Signal Boost

In today’s episode of Signal Boost, Paul talks to Joseph Brassey about the second book in his Drifting Lands series, Dragon Road. Careful, because there are spoilers for the first book in the series, Skyfarer, which you should definitely go read right away. When you’re ready, listen to Joseph discuss how he likes to explore […]

In today’s episode of Signal Boost, Shaun, Julia and Joyce sit down with the finalists for the Dell Award for Undergraduate Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing at ICFA! They talk to Arthur Davis (the 2018 Dell Award Winner), C.E. McGill, Brittney Hubley, and Alexandra Barr about their experiences at ICFA, their work and […]

In today’s episode of Signal Boost, we’re coming at you from the International Convention on the Fantastic in the Arts! Yay! First, Shaun and Joyce are joined by Keffy R.M. Kehrli to talk about GlitterShip SF, a queer speculative fiction short story magazine, including the challenges, the highlights, and the benefits of having a queer […]

In today’s episode of Signal Boost, Paul talks to Sean Grigsby about his debut novel, Smoke Eaters, which imagines a future world in which firefighters also fight dragons! They discuss how Sean’s fire service career helped inform the novel and why he chose an older protagonist. He also gives us a glimpse into his next […]

In today’s episode of Signal Boost, Elizabeth talks to Tonya R. Moore about her collection of short stories (Becoming), how her Jamaican heritage affects her writing, her love of anime and how it influences her work, her upcoming zine on Yaoi anime, and juggling lots of projects. Then Paul is joined by R.S.A. Garcia to talk […]

In today’s episode of Signal Boost, Jen talks to Rati Mehrotra about her debut novel, Markswoman. They explore how Mehrotra’s own background inspired the world, why she decided to write it as a post-apocalyptic novel, what inspires her writing, and a few hints about what is coming next in the Asiana duology. Then Elizabeth is […]

In today’s episode of Signal Boost, Paul talks to Marko Kloos about his military SF series, Frontlines, and more specifically about the sixth and “final” book in the series, Points of Impact. Marko shares how he tried to play with the typical military SF tropes, how his military service inspired the series, and a little […]

Signal Boost is back! In our 1st boost festival of the year, a very sick Jen and a dissertation-downtrodden Shaun attempt to answer a few of your silly questions. Based on questions by @Runalongwomble and @timata87, we tell you about our secret Jaeger names, our fight songs, and the sf/f worlds we like to live or […]

In our final podcast of the year, Shaun and Jen offer a quick wrap-up of all the things we loved about 2017. We share some of our favorite episodes, remind folks of our listener/reader survey, and offer up some last minute mini boosts to make 2017 just a little bit more joyful. We hope you […]

In today’s episode of Signal Boost, Becca talks to Michelle Kan about her book, No More Heroes. They discuss what it meant for Michelle to write an #OwnVoices gender-fluid aro-ace character that included her ethnic heritage, issues with anxiety, and parkour! They also talk about how Michelle wrote No More Heroes during NaNoWriMo and how […]

On today’s Signal Boosts, Shaun and Jen share some exciting news about the Skiffy and Fanty website, our RSS feeds, the future of our funding sources, and our 2017 Reader/Listener Survey! Even though we’re pissed about what Patreon just did, our patron support has allowed us to do some really big things that will help […]

In today’s episode of Signal Boost, Jen talks to Claudie Arseneault about her work, including the recently released second book of the City of Spires trilogy, City of Betrayal. They discuss the mosaic narrative of City of Spires, found families, the solar punk genre and her first book, Viral Airwaves, and what inspired Claudie to […]

In today’s episode of Signal Boost, Jen talks K. Arsenault Rivera about her debut novel, The Tiger’s Daughter. K talks about the narrative structure of the novel, the importance of queer representation, how her Kung Fu film obsession helped her write the action sequences, and gives us a great break down of the important characters. […]

On today’s Signal Boosts, Shaun and Jen take a moment to squee about the fact that there are going to be THREE WHOLE NEW STAR WARS MOVIES AND A TV SHOW AND OMG! SQUEEEEEE!!! They’re moderately more coherent than that as they tackle what type of story Rian Johnson might tell. Then Jen moves them […]

In today’s episode of Signal Boost, Jen talks to Mike Brooks about the third installment of his Keiko series, Dark Deeds. Mike gives us a recap of the the first two books, which he calls dirty space opera, and sets us up for the crew’s shenanigans as they try to pull off a heist and […]

This is the final episode of our month of focusing on horror writers, and it has been so much fun that we’ll be sure to do it again next year! Each of our guests had different reasons for why they write horror and how they use the conventions of horror to explore themes that are […]

In today’s episode of Signal Boost, Jen talks to Eden Royce, a southern black woman transplanted to jolly old England, about the differences between horror and the Southern Gothic, the influences of her rootwork and hoodoo cultural background, the challenges of getting published in horror given the kinds of stories she writes, and so much […]

In today’s episode of Signal Boost, Jen talks to Canadian-Born Trinidadian horror writer, Tonya Liburd, about the horror of losing identity, how horror allows you to talk about taboo subjects, and her short story, “A Question of Faith.” Then Stephen Graham Jones — award winning author — joins Jen to talk about how he first […]

In today’s episode of Signal Boost, we kick off our month of focusing on horror writers from traditionally marginalized communities. First up, Jen talks to Nathan Adler — artist, writer, Anishinaabe and Jewish member of the Lac Des Milles Lacs First Nation — about his novel, Wrist, how Anishinaabe stories informed the monster and how […]

In today’s episode of Signal Boost, Sandra Odell, prolific short story writer, joins Jen to talk about disability, sexuality, and gender representation in science fiction and fantasy, how her identities inform her short stories, and what good representation actually looks like. Then Ausma Zehanat Khan, author of the Esa Khattak and Rachel Getty mysteries, joins […]