Lasers Dragons And Keyboards

We were delighted to have Kat Heckenbach on the podcast this week! Kat is the author of Finding Angel & Seeking Unseen, both entries in the Toch Island Chronicles. With origins in biology, math, and art, her journey to become an author took a bit of circuitous route.

We had a bit of technical difficulties with this podcast, so we apologize for a few blips here and there. I think Aaron suggests juggling a couple rabbits and/or tin foil for the next time. ;)

Happenings In Part 1:

With Kat's background in biology, she shares how that informs the Toch Island Chronicles. The flora and fauna are very important details in her books! The Lord of the Rings is also discussed and how it figures into Kat's favorite character in her books. There's magically-powered electric guitars involved! (This, I gotta see!) With the biology background, it really feeds into how adamant Kat is about the setting of her books. I can't recall if we've seen any of our guests so far be so firm about a story location! Reasons for writing fantasy abound, and there be sheep involved! And as we get into Kat's answer to our superhero question, Aaron brings up some trivia about the making of The Avengers.

Goings On In Part 2:

As we shift into writing mode, we of course ask our plotting versus pantsing question. Kat's answer involves a lot of notecards. Can you guess her answer? Because Aaron has an irreverent solution to her notecard "problem." About that point in the show, we start plotting against Aaron's neighbor's tree….which continues to cause connectivity issues for the podcast. Getting back on track (is this a possibility with this bunch?), we talk about a lack of snacks and drinks with Kat and why that is.

We hates research, Precious! That is why we writes fantasy!

Every writer's favorite part of the episode: Kat offers some of her favorite tips for marketing, and some are pretty off beat options, but definitely viable for most every author.

Even though Kat's is a well-known Harry Potter fan, her answer to our new fandom question may surprise you. But her favorite book is the Harry Potter series. Can you guess which one? And as we wrap things up with Kat for this time, her most surprising thing about being a writer may just surprise you as well. This and a whole lot more—with lots of laughing!—in this week's episode.

Links to topics we discussed: Kat Heckenbach Finding Angel Seeking Unseen J.K. Rowling Brandon Sanderson (Y.A. stuff) Brandon Mull (Fable Haven series) Cornelia Funke Sage Blackwood

We were delighted to have Kat Heckenbach on the podcast this week! Kat is the author of Finding Angel & Seeking Unseen, both entries in the Toch Island Chronicles. With origins in biology, math, and art, her journey to become an author took a bit of circuitous route.

We had a bit of technical difficulties with this podcast, so we apologize for a few blips here and there. I think Aaron suggests juggling a couple rabbits and/or tin foil for the next time. ;)

Happenings In Part 1:

With Kat's background in biology, she shares how that informs the Toch Island Chronicles. The flora and fauna are very important details in her books! The Lord of the Rings is also discussed and how it figures into Kat's favorite character in her books. There's magically-powered electric guitars involved! (This, I gotta see!) With the biology background, it really feeds into how adamant Kat is about the setting of her books. I can't recall if we've seen any of our guests so far be so firm about a story location! Reasons for writing fantasy abound, and there be sheep involved! And as we get into Kat's answer to our superhero question, Aaron brings up some trivia about the making of The Avengers.

Goings On In Part 2:

As we shift into writing mode, we of course ask our plotting versus pantsing question. Kat's answer involves a lot of notecards. Can you guess her answer? Because Aaron has an irreverent solution to her notecard "problem." About that point in the show, we start plotting against Aaron's neighbor's tree….which continues to cause connectivity issues for the podcast. Getting back on track (is this a possibility with this bunch?), we talk about a lack of snacks and drinks with Kat and why that is.

We hates research, Precious! That is why we writes fantasy!

Every writer's favorite part of the episode: Kat offers some of her favorite tips for marketing, and some are pretty off beat options, but definitely viable for most every author.

Even though Kat's is a well-known Harry Potter fan, her answer to our new fandom question may surprise you. But her favorite book is the Harry Potter series. Can you guess which one? And as we wrap things up with Kat for this time, her most surprising thing about being a writer may just surprise you as well. This and a whole lot more—with lots of laughing!—in this week's episode.

Links to topics we discussed: Kat Heckenbach Finding Angel Seeking Unseen J.K. Rowling Brandon Sanderson (Y.A. stuff) Brandon Mull (Fable Haven series) Cornelia Funke Sage Blackwood

This week with Cindy Koepp...

Hi ho, Silver, away! We learn about the strange inspiration for "Like Herding the Wind"... Also, this book was apparently set in every location known to man (and some that weren't) before the final draft. We also learn that Cindy loves to write fight scenes... hmm....

What does a 1925 Ford have to do with Like Herding the Wind? You'll have to listen to find out. Also, we get a new answer to "What's your favorite superhero?"!!

This and so much more this week on Lasers, Dragons, and Keyboards!

