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http://crisalvarez.com I interview writers, artists, actors, academics, game designers and more about creating science fiction, fantasy, horror, and other genre entertainment. Tue, 30 Nov 2021 14:42:21 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 I interview well-known and popular writers, artists, actors, and academics about their work and what inspires them. We discuss how they create their works and why they do so and I hope that in the course of the conversation, you learn something new that helps you finish your work the way you want to. Cris Alvarez false episodic Cris Alvarez crisalvarezwlc@gmail.com Cristobal Alvarez Cristobal Alvarez podcast Interviews with writers and other creative people http://crisalvarez.com/wp-content/uploads/powerpress/FCN_purple_16OCT20.png http://crisalvarez.com TV-G Once a week 0551e3e5-ec8e-51fb-aeb3-3d984c35f234 http://crisalvarez.com/2021/08/05/travel-and-murder-in-this-new-thriller-book-tour-interview-with-andrea-bartz/allthethrillers/ Fri, 06 Aug 2021 03:28:04 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=24012 http://crisalvarez.com/2021/08/05/travel-and-murder-in-this-new-thriller-book-tour-interview-with-andrea-bartz/allthethrillers/#respond http://crisalvarez.com/2021/08/05/travel-and-murder-in-this-new-thriller-book-tour-interview-with-andrea-bartz/allthethrillers/feed/ 0 Travel and murder in this new thriller – Book tour interview with Andrea Bartz Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3jyDWvo Interview Timeline Andrea Bartz is a Brooklyn-based journalist and author of We Were Never Here,…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2021/08/05/travel-and-murder-in-this-new-thriller-book-tour-interview-with-andrea-bartz/allthethrillers/">Read More</a></p> Travel and murder in this new thriller – Book tour interview with Andrea Bartz Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3jyDWvo Interview Timeline Andrea Bartz is a Brooklyn-based journalist and author of We Were Never Here,…Read More Travel and murder in this new thriller – Book tour interview with Andrea Bartz
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3jyDWvo
Interview Timeline
Andrea Bartz is a Brooklyn-based journalist and author of We Were Never Here, The Lost Night, and The Herd. Her work has appeared in many major magazines, and she’s held editorial positions in the industry. We spoke about her latest thriller novel. We Were Never Here: A Novel (Ballantine Books, 2021)
0:39 – Andrea talks about why she wrote this novel and her travels to Chile.
3:55 – Andrea talks about the conflict in the book.
5:49 – Andrea talks about Amanda Knox.
6:43 – Andrea goes into detail about the plot of the novel.
8:37 – Andrea talks about her characters.
9:50 – Andrea talks about any autobiographical or real world elements in the characters.
12:58 – Andrea talks about research she’s done for the book.
15:04 – Andrea talks about murder and the law.
17:51- Andrea talks about the things that inspired her and her work as an editor.
20:28 – Andrea talks about what she wrote about as a travel writer.
22:24 – Andrea talks about things that disturbed her on her travels.
27:38 – Andrea talks about a ghost tour she did at Fort Mackinac.
28:39 – Andrea talks about the musical feel of the book.
30:54 – Andrea talks about her writing process.
33:41 – Andrea talks about travel writing elements in her novel.
35:33 – Andrea talks about how her approach to writing has changed over time.
39:00 – Andrea talks about how she practices her writing skills.
41:43 – Andrea compares her three novels.
43:20 – Andrea talks about her favorite character to write.
45:21 – Andrea talks about the hardest character to write.
47:18 – Andrea talks about edits of her books.
49:48 – Andrea talks about made up adventures she did with her sister.
52:57 – Andrea talks about how she got into travel writing.
53:15 – Andrea talks about spots she wants to visit.
57:48 – Andrea is on twitter, instagram, and tiktok @andibartz and on facebook at andrea bartz author and andreabartz.com
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/3jyDWvo
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/645863/we-were-never-here-by-andrea-bartz/
http://www.andreabartz.com/
http://twitter.com/andibartz
http://instagram.com/andibartz
https://www.facebook.com/andreabartzauthor
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast. Please see full false 1:03:17 24012 http://crisalvarez.com/2021/07/19/artist-and-author-brian-catling-discusses-his-writing-and-his-art/allthefantasy/ Tue, 20 Jul 2021 02:17:35 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=24002 http://crisalvarez.com/2021/07/19/artist-and-author-brian-catling-discusses-his-writing-and-his-art/allthefantasy/#respond http://crisalvarez.com/2021/07/19/artist-and-author-brian-catling-discusses-his-writing-and-his-art/allthefantasy/feed/ 0 Artist and Author Brian Catling discusses his writing and his art Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3rmzinv Interview Timeline Brian Catling is a poet, sculptor, painter, and performance artist. He makes installations and paints portraits…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2021/07/19/artist-and-author-brian-catling-discusses-his-writing-and-his-art/allthefantasy/">Read More</a></p> Artist and Author Brian Catling discusses his writing and his art Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3rmzinv Interview Timeline Brian Catling is a poet, sculptor, painter, and performance artist. He makes installations and paints portraits…Read More Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3rmzinv
Interview Timeline
Brian Catling is a poet, sculptor, painter, and performance artist. He makes installations and paints portraits of imagined cyclops in egg tempera. Brian has had numerous solo shows and has recently published a new book. We spoke about the work, his writing, and the occult. Hollow (Vintage, 2021)
0:35 – Brian talks about why he wrote the book.
3:14 – Brian talks about Christian religion in Europe.
4:40 – Brian talks about the book.
7:40 – Brian talks about about the book being European in focus.
8:14 – Brian talks about his research into the period.
9:07 – Brian talks about poetry in the book.
10:55 – Brian talks about his writing style in the book.
11:46 – Brian talks about how he plans out his book.
12:11 – Brian talks about his approach to writing.
13:12 – Brian talks about describing scenes in his book.
14:51 – Brian talks about his inspirations.
16:08 – Brian talks about not being able to paint what he writes.
16:33 – Brian talks about the surroundings he prefers when he writes.
17:33 – Brian talks about the musical feel of the book.
19:41 – Brian talks about not taking a moral stance in his writing.
20:25 – Brian talks about religion in his work.
21:30 – Brian talks about his favorite characters to write.
23:16 – Brian talks about characters that have been difficult for him to write.
24:17 – Brian talks about writing characters different from himself.
26:11 – Brian talks about how his approach to writing has changed over time.
27:55 – Brian talks about editing his work.
30:27 – Brian talks about his tempura work.
32:31- Brian talks about painting cyclops’.
33:44 – Brian talks about being a fan of ancient and epic literature.
36:13 – Brian talks about things he can’t do.
37:28 – Brian talks about being adopted.
38:14 – Brian talks about his interest in the mysterious and magic.
44:28 – Brian talks about being inspired by the Elizabethan John Dee.
46:26 – Brian talks about what scares him.
48:41 – Brian talks about humans being terrifying.
50:51 – Brian talks about the mixture of cultures.
52:42 – Brian talks about characters whom he’d like to write.
55:27 – Brian talks about his current working project.
59:27 – Brian talks about fiction that he’s enjoyed.
1:02:08 – Brian can be found at bcatling.com.
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/3rmzinv
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/624397/hollow-by-b-catling/
https://www.bcatling.com/
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / full false 1:10:41 24002 http://crisalvarez.com/2021/06/28/post-apocalyptic-science-fiction-with-gene-doucette/allthesciencefiction/ Tue, 29 Jun 2021 01:37:35 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=19958 http://crisalvarez.com/2021/06/28/post-apocalyptic-science-fiction-with-gene-doucette/allthesciencefiction/#respond http://crisalvarez.com/2021/06/28/post-apocalyptic-science-fiction-with-gene-doucette/allthesciencefiction/feed/ 0 Post-apocalyptic science fiction with Gene Doucette Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3jkRmfS Interview Timeline Gene Doucette has authored more than twenty sci-fi and fantasy titles. He recently released The Apocalypse Seven. We spoke about the…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2021/06/28/post-apocalyptic-science-fiction-with-gene-doucette/allthesciencefiction/">Read More</a></p> Post-apocalyptic science fiction with Gene Doucette Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3jkRmfS Interview Timeline Gene Doucette has authored more than twenty sci-fi and fantasy titles. He recently released The Apocalypse Seven. Post-apocalyptic science fiction with Gene Doucette
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3jkRmfS
Interview Timeline
Gene Doucette has authored more than twenty sci-fi and fantasy titles. He recently released The Apocalypse Seven. We spoke about the book and his writing. The Apocalypse Seven (John Joseph Adams/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2021)
0:51 – Gene talks about his publishing path.
3:20 – Gene talks about self-publishing.
4:16 – Gene talks about Apocalypse Seven.
6:24 – Gene talks about novellas versus novels.
7:51 – Gene talks about his fantasy writing.
9:47 – Gene talks about the setting and characters of Apocalypse Seven.
13:14 – Gene talks about the conflict in the novel.
14:45 – Gene talks about the research for the book.
18:28 – Gene talks about walking Cambridge and the Charles River.
19:29 – Gene talks about bikes.
20:08 – Gene talks about his inspirations.
21:24 – Gene talks about enjoying quantum theory and mathematics.
22:33 – Gene talks about the aesthetic and musical feel of the novel.
25:11 – Gene talks about his writing process.
27:20 – Gene talks about not outlining or plotting ahead of time.
28:59 – Gene talks about writing stories in his head.
30:34 – Gene talks about how his writing has changed over time.
32:11 – Gene talks about his favorite character to write.
32:55 – Gene talks about whether he’s in any of his characters.
34:54 – Gene talks about characters that were difficult to write.
36:57 – Gene talks about trying to understand his characters better.
40:03 – Gene talks about empathy in writing.
40:43 – Gene talks about having once been in sales.
42:19 – Gene talks about being an outgoing introvert.
43:25 – Gene talks about the editing of this novel.
47:08 – Gene compares traditional publishing readers versus self-published book readers.
51:37 – Gene talks about self-published books reader demographics.
53:19 – Gene talks about comic books and D&D.
55:21 – Gene talks about finishing the book.
58:48 – Gene talks about his new hard sci-fi series.
1:01:58 – Gene talks about Amazon Vela.
1:02:30 – Gene can be found on facebook at authorgenedoucette and on twitter and instagram under Gene Doucette.
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/3jkRmfS
https://www.hmhbooks.com/shop/books/The-Apocalypse-Seven/9780358419471
https://genedoucette.me/
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast. Please see historyrabbithole.]]> Cris Alvarez full false 1:06:23 19958 http://crisalvarez.com/2021/06/08/an-insider-look-at-the-last-kids-on-earth/alltheanimation/ Tue, 08 Jun 2021 12:35:24 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=19951 http://crisalvarez.com/2021/06/08/an-insider-look-at-the-last-kids-on-earth/alltheanimation/#respond http://crisalvarez.com/2021/06/08/an-insider-look-at-the-last-kids-on-earth/alltheanimation/feed/ 0 An Insider Look at The Last Kids on Earth Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2Tdg7PS Interview Timeline The Last Kids on Earth is a popular multi-media franchise. Thunderbird Entertainment and Atomic Cartoons produce the Last…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2021/06/08/an-insider-look-at-the-last-kids-on-earth/alltheanimation/">Read More</a></p> An Insider Look at The Last Kids on Earth Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2Tdg7PS Interview Timeline The Last Kids on Earth is a popular multi-media franchise. Thunderbird Entertainment and Atomic Cartoons produce the Last…Read More An Insider Look at The Last Kids on Earth
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2Tdg7PS
Interview Timeline
The Last Kids on Earth is a popular multi-media franchise. Thunderbird Entertainment and Atomic Cartoons produce the Last Kids on Earth show. I spoke with Thunderbird executives Matt Berkowitz and Jenn McCarron about the show and about the animation and entertainment business in general.
0:57 – Matt talks about how he got into the animation business.
1:37 – Matt talks about the classes and studies he did for his career.
2:26 – Jenn talks about how she got into the animation business.
3:40 – Matt talks about The Last Kids on Earth show.
5:57 – Matt describes what the Last Kids on Earth show is about.
6:57 – Matt talks about how Last Kids on Earth references the 80s.
8:06 – Matt talks about family co-viewing in streaming services.
9:29 – Jenn talks about some of the other work Thunderbird is doing.
11:08 – Jenn talks about the business side of animation and entertainment.
12:49 – Jenn talks about how they were able to grow during the pandemic.
14:22 – Matt talks about interactive entertainment and choice points.
16:49 – Matt talks about writing interactive entertainment.
18:08 – Matt talks about testing their shows.
19:23 – Jenn and Matt talks about the interplay between the company and their broadcast partners.
21:32 – Matt talks about innovation in entertainment.
22:43 – Jenn talks about immediate feedback on shows when they’re shown.
24:17 – Jenn talks about how the shows earn money.
25:55 – Jenn talks about syndication.
26:42 – Matt talks about the emerging players in this field.
28:59 – Matt talks about the platforms a show might want to work with.
30:38 – Jenn talks about how people get into animation.
31:47 – Jenn talks about how they managed work during the pandemic.
35:06 – Jenn talks about protecting intellectual property during a pandemic.
37:45 – Matt talks about managing the various projects he works on.
39:38 – Matt talks about the current trend in kids programming.
41:49 – Matt talks about toddlers and children interaction with new technology.
43:41 – Jenn talks about kids and technology.
44:08 – Jenn talks about kids’ shows impacting kids lives as they grow older.
45:55 – Matt talks about the impact of children’s programming.
47:01 – Matt talks about animation styles.
48:22 – Matt talks about show leadership making decisions on the fundamentals of the show.
49:15 – Jenn talks about what she misses about being in the trenches.
50:01 – Matt talks about having been a production assistant.
51:17 – Matt talks about how shows are plotted out.
53:02 – Jenn and Matt talks about Cupcake and Dino.
54:06 – Matt and Jenn talk about Kim’s Convenience.
55:46 – Matt talks about having always wanted to fly.
56:39 – Jenn talks about the Lion King.
57:12 – Jenn talks about product placement in kids’ shows.
58:33 – Matt talks about the cross-over items with Last Kids on Earth.
1:00:14 – Matt talks about organizing all the cross-overs for Last Kids on Earth.
1:02:30 – Matt talks about managing all the moving parts.
1:02:47 – Matt talks about follow up programming with Last Kids on Earth.
1:04:26 – The cartoons and Last Kids on Earth information can be found at Thunderbird.tv and on the Atomic site on that website.
1:05:10 – The Last Kids on Earth can be found at lastkids...]]> Cris Alvarez full false 1:08:08 19951 http://crisalvarez.com/2021/05/31/how-nerds-protect-the-earth-despite-being-marginalized-interview-with-anthony-lioi/podcast/ Tue, 01 Jun 2021 03:03:33 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=19943 http://crisalvarez.com/2021/05/31/how-nerds-protect-the-earth-despite-being-marginalized-interview-with-anthony-lioi/podcast/#respond http://crisalvarez.com/2021/05/31/how-nerds-protect-the-earth-despite-being-marginalized-interview-with-anthony-lioi/podcast/feed/ 0 How nerds protect the earth despite being marginalized – Interview with Anthony Lioi Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3fY5MPM Interview Timeline Anthony Lioi studies and teaches popular culture. He wrote a work on the ecology…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2021/05/31/how-nerds-protect-the-earth-despite-being-marginalized-interview-with-anthony-lioi/podcast/">Read More</a></p> How nerds protect the earth despite being marginalized – Interview with Anthony Lioi Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3fY5MPM Interview Timeline Anthony Lioi studies and teaches popular culture. He wrote a work on the ecology…Read More How nerds protect the earth despite being marginalized – Interview with Anthony Lioi
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3fY5MPM
Interview Timeline
Anthony Lioi studies and teaches popular culture. He wrote a work on the ecology of nerds and their marginalization and we spoke about the topic. Nerd Ecology: Defending the Earth with Unpopular Culture (Bloomsbury, 2018)
0:51 – Anthony explains why he started studying nerds and environmentalism.
3:01 – Anthony talks about what a nerd is.
12:07 – Anthony talks about the Silmarrilion and the Lord of the Rings.
15:18 – Anthony talks about the nerd community and its diversity.
19:16 – Anthony talks about the many properties he discusses in the book.
22:27 – Anthony talks about when being a nerd became mainstream.
29:57 – Anthony talks about how much the global nerd community is focused on the US.
36:30 – Anthony talks about how the book is broken down.
41:34 – Anthony talks about how societies treat groups the majority thinks is inferior.
44:32 – Anthony talks about superheroes as uber-characters such as in The Boys.
52:41 – Picard spoiler – 53:58
54:31 – Anthony talks about some motivations for nerds to embrace the culture.
1:01:00 – Anthony talks about a new project focused on nerd environmentality.
1:06:46 – Anthony can be found at academia.edu
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/3fY5MPM
https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/nerd-ecology-defending-the-earth-with-unpopular-culture-9781472567642/
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast. Please see historyrabbithole.com for a list of my dozen or so blogs and podcasts. You’re sure to find something you like.
Guests: Anthony Lioi
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: Books, audio interviews, author, academic, podcast, Bloomsbury,
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3fY5MPM
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

]]> Cris Alvarez full false 1:10:25 19943 http://crisalvarez.com/2021/05/18/how-to-scare-yourself-with-horror-and-other-creepy-nuggets-interview-with-josh-malerman/allthehorror/ Tue, 18 May 2021 08:00:27 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=19933 http://crisalvarez.com/2021/05/18/how-to-scare-yourself-with-horror-and-other-creepy-nuggets-interview-with-josh-malerman/allthehorror/#respond http://crisalvarez.com/2021/05/18/how-to-scare-yourself-with-horror-and-other-creepy-nuggets-interview-with-josh-malerman/allthehorror/feed/ 0 How to scare yourself with horror and other creepy nuggets – Interview with Josh Malerman   Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3tPnJoA Interview Timeline Josh Malerman is a New York Times bestselling author and one…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2021/05/18/how-to-scare-yourself-with-horror-and-other-creepy-nuggets-interview-with-josh-malerman/allthehorror/">Read More</a></p> How to scare yourself with horror and other creepy nuggets – Interview with Josh Malerman   Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3tPnJoA Interview Timeline Josh Malerman is a New York Times bestselling author and one…Read More How to scare yourself with horror and other creepy nuggets – Interview with Josh Malerman
 
