The Functional Nerds Podcast

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Aliette de Bodard, author of The Red Scholar’s Wake. About The Red Scholar’s Wake: Xích Si: bot maker, data analyst, mother, scavenger. But those days are over now-her ship has just been captured by the Red Banner pirate fleet, famous for their double-dealing and cruelty. Xích Si expects to be tortured to death-only for the pirates’ enigmatic leader, Rice Fish, to arrive with a different and shocking proposition: an arranged marriage between Xích Si and herself. Rice Fish: sentient ship, leader of the infamous Red Banner pirate fleet, wife of the Red Scholar. Or at least, she was the latter before her wife died under suspicious circumstances. Now isolated and alone, Rice Fish wants Xích Si’s help to find out who struck against them and why. Marrying Xích Si means Rice Fish can offer Xích Si protection, in exchange for Xích Si’s technical fluency: a business arrangement with nothing more to it. But as the investigation goes on, Rice Fish and Xích Si find themselves falling for each other. As the interstellar war against piracy intensifies and the five fleets start fighting each other, they will have to make a stand-and to decide what kind of future they have together… About Aliette de Bodard: Aliette de Bodard lives and works in Paris. She has won three Nebula Awards, an Ignyte Award, a Locus Award, a British Fantasy Award and five British Science Fiction Association Awards. She is the author of the lesbian space pirates romance The Red Scholar’s Wake (Gollancz/JABberwocky Literary Agency, Inc, 2022), and of Of Charms, Ghosts and Grievances (JABberwocky Literary Agency, Inc), a fantasy of manners and murders set in an alternate 19th Century Vietnamese court. She also wrote Fireheart Tiger (Tor.com, 2021 BSFA Award winner), a sapphic romantic fantasy inspired by pre colonial Vietnam, where a diplomat princess must decide the fate of her country, and her own. Her space opera books include The Tea Master and the Detective (2018 Nebula Award winner, 2018 British Fantasy Award winner, 2019 Hugo Award finalist). This week’s picks: * Aliette: Mr. Bad (Chinese language drama) * Tracy: The World We Make (Audio) by N. K. Jemisin * Patrick: Will Trent (ABC) Links: * Aliette de Bodard on Mastodon * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2023 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome David R. Slayton, author of White Trash Warlock, Trailer Park Trickster and available for pre-order now, Deadbeat Druid. About White Trash Warlock: Not all magicians go to schools of magic. Adam Binder has the Sight. It’s a power that runs in his bloodline: the ability to see beyond this world and into another, a realm of magic populated by elves, gnomes, and spirits of every kind. But for much of Adam’s life, that power has been a curse, hindering friendships, worrying his backwoods family, and fueling his abusive father’s rage. Years after his brother, Bobby, had him committed to a psych ward, Adam is ready to come to grips with who he is, to live his life on his terms, to find love, and maybe even use his magic to do some good. Hoping to track down his missing father, Adam follows a trail of cursed artifacts to Denver, only to discover that an ancient and horrifying spirit has taken possession of Bobby’s wife. It isn’t long before Adam becomes the spirit’s next target. To survive the confrontation, save his sister-in-law, and learn the truth about his father, Adam will have to risk bargaining with very dangerous beings … including his first love. About David R. Slayton: David R. Slayton grew up in Guthrie, Oklahoma, where finding fantasy novels was pretty challenging and finding fantasy novels with diverse characters was downright impossible. Now he lives in Denver, Colorado and writes the books he always wanted to read. David’s debut, White Trash Warlock, was published in October 2020 by Blackstone Publishing and was a finalist for the Colorado Book Award. Book two in the series, Trailer Park Trickster was