I haven’t posted anything new to my set of rejection slips from dead magazines in quite a while, but it’s time for a new old one, adding to the collection I started so struggling writers could feel schadenfreude, because though the magazines are gone, they’re still here.

I no longer have any idea when I would have submitted to Manhattan East, or what I would have sent them, but I’d have received this no later than 1985, when I still lived in New York. So — at least 40 years ago.

Remember — never give up! Never surrender!

While shredding another old notebook from my early comics career, I reminisce about the many wretched one-act plays I created while being taught by famed playwright Jack Gelber, the lie I told Marv Wolfman and Len Wein which got me hired at Marvel, the most wrongheaded conclusion Fredric Wertham reached in Seduction of the Innocent, my plot for an Inhumans strip starring Karnak which had no reason to exist, the most ridiculous method any writer ever conceived of for killing a vampire, what Gerry Conway said about Gwen Stacy which was censored out of his F.O.O.M. interview, the first words to reach readers about my Scarecrow character, and much more.

You can eavesdrop on all those memories via the embed below or download them at the site of your choice.

Here are some images which will shed light on some of what I talk about this episode — but probably won’t make much sense without listening —

Me the Year Before Marvel

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My guest this episode is Shannon Robinson, whose short story collection, The Ill-Fitting Skin, was released last year. Robinson’s work has appeared in Gettysburg Review, Iowa Review, Water-Stone Review, Nimrod, Joyland, and elsewhere. She has an MFA in fiction from Washington University in St. Louis, and in 2011 she was the Writer-in-Residence at Interlochen Center for the Arts.

Other honors include the Katherine Anne Porter Prize for Fiction, grants from the Elizabeth George Foundation and the Canada Council for the Arts, a Hedgebrook Fellowship, a Sewanee Scholarship, and an Independent Artist Award from the Maryland Arts Council. Currently, she teaches creative writing and pedagogy at Johns Hopkins University and lives in Baltimore with her husband and son.

We discussed how best to deal with rejection, the way our opinions about print vs. electronic publication have changed over the courses of our careers, when an untrustworthy narrator can be a feature, not a bug, the many ways readers can be misreaders of stories, how she realized she’d reached short story critical mass and it was time to assemble a collection, the way the genres in which we write are often defined by those who publish us rather than the words on the page, what she tells her students is the only rule in writing, our contrasting experiences with simultaneous submissions, the ways in which she’ll apply everything she’s learned in writing short stories to her upcoming novel, and much more.

Here’s how you can join us for lunch at Tamber’s restaurant in Baltimore — (more…)

The Seattle Worldcon has opened nominations for the Hugo Awards, the Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book, and the Astounding Award for Best New Writer. If you’re eligible to nominate, I hope you’ll consider my Eating the Fantastic podcast in the category of Best Fancast.

Last year, I invited listeners to eavesdrop on 28 culinary encounters with amazing creators. Below are links to all 2024 episodes so you can have a taste and decide whether the podcast — which I launched in February 2016 — is your kind of ear candy. I hope you enjoy eavesdropping!

Join Izzy Wasserstein for Kansas City BBQ in episode 216 of Eating the Fantastic

Munch MVP sandwiches with MVPs Gary K. Wolfe and Jonathan Strahan in Episode 217 of Eating the Fantastic

Nibble garlic naan with Jo Miles in Episode 218 of Eating the Fantastic

Snack on sushi with Ray Nayler in Episode 219 of Eating the Fantastic

Nosh pastrami with Glenn Hauman in Episode 220 of Eating the Fantastic

Join biographer Julie Phillips for Jӓgerschnitzel in Episode 221 of Eating the Fantastic

Join writer Sunny Moraine for dinner on Episode 222 of Eating the Fantastic

Sup on scallops with Arthur Suydam on Episode 223 of Eating the Fantastic

Devour a Georgian dinner with Dan Parent in Episode 224 of Eating the Fantastic

Chow down on cryptid pizza with Lesley Conner in Episode 225 of Eating the Fantastic

Polish off paneer biryani with Tobias Carroll in Episode 226 of Eating the Fantastic

Dig into duck with Alex Jennings in Episode 227 of Eating the Fantastic

Bite into a burrito with writer Elwin Cotman in Episode 228 of Eating the Fantastic

Gab over garlic bread with Sally Wiener Grotta in Episode 229 of Eating the Fantastic

Savor a seafood pancake with Ai Jiang in Episode 230 of Eating the Fantastic

It’s time for tea and scones with Chuck Tingle in Episode 231 of Eating the Fantastic

