Eating the Fantastic artwork

Eating the Fantastic

226 episodes - English - Latest episode: 7 days ago - ★★★★★ - 32 ratings

I’ve been going to science fiction, fantasy, horror, and comic book conventions since I was 15, and I’ve found that while the con which takes place within the walls of a hotel or convention center is always fun, the con away from the con—which takes place when I wander off-site with friends for a meal—can often be more fun. In fact, my love of tracking down good food while traveling the world attending conventions has apparently become so well known that one blogger even dubbed me "science fiction’s Anthony Bourdain."

So I've decided to replicate in podcast form one of my favorite parts of any convention—good conversation with good friends over good food.

During each episode, I’ll share a meal with someone whose opinions I think you’ll want to hear, and we’ll talk about science fiction, fantasy, horror, writing, comics, movies, fandom … whatever happens to come to mind. (There’ll also be food talk, of course.)

Please note—this will not be a pristine studio-recorded podcast, but one which will always occur in a restaurant setting, meaning that mixed in with our conversation will be the sounds of eating and drinking and reviewing of menus and slurping and background chatter and the servers popping in … in other words, it’ll be as messy as life. And I hope you'll find it as entertaining, too.

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Episodes

Episode 126: Farah Mendlesohn

August 28, 2020 17:45 - 1 hour - 101 MB

Join Farah Mendlesohn for tea and scones as we discuss the reasons Robert A. Heinlein resonated with her, how her early and current readings of Heinlein differ, why the science fiction of the '30s was far more politically radical than that of the '40s and '50s, her deliberately controversial comment about Ursula K. Le Guin, the circumstances under which she's more interested in the typical rather than the groundbreaking, that period during the '20s when everyone was fascinated by glands, the...

Episode 125: Stephen Dedman

August 15, 2020 16:32 - 2 hours - 113 MB

Polish off prawn pizza with Stephen Dedman as we discuss how the Apollo 11 moon landing introduced him to science fiction, what his father told him which changed his plan to become a cartoonist, the huge difference the Internet made in the lives of Australian writers, his creative trick for getting his first poem published, what acting taught him about being funny in the midst of tragedy, his former job as a used dinosaur parts salesman, the way page one tells him whether he's got a short st...

Episode 124: Lee Murray

July 22, 2020 19:19 - 1 hour - 108 MB

Join award-winning writer Lee Murray for lunch and dinner as we discuss how she crafted her first short story collection, the importance of mentoring our next generation of genre writers, why we're unlikely to ever go spelunking together, whether she prefers her zombies fast or slow, the unique awards club of which we're both members, the way her use of New Zealand culture might be perceived differently by readers in and out of her country, the difficulties some seem to have with stories wri...

Episode 123: Sequestering with Scott Edelman

June 14, 2020 19:25 - 1 hour - 101 MB

Binge on bagels while sequestering with writer, editor, and Eating the Fantastic host Scott Edelman as he answers questions about whether his early days in fandom and early writing success helped his career, which anthology he'd like to edit if given the chance, what different choices he wishes he'd made over his lifetime, what he predicts for the future of food, how the pandemic has affected his writing, if anything he's written has ever scared him, whether writer's block is a reality or a ...

Episode 122: Justina Ireland

May 28, 2020 13:39 - 1 hour - 104 MB

Join New York Times best-selling novelist Justina Ireland as we discuss whether having written zombie novels has helped her deal with the pandemic, her biggest pet peeve when she hears other writers talk about writing, where she falls in the fast vs. slow zombies debate (and how she's managed to have the best of both worlds), our very different reasons for not having read Harry Potter, the way she avoided sequelitis in Dark Divide, what it was like playing in the Star Wars sandbox, why it's ...