released in October 2021. Book three, Deadbeat Druid, will be released in October 2022. He is represented by the Seymour Agency. In addition to writing, David is a regular presenter and speaker on writing. He has appeared on panels at Fan Expo Denver and taught workshops at the Pikes Peak Writers Conference, Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, the League of Utah Writers Quills Conference, and the Seymour Agency Winter Retreat. He also regularly speaks to library, college, and high school audiences. This week’s picks: * David #1: Magic and Steam Series by CS Poe * David #2: Shaun David Hutchinson * David #3: Starfield (Bethesda Games) * David #4: Fallout 4 (Bethesda Games) * Tracy: Trash Pandas (Game) * Patrick: The Legend of Vox Machina S2 (Prime) Links: * David R. Slayton on Twitter * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Seanan McGuire, author of Lost in the Moment and Found. About Lost in the Moment and Found: Welcome to the Shop Where the Lost Things Go. If you ever lost a sock, you’ll find it here. If you ever wondered about a favorite toy from childhood… it’s probably sitting on a shelf in the back. And the headphones that you swore this time you’d keep safe? You guessed it…. Antoinette has lost her father. Metaphorically. He’s not in the Shop, and she’ll never see him again. But when Antsy finds herself lost (literally, this time), she discovers that however many doors open for her, leaving the Shop for good might not be as simple as it sounds. And stepping through those doors exacts a price. Lost in the Moment and Found tells us that childhood and innocence, once lost, can never be found. About Seanan McGuire: Seanan McGuire was born in Martinez, California, and raised in a wide variety of locations, most of which boasted some sort of dangerous native wildlife. Despite her almost magnetic attraction to anything venomous, she somehow managed to survive long enough to acquire a typewriter, a reasonable grasp of the English language, and the desire to combine the two. The fact that she wasn’t killed for using her typewriter at three o’clock in the morning is probably more impressive than her lack of death by spider-bite. Often described as a vortex of the surreal, many of Seanan’s anecdotes end with things like “and then we got the anti-venom” or “but it’s okay, because it turned out the water wasn’t that deep.” She has yet to be defeated in a game of “Who here was bitten by the strangest thing?,” and can be amused for hours by almost anything. “Almost anything” includes swamps, long walks, long walks in swamps, things that live in swamps, horror movies, strange noises, musical theater, reality TV, comic books, finding pennies on the street, and venomous reptiles. Seanan may be the only person on the planet who admits to using Kenneth Muir’s Horror Films of the 1980s as a checklist. Seanan is the author of the October Daye urban fantasies, the InCryptid urban fantasies, and several other works both stand-alone and in trilogies or duologies. In case that wasn’t enough, she also writes under the pseudonym “Mira Grant.” For details on her work as Mira, check out MiraGrant.com. In her spare time, Seanan records CDs of her original filk music. She is also a cartoonist, and draws an irregularly posted autobiographical web comic, “With Friends Like These…”, as well as generating a truly ridiculous number of art cards. Surprisingly enough, she finds time to take multi-hour walks, blog regularly, watch a sickening amount of television, maintain her website, and go to pretty much any movie with the words “blood,” “night,” “terror,” or “attack” in the title. Most people believe she doesn’t sleep. Seanan lives in an idiosyncratically designed labyrinth in the Pacific Northwest, which she shares with her cats, Alice and Thomas, a vast collection of creepy dolls and horror movies, and sufficient books to qualify her as a fire hazard. She has strongly-held and oft-expressed beliefs about the origins of the Black Death, the X-Men, and the need for chainsaws in daily life.

