The Functional Nerds Podcast

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Kevin Hearne, author of A CURSE OF KRAKENS. About A CURSE OF KRAKENS: Seeker and Sower Pen Yas ben Min’s cousin was one of the legendary heroes of the wars against the giants until her untimely death. Pen has grown up in her famous cousin’s shadow, but when she’s given a quest to plant the seed of the magical Fourth Tree, she has a chance to step into the light—and usher in a new age for her country. Fighter and Friend Abhi’s life—and the world—changed when he discovered a lost magic: the power to speak to animals. After fighting so many battles, he’s weary and longs for home and his love, Tamhan. But before he can return, there is one last mission that only Abhi can complete: to speak to the colossal creatures who wait beneath the waves—the krakens. Sailor and Explorer Koesha and her shipmates have already made an impossible journey by navigating the Northern Yawn, at the end of which she secured an unusual cloak. But when that cloak turns out to be the key to unlocking the mystery of the Seventh Kenning, Koesha has to risk everything on another life-threatening journey and hope that she can steer her crew to safety. About Kevin Hearne: KEVIN HEARNE hugs trees, pets doggies, and rocks out to heavy metal. He also thinks tacos are a pretty nifty idea. He is the author of the New York Times bestselling series the Iron Druid Chronicles, the Seven Kennings trilogy that begins with A PLAGUE OF GIANTS, and co-author of the Tales of Pell with Delilah S. Dawson. This week’s picks: * Kevin #1: The Annual Migration of Clouds by Premee Mohamed * Kevin #2: Witchmark by C. L. Polk * Kevin: System Collapse (The Murderbot Diaries Book 7) by Martha Wells * Tracy: Delish 2024 Recipe-A-Day Calendar * Patrick: Blue Eye Samurai (Netflix) Links: * Kevin Hearne on Instagram * Tracy Townsend on the network formerly known as Twitter * Patrick Hester on the network formerly known as Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2023 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Stephen Aryan, author of THE JUDAS BLOSSOM. About THE JUDAS BLOSSOM: 1260, Persia: Due to the efforts of the great Genghis Khan, the Mongol Empire covers a vast portion of the known world. In the shadow of his grandfather, Hulagu Khan, ruler of the Ilkhanate, is determined to create a single empire that covers the entire world. His method? Violence. His youngest son, Temujin Khan, struggles to find his place in his father’s bloody rule. After another failure, Temujin is given one last chance to prove himself to Hulagu, who is sure there is a great warrior buried deep inside. But there’s something else rippling under the surface… something far more powerful and dangerous than they could ever imagine… Reduced to the position of one of Hulagu’s many wives, the famed Blue Princess Kokochin is the last of her tribe. Alone and forgotten in a foreign land, Kokochin is unwilling to spend her days seeking out trivial pursuits. Seeking purpose, she finds herself wandering down a path that grants her more power than a wife of the Khan may be allowed. Kaivon, the Persian rebel who despises the Mongols for the massacre of his people, thirsts for revenge. However, he knows alone he cannot destroy the empire. When given the opportunity to train under the tutelage of Hulagu, Kaivon must put aside his feelings and risk his life for a chance to destroy the empire that aims to conquer the world. About Stephen Aryan: Stephen Aryan is an award winning fantasy author. He has written two trilogies, the Age of Darkness, and the Age of Dread, plus a prequel novella, set in the magic-infused world of Mordana. He has also written the Quest for Heroes duology, The Coward and The Warrior, published by Angry Robot Books. His latest novel, The Judas Blossom, is the first instalment in a Persian-inspired historical fantasy trilogy, The Nightingale and the Falcon. This week’s picks: * Stephen #1: Sly | Sylvester Stallone Documentary (Netflix) * Stephen #2: Star Wars: Rebels (Disney+) * Tracy #1: NY Times ‘The Daily’ Podcast – 1948 * Tracy #2: Renfield * Patrick #1: It Ain’t Over – the story of Lawrence Peter “Yogi” Berra * Patrick #2: The Beatles – Now And Then Links: * Stephen Aryan on on the network formerly known as Twitter * Tracy Townsend on the network formerly known as Twitter * Patrick Hester on the network formerly known as Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2023 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Alice Bell, author of GRAVE EXPECTATIONS. About GRAVE EXPECTATIONS: Almost-authentic medium Claire and her best friend, Sophie, agree to take on a seemingly simple job at a crumbling old manor in the English countryside: performing a seance for the family matriarch’s 80th birthday. The pair have been friends since before Sophie went missing when they were seventeen. Everyone else is convinced Sophie simply ran away, but Claire knows the truth. Claire knows Sophie was murdered because