On this very special episode the MythWits welcome astronaut Colonel Mike Mullane. Mike is an Aeronautical Engineer and was selected as a Mission Specialist in 1978 in the first group of Space Shuttle Astronauts. He completed three space missions aboard the Shuttles Discovery and Atlantis before retiring from NASA and the Air Force in 1990. He served America during the Vietnam War as a combat pilot flying 134 combat missions. He has been inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame and is the recipient of many awards, including the Air Force Distinguished Flying Cross, Legion of Merit, and the NASA Space Flight Medal. Since his retirement from NASA, Colonel Mullane has written an award-winning children’s book, Liftoff! An Astronaut’s Dream, and a popular space-fact book, Do Your Ears Pop In Space? His memoir, Riding Rockets: The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut, has been reviewed in the New York Times and on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. http://mikemullane.com https://www.youtube.com/user/AstronautMikeMullane https://www.facebook.com/Astronaut-Mike-Mullane-124294290921529

Mike and Pete talk a little about Dragon*Con and Mike and Pete invite you into the writer's room as we create MythWits worthy heroes.

The MythWits welcome theoretical astrophysicist Ethan Siegel. He loves writing long, glorious, illustrated articles that tell what we know about the Universe and how we know it. He's been writing the blog Starts With A Bang since 2008, currently at Forbes. He also writes a monthly column for NASA's The Space Place that appears in over 200 astronomy club newsletters worldwide. His very first book, "Beyond the Galaxy," is available from World Scientific. It tells the entire story of what the Universe is made of, how big it is, where it came from and what it's fate is, told in plain English with no equations. Ethan can be found appearing on TV and radio spots, teaching at Lewis & Clark college, broadcasting the Starts With A Bang podcast on SoundCloud, working with various science museums and in general sharing what we know about the Universe with anyone willing to listen. http://forbes.com/sites/startswithabang http://www.facebook.com/startswithabang/ Twitter: @StartsWithABang http://youtube.com/user/ethansiegel http://medium.com/starts-with-a-bang http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/

The MythWits talk with Nik Palmer about movies, the movie draft, and Pete introduces his Dirty Text to Speech bit. http://www.panikproductions.com/ https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/panikproductions/mutant-manual-a-poly-system-rpg-sourcebook http://www.rpgnow.com/browse/pub/4513/paNik-productions?test_epoch=0

On this episode the MythWits have returning guest Nik Palmer. He’s a game designer who’s coming on to talk about his work and his first Kickstarter, the Mutant Manual. http://www.panikproductions.com/ https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/panikproductions/mutant-manual-a-poly-system-rpg-sourcebook http://www.rpgnow.com/browse/pub/4513/paNik-productions?test_epoch=0

Luke was born to a dying people, raised by monsters, abandoned in the ruins of a once-great civilization. Despite this he managed to become an award-winning game designer and has designed excellent games like Burning Wheel, Mouseguard, and Torchbearer. http://www.burningwheel.com Twitter: @burning_luke Amazon RPG Now

The MythWits play Bet the Geek with Haley Bowery of the Manimals. We bet on her knowledge of Game of Thrones. http://www.manimals.band http://www.facebook.com/themanimals Twitter: @haleybowery http://www.youtube.com/c/TheManimals http://www.manimalsnyc.bandcamp.com http://genius.com/albums/The-manimals/Seven https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/drinking-game-of-thrones-bk/id1095438044?mt=2

The Manimals marry party rock with poetry to produce raucous anthems and inspire sing-alongs and dancing wherever they go. A female-fronted, genre-bending five-piece, The Manimals bring to mind hints of David Bowie, Joan Jett, The New York Dolls, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Blondie. Their ecstatic, cathartic live show is a throwback to the wild thrills of early punk rock, but with lyrical intensity and melodic heights rarely found in its modern iterations. Their vibrant and aggressive debut album, Born Strange, was released in 2012. SEVEN, a geeky glam-rock concept album lovingly based on George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, was released in April 2016. Like the source material, it’s searingly emotional and seriously epic. http://www.manimals.band http://www.facebook.com/themanimals Twitter: @haleybowery http://www.youtube.com/c/TheManimals http://www.manimalsnyc.bandcamp.com http://genius.com/albums/The-manimals/Seven https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/drinking-game-of-thrones-bk/id1095438044?mt=2

The MythWits go hoof to hoof with David Silver and Ken Leyhe in a ponyriffic episode of MatchWits. http://bit.ly/Ponyfinder http://www.facebook.com/pathfinderponies Twitter: SilvergamesLLC http://www.youtube.com/user/nukuv http://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/5559/Silver-Games-LLC Ken “Lunpy” Leyhe http://www.IcePackGames.com https://www.youtube.com/user/Torenithus

We welcome David Silver to join us to talk about his Kickstarter Ponyfinder - Dawn of the Fifth Age. David is the guy that looked at a bunch of brightly colored ponies and decided he would put them in a real fantasy world. There are no rainbows to shield them from dark happenings and terrible forces beyond their control, or even their own petty desires. Fallen empires and ancient secrets give plentiful reasons for adventurers to exist, even if they happen to have four legs. He remains committed to this world and enjoys diverse role-playing options, as well as crowdfunding and sourcing, and has made his books via Kickstarters and Patreon. http://bit.ly/Ponyfinder http://www.facebook.com/pathfinderponies Twitter: SilvergamesLLC http://www.youtube.com/user/nukuv http://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/5559/Silver-Games-LLC Ken “Lunpy” Leyhe http://www.IcePackGames.com https://www.youtube.com/user/Torenithus