The Functional Nerds

Episode 104 – Scott Andrew

Patrick Hester — Tue, 22 May 2012 06:30:38 +0000

In the 104th episode of the Functional Nerds Podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome Scott Andrew to the show to talk about recording.

About Scott: Scott Andrew lives in Seattle, writes songs and plays in bands. He thinks you’re pretty cool.

Links:

This podcast features original music written and performed by John Anealio.

Episode 103 – Jeff Patterson and Paul Weimer

Patrick Hester — Tue, 15 May 2012 06:51:10 +0000

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In the 103rd episode of the Parsec Nominated Functional Nerds Podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome Jeff Patterson and Paul Weimer to the super-secret lair of the Functional Nerds to talk about: Marvel Comics.

About Jeff:

By some fortuitous circumstance Jeff Patterson was born on September 1, 1962, the day the White House announced that the world population had exceeded three billion people, so he figures that was him. In ancient days he had stories published in obscure, short-lived, low-paying and generally unread periodicals. These days he runs Bad Day Studio, known mainly for its annual Holiday Cards. These were collected in a book called Solstice Chronicles. He blogs at Gravity Lens.

About Paul:

Not really a Prince of Amber, but rather an ex-pat New Yorker that has found himself living in Minnesota for the last 8 years, Paul Weimer has been reading SF and Fantasy for over 30 years and exploring the world of roleplaying games for over 25 years. Almost as long as he has been reading and watching movies, he has enjoyed telling people what he has thought of them. In addition to his reading and gaming interests, he can be found at his own blog, Blog Jvstin Style, the Functional Nerds, the SF Signal Community, Twitter, Livejournal and many other places on the Internet. And one day he will write his own “trunk novel”.

Links:

Jeff Patterson (website)
Jeff on Twitter
Paul Weimer (website)
Paul on Twitter
Patrick on Twitter
John on Twitter
Special Mention: BookLifeNow.com
Patrick’s Post on BookLifeNow (with link to download template)

This podcast features original music written and performed by John Anealio.

Episode 102 – Stina Leicht and Chris Holm

Patrick Hester — Tue, 08 May 2012 06:30:38 +0000

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In the 102nd episode of the Functional Nerds Podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome Stina Leicht and Chris Holm.

About Stina:

Stina Leicht is a 2012 Campbell Award nomineee and author of two books: Of Blood and Honey, And Blue Skies from Pain published by Night Shade Books. Stina Leicht‘s debut novel Of Blood and Honey, a historical Fantasy with an Irish Crime edge set in 1970s Northern Ireland, was released by Night Shade books in February 2011. And Blue Skies from Pain (a sequel to Of Blood and Honey) was released March 22, 2012 and is available via Indie Bound, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Night Shade Books, BookPeople and Powell’s. She also has a flash fiction piece in Ann and Jeff VanderMeer’s surreal anthology Last Drink Bird Head.

About Chris:

Chris F. Holm was born in Syracuse, New York, the grandson of a cop with a penchant for crime fiction. It was the year of punk rock and Star Wars, two influences that to this day hold more sway over Chris than perhaps his wife would like. He wrote his first story at the age of six, which got him sent to the principal’s office. Since then, his stories have appeared in a slew of publications, including Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Beat to a Pulp, and Thuglit. His novella “The Hitter” was selected to appear in THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES 2011, edited by Harlan Coben and Otto Penzler. He’s been an Anthony Award nominee, a Derringer Award finalist, and a Spinetingler Award winner. His debut novel, DEAD HARVEST, is available February 2012 via Angry Robot Books, with its sequel, THE WRONG GOODBYE, to follow that October.

Links:

This podcast features original music written and performed by John Anealio

Episode 101 – Jonah Knight

Patrick Hester — Tue, 01 May 2012 06:30:20 +0000

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In the 101st episode of the Functional Nerds Podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome singer / songwriter Jonah Knight.

About Jonah:

Jonah Knight performs Paranormal Modern Folk: songs about ghosts, monsters, super heroes and steampunk with a roots folk base.

Links:

This episode features original music written and performed by Jonah Knight.

Episode 100 – JC Hutchins and Chuck Wendig

Patrick Hester — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 06:30:23 +0000

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In episode 100 of the Functional Nerds podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome J.C. Hutchins and Chuck Wendig on to talk about Transmedia.

About J.C:

J.C. Hutchins is an award-winning fiction and nonfiction storyteller, with 15 years of professional writing experience. His two novels – 7th Son: Descent and Personal Effects: Dark Art — were published in 2009 by St. Martin’s Press.

About Chuck:

Chuck Wendig is equal parts novelist, screenwriter, and game designer. He is the author of the novels DOUBLE DEAD, BLACKBIRDS, and MOCKINGBIRD. In addition, he’s got a metric boatload of writing-related e-books available, including the popular 500 WAYS TO BE A BETTER WRITER. He currently lives in the wilds of Pennsyltucky with wife, dog, and newborn progeny

About Transmedia:

“Transmediation” can refer to the process though which individuals select and translate data to represent it in another media forms. It may utilize more than one media form. All the components of a transmediated work are interlinked with each other to form the whole network. Therefore, transmediated works are closely linked to semiotics and technology in the context of digital media.

Links:

This episode features original music by John Anealio

Episode 099 – Brad Torgersen, Jean Johnson and Bryan Thomas Schmidt

Patrick Hester — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 06:30:43 +0000

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In episode 99 of the Functional Nerds podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome Brad Torgersen, Jean Johnson and Bryan Thomas Schmidt to discuss the Space Battles: Full Throttle Space Tales #6 anthology.

About Brad:

Brad R. Torgersen is a healthcare computer geek by day, a United States Army Reserve Warrant Officer on the weekends, and a science fiction writer at night. He was won the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future award, the Analog magazine AnLab readers choice award, and is currently nominated for the Nebula award, the Hugo award, and the Campbell award.

About Jean:

Jean Johnson is the author of several national bestselling novels ranging from military science fiction to fantasy romance, and was recently nominated for the Philip K Dick award for Best Outstanding Science Fiction of 2011 for her military scifi novel A Soldier’s Duty.

About Bryan:

Bryan Thomas Schmidt is the author of The Worker Prince, The Returning, 102 More Hilarious Dinosaur Jokes For Kids and The North Star Serial Part 1. His first anthology as editor, Space Battles: Full Throttle Space Tales #6 Just released from Flying Pen Press and is headlined by Mike Resnick and Jean Johnson. He also hosts #sffwrtcht on Twitter and various blogs and can be found online via Facebook, Twitter, or his website www.bryanthomasschmidt.net

Links:

This episode features original music by John Anealio

Episode 098 – John Joseph Adams and Karin Lowachee

Patrick Hester — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:56:26 +0000

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In episode 98 of the Functional Nerds Podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome John Joseph Adams and Karin Lowachee to discuss the new Armored anthology from Baen.

About John:

John Joseph Adams is the bestselling editor of many anthologies, such as Under the Moons of Mars: New Adventures on Barsoom, Brave New Worlds, Wastelands, The Living Dead, The Living Dead 2, By Blood We Live, Federations, The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and The Way of the Wizard. He is a two-time finalist for the Hugo Award and a three-time finalist for the World Fantasy Award. He is also the editor and publisher of Lightspeed Magazine, and is the co-host of Wired.com’s The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast.

About Karin:

Karin was born in South America, grew up in Canada, and worked in the Arctic. Her first novel WARCHILD won the 2001 Warner Aspect First Novel Contest. Both WARCHILD (2002) and her third novel CAGEBIRD (2005) were finalists for the Philip K. Dick Award. CAGEBIRD won the Prix Aurora Award in 2006 for Best Long-Form Work in English and the Spectrum Award also in 2006. Her second novel BURNDIVE debuted at #7 on the Locus Bestseller List. Her books have been translated into French, Hebrew, and Japanese, and her short stories have appeared in anthologies edited by Julie Czerneda, Nalo Hopkinson, and John Joseph Adams. Her current fantasy novel, THE GASLIGHT DOGS, was published through Orbit Books USA in April 2010.

Links:

Armored (official website)
John Joseph Adams (website)
John on Twitter
Karin Lowachee (website)
Karin on Twitter

This episode contains original music by John Anealio.

Episode 097 – Paul Weimer and Justin Landon

Patrick Hester — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 06:30:20 +0000

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In episode 97 of the Functional Nerds podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome book bloggers Paul Weimer and Justin Landon.

About Paul:

Paul Weimer is a blogger, commenter, and writer who writes book reviews, columns and Mind Melds for SF Signal, and does posts and book reviews for the Functional Nerds as well.

About Justin:

Justin writes a speculative fiction review blog and makes outlandish comments. He also occasionally gets fired up about stuff.

Links:

This podcast contains original music by John Anealio.

Episode 096 – Len Peralta

Patrick Hester — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 06:30:11 +0000

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In episode 096 of the Functional Nerds podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome artist Len Peralta.

About Len:

Len Peralta is an Internet cartoonist. He’s been very fortunate to do some interesting illustrations. He’s drawn princes throwing up, Internet rock stars dressed up in skin-tight catsuits, illustrated a few books, drawn art for a card game about medical malpractice and even the New Yorker has shown off his stuff.

Links:

This podcast features original music by John Anealio

Episode 095 – Saladin Ahmed and Tobias Buckell

Patrick Hester — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 06:30:18 +0000

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In episode 095 of the Functional Nerds podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome authors Saladin Ahmed and Tobias Buckell to talk about cultural influences in science fiction and fantasy.

About Saladin:

Saladin Ahmed was born in Detroit and raised in a working-class, Arab American enclave in Dearborn, MI. His short stories have been nominated for the Nebula and Campbell awards, and have appeared in Year’s Best Fantasy and numerous other magazines, anthologies, and podcasts, as well as being translated into five foreign languages. He is represented by Jennifer Jackson of the Donald Maass Literary Agency. THRONE OF THE CRESCENT MOON is his first novel.

About Tobias:

Tobias S. Buckell is a Caribbean-born New York Times Bestselling author. His work has been translated into 15 different languages. He has published some 50 short stories in various magazines and anthologies, and has been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, Prometheus, and Campbell awards.

Links:

This podcast features original music by John Anealio

Episode 094 – Gail Carriger and Mur Lafferty

Patrick Hester — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 06:30:38 +0000

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In episode 94 of the Functional Nerds podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome Gail Carriger and Mur Lafferty to talk about Building Your Audience.

