Tales from the Trunk

This time around, it’s my pleasure to welcome longtime friend of the show Laura Blackwell! Laura reads to us from her very very trunked story, “Poor Prisoners,” which leads us into a wide-ranging discussion of things we wish we’d learned sooner, writers whose work we admire, and kindness to our past selves.   Things we mention in this episode:   Story Hour LiveJournal Dreamwidth Macey’s Murderboard episode All Our Yesterdays, by Hilary B. Bisenieks Quaker Spec Fic issue AO3 Omegaverse The Iliad and Odyssey, by Homer, translated by Emily Wilson Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney and Maria Dahvana Headley Grimms’ Fairy Tales Lattimore, Fitzgerald, Fagles Homers The Aeneid, by Virgil, translated by Robert Fagles Paradise Lost, by John Milton Translation State and the Imperial Radch trilogy, by Ann Leckie The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years, by Shubnum Khan Archival Quality, by Ivy Noelle Weir and Steenz The Mütter Museum Ivy’s episode Just Like Home, by Sarah Gailey The Death of Jane Lawrence, Last to Leave the Room, Yellow Jessamine, and The Luminous Dead, by Caitlin Starling Megan E. O’Keefe Megan’s first episode Steve Toase Amanda Cook Jo Miles SFWA HWA Premee Mohamed She Walks in Shadows, edited by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Paula R. Stiles Beneath the Rising, And What Can We Offer You Tonight, The Annual Migration of Clouds, and The Butcher of the Forest, by Premee Mohamed System Collapse, by Martha Wells Yuletide (fic exchange) The Red River of the north Lake Agassiz Marie Brennan Martha Wells Ursula Vernon Chuck Tingle Sarah Gailey Hugo Awards thing Stoker Awards Edenville, by Sam Rebelein Camp Damascus, by Chuck Tingle Hellraiser Death Note manga, netflix, and anime Potato chip eating scene Death Note: The Musical Laura’s website, bluesky, twitter, insta, mastodon   Join me next month when I’ll be talking to John Wiswell and Ivy Fox

To open this show’s sixth season, it is my total delight to welcome A.D. Sui to talk about her forthcoming novella, The Dragonfly Gambit, available later this year!   Things we mention in this episode:   Neon Hemlock Press dave ring :unhinged_vibrating: :shaking_eyes: Fix-it fic Fanfiction dot net Even Though I Knew the End book tour episode Supernatural Carl Engle-Laird 100th episode Jared can’t read vine Blue Eye Samurai Family Guy Rick and Morty Anna’s twitter, insta, bluesky, and website John Wiswell Ursula T. Kingfisher Vernon  

This time around, to close out season 5 of Tales from the Trunk, I’m thrilled to welcome Jo Miles to talk about the excellent conclusion to their Gifted of Brennex trilogy, Ravenous State!    Things we mention this episode: Worldcon 76 Ancillary Justice, by Ann Leckie Ninefox Gambit, by Yoon Ha Lee Game of Thrones, by George R.R. Martin Brandon Sanderson A Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursula K. Le Guin ART and Murderbot from The Murderbot Diaries, by Martha Wells Starling House, by Alix E. Harrow System Collapse, by Martha Wells Warped State and Dissonant State, by Jo Miles Jo’s mailing list, bluesky, insta, and mastodon

Today, it’s my pleasure to welcome back to the show Premee Mohamed! We talk about her new novella, The Butcher of the Forest, out February 27th from Tor.com books, and then feed something new to the trunk.   Things we mention this episode:   The Fifth Season, by N.K. Jemisin Hansel & Gretel Annihilation, by Jeff Vandermeer Escape from LA The Faerie Queene, by Edmund Spenser Snake Plissken LSBM Van Helsing post Dracula, by Bram Stoker Red Deer Polytechnic Thursday Next books, by Jasper Fforde The Siege of Burning Grass, The Annual Migration of Clouds, and We Speak Through the Mountain, by Premee Mohamed The Rider, The Ride, The Rich Man’s Wife, by Premee Mohamed One Message Remains “The General’s Turn,” by Premee Mohamed in The Deadlands Sean Markey’s episode Mysterious Galaxy event with John Wiswell, on February 28th 2024 Someone you Can Build a Nest In, by John Wiswell The Two Doctors Górski, by Isaac Fellman The Vanished Birds and The Spear Cuts Through Water, by Simon Jimenez Premee’s bluesky, insta, patreon, and website   Stick around next week, when I’ll be talking to Jo Miles!  

