The Functional Nerds Podcast

In episode 97 of the Functional Nerds podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome book bloggers Paul Weimer and Justin Landon. About Paul: Paul Weimer is a blogger, commenter, and writer who writes book reviews, columns and Mind Melds for SF Signal, and does posts and book reviews for the Functional Nerds as well. About Justin: Justin writes a speculative fiction review blog and makes outlandish comments. He also occasionally gets fired up about stuff. Links: Paul Weimer Paul on Twitter Justin Landon Justin on Twitter © 2012 Patrick Hester and John Anealio This podcast contains original music by John Anealio.

In episode 096 of the Functional Nerds podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome artist Len Peralta. About Len: Len Peralta is an Internet cartoonist. He's been very fortunate to do some interesting illustrations. He's drawn princes throwing up, Internet rock stars dressed up in skin-tight catsuits, illustrated a few books, drawn art for a card game about medical malpractice and even the New Yorker has shown off his stuff. Links: Len Peralta (Website) Len Peralta 50 Vs. 50 Project Len on Twitter © 2012 Patrick Hester and John Anealio This podcast features original music by John Anealio

In episode 095 of the Functional Nerds podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome authors Saladin Ahmed and Tobias Buckell to talk about cultural influences in science fiction and fantasy. About Saladin: Saladin Ahmed was born in Detroit and raised in a working-class, Arab American enclave in Dearborn, MI. His short stories have been nominated for the Nebula and Campbell awards, and have appeared in Year’s Best Fantasy and numerous other magazines, anthologies, and podcasts, as well as being translated into five foreign languages. He is represented by Jennifer Jackson of the Donald Maass Literary Agency. THRONE OF THE CRESCENT MOON is his first novel. About Tobias: Tobias S. Buckell is a Caribbean-born New York Times Bestselling author. His work has been translated into 15 different languages. He has published some 50 short stories in various magazines and anthologies, and has been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, Prometheus, and Campbell awards. Links: Saladin Ahmed (website) Saladin on Twitter Tobias Buckell (website) Tobias on Twitter © 2012 Patrick Hester and John Anealio This podcast features original music by John Anealio

In episode 94 of the Functional Nerds podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome Gail Carriger and Mur Lafferty to talk about Building Your Audience. About Gail: New York Times Bestselling author Gail Carriger writes to cope with being raised in obscurity by an expatriate Brit and an incurable curmudgeon. She escaped small town life and inadvertently acquired several degrees in Higher Learning. Ms. Carriger then traveled the historic cities of Europe, subsisting entirely on biscuits secreted in her handbag. She resides in the Colonies, surrounded by fantastic shoes, where she insists on tea imported from London. The Parasol Protectorate books are: Soulless, Changeless, Blameless, Heartless, and Timeless. Soulless won the ALA's Alex Award. A manga version will release March 2012. She is currently writing young adult books set in the same universe ~ the Finishing School series (Feb. 2013). Soon she will begin a new adult series, The Parasol Protectorate Abroad (for Fall 2013). About Mur: Mur is a writer, podcast producer, gamer, geek, and martial artist. She also make a mean martini. Her books include Playing For Keeps, Nanovor: Hacked!, Marco and the Red Granny, and The Afterlife Series. Her podcasts are many, currently she is the editor of Escape Pod magazine, the host of I Should Be Writing, and the host of the Angry Robot Books Podcast. She writes a column for the gaming magazine Knights of the Dinner table, and in the past has written for Games Quarterly, Suicide Girls, and Anime Insider. Links: Gail Carriger (Author's Website) Gail on Twitter Mur Lafferty (Author's Website) Mur on Twitter © 2012 Patrick Hester and John Anealio This podcast features original music by John Anealio.

