Brunch on Eggs Benedict with A. Merc Rustad as we discuss some terrible writing advice which messed with their head and the way they got over it, how the <em>Redwall</em> series by Brian Jacques turned them from a reader into a writer, why some fan fiction doesn't get labeled fan fiction while other fan fiction does, the reason the animated television series <em>Beast Wars: Transformers</em> was such a major influence both professionally and personally, why they almost destroyed their Nebula-nominated story “This Is Not a Wardrobe Door," the secrets to assembling a short story collection, and more.
Share shawarma with Brooke Bolander as we discuss how she ended up as a writer rather than a paleontologist, why the videogame <em>Ecco the Dolphin</em> terrified her but taught her to love science fiction, her early days writing fan fiction, how anger over the electrocution of Topsy the elephant and the deaths of the "radium girls" inspired her newest novella, why she avoids rereading her own writing, what broke the writers block that had gripped her for several years, and more.