Tales From The Trunk

It’s my absolute delight to welcome an absolute dream of a guest this time around: Chuck Tingle (@ChuckTingle)! We read from the first chapter of Chuck’s new horror novel, Camp Damascus, out July 11th from Tor Nightfire, which leads us into a great discussion on Chuck’s writing process, the things that changed between first draft and published book, and of course some of his and my favorite bits.   Things mentioned in this episode:   Game theory Straight and Bury Your Gays (2024), by Chuck Tingle A More Civilized Age Kelly Lonesome Get Out Multi-level marketing Grindcore Discord Friends at the Table In the Lives of Puppets, by Tj Klune Barry Ratboys Chuck’s BlueSky, Insta, Facebook, TikTok, Tumblr  

This episode’s reading carries content warnings for children in perilous situations and description of injuries. The reading is 10:30 long.   This time around, it’s my pleasure to welcome Foz Meadows (@fozmeadows)! Foz reads an excerpt from his trunked novella, “Blood Penance,” which leads us into a great conversation about idea magpies, internet purity culture, horror, and kink.   Things we mention in this episode:   A Strange And Stubborn Endurance, by Foz Meadows Captive Prince, by C.S. Pacat Halloween The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Scream series Allegory of the Cave, by Plato “Hotel California,” by The Eagles Lillian Boyd Rank & Vile Death of the author Watership Down, by Richard Adams Watership Down (movie) All the Hidden Paths, by Foz Meadows Finding Echoes, by Foz Meadows Luminescent Machinations, edited by Rhiannon Rasmussen and dave ring The Untamed Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu Heaven Official’s Blessing Beyond Evil KinnPorsche Stray Kids “Red Lights,” by Stray Kids “Veno

It’s my distinct pleasure, this time around, to welcome Emma Mieko Candon (@EmmaCandon) to the show to talk about their incredible new book, The Archive Undying, out June 27th, 2023, from Tor Dot Com! After a reading from the book’s opening, we descent almost immediately into gremlin mode about the inspirations for the book (our favorite podcast (you know the one)), Star Wars, and the intersection of cultures.   Things we mention this episode:   Friends at the Table Mike’s episode Ancillary Justice, by Ann Leckie Pacific Rim NieR:Automata Carl Engle-Laird Just Like Home, by Sarah Gailey The Genesis of Misery, by Neon Yang Lindsey Hall The Tensorate Series, by Neon Yang Docile, by K.M. Szpara The Kingston Cycle and Even Though I Knew the End, by C.L. Polk The Locked Tomb series, by Tamsyn Muir Margate Lock (Palisade character) (spoilers for Palisode 03) Star Wars COUNTER/Weight Castlevania Hellboy Cowboy Bebop Gundam Newtype Studio Ghibli Partizan Waypoint A More Civilized Age Lancer Bluff City Marielda Sangfi

This episode's reading carries a content warning for brief, non-graphic vomiting. You can skip forward 8:10 from the start of the reading to 0:13:00 to avoid this. This time around, it’s my pleasure to welcome Dee Holloway (@_deeholloway) to the show! Dee reads from her trunked YA novel, River’s End, which leads us into a great discussion of writing about place, what we did during the height of the pandemic, and Dee’s forthcoming novella, Little Nothing.   Things we mentioned this episode:   Stuart Dybek The Complete History of New Mexico, by Kevin McIlvoy Sabrina & Corina, by Kali Fajardo-Anstine Lady Bird Joan Didion California State Railroad Museum Sacramento History Museum QueryTracker Little Nothing, by Dee Holloway “The Highwayman,” by Alfred Noyes Devil’s Cup, by Dee Holloway The Craft Blue Crush Equus, edited by Rhonda Parrish Luna Station Quarterly “MONTERO (Call My By Your Name),” by Lil Nas X Tim Curry John Milton Paradise Lost, by John Milton The Odyssey, by Homer, translated by Emily Wilson T

