Welcome to Episode 148 of Speculate! The Podcast for Writers, Readers and Fans.  In this episode we conclude our two-show series on the work of Daniel Polansky, focusing on his novella The Builders, by chatting with Daniel himself and his Tor.com editor, Justin Landon.  Justin talks about what drew him to The Builders and why he thought it was a perfect work for a novella generally and Tor.com specifically, what the editing process was like, and why he thinks the novella form has become more popular and commercially viable in recent years, while Daniel discusses the challenges of writing novellas as opposed to novels, the influences on The Builders, and whether he finds thematic or message-oriented fiction as interested as just a plain story…and why.  We really had a lot of fun with this book and the conversation, and we hope you enjoy it as much as we did.  If you like what you hear, don’t forget to check back next week for a special roundtable discussion with Max Gladstone, Ellen Kushner, and Julian Yap about SerialBox Publishing.  And remember, both our writing technique shows and the Good, Bad and Ugly segments (including a new one from this episode with Daniel and Justin) are only available to our Patreon supporters, so please head over there to hear more.  Thanks for supporting us here and via our Patreon page, and thanks as always for listening to and spreading the word about the show!