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Brandon Crilly, author of Catalyst and Bestiarium Vocabulum. About Catalyst: Street magician Mavrin Leed doesn’t believe in what he can’t see or prove. His performances are mere tricks; the only true magic in Aelda comes from the benevolent, god-like Aspects circling it. As long as They keep the Lifesphere intact, he stays out of Their way. Labeled a heretic, Eyasu Temergon is convinced that Aelda’s true history was hidden, even from the Aspects. He scours forgotten shadows for proof of the Raw, creatures of energy tied to the fracturing of his world. When their sudden emergence leads to destruction and chaos, Eyasu puts aside his estrangement with his old friend, and hopes Mavrin can do the same. Ex-soldier Deyeri Renn has a mystery of her own: why are her city’s leaders so interested in the Raw? She spent too long fighting in the Winds to let a myth harm her city, and too many years alone to accept the life-worn man who bumbles back into her home, with no right to ask for her help. As Deyeri, Mavrin, and Eyasu unpack the secrets that once drove them apart, every seal in their relationship means one more crack that could unravel Aelda’s very existence. About Bestiarium Vocabulum: When orcs, dragons, and rampaging elephants just won’t do to keep your adventuring party challenged — we’ve got you covered! Within the pages of this tome you will find over 150+ new creatures — some malevolent, some benign, and others inhumanly indifferent — to challenge, terrify, inspire, and enchant your players in new and exciting ways! These unique creatures, each of which has a full description (with Traits) and a color illustration, are grouped into categories for easy reference: Abominations, Giants, Constructs, Undead, Otherworldly, and more — they’re all here in one handy book! About Brandon Crilly: An Ottawa teacher by day, Brandon Crilly has been previously published by Daily Science Fiction, Apex Magazine, Fusion Fragment, Haven Spec, and other markets. His debut fantasy novel Catalyst was published by Atthis Arts in October 2022, followed shortly by his first games publication, Bestiarium Vocabulum, from Fat Goblin Games. In 2021, he co-founded Bag of Giving, a monthly Twitch series where authors play TTRPGs for charity. He’s also an Aurora Award-winning podcaster, conference organizer for Can*Con, a reviewer, and regularly has too many D&D campaign ideas than he could ever fit into his schedule. This week’s picks: * Brandon: Reboot (Hulu) * Tracy: Glass Onion (Netflix) * Patrick: Willow (Disney+) Links: * Brandon Crilly on Twitter * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter *

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome long-time friend of the podcast and attendee of WorldCon, The World Science Fiction Convention, Cannoli Joe Karpierz. What are we talking with goof ol’ Cannoli Joe about? Why, WorldCon, of course – and the Hugo Awards, the nomination and voting process, his opinions on the Chicago Style Hot Dog, poodles, and more! This week’s picks: * Cannoli Joe #1: Star Trek: Prodigy S1 (Paramount+/Nickelodeon) * Cannoli Joe #2: Neom by Lavie Tidhar * Tracy: Azul: Queen’s Garden * Patrick: If these Walls Could Sing – documentary about Abbey Road Studio (Disney+) Links: * Cannoli Joe on Twitter * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2023 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy ring in the new year by welcoming Keith Ammann, author of HOW TO DEFEND YOUR LAIR. About HOW TO DEFEND YOUR LAIR: The world is a dangerous place—especially when you’re up to no good. Whether you’re a rampaging monster, a calculating mastermind, or the current possessor of the Golden MacGuffin, someone’s going to come at you. Probably more than one someone. You can’t know when, but you can choose where. You need to be ready. You need a lair. In How to Defend Your Lair, gamemaster Keith Ammann pulls back the curtain on an underrated but crucial part of any tabletop roleplaying game: the theater of battle. Say goodbye to encounters in randomly generated dungeons and hello to a game in which where the fight takes place is just as important as who is doing the fighting. This book teaches you how to use real-world principles of building security and area defense to create strongholds infused with flavor, informed by narrative, and complex enough to force your players to think strategically. You’ll look at the strengths and weaknesses of both defenders and potential attackers, creating spaces that are strong enough to keep out ordinary intruders…and to provide thrilling challenges to extraordinary ones. Including more than a dozen fleshed-out sample strongholds, How to Defend Your Lair is a crucial resource for any RPG gamemaster who wants to push players to think about how