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3tPnJoA
Interview Timeline
Josh Malerman is a New York Times bestselling author and one of two singer-songwriters for the rock band The High Strung. His debut novel, Bird Box, is the inspiration for the hit Netflix film of the same name. He has written numerous horror works including Goblin. We spoke about the book, horror, Bird Box, and creepy music. Goblin: A Novel in Six Novellas (Del Rey, 2021)
0:53 – Josh talks about Goblin
1:39 – Josh talks about his horror writing.
3:39 – Josh talk about the setting and characters of Goblin.
4:43 – Josh talks about drawing Goblin from his life experiences.
5:48 – Josh talks about the size of Goblin.
6:20 – Josh talks about the order in which he wrote the novellas.
8:34 – Josh talks about naming the city Goblin.
11:12 – Josh talks about the Lovecraftian feel of the novel.
11:29 – Josh talks about the rain and dread in the novel.
12:57 – Josh talks about developing the city layout.
13:36 – Josh talks about each of the characters’ obsessions in each novella.
16:50 – Josh talks about the level of humor in his works and the “Tim Burton” line.
18:48 – Josh talks about his work as a musician.
21:11 – Josh talks about sound in his work.
23:42 – Josh talks about more of his inspirations including the importance of Dracula in his work.
25:45 – Josh talks about horror and video games.
27:40 – Josh talks about scaring himself with his writing.
29:21 – Josh talks about his reactions to some horror.
31:06 – Josh talks about the movies that have most freaked him out.
35:06 – Josh talks about Goblin’s soundtrack.
37:14 – Josh talks about his involvement in the Bird Box production.
39:06 – Josh talks about going on the Bird Box studio area.
41:05 – Josh talks about the effect the movie deal had on him.
41:49 – Josh compares the Bird Box movie with his book.
43:12 – Josh talks about the visual of Bird Box.
44:42 – Josh talks about his writing style and how it may have changed his writing.
46:04 – Josh talks about his writing schedule.
48:26 – Josh talks about a novella he wrote on a typewriter.
49:05 – Josh talks about what type of work he prefers.
51:18 – Josh talks about humor in horror writing.
52:13 – Josh talks about writing challenges he engages in.
54:35 – Josh talks about outlining versus plotting.
56:37 – Josh talks about wanting to direct a movie.
58:05 – Josh talks about a movie he produced.
59:20 – Josh talks about the concept of his movie.
1:00:36 – Josh talks about having been into He-Man.
1:01:28 – Josh talks about the cemeteries in Goblin.
1:01:47 – Josh talks about getting Goblin published.
1:03:40 – Josh talks about pressure to write to trends.
1:04:50 – Josh talks about not writing to trend.
1:05:57 – Josh talks about whom he writes for.
1:07:07 – Josh talks about his new music and writing projects.
1:08:05 – Josh talks about Covid and his writing.
1:09:49 – Josh can be found on joshmalerman on all major social media sites and at joshmalerman.com.
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/3tPnJoA
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/653292/goblin-by-josh-malerman/ Cris Alvarez full false 1:15:36 19933 http://crisalvarez.com/2021/05/10/why-murderbot-is-tough-to-write-and-other-sci-fi-secrets-interview-with-martha-wells/allthesciencefiction/ Tue, 11 May 2021 03:33:57 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=19911 http://crisalvarez.com/2021/05/10/why-murderbot-is-tough-to-write-and-other-sci-fi-secrets-interview-with-martha-wells/allthesciencefiction/#respond http://crisalvarez.com/2021/05/10/why-murderbot-is-tough-to-write-and-other-sci-fi-secrets-interview-with-martha-wells/allthesciencefiction/feed/ 0 Why Murderbot is tough to write and other sci-fi secrets – Interview with Martha Wells Check the book out here https://amzn.to/33EmJJ3 Interview Timeline Martha Wells has written many fantasy and sci-fi novels, short fiction and…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2021/05/10/why-murderbot-is-tough-to-write-and-other-sci-fi-secrets-interview-with-martha-wells/allthesciencefiction/">Read More</a></p> Why Murderbot is tough to write and other sci-fi secrets – Interview with Martha Wells Check the book out here https://amzn.to/33EmJJ3 Interview Timeline Martha Wells has written many fantasy and sci-fi novels, short fiction and…Read More Why Murderbot is tough to write and other sci-fi secrets – Interview with Martha Wells
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/33EmJJ3
Interview Timeline
Martha Wells has written many fantasy and sci-fi novels, short fiction and novellas. She’s also written Star Wars and Stargate novels as well as worked on Magic:The Gathering. She has won Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and Alex Awards for her work. She recently released a new Murderbot novella and we spoke about the novella, Murderbot, her other works, and her inspirations. Fugitive Telemetry (Tordotcom, 2021)
0:54 – Martha talks about how she chooses the idea to write.
1:49 – Martha talks about being excited by her stories and writing.
3:05 – Martha talks about what parts of the story she wants to be engaged by.
3:37 – Martha talks about the Murderbot series and Murderbot.
6:42 – Martha talks about he chooses between writing a novel versus a novella.
8:22 – Martha talks about writing novellas.
9:24 – Martha talks about the difficulty in writing science fiction with new technology
11:43 – Martha talks about her inspirations.
14:53 – Martha talks about her interest in true crime and
16:45 – Martha talks about her previous mystery novels.
18:24 – Martha talks about the aesthetic of the book.
19:31 – Martha talks about sci-fi mysteries and noir.
21:10 – Martha talks about enjoying archaeology.
22:20 – Martha talks about enjoying revision.
23:51- Martha talks about her writing routine.
25:25 – Martha talks about her cats.
25:44 – Martha talks about how her writing process has changed over time.
28:31 – Martha talks about attending conventions.
32:13 – Martha talks about meeting celebrities at cons.
33:22 – Martha talks about how busy authors can be.
34:35 – Martha talks about having been a gamer.
36:00 – Martha talks about the video games she enjoyed.
36:55 – Martha talks about world-building.
37:58 – Martha talks about the Murderbot character.
40:16 – Martha talks about the future of Murderbot.
41:27 – Martha talks about her writing output.
42:10 – Martha talks about sci-fi versus fantasy.
43:10 – Martha talks about fantasy writing.
44:42 – Martha talks about her favorite character to write.
45:56 – Martha talks about enjoying Star Trek, Godzilla, and other things when she was young.
47:09 – Martha talks about writing Stargate and Star Wars novels.
48:43 – Martha talks about working on Magic: The Gathering.
49:16 – Martha talks about writing for other properties.
51:48 – Martha talks about promoting books.
52:51- Martha talks about her earlier works.
53:29 – Martha talks about how she was able to write for Stargate and Star Wars.
55:08 – Martha talks about the contracts for Murderbot.
56:40 – Martha can be found at marthawells.com and on twitter @marthawells1 and on marthawells.dreamwidth.org
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/33EmJJ3
https://publishing.tor.com/fugitivetelemetry-marthawells/9781250765376/
http://marthawells.com/
https://twitter.com/marthawells1
http://marthawells.dreamwidth.org
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at full false 1:00:18 19911 http://crisalvarez.com/2021/05/04/why-project-hail-mary-is-awesome-and-other-sci-fi-nuggets-with-andy-weir/allthesciencefiction/ Tue, 04 May 2021 09:00:33 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=19852 http://crisalvarez.com/2021/05/04/why-project-hail-mary-is-awesome-and-other-sci-fi-nuggets-with-andy-weir/allthesciencefiction/#respond http://crisalvarez.com/2021/05/04/why-project-hail-mary-is-awesome-and-other-sci-fi-nuggets-with-andy-weir/allthesciencefiction/feed/ 0 Why Project Hail Mary is awesome and other sci-fi nuggets – Interview with Andy Weir Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3nVHQ3f Interview Timeline Andy Weir spent over two decades as a software engineer before publishing…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2021/05/04/why-project-hail-mary-is-awesome-and-other-sci-fi-nuggets-with-andy-weir/allthesciencefiction/">Read More</a></p> Why Project Hail Mary is awesome and other sci-fi nuggets – Interview with Andy Weir Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3nVHQ3f Interview Timeline Andy Weir spent over two decades as a software engineer before publishing…Read More Why Project Hail Mary is awesome and other sci-fi nuggets – Interview with Andy Weir
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3nVHQ3f
Interview Timeline
Andy Weir spent over two decades as a software engineer before publishing the wildly popular novel The Martian which also came out as a movie starring Matt Damon. He also released Artemis, another successful novel, and has just released a new novel about a galaxy threatening danger. We spoke about the novel, Andy’s previous works, and his approach to science fiction and writing.  Project Hail Mary (Ballantine Books, 2021)
0:53 – Andy talks about where the idea of Project Hail Mary came from.
5:06 – Andy talks about the details of the story.
6:40 – Andy talks about the research he did for the book.
8:07 – Andy talks about the various sciences he studied for this book.
8:51 – Andy talks about other Earth disaster works.
12:35 – Andy talks about space psychology and details of the story.
14:25 – Andy talks about the science and his plots.
16:06 – Andy talks about calculating stuff for the novel.
17:15 – Andy talks about his motivators.
21:35 – Andy talks about technology and dystopia.
24:56 – Andy talks about the four canonical plots.
25:59 – Andy talks about how many Beatles eggs are in the book.
27:30 – Andy talks about humor in his books.
28:36 – Andy talks about his writing process.
32:16 – Andy talks about his favorite board games.
34:09 – Andy talks about how he doesn’t like to fly.
36:10 – Andy talks about conventions.
37:50 – Andy talks about the games he prefers.
39:11 – Andy talks about changes in his writing methods.
42:51 – Andy talks about one of the central components of the novel.
43:12 – Andy talks about the Martian
44:06 – Andy talks about his previous work.
46:21 – Andy talks about how much he writes.
47:35 – Andy talks about what his goals had been for writing the Martian.
48:47 – Andy talks about loving time travel.
51:09 – Andy talks about the Back to the Future DeLoreans.
53:30 – Andy talks about being pigeon-holed in a writing style.
54:48 – Andy talks about the heist works he likes.
56:02 – Andy talks about his writing career.
1:00:12 – Andy is at andyweirauthor.com
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/3nVHQ3f
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/611060/project-hail-mary-by-andy-weir/
https://www.andyweirauthor.com/
Video version of the interview: https://wp.me/p7CDU9-5aL
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast.]]> Cris Alvarez full false 1:03:37 19852 http://crisalvarez.com/2021/04/26/how-modern-alternative-horror-has-divided-critics-and-fans-with-david-church/allthehorror/ Tue, 27 Apr 2021 02:25:13 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=19837 http://crisalvarez.com/2021/04/26/how-modern-alternative-horror-has-divided-critics-and-fans-with-david-church/allthehorror/#respond http://crisalvarez.com/2021/04/26/how-modern-alternative-horror-has-divided-critics-and-fans-with-david-church/allthehorror/feed/ 0 How modern alternative horror films have divided critics and fans with David Church Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3dUl6x6 Interview Timeline David Church is a film and media scholar specializing in genre studies, taste cultures,…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2021/04/26/how-modern-alternative-horror-has-divided-critics-and-fans-with-david-church/allthehorror/">Read More</a></p> How modern alternative horror films have divided critics and fans with David Church Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3dUl6x6 Interview Timeline David Church is a film and media scholar specializing in genre studies, taste cultures,…Read More How modern alternative horror films have divided critics and fans with David Church
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Interview Timeline
David Church is a film and media scholar specializing in genre studies, taste cultures, and histories of film circulation. He is the author of numerous books including a recent one on modern horror films. We spoke about the book and recent horror films. Post-Horror: Art, Genre and Cultural Elevation (Edinburgh University Press, 2021)
0:48 – David talks about why he enjoys horror films and why he wrote this book.
2:36 – David talks about the old horror movies he watched.
4:38 – David talks about examining horror films from 2013 and 2014.
6:53 – David talks about the motivations of the film makers in making new types of horror.
9:19 – David talks about how streaming has affected horror films.
12:16 – David talks about anthology horror films.
13:12 – David talks about horror video games.
14:10 – David talks about the budgets of these films.
16:13 – David compares low budget sci-fi with other low budget indie films.
17:58 – David talks about what he focuses on in the book.
23:42 – David talks about whether any of these films are sci-fi or historical.
25:16 – David talks about the countries these films are made in.
25:42 – David talks about cultural elevation of these films.
27:51 – David talks about these films and literary source material.
31:14 – David talks the use of monsters in these films.
34:07 – David talks about whether these horror movies are connected to the wars on terror.
36:27 – David talks about horror and politics.
37:08 – David talks about the focus of the book.
38:32 – David talks about the critics he looked at.
39:55 – David talks about the movies he had to watch. He talks about enjoying occult films.
41:34 – David talks about the stark divide about how good people thought the movies were.
43:03 – David talks about major studios trying to copy these films.
44:30 – David talks about the movie “Us”.
46:42 – David talks about the different groups defining horror.
47:16 – David talks about fans arguing about films.
48:33 – David talks about subversive horror films.
50:36 – David talks about new movies that have come out.
52:15 – David talks about Parasite.
53:08 – David talks about the meaning
56:00 – SPOILER for Get Out – 57:04
57:04 David talks about the studios putting out these films.
1:01:31 – David can be found at david-church.com
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/3dUl6x6
https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-post-horror.html
https://www.david-church.com/
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / full false 1:04:18 19837 http://crisalvarez.com/2021/04/19/how-colonialism-and-politics-shaped-indian-science-fiction-with-suparno-banerjee/allthesciencefiction/ Tue, 20 Apr 2021 02:10:31 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=19820 http://crisalvarez.com/2021/04/19/how-colonialism-and-politics-shaped-indian-science-fiction-with-suparno-banerjee/allthesciencefiction/#respond http://crisalvarez.com/2021/04/19/how-colonialism-and-politics-shaped-indian-science-fiction-with-suparno-banerjee/allthesciencefiction/feed/ 0 How colonialism and politics shaped Indian science fiction with Suparno Banerjee Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2Q7IMVH Interview Timeline Suparno Banerjee has been a life long fan of science fiction. He studied science fiction and…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2021/04/19/how-colonialism-and-politics-shaped-indian-science-fiction-with-suparno-banerjee/allthesciencefiction/">Read More</a></p> How colonialism and politics shaped Indian science fiction with Suparno Banerjee Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2Q7IMVH Interview Timeline Suparno Banerjee has been a life long fan of science fiction. He studied science fiction and…Read More How colonialism and politics shaped Indian science fiction with Suparno Banerjee
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Interview Timeline
Suparno Banerjee has been a life long fan of science fiction. He studied science fiction and now teaches it as an associate professor of English at Texas State University. He recently wrote a book on the development of Indian science fiction. We discussed the book and his science fiction interests. Indian Science Fiction: Patterns, History and Hybridity (University of Wales Press, 2021)
(Note: The sound recording for my speaking portions is lower quality than the majority of the audio and I apologize to listeners for that.)
0:53 – Suparno talks about why he wrote a book on Indian science fiction.
3:33 – Suparno talks about how much science fiction translation exchanges there have been within India.
5:08 – Suparno talks about going back to 1835 in his study.
9:29 – Suparno talks about politics within Indian science fiction.
11:40 – Suparno talks about the emergence of Indian science fiction during the colonial period.
19:56 – Suparno talks about Indian pulp science fiction in the early 20th century.
23:24 – Suparno talks about the Bangla tradition.
27:19 – Suparno talks about his approach to Pakistani science fiction prior to 1947.
29:09 – Suparno talks about he researched the book.
33:41 – Suparno talks about the different types of science fiction he covered.
34:35 – Suparno touches on Indian sci-fi video games.
35:04 – Suparno talks about the Indian publishing business and translations into English.
36:53 – Suparno talks about the people writing Indian science fiction.
38:43 – Suparno talks about his enjoyment in the project.
39:31 – Suparno talks about speaking with some Indian sci fi creators.
40:13 – Suparno talks about Indian diaspora authors.
41:44 – Suparno talks about Indian religion and Indian sci-fi.
44:08 – Suparno talks about Indian sci fi and the West.
46:51 – Suparno talks about diaspora writers.
47:39 – Suparno was surprised by how much Indian sci-fi was produced.
48:54 – Suparno talks about the layout of the book.
52:18- Suparno talks about the amount of sci fi being produced.
54:18 – Suparno talks about whether Indian publishers specialize in sci fi.
55:17 – Suparno talks about getting the book published.
57:40 – Suparno talks about how he studies works he enjoys. He also talks about his favorite sci fi.
1:00:56 – Suparno can be found on the Texas State University website.
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/2Q7IMVH
https://www.uwp.co.uk/book/indian-science-fiction/
https://faculty.txstate.edu/profile/1921972
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / Stitcher<...]]> Cris Alvarez full false 1:04:44 19820 http://crisalvarez.com/2021/04/12/how-a-deep-nerd-comic-book-writer-ended-up-writing-for-the-sonic-tv-series-with-justin-peniston/allthecomicbooks/ Tue, 13 Apr 2021 03:03:55 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=19811 How a deep-nerd comic book writer ended up writing for the Sonic TV series with Justin Peniston Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3a84i3f Interview Timeline Justin Peniston has a deep love of comic books and…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2021/04/12/how-a-deep-nerd-comic-book-writer-ended-up-writing-for-the-sonic-tv-series-with-justin-peniston/allthecomicbooks/">Read More</a></p> How a deep-nerd comic book writer ended up writing for the Sonic TV series with Justin Peniston Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3a84i3f Interview Timeline Justin Peniston has a deep love of comic books and…Read More How a deep-nerd comic book writer ended up writing for the Sonic TV series with Justin Peniston
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Interview Timeline
Justin Peniston has a deep love of comic books and all things nerd. He’s written for DC comics, IDW, independent comic companies, has his own indie web comic and he’s a writer on the new Sonic TC series. We spoke about his comic book writing, about Sonic and the show, and about general nerdy things. {Hunter Black (Big & Tall Tales, 2016)
1:11 – Justin talks about Hunter Black.
3:55 – Justin talks about his interest in Dungeons and Dragons.
5:13 – Justin talks about animation writing.
7:09 – Justin talks about how he got into animation.
9:19 – Justin talks about the business side of doing a webcomic.
12:54 – Justin talks about plotting his webcomic in advance.
16:36 – Justin talks about Hunter Black’s alignment.
18:29 – Justin talks about the character’s anger.
19:36 – Justin talks about working in the comic industry and starting out by creating an ashcan issue.
24:31 – Justin talks about the length of comic book scripts.
25:01 – Justin talks about the additional work he did and the failure of a comic series pitch.
27:24 – Justin talks about the difference between comic book and animation writing.
27:59 – Justin talks about his connection with the Sonic game.
29:24 – Justin talks about seeing the game as a puzzle and writing for video games
31:45 – Justin talks about his ashcan comic.
33:10 – Justin talks about his favorite comic books and how much he loved DC comics.
36:56 – Justin talks about the Marvel Cinematic Universe and their success.
39:27 – Justin talks about attending comic book conventions. He also discusses connecting with Geoff Johns.
42:46 – Justin talks about being inspired by Star Wars, GI Joe, and other things.
45:14 – Justin talks about the role-playing games he played. He goes into detail about a Star Trek game he’s playing.
51:49 – Justin talks about the fantasy he enjoys including Tolkien.
56:43 – Justin talks about his writing process.
59:19 – Justin talks about working in an animation writers’ room.
1:01:34 – Justin talks about working at the Hard Rock Hotel and other work he did.
1:04:39 – Justin talks about having loved Narnia and John Carter of Mars.
1:09:21 – Justin talks about playing sports.
1:11:03 – Justin talks about when he first started writing.
1:13:50 – Justin talks about his high school experience.
1:17:35 – Justin talks about his favorite comic movies.
1:21:05 – We discuss Tony Russo, the 70s, and Spider into the Spider-Verse.
1:22:50 – Justin talks about his favorite shows.
1:26:37 – Justin talks about the Sonic show.
1:29:15 – Justin can be found at hunterblackcomics.com and on twitter at hunterblackcomx and at justinpeniston.com and at the Popskl podcast group. Also hunterblackwriter on Instagram.
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/3a84i3f
https://hunterblackcomics.com/
https://www.justinpeniston.com/
https://twitter.com/HunterBlackComx
https://www.facebook.com/moose0225
https://www.instagram.com/hunterblackwriter/
https://www.]]> Cris Alvarez full false 1:34:40 19811 http://crisalvarez.com/2021/04/05/how-the-japanese-imperial-system-inspired-a-sci-fi-book-series-with-juliette-wade/allthesciencefiction/ Tue, 06 Apr 2021 01:34:33 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=19792 How the Japanese imperial system inspired a sci-fi book series with Juliette Wade Check the book out here https://amzn.to/39KwCbD Interview Timeline Juliette Wade loves to learn and has degrees in both anthropology and linguistics. She…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2021/04/05/how-the-japanese-imperial-system-inspired-a-sci-fi-book-series-with-juliette-wade/allthesciencefiction/">Read More</a></p> How the Japanese imperial system inspired a sci-fi book series with Juliette Wade Check the book out here https://amzn.to/39KwCbD Interview Timeline Juliette Wade loves to learn and has degrees in both anthropology and linguistics. She…Read More How the Japanese imperial system inspired a sci-fi book series with Juliette Wade
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Interview Timeline
Juliette Wade loves to learn and has degrees in both anthropology and linguistics. She is also a writer of speculative fiction and uses her knowledge to examine our society in her fantastic worlds. We talked about her latest book, about sci-fi and her inspirations. Transgressions of Power (DAW, 2021)
0:28 – Juliette talks about why she wrote this series.
1:32 – Juliette talks about the basics of the book.
5:14 – Juliette talks about the book incorrectly being labeled as post-apocalyptic and galactic empire style.
6:53 – Juliette talks about the research she did for the book.
8:32 – Juliette talks about the books caste system.
11:17 – Juliette talks about the size of her world.
13:18 – Juliette talks about the grounding of her caste system.
14:44 – Juliette talks about the use of violence in her novel.
16:26 – Juliette talks about the sci-fi and fantasy writers she likes.
18:12 – Juliette talks about the aesthetic fell of the book.
22:12 – Juliette talks about the age of the society and the social dynamics in her series.
26:13 – Juliette talks about her writing process.
29:50 – Juliette talks about character shame and guilt in the story.
33:15 – Juliette talks about tracking the elements in her novel.
36:11 – Juliette talks about how her approach to writing has changed.
37:58 – Juliette talks about becoming more science focused.
39:30 – Juliette talks about the language in the book.
42:55 – Juliette talks about Narnia and other fictional places she loved. She also talks about horror being difficult for her.
45:50 – Juliette talks about reading works at different stages of her life.
52:20 – Juliette talks about plot tropes she avoids.
54:12 – Juliette can be found at Juliettewade.com and on twitter, facebook and instagram.
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/39KwCbD
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/607291/transgressions-of-power-by-juliette-wade/
https://juliettewade.com/
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast. Please see historyrabbithole.com for a list of my dozen or so blogs and podcasts. You’re sure to find something you like.
Guests: Juliette Wade
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: Books, audio interviews, author, podcast, DAW, science fiction,
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/39KwCbD
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 57:12 19792 http://crisalvarez.com/2021/03/29/the-strange-rivalry-between-british-fantasy-writers-with-hadas-elber-aviram/allthefantasy/ Tue, 30 Mar 2021 01:14:59 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=19777 The strange rivalry between British fantasy writers with Hadas Elber-Aviram Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3wdpdeu Interview Timeline Hadas Elber-Aviram has loved fantasy since she was small and studied as a graduate student. She recently…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2021/03/29/the-strange-rivalry-between-british-fantasy-writers-with-hadas-elber-aviram/allthefantasy/">Read More</a></p> The strange rivalry between British fantasy writers with Hadas Elber-Aviram Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3wdpdeu Interview Timeline Hadas Elber-Aviram has loved fantasy since she was small and studied as a graduate student. The strange rivalry between British fantasy writers with Hadas Elber-Aviram
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3wdpdeu
Interview Timeline
Hadas Elber-Aviram has loved fantasy since she was small and studied as a graduate student. She recently released a book about British fantasy writers and their use of London in their fiction. We spoke about the book and British fantasy. Fairy Tales of London: British Urban Fantasy, 1840 to the Present (Bloomsbury Academic, 2021)
0:37 – Hadas talks about why she started studying fantasy.
2:23 – Hadas talks about why she compared rural and urban fantasy authors.
5:07 – Hadas talks about where these fantasy authors lived.
6:24 – Hadas talks about why London was so disliked.
7:47 – Hadas talks about the positive aspects of London that authors wrote about.
9:24 – Hadas talks about the authors she covers in the book and what she discusses about each.
14:41 – Hadas talks about how many rural writers existed post WWII.
16:43 – Hadas talks about Tolkien’s attitudes.
18:24 – Hadas talks urban writers’ approaches to the urban.
20:09 – Hadas talks about looking at London in a fantastic way.
23:24 – Hadas contrasts the physical aspect of London versus the people who lived there.
26:14 – Hadas talks more about London Architecture and how it’s made fantastic.
28:34 – Hadas discusses the use of London and other cities in fantasy before 1840.
31:07 – Hadas talks about magical spots in London.
34:38 – Hadas talks about her research methods.
37:41 – Hadas goes into detail about an HG Wells story.
40:12 – Hadas talks about reading stories where they are located and about urban fantasy as a tour guide.
41:55 – Hadas talks about enjoying walking through London.
45:21 – Hadas talks about not including J.G. Bollard.
46:18 – Hadas talks about the tragedy of Mervyn Peake.
50:17 – Hadas talks about the label urban fantasy.
52:07 – We discuss the journey in Dracula and then “cozy catastrophes”.
58:40 – Hadas can be found at the University of Notre Dame, London.
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/3wdpdeu
https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/fairy-tales-of-london-9781350110687/
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast. Please see historyrabbithole.com for a list of my dozen or so blogs and podcasts. You’re sure to find something you like.
Guests: Hadas Elber-Aviram
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: Books, audio interviews, author, academic, podcast, Bloomsbury, fantasy, literature, literary studies,
Check the book out here full false 1:01:15 19777 http://crisalvarez.com/2021/03/22/how-a-slow-burning-idea-of-a-lonely-cabin-in-the-woods-became-a-sci-fi-novel-with-david-arnold/allthesciencefiction/ Mon, 22 Mar 2021 23:35:11 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=19737 How a slow-burning idea of a lonely cabin in the woods became a sci-fi novel with David Arnold Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3997wTw Interview Timeline David Arnold spent many years as a freelance musician…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2021/03/22/how-a-slow-burning-idea-of-a-lonely-cabin-in-the-woods-became-a-sci-fi-novel-with-david-arnold/allthesciencefiction/">Read More</a></p> How a slow-burning idea of a lonely cabin in the woods became a sci-fi novel with David Arnold Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3997wTw Interview Timeline David Arnold spent many years as a freelance musician…Read More How a slow-burning idea of a lonely cabin in the woods became a sci-fi novel with David Arnold
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3997wTw
Interview Timeline
David Arnold spent many years as a freelance musician before turning to writing. He has completed his fourth novel, a post-apocalyptic survival novel. We spoke about the novel, what makes sci-fi, and the process of writing. The Electric Kingdom (Viking Books, 2021)
0:29 – David talks about why he wrote this novel.
3:15 – David talks about the book’s connection with his son’s birth.
4:36 – David talks about the details of the book.
7:05 – David talks about the undefinable nature of his book where it may or may not have fantastic elements.
9:11 – David and I discuss Andrei Tarkovsky.
11:22 – David talks about the research he did for the book.
15:14 – David talks about the settings of his books.
16:48 – David talks about having been a Nashville musician and loving Christopher Nolan movies.
20:54 – David talks about the plague in his book and Covid. He also talks about health issues he had to deal with while writing the book.
24:07 – David talks about reflecting life experiences in his writing.
26:04 – David talks about the musical feel of the book.
28:04 – David talks about writing songs.
29:31 – David talks about the book being categorized as being for young adults.
34:00 – David talks about the editing of his book.
36:09 – David talks about his writing process.
38:22 – David talks about reading his own work out loud.
39:54 – David talks about editing his work and creating and editing his music.
42:47 – David talks about how his writing has changed over time.
44:32 – David talks about his enjoyment of writing.
47:11 – David talks about the jobs he has had including pre-school teacher.
48:53 – David talks about how his writing was impacted by picture books.
50:55 – David talks about the size of the book’s draft.
53:36 – David talks about being obsessed with Jurassic Park.
56:57 – David talks about how his book was published.
57:51 – David can be found at davidarnoldbooks.com and on instagram @iamdavidarnold.
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/3997wTw
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/624806/the-electric-kingdom-by-david-arnold/
http://davidarnoldbooks.com/
https://www.instagram.com/iamdavidarnold/
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast. Please see historyrabbithole.]]> Cris Alvarez full false 59:53 19737 http://crisalvarez.com/2021/03/15/how-female-cross-dressing-intrigued-the-british-literary-world-with-ula-klein/allthewriters/ Tue, 16 Mar 2021 00:46:10 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=19712 How female cross-dressing intrigued the British literary world with Ula Klein Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3cuWmcM Interview Timeline Ula Lukszo Klein is Director of Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh.…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2021/03/15/how-female-cross-dressing-intrigued-the-british-literary-world-with-ula-klein/allthewriters/">Read More</a></p> How female cross-dressing intrigued the British literary world with Ula Klein Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3cuWmcM Interview Timeline Ula Lukszo Klein is Director of Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh.…Read More How female cross-dressing intrigued the British literary world with Ula Klein
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3cuWmcM
Interview Timeline
Ula Lukszo Klein is Director of Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh. She recently published a book on women cross-dressing in 18th century British literature and we spoke about the book and the subject. Sapphic Crossings: Cross-Dressing Women in Eighteenth-Century British Literature (Peculiar Bodies) (University of Virginia Press, 2021)
Note: This episode is rated Parental Guidance due to sexual references.
0:39 – Ula talks about how she got into writing on cross-dressing in 18th century British literature.
2:19 – Ula talks about how she focuses the book.
4:37 – Ula talks about modern female cross-dressing.
7:02 – Ula talks about reasons for cross-dressing in the past.
11:26 – Ula talks about how to differentiate between lesbianism and transgender identity in historic literature.
15:26 – Ula talks about the laws at the time about cross-dressing.
18:17 – Ula talks about the clothes worn by cross-dressers.
21:24 – Ula talks about women acting on stage.
22:46 – Ula talks about men having women dress as men.
25:07 – Ula talks about hair length, tattoos, jewelry and gender.
28:18 – Ula talks about the openness of this literature.
31:31 – Ula talks about Gothic literature and cross-dressing.
33:42 – Ula talks about being surprised at how often women would find cross-dressers attractive.
36:03 – Ula talks about Joan of Arc and the Amazon myth.
38:10 – Ula talks about her research.
42:34 – Ula talks about the use of make-up.
44:30 – Ula talks about gender norms at this time.
47:54 – Ula talks about sexuality at this time.
48:54 – Ula talks about wanting to know more about the real women who cross-dressed.
52:12 – Ula talks about one story that really moved her in the research.
1:03:26 – Ula talks about how she improved her writing style.
1:06:28 – Ula talks about 18th century tourism and queer people engaged in travel.
1:10:05 – Ula is on twitter @kleinula and at sapphiccrossings.weebly.com. She also talks about painting Star Wars art.
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/3cuWmcM
https://www.upress.virginia.edu/title/5438
https://twitter.com/kleinula
https://sapphiccrossings.weebly.com/
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast. Please see historyrabbithole.com for a list of my dozen or so blogs and podcasts. You’re sure to find something you like.
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 1:14:43 19712 http://crisalvarez.com/2021/03/08/how-sweden-adopted-french-knightly-romances-and-europeanized-itself-with-sofia-loden/allthemythology/ Mon, 08 Mar 2021 23:23:25 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=19668 How Sweden adopted French knightly romances and Europeanized itself with Sofia Loden Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3ccvKgt Interview Timeline Sofia Loden is a Pro Futura Scientia XII Fellow at Stockholm University and the Swedish…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2021/03/08/how-sweden-adopted-french-knightly-romances-and-europeanized-itself-with-sofia-loden/allthemythology/">Read More</a></p> How Sweden adopted French knightly romances and Europeanized itself with Sofia Loden Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3ccvKgt Interview Timeline Sofia Loden is a Pro Futura Scientia XII Fellow at Stockholm University and the Swedish…Read More How Sweden adopted French knightly romances and Europeanized itself with Sofia Loden
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3ccvKgt
Interview Timeline
Sofia Loden is a Pro Futura Scientia XII Fellow at Stockholm University and the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in Uppsala. She has a strong interest in Arthurian romances and French romance literature. She recently released a book on Swedish translations of French romances. We spoke about the book, medieval literature and books, and the Arthurian legend. French Romance, Medieval Sweden and the Europeanisation of Culture (DS Brewer, 2021)
0:32 – Sofia talks about why she wrote a book on French knightly romances.
3:01 – Sofia discusses the time periods the French and Swedish texts are from.
4:03 – Sofia talks about the cultures these French romances existed in.
6:05 – Sofia talks about who read these books.
7:22 – Sofia talks about what Swedish writing existed before these French romances were translated.
8:45 – Sofia talks about who translated these books.
14:25 – Sofia talks about what the Swedish texts focused on.
16:18 – Sofia talks in detail about the texts.
19:36 – Sofia talks about the story of the knight and the lion.
22:15 – Sofia talks about Scandinavian myths and the division between East and West Scandinavia.
24:10 – Sofia talks about the presence of magic in these stories.
26:02 – Sofia talks about the French language.
28:08 – Sofia talks about the influence of the Swedish texts.
29:38 – Sofia talks about effects on modern literature.
33:12 – Sofia talks about Swedish readers of these texts.
35:29 – Sofia talks about romance, love, and status in these texts.
36:59 – Sofia talks about the status of women in the texts.
38:46 – Sofia talks about the books themselves.
39:34 – Sofia talks about her research methods and where the books are kept.
42:12 – Sofia discusses Europeanization of the texts.
43:33 – Sofia wishes she knew who did the translations.
45:32 – Sofia talks about Swedish romance literature.
47:28 – Sofia talks about the interplay between French, German and Swedish cultures.
50:09 – Sofia talks about things Swedish translators had trouble with and how the stories were read to audiences.
56:11 – Sofia talks about her current work on Arthurian romances and the many countries in which the legend is found.
1:00:37 – Sofia can be found on her university’s website at the Stockholm University Swedish Collegium for Advanced Studies.
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/3ccvKgt
https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781843845829/french-romance-medieval-sweden-and-the-europeanisation-of-culture/
https://www.su.se/english/profiles/solo4246-1.195144
http://www.swedishcollegium.se/subfolders/Fellows/Profutura/Sofia_Loden.html
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi,]]> Cris Alvarez full false 1:02:52 19668 http://crisalvarez.com/2021/03/01/nicole-glover-discusses-her-new-fantasy-historical-novel-the-conductors-john-joseph-adams-2021/allthefantasy/ Tue, 02 Mar 2021 01:00:23 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=19660 How Nicole Glover wrote a fantasy novel about historic Philadelphia and the Underground Railroad Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3uUG4lY Interview Timeline The Conductors is Nicole Glover’s debut novel. She is a fantasy fan and…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2021/03/01/nicole-glover-discusses-her-new-fantasy-historical-novel-the-conductors-john-joseph-adams-2021/allthefantasy/">Read More</a></p> How Nicole Glover wrote a fantasy novel about historic Philadelphia and the Underground Railroad Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3uUG4lY Interview Timeline The Conductors is Nicole Glover’s debut novel. She is a fantasy fan and…Read More How Nicole Glover wrote a fantasy novel about historic Philadelphia and the Underground Railroad
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3uUG4lY
Interview Timeline
The Conductors is Nicole Glover’s debut novel. She is a fantasy fan and enjoys exploring historic places. We spoke about the novel, Philadelphia, her writing process, and fantasy in general. The Conductors (John Joseph Adams, 2021)
0:31 – Nicole talks about why she wrote this book.
1:58 – Nicole describes what the book is about.
3:16 – Nicole talks about magic in this world.
5:19 – Nicole talks about whether she created her own magic systems or took from traditional magic systems.
6:48 – Nicole talks about why she set the book in Philadelphia.
9:19 – Nicole talks about having wanted to visit Philadelphia.
12:04 – Nicole talks about researching everyday items.
13:19 – Nicole talks about locations in Philly she researched.
14:33 – Nicole talks about how she planned out her magic system.
15:40 – Nicole talks about her magic users.
17:27 – Nicole talks about the things that inspire her.
19:22 – Nicole talks about the shows she likes.
21:39 – Nicole talks about watching history shows.
23:32 – Nicole talks about her writing process.
27:56 – Nicole talks about how her approach to writing has changed over time.
31:37 – Nicole talks about the complaints that would bother her.
34:57 – Nicole talks about which characters represent her.
35:46 – Nicole talks about non-writing work she’s done such as psych studies.
37:39 – Nicole talks about the soundtrack and feel of the book is.
38:23 – Nicole talks about editing the book.
40:34 – Nicole talks about having loved Sailor Moon.
41:58 – Nicole talks about cosplaying.
42:29 – Nicole talks about getting the book published.
45:23 – Nicole talks about her current work.
45:56 – Nicole can be found at nicole-glover.com and on twitter @nicoleglower
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/3uUG4lY
http://www.johnjosephadams.com/projects/the-conductors/
https://nicole-glover.com/
https://twitter.com/nicoleglower/status/1362511205424787457?s=21
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast. Please see historyrabbithole.com for a list of my dozen or so blogs and podcasts. You’re sure to find something you like.
Guests: Nicole Glover
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: Books, audio interviews, author, podcast, John Joseph Adams, fantasy, historical fiction,
full false 49:42 19660 http://crisalvarez.com/2021/02/22/k-lyn-wurth-discusses-her-western-historical-novel-the-not-so-quiet-life-of-calamity-jane-five-star-2021/allthehistoricalfiction/ Tue, 23 Feb 2021 02:49:04 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=19648 What Calamity Jane’s life might really have been like – Interview with Western author K. Lyn Wurth Check the book out here https://amzn.to/37Croh8 Interview Timeline K Lyn Wurth has written many western stories and novels…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2021/02/22/k-lyn-wurth-discusses-her-western-historical-novel-the-not-so-quiet-life-of-calamity-jane-five-star-2021/allthehistoricalfiction/">Read More</a></p> What Calamity Jane’s life might really have been like – Interview with Western author K. Lyn Wurth Check the book out here https://amzn.to/37Croh8 Interview Timeline K Lyn Wurth has written many western stories and novels…Read More What Calamity Jane’s life might really have been like – Interview with Western author K. Lyn Wurth
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/37Croh8
Interview Timeline
K Lyn Wurth has written many western stories and novels and she recently wrote a historical novel about western heroine Martha “Calamity” Jane. We spoke about women in the west, Calamity Jane, and K Lyn’s writing process. The Not So Quiet Life of Calamity Jane (Five Star, 2021)
1:34 – K Lyn talks about why she wrote about Calamity Jane.
3:05 – K Lyn talks about her approach to writing about Calamity Jane’s life. She discusses the historians whose work she used.
4:17 – K Lyn talks about some of the research she did for the novel.
4:55 – K Lyn talks about the places she visited that are associated with Calamity Jane.
5:40 – K Lyn talks about what made Calamity Jane famous.
6:43 – K Lyn talks about the female perspective on Calamity Jane.
8:13 – K Lyn talks about modern society’s approach to a history of women in the Wild West.
8:57 – K Lyn talk about how common Calamity’s rough experiences were in the west.
12:09 K Lyn talks about Calamity Jane lying about her age.
13:00 – K Lyn talks about playing guitar.
13:39 – K Lyn talks about her love of movies.
14:12 – K Lyn talks about Calamity being a mother.
15:30 – K Lyn talks about Calamity being illiterate.
16:34 – K Lyn talks about the reasons she thinks Calamity lied about her life.
18:17 – K Lyn talks about trying to piece together Calamity Jane’s life.
20:13 – K Lyn talks about Calamity being a battered wife.
21:06 – K Lyn talks about the musical feel to the book and Calamity’s enjoyment of saloons.
23:05 – K Lyn talks about how she does her writing.
24:08 – K Lyn talks about creating side characters and characters that don’t exist.
25:29 – K Lyn talks about when she started writing novel.
26:47 – K Lyn talks about voice in writing.
29:09 – K Lyn talks about how long her drafts used to be.
31:11 – K Lyn talks about mostly doing western writing and her Nebraska novels.
33:01 – K Lyn talks about having been an emergency medical technicians.
35:03 – K Lyn talks about how magical living in the big thicket area of Texas was.
38:23 – K Lyn talks about struggling with the end of the book.
40:59 – K Lyn talks about developing a book based on another historical character.
42:42 – K Lyn can be found at klynwurth.net
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/37Croh8
https://www.klynwurth.net/
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast. Please see historyrabbithole.]]> Cris Alvarez full false 45:05 19648 http://crisalvarez.com/2021/02/15/scott-peeples-discusses-his-book-about-edgar-allan-poe-the-man-of-the-crowd-princeton-university-press-2020/allthehorror/ Mon, 15 Feb 2021 23:46:24 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=19625 Where did Edgar Allan Poe live and create his masterpieces with Scott Peeples Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3qo7cXD Interview Timeline Scott Peeples is a professor of literature and has written three books on Edgar…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2021/02/15/scott-peeples-discusses-his-book-about-edgar-allan-poe-the-man-of-the-crowd-princeton-university-press-2020/allthehorror/">Read More</a></p> Where did Edgar Allan Poe live and create his masterpieces with Scott Peeples Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3qo7cXD Interview Timeline Scott Peeples is a professor of literature and has written three books on Edgar…Read More Where did Edgar Allan Poe live and create his masterpieces with Scott Peeples
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3qo7cXD
Interview Timeline
Scott Peeples is a professor of literature and has written three books on Edgar Allan Poe and has co-authored a handbook on Poe. We spoke about his latest book on Poe and his experiences in four major cities Poe lived in. Edgar Allan Poe and the City Princeton University Press, 2020
0:34 – Scott talks about why he started studying and writing about Edgar Allan Poe.
2:21 – Scott talks about the cities Poe had lived in and how it impacted his work. We touch on his Baltimore connections.
5:07 – Scott talks about the growth of the cities Poe lived in – Richmond, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York.
6:33 – Scott talks about slavery in Richmond and how that may have impacted Poe’s writing.
9:39 – Scott talks about Poe’s exposure to poverty in these cities, especially Baltimore.
11:16 – Scott talks about Poe’s exposure to the rich in these cities.
12:15 – Scott talks about Poe’s ideas about ancient architecture.
14:01 – Scott talks about Poe’s writing on New York City.
16:01 – Scott talks about the city elements that Poe highlighted.
18:16 – Scott talks about the order Poe lived in the various cities and why he moved around.
20:21 – Scott talks about Poe always being on the move.
22:18 – Scott talks about the locations Poe was drawn to.
25:43 – Scott talks about Poe’s difficulties in moving his writing supplies and equipment around.
27:58 – Scott talks about where in Richmond Poe lived.
31:16 – Scott talks about the documents he had available to do this research.
33:39 – Scott talks about business documents related to Poe’s movements.
34:49 – Scott talks about when Poe become famous.
36:11 – Scott talks about the interest in Gothic poetry in Poe’s time.
38:10 – Scott talks about the Poe Society of Baltimore’s archived material.
40:23 – Scott talks about the fights Poe would get into.
42:20 – Scott talks about Poe and regionalism.
44:38 – Scott talks about Poe’s drinking.
46:35 – Scott talks about the bars and hospitals in Poe’s cities.
48:46 – Scott talks about visiting the cities Poe had lived in.
51:21 – Scott talks about Poe’s letter writing.
52:17 – Scott talks about how much writing Poe did.
54:12 – Scott talks about wishing he understood Poe’s work days better.
57:28 – Scott talks about why Poe became a writer.
59:29 – Scott talks about Poe’s rough personality.
1:01:28 – Scott talks about the effect of Poe’s early death on his celebrity.
1:02:23 – Scott talks about Poe’s opium use.
1:03:17 – Scott talks about Poe’s childhood.
1:07:16 – Scott talks about the photographs used in the book.
1:10:54 – Scott can be found @lscottpeeples on twitter and is on academia.edu
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/3qo7cXD
https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691182407/the-man-of-the-crowd
https://cofc.academia.edu/ScottPeeples
https://twitter.com/lscottpeeples
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com,]]> Cris Alvarez full false 1:13:23 19625 http://crisalvarez.com/2021/02/08/sarah-read-discusses-her-bram-stoker-award-winning-horror-novel-bone-weavers-orchard-journal-stone-2019/allthehorror/ Tue, 09 Feb 2021 03:56:26 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=19620 How a spider queen won a Bram Stoker award for her first novel with Sarah Read Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2Naauis Interview Timeline Sarah Read is author of the 2019 Bram Stoker award for…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2021/02/08/sarah-read-discusses-her-bram-stoker-award-winning-horror-novel-bone-weavers-orchard-journal-stone-2019/allthehorror/">Read More</a></p> How a spider queen won a Bram Stoker award for her first novel with Sarah Read Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2Naauis Interview Timeline Sarah Read is author of the 2019 Bram Stoker award for…Read More How a spider queen won a Bram Stoker award for her first novel with Sarah Read
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2Naauis
Interview Timeline
Sarah Read is author of the 2019 Bram Stoker award for best first novel. She’s also a librarian and a fiction editor. We spoke about her novel, her gothic interests, her editing and ghost writing work, and her passion for fountain pens. Bone Weaver’s Orchard (Journal Stone, 2019)
0:42 – Sarah talks about why she wrote this book.
1:24 – Sarah talks about the details of the book.
3:14 – Sarah talks about her spiders.
3:46 – Sarah talks about research she did for the book.
6:11 – Sarah talks about how much she knows the history of the period of her book.
8:17 – Sarah talks about the horror atmosphere of her book. Then she discusses the things that inspire her.
9:59 – Sarah talks about her love of books.
11:38 – Sarah talks about the sound qualities of the book.
12:28 – Sarah talks about her writing process.
14:30 – Sarah talks about using a computer to finish her drafts.
16:38 – Sarah talks about what winning an award affected her writing.
20:00 – Sarah talks about post-WWII horror. She also discusses her next two novels.
21:29 – Sarah talks about Pantheon magazine and its hiatus.
22:23 – Sarah talks about her editing work.
23:32 – Sarah talks about teaching literature. She talks about her grandmother instilling a love of Gothic literature.
25:32 – Sarah talks about how she started writing.
27:08 – Sarah talks about her poetry.
28:51 – Sarah talks about ghostwriting.
32:06 – Sarah talks about underwriting her drafts.
35:34 – Sarah talks about how to balance the elements of her novel.
37:41 – Sarah talks about the lyricism of her writing.
39:13 – Sarah talks about epic fantasy writing.
42:49 – Sarah talks about wanting ghosts to be real when she was young.
46:38 – Sarah recalls growing up around wilderness areas.
49:01 – Sarah talks about the publishing process.
53:03 – Sarah can be found on twitter and instagram @inkwellmonster and inkwellmonster.wordpress.com. She also talks about her interest in fountain pens.
55:43 – Sarah talks how she writes with her fountains pens and using blotting paper.
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/2Naauis
https://journalstone.com/bookstore/the-bone-weavers-orchard/
https://inkwellmonster.wordpress.com/
https://twitter.com/inkwellmonster
https://www.instagram.com/inkwellmonster/
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / Stitcher / Spotify for the po...]]> Cris Alvarez full false 1:00:37 19620 http://crisalvarez.com/2021/01/31/owl-goingback-interview-about-his-horror-novel-coyote-rage-independent-legions-publishing-2019/allthehorror/ Mon, 01 Feb 2021 04:01:00 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=19603 Secrets and successes of an award winning monster writer with Owl Goingback Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2MdOm72 Interview Timeline Owl Goingback has been writing for over thirty years and has released many types of…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2021/01/31/owl-goingback-interview-about-his-horror-novel-coyote-rage-independent-legions-publishing-2019/allthehorror/">Read More</a></p> Secrets and successes of an award winning monster writer with Owl Goingback Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2MdOm72 Interview Timeline Owl Goingback has been writing for over thirty years and has released many types of…Read More Secrets and successes of an award winning monster writer with Owl Goingback
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2MdOm72
Interview Timeline
Owl Goingback has been writing for over thirty years and has released many types of fiction including numerous horror short stories and novels. He won the Bram Stoker award for best first novel and most recently the Bram Stoker Award for the best novel of 2019, Coyote Rage. We spoke about the novel, his writing process, and some of the things that led him into writing horror. Coyote Rage, Independent Legions Publishing, 2019
0:39 – Owl talks about why he wrote Coyote Rage.
2:26 – Owl talks about the Native American traditions he’s familiar with.
4:11 – Owl talks about Coyote Rage.
5:51 – Owl talks about the genre of his novel and the stories he heard growing up.
6:42 – Owl talks about traditional tales and storytelling.
8:30 – Owl talks about his writing process and what he writes about. He talks about the importance of books to him.
9:39 – Owl talks about how he got books when he was young.
12:07 – Owl talks about wanting to find Bigfoot and UFOs. He talks about an event that partially inspired his novel Crota.
13:39 – Owl talks about when he started writing fiction and what kept him writing fiction.
15:31 – Owl talks how he learned writing.
16:13 – Owl talks about all the pop shows that he likes.
18:26 – Owl talks about the music that goes with Coyote Rage.
19:12 – Owl talks about his writing process.
20:35 – Owl talks about whether his writing has changed after winning awards.
22:21 – Owl talks about horror ideas that might have been over the line.
24:17 – Owl talks about the classic monsters he loves the most.
25:58 – Owl talks about his time in the Air Force and also being a historic cemetery caretaker.
27:37 – Owl talks about Poe and Lovecraft.
29:18 – Owl talks about the the things he liked when he was young such as lost civilizations.
32:08 – Owl talks about Aztecs and Native Americans.
33:19 – Owl talks about his new monster anthology.
40:29 – Owl can be found at owlgoingback.com, @ogoingback on twitter, and on facebook.
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/2MdOm72
https://www.independentlegions.com/store/p148/coyoterage.html
https://www.owlgoingback.com/
https://twitter.com/OGoingback
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100014562218135
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast. Please see historyrabbithole.]]> Cris Alvarez full false 43:10 19603 http://crisalvarez.com/2020/12/18/brian-herskowitz-talks-about-developing-characters-for-screenplays-from-his-book-process-to-product/allthefilmhistory/ Fri, 18 Dec 2020 20:31:26 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=19559 How to develop characters for screenplays with Brian Herskowitz Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3iZJv3Z Interview Timeline LEARN HOW TO DEVELOP SCREENPLAY CHARACTERS. Brian Herskowitz is a screenwriter and producer and has many credits to…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2020/12/18/brian-herskowitz-talks-about-developing-characters-for-screenplays-from-his-book-process-to-product/allthefilmhistory/">Read More</a></p> How to develop characters for screenplays with Brian Herskowitz Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3iZJv3Z Interview Timeline LEARN HOW TO DEVELOP SCREENPLAY CHARACTERS. Brian Herskowitz is a screenwriter and producer and has many credits to…Read ... How to develop characters for screenplays with Brian Herskowitz
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3iZJv3Z
Interview Timeline
LEARN HOW TO DEVELOP SCREENPLAY CHARACTERS.
Brian Herskowitz is a screenwriter and producer and has many credits to his name including Tour of Duty, Tio Papi, Hercules, scifi and horror movies, and a documentary on domestic violence. In part 4 of this teaching screenwriting series he explains how to develop your characters.
0:35 – Brian introduces character development.
1:46 – Brian talks about how many characters to create for a story.
4:15 – Brian talks about motivation and consistency in character.
7:45 – Brian talks about foreshadowing in character development.
12:18 – Brian talks about how plot and setting defines character development.
17:29 – Brian talks about characters as seen by different cultures.
20:22 – Brian talks about setting as a character.
24:44 – Brian talks about characters having too many strengths.
25:54 – Brian talks about believing a character’s change.
28:02 – Brian talks about the relatability of characters.
34:35 – Brian talks about traveling angel tropes.
36:22 – Brian talks about the nuts and bolts of creating a character.
42:24 – Brian talks about having unique characters.
49:38 – Brian talks about commonalities between characters.
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/3iZJv3Z
https://www.brianherskowitz.com/
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast. Please see historyrabbithole.com for a list of my dozen or so blogs and podcasts. You’re sure to find something you like.
Guests: Brian Herskowitz
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: audio interviews, author, podcast, film history,
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3iZJv3Z
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