This time around, I’m delighted to welcome back to the show Megan E. O’Keefe (@MeganEOKeefe) to talk about her brand new book, The Blighted Stars, out May 23rd from Orbit Books! In between saying “spaceship books” a lot, we talk about some things that got left out for the betterment of the book, some beloved tropes, and what else you can look forward to from Megan!   Things we mention in this episode:   Megan’s previous episode Val’s last episode K.B. Wagers’ last episode Jaime Jones’ cover The Archive Undying, by Emma Mieko Candon Friends at the Table (of course) The Imperial Radch Trilogy, by Ann Leckie Ninefox Gambit, by Yoon Ha Lee Velocity Weapon, by Megan E. O’Keefe The Scorched Continent Trilogy, by Megan E. O’Keefe The First Omega, by Megan E. O’Keefe Cormac McCarthy Philip K. Dick Terry Pratchett Final Fantasy XIV The Bone Shard Daughter, by Andrea Stewart Megan’s website, insta, twitch, and github  State machines Pico air monitor Micropython Purple Air Dev Ludum Dare Johnny 5 Seek the Light, on Mega

This episode’s reading carries a content warning for discussion of online harassment. If you would like to skip the reading, fast forward to timestamp 0:17:25 from the start of the reading.   This time around, it’s my absolute delight to welcome to the show Brandon O’Briend (@therisingtithes)! Brandon reads from their story, “Content is Cuisine,” before we launch into a wonderful conversation about the intersection of poetry and game design, how recipes and poems are alike, and how H. P. Lovecraft was accidentally kinda hip-hop.   Things we mention in this episode:   Suzan’s episode Mike’s episode Speculate! Valerie Valdes Girl By Moonlight Iori Kusano Jeoi Gawain Lin FB moderation expose Sin-eater All Our Yesterdays The Moon Wants Me To Leave You Anteater tumblr post Can You Sign My Tentacle?, by Brandon O’Brien Interstellar Flight Press Uncanny Magazine Lovecraft’s cat (CW: racial slurs) Sarah Gailey’s Personal Canons Cookbook Shing Yin Khor “Trust the Process,” by Hilary B. Bisenieks Elgin Award Amelia Atw

This episode’s reading carries content warnings for implied child abuse and violence. If you would like to skip the reading, please skip forward to the 0:21:00 mark from the start of the reading.   This time around, it’s my pleasure to welcome Ladz (@LadzWriting) to the show! They join us to talk about their forthcoming debut novella, Ice Upon a Pier, releasing April 11th, 2023, from Robot Dinosaur Press!   Things we mention this episode:   Robot Dinosaur Press The Chipped Cup Collective Sarah Loch Rekka Merc Fenn Wolfmoor Andi C. Buchanan Just Like Home, by Sarah Gailey Dark Souls The Last Podcast on the Left - Richard Kuklinski Disney World Ryszard Kukliński Tales of Symphonia Natuto Greenpoint (NYC) Aleta Perez Last Call, by Elon Green The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer, by Philip Carlo Ladz’s blog Terry J. Benton-Walker on Ladz’s blog “Problem for Tomorrow’s You,” by Ladz on itch.io Better Call Saul Darkest Dungeon II Frostpunk Light novels Bakemonogatari Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust Vampi

This episode’s reading carries a content warning for ableist themes around deafness. If you would like to skip this, skip ahead to the 11-minute mark to bypass the reading.   This time around, it’s my pleasure to welcome fellow gremlin Suzan Palumbo (@sillysyntax) to talk about…something. Suzan reads their trunked story, “Fricatives,” which leads us into a discussion about walking away from stories we’ve written that aren’t ours to tell. And then bagged pickles. We do get things back on track, amazingly, and have some great conversation about the place of emotion versus professionalism in writing, the current discourse around so-called “artificial intelligence” (large language models), and the baseball of crying.   Things we mention this episode   “Every Day is Halloween,” by Ministry Joyce Carol Oates “Apolépisi: A De-Scaling,” by Suzan Palumbo Welcome to the Black Parade, by My Chemical Romance Give Up, by The Postal Service Plans, by Death Cab for Cutie Pickle tweets Shut the fuck up Friday Friends at the

