Podcasts about Wiscon

With special guests Ross Hightower and Deborah Hein! The Last Dangerous Visions is almost here! James Earl Jones gets poured a Cold One. Strange happenings within the GenCon Writers' Symposium. Report from Argren Faire, and something big is happening for Wiscon in '25. Plus a word from our "sponsor."

It seems like a lot of shows are good at keeping us waiting. That's the case with HBO's "House of the Dragon," which just wrapped its second season — with a cliffhanger, of course — and the third season likely won't be back until 2026. The first season premiered in 2022, so it looks like we're on pace for the fourth and final season to come in 2028. Co-host Terry Lipshetz gives his thoughts on the series after he and Bruce Miller talk about the ongoing Olympics in Paris, and also shares his frustration over shows taking too much time between seasons. While AppleTV+ has a second season of "Silo" coming soon, there are much larger gaps for upcoming second seasons for "Shrinking" and "Severance." Bruce also talks about the new movie from M. Night Shyamalan, "Trap," and the mixed success the director has had from the breakout "The Sixth Sense" to the more disappointing "The Happening." We also preview James Cameron's latest project, "OceanXplorers," which is coming to National Geographic on Aug. 18. The miniseries will feature six episodes and the latest project for the Oscar-winning "Titanic" director. Bruce has an interview with Aldo Kane and Eric Stackpole, who talk about the series. Contact us! We want to hear from you! Email questions to podcasts@lee.net and we'll answer your question on a future episode! About the show Streamed & Screened is a podcast about movies and TV hosted by Bruce Miller, a longtime entertainment reporter who is now the editor of the Sioux City Journal in Iowa and Terry Lipshetz, a senior producer for Lee Enterprises based in Madison, Wiscon

For two weeks every four years, we find ourselves watching sports we'd never otherwise watch. On this week's episode, co-hosts Bruce Miller and Terry Lipshetz talk about the 2024 Paris Olympics, including the opening ceremonies, the storytelling, gymnastics and swimming, and all the celebrities. Bruce also offers his review of "Deadpool & Wolverine," and Terry, who is typically anti-Marvel Universe, promises he'll give it a shot. Terry also shares his thoughts on the new HBO Sports miniseries "Charlie Hustle & The Matter of Pete Rose" as well as "Hard Knocks: Offseason with the New York Giants." Contact us! We want to hear from you! Email questions to podcasts@lee.net and we'll answer your question on a future episode! About the show Streamed & Screened is a podcast about movies and TV hosted by Bruce Miller, a longtime entertainment reporter who is now the editor of the Sioux City Journal in Iowa and Terry Lipshetz, a senior producer for Lee Enterprises based in Madison, Wiscon

This week on Look Forward, Jay and Brad return to discuss the House Republicans, led by Kevin McCarthy and at the behest of former president Donald Trump, opening up an impeachment inquiry into current POTUS Joe Biden, Marjorie Taylor Greene is battle with other GOP members in the House on whether she was the one who pushed McCarthy into starting the impeachment inquiry, Trump's co-conspirators in the Georgia case just keep losing motions to severe or move cases to the federal court system, Wiscon's GOP is planning on impeaching a judge because she might knock down their gerrymandered maps, Why are Republicans so enamored by Trump?, Elon Musk commits some serious crimes while titling his hand towards Russia in their war with Ukraine via Starlink, and much more!StoriesRepublicans begin the impeachment process for Joe BidenMTG wants us to know how much she sucksNo severance, no move to Federal CourtWisconsin GOP is going to try to impeach a state Supreme Court justice before she hears a single caseElon Musk uses his ownership of Starlink to try and turn the tide of war for RussiaThis show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5941717/advertisement

News from Chengdu, the Westfahl Awards (?), Nnedi Okorafor gets poured a Cold One, Charter for the Milwaukee Falcon, Bogus Commercials, Agent 770, and the Summit Meeting at this year's Wiscon for the Milwaukee Falcon.

"Live" from Wiscon! (And future plans for Wiscon) Tananarive Due will Visit Milwaukee, Sunday, June 25th, at 7:00 pm, North Shore Library! Come visit! The Stupid Files, History Banner, Agent 770, and panel from Wiscon, recorded for your benefit.  

Updates on my travels, including WisCon and thoughts on being laid-back at cons instead of wall-to-wall. Also, trends in traditional publishing and speculation on why they all seem to want full manuscripts. ROGUE FAMILIAR out now! https://jeffekennedy.com/rogue-familiarRead the Falling Under books  in Kindle Unlimited! https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C1ZMDW1YJoin my Patreon and Discord for mentoring, coaching, and conversation with me! Find it at https://www.patreon.com/JeffesClosetIf you want to support me and the podcast, click on the little heart or follow this link (https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/jeffekennedy).Sign up for my newsletter here! (https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/r2y4b9)You can watch this podcast on YouTube here https://youtu.be/yuZ5rhAbGQgSupport the showContact Jeffe!Tweet me at @JeffeKennedyVisit my website https://jeffekennedy.comFollow me on Amazon or BookBubSign up for my Newsletter!Find me on Instagram and TikTok!Thanks for listening!

Starting June 11th, the Madison Metro bus system, as you know it, will change.  Metro bus routes, bus stops and bus numbers will be different. It's all part of the plan to move people across town faster and make way for the new Bus Rapid Transit system. Madison hopes new express buses in dedicated lanes will make transit easier, faster, and more reliable. That's coming next year. But first, they're redesigning all of the regular bus routes. We talk to City of Madison transit planner Mike Chechvala about what's happening very soon. 

Special Interview With Marissa Lingen! An evening with Shatner at the Pabst Theater. Chengdu Worldcon website went down. ChatGPT tells us a story.  WisCon is taking a break in 2024. And we're starting up a con to fill the gap! The Stupid Files investigates the mistreatment of Ochenogowe Donald Ekpeki.

The Illini win their 6th straight against Wisconsin 61-51 at the Kohl Center. Mike Carpenter and Brian Hanson react during the 2nd half in which a 12-point Illinois lead evaporated, only to be followed by a 17-2 run to put the game away. Matthew Mayer had 26 and Jayden Epps added 13, as Brad Underwood's team is now tied for 4th in the Big Ten.

Special interview with Ana Michelle! Where have I been? Poland petitions Chengdu regarding Sergei Lukanyenko. Proposed merger between Simon & Schuster and Penguin Randomhouse is struck down. Locus has a fundraiser. We pour a Cold One in honor of Greg Bear, who passed away in November. A recap of Windycon. Upcoming conventions: Midwinter Gaming Convention, Anime Milwaukee, Wiscon. UFO Days in Belleville, WI. A call for all Wisconsin Trekkies to join Starfleet, the International Fan Association, and sign on to the USS Wisconsin, NCC 74915.  

Last week Bill went up north to play some golf, this week it's Kris' turn! First, Bill has lost his mojo with his driver and is hoping a little time off will fix things. Then, Kris waxes poetic about one of his favorite places on earth, Lawsonia Golf Links. He talks about the two golf courses, Woodlands and the Links, a couple of new gambling games he learned how to play, and the Lawsonia delicacy known as Wiscon-chos, a.k.a., Wisconsin Nachos.

Special interview with Dan Schiro! Locus Award winniers and Wiscon makes Locus and Octothorpe. Farewell salute to Somerville Dan. Lake Geneva Beachside Authorfest and Red Letter Media does Kenobi. Robbie the Robot gets poured a Cold One.

La Tierra, Zona Industrial del Gran Chicago, 10 de agosto de 2524 Cuando Avery despertó, ya estaba en casa. Chicago, el antiguo corazón del medio oeste estadounidense, era ahora una exten- sión urbana que cubría los antiguos estados de Illinois, Wiscon- sin e Indiana. El territorio no era parte de los Estados Unidos, no en ningún sentido formal. Algunas personas que vivían en la Zona todavía se consideraban estadounidenses, pero al igual que todos los demás habitantes del planeta eran ciudadanos de las Naciones Unidas, un cambio radical en el gobierno que fue inevitable una vez que la humanidad comenzó a colonizar otros mundos. Primero Marte, luego las lunas jovianas, y luego los pla- netas de otros sistemas. Al revisar su tableta de comunicaciones en el transbordador militar desde la órbita hasta el Puerto Espacial de los Grandes Lagos, Avery confirmó que tenía un pase de dos semanas, por lo que podría disfrutar de su primer descanso prolongado de la operación TRABUQUETE. Había una nota en el pase del coman- dante de Avery detallando las heridas sufridas por los marines en su última misión. Todo el escuadrón alfa de Avery había so- brevivido con heridas menores. Pero el escuadrón bravo no ha- bía tenido tanta suerte; tres marines habían muerto en acción (KIA), y el Sargento de Estado Mayor Byrne pendía de un hilo en una nave hospital del UNSC.

Special interview with Chris M. Barkley! Deep dive into the Mercedes Lackey gaff at SFWA conference and the Stephanie Burke incident at Balticon. Willem DaFoe parties it up with Carrie's aunt & uncle. WisCon is saved! We are "Suffwagettes!" (Thanks Henry Lien!)

Direct From WisCon! Non-Violence In Science Fiction & Fantasy Recorded on site during the 45th WisCon, Madison, Wisconsin. Featuring: Erika Malinoski, Tony Reeves, Amy Fox, Kate Woodard, Daniel Percival, & Kal Bachus.

Special interview with Alan Lastufka! Eric rants about Picard: Season 2. PKD Award winner announced, BSFA Awards announced, Nebula Awards coming up, Willem DaFoe addresses UWM, and Wiscon is coming up. Oh, boy, troll websites went down (and other trollish things). Barry B. Longyear gets poured a cold one.

What does governance look like when it aligns with the ground truths of nature? How does culture change? What models exist? Hosted by Kirsten Schwind, co-founder/Director of Bay Localize. With: Jessie Lerner, Executive Director, Sustain Dane in Madison, Wiscon- sin, a state with eco-municipalities based on Sweden's model; Trathen Heckman, Board President, Transition U.S., founder of Daily Acts.

Season Three, Episode 1: Suicide, Silence, And What Comes Next In today’s episode I get to reconnect with R.R. Campbell, also known as Ryan Campbell. I can honestly say that this was one of my favorite conversations I have ever had while podcasting, and Ryan may very well be quickly becoming one of my favorite human beings. Our conversation starts with the power of words and what we should and shouldn’t say when discussing suicide and mental health issues. I am not a fan of tip-toe-ing around word choice and diction, because I believe intentions matter more. Ryan and I discuss what happens in the aftermath of a parent’s suicide attempt, the power of humor to get us through tough situations, and how to move forward after someone you love takes their own life. Spoiler alert: throwing yourself into your work – no matter how passionately you feel about your work – is just another form of escapism and/or addiction. Ryan (R.R.) Campbell is an International Book Awards finalist, the Craft Development Chair for the Wisconsin Writers Association, and the founder of the Writescast Network. His published novels include Accounting for It All and Imminent Dawn, which debuted as the number one new release for its genre on Amazon. Its sequel, Mourning Dove, is now available in print and ebook with most major retailers. Ryan has also been an instructor for the University of Wisconsin Continuing Studies in Writing program. He has been an invited speaker at conferences and seminars including the University of Wisconsin Writers’ Institute, Write by the Lake, UntitledTown, Lakefly Writers Conference, WisCon, and Great River Writes. His short-form fiction has been featured in Five:2:One Magazine’s #thesideshow, among others. Ryan lives in Stoughton, Wisconsin with his wife, Lacey, where they co-own and operate Kill Your Darlings Candle Company, which makes candles for the wordsmiths of the world. Ryan’s newest book, And Ampersand: Short Stories on Endings and Beginnings (of a Sort) is available for preorder at www.books2read.com/andampersand. You can find more about Ryan at ryanrcampbell.com Twitter: @iamrrcampbell Instagram: @iamrrcampbell Facebook: facebook.com/iamrrcampbell --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/neuroticnourishment/support

