Your Eye, luck and career longevity, major changes in the publishing landscape, Old Man's War book 7 and writing without pressure, fandom and avoiding burnout, turning the moon into cheese, using the lunar cycle as a story structure, writing dozens of POV characters, cheese science, research, touring and much more.NOTE: This is part one of a two-part chat with John. Stayed tuned next week for her mini-masterclass on Bringing the Funny to Sci-Fi.OUR SPONSOR:Transference by Ian Patterson is a near-future, sci-fi dystopia that dissects the medical/pharmaceutical industries, economic inequality, and what it means to be human in a city where diseases can be transferred.Transference is available now in eBook and paperback. Purchase it ⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠.SHOUTOUT TO THE 'SFF ADDICT' PATRONS:Thank you Ian Patterson, David Hopkins, Luke F. Shepherd, Christopher R. DuBois, Tai, Luke A. Winch and GavinGuile for supporting us on Patreon at $10+.SUPPORT THE SHOW:- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (for exclusive bonus episodes, author readings, book giveaways and more)- Rate and review SFF Addicts on your platform of choice, and share us with your friendsEMAIL US WITH YOUR QUESTIONS & COMMENTS:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠sffaddictspod@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ABOUT OUR GUEST:John Scalzi is the bestselling, award-winning author of the Old Man's War series, The Interdependency series, The Lock In series, Redshirts, The Kaiju Preservation Society and much more. His latest release is When the Moon Hits Your Eye, which you can purchase here.Find John on Bluesky, Amazon and his personal website.ABOUT OUR HOSTS:Adrian M. Gibson is a podcaster, writer and illustrator. His debut novel, Mushroom Blues, is available on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Amazon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ in all formats.Find Adrian on⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Amazon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠his personal website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.Greta Kelly is the author of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Queen of Days⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, The Frozen Crown and The Seventh Queen.Find Greta on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Amazon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠her personal website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.M.J. Kuhn is the author of⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Among Thieves⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and Thick as Thieves⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.Find M.J. on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠her personal website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.FOLLOW SFF ADDICTS:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Linktree⁠⁠⁠⁠MUSIC:Intro: "⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Into The Grid⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠" by MellauSFXOutro: “⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Galactic Synthwave⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠” by DivionAD ATTRIBUTION:- Music: "⁠⁠⁠⁠Corporate Advertising Music⁠⁠⁠⁠" by SigmaMusicArt / "⁠⁠⁠⁠Synthetic Deception⁠⁠⁠⁠" by GioeleFazzeri- Video:⁠⁠⁠⁠ Svavar Halldorsson⁠⁠⁠⁠ /⁠⁠⁠⁠ Gorodenkoff⁠⁠⁠⁠ /⁠⁠⁠⁠artlab⁠⁠⁠⁠ /⁠⁠⁠⁠Jacob Wackerhausen⁠⁠⁠⁠ /⁠⁠⁠⁠ FHP Animation Studio⁠⁠⁠⁠ /⁠⁠⁠⁠ SweetBunFactory⁠⁠⁠⁠ / ⁠⁠⁠⁠shivkantsharma07⁠⁠⁠⁠ / ⁠⁠⁠⁠iLexx⁠⁠⁠⁠ /⁠⁠⁠⁠ circotasu⁠⁠⁠⁠ /⁠⁠⁠⁠ Astragal⁠⁠⁠⁠ /⁠⁠⁠⁠ Alasabyss

My guest and I discuss a Hugo-nominee, Old Man’s War, by John Scalzi. I haven’t been loving Scalzi’s recent books, but I loved this one. This episode includes an unedited transcript that will be updated at a later time. Spoiler talk starts at 15:24 Ways to support the podcast: Buy Me a Book/Coffee!: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/sethheasled Support Me … Continue reading "Old Man’s War, by John Scalzi (with guest Tony [redacted])"

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome John Scalzi, author of WHEN THE MOON HITS YOUR EYE. About WHEN THE MOON HITS YOUR EYE: The moon has turned into cheese. Now humanity has to deal with it. For some it's an opportunity. For others it's a moment to question their faith: In God, […] The post Episode 652-With John Scalzi appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

