The Functional Nerds Podcast

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Anaea Lay – author of LIGHT YEARS APART, a 230,000-word interactive sci-fi novel where your choices control the story. LIGHT YEARS APART: Can you and your sister outfox a galaxy-spanning AI to save your home planet? A rollicking adventure with space pirates, spies, and snarky computers. You trained at the Kempari College, an academy for super spies, fighting against the Aydan-machine interplanetary AI. Aydan-machine and its affiliated megacorp, the ICA, have monopolized control over FTL weft-drives. You resigned from the College when your teachers ordered you to commit murder. Since then, you’ve wandered the galaxy for a decade, so long that your shipboard computer has become your surrogate parent. But now, the ICA has blockaded Kempus, and you’re in a unique position to prevent thousands of unnecessary deaths. Will you ally with the enemy, or return to the rebels who once betrayed you? What’s more, your hacker sister has brought your old flame back into your orbit, and the love you left behind is now mission-critical. As a former spy, you have flexible morals, but there are certain lines you won’t cross. The blockade is real, and it’s killing kids. When your planet needs you, will you step up or storm off? About Anaea Lay: Anaea Lay lives in Chicago, Illinois where she is engaged in a torrid love affair with the city. She’s the fiction podcast editor for Strange Horizons, where you can hear her read a new short story nearly every week. She’s the president of the Dream Foundry, an organization dedicated to bolstering and nurturing the careers of nascent professionals working with the speculative arts. Her fiction work has appeared in a variety of venues including Lightspeed, Apex, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and Pod Castle. Her interactive novel, Gilded Rails, was released by Choice of Games in 2018. She lives online at anaealay.com where you can find a complete biography and her blog. This week’s picks: * Anaea: Biking in Chicago * Tracy: The Quacks of Quedlinburg (Board Game) * Patrick: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. the Reverend (Netflix) Links: * Anaea Lay on Twitter * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2020 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Corry L. Lee – author of WEAVE THE LIGHTNING. WEAVE THE LIGHTNING: Gerrit is the son of Bourshkanya’s Supreme-General. Despite his powerful storm-affinity and the State’s best training, he can’t control his magic. To escape the brutal consequences, he flees. Celka is a travelling circus performer, hiding both her link to the underground and her storm-affinity from the prying eyes of the secret police. But Gerrit’s arrival threatens to expose everything: her magic, her family, and the people they protect. The storms have returned, and everything will change. About Corry L. Lee: Corry L. Lee is an award-winning science fiction and fantasy author, Ph.D. physicist, science educator, data geek, and mom. Her fantasy novel, Weave the Lightning, debuted in April 2020 from Solaris Books; book 2 in the Bourshkanya Trilogy, The Storm’s Betrayal, is due out in 2021. Her science fiction short story “Shutdown” won the Writers of the Future award. In Ph.D. research at Harvard, she shed light on the universe fractions of a second after the Big Bang. At Amazon, she connected science to technology, improving customer experience through online experimentation. Corry is a frequent panelist at science fiction and fantasy conventions, where she discusses writing, science, and speculative fiction. This year, she’s especially excited to talk about the science of lightning. Everything Corry does, she does with intensity. Currently, she’s obsessed with nordic skiing, French pop music, and single origin coffee. This week’s picks: * Corry: Spirit Island (Board Game) * Tracy: Lyre’s Non-Alcoholic Spirits * Patrick: Warrior Nun (Netflix) Links: * Corry L. Lee on Twitter * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2020 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome K.C. Alexander – author of Nanoshock – SINless #2 and co-author (With Jason M. Hough) of Mass Effect: Andromeda: Nexus Uprising. About Nanoshock – SINless #2: Being a mercenary isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Especially when Riko’s hard-won reputation has taken a hard dive into fucked. Now she’s fair game for every Tom, Dick and Blow looking to score some cred. In this city, credibility means everything — there’s no room for excuses. She still doesn’t know what she did to screw up so badly, and chasing every gone-cold lead is only making it worse. Without help and losing ground fast, Riko has a choice: break every rule of the street on her search for answers… or die trying. About Mass Effect: Andromeda: Nexus Uprising: They slept for hundreds of years, dreaming of a new home in the Andromeda Galaxy. When finally they awake, their dreams of peace are shattered. These colonists—turian, salarian, asari, human, and more*—face an uncharted galaxy and threats beyond understanding. The Nexus is the core from which the colonists will explore their new home. Yet even before the arks arrive, the massive space station sustains critical damage. The entire mission is placed in jeopardy, and security director Sloane Kelly must reassert order while racing to identify the nature of the threat that faces them. If she fails, the Andromeda Initiative could crumble. About K.C. Alexander: K. C. Alexander is the author of Necrotech and Nanoshock—transhumanist sci-fi called “a speed freak rush” by NYT bestseller Richard Kadrey and “slick, sharp and snarky” by NYT bestseller Chuck Wendig. She co-wrote Mass Effect: Andromeda: Nexus Uprising with NYT bestseller Jason M. Hough, Bioware’s first novelization for Mass Effect: Andromeda. Other credits consist of a short story to Fireside magazine and an essay for Uncanny’s Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction. Specialties include voice-driven prose, imperfect characters, and an inclination to defy expectations. This week’s picks: * K.C.: #1 The Show Must Go On: Queen + Adam Lambert – Documentary (Netflix) * K.C.: #2 Somebody Feed Phil – (Netflix) * Tracy: Cravings: Recipes for All the Food You Want to Eat: A Cookbook by Chrissy Teigen * Patrick: The US vs John Lennon – Documentary (Prime) Links: * K.C. Alexander on Twitter * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter *

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Nick Martell – author of The Kingdom of Liars. About The Kingdom of Liars: Michael is branded a traitor as a child because of the murder of the king’s nine-year-old son, by his father David Kingman. Ten years later on Michael lives a hardscrabble life, with his sister Gwen, performing crimes with his friends against minor royals in a weak attempt at striking back at the world that rejects him and his family. In a world where memory is the coin that pays for magic, Michael knows something is there in the hot white emptiness of his mind. So when the opportunity arrives to get folded back into court, via the most politically dangerous member of the kingdom’s royal council, Michael takes it, desperate to find a way back to his past. He discovers a royal family that is spiraling into a self-serving dictatorship as gun-wielding rebels clash against magically trained militia. What the truth holds is a set of shocking revelations that will completely change the Hollows, if Michael and his friends and family can survive long enough to see it. About Nick Martell: Nick Martell was born in Ontario, Canada before moving to the United States at age 7. After graduating high school on Long Island, he majored in Creative Writing at Pennysylvania’s Susquehanna University. He started writing novels regularly in fifth grade, and his debut novel, The Kingdom of Liars, sold when he was 23 years old. Currently, he lives outside Allentown. This week’s picks: * Nick: Treasure island (Board Game) * Tracy: Nature Anywhere Window Bird House Feeder * Patrick: Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD Season 5 & 6 (Netflix) Links: * Nick Martell on Twitter * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2020 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Derek Kunsken – author of THE HOUSE OF STYX. About THE HOUSE OF STYX: Life can exist anywhere. And anywhere there is life, there is home. In the swirling clouds of Venus, the families of la colonie live on floating plant-like trawlers, salvaging what they can in the fierce acid rain and crackling storms. Outside is dangerous, but humankind’s hold on the planet is fragile and they spend most of their days simply surviving. But Venus carries its own secrets, too. In the depths, there is a wind that shouldn’t exist. And the House of Styx wants to harness it. About Derek Kunsken: Derek is a science fiction, fantasy, and sometimes accidentally, horror writer. He writes and reads both novel-length and short fiction, with a preference for works that explore really strange places and people. This week’s picks: * Derek: Westworld Season 2 & 3 (HBO) * Tracy: The Alphasmart * Patrick: Bill & Ted Face The Music (Trailer) Links: * Derek Kunsken on Twitter * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2020 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Michael R. Underwood – author of ANNIHILATION ARIA. About ANNIHILATION ARIA: A woman who can wield a weapon like a song and her voice like a weapon. A man who can out-think any problem. A pilot who can outmaneuver the best of them. Lahra, Max, and Wheel live and work aboard the Kettle, salvaging artifacts from dangerous galactic ruins to keep scraping by. But those artifacts can unlock an ancient power which threatens the iron-fisted rule of the galaxy’s imperialist overlords, the Vsenk. To protect their dominion, the Vsenk have humbled entire civilizations. They eat ships like the Kettle and her found family for breakfast. Lahra, Max, and Wheel are each just trying to get home to the lives they lost, but they’ll have to evade space fascists, kick-start a rebellion, and save the galaxy first to do it. Board the Kettle for a space opera like none you’ve ever read before; an adventure of galactic subterfuge, ancient alien lore, a secret resistance force, lost civilizations, and giant space turtles. About Michael R. Underwood: Michael R. Underwood is an author, podcaster, and publishing professional. His series include the Ree Reyes Geekomancy books, the Stabby Award finalist Genrenauts series, and Born to the Blade. He’s been a bookseller, sales representative, and the North American Sales & Marketing Manager for Angry Robot Books. He is also a co-host Speculate and a guest host on the Hugo Award-finalist The Skiffy and Fanty Show Mike lives in Baltimore with his wife, their dog, and an ever-growing library. He also loves geeking out with games and making pizzas from scratch. This week’s picks: * Michael: The Sojourn Game * Tracy: The Hoopla App from your local Library and The Libby App from your local Library * Patrick: George Foreman Grill with removable plates Links: * Michael R. Underwood on Twitter * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2020 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Emily B Martin – author of SUNSHIELD – available from HarperVoyager. About SUNSHIELD: A lawless wilderness. A polished court. Individual fates, each on a quest to expose a system of corruption. The desolate canyons of Alcoro—and the people desperate enough to hide there—couldn’t be more different from the opulent glass palace and lush forests of Moquoia. But the harsh desert and gleaming court are linked through their past, present, and future: a history of abductions in the desert to power Moquoia’s quarries and factories, and a bleak, inhumane future built on the sweat and sacrifice of these bond laborers. But events unfolding in the present could change everything. In the desert, outlaw Lark—known to most as the Sunshield Bandit—has built a name for herself attacking slavers’ wagons and freeing the captives inside. But while she shakes the foundation of Moquoia’s stratified society, she also has to fight to protect her rescuees—and herself—from the unforgiving world around them. In the Moquoian court, young ambassador Veran hopes to finally make his mark by dismantling the unjust labor system, if he can navigate the strict hierarchy and inexplicable hostility of the prince. And caught in the middle of it all, Tamsin is trapped within four walls, the epicenter of a secret political coup to overthrow the Moquoian monarchy and perpetuate the age-old system of injustice. Separated by seas of trees and sand, the outlaw, the diplomat, and the prisoner are more connected than anyone realizes. Their personal fates might just tip the balance of power in the Eastern World—if that very power doesn’t destroy them first. About Emily B Martin: EMILY B. MARTIN splits her time between working as a park ranger and an author/illustrator, resulting in her characteristic eco-fantasy adventures. An avid hiker and explorer, her experiences as a ranger help inform the characters and worlds she creates on paper. When not patrolling places like Yellowstone, the Great Smoky Mountains, or Philmont Scout Ranch, she lives in South Carolina with her husband, Will, and two daughters, Lucy and Amelia. Check out Emily’s Guest Post here on Functional Nerds: Magic and Melting Glaciers: Climate Change in SFF. This week’s picks: * Emily: The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature by J. Drew Lanham * Tracy: The MayaFlya Disc by Buena Onda Games * Patrick: Bosch Season 6 (Prime) Links: * Emily B martin on Instagram * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Pa...