]]> Cris Alvarez full false 1:01:51 19559 http://crisalvarez.com/2020/12/09/elizabeth-bear-interview-about-her-sci-fi-novel-the-machine-gallery-saga-2020/allthesciencefiction/ Wed, 09 Dec 2020 13:53:01 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=19552 Elizabeth Bear interview about her sci-fi novel “The Machine” Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3qGQ2VS Interview Timeline Elizabeth Bear is a prolific sci-fi and fantasy writer. She’s the Astounding Award, a Hugo, and other awards…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2020/12/09/elizabeth-bear-interview-about-her-sci-fi-novel-the-machine-gallery-saga-2020/allthesciencefiction/">Read More</a></p> Elizabeth Bear interview about her sci-fi novel “The Machine” Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3qGQ2VS Interview Timeline Elizabeth Bear is a prolific sci-fi and fantasy writer. She’s the Astounding Award, a Hugo, and other awards…Read More Elizabeth Bear interview about her sci-fi novel “The Machine”
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3qGQ2VS
Interview Timeline
Elizabeth Bear is a prolific sci-fi and fantasy writer. She’s the Astounding Award, a Hugo, and other awards for her work. She recently released the second book in her space opera series, “The Machine”. We spoke about the book, the pandemic, role playing games, and her writing process
0:50 – Elizabeth talks about The Machine and the series it’s part of.
2:15 – Elizabeth talks about the details of her book.
4:30 – Elizabeth talks about whether she would have re-written the book with Covid in mind.
6:05 – Elizabeth talks about Covid’s impact on sci fi stories.
7:43 – Elizabeth talks about whether pre-Covid scifi set on the Earth is dated.
12:37 – Elizabeth talks about her Lovecraftian novelette.
15:06 – Elizabeth talks about horror and fear.
17:41 – Elizabeth talks about where her novelette idea came from.
20:59 – Elizabeth talks about research she did for her
25:04 – Elizabeth talks about what inspires her imagination.
26:45 – Elizabeth talks about having studied anthropology.
29:04 – We discuss knowledge and action.
30:53 – Elizabeth talks about the musical feel of The Machine.
34:34 – Elizabeth talks about her writing.
37:48 – Elizabeth talks about being an underwriter.
40:57 – Elizabeth talks about the effects of winning awards [on] her
45:57 – Elizabeth talks about experiences and writing.
51:44 – Elizabeth talks about wanting to be a dragonrider.
54:52 – Elizabeth talks about being a third generation sci fi reader.
57:22 – Elizabeth talks about playing D&D in 6th grade and on.
1:02:42 – Elizabeth talks about getting published and difficulties.
1:07:32 – Elizabeth can be found at ElizabethBear.com
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/3qGQ2VS
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Machine/Elizabeth-Bear/White-Space/9781534403017
https://www.elizabethbear.com/
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast. Please see historyrabbithole.com for a list of my dozen or so blogs and podcasts. You’re sure to find something you like.
Guests: Elizabeth Bear
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: Books, audio interviews, author, podcast, Gallery Saga, Tor, science fiction, horror, fiction, Hugo award, Astounding award,
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3qGQ2VS
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 1:09:08 19552 http://crisalvarez.com/2020/11/29/jonathan-janz-interview-about-his-new-horror-novel-the-raven-flame-tree-press-2020/allthehorror/ Sun, 29 Nov 2020 23:14:36 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=19501 How the evil and the dead may save the world in a new horror novel with Jonathan Janz Check the book out here https://amzn.to/39n98tX Interview Timeline Jonathan Janz has written over a dozen novels focusing…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2020/11/29/jonathan-janz-interview-about-his-new-horror-novel-the-raven-flame-tree-press-2020/allthehorror/">Read More</a></p> How the evil and the dead may save the world in a new horror novel with Jonathan Janz Check the book out here https://amzn.to/39n98tX Interview Timeline Jonathan Janz has written over a dozen novels focusing…Read More How the evil and the dead may save the world in a new horror novel with Jonathan Janz
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/39n98tX
Interview Timeline
Jonathan Janz has written over a dozen novels focusing on horror. He recently recently the post-apocalyptic horror novel “The Raven”. We spoke about the book and his writing process. The Raven (Flame Tree Press, 2020)
0:31 – Jonathan talks about why he wrote “The Raven”.
2:17 – Jonathan discusses the genres he used in the novel.
4:41 – Jonathan talks about mixing genres in other novels.
5:57 – Jonathan talks about how he presents his monsters.
7:16 – Jonathan talks about why he set The Raven in a post-apocalyptic setting.
9:15 – Jonathan talks about researching the science aspects of his novel with a scientist friend of his.
12:55 – Jonathan goes into whether his monsters or more science based or magical.
14:44 – Jonathan talks about being inspired by Josh Malerman, writer of Birdbox, and Ryan Lewis who helped produce the movie.
18:00 – Jonathan talks about cheesy horror films.
20:40 – Jonathan discusses Karate Kid.
21:45 – Jonathan said The Raven might have a Junkie XML soundtrack or an Ennio Morricone one.
22:57 – Jonathan talks about his approach to writing.
24:50 – Jonathan talks about what makes horror.
27:14 – Jonathan talks about a play he thinks is horror but no one else properly does.
30:30 – Jonathan talks about Salem’s Lot.
32:16 – Jonathan talks about his writing process.
34:25 – Jonathan talks about how rough his editing process is.
36:12 – Jonathan talks about what he edits in his work.
38:52 – Jonathan talks about the complexities of his characters in relation to other characters.
42:29 – Jonathan talks about how he maps his characters and he talks about how he teaches film history.
45:13 – Jonathan talks about how his writing has changed over time.
49:36 – Jonathan talks about overwriting his novels.
51:47 – Jonathan talks about how quickly he writes.
53:53 – Jonathan talks about being a big Star Wars fan and loving the Neverending Story.
59:57 – Jonathan talks about working with deadlines.
1:04:20 – Jonathan can be found at twitter @jonathanjanz and on instagram @jonathan.janz
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/39n98tX
https://www.instagram.com/jonathan.janz/
https://twitter.com/JonathanJanz
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast. Please see historyrabbithole.com for a list of my dozen or so blogs and podcasts. You’re sure to find something you like.
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 1:07:07 19501 http://crisalvarez.com/2020/11/15/jonathan-lethem-interview-about-his-latest-science-fiction-novel-the-arrest-ecco-2020/allthesciencefiction/ Sun, 15 Nov 2020 21:19:20 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=19476 Jonathan Lethem interview about his latest science fiction novel “The Arrest” Check out this book here   https://amzn.to/32Mys8m Interview Timeline Jonathan Lethem is a prolific short story and novel writer. He’s written eleven novels and his…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2020/11/15/jonathan-lethem-interview-about-his-latest-science-fiction-novel-the-arrest-ecco-2020/allthesciencefiction/">Read More</a></p> Jonathan Lethem interview about his latest science fiction novel “The Arrest” Check out this book here   https://amzn.to/32Mys8m Interview Timeline Jonathan Lethem is a prolific short story and novel writer. He’s written eleven novels and his…Read More Jonathan Lethem interview about his latest science fiction novel “The Arrest”
Check out this book here   https://amzn.to/32Mys8m
Interview Timeline
Jonathan Lethem is a prolific short story and novel writer. He’s written eleven novels and his latest is The Arrest a science fiction novel about a semi-dystopian society. We spoke about the novel, about society, and about his writing process. The Arrest (Ecco, 2020)
0:32 – Jonathon talks about why he wrote The Arrest. He talks about setting it in Maine.
3:30 – Jonathon talks about the protagonist, setting, and conflict in the novel.
7:09 – Jonathon expands on why he chose to set the novel in Maine.
8:46 – Jonathon goes deeper into the “post-apocalyptic” setting of the book.
13:00 – Jonathon talks about how people communicate in his novel.
14:00 – Jonathon talks about growing up in an apocalyptic atmosphere.
15:35 – Jonathon talks about freedom and communication in his world.
16:51 – Jonathon talks about the research he did for the novel.
18:34 – Jonathon talks about things he learned about Maine.
20:35 – Jonathon talks about micro-differences in communities.
21:46 – Jonathon talks about the feel of the book.
22:39 – Jonathon talks about the musical feel to the book.
25:15 – Jonathon talks about one character being a script doctor and about his various interests.
27:19 – Jonathon talks about being a big reader.
27:53 – Jonathon talks about how he completes his novels.
30:07 – Jonathon talks about how his writing has changed over time.
32:06 – Jonathon started his career thinking he would be a painter.
34:01 – Jonathon talks about editing The Arrest and changing the novel’s POV.
35:16 – Jonathon talks about what changing the POV did for the story.
37:11 – Jonathon talks about growing up being cautioned about the future.
38:58 – Jonathon talks about the adaptation of books into films.
40:45 – Jonathon talks about his approach to films and Hollywood.
44:10 – Jonathon talks about short story writing.
44:31 – Jonathon can be found at JonathanLethem.com
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/32Mys8m
https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-arrest-jonathan-lethem?variant=32117464694818
http://jonathanlethem.com/
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast. Please see historyrabbithole.com for a list of my dozen or so blogs and podcasts. You’re sure to find something you like.
Guests: Jonathan Lethem
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: Books, audio interviews, author, podcast,]]> Cris Alvarez full false 46:23 19476 http://crisalvarez.com/2020/11/09/brian-herskowitz-discusses-approaches-to-outlining-a-screenplay/allthefilmhistory/ Mon, 09 Nov 2020 17:00:22 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=19408 Brian Herskowitz discusses approaches to outlining a screenplay Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3iZJv3Z Interview Timeline LEARN HOW TO STRUCTURE A SCREENPLAY. Brian Herskowitz is a screenwriter and producer and has many credits to his…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2020/11/09/brian-herskowitz-discusses-approaches-to-outlining-a-screenplay/allthefilmhistory/">Read More</a></p> Brian Herskowitz discusses approaches to outlining a screenplay Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3iZJv3Z Interview Timeline LEARN HOW TO STRUCTURE A SCREENPLAY. Brian Herskowitz is a screenwriter and producer and has many credits to his…Read More Brian Herskowitz discusses approaches to outlining a screenplay
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3iZJv3Z
Interview Timeline
LEARN HOW TO STRUCTURE A SCREENPLAY.
Brian Herskowitz is a screenwriter and producer and has many credits to his name including Tour of Duty, Tio Papi, Hercules, scifi and horror movies, and a documentary on domestic violence. In part 3 of this teaching screenwriting series he [talked to me about outlining] explains how to outline a screenplay.
0:34 – Brian talks about outlining a screenplay.
3:30 – Brian talks about the importance of an outline.
6:54 – Brian talks about the hook of the story.
11:21 – Brian talks about setting the tone of a screenplay.
14:25 – Brian talks about the elements of the outline.
18:04 – Brian talks about the 12 guideposts about the structural elements every script has.
20:54 – Brian talks about the inciting incident.
22:55 – Maleficent spoiler.
25:52 – Maleficent spoiler ends.
25:52 – Brian talks about a character’s plans to reach their goal.
30:40 – Brian talks about the Act 2 break and how things escalate.
33:33 – Brian talks about revelations in screenplays. Infinity Wars spoilers.
34:03 – Spoiler ends.
37:19 – Brian talks how detailed an outline should be.
40:57 – Brian talks about breaking down a scene within an outline.
42:59 – Brian talks about outlining the middle of the screenplay.
46:45 – Leaving Las Vegas spoiler.
48:00 – Leaving Las Vegas spoiler ends.
48:36 – Brian talks about the order in which to outline a screenplay between the three acts.
50:05 – Brian talks about how so many writers don’t like to outline and how to overcome that resistance.
55:56 – Brian talks about whether an outline can be used to fix a problem screenplay or to determine if an idea won’t work.
59:11 – Brian talks about getting feedback on an outline.
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/3iZJv3Z
https://www.brianherskowitz.com/
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast. Please see historyrabbithole.com for a list of my dozen or so blogs and podcasts. You’re sure to find something you like.
Guests: Brian Herskowitz
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: audio interviews, author, podcast, film history,
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3iZJv3Z
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

]]> Cris Alvarez full false 1:04:16 19408 http://crisalvarez.com/2020/11/01/jane-gilmartin-interview-about-her-science-fiction-novel-the-mirror-man-mira-2020/podcast/ Sun, 01 Nov 2020 21:40:01 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=19313 Jane Gilmartin interview about her science fiction novel “The Mirror Man” Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2TLldjI Interview Timeline Jane Gilmartin has always been a sci-fi fan starting with Star Trek. She’s worked as a…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2020/11/01/jane-gilmartin-interview-about-her-science-fiction-novel-the-mirror-man-mira-2020/podcast/">Read More</a></p> Jane Gilmartin interview about her science fiction novel “The Mirror Man” Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2TLldjI Interview Timeline Jane Gilmartin has always been a sci-fi fan starting with Star Trek. She’s worked as a…Read More Jane Gilmartin interview about her science fiction novel “The Mirror Man”
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2TLldjI
Interview Timeline
Jane Gilmartin has always been a sci-fi fan starting with Star Trek. She’s worked as a journalist for many years before publishing her first novel The Mirror Man about a cloning experiment gone awry. We spoke about the book, about sci-fi, about her admiration for David Bowie, and about her writing process.
0:28 – Jane talks about why she wrote The Mirror Man
1:37 – Jane talks about the protagonist, setting, and conflict of the novel.
3:13 – Jane talks about the research she did for the novel since it’s hard science fiction.
5:13 – Jane talks about actual science affected the plot of her novel.
6:05 – Jane talks about being a huge David Bowie fan.
7:27 – Jane talks about the novel’s protagonist.
8:58 – Jane talks about how she got into David Bowie’s music.
10:43 – Jane talks about her interest in Star Trek.
11:38 – Jane talks about the other sci fi she liked and all the sci-fi she watches.
16:26 – Jane talks about the aesthetic of the book.
17:22 – Jane talks about what the book might look like as a film.
20:20 – Jane talks about her writing process.
21:54 – Jane talks about other writing work she’s done.
24:19 – Jane talks about how her writing has changed over time.
27:00 – Jane talks about using advice from her book reading group and rewriting much of her book.
31:19 – Jane talks about further editing of the book.
34:48 – Jane talks about wanting to be in Starfleet.
38:45 – Jane talks about her next writing project.
41:26 – Jane can be found at janegilmartin.com and on twitter @janegilmartin3 and on instagram @imadj123
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/2TLldjI
https://www.janegilmartin.com/
https://twitter.com/JANEGILMARTIN3
https://instagram.com/imadj123
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast. Please see historyrabbithole.com for a list of my dozen or so blogs and podcasts. You’re sure to find something you like.
Guests: Jane Gilmartin
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: Books, audio interviews, author, podcast, MIRA, science fiction, fiction,
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2TLldjI
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

]]> Cris Alvarez full false 43:57 19313 http://crisalvarez.com/2020/10/25/arkady-martine-interview-about-her-debut-award-winning-sci-fi-novel-a-memory-called-empire-tor-books-2019/podcast/ Sun, 25 Oct 2020 16:48:59 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=19159 Arkady Martine interview about her debut award winning sci fi novel “A Memory Called Empire” Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3jBmW5H Interview Summary Arkady Martine has been writing short stories for a decade. Last year…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2020/10/25/arkady-martine-interview-about-her-debut-award-winning-sci-fi-novel-a-memory-called-empire-tor-books-2019/podcast/">Read More</a></p> Arkady Martine interview about her debut award winning sci fi novel “A Memory Called Empire” Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3jBmW5H Interview Summary Arkady Martine has been writing short stories for a decade. Last year…Read More Arkady Martine interview about her debut award winning sci fi novel “A Memory Called Empire”
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3jBmW5H
Interview Summary
Arkady Martine has been writing short stories for a decade. Last year she released her first novel, A Memory Called Empire, and it won the 2020 Hugo Award for best novel. Arkady has also been a Byzantine historian for years and some of the novel is based on Byzantine type politics. I spoke with Arkady about the book, history, writing, and climate and energy topics.
0:54 – Arkady talks about why she wrote A Memory Called Empire. She used to be a professor of Byzantine history.
2:07 – Arkady talks about the book’s protagonist, setting, and conflict.
3:38 – Arkady explains why she made the protagonist a diplomat.
4:23 – Arkady talks about why she wrote a sci-fi novel rather than a historical novel or a fantasy novel.
6:09 – Arkady talks about how she uses space travel in the book.
7:52 – Arkady talks about the hard versus soft sci-fi designations.
9:13 – Arkady talks about the research she did on the ideas in the book. She researched how people would live in a generational colony. She also researched poisons and neurosciences.
12:10 – We discuss Byzantine history research and border towns.
13:24 – Arkady talks about loving Star Wars and Dune. She mentions many other science fiction novels she enjoys.
15:55 – Arkady talks about “the far reaches of the English language.”
16:49 – Arkady talks about the non-fiction she enjoys and working as a climate and energy analyst.
20:28 – Arkady talks about what the feel of the book.
21:32 – Arkady talks about the poetic traditions she drew on for the book.
22:59 – Arkady talks about the languages she knows and the history of the poetry in her book.
23:54 – Arkady talks about different kinds of poetry and what she uses in the book.
25:26 – Arkady talks about the “effectiveness” of poetry.
26:54 – Arkady talks about not outlining your work. She doesn’t like the plotters versus pantsers idea.
28:10 – Arkady talks about developing the second novel in the series.
29:45 – Arkady talks about having to expand her draft.
31:47 – Arkady talks about how her approach to writing has changed over time.
33:32 – Arkady talks about past work experiences.
36:03 – Arkady talks about writing climate fiction and also her sci-fi mystery.
37:45 – Arkady talks about getting into sci-fi and fantasy and then into religious and medieval history.
41:19 – Arkady talks about how she was able to get and agent and get her book published.
44:45 – Arkady can be found at Arkadymartine.net.
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/3jBmW5H
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250186447
https://www.arkadymartine.net/
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple Podcasts / Google...]]> Cris Alvarez full false 46:18 19159 http://crisalvarez.com/2020/10/18/thilde-kold-holdt-interview-about-her-new-viking-fantasy-novel-northern-wrath-solaris-2020/podcast/ Sun, 18 Oct 2020 20:04:36 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=19144 Thilde Kold Holdt interview about her Viking Fantasy Novel “Northern Wrath” Check the book out here https://amzn.to/357Kx8N Interview Summary Thilde Kold Holdt loves Norse culture since she herself is a Viking. She turned her love…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2020/10/18/thilde-kold-holdt-interview-about-her-new-viking-fantasy-novel-northern-wrath-solaris-2020/podcast/">Read More</a></p> Thilde Kold Holdt interview about her Viking Fantasy Novel “Northern Wrath” Check the book out here https://amzn.to/357Kx8N Interview Summary Thilde Kold Holdt loves Norse culture since she herself is a Viking. She turned her love…Read More
Thilde Kold Holdt interview about her Viking Fantasy Novel “Northern Wrath”
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/357Kx8N
Interview Summary
Thilde Kold Holdt loves Norse culture since she herself is a Viking. She turned her love into a novel series and the first volume, Northern Wrath, will be published in October. I spoke to Thilde about the book, about rowing a Viking ship, about Viking culture and history, and about the things that inspire her.
0:34 – Thilde talks about why she wrote this book. She talks about being born in Denmark and embracing her Viking identity.
1:55 – Thilde talks about the details of the book. It’s set in Denmark and Thilde talks about Scandinavia. The story is partly historical fiction and partly epic fantasy.
5:56 – Thilde talks about the involvement of Christianity in Viking epic fantasy.
6:57 – Thilde talks about the extensive research she did for the book. She’s read all the sagas and the Eddas. She also joined the crew of the largest reconstructed Viking ship.
11:09 – Thilde talks about the archaeological and historical evidence for female warriors.
14:51 – Thilde talks about how she created the beasts in her novel. She focused on the Eddas. She really likes the giants and the Jotun.
17:09 – Thilde talks about how the giants in her novel live in Jotunheim.
17:55 – Thilde talks about how much she enjoyed a Danish comic book Valhalla.
19:38 – Thilde really enjoys the show Vikings.
20:45 – Thilde talks about horned helmets and Viking warships with shields.
24:37 – Thilde talks about Vikings and swimming.
26:16 – Thilde talks about the three places Vikings go in the afterlife. She also talks about Hel and Loki.
29:01 – Thilde talks about what she thinks of the Marvel comics and their take on the Norse myths.
30:51 – Thilde talks about Viking blood feuds. She also talks about the aesthetic of the novel.
35:18 – We talk briefly about the show the Beforiegners and Thilde’s writing process.
37:37 – Thilde talks about the languages she knows including Korean. Then she talks about how her characters forced a change in the plot as she wrote the novel.
41:10 – Thilde talks about how some of the characters did things that would be distasteful to modern audiences.
43:13 – Thilde talks about editing her book down for 400,000 words.
45:39 – Thilde talks about cutting some side characters.
46:36 – Thilde talks about having wanted to having magic powers.
47:49 – Thilde talks about Viking magic.
51:38 – Thilde talks about her enjoyment of Korean music and K-pop.
54:57 – Thilde talks about getting an agent and getting published.
60:09 – Thilde can be found at Thildekoldholdt.com , NorthernWrath.com and on twitter and instagram @koldholdt.
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/357Kx8N
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Northern-Wrath/Thilde-Kold-Holdt/9781781088197
https://www.thildekoldholdt.com/
https://twitter.com/Koldholdt
https://www.instagram.com/Koldholdt/
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at full false 1:01:57 19144 http://crisalvarez.com/2020/10/04/brian-herskowitz-explains-how-to-develop-structure-in-a-screenplay-product-to-process/podcast/ Mon, 05 Oct 2020 01:31:51 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=19057 Brian Herskowitz explains structure in a screenplay Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3iZJv3Z Interview Summary LEARN HOW TO STRUCTURE A SCREENPLAY. Brian Herskowitz is a screenwriter and producer and has many credits to his name…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2020/10/04/brian-herskowitz-explains-how-to-develop-structure-in-a-screenplay-product-to-process/podcast/">Read More</a></p> Brian Herskowitz explains structure in a screenplay Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3iZJv3Z Interview Summary LEARN HOW TO STRUCTURE A SCREENPLAY. Brian Herskowitz is a screenwriter and producer and has many credits to his name…Read More Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3iZJv3Z
Interview Summary
LEARN HOW TO STRUCTURE A SCREENPLAY.
Brian Herskowitz is a screenwriter and producer and has many credits to his name including Tour of Duty, Tio Papi, Hercules, scifi and horror movies, and a documentary on domestic violence. In part 2 of this screenwriting series he talked to me about structuring a screenplay.
0:25 – Brian addresses structure in screenplay writing.
4:20 – Brian talks about the beginning of a screenplay and ways to open a story.
7:14 – Brian talks about connecting the premise and connecting the whole structure.
11:13 – Brian talks about main plots and sub plots in a screenplay.
15:36 – Brian talks about how the beginning, middle, and end are further divided into sub-structures but also don’t have to be rigid about that.
18:57 – Brian talks about the “hero’s journey” concept.
22:03 – Brian talks about people struggling with the middle of the structure of a screenplay.
28:23 – Brian talks about the purposes of the various parts of the story and ensemble pieces.
30:16 – Brian talks about [the] what drives characters motivations.
31:46 – Brian talks about whether three act structure can apply to very kind of movie.
42:46 – Brian talks about the motivations of the main characters.
45:40 – Brian talks about thematic resonance.
48:27 – Brian talks about motivating the arbitrary.
52:56 – SPOILER ALERT: Brian discusses the Sixth Sense.
55:18 – SPOILER ALERT: Brian talks about the Event.
56:28 – Brian talks about connecting the start and end of the film.
58:51 – SPOILER ALERT: Brian talks about Once Upon A Time in Hollywood and Inglorious Bastards.
1:01:55 – Brian summarizes the importance of structure in a screenplay but also the usefulness in letting it go.
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/3iZJv3Z
https://www.brianherskowitz.com/
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast. Please see historyrabbithole.com for a list of my dozen or so blogs and podcasts. You’re sure to find something you like.
Guests: Brian Herskowitz
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: screenplay structure
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3iZJv3Z
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

