The Functional Nerds Podcast

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome James Rollins, author of THE STARLESS CROWN. About THE STARLESS CROWN: A gifted student foretells an apocalypse. Her reward is a sentence of death. Fleeing into the unknown she is drawn into a team of outcasts: A broken soldier, who once again takes up the weapons he’s forbidden to wield and carves a trail back home. A drunken prince, who steps out from his beloved brother’s shadow and claims a purpose of his own. An imprisoned thief, who escapes the crushing dark and discovers a gleaming artifact – one that will ignite a power struggle across the globe. On the run, hunted by enemies old and new, they must learn to trust each other in order to survive in a world evolved in strange, beautiful, and deadly ways, and uncover ancient secrets that hold the key to their salvation. But with each passing moment, doom draws closer. About James Rollins: James Rollins is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of international thrillers. His writing has been translated into more than forty languages and has sold more than 20 million books. The New York Times says, “Rollins is what you might wind up with if you tossed Michael Crichton and Dan Brown into a particle accelerator together.” NPR calls his work, “Adventurous and enormously engrossing.” Rollins unveils unseen worlds, scientific breakthroughs, and historical secrets matched with stunning suspense. As a veterinarian, he had a practice in Sacramento for over a decade and still volunteers at local shelters. Nowadays, Rollins shares his home up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains with his two golden retrievers, Echo and Duncan. He also enjoys scuba diving, spelunking, kayaking, and hiking. Of course, he loves to travel and experience new places around the world, which often inspire his next globe-trotting adventure. This week’s picks: * James: Hades (Video Game) * Tracy: Sheriff of Nottingham (Board Game) * Patrick: Peacemaker (HBOMax) Links: * James Rollins on Twitter * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2022 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Mark Sabalauskas, author/creator of the Return to the Stars RPG Game. About Return to the Stars RPG Game: Return to the Stars is designed to allow the creation of characters that evoke the best elements of geek culture. In the far future hyperspace travel gave easy access to countless worlds, and humanity sorted itself into like-minded communities. One such society was the Convention Authority, founded to celebrate the now classical arts of science fiction, fantasy, and gaming. One day, without warning, the stellar beacon that illuminated hyperspace went silent rendering galactic travel impossible. The systems of the Convention Authority stayed connected thanks to a replica fleet of early starships. Now, after more than a century of effort, a long-range exploration craft has been built. Its purpose: to return to the stars and reconnect with lost civilizations of humanity. The players of Return to the Stars are a new generation of geeks — makers, genetically enhanced cosplayers, scientists, and pop culture enthusiasts setting out on an adventure of exploration and discovery. If you enjoy tales filled with optimism and hope, where players can paint a better future in bold primary colors, then you should prepare to Return to the Stars! About Mark Sabalauskas: Mark Sabalauskas is an indie tabletop roleplaying game designer and zine publisher. This week’s picks: * Mark: Midwives (Documentary) * Tracy: Tico & the Man Frank Maglio (YouTube) * Patrick: Arcane: League of Legends (Netflix) Links: * Mark Sabalauskas on Twitter * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2022 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy are live from Capricon 42 with a very special, super-sized show filled with great conversations from all of these amazing people: * Lauren Jankowski – author of The Shape Shifter Chronicles (Follow Lauren on Twitter) * Megan Mackie – author of The Finder of the Lucky Devil (Follow Megan on Twitter) * KM Herkes – author of Rough Passages (Follow KM on Twitter) * Michi Trota – a 5-time Hugo Award winning and British Award winning editor and writer (Follow Michi on Twitter) * The Original Cannoli Joe – enabler of cannoli habits (Follow Cannoli Joe on Twitter) * Todd French – an awesome human being and Extra Nerdy Patron (Follow Todd on Facebook) * Jason Youngberg – another awesome human being and Extra Nerdy Patron * Gary K Wolfe – an American science fiction podcaster, editor, critic and biographer, and an emeritus Professor of Humanities at Roosevelt University (Follow Gary on Twitter) About Lauren Jankowski: Lauren Jankowski, an openly aromantic asexual, adoptee, feminist author from Illinois, has been an avid reader for most of her life. She holds a degree in Women and Genders Studies from Beloit College. In 2015, she founded “Asexual Artists,” a site dedicated to highlighting the contributions of asexual identifying individuals to the arts. To date, she has interviewed over 900 artists. She has been writing fiction since high school, when she noticed a lack of strong women, particularly queer women and women from non-traditional families, in the popular genre books. When she’s not writing or researching, she enjoys reading (particularly anything relating to ancient myths), playing with her pets, watching ballets, or working on her next cosplay. She hopes to bring more strong heroines to literature, including badass asexual women. As an adoptee, she also hopes to bring more accurate and positive portrayals of non-traditional families to genre. Her ongoing series, The Shape Shifter Chronicles, is published through Crimson Fox Publishing. Signed paperbacks of the series can be purchased via Lauren’s Square Marketplace or the Crimson Fox Online Store. The books can also be purchased in ebook or paperback format through all major retailers. About Megan Mackie: Megan Mackie is a writer, actor, and playwright. She started her writing career as an indie author and had such smashing success in her first year with her inaugural book The Finder of the Lucky Dev...

