Rocket Talk Podcast - Reactor

In this episode of Rocket Talk, Justin invites Lev Grossman to the show to talk about his magical Magicians Trilogy. The trilogy concludes with The Magician’s Land, released earlier this week. Justin peppers Lev with questions about finding himself at the intersection of literary and fantasy readers, and the critical and authorial communities.

Lev Grossman is a senior writer and book critic at Time Magazine. He’s the author of five novels, including the New York Times Bestselling The Magicians.

Rocket Talk, Episode 21 (46:38):

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Episode 21: Lev Grossman

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Also! If you have an idea for an episode of Rocket Talk or would like to come on as a guest, reach out to Justin Landon at [email protected]. Obviously, we can’t accommodate everyone, but we’re always looking for new ideas and fresh perspectives.

You can find all of the episodes on Tor.com here.

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In this episode of Rocket Talk, Justin brings Kameron Hurley and Liz Bourke on to talk about an enormous range of topics. Ostensibly inspired by Hurley’s soon to be released The Mirror Empire, the discussion also covers the Hugo Awards, blog post writing, bad marketing jargon, and why The Mirror Empire kicks ass.

A lot of books are mentioned in this episode, including:

Rocket Talk, Episode 20 (1:09:05):

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Episode 20: Kameron Hurley and Liz Bourke Cover It All

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Also! If you have an idea for an episode of Rocket Talk or would like to come on as a guest, reach out to Justin Landon at [email protected]. Obviously, we can’t accommodate everyone, but we’re always looking for new ideas and fresh perspectives.

You can find all of the episodes on Tor.com here.

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In this episode of Rocket Talk, Justin talks New Weird with guest Michael R. Underwood. Underwood is the author of three novels, including the recently released Shield and Crocus, which mashes the New Weird with superhero fiction. The chat covers topics ranging from Planescape, to the origins of New Weird, to a RARE bonus discussion about pedantic genre stuff.

Michael R. Underwood is the North American Sales & Marketing Manager for Angry Robot Books. Underwood’s Shield and Crocus is available from 47North. You can read an excerpt and learn more about Stephan Martinière’s cover art here on Tor.com.

Rocket Talk, Episode 19 (52:43):

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Episode 19: Michael R. Underwood Talks New Weird

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Also! If you have an idea for an episode of Rocket Talk or would like to come on as a guest, reach out to Justin Landon at [email protected]. Obviously, we can’t accommodate everyone, but we’re always looking for new ideas and fresh perspectives.

You can find all of the episodes on Tor.com here.

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In this episode of Rocket Talk, we take a break to present an original audio story by A.M. Dellamonica! “The Cage” tells the story of a lesbian couple and their adopted baby werewolf, as read by Emmet Asher-Perrin.

The short story can be read online for free here.

Tor.com is giving away one copy of A.M. Dellamonica’s latest novel, Child of a Hidden Sea—be sure to enter the sweepstakes by July 20th!

Rocket Talk, Episode 18: “The Cage” by A.M. Dellamonica (1:04:54)

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Episode 18: The Cage, by A.M. Dellamonica read by Emmet Asher-Perrin

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If you have an idea for an episode of Rocket Talk or would like to come on as a guest, reach out to Justin Landon at [email protected]. Obviously, we can’t accommodate everyone, but we’re always looking for new ideas and fresh perspectives.

You can find all of the episodes on Tor.com here.

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In this episode of Rocket Talk, Justin is joined by bloggers Natalie Luhrs and Jenny Thurman to hash out the Hugo Award ballot for short stories. For reference purposes, those stories include:

The three argue over which story is best and then declare their winners at the end! Some jokes are made. Some serious stuff is discussed.

Natalie Luhrs blogs at The Radish. She was formerly an editor at Romantic Times and now edits for Masque Books, an imprint of Prime Books.

Jenny Thurman blogs at Jenny’s Library. She has a masters degree in Library Science and often drops knowledge in her very active Twitter feed.

Rocket Talk, Episode 17 (58:34):

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Episode 17: The Hugo Short Story Ballot with Natalie Luhrs and Jenny Thurman

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Also! If you have an idea for an episode of Rocket Talk or would like to come on as a guest, reach out to Justin Landon at [email protected]. Obviously, we can’t accommodate everyone, but we’re always looking for new ideas and fresh perspectives.

