This episode’s conversation came together thanks to Facebook, which is where I learned the multifaceted Steven H Silver would be visiting Washington D.C. earlier this month. That was an opportunity I couldn’t let pass. So late one morning, after he’d wandered the National Air and Space Museum, and I’d enjoyed the Monets at the National Gallery of Art, we got together for lunch — one to which you’re now invited.

Silver, a 21-time Hugo Award nominee, was the publisher of the Hugo-nominated fanzine Argentus as well as the editor and publisher of ISFiC Press for eight years. He has also edited for DAW, NESFA Press, and ZNB Books. His novel, After Hastings, was first published in 2020. In 1995, he created the Sidewise Award for Alternate History. Steven has chaired the first Midwest Construction, Windycon three times, and the SFWA Nebula Conference 5 times, as well as serving as the Event Coordinator for SFWA. He was programming chair for Chicon 2000 and Vice Chair of Chicon 7. Steven has maintained In Memoriam lists for Worldcon, the Nebula Conference, and the World Fantasy Con for several years.

We discussed our shared status as record-breaking losers, my morbid suggestion about what he’ll need to do upon my death, the reason he found The Silmarillion more interesting than The Lord of the Rings, how meeting Mel Brooks and other luminaries made him more at ease once he began attending science fiction conventions, the way a cancelled contest resulted in his first short fiction sale, what it was like to be in a writing workshop taught by Gene Wolfe, the allure of the alternate history subgenre (and how it differs from secret histories), what he learned publishing a novel in the middle of a global pandemic, the Easter eggs he scattered through After Hastings, and much more.

Here’s how you can join us at Dolan Uyghur restaurant —

1) Subscribe at Apple Podcasts — or wherever you choose to consume your podcasts — where I hope you’ll be tempted to sample a few of the 277 previous episodes.

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3) Or simply use the embed below.

Here’s what you would have seen us nibbling had you been with us at Dolan Uyghur restaurant —

Samsa
oven-baked bun with minced beef, lamb and onions
seasoned with black pepper, red pepper and sprinkled with sesame oil

Korma Chop with Lamb
uyghur-styled signature fried noodles
with chives, onions, red bell peppers

Royal Laghman Chop with Lamb
stir-fried onions, cabbage, mushrooms, green and red peppers, oyster-flavored sauce,
and tomato-topped hand-pulled chewy noodles

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Coming up two weeks from now on the podcast, you’ll be able to lunch during Awesome Con with Alan Smale, eavesdropping as we discuss his alternate history space race trilogy Apollo Rising, and much more.

Thanks for listening!