]]> Cris Alvarez full false 1:09:16 19057 http://crisalvarez.com/2020/09/27/simon-stephenson-interview-science-fiction-novel-set-my-heart-to-five-hanover-square-press-2020/podcast/ Sun, 27 Sep 2020 18:06:25 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=18893 Check the book out here https://amzn.to/337W0FG Simon Stephenson has worked as a doctor and then as Hollywood screenwriter for Pixar. He’s written a science fiction novel about an android trying to write a Hollywood screenplay…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2020/09/27/simon-stephenson-interview-science-fiction-novel-set-my-heart-to-five-hanover-square-press-2020/podcast/">Read More</a></p> Check the book out here https://amzn.to/337W0FG Simon Stephenson has worked as a doctor and then as Hollywood screenwriter for Pixar. He’s written a science fiction novel about an android trying to write a Hollywood screenplay…Read More Check the book out here https://amzn.to/337W0FG
Simon Stephenson has worked as a doctor and then as Hollywood screenwriter for Pixar. He’s written a science fiction novel about an android trying to write a Hollywood screenplay to convince humans to be sympathetic so androids. We spoke about the book, screenwriting, and writing in general.
0:34 – Simon explains why he wrote Set my Heart to Five.
3:14 – Simon talks about the setting, protagonist and conflict in the book.
11:34 – Simon talks about the writing style of the book.
12:50 – Simon talks about how the protagonist is similar to data from Star Trek.
13:43 – Simon talks about research he did for the book and how important geography and place is in the book.
18:17 – Simon talks about his inspirations and how much he loves movies.
22:06 – Simon talks about the musical feel of the book.
24:28 – Simon talks about his approach to writing as a screenwriter and novelist.
27:35 – Simon talks about how his approach to writing has changed over time.
30:51 – Simon talks about other work he’s done that has impacted his writing.
32:43 – Simon talks about writing for Pixar.
35:07 – Simon talks about writing for animation versus writing for live-action.
39:38 – Simon talks about his writing experiences.
41:04 – Simon talks about the voices he uses in mind when writing for animation.
43:09 – Simon talks about editing the book.
45:06 – Simon talks about the android’s speech patters and expressions.
48:07 – Simon talks about having wanted the Back to the Future hoverboard. He then discusses having grown up in Scotland.
52:40 – Simon talks about the publishing industry and marketing one’s book.
58:30 – Simon talks about turning his book into a screenplay.
1:00:51 – Simon is on twitter @thesimonbot and at simonstephenson.com and at setmyhearttofive.com
 
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/337W0FG
https://www.harlequintradepublishing.com/shop/books/9781335551207_set-my-heart-to-five.html
https://twitter.com/thesimonbot
https://www.simonstephenson.com/
 
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast. Please see historyrabbithole.com for a list of my dozen or so blogs and podcasts. You’re sure to find something you like.
Guests: Simon Stephenson
Host: Cris Alvarez
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/337W0FG
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Simon Stephenson interview,]]> Cris Alvarez full false 1:04:06 18893 http://crisalvarez.com/2020/09/21/adrian-tchaikovsky-interview-science-fiction-novel-cage-of-souls-head-of-zeus-2019/podcast/ Mon, 21 Sep 2020 15:05:38 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=18819 How a fantasy author made the successful switch to science fiction with Adrian Tchaikovsky Check the book out here https://amzn.to/35WNqLM Interview Timeline Adrian Tchaikovksy has written a series of fantasy novels but recently turned his…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2020/09/21/adrian-tchaikovsky-interview-science-fiction-novel-cage-of-souls-head-of-zeus-2019/podcast/">Read More</a></p> How a fantasy author made the successful switch to science fiction with Adrian Tchaikovsky Check the book out here https://amzn.to/35WNqLM Interview Timeline Adrian Tchaikovksy has written a series of fantasy novels but recently turned his…Read More Check the book out here https://amzn.to/35WNqLM
Interview Timeline
Adrian Tchaikovksy has written a series of fantasy novels but recently turned his hand to science fiction.   His sci-fi novel Cage of Souls has been shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke award best novel of 2020. We spoke about the novel, Adrian’s writing process, nature and climate issues, and the publishing industry. Cage of Souls (Head of Zeus, 2019)
0:37 – Adrian talks about what prompted him to write Cage of Souls.
1:49 – Adrian talks about the setting, protagonist, and conflict of the book.
3:46 – Adrian talks about the setting having both futuristic and retrograde technology.
4:50 – Adrian talks about how the novel connects with modern-day problems.
5:13 – Adrian talks about the world of the novel.
6:02 – Adrian talks about the fuzzy border between fantasy and science fiction especially in dying Earth novels.
8:03 – Adrian talks about writing for sci-fi readers.
10:39 – Adrian talks about having been a fantasy author.
11:31 – Adrian talks about the things he enjoys and what inspires his creativity.
13:14 – Adrian talks about being interested in the biological and behavioral sciences.
15:06 – Adrian talks about artificial intelligence and artificial life.
17:20 – Adrian talks about having studied science.
18:30 – Adrian talks about changing plots to fit science.
20:55 – Adrian talks about the book having an aesthetic like that of the Thin Red Line.
21:51 – Adrian talks about the climate and terrain of the book.
26:10 – Adrian talks about having been a lawyer before becoming a writer and how he’s worked law into his novels.
29:31 – Adrian talks about the editing process for Cage of Souls.
33:51 – Adrian talks about writing versus editing.
35:42 – Adrian talks about writing in first person.
37:14 – Adrian talks about using first person point of view.
38:54 – Adrian addresses the collapse of nature in his and other writings.
45:30 – Adrian talks about a space opera trilogy he’s writing.
47:55 – Adrian can be found at twitter @aptshadow.
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/35WNqLM
https://headofzeus.com/books/9781788547239
https://twitter.com/aptshadow
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast. Please see historyrabbithole.com for a list of my dozen or so blogs and podcasts. You’re sure to find something you like.
Guests: Adrian Tchaikovsky
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: Books, videos, audio interviews, author, podcast, Tor,]]> Cris Alvarez full false 51:07 18819 http://crisalvarez.com/2020/09/12/david-wellington-interview-science-fiction-novel-the-last-astronaut-orbit-2019/podcast/ Sat, 12 Sep 2020 21:07:50 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=18733 David Wellington interview about his science fiction novel “The Last Astronaut” Check the book out here https://amzn.to/35vVtyQ Interview Timeline David Wellington has been writing fantasy for years [and] before turning his hand to science fiction.…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2020/09/12/david-wellington-interview-science-fiction-novel-the-last-astronaut-orbit-2019/podcast/">Read More</a></p> David Wellington interview about his science fiction novel “The Last Astronaut” Check the book out here https://amzn.to/35vVtyQ Interview Timeline David Wellington has been writing fantasy for years [and] before turning his hand to science fiction. Check the book out here https://amzn.to/35vVtyQ
Interview Timeline
David Wellington has been writing fantasy for years [and] before turning his hand to science fiction. His latest novel The Last Astronaut is a look at horror in deep space. The book was nominated for the 2020 Arthur C. Clarke award and we spoke about the story, about horror and sci-fi, and about writing in general.
0:33 – Dave talks about why he wrote this book. he talks about being a huge monster fan.
3:34 – Dave talks about The Last Astronaut being hard sci-fi and being as scientifically accurate as possible.
5:28 – Dave talks about how he got interested in science fiction.
7:37 – Dave talks about the details of the novel and what it’s about.
10:12 – Dave talks about the research he did for the book and how much he has followed NASA’s work.
14:51 – Dave talks about what most surprised him when he interviewed two astronauts.
17:29 – Dave talks about a commercial space company in his book.
18:18 – Dave talks about the horror aspect of his novel.
20:53 – Dave talks about his horror inspirations.
24:56 – Dave talks about Predator as sci-fi and horror.
26:31 – Dave talks about humanoid versus weird monsters.
28:42 – Dave talks about the fantasy novels he enjoys.
31:30 – Dave talks about not listening to music while writing.
33:45 – Dave talks about the book having a synth-wave soundtrack.
36:56 – Dave talks about having worked as a data entry temp with the United Nations.
39:46 – Dave talks about having re-written Last Astronaut from scratch six times.
44:41 – Dave talks about having wanted to be in space when he was young. he also discusses the space shuttle tragedies.
48:17 – Dave talks about how his main character suffers from not having been able to go to Mars.
49:49 – Dave talks about recently finishing a horror novel.
54:00 – Dave talks about writers who are able to make money and tie-in writers.
55:37 – Dave can be found at davidwellington.net and on twitter @lasttrilobite and contactmonster@hotmail.com
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/35vVtyQ
https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/david-wellington/the-last-astronaut/9780316419550/
https://davidwellington.net/
https://twitter.com/lasttrilobite?lang=en
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast. Please see historyrabbithole.com for a list of my dozen or so blogs and podcasts.]]> Cris Alvarez full false 58:42 18733 http://crisalvarez.com/2020/09/06/alice-james-interview-vampire-mystery-grave-secrets-solaris-2020/podcast/ Sun, 06 Sep 2020 17:28:15 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=18615 Alice James interview about her vampire mystery novel “Grave Secrets” Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2R2nXI6 Interview Timeline Alice James has followed a fascinating path to writing and publishing her first novel. She’s worked in…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2020/09/06/alice-james-interview-vampire-mystery-grave-secrets-solaris-2020/podcast/">Read More</a></p> Alice James interview about her vampire mystery novel “Grave Secrets” Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2R2nXI6 Interview Timeline Alice James has followed a fascinating path to writing and publishing her first novel. She’s worked in…Read More Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2R2nXI6
Interview Timeline
Alice James has followed a fascinating path to writing and publishing her first novel. She’s worked in the coroner field, been a financial reporter, worked in public relations, and is a silversmith. Now she has published a vampire mystery set in the English countryside in which she grew up in. We spoke about the book, about vampires, about Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and about how she was able to find and agent and get published.
0:31 – Alice talks about why she wrote Grave Secrets.
2:10 – Alice talks about the elements of the book and it’s light-hearted approach to the paranormal.
3:28 – Alice talks about the main character being very English.
4:55 – Alice talks about the cozy mystery element of the book.
6:42 – Alice talks about the horror and gore elements of the book as well as the gothic elements.
7:49 – Alice talks about how familiar she is with the English countryside which is the setting of this book.
9:08 – Alice talks about how she is a trained silversmith and how fiction books always get smithing wrong.
10:41 – Alice talks about growing up as a coroner’s daughter and her knowledge of that work.
12:33 – Alice talks about how delicately coroner work was dealt with in the small town she was from.
15:05 – Alice talks about the random country life facts she knows because of her upbringing.
17:55 – Alice talks about loving fantasy and loving anything with dragons when she was young.
21:10 – Alice talks about how she loved the Hobbit and Smaug.
22:55 – Alice says the book would have a gothy Sisters of Mercy type of feel to it but also with a lighter tone.
23:31 – Alice talks about her approach to writing.
25:15 – Alice talked about being a geek and studying computer science. She also talks about how she wasn’t a very good engraver.
27:53 – Alice talks about attending reenactment fairs.
29:17 – Alice talks about still doing a little bit of smithing.
30:47 – Alice talks about accidentally becoming a financial reporter.
33:10 – Alice talks about trying to work in PR for a hedge fund.
34:20 – Alice talks about how she ended up getting published.
36:10 – Alice talks about how she developed her creative writing skills.
37:45 – Alice talks about writers whose style she enjoys.
40:37 – Alice talks how much she wrote before getting published.
41:38 – Alice talks about how she approaches writing.
44:09 – Alice talks about how she wanted a magic barge when she was a child.
47:35 – Alice talks about she was able to get an agent.
52:24 – Alice talks about the time span of the series and the world building.
54:36 – Alice can be found on twitter @toniwindsor and at alicejames.co.uk
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/2R2nXI6
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Grave-Secrets/Alice-James/9781781088616
https://www.alicejames.co.uk/
https://twitter.com/toniwindsor
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter full false 58:44 18615 http://crisalvarez.com/2020/08/29/ellen-datlow-interview-horror-fantasy-sci-fi-fiction-edited-by-subterranean-2020/podcast/ Sat, 29 Aug 2020 15:47:12 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=18610 Ellen Datlow interview about her Horror, fantasy, and sci-fi book “Edited By” Check the book out here https://amzn.to/32D4McZ Interview Summary Ellen Datlow has been editing horror, fantasy, and science fiction short stories and novellas for…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2020/08/29/ellen-datlow-interview-horror-fantasy-sci-fi-fiction-edited-by-subterranean-2020/podcast/">Read More</a></p> Ellen Datlow interview about her Horror, fantasy, and sci-fi book “Edited By” Check the book out here https://amzn.to/32D4McZ Interview Summary Ellen Datlow has been editing horror, fantasy, and science fiction short stories and novellas for…Read More Check the book out here https://amzn.to/32D4McZ
Interview Summary
Ellen Datlow has been editing horror, fantasy, and science fiction short stories and novellas for over forty years. She’s won numerous awards and accolades for her work and has edited numerous best of anthologies along with short stories for magazine and book publishers. Subterranean Press is releasing a book on some of the best stories she’s edited. I spoke to Ellen about her work as an editor, about genre fiction, and about the business in general.
0:32: Ellen talks about how she got into editing and editing anthologies.
(2:25: I think Ellen meant 1979 not 1989)
4:39 – Ellen talks about her work at OMNI and then how she got into anthologies.
8:32 – Ellen talks about hating doing writing herself.
11:29 – Ellen talks about how she chooses stories.
13:05 – Ellen talks about how she approaches stories that might need extensive edits and rewrites.
15:49 – Ellen talks about the tone and style of writing.
17:28 – Ellen talks about the time period “Edited by” covers and the genres included. She discusses her anthology work.
20:30 – Ellen talks about the difficulties of getting her pitches accepted.
23:46 – Ellen talks about how she manages an anthology project and deals with the writers in the anthology.
26:37 – Ellen talks about how she deals with anthology publishers when pitching an idea.
27:22 – Ellen talks about trends in writing.
31:29 – Ellen says that mostly all she gets to read are the things she edits. She also talks about how she is able to read so much.
33:05 – Ellen talks about some of what she is reading.
34:58 – Ellen talks about the length of stories she prefers. She talks about flash fiction past and present.
37:46 – Ellen talks about reading stories out loud. She talks about punctuation and commas.
39:24 – Ellen talks about how her editing style has changed over the years.
40:37 – Ellen talks about computer editing and track changes.
42:33 – Ellen talks about stories she has edited in the past.
46:46 – Ellen talks what she looks for in horror stories.
48:27 – Ellen talks about the publishing industry.
49:40 – Ellen talks about e-books.
50:21 – Ellen talks about editing works with art elements.
58:53 – Ellen talks about sci-fi horror.
1:01:16 – Ellen can be found on facebook and twitter @ellendatlow.
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/32D4McZ
https://subterraneanpress.com/news/announcing-edited-by-ellen-datlow/
https://www.facebook.com/EllenDatlow
https://twitter.com/EllenDatlow
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / full false 1:04:39 18610 http://crisalvarez.com/2020/08/21/how-to-write-screenplays-process-to-product-2014-brian-herskowitz-interview/podcast/ Fri, 21 Aug 2020 23:20:09 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=18577 Brian Herskowitz talks about How to Write Screenplays Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3iZJv3Z DO YOU WANT TO LEARN HOW TO WRITE A SCREENPLAY? Interview Summary Brian Herskowitz is a screenwriter and producer and has…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2020/08/21/how-to-write-screenplays-process-to-product-2014-brian-herskowitz-interview/podcast/">Read More</a></p> Brian Herskowitz talks about How to Write Screenplays Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3iZJv3Z DO YOU WANT TO LEARN HOW TO WRITE A SCREENPLAY? Interview Summary Brian Herskowitz is a screenwriter and producer and has…Read More Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3iZJv3Z
DO YOU WANT TO LEARN HOW TO WRITE A SCREENPLAY?
Interview Summary
Brian Herskowitz is a screenwriter and producer and has many credits to his name including Tour of Duty, Tio Papi, Hercules, scifi and horror movies, and a documentary on domestic violence. He teaches screenwriting and he talked to me about creating a screenplay. This is the first episode in a short series on screenwriting.
0: 45 – Brian talks about why people should and can write for screen.
2:35 – Brian talks about how some great novels fail in film.
3:15 – Brian talks about why people try to force novels on to the screen.
11:47 – Brian talks about research based and experience based screenplays.
12:40 – Brian talks about Raiders of the Lost Ark and the importance of research.
18:22 – Brian talks about maintaining internal realism in a screenplay.
20:27 – Brian talks about writing for movie like video games.
23:11 – Brian differentiates between doing short and feature length films.
25:50 – Brian talks about writing for mini-series and shows.
30:25 – Brian talks about shorts on youtube and vimeo.
33:03 – Brian talks about people who want to write a very visual script and about getting information to the audience.
36:13 – Brian talks about the best ways to get into writing screenplays.
41:52 – Brian talks about the premise of a screenplay.
45:28 – Brian talks about he breaks down a premise.
47:23 – Brian can be found at brianherskowitz.com
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/3iZJv3Z
https://www.brianherskowitz.com/
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast. Please see historyrabbithole.com for a list of my dozen or so blogs and podcasts. You’re sure to find something you like.
Guests: Brian Herskowitz
Host: Cris Alvarez
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3iZJv3Z
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 49:19 18577 http://crisalvarez.com/2020/08/12/space-fantasy-fiction-court-of-lions-flatiron-books-2020-somaiya-daud-interview/podcast/ Thu, 13 Aug 2020 01:41:08 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=18475 Somaiya Daud interview about her space fantasy fiction novel “Court of Lions” Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2DE3tlW Interview Timeline Somaiya Daud loves high fantasy and science fiction. She has taught the subject and she’s…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2020/08/12/space-fantasy-fiction-court-of-lions-flatiron-books-2020-somaiya-daud-interview/podcast/">Read More</a></p> Somaiya Daud interview about her space fantasy fiction novel “Court of Lions” Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2DE3tlW Interview Timeline Somaiya Daud loves high fantasy and science fiction. She has taught the subject and she’s…Read More Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2DE3tlW
Interview Timeline
Somaiya Daud loves high fantasy and science fiction. She has taught the subject and she’s released her second high space fantasy novel Court of Lions. We spoke about the book, Moroccan culture, Tolkien, and getting the book written and published.
0:31 – Somaiya talks about how the idea for the novel came from seeing a Star Wars prequel costume exhibit.
1:49 – Somaiya talks about how her series is a space fantasy with a lot of political intrigue.
4:28 – Somaiya talks about the culture that stands in for Morocco in the book.
4:53 – Somaiya talks about the backstory of the setting.
5:12 – Somaiya talks about the protagonist and the conflict in the book.
7:04 – Somaiya talks about writing about serious subjects for young readers.
8:55 – Somaiya talks about research in to the Moroccan years of Lead.
11:28 – Somaiya talks about how her research fed into her novel.
12:07 – Somaiya talks about sympathetic characters among the antagonists.
13:59 – Somaiya talks about how she created her conquering antagonists.
16:35 – Somaiya talks about her interest in Arabic poetry and her use of it in the book.
19:53 – Somaiya talks about her use of religion in the book.
22:04 – Somaiya talks about her love of science fiction and Tolkien.
23:27 – Somaiya talks about her interest in comic books and non-fiction.
24:36 – Somaiya talks about the musical aesthetic of the books.
25:37 – Somaiya talks about her writing process.
28:36 – Somaiya talks about writing a lot of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings fan fiction.
34:58 – Somaiya talks about completing the book.
36:28 – Somaiya is on somaiyabooks.com, on twitter @somaiyadaud and on instagram @somaiiiya
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/2DE3tlW
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250126450
https://www.somaiyabooks.com/
https://twitter.com/somaiyadaud
https://www.instagram.com/somaiiiya/
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast
Guests: Somaiya Daud
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: science fiction, fantasy, writer, novel, novelist, fiction, Star Wars, prequel, Morocco, conquest, moon, queen, colonial, war, indigenous, dissident, Arabic, Arab, worldbuilding, poetry, Islam, Muslim, the Expanse, Killjoys, Tolkien, Luis Delgado, Silmarillion, Middle Earth, apocalypse
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2DE3tlW
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 38:43 18475 http://crisalvarez.com/2020/08/05/horror-and-speculative-fiction-monster-she-wrote-quirk-books-2019-melanie-r-anderson-and-lisa-kroger-interview/podcast/ Wed, 05 Aug 2020 15:58:17 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=18472 Melanie R. Anderson and Lisa Kroger discuss Horror and Speculative Fiction   Interview Summary Check the book out here https://amzn.to/31nsZDK Melanie R. Anderson and Lisa Kroger have both extensively studied speculative and horror fiction. They’ve…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2020/08/05/horror-and-speculative-fiction-monster-she-wrote-quirk-books-2019-melanie-r-anderson-and-lisa-kroger-interview/podcast/">Read More</a></p> Melanie R. Anderson and Lisa Kroger discuss Horror and Speculative Fiction   Interview Summary Check the book out here https://amzn.to/31nsZDK Melanie R. Anderson and Lisa Kroger have both extensively studied speculative and horror fiction.  
Interview Summary
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/31nsZDK
Melanie R. Anderson and Lisa Kroger have both extensively studied speculative and horror fiction. They’ve written a few books together on the subject and they recently won the 2020 Locus Award for non-fiction for Monster She Wrote which explores female authors of horror and speculative fiction.  They also won a Bram Stoker award for the book. We spoke about the subject and the book writing process.
0:41 – Lisa talks about how she and Melanie wrote a book on female horror writers.
2:02 – Melanie talks about previous projects they did together on ghosts and spectrality.
3:48 – Melanie talks about they structured the book.
6:36 – Lisa talks about their struggle to cover a broad scope of literary history.
8:48 – Melanie talks about female use of pseudonyms in horror fiction.
11:48 – Lisa talks about women not having to hide their identities.
14:51 – Lisa and Melanie talk about the nationalities of the women they included in the book.
16: 45 – Lisa talks about 19th century female horror literature.
19:11 – Melanie talks about 19th century ghost stories and why so many female writers wrote horror.
24:00 – Lisa talks about female writers mixing violence, gore, and sex
27:45 – Melanie talks about gore in horror.
32:47 – Lisa talks about a scandalous Margaret Cavendish story she really likes.
35:30 – Melanie talks about author Dion Fortune.
37:28 – Melanie talks about how religion affected the writing these women did. Lisa talks more about Manfrone.
41:39 – Melanie talks about she did the research for the work.
44:55 – Lisa talks about how she added to her horror reading list and how some writers seem to have disappeared completely.
48:28 – Lisa talks about horror comic books.
49:47 – Melanie talks about the joy these authors took in their work.
53:36 – Lisa talks about the writers who she felt touched by.
56:26 – Melanie talks about Gertrude Barrows Bennett and Jewelle Gomez.
58:59 – Lisa talks about the Gilda stories.
1:01:20 – Lisa and Melanie talk about writing the book and getting it published.
1:07:48 – Lisa is at lisakroger.com and on twitter @lbkroger and on instagram @lisa_kroger. Their podcast is knowfearcast and monster she wrote podcast and @monsterwrote on social media.
1:09:25 – Melnaie is at melanieranderson.com and on instagram @melanieranderson7.
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/31nsZDK
https://www.quirkbooks.com/book/monster-she-wrote
http://www.lisakroger.com/
https://melanieranderson.com/
http://www.knowfearcast.com/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-monster-she-wrote-podcast/id1498646080
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on full false 1:12:24 18472 http://crisalvarez.com/2020/07/29/science-fiction-the-house-of-styx-solaris-2020-derek-kunsken-interview/podcast/ Thu, 30 Jul 2020 00:52:52 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=18467 Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2BEn6Jn Derek Kunsken has worked as a scientist and a diplomat and has been frequently published in sci-fi short story magazines. He’s about to release a hard science fiction novel…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2020/07/29/science-fiction-the-house-of-styx-solaris-2020-derek-kunsken-interview/podcast/">Read More</a></p> Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2BEn6Jn Derek Kunsken has worked as a scientist and a diplomat and has been frequently published in sci-fi short story magazines. He’s about to release a hard science fiction novel…Read More Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2BEn6Jn
Derek Kunsken has worked as a scientist and a diplomat and has been frequently published in sci-fi short story magazines. He’s about to release a hard science fiction novel set on Venus. We spoke about the book and his writing process.
0:28 – Derek talks about the House of Styx and why he set his book on Venus.
2:38 – Derek talks about the details of the book.
4:33 – Derek talks about the amount of sci-fi technology in the book.
5:55 – Derek talks about the aesthetic of the story and his use of alien botany.
8:10 – Derek also explores the psychological aspects of colonists.
10:37 – Derek talks about the story itself being kept on Venus but Earth has its own backstory.
11:48 – Derek talks about researching Venus and various sciences for the book.
13:54 – Derek talks about what inspires him.
19:28 – Derek talks about his writing process.
22:20 – Derek talks about the serialization process in sci-fi magazines and his book.
24:14 – Derek talks about his approach to writing.
25:33 – Derek talks about having been a foreign service officer working on refugee issues.
27:19 – Derek about music and his novel.
29:11 – Derek about having wanted to adventure in Barsoom.
30:55 – Derek talks about how smoothly the writing of this book went.
32:37 – Derek talks about how note keeping process and his creative process.
34:53 – Derek talks about audio books.
36:03 – Derek can be found at derekkunsken.com and on twitter @derekkunsken and blogs on blackeight.com
 
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/2BEn6Jn
https://rebellionpublishing.com/product/the-house-of-styx/
http://derekkunsken.com/index.html/
https://twitter.com/DerekKunsken
 
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast
 
Guests: Derek Kunsken
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: science fiction, writer, novel, novelist, fiction, hard science fiction, Venus, Quebecois, colonists, technology, dirigibles, plant biology, religious cult, Mars, Moon, Air cadet, comic books, X-Men, serialization, China, Barsoom, comic books, Covid, publishing
 
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2BEn6Jn
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 38:39 18467 http://crisalvarez.com/2020/07/24/speculative-fiction-anthology-new-suns-solaris-2019-nisi-shawl-interview/podcast/ Fri, 24 Jul 2020 20:21:18 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=18456 Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2CKiHVT Nisi Shawl has written and edited speculative fiction for years and recently won the 2020 Locus Award for best anthology for her edited work New Suns. We spoke about…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2020/07/24/speculative-fiction-anthology-new-suns-solaris-2019-nisi-shawl-interview/podcast/">Read More</a></p> Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2CKiHVT Nisi Shawl has written and edited speculative fiction for years and recently won the 2020 Locus Award for best anthology for her edited work New Suns. We spoke about…Read More Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2CKiHVT
Nisi Shawl has written and edited speculative fiction for years and recently won the 2020 Locus Award for best anthology for her edited work New Suns. We spoke about the book, winning the award, the difficulties non-white authors face in the publishing industry, and about writing and editing in general.
0:42 – Nisi talks about how she felt about winning the 2020 Locus award for best anthology.
1:30 – Nisi talks about how the anthology was developed.
2:42 – Nisi talks about how she chose the stories she used in the anthology.
4:20 – Nisi talks about the process of editing the anthology.
5:45 – Nisi talks about how adult the material is in the anthology.
7:00 – Nisi talks about the various times of stories found in the anthology.
9:34 – Nisi talks about writing by non-white authors.
11:25 – Nisi talks about publishing support for non-white authors.
12:55 – Nisi talks about ways within which the industry can support non-white authors.
16:08 – Nisi talks about gender issues within publishing.
17:48 – Nisi talks about other kinds of feedback within the publishing industry.
20:59 – Nisi talks about social media in pushing change.
22:42 – Nisi talks about the nationalities of the authors in the book.
25:08 – Nisi talks about the lengths of the stories in the anthology.
26:26 – Nisi talks about the works that inspire her and works she enjoys.
28:47 – Nisi talks about her love of Outlander. She also gets into the importance of politics within the show.
34:35 – Nisi talks how she approaches the editing process.
37:38 – Nisi talks about she approaches giving editorial changes.
38:13 – Nisi talks about other anthologies she’s edited.
40:04 – Nisi talks about her editing work over time.
40:59 – Nisi talks about her approach to writing.
42:01 – Nisi talks about writer and editing interactions.
44:04 – Nisi talks about self-publishing.
46:10 – Nisi talks about past jobs she had apart from writing and editing.
47:14 – Nisi talks her desire to end world hunger.
49:07 – Nisi talks about how she got LeVar Burton to write the introduction for New Suns.
51:21 – Nisi talks about other non-white authors who should have as much notice as Octavia Butler such as Samuel Delaney and Charles Saunders.
53:44 – Nisi can be found at nisishawl.com.
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/2CKiHVT
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/New-Suns/Nisi-Shawl/9781781085783
http://nisishawl.com/
 
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast
Guests: Nisi Shawl
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: science fiction,]]> Cris Alvarez full false 57:35 18456 http://crisalvarez.com/2020/07/15/science-fiction-novel-the-relentless-moon-tor-books-2020-mary-robinette-kowal-interview/podcast/ Wed, 15 Jul 2020 20:07:44 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=18447 Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2CHOJ4j Mary-Robinette Kowal has worked [as a] in puppetry for 25 years and has written science fiction for over 10 years. She recently published the third book in her lady…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2020/07/15/science-fiction-novel-the-relentless-moon-tor-books-2020-mary-robinette-kowal-interview/podcast/">Read More</a></p> Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2CHOJ4j Mary-Robinette Kowal has worked [as a] in puppetry for 25 years and has written science fiction for over 10 years. She recently published the third book in her lady…Read More Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2CHOJ4j
Mary-Robinette Kowal has worked [as a] in puppetry for 25 years and has written science fiction for over 10 years. She recently published the third book in her lady astronaut series, [The restless Sun] The Relentless Moon, and we spoke about the book, writing, science, and puppetry.
0:30 – Mary-Robinette talks about why she wrote the series. She talks about how she tends to write historical based novels.
2:20 – Mary-Robinette talks about the background of the series.
3:27 – Mary-Robinette talks about the setting of the first two books and then the third.
4:43 – Mary-Robinette talks about the political setting of the third book.
8:30 – Mary-Robinette talks about how the series is hard science fiction and how she spoke with scientists and professionals about the science in the novels.
9:36 – Mary-Robinette talks about how much the books are in space versus on the Earth.
10:57 – Mary-Robinette talks about how she dealt with gender inequality in the books.
13:12 – Mary-Robinette talks about the science research she did for the book including trying on parts of spacesuits.
14:49 – Mary-Robinette talks about her access to science resources.
16:11 – Mary-Robinette talks about the entertainment that inspires her.
19:29 – Mary-Robinette talks about lateral impacts to spacecraft.
21:57 – Mary-Robinette talks about the aesthetic of the book being sort of a spy thriller.
23:15 – Mary-Robinette talks about whether the novel wraps up the series.
23:47 – Mary-Robinette talks about her writing process and how it’s changed over time.
28:30 – Mary-Robinette talks more about acting as a puppeteer.
30:59 – Mary-Robinette talks about having been an art major.
33:17 – Mary-Robinette talks about how she got into writing and her approach.
34:59 – Mary-Robinette talks about the change in lifestyle from puppetry to writing.
36:36 – Mary-Robinette talks about editing the book down from 180,000 words.
39:28 – Mary-Robinette talks about having loved Battlestar Galactica and the Deryni books.
41:42 – Mary-Robinette talks about difficulties in getting the book finished.
46:30 – Mary-Robinette talks about writing a sci-fi locked room mystery.
48:26 – Mary-Robinette can be found at maryrobinettekowal.com and ladyastronautclub.com.
 
