{"id":34569,"date":"2023-11-17T08:51:47","date_gmt":"2023-11-17T13:51:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/?p=34569"},"modified":"2023-11-17T08:51:47","modified_gmt":"2023-11-17T13:51:47","slug":"alex-shvartsman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/2023\/11\/17\/alex-shvartsman\/","title":{"rendered":"Polish off a Peruvian lunch with Alex Shvartsman in Episode 212 of Eating the Fantastic"},"content":{"rendered":"

This episode serves up the first of two conversations I captured last month during Capclave in Rockville, Maryland. My guest this time around is Capclave regular Alex Shvartsman<\/a>, with whom I’ve pontificated on many panels over the years.<\/p>\n

Shvartsman is the author of the new fantasy novel Kakistocracy<\/em>, as well as The Middling Affliction<\/em> (2022), and Eridani\u2019s Crown<\/em> (2019). More than 120 of his short stories have appeared in Analog<\/em>, Nature<\/em>, Strange Horizons<\/em>, Fireside<\/em>, Weird Tales<\/em>, Galaxy\u2019s Edge<\/em>, and many other venues. He won the WSFA Small Press Award for Short Fiction in 2014 and was a three-time finalist for the Canopus Award for Excellence in Interstellar Fiction. His translations from Russian have appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction<\/em>, Clarkesworld<\/em>, Tor.com<\/em>, Asimov\u2019s<\/em>, Analog<\/em>, Strange Horizons<\/em>, and elsewhere.<\/p>\n

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

He\u2019s also the editor of the Unidentified Funny Objects<\/em> series of humorous SF\/F, as well as a variety of other anthologies, including The Cackle of Cthulhu<\/em>, Humanity 2.0<\/em>, and Funny Science Fiction<\/em>. For five years he edited Future Science Fiction Digest<\/em>, a magazine that focused on international fiction. And on top of all that, he’s one of the greatest Magic: The Gathering<\/em> players ever, ranking way up there in tournaments from 1998-2004, something I hadn’t known about him even though I’ve known him for years.<\/p>\n

We discussed how intimations of mortality got him to start writing fiction, what he learned as a pro player of Magic: the Gathering<\/em> which affected his storytelling, why he set aside his initial urge to write novels in favor of short stories, which U.S. science fiction writers are more famous in Russia than their home country, the reason his success as a writer and editor of humor came as a surprise, why he feels it’s important to read cover letters, the secret to writing successful flash fiction, his “lighthouse” method of plotting, and much more.<\/p>\n

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Here\u2019s how you can join us at La Canela<\/a>, a Peruvian restaurant which has long been popular with Capclave attendees — <\/p>\n

1) Subscribe at Apple Podcasts<\/a> — or wherever<\/a> you choose to consume your podcasts — where I hope you’ll be tempted to download a few of the 211 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