StarShipSofa

Week 2 of Hugo NomineesThis story is nominated for Best NoveletteMain Fiction: "Folding Beijing” by Hao Jingfang, translated by Ken LiuOriginally appeared in Uncanny MagazineIn 2002, Hao Jingfang was awarded First Prize in the New Concept Writing Competition. She gained her undergraduate degree from Tsinghua University’s Department of Physics and her PhD from the same university in Economics and M...

Week 1 of Hugo NomineesThis story is nominated for Best NoveletteMain Fiction: "And You Shall Know Her By The Trail of Dead" by Brooke BolanderOriginally appeared in Lightspeed, Issue #57. Audio produced by Skyboat Media. Brooke Bolander is a chaos-sowing trickster of indeterminate employment, half-tornado, half-writer. Originally from the deepest, darkest, swampiest regions of the southern US, sh...

Week 4 of Translations Special Month! This story was originally written in Japanese and has been translated into English. Main Fiction: "Violation of the TrueNet Security Act" by Taiyo Fuji, translated by Jim Hubbert. Originally published in Lightspeed, Issue #62. Audio produced by Sky Boat Media. Taiyo Fujii was born in Amami Oshima Island—that is, between Kyushu and Okinawa. He has worked in sta...

Week 3 of Translations Special Month! This story was originally written in Russian and has been translated into English. Main Fiction: "White Curtain" by Pavel Amnuel, translated by Anatoly Belilovsky. Originally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, reprinted in The Year's Best SF 32, edited by Gardner DoziosPavel Amnuel was born in 1944 in Baku (Azerbaijan, former USSR.) He is...

Week 2 of Translations Special Month! Download Mp3 File Here! This story was originally written in French and has been translated into English. Main Fiction: "Sense of Wonder 2.0" by Laurent Queyssi‏, translated by Edward GauvinOriginally published in The New Accelerator Issue #2.Based in Bordeaux, France, Laurent Queyssi is the author of six novels for young and adult readers, most recently Allis...

Week 1 of Translations Special Month! This story was originally written in Chinese and has been translated into English. Main Fiction: "The Smog Society" by Chen Qiufan, translated by Ken Liu and Carmen Yiling Yan. Originally published in Lightspeed Magazine, Issue #63, reprinted in Loosed Upon The World, edited by John Joseph Adams. Audio produced by Sky Boat MediaChen Qiufan (A.K.A. Stanley Chan...

Main Fiction: “Brazen Dreams” by Matthew WardOriginally published in Grimdark Magazine Issue #4When the young Matthew Ward wasn’t reading of strange worlds in the works of C S Lewis, Tolkien and Douglas Hill, he was watching adventure and mystery in Doctor Who, and Richard Carpenter’s excellent Robin of Sherwood series. In 2002, he joined Games Workshop and spent the next decade developing charact...

Interview: Mark Mann – Hassan and the BeamMain Fiction: “Signs Following” by Erica L. SatifkaOriginally published in IdeomancerErica L. Satifka’s fiction has appeared in Clarkesworld, Shimmer, and various other places. Her debut novel Stay Crazy will be released by Apex Publications in August 2016. She lives in Portland, Oregon, with her spouse Rob and three needy cats. Visit her online at ericasa...

Main Fiction: “The Rings of Mars” by William Ledbetter Fact: Science News by J J Campanella Originally published in Writers of the Future Volume 28. William Ledbetter is a writer with more than forty speculative fiction stories and non-fiction articles published in markets such as Fantasy & Science Fiction, Jim Baen’s Universe, Writers of the Future, Escape Pod, Ad Astra and Baen.com. He’s been a...

  Main Fiction: “The Wizard of the Trees” by Joe R. Lansdale Looking Back at Genre History by Amy H Sturgis Originally published in Old Venus, edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois Champion mojo storyteller Joe R. Lansdale   is the author of more than forty novels and numerous short stories. His work has appeared in national anthologies, magazines, and collections, as well as numerous f...

Interview: Brooke Borel –  THE TRICKY ETHICS OF LIVING LONGER website: http://brookeborel.com/ Twitter: @brookeborel Infested website: http://infestedbook.com/ Main Fiction: “Underwater Restoration” by Jeffrey A. Ballard Originally published in Orson Scott Card’s Intergalatic Medicine Show Jeffrey A. Ballard is a nomadic Yankee that currently lives in the Texas Hill Country. A long time   fascinat...

The Museum of Science Fiction in Washington DC will be hosting a three day event  known as Escape Velocity which is  Part Comic Con and Part Science Fiction Festival.   20% discount on admission to all StarShipSofa listeners  if they use the promo code SOFA20. Details about the event are below and at www. EscapeVelocity.events   Main Fiction: “Skins” by Rjurik Davidson Originally published in Cosm...

Fact: Science News by J J Campanella Main Fiction: “Blood Drive” by Jeffrey Ford Originally published in After: Nineteen Stories of Apocalypse and Dystopia , edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling. Jeffrey Ford is the author of the novels, Vanitas, The Physiognomy, Memoranda, The Beyond, The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque, The Girl in the Glass, The Cosmology of the Wider World, and The Shadow Year...

