When Star Trek Voyager’s popular character Seven of Nine returned to the franchise in the first season of Picard it was a closely guarded secret in that first episode back Seven mentioned years spent being a frontier law enforcer with an outfit called the Fenris Rangers. My guest in this episode is prolific Star Trek author David Mack. When he heard the name Fenris Rangers, he paused the show, wrote his editor, and said put me in coach. It took a couple of years but Mack eventually got the green light to tell this story.

In the episode we talk about Mack’s origin story, how he started writing Star Trek and we go deep into the novel Picard Firewall. At the time of the interview, I had read 100 pages, but I have since finished and it is a banger. Does for modern Trek what Andor did for Star Wars, a gritty noir although the politics are more social than dealing with the system. No major spoilers so check this out!

•You can find my books here:

Amazon-https://www.amazon.com/David-Agranoff/e/B004FGT4ZW

•And me here:

Goodreads-http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2988332.David_Agranoff

Twitter-https://twitter.com/DAgranoffAuthor

Blog-http://davidagranoff.blogspot.com/

Support the show here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/DavidAgranoff

In 1970 Avon Books published a landmark anthology “Science Fiction Hall of Fame” featuring 16 classic short stories that represent landmark tales of the genre. The stories were voted on by the members of the new (at the time in the late 60s) organization Science Fiction Writers of America. In this series, I will be joined by a panel of different guests to break down these stories and talk about the authors in the book.

In this episode, I am joined by two experts on the history of Science Fiction. Returning for his second appearance is Juan Sanmiguel he is an engineer and an active Science Fiction fan. Ted Hand is a teacher and long-time Philip K. Dick researcher, although he was passionate about coming on to talk about this Heinlein classic.

The story we are covering is the 1940 classic “The Roads Must Roll by Robert A. Heinlein.” This classic of California and social science speculative fiction attempted to explore a different vision for transportation and society. Read it here:

https://archive.org/details/Astounding_v25n04_1940-06_SLiV/page/n7/mode/2up?view=theater

Radio play version:

https://youtu.be/VYko6Zov3rA?si=0sVw5n6gAaiMiPiM

Lucy A. Snyder is the six-time Bram Stoker award-winning author of Sister, Maiden, Monster. It is a science fiction novel. In the tradition of Weird Tales where the line between SF, Fantasy, and horror is thin I call on the admins to expand not narrow how they define Science Fiction. This novel uses dynamic and character work to blend emotional heartbreak, paranoid terror, and cosmic implications.

We start with 30 minutes of spoiler-free discussion, before getting under the hood of this pandemic weird apocalypse novel.

Support the podcast here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/DavidAgranoff

•You can find my books here:

Amazon-https://www.amazon.com/David-Agranoff/e/B004FGT4ZW

•And me here:

Goodreads-http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2988332.David_Agranoff

Twitter-https://twitter.com/DAgranoffAuthor

Blog-http://davidagranoff.blogspot.com/

Support the show here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/DavidAgranoff

In 1970 Avon Books published a landmark anthology “Science Fiction Hall of Fame” featuring 16 classic short stories that represent landmark tales of the genre. The stories were voted on by the members of the new (at the time in the late 60s) organization Science Fiction Writers of America. In this series, I will be joined by a panel of different guests to break down these stories and talk about the authors in the book.

In this episode, I am joined by two experts on the history of Science Fiction. Returning for his second appearance is Brian Collins the person behind the Science Fiction & Fantasy Remembrance blog. Dr. Robin Murphy is a professor of computer science and engineering at Texas A&M, and a pioneer in artificial intelligence for robots used during disasters. She is the author of Robotics Through Science Fiction: Artificial Intelligence Explained Through Six Classic Robot Short Stories. She also hosts a podcast of the same name.

