ARCHIVOS Podcast Network

Mercedes Yardley's literary voice is singular, beautiful, and striking in its poignant honesty. If you read anything from her marvelous canon - including "Apocalyptic Montessa and Nuclear Lulu: A Tale of Atomic Love", "Nameless: The Darkness Comes" or the newly released "Pretty Little Dead Girls" - you will discover tales that defy category (she calls them "whimsical horror") and will be a splash of wonder that will wake up and delight you.

Joined by author Paul Ellis, we dive into an astonishing 20(ish) minutes of writerly discourse, exploring the nature of believability in genre fiction, celebrating the small victories, the relationship between writer and reader and more. There were several "ah-ha" moments for us in this one, and I'll bet you're gonna find some, too. Click "PLAY" and find out.

Karen Healey - educator, advocate, and author of astonishing YA novels like "When We Wake" and the newly-released sequel "While We Run" - returns to the Big Chair at the Roundtable to catalyze our brainstorming efforts into a maelstrom of awesomeness with her storytelling mojo (spoilers: she succeeds). Joined by the eloquent and insightful Katie Bryski (author of Hapax, numerous short tales, AND a children's opera), the stage is set for a fabulous story workshop.

This week's Guest Writer, Emery Colin, brings a very cool tale to the table, one that blends SciFi and Fantasy with a mysterious mythic heritage. A stranded transport, ancient orders, demons, and an inexperienced protagonist assigned a perilous task are the ingredients for a brainstorming buffet that leads us inevitably to discover a lost relic forged of - you guessed it - Literary Gold

Author, educator, and articulate advocate of comics (and so much more), Karen Healey brings an astonishing voice and perspective to the writer's craft. Her passion for storytelling is deeply rooted in the connections it forges between people, cultures, and histories. Her work has been lauded many times, including the 2011 Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best New Talent and includes "Guardian of the Dead", "The Shattering", "When We Wake", and its sequel "While We Run". In addition to her delicious prose and richly-drawn characters, Karen brings a fierce integrity and commitment to the truth that underlies each of her stories.

Joined by the delightful and inspired Katie Bryski (soon-to-be Stonecoast Master of Fine Arts graduate) as my co-host, we engage in a fabulous 20(ish) minutes of writerly discourse with Karen, exploring the merits of fan fiction, embracing diversity, integrating mythology into stories, and more

This week, Janet Morris and Chris Morris - authors of The Sacred Band of Stepsons series, "I, the Sun", and the Heroes in Hell series, and so much more - return to the Big Chairs at the Roundtable to infuse our story brainstorming with their incredible writing mojo. Joined by my co-host, the eloquent and insightful Michael R. Underwood ( "The Younger Gods", "Shield and Crocus", "Geekomancy" and more), this can only be described as a Master Class Story Workshop.

Our creageous Guest Writer for this episode is Melissa L. Hayden, curator and evil genius at the "My World in Words and Pages" blog. Melissa brings a tale of patricide and political upheaval in a land of dragons and ancient magic... a veritable buffet of story goodness. As the workshop unfolds, Janet, Chris, and Michael explore unexpected and startling paths of insight and inquiry, teasing out some potent thematic, character, and story elements. To say that Literary Gold abounds would be an understatement... this is one of the finest literary workshops in which I've had the pleasure of participating. Click the "Play" button, sit back, and let the muse inspire you.

When you sit down to talk with Janet Morris and Chris Morris, be prepared for a conversation unlike any you've had before. The scope and breadth of their experience spans fiction and non-fiction, government policy, music, history, horse breeding, and more. They are storytellers who breath eloquent passion and authenticity into their tales, illuminating the shadowed corners of mythic grandeur through their craft.

Their fiction work includes The Sacred Band of Stepsons series, "I, the Sun", and editing and contributing to the Heroes in Hell series (which includes tales from the luminaries of genre fiction), and so much more (even their Wikipedia pages include a "select fiction biography"). With such a vast tapestry of tales woven between them, you know this is going to be a conversation fraught with writerly delights.

With Michael R. Underwood (author of "The Younger Gods", "Shield and Crocus", "Geekomancy" and more, co-host at the fabulous Skiffy and Fanty Podcast, and Guest Host on the RTP) as my co-host, we engage in (way more than) 20 minutes of astonishing discourse, exploring the symmetry between music and story, the resonance of the craft of fiction and non-fiction writing, and how to "ascend from the pit of self-doubt into the light of self-knowledge and mastery". Yeah... you don't want to miss this one, gang.