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/2CHOJ4j
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250236968
http://maryrobinettekowal.com/
 
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast
 
Guests: Mary-Robinette Kowal
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: science fiction, fantasy, art, artist, writer, novel, novelist, fiction, astronauts, moon,]]> Cris Alvarez full false 51:10 18447 http://crisalvarez.com/2020/07/08/science-fiction-novel-quantum-shadows-tor-books-2020-l-e-modesitt-jr-interview/podcast/ Wed, 08 Jul 2020 20:08:12 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=18058 Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2AFVwuO L.E. Modesitt, Jr. has held a wide range of jobs. In 1973 he published his first story and since then he’s published numerous science fiction and fantasy novels. His…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2020/07/08/science-fiction-novel-quantum-shadows-tor-books-2020-l-e-modesitt-jr-interview/podcast/">Read More</a></p> Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2AFVwuO L.E. Modesitt, Jr. has held a wide range of jobs. In 1973 he published his first story and since then he’s published numerous science fiction and fantasy novels. His…Read More Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2AFVwuO
L.E. Modesitt, Jr. has held a wide range of jobs. In 1973 he published his first story and since then he’s published numerous science fiction and fantasy novels. His recent publication is a science fiction novel Quantum Shadows. We spoke about the book, writing, religion, and his time as a Navy helicopter pilot.
0:39 – LE talks about why he wrote Quantum Shadows.
1:29 – LE talks about the current events that prompted the writing of this book and “true-believer culture.”
2:49 – LE talks about the setting and protagonist of the book.
4:56 – LE talks about the idea of faith and belief in the novel.
6:19 – LE talks about the science fiction of the book.
7:49 – LE talks about the planet on which the book takes place.
9:15 – LE talks about the research for the book especially in religious systems.
11:19 – LE explains why we has 10 religions in the book.
12:54 – LE talks about the works that have inspired him.
14:36 – LE talks about having started as a poet and enjoying Yates.
17:40 – LE talks about the romantic feel of the musical quality to the book.
18:35 – LE talks about the skeptic characters within the novel.
19:57 – LE talks about his writing process.
22:55 – LE talks about being a Navy pilot, an economist, a speechwriter, and a consultant.
26:19 – LE talks about the adaption of movies from novels.
27:27 – LE talks about having been a Navy helicopter rescue pilot.
30:18 – LE talks about his son having gone to the US Naval Academy.
32:03 – LE talks about being a terrible pilot.
33:48 – LE talks about having wanted to be a space pilot.
35:22 – LE talks about the poetic feel to the Quran and the King James Bible.
39:20 – LE can be found at LEModesittjr.com
 
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/2AFVwuO
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250229212
https://www.lemodesittjr.com/
 
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast
Guests: L.E. Modesitt Jr.
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: science fiction, fantasy, writer, novel, novelist, fiction, true believer, raven, couplet, faiths, hegemony, religion, Heinlein, Bester, Dixon, Tepper, le Guin, Moorcock, poetry, yates, writing, missile range, helicopter pilot, rescue, Vietnam War, Naval Academy, space pilot, Quran, Koran, King James, Bible
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2AFVwuO
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 41:46 18058 http://crisalvarez.com/2020/06/30/film-history-what-price-hollywood-university-press-of-kentucky-2020-elyce-helford-interview/podcast/ Wed, 01 Jul 2020 01:12:28 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=18051 Check the book out here https://amzn.to/38gJft7 Dr. Elyce Helford has spent years, studying, writing on, and teaching popular culture. She’s studied and written about anime, Octavia Butler and now most recently on the director George…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2020/06/30/film-history-what-price-hollywood-university-press-of-kentucky-2020-elyce-helford-interview/podcast/">Read More</a></p> Check the book out here https://amzn.to/38gJft7 Dr. Elyce Helford has spent years, studying, writing on, and teaching popular culture. She’s studied and written about anime, Octavia Butler and now most recently on the director George…Read More Check the book out here https://amzn.to/38gJft7
Dr. Elyce Helford has spent years, studying, writing on, and teaching popular culture. She’s studied and written about anime, Octavia Butler and now most recently on the director George Cukor. She talks about the queer and gender-bending aspects of this early director’s work.
0:42 – Elyce talks about how she got into studying George Cukor.
4:53 – Elyce talks about how actresses felt like they good trust Cukor. She also talks about the homophobic actors who didn’t want to work with Cukor.
8:57 – We talk about how Hollywood prizes success and money and how Cukor dealt with the studios.
12:20 – Elyce talks about how few close friends Cukor had in Hollywood.
13:58 – Elyce talks about how the big Hollywood moguls were Eastern European Jewish. However Cukor was Jewish but his roots were in Western Europe.
16:29 – Elyce talks about his lack of influence on other directors despite his huge success.
20:49 – Elyce talks about Cukor’s stage experience and voice coach work.
22:14 – Elyce talks about how Cukor adapted to Hollywood.
27:17 – Elyce talks about Cukor’s dating life.
29:41 – Elyce talks about whether Cukor could have pushed boundaries in Hollywood.
36:05 – Elyce talks about whether Cukor had the power to push boundaries.
40:09 – Elyce talks about how she gathered information on Cukor.
49:38 – Elyce talks about Cukor’s output as a director.
52:24 – Elyce talks about whether Cukor might have identified as a woman.
56:23 – Elyce talks about how surprising it was to find so much to write about this subject.
1:00:00 – Elyce talks about the various subjects she’s studied including manga and anime.
1:03:10 – Elyce talks about trying to avoid Cukor’s answers on his own personality.
1:05:16 – Elyce discusses the importance of what the creator was intending to produce versus wht the viewer interprets.
1:06:47 – Elyce talks about having had breast cancer and turning to digital art for a time.
1:19:53 – Elyce talks about the past use of ethnicity as mysterious and dangerous.
1:21:44 – Elyce can be found at elycehelford.com and on twitter @elycehelford
 
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/38gJft7
https://www.kentuckypress.com/9780813179292/what-price-hollywood/
http://www.elycehelford.com/
https://twitter.com/elycehelford
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast
Guests: Elyce Rae Helford
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: Philadelphia Story, George Cukor, Katherine Hepburn, bisexuality, homosexuality, drag, Octavia Butler, gender, homophobia, Jewish, Gone With The Wind,]]> Cris Alvarez full false 1:27:15 18051 http://crisalvarez.com/2020/06/25/gothic-film-history-gothic-film-edinburgh-university-press-2020-richard-hand-and-jay-mcroy-interview/podcast/ Fri, 26 Jun 2020 01:45:03 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=18046 Check the book out here https://amzn.to/37Z9jZM Richard Hand and Jay McRoy have both been studying horror and gothic for many years. They recently co-edited a book of essays on Gothic Film and I got to…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2020/06/25/gothic-film-history-gothic-film-edinburgh-university-press-2020-richard-hand-and-jay-mcroy-interview/podcast/">Read More</a></p> Check the book out here https://amzn.to/37Z9jZM Richard Hand and Jay McRoy have both been studying horror and gothic for many years. They recently co-edited a book of essays on Gothic Film and I got to…Read More Check the book out here https://amzn.to/37Z9jZM
Richard Hand and Jay McRoy have both been studying horror and gothic for many years. They recently co-edited a book of essays on Gothic Film and I got to speak to the both of them about the gothic, the book, and the editorial and publishing process.
0:40 – Richard talks about his interest in Gothic film and horror.
3:48 – Jay talks about reading horror literature when he was a little kid.
5:11 – Richard and Jay talk about how the book looks at a wide span of how horror is adapted.
7:49 – Jay talks about an American take on the gothic.
13:58 – Richard and Jay discuss Gothic and Japanese anime.
15:40 – Richard talks about manga writing.
16:46 – Richard and Jay talk about Lovecraft and the Gothic.
19:08 – Jay talks about Lovecraft movies and the Gothic.
22:23 – Richard talks about prime examples of Gothic films.
24:19 – Jay talks about the translation of Gothic stories from word to film.
27:39 – We discuss the gothic feel to the Sopranos.
31:56 – They talk about the range of topics the book covers.
35:42 – They discuss Alien and Gothic film in space.
39:06 – They discuss the strangest combination of gothic with another setting.
41:22 – Jay talks about the gothic in spongebob squarepants and Sesame Street.
43:15 – Richard talks about the use of Gothic structure in documentaries.
44:30 – Richard and Jay talk about Ren and Stimpy and the Gothic.
46:19 – Richard talks about his favorite Gothic films.
48:31 – Jay talks about his enjoyment of Nosferatu films.
50:22 – They discuss how they access the films the book mentions.
53:26 – Richard goes into detail about the Dracula story.
54:21 – Jay talks about how well the essays blend.
55:14 – They talk about the editorial process and the publishing process.
59:01 – Richard can be found on his webpage on the University of East Anglia website and Jay has a website www.the jaymcroy.com.
 
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/37Z9jZM
https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-gothic-film.html
https://www.thejaymcroy.com/
https://people.uea.ac.uk/r_hand
 
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast
 
Guests: Richard Hand and Jay McRoy
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: fiction, gothic, horror, radio, theater, transformationm, transmutation, film, Universal Pictures, Western Gothic, Pornographic Gothic, manga, Poe, Jinji Ito, Lovecraft, cosmic horror, Dracula, Frankenstein, Jekyll and Hyde, Stephen King, Sopranos, Gangs of London, Hammer films, British film history, surrealism, Alien, science fiction, haunted house, Ready Player One, The Shining, spongebob squarepants, documentaries, Ren and Stimpy, Lighthouse, Night of the Living Dead,]]> Cris Alvarez full false 1:02:15 18046 http://crisalvarez.com/2020/06/16/horror-fiction-history-horror-fiction-in-the-20th-century-praeger-2020-jess-nevins-interview/podcast/ Wed, 17 Jun 2020 01:28:48 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=18039 Check the book out here https://amzn.to/37yFNd6 Jess Nevins regularly writes on genre subjects. He recently wrote a book on horror fiction in the 20th century. We discussed the book and horror fiction across the world.…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2020/06/16/horror-fiction-history-horror-fiction-in-the-20th-century-praeger-2020-jess-nevins-interview/podcast/">Read More</a></p> Check the book out here https://amzn.to/37yFNd6 Jess Nevins regularly writes on genre subjects. He recently wrote a book on horror fiction in the 20th century. We discussed the book and horror fiction across the world.…Read More Check the book out here https://amzn.to/37yFNd6
Jess Nevins regularly writes on genre subjects. He recently wrote a book on horror fiction in the 20th century. We discussed the book and horror fiction across the world.
0:38 – Jess talks about how he got into horror fiction.
2:40 – Jess talks about non-English horror publishers.
3:49 – Jess talks about how he breaks down the book. He explores both English and non-English horror.
7:41 – Jess talks about the lineage of non-English horror.
11:38 – Jess talks about magic realism. He also talks about Asian horror literature.
13:28 – Jess talks about horrific human beings versus horrific monsters.
15:55 – Jess talks about categorizing horror and discovering new authors.
18:01 – Jess talks about Chinese and Russian horror.
19:54 – Jess talks about horror from India.
21:29 – Jess talks about horror for children versus adults.
23:14 – Jess talks about horror and national crisis.
25:41 – Jess talks about the most important horror writers.
28:12 – Jess talks about horror comics.
29:26 – Jess talks about sex in horror.
32:55 – Jess talks about sci-fi and horror.
35:54 – Jess talks about horror antagonists and the monster versus no monster debate.
37:38 – Jess goes into detail about the research for the book.
42:45 – Jess talks discovering new books during the research process.
46:56 – Jess talks about female horror writers.
51:44 – Jess talks about horror film and literature.
1:00:08 – Jess is on jessnevins.com and on twitter @jessnevins and on facebook as Jess Nevins.
 
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/37yFNd6
http://jessnevins.com/frontpage.html
https://twitter.com/jessnevins
 
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast
 
Guests: Jess Nevins
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: horror history, victoriana, horror, South Africa, Poe, Pierce, magic realism, Indian horror, Lovecraft, Gothics, feminist horror, children’s lietarure, Soviet Union literature, Lovecraft, Mathieson, Bradbury, manga, EC, comics, science fiction, worldcat, science fiction, transexual horror, Brazilian horror, ghost stories, Vikings, role playing game
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/37yFNd6
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 1:02:41 18039 http://crisalvarez.com/2020/06/06/fantasy-novel-a-song-below-water-tor-forge-2020-bethany-c-morrow-interview/podcast/ Sat, 06 Jun 2020 23:06:42 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=17999 Bethany C. Morrow interview about her fantasy novel “A Song Below Water” Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3cIdzNQ Interview Timeline Bethany C. Morrow writes speculative fiction and young adult fiction. Her debut novel was Mem…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2020/06/06/fantasy-novel-a-song-below-water-tor-forge-2020-bethany-c-morrow-interview/podcast/">Read More</a></p> Bethany C. Morrow interview about her fantasy novel “A Song Below Water” Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3cIdzNQ Interview Timeline Bethany C. Morrow writes speculative fiction and young adult fiction. Her debut novel was Mem…Read More Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3cIdzNQ
Interview Timeline
Bethany C. Morrow writes speculative fiction and young adult fiction. Her debut novel was Mem and her latest novel is A Song Below Water. We spoke about the book, her science fiction passions, her writing process, and the fiction publishing industry.
0:35 – Bethany talks about what the novel is about.
3:54 – Bethany talks about the use of mythology and contemporary fantasy in the novel.
8:44 – Bethany explains the idea of a Mami Wata.
11:08 – Bethany talks about vitriol against black female authors on twitter and on online forums.
13:25 – Bethany talks about how she writes for black girls.
17:00 – Bethany talks about the editing of her book who can understand the themes she is exploring.
22:04 – Bethany explains why she chose Portland Oregon for the setting of the book.
27:32 – Bethany talks about what prompted her to write contemporary fantasy.
32:55 – Bethany talks about her love of science fiction and the Planet of the Apes series.
37:55 – Bethany talks about the speculative fiction she loves.
38:57 – Bethany talks about growing up with Star Trek.
41:15 – Bethany talks about the musical aesthetic of the book.
42:19 – Bethany talks about her writing process.
46:33 – Bethany talks about how her writing process has changed over time.
48:58 – Bethany talks about how her ideas develop.
50:51 – Bethany talks about her interest in sociology and clinical psychology.
52:56 – Bethany talks about spending time in Wales and what cultural relations were there.
56:04 – Bethany talks about the editing of her book.
56:40 – Bethany talks about loving the Star Trek holodeck and replicators.
59:38 – Bethany talks about disliking future sci-fi characters who are into 80s and 90s culture.
1:01:41 – Bethany talks about her future writing projects.
1:04:09 – Bethany talks about the strong interest in A Song Below Water and the obstacles for black female writers in getting published.
1:10:15 – Bethany is on twitter and instagram @bcmorrow and at bethanycmorrow.com.
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/3cIdzNQ
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250315328
https://www.bethanycmorrow.com/
https://twitter.com/BCMorrow
https://instagram.com/BCMorrow
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast
Guests: Bethany C. Morrow
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: fantasy, writer, novel, novelist, fiction, sister-friends, Portland, magical, sirens, cosplay, mermaids, Mami Wata, Portland, progressive racism, buffy, true blood, Planet of the Apes, The Expanse, Star Trek, The Avengers,]]> Cris Alvarez full false 1:14:15 17999 http://crisalvarez.com/2020/05/30/post-apocalypse-novel-the-book-of-koli-orbit-little-brown-books-2020-m-r-carey-interview/podcast/ Sat, 30 May 2020 19:57:11 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=17990 Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2XfgNnG M.R. Carey has been writing comics and novels for over two decades. He’s written for DC Comics and has written nearly a dozen novels. His most well-known novel is…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2020/05/30/post-apocalypse-novel-the-book-of-koli-orbit-little-brown-books-2020-m-r-carey-interview/podcast/">Read More</a></p> Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2XfgNnG M.R. Carey has been writing comics and novels for over two decades. He’s written for DC Comics and has written nearly a dozen novels. His most well-known novel is…Read More Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2XfgNnG
M.R. Carey has been writing comics and novels for over two decades. He’s written for DC Comics and has written nearly a dozen novels. His most well-known novel is “The Girl With All The Gifts.” He recent;y released a new post-apocalyptic book titled “The Book of Koli.” We spoke about this new book, some of his comic book writing history, and the process of writing in general.
0:35 – Mike talks about why he wrote the Book of Koli.
1:35 – Mike talks about his approach to short story writing.
2:30 – Mike goes into the details of the book.
4:26 – Mike talks about the technological level of the world in the book.
5:39 – Mike talks about the use of technology in the book and on social issues.
8:36 – Mike talks about some research he did for the book.
11:20 – Mike talks about other works he’s done that touch on post-apocalyptic issues.
12:59 – Mike talks about the works that inspire him.
15:01 – Mike compares writing prose and writing for comic books.
18:13 – Mike talks about how he went from being an unstructured to a structured writer.
20:28 – Mike talks about the aesthetic and “soundtrack” to the book.
21:54 – Mike talks about whether he is an architect or a gardener when he writes.
24:10 – Mike talks about how his writing voice has changed over time especially when co-writing with his wife and daughter.
26:27 – Mike talks about having been a teacher for 15 years.
29:19 – Mike talks about being part of an institution like a school.
32:06 – Mike talks about power structures within school.
33:00 – Mike talks about the editing process for his book and beta readers.
34:46 – Mike talks about being a big fan of the wishing tree and the faraway tree.
36:07 – Mike talks about the success of Girl With All The Gifts and how that turned him
into a brand.
39:12 – MR Carey discusses some future writing projects.
40:19 – Mike talks about social media. He enjoys boardgamearena.com and itsyourturn.com
44:19 – Mike can be found on twitter and skype @michaelcarey191 and on goodreads.
45:35 – Mike talks about the comic “The Doll House Family” being released in September by DC Comics.
 
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/2XfgNnG
https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/m-r-carey/the-book-of-koli/9780316477475/
https://twitter.com/michaelcarey191
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast
Guests: M.R. Carey
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: writer, novel, novelist, fiction, Girl with all the Gifts, voice, post-apocalyptic, zombie, speculative fiction, dark fantasy, Enid Blyton, Hilary Mantel, Moorcock, le Guin, comic books, Alyssa Quitney, Shelly Roberg, DC comics, Lucifer, hellblazer, heavy metal, Talking Heads,]]> Cris Alvarez full false 47:57 17990 http://crisalvarez.com/2020/05/26/thriller-novel-crash-tor-forge-books-2020-lawrence-light-interview/podcast/ Tue, 26 May 2020 23:20:25 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=17982 Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2XzK8rM Lawrence Light is both a financial journalist and a mystery writer and has been both for many years. He, with co-author David Hagberg, combined these two subjects and wrote…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2020/05/26/thriller-novel-crash-tor-forge-books-2020-lawrence-light-interview/podcast/">Read More</a></p> Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2XzK8rM Lawrence Light is both a financial journalist and a mystery writer and has been both for many years. He, with co-author David Hagberg, combined these two subjects and wrote…Read More Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2XzK8rM
Lawrence Light is both a financial journalist and a mystery writer and has been both for many years. He, with co-author David Hagberg, combined these two subjects and wrote Crash a financial thriller that focuses on manipulation of computer networks and the financial world. We spoke about the book and Larry’s approach to writing.
0:36 – Larry talks about why we co-wrote Crash.
2:57 – Larry talks about the complexity of the financial system.
4:59 – Larry talks about investment houses being the targets of hackers.
7:28 – Larry talks about the research he did to write this book.
11:57 – Larry talks about what inspired the book..
14:39 – Larry talks about the works that inspire him.
17:35 – Larry talks about the first mysteries he read.
20:17 – Larry talks about his writing process and developing worlds in a thriller.
23:25 – Larry talks about how his writing progressed over time.
24:56 – Larry talks about what he hopes to give the reader with this novel.
27:30 – Larry talks about admiring the Travis McGee character.
30:55 – Larry talks about the publishing process.
33:33 – Larry talks about future writing projects.
34:42 – Larry can be found at LawrenceLight.com.
 
Links of interest
https://us.macmillan.com/author/lawrencelight/
https://lawrencelight.com/
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast
 
Guests: Lawrence Light
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: writer, novel, novelist, fiction, financial crash, fiancial disaster, Wall Street, economy, computer worms, hackers, shorting, Billions, hedge funds, shorting, Goldman Sachs, mystery writers of america, Paul Erdman, NAVY Seal, Travis McGee, John MacDonald, Florida
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2XzK8rM
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 37:54 17982 http://crisalvarez.com/2020/05/18/fantasy-novel-the-glass-magician-tor-books-2020-caroline-stevermer-interview/podcast/ Mon, 18 May 2020 17:25:37 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=17974 Caroline Stevermer interview about her fantasy novel “The Glass Magician” Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2LER41f Interview Timeline Caroline Stevermer writes historical fantasy and is best know for her Scholarly Magic series and River Rats.…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2020/05/18/fantasy-novel-the-glass-magician-tor-books-2020-caroline-stevermer-interview/podcast/">Read More</a></p> Caroline Stevermer interview about her fantasy novel “The Glass Magician” Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2LER41f Interview Timeline Caroline Stevermer writes historical fantasy and is best know for her Scholarly Magic series and River Rats. Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2LER41f
Interview Timeline
Caroline Stevermer writes historical fantasy and is best know for her Scholarly Magic series and River Rats. She recently published The Glass Magician a fantasy novel about magic and shapeshifting in gilded age New York. We discussed this work and her approach to writing.
0:35 – Caroline talks about why she wrote The Glass Magician.
2:35 – Caroline talks about the details of The Glass Magician.
4:24 – Caroline how the shapeshifting people deal with their powers.
5:57 – Caroline talks about the historical research she did for the novel.
9:23 – Caroline talks about researching mythology on shapeshifters.
10:17 – Caroline talks about works that inspired her work and the novel.
14:42 – Caroline talks a bit more about vaudeville books.
16:07 – Caroline talks about other works that have inspired her such as LoTR.
18:01 – Caroline talks about the musical feeling of the book.
20:30 – Caroline talks about the transformations in her novel and how she dealt with clothing on her characters.
22:42 – Caroline talks about how she approaches writing.
25:16 – Caroline talks about her approach to writing. One book she highlights is “Becoming a Writer” by Dorothea Brand.
31:00 – Caroline talks about having been an art history major and how it affected her writing.
32:05 – Caroline talks about being an underwriter.
34:21 – Caroline talks about having wanted to live in a city.
35:37 – Caroline talks about difficulties in getting books published quickly.
39:39 – Caroline is working on the sequel to the novel.
40:47 – Caroline can be found at carolinestevermer.com and on twitter @cstevermer3
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/2LER41f
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781466820838
http://carolinestevermer.com/
https://twitter.com/cstevermer3
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast
Guests: Caroline Stevermer
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: fantasy, writer, novel, novelist, fiction, swan lake, swan maidens, mythology, foxes, Chinese Zodiac, vaudeville, stage magicians, New York City, Carter Beats the Devil, magic, The Prestige, the Illusionist, world’s fair, Danube, Frank cullen, American Vaudeville museum, LOTR, Ursula le Guin, Tor
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2LER41f
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 44:51 17974 http://crisalvarez.com/2020/05/12/fantasy-novel-the-poet-king-tor-books-2020-ilana-c-myer-interview/podcast/ Tue, 12 May 2020 17:44:04 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=17966 Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2LpArXn Ilana C. Myer is a former Jerusalem based journalist turned novelist. She has wrapped up her Harp and Ring Sequence with the third book The Poet King. We discussed…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2020/05/12/fantasy-novel-the-poet-king-tor-books-2020-ilana-c-myer-interview/podcast/">Read More</a></p> Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2LpArXn Ilana C. Myer is a former Jerusalem based journalist turned novelist. She has wrapped up her Harp and Ring Sequence with the third book The Poet King. We discussed…Read More Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2LpArXn
Ilana C. Myer is a former Jerusalem based journalist turned novelist. She has wrapped up her Harp and Ring Sequence with the third book The Poet King. We discussed the book and her writing process.
0:49 – Ilana talks about why she wrote the series.
3:35 – Ilana talks about poetry versus prose writing.
4:42 – Ilana talks about the details of the book.
8:52 – Ilana talks about the research she did for the novel.
10:45 – Ilana talks about Middle Eastern magic.
12:41 – Ilana compares Eastern and Western magic systems.
13:26 – Ilana talks about the works that have inspired her.
14:53 – Ilana talks about the musical aesthetic of the book.
16:12 – Ilana talks about her writing process.
25:42 – Ilana can be found at ilanacmyer.com.
 
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/2LpArXn
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780765378347
https://ilanacmyer.com/
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast
Guests: Ilana C. Myer
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: fantasy, writer, novelist, novel, fiction, poet, Celtic, myth, literature, magic, french troubador, prose, art, medieval, Homer, Arabian nights, djinn, journalism, Middle Earth
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2LpArXn
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 27:53 17966 http://crisalvarez.com/2020/05/05/overwatch-league-young-guns-hachette-books-2020-austin-moorhead-interview/podcast/ Tue, 05 May 2020 23:17:22 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=17892 Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2WtYIRg Austin Moorhead is a financial reporter and a gamer. He decided it would be really fun to embed himself into the Overwatch League and write a book about it…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2020/05/05/overwatch-league-young-guns-hachette-books-2020-austin-moorhead-interview/podcast/">Read More</a></p> Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2WtYIRg Austin Moorhead is a financial reporter and a gamer. He decided it would be really fun to embed himself into the Overwatch League and write a book about it…Read More Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2WtYIRg
Austin Moorhead is a financial reporter and a gamer. He decided it would be really fun to embed himself into the Overwatch League and write a book about it so he did. We discussed the book and what it was like to be so close to the first season of this gaming league.
0:42 – Austin talks about how he got into writing about the Overwatch League.
2:56 – Austin compares video game leagues to amateur gaming.
6:51 – Austin talks about league players and the economics of their participation in the league.
7:57 – Austin talks about how Overwatch was creating a new type of video-gaming league.
8:37 – Austin talks about how the league planned to keep interest in Overwatch high.
13:42 – Austin talks about Robert Kraft’s involvement in esports and the Overwatch League.
14:54 – Austin talks about ad revenues in esports.
17:05 – Austin talks about how the Asian market compares to the US especially South Korea.
19:16 – Austin talks about the global nature of the Overwatch League.
20:37 – Austin talks about esports being shown live in stages and online.
22:57 – Austin talks about how the book discusses the financial picture of the league and then he talks about the investors, the coaches, and the players.
24:00 – Austin talks about player incomes and benefits.
26:22 – Austin talks about what it takes for a player to get picked up for these leagues.
29:18 – Austin talks about team chemistry.
31:48 – Austin talks about the book being about the first season of Overwatch League.
33:00 – Austin talks about coaching and training.
34:23 – Austin talks about the number of women in the league and attempts by the league to increase the number.
37:07 – Austin talks about having spoken to investors and how much he enjoyed that as well as interviews with the coaches and players.
40:24 – Austin talks about the personalities of the players.
42:04 – Austin talks about players who go on tilt.
43:25 – Austin talks about team leadership.
44:19 – Austin talks about how players convinced their parents to be allowed to join the leagues.
45:35 – Austin talks about getting access to players and people.
47:10 – Austin talks about hair, make up and so on for the camera.
48:39 – Austin talks about the fan experiences.
51:29 – Austin talk about cheating, hacking, and technical problems and sports betting.
56:58 – Austin can be found on twitter @fb29.
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/2WtYIRg
https://www.hachettebooks.com/titles/austin-moorhead/young-guns/9780316421393/
https://twitter.com/FB29/
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast
Guests: Austin Moorhead
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: video game, Plimpton, paper Lions, Overwatch,]]> Cris Alvarez full false 58:25 17892 http://crisalvarez.com/2020/04/29/fantasy-science-fiction-novel-chosen-ones-john-joseph-adams-2020-veronica-roth-interview/podcast/ Wed, 29 Apr 2020 23:20:44 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=17883 Veronica Roth interview about her fantasy science fiction novel “Chosen Ones” Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2y32eKh Interview Timeline Veronica Roth is well known for her successful Divergent series of books which were also put…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2020/04/29/fantasy-science-fiction-novel-chosen-ones-john-joseph-adams-2020-veronica-roth-interview/podcast/">Read More</a></p> Veronica Roth interview about her fantasy science fiction novel “Chosen Ones” Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2y32eKh Interview Timeline Veronica Roth is well known for her successful Divergent series of books which were also put…Read More Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2y32eKh
Interview Timeline
Veronica Roth is well known for her successful Divergent series of books which were also put on screen. She recently wrote a fantasy science fiction novel “Chosen Ones” and she spoke to me about that book and her approach to writing.
0:31 – Veronica talks about why she wrote Chosen Ones.
2:05 – Veronica talks about the setting and plot of Chosen Ones.
3:26 – Veronica talks about the book being set in Chicago.
4:09 – Veronica talks about researching PTSD and Chicago as a setting.
6:54 – Veronica talks about how the book became more government conspiracy focused than it started out.
7:59 – Veronica talks about what inspired the feel of the book.
9:36 – Veronica talks about what inspires her. She reads a lot of science fiction and fantasy.
11:55 – Veronica talks about how her interest in stories about younger people.
13:00 – Veronica talks about what the soundtrack of the book might be.
15:19 – Veronica talks about how she works on drafts of her novel and how she deals with editorial comments.
18:18 – Veronica talks about how her approach to writing has changed over time.
19:35 – Veronica talks about how her first novel was rejected.
21:36 – Veronica talks about jobs she had before becoming a writer.
22:48 – Veronica talks about changes she made for Chosen Ones.
24:25 – Veronica talks about the changes she made to the book as she wrote it.
26:37 – Veronica talks about how she changed a character in the book.
29:20 – Veronica talks about social concerns the book touches on.
30:50 – Veronica talks about the magic system in the book.
31:45 – Veronica talks about her love for Harry Potter.
32:25 – Veronica talk about completing the book.
33:58 – Veronica talks about the pressure of matching the Divergent series and YA movies.
35:23 – Veronica talks about writing to cinematic needs.
38:07 – Veronica can be found at veronicarothbooks.com and on instagram @vrothbooks.
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/2y32eKh
https://veronicarothbooks.com/
https://www.instagram.com/vrothbooks/?hl=en
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast
Guests: Veronica Roth
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: science fiction, fantasy, divergent, chosen ones, fiction, heroes, Harry Potter, Dune, magic, space race, MK Ultra, art noveau, Dune, Lord of the Rings, Animorphs, Buffy, Matrix, novel, editor, agent, drafts, writing, Divergent, young adult
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2y32eKh
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 40:11 17883 http://crisalvarez.com/2020/04/20/science-fiction-novel-providence-g-p-putnams-sons-2020-max-barry-interview/podcast/ Mon, 20 Apr 2020 15:08:31 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=17656 Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2xHNTCx Max Barry has authored six novels including science fiction. He also developed the popular nation simulation game NationStates. He’s recently published a new science fiction novel Providence and we…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2020/04/20/science-fiction-novel-providence-g-p-putnams-sons-2020-max-barry-interview/podcast/">Read More</a></p> Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2xHNTCx Max Barry has authored six novels including science fiction. He also developed the popular nation simulation game NationStates. He’s recently published a new science fiction novel Providence and we…Read More Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2xHNTCx
Max Barry has authored six novels including science fiction. He also developed the popular nation simulation game NationStates. He’s recently published a new science fiction novel Providence and we spoke about the book, his inspirations, and the craft of writing.
0:42 – Max talks about why he chose to write Providence.
5:46 – Max talks about how he constructed the world in the novel. He also talks about the science behind the novel.
10:23 – Max goes into more detail about the alien force in the book and the conflict.
12:36 – Max talks about the works that inspire his writing and process.
17:25 – Max talks about how he completed the work process-wise.
22:34 – Max talks about having been a programmer before writing. He’s also created a popular online game called Nation States. Providence also has an associated game at providence.training.
25:48 – Max talks about the editing of the book.
28:25 – Max talks about the musical aesthetic of the book.
32:43 – Max talks about his love of a game called Elite on the Commodore 64.
34:23 – Max talks about his latest writing project.
37:37 – Max talks about what he focuses on in his writing. He talks about the use of satire in writing.
41:08 – Max can be found at maxbarry.com.
 
