The Once & Future Podcast

This week we talk with New York Times bestseller Nell Scovell about her latest book JUST THE FUNNY PARTS: … And a Few Hard Truths About Sneaking into the Hollywood Boys’ Club. Hear tales of her writing for tons of nerdy projects such as The Simpsons, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Warehouse 13, Charmed, and MST3K: The Return, to name just a few! We’ll also discuss her entire career, women in the writing room, ageism, sexism, and maintaining relevance in her continuing Hollywood career. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast over on iTunes, rate it and please tell your friends about us. It really does help.

This week we talk with game designer/writer/pulmonary embolism survivor Bruce Cordell about his long history working on Dungeons & Dragons from 2nd edition to 5th, Malhavoc Press, and his most recent role at Monte Cook Games. We also discuss Gen Con, writing novels set in RPG worlds, genetic engineering, and all the exciting new projects upcoming from Monte Cook Games! Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast over on iTunes, rate it and please tell your friends about us. It really does help.

This week we talk with fantasy author Beth Cato, steampunk with her Clockwork Dagger series, alternate history in early 1900’s America with her Blood of Earth series including October 2018’s upcoming release Roar of Sky, and tons about her fabulous baking, much of which is included in the Bready or Not: Sweet Maple Cookbook! Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast over on iTunes, rate it and please tell your friends about us. It really does help. Join the plot with Serial Box -- Once & Future Podcast listeners can get a discount on any first season of a Serial Box series. Head to serialbox.com and enter the promo code: ONCEFUTURE18.

This week we talk with author Nat Cassidy about adapting Tor Labs & Gideon Media’s Steal The Stars 14-episode podcast into a novel, playwriting, acting, Lovecraft & Call of Cthulhu, and even some Final Fantasy talk! Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast over on iTunes, rate it and please tell your friends about us. It really does help. Join the plot with Serial Box -- Once & Future Podcast listeners can get a discount on any first season of a Serial Box series. Head to serialbox.com and enter the promo code: ONCEFUTURE18.

This week we talk with is week we talk with return guest Kevin Shinick, the Emmy award-winning writer/actor/producer showrunner for many things including: Robot Chicken, Cartoon Network’s MAD, PBS’ Where In Time Is Carmen San Diego?, Marvel’s Spider-man, and his latest project the Netflix Original series Disjointed. Plus BONUS NERDERY: find out whatever happened to the Star Wars: Detours project! Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast over on iTunes, rate it and please tell your friends about us. It really does help. Join the plot with Serial Box -- Once & Future Podcast listeners can get a discount on any first season of a Serial Box series. Head to serialbox.com and enter the promo code: ONCEFUTURE18.

This week we talk with fantasy author Django Wexler about the concluding volumes of his Forbidden Library (The Fall of the Readers) and Shadow Campaigns series (The Infernal Battalion). We also discuss his John Golden young adult series, his two upcoming series with Tor Teen and Orbit Books, gaming, and a metric ton of writing advice. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast over on iTunes, rate it and please tell your friends about us. It really does help.

This week we talk with science fiction author Jason Fry about his upcoming novelization of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, SW: TLJ: Bomber Command, his series of Star Wars cross section books, his Jupiter Pirates series, writing for the Wall Street Journal, sports writing, and the neurotic secret lives of authors! Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast over on iTunes, rate it and please tell your friends about us. It really does help.