Once again, it’s time for an awards eligibility roundup! This episode’s transcript appears in full below:   Hello, and welcome to Tales from the Trunk: Nominating the works that did make it. I’m Hilary B. Bisenieks.   Listeners, it’s somehow that time of the year again, where awards nominations are upon us, and so I have once again reached out to all the wonderful guests who make this show what it is to round up works they’d like to receive your attention for nominations.   To begin, Tales from the Trunk is eligible for the Hugo Award for Best Fancast.   Sarah Gailey, who most recently joined me for our 100th episode retrospective, is eligible for Best Graphic Story for Know Your Station, and for Best Fanzine for their excellent Stone Soup.   Leigh Harlen, who joined us in August of 2021, is eligible for Best Novella with A Feast for Flies.   Dee Holloway, who joined us last May, is eligible in various categories. Her eligibility post is linked in the show notes.   Juliet Kemp, who just joined us most recently a few weeks ago, is eligible for Best Novel with The City Revealed; Best Novella with Song, Stone, Scale, Bone; Best Short Story with “Just As You Are;” and Best Series for The Marek Series. Their eligibility post is linked in the show notes.   Maya MacGregor, who appeared on the show in April of 2022, is eligible in Best Novel and Best Young Adult Novel categories for The Evolving Truth of Ever-Stronger Will.   Freya Marske, who appeared here in October of 2021, is eligible for Best Short Story with a version of the very story that she brought to this fine podcast, “One Version of Yourself, At the Speed of Light.” She is also eligible for Best Novel with A Power Unbound and Best Series for The Last Binding.   Sam J. Miller, who joined us in January of 2022, is eligible for Best Short Story with "If Someone You Love Has Become a Vurdalak."   Premee Mohamed, who last joined us in the summer of 2021, is eligible for No One Will Come Back For Us in various short story collection categories and for “Imagine Yourself Happy” for Best Short Story. Her eligibility post is linked in the show notes.   Annalee Newitz, who joined us for a book tour last January is eligible for Best Novel for The Terraformers.   Aimee Ogden, who joined us twice last year, most recently in August, is eligible for Best Novella for Emergent Properties. Her eligibility post is linked in the show notes.   Malka Older, who joined us at the start of this season in March of last year, is eligible for Best Novella with The Mimicking of Known Successes and for Best Short Story with both “The Plant and the Purist” and “The Dangers We Choose.”   C.L. Polk, who last joined us in February of last year, is eligible for Best Novelette with Ivy, Angelica, Bay, which you can read right now on Tor.com.   Caitlin Starling, who last joined us in October of last year, is eligible for Best Novel with Last to Leave the Room and Best Short Story for “Caver, Continue.” Her eligibility post is linked in the show notes: Twitter | Bluesky   Steve Toase, who joined us back in April of 2021, is eligible for Best Short Story with “Crumpled.” His eligibility post is linked in the show notes.   Rem Wigmore, who last joined us in August of 2022, has an eligible novelette, Lightrunner’s Gambit, and a novel, Wolfpack.   Fran Wilde, who joined us in January of 2021, is eligible for Best Novella for The Book of Gems, Best Short Story for “The Rain Remembers What The Sky Forgets,” and Best Short Story for “No Contingency.” In addition, she would like to recommend From a Certain Point of View: Return of the Jedi, in which “No Contingency” appears, to be considered for anthology and related media categories. Fran, along with Julian Yap, are eligible for Best Editor, Short, for their work at Sunday Morning Transport, which is itself eligible for Best Semiprozine.   If you’ve made it this far, I’d like to sincerely thank you for listening and nominating over the years. Your support means so much to me and all of my guests.   Next month, we’re closing season five of this show out with a book tour appearance by Canadian author and definitely not a lorge beetle Premee Mohamed and a trunk reading from Jo Miles. Please note that due to some scheduling conflicts, Premee’s episode will be releasing on February 8th rather than the 1st.   Also, season 6 is almost upon us! I’m still hammering out guests, so stay tuned to see what amazing authors join me!   Tales from the Trunk is mixed and produced in beautiful Oakland, California.   Our theme music is “Paper Wings,” by Lillian Boyd.   You can support the show on patreon at patreon dot com slash trunkcast. All patrons of the show now get a sticker and logo button, along with show outtakes and other content that can't be found anywhere else.   You can find the show on Bluesky at trunkcast dot bsky dot social, and I post at hbbisenieks dot bsky dot social.   If you like the show, consider taking a moment to rate and review us on your preferred podcast platform.   And remember: don't self-reject.

