If This Goes On (Don't Panic): Science Fiction, Fantasy & Progressive Politics

In this episode Alan reviews (books linked below):

• Tempest Blades: The Lost Knight and Other Tales by Ricardo Victoria published by Shadow Dragon Press 2025

• Space Trucker Jess by Matthew Kressel published by Fairwood Press 2025

• One Night at Kedasi by Ashton Macaulay published by Shadow Dragon Press 2026

• Creative Futures: Speculative Short Stories from a Unique Science & Technology Collaboration edited by Allen Stroud, published by Flame Tree Press 2025

• The Final Chronicle of Yeneh by Jo Miles published by Horned Lark Press 2026

• Marguerite and the Wishing Fish by Jamie Lackey published by Villainess Press 2026

TW: Violence, Child death

In this episode, Alan and Diane talk to writer Nadia Afifi. They discuss Nadia's new duology, writing multiple timelines, improving as a writer, Palestine, history through different points of view, being radicalized, the imperial boomerang, and much more.

You can find Naida's books here: https://www.flametreepress.com/

Nadia's website here: https://www.nadiaafifi.com/

"The Lonely Timetraveler of Kentish Town": https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/afifi_11_22/

TW: Death

In this episode, Alan and Diane talk to writer Ivy Grimes. They discuss Vasilisa the Beautiful, Baba Yaga, Weird Fiction, Frau Perchta, death, grieving rituals, writing communities, sitcom tropes in horror, forgiving evil characters, and much more.

You can find Ivy's website here: https://ivyivyivyivy.com

You can find the Cellar Below the Cellar here: https://www.apexbookcompany.com/products/the-cellar-below-the-cellar

In this episode, Alan and Cat talk to author Lili Saintcrow. They discuss D&D, Tolkien, World Of Warcraft (WoW), Star Hacker, the popularization of nerd culture, Lili's 5th grade novella, action movies, writing in different genres, the demented orange king, and much more.

You can find all Lili's work here: https://www.lilithsaintcrow.com/

In this epeisode of Hope in Horror, Paul Jessup tackles the the most iconic horror writer of our time, Stephen King. Paul discusses a number of King's most iconic works, as well as some of the movies based on his work.

Be sure to check out Paul's new book Cancer Eats the Heart. https://firebirdcreative.myshopify.com/products/cancer-eats-the-heart

In this episode, Alan and Cat talk to software developer and award nominated writer, Matthew Kressel. They discuss writing with authenticity, writing unfamiliar cultures, Dungeons and Dragons, what writers can take from RPGs, Matt's new novels Spacetrucker Jess and The Rainseekers, AI, plagiarism, and much more.

You can find The Rainseekers here: https://books2read.com/u/4N0Na8.

You can find Spacetrucker Jess here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250392435/therainseekers.

In this episode, Alan and Cat talk to poet, podcaster, author, and tarot reader, Beatrice Winifred Iker. They discuss religion, horror and religion, queerness, writing neurodiverse characters, Appalachia, organizing complicated plots, Mothman, perfume recommendations, and much more.

You can find Beatrice and their books here: https://www.beatriceiker.com/books.

In this episode, Alan talks to writer and educator Brandon Crilly. They discuss the challenges in con running, religion, alien gods, characters with major personality shifts, magic, historical cycles, Hopepunk, messages in fiction, and much more.

You can find Brandon Crilly and his books here: https://brandoncrilly.com.

In the Fifth part of this column, we flip the script and discuss how writers can pursue equity in their writing, how to deal with problematic creators, and how Dr. Carroll deals with the toxicity of reading alt-right works, and authors who are examples of anti-fascist writing.

You can purhase Speualtive Whiteness here: https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517917081/speculative-whiteness/

In this episode, Alan talks to writer Premee Mohamed. They discuss imposter syndrome, awards, being caegorized as horror, the state of the horror genre, Stephen King, the correlation between social media and sales, quicksand, Premee's favorite ink, audience questions, and much more.

You can find Premee Mohamed and her books here: https://premeemohamed.com/author/premee/