Episode 121: Social Distancing with Scott Edelman

May 14, 2020 19:24 - 1 hour - 102 MB

Practice social distancing with Scott Edelman, host of Eating the Fantastic, as he answers listener questions about his early days in the Marvel Comics Bullpen, the many things he and legendary editor Gardner Dozois shoved up their noses, when his food and fandom interests began to overlap, what he would have said to Harlan Ellison had he been in Barry Malzberg's shoes, whether experiencing personal tragedy helps or harms a writer, the cognitive dissonance he feel about comics having taken o...

Episode 120: A Sarah Pinsker for a New Day

April 26, 2020 18:18 - 1 hour - 93.6 MB

Catch up with the award-winning Sarah Pinsker — this podcast's first guest — as we discuss how relieved she was her pandemic novel A Song for a New Day was published in 2019 rather than 2020, why she originally wrote that book in a song format (and why that had to change), how she loves being surprised by her own characters, why neither of us can bear listening to music while we write, the extremely scientific, color-coded process she came up with for organizing her first short story collect...

Episode 119: Sheltering in Place with Scott Edelman

April 10, 2020 12:40 - 1 hour - 91 MB

Shelter in place for lunch with Scott Edelman, host of Eating the Fantastic, as he answers questions from listeners and former guests of the podcast, revealing his love for The Twilight Zone (and the negative effect it had on him as a beginning writer), the origins of the Scarecrow character he created for Marvel in 1975, what it was like editing a professional wrestling magazine, whether the difficulties he faced in getting his Lambda Award-nominated novel The Gift published during the ‘80s...

Episode 118: 1995 Science Forum: How Old is the Universe?

March 27, 2020 13:28 - 59 minutes - 55.7 MB

Time travel to 1995 with scientist/science fiction writers Geoffrey A. Landis, Jr. and Yoji Kondo as we chew over the question of the age of the universe. We discuss how the idea of the universe even having a beginning is a relatively new concept, the way we choose between the many competing theories of its age, how the phrase "Big Bang" was a joke which stuck, the paradox of some stars appearing to be older than the universe itself, how a science fiction writer’s imagination might solve una...

Episode 117: Michael Dirda

March 13, 2020 13:43 - 2 hours - 136 MB

Chow down on crab cakes with Pulitzer Prize-winning book critic Michael Dirda as we discuss the convention at which he thought he was about to be punched out by Harlan Ellison, the book he wants to write but which he realizes he could probably never publish, how discovering E. F. Bleiler's Guide to Supernatural Fiction opened a whole new world for him, whether he faced judgment from his peers for believing Georgette Heyer is as important as George Eliot, why he wants to be buried with a copy...

Episode 116: Keith R.A. DeCandido

February 28, 2020 12:50 - 1 hour - 84.1 MB

Brunch on biscuits and gravy with Keith R.A. DeCandido as we discuss how the kids TV show The Electric Company made him a Marvel fan, the serendipitous way he sold his first short story (and how it was all thanks to Spider-Man), what we each learned from working with Stan Lee, how he was given the chance to write his first novel in lieu of being given a raise, which of the more than 30 franchises he's written tickled his inner child the most, whether the bias against writers of tie-in work h...

Episode 115: John Edward Lawson

February 15, 2020 13:57 - 2 hours - 122 MB

Nibble fried noodles with John Edward Lawson as we discuss the birth of the bizarro horror subgenre (and the surprisingly democratic way in which it was named), the reason Alien both repelled and attracted him, how trying to sell screenplays led to him publishing his first short fiction instead, the story of his which was the most emotionally difficult to write, how he won a poetry award only after giving up on poetry, the unexpected gift he was given when starting his own publishing company...

Episode 114: Alexandra Erin

January 30, 2020 17:28 - 2 hours - 121 MB

Join Alfie Award-winning writer Alexandra Erin for waffle fries (but no waffling) as we discuss the way Mark Twain gave her permission to comment satirically on science fiction, the thoughts which went through her mind the night George R. R. Martin handed her that Alfie Award, her preferred role when playing Dungeons and Dragons, how she knew her Tales of MU saga was meant to go on for several million words, the way in which she's transformed herself into a cyborg, how she knows when an idea...