Fact: Looking Back At Genre History by Amy H. Sturgis Part 2 of 2 Star Trek and Arthurian Legend Interview: Geoffrey A Landis –  What Really Happens When You Get Blown Out of an Airlock Main Fiction: “A Shout is a Prayer / For the Waiting Centuries” by T. R. Napper Originally published in Interzone #258 T R Napper’s short fiction has appeared in Asimov’s, Interzone (several issues), Grimdark Magaz...

Interview: Steve Humble – We really can build a time travelling machine! Main Fiction: “Beyond the Visible Spectrum” by Axel Taiari Originally published in Fantasy Scroll Magazine Issue #7 Axel Taiari was born and raised in Paris, France. Publishing credits include Abyss & Apex, Fantasy Scroll, The Big Click , and other magazines and anthologies. He is the co-author of The Soul Standard , to be re...

Interviews: Ryan Calo – Robot Laws Main Fiction: “Jump Cut” by Lauren C. Teffeau Originally published in Unlikely Story’s Journal of Unlikely Cryptography, Issue 11 Lauren C. Teffeau was born and raised on the East Coast, educated in the South, employed in the Midwest, and now lives and dreams in the Southwest. In the Summer of 2012, she attended Taos Toolbox, a master class in writing science fic...

  Main Fiction: “‘The Entire Immense Superstructure’: An Installation” by Ken MacLeod Originally published in Reach for Infinity, edited by Jonathan Strahan Ken MacLeod was born in Stornoway and lives in West Lothian. He has Honours and Masters degrees in biological subjects and worked for some years in the IT industry. Since 1997 he has been a full-time writer. He is the author of fourteen novels...

NEW PODCAST LAUNCHED TODAY! Your Remarkable Adventure by StarShipSofa host Tony C Smith Interview:  Zhe Xu and the robotic hand   Main Fiction: “Citizen of the Galaxy” by Evan Dicken Originally published in Analog – December 2014. By day, Evan Dicken studies old Japanese maps and analyzes medical research data at the Ohio State University. By night, he does neither of these things. His work has mo...

Interview: Mika Mckinnon Fact: Looking Back At Genre History by Amy H. Sturgis   Main Fiction: “Pallbearers” by Martin L. Shoemaker Originally published in Galaxy’s Edge Martin L. Shoemaker is a programmer who writes on the side… or maybe it’s the other way around. Programming pays the bills, but a second place story in the Jim Baen Memorial Writing Contest earned him lunch with Buzz Aldrin. Progr...

  Main Fiction: “Lace Downstairs” by Arkady Martine Originally published in Abyss & Apex Arkady Martine is a speculative fiction writer and, as Dr. AnnaLinden Weller, a Byzantine historian. In both roles she writes about border politics, rhetorical propaganda, and liminal spaces. She was a student at Viable Paradise XVII. Arkady grew up in New York City and currently lives in Uppsala, Sweden. Find...

  Interview:  Rachel Armstrong – Will We Ever Build StarShips Main Fiction: “Distant Galaxies Colliding” by Gareth L. Powell First published in Quantum Muse (2005) GARETH L. POWELL is an award-winning writer from the UK. He is the author of the novels Silversands ,  The Recollection , Ack-Ack Macaque , Hive Monkey and Macaque Attack . His alternate history thriller, Ack-Ack Macaque , won the 2013...

Jeremy Szal on Hugos and StarShipSofa Main Fiction: “Saturn in G Minor” by Stephen Kotowych Originally published in Writers of the Future: Volume 23 STEPHEN KOTOWYCH is a Writers of the Future Grand Prize winner (for “Saturn in G Minor”) and past finalist for the Prix Aurora Award, Canada’s top SF prize. His stories have appeared in StarShipSofa (#259), Interzone, Intergalactic Medicine Show, nume...

Copyright image Mark Zastrow Interview: Mark Zastrow – Inside the cloning factory that creates 500 new animals a day Fact: Looking Back at Genre History by Amy H Sturgis Main Fiction: “Intellectual Property” by Michael R. Fletcher Originally appeared in Interzone. Michael R. Fletcher is a science fiction and fantasy author who lives with his wife and daughter in the endless soulless suburban spraw...

Coming Up… Interview: Carli Velocci  Why do we keep using Nazis in space trope? Main Fiction: “A Dying Fall” by Christopher Priest Christopher Priest’s book – The Inverted World Originally published in Asimov’s – December 2006 Christopher Priest was born in Cheshire, England. He began writing soon after leaving school and has been a full-time freelance writer since 1968. He has published thirteen...

Coming Up… Interview: Cave diver Jill Heinerth explores hidden underground waterways running through our planet. OASIS 28 Main Fiction: “Black Swan” by Bruce Sterling Originally published in Interzone, reprinted in Years Best SF 15. Bruce Sterling, author, journalist, editor, and critic, was born in 1954. Best known for his ten science fiction novels, he also writes short stories, book reviews, de...