Eating the Fantastic

Join Linda Addison for lunch at Yardbird in Las Vegas as we talk of how someone who earned a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics transformed into a  four-time Bram Stoker Award winning writer, the way a chance encounter with Grand Master Frederik Pohl during a New York is Book Country Festival helped her nail her first sale to Asimov's , why this acclaimed horror poet has now  decided to go from mi...

Nebula Award-winning writer Mary Turzillo joins me at Lotus of Siam in Las Vegas to talk about whether there's a Venn Diagram overlap between her horror and science fiction readership, how her Cajun Sushi Hamsters from Hell writers workshop got its name, why she won't be self-publishing her unpublished novels, what Gene Wolfe taught her about revising her fiction, and much more.

Join Maria Alexander at old-timey ice cream parlor Serendipity 3 in Las Vegas as we discuss Mr. Wicker's transformation from a short story to a screenplay to a Stoker Award-winning novel, how she convinced Clive Barker to be her mentor, what's wrong with most of the swordswomen we see on book covers and TV, and much more.

Chow down with Lynne Hansen and Jeff Strand at the Carnegie Deli for a chat about how the horror supercouple came together after the 1995 World Horror Convention,  why she's moved on from novels to movies while he's gone in exactly the opposite direction, what writers must keep in mind when creating YA horror, how she's turning one of his novellas into a  full-length movie titled Cold Dead Hands ,...

Time travel back to 2001 for lunch with science fiction Grand Master Samuel R. Delany at Bistro Bis in Washington, D.C.'s Hotel George as we discuss the 25th anniversary edition of his magnum opus Dhalgren,  the "sheer madness" of trying to write such a book in the first place, the state of the science fiction field during the mid-'70s, the joys he receives from teaching, and much more.

Andy Duncan joins me in the Truman booth at Frostburg's Princess Restaurant, where we discuss the profound influence of Richard Pryor on his writing, why he loves playing with real-world historical characters and events in his stories, what it was like to collaborate with Ellen Klages on their award-winning novella "Wakulla Springs," what, if anything, writing teachers can teach, and much more.

Join Carolyn Ives Gilman at Range in Friendship Heights, Maryland as we discuss what's kept her coming back to The Twenty Planets universe for a quarter of a century, how her first science fiction convention was "total sensory overload," what it was like working with David Hartwell as an editor, why she's not visible on social media, and more.

Sit down for dinner with writer Tom Doyle at Washington D.C.'s Ethiopic Ethiopian restaurant as we discuss how what was was originally pitched as a standalone novel turned into a surprise trilogy, his fascination with apocalyptic fiction, what effect the Clarion workshop had on his growth as a writer, and much more.

Join writer, editor, and publisher Bill Campbell at The Jerk Pit in College Park, Maryland for a discussion of the genius of Samuel R. Delany, how Rosarium's first book Mothership: Tales from Afrofuturism and Beyond gave birth to a new publishing company, the challenges of crowd funding creative projects, why he was once blacklisted at convention, and much, much more. 

Join science fiction writer Bud Sparhawk -- a three-time Nebula finalist and Analog magazine regular -- for lunch with host Scott Edelman at Washington, D.C.'s Cafe Mozart in the second episode as they chat about how Harlan Ellison’s Dangerous Visions anthology inspired him to become a writer, what it was like to write for three different Analog editors over four decades, the plotters vs. pantsers...

Eavesdrop on host Scott Edelman and writer/musician Sarah Pinsker over lunch at Baltimore's Family Meal on the premiere episode of Eating the Fantastic as they discuss her award-winning fiction, how story titles come to be, the differences (and similarities) between writing and performing, the continuing influence of Alice Sheldon (aka James Tiptree, Jr.) and much, much more.