In this episode, Noah Smith and Erik Torenberg discuss how Ukraine has proven surprisingly resilient throughout the war by maintaining its economy and developing significant domestic drone manufacturing capabilities. He argues that "Europe is not toothless" despite America's shifting role, detailing how Europe collectively has greater manufacturing capacity than America and identifying three key reforms Europe needs: deregulating software, building energy infrastructure, and removing internal trade barriers. – SPONSORS: NetSuite More than 41,000 businesses have already upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle, the #1 cloud financial system bringing accounting, financial management, inventory, HR, into ONE proven platform. Download the CFO's Guide to AI and Machine learning: https://netsuite.com/102 AdQuick The easiest way to book out-of-home ads (like billboards, vehicle wraps, and airport displays) the same way you would order an Uber. Ready to get your brand the attention it deserves? Visit https://adquick.com/ today to start reaching your customers in the real world. Found  Found provides small business owners tools to track expenses, calculate taxes, manage cashflow, send invoices and more. Open a Found account for free at https://found.com/econ102 Incogni Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code ECON102 at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/econ102 – SEND US YOUR Q's FOR NOAH TO ANSWER ON AIR: Econ102@Turpentine.co – FOLLOW ON X: @noahpinion @eriktorenberg @turpentinemedia – RECOMMENDED IN THIS EPISODE: Noahpinion: It's time for Europe to stand up https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/its-time-for-europe-to-stand-up Book: Old Man's War by John Scalzi https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36510196-old-man-s-war – RECOMMENDED PODCAST:

This month, we read Starter Villain by John Scalzi and it was an absolute riot! This book was packed with action, hyper-intelligent spy animals, and well-placed quips. Listen in as we share our thoughts and answer your burning questions! Stay until the end to find out what our pick for February is. Find February's pick on our book shop at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bookshop.org/shop/wearedoingfine⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Send in your thoughts, questions and recommendations to wearedoingfine@gmail.com. Instagram: @wearedoingfine

This week: Robbie and Lisa celebrate 300 episodes of We're Doing Fine. We also run the gambit of news , take a look at the lighter side, and much more! We also have a special surprise guest, ask the age-old question, “Who Asked for This?”, set new weekly goals for Accountabilibuddies, AITA, and much more!   Join us for book club; this month we're reading Starter Villain by John Scalzi. Find it on our book shop at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bookshop.org/shop/wearedoingfine⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Send in your thoughts, questions and recommendations to wearedoingfine@gmail.com. TikTok: @wearedoingfine Instagram: @wearedoingfine

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Kat Kourbeti and Michael Ireland from Strange Horizons to talk about the new podcast project celebrating 25 years of the magazine: S.H.@25. S.H.@25 Links: Arkady Martine's SH@25 episode, featuring her soundscaped poem The John Scalzi interview Ootheca by Mário Coelho (with the cockroaches for teeth) Alhaji Jerry by ML […] The post Episode 649-With Strange Horizon's Kat Kourbeti and Michael Ireland appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week, Robbie and Lisa have a big catch up before discussing American Politics, the banishment of TikTok and go through our favourite bits such as Who Asked For This?, Accountabilibuddies and AITA? Join us for book club; this month we're reading Starter Villain by John Scalzi. Find it on our book shop at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bookshop.org/shop/wearedoingfine⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Send in your thoughts, questions and recommendations to wearedoingfine@gmail.com. TikTok: @wearedoingfine Instagram: @wearedoingfine

This week: Lisa is emotional and Robbie is surviving the northern winter. We rush through an avalanche of news ranging from forest fires to fascists, take a look at the lighter side, and much more! We also ask the age-old question, “Who Asked for This?”, set new weekly goals for Accountabilibuddies, AITA, and much more!   Join us for book club; this month we're reading Starter Villain by John Scalzi. Find it on our book shop at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bookshop.org/shop/wearedoingfine⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Send in your thoughts, questions and recommendations to wearedoingfine@gmail.com. TikTok: @wearedoingfine Instagram: @wearedoingfine