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/2xHNTCx
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/612940/providence-by-max-barry/
https://maxbarry.com/
https://providence.training/
https://www.nationstates.net/
 
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast
Guests: Max Barry
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: science fiction, conflict, future, spaceship, advanced technology, larry niven, philip k. dick, old school sci-fi, alien, first contact, genome, star wars, programmer, artificial intelligence, Jennifer Government, nation states game, Daft Punk, orchestral dubstep, electronica, Commodore 64, Elite
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2xHNTCx
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
]]> Cris Alvarez 3 3 full false 43:48 17656 http://crisalvarez.com/2020/04/14/italian-science-fiction-studies-book-italian-science-fiction-the-other-in-literature-and-film-palgrave-macmillan-2019-simone-brioni-interview/podcast/ Tue, 14 Apr 2020 20:26:34 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=17649 Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2yda3MY Dr. Simone Brioni is a professor of Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature. He’s written and taught on the subject of migration and Italian colonialism. He recently co-authored a book…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2020/04/14/italian-science-fiction-studies-book-italian-science-fiction-the-other-in-literature-and-film-palgrave-macmillan-2019-simone-brioni-interview/podcast/">Read More</a></p> Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2yda3MY Dr. Simone Brioni is a professor of Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature. He’s written and taught on the subject of migration and Italian colonialism. He recently co-authored a book…Read More Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2yda3MY
Dr. Simone Brioni is a professor of Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature. He’s written and taught on the subject of migration and Italian colonialism. He recently co-authored a book with Daniele Comberiati about Italian science fiction  and how those works reflect and comment on Italian culture.
0:43 – Simone talks about how he got into writing on science fiction and on Italian science fiction. He saw science fiction not as predictive but rather a reflection of reality.
2:49 – Simone talks about how the book is laid out chronologically.
4:42 – We discuss the theme of travel in Italian science fiction. Simone talks extensively on I Am Legend and the themes of fascism in the story.
12:38 – Simone talks about fascism’s fascination for the future and science fiction.
14:37 – Simone talks about the major periods of Italian science fiction.
18:07 – We talk about monsters in Italian science fiction.
21:07 – Simone talks about Itlaian science fiction that embraces liberal ideas.
23:51 – We discuss science fiction productions that were done in Italy.
28:11 – Simone talks about Italian tv and film sci-fi production.
32:18 – Simone talks about how he did his research on Italian sci-fi and the books he found.
35:44 – Simone talks about how he found Italian sci-fi shows and movies.
37:53 – Simone talks about how such major social themes are discussed in Italian science fiction. He also talks about how the Romani have a major part in Italian science fiction. He also touches on translation issues.
43:00 – Simone talks about time machines and robots in Italian sci-fi.
44:54 – Simone hopes to influence English speakers in understanding the importane of Italian science fiction in global science fiction.
47:00 – Simone talks about why Italian sci-fi didn’t become familiar to English speakers.
51:08 – Simone can be found on twitter @SimoneBrioni and has a webpage at Stonybrook University.
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/2yda3MY
https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783030193256
https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/cscl/people/simone%20brioni.html
https://twitter.com/simonebrioni
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast
Guests: Simone Brioni
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: science fiction, Berlusconi, Italy, James ballard, mediascape, national identity, panopticon, philip k. dick, dystopic, i am legend, fascism, zombie, colonialism, horror, alternative history, neofascist, mussolini, world war two, WWII, afrofuturism, dystopic, Nirvana, Space 1999, Barbarella, Dune, Primo Levi, Italo Calvino, alternative realities, Planet of Vampires, Alien, They Will Leave, concentration camps, Roma, Rome, Luce D’Eramo
3 3 full false 53:48 17649 http://crisalvarez.com/2020/03/30/anime-voice-actor-bryce-pappenbrook-interview/anime/ Tue, 31 Mar 2020 03:14:48 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=17641 Check out Attack on Titan Season One here https://amzn.to/2JpD3U3 Bryce Papenbrook has been doing voice acting since age 6 and has over 250 credits to his name. We spoke about his work, his inspirations, and…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2020/03/30/anime-voice-actor-bryce-pappenbrook-interview/anime/">Read More</a></p> Check out Attack on Titan Season One here https://amzn.to/2JpD3U3 Bryce Papenbrook has been doing voice acting since age 6 and has over 250 credits to his name. We spoke about his work, his inspirations, and…Read More Check out Attack on Titan Season One here https://amzn.to/2JpD3U3
Bryce Papenbrook has been doing voice acting since age 6 and has over 250 credits to his name. We spoke about his work, his inspirations, and voice acting in general at Anime USA 2019.
0:36 – Bryce talks about how he got into voice acting. His dad worked as a Power Ranger.
1:25 – Bryce talks about the strengths he has as a voice actor. This includes his training in martial arts.
2:47 – Bryce talks about how his career progressed in acting. He says having fun is important.
4:19 – Bryce talks about actually working in the booth to record.
5:44 – Bryce talks about his best roles. Some are the ones from Final Fantasy.
6:38 – Bryce talks about the people who inspired and mentored him.
8:17 – Bryce talks about how he approaches a voice and developing it.
9:06 – Bryce talks some challenging voices such as Henry from Fire Emblem Awakening.
10:30 – Bryce talks about the length of recording projects.
11:25 – Bryce talks about roles he would have liked to do.
12:40 – Bryce talks about roles he has coming up.
14:45 – Bryce talks about what he does to protect his voice.
15:45 – Bryce can be found on twitter and instagram @brycepappenbrook and on facebook @actorbrycepappenbrook
Links of Interest
https://amzn.to/2JpD3U3
https://twitter.com/BrycePapenbrook
https://www.facebook.com/ActorBrycePapenbrook/
https://www.instagram.com/brycepapenbrook/
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast
Guests: Bryce Papenbrook
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: anime, animation, power rangers, martial arts, seven deadly sins, final fantasy, fire emblem, awakening, tales of graces, wendy lee, spongebob, demon slayer, inosuke, war of underworlds, attack on titan, voice acting
Check out Attack on Titan Season One here https://amzn.to/2JpD3U3
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

]]> Cris Alvarez 3 3 full false 17:33 17641 http://crisalvarez.com/2020/01/31/anime-voice-actor-daman-mills-interview/video-games/ Sat, 01 Feb 2020 02:32:34 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=15897 Check out his work in One Piece: Stampede here. Daman Mills is a professional anime voice actor with over 120 character credits to his name. We sat down at Anime USA 2019 and spoke about…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2020/01/31/anime-voice-actor-daman-mills-interview/video-games/">Read More</a></p> Check out his work in One Piece: Stampede here. Daman Mills is a professional anime voice actor with over 120 character credits to his name. We sat down at Anime USA 2019 and spoke about…Read More Check out his work in One Piece: Stampede here.
Daman Mills is a professional anime voice actor with over 120 character credits to his name. We sat down at Anime USA 2019 and spoke about his approach to his work and some of his daunting challenges in the voice acting world.
0:29 – Damon talks about how he got into voice acting. He started out introverted but kept practicing and got into indie projects.
1:52 – Damon talks about being shy.
2:20 – Damon talks about when he felt he had made it in voice acting.
3:18 – Damon talks about how he approaches voice acting.
3:55 – Damon talks about his strengths as a voice actor such as his vocal range.
5:03 – Damon talks about his approach to recording his parts.
6:50 – Damon talks about his voice inspirations.
8:02 – Damon talks about how he gets into character psyches.
8:43 – Damon talks about his most difficult roles including Freeza for Dragonball and One Piece Stampede.
11:06 – Damon talks about wanting to work in the Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts series.
13:08 – Damon talks about the time coding work he’s done.
13:56 – Damon mentions having to make some anime words more understandable to American audiences.
14:56 – Damon can be found on twitter and instagram @DamanMills and he’s on facebook as Daman Mills voice actor.
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/2thttOC (One Piece: Stampede)
https://twitter.com/DamanMills
https://www.instagram.com/damanmills/
https://www.facebook.com/DamanMillsVA/
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast
Guests: Daman Mills
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: audio interviews, animation, tv shows, video games, anime convention, actor, podcast,
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

]]> Cris Alvarez full false 16:54 15897 http://crisalvarez.com/2019/12/18/game-of-thrones-science-fire-ice-and-physics-mit-press-2019-rebecca-thompson-interview/game-of-thrones/ Thu, 19 Dec 2019 00:23:51 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=13276 Rebecca Thompson is a physicist who loves to teach and write about science. She spoke once about the science of Game of Thrones and then turned the idea into a really, cool book. We spoke…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2019/12/18/game-of-thrones-science-fire-ice-and-physics-mit-press-2019-rebecca-thompson-interview/game-of-thrones/">Read More</a></p> Rebecca Thompson is a physicist who loves to teach and write about science. She spoke once about the science of Game of Thrones and then turned the idea into a really, cool book. We spoke…Read More
Rebecca Thompson is a physicist who loves to teach and write about science. She spoke once about the science of Game of Thrones and then turned the idea into a really, cool book. We spoke about the book and what it took to research very different fields of science.  Check out the book here.
0:31 – Rebecca mentions that the book is about the Game of Thrones books and movies and she explains how she got into writing it.
2:10 – Rebecca talks about how she applied science to the show but she didn’t want to ruin the story for anyone.
4:00 – Rebecca talks about how she laid the book out in themes.
5:38 – We talk about the power of ranged weapons. Rebecca then talks about the various scientific issues she looks at.
8:34 – Rebecca wanted to talk to someone who knows what it’s like to be athletic in the cold. She spoke to a marathoner about this.
10:14 – Rebecca talks about how much the book is about Game of Thrones versus the science.
11:48 – Rebecca compares the show to the books. The books mention a second moon that was destroyed in the past and that would have changed the weather.
15:30 – Rebecca talks about the genetic mixing issues with brother and sister incest.
23:07 – Rebecca talks about the science behind weaponry and swords.
25:12 – Rebecca talks about Valyrian steel and Damascus steel.
28:27 – Rebecca talks about the buildings in King’s Landing.
30:12 – Rebecca talks about uncovering the methods of making Damascus steel.
33:02 – Rebecca talks about how she researched the strange seasons in GoT.
35:39 – Rebecca talks about navigation at sea versus learning about scurvy.
38:38 – Rebecca mentions guillotine use and what she learned about dinosaurs and dragonflight.
41:54 – Rebecca talks about wild fire and investigating if it could be real.
46:35 – Rebecca talks about researching Shireen’s death.
49:34 – Rebecca talks about how she hopes that people feel okay with asking weird science questions.
54:33 – Rebecca talks about how Matt Smith’s Doctor Who broke his own rules all the time.
58:10 – Rebecca talks about a series of science-focused comics she wrote for young readers.
59:03 – Rebecca is mathlete79 on instagram and twitter.
Links of interest
Check out the book here.
https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/fire-ice-and-physics
https://twitter.com/mathlete79?lang=en
https://www.instagram.com/mathlete79/
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast
Guests: Rebecca Thompson
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: science fiction, fantasy, game of thrones, physics, dragons, seasons, icewall, marathon, cold, zombies, white walkers, GRR Martin, skulls, weapons, swords, bronze age, iron age, damascus steel, valyrian steel, King’s landing, rabies, dinosaurs,]]> Cris Alvarez full false 1:01:13 13276 http://crisalvarez.com/2019/11/22/video-game-voice-artist-faye-mata-interview/video-games/ Fri, 22 Nov 2019 20:12:29 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=12920 Faye Mata interview at Anime USA 2019 – Video Game and Anime Voice Artist Interview Timeline Faye Mata is a voice actress with over 60 credited roles in anime and video games. We discussed her…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2019/11/22/video-game-voice-artist-faye-mata-interview/video-games/">Read More</a></p> Faye Mata interview at Anime USA 2019 – Video Game and Anime Voice Artist Interview Timeline Faye Mata is a voice actress with over 60 credited roles in anime and video games. We discussed her…Read More Faye Mata interview at Anime USA 2019 –
Video Game and Anime Voice Artist
Interview Timeline
Faye Mata is a voice actress with over 60 credited roles in anime and video games. We discussed her approach to voice acting and some of the roles she’s done. Get a League of Legends Gift card here
0:41 – Faye talks about how she got into voice acting for video games.
3:47 – Faye talks about the strengths she has in voice acting.
9:00 – Faye talks about playing roles where the characters really flip their emotions.
9:39 – Faye talks about voicing Myne in Shield Hero.
11:16 – Faye talks about some of her voice actor mentors.
14:18 – Faye talks about how she does her performances.
16:36 – Faye talks about what she does to keep her voice in shape.
18:28 – Faye talks about certain sounds and accents she has challenges with.
22:05 – Faye talks about roles she’d like to do.
26:45 – Faye is on twitter @fayemata and on instagram @fayematata.
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/2GMmqjW   Get a League of Legends Gift card here
https://twitter.com/fayemata?lang=en
https://www.instagram.com/fayematata/?hl=en
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd Interviews” please follow me on crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast
Guests: Faye Mata
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: audio interviews, podcast, actors, animation, film history, tv shows, video games, anime convention, 

]]> Cris Alvarez full false 31:17 12920 http://crisalvarez.com/2019/11/11/overwatch-voice-artist-keith-silverstein-interview/video-games/ Mon, 11 Nov 2019 21:32:19 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=12911 Keith Silverstein has been a voice artist for over 30 years with almost 400 credited roles to his name. He’s worked on anime, videogames, animation, radio and more. The role he says he is most…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2019/11/11/overwatch-voice-artist-keith-silverstein-interview/video-games/">Read More</a></p> Keith Silverstein has been a voice artist for over 30 years with almost 400 credited roles to his name. He’s worked on anime, videogames, animation, radio and more. The role he says he is most…Read More Keith Silverstein has been a voice artist for over 30 years with almost 400 credited roles to his name. He’s worked on anime, videogames, animation, radio and more. The role he says he is most known for at the moment is Torbjörn from the game Overwatch. We spoke about his work and method.
0:35 – Keith talks about how he got into voice acting.
2:06 – Keith talks about how he was first doing voices.
3:30 – Keith talks about how he takes care of his voice.
4:26 – Keith talks about the kinds of roles he has done.
6:30 – Keith talks about how he rehearses and performs in studio.
7:46 – Keith talks about the toughest characters he’s done.
9:33 – Keith talks about what has inspired his voices.
11:46 – Keith talks about picking his favorite roles.
14:14 – Keith talks about performances that didn’t come out the way he expected.
16:53 – Keith talks about roles he’d like to do.
19:10 – Keith talks about dubbing work.
20:32 – Keith is on twitter @silvertalkie and keithsilverstein on instagram, and Keith Silverstein Voice Artist on facebook.
20:57 – Keith talks about new projects he’s working on.
Links of interest
https://twitter.com/SilverTalkie
https://www.instagram.com/keithsilverstein/?hl=en
https://www.facebook.com/KeithSilversteinVoiceArtist/
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1142722/
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me on crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast
Guests: Keith Silverstein
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: voice acting, art, poetry, theater, gilbert gottfried, typecasting, Monster, anime, video games, naruto, glitter force, hunter hunter, overwatch, monter high, movies, marvel, dc comics, daredevil, star wars, spongebob, dubbing, Overwatch 2
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 22:53 12911 http://crisalvarez.com/2019/10/29/sci-fi-and-science-exploring-science-through-science-fiction-2nd-ed-springer-2019-barry-kuokkala-interview/science-and-sci-fi-interviews/ Wed, 30 Oct 2019 00:32:12 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=12600 Barry Luokkala is a physicist and physics professor with Carnegie Mellon. He wrote a book on science and science fiction after he found that students enjoyed the class so much and he had enough material…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2019/10/29/sci-fi-and-science-exploring-science-through-science-fiction-2nd-ed-springer-2019-barry-kuokkala-interview/science-and-sci-fi-interviews/">Read More</a></p> Barry Luokkala is a physicist and physics professor with Carnegie Mellon. He wrote a book on science and science fiction after he found that students enjoyed the class so much and he had enough material…Read More Barry Luokkala is a physicist and physics professor with Carnegie Mellon. He wrote a book on science and science fiction after he found that students enjoyed the class so much and he had enough material to write a book on the subject. We discussed the book. Check out the book here.
0:39 – Barry talks about how he developed this book.
2:24 – Barry talks about the focus of the book and how it introduces students
to science through science fiction movies and shows.
5:04 – Barry talks about how he approaches science fiction versus science fantasy.
8:37 – Barry talks about what movies and filsm most inspire aspiring scientists.
11:39 – Barry talks about Asimov’s robot novels.
12:54 – Barry talks about HAL 9000.
14:33 – Barry says Transcendence is the best movie right now that explores quantum computing.
19:47 – Barry has tried to avoid zombies and biology in his book. There isn’t enough science behind the idea. He also discusses Frankenstein as a science fiction novel. He then discusses a Kepler book that was science fiction.
22:24 – Barry discusses other writers who wrote science fiction in the 1600s.
24:48 – Barry talks about the giant ships in Indepedence Day and the science behind their hovering.
31:32 – Barry has a page on the Carnegie Mellon physics department webpage.
Links of interest
Check out the book here.
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-4614-7891-1
https://www.cmu.edu/physics/people/faculty/luokkala.html
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please find me at http://crisalvarez.com, follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
Guests: Barry Luokkala
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: science fiction, science, carnegie mellom, zachary quinto, physics, singularity, time, space, matter, universe, extraterrestrial, biology, biotechnology, star trek, planet of the apes, artificial intelligence, robotics, doctor who, isaac asimov, forbidden planet, i robot, 2001, HAL 9000, Transcendence, Interstellar, frankenstein, zombies, Kepler, Die Another Day, Independence day, Jurassic Park
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 32:56 12600 http://crisalvarez.com/2019/09/22/animation-history-joel-adams-interview-sffio-episode-99/marvel/ Sun, 22 Sep 2019 20:18:20 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=12481 Joel Adams is an artist who worked on character designs for King of the Hill. He’s worked on numerous other character design and animation projects and we talked about his work, inspirations, and the state…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2019/09/22/animation-history-joel-adams-interview-sffio-episode-99/marvel/">Read More</a></p> Joel Adams is an artist who worked on character designs for King of the Hill. He’s worked on numerous other character design and animation projects and we talked about his work, inspirations, and the state…Read More 0:30 – Joel talks about his work as lead character designer for King of the Hill and other work.
He talks about how he got into the artwork business.
3:00 – Joel talks about King of the Hill and how he designed characters. He gets into the process of character design.
5:53 – Joel talks about his favorite comic characters.
7:26 – Joel talks about the rules that apply when designing characters.
9:30 – Joel talks about his other projects.
13:30 – Joel talks about what inspired various King of the Hill characters.
16:40 – Joel talks about recent changes in character design. Technology changes and style changes.
23:45 – Joel can be found on JoelAdamsart.com.
Links of interest
http://joeladamsart.com/
For more of “Science Fiction and the Fantastic Inside Out” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
Guests: Joel Adams
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: animation, character design, King of the Hill, Incredible Hulk, Tarzan, X-Men, Batman, Burroughs, Power Rangers, fifth element, captain america, marvel
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 26:30 12481 http://crisalvarez.com/2019/09/12/childrens-show-and-puppeteering-history-jim-martin-interview-sffio-episode-98/interview-audio/ Fri, 13 Sep 2019 00:50:09 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=12107 Jim Martin is a lifelong puppeteer. He was Garry Gnu on the Great Space Coaster and he worked on Sesame Street for 22 years. We talked about his distinguished career and his efforts to save…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2019/09/12/childrens-show-and-puppeteering-history-jim-martin-interview-sffio-episode-98/interview-audio/">Read More</a></p> Jim Martin is a lifelong puppeteer. He was Garry Gnu on the Great Space Coaster and he worked on Sesame Street for 22 years. We talked about his distinguished career and his efforts to save…Read More 0:27 – Jim talks about how he got into puppeteering.
1:20 – Jim talks about what puppets he liked and the fairy tale worlds he liked putting them in.
3:25 – Jim talks about how his career progressed.
5:32 – Jim compares animated characters versus puppet characters.
6:10 – Jim talks about his time with Great Space Coaster.
7:20 – Jim talks about the business side of making the show including directing.
8:24 – Jim talks about how great a guest Mark Hamill was on the show. Mark loves puppets and enjoyed being on the show.
14:15 – Jim Martin was on Sesame Street for 22 years doing oscar the grouch’s right hand and also directed some of the shows.
15:00 – Jim talks about the different ways a puppeteer works.
15:55 – Jim jokes about how Ron Burgandy was stolen from Garry Gnu.
17:22 – Jim talks about what it takes to be a puppet performer.
18:15 – Jim talks about what happened to the ownership of the Great Space Coaster after the show was over.
22:29 – Jim talks about how great it is to see old versions of the show on youtube.
23:05 – Jim talks about licensing challenges with re-showing the Great Space Coaster.
24:53 – Jim talks about his inspirations.
31:10 – They have a website at Thegreatspacecoaster.tv where people can find out more about how the show was created. They’re on twitter and facebook at TheGreatSpaceCoaster.
Links of interest
http://thegreatspacecoaster.tv/
https://twitter.com/tgsc_official
https://www.facebook.com/TheGreatSpaceCoaster/
For more of “Science Fiction and the Fantastic Inside Out” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
Guests: Jim Martin
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: howdy doody, captain kangaroo, puppeteering, jim henson, muppet show, big bird, great space coaster, Mark Hamill, Mr. Spaghettio, sesame street, puzzle place, teenage mutant ninja turles, Ron Burgandy, sunbow productions, sony, hasbro, youtube, mr. rogers, jazz
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 34:29 12107 http://crisalvarez.com/2019/06/11/science-fiction-replicas-master-replicas-group-interview-sffio-episode-97/interview-audio/ Tue, 11 Jun 2019 22:16:21 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=10539 Master Replicas Group is a producer of museum quality replicas from science fiction, science and other popular entertainment. I spoke with two of their senior members, Steve and Karl, at the GPCC 2019. 0:38 –…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2019/06/11/science-fiction-replicas-master-replicas-group-interview-sffio-episode-97/interview-audio/">Read More</a></p> Master Replicas Group is a producer of museum quality replicas from science fiction, science and other popular entertainment. I spoke with two of their senior members, Steve and Karl, at the GPCC 2019. 0:38 –…Read More Master Replicas Group is a producer of museum quality replicas from science fiction, science and other popular entertainment. I spoke with two of their senior members, Steve and Karl, at the GPCC 2019.
0:38 – Steve and Karl talk about what the Master replica Group does.
1:08 – Karl talks about how one becomes a professional replica maker. He talks about 2001, fossils and 3-D replicas.
3:06 – Karl talks about how model makers connect and get into licensed projects. Steve talks about the actual business side of the work.
6:15 – They discuss what technology advancements have changed the business.
8:20 – They talk about quality control of the [models] replicas.
10:36 – They talk about applying artistic design to their replicas.
15:43 – They talk about what sci-fi and fantasy works have inspired them.
19:35 – They talk about whether space exploration is inspiring people currently.
21:19 – Steve talks about the moon landing and people who don’t believe it.
22:10 – They talk about how they are able to work with people who work remotely for the company.
23:12 – They talk about how people joined their company.
24:50 – Steve talks about cash flow management.
28:55 – They can be found at masterreplicasgroup.com. They’re on facebook and twitter and have links all over google.
Links of interest
https://www.masterreplicasgroup.com/
For more of “Science Fiction and the Fantastic Inside Out” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
Guests: Master Replicas Group
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: science fiction, fantasy, art, artist , Warner brothers, dinosaurs, fossils, 2001, smithsonian, apollo, hal-9000, 3-D, white light scan, star wars, star trek, marvel
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 30:49 10539 http://crisalvarez.com/2019/05/27/comic-book-history-comic-book-writer-christopher-priest-interview-sffio-episode-96/marvel/ Mon, 27 May 2019 17:09:51 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=10415 Christopher Priest has been a comic book writer for over 40 years and has worked for both Marvel and DC. He’s written for Deathstroke, Justice League, Vampirella and many other titles. He also helped to…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2019/05/27/comic-book-history-comic-book-writer-christopher-priest-interview-sffio-episode-96/marvel/">Read More</a></p> Christopher Priest has been a comic book writer for over 40 years and has worked for both Marvel and DC. He’s written for Deathstroke, Justice League, Vampirella and many other titles. He also helped to…Read More Christopher Priest has been a comic book writer for over 40 years and has worked for both Marvel and DC. He’s written for Deathstroke, Justice League, Vampirella and many other titles. He also helped to redevelop Black Panther.
{Note: The sound gets better after a minute or so but I wanted to include some interesting pre-interview talk that unfortunately doesn’t have the same sound quality as the full interview.}
0:20 – Christopher talks about the creation of Black Panther.
1:35 – Christopher talks about how Black Panther developed.
2:36 – Christopher talked about how he got into the comic book business.
4:00 – Christopher talks about what got him his job at Marvel.
6:30 – Christopher talked about working on Cracked magazine and being mentored by Stan Lee.
8:05 – Christopher talked about what story lines inspired him most.
10:15 – Christopher talks about his various career milestones.
12:50 – Christopher talks about the comic book business.
14:45 – Christopher talks about how he got Power Man and Iron Fist.
16:30 – Christopher talks about where he gets his writing ideas from.
20:15 – Christopher talks about developing Man Ape.
22:15 – Christopher talks about his role with the Black Panther film.
23:00 – Christopher talks about how he redeveloped Black Panther.
26:50 – Christopher talks about his professional life following Black Panther.
stop at 29:00
35:00 – Christopher talks about Deathstroke on tv.
36:03 – Christopher talks about the storylines he created that he’s most proud of. He goes into his Justice League storyline.
43:54 – Christopher can be found on Christopherpriest.com
For more of “Science Fiction and the Fantastic Inside Out” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
Links of interest
http://christopherpriest.com/cpdc/
Guests: Christopher Priest
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: comic books, writer, green lantern, DC comics, Marvel, Stan Lee, Cracked, Spiderman, Batman, Power Man, Iron Fist, Conan, Deathstroke, Justice League, News Radio, Iron Man, Vampirella
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 46:06 10415 http://crisalvarez.com/2019/04/21/nasa-space-program-history-book-come-fly-with-us-university-of-nebraska-press-2019-mel-croft-and-john-youskauskas-interview-sffio-episode-95/star-trek/ Mon, 22 Apr 2019 03:45:53 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=9813 Mel Croft and John Youskauskas are both space program enthusiasts who have previously written a book on the NASA space program. They recetly wrote another book on space shuttle payload specialists and we discussed this…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2019/04/21/nasa-space-program-history-book-come-fly-with-us-university-of-nebraska-press-2019-mel-croft-and-john-youskauskas-interview-sffio-episode-95/star-trek/">Read More</a></p> Mel Croft and John Youskauskas are both space program enthusiasts who have previously written a book on the NASA space program. They recetly wrote another book on space shuttle payload specialists and we discussed this…Read More 0:49 – They talk about how they got into writing on this subject.
2:02 – They talk about how they organized the book.
2:52 – They explain what the pauload specialist program is.
6:26 – They discuss some of the interesting aspects of the program.
9:33 – They talk about writing on STS-51L.
12:01 – They talk about the reactions people had to being chose as payload specialists.
29:22 – They talk about what they might do with all the information they obtained that didn’t end up in the book.
35:19 – They talk about what the specialists thought when they saw they Earth from orbit.
45:03 – They talk about how the DoD affected the shuttle design and missions.
48:13 -They talk about how payload specialists handle being called astronauts.
53:41 – They talk about the X-37B.
57:08 – They’re both on collectspace.com. They’re also on cmflywithusbook.com.
 
Links of interest
https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/university-of-nebraska-press/9780803278929/
For more of “Science Fiction and the Fantastic Inside Out” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
 
Guests: Mel Croft and John Youskauskas
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: NASA, space program, shuttle, STS, challenger, accident, payload specialist, hunstville, space center, astronaut, X-37B
 
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 1:00:14 9813 http://crisalvarez.com/2019/03/28/science-fiction-history-book-the-technical-delusion-duke-university-press-2019-jeffrey-sconce-interview-sffio-episode-94/horror/ Fri, 29 Mar 2019 03:26:46 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=9683 Dr. Jeffrey Sconce specializes in radio, tv, and film studies and is an assistant professor in communications studies. He’s written many books on the subject and we discussed his latest book on electricity, paranoia and…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2019/03/28/science-fiction-history-book-the-technical-delusion-duke-university-press-2019-jeffrey-sconce-interview-sffio-episode-94/horror/">Read More</a></p> Dr. Jeffrey Sconce specializes in radio, tv, and film studies and is an assistant professor in communications studies. He’s written many books on the subject and we discussed his latest book on electricity, paranoia and…Read More 1:04 – Jeffrey talks about he ended up writing the book.
2:55 – Jeffrey talks about the early days of electricity.
5:16 – Jeffrey talks about the explosion of ideas of being mentally controlled when televisions became commonplace.
13:13 – Jeffrey talks about paranormal tv shows which discuss haunted technology.
23:05 – Jeffrey talks about the increasing overlap between science fiction, conspiracy theories, and delusional psychosis.
31:33 – Jeffrey talks about Philip K. Dick and his writing.
41:11 – Jeffrey talks about what he used for his research including Journals on “Insanity.”
43:41 – Jeffrey talks about the truly delusional versus people pretending to be delusional.
1:04:43 – Jeffrey has a blog at ludicdespair.blogpsot.com
 
Links of interest
https://www.dukeupress.edu/the-technical-delusion
http://ludicdespair.blogspot.com/
For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
Guests: Jeffrey Sconce
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: science fiction, electronics, psychosis, conspiracy theories, supernatural, occult, paranormal, mediums, seance, industrial revolution, anxiety, depression, twilight zone, outer limits, haunted technology, twilight zone, x-files, brain chips, MK Ultra, ray kurzweil, Matrix, Philip K. Dick, targeted individuals
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 1:06:48 9683 http://crisalvarez.com/2019/03/17/animation-history-book-eat-drink-animate-crc-press-2019-tom-sito-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-93/cartoons/ Mon, 18 Mar 2019 00:46:58 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=9327 Tom Sito has been a film animator for decades and has worked on some of Disney’s biggest films. He teaches animation and is also a member of the Motion Picture Academy where he is also…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2019/03/17/animation-history-book-eat-drink-animate-crc-press-2019-tom-sito-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-93/cartoons/">Read More</a></p> Tom Sito has been a film animator for decades and has worked on some of Disney’s biggest films. He teaches animation and is also a member of the Motion Picture Academy where he is also…Read More 2:02 – Tom talks about how he came about to write the animators’ recipes cookbook.
5:20 – Tom talks about how animators incorporated food in their animation.
8:19 – Tom talks about the history of computer animation.
11:30 – Tom talks about the theater experience versus seeing a movie on a small screen.
14:03 – Tom talks about what new computer animation techniques are being developed.
18:10 – Tom talks about animation cinematography.
24:37 – Tom talks about experimentation in short films.
27:13 – Tom talks about Japanese animation and other international animated films.
30:15 – Tom talks about computer animated film budgets.
46:29 – Tom talks about mixing live-action and animation. They’re referred to as hybrid films.
48:30 – Tom talks about stop-motion animation.
54:04 – Tom talks about the proliferation of short films. He also discusses how people can have success getting their short films seen for notice or awards.
1:00:10 – Tom talks about possible major changes in computer animation.
1:03:32 – Tom was a website at tomsito.com
 
Links of interest
https://www.crcpress.com/Eat-Drink-Animate-An-Animators-Cookbook/Sito/p/book/9780815399766
http://anim.usc.edu/faculty/tom-sito/
 
For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
 
Guests: Tom Sito
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: art, artist, disney, chapman, clampett, chef, chili recipe, chasons, fantasia, how to train your dragon, toy story, Ridley Scott, Bladerunner, Duellists, light, storyboard, manga, Russian animation, Chinese animation, India, samurai jack, burton, harryhausen, jurassic park, cameron, speilberg, film festivals, Simpsons
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 1:06:22 9327 http://crisalvarez.com/2019/03/03/nasa-history-book-the-space-age-presidency-of-john-f-kennedy-university-of-new-mexico-press-2019-john-bisney-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-92/interview-audio/ Mon, 04 Mar 2019 00:57:14 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=8280 John Bisney has worked as a reporter, on news radio, in public relations and is a NASA enthusiast. We talked about the latest book he has co-authored “The Space’Age presidency of John F. Kennedy” which…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2019/03/03/nasa-history-book-the-space-age-presidency-of-john-f-kennedy-university-of-new-mexico-press-2019-john-bisney-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-92/interview-audio/">Read More</a></p> John Bisney has worked as a reporter, on news radio, in public relations and is a NASA enthusiast. We talked about the latest book he has co-authored “The Space’Age presidency of John F. Kennedy” which…Read More John Bisney has worked as a reporter, on news radio, in public relations and is a NASA enthusiast. We talked about the latest book he has co-authored “The Space’Age presidency of John F. Kennedy” which is a photographic history of NASA’s work during JFK’s presidency.
0:41 – John talks about how he got into studying and writing on this subject.
7:13 – John talks briefly about NASA illustration art.
7:46 – John talks about how they lay out the book.
11:01 – John talks about doing research at the Kennedy library.
13:12 – John talks about his favorite photos in the collection. He touches on Alan Shepherd in the White House Rose Garden.
15:02 – John talks about how he chose the pictures they used.
17:41 – John talks about the companies that worked on the space program.
21:59 – John talks about other important people found in the photos.
23:21 – John talks about interesting people who also show up in the pictures.
36:32 – John talks about video of JFK’s travels.
43:13 – The other co-author of the book has a website Retrospaceimages.com
 
Links of interest
https://unmpress.com/books/space-age-presidency-john-f-kennedy/9780826358097
https://retrospaceimages.com/
 
For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
 
Guests: John Bisney
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: science, NASA, gemini, apollo, cape canaveral, jfk, space program,
LBJ, congress, john glenn, white house, spaceship
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 45:23 8280 http://crisalvarez.com/2019/02/14/supernatural-studies-history-book-book-the-spectral-arctic-ucl-press-2018-shane-mccorristine-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-91/interview-audio/ Thu, 14 Feb 2019 10:47:36 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=6981 Dr. Shane McCorristine received his Ph.D. in history and now teaches at Newcastle University. His focus is on the “night side” of human experience. This means the study of social attitudes towards death, dreams, ghosts,…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2019/02/14/supernatural-studies-history-book-book-the-spectral-arctic-ucl-press-2018-shane-mccorristine-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-91/interview-audio/">Read More</a></p> Dr. Shane McCorristine received his Ph.D. in history and now teaches at Newcastle University. His focus is on the “night side” of human experience. This means the study of social attitudes towards death, dreams, ghosts,…Read More 1:19 – Shane talks about how he got into studying this subject. He was into polar fiction.
2:45 – Shane talks about how he’s laid the book out.
6:00 – Shane talks about the Shackleton expedition and the fourth presence.
11:05 – Shane talks about the public’s mystical perceptions of the arctic.
12:45 – Shane talks about ideas that the Arctic had gateways to the center of the Earth or to other dimensions or lands.
14:10 – Shane compares the supernatural to religious ideas.
17:20 – Shane talks about naval superstitions and their usefulness in maritime operations.
20:09 – Shane talks about ways in which the Inuits were represented in the media.
23:00 Shane talks about how strange it was for the Inuits to see Europeans in the Arctic.
32:00 – Shane talks about how the supernatural is created by society.
34:18 – Shane talks about the resources he used to do his research.
38:07 – Shane talks about a Dickens’ play titled the Frozen Deep about a lost polar expedition.
41:18 – Shane talks about some of the archives he used for his research.
44:45 – Shane most enjoyed being able to provide the female perspective on polar expeditions and what they meant.
51:30 – Shane conjectured how Europeans might react if Inuits showed up on their shores as explorers.
54:30 – Shane says Arctic and Antarctic exploration should not be conflated.
1:05:23 – Shane can be found at shanemccorristine.net. The book is available for free on pdf.
 
