It’s not every day we get to talk to someone who single-handedly launched a genre. Harry Turtledove is the father of alternative history fiction, alongside his many fantasy and science fiction novels and stories. We caught up with him to talk about how to play the “what if” game in historic storytelling. … Continue...Episode 77 – Alternative History with Harry Turtledove

There's the novel, and then there is short fiction. There's multi-act plays, and then there's one-act plays and community theatre. We sat down with stunningly successful community theatre playwright and author Damian Trasler to talk about how to write (and run) custom shorter plays and productions for local productions. … Continue...Episode 76 – Community Theatre with Damian Trasler

In which Karen and Chaz enjoy an old home week of sorts with the incomparable Jacey Bedford from Milford. Jacey chats with us about the MIlford process, her favorite tools for writing, and describes her process for both historic fantasy and science fiction. … Continue...Episode 75 – Interview with Jacey Bedford

Grab a coffee, faithful listeners. Chaz is going to read us a story from his upcoming collection titled “Everything in All the Wrong Order: The best of Chaz Brenchley.” This story is called I am Death's Brother - originally published in 2004, now lost to the vaguarities of publishing. We will link to the upcoming collection right here the moment it's available for pre-order! … Continue...Episode 74 – I am Death’s Brother

NaNoWriMo is the National Novel Writing Month and coffee give us life. John sits down with Violette Woods and Liz Hamill to discuss writing, motivation, and coffee. … Continue...Episode 73 – NANONANO

The coffee couch welcomes back Alma Alexander, who wrote a lovely series on shapeshifting with an entirely new view on biology and shifter change mechanisms. She takes us through her Were creature books before we delve down into genetics, mass, blood types, and possible triggers. … Continue...Episode 72 – A Creature by Any Other Stripe

This is about openings, and new beginnings. This is a discussion on how writers pull us in and make us unable not to read the next sentence. Sometimes a first line is like the opening guitar riff to your favorite song, unforgettable and unmistakable. Some authors have said they can't write a story until they have landed the first line. Today we talked about our favorites, and what we loved about them. … Continue...Episode 71 – Putting a Toe in the Water

Does every hero need a sidekick? When they have one, what roles do they fill in a story? How can a sidekick help you tell your story more effectively? We explore our favorite sidekicks through time and how they effectively advance each story. … Continue...Episode 70 – Dude! – The Hero & Sidekick’s Excellent Journey

In which our committee sits down and talks about who our favorite story villains are and why. There’s some advice in writing villains, more admonitions on what to avoid, and how to romance your audience while horrifying them at once. … Continue...Episode 68 – Sympathy for the Devil

Raven’s love of vampires came from a love of Bram Stoker combined with history, science, and even religion over the ages. She brings new ideas into the paranormal romance horror/adventure novels, with ideas about super effective bio systems rather than sparkles or magic. Raven’s historic exploration is something we need more of in our would-be ageless paramours. … Continue...Episode ̶6̶7̶ 69 – Interview with Raven Belasco