Sophie has been haunting her ever since. Despite this traumatic past, Claire and Sophie are still unprepared for what they encounter when they arrive at the manor: a ghost, tragic and unrecognizable, and clearly the spirit of someone killed in a rage at the previous year’s party. Given her obsession with crime shows—not to mention Sophie’s ability to walk through walls—Claire decides they’re the best people to solve the case. And with the help of the only obviously not-guilty members of their host family—sexy ex-policeman Sebastian and far-too-cool non-binary teen Alex—they launch an investigation into which of last year’s guests never escaped the manor’s grounds. What follows is somewhat irregular detective work involving stealing a priest’s cassock, getting too drunk to remember to question your suspect, and of course, Chekhov’s sparkly purple dildo. As Claire desperately tries to keep a lid on the shameful secret that would definitely alienate her new friends, the gang must race against their own incompetence to find the murderer before the murderer finds them. About Alice Bell: ALICE BELL grew up in South West England, in the sort of middle-of-nowhere where teenagers spend their weekends drinking Smirnoff Ice in a field that also has at least one horse in it. In 2018 she became the deputy editor of Rock Paper Shotgun, a popular PC gaming website. In 2019 she was named one of the 100 most influential women in the UK games industry. After spending several years in London, Bell now lives in Cork, Ireland, where she watches giant ships, makes crochet animals, and plays video games where you can set things on fire and make elves kiss. She has probably read more detective fiction and watched more episodes of Midsomer Murders than you. This week’s picks: * Alice: Saturnalia (Video Game) * Tracy: Beetlejuice * Patrick: Nope Links: * Alice Bell on the network formerly known as Twitter * Tracy Townsend on the network formerly known as Twitter * Patrick Hester on the network formerly known as Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2023 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Max Bennett, author of A Brief History of Intelligence: Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains. About A Brief History of Intelligence: Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains: In the last decade, capabilities of artificial intelligence that had long been the realm of science fiction have, for the first time, become our reality. AI is now able to produce original art, identify tumors in pictures, and even steer our cars. And yet, large gaps remain in what modern AI systems can achieve—indeed, human brains still easily perform intellectual feats that we can’t replicate in AI systems. How is it possible that AI can beat a grandmaster at chess but can’t effectively load a dishwasher? As AI entrepreneur Max Bennett compellingly argues, finding the answer requires diving into the billion-year history of how the human brain evolved; a history filled with countless half-starts, calamities, and clever innovations. Not only do our brains have a story to tell—the future of AI may depend on it. Now, in A Brief History of Intelligence, Bennett bridges the gap between neuroscience and AI to tell the brain’s evolutionary story, revealing how understanding that story can help shape the next generation of AI breakthroughs. Deploying a fresh perspective and working with the support of many top minds in neuroscience, Bennett consolidates this immense history into an approachable new framework, identifying the “Five Breakthroughs” that mark the brain’s most important evolutionary leaps forward. Each breakthrough brings new insight into the biggest mysteries of human intelligence. Containing fascinating corollaries to developments in AI, A Brief History of Intelligence shows where current AI systems have matched or surpassed our brains, as well as where AI systems still fall short. Simply put, until AI systems successfully replicate each part of our brain’s long journey, AI systems will fail to exhibit human-like intelligence. Endorsed and lauded by many of the top neuroscientists in the field today, Bennett’s work synthesizes the most relevant scientific knowledge and cutting-edge research into an easy-to-understand and riveting evolutionary story. With sweeping scope and stunning insights, A Brief History of Intelligence proves that understanding the arc of our brain’s history can unlock the tools for successfully navigating our technological future. About Max Bennett: Max Bennett is the cofounder & CEO of Alby, an AI company based in New York City. Max was previously the cofounder and Chief Product Officer of Bluecore, a company that uses AI to help some of the largest brands in the world personalize their marketing. Bluecore was recently valued at over $1 billion dollars, ranked numerous times on the Inc 500 fastest growing companies in the US, and won the 2018 Glassdoor best places to work award. Bluecore is used by 25% of the top 100 retailers in the US. Prior to Bluecore, Max was a trader at Goldman Sachs. Max holds several patents for AI-related technologies, and has published numerous research papers in peer reviewed journals on the topics of evolutionary neuroscience and intelligence. Max graduated from Washington University in St. Louis, summa cum laude, with a BA in economics and mathematics, where he won the John M. Olin prize for the best economics honors thesis. In 2016,

