This time around, we’re joined by the one and only Miri Baker (@MiriBaker). Miri brings us a trunked story from ye olden days, all the way back in 2011, plus a lot of great conversation about the load-bearing parts of our personalities, cosplay, and how genuinely liking the things we like is good, actually.

This episode’s reading carries content warnings for blood, extremely unsafe handling of swords, and extremely incorrect understanding of swords. It is just under 20 minutes long.

Things we mention on this episode:

Blue at War, the cape Miri made for Amal El-Mohtar for the 2020 Hugos

Lillian Boyd

Machine of Death and This Is How You Die, edited by Ryan North, Matthew Bennardo, and David Malki

The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde

Duotrope’s Digest

The Submission Grinder

Wondermark! By David Malki

Steampunk

Fence, by C.S. Pacat

Sarah Rees Brennan

The Demon’s Lexicon, by Sarah Rees Brennan

In Other Lands, by Sarah Rees Brennan

Monstrous Affections, edited by Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant

Be the Serpent

Worldcon 76

Fullmetal Alchemist

Himoru Arakawa

Neil Gaiman’s Journal

Tumblr

Arthur, season 14, episode 4, ­“Falafelosophy”

Miss Snark’s Blog

Query Shark

George Clponey

John Scalzi’s Whatever

Chuck Wendig’s Terrible Minds

Mary Robinette Kowal’s My Favorite Bit

Sarah Gailey’s Stone Soup

Writing Excuses

Schlock Mercenary, by Howard Tayler

LiveJournal

Fantasy Rants

Gaia Online

NaNoWriMo

Uncanny Magazine

Viable Paradise

Sarah Gailey

River of Teeth, by Sarah Gailey

Sarah’s Star Wars tweets

Amanda Cook’s episode

The Hugo Awards

Yaya Han’s ultimate bodysuit pattern

SFWA

Annalee Flower Horne

Anime Weekend Atlanta

Friends at the Table

Gravity Falls

Steven Universe

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Archive of our Own

Fanfiction dot net

Arcane

Riot Games

League of Legends

RWBY

Rooster Teeth

Red vs. Blue

Halo

Persona 5 Royal

Steam

The Locked Tomb series, by Tamsyn Muir

Nona the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir

Cybergoth freeway rave

Miri’s portfolio

Rekka Jay

This is How You Lose the Time War, by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Stick around next month for the return of Valeria Valdes and Rem Wigmore!