The story we are covering is the 1938 classic “Helen O’Loy.” This story about a robotic housewife is short but we had lots to say. Have not read the story? Read it here:

https://archive.org/details/Astounding_v22n04_1938-12/page/n117/mode/2up

Support my show with tip on https://www.buymeacoffee.com/DavidAgranoff

One of the biggest inspirations for my career was the two volumes published by Avon Books in the early 90s from author and interviewer Stanley Wiater. The books Dark Dreamers Conversations with the masters of Horror, and Dark Visions: Conversations with the masters of the Horror Film were foundational for me. Featuring two dozen interviews in each book from Vincent Price and Clive Barker to Richard Matheson and Anne Rice. These interviews were some of the best ways we had to learn about the process of turning ideas into produced works of fiction and film.

We talk about Stanley’s origins and memories of recording the history of the horror genre. This is a really fun conversation about horror and science fiction history.

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/DavidAgranoff

Author Cody Goodfellow two episodes in a row! Cody Goodfellow is the author of more than a dozen books but he is here to talk his new thriller from Titan books Vertical. It is one of my top reads of the year. WE have some general talk and the start and then get into the new book. I assumed once the secret of Cody Goodfellow got out he was on track to become the biggest writer of our generation, a household name, bestselling novels, home on paperback racks that kind of thing. To me, he was that good. Over time I learned that happens to your Ray Bradburys and Isaac Asimovs. When the people doing really crazy original stuff like Barry Malzberg and Norman Spinrad you get respect from the hardcore but it took death for Octavia Butler and Philip K. Dick to be recognized as the towering giants they were. They didn’t play it safe; they wrote revolutionary genre fiction and sometimes it helps to be a mad scientist.

That is what Cody Goodfellow is at heart, a mad scientist, who unlike most literary freakazoids from those earlier generations Cody grew up with more than a massive library, but also punk rock, alternative culture, and an open attitude toward mind-altering genre and chemicals. The kind of alchemy that creates in Cody Goodfellow a human who writes novels that are so good, so weird the world is just not ready for them.

about

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/DavidAgranoff

San Diego’s 2024 New Year’s Reading Resolution Event Recorded live at Verbatim Books. (so the sound is not the best sorry)

Join members of the San Diego Horror Writers Association in an event to promote reading in 2024 and kick off the countdown to StokerCon, the international gathering of the Horror Writers Association, being held this summer right here in San Diego!

Featuring authors:

David Agranoff author of The Last Night to Kills Nazis, Jon Cohn author of Slashtag, Dennis K. Crosby author Death’s Despair Cody Goodfellow author of Vertical. Sorry Tiffany Brown Mok had to cancel we were bummed too.

The panel about their favorite reads and shares some tips for increasing your reading habits!

This year I read 111 books, novelettes, graphic novels, or SF magazines, with a total of 29,784 pages. It was a good year for new releases, and I intend to focus on retro reads next year. Joining for the third annual Favorite Reads podcast is Judge Marc Rothenberg. We finally got on board with reading some of the same books so this is a long one.

I don’t make money for all the time I spend reading and reviewing books so please consider giving me a tip or donation at this link:

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/DavidAgranoff

There is an episode that I reviewed most of the books I read: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-131-thumbnail-reviews-of-all-108-books-i/id1524359471?i=1000640009260

Or check out my books here:

https://www.amazon.com/stores/David-Agranoff/author/B004FGT4ZW?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Simple episode. I do short reviews of every book I read this year. Stayed for an episode talking about my favorite reads of 2023 with Marc Rothenberg. In January I will post a list of all the books. My blog has complete reviews of course. www.davidagranoff.blogspot.com

I spent many hours working on book reviews and podcasts this year and don’t make a dime so if you enjoy the content please consider making a donation here:

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/DavidAgranoff

donatingdidn’t

Get out your notebooks! Or get ready to add some movies to your watch list on Letterboxd or IMDB! In this episode I invited two of my biggest movie nerd friends to talk about our year in movies. This is a two-hour discussion on our favorite movies of 2023. We each have very different tastesAnthonythree-hour so there will be lots of movie talk no spoilers. Joining me are filmmaker and Good Clean Fun vocalist Issa Diao and author Athony Trevino.

Who had a DCEU movie on their list? Who defended The Creator? Who had two three hour movies on their list?

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