Hello, and welcome to season five (5) of Tales from the Trunk, where it’s my distinct pleasure to welcome Dr. Malka Older to the show to talk about her brand new novel, The Mimicking of Known Successes, out in just a few days on March 7th, 2023 from Tor dot com publishing! Malka reads us a couple of excerpts from the book, and then we geek out about putting puns in books because we can!   Things mentioned in this episode:   Infomocracy, by Malka Older Tor.com Publishing Brent Lambert NaNoWriMo Juliet Kemp’s episode The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles, by Malka Older The Archive Undying, by Emma Mieko Candon C.L. Polk’s recent book tour Even Though I Knew the End, by C.L. Polk Malka and Cee’s event, March 9th, 3:00 pm Pacific at Loyalty Bookstore “Narrative Disorder,” by Malka Older …and Other Disasters, by Malka Older Daniel Jose Older Meru, by S.B. Divya The Terraformers, by Annalee Newitz A Scatter of Light, by Melinda Lo Malka’s mastodon, insta, and tumblr   Join us again in two weeks, when I’ll be tal

This time around, to close out our fourth (4th!) season, it’s my pleasure to welcome Aimee Ogden (@aimeeogden@wandering.shop) to the show! Aimee reads from her delightful trunked YA novel, Starstruck, which leads us into a lovely conversation about lesbian radishes, the exhausting nature of submitting work, and short fiction magazines we love.   Things we mention this episode:   Aimee Kuzenski’s episode Network Effect, by Martha Wells Gregory A. Wilson Beauty heart (watermelon) radish Cat Valente Tamora Pierce The Wings of Fire series, by Tui T. Sutherland Redwall series, by Brian Jacques Diggers, Guards! Guards!, Hogfather, and The Last Continent, by Terry Pratchett “The Cold Calculations,” by Aimee Ogden Be the Serpent Sarah Gailey’s Personal Canons Cookbook Skies of Wonder, Skies of Danger, edited by John Appel, Mary Agner, and Jo Miles Mary Robinette Kowal F&SF Clarkesworld Ann Leckie Analog Translunar Traveler’s Lounge Friends Journal QSFF issue Emergent Properties, by Aimee Ogden “A Love Letter Writ

This time around, it’s my joy to welcome back World Fantasy Award winner and fantastic human being C.L. Polk (@clpolk@wandering.shop) to talk about their newest novella, Even Though I Knew The End. After hearing an excerpt from the book’s first act, we get into its unexpected origin story, the things we write for our nine (9) goblin friends, and an introduction to Cee’s other books!   Things we mention in this episode:   The Kingston Cycle and The Midnight Bargain, by C.L. Polk Detroit Red Wings Chicago Blackhawks Supernatural AO3 Hardboiled fiction The Magicians Discord Guy Noir, Private Eye A Prairie Home Companion Phillip Marlowe Raymond Chandler An American Werewolf in London Hermie (Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer) The Witching Hour, by Anne Rice Masters of Magic Dragon Age Dragon Age: Absolution The Spare Man, by Mary Robinette Kowal The Lady Astronaut series, by Mary Robinette Kowal Cee’s website Groundhog Day   Join us again in two weeks, when my guest will be Aimee Ogden!

This time around, it’s my delight to welcome Juliet Kemp (twitter @julietk, mastodon @juliet@zirk.us) to the show! They read from their trunked sci-fi novel, Between Stars, Between Minds, which leads us into a discussion of messy first drafts, lived-in science fiction worlds, and finishing a four-book series.   Things we mentioned in this episode: Chipped Cup Collective Andor Friends at the Table Austin Walker A More Civilized Age “Blocking,” by Juliet Kemp in Strange Bedfellows Angry Robot Books The City Revealed, by Juliet Kemp Ocean’s series Alien Quadrilogy Lois McMaster Bujold Terry Pratchett Macey’s Murderboard method “Monday,” by Hilary B. Bisenieks LiveJournal Lockie Hunter A Starbound Solstice, by Juliet Kemp “At the Lighthouse Out by the Othersea,” by Juliet Kemp Our Flag Means Death Black Sails A League of Their Own The Hands of the Emperor and At the Feet of the Sun, by Victoria Goddard Flotsam, by R.J. Theodore Juliet’s website   Join us next month, when I’ll be talking to C.L. Polk and Aimee Ogd

