Tales from the Trunk

This time around, I had the pleasure of talking to Hugo-award-winning author and editor Elsa Sjunneson (@snarkbat)! Elsa reads an excerpt from her terrific currently-trunked novel, The Livelong Night, which launches us into a conversation about representation, trunking (the bad kind), disability, and her forthcoming memoir, Being Seen, which releases this October!   Things we mentioned this episode: Worldcon 76 Burying your gays (trope)  Mad-Eye Moody  Gideon the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir The Book of Eli  Daredevil  The ghost of Peter Stuyvesant  Reviews of Being Seen from Kirkus and Booklist  Scream (TV show) “I Belong Where the People Are: Disability & The Shape of Water," by Elsa Sjunneson Children of a Lesser God  Me Before You  "The Home Front," my 9/11 essay "Blind Women Get Married Too," by Elsa Sjunneson RSD - Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria Ready or Not  The Invisible Man (2020) The Chair  The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver Exvangelicals  Beowulf, audiobook, translated by Seamus Heaney   Join us again next month, when my guests will be Rem Wigmore and Freya Marske!

This time around, we're joined once again by Sarah Hollowell (@sarahhollowell) whose debut, A Dark and Starless Forest comes out September 14th! Sarah reads an excerpt of her book that leads us into a fun conversation about the terrible faces that cats make, natural disasters, and probably some stuff about the book, too.   Things we mention in this episode: The Wee Free Men, by Terry Pratchett Tangled  The 12 Dancing Princesses  "Crow's Eye," by Sarah Hollowell The geology of Indiana  The Airborne Toxic Event  Duck and cover  This Poison Heart, by Kalynn Bayron The Ones We're Meant to Find, by Joan He Each of Us a Desert, by Mark Oshiro Beneath the Rising, A Broken Darkness, and And What Can We Offer You Tonight, by Premee Mohamed Annihilation, by Jeff VanderMeer Sarah's insta and website  Sarah Gailey  R. K. Duncan  Kate Lechler    Join us again in two weeks with my guest, Elsa Sjunneson!

This time around we're joined by Leigh Harlen (@leighharlen) to talk about the new printing of their collection, Blood Like Garnets! Leigh reads to us from their pissed off, queer response to that wizard series, which leads us into a discussion on new and exciting forms of self-rejection, and why community is so important to us as writers.   Things we mention in this episode: Studio Ghibli  Ursula K Le Guin's Earthsea  "Blood Makes the Fruit Grow Sweet," by Leigh Harlen in Dark Moon Digest  The Dark  TKO (publisher) Worldcon 76  Norwescon  Neon Hemlock  Fireside Magazine  Fiyah Literary Magazine  Premee's book launch event  Yellow Jessamine, by Caitlin Starling Stephen King  V O I D J U N K  The Silence of the Lambs  "Prey," by Richard Matheson The Babadook as a queer icon  This year's World Fantasy Awards finalists  Ring Shout, by P. Djèlí Clark Lovecraft Country  Train to Busan  Night of the Living Dead  Pseudopod  The Submission Grinder  SFWA pro rates  Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Season 6, Episode 13 - "Far Beyond the Stars" Weird Tales  A guide to Twitter Lists  Victories Greater Than Death, by Charlie Jane Anders Elatsoe, by Darcie Littlebadger Leigh's website    Join us again in September, when our guests will be Sarah Hollowell and Elsa Sjunneson!

This time around, I'm rejoined by Premee Mohamed (@premeesaurus) to talk about her amazing new novella, And What Can We Offer You Tonight, out now from Neon Hemlock! After hearing the first chapter of the book, straight from the mouth of the author, we get into all the stories that Premee still wants to tell in the world of the book, and we talk fondly of a viscerally-uncomfortable scene from the book that we both love to bits. We also take a bit of time to talk about the other three (3) books that Premee has or will have out this year, all of which are well worth your time.   Things we mention in this episode: My very on-brand outfit for this audio recording Neon Hemlock Press  The And What Can We Offer You Tonight launch party  Leigh Harlen  Mad Max  The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway L. D. Lewis' appearance on this very show dave ring  These Lifeless Things, by Premee Mohamed The Annual Migration of Clouds, by Premee Mohamed Beneath the Rising, A Broken Darkness, and The Void Ascendant, by Premee Mohamed Premee on We Make Books  Premee's website    Join us again later this month, when I'll be talking with Leigh Harlen!

