Chris heads south for the Nebula Awards Weekend in L.A. and runs into some familiar faces. Rosemary Claire Smith chats about life after T-Rex Time Machine and her favorite conference moments. Then Fran Wilde recaps the awards ceremony and shar

182 – Author Spotlight: Isabel Yap

May 15th, 2019 59m 42s

Author Isabel Yap‘s short fiction has been published in Uncanny, at Tor.com and many other genre venues. Cath and Chia sit down with Isabel and find out about her writing process, her inspiration and her unusual dilemma: MBA or MFA?

181 – The MexicanX initiative and A Larger Reality, Part 2

May 2nd, 2019 40m 13s

It’s the exciting conclusion of our conversation with members of the MexicanX Initiative from Worldcon 76 and the anthology, A Larger Reality: Speculative Fiction from the Bicultural Margins. Editor Libia Brenda and authors Gabriela Damián a

180 – The MexicanX Initiative and A Larger Reality, Part 1

May 1st, 2019 39m 35s

An interview so epic, it wouldn’t fit in one episode! Chris and George sit down with members of the MexicanX Initiative from Worldcon 76 and discuss the con as well as their related anthology, A Larger Reality: Speculative Fiction from the Bic

179 – Author Spotlight: Laird Barron

Apr 16th, 2019 47m 26s

Laird Barron made a name for himself scaring the pants off horror fans with his short fiction collections like The Imago Sequence and Other Stories. Now he’s tackling crime and suspense with his Isaiah Coleridge series–the second novel, Black

178 – All Reboots Great and Gritty

Apr 3rd, 2019 49m 53s

The Narrators convene to discuss the current media obsession with reboots, reimaginings, remasters and rereleases. Why (oh why) do these things happen? What are the good (and bad) examples of such tinkering? Which franchises would we most like

177 – Author Spotlight: Katharine Duckett

Mar 19th, 2019 28m 3s

Tempest fans are in for a treat this week as we talk to author Katharine Duckett, whose reimagining of Shakespeare’s world, the novella Miranda in Milan, arrives soon from Tor.com. We talk about her interpretation of the classic play as well a

176 – Kindle Covers and Formatting

Mar 5th, 2019 30m 7s

Cath taps her resources to come up with an interview about formatting self-published covers and e-books, featuring former guest J. Kathleen Cheney and designer Michele Maakestad. What makes a good cover? How much should an author spend? What a

175 – MFA Aftermath with Stephanie Vance

Feb 19th, 2019 34m 17s

Way back when, we interviewed Stephanie Vance as she began the Creative Writing MFA program at Western Colorado University. Time apparently flies here in the Most Rotten Timeline, because she’s wrapped up the program and emerged with two new n

174 – Book Reports

Feb 5th, 2019 34m 13s

Remember a while back when we gave each other Not-So-Secret Santa books to read? No? Well, things are rough in the Sad Timeline. Whether you listened or not, tune in this week as we report back on our assigned books and discuss their finer (an

173 – Christopher Kastensmidt Returns

Jan 22nd, 2019 42m 37s

Never let it be said we here at UN HQ don’t go out of our way for a good interview. Cath travels to Brazil to follow up with Chris Kastensmidt, author of the Elephant and Macaw Banner series and previous guest. Turns out he’s been busy turnin

172 – Author Spotlight: Tasha Suri

Jan 8th, 2019 23m 18s

We begin the new year with tea and conversation courtesy of British author Tasha Suri, whose debut novel Empire of Sand caused a stir in November. We find out about the future of the Books of Ambha series, period Bollywood movies, history vs.

171 – Alex White: A Bad Deal for the Whole Galaxy

Dec 25th, 2018 35m 30s

Repeat offender! We close out the year by catching up with Alex White, one of our favorite guests from the past few months. Volume two of the Salvagers, A Bad Deal for the Whole Galaxy, is out now. We get the scoop on the creative process behi

170 – Shiz the Season

Dec 11th, 2018 37m 13s

Even here in the official Crappiest Timeline, the winter holidays fast approach. We sit down for our annual look back at the year that was and reflect on the tales that got us through the year–stuff like Black Panther, The Great British Bake-Of

169 – Comics Spotlight: Jim Zub

Nov 27th, 2018 54m 5s

Chris, Chia and George celebrate Thanksgiving by chatting with comics creator Jim Zub. He has worked on the Avengers and Champions for Marvel, the current Rick & Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons, and his own creations like Wayward and Skullkicker

168 – Author Spotlight: Rena Rossner

Nov 13th, 2018 34m 39s

Sisters of the Winter Wood author Rena Rossner joins us via the magic of the internet. We discuss her aforementioned, ambitious debut novel as well as her poetry, her cookbook (Eating the Bible), her experiences as a literary agent–and how her

167 – Grady Hendrix: We Sold our Souls

Oct 30th, 2018 47m 26s

Happy Halloween, ladies! We celebrate impending scares with the return of one of our favorite guests, Grady Hendrix. His new novel, We Sold Our Souls, is a study in Satan and heavy metal. We also catch up on his ongoing work and obsessions ac

166 – Author Spotlight: Beth Cato

Oct 23rd, 2018 38m 31s

Author Beth Cato has been thrilling fantasy fans with works like The Clockwork Dagger and Breath of Earth for the past few years–and that’s not counting her treasure trove of short fiction. Beth sits down with the Narrators to discuss her work

165 – Apocalypse and Dystopia

Oct 16th, 2018 46m 53s

When things go south in speculative fiction, it’s usually because of one (or both!) of the twin pillars of disaster, apocalypse and dystopia. The Narrators discuss their favorite downer and doomsday literature, plus their own theories on how i

164 – Author Spotlight: Philip Fracassi

Oct 3rd, 2018 58m 39s

We slink into October, our favorite month of horrors, with screenwriter and author Philip Fracassi. He tells us about his unique, film-inspired process for writing successful novellas such as Shiloh and Sacculina. We also find out about his up

163 – Author Spotlight: E. M. Markoff

Sep 25th, 2018 34m 55s

Indie writer, cat lover, award winner and lover of horror and dark fantasy E. M. Markoff joins us for a discussion of her works including The Deadbringer and To Nurture & Kill. She has plenty to say on publishing, death in Latinx culture, in

162 – Author Spotlight: Tade Thompson

Sep 18th, 2018 49m 28s

Both Rosewater and The Murders of Molly Southbourne are among our top current reads. Chris and George met up online with author Tade Thompson to discuss his stunning work. He discusses his current and future projects, the current success of af

161 – Author Spotlight: R.F. Kuang

Sep 11th, 2018 29m 3s

Rebecca F. Kuang writes as R.F. Kuang, and her debut novel, The Poppy War, is a highlight of the year. She joins us to discuss the historical influences of her work, her writing process, her new blog Journey to the BEST! and much more.

160 – Greg Weisman

Sep 5th, 2018 58m 16s

Greg Weisman‘s storied career spans television, comics, novels and beyond. We geek out with Greg about his many fan favorite shows including Young Justice, Gargoyles and The Spectacular Spider-Man. He also talks about the experience of writing

159 – Backstories

Aug 28th, 2018 42m 55s

Chia leads a discussion of timelines and backstories. When is background information too much information? Should the author know everything about a character, or does that kill spontaneity? What are some examples of stories that manage succes