I captured two fascinating Eating the Fantastic conversations for you during last month’s Balticon. I wish I could have squeezed in a third, but planning for and hosting the podcast’s 10th anniversary party there — where I served up 26 dozen donuts in the con suite — exhausted some of my spoons.

First up, my lunch with award-winning writer Mark L. Van Name, recorded on the con’s opening day several hours before programming began. Balticon was the perfect place to break bread with Van Name, because 18 years earlier there, he won the Compton Crook Award for Best First Novel for his 2007 book One Jump Ahead. That was the first of his Baen Books about Jon and Lobo, which include Slanted Jack (2008), Overthrowing Heaven (2009), Children No More (2010), and No Going Back (2012). His short fiction has been published in magazines and anthologies such as Asimov’s Science Fiction, When the Music’s Over, Full Spectrum 3, Crossroads: Tales of the Southern Literary Fantastic, and many more.

Van Name is more than his many short stories and novels, for he was also the cofounder of the Sycamore Hill Writer’s Workshop with previous guest of the podcast John Kessel, as well as the editor of the critical magazine of short fiction, Short Form.

We discussed his first short story sale to a 1979 Clarion classmate of mine, why it sometimes takes him decades before he feels a story’s ready to send out, the reason he still has a massive comic book collection (and why I don’t), the comic book which helped save his life, the reason he doesn’t require advances on his novels, his mixed feelings about writing workshops, the 17 minutes Harlan Ellison spent savaging one of his stories, why you have to let go of caring what readers make of your writing, how his John and Lobo series was born, the way he balanced a demanding day job with the writing life, plus much more.

Here’s how you can join us at Heritage Smokehouse — (more…)

I don’t have much to say this episode, but I’ve decided to say it anyway, sharing about the way Stan Lee saved me in a dream, what I was thinking (or not) 52 years ago today on the eve of starting my Marvel Comics staff job, the PTSD of older creators who lived through the creation of the Comics Code, why I won’t be writing my autobiography, when I’ll be shredding half a century of daily diaries, and more.

You can hear me wax nostalgic via the embed below or download the episode at the site of your choice.

Here are a few images related to a couple of the topics I mention this episode —

Hanging with Stan Lee at San Diego Comic-Con

Chilling with Brian Keene during StokerCon

Outside the White House during the 1974 Worldcon
with Carl Gafford, Paul Levitz, and Steve Gilary

Readercon 35 kicks off three weeks from today in Burlington, Massachusetts, and if you’ll be there, too, here’s where you’ll be able to find me (when I’m not off hunting down donuts or recording episodes of Eating the Fantastic, that is) —

Writing Horror in Horrifying Times
Thursday, July 9, 8:00 p.m., Salon A-B
From its opening in 1897 to its closing in 1962, the Théâtre du Grand-Guignol in Paris specialized in horror shows. In an interview conducted after its closure, its last director explained, ‘We could never compete with Buchenwald. Before the war, everyone believed that what happened on stage was purely imaginary; now we know that these things–and worse–are possible.” How does one produce meaningful horror fiction when the tools feel blunted by reality? What elements of horror have retained their effectiveness in the face of daily headlines?
with F. Brett Cox, Gillian Daniels, Ian Muneshwar, Mike Allen, and Terence Taylor

Finding Your Writing Posse
Friday, July 10, 11:00 a.m., Salon C-D
From your local critique group that meets in a coffee shop to national (and international) organizations like SFWA and RWA, there are writing peer communities and professional organizations on many scales offering many things to prospective members. But how do you find the right one(s) for you? What if you write in multiple genres or have just switched genres? This panel will discuss how to discover what’s available and find your best fit.
with A. T. Greenblatt, Bethany Powell, E. C. Ambrose, and Rachel Gutin

Meet the Pros(e) Party
Friday, July 10, 10:15 p.m., Salon E

Kaffeeklatsch
Saturday, July 11, 3:00 p.m., Suite 830

Reading
Saturday, July 19, 6:00 p.m., Envision/Enliven

If you’re there, please track me down so we can catch up!