In episode 93 of the Functional Nerds podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome Lou Anders back to the show to chat with E.C. Meyers about Young Adult Fiction. About Lou Anders: Lou Anders is the  2011 Hugo Award winning editorial director of Prometheus Books' science fiction and fantasy imprint Pyr, and editor of the anthologies Masked (Gallery Books, July 2010), Swords & Dark Magic (Eos, June 2010, coedited with Jonathan Strahan), Fast Forward 2 (Pyr, October 2008), Sideways in Crime (Solaris, June 2008), Fast Forward 1(Pyr, February 2007), FutureShocks (Roc, January 2006), Projections: Science Fiction in Literature & Film (MonkeyBrain, December 2004), Live Without a Net (Roc, 2003), and Outside the Box (Wildside Press, 2001). About E.C. Meyers E(ugene).C. Myers is the author of Fair Coin, a young adult novel forthcoming from Pyr Books (March 2012). His science fiction and fantasy short stories have been published in a number of magazines and anthologies such as Sybil’s Garage, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, Sporty Spec: Games of the Fantastic, and Touched by Wonder: A Symphony of Fantastic Tales. Links: Lou on Twitter Lou Anders (website) E.C. on Twitter E.C. Meyer (website) © 2012 Patrick Hester and John Anealio This podcast featured original music by John Anealio

In episode 92 of the Functional Nerds podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome authors Howard Andrew Jones and Paul S. Kemp. About Howard Howard is the author of The Desert of Souls (Thomas Dunne Books 2011), a historical fantasy set in the 8th century Abbasid caliphate featuring the characters Dabir and Asim, who’ve been appearing in a variety of short fiction venues since 2000. His Pathfinder novel, Plague of Shadows, appeared in March of 2011. His collection of Dabir and Asim short stories, The Waters of Eternity, became available in e-form from Thomas Dunne Books in November of 2011. More Dabir and Asim novels will follow, and he has recently signed to write a sequel to Plague of Shadows. About Paul Paul is a writer of speculative fiction, sword and sorcery scribe, Star Wars and Forgotten Realms author, creator of Erevis Cale and Egil and Nix.  His books include The Erevis Cale Trilogy, Shadow's Witness, The Twilight War Trilogy, War of the Spider Queen, and the Star Wars Expanded Universe novels: Crosscurrent, The Old Republic: Deceived & Riptide. Links: Howard Andrew Jones (author's website) Howard on Twitter Paul S. Kemp (author's website) Paul on Twitter © 2012 Patrick Hester and John Anealio This podcast features original music by John Anealio.

In episode 91 of the Functional Nerds Podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome Natania Barron and Tom Merritt. About Natania: Natania Barron is a writer with a penchant for the speculative; she is also an unrepentant geek. Her work has appeared in Weird Tales, EscapePod, The Gatehouse Gazette, Thaumatrope, Bull Spec, Crossed Genres, Steampunk Tales, Faerie Magazine, and in anthologies. She has released the most recent draft of her steampunk novel, The Aldersgate, as a podcast at The Aldersgate Cycle (you can also subscribe to the whole story in iTunes here). She is also the founder of The Outer Alliance, a group dedicated to queer advocacy in speculative fiction. Recently, she joined the Bull Spec crew as a fiction editor. About Tom: Tom anchors the daily tech news show Tech news Today on the TWiT network as well as hosting special live news coverage and other events.  Tom also co-hosts several independent podcasts. Sword and Laser is a science fiction and fantasy podcast and book club with Veronica Belmont. FourCast is a talk show with Scott Johnson that invites guests to predict the future. All his shows are listed on the subscription page.  You’ll also find Tom as a guest or interviewed as an expert on many TV, radio and Internet shows like ABC’s Good Morning America, CBS Radio, NPR, This Week in Tech, The Phileas Club and more. Links: Natania Barron on Twitter Natania Barron's Website Tom Merritt on Twitter Tom Merritt's Website © 2012, Patrick Hester and John Anealio This podcast features original music by John Anealio

