The Functional Nerds Podcast

John Anealio is flying solo (get it?) for episode 410, chatting with Broadcaster / Host / AnchorNerd Ken Napzok! His new book, Why We Love Star Wars: The Great Moments That Built A Galaxy Far, Far Away, is available now.

About Ken: Ken Napzok started his entertainment career as a disc jockey in Pismo Beach before heading to Los Angeles and the worlds of screenwriting, sketch and stand-up comedy, music blogging, and professional wrestling. He rekindled his passion for broadcasting as the producer/ newsman of the Schmoes Know Movie Show, co-host of the Jedi Alliance vodcast, and his podcast The Napzok Files. In 2015, he co-created the Star Wars podcast feed ForceCenter with Joseph Scrimshaw and Jennifer Landa. With four new Star War podcasts every week, ForceCenter enjoyed over one million downloads last year. Ken also became a producer/ host for ScreenJunkies and was the popular brand’s go-to expert on Star Wars and Game of Thrones. In 2016 Ken moved to Collider Video as a producer, writer and host. He became a regular pundit on the number one Star Wars YouTube show Collider Jedi Council. In April 2017, he became the Movie Trivia Schmoedown’s first ever Star Wars trivia champion by defeating actor Sam Witwer, the voice of Darth Maul himself, and three others in front of a wild, live audience at Star Wars Celebration. He has developed a reputation as a humorous, celebratory, expert appreciator of Star Wars.

About Why We Love Star Wars: The Great Moments That Built A Galaxy Far, Far Away: Celebrate the greatest saga ever told: All of us who are deeply influenced by the epic saga of Star Wars have our favorite moments. Each time the screen goes black and you see those words? “A Long Time Ago, In A Galaxy Far, Far Away”?the music blasts through you and you’re a kid again. Ken Napzok, expert appreciator of Star Wars, counts down each one of those special moments that makes this series not just the best movies of all time, but the Greatest Saga Ever Told.

Why We Love Star Wars: The Great Moments That Built A Galaxy Far, Far Away is a shared story of fandom. Classic moments include:

* The first shots of the ragtag Rebels running from the monstrous Galactic Empire

* Young Anakin winning the podrace

* And the first time we saw the crackle of Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber

This week’s picks:

* Ken: Shipping and Handling (podcast)

* John: One Word Kill (Impossible Times, #1) by Mark Lawrence

Links:

* Ken Napzok on Twitter

* John Anealio on Twitter

* Patrick Hester on Twitter

* The Functional Nerds Patreon Page

* Patrick Hester on Instagram

* Patrick’s Book: Into the Fire (availab...

Patrick and John are back talking about street tacos! Additionally mentioned in this episode: The Wheel of Time tv show, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, cooking shows and FoodNetwork, hickory smoked bbq, Solo, audiobooks, The Chef Show, upcoming fantasy and science fiction adaptations, Tacopalooza and Keb Mo, to name just a few… For the rest – hit play!

(Yes – there’s no music this week… DUN DUN DUN!)

Links:

* John Anealio on Twitter

* Patrick Hester on Twitter

* The Functional Nerds Patreon Page

* Patrick Hester on Instagram

* Patrick’s Book: Into the Fire (available everywhere)

© 2019 Patrick Hester and John Anealio

This podcast contains original music by John Anealio.

For episode 408, Patrick and John welcome back (for the second time this year!) – Tracy Townsend! Her new book, The Fall, is now available from PYR.

About Tracy: Tracy Townsend holds a Master’s degree in Writing & Rhetoric from DePaul University and a Bachelor’s degree in creative writing from DePauw University, a source of regular consternation when proofreading her credentials. She has served as chair of the English Department at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, an elite public boarding school, where she currently teaches creative writing and science fiction & fantasy literature. She has been a martial arts instructor, a stage combat and accent coach, and a short-order cook for houses full of tired gamers. Now she lives in Bolingbrook, Illinois with two bumptious hounds, two remarkable children, and one very patient husband. Her short story, “Late Arrivals,” was published by Luna Station Quarterly in March 2016, where she now writes monthly columns on sff story craft and world-building.