On this episode of Currently Reading, Kaytee and Mary are discussing: Bookish Moments: virtual reading retreats and tattoos that lead to bookish convos Current Reads: all the great, interesting, and/or terrible stuff we've been reading lately Deep Dive: how we integrate our hobbies into our reading lives The Fountain: we visit our perfect fountain to make wishes about our reading lives Show notes are time-stamped below for your convenience. Read the transcript of the episode (this link only works on the main site) .  .  .  .  2:17 - Our Bookish Moments of the Week 5:12 - @meg.al.reads on Instagram (Check her highlight called “Virtual R&R”) 8:18 - Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes 9:01 - Sarah's Bookshelves Live 10:09 - Our Current Reads 10:20 - Blood at the Root by Ladarrion Williams (Mary) 12:49 - The Marvellers by Dhonnielle Clayton 12:52 - Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston 13:41 - The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton (Kaytee) 13:48 - CR Season 1: Episode 1 13:56 - Good Morning, Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton 17:53 - The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science by Kate McKinnon (Mary) 22:20 - Peter Darling by Austin Chant (Kaytee) 26:17 - Cabin: Off the Grid Adventures with a Clueless Craftsman by Patrick Hutchison (Mary) 27:54 - Downton Shabby by Hopwood DePree 29:09 - The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal (Kaytee) 29:17 - CR Season 7: Episode 14 31:14 - Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterley 31:18 - Shoot the Moon by Isa Arsen 32:12 - @maryrobinettekowal on instagram 32:44 - Starter Villain by John Scalzi 33:27 - Deep Dive: Enjoying Hobbies While Reading 33:55 - The Princess Bride by William Goldman 34:05 - Long Dog Yarn 37:12 - Woobles 42:08 - BookBone 44:32 - @maryreadsandmakes on Instagram 48:44 - Fidget stones 50:18 - The Plan by Kendra Adachi 52:43 - Meet Us At The Fountain 52:52 - I wish we were at the stage in our home reno that I had my bookshelf back. (Mary) 54:42 - I wish for a better way to read one handed. (Kaytee) 54:54 - BookBone 56:18 - Ring kindle remote page turner Support Us: Become a Bookish Friend | Grab Some Merch Shop Bookshop dot org | Shop Amazon Bookish Friends Receive: The Indie Press List with a curated list of five books hand sold by the indie of the month. January's IPL is a special episode in partnership with All Things Murderful and a total mystery and thriller stack from Fabled Bookshop in Waco, Texas! Love and Chili Peppers with Kaytee and Rebekah - romance lovers get their due with this special episode focused entirely on the best selling genre fiction in the business.  All Things Murderful with Meredith and Elizabeth - special content for the scary-lovers, brought to you with the behind-the-scenes insights of an independent bookseller From the Editor's Desk with Kaytee and Bunmi Ishola - a quarterly peek behind the curtain at the publishing industry The Bookish Friends Facebook Group - where you can build community with bookish friends from around the globe as well as our hosts Connect With Us: The Show: Instagram | Website | Email | Threads The Hosts and Regulars: Meredith | Kaytee | Mary | Roxanna Production and Editing: Megan Phouthavong Evans Affiliate Disclosure: All affiliate links go to Bookshop unless otherwise noted. Shopping here helps keep the lights on and benefits indie bookstores. Thanks for your support!

This isn't a test, you can totally copy from our lists! Get some recommendations from our staff when we reveal our "To Be Read" lists for 2025, i.e., books we're looking forward to reading in the New Year!   The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan Moby Dick by Herman Melville The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell by Susanna Clarke Private Rites by Julia Armfield Oathbound by Tracy Denon Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett The Witcher Series The Wicked Series The Murderbot Series Who Deserves Your Love by KC Davis The Harder I Fight the More I Love You by Neko Case  Nobody's Empire by Stuart Murdoch Good Things by Samin Nosrat The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst Queen Demon by Martha Wells  When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi 

This week, Robbie and Lisa share their favourite dinosaurs, ask "Could Nessie be a plesiosaurus?" and recap the horrific start we've had to 2025. All that, and our usual Who Asked For This, Accountabilibuddies and AITA? Join us for book club; this month we're reading Starter Villain by John Scalzi. Find it on our book shop at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bookshop.org/shop/wearedoingfine⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Send in your thoughts, questions and recommendations to wearedoingfine@gmail.com. TikTok: @wearedoingfine Instagram: @wearedoingfine

Think you know where your hero's journey is headed? Think again. We're diving into the Ordeal - that gut-punch moment some people still confuse with the Climax (spoiler alert: they're not the same thing, folks). This episode had us playing cartographer through the wonderfully labyrinthine (read: headache-inducing) chapters of Christopher Vogler's The Writer's Journey. Because apparently, writing about story structure needed its own plot twists. After untangling Vogler's literary maze, we tackle the burning questions: When should your protagonist's world implode in Act Two? How do you make readers lose sleep over your crisis scene? We put our hard-earned wisdom to work by dissecting John Scalzi's Kaiju Preservation Society, proving that even giant monster books need their big moment perfectly timed.Remember, we have a Writers Process meetup every Wednesday. Check us out.

It's the ultimate matchup of retro electronic toys! Join us as we run down the bracket for this year's Christmas tournament on Enjoy Stuff!   Remember opening that cool electronic game on Christmas morning? The one that you could brag to all your cousins and would play for hours even though it was just a blinking light. Which one will take the crown for number one retro electronic game?   News Star Wars: Skeleton Crew is now streaming on Disney+ The National Toy Hall of Fame Inductees have been announced for 2024   Check out our TeePublic store for some enjoyable swag and all the latest fashion trends What we're Enjoying Jay has been spending some quality time in his old stomping grounds of California. It's been a while since he's been there, and it's nice to visit. Shua read another crazy John Scalzi series called the Dispatcher. A world where the murdered come back to life.    Sci-Fi Saturdays This week on Sci-Fi Saturdays take a look at a possible future with the 2008 Pixar classic WALL-E. It's a gorgeous look at consumption and hubris, but also redemption. He has also reviewed and analyzed the 2008 remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still. This one had a lot riding on it and fulfilled a few expectations but fell short of some others. Read his article on RetroZap.com.  And make sure to play around with the interactive map on MCULocationScout.com. Plus, you can tune in to SHIELD: Case Files where Jay and Shua talk about great stuff in the MCU. Enjoy Toys!  It's back! The Tournament of Champions for 2024 features popular retro electronic games. We pit them against sixteen each other until they are narrowed down to two. Which will claim the top spot for a place in the Enjoy Stuff Hall of Fame? What toys were you rooting for? Did any others miss the tournament? First person that emails me with the subject line, “Simon says buy me some toys” will get a special mention on the show.  Let us know. Come talk to us in the Discord channel or send us an email to EnjoyStuff@RetroZap.com   