About Gail:

New York Times Bestselling author Gail Carriger writes to cope with being raised in obscurity by an expatriate Brit and an incurable curmudgeon. She escaped small town life and inadvertently acquired several degrees in Higher Learning. Ms. Carriger then traveled the historic cities of Europe, subsisting entirely on biscuits secreted in her handbag. She resides in the Colonies, surrounded by fantastic shoes, where she insists on tea imported from London.

The Parasol Protectorate books are: Soulless, Changeless, Blameless, Heartless, and Timeless. Soulless won the ALA’s Alex Award. A manga version will release March 2012. She is currently writing young adult books set in the same universe ~ the Finishing School series (Feb. 2013). Soon she will begin a new adult series, The Parasol Protectorate Abroad (for Fall 2013).

About Mur:

Mur is a writer, podcast producer, gamer, geek, and martial artist. She also make a mean martini. Her books include Playing For Keeps, Nanovor: Hacked!, Marco and the Red Granny, and The Afterlife Series. Her podcasts are many, currently she is the editor of Escape Pod magazine, the host of I Should Be Writing, and the host of the Angry Robot Books Podcast. She writes a column for the gaming magazine Knights of the Dinner table, and in the past has written for Games Quarterly, Suicide Girls, and Anime Insider.

Links:

Gail Carriger (Author’s Website)
Gail on Twitter
Mur Lafferty (Author’s Website)
Mur on Twitter

This podcast features original music by John Anealio.

Episode 093 – Lou Anders and E.C. Meyers

Patrick Hester — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 07:30:56 +0000

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In episode 93 of the Functional Nerds podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome Lou Anders back to the show to chat with E.C. Meyers about Young Adult Fiction.

About Lou Anders:

Lou Anders is the 2011 Hugo Award winning editorial director of Prometheus Books’ science fiction and fantasy imprint Pyr, and editor of the anthologies Masked (Gallery Books, July 2010), Swords & Dark Magic (Eos, June 2010, coedited with Jonathan Strahan), Fast Forward 2 (Pyr, October 2008), Sideways in Crime (Solaris, June 2008), Fast Forward 1(Pyr, February 2007), FutureShocks (Roc, January 2006), Projections: Science Fiction in Literature & Film (MonkeyBrain, December 2004), Live Without a Net (Roc, 2003), and Outside the Box (Wildside Press, 2001).

About E.C. Meyers

E(ugene).C. Myers is the author of Fair Coin, a young adult novel forthcoming from Pyr Books (March 2012). His science fiction and fantasy short stories have been published in a number of magazines and anthologies such as Sybil’s Garage, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, Sporty Spec: Games of the Fantastic, and Touched by Wonder: A Symphony of Fantastic Tales.

Links:

This podcast featured original music by John Anealio

Epsiode 092 – Howard Andrew Jones and Paul S. Kemp

Patrick Hester — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 07:30:33 +0000

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In episode 92 of the Functional Nerds podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome authors Howard Andrew Jones and Paul S. Kemp.

About Howard

Howard is the author of The Desert of Souls (Thomas Dunne Books 2011), a historical fantasy set in the 8th century Abbasid caliphate featuring the characters Dabir and Asim, who’ve been appearing in a variety of short fiction venues since 2000. His Pathfinder novel, Plague of Shadows, appeared in March of 2011. His collection of Dabir and Asim short stories, The Waters of Eternity, became available in e-form from Thomas Dunne Books in November of 2011. More Dabir and Asim novels will follow, and he has recently signed to write a sequel to Plague of Shadows.

About Paul

Paul is a writer of speculative fiction, sword and sorcery scribe, Star Wars and Forgotten Realms author, creator of Erevis Cale and Egil and Nix. His books include The Erevis Cale Trilogy, Shadow’s Witness, The Twilight War Trilogy, War of the Spider Queen, and the Star Wars Expanded Universe novels: Crosscurrent, The Old Republic: Deceived & Riptide.

Links:

Howard Andrew Jones (author’s website)
Howard on Twitter
Paul S. Kemp (author’s website)
Paul on Twitter

This podcast features original music by John Anealio.

Episode 091 – Natania Barron and Tom Merritt

Patrick Hester — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 07:30:44 +0000

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In episode 91 of the Functional Nerds Podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome Natania Barron and Tom Merritt.

About Natania:

Natania Barron is a writer with a penchant for the speculative; she is also an unrepentant geek. Her work has appeared in Weird Tales, EscapePod, The Gatehouse Gazette, Thaumatrope, Bull Spec, Crossed Genres, Steampunk Tales, Faerie Magazine, and in anthologies. She has released the most recent draft of her steampunk novel, The Aldersgate, as a podcast at The Aldersgate Cycle (you can also subscribe to the whole story in iTunes here). She is also the founder of The Outer Alliance, a group dedicated to queer advocacy in speculative fiction. Recently, she joined the Bull Spec crew as a fiction editor.

About Tom:

Tom anchors the daily tech news show Tech news Today on the TWiT network as well as hosting special live news coverage and other events. Tom also co-hosts several independent podcasts. Sword and Laser is a science fiction and fantasy podcast and book club with Veronica Belmont. FourCast is a talk show with Scott Johnson that invites guests to predict the future. All his shows are listed on the subscription page. You’ll also find Tom as a guest or interviewed as an expert on many TV, radio and Internet shows like ABC’s Good Morning America, CBS Radio, NPR, This Week in Tech, The Phileas Club and more.

Links:

This podcast features original music by John Anealio

Episode 090 – Gabrielle Gantz and Brian Thompson

Patrick Hester — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 07:30:47 +0000

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In episode 090 of the Functional Nerds podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome back Gabrielle Gantz and welcome for the first time, Brian Thompson.

About Gabrielle:

Gabrielle Gantz is a Publicist with Viking and Penguin. She interviews author for The Nervous Breakdown, writes about arts & culture at The Contextual Life, and can be found on Twitter @contextual_life.

About Brian

Brian is better known as the guy behind Thorny Bleeder (Records). He’s a Vancouver based music industry entrepreneur, record label owner, artist manager, marketing consultant, digital strategist, brand architect, web designer, blogger, podcaster and industry speaker. Brian’s been in the music biz for twenty years. Formerly the corporate head of music buying and marketing for a large national music retail chain, Brian has since moved on to become a well respected voice on the convergence of artist development, music marketing, social media and technology.

Links:

This podcast features original music by John Anealio

Episode 089 – Chuck Wendig and Daniel Polansky

Patrick Hester — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 07:30:25 +0000

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In episode 89 of the Functional Nerds podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome Chuck Wendig and Daniel Polansky.

About Chuck:

Chuck Wendig is equal parts novelist, screenwriter, and game designer. He is the author of the novels DOUBLE DEAD, BLACKBIRDS, and MOCKINGBIRD. In addition, he’s got a metric boatload of writing-related e-books available, including the popular 500 WAYS TO BE A BETTER WRITER. He currently lives in the wilds of Pennsyltucky with wife, dog, and newborn progeny.

About Daniel:

Daniel Polansky is the author of the new LOW TOWN fantasy series. Book 1 was published in August 2011. Daniel was born near Baltimore, Maryland. Visit www.danielpolansky.com for more.

Links:

Chuck Wendig (author’s website)
Chuck on Twitter
Daniel Polansky (author’s website)
Daniel on Twitter

This episode features original music by John Anealio.

Episode 088 – Andrew Mayne and Justin Robert Young

Patrick Hester — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 07:30:15 +0000

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In episode 88 of the Functional Nerds podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome Andrew Mayne and Justin Robert Young.

About Andrew Mayne:

Recognized as one of the most creative innovators in magic, Andrew has produced over 30 books and videos on the art of magic. His website can be found at ShockMagic.com

About Justin Robert Young:

A graduate of Syracuse University, Justin has worked at several major metropolitan daily newspapers including “The South Florida Sun-Sentinel” of Fort Lauderdale, Florida and “The Morning Call” of Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Links:

Andrew Mayne (books)
Andrew Mayne (blog)
Andrew Mayne (Twitter)
Justin Robert Young (iTricks.com)
Justin Robert Young (TWiT.tv)
Justin Robert Young (Twitter)

This podcast contains original music by John Anealio.

Episode 087 – Peter Brett & Myke Cole

Patrick Hester — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 07:30:24 +0000

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In episode 87 of the Functional Nerds podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome back Peter V. Brett and Myke Cole.

Links:

Myke Cole (author’s website)
Peter V. Brett (author’s website)
Myke on Twitter
Peter on Twitter

This podcast features original music by John Anealio & an excerpt of Boxcar Boogie performed by Dr. John

Episode 086 – John Hlinko

Patrick Hester — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 07:30:03 +0000

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In episode 86 of the Functional Nerds podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome John Hlinko to talk about Share, Retweet and Repeat – a ‘guidebook’ to optimizing your social media and promoting your message.

About John Hlinko:

As a youngster, John Hlinko never dreamed he would one day record a Grammy-winning duet with country music legend Willie Nelson. And indeed, it never happened. But he has been long recognized as an innovator and “Buzz Czar” on the grassroots marketing front, using a combination of emerging technology and creative communications to achieve maximum results within extremely constrained budgets.

Hlinko has worked with some of the biggest breakout viral success stories, starting with MoveOn.org in its earliest days, and continuing up to a “draft Obama” effort to build support for Barack Obama in advance of his presidential run.

He is the founder of “Left Action,” a network of more than a million progressive activists (LeftAction.com). Hlinko is also the author of the forthcoming book, Share, Retweet, Repeat: Get Your Message Read and Spread, to be published in early 2012.

Links:

This podcast contains original music by John Anealio.

Episode 085 – Samuel Montgomery-Blinn and John DeNardo

Patrick Hester — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 07:30:32 +0000

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In episode 85 of the Functional Nerds podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome Samuel Montgomery-Blinn and John DeNardo into the super secret Functional Nerds lair to chat about nerdy audio stuff like audio books and spotify.

About Samuel Montgomery-Blinn:

Samuel Montgomery-Blinn is a husband, father, and software engineer and speculative fiction magazine publisher from Durham, NC, with an abiding love of audiobooks. His blog is a completely unaffiliated blog and guide to what’s worth listening to in the world of science fiction and fantasy audiobooks and podcasts, with a focus on what’s coming to Audible.com’s Science Fiction and Fantasy section.

About John DeNardo:

John is an avid reader and reviewer. (See John’s review criteria.) His book reading comes second only to his book buying, which some (including John himself) might call compulsive. (We often use the B-word.) His frequent jaunts to the local bookstores are legendary in his own mind. Although John reads an occasional fantasy/mystery/non-fiction book, his tastes lean heavily toward science fiction. John’s tastes within any genre vary, but he is fond of classic sf even though he has a hit-and-miss experience with classic award-winning sf. John also likes to alternate novel-length fiction with shorter works, so he frequently reads anthologies between reading sessions. John’s favorite authors tend to be Golden Age authors like Theodore Sturgeon, Isaac Asimov etc., but he also likes the new kids on the block like Alastair Reynolds, John Scalzi, etc.

