Episode 134: Chelsea Polk (of the Kingston Cycle + Midnight Bargain)
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We are absolutely thrilled to bring you this (first!) episode with one of our absolute favorite writers: C.L. Polk! There’s so much to talk about in the first two books of Polk’s Kingston Cycle (we recorded before the third book in the trilogy, Soulstar, was released) and her standalone The Midnight Bargain that we barely scratch the surface in this episode, though we do have an excellent time talking about world-building and gender roles, among many other big conversations. We have future episodes planned, so stay tuned for more conversations with the enormously talented and extremely wonderful C.L. Polk.
Episode 133: The 2020 Imaginary Awards (Shortlist)
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In this first episode of 2021, we share our favorite books, comics, shows, and more from 2020. Instead of running through them all as we’ve done in previous years, we highlight some of the best and most important trends of the year. We wanted to focus on all the good to come from the year -- and according to us, there was plenty of queer science fiction and fantasy to celebrate, like all the wonderful queer sff animated shows, increasing queer rep in sff miniseries, and excellent new books and series from our favorite debut authors of the past couple years.
Episodes 131 and 132: Queering Star Trek with Eleanor Tremeer, Parts 1 and 2
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Listen to Part 2 on SoundCloud | iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher
In this guest series of very queer episodes, we tackle the past, present, and hopeful future of one of our favorite franchises. Our regular guest is Eleanor Tremeer, who has probably written stuff about sff you've already read, and has graciously agreed to join forces with us here. For the first two episodes in this series, we talk the history of queer coding in Trek, as well as canon Trek's attempts at including queer characters and the trope of the depraved bisexual. We talk about Garak and Dax a lot, as you might guess.
Episode 130: Queer Joy and the NASA That Could Be with Phil Stamper
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Join us as we dive happily into Phil Stamper's debut The Gravity of Us with Phil himself! We talk about the importance of showing the joy in queer relationships, especially when the relationships themselves are taking place in a sea of complexity — but are not themselves the only source of conflict. Of course, we also get to talk about the history, present, and possible of space missions and NASA, as well as how we talk about those things. Who has the authority to tell the stories of the very few who go to space? Who could give themselves the authority, when the history of the same has been so cishet, white, and male? Come along with us as we talk it out!
Episode 129: Designer and Illustrator David Curtis on How Our Favorite Books Get Their Covers
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This episode is an excellent complement to Episode 128 with Tj Klune, in which we love all over the wonderful cover of his novel The Extraordinaries. After we recorded that episode, we went searching for the person responsible, and found David Curtis, who ended up being responsible for plenty more amazing covers for our recent faves. In this fascinating episode, he walks us through the design process for the queer sff we know and love, from cover illustration to interior design to appearing on the shelves. We learned a lot and had a great time, so come along on this fun ride!
Episode 128: Tj Klune Introduces Us to the Disaster Twink
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Neither of us knew the "disaster twink" archetype going into this episode, but we're so glad we do now -- and if you don't either, or even if you do, then this conversation about TJ Klune's recent YA novel The Extraordinaries is definitely for you. We chatted with Tj about queer YA in general, as well as the exciting things happening there, as well as about the nuanced delights that await in The Extraordinaries, including an important discussion of friends and friend groups, the relationship that protagonist (and disaster twink) Nick has with his dad, the importance of genre savviness and fan fiction, and more. It was a great time, so come along with us!
Visit Tj’s website, and follow him on Twitter and Instagram. You can also check out the Klunatics on Facebook to connect with other fans of his work.
Episode 127: Saying Yes(samine) to Caitlin Starling's Yellow Jessamine
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In this episode, we welcome back Caitlin Starling, whose appearance in Episode 101 let us delight over her terrifying and intimate The Luminous Dead. This time we're all about her new novella, Yellow Jessamine, and we get to talk about some our favorite topics (queer subtexts abound) and learn much more about what makes horror feel like, well, horror. Plus, we have an extended discussion about poison gardens, which are a thing you should absolutely know about.
