The Functional Nerds Podcast The Functional Nerds

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Mary Robinette Kowal, author of Silent Spaces.

About Silent Spaces: Silent Spaces: Tales from the Lady Astronauts is a collection of 9 short stories in the Lady Astronaut Series written by Mary Robinette Kowal, including one written just for this collection.

With this campaign the book will be available in print for the first time in English as a Softcover, and a Limited Edition Signed and Numbered Hardcover!

About Mary Robinette Kowal: Mary Robinette Kowal is the author of the Lady Astronaut duology and historical fantasy novels: The Glamourist Histories series and Ghost Talkers.

She’s a member of the awardwinning podcast Writing Excuses and has received the Astounding Award for Best New Writer, four Hugo awards, the RT Reviews award for Best Fantasy Novel, the Nebula, and Locus awards. Stories have appeared in Strange Horizons, Asimov’s, several Year’s Best anthologies and her collections Word Puppets and Scenting the Dark and Other Stories.

Her novel Calculating Stars is one of only eighteen novels to win the Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards in a single year. As a professional puppeteer and voice actor (SAG/AFTRA), Mary Robinette has performed for LazyTown (CBS), the Center for Puppetry Arts, Jim Henson Pictures, and founded Other Hand Productions. Her designs have garnered two UNIMA-USA Citations of Excellence, the highest award an American puppeteer can achieve. She records fiction for authors such as Seanan McGuire, Cory Doctorow and John Scalzi.

This week’s picks:



* Mary Robinette: Strange Beasts by Susan J. Morris

* Tracy: Born a Crime, Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah

* Patrick: Angel’s Horn AT-3600L turntable



Links:



* Mary Robinette Kowal on Instagram

* Tracy Townsend on the network formerly known as Twitter

* Patrick Hester on the network formerly known as Twitter

* The Functional Nerds Patreon Page



© 2024 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Lynne and Michael Damian Thomas, Co-Publishers/Co-Editors-in-Chief of UNCANNY MAGAZINE.

About Uncanny Magazine Year 11: This One Goes to ELEVEN: Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas have run Kickstarters for the seven-time Hugo Award-winning and 2024 Locus Award-winning Uncanny Magazine Years One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, and Ten. We promised to bring you stunning cover art, passionate science fiction and fantasy fiction and poetry, gorgeous prose, and provocative nonfiction by writers from every conceivable background. Not to mention a fantastic award-winning podcast featuring exclusive content.

Through the hard work of our exceptional staff and contributors, Uncanny Magazine delivered on that promise every single year. Stories from Uncanny Magazine have been finalists or winners of Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and World Fantasy Awards!

The Space Unicorn Ranger Corps, our name for the Uncanny Magazine community, made it possible for our remarkable staff and contributors to create this wonderful art for all of our readers via the web or as eBooks. THANK YOU, SPACE UNICORNS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

If you’ve been looking for an opportunity to join or re-up with the Space Unicorn Ranger Corps, now’s your chance! We need your help to continue this mission for another year. This is your magazine, Space Unicorns! Let’s make Year 11 happen!

About Lynne and Michael Damian Thomas: Lynne is the ten-time Hugo, British Fantasy, and Parsec Award-winning co-publisher and co-editor-in-chief of Uncanny Magazine, with her husband, Michael Damian Thomas. In this editorial role, they have also been finalists seven times for the World Fantasy Award. She was the co-editor of the Hugo Award-winning Chicks Dig Time Lords (2010) with Tara O’Shea, and the Hugo Award-finalist Chicks Dig Comics (2012) with Sigrid Ellis. Along with the Geek Girl Chronicles book series, Lynne was the former Editor-in-Chief (2011-2013) of the Hugo Award-finalist Apex Magazine. She moderated the Hugo Award-winning SF Squeecast, a monthly podcast (with Elizabeth Bear, Paul Cornell, Seanan McGuire, Michael Damian Thomas, and Catherynne M. Valente) in which a group of SF/F professionals got excited about stuff they liked, and she currently contributes to the Parsec Award-winning Verity! podcast (with Erika Ensign, L.M. Myles, Katrina Griffiths, Tansy Rayner Roberts, and Deborah Stanish), where a bunch of smart women talk about Doctor Who.

