{"id":39073,"date":"2026-06-26T10:07:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T14:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/?p=39073"},"modified":"2026-06-26T10:07:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T14:07:14","slug":"mark-l-van-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/2026\/06\/26\/mark-l-van-name\/","title":{"rendered":"Binge on brisket with Mark L. Van Name on Episode 285 of Eating the Fantastic"},"content":{"rendered":"

I captured two fascinating Eating the Fantastic conversations for you during last month’s Balticon. I wish I could have squeezed in a third, but planning for and hosting the podcast’s 10th anniversary party there — where I served up 26 dozen donuts in the con suite — exhausted some of my spoons. <\/p>\n

First up, my lunch with award-winning writer Mark L. Van Name, recorded on the con’s opening day several hours before programming began. Balticon was the perfect place to break bread with Van Name, because 18 years earlier there, he won the Compton Crook Award for Best First Novel for his 2007 book One Jump Ahead<\/em>.\u00a0That was the first of his Baen Books about Jon and Lobo, which include Slanted Jack<\/em> (2008), Overthrowing Heaven<\/em> (2009), Children No More<\/em> (2010), and No Going Back<\/em> (2012). His short fiction has been published in magazines and anthologies such as Asimov\u2019s Science Fiction<\/em>, When the Music\u2019s Over<\/em>, Full Spectrum 3<\/em>, Crossroads: Tales of the Southern Literary Fantastic<\/em>, and many more.<\/p>\n

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

Van Name is more than his many short stories and novels, for he was also the cofounder of the Sycamore Hill Writer’s Workshop with previous guest of the podcast John Kessel<\/a>, as well as the editor of the critical magazine of short fiction, Short Form<\/em>.<\/p>\n

We discussed his first short story sale to a 1979 Clarion classmate of mine, why it sometimes takes him decades before he feels a story’s ready to send out, the reason he still has a massive comic book collection (and why I don’t), the comic book which helped save his life, the reason he doesn’t require advances on his novels, his mixed feelings about writing workshops, the 17 minutes Harlan Ellison spent savaging one of his stories, why you have to let go of caring what readers make of your writing, how his John and Lobo series was born, the way he balanced a demanding day job with the writing life, plus much more.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how you can join us at Heritage Smokehouse<\/a> — <\/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 sample a few of the 284 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