to solve problems before running at them head-on. About Keith Ammann: Keith Ammann has been a Dungeons & Dragons player and DM for more than thirty years. He has been writing his fifth edition D&D–focused blog The Monsters Know What They’re Doing since 2016. He lives in Chicago. This week’s picks: * Keith: Crusader Kings 3 (Game) * Tracy: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson * Patrick: Dragon Age: Absolution (Netflix) Links: * Keith Ammann on Mastodon * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2023 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Kate Elliott, author of The Keeper’s Six. About The Keeper’s Six: It’s been a year since Esther set foot in the Beyond, the alien landscape stretching between worlds, crossing boundaries of space and time. She and her magical traveling party?her Hex?haven’t spoken since the Concilium banned them from the Beyond for a decade. But when she wakes in the middle of the night to her grown son’s cry for help, the members of her Hex are the only ones she can trust to help her bring him back from wherever he has been taken. Esther will have to risk everything to find him. Undercover and hidden from the Concilium, she and her Hex will be tested by false dragon lords, a darkness so dense it can suffocate, and the bones of an old crime come back to haunt her. About Kate Elliott: Kate Elliott has been writing stories since she was nine years old, which has led her to believe that writing, like breathing, keeps her alive. As a child in rural Oregon, she made up stories because she longed to escape to a world of lurid adventure fiction. Her most recent novel is Unconquerable Sun, gender swapped Alexander the Great in space. She is also known for her Crown of Stars epic fantasy series, the Afro-Celtic post-Roman alt-history fantasy (with lawyer dinosaurs) Cold Magic and sequels, the science fiction Novels of the Jaran and YA fantasy Court of Fives, and the epic fantasy Crossroads trilogy with giant justice eagles. Her particular focus is immersive world building & centering women in epic stories of adventure & transformative cultural change. She lives in Hawaii, where she paddles outrigger canoes & spoils her schnauzer. This week’s picks: * Kate: NIRVANA IN FIRE (Historical Docudrama) * Tracy: Libertalia (Board Game) * Patrick: The Automat (HBOMax) Links: * Kate Elliott on Twitter * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2022 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Annalee Newitz, author of THE TERRAFORMERS. About THE TERRAFORMERS: Destry’s life is dedicated to terraforming Sask-E. As part of the Environmental Rescue Team, she cares for the planet and its burgeoning eco-systems as her parents and their parents did before her. But the bright, clean future they’re building comes under threat when Destry discovers a city full of people that shouldn’t exist, hidden inside a massive volcano. As she uncovers more about their past, Destry begins to question the mission she’s devoted her life to, and must make a choice that will reverberate through Sask-E’s future for generations to come. About Annalee Newitz: Annalee Newitz writes science fiction and nonfiction. They are the author of Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age and Scatter, Adapt and Remember: How Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction, which was a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize in science. They’re also the author of the novels The Terraformers (forthcoming in January 2023), The Future of Another Timeline, and Autonomous, which won the Lambda Literary Award. As a journalist, they are a writer for the New York Times and elsewhere, and have a monthly column in New Scientist. They have published in The Washington Post, Slate, Popular Science, Ars Technica, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic, among others. They are the co-host of the Hugo Award-winning podcast Our Opinions Are Correct. Previously, they were the founder of io9, and served as the editor-in-chief of Gizmodo. This week’s picks: * Andy: Pl@ntNet App * Tracy: Bird Buddy App and Feeder * Patrick: Willow (Disney+) Links: * Annalee Newitz on Twitter * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2022 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Freya Marske, author of A RESTLESS TRUTH. About A RESTLESS TRUTH: Maud Blyth has always longed for adventure. She expected plenty of it when she volunteered to serve as an old lady’s companion on an ocean liner, in order to help her beloved older brother unravel a magical conspiracy that began generations ago. What she didn’t expect was for the old lady in question to turn up dead on the first day of the voyage. Now she has to deal with a dead body, a disrespectful parrot, and the lovely, dangerously outrageous