Devour a seafood tower with Samantha Mills as we discuss how the eighth novel she wrote became her award-winning debut novel, what she means when she says that novel was "kind of" outlined, the way fascism takes root in a society, the trickiness of writing a narrative with split timelines (and why she's never doing it again), how being an archivist helped her write about a world where archiving matters, the secret to writing believable fight scenes, her technique for switching up writing time between novels and short stories, the early influence of <em>Xena: Warrior Princess</em>, how years of research resulted in her award-winning short story "Rabbit Test," the way an early pregnancy test led to a worldwide frog apocalypse, navigating the difficulties of the modern short story market, the organizing principle of her upcoming collection, how she was able to power through her initial rejections, and much more.
Bite into blueberry pancakes with Silvia Moreno-Garcia as we discuss how short stories helped her find her voice, the way a gross dream combined with a teen cemetery trip led to <em>Mexican Gothic</em>, her love for abandoned places, why she found <em>Madame Bovary</em> startling when she read it in high school, how to successfully write genres in which the reader is more aware of the tropes than the protagonist, the beauty to be found in flawed characters, how to make sure parallel storylines are equally interesting, one technique she admits doing which makes multiple types of readers angry, the difficulty of resisting branding, the reason the term magic realism is overused, and much more.
Feast on oysters with Kemi Ashing-Giwa as we discuss her conscious decision to not take any creative writing courses in college, the eight never-to-be published novels she wrote on her way to <em>The Splinter in the Sky</em>, how COVID-19 led her to take a deep dive into tea (and how tea then inspired her debut novel), her evolution from pantser to plotter, her outreach to 200 agents before she found the right one, how to craft compelling opening sentences, her tips for writing successful fight scenes, why she was able to handle attending Harvard and writing a novel at the same time, how best to deal with editorial revision suggestions, her love of reading debut novels, and much more.
Toast writer/editor Craig Laurance Gidney as we discuss how meeting Samuel R. Delany led to his attending the Clarion Writing Workshop, the influence of reading decadent writers such as Verlaine and Rimbaud, why he kept at trying to get published when so many of his peers stopped, the many ways flaws can sometimes make a story more interesting, our shared love of ambiguity, the reason there must be beauty entwined with horror, why he’s a vibes guy rather than a plot guy, the time Tanith Lee bought him a pint and how that led to him coediting her tribute anthology, what he learned from his years editing a flash fiction magazine, and much more.
Break for brunch with writer Adeena Mignogna as we discuss how <em>Star Trek</em> changed her life, which <em>Trek</em> character she used as her screen name on fan forums when she first went online as a young teen, why she never wrote fanfic, the feedback from a friend which saved her NaNoWriMo novel from being trunked, how she discovered she's neither a plotter nor a pantser but rather something in-between, her favorite science fiction novel of all time (and the important lesson it taught her about her Robot Galaxy series), why she went the indie route and how she knew she had the chops to pull it off, the manner in which we gender robots, the reason writing each book in her quartet was more fun than the one before, why she remains hopeful about our AI future, how she finally learned she was a morning writer after years of trying to write at night, and much more.
Pig out on pork belly with Jarrett Melendez as we discuss how his loves of food and writing combined into a career, the way running comic book conventions gave him the contacts he needed when it was time to create comics of his own, which franchise inspired his sole piece of fan fiction, the comics creator whose lessons proved invaluable, how he knew <em>Chef's Kiss</em> needed to be a graphic novel rather than a miniseries, the way he balanced multiple plot arcs so they resolved in parallel, the magical pig whose taste is more trustworthy than any chef you've ever met, his early crush on Encyclopedia Brown, how he cooks up recipes connected with franchises such as Pokémon and Percy Jackson, the traumatic childhood incident which became the catalyst for his upcoming graphic novel, and much more.
Wolf down lamb with Carolyn Ives Gilman as we discuss the way her ideas aren't small enough to squeeze into short stories, how she shelved a novel she'd written because she felt her imagination at its wildest wasn't ridiculous enough to match reality, whether our personal archives will be trashed or treasured, the reason she doesn't feel she can teach writing, why authors need to respect what the story wants, why she's terrible at reacting to writing prompts and how she does it anyway, how she generally starts a story not with character or plot but with setting, the ethics and morality of zoos and museums, how she manages to makes the impossible seem possible, our shared inability to predict which stories editors will want, and much more.