Things we talked about:

• Cindy Koepp
• Like Herding the Wind
• Bruce Hale's Chet Gheko series
• Gordon R. Dixon's Dorsai's series
• Janet Kagen's Hellspark
• Space 1999 (BBC)
• Travis Perry's Medieval Mars

Dead bodies - and their viewing - were liberally sprinkled through our time with Morgan Busse. Morgan is a writer of epic fantasy. She's recently branched out into Steampunk with the soon-to-be-released Tainted. The idea for Tainted? A discussion on necromancy!

When we weren't discussing the history behind morgues and what rain did to Victorian-era graveyards (you won't want to miss the answer!), we had fun talking about tea. Though Morgan did admit that she'd like nothing more than to enjoy a Raktijino.

Her path to becoming an author is actually a bit unique, and Morgan didn't always want to be a writer. You'll have to tune in to find out how she came to be an author!

Her odd Google searches are truly odd, even for this crowd. You'll want to tune in for that.

How Morgan writes with four kids and as a pastor's wife. If you have a crazy house, you'll want to hear how she deals with writing in that environment.

And her marketing practices are very helpful...but you'll have to listen to hear what those consist of. One tip she has is that she sees an uptick in her sales when she finishes writing a series. (So maybe that's a hint to all of us authors to produce more books more quickly!)

Enter to win TAINTED through a Rafflecopter giveaway

Links: Morgan Busse Tainted Enclave Publishing Star Trek: DS9 Captain America Enclave Publishing Evangeline Denmark Terry Brooks (Shannara series & Sometimes the Magic Works)

Dead bodies - and their viewing - were liberally sprinkled through our time with Morgan Busse. Morgan is a writer of epic fantasy. She's recently branched out into Steampunk with the soon-to-be-released Tainted. The idea for Tainted? A discussion on necromancy!

When we weren't discussing the history behind morgues and what rain did to Victorian-era graveyards (you won't want to miss the answer!), we had fun talking about tea. Though Morgan did admit that she'd like nothing more than to enjoy a Raktijino.

Her path to becoming an author is actually a bit unique, and Morgan didn't always want to be a writer. You'll have to tune in to find out how she came to be an author!

Her odd Google searches are truly odd, even for this crowd. You'll want to tune in for that.

How Morgan writes with four kids and as a pastor's wife. If you have a crazy house, you'll want to hear how she deals with writing in that environment.

And her marketing practices are very helpful...but you'll have to listen to hear what those consist of. One tip she has is that she sees an uptick in her sales when she finishes writing a series. (So maybe that's a hint to all of us authors to produce more books more quickly!)

Enter to win TAINTED through a Rafflecopter giveaway

Links: Morgan Busse Tainted Enclave Publishing Star Trek: DS9 Captain America Enclave Publishing Evangeline Denmark Terry Brooks (Shannara series & Sometimes the Magic Works)

As the founder of the first--and only, to the best of our knowledge--conference for writers of faith with a sci-fi and fantasy bent, one may think Rebecca "Becky" Minor might be a bit too busy to sit down with us lowly podcasters. However, Becky is a wonderful person to chat with, and we're delighted that she took time out of her schedule to have a lively discussion with us this week!

Writing as Rebecca P. Minor, Becky authors the Windrider Saga (the only one out right now is Divine Summons), which I am definitely going to have to put on my TBR pile...err, mountain...err, okay, well it's a library at this stage. The description of her protagonist alone is enough to make someone say, "Uh, yeah, I need to read that!"

Episode 16 features more discussion on her writing, as well as Realm Makers, the world's most AWESOME writing conference for nerds and geeks of faith!

• Becky's writing process, since she's a full-on pantser. We have a lengthy discussion about how Scrivener can be used by the pantser...even though Becky isn't an adopter.
• Becky's odd item that she's Googled is quite unusual.
• We discuss Becky's favorite book (you probably won't be surprised) and the version she has on her bookshelves.
• Costco is one of our famous bunny-trails...and you'll find the diversion quite hilarious. (One word: Pickles.)
• Realm Makers! What is it, how did it get started, and what's coming up for it in 2016! (Awesome writer's conference for us geeks--you really should come!)
• And much, much more! https://wordpress.com/post/lasersdragonsandkeyboards.wordpress.com/564

Links to Things and People we discussed:

• Rebecca "Becky" P. Minor
• Divine Summons
• J.R.R. Tolkien
• Ray Bradbury
• Madeline L'Engle (Tilting Planet)
• Lloyd Alexander (Chronicles of Prydain / Black Cauldron)
• Almond Thins (for the gluten-free listener!)
• Brandon Sanderson (The Way of Kings)
• Robert Liparulo
• Patrick Rothfuss (The Name of the Wind)

Episode 15 Audio Link

As the founder of the first--and only, to the best of our knowledge--conference for writers of faith with a sci-fi and fantasy bent, one may think Rebecca "Becky" Minor might be a bit too busy to sit down with us lowly podcasters. However, Becky is a wonderful person to chat with, and we're delighted that she took time out of her schedule to have a lively discussion with us this week!