Back the Mermaids Monthly Kickstarter!   We Make Books is hosted by Rekka Jay and Kaelyn Considine; Rekka is a published author and Kaelyn is an editor and together they are going to take you through what goes into getting a book out of your head, on to paper, in to the hands of a publisher, and finally on to book store shelves. We Make Books is a podcast for writers and publishers, by writers and publishers and we want to hear from our listeners! Send us your questions, comments, and concerns! We hope you enjoy We Make Books! Twitter: @WMBCast  |  @KindofKaelyn  |  @BittyBittyZap Instagram: @WMBCast  Patreon.com/WMBCast   Julia's Links: Their Website: juliarios.com @omgjulia @mermaidsmonthly Back the Mermaids Monthly Kickstarter!   Episode Transcript (created by Rekka, blame her for any errors) Rekka (00:00:00):Welcome back to another episode of We Make Books, a podcast about writing, publishing, and everything in between. I'm Rekka. I write science fiction and fantasy as RJ Theodore. Kaelyn (00:00:09):I'm Kaelyn Considine. I am the acquisitions editor for Parvus Press. Rekka (00:00:13):And this episode is a little light on the Kaelyn this week. Kaelyn (00:00:18):Yeah. we had this this great interview set up with Julia Rios and I missed it because I I ended up in the hospital the day before we were supposed to record the interview and that's Um interviews are a lot of fun, but unfortunately it's different than when it's just Rekka and I recording and she can say, okay, well just do this when you get home. So I I felt bad, I had to, didn't give Rekka that much notice she had to fly solo on this one. Rekka (00:00:47):Yeah, it worked out okay. Julia is a great person. Julia Rios is a queer Latinx writer, editor, podcaster, and narrator whose fiction, non-fiction, and poetry have appeared in Latin American Literature Today, Lightspeed and Goblin Fruit, among other places. Their editing work has won multiple awards, including the Hugo award. Julia is a co-host of This Is Why We're Like This, a podcast about the movies we watch in childhood that shape our lives, for better or for worse. They're also one of several co-hosts for the Skiffy and Fanty Show, a general SF discussion podcast, and they've narrated the stories for Escape Pod, PodCastle, Pseudopod, and Cast of Wonders. And it was the editing work that had us reach out to Julia this time specifically editing anthologies, which Kaelyn brought to me as a concept for an episode. And I was like, "Hey, we can bring someone else on. Cause you said you wanted to do more interviews." Kaelyn (00:01:38):Yeah. And we got this one lined up and then I missed it. Yeah. Rekka (00:01:43):Well at least I had someone to talk to. It could have been a rambly, messy, nothing, if it'd just been me. Kaelyn (00:01:50):Yeah. So anthologies are you know, something that I think a lot of writers see constantly, especially if you're active in social media, there's something that you're just constantly coming across, but they're a different kind of intimidating than a regular novel or short story submission. It's a different process. So I thought doing an episodeum it's actually gonna be two episodes now—on anthologies would be a nice topic to cover. So it was, you know, I, I wasn't on this episode, but I will say it was great that someone could come on and talk to us about this that actually has experience doing this. Rekka (00:02:31):And then I threw Kaelyn the rough cut so she could listen while she was in the hospital to see if she wanted to have another conversation, if I covered everything or—and obviously I failed because we're going to talk about it one more time. Kaelyn (00:02:42):Oh no, no, we're gonna, we're gonna talk about some different some different stuff. I can't, I can't let you have all of the fun with the anthropologies without me, Rekka (00:02:50):Julia. The reason that I reached out to them this time was because, well, I've always wanted to have them on the podcast—cause you know, in your mind, when you have a podcast, there's always a list of people you want to talk to. So this one got me the chance to shoot Julia up to the head of the line because Julia is currently, right this very minute, get excited, running a Kickstarter to support basically a year long anthology. And the anthology is themed entirely around mermaids. And you'll get to hear Julia's explanation of why that happened that way in the episode. So I won't go too far into it. Kaelyn (00:03:27):As if you need an explanation for mermaids. Rekka (00:03:30):Julia provides an excuse to write your mermaid story, the mermaid story of your heart, and then send it to them. So of course, first they need their Kickstarter campaign to be successful. So make sure that while you're listening to this episode, you also go to MermaidsMonthly.com and that will lead you to the Kickstarter page. So you can back that act fast, because. Yeah. Kaelyn (00:03:53):Yeah. I was going to say, when does the Kickstarter end? Rekka (00:03:56):The Kickstarter ends on December 12th. So act fast. You have the rest of the week, if you're listening to this on, you know, the week it comes out. And if you are catching up after the fact, cross your fingers and go check that URL and we'll see, we'll see what happens. Kaelyn (00:04:14):This is actually an excellent reminder for me, because I haven't gone to the Kickstarter yet. So— Rekka (00:04:18):[GASP]. Kaelyn (00:04:18):I know. Rekka (00:04:19):Go to the Kickstarter, Kaelyn! Kaelyn (00:04:22):I was in the hospital! Rekka (00:04:22):What! That's no excuse. You had plenty of free time just sitting in that room by yourself. Kaelyn (00:04:25):Yeah, but, like, you know what hospital wi-fi is like. Rekka (00:04:28):Yeah, I do. Okay. Sorry. So so yes, everyone, including Kaelyn immediately, while you listen to the music. Kaelyn (00:04:35):I'm actually going to just drop off this intro right now, so I can go over there and check out the kickstarter. Rekka (00:04:40):Good. All right. So while we listen to the music, go to MermaidsMonthly.com support this anthology because as you're about to hear it is extremely cool and extremely well-conceived. And it is in the hands of an excellent editor who has put together a team of people that they know can, you know, pull all this off and do it in a really, really cool way. So here comes the music. Here comes Julia Rios, and you are already at Kickstarter. I know it, so good for you back that shit and let's let's see this happen. Rekka (00:05:28):Okay, I am here today with Julia Rios, who is a personal acquaintance of mine. I would go so far as to say friend, and it's good to have you on the podcast, finally. I was searching for an excuse honestly, to invite you on. And then Kaelyn came up with this idea of, "Hey, let's talk about anthologies because they are a beast of their own when it comes to pretty much every aspect of them." So I said, "Hey, speaking of themed collections of writing, you know, I know somebody who might want to talk about that right now." So why don't I have you introduce yourself? You know, we gave your, your formal bio in the intro, but you know, what's, what's on your mind these days and and where is it taking you? Julia Rios (00:06:18):Right. Well, I think so talking about the theme of anthologies, I am a writer, editor, podcaster, and narrator. So I've done lots of different things in different ways. And I have edited anthologies in the past. I edited, Kaleidoscope: Diverse YA Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories. And then I did anthology editing for three different years, best YA volumes. So those were reprint anthologies, which is also yet another different beast than themed anthologies that are original stories. And now I am working on a project called Mermaids Monthly, which is technically a magazine, but it's more of an anthology project in that it's only running for one year and probably there's gonna be a book at the end of it, collecting all the contents. It's very themed. It's not a general call. So it's, it's even more highly themed than for instance, Kaleidoscope Diverse YA. Julia Rios (00:07:11):Cause that was basically any science fiction and fantasy. That was YA as long as the protagonist came from a background that wasn't the default straight, Cis, white, et cetera. I also did edit, I was a guest editor for the Cast of Wonders, which is a podcast, why a magazine sort of thing. But every year they do a banned books week episode, or series of episodes. So it's for the full week. And that's basically an anthology editing gig as well, where you're editing, you're selecting stories based on the theme that are, in the case of the one that I edited, it was censorship turns out the lights, like let's, let's turn the lights on and see what happens. And so it was very much like, "okay, tell me for banned books weeks, what stories you have that are science fiction and fantasy that have to do with censorship and with like subverting censorship." So that's, that's the kind of different areas of, of podcast and magazine and book anthology editing that I have done or that I am currently doing. All of them were different formats because when you're doing it for a book it's different than when you're doing it for audio and it's different than when you're doing it for something that's going to be serialized. Rekka (00:08:35):Right. Right. And the difference between just the, like the nuance between those three different that you listed is even more than I was thinking about, you know, because— as soon as I invited you on it, it was like, you were going to talk about mermaids. This is gonna be so cool. And and I'm thinking about like the specificity of a magazine about mermaids and you're right. Like an anthology that has a theme can still be a very broad theme where that's open to a lot of interpretation. And I would imagine that you'd even invite people to open "mermaids" to a lot of interpretation, but it's like if I was going to, and I, and I don't mean this to like downplay the mermaid theme because there's, there's a lot of cultural and historical, you know, genre kind of stuff going on with mermaids. But like if I had an anthology, where I was like, "every story has to have an apple pie in it," you know, like that could be really, really broad if, as long as there's an apple pie in it, it can be about anything you want, you know? But would you say that, and we'll get more into the Mermaids Monthly specifically later, but like, are you, are you looking for like, no, I want to center the mermaid or you, you think you want, like, "I don't know. What does mermaid make you want to write?" Julia Rios (00:09:58):Yeah. Okay. So this is something that we've talked about a lot. So I'm working on mermaids monthly with Meg Frank, who is an artist and also has a background in marketing. Rekka (00:10:06):And may or may not be a mermaid themselves. Julia Rios (00:10:09):Yeah. They may be a mermaid, it's entirely possible. So we've, we've kind of conceived this as what I originally, my first idea, this, the whole reason Mermaids Monthly exists is because I've been editing professionally for, I think eight years now, seven years now, some long time anyway. And many times when I'm on panels at conventions, or if I'm teaching a class, people will ask me, "Do editors really have to reject stories they actually like? Does that ever actually happen?" Because I think people tell writers like, "don't feel bad. It doesn't mean your story isn't good." And then writers are like, "well then why would you possibly reject a story that is good?" Rekka (00:10:49):Right. Julia Rios (00:10:50):And it does happen. It happens so often. And it's, it's heartbreaking because as an editor, you don't want to have to reject stories that are good. And also like, as an editor, I know. I'm also a writer. I know how awful it is to be rejected. I don't want to have to tell people like, "Hey, I know you spent a huge amount of time and poured your soul into writing this thing, but guess what? I'm not gonna take it." Rekka (00:11:13):Yeah. Julia Rios (00:11:14):But that's part of the job. So it's an unfortunate side effect of the cool things that you get to do. But one of the reasons why stories that are good can get rejected, and it's not the only reason, is that if you're editing something for a non-themed thing, if you're like a general magazine or a general arm of a publishing company that is not specifically highly themed, you can take one item that is similar. So you could take like one mermaid story and that's fine. You can maybe take two and get away with it. The second you take three of those things, you run the risk of becoming "that mermaid magazine." Rekka (00:11:56):Right. Julia Rios (00:11:58):Or like "that imprint that only publishes mermaid books." Rekka (00:12:02):Hey, you know, some people want that, but it does. There are reasons why publishers don't want to do that. Julia Rios (00:12:08):Like there are some places where that's that's appropriate. This is fine. I would always like end this with, "this is fine if you're Mermaids Monthly, but it's not so great if you're Strange Horizons," which has no stated theme except for science fiction and fantasy. Rekka (00:12:23):Right. Julia Rios (00:12:23):And it's like, "I'm not Mermaids Monthly. So I can't take more than a couple mermaid stories." Rekka (00:12:29):Unless... Julia Rios (00:12:29):"Unless, what if I am Mermaids Monthly and I can, and all I do is mermaids for awhile?" So I originally thought I was just going to do some, you know, take, take stories for a while and do one year of mermaids. And then when I brought it up with Meg, we started talking and, and what grew out of this was something bigger and more visual than I was originally expecting because Meg's background is in art and that there is so much cool mermaid art. So we're going to have comics, we're going to have illustrations, we're going to have all kinds of little visual cues that are mermaid involved as well. And that's different from most of the other end biologies that I've done, because most of the other ones that I've done, haven't had illustrations. They have like cover art and that's it. Rekka (00:13:16):Yeah, yeah. Even, even some of the magazines that go further with artwork still have like a full bleed illustration that either separate sections or just, you know, is for the titles that they think are going to be the most impactful. Julia Rios (00:13:35):Yeah. Yeah. And I think that this is going to be much more integrated. We have one bonus issue that's already come out. And so you can kind of get a sense of it because it has one comic and it has a few poems and Meg has done some sort of interstitial art bits. So you can see that it sort of does incorporate that visual art element all throughout, which is great because mermaids is such a visual theme and like under sea life. So that's very cool, and that's one of the things that I've been thinking about, like how, how different this will be is that it really does then affect everything. When we made our submissions guidelines, I realized like we were going to have separate art and prose guidelines. And we realized that we couldn't do that because, because it was also intertwined, we just needed everybody to send us stuff at the same time so that we could consider all of it together. Rekka (00:14:24):And so that's one thing, you know, stepping back from the specific anthology or, you know, anthology year of magazine— it needs its own name because you're doing so many really cool things with it that like, it, it doesn't, it's not fair to call it either magazine or anthology. Julia Rios (00:14:43):I do think it's fair to call it anthology. When you think about the idea of a TV series can be an anthology. You can have a collection of, for instance, like Amazing Stories or the Twilight Zone is considered an anthology. Rekka (00:14:56):Right. Julia Rios (00:14:57):All it means is that you're collecting things of a similar type that aren't necessarily individually related to each other, but are related to a larger theme. Rekka (00:15:05):Right. So when you are the editor for an anthology, you're not always going to be completely autonomous with regard to the project itself. So I'm wondering how, as you see the submissions come in and you may also not get to be the art director on the artwork for them. So this is, this is very different from what you're working on, which is so exciting. (I'm, I'm going to say that like, over and over and over during this episode.) But you do have control, usually, over the stories that you accept. So what kinda goes through your mind as you create a call for an anthology, and then, you know, the world being what it is, you might get stories that have nothing to do with what you were anticipating getting. How do you like assemble these? Like what goes through your mind as you assemble these things into a single work, that's going to have your name on it? Julia Rios (00:16:13):That's a really great question. And I think that one of the things that has been true for me is that when I'm doing something for a theme and I'm thinking about it something that might happen is I get something that I love that is a surprise to me that I wouldn't have thought of myself, and that can become sort of a pillar and, together with a few other things, they can kind of hold together the theme and be sort of like different poles—if you imagine the whole theme is like a tent and they have different poles at different points. And then the overall thing kind of like folds over everything and drapes there. And I think that what I usually find when I'm coming to coming up with an anthology type thing, is that I know I have a set length that I'm ultimately aiming at. So I know that there has to be a balance within that length and that if I get a few things that are different from each other, or a few things that are very similar to each other that are going to be the tent poles that hold it up, then I can kind of build around that to create the balance based on those things. Rekka (00:17:24):Okay. Okay. That's interesting. So when you say you're limited to a length, we're talking about like the total word count because the authors are being paid per word, and there's a budget for what the content is going to cost. Julia Rios (00:17:37):Yeah. And it's not just because of that. It can be because of a budget, but it can also be because that's the length, the physical length of a physical book, that you want to in someone's hands. Cause like if you buy 200,000 words, it's going to be a much thicker, heavier book. Rekka (00:17:56):Yeah. Julia Rios (00:17:57):Than if you buy 100,000 words. Rekka (00:17:59):Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, at 100,000 words, you're wondering how you're going to fit everything on the spine. At 200,000 words, you're like, "should I throw some illustrations on the spine? This thing is enormous. What do I do with all this space? Maybe I'll put a recipe here. I don't know." yeah. So when, so when you, aren't the conceptual, you know, creator of the anthology, like if someone says, I want to have an anthology based on this topic, but I want to find an editor that is going to do it justice, and I decide that's not me. How do you work with the person who brings you the anthology? Julia Rios (00:18:39):That's interesting. So I think that anytime I've been hired by someone else to do an anthology, either I've worked with them... So in the case of Kaleidoscope, my co-editor was the publisher, Alisa Krasnostein. Alisa Krasnostein is an Australian publisher of a small press called 12th Planet Press. And basically she heard me on a recording of a panel that I had been on at WisCon about dystopian YA and like how heteronormative it is. And she was like, "would you like to work with me? And we could do an anthology of like dystopian YA." And that was her original pitch. And I was like, "I would love to work with you. This sounds fun. I think we should make it not limited to queer or dystopian." And so like, then we ended up with this idea of like diverse YA science fiction and fantasy. So it was a very broad thing, which meant that... I realized at that point that if we were going to do a very, very narrow theme, that it would end up feeling, to me, like a lot of the same story over and over again, queer YA dystopian is a very narrow theme. And I like to kind of play around a little bit more. So we talked to each other until we kind of came up with something that worked for both of us. And she got really excited about, you know, including other kinds of diversity as well, and including other kinds of stories. And we came up with an anthology that was a really lovely anthology with a lot of great stories and that were all very different and that was okay, because they could be very different and still fit with the broader theme. Julia Rios (00:20:14):So that's one example of what happened was, basically I talked with the person and was co-editing, but in another instance, like for instance when I did the banned books week for Cast Of Wonders, they, they know that they want to do a banned books week showcase every year, and they usually get someone to guest edit it. So they asked me if I would like to be that editor. And they told me what they generally wanted, which was, it has to fit with this "censorship turns out the lights leaves us in the dark let's turn on the lights." And then they said, "basically, you know, here's the budget that you have, you make it work." And so I'm like, you know, they were like, "we want at least X amount of episodes. So it has to be a mixture of like short stories and flash and whatever, but like here, here, you