On September 21, 2022, I headed over to The Ivy Bookshop in Baltimore for another installment of Charm City Spec. And while that night’s four writers read selections from their novels, I was in the front row recording as much as my battery power and speed with pressing the start button allowed.

Here I am holding up my Flip camera, captured while Alan Smale was at the mic —

And because of that, though you weren’t there, now you can be. Check out the four performances below.

Serby Gray
reading from her novel Ashes of Regret

Randee Dawn
reading from her novel Tune In Tomorrow

Alan Smale
reading from his novel Hot Moon

Amy L.Bernstein
reading from her novel The Potrero Complex

If you’d like to catch one of these events in person, another Charm City Spec is coming up on November 16, this time at the Bird in Hand Cafe & Bookshop. For more information, follow Charm City Spec on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

It’s time to head back to Chicago for the second of six episodes recorded over the Labor Day weekend at the 80th World Science Fiction Convention, following Episode 181’s brunch chat with Wesley Chu.

This episode’s guest is Carol Tilley, a professor in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois who teaches and writes about comics, libraries, reading, and censorship. We first met six years ago when she was in D.C. to deliver a presentation at the National Archives titled “Dear Sirs: I Believe You’re Wasting Your Time,” during which she shared what she learned about comics readers of the ‘50s while researching the records of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency. In her role as a comics historian, she’s made numerous visits to D.C. over the years to research at the Library of Congress and National Archives for  a biography of Fredric Wertham, whose attacks on sex and violence in comics, and particularly his infamous book Seduction the Innocent, helped bring about the Comics Code.

She was interested not just in the inner workings of Wertham — who comics fans, when I first entered fandom, considered a bigger villain than Doctor Octopus and Lex Luthor rolled into one — but also in the experiences of those who read, drew, and engaged with comics in the US during the ’30s-’50s. She came to Worldcon to share what’s she’s learned, and was also going to speak on a panel about the renewed attack on books and curriculum in schools across the U.S.

We discussed how we each first learned about the Comics Code, the mostly forgotten rich kid origins of Blondie‘s Dagwood Bumstead, the unsettling inconsistencies she discovered while going through 200 boxes of Fredric Wertham’s papers, what those documents reveal about how he came to believe what he came to believe, what it means to research with the brain of an historian, the proper pronunciations of Potrzebie and Mxyzptlk, her efforts to track down those who wrote letters to the Senate protesting comic book censorship during the ’50s (including one of the founders of the Firesign Theater), the enduring power of EC’s “Judgment Day,” why she believed comic book censorship would have occurred even without Wertham’s input, what she thinks he’d make of today’s comics, how Wertham felt about the way comic book fans felt about him, and much more.

The setting for this episode was The Purple Pig, a restaurant I hadn’t been to since the last time Worldcon was in Chicago, way back in 2012.

Here’s how you can join us there — (more…)

Capclave kicks off in four days, and I’ll be there, in person, taking part in six programing items and recording two episodes of my Eating the Fantastic podcast. (Three, if there’s no rain and I can pull off one of my lightning-round donut episodes out on the patio.)

Will you be in Rockville, Maryland, too?

If so, here’s where you’ll be able to find me.

Networking in Publishing
Friday, September 30 4:00 p.m. (Washington Theater)
Networking can be a valuable part of your professional writing career. It can help you identify mentors, learn tricks of the trade, and otherwise find community in your writing career. But it doesn’t come easy for everyone. How might writers address social anxiety, financial barriers, and other challenges to navigating professional spaces?
with Ty Drago, Irene Gallo, and Christopher Rowe

Reading
Saturday, October 1, 2:30 p.m. (Monroe)
Not yet which new story I’ll read, so perhaps I’ll allow the audience to vote.

Critical Reading
Saturday, October 1, 4:00 p.m. (Truman)
Reading critically is a valuable skill, whether you’re a beta reader, reviewer, professional editor, or avid reader. How do you process the elements of a story as you read? What techniques help build these skills? Panelists discuss the art of reading beyond just pleasure.
with Christopher Rowe, Michael Dirda, Natalie Luhrs, and Jennifer R. Povey

Positive SF
Saturday, October 1, 5:30 p.m. (Eisenhower)
Many people are craving stories right now with gentle plots and hopeful themes to contrast the recent dystopic trends in publishing, media, and real-life dramas. Panelists discuss what makes for positive science fiction and some of their favorite examples of the brighter side of science fiction.
with Bill Lawhorn, Suzanne Palmer, and Jeanne Adams

Responding to the Moment: Writing for Today’s World
Sunday, October 2, 10:00 a.m. (Washington Theater)
From space-faring billionaires and a global pandemic to climate activism, cryptocurrencies, and a racial justice reckoning, there is much about today’s world to inspire interesting literary questions. How does science fiction, fantasy, and horror help us navigate these political environments? What stories are useful for better understanding our current world? Our panelists talk about how societal and cultural aspects of today impact the ideas they seek to explore in their writing.
with Tom Doyle, Adam R Shannon, Suzanne Palmer, and A. T. Greenblatt

Community-Building: Making Space for New Perspectives
Sunday, October 2, 11:30 a.m. (Jackson)
Science Fiction and fantasy have conquered culture! And it opened up more opportunities for fandom to celebrate together the things they love online and in person. But it’s also created challenges for new people coming into an established community and for long-time fans to accommodate new voices and perspectives. How can we ensure these environments grow in a way that’s respectful and inclusive for all?
with Jean Marie Ward, Ingeborg Heyer, Suzanne Palmer, and Courtni Burleson

I hope to see you there!

The 80th World Science Fiction Convention ended a few weeks ago out in the flesh-and-blood world, but here at Eating the Fantastic, it’s just beginning — because you’re about to join me for the first of six episodes recorded in Chicago over the Labor Day weekend. We begin by heading out with writer Wesley Chu to Summer House Santa Monica, a favorite brunch spot of his from the days when he lived in Chicago.

Chu’s debut novel, The Lives of Tao, earned him a Young Adult Library Services Association Alex Award and a Science Fiction Goodreads Choice Award Top 10 slot, and was followed by three other books in that universe — The Deaths of Tao (also in 2013), The Rebirths of Tao (2015), and The Days of Tao (2016). He’s also published two books in his Time Salvager series — Time Salvager (2015) and Time Siege (2016). His novel Typhoon, set in The Walking Dead universe, was published in 2019.

He’s also the coauthor of the Eldest Curses series with Cassandra Clare, the first book of which — The Red Scrolls of Magic (2019) — debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list, and was followed by The Lost Book of the White in 2020. His latest novel, The Art of Prophecy (2022), released in August, is the first book in The War Arts Saga. He was a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2014, and won the following year. But that’s not all! He’s also an accomplished martial artist and a former member of the Screen Actors Guild who has acted in film and television, worked as a model and stuntman, and summited Kilimanjaro.

We discussed why his new novel The Art of Prophecy has him feeling as if he’s making his debut all over again, the reason his particular set of skills means he’s the only one who could have written this project, why creating a novel is like trying to solve a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle without the picture on the box as reference, the heavy lifting a well-written fight scene needs to accomplish, why you’ll never get to read his 180,000-word first novel, how to make readers continue to care when writing from the POV of multiple characters, the benefits and pitfalls of writing bigger books, why he decided to toss 80,000 words from the second book in his series, the ways in which environments are also characters, and much more.

Here’s how you can join us — (more…)