Two episodes ago, we sheltered in place together as I ate lunch and answered 33 questions from listeners and former guests of Eating the Fantastic. Since it’ll be awhile before the convention circuit starts up again and restaurants are back in business, I decided to once more invite you into my home to join me for a meal.

After all, my original call for questions had yielded 95 of them, and there was no way I was going to let that meat go to waste!

So after having roasted up a pork butt and assorted vegetables, I pulled together a plate and attempted to answer as many as I could while (metaphorically) breaking bread with you.

This time around, I managed to get through 30 questions from Kaaron Warren, George R. R. Martin, Cheryl Morgan, Paul Kirchner, Lynne Hansen, Barry N. Malzberg, Rachel Pollack, Sarah Pinsker, Victoria Janssen, Erik T. Johnson, Glenn Ricci, Patrick Freivald, Tom Doyle, Daryl Gregory, Faye Ringel, Michael Dirda, Bud Sparhawk, Kelly Robson, Greg Bossert, K. M. Szpara, Sam J. Miller, Nalo Hopkinson, Sunny Moraine, and Paul Levitz.

I talked about my early days in the Marvel Comics Bullpen, the many things legendary editor Gardner Dozois and I shoved up our noses, when my food and fandom interests began to overlap, what I would have said to Harlan Ellison had I been in Barry Malzberg’s shoes, whether experiencing personal tragedy helps or harms a writer, the cognitive dissonance I feel about comics having taken over the world, which character caused me to start writing (hint: it was Conan the Barbarian), what I wishes I knew less about, who I was the most thrilled to have met in my life, whether I still get a kick out of my favorite childhood treats, what a terrible collaborator I am, and much, much more.

Here’s how you can eavesdrop on my socially distant lunch — (more…)