This week, Patrick and Tracy are talking about many things, including but not limited to: the rise of AI, students believing AI helps them, protecting creators, elastic principles, the excuses we make to support the bad thing that makes our lives easier, the convenience of the big box seller versus the mom and pop shop, moral justifications, game and hobby shops versus Amazon, The Office, the almighty AI-driven algorithms, social media and the great migration away from the channel formerly known as Twitter, the sense of online community, personal moral high ground versus connecting with your audience on their preferred platform, cookies and your digital footprint online, fandom, supporting the problematic thing, piracy, economics and the desire to have a thing outweighing the moral and ethical questions around how you got the thing… This week’s picks: * Tracy: Bo-ssam (Korean Roast Pork) * Patrick: Crockpot Green Chile Chicken (505 Recipe) Links: * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2023 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Dan Moren, author of ALL SOULS LOST. About ALL SOULS LOST: After two years trying to run away from his past, Mike Lucifer’s back in his office less than ten minutes when a persistent young woman shows up asking for help: her boyfriend’s been possessed by a demon. That’s exactly the kind of mess that drove him from his hometown of Boston to a sunny beach—and the bottom of a bottle—in the first place. But there are some problems that even booze can’t drown, and while Lucifer may be no hero, his dwindling bank account provides a thousand reasons to take the case. No sooner is he back in the game then the complications and corpses start to add up. The boyfriend’s not possessed—he’s dead. The tech company where he worked is looking shadier by the second. And Lucifer’s client definitely knows more than she should…about everything. The deeper Lucifer digs, the more he wonders if whatever sinister entity lurks behind this case wants him to be the last to die… About Dan Moren: Dan Moren is the author of the forthcoming supernatural detective novel All Souls Lost, as well as the Galactic Cold War series of sci-fi espionage capers from Angry Robot Books, and The Caledonian Gambit from Talos Press. He’s represented by Joshua Bilmes of JABberwocky Literary Agency. A former senior editor at Macworld, Dan’s writing has also appeared in the Boston Globe, Fast Company, Popular Science, Yahoo Tech, Tom’s Guide, Six Colors, The Magazine, and TidBITS, among other places. Additionally, Dan is a prolific podcaster: he serves as the co-host of tech shows Clockwise and The Rebound, writes and hosts nerdy quiz show Inconceivable!, and is a frequent panelist on the Parsec-award-winning podcast The Incomparable. Dan lives with his family in Somerville, Massachusetts, where he’s never far from a twenty-sided die. This week’s picks: * Dan: The Bear (FX/Hulu) * Tracy: A Night In The Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny * Patrick #1: Fried Okra * Patrick #2: Ahsoka Season 1 (Disney+) Links: * Dan Moren on Mastodon * Dan Moren on Twitter * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2023 Patrick Hester

On a very special Just Us episode, we’re talking about all sorts of things, including Catholic guilt, Santiago’s breakfast burritos, television, Star Wars, video games, Ahsoka, teenagers and wet towels, the care and maintenance of still gestating microhumans, old school network tv, episodic vs serial television, streaming, connective tissue between shows, series and movies, fan service, Dave Filoni, animation vs live action, canon, Rebels, The Clone Wars, Grand Admiral Thrawn, The Mandalorian, Andor, storytelling, Marvel, the MCU, Disney+, headcannon, the identity crisis of who your audience is, Star Trek, Lower Decks, Ronan the pup barking his head off, polls, the best French fry, the class action lawsuit against Arby’s over ‘we have the meats’, TrekCulture, ScreenCrush, space whales plus SQUIRREL! Links: * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2023 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Howard Andrew Jones, author of Lord of a Shattered Land. About Lord of a Shattered Land: The Dervan Empire has at last triumphed over Volanus, putting the great city to the torch, its treasures looted, temples defiled, and fields sown with salt. What little remains of Volanus is scattered across the empire, its treasures plundered and its survivors sold into slavery. It is an absolute victory for the Dervans in