The Functional Nerds Podcast

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Genevieve Gornichec, author of THE WEAVER AND THE WITCH QUEEN.

About THE WEAVER AND THE WITCH QUEEN: Oddny and Gunnhild meet as children in tenth century Norway, and they could not be more different: Oddny hopes for a quiet life, while Gunnhild burns for power and longs to escape her cruel mother. But after a visiting wise woman makes an ominous prophecy that involves Oddny, her sister Signy, and Gunnhild, the three girls take a blood oath to help each other always.

When Oddny’s farm is destroyed and Signy is kidnapped by Viking raiders, Oddny finds herself set adrift from the life she imagined. Gunnhild, who fled her home years ago to learn the ways of a witch in the far north, is on her way to her exalted destiny. But the bonds–both enchanted and emotional–that hold them together are strong, and when they find their way back to each other again, those bonds will be tested in ways they could never have imagined in this rich, searching novel of magic, history, and sworn sisterhood.

About Genevieve Gornichec: Genevieve Gornichec earned her degree in history from The Ohio State University, but she got as close to majoring in Vikings as she possibly could, and her study of the Norse myths and Icelandic sagas became her writing inspiration. Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, she now lives even deeper in the Midwest. The Witch’s Heart is her debut novel.

This week’s picks:

Links:

© 2023 Patrick Hester

The post Episode 590-With Genevieve Gornichec appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome L.R. Lam, author of DRAGONFALL.

About DRAGONFALL: Long ago, humans betrayed dragons, stealing their magic and banishing them to a dying world. Centuries later, their descendants worship dragons as gods. But the “gods” remember, and they do not forgive.

Thief Arcady scrapes a living on the streets of Vatra. Desperate, Arcady steals a powerful artifact from the bones of the Plaguebringer, the most hated person in Lumet history. Only Arcady knows the artifact’s magic holds the key to a new life among the nobles at court and a chance for revenge.

The spell connects to Everen, the last male dragon foretold to save his kind, dragging him through the Veil. Disguised as a human, Everen soon learns that to regain his true power and form and fulfil his destiny, he only needs to convince one little thief to trust him enough to bond completely–body, mind, and soul—and then kill them.

Yet the closer the two become, the greater the risk both their worlds will shatter.

About L.R. Lam: L.R. Lam was first Californian and now Scottish. Lam is the Sunday Times Bestselling and award-winning author of Dragonfall (the Dragon Scales trilogy), the Seven Devils duology (co-written with Elizabeth May), Goldilocks, the Pacifica novels False Hearts and Shattered Minds, and the Micah Grey trilogy, which begins with Pantomime. They are also a lecturer on the Creative Writing MA at Edinburgh Napier University.

Lam has previously written as Laura Lam.

This week’s picks:

Links:

© 2023 Patrick Hester

The post Episode 589-With L.R. Lam appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Rebecca Fraimow, author of THE IRON CHILDREN.

About THE IRON CHILDREN: Asher has been training her entire life to become a Sor-Commander. One day, she’ll give her soul to the gilded, mechanical body of the Sor and become a commander to a battalion of Dedicates. These soldiers, encased in exoskeletons, with extra arms, and telepathic subordination to the Sor-Commanders, are the only thing that’s kept the much larger Levastani army of conquest at bay for decades.

But while on a training journey, Asher and her party are attacked, and her commander is incapacitated, leaving her alone to lead the unit across a bitterly cold, unstable mountain. Worse, one of the Dedicates is not what they seem: a spy for the enemy, with their own reasons to hate their mechanical body and the people who put them in it.

To get off the mountain alive, Asher and her unit will need to decide how much they’re willing to sacrifice — and what for.

About Rebecca Fraimow: Rebecca Fraimow is an author and archivist living in Boston, writing primarily science fiction and fantasy. Her short fiction has recently appeared in PodCastle, The Fantasist, and Consolation Songs: Optimistic Speculative Fiction for a Time of Pandemic, among other venues. Her short story in Consolation Songs, “This Is New Gehesran Calling,” appeared on the longlist for the 2021 Hugo Award.

This week’s picks:

Links:

© 2023 Patrick Hester

The post Episode 588-With Rebecca Fraimow appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Fonda Lee, author of UNTETHERED SKY.

About UNTETHERED SKY: Ester’s family was torn apart when a manticore killed her mother and baby brother, leaving her with nothing but her father’s painful silence and a single, overwhelming need to kill the monsters that took her family.

