When I was investigating venues where I could record episodes of Eating the Fantastic during the recent Long Beach StokerCon, one dish stood out above all others—the whole grilled snook served by chef Sergio Peñuela at his restaurant Cheko El Rey Del Sarandeado. So that’s where I headed for dinner on Thursday during the con, in order to learn whether that dish lived up to its rep.

Spoiler alert: It did.

My guest that night was Elizabeth Hand, a brilliant writer who’s won four World Fantasy Awards, two Nebula Awards, three Shirley Jackson Awards, and more other awards than I have space to mention. The latest novel in her Cass Neary series, Hard Light, was released last year.

We discussed why she probably won’t take LSD on her deathbed, what made her a fan of Marvel rather than DC when she was a kid, her unusual fee for writing term papers back in college, the true meaning of Man’s Search for Meaning, the unfortunate occupational hazard of book reviewing, who was the best science fiction writer of all time (and why), plus more.

Here’s how you can hook a snook with us— (more…)

It took me 44 years to finally sell a story to Analog—and just a few more months to sell them a second.

Last weekend at Balticon, flanked by Michael M. Jones and Day Al-Mohamed, I shared the opening three scenes of that second story—a novelette titled “How Val Finally Escaped from the Basement,” which will appear in the magazine’s November/December 2017 issue.

If you weren’t there, check it out below. Heck, even if you were there …

Want to know what happens next? Then be sure to track down that issue, which should go on sale around the third week of October.

Balticon 51 ends today, but the fun doesn’t have to be over—because on Saturday, I interviewed a baker’s dozen of attendees about their favorite Balticon memories. And I did it over donuts!

(If you’re a regular listener and were therefore anticipating Episode 39 to be the previously announced dinner with Elizabeth Hand, don’t worry—that’s still planned to appear on June 9. But I thought it fitting that the Balticon episode go live now, to help assuage the sadness some might be feeling as they bid farewell to Baltimore for another year.)

Since last July’s Readercon Donut Spectacular episode of Eating the Fantastic has proven to be so popular, I thought I’d try harvesting memories about another long-running con, and so plopped myself down in a high-traffic area of the Balticon hotel with a dozen Diablo Donuts. But first, I shared this photo on social media so the hungry hordes would know to be on the lookout for me.

Most episodes of Eating the Fantastic involve deep-dive interviews with a single guest, so for the most part, I’m in control, but with something like this, you never know what’s going to happen, because I don’t choose the guests, the guests choose me. But I consider that controlled chaos a feature, not a bug, and think you’ll like what those who did sit down for a bite and a chat had to say about their decades—and in one case, mere hours—attending the con.

Listen as 13 guests begin Balticon’s second half-century with a dozen Diablo Donuts and reminisce about the time George R. R. Martin pretended to beat one of them to death with a cane, how a live birth almost ended up as part of the science programming, why it’s so wonderful to be able to make a Star Trek joke and have people get it, Allen Steele’s wonderful depiction of the 1939 Worldcon in his novel Arkwright, Marty Gear’s indispensable rule for self-care during convention-going, plus more.

Here’s how you can eavesdrop as my guests dig into their donuts— (more…)

All aboard!

Welcome to the permanently moored Queen Mary, which sailed the seas from 1936 to 1967, but which is now a retired ocean liner turned hotel in Long Beach, California—and last month the home of the second annual StokerCon. My guest for this episode snuck away with me from the con for some peace and quiet in my room—and to share take-out food delivered from nearby Thai Silk.

The first of five episodes I captured for you while out West is with the legendary William F. Nolan, who’s written more than 2,000 pieces of fiction and non-fiction, co-wrote with George Clayton Johnson the novel Logan’s Run, co-wrote with Richard Matheson the screenplay to the movie Trilogy of Terror (which contains perhaps the scariest doll ever seen on film), plus—he’s received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Horror Writers Association and was named a World Horror Society Grand Master. His most recent short story collection is Like a Dead Man Walking.