About The Fall: Eight months ago, Rowena Downshire was a half-starved black market courier darting through the shadows of Corma’s underside. Today, she’s a (mostly) respectable clerk in the Alchemist’s infamous apothecary shop, the Stone Scales, and certainly the last girl one would think qualified to carry the weight of the world on her shoulders a second time. Looks can be deceiving.

When Anselm Meteron and the Alchemist receive an invitation to an old acquaintance’s ball–the Greatduke who financed their final, disastrous mercenary mission fourteen years earlier–they’re expecting blackmail, graft, or veiled threats related to the plot to steal the secrets of the Creator’s Grand Experiment. They aren’t expecting a job offer they can’t refuse or a trip halfway across the world to rendezvous with the scholar whose research threw their lives into tumult: the Reverend Doctor Phillip Chalmers.

Escorting Chalmers to the Grand Library of Nippon with her mismatched mercenary family is just a grand adventure to Rowena until she discovers a powerful algebraic engine called the Aggregator. The Aggregator leads Rowena to questions about the Grand Experiment she was never meant to ask and answers she cannot be allowed to possess. With her reunited friends, Rowena must find a way to use the truths hidden in the Grand Library to disarm those who would hunt down the nine subjects of the Creator’s Grand Experiment, threatening to close the book on this world.

This week’s picks:

* Tracy: Shipping and Handling (podcast)

* John: One Word Kill (Impossible Times, #1) by Mark Lawrence

* Patrick: Marvel’s Spider-Man (PS4)

Links:

* Tracy Townsend on Twitter

* John Anealio on Twitter

* Patrick Hester on Twitter

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June has arrived and with it brought record snow storms across the US… That didn’t stop Patrick and John from an afternoon get-together AKA recording the Functional Nerds podcast, wherein they discussed such heady topics as: Summer snow storms, Constantine, Always Be My Maybe (Netflix), John Wick Chapters 1 & 2, Good Omens (Prime), broken trees, audiobooks, Swamp Thing (DCUniverse), Fleabag (Prime), the Arrowverse (CW), the ‘lost episodes’ of the podcast, and much more. You’ll have to listen to the episode for the details.

Links:

* John Anealio on Twitter

* Patrick Hester on Twitter

* The Functional Nerds Patreon Page

* Patrick Hester on Instagram

* Patrick’s Book: Into the Fire (available everywhere)

© 2019 Patrick Hester and John Anealio

This podcast contains original music by John Anealio.

We’re glad to welcome back Max Gladstone – author of Empress of Forever – coming June 18th from TOR.

About Max Gladstone: Max Gladstone has been thrown from a horse in Mongolia and nominated twice for the John W Campbell Best New Writer Award. Tor Books published FOUR ROADS CROSS, the fifth novel in Max’s Craft Sequence (preceded by THREE PARTS DEAD, TWO SERPENTS RISE, FULL FATHOM FIVE, and LAST FIRST SNOW) in July 2016. Max’s game CHOICE OF THE DEATHLESS was nominated for a XYZZY Award, and FULL FATHOM FIVE was nominated for the Lambda Award. His short fiction has appeared on Tor.com and in Uncanny Magazine. His most recent project is the globetrotting urban fantasy serial BOOKBURNERS, available in ebook and audio from Serial Box, and in print from Saga Press.

About Empress of Forever: A wildly successful innovator to rival Steve Jobs or Elon Musk, Vivian Liao is prone to radical thinking, quick decision-making, and reckless action. On the eve of her greatest achievement, she tries to outrun people who are trying to steal her success.

In the chilly darkness of a Boston server farm, Viv sets her ultimate plan into motion. A terrifying instant later, Vivian Liao is catapulted through space and time to a far future where she confronts a destiny stranger and more deadly than she could ever imagine.

The end of time is ruled by an ancient, powerful Empress who blesses or blasts entire planets with a single thought. Rebellion is literally impossible to consider—until Vivian Liao arrives. Trapped between the Pride—a ravening horde of sentient machines—and a fanatical sect of warrior monks who call themselves the Mirrorfaith, Viv must rally a strange group of allies to confront the Empress and find a way back to the world and life she left behind.

