The Functional Nerds Podcast

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.

In episode 311 of the Functional Nerds Podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio chat with Ada Palmer, author of Seven Surrenders. About Ada: Ada Palmer is an author of science fiction and fantasy, a historian, and a composer. Her first science fiction series “Terra Ignota” (published by Tor Books) mixes Enlightenment-era philosophy with traditional science fiction speculation to bring to life the year 2454, not a perfect future, but a utopian one, threatened by cultural upheaval. Ada Palmer studies the long-term evolution of ideas and the history of religious radicalism, science, and freethought, especially in the Italian Renaissance, Enlightenment, and Classical Greece and Rome. She teaches in the History Department at the University of Chicago, and did her Ph.D. at Harvard University. She composes close harmony folk music with mythological, science fiction and fantasy themes, and performs with the a cappella group Sassafrass. She also studies the history of manga anime, especially the “God of Manga” Osamu Tezuka, blogs for Tor.com and writes the history/philosophy blog ExUrbe.com. This week’s picks: * Ada: Pandemic Legacy * John: The Magicians (SyFy) * Patrick: Ms. PacMan on Steam Links: * Ada 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.

In episode 310 of the Functional Nerds Podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio chat with Tom Merritt., author of Pilot X. About Tom: Tom is an award-winning independent tech podcaster and host of regular tech news and information shows. Tom hosts Sword and Laser, a science fiction and fantasy podcast, and book club with Veronica Belmont. He also hosts Daily Tech News Show, covering the most important tech issues of the day with the smartest minds in technology. As an author, Tom has written fiction and non-fiction books. For a complete list, visit http://tommerrittbooks.com/. This week’s picks: * Tom: The Expanse TV show and The Expanse Books by James S.A. Corey * John: How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life by Scott Adams * Patrick: Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs Links: * Tom Merritt 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 309 of the Functional Nerds Podcast, John Interviews Patrick about his new book Samantha Kane: Into the Fire. John asks Patrick to take us down the road that led to the publication of Into The Fire, from the first stories he ever wrote, to the final draft and everything in between. About Patrick: Patrick Hester is an author, blogger and two-time Hugo Award Winner. He lives in Colorado, writes science fiction and fantasy, and can usually be found hanging out on his Twitter feed – @atfmb. His novel, SAMANTHA KANE: INTO THE FIRE is available at all major retailers. His short fiction can be found in the anthologies Space Battles: Full-Throttle Space Tales #6 and An Uncommon Collection, as well as the eBooks Conversations with my Cat, Witchcraft & Satyrs, Consumption, Cahill’s Homecoming and Cahill’s Unfinished Business. His Functional Nerds and SF Signal weekly podcasts have both been nominated for Parsec awards, and the SF Signal podcast was nominated for a 2012, 2013, and 2014 Hugo Award. His Scrivener Quick Tips articles exploded on social media and the web in 2012, and he’s been teaching writers how to use the software ever since. 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 308 of the Functional Nerds Podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio chat with Kristen Britain., author of the Green Rider books – Green Rider, First Rider’s Call, The High King’s Tomb, Mirror Sight and the latest, Firebrand. About Kristen: Kristen Britain grew up in the Finger Lakes region of New York State, where she started her first novel – an undersea fantasy featuring herself and her friends – at the age of nine. She published her first book, a cartoon collection called, Horses and Horsepeople, at the age of thirteen. In 1987 she completed a degree in film production, with a minor in writing, at Ithaca College. After graduation, travel beckoned and she began a career as a ranger with the National Park Service, enabling her to work in a variety of natural and historical settings, from 300 feet below the surface of the Earth to 13,000 feet above sea level on the Continental Divide; and from the textile mills of the American Industrial Revolution to the homes of Americans who changed the course of history. Her first published epic fantasy novel, Green Rider, the story of a runaway school girl who finds herself in deep peril when she agrees to bear a message for a dying Green Rider (king’s messenger), was released in 1998. Currently she lives in an adobe house in the high desert of New Mexico among the hummingbirds and lizards. This week’s picks: * Kristen: Hidden Figures * John: Tools of Titans by Timothy Ferriss * Patrick: The Magicians Links: * Kristen Britain on Facebook * 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 307 of the Functional Nerds Podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio chat with Hugo and World Fantasy Award-winning editor and publisher, Neil Clarke. About Neil: Neil was born in 1966 and grew up with his family in a quiet corner of NJ. After graduating from Drew University with a degree in Computer Science, he entered the educational technology field where he has worked at both the higher education and K-12 levels for the last twenty-seven years. In 2006, he launched Clarkesworld Magazine and Wyrm Publishing a year later. Reprint magazine, Forever, followed in 2015. Neil is also a freelance ebook designer with regular clients including Prime Books, Cheeky Frawg, and The Science Fiction Writers of America. In 2012, Neil suffered a near-fatal heart attack while attending Readercon in Burlington, MA. The damage sustained in this incident later required that he undergo surgery for the implantation of a defibrillator. These events inspired his 2014 cyborg anthology, Upgraded. Neil currently resides in New Jersey with his wife and two sons. This week’s picks: * Neil: The Expanse * John: Voltron – Netflix * Patrick: Rival Sons Links: * Neil Clarke 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 306 of the Functional Nerds Podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio chat with New York Times bestseller Jacqueline Carey – the author of the critically acclaimed Kushiel’s Legacy series. About Jacqueline: New York Times bestseller Jacqueline Carey is the author of the critically acclaimed Kushiel’s Legacy series of historical fantasy novels, The Sundering epic fantasy duology, postmodern fables Santa Olivia and Saints Astray, and the Agent of Hel contemporary fantasy series. Jacqueline enjoys doing research on a wide variety of arcane topics, and an affinity for travel has taken her from Finland to China to date. She currently lives in west Michigan. Although often asked by inquiring fans, she does not, in fact, have any tattoos. This week’s picks: * Jacqueline: Penny Dreadful * John: * The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers * A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers * Patrick: COWIN E7 Bluetooth Wiresless Headphones Links: * Jacqueline Carey 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 305 of the Functional Nerds Podcast, It’s cheat day! Which means John gets to have beer, which we talk about in this special Just The Two Of Us episode! BUT WAIT – THERE’S MORE – ever heard of 3.2 beer? Basically Patrick Hester and John Anealio are talking about booze for at least the first third of this episode. Including an 18% beer. Also discussed: grilled pineapple, Capricon Joe, cannoli, Stromboli, White Castle, the inequality of school lunches, Rogue One (SPOILERS, Sweetie), Rebels and Easter eggs, plot holes and if movies should stand on their own. Links: * John Anealio on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page * Open Critique night – Patrick is the guest critiquer * The Pikes Peak Writers Conference – Patrick is teaching a half-day Scrivener workshop © 2017 Patrick Hester and John Anealio This podcast contains original music by John Anealio.

