The Fantasy Inn Podcast The Fantasy Inn

Travis interviews author TJ Klune about Heartsong, his latest book from Tor Books, and Somewhere Beyond the Sea, his upcoming book in September 2024.

This episode is spoiler free!

TJ and Travis discuss writing romance, managing expectations of different audiences, and the importance of books as escapism and refuge.

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About TJ Klune:

TJ KLUNE is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling, Lambda Literary Award-winning author of The House in the Cerulean Sea, The Extraordinaries, and more. Being queer himself, Klune believes it's important—now more than ever—to have accurate, positive queer representation in stories.

Things Mentioned:


Boy's Life by Robert McCammon
Last Days by Adam Nevill
Episode 13 by Craig DiLouie

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Music:


Intro: "The Legend of Iya" courtesy of https://philter.no
Outro: "A Quest Unfolds" courtesy of https://philter.no

This episode of The Fantasy Inn podcast was recorded in the unceded territory of the S’atsoyaha (Yuchi) and ᏣᎳᎫᏪᏘᏱ Tsalaguwetiyi (Eastern Cherokee Band) peoples.

Some of the links included in these show notes are affiliate links and support the podcast at no additional cost to you. If it's an option for you, we encourage you to support your local bookstores!

The blog post accompanying this episode can be found at https://thefantasyinn.com, along with fantasy book reviews, author interviews, and more fantasy content.

Travis interviews fantasy author Brian McClellan about In The Shadow Of Lightning, the first book of his new epic fantasy series from Tor Books. From the author of the acclaimed Powder Mage series comes an epic fantasy where magic is a finite resource—and it’s running out.

This episode is spoiler free!

Brian and Travis discuss the business lessons he learned through self-publishing, the sheer work that goes into complex epic fantasy, and how incredibly cool we both were in high school marching band.

Want your message featured on the podcast? Find out more here.

About Brian McClellan:

Brian McClellan is an American epic fantasy author from Cleveland, Ohio. He is known for his acclaimed Powder Mage Universe and essays on the life and business of being a writer.

Brian now lives on the side of a mountain in Utah with his wife, Michele, where he writes books and nurses a crippling video game addiction.

Brian's novels include the Powder Mage Trilogy (Promise of Blood, The Crimson Campaign, and The Autumn Republic), Gods of Blood and Powder (Sins of Empire, Wrath of Empire, and Blood of Empire), and the Valkyrie Collections (Uncanny Collateral and Blood Tally).

Things Mentioned:


Page Break Podcast by Brian McClellan
Valheim Game

Find Us Online:


Blog
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Support Us:


Become a Patron
Buy Us a Coffee

Music:


Intro: "The Legend of Iya" courtesy of https://philter.no
Outro: "A Quest Unfolds" courtesy of https://philter.no

This episode of The Fantasy Inn podcast was recorded in the unceded territory of the S’atsoyaha (Yuchi) and ᏣᎳᎫᏪᏘᏱ Tsalaguwetiyi (Eastern Cherokee Band) peoples.

Some of the links included in these show notes are affiliate links and support the podcast at no additional cost to you. If it's an option for you, we encourage you to support your local bookstores!

The blog post accompanying this episode can be found at https://thefantasyinn.com, along with fantasy book reviews, author interviews, and more fantasy content.

Travis interviews science fiction author John Scalzi about The Kaiju Preservation Society, a standalone novel from Tor Books. It's a fast-paced, fun adventure full of giant monsters and a great way to escape from the world for a while.

This episode is spoiler free!

John and Travis discuss the difficulty of writing during lockdown, the historical context for kaiju films, and the value of books as entertainment.

Want your message featured on the podcast? Find out more here.

About John Scalzi:

JOHN SCALZI is one of the most popular SF authors of his generation. His debut Old Man's War won him the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. His New York Times bestsellers include The Last Colony, Fuzzy Nation, and Redshirts (which won the 2013 Hugo Award for Best Novel), and 2020's The Last Emperox. Material from his blog, Whatever, has also earned him two other Hugo Awards. The Kaiju Preservation Society is his latest standalone novel from Tor Books. He lives in Ohio with his wife and daughter.

