This year’s Nebula Awards conference has finally ended here at Eating the Fantastic, following my other conversations captured at that event with William Shunn, J. Michael Straczynski, Jordan Kurella, and Rhondi Salsitz.

My guest this time around is Charlie Jane Anders, who’s won the Hugo, Nebula, Sturgeon, Lambda Literary, Crawford and Locus Awards. The final volume of her Unstoppable trilogy, Promises Stronger Than Darkness (the first two were Victories Greater Than Death and Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak), was published just shortly before our chat. Her 2016 novel, All the Birds in the Sky, won the Nebula, Locus and Crawford awards. Other books include the Locus Award-winning short story collection Even Greater Mistakes, and the Hugo Award-winning And Never Say You Can’t Survive, about how to use creative writing to get through hard times. Her novelette “Six Months, Three Days” won a Hugo Award, and her short story “Don’t Press Charges and I Won’t Sue” won a Theodore Sturgeon Award.

Charlie Jane is also the co-creator of the transgender mutant hero Escapade, who was introduced in Marvel Voices: Pride 2022, and has been appearing in the long-running comic New Mutants, with Charlie Jane writing. She was a founding editor of io9.com, a blog about science fiction and futurism, and went on to become its editor-in-chief. With former guest of this podcast Annalee Newitz, Charlie Jane co-hosts a podcast about the meaning of science fiction called Our Opinions Are Correct.

We discussed how her childhood fantasy of aliens whisking her away from Earth gave birth to her Unstoppable trilogy, the way writing a YA meant she had to completely change the way she writes, the challenges of bringing a large cast of characters to life while giving them their own inner lives, why she has problems with Clarke’s Third Law but was willing to roll with it for her new trilogy, the difficulties of still being at work on the third book of a trilogy when the first was already in the hands of readers, how growing as a writer means embracing the messiness of the process, her reaction to being called “this generation’s Le Guin,” what she had to learn to be able to write comics, and so much more.

Here’s how you can join us at Kareem’s Falafel in Anaheim, California — (more…)

My guest this episode — my penultimate conversation while in California for this year’s Nebula Awards Conference — is Rhondi Salsitz, whom I met when I attended the Clarion Science Fiction Writing Workshop in 1979. This is the second time you’re getting the chance to eavesdrop as I chat with someone I met during that long ago summer, the first being Gene O’Neill way back in Episode 12.

You might have read Rhondi’s work without realizing it — because she’s also appeared under the names Charles Ingrid, Kendall Rivers, Sara Hanover, Emily Drake, Anne Knight, Elizabeth Forrest, Jenna Rhodes, Rhondi Greening, R.A.V. Salsitz, and Rhondi Vilott — and those are just a few of the pseudonyms under which she’s published over the past four decades.

 Rhondi’s first publication was actually one of the stories written while at Clarion, and was chosen by by our teacher, Damon Knight, for publication in Orbit 21. (And believe me — we were envious! And some of us were even jealous.)

Since that time, she’s written so many books under so any names — not only science fiction, fantasy, and horror, but also romances, westerns, and choose your own adventure books — her prolific career has unfairly been overlooked, and I’m so glad I was able to get her to step out from behind the mask so you can learn more about her. Her series — include The Sand Wars (written as Charles Ingrid), Elven Ways (as Jenna Rhodes), Dragon Tales (as Rhondi Vilott), and many others.

We discussed her early missed opportunity to workshop with Octavia Butler, the terrible thing Tom Disch told her during their one-on-one meeting during Clarion, the animated series which inspired her to write her bestselling Sand Wars series of novels, why she feels she’s still standing when so many of our Clarion comrades aren’t, what caused a reader to write an angry letter to Dean Koontz about one of her novels, how she progressed from recognizing there was a problem but not knowing how to fix it to understanding what needed to be done, and so much more.

Here’s how you can join us for a ramen and sushi at at The Good Fish in Fullerton, California — (more…)

Readercon 32 kicks off tomorrow for the first time since 2019. If you’ll be in Quincy, Massachusetts as well, here’s where to find me (when I’m not off visiting the grave of the inventor of the donut, that is) —

Escapism and Allegory in a Pandemic
Friday, July 14, 11:00 a.m., Salon 4
SF is full of escapism and of allegories, and works sometimes move from one category to the other as time passes. During COVID lockdowns many writers incorporated pandemic themes, using art to process the new situation. Simultaneously, readers pleaded for a break from the pandemic on social media. “No pandemic stories” started to crop up in submissions guidelines from editors who needed more variety. As a reader or writer, did the pandemic change where you fit on the escapism/allegory spectrum?
with Stephanie Feldman (m), John Wiswell, Sarah Jean Horwitz

