It’s time to say farewell to this year’s Balticon with the second of two conversations I recorded for you there, the first being last episode’s BBQ lunch with Mark L. Van Name. This time around you’ll eavesdrop as I chat and chew with award-winning writer Somto Ihezue, who at the time of our conversation was both a Nebula and Locus Award finalist for “We Begin Where Infinity Ends,” published last year in Clarkesworld. Ihezue went on to win the Locus Award for that novelette shortly thereafter.

He was also nominated in 2023 for a British Fantasy Award — the Sydney J. Bounds Award for Best Newcomer. His works have appeared or are forthcoming in Tor: Africa Risen Anthology, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Fireside Magazine, Podcastle, Escape Pod, Strange Horizons, Poetry Magazine, Cossmass Infinities, Flash Fiction Online, Nightmare, OnSpec Magazine, Omenana, Africa In Dialogue, Mothersound: The Sauútiverse Anthology, The Year’s Best Anthology of African Speculative Fiction, and others.

He’s also been involved on the other side of the writer/editor equation, as Acquiring Editor at Android Press and Associate Editor for Cast of Wonders.

We discussed why fireflies matter, how the social media algorithm led him to writing workshops, finding the courage required to write his award-winning story, why the literature of the fantastic is his chosen playground, how he brings the geography of his stories to life, the startling fact his first published short story was also the first he ever wrote, the way the Clarion workshop experience made his writing better, the importance of community, the way readers speak about his poetry vs. the way they speak about his prose, how his editing gigs helped make his own rejections less bothersome, plus much more.

Here’s how you can join us at R & R Taqueria — (more…)