Visit Caitlin’s website, or follow her on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
Episode 126: Eboni J Dunbar on Queering High Fantasy, Exploring Inequities, & Vulnerable Leadership
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As you can probably tell from the range of this episode's title, we had a *great* conversation with Eboni around her upcoming novella, STONE AND STEEL. You better believe we also serve up a heaping helping of found families (one of our favorite main dishes!), and we're also extremely thankful for Eboni's nuanced take on queer community. STONE AND STEEL is definitely one of our favorite novellas of the year, and our conversation with Eboni is one of our favorites, too!
Visit Eboni’s website and follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Episode 125: Leigh Harlan on Punks, Shifters, and Finding Family
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This episode lets us delight over Leigh Harlan's recent novella Queens of Noise, out now from Neon Hemlock Press (and please listen to episode 124, in which we talk with dave ring, the publisher and managing editor). You'll probably already know that we love talking about found families, especially queer found family, which Leigh and their Queens give us in abundance. What we *didn't* know is that we certainly wanted our queer sff infused with punk rock, and Queens more than delivers. Queens of Noise particularly delighted us westerners because of its focal werecoyote pack, so when we say we loved this gem of a novella for many reasons, believe it!
Episode 124: dave ring on Publishing, Editing, and the Inclusion of Queer Voices in SFF
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Our guest this episode is dave ring, who answers about what it means to champion queer voices in SFF as an editor and publisher of a small press (Neon Hemlock Press, in dave’s case). dave is also a fabulous writer and has a lot to say about creating queer community in writing generally and in SFF specifically. Plus, we absolutely want to know what happens between a call for book submissions and the publication of a book, and dave walks us through the magic. Oh, and we also talk about literary candles!
Visit dave’s website or the website of his small press, Neon Hemlock. You can also follow him on Twitter and Instagram.
Episode 123: Rosaria Munda Shows Us What Happens After an Empire Falls (with Dragons!)
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We had a grand time talking about the beautiful world Rosaria created in her Fireborne (and its to-be-released sequels!), which is partially magic (hello, dragons), partially historical, partially Roman, but all fabulous.
Visit Rosaria’s website, and follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Episodes 121 and 122: What Is Magic?
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Listen to Part 2 (Ep. 122) on SoundCloud | iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher
In this pair of episodes, we take on one of the biggest questions in fantasy: What is magic? We leave no stone unturned as we consider histories both real and imagined, the place of magic in religions and societies, by how it’s used and how it’s taught, and much, much more.
Episode 120: On the Making of Minds with Jeremy Reimer
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The brilliant Jeremy Reimer, author Silicon Minds of Mars, helps us explore machine learning, identity, and the consequences of human-like artificial intelligences on politics and relationships.
Visit Jeremy’s website, subscribe to his newsletter, and follow him on Twitter and Reddit.
Episode 119: Lina Rather Gifts Us Nuns in a Giant Space Critter
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We’re excited to bring you the very first podcast appearance of Lina Rather, author of the delightful Sisters of the Vast Black, our favorite novella of 2019. But you figured that any book about found families in giant space slugs would be, didn’t you?
Episode 118 : Conspiring Truthily with Alexandra Rowland
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Alex Rowland rocks us with smart conversation about their A Conspiracy of Truths and A Choir of Lies, two of our favorite books of 2018 and 2019, respectively. Plus they’re a veteran podcaster, so prepare for ultimate professionalism (and some hot podcasting tips!).
Visit Alex’s website, and follow them on Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram.
Episode 117: Action/Adventure: The Lost Genre, and How to Make it Gay
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In this episode, we take a long, hard look at that forgotten library sticker relic of a genre, action/adventure. Not that action/adventure isn’t around, of course, it’s just not considered genre because it’s been eaten up by other genres, like sff, superhero, and more. Plus, we want to queer it up, which, of course we do.
