The Functional Nerds Podcast

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy look back on 2025 and towards 2026 in a rare and very special Just Us episode. We chat about our favorite episodes from 2025, our favorite authors and more!

If you like what we do, and enjoyed this very special Just Us episode, consider joining The Functional Nerds Patreon Page! We put out a Patron’s Only Just Us episode very month.

Thanks for listening!

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© 2026 Patrick Hester

The post Episode 690-Just Us and the New Year appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Emily Mitchell to talk about her new short story collection The Church of Divine Electricity.

About The Church of Divine Electricity: Delightfully blending literary fiction with speculative genres, the stories in The Church of Divine Electricity somehow manage to feel as though they could take place today. In Emily Mitchell’s created worlds, as in our own, technology bewitches, especially with its ability to heighten both connections and isolation.

Whether being held by a giant and comforting machine, allowing micro-drones to record one’s every moment for a year to win prize money, or choosing self-mutilation in exchange for a bionic hand, these characters navigate technological and social change. The familiar can turn unrecognizable and disorienting—sometimes in a flash, sometimes gradually. Lyrical, haunting, and often funny, these stories ask us to consider what—and who—gets left out of a seemingly utopian future of technological advancements. Finely observed, thoughtful, and vivid, Mitchell’s stories get under your skin. It’s not that the best-laid plans could lead us astray—it’s that they may already have.

About Emily Mitchell: Emily Mitchell grew up in London, England and moved to the United States as a teenager. She is the author of a novel, The Last Summer of the World (W. W. Norton, 2007), which was a finalist for the NYPL Young Lions Award, and two collections of short fiction, Viral (W. W. Norton, 2015) and The Church of Divine Electricity, winner of the 2023 Elixir Press Fiction Prize, forthcoming from University of Wisconsin Press in fall 2025. Her stories have appeared in Harpers’, The Sun, The Southern Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, Prairie Schooner, The Missouri Review, American Short Fiction and elsewhere. Her nonfiction has appeared in the New York Times, the New Statesman (UK), Guernica and the Washington Independent Review of Books. She is the recipient of fellowships from Yaddo, the Ucross Foundation, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, and Can Serrat International Artists Residency. She serves as fiction editor for New England Review and teaches at the University of Maryland. She lives just outside Washington DC with her husband, the writer and editor J. M. Tyree.

This week’s picks:

Links:

© 2025 Patrick Hester

The post Episode 689-With Emily Mitchell appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Jordan Marshall, who backed the Uncanny Magazine Year 12: Fly Forever, Space Unicorns Kickstarter at the THIRD NERD level!

Jordan is working with a group of game developers on a new TTRPG: WE BEGIN AT MIDNIGHT!

This week’s picks:

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© 2025 Patrick Hester

The post Episode 688-With Jordan Marshall appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Marie Lu, author of RED CITY.

About RED CITY: Alchemy is the hidden art of transformation. An exclusive power wielded by crime syndicates that market it to the world’s elites in the form of sand, a drug that enhances those who take it into a more perfect version of themselves: more beautiful, more charismatic, simply more.

Among the gleaming skyscrapers and rolling foothills of Angel City, alchemy is controlled by two rival syndicates. For years, Grand Central and Lumines have been balanced on a razor’s edge between polite negotiation and outright violence. But when two childhood friends step into that delicate equation, the city—and the paths of their lives—will be irrevocably transformed.

The daughter of a poor single mother, Sam would do anything to claw her way into the ranks of Grand Central in search of a better life. Plucked away from his family as a boy to become a Lumines apprentice, Ari is one of the syndicates’ brightest rising stars. Once, they might have loved each other. But as the two alchemists face off across opposite sides of an ever-escalating conflict, ambition becomes power, loyalty becomes lies, and no transformation may be perfect enough for them both to survive the coming war.

About Marie Lu: Marie Lu is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than 15 novels, including Legend, The Young Elites, Warcross, Skyhunter, and Stars And Smoke. Her adult debut, Red City, releases on Oct. 14, 2025. She graduated from the University of Southern California and jumped into the video game industry, working for Disney Interactive Studios as an artist. Now a full-time writer, she spends her spare time reading, drawing, playing games, and getting stuck in traffic. She lives in Los Angeles with her family.

This week’s picks:

Links:

© 2025 Patrick Hester

The post Episode 687-With Marie Lu appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Daniel H. Wilson, author of Hole in the Sky.

