Contents May Vary

This is the third episode in my ongoing series where I interview women in the geek community about what their experiences were like, and their history as a fangirl.

Cerberusia is one of the women I had originally interviewed back in 2014, when I was visiting London. I had been working on an article on fan fiction for the company I was interning at, and had reached out to Tumblr to find people outside of my fandom areas to quote. Since she was based in the UK (Oxford, to be precise), I asked if she would be interested in a further interview.

Obviously, time has passed since that interview, and so when I decided to get back to doing these, we agreed to redo the interview. We have a great discussion about what it means to be a geek, how she fangirls, and the future of geek culture.

For complete show notes, go to my website. 

I've attended the Writers & Illustrators of the Future Awards several times now. In fact, Episode 22 of this podcast was covering the 2017 ceremony. Attending this awards ceremony is always fun, and this year was no different. This was the 35th annual awards ceremony, and the them was Retro Robotics. 

The keynote was a 'Science Fiction 101' by journalist Ed Hulse. Illustrator Bob Eggleton was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award, who is also the artist of this year's anthology. 

Andrew Dykstal took home the Grand Prize Writer Award, and Aliya Chen took home the Grand Prize Illustrator Award. Meanwhile, Alice Wang, who won the fourth quarter illustrator award, became the youngest winner to enter and win. Finally, one of the winners, Preston Dennett, submitted 47 times prior to winning this year, earning 12 honorable mentions over the years. 

While as with all red carpets my interviews here are brief, I did manage to snag contact information for a couple of the people I talked to in the hopes of getting longer interviews with them, as I did with Kevin J. Anderson and Nancy Kress last year. I also have some excerpts from the ceremony itself. 

For complete show notes, go to my website. 

I first heard about what is known as WhedonCon back in 2016, when I wrote an article for SciFi4Me about it changing its name. It, like GallifreyOne, is a Los Angeles-based con that I first heard about once I moved here. 

Since that initial article, I'd kept my eye on it and started seeing posts from one of the people who run it in some of my other geeky groups. Marsia Powers is a Los Angeles real estate agent by day, Whedon fan by ... well, by all free time? She not only helps manage the con, but she also helps run the fan sites Whedonopolis and Fandomopolis, which you may have noticed I've written for occasionally in the past year. 

I set down with Marsia and talked about Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, Joss Whedon, being a fan, and WhedonCon. 

For complete show notes, go to my website.

This is part of a new series of episodes that will be me playing around with audio. These episodes will be produced on no particular deadline - just when I have the time and energy. They also will be published on my feed at times that don't compete with the (somewhat) regular schedule of G33K Out. And, so you can skip them if you want, they will all start with the title "Contents May Vary". 

First up: friend of the podcast Angelique Jurd writes male/male romance, and last year had released a fun short story for free. Knowing I wanted to delve into playing around with audio, I asked if she would be open to me attempting to do an audio version of the story. She agreed. 

Here's the story description:  Jay tells himself that he doesn't mind spending Valentine's Day alone. Again. His friends, however, have different plans and insist on setting him up on a blind date at a gay vegan cooking class. Jay agrees on the condition that if he goes, they'll leave him alone in the future. He doesn't count on the blind date being tall, gorgeous, and very nice. In fact Aaron may be just what Jay needs. 

 I've been a fan of the Reduced Shakespeare Company (and their podcast) for a long time. In fact, I jokingly refer to Austin Tichenor, the one who does the weekly podcast, as the 'honorary godfather' of G33K Out, as that podcast was one of the many influences on G33K Out, and its predecessor Stage Savvy. 

If you're unfamiliar with their work, the RSC has been around since 1981, and started with a variation of what's now know as The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged) at various Renaissance fairs. They've been touring their latest production, William Shakespeare's Long Lost First Play (Abridged), including a stop in Los Angeles. 

I sat down with Austin Tichenor and Reed Martin of the RSC. We talked about being an actor and playwright, how things have changed when they first started, and the various details of working together and doing comedy.  

For complete show notes, go to my website.

Petrea Burchard is an actor, author, audiobook narrator, and voiceover  artist. We met at a writer's group we both belong to, when Petrea did a  presentation on audiobooks. As someone who listens to audiobooks when I  have time in-between listening to podcasts, I was already intrigued. But  when she said she was the original English voice of Ryoko from Tenchi Muyo, she had me hooked.

Petrea has written two books, has narrated the Westwick Witches mystery  series, and has done both stage and screen, among other things. We talk  about all of this, and more.  

For complete show notes, go to my website. 

 For my second roundtable, we discuss shipping -- and some of the taboos that come out of it.  

For complete show notes, go to my website. 

 Fangirling is an art. I talk to one of the women behind the podcast Your Biggest Fangirl, Victoria Male.  

For complete show notes, go to my website. 

In the second of my ongoing series where I interview women in the geek community about their experiences, I talk to Baker Street Babe Sora Reyes.

For complete show notes, go to my website.