can have this submissions pile and you can do what you want with it." Julia Rios (00:21:09):And I did have access to their first reader team and I did actually talk to their first readers. So if their first readers really loved something, I would take that into account. And I think that's generally my experience, anytime I'm editing with a team, I will definitely talk to other members of the team, and if something hasn't grabbed me on first read, but it's really grabbed some other people, I'll then take more time to consider it cause, obviously things work differently for different people, and just because something hasn't grabbed me right off the bat, it doesn't mean that it's not a beautiful story that I will ultimately love to publish. Rekka (00:21:45):Right. Right. Yeah. And you can get to know the story as you work with the author and, you know, appreciate more about it. Julia Rios (00:21:52):Yeah. And just having the chance to ask the other readers, like, "why did this resonate with you?" can kind of also open up different aspects of it. Rekka (00:22:00):Right. Because as you're reading through a slush pile, I imagine there's a pressure to just respond to every one of them as quickly as possible, you know, to be fair that there's the, "I know what I'm looking for this, isn't it" kind of, you know, and then maybe you get through the entire pile and you realize what you thought you wanted wasn't in there, but now you have this sense that there was something else in there that you, you know, that was forming that you didn't realize until you get to the end of it or something. How is that slush pile experience with you as like the lead editor? I mean, I know you said you worked with the first readers, but what does that actually look like? Cause I'm not sure that everybody really understands how that process works. Julia Rios (00:22:45):Okay. So usually in places where there are where there's a team of first readers, basically all the slush comes in and sometimes, depending on the place the main editor won't read any of the slush that hasn't been filtered. Sometimes everybody is kind of like picking stuff out of the pile and reading it and then setting aside the ones that they like to show people later. Usually there's like a first pass that happens when I do these things where it's like, yeah, that first pass is reading things and setting the things that look good aside and setting the things that I automatically know, like maybe they aren't for the theme or maybe it just didn't grab me. It wasn't something that I felt was ready. It, whatever, whatever reason, maybe it's actually a graciously offensive, that happens sometimes. Those things will get like set aside to be rejected right away. Julia Rios (00:23:41):And then you'll go and do more passes, then with each pass. You're kind of your goal is to cut it down further because ultimately, you know, you're going to want a very small percentage of that stack. And then finally, after that, so if the first readers have been doing it, they'll be passing things up and I'll be reading them after they pass them up. Maybe I won't read them until we get to a second round. So anybody who has been pulled out by a first reader might get a second round notice that says like, "Hey your story made it past the first round, but you've gotta wait longer, sorry." Rekka (00:24:15):Good news, bad news. Julia Rios (00:24:17):Yeah. And sometimes those stories are stories that I read and set aside. So I'm sending the story and being like, like basically if you get that notice somebody loved your story. They loved your story enough that they were like, "this is worth looking at more carefully and seeing if it fits the overall balance." Rekka (00:24:33):Yeah. Julia Rios (00:24:33):And then, like I said, usually what happens for me is I'll find one or two things that I'm like, "I know for sure this thing is definitely in." So then it's like, "how do the other things match against it?" And I think with that one in specific, like I had asked a couple of people to submit things and knew that those would be in the pile, but also didn't know which ones they were, because the way Cast of Wonders does reading, they make it so that you can't see who the author is when you're first reading it. Rekka (00:25:08):Right. Julia Rios (00:25:08):So Anonymous, Anonymous Submissions from the point of view of the reading team. Rekka (00:25:14):Right. Julia Rios (00:25:14):And that was really interesting to me because I knew like one of the stories that I had asked a specific author that I really like, I was like, "could you please submit something? Cause I know you'll write something good for this." And I knew it was their story, even though I didn't know what they were going to send. And I didn't know whose name was on the thing I, reading it, I was like, "this is this author. And I already know I want it." Rekka (00:25:37):Yeah. That's very cool. So on that note, a lot of anthologies will solicit work. Especially for instance, if this anthology, you know, this hypothetical anthology is being funded through Kickstarter there's a tendency to say, "and we will have these names that you already know" so that people back it because they're, you know, familiar or a fan of with or of the author names that they recognize. So when, when do you get to say like tap someone that "you know, you love their work and say, I want you to write me something." And when do you only get to say, "could you submit something please? So I can consider it?" Or is that a personal decision? Like, "I don't know for sure that this is up your alley, but I want to invite you to participate because I believe you would do well" versus like, "no, I guarantee you you're in it if you write me a story" and is that guaranteed? Julia Rios (00:26:34):So that depends a lot on the context. And for me, if I'm doing an anthology and I ask someone to please submit something, usually usually I'm asking them, knowing that I would accept what they would write. So in the case of Mermaids Monthly, for instance, for the Kickstarter, we have a list of contributors and those are all people that I've worked with before, or have high confidence in the stuff that I've read of theirs. And we know that they are willing to do something. We ask them ahead of time, "Would you be willing to write something?" We believe they will turn the thing in. If they turn something in, we will absolutely plan to take it. The only way we wouldn't is if somehow, like they didn't have time, some life emergency came up, or I don't know, somehow it turned out that someone I'd asked had secretly been a horrible racist and wrote— like in that case, yeah. I'm not going to accept it, but I'm only going to ask people that I would never imagine would do that. Rekka (00:27:37):Right. Of course. Julia Rios (00:27:39):We had, I think, 30 names in our contributors before we— Rekka (00:27:43):Yeah that was the last count I saw. Julia Rios (00:27:47):Yeah. And the reason why was because we know all of the formats that we're doing involve a lot of like smaller things. So we were able to do that many names and still know that we'll be able to take like as many people again from the slush. Julia Rios (00:28:00):Yeah. Yeah, I had to remind myself like, "Oh yeah, this is running all year 30 names doesn't mean it's already full." Julia Rios (00:28:06):Well, it's also like, "are those 30 people all turning in a long story?" No, some of them are doing illustrations. Some of them are doing like flash pieces that we specifically asked for or poems that we specifically asked for. So it depends. And, and what you're asking people to do will depend as well. But for that, I definitely can make that call. For the Cast of Wonders one, I couldn't just solicit something and say, for sure, "I know I want you to write this and I will absolutely take it," because I knew that the process for choosing those was going to be the process that they already had in place. Rekka (00:28:42):Right. Julia Rios (00:28:42):Which is you get Anonymous Submissions, you read those, and then the team kind of makes a decision. Rekka (00:28:49):And in your case, you were lucky that this person was recognizable. Julia Rios (00:28:52):I told that person, like, "I'd really love you to submit something. Cause I know you write, well, I can't guarantee anything." And I will tell— I'll be very transparent with people ahead of time about whether or not I can guarantee or not guarantee something. But for all the people that have already asked for Mermaids Monthly, I specifically like said, "I would like you to do X thing. Would you do X thing? If you do it, I will put it in this magazine as long as it funds." Julia Rios (00:29:17):Yeah. And do you ask them to shoot then for a word count goal? Julia Rios (00:29:22):Yeah. I do. So I've— some of the people I've asked for specific word counts of stories. Whether it's a flash piece or it's a short story, some people I've said like, "you can go right up to the limit," some people I've said, "Hey, I'm looking for something that's like two to three thousand words." I've asked some people for poetry, I've asked some people for illustrations and comics. It just kind of depends. And with the illustrations and things like that, it's like, there's a difference between whether we've asked someone to do an interior spot illustration or a cover, which the covers are going to be way more expensive. Rekka (00:29:59):Right. The covers are more expensive. They take up an entire page and you've got to account for that when you're planning your books and your layout, the spot illustrations might be resizable depending on how the the resolution and how they flow with the words around them, that kind of thing. That's and that's so neat. I love the, the mix of art that you're going to have in this. I'm excited to see how that turns out. So when you are then considering story lengths, do you get excited looking through the slush pile when you find like lots of flash, does that make you go, "Ooh, I can buy lots of stories." Julia Rios (00:30:35):Yeah. Rekka (00:30:35):Or is it really a matter of how the, the themes fit in? Julia Rios (00:30:39):I love flash. I think flash is harder to do than a lot of people realize. I love it when it works. Well, I think that flash stories are such a great little break. Like it's a little hit. So if you only have a five minute break to do something and you want to just read a story during those five minutes, flash is such a great little thing to do, and a good flash story can leave you laughing, or it can give you an emotional gut punch, or you can just come out of it being like, "Whoa, I had this thought that I never had before" and you never know what you're going to get. So I really do love it when it works well. I also do think it's really hard to pull off. So I love it when people submit it and, like every other story it's still a hard sell, but statistically, because we can buy more of them, because they will fit more in the space that we have and with the budget we have, you're more likely to get an acceptance with flash. Rekka (00:31:38):Right. It does seem like, okay, everybody, that's your hint, that's your little trick. Cause otherwise of course, everyone's going to say, "how do I get my story accepted?" And we're still talking generally here. I haven't even gotten to the mermaid stuff, but like generally, what would be your advice for someone who says like, "I want to write short fiction and I want to sell it to markets or sell it to anthologies." because especially with anthologies, generally, there's kind of a small window of the submissions. So unless someone's got something in their back pocket that's perfect for that anthology that they've been workshopping and they've been editing and they've been revising and had beta readers and, and they've, you know, been staring at for 10 years or something. There... What you're going to see is generally like maybe a second or third draft, if you're lucky. Right? So what do you what would you say to somebody who's looking at anthologies, looking at the short window from finding out what it's even about to having to submit their story? How did, how do you approach that as a writer or how would you tell a writer to approach? Julia Rios (00:32:45):Well, I mean, I've approached it as a writer myself. Because I, so I also have we didn't talk about this at all, but I've also written stories that have been in anthologies. So I've done a couple of stories that have been in A Larger Reality I and II, which were Mexican and Mexican American anthology of writers that were collecting stories—I think there was one comic in the first one and the second one was all very tiny flash pieces that were up to 300 words—and then also like art. That one was mostly online. The first one was actually a physical book and also an ebook. And these were made by Libia Brenda, who is the person, I think now she's doing some editing for Constelación Magazine. I met her through the Mexicanx initiative, which brought 50 Mexicanx creators to World Con in 2018. Julia Rios (00:33:39):And she then later became the first Mexican woman to be nominated for a Hugo award, which is awesome. And that was because of her involvement with A Larger Reality. But for that, like she basically reached out to all of us, all 50 of us and said, "does anyone want to make an anthology that we can hand out to people at WorldCon so that we can show them what Mexican writers do?" And she was sort of expecting people to not really be that excited about it because it was going to be free, but she was like, "I will just make it, it'll be fine." And all of us were like, "yes, this sounds like a great idea. Let's do it." So we ultimately did and we made a Kickstarter for it. Even though like we'd given her all the, all the stuff, but we did a Kickstarter just to raise the funds to cover the printing costs. And then also overfunded enough that we could pay all the authors, which was great. Rekka (00:34:28):Oh, that's very cool. Julia Rios (00:34:30):But for that one, it was basically like I had a period of a couple of months." And she said, "you know, if you have something already, it doesn't have to be a new thing, it can be a reprint". But most of us ended up writing new stories and I wrote a new story for that one. And that one, it was like, okay, I know I have a couple of months and I know this is going to go to like anybody who attends WorldCon and the goal of it is to try to show what kinds of stories Mexican creators make." Rekka (00:34:54):Right. Julia Rios (00:34:55):So I was like, "I want this to show something that has to do with my feeling as a Mexican person." Rekka (00:35:02):In 300 words or less! Julia Rios (00:35:04):Well the first one was not, it was not limited to that. Julia Rios (00:35:08):Oh okay. All right. I was thinking, "wow!" Julia Rios (00:35:09):I think the first one had like a 5,000 word sort of guideline limit. And I think mine was like two to three thousand. I can't remember exactly how long. Rekka (00:35:18):I was going to say, to introduce yourself to the WorldCon audience, and you have 300 words. Do your, do your whole culture proud. Julia Rios (00:35:27):So yeah, so that one I really wanted to, I didn't have to, like, no one told me I had to, but I wanted to do something that kind of touched on my identity as a Mexican person and also as a queer person, because those are two parts of me and I feel like the, the ways they intersect are important. And I wanted to show that like, no one is one thing, no one is all one thing. And so I ended up writing this story that had to do with a woman who is kind of jumping from dimension to dimension and trying to fix a relationship problem basically. But she's running into the same people and she's seeing how she's connected to them in different dimensions. And one of the things that comes through in that is that basically all of these people are, they're different instances of themselves, but there's something intrinsic to them that makes them them and these aspects of their identity are still really strong. And for me, like that was, that was something I thought about. And I was like, "I think I'm thinking about this because I'm thinking about how this anthology reflects specifically my identity." And even though this, this person is not me, and this is not actually an autobiographical thing, that was the kind of theme I was thinking about. So that was really cool in a way to do that. Julia Rios (00:36:43):But one of the things that I would say to anyone who's doing anything for an anthology call is find that thing that you, that you resonate with, that speaks to you, that you want to write about. Don't just do it because you know that like so-and-so wants vampires. Like it's not enough for it to be vampires. The thing that's going to make it stand out is that it has something that you care about. Julia Rios (00:37:11):And so I think the reason why my story in that anthology did get some good, critical reception and ultimately got reprinted in Latin American Literature Today is because I cared about it and it had some sort of heart to it. But the good thing about that is that also if for some reason, Libia had not accepted it, which in this case it was a softball—I knew she was going to accept it, but that's, that's lucky. Rekka (00:37:37):Yeah. Julia Rios (00:37:37):But if for some reason she hadn't, it was a story that I could have sent somewhere else. Right. Like I could have, I could have submitted that to some other place. And ideally even when you're writing for a theme, it's something that if it doesn't work for that anthology, you can still send it someplace else. Rekka (00:37:55):And one thing to consider is that everyone else who was rejected from that anthology now has a new story that they're going to send everywhere else. So if yours feels like theirs probably going to have a lot of competition. Julia Rios (00:38:07):Yeah. So if you're just writing, whatever you think is the default vampire or a mermaid story for a vampire or a mermaid, and— Julia Rios (00:38:14):Hypothetical anthology... Julia Rios (00:38:16):Like, right, then, then you know that if you send it to fantasy magazine, fantasy magazine is also going to get everybody else's default mermaid story. But if your story has something that you care about in it, that somehow makes it stand out, it's going to stand out. Rekka (00:38:33):Right. So your advice, nothing to do with tricks, it has nothing to do with editing out certain words that bother editors. It has nothing to do with how to write your cover letter perfectly. It is write your authentic story. Julia Rios (00:38:49):Yeah. I'm sorry. Rekka (00:38:51):That's no, that's, that's so good though. Julia Rios (00:38:52):It's not the advice anybody wants. Rekka (00:38:55):No. Yeah. Okay. So people who want advice, that's going to shoehorn them into an anthology or make them a shoe-in to put more shoes in the conversation. Like they're looking for the answer of like, "Oh yeah, well, you know, for my mermaid thing, definitely makes sure that she's got green fins, because if that mermaid has green fins, I'm a sucker for green fins you're in." and you're not going to find that kind of advice because that is, that is not a guarantee, even if that was true for you, you know. Julia Rios (00:39:26):It's not the only time that that is true is if you have been asked for a specific tie-in media and you know exactly what that, that place wants, and you're doing, usually in this case, you're doing something that's like work for hire, which means that you don't own the rights to it. And you're going to get paid one fee. You're never going to have the right to sell that story again, or to reprint it or to get royalties. It's just going to be like, you write it and you give it to that company and it's theirs. Yeah. And in that case, like, there are definitely things that I've done before where if I'm doing that, I'm like, you know, maybe I'm adapting someone else's work for an app and I don't really have a say in it. And it's like, "you do this to this formula and you turn in the exact word count that we want. And it's supposed to, you know, she does have green fins and she has rainbow eyes and that's the end." Rekka (00:40:17):Right, right. But that's not that's not an anthology call. That's a, as you said, work for hire, like you, you play by someone else's rules in that case, you're, you're a contractor doing the work for somebody else who already had the idea and you, if you're lucky, you get to play around with things a little bit, but probably probably a totally different experience from writing for an anthology where it's an open submissions call or even a solicited. Julia Rios (00:40:47):I think It is in some ways, but like sometimes you'll see anthology calls from places like Wizards of the Coast. Rekka (00:40:52):Oh, okay. Julia Rios (00:40:52):And if they're asking for like a specific thing then, you know, there's probably a very specific D and D story that they want. Rekka (00:41:01):Okay. That's fair. I get that. I concede. We touched on budgeting for the anthology a little bit, but here you are like crafting Mermaids Monthly from the ground up. Julia Rios (00:41:13):Yeah. Rekka (00:41:13):Like what's the process for creating this project and finding the shape of it with regard to the budget and with regard to what you want it to be versus what's practical? Because, you know, I've seen anthology, Kickstarters go up and their budget like that, they're asking people to fund is like $5,000. And I realize, you know, that might be for single book and it's probably not for, you know, 12 issues' worth that might be close to 