Tales from the Trunk

show notes coming soon!

show notes coming soon

To open pride month this year, we're joined by Jen Karner (@ articulatedream ), whose sapphic debut, Cinders of Yesterday , releases later this month! Jen reads us a delicious excerpt of their book, and we chat about some of her favorite bits, the chaos energy of their drafting process, and why we shouldn't treat her as any kind of example for how publishing usually goes.   Things we mention in th...

This time around, my guest is friend and co-host of the podcast, We Make Books , R. J. Theodore (@ bittybittyzap )! Rekka reads an excerpt from the third book of her Peridot Shift series, Cast Off, which leads us into a great conversation about what can happen when your publisher closes its doors, murderboarding for fun and profit, and the things that we love so dearly about steampunk.   Things we...

This time around, we're joined by my friend, Sarah Loch (@sloch), whose new book, Blue Line , written as Ariel Bishop, just released! After hearing an excerpt from the book, we talk about about fake dating, representation, and self-publishing. Also, Sarah took a moment to tell us about her friend, F. A. Ray's new m/m soccer (football, to our listeners outside of North America) romance, Yellow Card...

This time around, we're joined by Nino Cipri (@ ninocipri ) to talk about their forthcoming Defekt , sequel to the amazing, Hugo-finalist novella , Finna . Nino reads their trunked story, "Presque Vu" (no, not that one, the trunked one), and we talk about their thoughts on composting stories, writing workshops, and why capitalism is bad, actually. Things we mention in this episode: Homesick , by N...

This time around on book tour, we're joined by Steve Toase ( @stevetoase ), whose collection, To Drown in Dark Water , releases on April 27th, 2021! After Steve reads a selection of flash stories from the collection, we talk about cosmic horror, organic servers, and the Munich art scene. Things we mention in the episode: Jordan Kurella's appearance on the show The Best Horror of the Year, volumes...

Hello, and welcome to season 3! This time around, we're joined by Kelly Robson (@ kellyoyo ), whose new collection, Alias Space , comes out April 30th, 2021, from Subterranean Press! Kelly reads her story, "Deadfall," which she wrote as a futurist-in-residence during a conference, and we dive right into talking about what being a futurist is all about.   Things we mentioned in this episode: A. M....

This time on book tour, we're joined by returning guest Karen Osborne (@karenthology) to talk about Engines of Oblivion , the amazing sequel to last year's Architects of Memory , and conclusion of the Memory War duology. Karen reads us an excerpt from the book, and we take some time to talk about some of her favorite bits both that made it into print and that got taken out in edits. Things we ment...

This episode, we are joined by Nebula-nominated author and journalist extraordinaire, Jason Sanford (@ jasonsanford ). Jason reads us his story, "The Wheels on the Torture Bus Go Round and Round," and we discuss progress in the science fiction, fantasy, and horror community, the joys of short fiction, and Jason's Genre Grapevine column on his patreon , where he covers news in the field.   Things d...

This time around, we're re-joined by Sarah Gailey (@gaileyfrey), who brings us an exclusive excerpt from their forthcoming novel, The Echo Wife , which releases on February 16th, 2021. Following the reading, we talk a bit about some not-so-usual book-event questions.   Other things we mention in this episode: The Echo Wife in Entertainment Weekly   in Cosmopolitan   " Look ," the scary eyeball sto...

We're joined this time around by Fran Wilde (@fran_wilde), who reads her story, "How Sentient Kudzu Solved the KRYPTOS K4 Code and How the CIA Covered It Up A Revolution in Four Parts," which leads us into a discussion of invasive plants, poetry, and some unexpected connections from our shared alma mater.   Things we mentioned in this episode: Gritty   Kryptos   Kudzu   Philadelphia World's Fair  ...

Happy new year, everyone! It's been awards season for a hot minute already, but it takes a little while to do a roundup for all my guests who are interested in being a part of it, so here we are! Works mentioned in this episode: When We Were Magic , by Sarah Gailey Upright Women Wanted , by Sarah Gailey “We Don’t Talk About the Dragon,” in The Book of Dragons, by Sarah Gailey “Drones to Plowshares...

