{"id":28729,"date":"2022-06-10T08:34:42","date_gmt":"2022-06-10T12:34:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/?p=28729"},"modified":"2022-06-10T08:46:00","modified_gmt":"2022-06-10T12:46:00","slug":"wen-spencer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/2022\/06\/10\/wen-spencer\/","title":{"rendered":"Share sushi with the award-winning writer Wen Spencer in Episode 173 of Eating the Fantastic"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was thrilled to be back at an in-person Balticon<\/a> last month, the first since 2019. And though the con’s now over, here at Eating the Fantastic, it continues, at least for the next three episodes. I hope you’ll join me as I chat and chew with three writers who were gracious enough to join me at the table during Balticon, the first of which was Wen Spencer<\/a>, one of this year’s Special Guests.<\/p>\n

Wen Spencer is the author of\u00a0more than a dozen science fiction and fantasy novels and is perhaps most known for\u00a0her Elfhome series, which began with Tinker<\/em> (2003), winner of the Sapphire Award.\u00a0 \u00a0She\u2019s the 2003 winner of what was then known as the John W Campbell Award — now the Astounding Award — for Best New Writer — plus the\u00a02002 winner of the Compton Crook Award for her novel Alien Taste<\/em>, the first book in\u00a0her Ukiah Oregon saga. The books which followed in that series are Tainted Trail<\/em>\u00a0(2002), Bitter Waters<\/em> (2003), and Dog Warrior<\/em> (2004). Her standalone novels include\u00a0A Brother\u2019s Price<\/em> (2005), Endless Blue<\/em> (2007), Eight Million Gods<\/em> (2013), and The\u00a0Black Wolves of Boston<\/em> (2017). Her short fiction has appeared in such magazines and\u00a0anthologies as Transhuman<\/em>, World Breakers<\/em>, Turn the Other Chick<\/em>, and Chicks and\u00a0Balances<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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We discussed her origins as a writer of Pern<\/em> fanfic, the similar faux pas we each made during our early days in fandom, how a friend inspired her professional career by lending her a stack of poorly written books, the dream which gave birth to her Compton Crook Award-winning first novel Alien Taste<\/em>, the true reason the novel is her fiction form of choice, the impossibility of ever making something perfect, what her agent really means when he says “well, you could<\/em> do that,” why it’s so important to be able to write more than one type of book, whether she knows how her series will end, and much more.<\/p>\n

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

1) Subscribe at Apple Podcasts<\/a> — where I hope you’ll be tempted to sample a few of the 172 previous episodes.<\/p>\n

2) Listen via the RSS feed of http:\/\/eatingthefantastic.libsyn.com\/rss<\/a> on the device of your choice.<\/p>\n

3) Or simply use the embed below.<\/p>\n