This week’s picks:

* Max: Star Realms – Game

* John: Dooku: Jedi Lost (Star Wars)

* Patrick: The Battered Bastards of Baseball – Netflix

Links:

* Max Gladstone on Twitter

* John Anealio on Twitter

* Patrick Hester on Twitter

* The Functional Nerds Patreon Page

* Patrick’s Book: Into the Fire (available everywhere)

© 2019 Patrick Hester and John Anealio

This podcast contains original music by John Anealio.

It’s the post-Memorial Day slump AKA SUMMER! Patrick and John are back with the latest episode of the Functional Nerds aka Just Us and Titans, Young Justice and Kickstarter + buying furniture and other things online. Also mentioned in this episode: The Expanse RPG, Game of Thrones, social media, HBO Go, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Damian Wayne, Carrie Kelley, The 7th Continent, Elder Dice, Lou Anders (Are you still out there listening, Lou?), Wayfarer, Riyria, Captain Marvel, Feedly, Batman, Robin, Nightwing, Google News, frame by frame trailer analysis, and The Game Of Thrones Starbucks Cup Controversy…

Links:

* John Anealio on Twitter

* Patrick Hester on Twitter

* The Functional Nerds Patreon Page

* Patrick Hester on Instagram

* Patrick’s Book: Into the Fire (available everywhere)

© 2019 Patrick Hester and John Anealio

This podcast contains original music by John Anealio.

This is not a 404 error – it’s episode 404 of The Functional Nerds podcast and our guest this week is Callie Bates – author of the the Waking Land trilogy: The Waking Land, The Memory of Fire, and the latest book: The Soul of Power…

About Callie Bates: Callie Bates is the author of the fantasy novels The Waking Land, The Memory of Fire, and The Soul of Power (forthcoming). She is also a harpist and certified harp therapist, sometimes artist, and nature nerd. When she’s not reading and writing, she’s traipsing through new places and exploring the great outdoors–or in search of the perfect cup of tea. She lives in the Midwest.

About The Soul of Power: Sophy Dunbarron—the illegitimate daughter of a king that never was—has always felt like an impostor. Separated from her birth mother, raised by parents mourning the loss of their true daughter, and unacknowledged by her father, Sophy only desires one thing: a place and a family to call her own. But fate has other ideas. Caught up in Elanna Valtai’s revolution, Sophy has become the reigning monarch of a once-divided country—a role she has been groomed her whole life to fill.

But as she quickly discovers, wearing a crown is quite a different thing from actually keeping a crown. With an influx of magic-bearing refugees pouring across the border, resources already thinned by war are stretched to the breaking point. Half the nobility in her court want her deposed, and the other half question her every decision. And every third person seems to be spontaneously manifesting magical powers.

When Elanna is captured and taken to Paladis, Sophy’s last ally seems to have vanished. Now it is up to her alone to navigate a political maze that becomes more complex and thorny by the day. And worse, Sophy is hiding a huge secret—one that could destroy her tenuous hold on the crown forever.

This week’s picks:

* Callie: The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie

* John: Am I Alone Here?: Notes on Living to Read and Reading to Live by Peter Orner

* Patrick: The Last Wish: Introducing the Witcher Paperback by Andrzej Sapkowski

Links:

* Callie Bates on Twitter

* John Anealio on Twitter

* Patrick Hester on Twitter

* The Functional Nerds Patreon Page

* Patrick’s Book: Into the Fire (available everywhere)

© 2019 Patrick Hester and John Anealio

This podcast contains original music by John Anealio.

The Functional Nerds assemble for a discussion with Mike Cecchini – Entertainment journalist and Editor-in-Chief for Den of Geek US. In addition to a SPOILER FREE chat about the crowd experience that is Avengers: Endgame, and the continuing power and influence Prog Rock has on John, we also talk about the new book, TV Geek: The Den of Geek Guide for the Netflix Generation.