Links:

This podcast features music by John Anealio.

Episode 084 – Karin Lowachee and Gabrielle Gantz

Patrick Hester — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 07:30:37 +0000

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In Episode 84 of the Functional Nerds podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome Karin Lowachee and Gabrielle Gantz.

About Karin:

Karin was born in South America, grew up in Canada, and worked in the Arctic. Her first novel WARCHILD won the 2001 Warner Aspect First Novel Contest. Both WARCHILD (2002) and her third novel CAGEBIRD (2005) were finalists for the Philip K. Dick Award. CAGEBIRD won the Prix Aurora Award in 2006 for Best Long-Form Work in English and the Spectrum Award also in 2006. Her second novel BURNDIVE debuted at #7 on the Locus Bestseller List. Her books have been translated into French, Hebrew, and Japanese. Her current fantasy novel, THE GASLIGHT DOGS, was published through Orbit Books USA in April 2010.

About Gabrielle:

Gabrielle Gantz is a book publicist by day and raging fangirl by night (and early morning). Instead of doing normal social things she reads and attends literary events. In the past, Gabrielle has contributed to the Portland Book Review. She currently conducts author interviews for The Faster Times and The Nervous Breakdown. Gabrielle’s book interests include (but are not limited to): literary fiction, science fiction, fantasy, philosophy, and technology.

Links:

This podcast features original music by John Anealio.

Episode 083 – Cherie Priest and Sam Sykes

Patrick Hester — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 07:30:15 +0000

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In episode 83 of the Functional Nerds podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome Cherie Priest and Sam Sykes.

About Cherie:

Priest is a Florida native, born in Tampa in 1975. She graduated from Forest Lake Academy in Apopka, Florida in 1993. She moved around quite a bit as a child of an Army father, living in many places such as Florida, Texas, Kentucky, and Tennessee. She moved around regularly until college. In 2001 she left the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga with an M.A. in Rhetoric/Professional writing, and in 1998 she graduated with a B.A. from Southern Adventist University in Collegedale, Tennessee. Priest lived in Chattanooga, Tennessee for twelve years. She currently resides in Seattle, Washington with her husband and her cat.

About Sam:

Sam Sykes is the author of The Aeons’ Gate trilogy, a vast and sprawling story of adventure, demons, madness and carnage. Suspected by many to be at least tangentially related to most causes of human suffering, Sam Sykes is also a force to be reckoned with beyond literature. Sam currently lives in the United States with his two hounds and, at any given time, is probably yelling at something inanimate. Tome of the Undergates is his first book, but far from his last. At 25, Sam Sykes is in an excellent position to provide entertainment while other authors are dying from various infections and stress-related illnesses. Sam Sykes looks forward to being one of the sole providers of fantasy entertainment, assuming no other authors are actually discovered in the next forty years.

On the list of topics covered:

Skyrim
Batman: Arkham City
Google+

Links:

This podcast features original music by John Anealio

Episode 082 – Matt Forbeck and Jay Garmon

Patrick Hester — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 07:30:35 +0000

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In episode 82 of the Functional Nerds Podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome author Matt Forbeck and professional geek Jay Garmon to the super-secret underground lair to talk about nerdy things.

On the list of topics:

Batman: Arkham City
Garageband for ioS devices
Kickstarter
The Avengers movie

Links:

This podcast features original music by John Anealio

Episode 081 – Ed Lazellari

Patrick Hester — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 07:30:07 +0000

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In episode 81 of the Functional Nerds Podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome TOR author Ed Lazellari to talk about his new book, Awakenings.

From TOR’s website: EDWARD LAZELLARI has worked as an illustrator and graphic artist, doing projects for Marvel Entertainment, DC Comics, and Jim Henson Productions. His short story, “The Date,” won Playboy magazine’s prestigious college fiction contest in 1999. Lazellari lives in Jersey City, New Jersey. Awakenings is his first novel.

Links:

Ed Lazellari (author’s website)
Awakenings (Amazon)
Ed on Twitter
Ed on Facebook

This podcast features original music by John Anealio.

Episode 080 – Julia Sherred

Patrick Hester — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 07:30:02 +0000

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In Episode 80 of the Functional Nerd Podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome Julia Sherred from the Geeky Pleasures Radio Show.

From her website: Confirmed to be a “Geek God” by some online quiz and dubbed “The Queen of Geek” by many of her fans, Julia “Jules” Sherred is a mother, writer, author, radio personality, blogger, gamer, tech enthusiast, science nerd, sci-fi and fantasy freak, hard core Trekker, has an unnatural obsession with Optimus Prime and so much more. She emerged from the womb fully embracing her geeky tendencies, with a book on Astrophysics in one hand and a deck of cards in the other. Growing up, games were always an important part of her family, including family board game nights, Christmas family poker games and trying to pry the ColecoVision® and later NES controllers from her mother’s hands. She has now passed on this tradition to her own children and is raising the next generation of geeks and gamers.

Links:

This podcast contains original music by John Anealio

Episode 079 – KV Johansen

Patrick Hester — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 16:27:39 +0000

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In episode 79 of the Functional Nerds podcast, Patrick Hester & John Anealio welcome PYR author KV Johansen. KV’s new book, Blackdog, is one of the subjects discussed in this episode.

Links:

KV Johansen (author’s website)
Blackdog

This episode features original music by John Anealio

Episode 078 – Bryan Thomas Schmidt

Patrick Hester — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 06:30:45 +0000

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In episode 78 of the Functional Nerds Podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome Bryan Thomas Schmidt, author of the new novel – The Worker Prince.

Links:

Support the podcast – tell your friends, subscribe via iTunes or click the donate link!

Episode 077 – Jeff and Ann VanderMeer

Patrick Hester — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 06:30:16 +0000

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On this week’s episode of the Functional Nerds Podcast, John DeNardo sits in for Patrick, and joins John Anealio in welcoming Jeff and Ann VanderMeer to the show.

Links:

Donations are always welcome – just click the ‘donate’ button in the sidebar.

Episode 076 – Rigor Amortis Panel

Patrick Hester — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 06:30:15 +0000

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In Episode 076 of the Functional Nerds podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome John Remy, Andy Penn Romine, Steven Scearce and Galen Dara to celebrate the re-release of the Rigor Amortis anthology.

Links:

Episode 075 – Andrew P. Mayer

Patrick Hester — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 06:30:52 +0000

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In the 75th episode of the Functional Nerds podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome Andrew P Mayer, author of The Falling Machine, Book One of The Society of Steam, available from PYR.

Links:

Andrew P Mayer (author’s website)
Andrew on Twitter
The Falling Machine (Amazon)

Episode 074 – Peter Giglio

Patrick Hester — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 06:30:58 +0000

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In episode 74 of the Functional Nerds Podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome author and editor Peter Giglio.

When Peter Giglio isn’t writing, he plays with fire, juggles clowns, and dirty dances with the benevolent ghost of Patrick Swayze. Thankfully, he writes all the time. He is the co-author of “The Better Half: A Love Story”, appearing in the anthology Werewolves and Shapeshifters: Encounters with the Beast Within, edited by John Skipp. His first novel, ANON, will soon be published by Hydra Publications. And he has two e-books on the horizon: A SPARK IN THE DARKNESS from Etopia Press, and BALANCE from MuseItUp Publishing. Several of his short stories will soon appear in anthologies from Pill Hill Press and Library of the Living Dead. With Scott Bradley, he is working on the screen adaptation of a well known short story and several other classified projects.

Peter Giglio (on Twitter)
Peter Giglio (author’s Website)
Peter Giglio (Facebook)

This episode features original music by John Anealio

Episode 073 – Lev Grossman

Patrick Hester — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 06:15:51 +0000

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In episode 73 of the Functional Nerds Podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio chat with Lev Grossman, author of The Magicians and The Magician King, both available from Viking.

Links:

Lev Grossman (author’s website)
The Magicians
The Magician King
Lev Grossman on Twitter
Lev Grossman on Facebook
Lev Grossman at Time Magazine

This podcast features original music by John Anealio

Episode 072 – Lisa Paitz Spindler

Patrick Hester — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 06:30:53 +0000

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In episode 72 of the Functional Nerds Podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio take some time to chat about nerdy things for a change. These include: what we’re reading, Google +, Twitter, Tweetdeck, Facebook, the projects we’re working on, etc and so on.

Later, John brings us an interview with Lisa Paitz Spindler, author of The Spiral Path.

Links:

This episode contains original music by John Anealio.

Episode 071 – Moses Siregar III

Patrick Hester — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 06:30:25 +0000

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In Episode 71 of the Functional Nerds Podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio sit down to chat with Author and fellow podcaster, Moses Siregar III.

Moses’ debut novel, The Back Gods War, is generating a lot of buzz within the SFF community, and we chat with Moses about the book, about self-promotion, do it yourself publishing and much more.

Links:

Moses Siregar III (author’s website)
Moses Siregar III (twitter)
Adventures in SciFi Publishing (podcast)
The Black Gods War (debut novel)

Featuring Original Music by John Anealio

Episode 070 – Chris Hart

Patrick Hester — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 06:05:24 +0000

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In Episode 070 of the Functional Nerds Podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio chat with author/artist Chris Hart.

Chris has penned several ‘how to draw’ books throughout the years. His latest, Basic Anatomy for the Manga Artist, is available right now.

Basic Anatomy for the Manga Artist: Everything You Need to Start Drawing Authentic Manga Characters

This most basic and complete book on manga anatomy ever written is targeted to beginners, the widest segment of manga fans. The latest from bestselling author Chris Hart is not your father’s anatomy book, it’s an anatomy book strictly for the manga artist. Packed with dynamic step-by-step demonstrations detailing how to draw correctly proportioned manga faces and bodies, plus lots of tips and tricks of the trade, this practical guide has everything aspiring beginners need to start drawing convincing manga characters.

Paperback: 160 pages
Publisher: Watson-Guptill; Original edition (June 21, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0823047709
ISBN-13: 978-0823047703
Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.5 x 0.5 inches

This episode features original music written and performed by John Anealio

Episode 069 – Charles Day

Patrick Hester — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 15:33:07 +0000

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In Episode 69 of the Functional Nerds Podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio chat with author and small press owner Charles Day.

Links:

Charles Day (Author’s Website)
Evil Jester Press (Fiction Imprint)

Featuring original music by John Anealio.

