Out there in the real world, the weather’s growing colder, but here at Eating the Fantastic, it’s still August, and time for the third episode recorded during this year’s World Science Fiction Convention. Following up on my conversations in San Jose, California with Pat Cadigan while binging on sushi and K. Tempest Bradford over lamb roganjosh comes lunch with Rebecca Roanhorse at Zona Rosa Mexican restaurant.

Roanhorse’s short story “Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience (TM),” which appeared in Apex magazine, won the Nebula Award earlier this year, and was also nominated for this year’s Hugo Award, an amazing feat for a writer’s first published short story. Plus she was also nominated for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. And the following night after she and I dined, she was the winner in both of those categories. (By the way, she was the first writer since 1980 to win the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, and the Campbell Award for Best New Writer the same year. It’s only been done once before, by Barry B. Longyear with his novella “Enemy Mine.”)

Roanhorse’s debut novel, Trail of Lightning, was published this summer by Saga Press, about which the New York Times had this to say: “Someone please cancel Supernatural already and give us at least five seasons of this badass indigenous monster-hunter and her silver-tongued sidekick.” It’s the first book is The Sixth World series, and will be followed next year by Storm of Locusts.

We discussed the spark without which her award-winning short story would never have been written, the differing reactions her tale garnered from inside and outside of the Native American community, the compelling reason she chose to write it in the second person, what she learned as a lawyer that helped in writing her first novel, how she upped her game when she decided to be a writer for real, why she fell out of the reading habit and how a Laurell K. Hamilton novel drew her back in, what it was like to hear Levar Burton read her award-winning story, and much more.

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And have a look at the delicious food we shared at Zona Rosa—

Empanadas de Costilla
guajillo braised short ribs, queso oaxaca, tomatillo salsa

Carne Asada y Hongos
skirt steak, shitake mushrooms, green beans, chipotle crema

Carnitas
braised pork, mexican spices, black beans,
plantains, white rice, warm tortillas

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I hope you’ll join me next episode to eavesdrop on my seafood lunch with Steve Rasnic Tem, who’s published more than 400 short stories and has won the British Fantasy Award, World Fantasy Award, the International Horror Guild Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and more.