In episode 090 of the Functional Nerds podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome back Gabrielle Gantz and welcome for the first time, Brian Thompson. About Gabrielle: Gabrielle Gantz is a Publicist with Viking and Penguin. She interviews author for The Nervous Breakdown, writes about arts & culture at The Contextual Life, and can be found on Twitter @contextual_life. About Brian Brian is better known as the guy behind Thorny Bleeder (Records). He's a Vancouver based music industry entrepreneur, record label owner, artist manager, marketing consultant, digital strategist, brand architect, web designer, blogger, podcaster and industry speaker. Brian's been in the music biz for twenty years. Formerly the corporate head of music buying and marketing for a large national music retail chain, Brian has since moved on to become a well respected voice on the convergence of artist development, music marketing, social media and technology. Links: Gabrielle Gantz (blogs) Gabrielle on Twitter Brian Thompson (website) Brian on Twitter © 2012 Patrick Hester and John Anealio This podcast features original music by John Anealio

In episode 89 of the Functional Nerds podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome Chuck Wendig and Daniel Polansky. About Chuck: Chuck Wendig is equal parts novelist, screenwriter, and game designer. He is the author of the novels DOUBLE DEAD, BLACKBIRDS, and MOCKINGBIRD. In addition, he's got a metric boatload of writing-related e-books available, including the popular 500 WAYS TO BE A BETTER WRITER. He currently lives in the wilds of Pennsyltucky with wife, dog, and newborn progeny. About Daniel: Daniel Polansky is the author of the new LOW TOWN fantasy series. Book 1 was published in August 2011. Daniel was born near Baltimore, Maryland. Visit www.danielpolansky.com for more. Links: Chuck Wendig (author's website) Chuck on Twitter Daniel Polansky (author's website) Daniel on Twitter © 2012 Patrick Hester & John Anealio This episode features original music by John Anealio.

In episode 88 of the Functional Nerds podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome Andrew Mayne and Justin Robert Young. About Andrew Mayne: Recognized as one of the most creative innovators in magic, Andrew has produced over 30 books and videos on the art of magic. His website can be found at ShockMagic.com About Justin Robert Young: A graduate of Syracuse University, Justin has worked at several major metropolitan daily newspapers including “The South Florida Sun-Sentinel” of Fort Lauderdale, Florida and “The Morning Call” of Allentown, Pennsylvania. Links: Andrew Mayne (books) Andrew Mayne (blog) Andrew Mayne (Twitter) Justin Robert Young (iTricks.com) Justin Robert Young (TWiT.tv) Justin Robert Young (Twitter) © 2012 Patrick Hester & John Anealio This podcast contains original music by John Anealio.

In episode 87 of the Functional Nerds podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome back Peter V. Brett and Myke Cole. Links: Myke Cole (author's website) Peter V. Brett (author's website) Myke on Twitter Peter on Twitter © 2012 Patrick Hester and John Anealio This podcast features original music by John Anealio & an excerpt of Boxcar Boogie performed by Dr. John

In episode 86 of the Functional Nerds podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome John Hlinko to talk about Share, Retweet and Repeat - a 'guidebook' to optimizing your social media and promoting your message. About John Hlinko: As a youngster, John Hlinko never dreamed he would one day record a Grammy-winning duet with country music legend Willie Nelson. And indeed, it never happened. But he has been long recognized as an innovator and “Buzz Czar” on the grassroots marketing front, using a combination of emerging technology and creative communications to achieve maximum results within extremely constrained budgets. Hlinko has worked with some of the biggest breakout viral success stories, starting with MoveOn.org in its earliest days, and continuing up to a “draft Obama” effort to build support for Barack Obama in advance of his presidential run. He is the founder of “Left Action,” a network of more than a million progressive activists (LeftAction.com). Hlinko is also the author of the forthcoming book, Share, Retweet, Repeat: Get Your Message Read and Spread, to be published in early 2012. Links: John Hlinko on Facebook Share, Retweet and Repeat © 2012 Patrick Hester and John Anealio This podcast contains original music by John Anealio.