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Elsa Sjunneson, author of Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman’s Fight to End Ableism. About Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman’s Fight to End Ableism: A Deafblind writer and professor explores how the misrepresentation of disability in books, movies, and TV harms both the disabled community and everyone else. As a Deafblind woman with partial vision in one eye and bilateral hearing aids, Elsa Sjunneson lives at the crossroads of blindness and sight, hearing and deafness—much to the confusion of the world around her. While she cannot see well enough to operate without a guide dog or cane, she can see enough to know when someone is reacting to the visible signs of her blindness and can hear when they’re whispering behind her back. And she certainly knows how wrong our one-size-fits-all definitions of disability can be. As a media studies professor, she’s also seen the full range of blind and deaf portrayals on film, and here she deconstructs their impact, following common tropes through horror, romance, and everything in between. Part memoir, part cultural criticism, part history of the Deafblind experience, Being Seen explores how our cultural concept of disability is more myth than fact, and the damage it does to us all. About Elsa Sjunneson: Hugo, Aurora and British Fantasy Award Award winner Elsa Sjunneson writes and edits speculative fiction and non-fiction. She has been a finalist for the Best Fan Writer and Best Semiprozine Hugo Awards, a winner of the D. Franklin Defying Doomsday Award, and a finalist for the Best Game Writing Nebula Award. Her fiction work has appeared in magazines such as Uncanny and Fireside, and as part of the team behind Serial Box’s exclusive: Marvel’s Jessica Jones: Playing with Fire. She’s worked on game design products such as Changeling, Wraith, The Fate Accessibility Toolkit and Dead Scare. She is most well known for her non-fiction which has appeared at CNN, tor.com, The Boston Globe and other venues. As an editor, she’s worked as assistant and then managing editor of Fireside Quarterly, the non-fiction editor for Uncanny Magazine, and in 2018 she was the Co-Guest Editor in Chief of Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction. She founded and wrote the popular blog Feminist Sonar from 2011-2016, where she laid groundwork for many discussions on disability in popular discourse. As an activist for disability rights, she has worked with New Jersey 11th for Change and the New York Disability Pride Parade. As an educator and public speaker she has presented work at the University of Chicago and The Henry Art Gallery, and taught workshops with Clarion West, Writing the Other, and various Science Fiction conventions. Her debut memoir Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman’s Fight to End Ableism released from Tiller Press (an imprint of Simon & Schuster) October 5, 2021. This week’s picks: * Elsa: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition (Xbox Series X) * Tracy: Tales of the Arabian Nights (Board Game) * Patrick: Capricon 42 Links: * Elsa Sjunneson on Twitter *

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Rebecca Ross, author of A River Enchanted. About A River Enchanted: Jack Tamerlaine hasn’t stepped foot on Cadence in ten long years, content to study music at the mainland university. But when young girls start disappearing from the isle, Jack is summoned home to help find them. Enchantments run deep on Cadence: gossip is carried by the wind, plaid shawls can be as strong as armor, and the smallest cut of a knife can instill fathomless fear. The capricious spirits that rule the isle by fire, water, earth, and wind find mirth in the lives of the humans who call the land home. Adaira, heiress of the east and Jack’s childhood enemy, knows the spirits only answer to a bard’s music, and she hopes Jack can draw them forth by song, enticing them to return the missing girls. As Jack and Adaira reluctantly work together, they find they make better allies than rivals as their partnership turns into something more. But with each passing song, it becomes apparent the trouble with the spirits is far more sinister than they first expected, and an older, darker secret about Cadence lurks beneath the surface, threatening to undo them all. About Rebecca Ross: Rebecca Ross writes fantasy novels for teens and adults. She lives in the Appalachian foothills of Northeast Georgia with her husband, a lively Australian Shepherd, and an endless pile of books. The Queen’s Rising, The Queen’s Resistance, Sisters of Sword & Song, and Dreams Lie Beneath are her titles for young adult readers. A River Enchanted is her adult fantasy debut, publishing February 15, 2022 with a sequel to follow. When not writing, she can be found reading or in her garden, where