Things Mentioned:


Travel by Bullet by John Scalzi - Audiobook
The Actual Star by Monica Byrne
Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki
Goliath by Tochi Onyebuchi

Find Us Online:


Blog
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Support Us:


Become a Patron
Buy Us a Coffee

Music:


Intro: "The Legend of Iya" courtesy of https://philter.no
Outro: "A Quest Unfolds" courtesy of https://philter.no

This episode of The Fantasy Inn podcast was recorded in the unceded territory of the S’atsoyaha (Yuchi) and ᏣᎳᎫᏪᏘᏱ Tsalaguwetiyi (Eastern Cherokee Band) peoples.

Some of the links included in these show notes are affiliate links and support the podcast at no additional cost to you. If it's an option for you, we encourage you to support your local bookstores!

The blog post accompanying this episode can be found at https://thefantasyinn.com, along with fantasy book reviews, author interviews, and more fantasy content.

Travis interviews author Vanessa Len about Only A Monster, her debut novel from HarperTeen. With the sweeping romance of Passenger and the dark fantasy edge of This Savage Song, this standout YA contemporary fantasy novel is the first in a planned trilogy.

This episode is spoiler free!

Vanessa and Travis discuss discuss who society views as monsters, the trickiness of time travel, and how to write a book you just can't put down.

Want your message featured on the podcast? Find out more here.

About Vanessa Len:

Vanessa Len is an Australian author of Chinese-Malaysian and Maltese heritage. An educational editor, she has worked on everything from language learning programs to STEM resources, to professional learning for teachers. Vanessa is a graduate of the Clarion Workshop in San Diego, and she lives in Melbourne.

Find Vanessa Len on Twitter, Instagram, or her Linktree.

Find Us Online:


Blog
Discord
Twitter
Instagram

Support Us:


Become a Patron
Buy Us a Coffee

Music:


Intro: "The Legend of Iya" courtesy of https://philter.no
Outro: "A Quest Unfolds" courtesy of https://philter.no

This episode of The Fantasy Inn podcast was recorded in the unceded territory of the S’atsoyaha (Yuchi) and ᏣᎳᎫᏪᏘᏱ Tsalaguwetiyi (Eastern Cherokee Band) peoples.

Some of the links included in these show notes are affiliate links and support the podcast at no additional cost to you. If it's an option for you, we encourage you to support your local bookstores!

The blog post accompanying this episode can be found at https://thefantasyinn.com, along with fantasy book reviews, author interviews, and more fantasy content.

Travis interviews author Peng Shepherd about The Cartographers, her latest standalone novel from William Morrow. From the critically acclaimed author of The Book of M, the Cartographers is a highly imaginative thriller about a young woman who discovers that a strange map in her deceased father’s belongings holds an incredible, deadly secret—one that will lead her on an extraordinary adventure and to the truth about her family’s dark history.

This episode is spoiler free!

Peng and Travis discuss the interconnection of plot and character, throwing out half of a first draft, and of course… so many fascinating facts about maps.

Want your message featured on the podcast? Find out more here.

About Peng Shepherd:

Peng Shepherd is the nationally bestselling author of The Cartographers, The Book of M, and The Future Library.

Her second novel, The Cartographers, was a USA Today, LA Times, and a national Independent Bookstores bestseller. It was named a Best Book of March by The Washington Post, as well as a Pick of the Month by Good Morning America, Amazon, Apple, Real Simple, Buzzfeed, Bustle, and Goodreads, and was featured on NPR’s Weekend Edition.

Her first novel, The Book of M, won the 2019 Neukom Institute for Literary Arts Award for Debut Speculative Fiction, and was chosen as a Best Book of the Year by Amazon, Elle, Refinery29, and The Verge, a Best Book of the Summer by the Today Show and NPR On Point, and has been optioned for television.

