In this extra long episode, Calvin looks back over the books he read in summer 2019, gives each a quick review, and shares his rating for the book. There are too many books to list here, but if you're looking for possibilities to add to your own to-be-read list, this is the episode for you! 

Calvin dives right into what he's been reading. Over the last week he completely BLACK POWDER WAR by Naomi Novik and he's currently in the midst of THE BONE SHIPS by RJ Barker (thank you to Netgalley and Orbit for the ARC). After talking about those he outlines his reading plans for the upcoming week which include THE FIRE EYE CHOSEN by Samuel Gately. A quick detour to talk about self-published fantasy month ends with some time of A HERO BORN--not self-published--but releasing this week. Then it's on to a blog post by Mark Lawrence on paying writers and Calvin's excitement for The Fantasy Inn's new podcast! This episode wraps up with Calvin's recommendation of The Obsidian Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory.

Calvin sits down with Josh Erikson, author of the Ethereal Earth series,  to talk about his books Hero Forged and Fate Lashed, the craft of  writing, and influences on fantasy literature. The two of them also geek  out about Tolkien and his influence on the fantasy genre.

This week Calvin's recent reads include STARSHIP BLACKBEARD by Michael Wallace and THE GIRL WITH NO FACE by M.H. Boroson. After sharing plenty of praise for Boroson's work, he outlines his plans for the next week including BLACK POWDER WAR by Naomi Novik and THE BONE SHIPS by RJ Barker. He also slips in a reference to a book he's currently beta reading and loving: CURSEBREAKER by Carol A. Park. THE TEN THOUSAND DOORS OF JANUARY by Alix E. Harrow is also mentioned--one that Calvin hasn't read yet but has heard nothing but rave reviews for. After that it's on to some news in the SFF world, particularly another casting announcement for Amazon's Wheel of Time series and a release date for UNCROWNED by Will Wight. 

Jon Auerbach, author of GUILD OF TOKENS, joins Calvin to talk about what inspired him to become an author, how he came up with the concept for his novel, some of the cool real-world history that's weaved into, and some of the challenges of being a self-published author. If you enjoy Asimov references and wonder about fitting real history into fictional works, this is the podcast for you! 

This week Calvin dives right into his reads from the past week, giving the thumbs up to THE GUNS ABOVE by Robyn Bennis and STEEL CROW SAGA by Paul Krueger. He then comments on his current read STARSHIP BLACKBEARD by Michael Wallace before outlining the other books he hopes to read in the upcoming week. After that, you'll hear about some of the soon-to-be-released novels on Calvin's radar before he encourages you to take part in the r/fantasy September Goodreads Book of the Month, which happens to be VITA NOSTRA by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko (translated by Julia Meitov Hersey). There's still more excitement, though, as UNCROWNED by Will Wight, will open for preorders on September 5th. Before closing with some housekeeping items, Calvin also shares his first impressions for Carnival Row (Amazon Prime) and Age of Resistance (Netflix).

In this episode, Calvin sits down with Petrik from Novel Notions and a top Goodreads reviewer. They talk about why they love the fantasy genre,  geek out a little about THE SWORD OF KAIGEN, discuss what got Petrik into reviewing, and conclude with a brief conversation about the profound things the Fantasy genre does for us as people. You don't want  to miss this one!

In this episode, Jason Aycock from Off the TBR joins the pod. He and Calvin talk about how Jason got into blogging and reviewing, the great book community on Twitter, and some reads Jason has enjoyed--he even makes a recommendation that Calvin ends up being quick to follow up on. The conclude by talking about Self-Published Fantasy Month, something Jason did last year on his blog and is doing again. Find out more here.

This week there is a ton of news to discuss, but before he dives into that Calvin answers a question he received on Twitter regarding why he generally dislikes present tense narrative. After that, he talks about his reads for the week: A HERO BORN by Jin Yong, AGE OF WAR by Michael J. Sullivan, and KALANON'S RISING by Darian Smith. Then it's brief mentions for his upcoming reads, THE GUNS ABOVE by Robyn Bennis and STELL CROW SAGE by Paul Krueger. After that, it's time to dive into the news of the week in the SFF realm, with Worldcon coming to DC in 2021, and Disney dropping a ton of enticing tidbits about new Marvel and Star Wars series, there is plenty to talk about--including the AGE OF DEATH kickstarter funding in record time. 

In this episode, Angela Boord, the author of FORTUNE'S FOOL, joins Calvin. They discuss the way she writes her characters and crafts her stories, how she came up with the idea for different tenses to indicate different time periods, the way magic feels like a force of a nature in her book, as well as a couple other topics. If you've enjoyed FORTUNE'S FOOL, you'll love this podcast, and if you haven't read FORTUNE'S FOOL yet--then let this discussion convince you!