Episode 113: L. Penelope

January 10, 2020 12:53 - 1 hour - 107 MB

Eavesdrop on my lunch with L. Penelope as we discuss why The Neverending Story was her favorite childhood movie, which Octavia Butler quote inspired one of her tattoos, why she decided to go the self-publishing route (and how her indie success resulted in her first novel getting picked up by a traditional publisher), the catalytic scene which sparked her Earthsinger Chronicles series, how she manages to meet the expectations of both fantasy readers and paranormal romance readers, her advice ...

Episode 112: Bob Proehl

December 27, 2019 14:22 - 1 hour - 82.9 MB

Chow down on cannoli with author Bob Proehl as we discuss how it really all began for him with poetry, the way giving a non-comics reader Watchmen for their first comic is like giving a non-novel reader Ulysses as their first novel, why discovering Sandman was a lifesaver, the reason the Flying Burrito Brothers 1968 debut album The Gilded Palace of Sin matters so much to him, why he had a case of Imposter Syndrome over his first book and how he survived it, the reasons he's so offended by Th...

Episode 111: Elsa Sjunneson-Henry

December 13, 2019 14:13 - 1 hour - 82.4 MB

Join Elsa Sjunneson-Henry for lunch in Little Italy as we discuss her roller coaster of emotions the night she won a Hugo Award earlier this year during the Dublin Worldcon, how that editorial gig increased her empathy, the way writing roleplaying games and being a Sherlock Holmes nerd taught her about world-building and led to her first professional fiction sales, the dinosaur-themed Twitter feed that gave birth to her most recently published short story, the novel she's working on which sh...

Episode 110: Larry Lieber

November 29, 2019 12:46 - 2 hours - 126 MB

Share scallops with comics legend Larry Lieber, co-creator of Thor, Iron Man, and Ant-Man, as we discuss the old-time radio shows which most influenced him, what he learned about humanity from reading Margaret Mead back in the '50s, how the only reason he became a writer was because he was too slow to make a living an artist, who told him at the start of his career that comics was a "dying industry," the tips Stan Lee gave to make him a better writer, why his attempts to work for DC Comics n...

Episode 109: Paul Kirchner

November 15, 2019 13:00 - 2 hours - 154 MB

Nibble naan with artist Paul Kirchner as we discuss how a chance encounter in art school led to him assisting cartoonist Tex Blaisdell on Little Orphan Annie, the life lessons he learned during his apprenticeship with EC Comics legend and Daredevil innovator Wally Wood, the ruse he used to convince the editor of Harpoon into commissioning more installments of his famed Dope Rider strip, how the office of Screw magazine was nothing like you thought it would be and the office of High Times was...

Episode 108: Ramsey Campbell

October 31, 2019 12:58 - 2 hours - 115 MB

Devour Cthulhu with World Horror Grandmaster Ramsey Campbell as we discuss his early relationship with Arkham House editor and publisher August Derleth, who he might have been had he never discovered H. P. Lovecraft, how this master of unease is able to keep the sense of dread going for the length of a novel (hint: he's not entirely sure himself), why he loves The Blair Witch Project, what it was like writing novels in the Universal monsters universe, how he felt when The Times listed The Do...

Episode 107: Maura McHugh

October 17, 2019 12:42 - 1 hour - 97.5 MB

Head to Dublin for brunch with Maura McHugh as we discuss how the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop sometimes makes people realize they shouldn't be writers (and why that can sometimes be a good thing), how having lived in both Ireland and the U.S. affected her life and her writing, whether her attraction to dark fiction was ever a choice, what it was like getting to create comics in the Judge Dredd universe, how she decides whether ideas that pop into her head get transf...

