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We're joined on this episode by author and Nebula Award finalist, Merc Fenn Wolfmoor (@Merc_Wolfmoor). Merc reads their short horror story, "When Dreams Like Fire Spread," and we talk about horror, portal fantasies, queer representation, and fanfiction. Merc's newest story, "Bring the Bones That Sing," is now up on Diabolical Plots!
 
A transcript of the episode, provided by D. H. Dunn, is available here.
 
Things we mention on this episode:
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power 
Robot Dinosaur Fiction 
AJ Hackwith's appearance on Tales from the Trunk
LORE 
The Magnus Archives 
Writing Excuses 
Welcome to Night Vale 
X Minus One 
"This is Not a Wardrobe Door," by Merc Fenn Wolfmoor
In Other Lands, by Sarah Rees Brennan
Fireside Quarterly 
Pokémon Go 
Dawn of the Dead 
"Blink"
The Ring 
They Live (alluded to)
Psycho 
The Destroy anthology series
Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction! 
John Wiswell 
Elsa Sjunneson 
Nightmare Magazine being edited by Wendy Wagner beginning in 2021
Be the Serpent 
Archive Of Our Own 
My Battery Is Low and It Is Getting Dark 
The Dystopia Triptych 
Silk & Steel 
Sword and Sonnet 
No Shit, There I Was 
Avatars Inc 
Architects of Memory, by Karen Osborne
 
Join us again on August  7th for whatever our next Shelter in Place special, and August 21st, when our guest will be Karen Osborne

Friends, somehow it is July of twenty twenty. We’re still sheltering in place, here in Beautiful Oakland, California, and that doesn’t look like it’s going to change anytime soon. I hope that wherever you are in the world, you and your friends and loved ones are safe and well.
For this month’s Shelter in Place episode, we’re diving back into my trunk, all the way back to the spring of 2010, a whole entire decade ago, to brush some of the dust off of another story that I wrote for an assignment. I don’t recall what, if anything, I was given as a prompt, but I turned it into another vaguely horror-y tunnel story, which should surprise approximately nobody.
Actually, this story predates “Green Line,” which I read on our April episode, by about a year.
 
Join us again on July 17th, when Merc Fenn Wolfmoor will be on the show!

On this episode, we're joined by Megan E. O'Keefe, author of Velocity Weapon and its forthcoming sequel, Chaos Vector. Megan reads the first chapter of her trunked novel, Conduit of Stone, which leads us into a lively conversation about our influences and Megan's thoughts on the parallels between writing and video game development.
A transcript of the episode, provided by D. H. Dunn, is available here.
Please join us again for our next Shelter in Place episode on July 3rd, and on July 17th, when our regular guest will be Merc Fenn Wolfmoor!

I thought for a long time about delaying this episode or simply not releasing it at all, but for all the darkness in the world, we still need art. We need voices of hope. It is Pride month, where we celebrate who we are and how far we’ve come, and where we honor and remember those who came before us.
Stonewall was a riot against police brutality, started by Marsha P. Johnson, a Black, trans woman. We would not have Pride without queer, Black activists.
This Pride in Place episode was inspired in part by the folx at Buddies in Bad Times Theater in Toronto, a space dedicated to the promotion of queer theatrical expression.
 
The contributors who wished to be named for this episode are:
K. B. Wagers, Twitter @kbwagers, Insta @midwaybrawler 
Jill Seidenstein, Slow Bloom 
 
You can find your local community bail funds at bit.ly/localbailfund 
Consider raising up Black spec-fic writers by subscribing to FIYAH Literary Magazine (@fiyahlitmag)
 
Join us again on June 19th, when our guest will be Megan E. O'Keefe

For this month's episode, we're joined by Annalee Flower Horne (@LeeFlower). They read the first chapter of their trunked novel, Diamonds in the Sky, and we talk about Esperanto-speaking space-Quakers, source control management, representation, appropriation, mental health, and test-driven development.
A transcript of the episode, provided by D. H. Dunn, is available here.
Things we mention this episode:
Esperanto 
"Seven Things Cadet Blanchard Learned from the Trade Summit Incident," by Annalee Flower Horne, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, July/Aug 2014 issue
Mary Robinette Kowal 
Star Trek 
Git 
thefuck
The Dazzle of Day, by Molly Goss
Quaker process 
Occupy Wall Street 
Mass Effect 2 
Civil Air Patrol 
Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria 
“Carborundorum > /dev/null,” by Annalee Flower Horne, Fireside Quarterly, July 2018
Test-driven development 
"The Great Divide," Avatar: the Last Airbender season 1, episode 11
Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell
Mary Sue 
Star Wars 
LiveJournal 
NaNoWriMo 
Futurescapes 
The MICE Quotient 
"it me, ur smol," by Merc Fenn Wolfmoor
it me, ur smol (Twitter bot)
The Bias 
 
Join us again on Friday, June 5th, for our Pride in Place special!

