The Functional Nerds Podcast

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Ren Hutchings, author of UNDER FORTUNATE STARS.

About UNDER FORTUNATE STARS: Two Ships. One Chance To Save The Future.

Fleeing the final days of the generations-long war with the alien Felen, smuggler Jereth Keeven’s freighter the Jonah breaks down in a strange rift in deep space, with little chance of rescue—until they encounter the research vessel Gallion, which claims to be from 152 years in the future.

The Gallion’s chief engineer Uma Ozakka has always been fascinated with the past, especially the tale of the Fortunate Five, who ended the war with the Felen. When the Gallion rescues a run-down junk freighter, Ozakka is shocked to recognize the Five’s legendary ship—and the Five’s famed leader, Eldric Leesongronski, among the crew.

But nothing else about Leesongronski and his crewmates seems to match up with the historical record. With their ships running out of power in the rift, more than the lives of both crews may be at stake…

About Ren Hutchings: Ren is an SFF writer, writing mentor and freelance editor. She has spent most of the past few years working in game dev while plotting twisty space books. Ren’s debut novel, UNDER FORTUNATE STARS, will be published by Solaris in May 2022.

Ren has previously worked as a creative producer and managed communications for a non-profit arts council. She graduated with a BA in History before completing a year of grad school in archaeology, indulging her lifelong passion for nerding out about the past just as much as the future. She loves weird mysteries, pop science, elaborate book playlists, and pondering about alternate universes.

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© 2022 Patrick Hester

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This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Kate Heartfield, author of THE EMBROIDERED BOOK.

About THE EMBROIDERED BOOK: 1768. Charlotte, daughter of the Habsburg Empress, arrives in Naples to marry a man she has never met. Her sister Antoine is sent to France, and in the mirrored corridors of Versailles they rename her Marie Antoinette.

The sisters are alone, but they are not powerless. When they were only children, they discovered a book of spells – spells that work, with dark and unpredictable consequences.

In a time of vicious court politics, of discovery and dizzying change, they use the book to take control of their lives.

But every spell requires a sacrifice. And as love between the sisters turns to rivalry, they will send Europe spiralling into revolution.

About Kate Heartfield: Kate Heartfield is the author of The Embroidered Book, a historical fantasy novel (spring 2022), and Assassin’s Creed: The Magus Conspiracy (summer 2022). Her Alice Payne time travel novellas were published in 2018 and 2019. Her debut novel Armed in Her Fashion (2018) won Canada’s Aurora Award. She also writes interactive fiction, including The Road to Canterbury (2018), and The Magician’s Workshop (2019), published by Choice of Games. Her short fiction has been shortlisted for the Nebula, Locus, Aurora, Sunburst and Crawford awards, and her journalism for a National Newspaper Award. A former newspaper journalist, Kate lives near Ottawa, Canada.

This week’s picks:

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© 2022 Patrick Hester

The post Episode 539-With Kate Heartfield appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Malcolm Devlin, author of AND THEN I WOKE UP.

About AND THEN I WOKE UP: In a world reeling from an unusual plague, monsters lurk in the streets while terrified survivors arm themselves and roam the countryside in packs. Or perhaps something very different is happening. When a disease affects how reality is perceived, it’s hard to be certain of anything…

Spence is one of the “cured”. Haunted by guilt, he refuses to face the changed world until a new inmate challenges him to help her find her old crew. But if he can’t tell the truth from the lies, how will he know if he has earned the redemption he dreams of? How will he know he hasn’t just made things worse?

About Malcolm Devlin: Malcolm Devlin’s stories have appeared in Black Static, Interzone, The Shadow Booth and Shadows and Tall Trees. His first collection, You Will Grow Into Them, was published by Unsung Stories in 2017 and shortlisted for the British Fantasy and Saboteur Awards. He currently lives in Brisbane.

This week’s picks:

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© 2022 Patrick Hester

The post Episode 538-With Malcolm Devlin appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome the folks from the Beyond the Trope podcast, Giles Hash and Michelle Graham.

About Beyond the Trope: “Nerds and geeks unite! BEYOND THE TROPE was a writing podcast before we expanded into general nerdiness. The original co-hosts got tired of snobs telling us that pop culture was rubbish, and the solution was a crusade of interviews with the best, brightest, and nerdiest creative experts we could find.

Our podcast episodes primarily explore the deeper side of pop culture, from science fiction and fantasy to cosplay, RPGs, comics, and writing.”

About Giles Hash: Giles Hash is a full time student with a passion for stories that entertain first and make readers think second. His career has taken many turns, but Beyond the Trope is by far one of the best paths he’s taken on his search for great stories and entertainment.

About Michelle Graham: Michelle Graham is a high school English teacher and doesn’t let her friends buy things that she could make for them (which is pretty much everything). She jumps at any chance to be creative or make a snarky comment from the peanut gallery.

This week’s picks:

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© 2022 Patrick Hester

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This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Mary Roach, author of PACKING FOR MARS: FOR KIDS.