It's awards time again! A full transcript of the show is included below.     Hello, and welcome to Tales from the Trunk: nominating the works that did make it! I’m Hilary B. Bisenieks.   Friends, it’s been another amazing year for science fiction, fantasy, horror, and beyond, and I’m here once more to let you know about some of the amazing works by my fantastic guests, which you can nominate for this year’s awards!   Andi C. Buchanan, who joined us in April of 2022, has a number of eligible works including their novel, Sanctuary, and the essay “Human not machine: how autistic writers are writing new space for themselves.”   A link to their eligibility post is included in the show notes. https://andicbuchanan.org/2022/12/18/2022-publications/    C.L. Clark, who just joined us in December, is eligible in most novelette categories for "Your Eyes, My Beacon: Being an Account of Several Misadventures and How I Found My Way Home," published in Uncanny May/June 2022   Amanda Cook, who joined us in June of 2022, has

This time around, it’s my distinct pleasure to welcome a fellow podcaster, Annalee Newitz (@annaleen), to talk about their forthcoming novel, The Terraformers, out January 31st, 2023, from wherever fine books are sold! We get to hear an excerpt from the book that leads us into a great discussion about transit gays, flying moose romance, and robot trans culture, among other things.   Things we mention on this episode:   Tumblr Mastodon I-5 cattle ranches Dune, by Frank Herbert Friends at the Table Jeffrey Tumlin Plate tectonics Chuck Tingle Michael Hobbes Maintenance Phase If Books Could Kill Freakonomics, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, by Yuval Noah Harari Charlie Jane Anders Our Opinions are Correct The myth of progress episode Brad DeLong  Four Lost Cities, by Annalee Newitz Annalee’s website and tiktok

It’s my distinct pleasure, for this, our post-NaNo episode, to welcome C.L. Clark (@C_L_Clark) to the show! Cherea reads a pair of excerpts from their trunked novel, The Bitch of Maradon, which leads us into a great conversation about formal and informal writing education, interrogating our biases, and how awkward it can be to revisit our old writing in the context of actually reading it out loud. Cherea also shares the story of her journey from NaNoWriMo to publication for their amazing novel, The Unbroken.   Things we mention this episode:   The Unbroken, by C.L. Clark Héctor’s episode My episode with Sharon Hsu George Carlin NaNoWriMo Brandon Sanderson Scrivener Podcastle Frodo it is done dot gif #DVPit Just Like Home episode The Faithless, by C.L. Clark Writers of the Future Tor.com “Sisyphus,” by C.L. Clark Queers Destroy SF Seanan McGuire Lockie Hunter Steering the Craft, by Ursula K. Le Guin Wonderbook, by Jeff Vandermeer The Expanse, by James S.A. Corey The Godkiller, by Hannah Kaner Small Gods and Ho

Happy NaNoWriMo, for all of you who observe! This time around, we’re joined once again by R.J. Theodore (@bittybittyzap) to talk about the crazy act of writing a novel in a single month and the freedom that comes with actually deciding to finish a thing. Rekka brings us a compare and contrast reading of two different beginnings of their novel, Flotsam, first from the NaNo when she first finished the book and the second from the version you can go and buy for yourself!   Things we mention in this episode:   NaNoWriMo ML Rekka’s book tour We Make Books The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Pumpkin Landing xkcd 483 Neal Stephenson The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins Rekka’s first episode The Peridot Shift series, by R.J.Theodore Murderboard podcast episode Writing book three of a duology with Premee podcast episode Stephen King Sarah Gailey Coffee shop AU Legends & Lattes, by Travis Baldree Our Flag Means Death John Wiswell Just Like Home, by Sarah Gailey Bridge to Elsewhere, edited by Alana Joli Abbott &

