Over on Twitter and Facebook, I’ve been teasing a SEKRIT PROJEKT which I would only unveil once I was 100% sure I was going to proceed.

And after having had lunch with Sarah Pinsker this afternoon, I have my answer—I am going to proceed!

“What,” you may be thinking, “could lunch with Sarah Pinsker possibly have to do with a sekrit projekt?”

This:

I’ve been toying for quite awhile with the idea of attempting to replicate in podcast form one of my favorite parts of any convention—good conversation with good friends over good food.

I’ve been attending 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 Jamie Todd Rubin once dubbed me “science fiction’s Anthony Bourdain.”

And so, after getting hardware advice from such podcast experts as Gil Roth of Virtual Memories and Dave Thomas of The Horror Show with Brian Keene, I decided to see what a pilot episode might sound like.

And that’s what lunch with Sarah Pinsker today was all about!

So after eating, and talking, and then reviewing the captured conversation, I’m pleased to announce—Eating the Fantastic with Scott Edelman.

During each semi-regular episode (I’ve yet to determine a frequency), 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.)

One thing to 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 … in other words … life.

I hope you’ll decide to give it a listen.

There is one way you can help me out as we get started, though.

It will likely be a few episodes before I’ll have Eating the Fantastic available via iTunes, but once that does occur, I’ll need a square image to represent the show. Given a choice between the two below, which do you think is the most inviting?

Let me know—either below or via Twitter and Facebook—whether you prefer me with the Thurman Burger or the Big-Ass Sandwich. (And yes—that is the actual name of the Portland food truck at which I purchased that sandwich.)

I hope to have the first episode, during which Sarah Pinsker and I chat over lunch at Baltimore’s Family Meal, live by next weekend. I’ll let you know as soon as you can check it out.