Remember how we've occasionally side-eyed Christopher Vogler's The Writer's Journey? Well, today we fully roast this bewildering mess, starting with his "Approaching the Innermost Cave" stage, which is the part of the story where the protagonist(s) prepare to face their greatest order (Which is somehow not the story's climax... we're as confused as you are.)Despite Vogler's best efforts to perplex us all, we actually crack the code on how to prep your characters for their big adventure while keeping readers on the edge of their seats. Plus, we dissect John Scalzi's Kaiju Preservation Society to see how his characters approach their 'cave'—which isn't actually a cave at all, because you can't exactly land a helicopter in one of those. Speaking of disappointments: remember Renee wanting more action in Kaiju? She got her wish, and somehow that made it worse.Remember, we have a Writers Process meetup every Wednesday. Check us out.

Send us a textFeeling the chill in the air? So am I, as I cozy up in my revamped recording space surrounded by new autographs and a trusty bookshelf. Join me, Thomas Townley, on Multiverse Tonight as we navigate the geek universe, starting with my take on John Scalzi's audiobooks, "Starter Villain" and "Redshirts," brilliantly narrated by Wil Wheaton. DC fans, prepare for an emotional tribute with the upcoming HBO documentary on Christopher Reeve, a hero both on and off the screen. And Marvel enthusiasts, you'll want to hear why they've ditched QR codes from their comics, aiming to preserve the classic reading experience.From cosmic adventures to heartfelt farewells, the entertainment world offers plenty to discuss. Sterling K. Brown teaming up with Henry Cavill for the live-action Voltron film promises a thrilling ride for fans of the legendary franchise. Plus, mark your calendars for Valentine's Day 2025 as Paddington in Peru slides into the spotlight, promising to charm audiences anew. We also pay our respects to the beloved game show host Chuck Woolery and comedic mastermind Jim Abrahams, whose legacies leave a lasting imprint on entertainment. Tune in for a heartfelt mix of creativity, nostalgia, and a few goodbyes.Support the showThanks for listening! Come visit the podcast at https://www.multiversetonight.com/

I interview Toby Clements about his latest book “A Good Deliverance”I also review:The List of Suspicious Things by Jennie GodfreyRed Shirts by John Scalzi. Irmina by Barbara Yelin. The Fairytale Fan Club by Richard AyoadeToby recommends:The Heron's Catch by Susan CurranNiccolo Rising by Dorothy DunnettLotharingia By Simon WinderFacebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/533022350711635/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/quick_book_reviewsThreads: @quick_book_reviewsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@quickbookreviewsTwitter: https://x.com/quickbookrevie3 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

John Scalzi nous offre une petite masterclass sur le space opera ! Découvrez l'auteur du Vieil Homme et la Guerre, Supermechant Débutant, Redshirts aux éditions de L'Atalante. Hébergé par Ausha. Visitez ausha.co/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

What really happens between "accepting the call" and facing the big bad? Christopher Vogler's The Writer's Journey skims through this crucial story phase with vague talk of Tests, Allies, and Enemies. But Kim and Renee aren't settling for that. Armed with John Scalzi's Kaiju Preservation Society (and ditching those tired old Hollywood examples), they'll show you exactly how to craft a story's meaty middle. Whether that alone is enough to keep your readers hooked is up for debate.Remember, we have a Writers Process meetup every Wednesday. Check us out.

For Episode 538 of The Something Planet Podcast, titled “Bookcast 2,” host John J Murray is joined by literary enthusiasts Lauren Gray and Jerod Walker for an in-depth discussion on an eclectic mix of novels. They dive into the suspenseful worlds of If It Bleeds by Stephen King and Old Man's War by John Scalzi,...

