The Functional Nerds Podcast

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Jacqueline Carey, author of CASSIEL’S SERVANT.

About CASSIEL’S SERVANT: Cassiel’s Servant is a retelling of cult favorite Kushiel’s Dart from the point of view of Joscelin, Cassiline warrior-priest and protector of Phèdre nó Delaunay. He’s sworn to celibacy and the blade as surely as she’s pledged to pleasure, but the gods they serve have bound them together. When both are betrayed, they must rely on each other to survive.

From his earliest training to captivity amongst their enemies, his journey with Phèdre to avert the conquest of Terre D’Ange shatters body and mind... and brings him an impossible love that he will do anything to keep.

Even if it means breaking all vows and losing his soul.

About Jacqueline Carey: New York Times bestseller Jacqueline Carey is the author of the critically acclaimed Kushiel’s Legacy series of historical fantasy novels, The Sundering epic fantasy duology, postmodern fables Santa Olivia and Saints Astray, and the Agent of Hel contemporary fantasy series. Jacqueline enjoys doing research on a wide variety of arcane topics, and an affinity for travel has taken her from Finland to China to date. She currently lives in west Michigan. Although often asked by inquiring fans, she does not, in fact, have any tattoos.

This week’s picks:

• Jacqueline: Reservation Dogs (FX/Hulu)
• Tracy: The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark
• Patrick: Justified: City Primeval (FX/Hulu)

Links:

• Jacqueline Carey on Twitter
• Tracy Townsend on Twitter
• Patrick Hester on Twitter
• The Functional Nerds Patreon Page

© 2023 Patrick Hester

The post Episode 595-With Jacqueline Carey appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Mur Lafferty, author of CHAOS TERMINAL.

About CHAOS TERMINAL: Mallory Viridian would rather not be an amateur detective, thank you very much. But no matter what she does, people persist in dying around her—and only she seems to be able to solve the crime. After fleeing to an alien space station in hopes that the lack of humans would stop the murders, a serial killer had the nerve to follow her to Station Eternity. (Mallory deduced who the true culprit was that time, too.)

Now the law enforcement agent who hounded Mallory on Earth has come to Station Eternity, along with her teenage crush and his sister, Mallory’s best friend from high school. Mallory doesn’t believe in coincidences, and so she’s not at all surprised when someone in the latest shuttle from Earth is murdered. It’s the story of her life, after all.

Only this time she has more than a killer to deal with. Between her fugitive friends, a new threat arising from the Sundry hivemind, and the alarmingly peculiar behavior of the sentient space station they all call home, even Mallory’s deductive abilities are strained. If she can’t find out what’s going on (and fast), a disaster of intergalactic proportions may occur...

About Mur Lafferty: Mur’s books are available in stores, online retailers, and through her website. Check out Solo: A Star Wars Story for the details that you wanted expanded from the movie, and check out I Should Be Writing if you need a supportive writing workshop in the form of a book.

In 2017 Mur released Six Wakes, a clone murder mystery in space that nominated for the 2018 Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick Awards, and Bookburners, a collaboration effort about a group of demon hunters for the Vatican. Bookburners continues through five total seasons, available at Realm.

The Shambling Guide to New York City won the 2014 Manly Wade Wellman Award, and Mur was lucky enough that its sequel, Ghost Train to New Orleans, won the 2015 Manly Wade Wellman Award!

Mur has been a podcaster since December, 2004, and since then won the Podcast Peer Award, three Parsec Awards, and in 2015 was inducted into the Podcaster Hall of Fame. Mur’s show Ditch Diggers (with Matt Wallace) won the 2018 Hugo Award for Best Fancast. Mur’s longest running show is I Should Be Writing (17 years strong as of August 2022!)

This week’s picks:

• Mur: Dazzling: A Novel by Chikodili Emelumadu
• Tracy: Etsy’s Board Game Accessories
• Patrick: Age of Myth: Book One of The Legends of the First Empire by Michael J. Sullivan, Narrated by Tim Gerard Reynolds

Links:

• Mur Lafferty on the network formerly known as Twitter
• Tracy Townsend on the network formerly known as Twitter
• Patrick Hester on the network formerly known as Twitter
• The Functional Nerds Patreon Page

© 2023 Patrick Hester

The post Episode 607-With Mur Lafferty appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Stephen Graham Jones whose novel, THE ONLY GOOD INDIANS is available now! So go buy it already... sheesh.

ABOUT THE ONLY GOOD INDIANS: Seamlessly blending classic horror and a dramatic narrative with sharp social commentary, The Only Good Indians follows four American Indian men after a disturbing event from their youth puts them in a desperate struggle for their lives. Tracked by an entity bent on revenge, these childhood friends are helpless as the culture and traditions they left behind catch up to them in a violent, vengeful way.

About Stephen Graham Jones: Stephen Graham Jones is the author of twenty-five or so novels and collections, and there’s some novellas and comic books in there as well. Stephen’s been an NEA recipient, has won the Texas Institute of Letters Award for Fiction, the Independent Publishers Award for Multicultural Fiction, a Bram Stoker Award, four This is Horror Awards, and he’s been a finalist for the Shirley Jackson Award and the World Fantasy Award. He’s also made Bloody Disgusting’s Top Ten Horror Novels, and is the guy who wrote Mongrels and The Only Good Indians. Stephen lives in Boulder, Colorado.