This week we talk with scifi/fantasy author David Mack about his latest The Midnight Front, book one of his World War II-era epic fantasy series from Tor Books. We also discuss our time at Gen Con and his writing in the Star Trek universe from actual episodes of Deep Space Nine to novels all the way through the new Discovery series. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast over on iTunes, rate it and please tell your friends about us. It really does help. This episode’s sponsors: Elizabeth Vaughan’s Wardance Serial Box http://bit.ly/onceandfuture_sb 15 seconds: If you love fantasy, adventure and romance, USA Today bestselling author Elizabeth Vaughan delivers once more with her newest release, WARDANCE. Now available on Amazon and wherever ebooks are sold. And Join the plot with Serial Box -- Once and Future Podcast listeners can get a discount on any first season of a Serial Box series. Head to serialbox.com and enter the promo code, ONCEFUTURE18. And today’s episode is also sponsored by awesome listeners like YOU! Support the arts, support the show for as little as a dollar a month! You keep the show alive, and bring us one step closer to self-sustaininability in our programming, Head on over to patreon.com/antonstrout to pledge your awesome support to our ongoing effort to bring you the best in writing and geekdom. Once again, that’s over at Patreon.com/antonstrout. Now let’s start the show! THIS is the Once & Future Podcast, once again bringing you the science fiction and fantasy that you want, one damned episode at a time. As always, I’m Anton Strout, your host and curator of curious content for this grand endeavor where I bring you some of this week’s happenings in the world of speculative fiction. Welcome. Week two of 2018. Have you broken all your resolutions? Has your writing gone to hell? Is the cold alone killing you? Fear not, we are here to warm the cockles of your heart, be you writer, star trek fan, or are looking for a killer new series, because I’m already loving the one from today’s guest. * authors in conversation * I write urban fantasy * USA Today bestseller * Alchemystic, Stonecast and Incarnate. * the Simon Canderous urban fantasy series-- Dead To Me, Deader Still, Dead Matter and Dead Waters. * check me out. New web comic The Write Stuff where to find it… I’d like to welcome this week’s sponsors, Elizabeth Vaughan’s Wardance Serial Box You’ll have to wait to hear more about them later in the show or head on over to theonceandfuturepodcast.com to check them out as you listen. There’s a cool discount to be had over at Serial Box, if you specifically follow the link from the banner ad at our sight. We’re extremely happy to have them aboard for this awesome episode. We got a long one this week, people! Last episode I spoke with fantasy author Geneveive Cogman about the fourth book in her Invisible Library series, The Lost Plot. We also discuss libraries and books in fantasy, writing role playing games for White Wolf and Steve Jackson Games, Imposter Syndrome, writing fan fiction, and as a bonus: swine flu and ebola! This week we talk with scifi/fantasy author David Mack about his latest book The Midnight Front, book one of his World War II-era epic fantasy series from Tor Books. We also discuss our time at Gen Con and his writing in the Star Trek universe from actual episodes of Deep Space Nine to novels all the way through the new Discovery series. So without further ado, let’s get on with my conversation with David Mack! AD GOES HERE Midshow: Hey everyone, just popping in for a minute to talk to you a bit about this episode’s sponsors: Elizabeth Vaughan’s Wardance Serial Box 30 seconds: USA Today bestselling author Elizabeth Vaughan returns to the Chronicles of Warlands with her new book, WARDANCE. With this series, the American Library Association says Vaughan "re-creates the delicious feeling of adventure and the thrill of exploring mysterious cultures created by Robert E. Howard in his Conan books and makes for a satisfying escapist read..." and beloved author Anne McCaffrey says it's "possibly the best romantic fantasy I've ever read." Will Simus the Hawk finally become Warlord? Find out in WARDANCE, now available on Amazon! And The Once and Future Podcast is supported by Serial Box. Called the HBO of reading by National Public Radio, Serial Box brings you gripping stories written by bestselling and award winning teams of writers, with new episodes every week. They're the addictive new shows you can read OR listen to. The Serial Box app lets you switch from listening to reading with a click. Join the plot with Serial Box -- Right now, The Once and Future Podcast listeners can get a discount on any first season of a Serial Box series. Head to serialbox.com and enter the promo code, ONCEFUTURE18. That’s S-E-R-I-A-L-B-O-X.com and the code is ONCEFUTURE18. And I started the Once & Future Podcast way back in 2011 because I LOVE sharing the talks I had with my fellow authors and other creative types. Now, in MY effort to bring you the best content that I can produce, it occurred to me--why not let listeners get involved in support of the show the love and get so much out of? Patreon lets me do just that. In my efforts to just write and podcast, any bit of support you can show The Once & Future Podcast really does help. So please, if you love the show, if you keep coming back for our amazing line up of guests and get any value out of what we do here, please consider becoming a patron of the show. Even if you can only throw in as little as a dollar a month… it really would help with the production of The Once & Future Podcast. That’s at patreon.com/antonstrout Again, thanks for your consideration in backing the future of The Once & Future Podcast as I endeavor to keep filling your earholes… one damned episode at a time. And now back to the show! Epilogue And that brings us to our wrap up! My thanks go out once more to David Mack. Be sure to check out his new series, and if Star Trek is your thing, well, you’ve got your work cut our for yourselves now, haven’t you? And of course if you have a little time I’d love you to check out my work-- the Simon Canderous paranormal detective series- Dead To Me, Deader Still, Dead Matter, and Dead Waters or perhaps kick ass girls and gargoyle in The Spellmason Chronicles—Alchemystic, Stonecast or INCARNATE. Available at most book retailers. And oh yes, Shadowed Souls, the new Jim Butcher edited anthology where there’s a new Simon Canderous prequel story. And don’t’ forget my new webcomic The Write Stuff. And Please Head on over to theonceandfuturepodcast.com, and to learn more about this week’s Elizabeth Vaughan’s Wardance Serial Box Show our sponsor some love by clicking on their banner ads which will bring you right to them, check out their amazingness and mention that we sent you. • patreon.com/antonstrout • Go to theonceandfuturepodcast.com and like the episodes, leave your comments, and make sure you’re subscribed to the podcast. • http://www.theonceandfuturepodcast.com/newsletter/ • Contact us at onceandfuturepodcast@gmail.com • Like the Facebook page for the show. Our theme music comes from the track Enter the ePredator by Dead Go West which you can find at Deadgowest.com and our interstitial music comes from the track Intergalactic 8.0 by the band Hiroshima, both used under the Creative Commons license. Again: I’m Anton Strout. Don’t forget to tell your friends about the show, thanks once more for listening, and we’ll see you next time on The Once & Future Podcast.

