By Emily B. Martin “Of course, it is likely enough, my friends,” Treebeard said slowly, “likely enough that we are going to our doom: the last march of the Ents. But if we stayed at home and did nothing, doom would find us anyway, sooner or later.” –The Two Towers, J.R.R. Tolkien Describing nature as […]
This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Drew Murray – author of BROKEN GENIUS: A Will Parker Thriller – out today, June 2nd! About BROKEN GENIUS: A Will Parker Thriller: For Will Parker, it’s about personal redemption after a disastrous mistake In 2011, Will Parker, the young prodigy CEO of a big tech company makes a […]
This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Michael Mammay – retired army officer and author of PLANETSIDE AND SPACESIDE. About Michael Mammay: Michael Mammay is a science fiction writer. He is a retired army officer and a graduate of the United States Military Academy. He has a master’s degree in military history, and he currently teaches […]
This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Stephen Blackmore – author of GHOST MONEY, book five in a dark urban fantasy series that follows necromancer Eric Carter through a world of vengeful gods and goddesses, mysterious murders, and restless ghosts. About Stephen Blackmore: Stephen Blackmoore is the Los Angeles based author of the noir / urban […]
This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome geek journalist extraordinaire. podcaster, D&D historian, Gadfly, nerd, writer, educator, friend to humanity, animal, and werewolf alike – Ben Riggs to talk about the history of D&D and the fall of TSR! Links: Ben Riggs on Twitter Ben Riggs on the Plotpoint Podcast Tracy Townsend on Twitter Patrick Hester […]
Having survived April, Patrick and Tracy are talking about food and fandom this week. Both enjoy cooking for themselves and others, and in this episode explore the links between food and the genre’s we love. Plus – they play the inaugural game of THUNDERDOME… Links: Tracy Townsend on Twitter Patrick Hester on Twitter The Functional […]
This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome New York Times bestselling author Steven Barnes! About Steven Barnes: STEVEN BARNES is a New York Times bestselling author, screenwriter and educator who has written more than thirty science fiction, fantasy, and horror novels. Octavia E. Butler called Barnes’s Endeavor-Award winning novel Lion’s Blood “imaginative, well researched, well written, […]
The Functional Nerds are back as Patrick Hester welcomes his new CoHost – Tracy Townsend! Tracy is the author of The Nine and The Fall (books 1 and 2 in the Thieves of Fate series), a monthly columnist for the feminist sf magazine Luna Station Quarterly, and an essayist for Uncanny Magazine. She’s the former […]
1. Not every superhero movie needs to be rated PG-13 Sure, an R rating is going to limit the potential audience for a movie, but forcing every movie into a PG-13 rating is the very definition of lowest common denominator thinking. We’ll get better movies if they’re allowed to express their ideas with as little […]
I’ve noticed this thing. Maybe you have to. You’ll be watching a tv show, or a movie, and they’ll give you this view of the car interior so you can see both the driver and passenger, plus the street moving in the background. You get a couple of back and forth camera shots, going back […]
Here are 5 cool things for you to check out this weekend. Podcast: Soundtrack Composer Rob Gokee on The Functional Nerds Podcast – Patrick, Rob and I discuss composers Hans Zimmer, Bear McCreary and Blake Neely. Rob then tells us what it’s like to score music for Dreamworks Animation, the SyFy channel, PBS, National Geographic as well […]
If you’re a writer, editor, or book publisher, piracy is an obvious issue. To help build your strategies to encourage piracy, I wanted to offer up 3 quick steps you can deploy right now, if you haven’t already. First off, price your eBooks out of the market. Having an eBook priced at $15 or above […]
The Martian by Andy Weir Presumed dead, astronaut Mark Whatley is stranded on Mars and has to figure out how to survive on his own. Apollo 11 meets Castaway. Macguyver in space. Call it whatever you want, but it’s the best book that I’ve read so far this year. Can’t wait for the movie. The […]
Your friendly neighborhood podcasting duo will be making a rare live appearance at Capricon 35 in Wheeling, IL February 12th – the 15th 2015. We’ll be on several panels and recording live in front of a studio audience! We would love to see as many of you as will fit in the room for the […]
In Emma Newman’s Between Two Thorns, the first novel in her Split Worlds series, all Cathy wants is to go to college and be with the man she loves. However, her family in the Nether, the sky-less land between Mundanus, the normal world, and Exillium, the magical land of the Fae Lords, want her back […]
Series: Pathfinder Tales Paperback: 400 pages Publisher: Paizo Publishing, LLC. (February 11, 2014) ISBN-10: 1601256140 Official Description: Gideon Gull leads a double life: one as a talented young bard at the Rhapsodic College, the other as a student of the Shadow School, where Taldor’s infamous Lion Blades are trained to be master spies and assassins. […]
Series: Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne (Book 1) Hardcover: 480 pages Publisher: Tor Books (January 14, 2014) ISBN-10: 0765336405 Official Description: In The Emperor’s Blades by Brian Staveley, the emperor of Annur is dead, slain by enemies unknown. His daughter and two sons, scattered across the world, do what they must to stay alive and […]
Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor by Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga explores the backstory of the most notorious villain of the Walking Dead world, known as Philip Blake or “The Governor.” The novel, the first in a series, begins shortly after the dead begin to rise, with Philip Blake, his daughter Penny, his brother […]
Series: Vintage Original Paperback: 496 pages Publisher: Vintage (April 8, 2014) ISBN-10: 0345803639 Official Description: Humans beware. As the robotic revolution continues to creep into our lives, it brings with it an impending sense of doom. What horrifying scenarios might unfold if our technology were to go awry? From self-aware robotic toys to intelligent machines […]
Series: The Imager Portfolio (Book 8) Hardcover: 448 pages Publisher: Tor Books (January 7, 2014) ISBN-10: 0765336340 Official Description: The saga of the Imager Quaeryt, Commander in the forces of Lord Bhayar, reaches a new climax as the great struggle to unify the continent of Lydar enters its final phase in L.E. Modesitt’s Rex Regis, […]
As someone relatively new to comics and graphic novels, as well as a fan of AMC’s The Walking Dead television series, I was anxious to read the original comics that inspired the show. I readily admit that I’ve never been a huge fan of comics. I loved the illustrations, I loved the stories, but the […]
Hardcover: 352 pages Publisher: Tor Books (March 25, 2014) ISBN-10: 0765337266 Official Description: When seventeen-year-old Toby McGonigal finds himself lost in space, separated from his family, he expects his next drift into cold sleep to be his last. After all, the planet he’s orbiting is frozen and sunless, and the cities are dead. But when […]
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