The Functional Nerds Podcast

In episode 320 of the Functional Nerds Podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio chat with Michael Johnston, author of Soleri – a new hardcover from TOR.

About Soleri: The ruling family of the Soleri Empire has been in power longer than even the calendars that stretch back 2,826 years. Those records tell a history of conquest and domination by a people descended from gods, older than anything in the known world. No living person has seen them for centuries, yet their grip on their four subjugate kingdoms remains tighter than ever.

On the day of the annual eclipse, the Harkan king, Arko-Hark Wadi, sets off on a hunt and shirks his duty rather than bow to the emperor. Ren, his son and heir, is a prisoner in the capital, while his daughters struggle against their own chains. Merit, the eldest, has found a way to stand against imperial law and marry the man she desires, but needs her sister’s help, and Kepi has her own ideas.

Meanwhile, Sarra Amunet, Mother Priestess of the sun god’s cult, holds the keys to the end of an empire and a past betrayal that could shatter her family.

Detailed and historical, vast in scope and intricate in conception, Soleri bristles with primal magic and unexpected violence. It is a world of ancient and elaborate rites, of unseen power and kingdoms ravaged by war, where victory comes with a price, and every truth conceals a deeper secret.

About Michael:

MICHAEL JOHNSTON has always been an avid reader of science fiction and fantasy. He studied architecture and ancient history at Lehigh University and earned a master’s degree in architecture from Columbia University. Michael worked as an architect in New York City before switching to writing full time. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter.

This week’s picks:

* Michael: Imaginary Cities: A Tour of Dream Cities, Nightmare Cities, and Everywhere in Between by Darran Anderson

* John: The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson

* Patrick: The Defenders Trailer

Links:

* Michael Johnston on Twitter

* John Anealio on Twitter

* Patrick Hester on Twitter

* The Functional Nerds Patreon Page

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

© 2017 Patrick Hester and John Anealio

This podcast contains original music by John Anealio.

In episode 319 of the Functional Nerds Podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio chat with Shannon Lawrence, author of several short stories including, Let’s Play a Game, Salvation Lottery, For Love of the Hunt, Shifting Sands, Sound Advice and Metamorphosis – which is just a sampling of her work. For a full list with links, please visit her website.

About Shannon:

A fan of all things fantastical and frightening, Shannon Lawrence writes in her dungeon when her minions allow, often accompanied by her familiars, Cleopatra and Nefertiti. She writes primarily horror and fantasy. Her stories can be found in several anthologies and magazines, including Once Upon a Scream, The Literary Hatchet, The Deep Dark Woods, and Dark Moon Digest. When she’s not writing, she’s hiking through the wilds of Colorado and photographing her magnificent surroundings. Though she often misses the ocean, the majestic and rugged Rockies are a sight she could never part with. Besides, in Colorado there’s always a place to hide a body or birth a monster. What more could she ask for? Find her at www.thewarriormuse.com.

This week’s picks:

* Shannon: Mongrels: A Novel by Stephen Graham Jones

* John: The Man In The High Castle

* Patrick: The Dark Tower Trailer

Links:

* Shannon Lawrence on Twitter

* John Anealio on Twitter

* Patrick Hester on Twitter

* The Functional Nerds Patreon Page

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

© 2017 Patrick Hester and John Anealio

This podcast contains original music by John Anealio.

In episode 318 of the Functional Nerds Podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio chat with Kristi Charish, author of THE VOODOO KILLINGS (Random House Canada, May 10th, 2016), the first book in my KINCAID STRANGE series, an urban fantasy mystery about a voodoo practitioner living in Seattle with the ghost of a deceased grunge rocker.

About Kristi:

Kristi is the author of OWL AND THE JAPANESE CIRCUS (Simon & Schuster Canada), OWL AND THE CITY OF ANGELS, and OWL AND THE ELECTRIC SAMURAI, an urban fantasy series about Ex-archaeology grad student turned international antiquities thief, Alix— better known now as Owl—a modern-day “Indiana Jane” who reluctantly navigates the hidden supernatural world.

She writes what she loves; adventure heavy stories featuring strong, savvy female protagonists, pop culture, and the occasional RPG fantasy game thrown in the mix. You can hear her biweekly on The Adventures in Sci-Fi Publishing Podcast where she cohosts and interviews both up-and-coming and established authors in the genre.

Besides writing she is also a scientist. She has a BSc and MSc from Simon Fraser University in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry and a PhD in Zoology from the University of British Columbia. Her specialties are genetics, cell biology, and molecular biology, all of which she draws upon in her books.

This week’s picks:

* Kristi: Wynonna Earp TV Show

* John: Sail Away: Whitesnake’s Fantastic Voyage/a> by Martin Popoff

* Patrick: The Pikes Peak Writers Conference

Links:

* Kristi Charish on Twitter

* John Anealio on Twitter

* Patrick Hester on Twitter

* The Functional Nerds Patreon Page

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

© 2017 Patrick Hester and John Anealio

This podcast contains original music by John Anealio.

In episode 317 of the Functional Nerds Podcast, John and Patrick talk about podcasts, streaming services, Google Music/Play, iTunes, physical media versus streaming versus digital, handbrake, Plex, John Mayer, Sheryl Crow, The Beatles, The White Album, Spotify, Halestorm, Rival Suns and Muscle Shoals.

Links:

* John Anealio on Twitter

* Patrick Hester on Twitter

* The Functional Nerds Patreon Page

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

© 2017 Patrick Hester and John Anealio

This podcast contains original music by John Anealio.

No castles were made in the skies during this episode…

In episode 316 of the Functional Nerds Podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio chat with Marie Brennan,author of The Memoirs of Lady Trent – a five-book series chronicling the adventures and discoveries of Isabella, Lady Trent, renowned dragon naturalist. The latest book, Within the Sanctuary of Wings, is available today!