Episode 068 – JC Hutchins

Patrick Hester — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 06:15:41 +0000

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In the 68th episode of the Functional Nerds Podcast, Patrick Hester & John Anealio talk with freelance storyteller J.C. Hutchins.

Links:

Featuring original music by John Anealio.

Episode 067 – Patrick D’Orazio

Patrick Hester — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 06:15:21 +0000

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In the 67th episode of the Functional Nerds podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio chat with author Patrick D’Orazio.

Links:

Featuring original music by John Anealio.

Episode 066 – Kim Harrison

Patrick Hester — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 15:29:32 +0000

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In episode 66 of the Functional Nerds Podcast, Patrick Hester & John Anealio sit down to chat with author Kim Harrison, whose The Hollows series spans nine novels and a new graphic novel.

Links:

Kim Harrison (Author’s Website)
Burning Bunnies (Kim’s Twitter feed)

Episode 065 – Timothy Zahn

Patrick Hester — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 15:37:12 +0000

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In Episode 65 of the Functional Nerds Podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio talk all things Star Wars with the man who started the expanded universe, Timothy Zahn, to discuss his new book: Choices of One!

Music in the episode:

Sundog (Excerpt) by John Anealio
George R. R. Martin is not Your Bitch (Excerpt)

Episode 064 – Myke Cole

Patrick Hester — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 06:05:21 +0000

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In episode 64 of the Functional Nerds, Patrick Hester and John Anealio sit down to chat with Author Myke Cole about his upcoming Shadow Ops series from Ace.

Links:

Check out Maphook.com – our new sponsor

Music in the episode:

Sundog (Excerpt) by John Anealio
Angry Robot-Remix (Excerpt)

Episode 063 – Sandra Wickham

Patrick Hester — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 06:05:18 +0000

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In episode 63 of the Functional Nerds, Patrick Hester and John Anealio sit down to chat with Author and Fitness Nerd Sandra Wickham.

With Sandra, we discuss: fitness, water, carbs, discipline, working out, writing, word count, staying fit, exercise, calories, tracking your goals with apps, the InkPunks, being the Fitness Nerd, competition and transitioning into writing.

Links:

Welcome our new sponsor – MapHook.com. Click the link, download the app – it’s pretty cool.

Music in the episode:

Sundog (Excerpt) by John Anealio
Angry Robot-Remix (Excerpt)

Episode 062 – Jon Sprunk

Patrick Hester — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 06:01:46 +0000

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In episode 62 of the Functional Nerds, John Anealio chats with PYR Author Jon Sprunk about his new book, Shadow’s Lure.

Links:

Jon Sprunk (Author Site)
Shadow’s Lure
Jon Sprunk (Twitter)
Pyr Books

Patrick and John also chat about other stuff. Promise.

Welcome our new sponsor – MapHook.com. Click the link, download the app – it’s pretty cool.

Music in the episode:

Geek Dad (Excerpt) by John Anealio
Angry Robot-Singularity Remix (Excerpt)

Episode 061 – Ken Denmead

Patrick Hester — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 06:01:09 +0000

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In episode 61 of the Functional Nerds Podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome Ken Denmead, author of the new Geek Dad’s Guide to Weekend Fun, and publisher of Wired’s Geek Dad blog and podcast.

This week we chat about: Wired, Geek Dad, Borderlands, Star Trek, blogging, RP games, books, Geek Mom and the Geek Dad’s Guide to Weekend Fun.

Links:

Patrick and John also chat about Apple’s new iCloud service.

Welcome this week to our new sponsor – MapHook.com.

Music in the episode:

Geek Dad (Excerpt) by John Anealio
Angry Robot-Singularity Remix (Excerpt)

Episode 060 – Mur Lafferty

Patrick Hester — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 06:01:35 +0000

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In the 60th episode of the Functional Nerds, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome back Mur Lafferty, author, podcast pioneer and all around awesome person. John and Mur chat at Balticon about: kickstarter campaigns, crowd funding, artists and patronage, do it yourself publishing, I Should Be Writing, getting published and epublishing.

Links:

The Murverse (Authors website)
I Should Be Writing (Podcast)
Heaven (eBook)
Hell (eBook)

Music in the episode:

I Should Be Writing (Theme) by John Anealio

Angry Robot (Remix) by John Anealio and The Cherry Men

Support The Functional Nerds – Click the donate button in the sidebar & send us a couple bucks, or tell your friends about us.

Episode 059 – Steve Lawson

Patrick Hester — Tue, 24 May 2011 06:01:00 +0000

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In the 59th episode of the Functional Nerds, John Anealio chats with solo bassist Steve Lawson.

From his website, Steve Lawson is:

a solo bassist who spends a lot of his time making very unbasslike noises.
an ambient experimenter who likes pop tunes too much to go strictly soundscape, but is way too atmospheric to sit comfortably in the ‘instrumental rock’ category.

Music in this episode:

Cylon #6 (excerpt) by John Anealio
A Year Afloat (excerpt) by Steve Lawson

Thank you so much for the Parsec Nomination – you folks rock!

Support the Functional Nerds – Click the donate button in the sidebar of our site or tell a friend about this podcast!

Episode 058 – Brian Malow

Patrick Hester — Tue, 17 May 2011 06:01:37 +0000

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In Episode 58 of the Parsec-nominated Functional Nerds podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio chat with Science Comedian Brian Malow.

We discuss: science, science fiction, comedy, domain names, comedy clubs, finding the right audience, Google, Time.com, Wired.com and Rachel Rosen.

Music in this episode:

Rachel Rosen (excerpt) by John Anealio

Thank you so much for the Parsec Nomination – you folks rock!

Support the Functional Nerds – Click the donate button in the sidebar of our site, visit our CafePress.com site to buy some merchandise or tell a friend about this podcast!

Episode 057 – Andy Romine

Patrick Hester — Tue, 10 May 2011 06:01:12 +0000

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In the 57th episode of the Parsec nominated Functional Nerds, Patrick Hester and John Anealio sit down to chat with our very own Booze Nerd, Andy Romine! Andy is an author with works published in the Rigor Amortis anthology and the upcoming Broken Time Blues anthology. With Andy we discuss such diverse topics as: the World Fantasy convention, Rigor Amortis, Jaym Gates, Erika Holt, the Ink Punks, booze, mixing cocktails, the World Horror convention, being the Booze Nerd and Irish Hillbillies.

Music in this episode:

Sundog (excerpt) by John Anealio
Summer Glau (excerpt) by John Anealio

Thank you so much for the Parsec Nomination – you folks rock!

Support the Functional Nerds – Click the donate button in the sidebar of our site or tell a friend about this podcast!

Episode 056 – Peter Orullian

Patrick Hester — Tue, 03 May 2011 06:01:26 +0000

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In the 56th episode of the Parsec nominated (SQUEEEE!) Functional Nerds, Patrick Hester and John Anealio sit down to chat with TOR author and musician Peter Orullian. Peter also has a pretty nifty dayjob working for the folks over at XBOX, so we had a lot of fun chatting with about such diverse topics as: TOR, epic fantasy, book series, tropes, The Unremembered, writing, music, moral ambiguity in characters, Microsoft XBOX, progressive rock, the concept album and vocalization.

Music in this episode:

Sundog (excerpt) by John Anealio
Pronbot (excerpt) by John Anealio

Thank you so much for the Parsec Nomination – you folks rock!

Support the Functional Nerds – Click the donate button in the sidebar of our site or tell a friend about this podcast!

Episode 055 – Tom Brislin

Patrick Hester — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 15:16:04 +0000

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055 The Functional Nerds – Tom Brislin

In the 55th episode of the Functional Nerds, Patrick Hester kicks back while John Anealio interviews musician Tom Brislin.

Music in this episode:

Unicorn Pegasus Kitten (Excerpt) – John Anealio
The Future (excerpt) – Spiraling

Support the Functional Nerds – Click the donate button in the sidebar of our site or tell a friend about this podcast!

Episode 054 – Devo Spice

Patrick Hester — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 06:01:43 +0000

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In the 54th episode of the Functional Nerds, Patrick Hester kicks back while John Anealio visits Devo Spice to talk about his new album.

Music in this episode:

George R. R. Martin is not your bitch (excerpt) – John Anealio

Platform Wars (excerpt) – Devo Spice

Episode 053 – Paul S. Kemp

Patrick Hester — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 06:01:24 +0000

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In the 53rd episode of the Functional Nerds, Patrick Hester & Lisa Paitz Spindler sit down to chat with Paul S. Kemp, author of the new Star Wars novel: Deceived.

We also chat about: Star Wars, Forgotten Realms, Scrivener, outlining, the writing process, the heroes journey, law school, Erevis Cale, Wizards of the Coast, role playing games, R. A. Salvatore, The Clone Wars & Battlefield Earth.

Later, Patrick chats with Lisa about her debut novel, The Spiral Path.

Music in this episode:

Sundog (Excerpt) – John Anealio
Bohemian Rhapsody (excerpt) – Rockapella

Support the Functional Nerds – Click the donate button in the sidebar of our site or tell a friend about this podcast!

Episode 052 – Steve & Andy Scearce

Patrick Hester — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 06:01:33 +0000

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In the 52nd episode of the Functional Nerds, Patrick Hester & John Anealio sit down to chat with Steve & Andy Scearce, authors of Unknown Transmission and Station 151.

We also chat about: World Fantasy, Farscape, Rigor Amortis, serialized fiction, collaboration, writing, dystopian future, being brothers, podiobooks, Cthulhurotica an Dagan Books.

Music in this episode:

Sundog (Excerpt) – John Anealio
Grindin’ Man (excerpt) – Pinetop Perkins

Support the Functional Nerds – Click the donate button in the sidebar of our site or tell a friend about this podcast!

Episode 051 – Ari Marmell

Patrick Hester — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 06:01:07 +0000

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051 The Functional Nerds – Ari Marmell

In the 51st episode of the Functional Nerds, Patrick Hester & Special Guest CoHost Jaym Gates sit down to chat with Ari Marmell, author of The Goblin Corps & The Conqueror’s Shadow, available from PYR and Spectra respectively.

We also chat about: Role playing games, creative writing, short story writing, New Orleans, Dungeons and Dragons, Magic the Gathering, Corvis Rebaine, Broken Time Blues, the World of Warcraft, Blackgate Magazine, eBook publishing and the Babel Clash blog.

Music in this episode:

Sundog (Excerpt) – John Anealio
Streets of Bakersfield (excerpt) – Dwight Yoakam & Buck Owens

Support the Functional Nerds – Click the donate button in the sidebar of our site or tell a friend about this podcast!