Links of interest
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ucl-press/browse-books/the-spectral-arctic
https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/S/bo34163665.html
https://www.shanemccorristine.net/
 
For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
 
Guests: Shane McCorristine
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: ghosts, spirits, Satan, Franklin, Shackleton, arctic, middle ages, supernatural, Vikings, Greenland, polar, Greeks, Inuit, Aurora Aborealis, Royal Geographic Society, Charles Dickens, seances, shaman, clairvoyance, Charlotte Bronte, Arthur Conan Doyle
 
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 1:09:04 6981 http://crisalvarez.com/2019/01/20/videogame-avaria-discussion-and-gameplay-andrew-linde-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-90/video-games/ Sun, 20 Jan 2019 18:06:12 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=6928   Andrew Linde worked in the music industry until he decided to commit himself full-time to indie game development. He’s been working on Avaria for a few years now and we talked about the game…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2019/01/20/videogame-avaria-discussion-and-gameplay-andrew-linde-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-90/video-games/">Read More</a></p>   Andrew Linde worked in the music industry until he decided to commit himself full-time to indie game development. He’s been working on Avaria for a few years now and we talked about the game…Read More Andrew Linde worked in the music industry until he decided to commit himself full-time to indie game development. He’s been working on Avaria for a few years now and we talked about the game and its development at Super Magfest 2019.
Apologies for the static during some of the interview but the game hall was pretty loud.
11:12 The game can be found on discord.gg/avaria.
11:11:26 – Andrew talks me through game play.
13:53 – Magfest game area ambient sound begins (due to interview technical glitch) (podcast version only)
17:43 – Magfest ambient sound ends and the interview continues. (podcast version only)
 
Links of interest
https://discordapp.com/invite/avaria
https://store.steampowered.com/app/816560/AVARIAvs/
https://avaria.world/
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/digitalman0/avariavs-the-first-competitive-pvp-jrpg-style-vide

For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
Guests: Andrew Linde
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: science fiction, fantasy, videogames, turn based, fighter
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 22:47 6928 http://crisalvarez.com/2019/01/02/scene-by-scene-analysis-of-the-orville-s2e1-part-i-artanddesignsff-episode-89/the-orville/ Thu, 03 Jan 2019 01:24:07 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=6578 Today I deviate from my normal interview format and instead do a scene by scene analysis of Season 2 Episode 1 of one of my favorite shows, The Orville.  I look at the concepts, artistic…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2019/01/02/scene-by-scene-analysis-of-the-orville-s2e1-part-i-artanddesignsff-episode-89/the-orville/">Read More</a></p> Today I deviate from my normal interview format and instead do a scene by scene analysis of Season 2 Episode 1 of one of my favorite shows, The Orville.  I look at the concepts, artistic…Read More  
I’ll still post interviews but I’m also going to mix in a few discussion episodes with them.
For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: The Orville, sci-fi, science fiction, television, Bortus, Alara, Gordon Malloy, cultures, writing
 
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 40:29 6578 http://crisalvarez.com/2018/12/20/sci-fi-tv-show-making-of-the-orville-book-the-world-of-the-orville-titan-books-2018-jeff-bond-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-88/star-trek/ Thu, 20 Dec 2018 22:08:01 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=6566 Jeff Bond has written multiple books on science fiction shows and movies. He was executive editor of Geek magazine, Senior Editor at CFQ, and he writes about film music for the Hollywood Reporter. We talked…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2018/12/20/sci-fi-tv-show-making-of-the-orville-book-the-world-of-the-orville-titan-books-2018-jeff-bond-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-88/star-trek/">Read More</a></p> Jeff Bond has written multiple books on science fiction shows and movies. He was executive editor of Geek magazine, Senior Editor at CFQ, and he writes about film music for the Hollywood Reporter. We talked…Read More Jeff Bond has written multiple books on science fiction shows and movies. He was executive editor of Geek magazine, Senior Editor at CFQ, and he writes about film music for the Hollywood Reporter. We talked about his recent book on the show The Orville.
0:52 – Jeff talks about how he got into writing a book on The Orville. He’s been a sci-fi fan since he was a kid.
4:01 – Jeff talks about how Star Trek has become it’s own genre.
5:47 – Jeff talks about how the producers of The Orville were not trying to make a
Galaxy Quest kind of show.
10:03 – Jeff talks about the tone and goals of the show. The producers drew from Star Trek TOS and the Twilight Zone.
13:08 – Jeff talks about the actors and acting in the show.
16:29 – Jeff talks about how good Adrianne Palicki is in the show.
21:00 – Jeff talks about Seth as the captain of the ship and the set of The Orville.
23:59 – Jeff talks about how they did the casting and how they’ve brought in a lot of people who have worked on various Star Trek projects.
27:19 – Jeff talks about how he organized the book and his interviews with the production people on the show. The book is sort of a “making of” and also a bit of a technical manual for the show. Jeff talks about how the ship was designed.
33:13 – Jeff compares the show to Star Trek TNG.
35:45 – Jeff talks about the show’s budget and also the design of the set, lighting, costumes, and make-up.
42:06 – Jeff talks about technical differences the show has from other tv shows.
44:43- Jeff talks about the writing process for the show.
57:05 – Jeff talks about the design and music of the credit sequence.
58:39 – Jeff talks about the music on the show.
 
Links of interest
https://titanbooks.com/9462-the-world-of-the-orville/
https://twitter.com/lazymodeler?lang=en
 
For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
 
Guests: Jeff Bond
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: science fiction, sci-fi, Star Trek, Twilight Zone, television, The Orville, Seth MacFarlane, spaceships
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 1:01:25 6566 http://crisalvarez.com/2018/12/13/supernatural-horror-studies-book-new-directions-in-supernatural-horror-literature-palgrave-macmillan-2018-sean-moreland-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-87/horror/ Fri, 14 Dec 2018 02:38:20 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=6563 Sean Moreland teaches English at the University of Ottowa. His main field of research is Anglo-American literature from the late 18th century to present. He particularly enjoys Gothic, horror and weird fiction and is involved…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2018/12/13/supernatural-horror-studies-book-new-directions-in-supernatural-horror-literature-palgrave-macmillan-2018-sean-moreland-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-87/horror/">Read More</a></p> Sean Moreland teaches English at the University of Ottowa. His main field of research is Anglo-American literature from the late 18th century to present. He particularly enjoys Gothic, horror and weird fiction and is involved…Read More 0:58 – Sean talks about how he got into working on Lovecraft.
1:44 – Sean talks about the essays in the book. All the contributors study weird fiction or horror.
4:36 – Sean talks about what precisely the essays focus on.
7:57 – Sean talks about the Lovecraft documents the essays draw from.
9:55 – Sean talks about how the ssays developed for the book.
744pm/
19:40 – Sean talks about how he has researched the foundational basis of the various essays.
21:55- Sean talks about the Lovecraft archives at Brown University.
23:19 – Sean compares Lovecrat to Poe.
26:41 – Sean was surprised that Lovecraft’s ideas can be applied to medieval writing.
28:14 – Sean talks about the questions that still surround Lovecraft.
31:47 – Sean talks about the fear of the different as a basis for horror.
42:33 – Sean has a horror blog at www.pstdarkness.com.
Links of interest
https://www.palgrave.com/la/book/9783319954769
https://arts.uottawa.ca/english/people/moreland-sean
https://pstdarkness.com/
 
For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
 
Guests: Sean Moreland
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: science fiction, fantasy, Lovecraft, critical thinking, horror, weird fiction, Edgar Allen Poe, gothic
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 44:44 6563 http://crisalvarez.com/2018/12/05/japanese-mystery-fiction-book-old-crimes-new-scenes-merwin-asia-2018-charles-exley-and-michael-tangeman-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-86/interview-audio/ Wed, 05 Dec 2018 20:08:25 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=6555 Charles Exley and Michael Tangeman are academics who both study Japanese language and literature. They both have an interest in Japanese mystery fiction and the three of us spoke about their latest project, a collection…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2018/12/05/japanese-mystery-fiction-book-old-crimes-new-scenes-merwin-asia-2018-charles-exley-and-michael-tangeman-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-86/interview-audio/">Read More</a></p> Charles Exley and Michael Tangeman are academics who both study Japanese language and literature. They both have an interest in Japanese mystery fiction and the three of us spoke about their latest project, a collection…Read More Charles Exley and Michael Tangeman are academics who both study Japanese language and literature. They both have an interest in Japanese mystery fiction and the three of us spoke about their latest project, a collection of 13 Japanese mystery stories that span 125 years of Japanese history.
1:03 – The editors talk about how they got into studying Japanese mystery fiction.
4:49 – They talk about how they chose the 13 fiction pieces in the book. They wanted an anthology of works of authors not widely known among English speakers.
8:28 – They talk about styles of Japanese mystery writing.
14:18 – Michael talks about the change in gender roles in Japanese society and mystery fiction. They also talk about a story on the clash between the Meiji period and new society.
17:20 – They talk about the historical aspects of the stories.
22:57 – Michael talks about some of the post-WWII stories.
31:34 – They talk about other stories they wanted in the book but didn’t make it.
34:54 – They talk about translating the stories and interesting terms and words.
43:12 – Michael talks about how “The Code” moved him. Charles talks about “Bugs Moving on the Ground.”
46:05 – They talk about their time in Japan and how the sotires connect to their time in Japan.
1:02:24 – Michael talks about the book’s cover art.
Links of interest
https://denison.edu/people/michael-tangeman
https://www.deall.pitt.edu/people/charles-exley
For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
Guests: Charles Exley and Michael Tangeman
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: science fiction, fantasy, art, artist, japanese mystery, high-brow, detective fiction, edgar allen poe, meiji, science fiction, train myster
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 1:05:44 6555 http://crisalvarez.com/2018/11/25/video-games-studies-book-the-toxic-meritocracy-of-video-games-university-of-minnesota-press-2018-chris-paul-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-85/video-games/ Mon, 26 Nov 2018 00:22:09 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=6550 Christopher Paul teaches at the Seattle University where he focuses on applying tools rooted in rhetorical analysis to elements of new media, especially video games.  We discussed his latest book on meritocracy in video games.…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2018/11/25/video-games-studies-book-the-toxic-meritocracy-of-video-games-university-of-minnesota-press-2018-chris-paul-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-85/video-games/">Read More</a></p> Christopher Paul teaches at the Seattle University where he focuses on applying tools rooted in rhetorical analysis to elements of new media, especially video games.  We discussed his latest book on meritocracy in video games.…Read More 0:45 – Chris talks about how he got into studying digital media and video games.
3:26 – Chris talks about the subject matter of the book – video games and meritocracy. He talks about Michael Young and his novel “The Rise of the Meritocracy.”
6:11 – The book delves deep into specific games and how they relate to meritocracy.
8:31 – Chris compares indie games and triple A games.
12:30 – Chris talks about diversity in video gaming.
16:28 – Chris talks more about how people are affected by succes in games.
17:44 – Chris talks about how he did his research.
21:33 – Chris talks about games that are breaking the meritocracy mold.
28:04 – Chris talks about the effects of what video games are teaching people.
37:46 – On twitter he’s @real_chris_paul.
Links of interest
https://www.seattleu.edu/artsci/departments/communication/faculty-and-staff/christopher-paul-phd.html
https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/the-toxic-meritocracy-of-video-games
For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
Guests: Chris Paul
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: science fiction, fantasy, art, artist, jesuits, Journey, “Papers, Please”, game jam, twitch, skyrim, gone home, mercy, overwatch, fortnite
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 39:51 6550 http://crisalvarez.com/2018/11/18/supernatural-fiction-studies-book-a-feeling-of-wrongness-penn-state-university-press-2018-joe-packer-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-84/video-games/ Sun, 18 Nov 2018 23:08:38 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=6544 Joe Packer is a communications academic and became interested in how pessimism is expressed in popular culture. He co-wrote a book on the subject and we discussed it. 0:56 – Joe talks about how he…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2018/11/18/supernatural-fiction-studies-book-a-feeling-of-wrongness-penn-state-university-press-2018-joe-packer-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-84/video-games/">Read More</a></p> Joe Packer is a communications academic and became interested in how pessimism is expressed in popular culture. He co-wrote a book on the subject and we discussed it. 0:56 – Joe talks about how he…Read More Joe Packer is a communications academic and became interested in how pessimism is expressed in popular culture. He co-wrote a book on the subject and we discussed it.
0:56 – Joe talks about how he got into writing about pessimism in popular culture. He references Lovecraft.
2:14 – Joe talks about the book and philosophical pessimism. The book focuses on the idea that things would be better if humans didn’t even exist.
6:31 – Joe talks about why they incorporated True Detective, Rick and Morty, and Final Fantasy VII into the book’s ideas.
12:37 – Joe talked about other works they considered including such as drone metal.
16:08 – Joe talks about their backgrounds in communications studies.
17:09 – Joe talks about the short story “I have No Mouth and I Must Scream” and how it affected him.
22:53 – Joe talks about post-apocalyptic films.
27:38 – Joe talks about the philosophies of BioShock.
28:52 – Joe is on academia.edu and Google Scholar.
Links of interest
A Feeling of Wrongness https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-08235-6.html
For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
Guests: Joe Packer
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: science fiction, fantasy, art, artist, Rick and Morty, True Detective, Lovecraft, Final Fantasy VII, Inside Out, drone metal, Get Out, BioShock, video games
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 31:00 6544 http://crisalvarez.com/2018/11/12/horror-movie-history-book-the-howling-studies-in-the-horror-film-centipede-press-2018-lee-gambin-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-83/horror/ Tue, 13 Nov 2018 01:26:16 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=6538 Lee Gambin has been writing about movies and especially horror movies for the last 15 years. We spoke about his latest book on the famous werewolf horror movie “The Howling.” 0:49 – Lee talks about…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2018/11/12/horror-movie-history-book-the-howling-studies-in-the-horror-film-centipede-press-2018-lee-gambin-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-83/horror/">Read More</a></p> Lee Gambin has been writing about movies and especially horror movies for the last 15 years. We spoke about his latest book on the famous werewolf horror movie “The Howling.” 0:49 – Lee talks about…Read More Lee Gambin has been writing about movies and especially horror movies for the last 15 years. We spoke about his latest book on the famous werewolf horror movie “The Howling.”
0:49 – Lee talks about how he got into studying and writing on “The Howling.” He really loved seeing a movie about a community of werewolves. He tried finding writings on the Howling and coulnd’t find any so was inspired to write on it.
5:11 – Lee talks about his writing career progressed.
7:45 – Lee goes into details on what the book is like.
11:05 – Lee discusses an interesting discovery made about “The Howling.”
24:30 – Lee talks about Bob Burns and his direction.
29:20 – Lee talks about some costume issues that the cast dealt with.
38:34 – Lee writes for Fangoria and Diabolique.
Links of interest
http://www.centipedepress.com/studieshorror/howling.html
For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
Guests: Lee Gambin
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: author, werewolf, werewolves, monster movies, 80s movies, movie history
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 42:31 6538 http://crisalvarez.com/2018/11/05/artificial-intelligence-academic-how-smart-machines-think-mit-press-2018-sean-gerrish-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-82/science-and-sci-fi-interviews/ Tue, 06 Nov 2018 01:20:08 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=5055 Sean Gerrish is a software engineer and has worked as an engineer for Teza Technologies and as an engineering manager for machine learning and data science teams at Google. We spoke about his latest book…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2018/11/05/artificial-intelligence-academic-how-smart-machines-think-mit-press-2018-sean-gerrish-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-82/science-and-sci-fi-interviews/">Read More</a></p> Sean Gerrish is a software engineer and has worked as an engineer for Teza Technologies and as an engineering manager for machine learning and data science teams at Google. We spoke about his latest book…Read More Sean Gerrish is a software engineer and has worked as an engineer for Teza Technologies and as an engineering manager for machine learning and data science teams at Google. We spoke about his latest book on machine learning. Sean’s comments in this interview reflect his views and not necessarily those of his employers.
0:41 – Sean talks about how he got into studying machine learning.
2:26 – Sean talks about the book and how it’s broken down. He touches on self-driving cars, IBM’s Watson, and machines that can play Atari games and so on.
4:31 – Sean talks about the most difficult concepts for people to understand.
6:51 – Sean talks about what intelligence in machines is.
12:01 – Sean talks about machine learning and the future of robots that can think for themselves.
15:39 – Sean talks about the large amount of labor needed to create machines that learn.
18:53 – Sean talks about AI and the marketplace.
24:01 – Sean talks about how he did the research for the book.
28:46 – Sean talks about a problem he grappled with in the research.
32:02 – The book has a sci-fi related Easter egg.
39:16 – Sean can be found on twitter @seannyg, and he writes frequently on Quora.
For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
Guests: Sean Gerrish
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: Netflix, Watson, Atari, machine learning, intelligent machines, robots, bladerunner
 
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 42:07 5055 http://crisalvarez.com/2018/10/31/latin-american-horror-movies-the-migration-and-politics-of-monsters-in-latin-american-cinema-palgrave-macmillan-2018-gabriel-eljaiek-rodriguez-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-81/horror/ Thu, 01 Nov 2018 02:05:55 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=5005 Gabriel Eljaiek-Rodriguez teaches Spanish and Latin American studies at the New School in Atlanta, GA. We spoke about his latest book on the politics of Latin American horror films. 1:04 – Gabriel talks about how…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2018/10/31/latin-american-horror-movies-the-migration-and-politics-of-monsters-in-latin-american-cinema-palgrave-macmillan-2018-gabriel-eljaiek-rodriguez-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-81/horror/">Read More</a></p> Gabriel Eljaiek-Rodriguez teaches Spanish and Latin American studies at the New School in Atlanta, GA. We spoke about his latest book on the politics of Latin American horror films. 1:04 – Gabriel talks about how…Read More 1:04 – Gabriel talks about how he got into studying horror and monstrosity. He discusses the kind of horror cinema that can be found in Colombia and which he was exposed to.
Colombians have always been interested in things from other cultures.
6:12 – Mexico is a powerhouse as far as producing entertainment in Latin America. Gabriel then talks about the book. He has studied the subtle politics behind horror films. He’s looked at movies from the 90s to 2017. He’s also looked at a range from Guillermo del Toro to more cult type films.
13:14 – He compares and contrasts monstrosity in film between Latin America and the US and Europe.
17:11 – Gabriel contrasts the influence of European and Asian immigrants to indigenous peoples on Latin horror films.
19:50 – Gabriel talks about Andean horror made most often in Peru and Bolivia.
23:43 – Gabriel talks about he approached the research for this book.
33:42 – Gabriel was surprised to see how political many Latin American horror films are.
46:44 – He has a page on Academia.edu. He’s also involved with a website that discusses Latin American Gothic. {Note – the website address is different from what Gabriel stated. It’s https://latinamericangothic.wordpress.com/}
 
Links of interest
https://latinamericangothic.wordpress.com/
https://gabrieleljaiekrodriguez.academia.edu/
For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
Guests: Gabriel Eljaiek-Rodriguez
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: horror, Colombia, Latin American film, Guillermo del Toro, Mexico, Buenos Aires, festivals, Vampires in Havana
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 49:52 5005 http://crisalvarez.com/2018/10/28/horror-movie-history-wasteland-the-great-war-and-the-origins-of-modern-horror-counterpoint-2018-w-scott-poole-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-80/horror/ Mon, 29 Oct 2018 01:32:19 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=4962 Scott Poole is a professor of history in American pop and folk culture with a heavy emphasis on horror studies. We talked about his latest book that examines the effect World War One had on…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2018/10/28/horror-movie-history-wasteland-the-great-war-and-the-origins-of-modern-horror-counterpoint-2018-w-scott-poole-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-80/horror/">Read More</a></p> Scott Poole is a professor of history in American pop and folk culture with a heavy emphasis on horror studies. We talked about his latest book that examines the effect World War One had on…Read More 0:56 – Scot talks about how he got into studying horror.
2:58 – Scott talks about the book and how World War One changed horror literature and stories.
9:58 – Scott talks about directors and creators who delved into horror.
12:45 – Scott talks about how Franz Kafka is associated with horror.
16:03 – Scott talks about the occult, horror and the Great War.
22:57 – Scott talks about French author Celine’s affect on horror.
25:33 – Scott talks about the death of animals affected horror.
28:34 – Scott talks about how he found old horror films and war footage.
35:30 – Scott talks about comedy in early horror.
38:39 – Scott talks about the great emotional difficulty he had in writing this book.
43:11 – Scott talks about an interesting discovery he made about Bela Lugosi.
53:04 – Scott tweets @monstersamerica.
For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
Guests: Scott Poole
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: horror, movies, literature, Kafka, Lovecraft, Peter Lorre, Bela Lugosi, World War One, The Great War, Celine, movie directors, Nazis, occult
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 55:22 4962 http://crisalvarez.com/2018/10/25/classic-science-fiction-the-forever-war-titan-comics-joe-haldeman-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-79/interview-audio/ Fri, 26 Oct 2018 02:34:35 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=4956 Joe Haldeman is a prolific sci-fi writer who has won numerous awards for his work. His most significant novel is The Forever War which also had two follow on novels. His trilogy has recently been…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2018/10/25/classic-science-fiction-the-forever-war-titan-comics-joe-haldeman-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-79/interview-audio/">Read More</a></p> Joe Haldeman is a prolific sci-fi writer who has won numerous awards for his work. His most significant novel is The Forever War which also had two follow on novels. His trilogy has recently been…Read More 1:13 – Joe talks about why he writes sci-fi and what he enjoyed in sci-fi.
1:57 – Joe talks about how Vietnam inspired Forever War.
4:00 – Joe was told he could choose a job when he was drafted but instead they made him a combat engineer-Pioneer. He cleared paths for troops.
8:00 – Joe talks about how Vietnam affected how he wrote about character interactions in the Forever War.
10:24 – Joe talks about the sexuality of the novel and mentions a gay couple he knew in Vietnam, two medics who shared a tent.
13:47 – Joe talks about the serious wound he received in Vietnam and the hospitals he went to in Vietnam. He ended up in charge of the library and the game room.
18:16 – Joe was in Vietnam from February 1968 to February 1969 and was in the Central Highlands in places like Pleiku. His unit moved around in helicopters but they used trucks to move their whole base about three times.
20:13 – Joe talks about booby traps used in Vietnam.
21:36 – Joe talks about the wound he received. He talks about what he did while recovering.
31:57 – Joe doesn’t want people to feel pro-war feelings when they read Forever War.
35:06 – He and his wife went to Mexico after the war.
44:00 – Joe and his wife started the ICON convention 43 years ago and still attend.
45:40 – Sci-fi convention and writing has made Joe more of a public speaker.
51:06 – A lot of magazines used to fill their pages with stories that were made to order.
54:04 – Joe loves reading about new solar systems and planets.
58:04 – Joe talks about how he felt when the US landed on the moon. He was in mexico at the time.
 
For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
 
Guests: Joe Haldeman
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: science fiction, writer, novelist, Forever war, sci-fi, war, vietnam, wounds
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 1:08:57 4956 http://crisalvarez.com/2018/10/23/star-trek-history-star-trek-a-cultural-history-rowman-littlefield-2018-m-keith-booker-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-78/star-trek/ Wed, 24 Oct 2018 00:52:34 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=4953 M. Keith Booker studies and teaches culture and literature. He worked as an engineer for many years before turning to the literary arts. He also has a passion for Star Trek and “nerd” stuff and…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2018/10/23/star-trek-history-star-trek-a-cultural-history-rowman-littlefield-2018-m-keith-booker-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-78/star-trek/">Read More</a></p> M. Keith Booker studies and teaches culture and literature. He worked as an engineer for many years before turning to the literary arts. He also has a passion for Star Trek and “nerd” stuff and…Read More M. Keith Booker studies and teaches culture and literature. He worked as an engineer for many years before turning to the literary arts. He also has a passion for Star Trek and “nerd” stuff and we spoke about his latest book on Star Trek.
0:43 – Keith talks about how he got into writing on Star Trek. He’s been a fan for decades and has also studied cultural history for many years. He started as an engineer.
3:43 – Keith has written on high brow literature but also on comic books, film and tv.
4:47 – Keith talks about the book and says that it focuses on the Original Series. But he also touches on the other Star Trek series’ and how the Original Series influenced them.
6:23 – Keith talks about Irwin Allen.
6:53 – Keith talks about NBC’s plans for Star Trek.
10:00 – Keith talks about the Prime Directive in the show.
13:07 – Keith talks about the writing in the Original Series and how Roddenberry reached out to sci-fi writers.
17:38 – We talk about Spock and his parents.
19:45 – We talk about the fan mail the series got.
21:08 – Keith talks about why the third season had problems.
23:40 – Keith talks about the research he did for the book.
27:40 – Keith talks about the X-files where they had stand alone episodes but also a running plot line.
31:39 – We talk about Star Trek conventions and how they came about.
34:45 – Start Trek was made for adults rather than preious sci-fi which was made for kids.
36:30 – Science fiction in general was becoming more adult in this period.
55:50 – We talk about the Coen brothers.
 
For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
 
Guests: Keith Booker
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: science fiction, star trek, the original series, x-files, irwin allen, gene roddenberry, spock, discovery, CBS, NBC, lost in space
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 1:01:27 4953 http://crisalvarez.com/2018/10/18/sci-fi-and-archaeology-excavating-the-future-liverpool-university-press-2018-shawn-malley-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-77/steampunk/ Thu, 18 Oct 2018 18:43:46 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=4842 Shawn Malley is a Canadian professor interested in the Victorian period. We talk about his latest book that discusses the intersection between archaeology, science fiction and spectacle. 1:45 – Shawn talks about how he got…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2018/10/18/sci-fi-and-archaeology-excavating-the-future-liverpool-university-press-2018-shawn-malley-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-77/steampunk/">Read More</a></p> Shawn Malley is a Canadian professor interested in the Victorian period. We talk about his latest book that discusses the intersection between archaeology, science fiction and spectacle. 1:45 – Shawn talks about how he got…Read More 1:45 – Shawn talks about how he got into writing on science fiction. He’s a Victorianist by trade.
4:09 – Shawn talks about how he divides the book and what the three parts are about.
8:04 – We touch on steampunk and Victorian tropes.
11:00 – We discuss Superman and archaeology.
21:04 – We discuss how Shawn chose what works to research.
25:45 – Shawn talks about analyzing tv and film media.
27:45 – Shawn is also interested in the technologies used to create sci-fi film and tv and what those say about how we approach sci-fi.
45:00 – The book has about 45 stills and Shawn wanted many more.
48:29 – Shawn’s work can be found in University libraries. He has a page on Bishop’s University of Quebec.
Links of Interest
Excavating the Future https://liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/products/108267
 
For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
Guests: Shawn Malley
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: science fiction, archaeology, babylon, iraq, smallville, Manticore, films, Stargate, Ancient Aliens, Indiana Jones, Crystal Skull, Superman, cyborgs, Battlestar Galactica, cylons, Star Trek, Transformers, District 9, ISIS
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 51:46 4842 http://crisalvarez.com/2018/10/14/disney-animation-history-drawing-the-line-university-press-of-kentucky-2006-tom-sito-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-76/cartoons/ Mon, 15 Oct 2018 02:15:22 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=4835 Tom Sito has been a film animator for decades and has worked on some of Disney’s biggest films. He’s written a book on Disney history based on interviews with Disney animators who were working there…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2018/10/14/disney-animation-history-drawing-the-line-university-press-of-kentucky-2006-tom-sito-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-76/cartoons/">Read More</a></p> Tom Sito has been a film animator for decades and has worked on some of Disney’s biggest films. He’s written a book on Disney history based on interviews with Disney animators who were working there…Read More 2:15 – Tom Sito talks about his animation career with Disney Studios. He explains how he ended up writing this book on the Disney strike of 1941.
4:00 – Tom talks about the layout of the book and how animation works.
7:03 – The book covers labor issues from the early days through modern day.
9:00 – The labor movement in animation caused changes in how animation was produced. UPA represents some of these changes.
15:14 – Tom talks about animators approached being in unions.
20:20 – Tom used 75 first person interviews and archives for the book research. He also knows the Disney family and they liked the book.
22:30 – The history involves the mob and communists. The Disney strike was one of the few without violence.
24:30 – The most dramatic day of the strike was the first day the picket line went up. The depression was still happneing for many people on that May 1941 day.
32:45 – The studios would use off-duty LA police to break up strikes. The mob coulnd’t make inroads into LA because the LA police would rough up mobsters who came into town.
38:00 – Tom talks about Don Bluth and how he left Disney and formed Don Bluth Studios in competition with Disney.
41:44 – Tom talks about Jakob Kirtzberg who left animation after a strike and went into comic books under the name Jack Kirby.
42:54 – Tom talks about the importance of the book among animators.
49:24 – Tom talks about the animation revival in the 1980s and 1990s.
50:35 – Tom talks about computer animation and its early development and rise. Flight simulators were a big part of this development.
57:30 – Tom talks about special effects used in 2001.
1:01:26 – He has a website at tomsito.com.
 