In episode 85 of the Functional Nerds podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome Samuel Montgomery-Blinn and John DeNardo into the super secret Functional Nerds lair to chat about nerdy audio stuff like audio books and spotify. About Samuel Montgomery-Blinn: Samuel Montgomery-Blinn is a husband, father, and software engineer and speculative fiction magazine publisher from Durham, NC, with an abiding love of audiobooks. His blog is a completely unaffiliated blog and guide to what's worth listening to in the world of science fiction and fantasy audiobooks and podcasts, with a focus on what's coming to Audible.com's Science Fiction and Fantasy section. About John DeNardo: John is an avid reader and reviewer. (See John's review criteria.) His book reading comes second only to his book buying, which some (including John himself) might call compulsive. (We often use the B-word.) His frequent jaunts to the local bookstores are legendary in his own mind. Although John reads an occasional fantasy/mystery/non-fiction book, his tastes lean heavily toward science fiction. John's tastes within any genre vary, but he is fond of classic sf even though he has a hit-and-miss experience with classic award-winning sf. John also likes to alternate novel-length fiction with shorter works, so he frequently reads anthologies between reading sessions. John's favorite authors tend to be Golden Age authors like Theodore Sturgeon, Isaac Asimov etc., but he also likes the new kids on the block like Alastair Reynolds, John Scalzi, etc. Links: Samuel Montgomery-Blinn (website) BullSpec Magazine John DeNardo (website) Kirkus Reviews Samuel on twitter JohnD on twitter © 2011 Patrick Hester and John Anealio This podcast features music by John Anealio.

In Episode 84 of the Functional Nerds podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome Karin Lowachee and Gabrielle Gantz. About Karin: Karin was born in South America, grew up in Canada, and worked in the Arctic. Her first novel WARCHILD won the 2001 Warner Aspect First Novel Contest. Both WARCHILD (2002) and her third novel CAGEBIRD (2005) were finalists for the Philip K. Dick Award. CAGEBIRD won the Prix Aurora Award in 2006 for Best Long-Form Work in English and the Spectrum Award also in 2006. Her second novel BURNDIVE debuted at #7 on the Locus Bestseller List. Her books have been translated into French, Hebrew, and Japanese. Her current fantasy novel, THE GASLIGHT DOGS, was published through Orbit Books USA in April 2010. About Gabrielle: Gabrielle Gantz is a book publicist by day and raging fangirl by night (and early morning). Instead of doing normal social things she reads and attends literary events. In the past, Gabrielle has contributed to the Portland Book Review. She currently conducts author interviews for The Faster Times and The Nervous Breakdown. Gabrielle’s book interests include (but are not limited to): literary fiction, science fiction, fantasy, philosophy, and technology. Links: Karin Lowachee (author's website) Karin on Twitter Gabrielle Gantz (blogs) Gabrielle on Twitter © 2011 Patrick Hester and John Anealio This podcast features original music by John Anealio.

In episode 83 of the Functional Nerds podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome Cherie Priest and Sam Sykes. About Cherie: Priest is a Florida native, born in Tampa in 1975. She graduated from Forest Lake Academy in Apopka, Florida in 1993. She moved around quite a bit as a child of an Army father, living in many places such as Florida, Texas, Kentucky, and Tennessee. She moved around regularly until college. In 2001 she left the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga with an M.A. in Rhetoric/Professional writing, and in 1998 she graduated with a B.A. from Southern Adventist University in Collegedale, Tennessee. Priest lived in Chattanooga, Tennessee for twelve years. She currently resides in Seattle, Washington with her husband and her cat. About Sam: Sam Sykes is the author of The Aeons’ Gate trilogy, a vast and sprawling story of adventure, demons, madness and carnage. Suspected by many to be at least tangentially related to most causes of human suffering, Sam Sykes is also a force to be reckoned with beyond literature. Sam currently lives in the United States with his two hounds and, at any given time, is probably yelling at something inanimate. Tome of the Undergates is his first book, but far from his last. At 25, Sam Sykes is in an excellent position to provide entertainment while other authors are dying from various infections and stress-related illnesses. Sam Sykes looks forward to being one of the sole providers of fantasy entertainment, assuming no other authors are actually discovered in the next forty years. On the list of topics covered: Skyrim Batman: Arkham City Google+ Links: Cherie Priest (website) Sam Sykes (website) Cherie on Twitter Sam on Twitter © 2011 Patrick Hester and John Anealio This podcast features original music by John Anealio