she grows wildflowers and story ideas. This week’s picks: * Rebecca: eufy RoboVac * Tracy: Azul (Board Game) * Patrick: The Expanse: Season 6 (Prime) Links: * Rebecca Ross on Instagram * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2022 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Lorraine Wilson, author of This Is Our Undoing and the forthcoming The Way The Light Bends. About This Is Our Undoing: In a near-future Europe fracturing under climate change and far-right politics, biologist Lina Stephenson works in the remote Rila Mountains, safely away from London State. When an old enemy dies, Lina’s dangerous past resurfaces, putting her family’s lives at risk. Trapped with her vulnerable sister alongside the dead man’s family, Lina is facing pressure from all sides: her enemy’s eldest son is determined to destroy her in his search for vengeance, whilst his youngest carries a sinister secret… …But the forest is hiding its own threats and as a catastrophic storm closes in, Lina realises that if she is to save her family, she must become a monster. About Lorraine Wilson: Lorraine Wilson writes stories that explore themes of family, belonging and trauma. The wilderness is never very far away from her characters, and folklore is always there whether hidden in the shadows or centre stage. She hopes to write in a way that resonates with those parts of ourselves we find hard to share with others, and that provides representation for people who do not get to see themselves in the majority of books. Lorraine lives by the sea in Scotland. The east coast, so she gets no snow in winter and endless haar in summer. All of her Burmese genes vociferously object to Scottish winters, but she’s so far failed to drag her family away (and Scotland does have it’s up sides, to be fair). She has a PhD in animal behaviour and spent many years working in behavioural conservation in various parts of the world (most of them considerably warmer than Scotland). When ill health made her leave academia, Lorraine turned to writing and fell in love. She is still a spoonie, living with disabling illness; she’s still in love with writing. She also likes semi-colons. More interestingly, she is inordinately fond of geckos and bats, and feel like one or (preferably) both ought to occur in every piece of writing. Lorraine once had a treefrog called Algernon who lived in her sink and another called Tobermory who preferred the bookshelf. She’s been stalked by wolves, caught the bubonic plague, and had a Madagascan python use her as a hot-water bottle. This week’s picks: * Lorraine: Mahjong (Game) * Tracy: Cascadia (Game) * Patrick: The Swordsman (Movie) Links: * Lorraine Wilson on Twitter * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2022 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Nicole Glover, author of the Murder & Magic series – The Conductors and The Undertakers. About The Conductors and The Undertakers – Hetty Rhodes and her husband, Benjy, were Conductors on the Underground Railroad, ferrying dozens of slaves to freedom with daring, cunning, and magic that draws its power from the constellations. With the war over, those skills find new purpose as they solve mysteries and murders that white authorities would otherwise ignore. In the heart of Philadelphia’s Seventh Ward, everyone knows that when there’s a strange death or magical curses causing trouble, Hetty and Benjy are the only ones that can solve the case. But when an old friend is murdered, their investigation stirs up a wasp nest of intrigue, lies, and long-buried secrets- and a mystery unlike anything they handled before. With a clever, cold-blooded killer on the prowl testing their magic and placing their lives at risk, Hetty and Benjy will discover how little they really know about their neighbors . . . and themselves. The Undertakers continues the adventures of murder and magic, where even the most powerful enchantments can’t always protect you from the ghosts of the past. Nothing bothers Hetty and Benjy Rhodes more than a case where the answers, motives, and the murder itself feel a bit too neat. Raimond Duval, a victim of one of the many fires that have erupted recently in Philadelphia, is officially declared dead after the accident, but Hetty and Benjy’s investigation points to a powerful Fire Company known to let homes in the Black community burn to the ground. Before long, another death breathes new life into the Duval investigation: Raimond’s son, Valentine, is also found dead. Finding themselves with the dubious honor of taking on Valentine Duval as their first major funeral, it becomes clear that his passing was intentional. Valentine and his father’s deaths are connected, and the recent fires plaguing the city might be more linked to recent community events than Hetty and Benji originally thought. About Nicole Glover: Nicole Glover is the author of the Murder and Magic series which includes The Conductors and The Undertakers. She works as a UX researcher in Virginia. She believes libraries are magical places and problems seem smaller with a cup of tea in hand. Her life outside of books include bicycles, video games, and baking the perfect banana bread. She can be found at nicole-glover.com. This week’s picks: * Nicole: Encanto (Disney+) * Tracy: Loki (Disney+) * Patrick: Hawkeye (Disney+) Links: * Nicole Glover on Twitter * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter *

This week, Patrick and Tracy are talking about 2021 with the obligatory year-end recap episode! We’re taking a look back at our favorite episodes from 2021, how things went and what challenges we had. The ups and the downs. Links: * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2022 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Monica Byrne, author of THE ACTUAL STAR. About THE ACTUAL STAR: The Actual Star takes readers on a journey over two millennia and six continents —telling three powerful tales a thousand years apart, all of them converging in the same cave in the Belizean jungle. Braided together are the stories of a pair of teenage twins who ascend the throne ofa Maya kingdom; a young American woman on a trip of self-discovery in Belize; and two dangerous charismatics vying for the leadership of a new religion and racing toward a confrontation that will determine the fate of the few humans left on Earth after massive climate change. In each era, a reincarnated trinity of souls navigates the entanglements of tradition and progress, sister and stranger, and love and hate—until all of their age-old questions about the nature of existence converge deep underground, where only in complete darkness can they truly see. The Actual Star is a feast of ideas about where humanity came from, where we are now, and where we’re going—and how, in every age, the same forces that drive us apart also bind us together. About Monica Byrne: Monica grew up in Annville, Pennsylvania, as the youngest of five. Her parents were both Catholic theologians, and her family emphasized mysticism, social justice, and the centrality of art to religious experience. Despite growing up on art, she set her heart on becoming an astronaut-so went to Wellesley College and MIT for degrees in biochemistry, worked at NASA during the summers, and got her pilot’s license. But while at MIT, Monica realized she liked making things up much more than finding things out. She finished a Master’s and moved to Durham, North Carolina, and have been writing ever since. Monica graduated from the Clarion Workshop in 2008, where she studied with Neil Gaiman, Nalo Hopkinson, and Kelly Link. Her debut novel, The Girl in the Road, was published in 2014. It won the Tiptree Award and was listed for the Kitschie, Locus, and DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. Her second novel, The Actual Star, was published by Harper Voyager on September 14, 2021. She’s performed original monologues twice at TED, hosted a technology series for ViceUK, and spoken across the country on futurism and science fiction. Her short stories and essays have been published in The Baffler, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Religion Dispatches, Wired, Tor.com, Electric Velocipede, Fantasy Magazine, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Electric Literature, and Glimmer Train. She’s written five plays produced in Durham, one of which, What Every Girl Should Know, has been performed from Berkeley to Dublin. This week’s picks: * Monica: The Wheel of Time (Prime Video) * Tracy: The Hogfather – Terry Prachett * Patrick: Campfire Songs – Hal-Leonard Links: * Monica Byrne on Twitter * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter *

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Derek Kunsken, author of The Quantum War (book 3 of the Quantum Evolution series). About The Quantum War: The war rages onward and the Union’s premier fighter pilots, the Homo Eridanus, start encountering deadly resistance from strange pilots on the Congregate side. Among wreckage, they find that new Congregate pilots are, in fact, Homo quantus, with strange wiring and AI connections. At the same time, the Puppets come to the Union with offers of an alliance for a dangerous price: the rescue of the geneticist Antonio Del Casal who is a captive on Venus, with over a hundred Homo quantus. Only one person might be able to break through the Congregate defenses at Venus, and he’s a con man. 