In episode 304 of the Functional Nerds Podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome two-time Campbell Award nominee Max Gladstone, author of the Craft Sequence: Three Parts Dead, Two Serpents Rise, Full Fathom Five, Last First Snow, and Four Roads Cross – plus Bookburners, co written by Mur Lafferty, Brian Francis Slattery, and Margaret Dunlap. About Max: Max Gladstone has been thrown from a horse in Mongolia and nominated twice for the John W Campbell Best New Writer Award. Tor Books published FOUR ROADS CROSS, the fifth novel in Max’s Craft Sequence (preceded by THREE PARTS DEAD, TWO SERPENTS RISE, FULL FATHOM FIVE, and LAST FIRST SNOW) in July 2016. Max’s game CHOICE OF THE DEATHLESS was nominated for a XYZZY Award, and FULL FATHOM FIVE was nominated for the Lambda Award. His short fiction has appeared on Tor.com and in Uncanny Magazine. His most recent project is the globetrotting urban fantasy serial BOOKBURNERS, available in ebook and audio from Serial Box, and in print from Saga Press. This week’s picks: * Max: Middlemarch by George Elliot * John: Battlefront: Twilight Company Star Wars * Patrick: Steam Links: * Max Gladstone on Twitter * John Anealio on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page * Superstars of Writing – Patrick Teaching Scrivener and Podcasting * Open Critique night – Patrick is the guest critiquer * The Pikes Peak Writers Conference – Patrick is teaching a half-day Scrivener workshop © 2017 Patrick Hester and John Anealio This podcast contains original music by John Anealio.