We're lying, but that's ok

Get ready for a dose of nostalgia. JS and Ludlow talk gaming history, the evolution of game narrative, and the benefits of gaming on mental and physical wellness. Explicit Content: May contain mature language or themes Production: Maxwell Gariety Music: The Silent Grove by Axletree Licensed under Attribution 4.0

Ludlow and JS discuss their favorite characters from TV, film, and literature and what about those characters make them so appealing. Explicit Content: May contain mature language or themes Production: Maxwell Gariety Music: The Silent Grove by Axletree Licensed under Attribution 4.0 Show Notes : Recommendation: Incarnations of Immortality by Piers Anthony Ludlow’s List: Benedic; Much Ado About No...

Is AI going to take over creatives’ jobs? Ludlow and JS discuss Chat GPT and share their opinions and predictions. Explicit Content: May contain mature language or themes Production: Maxwell Gariety Music: The Silent Grove by Axletree Licensed under Attribution 4.0

Ludlow shares a piece of his childhood: playing D&D during the Satanic Panic of the 80’s. In this episode, JS and Ludlow dive into the history of D&D from the first edition to what’s coming next. Explicit Content: May contain mature language or themes Production: Maxwell Gariety Music: The Silent Grove by Axletree Licensed under Attribution 4.0

How did live action role play begin? JS digs into the history of LARP while Ludlow offers insights from his personal experience in LARPing. Explicit Content: May contain mature language or themes Production: Maxwell Gariety Music: The Silent Grove by Axletree Licensed under Attribution 4.0

Ludlow and JS explore the history of fanfiction and its role in the larger ecosystem of publishing. Should fanfiction be considered legitimate? Is it stealing? Listen for a discussion of these questions and more. Explicit Content: May contain mature language or themes Production: Maxwell Gariety Music: The Silent Grove by Axletree Licensed under Attribution 4.0

Ludlow and JS have completed their MFA programs. Things were a little rough there with the monumental task of the thesis novel--but they have lived to tell the tale! Explicit Content: May contain mature language or themes Production: Maxwell Gariety Music: The Silent Grove by Axletree Licensed under Attribution 4.0 A Note: Publishing episodes has been on hold while we were finishing our MFA progra...

What and when was the very first scifi convention? How did conventions start? What are conventions like now? Ludlow and JS discuss the history of conventions and their current culture. Ludlow also give his tips for first-timers based on his convention experience. Explicit Content: May contain mature language or themesProduction: Maxwell GarietyMusic: The Silent Grove by Axletree Licensed under Att...

How it all began. We finished off season 1 last week with the final part of our writing mini-series and 25th episode! We will resume with season 2 the first week of June. Thank you all for listening through season 1 while we figured out what the heck we're doing. We look forward to having you with us as we continue to learn in season 2. Explicit Content: May contain mature language or themesProduc...

How do you include diversity in your writing in respectful ways? How do you write characters who are different from yourself and do it properly and accurately? In the final part of the writing mini-series, Ludlow and JS discuss "Writing the Other," a term coined by Nisi Shawl and Cynthia Ward. Explicit Content: May contain mature language or themes Production: Maxwell Gariety Music: The Silent Gro...

In part two of the three part writing mini-series, Ludlow and JS discuss the process of revision. Next week: Writing the Other Explicit Content: May contain mature language or themesProduction: Maxwell GarietyMusic: The Silent Grove by Axletree Licensed under Attribution 4.0

In part one of a three part writing mini-series, Ludlow and JS discuss their writing processes and how they have evolved. Part 2 coming next week: Revising Explicit Content: May contain mature language or themesProduction: Maxwell GarietyMusic: The Silent Grove by Axletree Licensed under Attribution 4.0

No, not the sexy kind of role playing.--this isn't a spicy podcast. We're talking about Role Playing Games (RPG) and Live Action Role Playing (LARP). If you don't know much about these, are interested in dipping your toe in, or have ever wondered why grown adults play make-believe, this episode is for you. If you're already a fan, settle in, because we have more in-depth episodes about this topic...

