The second episode of Eating the Fantastic recorded while on a meal break from this year’s Readercon—which occurred the day after my dinner with James Patrick Kelly—was with award-winning science fiction writer John Kessel. We had lunch by the water on a warm sunny day at Bay Pointe Waterfront Restaurant in Quincy, Massachusetts.

Kessel’s latest novel, The Moon and The Other, was released in April from Saga Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. He’s a two-time Nebula Award winner, first in 1982 for his novella “Another Orphan,” then in 2008 for the novelette “Pride and Prometheus.” He set a new record with that second award, in that the 26 years between the two was (at the time) the longest gap for a winner in Nebula history. His short story “Buffalo”—one of my all-time favorites in or out of genre, and one which I reread often—won the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award in 1992.

We discussed why he suddenly has two novels coming out within a year two decades after his last one, how attending the 1969 St. Louis Worldcon changed his life, the ways in which his objections to “The Cold Equations” and Ender’s Game are at their heart the same, his early days attempting to emulate Thomas M. Disch, the time-travel short story he couldn’t whip into shape for Damon Knight, which author broke his 26-year Nebula Awards record for the longest gap between wins, the secret behind the success of his many collaborations with James Patrick Kelly, and more.

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During last year’s Readercon, I recorded four episodes of Eating the Fantastic—one-on-ones with Resa Nelson, Jeffrey Ford, and F. Brett Cox, plus the extremely popular Donut Spectacular, which featured 12 donuts and 15 guests in a beautifully anarchic lightning-round episode. This year, however, I’d only planned to record two—which was a good thing, because hardware malfunctions ended my attempt to record with John Kessel just as we began, sending me scrambling around Massachusetts in search of replacement equipment.

I was able to locate a new H4n Zoom digital recorder in time for dinner with this episode’s guest, James Patrick Kelly, and my Friday breakfast with John was rescheduled to come off as a Saturday dinner instead, so all’s well that ends well, but still … I could have done without that kind of heart-stopping terror.

When I’d asked Jim which kind of cuisine he’d prefer for our chat—because as you may have noticed, I do try to keep my guests happy, the better to loosen their tongues for you—he admitted to a weakness for Fettuccine Carbonara. That led us to Quincy’s Gennaro’s Eatery, which didn’t have Fettuccine Carbonara on the menu, but as the place served both Tortellini Carbonara and Fettuccine Alfredo, that seemed close enough.

James Patrick Kelly is a Hugo and Nebula Award-winning writer who recently published a career short story retrospective as part of the Centipede Press Masters of Science Fiction series. And had I not been turned down by the Clarion Science Fiction Writers Workshop in 1974, I might have shared a dorm room with him! (But don’t worry. I was accepted in 1979.)

We discussed the reason he needed to attend the Clarion Science Fiction Workshop twice—and why the rules were then changed so no one could do it again, the suggestion Kate Wilhelm made that saved one of his short stories, why his reaction to comics as a kid was “Marvel, yes, DC, feh,” how the science fiction field survived the Cyberpunk/Humanist wars of the ‘80s, why he takes an expansive view of fanfic, how Cory Doctorow inspired him to enter the world of podcasting early, what allows him and frequent collaborator John Kessel to work together so well, his advice for how writing 10 endings to a story in progress will help writers find the right ending, and more.

Here’s how you can join us for the feast— (more…)

I returned home yesterday from my trip to Helsinki, where I attended the 75th World Science Fiction Convention, but news of what I did there and with whom will have to wait, for today is all about the Nebula Awards weekend which took place in Pittsburgh earlier this year.

There, I brunched with A. Merc Rustad at DiAnoia’s Eatery, which in December was voted one of the best new restaurants of 2016 by Pittsburgh magazine, and was included in Eater‘s list of the city’s hottest new restaurants. And who can resist fried dough filled with nutella?

A. Merc Rustad has published fiction in Lightspeed, Uncanny, Shimmer, and other magazines, and their short story “How To Become A Robot In 12 Easy Steps” was included in The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015. They were on that weekend’s Nebula ballot in the short story category for “This Is Not a Wardrobe Door,” which is included in their debut short story collection So You Want to Be a Robot, described by Publishers Weekly as “unmissable.”

We discussed some terrible writing advice which messed with their head and the way they got over it, how the Redwall series by Brian Jacques turned them from a reader to a writer, why some fan fiction doesn’t get the fan fiction label while other fan fiction does, the reason the animated television series Beast Wars: Transformers was such a major influence both professionally and personally, why they almost destroyed their Nebula-nominated story “This Is Not a Wardrobe Door,” the secrets to assembling a short story collection, and more.

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The fact the Nebula Awards were handed out in Pittsburgh earlier this year meant I was finally able to visit a restaurant I’d been wanting to check out for years. Which was excellent timing, because as it turned out, I got there only a week and a half before it closed.

Conflict Kitchen was based on a fascinating concept—only serve, on a rotating basis, the cuisines of countries with which the U.S. has been in conflict—such as Cuba, North Korea, Iran, and Afghanistan, for example. Unfortunately, after seven years, Carnegie Mellon University decided it would no longer provide administrative support, and so Conflict Kitchen was forced to close its Schenley Plaza restaurant location, perhaps only temporarily, but maybe for good. Luckily, though, not before my guest and I were able to get there for an al fresco Palestinian meal.

