Welcome to the second episode of Eating the Fantastic during which you’ll be able to take a seat at the table for a meal during last month’s incarnation of Rockville, Maryland’s Capclave, following last episode’s lunchtime get-together there with writer Suzanne Palmer. This time around, you’re invited to dinner with science fiction writer Lawrence M. Schoen.

Lawrence M. Schoen was a finalist for the 2007 Astounding Award for Best New Writer, and in the years since has been nominated for the Hugo Award (once), the Washington Science Fiction Association Small Press Award (twice), and the Nebula Award (six times). He’s twice won the Cóyotl award for Best Novel — for two books in his critically acclaimed Barsk series: The Elephants Graveyard (2015) and The Moons of Barsk (2018). He also was the 2016 winner of the Kevin O’Donnell Jr. Service to SFWA Award.

His most well-known creations are the space-faring stage hypnotist, the Amazing Conroy, and his alien animal traveling companion, a buffalito named Reggie who can eat anything — which he then converts into oxygen via … flatulence. For more than 10 years, he’s hosted the Eating Authors series, which has shared the most memorable meals of more than 500 writers. In addition to all that, he founded the Klingon Language Institute, plus is a hypnotherapist specializing in authors’ issues.

We discussed how he was able to release 12 books in a difficult year affected by both a pandemic and chemo, the pseudonym he was relieved he never had to use, what caused him to say “you find the answers to the problems of your life by writing a story about it,” the RPG improv which led to the creation of his Barsk universe, what he learned at the Taos Toolbox workshop which caused him to completely rewrite one of his books, the all-important power of the subconscious, how transcription software affected his style, why he doesn’t want people to read the final paragraph of his second Barsk novel, his relationships with the indie side of publishing, the many joys of mentoring, how he uses hypnotism to help other writers, and much more.

Here’s how you can take a seat at the table with us —

1) Subscribe at Apple Podcasts — where I hope you’ll be tempted to sample a few of the 158 previous episodes.

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

3) Or simply listen via the embed below.

And here’s what we nibbled as we chatted (and forgive the poor plating, as we were dining on take-out in a hotel room) —

Pan con Chicharron/Papitas Rellenas
chicharron on portugese roll, fried yams
beef picadillo filled potatoes

Lawrence’s Chuletón de Ribeye
grilled ribeye steak served with fried plantain,
fried egg, hand-cut fries, jasmine rice

Scott’s Seco a la Norteña
boneless short ribs stewed in a cilantro-based dark beer sauce,
canary beans, jasmine rice

Crema Volteada de Queso
crème caramel cheesecake with almond crunch

Torta Tres Leches
tres leches cake, creme anglais, raspberry coulis

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Please join me two weeks from now when I’ll chat with comic book writer, editor, and artist Bob Budiansky with whom I worked back at Marvel, and who, as I did, started his career there editing the company’s line of British reprint books.

Thanks for listening!