Fictitious

In this episode I'm talking with  C.M. Waggoner , author of  THE RUTHLESS LADY'S GUIDE TO WIZARDRY . In a fantasy equivalent of Victorian London, fire witch and all-around disaster human Dellaria Wells is in a bit of a jam. Delly's good-for-nothing mum's gone and got hooked on the Drip. Her vindictive landlady has cursed Delly with weeping pustules if she doesn't scrounge up the rent money. And he...

In this episode I'm talking with B.B. Alston , author of AMARI AND THE NIGHT BROTHERS . Amari is a 13-year old girl from the projects, attending a private school on scholarship. Her academic career sits in the shadow of her genius brother, Quinton, who graduated top of his class and fielded Ivy League offers. But after taking a mysterious job offer, Quinton has gone missing. His disappearance hang...

I'm joined in this episode by Joshua Phillip Johnson, author of THE FOREVER SEA. This startlingly unique fantasy novel takes place in a water-scarce world completely covered by endless vegetation, where—instead of oceans—magically powered ships sail seas of miles-tall prairie grass. Kindred Greyreach is a sailor and young apprentice hearthfire keeper, using fire and bone fueled magic to power a ha...

Greta Kelly is the author of the debut fantasy novel, THE FROZEN CROWN . Violently displaced from the wild beauty of her homeland by a ruthless conqueror, the young princess Askia seeks support from a neighboring nation to the south. But in sun-soaked Vishir, where nobles live lavishly while refugees starve, Askia finds herself a blunt object amongst a court of delicate manners and fragile allianc...

In this episode I'm talking with Cass Morris , author of GIVE WAY TO NIGHT , the sequel to the historically-inspired fantasy FROM UNSEEN FIRE .  This series, called the AVEN CYCLE, explores a Roman-esque empire filled with divine and elemental magics, dangerous political machinations, and rising war between cultures and territories. Several years of harsh dictatorship have unbalanced the powerful...

BLACK CANARY: BREAKING SILENCE author Alexandra Monir talks about writing for the DC Icons young adult series, adapting the fan-favorite Black Canary and Court of Owls in a prose novel, and how she got the job of writing a major media tie-in.   This DC Icons young adult novel reimagines the fan-favorite DC comics superhero Dinah Lance as a teenager living in a near-future dystopian Gotham City.  ...

WE HEAR VOICES author Evie Green talks about creating her new horror / science fiction novel. We discuss her leap into horror after writing many thriller and YA books, juggling complicated thematic elements, and why readers love the "creepy kids" trope. In near-future England, the economy is collapsing, humanity makes plans to leave earth for other worlds, and a deadly pandemic steals the lives of...

MONSTRE VOL. ONE author Duncan Swan talks about launching his debut sci-fi/horror thriller via a successful Kickstarter campaign, the decision to split the long dual-narrative novel into two volumes, and writing for multimedia adaptability. In this genre-blending action adventure, a catastrophic event at a research installation unleashes a slowly advancing worldwide apocalypse. A squad of marines...

Essa Hansen is the author of NOPHEK GLOSS . This debut science fiction adventure follows Caiden, a teenage mechanic who discovers his simple but highly regimented life is actually one of servitude on a hidden slave planet.   When his entire colony is sent to slaughter, Caiden alone survives, fleeing the vicious creatures who devoured his people. After taking refuge in a strange, abandoned vessel,...

I'm pleased to welcome author Alix E. Harrow back to the show. Alix's debut fantasy novel, THE TEN THOUSAND DOORS OF JANUARY , got nominated for—like—all the major awards, was on all of the best-of lists, and was basically a "whole thing". Her new novel, THE ONCE AND FUTURE WITCHES , follows three estranged sisters as their lives uncomfortably re-entwine in late 1800's New Salem. A patriarchal soc...

In this episode, I'm pleased to be joined again by author Leigh Bardugo . She's well known for her expansive Grishaverse series of young adult fantasy novels, including the original Shadow & Bone trilogy, the Six of Crows duology, and the King of Scars duology. Outside of the Grishaverse, she has also released an official Wonder Woman novel, and the supernatural thriller Ninth House . Today we'll...

In this episode, I'm joined by Ryan Van Loan, author of THE SIN IN THE STEEL. This debut Fantasy adventure sets a Sherlockian teenage street rat investigator and her troubled ex-soldier partner against political intrigue and violent piracy. In a world where pistoles and steel compete with mad mages and vengeful gods, Buc and Eld are sent to solve a tangled mystery that threatens to destabilize tra...

