Listen as 13 guests begin Balticon’s second half-century with a dozen Diablo Donuts and reminisce about the time George R. R. Martin pretended to beat one of them to death with a cane, how a live birth almost ended up as part of the science programming, why it's so wonderful to be able to make a <em>Star Trek</em> joke and have people <em>get</em> it, Allen Steele's wonderful depiction of the 1939 Worldcon in his novel <em> Arkwright </em>,  Marty Gear’s indispensable  rule for self-care during convention-going, plus more.  Guests include K. M. Szpara, Dave Slusher, Karen Osborne, plus 10 more.

Gobble glass noodles with William F. Nolan as we discuss how Ray Bradbury helped him sell his first short story in 1954, the way a slush pile sale to <em>Playboy</em> convinced him to abandon a successful career as a commercial artist, why his <em>Twilight Zone</em> episode was never filmed, the difference between the real truth and Charles Beaumont's "greater truth," why he only acted in only one movie (and got punched by William Shatner), how Stan Freberg pranked diners aboard the Queen Mary and made them think the ship was sinking, which novel he thinks is his best (and it's not <em>Logan's Run</em>), and more.

Dine with Cynthia Felice at the Watergate Hotel as we discuss how Frank Herbert's <em>Dune</em> made her say, "Hey, I can do that," the virtues of owning a motel while being a writer, the marriage advice Kate Wilhelm gave her at Clarion, what Thomas M. Disch told her that fixed one of her short stories, why we all loved the late, great Ed Bryant, the extraordinary lengths David Hartwell went to as he edited her second novel, how her collaborations with Connie Willis began, and more.

Nibble soup dumplings with Brenda Clough as we discuss how Superman started off her science fiction life, whether she's a steeplechase horse or a Kentucky derby horse, the time Harlan Ellison phoned to tell her she wrote like an angel, how surrendering to the concept of "false endings" helped her become a better writer, why she'd never want to be one of her own characters, which Anne McCaffrey book she threw in the trash, why she decided to knit a life-sized giant squid, and more.