We discussed how Ray Bradbury helped him sell his first short story in 1954, the way a slush pile sale to Playboy convinced him to abandon a successful career as a commercial artist, why his Twilight Zone episode was never filmed, the difference between the real truth and Charles Beaumont’s “greater truth,” why he only ever acted in one movie (and got punched by William Shatner), how Stan Freberg pranked diners aboard the Queen Mary and made them think the ship was sinking, which novel he thinks is his best (and it’s not Logan’s Run), and more.

Before you dive in, a reminder—if you like what you hear and what Eating the Fantastic is trying to accomplish, check out how you can support the show by subsidizing some of the travel, bandwidth, meal, and other costs over on Patreon. (There are perks for all patrons, of course.) Or, if you’d prefer, make a one-time donation via Paypal.me. With your help, I can keep capturing all those who make the world of the fantastic great, and also make this podcast even bigger and better.

And now—here’s how you can dig into some of that Pad-Se-Ew with us— (more…)

Pittsburgh is home to two bucket list bites for foodies. One is the Primanti Bros sandwich … and the other is the Prantl’s burnt almond torte. I got to taste them both during the recent Nebula awards weekend.

I already told you about my trip to Primanti’s. Only four other SFWA members joined me there, but—because I was in the mood to share—a whole lot more got a taste of what The Huffington Post called “The Greatest Cake America Has Ever Made.”

Which, regardless of how mouthwatering it looks, isn’t this cake.

But let me explain. (more…)

There are only a few more days before this year’s Balticon begins, so I checked the final program to see whether there’d been any changes to my schedule from when I last shared my planned appearances with you. And surprise—there were!

One programming item has been switched to a later time, new co-panelists been added and old ones deleted, and panel descriptions had been added as well.

And so … here’s you can really find me—

Saturday, May 27

Tales from the Slush Pile
11:00 a.m.
Editors share tales of some of the gems they’ve received, and give advice on how to avoid becoming fodder for future panels like this.
with Scott Andrews, Erika Pryor, and Joshua Bilmes

Writing Interesting and Effective Short Stories
12:00 p.m.
Science fiction and fantasy literature has been the domain of the short story since before even the first pulps,. To this day, it’s often how readers discover new authors, new authors gain exposure, new concepts are explored, and new styles are developed. What makes a short story effective? How can you condense the universe you’re building into a small space and still have enough to hold the reader’s attention? How is prose and characterization handled differently in a short work, and how do you know when to end it?
with Hildy Silverman, Malka Older, Jean Marie Ward, and Fran Wilde

How to Incorporate Critique
5:00 p.m.
They’ve read your work, and you’ve got your response… now what do you do with it? How do you take someone else’s advice and still keep the story your own? How much (and when) should you change to meet a reader’s expectations?
with Joshua Bilmes, James Minz, Sarah Pinsker, and S.M. Stirling

How to Self-Edit That Lousy First Draft
6:00 p.m.
“The first draft of anything is lousy”, is a quote attributed to many writers (usually with more colorful language), but knowing that, how do you make it better? What steps can you take before you show it to an editor? How can you keep from getting frustrated trying to make the version on paper look like the version in your head?
with David Keener, Sarah Avery, and Steve Brust

Sunday, May 28

Kaffeeklatsch
10:00 a.m.

Being a Fan of Problematic Things
12:00 p.m.
We love things. Sometimes they’re problematic. Sometimes their creators are. We’ll explore how to be a fan of those things without making the problems worse, or maybe even while making them better.
with Martina Fetzer, Eric Hardenbrook, Nobilis Reed, and S.M. Stirling

Reading
5:00 p.m.
with Day Al-Mohammed and Catherine Asaro

But remember—those aren’t the only places to find me. At some point during the con, I plan to plop myself down with a dozen donuts and record another lightning-round episode of my Eating the Fantastic podcast, similar to the one I did at Readercon. Watch my Twitter feed to find out where and when.

And if you spot me in the halls, the dealers room, or the bar, be sure to say hello!