The beginning of the end for Wordpress; open source, or not; police Cybertrucks; Apple Intelligence rolling out; dystopian AI text summaries; X sends money to the wrong bank, argues that Twitter ceased to exist; Internet Archive attacked; Instagram, Threads moderation out of control; the Penguin; Beetlejuice; Salem's Lot; Joker; Kaos cancelled; Bitcoin doc; Green Day demastered; Roblox; Megalopolis; Tesla's Cybercab; is Elon a modern PT Barnum, or worse; ham radios, HamFests, TRS-80, cameras, Disneyland and chasing the nostalgia dragon.Sponsors:DeleteMe - Head over to JoinDeleteMe.com/GOG and use the code "GOG" for 20% off.1Password Extended Access Management - Check it out at 1Password.com/grumpyoldgeeks. Secure every sign-in for every app on every device.Private Internet Access - Go to GOG.Show/vpn and sign up today. For a limited time only, you can get OUR favorite VPN for as little as $2.03 a month.SetApp - With a single monthly subscription you get 240+ apps for your Mac. Go to SetApp and get started today!!!1Password - Get a great deal on the only password manager recommended by Grumpy Old Geeks! gog.show/1passwordShow notes at https://gog.show/669FOLLOW UPJason's Threads PostMatt Mullenweg: ‘WordPress.org just belongs to me'Why WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg has gone 'nuclear' against tech investing giant Silver LakeWPEngine, Matt, Automattic & Wordpress.org megathreadWordpress.org/Matt vs WPEngine megathread, Part 2Automattic is doing open source dirtyThe Pettiest Drama in the Tech World Is Taking Place at … WordPress?DirectusCalifornia Cops Show Off Absurd New Cybertruck With Music From Terminator MoviesTeslas "nearly unusable" for police workIN THE NEWSThe first Apple Intelligence features are expected to arrive on October 28Man learns he's being dumped via “dystopian” AI summary of textsX reportedly paid its Brazil fines to the wrong bank, causing further delay in reinstatement caseX lost a court battle after trying to claim ‘Twitter ceased to exist'The Internet Archive taken down by DDoS attacksInstagram and Threads moderation is out of control - The VergeChina Joins SpaceX in Ruining Astronomy for EverybodyMEDIA CANDYThe PenguinBeetlejuice BeetlejuiceSalem's LotSalem's Lot 1979Joker: Folie à Deux Bombed—What Went Wrong?Tom Hardy, Helen Mirren, and Pierce Brosnan in Talks for Guy Ritchie's ‘Ray Donovan' Offshoot ‘The Donovans''Kaos' Canceled: Jeff Goldblum Netflix Comedy Series Won't Get Second SeasonReacher Gets Early Season 4 Renewal At Prime VideoControversial HBO Documentary Concludes Peter Todd Invented BitcoinGreen Day's Dookie has been demastered into Game Boy carts, a toothbrush and other weird formatsAmazon Seeks to Dismiss Prime Video Ad Tier LawsuitAPPS & DOODADSRoblox Is Playing Dumb About the Bots and Predators on Its Platform, Hindenburg Research SaysMeta is working to fix Threads' engagement bait problemAT THE LIBRARYConstituent Service - A Third District Story by John Scalzi and narrated by Amber BensonEarn It: Unconventional Strategies for Brave Marketers by Steve PrattPolostan: A thrilling historical epic from #1 New Yortk Times bestselling author Neal Stephenson, perfect for fans of historical fiction and espionage thrillers. (Bomb Light) Kindle Edition by Neal StephensonMists of Time: Echoes of Extinction: Book 3 by D. Ward CornellTHE DARK SIDE WITH DAVEDave BittnerThe CyberWireHacking HumansCaveatControl LoopOnly Malware in the BuildingEnable iPhone orientation lock for specific appsA Look Inside Apple's $130 USB-C CableMegalopolisTesla's Cybercab Is HereI am seriously considering getting my ham radio license. I want this, but I do not need this - stuff vs. experiencesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This episode of The Six-Figure Author Experiment features Lee and Russell discussing the power of building leverage, the long-term strategies behind creating profitable book series, and overcoming the pressures of success. They emphasize the importance of loving the writing process and staying consistent, while also balancing creative freedom with business goals. Here are the key takeaways:* Build Leverage Over Time: Success often comes after years of building a strong catalog. Russell discusses how authors like John Scalzi and Stephen King have accumulated leverage through consistent output, allowing them to release books with guaranteed sales. New writers should focus on building leverage by creating series or developing a strong mailing list to ensure future profitability.* Experiment With Different Platforms and Formats: Russell emphasizes the importance of diversifying platforms, from Kickstarter campaigns to Amazon, and even exploring webtoon formats for comics. By experimenting with different formats and audiences, writers can expand their reach and maximize potential sales.* Lighten the Pressure on New Projects: While financial success is important, both hosts recommend easing the pressure when starting a new project. Rather than focusing solely on numbers, they suggest centering your efforts on the joy of writing and trusting that profitability will follow if you remain consistent and passionate.* Understand the Importance of Series: Writing a successful book series is key to long-term income. Both hosts note that series generate consistent revenue over time, allowing authors to reinvest in riskier projects. They highlight the importance of building a catalog that readers can immerse themselves in, even long after the series' initial release.* Profitability Begins With Breaking Even: The first goal for any book, especially when launching new projects, is simply to break even. Once a book breaks even, every subsequent sale is pure profit. This mindset can reduce stress and allow authors to experiment more freely with different genres, formats, or marketing strategies.Final Thoughts: Lee and Russell encourage writers to focus on sustainable growth through building leverage, creating series, and experimenting with new platforms. By reducing the pressure of immediate success and focusing on long-term strategies, writers can create lasting careers while still enjoying the creative process. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sixfigureauthorexperiment.com

