Eating the Fantastic’s Worldcon began Thursday as many were still arriving in Anaheim for our found family’s annual gathering when I headed off to lunch with Martha Wells, who due to the astounding success of her stories set in the Murderbot universe has become well-known even outside the science fiction and fantasy community.

But Martha is so much more than that. She’s written multiple fantasy series, including Ile-Rien, Books of the Raksura, the Rising World series, and the Young Adult Emilie, in addition to standalone fantasy novels, as well as books in the Star Wars and Stargate universes. She’s won four Hugo Awards for her writing, plus shared in a fifth this year when “All Systems Red,” an episode of Murderbot which aired on Apple TV, won Dramatic Presentation: Short Form. Plus she was on the this year’s Hugo Awards ballot for her novelette “Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy.”

She’s also won two Nebula Awards and a Dragon Award, and has been a finalist for the Philip K. Dick Award, the Ignyte Award, the World Fantasy Award, and others. And it should never be forgotten she was first a fan — she was even chair of AggieCon 17 during her college days — which you’ll hear us talk about this episode.

We discussed how Imposter Syndrome never truly goes away, the way Starlog introduced her to fandom, which novel allowed her to discover her own voice, why it took “hundred of drafts” to figure out where she was heading with the first book in her Rising World series, the surprising benefits of pantsing novels, her ease in bouncing back and forth between series, which Murderbot plot demanded the existence of a character who wasn’t originally intended to be in the story, Bruce Sterling’s workshop advice which helped her with descriptions, whether there’s any difference between the audience reading her fantasy all along and those brought in by the recent success of her science fiction, the period her writing career stalled and she thought of becoming a personal trainer, how she decides which should be the next Murderbot tale to tell, why she was moved to write a story for the Tanith Lee tribute anthology, how COVID-19 affected her writing output, the advice she’d give her younger self (as well as those just starting out), plus much more.

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Here’s what you would have seen us nibbling had you been with us at Din Tai Fung —

Soy Noodle Salad
thin sheets of tofu carefully sliced to mimic noodles
and tossed with julienned carrots and celery for a bit of crunch

Taiwanese Cabbage with Garlic
crisp, sweet Taiwanese cabbage tossed over high heat with freshly sliced garlic

Kurobuta Pork Xiao Long Bao
stuffed with top-quality Kurobuta pork marinated in a blend of carefully-selected seasonings paired with fresh ginger and green onion

Shrimp & Kurobuta Pork Shao Mai
hand-folded shao mai, topped with juicy shrimp

Shaved Snow with Fresh Mango
soft, fluffy shaved snow made with whole milk, crowned with fresh mango
and a drizzle of sweet & tart mango sauce and creamy condensed milk

Red Bean & Mochi Xiao Long Bao
red bean paste folded into Xiao Long Bao skin with a thin layer of mochi

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Coming up next on the podcast will be another conversation from this year’s L.A. Worldcon, as you join my dinner with Thomas Ha, who just a few nights after our chat would win a Hugo Award for his short story “In My Country.” I hope you’ll subscribe and join us.