My zombie novelette collection Liars, Fakers, and the Dead Who Eat Them officially launched aboard the Queen Mary last month during StokerCon, and though sales have been good, the book hasn’t gotten any reviews … until now.

And it’s a good one.

Eddie Generous of Unnerving magazine reviewed the two stories in the collection, and after stating he was “enthralled” by the first, he ended by writing—

These stories are gritty visions of people being people in a time when the dead roam and priorities are in serious flux. The writing is smooth and inviting, colourful and vivid. I am wholly impressed and as far as zombie shorts go, Only Humans Can Lie is the best I’ve ever read.

I couldn’t have asked for a more positive summation.

If you’d like to learn whether you’d agree, why not buy a copy right now?

Sometimes, when I’m speaking to friends about my food adventures, they seem to think I’m only about tweezer food, molecular gastronomy, and expensive restaurants. And since any new friends I made during the Nebula Awards weekend might have encountered my previous post about Morcilla as their first entry point into my life, I figured I’d better quickly prove that’s just not so, and describe the sandwich I ate many hours after the banquet, at 2:30 a.m. on Saturday night Sunday morning at Primanti’s.

Though Primanti’s is today a chain which includes locations in Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, and other states, the company began with a single restaurant in Pittsburgh in 1933. Not too long after that, it developed its signature way of serving sandwiches—with the french fries and cold slaw in the sandwich. That style is so much a part of Primanti’s I can recall what a server there said when asked in a video interview how they’d respond to a customer if one asked for the fries on the side—she’d tell them there was a Subway down the street.

Perhaps I’m misremembering, and that’s apocryphal, but Primanti’s commitment to keeping what’s normally outside inside has resulted in one of the most famous sandwiches in the U.S. So I had to have one.

I had to have one at the original Pittsburgh location, which is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

And I had to have one not at a standard meal time, but late. Or depending on how you consider time, early.

Which is how I ended up with a group of friends, including Andrea Tatjana and K. M. Szpara, at 2:30 in the morning, still wearing the purple jacket I’d worn to the Nebula banquet. (more…)

When it came time to decide on a venue for a group dinner during the recent Nebula Awards weekend, one restaurant stood out above all others—Morcilla, which had been named the best new restaurant in Pittsburgh by Pittsburgh magazine and last year’s #4 best new restaurant in the country by Bon Appetit.

And I wasn’t alone in that conclusion—for when I reached out to agent extraondinaire Barry Goldblatt about whether he wanted to join me, he said Morcilla was on his radar as well.

Which is how I ended up there Friday night at a table with, as they say, more stars than there are in Heaven, including Christopher Barzak, Bo Bolander, Joe and Gay Haldeman, and Fran Wilde.

We didn’t quite eat the entire menu—but we came close!

Bay View oysters
(with ramp mignonette)

(more…)

I visited the Watergate Hotel recently, and in case those of you familiar with the history of that infamous location might be thinking I went there to bring down a president with a Bob Woodward/Carl Bernstein-style investigation, let me quickly add … no. Rather, I went there to investigate the food at the recently opened Kingbird restaurant, with a guest who surprised me with her sudden visit to Washington, D.C., and whom I somehow managed to convince that a meal with me would be oh, so much more fun than visiting the National Air and Space Museum.

Joining me within the walls of the Watergate Hotel was Cynthia Felice, who published her first short story, “Longshanks,” in 1976 in the pages of Galileo, a science fiction magazine published by the late, great Charlie Ryan, and her first novel, Godsfire, two years later. She is also the co-founder with Ed Bryant—about whom, alas, I must also say late and great—of the Colorado Springs Writer’s Workshop.

We discussed how Frank Herbert’s Dune made her say, “Hey, I can do that,” the virtues of owning a motel while being a writer, the marriage advice Kate Wilhelm gave her at Clarion, what Thomas M. Disch told her that fixed one of her short stories, why we all loved the late, great Ed Bryant, the extraordinary lengths David Hartwell went to as he edited her second novel, how her collaborations with Connie Willis began, and more.

Here’s how you can break into the Watergate with us— (more…)