Violet Debenham, who’s also returning home to England. Violet is everything that Maud has been trained to distrust yet can’t help but desire: a magician, an actress, and a magnet for scandal. Surrounded by the open sea and a ship full of suspects, Maud and Violet must first drop the masks that they’ve both learned to wear before they can unmask a murderer and somehow get their hands on a magical object worth killing for?without ending up dead in the water themselves. About Freya Marske: Freya Marske lives in Australia, where she is yet to be killed by any form of wildlife. She writes stories full of magic, blood, and as much kissing as she can get away with. Her hobbies include figure skating and discovering new art galleries, and she is on a quest to try all the gin in the world. Her debut novel, the queer historical fantasy A MARVELLOUS LIGHT, was an international bestseller and won the Romantic Novel Award for Fantasy. Her next book, A RESTLESS TRUTH, is forthcoming from Tordotcom Publishing and Tor UK in 2022. Her short fiction has appeared in Analog Science Fiction, Andromeda Spaceways, and several anthologies. She also co-hosted the Hugo Award nominated Be The Serpent podcast along with two other red-headed fantasy authors. In 2020 she was awarded the Australian National SF (Ditmar) Award for Best New Talent. This week’s picks: * Freya: The Joy of ReReading the Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold * Tracy: Bone: The Complete Cartoon Epic in One Volume by Jeff Smith * Patrick: Wednesday (Netflix) Links: * Freya Marske on Twitter * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2022 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Michelle Barry, author of MOONGARDEN. About MOONGARDEN: Centuries ago, Earth’s plants turned deadly, and humanity took to space to cultivate new homes. Myra Hodger is in her first year at an elite school on the Moon, and she’s crumbling under the pressure. She doesn’t fit in and, worse, the tattoos that signal her Number Whisperer magic aren’t developing. In her heart, she knows she doesn’t have a Creer, and soon everyone else will, too. Wandering the halls while cutting class, she discovers a secret lab hidden behind one of the unused classrooms and, beyond that, a secret garden overflowing with plants. Dangerous toxic plants. As she learns more about the garden, Myra begins to wonder if she does have a Creer after all—one that died out when the Earth did. One that could help solve the food shortages the government doesn’t want anyone to know about. About Michelle Barry: Michelle Barry was born and raised in Springfield, Massachusetts, though she was later cajoled over the border into Connecticut by her future husband, where she has been happily residing for many years. She holds a degree in Communications from Salve Regina University and has worked as a newspaper reporter, freelance writer and editor, and marketing professional. She currently lives in Connecticut with her charming husband and their two delightful children. This week’s picks: * Michelle: Nova: The Planets (PBS) * Tracy: Batman: Mask of the Phantasm * Patrick: The Dragon Prince | Season 4 (Netflix) Links: * Michelle Barry on Twitter * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2022 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome back Andrea Hairston, author of WILL DO MAGIC FOR SMALL CHANGE. About WILL DO MAGIC FOR SMALL CHANGE: Cinnamon Jones dreams of stepping on stage and acting her heart out like her famous grandparents, Redwood and Wildfire. But she’s always been theatrically challenged. That won’t necessarily stop her! But her family life is a tangle of mysteries and secrets, and nobody is telling her the whole truth. Before her brother died, he gave Cinnamon The Chronicles of the Great Wanderer—a tale of a Dahomean warrior woman and an alien from another dimension who perform at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. They are a story of magic or alien science, but the connection to Cinnamon’s past is unmistakable. When an act of violence wounds her family, Cinnamon and her theatre squad determine to solve the mysteries and bring her worlds crashing together. About Andrea Hairston: Andrea Hairston is a novelist, playwright, and scholar. Aqueduct Press published: Will Do Magic For Small Change, a New York Times Editor’s pick and finalist for the Mythopoeic, Lambda, and Otherwise Awards; Mindscape, winner of the Carl Brandon Award; and Lonely Stardust, a collection of essays and plays. Her play, Thunderbird at the Next World Theatre, appears in Geek Theater. A novelette, “Saltwater Railroad,” was published by Lightspeed Magazine. “Dumb House,” a short story appears in New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color edited by Nisi Shawl. Andrea received the International