150,000 words when they're done—I don't know what your goal is total—but it always seems that people are afraid to ask for the right amount on Kickstarter to begin with. So how do you balance not coming up with a whopper of a number versus like, actually, cause I know paying the people who contribute in any way to this is important to you. So how do you create that budget when you haven't even seen the stories or the artwork yet? Julia Rios (00:42:06):This is really hard. And basically it involves sitting down and writing down a bunch of different projections of "what would happen if we did it this way, what would happen if we did it this way? What about this other way?"" And after you've got like 50 of those different scenarios, then it's sort of like, okay, what are the things that we think would be the most doable and the coolest that we'd be the most excited about?" so when I first started this, like I thought, "okay, I can do this. And I'll just ask for like some short fiction, that's basically it." And then I was like, "maybe I'll do short fiction and poetry because I really like poetry." and I think that there aren't enough poetry venues out there that pay authors fairly. So I was like, "okay, I'll do short fiction and poetry." Julia Rios (00:42:52):And then I asked Meg like, "do you want to get involved as my marketing person and maybe like help with design?" And then it sort of snowballed from there. But from there we talked about all kinds of things. We talked about audio, we talked about making the stories longer or doing other things and ultimately decided, okay, we don't want to have no stories that are not flash. We do want to have some stories that are longer stories. But it wasn't practical for us to ask for more than 5,000 words, because we were also committed to paying at least 10 cents a word. Rekka (00:43:27):Right. Julia Rios (00:43:27):So like that was one of those things where it's like, you can pay less, you can pay 8 cents a word, which I think 8 cents a word is now the SFWA minimum? Julia Rios (00:43:36):Yep, that is still the SFWA minimum. So your 10 cents is above that. You're definitely, pro-rate right here. Julia Rios (00:43:40):Just a little above it, but it's still above it. And for us, like I, we came up with that number because I was like, "what would I personally, as a writer be really excited about?" And the bottom line, there was 10 cents. So I was like, "I will, I will be committed to paying writers 10 cents." Rekka (00:43:54):Right. Julia Rios (00:43:54):Um for this reason also we have a thing where it's like, if we're doing reprints or any other things, and the amount would come in at less than $20, based on our per word rate, we will do a minimum of $20 because we don't want anyone to come out with less than $20. So like that's, that's just based on bottom lines for me where I'm like, ""okay, when I think about it as with my writer hat on, what would I be okay with? And when I think about selling a reprint, our reprint rate is low. It's 1 cents. It's 1 cent a word, but we're like excited. See your reprint stuff. The reason why I was like, it's going to be low. Is that,, for me reprints aren't the most important thing for this magazine. Rekka (00:44:40):Right. Julia Rios (00:44:40):We're going to be doing a lot of original stuff, but we're not opposed to them. And for an author, a reprint is just extra money. Rekka (00:44:47):Yeah. Julia Rios (00:44:47):It's like, you have already done that work, so you don't have to do it again. Rekka (00:44:51):Right. Julia Rios (00:44:52):And now, someone's just going to give you a little bit of extra cash and you get to keep it. Julia Rios (00:44:56):Yeah. Which is always nice. Julia Rios (00:44:57):Which is always nice. Julia Rios (00:44:59):Yeah. And it's cool to have, you know, both sides of the perspective on the project that you have edited before, but you are also somebody who submits and you know what is fair for both sides and you try to work so that everybody's getting as much of the fair experience as they can. Julia Rios (00:45:18):Yeah. And it's, it's tricky because it's also, like I realize that rates for... Going rates for science fiction and fantasy that are considered professional are really low compared to anything that people are doing if they're pitching nonfiction to mainstream magazines, for instance. Julia Rios (00:45:35):I saw somebody do the math recently that like if, if inflation had been applied to professional science fiction and fantasy rates, we'd be getting $75 a word or something by now. Can you imagine that world? Julia Rios (00:45:49):So it's not a large amount. Wow. I just know that in like in the 1950s and earlier, it was possible to actually make a living selling short stories to magazines. Like that was a thing that you could do. Yeah. So when you, you hear sometimes people saying like, you should do what Ray Bradbury did, which is like, write a story a week. Rekka (00:46:07):You should also travel back in time and live when Ray Bradbury did. Julia Rios (00:46:11):And I'm like, "yeah, if you live in the 1950s, you can do that. If you live now, it's like, well, that's not really where you're making your money." And honestly, like for most writers, even with novel length work, that's not where you're really making your money. Some people are lucky and they break out with these large advances and then they earn out and they get large sales and they get good royalties. Rekka (00:46:35):And then they get more large advances. But the rest of us... Julia Rios (00:46:37):Most of the time, it's like, this is going to pay a little bit, but not a whole lot and you should either have a day job or use this to create other opportunities for yourself. So like you can use it to then get speaking and teaching engagements. I think going back to your other question, like why people charge different rates at Kickstarter, it's because it depends too, what they're doing. So some people might already have certain things taken care of like either they've already paid their authors and they know that they only need to raise the money for printing a book, or maybe they have other investors somehow like supplementing things. Rekka (00:47:21):Or extreme optimism. Julia Rios (00:47:22):Right. So like you can, if you've already got a magazine that has a subscriber base, for instance, and you decide that you want to kickstart your next year of that magazine, you can kind of take some of the amount out of that, that building it from the ground up because you have that subscriber base. Rekka (00:47:40):Okay. Julia Rios (00:47:40):Um if you've got a press that's already up and running and you've already produced a lot of books, then maybe you have a clear idea already, if you're like a one person operation, that you know how you're doing your book design and you're not going to pay another person to design it. And that's labor that you're willing to just take as the cost that you're providing yourself. And then maybe like, if you're me, you're like, "okay, well, I'm working with Meg and Meg is designing and Meg needs to be paid for that work." and even though we're paying ourselves a very low amount of money, our Kickstarter is taking into account that we want to pair something because it's like, "okay, even if this cannot remotely count as living wage, I want to Mark that we are, we're doing a lot of work." Rekka (00:48:27):Right. And there's value in that. Julia Rios (00:48:29):And there's value in work. It's important to recognize that there's value in work. And if we won't recognize it, no one else will. Rekka (00:48:35):Absolutely. Yeah. Now what about the payment structure? Because authors who write for an anthology or a magazine get paid once. Julia Rios (00:48:45):Yeah. Rekka (00:48:46):So if a book completely pays for itself, like the profits of that go to the publisher usually, right? Julia Rios (00:48:55):Yeah. Rekka (00:48:55):Then the author would only expect to see more money for that story by reselling it as you were discussing. Julia Rios (00:49:01):Yeah. So generally it, it depends because sometimes when you have something with like a large publisher, if you have something with one of the big now for that exists in New York, they just had another buyout. So we've gone down from five to four. But if you have an anthology through those, so like maybe the ones that were done by saga press in the last two years, The Mythic Dream and The Starlit Wood those, if they earn out those authors might get royalty checks, that would be split between all of the authors and the anthology and the editors. But for most places, and especially in the small press world, you're selling it for one rate and you're selling it for that per word rate and you're not going to see royalties later. Main reason for me on this is that I am not an accountant. And—. Rekka (00:49:52):Yeah I was going to say, the bookkeeping! Julia Rios (00:49:55):Trying to split royalties between 25 or 30 or 50 or a hundred people is just it's— Rekka (00:50:02):Yeah. Because especially with the distribution to the online retailers for digital books, like it is impossible to know how, where that money is coming from sometimes. They make it so impossible to know like, okay, it was this many books and they made this much money. And okay, now you're going to divide that into how many words the book was and then pay out based on, you know, the word count for each. I mean, even if it goes well, that's a lot of work. Julia Rios (00:50:26):Yeah. Rekka (00:50:27):You know, like you might be able to write a spreadsheet to figure it out, but the way that you get reporting these days, Nope. Not gonna happen. Julia Rios (00:50:35):It's hard. It's a lot. And the truth is that for most anthologies that come out through small presses, they either don't earn out or like what they've raised for their Kickstarter is them basically paying for the cost of making the book. Right. Rekka (00:50:48):So they, they earn out by default and then that's probably it. Julia Rios (00:50:53):And then that's it. Maybe they make like a little bit over, but once you split that between all the contributors, it's like," does everybody actually want to check for 50 cents?" Rekka (00:51:01):Right. I mean, I would probably hang it on the wall. I can't even say I would cash that. Julia Rios (00:51:08):Yeah. So, so that's the reason why I think for most of the time, when you're selling to an anthology, you're selling it once. And that's a good reason to look at rights in the contract, because if an anthology is buying the right to then like exclusively, have your story forever and you don't get to do anything with it, that's a bad deal and you shouldn't take it unless you, for some reason really love it. Like, I guess if it's a Star Wars anthology, and you're a huge Star Wars fan, that's a different story. Maybe it's worth it for you, just so that you can have a book on your shelf that's a Star Wars book that has your name in it. That's totally fair. But that's a personal decision that you're going to be making. And like the great thing about this is that people are making lots of movies and different things based on short stories. So like Ted Chiang's Arrival, like the movie Arrival is based on a novella. Rekka (00:51:56):Yeah. In fact, I've heard advice that like they make better movies, generally, based on the source material than when someone tries to turn like, say, a 10 book series into a movie. Julia Rios (00:52:08):Yeah. Well, like a novel can make a good TV series and sometimes you can have a good adaptation of a novel into a movie, but when you're working with a short story length, it's easier to adapt that into, into one movie length thing. Rekka (00:52:20):Yeah. Julia Rios (00:52:21):And Hollywood gets excited about that. So if you can have your backlog of short stories and somehow you attract the attention of someone in Hollywood, then you're also like, by the way, I have these other ones. Rekka (00:52:32):As long as you make sure that anthology publisher did not take your media rights. Julia Rios (00:52:38):Which, ideally they would not have taken your media rights. And also like they ideally won't take exclusivity for a very long time. Like most places are gonna take it for maybe a year, maybe two, depending on like how their, what their publishing plan is. But like, most places are not going to say, we're going to hold onto your story forever. And you can watch out for that because then as soon as, as soon as those rights are back for you, you can sell that to someone else. You can republish it yourself. If you have a lot of stories, you can make your own collection and just kind of stick it up there as an ebook. Rekka (00:53:12):And first audio rights are good to keep track of too. Julia Rios (00:53:15):Yeah. Oh yeah. All of that stuff. So it's good to know what rights you have and to remember that, but like there are reprint markets out there, there are places like Pod Castle that will buy a reprint audio. They'll buy the audio rights to something that's already been published. Sometimes they'll buy the audio rights to something that's already had an audio version because they're gonna make their own. Rekka (00:53:36):Right. So how do you, because you've done this successfully wrangle all the cats that are involved? Because you've got editors, you've got authors, you've got contracted artists and designers and other contractors. That seems like a lot. So I'm glad to hear you're paying yourself for the mermaids because this is not a small job. Julia Rios (00:53:58):It's a lot. And I say that if you really want to make an anthology, that it is a management project, so you have to be ready to take on a manager role. And it's, it's good to remember that as much as there's fun stuff, there's also a lot of just like dotting the i's and making sure your contracts are all in and signed and that your payroll, like somebody is responsible for paying everyone and making sure that they were paid on time. Rekka (00:54:29):And that there's a record of it. Julia Rios (00:54:32):Exactly. That you have author approval on the final versions of the stories. That, that you have had a chance to see everything through a proofreader. And that you've, you've had someone double check that your layout works and all of those other things, there are so many different pieces of it. And I can't stress, that collaboration is very important, I can't stress that enough. Some people are able to do most things on their own. Like I think that think Mike Allen over at Mythic Delirium Books does most of it himself or with his wife Anita Allen, who's the other person who runs that. So they're like doing their own design and editing and everything else together, but it's a lot based on what you already know, you know, how to do. So I think the reason why Mike can do that, why Mike and Anita can do that together is because they started with a zine in like the nineties, I think. And it was like a paper zine that they would have made, you know, at home or from Staples or whatever. Rekka (00:55:39):Right. Julia Rios (00:55:40):They had a lot of time curating zines and putting them together and realizing how that worked. And then also Mike works for newspapers. So he has experience working in the newspaper publishing side of things. And he probably has experience through his job with things like InDesign. And, and because of that, he, he moved on to doing anthologies and he did like the Clockwork Phoenix series, which were all sort of self-made anthologies that he was doing himself. And because of that, he learned over the course of time, what are the things that he knows how to do and what are the resources he has available. Rekka (00:56:15):And what are the pieces that go into something? Julia Rios (00:56:17):Exactly, what are the pieces that go into something and what can he do himself? Whereas like for me, I know for instance, I know about myself that I am not a designer and I do not have that skill. I am not an artist. Visual art is not my strong suit. So, so one thing I've been doing during the promotional phase of mermaids monthly with the Kickstarter is like, okay, if we get to this number, like I will attempt to draw a mermaid." Rekka (00:56:43):And you did a very, very nice job. Julia Rios (00:56:45):"This Will be a fun exercise for all of us because I am not an artist." and yeah, I think it's a cute, fun drawing that I made of this mershark with like giant sharp teeth. But if you look at it and you look at anyone, who's actually an artist doing the same kind of thing, their version is gonna be much better. So I could make Mermaids Monthly myself, and it would be a very plain production. And that's fine. I could use something like Vellum for instance, which is basically a, what you see is what you get book designing tool that would produce a perfectly readable, simple book. And that is a totally acceptable path, but I know that I would love to have higher production values. So I have to pull in other people and Meg has major design skills that I do not have. So I was like, "Meg, do you want to do this?" And Meg was like, "sure, I'll do this." And everything that Meg has turned out is something that like, I didn't even know how to ask for it because I didn't know that's what I wanted. Rekka (00:57:46):Right, right. Yeah. Having the expertise on your team is so critical whether it's yours or whether you recognize that you need to find somebody else. Julia Rios (00:57:56):It is. And as for the rest of it, like making a list. So having like multiple spreadsheets with task breakdowns, having processes in place that you invent and recheck as you go along and revise. So for instance, with Megan, I, every time we do a contract, one of us puts it together. They send it to the other person for review. We go through multiple rounds of like, "Hey, I found this typo," or "I think this clause needs to change." But like our rule is we don't just send it to the author before it's gone through the, the two-person review system. Rekka (00:58:32):And then I assume you have, you know, spreadsheets of all the authors and what they've signed or what they've turned in or what they've gotten in terms of edits. And if they've gotten those back and if the final proof has happened and all of that, there are a lot of steps. And then you multiply that by however many authors you're going to have involved. Plus then, you know, the different processes for artists and their visual work. So that's, that's so much. So obviously, you know what you're doing. Julia Rios (00:58:58):[[Laughter]] Rekka (00:58:58):So now let's like, just get really excited over mermaids monthly because people who are listening to this live have until the 12th of December 2020, Saturday to fund help fund on Kickstarter. I'm sure by now it's already funded because it's going swimmingly. Julia Rios (00:59:17):Let's hope that your words are definitely prophetic and that will happen. Rekka (00:59:22):So at this point, it's, you know, you've got, I think the last count I saw was something like 8,600 to go of a very you know, I will say it was an ambitious goal because you were, you were planning to pay people fairly including yourself. So that's excellent and everyone's behind you, which is really, really cool to see that the funding is going well, it's consistently going up. I think everything I've seen has been really, really positive and a lot of people are really excited about this anthology. So tell me, aside from not wanting to reject more than three mermaid stories, like, what are you, what are you hoping for at this end, before you've seen any of the submissions? Julia Rios (01:00:06):Well. Okay. So I'm hoping to find things that surprise and delight me. I'm hoping to have fun. I know that some of the stories will be like sad or scary. That's, that's a thing that I'm sure will happen. Rekka (01:00:21):And you did invite people to, you know, do dark stories if they wanted. Julia Rios (01:00:24):Oh, yeah, I'm not saying we don't want those, but I'm also hoping that there will be some percentage of mermaid stories that we get that will genuinely just be delightful, mermaid romps. Because I think especially after this year that we've all just been through, like having some fun things to just sort of be a little beam of, not sunshine cause we're underwater, but you know, we just need those cute bioluminescent jellyfish to let us, say... Rekka (01:00:52):Oh, gosh, I'm like, you're going to get a submission from me that's going to end up being like a mermaid roadtrip story with lots of bioluminescing. Julia Rios (01:01:00):See, I love this! I love it. So I'm excited to see what we get and I'm excited to see all the different ways that people interpret it because I can think of lots of different creative ways to do it, but I know that all the things that I think of are not what other people will default to. Rekka (01:01:15):Which is what's so great about anthologies. Julia Rios (01:01:17):Yeah, I love that. I can't wait to see what we'll get. So one of the authors that I solicited a story from that I'm really excited about is Debra Goelz, who has written a novel that is published through wattpad and it is called Mermaids and the Vampires Who Love Them. Rekka (01:01:36):Oh that's excellent. This is very promising. Julia Rios (01:01:38):It's a YA novel about a mermaid who goes to like a special academy for supernatural creatures and gets a vampire boyfriend. Rekka (01:01:47):Nice. Julia Rios (01:01:47):Uh there's a lot of other stuff going on in the, in the plot of this book, but like that's the gist of it. And the title sort of gives you a sense of how ridiculous and fun it's going to be. Cause it's c

