I spent large parts of the Easter weekend working, because that’s sometimes what you have to do when you are self-employed and have clients who live in countries that don’t celebrate Easter (or, indeed, weekends). The rest of the time I spent having a birthday, which involved good food, good wine, and movies. Some stuff apparently happened in the science fiction community over the weekend, and one of those things was that my friend Gareth L. Powell became joint-winner of the BSFA Award for Best Novel. The winning book was Ack-Ack Macaque, which of course was out last year. However, in December 2013 I got to interview Gareth about the follow-up, Hive Monkey, which had just launched. That was on Women’s Outlook, of course, but seeing as Gareth is now hot property I decided it would be a good idea to podcast that interview. You can listen to it below.

During the podcast we mention the BristolCon Fringe event at which Gareth read extracts from Hive Monkey. You can listen to that below. As it involves the monkey, it has an explicit tag ;-).

Yesterday’s meeting between Ujima and the City Council was very encouraging, but we won’t be able to get power restored in time for tomorrow’s show. Therefore I have podcast the interview with Karen Joy Fowler that I recorded for the show. The upside of this is that I have been able to run the whole 20 minutes, including the bits that probably won’t mean much to a mainstream audience. You can listen to the interview through the link below, or download the mp3 file here.

As a reminder, Karen will be at Foyles in Bristol tomorrow evening (Wed. March 19th), and my review of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves is here.

Of course I had planned some music to go with the interview. This one was a no-brainer.

Amongst the things I managed to get done today was editing the audio from the first BristolCon Fringe Reading event. The two podcasts are available below. The readers are Myfanwy Rodman and Gareth L. Powell. I host the event.

As you’ll hear, we had a lot of background noise. That shows you how many people were there. For next time we are hoping to have a proper sound system, and to route the signal directly from the amp to the recorder.

I was, of course, delighted to be able to introduce someone else called Myfanwy. She’s good too. You can tell she’s got a creative writing degree, and I’m pleased to say she has a story in Airship Shaped and Bristol Fashion.

Those of you from outside the UK may not have heard much about Ack-Ack Macaque. Gareth gave us the first ever reading from the forthcoming sequel, Hive Monkey. There is no poo-flinging in the chapters he reads, but there is quite a bit of violence and swearing. That monkey is a character, alright.

Myfanwy Rodman

Gareth L. Powell

Myfanwy Rodman has a creative writing degree and is currently working on an epic fantasy novel, amongst other projects. She will have a story in the forthcoming anthology, Airship Shaped and Bristol Fashion.

For a full list of future BristolCon Fringe Readings, and information about the venue, see here.

I’ve just uploaded the third of the June 2013 readings from SF in SF. It features Cassie Alexander reading from her novel, Shapeshifted. Here’s the podcast:

While we are on the subject of readings and podcasts, here is part 2 of the June SF in SF event, featuring Heather McDougal reading from her novel, Songs for a Machine Age.

Yes, I know, I have enough podcasts to listen to already. But there’s no harm in trying another one, is there? You know, just in case…

Actually I have been meaning to try this one for some time. Having had Emma Newman on my radio show, and seen her perform at readings and conventions, I was sure she would be doing something interesting with podcasting. My usual preference is, of course, for deeply analytical material such as The Writer and The Critic, or SF Crossing the Gulf, but I figured that Emma would provide a pleasant alternative to all of that in depth, intellectual stuff. She would ask her guests interesting questions, of course, but there would also be amusement, and quite possibly strangeness. I was not disappointed.

I should say straight up that if Gail Carriger had produced a podcast like this then UK fandom would have reacted furiously at how British culture was being insultingly mis-characterised by an ignorant foreigner. Being British herself — well Cornish actually, which is not the same thing — Emma can get away with such things. It is totally Theme Park Britain, but Emma has a voice like Lady Penelope and can carry it off perfectly. Besides, I might have been guilty of inventing a stately home and butler for myself many years ago, so I can hardly complain.

Each episode of Tea and Jeopardy takes place in a new Secret Tea Lair in some mysterious and dangerous location. Ably assisted by her somewhat bloodthirsty butler, Latimer, Emma treats her guests to “a nice cup of tea and a spot of mild peril”. I have been listening through the past episodes, and thus far none of the guests has actually died, though poor Dave Bradley came remarkably close. I do hope that he recovers from his injuries soon. That, of course, is what happens when you go adventuring in Darkest Somerset.

The episodes are only around half an hour long, which is ideal for those of you who can’t stomach the thought of those two-hour-plus Australian extravaganzas. Also, given the amount of cake consumed during the recordings, a shorter interview is probably better for the health of the guests.

You can find links to all of the episodes on Emma’s website, but just as a taster, here is one featuring the fabulous Sarah Pinborough.