Slurp ramen with Mur Lafferty as we discuss the problems which come from being a discovery writer who sells a novel via a pitch,  how to play fair with readers of science fiction mysteries, the reason everyone's worried she wants to kill her agent, one major difference between Hollywood and publishing, why the character she often thinks will end up being the murderer doesn't end up being the murderer, how to deftly recap previous books in a series, whether going too weird might alienate a writer's audience, what keeps her continuing to podcast after 21 years, the importance of shrugging off rejections, and much more.

Rip into a lobster roll with Benjamin Rosenbaum as we discuss the perhaps true/perhaps whimsical reason he ended up in the science fiction field rather than literary publishing, why the story he found the most difficult to sell became his most-read work, how he gamified the submission/rejection process to get into Clarion, the way all stories set in the future are being read in translation, the reason he couldn't write for a while after his first Nebula nomination, the moral and aesthetic reasons the story of Ghost and the Golem ended up as a game rather than a novel, why he believes "I am very much a child of Chip Delany," the fascinating differences between the German and English versions of his novel The Reckoning, the intricacies of turning games into novels and novels into movies, and much more.

Pig out on pork belly with Curtis C. Chen as we discuss how he discovered Star Trek through the bars of his crib, how the superspy star of his Kangaroo trilogy was born, what it was like being critiqued by Pat Murphy and Ursula K. Le Guin when he was starting out, how taking voice acting lessons kickstarted his desire to write, the way to tell when it's time to quit your day job (or not), how his nearly five-years-long flash fiction story-a-week project began, his creative solution for referencing the 20th century in his future series, an intriguing exercise for writers when watching TV shows based on the written word, why he went indie for the third book in his series, and much more.

Binge on burnt ends with Aimee Ogden as we discuss the YA novel origins of her new novella and the way a watermelon radish gave birth to them both, whether we agree which of her characters therein will captivate readers the most, why she believes in "productive procrastination," how having twins counterintuitively helped rather than hindered her writing output, our opposing views on plotting vs. pantsing, the Bible story she can't stop thinking about, how she chooses the next best thing to write, her secret to writing successful flash fiction, how she was able to carry on in the face of rejection, why being an editor helped her become a better writer, which Ursula K. Le Guin quote she chose as a tattoo, and much more.

Devour a seafood tower with Samantha Mills as we discuss how the eighth novel she wrote became her award-winning debut novel, what she means when she says that novel was "kind of" outlined, the way fascism takes root in a society, the trickiness of writing a narrative with split timelines (and why she's never doing it again), how being an archivist helped her write about a world where archiving matters, the secret to writing believable fight scenes, her technique for switching up writing time between novels and short stories, the early influence of Xena: Warrior Princess, how years of research resulted in her award-winning short story "Rabbit Test," the way an early pregnancy test led to a worldwide frog apocalypse, navigating the difficulties of the modern short story market, the organizing principle of her upcoming collection, how she was able to power through her initial rejections, and much more.

Bite into blueberry pancakes with Silvia Moreno-Garcia as we discuss how short stories helped her find her voice, the way a gross dream combined with a teen cemetery trip led to Mexican Gothic, her love for abandoned places, why she found Madame Bovary startling when she read it in high school, how to successfully write genres in which the reader is more aware of the tropes than the protagonist, the beauty to be found in flawed characters, how to make sure parallel storylines are equally interesting, one technique she admits doing which makes multiple types of readers angry, the difficulty of resisting branding, the reason the term magic realism is overused, and much more.

Feast on oysters with Kemi Ashing-Giwa as we discuss her conscious decision to not take any creative writing courses in college, the eight never-to-be published novels she wrote on her way to The Splinter in the Sky, how COVID-19 led her to take a deep dive into tea (and how tea then inspired her debut novel), her evolution from pantser to plotter, her outreach to 200 agents before she found the right one, how to craft compelling opening sentences, her tips for writing successful fight scenes, why she was able to handle attending Harvard and writing a novel at the same time, how best to deal with editorial revision suggestions, her love of reading debut novels, and much more.

Toast writer/editor Craig Laurance Gidney as we discuss how meeting Samuel R. Delany led to his attending the Clarion Writing Workshop, the influence of reading decadent writers such as Verlaine and Rimbaud, why he kept at trying to get published when so many of his peers stopped, the many ways flaws can sometimes make a story more interesting, our shared love of ambiguity, the reason there must be beauty entwined with horror, why he’s a vibes guy rather than a plot guy, the time Tanith Lee bought him a pint and how that led to him coediting her tribute anthology, what he learned from his years editing a flash fiction magazine, and much more.

Break for brunch with writer Adeena Mignogna as we discuss how Star Trek changed her life, which Trek character she used as her screen name on fan forums when she first went online as a young teen, why she never wrote fanfic, the feedback from a friend which saved her NaNoWriMo novel from being trunked, how she discovered she's neither a plotter nor a pantser but rather something in-between, her favorite science fiction novel of all time (and the important lesson it taught her about her Robot Galaxy series), why she went the indie route and how she knew she had the chops to pull it off, the manner in which we gender robots, the reason writing each book in her quartet was more fun than the one before, why she remains hopeful about our AI future, how she finally learned she was a morning writer after years of trying to write at night, and much more.

Pig out on pork belly with Jarrett Melendez as we discuss how his loves of food and writing combined into a career, the way running comic book conventions gave him the contacts he needed when it was time to create comics of his own, which franchise inspired his sole piece of fan fiction, the comics creator whose lessons proved invaluable, how he knew Chef's Kiss needed to be a graphic novel rather than a miniseries, the way he balanced multiple plot arcs so they resolved in parallel, the magical pig whose taste is more trustworthy than any chef you've ever met, his early crush on Encyclopedia Brown, how he cooks up recipes connected with franchises such as Pokémon and Percy Jackson, the traumatic childhood incident which became the catalyst for his upcoming graphic novel, and much more.