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Drew Murray – author of BROKEN GENIUS: A Will Parker Thriller – out today, June 2nd! About BROKEN GENIUS: A Will Parker Thriller: For Will Parker, it’s about personal redemption after a disastrous mistake In 2011, Will Parker, the young prodigy CEO of a big tech company makes a coding mistake that costs a college student her life. To assuage his guilt, Will pursues a career in the FBI Cyber Division. Now, Special Agent Will Parker is called to investigate a murder scene at a Comic Con event in the Midwest, where the victim has ties to a radioactive quantum computer that Will was working on before he left his gig as CEO. Working with smart local homicide detective Dana Lopez and FBI stuffed-shirt Thomas Decker, Will discovers the victim was holding an auction for the computer on the Dark Web—and the bidding is still live. With bidders including a legendary Chinese hacker, Russian criminals sent by the Kremlin, and a corporate executive desperate to escape a scandal, Will once again finds a life in his hands when the victim’s daughter is taken hostage. A trail of blood and high-tech breadcrumbs leads Will deeper into mystery, danger, and a race against time to keep unlimited power out of the wrong hands. About Drew Murray: Drew grew up in Southwestern Ontario, obtained an MBA from the Ivey Business School, and had a successful career in corporate technology before transitioning into investing and education. Drew has travelled throughout Europe, North America, South America and the South Pacific on business and pleasure. An avid story teller since he was a child, Drew has been an actor, an educator and now an author. Always a dreamer, Drew is a fan of Science Fiction and Fantasy, a pro at escape rooms, and an avid role-playing gamer. You may run into him at a Comic Con celebrating all things fan related, as well as teaching at Western University or Fanshawe College. This week’s picks: * Drew: Locke and Key (Netflix) * Tracy: From Crook to Cook: Platinum Recipes from Tha Boss Dogg’s Kitchen (Snoop Dogg Cookbook, Celebrity Cookbook with Soul Food Recipes) * Patrick: Bob <3’s Abishola (CBS) Links: * Drew Murray on Twitter * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2020 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Michael Mammay – retired army officer and author of PLANETSIDE AND SPACESIDE. About Michael Mammay: Michael Mammay is a science fiction writer. He is a retired army officer and a graduate of the United States Military Academy. He has a master’s degree in military history, and he currently teaches American literature. He is a veteran of Desert Storm, Somalia, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. His debut novel, Planetside came out in July, 2018, and was selected as a Library Journal best book of 2018. The audio book, narrated by RC Bray, was nominated for an Audie award. The sequel, Spaceside, hit the shelves on August 27th, 2019. Michael lives with his wife in Georgia. This week’s picks: * Michael: Wingspan (Board Game) * Tracy: Serial Box * Patrick: DC’s Harley Quinn (DCUniverse/Prime) Links: * Michael Mammay on Twitter * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2020 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Stephen Blackmore – author of GHOST MONEY, book five in a dark urban fantasy series that follows necromancer Eric Carter through a world of vengeful gods and goddesses, mysterious murders, and restless ghosts. About Stephen Blackmore: Stephen Blackmoore is the Los Angeles based author of the noir / urban fantasy Eric Carter series, including DEAD THINGS, BROKEN SOULS, HUNGRY GHOSTS, FIRE SEASON, GHOST MONEY and the stand-alone CITY OF THE LOST. He has written tie-in novels for the role-playing game Spirit of The Century (KHAN OF MARS), the video-game Wasteland 2 (ALL BAD THINGS) and the television series Heroes Reborn (DIRTY DEEDS), as well as part of the Gods & Monster series (MYTHBREAKER). His short stories can be found at FIRESIDE FICTION, PLOTS WITH GUNS, and in anthologies such as URBAN ALLIES, DEADLY TREATS, DON’T READ THIS BOOK, UNCAGE ME and many others. This week’s picks: * Stephen: Madam Clara 5-Cent Tarot (2nd Edition) * Tracy: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts * Patrick: Watchmen (HBO/Prime) Links: * Stephen Blackmore on Twitter * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2020 Patrick Hester This podcast contains original music by John Anealio.