About TV Geek: The Den of Geek Guide for the Netflix Generation: Get sucked in to the world of box-sets, bingewatching and addictive insider anecdotes with this comprehensive guide to the small screen, brought to you by the people behind the Den of Geek website.

TV Geek recounts the fascinating stories of cult-classic series, reveals the nerdy Easter eggs hidden in TV show sets, and demonstrates the awe-inspiring power of fandom, which has even been known to raise TV series from the dead.

This week’s picks:

* Mike: Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets

* John: Hulu’s ‘Add a Premium Channel’ feature

* Patrick: Avengers: Endgame

Links:

* Mike Cecchini on Twitter

* John Anealio on Twitter

* Patrick Hester on Twitter

* The Functional Nerds Patreon Page

* Patrick’s Book: Into the Fire (available everywhere)

© 2019 Patrick Hester and John Anealio

This podcast contains original music by John Anealio.

Ep 402. It’s all downhill from here, folks! Probably. This week, Patrick and John talk about Star Wars Celebration and the release of the teaser trailer for Episode 9: The Rise of Skywalker. That leads to a deeper discussion of Disney+ and the future of streaming that Patrick is pretty sure will piss someone, somewhere, off…

Links:

* John Anealio on Twitter

* Patrick Hester on Twitter

* The Functional Nerds Patreon Page

* Patrick’s Book: Into the Fire (available everywhere)

© 2019 Patrick Hester and John Anealio

This podcast contains original music by John Anealio.

For 401, Patrick and John welcome back authors EC Myers and Andrea Phillips – two of the creative minds behind the new Serial Box project – Alternis.

About Alternis: Game designer Tandy Kahananui has been developing Alternis for nearly a decade, perfecting its monsters and dungeons. But she never imagined her game would be co-opted as the basis for an ambitious top-secret project to keep the world from plunging into war, where nations compete digitally for real-world resources. Team USA has been consistently losing, and the government needs a secret weapon to help them climb the leaderboard. When Tandy is conscripted into playing a key role and fighting for the future of her country, she quickly realizes she is in way over her head…and not everybody is playing by the rules. Can she help Team USA hold its own? Can she even survive?

About Andrea Phillips: Andrea Phillips is an award-winning transmedia writer, game designer and author. She has worked on projects such as iOS fitness games Zombies, Run! and The Walk, The Maester’s Path for HBO’s Game of Thrones, human rights game America 2049, and the independent commercial ARG Perplex City. Her projects have variously won the Prix Jeunesse Interactivity Prize, a Broadband Digital award, a Canadian Screen Award, a BIMA, the Origins Vanguard Innovation Award, and others. Her book A Creator’s Guide to Transmedia Storytelling is used to teach digital storytelling at universities around the world.

Her independent work includes the Kickstarted serial The Daring Adventures of Captain Lucy Smokeheart and The McKinnon Account, a short story that unfolds in your email inbox. Her debut novel Revision is out on May 5 from Fireside Fiction Co. and her short fiction has been published in Escape Pod and the Jews vs. Aliens anthology.

About E. C. Myers: E(ugene).C. Myers is the author of four young adult novels: Fair Coin, Quantum Coin, The Silence of Six, and Against All Silence. His science fiction and fantasy short stories have been published in a number of magazines and anthologies such as Kaleidoscope: Diverse YA Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, and Space and Time magazine.

He attended the Clarion West Writers Workshop in 2005 and is a member of the professional writing group Altered Fluid. He currently lives with his wife, son, two doofy cats, and a deaf Australian Shepherd in Pennsylvania. In his increasingly scarce free time, he blogs Star Trek Re-watch reviews with Torie Atkinson at TheViewscreen.com, is an assistant editor at Nightmare Magazine, critiques manuscripts, reads constantly, lurks on the internet, plays video games, and pursues other extracurricular activities that prevent him from getting sleep.

This week’s picks:

* Andrea: Kami 2 (Mobile Game)

* Eugene: Russian Doll (Netflix)

* John: Farscape (Prime)

* Patrick: Tiamat’s Wrath by James SA Corey

Links:

* E. C. Myers on Twitter

* Andrea Phillips on Twit...