I’ve been wanting to chat with Mary Robinette Kowal on Eating the Fantastic ever since I brought the first episode live five years and two days ago, but alas, the stars never aligned. And now, at last, they have!

Mary Robinette Kowal is the author of the Lady Astronaut series — which so far includes the novels The Calculating Stars, The Fated Sky, and The Relentless Moon — as well as the historical fantasy novels in The Glamourist Histories series plus Ghost Talkers. Her short stories have appeared in Strange Horizons, Asimov’s, and other magazines and anthologies, and her collections include Word Puppets and Scenting the Dark and Other Stories.

She’s currently the President of SFWA, a member of the award-winning podcast Writing Excuses, and has received the Astounding Award for Best New Writer, four Hugo awards, the RT Reviews award for Best Fantasy Novel, the Nebula, and Locus awards. Her novel The Calculating Stars is one of only 18 novels to win the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards in a single year. She’s also a professional puppeteer and voice actor, and has won two UNIMA-USA Citations of Excellence, the highest award an American puppeteer can achieve.

We discussed the temporal differences between puppetry and science fiction conventions, how she transitioned from writing magical Regency novels to the Lady Astronaut series, why unlike many writers, she reads her reviews (albeit selectively), the reason she’s able to write relationships between reasonable people so well, how she constructs a science fiction mystery, why it’s so important she likes her characters’ clothing when she picks a project, the meaning of science fiction itself within her science fiction universe, the way she uses sensitivity readers to make her work better, how a novel is like a clear glass pitcher, and much more.

Here’s how you can eavesdrop on our conversation —

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Here are the hors d’oeuvres we each prepped and then nibbled as we pretended we were at a cocktail party —

Mary Robinette’s Rosemary Crackers
with Chèvre, coffee honey and cracked black pepper

Mary Robinette’s Pepper Jack Cheese Crisps
with raspberry jam

Mary Robinette’s Deviled Quail Eggs
topped with shiso fumi furakake

Scott’s Poppy-Sesame Crackers
topped with brie and a pecan

Scott’s Mini Quiches
filled with bacon, onion and cheddar cheese

Scott’s Mini Pizzas
pepperoni, of course

Scott’s Garlic Knots

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Please join me two weeks from now when my guest will be comics writer/editor Jo Duffy, an old Marvel Bullpen pal who wrote Power Man and Iron Fist and Star Wars there, Catwoman for DC, and many other comics. One reason to listen in — since we’ll be noshing on one of Stan Lee’s favorite foods, if you don’t join us, you’ll never know what it was.

Thanks for listening!