Association of the Fantastic in the Arts Distinguished Scholarship Award in 2011 and has gotten grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Her latest novel, Master of Poisons, came out from Tordotcom Publishing and is on the Kirkus Review’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2020. “Seven Generations Algorithm,” a short story is in Trouble the Waters edited by Sheree Renee Thomas, and Pan Morigan. Redwood and Wildfire, winner of the Otherwise and Carl Brandon Awards, will be out February 1, 2022 from Tordotcom. In her spare time, Andrea is the Louise Wolff Kahn 1931 Professor of Theatre and Africana Studies at Smith College and the Artistic Director of Chrysalis Theatre. This week’s picks: * Andrea: Ballad & Dagger (An Outlaw Saints Novel) by Daniel José Older * Tracy: Binti by Nnedi Okorafor * Patrick: Unsolved Mysteries Volume 3 (Netflix) Links: * Andrea Hairston on Twitter * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2022 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Chuck Wendig, author of WAYWARD. About WAYWARD: Five years ago, ordinary Americans fell under the grip of a strange new malady that caused them to sleepwalk across the country to a destination only they knew. They were followed on their quest by the shepherds: friends and family who gave up everything to protect them. Their secret destination: Ouray, a small town in Colorado that would become one of the last outposts of civilization. Because the sleepwalking epidemic was only the first in a chain of events that led to the end of the world—and the birth of a new one. The survivors, sleepwalkers and shepherds alike, have a dream of rebuilding human society. Among them are Benji, the scientist struggling through grief to lead the town; Marcy, the former police officer who wants only to look after the people she loves; and Shana, the teenage girl who became the first shepherd—and an unlikely hero whose courage will be needed again. Because the people of Ouray are not the only survivors, and the world they are building is fragile. The forces of cruelty and brutality are amassing under the leadership of self-proclaimed president Ed Creel. And in the very heart of Ouray, the most powerful survivor of all is plotting its own vision for the new world: Black Swan, the A.I. who imagined the apocalypse. Against these threats, Benji, Marcy, Shana, and the rest have only one hope: one another. Because the only way to survive the end of the world is together. About Chuck Wendig: Chuck Wendig is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Star Wars: Aftermath, as well as the Miriam Black thrillers, the Atlanta Burns books, Zer0es/Invasive, Wanderers, and the upcoming Book of Accidents (July 2021). He’s also worked in a variety of other formats, including comics, games, film, and television. A finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and the cowriter of the Emmy-nominated digital narrative Collapsus, he is also known for his books about writing. He lives in Pennsyltucky with his family. This week’s picks: * Chuck #1: An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong * Chuck #2: NY Times Apple Crumble recipe * Chuck #3: The Suncrisp Apple * Tracy: Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach * Patrick: All The California Class Ships on Star Trek: Lower Decks Links: * Chuck Wendig on Twitter * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2022 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Clay Harmon, author of FLAMES OF MIRA. About FLAMES OF MIRA: Among boiling volcanoes under Mira’s frozen lands, people like Ig are forced to undergo life-threatening trials that bind chemical elements to the human body. One of Mira’s most powerful elementals, Ig serves as an enforcer for Magnate Sorrelo Adriann, but is cursed with flesh binding magic that will kill him at the first sign of disobedience. When Sorrelo is overthrown, Ig quickly learns he can do far worse than what has been asked of him so far. If he can’t escape the flesh binding in time, he will have to kill friend and foe alike to stop his master reclaiming the throne, or sacrifice himself trying. About Clay Harmon: Clay Harmon grew up in the town of Oakhurst, located in the foothills of California’s Yosemite National Park. As a kid, his love for writing started on Star Wars fanfiction forums, then graduated to writing novels during his second semester at college. He earned his degree in Marketing from California State University, Fresno. Writing isn’t his only love. He lives with his wife in Saratoga Springs, Utah, and works at a local software company. He’s an adamant gym-goer and plays video games more than he’s willing to admit. This week’s picks: * Clay: World of Warcraft * Tracy: The Floor is Lava Season 3 (Netflix) * Patrick: Tales of the