Episode 106: Cheryl Morgan

October 04, 2019 11:58 - 2 hours - 125 MB

Share a walnut whip with Cheryl Morgan as we discuss the only science fiction she was allowed to read in school as a kid, why she preferred American Marvel Comics over the British comics of her youth (and how she considers Jean Grey her big sister), the way Dungeons & Dragons made 10 years of her life disappear, how helping out on a Worldcon bid led to her meeting one of the most important people in her life, the reason deciding to go digital infuriated fanzine fandom, the legacy of Ursula K...

Episode 105: Lisa Tuttle

September 20, 2019 13:05 - 2 hours - 115 MB

Join Lisa Tuttle for a Javanese dinner as we discuss the amusing series of mishaps which prevented her from learning she'd won the 1974 John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best New Writer as early as she should have, the first thing Harlan Ellison ever said to her, how the all-male table of contents for a major horror anthology inspired her to edit her classic female horror anthology Skin of the Soul, the way emigrating from the U.S. to the UK affected her writing, why an editor said of one ...

Episode 104: Jack Dann

September 06, 2019 12:28 - 2 hours - 128 MB

Chow down on chowder with the award-winning Jack Dann as we discuss the novel he and Gardner Dozois always planned to write but never did, how a botched appendectomy at age 20 which left him with only a 5% chance of survival inspired one of his most famous stories, why he quit law school the day after he sold a story to Damon Knight's Orbit series, the bad writing advice he gave Joe Haldeman early on we're glad got ignored, the secrets to successful collaborations, the time Ellen Datlow acte...

Episode 103: Lucy A. Snyder

August 23, 2019 11:53 - 1 hour - 101 MB

Join award-winning horror author Lucy A. Snyder for an Indian lunch as we discuss how Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time made her want to become a writer, the rare bad advice she got from one of her Clarion instructors, the way Hunter S. Thompson and Truman Capote taught her about consensual truth, how she learned to embrace her uneasy relationship with horror, the time Tim Powers said of one of her early stories that "this is an example of everything that's wrong with modern science fict...

Episode 102: P. Djèlí Clark

August 12, 2019 12:13 - 2 hours - 112 MB

Bite into a burger with P. Djèlí Clark as we discuss his upcoming first novel (the sale of which was announced only days before we spoke), the background which gave birth to his award-winning story "The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington," the reason The Black God's Drums switched point-of-view character during his writing of it, what he learned about New Orleans due to an unfortunate encounter with the local police department, how he found success when he switched fro...

Episode 101: Rachel Swirsky

August 02, 2019 12:31 - 1 hour - 92.9 MB

Nibble New York cheesecake in L.A. with Nebula Award-winning writer Rachel Swirsky as we discuss what it was like to be critiqued by Octavia Butler at the Clarion Science Fiction Writers Workshop, how she learned there's no inherent goodness in being concise in one's writing, the generational shift in mainstream literature's acceptance of science fiction, why she's an anarchist (though she's really not), what she learned about writing as a reporter covering pinball professionally, how the th...

Episode 100: Mark Evanier

July 19, 2019 11:39 - 2 hours - 151 MB

Slurp matzoh ball soup with Will Eisner Award-winning writer/editor Mark Evanier as we discuss the lesson he learned watching Stan Lee write one of his famous Bullpen Bulletins pages, how his first sale to Laugh-In magazine led him to believe he could make it as a professional writer, the lunch at which Jack Kirby swore him to secrecy about quitting Marvel, the inker Kirby would have chosen if he was allowed to choose only one (and why it wouldn't be Vince Colletta), his stupefied reaction w...

Episode 99: Gerry Conway

July 05, 2019 12:27 - 2 hours - 118 MB

Join comics legend Gerry Conway for lunch in L.A. to learn how the comics business has always been dying and what keeps saving it, why if he were in charge he'd shut down Marvel Comics for six months, what it's like (and how it's different) being both the youngest and oldest writer ever to script Spider-Man, the novel mistake he made during his summer at the Clarion Writers Workshop, why he's lived a life in comics rather than science fiction, what caused Harlan Ellison to write an offensive...