every way but one. Hanuvar, last and greatest general of Volanus, still lives. He now travels the length of the Dervan Empire that conquered his homeland, driven by a singular purpose—to find what remains of his people who were carried into slavery across the empire, and free them from subjugation by any means necessary. Against the might of a vast empire, he had only an aging sword arm, a lifetime of hard-won wisdom, and the greatest military mind in the world, set upon a single goal. No matter what the Empire musters against him, no matter what man or monster stands in his way, from the empire’s festering capital to its furthest outposts, Hanuvar would find his people, every last one of them. And he would set them free. About Howard Andrew Jones: Howard Andrew Jones lives in a lonely tower by the Sea of Monsters with a wicked and beautiful enchantress. He’s the author of the Ring-Sworn heroic fantasy trilogy from St. Martin’s, starting with For the Killing of Kings, the critically acclaimed Arabian historical fantasy series starring Dabir and Asim (beginning with The Desert of Souls) and four Pathfinder novels. When he’s not editing Tales From the Magician’s Skull or hunched over his laptop mumbling about flashing swords and doom-haunted towers, you might find him lurking at www.howardandrewjones.com, where he blogs about writing craft, gaming, fantasy and adventure fiction, and assorted nerdery. This week’s picks: * Howard: The Monster Overhaul by Skerples * Tracy: The Matter of Black Lives: Writing from The New Yorker Edited by Jelani Cobb and David Remnick * Patrick #1: Belushi (Documentary – Paramount+/Showtime) * Patrick #2: Travelin’ Band: Creedence Clearwater Revival at the Royal Albert Hall (Documentary – Netflix) Links: * Howard Andrew Jones on Twitter * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2023 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Jacqueline Carey, author of CASSIEL’S SERVANT. About CASSIEL’S SERVANT: Cassiel’s Servant is a retelling of cult favorite Kushiel’s Dart from the point of view of Joscelin, Cassiline warrior-priest and protector of Phèdre nó Delaunay. He’s sworn to celibacy and the blade as surely as she’s pledged to pleasure, but the gods they serve have bound them together. When both are betrayed, they must rely on each other to survive. From his earliest training to captivity amongst their enemies, his journey with Phèdre to avert the conquest of Terre D’Ange shatters body and mind… and brings him an impossible love that he will do anything to keep. Even if it means breaking all vows and losing his soul. About Jacqueline Carey: New York Times bestseller Jacqueline Carey is the author of the critically acclaimed Kushiel’s Legacy series of historical fantasy novels, The Sundering epic fantasy duology, postmodern fables Santa Olivia and Saints Astray, and the Agent of Hel contemporary fantasy series. Jacqueline enjoys doing research on a wide variety of arcane topics, and an affinity for travel has taken her from Finland to China to date. She currently lives in west Michigan. Although often asked by inquiring fans, she does not, in fact, have any tattoos. This week’s picks: * Jacqueline: Reservation Dogs (FX/Hulu) * Tracy: The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark * Patrick: Justified: City Primeval (FX/Hulu) Links: * Jacqueline Carey on Twitter * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2023 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome James L. Sutter, author of DARKHEARTS. About DARKHEARTS: When David quit his band, he missed his shot at fame, trapped in an ordinary high school life while his ex–best friend, Chance, became the hottest teen pop star in America. Then tragedy throws David and Chance back into contact. As old wounds break open, the boys find themselves trading frenemy status for a confusing, secret romance?one that could be David’s ticket back into the band and the spotlight. As the mixture of business and pleasure becomes a powder keg, David will have to choose: Is this his second chance at glory? Or his second chance at Chance? About James L. Sutter: James L. Sutter is a co-creator of the Pathfinder and Starfinder Roleplaying Games. From 2004 to 2017, he worked for Paizo Publishing, starting out as an editor on Dungeon Magazine, moving on to do foundational work for Pathfinder, and eventually becoming the Creative Director in charge of launching Starfinder, as well as the Executive Editor of the Pathfinder Tales novel line for Paizo and Tor. James is also the author of the young adult romance novel Darkhearts, as well as the fantasy novels Death’s Heretic—a finalist for the Compton Crook Award for Best First Novel—and The Redemption Engine, which won the 2015 Scribe Award for Best Original Speculative Novel. His short stories have appeared in such venues as Nightmare, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Escape Pod, and the #1 Amazon best-seller Machine of Death. In addition, he’s written comic books, essays