A graduate of New York University’s MFA program, Peng is the recipient of a 2020 fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.

She was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, where she rode horses and trained in classical ballet, and has lived in Beijing, Kuala Lumpur, London, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., New York, and Mexico City.

When not writing, she can be found planning her next trip or haunting local bookstores.

Find Peng Shepherd on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.

Find Us Online:


Blog
Discord
Twitter
Instagram

Support Us:


Become a Patron
Buy Us a Coffee

Music:


Intro: "The Legend of Iya" courtesy of https://philter.no
Outro: "A Quest Unfolds" courtesy of https://philter.no

This episode of The Fantasy Inn podcast was recorded in the unceded territory of the S’atsoyaha (Yuchi) and ᏣᎳᎫᏪᏘᏱ Tsalaguwetiyi (Eastern Cherokee Band) peoples.

Some of the links included in these show notes are affiliate links and support the podcast at no additional cost to you. If it's an option for you, we encourage you to support your local bookstores!

The blog post accompanying this episode can be found at https://thefantasyinn.com, along with fantasy book reviews, author interviews, and more fantasy content.

Travis interviews Lauren Panepinto, Creative Director of Orbit Books, about book design and more. Lauren and Travis discuss how a book cover gets made, how fonts and color theory attract a reader's eye, and the origin of the cloaked figure on so many fantasy covers.

Want your message featured on the podcast? Find out more here.

About Lauren Panepinto:

After 15 years designing and art directing book covers, Lauren Panepinto has worked in every publishing genre and collaborated with artists of all disciplines. As the Creative Director of the Orbit Books division of the Hachette Book Group, she has been developing covers for commercial fiction, genre fiction, and graphic novels, as well as overseeing the advertising and promotion visuals of the imprint brands overall. She has designed bestselling covers for Iain Banks, Mira Grant, James S. A. Corey, Brent Weeks, and Gail Carriger, among many others.
 
Not content to just design covers, Lauren has written about science fiction and fantasy art for ImagineFX magazine, io9.com, Orbitbooks.net, and as a columnist at Muddy Colors. Lauren has been very active in the role of art business education, not only at a panelist, presenter, and portfolio reviewer at San Diego ComicCon, New York ComicCon, Spectrum, and Illuxcon, but also as an adjunct professor in the graduate level Center for Publishing at NYU, as well as a frequent guest lecturer at numerous art schools. Lauren has curated gallery shows for the Society of Illustrators in New York City and Krab Jab in Seattle. She is a frequent art competition judge, most recently for the Society of Illustrators in New York and Los Angeles, Infected by Art, and ImagineFX’s Rising Stars issue.
 
Lauren graduated from The School of Visual Arts with a degree in Graphic Design and Advertising. She has worked in fashion (Perry Ellis), television (MTV), and for boutique design firms, but found her true calling in book publishing. She has worked at three of the "Big Five" publishing companies: St. Martin's Press/Picador Books, then Doubleday/Random House, and now Hachette Book Group.

Things Mentioned:


Brian McClellan's Page Break podcast

Find Us Online:


Blog
Discord
Twitter
Instagram

Support Us:


Become a Patron
Buy Us a Coffee

Music:


Intro: "The Legend of Iya" courtesy of https://philter.no
Outro: "A Quest Unfolds" courtesy of https://philter.no

This episode of The Fantasy Inn podcast was recorded in the unceded territory of the S’atsoyaha (Yuchi) and ᏣᎳᎫᏪᏘᏱ Tsalaguwetiyi (Eastern Cherokee Band) peoples.

Some of the links included in these show notes are affiliate links and support the podcast at no additional cost to you. If it's an option for you, we encourage you to support your local bookstores!

The blog post accompanying this episode can be found at https://thefantasyinn.com, along with fantasy book reviews, author interviews, and more fantasy content.