I’ve visited the Society of Illustrators many times over the years, where I’ve been lucky enough to see exhibitions dedicated to the artwork of Harvey Kurtzman, Ralph Steadman, and Dick Dillon, as well as many others (and you should definitely pop by sometime if you can), but until my most recent trip to New York, I never had a good enough reason to dine at their third floor restaurant—The 128 Bar & Bistro. But no other location seemed quite so perfect a match for my lunch with Irene Gallo.

Gallo has worked as an art director at Tor Books for more than two decades, where she currently holds the title of Creative Director. She’s also the Associate Publisher of Tor.com, and is ultimately the one responsible for the look of the publishing company’s book covers, as well as its online output. She’s been nominated for a Chesley Award for her art direction an astounding 19 times, the first back in 1999, and has won 13, as early as 2001, and as recently as 2017.

We discussed what it was like the first time she realized she wasn’t the only one in the world who cared so strongly about art, how she felt the day she discovered Harlan Ellison as well as the title of his that made her go “whoa,” why seeing book covers as thumbnails started long before the trend of Internet bookselling, how a manuscript moves from cover concept through to final cover, whether the cliche that an author is the worst possible designer of their own book cover is true, how self-published authors who create their own books can get the best possible covers, and much more.

Here’s how you can share ice cream and chocolate chip cookies with us— (more…)

As I prepared to lunch with this episode’s guest, I was startled to realize I’d last interviewed him in 1974—43 years ago! Back then, I was an assistant editor in the Marvel Bullpen, while Marv Wolfman was (among many other things) scripting Tomb of Dracula and editing Crazy magazine, not yet having ascended to the role of Editor-in-Chief. And it was my job to report on his doings for the readers of F.O.O.M., Marvel’s official fan magazine.

Over the course of his career, Marv did a whole lot more than what I talked with him about back then. He went on to script the adventures of many legacy characters for both Marvel and DC, including the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Superman, and Green Lantern, and during that time he also co-created the characters of Blade, Bullseye, Destiny, Nova, and many others. He wrote the Teen Titans comic for 16 years. There’s even more to Marv than that, of course, as you’ll find out when you give this episode a listen.

Our lunch took place on the Sunday of the recent Baltimore Comic-Con when we fled the convention enter for La Tavola restaurant in the heart of Little Italy.

We discussed his horrifying early job as a DC Comics intern destroying (and in some cases rescuing) original art, why he loves the science fiction writer Alfred Bester, how his writing back when he started out was a blend of John Broome and Stan Lee, what he learned from binge-reading 181 issues of Spider-Man before starting to script it himself, what it was like returning to DC after his years at Marvel, why he felt he could write Tomb of Dracula even though when he was handed the assignment he’d never read the Bram Stoker novel or seen any of the movies, his secret to making the Teen Titans seem like actual teens, why he owes his career to Gene Colan, and much, more.

Here’s how you can share some lasagna with us— (more…)

This completely unpredicted, absolutely unanticipated, and totally unexpected new episode—with horror writers Brian Keene, Lesley Conner, Mary SanGiovanni, Damien Angelica Walters, J.P. Sloan, and Eric Hendrixson—is one I had no idea I was going to record until I was about to record it.

Last week, former guest Brian Keene—who can be heard in Episode 34’s career-spanning conversation—tweeted about an appearance he’d be making at Frederick Community College for a panel discussion on publishing and horror. Since Frederick’s only an hour away, I figured I’d drop by. And at the last minute, as I was about to take off early this past Monday afternoon, I thought—hey, why don’t I record the event?

I wasn’t planning to repurpose it here, but I’d thought Brian would perhaps want to use it for his own podcast, The Horror Show with Brian Keene, the podcast on which I’d appeared back in June 2015 which inspired me to create this podcast. So I grabbed my recording equipment before hopping into my Jeep and heading East.

What happened instead was that after all those horror writers were done entertaining a room filled with creative writing students, and I offered the audio file to Brian, he said—you know what, Scott? Since you did the work of recording the panel, you use it. Which I normally wouldn’t and couldn’t do, because my podcast is, after all, Eating the Fantastic, and not Sitting in the Front Row of a Conference Room Listening to Others Talk About the Fantastic.

But luckily, since the group had planned to grab a bite to eat after their  panel before they hit the road, we did get to chat while breaking bread together. I was able to sit with them at a large round table in the Frederick Community College cafeteria, and as we inhaled salads and stromboli, I pushed them to share some of the brutal truths of horror publishing, the ones they didn’t reveal on the panel for fear of crushing the hopes and dreams of young, innocent, beginning writers. Which I hope you’ll feel is a good enough excuse to justify sharing the panel itself as part of the episode before that meal.