in venues like Clarkesworld and Lightspeed: Queers Destroy Science Fiction, a wealth of tabletop gaming material, and video games. When not writing, James has performed with musical acts ranging from metalcore to musical theater. He lives in Seattle. This week’s picks: * James: Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston * James: Take Me Back to Eden (Sleep Token) * Tracy: Translation State By: Ann Leckie * Patrick: That 40 Year Guy (Instagram) Links: * James L. Sutter on Twitter * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2023 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Isabel Cañas, author of Vampires of El Norte. About Vampires of El Norte: As the daughter of a rancher in 1840s Mexico, Nena knows a thing or two about monsters—her home has long been threatened by tensions with Anglo settlers from the north. But something more sinister lurks near the ranch at night, something that drains men of their blood and leaves them for dead. Something that once attacked Nena nine years ago. Believing Nena dead, Néstor has been on the run from his grief ever since, moving from ranch to ranch working as a vaquero. But no amount of drink can dispel the night terrors of sharp teeth; no woman can erase his childhood sweetheart from his mind. When the United States attacks Mexico in 1846, the two are brought abruptly together on the road to war: Nena as a curandera, a healer striving to prove her worth to her father so that he does not marry her off to a stranger, and Néstor as a member of the auxiliary cavalry of ranchers and vaqueros. But the shock of their reunion—and Nena’s rage at Néstor for seemingly abandoning her long ago—is quickly overshadowed by the appearance of a nightmare made flesh. And unless Nena and Néstor work through their past and face the future together, neither will survive to see the dawn. About Isabel Cañas: Isabel Cañas is a Mexican-American speculative fiction writer. After having lived in Mexico, Scotland, Egypt, Turkey, and New York City, among other places, she has settled in the Pacific Northwest. She holds a doctorate in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations and writes fiction inspired by her research and her heritage. This week’s picks: * Isabel: Barbie (Movie) * Isabel: Air Conditioning * Tracy: Bristol 1360 (Game) * Patrick: Spanish Rice Links: * Isabel Cañas on Twitter * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2023 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome John Wiswell, author of BAD DOORS and the upcoming, SOMEONE YOU CAN BUILD A NEST IN (DAW, 2024). About BAD DOORS: Kosmo is a simple English teacher with no interest in evil magic doors. However one day they take an interest in him. A burgundy door with a shiny black knob appears in his hallway, where no door has ever been. Kosmo does what he thinks anybody would do: he grabs his dog, runs out of his house, and never goes back in. He thinks it’s over, but the door isn’t finished with him, as they pursue him everywhere he goes. They beckon old Kosmo. He struggles with why they’re appearing, but refuses to ever look inside one. Everyone in his life chides him to be adventurous and not be so afraid. However, this is 2020 and it’s the same time when everyone around him isn’t taking this “COVID thing” seriously. What’s a man to do to dodge a cursed door and a pandemic? “Bad Doors” is the story of a man who refuses to be in a Horror story. What happens to you when you refuse to answer the call of a nightmare? About John Wiswell: John Wiswell is a Nebula-winning and Locus-winning author who lives in the middle of the woods. John’s work has appeared in Uncanny Magazine, Tor.com, LeVar Burton Reads, Nature Magazine, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Weird Tales, the No Sleep podcast, Nightmare Magazine, Cast of Wonders, Podcastle, Escape Pod, Pseudopod, and other fine venues. He has been a finalist for the Hugo, World Fantasy, and British Fantasy Awards. His fiction has been translated into Italian, Portuguese, Mandarin, Japanese, Polish, Hungarian, Turkish, Hebrew, and Romanian. He graduated Bennington College in 2005, and attended the Viable Paradise 17 workshop in 2013. He has multiple disabilities including a neuromuscular syndrome, and thinks healthy people’s capacity to complain is very funny. He finds a lot of things very funny and would like to keep it that way. This week’s picks: * John #1: Hollow Knight (game) * John #2: Suzume (Anime) * Tracy: Nemesis (Board Game) * Patrick #1: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds “Those Old Scientists” * Patrick #2: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds “Subspace Rhapsody” Links: * John Wiswell on Twitter * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2023 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Temi Oh, author of MORE PERFECT. About MORE PERFECT: When Moremi connects her brain to the Panopticon, a network which allows you to see inside the minds and dreams of others, she