About Marie:

Marie Brennan holds an undergraduate degree in archaeology and folklore from Harvard, and completed graduate coursework in cultural anthropology and folklore at Indiana University in Bloomington. She now misapplies her professors’ hard work by using it as inspiration for her fantasy novels and short stories.

At present she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she spends her time playing piano, studying shorin-ryu karate, dabbling in amateur photography, and playing a variety of role-playing games.

Her first novel was published in 2004. Since then she has sold a dozen books and more than forty short stories.

This week’s picks:

* Marie: Nine Fox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee

* John: The Talent Code: Greatness Isn’t Born. It’s Grown. Here’s How by Daniel Coyle

* Patrick: Traveler of Worlds: Conversations with Robert Silverberg by Robert Silverberg and Alvaro Zinos-Amaro

Links:

* Marie Brennan on Twitter

* John Anealio on Twitter

* Patrick Hester on Twitter

* The Functional Nerds Patreon Page

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

© 2017 Patrick Hester and John Anealio

This podcast contains original music by John Anealio.

In episode 315 of the Functional Nerds Podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio chat with Science fiction writer, futurist, Hugo, Nebula, and John W. Campbell Memorial Award winner Robert J. Sawyer.

About Robert:

Robert J. Sawyer — called “the dean of Canadian science fiction” by the OTTAWA CITIZEN and “just about the best science-fiction writer out there” by the Denver ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS — is one of eight authors in history to win all three of the science-fiction field’s highest honors for best novel of the year: the Hugo Award (which he won for HOMINIDS), the Nebula Award (which he won for THE TERMINAL EXPERIMENT); and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award (which he won for MINDSCAN).

Rob’s novels have been top-ten national mainstream bestsellers in Canada, appearing on the GLOBE AND MAIL and MACLEAN’S bestsellers’ lists, and they’ve hit number one on the bestsellers’ list published by LOCUS, the U.S. trade journal of the SF field.

QUANTUM NIGHT is Rob’s most recent novel. Set in the present day, QUANTUM NIGHT is an exploration of the concept of the Philosophical Zombie: someone whose lights are on but no one is home. Sawyer posits that our population is dominated by these easily led, emotionally vacant followers. And who leads this vast mob? Psychopaths. Resemblance to the current political situation is a coincidence/awesome prediction as Rob wrote this in 2015.

This week’s picks:

* Robert: Arrival

* John: The Dragonbone Chair: Book One of Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn by Tad Williams

* Patrick: Star Wars Rebels Season Finale

Links:

* Robert J. Sawyer on Twitter

* John Anealio on Twitter

* Patrick Hester on Twitter

* The Functional Nerds Patreon Page

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

© 2017 Patrick Hester and John Anealio

This podcast contains original music by John Anealio.

In episode 314 of the Functional Nerds Podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio chat with Josh Vogt, author of The Dustpan Cometh: A Cleaners Book.

About Josh:

Writer. Freelancer. Unashamed geek. Josh splits his time between dreaming up new worlds and forms of magic and providing marketing/sales copy for clients. It’s sometimes difficult to know which requires more imagination.

This week’s picks:

* Josh: The Last Days of Salton Academy by Jennifer Brozek

* John: Apple Airpods

* Patrick: Wynonna Earp comic and Wynonna Earp show

Links:

* Josh Vogt on Twitter

* John Anealio on Twitter

* Patrick Hester on Twitter

* The Functional Nerds Patreon Page

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

© 2017 Patrick Hester and John Anealio

This podcast contains original music by John Anealio.

In episode 313 of the Functional Nerds Podcast, John and Patrick talk mostly about Marvel’s Iron Fist. Marvel’s Iron Fist, or simply Iron Fist, is an American web television series created for Netflix by Scott Buck, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films of the franchise and is the fourth in a series of shows that will lead up to The Defenders crossover miniseries. The series is produced by Marvel Television in association with ABC Studios and Devilina Productions, with Buck serving as showrunner.

Patrick says you can skip it and watch Into The Badlands if you want a great martial arts television show. John’s still giving it a shot.

Links:

* John Anealio on Twitter

* Patrick Hester on Twitter

* The Functional Nerds Patreon Page

© 2017 Patrick Hester and John Anealio

This podcast contains original music by John Anealio.

In episode 312 of the Functional Nerds Podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio chat with Ian McDonald, author of Luna: Wolf Moon.

About Ian:

Ian McDonald was born in 1960 in Manchester, England, to an Irish mother and a Scottish father. He moved with his family to Northern Ireland in 1965. He used to live in a house built in the back garden of C. S. Lewis’s childhood home but has since moved to central Belfast, where he now lives, exploring interests like cats, contemplative religion, bonsai, bicycles, and comic-book collecting. He debuted in 1982 with the short story “The Island of the Dead” in the short-lived British magazine Extro. His first novel, Desolation Road, was published in 1988. Other works include King of Morning, Queen of Day (winner of the Philip K. Dick Award), River of Gods, The Dervish House (both of which won British Science Fiction Association Awards), the graphic novel Kling Klang Klatch, and many more. His most recent publications are Planesrunner and Be My Enemy, books one and two of the Everness series for younger readers (though older readers will find them a ball of fun, as well). Ian worked in television development for sixteen years, but is glad to be back to writing fulltime.

This week’s picks:

* Ian: Horizon Zero Dawn

* John: I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life by Ed Yong

* Patrick: Pikes Peak Writers Conference and Superstars of Writing

Links:

* Ian Palmer on Twitter

* John Anealio on Twitter

* Patrick Hester on Twitter

* The Functional Nerds Patreon Page

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

© 2017 Patrick Hester and John Anealio

This podcast contains original music by John Anealio.