Functional Nerds 050 Stephen Deas

Patrick Hester — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 06:02:25 +0000

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050 The Functional Nerds – Stephen Deas

In the 50th episode of the Functional Nerds, Patrick Hester & John Anealio sit down to chat with Stephen Deas, author of The Adamantine Palace & The King of the Crags, available from ROC.

We also chat about: Conan, pulps, sword & sorcery, dragons, ROC, art, cover art, bookstores and Doctor Who.

Music in this episode:

Sundog (Excerpt) – John Anealio

Support the Functional Nerds – Click the donate button in the sidebar of our site or tell a friend about this podcast!

Functional Nerds 049 Carrie Cuinn Don Pizarro

Patrick Hester — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 06:01:04 +0000

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In the 49th episode of the Functional Nerds, Patrick Hester & John Anealio sit down to chat with Carrie Cuinn, editor and publisher for Dagan Books & author Don Pizarro about the new anthology, Cthulhurotica.

We also chat about: short story writing, Dagan books, independent publishing, Twitter, Lovecraft, weird tales, tentacle porn, sex, anime, Rigor Amortis, The deep Ones, romance and plushie Cthulhu…

Links:

Music in this episode:

Sundog (Excerpt) – John Anealio
Transformers (Excerpt) – John Anealio

Support the Functional Nerds – Click the donate button in the sidebar of our site or tell a friend about this podcast!

Functional Nerds 048 Jason Sanford

Patrick Hester — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 07:01:47 +0000

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In the 48th episode of the Functional Nerds, Patrick Hester & John Anealio sit down to chat with Jason Sanford, author of Memoria, available in Interzone Magazine.

We also chat about: short story writing, novels, “Millisent Ka Plays In Real Time”, Interzone Magazine, inspiration, music, Lawrence Welk, Hank Williams, Ghosts, Philip Jose Farmer and Andy Kaufman.

Links:

Author’s Website: http://www.jasonsanford.com/
Follow Jason Sanford on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jasonsanford
Find Jason Sanford’s Fiction on the web: http://www.jasonsanford.com/jason/fiction.html
Interzone Magazine

Music in this episode:

Sundog (Excerpt) – John Anealio
Angry Robot – John Anealio

Support the Functional Nerds – Click the donate button in the sidebar of our site or tell a friend about this podcast!

Functional Nerds 047 John Jackson Miller

Patrick Hester — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 07:01:24 +0000

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In the 47th episode of the Functional Nerds, Patrick Hester & John Anealio sit down to chat with John Jackson Miller, author of Star Wars: Knight Errant

We also chat about: ebooks, The Star Wars Role Playing Game, Marvel Comics, Shadows of the Empire, Star Trek, the Crimson Dynamo, Lost Tribe of the Sith, DC Comics, comic book art, Overstreet, what is and isn’t cannon, Jedi and The Sith.

Links:

Author’s Website: http://www.farawaypress.com/
Follow John Jackson Miller on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jjmfaraway
Find John jackson Miller comics from Dark Horse: http://www.darkhorse.com/Search/John%20Jackson%20Miller

Music in this episode:

Sundog (Excerpt) – John Anealio
Imperial March (Excerpt)

Support the Functional Nerds – Click the donate button in the sidebar of our site or tell a friend about this podcast!

Episode 046 Harry Turtledove

Patrick Hester — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 07:05:55 +0000

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In the 46th episode of the Functional Nerds, Patrick Hester & John Anealio sit down to chat with Harry Turtledove, author of Atlantis and Other places, now available from ROC. With Harry we chat about: Atlantis, alternate history stories, novellas, ecology, war, twitter, The Byzantine Empire, the 24 hour news cycle & immigration.

Links:

Unofficial Author’s Website: http://www.sfsite.com/~silverag/turtledove.html

Music in this episode:

Sundog (Excerpt) – John Anealio
Southern Cross (Excerpt) – The Bluegrass Tribute to Classic Rock

Support the Functional Nerds – Click the donate button in the sidebar of our site or tell a friend about this podcast!

Episode 045 Mark Stevenson

Patrick Hester — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 07:01:21 +0000

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An Optimist's Tour of the Future by Mark Stevenson

In the 45th episode of the Functional Nerds, Patrick Hester & John Anealio sit down to chat with Mark Stevenson, author of An Optimist’s Tour of the Future, a new book available from Avery.

With Mark, we discuss: the future, humor, science, comedy, critical thinking, the world, global warming, stand up comedy, space, the ley nerd, space ports, technology, nanotechnology and answering the question – What’s next?

Links:

Mark Stevenson’s Website: http://anoptimiststourofthefuture.com/

Music in this episode:

Sundog (Excerpt) – John Anealio
New Releases – John Anealio

Support the Functional Nerds – Click the donate button in the sidebar of our site or tell a friend about this podcast!

Episode 044 Cherie Priest

Patrick Hester — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 07:01:33 +0000

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In the 44th episode of the Functional Nerds, Patrick Hester & John Anealio sit down to chat with Cherie Priest, author of ‘Bloodshot’, now available from Spectra. With Cherie, we discuss: urban fantasy, horror, southern gothic, TOR, Bantam, Spectra, writing, daily wordcount, Subterranean Press, humor in writing, social media, LiveJournal, blogging, Chattanooga TN, the Internet, Twitter, Vampires and Wil Wheaton.

Links:

Author’s Website: http://www.cheriepriest.com/

Music in this episode:

Sundog (Excerpt) – John Anealio
Unicorn Pegasus Kitten – John Anealio

Support the Functional Nerds – Click the donate button in the sidebar of our site or tell a friend about this podcast!

Episode 043 Tim Akers

Patrick Hester — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 06:59:38 +0000

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043 The Functional Nerds – Tim Akers

In the 43rd episode of the Functional Nerds, Patrick Hester & John Anealio sit down to chat with Tim Akers, author of ‘The Horns of Ruin ‘. We also discuss: World Fantasy, World Cons, PYR books, Solaris, 1st person narrative, gender roles, Paladins, pally specs, video games, role playing games, White Wolf, the World of Warcraft, bubble-hearthing, steampunk, religion and culture.

Links:

Author’s Website: http://shadoth.blogspot.com/

Music in this episode:

Sundog (Excerpt) – John Anealio
Comfortably Numb (Excerpt) – Bluegrass Tribute to Classic Rock Vol 2

Support the Functional Nerds – Click the donate button in the sidebar of our site!

Episode 042 Jody Lynn Nye

Patrick Hester — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 06:59:15 +0000

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042 The Functional Nerds

In the 42nd episode of the Functional Nerds, Patrick Hester & John Anealio welcome Jody Lynn Nye, author of Dragons Deal (W/Robert Asprin), The Magic Touch, Strong-Arm Tactics, An Unexpected Apprentice & A Forthcoming Wizard. This week we discuss: Robert Asprin, Skype, Bill Fawcett, the Myth adventures, the Dragon series, collaboration, Anne McCaffrey, License Invoked, ACE books, the Choose Your Adventure books, Pern, Xanth, humor in Fantasy, An Unexpected Apprentice, Tolkein & The Lord of the Rings.

Links:

Author’s Website: http://www.sff.net/people/jodynye/

Music in this episode:

Sundog (Excerpt) – John Anealio
Eye of the Tiger (Excerpt) – Bluegrass Tribute to Classic Rock Vol 2

Support the Functional Nerds – Click the donate button in the sidebar of our site!

Episode 041 Lavie Tidhar

Patrick Hester — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 06:55:12 +0000

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041 The Functional Nerds

In the 41st episode of the Functional Nerds, John & Patrick travel to Tel Aviv (via the Internet, of course), to chat with Lavie Tidhar, author of The Bookman, An Occupation of Angels, Cloud Permutations, HebrewPunk and The Tel Aviv Dossier. With steaming cups of coffee, we chat with Lavie about: Angry Robot Books, The Bookman, Tel Aviv, Israel, South Africa, Jewish vampires, Transylvania, golems, the World SF Blog, Charles A. Tan, anthologies, Apex Books, Western v Eastern cultural perceptions, poker, Casino Royale, James Bond & Twitter.

Links:

http://lavietidhar.wordpress.com/

Support the Functional Nerds – Click the donate button in the sidebar of our site!

Episode 040 Paul Levinson

Patrick Hester — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 06:55:56 +0000

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040 The Functional Nerds

In the 40th episode of the Functional Nerds, we welcome to the show singer, songwriter, record producer, science fiction author, media/pop culture commentator and all around cool guy – Paul Levinson!. We chat with Paul about: Hats (cuz hat’s are cool), science fiction, music, doo wap, The Bronx, the Kingston Trio, Spun Dreams, The New Outlook, Twice upon a Rhyme, songwriting, music producing, college, writing, The Village Voice, teaching, Analog Magazine, radio, Murry The K, Wolfman Jack, New New Media, Amazon, iTunes, TuneCore, ReverbNation & Les Paul.

Links:

http://paullevinson.info

Featuring Original Music by:

Paul Levinson: Unbelievable (excerpt)
Paul Levinson & Linda Kaplan: Not Yet Ready to Say Goodbye (Excerpt)

Support the Functional Nerds – Click the donate button in the sidebar of our site!

Episode 039 Adele Wearing

Patrick Hester — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 06:55:33 +0000

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039 The Functional Nerds

In the 39th episode of the Functional Nerds, we welcome Adele Wearing, from the Un:Bound blogzine to chat about their new video edition. We also chat about: science fiction, time zones, reviews, urban fantasy, epic fantasy, blogging, TOR, Angry Robot Books, Pan/MacMillan books, video production, Adobe Premiere, iLife, iMovie, ZOMBIES, terror4fun.com, youtube, Netflix, the Roku player & TiVo.

Links:

Un:Bound http://hagelrat.blogspot.com/
Un:Bound Video Edition http://unboundve.blogspot.com/

Featuring Original Music by:

John Anealio: Sundog
John Anealio: Unicorn Pegasus Kitten (Excerpt)

Support the Functional Nerds – Click the donate button in the sidebar of our site!

Episode 038 Joe Schreiber

Patrick Hester — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 06:55:49 +0000

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038 The Functional Nerds

In the 38th episode of the Functional Nerds, we welcome Joe Schreiber, author of Red Harvest, Death Troopers, No Doors, No Windows, Chasing the Dead & Eat the Dark to discuss all things Star Wars.

Featuring Original Music by:

John Anealio: Sundog
John Anealio: The Millennium Falcon for Christmas (Excerpt)

Support the Functional Nerds – Click the donate button in the sidebar of our site!

