2020 will forever be remembered by me as the first year — and the only year, I hope — during which I wasn’t able to attend an in-person, face-to-face convention. But here at Eating the Fantastic, I’m doing my best to turn those might have beens into realities.

And so you’ve already had the chance to eavesdrop on meals which were meant to have taken place in Wellington, New Zealand during Worldcon — with Lee Murray, Stephen Dedman, and Farah Mendlesohn — and last episode, we went to Scarborough together for a StokerCon meal with Priya Sharma. Now it’s time to return to StokerCon to chat and chew with the always entertaining Robert Shearman.

Robert Shearman has won the World Fantasy Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, and multiple British Fantasy Awards for his fiction, some of which has been gathered in such collections as Love Songs for the Shy and Cynical (2009), Remember Why You Fear Me (2012), They Do the Same Things Different There (2014), and earlier this year, a massive three-volume collection We All Hear Stories in the Dark. His writings for television, radio, and the stage have won him the Sophie Winter Memorial Trust Award, the Sunday Times Playwriting Award, the World Drama Trust Award, and the Guinness Award for Theatre Ingenuity. He also wrote the Hugo Award-nominated Doctor Who episode “Dalek” at the request of producer Russell T. Davies.

We discussed the reason we’re lucky we each survived to adulthood, how he almost talked his way out of selling his first short story, the way he starts every story thinking it’s funny even as things turn horrific, why some readers find his new collection offensive and others uplifting, how he’s following up that three-volume, 2,000-page, 650,000-word, 101-story collection, the way his brush with COVID-19 has affected his writing, and much more.

Here’s how you can eavesdrop on our conversation —

1) Subscribe at Apple Podcasts — where I hope you’ll decide to sample a few of the 129 previous episodes.

2) Use the RSS feed of http://eatingthefantastic.libsyn.com/rss on the device of your choice.

3) Or check it out using the embed below.

You can see Robert’s Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut Cornflakes and Corona beer in the photo above. He assured me his choice of beverage was not an intentional pun, but rather him continuing to work through a case he picked up in January before the pandemic began.

As for what I nibbled while we chatted, you can see that below —

Roasted Garlic Naan

Chicken Tikka Masala with Basmati Rice

Gustaf’s Gourmet English Licorice Allsorts

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Next episode, we’ll return to StokerCon for a third meal I’d have had earlier this year, had the even not been cancelled. I do hope you’ll join us!