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 #1: DC’s Stargirl (CW/HBOMax) * Derek #2: Hawkeye (Disney+) * Tracy: The Good Place: The Podcast * Patrick: Young Justice: Phantoms (HBOMax) Links: * Derek Kunsken on Twitter * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2021 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome CJ Cooke, author of The Lighthouse Witches. About The Lighthouse Witches: When single mother Liv is commissioned to paint a mural in a 100-year-old lighthouse on a remote Scottish island, it’s an opportunity to start over with her three daughters–Luna, Sapphire, and Clover. When two of her daughters go missing, she’s frantic. She learns that the cave beneath the lighthouse was once a prison for women accused of witchcraft. The locals warn her about wildlings, supernatural beings who mimic human children, created by witches for revenge. Liv is told wildlings are dangerous and must be killed. Twenty-two years later, Luna has been searching for her missing sisters and mother. When she receives a call about her youngest sister, Clover, she’s initially ecstatic. Clover is the sister she remembers–except she’s still seven years old, the age she was when she vanished. Luna is worried Clover is a wildling. Luna has few memories of her time on the island, but she’ll have to return to find the truth of what happened to her family. But she doesn’t realize just how much the truth will change her. About CJ Cooke: CJ Cooke, also known as Carolyn Jess-Cooke, grew up on a council estate in Belfast, Northern Ireland, at the height of the Troubles. She started writing at the age of 7 and pestered publishers for many years with manuscripts typed on her grandparents’ old typewriter and cover notes written on pages ripped from school jotters. Since then, she has published 12 works in 23 languages and won numerous awards, including an Eric Gregory Award from the Society of Authors, a Tyrone Guthrie Prize, a K Blundell Award, and she has won a Northern Writer’s Award three times. In 2011, her debut novel, The Guardian Angel’s Journal, was published by Little, Brown. The novel was an international bestseller. Her second novel, The Boy Who Could See Demons (2012), is a cult classic. Her sixth novel, The Lighthouse Witches, was published in October 2021, and was an Indigo Book of the Month and an international bestseller. CJ’s work is concerned with trauma, motherhood, loss, and social justice. CJ holds a BA (Hons), MA, and PhD from Queen’s University, Belfast, and commenced her academic career in 2005 as a Lecturer in Film Studies at the University of Sunderland. Shortly thereafter, she published four academic works in swift succession on Shakespearean Cinema and Film Sequels, before establishing her career as a poet, editor, and novelist. Now Reader in Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow, CJ convenes the prestigious MLitt Creative Writing and researches ways that creative writing can help with trauma and mental health. Throughout 2013-18 she directed the Writing Motherhood project, which explored the impact of motherhood on women’s writing. She is also the founder and director of the Stay-at-Home! Literary Festival, which is dedicated to providing people with accessible, inclusive, and eco-friendly ways to access literature. CJ has four children and lives with her family in Glasgow, Scotland. This week’s picks: * C.J. #1 Pick: The Power of the Dog (Netflix) * C.J. #2 Pick: Running * Tracy: Barry’s Gold Label Tea * Patrick:

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Cat Rambo, author of YOU SEXY THING. About YOU SEXY THING: TwiceFar station is at the edge of the known universe, and that’s just how Niko Larson, former Admiral in the Grand Military of the Hive Mind, likes it. Retired and finally free of the continual war of conquest, Niko and the remnants of her former unit are content to spend the rest of their days working at the restaurant they built together, The Last Chance. But, some wars can’t ever be escaped, and unlike the Hive Mind, some enemies aren’t content to let old soldiers go. Niko and her crew are forced onto a sentient ship convinced that it is being stolen and must survive the machinations of a sadistic pirate king if they even hope to keep the dream of The Last Chance alive. About Cat Rambo: Cat Rambo lives, writes, and edits in the Pacific Northwest. Their work has appeared in such places as Asimov’s, Weird Tales, and Strange Horizons. They were the fiction editor of award-winning Fantasy Magazine and appeared on the World Fantasy Award ballot in 2012 for that work. Their story “Five Ways to Fall in Love on Planet Porcelain” was a 2012 Nebula Award finalist. Rambo has over 250 short stories published and has been shortlisted for the Nebula, Compton Crook, and World Fantasy Award. In 2020, their novelette CARPE GLITTER won the Nebula Award. In 2021, they published fantasy novel EXILES OF TABAT (Wordfire Press) and space opera YOU SEXY THING (Tor Macmillan) A frequent volunteer with the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, they are a former two-term President. They run popular online writing school The Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers. This