About Hole in the Sky: On the Great Plains of Oklahoma, in the heart of the Cherokee Nation, a strange atmospheric disturbance is noticed by Jim Hardgray, a down-on-his-luck single father trying to reconnect with his teenage daughter, Tawny. At NASA’s headquarters in Houston, Texas, astrophysicist Dr. Mikayla Johnson observes an interaction with the Voyager 1 spacecraft on the far side of the solar system, and she concludes that something enormous and unidentified is heading directly for Earth. And in an undisclosed bunker somewhere in the United States, an American threat forecaster known only as the Man Downstairs intercepts a cryptic communication and sends a message directly to the president and highest-ranking military brass: “First contact imminent.”

Daniel H. Wilson’s Hole in the Sky is a riveting thriller in the most creative tradition of extraterrestrial fiction. Drawing on Wilson’s unique background as both a threat forecaster for the United States Air Force and a Cherokee Nation citizen, this propulsive novel asks probing questions about nonhuman intelligence, the Western mindset, and humans’ understanding of reality.

About Daniel H. Wilson: Daniel H. Wilson is a Cherokee citizen and the multiple New York Times bestselling author of techno-thrillers such as Robopocalypse, The Clockwork Dynasty, and The Andromeda Evolution (an authorized sequel to the Crichton classic). He earned a PhD in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University, as well as Masters degrees in Machine Learning and Robotics. His next novel, Hole in the Sky, is a story of Native First Contact, releasing October 7th, 2025. Wilson lives in Portland, Oregon.

This week’s picks:

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© 2025 Patrick Hester

The post Episode 686-With Daniel H. Wilson appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Sara Raasch, author of The Entanglement of Rival Wizards.

About The Entanglement of Rival Wizards: Sebastian Walsh: Evocation Department. Human. The first of his family to pick college over the military.

Elethior Tourael: Conjuration Department. Half-elf. Pretentious asshole. The latest legacy Tourael at Lesiara U.

Both: Mageus Research Grant finalists.

Sebastian refuses to let anyone snatch this away, least of all a snob riding on old money. But what’s worse than a nemesis stealing your grant? You could both get it. Under the condition you work together.

Sebastian is in hell. Thio’s broody. Takes up their shared lab space with his projects . . . and biceps. Brings treats for Sebastian’s familiar . . .

. . . and is nothing like Sebastian thought.

When Sebastian’s past with the Touraels forces him to choose his research or Thio, the decision should be simple. But while working with his rival is volatile . . . falling for his rival might blow up Sebastian’s future.

About Sara Raasch: Sara Raasch has known she was destined for bookish things since the age of five, when her friends had a lemonade stand and she tagged along to sell her hand-drawn picture books too. Not much has changed since then — her friends still cock concerned eyebrows when she attempts to draw things and her enthusiasm for the written word still drives her to extreme measures.

She is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of multiple books for teens, including the historical romantasy duology WITCH AND HUNTER, cowritten with Beth Revis; as well as romances for adults, such as THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE KISSMAS, GO LUCK YOURSELF, and THE ENTANGLEMENT OF RIVAL WIZARDS.

This week’s picks:

Links:

© 2025 Patrick Hester

The post Episode 685-With Sara Raasch appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome back Beth Cato, author of A House Between Sea and Sky.

About A House Between Sea and Sky: Grieving Hollywood writer Fayette Wynne arrives in Carmel-by-the-Sea in 1926 to finish her latest project in peace. All alone, save for the preternatural sourdough starter her family has nurtured for years, Fayette is also resentful. The proven healing powers of the bread made with her starter were insufficient to save her beloved mother. For Fayette, it’s time to try and push past the pain and anger and move on.

Then, during a violent storm, Fayette saves rising star Rex Hallstrom during a moment of crisis. Their shelter: a peculiar cliffside house, its door flung open as if beckoning them. Sentient, curious, and lonely, it recognizes in Fayette a unique magic even older than its own.

In the days that follow, as a friendship grows between Fayette and Rex, they discover local legends surrounding the isolated house: It appeared in the span of a single night, its cursed origins said to be Hell itself. But for two souls who need to move forward, it provides unexpected comfort and hope. In fact, Fayette and Rex have never felt more alive. Neither has the house, whose mysteries are unending and whose wicked history may be too powerful to ignore.

About Beth Cato: Beth Cato hails from Hanford, California, but currently writes and bakes cookies in Red Wing, Minnesota. She usually has one or two cats in close orbit. A 2015 Nebula finalist, she is the author of the cozy mystery CHEDDAR LUCK NEXT TIME as well as fantasy like A THOUSAND RECIPES FOR REVENGE. 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 BlueSky as @BethCato and Instagram as @catocatsandcheese.

This week’s picks:

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© 2025 Patrick Hester

The post Episode 684-With Beth Cato appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Lyndsay Ely, author of The Lost Reliquary.