Episode 98: Kathe Koja

June 21, 2019 11:04 - 1 hour - 91.7 MB

Hash it out with award-winning writer Kathe Koja as we discuss her love of immersive theater (and dissect her previous night's performance at StokerCon), why her groundbreaking debut novel The Cipher will always be The Funhole in her heart, what caused her to move into the YA world after her dark adult novels and why it's harder to write for a younger audience, how she accidentally wrote her Under the Poppy trilogy, the allure of writing historical novels, how being in the presence of Kate W...

Episode 97: John R. Little

June 07, 2019 12:09 - 1 hour - 82.4 MB

Bite into what USA Today dubbed the best burger in Michigan with award-winning horror writer John R. Little as we discuss how seeing his sister's portable typewriter for the first time changed his life forever, the way he launched his career by following in Stephen King's men's magazine footsteps, why he's so fascinated by time and how he manages to come up with new ways of writing about that concept, which writer's career he wanted when he grew up and how buying a copy of Carrie changed tha...

Episode 96: Kaaron Warren

May 24, 2019 02:07 - 2 hours - 136 MB

Crunch into a crab cake sandwich with award-winning horror writer Kaaron Warren as we discuss how her recent Rebecca reread totally changed her sympathies for its characters, the disturbing real-life crime related to the first time she ever saw The Shining, the catalyst that gave birth to her award-winning novel Tide of Stone, how she came up with new angles for tackling stories about such classic characters as Sherlock Holmes and Frankenstein, the way flea market bric-a-brac has led to some...

Episode 95: StokerCon Donut Spooktacular

May 14, 2019 18:36 - 1 hour - 102 MB

Dare to eat donuts with a dozen horrific creators during the StokerCon Donut Spooktacular! Join us as Michael Bailey describes his novel inspired by a fire which turned his home to ashes in seven minutes, Geoffrey A. Landis shares about the Sherlock Holmes/Jack the Ripper horror story he published in the science fiction magazine Analog, Brian Keene explains why he chose last weekend to finally reappear at an HWA event, Wile E. Young tells why he thinks of the Road Runner whenever a story get...

Episode 94: Annalee Flower Horne

May 03, 2019 13:05 - 1 hour - 90.5 MB

Float away with Annalee Flower Horne as we discuss the incident at their first con which was a catalyst for wanting to become a writer, the way a glare from Mary Robinette Kowal caused them to submit (and then sell) their first short story, how the intricacies of game design can teach fiction writers to write better, why writers shouldn't complain when editors reject stories too quickly, the first story they wrote while angry (and what was learned from the experience), the cuss word they wis...

Episode 93: Steve Stiles

April 19, 2019 11:48 - 2 hours - 121 MB

Enjoy an enchilada with Steve Stiles as we discuss what it was like to work at Marvel Comics in the mid-'70s, the ironic reason he no longer owns his Silver Age Marvels, the time he thought he'd gotten the gig to draw Dr. Strange (but really hadn't), what it was like being taught by the great Burne Hogarth at the School of Visual Arts, his first professional art sale (and why it ended up hanging on Hugh Hefner's wall), how his famed comic strip The Adventures Of Professor Thintwhistle And Hi...

Episode 92: Malka Older

April 05, 2019 12:39 - 2 hours - 116 MB

Bond over bing bread with Hugo-nominated author Malka Older as we discuss why democracy is a radical concept which scares people (and what marriage has to say about the dramatic potential of democracy), the pachinko parlor which helped give birth to her science fictional universe, how what was intended to be a standalone novel turned into a trilogy, her secrets (and role models) when it comes to writing action scenes, which of her characters moves more merchandise, how (and why) editor Carl ...