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome geek journalist extraordinaire. podcaster, D&D historian, Gadfly, nerd, writer, educator, friend to humanity, animal, and werewolf alike – Ben Riggs to talk about the history of D&D and the fall of TSR! Links: * Ben Riggs on Twitter * Ben Riggs on the Plotpoint Podcast * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2020 Patrick Hester

Having survived April, Patrick and Tracy are talking about food and fandom this week. Both enjoy cooking for themselves and others, and in this episode explore the links between food and the genre’s we love. Plus – they play the inaugural game of THUNDERDOME… Links: * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2020 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome New York Times bestselling author Steven Barnes! About Steven Barnes: STEVEN BARNES is a New York Times bestselling author, screenwriter and educator who has written more than thirty science fiction, fantasy, and horror novels. Octavia E. Butler called Barnes’s Endeavor-Award winning novel Lion’s Blood “imaginative, well researched, well written, and devastating.” The NAACP Image Award winner is also a pioneering television writer who has written for The Outer Limits (Showtime), The New Twilight Zone (Showtime), Stargate SG-1, Andromeda, and Ben 10: Alien Force. He has been nominated for Hugo, Nebula and Cable Ace Awards. Barnes has lectured at UCLA, Mensa, Pasadena JPL, taught at Seattle University, hosted the “Hour 25” radio show on KPFK, been Kung Fu columnist for Black Belt Magazine, and been a “Starred Speaker” at the L.A. Screenwriting Expo. An avid yogi and martial artist with three black belts, Steven is also a pioneer in the human potential movement, creating the groundbreaking “Lifewriting” creativity system, making writers the heroes of their own stories. Links: * Steven Barnes on Facebook * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2020 Patrick Hester

The Functional Nerds are back as Patrick Hester welcomes his new CoHost – Tracy Townsend! Tracy is the author of The Nine and The Fall (books 1 and 2 in the Thieves of Fate series), a monthly columnist for the feminist sf magazine Luna Station Quarterly, and an essayist for Uncanny Magazine. She’s the former chair of the English department at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, an elite public boarding school, where she teaches creative writing and science fiction and fantasy literature. She’s been a martial arts instructor, a stage combat and accent coach, a short-order cook for houses full of tired gamers, and now (apparently) a podcast co-host. When she’s actually sitting still, she lives in Bolingbrook, Illinois with two bumptious hounds, two remarkable children, one goblin cat, and a very patient husband. This week’s picks: * Tracy: Everdell (Board Game) * Patrick: Beyond The Trope Podcast Links: * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2020 Patrick Hester

In John Anealio’s last regular episode, he and Patrick reminisce about how they got started while commiserating about staying home during the Coronavirus pandemic, how it’s impacting everyone, about the future and more. Links: * John Anealio on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page * Patrick Hester on Instagram * Patrick’s Book: Into the Fire (available everywhere) © 2020 Patrick Hester and John Anealio This podcast contains original music by John Anealio.