On this episode of The Handoff, Dan speaks with Judy Murphy, the Chief Nursing Officer at IBM Global Healthcare about how clinicians can unlock value from AI. They discuss learnings from the 30 years that Judy has spent working in healthcare IT, including from the very early days of the EHR. She shares how IBM's Watson is being used in everything from oncology and clinical trials to genomics and medical imaging, and how health IT can help patients outside of healthcare facilities. Judy Murphy is a 40-year veteran of the healthcare industry whose career spans clinical work, informatics, policy and health IT. Starting her career as an RN, she eventually spent 25 years at Aurora Health Care in Wiscon. She later became the CNO and Deputy National Coordinator for Programs and Policy at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT in Washington D.C. Today, Judy is the Chief Nursing Officer at IBM Global Healthcare, where she serves as a strategic advisor to IBM's clients and puts together health IT solutions in order to improve health and healthcare, lower costs, and ease clinical workload. The transcript for this episode can be found here: https://www.trustedhealth.com/the-handoff-podcast/judy-murphy

On this episode of The Handoff, Dan speaks with Judy Murphy, the Chief Nursing Officer at IBM Global Healthcare about how clinicians can unlock value from AI. They discuss learnings from the 30 years that Judy has spent working in healthcare IT, including from the very early days of the EHR. She shares how IBM's Watson is being used in everything from oncology and clinical trials to genomics and medical imaging, and how health IT can help patients outside of healthcare facilities. Judy Murphy is a 40-year veteran of the healthcare industry whose career spans clinical work, informatics, policy and health IT. Starting her career as an RN, she eventually spent 25 years at Aurora Health Care in Wiscon. She later became the CNO and Deputy National Coordinator for Programs and Policy at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT in Washington D.C. Today, Judy is the Chief Nursing Officer at IBM Global Healthcare, where she serves as a strategic advisor to IBM's clients and puts together health IT solutions in order to improve health and healthcare, lower costs, and ease clinical workload. The transcript for this episode can be found here: https://www.trustedhealth.com/the-handoff-podcast/judy-murphy

