I hate eating in hotel restaurants, but never more so than when I’m trying to record an episode of Eating the Fantastic.

Not only does the food there tend to rise only to the level of the merely edible (if you’re lucky), but breakfast during a convention means many interruptions as the usual tablehopping occurs, with people popping by to say hi. Plus you get no sense of place, as one hotel restaurant is pretty much like another, especially when it comes to breakfast.

So when it came time to seek out a good setting in Quincy, Massachusetts to chat during Readercon with six-time World Fantasy Award-winning and three-time Shirley Jackson Award-winning writer Jeffrey Ford, whose new short story collection A Natural History of Hell was recently published by Small Beer Press, I looked for something off-site and more authentic.

And found it in McKay’s Breakfast and Lunch. When I read a review about “a popular townie joint” that served food which was “simple and straightforward (no creme brulee French toast or maple ganache cinnamon bread here),” I knew I’d discovered a spot with some character. So that’s where I took Jeff.

We talked about how being edited by Jennifer Brehl made him a better writer, what it was like to be taught by the legendary John Gardner, why he admitted “I don’t really know dick about science fiction or fantasy,” and much more.

Here’s how you can join us—

1) Subscribe at the iTunes store—and why not grab a few of the other entertaining episodes while you’re at it?

2) Use the show’s RSS feed of http://eatingthefantastic.libsyn.com/rss so you can listen on the device of your choice.

3) Or just click the embed below.

And here’s what Jeff and I dove into for breakfast.

My full Irish breakfast

Blood sausage, yum!

Plus grilled Irish soda bread and beans, of course.

Jeff’s Swiss and mushroom omelette

Jeff’s sausage

Next up, the last of three episodes which were recorded at Readercon, featuring author F. Brett Cox.

And then it will be on to meals recorded during the Kansas City Worldcon with David D. Levine, Adam-Troy Castro, Alyssa Wong, Kathleen Ann Goonan, and Robert Reed. If I were you I’d subscribe now so you don’t accidentally miss them!