This episode we talk with fantasy author Genevieve Cogman about the fourth book in her Invisible Library series, The Lost Plot. We also discuss libraries and books in fantasy, writing role playing games for White Wolf and Steve Jackson Games, Imposter Syndrome, writing fan fiction, and as a bonus: swine flu and even ebola! Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast over on iTunes, rate it and please tell your friends about us. It really does help.

This episode we talk with Canadian science fiction author James Alan Gardner about U.S. vs Canada sci-fi fantasy, comics, martial arts, writing, his Skill List Project, old school computer languages and his latest book with Tor, All Those Explosions Were Someone Else’s Fault! Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast over on iTunes, rate it and please tell your friends about us. It really does help.

LIVE from the Gen Con 2017 Writer’s Symposium! The No Room For Ego panel! From brainstorming to critiquing, how do you find a great partner—and not kill each other? An unlikely dynamic duo including a USA Today bestselling author/podcaster and an author/publicist tell all. Featuring new Writer’s Symposium co-chair Melanie Meadors and Anton Strout. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast over on iTunes, rate it and please tell your friends about us. It really does help.

LIVE from the Gen Con 2017 Writer’s Symposium! Time Management Tools and Techniques! There are so many distractions! This episode’s panelists look at tools and techniques to effectively manage your time and hit those deadlines. Featuring Toiya Kristen Finley, Leigh Perry, Aaron Rosenberg, and Anton Strout Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast over on iTunes, rate it and please tell your friends about us. It really does help. This episode’s sponsors: The Kickstarters for the Cabinet Game Table from Carolina Game Tables And Spinnortality: a cyberpunk strategy/management game

LIVE from the Gen Con 2017 Writer’s Symposium! How Do Writers Get Paid? When and how should a writer get paid, what's the going rate, and what should you watch out for? Plus, is exposure a valid form of payment? Fin out as Reddit Fantasy’s Steve Drew puts the financial writerly screws to authors Anton Strout and Maurice Broaddus! Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast over on iTunes, rate it and please tell your friends about us. It really does help.

LIVE from the Gen Con 2017 Writer’s Symposium! Building To The Climax! Discover ways to structure your story so that carries the reader into the climax in a logical, exciting, and satisfying way. Featuring Erin M. Evans, Jerry Gordon, Karen Bovenmyer, and Anton Strout. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast over on iTunes, rate it and please tell your friends about us. It really does help.

LIVE from the Gen Con 2017 Writer’s Symposium! Drawing From Mythology! Mythology is a treasure trove of resources for authors looking to enrich their stories. Learn to draw on myth and legend to enhance your writing. Reddit Fantasy’s Steve Drew moderates a fantastic panel featuring authors Howard Andrew Jones, Ilana C. Myer, Linda Robertson, and Anton Strout. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast over on iTunes, rate it and please tell your friends about us. It really does help.