How can short story authors build an audience?
Friday, July 14, 3:00 p.m., Salon 4
Short stories today are published across a wide variety of media, formats, and imprints. As a result, writers specializing in short stories have difficulty connecting with and building an audience over time. How can you find the people who enjoy your work, and how can they find you in a cost-effective way? We will discuss short story collections, social media, conventions, and other ways of finding and keeping in touch with our favorite short fiction writers.
with F. Brett Cox (m), Arley Sorg, Christopher Mark Rose, and Katherine Crighton

Reading
Saturday, July 15 10:00 a.m., Blue Hills

History of Readercon
Saturday, July 15 3:00 p.m., Salon 5
Veteran Readercon participants and organizers will tell stories of Readercon’s nearly 40 year history. Learn about the awards and ceremonies that are or have been hosted here, events that have come and gone, clandestine attendance by rockstar authors, and maybe a little bit of drama if the panelists think it wise to share. Come to the first of this potentially annual panel and join the circle of knowledge in this con’s legacies and culture.
with David G. Shaw, B Diane Martin,The joey Zone

Speculative Memoir
Sunday, July 16, 11:00 a.m., Salon A
The two Hav novels by Welsh travel writer Jan Morris, published in a combined volume under the title Hav in 2006, detail the author’s experiences in a city state that does not exist. How do such works achieve the effect they do, and how are they like (but also unlike) the memoir-esque frame stories that we are familiar with, from The Princess Bride to much of 19th century fiction? How can we carry their legacy forward? Who else is writing this way? Is “speculative memoir” a useful characterization, as opposed to “fake history”?
with Henry Wessells (m), Alexander Jablokov, Greer Gilman, Matthew Cheney

Kaffeeklatsch
Sunday, July 16 1:00 p.m., Concierge Lounge

I hope to see you there!

This episode’s conversation is the third coming to you from last month’s Nebula Awards conference in Anaheim, following up on my chats with William Shunn and J. Michael Straczynki. The Nebulas were the first of three events I attended over a six-week period, because Balticon was only two weeks later, and then StokerCon three weeks after that. I have a slightly longer break now, but still, if you’re listening to this episode the same day I uploaded it, Readercon is only two weeks away, and I’m currently in the midst of nailing down the guests I’ll be chatting and chewing with while there in Quincy, Massachusetts.

But enough about the future — this episode’s guest is Jordan Kurella, who was a Nebula Award nominee this year in the category of Best Novella for I Never Liked You Anyway, which was also longlisted for the BSFA award.  His stories have appeared in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Apex, Mermaid Monthly, Glitter + Ashes, Strange Horizons, and many other magazines and anthologies. Some of these were gathered in his short story collection, When I Was Lost, published by Trepidatio in December. In his past lives, he was a photographer, radio DJ, and social worker, and he has also taught at Iowa State University and Rambo Academy.

We discussed which ice cream flavor he chose to celebrate his Nebula Award nomination, the way readers can tell which stories writers had the most fun writing, how  all he needs to pants a story is the first line, what caused him to say “it’s not write what you know, it’s write what you’re embarrassed about,” why he doesn’t like to reread his own published work unless he has to, how to avoid getting stuck in rabbit holes of research, the ways writing a book can be like spending time with your best friends, his rule about story titles, why we’re both so attracted to writing love stories, how playing the violin in public prepared him for surviving rejection, why he published only a single piece of literary fiction before realizing the fantastic was where he belonged, and so much more.

Here’s how you can join us for a vegan lunch at Loving Hut in Anaheim, California — (more…)

This year’s list of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants was announced earlier this week, and all I could think as I scrolled down the names was how the pandemic has curtailed my foreign travels. In previous years, I was able to say I’d dined at as many as eight on such lists, but this year, only two.

But what a wonderful two! You can check out our dinners at Steirereck (#18) and Boragó (#29) via the links below.

1. Central, Lima
2. Disfrutar, Barcelona
3. Diverxo, Madrid
4. Asador Etxebarri, Atxondo, Spain
5. Alchemist, Copenhagen
6. Maido, Lima
7. Lido 84, Gardone Riviera, Italy
8. Atomix, New York City [Highest Climber]
9. Quintonil, Mexico City
10. Table by Bruno Verjus, Paris [Highest New Entry]
11. Trèsind Studio, Dubai
12. A Casa do Porco, Sao Paulo
13. Pujol, Mexico City
14. Odette, Singapore
15. Le Du, Bangkok
16. Reale, Castel di Sangro, Italy
17. Gaggan Anand, Bangkok
18. Steirereck, Vienna
19. Don Julio, Buenos Aires
20. Quique Dacosta, Dénia, Spain
21. Den, Tokyo
22. Elkano, Getaria, Spain
23. Kol, London
24. Septime, Paris
25. Belcanto, Lisbon
26. Schloss Schauenstein, Furstenau, Switzerland
27. Florilège, Tokyo
28. Kjolle, Lima
29. Boragó, Santiago
30. Frantzén, Stockholm
31. Mugaritz, San Sebastian, Spain
32. Hiša Franko, Kobarid, Slovenia
33. El Chato, Bogota
34. Uliassi, Senigallia, Italy
35. Ikoyi, London
36. Plénitude, Paris
37. Sézanne, Tokyo
38. The Clove Club, London
39. The Jane, Antwerp
40. Restaurant Tim Raue, Berlin
41. Le Calandre, Rubano, Italy
42. Piazza Duomo, Alba, Italy
43. Leo, Bogota
44. Le Bernardin, New York City
45. Nobelhart & Schmutzig, Berlin
46. Orfali Bros Bistro, Dubai
47. Mayta, Lima, Peru
48. La Grenouillėre, La Madeleine-Sous-Montreuil, France
49. Rosetta, Mexico City
50. The Chairman, Hong Kong