week’s picks: * Cat: Esper Genesis (TableTop RPG) * Tracy: The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin * Patrick: Queens (ABC/Hulu) Links: * Cat Rambo on Twitter * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2021 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome K.E. Flann, author of How to Survive a Human Attack. About How to Survive a Human Attack: Did you know human attacks account for a staggering 100 percent of premature deaths for witches, swamp monsters, cyborgs, and other supernatural, mutant, and exceptionally large beings? The past millennia or so has seen not only an uptick in human attacks, but also increasingly indiscriminate victim selection. It is understandable to feel overwhelmed. From renowned preternaturalist K. E. Flann, How to Survive a Human Attack provides critical information at a critical time with chapters specifically tailored to their target audience, including: * A Zombie’s Guide to Filling the Emptiness and Moving Forward * First-Time Haunter’s Guide for Ghosts, Spirits, Poltergeists, Specters, and Wraiths * Self-Training 101 for Werewolves: Sit, Don’t Speak, Stay Alive! * What’s Happening to My Body?: Radioactive Mutants and the Safety of the Nuclear Family About K.E. Flann: K.E. Flann’s writing has been featured in McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, The North American Review, Shenandoah, and Michigan Quarterly Review, and a collection of short stories won the 2014 George Garrett Award at Texas Review Press. Excerpts from this incredibly important work have appeared or will appear in Word Riot, The Higgs Weldon, Defenestration, and Monkeybicycle. This week’s picks: * Kathy: How To Mars by David Ebenbach * Tracy: How to Talk to a Science Denier by Lee McIntyre * Patrick: Ghosts (BBC version on HBOMax) Links: * K.E. Flann on Twitter * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2021 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Zin E. Rocklyn, author of Flowers for the Sea. About Flowers for the Sea: We are a people who do not forget. Survivors from a flooded kingdom struggle alone on an ark. Resources are scant, and ravenous beasts circle. Their fangs are sharp. Among the refugees is Iraxi: ostracized, despised, and a commoner who refused a prince, she’s pregnant with a child that might be more than human. Her fate may be darker and more powerful than she can imagine. About Zin E. Rocklyn: Zin E. Rocklyn is a contributor to Bram Stoker-nominated and This is Horror Award-winning Nox Pareidolia, Kaiju Rising II: Reign of Monsters, Brigands: A Blackguards Anthology, and Forever Vacancy anthologies and Weird Luck Tales No. 7 zine. Their story “Summer Skin” in the Bram Stoker-nominated anthology Sycorax’s Daughters received an honorable mention for Ellen Datlow’s Best Horror of the Year, Volume Ten. Zin contributed the nonfiction essay “My Genre Makes a Monster of Me” to Uncanny Magazine’s Hugo Award-winning Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction. Their short story “The Night Sun” and flash fiction “teatime” were published on Tor.com. Flowers for the Sea is their debut novella. Zin is a 2017 VONA and 2018 Viable Paradise graduate as well as a 2022 Clarion West candidate. This week’s picks: * Zin: Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror (Shudder) * Tracy: Unspeakable Words (Game) * Patrick: Only Murders In The Building (Hulu) Links: * Zin E. Rocklyn on Twitter * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2021 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Alix Harrow, author of A Spindle Splintered. About A Spindle Splintered: It’s Zinnia Gray’s twenty-first birthday, which is extra-special because it’s the last birthday she’ll ever have. When she was young, an industrial accident left Zinnia with a rare condition. Not much is known about her illness, just that no-one has lived past twenty-one. Her best friend Charm is intent on making Zinnia’s last birthday special with a full sleeping beauty experience, complete with a tower and a spinning wheel. But when Zinnia pricks her finger, something strange and unexpected happens, and she finds herself falling through worlds, with another sleeping beauty, just as desperate to escape her fate. About Alix Harrow: Alix E. Harrow is a Hugo Award-winning American science fiction and fantasy writer. Her short fiction has been nominated for the Nebula Award, World Fantasy Award, and Locus Award, and in 2019 she won a Hugo Award for her story “A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies”. This week’s picks: * Alix: Matrix: A Novel by Lauren Groff * Tracy: A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny * Patrick: Fugitive Telemetry (The Murderbot Diaries, 6) by Martha Wells Links: * Alix E. Harrow on Twitter * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2021 Patrick Hester