Links of interest
Tomsito.com
For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
 
Guests: Tom Sito

Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: art, artist, animation, Disney, los angeles police, mobsters, mob, communists, UPA, studios, Hollywood, Snow White and the seven dwarves, Don Bluth, Don Bluth studios, marvel comics, Jack Kirby, Paramount studios, Star Trek, Genesis effect, 2001, special effects, cookbooks,
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 1:04:25 4835 http://crisalvarez.com/2018/10/11/rod-serling-and-his-work-rod-serling-university-press-of-mississippi-2018-nicholas-parisi-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-75/interview-audio/ Thu, 11 Oct 2018 10:03:51 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=4829 Nicholas Parisi is a musician and vocalist and serves on the board of the Rod Serling Memorial Foundation. He’s recently written a book analyzing almost all of Rod Serling’s work and we discuss the book…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2018/10/11/rod-serling-and-his-work-rod-serling-university-press-of-mississippi-2018-nicholas-parisi-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-75/interview-audio/">Read More</a></p> Nicholas Parisi is a musician and vocalist and serves on the board of the Rod Serling Memorial Foundation. He’s recently written a book analyzing almost all of Rod Serling’s work and we discuss the book…Read More 1:39 – Nicholas talks about how he got into Rod Serling. He discusses many of the projects that Rod had been involved with. The book is part biography, part reference guide and part a critique of the themes that Rod explored in his work. It covers his entire writing life.
4:13 – Nicholas covers Rod’s radio work more extensively than other writers on Rod have.
5:58 – Nicholas talks about how Rod ended up in front of a screen in addition to being a writer.
6:45 – Nicholas talks about Orson Welles connection to the Twilight Zone and a myth surrounding it.
12:20 – Nicholas wants to emphasize that Rod was more than the Twilight Zone. He also mentions Rod’s attempts to put out scripts based on the Emmitt Till case.
17:16 – Rod’s daughter Anne Serling provided some support for this book.
24:43 – Nicholas’s book addresses a 1952 tv show episode that addressed racism most likely for the first time ever on television. Rod tried to push an episode addressing racism and no other researcher has talked about this episode before.
28:19 – Nicholas talks about Rod’s WWII experiences in the Philippines.
38:05 – Nicholas has a facebook for the book at facebook.com/RodSerlingDimensions
For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
Guests: Nicholas Parisi
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: science fiction, sci-fi, rod serling, twilight zone, television, gold age, mystery, orson welles, Emmett Till, McCarthyism, racism, World War II, Philippines, US Army
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 40:53 4829 http://crisalvarez.com/2018/10/07/race-gender-and-disability-in-spec-fiction-bodyminds-reimagined-duke-university-press-2018-sami-schalk-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-74/podcast/ Mon, 08 Oct 2018 02:42:36 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=4823 Dr. Sami Schalk is an academic who studies race, gender and disability in contemporary American literature and culture. We spoke about her latest book on science and speculative fiction as it relates to her studies.…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2018/10/07/race-gender-and-disability-in-spec-fiction-bodyminds-reimagined-duke-university-press-2018-sami-schalk-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-74/podcast/">Read More</a></p> Dr. Sami Schalk is an academic who studies race, gender and disability in contemporary American literature and culture. We spoke about her latest book on science and speculative fiction as it relates to her studies.…Read More 1:05 – Sami first got into speculative fiction through Octavia Butler.
3:38 – Sami talks about her book.
5:00 – Sami mentions some of the works she studied like Stigmata by Perry and other works in the field.
10:29 – Sami talks about Octavia Butler’s letters and files and the studies she was doing in disability and science.
12:34 – Sami talks about some of the history of speculative fiction by minority groups.
14:45 – Film and tv are getting better with race and gender but not with disabilities.
16:35 – Sami talks about some of the fan websites she used to do her research.
21:41 – Sami talks about which disabilities are most written about and which are not written about as much.
25:37 – Sami talks about how Octavia Butler’s works presents power in uncomfortable ways. The dynamics Butler applies are complicated.
35:50 – Sami has a professional facebook page under Dr. Sami Schalk. She also has a twitter account @drsamischalk. Readers can buy the book on the Duke University Press at a 30% discount if they use the code “E18BODYM” without the quotes.
Links of interest
https://samischalk.com/
For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
 
Guests: Sami Schalk
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: science fiction, speculative fiction, disability, gender, race, Octavia Butler, literature, culture
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 39:05 4823 http://crisalvarez.com/2018/10/03/frankenstein-art-its-alive-giles-2018-elizabeth-denlinger-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-73/horror/ Thu, 04 Oct 2018 02:13:06 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=4744 Liz Denlinger co-curates the Shelley collection of the New York Public Library system. She has helped develop a new exhibition on Frankenstein and has put together a visual history of Frankenstein for it. We discuss…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2018/10/03/frankenstein-art-its-alive-giles-2018-elizabeth-denlinger-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-73/horror/">Read More</a></p> Liz Denlinger co-curates the Shelley collection of the New York Public Library system. She has helped develop a new exhibition on Frankenstein and has put together a visual history of Frankenstein for it. We discuss…Read More [Note: About 38:25, I mentioned that lobby cards did not get copyright protection in the past. Of course this is for a specific date range and that rule likely has changed.]
1:13 – Liz talks about how she started studying the Shelley’s and Frankenstein.
3:14 – Liz talks about the book and how she collected the art for the book. She considered how Frankenstein looks in the book versus how he was shown on stage or screen.
8:41 – Liz talks about Mary Shelley’s exposure to the Gothic prior to writing Frankenstein.
10:52 – Liz talks about some of the images she finds the most noteworthy.
13:26 – Liz talks about elements you often find in both Gothic art and depictions of Frankenstein.
20:05 – Liz talks about how they found their images for the exhibit and book.
23:19 – Liz about the collections that were the most fun to look through for this research.
25:00 – People during Mary Shelley’s time liked spooky stuff as much as they do now.
27:10 – The American and French Revolutions inspired gothic fears among the British.
36:00 – Liz talks about what the exhibit will have.
40:10 – The exhibiton information can be found by googling “It’s Alive Morgan.”
 
For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
 
Guests: Elizabeth Denlinger
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: science fiction, art, gothic, frankenstein, shelley, new york public library, monsters
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 42:14 4744 http://crisalvarez.com/2018/09/30/fantasy-works-and-climate-change-fire-and-snow-suny-press-2018-mark-dipaolo-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-72/fantasy/ Mon, 01 Oct 2018 00:06:32 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=4720 Dr. Marc DiPaolo is an English literature academic who likes to write on pop culture. We discuss his latest book deals with climate fiction as found in sci-fi and fantasy books and video entertainment. 1:26…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2018/09/30/fantasy-works-and-climate-change-fire-and-snow-suny-press-2018-mark-dipaolo-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-72/fantasy/">Read More</a></p> Dr. Marc DiPaolo is an English literature academic who likes to write on pop culture. We discuss his latest book deals with climate fiction as found in sci-fi and fantasy books and video entertainment. 1:26…Read More Dr. Marc DiPaolo is an English literature academic who likes to write on pop culture. We discuss his latest book deals with climate fiction as found in sci-fi and fantasy books and video entertainment.
1:26 – Marc talks about how he got into studying genre pop culture. He got into Game of Thrones and Narnia audibooks and noted how much they get into climate and environmental issues.
3:46 – Marc talks about how these environmental themes were connected between works and authors. He looked at Philip Pullman, Octavia Butler, GRR Martin, CS Lewis and others. He also considered the Inklings, Dr. Who, Mad Max and so on. He also gets into Star Trek and Star Wars.
6:55 – He didn’t want to just do books or popular culture. He wanted to bring everything together.
11:50 – Marc talks about the inclusion of religion in this climate fiction.
15:56 – Marc talks about he did his research.
 
For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
Guests: Marc DiPaolo
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: science fiction, fantasy, Game of Thrones, Narnia, Tolkien, Lewis, Mad Max, Octavia Butler, environmentalism, Dr. Who, Star Trek, Star Wars
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 47:02 4720 http://crisalvarez.com/2018/09/28/science-fiction-and-disaster-the-future-as-catastrophe-columbia-university-press-2018-eva-horn-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-71/movies/ Fri, 28 Sep 2018 20:38:57 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=4578 Eva Horn is a researcher who is interested in how various kinds of disasters are presented in literature, television, and film. We talk about her latest book on the subject. 1:28 – Eva talks about…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2018/09/28/science-fiction-and-disaster-the-future-as-catastrophe-columbia-university-press-2018-eva-horn-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-71/movies/">Read More</a></p> Eva Horn is a researcher who is interested in how various kinds of disasters are presented in literature, television, and film. We talk about her latest book on the subject. 1:28 – Eva talks about…Read More Eva Horn is a researcher who is interested in how various kinds of disasters are presented in literature, television, and film. We talk about her latest book on the subject.
1:28 – Eva talks about how she got into writing on this subject.
6:00 – Eva differentiates between sudden disaster and the more modern slow creeping disaster.
12:00 – Eva talks about Lord Byron’s 1816 apocalyptic poem “Darkness.”
13:40 – Eva also talks about Cormac McCarthy’s novel “The Road.” She has also looked at various blockbuster disaster movies and shows. Elysium is one film she points out as an allegory of inequality.
16:25 – Eva talks about the two movies “Minority Report” and “12 Monkeys.” She talks about the fears of being able to predict the future. She brings up the myths of Oedipus.
20:30 – Eva talks about how the book is divided up.
22:45 – People used to fear a cooling planet.
32:07 – Eva would like to see more popular interest in the old texts that discuss disaster.
33:20 – Eva loves the movie “12 Monkeys” and considers it brilliant.
34:31 – SPOILER ALERT – Eva mentions how the “12 Monkeys” ends.
35:49 – SPOILER DISCUSSION ENDS
37:10 – SPOILER ALERT – Eva discusses the setting of “The Road”
38:58 – SPOILER DISCUSSION ENDS
46:50 – Eva has an academia.edu page and a page on the University of Vienna.
For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
Guests: Eva Horn
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: science fiction, 12 Monkeys, The Road, Cormac McCarthy, Oedipus, Sophocles, Lord Byron, Minority Report, Steven Spielberg, Vienna
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 49:57 4578 http://crisalvarez.com/2018/09/23/science-fiction-and-religion-religion-and-technology-into-the-future-lexington-books-2018-sam-gill-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-70/star-trek/ Mon, 24 Sep 2018 00:42:00 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=4572 Professor Sam Gill has studied dance, religion and science fiction for decades. He’s written books on the subject and here we discuss his latest book on religion and artificial intelligence. 1:50 – Sam Gill talks…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2018/09/23/science-fiction-and-religion-religion-and-technology-into-the-future-lexington-books-2018-sam-gill-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-70/star-trek/">Read More</a></p> Professor Sam Gill has studied dance, religion and science fiction for decades. He’s written books on the subject and here we discuss his latest book on religion and artificial intelligence. 1:50 – Sam Gill talks…Read More Professor Sam Gill has studied dance, religion and science fiction for decades. He’s written books on the subject and here we discuss his latest book on religion and artificial intelligence.
1:50 – Sam Gill talks about how he got into writing about science fiction.
2:57 – Sam talks about the book. He wanted to study the obsession with artifical intelligence. He looked at ancient philosophy all the way to modern thought and pop culture.
5:56 – Sam talks about his own interest in dance and the importance of movement, singing, religion with female artifical intelligence. He talks about embracing our fundamental human biology.
8:00 – Sam uses history, philsophy, and biology to provide his thoughts on where artifical intelligence should go.
10:30 – Sam posits that humans don’t learn as much in school as they do through the sharing of movement and physical expression.
13:17 – SPOILER POINT: Sam talks about how he chose movies and shows as examples. He talks about Ex Machina and its ending.
14:24 – SPOILER DISCUSSION ENDS
16:22 – Sam talks about how surprised he was to find historic connections between the first writing on female robots to modern films. He has found a very interesting common thread.
19:41 – SPOILER POINT: He tried to understand the role of violence in these films and tv shows. He talks about Westworld.
21:37 – SPOILER DISCUSSION ENDS
24:00 – Sam has found a small group of philosophers who have talked about the idea of biology being an important part of being human.
32:30 – Sam has studied dance across the world and people always want to teach others the way they dance.
35:25 – His website is sam-gill.com where people can find his writings on dance and science fiction.
 
For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
Links of interest
www.sam-gill.com
 
Guests: Sam Gill
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: science fiction, writer, nonfiction, Data, Star Trek, Westworld, Ex Machina, Blade Runner, dance, religion, movement, robots, artifical intelligence, scarlett johansson, movies, tv shows
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 38:26 4572 http://crisalvarez.com/2018/09/19/stargate-actor-peter-williams-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-69/interview-audio/ Thu, 20 Sep 2018 01:24:18 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=4553 Peter Williams is a Jamaican-born Canadian actor best known to sci-fans as Apophis on Stargate SG-1. Peter has done a number of roles in movie and tv and we spoke at Shore Leave 2018 about…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2018/09/19/stargate-actor-peter-williams-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-69/interview-audio/">Read More</a></p> Peter Williams is a Jamaican-born Canadian actor best known to sci-fans as Apophis on Stargate SG-1. Peter has done a number of roles in movie and tv and we spoke at Shore Leave 2018 about…Read More 0:48 – Peter talks about how he got into acting. He grew up in Jamaica and emigrated to Canada in 1981.
2:58 – Peter said he got into acting for superficial reasons. To work you have to be in the union and to get into the union you have to have worked. He talks about how he got into the business and he did a lot of comedy to start but he doesn’t consider himself a comedy guy.
4:19 – He was never typecast as Jamaican but he didn’t get the role in Cool Runnings because he wasn’t considered Jamaican enough.
5:22 – He had a degree in geography and archaeology and loved Egyptology so getting on Stargate was fun for him. The budget for the show was stout so it had a lot of quality production people. Most of the set impressed him.
7:00 – He loves studying the Roman Empire and especially the rise and fall of empires. He’s a language nerd too.
10:30 – He vaguely recalled wearing armor in a previous role. He loves costumes and would like to play a centurion or Roman would be fun.
11:28 – He liked Star Trek and Lost in Space. 2001, and he loves Back to the Future. He’s gotten more into sci-fi through thye fandom.
12:45 – He’s into biology, plants and their healing properties. He’s recently seen the rings of Saturn and the moons of Jupiter, and a ring nebula and was fascinated by them.
14:30 – He lives in a small town and people seem to want to hear his opinion as an actor. He’d also like to get into a social consciousness role if he had the chance.
15:23 – He’s on twitter @actualapophis.
Links of interest
https://twitter.com/actualapophis?lang=en
For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
 
Guests: Peter Williams
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: science fiction, Stargate, Ancient Rome, Egyptology, Jupiter, Saturn, acting, Cool Runnings, Jamaica, Canada, plant healing
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 17:17 4553 http://crisalvarez.com/2018/09/16/argentine-horror-films-blood-circuits-suny-press-2018-jonathon-risner-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-68/horror/ Mon, 17 Sep 2018 01:52:38 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=4550 Jonathan Risner is Assistant Professor of Spanish at Indiana University Bloomington. He discovered Argentine horror and wondered how much of the country’s brutal dictatorship impacted that country’s horror films. We discuss his book on the…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2018/09/16/argentine-horror-films-blood-circuits-suny-press-2018-jonathon-risner-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-68/horror/">Read More</a></p> Jonathan Risner is Assistant Professor of Spanish at Indiana University Bloomington. He discovered Argentine horror and wondered how much of the country’s brutal dictatorship impacted that country’s horror films. We discuss his book on the…Read More 1:27 – Jonathan talks about how he got into studying and writing about Argentinian horror cinema. He wondered if an Argentinian horror film could be made without referencing the brutality of the dictatorship in that country.
4:43 – Jonathan then talks about how he turned his dissertation into the book. He included new Argentinian films that have come out since 2012.   There’s not a tradition of Argentine horror cinema. Horror most often associated with other countries. Lots of people have started making great low budget horror films in Argentina.
14:00 – Since independence, Argentinian films have sort of shown a tension between city and country.
15:45 – He also looks at films that are done with English dialogue. These films are often designed to break into the US B-movie market.
19:08 – Another book chapter is on punk horror cinema that is supposed to be purposefully offensive.
21:45 – The dictatorship was dealt with on screen with melodramas and documentaries. A new generation of film makers are using horror to deal with it.
23:45 – The book has a filmography with associated US distributors and youtube links.
30:00 – Argentine horror film is not coherent. There is no stylistic thread through them.
33:00 – Jonathan interviewed a psychoanalyst who had been a college student during the dictatorship and he began crying. That was a moving moment for Jonathon.
41:45 – Jonathan joked about how hard it was to get good punk horror film stills because the film quality is poor, not corporate punk, he joked.
42:45 – He had to mix comedies with the horror films because it got tough to watch so much brutal horror.
45:56 – People can find the book and read the first chapter on the SUNY Press website.
Links of interest
SUNY Press Blood Circuits page
For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
Guests: Jonathan Risner
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: horror, films, Argentina, big-budget, interview, punk horror, dictatorship, memory, psychoanalysis
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 47:37 4550 http://crisalvarez.com/2018/09/13/classical-monster-art-portraits-of-human-monsters-in-the-renaissance-medieval-institute-publications-2018-touba-ghadessi-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-67/interview-audio/ Thu, 13 Sep 2018 14:36:11 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=4547 Touba Ghadessi is an Associate Professor of Art History at the Wheaton College Massachusetts. We spoke about her book on how the “monstrous” form was portrayed in 16th and 17th century art found among noble…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2018/09/13/classical-monster-art-portraits-of-human-monsters-in-the-renaissance-medieval-institute-publications-2018-touba-ghadessi-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-67/interview-audio/">Read More</a></p> Touba Ghadessi is an Associate Professor of Art History at the Wheaton College Massachusetts. We spoke about her book on how the “monstrous” form was portrayed in 16th and 17th century art found among noble…Read More Touba Ghadessi is an Associate Professor of Art History at the Wheaton College Massachusetts. We spoke about her book on how the “monstrous” form was portrayed in 16th and 17th century art found among noble courts.
3:45 – Touba talks about the book and what it means to be a monster in the 16th century.
8:00 – Touba thought she might find definite categories of “monsters” but the meaning was more porous. Courts loved having dwarves at court.
12:00 – Touba talks about a dwarf that was taught to fight, to speak other languages and taught many different skills by his court patrons. Some dwarves were mentally incapacitated and used as jesters sometimes.
21:24 – There’s a long history of dwarfism in other cultures being a perfect miniature representation of a human being.
25:45 – In the 16th century, anatomists started looking at dwarves as biological entities rather than omens of something.
27:30 – Touba could look at purchase inventories for courts to see what was being bought for dwarves by their patrons.
29:30 – She mostly got records from Northern Italian courts and some French courts.
38:00 – It was difficult for Touba to read about the vivisection work that some 16th century scientists did.
For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
Guests: Touba Ghadessi
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: art, dwarf, hirsute, paintings, 16th century, 17th century, italy, france, nobility, castrati, royal courts
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 46:32 4547 http://crisalvarez.com/2018/09/09/stargate-universe-actor-peter-kelamis-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-66/star-wars/ Mon, 10 Sep 2018 02:17:49 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=4544 Peter Kelamis is a Canadian actor who’s done a lot of voice acting and live acting. He’s best known for his roles in Stargate Universe and as Rolf in Ed, Edd, and Eddy. He’s also…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2018/09/09/stargate-universe-actor-peter-kelamis-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-66/star-wars/">Read More</a></p> Peter Kelamis is a Canadian actor who’s done a lot of voice acting and live acting. He’s best known for his roles in Stargate Universe and as Rolf in Ed, Edd, and Eddy. He’s also…Read More Peter Kelamis is a Canadian actor who’s done a lot of voice acting and live acting. He’s best known for his roles in Stargate Universe and as Rolf in Ed, Edd, and Eddy. He’s also played Goku in the English versions of Dragon ball Z. I spoke to him at Shore Leave 2018.
0:48 – Peter talks about how he got into acting. He was really into comedy as a kid. He used to get ice cream for impressions.
2:40 – Peter talks about how he does voice acting.
3:36 – Peter talks about how props can mess up a scene.
5:43 – Sometimes he remembers people he’s met and uses their voices for roles. He also talks about how his Greek background has influenced his acting.
8:12 – He saw Star Wars as a kid and was into sci-fi ever sine. He loves blue screen and green screen shoots.
12:18 – His website is Peterkelamis.com. He loves going to cons. He loves meeting people.
Links of interest
PeterKelamis.com
For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
 
Guests: Peter Kelamis
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: science fiction, fantasy, art, artist, Stargate, voice acting, Greek culture, Rolf, Yoda, Star Wars, canadian, australia, Greece
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 14:33 4544 http://crisalvarez.com/2018/09/07/star-trek-actress-chase-masterson-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-65/star-trek/ Fri, 07 Sep 2018 21:31:15 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=4539 Chase Masterson was an actress on Star Trek Deep Space Nine for five years and is currently an activist with the Pop Culture Hero Coalition anti-bullying organization. She and coalition member Raymond Litster spoke to…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2018/09/07/star-trek-actress-chase-masterson-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-65/star-trek/">Read More</a></p> Chase Masterson was an actress on Star Trek Deep Space Nine for five years and is currently an activist with the Pop Culture Hero Coalition anti-bullying organization. She and coalition member Raymond Litster spoke to…Read More 1:02 – Chase talks about her anti-bullying non-profit coalition
1:42 – Raymond talks about how he got involved in the coalition. Chase also talks about how she was bullied when she was a child.
3:50 – Chase didn’t have resources to escape bullying when she was young.
5:28 – Raymond sees bullying every day. Bullies take out their angers on friends, family and so on.
8:32 – They’ve been promoting the coalition since 2013 and they do about 17 conventions a year. Their link is Popculturehero.org and they are @superheroirl on facebook, twitter and instragram. They also have t-shirts and baseball caps available.
10:12 – Chase Masterson is on twitter. Raymond is on twitter @rrlitster
Links of interest
Pop Culture Hero Coalition
For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
Guests: Chase Masterson and Raymond Litster
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: science fiction, sci-fi, star trek, deep space nine, bullying, anti-bullying, conventions
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 11:43 4539 http://crisalvarez.com/2018/09/02/star-trek-graphic-designers-michael-and-deenise-okuda-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-64/star-trek/ Sun, 02 Sep 2018 23:45:43 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=4532 Michael and Denise Okuda worked as graphic designers on Star Trek The Next Generation. They’ve also worked on a number of other Star Trek media projects and have written various books on Star Trek. In…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2018/09/02/star-trek-graphic-designers-michael-and-deenise-okuda-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-64/star-trek/">Read More</a></p> Michael and Denise Okuda worked as graphic designers on Star Trek The Next Generation. They’ve also worked on a number of other Star Trek media projects and have written various books on Star Trek. In…Read More Michael and Denise Okuda worked as graphic designers on Star Trek The Next Generation. They’ve also worked on a number of other Star Trek media projects and have written various books on Star Trek. In my intro I say they wrote a book on Star Trek but in fact they’ve worked on many Star Trek books that are popular among fans.
2:09 – Michael Okuda talks about he first got involved in Star Trek. Denise Okuda started as a registered nurse before she got into Star Trek graphic design.
4:24 – Michael talks about how he approaches his work. You don’t want to create designs that draw the audience eye away from the cast.
6:29 – Denise was video coordinator for Star Trek Deep Space Nine.
8:29 – Michael talks about the difficulty of the graphics associated with alien languages.
10:12 – Michael was always inspired by Saul Bass especially for his ideas of Corporate Identity Design.
12:09 – Star Trek has always been on the cutting edge of the technology of graphic design.
14:13 – Denise noted that the less money a production has, the more creative designers have to be.
17:56 – Michael loves the design of the Apollo module.
19:31 – Filmmaking is a team effort and the designer is working for someone.
21:29 – Denise talks about the large Star Trek prop auction that she and Michael helped with. Michael talks about some Star Trek II ship miniatures he found in a box.
26:09 – They talk about their current projects. Michael Okuda is working on a Clint Eastwood project.
 
For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
 
Guests: Michael and Denise Okuda
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: science fiction, art, graphic design, Star Trek, The Next Generation, Star Trek II, ship models, The original series, costumes, Saul Bass, Roddenberry, Max Headroom, Undiscovered Country
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 32:42 4532 http://crisalvarez.com/2018/08/29/x-men-actor-shawn-ashmore-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-63/marvel/ Thu, 30 Aug 2018 01:16:22 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=4409 Shawn Ashmore is a Canadian actor best know to comic book fans as iceman of the X-Men film series. He’s done horror, drama and animation work. I spoke with him at Shore Leave 2018. 0:57…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2018/08/29/x-men-actor-shawn-ashmore-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-63/marvel/">Read More</a></p> Shawn Ashmore is a Canadian actor best know to comic book fans as iceman of the X-Men film series. He’s done horror, drama and animation work. I spoke with him at Shore Leave 2018. 0:57…Read More 0:57 – Shawn talks about he started acting as a hobby with his twin brother when they were kids. At age 14 he decided to take it seriously.
2:33 – He feels that a well-written script has done most of the work for an actor. He likes to break down scripts and create a personal history for the character if it’s not done already. He used music to inspire him in roles. Costumes also help him create the feel of the character.
4:38 – All the leather superhero costumes really adjust how he approaches a character. He also played Terry Fox who was a famous Canadian runner. Wearing his running outfit was emotional for Shawn.
6:49 – Shawn was an X-Men reader so he enjoyed being on the film. He felt a chill when he saw Patrick Stewart in the wheelchair and it felt like X-Men.
8:49 – Stand By Me was the film that made him want to be an actor. Lawrence of Arabia, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and lassic horror films have inspired him. He’s a fan of storytelling and great characters.
10:57 – He’s always found fans who’ve liked works of his that he might have felt didn’t reach the level he wanted it to.
11:39 – He watched a lot of Next Gen and wanted a transporter.
13:21 – He’s on twitter and instagram.
 
For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
 
Guests: Shawn Ashmore
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: X-Men, movies, marvel comics, horror,
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 14:58 4409 http://crisalvarez.com/2018/08/27/sci-fi-actor-aron-eisenberg-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-62/star-trek/ Mon, 27 Aug 2018 09:43:53 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=4406 Aron Eisenberg is an actor and filmmaker who is probably best known to sci-fi fans as Nog on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He and I spoke at Shore Leave 2018 about acting. 1:01 –…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2018/08/27/sci-fi-actor-aron-eisenberg-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-62/star-trek/">Read More</a></p> Aron Eisenberg is an actor and filmmaker who is probably best known to sci-fi fans as Nog on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He and I spoke at Shore Leave 2018 about acting. 1:01 –…Read More 1:01 – Aaron talks about how he first got into acting at the age of 17. He just did it for money at first then loved it. He had two auditions for Star Trek. His first big success was Horror Movie.
3:36 – Any role he takes on, he feels he needs to show the honesty of the role regardless of whether its genre or drama. He actually worked as Mickey Mouse at Disneyland in the past.
5:11 – Aaron talks about doing mask work. He mentions things he needed to do to work in prosthetics.
6:49 – He talks about his voice acting work on a Star Trek video game as Nog.
7:52 – He’s a big fan of Penn, Pacino, Rourke, and DeNiro. Those are his role models in acting. He got to work with Sean Penn in Colors.
9:51 – He loves Altered Carbon and Yellowstone. He also would love to be in Orville. He’s on twitter and facebook under his name, Aaron Eisenberg. He’s doing a webcast show with Garret Wong called the Alpha Quadrant. They talk about DS9 and Voyager.
 
Links of interest
TheAlphaQuadrant.com
https://www.facebook.com/aron.eisenberg
https://twitter.com/AronEisenberg
 
For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
 
Guests: Aron Eisenberg
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: science fiction, actor, star trek, DS9, deep space nine, Colors, Horror, Movie, Disneyland
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 12:28 4406 http://crisalvarez.com/2018/08/23/sci-fi-and-fantasy-author-greg-bear-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-61/fantasy/ Fri, 24 Aug 2018 01:41:35 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=4402 Author Greg Bear has had and continues to have a prolific and successful career as a sci-fi and fantasy writer. Blood Music is one of his more famous novels and he also helped co-found the…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2018/08/23/sci-fi-and-fantasy-author-greg-bear-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-61/fantasy/">Read More</a></p> Author Greg Bear has had and continues to have a prolific and successful career as a sci-fi and fantasy writer. Blood Music is one of his more famous novels and he also helped co-found the…Read More Author Greg Bear has had and continues to have a prolific and successful career as a sci-fi and fantasy writer. Blood Music is one of his more famous novels and he also helped co-found the San Diego Comic-Con.
2:14 – Greg Bear starts by talking about how he got into writing as a little kid. He talks about all the speculative fiction he was into at the time. He read a lot of paperbacks at the Kodiak base library when he was growing up.
4:02 – He started by trying to write Tom Swift type books and Burroughs type of works.
6:03 – in the 1960s there was a lot more interesting writing coming out and many more interesting writers as well. He started attending sci-fi conventions and meeting writers he liked.
8:26 – Greg Bear talks about how he chooses between making a story a short or turning it into a novel. New York publishers in the 80s were resistant to publishing hard cover science fiction. They turned them into paperbacks.
10:50 – Heinlein loved anyone who had been in the military.
12:18 – Greg Bear talks about his big success in the UK while the same book was sold as a paperbook in the US.
13:30 – Michael Crichton said he didn’t write sci-fi and disparaged it but wrote “techno-thrillers.” Publishers seem to hate genre except for mystery.
15:24 – People in the military love sci-fi but New York is not technically oriented and doesn’t understand sci-fi.
18:04 – A lot of sci-fi writers don’t have steady homes with publishers. Greg Bear has worked on different genres.
19:39 – He’s into every kind of science. He loves studying it all plus politics and military issues. He also loves, mythology, language and history. He’s been writing FBI novels too.
22:53 – Greg Bear talks about the transition from working on typewriters to computers. He also talks about how he tries to please himself in his writing first and hopes he has an audience for it.
24:52 – He’s working on a fantasy novel now.
26:24 – He has a website, GregBear.com and he’s on Facebook too.
 
Links of interest
GregBear.com
 
For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
 
Guests: Greg Bear
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: science fiction, fantasy, writer, novelist, killing tital, hull zero three, Halo, hard sci-fi, military sci-fi
]]> Cris Alvarez full false 28:08 4402 http://crisalvarez.com/2018/08/17/fantasy-flight-games-game-producer-molly-glover-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-60/board-games/ Fri, 17 Aug 2018 23:11:12 +0000 http://crisalvarez.com/?p=4230 Molly Glover is a game developer for Fantasy Flight Games. I spoke to her at Escape Velocity 2018 about how she got into the business, her inspirations, the gaming business and what she does in…<p><a class="excerpt-readmore" href="http://crisalvarez.com/2018/08/17/fantasy-flight-games-game-producer-molly-glover-interview-artanddesignsff-episode-60/board-games/">Read More</a></p> Molly Glover is a game developer for Fantasy Flight Games. I spoke to her at Escape Velocity 2018 about how she got into the business, her inspirations, the gaming business and what she does in…Read More 1:15 – Molly Glover talks about how she first got into game development. She started in games sales. She then moved into development and production. She started as a geeky child who played a lot of games.
3:50 – She did LARPing when young and as an adult she got more into it including Arkham Horror.
5:30 – She read a lot of large novels when she was young. Stephen King was an influence.
7:20 – When she worked in sales, she dealt with some people who didn’t think girls understood games well enough and preferred dealing with men. But things have gotten better in the last few years.
9:05 – She’s a big Star Wars and Marvel fan. She also likes Asimov and Star Trek.
11:50 – She used to be on Citadel BBSs and played those games like Legends of the Red Dragon.
12:50 – There’s a lot of narrative in games now. There are a lot of young people in gaming too.
16:50 – The average person can find good educational games on Amazon or local game stores. There are a lot of brick and mortar game stores. People can also write to the game manufacturers to get games.
19:20 – Talking to people at conventions and just playing games are good ways to get inspired for new game development.
20:10 – She always wanted to be able to teleport.
21:50 – We discuss gamifying game production itself. Non gaming industries should try to gamify their workplaces.
 
Links of interest
Fantasy Flight Games – https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/index/
 
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Guests: Molly Glover
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: science fiction, fantasy, board games, arkham horror, game development, educational games, Marvel, Star Wars, Star Trek, Fantasy Flight games, Cosmic Encounter
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