{"id":23758,"date":"2017-08-23T13:12:21","date_gmt":"2017-08-23T17:12:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/?p=23758"},"modified":"2017-08-23T13:15:03","modified_gmt":"2017-08-23T17:15:03","slug":"brunch-on-eggs-benedict-with-a-merc-rustad-in-episode-45-of-eating-the-fantastic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/2017\/08\/23\/brunch-on-eggs-benedict-with-a-merc-rustad-in-episode-45-of-eating-the-fantastic\/","title":{"rendered":"Brunch on Eggs Benedict with A. Merc Rustad in Episode 45 of Eating the Fantastic"},"content":{"rendered":"

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. <\/p>\n

There, I brunched with A. Merc Rustad at DiAnoia\u2019s Eatery<\/a>, which in December was voted one of the best new restaurants of 2016 by Pittsburgh<\/em> magazine, and was included in Eater<\/em>‘s list of the city’s hottest new restaurants. And who can resist fried dough filled with nutella?<\/p>\n

A. Merc Rustad has published fiction in Lightspeed<\/em>, Uncanny<\/em>, Shimmer<\/em>, and other magazines, and their short story \u201cHow To Become A Robot In 12 Easy Steps\u201d was included in The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015<\/em>. They were on that weekend’s Nebula ballot in the short story category for \u201cThis Is Not a Wardrobe Door,” which is included in their debut short story collection So You Want to Be a Robot<\/em>, described by Publishers Weekly as \u201cunmissable.\u201d<\/p>\n

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We discussed some terrible writing advice which messed with their head and the way they got over it, how the Redwall<\/em> 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<\/em> was such a major influence both professionally and personally, why they almost destroyed their Nebula-nominated story \u201cThis Is Not a Wardrobe Door,” the secrets to assembling a short story collection, and more.<\/p>\n

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Here\u2019s how you can eavesdrop on us —<\/p>\n

1) Subscribe over at the iTunes store<\/a>, where all 44 previous episodes are still available.<\/p>\n

2) Download the episode to your the device of your choosing via the show’s RSS feed of http:\/\/eatingthefantastic.libsyn.com\/rss<\/a>.<\/p>\n

3) Or listen right here by using the embed below.<\/p>\n