{"id":24727,"date":"2018-03-09T08:44:33","date_gmt":"2018-03-09T13:44:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/?p=24727"},"modified":"2018-03-09T08:44:33","modified_gmt":"2018-03-09T13:44:33","slug":"polish-off-a-persian-dinner-with-david-mack-in-episode-61-of-eating-the-fantastic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/2018\/03\/09\/polish-off-a-persian-dinner-with-david-mack-in-episode-61-of-eating-the-fantastic\/","title":{"rendered":"Polish off a Persian dinner with David Mack in Episode 61 of Eating the Fantastic"},"content":{"rendered":"

David Mack<\/a> and I have known each other for nearly two decades, ever since I started working with him at the Syfy Channel (though back then it was the SCI FI Channel). But since he worked in the Rockefeller Center office and I was a remote employee, we never got to have the lunches two coworkers would usually have had, so I’m glad we were able to have a long, leisurely meal together recently when he was in the Baltimore area attending the annual Farpoint<\/a> convention. <\/p>\n

David’s written more than 30 novels, including the Star Trek Destiny<\/em> and Cold Equations<\/em> trilogies. He was also responsible for several episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine<\/em>. His newest novel is The Midnight Front<\/em>, a World War II-era epic fantasy which is the first book in the Dark Arts series of secret-history novels.<\/p>\n

The venue for our dinner was Orchard Market and Cafe<\/a>, a wonderful Persian restaurant recommended by recent guest of the show Norman Prentiss<\/a>. Norman had told me that the Chicken Fesenjune was one of his favorite things in the whole world, and now that I’ve been there, I can can tell you—he had good reason to say that. Believe me, the food there was wonderful, and I’ll be going back whenever I can.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

David and I discussed the weird ways his life entwined with the famed comic book artist who shares his name, how worrying about the details of Star Trek<\/em> canon helped him when it came time to unravel the secret history of WWII, the way a near-death experience led to him working for the Syfy Channel, why it was so important for necromancers to pay a heavy price for the magic they choose to wield in his new novel The Midnight Front<\/em>, how not<\/em> making a pitch to a book editor resulted in him selling TV scripts to Star Trek<\/em>, his unabashed love for the Beat author Richard Brautigan, the reason that after 27 Trek<\/em> novels and a ton of other tie-in work he’s chosen to publish his non-franchise breakout book now<\/em>, and much more.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how you can share some beef tongue with us—<\/p>\n

1) Subscribe over at the iTunes store<\/a>, where you’ll also find the show’s 60 previous episodes.<\/p>\n

2) Use the RSS feed of http:\/\/eatingthefantastic.libsyn.com\/rss<\/a> and download the episode to any device of your choosing.<\/p>\n

3) Or check out the show right here right now via the embed below.<\/p>\n