After some trials and tribulations with our audio, L. D. Lewis (@Ellethevillain) joins us on this episode with her amazing climatepunk story, "The Last Stand of the E 12th St Pirates." Following the reading, we talk about how that story came about before taking some time to talk about Fiyah Literary Magazine and Fiyahcon (September 16-19, 2021).   Things we mention in this episode: Cyberpunk  And What Can We Offer You Tonight, by Premee Mohamed "For Every Jack," by R. K. Duncan Geneva Bowers, nee Benton  Fiyah on Twitter  Fireside Magazine  Fire!!  Langston Hughes  Zora Neale Hurston  Fiyahcon  Breonna Taylor  George Floyd  Vida Cruz  Iori Kusano  Ignyte Awards  Airmeet  Norwescon  Monterey Bay Aquarium  L's Website  Slack  TikTok  LeVar Burton Reads Writing Contest  Tor.com  Diana M. Pho  Realm  Reading Rainbow  Geordi La Forge    Join us again next month, when Premee Mohamed and Leigh Harlen will be my guests!

show notes coming soon!

show notes coming soon

To open pride month this year, we're joined by Jen Karner (@articulatedream), whose sapphic debut, Cinders of Yesterday, releases later this month! Jen reads us a delicious excerpt of their book, and we chat about some of her favorite bits, the chaos energy of their drafting process, and why we shouldn't treat her as any kind of example for how publishing usually goes.   Things we mention in this episode: NaNoWriMo  She-Ra and the Princesses of Power  Mobile Suit Gundam Wing  fanfiction.net  GeoCities  Children of Blood and Bone, by Tomi Adeyemi Baltimore Pride  Boffer weapons  LARPing  Buffy the Vampire Slayer  Supernatural  Teen Wolf  Pitch Wars  RevPit  Jen's insta, website, and facebook fan page    Join us again on June 18th, when our guest will be dave ring!

This time around, my guest is friend and co-host of the podcast, We Make Books, R. J. Theodore (@bittybittyzap)! Rekka reads an excerpt from the third book of her Peridot Shift series, Cast Off, which leads us into a great conversation about what can happen when your publisher closes its doors, murderboarding for fun and profit, and the things that we love so dearly about steampunk.   Things we mention in this episode: Parvus Press  Master and Commander, by Patrick O'Brian Steampunk  Space elves discourse (I believe the discourse came from this) Ever Given  Sarah Pinsker  Gideon the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir Jennifer "Macey" Mace's Murderboard Method, on We Make Books C. J. Cherryh  Mistborn series, by Brandon Sanderson Game of Thrones, by George R. R. Martin Scrivener (software) Epistolary fiction  Gail Carriger  The Brass Goggles forum  Frankenstein, by Mary Shelly Jules Verne  The Kingston Cycle, by C. L. Polk Guillotine  The Lord of the Rings, by J. R. R. Tolkien Star Trek Pocket Books  Wesley Crusher  Livejournal  "The Coven of Taos-9," by R. J. Theodore, in Unfettered Hexes  Episodes 48 and 51 of We Make Books, featuring Hilary B. Bisenieks   Join us next month, when Jen Karner and dave ring will be our guests!

This time around, we're joined by my friend, Sarah Loch (@sloch), whose new book, Blue Line, written as Ariel Bishop, just released! After hearing an excerpt from the book, we talk about about fake dating, representation, and self-publishing. Also, Sarah took a moment to tell us about her friend, F. A. Ray's new m/m soccer (football, to our listeners outside of North America) romance, Yellow Card, which is also available in early access on Gumroad.   Things we mention in this episode: The Tripping series, by Ariel Bishop BDSM (link contains NSFW content) Switch (link contains NSFW content) Demiromantic  Aromantic  She-Ra and the Princesses of Power  Haikyu!!    Join us next episode, when I'll be talking with R. J. Theodore!