believes that it will save her from depression, loneliness and, eventually, death. That is until she meets Orpheus. Orpheus was brought up in isolation by a Neo-luddite father. He was raised to question everything, including the government who plan to make the connection procedure compulsory. They promise that connecting everyone to the Panopticon will end human suffering and usher in a more perfect world. But when Orpheus and Moremi uncover the dark side of the technology, they find themselves on opposite sides of a radical divide, between those who believe that the Panopticon will save humanity, and those who will stop at nothing to destroy it. About Temi Oh: Temi Oh wrote her first novel while studying for a BSci in Neuroscience. Her novel, DO YOU DREAM OF TERRA-TWO?, was published by Simon & Schuster. It won the American Library Association’s Alex Award in 2020 and was an NPR Best Book of the year in 2019. She has written stories for Marvel’s Black Panther, Dr Who and Overwatch.? Her next novel, MORE PERFECT will be published by Simon and Schuster in May 2023 Her first short film MURMUR was funded by Sky Arts and the BFI. Since then, she has written on the Netflix TV series Castlevania: Nocturne and the CBBC series SILVERPOINT. This week’s picks: * Temi: Foundation S2 (Apple Tv) * Tracy: The Big Sleep (A Philip Marlowe Novel) by Raymond Chandler * Patrick: Justified: City Primeval (FX/Hulu) Links: * Temi Oh on Twitter * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2023 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Genevieve Gornichec, author of THE WEAVER AND THE WITCH QUEEN. About THE WEAVER AND THE WITCH QUEEN: Oddny and Gunnhild meet as children in tenth century Norway, and they could not be more different: Oddny hopes for a quiet life, while Gunnhild burns for power and longs to escape her cruel mother. But after a visiting wise woman makes an ominous prophecy that involves Oddny, her sister Signy, and Gunnhild, the three girls take a blood oath to help each other always. When Oddny’s farm is destroyed and Signy is kidnapped by Viking raiders, Oddny finds herself set adrift from the life she imagined. Gunnhild, who fled her home years ago to learn the ways of a witch in the far north, is on her way to her exalted destiny. But the bonds–both enchanted and emotional–that hold them together are strong, and when they find their way back to each other again, those bonds will be tested in ways they could never have imagined in this rich, searching novel of magic, history, and sworn sisterhood. About Genevieve Gornichec: Genevieve Gornichec earned her degree in history from The Ohio State University, but she got as close to majoring in Vikings as she possibly could, and her study of the Norse myths and Icelandic sagas became her writing inspiration. Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, she now lives even deeper in the Midwest. The Witch’s Heart is her debut novel. This week’s picks: * Genevieve: Dark Water Daughter by H. M. Long * Tracy: Dice Dojo (Chicagoland Games) * Patrick: Marvel Studios’ Secret Invasion (Disney+) Links: * Genevieve Gornichec on Twitter * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2023 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome L.R. Lam, author of DRAGONFALL. About DRAGONFALL: Long ago, humans betrayed dragons, stealing their magic and banishing them to a dying world. Centuries later, their descendants worship dragons as gods. But the “gods” remember, and they do not forgive. Thief Arcady scrapes a living on the streets of Vatra. Desperate, Arcady steals a powerful artifact from the bones of the Plaguebringer, the most hated person in Lumet history. Only Arcady knows the artifact’s magic holds the key to a new life among the nobles at court and a chance for revenge. The spell connects to Everen, the last male dragon foretold to save his kind, dragging him through the Veil. Disguised as a human, Everen soon learns that to regain his true power and form and fulfil his destiny, he only needs to convince one little thief to trust him enough to bond completely–body, mind, and soul—and then kill them. Yet the closer the two become, the greater the risk both their worlds will shatter. About L.R. Lam: L.R. Lam was first Californian and now Scottish. Lam is the Sunday Times Bestselling and award-winning author of Dragonfall (the Dragon Scales trilogy), the Seven Devils duology (co-written with Elizabeth May), Goldilocks, the Pacifica novels False Hearts and Shattered Minds, and the Micah Grey trilogy, which begins with Pantomime. They are also a lecturer on the Creative Writing MA at Edinburgh Napier University. Lam has previously written as Laura Lam. This week’s picks: * L.R.: A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland * Tracy: TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge * Patrick: Smoked Pizza Links: * L.R. Lam on Twitter * Tracy Townsend on Twitter * Patrick Hester on Twitter * The Functional Nerds Patreon Page © 2023 Patrick Hester