Episode 037 Clay & Susan Griffith

Patrick Hester — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 06:55:54 +0000

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037 The Functional Nerds

In the 37th episode of the Functional Nerds, we welcome Clay & Susan Griffith, co-authors of The Greyfriar: Vampire Empire Book One to discuss: steampunk, the Victorian Era, alternate history, Scotland, Highlander, body snatchers (the real ones, not the made up ones from the movies), comic books, graphic novels, Kolchak The Night Stalker, Alan Quartermain, pulps, collaborating as writers and as a married couple, PYR books & Lou Anders.

Featuring Original Music by:

John Anealio: Sundog
John Anealio: Is A Chupacabra Kosher? (Excerpt)

Support the Functional Nerds – Click the donate button in the sidebar of our site!

Episode 036 Kay Kenyon

Patrick Hester — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 06:55:40 +0000

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036 The Functional Nerds

In the 36th episode of the Functional Nerds, John Anealio sits down for the final interview from World Fantasy 2010 – Kay Kenyon, author of Bright of the Sky, A World too Near, City Without End and Prince of Storms.

Featuring Original Music by:

John Anealio: Sundog
John Anealio: The Return of Titus Quinn
John Anealio: Batman Smells
John Anealio: The Millenium Falcon for Christmas

Support the Functional Nerds – Click the donate button in the sidebar of our site!

Episode 035 James Enge & Blake Charlton

Patrick Hester — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 06:55:47 +0000

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035 The Functional Nerds

In the 35th episode of the Functional Nerds, we welcome back Blake Charlton & James Enge to talk dyslexia, Latin, Greek & why other languages have fewer folks suffering from dyslexia versus English, then break out into a fantastic chat on music, instruments and how language plays a huge part in how music has developed over centuries, then onto mythology and how it influences Fantasy works today, then into video games, comic books, YA novels, Spellbound, The Wolf Age and much, much more.

Featuring Original Music by:

John Anealio: Sundog
John Anealio: NaNoWriMo (Dance Remix)

Support the Functional Nerds – Click the donate button in the sidebar of our site!

Episode 034 Lucy A. Snyder

Patrick Hester — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 06:50:35 +0000

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034 The Functional Nerds

In our 34th episode, John sits down to chat with Lucy A. Snyder, author of Spellbent, Shotgun Sorceress and the forthcoming Switchblade Goddess while Patrick runs off with DeNardo to drool over the books stacked in the dealers room at World Fantasy.

Featuring Original Music by:

John Anealio: Sundog

Support the Functional Nerds – Click the donate button in the sidebar of our site!

Episode 033 Kevin J Anderson & Shawn Gordon

Patrick Hester — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 06:55:59 +0000

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033 The Functional Nerds

In our 33rd episode, John & I welcome Shawn Gordon & Kevin J. Anderson. With Shawn & Kevin we discuss the creation of the Roswell Six albums, Prog Rock Records, James LaBrie, Dreamtheater, John Payne, Asia, Rush, Styx, Neil Peart, Ressurection Lane, Mercury Records, MySpace, Dune, Roswell Six, Erik Norlander, Lana Lane, Steve Walsh, Kansas, A Line in the Sand, Beyond the Horizon & the concept album.

Featuring Original Music by:

Roswell Six: Here Be Monsters
(used with permission)

Support the Functional Nerds – Click the donate button in the sidebar of our site!

Episode 032 Jim Kakalios

Patrick Hester — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 06:50:46 +0000

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032 The Functional Nerds

In our 32nd episode, John & I welcome Jim Kakalios, author of The Physics of Superheroes and The Amazing Story of Quantum Mechanics. We also discuss: The Big Bang Theory (tv show), physics, Watchmen, getting it ‘right’ in the movies, Iron Man, Jurassic Park, UNIX, The Flash, jetpakcs (and why I can’t have one – DAMMIT!), Karen Burnham, cellphones, laptops, computers, energy versus ideas, Erwin Schrodinger, Amazing Stories & The Internet.

Featuring Original Music by:

John Anealio – Sundog (instrumental)
John Anealio – Page 123 (Mix 4)

Support the Functional Nerds – Click the donate button in the sidebar of our site!

Episode 031 Carolyn Crane

Patrick Hester — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 05:30:27 +0000

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031 The Functional Nerds

In our 31st episode, John & I welcome Carolyn Crane, author of Mind Games & Double Cross, available from Spectra. With Carolyn in tow, we discussed: author websites, geocities, twitter, urban fantasy, marketing, cover art, product packaging (when it comes to books), 1st person prose, tense, Anne Rice, Jim Butcher, Laurel K. Hamilton, Ian Fleming, Kelly Armstrong, querying agents, freelancing as a writer, social media & balancing your online presence with your work load as a writer.

Featuring Original Music by:

John Anealio – Sundog (instrumental)

Support the Functional Nerds – Click the donate button in the sidebar of our site!

Episode 030 Jaym Gates and Erika Holt

Patrick Hester — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 05:55:14 +0000

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030 The Functional Nerds

In our 30th episode, John & I welcome Jaym Gates & Erika Holt as our latest recruits in the 3rd Nerd Army! Jaym & Erika share details of their new anthology, Rigor Amortis; a collection of stories about Romanace, Revenge, Risk & Raunch – with Zombies. We also tackle topics like: erotica, Clarkesworld, Absolute XPress, marketing, promotion, podcasting, Readercon, ‘Jaym the Zombie erotica gal’, conventions, World Fantasy 2010, Twitter and the community it builds & Star Trek fanfic/erotica.

Featuring Original Music by:

John Anealio – Sundog (instrumental)
John Anealio – Sarene

Support the Functional Nerds – Click the donate button in the sidebar of our site!

Episode 029 Neil Clarke

Patrick Hester — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 05:30:04 +0000

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029 The Functional Nerds

In our 29th episode, John & I welcome Neil Clarke in as our most recent 3rd Nerd! Neil is the Publisher / Editor of Clarkesworld magazine as well as the owner of Wyrm Publishing. In this episode, we chat about: Clarkesworld Magazine, the Hugo award, online magazines, online bookstores, the slush pile, what is a ‘semiprozine’, Amazon’s Associate Program, podcasts, advertising, eBooks, ePublishing, Kindle, WordPress, Digital Blasphemy, cover art, Balticon, World Fantasy 2010 & Wyrm Publishing.

Featuring Original Music by:

John Anealio – Sundog (instrumental)
John Anealio – Blue Lego

Episode 028 Fred Kiesche and Mike Ferrante

Patrick Hester — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 05:50:23 +0000

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028 The Functional Nerds

In our 28th episode, John is living the rock star life, parked in a Hummer with Fred Kiesche, blogger for SF Signal & The Lensman’s Children & Mike Ferrante, King of the Nerds. The boys sit down to chat about SF Signal, science fiction, the Internet, the ARPANet, blogging, .mac accounts, iWeb, Twitter, Facebook, social networking/media, Clarkesworld, podcasting, 9/11, Fred Pohl, Jack Williamson, Howard Hendricks, Mike Resnick, Lou Anders, authors embracing new and emerging technologies, audio books, David Drake, Mur Lafferty, the I should be Writing podcast, fame, Wil Wheaton, A Thousand True Fans, eBooks & out of print stories/novels/books.

Featuring Original Music by:

John Anealio – Sundog (instrumental)
John Anealio- Blue Lego

Episode 027 James Enge

Patrick Hester — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 06:01:16 +0000

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The Wolf Age

027 The Functional Nerds

In our 27th episode, John & I are joined by James Enge – author of Blood of Ambrose, This Crooked Way, and the upcoming The Wolf Age. With James we chat about Latin, Morlock, sword & socrcery, Blood of Ambrose, The Crooked lady, Merlin, publishing, Popular Science, Norse mythology, Mickey Zucker Reinhurt, Jack Vance, Frtiz Liebur, Roman & Greek mythology, Thor, Beta Ray Bill, Dwarves, creating languages, Klingon & PYR books.

Please note - we are changing our release day to Tuesdays. Again, new episodes will appear every Tuesday moving forward!

Featuring Original Music by:

John Anealio – Sundog (instrumental)
John Anealio & Dale Chase – We Don’t Need Another Trilogy

Episode 026 Matthew Kressel & Kate Baker

Patrick Hester — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 05:30:51 +0000

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026 The Functional Nerds

In the 26th episode of The Functional Nerds, Patrick Hester and John Anealio are joined by Matthew Kressel & Kate Baker We chat about: Sybil’s Garage, Clarkesworld Magazine & podcast, being an IT professional, Altered Fluid, Craigslist, Small Beer Press, writing groups, Sybil’s Cave, anthologies, the slush pile, Hal Duncan, the Snoopy dance, conventions & convention parties, Unicorn Pegasus Kitten, Wil Wheaton, John Scalzi & the Lupus Alliance of America.

Featuring Original Music by:

John Anealio – Sundog (instrumental)
John Anealio – The Ferris Wheel

Support the Lupus Alliance of America – check out http://unicornpegasuskitten.com/

Episode 025 – Chris Roberson

Patrick Hester — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 05:00:12 +0000

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025 The Functional Nerds

In the monumental 25th episode of The Functional Nerds, Patrick Hester and John Anealio are joined by World Fantasy Award nominee and Sidewise Award winning author, Chris Roberson! We chat about: Cinderella-From Fabletown with Love, musicals, comic books, Azimovs magazine, Matthew Sturges, Bill Willingham, the Bonaventure-Cormody sequence, Philip Jose Farmer, Doc Savage, Anne Rice, Fables, I, Zombie, Monkeybrains Books, publishing, Boom! Studios, Masked, Lou Anders, George Lazenby & On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

Featuring Original Music by:

John Anealio – Sundog (instrumental)
John Anealio – NaNoWriMo

Episode 024 – Matthew Sturges

Patrick Hester — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 17:30:49 +0000

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024 The Functional Nerds

In the 24th episode of The Functional Nerds, Patrick Hester and John Anealio are joined by Eisner-award nominated author Matthew Sturges. This week, we chat about comic books, Midwinter, Jack of Fables, Vertigo comics, DC, House of Mystery, JSA All Stars, Chris Roberson, Bill Willingham, Fables, Masked, PYR, Lou Anders, Superheroes, The Dirty Dozen in Elfland, Doctor Who, Stephen Moffat, The Office of Shadow, World Building, Cover Art, Ian Banks & science fiction.

Featuring Original Music by:

John Anealio – Sundog (instrumental)
John Anealio – IMr. Roboto (Styx Cover)

Episode 023

Patrick Hester — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 06:10:20 +0000

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023 The Functional Nerds

In the 23rd episode of The Functional Nerds, Patrick Hester and John Anealio are joined by returning 3rd Nerd Aidan Moher and our youngest recruit to date – Dan Goodman! This week, we chat about NASA, crowdsourcing wake up music for astronauts, digital distribution, Stargate Atlantis, creative commons licensing, Cory Doctorow, free tv, pay tv, bit torrent, record companies, the music industry, the long tail, publishing, ebooks, ereaders, Caprica, the channel formerly known as Scifi, Stargate Unierse, Haven, Jeff Vandemeer, A Dribble of Ink, Literary Musings and bandcamp.com.