OpenAI training data, dynamic pricing & digital IDs; Elon's good week; dockworkers strike over robots averted, for now; more AI models; some AI training techniques make AI better at deceiving humans; weaponizing DMCA takedowns; Cruise fined for omitting details; Cybertruck gets FSD; EV Jeeps catching fire; Neumann back doing workspaces; COVID-19 affected the moon; the Diplomat; Wolfs; The Traitors Canada; The Rings of Power; more Prime Video ads; Juicebox quits the US; facial recognition & smart glasses; iPhone 16; cable testing; AI in education.Sponsors:1Password Extended Access Management - Check it out at 1Password.com/grumpyoldgeeks. Secure every sign-in for every app on every device.Private Internet Access - Go to GOG.Show/vpn and sign up today. For a limited time only, you can get OUR favorite VPN for as little as $2.03 a month.SetApp - With a single monthly subscription you get 240+ apps for your Mac. Go to SetApp and get started today!!!1Password - Get a great deal on the only password manager recommended by Grumpy Old Geeks! gog.show/1passwordDeleteMe - Head over to JoinDeleteMe.com/GOG and use the code "GOG" for 20% off.Show notes at https://gog.show/668FOLLOW UPGOG Swag StoreOpenAI Training Data to Be Inspected in Authors' Copyright CasesOasis opts out of Ticketmaster's dynamic pricing, calling it 'an unacceptable experience for fans'Don't ever hand your phone to the copsElon Musk claims victory after judge blocks Calif. deepfake lawElon Musk celebrates winning lawsuit over Tesla self-driving claims with embarrassing defenseIN THE NEWSU.S. Dockworkers Go on Strike Over Robots and WagesCalifornia Governor Vetoes AI Bill Aimed at Preventing Catastrophic HarmsOpenAI raises $6.6B and is now valued at $157BApple backs out of backing OpenAI, report claimsOpenAI Stamps Feet, Says Investors Aren't Allowed to Back Its RivalsMIT spinoff Liquid debuts non-transformer AI models and they're already state-of-the-artHuman Feedback Makes AI Better at Deceiving Humans, Study ShowsFamous AI Artist Says He's Losing Millions of Dollars From People Stealing His WorkGoogle Wins Lawsuit Against Scammers Who ‘Weaponized' DMCA TakedownsGM's Cruise fined $1.5 million for omitting details about its gruesome 2023 crashCybertruck Finally Gets Full Self-Driving (Supervised)A Stalled Waymo Blocked Kamala Harris's Motorcade in San FranciscoJeep recalls 194,000 plug-in hybrids due to fire risksAdam Neumann's Latest Project Is a WeWork CompetitorCOVID-19 Pandemic Affected the Moon, Scientists ClaimMEDIA CANDYCalifornia's new law forces digital stores to admit you're just licensing content, not buying itThe DiplomatWolfsThe Traitors Canada Season 2The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2Amazon will “ramp up” Prime Video ads in 2025Apple's acclaimed drama “Sugar” lands season two renewalShrinking Season 2APPS & DOODADSGoogle introduces new way to search by filming videoThe company that owns Juicebox is quitting the US market and removing all its apps and software updates.Covid Testing Lab Owner Pleads Guilty to Giving Fake Test ResultsMeta confirms it may train its AI on any image you ask Ray-Ban Meta AI to analyzeSomeone Put Facial Recognition Tech onto Meta's Smart Glasses to Instantly Dox StrangersWalk the DistanceAT THE LIBRARYConstituent Service - A Third District Story by John Scalzi and narrated by Amber BensonEarn It: Unconventional Strategies for Brave Marketers by Steve PrattPolostan: A thrilling historical epic from #1 New Yortk Times bestselling author Neal Stephenson, perfect for fans of historical fiction and espionage thrillers. (Bomb Light) Kindle Edition by Neal StephensonTHE DARK SIDE WITH DAVEDave BittnerThe CyberWireHacking HumansCaveatControl LoopOnly Malware in the BuildingC2C caberQU - USB C cable testerBLE caberQU: a digital USB-C to USB-C cable testerEthical use of AI in higher educationEthical AI for Teaching and LearningENAI Recommendations on the ethical use of Artificial Intelligence in Education - International Journal for Educational IntegrityCLOSING SHOUT-OUTSTributes paid to 'true legend' Dame Maggie Smith‘Beverly Hills Cop' actor John Ashton dead at 76 after battle with cancer‘American Pickers' star Frank Fritz dead at 60See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Science Fiction author and journalist Jon Del Arroz was canceled before being canceled was cool (2016) and sued WorldCon for banning him in 2018. He discusses author communities, latinx armor, being both marginalized and having white privilege, crowdfunding for comics, Trump Derangement Syndrome, the twist of no twist, small presses, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Neil Gaiman, John Scalzi, the noncompliant majority, the swing of the political pendulum, alien pronouns, Revelation, bringing God's kingdom on earth, Christian nationalism, and abortion vans. Cori reminisces about when science fiction was more libertarian, and Nina asks: what about the weirdos?  Links: Jon's website: https://delarroz.com/ Jon's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/jondelarroz Jon on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B01NBOZVCP Jon on Twitter: https://x.com/jondelarroz Agents of H.A.G.: https://store.ninapaley.com/product/agents-of-h-a-g-comic-book/ Compliance Comix: https://store.ninapaley.com/product/compliance-comix/ Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association: https://www.sfwa.org/ Marion Zimmer Bradley: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion_Zimmer_Bradley Wikipedia article on the Sad Puppies: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sad_Puppies Hugo Award nominees (best novel) on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Award_for_Best_Novel John Scalzi: https://whatever.scalzi.com/2013/07/16/and-now-here-i-am-in-a-regency-dress/ Nina's outdated bio (2005): https://ninapaley.com/bio.html --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/heterodorx/support