This week’s picks:

• Stephen The Low Low Woods by Carmen Maria Machado (Comic)
• Tracy: Among Us (App Game)
• Patrick: The Boys Season 2 (Prime)

Links:

• Stephen Graham Jones on Twitter
• Tracy Townsend on Twitter
• Patrick Hester on Twitter
• The Functional Nerds Patreon Page

© 2020 Patrick Hester

The post Episode 463-With Stephen Graham Jones appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Ryan Van Loan, author of The Sin in the Steel.

About The Sin in the Steel: Buc and Eld are the first private detectives in a world where pirates roam the seas, mages speak to each other across oceans, mechanical devices change the tide of battle, and earthly wealth is concentrated in the hands of a powerful few.

It’s been weeks since ships last returned to the magnificent city of Servenza with bounty from the Shattered Coast. Disaster threatens not just the city’s trading companies but the empire itself. When Buc and Eld are hired to investigate, Buc swiftly discovers that the trade routes have become the domain of a sharp-eyed pirate queen who sinks all who defy her.

Now all Buc and Eld have to do is sink the Widowmaker’s ship....

Unfortunately for Buc, the gods have other plans.

Unfortunately for the gods, so does Buc.

About Ryan Van Loan: Ryan Van Loan is an up and coming Science Fiction and Fantasy author. He started reading his Grandfather’s Reader’s Digest when he was four years old. Soon after, he read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer before eventually discovering science fiction and fantasy through the works of Robin McKinley, Robert Jordan, Stephen King and many more. He moved around a lot in his childhood from Montana to Georgia to Puerto Rico before finally ending up in Pennsylvania. Ryan served six years as a Sergeant in the United States Army Infantry (PA National Guard) where he served on the front lines of Afghanistan. All of that travel got into his blood and Ryan has traveled around the world with his wife, wandering Caribbean island haunts, exploring the palaces and cathedrals of Europe, and hiking with elephants in the rain forests of Southeast Asia. When he’s not traveling Ryan enjoys hiking, soccer (football), tabletop gaming, weightlifting (with his personal best coming from deadlifting three times his body weight), and all things culinary. Ryan’s debut novel, The Sin in the Steel (Tor Books), Book One in the Fall of the Gods series came out on July 21, 2020. Today, Ryan lives in northeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two dogs where he’s hard at work on his next novel.

This week’s picks:

• Ryan: The Helm of Midnight by Marina Lostetter
• Tracy: Here to Slay: A Strategic Card Game
• Patrick: Warrior (HBO Max)

Links:

• Ryan Van Loan on Twitter
• Tracy Townsend on Twitter
• Patrick Hester on Twitter
• The Functional Nerds Patreon Page

© 2020 Patrick Hester

The post Episode 475-With Ryan Van Loan appeared first on The Functional Nerds.

This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Ari Marmell, author of Dust, Obelisks, Book One.

About Dust, Obelisks, Book One: For Flight Engineer Cynthia Han and her fellow astronauts aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 81 has proved as mundane as space travel ever gets. Yes, this would be Cynthia’s final NASA mission, for reasons she’s so far kept from the rest of the crew; and yes, the latest billionaire “space tourist” has managed to irritate everyone on board. Still, none of them could have asked for a smoother experience.

Until the morning they wake up to silence. All communication with Earth, gone. From half a dozen different agencies with multiple installations and redundancies across the globe, there is simply... nothing.

And through the viewports of the ISS, only the thick veil of churning, lightning-veined dust to suggest the Earth remains at all.

Now, without ground control, without the proper telemetries or calculations or even reliable visuals, Cynthia and the rest of Expedition 81 must make their way home. For most, it will be the most fraught and the most frightening task of their lives.

But it will be nothing compared to the world that now awaits them beyond the dust.

About Ari Marmell: When Ari Marmell has free time left over between feeding cats and posting on social media, he writes a little bit. His work includes scripts, novels, short stories, role-playing games, and video games, all of which he enjoyed in lieu of school work when growing up. He’s the author of the Obelisks sci-fi horror duology, the Widdershins YA fantasy series, The Goblin Corps, and many others, with publishers such as Del Rey, Pyr Books, Wizards of the Coast, Crossroad Press, and Titan Books.

Ari currently resides in Austin, Texas. He lives in a clutter that has a moderate amount of apartment in it, along with George—his wife—and the aforementioned cats, who probably want something.

This week’s picks:

• Ari: Empire of Exiles by Erin M Evans
• Tracy: Calamityware
• Patrick 1: Renegade Nell
• Patrick 2: Star Wars: The Bad Batch
• Patrick 3: Tales of the Empire

Links:

• Ari Marmell on Facebook
• Tracy Townsend on the network formerly known as Twitter
• Patrick Hester on the network formerly known as Twitter
• The Functional Nerds Patreon Page

© 2024 Patrick Hester

The post Episode 624-With Ari Marmell appeared first on The Functional Nerds.