About The Lost Reliquary: The Devoted Lands was once home to many gods. Now, after centuries of brutal wars, only Tempestra-Innara, the Enduring Flame, remains.

As a divine warrior, Lys is outwardly loyal to her goddess. If she dreams of deicide, that’s her business. When a routine heretical execution erupts into a near-fatal assassination attempt on Tempestra-Innara, Lys sees a glimmer of hope for her freedom.

Lys is chosen to hunt down the heretics and find an ancient reliquary with the power to kill a god. Annoyingly, she’s not alone. Paired with Nolan, a warrior from a rival cloister who is as pious as he is determined, Lys must feign devotion if she hopes to keep her own god-killing ambitions within reach.

But as they pursue the heretics linked to the assassination, Lys uncovers a world with more possibility—and peril—than she ever anticipated.

About Lyndsay Ely: Lyndsay spent her teenage years wanting to be a comic book artist but as it turned out, she couldn’t draw very well, so she began writing instead. She is a geek, a foodie, former publishing minion, and has never met an antique shop or flea market she didn’t like. Boston is the place she currently calls home, though she wouldn’t mind giving Paris a try someday.

Like many authors, she’d be thrilled if you purchased her books, but most especially if you get them from your local indie bookstore.

This week’s picks:

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© 2025 Patrick Hester

The post Episode 683-With Lyndsay Ely appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Auston Habershaw, author of Faceless Galaxy.

About Faceless Galaxy: Throughout the gutters and sanitation systems of the civilized galaxy, amorphous, nameless blobs called Torrhoids digest other species’ trash to clean air and water.

The Great Races don’ t consider Torrhoids intelligent. But when one Torrhoid receives a baffling kindness, its curiosity ignites. The shapeshifter discovers it can mimic its overlords— not only their voices, but their forms and movements, too.

It can escape the prison planet where it is kept cold, hungry, and fighting for life. It can evade those who would throw it back into the sewers. With ingenuity, quick thinking, and the power of surprise, it can strike down even the oligarchs and influence traders who rule the galaxy. So begins the career of the assassin known only as “Faceless”.

Still learning the cultures of the beings it impersonates, testing the limits of its abilities, and evading revulsion for its natural form, Faceless is never far from detection and death. Ethics are a luxury it can ill afford.

But as the stories of this sharp, twisty cyberpunk collection prove, a gutter scavenger’s justice may still beat an empire’s.

About Auston Habershaw: On the day Auston Habershaw was born, Skylab fell from the heavens. This foretold two possible fates: supervillain or scifi/fantasy author. Fortunately he chose the latter, and spends his time imagining the could-be and the never-was rather than disintegrating the moon with his volcano laser. He lives and works in Boston, MA.

Auston is a winner of the Writers of the Future Contest (2nd place in quarter 1, 2014) and has published stories in Analog, Galaxy’s Edge, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and Escape Pod, among other places. His fantasy series, The Saga of the Redeemed is available through Harper Voyager Impulse.

This week’s picks:

Links:

© 2025 Patrick Hester

The post Episode 682-With Auston Habershaw appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week on the podcast, Patrick and Tracy welcome Mark Waddell, author of Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World.

About Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World: Colin is a low-level employee at Dark Enterprises, a Hell-like multinational corporation solving the world’s most difficult problems in deeply questionable ways. After years of toiling away in a cubicle, he’s ready to climb the corporate ladder and claim the power he’s never had.

The only problem is, he’s pretty sure he’s about to be terminated. Like, terminated. That’s tough, because his BFF has just set him up with a great guy. In fact, maybe he’s a little too great. And he asks a lot of questions…

When Colin meets a shadowy figure promising his deepest desire in return for a small, unspecified favor, he can’t resist the urge to fast-track his goals. He asks for the one thing that will improve his life: a promotion.

But that small favor unleashes an ancient evil. People in New York are disappearing, the world might be ending, and Management is starting to notice. Getting to the top is never easy, and now it’s up to Colin to save the world. It’s the ultimate power move, after all.

About Mark Waddell: Originally from Calgary, Alberta, Mark grew up on the cold, windswept Prairies of western Canada. Fleeing southward, he earned a Ph.D. in the history of science, medicine, and technology from the Johns Hopkins University and then enjoyed fifteen years of non-stop excitement as a humanities professor. Finally yearning for greener pastures, he persuaded his amazing husband to move to Vancouver Island, where they now live.

When not writing stories about murderous Canadians, he plays the viola in a local orchestra, walks his dogs along the seashore, and thinks up interesting ways to kill people.

This week’s picks:

Links:

© 2025 Patrick Hester

The post Episode 681-With Mark Waddell appeared first on The Functional Nerds.