For those who don’t know, I have a podcast with Devin Poore called Spirited Discourse, where creative people chat over drinks and we record the conversation. We had a bit of a gap in our episodes due to the intrusion of life and work, but as of yesterday we are back on track. Up right now is Episode 007 with writer Matthew Kressel. We talked about writing and critiquing, television, beer, Alice in Wonderland, and of course, with Matt, Blade Runner. It was a good time recording the episode (and drinking the applejack and beer) so please check it out if you have the chance. And if you haven’t heard the earlier episodes, please check them out as well. And if you like them, please leave us a review on iTunes (or wherever).

Here’s the iTunes link

Here’s the SoundCloud link

Hi, everyone. It’s been a while since I last updated here, but life has been a bit of a whirlwind. Since Raining Fire came out, I’ve been working on short stories after a long absence. I was laid off from my day job and started a new one. And, with my friend and fellow writer, Devin Poore, I started a podcast. It’s been something we’ve been talking about for years now, and inspired by Jennifer Udden, who co-hosts the Shipping & Handling Podcast, I decided to finally commit to it. We’re just starting out, and we’re still finding our legs, but two episodes are currently up on our website and iTunes and SoundCloud (both with horror writer, Grady Hendrix) and the third is imminent. The idea behind the podcast is simple — geeks talking over drinks. It’s an attempt to recreate in some ways the kinds of discussions that writers and other creative types have at conventions, in the bar, about topics they’re excited about. I hope you’ll check it out and add it to your podcast app of choice.

I haven’t seen it, but I got word this weekend that Wired magazine featured Lightspeed Magazine’s podcast as the Staff Pick for science fiction podcasts in their July issue. As part of that they picked a standout episode and the one they picked was my story, “Second Hand.” Lightspeed publishes so many great stories that I’m really chuffed that Wired singled out my story. Thanks to the folks at Brilliance Audio for putting together the narration. If you’d like to check out the podcast, you can listen to the narration here. 

I guess I really should get to work on more stories in that universe, shouldn’t I…

It’s a new year and yet I was remiss in not posting about some things that happened last year, particularly related to Falling Sky:

• I appeared on the Functional Nerds podcast with John Anealio and Patrick Hester in December. If you missed it, check it out here. We talk a bit about holiday movies, but hopefully that won’t bother you seeing as it’s after the holidays.
• I also read at the KGB Bar in December as part of the KGB Fantastic Fiction Reading Series along with Steven Gould. Pictures can be seen here and an audio recording of the evening is available on the Fantastic Fiction website. I’ve been attending KGB readings for about 10 years now and it was a dream come true to read there myself.
• A little further back, in October, I was a guest on (brilliant author) Fran Wilde’s podcast, Cooking the Books. We talk a bit about Falling Sky and Twinkies and the website includes a recipe that might exist in the world of the novel.

I love podcasts and hope to appear on more of them in the future. What’s better than talking with smart, talented, and interesting people? If you have any that you love and would recommend, leave them in the comments.

I apologize if I’ve been overloading on the self-promotion lately, but I wanted to mention that I recently had the opportunity to sit in on a discussion on The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy. TGGttG is one of the best SpecFic podcasts around and I always enjoy talking to hosts David Barr Kirtley and John Joseph Adams. This time the topic was Weird Westerns, a subject near and dear to my heart. Because we had so much to cover, we mostly focused on film and television for this one. But we plan to do one covering books and comics in the near future. The episode also includes an interview with Melissa Marr. If you’re so inclined, please give it a listen:

Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy Podcast Episode 90