Joining me live in studio for this month's Shelter in Place special is my spouse, Elizabeth! We revisit the original concept for this show with some excerpts from her story "Horse Story," and talk race-consciousness, pin-gays, and representation.
 
Join us again on Friday, May 15th, Annalee Flower Horne will be on the show!

For close to the start of our second season, I decided to turn the table on myself, and Sharon Hsu (@pensyf) was kind enough to agree to come back on the show to guest-host! I read my story, "Green Line," and we talk about Philadelphia, our evolution as writers, and why podcasting is great.
 
Things we mention in this episode:
Uncanny Magazine
Duotrope
The Submission Grinder
Fantasy & Science Fiction
Shimmer
"Badgers"
Lois McMaster Bujold
Wawa
Rita's Italian Ice
Flavor Brigade
SEPTA
365 Tomorrows (and my story, "Monday")
LiveJournal
Lockie Hunter
Pseudopod
Codex writer's forum
The Allusionist: "Podcast Podcast"
Fran Wilde
Warren Wilson College
Annalee Flower Horne
Be the Serpent
Fred Yost
Dorothy L. Sayers
As My Wimsey Takes Me
Archive of Our Own (AO3)
Esperanto
"And All the Trees of the Forest Shall Clap Their Hands," by Sharon Hsu
 
Join us on May 1st for our next Shelter in Place episode, featuring my spouse, and on May 15th, when our guest will be Annalee Flower Horne.

Welcome to our first shelter in place special episode. On this episode, I'll be reading my 2009 story, "Steel Yard." Please note that things get a little spoopy, so if you need something lighter at the moment, I won't fault you for skipping this one.
 
Join us again in two weeks, on Friday, April 17th, when I'll be back with a regular episode featuring me and special guest host Sharon Hsu!

Season two starts off with guest Jordan Kurella (@jskurella) reading an excerpt of their very dark and murdery story, "Awake, Arise, and Be Forever Fallen." Following that is a great discussion of problematic storytelling, the pitfalls, and how we can write and act with empathy when representing marginalized groups in our stories. We also talk sensitivity reading and the fine art of apologizing online.
 
Things mentioned in this episode:
Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones
Ancillary Sword (Imperial Radch Book 2), by Ann Leckie
Area X: The Southern Reach Trilogy, by Jeff VanderMeer
Be the Serpent
Annihilation (2018)
NaNoWriMo
Madcap Retreats
Clarkesworld Magazine
Escape Pod
Fantasy and Science Fiction
Strange Horizons
Beneath Ceaseless Skies
Uncanny Magazine
"The Air Gap," by Hilary B. Bisenieks, in LampLight Magazine
Mary Robinette Kowal's explanation of the MICE Quotient
"A Promise of Dying Embers," by Jordan Kurella, forthcoming at Diabolical Plots
King's Quest III
Glitter + Ashes
 
Join us again on April 17th, when our guest will be me, Hilary B. Bisenieks, and Sharon Hsu will be joining us as guest host.

On this episode, K. B. Wagers (@kbwagers/@midwaybrawler) joins us to read an excerpt from their novel, Reluctant Heroes and talk competence porn, how Twilight-bashing is shitty and counterproductive, social media, and tattoos.
 
This episode marks the end of season 1 of Tales from the Trunk! Thank you all so much for joining us on this ride!
 
Things we mentioned on this episode:
 
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
Battlestar Galactica
SFWA Grand Master, Lois McMaster Bujold
Writing Excuses
Schlock Mercenary, by Howard Tayler
Twilight, by Stephenie Meyers
The Merlin Mystery, by Jonathan Gunson and Marten Coombe
Behind the Throne, by K. B. Wagers
Doctor Who
Red Dwarf
Blake's 7
Space Opera, by Catherynne M. Valente
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword
NaNoWriMo
Out Past the Stars, by K. B. Wagers
The Magnificent Seven (2016)
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Rogue One
Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell
We, by Yevgeny Zamyatin
The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
"The Hades Business," by Terry Pratchett (his first published story), which appears in A Blink of the Screen
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
A Pale Light in the Black, by K. B. Wagers
 
Join us again next month, on March 20th, when we'll kick off season 2 with guest Jordan Kurella!