Rip into roti with writer Tim Paggi as we discuss the story behind his <em>X-Files</em>-inspired juvenilia, the reason he demanded a refund from Barnes & Noble for a volume of Emily Dickinson's poetry, why a writing teacher (wrongfully) accused him of plagiarism, how the beginning of the pandemic was also the beginning of his fiction writing career, whether his recent Cthulhu references were intentional or unavoidable, why the <em>Severance</em> TV show has him feeling anxious (it's probably not the reason you think), the C-word he avoids using in his fiction, whether facing down audiences on stage helped him deal with rejections on the page, the many reasons he loves cosmic horror, the drunkest group he ever led through Baltimore on a ghost tour, and much more.
Mangia mussels in Little Italy with David Simmons as we discuss how he manages to give such dramatic performances during his public readings, why his answer when asked to describe his genre of writing is "Baltimore," the way discovering the novels of Donald Goines changed his life, why his wife was responsible for his first short story being written and sold, how he hopes reading him will have you feeling as if you're in a frenetic car chase, why for him the villains always come first, the extensive research he needed to write Baltimore right, why his rapping career is a thing of the past, the reason a story's opening line is so important, and much more.
Have a Nashville hot chicken sandwich with Robert Greenberger as we discuss our teen experiences at the first <em>Star Trek</em> convention in 1972, how TV taught him about the existence of Marvel Comics, the way George Reeves as Clark Kent made him want to be a journalist, the lecture <em>Wonder Woman</em> editor Robert Kanigher gave him after he dared give feedback, why so many DC Comics staffers walked around without their shoes on Fridays, how he convinced Cable News to launch <em>Comic Scene</em> magazine, the convoluted way Denny O'Neil was responsible for him becoming Len Wein and Marv Wolfman's assistant, how his editing of <em>Star Trek</em> comics led to his writing <em>Star Trek</em> fiction, the differences he saw in corporate culture while working at both Marvel and DC, what Clark Kent would have thought of his gig at the <em>Weekly World News</em>, and much more.
Chat and chew with Shannon Robinson as we discuss how best to deal with rejection, the way our opinions about print vs. electronic publication have changed over the courses of our careers, when an untrustworthy narrator can be a feature, not a bug, the many ways readers can be misreaders of stories, how she realized she'd reached short story critical mass and it was time to assemble a collection, the way the genres in which we write are often defined by those who publish us rather than the words on the page, what she tells her students is the only rule in writing, our contrasting experiences with simultaneous submissions, the ways in which she'll apply everything she's learned in writing short stories to her upcoming novel, and much more.
Munch on pepper chicken masala with Larry Hama as we discuss how cataract surgery changes the way an artist perceives the page, what really happened at a mid-'70s penthouse comic book party, Bernie Krigstein's anger at being asked questions about comics, why Wally Wood felt it was so important for his assistants to learn how to letter, what it was like being part of the famed Crusty Bunkers inking collective, why getting to edit <em>Crazy</em> was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream, which Marvel Comics Bullpenner was the visual inspiration for Obnoxio the Clown, why getting his freelancers to hit their deadlines was never a hassle, the editing advice Archie Goodwin gave him early on, the real reason he needed to create that famous silent issue of <em>G. I. Joe</em>, the differing zeitgeists of Marvel vs. DC during the '70s, his approach to taking over the editing of legacy characters, our joint confusion over memes of previous generations, and much more.
Share shawarma with the award-winning Eric Choi as we discuss what William Shatner's Captain Kirk might sound like dubbed into Cantonese, the wonders of fan-run science fiction conventions, how the Asimov competition gave him the courage to make his first submission, what it was like co-editing an anthology with the great Ben Bova, the accident that gave birth to his first short story collection, why his claim never to have experienced writer's block comes with a footnote, his moving memories of the Columbia accident as experienced at the Kennedy Space Center, the Richard Feynman quote he shared throughout the pandemic, why the first Harry Turtledove story he read wasn't written by Harry Turtledove, his unfortunate introduction to <em>The Lord of the Rings</em>, and much more.