Episode 116: Sarah Gailey on Fascist-Fighting Horseback Queer-brarians
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The fascists went after Sarah Gailey, and Sarah Gailey brought their very best fightin’ words in Upright Women Wanted, the near-future dystopia novella about fascist-stomping queer librarians on horseback saving themselves and each other and possibly the world. Because patriarchy just sucks, man.
Visit Sarah at their website, or follow them on Twitter.
Episode 115 : Alix E. Harrow on Doors, Portals, and Going on Adventures
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Alix E. Harrow took us by storm with her debut, The Ten Thousand Doors of January. Is it portal fiction? Is it science fiction? Is it fantasy? Is it period fiction? Is it feminist fiction? Is it queer fiction? Is it an award winner? Oh, yes. Yes, indeed.
Episode 114: Naomi Kritzer on Cats, Personhood, & Catfishing on CatNet
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We discuss everything from Naomi Kritzer’s own furry friends to the parameters of artificial intelligence (catlike or otherwise) to the building blocks of personhood. It’s a widely ranging episode. And there are a lot of cats.
Episode 113: Revisiting Childhood Favorites
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Both generally — what’s it like to read a book you loved as a kid now that you’re an adult? — and specifically, with a couple of our very favorites.
Episode 112: AJ Hackwith on Finding One's Family ... in Hell's Library
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With its clear queerness, found family relationships, underworlds, and life inside a library, AJ Hackwith’s Library of the Unwritten is exactly the sort of fantasy we’re looking for.
Visit AJ’s website, and follow her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram.
Episode 111 : Becky Chambers on Queering Science Fiction
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Becky Chambers took our hearts and cracked them wide open with her Wayfarers series, starting with The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. And in 2019, she released the novella of space exploration and discovery, To Be Taught, If Fortunate. We have a lot of feelings as we talk with Becky about science, queering SFF, and why her books always have such deliciously long titles.
Visit Becky’s website.
Episode 110: The 2019 Imaginary Awards
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We bring you the best of 2019, and you can trust us because we’re absolutely impartial.
Episode 109: 2019 Highlights
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We started recording guest episodes in 2019, and here you can find snippets from all of them!
Episode 108 : CSE Cooney, Our Lady of the Velociraptor Ferris Wheel
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This conversation with the delightful CSE Cooney, whose novella Desdemona and the Deep we gobbled up, is a puzzle box of amazing anecdotes and compelling, nuanced thoughts on connecting with and commenting upon history. Also, we gave her a new title!
Episodes 106 & 107: Tristan Palmgren on First Contact
Listen to Part 1 (Ep. 106) on SoundCloud | iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher.
Listen to Part 2 (Ep. 107) on SoundCloud | iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher.
Tristan returns to talk to us about the ethics and moralities of first contact situations. Prepare for us to say contacter and contactee a bunch.
Visit Tristan at their website, or follow them on Twitter.
Episode 105: Seanan McGuire on Cats, Carnivals, Empathy, and … Fantasy Dildos?
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Why does the CDC known Seanan McGuire's name? What do fantasy dildos have to do with our podcast? And why do we all hate some dude named Jason now? All these answers, and many more, in this Very Special Episode.
Visit Seanan’s websites, as both Seanan McGuire and Mira Grant, and follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
Episode 104: The Prime Directive
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Why’s this directive so primary in the Star Trek universe? What similar guidelines exist in other media? What about the opposite—a policy of interference—in works like David Brin’s Uplift and Iain M. Banks’s Culture?
Episode 103: Bugs
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If you’re looking for a conversation about hive minds, you’ve definitely come to the right place. Oh, and A Bug’s Life. And Starship Troopers. There are a lot of bugs out there.
Episode 102: Oceans
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From Solaris to SeaQuest DSV, this episode is all about the big blue wet thing(s).
Episode 101 : Caitlin Starling on Fear, Fungus, & Finding Intimacy in Horror
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There are many thing to fear about this world (and other worlds) right now, but luckily sentient fungus isn't chasing us through the cramped confines of flooded caves in which lives have already been lost many times before. At least, we sure hope not.
Visit Caitlin’s website, or follow her on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.