So prepare to join Brian Keene (author of more than 40 novels, and winner of the 2014 World Horror Grand Master Award.), Lesley Conner (managing editor of Apex publications and author of the novel The Weight of Chains), Mary SanGiovanni (author of the The Hollower trilogy, whose most recent novels are Chills and Savage Woods), Damien Angelica Walters (Stoker-nominated writer of the short story collection Sing Me Your Scars and the novel Paper Tigers), J.P. Sloan (author of The Dark Choir urban fantasy series), and Eric Hendrixson (bizarro author of Drunk Driving Champion and Bucket of Face) for an fascinating afternoon as they share what they know about the business of writing and publishing horror.

And what did they discuss in what’s became Episode 53 of Eating the Fantastic?

Lesley Conner explained what most writers don’t realize about first serial rights, and why if you can’t take rejection, you should stop now. Mary SanGiovanni compared your social media presence to singing in your underwear, and revealed the dreadful warning Charles L. Grant shared with her about the writing life. J. P. Sloan recommended the small press, while at the same time recommending you watch out, and also advised to be careful about the illusion of access. Brian Keene passed on the the best writing advice he ever got—from Keith Giffin—and told of the time he was willing to walk away from life-changing money. Damien Angelica Walters shared the ways it never gets easier, and why you need to overcome your fear of saying no. And finally, Eric Hendrixson pointed out why contracts are like a superpower, and sketched the hierarchy of what kind of writing is valuable.

Here’s how you can get the details directly from them— (more…)

Since the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America recently announced the start of its nominations period for the Nebula Awards—and the recommendations period for the Bram Stoker Awards from the Horror Writers Association is ongoing—plus all of my 2017 short stories have now been published—well, it’s that time of year again.

Since all the cool kids seem to be doing it, I’ve assembled info about this year’s publications in one place so eligible voting members of both organizations can take them into consideration.

And so …

First up, three science fiction tales—

“After the Harvest, Before the Fall”

This was the story that broke my 44-year dry spell with Analog. It’s an 11,600-word novelette described by the magazine as “people born to die struggling to live.” It takes place in a future in which the rich and powerful get to order new bodies whenever they wish, and the religion those who are harvested have created to deal with their oppression. (more…)

It’s time to say farewell to Helsinki—and hello to award-winning writer Amal El-Mohtar—in the final episode of Eating the Fantastic recorded during Worldcon 75. Our meal took place a mere 36 hours after she’d won this year’s Best Short Story Hugo Award for “Seasons of Glass and Iron,” for which she’d also won a Nebula Award earlier in the year.

We chose one of the city’s oldest seafood restaurants for our lunch—Sea Horse, which has been in operation since 1934. And it’s lasted that long for a good reason! We enjoyed the food and the ambiance so much I returned a few days later for dinner with my wife during our post-Worldcon stay.

Amal’s stories and poems have appeared in magazines such as Lightspeed, Uncanny, Strange Horizons, and Apex. Her stories “The Green Book” and “Madeleine” were finalists for the Nebula Award in 2011 and 2015 respectively, and “The Truth About Owls” won the Locus Award in 2015. She won the Rhysling award for Best Short Poem in 2009, 2011 and 2014, and in 2012 received the Richard Jefferies Poetry Prize.

We discussed the importance of female friendship, the first poem she wrote at age 6 1/2 (which you’ll hear her recite), how Charles de Lint helped her get her first bookstore job, the importance of welcoming newcomers into the tent of science fiction and fantasy, what she learned about empathy from Nalo Hopkinson, the only time she ever cosplayed, which book made her a writer, why Storm is her favorite member of the X-Men, the delicious magic of honey, the difficulties of reviewing books in a field where everybody knows everybody, and much more.

Here’s how to join us at our booth— (more…)

If you want proof science fiction fandom has always been at war, look no further than the infamous “yellow pamphlet,” written by David Kyle, the distribution of which resulted in Donald A. Wollheim, Frederik Pohl, Cyril Kornbluth, and others being banned from the 1939 World Science Fiction Convention.

It included such language as—

The World’s Science Fiction Convention of 1939 in the hands of such heretofore ruthless scoundrels is a loaded weapon in the hands of such men. This weapon can be aimed at their critics or can be used to blast all fandom. But YOU, the reader of this short article, are the ammunition. It is for YOU to decide whether you shall bow before the unfair tactics and endorse the carefully arranged plans of the Convention Committee. Beware of any crafty speeches or sly appeals. BE ON YOUR GUARD!

The full text of this document has long been online, so I’ve read it before, but I never saw an actual copy until a scan of one appeared as part of a recent eBay listing. That sale is now closed, though I can’t tell whether it’s because the seller got the $1,000 asking price for one of the few surviving copies or the listing period simply ended.

Whenever fannish controversies get me down, I think back to this pamphlet from 78 years ago, and am strangely comforted by the fact that … it has been ever thus.