Brooke Bolander was on Nebula ballot that weekend in the short story category for “Our Talons Can Crush Galaxies,” and is also on the current Hugo Awards ballot for that same story, one of the most talked-about tales of 2016. Her fiction, which has appeared in Lightspeed, Strange Horizons, Nightmare, Uncanny, and other venues, has been honored by nominations for the Locus and the Theodore Sturgeon awards as well. The Only Harmless Great Thing will be published by Tor in 2018.

We discussed how she ended up as a writer rather than a paleontologist, why the videogame Ecco the Dolphin terrified her but taught her to love science fiction, her early days writing fan fiction, how anger over the electrocution of Topsy the elephant and the deaths of the “radium girls” inspired her newest novella, why she avoids rereading her own writing, what broke the writers block that had gripped her for several years, and more.

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On the final day of the second annual StokerCon—which took place in Long Beach, California aboard the now permanently docked Queen Mary—I disembarked with one of the Guests of Honor to record the fifth and final Eating the Fantastic episode of the weekend. We headed to Thai District, which serves dishes from Northern Thailand, as opposed to most of the other Thai restaurants in the area which tend to focus on that country’s central region.

I’ve known this episode’s guest in the flesh for decades, and on the page for even longer, going back to my earliest days in comics fandom. George R. R. Martin is a multifaceted talent, with a list of credits so vast, many might only be aware of a fraction of them.

Some of might know him from the superhero short stories such as “Manta Ray Meets the Executioner” he was publishing in the ’60s in one of the greatest fanzines of all time, Star Studded Comics (which is where, as a young teen, I first encountered him), or as the creator and editor of the long-running Wild Cards series of mosaic, multi-author novels, some may know him better from such award-winning short fiction as “Sandkings” and “The Pear-Shaped Man,” or novels like Fevre Dream and The Armageddon Rag, while still others might know him best from his TV work … like … you know … The Twilight Zone and Beauty and the Beast—and don’t forget Max Headroom!

We discussed why he was annoyed Marvel Comics printed his letters but DC never did, the reason Gardner Dozois was responsible for his first science fiction short story sale, how the rock ‘n’ roll novel Armageddon Rag got him a job on the rebooted Twilight Zone, what he learned from the arc of Stephen R. Donaldson’s career, how losing the John W. Campbell Memorial Award got him his first editing gig, why he almost became a realtor, the time Harlan Ellison convinced him to apply to be the editor of Analog, and more. PLUS: Hear a snippet from an interview I did back in 1993 in which he makes an amusing admission about “a fantasy novel I’ve been working on off and on for awhile.”

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On the final day of StokerCon 2017, I woke ridiculously early for a breakfast recording of Eating the Fantastic at Roscoe’s House of Chicken & Waffles—to the great skepticism of almost everyone I’d told at the con, who doubted those two foodstuffs were meant to be ingested simultaneously.

Luckily, my guest this episode was not a skeptic, and enthusiastically accompanied me for the greasy goodness. Five-time Bram Stoker Award winning-writer Nancy Holder had been the Toastmaster during the previous night’s ceremony, is the author of the young adult horror series Possessions, and has written many tie-in works set in such universes as Teen Wolf, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Smallville, and Wonder Woman.

We discussed her somewhat secret origin as a romance novelist, why her first horror convention made her burst into tears, how she got off on the wrong foot with acclaimed editor Charles L. Grant, what caused her Edgar Allan Poe obsession to begin, why she was a fan of DC Comics instead of Marvel as a kid, what Ed Bryant might have meant when he called her “the first splatterpunk to chew with her mouth closed,” and more.

Here’s how you can take a bite out of that chicken and waffles, too— (more…)

Some of my favorite moments from last year’s inaugural StokerCon were those spent talking late into the night with William F. Nolan and Dennis Etchison. So when this year’s StokerCon rolled around, I knew I had to capture them both for Eating the Fantastic. You’ve already heard me chat with Bill over Thai food aboard the Queen Mary back in Episode 38 (at least I hope you have). Now it’s time to for you to eavesdrop as Dennis and I dig into a couple of classic dishes at Long Beach’s Chen’s Chinese Restaurant.

Dennis is a writer and editor who’s a three-time World Fantasy Award winner and a three-time British Fantasy Award winner. His 1982 debut short story collection, The Dark Country, is one of the best horror short story collections ever. And you don’t have to take my word for how good he is—some guy named Stephen King has called him “one hell of a fiction writer.”

We discussed how Philip K. Dick staged scenes as he wrote his stories, Ray Bradbury’s baffling advice which helped Etchison make his first fiction sale, whether he’d still have become a writer had he not been an only child, why most writing workshops don’t work, how he came to write his best-selling Halloween novel for John Carpenter in six weeks, the speech he really wanted to give when he received his Lifetime Achievement Award from the Horror Writers Association, and more.

Here’s how you can dig into dumplings with us— (more…)

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…)

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…)