It's a question I come across every so often: are libraries still relevant? Does anyone even go anymore? Yes they are. And yes they do. In this episode, JS and Ludlow discuss the benefits of libraries and how simply using your library's resources can benefit your community. Explicit Content: May contain mature language or themesProduction: Maxwell GarietyMusic: The Silent Grove by Axletree License...

Why did we decide to become writers? Ludlow and JS discuss who they are as storytellers. Explicit Content: May contain mature language or themesProduction: Maxwell GarietyMusic: The Silent Grove by Axletree Licensed under Attribution 4.0

What's involved in getting a finished manuscript into the hands of readers? Today, JS and Ludlow talk about publishing paths and the behind the scenes in getting a novel reading for reading. There may be more involved than you think! Explicit Content: May contain mature language or themes Production: Maxwell Gariety Music: The Silent Grove by Axletree Licensed under Attribution 4.0

JS Gariety reads a chapter from her newly released novel "The Weight of Gold." She and Ludlow Adams discuss some of the book's themes. Explicit Content: May contain mature language or themes Production: Maxwell Gariety Music: The Silent Grove by Axletree Licensed under Attribution 4.0 Show Notes : Buy The Weight of Gold now!

The Witcher, Superman, and now head of Amazon's Warhammer 40k universe--Henry Cavill has had a lot going on lately. Today we chat a bit about this king of nerds. Explicit Content: May contain mature language or themes Production: Maxwell Gariety Music: The Silent Grove by Axletree Licensed under Attribution 4.0

What's the purpose of genre? Does it mean something different to authors than it does to readers? Ludlow Adams and JS Gariety discuss genre as a tool and how they each are using genre in their own projects. Explicit Content: May contain mature language or themes Production: Maxwell Gariety Music: The Silent Grove by Axletree Licensed under Attribution 4.0 Show Notes : The Sign of the Seven trilogy...

*Since recording this, the Hogwarts Legacy game has come out. Please see the show notes. Warning: this is a painful topic. Yep, we're talking about JK Rowling. The idea of separating an artist from their contribution get's a lot more complicated when that artist is still alive and profiting. Is it even possible? Ludlow Adams and JS Gariety open a dialogue about this difficult and uncomfortable que...

Percy Shelley, George Orwell, Jack London, Roald Dahl...there's no shortage of writers with questionable values who made significant contributions to the literary world. But today we focus on two of the most severe and influential: HP Lovecraft and Robert E, Howard. Can an author be separated from their work? Can you acknowledge a contribution without honoring the artist who made it, or without in...

RPG, miniatures, video...Today we discuss film and tv adaptations of games with a particular focus on the possible Warhammer40k TV series. Explicit Content: May contain mature language or themes Production: Maxwell Gariety Music: The Silent Grove by Axletree Licensed under Attribution 4.0

Are TV series just a trend, or are they better than film for adapting print? Ludlow Adams and JS Gariety discuss film and TV adaptations, and possible reasons why TV adaptations have become so popular in recent years. Explicit Content: May contain strong language Production: Maxwell Gariety Music: The Silent Grove by Axletree Licensed under Attribution 4.0

Crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo have been used to fund publishing projects for years now. But Brandon Sanderson's record breaking Kickstarter may have made crowdfunding books an even more viable option. Today we discuss why authors might choose to crowdfund and why readers should bother funding publishing projects. We also go into how Sanderson's Kickstarter may have helped s...

Do cheap/deeply discounted ebooks devalue literature as a whole? Ever since the Kindle was released, authors and publishers have been asking this question. Today, Ludlow Adams and JS Gariety discuss the impact ebooks have had other the years, how things are changing with subscription models, and how authors can take advantage of the changes (because they're happening, whether we like it or not). E...