Episode 91: Colin Coyle

March 20, 2019 12:00 - 1 hour - 85.6 MB

Dig into dessert with Parvus Press publisher Colin Coyle as we discuss the reason we're glad we got to record the episode rather than spend the night in jail, how the tragic events of Charlottesville inspired him to hire Cat Rambo to assemble the If This Goes On anthology, why he switched over to the Kickstarter model for this book and what surprises he discovered during the process, the reason his company isn't publishing horror even though he'd like to, the surprising shared plot point slu...

Episode 90: Michael J. Walsh

March 08, 2019 13:26 - 2 hours - 112 MB

Binge on Brisket Benedict‎ with Michael J. Walsh as we discuss what it is about the annual World Fantasy Conventions that drew him to attend all 44 of them, how a generous teacher's gift of an Ace Double led to his first exposure to true science fiction, the big score which induced him to become a book dealer, the way Ted White was able to do so much with so little when he edited Amazing Stories in the '70s, what witnessing Anne McCaffrey and Isaac Asimov singing Gilbert and Sullivan tunes m...

Episode 89: Ruthanna Emrys

February 22, 2019 12:50 - 1 hour - 91.2 MB

Share spring rolls with Ruthanna Emrys, author of the H. P. Lovecraft-inspired Innsmouth Legacy series, as we discuss the ways in which her first exposure to Lovecraft was through pop culture references rather than the original texts, the reasons for the recent rise of Lovecraft recontextualisation, how tea with Jo Walton convinced her she was right to go ahead and write her first Innsmouth Legacy novel, why she ascribes to the tenets of the burgeoning Hopepunk movement, her love of writing ...

Episode 88: Alan Smale

February 08, 2019 12:57 - 2 hours - 141 MB

Pig out on pork belly tacos with Alan Smale as we discuss why an astrophysicist's chosen field of fiction is alternate history rather than hard science, how his fascination with archeology and ancient civilizations began, the reason he started off his novel-writing career with a trilogy rather than a standalone, the secrets to writing convincing battle sequences, the nuances of critiquing partial novels in a workshop setting, how his research into Roman and Native American history affected h...

Episode 87: Scott H. Andrews

January 25, 2019 12:42 - 2 hours - 124 MB

Gobble goat cheese fritters with Beneath Ceaseless Skies publisher and editor Scott H. Andrews as we discuss the treatment he received as a writer which taught him what he wanted to do (and didn't want to do) as an editor, how his time as member of a band helped him come up with the name for his magazine, why science fiction's public perception as a literary genre is decades ahead of fantasy, what it takes for a submission to rise to the level of receiving a rewrite request, the time he mad...

Episode 86: Submersive Productions

January 11, 2019 12:55 - 1 hour - 110 MB

Eavesdrop on my Thai dinner with the immersive (and totally science fictional) theatrical troupe Submersive Productions as we discuss the ways everything from Dragon Ball Z to Myst to Terry Gilliam's Brazil stoked their love of the fantastic, how the funding came together for their first mesmeric show about the women in the works of Edgar Allan Poe, the dare that made their recent durational play grow to eight hours and the half-scripted/half-improvised way they were able to keep their perfo...

Episode 85: Andy Duncan: An Agent of Utopia

December 28, 2018 14:11 - 2 hours - 160 MB

Have hot antipasto with Andy Duncan as we celebrate the publication of his new collection An Agent of Utopia and discuss why it took a quarter of a century to bring the book's lead story from title idea to completion, how he was influenced by the research regimen of the great Frederik Pohl, the way a short story is like an exploded toolshed, why he deliberately wrote a deal with the devil story after hearing he shouldn't write deal with the devil stories, the embarrassing marketing blurb he ...

Episode 84: Stephen Kozeniewski

December 14, 2018 13:51 - 1 hour - 87 MB

Slurp down Thai Beef Noodle Soup with Stephen Kozeniewski as we discuss how it took nearly 500 submissions before his first novel was finally accepted, why he has no interest in writing sequels, his advice for winning a Turkey Award for the worst possible opening to the worst possible science fiction or fantasy novel, why his output is split between horror and science fiction (but not mysteries), the reason Brian Keene was who he wanted to be when he grew up, why almost any story would be mo...

