Geekdom Empowers

This week, we're reposting two awesome interviews with authors who were just nominated for the Hugo Award.

Today’s guest is Donald Oghenechovwe Ekpeki, a speculative fiction author from Nigeria, whose story 'O2 Arena' is nominated for both the Hugo and the Nebula.

He has been awarded an honorable mention in the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest, twice. His short story “The Witching Hour,” won the 2018 Nommo award for best short story by an African. He was longlisted for the 2019 Nommo award and the 2020 British Science Fiction Association award. He was also awarded the 2020 Horror Writers Association diversity grant and was nominated for best novella by the Nebula Awards.

I usually don’t give you a list of a guest’s accomplishments, but in this case it is relevant. We’ve talked in this podcasts with guests about the way the American and British SF&F world keeps out authors from other countries, about how so much SF&F gets lost by never being noticed in the world, and I guess you know that there is a lot of inherent racism towards Africans. But whatever we know, whatever we assume, Donald shows us in this interview today many of the ways that African writers are cut off from the rest of the world, from self-publishing, from the big publishers, and more.

You can find Donald on:

Website: odekpeki.com/

Twitter: Twitter.com/@penprince_

Also check out the books he edited that we talked about: 'The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction (2021)' and 'Dominion’.

Geekdom Empowers comes out every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. You can find us here:

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Today’s guest is Melvin Cartagena, an indie comic book creator. Check out his journey!

You can find Melvin here:

Website: https://robopulp.gumroad.com/l/ThePlot

Twitter: twitter.com/robopulp

Instagram: Instagram.com/robo.pulp

Geekdom Empowers comes out every Tuesday and Thursday. You can find us here:

Website: www.geekdomeempowers.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/geekdomempowers/

Twitter: twitter.com/GeekdomEmpowers

Facebook: www.facebook.com/geekdomempowers

TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@geekdomempowers

YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCvrEwgBdrHuQ29V80A7zSXg

Today’s guest is Michael Iwoleit, a German science fiction author and editor of the German SF magazine Nova, editor of the international SF magazine InterNova, which was published in English. This was one of the first influences fifteen, almost twenty years ago, which got the English-speaking audiences to the point where they’re able to read and like science fiction from non-English-speaking countries. It was one of the things that began the movement.

As you’ll be able to hear, I know Michael from all those years ago. He published a few stories of mine, in German and in English in InterNova. And today he’ll talk about his own path as fan, editor, and writer. About international SF, about German SF and about the history of German SF&F.

It’s fascinating! However, sound quality in addition to a raspy voice means you should listen to it with earphones. It’s worth it.

You can find Michael here:

Nova: www.nova-sf.de

InterNova: internova.worldculturehub.net

World Culture Hub (an international cultural project that InterNova is a part of): www.worldculturehub.net

Personal website: mki.worldculturehub.net

Geekdom Empowers comes out every Tuesday and Thursday. You can find us here:

Website: www.geekdomeempowers.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/geekdomempowers/

Twitter: twitter.com/GeekdomEmpowers

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TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@geekdomempowers

YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCvrEwgBdrHuQ29V80A7zSXg

Today’s guest is Gideon Marcus, American SF author, creator of the Galactic Journey blog (which follows SF&F from 55 years ago), and publisher of cool SF books.

don’t want to spoil anything. I’ll just say that we go through the history of science fiction and fantasy, talk about women and gay SFF authors in the 50’s and 60’s, the right way to watch Star Trek, and sooooo much more. Including how Gideon’s geekiness created an entire community built around his particular geekiness.

I shall say no more. Just. Bloody. Listen.

You can find Gideon here:

Website: www.galacticjourney.org

Galactic Journey’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/journeygalactic

Journey Press: https://journeypress.com/

Journey Press’ Twitter: https://twitter.com/PressJourney

Gideon Marcus’ Twitter: https://twitter.com/gideonmarcus9

Geekdom Empowers comes out every Tuesday and Thursday. You can find us here:

Website: www.geekdomeempowers.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/geekdomempowers/

Twitter: twitter.com/GeekdomEmpowers

Facebook: www.facebook.com/geekdomempowers

TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@geekdomempowers

YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCvrEwgBdrHuQ29V80A7zSXg

Today’s guest is Andrea Johnson.