This time around, it’s my distinct pleasure to welcome back to the show Jordan Kurella (@kurellian) to talk about his new collection, When I Was Lost, available now wherever fine books are sold! He reads a previously-unpublished story, “The Hero and the Leviathan,” out of the collection, which leads us to ponder the question: what if a spaceship had PTSD?   Things we mention in this episode:   Trepidatio Press Mikio Murakami “Jewel of the Vashwa,” by Jordan Kurella in Apex Magazin Keanu Reeves Apex Magazine Jason Sizemore Friends at the Table - HOUNDS Farscape PTSD Aaron Rosenberg Gen Con The Imperial Radch trilogy, by Ann Leckie “How the Carrion Crew Stopped Courting Death and Other Methods of Lost Hope,” by Jordan Kurella in Fusion Fragment #6 “A Promise of Dying Embers,” by Jordan Kurella in Diabolical Plots King’s Quest III  “The Warsong of Berra and Irrit,” by Jordan Kurella in Lamplight Magazine Lamplight Magazine E Catherine Tobler Shimmer Magazine The Deadlands “The Air Gap,” by Hilary B. Bisenieks in

This time around, it’s my distinct pleasure to welcome Héctor González (@Mexicanity) to the show! Héctor reads a pair of spooky, voidy stories from the latest issue of v o i d j u n k , which leads us into a wide-ranging conversation about kindness, viscera, technology, chairs, and fandom.   This episode’s readings carry content warnings for descriptions of viscera, possession, and transformation, and for sexual themes. If you would like to skip them, the two readings are from 3:50 to 8:05 and 15:15 to 19:31.   Things we mention in this episode: v o i d j u n k dave’s episode Sarah Loch Héctor’s linktree “Gracias, Orlando: A Genre Film and a Queer Body Awakening,” by Héctor González Hector of Troy Spider-Man Batman Superman Bachan Frank Miller Xanga John Picacio Worldcon 76 Mexicanx Initiative John Scalzi Alejandro Jodorowski George R.R. Martin Isaac Asimov Robert Heinlein Arthur C. Clarke Hugo Loser’s Party Aidan Moher Sarahs Gailey and Hollowell The Do

This time around, it’s my delight to welcome (finally) Hugo-winning fan writer, Aidan (@adribbleofink) Moher to the show! We’re talking about his new book, Fight, Magic, Items, which just released October 4th! Aidan reads from the introduction to the book, which leads us into a deep discussion of the games that shaped our childhoods.   Things we mention in this episode:   A Dribble of Ink Final Fantasy Dragon Quest The Offspring NOFX Warcraft II LAN Party Doom II Final Fantasy VI Xenogears Hironobu Sakaguchi Yuji Horii Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan Game Boy Final Fantasy Legend II The Legend of Zelda Akitoshi Kawazu Doom Final Fantasy III Game Players Electronic Gaming Monthly Nintendo Power Chrono Trigger The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien The Sword of Shannara, by Terry Brooks Magic: the Gathering Dragon Ball Z Shōnen Super NES Playstation 1 Final Fantasy XV Final Fantasy XIII Final Fantasy VIII Final Fantasy IX Final Fantasy X Grandia Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete Tales of Destiny Vi

In case you missed the announcement at the start of our last episode, with Neon Yang, my new game, All Our Yesterdays, is available now for pay-what-you-want on my itch!  This time around, it’s my absolute pleasure to welcome to the show Aimee Kuzenski (@aimeekuzenski)! Aimee reads to us from her novel, Tilted, which leads us into a great discussion on the interiority of writing, thoughts about reading aloud, and how important a good fight scene is.   Things we mention in this episode: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power Viable Paradise John Appel Karen Osborne Valerie Valdes Scrivener Third person omniscient The Earthsea Cycle, by Ursula K. Le Guin The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien Jane Austen Karen’s twitch “Fractured,” by Aimee Kuzenski The Murderbot Diaries, by Martha Wells The Locked Tomb series, by Tamsyn Muir The Broken Earth series, by N.K. Jemisin The Raven Tower, by Ann Leckie Ancillary Justice, by Ann Leckie Blade Runner Wow, cool robot Hayao Miyazaki The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien “The Shadow