Breakfast with Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam in Episode 232 of Eating the Fantastic

Join Jenny Rowe (and James Tiptree, Jr.) at the Glasgow Worldcon bar in Episode 233 of Eating the Fantastic

Feast on burgers and fries with Cynthia Pelayo on Episode 234 of Eating the Fantastic

Munch on Mattar Paneer with horror writer William J. Donahue in Episode 235 of Eating the Fantastic

It’s time for two scoops of Sarah Pinsker on Episode 236 of Eating the Fantastic

Chow down on cheesy garlic bread with Jeffrey Ford in Episode 237 of Eating the Fantastic

Share beef noodle soup with award-winning writer John Chu in Episode 238 of Eating the Fantastic

Share a bowl of Cullen skink with the award-winning Wole Talabi in Episode 239 of Eating the Fantastic

Feast on fish and chips with Paul Cornell in Episode 240 of Eating the Fantastic

Chow down on chicken tikka masala with Gareth L. Powell in Episode 241 of Eating the Fantastic

Share scallops with R. S. A. Garcia in Episode 242 of Eating the Fantastic

Settle in for a steak dinner with Marvel’s Tom Brevoort in Episode 243 of Eating the Fantastic

Thank you for your consideration!

Another look back on my early comics career has me considering the possible reason Robert De Niro’s Max Cady character cared about Captain Marvel in the 1991 movie Cape Fear, the day Jim Shooter and I parachuted out of an airplane (and why an ambulance was called), my surprise over a 1974 House of Mystery submission to editor Joe Orlando, why 2025 Scott is curious about what Crystal leaving the Fantastic Four meant to the 1970 fanboy I was, the reason Doc Savage and Scooter Pies are inextricably linked in my memory, my regret over not having defended artist Herb Trimpe from his detractors, and much more.

You can eavesdrop on all those memories via the embed below or download them at the site of your choice.

Here are some images which illustrate some of what I talk about this episode —

Captain Marvel and Black Bolt in Cape Fear

A record of my two parachute jumps

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Listen in as I look back half a century on what it was like being in the room with Len Wein and Dave Cockrum (or as much as I’m willing to admit) as they plotted Giant-Size X-Men #1, why my mid-’70s likeness still hangs on the wall at Marvel Comics HQ, my freelance income during the first six months of my life as a comics professional, the collaborative short stories my friends and I stayed awake 24 hours to write on Harlan Ellison’s 39th birthday, an article I commissioned for F.O.O.M. about collecting comics in 1975 which should make you weep 50 years later, how my meeting with Wicked Witch of the West Margaret Hamilton ended up being a Marvel Comics caption contest, and much more.

You can eavesdrop on all those memories via the embed below or download them at the site of your choice.

Here are some images which will enrich your listening experience, though they probably won’t make much sense without it —

My caricature on the wall at Marvel HQ

Marie Severin’s cover to F.O.O.M. #16
with her caricature of me circled

Call It Fate #1
with the first short story I ever wrote on the cover

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I’ve known writer/editor/artist Larry Hama for at least half a century now, but his career started long before that, when he sold his first cartoon to Castle of Frankenstein magazine in 1966. He’s probably best known as a writer and editor for Marvel Comics, where he wrote the licensed comic book series G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, based on the Hasbro toy line, writing nearly every issue of the book’s 13-year run.

He’s also written for the series Wolverine, Nth Man: The Ultimate Ninja, and Elektra. He worked as an editor at both DC and Marvel, and at the latter edited the humor magazine Crazy, as well as Conan, The ‘Nam, and Peter Porker, The Spectacular Spider-Ham. He co-created the character Bucky O’Hare, who not only appeared in comic books, but as a television cartoon. Last year, he was inducted into the Harvey Awards Hall of Fame.

We discussed how cataract surgery changes the way an artist perceives the page, what really happened at a mid-’70s penthouse comic book party, Bernie Krigstein’s anger at being asked questions about comics, why Wally Wood felt it was so important for his assistants to learn how to letter, what it was like being part of the famed Crusty Bunkers inking collective, why getting to edit Crazy was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream,  which Marvel Comics Bullpenner was the visual inspiration for Obnoxio the Clown, why getting his freelancers to hit their deadlines was never a hassle, the editing advice Archie Goodwin gave him early on, the real reason he needed to create that famous silent issue of G. I. Joe, the differing zeitgeists of Marvel vs. DC during the ’70s, his approach to taking over the editing of legacy characters, our joint confusion over memes of previous generations, and much more.

Here’s how you can join us for lunch at New York’s Anjappar — (more…)