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Annotations to My Podside Picnic Interview

This is a bit of a companion piece to my most recent appearance on Podside Picnic talking about "crap books" that got me reading science fiction and (mostly) fantasy. My first two years of high school were consumed by reading anything Dragonlance I could get my hands on. That included the initial "Chronicles" and the subsequent "Legends" that I mentioned on the show, but there were so, so many Dragonlance anthologies and other stand-alones that followed I couldn't follow all of them. I remember reading what seemed to be a baker's dozen of anthologies that had Tanis and Company going on so many adventures before the events of Dragons of Autumn Twilight that I wondered exactly what level the heroes were when the first book in the trilogy started. With all those stories, it couldn't possibly be 1st level. A couple that stand out even now as charming subversions of the...

July 1, 2020
Public Appearance, Reading
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Interview at Podside Picnic

Last week, I was invited back to one of my favorite podcasts to discuss my recent story. Last time, I talked about how my experiences as low-level enlisted personnel informed my reading of The Forever War; however, this time, I talked to Connor to discuss my recent story, "As The Shore To The Tides, So Blood Calls To Blood". We talked a bit about inspirations (if I may be permitted a small spoiler, they included games, the Bible, Sumerian myth and Ursula K. Le Guin), the writing process (such as it is for such a slowpoke as me), and whether I'm working on any other stories in this setting (I am). To my delight, Connor loved the story enough to name drop it in his newsletter -- which I've always found to have great insights into whatever he's reading or watching at the moment. Note: This is a patrons-only episode (as was...

April 19, 2020
Fantasy, Public Appearance, Writing
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His Dark Materials Podcast

Last week, I posted about speaking on the Parents Just Don't Understand podcast about Philip Pullman's series, His Dark Materials. We mostly talked about the first book, and the HBO episodes that had aired up until that date. I had a blast and hope I get another chance to talk some more about one of my favorite series of books. I hope you have as much fun listening as I did talking His Dark Materials! https://soundcloud.com/parentspodcast/his-dark-materials-w-ben-udashen-karlo-yeager-rodriguez Note that when I mention reading the first few chapters of The Golden Compass (Northern Lights is the title in the UK), I'm referring to the full cast audiobook--it's quite good! ...

November 19, 2019
Fantasy, Public Appearance, Series
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Where I’ll Be At the Baltimore Book Festival 2019

I'll be participating in the Baltimore Book Festival (November 1-3) again this year and I can be found speaking at the area designated for SFWA (Science Fiction Writers of America) in the Columbus Center. Friday, 6 PM Making Magic Work For You: (with Ruthanna Emrys, Scott King, L. Penelope, Jon Skovron); Authors talk about infusing magic worldbuilding into their worlds, and how it can go beyond mere magic systems. Saturday, 5 PM All Fiction in A Day: The Beauty and Brilliance of Commute-Length Reads: (with Nino Cipri, AT Greenblatt, Barbara Krasnoff, LH Moore, Nibedita Sen, AC Wise)); Panelists make the case for why short fiction, whether in magazines, podcasts, anthologies, or collections, encapsulates the best of the SFF genres. Find out who you should be reading! ...

October 28, 2019
Public Appearance, Science Fiction
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