About PACKING FOR MARS: FOR KIDS: What is it like to float weightlessly in the air? What happens if you vomit in your helmet during a spacewalk? How do astronauts go to the bathroom? Is it true that they don’t shower? Can farts really be deadly in space?

Best-selling Mary Roach has the answers. In this whip-smart, funny, and informative young readers adaptation of her best-selling Packing for Mars, Roach guides us through the irresistibly strange, frequently gross, and awe-inspiring realm of space travel and life without gravity. From flying on NASA’s Weightless Wonder to eating space food, Packing for Mars for Kids is chock-full of firs-hand experiences and thorough research. Roach has crafted an authoritative and accessible book that is perfectly pitched to inquiring middle grade readers. 35 black-and-white photographs

About Mary Roach: Mary Roach is the author of six New York Times bestsellers, including STIFF: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers; GULP: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal, and PACKING FOR MARS: The Curious Science of Life in the Void. Her new book FUZZ: When Nature Breaks the Law, debuts in September 2021. Mary’s books have been published in 21 languages, and her second book, SPOOK, was a New York Times Notable Book. Mary has written for National Geographic, Wired, The New York Times Magazine, and the Journal of Clinical Anatomy, among others. She was a guest editor of the Best American Science and Nature Writing series and an Osher Fellow with the San Francisco Exploratorium and serves as an advisor for Orion and Undark magazines. She has been a finalist for the Royal Society’s Winton Prize and a winner of the American Engineering Societies’ Engineering Journalism Award, in a category for which, let’s be honest, she was the sole entrant.

This week’s picks:

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© 2022 Patrick Hester

The post Episode 536-With Mary Roach appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome John Scalzi, author of The Kaiju Preservation Society.

About The Kaiju Preservation Society: When COVID-19 sweeps through New York City, Jamie Gray is stuck as a dead-end driver for food delivery apps. That is, until Jamie makes a delivery to an old acquaintance, Tom, who works at what he calls “an animal rights organization.” Tom’s team needs a last-minute grunt to handle things on their next field visit. Jamie, eager to do anything, immediately signs on.

What Tom doesn’t tell Jamie is that the animals his team cares for are not here on Earth. Not our Earth, at least. In an alternate dimension, massive dinosaur-like creatures named Kaiju roam a warm, human-free world. They’re the universe’s largest and most dangerous panda and they’re in trouble.

It’s not just the Kaiju Preservation Society who have found their way to the alternate world. Others have, too. And their carelessness could cause millions back on our Earth to die.

About John Scalzi: John Scalzi writes books. He’s best known for writing science fiction, including the New York Times bestseller “Redshirts,” which won the Hugo Award for Best Novel. He also writes non-fiction, on subjects ranging from personal finance to astronomy to film, was the Creative Consultant for the Stargate: Universe television series. He enjoys pie, as should all right thinking people. You can get to his blog by typing the word “Whatever” into Google. No, seriously, try it.

This week’s picks:

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© 2022 Patrick Hester

The post Episode 535-With John Scalzi appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Andrea Hairston, author of REDWOOD AND WILDFIRE.

About REDWOOD AND WILDFIRE: At the turn of the 20th century, minstrel shows transform into vaudeville, which slides into moving pictures. Hunkering together in dark theatres, diverse audiences marvel at flickering images.

Redwood, an African American woman, and Aidan, a Seminole Irish man, journey from Georgia to Chicago, from haunted swampland to a “city of the future.” They are gifted performers and hoodoo conjurors, struggling to call up the wondrous world they imagine, not just on stage and screen, but on city streets, in front parlors, in wounded hearts. The power of hoodoo is the power of the community that believes in its capacities to heal.

Living in a system stacked against them, Redwood and Aidan’s power and talent are torment and joy. Their search for a place to be who they want to be is an exhilarating, painful, magical adventure.

About Andrea Hairston: Andrea Hairston is a novelist, playwright, and scholar. Aqueduct Press published: Will Do Magic For Small Change, a New York Times Editor’s pick and finalist for the Mythopoeic, Lambda, and Otherwise Awards; Mindscape, winner of the Carl Brandon Award; and Lonely Stardust, a collection of essays and plays. Her play, Thunderbird at the Next World Theatre, appears in Geek Theater. A novelette, “Saltwater Railroad,” was published by Lightspeed Magazine. “Dumb House,” a short story appears in New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color edited by Nisi Shawl. Andrea received the International Association of the Fantastic in the Arts Distinguished Scholarship Award in 2011 and has gotten grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Her latest novel, Master of Poisons, came out from Tordotcom Publishing and is on the Kirkus Review’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2020. “Seven Generations Algorithm,” a short story is in Trouble the Waters edited by Sheree Renee Thomas, and Pan Morigan. Redwood and Wildfire, winner of the Otherwise and Carl Brandon Awards, will be out February 1, 2022 from Tordotcom. In her spare time, Andrea is the Louise Wolff Kahn 1931 Professor of Theatre and Africana Studies at Smith College and the Artistic Director of Chrysalis Theatre.

This week’s picks:

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© 2022 Patrick Hester

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This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Maurice Broaddus, author of SWEEP OF STARS.