Ester’s path leads her to the King’s Royal Mews, where the giant rocs of legend are flown to hunt manticores by their brave and dedicated ruhkers. Paired with a fledgling roc named Zahra, Ester finds purpose and acclaim by devoting herself to a calling that demands absolute sacrifice and a creature that will never return her love. The terrifying partnership between woman and roc leads Ester not only on the empire’s most dangerous manticore hunt, but on a journey of perseverance and acceptance.

About Fonda Lee: Fonda Lee is the author of the epic fantasy Green Bone Saga, beginning with Jade City, continuing in Jade War, and concluding in Jade Legacy. She is also the author of the science fiction novels Zeroboxer, Exo and Cross Fire, and two novellas, the Green Bone Saga prequel The Jade Setter of Janloon, and the upcoming Untethered Sky.

Fonda is a winner of the World Fantasy Award, the Locus Award, and a four-time winner of the Aurora Award (Canada’s national science fiction and fantasy award), as well as a multiple finalist for the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, and the Oregon Book Award. Her novels have garnered multiple starred reviews and appeared on Best of Year lists from NPR, Barnes & Noble, Syfy Wire, and others. Jade City has been translated in a dozen languages, named to TIME Magazine’s Top 100 Fantasy Books of All Time, and optioned for television development.

She has also written acclaimed short fiction and been an instructor at writing workshops including Viable Paradise and Clarion West. Fonda is a former corporate strategist and black belt martial artist who loves action movies and Eggs Benedict. Born and raised in Canada, she currently resides in the Pacific Northwest.

This week’s picks:

Links:

© 2023 Patrick Hester

The post Episode 587-With Fonda Lee appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome K.B. Wagers, author of THE GHOSTS OF TRAPPIST. About THE GHOSTS OF TRAPPIST: NeoG—the Near-Earth Orbital Guard, a diverse military force that patrols and protects the solar system, inspired by the real-life mission of the Coast Guard—and the crew of Zuma’s Ghost are under attack, and shocking truths are […]

The post Episode 586-With K.B. Wagers appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Emma Mieko Candon, author of THE ARCHIVE UNDYING.

About THE ARCHIVE UNDYING: When the robotic god of Khuon Mo went mad, it destroyed everything it touched. It killed its priests, its city, and all its wondrous works. But in its final death throes, the god brought one thing back to life: its favorite child, Sunai. For the seventeen years since, Sunai has walked the land like a ghost, unable to die, unable to age, and unable to forget the horrors he’s seen. He’s run as far as he can from the wreckage of his faith, drowning himself in drink, drugs, and men. But when Sunai wakes up in the bed of the one man he never should have slept with, he finds himself on a path straight back into the world of gods and machines.

About Emma Mieko Candon: Emma Mieko Candon (she/they) is a best-selling queer author and escaped academic drawn to tales of devouring ghosts, cursed linguistics, and mediocre robots. Her forthcoming work includes Star Wars Visions: Ronin (2021), a Japanese reimagining of the Star Wars mythos, and The Archive Undying (2023), an original speculative novel about sad giant robots and funny-mean queers dragged screaming toward revolution.

As an actual cyborg whose blood has been taken for science, Emma’s grateful to be stationed at home in Hawaii, where they were born and raised as a fourth-generation Japanese settler. By day, they edit anime nonsense for Seven Seas, and by night they remain academically haunted by identity, ideology, and imperialism. At all hours of the day, they are beholden to the whims of two lopsided cats and relieved by the support of an enviably handsome wife.

Find Emma airing unimpeachable anime opinions on Twitter at @EmmaCandon or wailing about video games under the bushes in front of the nearest boba tea joint.

This week’s picks:

Links:

© 2023 Patrick Hester

The post Episode 585-With Emma Mieko Candon appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Nathan Ballingrud, author of THE STRANGE.

About THE STRANGE: Since Anabelle’s mother left for Earth to care for her own ailing mother, her days in New Galveston have been spent at school and her nights at her laconic father’s diner with Watson, the family Kitchen Engine and dishwasher as her only companion. When the Silence came, and communication and shipments from Earth to its colonies on Mars stopped, life seemed stuck in foreboding stasis until the night Silas Mundt and his gang attacked.

At once evoking the dreams of an America explored in Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles and the harder realities of frontier life in Charles Portis True Grit, Ballingrud’s novel is haunting in its evocation of Anabelle’s quest for revenge amidst a spent and angry world accompanied by a domestic Engine, a drunken space pilot, and the toughest woman on Mars.

