UpperPen Podcast

M. R. Carey is a writer who is equally at home in a wide range of media. His previous novel The Girl With All the Gifts was a word-of-mouth-bestseller and is soon to be a major motion picture based on his own screenplay. Under the name Mike Carey he has written for both DC and Marvel, including critically acclaimed runs on X-Men and Fantastic Four, Marvel's flagship superhero titles. His creator-owned books regularly appear in the New York Times graphic fiction bestseller list. He also has several previous novels, two radio plays and a number of TV and movie screenplays to his credit.  

Where to buy: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/m-r-carey/the-book-of-koli/9780316477475/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07W54MPDZ/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i2  

**I highly suggest getting the audio version if you are at all into audiobooks. It really adds a lot to the way the story is told!

Dakota Krout is the author of many LitRPG books, including The Completionist Chronicles. With familiarity in programming and playing games, he decided to start writing books because he was interested in creating worlds that force the main character to develop. In his stories, characters undergo serious moral dilemmas and become stronger through training and experience. This is coincidentally how he has structured his life as a professional writer as well. Dakota found self-publishing to be the route for him and has since grown as a writer and entertained thousands with his wonderful stories, as well as the stories he helps publish through Mountaindale Press.

Charlie J. Eskew is a writer from Columbus, Ohio. He is a professional comic book shop lurker and tenured Black dude in America. Please satisfy your unnatural obsession with him via Twitter @CJEskew or his website, www.askeweskew.com.  

Trapped in a dead-end job in his Ohio hometown, watching the girl of his dreams move on to a glamorous new life in a big city--Donald McDougal's aimlessness has held him back for a long time. When a lightning strike grants him superhuman powers, he jumps at his chance to finally be somebody. But the new abilities and the pursuit of superheroic fame come with a price tag, and it may not be one he can afford.  This wry debut is at once a fanboy's homage to the history of superhero storytelling in America and a keen-eyed satire of those same stories, raising questions about race and privilege that are becoming impossible to ignore.  

Where to buy: https://lanternfishpress.com/shop/tales-of-the-astonishing-black-spark https://www.amazon.com/Tales-Astonishing-Black-Spark-Charlie/dp/1941360165

Born and raised in St. Thomas of the US Virgin Islands, Kacen Callender is a bestselling and award-winning author of the middle-grade novels Hurricane Child and King and the Dragonflies, the young-adult novels This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story and Felix Ever After, and the adult novel Queen of the Conquered and its forthcoming sequel King of the Rising. They enjoy playing RPG video games in their free time. Kacen currently resides in Philadelphia, PA.  Queen of the 

Conquered synopsis: An ambitious young woman with the power to control minds seeks vengeance against the royals who murdered her family, in a Caribbean-inspired fantasy world embattled by colonial oppression.   Sigourney Rose is the only surviving daughter of a noble lineage on the islands of Hans Lollik. When she was a child, her family was murdered by the islands’ colonizers, who have massacred and enslaved generations of her people—and now, Sigourney is ready to exact her revenge.  When the childless king of the islands declares that he will choose his successor from amongst eligible noble families, Sigourney uses her ability to read and control minds to manipulate her way onto the royal island and into the ranks of the ruling colonizers. But when she arrives, prepared to fight for control of all the islands, Sigourney finds herself the target of a dangerous, unknown magic.  Someone is killing off the ruling families to clear a path to the throne. As the bodies pile up and all eyes regard her with suspicion, Sigourney must find allies among her prey and the murderer among her peers... lest she become the next victim.

Peng Shepherd is the author of The Cartographers, a novel from Nell Young's point of view. This novel is unique because there is so much love and of course, the hidden settlements in maps. Nell ends up on a journey to find out what happened to her father that she hadn't spoken to in 7 years. Along this journey, she finds out what happened to her mother and gets pulled into the same mystery that consumed her parents' lives.  I highly suggest the book. It was magical and real and I just haven't seen this much love of other people or in a craft in a long time!

Eric Ugland is the author of The Good Guys series which follows a Michigander named Montana in the world of Valdrani. If you like massively overpowered main characters who still manage to fuck up, this is your series. If you are looking for something a little more subtle, check out The Bad Guys (which I have now read all of and am eagerly awaiting the next book).  Go to the GameLit Society on Facebook (or Twitter) to see what is happening in the GameLit world and interact with authors and other readers!

If you listen to Game Lit or LitRPG you've probably heard his voice. But have you read his book? Or listened to him read his book? Legends and Lattes is a fantastic book about friendships, belonging, the quiet life, and coffee. I really highly suggest this book to anyone who has wanted to know what happens when the adventure stops and to people who have had a large change in their life and need to find their way again.  Go to the GameLit Society on Facebook (or Twitter) to see what is happening in the GameLit world and interact with authors and other readers!

Dead Silence is a great Sci-Fi Horror, you can find more about what I think in my blog post at UpperPen.com. S.A. Barnes, otherwise known as Stacey Kade, is possibly my new best sci-fi friend. She loves Aliens, Ghost Ship, and is the perfect amount of nerdy! Get Dead Silence if you haven't yet! It does not disappoint.

This video was recorded in December of 2020.   We talked about how he got started writing Noobtown, Jim as an older character, and Ryan's publishing woes for the first book. I love this series and hope you enjoy this interview even though it is older.   Also, the Facebook groups he is mentioning are LitRPG and Game Lit Society. I am more active on Game Lit Society and that is mainly because it has a bunch of authors I enjoy as active members of the group.

Peng Shepherd talked about writing her second novel The Cartographers. This book is amazing. I kept thinking I knew where it was going, but her characters are complex and have complex motivations! So good.