About SWEEP OF STARS: The Muungano empire strived and struggled to form a utopia when they split away from old earth. Freeing themselves from the endless wars and oppression of their home planet in order to shape their own futures and create a far-reaching coalition of city-states that stretched from Earth and Mars to Titan.

With the wisdom of their ancestors, the leadership of their elders, the power and vision of their scientists and warriors they charted a course to a better future. But the old powers could not allow them to thrive and have now set in motion new plots to destroy all that they’ve built.

In the fire to come they will face down their greatest struggle yet.

Amachi Adisa and other young leaders will contend with each other for the power to galvanize their people and chart the next course for the empire.

Fela Buhari and her elite unit will take the fight to regions not seen by human eyes, but no training will be enough to bring them all home.

Stacia Chikeke, captain of the starship Cypher, will face down enemies across the stars, and within her own vessel, as she searches for the answers that could save them all.

The only way is forward.

About Maurice Broaddus: An accidental teacher (at the Oaks Academy Middle School), an accidental librarian (the School Library Manager which is part of the IndyPL Shared System), and a purposeful community organizer (resident Afrofuturist at the Kheprw Institute), his work has appeared in such places as Magazine of F&SF, Lightspeed Magazine, Black Panther: Tales from Wakanda, Weird Tales, and Uncanny Magazine, with some of his stories having been collected in The Voices of Martyrs. His novels include the science fiction novel, Sweep of Stars, the steampunk novel, Pimp My Airship and Buffalo Soldier; and the middle grade detective novel series, Unfadeable and The Usual Suspects. He’s an editor at Apex Magazine. His gaming work includes writing for the Marvel Super-Heroes, Leverage, and Firefly role-playing games as well as working as a consultant on Watch Dogs 2.

This week’s picks:

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© 2022 Patrick Hester

The post Episode 533-With Maurice Broaddus appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Tobias Buckell, author of Shoggoths in Traffic and Other Stories.

About Shoggoths in Traffic and Other Stories: Traffic is piling up, and strange things are headed your way in this new story collection by World Fantasy Award-winning author Tobias S. Buckell. In these twenty-seven stories you’ll find inhabitants of a small town who won’t vaccinate against a zombie plague, a lone sentry keeping motorists from stumbling into something ancient and evil, a man who puts stranded ghosts to rest, an ex-soldier traveling the seas who trades his new life of hardship for a return to swords and blood, and many more tales of speculative fiction.

Buckell’s fertile imagination is on display in Shoggoths in Traffic and Other Stories as he comments on edgy issues of injustice and offers a thorny path to discover the human heart and all the strange things humans do. All the while, he keeps you looking over your shoulder, waiting for rush hour to end.

About Tobias Buckell: Tobias S. Buckell is a New York Times Bestselling and World Fantasy Award-winning author born in the Caribbean. He grew up in Grenada and spent time in the British and US Virgin Islands, which influence much of his work.

His novels and over seventy stories have been translated into nineteen different languages. His work has been nominated for the Hugo Award, Nebula Award, World Fantasy Award, and the Astounding Award for Best New Science Fiction Author.

He currently lives in Bluffton, Ohio with his wife and twin daughters. He’s an instructor at the University of Maine’s Stonecoast MFA in Creative Writing.

This week’s picks:

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© 2022 Patrick Hester

The post Episode 532-With Tobias Buckell appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Samantha Cohoe, author of Bright Ruined Things.

About Bright Ruined Things: The only life Mae has ever known is on the island, living on the charity of the wealthy Prosper family who control the island’s magic and its spirits. Mae longs for magic of her own and to have a place among the Prosper family, where her best friend, Coco, will see her as an equal, and her crush, Miles, will finally see her.

But tonight is First Night, when the Prospers and their high-society friends celebrate the night Lord Prosper first harnessed the island’s magic and started producing aether – a magical fuel source that has revolutionized the world. With everyone returning to the island, Mae finally has the chance to go after what she’s always wanted.

When the spirits start inexplicably dying, Mae realizes that things aren’t what they seem. And Ivo, the reclusive, mysterious heir to the Prosper magic, may hold all the answers – including a secret about Mae’s past. As Mae and her friends unravel the mysteries of the island, and the Prospers’ magic, Mae starts to question the truth of what her world was built on.

In this YA fantasy, Samantha Cohoe wonderfully mixes magic and an atmospheric setting into a fantastically immersive world, with characters you won’t be able to forget.

About Samantha Cohoe: Samantha Cohoe was raised in San Luis Obispo, California, where she enjoyed an idyllic childhood of beach trips, omnivorous reading, and writing stories brimming with adverbs. She attended Thomas Aquinas College, a Great Books college in California, and graduated with a BA in liberal arts. After studying Philosophical Theology at Yale Divinity School, she decided academia wasn’t for her, and rediscovered her love of writing stories brimming with adverbs. In 2011, she moved with her family to Denver, where she currently divides her time between teaching Latin, mothering, writing, reading, and deleting adverbs. She writes historically inspired Young Adult Fantasy.

This week’s picks:

Links:

© 2022 Patrick Hester

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