This time around, I’m joined again by the delightful Juliet Kemp, who joins us to talk about their new novella, Song, Stone, Scale, Bone! After a great little reading, we talk about some of the things that are hard to get on page.   Things mentioned in this episode:   Josh’s episode The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, by Patricia C. Wrede A Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursula K. Le Guin The Marek series, concluding with The City Revealed, by Juliet Kemp Deadlock Madeleine Sami Our Flag Means Death The Last Binding trilogy, by Freya Marske Freya’s episode Juliet’s website, twitter, bluesky, and mastodon

Today it is my sincere pleasure to welcome to the show weird little guy and all around splendid human being Josh Storey! Josh reads to us from his trunked novel, The Wolf That Waits at the End of All Things, which leads us into a lively discussion of the novels we wrote a few pages of when we were young, the ways we reuse ideas until they find the right home, and semiotic bullshit.   Things we mention in this episode:   Trunkcast’s 100th episode Terry Pratchett’s troll counting Macey’s murderboard episode on We Make Books River of Teeth, by Sarah Gailey Sarah Hollowell World’s largest frying pan in Iowa Jessica Mary Best’s episode Machineries of Empire series, by Yoon Ha Lee Jasper Fforde Zip disk Final Fantasy Homestuck The Locked Tomb series, by Tamsyn Muir Miri’s episode Mary Robinette Kowal Rock Lee System Collapse book tour A Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursula K. Le Guin Baffling Magazine AO3 All Our Yesterdays, by Hilary B. Bisenieks Death (Neil Gaiman) Friends at the Table Anamnesis Brandon Sanderson Writing Excuses Mary Robinette Kowal’s patreon “The Air Gap,” by Hilary B. Bisenieks in Lamplight C.C. Finlay F&SF Mary Robinette Kowal’s MICE HTML Be The Serpent R.J. Theodore Peridot Shift series, by R.J. Theodore NaNoWriMo Gnome Stew Misdirected Mark network Personal Canons Cookbook My macaroni and cheese recipe (and essay) Héctor González Amal El Mohtar Bigolas Dickolas This is How You Lose the Time War, by Amal El Mohtar and Max Gladstone Trigun Stampede Trigun (98) SunCoast Video L-space Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Delicious in Dungeon (Dungeon Meshi) Apocalypse Keys Hellboy Pathfinder 2.5 WotC Josh’s insta, bluesky, and website Urban Phantasy blog Premee Mohamed Jo Miles

Today it’s my great pleasure to welcome publisher of The Deadlands, Sean Markey, to the show! Sean talks us through the inception of the magazine, what it’s like being a publisher, and where both the magazine and his press, Psychopomp, is going next!   Things we mention in this episode:   Elise Catherine Tobler Laura Blackwell Story Hour Psychopomp Shimmer Beth Wodzinski Quaker Spec Fic issue “Refuse All Their Colors,” by Annalee Flower Horne A Voice Calling, by Christopher Barzak Martha Wells episode Meg Elison Maria Haskins Vanessa Maki Avra Margariti A.R. Arthur Ancillary Sword, by Ann Leckie “The Dead Boy Inside Me,” by Angel Leal Clarkesworld C.C. Finlay F&SF Strange Horizons Chuck Tingle Sarah Gailey Fireside The Deadlands Patreon Psychopomp store Diablo 4 “Ultraviolet,” by Spiritbox (and on Bandcamp) “Peristalsis,” by Vajra Chandrasekera Rakesfall, by Vajra Chandrasekera  “The Long Way Up,” by Alix E. Harrow “Death is a Diner at 3:00 a.m.” by A.C. Wise Psychopomp twitter and bluesky The Deadlands twitter and bluesky Shimmer’s twitter

Join celebrated author Martha Wells, known for the acclaimed Murderbot Diaries and Witch King, as she discusses her latest work, System Collapse. They explore the thrilling plot that pits the protagonist against corporate threats while tackling emotional and ethical dilemmas. Martha shares her creative struggles including writer's block and how personal experiences influenced her storytelling. Additionally, discover insights on her newfound projects like Witch King and the reissue of City of Bones, highlighting the vibrant landscape of fantasy and science fiction.