I'm joined in this episode by Andrea Stewart , author of THE BONE SHARD DAUGHTER . This outstanding Fantasy debut novel features seafaring adventures, a unique and cruel magic system, an ambitious Emperor's daughter with holes in her memory, a wanted smuggler chasing a specter from his past, magic animal companions, creepy mystical constructs, and so much more. THE BONE SHARD DAUGHTER arrived in s...

I'm joined in this episode by  Richard Kadrey , author of the long-running urban fantasy series,  SANDMAN SLIM . These novels follow the paranormal misadventures of James Stark, a hard-to-kill, half-human magician who spent 11 years stuck in Hell as an arena gladiator and pet hitman for his demon masters. After carving a bloody path back to earth, Stark re-emerges in Los Angeles, hellbent on killi...

Peng Shepherd is the author of THE BOOK OF M . This debut speculative fiction novel examines a near future world, fallen to an inexplicable epidemic called The Forgetting. All around the world, people have lost their shadows, and soon after, their memories incurably erode as well. Society has collapsed as the Shadowless spread, and their Forgetting warps aspects of reality in alarming and unexplai...

In this episode, I'm excited to welcome Martha Wells, author of THE MURDERBOT DIARIES . This award-winning science fiction series features the introverted, cynical, and frequently hilarious security robot that thinks privately of itself as MurderBot. It's a half-machine, half-organic construct, corporate owned and rented out to space-exploring organizations.   There're plenty of SecUnit's just lik...

Emily B. Martin is the author of SUNSHIELD (HarperVoyager, available now), an adventurous eco-fantasy that weaves together the lives of a desert outlaw, a young ambassador, and a political prisoner.    Known as the Sunshield Bandit, a former slave named Lark roams desolate canyons, attacking the wagons of human traffickers, and taking from the rich to feed her team and their rescued captives.   Tr...

In this episode by debut author Alina Boyden . Her new historically-inspired Fantasy novel is STEALING THUNDER , available May 12th from ACE Books.    It follows Razia, a sought-after dancer and courtesan with a wealthy and powerful clientele. She is also a thief, stealing from clients in cooperation with her found family of hijras.   But though her late night thievery poses constant danger, her g...

Menna van Praag is the author of THE SISTERS GRIMM (available now from HarperVoyager Books). It's a dark and evocative tale of four seemingly unrelated young women united by a surreal, supernatural origin. Goldie, Liyanna, Scarlet, and Bea are all on the cusp of 18, each burdened by complicated family relationships, and all filled with a deep sense of longing for something they can't quite remembe...

This episode features my first return guest — Dan Stout! His new novel, TITAN'S DAY (DAW Books) is the sequel to one of my favorite books of 2019, TITANSHADE. TITAN'S DAY returns us to the city of Titanshade, our police investigator protagonist Carter, and his two-mouthed, mandibled partner, Ajax. Their discoveries in the first novel have changed the fate and fortunes of their dirty, cold and crim...

Tricia Levenseller is the author of THE SHADOWS BETWEEN US (available now from Feiwel & Friends). It's a young adult fantasy novel that's been quite accurately described as a "Slytherin romance". It follows the charming and cunning Alessandra, the second daughter of mid-level nobility, for years left to pursue her own lusts and liaisons while her favored older sister awaited a suitor. Now of age a...

K.B. Wagers is the author of A PALE LIGHT IN THE BLACK (HarperVoyager). It's a good vibes military space opera that follows the Near Earth Orbital Guard, essentially a spacefaring Coast Guard protecting humanity within our solar system. The Neo-G crew of the Interceptor ship Zuma's Ghost prepares for the annual Boarding Games — a multi-military competition which carries huge prestige, bragging rig...

Season 5 of Fictitious kicks off with Brian Keene , one of the writers on the new Serial Box and Marvel production, THOR: METAL GODS . Brian has authored more than 50 horror, crime, and fantasy novels, and written for DC and Marvel Comics properties and other media tie-ins, including Doctor Who and The X-Files . Now, as part of the Serial Box team, he is co-writing a prose and audio drama space ad...

K. Eason is the author of HOW RORY THORNE DESTROYED THE MULTIVERSE — out now from DAW Books. This charming and subversive fantasy-meets-space opera tale follows a young princess who is uprooted from her planet, and her throne, sent off-world to be a pawn for intergalactic politics. But Rory Thorne is no run-of-the-mill fantasy princess, and is definitely no pawn. Rory must use all of her wits, gif...

This episode focuses on National Novel Writing Month – NaNoWriMo – in November 2019. Host Adron Buske shares his own experiences participating in NaNo and his plans for this year's project. The episode also includes a rebroadcast discussion with Grant Faulkner, the executive director of the NaNoWriMo non-profit organization.