Another episode of Eating the Fantastic … another helping of Kansas City BBQ.

As part of my quest to eat all the BBQ I could during this year’s World Science Fiction Convention, I ended up at Gates B-B-Q, since according to the word on the street (if the Internet can be considered the street), it’s one of the two best BBQ joints in Kansas, the other being Arthur Bryant’s.

Here’s a story of the difference between the two of them which may be apocryphal, but—I’ve heard that when candidates for political office come to town, they always head to Arthur Bryant’s for their photo ops—but the journalists, the crews running the cameras, the working stiffs following those candidates—they head to Gates. I have no idea whether that’s truth or fabulation, but it sure does make for a good story!

Joining me at Gates was the ridiculously talented Alyssa Wong, nominated at Worldcon for the The John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and winner of the 2015 Nebula Award for Best Short Story for “Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers” … which is also up for a World Fantasy Award. Whether or not she wins will be revealed at a banquet this Sunday in Columbus, Ohio.

Listen in as we chow down on BBQ and talk about what franchise inspired her to write fanfic, the exciting moment when she first encountered a character who looked like her, where she hopes to be 10 years down the road, how she encountered Faceless Ghost Grandma, why she said, “I hate being bored and I don’t like rules,” and more.

Here’s how you can share the BBQ and conversation—

1) Head on over to the iTunes store and subscribe—where you can also find all past episodes.

2) Use the show’s RSS feed of http://eatingthefantastic.libsyn.com/rss to download episodes onto whatever device you choose.

3) Or simply click the embed below.

Here’s what Alyssa and I nibbled on for lunch.

Burnt end sandwich

We each ordered one!

Onion rings

French fries

What’s next for Eating the Fantastic?

In two weeks, my guest will be Kathleen Ann Goonan, whose debut novel Queen City Jazz was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and who won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel for In War Times. I hope you decide to join us then, when there’ll be a break from BBQ as we dig into sushi.

And after that, you’ll get to hear Robert Reed, Sam J. Miller, and Nalo Hopkinson close out 2016. Why not subscribe now so you don’t miss an episode?