Hey everyone, Hilary here. Due to a combination of life things and poor planning on my part, there’s no new interview this time around, but I’d like to take this spooky month to highlight a great episode from the backlog with our composer and true horror ghoul, Lillian Boyd. A few other things before we get to the episode: This show is now on Bluesky at trunkcast.bsky.social, and I’m on there at hbbisenieks.bsky.social. Of the twitter-replacements, Bluesky seems to be the one where most of my writing friends have ended up, so it made sense that the show should find a home there, too. Also, a heads up that due to scheduling needs, next month’s book tour with Murderbot author Martha Wells will be coming out on Monday, November 6th, rather than Friday the 3rd. Finally, thank you all so much for listening. I always appreciate hearing from fans of the show. Your support and enthusiasm helps continue making this show what it is! And now, on with the show!   It's my absolute delight, this time around, to welcome our very own composer, Lillian Boyd (@herelieslill), onto the show. Lillian reads her short-story-that-should-be-a-novella, "Inside Job" (cw: gore, skip forward 10:15 to avoid) before we just go off on an extended tangent about horror movies, noir, pulp, and being as thoroughly on our bullshit as is possible.   Things we mention in this episode:   Rank and Vile Tetsuo the Iron Man 28 Days Later My appearance on Rank and Vile The Reinvented Detective, edited by Jennifer Brozek and Cat Rambo (2023) Raymond Chandler Guy Noir: Private Eye A Prairie Home Companion Nick Danger The Firesign Theater Clive Barker Nightmare Alley Guillermo del Toro Magic for Liars, by Sarah Gailey Nick and Nora Humphrey Bogart Farewell, My Lovely, by Raymond Chandler P. Lovecraft (notable racist) Scrip Neuromancer, by William Gibson Blade Runner The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde "Panama," by Van Halen Terry Pratchett Good Omens, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman The Discworld The Bromeliad Hogfather, by Terry Pratchett The Long Goodbye, by Raymond Chandler Chandler's cat letters Guards, Guards! by Terry Pratchett Carpe Jugulum, by Terry Pratchett Neil Gaiman Ichabod Crane Michael Kane Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser Sandman, by Neil Gaiman "The Book Job," The Simpsons season 23, episode 6 "Falafelosophy," Arthur season 14, episode 4a "Neil Gaiman! What are you doing in my falafel?" Alanis Morisette Amanda Palmer Tori Amos Fiona Apple "Silent All These Years," by Tori Amos Where's Neil When You Need Him? The Crüxshadows Mirrormask "Mr. Sandman," by The Chordettes "Enter Sandman," by Metallica Hot Topic "Cry Little Sister," by Gerard McMann The Lost Boys Voltaire Ego Likeness The Velocipastor "Toasty" Siouxsie and the Banshees Daybreakers Placebo "Running Up That Hill," by Placebo "Running Up That Hill," by Kate Bush Velvet Goldmine "20th Century Boy," by Placebo "20th Century Boy," by T. Rex Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story Queen of the Damned Twilight Failure to Adapt The baseball scene from Twilight Underworld Blade 3: Trinity Triple-H House of Wax Friends at the Table: Sangfielle The VVitch Sarah Gailey's appearance on Episode 1 of this very show Hailey Piper Unfortunate Elements of My Anatomy, by Hailey Piper Trouble and Her Friends, by Melissa Scott The Mountain Goats Alien Vs. Predator Fireside Quarterly, June-July 2021 The Rank and Vile list Bride of Frankenstein And Now the Screaming Starts! Candyman II: Farewell to the Flesh The Crow: Wicked Prayer Brainscan Videodrome Audition Lillian's Twitch Hair Metal "Dream Warriors," by Dokken Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom The Books of Earthsea, by Ursula K. Le Guin Charles Vess The Farthest Shore, A Wizard of Earthsea, and The Tombs of Atuan, by Ursula K. Le Guin Keebio's Iris keyboard Bán Dénes, mrzealot Ergogen Ghost in the Shell Data Hako Royal True switches Hellraiser Lillian's website, soundcloud, and reedsy