Brad Beaulieu - author of lush and richly-rendered epic fantasy tales and co-host of the fabulous Speculate podcast - returns to the Big Chair at the Roundtable to workshop a tale of nerds transported into a an epic fantasy world.

The story is conjured from the imagination of creagous Guest Writer, John McCarthy (Surfside Jack to his friends), a coming of age tale of thwarted destinies, grim nemeses, and the fate of worlds hanging in the balance. Moses Siregar joins me as co-host and together we delve into the tale, exploring everything from genre to character arc, worldbuilding to romance. It's a classic brainstorming froth that culminates in a trove of Literary Gold for all.

You get an idea for a story. Now what? What happens between the inspiration and perspiration? How do you prepare and develop a story idea so it's ready to be written?

That's what I asked seven gifted and articulate writers at this year's Balticon 48 (sponsored by the Baltimore Science Fiction Society). The answers from Paul E. Cooley, Jared Axelrod, Maria V. Snyder, Starla Huchton, Pip Ballantine, Nobilis Reed, and Myke Cole are as diverse and inspired as the people we asked.

In an intriguing bit of serendipity, Ben Delano of the Reader-Writer Podcast was asking a different question that dovetailed nicely into my own. So I invited him and his co-host Mary Ellen Warren to join me on this episode in exploring the answers to my question. They graciously reciprocated and allowed me to discuss there's on Reader-Writer. It's a lovely bit of synchronicity stretched across two podcasts, and I'm pleased to offer Part I here on the Roundtable (look for Part II on the Reader-Writer podcast).

This week, I'm delighted to have Bradley Beaulieu (BOW-lee-er)(no, really) take the Big Chair at the Roundtable for 20-ish minutes of some stellar writerly discourse.

Brad is an author of sweeping epic fantasy, tales of rich authentic and intriguing characters told in lushly rendered story worlds. His works include: The Winds of Khalakovo, The Straits of Galahesh, The Flames of Shadam Khoreh, as well as "Strata", a collaborative scifi tale with Stephen Gaskell. His stories have appeared in Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, The Crimson Pact, and more. AND he's the co-host (with Greg Wilson) of SPECULATE, one of the podosphere's premiere podcasts on the writing craft.

Moses Siregar is my co-host for this splendid discussion with Brad as we explore the process of collaboration, Brad's worldbuilding mojo, dynamic vs iconic characters and more. Hit that PLAY button, sit back, and let the awesomeness flow into your brain

David Annandale - professor of fiction, film and horror, and author of tales of terror and dark mayhem - returns to the Big Chair at the Roundtable to help us workshop of hellish trials and virtual damnation.

The tale is offered up by writer/podcaster Jim Ryan whose story of a nefarious software developer trapped in his own virtual construct of hell sets our creative fires ablaze! Joined by co-host, Jennifer Melzer (author and editor of fabulous tales), we embark on a journey through the treacherous paths of this fabulous concept worthy of Dante himself. Fortunately, the paths are strewn with Literary Gold and we fill our pockets every step of the way. You can can, too... just hit that PLAY button

"If all real art is confrontation, then war is the only possible sublimity." -- Kathe Koja, Bad Brains

This week, we darken the room and run some old Gozilla movies in the background as we welcome author and professor of film and fiction David Annandale to the Big Chair at the Roundtable. In his own words...

"By night, David Annandale brings doom to untold billions as a writer of Warhammer 40,000 fiction for the Black Library, most recently in the novels The Death of Antagonis, Yarrick: Imperial Creed, The Damnation of Pythos and Maledictus. As the author of the horror novel Gethsemane Hall, he hopes to end sleep for you forever. And in his Jen Blaylock thrillers (Crown Fire, Kornukopia, and The Valedictorians), he does his best to blow up everything in sight. During the day, he poisons minds as he teaches film, video games and English literature at the University of Manitoba. If you have any fragments of hope still left, you can have them crushed at his website or by following his Twitter account."

Do you see why we wanted him on the RTP?

The conversation is made even more delightful by my remarkable co-host, Jennifer Melzer (author of The Serpent of Time novels Edgelanders and the newly released Sorrow's Peak and much more as well as being a mercenary editor extraordinaire). Together the three of us wander the literary landscape, discussing the nature of horror, the art of collaboration, the essential nature of time management, and more. Writerly goodness and intriguement are but a mouseclick away...