How do you shift your book's hero from their nice, cozy ordinary world into the adventure. According to Christopher Vogler in his book, The Writer's Journey, you have them answer the call. In this episode we discuss the various forms that the call stage can take, and also why, even the most willing hero must "refuse the call." To illustrate how this works in a non-movie example, we turn to John Scalzi's Kaiju Preservation Society that fulfills both these requirements in clever and witty ways.Remember, we have a Writers Process meetup every Wednesday. Check us out.

After a quick conversation with Evan about ancient history, Michael, Rob, and Pax discuss Jedi gloves, Tomb Raider, Star Trek video games, salsa, Masterpiece by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev, DC's Dark Knights of Steel event, a Ghostbusters oral history, Starter Villain by John Scalzi, Charlesgate Confidential by Scott Von Doviak, Sisters of the Neversea by Cynthia Leitich Smith, Ensign Flandry by Poul Anderson, The Space Between by Corinna Bechko and Danny Luckert, Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie, when to quit a book or TV series, and more.

The Forever War, the debut novel from US writer Joe Haldeman, was first published by St Martins Press in 1974. It was shortlisted for the Locus Award, and was awarded the Hugo and Nebula Awards as Best SF Novel of the year. It went on to become recognised as an essential classic of the science fiction field, was listed as #1 in the Gollancz Science Fiction Masterworks, and has never been out of print. On a Saturday afternoon at the recent Glasgow World Science Fiction Convention, Jonathan and Gary and a boisterous crowd of science fiction fans welcomed John Scalzi, Gay Haldeman, and Joe Haldeman to discuss the 50th Anniversary of The Forever War and why it is so beloved. Our thanks for Joe, Gay, and John for taking part, to the crowd for their support, and to the wonderful tech team from Glasgow 2024: A Worldcon for Our Futures for making the recording possible.

Our website - www.perksofbeingabooklover.com. Instagram - @perksofbeingabookloverpod Facebook - Perks of Being a Book Lover. To send us a message go to our website and click the Contact button. This week we're going “boldly where no man has gone before.” Yes–that's right into space. Books Mentioned in This Episode: 1- The Most Precious of Cargoes by Jean-Claude Grumberg 2- The Paris Affair by Maureen Marshall 3- A Five Start Read Recommended by Fellow Book Lover Stephanie Affinito @affinitolit - The Book That Matters Most by Ann Hood 4- Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card 5- Leviathan Wakes by James SA Corey 6- The Calculating Stars (Lady Astronaut Universe) by Mary Robinette Kowal 7- Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus 8- Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfar 9- Orbital by Samantha Harvey 10- The Lion of Mars by Jennifer L. Holm 11- A Rovers Story by Jasmine Warga 12- Old Man's War by John Scalzi 13- Bright Objects by Ruby Todd 14- Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir 15- A Quantum Life: My Unlikely Journey From the Street to the Stars by Hakeem Oluseyi and Joshua Horwitz Media mentioned-- 1- Constellation (Apple+, 2024) 2- Zone of Interest (HBOMax, 2023) 3- Cat Video Fest--http://www.catvideofest.com 4- For All Mankind (Apple+, 2019) 5- The Expanse (Prime Video, 2015) 6- Spaceman of Bohemia (Netflix, 2024) 7- Literature as an Olympic Sport - https://lithub.com/did-you-know-that-poetry-used-to-be-an-actual-olympic-sport/