You can find all of the episodes on Tor.com here.

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In this episode of Rocket Talk, Justin is joined by Max Gladstone and Tabitha Jensen. They chat about old school online gaming, the nature of the blogosphere, maps, and representational fiction.

Gladstone is the author of three books, including the soon to be released Full Fathom Five. He’s been nominated for the John W. Campbell Award in 2014 for the second time.

Jensen is the proprietor of Not Yet Read, a blog covering young adult and adult science fiction and fantasy. She lives in California and has suffered from World of Warcraft addiction.

Rocket Talk, Episode 16 (56:21):

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Episode 16: Author Max Gladstone and Blogger Tabitha Jensen

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Also! If you have an idea for an episode of Rocket Talk or would like to come on as a guest, reach out to Justin Landon at [email protected]. Obviously, we can’t accommodate everyone, but we’re always looking for new ideas and fresh perspectives.

You can find all of the episodes on Tor.com here.

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In this episode of Rocket Talk, Justin Landon invites Joe Abercrombie on at 6 AM to discuss his new book, Half a King. The conversation goes far afield touching the World Cup, onomatopoeia, the First Law Trilogy, and whether or not Justin is creeping out the author with his reread. Abercrombie also tells Justin he is wrong on the Internet. This is not a surprise.

Rocket Talk, Episode 15 (1:00:28):

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Episode 15: Joe Abercrombie’s Siren Song

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Also! If you have an idea for an episode of Rocket Talk or would like to come on as a guest, reach out to Justin Landon at [email protected]. Obviously, we can’t accommodate everyone, but we’re always looking for new ideas and fresh perspectives.

You can find all of the episodes on Tor.com here.

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In this episode of Rocket Talk, Renay from Lady Business comes on the show to talk about their blogger survey of gender parity in review coverage. Justin and Renay discuss why the survey came to be, how it works, and what kinds of conclusions or questions can be drawn from it.

From Lady Business:

Project thesis: when looking at a sample of bloggers reviewing SF/F, a majority of men will skew toward reviewing more men. A majority of women will skew toward a more equal gender parity, or the opposite in which they review a majority of women. There will be a handful of outliers.

You can check out the results of the survey for 2011, 2012, and 2013.

Rocket Talk, Episode 14 (55:59):

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Episode 14: Renay from LadyBusiness on Gender Parity in Blogging

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Also! If you have an idea for an episode of Rocket Talk or would like to come on as a guest, reach out to Justin Landon at [email protected]. Obviously, we can’t accommodate everyone, but we’re always looking for new ideas and fresh perspectives.

You can find all of the episodes on Tor.com here.

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In this episode of Rocket Talk, we take a break to present an original audio story by Ruthanna Emrys! “The Litany of Earth” is a post-Lovecraftian story of lost history and found community from an Innsmouth Deep One’s perspective, as read by Emmet Asher-Perrin.

The short story, acquired and edited by Carl Engle-Laird, can be read online for free here.

Rocket Talk, Episode 13: “The Litany of Earth” by Ruthanna Emrys (31:19)

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Episode 13: Tor.com Original Fiction: “The Litany of Earth” by Ruthanna Emrys

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If you have an idea for an episode of Rocket Talk or would like to come on as a guest, reach out to Justin Landon at [email protected]. Obviously, we can’t accommodate everyone, but we’re always looking for new ideas and fresh perspectives.

You can find all of the episodes on Tor.com here.

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In this episode of Rocket Talk, Justin Landon talks with illustrators Victo Ngai and Jeffrey Alan Love about what it’s like to make a living bleeding art. The discussion ranges from how they got into the business, to how they survive, and why there are more men than women working the field.

Rocket Talk, Episode 12 (58:13):

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Episode 12: Illustrators Victo Ngai and Jeffrey Alan Love Talk Art

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Also! If you have an idea for an episode of Rocket Talk or would like to come on as a guest, reach out to Justin Landon at [email protected]. Obviously, we can’t accommodate everyone, but we’re always looking for new ideas and fresh perspectives.

You can find all of the episodes on Tor.com here.

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