The final new Eating the Fantastic episode of 2018 is not only a last, it’s also a first. That’s because up until now, I’ve never invited a guest back to join me for a second meal, never repeated a guest — though K. M. Szpara — with whom I shared lunch in Episode 35 — did pop by for a few minutes as one of my 13 guests during Episode 39’s completely chaotic lightning-round Balticon Donut Extravaganza.

But now it’s time to revisit with Andy Duncan, whom you got to know in Episode 6, because there happens to be a great reason for doing so. Twelve great reasons, actually. And those are the twelve stories in his new collection An Agent of Utopia, published last month by Small Beer Press.

A new Andy Duncan collection is a wonderful thing, as proven by the fact his first collection, Beluthahatchie and Other Stories, published in 2000, won a World Fantasy Award. And that’s not the only award his fiction has earned, because “The Pottawatomie Giant,” which also won a World Fantasy Award, and “Close Encounters,” which won a Nebula Award, are two of the dozen stories in the new collection.

The last meal you shared with us allowed you to eavesdrop on a far-ranging conversation covering every aspect of his career up until early 2016, the kind of deep dive most of my episodes are, but it seems right that from time to time I should follow up for more sharply focussed discussions, and a conversation about a new collection nearly three years after our initial talk, chatting about this new milestone in his career, seemed as if it would be revelatory.

Andy celebrated the launch of An Agent of Utopia with a reading at Main Street Books, an independent bookstore on Main Street in Frostburg, MD, so if you keep listening after our meal at Giuseppe’s Italian Restaurant is over, you’ll be able to eavesdrop on that reading.

We discussed why it took a quarter of a century to bring the book’s lead story from title idea to completion, how he was influenced by the research regimen of the great Frederik Pohl, the way a short story is like an exploded toolshed, why he deliberately wrote a deal with the devil story after hearing he shouldn’t write deal with the devil stories, the embarrassing marketing blurb he can’t stop telling people about in bars, what caused a last-minute change to the title of one of the collection’s new stories, how he feels about going viral after his recent J. R. R. Tolkien comments, what he learned about himself from completing this project and what it means for the future of his writing, what it is about his most reprinted story which made it so, and much more.

Here’s how you can listen to our conversation at Giuseppe’s —

1) Subscribe over at the iTunes store — and while you’re at it, check out some of the 84 previous episodes as well.

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

3) Or use the embed below to check it out right here.

Please vicariously enjoy the meal along with us via the photos below —

Hot Antipasto
stuffed eggplant, broiled Italian sausage, meatballs,
and shrimp, on a bed of lettuce

Seafood Salerno
jumbo gulf shrimp, wild caught mahi maui, and mussels in the shell
sautéed with sun-dried tomatoes, artichokes, roasted red peppers,
lemon zest and garlic simmered in white wine and finished with
garlic butter and basil; tossed with penne rigate

Veal Parmigiana
fresh medallions of milk fed veal, lightly breaded,
topped with tomato sauce and mozzarella
served with spaghetti

Cheesecake
new york style cheesecake with house-made
triple berry godiva sauce

Wild Berry Tarte
wild berry tart with vanilla ice cream
and berry godiva sauce

If you enjoyed this episode and want to support my mission of breaking bread with creators of the fantastic while letting you listen in, there are a few ways you can help bring this podcast to the attention of potential new listeners looking for science fiction, fantasy, horror, and comics ear candy —

One is to rate Eating the Fantastic on iTunes and like it on Facebook.

Also — you could tell your friends about the show by sending them a link to your favorite episode and letting them know what I’m doing here.

Finally — I could sure use your help in continuing to bring these conversations to you. Because of Eating the Fantastic’s unique niche — that is, on-the-road restaurant interviews — there are expenses beyond the usual ones for studio-based podcasts. I sometimes use ride-sharing services to carry me and my guests from convention centers to restaurants and back, or I gas up to drive them myself — and then there’s that food I cunningly use entice those guests to wander off and share of themselves with you, food which loosens their tongues, relaxes them, and — counterintuitively, because we are after all out in public surrounded by other diners — results a much more intimate environment than if we were alone together in a sterile studio.

So I hope you’ll consider becoming a supporter of the show, and help fund this mission of mine.

You could make a small recurring monthly donation over at Patreon, where there are various perks involved depending on your level of support, such as access to a patrons-only blog, getting a shout-out on the show, stickers, postcards, and more.

Or if an ongoing level of commitment’s not for you, or if Patreon’s just not your thing, then consider tossing a couple of bucks in the tip jar instead and making a one-time donation of any size via Paypal.me.

Or you could head on over to https://ko-fi.com/eatingthefantastic and send me the funds to cover the cost of a cup of coffee.

My next episode has yet to be recorded, though there are several possibilities at the moment, so I can’t promise a particular guest, only that the conversation will be stimulating. I hope you’ll join us.