This is Episode 9 of PH Talks. In this episode I discuss the Packers last 3 games as well as give updates about this channel. If you liked this podcast please share and as always you can find me on Instagram @patrickhanson_ if you have any questions or comments.

In which Will Graham is That Teacher, Hannibal subscribes to a dubious religion, FBI-assigned nightgowns are still dumb, and Freddie Lounds is naked.Topics:Hannibal S01E02, "Amuse-Bouche"AO3's bizarre Hugo Award announcement + assorted wank in the comments sectionStanley Cup — What it Means by AnonymousHugoWank2k19 collectionthey really should have known the one thing we know is how to bring receipts by synecdochic (meta)WE DID THE THING: MUSINGS ON THE AO3, WISCON, AND WINNING THE FANDOM CULTURE WARS by fairestcat (meta)The Loss of Flesh and Soul by deuxexmycroftThe Hannibal books and moviesThe Necessary Death of Charlie CountrymanWhat we've been reading:Two Solitudes by emungereLadders series by emungerePlucked Strings series by More_nightIl falò delle vanità by More_night

Alex Iantaffi interviews De Ana Jones and the conversation is wide-ranging: from why we need diverse games, what stories we choose to tell and how conventions can be more truly inclusive. De Ana Jones is a blogger and podcaster from Southern California who in elementary school learned that the stories in her head were easier to keep track of on paper. She previously liked to talk about nerdy things on the Nerdgasm Noire podcast (and hopes to start again soon) and currently enjoys playing Indie RPGs with The Reclaimers group on the I Need Diverse Games twitch channel. She's had fiction previously published in Hidden Youth by Crossed Genres and an essay published by Fireside Fiction. She's also working on a web comic (https://www.patreon.com/hexschoolforgirls) and is a self-proclaimed Professional Smartass on twitter as @NaniCoolJ.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/genderstories)

Join the SinCast crew as they tour the movies of America's dairyland... which has a surprising amount of serial killers! The guys break down Bridesmaids, BASEketballs, and much, much more.  Also, check out the recommends and warns section to hear the official SinCast reviews on Chernobyl, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Wicked and Vile, My Dad Wrote a Porno, Serenity... and holy moley, this episode is PACKED! Join us every Monday for a new episode of SinCast, and keep in touch! Tweet us @cinemasins or @musicvideosins, comment on SoundCloud, (https://soundcloud.com/cinemasins) subscribe to the subreddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/CinemaSins/) and email us at cinemasinssincast@gmail.com  

Ep 69: A Punishing Take on Heroism, & Moral AgencyIn Season 1, Punisher raised some hard questions about vengeance, justice, and why audiences enjoy revenge fantasy. How did season 2 measure up? Does Frank have any accountability for the people he puts in danger? And did the world need another Harleyesque plot where a therapist bangs her dangerous patient, and the writers try to make it sexy?Two important notes- we had some technical difficulties near the end, and by the time we got Jessica back, Jacob had to leave. Apologizes if for any confusion, but we finished the discussion!Second, during the podcast we talked about Wiscon- the awesome Feminist Sci-Fi/Fantasy con that happens in Madison Wisconsin, over Memorial Day Weekend. Not only is it an amazing event that you should try and come to- but we'll be holding a Superhero Ethics Brown Bag Dinner Meet Up. Saturday,  May 25th, from 5:30 - 7:30 we'll reserve space in one of the conference rooms set aside for impromptu planning. Grab dinner and come for a meet up and discussion!www.wiscon.netJessica Plummer lives in New York and loves Superman very very much. You can listen to just how much on her Superman podcast, Flights and Tights (http://flightsandtights.libsyn.com/). She also writes about comics and books in general at BookRiot.com (https://bookriot.com/author/jessica-plummer/). Find her on Twitter @jess_plummer.Want to continue the discussion with us? Agree or disagree with what we talked about, or want to add your own thoughts? We’ve got options for you!You can post questions, or respond to our episode threads in our Superhero Ethics Facebook Group, or talk to us on the podcast’s Twitter account, or email us at superheroethics@gmail.com. Each of your co-hosts also has their own twitter,  Matthew is CapedEthicist, https://twitter.com/CapedEthicistJacob is BotsRPeopleToo https://twitter.com/BotsRPeopleToo Support this podcast through our Patreon page! Patreon is a great way to support creators like us through donations, and get great rewards for your help. You can even pick a topic for an upcoming episode! https://www.patreon.com/superheroethics Want to show your love for Superhero Ethics with a t-shirt, hoodie, cell phone case, mouse pad, or other swag? We now have a store where you can buy any of those things and more! https://www.teepublic.com/user/superheroethicLastly, you probably heard some great music at the start and the end of our podcast. That music comes from the deeply talented Jack Hesse.. You can follow him on Twitter at Jack_608, https://twitter.com/jack_608

Some have spoken out that the show "YOU" on Netflix glorifies stalking. Or does it raise awareness on how we need to be more careful on social media? It's our first episode NOT talking about a Wisconsin serial killer .... let us know your thoughts on the show! @Wiscon.sins on the socials.

Podcast Description “what is porn anyway, which is a whole other question. They were trying to find a way to run their website and the ask: we want to make queer, ethically-produced porn. How do we do that?” Dr. Kit Stubbs is a non-binary/queer/femme maker & entrepreneur who's more interested in people than in technology. After earning their Ph.D. in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University, Kit is now the Founder and Executive Director of the Effing Foundation for Sex-Positivity (http://effing.org), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose mission is to foster sex-positive art & education. Kit has spoken on gender, sexuality and sex/tech at events across the US including Arisia, Burning Man, Dark Odyssey: Winter Fire, Harvard Sex Week, HOPE X-XII, the NELA Fetish Fair Fleamarket, and WisCon. They blog about technological empowerment for sexuality & pleasure (toymakerproject.com) and co-organize teasecraft, a meetup group for sex/kink-positive makers and hackers (teasecraft.com).The Effing Foundation for Sex-Positivity is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization whose mission is to reduce sexual shame and normalize conversations around human sexuality by fostering sex-positive art and education.  Our major effort is a grantmaking program -- last year we raised $40,000 in pilot grants which we gave out to eight artists and educators across the US who have been doing amazing things (http://effing.org/grantees). So far, those grants have directly benefited over 1,000 people (including event participants and audience members) and indirectly reached approximately 57,000 people via social media and the web. Right now we're raising $75,000 to fund fourteen grants and bring sex-positive art and education to even more people! Make your contribution today at http://effing.org/donate. Additional Resources Andrew Guerza and the Disability After Dark Podcast: http://www.andrewgurza.com/ , http://www.andrewgurza.com/disability-after-darkBirds, Bees...Porn? by Jess Melendez (http://www.realtalkwithjess.com/) is one of the Effing Foundation's grant candidates (https://www.effing.org/grantees) that the Foundation will fund if we meet our fundraising goal. Articles on FOSTA/SESTA, Tumblr, and Facebook:https://www.out.com/out-exclusives/2018/12/06/dangerous-trend-lgbtq-censorship-internethttps://theestablishment.co/want-to-know-why-tumblr-is-cracking-down-on-sex-look-to-fosta-sesta/https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/12/facebooks-sexual-solicitation-policy-honeypot-trollshttps://www.engadget.com/2018/04/27/suicide-violence-and-going-underground-fosta-sesta Twitter Kit Stubbs, Ph.D. Become a #causeascene Podcast sponsor because disruption and innovation are products of individuals who take bold steps in order to shift the collective and challenge the status quo.Learn more >All music for the #causeascene podcast is composed and produced by Chaos, Chao Pack, and Listen on SoundCloud. Listen to more great #causeascene podcasts full podcast list >

Luke Tonachel, Director, Clean Vehicles and Fuels Group, Climate and Energy Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council talks with the WEB about the federal rollback of the fuel economy standards. The fuel economy standards require gradual improvements in mpg for vehicles over time. If we kept the current standards in place the average new […] The post Rolling back the clean vehicle fuel economy standards will cost Wiscon... appeared first on WORT 89.9 FM.

Wisconsin Republicans vote to weaken powers of new governor. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slams Congress and will pay her interns at least $15/hour. Robert Mueller releases highly redacted sentencing memo. Study shows white liberals tend to downplay their own 'verbal competence' with minorities. NYU's Social Psychologist Eric Knowles on fragile masculinity among Trump supporters. Jane Coaston, Senior Politics Reporter at Vox, explains how a money manager avoided a prison sentence for molesting young girls.Cohost: Jayar JacksonGuests: Eric Knowles & Jane Coaston See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Hannah and Jim are back, and this time around they discuss WisCon, Wonder Woman, The Egyptian Princesses by Igor Baranko, and more. Please visit our Patreon page at patreon.com/earth_2.