You can read Kyle’s reminiscence of those times and the Great Exclusion Act here.

During the same deep dive into my archives that turned up a never-used plot for Marvel’s The Scarecrow #2, I also found a plot written on March 7, 1978 for an adventure of Supergirl meant to appear in an issue of DC’s mega-comic Superman Family.

I’d previously scripted a Supergirl story Gerry Conway had plotted for Superman Family #193 (February 1979), and wrote one entirely on my own which appeared in Superman Family #194 (April 1979).

That last one was inspired by the infamous Stanley Milgram experiments—

—but was also tied in with the mysterious energy being which had tormented Supergirl for many, many issues.

I no longer own a copy of Superman Family #194, so I’m not sure what kind of cliffhanger I used to end that story, but apparently, I’d planned for the next installment to begin moments later.

And here we go … (more…)

It’s time to head back to Helsinki for the fourth episode recorded during the 75th World Science Fiction Convention, following up on Johanna Sinisalo, Chen Quifan, and Xia Jia.

This time around, you get to listen in on my lunch at Mero-Himal Nepalese Restaurant with Karin Tidbeck during the penultimate day of the con. Tidbeck writes fiction in both Swedish and English, and debuted in 2010 with the Swedish short story collection Vem är Arvid Pekon? Her English debut, the 2012 collection Jagannath, was awarded the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts William L. Crawford Fantasy Award in 2013 and was shortlisted for the World Fantasy Award. Her novel debut, Amatka, was recently released in English.

We discussed the serious nature of Live Action Role-Playing games in Nordic countries, the way pretending to be a 150-year-old vampire changed her life, how discovering Neil Gaiman’s Sandman comics made her forget time and space, the most important lesson she learned from the Clarion Science Fiction & Fantasy Writing Workshop, how she uses improvisational exercises to teach beginning writers, why Amatka grew from a poetry collection into a novel, what made her say, “I’m not here to answer questions, I’m here to ask them,” and more.

Here’s how you can share spring rolls with us— (more…)

For decades, people have been asking me which of two brothers had his body taken over by the Scarecrow, a character I created back at Marvel Comics in the mid-’70s. And for decades, I’ve been telling those people—I can’t remember!

But at last, the answer can be revealed.

For while going through a box of papers recently, I discovered my plot for a Scarecrow adventure which was never drawn. And this being Halloween, it seemed like a good time to unleash it on the world.

The Scarecrow concept led a complicated life, both before and after his first story was published.

I created him to appear as a backup in Monsters Unleashed, one of Marvel’s black-and-white books, where he was meant to rotate with Tigra and Frankenstein. His debut there was even announced in the August 1974 issue of the fanzine The Comic Reader.

But Monsters Unleashed was cancelled before the world ever got to see him.

Next up, he was going to appear as a back-up feature in Giant-Size Werewolf by Night … which also got cancelled before the world could meet him.

But at last, the first Scarecrow story was published … in Dead of Night #11, the final issue of what had previously been a reprint title.

After that, he was scheduled to move on to his own comic, as you can see from this subscription ad.

But that book never launched, swallowed by the great Marvel implosion, and the story which was to have been in Scarecrow #1 was burned off in Marvel Spotlight #26. (more…)

It seems like only yesterday I asked Sarah Pinsker to be my guinea pig for the first episode of a new podcast. Can it really be time to for me to invite you to eavesdrop on the 50th episode of Eating the Fantastic?

Amazingly—yes, it can!

Here we we are, more than 20 months later, and those of you who’ve followed my journey have listened as I’ve shared at times full meals—at times a donut, during my two lightning–round episodes—with more than 75 guests. And the feasting’s not over yet!

This time around, I’m inviting you to join me and my guest for lunch during Worldcon at Parrilla Española, the oldest Spanish restaurant in Helsinki.

And who is this episode’s guest?

Xia Jia, whose short stories have been published in Nature, Clarkesworld, Year’s Best SF, Science Fiction World, and many other venues. She’s won five Galaxy Awards for Chinese Science Fiction as well as six Nebula Awards for Science Fiction and Fantasy in Chinese. But her science fiction skills have been visible on more than just the page, because she directed the 2007 science fiction film Parapax, in which she also acted, appearing as three different identities of the protagonist across parallel universes.

We discussed how reading science fiction gave her the courage to take risks; what it means when she says she writes not hard SF, nor soft SF, nor slipstream, nor cyberpunk, but “porridge sci-fi;” why Ray Bradbury matters so much to her; the challenges of writing in Chinese, writing in English, and translating from one language to the other; our mutual love for Italo Calvino’s If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler; how The Three-Body Problem changed the perceptions of science fiction in China, why she has faith she’ll eventually get to Mars, and more.

Here’s how you can share tapas with us— (more…)