Tales from the Trunk

As mentioned at the top of the show, I have a game out, All Our Yesterdays, which you can find on my Itch.io!
 
It’s my absolute pleasure, this time around, to welcome Neon Yang to the show to talk about their brand new book, The Genesis of Misery, out September 27th, 2022, from Tor books! Neon reads to us from the start of the book, which leads us into some great discussion about why doing multiple rewrites can be good, actually.
 
Things we mention in this episode:
 
Neon’s Tensorate series
Joan of Arc
Gundam
Sarah Gailey’s latest book tour
Just Like Home, by Sarah Gailey
Dongwon Song
Friends at the Table PARTIZAN
Monster Hunter Rise
Devil May Cry
Elden Ring
Neon’s insta
 
Join us next time, when my guest will be Aimee Kuzenski!

This time around, we’re joined once again by Rem Wigmore (@faewriter), who brings us a delicious excerpt from their trunked novella, Considine’s Counsel, which leads us into a great conversation about the study of story forms, actual play podcasts, and an opportunity, as if we needed one, to just be 110% on our bullshit.
 
Things we mention in this episode:
 
Foxhunt and Wolfpack, by Rem Wigmore
Lake Taupō
The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien
Friends at the Table
The Tiffany problem
Dungeons & Dragons
Miri’s episode
The Witcher (TV Series)
Newgrange
Passage tombs
CoNZealand
Codex writers group 
C.L. Polk
Neon Hemlock
Kai Ashante Wilson’s novellas
F&SF
“Time Bomb Time,” by C.C. Finlay
Villanelle (poetry)
And What Can We Offer You Tonight By Premee Mohamed
Premee’s book tour episode
Tor.com publishing
River of Teeth, Taste of Marrow, and Upright Women Wanted, by Sarah Gailey
The Tensorate series, by Neon Yang
Emily Tesh
The Murderbot Diaries, by Martha Wells
The Blacktongue Thief, by Christopher Buehlman
K.J. Charles’ Will Darling Adventures
Kurangaituku, by Whiti Hereaka
Eat the Rich, by Sarah Gailey
Squad, by Maggie Tokuda-Hall
The Girl and the Sea, by Molly Knox Ostertag
The Witch Boy, by Molly Knox Ostertag
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Escape from the Blood Keep
Critical Role
Matt Mercer
Ify Nwadiwe
Exandria Unlimited
Erika Ishii
Last Shooting 
Doctor Who
Queen of Swords Press
Rem’s previous episode
Rem’s website
 
Stick around next month, when my guests will be Neon Yang and Aimee Kuzenski!

This time around, I’m very pleased to welcome back one of my guests from this show’s very first season, Valerie Valdes (@valerievaldes), to talk about the conclusion of her Chilling Effect trilogy, Fault Tolerance, which just released this Tuesday, August 2nd, 2022! Val reads to us from the opening chapter, which leads us into a lively discussion of video game tropes, fanfic, screenwriting, and who Val mains in Super Smash Bros.
 
Things we mention in this episode:
 
Val’s first-season episode
Chilling Effect, by Valerie Valdes
Garrus
Mass Effect
Fix-it fic
Thane
Chekhov’s gun
Mario Kart
Mad Max: Fury Road
Portal
Super Smash Bros
Pokémon
Transformers
Assassin’s Orbit, by John Appel
The Memory War series, by Karen Osborne
Megan E. O’Keefe
K.B. Wagers
The NeoG series, by K.B. Wagers
Annihilation Aria, by Mike Underwood
Imperial Radch trilogy, by Ann Leckie
The Machineries of Empire, by Yoon Ha Lee
D.J. Older
Mike Chen
Rebecca Roanhorse
Doctor Aphra, by Alyssa Wong
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Rarepair
Austin Walker
Five plus one fic
Harold (improv)
Conrad Verner
Tekken 2
Marvel vs. Capcom 2
Jigglypuff
Link
Zelda/Sheik
Samus
Kirby
Shang Tsung
Tron Bonne
Servbot
Roll
Jill
Marth
Mr. Game & Watch
Horizon Zero Dawn
Hades
Val’s twitch
Guardians of the Galaxy (2021)
Girl by Moonlight
Blades in the Dark
Magical girl genre
Persona series
Serial Experiments Lain
Brandon O’Brien
Mike Underwood
Iori Kusano
Jeoi Gawain Lin
ArvanEleron on twitch
Arvan Eleron’s Youtube channel
Stone the Crows, by Grant Howitt
Friends at the Table Partizan
Beam Saber, by Austin Ramsay
Scum and Villainy
Ms Marvel
Our Flag Means Death
Moon Knight
Knights and Bikes
 
Join us again next time, when Rem Wigmore will be returning to the show!