About Nathan Ballingrud: Nathan was born in Massachusetts in 1970, but spent most of his life in the South. He studied literature at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and at the University of New Orleans. Among other things, he’s been a cook on oil rigs and barges, a waiter, and a bartender in New Orleans.

His most recent book is called Wounds: Six Stories from the Border of Hell, from Saga Press. His first book is North American Lake Monsters, from Small Beer Press. He’s won two Shirley Jackson Awards, and has been shortlisted for the World Fantasy, British Fantasy, and Bram Stoker Awards. His novella “The Visible Filth” was made into a movie called Wounds, from Annapurna Pictures. It’s written and directed by Babak Anvari and stars Armie Hammer, Zazie Beetz, and Dakota Johnson.

He lives in Asheville, NC.

This week’s picks:

Links:

© 2023 Patrick Hester

The post Episode 584-With Nathan Ballingrud appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week, it’s a very special Just Us clip episode from Patrick and Tracy! What’s a Just Us episode?

Well, I’m glad you asked. As you know Bob, we have a Patreon over at patreon.com/functionalnerds. And one of the reward tiers is a special, patrons-only episode of the show each month.

When something comes up and we don’t have a regular episode to drop into this public feed, Patrick sometimes grab one of the Just Us episodes – but that hasn’t happened in a while, so we thought we’d do a clip show from a couple different Just Us episodes to give you a sense of what goes on there and some of the topics we cover.

If you like what you hear today, please consider heading over to patreon.com/functionalnerds and backing us so you, too, can get one of these every single month.

Links:

© 2023 Patrick Hester

The post Episode 583-Just Us and the Clip Show appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Beth Cato, author of A Thousand Recipes for Revenge.

About A Thousand Recipes for Revenge: Adamantine “Ada” Garland has an empathic connection to food and wine, a magical perception of aromas, flavors, and ingredients. Invaluable property of the royal court, Ada was in service to the Five Gods and to the Gods-ordained rulers of Verdania?until she had enough of injustice and bloodshed and deserted, seeking to chart her own destiny. When mysterious assassins ferret her out after sixteen years in hiding, Ada, now a rogue Chef, and her beloved Grand-mère run for their lives, only to find themselves on a path toward an unexpected ally.

A foreign princess in a strange court, Solenn unknowingly shares more with Ada than an epicurean gift. They share blood. With her newfound magical perception, she becomes aware of a plot to kill her fiancé, the prince. It’s part of a ploy by adversarial forces in the rival country of Albion to sow conflict, and Solenn is set up to take the blame.

As Ada’s and Solenn’s paths converge, a mother and her long-lost daughter reunite toward a common goal, and against a shadowy enemy from Ada’s past who is out for revenge. But what sacrifices must be made? What hope is there when powerful Gods pick sides in a war simmering to eruption?

About Beth Cato: Beth Cato hails from Hanford, California, but currently writes and bakes cookies in a far distant realm. She’s the Nebula Award-nominated author of A THOUSAND RECIPES FOR REVENGE from 47North (June 2023), plus the Clockwork Dagger duology and the Blood of Earth trilogy from Harper Voyager. Her short stories can be found in publications ranging from Beneath Ceaseless Skies to Uncanny Magazine. In 2019 and 2022, she won the Rhysling Award for short speculative poetry. Her website BethCato.com includes not only a vast bibliography, but a treasure trove of recipes for delectable goodies. Find her on Twitter as @BethCato and Instagram as @catocatsandcheese.

This week’s picks:

Links:

© 2023 Patrick Hester

The post Episode 582-With Beth Cato appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Gail Carriger, author of DIVINITY 36.

About DIVINITY 36: Phex is a barista on a forgotten moon. Which is fine – he likes being ignored and he’s good at making drinks. Until one day an alien hears him singing and recruits him to become a god. Now Phex is thrust headfirst into the galaxy’s most cutthroat entertainment industry, where music is visible, the price of fame can kill, and the only friends he has want to be worshiped.

Welcome to the divinity. Where there is no difference between celebrity and religion, love and belief, acolyte and alien. Where the right kind of obsession can drive a person crazy or turn them divine.

About Gail Carriger: Gail Carriger has multiple NYT bestsellers and millions of books in print in dozens of different languages. She writes book hugs – comedies of manners mixed with urban fantasy and sci-fi (and sexy queer joy as GL Carriger). She is best known for the Parasol Protectorate and Finishing School series. She was once an archaeologist and is fond of shoes, octopuses, and tea.

This week’s picks:

Links:

© 2023 Patrick Hester

The post Episode 581-With Gail Carriger appeared first on The Functional Nerds.