Episode 83: Jo Walton

November 30, 2018 13:44 - 2 hours - 119 MB

Join Jo Walton for a seafood lunch as we discuss how Harlan Ellison's fandom-slamming essay "Xenogenesis" caused her to miss three conventions she would otherwise have attended, why Robert Silverberg's Dying Inside is really a book about menopause, the reason she wishes George Eliot had written science fiction, the ways in which during her younger days she was trying to write like Poul Anderson, her technique for getting unstuck when she's lost in the middle of writing a novel, why she loath...

Episode 82: Paul Levitz

November 21, 2018 12:04 - 2 hours - 119 MB

Savor a steak dinner with comics legend Paul Levitz as we discuss why even though in a 1973 fanzine he wrote he had "no desire to make a career for myself in this industry" he's spent his life there, how wild it was the suits let kids like us run the show in the '70s, the time Marv Wolfman offered him a job over at Marvel (and why he turned it down), what he learned from editor Joe Orlando about how to get the best work out of creative people, the bizarre reason Gerry Conway's first DC Comic...

Episode 81: Vina Jie-Min Prasad

November 09, 2018 12:37 - 2 hours - 129 MB

Taste tiramisu with Vina Jie-Min Prasad as we discuss why she didn't start writing any fiction until the release of J.J. Abrams' Star Trek reboot, the reason food has such a prominent place in her fiction, why she might never have become a writer if the Internet hadn't existed, the lessons she took away from her fan fiction days, what she meant when she wrote in her bio that she’s "working against the world-machine,” why her multi-nominated story "A Series of Steaks" was her first submission...

Episode 80: Steve Rasnic Tem

October 31, 2018 11:33 - 2 hours - 160 MB

Chow down on fish and chips with the award-winning Steve Rasnic Tem as we discuss the importance of writing until you get to page eight, what he did the day after Harlan Ellison died, why even though he was a fearful kid he turned to horror, the thing which if I'd known about his marriage might have caused problems with my own, how crushed we both were when comics went up to 12 cents from a dime, why his all-time favorite short story is Franz Kafka's "A Country Doctor," the way joining Ed Br...

Episode 79: Rebecca Roanhorse

October 18, 2018 13:14 - 1 hour - 90.1 MB

Eat empanadas with Rebecca Roanhorse as we discuss the spark without which her award-winning short story would never have been written, the differing reactions her tale garnered from inside and outside of the Native American community, the compelling reason she chose to write it in the second person, what she learned as a lawyer that helped in writing her first novel, how she upped her game when she decided to be a writer for real, why she fell out of the reading habit and how a Laurel K. Ha...

Episode 78: K.Tempest Bradford

October 05, 2018 11:58 - 2 hours - 120 MB

Nibble naan with K. Tempest Bradford as we discuss how her Egyptian Afro-retro-futurism idea grew from a short story into a series of novels, the way she used crowdfunding to complete the research she needed, why her discovery of my Science Fiction Age magazine means I bear the responsibility for all she's done since, how an online writing community gave her the confidence to be a writer, the advice from Samuel R. Delany she embraces the most, why she set aside her goal of becoming an opera ...

Episode 77: Pat Cadigan

September 21, 2018 11:44 - 1 hour - 108 MB

Binge on sushi with award-winning author Pat Cadigan as we discuss what it was like being Robert A. Heinlein's liaison at the 1976 Kansas City Worldcon, why John Brunner hated her when they first met and what she did to eventually win him over, her secret childhood life as a member of The Beatles, what she and Isaac Asimov had in common when it came to convincing parents to accept science fiction, her original plan to grow up and script Legion of Super-Heroes comics, what she learned about w...

Guests

P. Djèlí Clark
1 Episode