This time around, it's my pleasure to welcome Phoebe Barton (@ aphoebebarton | phoebebartonsf.com ) onto the show! Phoebe reads their story, "More Things Than Are Dreamt Of," which leads us into a great conversation about how the submissions game has changed since we got started and what Phoebe's just-released interactive fiction game, The Luminous Underground, taught her new things about writing...

For this month's bonus episode, I'm talking a bit about NaNoWriMo! The transcript for this episode follows: -- Hello, and welcome to Tales from the Trunk: reading the stories that didn’t make it. I’m Hilary B. Bisenieks. Twenty twenty might have been simultaneously the best and worst year to try to do NaNoWriMo. Best because we didn’t have our usual distractions thanks to the pandemic, so we could...

This month, we're honored to be joined by John Wiswell ( @Wiswell ), who reads an excerpt of his story, "Tonight at the Palindrome." After that, we talk about our experiences navigating non-genre bachelors programs as genre writers and why it's so important to be open about our rejections as well as our sales. Things that we mentioned this episode: " Tank! " by John Wiswell Ellen Datlow   Arkady M...

It's been a week, y'all, so here's some comforting content. You can catch me on We Make Books on November 17th. Join us again on November 20th, when my guest will be John Wiswell.

Darling listeners, we're joined this month by Jennifer Mace ( @englishmace) , one of the hosts of Be the Serpent , a podcast of Extremely Deep Literary Merit. Macey reads us a chapter out of the trunked novel that was to be her YA debut, and we talk about murder-boards, Nanowrimo, and some previews of upcoming Serpentcast episodes! Silk & Steel , a queer adventure anthology that Macey co-edited, w...

Hello, and welcome to Spooky Season! We've got a bit of a weird one for you this time around, but I think it came out well. I asked a number of friends of the show if they would contribute to a literary exquisite corpse and got some phenomenal submissions. Thank you so much to John Wiswell, Aimee Kuzenski, Premee Mohamed, Kate Lechler, Laura Blackwell, Merc Fenn Wolfmoor, R. K. Duncan, Dave Ring,...

This month, we're joined by Locus and Bram Stoker Award nominated author, and winner of this year's Ladies in Horror Award, Caitlin Starling (@ see_starling @ authorcstarling )! Caitlin's new novella, Yellow Jessamine , came out on September 5th from Neon Hemlock Press. We're treated to an excerpt of Caitlin's trunked novel, Untitled Faerie Story, which can be affectionately described as "idiots t...

We've got a Q&A for this month's bonus episode! Thank you to Miri, Jo, D. H. Dunn, R. K. Duncan, Nina, Diane, Valerie, Sarah, Dave, and Amanda for submitting questions on such short notice! I promise I'll give everyone more than a couple weeks advance warning before I do another of these! Join us again on September 18th, when Caitlin Starling will be on the show!

We're joined this month by Karen Osborne, who reads us her trunked space lighthouse story "Slingshot Protocol." Afterwards, we talk about the fine art of listening to and then not acting on what your beta readers say and keeping your eyes on your own paper. Karen's debut novel, Architects of Memory, comes out on September 8th from Tor books. Join us again on September 4th for another Shelter in Pl...

Here we are: another month of something like lockdown, another Shelter in Place special. This time around, I'm bringing you another story from my own trunk, all the way from January of 2010.   If you're a US citizen, please make sure that you're registered to vote in this year's general election, which will take place on Tuesday, November 3rd. You can find out how to register to vote in your state...

We're joined on this episode by author and Nebula Award finalist, Merc Fenn Wolfmoor (@ Merc_Wolfmoor ). Merc reads their short horror story, "When Dreams Like Fire Spread," and we talk about horror, portal fantasies, queer representation, and fanfiction. Merc's newest story, " Bring the Bones That Sing ," is now up on Diabolical Plots!   A transcript of the episode, provided by D. H. Dunn , is av...

Friends, somehow it is July of twenty twenty. We’re still sheltering in place, here in Beautiful Oakland, California, and that doesn’t look like it’s going to change anytime soon. I hope that wherever you are in the world, you and your friends and loved ones are safe and well. For this month’s Shelter in Place episode, we’re diving back into my trunk, all the way back to the spring of 2010, a whol...