Writing as Rebecca P. Minor, Becky authors the Windrider Saga (the only one out right now is Divine Summons), which I am definitely going to have to put on my TBR pile...err, mountain...err, okay, well it's a library at this stage. The description of her protagonist alone is enough to make someone say, "Uh, yeah, I need to read that!"

In Episode 15, you'll learn the following:

• How Becky's interesting history informs her writing.
• What drives Becky crazy in other author's books?
• Some of her favorite authors--there's a few names on the list who are familiar, and some others who may not be.
• How her art--and she is an amazing artist!--informs her writing.
• AMA-ZOMBIES!
• Plus a lot more, including her plans to do something special with her existing books...

Links to Things and People we discussed:

• Rebecca "Becky" P. Minor
• Divine Summons
• J.R.R. Tolkien
• Ray Bradbury
• Madeline L'Engle (Tilting Planet)
• Lloyd Alexander (Chronicles of Prydain / Black Cauldron)

http://LasersDragonsAndKeyboards.Wordpress.com/

Also known as the one with the Tartan!

This week we had Robert Treskillard as our guest. He's a swordsmithing writer of Merlinean and Arthurian fantasy. His latest book is Merlin's Nightmare.

When we weren't fighting with squeals, snarls, and bad connections we discussed how to give characters authentic names. The mythology of Merlin was discussed and theories about Stonehenge flew! (And on the bad connections issue, you will not notice it as our guest graciously re-recorded all of our bad patches--and trust me, if you'd heard the raw file, it was BAD. We wouldn't have been comfortable putting that out for public consumption, so thank you so much, Robert!)

Robert's answer to our superhero question broke a trend, and drew some oohs and aahs from your dedicated hosts.

Due to the above mentioned snarls, we were only able to record one half of our normal podcast. We hope to catch up with Robert again in the near future to discuss his writing process. So stay tuned for that!

Links:

Robert TreskillardMerlin's NightmareStephen LawheadAndrew PetersonL.B. GrahamDouglass BondStarship Troopers

In part two, we start things off right. That's right, we're immediately sidetracked talking about tea. (And Aaron manages to insult Liberty's favorite--Earl Grey--while she's drinking it.)

Grace next mentions here favorite book, and we follow that up with a discussion of the metric system. (No, the two are not related... at all...)

We manage to ask a few relevant questions, before we get sidetracked by cats (which Liberty may or may not have edited out.) Then we talk about marketing, which Grace does know something about. You'll have to listen to figure out how to get more people to open your e-mails...

Links to Things of No Interest That We May Have Blathered On About For A Bit:

• Grace Bridges (and perhaps even her book, Mariah's Dream)
• Grace as Captain Janeway (1) & Video 2
• Splashdown Books
• Book Dispository Depository
• What's Earth Star Voyager??
• For both of you that have never heard the Jeopardy theme...
• Reading For Authors (book, find it, fix the title, and link to it. THIS MEANS YOU! It's "Reading Like a Writer", by Francine Prose. ...and you don't have to yell -Aaron)
• Grace's favorite Irish tea
• The world's greatest writing software: Scrivener
• Stephen Lawhead's Empyrion
• Stephen Lawhead's Taliesen
• Alexander McCall Smith
• Jill Domschot
• Kathy Tyers
• Terry Pratchett
• Jeremy Robinson
• Chris Well
• Buffer
• IFTTT (If This, Then That)

This week we interview the Space Kiwi, Grace Bridges. (10 nerd points for everyone who knows why she has that nickname!)

We start off with Aaron knowing who he is for once... sort of...

The Week Of Firsts continues, as we don't emediently imediently imediantly right away start off down a rabbit trail! (I know, I can't believe it either! - Aaron) Ah, that's better, a side discussion on philosophy. Much better...

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for: The question "Is there an author who's favorite superhero ISN'T Batman?" has been answered! (You'll have to listen to the podcast to find out who...)

We talk about favorite movies, and Aaron brings up Earth Star Voyager... and no one else has ever heard of it. Sigh. Grace's favorite captain is no surprise to any of us. Aaron opines about Voyager, but does state that Season 3, Episode 7, "Sacred Ground" is one of the best hours of sci-fi ever, except for one tiny flaw...

Links to Things of No Interest That We May Have Blathered On About For A Bit:

• Grace Bridges (and perhaps even her book, Mariah's Dream)
• Grace as Captain Janeway (1) & Video 2
• Splashdown Books
• Book Dispository Depository
• What's Earth Star Voyager??
• For both of you that have never heard the Jeopardy theme...
• Reading For Authors (book, find it, fix the title, and link to it. THIS MEANS YOU! It's "Reading Like a Writer", by Francine Prose. ...and you don't have to yell -Aaron)
• Grace's favorite Irish tea
• The world's greatest writing software: Scrivener
• Stephen Lawhead's Empyrion
• Stephen Lawhead's Taliesen
• Alexander McCall Smith
• Jill Domschot
• Kathy Tyers
• Terry Pratchett
• Jeremy Robinson
• Jeffrey Overstreet
• Chris Well
• Buffer
• IFTTT (If This, Then That)