This time around, we’re joined by the one and only Miri Baker (@MiriBaker). Miri brings us a trunked story from ye olden days, all the way back in 2011, plus a lot of great conversation about the load-bearing parts of our personalities, cosplay, and how genuinely liking the things we like is good, actually.
This episode’s reading carries content warnings for blood, extremely unsafe handling of swords, and extremely incorrect understanding of swords. It is just under 20 minutes long.
 
Things we mention on this episode:
Blue at War, the cape Miri made for Amal El-Mohtar for the 2020 Hugos
Lillian Boyd
Machine of Death and This Is How You Die, edited by Ryan North, Matthew Bennardo, and David Malki
The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde
Duotrope’s Digest
The Submission Grinder
Wondermark! By David Malki
Steampunk
Fence, by C.S. Pacat
Sarah Rees Brennan
The Demon’s Lexicon, by Sarah Rees Brennan
In Other Lands, by Sarah Rees Brennan
Monstrous Affections, edited by Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant
Be the Serpent
Worldcon 76
Fullmetal Alchemist
Himoru Arakawa
Neil Gaiman’s Journal
Tumblr
Arthur, season 14, episode 4, ­“Falafelosophy”
Miss Snark’s Blog
Query Shark
George Clponey
John Scalzi’s Whatever
Chuck Wendig’s Terrible Minds
Mary Robinette Kowal’s My Favorite Bit
Sarah Gailey’s Stone Soup
Writing Excuses
Schlock Mercenary, by Howard Tayler
LiveJournal
Fantasy Rants
Gaia Online
NaNoWriMo
Uncanny Magazine
Viable Paradise
Sarah Gailey
River of Teeth, by Sarah Gailey
Sarah’s Star Wars tweets
Amanda Cook’s episode
The Hugo Awards
Yaya Han’s ultimate bodysuit pattern
SFWA
Annalee Flower Horne
Anime Weekend Atlanta
Friends at the Table
Gravity Falls
Steven Universe
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power
Archive of our Own
Fanfiction dot net
Arcane
Riot Games
League of Legends
RWBY
Rooster Teeth
Red vs. Blue
Halo
Persona 5 Royal
Steam
The Locked Tomb series, by Tamsyn Muir
Nona the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir
Cybergoth freeway rave
Miri’s portfolio
Rekka Jay
This is How You Lose the Time War, by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
 
Stick around next month for the return of Valeria Valdes and Rem Wigmore!

This time around, it’s my pleasure to welcome Ruthanna Emrys (@R_Emrys), who joins us to talk about her new novel, A Half-Built Garden, which comes out on July 26th from Tor Dot Com publishing. We talk about ecological sci-fi, the things that got left on the cutting-room floor, and Ruthanna’s current reads.
 
Things we mention in this episode:
Winter Tide, by Ruthanna Emrys
David Bowie
The Innsmouth Legacy series, by Ruthanna Emrys
Seanan McGuire
Field Guide to Invasive Species of Minnesota, by Amelia Gorman
Light From Uncommon Stars, by Ryka Aoki
Ruthana’s Patreon
Reading the Weird on Tor.com
Anne M. Pillsworth
The City We Became, by N.K. Jemisin
 
Tune in next time, when my guest will be Miri Baker!

This time around, it’s my delight to be the first podcast out there to host up-and-coming author Amanda Cook (@AmandaCook627)! Amanda reads her trunked story, “Snow Day,” which leads us into a delightful conversation about cozy fiction, early-career writing, cosplay, and patience!
This episode’s reading carries content notices for some brief mentions of guns and other weapons, along with a mention of nuclear war.
 
Things we mention in this episode:
Book Tour 17: Sarah Gailey - Just Like Home
Dealing with Dragons, by Patricia C. Wrede
“Badass Moms in the Zombie Apocalypse,” by Rae Carson
John Wiswell
Wyngraf
Tales & Feathers Magazine
Augur
4th Street Fantasy
“Ruby’s Delivery,” by Amanda Cook
The Submission Grinder
Etherea Magazine
NaNoWriMo
The Golden Orb, by Amanda Cook
Tor
When We Were Forgotten, by Amanda Cook
Moiraine Damodred (from The Wheel of Time, not GoT)
Frozen
Once Upon a Time
Gen Con
Crowley
David Tennant
“Weaving Serenity,” by Amanda Cook
“Lily and Ink,” by Amanda Cook
Apparition Lit
Our Flag Means Death
The Kids in the Hall
Hell’s Library series, by A.J. Hackwith
Sweep of Stars, by Maurice Broaddus
Black Panther
The Expanse
Amanda’s insta, Facebook, and blog
 
Tune in next month, when my guests will be Ruthana Emrys and Miri Baker!