Hannah and Jim are back, and this time around they discuss WisCon, Wonder Woman, The Egyptian Princesses by Igor Baranko, and more. Please visit our Patreon page at patreon.com/earth_2.

Hannah and Jim are back, and this time around they discuss WisCon, Wonder Woman, The Egyptian Princesses by Igor Baranko, and more. Please visit our Patreon page at patreon.com/earth_2.

Hannah and Jim are back, and this time around they discuss WisCon, Wonder Woman, The Egyptian Princesses by Igor Baranko, and more. Please visit our Patreon page at patreon.com/earth_2.

Steve and Chris preview the entire Big Ten and Twelve conferences with some help from ESPN CFB analyst Greg McElroy.

May is absolutely filled to the brim with SFT. With five short stories, seven novels/collections, interviews, reviews, and more, you'll never be at a loss for something to read. Rachel also talks about the SFT panel at Wiscon (the annual feminist science fiction convention in Madison, Wisconsin) and what she's been reading and translating. And […]

May is absolutely filled to the brim with SFT. With five short stories, seven novels/collections, interviews, reviews, and more, you’ll never be at a loss for something to read. Rachel also talks about the SFT panel at Wiscon (the annual feminist science fiction convention in Madison, Wisconsin) and what she’s been reading and translating. And […]

In which convention season and awards season are both upon us! WHAT DO WE CARE ABOUT THIS WEEK? Hugo Packet now available Rivqa & Mother of Invention at Strange Horizons If you're at Continuum come to our MOI book party, Sunday 10 June 2pm. Wiscon Killable Bodies in SF panel Wiscon's official statement. Coffee and Ink's response from the audience Nebulas! Who won them? Continuum Deep Dive: come and see Tansy talk about Roman celebrities! CULTURE CONSUMED: Alex: The Black God’s Drums, P Djeli Clark; Murderbot 3 (Rogue Protocol), Martha Wells; Saladin, John Man, and Saga Land, Richard Fidler and Kari Gislason; Obsidio, Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff Alisa: editing mysterious Twelfth Planet Press texts! stay tuned. Tansy: Deadpool essay here; Supernatural 13.10 Wayward Sisters; When the Letter Comes by Sara Fox - read it here; Book Smugglers on the Smart Bitches Trashy Books podcast Please send feedback to us at galacticsuburbia@gmail.com, follow us on Twitter at @galacticsuburbs, check out Galactic Suburbia Podcast on Facebook, support us at Patreon - which now includes access to the ever so exclusive GS Slack - and don't forget to leave a review on iTunes if you love us!

It’s our fourth and final interview from WisCon, Madison’s convention for science fiction and fantasy writing with an emphasis on marginalized groups including the feminist, POC, queer and trans communities. Kettle Macaulay is a science fiction writer and teacher who joined Kodiak for an amazing conversation about creativity, self care, and the notion of the self, and adventures with the kindness of strangers. Get in touch: www.spiritoftheendeavor.net and spiritoftheendeavor@gmail.com

Writers Gabriela Santiago and Marie Vibbert joined Kodiak at WisCon to discuss the role of literature in their lives, writing with a sense of place, and finding mysteries and wonder wherever you live. You can find their short stories at Analog, People of Colo(u)r Destroy Science Fiction, People of Colo(u)r Destroy Horror, Lightspeed, Black Candies and Intergalactic Medicine Show, among others. Get in touch: www.spiritoftheendeavor.net and spiritoftheendeavor@gmail.com

Audio notes from our bicycle journey to and from Wiscon, discussions with con attendees, and clips from poetry and music connected to the con.

In which we eavesdrop on exactly what it says on the tin: a (lengthy and very rambly) conversation in a hotel room from this past Wiscon 41, featuring Amber (writerloverpsycho-pomp), Airey (breathoffreshaire), your host, and your host's roommate Jason. It's a bit chaotic and at one point happy hour in a bar is going on in the background but hopefully it's at least kinda entertaining. Topics covered include: the awesomeness of Wiscon, why Beth is super duper alive or at least why her death continues to make no damn sense at all, general shipping stuff, and (I'm pretty sure it's in there) the story of how I tried and failed to assassinate Jason in his sleep. Music courtesy of Dlay and Ketsa.

8 young women were murdered in and around the town of Madison, Wisconsin. These murders began in 1968 and stretched to 1984. Many of the women had ties to the University of Wiscon in Madison and some were actually killed on school property. Join Mike and Gibby as they delve into these mysterious deaths that have now become cold cases. Are all or some of these the work of an unknown serial killer? Could some of these have been committed by a well known deadly duo of serial killers that made some confessions to the fact after they were caught. How did police handle these cases and what has happened to the evidence collected over the years? Visit our website truecrimeallthetime.com for all the show's contact and merchandise information. Please take a minute to rate/review the show and tell a friend to listen while you're at it! You can support the show by going to patreon.com/truecrimeallthetime Thank you to everyone that supports us by listening, promoting us through social media, and by donating. We could not do what we do without all of you!   An Emash Digital Production See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

8 young women were murdered in and around the town of Madison, Wisconsin. These murders began in 1968 and stretched to 1984. Many of the women had ties to the University of Wiscon in Madison and some were actually killed on school property. Join Mike and Gibby as they delve into these mysterious deaths that have now become cold cases. Are all or some of these the work of an unknown serial killer? Could some of these have been committed by a well known deadly duo of serial killers that made some confessions to the fact after they were caught. How did police handle these cases and what has happened to the evidence collected over the years? Visit our website truecrimeallthetime.com for all the show's contact and merchandise information. Please take a minute to rate/review the show and tell a friend to listen while you're at it! You can support the show by going to patreon.com/truecrimeallthetime Thank you to everyone that supports us by listening, promoting us through social media, and by donating. We could not do what we do without all of you!   An Emash Digital Production See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode 4! We discuss the upcoming Wiscon & BikeCon, as well as some superhero & dieselpunk theatre from New Millennium & Otherworld, and then launch into a discussion of the 6 finalists for the Hugo Award for Best Novel this year.

Today on the podcast we have another amazing woman from the scene! Taryn Rene Dorsey and I sat down at Bedlam Coffee in Belltown and had a great conversation.  We talked about Wiscon, Sessions of She, POC as Fuck, and NightTraiN.  We also talked about setting up benefit shows, Hoodstock, Fly Moon Royalty, got some back story on Taryn and why she makes music and so much more.  I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.Featured music:"My First Day" by Wiscon off My First Day 2017"Wake Up" by Wiscon off Wake Up"Huntress" by NightTraiN off Mating CallLearn more here:  http://www.wisconseattle.comYou can find, subscribe, rate, and review the podcast on iTunes for iOS, Google Play Music, Stitcher Radio and Spreaker for Android.Please support the podcast, donate! Click the Patreon or PayPal button on the side bar of the website http://www.wotspodcast.com/.

Topics: In feedback, we mention two articles involving Amélie Lamont.  The first article is written by Amélie Lamont on her experiences of sexism & racism in the tech industry and the second article is an interview with Amélie Lamont discussing her story, toxic work environments and ways to build a support system in tech.   This week we did a crossover episode with Chris & Na'Amen from The Adventures of Yellow Peril and Magical Negro podcast during Wiscon.  We even got Inda from Black Girl Squee podcast to join in the fun. Intro - Boom Tap / Outro - Feelin Good provided by Mike (Pound 4 Pound Podcast) & Marion Moore from ALBM Productions

We spoke with Rachel Kronick, creator of Blade & Crown about tabletop, diversity or the lack thereof in the tabletop scene, Wiscon and more!

[artwork by Akihiko Yoshida] Marguerite Reed, author of "Archangel: The Chronicles of Ubastis", returns to the Big Chair at the Roundtable to lend her superior brainstorming mojo to a tale of demon hunters, necromancers, and the quest for redemption. The tale is offered up by Guest Writer Gilberto Galvez and features two cultures in a land of demons and corruption and the demon hunter who must risk everything to retrieve his his master from the clutches of a mad necromancer. With Lauren "Scribe" Harris ("Exorcising Aaron Nguyen (The Millroad Academy Exorcists Book 1)" in the mix, we explore the shadowed recesses of character and conflict, teasing out threads of gold and weaving them into a tapestry of epic storytelling. The Literary Gold is strewn like Mardi Gras beads and there's plenty for you... just click that "PLAY"  button (and make sure you've checked out Marguerite's 20 Minutes With... Interview!) PROMO:  The Dark Justice Story Bundle Workshop Episode 91 (Guest Host: Marguerite Reed) [caution: mature language - listener discretion is advised] Share your comments to this (or any) episode over at the RTP Forum! Check out this and all our episodes on iTunes and on Stitcher Radio! Marguerite on the internet... She's working on the sequel to "Archangel" (titled "Legion") She's launched a Patreon Page for fans of her work! She'll be at WisCon, Armadillo Con, and World Con in the coming year Stay up to date on all her doings at her website and on Facebook and Twitter, too! Guest Writer: Gilberto Galvez Gilberto Galvez   Check him out on Twitter and his NaNoWriMo profile       Lauren "Scribe" Harris bring's her A-Game to everything... Lauren "Scribe" Harris She's finishing up "Hellhound", a YA contemporary fantasy Soon, her narration for Starla Huchton's "Shadows on Snow: A Flipped Fairy Tale (Flipped Fairy Tales)" will be in the world Definitely follow along with her adventures at her blog, on the Twitters and the Facebooks And there are several literary treats of her's you can enjoy...

Nerdgasm Noire had the pleasure to interview Daniel José Older during Wiscon 39.     We discussed his latest book, ShadowShaper. 