With the Glasgow WorldCon just around the corner, Gary and Jonathan turn their attention to plans for the event. In addition to panel appearances, there'll be a special live recording of The Coode Street Podcast where we are joined by Joe Haldeman, Gay Haldeman, and John Scalzi to discuss 50th anniversary of the publication of The Forever War. Since rambling is unavoidable, there is also a brief discussion of how newer readers discover older SFF texts and writers, both in terms of short fiction and novels, anthologies like The Science Fiction Hall of Fame and Dangerous Visions series (which has been in the news because of the much-delayed publication of  The Last Dangerous Visions,) as well as single-author collections like Harlan Ellison's Greatest Hits. That somehow leads to a chat about how reputations are made and sustained, and Gary and Jonathan touch upon a number of contemporary writers—but you'll have to listen in order to find out which ones.

On this episode of Currently Reading, Kaytee and Mary are discussing: Bookish Moments: book recs that land with non readers and Kaytee meeting an octopus! Current Reads: all the great, interesting, and/or terrible stuff we've been reading lately Deep Dive: how we recommend books to readers outside our own wheelhouses The Fountain: we visit our perfect fountain to make wishes about our reading lives Show notes are time-stamped below for your convenience. Read the transcript of the episode (this link only works on the main site) .  .  .  .  .  Season 6, Episode 45 1:27 - Our Bookish Moments of the Week 1:50 - Happy Place by Emily Henry 6:52 - Our Current Reads 6:59 -  Ready or Not by Cara Bastone (Mary) 10:41 - Secrets of the Octopus by Sy Montgomery (Kaytee) 10:50 - The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of the Whole Stupid World by Matt Kracht (Fabled link, not available on Bookshop) 11:14 - Secrets of the Whales by Brian Skerry 11:16 - Secrets of the Elephants by Paula Kahumbu and Claudia Geib 11:33 - The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery 13:45 - Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh (Mary) 15:51 - Boswell Books 16:55 - Coyote Lost and Found by Dan Gemeinhart (Kaytee) 17:01 - The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart 17:13 - Draco Malfoy and the Mortifying Ordeal of Being In Love by isthisselfcare 22:25 - The Wedding People by Alison Espach (Mary) 25:51 - Drowning by T.J. Newman (Kaytee) 25:57 - Falling by T.J. Newman 26:02 - CR Season 5: Episode 41 30:12 - Deep Dive: How To Recommend Books Outside Your Wheelhouse 32:21 - A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman 32:23 - Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gayle Honeycutt 36:24 - This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel 36:30 - The Guncle by Steven Rowley 36:44 - Starter Villain by John Scalzi 36:46 - Dark Matter by Blake Crouch 36:52 - Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree 39:31 - What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty 39:55 - All The Lonely People by Mike Gayle 41:19 - Breathless by Amy McCulloch 41:43 - The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer 44:29 - Drowning by T.J. Newman 48:55 - Meet Us At The Fountain 48:59 - I wish people would give slow and steady reading a try. (Mary) 49:35 - Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon 51:30 - I wish everyone would keep a readerly profile. (Kaytee) Support Us: Become a Bookish Friend | Grab Some Merch Shop Bookshop dot org | Shop Amazon Bookish Friends Receive: The Indie Press List with a curated list of five books hand sold by the indie of the month. June's IPL comes to us from our anchor store Schuler Books in West Bloomfield, Michigan. All Things Murderful with Meredith and Elizabeth - special content for the scary-lovers, brought to you with the special insights of an independent bookseller From the Editor's Desk with Kaytee and Bunmi Ishola - a quarterly peek behind the curtain at the publishing industry The Bookish Friends Facebook Group - where you can build community with bookish friends from around the globe as well as our hosts Connect With Us: The Show: Instagram | Website | Email | Threads The Hosts and Regulars: Meredith | Kaytee | Mary | Roxanna Affiliate Disclosure: All affiliate links go to Bookshop unless otherwise noted. Shopping here helps keep the lights on and benefits indie bookstores. Thanks for your support!

We begin our walk through the 2024 nominees for Best Novel from the Hugo and Nebula Awards. First up: “Starter Villain” by John Scalzi, “Translation State” by Ann Leckie, and “Witch King” by Martha Wells. Jason Snell with Erika Ensign, Aleen Simms, Scott McNulty and Heather Berberet.