This episode carries content warnings for mentions of parental death, terminal illness, serial killers, and feelings of powerlessness. Additionally, the reading from this episode contains an overall sense of tension and dread. If you would like to skip the reading, you can skip forward 18 minutes from the beginning of the reading to bypass it.
This time around, we’re joined once again by the incomparable Sarah Gailey (@gaileyfrey) to talk about their incredible (and incredibly terrifying) new book, Just Like Home, available July 19th wherever fine books are sold! Sarah tells us about the staggering number of rewrites that this book went through and what was learned along the way.
 
Things we mention this episode:
The Luminous Dead, by Caitlin Starling
The Southern Reach Trilogy, by Jeff VanderMeer
Flowers for the Sea, by Zin E. Rocklyn
Queen Amidala
Magic for Liars, by Sarah Gailey
And then a skeleton popped out
The Death of Jane Lawrence, by Caitlin Starling
NetGalley
Eat the Rich, by Sarah Gailey and Pius Bak
The Echo Wife, by Sarah Gailey
“The Foundations of Decay,” by My Chemical Romance
The Great (TV)
Veep (TV)
Number One Fan, by Meg Elison
Misery
Empire of the Wild, by Cherie Dimaline
Sarah’s website and Insta
Stone Soup newsletter
Kompromat
 
Join us in two weeks, when my guest will be Amanda Cook!

Update: I've fixed some issues with the audio mixing for this episode that should make it easier to listen to now.
This time around, it’s my absolute joy to welcome Michael R. Underwood (@MikeRUnderwood) to the show! Mike reads from his trunked novel, The Broken Summit before (and after) we have a conversation about the intersection of writing and tabletop roleplaying, the life of a content creator, and some excellent advice about shaping your career goals.
 
This episode’s reading is 17 minutes long and carries content warnings for themes of war and imperialism.
 
Things we mention on this episode:
Friends at the Table
The Adventure Zone
The Quiet Year
The McElroys
Thirsty Sword Lesbians
Tom Clancy
Angry Robot Books
Penguin Random House
Hot Wheels boosters
Chilling Effect, bu Valeria Vlades
Yoon Ha Lee
River of Teeth, Taste of Marrow, and Magic for Liars, by Sarah Gailey
Sarah’s Star Wars tweets
Genrenauts series, by Michael R. Underwood
Monster of the Week
Tortall setting (Tamora Pierce)
Blue Rose (RPG)
3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons
Shadowrun 3rd Edition
Sorcerer
Dogs in the Vineyard
Apocalypse World
Blades in the Dark
GenCon
Indie Press Revolution
DriveThruRPG
Creative Commons
Game Jam
Open Game License
Powered by the Apocalypse
Speculate!
Fagin 
NaNoWriMo
Anamnesis
Mage: The Ascension
White Wolf Publishing
The Game Master’s Apprentice
ConFusion
Friends Journal Quaker Spec-Fic issue
Clapcast
Clarion West
Cassie Alexander
Better-Faster Academy
Dear Writer, You Need to Quit, by Becca Syme
The Nebula Awards
George R. R. Martin
Twitch
Elden Ring
TikTok
Maya MacGregor’s TikTok
The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester, by Maya MacGregor
Hank Green
Celebromancy series, by Michael R. Underwood
Citizen Sleeper
Dungeons and Dating series, by Katherine McIntyre
Mike’s Twitch 
Val’s Twitch
Hades
Karen Osborne’s Twitch
 
Join us again next month, when my guests will be Sarah Gailey and Amanda Cook!

This time around, we're joined by author Marion Deeds (@mariond_d) to talk about her new novella, Comeuppance Served Cold, a wonderful alternate-history fantasy-noir out now from Tor.com publishing. Marion talks about baking versus cooking when working on books, and we muse on the current golden age of SFFH novellas.
 
Things we mention this episode:
Story Hour
Laura Blackwell
Helen Crawford-White
Tor Dot Com
Queen of Swords Press
Neon Hemlock
Hugo ballot
Premee Mohamed
The Poppy War, by R.F. Kuang
Victories Greater Than Death and Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak, by Charlie Jane Anders
Our Opinions Are Correct
Be The Serpent
Marion’s Facebook and Blog
Fantasy Literature dot com
Falstaff Press
Aluminum Leaves, Copper Road, and Golden Rifts, by Marion Deeds
Kat Hooper
Kate Lechler
Alix E. Harrow

This time around, we're joined by Andi C. Buchanan! Andi reads from their trunked YA steampunk novel, which leads us into a great discussion about steampunk, accessibility, well-intentioned white people (like us), and their brand new book, Sanctuary, which came out earlier this week from Robot Dinosaur Press!
Show notes coming soon!