Andrea used to write science fiction and fantasy book reviews as Little Red Reviewer, now she’s got a new podcast called Retro Rockets Podcast, and in-between she does cool things for Apex Books, which, by the way, you should check out.

You can find Andrea here:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/redhead5318

Little Red Reviewer: https://littleredreviewer.wordpress.com/

Retro Rockets Podcast website: https://retrorockets.wordpress.com/

Retro Rockets Twitter: https://twitter.com/RetroRocketsPod

RetroRockets at Podbean https://retrorocketspodcast.podbean.com/

Geekdom Empowers comes out every Tuesday and Thursday. You can find us here:

Website: www.geekdomeempowers.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/geekdomempowers/

Twitter: twitter.com/GeekdomEmpowers

Facebook: www.facebook.com/geekdomempowers

TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@geekdomempowers

YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCvrEwgBdrHuQ29V80A7zSXg

Today’s guest is Gu Shi, award-winning Chinese science fiction author.

You can find Gu Shi here:

Her stories on Clarkesworld: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/author/gu-shi/

Twitter:https://twitter.com/gushidoc

Geekdom Empowers comes out every Tuesday and Thursday. You can find us here:

Website: www.geekdomeempowers.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/geekdomempowers/

Twitter: twitter.com/GeekdomEmpowers

Facebook: www.facebook.com/geekdomempowers

TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@geekdomempowers

YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCvrEwgBdrHuQ29V80A7zSXg

Today’s guest is animator and creator Cory Kerr. He will walk us through his journey, his origin story, and so many more things!

Enjoy!

You can find Cory here:

Website: www.corykerr.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coryrkerr

Twitter: https://twitter.com/corykerr

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/mythidiot

Behance: https://www.behance.net/corykerr

Geekdom Empowers comes out every Tuesday and Thursday. You can find us here:

Website: www.geekdomeempowers.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/geekdomempowers/

Twitter: twitter.com/GeekdomEmpowers

Facebook: www.facebook.com/geekdomempowers

TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@geekdomempowers

YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCvrEwgBdrHuQ29V80A7zSXg

Today our guest is Justin Quizon, geek creator, podcaster, writer and director who, in his Instagram description, describes himself as “I won’t shut up about movies.” We talk to Justin about his journey, about Lumpia, a Filipino superhero movie (he’s involved in the second movie), about his plans for a first movie, about comedy, about superheroes, and so much more.

You can find Justin here:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justinquiz/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/justinquizon

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/JustinQuizon

Geekdom Empowers comes out every Tuesday and Thursday. You can find us here:

Website: www.geekdomeempowers.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/geekdomempowers/

Twitter: twitter.com/GeekdomEmpowers

Facebook: www.facebook.com/geekdomempowers

TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@geekdomempowers

YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCvrEwgBdrHuQ29V80A7zSXg

Today our guest is Ralph Miranda, artist and animator, with an amazing approach to art and life! I hope you enjoy it!

You can find Ralph here:

Homepage: https://ralphious.com/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSjrMNA_jKsa8X47HZN-gOw

DeviantArt: https://www.deviantart.com/ralphious

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ralphinox/

Geekdom Empowers comes out every Tuesday and Thursday. You can find us here:

Website: www.geekdomeempowers.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/geekdomempowers/

Twitter: twitter.com/GeekdomEmpowers

Facebook: www.facebook.com/geekdomempowers

TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@geekdomempowers

YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCvrEwgBdrHuQ29V80A7zSXg

Today our guest is Usman Malik, a Pakistani fantasy, science fiction, and horror author, winner of the British Fantasy Award, the Bram Stoker Award, nominated for the Nebula, and so much more we’re going to cover. Usman takes us through his journey as a writer, and talks about the science fiction and fantasy scene in Pakistan.

You can find Usman here:

Website: usmanmalik.org

Twitter: twitter.com/@usmantm

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/usmantanveermalik/?hl=en

Geekdom Empowers comes out every Tuesday and Thursday. You can find us here:

Website: www.geekdomeempowers.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/geekdomempowers/

Twitter: twitter.com/GeekdomEmpowers

Facebook: www.facebook.com/geekdomempowers

TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@geekdomempowers

YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCvrEwgBdrHuQ29V80A7zSXg