Jedi (Disney+) Links: * Clay Harmon on Twitter * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2022 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Wendy and Richard Pini, co-creators of ElfQuest. About The ElfQuest Audio Movie: When a fierce tribe of woodland elves – the Wolfriders – are burned from their homes by hostile humans, their chief, Cutter, must tap every reserve of strength and will to lead his people to safety. Barely surviving brutal setbacks, the Wolfriders discover to their astonishment other elves – the Sun Folk – who exist in the world they thought was theirs alone. Now refugees, the hardship of losing their forest home proves small compared to the spirit-twisting trials that follow when Cutter experiences an unexpected soul-to-soul bond with the healer of the Sun Folk, Leetah. Join us as the Wolfriders confront danger, death, and desperate flight as they wrestle with deep mysteries of identity and love. Welcome, as Realm presents the epic saga ElfQuest from comic book creators Wendy and Richard Pini in this richly layered audio movie, directed by Fred Greenhalgh. Starring Cree Summer, Alejandro Saab, Osric Chau, Amber Benson, Aaron Douglas, Clare Kramer, Will Friedle, Zehra Fazal, Robert Picardo, Tim Russ, Ray Porter, and a full cast. Produced by Dagaz Media, Bluejay Atlantic, Wolfrider Productions, in association with The Fantasy Network. About Wendy and Richard Pini: Born in San Francisco in 1951, Wendy Pini grew up in Gilroy, CA. Largely self taught, her artistic talents were influenced by turn-of-the-century illustrators, film and TV animation, Shakespeare, Japanese history, fairy tales, myths and modern fantasy. Wendy began exhibiting her artwork at sci-fi conventions in the mid 1960s, garnering awards and recognition. In 1972 she married Richard Pini, and in 1974 began her professional career as an illustrator for SF magazines such as “Galaxy” and “Worlds of If.” Through the mid-1970s, Wendy also trod the boards at comic conventions as actress/dancer in “The Red Sonja and the Wizard Show.” This led to her first professional comics work, writing an issue of “Red Sonja” for Marvel Comics. In 1977 Wendy and Richard co-founded Warp Graphics, and the following year ELFQUEST was born. Widely regarded as the “first American manga,” ElfQuest continues to be a publishing phenomenon as well as an inspiration to its readers. Tens of millions of copies of comics, graphic novels, books, calendars and other merchandise have been sold worldwide. Wendy has worked for nearly all the major comics publishers such as Marvel, First Comics, Comico, DC Comics and, most recently, Dark Horse Comics. She wrote and painted two critically acclaimed graphic novels based on the hit TV series “Beauty and the Beast,” and supplied the text and illustrations for “Law and Chaos,” an art book inspired by the writings of Michael Moorcock. In 1997 Wendy had the privilege of designing the elfin mascot and mission patch for NASA’s Enclosed Laminar Flames (ELF) investigation, an experiment performed in space by members of the crew of Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-87). From 2007 to 2010, Wendy took a walk on the dark side to produce her adults-only graphic novel based on the classic Edgar Allan Poe horror story “Masque of the Red Death.” Her animated web comic received millions of views, and the book is currently available as a limited edition, 400 page hardcover volume from Warp Graphics. In 2012, Wendy and Richard donated her entire body of work to the Comic Book and Graphic Novel archive at Columbia University, New York City. Her artwork and writings will be permanently available to students and the public for study.

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Veronica Roth, author of POSTER GIRL. About POSTER GIRL: WHAT’S RIGHT IS RIGHT. Sonya Kantor knows this slogan—she lived by it for most of her life. For decades, everyone in the Seattle-Portland megalopolis lived under it, as well as constant surveillance in the form of the Insight, an ocular implant that tracked every word and every action, rewarding or punishing by a rigid moral code set forth by the Delegation. About Veronica Roth: VERONICA ROTH is the New York Times best-selling author of Chosen Ones, the short story collection The End and Other Beginnings, the Divergent series, and the Carve the Mark duology. She is also the guest editor of the most recent The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy. She lives in Chicago, Illinois. This week’s picks: * Veronica: The Stars Undying by Emery Robin * Tracy: Cult of the Lamb (Video Game) * Patrick #1: Marvel’s Werewolf by Night (Disney+) * Patrick #2: DC’s League of Superpets (HBOMax) Links: * Veronica Roth on Instagram * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2022 Patrick Hester