Featuring Original Music by:

John Anealio – Sundog (instrumental)
John Anealio – I should be writing (acoustic)

Episode 022

Patrick Hester — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 06:05:44 +0000

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022 The Functional Nerds

In the 22nd episode of The Functional Nerds, Patrick Hester and John Anealio are joined by Z from Hipster Please – together, we chat with Kyle Stevens & Jim Demonakos – better known as Kirby Krackle! We chat about: Nerd Rock, Voltron: the music writing machine, music, the song writing process, Lennon / McCartney, Taupin/John, Comiccon, Alpha Flight, E for Everyone, the Great Lakes Avengers, On and On, Music videos, PAX, Mega-man, Ring Capacity, Up up down down, geeks are sexy, the Esacpist, Pearl Jam, Fan Expo in Toronto, Ustream & the Green Lantern Movie.

Featuring Music clips by:

Kirby Krackle:

Secret Identity
The Great Lakes Avengers
Up, Up, Down, Down
Teabagged
Ring Capacity

Support Kirby Krackle by purchasing their music: http://www.kirbykracklemusic.com/music.html

Help get @kirbykrackle’s song ‘Ring Capacity’ on the Green Lantern Movie Soundtrack – join the Facebook Group today: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=133440553363562

Episode 021

Patrick Hester — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 05:55:23 +0000

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021 The Functional Nerds

In the 21st episode of The Functional Nerds, Patrick Hester and John Anealio are joined by The Book Nerdist, Jessica Barton! This week we chat about Chris Hardwick, The Nerdest, Scott Siglers Ancestor, book reviews, Tuesday, science fiction, Mur Laffertty, Tab Benoit, Sonny Landreth, Sookie Stackhouse, True Blood, Anne Rice, Confessions of a Japanese School Girl, iPhone Skype app,, SfSignal.com, Ninja Assassins, Twilight, iPhone security, ios, dial-up Internet, Blizzard, Starcraft II, raiding (on World of Warcraft), LEROY JENKINS & Blake Charlton.

Featuring Music by:

John Anealio – Sundog (instrumental)
John Anealio – San Luis Obispo

Episode 020

Patrick Hester — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 06:30:26 +0000

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020 The Functional Nerds

In the 20th episode of The Functional Nerds, Patrick Hester and John Anealio are joined by bestselling author Peter V. Brett! This week we chat about writing a book on a Windows Mobile phone, writing to sell, making time to write, The Warded Man, good v. evil, magic symbolism, demons, moral ambiguity, genetic memory and fear, symbol magic, folklore, superstition, music for writing the perfect scene, twitter, wikipedia, The Desert Spear, Independence Day, Star Wars, the sympathetic villain, comic books and Red Sonja.

Featuring Music by:

John Anealio – Sundog (instrumental)
John Anealio – Merithyn’s Promise (instrumental)

Episode 19

Patrick Hester — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 06:05:52 +0000

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019 The Functional Nerds

In the 19th episode of The Functional Nerds, Patrick Hester and John Anealio are joined by bestselling TOR author L.E. Modesitt Jr. This week we chat about MR. Modesitt’s career, his 56 books, how he became a writer, his time in the U.S. Navy as a pilot, as a poet, military science fiction, Andrew Liptak, WW2, Vietnam, Afghanistan, The Parafaith War, The Imager Portfolio, The Corean Chronicles, The Spellsong Cycle, The Recluse Saga, music as magic, artisan musicians, voice training, strong women, hard science fiction, fantasy, the Ghost Books, the eBook industry and his upcoming appearances at Fandemonium & WorldFantasy Con.

Featuring Music by:

John Anealio – Sundog (instrumental)
John Anealio – Lonesome October Night

Episode 18

Patrick Hester — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 06:02:42 +0000

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018 The Functional Nerds

In the 18th episode of The Functional Nerds, Patrick Hester and John Anealio are joined by the latest recruit in the 3rd Nerd Army, John DeNardo from SF Signal.com! John D gives us a hand as we welcome legendary science fiction author and five time hugo winner Mike Resnick! This week we talk about: Hugo nominations for SfSignal.com, the Mind Meld, Chicago, the White Sox, his early career, editing tabloids, mens magazines, Bob Silverberg, Herschell Gordon Lewis, writing science fiction, She Lives! by Paul Neimark, Marvin Kaye, humor in science fiction, Lucifer Jones, Harry the Book, Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, William (Bill) Gibson, sparkly vampires, supernatural romance, Pyr, Lou Anders, John Picacio, Baen’s Universe, Subterranean Press, Bill Schafer, The Dragon Page, the small press versus the mass market press, Golden Gryphon, Gary Turner, eBook publishing, Amazon’s Kindle, Readercon, Clarkesworld, Lightspeed, the Starship series, Weird Westerns, Blasphemy, Classics Dismembered, Africa, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Alexander Lake, Dragon Con & the World Fantasy Con.

Featuring Music by:

John Anealio – Sundog (instrumental)
John Anealio – The Ballad of Wilson Cole

Episode 17

Patrick Hester — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 06:02:35 +0000

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017 The Functional Nerds

In the 17th episode of The Functional Nerds, Patrick Hester and John Anealio are joined by the latest recruit in the 3rd Nerd Army, Curtis Silver from Wired.com’s Geek Dad! In the show this week, we discuss, ramble and conversate upon such varied and wondrous topics as: the Apple App store hack attack, iTunes reviews, spoofing the ranking system, the Justin Bieber Haircut App, Prince declaring the Internet dead, human cloning-Little Richard & Prince – same guy?, the artists percentage on iTunes, 1999, KISS, Metallica, the secret backwards message hidden inside George R. R. Martin is not your bitch, Youtube takedowns, Radiohead, the cd/vinvyl model seeming similar to the brick & mortar publishing model, flash fiction, Scrivener, Comic-Con 2010 and rebooting The Fantastic Four, The X-Men & Spider-Man movies – is this end of the comic book movie as a genre?

Featuring Music by:

John Anealio – Sundog (instrumental)
John Anealio – Cylon #6

Episode 16

Patrick Hester — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 06:30:29 +0000

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016 The Functional Nerds

In the 16th episode of The Functional Nerds, Patrick Hester and John Anealio are joined by the latest recruits – plural! in the 3rd Nerd Army, Matt Hammond and Shannon Flowers of the Seattle-Geekly podcast! In the show this week, we discuss, ramble and conversate upon such varied and wondrous topics as: Hipster Please, bad movies, MST3K, Riff Trax, the Seattle Space Needle – tourist wonder or motion sickness torture chamber from hell?!, Mount Saint Helen’s and ‘volcano day’, Nathan Fillion and Eva Longoria as Ant Man & The Wasp, the Avengers movie, The Green Hornet, Two Guys a Girl and a Pizza Place, Ryan Reynolds, Brandon Sanderson, The Wheel of TIme, The Way of Kings, Terry Goodkind, The Sword of Truth, Terry Brooks, The Shannara Series, George R. R. Martin, Ken Scholes, Kate Elliot, J.V. Jones, A Cavern of Black Ice, The Legend of the Seeker, Steven Erikson, Peter V Brett, The Warded Man, Jim Butcher, The Dresden Files, urban fantasy, Mur Lafferty, the fan fiction contest to benefit the Lupus Alliance of America, Wil Wheaton, John Scalzi and, Unicorn Pegasus Kitten.

Featuring Music by:

John Anealio – Unicorn Pegasus Kitten
Erwin Beekveld – Taking the Hobbits to Isengard

Episode 15

Patrick Hester — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 06:05:47 +0000

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015 The Functional Nerds

In the 15th episode of The Functional Nerds, Patrick Hester and John Anealio are joined by the latest recruit in the 3rd Nerd Army, 2001 and 2006 International Horror Guild Award winner for Best Artist, 2005 Chesley Award winner for best paperback cover & 2010 Hugo Award nominee & mega-artist John Picacio! This week we chat about: Lou Anders, Mike Resnick, Pyr, John Picacio’s beginnings as an architect, comic books, genre illustration, the design process, Michael Moorcock, Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, Dick Giordano, John Byrne, Terry Autsin, Epic Imprint, Marvel, Dave McKean, Darrell K. Sweet, Joseph Cornell, shadow boxes, mix media, physical and digitally layered art, painting, Photoshop, Jeff Ford, Del Ray, Elric, Graphic novels, the 2012 George R. R. Martin calendar, X-Men the Return, artist copyright, monetizing cover art, Paul Vaughn, Missions Unknown, Frank & Ellie Frazetta & the future of the genre cover artist and the printed book.

Featuring Music by:

John Anealio – Unicorn Pegasus Kitten

Episode 14

Patrick Hester — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 06:01:06 +0000

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014 The Functional Nerds

In the 14th episode of The Functional Nerds, Patrick Hester and John Anealio are joined by the latest recruit in the 3rd Nerd Army, blogger and mega science fiction and fantasy book reviewer from Grasping for the Wind: John Ottinger! This week we chat about: John Anealio’s inability to pronounce Thaumatrope, Aiden Moher of A Dribble of Ink, reading for review writing, the history of Grasping for the Wind, David Eddings, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, podcasting, blogging, the science fiction and fantasy community online, Safari vs Firefox, Google Reader, the Geek Media Roundup, the Grasping for the Wind link-up meme, Technorati, writing book reviews, Peter V Brett, The Warded Man, Paul Kemp. Star Wars The Old Republic, The Desert Spear, John DeNardo & SfSignal.com, Robert Jordan, Terry Brooks, George R. R. Martin, A Game of Thrones, HBO, Starz, Showtime, True Blood, tv shows & movies with more mature/adult themes, Netflix, The A-Team, Tad Williams’ Shadowmarch, the War of the Flowers, Stories Anthology, Spawn and the lawsuit, The Unit by Terry DeHart, The Griffin Mage by Rachel Neumeier, Song of the Dragon by Tracy Hickman and Jim Butcher’s Proven Guilty, White Knight, Welcome to the Jungle & Small Favor.

