For the truly Epic 400th episode of The Functional Nerds podcast, Patrick and John welcome not one, but TWO amazing guests! Gail Carriger and Tom Merritt!

With such combined intellect and wit, we tackle what’s changed in the 9 years since the Functional Nerds began, including but not limited to the following topics: podcast, publishing, Amazon, Netflix, Inkshares, Slice of SciFi, SFSignal, YouTube, Self Publishing, Traditional Publishing, imposter syndrome, NPR, Daily Tech News, Beyond the Trope Podcast, Disney+, Gail’s books, Tom’s books, their podcasts and so much more…

About Gail Carriger: Gail Carriger writes comedies of manners mixed with steampunk and urban fantasy (plus sexy queer paranormal romance as G L Carriger). Her books include the Parasol Protectorate, Custard Protocol, and San Andreas Shifter series for adults, and the Finishing School series for young adults. She is published in many languages, has over a million books in print, over a dozen New York Times and USA Today bestsellers, and starred reviews in Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Kirkus, and Romantic Times.

Her debut made Audible’s Best list, was a Publishers Weekly Best Book, an IndieBound Notable, and a Locus Recommended Read. She has received the ALA’s Alex Award, the Prix Julia Verlanger, the Elbakin Award, the Steampunk Chronicle’s Reader’s Choice Award, and a Starburner Award. She was once an archaeologist and is fond of shoes, cephalopods, and tea.

About Tom Merritt: Tom is an award-winning independent tech podcaster and host of regular tech news and information shows. Tom hosts Sword and Laser, a science fiction and fantasy podcast, book club and publishing imprint, with Veronica Belmont. Tom has published several science fiction and technology books, including Citadel 32: A Tale of the Aggregate, The Year in Tech History, Sword and Laser Anthology, and Lot Beta. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two dogs.

He also co-hosts Daily Tech News Show, covering the most important tech issues of the day with the smartest minds in technology. Tom and Scott Johnson cover the best of the geek world in a weekly show called Current Geek. With Brian Brushwood Tom hosts Cordkillers, bringing people the news they need to watch the TV shows and movies they want when they want and how they want them. He also hosts Top 5 for Tech Republic.

No picks this week, but we do have links to stuff our guests recommend you check out:

* Gail’s New Sci-fi book: The 5th Gender

* Gail’s podcast: 20 Minute Delay

* Contact/Follow Gail Carriger: Contact Gail

* John Ross Bowie on Never Not Funny at SF Sketchfest

* Gail’s podcast recommendation: The Exponent podcast

* Story: Google Podcast transcripts

* Story 2: BBC pulls podcasts from Google

* Story 3: Apple announcements...