Lynne M. Thomas is the Head of the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the former Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections at Northern Illinois University, where she was responsible for popular culture special collections that include the literary papers of nearly 70 SF/F authors.

Michael Damian Thomas is the seven-time Hugo, British Fabtasy, and Parsec Award-winning co-publisher and co-editor-in-chief of Uncanny Magazine with his wife, Lynne M. Thomas. In this editorial role, they have also been finalists seven times for the World Fantasy Award. Michael was a Hugo Award finalist as the former Managing Editor of Apex Magazine (2012-2013), co-edited the Hugo Award finalist essay anthology Queers Dig Time Lords (Mad Norwegian Press, 2013) with Sigrid Ellis, and co-edited the anthology Glitter & Mayhem (Apex Publications,

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Audrey Burges, author of A House Like An Accordion.

About A House Like An Accordion: Keryth Miller is disappearing.

Between the growing distance from her husband, the demands of two teenage daughters, and an all-encompassing burnout, she sometimes feels herself fading away. Actual translucence, though—that’s new. When Keryth wakes up one morning with her hand completely gone, she is frantic. But she quickly realizes two things: If she is disappearing, it’s because her father, an artist with the otherworldly ability to literally capture life in his art, is drawing her. And if he’s drawing her, that means he’s still alive.

But where has he been for the past twenty-five years, and why is he doing the one thing he always warned her not to? Never draw from life, Keryth. Every line exacts a cost. As Keryth continues to slowly fade away, she retraces what she believes to be her father’s last steps through the many homes of her past, determined to find him before it’s too late and she disappears entirely.

About Audrey Burges: Audrey writes novels, humor, satire, and essays in Richmond, Virginia. Her debut novel, The Minuscule Mansion of Myra Malone, was released January 24, 2023, by Berkley/PRH. Her second novel, A House Like an Accordion, was released in May 2024 by Ace/PRH.

Audrey is a frequent contributor to McSweeney’s and The New Yorker, and her stories have also appeared in Pithead Chapel, Cease, Cows, Lost Balloon, Into the Void, and numerous other outlets. Her work has been longlisted for the 2022 Wigleaf Top 50. Two of her stories placed in the 2020 Pen Parentis Fellowship, and one received a Juror’s Prize.

When Audrey isn’t writing, she’s being tolerated by her two rambunctious children and very patient husband.

This week’s picks:



* Audrey: Corn Butter



Links:



* Audrey Burges on Instagram

* Tracy Townsend on the network formerly known as Twitter

* Patrick Hester on the network formerly known as Twitter

* The Functional Nerds Patreon Page



© 2024 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Josh Malerman, author of Incidents Around the House.

About Incidents Around the House: To eight-year-old Bela, her family is her world. There’s Mommy, Daddo, and Grandma Ruth. But there is also Other Mommy, a malevolent entity who asks her every day: “Can I go inside your heart?”

When horrifying incidents around the house signal that Other Mommy is growing tired of asking Bela the question over and over, Bela understands that unless she says yes, her family will soon pay.

Other Mommy is getting restless, stronger, bolder. Only the bonds of family can keep Bela safe, but other incidents show cracks in her parents’ marriage. The safety Bela relies on is about to unravel.

But Other Mommy needs an answer.

About Josh Malerman: Josh Malerman is a New York Times best selling author and one of two singer/songwriters for the rock band The High Strung, whose song “The Luck You Got” can be heard as the theme song to the Showtime show “Shameless”. His book Bird Box was made into a Netflix film of the same name, starring Sandra Bullock and John Malkovich. He has been nominated for 8 Bram Stoker Awards and has written 36 books, many of those (14) prior to the publication of Bird Box, his debut. He lives in Michigan with his fiancee, the artist/musician Allison Laakko.