The Unheard Voices of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror panel from Arisia. Catherine Lundoff moderated this panel, with K. Tempest Bradford (standing in for Nisi Shawl), Julia Rios, Trisha Wooldridge, Andrea Hairston, and Victor Raymond. Listening to this doesn't give you the visual cues that people in the room had, so a note up front: Nisi was in the audience, but wasn't up for sitting on the panel. There was an ongoing joke about Tempest being Nisi, and about Nisi being Nalo Hopkinson, who was not at the convention. Awards season!*Lambda finalists include lots of OA members like Nicola Griffith, Sacchi Green, Mary Ann Mohanraj, Alex Jeffers, Alaya Dawn Johnson, The editors and contributors to Ghosts in Gaslight, Monsters in Steam Gay City: Volume 5, Melissa Scott and Amy Griswold, Richard Bowes, Lee Thomas, and more. Full list here: http://www.lambdaliterary.org/features/news/03/06/26th-annual-lambda-literary-award-finalists-announced/*The Nebula nominee list is also out, and lots of OA types are there too, including Sofia Samatar, Nicola Griffith, Ellen Klages and Andy Duncan, Vylar Kaftan, Catherynne Valente, Christopher Barzak, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Sarah Pinsker, Rachel Swirsky, Karen Healey, and Nalo Hopkinson. Full nominee list here: http://www.sfwa.org/2014/02/2013-nebula-nominees-announced/The Galactic Suburbia Award and Honor List is out now, and the joint winners are N.K. Jemisin and Elise Matthesen. Full Honor List here: http://galactisuburbia.podbean.com/2014/03/23/episode-96-19-march-2014/*Carl Brandon Society is a group for fans and writers of color. They give out the Kindred and Parallax Awards for fiction by and/or about people of colors, and also administer scholarships for students of color to attend Clarion.*Broad Universe is a group for women who write and publish science fiction and fantasy. They have a website, a podcast, and many promotional and support networking opportunities for members, including organizing group readings and book sale tables at conventions. *WisCon is a feminist science fiction convention held each year at the end of May in Madison, Wisconsin. The Carl Brandon Society and Broad Universe both have strong presences there. *Con or Bust is an organization that raises money to send fans of color to conventions. The Carl Brandon Society administers the funds. *Gaylaxicon and Outlantacon are conventions specifically for the QUILTBAG SF fandom community. Gaylaxicon is a roving con (like WorldCon), and Outlantacon happens each year in May in Atlanta. This year's Gaylaxicon will be hosted by Outlantacon.Work by people on the panel:*Filter House is Nisi Shawl's Tiptree Award Winning short story collection (Tempest joked that her collection would be called Filter House 2).*Redwood and Wildfire is Andrea Hairston's Tiptree Award Winning novel (for which she had also just received a Carl Brandon Award on the day of this panel).*Silver Moon is Catherine Lundoff's novel about menopausal werewolves*Catherine writes a series about LGBT SFF for SF Signal.*Julia is an editor for Strange Horizons, which is always interested in publishing diverse voices.*Kaleidoscope is an anthology of diverse YA SF and Fantasy stories Julia is co-editing with Alisa Krasnostein, which is scheduled to launch in August of 2014.*In Other Words is an anthology of poetry and flash by writers of color Julia is co-editing with Saira Ali, which is scheduled to launch at WisCon in May, and which will benefit Con or Bust.Other things mentioned: *Lorraine Hansberry was an African American lesbian playwright, best known for Raisin in the Sun, but Andrea pointed out that she also wrote a lot of science fiction plays. *The SFWA Bulletin incited a lot of pushback in 2013. Here is a timeline: http://www.slhuang.com/blog/2013/07/02/a-timeline-of-the-2013-sfwa-controversies/. It has since changed editorial staff and has just put out the first of the new team's issues, which seems to be a lot more favorably received, as evidenced here: http://www.jasonsanford.com/jason/2014/03/the-new-sfwa-bulletin-is-blowing-my-mind.html.*"The Serial Killer's Astronaut Daughter" by Damien Angelica Walters was written partly in response to the SFWA bulletin's sexism. *A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar came up as an example of a novel by a person of color put out through an independent (not one of the big New York houses--Andrea argued for calling these sorts of publishers independent rather than small) publisher, Small Beer Press. Since the panel, A Stranger in Olondria has won the Crawford Award and been nominated for the Nebula. *Crossed Genres, Twelfth Planet Press, and Papaveria Press are independent presses that publish diverse voices.*Clarkesworld, Lightspeed, Strange Horizons, and Apex are magazines Tempest sees publishing diverse stories. Tor.com is also publishing more diverse stories now, like "The Water That Falls on You From Nowhere" by John Chu. *The Tiptree Award celebrates work that expands our notions of gender.*Dark Matter is an anthology exploring a century of SF by black writers. *Blood Children was an anthology put out by the Carl Brandon Society in 213 to benefit the Octavia Butler Scholarship, which sends students of color to Clarion. *Bending the Landscape, Kindred Spirits, and Worlds Apart were brought up as examples of QUILTBAG anthologies from more than just a few years back. All of these were mentioned as early examples, but the panel agreed we need more. *Daughters of Earth is a collection of stories by women from the early 1900s to 2000 with accompanying critical essays. This collection is edited by Justine Larbalestier. Andrea wrote a critical essay about an Octavia Butler story in this book. *The Cascadia Subduction Zone has a feature where an established writer recommends and reviews an older work that might be obscure. Andrea and Nisi have both done this. *Lethe Press publishes best gay SF stories each year in Wilde Stories, and best lesbian SF stories each year in Heiresses of Russ. Nisi and Julia are both in Heiresses of Russ 2013.*From the audience, Saira Ali recommends Goblin Fruit and Stone Telling as diverse poetry magazines, and Aliens: Recent Encounters (edited by Alex Dally MacFarlane) as a good anthology.

The Untragic Trans* Panel from WisCon 37! Moderated by Rhea Ewing, with Autumn Nicole Bradley, Rose Hayes, Brit Mandelo, and Elliott Mason. The panel runs an hour and fifteen minutes, and then I give a little Readercon report after it's over. Things the panelists recommended: *We Happy Trans* is a website specifically for sharing positive trans* experiences. *What Makes a Baby is a book that talks about how babies are made in very inclusive terms for all kinds of families. *Choir Boy by Charlie Anders is a novel about a trans* teen. *Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation by Kate Bornstein and S. Bear Bergman is a book about exploring gender in multiple ways. *Being Emily by Rachel Gold is another trans* teen novel, and one which Autumn recommends as really speaking to her experience. *FINE is Rhea's comic about gender. Readercon was great! Big thanks to he concom for working hard to make the space as safe and inclusive as possible. I loved getting to catch up with so many OA members, though I utterly failed to get a lot pictures. I do have two, though! Both from the From Page to Stage workshop run by C.S.E. Cooney and Caitlyn Paxson. At the end, all the participants read from their work, and I caught Kyell Gold and Brad Parks in the act! Here's Kyell: And Brad: Thanks to everyone who made Readercon weekend great!

The Queers Dig Time Lords panel from WisCon! This panel was moderated by Sigrid Ellis, and the other panelists were Michael Damian Thomas, Amal El-Mohtar, Na'amen Tilahun, Brit Mandelo, Mary Anne Mohanraj, and me, Julia Rios. Even though this panel happened at 10am, it still gets the explicit tag (and how!), so consider yourself forewarned! Congratulations to award winners! The last month saw both the Bisexual Book Awards and the Lambda Literary Awards announced, as well as the Chronos Awards in Australia, and Ellen Kushner's Swordspoint won best Audio Drama at the Audies! Congratulations, all! If you want to see pictures from WisCon 37, you can check out my photo set on Flickr. Finally, if you were not able to attend WisCon, and would like to with the OA WisCon Prize Package (signed copies of Queers Dig Time Lords and Amal El-Mohtar's The Honey Month, plus a souvenir Queers Dig Time Lords test tube), e-mail me at julia@juliarios.com any time during the month of June. I'll draw a winner in early July.

This week, following a failed attempt at Wiscon, the incredible M. Rickert and Christopher Barzak make the long Skype-complicated journey to the Gershwin Room to talk to Gary and Jonathan about Wiscon, fantasy, living in the Mid-West, tribalism, Christopher's fantastic new collection Before and Afterlives,  and all sorts of other interesting things.  Mary also gave the Podcast a huge news scoop. She has sold her first novel, tentatively titled A Taste of Ash and Honey, to Source Books. It should be out in 2014, which is spectacularly exciting news. We can't wait to read the book and to have her back when it comes out.

With Gary just returned from Madiscon, Wisconsin, the glorious Concourse Hotel and the fun of Wiscon 37, where hotel wi-fi frustrated plans for live podcasting, he joined Jonathan in the Waldorf Room high above the Coode Street Motel Six to discuss the role of bookstores in helping readers to find unexpected, books we've not read (The Pride of Chanur and Downwards to the Earth!!), and lifetime achievement.  With nominations closing in just days, they exhorted listeners to nominate for the 2o13 World Fantasy Awards (nomination ballot here), and made special mention of Mary Stewart and Susan Cooper as possible Lifetime Achievement Award recipients. As always, Gary and Jonathan hope you enjoy the podcast!

Eight OA members answer the same four questions (about SF awards, what "metrosexual" means, identity politics and the term QUILTBAG, and recommended media from 2013), so we can see a bit of the wide variety of opinions on each topic. Gabriel Murray is a writer of fiction and non-fiction, and a first reader for Strange Horizons. Cheryl Morgan is a a noted reviewer, and proprietor of Wizard's Tower Books. H. B. Kurtzwilde is the Lambda nominated author of Chocolatiers of the High Winds. Sunny Moraine is the co-author of Line and Orbit. Sunny also has a story forthcoming in Apex Magazine. Dennis R. Upkins is a critic and writer. His non-fiction appears at Ars Marginal, and his first YA novel is Hollowstone, and his second novel, West of Sunset, is coming out this summer. Sarah Pinsker is a singer-songwriter and a short story writer. She did the music for the Strange Horizons Podcast, and has a story forthcoming in Strange Horizons this summer. Rahul Kanakia's short stories have appeared in all sorts of places including Clarkesworld,  Apex Magazine and Wilde Stories 2013. His novels are represented by the Greenhouse Literary Agency. Jude McLaughlin is the mastermind behind Wonder City Stories. She was our one e-mail correspondent this episode, and her answers are all together at the very end. Stuff We Mentioned Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (sad story, strong female friendship, set in WWII) The Ditmar Award Winners (congratulations, all!) Through Splintered Walls by Kaaron Warren The Drowning Girl by Caitlin R. Kiernan Jagannath by Karin Tidbeck Ancient, Ancient by Kiini Ibura Salaam "Robot" by Helena Bell "Immersion" by Aliette de Bodard "Fade to White" by Catherynne M. Valente Stoker (an interestingly disappointing movie, according to Gabe) Batgirl #19 by Gail Simone (Cheryl is excited about the trans character in this comic) Gemsigns by Stephanie Salter (currently only available in the UK) Video Game High School The Binding of Isaac (a flash game) The Starz series Spartacus (which Sunny notes is problematic, but also has some great stuff in it, including a healthy gay couple) The Evil Dead remake (again Sunny notes there are problems with this, it's not for everyone, but it does interesting things with women) Selo & Inya by Ankhesen Mie Mass Effect 3 and Dragon Age II (both games have queer characters) G.I. Joe: Retaliation (Denny appreciates that this features people of color) The Best of All Possible Worlds by Karen Lord Marbles by Ellen Forney (Out-Bechdels Allison Bechdel, according to Sarah) "If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love" by Rachel Swirsky "Variations on Bluebeard and Dalton's Law Along the Event Horizon" by Helena Bell "Selkie Stories Are For Losers" by Sofia Samatar (Sarah heard this story many times while working on the very first Strange Horizons podcast episode, and she never got tired of it!) The Good Wife (TV legal drama, which Rahul enjoys for the plots and the abundance of queer characters) Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (Rahul says this one made him feel like he was living the story) Puella Magi Madoka Magica Dicebox by Jen Manley Lee Family Man by Dylan Meconis I Do Not Have an Eating Disorder Send feedback to julia@juliarios.com, and if you're coming to WisCon, say hello to me at the Queers Dig Time Lords / OA party on Friday night!

The Coode Street Productions Multinational World Domination Unit sent Gary to Madison, Wisconsin with the idea that, perhaps, we might do a Wiscon-related podcast. Time and circumstance meant that instead we spent far too long discussing the World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award. What is it they say: "The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men. . Gang aft agley". Still, as always we hope you enjoy the podcast. We'll try to sneak another episode in before I, Jonathan, head East and into the rising damp of Melbourne and Natcon!

With the sun slowly setting over the Coode Street Motel 6, Gary and I headed for the Waldorf Room to record episode 102 of the podcast. For the first time in two years we had show notes, we had plans, and we had news: surely nothing could go wrong!  Surely! We had much to discuss: the Nebula Awards winners, which had just been announced; feedback from Cheryl Morgan on Episode 101 and whether women write rigorous SF; gender and whether the gender of the author affects how we perceive the genre of their work; and more! Really. For those seeking show notes, we did discuss all of the above, along with mention of the Tiptree Centenary (time to start planning!), Gary's upcoming attendance at Wiscon and Readercon, and other stuff. However, this is the Coode St Podcast. It soon became clear Gary had not *read* the show notes, that we couldn't fit in everything we'd planned and...well, we did the best we could. As always, we hope you enjoy the podcast. Next week, Wiscon!

With Gary home from his ICFA board meeting in Florida and Wiscon, we sat down to discuss cyberpunk, the 'movement and radical hard SF, Steampunk!, first novels and a few other things. No awards were mentioned in the recording of this podcast.

Last weekend Gary traveled to Madison, Wisconsin - home of Wiscon - where in amongst fine dinners and even finer conversation he managed to find time to ask Eileen Gunn, Ellen Klages and Geoff Ryman to join us on the podcast to discuss the 20th anniversary of the Tiptree Awards, Wiscon, the value of short fiction, and other things. Many, many thanks to Eileen, Ellen and Geoff for joining us. We hope you enjoy it, as always, and will see you next week!

Last weekend Crawford Award-winning novelist Karen Lord joined Gary and I live from an undisclosed location in the Caribbean (well, when we say 'undisclosed' a LOT of frogs and just a few motorcycles seemed to know just where Karen was at the time) to discuss the impact of cultural perceptions on fantasy, her novel Redemption in Indigo, and a handful of other things. We experienced a few recording dropouts (for which we apologise), but Skype struggled to link Perth, Chicago and the Caribbean and did its very best. We hope you enjoy the podcast as much as we enjoyed recording it. As to this coming weekend, well Gary's at Wiscon so we have some plans for coming weeks that we think should be a lot of fun. See you then!