This episode’s conversation is the third coming to you from last month’s Nebula Awards conference in Anaheim, following up on my chats with William Shunn and J. Michael Straczynki. The Nebulas were the first of three events I attended over a six-week period, because Balticon was only two weeks later, and then StokerCon three weeks after that. I have a slightly longer break now, but still, if you’re listening to this episode the same day I uploaded it, Readercon is only two weeks away, and I’m currently in the midst of nailing down the guests I’ll be chatting and chewing with while there in Quincy, Massachusetts.

But enough about the future — this episode’s guest is Jordan Kurella, who was a Nebula Award nominee this year in the category of Best Novella for I Never Liked You Anyway, which was also longlisted for the BSFA award.  His stories have appeared in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Apex, Mermaid Monthly, Glitter + Ashes, Strange Horizons, and many other magazines and anthologies. Some of these were gathered in his short story collection, When I Was Lost, published by Trepidatio in December. In his past lives, he was a photographer, radio DJ, and social worker, and he has also taught at Iowa State University and Rambo Academy.

We discussed which ice cream flavor he chose to celebrate his Nebula Award nomination, the way readers can tell which stories writers had the most fun writing, how  all he needs to pants a story is the first line, what caused him to say “it’s not write what you know, it’s write what you’re embarrassed about,” why he doesn’t like to reread his own published work unless he has to, how to avoid getting stuck in rabbit holes of research, the ways writing a book can be like spending time with your best friends, his rule about story titles, why we’re both so attracted to writing love stories, how playing the violin in public prepared him for surviving rejection, why he published only a single piece of literary fiction before realizing the fantastic was where he belonged, and so much more.

Here’s how you can join us for a vegan lunch at Loving Hut in Anaheim, California —

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Here’s what we ate at Loving Hut —

Jordan’s BLT
Toasted Bread, Smoky Baconless Protein, Tomato,
Lettuce, and Garlic Basil Aioli with Fries

My Pad Thai
Rice Noodles, Konjaku Shrimpless Crescents, Chick’un, Mushroom, Tofu, Beansprouts, Cabbage, and Carrots. Served with Lemon Wedge & Crushed Peanuts*

And here we are showing off our snazzy jackets at the cocktail party prior to the weekend’s Nebula Awards banquet —

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Coming up two weeks from today, you’ll be able to eavesdrop on my penultimate meal from the Nebula Awards weekend — my dinner with 1979 Clarion Science Fiction Writing Workshop classmate Rhondi Salsitz, a writer I consider to be unfairly underappreciated. That’s because even though you may not have encountered her under that name, you may have read — without realizing it was her — her Sand Wars series as written by Charles Ingrid, her horror novels as by Elizabeth Forrest, her fantasy novels from Emily Drake or Jenna Rhodes, plus many other novels under many other pseudonyms. I hope you’ll join us.

Thanks for listening!