This week’s picks:



* Josh 1: Allison Laakko (Artist / Musician and his fiancee)

* Josh 2: Music for Reading (Youtube)

* Tracy: Science Vs (podcast)

* Patrick: Remembering Gene Wilder (Netflix/Documentary)



Links:



* Josh Malerman on the network formerly known as Twitter

* Tracy Townsend on the network formerly known as Twitter

* Patrick Hester on the network formerly known as Twitter

* The Functional Nerds Patreon Page



© 2024 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Peng Shepherd, author of ALL THIS AND MORE.

About ALL THIS AND MORE: Meek, play-it-safe Marsh has just turned forty-five, and her life is in shambles. Her career is stagnant, her marriage has imploded, and her teenage daughter grows more distant by the day. Marsh is convinced she’s missed her chance at everything—romance, professional fulfillment, and adventure—and is desperate for a do-over.

She can’t believe her luck when she’s selected to be the star of the global sensation All This and More, a show that uses quantum technology to allow contestants the chance to revise their past and change their present lives. It’s Marsh’s only shot to seize her dreams, and she’s determined to get it right this time.

But even as she rises to become a famous lawyer, gets back together with her high school sweetheart, and travels the world, she begins to worry that All This and More’s promises might be too good to be true. Because while the technology is amazing, something seems a bit off…

Can Marsh really make her life everything she wants it to be? And is it worth it?

About Peng Shepherd: Peng Shepherd is the nationally bestselling author of The Cartographers, The Book of M, and the forthcoming All This and More.

Her second novel, The Cartographers, was a USA Today, LA Times, and a national Independent Bookstores bestseller, as well as a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize. It was also named a Best Book of 2022 by The Washington Post, and has been optioned for film.

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, as well as a Best Book of the Summer by the Today Show and NPR On Point.

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, Mexico City, and New York. When not writing, she can be found planning her next trip or haunting local bookstores.

This week’s picks:



* Peng: Chants of Sennaar (Game)

* Tracy: Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir, Narrated by: Moira Quirk

* Patrick: Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir, Narrated by: Moira Quirk



Links:



* Peng Shepherd on Instagram

* Tracy Townsend on the network formerly known as Twitter

* Patrick Hester on the network formerly known as Twitter

* The Functional Nerds Patreon Page



© 2024 Patrick Hester

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam, author of GRIM ROOT.

About GRIM ROOT: On the set of The Groom, a group of women must compete for the heart of Midwestern bachelor Tristan by spending a week in a haunted house. Divorcee Linda, resigned to her role as the show’s underdog, finds her resolve cracking when she begins to fall for fellow castmate Charity. Meanwhile, Sabrina, groomed by her witchy mother to deliver their family from poverty by marrying a rich man, sees winning the competition as her predestined path.

But after a shocking demise, the game takes a sinister turn. As the remaining contestants grapple with their desires for love and survival, they uncover dark secrets within and without the house’s walls. Trapped in a twisted new competition, they must confront their own demons or face elimination.

About Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam: Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam is the author of the horror novel Grim Root, the short story collection Where You Linger & Other Stories, and the horror novella Glorious Fiends. Her short fiction and poetry has appeared in over 90 publications such as Popular Science, Lightspeed, and LeVar Burton Reads, as well as in six languages. By night, she’s a two-time finalist for the Nebula Award. By day, she works as a Narrative Designer writing games for a mobile game. She lives in Texas with her partner and a mysterious number of cats.

This week’s picks:



* Bonnie: Outer Range (Prime)

* Bonnie: Redemption of Morgan Bright by Chris Panatier

* Bonnie: Furiosa

* Tracy: Cook at all Costs (Netflix)

* Patrick: Doctor Who

* Patrick: Middle Aged Dad Jam Band

* Patrick: Star Wars: The Acolyte



Links:



* Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam on Instagram

* Tracy Townsend on the network formerly known as Twitter

* Patrick Hester on the network formerly known as Twitter

* The Functional Nerds Patreon Page



© 2024 Patrick Hester