I hope future years will allow me to once again dine more widely around the world.

Wait, what? It’s Episode 200 of Eating the Fantastic? Really? That number shouldn’t seem so unbelievable, because Eating the Fantastic is, after all, my podcast, and I’ve been responsible for every episode, and yet … it still is. My guest for Episode 200 is J. Michael Straczynski, who took time out of his extremely busy schedule to chat and chew with me just as last month’s Nebula Awards weekend was kicking off.

Straczynski is perhaps best known as the creator of the television series Babylon 5, for which he wrote 92 of the 110 episodes. His roles in TV prior to that include acting as story editor on Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future, executive story editor on the new Twilight Zone, co-producer for Murder, She Wrote, and many others. And after Babylon 5 came its spinoff Crusade, as well as the series Jeremiah and Sense8. He also wrote Amazing Spider-Man from 2001 to 2007, plus extended runs on Thor and the Fantastic Four. In recent years, he’s published the autobiography Becoming Superman (2019), the novel Together We Will Go (2021), and Becoming a Writer, Staying a Writer (2021). He is also the executor for the estate of Harlan Ellison, someone whose name popped up frequently during our conversation.

We discussed his appearance on one of the greatest convention panels I’ve ever been privileged to witness, why Superman stood out above all the other superheroes of his youth, his epiphany which occurred the night before the premiere of Changling at the Cannes Film Festival, the low boredom threshold of Harlan Ellison, how Norman Corwin’s ability to overcome bitterness about the Blacklist helped him deal with his own demons, his realization there was something more important about writing than either plot or characters (and what that something is), the tendency of humans to sleepwalk through our lives and what can shake us free from that, the life-changing nature of the “shoelace moment,” why DC Comics would never have dared publish anything as political as Captain America #1, the reason you don’t ever have to worry about him eating off your plate, the early encouragement he received from Rod Serling, and so much more.

Here’s how you can join us — (more…)

It’s time to head to Anaheim, California to take a seat at the table with William Shunn, the first of five guests I managed to chat and chew with for Eating the Fantastic during last month’s Nebula Awards conference. I first met Bill in 1993 though his words alone, when I bought his short story “Colin and Ishmael in the Dark” for publication in Science Fiction Age magazine. We met in the flesh later that same year at the San Francisco Worldcon, and he’s been part of my life for the past 30 years.

Bill attended the Clarion Science Fiction Writers Workshop in 1985, when he was only 17. (A class which included Mary Turzillo, Geoffrey Landis, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Resa Nelson, and other writers with whom you might be familiar.) In addition to being published in Science Fiction Age, he’s also appeared in Asimov’s, Analog, F&SF, Realms of Fantasy, and other magazines. In 2002, he was nominated for a Nebula in the category of novelette for “Dance of the Yellow-Breasted Luddites,” and a few years later hit the nomination trifecta when he was up for a Nebula, Hugo, and Sturgeon Award for his novella “Inclination,” which had been published in Asimov’s in 2006.

In addition, if you’re a writer, you might be familiar with what’s come to be called the “Shunn format,” a guide to proper manuscript preparation which first appeared online in 1995 and has since become the gold standard for numerous publications. His widely acclaimed memoir, The Accidental Terrorist: Confessions of a Reluctant Missionary, was published in 2015, and in addition to detailing the youthful indiscretion which prevents him from ever returning to Canada, explains how Clarion changed his life and helped him become the writer he is today.

We discussed what he hoped would happen when he arrived at the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing Workshop when he was 17 vs. what actually did happen, how his post-Clarion homelife was haunted by Ray Bradbury, the time Kate Wilhelm critiqued his critiquers, how an early rejection from Playboy got him in big trouble, the way a tragedy scuttled the sale of his memoir to a major publisher, how he and Derryl Murphy collaborated on a novella without killing each other, and so much more.

Here’s how you can join us — (more…)