Featuring Music by:

John Anealio

Episode 13

Patrick Hester — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 06:30:38 +0000

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013 The Functional Nerds

In the 13th episode of The Functional Nerds, Patrick Hester and John Anealio are joined by the latest recruit in the 3rd Nerd Army, author, blogger and podcasting pioneer: Mur Lafferty! Despite Skype causing an EPIC FAIL and a slew of technical difficulties, Mur Lafftery joined John Anealio and Patrick Hester in discussing Science Fiction and Fantasy podcasts, publishing, Joe Giacino, TOR.com, Twitter, The Leviathan Chronicles, Escape Pod, Far Point Media, old time serials, Mercedes Lackey, Tracy Hickman, Scott Sigler, self-publishing via podcast, Magazine Podcasts, Pseudopod, Clarkesworld, Lightspeed, Drabblecast, Tobias Buckell, younger people not reading blogs, Netflix, Growing up digital, TiVo, talk radio, new media, Dragonpage, Babylon 5, Balticon, crappy author websites & blogging.

Featuring Music by:

John Anealio

Episode 12

Patrick Hester — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 07:00:54 +0000

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012 The Functional Nerds

In the Twelfth episode of The Functional Nerds, Patrick Hester and John Anealio are joined by the latest recruit in the 3rd Nerd Army, Z from the Hipster Please/Radio Free Hipster podcast and Wired’s GeekDad HipTrax Podcast! This week, John Anealio tells us about his adventures at Balticon with author/podcaster Mur Lafferty, Kate Sherrod, Peter V. Brett, Shannon & Matt from the Seattle Geekly podcast, Gail Carriger and we discuss Readercon, Mile-Hi Con, David Sherman, BlizzCon, The Drunken Monkey Brewery, Nerdcore music, the Nerdcore (unrelated) NSFW calendar, Doctor Demento, the technology of Nerdcore, Weird Al, MC Frontalot, Optimus Rhyme, the Tascam 4-track recorder, N-Track Studios, Filk, Kirby Krackle, Mashups, Rapture Riders, Dual Core, Devo Spice, Stovokor, Blood Hag, G3, Yngwie Malmsteen, The Four Eyes, World of Warcraft, D&D, Protomen, Chiptunes, Tube Amplifiers, Starscream, Doctor Who, Pixel Hate, the Green Lantern, the Walking Dead & RC Cola Moonpies & Zombies.

Featuring Music by:

Please support these great artists by purchasing their stuff.

Episode 011

Patrick Hester — Fri, 28 May 2010 06:01:52 +0000

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011 The Functional Nerds

In the Eleventh episode of The Functional Nerds, Patrick Hester and John Anealio are joined by the latest recruit in the 3rd Nerd Army, Andrew Liptak! Andrew is a blogger/writer who has contributed to i09 & SFSignal, has a Masters Degree in Military History and chats with us about: Military Science Fiction, John Scalzi, Orson Scott Card, Robert Heinlein, Forever war, old Man’s War, Starship Troopers, Stargate Universe and the Scalzi product placement, the photo I took that ended up on Scalzi’s blog, Dune, Frank Herbert, Avatar, what is Military scifi, J.R.R. Tolkien, how war(s) and combat affects fiction writers, Star Wars Jedi Trial, Cory Doctorow, NASA and the future of the US space program, Superman the Ride, Russian spies in space, the GeekDad podcast, Z (Hipster, please!), Green Lantern, Doctor Who, Serenity, The Lone Ranger, Pyr Books, We don’t need another hero (or trilogy), Nerdcore, Facebook & glam rock bands. Yes. Glam Rock bands.

Featuring Music by: Dale Chase & John Anealio

Episode 010

Patrick Hester — Fri, 21 May 2010 09:00:28 +0000

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010 The Functional Nerds

In the Tenth episode of The Functional Nerds, Patrick Hester and John Anealio are joined by four time Hugo Award nominee, 2008 Philip K. Dick Award nominee, 2008/2006 Chesley Award winner/nominee, and 2006 World Fantasy Award nominee and editorial director of Pyr books – Lou Anders! Lou joins us this week to discuss a little bit of the history of the Pyr imprint from Prometheus books, the branding of Pyr that stands out on the bookshelves thanks to artwork from great artists like John Picacio, upcoming projects from Pyr, two new anthologies from Lou titled ‘Swords & Dark magic’ due in June and ‘Masked’ due in July, then we branch off into Stargate Universe, John Scalzi, Joseph Mallozzi, FlashForward and Batman comics.

Episode 009

Patrick Hester — Fri, 14 May 2010 09:00:18 +0000

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009 The Functional Nerds

In the ninth episode of The Functional Nerds, Patrick Hester and John Anealio are joined by a member of the 3rd Nerd Army: Aidan Moher from A Dribble of Ink! This week we chat about: Terry Goodkind & Tyra Banks both getting 3 book contracts, The Law of Nines & The Sword of Truth, Adam Whitehead & the Wertzone, jumping the shark in fiction, Jane Yolen, Diane Duane, online fiction, the Kobo eReader, freesfonline.de, webfictionguide.com, tor.com, Chapters, Barnes & Noble, OF blog of the fallen, John Ottinger, how John is getting older and Patrick will be young forever, Locus online, upcoming genre fiction, Lou Anders’ Swords & Dark Magic, Pyr Books, Terry Brooks, The Shannara Series, The Last Page by Anthony Huso, Tome of the Undergates by Sam Sykes, The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, Star Wars and the expanded universe, Kristen Britain & The Green Rider, Dennis L. McKiernan, Tad Williams, James Enge, Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay, Hooves and the Hovel of Abdel Jameela by Saladin Ahmed, free comic book day, Larry Hama & G.I. Joe, Graphic novels & The Green Lantern.

Episode 008

Patrick Hester — Fri, 07 May 2010 09:30:50 +0000

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008 The Functional Nerds

In the eighth episode of The Functional Nerds, Patrick Hester and John Anealio are joined by the 3rd member of the 3rd Nerd Army: Blake Charlton! Blake is both a novelist (Spellwright published by TOR) and a medical student, so we talked about: science fiction-like technologies being used in the world today, bionic limbs, nerve / brain rewiring, neural plasticity, neural perception, gross anatomy, the phantom limb phenomenon, Flash Forward, gross morphology, The Ultra-Humanite, the autism spectrum, music, Rex Lewis, a young musician with autism who could play back melodies that, for most, would take months to learn & had perfect pitch and a phenomenal memory, Stephen Wiltshire, an artist diagnosed as autistic who draws and paints detailed cityscapes sometimes after having only observed them briefly, Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks, savantism, Music Instinct: Science and Songs, Bobby McFerrin, Arthur C Clarke’s Childhood’s End, ADD, Dyslexia, Synesthesia & the awesome human brain. Oh, yeah, and there’s this whole contest thing happening…

May Round Table Discussion

Patrick Hester — Tue, 04 May 2010 16:30:05 +0000

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The Functional Nerds – Round Table Discussion May 2010

This is a special bonus episode of The Functional Nerds!

The concept here is simple – we take several topics to discuss and we invite some friends to join us for a round table discussion – which we record for posterity. Similar to inviting a bunch of folks over for dinner and then chatting after we’ve had our pie. (Sadly, there was no pie)

Today we’ve invited 3 very different people to discuss: Summer Movies, Genre TV, Reboot Mania and Science Fiction to Science Reality.

Our panel this month are:

John DeNardo from SFSignal.com
Software developer and Functional Nerd/Geek dad Quinn Perkins
Console Gamer & twitter-bud Jenn Evans
Host & Functional Nerd/Author Patrick Hester

If you would be interested in being a part of a future Round Table Discussion, please let us know.

Episode 007

Patrick Hester — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 16:30:24 +0000

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007 The Functional Nerds

In the seventh episode of The Functional Nerds, Patrick Hester and John Anealio are joined by the second recruit in the 3rd Nerd Army: Clifton Hill! Together, we venture forth to discuss such varied and diverse topics as: Hulu’s new subscription service, Yahoo’s new movie rental service, #boobquake, torturing the 3rd nerd for entertainment value, the long tail and freemuium models, the writer’s platform, art and being artistic, making money off your craft, coffee shop gigs, Netflix, Modern Family, STARZ, Party Down, Spartacus: Blood and Sand, Chuck, Blockbuster Video, Fringe, X-Files, Scully & Mulder, late fees (suck!), TOR turning 30, David Drake, Robert Jordan, Terry Goodkind, Elizabeth Haydon, Lord of the Isles, The Wheel of Time, The Sword of Truth, The Symphony of Ages, Tom Clancy, The Deathgate Cycle, Mararet Weis, Tracy Hickman, Harry Turtledove, the slushpile, Shadowmarch by Tad Williams, Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn, Runelords by David Farland, Jeff Beck, The Yardbirds, Cream, John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers and the SFSignal.com Mind Meld.

Episode 006

Patrick Hester — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 16:30:36 +0000

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006 The Functional Nerds

In the sixth episode of The Functional Nerds, Patrick Hester and John Anealio are joined by the first recruit in the 3rd Nerd Army: Kate Sherrod! Together with Kate, we chat about: C2E2, Comic book conventions, Shakespeare, sonnets, Doctor Who, Netflix, Lost, the channel formerly known as SciFi, Wrestling, Wizard’s of the Coast & the Anaheim comic con, Mile-High Con, Magic the Gathering, Cheyenne WY, The US Airforce, collecting comics, independent comics, Brandon Sanderson, Jordancon, pen & paper RPGs, Dungeons & Dragons, Risk, Warhammer, HP Lovecraft, Weezer, in the garage, X-Men, Nightcrawler, 20-sided die, KISS, Ace Freely, Avatar’s upcoming Crossed motion picture, Zombie books, Garth Ennis, Jason Burrows, Richard Starkings, Elephantmen, Iron Man, Kevin Colden, Dan Dougherty, Beardo, Rotten, Moonstone, Raphael Nieves, the evil eye books crew, Joe Quesada, Marion Call, George Robb, Phil Rossi, the Geek Dad podcast, ladies apparel, Jinx, Think Geek, Chopshop Store, Blizzcon, women in comics, Kate learns not to ask Patrick for names of people because he doesn’t remember names…, WebComics, Scott Kurtz, PVPOnline, David Malki, Wondermark, Dark Horse, Star Wars, Conan, Doctor Solar, Jim Schutter, Hellboy, Heir to the Empire, Dark Empire, Tales of the Jedi, Knights of the old Republic, Heroes Only comic books in Cheyenne, Migh High Comics, Chew, Image comics, Atomic Robo, the massive mega Marvel Crossover Events, Coupling, British television vs American television seasons, Christopher Eccleston, Heroes, Captain America, Chris Evans, Johnny Storm, Alex Ross, John Hamm (Don Draper), The Roger Corman Fantastic Four flick, Dolph Lundgren’s Punisher movie, John’s obsession/devotion to Jean-Claude Van Dam, The Mullet, Comixology, the iPad, Pulp Pixel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Angel After the Fall, Balticon 2010, Mur Lafferty, Ace of Cakes & DIA.