The Nerd Count Podcast

In episode 21 of our Nerd Count Podcast, we welcome multiple Hugo and Stoker-award nominated writer, editor, podcaster extraordinaire, Scott Edelman! We talk about his podcast, Eating the Fantastic , his being known as the Anthony Bourdain of science fiction, what prompted him to start the podcast, his early recordings and transcriptions that led to him becoming a podcaster, his beginnings at Marv...

In our 20th episode of The Nerd Count Podcast, we welcome the New York Times bestselling author Caitlin Rozakis! We talk about her beginnings studying engineering, how she built a robot that attacked a teaching assistant, working in a startup finance firm, working marketing at the New York Museum of Natural History and Final Draft, how she won a short story contest for the Courier Post in 5th grad...

In our 19th episode of The Nerd Count Podcast, we welcome the award-winning author, actress, playwright, tour guide and all around creative force Leanna Renee Hieber! In this episode we discuss where we first met, her love of reading her work aloud, how she navigates the twists and turns of publishing, how she got into writing, her love of the 19th century, her ghostly experiences working at a hau...

In our long-awaited 18th episode, we come to you live from (and on the way to!) Readercon 35, held in Burlington, Massachusetts, from July 9-12, 2026. We had the pleasure of interviewing ten different people, and we asked them about their past and present Readercon experiences, their connection to the field of speculative fiction, their most memorable Readercons, and why they feel Readercon is one...

In our 17th episode, we welcome back the many talented A.C. Wise. In this episode, we talk to Alison about Readercon parties, how we first met, growing up in Canada, getting a gold medal in rowing, working a full-time day job at an art museum/school, her massive to-read pile, reviewing fiction for Locus and Apex magazines and elsewhere, stories in conversation with each other, reading for the Worl...

In our 16th episode of The Nerd Count Podcast, we welcome Theresa DeLucci to talk about the inside secrets of the publishing industry. We talk about how she got started working in publishing as a marketer, how people are still reading, especially genre, but the numbers of places to buy books have shrunk, how we first met Theresa, writing short fiction, selling a story to Ellen Datlow, the gratifyi...

For our 15th episode, we welcome author and teacher Kate Maruyama. In this episode, we discuss how we met through her mother, writer Kit Reed, Readercon experiences, how she ended up in L.A., working for Sylvester Stallone, the impact of narcissistic sociopaths, how L.A. influences her writing, being stewards of ideas, her experience teaching writing, why editors want to hear your unique voice, th...

In our 14th episode, we welcome the multitalented actor, author, and filmmaker Shiva Kumar! We speak with Shiva about The Lanka Chronicles,  growing up in different countries, his childhood as an “outsider”, going to boarding school, his first forays into directing in Bhutan, how a health crisis started him on the writing path, his documentaries on the Holocaust, how he was inspired by...

In our long-awaited thirteenth episode, we welcome Fran Wilde, whose most recent work is her collection  A Catalog of Storms , from Fairwood Press. In this episode we discuss where we first met Fran, her recent reading at Fantastic Fiction at KGB, getting started writing and being oneself, how summers in Kentucky with her grandmother shaped her life and writing, AI and the evolution of language, h...

In our 12th episode, we welcome Carlos Hernandez, award-winning writer of Sal and Gabi Break the Universe , Sal and Gabi Fix the Universe , and the Assimilated Cuban’s Guide to Quantum Santeria , writer for Marvel Comics’ characters America Chavez, Moon Knight, Spider Punk, Miles Morales , Amazing Spider Man , and Ghost Rider , as well as creator of the Negocios Infernales boardgame. W...

In our 11th episode, we invite Adrian M. Gibson to talk about burst pipes, hosting podcasts, the art of the interview, starting the SFF Addicts podcast, working with partners, writing masterclasses, paying it forward, writing mentors and finding your path, how Adrian got into writing, the Fungalverse,   Mushroom Blues , how living in three different continents have shaped his fiction, how he becam...

In our tenth episode, your fellow nerds Mercurio and Matt discuss the topic du jour: Writing and AI! We discuss common misconceptions about writing, such as the misapprehension that the work is merely coming up with a good idea, about authorship and plagiarism, Ted Chiang’s essay in The New Yorker about choices and how they make a work of art, what defines art, methods of communication, the...

In our ninth episode, we interview the multi-talented Clay McLeod Chapman. We discuss Halloween costumes, writing for Marvel and Spider Man, writing middle grade books for Disney, writing comics and graphic novels, creating in different media, collaboration, “discovery” writing, his forthcoming novel Wake Up and Open Your Eyes , spiritualism and seances, Civil War trauma, what draws hi...

In our eighth episode, we interview the spectacular Jason Sanford, and we talk with him about getting exposed to the genre through his grandfather, early sales, getting pulled out of the slush pile, stories in Interzone , working as a neurodivergent person, his history being an archeologist and how that influenced his fiction, “discovery writing”, working in the US Peace Corps, his wel...