Speculate!

Welcome to Episode 69 of Speculate! The Podcast for Writers, Readers and Fans.  With this episode we begin a new triptych of shows on the work of Robin Hobb and Megan Lindholm, looking at the 2011 short story collection The Inheritance and Other Stories–the first time both pseudonyms have been brought together in one volume.  […]

             Welcome back for Episode 68 of Speculate! The Podcast for Writers, Readers and Fans.  In this episode we focus for the third time on the state of the speculative fiction field with special guests Matt Forbeck and Lee Moyer, concentrating this time around on the impact of Kickstarter and other crowdsourcing systems on the […]

Welcome to Episode 67 of Speculate! The Podcast for Writers, Readers and Fans.  In this episode we present the second half of our interview with authors Peter V. Brett and Myke Cole, as they talk more about their friendship (and the coolest gifts any authors could ever get), different methods and places of writing, and […]

Welcome to Episode 66 of Speculate! The Podcast for Writers, Readers and Fans.  In this episode we present the first half of an interview with authors Peter V. Brett and Myke Cole, long time friends and successful speculative fiction authors both with new books due out within the next month.  We hadn’t expected the interview […]

Welcome to Episode 65 of Speculate! The Podcast for Writers, Readers and Fans.  In this episode we kick off 2013 with an interview of author Howard Andrew Jones, who writes both original world novels and books set in Paizo‘s Pathfinder universe, adding to our ever-growing list of speculative fiction authors who enjoy gaming almost as […]

Welcome to Episode 64 of Speculate! The Podcast for Writers, Readers and Fans.  In this episode, our final one of 2012, we conclude our triptych of shows on Joe Abercrombie‘s Red Country with a discussion about some of the specific writing techniques used in the novel, examining aspects of setting, character development, determining the place […]

Welcome to Episode 63 of Speculate! The Podcast for Writers, Readers and Fans.  In this episode we continue our triptych of shows on Joe Abercrombie‘s Red Country with an interview of the author himself, who confesses his early love for role playing games, his desire for something more out of his epic fantasy (specifically:  grit, […]

  Welcome to Episode 63 of Speculate! The Podcast for Writers, Readers and Fans.  Join us as we begin a new triptych of shows on the work of Joe Abercrombie. In this episode, as we review Red Country, Brad and Greg find themselves at opposite ends of the fantasy-western continuum, a phenomenon we didn’t even […]

Welcome to Episode 61 of Speculate! The Podcast for Writers, Readers and Fans.  We set a new record for single episode participation in this show with four distinguished guests: Brenda Cooper and E.C. Myers (authors of The Creative Fire and Quantum Coin, respectively), freelance editor Gabrielle Harbowy, and Pyr Books‘ editorial and art director Lou […]

Welcome to Episode 60 of Speculate! The Podcast for Writers, Readers and Fans.  In this episode we (virtually) sit down for a discussion with urban fantasy authors Amber Benson and Anton Strout for a discussion of why they love doing what they do, why urban fantasy continues to appeal to such a wide audience and […]

Welcome to Episode 59 of Speculate! The Podcast for Writers, Readers and Fans.  In this episode we conclude our triptych of shows on the Beneath Ceaseless Skies magazine with a look at a few of the specific writing techniques used in the stories from the two issues we discussed during this series, focusing on ways […]

  Photo courtesy of the excellent Al Bogdan. Welcome to Episode 58 of Speculate! The Podcast for Writers, Readers and Fans.  In this episode we continue our triptych of shows on the Beneath Ceaseless Skies magazine with an interview of its publisher and editor-in-chief Scott H. Andrews, who has a lot of interesting stuff to […]

Welcome back for Episode 57 of Speculate! The Podcast for Writers, Readers and Fans.  After a busy summer of convention-going, workshops and interviews, we get back to our usual routine by going back to the beginning (so to speak), as we start our first triptych of shows on a short fiction magazine since our inaugural […]

Welcome to a special episode of Speculate! The Podcast for Writers, Readers and Fans. In this episode, Greg and Brad interview the authors who attended the Wellspring Writers Workshop held in Lake Geneva, WI. We asked each of our guests, all accomplished writers, to talk about one of their “Ah ha!” moments in their writing […]

Welcome back for Episode 55 of Speculate! The Podcast for Writers, Readers and Fans.  In this episode we take a second look at the state of the speculative fiction field with special guests Mary Robinette Kowal, former vice-president of SFWA and Hugo-award winning writer, and Michael Underwood, North American Sales and Marketing Manager for Angry […]

Welcome back for Episode 54 of Speculate! The Podcast for Writers, Readers and Fans.  In this episode we conclude our quadtych of shows on the work of Saladin Ahmed with a look at some of the specific writing techniques used in his debut novel Throne of the Crescent Moon, focusing on narrative pace and character […]

Welcome to Episode 53 of Speculate! The Podcast for Writers, Readers and Fans. In this episode we continue our trademarked “quadtych” of shows on Throne of the Crescent Moon, the new sword and sorcery book by Saladin Ahmed, with an interview of the author himself. Saladin was one of our first interviews, way back in Episode 2, and […]

Photo courtesy of the talented Al Bogdan. Welcome back for Episode 52 of Speculate! The Podcast for Writers, Readers and Fans.  In this episode we continue our sequence of shows on Throne of the Crescent Moon, the new sword and sorcery book by Saladin Ahmed, with an interview of DAW Books president, editor-in-chief and veteran […]

Welcome back for Episode 51 of Speculate! The Podcast for Writers, Readers and Fans.  In this episode we begin a new triptych plus one (is that a quadtych?) of shows on the work of Saladin Ahmed, who previously appeared on Episode 2 of Speculate! as we discussed one of his short stories; this time we’re […]

Welcome back for Episode 50 of Speculate! The Podcast for Writers, Readers and Fans.  We celebrate turning 50 (that sounds less ominous when we’re talking about episode numbers, somehow) with an interesting interview with Ian Tregillis, author of the alternative history series The Milkweed Triptych (he likes that last word as much as we do).  […]